Before Berkeley introduced wheelchair-accessible taxis last summer, Patricia Berne’s world didn’t expand beyond a few blocks from a BART station.  

Now, on a whim, she can travel to Ocean Beach, Berkeley Marina, Fourth Street, her mother’s house, or even Emeryville. 

“It sounds trite, but it’s so cool to be able to go to a giant theater or Trader Joes,” said Berne, a nonprofit consultant, who rides a motorized wheelchair. 

Berne said she takes a taxi about twice a week, which makes her one of the most dependable customers of a service that hasn’t yet gained a strong following. 

“It’s been slower than we anticipated,” said Vicki Riggin, paratransit manager for the Friendly Cab Company, owner of Berkeley’s three wheelchair-accessible cabs. Riggin said Friendly gets between five and 10 calls a week from disabled clients for the specially designed minivans that can serve both ambulatory and wheelchair-riding customers. 

San Francisco’s Yellow Cab, by comparison, reported receiving 75 calls a day from disabled customers. Riggin attributed San Francisco’s higher volume of calls to the city’s hillier terrain and its inclusion of wheelchair-accessible taxis as part of its federally mandated disabled transit program, which means qualified riders get subsidized rides. 

Berkeley Councilmember Dona Spring, who uses a wheelchair, attributed the service’s slow start to a lack of awareness among disabled residents and steep prices. Alameda County’s subsidized disability transit buses and vans cost $6 for a trip to San Francisco and $3 to Oakland, compared to the taxis, which charge the standard meter price. Spring said the taxis cost her about $27 to San Francisco and $7 to Oakland from her Berkeley home. 

Those who qualify for the city’s taxi voucher program, available to low-income disabled residents, can use the vouchers to subsidize the taxi rides. 

To encourage taxi companies to buy wheelchair-accessible vans, Berkeley offered five new permits, above the city’s 120-taxi quota, for the specially designed cabs. Friendly, the only company to accept the city’s offer, benefits from having more cars it can lease to its drivers, who are independent contractors. Nevertheless, Riggin said the company has lost money on the service. 

She said that Friendly paid close to $40,000 for the minivans, nearly double the price for the standard Ford Crown Victoria sedan, adding that the added time to assist a disabled person into and out of the van eats away at driver profits. 

“We’re basically doing this out of the goodness of our hearts,” Riggin said. 

Yet nationwide, the demand for wheelchair-accessible taxis continues to grow. Sundance Brennan, Commercial Sales Manager for Freedom Motors International (FMI), the company that re-fitted Berkeley’s vans, expects his company to double sales this year from 120 taxis to at least 250. FMI charges between $8,500 and $12,000 to make standard minivans wheelchair-accessible. 

The surge in sales, Brennan said, comes from cities either encouraging companies to buy the taxis or requiring that they do so. Chicago requires one out of every 15 taxis to be wheelchair accessible and Harrisburg, Pa. recently required that seven percent of its taxis be accessible. By contrast, London’s entire fleet has been wheelchair accessible since 1989. 

Berkeley users say the four-month-old service has been indispensable. “Now I have the freedom to do things in San Francisco,” said Miya Rodolfo-Sioson, a member of Berkeley’s Commission on Disabilities, which lobbied for five years to bring the taxis to Berkeley. 

Before the taxis hit Berkeley streets, disabled residents had to rely solely on county-run paratransit buses and vans, which require passengers to reserve cars up to a week in advance and are notorious for slow rides. 

“One time it took me two hours to get to San Francisco for a medical treatment,” said Councilmember Spring, who now takes the taxis to doctor’s appointments.  

Although Friendly also asks for advanced notice, Berne said a cab is usually available if she calls on the fly. 

“It gives me the freedom of mobility that other people enjoy,” she said. Berne added that AC Transit buses weren’t well equipped to properly secure her mechanical wheelchair, so when she traveled she would have to wheel herself 20 blocks from her house to BART. 

Berkeley’s wheelchair taxis are here to stay, but the lack of ridership could keep the fleet from expanding. When the program started, Friendly offered to take all five permits, but the city, hoping to involve other companies in the program, only offered three.  

No other taxi company sought the permits, and now Friendly, which has five wheelchair-accessible taxis in its fleet that serves both Oakland and Berkeley, says its drivers aren’t interested in paying the roughly $150 in fees for Berkeley’s two remaining permits. 

“The drivers told us they make more at the Oakland Airport and don’t need a Berkeley permit,” Riggin said. 

San Francisco taxi companies aren’t sold on wheelchair-accessible taxis either, said Hal Mellgard, general manager of Yellow Cab. His company started a wheelchair-accessible pilot program in 1994 and now owns 25 of San Francisco’s 75 accessible taxis—about five percent of the city’s fleet. 

“We kind of did it for PR,” Mellgard said. “They don’t make money.” Wheelchair-accessible taxis, he added, cost three times more to maintain than Crown Victorias, and because many drivers don’t want to deal with the hassle of helping a customer into and out of the van, Yellow has to lease the cars to drivers at a discount to get them on the road. 

Mellgard and Kevin Ito, a Friendly executive, said they hope that their cities will one day subsidize the service either, in Friendly’s case, by allowing them to charge increased fares or, for Yellow, by paying the difference of the lease price charged to drivers. 

Public subsidies for wheelchair-accessible taxis are fairly common. This year New York City offered 16 percent discounts for wheelchair-accessible taxi permits, said Terry Moakley of the United Spinal Association. 

Bill Langston, a Friendly driver who leases a wheelchair-accessible car, said he enjoys giving rides to his new clientele. 

“They’re really interesting people,” said Langston, who after four months on the job said he can get a customer into and out of the minivan in under a minute. “Every time I pick up a new passenger they’re elated. A lot of them didn’t know the service existed.” 

›

Opponents of the nine-story Seagate Building, already approved by the city for a half-block frontage along Center Street in downtown Berkeley, Thursday filed a 68-page appeal asking the City Council to halt the project. 

Friends of Downtown Berkeley member Zelda Bronstein, one of the authors of the document, said the group represents a coalition of citizens concerned for the city center. 

Bronstein, former chair of the Planning Commission, and her colleagues raise a wide range of issues in the document, calling into question city policies and practices, especially the way city staff awards extra floors in exchange for providing low-income units and arts and cultural space. 

The building slated for 2041-1067 Center St., a project of a Marin County developer, would include a ground floor largely reserved as rehearsal space for Berkeley Repertory Theater, which currently rehearses in buildings which would be demolished to make way for the new high-rise. 

According to city staff estimates, one-bedroom apartments in the project would rent for an average of $1,800 and two-bedroom units for $2,500. Staff also alleges that because of high construction costs and the need to “ensure maximum revenue” for the owner, Seagate is entitled to a 102 percent density bonus—making for a 14-floor structure. 

Bronstein and her group contend that the high building costs are due to extravagant features including three levels of underground parking—far more than the city requires—negating the staff rationale. 

The appeal also cites what the group says are six specific violations of the inclusionary bonus regulations spelled out in the city housing law. 

Among the alleged violations cited are: 

• Restriction of low-income units to certain floors. 

• Allocation of fewer two-bedroom than one-bedroom units for low-income tenants. 

• Provision of smaller one- and two-bedroom units to low-income tenants than for market rate tenants. 

• The lack of permits variances required to allow these and other discrepancies with statutory requirements. 

The appeal also contends that the city staff’s application of the arts density bonus violates requirements in five specific ways. 

According to the appeal, the arts bonus has never been incorporated into city zoning statutes and thus lacks legal authority, and the Seagate’s builders never applied for the requisite use permits needed to build theatrical space. 

The appeal faults the city for granting two floors as a bonus in exchange for arts space occupying less than a full floor. It also takes issue with $450,000 in annual profits for the builder, and asserts that the bonus space allowance is invalid because the necessary use permits are absent. 

In addition, according to the appeal, the two floors granted for the arts bonus were then included in the calculation used to arrive at the inclusionary bonus. Bronstein and her allies also contend that even with bonuses, the downtown plan limits buildings in the city center to a maximum of seven floors. 

Another fault alleged is the city’s failure to establish procedures for applying and using concessions and incentives such as the density and cultural bonuses as required by Section 65915 of the Government Code. 

The appeal also charges that the project is out of compliance with both the Downtown Plan and the statutory purposes of the Central Commercial District (C-2) zoning requirements, as well as with multiple provisions of the city General Plan. 

Other alleged violations include provisions of the Creek Ordinance and transportation policies of the Land Use element of the General Plan. 

Finally, as critics of the project charged earlier, the appeal declares that the project was improperly approved because the city failed to require an Environmental Impact Report.

Have construction crews working in the polluted marsh at the edge of Richmond’s Campus Bay been operating in violation of city code? 

That’s what one leading critic of the project said city building officials told her when she paid them a visit after hea vy equipment operated through the night at the South Richmond site.  

Sherry Padgett of Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BARRD) met Fred Clement and Jay Gandhi of the building department after fellow BARRD members who live near the site called when they were awakened by loud construction noises. 

Padgett said Clement told her that the site permit allowed operations only between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, although crews have been laboring seven days a week to excavate a highly polluted marsh and to truck the waste off site. 

City staff did not return calls for comment. 

The site, proposed as the home of a 1,330-unit residential development, is under split jurisdiction, with the inland portion governed by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and the waterfront marsh supervised by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. 

“I’m not surprised,” said Richmond Councilmember Tom Butt said when told of the apparent work permit violations. 

“Though I don’t agree with it, city policy has been that if a project involves a toxic cleanup or oversight by the DTSC or the water board, all oversight is left to the agencies which have more authority and can impose the higher penalties.” 

However, Steve Morse, assistant executive officer for the water board, said his agency doesn’t regulate working hours. “That’s a local permitting activity,” he said.  

Karen Stern, a spokesperson for Cherokee Simeon Ventures, the firm which owns the site, said the company had obtained all necessary permits for weekend activities at the site. 

However, a copy of the purported permit provided to the Planet was simply Cherokee Simeon’s permit application letter with Clement’s initials where the proposed start time of 7:30 a.m. had been altered to 8 a.m. 

Stern said she was informed by Cherokee Simeon’s site supervisor Bill Collins that changes were frequently approved in similar fashion, but Padgett said Clement and Gandhi informed her that any major changes required action by the city Planning Commission. 

Stern said Collins had contacted Clement and reminded him of the letter after being reached by a Daily Planet reporter and was assured that their work was in compliance. 

“We’ve always been working under the assumption we h ad all the necessary approvals,” she said. 

Morse said he considered the overnight work necessary because a large excavator had tumbled into the marsh Wednesday afternoon, and the crews were attempting to extract the machinery before the morning high tide. 

Weekend work, however, is not an emergency issue, he said. 

Tangled jurisdictional issues have plagued the site throughout the year. 

Until criticisms by BARRD and others forced a December legislative hearing called by Assemblymembers Loni Hancock and Cindy Montanez, the water board had sole jurisdiction over the site. 

Peter Weiner, BARRD attorney, said the group wants total jurisdiction over all parts of the site transferred to the DTSC, which has both stricter regulations and vastly greater scientific expertise. 

Crews have been hauling excavated marsh sediments to a landfill near Pittsburg, but DTSC announced this week that 4,000 cubic yards of soils contaminated by hazardous’ levels of arsenic, copper, lead, mercury, and nickel must be hauled to a hazardous waste facility at Altamont. 

During the work Wednesday evening, workers wearing no hard hats or other protective gear, operated bulldozers, backhoes and other heavy construction equipment throughout the night, building a roadway from one part of the site to another and trucking toxic-laced soils from one section of waterfront marsh to another. 

No supervisors were present from either the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, which administers the upland portion of the site, or the Regi onal Water Quality Control Board, which has jurisdiction over the waterfront areas. 

Scott said that his agency had been properly notified. 

Stern and Bill Carson, an official from LFR (formerly Levine-Fricke Recon), said the work was conducted appropriat ely.›

A six-month progress report released this week by the Fiscal Crisis Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) on the Berkeley Unified School District says that the district “continues to make good progress in five operational areas” of education management. 

The largest jump was in the area of financial management, where the district’s FCMAT rating has climbed more than half a point on a 10-point scale between July and January (4.35 to 4.95) and nearly two points since FCMAT’s first rating in July of 2003 (3.08 to 4.95). In its report, FCMAT noted that “fiscal solvency has been restored, formal business processes and procedures and internal controls have been established.” 

As a result of the Alameda County Office of Education’s approval of BUSD’s 2004-05 adopted budget, FCMAT has been removed from the fiscal advisory role to the district it was assigned to by the county in 2003. 

The report mentioned one Berkeley school by name, saying in the facilities management section that “the staff at John Muir Elementary School has maintained the highest level of school safety and attractive facilities.” 

This is the next-to-the-last six-month review in which FCMAT rates BUSD in the categories of community relations/governance, personnel management, pupil achievement, financial management, and facilities management. 

FCMAT is a public management assistance organization formed by state legislative action in 1991 to provide assistance to troubled school districts.  

In 2002, after BUSD was assessed a $1.16 million fine by the state following a dispute over reimbursement for teacher development days, FCMAT was brought in to evaluate the district and develop a five-year improvement plan. In addition, the Alameda County Office of Education brought FCMAT in to the BUSD as fiscal adviser after the county office failed to approve the district’s 2001 budget. 

In 2003 FCMAT reviewed 456 specific areas of operation in the district. Each succeeding six month evaluation concentrated on only a portion of those areas (96 in this month’s report) spread out over the five categories. 

BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence, who said she had not yet had the chance to go through the 170-page evaluation in depth, said she was generally pleased at the results. 

“I did not see any things here that were surprises to me,” she said. “In some instances, they gave a higher rating where I might not have rated it that high. And the converse is true that in an area that they saw one or two points lower I would have perhaps given it one or two points higher. But those ratings are all subjective, and so I don’t quarrel with those positions.” 

The superintendent said that she was “immensely proud of the work that the staff has been doing to meet these objectives. I applaud the work that they have done.” 

Board, parent, and teacher representatives contacted by the Daily Planet had not yet seen a copy of the FCMAT report, which is scheduled to be presented to board directors and the public at next Wednesday’s meeting of the BUSD Board of Education. 

While FCMAT praised BUSD for what it called “significant effort” to remedy issues raised in FCMAT’s initial 2003 evaluation of the district, this week’s report offered specific criticisms in areas FCMAT evaluators felt still needed work. 

In personnel management, FCMAT said that among other things, employee evaluation and an internal operational procedure manual are lacking. In pupil achievement, the report said the district “needs to continue efforts” in developing a policy and model for due process and student discipline and creating an organizational structure for K-12 curriculum development in one division. 

Lawrence said that while the specific criticisms and suggestions in the report are helpful “to show what ought to be accomplished in order to get a school system righted,” the evaluation points themselves lack a frame of reference. 

“Since FCMAT is not evaluating all school districts in the state, there’s not a standard by which we can judge ourselves and take examples,” she said. “If there is a school district that got a perfect 10 in any of the areas, for example, we’d like to go and look at it so we can go and see what they’re doing that we are not. I asked FCMAT, but they told me they haven’t given out any 10s. So in the absence of statewide standards, we can only use the reports as internal documents by which to measure our own progress.” 

Ask Nancy D. Waters, principal of John Muir Elementary School, how much her school focuses on music and “beep be diddly do wop wop wop” will be her reply. Or she might break out a riff on her baritone saxophone as she has been known to do at the school’s Monday-morning “singing and signing assemblies.”  

But a scat-singing, sax-playing principal is only one of the school’s unusual features. Muir, on Claremont Avenue in southeast Berkeley, houses the district’s only Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program. It also boasts a program in so-called life skills and, this year began making food a part of the curriculum with the backing of the Chez Panisse Foundation. 

Muir and Le Conte Elementary were the only elementary schools in the Berkeley Unified School District chosen by Chez Panisse to launch a program that incorporates food into the coursework. 

Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse, conceived the idea of integrating lunch with learning a decade ago and has been changing the way schools look at food ever since. 

It is part of Waters’ well-publicized crusade to bring healthier food to schools and foster a sense of community by engaging students in every aspect of food preparation.  

Through this program, children will tend garden beds, plant seeds and help cook the food that will eventually appear on their lunch trays. Teachers will reinforce key concepts by creating lessons that bring facets of gardening and cooking into the classroom. Students might learn science by studying soil and growing seasons. Subsequently, children might strengthen their writing skills by recording their observations in a journal. 

Principal Waters, known to most as “Nancy D.,” says she is thrilled the school will be able to better serve the health and nutrition needs of its students. 

“We’re very excited,” she says. “We already have a very strong gardening and cooking program, so this will tie in really well.” 

When the Muir students aren’t busy planting, cooking, or expanding their taste buds to include chard, they’re winning awards and practicing good citizenship. 

John Muir received a national citation in November of 2002 for its incorporation of singing and signing into assemblies. Principal Waters, who was a music teacher in Florida for 12 years before she became an administrator, leads the assemblies, during which students receive praise and peer recognition for embodying one or more of a variety of so-called life skills including cooperation, integrity, patience, problem-solving, respect and responsibility. 

“We think that emphasizing [the importance of music] strengthens academics,” says Waters. 

The singing and signing assemblies are also part of the school’s effort to serve the needs of Muir’s deaf and hard-of-hearing students. 

“The assemblies promote a positive attitude toward signing,” says Pam Ormsby, teacher for the Deaf Program, grades 3-5. “Our philosophy is to sign everything that is said … We have a strong group of interpreters [who] bring support to all the students. They are on the yard, in the cafeteria, at the buses, and in the classrooms.” 

The Deaf Program, noted for its emphasis on speech and listening skills, began with just five students in 1986 and currently has 18 enrolled from areas as close as Albany and as far away as Livermore. To date, 100 percent of the deaf and hard-of-hearing students who graduated from Muir have gone to college. 

John Muir prides itself on offering students a peaceful environment with emphasis on all aspects of child development. 

“It is a place of great beauty, great serenity and great activity,” says PTA President Valerie Gutwirth.  

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

Already approved for construction by the city Zoning Adjustments Board, the proposed Ed Roberts Center for the disabled faces one more regulatory hurdle. 

The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has scheduled a Monday night hearing to consider the center’s potential impacts on nearby South Berkeley historic buildings. 

The hearing begins at 7:30 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

The hearing is mandated under federal law which requires that all projects built with federal funds must take into account any historic structures and architecture within their “area of potential impact.” 

That area is bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Way on the west, Shattuck Avenue on the east, Ashby Avenue on the north, and Woolsey Street on the South. 

The area contains three potential candidates for the National Register of Historic Places: the recently landmarked Webb Building at 1985 Ashby, Luke’s Nickelodeon Building at 3192 Adeline, and the Hill & Durgin Funeral Home at 3031-3051 Adeline.  

The city Housing Department intends to commit $6 million in federal Section 108 loan program funds to the Ed Roberts Center project. 

The State Office of Historic Preservation identifies historical impacts for the federal government. 

On Oct. 3, 2003, Senior Planner Tim Stroshane of the city Housing Department notified the agency that the center would have no impact on historic structures. 

A letter from the state agency written 19 days later challenging Stroshane’s contention met with no response. Last Nov. 17, California Historic Preservation Officer Milford Wayne Donaldson wrote city Planning Director Dan Marks a letter sharply criticizing the city for failing to respond to the letter sent 13 months earlier. 

“We are concerned about the length of time that has passed since we provided the city with our comments. We are also concerned by the questions raised by the public regarding the city’s planning and environmental review efforts,” Donaldson wrote. 

Critics of the center have faulted its architecture rather than its purpose, raising concerns that its starkly modern facade will contrast too sharply with nearby buildings built a century ago. 

Others have questioned the project’s impact on a neighborhood where parking is a problem, in part caused by the Ashby BART station. 

Design proponents have repeatedly argued that the open, glass-walled front along Adeline Street is a necessary social statement, the antithesis of the blank and small-windowed walls behind which the disabled were institutionalized in times past. 

The structure’s curvilinear front is capped by a skylight that resembles a low-rise steamship smokestack built above an open curved wheelchair ramp leading to the second floor. 

Other proponents have charged that neighbors’ concerns are merely masks for NIMBYism—a charge that critics such as Prince Street activist Eric Cleary strongly deny. 

Meanwhile, Stroshane has issued a call to the public for information, photos and personal recollections about the neighborhood. 

Submissions may be made via e-mail at tstroshane@ci.berkeley.ca.us. 

For more information on Monday’s hearing, call LPC Secretary Giselle Sorensen at 981-7419.

Berkeley Police Chief Roy Meisner didn’t hand in his badge when he retired Dec. 30.  

With the search for his replacement expected to continue into February, Meisner will remain chief until a successor is named. 

“Roy agreed to stay on to provide for a smooth transition and a selection process that will be fair to all applicants,” City Manager Phil Kamlarz said.  

Kamlarz’ other option would have been to appoint a captain as the acting chief. 

On Monday, the city ended a nationwide recruitment effort to fill the police chief post, said Dave Hodgkins, the acting director of human resources. 

Hodgkins said the city received dozens of applications, including several from within the BPD. Community panels will interview selected candidates in February, said Kamlarz, who expected to recommend a successor to the City Council before the close of the month. 

The search for a replacement to replace Meisner, who announced his retirement in September, is on schedule, Hodgkins said. He added that the publications where the city posted the job opening required seven week lead times to place the ad. 

Meisner will be paid $79.40 an hour for his work, based on his $162,000 salary as chief, and will also begin collecting his pension which state law sets at 90 percent of his highest annual salary, which amounts to $146,007 a year..

On Wednesday, one day before Sen. Barbara Boxer decided to sign a Democratic challenge to Ohio’s electoral votes, a father/daughter pair from Berkeley marched into her Washington D.C. office and delivered a letter urging her to do just that. 

Although they doubt their letter was the deciding factor, George Coates and his daughter Gracie, 14, were overjoyed on Thursday when they heard Boxer had indeed decided to challenge the electoral votes. To celebrate, they joined a march through the rain that ended at a rally in front of the Senate building. 

“I was so excited this morning I was screaming,” Gracie said. As a freshman at Berkeley High, she is getting extra credit from her English teacher, Rick Ayres, for making the trip. Her dad is filming the trip and posting it to his blog, betterbadnews.com. Gracie also plans to show the video in her media class.  

“I’ve been really into this,” she said. “It’s an important issue for me because I know that more people voted for Kerry. I think the Bush administration needs to be caught for the votes they stole. 

Boxer’s decision to join Democratic Representatives in the House in challenging the electoral votes forced both houses of Congress to have up to a two-hour debate on the issue. It also interrupted the tallying of the electoral votes for only the second time in the country’s history. The first delay happened in 1877.  

“I have concluded that objecting to the electoral votes from Ohio is the only immediate way to bring these issues to light by allowing you to have a two-hour debate to let the American people know the facts surrounding Ohio’s election,” Boxer wrote to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, one of the protest leaders in the House. 

“I will therefore join you in your objection to the certification of Ohio’s electoral votes.” 

A litany of complaints, such as too few voting machines in Democratic precincts and misconduct by the Ohio secretary of state, who doubled as the Bush-Cheney co-chairman for Ohio, have continued to be made against the Ohio vote count since the election.  

Several members of the Democratic protest also cited a report released by the House Judiciary Committee which found “numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election,” that resulted in “significant disenfranchisement of voters,” to support their challenge.  

Both houses ultimately voted against the challenge Thursday. Only Boxer voted yes in the Senate and their debate took less than the allotted two hours. A more fiery exchange took place in the House, where 31 Representatives objected to certifying the electoral votes. 

“I’m disappointed,” said Gracie after the vote. “I think the Senate should be ashamed of itself.” 

At the same time, she said the experience had taught her a lot.  

“I’m glad I’m getting an early start in getting involved in politics,” she said. “I think everyone should start as early as they possibly can.” 

“I also think we need to elect more senators like Barbara Boxer,” she added.1

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had a chance to mount an imaginative and energetic campaign to solve the state’s education crisis, but instead retreated to stale proposals in his State of the State Address on Jan. 5.  

Schwarzenegger disappointed advocates in his brief comments on education by failing to address the poor test scores of California’s students or propose viable ways to improve performance.  

A Rand Corporation study released Jan. 3 reveals that although California’s K-8 students have made gains in national achievement tests in math and reading, the state still ranks near the bottom of the 50 states, above only Louisiana and Mississippi.  

These results should have set off the alarm bells for Schwarzenegger and set his staff working on some solutions. But in his address, the governor bragged that the state spent $50 billion on education in 2004, and this year $2.9 billion more.  

“There is no revenue problem,” Schwarzenegger said. “We have a spending problem.” Thus he vowed not to raise taxes, and laid the foundation for cuts in education, given the $8 billion deficit still facing the state.  

Schwarzenegger ignored the Rand Corp.’s findings that California’s spending per student has fallen below the national average since 1970, and ranked 27th in per-student spending in 2001-2002. This spending level persists even though California faces greater challenges than other states because it must educate a large immigrant population. The 2002 Census revealed that 5.8 percent of California school-aged children had trouble speaking English, compared with a national average of 2.5 percent.  

One-on-one is the most effective teaching method and one of the surest ways to reach these immigrant children. But it costs money to reduce class size so that teachers can get around the room to give individual attention. And it costs a lot to hire teacher aides.  

To his credit, in his address Schwarzenegger did say he wanted to reward teachers for their hard work and promised a merit pay system. He did not say how he was going to fund it. As the Rand study pointed out, the real average annual teacher salary in California during 2000-2001—$39,000—is the same as it was in 1969-70 when adjusted for inflation. That salary hardly attracts the best and brightest to the classroom, especially given the cost of housing in the state. Would it not be more sensible to raise teacher’s salaries across the board rather than just reward a few?  

At a time when evidence is mounting that charter school students perform no better than their peers in larger public schools, Schwarzenegger pushed a pledge to open more charter schools.  

Schwarzenegger wants to avoid taxes, but by raising revenues through taxes on those who can best afford them he could wipe out the deficit and invest in the state’s future. California will face certain decline if this generation of students flounders in mediocrity. And if the deficit rides into the next decade, it will be impossible to meet the challenges facing the state.  

If Schwarzenegger values teachers, he should find a way to empower them to obtain books, teaching materials and comfortable and clean classrooms. All teachers suffer shortages at least once in their careers, and many reach into their own pockets to buy basic classroom supplies for their students throughout the year.  

If Schwarzenegger values students, he should make sure that every inner city student has a fully trained and experienced teacher. To attract teachers during the current shortage, according to the Rand report, districts are lowering their standards. Just 46 percent of school districts in California now require teachers to have full standard certification in the subjects they teach. Many of these unprepared teachers teach in the cities. These teachers must receive training, and once trained, the merit pay should go to them.  

Studies show parental involvement is a key factor in the success of kids at school. If Schwarzenegger values parents—including those who do not speak English well—he should devise programs to reach and motivate parents to establish a culture in California that values education. Students must come to school ready to learn and eager to do homework. Otherwise, no excellent teacher, upgraded facility or reduced class size will make a difference.  

Educational excellence takes money and imagination. Not enough of either appeared in the governor’s proposals on education this week.  

Donal Brown taught in California’s public schools for 35 years.

Berkeley Iceland has received a 15-day extension to submit a plan to bring its 64-year-old skating rink up to code. 

Last month the Berkeley Fire Department had given Iceland officials until Jan. 8 to propose a remedy for its ammonia-based refrigeration system or face a possible closure. 

Ammonia, a common refrigerant for skating rinks, is a toxic gas that can be lethal and turn combustible when mixed with oil. Iceland’s system however lacks many of the safeguards city codes require. 

Iceland sought a 30-day delay to present their plan, citing that their engineer had experienced a personal emergency. In response the Fire Department extended the deadline to Jan. 24, said Deputy Chief David Orth. 

To satisfy the city’s concerns, Iceland must either upgrade their ammonia system or install a new ammonia system. Another option would be to install a Freon-based system, estimated to cost between $200,000 and $300,000. 

     Berkeley High School has produced a number of outstanding people over the years and Yule Caise is no exception. Graduating in 1982, and giving a commencement speech at the graduation, Yule attended Harvard University where he majored in visual and environmental studies. 

     Yule Caise worked as a child actor, studying at the American Conservatory Theatre, and starring in the PBS series Up and Coming. While at Harvard he wrote and directed the award-winning film, Shoes. His film Boy’s Night Out has played at festivals worldwide. As a writer, Yule Caise has written numerous screenplays, most notably Free of Eden for Showtime, starring Sidney Poitier. Feature producing credits include Liar’s Dice starring Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou); On Edge, starring Jason Alexander and Tweek City. He is slated to direct the comedy Freon from his original screenplay in coming months. 

     Yule was brought to Los Angeles by Robert Townsend after Townsend saw Caise’s student film Shoes. 

     Yule Caise is also a world traveler. Starting at Berkeley High with the Concert Corale, Yule traveled to France, Italy, Australia and Japan. He has also been to Hungry and Egypt. Yule credits Berkeley High School with much of his success. 

     “My experience at Berkeley High was invaluable because of the diversity of the students at the time. If you come out of BHS you can interact with all kinds of people. It’s a very mature student body,” Caise said. 

     Though Yule currently lives in Los Angeles, he always looks for opportunities to film in the Bay Area and he commutes to Berkeley often. 

Yule and his girlfriend are the parents of a month-old baby boy. 

Berkeley writer Jonathan Wafer is a graduate of the Berkeley High School, Class of ‘81. 

BICYCLE BOULEVARDS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As a member of the board of directors of the Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition, I’d like to respond to Ray Quan’s letter about Bicycle Boulevards (Daily Planet, Dec. 31-Jan. 3). 

First, to address Mr. Quan’s unanswered question about whether there is a “...city ordinance governing the mutual use of the boulevard...” let me say that my understanding is that Bicycle Boulevards are still regular streets and all the usual traffic laws are in force for both motorists and cyclists. 

It isn’t special traffic rules that make Bicycle Boulevards work but rather design details that facilitate cycling—such things as the placement of stop signs, provision of bike-sensitive pickup loops that let a bicycle trip a stop-light the same way a car does, location of on-street auto parking, traffic calming measures, etc, etc. 

From Mr. Quan’s letter, I gather that he thinks there is only one Bicycle Boulevard in Berkeley. There is actually a network of them that allows cyclists to cross town both north-south and east-west on routes that closely parallel the major arteries, thus facilitating the use of bicycles for everyday transportation. Berkeley’s Bicycle Boulevards are very much a work in progress, and many of the refinements that are called for in the design standard have not yet been implemented. The first phase was identification of routes and installation of signage, but there’s lots more to come. 

