The Week

Vista Community College, opened in 1974, will be celebrating its 30th anniversary with a party and fundraiser at Ashkenaz on Dec. 2.
          —Jakob Schiller..
Vista Community College, opened in 1974, will be celebrating its 30th anniversary with a party and fundraiser at Ashkenaz on Dec. 2. —Jakob Schiller..
 

News

Vista Plans Bash To Help Fund Expansion: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday November 30, 2004

With its $67 million Center Street campus construction project on schedule for completion in January 2006, Berkeley’s Vista Community College is planning a birthday bash this week to celebrate its 30th anniversary. -more-


Jubilee Report Reveals Questionable Expenditures: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday November 30, 2004

Jubilee Restoration Inc., in response to a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) investigation into misuse of funds, released records last week showing that it spent federal grant money designated for a homeless youth outreach program to pay employees working for its housing development arm. -more-


Vote Count Protests Blast Media Silence: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday November 30, 2004

A small but vocal group of demonstrators rallied for an hour in front of the KGO-TV offices in San Francisco on Monday morning, protesting what they called “media silence on 2004 election irregularities.” Demonstrators later marched to the San Francisco offices of United States Senator Barbara Boxer where organizers met with Boxer’s staff. -more-


Alta Bates Walkout Met With Five-Day Lockout Threat: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 30, 2004

A one-day strike at Berkeley’s Alta Bates Medical Center and 12 other Sutter Health hospitals in Northern California commencing at 6 a.m. Wednesday will cost strikers five days of pay. -more-


New Councilmembers’ Appointments Could Set Tone for City’s Development: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday November 30, 2004

With battles still raging over new development in Berkeley, the three newly elected Berkeley City Councilmembers are facing plenty of scrutiny as they prepare to name members to commissions that have a big say on the future face of the city. -more-


MBNA Switches Cal Alumni Credit Card Without Member’s Approval: By ZELDA BRONSTEIN

Special to the Planet
Tuesday November 30, 2004

Cal graduates: Did you, like me, get your MBNA/MasterCard though membership in the California Alumni Association? -more-


Bush Victory Makes Europeans Ponder Religion: By PAOLO PONTONIERE

Pacific News Service
Tuesday November 30, 2004

President George Bush’s re-election has some European politicians on the far right and the far left scrambling to rethink the role of faith in the daily life their constituencies, as well as their position on Christian values. -more-


The Future of MoveOn: By RANDY SHAW

NEWS COMMENTARY
Tuesday November 30, 2004

My wife and I hosted one of the over 1,600 house meetings held Sunday night to chart the future of MoveOn PAC. The tightly structured event asked participants to select their top issue and strategy for the next two to four years, but left no time for the larger questions about how people can get involved in grassroots activism in between elections or how the group should prioritize its funds. -more-


East Bay Sanctuary Covenant Holds Holiday Craft Fair: By STEVEN FINACOM

SPECIAL TO THE PLANET
Tuesday November 30, 2004

“Purses, clothing, weavings, holiday décor” and jewelry, with many items priced $10 or less, are among the gifts offered at the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant Holiday Craft Fair Dec. 11-12 at the First Congregational Church. Most crafts for sale are made by indigenous women in cooperatives in Central America, Asia, Haiti, and Africa. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday November 30, 2004

ACCIDENT INFO -more-



Police Blotter: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 30, 2004

Berkeley, Vallejo Men Slain in Emeryville -more-


Taking AC Transit Again, AfterVowing to Stay Off the Bus: By SUSAN PARKER

COLUMN
Tuesday November 30, 2004

Two years ago my husband and I waited, with others, for an AC Transit bus on the corner of 55th Street and Telegraph Avenue. When the bus came, the driver stopped and allowed the able-bodied people on. Then he closed the doors. “I’m running late,” he sho uted at us. “You’ll have to wait for the next bus.” -more-


Hate and Lies: By DEAN METZGER

COMMENTARY
Tuesday November 30, 2004

With the election over it is distressing to hear our City Council and staff continue to distort the citizens’ reasons for voting down all of the city’s tax proposals. The latest example is Kriss Worthington’s Nov. 16 condemnation of the groups opposed to eliminating one of the city’s fire truck companies. He accused them of “spreading hate and lies.” -more-


