A remarkable cross section of Berkeley gathered beneath a gingko tree Saturday morning to mourn the death of Carla-Helen Toth and celebrate her remarkable life. 

She was, above all, an adventurer, said her friends, constantly breaking boundaries and capturing her experiences in poetry and prose. 

Toth, 42, a Berkeley native, was killed at 2:45 a.m. Feb. 1 by a freight train that struck her after she stopped her wheelchair on the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks on Bancroft Way. She had suffered from cerebral palsy throughout her life, the result of birth injuries. 

To the 80 or so friends who gathered beneath her favorite tree, a majestic gingko outside Giannini Hall, she had become both friend and exemplar, the embodiment of a fierce determination and joyous spirit that confronted and challenged all the obstacles that life threw at her. 

“It was eight months before she could sit up,” said her mother, Erika Toth. “She kept falling forward, and there was a constant wound under her chin because she couldn’t stop. She needed to try and succeed.” 

She was the first pupil with cerebral palsy mainstreamed into Richmond schools, and she graduated from Harry Ells High School to a standing ovation from her fellow students. “There was a huge celebration,” said her mother. “All the students honored her.” 

She left home at 18, the same age at which her parents had fled their native Hungary in the wake of the brutal Soviet suppression of the 1956 revolution. 

“It took her 15 years to finish her Bachelor of Science right here in Giannini Hall,” Toth said. “She met with indifference and later outright hostility, and many times she despaired. Her graduation theme was the gingko tree, and she spent many lovely moments in this spot, dedicated to writing about the environment and to life in all its forms.” 

Carla-Helen Toth wrote poetry, some of which was recited at the memorial, and served as both an editor and writer at Terrain Magazine, the publication of the Ecology Center. 

“I spent hundreds of hours with Carla,” said retired UC instructor Alan Miller. “In 1980 she came up to my office to talk about her major. ‘I hear you’re about trees and the environment,’ she said.” 

Miller retired in 1995, the same year Toth graduated. 

“We set the world’s record for an advisor/advisee relationship,” he quipped. 

One of Miller’s fondest memories was of his first field trip with his new student. “You haven’t seen anything if you haven’t seen Carla dancing with her walker, especially after she’s had a couple of beers or glasses of wine.” 

Whenever Miller showed up after retirement as a guest lecturer, Carla was always there. “I learned much more from her about taking advantage of the moments life gives you than she ever learned from me,” he said. 

“I’ve worked with a lot of good writers,” said former Terrain editor Chris Clark. “But when I think about the years I put in with Terrain, the thing I’ve proudest of is that my last issue had this beautiful article by Carla.” 

Toth’s articles for the publication often focused on her own adventures. Her last offering under Clark’s tenure was a 12-page account of her whitewater rafting trips down the Yampa and Green rivers. 

“She was braver than me,” Clark said. “Sometimes we get to an obstacle that’s too great for us, but I know that at the end, Carla was sitting in the bow, looking straight ahead.” 

Toth was one of the first disabled people to take up skiing, which she began 25 years ago by bolting skis to the feet of her walker, and was on the first trip down the Colorado River after the National Park Service began allowing the disabled to make the arduous journey, family and friends recalled. 

“She was a wildly enthusiastic person, an idealistic person,” said Jory Gessow, an attendant on her river runs. Toth was a regular Friday evening dinner guest at Gessow’s house. 

“She was proud of being a river rat,” said Gessow, raising a flask and drank a toast in her honor. 

“She was the strongest person I’ve ever known,” said Patrick, a friend from her days at the college, “She could see all the injustices of the world, yet she could always see the beauty. It was so beautiful watching her ski. 

“We lost her too soon. I think she just got so depressed that she forgot herself.” 

Then he smiled. “She was such a bad ass,” he chuckled. 

His fellow mourners laughed. 

Toth wasn’t a student of Professor Claudia Carr, but she wandered into her classroom once when she was presenting a slide show, accompanied by recorded tribal music, of hunger-stricken African tribespeople who nonetheless danced. 

She was struck by one of Carr’s photos and asked Carr to bring it and the music out to her gingko tree. They sat quietly, as Toth delighted in the music and the tribe’s ability to celebrate even in adversity. 

After the memorial had ended, Erika Toth talked to a reporter about her daughter. 

Life after graduation had brought its share of disillusion, when prospective employers refused to hire a woman whose speech came slowly and whose body would go into unpredictable spasms. 

“She was trying to find work dealing with environmental issues or doing research for an environmental law firm,” her mother said.  

Then, a few weeks ago, she fell asleep on her couch, stumbled getting up and broke her ankle. After recuperating at her mother’s home in South Lake Tahoe, she returned to Berkeley. 

“She’d had the best time of her life up there, but the Vicodin dragged her down,” her mother said. “And once the depression took hold, no one could reach her.” 

Erika Toth’s own experiences with her daughter and “a wonderful public health nurse” who had cared for Carla inspired her to become a medical social worker, work she plans to continue. 

“I just feel blessed that God gave me her wonderful spirit for the time we had,” she said.›

Father George Crespin abruptly retired from his post as pastor of Berkeley’s St. Joseph The Worker parish last week amid an accusation that he sexually abused a parishioner 30 years ago. 

In a letter read by priests to parishoners Sunday, Crespin denied the charge and questioned the motives of his accuser. 

“Since I know the person making this accusation, I am firmly convinced that this is being done to get money from the church,” he wrote. 

Crespin was out of town for an uncle’s funeral and could not be reached for comment. 

The Diocese of Oakland, which includes Berkeley, refused to disclose the accuser’s gender or specifics about the allegations other than that they were sexual in nature. Diocese officials were also unable to answer which church Crespin was assigned to when the alleged misconduct occurred. Crespin joined St. Joseph’s in 1980, six years after the alleged incident. 

Father Jayson Landeza, pastor of St. Columba’s Church in Oakland, has been named to run St. Joseph’s until church officials find a new pastor, said Father Mark Wiesner, spokesperson for the Oakland diocese. 

Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron determined last week that the charge against Crespin was “credible,” Wiesner said. In such cases, diocese policy calls for the accused priest to be placed on administrative leave while the diocese conducts an investigation. 

Wiesner said the diocese had reported the allegation to law enforcement, but didn’t expect Crespin to face charges or a lawsuit because the statue of limitations had expired. 

In his letter, Crespin, 69, an ordained priest since 1962, said he had planned to retire within the next two years and chose to do so immediately to spare parishioners a prolonged controversy. 

“I do not want to put the parish or myself through a possibly long protracted process...,” he wrote. 

News of Crespin’s retirement stunned St. Joseph’s 1,600-household congregation. 

“We were all in disbelief,” said Norma Gray, who has attended St. Joseph’s for more than 60 years. “It seems like such a terrible thing to happen for a man with such a distinguished career. Even if he is vindicated this can never be fully erased.” 

Gray said parishioners were committed to sticking together to keep the church strong. “Father [Crespin] was devastated by this,” she said. “We don’t want him to be further devastated by the collapse of the parish.” 

Sharon Girard said she took Crespin at his word. “He’s a man of integrity,” she said. “If he says he has been falsely accused then he’s surely innocent.” 

“I don’t believe it,” said longtime parishioner Charles Robinson. He questioned why someone would press charges 30 years after the alleged abuse took place. 

The Oakland diocese has not been immune to clergy sex scandals that made national headlines in 2002. Currently, the diocese is investigating 44 outstanding sexual misconduct claims against clergymen, Wiesner said. Many of the accusations were made decades after the fact, he added, so several of the priests under investigation are either dead or retired. 

Wiesner said he believed Crespin is eligible to receive his pension while under investigation. Should the inquiry find him guilty, Wiesner said, Bishop Vigneron would decide whether or not to continue providing Crespin with benefits and housing. Crespin will leave his residence at St. Joseph’s and seek accommodations at a local parish, Wiesner said. 

Crespin had been a fixture at St. Joseph’s, which is famous as a bastion of Catholic liberation theology with an emphasis on human rights. Like his longtime colleague and predecessor as pastor, Father Bill O’Donnell, Crespin championed the cause of the poor and oppressed. In 1988, he was the plaintiff in a suit that successfully challenged a State Department of Health Services policy denying MediCal-funded nursing home care to immigrants. 

Born in New Mexico to Mexican-immigrant parents, Crespin was active with local Latino groups, especially in the area of education. In 1995, he partnered with the Multicultural Institute on a program to combat the high drop-out rate for Latinos at Berkeley High. Crespin was also credited with saving St. Joseph’s’ Elementary School, where he helped boost attendance to approximately 124 students this year.à

A former employee at the Oakland Animal Shelter has detailed what she says are systemic abuses by shelter management. The list of wrongdoings include euthanizing dogs that were cleared for adoption, euthanizing dogs without sedatives and in one case mistakenly leaving a live dog in a freezer in a barrel with dead dogs. 

“I just couldn’t be part of that anymore,” said Lori Barnabe, a veterinary technician and animal control officer with Oakland from 1999 through 2004. Barnabe, who now works for an animal hospital in Alameda, detailed her concerns about shelter management to Oakland officials last month in a five-page letter obtained by the Daily Planet. 

“We’re taking these charges very seriously,” said Oakland Deputy City Administrator Niccolo De Luca. He said Oakland Police, which run the shelter, were investigating Barnabe’s accusations and that the city administrator’s office would now take an active role in selecting the shelter’s next director. Last June, former Director Glenn Howell resigned to become Director of Animal Control Services for Contra Costa County. 

In response to the allegations, and the ongoing search for a permanent replacement to Howell, Oakland councilmembers Jane Brunner and Ignacio De La Fuente have called a town-hall meeting Thursday, Feb. 17. 

“We don’t have answers yet, but from what we have seen already in my opinion seems serious and needs serious investigation,” Brunner said. 

Oakland Police and shelter officials did not return phone calls for this story, but are expected to attend the meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. at Oakland City Hall. 

In addition to questioning the shelter’s euthanasia practices, Barnabe accused shelter brass of altering critical computer records to hide illegal euthanasias, holding dogs in kennels for cruel lengths of time, violating the rights of residents to retrieve their dogs, releasing stray dogs back to owners unneutered, failing to provide shelter workers with safety gloves, and overall neglect often resulting in unintended animal cruelty. 

“These practices need to be investigated before the hiring process for the shelter top position is complete,” Barnabe concluded in her letter.  

She accused Acting Director and longtime shelter official ReShan McClarty of violating state law governing euthanasia. Last Sept. 26, she wrote, McClarty ordered that 26 dogs be put to sleep even though the shelter had run out of a sedative. Barnabe also charged that the acting director ordered the euthanasia of a dog whose owner had said she would reclaim it.  

Moreover, she wrote, he erased information from computer memos that indicated that a rescue group wanted a particular dog and altered temperament information about the dog, making it seem more violent, after it was euthanized. 

On numerous occasions, she wrote, the shelter supervisor refused to speak to owners of impounded dogs, sometimes resulting in unnecessary boarding frees for owners. In one instance, according to Barnabe, the owner of an aggressive dog impounded by animal control was never given a hearing as required by shelter rules. It was held for over seven months and eventually euthanized, she added. 

A lack of proper procedures endangered both employees and animals at the shelter, Barnabe wrote. Instead of providing shelter workers with disposable rubber gloves when handling animals with communicable diseases like ringworm, scabies and mange, the shelter provided one pair of gloves to be shared by employees. 

Employees, she added, were never reprimanded for mistakes that unintentionally led to animal suffering. In one case, Barnabe wrote that kittens left to the shelter in the night drop box were not retrieved the following day, causing one of them to die from overheating. 

Pam Smith, a volunteer with the group Fix Our Ferals, said shelter management barred her from the shelter last year after she complained about abuses. 

“They’re very worried about their public face,” she said. “Anyone critical of them gets banned.” 

Police traditionally run city animal shelters. Berkeley, which transferred control of its shelter from the BPD to a civilian shelter administrator remains a rare exception. 

›

North Oakland and South Berkeley residents got their first glimpse Saturday of a little-known tribe’s plans to build a major casino next to an environmentally sensitive stretch of shoreline near Oakland International Airport. 

The morning meeting, called by casino foes and Oakland Vice Mayor Jane Brunner, filled the meeting room at Peralta Elementary School at 460 63rd St.  

At the meeting, environmentalist Robert Cheasty vowed to file a lawsuit if the Bureau of Indian Affairs transferred the land to the Koi Rancheria of Pomo tribespeople, which plans a 2,000-slot machine casino on the site. 

“Last summer Jerry Brown asked me to meet with the casino people,” Brunner said, opening the session. “They made two promises. One was that they would never build a casino unless we wanted it, and the other was that it would happen very slowly.” 

Brunner said she was taken by surprise when she learned at Christmas that the Kois were going ahead with the federal environmental impact statement process, with a deadline for all public and official comment of Jan. 22. 

Brunner and four other councilmembers voted on Jan. 11 to oppose the plans of the Koi Rancheria band of Pomos to build their resort complex. Two councilmembers abstained and one was absent. 

The cities of Berkeley, Alameda and San Leandro have joined with Oakland in adopting resolutions against the project, which have no binding force. 

“The major problem is that there is no local jurisdiction or control of the process. Once the land is handed to the tribe, they can do pretty much what they want with it,” Brunner said. 

Tribal chair Daniel Beltran said tribal representatives had met with all members of the City Council to assure them that “your concerns are our concerns. We want to have a positive effect on the community. 

While the tribe has heard from city officials, Beltran said, “we haven’t heard from the community people.” 

The Koi official said the tribe is offering the city an average of $30 million a year, including $5 million for social programs. “This is our sincere offer,” he said. 

Rod Wilson, the tribe’s publicist, offered a Power Point presentation highlighting promises of 2,200 direct jobs with an $80 million annual payroll, purchases of $80 million in goods and services and a $30 million municipal services agreement to reimburse the city for police, fire and other services and to compensate for lost property taxes. 

He also promised mitigations to minimize the impacts of the 2,000-slot machine casino, the 1,000 seat entertainment venue and the four or five restaurants and accompanying luxury hotel which would be built on the protected clapper rail habitat. 

None of these promised seemed to impress Assemblymember Loni Hancock, who has emerged as a leading opponent of urban gambling and recently held her own forum on plans for a 2,500-slot casino at the site of the present San Pablo Casino cardroom. 

“Former Lieutenant Gov. Leo McCarthy led the opposition to Proposition 1A, the ballot measure that allowed Indian gambling in California on the basis that it would open up urban gambling with Las Vegas style casinos. This is precisely what is happening now,” she said. 

Hancock urged Oakland officials to get every promise made by the tribe written in contractual form. She cited the example of the changed plans at San Pablo Casino, which is run by the Lytton Pomo Band. 

She said the Lytton Pomo Band had originally promised that they would only remove the card tables in San Pablo and replace them with slot machines. Then the tribe negotiated a pact with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year calling for a 5,000-slot casino which outraged legislators then stalled. That pact didn’t spell out any obligations to the city or to Contra Costa County that couldn’t be eliminated by the State Director of Finance. 

The new proposal, calling for a 2,500-slot casino includes county benefits, but none for hospitals or schools—the latter not mentioned in any California gambling compact. 

Hancock also noted that the Lyttons had promised 6,000 jobs with the 5,000-slot proposal and are promising the same with the new version, even though it has only half the slots. 

In addition, she said, tribal casinos give about 30 percent of casino earnings to the Nevada firms that operate the gaming floors. 

Cheasty, representing Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP, formerly Citizens for the Eastshore State Park), the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club, said the lights, traffic and noise generated by the casino and the rats drawn by garbage pose an extraordinary threat to the shoreline park directly adjacent to the casino site. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline Park, he said, is the most successful habitat for the clapper rail, a bird that once ranged along the whole California coastline and is now confined to the San Francisco Bay and Suisun Marsh. 

The casino would amount to the end of the habitat, Cheasty said.  

“Do you think Martin Luther King Jr. would’ve wanted this kind of development? This is exactly the kind of impact we don’t want if we’re to preserve this endangered bird,” Cheasty said. 

“CESP has sued Harrah’s over the proposed Point Molate casino in Richmond, and if this casino is approved, we will sue to protect the clapper rail,” he continued. “They’re the ones that will disappear when we bring in this kind of development.” 

Richard Elgin of the Oakland City Attorney’s office questioned whether the Kois had had historical connection with the shoreline at all. “The Ohlones claim that they should be the proper tribe,” he said. 

Elgin also voiced his concern that the casino would fall under the jurisdiction of the federal environmental process, which lacks the California Environmental Quality Act’s (CEQA) ability to force a developer to mitigate adverse impacts resulting from a project. 

In addition, he mused, “The tribe says they are willing to give $30 million, but how much money will be going out of Oakland that might otherwise go to other jobs and business. Would it be draining hundreds of millions from our community?” 

The public comment period that followed revealed strong opposition and very little support from those who had come to watch. 

“Now I get to say ‘I told you so,’” said playwright Judith Offer, who wrote a musical three years ago about a casino coming to Oakland. 

George Logan, a retired UC Berkeley economist, said that the promised jobs weren’t likely to offset the loss of local funds that would flow to Nevada casino operators. 

San Francisco Director of Environmental Health Rajiv Bhatia said that casinos produce lingering health impacts on the community and urged Brunner and the council to try to bring the project under CEQA to authorize a social impact study.

An early windfall courtesy of Sacramento and Wall Street could erase a chunk of the city’s looming budget deficit. 

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, councilmembers are expected to accept a plan to receive nearly $1.7 million in vehicle license fees that Gov. Schwarzenegger withheld from cities last year. 

If approved, the move would trim Berkeley’s projected deficit from $7.5 million to about $5.8 million. City Manager Phil Kamlarz said he is recommending that the money go towards street repairs and a new police computer system. 

California cities were due to receive the vehicle license refund next year. However, the state has offered to reimburse cities most of the money right away by selling bonds. Under the proposal, bondholders would pay the cities as early as the end of February and the state would then pay back the bondholders. 

“We don’t trust the state to give it to us,” said Cisco De Vries, aide to Mayor Tom Bates. “This way we get it for sure.” 

As a price for early delivery the city must pay for bond insurance costs and other fees reducing the total payout from $1.77 million to more than $1.65 million. 

With the fiscal year more than half over, the budget will take center stage at Tuesday’s meeting. At a 5 p.m. work session, City Manager Phil Kamlarz will update the status of the city’s workers compensation payments, pension funds for police and fire department employees, and vacation and sick leave for city workers. 

Long criticized for its runaway costs, the workers compensation program has seen a drop in both lost time and injuries over the past year, according to a report by Acting Director of Human Resources David Hodgkins. However, the report found that workers compensation costs in Berkeley remained higher than in most comparable cities. 

From 1997 through 2002 Berkeley averaged 55.2 claims per 1,000 employees, about 12 percent more than comparable cities, according to a Bickmore Risk Services actuarial report. By comparison, Fremont faced 47.5 claims and Pleasanton 45.4 per 1,000 employees. Berkeley lost an average of $1,850 per employee, compared to $1,387 for Fremont and $1,322 for Pleasanton. 

According to the report, city employees filed 44 fewer claims in the first quarter of fiscal year 2005 than in the first quarter of 2004, and the city reduced the average cost per claim from $6,816 in 2003 to $4,861 last year. 

The city has also hired a consultant, Innovative Claim Solutions, to review 178 long-standing cases, some of which go back decades. 

Also Tuesday, the council is scheduled to continue prioritizing which projects to fund over the next two years.  

Outside of budgetary issues, the council will consider a resolution opposing casinos in the Bay Area. The council’s opposition would be symbolic since the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs has the final say over casinos owned by Native American tribes.

A memorial service for Karl Linn is planned for March 20 at Northbrae Community Church on The Alameda in Berkeley from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

Linn, one of the founders of a series of community gardens in West Berkeley, died last week at the age of 81. 

Those interested in making donations in Linn’s name to support his work are encouraged to make checks out to “Berkeley Partners for Parks” with “Friends of the Westbrae Commons.” 

Berkeley Partners for Parks is a nonprofit agency and the fiscal agent for the Westbrae gardens and greenway projects.  

Donations should be mailed to P.O. Box 13673, Berkeley, 94712.

The City Council Monday named Sara Cox as Berkeley’s new city clerk. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz recommended Cox, who has been serving as the city’s acting clerk since Sherry Kelly retired last December, after a nationwide search. 