Anyone who wants more information about our city’s Bicycle Boulevard network can contact BFBC and we’ll be happy to help them. Here’s how to contact BFBC, from our website at www.bfbc.org: e-mail: bfbc@lmi.net or phone: 510-549-RIDE (549-7433). 

Note also that at the BikeStation in the Berkeley BART station (concourse level, south end) you can park your bike on weekdays in the care of an attendant at no charge.  

David Coolidge 

• 

CYCLISTS AND  

THE LAW 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I am disappointed by the attitude that too many car drivers have toward bicyclists. It results from ignorance of the California Vehicle Code that classifies bicycles as vehicles with the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicles (CVC 21200). While bicyclists are required to “ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway” (CVC 21202), exceptions are made that include “(w)hen reasonably necessary to avoid conditions …that make it unsafe to continue...” This would include staying at a sufficient distance from cars parked at curbside to prevent being struck by car doors that might open in front of them.  

The “bureaucrats” Mr. Quan refers to in his Dec. 31 letter are our elected City Councilmembers who are responding to their constituents’ concern for the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians. Public workshops were held to plan the bicycle boulevard system. Most of the residents who participated favored the creation of bicycle boulevards. Routes were selected to include streets near public schools in order to qualify for grants under federal and state “Safe Routes to School” programs.  

Cyclists who fail to obey the traffic laws need to be cited for those violations. Drivers of motor vehicles need to respect the right of bicyclists to use the roadway. Several weeks ago, I was attempting to make a left hand turn from the center of the right lane on the Heinz Street bicycle boulevard onto Seventh Street, also permitted by CVC 21202. I was cursed out by the occupant of a taxi behind me to “get off the f…ing street.” There have been other times when I have been cursed or honked at while in a bicycle boulevard, including being told I should be riding on the sidewalk. Vehicles are not permitted on the sidewalk.  

While bicycles have the right to use all of the streets in the city, bicycle boulevards allow riders the option to avoid busy streets and unsafe conditions. While cars are not banned from the boulevards, the signs and decals should alert drivers to the presence of pedestrians and cyclists. The riders on Virginia Street that Mr. Quan encountered were not “oblivious” at all. They were well aware of the dangers of riding on either University Avenue or Cedar Street and chose Virginia to avoid those busy cross-town routes. If car drivers are in such a hurry to get across town, they should drive on the higher traffic streets such as Cedar, University, or Dwight Way.  

While drivers such as Mr. Quan may believe the roads are made for cars alone, the vehicle code states otherwise. If Mr. Quan needs more reasons to share the road, he might consider why many of us choose to pedal. We are concerned with the negative environmental impact of cars, including smog and global warming. Cars are rapidly depleting the world’s oil, a non-renewable resource. Bicycles take less space on the road and need less space to park. The next time Mr. Quan finds himself stuck in a traffic jam or is fighting for a parking spot, he should remember that too many cars are the problem, not bicycles. Tax money spent on the bicycle boulevards benefit everyone, not just cyclists.  

Tom Yamaguchi  

• 

ROBERTS CAMPUS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The City of Berkeley Housing Department is undertaking a review of historic resources in the neighborhood surrounding the east parking lot of the Ashby BART station. This western portion of this lot is proposed for development as Ed Roberts Campus, a universally-accessible community resource center for people with disabilities.  

The area the city is interested in is within Ashby Avenue on the north, Shattuck Avenue on the east, Woolsey Street on the south, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way on the west. This area, coincidentally, corresponds to the approximate boundaries of a ranch owned by Mark Ashby, an early Berkeley resident.  

This neighborhood was originally developed at the turn of the 20th century as a streetcar suburb, and possesses a number of prominent examples of Colonial Revival-style homes. According to records assembled by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, this area saw six different electrified trolley lines going through. These lines linked together downtown Berkeley and the University of California campus with south Berkeley, north and west Oakland.  

In addition, state of California records indicate there are three historic buildings that may be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, including the Webb Building at 1985 Ashby, the Hull & Durgin Funeral Home at 3031-51 Adeline, and Luke’s Nickelodeon building at 3192 Adeline. 

Ed Roberts Campus has received funding awards from the federal government toward its development. To receive funding commitments from the government, the Campus must have the City of Berkeley (acting on behalf of the federal government in this instance) consider what, if any, effects the Campus would have on historic resources in the Ashby BART, and the City wants to hear from the public about the history of this south Berkeley neighborhood.  

Members of the public who wish to contribute their knowledge, photographs, testimonies, or memories of this neighborhood—or who know someone who might be willing to contribute such information—are urged to contact Tim Stroshane, senior planner, City of Berkeley Housing Department, 981-5422, or via e-mail at tstroshane@ci.berkeley.ca.us. We look forward to hearing from you! 

Tim Stroshane 

Senior Planner 

City of Berkeley Housing Department 

• 

JOHN YOO 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Months after learning that John Yoo, currently a law professor at UC Berkeley, has no moral compass, being willing to draft briefs for his masters justifying tossing overboard long established prohibitions against torture, we now find that he has no ethical compass, either. He is quoted in the “Justice Thomas Leads Court in Getting Gifts,” a Dec. 31 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, saying, “I don’t see anything wrong in this. I don’t see why it is inappropriate to get gifts from friends. This (questioning of the propriety of Thomas accepting $42,200 in gifts over six years) reflects a bizarre effort to over-ethicize everyday life. . .”  

I suppose John fantasizes that it’s just charm that attracts this kind of largesse, not the fact that Thomas can pass judgments affecting people’s lives and fortunes. Frankly, I think I am pretty charming, and I haven’t garnered $42,200 in gifts in over 68 years. I guess some professions are just inherently more charming than engineering. 

Since it seems unlikely that John is imbuing his students with morality or ethics, I guess Boalt Hall wants John to teach the drafting of clever arguments to justify whatever the client wants to do. I think his services would be in great demand in Washington today. 

Incidentally, I think I learned more about the propriety of torture and what constitutes torture in a one-hour class on the Geneva Conventions in Army basic training 50 years ago than John apparently did in years of study of the law. 

Armin Wright 

Oakland 

• 

SHIRLEY CHISHOLM 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Regarding your stupid, racist and sexist editorial on Shirley Chisholm (“Chisholm Campaign Recalled,” Daily Planet, Jan. 4-6): Frankly, Chisholm was not all that great, either as a candidate or an orator. That people would waste time on her candidacy in the very year when it was imperative to defeat the war criminal Nixon, just boggles the mind. Talk about juvenile ultra-left self-indulgence ! But then her death is just a good excuse to bash white males, a longtime project of the braindead PC Left in Berkeley. And a major reason why the Left will keep losing election after election. No critical thinking, no cogent analysis, just the same old sex and race baiting that was vogue in 1969. Identity politics is the reason the Left is dying. You PC Berkeley types are no different from the rankest bigot in Alabama, just a reverse choice of targets. I do admire your struggle to keep a local paper going but you can do better than being a print version of KPFA, can’t you ? 

Michael P. Hardesty 

Oakland 

• 

POINTING FINGERS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

How convenient for Mayor Bates for the university’s long range plan to come along. Bureaucrats always love a big target. Irrespective of whether the university’s expansion plan will drastically affect “pollution and congestion ,” as he pretends to care about, guess what? 

We already have pollution and congestion, and it’s the city’s fault! In addition to approving hundreds of new housing developments over the past years, you might also notice hundreds of new traffic signs in Berkeley, telling you where you can and cannot drive. New stop signs, new Right Turn Only signs, illegal barricades everywhere, and traffic signals timed perfectly to turn red after you’ve gone one block traveling at the speed limit. If the city really cared about congestion and pollution, they’d insist on an EIR every time the traffic engineer got bored and ordered more signs to clutter our city. Clean your own house, Mr. Bates before starting to point fingers elsewhere. 

Tim Cannon 

• 

MORE ON ROBERTS CAMPUS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Several articles and letters in recent weeks have covered the use permit issued to the Ed Roberts’ Campus by the Zoning Adjustments Board in November and its pending appeal by neighbors who argue that the building’s design doesn’t fit in with the neighborhood. It seems to me that response to this project has become unnecessarily complicated by issues that are not pertinent either to the core mission of the ERC project or to the architectural history of Berkeley. Since when is it okay in Berkeley for the aesthetic tastes of a few individuals to trump the social good of the community? 

The ERC is not demolishing any historic structure. Rather, it is replacing an eyesore parking lot with a building that will set the standard for universal and sustainable design. Berkeley prides itself on its diversity and tolerance—erecting a modern building in a neighborhood that has many kinds of buildings and land uses does not in any way detract from the historical interest of older parts of the neighborhood. And the ERC project stands to benefit its neighbors and the city of Berkeley in a variety of ways: providing needed services and a landmark community center for people with disabilities, paying tribute to a great East Bay resident and to the independent living and disability rights movements he helped to found, and revitalizing a mixed use and mixed income part of our city. 

The ERC partners have worked for years with the neighbors of the Ashby BART station and have made many compromises regarding the size of the building and the parking and traffic flow around it. The design is innovative and contemporary; some may not like its aesthetics. But the architects and planners have more than taken the neighborhood into account, and the building will welcome everyone and be a source of pride for Berkeley.  

Julia Epstein  

• 

PEPPERSPRAY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Really enjoyed the Pepperspray Times in the Jan. 4-8 print issue of the Daily Planet. Funny stuff, with no (or few) cliches. I only moved to Berkeley this September so don’t know if this is an occasional feature or entirely new—but hope you will repeat it. 

Randy Reed 

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Pepperspray Times is written by Berkeley musician and activist Carol Denney and appears in the Daily Planet on the first Tuesday of each month.) 

• 

TAX MEASURES 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Rob Wrenn blames Proposition 13 for the failures of the tax increase measures on the November ballot. I once met the person who ran the Prop 13 campaign; he remarked that he had a lot of respect for the democratic system and that it is difficult to fool the electorate. 

Berkeley taxpayers know when they are being fooled to by its leaders and that is why the measures failed. Mr. Wrenn blames fire and police budgets for taking a large share of the general fund but makes no mention of the city’s large number of employees compared to other cities. The electorate knows that the city is run for the benefit of the unions and not for the benefit of its citizens. 

As long as Berkeley continues to fail to address these structural problems, tax increase measures will fail. 

Robert Cabrera 

• 

PROVING IT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

While I was on vacation, I talked with people from all over America. “I have here in my hand,” I told them, “absolute proof that George Bush stole the 2004 election.”  

No one wanted to see my proof.  

No one even cared. 

If I had made this outrageous statement to George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, they would have ripped the documents right out of my hand in their haste to get to the truth. “What do you mean—election fraud? That’s a serious accusation. Can you really prove it? Either show us some real proof or shut up about it.” 

If I were a patriotic American and someone offered to show ME proof that a U.S. presidential election had been stolen, I would want to see it. Is this actually true or is this person some kind of nut or kook? 

Americans all want to find out more about Ripley’s two-headed calf. But what about the strange case of the stolen 2004 election? It is possibly an even bigger scandal than that Bush was warned at least 28 times about an attack on America prior to 9-11. It is the Mount Rushmore of chicanery, the amazing shrunken head of deceit, the Grand Canyon of skullduggery and the two-ton pizza of voter fraud. 

So. What was the reaction of the average American when I promised them all this irrefutable proof of massive voter fraud? “Ho hum. That’s boring. Let’s talk about something else.” This is the most shocking accusation ever made and no one is interested. 

“Please!” I begged Americans. “If you care about honesty and decency and the soul of America, please just read this!” They sighed, shook their heads, looked inconvenienced and fervently hoped that I would just shut up and go away. 

“Five convicted felons wrote the Diebold software!” I cried. “Every single one of the thousands of errors detected on Florida voting machines were in favor of George Bush! Private companies sworn to elect Bush counted 80 percent of America’s votes! In at least 10 Ohio precincts with only 600 registered voters each, 4,000 per precinct voted for Bush!” 

Even though every word of what I say about the 2004 stolen election can be proved, no one believes me. No one listens to me. No one cares. 

This response by Americans is so strange, so weird, so truly bizarre that is deserves to be published in Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Plus two stolen U.S. presidential elections in a row should surely make the Guinness Book of World Records. 

Steal the election once—shame on Cheney/Bush. Steal the election twice—shame on America. 

Jane Stillwater 

• 

DROP A LINE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Readers who may be wondering about which way our country is headed should consider reading the “Union Democracy Review” which covers the ferment going on in unions all across the country to have honest unions. 

Drop them a note requesting a sample copy at: Association for Union Democracy, 104 Montgomery St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11225; Phone: (718) 564-1114, e-mail: aud@igc.org; or watch for the review of Rebels, Reformers and Racketeers by Herman Benson which will be out early in 2005. 

Charles Smith 

• 

BAY BRIDGE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

With all the controversy about the Bay Bridge, thought you would like to see a picture of a bridge we passed under as we floated down the Nile in Egypt, in Feb. 2003. It is beautiful! I hope that we can have a lovely bridge like this in the Bay Area. 

Margot Smith 

*picture in Edit/Comm    

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas?

West Oakland Councilmember and mayoral candidate Nancy Nadel says she wants to use some of Oakland’s newly-passed Measure Y violence prevention money on something she calls “peacemaking circles.” Ms. Nadel says that a judge in Nogales, Ariz. has used the circles with couples involved in domestic violence, and that a training in the technique was attended early last year by OPD Lt. Lawrence Green of North Oakland, who, she reports, “thought it was very useful.” The technique is also apparently being used, with some success, in both Massachusetts and Minnesota. 

With some slight modifications for Oakland use, I believe the councilmember is on to something. 

An Internet fact sheet put out by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (www.doc.state.mn.us/aboutdoc/restorativejustice/rjpeacemakingcircleprocess.htm) explains that the circles “provide a process for bringing people together as equals to talk about very difficult issues and painful experiences in an atmosphere of respect and concern for everyone. … [They are] built on the tradition of talking circles, common among indigenous people of North America, in which a talking piece, passed from person to person consecutively around the circle, regulates the dialog. The person holding the talking piece has the undivided attention of everyone else in the circle and can speak without interruption. The use of the talking piece allows for full expression of emotions, deeper listening, thoughtful reflection, and an unrushed pace. Additionally, the talking piece creates space for people who find it difficult to speak in a group. Drawing on both traditional wisdom and contemporary knowledge, the circle process also incorporates elements of modern peacemaking and consensus building processes.” 

Another good description of the circles and how they are used by the Massachusetts-based Roca organization can be seen at www.rocainc.org/circles.htm. 

The first modification I would suggest—and I consider it an unfortunate one—would be to drop the term “peacemaking circle.” 

The term conjures images of Native Americans sitting around a fire passing around a peace pipe because, of course, it comes directly from the practice of Native Americans sitting around a fire passing around a peace pipe. For too many Americans still infected with the memory of stereotyped Hollywood cowboy-and-Indian movies, that image is a caricature ripe for ridicule. For those of us old enough to remember how Oakland collapsed in embarrassment under the ebonics debacle—a flawed plan which deserved far more serious consideration than it got—it ought to be recognized that how an idea is named and how it is first presented to the public can be far more important than the substance of the idea itself. 

The second modification I would suggest is that—at least unless and until a major department reorganization is accomplished—we leave out the participation of the Oakland police as peacemakers and mediators. 

This is not meant as a criticism of the Oakland police—goodness knows, I’ve done enough of that in this column, and will probably do it again, when the occasion arises—but more an acknowledgement that the roles and actions we require of police as law enforcement and crime prevention officers often makes them less effective—and even, on occasion, detrimental—as peacemakers. 

And it certainly doesn’t mean that the police should be excluded from any role in the peacemaking process. 

To make peace—which is a far different thing from merely preventing violence—you have to get to the heart of the conflicts, including airing out how the conflicts came to be. 

But conflicts that have the potential for breaking out into violence oftentimes have already dipped into violence or other illegal activity along the way and, so, you are not likely to get the truth of things out if a police officer is a mediator or even if a police officer is in the room. 

This is even further a problem when police officers themselves are on one side of a dispute. Police, as we know, tend to close ranks in public when complaints are brought against one of their own. (If you want to see this in present practice, take a look at the agony and convolutions the Oakland Police Department is going through in the ongoing Riders trial.) 

One of the truths about Oakland—or any other diverse American city, I would imagine—is that the people who hang out on the streets in the violent zones are the people who can often tell you both the details of violent incidents as well as the immediate-and, sometimes, long-term causes. 

It was these people, for example, who first told me that the first death attributed to an Oakland sideshow—22 year old U’ Kendra Johnson in a February, 2002 auto accident—was actually the direct result of a high-speed police chase. Despite the later surfacing of a video showing the events leading up to that death, the Oakland Police Department has never publicly acknowledged that such a police chase even took place. 

But it is also one of the truths about Oakland—and maybe most other diverse American cities as well—that the people who hang out in the streets in the violent zones are the least likely ones to show up at official meetings to discuss causes of and cures for the violence. 

Part of the problem is that many of these street-hanging folks have crime histories themselves, which they would—understandably—prefer not get aired in a forum monitored by police. But another problem is that these folks are used to being either ignored or discredited by official Oakland, and so prefer to restrict the dispersal of their knowledge to the bars and porch steps and streetcorners and other more welcoming spots of our city. 

An Oakland Peace Project that fails to include street-familiar Oaklanders as major partners and players in the process is an Oakland Peace Project that is itself probably going to fail. 

(If you want to see how this could work in theory, and how it ends up getting botched in practice, you could take a look at the KTOP videotape of the city-sponsored town hall meeting held at Oakland’s Eastmont Mall in the summer of 2001 to come up with solutions to the sideshow problem. Sideshow participants weren’t invited, but came on their own to present their views. The tape shows how two of the sides of the conflict—sideshow participants and affected East Oakland neighborhood residents—came agonizingly close to working out a solution to Oakland’s sideshow problem, until police and city officials stepped in and aborted the process. Don’t take my word for it. Look at the tape yourself.) 

The shortest path to preventing violence and other social problems often buries the underlying conflicts and causes, leaving them to merely resurface in other places and other times (like cracking down on prostitution along San Pablo Avenue, only to have the girls and the johns move their business out along International). Making peace means bringing those underlying conflicts and causes out into the open, and attempting to bring about their resolution. Oakland, with a serious violence problem, needs to look at serious, adult solutions. The “peacemaking circles,” name notwithstanding, might be an important contribution to that solution, certainly worthy of serious consideration. 

?

We live in an all-encompassing culture of fear, which affects what we read, watch on TV, and talk about—even sports, where for example, it’s no longer sufficient to run a marathon, now one must compete in a 100-mile scamper through the Colorado Rockies i n order to risk dying of a heart attack or being eaten by a bear. 

This culture prompted the Survivor TV series and an intense media focus on obsessed winners and losers; in April, tabloids featured Aron Ralston who had an accident while climbing alone an d was forced to cut off part of his arm with a pocketknife. 

As we struggle to make sense of the Iraq war, it helps to remember that the U.S. is blanketed in this culture of fear, to view the occupation as a harrowing “reality” TV show produced by the Bus h administration. The themes are familiar: Americans are the good guys, deposited in a hostile environment, equipped with the latest technology, ordered to battle for an ill-defined goal, risking violent death each day; their opponents are cast as fanatic al baddies intent on killing all infidels; the public expects that no matter how grim the battles, how heavy the losses, the U.S.A. will triumph in the last reel. Americans are glued to their TV sets waiting for a happy ending, which each day grows more u nlikely. 

George and Dick’s adventure show isn’t going according to script—America is losing the war in Iraq. Each day brings new evidence of a strengthening insurgency; fresh proof that what was once unthinkable has now become ominously plausible—the U.S. occupation is sliding towards defeat. 

Those of us who opposed this war, who questioned the judgment of the Bush administration at every turn, who saw the election as a referendum on competence, may be tempted to take satisfaction from this growing catastrophe, to find solace in the knowledge that we were right all along. But it would be a mistake to distance ourselves from the conflict by rendering judgments rather than offering solutions. The stakes are too high, the human loss too dear for any of us to ignore reality: The administration has made a series of catastrophic blunders and led the nation, and our allies, into a no-win corner where our security will be imperiled no matter what we do. 

Given a realistic assessment of our predicament in Iraq, the question that Americans should be asking is not how can we win, but what is the best way to extricate ourselves? Unfortunately, the Bush administration doesn’t want to level with the public, doesn’t want to engage in a frank discussion of our options, because they feel that to do so would be an admission of defeat. And, of course, this is an administration that never admits any mistake, no matter how trivial, apparently out of the belief that to do so would reflect badly on their manhood.  

From the o nset of the war the Bush administration has tightly controlled discussion about Iraq. Even before the election they had such a stranglehold on the media, exercised such skill at framing consideration of the occupation that the election hinged not on wheth er victory in Iraq was achievable, or the underlying theme of the incompetency of those who led us into the quagmire, but rather who could do the best job of winning the war, who would wage the “smartest” campaign. As a result, even as the daily reports g rew bleaker, and polls indicated that a majority of Americans believed the occupation to have been a mistake, there has been no national discussion of exit strategies.  

Bullied by the Bush administration, the media has restricted its role, struggled each day to put a positive spin on the occupation, to suggest that victory might yet be snatched from the rabid jaws of defeat. However, the vital statistics of the war, ranging from the numbers of casualties to the barrels of oil pumped and hours of uninterr upted electrical service, tell a contradictory, somber story. The insurgency is growing—organized by four distinct organizations, we are told. It is unsafe for journalists to leave their quarters unless accompanied by an armed convoy; the road from the central airport into Baghdad is unsafe and visitors must be flown by helicopter into the Green zone. Many contractors have abandoned their projects; reconstruction has slowed to a snail’s pace. Some say that insurgents control two-thirds of the country and most of the oil-distribution system. America has lost the hearts and minds of the average Iraqi; eighty percent want us to leave.  

Iraq is in free-fall, headed for civil war, and the Jan. 30 elections won’t help. The United States has staged its own harr owing reality show. Like the climber trapped because of his own recklessness, forced to choose between starving to death or cutting off his arm, America is left with only dreadful choices: Are we on the set of Survivor or Lost? Will the United States face reality and make decisions that maximize our security? Or will we blunder onward, ensnared in our own version of the Donner Party? 

Kudos to Mayor Tom Bates for his forthright criticism of UC Berkeley’s environmental impact report. 

Mayor Bates has made substantial efforts to improve relations with UC, but UC has offered little in return. 

The city staff did an excellent job of prese nting the city’s concerns about UC expansion during the EIR process. But the final EIR largely ignores the city’s concerns and input.  

The two biggest impacts that UC has on the city are traffic impacts and fiscal impacts.  

LRDP Means More Traffic 

UC is the largest single generator of automobile traffic in Berkeley. Its plan to add 690 spaces at the Underhill parking lot near College Avenue and the 1800-2300 additional spaces called for in the LRDP will make traffic problems worse. 

The city’s General Plan calls on UC to cap its parking supply at current levels based on a recognition that increasing parking will increase traffic and encourage driving rather than use of public transit and other alternatives to driving. 

UC’s LRDP EIR is a very arrogant document. The phrase “continuing best practice” appears frequently. Yet what UC is doing now in the area of transportation planning, construction mitigation, and housing production could hardly be described as “best practice.” 

When it comes to transporta tion planning, UC Berkeley has never been a leader. It was one of the last UC campuses to provide students with passes to ride local buses for free, lagging behind UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis. 

It still has not followed the lead of UCLA, Stanford and other universities in California and around the country who provide all faculty and staff with free rides on local transit.  

UC is refusing to take any responsibility for avoiding or substantially reducing the negative environmental impacts associated with mo re traffic. Growth does not have to mean more traffic. 

UC is willing to reduce the new parking it plans to build if other people do things, specifically if AC Transit goes forward with Bus Rapid Transit service on Telegraph with the support of the cities of Berkeley and Oakland. But what is UC committing itself to do? 

What Should UC Be Doing? 

It should have included in the LRDP a goal of ensuring that there is no increase in traffic associated with its expansion plans; specifically the goal should be n o net increase in single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) automobile trips to campus. 

This is a realistic goal. Universities that have taken the lead and made serious efforts to encourage transit use, along with bicycling and walking, have been successful.  

At U CLA, “BruinGo” allows faculty staff and students to board some area buses lines for free with their university IDs. Since implementation of this program on a trial basis, the percentage of faculty and staff living within the Blue Bus service area who comm ute by bus increased from 9 percent to 20 percent. Among students, it increased from 17 percent to 24 percent. A study of the impact of BruinGo found that it reduced parking demand. 

At the University of Washington, Seattle, despite a 22 percent increase in the campus population since 1989, peak hour traffic remains below 1990 levels. Parking lot utilization has dropped and fewer faculty, staff and students are buying parking permits. The UW Transportation Office estimates that the University has saved o ver $100 million in avoided construction costs for new parking and prevented the emission of 3,300 tons of carbon dioxide annually.  

This is all due to UW’s Eco Pass program called U-Pass. For a small quarterly fee, faculty, staff and students ride local transit for free. While Seattle’s transit system is not as good as what is available to UC Berkeley employees, the U-Pass program has achieved impressive results.  

Transit ridership has increased from 11 percent to 24 percent for faculty and from 25 per cent to 36 percent for staff. Drive alone rates have fallen to 43 percent and 38 percent respectively, much lower than the drive alone rate for UC faculty and staff. 

In fact, UC faculty and staff are somewhat more likely than other non-UC commuters to Be rkeley’s downtown and Southside to commute to work by driving along. UC is not a leader in promoting alternative modes of transportation in Berkeley. 

UC claims to be taking steps to encourage faculty and staff to use transit and touts its recently create d Bear Pass. But the Bear Pass is further evidence of the weakness and inadequacy of UC’s efforts. 

Bear Pass is much more expensive than Eco Passes provided by other universities, which are typically free (UCLA, Stanford) or low cost (UW Seattle). And Bear Pass is not universal; its an opt-in program.  

A 2001 survey of 35 university transit pass programs found that programs with universal coverage, where all students, staff and faculty can use the campus IDs to ride transit for free, work best. Partial coverage, opt-in programs like Bear Pass don’t increase transit use very much. 

But can UC afford to provide passes to everyone for free? Of course. A primary reason for offering passes is to reduce demand for parking and avoid construction costs for new parking.  

A portion of parking revenues can be used to pay transit agencies for the passes, which are sold at very deep discounts when they purchased for all students, faculty and staff. Both UCLA and UW Seattle used parking revenues to help fund their p asses. 

Improving Transit 

It’s also important for the city to continue actively supporting AC Transit’s Bus Rapid Transit that is planned for Telegraph Avenue. With dedicated lanes for buses, travel time and waiting time will be reduced when BRT is implemented. More people will travel by bus when service improves. 

Both improved transit service and incentives to use transit, such as Eco Pass, are needed to ensure that UC expansion and population growth in Berkeley don’t lead to higher volumes of traffic and more traffic congestion. 

But UC has to do its part. By failing to do enough to encourage alternatives to driving, UC has not only contributed to the city’s traffic problems, but has made itself part of the global warming problem, when it should be pa rt of the solution. 

Traffic impacts are not the only impacts, though. UC needs to make substantial in-lieu-of-taxes payments to the city to cover the fiscal impacts of UC growth. The city is facing a budget crisis and cannot afford to provide more servic es for a growing university without substantial contributions from UC to cover the cost. 

There are also construction impacts. UC does not do an adequate job of monitoring its construction contractors. There are too many instances of neighbors being awake ned by construction-related noise before the legal starting time for construction. And more needs to be done to ensure that construction workers don’t take up available on-street parking in neighborhoods near campus. 

As a mitigation, UC should help pay for improved Residential Permit Parking enforcement in near campus neighborhoods. And UC should consider following the lead of Harvard and create a construction ombudsman to deal with construction-related problems and impacts that will inevitably occur. 

Rob Wrenn is chair of the Transportation Commission. 

I and many other residents of Berkeley were thrilled to read Mayor Bates’ fightin’ words in response to the final version of UC Berkeley’s 2020 Long Range Development Plan and the accompanying environmental impact report. I suppose that the mayor would not stick his neck out so publicly without an expectation of City Council support. Yet one hesitates to congratulate the mayor or the council too quickly, since in previous encounters with the university, similar city blustering has been followed by rapid retreat with the city’s municipal tail tucked demurely between its little municipal legs. Undoubtedly the message UCB received from those prior encounters contributed greatly to the university’s current arrogance. Nonetheless, it looks like 2005 may bring meaningful and even courageous action against UC expansion, and we should wholeheartedly support our Mayor and City in their strong stand on our behalf. 

Like the previous draft version, the final LRDP/EIR is an adventure in mixed emotions. One cannot help but be impressed by the Berkeley citizens and organizations that contributed over 1,000 pages of well-considered comments, including the city’s own 100-page detailed criticism. Yet one cannot help but be equally amazed by UC’s stubbornly meaningless responses to almost all of the substantial concerns. In consideration of those thousand pages of citizen comment, perhaps 500 words—mostly insubstantial ones—were changed in the “revised” LRDP/EIR.  

The first of only two substantial changes in the final LRDP is the elimination of 100 ill-advised faculty housing units in the “Hill Campus.” Few were surprised to see this concession to a part of town populated by wealthy, organized citizens well able to round up their own lawyers to confront UC. But I have faith that these informed citizens will not “go away” now that their own ox is no longer being gored. We’re all in this together, though some of us are much closer to the dead canary. 

The other substantive change is that the final LRDP concedes a possible reduction by 500 of UC’s proposed 2,300 new parking spaces. However, this “concession” is contingent upon Berkeley’s and Oakland’s approval of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Telegraph Avenue. This is apparently a bone thrown to those who think that the mere existence of parking spaces, rather than people’s need or desire to get from one place to another, “causes” traffic. This ham-handed UC bribe simply adds insult to injury. Not only does UC want to force its own LRDP down Berkeley’s throat, it also wants to force Berkeley to accept another problematic project—BRT—an idea that the city should assess for its benefit to Berkeley, not to UC. This is undignified and inappropriate meddling in municipal decision making. 

I do not oppose bus rapid transit. In fact, the more rapidly buses transit out of my field of view, hearing, and smell, the better I like it. What I oppose is damage to Telegraph Avenue as a functional road for Berkeley’s drivers, and the possible diversion of traffic into an unbarricaded Willard Neighborhood. AC Transit’s own data show that a modest “enhanced” bus service will achieve two thirds of the ridership gain with only one quarter of the cost of BRT—with no damage to local traffic flow or to nearby neighborhoods.  

