Voters here in Berkeley and throughout Alameda county could be back to voting on paper in the November elections, according to a stunning, far-reaching ruling last week by California Secretary of State Kevin Shelly. 

  Late last Friday, Shelly decertified all touchscreen machines in California citing security concerns. The decision came days after a state panel, the Voting Systems and Procedures Panel, voted unanimously to continue using the machines as long as they met a string of new security requirements. The secretary of state’s decision both alters and adds to the panel’s recommendation by taking the machines out of service, forcing them to be recertified to prove they have made the required security updates. Included in that decertification were the Diebold touchscreen voting machines used in Alameda County. 

  With only six months before the election, the secretary’s decision has left county election officials throughout the state—including the Alameda County Registrar of Voters—scrambling to re-do their voting systems. According to the secretary’s spokesperson Doug Stone, Shelly’s office will be drawing up a timeline to try and insure the re-certification process can be done before the election. 

  “Right now we are talking with the counties and the vendors in terms of creating a realistic process, and that should be known shortly,” Stone said.  

  But according to Alameda county’s assistant Registrar of Voters, Elaine Ginnold, any time line is going to be hard to meet with only six months to go. 

  “From the surface, it looks pretty impossible,” said Ginnold. Or maybe, she explained, just “doubtful. ... We’re in election limbo. It’s not pleasant.” 

  Shelly’s decision forces affected counties to either install a voter-verified paper trails on their electronic voting machines or else meet 23 security measures before he recertifies those machines. According to Ginnold, Alameda County has pretty much ruled out the option of making their machines produce a paper trail because the changes would take too long.  

  The county is therefore currently trying to work through the second option to see how many of those requirements they can meet. Ginnold said the county already meets a number of them but is worried that it will get hung up time-wise on just one or two.  

  In particular she is worried about one of the requirements that would force the county to seek federal approval for a software update on the county’s central tabulation software. Because they need federal approval to meet a state requirement, she thinks the process could take longer than the allotted six months. 

  Another recertification requirement is a firmware update that also has to be federally certified. 

Because potentially neither option could work out for Alameda County, Ginnold said they are also looking for their own solutions. One would be reverting back to paper ballots entirely. Paper ballots would qualify as a paper trail and therefore meet Shelly’s demands.  

  Reverting back to paper ballots would also be time consuming and costly, but Ginnold said it looks like one of the only realistic options given such a short period of time.  

  If paper ballots were used they would be made available at polling places and then either counted on optical scan machines at the polling places or sent to a central tabulation location—most likely the county seat in Oakland—where they would all be counted at one time. Either way, the county would have to invest in optical scan machines for the polling places or the county’s tabulation sites. 

  In his press release Shelly said he had taken into consideration the additional costs any changes will result in.  

  “I understand the financial constraints counties are under right now and they will not incur any additional cost as a result of the measure I have announced today,” he wrote. 

  Shelly also said he considered banning touchscreen voting machines outright. Along with his decision about the type of machines used in Alameda county, he banned four other counties outright from using a similar, but modified, version of the touchscreen machines. 

  Meanwhile, whistle blowers across the country are cheering Shelly’s decision, hoping it will influence other states struggling with similar issues. 

“Kevin Shelly is without a doubt a leader in the United States,” said Bev Harris, a well-known activist and opponent of the current touchscreen technology who runs the website blackboxvoting.org. “He has tremendous pressure on him. I have the utmost respect for him and the people who work for him.” 

  “We are going to see a lot more of this to come. You simply cannot have companies with insecure software and insecure procedures, and one that lies to the authorities running the elections,” she said. 

  Harris said Shelly’s move was an important step in taking a more in-depth look at the election process in general, which she said has flaws that are even larger than touchscreen machines. For example, she said, even if paper ballots are used, several counties, including Alameda County, use central tabulation software made by Diebold that has also been heavily scrutinized.  

  “We need to step back and take a look,” she said. “We need to stop saying that everything is going to go smoothly and set up some other checks and balances.” 

  She also proposes that Diebold should be forced to pay for all the cost counties will now incur to meet Shelly’s demands. 

  For now, Ginnold said the Registrar of Voters office is doing its best to ensure the vote runs smoothly, and accurately in November. 

  “We’re just trying to digest,” said Ginnold. They’re “trying to determine what our options are.”    

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While critics of UC Berkeley’s recently released Long Range Development Plan fear the university’s vision for Berkeley amounts to a parking space for every car and a traffic jam for every street, a local legislator—Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley)—is pushing a state bill that would require the university to pay Berkeley for those and other headaches caused by its continued growth within the city. 

On Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Berkeley residents will have the first of three opportunities to provide comment on the university’s Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) released last month. All comments issued at the public meetings or sent to UC before the June 14 deadline must be addressed by the university in its final EIR expected to be submitted for approval to the UC Board of Regents in the fall. 

The LRDP provides the framework of policies and guidelines that will direct future development on the campus and in surrounding Berkeley neighborhoods through 2020.  

It projects 2,600 new dormitory beds (a 32 percent increase), 2.2 million square feet of new office space (an 18 percent increase), and 2,300 new parking spaces (a 30 percent increase), all to accommodate a projected 12 percent rise in the total campus population from 45,940 in 2002 to 51,260 in 2020. 

How those new Berkeley students and employees get to campus and how the university plans to keep them from further jamming Berkeley streets has raised the most concern among residents who have studied the plan. 

The plan proposes mitigating the acknowledged traffic crunch primarily through a series of traffic lights on affected intersections near the campus. New signals would be installed at Durant Avenue and Piedmont Avenue, Derby Street and Warring Street, Addison Street and Oxford Street, Allston Way and Oxford, Kittredge Street and Oxford, Bancroft Way and Ellsworth Street and Bancroft and Piedmont where the university estimates that rush hour traffic volume would increase from five to 19 percent. 

“A lot of the traffic signals could be avoided if the university got more serious about encouraging its staff to use alternate modes of transportation,” said Rob Wrenn, a Berkeley Transportation Commissioner. Like other critics of the plan, Wrenn wants UC to build less parking and offer faculty and staff a transportation pass that provides subsidized AC Transit service, currently provided to students. 

“I think if people understood the mess that was going to be caused by more commuter parking spaces they would be outraged,” said Andy Katz, a UC Berkeley graduate student and chair of the Berkeley Zoning Adjustment Board. 

UC is working on a discount transit pass for employees, but Katz said the proposed fees for the pass would likely still make driving and parking at a university garage the more economical option. In the DEIR, the university also proposes to establish limits on the total number of parking permits sold and increase the number of parking spaces available only after 10 a.m. to avoid further clogging roads during the morning rush hour. 

Wrenn wanted UC to consider a program instituted by the University of Washington at Seattle that offers students and staff cheap transit passes, and which, according to that school’s annual report, has eliminated 74 million car trips to the campus since its inception in 1991 as well as avoided the construction of 3,600 parking spaces. 

Student government officials are also calling for the construction of more dormitories and a change in campus policies regarding housing construction. Currently if a dormitory is built over a parking garage, the university’s housing department must compensate its parking department to replace lost parking spaces. For the new dormitory at College Avenue and Durant Avenue that replaced a 100 space lot, the rule added $2.2 million to the cost of the project. 

“Why should the university tax students to pay for faculty parking spaces?” asked Jesse Arreguin, ASUC City Affairs Director. Despite vacancies at some student dormitories, Arreguin and other students are pushing for the plan to include more housing units to safeguard students against any future housing shortages. 

UC’s ambitious development goals won’t necessarily all be realized in the next 15 years. The university’s last plan in 1990 called for 3,400 new dormitory beds, of which the university built less than half, Arreguin said. 

Jim Sharp, who lives near the sector, doubted residents would be able to influence the new plan. “The university can generally do whatever it wants short of an illegal action,” he said. 

But a bill authored by State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) could give Berkeley a little more leverage in dealing with the university, especially when it comes to exacting compensation for the costs that university’s growth means for city services. 

The bill, AB 2901, which passed the Committee on Natural Resources Monday and now heads to the Appropriations Committee, would require a public agency, like a state university, to pay for the mitigations of the impacts determined through an environmental review performed under the California Environmental Quality Act. 

In a letter of support of the bill, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates wrote, “It is only fair to expect a public agency to devote a portion of their resources to mitigating the impacts of their projects, and not to place this burden on local residents. AB 2902 creates a mechanism to address the impacts a project would have on activities for which the lead agency is not directly responsible.”  

AB2901 is opposed by the University of California. 

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Sherrie Aldinger decided to become a police officer in her senior year at Cal, while she was working in a dress shop at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Durant Street. 

“It happened after I got to know some of the beat officers from the city and from the campus police,” she recalls 28 years later, in an interview held three days before her retirement. “I took the tests for the UC police and the City of Berkeley, but the city had a hiring freeze.” 

She heard from the university police the same day she graduated with a B.A. in communications and public policy. Seven weeks later she showed up at the Butte Police Academy for 10 weeks of training. 

“The hardest part of the transition was sitting in class straight through from eight to five every day,” she said, smiling. 

What happened at the academy proved a foretaste of what lay ahead. In a male-dominated class, Aldinger set several fitness records, including the most sit-ups in 60 seconds. 

Ten months after she was sworn into the campus police, the city called. The hiring freeze was over, “and I decided I wanted to go with a city department,” she said. 

From there, her career blossomed. She became successively the Berkeley Police Department’s first woman to make sergeant, then the first to make inspector, and, finally, the first to make lieutenant. 

Along the way, she received 128 commendations, many for the analytic projects for which her UC degree proved especially helpful. 

BPD had been effectively sexually segregated until 1973, when the city finally opened up the position of “officer” to women. 

“Before then, women could only become ‘policewoman’ or ‘assistant policewoman,’” she said. The former all had four-year degrees and were kept off the streets, restricted to investigative positions. The latter were either jail matrons or secretaries. “There were only four women on the force when I joined,” Aldinger said. “Now there are 33.” 

She encountered some hostility early on for invading a male-dominated bastion, “but I ignored it. Thankfully, Berkeley’s a pretty accepting place.”  

Her first assignment was patrol, and she worked all over the city. “Then I was asked to go into sex crimes. For about three years I had the great pleasure of working with Inspector Larry Lindenau, who’d been working sex crimes for over two decades. That’s when I really learned how to be an investigator.” 

Aldinger’s investigative skills led to the apprehension and conviction of two serial rapists. 

From sex crimes it was back to patrol, and, in September, 1983, her promotion to sergeant—making her the department’s first-ever woman supervisor. “I’d just gotten married to Rich Aldinger, who was also a sergeant, so for a while the Berkeley Police Department had two Sgt. Aldingers.” 

After a year on patrol she was assigned to the department’s communications center, which had just been merged with the fire department’s center. 

“It was the first time in the department’s dispatchers weren’t police officers,” she said. Aldinger trained the dispatchers and supervised operations for a year, then headed back to patrol for another year until, in 1986, she was assigned to the Internal Affairs Bureau, policing the police. 

Now promoted to inspector, she ran IAB for three years before she went back to patrol in September, 1989. Three months later, on Dec. 31, she made lieutenant. 

Then Capt. Roy Meissner assigned her to get the department in shape for accreditation under the newly instituted nationwide CALEA Accreditation Program. Under her lead, BPD became the 151st department in the country to win accreditation. 

After three more years in administration, it was back to patrol. Aldinger’s spouse retired in 2000, while she was starting her three years as supervisor of the detective bureau and the city jail. Her final assignment started last June, when she was brought back into administration to, she explained, “revisit policies and procedures and to formulate an action plan for getting them updated.” 

Aldinger said the biggest changes she’s seen at the department are the growing numbers of women and the declining age of the officers. 

“I’m glad that I’ve got a fair number of colleagues in supervisory and command positions now. It’s nice. I’m also glad that I’ve been able to mentor women as they come up through the ranks,” she said. 

The declining age of officers was sparked by a large number of retirements between 2000 and 2002. In 200 alone, 24 of the Berkeley department’s 200 officers retired, and “right now close to half the officers have less than 10 years’ experience.” 

Aldinger said the Internet had also wrought changes in local law enforcement, “because we get almost immediate coverage on a number of websites, from activist and community groups to local television stations. I tell incoming officers, ‘Envision yourself as though you’re always on camera.’” 

Lt. Aldinger was born in Oakland and raised in Lafayette, but her ties to Berkeley go way back. He parents met while both were students at the university. 

“My dad was going to school on the G.I. Bill and working as a firefighter in Orinda,” she said. “He got put on academic probation, so he decided to take a French class to boost his average—he was raised in a French-speaking family. He met a woman in class who was struggling with the language, and they went on to have five children.” 

Her father became an independent Maytag repairman, and her mother finished her last year of college the moment her youngest started kindergarten. She went on to become the director of a preschool. 

“They’re both still working, and I don’t expect either one of them to ever retire.” 

Aldinger’s identical twin took the mommy track while Aldinger’s law enforcement career soared. Now that her sister’s children are grown, her sister has started school preparing to embark on a new career. “It’s almost like we’re working on opposite tracks,” Aldinger said. 

Berkeley Police Chief Roy Meisner will lead the ceremonies for Aldinger’s retirement Thursday afternoon.

The City Council will get its first look tonight (Tuesday, May 4) at a finalized budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year that is sure to leave many in Berkeley feeling shortchanged. 

At a 5 p.m. non-voting work session, City Manager Phil Kamlarz plans to unveil the plan to close a $10 million deficit in the city’s $113 million general fund by a combination of raising fees, using the city’s rainy day reserves, trimming employee costs, and cutting funding to city departments and community groups by roughly ten percent. 

The plan was not available at press time, but councilmembers believed it would be nearly identical to a strategy presented by Kamlarz at a March council meeting, where over two dozen firefighters and about 60 seniors came out to oppose the proposed service cuts that directly affected them. 

Four public meetings have been scheduled for May to discuss the city budget, giving the council plenty of time to tinker with the plan until a scheduled vote on June 22. The council won’t consider the budget proposal during its regularly scheduled 7 p.m. meeting tonight. 

Berkeley’s current budget shortfall is due in large part to a drop in state aid and the spiraling costs of employee benefits. That combination forced the city to cut $6 million to balance last year’s budget and is expected to result in an additional projected $4.6 million deficit in 2006 that will also need to be balanced. 

“These cuts are hitting the bone,” said Councilmember Miriam Hawley, who warned that a proposal in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget could deprive the city of an additional $1.6 million in property taxes in 2006. 

To get a handle on the city’s structural budget woes in a political climate not hospitable to big tax increases, City Manager Kamlarz last month proposed $9.2 in budget cuts over the next two years. 

Among some of the services on the table include: 

• Closing public libraries on Sundays and some evenings and reducing the library budget for new books and CDs, for a savings of $1.2 million next year. 

• Reducing programs and consolidating services at Berkeley’s senior centers, for a savings of 327,000 over two years. 

• Shutting down one of the city’s two fire truck companies ten hours a day, saving the city $500,000. 

• Eliminating 13 vacant police officer positions for a savings of nearly $2 million, as well as eliminating 25 part-time school crossing guards for an additional savings of $328,000. 

Some of the services could be salvaged by four proposed tax hikes totaling $4.2 million that the council is considering taking to voters in November. Nevertheless, according to the most recent figures provided by the city manager’s office, next year’s proposed budget will likely eliminate 81 positions, 69 of which are already vacant. 

Before any city employee is laid off or a service is cut, Councilmember Kriss Worthington wants the city to factor into its calculations the estimated $3 million it stands to gain from the sale of its health building on Sixth Street and two plots on McKinley Street near the public safety building. So far, city staff has kept anticipated revenues from the sales off the books. 

Worthington said he would fight hardest to preserve funding to senior centers. Councilmember Dona Spring said she opposed the roughly 20 percent cut slated to hit Berkeley Community Media. 

Hawley identified school crossing guards as a top priority to save from cuts. Money for crossing guards would be included as part of a proposed $1 million ballot measure to preserve youth services. 

While the council considers what programs to cut, city staff continues to haggle with unions over employee givebacks. The city is pushing the unions to contribute three percent of the city’s required contribution to their pension plans this year. If the union doesn’t agree to the concession that would add an estimated $3 million to the city’s coffers, City Manager Phil Kamlarz has threatened to close city hall once a month to reduce expenses. 

At tonight’s regular 7 p.m. meeting, the council will consider a plan to keep big delivery trucks off residential streets. The proposal from Assistant City Manager for Transportation Peter Hillier would decrease allowable truck weights on many city streets from five tons to three tons.  

Sports Utility Vehicles and pick-up trucks weigh in at under three tons, but many smaller trucks and larger vans would be forced onto major arteries under the plan. Although Berkeley police don’t assign officers to enforce the rule, supporters of the change say that by imposing stricter weight limits, police will better be able to identify which trucks are in clear violation of the rule. 

Some residential streets identified as truck routes, including Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Gilman Street, and Cedar Street would retain a five ton limit. 

The Transportation Commission supports the proposal, but wants to extend it to Dwight Way between San Pablo and Sacramento Street, which the city has argued is too vital a transportation corridor to limit truck access. 

Fran Haselsteiner, a Dwight Way resident and member of the Transportation Commission, said her 36-foot block is too narrow to handle the heavy flow of busses, cars and trucks it faces. “The problem is there’s just too much traffic so narrow streets are facing more vehicles than they were meant to handle,” she said. 

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TUESDAY, MAY 4 

NFL Flag Football for ages 9 to 11 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at 1255 Allston Way. Free for Berkeley residents, $15 for non-residents for the six week program. Sponsored by Berkeley Youth Alternatives. 845-9066. www.byaonline.org 

Mid-Day Meander through Tilden Park. Bird songs, oak galls and ferns on the trails today. Meet at the Tilden Nature Center at 2:30 p.m. 525-2233. 

Robert Reich on “Social Justice & Social Empathy” at 5:30 p.m. at Anderson Auditorium, Haas School of Business, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Center for the Development of Peace & Well-Being. 643-8965. 

American Red Cross Volunteer Orientation from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advance sign-up needed 594-5165. 

Kerry-oke for John Kerry for President Sing your own or traditional lyrics to popular songs that are pro-Kerry, pro-America, at the Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave., from 8 to 11 p.m. A $15-$25 donation for Kerry’s campaign is requested. To RSVP call 697-1126. 

Phone Banking to ReDefeat Bush from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Bring your cell phones. Please RSVP if you can join us. 233-2144. dan@redefeatbush.com 

Human Rights Violations in Coca-Cola Bottling Plants, video screening at 7 p.m. at Labor Center, 2521 Channing Way. sojistas@yahoo.com 

Paddling 101, an introduction to canoes and kayaks, and places to paddle close to home, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Guided Autobiography for Mature Seniors on Tuesdays to July 6 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Regional Park, Botanic Gardens. Cost is $85 for the 10-week session. To register call 636-1684. www.ebparks.org 

“Environmental Policy and Environmental Injustice” with Dr. Dara O'Rourke, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley, at 7 p.m. in the GTU Dinner Board Room, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2560. trees@gtu.edu 

Death Penalty Vigil, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the North Berkeley BART station. Sponsored by Berkeley Friends Meeting. 528-7784. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Leonar Joy will speak on Human Rights at 11 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Sts every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. A project of BOSS Urban Gardening Institute and Spiral Gardens, for more information call 843-1307. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

Goddess Grace Moving Meditation at 10 a.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $7-10, bring a yoga mat or blanket. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 

Public Hearing on UCB’s Long Range Development Plan at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Copies of the plan and the draft Environmental Impact Report are available at http://lrdp.berkeley.edu 

“A.W. Pattini, Victorian Designer-Builder” with Paul Roberts at 7:30 p.m. at Church by the Side of the Road, 2108 Russell St. Tickets are available from Berkeley Architectural Heritage Assoc. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Break the Silence of Sex with hip-hop and spoken-word performances and a showing of the film, “Silence Ain’t Sexy” at 7 p.m. at King Middle School Auditorium. Sponsored by PinchMe Films and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  

“Rhythm and Smoke” a documentary on the cigar-making process in Cuba, interspersed with a variety of Cuban music at 6:30 p.m. at the South Branch Library, 1901 Russell St. 981-6260. 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration Workshop Bridging Zapatismo to our communities. Celebrate 5 de Mayo by looking at the Zapatista indigenous struggle in Chiapas, Mexico and bridging local struggles in the SF Bay Area. At 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-10. 849-2568.  

“Media Regime Change,” a forum with Robert McChesney, co-founder of the media reform group Free Press; John Nichols, D.C. correspondent for The Nation magazine; and Jerry Mander, the president of the International Forum on Globalization, at 7 p.m. at Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. Cost is $7. Co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, New College Media Studies. 415-546-6334, ext. 300. 

Cinco de Mayo Films “Santiago de Cuba” and “Oggun” presented by Tina Flores at 7 p.m. at Fellowship of Humanity, 390 27th St. Oakland. 393-5685.  

“Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter” with Lloyd Kahn who continues his odyssey of finding and exploring the most magnificent and unusual hand-built houses in existence, at 7:30 p.m. at Builders Booksource, 1817 Fourth St. http://bbevents.c.tep1.com 

Considering Teaching? Find out about UC Berkeley’s teaching credential programs, 6 to 8 p.m. in 2515 Tolman Hall. To RSVP, email gserecruiters@berkeley.edu 

Reading Workshop for Parents of 1st-3rd Graders at 8 p.m. at Classroom Matters, 2607 Seventh St., Suite E. Free, but reservations required. 540-8646. www.classroommatters.com 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. For information call Robert Flammia 524-3765. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Sta- 

tion, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Berkeley CopWatch open office hours 7 to 9 p.m. Drop in to file complaints, assistance available. 548-0425. 

THURSDAY,MAY 6 

Morning Birdwalk Meet at 7 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area to look for summer residents. 525-2233. 

“No American Left Behind” A benefit for MoveOn.org and Code Pink at 7 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, Oakland, with a screening of “Bush in 30 Seconds” and a conversation with Carrie Olson, a co-founder of MoveOn.org and Medea Benjamin, founder of Code Pink. Tickets are $5-$10. 427-7447. www.noamericanleftbehind.org 

“In Over Our Head: Chaos, Creation, and Power” with constructive theologian Catherine Keller at 8 p.m. in the Tucson Common Room, CDSP, GTU, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2560. 

“Women in Impossible Places Beating the Odds” with Angela Mason at 5:30 p.m. at Northbrae Church, 941 The Alameda. Sponsored by Soroptimist International of Albany. Donation $5. 524-6303. 

Introduction To Sustainable Landscape Design Create an environmentally friendly oasis in your yard using the principles of sustainability. We will cover the fundamentals of design, installation and maintenance of a sustainable landscape. Use of native plants, recycled materials, water conserving techniques and pest control will be discussed. From 7 to 10 p.m. at the Building Education Center, 812 Page St. Cost is $35. To register, call 525-7610.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

FRIDAY, MAY 7 

“So How’d You Become an Activist?” with Utah Phillips, singer/songwriter and Karen Pickett, Earth First! organizer, at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Suggested donation $5. 528-5403. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Tim Holt, environmental writer on “Should California Be Split in Two?” Luncheon 11:45 a.m. for $12.50. Speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925. 

Womansong Circle Singing for the mothers and the mother of us all at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Donation $8. 525-7082. 

Nabalom Bakery Collective Benefit with live music, silent auction and refreshments at 7 p.m. at Transparent/Ashby Theater, across from the Ashby BART. Tickets are $20 at the door. 845-BAKE. 

All-Oakland Talent Show at 7 p.m. at Oakland Box Theater, Telegraph Ave. between 19th and 20th. Tickets are $10. Sponsored by Oakland Leaf, which brings afterschool programs to school children. 

Tibetan Aid Project Spring Benefit Dinner A vegetarian culinary experience in support the continuation of Tibetan Buddhist culture, at 6 p.m. at The Brazilian Room, Tilden Park. For tickets call 800-338-4238.  

“Anarchist Cookbook” a comedy about living on an anarchist commune in Dallas, Texas at 8 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. www.longhaul.org 

“The Personal Grail and the Public Wasteland” with Jeremey Taylor in a workshop from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Naropa Oakland University, 2141 Broadway. Cost is $50-$80. 835-4827, ext. 19. www.creationspirituality.org 

Hawaiian Cultural Practices and The Struggle for Independence Workshop and “talk story” about the Akaka-Stevens bill, Hawaiian soveriegnty, and the Hawaiian cultural renaissance, with Clarence Kukauakahi Ching, kanaka maoli cultural practioner and David Ingham. From 7 to 9 p.m. and Sat. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Language Studies International, 2015 Center St. Cost is $75 for both days, $20 for Fri. only. Registration recommended. 525-7257. waihili@aol.com 

Berkeley Chess Club meets at 7:15 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 652-5324. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

Overeaters Anonymous meets at 1:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Church at Solano and The Alameda. 525-5231. 

Herbal Tea at Three Learn tea lore, medicinal properties, and taste familiar and exotic varieties from 3 to 4 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy. 549-9200. www.elephantpharmacy.com 

SATURDAY, MAY 8 

Town Hall Meeting on the California Budget Crisis with Assemblywoman Loni Hancock from 10 a.m. to noon at Rosa Parks School, Multipurpose Room, 920 Allston Way. 