“Sara has a good knowledge of Berkeley and understands the community value of being fair to everyone,” Kamlarz said. He added that Cox was one of seven finalists for the clerk job, out of nearly 40 applicants, which included clerks from other cities. 

“I’m extremely honored to have the opportunity to contribute to the community,” Cox said. 

Cox, who has a law degree and a master’s in library science, began working in Berkeley four years ago as deputy city clerk. Her appointment to the top post won’t be official until the council makes a formal vote at next week’s meeting. 

As city clerk Cox will be responsible for managing city documents, researching inquiries, recording City Council and commission happenings and managing elections—a particularly time-consuming chore in a city with numerous elected offices and a penchant for citizen-intiated ballot measures. 

Cox replaces Kelly, who won wide praise for working some of the longest hours in City Hall to dispense information to the public. 

“I know it’s going to be a challenge following in Sherry Kelly’s footsteps,” Cox said. Her top priorities, she said, would be overseeing an online history of council actions dating back to the beginning of the 20th century and automating the system for formulating current council agendas.  

Cox hoped the new council agenda system and some staff restructuring will ultimately keep her from putting in the same hours as Kelly. 

“I kept hoping maybe there was an easier way to do the job, but so far that hasn’t been the case,” she said. Budget cuts have trimmed the clerk’s office to 11 employees, from 15 when Cox arrived in 2001. 

After promoting Cox to the top post, several councilmembers were sympathetic about her workload. 

“It’s a really killer job,” said Councilmember Dona Spring. “We’ve got to figure out how to restructure it otherwise we’ll keep burning people out.”¢

There were few dry handkerchiefs Friday evening as Berkeley firefighters said their final goodbyes to their loyal partner and best friend. 

Dylan, the department’s search and rescue dog since 1998, was put to sleep last month after battling a degenerative spine condition for the past year. 

“Dylan set the standard for how to do our job,” said Chief Debra Pryor. “He was well groomed, ready for work and never had a hair out of place.” 

While many of the testimonials Friday were tongue-in-cheek, firefighters who knew Dylan, a 10-year-old German Shepherd, came to his memorial with a heavy heart. 

The memorial at Berkeley High’s Little Theater, attended by about 200 people, was identical to services given to deceased human firefighters. A bagpiper led a procession of firefighters to the auditorium. On a table, sat a portrait of Dylan, an American flag, his leash and collar, and pictures of the rescue dog in action. Members of Dylan’s team at Fire Station No. 5 tolled a bell for him and presented his handler Darren Bobrosky, with Dylan’s badge wrapped inside an American flag.  

Most of those in attendance were area firefighters and their friends. Dr. Dennis Hacker, Dylan’s eye doctor, said he would miss his patient and marveled at the number of firefighters at the event, including on duty officers standing at the door waiting for a call. 

“I hope I have this many people at my funeral,” he said. 

“He was a member of our Fire Department,” said Scott McKinney, a Berkeley firefighter explaining why the department chose to give its dog such a regal goodbye. “He’d do his best to do his job just the way we do our best to do our job,” he said. 

“What made Dylan stand out was his desire to do the work,” said Bobrosky, an apparatus operator, who trains search dogs as a hobby. “He loved to search.” 

Bobrosky realized Dylan’s potential and worked to sell former Fire Chief Reginald Garcia and the City Council on making Dylan a member of the team. 

The city had forbidden police dogs for years, so Bobrosky took Dylan to the council to prove he was a different breed. 

“I think the fact that Dylan laid on his rug the whole time really impressed them,” Bobrosky said. The council agreed to accept Dylan so long as Bobrosky paid the costs. Later, the city would pick up the tab for some trainings and veterinarian bills. 

In perhaps his biggest assignment, Dylan was dispatched to Ground Zero shortly after Sept. 11, 2001 to search for possible survivors.  

Dylan didn’t find any survivors among the wreckage as he was trained to do. However, Bobrosky said that if the opportunity had arisen, Dylan would have been up to the task. “It would have been a no brainer,” he said. “He would have treated it like it was just another training session.” 

Bobrosky spent many of his off-days with Dylan practicing search and rescue techniques at rubble yards. In 2002, Dylan was the only dog to find all six victims at his state recertification test, Bobrosky said. 

With few calls for a search and rescue dog, much of Dylan’s duties involved being the department’s ambassador to the community, Bobrosky said. Dylan starred at school assemblies and senior homes, Bobrosky said. He even served as the Grand Marshal in the Solano Stroll. 

He also boosted morale around the firehouse, firefighters said. “Dylan and I had a special rapport,” said Lt. George Fisher, who until last year served as Dylan’s commanding officer. “He’d peek into my room, run in, bite my sheets and growl, and then race out.” 

Fisher said he was the only one who could get the famously well-tempered dog riled up. “I’d whisper in his ear and he’d go wild,” he said. “The guys would all ask what I was saying to him, but I said, ‘It’s between me and the dog.’” 

As his illness, first diagnosed in 2003, progressed to the point that he lost control of his hind legs, Dylan earned admiration for his toughness. “He’d try to drag himself over to the table to be with guys,” recalled Firefighter Paul Cavagnaro. “He didn’t work the last year, but we still loved having him around.” 

Bobrosky said the decision to put Dylan to sleep was the hardest he ever had to make. “He just couldn’t live with the dignity he deserved,” he said.  

Bobrosky is now busy training a possible successor to Dylan. 

Diesel, a three-year-old Rottweiler, has impressed his master with uncanny agility and quickness. If he comes along at the current pace, Bobrosky said, Diesel could be certified in the next 18 months. 

“He’s coming along pretty well,” he said. “But Dylan, he was truly one of a kind.” 

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A controversial proposal to develop Laney College properties and the Peralta Colleges Administration Building land ran into a significant setback last week when a meeting designed to win over Laney College support instead appeared to stiffen opposition. 

In addition, Oakland developer Alan Dones’ proposed changes in the proposal now bring it into direct conflict with funded development plans already in place for Laney College’s Art Annex. 

Following the meeting, Laney College Athletic Director and former Faculty Senate President Stan Peters said there was “absolutely no support on the Laney campus” for Dones’ proposed development project, and members of the Laney Faculty Senate began circulating a petition on campus which urged the district to “enter into no contracts or compacts to develop [Laney] land or use the facilities for non-college purposes” until the district has developed a strategic education, facilities, and land use plan. 

In a plan presented to the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees last November, Dones proposed putting a high-rise parking facility and a multi-agency administrative complex along the west side of East 8th Street on land currently occupied by Laney faculty and student parking, a “possible medical center” and residential development on land currently occupied by the Peralta Administration offices on East 8th and 5th Avenue, and setting aside the Laney baseball and softball fields as a “future planning area.” 

Peralta’s outgoing Board of Trustees—four of whom chose not to run for re-election last November—voted to authorize Chancellor Elihu Harris to enter into a one-year contract with Dones’ Strategic Urban Development Alliance (SUDA). But last month, after Laney College faculty and student representatives complained that they had never been consulted on the Dones proposal and announced particular opposition to any development of the athletic fields, Harris said he was not ready to enter into the authorized contract negotiations with SUDA, calling them “premature.” 

Dones later said in a telephone interview that opposition to the Laney athletic fields development was due to a “misunderstanding,” and that his company never planned to propose anything more than enhancing the athletic use of the fields. 

Last week, after admitting he had erred in not consulting with Laney representatives before bringing his proposal to the Peralta trustees, Dones held an open meeting at the Laney campus with faculty, staff, students and “members of the community” to try to repair the damage. According to reports from some meeting participants, it did not work. 

“Nothing he showed us was of benefit to the college,” said Laney Faculty Senate President Evelyn Lord. She added that “he’s got so many things in his proposal, it looks far beyond what the limited available land can support.” 

In a presentation, Dones listed a “mixed use parking structure” for the existing faculty and student parking lot as originally presented in November to the Peralta trustees. But the presentation also proposed—and Lord and Peters said that Dones emphasized—placing a high-rise student/faculty parking structure in another location: the existing tennis courts at the southeast corner of the campus on East 10th Street. 

The problem is, last year the Peralta District approved construction of a $7.4 million art annex building on that same tennis court location. An architect and construction manager are already hired, and construction is scheduled to be completed in January of 2006. Construction of the art annex is necessary because CalTrans needs the land housing the present annex for use as a staging area during an upcoming I-880 freeway retrofit project. 

“If you don’t include the art annex construction in the proposal, the rest of the discussion is moot,” athletic director Peters said. 

Faculty Senate President Lord said that Dones acknowledged the conflict with the art annex at the meeting, but his solution was to ask meeting participants to lobby district officials to try to halt the art annex construction. She thought that was a dead end. “He admitted this was coming at the 11th hour,” she said. “I suspect this is past the 11th hour to try to change those types of plans.” 

Lord also accused the developer of being disingenuous in the presentation of his plans to Laney representatives. “He presented the proposed Peralta Administration Building development to us as ‘health care facilities,’” she said. “But in an ad he put out last week in a local newspaper, he said he was going to put a hospital on that land. That set off alarm bells. A hospital would have a huge impact on the Laney campus.” 

Lord said that Laney faculty members were not automatically opposed to any development on Laney lands, just to the particular development proposed by Dones. Both she and Peters agreed that an expanded parking facility was a critical need for the college. “We support a high-rise parking facility,” Lord said. “We just don’t want it on the location [Dones] is now proposing, the site of the new art annex.”  

Peters, who helped lead a successful effort a decade ago to halt plans by Kaiser Hospital to build a medical facility on Laney lands, said that he was going to fight for three principles in any Laney development: “it has to include sufficient parking for now and the future, it has to be compatible with our educational mission, and Laney has to get a bigger share of the proceeds in return for giving up any of our land.”  

In addition, Peters said another reason for his opposition is that approval of the Dones plans would block off any future expansion of Laney’s educational facilities. “We really have too many campuses in the district,” Peters said. “One possible way to correct that imbalance would be to close Merritt College and expand Laney’s campus. But the only place for Laney to expand is in the parking lot and the district administration building.” 

Dones was not available for comment for this article. 

Dones’ new proposals also failed to get the support of Peralta Federation of Teachers (PFT) president Michael Mills, who attended the Laney meeting. 

“PFT does not have a position on SUDA’s proposal,” Mills said. “Our position is that the Trustee Board’s original actions in authorizing the SUDA contract were improper. The contract should have been put out to bid.” Mills said that because of the union’s position, he has resisted Dones’ request for a meeting with union representatives to discuss the proposal. “I’m not going to have a sit-down with him,” Mills said. “I’m not going to legitimize the process.” 

Lord said that Dones presented no plans at the end of the Laney meeting as to what the next step in the process would be, but the faculty senate president said “we’re not waiting for him. We’re not going to sit passively back to see what happens.” 

Lord said that she expected representatives of Laney College’s faculty, staff, administration, and students to meet sometime in the near future to plan strategies to block the development proposal. “Our real goal is to get the trustees to rescind their action in approving the SUDA contract negotiations,” she said.›

Planning commissioners will conduct their third hearing Wednesday on plans to build a second Berkeley Bowl near the heavily traveled intersection of Ashby Avenue and Ninth Street. 

The proposal, which calls for two buildings totaling 91,060 square feet, has roused opposition from area residents who fear the additional traffic the store will generate, the loss of parking spaces on nearby streets and the loss of Mixed Use-Light Industrial [MU-LI] land in West Berkeley. 

The project’s architecture has earned the praise of the city’s Design Review Committee and city planning staff have prepared a mitigated negative declaration on the project which finds that potential adverse impacts can be fully addressed without the need for an environmental impact report. 

Before the project can be moved forward, planning commissioners must first rezone the site from MU-LI to Avenue Commercial and amend the West Berkeley Plan, which calls for retention of all MU-LI-zoned property. 

Planning commissioners held hearings on Dec. 15, Jan. 12 and Jan. 26—the last session producing two hours of public comments, mostly negative. 

One of the most frequently raised concerns is that the intrusion of more commercial uses into the neighborhood will drive up rents, driving out the substantial community of artists who live and work in the area. 

West Berkeley is home to the city’s largest concentration of working artists and craftspeople, many of whom fear that economic pressures will drive them out of the city. 

Other residents welcome the opportunity to buy groceries in their own neighborhood. 

The 2.3-acre site at 920 Heinz Ave. currently houses vacant buildings and an asphalt business. 

Berkeley Bowl owner Glen Yasuda has testified that if he is denied the opportunity to build at the site, he will scout out another West Berkeley location and try again. 

A traffic engineering study estimated that the store would generate an additional 3,800 vehicle trips to the neighborhood, most concentrated on Ashby and San Pablo avenues. 

The proposal has drawn the concern of officials of the Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley—more commonly known as the French School—who fear that the additional traffic generated on Heinz Avenue may pose a safety threat to the 503 students who regularly attend class there. 

Wednesday’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center at 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Planning commissioners will also hold another in their ongoing discussions of proposed changes to the city Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and the accompanying changes to the city Zoning Ordinance. 

ZAB Postponed  

Because Thursday is a non-working day for city officials (a cost-cutting measure to help close the city’s budget gap), the Zoning Adjustments Board meeting normally scheduled for that date has been postponed until 7 p.m. Monday. 

ZAB meets in the second floor City Council chambers in the old city hall building at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

Following approvals by the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, marsh excavations have resumed at the waterfront edge of Richmond’s Campus Bay. 

Work on Stege Marsh had stopped on Feb. 1, a deadline set to ensure that the endangered clapper rail shorebird could nest and reproduce at the site. 

But the excavation of contaminated marsh sediments being conducted by Cherokee Simeon ventures hadn’t concluded as planned, and the developer sought a 30-day continuance. 

With the approval of the two federal agencies, work has resumed under the supervision of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. 

The new deadline for finishing the excavations and replacing the contaminated muck with clean fill soil is March 1. 

Cherokee-Simeon hopes to build a 1,330-unit housing project on the upland portion of the site directly over a landfill containing 350,000 cubic yards of toxics-contaminated soil and building materials created during the site’s century of use as the site of chemical manufacturing operations. 

—Richard Brenneman

MONSTROSITIES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Whose idea, and to whose certain benefit, is it to build towering monstrosities on every existing open space and others opened by tear-downs in Berkeley? Whose privilege is it to decide? 

Certainly not the citizens of Berkeley, because the City Council never asked us, the ones who live here. It’s time we, the residents, took stock of what is happening and demanded a stop to the terminal desecration of our city. 

Dorothy V. Benson 

• 

TAKE DOWN THE PLASTIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s not as if there is excess space in our schoolyards. At the high school, the open spaces east of the H building have been fenced off since school began. First for construction, yet, while construction ended in October, the grass is still fenced off in orange plastic fencing. The grass is now getting leggy and needs mowing, and dandelions and other weeds have sprouted. 

Willard has suffered the same fate. Its grassy areas and large parts of its garden are also fenced off in orange plastic. The fence around the grass at Washington School came down quickly after a recent letter to the editor commented on it. 

Is the new BUSD policy “No child allowed on the grass”? Shouldn’t it be instead “Schoolyards are for students”? Please take those ugly orange plastic fences down! 

B. Schwartz 

• 

DIVERSIFY COVERAGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As I’ve been reading the Planet ever since its inception, I’m delighted with its constant improvement. However, I must admit being tired of reading about the use and/or abuse of Berkeley’s land. For example, the first few pages of the Jan. 28-31 issue cover the same old stories —the West Berkeley Bowl, the San Pablo Casino, the Derby Street site, the Marin Avenue auto lanes, the law suit against the university, and Caltrans’ plan for the Caldecott Tunnel. These stories may be of interest to the people involved, but they are much too long and drawn out for most of us. A short summary of what happened in the last few days would be enough. 

I would rather see more space filled with human-interest stories—of entrepreneurs like the one on page seven about Rajen and Bijaya Thapa and their new “Taste of the Himalayas” restaurant. Or on page 13, Dorothy Bryant’s article about Lewis Suzuki’s paintings and the gallery he and his wife Mary run. Or Matthew Artz’s recent interview with Mark Tarses, the chocolate-making landlord. I love Susan Parker’s very personal column, especially when she talks about life with her disabled husband, Ralph. And, talking about disability, a story about courageous Dona Spring, our disabled city councilmember, would be most enlightening. 

Rose M. Green 

• 

INSIDE THE BUILDINGS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There is something wrong with this picture. 

Almost daily we read reports that there is not enough money for teachers, supplies and resources for our public schools. Yet, in a 10-minute drive from my home, in central Berkeley, I can pass eight elementary, junior high and high schools which have either been demolished and rebuilt or completely renovated. Some are still in progress. These are multi-million dollar building projects. 

After the recent elections, the Berkeley Public Library system, even though it receives an equal amount as the schools from our property taxes, announced it was cutting back both hours and employees for lack of funds. But only last year a multi-million dollar project to completely renovate and build an addition to the main library was completed. 

It seem we are concentrating on the buildings instead of what goes on inside them. 

Norma Gray 

• 

MAINSTREAM PRESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Just checking: 

Recently, reporting on the Davos Economic Summit, the BBC World Service had two interesting spots: 

1. Tony Blair saying clearly that if the U.S. expects the rest of the world to help on terrorism, the rest of the world can expect the U.S. to help on global warming (the acceleration of which mentioned in a set-up). 

2. Bill Clinton saying that with a fraction of the money going into the bottomless sink of Iraq, the U.S. could help all of Africa out of poverty and disease. 

Did these statements make it anywhere into the U.S. press, readers?  

Thank God for our little planetary paper! 

Senta Pugh Chamberlain 

• 

WEST BERKELEY BOWL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The development of new West Berkeley Bowl would be a great benefit to West Berkeley. The area considered for development is basically underdeveloped, mostly disused industrial space. The neighbors who supposedly are against this scale of development have a very limited view of Berkeley and reflect the view of a very small minority of people who basically against change of any kind. 

I live in West Berkeley, my business is in West Berkeley and my kids go to public school in West Berkeley. This is my back yard for most of my life. I’ve seen growth and new families moving in. It’s been a gradual, positive change and I think most folks living here by far look forward to these new developments. 

Glenn Yasuda’s plans will bring life to an area that sits dormant. It will bring a much needed additional grocery store to an area that has very limited shopping options and it will enhance the other businesses in the area. And, he’s not some big chain, he’s local and committed to Berkeley. What city wouldn’t die to have a Berkeley Bowl complex like this available to them? 

In response to the “riled neighbors” here’s what I’d say: 

• Size and traffic. The impact of this store and it’s site will have very limited impact. Just look at the new Target store in Albany. Contrary to my own fears that 200,000-square-foot store has not generated massive traffic jams. And the circulation around the West Berkeley Bowl site is even better. 

• Losing industry. Berkeley, as well as Oakland, Richmond, Emeryville and many other cities, is losing industry. It’s a 60-year historic trend. We need to face the fact that new locating industry, light or otherwise, is generally economically and environmentally impractical. Who wants giant trucks and a warehouse near by anyway? This is a fantasy by a group of folks in Berkeley. Not to mention the vast majority of remaining blue collar jobs in Berkeley go to people who do not live in Berkeley! 

• What about the new jobs the store will create by the way? And the positive impact on small stores and cafes in the area that will reap the benefit of new customers traveling through a once dead zone. 

• Artists losing out. Well I don’t know about this. Who can say whether artists should be located in one place over another? How do you “determine” the impact on artists? This is darn near impossible. And I bet lots of organically oriented artists are going to be buying food at the Bowl. 

Let’s not only accept this project let’s welcome the positive change to the neighborhood and the ability to bring more healthy food outlets to Berkeley. 

I say let’s move forward on this and keep in mind the majority of people, like me, who are looking forward to this great new store. 

Steven Donaldson 

• 

HURRAH FOR WEST BOWL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a long time resident of West Berkeley, I had one response when I heard that Berkeley Bowl was planning to build a new store in my neighborhood: Hurrah! 

In my opinion, this is the highest use of this property; I can think of no other development which could bring so much good to so many people. Currently, the only full service grocery store we have is an Andronico’s on University, and bless ‘em for being in our neighborhood at all, it just isn’t the same. The idea that I wouldn’t have to use fossil fuels to go shopping on the other side of town is compelling, as well. And any business that brings decent citizens to my neighborhood instead of hookers and drug dealers is all right with me, too. 