But BRT is not intended to help neighborhoods. Instead, BRT will be the artery that feeds UC’s expansion by hustling in commuters from the south. But will the Nobel Laureates working at the new UC research park live in apartments along the Telegraph corridor? Of course not. UC should spend more of its efforts addressing the real commuting needs of faculty and staff, who have the highest drive-alone rates and tend not to live near transit. Or better yet, why not just reduce the number of people coming to the UC campus! Oh, what a brilliant idea! Why hasn’t anyone thought of it before?! 

But wait—they have! The 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education, which UC uses to justify its enrollment and research expansion, planned to distribute campuses based on the needs of the citizens of California, not the desires of individual branches of UC. In the interest of preserving good education, protecting overcrowded host cities like Berkeley, and placing new campuses in underserved parts of the state, that plan called for a cap of 27,500 students at all campuses—and the state was well aware of growing population pressures when it formed this plan. But UC Berkeley already exceeds this cap and plans to exceed it by a full 20 percent with the 2020 LRDP. Pushing so much expansion into Berkeley is not only bad for Berkeley, it is also very poor educational, physical, and fiscal planning for the state, because it is cheaper to place new facilities and their users in cities with lower land, construction, and housing prices. Less dense, less renowned cities would welcome and benefit by more prestigious research activities.  

If UCB’s expansion were mostly about improving education, people might take a different view of it. But Berkeley’s expansion is primarily an expansion of research activities. Less and less of UC Berkeley’s budget now comes from the state, and more and more from private sources, and partnerships with private corporations are the wave of the future. What this means for academic independence remains to be seen. But what it means for Berkeley residents is that these private companies are now riding the privileged coattails of UC’s sovereign immunity and tax-exempt status, reaping the rewards of UCB’s legalized abuse of the Berkeley community. But why should one small city—or even less, a few neighborhoods—bear all the externalized costs of this research, be it semi-private research that benefits private companies, or public research that benefits the entire world? It’s time for a change. I dare to hope that Mayor Bates and new Council will finally bring that change in 2005. 

Sharon Hudson is a longtime Berkeley resident and observer of development issues. 

The Berkeley City Club, one of Berkeley’s great historic, architectural, and cultural edifices, opens its doors this month for a public event. 

The six-story “Little Castle” on Durant Avenue east of Ellsworth was designed by famed architect Julia Morgan. The Jan. 20, event falls on the anniversary of Morgan’s birthday and during the 75th year since the building itself opened. 

“This club building carries the ambitions and the desires of thousands of Berkeley women,” wrote Mrs. Olga Beebe of the Business and Professional Women’s Club when the structure opened in 1930. “It will afford them the opportunity of enlarged social contacts, recreation of all kinds, including play, work and study, at times and in the ways to suit the varying needs of its members.”  

Many Berkeley residents probably recognize the landmark building on the outside, but have never been inside. 

From entrance hall to indoor swimming pool, the extensive and ornate interior of the landmark Durant Avenue building will be on display during the Jan. 20 event.  

The building includes two floors of event spaces—from cozy lounges to a large auditorium—and four floors of guest rooms and suites. It features room after richly furnished room, grand halls, garden courts, and an indoor swimming pool with spectator gallery.  

A cloister borders a lushly planted courtyard, and there are several outdoor terraces. Original or period-appropriate furnishings ornament the building. 

Julia Morgan carefully blended Mediterranean, Romanesque, Moorish, Renaissance, and Gothic architectural features in the $500,000 structure. Elaborately tiled hallways, graceful staircases, groined cloisters, leaded windows, ornate fireplaces, and even the original Club china for the dining room all reflect her expert hand. 

“Four thousand women opened this place,” says Mary Breunig, event organizer and head of the Landmark Heritage Foundation, one of the event sponsors along with the City Club itself and the Alameda County Historical Society. “It’s such a wonderful story.” 

The event is $15 per person in advance ($25 at the door), and is open to any interested member of the public. 

“People can come, have fun, mingle, and maybe think about using the building at some point,” Breunig says. 

Participants can enjoy all or part of five hours of varied events and entertainment, refreshments including tea, hors d’oeuvres and birthday cake, and special tours of the building.  

Live music, an appearance by “Julia Morgan” herself, a silent auction, and a talk by the Historian of Hearst Castle at San Simeon are additional highlights. 

Attendees can also arrange separate reservations for dinner in the club’s formal dining room that evening (see box for reservation information). 

Although functional and grandly appointed, the building is in need of some six million dollars in mostly behind-the-scenes repairs and upgrades, not surprising for a facility that has been heavily used for 75 years. 

The co-sponsor of the event, the non-profit Landmark Heritage Foundation, was formed some years ago to raise funds to preserve the City Club building and educate the public about Julia Morgan. 

The foundation will have materials about the building and renovation efforts and plans on display at the event. 

The Berkeley City Club organization itself, with a smaller membership than in early days, is also looking for new members, both individual and businesses. (The club reorganized in 1963 to fully admit men, and dropped “Women’s” from the formal name.) 

Members pay monthly dues and have access to the dining room, indoor swimming pool, exercise room, discounted rental rates for event spaces, Club entertainment and social programs and—a major benefit in the congested South Campus area—parking in the adjacent lot the club owns on Durant Avenue.  

In earlier decades the club building accommodated many permanent residents. Today, most bedrooms and suites are rented for either long or short-term stays, often to visiting scholars at the university. The club is also a popular setting for weddings and parties. 

The Aurora Theatre, now relocated to Downtown Berkeley, staged plays in the club for years, and the Berkeley Chamber Performers hold their concerts there.  

The City Club dates back to the mid-1920s when local women’s organizations joined together to establish one place where their members could meet, socialize, and exercise.  

“Most of the clubs were meeting in hotel venues and homes,” says Breunig, and they welcomed the opportunity to have a large, central, building.  

A building fund was quickly raised and the club claimed nearly 4,500 local women as members at one point. 

The work of organizing, operating, and sustaining the club was done by the women themselves. 

“May I remind you that the Berkeley Women’s City Club was conceived and followed to completion in every detail, including the construction and furnishing of this magnificent clubhouse, by women and by women alone,” Fred Athearn, widower of the first president, Purle Evelyn Athearn, told the club in 1952. 

“No man had anything to do with it, except some spade work, at the direction of the women who laid the foundation of this truly great institution…” 

“Much water has passed under the bridge since women were content to ‘sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam’ and the old idea that women are incapable of bigger things has been washed away with the current of to-day”, wrote Monday Study Club President Olive T. Buck for the Club building opening. 

The names of the local women’s clubs that participated in the founding illustrate some of the interests and activities of Berkeley women—at least those women with some social means and leisure time—in that era.  

They included the College Women’s Club, Berkeley League of Women Voters, California Writers’ Club, Etude Club, Northbrae Women’s Club, Political Science Club, Berkeley Piano Club, Women’s Army and Navy Club, and the Business and Professional Women’s Club. 

Historian Phyllis Gale, an expert on early women’s organizations in Berkeley, has characterized these sort of clubs as a form of “shadow government” in an era when women were typically excluded from formal leadership in business, most professions, and politics. 

The members of local women’s clubs promoted causes, organized civic activities and, in the terminology of a later era, “networked” and “raised consciousness,” as well as exerted influence on their more conventionally powerful husbands. 

›

FRIDAY, JAN. 7 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Polk County” A musical about aspring blues musician, Leafy Lee, at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. to Jan. 9. Tickets are $15-$60. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org  

“The Bright River” written and performed by Tim Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble at Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. through Jan. 16. Tickets are $12-$35 available from A Traveling Jewish Theater, 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

Shotgun Players “Travesties” by Tom Stoppard, at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. through Jan. 9. Free with pass the hat after the show. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry from the Vietnam Era and Its Legacy at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era.” 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Dance Production 2005” Berkeley High’s dance performanceat 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, on the BHS Campus. Also on Sat. Tickets are $5-$10.  

Elizabeth Anker, contralto, with John McDonald and Wayman Chin, piano, Scott Woolweaver, viola and Peter Maund, percussion, at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 848-7800. www.Elizabethanker.com  

Los Nadies with special guest Andres Soto, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$25. Fundraiser for the Social Equity Caucus.849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Caribbean Allstars at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Lua, global creole roots, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Due West, contemporary bluegrass, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

David Jacobs-Strain, The Alexis Harte Band at 8 p.m. at the Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $8. 465-8480. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Lavay Smith Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Truxton, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Oktobre People at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Ludicra, Voetsek, John the Baker & The Malnourished at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Soul Captives, ShitOuttaLuck, Hazel at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Grand Groovement at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Brown Baggin’ at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Jenn August and Rachel Elfron at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Donation $5-$10.  

Mark Hummel’s 13th Annual Blues Harmonica Blow Out with James Cotton, Kim Wilson, and Charlie Musselwhite at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, JAN. 8 

CHILDREN 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Juanita Ulloa’s Three Kings Celebration at 11 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Lee Tanner's “Jazz Image” photography show featuring large-format black-and-white prints of giants from the jazz encyclopedia. Through Jan. 24 at the Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge. Photographer’s talk at noon. 981-6100. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org 

Tim Metallo “New Paintings” Reception at 5 p.m. at The New Gallery for Urban Art, 1266 66th St., Emeryville. 596-0020, ext. 193. 

FILM 

“Travellers and Magicians” a film from Bhhutan with actor and cinematographer in person at Act 1 & 2, 2128 Center St. 464-5980. Showtimes available at www.landmarktheatres.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

American Bach Soloists Chorus at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. 415-621-7900. www.americanbach.org  

Cornell University Glee Club at 7:30 p.m. at 2345 Channing Way. 650-386-5224. 

Golden Bough, Celtic innovators, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

La Tania, flamenco, with Gypsy guitarist Jose Valle “Chuscales” at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $18-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

West African Highlife Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Eric Shifrin & The In Crowd at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Angel Magik at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $15. 548-1159.  

All Star DJ Jam at 10 p.m. at Club Oasis, 135 12th St., Oakland. Cost is $10. 763-0404.  

7th Direction, Pocket, The Unravellers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

One Block Radiu, Disflex6, hip hop, at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Alex Pfeifer-Rosenblum at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Donation $5-$10. 

Brainoil, Born Dead, Scurvy Dos, Machine Gun Romantics at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Noah Schenker Group at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 9 

CHILDREN  

Mary Ellen Hill “Celebrating Sun” at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“After Vietnam: California Stories from Southeast Asian Perspectives” from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era.” 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

Poetry Flash with Doren Robbins, Cecilia Woloch and Sholeh Wolpé at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

Women’s Poetry Reading Bring poetry of your own, or of your favorite women authors and we’ll share around the fire with hot cocoa and tea. At noon at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Amina Figarova International Band at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Verse, Another Breath, Forward to Death, The Shemps at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

John McCutcheon, folk music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $21.50-$22.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Odd Shaped Case, Balkan music brunch at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MONDAY, JAN. 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Texture: The Many Layers of Textile Arts” with works by Natasha Fouko, Joy Lily, Susan Putnam, and Deb Shattil, opens at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs to Jan. 31. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

“Bay Area Landscapes That Make You Smile” paintings by Stan Cohen at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0327.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Opera Stars and Popular Music” with Larry Marietta, Music Program Director, First Congregational Church of Berkeley, at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

Marilyn Abildskov describes an American woman living and loving in Japan in “The Men in My Country” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Poetry Express, featuring Gayle Eleanor and Sholeh Wolpé from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Songwriters Symposium at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Sakai, neo-soul, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 11 

FILM 

Local Short Film Festival at 9:15 p.m. at the Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $5 at the door. www.picturepubpizza.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ethan Rarick describes “California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Creole Belles with Andrew Carriere at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Duke Robillard Band at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Cyril Guiraud and David Michel-Ruddy at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Café Poetry hosted by Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Andrew Heinze describes “Jews and the American Soul: Human Nature in the Twentieth Century” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Mikel Dunham reads from “Buddha’s Warriors: The Story of the CIA-Backed Tibetan Freedom Fighters” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Steve Arnston, classical piano at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Kurt Ribak Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Blues and Gooves with DJ Mike Pyle at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. West Coast Swing dance lesson with Nick & Shanna at 8 p.m. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The James King Band, mountain soul from Virginia, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Judgement Day, A Burning Water, Street to Nowhere, string metal, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Poncho Sanchez Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, JAN. 13 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Texture: The Many Layers of Textile Arts” with works by Natasha Fouko, Joy Lily, Susan Putnam, and Deb Shattil. Reception for the artists at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs to Jan. 31. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

Addison Street Windows Gallery Anti-Bullying Art and Essays by Berkeley Middle School students opens and runs through Feb. 25. 981-7546. 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “The Last Tycoon” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Christian Parenti describes “The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Edwin Drummond and John Rowe, and guest Sholeh Wolpé, Persian poet, followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

John Schott’s Dream Kitchen, old-time jazz, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Zoo Station at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Gini Wilson, solo piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

Special Ed, Coolie High, hip hop, at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $15. 848-0886.  

FRIDAY, JAN. 14 

THEATER 

“The Bright River” written and performed by Tim Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble at Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. through Jan. 16. Tickets are $12-$35 available from A Traveling Jewish Theater, 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “Shanghai Express” at 7 p.m. and “Only Angels Have Wings” at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Page to Stage, a conversation with playwright Tony Kushner and director Tony Taccone at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2015 Addison St. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

James D’Allesandro reads from “1906: A Novel” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Dance Production 2005” Berkeley High’s dance performance, choreographed by students, at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Allston Way, on the BHS Campus. Also on Sat. Tickets are $5-$10.  

The Pacific Collegium “From Advent to Epiphany” at 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$18. 415-392-4400. www.pacificcollegium.org 

Songwriters in the Round Monica Pasqual, Sonya Hunter and Emily Bezar at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Wake the Dead at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Kathy Kallick Band, bluegrass and originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761.  

Captured! by Robots at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886.  

The Phenomenauts, Freak Accident, Left Alone at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Cathi Walkup Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

Plays Monk at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Groovie Ghoulies, Jason Webley, Teenage Harlots at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Poncho Sanchez Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JAN. 15 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Germar the Magician at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “Pierrot le Fou” at 6:30 p.m. and “The Shining” at 8:40 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Autumn Stephens, editor, and eight other local authors will read from their new book “Roar Softly and Carry A Great Lipstick” a 7 p.m. at A Great Good Place for Books, 6120 La Salle Ave., Montclair. 339-8210. 

Juried Annual at Pro Arts Artist Talks at 1 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery, 550 Second Street, Oakland. 763-4361. www.proartsgallery.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jon Raskin, solo saxophone, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., between Bancroft and Durant. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com 

“Music for the King of Prussia” performed by The Novello Quartet at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. at Garber. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Fingertight, Unjust, hard rock, at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886.  

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

Loose Wig Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bob Franke, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kugelplex at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Vanessa Lowe & Bug Eyed Sprite at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 

Montuno Groove Dance at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

The Art of the Trio with the Dred Scott Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

The Mercury Dimes, The Earl White Band at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Gini Wilson “Chamberjazz” at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Gravy Train, Clorox Girls, Two Gallants, Red Tape Apocalips at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 



Next time you hear someone rustling furtively in the bushes beside your house, just as night’s falling, check it out before you call the cops. It might be just me, frantically hunting snails to feed some shrews. 

I’m speaking of pigmy shrews—roughly speaking, the smallest mammal in the world. About the size of the top joint of your thumb, plus a tail as long. And much of that’s fur: a big one weighs less than two well-worn pennies. Though rather common in our woodlands, they’re so elusive that few people see them in the flesh, and fewer recognize them. I caught one hunting grass-spiders in a sunny meadow in springtime, took her home to show to the kids in school where I teach. She surprised us with four pups, and two survived—tempting me with visions of a breeding colony.  

Shrews are amazing. You’d expect that something that tiny, cute, and furry would like to be stroked, would cuddle in your hand, like a pet hampster. Not a chance. I could hardly lay a finger on one for an instant—not just because they darted about so rapidly, but because even pups raised in captivity are still genuinely wild. They can hardly see or smell, so it was easy to come close; but an instant of contact was long enough for one to turn, taste me, decide that I wasn’t food, and dash off to hunt elsewhere. Their only concession to domestication was to regard my hand as a vast inedible cloud, rather than an owl. 

Shrews move so fast because they live so fast. When a pigmy shrew takes a nap, its heart slows down to 800 beats a minute, and its metabolism comes almost to a standstill, burning energy only 35 times as fast as a resting human does. You’d have to digest a full meal every fifteen minutes, day and night, to keep up even with that. If you had to spend energy getting your food too—well, you burn about 800 calories an hour when you’re running, but a shrew your size would burn 160,000 calories an hour, or about two and a half meals a minute, if it could find them. So of course shrews hunt constantly, around the clock, pausing to nap every 20 minutes or so. And they eat a lot of snails. 

They’d rather have smaller, livelier prey. But three shrews can consume a thousand sowbugs a day, impossible to supply. A five-buck bag of crickets from the pet-store disappears like a bowl of popcorn set before teenagers. I thought about turning the back yard into a worm farm, But mainly, I made do with snails. Indeed, they’re an ideal food, plump, juicy, often bigger than a shrew—and, you might think, in infinite supply. 

Well, think again. There’s nothing like having to provide, to make one learn to count. I fed my three tiny carnivores four snails every six hours, around the clock. (Shrews carry no fat, and starve to death if left hungry overnight.) That’s sixteen snails a day, plus a weekly sprinkling of oatmeal—which added up to 500 full-grown snails a month, or 2,000 young ones. Whichever I supplied, it amounted to five and a half pounds of snails a month, or four pounds shelled. Month after month. 

Our own garden held but a week’s-worth of snails, and the neighbors’ were quickly exhausted. So I took to prowling the streets, or rather the pleasant sidewalks of Berkeley’s flatlands, with my gallon zip-lock baggie in hand, rummaging through curbside plantings and floral borders, poking into neglected vegetation beside houses and driveways, exploring the modest front gardens of this cosmopolitan town, rich with plants from around the world. 

Mostly I roamed with my son Jaime, an avid hunter, going on five. Being with a child is a passport, gives one permission for all kinds of reasonable activities that might seem foolish or daft for an unaccompanied adult. Perhaps I exploited him, but we both enjoyed it. It’s rare that an urban child gets a chance to be a real hunter and provider. And it was good for him to be involved in community service at a tender age, purging pests and providing benign entertainment for the folks who caught our act.  

We followed the usual courtesies, of course, asking permission before we probed too deeply into a garden, offering to service back yards, replacing all rocks. No one ever said no, though some were nonplussed. We didn’t quite have the cheek to announce ourselves as the Good Fairies of Snailocide, here to grant your fantasy of a pure garden and something useful to be done with all that meat. But there was no doubt about it: Anyone who cares for the mythical fauna of this mythical town could spot us as a native species. 

As for the actual fauna, a prolonged hunt for snails is a serious enterprise, a field-study in natural history. As hunters and scientists both, we studied our prey, its habitat, and their relations. Jaime learned a lot about local ecology, and so did I—for as we ranged wider afield, trekking to more distant neighborhoods and stopping the car for spot-checks all over town, our quest gave me a somewhat systematic survey of what’s been happening to the humbler creatures of our community. The details of my observations were too rich, and the conclusions too depressing, to deal with here. But what I learned about snails, as a predator, boils down to this: There weren’t really very many in town anymore. 

To anyone who’s fought them, this may seem a lunatic assertion. But you get a different perspective when you’re looking for something you want, rather than trying to rid yourself of a plague. And this is how the snail situation seemed from the streets, bearing in mind that we didn’t sample the back yards. Over the previous thirty years, their habitats had shrunk and changed, and their food supplies too; and systematic poisoning had reduced and isolated their remnant populations.  

The result, in practical terms, was that if you wanted more than a few snails, you really had to hunt for them. Each neighborhood still had its own scattered “ hot spots” where snails clustered, but often we walked for blocks without finding one. There are only three or four common ornamental plants in Berkeley that snails really like to eat, and two environments in which they thrive. These plants and environments had grown rarer during the previous decade; and when we did find them, they were usually barren of snails, often for so long that the tell-tale traces of disintegrating snail-bait, and even the empty shells, were gone. 

Mind you, we were after volume. It wasn’t worth our while to spend ten minutes inspecting a front border, with the light failing and our stomachs growling and the shrews nipping at each other in the cage back home, and come up with a lousy juvenile or two. We needed meat, right away. It was hardly worth stopping for less than 25 big ones. 

So I became in effect an extension of the shrews, a shrew of sorts myself, especially when abroad without my young—scurrying impatiently from one sidewalk garden to another, hardly pausing to whisk my hand under a choice leaf or behind the best rock, before deciding that it was fruitless and bounding on. Like a shrew, when I did find a bountiful place I ransacked it quickly and thoroughly, piling up my prey, bringing them back home to store alive in the larder, against the chance that my next hunt would find slim pickings.  

As the larder was our front garden, after eight months it was quite ravaged, though the shrews were so cute that I hardly cared. Our garden would doubtless be snail heaven still, if someone had not left the shrews’ cage-top ajar with an outside door open, sabotaging my hope for a breeding colony. I never saw them again, but as the sowbug and snail counts in my borders wax and wane, I imagine their descendants still at work.  

›

FRIDAY, JAN. 7 

Outings on Fridays with Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association Tour of the Berkeley City Club at 11 a.m. Cost is $15. Reservations required. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Ronelle Alexander on “Languages and Ethnic Identity in the Balkans” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

“Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land” an historical overview of the factors which distort media coverage of the Middle East conflict at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free. 482-1062. 

“E-Motion Picture Magic” for healing and transformation with Birgit Wolz at 7 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph at 66th. 655-2405. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” meets every Friday at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. 655-8863, 843-7610. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 8 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant apthologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

Newt Research Join us for our annual hike up South Park Drive to find out why newts cross the road, and why it takes them so long. Meet at 2 p.m. at the parking lot across from the Botanic Garden in Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Kids Garden Club For children 7-12 years old to explore the world of gardening. We plant, harvest, build, make crafts, cook and get dirty! From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$6, registration required. 525-2233. 

Pre-School Storytime for ages 3-5 at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

Family Origami Recycle holiday paper and learn to make a 14-point star, at 2 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17. 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. For more information call 525-2233. 

Basic Winter Maintenance, including mulching and pruning, at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

“Forces of Nature” a giant-screen film on volcanoes, tornadoes and earthquakes opens at Chabot Space and Science Center. Tickets are $7-$8. 336-7300. www.chabotspace.org 

Luna Kids Dance Open House from 2 to 4 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. 644-3629. www.lunakidsdance.com 

Family Brown Bag Shabbat at 11 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic. info@kolhadash.org 

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. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 9 

Alvarado: River to Ridgetop Ramble We will explore the historic area once known as Grand Canyon Park. Meet at 10 a.m. at the Wildcat/Alvarado staging area off Park Ave. in Richmond. 525-2233. 

Strawberry Creek Work Party from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. We’ll be weeding several sections of the creek bank, as well as checking out the natives we just planted. Wear sturdy footwear and bring work gloves. Please RSVP to kateholum@yahoo.com 

Green Sunday with the documentary “The End of Suburbia” followed by a discussion, 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland. 

Women’s Poetry Reading Bring poetry of your own, or of your favorite women authors and we’ll share around the fire with hot cocoa and tea. At noon at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“After Vietnam: California Stories from Southeast Asian Perspectives” from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era.” 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

“Tools for Inner Change from the Tibetan Tradition,” with Sylvia Gretchen at 3 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Tibetan World Peace Ceremony at Bodh Gaya, India” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Personal Theology Seminar with Emily Champage at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

MONDAY, JAN. 10 

Tea and Hike at Four Taste some of the finest teas from the Pacific Rim and South Asia and learn their natural and cultural history, followed by a short nature walk. At 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Ed Roberts Campus Public Hearing on Historic Buildings in the area of 3075 Adeline St., at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7419. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public schools at 4:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

A Year To Live How to live this year as if it were your last, facilitated by Bonnie O'Brien Jonsson, MS, at 7 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 559-9290. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 9:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 2 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

TUESDAY, JAN. 11 

Bird Walk in Pt. Isabel Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the end of Rydin Rd. (before Costco) to look for shorebirds and sparrows. 525-2233. 

School Age Storytime for ages 5 and up at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

Learn How to Use Your GPS with Jeff Caulfield of National Geographic at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Getting Along with Your Adult Children” a participatory workshop at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $35-$40. 848-0327, ext. 110. www.brjcc.org 

Oakland Celebrates the Dream 11 a.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza, 14th St. and Broadway. 444-2489 www.oaklandnet.com/celebrations 

Introduction to Taiko Drumming, Tues. at 7 p.m. at Tatsumaki Taiko, 725 Gilman St. Cost is $12. www.tatsumakitaiko.com 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

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 

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

Acting and Storytelling Classes for Seniors offered by Stagebridge, at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Classes are held at 10 a.m. Tues.-Fri. For more information call 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12 

Explore Winter: Women’s Snowshoe Workshop at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Down Home Martin Luther King Potluck at 6 p.m. at the Interstake Center, 4780 Lincoln Blvd., Oakland. Bring your favorite dish to serve four. 654-2592. 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave. in Kensington. Leo Siren of Fish First will talk about Christmas Island fishing opportunities. 547-8629. 

“Easy Rider” Peter Fonda film of the Vietnam era at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, $5 donations accepted. 393-5685. 

Tap Into It Jazz and Rhythm Tap classes at Montclair Recreation Center, 6300 Moraga Ave., Oakland. Experienced at 6:30 p.m., beginners at 7:30 p.m. 482-7812. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

“Conflict in Jewish Identity: Looking at Our Own Lives” brown-bag lunch with Dr. Jerry Diller at 11:30 a.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0327, ext. 110.  

Home Buyer Assistance Information Session at 6 p.m. at 1504 Franklin St., Oakland. Sponsored by the Home Buyer Assistance Center. Reservations required. 832-6925, ext. 105. www.hbac.org 

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m., Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, JAN. 13 

“Conversations About Watersheds” An interactive conference from Thurs. through Sun. at Lake Merritt College. Cost is $15-$25. Sponsored by the East Bay Watershed Center. For details call 434-3800. www.mountaincurrent.net/ebwc/ 

“So How’d You Become an Activist?” with Holly Near, singer-songwriter activist and Adrienne Torf at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Suggested donation $5. 528-5403. 

Latino Film Festival “Un Hijo Genial/A Brilliant Son” directed by Jose Luis Massa, Argentina 2004 at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza. 620-6555. 

WriterCoach Connection Volunteer Training Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. Training session from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. To register call 524-2319. Other Trainings on Jan. 20, Feb. 9, 16, Mar. 8, 15. www.writercoachconnection.org 

East Bay Mac User Group meets the 2nd Thursday of every month, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Expression Center for New Media, 6601 Shellmound St. http://ebmug.org, www.expression.edu 

FRIDAY, JAN. 14 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert Ashmore on “The Unspoken and Unsayable in Chinese Poetry and Philosophy.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

The Owl Told Me Join us for an evening of owl exploration. Listen and learn to call for the Great Horned Owl as they woo their mates. At 6 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Fee is $5-$7, reservations required. 525-2233. 

“Visual History of the Albany Shoreline” Photographs and maps of cattle ranching, dynamite factories, horseracing, military operations, dumps, art, and wildlife on display at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin. 

Radio Camp Build an FM trasmitter and learn the fundamentals of micropower broadcasting in this 4-day workshop in Oakland. Class runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Cost is $150-$200 sliding scale. For information and to register call 625-0314. www.freeradio.org 

“Three Beats for Nothing” meets every Friday at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. 655-8863, 843-7610. 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

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

SATURDAY, JAN. 15 

“Winter Blooms!” Free garden tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden. Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Help Bring Back the Wild Join the Bayshore Stewards as we restore a rare tidal marsh on the UC Richmond Field Station, near the Bay Trail in Richmond, from 9 a.m. to noon. We will install native plants along the marsh edge and help create habitat for endangered species. We provide tools, gloves, rain gear and refreshments, and instruction on planting. Heavy rain will cancel the event. For more information call Elizabeth 231-9566. 

Green Design for Everyday People We will discuss the process of green design and how we all can have beautiful living and working spaces that are not toxic to ourselves or our environment. Topics will include cleaners, paints, sealers, furnishings, flooring, energy efficient systems and products. Bring a rough plan of your space if possible. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10-$15. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. For more information call 525-2233. 

Junior Ranger Aide Training in the afternoon at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. For more information call 525-2233. 

Pre-School Storytime for ages 3-5 at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17. Ends Feb 19 

Winter Color in the Garden at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Historical and Botanical Tour of Chapel of the Chimes, a Julia Morgan landmark, every third Sunday at 10 a.m. at 4499 Piedmont Ave. at Pleasant Valley. Reservations required 228-3207. www.chapelofthechimes.com  

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. 

ONGOING 

WriterCoach Connection seeks volunteers. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills; become a WriterCoach Connection mentor to Berkeley students. For information call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Youth Speaks Winter Workshops in writing and spoken word begin Jan. 24 in Berkeley and Oakland. For more information call 415-255-9035. www.youthspeaks.org 

Bay Interpretive Training Ongoing classes on the Bay, the seashore and environment held at the Shorebird Park Nature Center, 160 University Ave. at the Berkeley Marina. 981-6720. www.cityofberkeley.info/marina 

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Seeks Host Gardens The Bringing Back the Natives Garden tour, which will be held in the spring of 2005, will showcase Alameda and Contra Costa County gardens that contain at least 30% native plants, don’t use synthetic pesticides of fertilizers, and provide habitat for wildlife. This tour is sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Coastal Program, the Urban Creeks Council, and the National Wildlife Federation. To be added to the mailing list, or to receive a host application, contact Kathy Kramer at Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net or 236-9558.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Mon., Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 11, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www. 

ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Jan. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Don Brown, 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disability 

Planning Commission meets Wed., Jan. 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed. Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/prc 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 13, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/housing 

Library Board of Trustees meets Thurs. Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St., Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/library 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 13, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Iris Starr, 981-7520. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/westberkeley  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Jan. 13, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning  ¨

The Seva Foundation, a Berkeley-based non-profit organization best-known for its work on international eye care medical programs and community development has been pressed into disaster relief because of the crisis surrounding the South Asia Tsunami. 

