Janice Thomas lives on Panoramic Hill just southeast of Memorial Stadium, close enough to keep track of Cal football games by the yells of the crowd and the blasts of the nearby cannon. This past Saturday morning, as the city filled up for the Big Game against Stanford, Thomas had a big problem. -more-
Berkeley’s medical marijuana Measure R—presumed defeated on election night—has been quietly but steadily increasing its percentage of the vote during Alameda County’s count of provisional and absentee ballots, and is now within striking distance of a possible victory. -more-
Members of Berkeley’s Design Review Committee (DRC) last week hurled stinging rebukes at a former city employee turned developer and his five-story condominium and retail building planned for the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Derby Street. -more-
As many as 7,000 nurses and other hospital workers are planning to strike Dec. 1 at 14 Bay Area Sutter hospitals including Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, union leaders said Friday. -more-
Community and religious leaders, workers, and representatives from various unions stood outside 38 Bay Area Safeway stores on Friday asking customers to sign cards pledging their support for workers in the event of a strike or boycott as contract negotiations between the two sides drag on. -more-
I’ve spent the last two years of my life receiving an education from De Anza Community College, behind my family’s back. During that time I had the audacity to tell them that I had already graduated. In fact, I was barely passing English 101. -more-
For people who want to give a little time and effort to help those in need this Thanksgiving, several organizations in Berkeley would be happy to receive a helping hand. -more-
While trucks, backhoes and a dredging machine moved earth outside, anxious neighbors of the hazardous waste-filled Campus Bay project gathered with state officials Friday morning to unload some dirt of their own. -more-
Geneva Agnes Gates Foote, a widely-admired and wise woman, writer, naturalist, spiritual seeker, and Westbrae neighbor, passed away peacefully on Tues., Nov. 9 surrounded by friends and loved ones. She was 81 years old. -more-
For the first time ever, an American company will be put on trial for human rights abuses committed by a government with which it did business. -more-
The 2004 presidential exit polls were wildly off the mark in swing states; the difference between the expected and actual results was not randomly distributed, it was all in Bush’s favor. -more-
Several nights ago I cooked a pot roast for the very first time. It turned out well, and was so appreciated by the people who live with me, that I decided to cook another. Preparing two pot roasts two nights in a row got me wondering why I waited 52 years in order to tackle a roast. This led me to question just what I’d been doing in the kitchen for the past 40 years, since making my first peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the age of five. If I’d cooked only two roasts, then how many turkeys have I prepared in my lifetime, and of those, how many were for Thanksgiving dinner? -more-
In September of this year an organization was formed to represent homeowners on creek properties, who are traditionally the stewards and caretakers of Berkeley’s many creeks. This group, Neighbors on Urban Creeks, through public interest, brought about a revision of that part of the creek ordinance which would have prevented the rebuilding of creekside homes destroyed by fire or quake. -more-
As a senior in the Planning Profession and an avid watchdog for deviations in socially and environmentally responsible urban and regional planning in the Bay Area, I am alarmed by the unilateral actions by the City of Richmond giving developer J.D. Levine “approval” to build a “world class” casino resort at Point Molate (“Developer Wins Pact to Build Point Molate Casino,” Daily Planet, Nov. 12-15). -more-
The Democrats’ defeat in the Nov. 2 national election comes as yet another temporary setback to progressive politics in this country. However, while there is much to be concerned about (from election fraud to the Supreme Court to the war in Iraq), we must all recognize that now is not the time to fall into an indulgent stupor of defeatism, but rather to energize ourselves once again. Life isn’t easy, and neither is politics. -more-
British playwright Michael Fry is clearly no Jane Austen. And nobody is going to claim that he’s a dramatic genius. But for those of us who either never knew or have forgotten Emma, Austen’s comic masterpiece, and are simply out looking for an evening’s amusement, the Aurora Theatre’s new production of Fry’s play pays off. -more-
In his journal entry for March 23, 1856, Henry David Thoreau got to brooding about what New England had lost since it was settled by Europeans: “The nobler animals have been exterminated here—the cougar, panther, lynx, wolverene [sic], wolf, bear, moose, deer, the beaver, the turkey, etc., etc.” -more-
Three days after the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board approved construction of the Ed Roberts Campus in South Berkeley, the project has been challenged by a state agency, questioning its fit in a historic area. -more-
A nationally renowned expert on statistical research and a team of graduate students at UC Berkeley yesterday sounded another alarm bell about the Nov. 2 elections, releasing a study suggesting that irregularities in electronic voting machines in Florida may have awarded hundreds of thousands of “excess” votes to George W. Bush. -more-
As negotiations continue between two state agencies over the cleanup and supervision of Richmond’s heavily polluted Campus Bay, new questions have arisen about an adjoining UC Berkeley-owned site. -more-
Foes of the nine-story high-rise apartment—or is it condo?—and theater complex planned for Center Street filed a last-minute appeal to the City Council Wednesday afternoon seeking to block the project. -more-
Faced with the possible loss of their all-important accreditation, the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley is confronting the possibility of a one-day walkout early next month by virtually all of its employees. -more-
Residents who live just south of the UC Berkeley campus said Monday that a plan which incorporates new land use guidelines for their neighborhoods included too many concessions to UC Berkeley, and that the initial study of the planned environmental revie w ignored earthquake risks and failed to identify historic buildings. -more-