Bike Day at Berkeley Farmers’ Market in Civic Center Park from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with presentations on locking your bike, bike repair, and safe commuting. Sponsored by Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition. www.BFBC.org 

Green Home Expo and Energy Symposium in Civic Center Park. From noon to 5:30 p.m. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley. www.greenhomeexpo.org 

Celebrate Mother’s Day Canoeing with Save The Bay A scenic canoe tour of Goodyear Slough, just northeast of the Carquinez Bridge and west of Suisun Bay. We will wind through the native tule reeds and discuss the importance of this arm of the Bay to migrating wildlife. All equipment and instruction included. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mothers and Save The Bay Members $30, Non-members $40. To register or for more information call 452-9261. www.savesfbay.org 

“California Butterflies, Host and Nectar Plants” A class and garden tour from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Cost is $30-$40. Advance registration encouraged. 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Kids Garden Club Discover non-native plants and help remove these invasives, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 7-12. Cost is $3, registration required. 525-2233. 

Junior Skywatchers We’ll learn about the mysterious forces of gravity. We’ll do experiments and then do some moonless stargazing, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. For ages 8-11. Cost is $4. 525-2233. 

A Walk Through the Garden of Old Roses with UCBG horticulturist and rose expert, Peter Klement. Discover the rich historical background of the collection, including how Chinese, Persian and European cultures created the parents of the roses we grow today. From 10 a.m. to noon at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. Cost is $12-$17. To register call 643-2755. http:// 

botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour “The Finnish Community in Berkeley” led by Harry Siitonen from 10 a.m. to noon. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

East Bay Connection College Fair from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at Saint Mary’s College, 1928 Saint Mary’s Road, Moraga. More than 170 schools will be represented. 925-631-4224. www.stmarys-ca.edu/ebcc 

Oakland Day of Percussion with world-class drummers and persussionists presented by the Percussive Arts Society from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Alice Arts Center, 1428 Alice St. Oakland. Cost is $7-$10. 415-296-0454. www.pas.org/chapters/california/oak.html 

Wheat Weaving Craft Day from noon to 2 p.m. at the Albany Library. Create simple beauty and celebrate a history that goes back to early human’s appreciation of wheat. Free and open to all ages. 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext 20.  

Cragmont Elementary School Spring Carnival and Auction Performances, crafts, food and games. Help us in this partnership with local merchants for an easy and rewarding way to raise money for a Berkeley public school. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 644-8811. 

Healthy Street Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School, 1500 Derby, with food, prizes, health screenings and entertainment. 883-6504. 

LeConte Elementary School’s Cinco de Mayo Celebration with food, dancing, music and games, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 2241 Russell St. Admission is $1-$10. 644-6290. 

Friends of Kensington Library Annual Book Sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Blvd. 

Crowden Music School Gala, honoring Gordon Getty, at 6 p.m. at the Rotunda, 1501 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $150. 559-6910. 

A Celebration of Traditional Asian Arts and Culture from noon to 4 p.m. at Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. 637-0455. 

Oakland Museum of California Gala After Hours at 9 p.m. with food and dancing with the Pete Escovedo Orchestra, Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers and Kool Katz. Tickets are $75. 238-6711. www.galaafterhours.com 

Pro Arts 30th Anniversay Gala from 5 to 9 p.m. at 550 Second St. Oakland. Tickets available at www.proartsgallery.org 

Festival of Body-Mind Movement celebrating the 100th birthday of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 830 Bancroft Way at 6th St. Cost is $5-$20. 594-4048. www.SpringIntoMotion.org 

Shamanic Journey Class from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Anam Cara House, 6035 Majestic Ave., Oakland. 415-333-1434. 

SUNDAY, MAY 9 

Berkeley Architectural Hertitage House Tour “Berkeley 1890 - At Home” from 1 to 5 p.m. featuring ten Victorian-era houses along Berkeley’s Fulton St. Tour information and ticket order form are at www.berkeleyheritage.com/housetours/2004_spring_house_tour.html  

Mother’s Day Celebration at the Judah L. Magnes Museum at 2911 Russell St. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Family treasure hunt, docent tours of exhibit “Brought to Light,” gift shop sale, and free admission. 549-6950. www.magnes.org 

“Designing Your Garden with Natives” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Field trip to Pt. Reyes on May 16. Cost is $75-$85. Registration recommended. 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Shear Fun Where did your wool clothing come from? Join Judd Redden who has been shearing sheep for ten years to learn about this remarkable, renewable resource. From 10 a.m. to noon at The Little Farm in Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Dreaming in Nature An 8-week class meeting Sundays, from 10 a.m. to noon at Tilden Park. Learn how to understand, interpret and recall dreams and the interconnection with nature. Cost is $160. 636-1684. www.ebparks.org 

John Kerry for President Party with Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor and author of “Why Liberals Will Win in America.” Sponsored by The Berkeley Democratic Club. From 5 to 7 p.m. at 21 Tanglewood Rd. Donation $50 to the Kerry campaign. Please RSVP to BerkeleyDemocraticClub@comcast.net 

Maganda Magazine Celebration with spoken work and readings celebrating this Pillipino literary arts publication. At 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568.  

Friends of Kensington Library Annual Book Sale from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Blvd. 

”A Transylvanian Unitarian Minister Come to Berkeley” with Maria Pap at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Tibetan Buddhism, with Sylvia Gretchen on “Wisdom of Buddha: The Samdhinirmocana Sutra” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues. May 4, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., May 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruby Primus, 981-5106. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/com 

missions/women 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Thurs., May 6, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets Thurs., May 6, at 7 p.m., at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7461. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., May 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housing 

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., May 6, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks

Thanks to an outpouring of support from the community and a little clever detective work, a potentially bad story turned good late last week after three local students had their instruments stolen from St. Joseph the Worker Church. 

  According to a representative for the St. Joseph the Worker school, students in their choir were practicing Thursday for the adjoining church’s 125th anniversary celebration that was held this past weekend. The students broke for lunch around noon and left their instruments in the choir area at the front of the church. When they came back they found that three instruments—a trumpet, saxophone and flute—were missing. After a frenzied search to make sure no one had misplaced the instruments, the students realized that someone had come into the church and stolen them. 

  “My mom was speechless,” said Devante Dubose, a sixth grader who lost his trumpet. Dubose had just gotten the trumpet for Christmas and had never played it in a performance.  

“It was devastating,” said Melissa Angulo, a fifth grader who lost her flute. “We had really been working hard on the mass.” 

  Natalie Tovani-Walchuk, the principal at St. Joseph the Worker school said they immediately contacted the police and that night the story aired on a local TV station’s nightly news broadcast.  

  According to Tovani-Walchuk, police from the city of Alameda also picked up a homeless man that same night for a different warrant and found a saxophone and trumpet in his possessions. After the shift change on Friday morning, an officer who had seen the news broadcast the night before saw the instruments and immediately made the connection. 

  The police contacted the school after a search of the vagrant’s possessions located the flute buried at the bottom of a trash bag. While both the flute and the sax had only minor damages, the trumpet was badly beaten up.  

In the meantime the school had rented instruments so the students could practice before mass. School officials were also worrying about how to reimburse the students for damages because the instruments were not covered under the school’s insurance. 

  Come Friday by the beginning of school, however, there was no need to worry and all the rented instruments were returned. After seeing the news broadcast that night, people from around the Bay Area started contacting the school to send donations. People gave instruments and money, and by the end of the day the school had four flutes, one trumpet, one guitar, a promised saxophone and around $1,000. 

  Even though the flute and saxophone were usable, and there was no immediate need for a guitar, people said they felt obligated to contribute. 

  One of the women who contributed had her flute stolen as a child but was too poor to buy a new one. When she got older she bought a flute because she could. She immediately identified with the students and decided to donate the flute, shipping it by courier so it got there that same day. 

  One man got on BART in San Francisco, rode across the bay, walked to St. Joseph’s, donated an instrument, got back on the BART, and disappeared. 

  “I think people really cared about our school,” said Dubose, who cheerfully tried out his new trumpet on Friday afternoon. “When they gave me the trumpet I felt like they really cared about me.” 

  The two other students cleaned their instruments using disinfectant, and were right back at it Friday afternoon. 

  All the extra instruments, according to Tovani-Walchuk, are still a blessing even though they weren’t immediately needed, because students who can’t afford their own instruments will now have something to play. The school does not have the money to provide all the band students with instruments. Tovani-Walchuk also said the money donated will go directly to the school’s music program. 

  “It gives me hope in the world,” she said. “It’s amazing what people can do in this world [even though] there is all this yukkiness.” 

  Tovani-Walchuk said the school is not pressing charges but the District Attorney will issue a stay-away order to the alleged thief. The church, which is always open so people can use it as a sanctuary and place to pray, will remain open. But, she said, the next time students practice they’ll make sure to take their instruments with them if they go on break. 

Thanks to an outpouring of support from the community and a little clever detective work, a potentially bad story turned good late last week after three local students had their instruments stolen from St. Joseph the Worker Church. 

  According to a representative for the St. Joseph the Worker school, students in their choir were practicing Thursday for the adjoining church’s 125th anniversary celebration that was held this past weekend. The students broke for lunch around noon and left their instruments in the choir area at the front of the church. When they came back they found that three instruments—a trumpet, saxophone and flute—were missing. After a frenzied search to make sure no one had misplaced the instruments, the students realized that someone had come into the church and stolen them. 

  “My mom was speechless,” said Devante Dubose, a sixth grader who lost his trumpet. Dubose had just gotten the trumpet for Christmas and had never played it in a performance.  

“It was devastating,” said Melissa Angulo, a fifth grader who lost her flute. “We had really been working hard on the mass.” 

  Natalie Tovani-Walchuk, the principal at St. Joseph the Worker school said they immediately contacted the police and that night the story aired on a local TV station’s nightly news broadcast.  

  According to Tovani-Walchuk, police from the city of Alameda also picked up a homeless man that same night for a different warrant and found a saxophone and trumpet in his possessions. After the shift change on Friday morning, an officer who had seen the news broadcast the night before saw the instruments and immediately made the connection. 

  The police contacted the school after a search of the vagrant’s possessions located the flute buried at the bottom of a trash bag. While both the flute and the sax had only minor damages, the trumpet was badly beaten up.  

In the meantime the school had rented instruments so the students could practice before mass. School officials were also worrying about how to reimburse the students for damages because the instruments were not covered under the school’s insurance. 

  Come Friday by the beginning of school, however, there was no need to worry and all the rented instruments were returned. After seeing the news broadcast that night, people from around the Bay Area started contacting the school to send donations. People gave instruments and money, and by the end of the day the school had four flutes, one trumpet, one guitar, a promised saxophone and around $1,000. 

  Even though the flute and saxophone were usable, and there was no immediate need for a guitar, people said they felt obligated to contribute. 

  One of the women who contributed had her flute stolen as a child but was too poor to buy a new one. When she got older she bought a flute because she could. She immediately identified with the students and decided to donate the flute, shipping it by courier so it got there that same day. 

  One man got on BART in San Francisco, rode across the bay, walked to St. Joseph’s, donated an instrument, got back on the BART, and disappeared. 

  “I think people really cared about our school,” said Dubose, who cheerfully tried out his new trumpet on Friday afternoon. “When they gave me the trumpet I felt like they really cared about me.” 

  The two other students cleaned their instruments using disinfectant, and were right back at it Friday afternoon. 

  All the extra instruments, according to Tovani-Walchuk, are still a blessing even though they weren’t immediately needed, because students who can’t afford their own instruments will now have something to play. The school does not have the money to provide all the band students with instruments. Tovani-Walchuk also said the money donated will go directly to the school’s music program. 

  “It gives me hope in the world,” she said. “It’s amazing what people can do in this world [even though] there is all this yukkiness.” 

  Tovani-Walchuk said the school is not pressing charges but the District Attorney will issue a stay-away order to the alleged thief. The church, which is always open so people can use it as a sanctuary and place to pray, will remain open. But, she said, the next time students practice they’ll make sure to take their instruments with them if they go on break. 

On the otherwise gray wall of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity house is a painting of the U.S. Marines struggling to raise the American flag at Iwo Jima. Beside the painting is a testimonial to fraternity brother Colonel Harry Liversedge, who “led U.S. forces” in the famous World War II battle.  

Now nearly 60 years later, the brothers of Alpha Sigma Phi are again looking for a few good men, not to save their country, but to save their fraternity and their house. 

Three weeks ago the eight non-graduating brothers plastered flyers around campus offering residents of Bowles Hall—the last all-male dormitory on the UC campus with rituals not unlike a fraternity—the chance to join the Alpha Sigma Phi and take over the house.  

“We want to bring a group of friends here, teach them our ways and our traditions and then let them run with it,” said Jay Lynas, a junior. When Lynas pledged the fraternity last fall, he was one of a pledge class of only four. This spring, no one pledged. Lynas loves his brothers, but in the cutthroat world of Greek life at UC Berkeley, four new brothers a year isn’t enough to keep a fraternity viable.  

To survive, Alpha Sigma Phi has opened its doors to boarders—residents who live at the fraternity house but aren’t members. It’s enough to pay the rent, but ultimately it might not be enough to keep the house, which is owned by alumni and run as a nonprofit corporation.  

“They have no reason to run it if no brothers are living in the house,” Lynas said. 

Tasvir Patel, president of the Inter Fraternity Council, said an overflow boarder population is not unique to Alpha Sigma Phi. UC Berkeley’s Greek population has been declining at an average of 1.5 percent a year for several years, while two new fraternities have been established. “It’s survival of the fittest, to some extent,” Patel said. 

The brothers of Alpha Sigma Phi didn’t always live on the edge of extinction. The fraternity was founded in 1913. Like many UC Berkeley fraternities it died in 1965 at the peak of the Free Speech Movement. A new group revived the fraternity in 1983, however. It boasted a strong membership until the early 90s, when its ranks began to dwindle and the number of boarders at the 20-room fraternity house sometimes topped the number of brothers.  

Even in a friendly housing market, the Alpha Sigma Phi and other similar fraternities have always found tenants. Since their landlord doesn’t seek a profit, they offer bedrooms starting below $400 with free cable television, DSL Internet hook-up, and a cook. 

Lynas, like several of the fraternity brothers, entered the house as a boarder, and chose to pledge. Still, he said, some lines were drawn between the brothers and the boarders. “We make sure they’re out of the house or in their rooms when we’re having our ceremonies or stuff,” he said.  

Frank Hane, a brother who graduated last year, said some of the boarders are actually bigger partiers than the brothers. “We’ve had a few guys come in and puke all over the place. We’re not cool with that by any means,” he said. 

For Hane, the house has been the centerpiece of his college life. “This place is my connection to UC,” he said. “We’ve had a great group of brothers. It’s more intense than a regular friendship.” 

No member of Bowles Hall took the fraternity up on its offer, but five underclassmen from different dorms expressed an interest, and last Wednesday night they were made pledges. If all goes well, this week they will become full-fledged members.  

Theo Widjaja, a fraternity brother said he had mixed feelings about the future members only having to pledge for a week, buy Lynas thought that was insignificant. 

“We met them and kind of got a feeling that somehow they had that spark to carry on what we’re offering to them,” Lynas said. 

Although they are offering easy membership, Lynas said the fraternity still has standards. “Despite how we’re appealing to people, we’re still selective of who we’ll allow to take over the house,” he said. “We don’t feel like we’re moving out and it’s going to nothing. We still have a few active members trying to rebuild it.” 

On Cinco de Mayo 1862 at Puebla, in southeastern Mexico, a conquest army of 6,000 seasoned French soldiers funded by Emperor Napoleon III of France, and marching at behest of Archduke Maximilian of Austria, met 4,000 Mexican defenders who were mostly last minute recruits from the barrios of Puebla. The invaders were headed for Mexico City 60 miles away to install Maximilian Emperor of Mexico. They expected little resistance. French General Charles Ferdinande de Lorencez had declared, upon landing of his troops at the port of Veracruz, that because Mexicans were merely “bloodthirsty half-castes who united the vices of the white man with the savageness of the Indian... We are so superior to the Mexicans in race, in organization, in discipline, (and) in morality...that, at the head of 6,000 soldiers, I am already master of Mexico.” 

The rag tag Mexican forces routed the French invaders, who slunk back to Veracruz and did not venture inland again till March of the following year, by which time they had amassed 30,000 troops. There was strong symbolism in Mexico in May 1862 in laborers and peasants defeating the technologically superior, militarily superior, seasoned troops from Europe. The nation had just emerged from a long civil/class war and the French brought with them a cadre of supporters of the conservative losing side that fed the French notions of Mexico being a land of “Chinacos.” Definitions of Chinaco include: a runaway, a person of no social grace, lower class Indian who had left the homeland, a mixed race person with African heritage, a half Indian/half African, a robber, a slave, a guerrilla, a creature of the night, a bat, a bent twig, a person with multiple personalities, and more. The Juaristas proudly adopted the term. And today the lead definition of Chinaco in the dictionaries is a fighter for the “Reform,” i.e., the liberal cause in the civil war, and the fight against the French that was led by led by pure-Indigenous President Benito Juarez. A Juarezista culture magazine was titled Chinaco, and in it were poems and essays to the glory of the nation and its “Chinacos.” A poem by the magazine’s editor Guillermo Prieto had the following lines: 

In that you are a Mister 

I am a Chinaco. 

In the days leading to May 5, 1862, recruitment among the “Chinacos” of Puebla was led by the frail, spectacled, seminary trained 33-year-old General Ignacio Zaragoza, who was of mixed race with substantial Texas Indian blood, and who Juarez picked for the task because of oratory abilities in behalf of the “Reform.” Central to Juarez’s “Reform” ideology was belief in democracy, as he displayed in a letter to a British supporter of the Mexican fight against the French imperialists. “Believing as I do that progress is part of the human condition, I hope that the future will be, of necessity, one of democracy, and each day I have more faith in the republican institutions of the American world, and that they will be extended to the unfortunate people of Europe who are still held down under the weight of their monarchy and aristocracy.” 

While we don’t know exactly what Zaragoza said in his recruitment, we can assume something of the above, and probably mention that Maximilian was believed intent on a coalition with slave owners in the U.S. Confederacy then at war with the Union army. Mexico had abolished slavery and had declared for racial equality since its 1821 independence war peace plan of Iguala, which stated, “All inhabitants of New Spain, without distinction to their being Europeans, Africans or Indians are citizens ... with the option to seek all employment according to their merits and virtues.” 

On Cinco de Mayo the Poblanos, as Pueblans were known, repulsed repeated charges of the French troops. The defenders also withstood barrages from French canons, and while there were cannons in the two forts at Puebla, the Mexican side lacked artillery experts. The defenders compensated for their weaknesses with resourcefulness. A near thousand head of cattle had been gathered from nearby ranchos, and when the French charged up the steep hill toward Puebla, the cattle were stampeded into their ranks. The French cavalry was ready to charge the Mexican lines and create panic; to draw them off, General Zaragoza sent his cavalry of Zapotecan Indians from Oaxaca on an attack from the side against the French horsemen. The Zapotecans faked a panic and fled, and laughing French rode after them. A Hollywood version of cowboys and Indians seemed in the offing, but the Zapotecans turned and attacked. The French didn’t know how to handle the new script and they were cut to pieces. 

Armed with the spirit of democracy and equality the defenders of the nation sent the French troops home from their Mexican Vietnam/Iraq in 1867. French Emperor Napoleon III embroiled his soldiers in a new adventure in 1870, a war with Germany. A subsequent uprising created the anarcho-communist Paris Commune, in which there were enough disgruntled soldiers for the conservative French press to blame the revolt upon the infection of revolutionary spirit from Mexico. That “outside agitator” accusations would be leveled on Mexico would seem to prove Juárez's point that in that era of the famed Cinco de Mayo, his country represented the vanguard for world progress.

When a suicide bomber parked a van disguised as an ambulance in front of the Shaheen Hotel in the Karadah neighborhood of Baghdad on January 28 and blew himself up, he killed four people and wounded scores of others.  

He also blew the lid off a dirty little secret of the Coalition Provisional Authority: due to its “outsourcing” of privatized security services, the CPA has put terrorists, mercenaries and war criminals on the payrolls of companies contracted by the Pentagon. 

After the Shaheen Hotel blast, departmental spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa at South Africa’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that one of the Westerners killed was South African Frans Strydom. Four of the wounded were also South African nationals, including Deon Gouws, who sustained serious injuries. 

News that Strydom and Gouws were in Iraq sent shockwaves throughout South Africa: In front of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, both men were granted amnesty after confessing to killing blacks and terrorizing anti-apartheid activists, acts that can only be called crimes against humanity.  

In Iraq, Strydom and Gouws were employed by Erinys International, a security firm based in the United Kingdom. Erinys Iraq, the subsidiary of Erinys International, was awarded a two-year, $80 million contract in August 2003 to protect 140 Iraqi oil installations. Erinys has been awarded subcontracts to protect American construction contractors, including San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. and Halliburton’s subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root.  

“It is just a horrible thought that such people are working for the Americans,” said Richard Goldstone, former chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, speaking to European reporters last month. 

Strydom was a member in the Koevoet, Afrikaner for “Crowbar,” an outlaw group that paid bounty for the bodies of blacks seeking independence during the 1980s. The Koevoet terrorized blacks in Namibia and northern South Africa for more than a decade. Hundreds of deaths are attributed to its members. 

More notorious is Gouws’ past. A former police officer, Gouws was a member of the infamous Vlakplaas death squad that terrorized blacks under apartheid. Only after South Africa established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Col. Eugene de Kock, a former death-squad leader who supervised Gouws, applied for amnesty, did the activities of the Vlakplaas come to light. Gouws faced a choice: repent by confessing, or be charged with crimes. He applied for amnesty, confessing on his application for absolution to killing 15 blacks and firebombing the homes of “between 40 and 60 anti-apartheid activists.” 

There are an estimated 1,500 South Africans employed by security contractors in Iraq, according to the South African foreign ministry. Many used their backgrounds as mercenaries during Apartheid to bolster their credentials.  

After being pardoned but ostracized in South Africa, “Where are these men expected to go?” asked Judge Goldstone. 

Erinys International refused to comment on the matter. 

The role of civilians contracted to work in Iraq was relatively unknown to most in the United States until four American security contractors met grisly deaths in Fallujah in March. While the vast majority of individuals contracted for security work may be honest, hardworking professionals, the desperate search for manpower is allowing criminals to join their ranks. 

“At what point do we start scraping the barrel?” Simon Faulkner, the CEO of Hart, a respected British security company, asked recently in the New York Times. “Where are these guys coming from?”  

Not only apartheid-era terrorists are finding opportunities in Iraq. Prior to the U.S.-led war, Saddam Hussein hired over a dozen Serb air-defense specialists—at the reported cost of $100,000 a month—to devise a mobile radar system that would protect Iraq’s air defenses from attack. Many were wanted for their paramilitary activities during the Balkan Wars in Europe.  

Upon the American takeover of Iraq, some of these Serbs remained behind, selling their services to the highest bidders, including security firms under contract to provide protection for employees of Blackwater USA and Titan Corporation of San Diego. They have now been joined by some of their compatriots, who had been working for the Pentagon for several years in Afghanistan. “The Bush administration is so eager to avoid responsibility for order in Afghanistan that they’ve outsourced to mercenaries the work of protecting Afghan President Hamid Karzai,” Dave Marash reported in the Washington Monthly in March 2003.  

Karl Alberts, a South African pilot, recently prepared to travel to Iraq. Before he left he was arrested and charged with mercenary activities in the Ivory Coast in 2002 and 2003. 

But for every Alberts who fails to make it to Baghdad, others succeed. Though their numbers are relatively few, the harm these men can do to an occupation government desperately seeking support from the Iraqi people is enormous.  

Louis E.V. Nevaer is an author and economist whose most recent book, NAFTA’S Second Decade (South-Western Educational Publishing, 2004), examines the political economy of the international development and trade.

For a long while now, her neighbors envied her. While they suffered under colonial rules, she alone in Southeast Asia developed independently and in peace. While they suffered from insurgencies and warfare, torn apart by opposing Cold War ideologies, she grew in confidence and sophistication, all the while under a constitutional monarchy. Indeed, by all geopolitical standards, Thailand seems a blessed country.  

Until now. In the southernmost province of Narathiwat, near the Malaysian border, insurgents attacked security checkpoints and police stations. Police and security forces shot dead 107 machete-wielding youths, and the image of Thailand as a peaceful country—the “land of a thousand smiles”—is all but tarnished. 

Known as the tourist Mecca of Southeast Asia, Thailand always has had a grimmer side, one that it tries to keep tightly under wraps. Now, images of teenagers lying in pools of blood crowd the front pages of newspapers.  

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin dismissed the insurgents as local youths and gangs. But the rebels have legitimate grievances. The two southernmost provinces are Muslim majority, but live under Buddhist minority domination. From culture to language—many Muslims in the southern provinces speak Yawi and not Thai—to economic status, they live as an ostracized minority. Police brutalities and crackdowns are routine in the south. Human rights activists have railed against the torture and disappearance of suspected separatists for years.  