The death toll in parts of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and Maldives has reached 150,000 following a 9.0-magnitude Dec. 26 earthquake and a resulting series of deadly tsunamis that overwhelmed coastal areas. A week later, the devastation in terms of deaths, injuries and economic loss remains immeasurable, as disaster agencies scramble to deliver food, medicine, and shelter to affected areas. 

“Since we have a long history of work in some of the areas where the tsunami hit, a lot of our board members and contributors started asking us if were going to do anything,” said Tony Kozlowski, executive director of the 26-year-old foundation. “So last Wednesday, we decided to establish an emergency relief fund. It’s our understanding from our contacts on the ground that the local governments and organizations have the emergency response under control. What they need now is the financial resources to purchase relief supplies.” 

So far, Seva Foundation has raised $50,000 from a direct e-mail campaign to 15,000 Seva regular supporters and another list of 200,000 potential donors. 

On Monday afternoon, as Kozlowski and Seva Development Director Lois Moore talked about the South Asia crisis on the second floor of the foundation’s offices in the heart of the Fourth Street commercial district, a bell-tinkling from the receptionist sent staffers converging on the front desk. “Somebody just brought in a $5,000 donation,” Moore said, visibly excited. “We always ring the bell when a large donation comes in.” 

With one of its affiliated programs—Avarind Eye Hospital—headquartered in the southern Indian state which took the tsunami’s direct hit—Tamil Nadu—Seva was already well-placed to distribute the funds quickly in that area. In addition, Seva has sent money to IMPACT Sri Lanka, an affiliate of an international medical relief foundation, which has used the funds to help set up five emergency health camps in areas where existing hospitals and health centers were washed away in last week’s flood. 

“We’re helping to supply them with medicines and other supplies so the clinics can get up and running,” Kozlowski said. 

But according to Kozlowski and Seva Development Director Lois Moore, the real crisis in the tsunami zone is going to come when the immediate emergency is over, and the focus of international news turns elsewhere. 

“The next phase is going to be the rough phase, when the cameras go away,” Kozlowski said. “One of the largest concerns will be the efforts to stop the spread of disease.” 

A second concern, Kozlowski and Moore said, was the restoration of the local economies. One problem will be the revival of food production in an area where farmland was completely overrun by water. Because the affected areas were in the subtropical to temperate zones with various planting seasons running year-round, production has already been severely disrupted. 

In addition, Moore said, “the coastal areas where the tsunami hit were full of people dependent on making a living from the sea. These are fishermen who have lost boats and nets and their basic equipment. Just the rebuilding of the fishing economy alone is going to be huge. Until that happens, these people are going to continue to need assistance.” 

Kozlowski, who had extensive experience in international refugee work before coming to Seva, said that even with full international support, it is going to take two to three years to bring the tsunami zone back to “some semblance of normalcy. For the first year, many of the people are going to be living in temporary shelters while they are rebuilding their communities. Then it’s going to take another one to two years to fully resuscitate its economic life.” Asked if those communities will continue to need economic assistance during that period, Kozlowski said “Oh, yes.” 

Kozlowski said that information on contributions to the Seva relief effort are available on the foundation’s website at www.seva.org. 

Seva was founded in Michigan “basically by ‘60s hippies,” according to Kozlowski. The group later moved to San Rafael and then, eight years ago, to Berkeley. Many of the original members had lived for a time in Indian ashrams (monasteries), and wanted to put their experiences to good use. One of the foundation’s original members was Berkeley’s Wavy Gravy, the foundation’s only lifelong board member. And one of the group’s former staff members, Berkeley’s David Green, won a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award last year for his work in providing low-cost international medical care.  

Seva’s founder and current board chairperson Larry Brilliant was part of a medical team that ended smallpox in India. With blindness being one of smallpox’s effects, Brilliant’s work in that area brought Seva into its primary area of concern: vision care in low-income international areas. Helping start the Avarind Hospital in Tamil Nadu, India—currently the largest eye hospital in the world—Seva has expanded its eye care work throughout Asia, including the countries of Nepal, Tibet, China, Bangladesh, and Cambodia. It has also begun eye care operations in Tanzania. 

In addition, Seva works in community development with native people in Guatemala, and with Native Americans out of its offices in Nebraska, primarily organizing people around the issues of native language, cultural preservation, and education. Kozlowski said that Sega is currently planning to expand its eye care work into those two communities. 

The group currently operates on a $4 million budget funded 95 percent by private contributions, and supplemented by government grants.ä

Mayor Tom Bates slammed UC Berkeley’s revised expansion plan released Monday and warned that Berkeley would likely resort to a lawsuit if the plan didn’t detail specific projects or exact locations where the university intends to build over the next fifteen years. 

“We will fight this tooth and nail,” Bates told the Planet on Monday. Approval of the plan by the UC Board of Regents, Bates cautioned, would give UC Berkeley “a blank check” to begin a building boom the equivalent of constructing 23 new structures the size of the city’s six-story Civic Center Building. 

“We’ll be left holding the bag with pollution and congestion that the development might entail,” he said. 

The City Council will discuss the city’s legal options in a closed session Jan. 10 and again in a public meeting Jan. 11 to decide on the city’s response. 

UC Berkeley is scheduled to take the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) to the UC Regents’ Buildings and Maintenance Committee Jan. 18 and then to the full board two days later. If it’s approved, as expected, the city would then have thirty days to file a lawsuit. 

The plan, which will guide development on UC Berkeley’s main campus and nearby neighborhoods through 2020, projects up to 2,600 new dormitory beds, 2,300 new parking spaces and 2.2 million square feet of new administrative space—three times more than called for in the campus’ 1990 LRDP. The center campus would be slated to add one million square feet of new administrative and academic space, while blocks to the south and west of campus would add 1.2 million square feet of building. 

In response to hundreds of comments from residents, the city and other agencies, the university released an amended EIR Monday that removes a proposed faculty housing development from the Berkeley hills and reduces the number of new parking spaces by 500 to 1,800. The parking decrease would be contingent on Berkeley and Oakland signing off on an AC Transit proposal to build an 18-mile rapid bus system from San Leandro to the University. 

“We’re very pleased with the university’s decision,” said David Nasitir, who lives near the proposed faculty housing site, which neighbors had opposed. 

Sharon Hudson, however, who lives in the south campus area and opposes the rapid transit system, called the university’s parking proposal, “a tactic designed to pressure the city,” into accepting the bus plan. 

“They didn’t address the major problems we identified,” she said. 

Bates praised the concessions, but insisted UC Berkeley’s plan still fell short. He feared that if the Regents approved the plan, the university would be able to propose specific projects with far less stringent environmental review. 

By contrast, UC Berkeley’s 1990 Long Range Development Plan defined several projects already in the pipeline and identified specific sites where the university intended to build. 

“The city’s complaint that they don’t like the plan’s format is not something we can deal with,” said Irene Hegarty, the university’s director for community relations. 

Except for one project—The Tien Center For East Asian Studies, which will be located on the main campus—Hegarty said no other university project was ready for environmental analysis. 

To address the city’s concerns, she said that the university would require the strictest form of environmental review for proposed new buildings which would affect the quality of life for city residents. 

A lawsuit challenging the EIR, if supported by an injunction, could force the university to delay construction of the Tien Center, and if successful, could require it to recirculate the EIR with added analysis.  

Three years ago the City Council threatened to file suit against the university for a major development along Hearst Avenue, but, to the displeasure of several North campus neighbors such as Jim Sharp, ultimately settled. 

“I expect the same thing to happen this time,” Sharp said. “When they have their feet to the fire the council tends to melt and settle for crumbs.” 

With 15 days to formulate a response to the final version of the 1,300 page plan, the city has assembled a team of high-ranking city staff, along with the city’s legal consultant, Michelle Kenyon of the Oakland firm McDonough Holland & Allen PC, to pour over the document this week and have a report to the council for its meeting on Jan. 11. 

“It’s going to be a full court press,” said Assistant City Manager Arrietta Chakos who is coordinating the effort. Chakos said that the city has yet to receive documentation on university fundraising efforts for which it made a public information request in November. 

In requesting the records, the city is seeking evidence that the university has additional specific construction plans which it has not included in this LRDP. Excluding such projects would artificially reduce the impacts on the city that the university would be required to mitigate under state law. 

“We believe they’re fundraising for specific projects which should be disclosed in the EIR,” City Planning Director Dan Marks said. 

The university, which as a state entity is exempt from city assessments and taxes, owns 35 percent of Berkeley property, Mayor Bates said, making it the city’s largest landholder. The university’s exemption has been the source of increased friction with neighbors. Last year, the city, saddled with a $10.3 million deficit, released a report finding that it lost approximately $11 million annually in taxes and assessments the university didn’t pay. UC Berkeley officials have disputed the findings. 

Catherine Debose has experienced the best and worst of the pioneering effort in Berkeley to allow mental health patients to seek help from one another. 

“This place was a safe haven for me,” she said inside the Berkeley Drop-In Center—established in 1985 as one of the nation’s first peer-run mental health centers. 

“Coming inside from the hustle and bustle gave me the space to deal with my issues,” said Debose, who now volunteers at the center years after she arrived as a homeless mother. But she acknowledges that the South Berkeley center, which gives homeless people a place to stay during the day and access to services, hasn’t been living up to its potential in recent years. 

In May, the drop-in center appeared left for dead. Amid outcries from neighbors and merchants that the center’s clients were responsible for increased drug activity and violence near its home at 3234 Adeline St. between Fairview and Harmon streets, and concerns from city monitors that the center wasn’t providing services to clients, city officials recommended eliminating the program’s $88,000 grant—just over half of its total budget. 

The City Council gave the center a year’s reprieve after it agreed to install a new management team, and in November, California voters may have given it a new lease on life. 

By passing Proposition 63, an initiative forecasted to raise over $600 million a year for mental health programs, having a peer-based program like the drop-in center within its borders might give Berkeley an advantage as it competes for the new stream of funding. 

The initiative establishes client self-help services like the drop-in center as a top state mental health priority, said Berkeley Health Department Director Fred Madrano. Having a well-run drop-in center, he added, could help the city win state grants. 

Winning the state’s stamp of approval is a giant leap for client self-help services, which began in the 1970s as an alternative to mainstream mental health programs. 

Unlike traditional programs, which are run by a professional staff and require patients to actively seek services, peer-based centers are staffed nearly entirely with former patients. They offer services like job training and transitional housing to clients who choose to seek them. 

Because they require fewer trained staff, client-self programs typically cost less than traditional services. 

The model is also coming into vogue nationally. Last year, the president’s Freedom Commission on Mental Health made the expansion of client self-help services one of its six primary recommendations.  

The commission’s findings didn’t include federal funding for programs, but Sara Thompson, director of adult mental health for the National Mental Health Association, expects peer-based programs to multiply in the coming years. 

“Washington is telling states that this is what we want you to do,” she said. The recommendation, she added, comes after several studies have shown that patients in peer-based programs report that staff members are more empathetic and better able to engage them in mental health services. 

A lack of funding has kept the programs from expanding in California, said Ann Arneill-Py, executive director of the California Mental Health Planning Council. Because client self-help programs don’t offer medical services that qualify for Medi-Cal reimbursements, the primary funding source for state mental health programs, they haven’t taken root in many counties that are strapped for cash. 

“Now with Proposition 63, I think we’re going to see a big increase,” she said. 

Whether the Berkeley center sticks around long enough to benefit from the expected windfall remains unclear.  

The drop-in center suffered from an inattentive board of directors and an overworked staff that failed to keep adequate records of the services it provided, said Nancy Thomas, executive director of the Alameda County Network of Mental Health Patients, an umbrella organization for self-help groups that, at the city’s urging, took administrative control of the center. 

As part of its agreement with the city to preserve funding this year, the center must document whether its services are meeting city quotas for providing clients with counseling, shelter beds, transitional housing and referrals to professional mental health programs.  

The requirements were not what the founders of the client self-help movement envisioned, Thomas said. “Originally, the goal was to be an alternative outside the system, but now that we’ve been absorbed into the system and take public money, we have to be more accountable.”  

Thomas oversees the center’s $165,000 budget, which pays for five employees and ten volunteers. She said Proposition 63 funds could pay for improved administration and services, but she acknowledged the center would remain on shaky footing until it resolved the growing antagonism with its neighbors. 

Under orders from the city, the drop-in center has to reinstitute a long dormant neighborhood advisory board comprised of several of the neighboring residents who earlier this year called for the city to end the program.  

“There have been far too many problems for too long,” said Ozzie Vincent at a city-sponsored meeting about the center last month. At the meeting eight neighbors complained that the drop-in center had violated its use permit by not posting contact numbers for complaints or maintaining the advisory committee. The neighbors also complained that clients urinated in their yards, loitered in the streets and attracted drug dealers and violent crime to the area. 

From January through November, police received 91 calls from the center’s vicinity at Adeline and Harmon streets and 29 separate calls specifically mentioning the drop-in center, Berkeley Police Officer Spencer Fomby told participants at the city-sponsored meeting. Ten of those calls were for disturbing the peace. 

“By its very nature self-help centers attract the toughest clients,” said James Sweeney, former executive director of the Oakland Independence Support Center, also a member of the Alameda County Network of Mental Health Clients. “There will always be some people who won’t behave. You can’t expect [the clients] to act like middle class suburbanites.” 

Though the Saul Zaentz Film Center, Berkeley’s own little bit of Hollywood, will lay off all its employees Jan. 14, efforts are underway to find someone to pick up the reins. 

Named after the legendary record and film producer who is one of the firm’s owners, the center boasts three Academy Awards for Best Sound for its work on: 

•Amadeus (also produced by Zaentz himself, who won the Best Picture Oscar as well) 

•The Right Stuff, and 

• The English Patient (another Zaentz production that won the Best Picture Oscar). 

Film Center General Manager Steve Shurtz said the decision to “cut loose” the film center was prompted by Zaentz’s November sale of his Fantasy Records label, housed in the same seven-story Fantasy Building at 2600 Tenth St. in West Berkeley. 

Zaentz and his partners retain ownership of the building, Shurtz said. 

Considered the preeminent jazz label, Fantasy’s catalog also includes folk, Lenny Bruce, Allen Ginsberg, R&B and the rock hits of Creedence Clearwater Revival. 

The buyer was Concord Records, a Beverly Hills firm co-owned by veteran TV producer Norman Lear. 

According to an account in the Hollywood Reporter, Zaentz and his partners were paid more than $80 million for the Fantasy label. 

Fantasy and its archives remain in the building, which also houses the offices of independent filmmakers, sound designers, and cinematographers, Shurtz said. 

Work won’t stop at the film center once the final paychecks are handed out next week. 

“Director Terry Zwigoff is working here doing post-production work on (the upcoming feature film) Art School Confidential,” Shurtz said, and a half-dozen film center employees will be assisting on a freelance basis. 

“The door is still open a crack for freelance work while we pursue new owners,” he said. 

On the other side of the Bay, similar problems are forcing the closure of Francis Ford Coppolla’s American Zoetrope post-production facility in North Beach, which plans to reopen as a DVD production facility. 

Shurtz said several factors have slowed the Bay Area production and post-production work in recent years. 

“I don’t think anyone in the Bay Area’s been busy in the last three or four years,” he said. “One of the biggest reasons is that all the major studios have spent vast amounts on digital technology—Warner Brothers alone spent $22 million, and the other studios have spent similar amounts. 

“More than ever, they’re now trying to persuade directors to use their own facilities.” 

Another factor was Sept. 11, 2001. 

“Among indies (industry-speak for independent filmmakers), there’s a more stay-at-home attitude since 9/11,” he said. 

“There’s been a real downturn in shooting in the Bay Area. We used to have a television series, Nash Bridges, but that’s gone, and there aren’t many films shooting here either. 

“It could change again, but changes like that usually play out over long swings of the pendulum.” 

Then there are the technological changes. 

“There’s been a whole desktop revolution. A lot of post production work can now be done on desktop computers, even laptops, and that’s hit hard,” he said. 

The crew at the Film Center has been remarkably stable, and some date back to the day the Fantasy Building opened 24 years ago. 

Shurtz himself has spent 20 years at the facility. “You’re still considered a kid if you’ve only been here 15 years,” he added. 

“We’re going to try and figure out a way to keep operating. We’re still feeling it out, but roughly 350 movies and three Academy Awards is quite a track record for any company. There’s a lot of talent here in the Bay Area, and it would be a shame to give up on it.” 

At 84, Zaentz isn’t giving up, said Shurtz. Though his last feature film was The English Patient in 1996, “he’s now pursuing a new film project about the Spanish painter Goya and working hard to make that happen.” 

A New Jersey native, Zaentz settled in the Bay Area in 1955 when he joined the staff of Fantasy Records. Twelve years later, in partnership with a team of investors, he bought the company. 

He branched out into film, produced his first film in 1973, and winning a Best Film Oscar two years later for his production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.›

In the wake of a fiasco in which three of Chancellor Elihu Harris’ planning and development initiatives were abruptly canceled or put on hold, a newly-elected member of the Peralta Community College District’s Board of Trustees said that trustees need to end the practice of “instant voting” on land development and facilities proposals without proper study. 

“Until we have a clear plan—until we understand what we are now and what we hope to be—the selling off of lands or leasing them or whatever they wish to do seems to me to be premature,” said Area 6 (Berkeley hills) Trustee Cy Gulassa. “I hope that we slow that kind of process down.” 

Four of the seven current Peralta trustees—Gulassa, Nicky Gonzáles Yuen, Marcie Hodge, and Bill Withrow—were elected on the Nov. 2. 

After sharp questioning by Gulassa at the Dec. 14 board meeting—the first for the newly-elected trustees—Harris announced that he had canceled a proposed facilities plan development contract with Oakland-based IPA Solutions and had also postponed contract talks with Oakland-based Strategic Urban Development Alliance (SUDA) for a development plan for certain Laney College lands. The proposed SUDA contract, which had been authorized by the outgoing board with little advance notice, generated a storm of protest at the December board meeting and in the press. 

The proposed SUDA contract “put the new board members on the spot,” Gulassa said, calling the proposal “this enormous elephant in the room. The manner in which the decision was made and the resulting furor indicate that this is not a proper way for the district to execute its responsibilities.” He added that the new trustees “had hoped that we were going to start from scratch and talk about how we could make the district operate more efficiently and wisely, and then suddenly we’re hit with this incredible proposal that’s got the public thinking that we’re back in the days of [former Peralta Chancellor Dr. Ronald J.] Temple, when monies were being spent very unwisely.” 

Trustees at the Dec. 14 meeting tabled a Harris proposal for a contract with Scala Design & Development Services of Oakland to develop a district-wide facility land use and bond measure report. 

Gulassa said that three days after the Dec. 14 trustee meeting, Peralta trustees held a “preliminary meeting” with interim Special Assistant to the Chancellor Alton Jelks “to talk about what’s the best way to approach districtwide planning.” And he said he expects the issue to come up again at a board retreat scheduled for mid-January. 

“The style of decisions in the board in the past has been rather abrupt and often without very careful inclusion of all the interested parties in the process,” Gulassa said. “We have to clarify the board procedures so we don’t have surprises and we don’t invite hasty decisions.” 

Gulassa said he is already working with other trustee members on specific reform proposals for the district, including an audit of all of Peralta’s bond funds, and an end to the practice of slipping decisions by the public by disguising them as “discussion items only” on the board agenda. Such practices are currently legal, Gulassa said, because Peralta trustee agendas contain the clause that “any and all of the items brought before the Board may be voted upon tonight at the discretion of the Board.” 

“One of the important things that we’re going to do is get rid of that,” Gulassa said. “If an item is listed as a discussion item, that is exactly what it is intended to be, and it shouldn’t be voted upon until the public is given full notice. And if it’s a major item, maybe we need first reading, second reading, and third reading of that item as it moves through the proper channels.” 

One of the complaints about the proposed SUDA contract was that it was listed as a discussion item on the Nov. 23 agenda, but then voted on by the board. And Gulassa said that it appeared that it was deliberate deception. 

“When I saw the SUDA proposal on the board agenda,” Gulassa said, “I called a board member and asked that it be taken off. And that board member said, ‘don’t worry about it, it’s just a discussion item.’ And then, that very same board member was the one who made the proposal that they adopt that item. So I personally felt very concerned by the manner of that decision.” 

Gulassa would not name the trustee who he called. Area 6 trustee Susan Duncan—whom Gulassa replaced on the board and who was serving in her last meeting—made the motion for the SUDA contract, which was seconded by trustee Alona Clifton. Following the Nov. 23 meeting, an Oakland Tribune article revealed that Clifton had financial ties to a SUDA development project in downtown Oakland. 

Shortly before Harris made his Dec. 14 announcement that the SUDA contract was on hold, Laney College Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Stan Peters told trustee members that the Laney College faculty intended to “call for a grand jury investigation into this illegal affair” in part because Clifton had not disclosed her financial ties to SUDA and recused herself. 



Repeated problems over the past two weeks have forced operational changes and three temporary shutdowns during the latest round of cleanup operations at Campus Bay, where developer Russ Pitto hopes to build a 1,330-unit housing complex atop a mound of buried industrial waste. 

State officials say the problems are under tight control, but project critics who live and work near the site are more skeptical. 

Operations involve excavation of polluted muck from Stege Marsh on the site’s bayshore margin. The marsh muck is being dried and acid neutralized with highly corrosive lime before it is shipped off to a landfill near Pittsburg.  

On Dec. 23, DTSC staff ordered crews working on the site to change the method being used to mix the lime with marsh soils because the method then being used resulted in eruptions of steam and lime that threatened to carry off site, said Angela Blanchette, spokesperson for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, one of two agencies involved in the cleanup. 

Lime, also known as calcium oxide, both neutralizes sulfuric acid content in the dredged marsh muck and boils off water in the damp soil to levels where it can be trucked off, 100 loads a day, to the landfill. 

The acid is formed by iron pyrite ash at the site which was created in acid manufacturing that was carried on at the South Richmond site for nearly a century. 

On Dec. 29, when large clouds of steam and dust driven by high winds brought on-site dust and chemical meters near to shut-down levels mandated by the agency, local DTSC chief Barbara Cook called a halt to operations at the site. 

A second shutdown for similar reasons followed two days later. 

Claudia Carr, a UC Berkeley professor who lives in nearby Marina Bay, and Sherry Padgett, the chief financial officer of a firm located within yards of the site, said officials haven’t responded to recent complaints about conditions at the site. They are members of Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development. 

Carr recorded images of plumes rising high above the site on Dec. 23 and 29 and again Monday. 

Blanchette said that Cook and other DTSC officials were monitoring operations at the site and noticed nothing alarming on Monday.  

The DTSC has ordered more extensive monitoring for hazardous chemicals at the site, adding PCBs and four additional pesticides to the monitoring list last week. 

Blanchette said there have been problems with posting monitor results on the Campus Bay website and said her agency was working with a contractor to ensure prompt posting of results.›

• 

KING GEORGE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Bush is always prattling on about democracy and freedom, but he is profoundly anti-democracy and anti-freedom. Bush & Co. have stolen two U. S. presidential elections. Abroad, Bush has overthrown the democracy of Haiti, having kidnapped President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and taken him to a remote location in central Africa. In place of democracy in Haiti, Bush has installed gangs run by death-squad leaders and other common thugs. In Afghanistan, his CIA-sponsored puppet has recently been “elected” in a rigged election. In his illegal criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq, Bush is trying to set up a string permanent U. S. military bases and create a corporate puppet dictatorship to his business buddies to steal Iraq’s vast oil reserves.  

In terms of freedom, Bush & Co., with the assistance of Attorney General John Ashcroft, are dismantling the Bill of Rights of the U. S. Constitution as fast as they can. Since 9-11, Bush has asserted that he possesses dictatorial powers and that he can order the indefinite lockup of any American citizen on the grounds that such persons pose an alleged terror threat. Torture, kidnapping and murder are common tools of the Bush regime outside of the U. S. borders. 

To reclaim our democracy from the death-grip of the Bush gang, we first need to have our votes counted openly and publicly, not to have them “counted” by hackable insecure proprietary secret software owned and operated by right-wing-supporting corporations such as Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia and SAIC. We must demand the immediate creation of auditable paper trails for all electronic computerized voting machines. Before the next federal election in 2006, we need to return to traditional hand-counted paper ballots and real American democracy.  

The Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to approve the selections of the Electoral College will be the last good public chance to openly and publicly discuss the massive election fraud in Ohio and elsewhere in the nation. Please call or write to the remaining 45 Democratic Senators and urge them to take a gutsy stand and challenge this fraudulent election and demand a re-vote with hand-counted paper ballots in Ohio. If they can re-vote in the Ukraine, we can re-voter in Ohio. 

Who knows, maybe if some representatives and senators can talk and talk and thus delay the re-crowning of King Bush, maybe we can get our democracy back before it is too late.  

James K. Sayre 

Oakland 

• 

BUSHWAH! 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

What a missed opportunity. That was my first reaction to Red Lander’s diatribe (Daily Planet, Dec. 24-27). Here he has the opportunity to respond to all the anti-Bush commentary, and he doesn’t say a word. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction. No response. Bush has flouted the Geneva conventions (Guantanamo and Iraq), and curtailed civil rights (the Patriot Act). No response. Bush is trying to eliminate wildlife conservation standards (some put in place by Ronald Reagan no less), and environmental and health protection standards. No response. Bush is trashing the economy, public schools, family planning, women’s rights and our foreign relations. No response. On just about everything he does Bush lies. No response. 

Upon further reflection I realized that the totality of no responses is a response. The above concerns weren’t important enough to him to elicit a response. Mr. Landers has studied Mao’s little Red book in college, and he is “Reagan Red”. It’s his team versus our team. It doesn’t matter if people and the environment are getting hurt; he is doing okay, and his team won. 

Robert Clear  

• 

HISTORY SOUGHT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The City of Berkeley Housing Department is undertaking a review of historic resources in the neighborhood surrounding the east parking lot of the Ashby BART station. This western portion of this lot is proposed for development as Ed Roberts Campus, a universally-accessible community resource center for people with disabilities.  

The area the city is interested in is within Ashby Avenue on the north, Shattuck Avenue on the east, Woolsey Street on the south, and Martin Luther King Jr. Way on the west. This area, coincidentally, corresponds to the approximate boundaries of a ranch owned by Mark Ashby, an early Berkeley resident.  

This neighborhood was originally developed at the turn of the 20th Century as a streetcar suburb, and possesses a number of prominent examples of Colonial Revival-style homes. According to records assembled by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, this area saw six different electrified trolley lines going through. These lines linked together downtown Berkeley and the University of California campus with south Berkeley, north and west Oakland.  

In addition, state of California records indicate there are three historic buildings that may be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, including the Webb Building at 1985 Ashby, the Hull & Durgin Funeral Home at 3031-51 Adeline, and Luke's Nickelodeon building at 3192 Adeline. 

Ed Roberts Campus has received funding awards from the federal government toward its development. To receive funding commitments from the government, the campus must have the City of Berkeley (acting on behalf of the federal government in this instance) consider what, if any, effects the campus would have on historic resources in the Ashby BART, and the city wants to hear from the public about the history of this south Berkeley neighborhood.  

Members of the public who wish to contribute their knowledge, photographs, testimonies, or memories of this neighborhood—or who know someone who might be willing to contribute such information—are urged to contact Tim Stroshane, senior planner, City of Berkeley Housing Department, (510) 981-5422, or via e-mail at tstroshane@ci.berkeley 

.ca.us. We look forward to hearing from you! 

Tim Stroshane 

Senior Planner 

City of Berkeley Housing Department 

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas

In the past ten years I have hired people to take care of my disabled husband who often have had physical and psychological problems of their own. I have employed manic depressives who could not get out of bed, sufferers of ADD who were too hopped up to follow instructions, illiterates who could not read labels on pill bottles. I once hired someone and neglected to find out if he could make a simple sandwich and a salad for Ralph. He couldn’t. Another man had spent so much time in prison, he was unable to figure out how to use the coffeemaker. Coffee and tea had always been served to him. 

I have lived with alcoholics, drug addicts, pedophiles, abusers, and the abused. I have put up with petty theft, in-house fighting, snitches, overeaters, and liars. Twice the county health department has come to our door and required that we get tested for tuberculosis.  

I have picked our employees up in front of bars, churches, houses of ill repute, and the county jail. I’ve dropped them off at bus stops, strip clubs, card palaces, and rehab. I’ve taken their mothers to visit them while they’ve been incarcerated, hosted birthday parties for their children at Chuck E. Cheese’s, hired their relatives and friends when they were down on their luck. I have been to Social Security with them, the police station and the Department of Immigration. I’ve consulted lawyers to figure out their child support dilemmas and green card situations.  

Because of my employee/employer history, I will never be appointed Director of Homeland Security. 

I have grown old with the people who have helped me care for Ralph. Jerry, who lived with us for nine years, had a heart attack while in our employment. I took him to the Alta Bates Emergency Room, talked with his doctors and nurses, delivered fast food hamburgers to his bedside when he couldn’t tolerate the meals he was given. I did the same for Leroy when he was diagnosed with lung cancer and spent two weeks in the pulmonary ward. After he was sent home to our house with the prediction that he had six months to live, I entertained his Hospice nurses, social workers, and grieving relatives. I watched him slowly shrink to 85 pounds, and when he passed away, I helped with the details of having his body removed from our home and taken to a funeral parlor.  

So you’d think I’d have paid my dues by now and gotten enough positive karma to balance out the negative, but that, apparently, is not how it works. Now I’m a casualty of identity theft.  

Someone came into my house when I wasn’t here and stole a credit card, passport, cell phone and jewelry. I wasn’t aware of the theft until the credit card company called to tell me of unusual purchases. We canceled the card, and got a new one. But unbeknownst to me someone canceled that card and had a replacement sent to an alternative address. I went to Costco. I stood in line, unloaded my cart, and attempted to pay. That’s when I found out my credit was no good. I returned home and began the long process of contacting the government agencies that must be notified when someone has absconded with your identity. 

Then the telephone calls began. Strangers asked for information about Ralph and me. I hung up. When the calls became threatening I contacted the police. They told me that whoever was doing this would most likely not cause me bodily harm, but if they came to the door, I should call 911. This was not reassuring, but I didn’t tell them that. Instead I thought about asking the policemen to move in. When they left, I went out to the front porch in order to think about what I should do, but there was nowhere to sit. Someone had stolen the chair.