Principles for Progressives: By MICHAEL KATZ

COMMENTARY
Tuesday November 30, 2004

Progressives and Democrats (not always the same thing) are still licking our wounds from Nov. 2. But we’ve begun a vigorous discussion about how to rebuild our capacity to win elections and influence people. Some of us debated this with a few thousand of our closest friends on Sunday, Nov. 21, courtesy of MoveOn.org’s national house party and online discussion board. Here’s my contribution to the fray: -more-


Juana Alicia’s Murals Set Walls Aglow With Color: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday November 30, 2004

The colorful, vivid imagery born in the West Berkeley studio of artist Juana Alicia that graces buildings across the nation may soon appear on the walls of a five-story building on University Avenue. -more-


Free Speech and Censorship During Wartime: By JOHN DENVIR

Special to the Planet
Tuesday November 30, 2004

In this history of the American experience of free speech during war time, Geoffrey Stone explodes the myth that elite professors cannot write compelling prose. Stone’s narrative of the ups and downs of the First Amendment in times of national emergency is a gripping read, full of free speech heroes and villains, victories and defeats. -more-


Berkeley Author Investigates Iraq War Profiteers: By JUDITH SCHERR

Special to the Planet
Tuesday November 30, 2004

Many of us come to understand the Iraq War through the lens of newspaper and TV journalists who track our forces on the battlefield and in Pentagon briefings. -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday November 30, 2004

TUESDAY, NOV. 30 -more-


Native Live Oaks Host an Array of Species: By RON SULLIVAN

Special to the Planet
Tuesday November 30, 2004

There aren’t many native live oaks on our streets, though we can see them easily enough up in Tilden Regional Park, in private yards, and in some public places like the UC Berkeley campus. The ones on campus are survivors (so far) of an unfortunate rash of deaths caused not by Sudden Oak Death Syndrome but by landscape errors. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday November 30, 2004

TUESDAY, NOV. 30 -more-


Measure R Loses: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR By Slim Margin in Final Vote Count

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday November 26, 2004

Final vote tallies posted from the Nov. 2 election show that despite significantly closing the margin in post-election counting, Berkeley’s medical marijuana Measure R has lost by 191 votes. The final totals were 25,167 to 24,976. -more-


A Televised Revolution: Pirate TV Comes to Berkeley: By ANNA OBERTHUR Special to the Planet

By ANNA OBERTHUR Special to the Planet
Friday November 26, 2004

To the untrained eye the mess of snaking wires and blinking electronics hardly looks revolutionary. -more-


Giving Thanks With 200 Free Dinners: By PATRICK GALVIN Special to the Planet

By PATRICK GALVIN Special to the Planet
Friday November 26, 2004

On Wednesday about 200 hungry East Bay residents enjoyed a free Thanksgiving feast with carved turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, fresh vegetables, and bread at Ann’s Kitchen, a restaurant at 2498 Telegraph Ave. -more-


UC Berkeley Plans to Lease Richmond Field Station: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday November 26, 2004

UC Berkeley officials are in the midst of negotiations to turn much of their Richmond Field Station into a corporate/academic research park, with the facility—including property retained by the university—to be renamed the Bayside Research Campus. -more-


Control of $130 Million at Stake in Peralta District Shuffle: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday November 26, 2004

The Peralta Community College District has been making extensive changes in its operations department in recent months. -more-


Proposed Shattuck Condo Site Owned by Choyce Family Trust: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday November 26, 2004

The owner of the site of the proposed five-story condo and retail project planned for 2701 Shattuck Ave. is the Choyce Family Trust, the creation of the Rev. Gordon Choyce Sr., pastor of the Missionary Church of God in Christ and head of low-income housing builder Jubilee Restoration. -more-


School District Refinances Bonds: By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday November 26, 2004

In a time of fiscal problems affecting all government agencies, the Berkeley Unified School District announced last week that all the news isn’t bad: BUSD staff has completed a refinancing of the 1992 Measure A bonds that is expected to save the district $3.2 million over the next 20 years. -more-


GAO Agrees to Investigate 2004 Election Problems: By MATTHEW CARDINALE Special to the Planet

By MATTHEW CARDINALE Special to the Planet
Friday November 26, 2004

Eighteen days following the initial request, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has agreed this week to investigate several incidents of election problems from the recent November election to satisfy the concerns brought forth by U.S. Reps. John Conyers (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and 12 other congressmembers. -more-


The Marketing of George W. Bush: News Analysis By BOB BURNETT Special to the Planet