Most famous was the disappearance of human rights Muslim lawyer Sonchai Neelaphaijit while under police surveillance in March. Four policemen were indicted in April for his kidnapping and murder. Sonchai was representing five Muslims who were charged with stealing weapons from a military camp in Narthiwat on Jan. 4. That’s the same camp the machete-weilding youths were attacking when they were ambushed by Thai authorities, who apparently were tipped off. 

Neelaphaijit’s disappearance prompted national rights commissioner Pradit Charoenthaithatwee to declare that Thailand is “being ruled by a police state.”  

In Bangkok recently, before the latest attack, a nervous mood could be felt above and beyond the city’s typically frantic pace. Many worried because separatists have stolen dynamite from a mining company, an act similar to what happened in Spain before the train attacks of March 11. One bomb exploded on March 27 in a southern border town of Sungai Kolok, known for its girly bars and karaoke dens and considered sinful by religious Muslims. The blast injured 30, including eight Malaysian tourists. Many Malaysians have stopped coming to Thailand. 

One government official, speaking anonymously, said: “We are all waiting for a bomb to go off in Bangkok. If that happens, all bets are off.” He was referring to the Thai tourist industry, the lifeblood of his country. Some 11 million visitors come to Thailand every year. Each spends an average of $90 dollars a day, and stays a week on average. Tourism is the number one source of income for Thailand, employing more than 5 million people out of a total population of 64 million. 

Every major hotel in the country now employs armed guards. A visitor to the new, elegant five-star Conrad Hilton in Bangkok is greeted by an obstacle course flanked by armed guards with bomb-searching mirrors on the way to the hotel’s door. “We take extra precaution,” says Darinee Suthivong, a hotel publicist. “We’re very close to the U.S. embassy and across from ambassador’s residence.” 

The Thai government hopes its latest military success against the rebels will keep the lid on the insurgency for the short term. They also hope that sophisticated networks like Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant Islamist group active in several Southeast Asian countries, are not involved. 

In the long run, however, it is in Bangkok’s interest to address the real grievances of the south, rather than reacting in an un-Buddhist, violent fashion that could transform regional anger into something that might literally bring down the house. 

Andrew Lam is an editor at Pacific News Service who recently returned from Thailand.a

Ten years ago this week my husband Ralph had an accident that left him a C-4 quadriplegic. Cruising down Claremont Avenue on his Italian racing bike, just above the Claremont Hotel, his front tire went flat and he sailed over the handlebars, landing in the middle of the road. He slipped in and out of consciousness until a passerby discovered him and called 911. An ambulance picked him up and delivered him to Highland Hospital, where emergency room doctors monitored his vital signs. When I arrived at the emergency room the prognosis was not good. I was warned that he might not make it, then later informed that if he did pull through he wouldn’t be able to use his arms and hands again. Twenty-four hours later we were told that he would probably remain paralyzed from the neck down. 

For awhile, Ralph and I operated on hope, and then later on drugs, coffee, and alcohol. But within two months we began to realize that he would not get better, that he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, unable to eat or void on his own. We were relieved that he could still use his brain, but we were unprepared for the lessons that lay ahead. 

Each year when the anniversary of his accident comes around, we both ignore it. It doesn’t help to dwell on the past we tell each other—just keep looking forward and try to get through the current day. For the most part, I think this philosophy has served us well. It suits our personalities and our psyches, keeps us present in the here and now, living one moment at a time. But at some point I do need to look back and see where we’ve come from and how far we have traveled. I remember 10 years ago being hopeful, praying for a miracle, and frantically looking for answers. Then slowly the truth crept in and I knew that I was going to have to accept the reality of Ralph’s paralysis or lie on the living room couch forever. That was not an option. There was too much to do. 

So how far have we come? Pretty far, I think, although we’re still at the same address and Ralph rarely leaves his bed except to attend board meetings at the Center for Independent Living up on Telegraph Avenue. He has learned to manipulate an electric wheelchair with his head, hold a mouth stick between his teeth, and tap out letters on his computer keyboard. On good days, when everything is working right, he can change the channels on his TV. Several years ago, he made some money on the stock market, and then a few months later he lost it. He’s become an insatiable sports fan, surfing from channel to channel to watch whatever game is on. He’s collected film noirs until the house is overflowing with video boxes, and he has become an expert on letting other people do for him the things he cannot do for himself. 

As for me, I have practiced patience and the art of trying to pace myself, postures I was never good at before the accident. I have grown more tolerant of certain behaviors; conduct I thought I could never live with, I live with quite comfortably now. I understand a little better how the world works, how our society views the severely disabled and the people who assist with their care. I’ve gotten a first-hand education from the disability and caregiver communities on marginalization, racism, drug addiction, prison life, and the art of survival when the chips are down. These are things I wasn’t interested in learning before Ralph’s accident, didn’t even know I needed to learn them, hadn’t known what I’d be able to do with them once learned. Although I knew Ralph was a tough cookie when I married him, I have discovered that he is a lot tougher than I ever imagined, and, as a consequence, so am I. 

A single car accident that began on the University Avenue Interstate 80 overpass early Sunday claimed the life of a Berkeley man and a 19-year-old passenger. 

The Alameda County Coroner’s office identified the driver as Anthony Lane, 30, of Berkeley. He was driving his 1995 Buick Regal from Oakland to Berkeley at 7 a.m. when he took the University Avenue exit at a high rate of speed, according to California Highway Patrol officer R.E. Caggiano. 

Lane lost control of the car, sideswiping a pillar before it slammed into a tree and a tiled concrete wall at the northeast corner of Eastshore Highway and Hearst Avenue. 

Killed along with Lane was a passenger, identified by the coroner as Brittany Breazeale, 18 of Oakland. Berkeley paramedics rushed a second passenger, an 18-year-old Oakland woman, to Highland Hospital for treatment of a broken right arm and clavicle. 

Caggiano said both Lane and the injured passenger were wearing seatbelts. The fatally injured passenger was not.

UNDERREPRESENTED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In a front-page piece presented as a news article in your April 30-May 3 edition (“UC Admissions Drop Hits Native Americans”), Jakob Schiller repeatedly uses, but never defines, “underrepresented,” as in “underrepresented students,” “underrepresented groups.” 

The article states Cal is admitting fewer Native Americans this year. It fails to compare the percentage of applying Native Americans who got accepted this year with the percentage last year, and fails to compare either percentage with the percentage of accepted applicants from other groups. 

Either set of facts would put some meat on the “underrepresented” adjective employed. 

It’s also unfortunate that you buried the real problem on the next-to-last page of the paper: that many Native Americans don’t have a peer model that associates personal success with academic performance. 

David Altschul 

• 

WEST BERKELEY ODOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

John Hawkridge (Letters, Daily Planet, April 30-May 3) speaks of a noxious odor in West Berkeley. This smell has been making my family really nauseous for the last five years and we have been consistently told by agencies we have called that it is either “coffee being processed” or “burnt bread” from a local bakery. 

I was incredibly disturbed by the last letter, as we have driven around many times trying to find this odor as it makes us (and neighbors) really sick. The elderly, disabled woman down the street gets severe headaches and vomits from this. Isn’t this supposed to be environmentally friendly Berkeley? Isn’t this supposed to be the city that prides itself on pure air, soil and a caring city government? We moved here five years ago from Benicia, as we were worried about the industrial odors. I can’t believe that this is being allowed to go on. Are we (the occupants of West Berkeley) considered to be disposable —are we being poisoned , so that we can be turned into mulch that will be then turned into another park? This is crazy. What makes this any different than Los Angeles, or South San Francisco (noxious fumes galore), I thought it was because we could live here and not be poisoned. UNFAIR !!!!! 

Catherine Malkow 

• 

CENSORSHIP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The responsibility of the press and TV is to inform us about what is happening in our world. They present facts and we, their readers and viewers, have the responsibility to think about what is read or said and draw our own conclusions. 

Sinclair Broadcasting Group, by refusing to allow ABC’s Nightline to air on their stations, does not serve the public interest of our need and our right to know. I strongly object to this stand. It is censorship at the worst level. 

Anne Smith 

• 

DOWNTOWN PARKING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Malcolm Carden writes that the responses to his earlier letter have not contradicted his statement that restricting parking in downtown is bad for downtown businesses. He concludes by asking: “have you ever tried carrying a TV or a kitchen table on a bike?” (Letters, Daily Planet, April 30-May 3). 

But my response to him (Letters, April 23-26) did contradict his statement. I said that the most successful shopping district in the Bay Area is the Union Square area, which has relatively little parking. And I said that downtown Berkeley cannot compete with auto-oriented shopping areas, because of its distance from the freeway and limited street capacity, so its best chance of success is creating an interesting, pedestrian-oriented environment. 

People buy heavy items like kitchen tables on a very small percentage of shopping trips. When they are in urban neighborhoods, the stores that sell these items offer deliveries. The Ikea in New York delivers more than half the products that they sell. 

I have never carried a kitchen table on my bicycle, but I used to bicycle to Gorman’s to buy my furniture, because they would deliver for a few extra dollars. In central Berkeley, where 40 percent of households do not own cars, we need a furniture store that offers deliveries. Does Carden think all those people should buy cars, so they can use them once a year when they buy furniture? 

Charles Siegel 

• 

AMERICAN VALUES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Perhaps by now most people have seen the pictures of the atrocities of the U.S. soldiers in Iraqi prison. This is not a surprise and not new. This is American chivalry. Americans have done it in Vietnam, Korea, and many other places. So, next time you see the charred bodies of Americans in pieces hanging from bridges in Iraq, do not call the Iraqi freedom fighters barbaric. Bush always says that they hate us for our values and our way of living. Are American values about violating human rights? 

Saleh Almajridi 

• 

FREE SPEECH AT UC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There is one issue that has been conspicuously absent from the review process of the Code of Student Conduct, which is its effects on free speech. 

After highly politicized hearings in recent years targeting student protesters, the administration has responded to criticisms from both sides (those who wanted swift and harsh punishment and those who thought the disciplinary process was unfair) by suggesting the revision of the Code of Student Conduct. 

Despite such beginnings, the committee has not discussed the potential effects of the revised code on First Amendment activities. Such matters were supposed to be discussed in a subcommittee within the review committee, but that subcommittee has never been convened. (Vice Chancellor Padilla has suggested that it will be convened next year, but the final report of the code revision is being prepared now.) 

By severely limiting due process rights—no guarantee of legal representation, nor of open hearings—future political protests could become easy targets of punishment. The university will be even more vulnerable to outside demands for the punishment of unpopular speech because it is going to 

be easier to carry such demands.  

It is regrettable that UC Berkeley, with its proud tradition of free speech, has come up with a set of rules that are so weak in its protection against potential abuses of the disciplinary process. 

Takeshi Akiba 

Graduate student representative to 

the Code of Student Conduct Revision Committee, 

UC Berkeley 

• 

NUANCE AND VENOM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In a letter seething with venom for your newspaper, Nate Bloom (Letters, Daily Planet, April 30-May 3) charges that those who have written in defense of the controversial DeFreitas cartoon (“State of Palestine,” Daily Planet, April 16-19) “suffer from an intellectual laziness that is often reflected in the same lack of rigor that the people who post these cartoons have in regard to a nuanced or evenhanded discussion of the [Israeli-Palestinian] issues.” Apparently as an example of said rigor, Bloom soldiers on to claim that “there is little difference between the Ku Klux Klan and elements of the Left in terms of their Jew hating,” etc. 

I, too, would like a little nuanced discussion from those who uncritically support anything that Ariel Sharon and Israel do in the way of progressive brutalization and dispossession of Palestinians, which is a bit like watching a protracted mugging in broad daylight. I have previously posed three questions: What is “Greater Israel,” why are there any Jewish-only colonies on Palestinian land, and why am I paying for these ever-expanding colonies with my taxes? 

So far, I have had no answer other than accusations that I am anti-Semitic or prone to “Pravda clichés” for asking. 

This is nuance? 

Gray Brechin 

• 

WARSAW GHETTO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was the middle of the night. The phone rang. “If you ever say that Palestine is like the Warsaw Ghetto again, we will kill you.” Click. And they didn’t even leave a call-back number! 

Despite all that, here I am again. Equating Gaza with Warsaw. What am I thinking! But jeez Louise. The simile is just too ripe for a writer like me to resist. And besides, don’t you just hate it when people tell you what to do? 

I first figured that Gaza might be for sale when Ariel Sharon was accused of corrupt real estate dealings in Greece. And I was right too. Sharon has put together a real estate package in Gaza that is a sleazy developer’s dream: Trading that run-down Gaza dump for the eloquent olive groves and high rises of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Score! 

That’s like trading the South Bronx for the Garden State—including Princeton, Washington Crossing and Atlantic City. That’s like dumping Mediterranean Avenue and buying the Boardwalk. And Park Place! 

But wait. Won’t the Palestinians at least come out of the deal owning Gaza? Isn’t that a trade up for them? They will now own houses and hotels, right? Wrong. Palestinians will not be passing Go. And they will not be collecting $200. They will not be owning Gaza. Ariel Sharon will still own Gaza. What the Palestinians will be getting from this real estate deal is the right to continue to live in a prison, a jail and a slum.  

What the Palestinians will be getting is a place on a map that is the exact re-creation of the spirit and mood of the ghetto at Warsaw—no more, no less. The Israeli army will surround Gaza on all sides. No one will be let in or out. Watch towers, machine guns and barbed wire will ring the city. Tanks will rumble up and down the streets. The only thing missing to complete this tableau will be the yellow crescents sewn on residents’ clothing—and that can be arranged.  

Being an Arab these days is chillingly similar to being a Jew in 1939. The only difference I can see is that instead of Prescott financing genocide, we now have his grandson George.  

No one spoke out to protect the Jews in 1939. But dag nab it, I’m not going to let that happen again. And, hopefully, it’s not going to kill me to do it.  

Jane Stillwater 

• 

OVER-POPULATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In response to two recent articles, one about bullying and the other about the population boom, it is also very important to remember that California’s over-population boom is exactly what is feeding the bullying problem within our schools. As a discipline counselor with the Los Angeles School District and a part time resident of Berkeley, it is obvious to see that the same apparent factors prevail within different areas of the state. When the homes are as overcrowded and dysfunctional as are the schools, competition among peer groups and bullying prevails. School is often regarded as requiring more structure than students’ homes, thus becoming the “enemy” where students are often acting out. 

Thanks also to the negative and counterproductive influences of rap music, community violence and various forms of media within the free society, such daily occurrences of school violence, graffiti, including “tagging crews,” fights and different forms of group hatred are regularly seen. This often results in families with better resources or perhaps just concern for their children, in seeking other school possibilities. 

To many, it is unclear just why California is inviting so many people here these days, especially when schools are overcrowded and funding for public education is almost always in jeopardy. Think about it, it affects all of us in society. 

Michael J. Packer 

• 

VOTING REFORM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The swirling buzz of proposals for constitutional amendments reminds me of the most fundamental change we need to make in order to preserve our democracy: Every vote must count equally. Under the current system, a million more Californians could vote for one candidate than for the other guy, and it wouldn’t have any more impact on the presidential election than if that candidate received only one additional vote. Nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand votes would be thrown away, just as Gore’s half-million-vote majority was dismissed in the last election. 

The problem, of course, is the Electoral College mechanism which gives voters in small-population states, like Wyoming, nearly four times the count as voters in California have. This anachronism must go; everyone’s vote must count equally. The Electoral College was originally instituted as a political compromise for conditions far different from the way we live now. Then, electors had the option of not following their state’s majority outcome, in case the “uneducated rabble” elected the “wrong man.” Now, the outcome of the Electors’ meeting is predetermined by law. And in the last election, when a true controversy arose about how the votes were counted, or mis-counted, it was the Supreme Court, not the Electoral College, that determined the current President. 

If Bush were to be re-appointed president with a minority of votes, the legitimacy of the Federal government’s authority would end, along with our claim to be the world’s leading democracy. I don’t know if people will march in the streets, form revolutionary cadres, or simply shrug their shoulders and pay their taxes. But I would feel a very close kinship with our nation’s Founders who fought to forge a democratic government from the grip of King George. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 



Iraq can quickly move to democracy if it is based on small groups rather than the mass democracy practiced throughout the world today. Small-group voting can be implemented quickly, at low cost. A bottom-up election process can create a democratic legislature in Iraq by June 30, in time for the planned transfer of sovereignty to Iraq. 

Mass democracy has failed throughout the world. We see the failure today in Haiti, and throughout Latin America, where elected governments have repeatedly been overthrown. Democracy has broken down in Africa, and works badly in Russia. A new model is needed for democracy to take root and resist being toppled. 

Democracy must start small. Each village and city neighborhood elects a local council. These would be the cells of the political body. Where a traditional clan leadership is in place, it would be recognized as the local authority. The cell would be small enough so that the people can hold meetings and know the candidates personally. There would be no need for large amounts of campaign money. 

Democracy for Iraq must thus begin with the village or neighborhood council. The local council would be open to women, giving anyone a chance to enter into governing. The coalition authority in Iraq has already established village and neighborhood advisory councils. These now need to be elected by the people and given real governing authority. 

The local councils would then elect the provincial or city councils, which would elect regional councils. The national legislature would be elected by the regional councils. The legislature would elect the president. This multi-level voting structure gives more power to the individual voter, because his concerns can be leveraged up. The direct election of top representatives in a mass election provides a feeling of choice while in substance leaving the individual citizen with little influence, because he is but one of many thousands of voters. 

Cellular, bottom-up multi-level democracy can be implemented in time for the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis on June 30. This would to a great extent resolve the problem of political power among the religious and ethnic factions of the country. The question of Islamic law would be shifted to the local councils, avoiding the problem of religious domination. 

The violence in Iraq feeds on the absence of self rule. The Governing Council is dismissed by many Iraqis as puppets of the coalition, and the U.S. is blamed for whatever goes wrong, because it is in charge. Establishing genuine democracy and restoring sovereignty quickly will thwart the anti-democratic forces, because it will be clear then that they are fighting the Iraqis, not the Americans. The coalition troops would still maintain order and provide civic services, but only at the invitation and consent of the people of Iraq. We can achieve lasting stability in Iraq with decentralized bottom-up democracy. 

Fred Foldvary is a Berkeley resident. 

Our city is in a financial crisis and we are being told that there may have to be cuts in vital services and a tax increase. Under these circumstances is it right to be planning a $5-$6 million replacement fire station in Fire District 7? The facility to be built in northeast Berkeley will have 7,200 square feet and 1,500 square feet of decks and will house three Berkeley engines. The three-person crew will, in addition to the decks, have 3,200 square feet of living space. The project has been presented as the additional multi-jurisdictional station specified by 1992’s bond Measure G. It is, however, called “Replacement Station No. 7.” Bond money will indeed pay for the construction, but let us remember that bond money is a loan and our taxes pay the principal and interest on that loan. Furthermore, the costs of maintenance and operation must also be paid for with our taxes that fund the city’s already inadequate yearly operating budget—the same budget that currently cannot pay for all our vital services, let alone the additional costs this project will incur! 

The existing 2,500-square-foot Fire Station #7 is located three blocks from the proposed site of the new station. The proposed site must be purchased from the East Bay Municipal Utility District at fair market value. In addition, a small right-of-way owned by the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is being acquired by giving EBRPD 8 acres of waterfront property. The existing station is the only one in Berkeley that has neither been seismically retrofitted nor improved as specified in Measure G. In fact, the city has failed for decades to maintain it. Councilmember Olds has said repeatedly that the station is so infested with termites it’s ready to fall down. If the city did not employ an exterminator over the past 20 years, how will they maintain a behemoth new station which, due to its problematic location, will always have maintenance problems? Architect Marci Wong wrote of the site in 1999 “Constant dampness due to building into the hill and constant shade may result in maintenance, mold, and mildew problems.” Costs for the project continue to rise above the $5 million budget. For example, we now learn that the site needs to be raised four feet due to drainage problems. 

A much less expensive alternative plan to expand existing Fire Station No. 7 was proposed over two years ago by an architect with fire station design experience. That design would house two Berkeley engines and four firefighters, and eliminate the need for a three-point exit turn (which slows response time). The budget for this alternative would be about $1 million, a savings of at least $4 million over the current proposal. 

Why was this option never given consideration? No issue raised by opposing residents and experts in wild-land firefighting has been given consideration. The plans went through the Zoning Adjustments Board, Design Review, and the City Council virtually untouched. This was a “done deal” for political reasons rather than safety concerns. Minds had been made up before the project was ever presented to the public for scrutiny. The current plan was developed during the booming late 1990s, when money was no object. Now money is an object, and politicians are trying to distance themselves from the monster buildings that have been completed on their watch (as Councilmember Linda Maio is with respect to Acton Courtyard).  

City officials have “sold” this project to hills residents as necessary to save their lives in case of a wildfire. This is not true. The city simply had bond money to spend, a neglected old station, and understandably nervous and fed up voters. However, an oversized, exorbitantly expensive building will not save lives. Since the 1991 fire, the Parks District has increased its personnel and equipment and the LBL fire station has been converted to a county facility. Those important changes should be accompanied by regular and expert vegetation management on our private and public lands. That will go a lot further in promoting fire safety than this ill-conceived, overly expensive project that will be a financial burden on the city for decades to come. 

Mayor Bates is proposing tax increases for the November ballot. Since our taxes are currently paying for millions of dollars in interest on unspent bond money that is earmarked for this project, shouldn’t the less expensive alternative of renovating Fire Station No. 7 be considered now? Wouldn’t it make sense to pay down the existing bond principal by the extra $4-$6 million the proposed project would cost? This would result in an immediate reduction in principal and interest payments and would reduce the amount of any required tax increase. If the city is in a fiscal crisis, but spending lavishly, something is very wrong. It is blatantly unfair to pour money into an unnecessary project in northeast Berkeley while expecting other parts of the city to bear the twin burdens of higher taxes and reduced public services. 

If we don’t act now, this plan will shortly become reality. The Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) will meet on May 13 to approve recent changes to the project. Let your voice for fiscal responsibility be heard. Attend the ZAB meeting (7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 13, Old City Hall), call the mayor’s office (981-7100), and/or your councilmember’s office. 

Minor Schmid, Marilyn and Richard Collier, Doris Nassiry, Cindy Fulton, Stefan Carrieri, John Ngai, Lisa Brunet, Dr. and Mrs. Russell F. Henke, Nathaniel R. Henke, Mrs. Louis E. Weichold, David and Inja Johnson 



At the end of April 2004, I resigned as president of Berkeley High School Parent Teacher Student Association because I got fed up with being called names and threatened because I have been preaching to the district that something should be done about the high percentage of black children behind at our elementary schools in math and reading. I have been called anti-Semitic, a racist and other names that cannot be printed here. The most recent one is that I am too emotional to be president of the PTSA. 

Since I have succeed at making some of the whites in the community angry with me, I may as well get the blacks teed off at me too. I say that because my criticism has mostly been directed at the school district for black children having such poor grades. The bottom line is that no matter what the district does, if black parents don’t get off their butts and get involved in the schools, nothing the district does will matter. We have black children coming out of our elementary school one to two grades behind in math and reading. The district and the schools cannot educate these kids alone. If black parents don’t go to the schools and take a part in their children’s education, what on earth do you expect? About four years ago a few notable blacks in our community went before the school board and demanded that a moratorium on retention be put into place. If a child leaves the elementary school on a third grade reading and math level, what do you expect of them at the high school level?  

Did you happen to hear the figures from Cal concerning the freshman class this year? More than 7,000 students, 900 of them Latinos and a grand total of 194 black children. Where is the outrage among black people? Where has the togetherness of the black community gone? Where is the hunger for education that the parents of my generation preached to us? When did we get to the point where we became so complacent because of our cell phones and nice cars that we forgot about our children? Do you realize that at the start of this year there were about 800 students at BHS with a chance of graduating? That figure is down to about 500. I wonder how many of those are black children. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is less than 100. This is ridiculous. And please don’t blame the high school for these figures. For the first time in a long time, we have a man at the high school that genuinely cares. Don’t even try to drag him down because we have neglected our duties as parents. 

We have teachers without the proper tools and supplies to teach. We have a district and black parents that are not willing to sit and talk about why we have this problem. We have a community that is willing to yell “racism” at the drop of a hat. We spend a ton of money on programs at the high school to try and recover children that we ignored at the elementary levels. We have a nation that is outsourcing jobs because our children are less educated. What is going on here, black folks? Why are we allowing our children to fall further and further behind? Why are we using our schools as baby sitting agencies? That is not what they were meant for. If nothing else, I hope I have angered enough of you to flood your child’s school and demand that you be allowed to get involved in your child’s education. 

Lee Berry served as president of the Berkeley High School Parent Teacher Student Association from June, 2003 to April, 2004.

This spring, the Berkeley High School theater department is putting on an impressive world-premiere musical, called Man In The Musical. The ambitious and well-done show was written by Bay Area natives Phil Gorman and Lila Tschappat. 