Date Beater Charged 

Berkeley Police arrested a 24-year-old man for battery just before 3 a.m. Thursday after he allegedly battered his date near Skates on the Bay in the Berkeley Marina. 

Calls Cops, Gets Busted 

A 57-year-old South Berkeley man called police to report a fight, but when officers arrived and checked out the conflicting versions offered by the caller and his sparring partner, it was the caller who got popped. 

Officers were summoned to an address in the 1600 block of Alcatraz Avenue at 7:18 Thursday evening, to discover that “it was an argument that turned to a fight, and at some point, a knife was pulled,” said BPD spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

After police checked out the disputants’ conflicting stories, the fellow was taken downtown for booking on one charge of assault with a deadly weapon. 

Officers called the Berkeley Fire Department to offer aid for the other fellow, also in his 50s, who then proceeded to refuse treatment for what was apparently a minor cut. 

Walgreen’s Loses Green 

A short gunman wearing a hooded jacket and a ski mask walked into the Walgreen’s at 2995 San Pablo Ave. at 8:30 Thursday night, pulled a piece and demanded the green contents of the cash registers. 

He escaped with the loot by means unknown. 

Armed Robber Arrest 

A man with a knife approached a pedestrian walking on Bancroft Way near the corner of Telegraph Avenue and demanded his wallet. 

The victim complied, then called police, who were able to quickly identify and arrest the 23-year-old suspect on suspicion of armed robbery, said Officer Okies. 

Victim Foils Bandit 

A man in a dark hooded sweatshirt accosted a woman in the parking lot of the Bank of America branch at 1536 Shattuck Avenue just after 5 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and attempted a strong arm robbery. 

When his would-be victim put up a fierce resistance, the felon fled, jumping into a maroon van and sped away. 

Strange Stabbing 

When her son walked in the door just after midnight Sunday, disoriented and bleeding, a Berkeley mother quickly realized that he’d been stabbed and called 911. The victim was rushed to an emergency room for treatment of his injuries. 

Police found him to be singularly uncooperative, refusing to disclose anything about the attack or his assailant, said Officer Okies.

An economic tsunami is rapidly approaching this land. Those of you in the national congress, as well as state and local leaders, who are going along with HUD housing cutbacks, as well as myriad other Bush & Co inequities, are contributing to the ever-mou nting waves headed our way. 

Do you imagine you will be untouched by what you are allowing to be set in motion? You will inevitably be touched by it. Every one of us will suffer, some of us sooner, some of us later. 

Those of us at present directly in the path of this economic tsunami are already a widely diverse group: children without healthcare, students, the disabled, the aged, the sick, the economically disadvantaged, workers displaced by outsourced jobs, retirees with failing pensions, Enron-type workers battered by corporate greed, illegal immigrants used and abused and then set aside with no social rights or privileges, and perhaps most disturbing 

of all, physically and mentally maimed veterans of our monstrous illegal war. 

I am one of this ever-growing group. I am a Caucasian female with a privileged education at Smith College, University of Geneva, University of California (BA, MA) and Summit University (Ph.D.). I am barely subsisting now on a Social Security pension of under $800. Without my r ecently granted HUD housing voucher, I would be homeless. My housing voucher is now imminently threatened by the country’s turbid inaction in the face of these pending disasters. Will I be next on the homeless list? 

Perhaps. I will be poor, ill, aging, h omeless, and angry as hell!  

The people will rise up, sooner or later, ourselves a tsunami-like torrent of water. 

What are you doing about it, our leaders, today? What are you deliberately ignoring? What shame and guilt are you sitting on? 

You, whom w e elected to serve us, all of the people of this once great country! You, many of whom have granted yourselves such generous health insurance plans and retirement policies, not to mention the hidden corporate perks! You who are hired to be the servants of the people! 

Where is your leadership? Where are we when we need you? 

It would appear that among our most notable advocates today are our Black American leaders, such as Barbara Lee, Sheila Jackson Lee, Carol Moseley Braun, John Conyers, and other membe r of the Black Caucus. Thanks to them for their good work. 

Bush and Co are now determined to undermine the HUD housing assistance programs for hundreds of thousands of us. Where do you suppose we will go when this tsunami hits us and we are suddenly with out homes, thousands of us across this once great land? And for those able to hold onto a home, what about the ever increasing suffering of broken health coverage, broken retirement and disability benefits, broken childcare and educational programs, broke n promises galore! 

What are you doing today to ward off, or at least prepare for this pending catastrophe? 

There’s a new kind of Great Depression descending upon this land. The robber barons are skimming off huge portions of our common wealth in the dec onstruction of public assistance policies. They are squandering billions of our common wealth in futile and ill-conceived land and star wars. They have utterly devastated our global goodwill. And to top it off, they are placing the burden of the great deb t they are creating on the backs on the common people. 

The common people. That’s you and me, sister. That’s you and me, brother. It’s no longer “them” (and truly never was). It’s us! The greedy elite are trying their best to hide out in their psychologic ally-gated estates, imagining they have tricked the system and secured their fate. 

What they are securing is the downfall of this once great nation. 

When the ranks of the homeless expand exponentially to include all colors, all races, all ages—what will this country do then? 

What are you doing now, our elected leaders? 

Use your power now, before elections become extinct. 

Wake up and lead before it’s too late… 

›

Those activist judges that President Bush warned us about have struck again! 

They’ve taken the law and twisted it around to fit their own personal agendas without regard for what the people’s representatives enacted. In the case of Jesperson v. Harrah’s Operating Company, announced on Dec. 28, 2004, the activist judges eviscerated the civil rights laws against sex discrimination. 

Darlene Jesperson was employed by Harrah’s Club in Reno for 20 years as a bartender. She was an outstanding employee. Manag ement commented that she was “highly effective” and had a “very positive” attitude. Customers praised her work. 

During the 1980s and 1990s management encouraged female employees to wear makeup. Jesperson tried it, but felt uncomfortable. She felt that ma keup forced her to be feminine and to become dolled up like a sexual object. She also felt that it hindered her credibility in dealing with unruly, intoxicated patrons. So she stopped wearing it. She continued working at Harrah’s for another ten years, co ntinuing to receive excellent reviews. 

In 2000, Harrah’s applied new appearance standards on its employees. It required them to be “firm and body toned” to wear uniforms, and be well groomed. In addition, there were different standards for male and female bartenders. Females were required to wear makeup, wear their hair teased, curled or styled, wear stockings and nail polish. Males were forbidden to wear makeup or nail polish, were to maintain short hair and trimmed fingernails. (The new standards didn’t say anything about men wearing or not wearing stockings. One wonders how they left that out.) 

Jesperson objected to wearing makeup, claiming that males were not required to do that. She refused to wear makeup and was fired. Jesperson then sued under th e sex discrimination sections of Title VII. The trial court dismissed the case and a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal by a 2-1 majority, ruling that forcing women to wear makeup and not requiring (actually forbidding) men to w ear it did not discriminate and was not stereotyping sex roles.  

Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights laws forbids employers to discriminate against people because of sex. In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court above the 9th Circuit held that adverse employment actions based on sexual stereotyping were illegal. In Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, a female employee had been denied promotion to a partnership because she was seen as not being feminine enough. The Supreme Court held that she could prevail in her lawsuit stating, “as for the legal relevance of sex stereotyping, we are beyond the day when an employer could evaluate employees by assuming or insisting that they match the stereotype of their group, for . . .Congress intended to strike at the entire spectrum o f disparate treatment of men and women resulting from sex stereotypes.”  

One would think that the grooming requirements for women requiring makeup placed an unequal burden for them to meet than the requirements for men who could not wear makeup. One also would think that Jesperson was a victim of sexual stereotyping. 

But not to the two activist conservative judges in the majority. They have decided that the America may have been “beyond the day” when sex discrimination was allowed in 1989, but that we a re back to that day now, that, in short, we are living in a rerun of the 1950s, before the passage of the Civil Rights Act.  

Someone should tell President Bush about these activist judges. Other right-wing activist courts recently have eviscerated or ove rruled the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Violence against Women Act, and the federal laws preventing carrying firearms near schools. Soon we will see judges thwart the will of the people of California who voted to legalize marijuana for medical use. In all of these instances, including the Jesperson case, judicial activists have struck down or interpreted out of existence laws that were duly enacted by elected representatives to protect people other than owners of large corporations or right wing r eligious extremists. 

Yet, somehow, the president is only concerned about judges that may allow gays to enter into marriages. The more cynical among us may think that he is outcome-oriented, and that to him judicial activism only means judges who don’t ru le the way he likes. Obviously, when President Bush attacks “judicial activism” he must mean all judicial activism  

I think that the president would appreciate it very much if people were to write to him to let him know that many of his own and his Repub lican predecessors right wing appointments have been activist judges who have nullified democratically enacted laws in order further the narrow ends of large business interests and religious extremists. In view of the president’s distaste for judicial act ivism, and in light of his recent mandate, I am quite sure that the president will modify his appointments and name as judges those who will no longer take the will of the people into their own hands and rewrite out of existence laws protecting women, minorities, the disabled, schoolchildren and employees.  



Not since 1929, the year that marked the beginning of the Great Depression, has wealth in the U.S. been so heavily concentrated among the richest 1 percent of the population. This trend towards economic inequality increased sharply in 1970, and since that time there has been an enormous shift in the distribution of national income from the working class to the wealthiest Americans. For every consecutive year between 1970 and 2000, the annual incomes of the richest 10 percent of Americans have risen, without exception, while the annual incomes of the bottom 90 percent have declined. Even more startling, however, is that this income shift went almost entirely to the richest 5 percent (annual incomes of $178,000 and above), with the richest 1 percent (annual incomes ranging from $384,000 to $777,000) seeing the greatest increase compared to all other income groups. This trend is likely to grow by leaps and bounds during Bush’s second term in office. 

This gross economic inequality can be explained, in part, by a regressive tax system in which the poor and middle class often pay more in taxes than the rich, as measured by percentage of income. Take Bush’s latest round of tax cuts that will take full effect in 2005: Those with incomes over $1 million a year will receive a tax cut of $135,000 a year, while those with incomes less than $76,000 will get about $350 on average. That is, while millionaires will be given a raise that amounts to 13.5 percent of their income, the majority of Americans will see their incomes increase by approximately 1 percent. With respect to the tax on capital gains, from which the richest Americans earn virtually all their income, the tax rate in 1987 was 28 percent. Today, that number has dropped to 15 percent. How about U.S. companies that are forever threatening to take their money overseas due to the heavy tax burden they face in this country? It turns out that between 1996 and 2000, 63 percent of all U.S. companies paid zero corporate income taxes on revenues totaling $2.5 trillion. Furthermore, five trillion dollars is now sheltered in offshore tax havens by individuals and U.S. companies. That number was $200 billion in 1983. 

The combination of tax cuts for the wealthy and a seemingly endless “war on terror” that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars has resulted in record budget deficits at the federal and state level. These record deficits are exactly what is desired by the neo-conservatives in Washington DC and in state government who have used these deficits to justify the dismantling of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs and the privatization of services historically performed by the public sector. This shift from public to private has further exacerbated the problem of economic inequality in the U.S. With its narrow focus on profits and market share, corporate America must cut “costs” in order to remain competitive. These costs include paying employees a living wage, providing workers with health insurance, ensuring workplace safety, and overtime pay. To get a sense of how workers have fared in the private sector over the last couple decades, consider the following: In the early 1980s, typical U.S. CEOs earned about 40 times the pay of their average employee. Today, they earn more than 400 times the pay of their average employee. This gap has widened despite the fact that worker productivity rose continuously between 1973 and 2000. In fact, output per person in the U.S. is the highest in the industrialized world.  

While many of the aforementioned policies regarding taxation, military spending, and privatization are planned and implemented in corporate boardrooms, in Congress, and in the executive halls of government, the consequences are felt sharply at the local level where city and county governments are starved as states take away local revenues to address growing budget deficits. In Berkeley, the city’s residents, led by the anti-tax group BASTA, dealt a further blow to the city by rejecting four tax measures this past November that would have funded much needed city services. The result will be further cuts to city services that will mean the loss of jobs that pay a living wage and offer comprehensive benefits, and a reduction in services provided to low-income residents.  

Apparently, Berkeley residents voted down the four local tax measures because they believe that they pay too much in local taxes. It is true that Berkeley residents pay more in local taxes than residents of other cities throughout the state. But the issue of local taxation is best understood in the broader context of wealth and income inequality. In other words, it is difficult to take seriously the grumbling about excessive local taxation from residents who earn $100,000 or more a year. These folks are among the richest 10 percent in the country and this group has seen their real income increase every year for the last 30 years, in part because they are the beneficiaries of regressive state and federal tax policies. On the other hand, the grumbling from low and middle-income residents (and from new homeowners who typically pay well over half a million dollars for Berkeley homes) seems to be more legitimate, in my opinion. But it is precisely this group of low and middle-income earners who are best served by a strong and viable city government. For one, they benefit from the extensive city services that are available to all residents. Secondly, a strong city government will, in theory, mean that good public sector jobs will be available to residents from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds. Whether the goal is a just society or the creation of solid public sector jobs for generations to come, funding local government by supporting modest and progressive tax increases makes good sense. 

TUESDAY, JAN. 4 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Tanglers at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Two-step and waltz lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Peter Barshay and Jeff Buenz at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Benny Green & Russell Malone at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Thurs. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 5 

THEATER 

“The Bright River” written and performed by Tim Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble at Julia Morgan Theater, through Jan. 16. Tickets are $12-$35 available from A Traveling Jewish Theater, 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Guy Gash & The Five Sharp Band at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Zydeco Flames at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Zero Mass The Warren Teagarden Band, Serene Lakes at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $4. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Blowout Trio, modern jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 6 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Clive Matson and Gail Ford at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Utah Phillips with Bodhi Busik at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Frank Jordans, Carter Tanton, The Proles at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Eric Swinderman at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

FRIDAY, JAN. 7 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Polk County” A musical about aspring blues musician, Leafy Lee, at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. to Jan. 9. Tickets are $15-$60. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org  

“The Bright River” written and performed by Tim Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble at Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. through Jan. 16. Tickets are $12-$35 available from A Traveling Jewish Theater, 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

Shotgun Players “Travesties” by Tom Stoppard, at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. through Jan. 9. Free with pass the hat after the show. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry from the Vietnam Era and Its Legacy at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era.” 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Dance Production 2005” Berkeley High’s dance performanceat 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, on the BHS Campus. Also on Sat. Tickets are $5-$10.  

Los Nadies with special guest Andres Soto, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$25. Fundraiser for the Social Equity Caucus.849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Caribbean Allstars at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Lua, global creole roots, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Due West, contemporary bluegrass, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

David Jacobs-Strain, The Alexis Harte Band at 8 p.m. at the Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $8. 465-8480. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Lavay Smith Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Truxton, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Oktobre People at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Ludicra, Voetsek, John the Baker & The Malnourished at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Soul Captives, ShitOuttaLuck, Hazel at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Grand Groovement at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Brown Baggin’ at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Mark Hummel’s 13th Annual Blues Harmonica Blow Out with James Cotton, Kim Wilson, and Charlie Musselwhite at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, JAN. 8 

CHILDREN 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Juanita Ulloa’s Three Kings Celebration at 11 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Lee Tanner's “Jazz Image” photography show featuring large-format black-and-white prints of giants from the jazz encyclopedia. Through Jan. 24 at the Berkeley Central Library, 2090 Kittredge. Photographer’s talk at noon. 981-6100. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org 

Tim Metallo “New Paintings” Reception at 5 p.m. at The New Gallery for Urban Art, 1266 66th St., Emeryville. 596-0020, ext. 193. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Golden Bough, Celtic innovators, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

La Tania, flamenco, with Gypsy guitarist Jose Valle “Chuscales” at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $18-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

West African Highlife Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Eric Shifrin & The In Crowd at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Angel Magik at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $15. 548-1159.  

All Star DJ Jam at 10 p.m. at Club Oasis, 135 12th St., Oakland. Cost is $10. 763-0404.  

7th Direction, Pocket, The Unravellers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

One Block Radiu, Disflex6, hip hop, at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Brainoil, Born Dead, Scurvy Dos, Machine Gun Romantics at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Noah Schenker Group at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 9 

CHILDREN  

Mary Ellen Hill “Celebrating Sun” at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“After Vietnam: California Stories from Southeast Asian Perspectives” from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era.” 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

Poetry Flash with Doren Robbins, Cecilia Woloch and Sholeh Wolpé at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Women’s Poetry Reading Bring poetry of your own, or of your favorite women authors and we’ll share around the fire with hot cocoa and tea. At noon at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Amina Figarova International Band at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazz- 

school. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Verse, Another Breath, Forward to Death, The Shemps, The Orphans at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

John McCutcheon, folk music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $21.50-$22.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Odd Shaped Case, Balkan music brunch at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MONDAY, JAN. 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Texture: The Many Layers of Textile Arts” with works by Natasha Fouko, Joy Lily, Susan Putnam, and Deb Shattil, opens at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs to Jan. 31. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

“Bay Area Landscapes That Make You Smile” paintings by Stan Cohen at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0327. www.brjcc.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Marilyn Abildskov describes an American woman living and loving in Japan in “The Men in My Country” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express, featuring Gayle Eleanor and Sholeh Wolpé from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Songwriters Symposium at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Sakai, neo-soul, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 11 

FILM 

Local Short Film Festival at 9:15 p.m. at the Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $5 at the door. www.picturepubpizza.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ethan Rarick describes “California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Creole Belles with Andrew Carriere at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Duke Robillard Band at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

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

Cyril Guiraud and David Michel-Ruddy at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Café Poetry hosted by Kira Allen at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $2. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Andrew Heinze describes “Jews and the American Soul: Human Nature in the Twentieth Century” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Steve Arnston, classical piano at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Kurt Ribak Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Blues and Gooves with DJ Mike Pyle at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. West Coast Swing dance lesson with Nick & Shanna at 8 p.m. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The James King Band, mountain soul from Virginia, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Judgement Day, A Burning Water, Street to Nowhere, string metal, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Poncho Sanchez Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, JAN. 13 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Texture: The Many Layers of Textile Arts” with works by Natasha Fouko, Joy Lily, Susan Putnam, and Deb Shattil. Reception for the artists at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs to Jan. 31. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “The Last Tycoon” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Christian Parenti describes “The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Edwin Drummond and John Rowe, and guest Sholeh Wolpé, Persian poet, followed by an open mic, at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave., near Dwight Way. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

John Schott’s Dream Kitchen, old-time jazz, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Zoo Station at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Gini Wilson, solo piano, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

Special Ed, Coolie High, hip hop, at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $15. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

FRIDAY, JAN. 14 

THEATER 

“The Bright River” written and performed by Tim Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble at Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. through Jan. 16. Tickets are $12-$35 available from A Traveling Jewish Theater, 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

FILM 

David Thomson History of Hollywood: “Shanghai Express” at 7 p.m. and “Ony Angels Have Wings” at 9:05 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Page to Stage, a conversation with playwright Tony Kushner and director Tony Taccone at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Repertory Theater, 2015 Addison St. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

James D’Allesandro reads from “1906: A Novel” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Dance Production 2005” Berkeley High’s dance performance, choreographed by students, at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Allston Way, on the BHS Campus. Also on Sat. Tickets are $5-$10.  

The Pacific Collegium “From Advent to Epiphany” at 8 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $12-$18. 415-392-4400. www.pacificcollegium.org 

Songwriters in the Round, featuring Monica Pasqual, Sonya Hunter and Emily Bezar at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Wake the Dead at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Kathy Kallick Band, bluegrass and originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Captured! by Robots at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

The Phenomenauts, Freak Accident, Left Alone at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Cathi Walkup Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

Plays Monk at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Groovie Ghoulies, Jason Webley, Teenage Harlots at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Poncho Sanchez Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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Walking on water is not part of the normal human behavioral repertoire. But for some insects, it’s routine. Check out almost any pond or creek and you’ll see water striders, known to some as Jesus bugs, skating along the top with their cruciform shadows tracking them below. There’s a nice collective name for these creatures and others that exploit this liminal habitat: neuston, dwellers on the surface. 

Although striders winter underwater, sheltered under rocks on the streambed, most of their lives take place on the surface film. It’s their hunting ground: these bugs are predators, always on the lookout for flying insects that fall into the water or aquatic types like mosquito larvae that swim up from below. Alerted by vibrations, the striders dash toward their prey, rowing with their middle pair of legs, then pounce and grab, mantis-like, with the front pair. They inject the victim with enzymes that dissolve its flesh, suck it dry and discard the husk. 

The surface is also an arena for courtship. A male water strider selects an object where females can lay their eggs, then uses those versatile middle legs to send out ripples at a frequency of 10 to 30 per second. He alternates between a signal pattern that lures females and another that warns off rival males. The eggs hatch underwater, and the fully-formed nymphs swim up to begin their superficial lives.  

How do they manage the water-walking trick, though? It seems inherently improbable. I agree with Sue Hubbell; “If water striders…didn’t exist and we were set the task of designing a new bug, I don’t believe we would ever come up with this one.” Entomologists figured the tiny hairs on each leg somehow acted as a hydrofuge, trapping air and holding water away from the foot, and thought the hairs got their water-repellent properties from a wax secreted by the insect. But that view was recently challenged by two scientists in Beijing, Lei Jiang and Xuefeng Gao, in an article in Nature entitled “Water-repellent Legs of Water Striders.” 

According to Jiang and Gao, the key is the structure of the hairs, each of which is less than two-thousandths of an inch long. Scanning electron miscroscopy revealed that each hair, or microseta, is covered with elaborate grooves. The grooves are nanoscale; we’re talking seriously tiny here. The researchers say it’s the combination of microsetae and nanogrooves that hold the air, forming a cushion where leg meets water.  

Using a quartz-fibre model of a strider’s leg, Jiang and Gao convinced themselves that wax alone couldn’t account for either the leg’s water resistance or its strong supporting force, about 15 times the insect’s total body weight. The legs, which can displace up to 300 times their own volume, allow the striders to ride out surface turbulence; when raindrops hit the water, the striders bounce. The microstructures also explain how water striders can pursue prey at a speed of 100 body lengths per second. 

So? Well, Jiang is with the Chinese National Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. And the authors note: “Our discovery may be helpful in the design of miniature aquatic devices and non-wetting materials.” Once again, the biomechanics of a small obscure creature may point the way to a technological breakthrough. 

I was reminded, of course, of the gecko toes. A couple of years ago, researchers at UC Berkeley and Lewis and Clark College figured out how a tokay gecko—a mid-sized, highly vocal Southeast Asian lizard—could support itself by a single toe on a smooth vertical surface. The secret was setae, again: tiny hairs on the toetips, each divided into hundreds of thousands of pads called spatulae, 10 millionths of an inch across. When the pads contact a surface, something happens at the intermolecular level: Van der Waal forces come into play, creating a strong attraction between the molecules of the pad and those of the surface. The interaction generates a bond 1000 times greater than the lizard actually needs to cling to the wall. As it climbs, the gecko rolls its toe-hairs onto the surface, then peels them off like tape. 

With an adhesive force so strong that a dime-sized patch of setae could support a 45-pound child (not that you would want to try this at home, of course), the spinoff potential is obvious. It’s probably just a matter of time until gecko velcro is available in stores. There’s a whole branch of research called biomimetics that looks at natural structures and processes for possible industrial replication. Another researcher has just invented a plastic lens that mimics the sophisticated eye of the octopus. And at this point we’re just scratching the surface. 

I’ve always been troubled by the pragmatic argument for conservation, the case for saving species because they may turn out to be valuable new food sources, or to hold the key to a cure for cancer. (And if they don’t, we can waste them with a clear conscience?) But the water strider example suggests that the most unlikely creatures may have unexpected utility. 

Speaking of walking on water, Tonia Hsieh at Harvard has just figured out how the Jesu Cristo lizard of Central America, also known as the basilisk, does it. Hsieh says a large upward-and-sideways force is produced each time the lizard’s fringed toes hit the water, countering its natural tendency to sink. As with the water strider, faith does not appear to be involved.  

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TUESDAY, JAN. 4 

Mid-Day Meander on the Carquinez Strait to learn about John Muir’s father-in-law Jack London and “The Octopus” of Frank Norris. Meet at 2:30 p.m. at the Bull Valley Staging Area. 525-2233. 

“AgriCulture: Roots of Resistance in the Midwest” Join Katharine Jolda and Ingrid Evjen-Elias for a reportback of their three-week bicycle trip in the land of corn, soybeans, and Wal-Mart, at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

Winter Backcountry Travel Safety and Survival with Mike Kelly of the National Ski Patrol’s search and rescue team at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public schools at 7 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “New Year’s Revolutions” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Please bring snacks and soft drinks to share. No peanuts please. 601-6690. 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 5 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets at 7:15 a.m. t Au Cocolait, 200 University Ave. 524-3765. 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program from 10 to 11 a.m., for ages 4-6 years; accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $3-$5. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll learn about our fur-covered friends from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Avalanche Phenomena and Safety with Dick Penniman at 6 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland.  Advance sign-up needed 594-5165. 

Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College Open House from 6 to 8 p.m. at 2550 Shattuck Ave. RSVP to 666-8248, ext. 106. 

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 6 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll learn about our fur-covered friends from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Tilden Explorers An after school nature adventure for 5-7 year olds who may be accompanied by an adult. No younger siblings please. We’ll explore the world of mammals. From 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Bird Walk in North Berkeley Meet at 7:30 p.m. at the Rose Garden entrance on Euclid Ave. for a look at birds and architecture. 525-2233. 

“Arctic Quest: Journey through a Threatened Wilderness” with Chad Kister at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220. www.ecologycenter.org 

Argosy University Information Sessions for degree programs in Psychology, Education and Business at 6 p.m. at 999-A Canal Blvd., Point Richmond. To RSVP or for directions to the school, call 215-0277. 

FRIDAY, JAN. 7 

Outings on Fridays with Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association Tour of the Berkeley City Club at 11 a.m. Cost is $15. Reservations required. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

“Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land” an historical overview of the factors which distort media coverage of the Middle East conflict at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free. 482-1062. 

“E-Motion Picture Magic” for healing and transfomation with Birgit Wolz at 7 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph at 66th. 655-2405. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” meets every Friday at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. 655-8863, 843-7610. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 8 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant apthologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

Newt Research Join us for our annual hike up South Park Drive to find out why newts cross the road, and why it takes them so long. Meet at 2 p.m. at the parking lot across from the Botanic Garden in Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Kids Garden Club For children 7-12 years old to explore the world of gardening. We plant, harvest, build, make crafts, cook and get dirty! From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$6, registration required. 525-2233. 

Pre-School Storytime for ages 3-5 at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

Family Origami Recycle holiday paper and learn to make a 14-point star, at 2 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17. 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. For more information call 525-2233. 

Basic Winter Maintenance, including mulching and pruning, at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

“Forces of Nature” a giant-screen film on volcanoes, tornadoes and earthquakes opens at Chabot Space and Science Center. Tickets are $7-$8. 336-7300. www.chabotspace.org 

Luna Kids Dance Open House from 2 to 4 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. 644-3629. www.lunakidsdance.com 

Family Brown Bag Shabbat at 11 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic. info@kolhadash.org 

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. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 9 

Alvarado: River to Ridgetop Ramble We will explore the historic area once known as Grand Canyon Park. Meet at 10 a.m. at the Wildcat/Alvarado staging area off Park Ave. in Richmond. 525-2233. 

Strawberry Creek Work Party from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. We'’ll be weeding several sections of the creek bank, as well as checking out the natives we just planted. Wear sturdy footwear and bring work gloves. Please RSVP to kateholum@yahoo.com 

Women’s Poetry Reading Bring poetry of your own, or of your favorite women authors and we’ll share around the fire with hot cocoa and tea. At noon at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“After Vietnam: California Stories from Southeast Asian Perspectives” from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era.” 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Tibetan World Peace Ceremony at Bodh Gaya, India” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Personal Theology Seminar with Emily Champage at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

MONDAY, JAN. 10 

Tea and Hike at Four Taste some of the finest teas from the Pacific Rim and South Asia and learn their natural and cultural history, followed by a short nature walk. At 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public schools at 4:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

A Year To Live How to live this year as if it were your last, facilitated by Bonnie O'Brien Jonsson, MS, at 7 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 559-9290. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 9:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

Fitness for 55+ A total body workout including aerobics, stretching and strengthening at 2 p.m. every Monday at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5170. 

TUESDAY, JAN. 11 

Bird Walk in Pt. Isabel Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the end of Rydin Rd. (before Costco) to look for shorebirds and sparrows. 525-2233. 

School Age Storytime for ages 5 and up at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

Learn How to Use Your GPS with Jeff Caulfield of National Geographic at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Getting Along with Your Adult Children” a participatory workshop at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $35-$40. 848-0327, ext. 110. www.brjcc.org 

Oakland Celebrates the Dream 11 a.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza, 14th St. and Broadway. 444-2489 www.oaklandnet.com/celebrations 

Introduction to Taiko Drumming, Tues. at 7 p.m. at Tatsumaki Taiko, 725 Gilman St. Cost is $12. www.tatsumakitaiko.com 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets every Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

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 

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

Acting and Storytelling Classes for Seniors offered by Stagebridge, at Arts First Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Classes are held at 10 a.m. Tues.-Fri. For more information call 444-4755. www.stagebridge.org 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12 

Explore Winter: Women’s Snowshoe Workshop at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Down Home Martin Luther King Potluck at 6 p.m. at the Interstake Center, 4780 Lincoln Blvd., Oakland. Bring your favorite dish to serve four. 654-2592. 

Tap Into It Jazz and Rhythm Tap classes at Montclair Recreation Center, 6300 Moraga Ave., Oakland. Experienced at 6:30 p.m., beginners at 7:30 p.m. 482-7812. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

“Conflict in Jewish Identity: Looking at Our Own Lives” brown-bag lunch with Dr. Jerry Diller at 11:30 a.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0327, ext. 110. www.brjcc.org 

Home Buyer Assistance Information Session at 6 p.m. at 1504 Franklin St., Oakland. Sponsored by the Home Buyer Assistance Center. Reservations required. 832-6925, ext. 105. www.hbac.org 

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m., Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, JAN. 13 

“Conversations About Watersheds” An interactive conference from Thurs. through Sun. at Lake Merritt College. Cost is $15-$25. Sponsored by the East Bay Watershed Center. For details call 434-3800. www.mountaincurrent.net/ebwc/ 

“So How’d You Become an Activist?” with Holly Near, singer-songwriter activist and Adrienne Torf at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Suggested donation $5. 528-5403. 