Christine Staples 

• 

SLIM CHANCE FOR PEACE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Tell the truth, you invented the Avraham Sonenthal character (Letters, Daily Planet, Jan. 28-31). There could not be such a living human being. The Kach party is not virulently anti-Arab, but all Arabs must disappear from the State of Israel. You’re kidding, right? That statement is too ridiculous to be taken seriously.  Becky, you will have to do better if you want to be believed. 

The Sonenthal character flatly states that Arabs see the State of Israel as “erroneously” robbing him of his land. Of course, all historical research of any consequence bears out the fact that many Arabs were evicted from their land by the Israeli’s and/or the Israeli State. But never mind the facts. Any statement to arrive at a pre-ordained conclusion. It’s almost as if Karl Rove were directing the Kach propaganda machine. 

This is one American Jew (by Sonenthal’s definition) who is tired of all that shit. Kach is a collection of liars and madmen, quite similar to the Moslem extremists that think blowing up civilians is a cool kind of politics.   

Face facts: The until-recently-current Israeli government has committed stupid atrocities and over-reacted to Arab provocations. Israel has been less safe from the time Sharon took power then it ever was before. Recently, however, Sharon seems to have come to at least a part of his senses, brought Labor back into the government and started dealing with the Palestinian Authority in a realistic manner. 

Maybe, just maybe, there is finally a slim chance for peace. 

Mal Burnstein 

• 

MEASURE R 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to thank you and Debby Goldsberry for last month’s commentary piece revisiting Measure R. As a disabled Berkeley resident and medical cannabis patient, I was disappointed that Measure R did not receive more support from voters, and equally disappointed at previous poor, misinformed judgments and lack of action by the mayor and city council which prompted this ballot measure. 

While the various election and counting procedures mentioned in the article were informative and noteworthy, in my opinion the recount efforts are somewhat futile since at least half the Berkeley voters voted against Measure R. Unfortunately, the ballot measure was hastily (and therefore perhaps poorly) written and received scant or no support from BCC, city officials, and neighborhood groups. My own picture was sent on a flyer to thousands of Berkeley voters without the time to include my own personally written reasons for supporting the measure. The campaign backers hoped Measure R would be passed as a simple referendum on medial cannabis. I disagreed with this strategy and would have preferred a more informative and upfront campaign. 

At the end of the proverbial day, medical cannabis patients like myself attempting to grow their own medicine, are simply breaking the law in Berkeley. I know of several medical cannabis patients, disabled or otherwise, who are fearful for their job security and community standing due to their use of cannabis as a medicine because of Measure R’s defeat. To my way of thinking, in Berkeley now there is indeed a less compassionate and hostile climate toward medical cannabis fostered by misinformation and political inaction and reaction. Earlier last year when the mayor and BCC refused to heed recommendations from the Alliance of Berkeley Patients (dispensary owners) and other patient advocates like myself, signatures were gathered for the ballot measure. The mayor and BCC had expressed fears of large “grow warehouses” and “a parade of pot clubs.” Their reaction to Measure R getting on the ballot was after the summer recess limiting the number of Berkeley dispensaries to three. “The solution in search of a problem,” as Kriss Worthington so aptly quipped. 

Around half (and maybe more) the Berkeley voters supported Measure R. For this reason, I believe our elected officials, medical cannabis dispensary owners, and other knowledgeable patient advocates should begin a new dialogue this year. Why should the Berkeley Municipal Code be stricter on medical cannabis patients than Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma County? 

Charles Pappas 

• 

TOWN VS. GOWN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Which is more important: bridging a short-term budget gap, or resolving an increasingly expensive, long-term problem? Looked at in purely fiscal terms, the City Council is now facing that choice in deciding its response to the university’s 2020 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). The city will probably file a lawsuit challenging the 2020 LRDP, but many fear that this may simply be a maneuver to get more money from UC in Mayor Bates’ backroom negotiations with the university. In a time of budget shortfall, people fear that a few million dollars from UC may appeal to the City Council. But “selling out” to UC would be a fiscal disaster. 

The city has identified UC’s ongoing annual cost to the city as over $11 million per year. That would add up to $161 million by 2020, although naturally the costs won’t stop then. Although the legitimacy and sustainability of this subsidy is questionable, let’s call this gift to our wealthy friend our “good neighbor” subsidy, because this figure only covers costs for normal city services and assumes that the university is a good citizen like everyone else and does no special damage to those around it.  

But the university damages its neighbors in ways that are not permitted for any other municipal citizen. The $11 million per year does not include any compensation for past, present, or future damage to Berkeley caused by UC expansion—even assuming that Berkeley citizens were in a mood to “sell” their quality of life and ultimately their city to the university for some additional sum. This part of the equation we can call the “bad neighbor” subsidy, and it appears in both reduced quality of life and fiscal impacts. It is totally different and distinct from the “good neighbor” subsidy, and even less justifiable. 

Loss of livability and long-term fiscal impacts are less direct, less quantifiable, and less observable than an immediate budget shortfall, but they diminish every budget, every service, every program, every goal, and every civic improvement Berkeley tries to provide, now and forever. Some effects will be obvious: the increasing traffic all over town and the damage to neighborhoods around the core campus, for example. But nobody will ever point to some youth program we couldn’t afford, or an unrealized improvement in south Berkeley, or the accumulating drab on University and Telegraph Avenues, or the decline of businesses and family housing, or a new fee on their tax bills, and say, “This is because of UC expansion.” But that is exactly where the costs appear, and over time they add up to hundreds of millions of dollars of increased expenses and lost opportunities. It’s simple math: When UC expands, city services for other citizens decline. 

That is why the only fiscally responsible approach is to address the university’s LRDP in a way that radically and forever changes UC’s behavior. It will be a very tough fight, but we must demand no less from our mayor and City Council. 

Doug Buckwald 

• 

PIONEERING EFFORTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Matthew Artz’s informative article on Berkeley’s “storied tradition as a national springboard for political innovation” (“Berkeley: The Left’s Test Lab,” Daily Planet, Feb. 4-7) inadvertently omitted several other significant city initiatives, some of which later served as models for U.S. cities nationwide. 

Perhaps one of Berkeley’s most important and pioneering policy initiatives was the city’s role in establishing—in conduction with the Ecology Center—the nation’s first curbside recycling program. Today, curbside recycling is a standard program in nearly every major U.S. city. 

In 2002, Berkeley established the nation’s first 24-hour, universal emergency wheelchair repair program to serve the city’s disabled community. 

Also, Berkeley is one of the few cities of its population size (120,000 or less) to establish its own city Health Department with a network of health clinics to serve the city’s low income citizens on a sliding scale basis. 

These city programs reflect the deep generosity of Berkeley’s residents, and the city’s strong social democratic/justice tradition. 

Hopefully, at some point in the near future, Berkeley voters will pass a “clean money” election campaign reform measure removing special interest/corporate money from city elections. Given that Maine and Arizona have already passed and implemented similar clean money measures, Berkeley, unfortunately, won’t be able to claim a pioneering role.  

Chris Kavanagh 

• 

DERBY STREET FIELD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am writing to ask the people who are pushing a construction of a hardball field at the East Campus Site on Derby Street to pick another spot. My neighborhood is already heavily occupied. We have Berkeley Bowl, Iceland, the Farmers’ Market, King CDC, and Berkeley Alternative High to name a few. There have been numerous occasions where I could not concentrate on my schoolwork or fall asleep because of the noise level in our neighborhood. A huge baseball stadium complete with lights, night games, and cheering crowds would ensure that I, a Berkeley High student, wouldn’t get any level of peace and quiet.  

Let’s take an example of a residential baseball field in which the planners were disrespectful of neighborhood concerns: the San Pablo Park ballfield. I know of neighbors living adjacent to San Pablo Park who have had to leave their house because of the absence of peace and quiet in their neighborhood. Hardball fields in residential neighborhoods don’t mix. 

Supporters of the Derby Street ballfield contend that the neighbors are anti-youth and out of touch with Berkeley community. Well, I am a neighbor and I go to Berkeley High, but I know that a hardball field doesn’t belong in a residential neighborhood. 

I agree that the demolition of the East Campus buildings has been long overdue, but to build a regulation-size baseball stadium is nothing of a compromise. Perhaps they should leave it how it is until think of a plan that is more agreeable. 

Rio Bauce 

• 

DAVID BROWER CENTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for writing about the David Brower Center. Based upon the plans presented, I think that the Brower Center will be a nationally-recognized facility that will be a model for others throughout the country. The proposal is creative, and builds upon many of Berkeley’s greatest strengths. David Brower was a man of unusual wisdom and vision. A state-of-the-art green building at the edge of the campus would be a profound monument to Berkeley’s long-time resident and one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century.  

Michael Green 

• 

CITY BUDGET CRISIS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

City of Berkeley employees earn two weeks of vacation annually and three weeks of vacations starting the fourth year. In addition, they receive 13 regular paid holidays, three floating holidays and 12 days of sick leave annually.  

City employees are allowed to carry over 320 vacation hours to next year. For hours in excess of the 320 hour limit, the city pays its employees at their current salary rate. Therefore, many employees receive thousands of dollars at each year-end due to this unusual policy. 

In contrast, employees at federal agencies, UC Berkeley and the City of San Francisco do not get paid for their excess vacation leave. Their excess leave is use-or-lose.  

If City of Berkeley also adopts a use-or-lose vacation leave policy, it will definitely help solve city’s budget crisis. 

Janet Fricker 

• 

CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Many people should understand that Conservative Christians had been and still are racist reactionaries who use their faith to promote their racist agendas. For example, 40 years ago, these people who claim to be people of faith, were against sharing the water fountain with African Americans in the South. They also didn’t want African Americans into both their swimming pool and beaches. 

Plus, Conservative Christians lynched black men who either dated or married their daughters. They were and still are against the civil rights movement. They are pushing for George W. Bush’s conservative judges to fill future vacant seats on the Supreme Court. These judges will roll back American Indian sovereignty, environmental and civil rights laws. 

Finally, Conservative Christians might pick African American and Latinos as allies in their fight against gay marriage but these same Conservative Christians don’t want these African American men to either date or marry their daughters. In conclusion, many people should beware of the racist agendas that Conservative Christians are promoting, in the name of their faith. 

Billy Trice, Jr. 

Oakland?

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas 

?

Three days before Christmas I had to fire the two people who helped me with my husband’s care. I broke out in hives the moment I asked them to leave. It was not a good sign.  

I was expecting 17 people for dinner on Christmas day. I was planning to go back east after the holidays for a long visit. I didn’t know how I could do all this and take care of Ralph. The hives were hot and they made me itch. The last time I had suffered from this affliction had been 35 years ago when my first boyfriend dumped me. I hadn’t quite gotten over that experience and now I was faced with this new dilemma. I was worried, scared, and covered in red bumps. 

So I did the only thing I could think of: I called the person I had fired two years ago and asked him to come back. That would be Jerry, the man who came to live with us six months after Ralph’s accident. We had gotten along great for many years, but like most situations in which unlike people live together in close proximity, we had grown peevish, cranky, and intolerant of one another. Nine years into our employer/employee relationship we called it quits. It was not an amicable break-up, but by then Jerry had a place of his own in which to live, and Ralph and I had found new help. 

For the next two years we saw Jerry occasionally and even employed him a few times when our current live-ins didn’t meet their responsibilities. He was subsisting on Social Security and weekly hand-outs from nearby churches. He had lost weight and his hair had grown gray.  

Jerry said he could help. He came into our home and took over. My hives went away. I hung a wreath on the front door, roasted two turkeys, and hoped for the best. 

I was not disappointed. We pulled off Christmas dinner and I came back from my vacation well rested. My house was semi-clean and my husband relatively healthy. My life, though not in order, was not entirely out of control. 

But unbeknownst to me, Jerry had made himself a supervisor and contracted the work out to some of his associates. I returned to a house full of people, some I knew, some I didn’t. Jerry rehired the woman I had just fired, and also employed his friend, Willie. Willie had been living in a van in front of Jerry’s apartment until it was towed away. He didn’t have the cash to get it back. He had lost all his belongings, including his clothes. When I met him he had on my t-shirt and Ralph’s pants. Jerry explained it was better that Willie was wearing our clothes than no clothes at all. I had to agree. 

Willie has moved in and made himself comfortable. Jerry has taught him what to cook for Ralph’s breakfast, how to get him in and out of his bed and wheelchair, what medications to give him and when to hook up the oxygen tanks and night bags. All I have to do is pay Willie for his services, and fill in when he is at his other job.  

Willie works as a cook at a local barbecue joint. It is a position he has held for the past four years. One of the benefits of working at the restaurant is that Willie can take home the leftovers at the end of his shift. Our refrigerator is filled top to bottom with the fruit of Willie’s labor: barbecue ribs and chicken, deep-fried turkey, well-cooked greens, and banana pudding. There is enough food in there for three extended family reunions. I’m not all that fond of barbecue, but I haven’t complained. I’ve had to learn to tolerate a lot of things since Ralph’s accident; learning to love barbecue should be a cinch.›

Door-Buster 

Police are seeking the culprit who kicked in four apartment doors Thursday morning in a building near the corner of Prospect Street and Hillside Avenue, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

Gunman Grabs Cell, Cash 

A pistolero wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt approached a 22-year-old pedestrian near the corner of Le Conte and Euclid avenues about 10:58 p.m. Thursday and relieved him of his cell phone and the contents of his wallet. 

Instant Replay 

Just 40 minutes later, a gunman matching the same description approached a 33-year-old man near the corner of Milvia and Vine streets and departed with his wallet and contents. 

Officer Okies said investigators are trying to determine if the same bandit was involved in both incidents. 

Crime Occurs After Report 

Police responded to a report of a brawl at Kip’s Restaurant, 2439 Durant Ave., at 2 a.m. Friday, only to discover that a fracas had ended before their arrival. 

But that didn’t matter. 

Moments later, another bout of battery occurred right in front of the bluecoats, ending with the arrest of the 21-year-old miscreant on charges of battery and public drunkenness. 

High School Heist 

Officers who responded to the report of a fight at Berkeley High School during the Friday lunch hour discovered that they had a strongarm robbery on their hands. The suspected student miscreant was taken into custody. 

Bus Heist 

Police rushed to the corner of Telegraph and Ashby avenues at 10:11 p.m. Saturday, responding to a robbery call. 

After determining that a gunman had taken a passenger’s cell phone, officers summoned the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, which had jurisdiction of all crimes on the bus system, said Officer Okies.

Blaze Erupts During Concert 

A burning candle left in an offstage dressing room ignited a blaze at Berkeley Community Theater Thursday night as 3,000 fans packed the auditorium for a rock concert. 

Fortunately, theater staff spotted the blaze as it began and were able to halt its spread with fire extinguishers. 

The fire department was called at 9:23 p.m., said Deputy Fire Chief David Orth. “It was out by the time we got there,” he said, “so we didn’t have to evacuate the theater.” 

One of the performers from the band Modest Mouse had placed a lighted tea candle into a shot glass, which Orth said was made of a glass that isn’t formulated to withstand the heat of an open flame. 

“The shot glass broke and the burning wax spread onto the cloth covering the dressing room table,” he said. “From there it spread to the wood frames around the mirrors.” 

Structural damage was minimal, and Orth estimated the loss to contents at $1,500. 

Cigarette Sparks Costly Blaze 

A cigarette lit by an unwelcome guest sleeping beneath the rear deck of the home at 1535 Addison St. triggered a $310,000 fire early Sunday morning. 

Firefighters were called at 2:57 a.m. with a report that an exterior rear stairway was ablaze, said Deputy Chief Orth. They arrived to find the rear deck burning and the flames spreading to the interior of the house. 

“There were multiple tenants in the house, and the fire was already inside of one of the bedrooms,” he said. 

Before firefighters had doused the flames, the fire had spread to a second bedroom and into the attic. A workshop underneath the deck was heavily damaged, Orth said. 

“The guest was sleeping on foam mats underneath the deck, and he told us he awoke to find himself surrounded by flames,” Orth said. 

The man changed his story after Orth’s investigation turned up evidence that he’d been smoking, and that the cigarette had probably ignited the bedding. 

Neighbors had repeatedly complained about alleged drug use on the property, Orth said. “They’d been upset with the occupants and their hangers-on for some time.” 

The fire department arranged alternative accommodations for the occupants with the American Red Cross. 

Second Candle Blaze 

The owner of the home at 1209 Delaware St. left a candle burning behind the sofa when she stepped out for a few minutes Sunday night. She arrived home at 9 p.m. to find her sofa in flames. 

“The candle ignited the drapes, which burned up to the curtain rod and then fell off onto the sofa,” said Deputy Chief Orth. 

The fire was quickly extinguished, but not before doing $15,000 in damage to the structure and $10,000 to the contents, he said. 

“This time of year when the weather is cold, people seem to burn candles more, and they cause more fires than at other times of years,” he said. 

During his preliminary investigations of fire scenes, Orth said he always looks for ashtrays and evidence of candles. 

“Sometimes you see a ring burned into the top of a table,” he said. 

Other times, such as the Community Theater fire, he spots the small metal squares used to anchor the wick at the base of tea candles. “I saw four of five of them there,” he said. 

Orth cautions residents not to leave candles burning when they leave the house and to place them away from inflammable materials. 

“I can’t imagine why anyone would leave a burning candle behind a sofa,” he said.

The Berkeley Daily Planet, in the Feb. 1-3 edition, ran two lengthy opinion pieces critical of the attempts to close Derby Street by the School Board and city in order to accommodate a full size baseball field.  

The Berkeley School Board fully concurs w ith several of the allegations in the article. We also do not want anyone to build “a fenced, locked, hardball field with night lights and electronic sound system available seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., 365 days a year.” No one on the board has e ver stated they wanted this, regardless of the statements by Mr. Schorer and Ms. Bryant in their opinion pieces. We don’t want anyone to close Derby Street unless there is a dedicated spot for the Farmers Market somewhere on the property, preferably along Martin Luther King Way. And the school district would never let someone build an athletic field on our property to make money. The money to build an athletic field was approved by the citizens of Berkeley when we passed several bond measures to upgrade t he facilities for our students, not to generate income. 

However, after reading Mr. Schorer’s and Ms. Bryant’s opinion pieces one would never believe this to be the case. Also, each writer constantly refers to “a member of the board” without giving a name. I can only assume they are referring to me. I have been the most active School Board member, during my tenure on the School Board, for an athletic facility around Derby Street that could accommodate a full-sized baseball field and guarantee a dedicated s pace for the Tuesday Farmers Market. But I have never advocated a “hardball field with overhead lights and loudspeakers, locked, and available, seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., 365 days of the year.” I have never, ever, suggested that this facility b y used to “make money for the School District” by renting it out to outside organizations. And I have always stated that I would never support any plan that does not guarantee a space for the Farmers Market. 

I also have never accused the neighbors of bei ng NIMBYs, but concerned citizens with legitimate concerns that must be addressed if Derby Street were to be closed. In my mind it is not a done deal. Much needs to be done to build community trust and support before Derby Street could be closed and a lar ge athletic facility built. 

Maybe it is the vision thing. I always thought elected officials were supposed to be leaders and visionaries. I have tried, for over six years on the Berkeley School Board, to live up to these ideals of public office. I also t ry and lead by example. I have always been honest and said exactly what I believe. I have never tried to legislate with back door deals or shove anything down anyone’s throat. I am proud of my record of expressing a vision for a better Berkeley and attempting to convince people of the legitimacy of my positions. I have come to these conclusions after living in Berkeley for over 45 years, teaching at Berkeley High School for 32 years, serving on the School Board for over six years, and working with o thers across this city to make this the best place to live in this state. 

I think it is counterproductive to write inflammatory opinion pieces that are filled with half-truths, at best, and downright false statements, at worst, when important decisions have to be made with the help of thoughtful citizens. 

Most of the residents in South Berkeley, and living near our Derby Street property, are open minded, sincere, and desire the best for our students, our city and their neighborhood. Calling the actions of the School Board and City Council cronyism, lowering property values, catering to the wishes of the wealthy and influential does a disservice to a process that demands respectful conversations and truthful dialogue. 

Even though some would stoop to destructive tactics to derail an important decision making process I will continue to work with everyone for the best possible solution our collective heads can produce. 