The musical is about Cornelius Love (BHS Junior Simon Trumble), a struggling, unhappy New York actor cast as the lead in an off-Broadway musical. Unfortunately, Love is vehemently anti-musical, and must struggle with that and his growing feelings for his co-star, Mina (Sonja Dale) as well as what the program calls “his own limitations and the inability to make life what he thinks it should be,” as the world around him soon becomes a musical itself. Love is serenaded by homeless people on the street asking for spare change, and he is trailed by three doo-wop-style backup singers who seem to pop up wherever he goes. All of this action is punctuated and complemented by the witty and interesting sub-plots, such as Love and his roommate Ned’s (Perry Young) search for a third roommate, which yields applicants like Bitsy, a nasal, designer-clad uptown Daddy’s girl, and Edward, a rapper hailing from Iowa with dreams of being a big-city pimp.  

The witty script captures these characters honestly and intelligently, winning real laughs from the audience. The musical-within-a-musical, entitled Boris’ Borscht Kitchen, is an absurdly funny Russian-Jewish mob drama set in prohibition-era Chicago, where a mafia family sets up shop trafficking illegal wine. We see scenes from this play, as well as snapshots of Mina’s crumbling engagement to her insensitive, workaholic fiancée (Dav Wright) and Ned’s burgeoning romance with Paige—Mina’s uptight best friend—who moves in with Ned and Cornelius. This is precisely where less talented writers could go wrong, abandoning plots or allowing them to slide into unbelievable absurdity. However, Tschappat and Gorman juggle all the plots with grace, resulting in a compelling, sometimes heartbreaking New York story. 

Tschappat and Gorman both attended Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco and graduated from Yale. They both now live in the Bay Area, where Gorman serves as the administrator of Camp Kee Tov, a summer day camp affiliated with the local Jewish Temple Beth El, and Tschappat works as a counselor at a teen drug rehab facility called Thunder Road. This is their first original musical, though they have also collaborated on an adaptation of the Roald Dahl children’s book James and the Giant Peach. This is also the first time the BHS drama department has put on a premiere showing of a serious musical.  

Though Man In The Musical is a first in many ways, it does not appear on the stage as such. The young actors take on their roles with a professionalism that is surprising for high school students. According to Tschappat and Gorman, “these kids are as good and in some cases better than the adults we usually work with.” Trumble and Dale, in their leading roles, give nuanced performances, though there is a noticeable lack of onstage chemistry between the two. However, the true stars of the play are the minor characters, especially Sean Barry and Dav Wright in several small roles each. Perry Young, as Ned, shows amazing comic timing and stage presence, and Martina Miles, as Kenner Stross, Boris’ Borscht Kitchen’s metaphor-spouting, pretentious director, delivers a performance that is colorful but not too over-the-top. 

All of the actors also show impressive dancing and singing abilities. The high-energy dance numbers, credited in the play’s program to “Simon Trumble and cast,” are the highlight of the show. The songs are backed by an eight-piece band of Berkeley High students led by Gorman himself, and feature smart and creative lyrics. Gorman also oversaw musical training during rehearsals, and it shows through the actors’ singing. Especially amazing are Chandra Krinsky, Young, and Emily Stein.  

The show is staged in Berkeley High School’s intimate Florence Schwimley Little Theater, and the sets and costuming are unobtrusive but complementary to the show in its entirety.  

In nearly every way, Man in the Musical is a first rate musical, complete with a funny script, talented performances, and creative dancing. This performance is definitely worth seeing. 

Ellen Cushing is a sophomore at Berkeley High School. o

One of the highlights of the 29th annual Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association 29th Spring House Tour on Sunday, May 9, is the Tape House on Russell Street near Shattuck Avenue. It was once the home of the pioneering Tape family. 

Acclaimed Berkeley filmmaker and UC Ethnic Studies lecturer Loni Ding is currently completing a documentary called Mamie Tape and the Fight for Equality in Education, 1885–1954. Mamie Tape was an 8-year old San Francisco girl who, in 1884, was denied admission to the neighboring public school because of her Chinese descent. Mamie’s parents were Americanized Christians educated by Presbyterian missionaries. Joseph C. Tape (1852–1935) and his wife Mary McGladery (1857–1934) were born in China and came to California in 1869 and 1868, respectively. They met in San Francisco, married in 1875, and raised four children: Mamie (1876–1972), Frank (1878–1950), Emily (1880–1934), and Gertrude (1890–1947). Mr. Tape was an expressman—he had a monopoly on transporting bonded Chinese immigrants and handled large drayage contracts for wholesale merchants in Chinatown. In addition, he was the interpreter to the Imperial Consulate of China in San Francisco. 

Mary McGladery Tape, an orphan from the Shanghai area, was multi-talented and progressive to a degree rarely seen in Victorian ladies. An accomplished amateur photographer, painter, and telegrapher, she was also imbued with a strong sense of justice. She and her husband knew that restrictive school laws embedded in the California Political Code had been repealed by the state legislature in April 1880. Section 1662 of the revised Code read: 

“Every school, unless otherwise provided by law, must be open for the admission of all children between 6 and 21 years of age residing in the district; and the board of trustees, or city board of education, have power to admit adults and children not residing in the district whenever good reason exists therefor. Trustees shall have the power to exclude children of filthy and vicious habits, or children suffering from contagious or infectious diseases.” 

The Tapes sued the San Francisco Board of Education in the landmark Tape v. Hurley case, which is still cited as precedent in racial quota lawsuits. On Jan. 9, 1885, Superior Court Judge McGuire decided the case in favor of the parents, writing, “To deny a child, born of Chinese parents in this state, entrance to the public schools would be a violation of the law of the state and the Constitution of the United States.” The school board appealed the decision to the California Supreme Court. Fearing a negative ruling, School Superintendent Andrew Jackson Moulder lobbied a compliant state legislature to introduce Assembly Bill 268, which was passed under an “urgency provision.” AB 268 added the following coda to Section 1662 of the Political Code, which would not be repealed until 1947: 

“...and also to establish separate schools for children of Mongolian or Chinese descent. When such separate schools are established Chinese or Mongolian children must not be admitted into any other schools.” 

In April 1885, Mamie Tape was again denied admission to Spring Valley School. Her mother sent an impassioned letter to the school board on April 8: 

To the Board of Education—dear sirs: I see that you are going to make all sorts of excuses to keep my child out of the Public schools. Dear sirs, Will you please to tell me! Is it a disgrace to be Born a Chinese? Didn’t God make us all!!! What right have you to bar my children out of the school because she is a chinese Decend.  

Although Mary vowed in her letter that Mamie would “never attend any of the Chinese schools of your making,” both Mamie and her brother Frank were the first pupils to appear at the Chinese Primary School, which opened on April 13, 1885. In an 1892 interview, Mary told a reporter of the San Francisco Call: “Their education in the common branches has been gained at the Chinese public school on Clay Street, and their other accomplishments by private tutors. Each of them has some accomplishment, and my eldest daughter Mamie is quite proficient on the piano.” 

Most accomplished in the family was Mary herself. According to photography historian Peter E. Palmquist, she was “a very popular member of the California Camera Club and of the amateur photography scene. Not only was she considered a fine photographic technician but she also won a number of salon awards for the artistic excellence of her photography.” Mary photographed landscapes, portraits, and still life, prepared her own plates, and made her own prints. Her photographs were exhibited at the Mechanics’ Institute. She was also a proficient painter in oil and on china. One of her painted dishes is included in the Smithsonian collections. 

Mary’s proficiency in Morse code was noted twice in newspapers of the period. In an 1889 interview, the “Chinese Edison” Wong Hong Tai deemed Mary his equal in both telegraphy and photography, adding that they regularly conversed on the telephone, “discussing science at long range.” Tai had invented a new camera, and Mary was creating extra-sensitive dry plates for capturing “trotters in motion and birds in flight.” In 1892, the Call reporter noted, “She can send and receive as well as the best operators, and keeps in constant practice by daily use of the instruments, connected with a line running from the house to some point near her husband’s place of business. […] The telegraph instrument is on a table in the dining room and its least click can be heard in any part of the house.” 

In 1895, the Tapes’ youngest daughter, Gertrude, reached school age. The family moved to Berkeley, where schools were integrated and where they were able to buy a home (in San Francisco, restrictive clauses in most property deeds barred Chinese from occupying property outside Chinatown). They bought a Victorian house on Russell Street near Shattuck Avenue, which remained in the possession of the family until 1949. The Tape house will be open on the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s house tour, 1-5 p.m. Sunday, May 9. Loni Ding hopes to complete her film and screen it in the Tape house during the tour. 

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TUESDAY, MAY 4 

CHILDREN 

Gary Lapow at 10:30 a.m. at Berkeley Public Library Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 981-6270. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bryan Sykes, Professor of Genetics, Oxford Univ. describes “Adam’s Curse: A Future Without Men” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Gloria Feldt talks about “The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women’s Rights and How to Fight Back” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Marvin Korman will read from “In My Father’s Bakery: A Bronx Memoir” at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Co-sponsored by Black Oak Books. 848-0237, ext. 127. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Anoush performs Balkan music at 8:30 p.m. with a dance lesson with Norma Adjmi at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Dayna Stephens House Jam at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Mimi Fox, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazz- 

school at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Shocked and Awed” an exhibit of drawings by Iraqi school children. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Museum of Children’s Art, 538 9th St., Oakland. Runs to June 6th. Gallery hours are Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sat.-Sun. noon to 5 p.m. 465-8770. www.mocha.org 

Huichol Art Show, yarn paintings, beaded bowls and animals from 4 to 7 p.m. at Gathering Tribes Gallery, 1573 Solano Ave. 528-9038. 

FILM 

Film 50: “The Man Without a Past” at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Susan Moon, editor, is joined by contributors to “Not Turning Away: The Practice of Engaged Buddhism” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

“A.W. Pattini, Victorian Designer-Builder” with Paul Roberts at 7:30 p.m. at Church by the Side of the Road, 2108 Russell St. Tickets are available from Berkeley Architectural Heritage Assoc. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

Hampton Sides introduces his unique compilation of “Americana: Dispatches From the New Frontier” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry for the People with Mohja Kahf at 3:15 p.m. at Unit 3 All Purpose Room, UC Campus. 642-2743. www.poetryforthepeople.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with hosts Nazelah Jamison and Karen Ladson at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7,  

$5 with student i.d. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert Javanese Gamelan at International House, Piedmont Ave. at Bancroft. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Songwriter Showcase at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $5. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration with Conjunto Coyote at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

I.C.E. Series, experimental music jam at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

David Lindley, string instrumentalist, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Whiskey Brothers perform old time and bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatross- 

pub.com 

Jules Broussard at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Ryoko Moriyama at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Oswald, Jacuzzi, Crackpot Theory at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Crowsong at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

THURSDAY, MAY 6 

THEATER 

Berkeley High School “Man in the Musical” premiere of an original musical theater piece by Phil Gorman and Lila Tschappat at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Allston and MLK Jr Way. Also May 7-8 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5-$10. 332-1931. 

FILM 

Los Angeles Plays Itself: “The Bigamist” free screening at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lunch Poems Student Readings at 12:10 p.m. in the Morrison Library in Doe Library, UC Campus. Admission is free. 642-0137. http://lunchpoems.berkeley.edu 

Lucinda Barnes in a Curator’s Talk on travelers and photographers of the late nineteenth century at 12:15 p.m. in the Theater Gallery, Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Tres Santos, followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. For information call 526-5985 or 205-1749.  

Edward Smallfield is the featured poet at at 7 p.m. at the Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 20. 

Jay Dalessandro introduces his new novel “1906” set during the San Francisco earthquake at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Kat Albracht introduces us to “The Pet Chronicles: Adventures of a K-9 Cop Turned Pet Detective” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Michael Andre Bernstein reads from his new novel “Conspirators” set in Austria-Hungary in 1913, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Chamber Chorus performs “Music for Sacred Spaces” at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant. Tickets are $5-$8. 642-9988. http://music.berkeley.edu/concerts.html  

Otis Taylor plays the blues at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited with music from Zimbabwe at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Touch of Soul at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Casey Neill Band and Little Sue at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Keni El Lebrijano, flamenco guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Patrick Cress’ Telepathy, inoovative jazz, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Sliding scale donation $7-$15. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Winard Harper Sextet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

FRIDAY, MAY 7 

CHILDREN 

We Love Our Mamas with storyteller Audrey Penn at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-3635. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Transformation” works by Lanny Weingrod, Mayumi Hamanaka and Taro Hattori. Reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at Nexus Gallery, 2701 8th St. Exhibit runs to May 9. Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. 

Richmond Art Center, reception for artists, with music by Faun Fables, from 6 to 8 p.m., at 2540 Barrett Ave. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

“Animal Art” by Kay Bradner, Ketzia Schoneberg, Jathy Sheehan, Rita Sklar and Heidi Wyckoff. Reception 6 to 8 p.m. Exhibition runs to May 27, at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. 601-4040, ext. 111. www.wcrc.org 

FILM 

A Mother Should be Loved: “Woman of Tokyo” at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “The Sisters Rosensweig,” a comedy by Wendy Wasserstein, opens at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, and continues on Fri. and Sat. through May 15. Tickets are $10. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theatre Company “Antigone Falun Gong” at 8 p.m. Wed.-Sat., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. through May 16. Tickets are $28-$40 available from 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley High School “Man in the Musical” premiere of an original musical theater piece by Phil Gorman and Lila Tschappat at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Allston and MLK Jr Way. Also May 8 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5-$10. 332-1931. 

Berkeley Rep “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” Charles Ludlam’s theatrical cult classic, at Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage at 8 p.m. and continues through May 23. Tickets are $39-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Impact Theatre “Money and Run” an action serial adventure with different episodes on Thurs., Fri. and Sats. Runs through June 5 at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid. For tickets and information call 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lolly Winston looks at loss in “Good Grief” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Ellen Oppenheimer, quilt artist, talks about the work she created as artist in residence at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Maxine Alexandra Bernstein, sporano and Sergei Podobedov, piano at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Reception follows. Benefits the restoration of the Julia Morgan landmark. Tickets are $35. Reservations required. 883-9710.  

UC Men’s and Women’s Chorales Spring Show at 7:30 p.m., Room 20 Cesar Chavez Center. Cost is $5-$8. 643-2662. 

Ricardo Lemovo and Makina Loca, Afro-Cuban music at 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. Tickets for the previously scheduled Cubanismo will be honored at the door.. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

(R)evolutionary (Id)entity presents “Any King, Any Path,” ambient poetry and accoustic rock at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $7-$15, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Susan Getz, jazz vocalist, with Leonard Thompson, piano, Justin Hellman, bass, Jemal Ramirez, drums, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Suggested donation $10. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Djialy Kunda Kouyate plays music from Sengal at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Austin Lounge Lizards at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Baby Jaymes, Dynamic at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Pacific Sound Collective at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

The Skin Divers at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Jackie Ryan at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Triple Play, jazz trio, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Dr. Masseuse, album release party, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. 548-1159. 

www.shattuckdownlow.com 

René Marie Fri. and Sat. at 8 and 10 p.m., Sun. at 7 and 9 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Drunken Cat Paws at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower, The Raking Bombs, Brilliant Red Lights at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, MAY 8 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Colibri and music from Latin America at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Wild About Books” storytime at 10:30 a.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

FILM 

Jacques Tati: “Playtime” at 6:30 and 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Karen Joy Fowler introduces the comedy set in the Central Valley in “The Jane Austen Book Club” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Olive Gallagher introduces “A Simple Path to the Good Life” at 2 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-3635. 

Poetry Concert with Jami Sieber, electric cello and vocals Kim Rosen, spoken poetry Michaelle Goerlitz, percussion, at 8 p.m. at Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1606 Bonita Ave. Tickets are $18-$20 available at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra performs Verdi’s “Requiem” at 4 p.m at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St., at 8 p.m. and Sun at 4 p.m. Free, donations welcome. 964-0665. www.bcco.org  

Showtime at the Apollo presents the Bay Area finalists at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$42 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Opera “Acis and Galatea” under the musical direction of George Thomson at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.berkeleyopera.org 

American Bach Soloists Choir and Orchestra with soprano Marguerite Krull and tenor Gerald Thomas Gray at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. 621-7900. www.americanbach.org 

Baroque Etcetera “A Telemann Celebration” with concerti and cantatas by Georg Phillip Telemann at 8 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd., Oakland. Suggested donation $10. 540-8222. www.baroquetc.org 

Oakland Day of Percussion with world-class drummers and persussionists presented by the Percussive Arts Society from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Alice Arts Center, 1428 Alice St. Oakland. Cost is $7-$10. 415-296-0454. www.pas.org/chapters/california/oak.html 

“Off Our Rockers” Lu Mitchell in concert at 7 p.m. in the Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St. Donation $5-$15, no one turned away. 848-6397. 

West Coast Live with Austin Lounge Lizards, the Cowlicks and others at 10 a.m. at the Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15 in advance, $18 at the door, available from 415-664-9500 or www.ticketweb.com 

Cal Jazz Choir Spring Show at 8 pm in the Choral Rehearsal Hall in the basement of Cesar Chavez Center, UC Campus. Tickets are $5-8.  

Youth Movement Records Artists at 8 p.m. at Youth Radio Cafe, 1801 University Ave. Cost is $3. 435-5112. 

YWCA Dance Perfromance at 7 p.m. at 2600 Bancroft at Bowditch. Free. 848-6370. 

Connecticut at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

David Siegel, Machingura & Folk This! at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. All ages welcome. Suggested donation of $7-$10, no one turned away for lack of funds. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Lithium House at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

House Jacks, a cappella quintet, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50 in advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Andre Thierry performs Cajun/Zydeco at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, with a dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10 in advance, $12 at the door. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jackeline Rago and the Venezuelan Music Project at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Apocalipstick, Castles in Spain at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6.  

848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Shanna Carlson, jazz vocalist, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

Fred Frith, Toychestra at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Scott Amendola Trio at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

The Phenomenauts, Jason Webley, Harold Ray, The Mothballs at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926.8

Anyone who passed through Austin during the glory years of the Texan counterculture will remember the establishment called Armadillo World Headquarters. Well, there’s a spot in Berkeley that I’ve begun to think of as Salamander World Headquarters. (No, y ou can’t get Lone Star or Shiner Bock there.) It’s the courtyard of a nondescript south-of-Campus apartment complex that has some irresistible attraction for salamanders. A friend who lives there keeps finding them: mostly arboreal salamanders, although a slender salamander turned up a few weeks ago. 

The arboreal salamanders seem particularly out of place. These chunky dark-brown amphibians, as the name implies, favor trees, especially oaks, as habitats, and Salamander World Headquarters is as oak-free a s a parking lot. Arboreals hide out in cavities and crevices, sometimes 30 feet off the ground, and climb down at night to hunt their prey—small insects and arthropods—in the leaf litter below. Trees are where female arboreals lay their grape-like cluster s of eggs, and where both sexes wait out the dry season. When the first fall rains hit, dehydrated salamanders cling to tree trunks soaking up the life-giving moisture like sponges. 

The skins of these creatures are their respiratory organs. Their distant ancestors had lungs, but at some point hundreds of millions of years ago they dispensed with them. One theory has it that the primordial lungless salamanders lived in rushing mountain streams, where the buoyancy of air-filled lungs put them at risk of be ing swept away by the current. But there’s a rival explanation involving adaptations to life on land and the development of chameleon-like tongues for catching prey, and the jury is still out. 

Arboreal salamanders are odd beasts (lacking vocal cords, the y can produce a squeak by retracting their eyeballs and forcing air through their mouths), but not as odd as slenders. Slender salamanders—there are 20 species, all but one native to California—bear a disconcerting resemblance to worms. They have no neck s to speak of, and rudimentary legs. 

Slender salamanders are often found hiding under things: logs, boards, flowerpots. If you pick one up, it will curl up in a tight coil, then suddenly uncoil like a watchspring and fling itself out of your hand. In a pinch, they can shed their tails—always good for distracting a predator—and grow them back later; 50 to 80 percent in some populations were found to be regenerating their tails. As a final fallback, slenders exude a sticky skin secretion that can gum up a predator’s jaws. One garter snake that had attacked a slender salamander was out of commission for at least 48 hours afterward. 

Our local species is the California slender salamander, which occurs near the coast from the Rogue River in Oregon to San Benito County. Some of its relatives have extremely narrow ranges: the Gabilan Mountains, the Santa Lucia Mountains, the Inyo Mountains, the lower Kings River, the Channel Islands. Although they all look pretty much alike, the genetic profiles of the slender salamanders are distinct enough to suggest they’ve been evolving in isolation for millions of years. According to UC Berkeley herpetologist David Wake, some of the Coast Range species appear to have ridden microplates—loose bits of the Earth’s crust—as te ctonic forces propelled them north along the San Andreas Fault. 

Most of the time, neither arboreal nor slender salamanders are all that gregarious. In summer, though, large numbers of arboreals may aestivate together in some damp dark hollow. And female slender salamanders congregate at communal egg-laying sites. Why either species would gather under the steps of an apartment building in early spring is an open question. Maybe the place has really tasty bugs. But how would word of this get around among these sedentary creatures? 

I have come to suspect that the social lives of salamanders, like those of most creatures, are more complicated than we give them credit for. I’m fascinated, for example, by recent studies of the red-backed salamander, an easte rn species that forms monogamous pair bonds and appears to be capable of jealousy. When researchers at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette removed the male of a pair, let him spend some time with another female, then brought him home, his mate whaled the tar out of him. Those foreign pheromones clinging to his skin were the amphibian equivalent of lipstick traces. "It almost looks like the females are waiting at home with rolling pins when these poor unfaithful males come back," herpetologist Ethan P rosen says. 

And there may be more going on cognitively that you might think. Salamanders aren’t wired for brilliance: The brain of some species contains fewer neurons that that of a honeybee. But they’re smart enough to have a sense of number. Claudia Uller, also at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, found that her lab salamanders, given the choice between a tube containing two fruitflies and a tube with three, consistently went for the three-pack. They did about as well as adult monkeys or human infants at this task. (No, the babies were not offered fruitflies.) Quantities greater than three confused them, but that was also true of the babies and monkeys. 

I am not sure how Lafayette came to be the center of cutting-edge salamander research. I ca n see the attractions of the place; it’s a great town for music if you like fiddles and accordions, and (unlike Austin) for food as well. But the synergistic possibilities are limited. There are some things even the boldest Cajun cook would never try to etouffee. 

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Photo by Pierre Fidenci›

Cartoon

On a night when Berkeley City Councilmembers deliberated a host of potential November ballot measures to shore up a $10 million budget deficit, council action made it likely that two other electoral choices will come before city voters this November.  

Despite some opposition voiced during debate, the council voted unanimously to have staff prepare language and a legal analysis of a proposed ballot measure to publicly finance elections in Berkeley. 

And to the tune of repeated hoots and hollers from medical cannabis demonstrators stationed outside the doors of Old City Hall, the council rejected a proposal to increase the number of marijuana plants licensed patients can grow. Medical cannabis advocates had threatened to take their cause to the voters if council did not pass the measure. 

The council also debated, but took no action, on four proposed property tax hikes that would raise a combined $4.2 million to preserve and improve services slated for cuts in the upcoming budget.  

At the request of City Manager Phil Kamlarz, the council held over—until next week—debate on a Transportation Commission recommendation on how to allocate $3.6 million in transit mitigations from the construction of a new downtown campus for Vista College. 

The council also announced at Tuesday’s meeting that at a special session the day before, Kamlarz was assigned the job of city manager. Kamlarz had been named acting city manager for a six-month mutual trial period in November when former City Manager Weldon Rucker retired. 

Campaign Finance Reform 

Despite some skeptics in its ranks, the council voted unanimously to have staff present them with a proposed ballot measure that would make Berkeley the first city in the country to fully finance its elections with public money. 

The current proposal, amended by the council Tuesday night, is nearly identical to a plan jointly devised for Berkeley by the Center for Government Studies at UCLA and Common Cause. Campaign finance reform advocates are planning to put that proposal on the November ballot if the City Council doesn’t act first.  

The council is planning a final vote on the measure for June 8, one week before the campaign reform advocates are required to submit the requisite number of signatures for their ballot initiative. 

Both plans would require candidates to prove their viability by submitting a required number of $5 donations—500 to qualify for mayor, for example. Under the plans, qualifying candidates would then be eligible for city campaign funds on the condition they adhere to spending limits. Candidates could opt out of the system, but if they exceed the city spending limits, their publicly-funded opponents would be eligible for more funding to make up the difference.  

Candidates for mayor would receive $150,000 in public campaign monies and council candidates $20,000, with more available in the case of a run-off. 

The Center for Government Studies estimated the cost of implementing the campaign finance proposal between $1.4 and $4 million. Expenses would be capped so that they would not rise above two-tenths of the city’s budget, said Sam Ferguson of the Berkeley Fair Election Coalition, the chief local proponents of campaign finance reform. Money would come from the general fund. Neither proposal included a tax hike to pay for it. 

The council proposal would give councilmembers additional power to suspend the campaign finance program by a two-thirds vote in the event of a budget shortfall. Also the council proposal would exclude rent board commissioners from public financing, but still include the mayor, City Council, city auditor and school board. 

Though the differences between the proposals are few, Mayor Bates argued the alternative to a council designed ballot measure was “much worse.” 

Still some councilmembers questioned the wisdom going forward with any initiative at all. 