WriterCoach Connection Volunteer Training Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. Training session from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. To register call 524-2319. Other Trainings on Jan. 20, Feb. 9, 16, Mar. 8, 15. www.writercoachconnection.org 

East Bay Mac User Group meets the 2nd Thursday of every month, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Expression Center for New Media, 6601 Shellmound St. http://ebmug.org, www.expression.edu 

FRIDAY, JAN. 14 

Reduced City Services Today Call ahead to ensure programs or services you desire will be available. 981-CITY. www.cityofberkeley.info 

The Owl Told Me Join us for an evening of owl exploration. Listen and learn to call for the Great Horned Owl as they woo thier mates. At 6 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Fee is $5-$7, reservations required. 525-2233. 

“Visual History of the Albany Shoreline” Photographs and maps of cattle ranching, dynamite factories, horseracing, military operations, dumps, art, and wildlife on display at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin.  

Radio Camp Build an FM trasmitter and learn the fundamentals of micropower broadcasting in this 4-day workshop in Oakland. Class runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Cost is $150-$200 sliding scale. For information and to register call 625-0314. www.freeradio.org 

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

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

ONGOING 

WriterCoach Connection (formerly Writers’ Room) seeks volunteers. Help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills; become a WriterCoach Connection mentor to students at Berkeley High, King, Longfellow or Willard Middle Schools. For information call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Youth Speaks Winter Workshops in writing and spoken word begin Jan. 24 in Berkeley and Oakland. For more information call 415-255-9035. www.youthspeaks.org 

Bay Interpretive Training Ongoing classes on the Bay, the seashore and environment held at the Shorebird Park Nature Center, 160 University Ave. at the Berkeley Marina. 981-6720. www.cityofberkeley.info/marina 

Regional Parks Botanic Garden offers docent-guided tours every Sat. and Sun at 2 p.m. at the Visitor Center, Wildcat Canyon Rd. and South Park Dr., Tilden Park. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Seeks Host Gardens The Bringing Back the Natives Garden tour, which will be held in the spring of 2005, will showcase Alameda and Contra Costa County gardens that contain at least 30% native plants, don’t use synthetic pesticides of fertilizers, and provide habitat for wildlife. This tour is sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Coastal Program, the Urban Creeks Council, and the National Wildlife Federation. To be added to the mailing list, or to receive a host application, contact Kathy Kramer at Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net or 236-9558.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., Jan. 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5347. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Disaster Council meets Wed., Jan. 5, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Mon., Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks 

Parks and Recreation Commission meets Mon., Jan. 10, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Virginia Aiello, 981-5158. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/parksandrecreation 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 11, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www. 

ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Jan. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Don Brown, 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/disability 

Planning Commission meets Wed., Jan. 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 13, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/housing 

Library Board of Trustees meets Thurs. Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St., Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/library 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 13, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Iris Starr, 981-7520. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/westberkeley  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Jan. 13, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/zoning  V

To Richmond officials, it looked like a much-needed boost to an ailing city and a major source of new city revenues. 

To a Marin County developer and a pension fund investment firm, it looked like a cash cow, the site for a 1,330-unit high-rise shoreline condominium complex. 

But to a growing number of South Richmond residents, it looks like a toxic menace, a threat to the health of themselves, their friends and families. 

For 100 years, industrial plants at the site of what is know today as Campus Bay churned out an array of chemicals ranging from sulfuric acid to potent pesticides. 

To the north, another plant had produced blasting caps while polluting the soil with toxic mercury compounds and to the south an recycling center laced the ground with a noxious brew of PCBs, PCEs and other compounds. 

Here developers plan to build a high-density, high-rise residential development. 

AstraZeneca, the British firm which last produced chemicals on the site, was legally responsible for the cleanup after their last plant on the property closed in 1997. 

Because of an accidental chemical discharge more than a decade earlier, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board already held jurisdiction over the site when it came time for the cleanup, and Zeneca picked an Emeryville-based LFR (Levine-Fricke Recon) to design and implement a hazardous substances cleanup. 

The “Levine” in the corporate name was Berkeley resident James D. Levine, a former water board employee who went on to build a sizable fortune plying his craft in the corporate sector. 

Zeneca had allotted $100 million for the cleanup, but Levine came up with a plan that promised to handle the task for 20 percent of that by burying a mountain of iron pyrite ash, the residue of nearly a century of acid-making, on the site itself, rather than trucking it away to a landfill. 

Levine had sold his share of the company by the time work commenced, carried out by another firm, IRG Environmental, under the supervision of Levine’s former company. 

Between 1999 and 2002, three dozen buildings were demolished with little public fanfare. 

The turning point for many came in 2002, after the last of the structures had been demolished, when heavy equipment generated blizzards of dust that blanketed surrounding businesses, homes and streets as the refuse of a century of manufacturing was excavated and then buried in a 40-acre pit on the site. 

Just what was in the dust remains a partial mystery, because little if any monitoring was conducted by the water board, but subsequent tests have also identified more than 20 other noxious compounds in the mix. 

Contra Costa County Public Health Director Dr. Wendel Brunner would later say that those dusty days shattered public confidence both in the developer and with the regulatory oversight. 

As a result, a coalition of concerned residents and the men and women who worked in the light industries immediately to the south of the site began to organize with the help of Claudia Carr, a UC Berkeley professor of environmental science, policy and management who lives in Marina Bay, a housing development built on another contaminated site to the northwest of Campus Bay. 

The new group styled itself Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development—BARRD—and its creation would prove momentous in the drama that unfolded. 

Among the members is Peter Weiner, an old friend of Carr’s. As a highly respected—and costly—attorney with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, one of San Francisco’s leading law firms, Weiner’s pro bono presence added a voice no corporate officer could afford to ignore. 

Another is Sherry Padgett, a corporate finance officer who works nearby, whose own battles with a series of life-threatening, environmentally-caused illnesses adds an eloquent human voice to the risks posed by the chemicals on the site. 

Zeneca sold the site to Cherokee Simeon Ventures, a special purpose joint venture company. 

The Simeon part of the equation are Russ Pitto’s Simeon Residential and Commercial development firms, which own extensive holdings in California and Colorado. 

Cherokee is Cherokee Investment Partners, a North Carolina-based multinational which invests pension fund moneys in developments on cleaned-up toxic sites, dubbed “brownfields.” 

Their plans for the site didn’t call for a 1,330-unit high-density, high- and mid-rise condo project. Instead, they wanted to build a biotechnology research park. 

In 1950, on the site of the former blasting cap plant bordering Campus Bay to the north, the University of California had located its Richmond Field Station, a collection of research facilities which would offer a logical complement to the corporate facilities on Pitto’s property. 

There was a second, equally logical tie as well: In 2000, Zeneca—the last owner—had merged its agricultural chemicals subsidiary with that of Novartis, the Swiss-based pharmaceutical and chemical giant that was then involved in a controversial corporate/academic partnership with UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources. 

Pitto had already started building on the 16 acres closest to I-580, erecting the first two of four planned buildings when Sept. 11, 2001 arrived. 

The economic uncertainty that followed the deadliest single terrorist attack on American soil devastated the biotech industry, leaving Cherokee-Simeon with vacant space in the existing buildings and no clients in sight for the two other unbuilt 90,000-square-foot structures city officials had already authorized. 

Under the original plan already approved by Richmond officials and the water board, the site had been deemed suitable for shift workers who would spend only a lesser portion of their days at the site. 

With the biotech crash, Cherokee-Simeon needed to do something different with the land, so they filed preliminary plans with the city to build housing atop what Padgett would later describe as a “35,000-cubic-yard, 30-acre, eight-foot-tall table top mountain with a concrete cap”—actually, a mixture of cement and papier mache. 

Richmond officials jumped at the plan, with Steve Duran, director of the city’s Community and Economic Development Department, signing on as the project’s most outspoken booster. 

For a city mired in an eight-figure swamp of debt, Duran touted the project as the source of cash to fund redevelopment in the city’s high-crime, low-income minority neighborhoods. 

A Cherokee Simeon handout posted on the city’s web site promised $7 million in annual revenues for Duran’s agency, $7.3 million in impact fees for the city, $6.8 million in impact funds for the West Contra Costa County Unified School District, $40 million in spending on site infrastructure improvement and 500 temporary construction jobs. 

The only project potentially more lucrative in Richmond was the nine-figure promises from James D. Levine in his subsequent incarnation as promoter of a gambling super-resort to the north at Point Molate. 

Opposition to the Campus Bay proposal surfaced early and often. 

When the proposal was aired before the Richmond Planning Commission last March, more than 30 speakers—many from neighborhood councils—raised their concerns during a four-hour study session. 

While some homeowners worried that the high-rise condo towers would block treasured views of the Bay and beyond, and others worried about increased traffic and congestion, health concerns dominated the letters and e-mails that poured in early in the year when the city called a scoping session in order to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR). 

On the city’s notice of preparation, a preliminary report outlining areas of concern to be addressed in the final EIR, the project was judged as having potentially significant impacts—the highest of four ratings—in 72 of 90 potential areas of concern. 

The scoping session for the EIR drew letters of concern from environmental groups, neighborhood councils, attorneys—including BARRD’s Peter Weiner—and local residents. 

Building trades unions endorsed the plan, but most responses either posed serious questions or registered outright objections. 

For the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), the key issue was the health and safety of those who’d be living at the site, especially children, victims of chronic ailments and the elderly. 

Public Health Director Brunner would add his own voice, echoing the DTSC’s concerns. 

The LFR Levine-Fricke plan for the housing project prohibits any ground floor residential units. Instead, sunken parking levels would feature fans to blow out volatile organic compounds that would inevitably escape from the cap. 

Residents would be barred from planting vegetable gardens and grassy areas would be off-limits to children. 

Site cleanup efforts were still incomplete, with another round of excavations slated to begin in the autumn on the coastal marshland to the west of the building site. Timing was critical, because the marsh also serves as the nesting ground for the clapper rail, a shorebird on the federal Endangered Species list. 

Compounds from the manufacturing process that had leached into the shoreline muck posed serious dangers to wildlife, and plans called for their removal and replacement by uncontaminated soil. 

Water board officials repeatedly assured critics that all was well, but Carr, Padgett and others weren’t buying. 

Critics, fearing that the excavation process would release still more hazardous compounds into the environment, began calling for a handover of project supervision to the DTSC, which is well-staffed with toxicologists and other experts.  

Barbara J. Cook, DTSC Northern California coastal cleanup chief, intervened on Aug. 30, calling a halt to the start of the marsh cleanup, pending a closer examination and possible revisions of key plan elements, including issues raised by the housing project proposal. 

East Bay State Assemblymember Loni Hancock endorsed Cook’s action in a Sept. 1 letter to the water board, asking the agency to halt work until Cook’s questions were answered. 

The water board was ready to resume work by late September, though Stephen J. Morse, the agency’s assistant executive officer told concerned citizens on Sept. 28 that “We’re not anywhere near to discussing homes on the site.” 

“My understanding is that there are arsenic concentrations on this site,” said Brunner. 

“This site’s got everything,” Morse replied. 

On Oct. 5, the day excavations were scheduled to commence, Assemblymember Hancock issued a scathing condemnation of the housing proposal and vowed to hold a legislative hearing to address the concerns of project critics. 

Temperatures reached the boiling point on Oct. 27, at a water board public information at Richmond’s Booker T. Anderson Community Center. 

Jeff Hohenstein, a martial arts instructor who teaches young students at a studio not far from the site, said he was worried about the possible dangers of toxin exposures to his school age students. 

Meg Rosegay, a San Francisco lawyer/lobbyist representing the developer, fired back, “I’m worried about a meteor falling out of the sky, too.” 

The audience gasped at the remark. 

The critical moment came on Nov. 6, when Hancock and Cindy Montanez, a San Fernando Valley Democrat who chairs the Assembly’s powerful Rules Committee as well as the Select Environmental Justice Committee, held their hearing at UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station. 

A powerful address from Padgett drew a standing ovation, and by the time the hearing ended, both lawmakers said that site jurisdiction needed to go to the DTSC. 

But critics won only half a victory. After protracted negotiations in Sacramento, DTSC took control of the upland portion of the site, but the water board retained jurisdiction over the marshland. 

Excavations began, with the muck stored in an opened area of the upland waste site, drawing more fire from critics. 

Cherokee Simeon then agreed to truck the muck off to a landfill near Pittsburgh, which began over the last week. 

For Padgett and Carr, the changes represent only a limited victory. 

“It’s not what we asked for or what we expected,” Padgett said Thursday. “We wanted work to stop, followed by a complete reevaluation of the site and the plan.” 

“DTSC isn’t working with us,” Carr said. 

“They have a very close relationship to the company and a very distant relationship with us,” Padgett said. “We never got a plan, nor did we ever receive a clear statement of what the risks are to people who live and work near the site.” 

“Everything we get is filtered and sanitized,” Carr added. 

“Levine-Fricke identified over 150 different toxins in the marsh, yet they are currently monitoring for less than one in seven. They’re still not testing for PCBs,” Padgett said. 

With Weiner’s assistance, the BARRD activists are planning their next move, and as the year ends, the battle over Campus Bay is far from over. 

And, as the new year begins, yet another element of uncertainty clouds the future, thanks to the recent promotion of California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Terry Tamminen to the position of chief of staff in the governor’s office. 

With no leader at the top and the appointment in the hands of a governor who is decidedly pro-developer, the fate of Campus Bay remains very much an open question. 

Meanwhile, the developer has brought in a new representative to handle negotiations, former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. 

Adding still another element to the equation, UC Berkeley has floated plans to tranform the Richmond Field Station into a corporate/academic research park, and is currently engaged in talks with a private developer. 

Calls to Karen Stern, spokesperson for Cherokee Simeon, were not returned by deadline.?

The year just ending added some stellar landmarks to the city’s architectural pantheon, while triggering some feisty showdowns before the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). 

Berkeley’s first landmark of 2004 was the Mrs. Edmund P. King Building at 2501 Telegraph Ave., a classic Colonial Revival business building created for Stella King, who ran a dry goods business in the ground floor. 

Two other buildings were added at the same meeting, the 1924 Hillside Club at 2601 Cedar St. and the Morgan Building at 2053 Berkeley Way. 

In February, commissioners landmarked the Montgomery House at 45 Oak Ridge Road, an Italian Renaissance-style estate designed by architect Walter H. Ratcliff. 

On March 1, commissioners created Sisterna Historic District 106, only the second neighborhood designation since the city began landmarking. 

The 48-page extensively illustrated application was written by Blumenfeld and colleague Sarah Satterlee with the help of 14 other volunteers, including an archeologist, and architect and a woodworker. 

While many of the city’s landmarks honor large buildings, the modest cottages in the new district were built in the 1870s and ‘80s to house working class residents. 

Designation of the tract would play a major role in a drama that would consume many hours of the commission’s time in the months to come. 

On March 1, the LPC landmarked both the home and property at 2104 Sixth St., but only the land at 2108 Sixth St. because the structure itself had been significantly altered from its original Victorian features. 

Developer Michael Feiner, who planned to turn both cottages into duplexes, appealed the decision on May 12, and LPC hearings followed on June 7 and July 12, drawing substantial turnouts from preservationists and neighbors who spearheaded the landmarking on one side and architects and development-related partisans on the other.  

Feiner’s plans went through numerous revisions before commissioners finally gave their consent to his proposal on Nov. 1. 

In the year of celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of founding of People’s Park, it was especially fitting one of Berkeley’s new landmarks will be forever linked to those momentous events on Telegraph Avenue. 

On April 12, the commission bestowed a landmark designation on the structure at 2501 Telegraph Ave. It was on May 15, 1969, atop that 1888 structure, now the home of Krishna Copy and other merchants, that a hapless bystander was fatally shot in the back by an Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy. 

On June 7, Berkeley gained three new landmarks—although two are sited on UC Berkeley-owned property earmarked for possible demolition for a proposed hotel, conference center and museums complex the university plans for the heart of downtown. 

The largest addition was the University Press Building at the northwest corner of Center and Oxford streets—a 1939 New Deal Moderne creation where the original copies of the United Nations Charter were printed in 1945 for the signatures of delegates gathered in San Francisco in for the U.N.’s founding. 

The other UC-owned property landmarked in June were the 1911 storefronts at 2154-2160 University Ave., where the University has indicated it may build a parking structure for the proposed downtown hotel complex. 

Also added to the city’s landmarks in June was the single-story business building created by architect James Plachek at 2145 University. Built in 1915 to house Sill’s Grocery & Hardware Company, the structure today houses Berkeley Hardware. 

Another University Avenue buildings was added on July 12, the 1915 Ernest A. Heron Building at 2136–2140 University. 

In August, commissioners landmarked the 1906 Frederick H. Dakin Warehouse at 2759 Adeline St., built of hollow concrete block to create a fireproof structure in the wake of the vast fires created by the San Francisco earthquake earlier in the year. 

On Sept. 13, large contingents from the arts community and supporters of the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society turned out for the airing of a proposal to landmark vintage West Berkeley buildings owned by the humane society and occupied, in part, by the artists. 

Both sides now say they want to preserve the structures, including a 1924 unreinforced two story brick building constructed by the Austin Company, the same firm that built two other Berkeley landmarks, the Heinz and Sawtooth Buildings. 

The artists want to stay, but the humane society needs more space, and the issue was still pending at year’s end. 

At that same meeting, commissioners got their first look at San Mateo developer Dan Deibel’s plans to create a block-square four-story condominium project at 700 University Ave. 

The block houses one landmark the developer has promised to spare, the pink-coated Southern Pacific Railroad Station, and two other structures that would be proposed as landmarks later in the year.  

On Oct. 4, commissioners took a look at one of Berkeley’s more famous existing landmarks, the 1930 Howard Automobile Building at 2140 Durant Ave., one of Berkeley’s last remaining Art Deco/Moderne buildings. 

The Buddhist Churches of America and the Institute of Buddhist Studies plan to turn the structure into a school, offices and study center, replete with a two-story addition. 

The building was designed by Frederic Reimers for Charles Howard, a former cavalry trooper turned bicycle mechanic who had become the nation’s largest Buick dealer in San Francisco. 

Howard’s wealth enabled him to become a leading player in the “sport of kings,” most notably as the owner of America’s most famous racehorse, Seabiscuit. The now-vacant structure remained a dealership for many years, most recently under the ownership of another sports legend, Reggie Jackson. 

The proposal was still pending by year’s end, but designs revised after commission criticisms seemed close to approval. 

The 700 University block was back on the commission’s agenda Nov. 1 in the form of proposals to landmark two buildings on the site, Brennan’s Irish Pub at Fourth Street and University, and Celia’s, a Mexican restaurant at 2040 Fourth St. 

While Celia’s owners have said they have no plans to reopen at the site, Deibel and the owners of Brennan’s, who favor demolition, have said the venerable pub will reopen in new quarters in the complex. 

After two sessions with no conclusion, the landmarking proposals will be back for the commission’s January meeting.  

On Nov. 1, commissioners were told they couldn’t act on a last-minute proposal to landmark a modest 1937 redwood home at 1650 La Vereda Trail designed by William Wurster, one of America’s most prominent mid-20th Century residential architects. 

Owned by Marguerite Rossetto, mother of WIRED Magazine cofounder Louis Rossetto, the home had been featured in several prominent books and magazines. 

Neighbors charged that the proposed addition was out-of-character with the home and would obstruct views. 

Because the two-story structural remodel had already been approved by the Zoning Adjustments Board, only the city council could remand the proposal back to ZAB and the commission. 

Brian Viani, a coauthor of the landmarking application, had already filed an appeal to the council, which obliged him later in the month. 

When the Rossettos and their supporters appeared before the commission in December, opponents won the landmark designation but lost the war when Architect John E. Holey offered an additional design for the remodel which would effectively create a modified mirror image clone, connected to the original by a breezeway. 

Commissioners liked what they saw and gave their blessings. 

One landmark sailed through at the same meeting without a single voice in opposition: The Webb Block, a three-story curved-front turn-of-the-20th-Century business at the corner of Ashby Avenue and Adeline Street. Designed by Charles W. McCall for Christopher Webb, the building once housed the pharmacy of Thomas E. Caldecott, who later became the Alameda County Supervisor whose name graces the most famous of the East Bay tunnels. 

The building is now houses some of the Bay Area’s most popular antique shops, and most commissioners said they thought it had already been landmarked.›

Proponents of Berkeley’s medical marijuana Measure R have filed a state lawsuit contesting the recount of the proposition. 

The lawsuit charges that as a result of Registrar of Voters decisions surrounding the counting of computer votes, “voting in Alameda has devolved into an unverifiable, indeterminate, and secretive ritual.” 

The lawsuit was filed by fax in California Superior Court in Oakland on Friday afternoon on behalf of Americans For Safe Access (AFSA)—a Berkeley based national medical marijuana advocate organization—and three named Berkeley voter plaintiffs: Donald Tolbert, James Blair, and Michael Goodbar. The defendants are County of Alameda and Brad Clark, the county registrar of voters. 

Americans For Safe Access—one of the Measure R support organizations during last fall’s campaign—has taken a lead role in the Measure R fight now that the Yes On R Committee has begun gearing down its activities following the Nov. 2 vote. 

The measure had proposed eliminating limits on the amounts of medical marijuana that could be possessed by patients or caregivers in the city of Berkeley. In addition, it would have allowed any of the three existing dispensaries to move anywhere within the city’s retail zones. 

Santa Monica election rights attorney Greg Luke—who is representing the plaintiffs—said by telephone that the lawsuit was filed primarily to gain access to audit and backup records from the Nov. 2 voting contained in Diebold touchscreen voting machines. Luke said that without those records, it is impossible to tell whether or not the machines were tampered with, or whether the final tally represents an accurate count. Luke said that Measure R proponents had asked for those records from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office as part of the recount procedure, but were refused. 

Representatives of the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office could not be reached late Friday to comment on the lawsuit. 

Proponents of Measure R requested a recount after the measure lost by 191 votes—25,167 to 24,976—in the Nov. 2 election. 

The lawsuit was filed even before final results of the recount were released. However AFSA spokesperson Debbie Goldsberry said that while preliminary results of the recount show that Measure R yes vote had “narrowed the gap slightly, we don’t expect that there will be enough to overturn the results.” 

But the manual recount—held over a two week period in a secure basement location in the Alameda County Courthouse—only involved the 28,700 paper ballots cast by Berkeley voters on Nov. 2. Another 31,500 ballots were cast by computer touchscreens. For those votes, the recount merely involved the Registrar of Voters computer giving back the same tally it gave on election night. 

And that, says Luke, is the problem. 

“The computer voting machines have three records by which the vote count is verified,” Luke said. “Without those, you do not have an accurate idea of what went on in the election.” 

One of these records, Luke said, is called “redundant data,” the vote tally that remains in each computer voting machine while a duplicate copy of the tally is put on a storage device, to be transmitted to the main county computer for its official vote tally. Comparing the tally in the storage device transmitted to the main computer with the tally on the voting machine would determine if the vote totals were inadvertently changed in transfer, or tampered with. 

A second series of records that the Measure R proponents requested were Diebold’s audit logs, a record of every transaction that occurred from the time the voting machines were prepared for the election to the time the votes were transmitted and tallied. A third record is a chain of custody records, showing who had access to the computers and the vote totals. 

Luke said that providing access to these records is consistent with California law on recounts. 

He said that the lawsuit did not ask for access to the source code that runs the Diebold voting computers, information which Diebold has refused to release on the grounds that it is proprietary information. 

Measure R proponent Goldsberry said that attempts by AFSA monitors to observe the machine recount met with some resistance. On Friday, she said, observers were told that they could not be in the room with the computers while the recount was occurring, but had to observe through a window from another room. Goldsberry said that after a protest, the observers were allowed inside the room. 

“There didn’t seem to be any standard as to how our observers were handled or where they were allowed to be, even during the manual recount,” Goldsberry said. “It seemed to vary, without reason, depending on which Registrar of Voters manager that was in charge at that moment. One of the problems seemed to be that this was the first time in a while that someone has requested a recount, and the Registrar’s office just didn’t seem to know how to handle it.” 

Goldsberry said that the recount of the paper ballots showed problems with the Nov. 2 tally. 

Goldsberry said that in 60 of Berkeley’s 88 precincts, the registrar’s office could not produce ballots for all of voters who signed up to vote in the Nov. 2 election. In most cases she said that the discrepancy was only one to four ballots but in one precinct, the count was off by 20. She said that a portion of the time during the recount was spent trying—unsuccessfully—to locate the missing ballots. 

On Wednesday morning, a reporter observed between eight and 10 Alameda County election workers sifting through thousands of absentee ballots. 

They were surrounded by hundreds of boxes of such ballots—400 boxes, according to Goldsbery—which filled metal cabinets, tables, dollies, and wall space in the basement counting area. Because the ballots were not sorted by city but were stored in batches of 500 in the order in which they were originally counted immediately following election day, workers had to flip through every absentee ballot cast in Alameda County. 

It was a tedious process. At one point a worker sang out, “I found one,” and another worker answered, wryly, “You’re pretty lucky; isn’t that your second one in less than two hours?” 

Luke, however, said that the lawsuit will not involve the recount of the paper ballots. 

›

In Berkeley, a new year will mean the clock has struck midnight for more than a dozen community agencies dependent on city funds. 

“There just isn’t any money to fund them,” said Berkeley’s Assistant City Manger Arrietta Chakos .  

When the City Council passed a budget last June that closed a $10.3 million dollar deficit, it extended six months of funding to local nonprofits—a total of $261,234—with the warning that funding would not be renewed unless voters passed a series of tax hikes. 

But in November, voters soundly defeated the tax measures, sending the agencies scurrying, often unsuccessfully, for other sources of cash. 

Among the programs hardest hit are a jobs and afterschool program run by Berkeley Youth Alternatives, an evening escort service for BART passengers run by the Berkeley Boosters, a low-income outreach program for the Habitot Children’s Museum, Housing Rights Inc., and a program to promote nutrition in low income areas run by Berkeley’s Ecology Center. 

In all, 14 community groups and programs will lose city funding from January through June. The groups already suffered cuts of 3 percent this year on top of cuts in the previous two years. Since 2002, the city has cut $16.3 million from its general fund. With a $7.5 million deficit looming next year, restored city funding for the nonprofits is in doubt when the next financial year begins in July. 

“Right now, we’re doing all we can to weather the storm,” said David Manson, executive director of the Berkeley Boosters, a service organization aligned with the Berkeley Police Department since 1995. The cuts will cost the Boosters’ Berkeley BART Escort program $19,643—roughly half the budget for the program that places high school aged youth at Berkeley BART stations to escort passengers home at night. 

In response to the cut, Manson this year hired eight escorts instead of the usual 12 and ended the program in December instead of March. 

The future of the escorts, and the Booster’s Berkeley Guides program, which hires youth to serve as ambassadors along Berkeley’s downtown, remains uncertain. Both are entirely funded by the city, and the current plan to close next year’s budget deficit includes eliminating both programs from the police department’s budget. 

“We’re trying to find private funding, but it’s proving pretty fruitless,” Manson said. After attempts to win grants from the Department of Homeland Security failed, Manson is pinning his hopes next year that the city will fund the program through its Office of Economic Development, which has more available money than the Police Department. 

Other cities, including Sacramento and Portland, fund similar programs through local businesses, but Manson said the local merchant association’s charter only allows it to pay for marketing and promotion. 

Habitot, a private children’s museum in downtown Berkeley, will lose $13,580—half of its annual funding—for a program that last year paid for 2,130 visits by low-income families. City funding accounts for about 2 percent of Habitot’s budget, all of which goes to the outreach program that offers free visits and memberships to qualifying families, said Gina Moreland, the museum’s executive director. She expected the cuts would mean at least 1,000 fewer museum visits in the first half of 2005.  

Berkeley Youth Alternatives, a service organization for underprivileged children and their families, will lose $34,000 in city funding over the next six months that had been earmarked for the organization’s afterschool program, youth jobs program and twilight basketball league. A donation from the Partnership Foundation has spared the basketball program through the spring, said BYA Executive Director Nikki Williams, but the afterschool program will have to close its doors to kindergarteners. The jobs program, which last year found work for 20 teenagers, will be scaled back as well, she said. 

Williams said BYA, which counts on the city for about 15 percent of its funding, could survive this round of cuts, but that additional cuts expected next year could eliminate services altogether. “That’s when it’s going to be really tough,” she said. 

In November’s election, Berkeley voters decisively rejected four City of Berkeley tax measures, while giving solid support to Measure B, a parcel tax for the schools. 

The results of the 2004 election are very similar to the results of the 2002 election where voters also faced multiple tax measures on the same ballot.  

In that election, they rejected two tax measures and a bond measure, while only narrowly approving a bond measure for a new animal shelter.  

The 2002 and 2004 elections signal that there are limits to the willingness of Berkeley voters to support additional city taxes. At the same time voters continue to show strong support for funding Berkeley schools. 

In a sharp departure from the previous two decades, since the November 2000 election, Berkeley voters have been asked to support a much larger number of tax measures on each ballot.  

In the 1980s and 1990s, in 10 election years, there were a total of eight tax and bond measures on the ballot, not including re-authorizations of existing taxes. Since 2000, in just three election years, sixteen measures have been put before the voters.  

From 1980 through 1998, facing no more than one new tax or bond per ballot, Berkeley voters approved four measures to establish or increase parcel taxes, and three bond measures.  

During this period, they also voted to reauthorize existing taxes by large margins. They rejected only one measure, a fire service fee in 1984.  

In 2000, at the end of the economic boom of the 1990s, voters were in a generous mood. Confronted for the first time with a large number of tax measures on the same ballot, they nonetheless approved three small city bond measures along with a very large bond measure for the schools.  

They also approved an increase in the parcel tax for landscaping and parks and a parcel tax for school maintenance. One parcel tax, for street lights, was rejected however. 

In 2002, after the economy had taken a turn for the worse, voters were in a less generous mood. Measure M, which would have increased the property transfer tax to provide funds for affordable housing, and Measure L, a parcel tax for pedestrian safety improvements, were both defeated.  

These measures along with a bond measure to retrofit Old City Hall were defeated even though there was not much of an active campaign against them.  