By BOB BURNETT Special to the Planet
Friday November 26, 2004

This past January, New Yorker essayist Malcolm Gladwell observed that sports-utility vehicles are bestsellers because Americans have bought into the marketing myth that SUVs are safer than conventional cars. Actually, they are more dangerous because they are less maneuverable and more prone to tip over. -more-


San Francisco Lockout Backfired on Hotel Operators: By DAVID BACON Pacific News Service

By DAVID BACON Pacific News Service
Friday November 26, 2004

Sometimes the fate of a single battle foretells the outcome of a war, long before it’s over. The eventual end of the San Francisco hotel lockout promises to be this kind of watershed moment. -more-


Under Currents: Note to Democrats: Principles Must Precede Popularity: J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR
Friday November 26, 2004

Poor Democrats. They stand like Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the Batman movie, deserted and alone on an inner city street, watching the Republican juggernaut disappearing in the distance overhead, wondering why their toys don’t work like that. -more-


Commentary: Rebuilding Won’t Fix Stadium Safety Problems: By JANICE THOMAS

By JANICE THOMAS
Friday November 26, 2004

My sincere hope is that the Daily Planet follows up with an article on the public safety issues surrounding Cal Stadium’s current location and proposed future location of the Stadium Rebuild Project. It is dramatic to put neighborhoods in an adversarial role against this university and its athletic program, but to do so is missing the point. We are not the best representatives of the public safety issue because of our clear self-interests, but at the same time, we perhaps better than anybody else are all too familiar with the public safety issues because of where we live. -more-


Commentary: Enforcement Change Would Protect Sex Workers: By JANE FREEMAN

By JANE FREEMAN
Friday November 26, 2004

Although the election is over, people still have Query stickers on their cars and signs endorsing or opposing the different measures. The most popular sign in my area, West Berkeley, seems to be the red and white “Vote No on Q.” Measure Q was the Berkeley ballot initiative that would have made prostitution a low priority for local police. The plethora of red and white signs down San Pablo Avenue promised that voting no on Q would protect women and protect neighborhoods. The defeat of Measure Q was a lost opportunity for this historically progressive city and guarantees that the current system will continue to persecute sex workers and fail to make our community safe. -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday November 26, 2004

PERFORMANCE GAP -more-


New Ishmael Reed Play Debuts at Black Rep: By KEN BULLOCKSpecial to the Planet

By KEN BULLOCKSpecial to the Planet
Friday November 26, 2004

Who’s Who in the Tough Love Game—Ishmael Reed’s “serious comedy” at the Black Repertory Group—opens with a strange tableau, a wild variety of figures posed in front of an American flag and a chart reading “Only Foundation Agenda.” -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday November 26, 2004

FRIDAY, NOV. 26 -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday November 26, 2004

FRIDAY, NOV. 26 -more-


A Guide to Holiday Artisan Fairs Around Berkeley: By STEVEN FINACOM Special to the Planet

By STEVEN FINACOM Special to the Planet
Friday November 26, 2004

In a world increasingly filled with big box chain stores, mass-market catalogs, and “unique” gifts manufactured in the millions, where to shop for distinctive and meaningful gifts as the holidays approach? -more-


Emerson Students Thrive With Help of Mentoring Program: By NICOLE HILL Special to the Planet

By NICOLE HILL Special to the Planet
Friday November 26, 2004

This is the second in a series profiling Berkeley elementary schools. The reports are written by students of the UC Berkeley Journalism School. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Smart Growth Backlash Threat: By BECKY O'MALLEY

EDITORIAL
Tuesday November 30, 2004

The long weekend gave us the opportunity to spend a couple of days in what we still call “the country,” on the property where the publisher’s mother settled after she came to Santa Cruz as one of UCSC’s first faculty members. She called it “the ranch”—about 60 rocky acres, a fair portion of which is pretty much vertical, mostly covered with second growth redwoods and eucalypts planted at the turn of the 20th century. The driveway through the woods is about a mile long, rutted dirt with seven switchbacks, an easy ascent for the benefit of the horses who pulled wagonloads of supplies up to the summer camp operated by the owners at the time, but a challenge for automobiles. -more-


Delayed Planning, ZAB Meetings Rescheduled for Monday Night: By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

By RICHARD BRENNEMAN
Friday November 26, 2004

Berkeley planning commissioners will hold an unusual Monday night meeting because the date of their usual meeting date fell on Thanksgiving eve. -more-