Miriam Hawley doubted that voters would approve anything that would increase costs and added that public money didn’t necessarily translate into an even playing field. “The influence of money is overrated,” she said. Hawley added that endorsements from key interest groups and public officials were often more valuable than campaign funds.  

Wozniak, who spent $73,000 in 2002 on his runoff election, said he could support public financing but thought the spending limits laid out in the plan were too low. “You’re putting on an artificial cap that has nothing to do with reality,” he said. Wozniak fears that if caps are set too low, incumbents with higher name recognition would be the beneficiaries. 

Mayor Bates, who spent over $200,000 on his 2002 campaign, argued that once costs were fixed, candidates could keep expenses down since they wouldn’t have to worry that their opponents would outspend them. 

Budget Measures 

The council kept all of its options open, and even considered a couple of new ones, on proposed measures that would raise taxes to preserve city services in the face of a $10 million budget gap. The four proposals presented to them at a Tuesday work session—all of which included property tax increases—included $1 million to fund paramedics and emergency services, $1.2 million for the public library, $1 million for a clean water program, and $1 million to restore youth services threatened by budget cuts. The council has until July 13 to vote on which measures to take to the voters. 

The $1 million tax to fund emergency services appeared to have the widest support among councilmembers. Mayor Bates asked city staff to consider increasing the tax by $200,000 to guarantee that the first responding fire company to an emergency would be equipped to provide paramedic service. 

Jackie Griffin, Berkeley’s Director of Library Services, warned council that $1.2 million would be enough to preserve service on evenings and Sundays this year, but the library would likely have to ask for more to safeguard services in the future. Griffin said a new tax would also be likely to pay to get city librarians into elementary school libraries during after-school programs. Councilmember Wozniak questioned why a tax increase was needed one year after the city bumped up library revenue and asked for an analysis by the library board why a tax hike was necessary. 

On youth services, Mayor Bates called for the measure to be financed by a half-cent increase in the property transfer tax to pay for city-run after school programs, crossing guards and school-based police. Such a funding scheme would distinguish the measure from the school district’s planned November measure to increase property taxes. 

Councilmember Betty Olds urged that the measure only include vital programs so as not to be too expensive and turn off voters. Olds also called for splitting the proposed clean storm water measure into one measure that would fund storm drain repair and maintenance and a second measure that would clean up creek water and possibly provide money for daylighting Berkeley creeks. 

Wozniak urged the city staff to study possible taxes that wouldn’t fall solely on homeowners. He expressed interest in raising the Utility Users Tax and possibly reconsidering a tax on residents with multiple automobiles. 

In addition, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque told the council that a proposed $2 million to $3 million surcharge for 911 service for telephone landlines and cellular phones might require voter approval. Originally the council considered the surcharge as a fee, which would only require a council majority for passage, but the passage of Proposition 218 raises legal concerns, according to Assistant City Manager Arrietta Chakos in an interview after the council meeting. Chakos said Albuquerque is scheduled to report back to the council on May 18 on the matter. 

Medical Marijuana 

By a vote of 5-1-3 (Wozniak, Olds, Hawley, Shirek, Breland, yes, Bates, Spring, no, Maio, Worthington, abstain), the council voted to table a bill that would have upped Berkeley’s limit from 10 marijuana plants to 72—the number of plants permitted in Oakland.  

Medical cannabis advocates said they planned to push forward with a November ballot initiative that would erase any limit on plant cultivation and place the city in charge of marijuana distribution in the event of a federal crackdown.  

“We’ll be happy to have voters educate the City Council on this,” said James Blair of the Cannabis Buyer’s Network (CBCB) after the council vote. If passed by a majority of voters, the proposed initiative would give Berkeley the most lenient medical cannabis law in the state.  

Blair and other supporters of less restrictive cultivation rules said the 10-plant limit Berkeley codified in 2001 was too low for patients to grow an adequate supply for their medicinal needs and forced many to break the rule. Since Berkeley is densely populated and outdoor plants are only permissible in secluded areas, they argued most cultivation is done indoors, where plants grow smaller and the yield is less.  

In addition to supplying their own needs, patients also stock Berkeley’s three retail cannabis clubs, which sell the marijuana at a 40-45 percent markup, Don Duncan, director of the Berkeley Patients Group told the council. He said patients were able to supply the club because many broke the 10-plant rule and others lived in cities that allowed more plants. Duncan added that the price markup paid for the expenses of running the cannabis clubs and was not taken as profit. 

Police Chief Roy Meisner warned the council that raising the limit to 72 plants would increase both the opportunity for patients to profit from their harvest and the likelihood of violent crime. He said 72 plants could produce 18 pounds of marijuana, which would have a street value of $90,000.  

“That’s a lot of money and a lot of temptation,” Meisner said. He added that Berkeley police detectives linked two murders last year to marijuana, and recently police broke up an armed robbery, finding the resident beaten and bound and three armed assailants carrying duffle bags packed with marijuana and $69,200 in cash. 

The fear of increased crime weighed heavily for the five councilmembers who opposed an increase in plant cultivation, but what apparently sunk the proposal was a separate dispute over Blair’s Cannabis Buyers Network plan to move to a building in a crime-ridden section of Sacramento Street in Council District Two, represented by Councilmember Margaret Breland. 

In 2001 Breland was one of four councilmembers to support a proposal allowing patients to grow 144 plants, but Tuesday she changed her tune. 

“Why do we have to keep sticking [cannabis clubs] down in District Two?” she asked. “I wish people who really want it would take it up to their district.” 

Amid staunch neighborhood opposition, Blair’s group will soon go before the Zoning Adjustment Board for a use permit to move its operations to Sacramento Street from its current home at Longhaul, an anarchist resources center and bookshop, at Shattuck Avenue and Woolsey Street. The owner of that building is displacing tenants for a planned construction project to build top floor apartment units.  

Breland also echoed the concerns of Councilmember Maudelle Shirek that more marijuana in Berkeley would result in more young African Americans getting arrested on drug charges. “We’re the ones always getting in trouble because we’re used to being out on the street,” she said. “This is one of the reasons I’m against drugs because all they have to do is find a little bit, no matter how much it is, and we are going to jail.” 

Councilmember Worthington argued that by raising cultivation limits fewer poor people of any race would be at risk of prosecution, and Councilmember Spring said the council’s focus should be on helping people to “ease their pain.” But Breland—considered by medical cannabis advocates as the swing vote on the issue—remained steadfast. 

“You can survive without marijuana,” said Breland who has battled breast cancer recently. “I have pain medication, I have prayer, I have faith, and I am strong. So don’t give me that about you need the marijuana to survive.” 

Community Development Block Grants 

As directed by the council last week, city staff found an extra $15,000 in funding for the Center for the Education of Infant Deaf. The extra money increases the nonprofit’s funding to $25,000, with a promise that it will be the first to receive additional funding if another recipient is disqualified. The organization had request $50,000 to enable it to utilize a separate federal grant to open an audiology suite that would guarantee timely diagnostic screenings to its infant patients. 

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The loss of 11 students is just a drop in the bucket to most college student organizations. But for the Native American Recruitment and Retention Center (NARC) at the University of California, it is enormous. 

Last week when UC Berkeley released statistics about new student admissions for the upcoming year, members of NARC stood in shock when they learned that 11 fewer American Indian students had been accepted to Cal. With Native Americans making up one of the smallest ethnic groups on the UC campus, that represented a 21.6 percent drop from last year, the second worst percentage decline for underrepresented students at the university. Only the 29.2 percent loss of African American UC students (87 less than last year) was greater. 

“Since the numbers have come out, just seeing how the majority [Asian and white populations] increased, it’s really like a stab in the heart for us,” said Lori Garrett, a student and chair of NARC. “It makes us feel like we are invisible.” 

For students like Garrett, the numbers are representative of a larger university and statewide trend that has continually made it harder for underrepresented students to attend college in California.  

Starting with the voter-passed Proposition 209 in 1997, which banned affirmative action in California’s government agencies (including colleges and universities), the state’s public higher education institutions have faced a series of laws, voter initiatives, Board of Regents edicts, escalating budget cuts, and other setbacks in recent years that have devastated minority outreach and retention programs. This year, all monies currently earmarked for state university-sponsored outreach programs are slated to be cut once the governor’s budget passes.  

Budget cuts, besides hurting outreach programs, also raise fees for students and reduce the amount of financial aid the university can offer. 

Like other underrepresented groups that have been affected by these set backs, American Indian students have done their best to come up with creative solutions. The creation and operation of NARC was one of them.  

Established in the mid-1990s, NARC runs a series of student-led recruitment and retention projects. Every year NARC sponsors programs in high school around the state, and sometimes out of state, to encourage Native American students to come to Cal. The group also provides on-campus retention services that help enrolled students stay at Cal. But like other recruitment and retention groups, NARC faces its own set of problems in the process. 

In particular, NARC representatives say they run into a series of unique cultural and historical barriers that make it very hard for American Indian students to attend college. 

“In the past [American Indian communities] really haven’t emphasized education,” said Dallas Goldtooth, a student and member of NARC. “There isn’t a push for the youth to go into education. It’s [because of] multiple reasons. Historically people have been beaten down and they have internalized this. Negativity has been projected upon us until we start believing it. We believe we are incapable of succeeding. It really makes it frustrating to try and go to school and there isn’t support from our community.” 

Goldtooth, who attended a boarding school in New Mexico for the last two years of high school, said he was on his own when it came to college. His parents were as supportive as they could be, but he said they didn’t really understand.  

“People don’t know that you can be Indian and go to college at the same time,” said Garrett. “There is a myth among people that all college is, is a bunch of white rich people. They don’t know that you can be poor and go to college.” 

There is a litany of other problems that also face American Indian students. Many come from rural areas and are frightened about transitioning into a more urban setting. Many have strong family and cultural ties that are hard to leave behind in order to attend school.  

With drop-out rates high in Native American communities, even making it through high school is often a challenge. Goldtooth said the communities he originally came from in Minnesota and South Dakota have a 30 percent graduation rate, and of that 30 percent, only one out of 10 end up going to college. Only one percent actually graduate from college, a number which usually translates into one or two students. 

Cal’s Native American students are not completely alone in their recruitment and retention efforts, however. The university does provide a staff person who recruits American Indian students. Bridgette Wilson is an admission officer for UC Berkeley, but is allowed to spend 50 percent of her time doing recruitment for American Indian students. 

Wilson, like the students, travels around the state encouraging students to come to UC Berkeley. She also does whatever she can to facilitate the process, such as helping them file for financial aid. 

“The campus at Berkeley has displayed their interest and desire to have [American Indian] students on the campus,” said Wilson, citing her hiring as an example of that interest. 

Wilson said she appreciates the campus allowing her to spend at least 50 percent of her time recruiting American Indian students, but still thinks they could do more. In particular, she said the university needs to be more supportive of retention services for the students once they are on campus. 

Alex Alday is an advisor in the student life advising services program. His primary job is a student counselor, but like Wilson, he is allowed to spend a certain amount of time focusing on American Indian students. Alday used to be a full-time student life advisor in the Native American studies department, but was moved to a general counseling position because of budget cuts. With the severity of the budget cuts the university is facing, he said he feels lucky that his office received any resources at all. 

Alday spends time helping American Indian students navigate their schedule, advising them on what classes to take to ensure they graduate on time. He said he also spends much of his time helping students figure out how they will pay for their books, tuition, and other school-related costs. And when they need it, he said he is there for emotional support. Academically, he said all the Native American students he sees are well prepared and motivated, but sometimes fall behind because of added burdens.  

Alday, Wilson and Ruth Hopper, the academic advisor in the Native American studies department, have also set up the Native American Advisory Council to combine their efforts as staff members.  

Students in NARC say their organization does a lot of retention work by providing the support students need to be successful once they are at Cal.  

Goldtooth said he and other students are constantly under strain to go back and support their communities. They also have cultural ties and obligations that draw them away from school. Without support from other students, he said, juggling all these responsibilities would have been much more difficult. 

“I told myself that in order to survive [I had] to find a community. This is a big school and [I] am going to get lost easily,” Goldtooth said. 

One of the larger retention programs NARC holds is their annual campus pow-wow, which attracts people from across the country. The gathering is a time to celebrate and relax. It also serves as a recruitment opportunity for the high school students who attend. 

All the work students put into these programs add up to a what they call a third job. They feel responsible for their community and are willing to put in the time but can also suffer the consequences if they don’t spend enough time on their academics.  

“Recruiting native students is a worry,” said Goldtooth. “As a native person I see it as my responsibility. What doesn’t help is worrying about what’s here, classes, or the Indian community here at Cal.” 

That’s why Goldtooth and other students say even in the face of budget cuts, the university needs to do whatever it can to ensure that American Indian students and other underrepresented groups continue to have the chance to attend and succeed.  

Now, said Garrett, is the time for “the university to invest.” 

In a 7-0 vote, a state voting panel decided Wednesday to allow 10 counties, including Alameda, to continue using their touchscreen voting machines provided those counties also supply all their polling places with paper ballots for any voters who choose to use them. 

  The Voting Systems and Procedures Panel, which could have voted to ban the machines altogether, produced the compromise with a string of other security regulations. These included bans on wireless or Internet connections, last-minute software changes and uncertified software or hardware. The panel’s decision also prohibited counties from purchasing new touchscreen machines that don’t produce a paper trail. The voting panel’s recommendations now go before Secretary of State Kevin Shelly who has the final say. 

  According to Elaine Ginnold, the assistant Registrar of Voters in Alameda county, the panel’s decision was viewed as a reasonable compromise. She said the county is glad it can still use its touchscreen machines and is in the process of figuring out how to meet the added requirements. 

  Ginnold said the county already provides paper ballots at polling places but not in the quantity the panel wants. It will not be a problem to have paper ballots printed, she explained but it will cost the county 40 cents apiece. While Ginnold said the county will not print ballots for each of the 700,000 voters in Alameda County, the registrar’s office must now figure out how many paper ballots will actually be needed to have on hand in November. 

  Alameda County already complies with several of the other requests including the ban on wireless and Internet connections. Vote tallies are submitted from accumulation centers, but over secure modem lines that are not connected to the Internet. The county’s machines are not set up for wireless transmission.  

  One of the few election operations in Alameda County the panel’s decision will actually affect is the time it will take to get the vote totals, Ginnold said. Counting paper ballots is much slower and takes place only after the tallies are in from the touchscreen machines. 

  For Judy Bertelsen, a Berkeley resident who has been monitoring the touchscreen debate closely, the state voting panel’s decision is a move in the right direction, but still not enough. Bertelsen said even if the touchscreen problem is alleviated by voting on paper, the current voting system still has several vulnerabilities.  

  “I would feel uncomfortable even if they had gotten rid of all the paperless machines,” she said. 

  In particular, she said, the server used by the country to tally and store the votes sent in from the accumulation sites has been highlighted for security flaws. Bertelsen is also worried about the way the county performs its mandated re-count of a small percentage of the vote to insure accuracy. She said the re-count does not catch several of the ways the votes could be tampered with when using the touchscreen system. 

  Overall, however, Bertelsen said, she thinks Alameda county does a good job and is more worried about the other parts of the country that use touchscreen systems. 

  “There are just so many vulnerabilities,” she said. 

The Berkeley Planning Commission’s UC Hotel Task Force wrapped up their last official business Tuesday, adopting the last of their recommendations on the biggest project to ever hit downtown Berkeley. 

Their report now heads to the full Planning Commission, for consideration at the commission’s May 12 meeting. 

The task force was charged with evaluating the proposal by UC Berkeley to build a massive hotel, conference center and complex of museums in the heart of downtown Berkeley in a two-block area bounded by Shattuck Avenue, Oxford Street, Center Street, and University Avenue. 

The task force meeting ended with applause for panel chair and Planning Commissioner Rob Wrenn, who had resisted efforts by Mayor Tom Bates to have the panel hold off on its actions. Bates had originally sponsored the City Council measure creating the task force, but later complained that its activities might interfere with negotiations between his office and the university. 

“The Planning Commission established a subcommittee to get this rolling, and we certainly could include a recommendation that this task force be included in any city design studies on the development of the site,” Wrenn said, in pushing for a continuing role for the group. 

Wrenn and fellow Planning Commission subcommittee members Zelda Bronstein and Gene Poschman also voted unanimously to ask the city to allow the task force to be the forum in which developers unveil their completed plans for the project. 

The proposal to “daylight” Strawberry Creek was one of the last items left on the panel’s plate when they gathered Tuesday. 

While the task force had given two thumbs up to turning a block of Center Street into a pedestrian plaza, they extended only qualified support Tuesday for unearthing Strawberry Creek along the length of the plaza. 

While creek daylighting advocates Richard Register, Kirsten Miller and Juliet Lamont pushed for a strong endorsement of the plan, 15 task force members voted only a qualified approval and four members abstained. The recommendation adopted endorses daylighting only should it prove financially, technically, esthetically and environmentally feasible—and if a plan is in place to assure cleanliness and avoid social problems such as an increased homeless population. 

The panel gave quick approval to a call for the developer to build ground- and second-floor cafes, preferably with outdoor seating, on the Center Street side of the project, and to request that all parts of the complex be wheelchair accessible. 

The panel was more divided by a recommendation by Berkeley Convention and Visitors Bureau President Barbara Hillman and Chamber of Commerce CEO Rachel Rupert that would urge the developers to incorporate the largest possible number of rooms in their hotel. 

“There are hotel and motel rooms in the city, but the owners are not renovating them,” Hillman said. 

“The people who presently own hotels aren’t reinvesting in their property in terms of cleanliness and amenities,” said Rupert, who cited reports of cockroach-infested rooms in some of the city’s larger facilities. 

“We need a clean hotel downtown that’s close to public transit and capable of handling larger events,” she said. 

When Planning Commissioner Bronstein said she was “nervous about calling for the largest number of rooms,” Wrenn said he was inclined to go along with the request because it came from the business community. 

“I’m concerned about saying we should build the hotel as big as possible because we’ve got cockroaches at these other hotels,” said fellow Planning Commissioner Poschman. 

An angry Hillman shot back, “You’re going to do whatever you want.” After grabbing a breath, she explained that given the UC feasibility study’s recommendation of 200 to 250 rooms, the task force should endorse the higher number. 

Wrenn then offered a recommendation that “consistent with design principles” endorsed at the task force’s previous session, “we recommend the developer pursue the maximum number of rooms.” 

The proposal carried on an 11 to 6 vote. 

Next up was a vote on the 12-story hotel height suggested in the university’s initial proposal. Following a brief discussion, the task force voted 12-4 to recommend that it is “not necessarily appropriate to have a 12-story building.” 

With the last proposal adopted, the panel then voted unanimously to approve their report, and members of the task force’s drafting committee started crafting the final versions of the just-adopted proposals into their largely completed 13-page report. 

Bronstein urged all panel members to turn out for the May 12 Planning Commission meeting where the report will be presented, and Wrenn said he would select a group from the panel to summarize sections for his fellow commissioners.  

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One of Berkeley’s largest and most fiscally troubled nonprofits is back in hot water with its labor union.  

The California Professional Employees Union, Local 2345, filed a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board Thursday charging that Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS) illegally laid off an employee with just three days notice. The union’s contract requires a 30-day warning, but that can be suspended in the case of a fiscal emergency. 

“How in good conscience could BOSS take this insensitive position, while attempting to be an agency that provides services to homeless clients?” said Union Representative Christopher Graeber in a prepared statement. 

Last year the union, which represents roughly 90 workers at BOSS, filed complaints against the cash-strapped nonprofit for failing to meet its scheduled payday and implementing a higher health care co-payment. 

The two sides eventually reached a one-year contract on health and salary issues last fall. 

BOSS is currently running a $100,000 budget deficit, which is just the start of its financial woes. Last year a U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) audit found that BOSS owed the agency approximately $600,000 in invalid reimbursements it had claimed over several years. County and city agencies are working with BOSS on a plan to reimburse HUD without bankrupting the organization. 

BOSS Executive Director Boona Cheema said the organization’s fiscal crisis gave her no choice but to proceed with the layoff on short notice. 

“I had to make a cut and the union knows it,” she said. Cheema added that she had already reached an agreement with the employee to give her an extra week’s pay, a good recommendation, and assistance finding a new job.  

“This isn’t a story,” she said. “The story will be when we shut down and 90 people are unemployed. That’s where we’re heading.” 

—Matthew Artz

Cartoon: 

DeFreitas

University Avenue neighbors, who for years, to no avail, have been pushing for a change in zoning rules to limit the size of new buildings on the avenue, now have two new proposals drafted to address their concerns. 

At Wednesday’s meeting of the Planning Commission, planning staff presented a revised zoning overlay for the avenue that would restrict the size of new buildings to what many vocal neighbors have said was called for in the 1996 University Avenue Strategic Plan.  

“Tonight for the first time I have hope,” said Kristin Leimkuhler, of Plan Berkeley, a neighborhood group advocating stricter development standards.  

The newly proposed zoning overlay, requested by the commission at its previous meeting, goes much further to satisfy the demands of residents than the original proposal staff offered in March. Though the March plan also shrinks the building envelope, opponents argued that developers could still use the state density bonus law—that allows them to build 25 percent more space for developments that include affordable housing—to construct oversized buildings that block the sun and push up against neighboring properties behind the avenue.  

The new plan reduces the size of buildings further so that if a developer requests a density bonus, the total size of the building will grow no larger that what was called for in the planning staff’s March proposal: three story buildings along the avenue, four stories in selected intersections with strong retail potential and extensive building setbacks from private homes behind the avenue. 

Zoning on University emerged as a hot button issue last February when the Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting and Development made new zoning rules for University one of its top recommendations. The City Council has asked for a new zoning overlay to be returned for its consideration by July 13. 

A second new plan emerged, not yet analyzed by staff, at Wednesday’s meeting. Stephen Wollmer, an electronic map expert and Berkeley resident, submitted a proposal that would graft different zoning rules together for new buildings on University. Ground floor commercial space would be zoned with the standard currently used on the avenue, which requires minimal building setbacks and assumes ground floor retail with apartment units above. The second and third floors, however, would be zoned with guidelines used for residential neighborhoods, in this case meaning they would have stricter front and side setbacks. 

Wollmer argued that when developers employed the density bonus, they could build out from the stricter setbacks so the building wouldn’t get too tall or bulky.  

Smaller buildings, though, have consequences.  

A staff analysis presented Wednesday showed that both the staff proposal presented in March and the latest one would released Wednesday would decrease housing capacity on University Avenue. Under the existing zoning rules, the city had calculated in its general plan that it could build 618 units (773 units with the state density bonus) on 17 identified opportunity sites. The March proposal drops that number to 558 (698 with the state density bonus) and the latest proposal lowers it further to 519 units (649 with the state density bonus)—a 16 percent reduction.  

State law prohibits the city from decreasing its housing capacity without compensating for it. To keep capacity relatively stable, city planners identified two new opportunity sites on University Avenue, one at 1375-9 University and the other at 1627 University. 

After the staff presentation members of the public and planning commissioners spoke less about the zoning proposals and more about various facets of the plan, especially how to create viable retail opportunities on university.  

The 1996 strategic plan specifically called for mixed-use buildings with housing above ground floor retail along the avenue, but residents and planning commissioners asked the staff to study allowing residential only buildings in areas not identified as strong retail opportunities. 

Several storefronts at newly developed university avenue sites have remained vacant, said Principal Planner Alan Gatzke . Residents, who believe many of the storefronts were built as a token gesture to win city concessions, questioned if the retail spaces called for in the plan could be viable.  

“University Avenue doesn’t have the foot traffic to support pedestrian oriented business,” said Tom Hunt during the public hearing.  

To make retail space more attractive, several planning commissioners requested that the ceiling height for storefronts be increased to 15 feet and asked staff to consider requiring more commercial related parking at the intersections targeted as retail opportunities. 

Planning commissioners agreed that projects that consisted of only entirely affordable housing or senior housing should qualify for bonuses to build beyond the zoning requirements. They debated, but failed to reach a consensus on, which type of landscape improvements could qualify a developer for a similar break.  

Gatzke said he would incorporate the input in a new draft when the planning commission returns to the subject on May 12. 

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Berkeley’s John Muir Elementary School was one of just three schools in Alameda County and 214 statewide to receive the prestigious Title I Academic Achievement Award, the State Department of Education announced Tuesday. 

The school will receive a cash award for its achievement, the amount of which remains undetermined. 

The award goes to schools with high levels of poverty that display strong standardized test scores for students from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds. To be eligible for the award, a school must have a poverty index equal to at least 40 percent of all students enrolled. 

In the latest state Academic Performance Index report, which ranks schools on a basis from one to 1000, John Muir had an overall score of 815. African Americans at the school scored a 734, while socioeconomically disadvantaged students scored a 752. For the district as a whole, the average score was 731 overall, 642 for African Americans and 665 for socioeconomically disadvantaged students. 

“We’re feeling proud and happy that the hard work everyone is doing is being recognized,” said John Muir Principal Nancy Waters. 

She said the school, which at 242 students is Berkeley’s smallest, is able to give students a lot of positive, individual support.  

Six times a year teachers send out postcards to students with praise about a specific area of progress, Waters said. 

“It’s part of our culture,” she added. “We’re constantly trying to find the good.” 