By contrast, the tax measures this year faced organized opposition, with campaign mailers funded in large part by contributions from a Berkeley Property Owners Association “Housing Justice Coalition”. 

It would be a mistake to conclude that Berkeley voters have become “anti-tax.” The strong support for Measure B shows a willingness to continue to tax themselves for things they see as priorities, but voters have clearly shown that there are limits to how many new taxes they are willing to absorb. 

Responding to Proposition 13 

To understand why the city has regularly gone to the voters for additional taxes, it helps to keep in mind the enormous impact that Proposition 13 has had on Berkeley and other cities. 

The passage of Proposition 13 in June 1978 created a major problem for Berkeley by severely limiting property tax revenues. Berkeley voters had opposed Proposition 13 by a 73 percent-27 percent margin.  

From 1978 through 1982, Berkeley’s revenues fell sharply. A drop in property tax revenues was exacerbated by cuts in federal funds. 

In the 1980s, Berkeley responded by enacting new taxes and assessments to undo the damage caused by Proposition 13 and ensure adequate funding to maintain city services and the schools.  

The Utility Users Tax, the Property Transfer Tax, and the Street Lighting and Landscaping assessments had all been enacted by 1985. Together, they generated about $8.4 million in revenue in the 1984-1985 fiscal year. The business license tax was also increased in this period.  

These taxes helped restore the city to fiscal health. 

Proposition 13 required a two-thirds vote to increase local non-property taxes, so other taxes that were enacted had to go before Berkeley voters for approval. 

Progressive Over Regressive 

Of the five taxes on the November 2004 ballot, Measure J, the measure to increase the utility users tax from 7.5 percent to 9 percent for four years, was the least popular. While it required only 50 percent to pass, it failed to gain a majority of votes in a single precinct. It topped 40 percent in only three City Council districts. 

The across-the-board rejection of Measure J is not hard to understand as it was the most regressive of the four taxes and would have affected a large majority of the city’s residents including tenants. 

It was strongly rejected in student areas and tenant neighborhoods as well as by hills residents and flatlands homeowners. 

The fact that Measure J revenues were not earmarked for a specific purpose, but would have gone to the General Fund for “general governmental purposes” may have also been a factor in its defeat. 

Measure K, a proposal to fund youth services by increasing the property transfer tax on sales of $600,000 or more garnered the most support from voters.  

It would have impacted the smallest number of residents and was clearly the most progressive tax, one that would have fallen more heavily on more affluent homeowners.  

Measure K, which won 54 percent of the vote citywide, won majorities in six of the city’s eight council districts. It won the two-thirds or more needed for passage in 15 of the city’s 88 precincts, including student-dominated precincts within half-mile of the UC campus and in South Berkeley south of Ashby.  

The impact of student precincts on the citywide results was not as great as it could have been because many students did not vote on one or more of the tax measures. In student precincts, there were at least 20 percent and in some cases more than 40 percent blank votes cast on each tax measure. 

By contrast, citywide, blank voting ranged from 13.2 percent on Measure B to 18.8 percent on Measure M. 

No Rescue for the Libraries 

Measure L for the libraries failed to win two-thirds support in a single precinct. It did win a majority of the vote in five Council districts. In hills areas, it won more support than any of the other city tax measures, but fell short of 50 percent.  

It also failed to gain even majority support in most precincts in the San Pablo Park area of District 2, an area that has traditionally been supportive of tax measures. 

The original library tax, the Library Relief Act of 1980, was the first tax to go to the voters after the passage of Prop. 13. It passed with 69.3 percent of the vote. In 1988, voters agreed to amend the Library Relief Act to increase the tax rate by a narrower 67-33 percent margin.  

The amended tax was designed to generate enough revenue to keep the Main Library open on Sunday and the branches six days a week. 

The library parcel tax and other parcel taxes allow for inflation adjustments without going back to the voters, but when costs rise faster than the rate of inflation, the tax fails to generate sufficient revenue to cover costs.  

Costs have risen faster than inflation and this has led once again to the more limited hours and Sunday closure that the 1988 measure was designed to prevent. And this time around voters who reauthorized the current library tax in 2000, were not willing to increase the tax rate further. 

The City Council could provide the libraries with some General Fund money to supplement the amounts generated by the Library Tax, but this is unlikely to happen with all the demands being made on the General Fund. 

In the last four years the share of the General Fund going to the police and fire departments has increased from 45 percent to 51 percent, leaving less money available for other city services and programs. The cost of salaries and benefits per employee for the police department have increased by 43 percent in just four years. 

Support Continues for Schools 

While the city tax measures fared poorly, Measure B, a two-year parcel tax for the schools, won handily, with 72.2 percent. It garnered the necessary two-thirds or more in 67 precincts. It fell short primarily in hills precincts of Districts 5, 6 and 8. Only one flatlands precinct, in West Berkeley, fell short of two-thirds and only by a few votes. 

Measure B is the third parcel tax that voters have approved for Berkeley’s schools. They have also approved two bond measures, one for $158 million in 1992 and one for $116.5 million in 2000. 

Altitude continues to play a role in Berkeley politics. Hills areas close to Tilden Park and Kensington in Districts 5 and 6, and above Claremont Avenue in District 8 produced the smallest percentages of yes votes on all four measures. These same areas also failed to produce two-thirds support for the more closely contested bond measures and parcel taxes in the 1990s.  

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Nomad Café 

6500 Shattuck Ave., Oakland www.nomadcafe.net 

On an unassuming block of Shattuck Avenue just over the Oakland line, Nomad Café puts a 21st-century spin on what Bay Area coffeehouses did in their 1950s-’70s heyday: provide welcoming places that brewed up great coffee, lively arts, and visions of a better world. 

Nomad sponsors cozy live music on weekends (when candles appear on the tables) and offers high-speed Internet terminals and connections whenever it’s open. Its menu includes tasty paninni, light Mediterranean meals, baked goods, breakfast dishes, smoothies, and teas. The coffee is so fresh and explosively delicious that you’ll wonder whether other coffeehouses have been unable to find their espresso machines’ “on” switches for the last 20 years. 

The idealism on tap here is environmental: Nomad Café is so proud of its low energy and water bills that it posts them on the Web. It’s also proud of winning waste-reduction awards. (This is one coffeehouse where you needn’t beg for “real” cups, plates, or cutlery.) You get a choice of recycling and compost bins, but the trash is hidden. 

—Michael Katzc

Ohio Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell refused to appear at a deposition on Monday, Dec. 27. The deposition was part of an election challenge lawsuit filed at the Ohio Supreme Court. Meanwhile John Kerry is reported to have filed a federal legal action aimed at preserving crucial recount evidence, which has been under GOP assault throughout the state.  

Richard Conglianese, Ohio assistant attorney general, is seeking a court order to protect Blackwell from testifying under oath about how the election was run. Blackwell, who administered Ohio’s Nov. 2 balloting, served as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign.  

James R. Dicks, Miami County assistant prosecuting attorney, filed a motion to block a subpoena in his county while Conglianese filed to block subpoenas in 10 key Ohio counties.  

President George Bush, Vice-President Richard Cheney and White House Political Advisor Karl Rove received notice that they will be deposed Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 28 and 29. The trio’s Ohio attorney, Kurt Tunnell, so far claims his clients have not been properly served. Under Ohio law, the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court is responsible for serving the three.  

Meanwhile, the Election Protection legal team has collected new statements under oath describing more voting and vote-counting problems on Nov. 2.  

Voters in Trumbull County have testified that on election day they received punch-card ballots where holes were already punched for Bush. Meanwhile, a notarized affidavit signed by Angela Greene, who voted at Whitehall Yearling High School in central Ohio’s Franklin County, stated that one of the malfunctioning electronic voting machines at her polling place was delivered without a cartridge—meaning votes cast might have gone uncounted.  

In Miami County, Blackwell certified a 98.6 percent turnout in the Concord Southwest precinct, comprised of 520 votes for Bush and 157 for Kerry. This statistically improbable turnout has all but 10 of the 689 registered voters casting their ballots on election day. A preliminary canvas by The Free Press of less than half the precinct found 25 registered voters admitting they had not voted, meaning the official tally was almost certainly fraudulent.  

The nearby Concord South precinct certified a 94.27 percent voter turnout, with 468 alleged votes for Bush versus 182 for Kerry. Miami County is included in the election challenge since it somehow reported nearly 19,000 additional votes after 100 percent of the precincts had reported on election day.  

In Madison County, where public records requests were filed to obtain voting records, the voting results provided by the Madison County Board of Elections came directly from a private company, Triad Governmental Systems, Inc. An email dated Nov. 29, 2004 from Brandon Sandlin of Triad reads as follows: “Hello to all in Madison County! Attached you will find the cumulative report (oh49unov.pdf) with over and under votes reported as well as the official abstract (oh49abs.pdf). These reports may be printed for your records and then mailed to the state along with your other certification reports.” Coming from a private corporation, Triad’ s letter underscores the barriers to making a reliable independent public assessment and recount of Ohio’s presidential tally.  

In Mahoning County, the Washington Post reported new affidavits documenting electronic “vote hopping” from Kerry to Bush. This means voting machines highlighted the choice for Bush before the voter recorded a choice of his or her own. The legal team has been told by a computer expert that this may mean the machines were pre-set on a Bush vote as a default. The Free Press has obtained dozens of such sworn statements of vote hopping.  

The legal team is also exploring new evidence that in Coshocton, Ohio, write-in votes wrongly defaulted to Bush when run through the voting machine.  

On Dec. 23, U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter to Triad President Brett A. Rapp inquiring whether or not Triad possessed remote access capabilities for any of the 41 counties where its election tabulation software or computers are in use.  

Attorneys for the election challenge team are also exploring ties between Triad and the Tallahassee-based company Datamaxx. Ohio public safety and police agencies use the Datamaxx DMPP2020 software for its LEADS computer systems. Datamaxx makes numerous remote access products that law enforcement can access with mobile and handheld computers. CommSys, a Dayton, Ohio-based company provides technical support for Datamaxx.  

The Free Press has also obtained a list of all voting machines assigned in Franklin County, including serial numbers. The list contains at least 42 machines originally assigned to predominantly African-American and inner city wards that voted 80 percent for Kerry, and where voters waited in line for three hours and more on election day. These 42 machines were blacked out on the list, raising the question of whether these were among the 68 machines the Franklin County Board of Elections has admitted holding back in the warehouse despite obvious shortages at certain polling places. Affidavits from poll workers confirm that numerous requests for more machines were made through election day, but that few if any were delivered.  

Franklin County Board of Elections Chair Bill Anthony claims that low-level poll workers refused to accept the machines assigned by high-ranking election officials. But he has yet to provide specific details. Anthony has repeatedly claimed that he was a watchdog for Democratic interests in the election, but he was a political appointee of the Republican Secretary of State.  

Under Ohio election law, the members, directors and deputy directors of all boards of elections are assigned by the Secretary of State. They hold these paying jobs at his discretion regardless of whether they are Democrat or Republican. A major argument of those who claim Ohio’s 2004 presidential election was fraud-free centers on the myth that local precincts are run as bipartisan operations, deflecting charges of partisan interference while failing to account for the fact that the principles all owe their jobs to the secretary of state, who in this case served as co-chair of the state’s Bush-Cheney campaign.  

These problems add to the established pattern of problems that favored Bush at Kerry’s expense.  

Despite the legal stonewalling, lawyers directing the election challenge case are still pursuing evidence-gathering efforts. Three expert witnesses are scheduled to be deposed on Thursday and Friday, including specialists in statistics and vote counting irregularities.  

The challengers are seeking a Jan. 4 hearing before the Ohio Supreme Court. Members of Congress meet in Washington on Jan. 6 to evaluate the Electoral College vote. Led by Rep. Conyers (D-MI), it is virtually certain numerous members of the Congressional Black Caucus will challenge that vote. But the assent of a senator is required for the challenge to go forward, and thus far none has definitively confirmed.  

Despite ducking depositions, Blackwell is escalating his public appearances in hopes of becoming Ohio’ s next governor. On Jan. 12, Blackwell is scheduled to speak at the exclusive Scioto Country Club on the topic of “Ethics in Leadership.” Blackwell became nationally known after disenfranchising voters who had not registered on 80-pound bond paper stock under an archaic Ohio law. He reversed longstanding Ohio tradition that allowed voters to cast provisional votes by county by ruling that none of these votes would be counted unless the voter was in the right precinct. He also was recently censured for running a “get out the vote” campaign for Issue One, a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and spousal benefits.  

Meanwhile, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was reported to be filing a brief in federal court in relation to the activities of Triad and events in Hocking County, where serious questions have arisen as to the integrity of the recount. Kerry previously circulated a letter to all 88 counties requesting information on how the vote was conducted. The Kerry campaign raised millions of dollars from grassroots supporters with the promise that “all votes would be counted.” But the Democrats are not known to have helped fund the legal work of the Green and Libertarian Parties and their grassroots Election Protection supporters, who have raised the money for the shoestring campaign that has kept the legal challenges alive thus far.  

An Election Protection rally in downtown Columbus has been set by Rev. Jesse Jackson for 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 3. It will be followed by a national gathering in Washington Jan. 6, to take place as Congress evaluates the Electoral College and the Ohio votes, which have allegedly given George W. Bush another term in the White House.  

Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of the upcoming Ohio’s Stolen Election: Voices of the Disenfranchised, 2004, a book and film project from http://freepress.org.?

Bay Area social and political activists have scheduled two actions in the next few days in support of a pending Jan. 6 Congressional challenge of the Nov. 2 presidential election. 

For the challenge to be heard before Congress, at least one U.S. senator must first support the motion. Wellstone Democratic Club Voting Rights Task Force chair Don Goldmacher said that he has pressed the issue with U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s chief of staff. 

“Boxer is reluctant to step into an issue in another state without being asked,” Goldmacher said. He added that, as far as he knows, “Senator Diane Feinstein’s office isn’t talking with anyone from our side on this issue.” 

On Monday a rally will be held at noon outside of Boxer’s San Francisco office at 1700 Montgomery St. Activists expect to present her with petitions asking her to join in the election challenge. 

The day before, on Sunday, the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists’ (BFUU) Social Justice Committee is holding a Votergate Panel Discussion from 2-4 p.m. at the BFUU Hall at Cedar and Bonita Streets in Berkeley. Scheduled speakers at the BFUU Hall event are lawyer/activist Bill Simpich, “Radical Spirit” author and political commentator Stephen Dinan, and Berkeley City Councilmember Dona Spring. 

The Sunday discussion is about “how the November election was stolen and on the disenfranchisement of American voters, particularly minority voters” , according to Berkeley Peace and Justice Commissioner Phoebe Sorgen, co-chair of the Social Justice Committee of the BFUU, and it is intended to encourage participation in the San Francisco rally the next day. 

Berkeley voting activist Judy Bertelsen said in a statement that participants at the Jan. 3 San Francisco rally “will be seeking to prevent a repeat of the shameful day chronicled in Michael Moore’s film Farenheit 9/11 in which members of the Congressional Black Caucus could find no senator to support their call for a challenge to the results of the 2000 election.”  

The rally will focus on complaints of voter suppression and problems with voting machines in Ohio and other parts of the country. 

Rally speakers include Berkeley City Councilmember Max Anderson, United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, labor/civil rights attorney Walter Riley, Margot Smith of the Gray Panthers, Michael Eisenscher of U.S. Labor Against the War, Wellstone Democratic Club Voting Rights Task Force chair Don Goldmacher, AFL-CIO S.F. Labor Council executive director Tim Paulson, and Michael Goldstein of the Harvey Milk LBGT Democratic Club of San Francisco. 

The Monday rally is being co-sponsored by the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club of the East Bay, the Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley, Bay Area United for Peace and Justice, redefeatbush.com, and East Bay Votes. 

“While the chances are slim of overturning the results of the election,” Sorgen said, “we see this as a way to create awareness within the country so that we can move toward meaningful political reform.”

MARIN AVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The Marin one-lane-each-way proposal needs support from the off-peak drivers who make up two thirds of the traffic. The proposal will serve these drivers better because it will be safer and easier to drive with the bikers and left turners out of the way and a full width lane to drive in 

Robert C. Chioino 

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BICYCLE BOULEVARD 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As an old time Berkeley taxpayer, I am seldom amazed at some of the city’s waste of public funds. However, the Bicycle Boulevard really takes the cake. With gaudy signs and mileage indicators and street markings we now have a Bicycle Boulevard. I see families with their children take over both sides of Virginia Street, oblivious to auto traffic. I use to ride a bike, and I still drive, but I would like to find out if there’s a city ordinance governing the mutual use of the boulevard. 

I’ve not been able to get an answer from the bureaucrats. 

Ray Quan 

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THE OTHER HALF 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

We in Berkeley have absolutely no idea about the other half of America. The other half is deeply dedicated to bias, hatred, racism, born-again Christianity, and John Wayne machoism, and therefore, a loathing of homosexuality, atheism, intellectuals, Jews, Hollywood, sexuality, and so forth. They feel strongly that America is imitating the fall of the Roman Empire, with its licentiousness, its sin, its paganism, its groveling in the filth and evil of satanic sensuality. Do you get the feeling? That’s the way they think of us. I correspond with a high school friend in Columbus Georgia and she wants to save me from perdition. She likes me and wants to save me from the torture of the eternal fire because I didn’t vote for Bush. She’s not kidding! These are the folks that inhabit perhaps half of America today. This is the reason that Bush is president and the reason that we have so very much to fear what lies ahead. 

Robert Blau 

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JEREMY’S USE PERMIT 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I’m writing in response to the recent letter by Zelda Bronstein decrying the City Council’s approval of a use permit for the expansion of Jeremy’s clothing store on College Avenue in the Elmwood shopping district. Zelda as well as others opposed allowing the expansion of Jeremy’s on the basis that it exceeded the Elmwood commercial district quota system for clothing stores. The problem is this quota system has not been uniformly adhered to for some years. Therefore it would’ve been unfair for the council to have selectively applied it to the owners of Jeremy’s. (Courts of law have also consistently upheld that laws must not be selectively enforced.) 

The question is why wasn’t the quota system being adhered to in the last several years? The city staff report explains that when the use permit for Jeremy’s was first granted that the staff erred in not reporting that this use would exceed the quota on clothing stores in the Elmwood commercial district. The decision on this original use permit was not appealed to the City Council. So now it would be unfair to the owners of Jeremy’s, after so many years of building and investing in their business, to have denied its ability to expand on the basis that it should never have been granted a use permit in the first place. In the past few years, the city has allowed seven other Elmwood District businesses to expand (I recall only one of these expansions being appealed to the City Council and that was almost 10 years ago).  

The quotas established almost 20 years ago may need fine-tuning for today’s business climate. Given Jeremy’s success and its contribution to the vitality of the Elmwood District, the quota system seems to need to be more flexible.  

I support quotas to enhance the health and diversity of our commercial shopping districts. However, if the city does establish zoning rules they should be fairly and uniformly applied. I share citizens’ frustrations when this does not happen. 

Dona Spring 

District 4 City Councilmember 

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SILLY LIBERALS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Berkeley liberals just crack me up. For years, Berkeley liberals have been among the strongest supporters of our insane level of mass immigration, whereby 3 million new people are being added to the U.S. population every year, almost entirely due to recent immigrants and their offspring (why, it’s “cultural diversity”). Now, these very same Berkeley liberals are all bitterly complaining about all the hideous, big, new buildings that are being jammed into every conceivable inch of spare space. Great. 

And here’s something else that I hope everyone in California is deeply considering: 18 million new immigrants are projected to come flooding into California over the next 20 years. That’s the equivalent of 20 cities the size of San Francisco! Does anybody out there happen to know where the endless millions of new homes are where these people are going to live? Well, we’re all going to find out, all right. 

Peter Labriola 

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READER’S EDITION 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Thank you for another fine reader’s edition. 

I note with pride your poetry entries, that included five from the Ina Coolbrith Poetry Circle, plus one by my friend, neighbor and Daily Planet postman, Bill Trampleasure. 

Adam David Miller 

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REPEATING HISTORY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

A psychiatrist shouldn’t be surprised at history repeating itself, at one more deja vu. Yet I am feeling nauseous that we are about to see a rerun of the opening of Fahrenheit 9-11; remember Al Gore gaveling down the Black Caucus as they tried to present evidence of the 2000 election fraud? Not a single Democratic senator would sign on—it only would have taken one to mandate a hearing. This wouldn’t have resulted in Gore’s winning the White House, but it would have generated much needed attention—and perhaps made it harder for a repeat wimp-out. 

In a week this unbelievable scenario will be repeated. The Black Caucus will present evidence of fraud, then they will be denied a hearing since no senator will sign on—as of this moment. Not Ted Kennedy, with a seat so safe nothing he did would defeat him; nor Robert Byrd, whose eloquent dissents stirred us, and who’s not even running this time. 

So, folks, let’s make the election theft of 2008 a little more difficult, and put some heat on the Democratic senators. 

Neal Blumenfeld 

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Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas¸

Most Oaklanders—crossing racial, ethnic, age, community, and class differences—want a significant end to the murders in their city. Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown—deep in his run for California attorney general in the election two years away—needs for it to appear that Oakland murders are ending. There is, you can guess, a significant difference between the two positions. 

If you needed a good example of the above, one was provided this week by our friends at the San Francisco Chronicle in the article headlined “Oakland-Homicide rate plummeting,” with the helpful, explanatory subhead (in case you didn’t get the point) “Down 23 percent to date, and police expect decline to continue.”  

Of course the Chronicle—like all newspapers—is responsible for its own take on things, but newspapers are sometimes assisted along the way by helpful public officials, and this headline and article have all the makings of a Jerry Brown spin. 

The article says that “police and community leaders attribute [the homicide rate drop] to an ambitious anti-violence plan,” which Mr. Brown explains has police “focused on suppressing drug deals in hot spots and open-air drug markets.” We will return to those thoughts, in a moment. 

First, though, a look at the chart which accompanies the article, and which shows the number of Oakland homicides this year and every year back through 1989. And if you look only at the last three years of the chart you will conclude that, yes, homicides have gone down in Oakland, from a spike of 113 and 114 in 2002 and 2003 to 88 going into the last couple of days of 2004. 

But if we are concerned with long-term trends—that is, with where things appear to be going, rather than where they are—a look at the entire 16-year run of the chart gives a slightly different impression. 

1989 through 1995 shows homicides in Oakland holding depressingly steady around 150 to 160 a year, peaking at 175 in 1992. This was the period just past the height of the crack epidemic, when battles were still going on to control the street corner drug traffic, and automatic weapons fire could be heard across the city on any given night. 

That trend began to break in the last years of the Elihu Harris administration and the first year of the Brown administration, dropping 50 percent between 1995 and 1996 (153 homicides down to 102), and then dropping sharply again from 110 in 1997 down to the 16 year low of 68 in 1999. That five-year period, 1995 through 1999, is where Oakland actually saw a massive, sustained drop in its rate of homicides. 

It might be instructive to our present situation to determine how, and why, that homicide rate drop happened. A victory in the street corner drug wars by one side or the other? Successes by the police in violence prevention? Some combination of the two? Some other factors? It certainly would be in Oakland’s interests to know, to see if the lessons can be applied to the present situation. But it might not be in Mayor Brown’s interests, since all of that occurred before the effects of his administration began to take hold. And so, on this important issue, we have no official findings. 

If we look at both the 68 homicides in 1999 and the two-year 113-114 spike in 2002-03 as statistical aberrations, we see that the trend of Oakland’s homicides is actually going slightly up during the Jerry Brown years—from the low 80s just before he took office, to the high 80s two years before he is due to leave us. 

Should Jerry Brown be blamed for presiding over a rising homicide rate in Oakland? That’s something for California voters to decide when Mr. Brown comes before them in 2006 as a candidate for attorney general. But meanwhile, Oaklanders must be forgiven if we gag on the spin. 

Oakland police, Mr. Brown tells us, have “focused on suppressing drug deals in hot spots and open-air drug markets.” Really? I’m not sure what’s happening to the north and the west, but in the East Oakland neighborhood where I grew up, the open-air drug locations which were in place when I returned in the late 1980s are the same ones in place today. Once in a while there have been stings and busts and activity has temporarily slowed, only to return—shortly—to its previous level. In fact, drive-through drug operations appear to be expanding in East Oakland in recent months, with dealers establishing themselves on new corners, and becoming more brazen in their established locations. I come by this information not by any special knowledge or practice of sophisticated police surveillance techniques, merely by driving through my own neighborhood. But, then, I’m not certain if Mr. Brown ever drives through my neighborhood. 

But more important than hype and misstatements from the Brown administration is what is missing entirely: some sense of a long-range plan to address Oakland’s violence. That is something which is important for people who intend to make Oakland their long-term home, less important to someone—the mayor, perhaps?—who sees this merely as a way-station to other places. Part of that long-range plan would, necessarily, begin with some commitment to Oakland’s youth, to keep them from becoming either victims of criminal violence or criminals themselves. 

In October, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom made youth a priority in his State of the City address, stating, in part, “Today, San Francisco has 42 youth in the California Youth Authority. I believe the CYA is no place to send our children. … Today, I am announcing that we are convening a task force [that] will develop a plan to ensure that none of San Francisco’s children will be sent to the CYA. This plan will be in place by the end of my term.”  

I have no idea of the sincerity of Mr. Newsom, or whether his task force and plan will ever work. But words have a power, and the San Francisco mayor’s words—“San Francisco’s children”—in effect, “our children”—are refreshing in their indication of inclusion. 

By contrast, Mr. Brown does not seem to hold the view that the young people of Oakland are Oakland’s responsibility in general and his responsibility in particular, or the understanding that putting his arms around the youth of Oakland in 2004-05 will pay dividends for the city and all of its citizens in 2014-15, and all the years beyond. Instead, we have seen Mayor Brown once hire a Parks and Recreation director—remember Harry Edwards—who managed to have the recreation centers closed down for the summer, and the mayor watched quietly over the gradual destruction of the Oakland Unified School District while raising a hand only to protect his two charter schools. 

Forgive me, then, if I don’t seem impressed by a one-year decrease in the number of Oakland homicides. That’s great for the 20 extra people who lived through the year. Not so great, if they make it merely to become part of 2005’s statistic. A discussion by Oaklanders of long-term solutions—beyond the terms of the present politicians—is in order, and long overdue. 

We are parents of a current Oakland School for the Arts junior. She is a member of the first class to begin the school. Not only will we sign our letter, so as not to be speaking out anonymously, we can provide you with any number of parents you choose, who would like to be interviewed regarding specific information about the benefits their child has received from being at the school, and our hopes for other children who will benefit from the school in the future. 

We are not familiar with the Daily Planet’s editorial policy. Publishing anonymously circulated information is a tricky proposition, and we would wonder if maybe the “report card” has more personal agenda connected to it that should be scrutinized. We would invite you to take us up on our offer to tell you the productive and positive side of the story. Parents who are new to the school would do well to familiarize themselves with the history and successes of the past three years with parents other than those who have taken their students out of the school. One wonders why they feel the need to issue a “report card” on a school that they no longer attend. Feelings of “betrayal and disappointment” feel immature and misguided when presented anonymously in an attack against this institution. Retaliation against their students, for the problems of their parents, which they reportedly fear, is not within the scope of how this school operates. Let us make that perfectly clear. In our three years with this school, we have been deeply moved and impressed by the willingness that the administration has shown to respond to a wide variety of issues. We have always gotten answers to our questions and attention paid to our concerns. And we are not alone. This, keeping in mind that it is a new school and, yes, maybe things didn’t happen exactly the way maybe we wished they had—if there had been more time, more money, more experience and more help from all the parents. The move to the new site was an enormous challenge that was dealt with effectively, again with flexibility of the staff, the students and many of the parents who pitched in. The portables are as good as they can be and are clean and warm, and are being personalized. The students are beginning to take ownership of the campus and it will continue to bloom, showing their footprint. The new tent will soon give them their central meeting place with cafeteria and performance space. 

The heart and intent of the school, Mayor Brown’s vision of a school where students could be challenged and rise to perform social and artistic good has happened, is happening. The students who have embraced the hard work, the long days from 8 a.m-5:30 p.m., and yes, the vagaries that can happen in a young institution, with flexibility—the parents who have offered help, solutions, cooperation, and faith—have had good results in return. Our daughter has said to us repeatedly over the past three years that she wouldn’t rather be anywhere else but at OSA. She feels that it has brought her an immeasurable wealth of experience, exposure and an amazing education this far. And she complains sometimes too, but doesn’t every teenager? We would challenge any parent of a 14- to 17-year-old to tell us their student hasn’t complained about their school. I would also challenge parents to tell us that their child feels safe, cared for, attended to when it is needed, and supported in the highest ideals for their future. Our small school can provide this. We can vouch for it as can many others. OSA is leading the way to better education, in many ways. 

The quality level of the teaching staff is impressive. Yes, some of the teachers at OSA are young. But let there be no mistake, they are not unqualified to teach our students. They will perform to meet state requirements, of course. They have come here from all over the country (and so, of course, some don’t have CA requirements met) to have the experience and honor of teaching in such a remarkable school as OSA. They are coming from the best colleges in the country. Application numbers are high when positions are advertised. Try interviewing some of these amazing people and we defy you to come away thinking or being able to say they are not qualified. The attrition rate is probably no more than would be experienced in any public school, maybe even private schools as well, when it is considered that an entire year’s worth of teachers have to be hired at a time! The first year we had over 100 students with their core academic and arts teachers. Every year again, that many more teachers have had to be newly hired! Couldn’t any sensible person see attrition probability there? Really! Our dedicated teachers show up. They know their students. They care and they teach and each one of them brings increasing value to the school. Anyone who has ever hired people knows that you don’t always realize what is presented by an employee, and would also recognize that it isn’t always a perfect fit either, on both sides. We believe the attrition rate would improve if the teachers, many of whom are working 12-14 hours a day, were supported by more parents more fully. Administrative staffing changes are always unfortunate, but again, in a young institution that is by necessity constantly evolving, it will happen until the school has matured. 