Terry Doran is vice president of Berkeley School Board. t

With regard to closing Derby Street, it doesn’t serve the community to have the Berkeley Daily Planet highlighting letters (such as Dorothy Bryant’s and Peter Schorer’s) which give the illusion of informed knowledge but in truth are factually inaccurate. Given that the Daily Planet is used by many of us to become educated about local issues, letters like these do us all a disservice.  

What is being proposed is a multi-purpose athletic field, which includes a full-size baseball field. No lights or sound system has been proposed or advocated by BHS or any other user group. In fact, the Association of Sports Field Users (the group that represents most of the non-BUSD field users in Berkeley) is opposed to lights for general community use at this site. Stat ements about sound systems and “seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. 365 days a year” are factually inaccurate.  

The field will be used for BHS girls’ field hockey and boys’ football in the fall, BHS girls’ and boys’ soccer in the winter, BHS baseball and rugby in the spring, and a multitude of potential BHS and non-BHS uses in the summer. Most likely on Saturdays and Sundays during the fall the field will be used by local youth and adult soccer groups and the community; during the spring the field will most likely be used by youth baseball/softball, youth lacrosse, youth rugby, adult soccer, adult softball/baseball and community use. Statements that this facility will “be used by only about 40 male high school students, plus the various adult teams (“be erballers”)” is not only factually inaccurate but insulting as well. Those adult “beerballers” include women’s rugby, women’s and men’s soccer, softball and baseball players who grew up playing these sports as children—your children. Paw through the trash at any athletic field and you are more likely to find empty bottles of water and Gator-Aid than a bottle of beer.  

The field being fenced and locked has nothing to do with whether Derby is open or closed or its use as a hardball field. The reason for BU SD to fence and lock a field has to do with controlling access and liability. It makes no difference what sport is played or how the field is physically configured, BUSD is not going to have kids kicking soccer balls that might hit the front windshield of a passing car nor are they going to have kids running into the street chasing a ball and getting hit by that same passing car. So even if Derby remains open and no baseball field is built, BUSD will fence the field.  

The letters go on to complain about the noise and traffic and vandalism that will be generated by a baseball field. I would welcome anyone to explain to me or the other readers of the Planet why a high school game of baseball will bring more noise and traffic than a high school game of socc er, rugby or lacrosse. As for vandalism, areas around playing fields actually show a lower crime and vandalism rate mostly because they are occupied. If you had a choice of breaking into a car to steal a radio would you choose a car parked next to 45 chil dren and adults playing a game or would you choose a car in a more isolated location? 

As for the Farmer’s Market, it will not be lost. Instead it will be relocated along MKL to a more highly visible and traffic-friendly location. It will be a better phys ical facility than the Farmer’s Market currently occupies.  

The writers correctly note that BUSD would like to generate income by renting the field to outside users when BUSD is not using it and one writer goes on to state “this is a dubious semi-commerc ial use of school land that will be closed to use by anyone but the Berkeley High baseball team and renters from outside Berkeley.” Everyone reading this should understand that all City of Berkeley and BUSD school fields charge user fees or demand “in kin d” services for reserved slots. These fees are used to help pay for the maintenance of the fields. This is a long-standing policy and not unique to Berkeley. This is an approach that is taken by almost every municipality and school district in the San Fra ncisco Bay Area. And, in contrast to what the writer states, most of these groups are not from outside Berkeley. They include local youth soccer, girl’s softball, Little League baseball, youth rugby, etc.  

“The total cost of the hardball field installati on is estimated to be $2-3 million. (This in a time when the city is facing major budget deficits.)” As someone who has costed and developed nine playing fields, nobody knows what this project is going to cost until plans are developed and costed out. And while the City of Berkeley may be facing budget deficits, this project is being paid for out of a BUSD voter approved capital budget with funds earmarked for this specific project. 

The costs for the project have nothing to do with the City of Berkeley.  

Finally there are the statements of a proposed land swap with San Pablo Park and “they want another city-wide facility—but not in their neighborhood.” And “the truth is there are several good alternative locations.” Actually, as someone who has been inv olved in developing playing fields for almost 15 years, the truth is there are no good alternative locations. Building a multi-purpose field which includes a baseball field that is within walking distance of the high school seems to make much more practic al sense than having high school teams drive past Derby to San Pablo Park which is miles away from the school.  

And please tell all of us why people living around San Pablo Park should continue to bear what are the falsely perceived evils of BHS baseball while the people living around Derby Street should be treated differently? Many of us living in Berkeley (not just those who live around Iceland and the Alternative High School) are impacted, and I would argue much more so, by community serving facilitie s such as Alta Bates, BART stations, UC, commercial areas, etc. It sort of goes with living in an urban area.  

So let us all get past the ill informed and incendiary talk and start having a discussion about what is real.  

Doug Fielding is a chairpers on for the Association of Sports Field Users.›

What’s so impossibly sad about the vitriolic editorial comments in the Daily Planet about the East Campus/Derby Street project, attacking the city, the School Board, and the writers’ fellow Berkeley citizens, is not just that their listed objections have almost no basis in reality. In fact, there is no intended “commercial” use of the proposed facilities, other than of course the use for a commercial “Farmers Market” by a private business, the Ecology Center (which everyone agrees should stay on site); t here are no planned night games or night field lighting; there is no plan for any amplified sound system (other than the Farmer’s Market request for an “entertainment” space to host music); any field, of any size, will need to be fenced for safety reasons; any field, of any size (including a regulation baseball diamond that includes a multi-purpose field) will be available for all of the dozens of sports that boys and girls play in this city; any field, of any size, will bring according to the city’s Envi ronmental Impact Report only a minimal increase in traffic; replacing the dilapidated, vermin infested portables on site now with a field of any size can only increase, not decrease, property values. 

No, what’s really sad is what has been almost completely forgotten in this debate: why we need a larger field. A small field that does not close Derby Street would serve approximately 500 children a month. A larger field that includes a regulation baseball diamond would serve more than 700 children a month, and accommodate at least a half-dozen more sports. That’s an enormous difference, especially when you stop to consider each one of those 200 kids as an individual, each with their own dreams and hopes. Right now, and forever if we don’t build the field, t he City of Berkeley cannot provide a venue for those dreams. Right now, and forever if we don’t build the field, those “rich parents from the hills” that your editorial writers scorn can drive their kids to neighboring cities and programs, and pay for their opportunities, but the low-income and disenfranchised kids of our city have nowhere to go to play. 

Of course, the benefits of serving a greater number of children extend far beyond the sports themselves. Studies show that, in addition to the positive effects of team sports on child and adolescent development (“The Role of Sports in Youth Development,” Carnegie Corporation, 1996), programs that engage school kids in organized school-related activities such as sports are enormously effective in preventi ng youth crime and violence. (“Diverting Children From a Life of Crime,” Greenwood, P., 1998; “After School Programs: Investing in Student Success,” California Department of Education, 2001; “Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, ” Fox, J., 2001.) The school-related recreational activities for the hundreds of additional children served by a larger field promise increased attachment to school, personal investment in graduation, structured activity during the after-school hours that are the greatest risk for youth crime, and positive peer and adult role models and mentoring. 

The only truly disenfranchised population in our city is our children: they can’t vote. And of that population, the most vulnerable are certainly those who, for social, economic, or other reas ons, are at risk for delinquency, truancy, teen parenthood, and all the other prevailing ills of our desperately materialistic 21st century society. You don’t see letters from these kids in the Planet; you don’t see them at the site committee meetings; th ey aren’t there at the community meetings; when they do show up at City Council meetings, as they did four years ago at the last Derby Street vote, too often it is to see their hopes and dreams rejected. In a society and a city struggling with issues like the disproportionate incarceration of young African-American males, can it really be true that we as a community can’t spare one under-used block of a city street in service to those hopes and dreams? Can it really be true that forever, as now, we as a community will allow access to adequate recreational facilities only to those citizens who have the means to get their kids to for-fee programs in other cities? It’s for the disenfranchised, at-risk youth of our community that we need to build this field; it’s for them that it has meaning and value; it’s by our commitment to them that we, our politicians, and our leaders, will be judged.

The February-March issue of Nick Jr., the national educators’ magazine operated by Nickelodeon children’s channel, lists Berkeley’s LeConte School as operating one of the 10 best elementary school cafeterias in America. 

While that is a significant national honor, the LeConte cafeteria doesn’t even operate the best food establishment at LeConte. That distinction goes to the student cooking class at the Russell Street school. 

On Thursday of last week, while the cafeteria was offering a salad bar and a warm pasta-and-meat dish shipped over from the school district’s central kitchen, students of teacher Jeanette Gearring’s fourth-grade class were putting together a fresh-cooked lunch of Indian cholé and cucumber raita, the curry so succulent you could smell it out in the hallway. It’s no knock on the cafeteria to say that their selections weren’t even in the running. 

Every Thursday at midday, half of the students of Ms. Gearring’s class come down to a cavernous, two-stove kitchen/classroom converted from a science room to spend an hour preparing a dish. The other half of the class spends the hour in one of the school’s three gardens at a Farm and Garden class, switching each week. In fact, every class at Le Conte spends two sessions a month in cooking and gardening classes. 

On Thursday, the cooking lesson starts with an explanation of the ingredients to be used, particularly the spices. Each spice bottle is held up and the taste and function of the contents explained, as well as the country of origin. 

Students are told to be careful of getting one particular spice on their clothes, since it’s used both for seasoning and as a dye. A piece of cloth is held up, one half of it a brilliant yellow, as a demonstration. “That’s what gives curry its yellow color,” the students are told. 

Next it’s on to herb chopping, and a practical tip. 

“I used to cut onions in a restaurant,” cooking teacher Kathy Russell tells the students. “And I couldn’t stop myself from crying. I even had to put on swim goggles. And then somebody told me to put a toothpick in my mouth, and that would stop it.” 

Toothpicks are passed all around, the students clamping them between their teeth after admonitions of “don’t talk with that in your mouth.” After a few moments of intense chopping, one boy pulled the toothpick out and declares, in amazement, “My eyes don’t burn!” Asked for an explanation by Gearring, Russell confesses that she’s not quite sure why. 

The room settles down to a low hum of activity as the students cut onions and garlic. (“Chop it up as small as you can; it’s calling ‘mincing.’”) and scrape seeds from the inside of cucumbers. The students keep a steady conversation among themselves while getting instruction from Russell and her fellow cooking teacher, Brenna Turman. 

Russell and Turman are BUSD employees, part of the regular Le Conte faculty, their salaries paid through funds provided to the district by the California Nutrition Network. Generally, their offerings sound less like classroom instruction, more like Saturday afternoon learning how to cook at your big sister’s house. (“What do you do with the cans, guys? That’s right. Recycle.” Or “How many of you have electric can openers?” And when more than half of the room raises hands: “My goodness! You’re going to get stuck on your next camping trip.”) 

But every so often, the teacher comes out: “Clear your cutting board as you’re working. You want to know what you’re cutting into your dish. Remember: clear, then clean, then cloth.” 

The last instructions are listed in 1, 2, 3 order on the class whiteboard, for emphasis. Meanwhile teacher Gearring sits on the edge of the class, alternately observing, helping with directions, and handling the few minor discipline problems.  

By now, a boy is busy stirring the garlic and onions in a skillet, and it’s beginning to smell like a meal will actually emerge. Soon, a group of students have crowded around the skillet, and Turman (the students call the cooking teachers “Chef Brenna” and “Chef Kathy”) is directing the addition of spices and garbanzo beans while regulating the temperature under the skillet and doing some additional stirring. “There,” she says, “let’s leave that for a minute.” 

Earlier, LeConte Gardening Coordinator Ben Goff (“Farmer Ben” to the students) explained that the cooking class menu is part of a coordinated district effort. “The cooking and gardening coordinators get together in a monthly meeting to decide on the harvest of the month. This month it’s legumes”—thus, the garbanzo beans—“in January it was citrus.” 

Products from the school’s gardens, in fact, end up on the lunch menu (“lettuce goes to the lunchroom for salads; garlic and onions go to the cooking class”), while some of the vegetables, such as carrots, get eaten fresh out in the garden. And later, Turman is found in the garden’s chicken pen, hunting for eggs to make egg salad. 

LeConte principal Patricia Saddler takes a break from a series of meetings to come out into the garden sun to encourage Turman in the egg salad production, which Saddler admits is a favorite dish of hers. Turman comes back with one brown and one white, but is disappointed that she has found no green egg. One hen, she says, regularly produces an egg slightly greener than a robin’s. It’s as if everyone had been dropped into a Dr. Seuss book. 

Meanwhile, back in the cooking class, the dish only takes five minutes or so to cook, about the time it would take to stand in line at the Shattuck Avenue McDonald’s, order your meal, and get it to your table. 

Soon, the teachers have filled small bowls for each student, and the class quiets down to the sound of spoons clinking on porcelain as food goes to mouth in a steady rhythm. The rhythm of teaching, too, continues, as Chef Brenna and Chef Kathy ask the students to identify what different types of tastes they find. “Salty? Spicy? Do you know what ‘savory’ means?” 

As the level in the bowls diminish, the students are asked to grade the dish. They respond silently with mostly thumbs-up signs. Turman explains that they adopted the thumb-signal response “because that cut out a lot of the ‘eeews’ we used to get.” 

The class hour is almost over, the last bit of rice and beans and yellow sauce are being scraped from the bottom of the bowls, and cleanup has begun. Each student is responsible for washing out his or her dish and bowl in preparation for the electric dishwasher, and then the tables are cleared, and wiped off. The students judge each other, critically, at each step: “You call that table clean?” 

The Daily Planet reporter is still working on his meal. A boy looks over at him, asks if he likes it. The student gets the thumbs-up back. It is actually an understatement. This could have been a dish in a restaurant. A good restaurant.

In Mary Shogren’s kindergarten class at LeConte Elementary School, some students can’t understand a single word she says. Sitting on the floor with wide-eyed gazes, they stare at her as she reads a children’s book aloud. Some seem to understand everything, while others look puzzled. 

It’s what she calls the “deer-in-the-headlights” effect. They won’t look like that much longer, Shogren says.  

Most pupils in the Berkeley Unified School District prepared for their first day of school by getting pencils, backpacks and binders. Students in Shogren’s class, however, needed a lot more than a few supplies. They needed another language. 

Shogren teaches lessons almost entirely in Spanish as part of the district’s dual-immersion program, designed to make children proficient in Spanish and English by fifth grade and fluent by eighth. 

Her class includes 10 pupils whose first language is Spanish and 10 who were raised speaking English. Even though only half of the students in her class understand what she says in the beginning of the year, they all begin to comprehend basic Spanish a few months into the program, Shogren said.  

The program also allows native Spanish-speaking students to make a gradual transition to speaking English, says Carla Basom, the district’s director of state and federal projects. 

“The dual-immersion program reverses the traditional roles for the Spanish-speaking students. While the rest of their world is surrounded by a language and culture new to them, they can develop self-confidence and self-esteem in a classroom where they can help the English-speaking students learning Spanish,” Basom says.  

To keep students interested in learning, Shogren uses an animated teaching style. She makes lessons repetitive, relying heavily on pantomime and Spanish-language stories and songs students already know in English, including one of her favorites, the nursery rhyme “Eensy Weensy Spider.” 

On the first day of class this year, one of her students tried desperately (although unsuccessfully) to sing along with the teacher in Spanish, mouthing the words only a few seconds after she uttered them. Instead, he found a chance to participate more vocally when, among a barrage of Spanish words, Shogren says the name of a popular book series.  

“I have books of Clifford. I have a whole bunch of them,” he says. Shogren replies in Spanish.  

Kindergarteners receive 90 percent of instruction in Spanish and 10 percent in English. The ratio becomes more balanced as they progress through elementary school, until half of all lessons are taught in each language by the fifth grade. 

Learning a new language may be daunting for some students, half of whom have no prior knowledge of Spanish. But this year, LeConte’s administrators have appointed an on-site coordinator to improve educational services offered to dual-immersion students and their families.  

Lynda Arnold, the dual-immersion coordinator at LeConte, oversees students learning English as a second language. Her duties include meeting with students individually and in small groups, training teachers, and providing educational materials to parents—additional efforts she hopes will improve students’ reading and writing skills.  

Dual-immersion in the Berkeley school district, envisioned as a kindergarten through eighth grade program, began eight years ago. LeConte’s program, started six years ago, added a fifth class this year. About a quarter of the 320 students at LeConte participate in the program. 

Dual-immersion is also offered at Cragmont and Rosa Parks elementary schools. It has expanded to higher grades each year and is now also offered at Longfellow Middle School. The program prepares students for advanced placement Spanish courses in high school, says school district spokesman Mark Copland.  

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

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The title for this piece is taken from the Fêtes de la Nuit that I saw in the gardens at Versailles several years ago—fetes that were supposed to recall the sorts of entertainments that Louis XIV staged for his own pleasure ... full of huntsman, hunting dogs, courtiers, ballet dancers, and fireworks. Needless to say, my Fêtes are very different: they are the modern world, the democratic world, the world as seen, not through the eyes of a king, but through the eyes of a citizen. 

— Charles Mee, playwright 

In over 40 scenes that often overlap and spill over with the energy of the actors who play his citizen revelers, Charles Mee installs the tableaux of his Paris—a place of night-time festival, to which his title alludes, as well as intimate vignettes played out in public—on the broad stage of Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theater. 

The often romantic foibles of his cast of Parisian “types” are featured as the performers change expression and tempo as swiftly as the waters of the Seine that flow under the bridges of Paris, in the verses of Apollinaire, with the love that is remembered curiously, but (like the waters) never comes again.  

Director Les Waters joked at a pre-opening night chat with the author that, being English, he could never find that Gallic charm. Instead, he said, he has applied something of the Music Hall tradition of staging to this Ferris Wheel of scenes that plays like revolving comedy sketches, skits, burlesque blackouts and production numbers. 

But these scenes add up to some sort of theatricale at best, not theater. Mee, who has been increasingly hailed as one of the top dramatists of the last decade and of this one, doesn’t exhibit a hint of dramaturgy in his Fêtes, only the kind of silly-putty construction that’s plagued various styles of American theater for decades. It’s just enough material cut-and-pasted together to toss to a cranked-up cast and competent director so that the resulting sound and fury seems to be something—or anything—of import. 

The material in this case, at times amusing enough, isn’t any different from a musical comedy revue—“varietes,” as the French say: variety show. Television’s done it better; Fêtes is sub-Syd Caesar. And the silliness of Fêtes is, too often, less than that of Caesar, Steve Allen, Stan Freeberg, and Jonathan Winters, who all got theirs from the subversively festive silliness of vaudeville via radio and the movies. The play is closer to a giddy talk show host gleefully interrupting his guest to the whoops of the audience, their uneasiness at being out in public relieved by all the distraction. It is Groucho’s bawdy irreverence replaced by Letterman’s smarmy insouciance. So much for festivity. 

Mee, a former historian, in conversation seems by turns pleasantly thoughtful and whimsical (rather than silly or insouciant). He discussed his tactics for making a personal sense of things—whether of the city of Paris or Greek Tragedy—stageworthy. One is to appropriate texts and images, both historical and contemporary, ready-made (though not in Marcel DuChamp’s sense or as Walter Benjamin’s “quoting”). As author of the play bobrauschenbergamerica, it might be expected his plays would be characterized by a random selection and montage of these appropriated materials, like what John Cage promoted as a way to devaluate the dictatorial role of the author’s personality. Instead, as Mee describes it, it’s more like a photo album or diary of impressions: “This is how Paris feels to me.” 

The 14 performers rise—or scramble up—to the occasion, bringing their own special talents to the fore: Dileep Rao pledging unending love at first sight to Maria Dizzia, just hoping she’ll have a coffee with him; Lorri Holt, after failing at a rapprochement with her lover (Michi Barall, the playwright’s wife), going hysteric, then histrionic, bewailing her own unexpected lack of empathy; Danny Scheie (who was featured in Mee’s Orestes 2.0 at San Francisco’s Nourse Auditorium a decade ago) menacingly addressing every spectator in the house, riffing on: “You talkin’ to me?” as he races through the aisles; James Carpenter, over a cigarette or un verre du vin, shrugging and spinning out endless accounts in a running gag that clears the stage, over and over, of his fellow smokers and wine-bibbers; and the excellent dancing, vamping and strutting of Corrine Blum and Sally Clawson (not to mention Jeffrey Lynn McCann’s Hip Hop acrobatics), adorned in Christal Weatherly’s hilarious costumes, in send-ups of production numbers, tango extravaganzas, and ramp shows. 