—Matthew Artz

Knowing your way around a particular town is like knowing your way around the English language: Just because you’re fluent doesn’t mean you can name all the working parts of a toilet or trade bons mots with an Oxford don. And just because you’ve lived in a town on and off for over 10 years, as I have in Berkeley, doesn’t mean you really know it as well as you might think, if at all—a fact I found out upon returning this year to Berkeley as the father of a newborn little girl.  

Being a new parent is largely a matter of running a major supply operation for a very demanding boss who refuses to say what she wants but requires instant gratification. Or else. Which means that mastering the logistics of where to find the really important things that keep the boss happy is a matter of life and death, sleep and sanity, and absolutely no diaper rash, usually all in the same 24-hour period.  

So it was with a certain level of panic that I discovered the complexity of setting up a proper baby supply-line when we moved back to Berkeley, just as my little dictator was hitting the one-month mark. I had assumed, based on something I now recognize to be profound ignorance, that the abundance in Berkeley of such diverse items as too-rich gourmet foods, endless kitchen supplies, over-priced real estate, and ridiculous amounts of camping equipment would extend to essential baby-related products. It turns out that I had a lot to learn.  

The first thing I learned is that geography is destiny when it comes to a baby’s needs. A large chain like Safeway or Walgreen’s can have a massive baby section in one store, replete with the kind of option overload that is our God-given birthright as yuppie Americans, and then present an out-of-stock baby shelf in another store that would make a Soviet-era retailer blush with pride. This is particularly true the closer a baby supply chain chief ventures towards the UC Berkeley campus, where the space that would otherwise have gone towards supplying babies is taken up by the ways and means of preventing them in the first place. (With an appropriate level of option overload, begging the question of why Cal students need 15 different kinds of condoms...) 

The second thing I learned is that, while Berkeley professes to being on the cutting edge of social change, many Berkeley retailers still assume that baby’s only procurer is mommy or some such other woman, preferably with a feminine hygiene problem in need of a little retail therapy. Hence the frequent placement of baby products next to the women’s products section. As an honorary member of the sisterhood, I honestly have no problem with the proximity of Monistat to Gerbers, and I am certainly grateful that the baby section isn’t next to a wall full of Maxim magazines or more striped condoms. But wouldn’t it make more sense to at least acknowledge the buying power of fathers in the baby business with an adjacent shelf dedicated to, say, romantic gifts for the tired partner staying at home with Junior while daddy escapes on a shopping trip? 

The final thing I learned is that the shop that doesn’t stick the diapers next to the tampons usually sticks them next to the cold remedies. Now that’s a successful retail strategy: Imagine the joy of turning the aisle, with newborn baby in a carriage about three feet off the ground, and finding the kid’s vital supplies blocked by a mass of sneezing, coughing germ factories looking for a new host for their miserable microbes. This is a particularly welcome sight in flu season, but it’s good for a quick exit any time of year.  

A few weeks passed and I eventually got the hang of this latest twist in getting to know quirky Berkeley. And at this point I’d say that I’ve pretty much mastered the current needs of my new master, who shows her benevolence by generally cooperating in my peregrinations to please her so-far wordless whims. Which brings us to the essential truth about fatherhood: You don’t need to be able to trade witticisms with a British bigwig or discuss part numbers with a plumber, as long as you’ve got your baby’s lingo down pat.

Laser Tagging Leads to Arrest 

A 13-year-old King Middle School student got more than he bargained for Monday afternoon when he started “dotting” passing drivers with a laser point. 

Berkeley Police arriving at the school nabbed the teenager and busted him on a misdemeanor charge under section 417.27 of the California Penal Code, which bans flashing the pesky devices into the eyes of anyone, particularly at motorists. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Kevin Schofield added that California law also forbids sales of laser pointers to minors. 

Pistol-Packer Robs Motorist 

A Berkeley woman who was getting out of her car near the intersection of Josephine and Cedar streets at seven minutes before midnight Monday found herself confronting a gunman who demanded her cash. 

Wisely, she complied, and the bandit fled on foot. No suspects have been apprehended, say Berkeley police. 

Shouts and Punches Lead to Jail  

Berkeley police were summoned to the 1300 block of Carleton Street shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday by residents complaining about a man screaming threats on the street. 

When officers responded, the screamer challenged them to a fight, and when they moved in for the arrest, the man started throwing punches until the lawmen presented him with a new pair of bracelets. 

Police spokesperson Kevin Schofield said Terrence Ford, 38, of Berkeley, was booked into city jail on charges of assaulting and officer and resisting arrest. 

Juveniles Punch, Rob Septuagenarian 

Berkeley police said a group of juveniles punched a 74-year-old Berkeley man in Strawberry Creek Park shortly before 8:30 a.m. Monday, making off with his backpack. The victim didn’t require medical attention, according to police spokesperson Schofield. 

Gunmen Rip Off Dry Cleaner 

Two young men who may not have been old enough to drink walked into a dry cleaning establishment in the 2500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard shortly before noon Wednesday and demanded cash. The clerk complied and the robbers fled with their loot. 

Cyclist Loses Wheels to Teens 

A band of teenagers ran up to a cyclist pedaling along at 62nd and King Streets shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday, knocked him to the ground and made off with his bike, Berkeley police said. 

The 33-year-old cyclist didn’t require medical attention. 

One of the more interesting things about living in Oakland in the Jerry Brown years is never quite knowing where our mayor is going to turn up. Lately Mr. Brown has been on cable television, hawking cars for the merchants at Oakland’s Auto Row, complaining that two-thirds or thereabouts of Oakland residents who have recently bought new cars have chosen not to do so in the city in which they live. 

One might argue that Mr. Brown’s auto commercials cannot really count as ongoing public appearances, no matter how many times they are aired, since they were probably all taped in a single afternoon. Meanwhile, Mr. Brown could now be anywhere. And often is. 

A quick glance at the mayor’s posted itinerary for the week of April 25-May 1 is—as I said—interesting. On Sunday, the 25th, he was interviewed on Fox Television’s Scarborough County. Then a break in the public schedule until Wednesday, when he was scheduled to introduce a book on “The Etiquette of Illness” at Cody’s in Berkeley. The next day, a weekly interview on KGO radio (I didn’t know the mayor was doing weekly interviews on KGO radio; I wonder what he talks about), and the day after that—Friday—a morning television interview with Phil Matier on Channel 4. At noon, the mayor has another weekly interview with KNX radio in Los Angeles, and, that evening, it’s down to Los Angeles to appear at an awards dinner for his late father’s institute. On Saturday, the 1st, he’s scheduled to give opening remarks to women educators at the Oakland Marriott in the morning, and then, that evening, a couple of appearances at local events promoting his School for the Arts (as well as, we are told, a fund-raiser for the restoration of the Fox Theater, of which we will speak further, later). 

I know I’m being picky here, but don’t you find a sort of scarcity, here, of activities related to the actual job for which Oakland residents are paying Mr. Brown such a handsome monthly stipend to perform? 

I happened to catch, quite by accident, a small portion of the Sunday night Fox interview, in which the mayor was offering advice to Senator John Kerry on how to run a Presidential campaign. This makes as little sense—for Mr. Kerry to take such advice—as it does for a a man to take singing lessons from a braying mule (the theory being that one should never confuse persistent and repeated attempts at a project—no matter now spirited—with a successful completion thereof). 

And though no-one—not me, anyways—would begrudge the mayor an L.A. trip to an event in honor of his father, a question must be raised about the noontime L.A. radio interview, announced as both a weekly event and intended to concentrate on “state and national issues.” Nice that he’s sharing his thoughts on various events not actually directly related to Oakland, I suppose. 

Meanwhile, the only person in the city who appears to be able to draw Mr. Brown into any sustained public discussion on Oakland issues is Rob Harper, the Oakland-based artist-activist whose complicated ties with the mayor go back to Sacramento in the days of father Brown’s gubernatorial years. Their running e-mail battles periodically, for some reason, land in my inbox. 

“Jerry, I’ve been thinking about you lately,” Mr. Harper recently writes (to Mr. Brown). “You’ll be leaving the mayor’s office someday, and you’ll have NO legacy to leave behind in Oakland... Say, for example, Mayor Harris, has left us with two beautiful office towers, the Federal Buildings, which occupy the Oakland skyline, and they help to define the idea of ‘City,’ and, of progress. You, have no physical structure to show your presence, nor to show your ‘magic kingdom.’” 

To which Mr. Brown (or someone doing a good job of pretending to be Mr. Brown while posting from “Jerry Brown jb@jerrybrown.org) replies: “Starting two great schools and restoring the Fox ain’t chopped liver. The Oakland Arts School earned the best scores in Oakland and has attracted more middle class and out of city kids than any other public school in the city. And, yes, it has enrolled a majority of African-American students and has the most integrated-across color and class lines-than any school in the East Bay, public or private. Just these three items I will stack up against any mayor in California. Go Oakland!” 

Let us concede, without checking, and solely for the sake of the argument, the truth of the above contentions. A couple of things sort of jump out at you about the mayor’s Statement of Legacy. 

The first is that saying the Oakland School for the Arts has attracted more out-of-city students than any other Oakland school is like saying Skyline High School has more students attending a high school whose name starts with an “S” than any other high school in Oakland. (If that’s confusing, I’ll wait while you read it again.) The fact is, since the job of public schools in Oakland is only to teach…well…Oakland students, the idea of beating Oakland public schools at teaching out-of-Oakland students does not seem much of an accomplishment. And since the Mayor offers in a follow-up e-mail that “the Arts School enrolls by audition, seeking young artists with the greatest potential talent,” the fact that it thereafter ends up with the best test scores—if that, indeed, is true—seems hardly a fair comparison to the aforementioned public schools, which cannot pick and choose among their charges, but are more of a whomsoever-shall-let-them-come operation. 

As for listing the restoration of the Fox as one of his accomplishments: well, I know I’m old-fashioned, but I was brought up to believe that an accomplishment is something that has…ummm…actually been accomplished. That would appear to drop the unoccupied and still-dilapidated Fox out of the list, at least for the time being, $65,000 marquis lights notwithstanding. 

Picky, picky, again, I know. In any event, let the stacking-up begin.

Residents from all neighborhoods in Berkeley have come together around the city’s current budget crisis as evidenced by their active participation at various City meetings. This is a Preliminary Statement that, in expanded form, was sent to all members of the City Council to respond to various proposals that have been put forward to date. 

We recommend that the following policies guide all future budget decision. 

1. Minimize impacts on essential services to the community. 

Safe neighborhoods are the foundation of a healthy city. So, we are extremely concerned to find that in the city manager’s Jan. 27 options to balance fiscal year 2005 budget and five-year projections the Fire Department is the only department listed for cuts in fiscal year 2007, and those cuts proposed for the department are $1,300,000. The report also details deep cuts proposed for fiscal year 2005 and 2006 to both the fire and police departments. These cuts are unacceptable. 

While our first priority is public safety, we also regard the arts and services to the homeless, youth, seniors and the mentally ill as essential. 

2. Additional local revenues must be broad-based rather than targeted to property-owners, and used solely for an identified service, program or purpose. 

Many residents have voiced their concern about Berkeley having the highest taxes in the state. It is apparent that you are planning for tax increases for the November ballot. We will not be fooled that the need for these tax increases is based upon avoiding deep cuts to essential public safety services, when what you intend to do is to shift General Fund moneys from essential services, and use that money to fund other services. This does not mean that we will not come to the conclusion that new revenue is needed, but any new revenues must meet the test of being broad-based rather than targeted to property-owners. 

3) The process to approve new revenues based on Assessment Districts must require a majority of ‘yes’ votes. 

Currently, assessment districts are based on formulae that must achieve a majority vote. Only the “no” votes are used to determine whether a majority objects. This makes it impossible for an assessment district to be turned down by the people in the proposed district. The council must reverse this procedure and require a majority of “yes” votes to approve new assessment districts. 

4) Minimize impact of reductions and require at least 45-day notice to employees, and agencies of impending layoffs, reductions or cuts. 

5) Take no action without full discussion with employees and community and without opportunity for response from affected parties. 

In order to carry out these policies, the City Council should: 

1. Identify quickly and clearly which services are deemed essential. The public is watching and we request that you undertake this process in public, not in the privacy of the Agenda Committee, nor at a 5 p.m. “workshop” when the public isn’t watching. 

2. Institute a requirement that in new and future budget reports, various departments and divisions of the city identify programs and services for which they are responsible, number of employees (FTE) assigned to implement those programs and services and the sources of funding that each program and service depends upon. 

3. Commit to the future development of accountability standards for each of the city’s programs/services, including agencies which are funded by the city to carry out various programs, and to include a timeline for completion of each step in the development of such accountability standards. 

4. Immediately clarify the city’s policy on staff layoffs. 

The city has had a no layoff policy for years but the city manager is currently exploring voluntary and involuntary one-day-a month layoffs for non-essential employees. If the City Council wishes to maintain a no layoff policy, how will it balance the budget? If the City Council intends to lay off employees, what services, if any, does it intend to offer to those employees who are affected? 

We have reviewed the city manager’s proposed budget cuts and agree with 70 cuts totaling approximately $3,200,000 if they can be implemented prior to the new fiscal year. (Our specific recommendations have been sent to the City Council.) The city manager states in his report that most of these cuts will have little or no impact on city services. However, we strongly disagree with the city manager’s proposed cuts of an additional $2,100,000 in the police and fire departments and are very concerned about reductions in animal services, mental health services, hours at senior centers, recreation programs for youth, civic arts funding, park maintenance, graffiti abatement, zoning code enforcement, elimination of ZAB video streaming and traffic control. 

BudgetWatch signatories: Barbara Allen, Marie Bowman, Kent Brown, John Cecil, Shirley Dean, Sam Herbert, Laura Menard, Dean Metzger, Bob Migdal, Terrylynne Turner,  

Trudy Washburn 

›

Is your concern for the environment a spectator sport? Or does it go beyond sporting a bumper sticker? A butterfly in Brazil can affect the climate here; what will happen if you turn off your kitchen lights? 

Members of Berkeley Friends Meeting (Quakers), hoping to contribute to the national dialogue about energy and environment, wanted to start by understanding their individual energy use. They decided to take a hard look at how much energy they consume—and how they could consume less. 

They began by collecting data about their own energy use over the course of a year, from energy bills to airline miles. 

After entering the data, members received a printout with graphs and charts showing their data, the average among participating members, and California and U.S. averages. Charts include: 

• Electricity and natural gas use (with a conversion to compare carbon emissions from both). 

• Residential and transportation carbon emissions. 

• Oil use for car and airplane. 

• Carbon emissions and oil use compared to the group, the U.S., the E.U., Portugal, Japan, and France. (Among rich countries (per capita income at least $5,000) the Portuguese report the highest level of happiness.) 

• Driving, compared with the group, the Bay Area, and Americans of various ages. 

“Now I know that I have to do more than install compact fluorescents. To really protect the planet, to really reduce energy use, I have to fly less, or not at all. This will be more difficult than I thought,” Joe Magruder learned. Meeting Clerk Miriam Berg noted, “This confirms that my house really needs to be better insulated.” Others were pleased to discover that they used less energy than the national average. A participating Midwesterner found, “I thought our family was better than the typical Americans, but we’re mo’ bettah than I thought. Also, I was struck by how much driving we do, even though I’m no longer commuting a long way to work several days a week.” 

Looking at energy use is more than an environmental concern. Our energy consumption has political effects. Degraded environments are expected to contribute much to this century’s conflicts. Control over diminishing energy resources also sparks conflict, igniting war and violence worldwide. Based on a foundation of non-violence, some Berkeley Friends have made these links between energy, environment and peace the focus of their work. 

To share their findings, the Berkeley Friends will host a booth at the May 8 Green Home EXPO and Energy Symposium in Civic Center Park, next to the farmer’s market from noon to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. Stop by with your energy use data and see how your use compares. 

You can also submit your data early at www.quaker.org/fep/COTE.html and pick up a printout at their booth. More details on the Green Home EXPO and Energy Symposium can be found at www.GreenHome.EXPO.org. 

Karen Street is a member of Berkeley Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.›

BERKELEY HIGH 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for the timely and positive article about Sunday’s Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting at Berkeley High (“Rave Reviews for Berkeley High’s Grand Opening,” Daily Planet, April 27-29). Matthew Artz captured the happiness of students, staff and community who are enjoying all of the new facilities. Students, community and staff members, led by Dibsy Machta, worked many hours planning and organizing the celebration. Alumni from the early 1900s, including a member of the 1935 girls’ archery team, shared their memories with us as part of the event. 

We would like to point out one item that needs correcting: The B Building did not burn down in 2000, but was disabled too much to be rehabilitated. We salvaged the library collection and had much of it in storage until moving into the spacious and beautiful new library this past January. Also, we wish that Mr. Artz had taken the time to talk to the Berkeley High library media teachers who were involved in planning the new space. Had he done so, the community would understand how our new library serves the specific needs of Berkeley High’s students and staff well. 

Thank you, citizens of Berkeley, for your generosity to generations of Berkeley High students. 

Ellie Goldstein-Erickson 

Susie Goodin 

Berkeley High School Library Media Teachers 

• 

CITY FEES 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

The practice of jacking up fees in order to pay for Berkeley’s runaway government costs is hardly unique to the Planning Department (”Paying for Democratic Decisions,” Daily Planet editorial, April 27-29). Sewer charges, dog licenses, business licenses, apartment registration fees, parking fines—-the list of “incidental” payments is lengthy and growing. 

Berkeley residents are being slapped silly with skyrocketing charges and fees. In some cases, the cost of interacting with the city is increasing 10 times faster than inflation. And most charges pay for things you probably thought the General Fund (and property taxes) were supposed to cover. 

Fortunately, there’s a solution. Citizens should call on the City Council—-and go to the ballot, if necessary—-to limit such increases to 65 percent of the local Consumer Price Index each year. The limit should apply to any fees, charges, or fines imposed by any elected body in the city. 

The rate is one that the council and Rent Board have already agreed (in another arena) represents the reasonable rate at which a resident’s costs should increase. Since they agree, there’s no reason not to include the costs that the city itself imposes on its residents. 

Michael Wilson 

• 

DOWNTOWN 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

I guess I ought to reply to some of the correspondence, since my previous letter keeps being quoted by other writers, most recently Joe Kempkes (April 27). I haven’t seen very much in any of the correspondence that directly contradicts what I wrote, namely a) that there is no general consensus on what kind of environment people want to see in downtown Berkeley, and b) that restricting parking in downtown is bad for retail businesses. I really don’t see, for example, how the “California Bike Commute Week” that Joe is promoting has any relevance to these two issues.  

As for being pro-business, yes, I am. Businesses provide jobs. They also provide sales tax revenues that permit things like bicycle lanes to be provided in Berkeley neighborhoods. They also make downtown look nicer (unless you feel that empty, poster-encrusted storefronts with homeless people sleeping in their doorways are a positive aesthetic). But if you want people to shop or eat out, in Berkeley, you have to provide somewhere for their cars. Have you ever tried carrying a TV or a kitchen table on a bike, Joe?  

So, I would still like someone to answer the question—what kind of downtown do you want in Berkeley? 

Malcolm Carden 

• 

MONEY FOR SCHOOLS 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley citizens who are concerned about the serious financial situation in their Berkeley Unified School District SD, might be interested to know that there is a little-known pool of money just waiting out there. I am referring to the $40 million budget of the Alameda County Office of Education. While schools, community colleges and high education throughout the state are suffering from a dearth of funding, county offices of education continue with their plush budgets, ever increasing. The Alameda County Office of Education performs a very important function; that is, to educate a few hundred at-risk students in the Juvenile Court schools and at some other special schools. However, it only spends about $6 million of their budget on these programs.  

The remainder of the budget, about $34 million, goes to administrators, specialists, consultants, “experts”—most of them never see a student in the classroom. Some of these people do carry out grants and other required programs; but there is about $14 million that is not earmarked. In fact, the state gives the county office of education about $8 million yearly for service to local school districts. But local school districts are never given the choice of how it is used. No doubt, if they were allowed to take a cash amount instead of in-service training that they get now, 100 percent of them would jump at the cash. There is no reason why some of this could not be divvied out to local school districts on a per capita basis. The county superintendent of schools, Sheila Jordan, has vehemently rejected this idea. 

Berkeley residents could ask their representative on the county board of education, Jacki Fox Ruby; however, probably she will not help, because Superintendent Jordan helped her get elected to the board with an infusion of $17,000. Ruby has voted 100 percent for what Jordan wants including a 66 percent raise for Jordan. Four other board members—Palacios, Jones, Elizalde and Cerrato—belong to the 100 percent club too. Palacios and Jones were soundly defeated in the recent election. 

Citizens should organize and appear before the county Board of Education and demand to know how the $40 million public money is spent. It meets the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at its headquarters: 313 West Winton Ave., Hayward. Agenda found at www.acoe.k12.ca.us. 

Ernest A. Avellar 

Hayward 

• 

NOXIOUS ODORS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing in concern over the noxious odors that frequently foul the air in North and West Berkeley that originates from the Pacific Steel Casting Company in West Berkeley. The smell of burning pot handles emanating from this plant is most pronounced on what are otherwise beautiful warm sunny days, although it occurs much more frequently than that. The odor comes from the fumes of melting plastic resin that is used to line casting molds, which is burnt off as molten metal is poured into it. These fumes may or may not cause an immediate health threat but continued exposure is certainly detrimental to those of us who live in the West Berkeley, Westbrae, and North Berkeley, as well as Albany, El Cerrito and Kensington neighborhoods. 

I have lived in this neighborhood for over seven years and am getting quite concerned about the risks to my own health as well as the general air quality of the Berkeley area. My repeated inquiries with the Bay Area Air Quality District have disclosed that they are aware of the problem, but have not been able to remedy it, saying that it is really in the hands of the city. I have sent this concern to Mayor Bates on a couple of occasions, but have not as of yet received a reply. 

I would like to know if the City of Berkeley is aware of this problem and whether or not they taking any actions to rectify. I would imagine that, with the development of the Fourth Street retail shopping district and the skyrocketing real estate values in the area, this is becoming a major irritation for many in the area. In a city with a history of progressive politics and a much higher than average environmental awareness, it is puzzling to see this situation continue without any intervention from our City Council or citizens groups. I think the time has come to act in defense of the air quality and health of the residents of Berkeley. 

Anyone concerned or presently smelling this foul odor should immediately call the Bay Area Air Quality District at 1-800-34-6367 to place your complaint and concern, as well as calling the mayor’s office at 981-7100 to do the same. 

John Hawkridge 

• 

REASONS FOR HOPE 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Since there has been much discussion of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in these pages, I think it would be helpful to bring folks up-to-date on what is happening on the ground.  

The Israeli policy of assassination of political opponents continues unabated, with now a threat to kill President Arafat. This has been Israeli policy for years— to attack any kind of resistance, across the political spectrum, armed or not. Leaders have been subject not only to murder, but more often to arrest (administrative detention without trial), torture, and sometimes expulsion. This is old news.  

What might be considered new is the explicit support that has now come from U.S. officials, with Bush’s announcement refusing to condemn the killing of Palestinian leaders and announcing that it sees no need for Israel to cede land that it conquered in the 1967 war. And it officially stated that it did not recognize the right of Palestinian refugees, nearly a million of whom were forced off their land in 1948, to return to their homeland. Bush’s announcement enshrines the crime that land can be taken by force, of forced ethnic cleansing. This is nothing less than a prescription for endless conflict, for it precludes any possibility of reconciliation, of justice, and real peace.  

Yet there remain signs of hope. Even as the Israeli military continues the building of the apartheid wall inside the West Bank it is being met by demonstrators, mostly unarmed, facing down their opponents that threaten their livelihood. Ordinary Palestinians, men, women and youth, have taken enormous risks in continuing these protests against the confiscation of their land and crops and homes. Many have been arrested, some have been beaten, some shot at with live ammunition and some have died, yet others continue the struggle. What’s more, they have been joined by internationals, including Israelis, two of whom have been shot and seriously wounded by the Israeli military in recent months.  

Here in Berkeley we also see signs of hope. We see it in a newspaper that dares to let people of all perspectives express themselves and their support or dissent of official U.S. policy. And one week after a powerful protest in Oakland against using our taxes for occupation of Palestine there is a cultural celebration that packed La Pena to the rafters with music and generous support for a West Bank village called Deir Ibzia. We take heart from such things and continue to resist and continue to celebrate the possibility of a new reality. 

More information can be found at www.tomjoad.org. 

Jim Harris 

• 

PALESTINE CARTOON 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

It was with some interest that I read your defense/letters about your cartoon. You know, every time that a cartoon is taken by a fairly large section of people as anti-Semitic, the same excuses are trotted out--you have to make your point quickly in a cartoon; you have to use recognizable symbols; I am not an anti-Semite, some of my best friends, etc. In the end, there is the intellectual laziness that is often reflected in the same lack of rigor that the people who post these cartoons have in regard to a nuanced or evenhanded discussion of the issues. It is a given that the Jewish Star is both the symbol of a religion and the symbol of the State of Israel. Therefore, one should be exceedingly careful in using it in a political cartoon that many took as implying Jewish domination of the U.S. However, rather than conceding that you made a mistake by not taking whatever extra time it takes to create an effective cartoon without using the Star of David—you have to fall back on “I am sorry if anyone was offended.” Any educated adult could have figured out the firestorm of protest and “misreads” this cartoon would create—except, perhaps, the cartoonist and the editorial staff of the Berkeley Daily Planet.  