We attended the first public meeting that OSA offered before opening to meet Mr. Berry and interested students and their parents. He was entirely up front in saying that the school was an experiment driven by high ideals, and that they anticipated it to reflect some of the same kinds of issues that parents have with their first child. You would have the highest vision, give the child your most in terms of care, ask for as much help as you could and hope for the best. He also said that he anticipated that they would make mistakes, just like first-time parents do, and that they would grow from the mistakes. Any honest parent would acknowledge this process. Our experience with this school has been that they have lived up to exactly what they set out to do, in spite of having to deal with some really, truly unhelpful parents. Mistakes have been made, of course, and acknowledged, and incredible growth and improvement has come in the past three years thanks to much dedicated work by the administration with the mayor and the board’s support, staff, parents, students and the community. But, everything from economics, to politics, to terrorist attacks from some people in the community who have, frankly, questionable motives in their reasons for attacking the school, have turned up in the past three years to make the mistakes pale by comparison to the negative effects the attacks have had. 

At a time when our schools are struggling on all sides to provide a decent public education, the thought that anyone would try to slander and undermine an institution that is doing so much good is hard to believe. 

Our hopes for our daughter’s education have been exceeded at OSA, both artistically and in basic human terms. For those who need a more concrete measure, one only needs to refer to recent district-wide test results which show OSA students substantially outscoring virtually every other Oakland high school. The school also has an attendance rate consistently in the high 90th percentile. The vision of the artistic direction, the academic commitment, the ability of Mayor Brown and his supporters to help the school grow and thrive, the incredible students we have—we invite you to look further. These students are no different than others, really. They are curious and interested—they are open to learning respect for themselves and each other, being taught to collaborate, learning humility... and greatness. We, as parents, have supported them, and the school. We have questioned, offered solutions, and had faith. We feel that it is showing the rewards of our work. We have a great deal of difficulty with those parents who have chosen to leave the school, (and those that are planning to leave) that are throwing poisoned darts as they hide behind their anonymity. There is nothing but honesty and transparency behind this letter and we urge the Berkeley Daily Planet, now that it has chosen to print this article, to display another, much larger and more productive point of view of the situation at Oakland School for the Arts. 

Marian O’Brien and Keith Whitaker are the parents of an Oakland School for the Arts student. 

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While I share Brian Edwards-Tiekert’s frustration at KPFA’s messed-up elections (“Democracy Derailed at KPFA,” Daily Planet, Dec. 28-30), he has mischaracterized the issue as factional. I believe the real question is: What should the Local Station Board do under Pacifica’s bylaws in the case of an elections challenge to insure that the election is legally certified and the proper winners are legally seated? 

The LSB was informed that a challenge to the KPFA staff elections had been sent to National Elections Supervisor Kenny Mostern, and that the challenge was brought by enough staff members who did not receive ballots to change the outcome of the staff election. Under Pacifica’s bylaws, the LSB does not have the authority to resolve the challenge. The National Elections Supervisor is the only person who has that authority. So the LSB decided not to seat new staff delegates until learning what the decision of the National Elections Supervisor would be on the challenge to the staff election. 

If the shoe had been on the other foot—which it most likely would have been had Miguel Molina edged out Eric Parks for a staff seat on the LSB by less than two votes since people from both staff “factions” were asking for the staff election to be redone prior to the vote count on the grounds that many staff members did not receive ballots—if the challenge had been brought by Eric Parks rather than Solange Echevarria and Miguel Molina, I believe the LSB would have done the same thing. I really don’t believe the issue is a factional one, but rather one of the principle of determining the legal outcome of an election prior to seating the winner(s). 

There is certainly room to disagree on the principle of waiting for the national elections supervisor to resolve the challenge prior to seating new staff delegates. A principled argument could also be made to seat the new staff delegates and leave it up to the NES to “unseat” them later if he decided the election challenge was well-taken and decided to redo the staff election.  

However, I think it was wisest for the LSB to find out what the NES was going to do before seating new delegates.  

The elections supervisor’s report was subsequently posted at www.pacifica.org—scroll down the right side of the page to the Pacifica Elections section. It’s a 244-page pdf file!  

The LSB did not have this report at the time it was faced with deciding what to do about the elections challenge. According to a memo from Pacifica Executive Director Dan Coughlin to the LSB last week—“The national elections supervisor reports that he has reviewed the concerns and/or appeals of the KPFA staff candidate in relation to the election. I understand that he has spoken to that issue in e-mail form. He tells me that he referred to the specific issue raised by the appeal in Section 5 of his final report entitled, “Design, Production and Mailing of Ballots and Replacement Ballots.” [Note: I have not seen any e-mails from the elections supervisor speaking to the issue.]  

Based on this information, I believe the LSB is required by the bylaws to seat the new staff delegates certified by the National Elections Supervisor at our next meeting—now scheduled for Jan. 9, to elect KPFA’s directors on the Pacifica National Board. The challenging KPFA staff members have the option of taking their election challenge to the court. 

Carol Spooner is a KPFA Local Station Boardmember.

BHS Rat Pack Robbers 

A Berkeley High School student told police he was robbed at school by a crew of six or seven juveniles shortly after 11 a.m. Monday. 

Police are investigating, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

Strongarm Gunman 

A ski-masked gunman with a strong arm walked into the Walgreen’s stores at 150 Gilman St. just after 6 p.m. Monday, picked up the cash register and walked out. 

Neither the gunman nor the register have been seen since. 

Violent Drunk Busted 

A cab driver flagged down Berkeley police officer near the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Blake Street late Monday night because of problems with a tipsy fare. 

The inebriated rider was handcuffed and hauled down to city jail for booking, where, after offering up a false ID, he proceeded to try to bash his captors. 

When the dust had settled, a simple public intoxication arrest had turned into five charges, including interference with a peace officer, assault on a peace officer, and giving a false ID. 

The reason for the last charge became clear when a record check yield a parole violation, said Officer Okies. 

Lotta Sirens, No Victim 

Police cars and a fire department ambulance rushed to the intersection of Harper and Russell streets late Monday night after a youthful caller reported a stabbing. 

A thorough search of the area revealed neither blood nor victim, and police are investigating leads to the identity of the caller. 

Robbers Panic, Flee 

A crew of would-be robbers, three men and a woman, tried to rob the Black and White Liquor Store at 2730 Adeline St. late Wednesday night, only to change their minds for reasons unknown and flee the scene.

Alerted by the smell of burning clothes and plastic, residents of a home at 813 Addison St. called the Berkeley Fire Department after discovered their dryer ablaze. 

A prompt response confined the flames to the dryer and a portion of the back wall. 

The occupants said they might have learned of the fire earlier, but their smoke detector had “maybe no batteries,” according to the BFD’s official log. 

Firefighters installed fresh batteries before they left.n

FRIDAY, DEC. 31 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Polk County” A musical about aspring blues musician, Leafy Lee, at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. to Jan. 9. Tickets are $15-$60. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org  

Shotgun Players “Travesties” and Dada Party at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $35, reservations required. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra Classical celebration dedicated to the memory of Edgar Braun at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Free. 415-248-1640. www.sfchamberorchestra.org 

Johnny Steele’s Hilarity Hoedown and Jocularity Jamboree at 9:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $22-$28. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

José Roberto and Friends at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $20-$22. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

New Year’s Eve Balkan Bash with guests Tzvetanka Varimezova, Ivan Varimezov and Kalin Kirlov at Ashkenaz. Cost is $18. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

New Year’s Eve Flamenco Fiesta with a traditional Spanish dinner at 9 p.m. at Café de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $65-$95, reservations required. 843- 0662. www.cafedelapaz.net  

Art and Music Salon from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. For details on the event and for tickets see www.CHARISMAfoundation.org 

Bluegrass Gala with High Country at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761. www.freight 

andsalvage.org 

The People at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

New Year’s Eve with the Naked Barbies at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

David Jeffrey Fourtet in a New Year’s Eve Party at 10 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Gary Rowe at 6:30 p.m. and Danny Caron and Friends at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Kool Kyle, hip hop, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

That 1 Guy at 9 p.m. at Jupiter. Cost is $10. 848-8277. 

Rock ‘N’ Roll Adventure Kids, Sacramento at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Joshua Redman Elastic Band featuring Sam Yahel and Brian Blade at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Through Jan. 2. Cost is $26-$100. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, JAN. 1 

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Cocktail of Glamour and Anarchy” works by Carl Linkhart, Michael Johnstone, David Faulk, Bill Bowers, Gustavo Villareal, Joshua Friewald. Reception from 1 to 4 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. at Ashby. Exhibition runs to Jan. 30. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Nepalese Cultural Dance and Music at 5 p.m. at Taset of the Himalayas, 1700 Shattuck Ave. 849-4983. 

Wadi Gad & Jah Bandis at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8-$10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Braziu, Leo Do Cavaco, Compaia at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10-$12. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

The Girlfriend Experience, The Bobbleheads at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Stereo Blasters, Humanzee, The Dead Bull Fighters at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Nika Rejto Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Killing the Dream, Go It Alone, Shook Ones, 7 Generations at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, JAN. 3 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Interiors” ink and watercolors by Lisa Bruce opens at the YWCA, 2600 Bancroft Way, through Feb. 25. www.lisabruce.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Actors Reading Writers” Celebrating writing through live readings at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 845-8542, ext. 376. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian songs at 6 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Songwriters Symposium at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Benny Green & Russell Malone at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Thurs. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 4 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Tanglers at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Two-step and waltz lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Peter Barshay and Jeff Buenz at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Benny Green & Russell Malone at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Thurs. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 5 

THEATER 

“The Bright River” written and performed by Tim Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble at Julia Morgan Theater, through Jan. 16. Tickets are $12-$35 available from A Traveling Jewish Theater, 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Guy Gash & The Five Sharp Band at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Jules Broussard, Ned Boynton and Bing Nathan at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Zydeco Flames at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Whiskey Brothers at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Zero Mass, The Warren Teagarden Band, Serene Lakes at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $4. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Blowout Trio, modern jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 6 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Clive Matson and Gail Ford at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Utah Phillips with Bodhi Busik at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Frank Jordans, Carter Tanton, The Proles at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Eric Swinderman at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

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

FRIDAY, JAN. 7 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Polk County” A musical about aspring blues musician, Leafy Lee, at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. to Jan. 9. Tickets are $15-$60. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org  

“The Bright River” written and performed by Tim Barsky and the Everyday Ensemble at Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. through Jan. 16. Tickets are $12-$35 available from A Traveling Jewish Theater, 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

Shotgun Players “Travesties” by Tom Stoppard, at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. through Jan. 9. Free with pass the hat after the show. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry from the Vietnam Era and Its Legacy at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. in conjunction with the exhibit “California and the Vietnam Era.” 238-2200. www.museum.ca.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Dance Production 2005” Berkeley High’s dance performance at 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, on the BHS Campus. Also on Sat. Tickets are $5-$10.  

Los Nadies with special guest Andres Soto, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$25. Fundraiser for the Social Equity Caucus. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Caribbean Allstars at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Lua, global creole roots at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Due West, contemporary bluegrass, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

David Jacobs-Strain, The Alexis Harte Band at 8 p.m. at the Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway, Oakland. Cost is $8. 465-8480. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Lavay Smith Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Truxton, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Oktobre People at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Ludicra, Voetsek, John the Baker & The Malnourished at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Soul Captives, ShitOuttaLuck, Hazel at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Grand Groovement at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Brown Baggin’ at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Mark Hummel’s 13th Annual Blues Harmonica Blow Out with James Cotton, Kim Wilson, and Charlie Musselwhite at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

High on a bluff in the Marin Headlands, breathtaking views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific Ocean surround me in panoramic splendor. Fog drifts through the Golden Gate, the foghorn sounding its mournful call, and the wind blows through my hair and the trees. I breathe in the sea-scented air as I watch the play of light on the currents below. 

Here, on Hawk Hill, raptors wheel effortlessly as they glide, dive and soar, held in the power of the wind. The wind seems to lift me too, my mind soaring with the birds as I let go the demands of everyday life. 

Hawk Hill is one of the best places to view raptors during their annual fall migration. Nine hundred feet above the tide, as many as 2,800 hawks, kestrels, harriers and golden eagles climb the sky, gaining altitude to cross the strait. This is just one of many must-see sites that await you in the Marin Headlands. 

Part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the 15 square miles of the Marin Headlands offer a surprisingly easy escape to this land of many stories, some mere whispers, others still hauntingly clear.  

Less than one mile from the highway it appears I’ve entered another world—one of rolling hills, protected valleys, steep bluffs, rocky coves, and sand beaches. On this early winter day my eyes feast on a palette of color: willows in russet, gold and brown; scrub in muted grays and greens; rich red earth; white clouds drifting across blue sky and fog caressing the curves of the gentle landscape. San Francisco and its famous bridge seem a million miles away. 

For all its natural beauty, this is not an area untouched by man. Man’s history, from the peaceful Coastal Miwoks through the tense days of the Cold War, enriches the story of the Marin Headlands while it can bring disquieting moments throughout the day. 

Coastal Miwoks built homes of willow and reed during their seasonal visits, fishing in the spring and gathering acorns in the fall. During the 1800s the land was used for cattle and dairy ranches, bringing in Portuguese immigrants from the Azores and Native American vaqueros who learned their skills from the Spanish. By 1870 the U.S. Army was buying up parcels of headland, building forts and constructing batteries along the coast. These were used to defend and protect the entrance to the bay through World War II. During the Cold War, 280 missile sites were established, though missiles were never fired. Today’s park could have been “Marincello,” a city of 30,000, but Congress stepped in and created a public preserve in 1972. 

Since that time the Golden Gate National Parks Association has done a tremendous job of restoring the land. Rodeo Lagoon is a haven for migrating waterfowl while supporting wildlife year round. On the one-mile loop circling the lagoon you might spot brown pelicans, mallards, buffleheads, widgeons and mergansers. Deer and bobcat roam the woodlands, hillsides and valleys among eucalyptus, coyote bush and sage. During spring the land glows with the blue, yellow and orange of lupines and poppies. Rocky coves echo with the barks of playing harbor seals.  

The ideal starting point for a day of discovery in the Marin Headlands is the visitor center, housed in the former military chapel of Fort Cronkhite. Award winning exhibits, combining life-size, vintage photographs, authentic displays and engaging narrative give voice to former inhabitants. From the lovely reed house of the Miwoks, the tiny watch house and light keeper’s log, to the precision made bunks, filled foot lockers and worn helmets of World War II soldiers, their stories come alive. Under twenty foot arched ceilings and the light from multiple, tall windows, tables and chairs around a cozy wood burning stove and the fine array of books and field guides ask you to linger, while the Headlands’ geologic and natural history displays beckon you outdoors to experience them firsthand. Before you leave, make sure to pick up a free trail map and check the posted schedule of interpretive activities. 

I headed first to Rodeo Beach, to stretch my legs among dunes and beach of coarse sand and driftwood, keeping my eyes open for bobbing sea lions, wetsuit clad surfers and carnelian searching beachcombers. The ocean vista before me seemed unchanged since the days of the Miwoks, while the beach itself changes dramatically with the seasons as storms and run-off alter its landscape. 

California’s Gold Rush drew ships to San Francisco like gourmands to Berkeley. In 1849 over 775 vessels attempted to navigate the hazardous entrance to San Francisco Bay, many crashing on the rocks. A permanent warning system was sorely needed and by 1855 the Point Bonita Lighthouse was built. The first one was on the highest hill in the area where it proved to be directly in the fog belt, necessitating the use of a fog bell and canon. A few years later it was moved to its present location, at the farthest end of the rocky point, where it continues to guide ships today. 

My walk to the lighthouse proved to be an adventure in itself. The narrow, paved trail was short but steep with a spectacular vista at every turn: massive rock formations casting shadows across the path, jagged cliffs with crashing surf, the rugged Pacific coastline and the broad sweep of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

A black iron wall containing a small locked door blocks the entrance to a narrow tunnel, cut through the rock in 1877. Feeling like a character from The Lord of the Rings, I warily eyed the rough, mold-coated surface close on all sides, as I headed for the bright light ahead. 

The final approach is a one-of-a-kind suspension bridge, where people cross two by two. At the end of the bridge stands the light, 125 lead glass prisms, visible for 18 miles, and the squat, white lighthouse, looking solid enough to withstand severe winter storms. Standing on this rocky point, looking out to the expansive blue of the ocean, I felt like I was at the end of the earth. 

Further discoveries at the Headlands can include the Marine Mammal Center, dedicated to the rescue and release of injured sea mammals, and Site 88, the last Nike missile site in operating condition. Both are open to the public and definitely worth a visit. 

With over 50 miles of hiking trails, your day can also include a chance to lose yourself in nature and to enjoy her bounty—a picnic along Rodeo Lagoon or the willow grove, a hike along the Coastal or Miwok Trail. But unlike other nature preserves, here man’s presence can’t be left behind. As I followed the trail, the ruins of bunkers and batteries dotting the hillsides and standing as guardians of the coast, kept me aware of man’s influence and dominance over the land. The wind still blew, the vistas warmed my soul, I soared, but some of the voices from the past and the realities of the present invaded my mind.  

›

FRIDAY, DEC. 31 

New Year’s Eve Tea Tasting Learn the culture and natural history of tea. Bring your favorite cup. At 1 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Fee is $10-$12, registration required. 525-2233. 

New Years Party at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center with romantic songs from Your Hit Parade, with popular musician Toru Saito. 

New Year’s Eve Hike Learn the customs and traditions from around the world on this annual walk at 4:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

New Year’s Eve Balloon Drop at precisely 4 p.m., (midnight Greenwich Mean Time) at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. 336-7300. www.chabotspace.org 

SUNDAY, JAN. 2 

Animal Tracks Search for tracks and traces of animals on a short walk to Jewel Lake. Make a mold of a track to take home and be prepared to meet some mud. Meet at 10 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. For children 8-12 years old, registration required. 525-2233. 

One Special Salamander Salamanders abound in the Nature Area, but what makes a newt so special? Try to find a newt (but leave it here) on a walk through the park rain or shine. At 2 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

“VoterGate: Is Our Democracy at Stake?” A community forum at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar, at Bonita. 528-5403. 

Tea at the Historic Vistorian Cohen Bray Home, 1440 29th Ave, Oakland. Seatings at 1, 2, 3, and 4 p.m. Tickets are $25 and reservations required. 843-2906. www.cohenbrayhouse.info 

Personal Theology Seminar with Sarah Lewis on “A Contemplative Approach to the New Year” at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Robin Caton on “Meditation for a New Year” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, JAN. 3 

Legacy of Bay Environmental Pioneers Cindy Spring and Sandra Lewis speak on the pioneering work of East Bay Regional Parks, Save the Bay, and others at 7 p.m. at at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

“Activism in Trying Times” with Hal Carlstad and Cynthia Johnson at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita.  

National Organization for Women, Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets at 6 p.m. at the Oakland YWCA, 1515 Webster St. The speaker will be Alexis Reeves who has been called to active duty by the California National Guard. 287-8948. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over at 9:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

TUESDAY, JAN. 4 

Mid-Day Meander on the Carquinez Strait to learn about John Muir’s father-in-law Jack London and “The Octopus” of Frank Norris. Meet at 2:30 p.m. at the Bull Valley Staging Area. 525-2233. 

“AgriCulture: Roots of Resistance in the Midwest” Join Katharine Jolda and Ingrid Evjen-Elias for a reportback of their three-week bicycle trip in the land of corn, soybeans, and Wal-Mart, at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233.  

Winter Backcountry Travel Safety and Survival with Mike Kelly of the National Ski Patrol’s search and rescue team at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public schools at 7 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “New Year’s Revolutions” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Please bring snacks and soft drinks to share. No peanuts please. 601-6690. 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 5 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets at 7:15 a.m. at Au Cocolait, 200 University Ave. 524-3765. 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program from 10 to 11 a.m., for ages 4-6 years; accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $3-$5. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll learn about our fur-covered friends from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Avalanche Phenomena and Safety with Dick Penniman at 6 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland.  Advance sign-up needed 594-5165. 

Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine College Open House from 6 to 8 p.m. at 2550 Shattuck Ave. RSVP to 666-8248, ext. 106. 

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840.›

The citizens of Berkeley have shown, yet again, that they can’t be fooled by the army of lawyers and planners (including the local firm DCE) that the University of California has arrayed against them to support yet another grandiose expansion plan. Both City Hall and numerous individuals with sharp pencils and good educations (often courtesy of UC Berkeley) have dissected the environmental impact report supplied for the university’s long range development plan, and lambasted it both for what it contains and for what it doesn’t contain. What the report discloses is horrendous enough: many more square feet of building mass in undisclosed locations, accommodations for many more cars, and other manifestations of uncontrolled growth. But even worse is what it doesn’t disclose, for example the University’s plans for development of its toxic site at the former Richmond Field Station, rechristened Campus Bay for marketing purposes, and the future of Lawrence Berkeley Lab, dependent of course on whether the federal government decides to re-invest in UC management skills.  

The current struggle is over the adequacy of the EIR itself. No one except the University has suggested that it’s a true and fair representation of all future plans. 

The California Environmental Quality Act provides that project proponents must disclose potentially harmful environmental impacts and mitigate them if possible. For impacts that can’t be mitigated, a statement of overriding considerations (saying why the project is really really important) has to be adopted by the regulatory body responsible for the project, in this case the UC Board of Regents. The City of Berkeley and citizen watchdogs have pointed out in detail what the EIR lacks, and it’s theoretically possible that the Regents could direct that it be fixed up. If not, again theoretically, someone could sue to force them to fix it up: the City of Berkeley, individuals or groups like the Sierra Club. In an ideal world, a decent EIR might materialize at some point in time.  

But while the EIR discussion is going on, it’s even more important to talk about the substance of UC Berkeley’s future program plans, both revealed and concealed. Overbuilding in Berkeley is a symptom of the problem, but it’s not the problem itself. Just because the University of California at Berkeley has been a good school in the past, as many of us who went there would agree, doesn’t mean that putting it on steroids will make it better. It’s already too big and too impersonal, and too many of its students are managing to graduate without getting what used to be called a broad liberal arts education. The factory-like atmosphere, with no quality control department, is producing some graduates who can’t express themselves adequately in writing, don’t know any foreign language, don’t have a grasp of simple statistics or a rudimentary acquaintance with science or the arts.  

Huge classes make it easier for students to disguise what they haven’t learned. If the Regents were to adopt a Statement of Overriding Considerations which pledged that the new buildings would be used to improve the education of undergraduates, or would make it possible to admit more students from low-income families and under-represented minorities, many in Berkeley would cheer them on. That’s not what’s happening. 

As several of our correspondents have noted, there’s every reason to believe that UC’s Berkeley expansion is slated to accommodate the needs of for-profit industry, the biotechnology industry in particular. Many of us voted for the big stem-cell ballot measure in November because we sincerely believed that it would aid scientific progress, and it probably will. But we didn’t understand what an immense cash cow for drug companies it would turn out to be—news of how the money from the Stem Cell Initiative will be allocated is just now getting out, and the details haven’t been completed. There’s good reason to think that the biotech industry is supposed to be the anchor tenant for the 23 buildings, each with square footage equal to the six-story Civic Center building, that UC proposes to add to already-crowded Berkeley over the next 15 years.  

While the watchdogs are watching the EIR for the Long Range Development Plan, they might just add the task of following the stem cell money to their list. 

—Becky O’Malley

News came over the weekend that Shirley Chisholm had died at 80. Obituaries quoted her chosen exit line, delivered as she left Washington after 14 years in Congress. “I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts,” she said. “That’s how I’d like to be remembered.” And that is indeed how we remember Shirley Chisholm, as a person who had the guts to do what she believed was right, regardless of what other people thought she should be doing. She was the first African-American woman in Congress, and is still the only African-American woman—and the only woman—to seek the presidential nomination of a major party.  

When she launched her campaign in the 1972 election, a group of us who had never met her, almost all women, created an organization to support her in the Michigan primary. We were by and large Democrats who had been working since the early sixties to end housing discrimination and other forms of segregation in the north, and since 1964 to convince our party that supporting the war in Vietnam was a bad idea. Most of us were in our early thirties, with children and other family obligations, and were unwilling or unable to join the cultural revolution that had younger people and those with fewer constraints taking to the streets on a regular basis. We marched in Washington in the springtime with our babies in backpacks, but the rest of the time we slogged away at the hard work of changing voters’ hearts and minds back home.  

For us, Shirley Chisholm was the dream candidate, the perfect antidote to the parade of colorless (literally and figuratively) interchangeable white men that the Democratic establishment fronted in every election. After almost a decade of hearing grey and humorless party leaders explain why we needed to support the likes of Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphery, her slogan “unbossed and unbought” was music to our ears. She was a paradoxically compelling combination of what used to be called “a perfect lady” (a description that was seriously out of vogue in 1972) and a fiery orator when the spirit moved her. She had a personal dialect which mixed the Britishy idiom of the well-educated Caribbean with Brooklyn, delivered with the “now hear this” intonation of the schoolteacher which she once was. Her whole personal style was determinedly unstylish for the early 70s—no Gloria Steinem aviator glasses or leather miniskirts for Shirley Chisholm. She often referred to herself that way, as Shirley Chisholm, in the third person, almost as if she had created her role as candidate and was directing herself from off-stage. The Shirley Chisholm she invented was a one-woman crusade, determined to tell the voters, whether or not they asked, what women and black people needed and wanted.  

The Michigan Shirley Chisholm for President Campaign raised money with benefit jazz concerts and garage sales, never expecting and not getting any financing from the almost invisible national organization. We spent the modest sums we raised on flyers, press releases and ads which we wrote ourselves and on balloons which our children handed out on the University of Michigan campus to promote our voter registration card tables. Shirley herself came to town once or twice during the campaign, but by and large was a distant mythic figure, devoting most of her time to more promising efforts in New York and California. Her Michigan supporters, left to their own devices, discovered that they possessed skills they didn’t know they had. With no one telling us what we should have been doing, we mounted a credible statewide campaign which united civil rights and anti-war activists with feminists. Shirley captured a big five percent of the primary vote, not that much but more than any anti-war candidate had done before. For better or worse, she paved the way for George McGovern, who probably made it possible for Nixon to pull out of Vietnam when he was president.  

Those of us who worked for Shirley Chisholm, including our daughters who are now women, learned that we were capable of making our voices heard when it counted. The Democratic Party, sad to say, doesn’t seem to have learned a whole lot in the intervening thirty years. John Kerry, quickly receding into memory, has become just one more of the parade of colorless white men chosen by the Democrats who have failed to inspire voters.  

There are rays of hope on the political horizon, of course. Michigan’s two outstanding Democratic elected women, Senator Debbie Stabenow and Governor Jennifer Granholm, both credit Millie Jeffrey, who died in March at 93, as the mentor for their very successful political careers. Millie, at that time a well-respected leader of the United Auto Workers and the Michigan Democratic party, was one of the mainstays of our Michigan Chisholm for President campaign in 1972, and in that role showed a lot of us how much can be accomplished even by campaigns where you can’t expect to win the election. Shirley Chisholm did that too, and we’ll miss her. 

—Becky O’Malley›

This week we got a voice mail message directed to the “editor-in-chief” from a woman asking us for a public apology for running a “Kwanzaa commentary” that was deeply offensive. She said that we should have known it would be offensive, and that the author “Mr. McGruder” should be fired. I couldn’t remember running any Kwanzaa commentary—for a moment I thought one could have slipped by me in the readers’ contribution issue we published on Christmas Eve. And we don’t have anyone named McGruder working for us. 

Then I recognized the name: Aaron McGruder is the cartoonist who writes the Boondocks comic strip. I went back and checked the last two issues of the paper, and sure enough, Boondocks, in its quest for sacred cows to skewer, had landed on Kwanzaa, and I’d missed it. Lately the strip has seemed a bit labored, and I haven’t been reading it as regularly as I did when it first came out.  

From her voice, I imagined the caller to be an African-American lady, middle-aged or older. In other words, probably just the person Aaron McGruder is longing to offend, perhaps someone who would remind him of his grandmother or his aunties. I know him from a New Yorker profile and from reading Boondocks as an African-American himself and a congenital Bad Boy who loves to shock. 

Humor often skates on the thin ice of offensiveness. Most of the angry communications we’ve gotten from readers in the past year are about humorous, and more specifically satiric, items. Pictures are the worst offenders. A writer did a gently mocking report of a Berkeley parade staged by practitioners of a variety of non-centrist religious beliefs. While he offended some readers by not capitalizing the word “pagan”, the photo which accompanied the story was the real irritant. It showed two buxom and scantily clad young women leaning on the hood of a pickup. They were wearing fairy wings and smoking cigarettes, a combination which looked comic to many and offended some. We got letters from many self-identified Pagans around the world (and a few pagans) complaining about both the story and the picture. 

Editorial cartoons are the home of satire with a serious side, and one Planet editorial cartoon provoked particular outrage from some readers while getting praise from others. It showed a prone figure in Arabic dress impaled by a flagpole flying a flag which combined symbols from the Israeli and American flags. The cartoonist’s intent was to criticize the foreign policies of the two countries as they pertained to Palestine, and like many political cartoons it was more serious than humorous in intent. Some letter writers and callers took this cartoon to be generally anti-Semitic, because the Star of David was the part of the Israeli flag which was incorporated into the combined flag. Some thought it carried a hidden implication that the U.S. government is controlled by Jews, a la Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Of course, neither interpretation is correct, but expressing the same political criticism of the two governments in words alone might not have offended in the same way. 

This cartoon prompted a few readers to call our advertisers and tell them to cancel their ads. To their eternal credit, instead the advertisers called us to let us know what was going on, and refused to cancel. We especially appreciated one call from the Jewish owner of a small business, who made it clear that he didn’t like the cartoon and was made personally uncomfortable by any coverage of the Israel-Palestine controversy. He suggested that the paper should just stick to covering local news. I told him we were sorry to make him unhappy, but we thought it was our duty to cover all the news our readers are interested in, and many local readers are interested in the issue. He made his point forcefully, but when we disagreed with it he didn’t cancel his ad, for which we thank him. His willingness to live with controversy is paying dividends-- just this week someone told me about an expensive purchase she’d made at his store because he’s a Planet advertiser.  

This issue and subsequent ones will reprint some of the strongest pictures and cartoons which appeared in the Daily Planet in 2004. Some of them will certainly offend someone again. We won’t be re-running the offending Boondocks cartoons because we get them from a syndicate which only lets us run them once, but sometime in the new year, perhaps as early as next week, Aaron McGruder will surely annoy someone else. Our photographers will probably again capture some hapless subject in a comic pose in the next year. Our editorial cartoons, we hope, will continue to irritate.  

It’s our job, best described by John Kenneth Galbraith: “In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong.” Not that our readers are ever wrong, of course. 

—Becky O’Malley 

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