One scene, “The Intellectual’s Press Conference” (the intellectual well-performed by Joseph Kamal), is lifted from Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless: the airport interview with “the famous Rumanian writer, Parvalescu.” In the movie, Jean-Pierre Melville, improvising an answer to Jean Seberg’s question “What is your ambition?” replies, “To become immortal—then die!” But in Fêtes there’s no byplay between cultures, between older man and younger woman (strange in a piece about love and relationship)—and Kamal/Parvalescu’s reply to the same question, tossed up from an actor standing in the audience, is “To become capable of a great love—then die!” 

Even in Paris, souffles fall flat. And the success of a fête (“feast”) and any of its dishes depends on the ingredients, the company, and the cook of course. Some of Fêtes de la Nuit’s served up raw, some cooked. At its best, it’s culinary entertainment, but from a mixed buffet, both hot and cold.

TUESDAY, FEB. 8 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: “War” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Kundun” Martin Scorsee’s film on Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, followed by discussion at 7:30 p.m. in Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. For tickets call 925-275-9005. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mary Gordon reads from her new novel “Pearl” at noon at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary & Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. www.mrsdalloways.com 

“Archeology and Arabization of Morocco” with Prof. Elizabeth Fentress, University College, London at 7:30 p.m. at 370 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus.  

Sam Davis discusses “Designing for the Homeless: Architecture That Works” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Cypress String Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20. 525-5211. 

Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Roy Hargrove and others at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$62. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Martyn Joseph, Welsh contemporary folk troubadour, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761.  

The Sweatshop Band, Baby Buck and Cathy Rivers, Americana country, at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Mose Allison at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Thurs. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Carlos Oliveira Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9 

THEATER 

“Bright River” A hip-hop retelling of Dante’s “Inferno,” every Wed. through March 9 at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $12-$35 available from 415-256-8499. www.inhousetickets.com 

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema: “Nanook of the North” at 3 p.m. and “Parallel Universum, Part I” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

Jeff Chang describes “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation“ at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam, 5th Annual Erotic Slam at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with the University Symphony Orchestra at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864.  

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

Savant Guard at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bluegrass Old-time Festival at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761.  

Rad Audio, indie nu-wave, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886.  

Sensual, salsa, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“You Are Here” paintings, drawings and sculpture examining cultural identity, opens at the Kala Art Institute, and runs through March 26. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Gallery hours are Tues.Fri. noon to 5:30 p.m., Sat. to 4:30 p.m. 540-2977. www.kala.org 

“Be Mine” ACCI’s Valentine’s Day show reception for the artists from 6 to 8 p.m. at 1652 Shattuck Ave. Gallery hours are Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

FILM 

African Film Festival: “Dirt for Dinner” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

“Kordavision” documentary by Cuban photographer Alberto Díaz at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza, off Macdonald Ave. Part of the Latino Film Festival. 620-6561. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Yael Chaver documents Yiddish literature in “What Must Be Forgotten: The Survival of Yiddish in Zionist Palestine” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Elliot Currie talks about “The Road to Whatever: Middle-Class Culture and the Crisis of Adolescence” 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 Julia Montrond and Robert Tricara at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761.  

Alexander Tsygankov and Inna Shevchenko, Russian folk artists on the domra and piano, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Humanzee, The Famous at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

Peter Barshay Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

FRIDAY, FEB. 11 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Lithography of Toko Shinoda” Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Schurman Gallery, 1659 San Pablo Ave. Exhibition runs through Mar. 31. 524-0623. www.schurmanfineartgallery.com 

Chantal de Felice and Morgan Wick, narrative portraits in acrylic and ink, opens at 7 p.m. at auto3321 art gallery, 3321 Telegraph Ave., through Feb. 25. 593-8489. 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “Seduced” by Sam Shepard opens at 8 p.m. at the Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, and runs Fri. and Sat. through Feb. 19. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Alchemy Works “The Wisdom of Eve” A tale of an ingenue understudy gone bad. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. Runs through Feb. 20. 845-5576. 

"Bridge & Tunnel" workshop performances by Sarah Jones at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 7 p.m. Sun. through Feb. 20 at Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $30-$40. 647-2949.  

Aurora Theatre, “Dublin Carol” by Conor McPherson, Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun at 2 and 7 p.m. through March 6 at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Fêtes de la Nuit” at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Runs through Feb. 27. Tickets are $43-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater, “The Mousetrap” Agatha Christie’s classic mystery Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Feb. 19 at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Tickets are $10-$15. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Impact Theatre, “Othello” at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid. Thurs.- Sat. through March 19. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

Laney College Theater, “Knockers,” a candid look at breasts, with partial proceeds donated to the Breast Cancer Fund, at 8 p.m. at 900 Fallon St. Tickets are $10. 415-281-0547. 

Ragged Wing Ensemble “The Serpent” theater with movement, masks and puppetry, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., through Feb. 19, at the Eighth Street Studios, 2525 8th St. Tickets are $10-$20 sliding scale. 527-8119. www.raggedwing.org 

“The Vagina Monologues” at 7 p.m. at Dwinelle Hall, Room 155, UC Campus. Also Feb. 12 at 6 p.m., and Mon. Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. in Wheeler Auditorium. Cost is $10. Sponsored by Gender Equity Resource Center. berkeleyVM2005@lists.berkeley.edu 

FILM 

African Film Festival: “Moolaadé” at 7 p.m. and “Waiting for Happiness” at 9:25 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

De Rompe y Raja, Afro-Peruvian music and dance at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568.  

Slammin’ body music, beatboxing and a cappella at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Tracy Grammer, post-modern American music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761.  

Jill Knight at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Nagg, The Look, The Sort Outs, Ride the Blinds at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886.  

Tempest, Druid Sister’s Tea Party at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $12. 841-2082.  

Dan Barrett & Friends 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.  

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

Joshi Marshall and Friends at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Monster Squad, Try Failing, Whiskey Sunday, Giant Haystacks at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Abbey Lincoln at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Mon. Cost is $22-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, FEB. 12 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Dan Goldensohn at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $3-$4. 849-2568.  

THEATER 

Laney College Theater, “Knockers,” a candid look at breasts, with partial proceeds donated to the Breast Cancer Fund, at 8 p.m. at 900 Fallon St. Tickets are $10. 415-281-0547. 

Traveling Jewish Theater, “The Wonders” at 8 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Also on Sun. at 2 p.m. Tickets are $22-$35. 415-285-8080. www.atjt.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

Mary Robinson will discuss her technique of paint layering and use of a variety of tools. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Group Show at the Gallery of Urban Art, with works by Alena Rudolph, Hillary Kantmann, Gina Gaiser, Teresa Clark, Joso Vidal and John Holland. Reception from 5 to 8 p.m. at 1266 66th St., Emeryville. 596-0020. www.thegalleryofurbanart.com 

“The Art of Cappuccino” photographs by Arden Petrov, at the French Hotel Cafe/Gallery, 1538 Shattuck Ave., to March 26. 524-0646. 

FILM 

African Film Festival: “Moolaadé” at 6:30 p.m. and “Faat-Kine” at 9:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rosemary Gong introduces “The Good Luck Life” a guide to Chinese American celebrations and culture at 4 p.m. at Eastwind Books, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trinity Chamber Concert with Davide Verotta, piano, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., between Bancroft and Durant. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Sacred & Profane Song of Solomon Choral Settings from Medieval to Modern at 8 p.m. at St. Ambrose Church, 1145 Gilman St. at Cornell. Tickets are $12-$18. 524-3611. www.sacredprofane.org 

Tsunami Relief Benefit Concert with Patti Weiss, Francis Lockwood, Katya Roemer, Miles Graber and others at 7 p.m. at the Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. Oakland. Donation $20-$30, all of which will go to the Red Cross. 333-0474. 

Early Chamber Music with Jeanne Johnson, violin; Joanna Blendulf, cello, Yuko Tanaka, harpsichord at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 528-1725. www.sfems.org  

Open Hearts Benefit for Tsumani Relief with music by Ancent Future, Sasha Butterfly, Soulsalaam and others at 7 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. Donation $15-$100 beneftits the Seva South Asia Emergency Fund. RSVP to 843-2787. www.seva.org 

Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $28-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Valentine’s Day Cabaret at 7 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $30-$35. 845-8542. www.juliamorgan.org 

Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos at 7 p.m. at Café de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Also on Feb. 13-14. Cost is $55-$85. 287-8700.  

Ramona the Pest, Nellie Bly, TaraLinda & Friends at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

Forthmorning, Sleep in Fame, Omissa, hard rock, metal at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886.  

Mariospeedwagon and Lemon Juju at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

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

Chookasian Armenian Concert Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Beatsauce, turntablism, at 10 p.m. at Club Oasis, 135 12th St., Oakland. Cost is $10. 763-0404. 

Aya de León’s Love Fest at 7 and 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Steven Bernstein, “Direct from NYC” at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

Mardi Gras Celebration with Lady Mem’fis and Mal Sharpe’s Big Money in Jazz New Orleans Band at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Iron Lung, Lords of Light, Takaru, Laudanum at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 13 

EXHIBITIONS 

Reception for New Exhibitions at 1 p.m. at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

FILM 

African Film Festival: “Moolaadé” at 3 p.m. and “Enthusiasm” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“More Binding Ties: The Migration Suite” a spoken-word performance by Michael Copeland Sydnor about Bay Area African Americans who worked as Pullman porters and maids at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts., Oakland. 238-2200.  

Poetry Flash with Rusty Morrison, Devin Johnston and Martha Ronk at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

“The People and the Book” a panel discussion in conjunction with the exhibition of paintings and rare books at 2 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $7-$10. 549-6950. www.magnes.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $28-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Daniel Müller-Schott, cello at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $46. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra “Schubertiade” at 3 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Free admission. 415-248-1640. www.sfchamberorchestra.org 

Wei He, violinist, Yun-Jie Liu, violist, at 4 p.m. at the Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. Tickets are $12, free for children. 559-6910. www.crowdenmusiccenter.org 

Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos at 6 p.m. at Café de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Also on Feb. 14. Cost is $55-$85. 287-8700.  

The Gospel Hummingbirds at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054.  

Dan K. Harvest, hip hop, at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5-$7. 848-0886.  

Wayne Wallace 4th Dimension at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

Papa Gianni and the North Beach Band at 2 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Hurricane Sam Rudin, boogie, blues and jazz piano, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761.  

Eric Van James, solo jazz piano, at 6 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

MONDAY, FEB. 14 

FILM 

Seeing Through the Screen: Buddhism and Film: “Fearless” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Maggie Morley and Friends, poetry reading, followed by an open mic, at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Buzzy Jackson describes “A Bad Woman Feeling Good: Blues and the Women Who Sing Them” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express, featuring The Poet JC, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Yaelisa & Caminos Flamencos at Café de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Four shows beginning at 5:30 p.m. Cost is $55-$85. 287-8700. www.cafedelapaz.net 

Trovatore, traditional Italian songs, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

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

Sylvia & The Silvertones at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.?

The San Pablo City Council meets Wednesday at noon to consider building plans from the Lytton Band of Pomos for the 2,500-slot machine casino they plan to build at the site of the current Casino San Pablo card room. 

Councilmembers and other city officials have embraced the casino as an economic lifesaver for the ailing community, while others—including East Bay Assemblymember Loni Hancock—are strongly opposed. 

Mayor Joseph Gomes and City Manager Brock Arner are strong supporters. At a forum called by Hancock last month, Arner said that if the casino isn’t approved, “the City of San Pablo will fold.” 

Tribal chair Margie Mejia promised that the tribe would submit plans for a scaled-back operation from the one presented at January meeting, though still including the 2,500 slots promised in the new tribal compact endorsed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and still pending approval by state legislators. 

The Wednesday meeting begins at noon in Maple Hall at San Pablo City Hall, 13831 San Pablo Ave., Building 4. 

—Richard BrennemanÃ

I’m interrupting the trees-of-Berkeley series for a short rant. Nice words about our city’s trees will resume in two weeks. 

Gardens in Berkeley schools have sprouted contention along with the posies for several years. The one on the grounds of Willard School on Telegraph Avenue, planted by volunteers and lately much-altered by the school district, is only the latest. A couple of years ago, a students’ garden at another Berkeley school was demolished without warning, for construction access. Another was removed—though it’s now replanted—when neighbors complained that there were rats in the neighborhood. I live pretty close to that one; there are still rats in the neighborhood and, I suspect, every other neighborhood, too. I’ve seen them playing Flying Wallendas on the utility wires downtown, and yes, I can tell a rat from a squirrel.  

It’s fascinating to me, the way roadkill is fascinating, that there seems to be a widespread or at least influential attitude that a garden is disposable and that the work of making a garden is to be taken for granted and dismissed when convenient. The work I mean is the thoughtful, dirty-hands stuff of dealing with soil and plants and the place they’re in. 

I see a shade of this unpleasant color even in people who should know better, like landscape architects. I have come to prize those who know their plants (“plant materials”) and the place they’re using. When you’ve worked with a few of them, you learn that there are some who understand that they’re working with land, not just rooms without ceilings, and some who, apparently, don’t. This is the Ozymandias School of Garden Design. Remember those “two vast and trunkless legs of stone” that stand over the engraved “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!” The works, of course, are long gone; the shattered monument is surrounded by wasteland.  

Landscape architects who concentrate on “hardscape”—walls, walks, accessory buildings, garden stuff that doesn’t grow—to the detriment of actual plants might be doing architecture, but aren’t landscaping. Some seem to think that beneath them; one landscape architect wrote an indignant letter to the San Francisco Chronicle’s magazine when he was referred to as the “landscaper” of a project, huffing that he wasn’t to be mistaken for those guys who dig the holes and plant the shrubs. Indeed, it seems dubious, on reading that letter, that he would have that skill. 

One can almost sympathize, though, because mere plants are so often the first targets of the brickoholics, the people who see empty space wherever there isn’t a building. A stunt building with facings of unused signboards and an automatic gate made of (apparently brand-new) Volvo doors is somehow “green”—but what it replaced was a garden. People who don’t want their gardens shaded out by a high-rise next door are somehow anti-poor NIMBYs. Community gardens are somehow unworthy if all they provide is a place to plant, and if they’re so popular that there’s a waiting list, well, they must be “elitist” and needn’t exist. 

All this happens in an atmosphere of disregard for the real world, where ignorance of our surroundings is accepted as normal. So we have abominations like the word “landfill”—as if the land were empty before we dumped garbage on it!—and the sloppy use of “open space” and “parks” to make golf courses and soccer fields seem equivalent to actual wildlands, to habitat for animals other than us and our rats and roaches and pets.  

And we pretend that all green things are interchangeable, like so many chairs, as if a plant were merely an ornament and not home and sustenance for its own unique wild community. We pretend that taking down a tree is of no more import than moving a lamp. Trees aren’t just pretty; they’re the last chance for habitat in a crowded city, where they manage to fit so much acreage into so small a footprint because they’re vertical. We see that in buildings; how can we fail to see it in organisms? 

How much do we fail to see because it’s convenient to remain ignorant? What else do we close our eyes to, so we can destroy it without caring?  

TUESDAY, FEB. 8 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the Botanic Garden parking lot to look for rufous-crowned sparrows and others in the Big Springs area. 525-2233. 

Mini-Rangers for ages 8-12 for an afternoon of nature study, conservation and rambling through the woods and waters. Meet at 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Fee is $6-$8, reservations required. 525-2233. 

Bird Walk at the Martin Luther King Shoreline at 3 p.m. Dress for rain and wind. For more information call 525-2233. 

Extreme Digital Photography with photographer Jonathan Chester at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“The Nature of Indian Water Rights” with Olney Patt, Jr., Executive Director, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, at 5:30 p.m. in 105 North Gate Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Water Resources Center Archives. 642-2666. 

Live From Death Row with Kevin Cooper via speakerphone from San Quentin Prison at 7 p.m. in Room 30, Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. 333-7966. 

“Islamizing the Berbers” Excavations at Volubilis and the first centuries of the Arab conquest of North Africa with Elizabeth Fentress, Prof., Institute of Archaeology, University College, London, at 7:30 p.m. at 370 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus.  

Black History Celebration with a showing of “Amistad” at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

CandleLight Vigil for Tsunami Victims at 7 p.m. on Upper Sproul Plaza, UC Campus. 501-7995. 

“Speaking for the Buddha? Buddhism and the Media” a conference Feb. 8-9 from 1:30 to 6 p.m. in the Lipman Room, Barrows Hall, UC Campus. http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/speakingforthebuddha” 

Berkeley School Volunteers Workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public Schools at 7 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Sts from 3 to 6 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

“Solomon’s Steps: Applying the Wisdom of Solomon in Resolving Day-to-day Conflicts” Tues. at 7:30 p.m. through Feb. 22, at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $25-$40. 845-6420. 

Rethinking Age An inter-generational workshop at 7:30 p.m. through March 1, at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $30. 845-6420. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9 

“New Era/New Politics” Walking Tour of Oakland highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. Tour is free and lasts about 90 minutes. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Stop Martial Law in Oakland and for the African Community Everywhere” with Omali Yeshitela, founder of the Uhuru Soldarity Movement at 7 p.m. at Uhuru House, 7911 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. 569-9620. 

AARP Free Tax Assistance for taxpayers with middle and low incomes, with special attention to those 60 years and older. From 12:15 to 4:15 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Appointments must be made in advance. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Chiapas to California Speaking Tour with Ramon Peña Diaz at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Donation $5-$10 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove” An Alex Jones Film presented by Erin McCann at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, but $5 donations accepted. 910-0696. 

East Bay Genealogical Society with Jeremy Frankel of the UC Library at 10 a.m. at the Family History Center at 4766 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. 635-6692. 

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 Feb. 16, Mar. 8, 15. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Artify Ashby Muralist Group meets every Wed. from 5 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, to plan a new mural. New artists are welcome. Call Bonnie at 704-0803. 

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. 

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors 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 

“The Giants of Assimilation: A Rogue’s Gallery of a Vanishing Jewish Type” with author Mark Cohen at 11:30 a.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 845-6420. 

“You Can’t Fool Mother Nature” Global Climate Change with Dr. Wil Burns at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 845-6420. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 10 

“Ralph Bunche: An American Oddessey” a documentary narrated by Sidney Poitier, at 7 p.m. at 155 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Discussion follows. Free. www.unaeastbay.org 

“Looking Ahead: The Struggle for Justice, Peace and Equality in Palestine/ 

Israel” with Prof. George Bisharat, UC Hastings College of the Law, at 7:30 p.m. at Fellowship Hall at the Unitarian Church, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Donation $5-$20, no one turned away. 465-1777. 

“History from the Point of View of the African People” with Omali Yeshitela, founder of the Uhuru Soldarity Movement at 7 p.m. at Fellowship of Humanity, 390 27th St., Oakland. 625-1106. 

“The Freedom Radio Project: Supporting the Youth Voice in Palestine” A benefit film screening and concert, at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Co-sponsored by KPFA Radio & The Middle East Children’s Alliance Tickets are $15. 452-3556. 

“Language Communities or Cultural Empires” The Impact of European Languages in Former Colonial Territories, a two day conference, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Lipman Room, 8th flr, Barrows Hall, UC Campus. For information contact hsutton@berkeley.edu 

“Bridge to Babylon” Judeo-Arabic music at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $20. 845-6420. 

“Signs Out of Time” A documentary about the life of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas by Donna Read and Starhawk narrated by Olympia Dukakis at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $5. 883-0600. 

East Bay Mac User Group meets at 6 p.m. at Expression Center for New Media, 6601 Shellmound St. http://ebmug.org 

FRIDAY, FEB. 11 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert Scalapino, Prof. emeritus, UCB, on “Developments in Far Eastern Asia, and Challenges.” 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.  

Fundraiser for Tsunami Victims with music and speeches from 5 to 7 p.m. at Lower Sproul Plaza, UC Campus. ahopeforrecovery.org 

“Maestro: Tom Dowd and the Language of Music” a free screening followed by discussion at 7 p.m. at The College Preparatory School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, north. 658-5202. 

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. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, FEB. 12 

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 $5-$7. Registration required. 525-2233. 