And then you publish the letters. One letter of support was signed by someone with a clearly Jewish name. Cannot imagine why this letter was picked. 

Another letter—filled with half-truths about the Palestianian/Israel conflict—was written by a man who has praised Holocaust deniers on local website bulletin boards and has been banned from others for writing vicious personal attacks. Don’t think I won’t be advising your advertisers about the your printing such letters, either.  

Congratulations, your failure to exercise thought in your editorial cartooning has made you the hero of racists whose letters you are willing to publish. Everyone who criticizes Israel is not an anti-Semite, but every anti-Semite hates Israel. And there isn’t a clear line anymore between the Ku Klux Klan and elements of the Left in terms of their Jew hating. Lazy cartoonists like the one on your staff delight both poles of anti-Semitism.  

Since you’ re so sure your cartoon was not anti-Semitic, why don't your crack investigative reporters do a piece on why you published a letter by a vicious Holocaust denier in support of Mr. DeFreitias’ cartoon? Why don't you explore the use of leftist rhetoric and images like Mr. DeFreitias by dyed-in-the-wool Jews haters? Afraid to look under the rock of the people your second rate cartoonist appeals to? 

Nate Bloom 

Oakland 

• 

BALANCED VIEW 

Editor, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for attempting to give a balanced view on the Israel/Palestine issue. The Palestinians have no voice in this country’s media so when an attempt is made to give them a voice it is to be commended. It is just so sad that it is met with the knee-jerk accusation of anti-Semitism. There will be no peace with out justice in the Holy Land.  

Sarah Fike 

?

There’s a totally smashing production by TheatreFIRST at the Berkeley City Club which you need to rush over to see. Although it’s been extended through May 9, that still doesn’t give you much time. Missing the opportunity to see this South African work would be a definite loss. (We deeply regret that a communications failure kept us from reviewing the play earlier in the season). Mooi Street Moves isn’t produced in the U.S. too often. The only previous presentation here was in 1993 at the MetroStage in Alexandria, Virgina. In any case, it is hard to believe that it could be done with greater skill and talent than what we can see in this sterling production. 

The title doesn’t communicate much to an American audience, but the play itself is both totally comprehensible and moving. Set in the period of social chaos surrounding the end of apartheid, two extraordinarily gifted actors completely grasp their roles in the unexpected relationship that develops between a bright black hustler and the pathetically child-like white intruder into his life. 

David Skillman seems born to play Stix, the street-wise resident of a chaotic apartment in a formerly white middle-class neighborhood. Only the fact of Skillman’s impressive and varied resume keeps one from thinking that this has to be the role of his lifetime. It’s a part that requires a huge range, and he does it flawlessly. 

Into Stix’ apartment, and life, stumbles the naïve and not-too-smart Henry Stone, looking for his older brother, a “businessman” who lived in the apartment back in the years before apartheid ended. Henry is vague about the exact nature of his brother’s “business,” but has absolute faith that he will be able and willing to start Henry off into some kind of business success. 

It seems quite typical of Henry that it never occurred to him to write first before setting off to visit a brother he hasn’t seen for years; nor is it surprising that Henry arrives dead broke, having lost his meager bank account to a crude confidence trick that he doesn’t even realize was dishonest. 

Joseph Foss’ portrayal of the vulnerable and childlike Henry is, at times, heartbreaking. Through much of the first act, he clutches his pathetic bag of possessions to his chest, fearfully determined not to lose the last few items he can claim as his own. As he gradually figures out that his brother is gone and he is alone in an incomprehensible world, his fear is almost tangible. 

It is a profoundly moving performance. 

The play is set in the chaos that followed Mandela’s release from prison in 1990. Although political changes were made, and apartheid rejected, there remained huge areas of social behavior that were not addressed. Areas of housing that were historically white were literally abandoned and squatters moved into places where there were no utilities, no managers, and no safety. 

Maybe crime increased; it depends upon who you ask. Equally so, there are people who want to say that the period of disruption is over, but when the playwright, Paul Slabolepszy, revised the play for a performance in 2000, he made no significant changes to the text. 

What we have here is a brilliant presentation of a bright man Stix, who has made the best of his situation, becoming a skillful hustler and an easy manipulator of the system his world presents. His kindness to the vulnerable Henry, and his efforts to teach him street survival skills, is touching and convincing. 

A word about the set: It seems quite possible that the fairly staid City Club may never recover from the extraordinary outpouring of sheer stuff that the gifted Christina La Sala has used to create a convincing presentation of a street hustler’s collection of goodies to sell. Add to that the convincingly questionable standards of housekeeping, and the effects are awesome.  

This is a memorable production of a memorable play. 

TheatreFIRST’s Mooi Street Moves by Paul Slabolepsky plays through May 9, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For tickets and reservations call 436-5085.

One of the advantages of living in a university town is that dramatic performances by not only visiting professionals but talented locals are frequent events, often in unique surroundings.  

You can catch one such activity Friday or this weekend when students of English 117T at Cal present Shakespeare’s comedy, “Much Ado About Nothing” in a dramatic outdoor setting on the university campus. These performances are free and are usually spirited events, with the students demonstrating what they’ve learned about Elizabethan drama during the past semester. The play is given in costume. 

Annual outdoor Shakespeare has been a campus tradition in recent decades, with the setting shifting from site to site. I recall one notable performance with the noble white granite façade of Wheeler Hall as the backdrop, and the performers playing from not only the steps in front of the building but from a second floor balcony as well. 

This year, the main eastern steps of South Hall form the stage, with the venerable red brick exterior of the university’s oldest building behind.  

There are three performances remaining. Today (Friday), 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, March 1 and 2, at 3 p.m. I’m told each performance runs over two hours. (In the event of rain, the performance shifts to the Maude Fife Room in nearby Wheeler Hall.) 

You can easily find the performance site. Just head for the Campanile, and South Hall is the red brick building downhill to the southwest.  

Although the university does allow public parking on campus on the weekends, spaces in this part of campus are extremely scarce. If you can’t walk or take public transit to the campus edge, look for a parking space in one of the university’s perimeter lots on Bancroft Way or Hearst Avenue and walk in; remember to pay the fee, post your parking permit on the dashboard, and read the instructions wherever you park (some spaces remained reserved for university uses even the weekends).  

(Parking tip: on weekends only, if you take Bancroft Way down towards Telegraph, turn right behind Sproul Hall and go north on Barrow Lane, a little one block street typically lined with police cars. Along Barrow Lane itself almost all the parking is reserved for university vehicles, but at the north end the road branches left into a small parking lot above Sather Gate, or right along Eshleman Road where there’s also curbside parking. If there’s no sign reserving the parking for special events, pay at the yellow vending machine. This is about as close as you can get in a private vehicle to the performance site; it’s just a short stroll north, across Strawberry Creek.)

Berkeley began as a blend of countryside, farmland, waterfront settlement, and academic village. By the end of the 19th century the town was still small, but featured neighborhoods of both stately and modest Victorian residences. Such homes were the glory of Berkeley a century ago. 

Twelve well-preserved and carefully cared-for homes from that Victorian era, all built between 1889 and 1900, have been generously volunteered by their proud owners and will be featured on Sunday, May 9, in the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s 29th Spring House Tour.  

“Berkeley 1890—At Home” is a Mother’s Day event where tour-goers can explore handsome and historic residences and indulge in light refreshments at a garden reception. The houses will be open from 1-5 p.m.  

This year the tour is concentrated in the LeConte district along Fulton Street (think east of Berkeley Bowl). In this neighborhood south of Dwight Way, Craftsman, Colonial Revival, and stucco bungalow homes line the quiet streets. There’s a notable cluster of Victorians—one of Berkeley’s best, most intact, Victorian districts—along the 2100 block of Ward Street and stretching north and south on Fulton. It’s these latter homes that are the focus of the tour. 

Berkeley, like other central Bay Area communities—San Francisco, Alameda, Oakland—got started in the 19th century with neighborhoods of wooden homes near rail (and, later, streetcar) lines. Modest early Victorian cottages in the Italianate style were soon surpassed by elaborate two and three story Eastlake and Queen Anne residences, as well as a fair number of “Carpenter Gothic” mansions built by or for the town’s elite and encrusted with ornate decorative millwork.  

Lumberyards, planing mills and construction companies in Berkeley served the local market. Developers energetically promoted Berkeley as a place to live. New Victorian homes fronted by “artificial stone” sidewalks lined streets that developers were rapidly laying out in patchwork fashion across town. Residents prided themselves on their front yard flower gardens, bordered by low, cast-iron fences or white-painted wooden pickets. 

Victorian style in Berkeley rose to a peak in the 1890s, then began to go out of fashion. Local designers, builders, and buyers began to emphasize the “simple home,” often built out of unpainted redwood and with understated ornamentation, in contrast to the elaborate earlier Victorians. Beaux Arts neo-classicism also entered the scene. Residential buyers now flocked to new streetcar suburbs of stucco bungalows, foursquare “Classic Box” residences, or brown-shingle homes. 

Many Victorians were altered to fit the new styles, and many others were torn down as large “villa lot” properties in the oldest neighborhoods were subdivided for more intense development. “Period revival” and more modern styles of architecture followed. Up through the mid-20th century, university expansion removed much of the old Victorian neighborhood in the south campus area and private development and municipal re-development accounted for many more demolitions of venerable Victorians throughout the city. Berkeley’s wooden Victorian downtown disappeared, replaced with larger brick and concrete commercial buildings.  

Today, more than a century after the Victorian heyday, only a few concentrated enclaves of homes from that era remain in Berkeley. Discover one of the best preserved on the BAHA Spring House Tour. 

Tips for the Tour 

The LeConte neighborhood is a trapezoid, bordered by Dwight, Telegraph, Ashby, and Shattuck. It’s guarded on north and south by traffic barriers so you can’t enter by car from Dwight or Ashby, except on foot. Come in from Telegraph or Shattuck, on or between Parker and Russell.  

Arrive on time to make full use of the four-hour tour. If you don’t have a ticket, they go on sale at Ward and Shattuck one hour before the tour, at noon. The tour is self-guided. You receive a tour booklet describing the history of each house and you can go at your own pace. Some like to go slowly, lingering when they find a favorite house; others briskly visit all the homes, then head for the reception area or return to take a longer second look at the most interesting buildings. 

Park in one place. There’s no need to move your car from house to house, because they’re close together. There’s often Sunday street parking available around LeConte School, bordered by Oregon, Ellsworth, and Fulton, just a few blocks south of the tour site. Don’t park in the Berkeley Bowl or Walgreen’s parking lot and head off to the tour, and don’t drive through traffic barriers or make right-hand turns against red lights along Telegraph. All these actions can result in an expensive ticket in this neighborhood. 

On the day of the tour, the 2100 block of Ward (east of Shattuck) will be closed to through traffic. You’ll be able to experience the street as in Victorian days, without noisy automobiles. 

The LeConte neighborhood has a number of intriguing sights beyond its Victorian homes. One of Berkeley’s best concentrations of flatlands brown-shingle homes lies along Fulton, north of Ward. Keep an eye out for unusual yard art such as a gigantic topiary squirrel (close to Fulton and Carleton) and a three-quarters buried car with broken “radiator” perpetually bubbling away in a front yard around Fulton and Derby.  

(LeConte, by the way, is also the neighborhood where science fiction and mystery writer Anthony Boucher once lived, SLA leaders plotted Patty Hearst’s kidnapping, and the Society for Creative Anachronism held its first mock-medieval event, although none of those sites are on the tour.) 

If you want to arrive a bit early in the neighborhood and have breakfast or brunch before you start, Sconehenge at Stuart and Shattuck offers full traditional breakfasts and lunches and some interesting specials, as well as take-out baked goods. Berkeley Bowl at Oregon and Shattuck opens at 10:00 AM on Sundays and has an on-site café with light fare. Both are within a few minutes stroll of the tour homes. And some of Berkeley’s best brunch places from the Elmwood to La Note on Shattuck are just a few minutes away by car.  

Ticket Information 

Tickets for the self-guided House Tour and Reception are $25 general admission, $20 for BAHA members and their guests. (You can join BAHA the day of the tour if you like). Tickets will also be sold on the day of the tour, starting promptly at noon, at a booth at the intersection of Ward and Fulton streets. 

For further information call the Berkeley Architectural Heritage office at 841-2242 or 841-1055. A printable order form is available online at www.berkeleyheritage.com/house_tour_tickets.html. 

If you volunteer to help during the tour, you can attend for free. At press time, volunteers were still needed. Call Sarah at 845-1632. Volunteering entails spending half of the tour (either beginning or end) at one of the houses, helping to guide the flow of visitors. Each site has an experienced “House Captain” who will let you know what to do. On a tour like this, where all of the houses are concentrated within a few blocks, it’s easy to both volunteer and see the sights. 

In addition to the tour, a related lecture by Paul Roberts entitled “A.W. Pattiani, Victorian Designer-Builder” on Wednesday, May 5. Both lectures will be held at the Church by the Side of the Road, 2108 Russell St. at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, at $7 each, will be available at the lecture site. 

›

After adopting a few last-minute amendments, the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission Wednesday night wound up its five-year effort to create an Arts and Cultural Plan for the city. 

Only commissioner Bonnie Hughes abstained from an otherwise unanimous vote to adopt the 31-page document. “I think it needs to be edited,” Hughes said. “I don’t like to send anything to the City Council that’s not as eloquent as possible.” 

Eloquent or not, the new document fulfills a requirement in the Economic Development Element of the city’s General Plan, adopted in 2001-2002, which called for an Arts and Culture Plan establishing citywide goals and strategies to support and develop local arts, culture and entertainment. In pursuit of that requirement, the Arts Commission created an advisory committee and hired ArtsMarket, a consulting firm based in Bozeman, Mont., to conduct an economic analysis of the Berkeley arts scene. 

A series of public hearings and written submissions followed, leading to the seven pages of the document that constitute the legal language of the plan itself. 

Wednesday night’s action followed the last public hearing Saturday, where individuals and organizations offered their final comments and suggestions. 

One addition—to the segment on Arts and Culture Districts—came at the urging of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. The amendment calls on plan-related activities to support historic and architectural preservation “to preserve Berkeley’s rich cultural built environment.” 

That proposal passed on a unanimous vote. 

Another successful amendment came from Solano Stroll organizer Lisa Bullwinkle, who asked the commission to create uniform application procedures for fairs and festivals utilizing public space, based on the forms and peer review process the commission now uses for civic arts grants. 

Comments from Saturday’s session also led to another unanimously endorsed amendment, which calls on the city to consider a study on the feasibility of a revolving loan fund for nonprofit arts capital improvement projects. 

Another successful amendment came from the city’s Transportation Commission, which asks the city to encourage arts groups, galleries and fair and festival organizers to include information on public transit access in the flyers, ads, posters and ticket information. 

At that point, Commissioner Sherry Smith moved to send the plan on to the City Council with a recommendation for approval. 

Commissioner Jos Sances objected, saying, “We’re not covering some of the issues raised about West Berkeley.”  

Commission chair David Snippen countered that issues about preservation and enhancement of artists’ living, working, and performance space in West Berkeley “are zoning and housing issues beyond the scope of the arts commission.” 

“Isn’t there some way we can accommodate ourselves to the things they were talking about, that we should work with the planning commission to strengthen the West Berkeley Plan?” asked Commissioner Hughes. 

Commissioner Suzy Thompson noted that language in the plan “makes it sound like downtown is where everything is happening. Maybe the language should give equal weight to South and West Berkeley. The downtown Arts District hasn’t been there that long.” 

“We should have something that helps the city make changes to ordinances and zoning regulations that would help artists” by assisting in the creation of arts space “by facilitating the transformation of industrial and warehouse space to arts space,” Sances said. 

“Artists’ residential, studio and performing spaces all need to be protected,” said Hughes. “If you leave it too vague, people will interpret it like the cultural density bonus to mean anything they want.” 

The city’s cultural density bonus that permits builders to breach city height limits by adding space for cultural uses featured prominently in Saturday’s final public input session. 

Snippen had started Wednesday’s meeting with an announcement that he would be meeting soon with city planning staff to work out more specific language that would address that criticism. 

At Sances’ urging, the commission amended the plan to call for a city-wide inventory of existing arts facilities to ascertain what needs aren’t being met and calling on the city to facilitate creation of arts space by allowing property zoned for industrial and warehouse uses to be rezoned for arts uses. 

The amendment passed by unanimous vote. 

Another amendment, calling for eliminating the names of specific organizations in the plan, carried unanimously. 

The final amendment was proposed by City Councilmember Linda Maio at Saturday’s session and introduced by Commissioner Hughes Wednesday. 

The proposal called on the Arts Commission to work with the planning commission and city council to protect the city’s existing arts spaces and develop policies to protect and enhance permanently affordable arts space in the city. 

The language was needed, Hughes said, because nothing in the plan would prevent a developer from coming in and buying up existing property and erecting major developments that offered arts space on the ground floor. 

The amendment carried, but not unanimously. Commissioner Sherry Smith abstained. 

With the passage of the final amendment, the commission’s vote to adopt followed. 

The plan will now go to the City Council, possibly for its May 27 meeting.

In the Tuesday, April 27, story on the Arts Commission’s last public input session (“Arts Commissioners Call For Public Input,” Daily Planet, April 27-29), remarks by Berkeley Arts Center executive director Robbin Henderson were incorrectly attributed to city staff member Mary Ann Merker.

FRIDAY, APRIL 30 

CHILDREN 

The Little Engine That Could at Barnes and Noble at 10:30 a.m. 644-3635. 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Bella Mama” Mother’s Day jewelry show, reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

Jack London Art Invitational with art from five Bay Area studios, opens at 240 Third St., Oakland. Reception at 6:30 p.m. Gallery hours are Tues.-Thurs. 2-8 p.m. and Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 893-4100. www.jacklondondistrict.org/art  

“Re-Create” a recycled art exhibition by youth from Alameda County from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Museum of Children’s Art, 494 9th St., Oakland. 465-8770, ext. 350. www.mocha.org 

FILM 

Serge Daney: “Journey of a Ciné-Son” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “The Sisters Rosensweig,” a comedy by Wendy Wasserstein, opens at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck, through May 15. Tickets are $10. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theatre Company “Antigone Falun Gong” at 8 p.m. Wed.-Sat., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. through May 16. Tickets are $28-$40 available from 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley High School “Man in the Musical” premiere of an original musical theater piece by Phil Gorman and Lila Tschappat at 8 p.m. at the Little Theater, Allston and MLK Jr Way. Also May 2 at 7 p.m., May 6-8 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $5-$10. 332-1931. 

Berkeley Rep “The Mystery of Irma Vep,” Charles Ludlam’s theatrical cult classic at Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, through May 23. Tickets are $39-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

“Casino!” a musical comedy by Joyce Whitelaw at 8 p.m at The Glenview Performing Arts Center, 1318 Glenfield Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $20. 531-0511. www.glenviewpac.com 

Impact Theatre “Money and Run” an action serial adventure with different episodes on Thurs., Fri. and Sats. Runs through June 5 at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid. For tickets and information call 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

Shotgun Players “The Miser” at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater, Thurs.-Sun. through May 2. Free admission. 704-8210. www.shotgunplayers.org 

TheatreFIRST “Mooi Street Moves” by Paul Slabolepszy, one of South Africa’s leading contemporary playwrights, Thurs. - Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., to May 9. For tickets and reservations call 436-5085. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash, Special National Poetry Month Reading with Gerald Sterna and Willis Barnstone at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Lawrence Osborne describes “The Accidental Connoisseur: An Irreverent Journey Through the Wine World” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

University Symphony performs Lutoslawski and Shostakovich at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988.  

Arauco, South American nuevo folk, at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Caminos Flamencos with Yaelisa with dinner at 6 and 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $42-$52, show only $17. 843-0662. wwwcafedelapaz.net 

Nuyulu Tatutunat Mayan native dance, music and poetry, at 7 p.m. at Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Sponsored by the Indigenous Permaculture Project. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Beat Box Showcase hosted by Andrew Chaikin and Tim Barsky at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10 in advance, $12 at the door. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Katie Jay Band at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

GoJoGo, world beats, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donations of $8-$15 suggested. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Greg Brown with Pieta Brown and Bo Ramsey at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $25.50 at the door. Presented by Freight and Salvage. 548-1761. 

Todd Sickafoose and the Tiny Resistors at 9 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway at 2nd St. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Singer-Songwriter Night at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Craig Chaquico at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Red Pocket at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Over My Dead Body, Internal Affairs, The Warriors at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Reggae Party with Irie Productions at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Donation of $7-$15. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Hyim and The Fat Foakland Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159.  

Mushroom at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SATURDAY, MAY 1 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Lydia Mills and Arianna Guthries performing traditional and original Latin American songs at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $3-$4. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Wild About Books with Ruth Halpern, winner of the Parent’s Choice Award at 10:30 a.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6223. 

FILM 

New From Trinh T. Minh-Ha: “Night Passage” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at the West Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. 527-9905.  

May Day Poetry Reading with Poets for Peace, an evening with Gerald Stern, Meredith Striker, Ilya Kaminsky, Polina Barskova, Rob Lipton and Abdel Fattah Abu-Srour, at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. 

Darren Shan shares more vampire stories in “Hunters of the Dark” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

Luis Alberto Urrea describes the dangerous crossing on the US/Mexican border in “The Devil’s Highway” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

San Francisco Early Music Society “Zarzuela” a Spanish program drawn from Sebastian Duron’s “Salir el Amor del Mundo” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

University Symphony performs Lutoslawski and Shostakovich at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988.  

Amici di Buxtehude by Trinity Chamber Concerts at 8 p.m. at 2320 Dana St. at Dana. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. 

Caminos Flamencos with Yaelisa with dinner and dessert at 6 and 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $42-$52, show only $17. 843-0662. wwwcafedelapaz.net 

Motown Tribute Show, an all -ages high energy production at 7 and 9 p.m. at Claremont Middle School, 5750 College Ave., near Rockridge BART. Tickets are $25. 879-3170. 

Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited, music from South Africa, at at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $18. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Bay Area Follies with Gil Chun Musical comedy, tap, ballroom and ethnic dances at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Also on Sun. at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10-$15. 526-8474. 

Squeeze Box Social World Accordian Festival with Familia Pena-Govea, Creole Belles and California Klezmer at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Noche de Skatemoc: La Pachucada at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Broun Fellinis at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Wadi Gad and Jah Bandis, conscious roots reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

West Coast Live with Luis Urrea, Jane Smiley, Duffy Bishop and others at 10 a.m. at the Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15 in advance, $18 at the door, available from 415-664-9500 or www.ticketweb.com 

Bluegrass Intentions, traditional quintet, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

E is for Elephant, Research and Development at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Marcos Silva at 8:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Samantha Raven at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Braziu, Brazilian music, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Fleshies, 50 Million, Shotwell, S.H.A.T., Kung-Fu USA at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 2 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Bird Houses” an exhibit of bird houses and bird art by local artists of all ages and backgrounds from 3 to 5 p.m. at NIAD Art Center, 551 23rd St., near Barrett Ave., Richmond. 620-0290. www.niadart.org 

FILM 

Film and Video Makers at Cal, works from the Eisner Award competition at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES  

Deborah Bloomfield, photographer, introduces “Four Corners” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poetry Flash Tribute to Lennert Bruce at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Alan Bern reads from his new collection of poetry “No, No the Saddest” and Linda Weaver will perfrom dances choreographed to the poems at 2 p.m. at Diesel Bookstore, 5433 College Ave. Oakland. 653-9965. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra performs Verdi’s “Requiem” at 4 p.m at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free, donations welcome. 964-0665. www.bcco.org  

Broceliande May Day Concert at 8 p.m. at St. Alban’s Parish Hall, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. Suggested donation $10-$12. www.broceliande.org 

David Abel and Julie Steinberg, violin and piano, at 4 p.m. at the Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. 559-6910. 

Dance-Kenaz, a fundraiser for Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Center at 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5-$10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

ACME Observatory Contemporary Performance Series presents percussionist Tom Nunn, and Aaron Bennet and John Finkbeiners Drinking Straw Music at at 8:15 p.m. at The Jazz House, 3192 Adeline.  

Dick Hindeman Trio at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz- 

school.com  

Squeeze Box Social World Accordian Festival with Baguette Quartet, Conjunto Romero and Tsvetan Mitev Chakurov at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Harlem Shake Burlesque at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Susan Werner, jazz-tinged orginals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Cost is $18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

MONDAY, MAY 3 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Nicole Stansbury reads from her new collection of short stories, “The Husband’s Dilemma” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Christine Benvenuto will read from “Shiska: Gentile Woman in the Jewish World” at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Co-sponsored by Black Oak Books. 848-0237, ext. 127. 