Student Brutally Beaten, Reward Offered -more-
An item originally placed on the non-controversial consent calendar became the biggest topic of discussion at this week’s Berkeley Unified School District board meeting, as board members sharply questioned student achievement improvement plans for several of the district’s schools. -more-
Right up until Christmas Eve, Berkeley fire stations and the Public Safety Center at Center and Milvia streets will be accepting new, unwrapped toys for distribution to children in need. -more-
Among the hundreds of cable television stations available to Berkeley subscribers, only one has a prime time lineup that includes Jesus Loves His People followed by The Dr. Susan Block Show: Masturbation With The Pope. -more-
With the help of tens of thousands of people like me, the Democrats and 527 Democrat-leaning organizations achieved their goals on Nov. 2: high voter turnout, millions of doorbells rung, a huge and enthusiastic army mobilized to defeat the president. Yet, as an old adage goes, “The operation was a success, but the patient died.” -more-
The City Council chambers could have been mistaken for a flower shop Tuesday as a line of well-wishers—at one point extending nearly the length of the hall—heaped praise and bouquets on retiring councilmembers Maudelle Shirek, Miriam Hawley and Margaret Breland. -more-
The City Council Tuesday voted (7-1, Olds, no) to grant one of the city’s biggest nonprofit developers half of an emergency funding request as it struggles to survive a federal investigation. -more-
As I worked getting out the vote in Boulder, Colo. on Nov. 2, I received early exit poll data showing Kerry ahead in key states. Indeed, when the Colorado polls closed, all indications favored the Democrats. What troubles me about the final results is that they greatly varied from the exit polls. -more-
My good Christian friends used to tell the story about a young colored man from the little community of Pineville, South Carolina, who was drafted into the Army just after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (“colored” was a progressive term in those days, a giant step up from “nigger”). When he got his notice papers, this colored fellow—a good Baptist—got down on his knees and told God he would not fear going to war so long as Jesus would walk with him, wherever he went. So Jesus agreed to go. -more-
P. Levitt’s Nov. 16 letter lists gripes aplenty. Mr. Levitt “want[s] to own property in Berkeley,” but complains that “new buildings may have filled the need for the rental market but not for the ownership market.” P. blames the city’s Planning Director and “NIMBYs” (presumably, people Not Intimidated By Mad Yelling). -more-
“According to exit polls, Bush supporters tend to be culturally and religiously conservative married rural voters, a large majority with an annual salary of over $150,000.” -more-
Women from a Chiapas weavers cooperative are visiting Berkeley this week, sharing stories about their craft and their struggle to preserve their traditions, and to do so independently. -more-
Impact Theatre has pulled out most of the stops with its current production, Meanwhile, Back at the Super Lair… Granted, a theater company determined to make every Thursday night a “Pay what you can” performance, as well as to keep its most expensive ticket at a pleasant $15 ($10 for students), may not offer an awful lot of dazzling stage effects. But there wouldn’t be much room for such high-falutin’ carryings on in their lair in the black basement at La Val’s Pizza Parlor anyway. -more-
This is the first in a series profiling Berkeley elementary schools. The reports are written by students of the UC Berkeley Journalism School. -more-
Last year at about this time Planet readers were discussing the merits of putting city tax increases on the March ballot, and Mayor Bates was heard to complain that all the nay saying in the press and elsewhere was preventing him from doing so. The tax m easures were put off until the November election, but the results were no more palatable to mayor, council and city staff than March results would have been. Two of the most sacred of cows, libraries and firefighters, went down with the rest. What’s the p roblem here? -more-
Even though the election’s been over for two weeks, we continue to get many letters, commentaries and news analyses about what happened. A famous sociolinguist, Dr. William Labov, used to do his research by asking people to tell stories about times their lives were in danger, which produced a torrent of language which he could then study. The last five years, culminating in the election, are perceived by left-of-center political people as one of those experiences: a time when values they hold as dear as life itself have been endangered. Yes, the word is values. Believe it or not, Democrats have values too, just like evangelical conservatives. A touching report in Thursday’s papers reported that the Democrats are starting a task force on faith and values in politics. A congressman from New Jersey was quoted as saying that the task force would seek to promote such traditional Democratic values as “caring for the poor, the elderly and children and standing for the fiscal discipline embodied in the budget surpluses of the Clinton administration.” He hoped this would spark a Democratic victory in 2006 congressional elections. -more-
Even though the election’s been over for two weeks, we continue to get many letters, commentaries and news analyses about what happened. A famous sociolinguist, Dr. William Labov, used to do his research by asking people to tell stories about times their lives were in danger, which produced a torrent of language which he could then study. The last five years, culminating in the election, are perceived by left-of-center political people as one of those experiences: a time when values they hold as dear as life itself have been endangered. Yes, the word is values. Believe it or not, Democrats have values too, just like evangelical conservatives. A touching report in Thursday’s papers reported that the Democrats are starting a task force on faith and values in politics. A congressman from New Jersey was quoted as saying that the task force would seek to promote such traditional Democratic values as “caring for the poor, the elderly and children and standing for the fiscal discipline embodied in the budget surpluses of the Clinton administration.” He hoped this would spark a Democratic victory in 2006 congressional elections. -more-