Animal Amore! Annual adult only walking tour of the Oakland Zoo to learn the courting and mating habits of the residents. From 9 to 11 a.m. Sat. and Sun. Cost is $10 and registration is required. 632-9525, ext. 142. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Gondwanaland in the Garden Explore the UCBG’s plants from the ancestral range of Gondwanaland, the giant southern landmass which began drifting apart during the Eocene epoch. From 1 to 2 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. Cost is $8-$12. Registration required. 643-2755. 

The Wonderful World of Camilias with Garth Jacober on planting, care and pruning at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

Berkeley Public Library Foundation’s 3rd Annual Authors Dinner Reception at 7 p.m. Tickets for reception still available for $125. 981-6115. www.bplf.org/events.html  

Lunar New Year Festival from noon to 4 p.m. at Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St., Oakland. www.oacc.cc 

Service Dogs for the Blind and the Deaf A special presentation for all ages at 11 a.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. http://ccclib.org  

Tsunami Relief Garage and Bake Sale from 9 a.m. to noon, rain or shine at 1809 Bancroft Ave. at Grant. All proceeds will go to the relief effort. Sponsored by Berkwood Hedge School. 

5K Run for Tsunami Victims at 10 a.m. beginning at Sather Gate, UC Campus. 502-7995. ahopeforrecovery.org 

Emergency Response Training Class on “Light Search and Rescue” from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Fire Dept. Training Center, 997 Cedar St. To register call 981-5606. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

Junior Rangers of Tilden meets Sat. mornings at Tilden Nature Center. 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.  

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

SUNDAY, FEB. 13 

Valentine’s Day History Hike to look for mating activity at 10 a.m. in Tilden Nature Area. 525-2233. 

See Our Snakes We’ll look at our resident snakes and learn about their behavior at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Singing Valentine Grams with the UC Choral Ensembles today and Mon. Cost is $20-$50. For information and reservations call 642-3880. 

“More Binding Ties: The Migration Suite” a spoken-word performance by Michael Copeland Sydnor about Bay Area African Americans who worked as Pullman porters and maids at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts., Oakland. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

57th Annual Festival of the Oaks, International Folk Dance Festival, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with workshops, open folk dancing and exhibition dancing, at Laney College Gym, 901 Fallon St., Oakland. Donation requested. 527-2177. meldancing@aol.com 

Valentine’s Day Card Workshop Make a card or two and learn about the cultural history of Valentine’s Day. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Materials provided. Cost is $5-$7. 525-2233. 

Celebrate Black History Month with African mask making at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-111. www.habitot.org 

Free Sailboat Rides between 1 and 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club in the Berkeley Marina. Bring warm waterproof clothes. www.cal-sailing.org 

“Follow Me Home” a film exploring race and identity at 3 and 6 p.m. at the Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Post-screening discussion with Lakota Henderson. Cost is $7. Benefits eighth graders at Melrose Leadership Academy. 967-8799. 

Green Sunday, on steps cities can take to select renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency at 5 p.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Family Film Sunday Series “The Love Bug” at 11 a.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $5 at the door. 845-8542. www.juliamorgan.org 

“Raising Your Child in an Interfaith Home” at 11:30 a.m. at Temple Sinai, 2808 Summit Street, Oakland. 547-2250. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “Using the Mind to Relieve Pain” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, FEB. 14 

“Porter! In Our Own Words” a lecture by Dr. P. Christiaan Klieger on the oral histories of members of The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters at 10:30 a.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts., Oakland. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public Schools at 5 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 9:45 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

“Franz Kafka: Exemplary Jewish Writer” meets Mon. through March 21 at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $20. 845-6420. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

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 

Albany Berkeley Girls Softball League is looking for girls in grades 1-8 to play girls softball. Season runs March 5-June 4. Scholarships available. To register call 869-4277.  

All Net Basketball for boys and girls ages 9 to 11, begins Tues. Mar. 8, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., and runs for five weeks. Fee is $10-$15. For information call Berkeley Youth Alternatives, 845-9066. sports@byaonline.org 

“Half Pint Library” Book Drive Donate children’s books to benefit Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland. Donations accepted at 1849 Solano Ave. through March 31. 

Bike Chain Response is organizing an interfaith bike ride from the Nevada Test Site to Los Alamos National Laboratory, June 19 to July 17, to raise awareness of alternative modes of transportation and the tragedy of the nuclear weapons industry. 505-870-2-ASK. www.lovarchy.org/ride/ 

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 or 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 

City Council meets Tues., Feb. 8, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www. ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Feb. 9, 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 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Feb. 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/commissions/homeless 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., Feb. 9 at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Library Board of Trustees meets Thurs. Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St., Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/library 

Planning Commission meets Wed., Feb. 9, 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., Feb. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/com 

missions/policereview 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Feb. 9, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti, 644-6376 ext. 224. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/waterfront 

Community Health Commission meets Thurs, Feb. 10, at 6:45 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/health 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Feb. 10, 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., Feb. 10, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning  à

Karl Linn didn’t just build some of Berkeley’s most resplendent gardens, his friends say. He built communities. 

Linn died at his North Berkeley home early Thursday morning after battling cancer of the bone marrow. He was 81. 

“He was a tremendously warm and loving man who always connected with the people around him,” said Leonard Duhl, a UC Berkeley professor and friend for nearly five decades. 

Linn was a psychologist and landscape architect by training, but he made his biggest mark by transforming forgotten swaths of urban blight into lush green space welcome to all. 

When he arrived in Berkeley 18 years ago as a retiree, the city had just two community gardens. 

“Karl developed a network of people who saw community gardens not just as a place to grow food, but as a way to bring neighbors together,” said John Steere a longtime friend. It was a philosophy, Steere said, that was rooted in his childhood. 

Linn spent his the first 11 years in the German town of Dessow, where his family owned an orchard full of apple and cherry trees. 

“I established a deep ecological connection with whatever natural elements and creatures were around me,” Linn told The Sierra Club magazine in a 2001 piece.  

His idyllic youth ended abruptly with the rise of Hitler. Soon he was ostracized by classmates and targeted by ruffians. “I could hear the Nazi’s goose-step as they walked down the cobblestone street towards the farm, checking the house and threatening us,” he recounted in the 2003 documentary film, “A Lot In Common,” about the creation of Peralta Community Garden. 

In 1934, Linn and his parents fled to Palestine, where they lived on a kibbutz. After graduating from the university, Linn helped start a new kibbutz where members grew orchards on dessert terrain. 

“It was during this time that I began to see the importance of creating places for privacy and contemplation, but also for community participation,” Linn told the Sierra Club. “Places where young and old could be in each other’s presence, but not in each other’s way.” 

But the widening divide between Arabs and Jews troubled Linn. At a time many of his cohorts were preparing for the coming war Israeli-Arab War, Linn, at age 23, left Palestine in 1946 to study psychology in Switzerland. 

After several years in Zurich, he immigrated to New York were he worked both as a child psychotherapist and as a landscape architect. 

Frustrated that most of his landscaping work came at the suburban homes of wealthy clients, Linn accepted a post teaching landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where instead of sending his students to their studios, he drafted them to work on community projects in blighted sections of Philadelphia. 

One such project—the renovation of a courtyard at a local African American cultural center—introduced Linn to Carl Anthony, at the time a 23-year-old high school dropout who would go on to Columbia University and become a lifelong friend.  

“I had gone to vocational school studying drafting and I was just becoming aware of the civil rights movement,” Anthony said. “Karl helped show me how my concerns about social justice could go together with my love for landscape design.” 

Together, the duo traversed the backyards of inner city Philadelphia seeking to build gardens and bonds among neighbors.  

“Some of the things he did were so beautiful they’d make you cry,” he said. Anthony recalled one project where he had neighbors smash their plates and pave the broken pieces into an alleyway behind a vacant lot. “It symbolized that you can take whatever you have and make something beautiful out of it.” 

Anthony said Linn’s efforts to build urban gardens in the inner city sometimes met resistance from locals skeptical of his plans and energized by the movement for black empowerment. 

“I kept pushing him to be more open about the holocaust and his history,” he said. “That was something he and I struggled over. He had to understand that he was working with people who were escaping from a rural background.”  

From Philadelphia, Linn taught in Washington, D.C., New York and New Jersey before retiring to Berkeley in 1987. 

Friends said they didn’t know why Linn chose Berkeley, other than its reputation as a progressive town open to new ideas. 

It didn’t take Linn long to get involved in the community. He helped gardeners design plots, worked with Parks For Peace, which built parks in war-torn cities and in 1989, he teamed with Anthony and Berkeley native David Brower to form Urban Habitat, an organization dedicated to educating minority students to become leaders for sustainable development. 

He also participated in dialog groups with Jews and Arabs about the violence in Israel and Palestine. Linn who was never comfortable with Zionism or any philosophy that divided peoples, opposed the Israeli occupation, his friend Nadine Ghammache said. 

His foray into spearheading Berkeley gardens began in 1992 when the city named a derelict garden at the corner of Hopkins Street and Peralta streets on city space in his name. 

“Since my name was sitting there, I did not want to be embarrassed by a garden that did not look very appealing, and I wanted to do something about it,” he said. 

While he was working on the Karl Linn Garden, Linn couldn’t help but notice two vacant plots just down the street, owned by BART. 

For eight months in 1996, he worked with BART officials to secure the land for what would become the Peralta and Northside gardens.  

“He wore the BART folks down,” said Councilmember Linda Maio. “Every piece he wrestled them to the ground until he got it.” 

Later, he would co-found Berkeley Ecohouse, and most recently he helped created an art education walk along the Ohlone Greenway. 

Those who worked with him remarked at his determination and gentle ways of persuasion.  

“Karl was a magician of motivating people,” Steere said. “It was hard to say no to him. He was irresistible.” 

“People always agreed to things for him because of his spirit and his belief in the project,” said Fran Segal, who worked on the Ohlone Greenway Art Exhibit. 

Greg VonMechelen, co-chair of the Berkeley Ecohouse remembered getting frequent 7 a.m. phone calls from Linn inquiring about his progress in the project. “I had to tell him that early morning calls weren’t part of my daily routine.” 

Linn’s dedication was best demonstrated in the field, VonMechelen said. “I remember one day he got overheated and we asked him to slow down. He replied that if he were a blender he’d have only two speeds: pulverize and liquefy.”  

His gardens always included art, a common area for people to face each other and talk as well as wide walkways and raised plots so wheelchair users could plant groves. 

In the documentary, Linn said of his work, “I concluded how important it is for me not to be a pessimist or an optimist, but a ‘possibilist’. To create possibilities of working with people creating life-supportive, life affirmative small projects that could be inspiring and enrich people’s lives.” 

His determination, was matched by his kindness, said Beebo Turman, who worked with Linn to form the Berkeley Community Gardening Cooperative, joining school and community gardens. “He is the only person I’ve met who when I was ready to leave would always escort me all the way to my car.” 

When Turman visited Linn last week, she found him hard at work in rumpled pajamas, preparing his papers for the Bancroft Library and figuring out ways to make sure the gardens would have funds for small repairs. 

That day, Linn, who rarely spoke about religion, confided in her that he wasn’t afraid of his impending death. “You know I’m very excited about the next phase of all this,” he said. 

For those he left behind, his legacy is their joy. 

“He really transformed this place,” said Carol Bennett-Simmons, a gardener at Peralta. “Now when you walk through the neighborhood you know so many more people.”  

Linn is survived by his wife Nicole, his son Mark, and his stepchildren Joel, Naomi and Dan. Memorial plans have not yet been arranged. 

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau formally unveiled the university’s plans for a quarter of a billion dollars worth of privately funded new construction Thursday, prompting an angry response from Mayor Tom Bates. 

Included in the projects announced Thursday are a $120 million or more renovation of the western half of Memorial Stadium, a $100 million-$120 million academic building to the west of the stadium and landscaping to create pedestrian plazas and open space between the stadium and Boalt Hall. 

“I am profoundly disappointed to report that this is the first time any City of Berkeley official has laid eyes on these plans,” declared Bates. 

“This announcement reinforces the city’s position that the new UC Berkeley Long Range (Development) Plan (LRDP) is deeply flawed and exists only to rubber stamp back-room development deals.” 

Bates’ comments drew an immediate response from UC Berkeley spokesperson Marie Felde, who declared the “neither the city nor the mayor has been kept in the dark.” 

Felde said UC officials “take great exception to the notion that there’s been some sort of back-room deal. Who has not know of the university’s desire to seismically upgrade the stadium and provide more academic amenities?” 

The university’s press release made no mention of plans for permanent television lights at the stadium—a perennial bone of contention with nearby Panoramic Hill residents. 

Tom Lollini, assistant vice chancellor for physical and environmental planning for capital projects, has acknowledged that lights are in the works, which is certain to trigger a third round of neighborhood opposition. 

Two earlier lighting proposals were defeated, and the university has been using temporary lighting for evening and night football games.  

The second project of the university’s plans, the Southeast Quadrant Academic Commons, will provide additional space for Boalt Hall School of Law, the Haas Business School and the Intercollegiate Athletics department. 

No size estimates have been made for the structure, Felde said. “The departments haven’t determined which types of programs would go into the new building,” Felde said, “and it is the program requirements which determine size requirements.” 

Construction funds for both the stadium and the academic building would come from donors, Felde said. 

While substantial funds have been raised for the stadium program, the law and business school administrative staffs have only begun to discuss fund-raising efforts for the Academic Commons, she said. 

Requests for qualifications seeking architects for both projects have been issued, and the filing dates have passed. 

Plans called for interviews on Jan. 28 with the short list of candidates selected for the stadium project, but Felde said that the talks have been postponed until the end of this month at the requests of the applicants. 

Birgeneau’s announcement and Bates’ response come as City of Berkeley officials are preparing a lawsuit challenging the adequacy of the environmental Impact report the university prepared in conjunction with the school’s (LRDP), which outlines school growth plans through 2020. 

The overall plan for the southeast quadrant of the main campus was formulated by the Memorial Stadium Advisory Committee over the last few months, Felde said. 

The university official said city officials and the public will have plenty of time to add their voices to the project during the environmental review process, which should begin after detailed plans are ready, “hopefully by the fall.” 

“Once we have that level of detail, we can then begin the review,” Felde said. 

Bates noted that the overall plan hadn’t been mentioned in the LRDP, and the only information made available to the city was the same release given to reporters and posted on the university website Thursday morning. 

Felde said that plans to improve the pedestrian areas and open space in the area hadn’t been finalized, nor had they progressed as far as the requests for qualifications issued on the stadium and Academic Commons. 

“The idea is make the area around the stadium more attractive, so it’s more than just sawdust,” Felde said.

In a town that would relish a role as the intellectual antidote to the current Washington establishment, one well-heeled group intent on battling conservative policy wonks has set up shop on University Avenue. 

“Right now there are a lot of radical right-wing nuts who want to kill the New Deal and undermine the civil rights gains of the ‘60s. We take that as a personal affront,” said Paul Turner, political director of the Greenlining Institute, an organization devoted to fighting for the economic interests of minorities. 

Last April, the 12-year-old nonprofit—looking, as Turner said, to “put the think in our tank”—bought a downtown Berkeley office building at 1918 University Avenue to be closer to the intellectual capital of UC Berkeley. The institute had previously been based in San Francisco. 

“We want to be closer to the university so we can provide an alternative to conservative think tanks and focus on helping minority communities in urban centers,” Turner said. 

But no sooner than it moved in did the institute embroil itself in city politics. When a Berkeley group pushed for publicly financed city elections in November—a top national priority for Greenlining—the institute stepped in, offering them discounted rent at their offices, access to donors and bundles of research to make their case to Berkeley voters. 

“They were a key ally,” said campaign co-chair Dan Newman. “They sat on our steering committee and helped put our ballot campaign together.” Berkeley voters rejected the proposal.  

Now Greenlining is lending its offices and organization skill to Latinos Unidos and United in Action. The two Berkeley groups have joined forces to lobby for the interests of minority students in Berkeley schools and elect its supporters to the School Board. 

“We’re hoping their experience can rub off on us,” said Santiago Casas, a member of Latinos Unidos. 

Turner said his organization wanted to work with as many Berkeley groups as possible, but cautioned that it had no intention of becoming a local political force. 

“If local groups seek our advice, we’ll be happy to give it,” he said. “But as far as taking the lead, I don’t see it.” 

With a $4 million annual endowment, Greenlining’s interests are larger than Berkeley, stretching from Sacramento to Washington, DC. Started in 1994 by John Gamboa, a co-founder of the consumer interest law firm Public Advocates, and backed by minority business associations, the institute has fought to extend the benefits of capitalism to inner-city neighborhoods that had been traditionally cut off from access to business and home loans. 

“Making the unbanked bankable has always been a top objective,” Turner said. 

To persuade banks to serve inner-city clients, the institute has opposed high-profile bank mergers, threatening to demand hearings before the Federal Reserve Board if the bank didn’t agree to invest more in inner cities. 

Under pressure from Greenlining, Wells Fargo committed $45 billion to community lending and $300 million to philanthropic causes as part of its 1996 acquisition of Los Angeles-based First Interstate Bank. Washington Mutual, also hounded by Greenlining, agreed to provide $120 million in community lending as part of its 2001 merger with Bank United. Similar concessions have been squeezed out of insurance and utility companies. Greenlining issues annual report cards tracking the institutions’ progress in hiring minorities and serving minority communities. 

The organization also retains two attorneys to initiate public interest lawsuits against organizations they feel discriminate against minorities. 

Although it fights in the name of the poor and disenfranchised, Greenlining’s close relations with corporate donors and its commitment to economic expansion have also drawn enemies on the left. 

“Our experience with Greenlining is that they often don’t tell the truth and they’re quick to hurl allegations rather than dealing with the facts,” said Bill Magavern, legislative analyst for the Sierra Club. The environmental group has battled Greenlining on several fronts, most recently legislation that would have weakened standards for the clean-up of contaminated industrial sites, called brownfields. 

“We see brownfields as an opportunity to build affordable housing,” Turner said. “Right now, there’s too much regulation in California to meet the housing needs of its residents.”  

The legislation in question, SB32, passed, but only after lawmakers stripped some of the provisions sought by Greenlining that would have given municipalities and developers greater authority to set clean-up standards. 

Magavern thinks Greenlining’s environmental policies are rooted in the interests of key donors. “Look at who they take money from,” he said. “Part of their modus operandi is to threaten people until they get paid. We’ve never given them money so that is one of the problems they have with us.” 

Tracking down Greenlining’s major contributors isn’t simple. The names of major donors are whited-out on the organization’s federal tax forms. The omission was news to Turner, he said. 

He said that corporations accounted for about one-third of the institute’s revenues. The rest, he said, comes from foundation grants and fees from intervening on behalf of the public before the state Public Utilities Commission. 

Greenlining faxed the Daily Planet its 2002 tax returns, which listed four contributions, including $250,000 from Washington Mutual, $300,000 from Wells Fargo, $450,000 from the California Endowment, and $1.67 million from the Frente Foundation, a Latino charitable organization. 

In 1998, Greenlining came under fire from the consumer rights organization Foundation for Tax Payers and Consumer Rights for taking “at least $300,000” from utility companies and then opposing FTCR’s Proposition 9 that would have derailed a proposed public utility bailout for bad investments. 

In a letter to Gamboa, the FTCR’s Harvey Rosenfield blasted the institute for exploiting the people they claimed to represent. “Your efforts are always devoid of more than a few crumbs at most for the poor, symbolic gestures that are a cheap price for the utilities, insurance companies and banks to pay to obtain a seal of approval from self-appointed representatives of the poor,” he wrote. 

“We get a lot of criticism from [anti-corporate] purists,” acknowledged Turner, who defended the institute’s stand on Proposition 9. 

“We are not anti-corporate,” he continued. “We are for community empowerment, investment and development. Corporations have a role to play in that.”  

One exception so far is the casino industry which is seeking to push itself into minority communities by holding out the promise of jobs and tax revenue. Turner called casino operators “another special interest” and said the institute hasn’t taken a position on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposal to establish a casino in San Pablo. 

At the moment, Greenlining is embarking on several initiatives. The institute is working with corporate partners to improve access to heath care in minority neighborhoods. Legislatively, it is pushing for universal health insurance, the preservation of Social Security and publicly financed elections, with an eye to a state ballot measure in 2008. 

To boost its policy credentials it is partnering with UC Berkeley’s School of Public Policy and Institute of Governmental Studies. And to train future leaders it runs an academy for college students and operates Casa Joaquin, a UC Berkeley dormitory remade as a politically-conscious multi-ethnic living space. 