Last Word Poetry Series presents Judy Wells and Mishell Erickson at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 

Poetry Express, featuring Gary Becker from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Dave Douglas New Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Tues. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, MAY 4 

CHILDREN 

Gary Lapow at 10:30 a.m. at Berkeley Public Library Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 981-6270. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bryan Sykes, professor of genetics, Oxford Univ. describes “Adam’s Curse: A Future Without Men” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Gloria Feldt talks about “The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women’s Rights and How to Fight Back” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Marvin Korman will read from “In My Father’s Bakery: A Bronx Memoir” at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Co-sponsored by Black Oak Books. 848-0237, ext. 127. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Anoush performs Balkan music at 8:30 p.m. with a dance lesson with Norma Adjmi at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Dayna Stephens House Jam at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744.  

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Mimi Fox, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 

EXHIBITION OPENINGS 

“Shocked and Awed” an exhibit of drawings by Iraqi school children. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Museum of Children’s Art, 538 9th St., Oakland. Runs to June 6th. Gallery hours are Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sat.-Sun. noon to 5 p.m. 465-8770. www.mocha.org 

Huichol Art Show, yarn paintings, beaded bowls and animals from 4 to 7 p.m. at Gathering Tribes Gallery, 1573 Solano Ave. 528-9038. 

FILM 

Film 50: “The Man Without a Past” at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Susan Moon, editor, is joined by contributors to “Not Turning Away: The Practice of Engaged Buddhism” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

“A.W. Pattini, Victorian Designer-Builder” with Paul Roberts at 7:30 p.m. at Church by the Side of the Road, 2108 Russell St. Tickets are available from Berkeley Architectural Heritage Assoc. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

Hampton Sides introduces his unique compilation of “Americana: Dispatches From the New Frontier” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry for the People with Mohja Kahf at 3:15 p.m. at Unit 3 All Purpose Room, UC Campus. 642-2743. www.poetryforthepeople.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Nazelah Jamison and Karen Ladson at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7,  

$5 with student i.d. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert Javanese Gamelan at International House, Piedmont Ave. at Bancroft. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Songwriter Showcase at the 1923 Teahouse at 8 p.m. Suggested donation of $5. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration with Conjunto Coyote at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

I.C.E. Series, experimental music jam at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Donation $5. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.com 

David Lindley, string instrumentalist, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Whiskey Brothers perform old time and bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatross- 

pub.com 

Jules Broussard at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Ryoko Moriyama at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Oswald, Jacuzzi, Crackpot Theory at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.comÅ

FRIDAY, APRIL 30 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Kiren A. Chadhry, Prof. Political Science, UCB, on “Challenges in Iraq.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $12.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

“Media, Democracy, and the Informed Citizen,” The 8th Annual Travers Ethics Conference, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. at Lipman Room, 8th floor, Barrows Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by Charles T. & Louise H. Travers Program on Ethics and Government Accountability, Political Science Department, Institute of Governmental Studies, The Commonwealth Club of California. 642-4691. http://ethics.berkeley.edu/ 

SATURDAY, MAY 1 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour “La Loma Park, Maybeck Country” led by Robert Pennell from 10 a.m. to noon. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

UNICEF Open House at 1403-B Shattuck Ave. from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sponsored by the United Nations Association - East Bay. 849-1752. 

Thousand Oaks School Carnival from 11 a.m. to 3 pm. Games, cakewalk, talent show, fortune telling, tostadas, cupcakes, quilt raffle, and silent auction. 840 Colusa Ave, north of Solano. 

Butterfly Gardening Identify our local species and how to attract them to your garden while you help with our planting and weeding. From 1 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. We have tools, call if you need gloves. 525-2233. 

St. Joseph the Worker Church 125th Anniversary Celebration at 6:30 p.m. at Doubletree Hotel, Berkeley Marina. 843-2244. 

May Day Celebration of Labor Solidarity from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $5 donation requested. 595-7417. 925-828-8184.  

“Prospects and Challenges of Peace in Nepal” at 5 p.m. at Live Oak Recreation Center, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Sponsored by Helping Hands of the Himalayas. 932-2039. 

Sick Plant Clinic from 9 a.m. to noon, the first Sat. of every month, UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants. Free, at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. 

Organic Plant Sale Beautiful, healthy organically grown vege- 

table starts, herbs, and flowers for sale, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the corner of Walnut and Virginia Sts. www.ocf.berkeley. 

edu/~soga/ 

Iris Show and Sale, featuring all iris in bloom locally, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellvue, Oakland. Free. 525-6536. 

Permaculture Ethics and Activism Learn permaculture ethics and explore what they really mean when applying them to permaculture activism. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10 EC members, $15 general, no one turned away for lack of funds. 548-2220, ext. 233.  

Education Not Incarceration Teach-In, Speak-Out from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Oakland Tech High School, 4351 Broadway. Childcare and refreshments provided. www.ednotinc.org 

Festival of Digital Arts hosted by Vista College Multimedia Arts Dept. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Also on Sun., May 2. Cost is $10-$15. For details see www.vistacollege.edu/multimedia/if 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Responding to Terrorism from 9 a.m. to noon at 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. To sign up call 981-5605. www. 

ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

Car-Free Morocco Slideshow a slide presentation by CarBusters’ Randy Ghent, at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave, near Dwight Way. Experience the maze of Morocco’s medinas, medieval pedestrian cities. Co-sponsored by Berkeley Ecological and Safe Transportation, The Ecology Center, EcoCity Builders & Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

“Dialogues Towards a Strong Women’s Movement Diversity Summit,” from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Oakland Airport Hilton, 1 Hegenberger Rd. Cost is sliding scale $10-$45. Sponsored by California NOW, Black Women Organized for Political Action, California Women’s Agenda, Casa de las Madres, National Asian Women’s Health Organization, and Women of Color Resources Center. To register call 916-442-3414, or go to www.canow.org/ 

conf04/home.html 

Projects for Peace in Israel/ 

Palestine from 9 to 11 a.m. at Oakland Public Library, Madison St. between 13th and 14th. The Friends of Deir Ibzi’a describe their projects for women and children in Palestine. 653-0776. 

Yoga for Seniors at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St., on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. The class is taught by Rosie Linsky, who at age 72, has practiced yoga for over 40 years. Open to non-members of the club for $8 per class. 848-7800. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

Dream Workshop on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to noon at 2199 Bancroft Way. Cost is $10. www.practicaldreamwork.com 

SUNDAY, MAY 2 

Bicycle Tour of San Pablo Ridge Explore the history and preservation of Wildcat Watershed. Meet at 10 a.m. at Inspiration Point, Tilden Park. Bring helmet, liquids and snack. For ages 12 and up. registration required. 525-2233. 

Bicycle Tour “Hidden Gems of Berkeley” A 10-12 mile ride to explore historic street car and creek lines. Begins at Halcyon Commons, Halcyon Ct. next to Prince St. at 3:30 p.m. 847-0575.  

Bay-Friendly Gardening: From Your Backyard to the Bay Simplify garden care, reduce chores and use as few resources, from water to fertilizer, as possible. Free self-guided tour of over 30 residential gardens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 444-SOIL. www.stopwaste.org 

Bloomin’ Paper Want to turn paper into flowers? Make recycled paper embedded with seeds to take home and plant in your own garden. From 1 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. For ages 7 and up. Cost is $3. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Native Plant Restoration Join Friends of Five Creeks and the California Native Plant Society restoration team on Codornices Creek at Live Oak Park, removing more ivy and tending the many native plants we put in last fall. Email for time and other information f5creeks@aol.com 

Honoring Lake Merrit’s Birds at the Bird Refuge, 600 Bellevue Ave. foot of Perkins St. at Lakeside Park, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Please RSVP to 238-3739. 

St. Joseph the Worker Church 125th Anniversary Celebration begins at 9:30 a.m. with a Children’s Mass followed by a Family and Friends Festival at 10:30 a.m. 1640 Addison St. 843-2244. 

Open Forum on Haiti, moderated by KPFA’s Dennis Bernstein at 5 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery, 550 2nd St. Oakland. 415-391-3844. 

National Women’s Political Caucus honors Joan Blades at 4 p.m. at Hiller Highland Country Club, 110 Hiller Drive, Oakland. Tickets are $50. 452-1600. www.nwpcan.org 

“Searching for Asian America,” documentary film screening at 12:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Slingshot New Volunteer Meeting Want to work on a radical newspaper? Come to the meeting and work on the upcoming issue at 1 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. www.longhaul.org 

Critical Mass & Carbusters Cafe Nite Join us for “Medieval Urbanism in Morocco: Lessons for the Modern World,” with Randy Ghent of Car Busters at 8 p.m. at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. www.longhaul.org 

“Healing the Mother in Your Heart” with Teresa LeYoung Ryan and Linda Joy Meyers in a celebration of motherhood through writing at 2 p.m. at Borders Books and Music, 5800 Shellmound St. 654-1633. 

Treats and Talents Auction from 12:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Iris Show and Sale, featuring all iris in bloom locally, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellvue, Oakland. Free. 525-6536. 

“Behind the Headlines: A Palestinian-Israeli Talks Frankly About the Conflict” with Kahled Abu Toameh, correspondent for Palestinian affairs for the Jerusalem Post at 7 p.m. at Congregation Beth-El, Arch and Vine Sts. Donation of $10 requested. 848-3988. 

Golden State Model Railroad Museum open from noon to 5 p.m. Located in the Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline Park at 900-A Dornan Drive in Pt. Richmond. Admission is $2-$3. 234-4884 or www.gsmrm.org 

Tibetan Buddhism, with Abbe Blum on “The Tibetan Wheel of Life” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

“Father of the Modern Mystic Movement” at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

“Eckhart Tolle Talks on Video” at 6:30 p.m. at the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. First and third Sunday of each month. $3 donation requested, no one turned away for lack of funds. Contact Maitri at 415-990-8977. 

MONDAY, MAY 3 

“Green Roofs and Hanging Gardens” with Paul Kephart, environmental consultant with Rana Creek Habitat Restoration, and Aurora Mahassine, designer of “vertical habitats” for cities, at 7 p.m. at the Friends of Five Creeks meeting at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin. All welcome; the meeting is free. 848 9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter of meets at 6 p.m. in the Oakland YWCA, 1515 Webster St. Guest speaker from the Bay Area Women Against Rape. 287-8948. 

“Urban Conversions: Reworlding African Cities” with Abdoumaliq Simone of the Wits Institute, Johannesburg, at 5 p.m. at 112 Wurster Hall, UC Campus. 642-8338. http://ias.berkeley.edu/africa/ 

BTV Public Orientation How to get involved by becoming a member, take classes and get on the air on B-TV Channel 28 using the media facilities at Berkeley Community Media, from 6 to 8 p.m. 848-2288 ext. 12. www.betv.org 

Baby Yoga at 11 a.m. and Yoga and Meditation for Children at 2:45 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 1:15 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MAY 4 

NFL Flag Football for ages 9 to 11 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at 1255 Allston Way. Free for Berkeley residents, $15 for non-residents for the six week program. Sponsored by Berkeley Youth Alternatives. 845-9066. www.byaonline.org 

Mid-Day Meander through Tilden Park. Bird songs, oak galls and ferns on the trails today. Meet at the Tilden Nature Center at 2:30 p.m. 525-2233. 

Robert Reich on “Social Justice & Social Empathy” at 5:30 p.m. at Anderson Auditorium, Haas School of Business, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Center for the Development of Peace & Well-Being. 643-8965. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advance sign-up needed 594-5165. 

Kerry-oke for John Kerry for President Sing your own or traditional lyrics to popular songs that are pro-Kerry, pro-America, or ..... at the Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave., from 8 to 11 p.m. A $25 donation for John Kerry’s campaign is requested, $15 for student/low income. Also featuring performance by DeCadence, Berkeley a capella group. To RSVP call 697-1126. 

Phone Banking to ReDefeat Bush from 6 to 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Bring your cell phones. Please RSVP if you can join us. 233-2144. dan@redefeatbush.com 

Paddling 101, an introduction to canoes and kayaks, and places to paddle close to home, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Guided Autobiography for Mature Seniors on Tuesdays to July 6 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Regional Park, Botanic Gardens. Cost is $85 for the 10-week session. To register call 636-1684. www.ebparks.org 

“Environmental Policy and Environmental Injustice” with Dr. Dara O'Rourke, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley, at 7 p.m. in the GTU Dinner Board Room, 2400 Ridge Rd. 649-2560. trees@gtu.edu 

Death Penalty Vigil, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the North Berkeley BART station. Sponsored by Berkeley Friends Meeting. 528-7784. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Leonar Joy will peak on Human Rights at 11 a.m. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Sts every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. A project of BOSS Urban Gardening Institute and Spiral Gardens, for more information call 843-1307. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers We are a few slowpoke seniors who walk between a mile or two each Tuesday, meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Farm parking lot. To join us, call 215-7672.  

Goddess Grace Moving Meditation at 10 a.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $7-10, bring a yoga mat or blanket. 883-0600. www.belladonna.ws 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 5 

Public Hearing on UCB’s Long Range Development Plan at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Copies of the plan and the draft Environmental Impact Report are available at http://lrdp.berkeley.edu 

“A.W. Pattini, Victorian Designer-Builder” with Paul Roberts at 7:30 p.m. at Church by the Side of the Road, 2108 Russell St. Tickets are available from Berkeley Architectural Heritage Assoc. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy Break the Silence of Sex with hip-hop and spoken-word performances and a showing of the film, “Silence Ain’t Sexy” at 7 p.m. at King Middle School Auditorium. Sponsored by PinchMe Films and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  

“Rhythm and Smoke” a documentary on the cigar-making process in Cuba, interspersed with a variety of Cuban music at 6:30 p.m. at the South Branch Library, 1901 Russell St. 981-6260. 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration Workshop Bridging Zapatismo to our communities. Celebrate 5 de Mayo by looking at the Zapatista Indigenous struggle in Chiapas, Mexico and bridging local struggles in the SF Bay Area with other struggles in the US & the world. At 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-10. 849-2568.  

Cinco de Mayo Films “Santiago de Cuba” and “Oggun” presented by Tina Flores at 7 p.m. at Fellowship of Humanity, 390 27th St. Oakland. 393-5685.  

“Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter” with Lloyd Kahn who continues his odyssey of finding and exploring the most magnificent and unusual hand-built houses in existence, at 7:30 p.m. at Builders Booksource, 1817 Fourth St. http://bbevents.c.tep1.com 

Considering Teaching? Find out about UC Berkeley’s teaching credential programs, from 6 to 8 p.m. in 2515 Tolman Hall. To RSVP, email gserecruiters@berkeley.edu 

Reading Workshop for Parents of 1st-3rd Graders at 8 p.m. at Classroom Mattters, 2607 Seventh St., Suite E. Free, but reservations required 540-8646. www.classroommatters.com 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7:15 a.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. For information call Robert Flammia 524-3765. 

Fun with Acting class meets at 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Free, all are welcome. 985-0373. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Sta- 

tion, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Prose Writers Workshop We're a serious but lively bunch whose focus is on issues of craft. Novices welcome. Experienced facilitator. Community sponsored, no fee. Meets 7 to 9 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut, at Rose. For information call 524-3034. 

Berkeley Stop the War Coalition meets every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in 255 Dwinelle, UC Campus. www.berkeleystopthewar.org  

Berkeley CopWatch open office hours 7 to 9 p.m. Drop in to file complaints, assistance available. 548-0425. 

Community Dances, traditional English and American dances, 8 p.m. every Wednesday, $9. 7 p.m. first Sunday, $10. Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. 233-5065. www.bacds.org 

Free Feldenkrais ATM Classes for adults 55 and older at 10:30 and 11:45 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut at Rose. 848-0237.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meets Mon. May 3, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche 644-6128 ext. 113. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/rent 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., May 3, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

Youth Commission meets Mon., May 3, at 6:30 p.m., at 1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/youth 

City Council meets Tues. May 4, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers, Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., May 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruby Primus, 981-5106. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/com 

missions/women 

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Sweet potato recipes invariably seem overburdened with other ingredients, causing one to wonder whether we dislike the natural taste of vegetables so much that we go to great lengths to hide it.  

This seems not only a pity, but a waste of time. It is so easy to caramelize sweet potatoes on the stove top, and the result is so toothsome, that there is no point in looking for more complicated recipes that include orange juice, marshmallows and hours of oven baking. 

The sweet potato is often called a yam, a common name used in the tropics for many tubers. Unrelated to the African yam, our sweet potato is a South American native in the morning glory (Convolvulaceae) family. To prepare, simply peel the scrubbed sweet potatoes with a swivel-type vegetable peeler. Cut them into medallions a little under a quarter of an inch thick. Layer these in a heavy cast-iron pan. Add small quantities of water, sweet butter, soft brown sugar and a tiny pinch of salt, barely covering the slices. Cook very slowly with the lid on for ten minutes. If liquid evaporates and starts to caramelize before the slices are soft, add a little more water, butter and sugar. They will be done in fifteen to twenty minutes. Serve the slices with the sticky, toffee-like sauce drizzled over them. Their sweet potato flavor will still come through. 

Caramelized sweet potatoes go very well with any savory dish, even fresh sardines or mackerel, split and grilled. Or treat them as dessert, still warm, with chilled lebne, the thick Middle Eastern sour cream. This can be found in several of West Berkeley’s ethnic groceries. It is made from milk and live cultures. Avoid brands with fillers like gelatin and tapioca.  

Sweet potatoes are tremendous fun to grow at least once in a lifetime. The process is more complicated in temperate climates like ours than simply burying a tuber in the ground. The sweet potato, organically grown, is balanced in a glass jar of water, supported if necessary with toothpicks, the stalk end barely submerged. Put the jar in, or close to, a sunny window. Eventually the tuber will be covered with leafy sprouts. When these are about four inches long, carefully slice them off with a piece of flesh attached. Dust this area with hormone rooting powder, available from local nurseries. Plant five in a bushel basket of sandy potting soil and put in the sunniest, warmest part of your garden. Shade the little plants from direct sunlight if they wilt, and water them regularly until they are established, when they become drought-tolerant. 

At the end of summer or fall (do not wait until frost) the leaves will have yellowed, and a surprising quantity of sweet potatoes can now be tipped out of their container. To increase their sweetness and durability they must be cured in high levels of heat and humidity, at which point the gardener will doubtless put away tools and add sweet potatoes to the shopping list. Without curing, they are bland. Perhaps our tendency to overflavor them dates from our early history, before their horticultural needs were fully understood. 

Sweet potatoes are particularly rich in vitamin A. The deeper the color, the greater the food value. In stores they are called garnet or ruby: jewels indeed.  

›

The mythic history of the American Revolution which used to be taught in the elementary schools (and perhaps still is) reserved a special bad guy slot for the role of the Hessian soldiers who fought with the British against the American revolutionaries. They were “mercenaries,” hirelings who fought for money instead of for principle (like the Americans) or for king (like the Redcoats). Never mind that the major part of the payment for their services went to their German rulers, and that the Hessians themselves were poorly paid peasants. (Many of them were stranded in the United States with no way to get home when the war was over.) Americans, our teachers made clear, didn’t use mercenaries. World War II was fought by citizens, not mercenaries.  

The Vietnam war, which was fought some years after I left grade school, saw the beginning of American reliance on foreign mercenaries in particular circumstances. The Hmong people were used as mercenaries by the U.S. forces, so that after the war many of them were forced to flee to the United States for resettlement. But the current occupation of Iraq has given a major role to a new kind of mercenary: the international soldiers of fortune who are in it strictly for the money. Michael Moore, as usual, has nailed the euphemisms used to describe them: 

“Those are not ‘contractors’ in Iraq. They are not there to fix a roof or to pour concrete in a driveway. They are mercenaries …they are there for the money, and the money is very good if you live long enough to spend it.”  

Many rank-and-file employees of mercenary corporations, of course, are no more culpable than the Hessian peasants who were hired to fight for George III. Tommy Hamill, who has just escaped from captivity in Iran, has the same reason for becoming a mercenary that many of the Hessians had: he’s in debt. According to the Jackson Mississippi Clarion-Ledger, he’s “a former dairy farmer who took a truck-driving job in Iraq to save his family from bankruptcy.” As the two-tier economy continues to dominate the United States, more and more Americans who aren’t making it financially may be forced to become mercenary employees of war profiteers. And their employers, the Halliburtons and the CACIs, will continue to fatten off their labors, just as the Hessian princes profited from sending their poor farmers to fight in the American Revolution. 

Some of the mercenaries who are hired by the corporations in Iraq, however, are (mincing no words) evil embodied. They are trained to torture and to kill, and they’re paid handsomely for their skill. Seymour Hersh in the May 10 New Yorker quotes a February report on the allegations of torture in an Iraq prison:  

“‘I suspect,’ [General] Taguba concluded, that [army intelligence officers] Pappas, Jordan, [and CAIC International, Inc. employees] Stephanowicz and Israel ‘were either directly or indirectly responsible for the abuse at Abu Ghraib.’ “ 

Contracting firms like CACI operate a revolving door employment agency for ex-military who want to make big bucks on the outside. CACI’s web page sports the slogan “ever vigilant” as a cutline in its logo. Job seekers who have a top-secret clearance can go to a special webpage to apply for work at CACI.  

The result is the creation of an amoral culture of violence-for-profit which is not even subject to the kinds of controls which still occasionally restrain the behavior of the U.S. armed forces. A former military man from Florida now working for a contracting company in Iraq, identified only as “Scott”, e-mailed his assessment of the situation to a friend who posted it on the Internet on April 8: 

“Instead of a professional military outfit here we have a bunch of cowboys and vigilantes running wild in the streets. The ugly American has never been so evident. Someone in charge needs to drop the hammer on this lack of discipline, especially that which is being shown by the Special Forces, security contractors, and ‘other government agencies.’ We won the war but that doesn't mean we can treat the people of this country with contempt and disregard with no thought to the consequences.” 

This week’s revelations about what went on at Abu Ghraib prison, and probably elsewhere in Iraq, have shown Scott to be a prophet. The consequences which he predicted will be felt for years to come. 

—Becky O’Malleye

Recent discussions before the Civic Arts Commission and in these pages remind me of what I learned in my stint in the 1970s as an intern at the California Arts Council, when Jerry Brown was still playing his Governor Moonbeam role and I was a law student. The council’s executive director was the redoubtable Eloise Pickard Smith, a painter and political activist. Among the illustrious commissioners were actor Peter Coyote, poet Gary Snyder and Luis Valdez, founder of El Teatro Campesino. Watching from the sidelines as these politically savvy artists allocated public funding for the arts taught me many lessons. The most surprising thing I learned was how much many members of the public hate public art. Or rather, how much they hate certain kinds of public art. Or most specifically, how they actively dislike large non-representational sculptures plopped into public spaces. We got letters, we got lots and lots of letters, almost all complaining about such installations.  

A couple of decades have passed since then, but I don’t think the public mind has changed much on this topic, as a recent letter to the Daily Planet decrying the latest Downtown Berkeley public sculpture additions shows. The letter writer suggested that the public should be allowed to vote on such projects, or perhaps that they should be canceled altogether when the economy is slow.  

My guess is that voters would have vetoed 90 percent of the public sculpture proposals which have been funded in the last 20 years. The Vaillancourt Fountain on the Embarcadero in San Francisco still generates many outraged letters when it’s mentioned in the press. 

A subsequent Planet letter writer opposed voting on specific projects, but spoke out vigorously for the concept of publicly supported art, even in hard times, pointing to the many fine projects completed by the federal Works Progress Adminstration during the great depression which the public still enjoys, such as the reliefs on the Berkeley Community Theater. The two letter writers aren’t really in disagreement. Americans aren’t against art, but they do care a lot about what kind of art it is. WPA-style artistic enhancements to needed public projects seldom are opposed, even today. But large standalone works of art-for-art’s-sake which are perceived as self-righteous attempts to “improve” popular taste have always been resented by a large segment of the population.  

One important question is how much public support should go to art as process, and how much to art as product. The current building boom in Berkeley has created a fund of more than half a million dollars to be used for the commission and purchase of public art products. This is supported by a law requiring allocation of 1.5 percent of a new building’s cost to public art, both on and off the building site, and it has paid for most of the visible new art constructs in downtown Berkeley, the ones which have been the focus of considerable public ire. Grants to individuals and organizations for their own work are about half as much as the public art total, on the other hand, and are seldom controversial. 

Speakers at the recent hearing on the Civic Arts Commission’s draft cultural plan did complain about the gap between government funding of public visual art products and support for operating expenses and space for performing arts, including theater and music. Others faulted the draft plan for neglecting the question of preserving existing spaces which are now used for both visual arts and performing arts, while lots of money goes to lavish building projects for already-flush organizations. Another bone of contention was the practice of making allocations in a tiered structure as a percentage of an organization’s operating budget, which was thought to favor rich organizations like the Berkeley Rep. The ill-conceived and badly administered “cultural bonus” for developers was roundly excoriated by all. The finished plan, which the Civic Arts Commission passed on Wednesday, doesn’t completely answer these complaints, but some improvements were made. 

As the city’s budget gets tighter and tighter, it will be important to continue the open public dialogue about what kinds of arts endeavors government should be supporting. Otherwise, sentiments like those of our letter writer who opined that “we can’t really afford to buy art at this economically stressed time anyway” will gain more adherents among the voters. 

—Becky O’Malley