Perhaps its most ambitious project, Turner said, is in Merced where, instead of its traditional role of facilitating financial opportunities for other groups, Greenlining is taking the lead to join lenders, insurers, utility companies and developers in building 50 units of affordable housing near the new UC Merced campus.  

The initiative came after Greenlining released a report in 2003 warning city leaders that poor residents would be forced out of Merced by a housing shortage unless they took bold action such as fostering “private-public partnerships, reducing regulatory and environmental barriers to housing, creating incentives for higher-density housing or multi-family housing, hiring UC staff locally and utilizing in-fill and vacant properties for housing.”  

While the project would catapult the institute into new territory, Turner instead said Greenlining’s future rested in using its brain trust to better wed minorities and capital.  

“We make the opportunities,” he said. “Others have to seize it.”?

When the Greenlining Institute made its foray into Berkeley politics last year it was seeking to add to the city’s storied tradition as a national springboard for political innovation. 

Since the city made waves in 1979 by divesting from South Africa, revolutionaries with a dollar and a dream have determined that if they can’t make it in Berkeley, they probably won’t make it anywhere else. 

“Things get started in Berkeley. It’s an activist town,” said Robyn Few, director of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, which saw voters trounce its proposal to decriminalize prostitution in November.  

Other political drives have been more successful. Environmentalists, led by Berkeley allies, convinced the City Council to ban Styrofoam in 1988, and in recent years, to power its sanitation fleet on biodiesel. 

Last March, the San Francisco-based Center For Law and Democracy initiated a successful ballot measure, making Berkeley one of the first cities in the country to approve instant run-off voting. 

Yet the recent record for backers of political innovations suggests they might want to relocate. In November, measures to make Berkeley the first city to publicly finance city elections, decriminalize prostitution and guarantee the distribution of marijuana in the case of a federal crackdown all went down in defeat. 

Two year’s earlier, voters by a margin of greater than 2-1 defeated an initiative, proposed by former Berkeley resident Rick Young and backed by Global Exchange, that would have barred brewed coffee that wasn’t fair trade, shade grown or organic. 

Still Councilmember Kriss Worthington thinks Berkeley is a place where new ideas can flourish. “When there is a consensus among progressives then we get things done,” he said. 

Worthington said that consensus existed for instant run off voting, but not for other initiatives like prostitution, which had more support from libertarians than liberals. 

Worthington said he was considering floating two initiatives in future elections: one to implement a Berkeley minimum wage, and the other to allow non-citizen parents of Berkeley school students to vote for school board. 

Last year’s vanquished are also not yet conceding defeat. Few said she expected to take her initiative to San Francisco and maybe to Oakland, while Dan Newman, who worked with the Greenlining Institute on the campaign finance reform measure, might try his luck a second time with Berkeley voters. 

“We’re just going to have to do a better job of educating voters about this great system,” he said.º

Berkeley Unified School District’s superintendent and board directors, at Wednesday’s meeting, blasted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education budget cuts, calling on constituents to write protest letters to the governor and legislators and promising further action. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence had placed a resolution on the consent calendar stating, in part, that BUSD “strongly opposes the governor’s 2005-06 budget proposal and urges the governor to uphold the education funding protections the voters say they want.” But after Student Director Lily Dorman-Colby moved the resolution to the action calendar “because it needs more attention,” directors took the microphone one-by-one to denounce the cutbacks. 

Last year, Schwarzenegger won support for one-year budget cuts from state education leaders in return for his promise that the money would be returned in the 2005-06 budget. But when the governor released his budget proposal last month, he reneged on that deal, requesting that the cuts in public education be made permanent. 

Director Joaquin Rivera called it “extremely disturbing that the governor is going back on the promise he made.” Dorman-Colby called Schwarzenegger’s actions “upsetting.” In an op-ed article released this week to newspapers around the state, Dorman-Colby wrote that she was “calling on everyone in the state to speak out in defense of public education funding, but I am calling most specifically on students across the state. We must stand up and be counted.” 

Director Terry Doran said that “every citizen will be affected if our education is allowed to deteriorate.” He added that “there are many other suggestions for solving our state budget problems than cutting education.” 

Director John Selawsky said that the education cutbacks “may actually galvanize people into action. That’s what I’m hoping for.” Selawsky said that “we in Berkeley have pounded on that drum for years in saying that education must be fully-funded. But others are now taking up that drumbeat.” 

Lawrence said that the resolution, which passed unanimously, was only the “first of many actions we’re going to be taking” in opposition to the budget cuts. 

She said that the California School Boards Association and the California Teachers Association are working on a joint legislative action day to bring constituents to Sacramento. In addition, Lawrence said that superintendents representing Alameda County’s school districts met this week to plan actions, and would soon be writing letters to legislators and meeting with legislative leaders to plan strategies over the anticipated budget fight. Beginning in March, Lawrence said that the district will start organizing Berkeley-based actions, with information-action meetings planned with school PTA’s and community groups around the city.  

Dorman-Colby said, following the meeting, that she was meeting with Berkeley High School student leaders this week to plan actions, and would move from there to contact student leaders around the state for possible coalition efforts. 

After the shots at Gov. Schwarzenegger, the rest of the school board meeting was short and less eventful. The board: 

• Approved the hiring of Berkeley-based Design Community and Environment company (DCE) to assist the district in the West Campus, Oregon/Russell, and Old City Hall projects. BUSD is moving its administrative offices to the West Campus site, closing its Old City Hall operation altogether and moving personnel from the Oregon/Russell property. DCE announced that they want to hold four community meetings between March and May at the West Campus site to discuss the proposed move, with the first meeting scheduled for March 3. 

• Approved master plans and proposed projects by landscape architect Miller and Company for $180,000 landscaping and playground improvements at LeConte and Washington elementary schools. Money for the improvements will come from the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project (BSEP). If the BSEP Site Committees for the respective schools approve the projects, construction could begin as early as this summer. 

• Approved a waiver of credential requirements in order to allow the appointment of BHS counselor Roland Stringfellow as interim Vice Principal of Berkeley High School. Stringfellow’s appointment was made necessary after Vice Principal Mark Wolfe unexpectedly resigned last month for personal reasons. 

• Confirmed Margaret Rowland to fill out BUSD’s three-member Merit Commission. The commission—which is composed of one district representative, one classified employees union representative, and one member chosen jointly by the district and union reps—makes the final decisions in hiring and other personnel decisions regarding the district’s classified employees. Rowland fills the “mutual chosen” slot on the commission, joining commissioners Shirley Van Bourg and Roy Doolan. Her term expires in December of 2006.

A state mediator brought in to facilitate the bargaining of a new union contract between the University of California and service workers has called off talks between the two sides, according to the chief negotiator for the union representing 7,300 service employees at the nine campuses. 

“The mediator has told the parties that she does not believe there is anything further she can do at this time,” said Paul Worthman, who works for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union local 3299. 

After months of unsuccessful efforts agree to a new contract after the former one expired in June, AFSCME declared impasses in mid-January and asked the mediator to intervene. The state mediator met with both sides separately, but according to Worthman decided their proposals were still too far apart to continue negotiating. 

At UC Berkeley, there are around 700 service employees represented by AFSMCE who clean classrooms and run the student dining halls, among other duties. Two of their main concerns for the contract are pay raises and a step system for job promotions. 

Worthman said employees have criticized the university for giving large bonuses to top UC executives while being unwilling to give raises to the service employees. Service workers have not received an across the board raises since October 2003. 

“The average salary [for UC service workers] is $12, and one cannot raise a family on $12 an hour,” said Kelley Sebesta, a building maintenance worker.  

Noel Van Nyhuis, a spokesperson for the University of California, said the university has been unable to provide system-wide pay increases because of state budget problems. He said the compact agreed to last May between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, UC and the California State schools, which would increase funding for both schools, should allow for system-wide increases. That agreement would go into effect in 2005-2006 but still needs to be approved by the state legislator. 

The union, however, contends that only a quarter of the money that pays for service worker salaries comes from state money. The rest comes from self generated fees such as parking permits. They say the university is using the state budget as an excuse. 

“To give our members a 3 percent raise would cost less than $100,000 per campus per year of state money,” said Worthman.  

Van Nyhuis said even though state money only makes up somewhere around a quarter of UC’s funding, it is largest source of reliable funding, whereas much of the additional funding the university receives is through one-time gifts. He said the university does not want to increase wages, which would create a permanent expenditure, unless it is based on a permanent and reliable revenue source.  

The step system would formalize the seniority process. The union wants a system used by other unions which guarantees that employees will move up the job classification ladder each year as long they perform at work. After five or six years, they would reach the top of their job classification.  

Currently, the union said, employees are at the will of the university, which decides who gets raises and when they get them, a system they said breeds favoritism.  

“We have food service workers at UCLA making $8.32 an hour, and they have been there for five or six years,” said Worthman. “We have other people who have been put at the top of the range after a year or two.” 

“People who have worked here for years have still not topped out,” said Maria Ventura, a lead food service worker at UC Berkeley. “They never will unless we get a step system in here.” 

Other issues the union addressed in negotiations included what they call “a chance to advance.” According to Worthman, employees want the chance to advance to university jobs that they can make a career out of. Worthman said the university often overlooks qualified service employees and hirers from outside the university when it fills higher level job positions.  

Van Nyhuis said the university supports career development for employees and has developed a “career development committee” to help workers map out a career plan. 

If mediation does not resume, the union is now free to use traditional tactics, such as a strike, to apply pressure on the university. They were restricted by state law from escalating their pressure on the university until they met with the mediator.  

Van Nyhuis said that if mediation ends, the university “will do whatever is necessary to reach an agreement and move forward.” 

In the meantime, the union is also going to start a campaign to stop the university from buying service worker uniforms produced by sweatshop labor. According to Worthman, the university has a code of conduct that prevents it from purchasing products made in sweatshops, such as the sweatshirts sold at the student union. He said the union looked at the labels on uniforms and saw they were made in several places that use sweatshop labor including El Salvador, Vietnam and Burma. 

“There is absolutely no way to know whether these are being made by eight-year-old girls,” said Worthman. “We are taking this to United Students Against Sweatshops and have talked to Sweatshop Watch. We are hoping to see a national campaign that would require all universities to adopt a code of conduct for the uniforms that their employees wear.” 

Van Nyhuis said the university does not support sweatshops and “would definitely like to talk to [the union] about that and deal with it.”2

To state regulators, they’re Meade Street Operable Units 1 and 2; to Russ Pitto, they represent opportunities for long-term investments, and for state Assemblymember Loni Hancock, they represent everything that can go wrong with the regulatory process. 

Campus Bay and the Bayside Research Campus are the two adjacent properties in South Richmond that Pitto hopes to develop, one as a major housing complex and the other as a corporate/academic research park. 

But for Hancock, their history—and especially that of Campus Bay—is the reason her staff is busily writing up two pieces of legislation she plans to introduce by Feb. 18.  

The first prong of her legislative effort will target problem areas in existing legislation while the second will establish an overall framework for deciding which agencies will handle which cleanups, said Gayle Eads, legislative aide to the Berkeley assemblymember. 

There has been a battle over the oversight of the Campus Bay property, where 1,330 units of housing are planned atop a buried mountain of waste generated from a century of chemical manufacturing. 

Complaints by area residents led to a legislative hearing, called by Hancock, at which jurisdiction over most of the site was transferred from the Regional water Quality Control Board to the far more rigorous state Department of Toxic Substances Control, a process completed in December. 

As the law now stands, developers can pick their own regulator, a process that Hancock’s legislation would end. Eads said the law would impose an overall state plan guaranteeing public participation, transparency and accountability.  

“Everyone would be able to understand what’s going on, including the developer,” she said. “It would make someone responsible and stop agency shopping.” 

Pitto’s role at Campus Bay has long been public knowledge, but his role as the prospective developer of a major research park at the former Richmond Field Station has only recently come to light. 

The Marin county developer, who is backed by a multinational investment firm, had been forced to abandon plans for a research park at Campus Bay when the market for biotech stocks nose-dived after 9/11. 

Pitto says a research and development facility next door that is part of the university stands a much better chance. 

“Stanford Research Park, another cooperative effort, is a great success,” Pitto said, “and UC San Francisco has had incredible success with their Mission Bay Campus. Berkeley had not taken that step into public/private partnership, and now they are.” 

The site will continue to house engineering research and a library facility, among other current uses, he said. 

“It’s an incredible opportunity for the university and an incredible opportunity for private industry,” Pitto said. “It’s an incredible piece of property and the university has an incredible pool of talent. If we built it on our own it wouldn’t say the same thing as something done in connection with the university system.” 

Pitto and the university have yet to sign a deal, but negotiations are currently underway. 

Meanwhile, excavations have stopped at Stege Marsh, the waterfront portion of the Campus Bay site which has been polluted by chemical manufacturing activities. 

Polluted soil was being excavated to restore the habitat for the endangered clapper rail seabird and other critters but stopped on Jan. 31 in accordance with an order from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which set the date to protect the site during the nesting season of the endangered bird. 

Pitto’s firm has applied for an extension that would allow them to finish the shoreline work, and a reply is expected today (Friday) from the wildlife agency, said Curtis Scott of the Water Quality Control Board.

Landmarks Preservation commissioners will consider a trio of controversial applications when they meet Monday night. 

The first two seek to landmark a pair of buildings at the site of a proposed four-story condo and commercial project at 700 University Ave. 

The third seeks to designate a brick-and-mortar industrial building at 2701-2721 Eighth St. that has been a bone of contention between an artists’ collective and the Berkeley/East Bay Humane Society. 

The application to landmark the Celia’s Restaurant Building and Brennan’s Irish Pub followed the application of San Mateo developer Dan Deibel to build a project that would fill virtually all of the 700 block of University Avenue. 

Preservationist Gale Garcia filed two applications, and other preservationists have charged that the site might cover human remains and archaeological artifacts from the Berkeley Shellmound. 

Deibel agreed to additional core tests to search for remains following criticisms raised at the commission’s December meeting. 

Members of the Nexus Collective and Gallery feared possible eviction if the Humane Society had decided to demolished the building the artists lease from them, but the society challenged the application written by John English and said they plan to come up with their one of their own, while vowing their intent to preserve the 1920s structure. 

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

—Richard Brenneman

Fellow councilmembers Tuesday forced Richmond Mayor Irma Anderson to shelve her plan for a Blue Ribbon Committee on Campus Bay, following the pleas of both project critics and developer Russ Pitto. 

Councilmembers agreed with Pitto and his foes that formation of the committee would be a potentially costly waste of effort until state regulators decide what can and can’t be built on the pollutant-laden site. 

Pitto’s Marin County-based Simeon Properties, armed with the bankroll of Cherokee Investment Partners, proposes a 1,330-unit housing complex on the South Richmond site. That proposal can’t move forward without an approval from the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), which is now evaluating the site. 

The council also tabled another proposal sparked by events at Campus Bay, a city zoning code revision by councilmembers Tom Butt and Gayle McLaughlin that would impose stringent conditions on the demolition of buildings used to manufacture or store toxics. 

Despite the urging of the two sponsors, Anderson and the council majority stopped action so city staff search could for potential troubles with the wording. 

The legislation was inspired by the virtually unregulated demolition of more than 40 buildings at Campus Bay, relics of a century of churning out sulfuric acid, pesticides, herbicides and other noxious compounds. 

Contra Costa County Health Director Wendel Brunner has decried the demolition in which nearby residents and workers were deluged with dust from a severely polluted site and nobody was keeping track of what was in it.  

The only city authorization required was a check for $1,058.50 accompanied by a dozen numbers and 22 words on a five-by-eight-inch note card. 

“Buildings were demolished without any ministerial oversight,” said Butt, who based the language of the amendments on similar codes adopted by a large number of cities across the country. 

Sherry Padgett, who works next to the Campus Bay site and is the leading spokesperson for Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BARRD), offered strong support for the amendment. 

“Something went very, very wrong at one of the most toxic sites in the state. There was no public notice, no environmental impact statement, no precautions, no protections and no hazard notices,” she said. 

Vice Mayor John Rogers, who runs cable ads referring to himself as “The Peoples Lawyer,” said he worried that the statute could apply to “someone who has stored a can of paint in his garage for a few years.” 

“I would like to hear from Mr. Pitto,” said Councilmember Nathaniel Bates. 

But it was already over, and the council moved on to the next item, with the Butt/McLaughlin amendment off for a staff review and reappearance at the next council meeting. The council did hear from Pitto, but only later, when it came time to consider Anderson’s committee on Campus Bay. 

Pitto has planned to build a condominium community on the site directly over a 35,000-cubic-yard buried waste dump created under the supervision of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and now under the supervision of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). 

The thinly capped mound contains acid-producing iron pyrite ash and other waste collected from the site and from the University of California’s Richmond Field Station immediately to the west, which has its own history of contamination and where Pitto hopes to build a major academic/corporate research park under UC auspices. 

Under Anderson’s plan, each councilmember would appoint one committee member, hopefully including those with expertise in public health and toxics. 

“I recommend it because this is an important project and we need community input. . .as we make decisions on this project,” Anderson said. 

“It’s a controversial project and a large project and the costs could be quite expensive,” Rogers said. 

A that point, Ethel Dodson, a longtime opponent of Pitto’s project, announced that she had turned in enough signatures for the toxics agency to trigger formation of an official DTSC Community Advisory Group. 

“I don’t see why you need a blue ribbon committee because the community will have representation on the CAG,” Dodson said. 

“I don’t really know if a blue ribbon committee is the right way to go,” said Tarnel Abbott, a city librarian and a member of the Richmond Progressive Alliance. 

The committee can be an important step, said Padgett, “but it might be premature. The DTSC is coming up with standards for what can go there. I want to be sure you appoint a physician.” Padgett also wondered how it would relate to the DTSC’s CAG. 

Anderson said her panel’s primary purpose would be to consider planning issues, “but it should have someone in environment and health.” 

In the ensuing discussion, several councilmembers, including the mayor, called for a panel staffed with Richmond residents. 

“People outside the City of Richmond dictate too much of what goes in our community. It ought to be our determination of what we want. I don’t appreciate people from outside of Richmond coming into our community and telling us what to do,” said Councilmember Bates. 

“Over 60 percent of the people at that hearing were not from the City of Richmond,” said Anderson, referring to the joint legislative hearing held on Campus Bay by Assemblymembers Loni Hancock and Cindy Montana. 

It was that hearing which had forced the water board to hand jurisdiction over most of the site to the DTSC. 

When it came time for Pitto to speak, he read a letter form Dwight Stenseth, managing director of the Denver office of Cherokee Investment Partners, which pools public and private pension money to invest in buildings on so-called brownfields, restored contaminated properties. 

Stenseth, in his letter, encouraged the DTSC’s advisory panel composed of nearby residents and property owners, business people and representatives of local government and civic and environmental groups. 

“It is a public process that has worked well in other communities with high-profile brownfields and one which CSV will support,” wrote Stenseth, according to Pitto. 

“We are actually here to support the CAG,” Pitto said. “We were concerned about the council’s interest in a separate committee. We’re concerned there might be two separate groups doing the same thing.” 

“Let the state do their job and let us stay out of their job,” said Councilmember Maria Viramontes, who noted that “at the moment, there isn’t even a project” because Simeon had pulled their application for a permit to build the housing pending the outcome of the state regulatory process. 

“We do not plan to interfere with the CAG,” said Anderson. “But if there is a project, we need to make a decision and that’s where the committee would become involved.” 

“Once the state gets through we should form the committee,” said Bates. 

The rest of the council agreed. 

?

Concluding that Berkeley’s public housing authority unfairly favors African Americans, federal regulators have suggested that the agency target other groups including UC Berkeley students. 

The findings—part of an October compliance audit of the city’s federally funded Section 8 Housing Program—confounded city officials, who questioned why the Bush Administration wanted to give housing vouchers to college students. 

“I see the main purpose of the program as helping to prevent homelessness,” said Berkeley Housing Director Steve Barton. “I don’t think it’s intended for graduate students getting financial aid.” Berkeley has given out vouchers to a small number of UC Students, mostly graduate students with families, Barton added. 

On Monday Barton sent a reply letter to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), contesting its findings. HUD oversees the city’s Section 8 housing program, which manages over 1,700 federally subsidized housing vouchers and operates 61 rental units. 

Charles Hauptman, HUD’s office of housing regional director, said he expected the two sides to meet within the next month and ultimately hammer out an agreement to make sure Berkeley complied with federal civil rights laws.  

As far as offering vouchers to UC students, Hauptman said, the agency was more interested in diversifying the program participants than guaranteeing spaces for college students. “What we’re really looking to is marketing to specific groups that are least likely to apply,” he said. HUD excluded the recommendation about UC students in its Draft Negotiated Agreement sent to Berkeley officials after the October report. 

Last July, HUD audited the housing authority’s operations for the first time in the last six years, Barton said. 

The audit found that African Americans comprised approximately 74 percent of Section 8 tenants, compared with 24 percent for whites and three percent for Asians. 

Yet, among the more than 5,000 people on the Section 8 waiting list in 2001, HUD found that whites comprised 46 percent, African Americans 43 percent, Hispanics eight percent and Asians three percent. 

The numbers conflicted, HUD wrote in its audit, with a 2000 census report showing that 15.7 percent of the city city’s low-income population were African American, 30.5 percent were Asian, 10.1 percent were Hispanic and 41.5 percent were white. 

To boost participation by non-African Americans, HUD recommended that Berkeley reach out to Asians and Latinos and abolish its residency preference for applicants who either live, or work at least 10 hours, in Berkeley. 

Noting that the housing authority hadn’t housed anyone outside of Berkeley in the past year, HUD cautioned that Berkeley’s policy might amount to a residency requirement, illegal under HUD by-laws. 

In his reply letter, Barton contended that that resident preferences added to diversity by bringing more disabled tenants into the program and that there were few differences between the racial composition of residents and non-residents on the waiting list. 

As for the discrepancy between the racial composition of Section 8 tenants and those on the waiting list, Barton postulated that there might be a smaller percentage of whites with vouchers than on the waiting list because whites keep vouchers for fewer years because on average they are less poor or disadvantaged. He added that the African American population of Berkeley has declined significantly since many of the current Section 8 tenants received their vouchers. 

HUD’s mention of bringing more UC students into Section 8 housing intrigued ASUC Housing Director Jesse Arreguin, who said the city should take it as a cue to help provide affordable housing for students even though he thought the Section 8 option sounded impractical. 

“There’s a very long wait for the vouchers,” he said. “By the time students got one they’d probably be close to graduation.” 

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas 

WRITER FOR HIRE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It has been reported that the Bush administration has been paying columnists to push its agenda. First, Armstrong Williams, who worked for Tribune Media was reported in USA Today (a bastion of hard-hitting investigative reporting) to have received $240,000 from the Department of Education to push the No Child Left Behind Act in his columns and through public speaking. Although Williams says he “regrets taking the contract,” he doesn’t regret it so much that he will give the money back. “That would be ludicrous,” he said, “because they bought advertising, and they got it.”  

Then CNN reported that Maggie Gallagher was paid $21,000 to help the Department of Health and Human Services to support the administration’s effort to promote healthy marriages (except, we suppose, between persons of the same sex.) Later, HHS revealed that it also had paid conservative columnist Mike McManus $10,000 to support healthy marriages. 

Of course, as an occasional contributor to the Berkeley Daily Planet I am aghast and outraged at these payments. Mostly I am outraged that the government isn’t paying me. I here and now announce that I am willing to sell out, providing that we can arrive at a fair and equitable price. (Please, though, don’t tell the O’Malleys. They do have these tedious ethics and probably would look poorly on it. I think it has something to do with a pre-Sept. 11 world-view and ties to Old Europe—probably France.)  

I already have been ordained in the Universal Life Church in an effort to attract some of that faith-based money that I thought the administration would soon hand out. Alas, none of it seemed to find me, but this seems far easier. 

Pushing marriage looks to be particularly lucrative, with two of the three disclosed columnists in on that scheme—er, program. I’d be glad to extol the virtues of marriage in these pages for a small fee—say $100,000 plus expenses and a stipend for the speeches I’d surely be asked to give. For the right price I will even downplay my own marriage—which broke up one afternoon while I was watching the Giants play a ball game on TV. My wife accused me of loving baseball more than I loved her. I replied, “But honey, I love you more than ice hockey!” She took it poorly. The next time I saw her was in court. And to think, after such a lengthy marriage: I had given that woman the best weeks of my life. 

Obviously then, my columns on that subject wouldn’t be from life. I’d have to just make things up. Making things up shouldn’t trouble this administration which has so much experience in that area.  

I could push privatization of social security for perhaps $150,000. That would compensate me for the amount I would lose if the program actually passed. I’d do No Child Left Behind for $80,000 and even refrain from mentioning that no child would get ahead either. Does the administration want a column stating that air pollution is good for you? I’m your columnist! Tax rebates for the wealthy? No problem. If the administration would only pay me enough for such columns, I could become one of the wealthy myself and support the program with all my heart. 

And I promise that I would spend the money in a way that would help the economy and create jobs. So it would be win-win. Anyone in the administration who is reading this, just contact me in care of this paper. But be discreet. Maybe use a fake name, or wear a Groucho Marx nose and mustache. And pay in unmarked bills, or untraceable Halliburton common stock. Remember, if the owners of this paper find out, it’s over. 

Paul Glusman 

BAY BRIDGE FIASCO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have three points concerning the over-budget controversy for the Oakland Bay Bridge. This is based upon many years as an urban planner and architect who appreciates suspension bridges more than concrete “freeway s on stilts.” 

• The news tells us that Southern California state legislators claim that they should not have to pay for Caltrans “budget overruns” and especially the Bay Bridge suspension-tower span. I believe that Southern California concrete freeways a re far in excess on a tons of concrete/ taxpayer ratio to that spent in Northern California. Besides that Northern California has closed more freeways than down south. Another figure for comparison is the Southern California Caltrans over budget total tha t was paid for by California taxpayers. 

• The Caldecott fourth bore is a controversial project opposed by many in the East Bay and that is in my professional opinion ill-conceived and a direct result of urban sprawl in Contra Costa County and easterly. All of Caltrans, MTC, other local funds, and any federal funds budgeted for that “hole-in-the-ground” should be legislatively transferred to the Bay Bridge account. Let the bridge be built as we have been promised for over 10 years. Caltrans is famous for freeway budget over-runs and sliding funds from one project to another. (Reference: The 1989 “Cypress” freeway, Loma Prieta EQ collapse, was traced to Caltrans’ transfer of seismic retrofit funds to new freeways and interchanges.) 

• I am suspicious that the alleged over-budget amounts for the east span suspension tower are partially coming out of cost over runs from the concrete bridge piers now underway. An audit may show, I suspect, that Caltrans has been infamous for transferring funds from project ac counts to cover up cost-over-budget situations. 

I urge loyal Daily Planet readers, contributors, and advertisers to e-mail and call Assembly Member Hancock, State Sen. Torlakson, and State Sen. Perata.  

Ken Norwood 

• 

SOCIAL SECURITY SCAM 

Editors, Daily P lanet: 

As Bush campaigns to sell us on privatizing Social Security, people should know this is a con. The politicians that conned us about WMDs in Iraq now want us to think that putting our SSI money into private accounts will guarantee more at retiremen t time. 

This is a con because the basic mechanism of the stock and bond markets, where privatized accounts would invest, is “win-lose.” For every person who makes money in the stock market, there are others who lose money. We all know that you make money in the market by buying low and selling high. But for every high-price seller, there has to be someone willing to buy at that price. Each buyer believes that the prices will continue to rise. But prices rise only so long as there are more buyers in the m arket than sellers. Eventually, fewer people believe the market will continue rising than those who want to sell. Then the prices drop, rapidly. This happened in 1989 and in 2001, leaving many people with less than half their savings. 

We’ve heard that Bu sh’s plan is a scam because it would add $ 2 trillion (that’s 2 million million) dollars to our national debt, and it would give stock brokers windfall commissions. But the fundamental con is that it would pump money into the market for immediate gain whi le leaving long-term, privatized SSI accounts busted when retirement time comes. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

• 

MEASURE R RECOUNT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Debby Goldberg’s article about Measure R’s defeat and about the “recount” was disturbing. 

I worked as a cle rk in the Nov. 2 election. We were fairly close to the campus. Student after student came in to vote. Many of the students were not on our list of registered voters. All of the students not on our list said that they had registered to vote on campus. Of c ourse we gave them provisional ballots. 

The idea that provisional ballots were not kept in a secure place, were not carefully checked against an accurate list of registered voters, was news to me, depressing news.  

I believe that the national election w as changed by fraud. Until I read Debby Goldberg’s article, I believed that Berkeley election workers were honest and careful. Also I believed that every provisional ballot was checked efficiently against a 100 percent correct list of registered voters. N ow that I have read your article, I am very glad that there was a lawsuit and that the election outcome will be decided by the California Superior Court. 

Julia Craig 

• 

BROWER CENTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Many thanks for the piece on the David Brower Cen ter. It is wonderful that the Design Review Board was so enthusiastic. Let’s hope the rest of the approval process proceeds quickly and without hindrance. 

The center will be a building to be proud of. Dave was one of Berkeley’s major contributions to the world, and his vision and brilliance are needed now more than ever. A state-of-the-art green building at the edge of the campus is the perfect monument to this extraordinary man and a wonderful vehicle to ensure that what he taught us over his long life is never forgotten but repeated and amplified until the world comes to its senses and stops destroying the life support systems we all depend on. 

Thanks again for the article. When do they expect to break ground? 

Tom Turner 

• 

MORE ON BROWER CENTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was with great interest that I read the account of the meeting where the initial structural plans for the David Brower Center/Oxford Plaza were unveiled (“Design Committee Praises Plan for Brower Center,” Daily Planet, Jan. 25-27). 

I was heartened that committee members saw the merits behind this proposed project, bound to be a positive community resource center in a city known for its environmental and social leadership. It will offer progressive nonprofit organizations a well-designed green space to share ideas and collaborate as they work toward similar goals—a point not to be taken for granted. 

And with its attention to resource efficiency, it will also act as a model for future development both in the Bay Area and beyond. 

I look forward to the day when the David Brower Center/Oxford Plaza is open for business. 

Sara Marcellino 

• 

TOM LAWRENCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Tom Lawrence passed away last month, and many people may have noticed his obituary in the San Francisco Chroni cle. Tom was a great man, and educated man, a charming man and a generous man. If you needed to know anything about thrips, or what they could do to your garden, Tom was your man. Regularly strolling with his gangly gait down Shattuck, I loved running int o him and chatting. I’m certain he touched many, and I feel fortunate to have known him. He made the world a better place, an example to us all. God Speed, Tom. 

Tim Cannon 

• 

DENNEY’S CRITICISMS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With reference to the article by Carol Denney, “Celebrating Poetry in the ‘Arts District’” (Daily Planet, Jan. 21-24), and Pepper Spray Times, Feb. 1-3, Ms. Denney has inaccurately stated that I apologized for the removal of her flyers taped to the sidewalk adjacent to the Poetry Panels in the Arts District. Ms. Denney’s flyers went far beyond “a gentle criticism,” but were instead offensive and dishonest to the writers and poets who are celebrated in these panels. After discussing the events of the day with Sherry Smith later, I fully supported what she and others did as an appropriate response to the “tagging.” I certainly did not apologize for Sherry or for anyone else. Those who removed the flyers did so properly and in respect for the artists and for the hundreds of poetry readers who came to enjoy the spoken word.  

In a printed handout she offered to the people waiting in line to attend the poetry reading, Ms. Denney continued in her misguided attempt to connect the tragic death of a disabled local activist in a traffic related incid ent on Ashby Avenue last year, to the construction of sidewalk improvements in the Arts District. This distortion lacks any reason or any truth, but somehow serves as “irony” in her view.  

While the Pepper Spray Times feature is intended to amuse and mil dly outrage your readers with little regard to the truth, her commentary article should at least be held to a higher level of honesty and some measure of objectivity. Ms. Denney, a well-educated person from a privileged family background, is a very talent ed and persistent critic of national and local political affairs, although in this matter she lacks the ability to distinguish criticism and irony from outright offensiveness and distortion of the facts.  

David Snippen 

Chair of the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission 

• 

TRAFFIC CALMING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Dear Becky O’Malley: Gosh, you must be the most sensitive and unadaptable person in the world. Thirty years on Ashby, and the traffic noise still bothers you (“Traffic Calming Needed,” Daily Planet, Feb. 1-3). When I moved to an apartment on Telegraph Avenue, it took me all of a week to no longer hear the traffic, including the bus that stops on the corner. Ashby Avenue is a major thoroughfare—State Highway 13, I believe. Because it’s a narrow road, with a number of stoplights, it has always had backed up traffic. If traffic on Ashby were any “calmer” it would be permanent gridlock. Despite your protestations of affordability, you knew you were buying a house on a busy street, and I’m sure that even back in the ‘70s an address “east of College” was a whole lot finer and more expensive than one, say, west of Shattuck or even west of Sacramento, so you had other choices. 

Unless you want to shut off all freeway exits to Berkeley, make people give up their c ars within city limits, and institute a dictatorship to accomplish this, people will always need a way to get in, out and through Berkeley. There are too many people in the Bay Area, and there is no humane way to change that. You mention that it takes you a long time to get to your house by car on Ashby—so, you’re part of the problem. What, you say, you sometimes need to get out of town, maybe to a mall to buy things you can’t get in business-unfriendly Berkeley, or you have packages to carry, or you get tired walking, or the bus doesn’t come often enough? Guess what—that’s true for everyone else too. Making it even harder to drive in Berkeley for the benefit of individual neighborhoods and streets will make matters worse, and increase the incredible rude ness and road rage exhibited by our fellow citizens. There are no easy solutions as long as we live in a world with cars. 

As far as university-bashing goes: Without the University, Berkeley would be just a bump on the map, more akin to El Cerrito (this is not a criticism of El Cerrito—I’d live there in a minute if I could afford to rent one of those cute little houses in a friendly town with light traffic and an actual shopping center!) than to the intellectual and culinary center that it is today. Yes, much of the morning and evening traffic on main streets is university employees. If you want to help alleviate that, why not help lobby the university for a universal low-cost or free transit pass for employees? That might help a bit, but it won’t get rid of the problem of inadequate public transit and too many people—when parking spaces at BART stations are full by 6:30 a.m., people are less inclined to take the train. Oh, and about the West Berkeley Berkeley Bowl—there are no grocery stores in West Berk eley, let alone affordable ones. Give those folks buying tired lettuce at the liquor stores a break!  

Now, as far as your own situation, Ms. O’Malley: I’ve got the place for you—Weaverville, Calif., an old goldmining town in the Trinity Alps. A very smal l town—a village, really—which is beautiful, friendly, economically depressed. With the proceeds from selling your Berkeley home, you could buy up a nice-size chunk of town. Weaverville has an active historical society, and a local weekly, the Trinity Jou rnal, which actually provides balanced coverage of local events, and lobbies for things which need to be lobbied for, such as a parcel tax to keep the hospital from closing. You could move up there and start Big Trouble. Just make sure you don’t buy a house on Main Street (State Highway 299). The logging trucks will keep you awake at night, and the locals won’t take kindly to you petitioning for “traffic calming.” 

Aija Kanbergs 

Oakland 

• 

SMOKE-FILLED CARD ROOM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your recent article (“Urban Gambling: Godsend or Curse?” Daily Planet, Jan. 28-31) cited many concerns about the proposed expansion of Casino San Pablo, but didn’t mention the casino’s smoke-choked air. In 1995, Casino San Pablo was opened as a smoke-free establishment; six years later the venue was transferred to the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians. Under the tribe’s ownership, the casino’s smoke-free policy was rescinded, endangering the health and lives of its employees and patrons.  

The tribe plans to install ventilation s ystems rather than provide smoke-free air. Sadly, ventilation systems do not protect people from the health hazards caused by tobacco smoke. These systems merely address odor. The only solution is a smoke-free environment. As such, we strongly recommend t hat any compact approved include a provision requiring smoke-free air.  

If the Casino San Pablo is allowed to expand as proposed it would become California’s largest smoke-filled workplace. Employee and public safety should not be negotiable. Casino work ers should have the right to breathe smoke-free air just like employees in any other California workplace.  

Secondhand smoke is a leading cause of disease and premature death and has been classified by the EPA as a Class A carcinogen a toxin known to cau se cancer in humans and which has no safe level of exposure. 

Cynthia Hallett 

Executive Director 

Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights 

In recent years, with the active cooperation of its local elected officials, Oakland has become something of a constitutional rights experimental ground for California. The idea has been to implement laws of dubious constitutionality—applicable to Oakland and only Oakland—to see if they work, how they work, and, perhaps, if they can be gotten away with. And so, among other things, Oaklanders have endured (thanks to Mayor Jerry Brown) the suspension of certain state environmental protections under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that are available to every other California city. In addition, we’ve had Senator Don Perata’s Sideshow Red Queen Justice Car Seizure Act (called the U’Kendra Johnson law) in which the city is allowed to confiscate cars for 30 days solely on the word of a police officer—without a prior hearing—that someone had been spinning donuts in the car. One would think that like the villagers in the Frankenstein movies, Oaklanders would get fed up, storm the castle, and drive these legal monsters out. Why that hasn’t happened (yet) is a story for another day. 

In any event, this sawing at the foundation poles of the Constitution may soon become a problem for Californians as a whole, as Mayor Brown is now promising to take the latest version of this show on the road. 

A recent Heather MacDonald Oakland Tribune article on the mayor’s planned run for California Attorney General in 2006 ends on an interesting note. “If elected,” the last paragraph reads in part, “Brown said he … may work to expand Oakland’s curfews for those on parole or probation throughout the state.” Mr. Brown is advancing that thought already, even though the Tribune, in the same article, says Oakland Deputy Police Chief Pete Dunbar believes it “could be” six months to a year before the results of Oakland’s curfew are even known. 

Oh, what a hurry we are in when election time rolls around and these days, it seems, election time is always rolling around. 

For Californians—and even some Oaklanders—who may not know what the curfew is all about, a short summary is in order. 

In a deal apparently worked out last year between Mayor Brown, the Oakland Police Department, and the Alameda County Probation Department—but not the Oakland City Council—people paroled in Oakland must agree, as a condition of their parole, to be confined to their homes between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. until their years of parole are over. Mayor Brown tells the Tribune that he came up with the plan because, according to the mayor, 80 percent of homicides in the city involve felons who are on probation and parole, and 70 percent of homicides occur at night. And according to the Tribune, an Oakland Police Department representative “believes the curfew could help curb ‘sideshows’ … and violence and burglaries.” (It was the Tribune which put the quotation marks around the term sideshows, which they defined in this article as “displays of reckless driving on city streets.”) Anyways, the provisions only apply to Oakland probationers. The State Parole Board has not made a decision on using the Oakland curfew as a condition for parolees. 

It is difficult to see where Mr. Brown gets his information that 80 percent of Oakland homicides involve felons who are on probation and parole, since, we are told, most Oakland homicides go unsolved. But while we’re waiting for him to explain, we’ll move on. 

One of the principles of American justice—before it got trampled in the cages of Guantanamo, at least—is that individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and that punishment ought to extend only to people actually convicted of a particular crime, not to people who might belong to a certain class. 

Keeping that in mind, let us do some quick math. Last year, there were 88 homicides in Oakland. Using that 80 percent parolee/probationer figure given by Mr. Brown (even though we’ve yet to hear where he gets it from), that would mean that 70 of these murders were committed by parolees or probationers. Even if each of these 70 murders were committed by a different individual, that leaves a pretty significant number of parolees or probationers who didn’t kill anybody in Oakland last year, but who are still subject to Mr. Brown’s new curfew law. According to state statistics, there were some 2,500 parolees living in Oakland as of last summer; that doesn’t even take into account the number of people in the city out on probation. 

But let’s follow this road a little further. If Mr. Brown and the Oakland Police Department believe every one of these 2,500 parolees is a likely candidate to commit a murder or a violent assault—and I don’t share that belief—why in God’s name would we want to lock these parolees up in their homes? 

Confining these 2,500 Oakland parolees in their homes all night isn’t going to curb any violent tendencies they may have, for those of them who do have violent tendencies. It isn’t going to lessen the tensions and social and economic pressures they might feel that lead to such violence, or limit access to the liquid or smokable stimulants that fuel the fire. And if the pressure builds inside those 2,500 parolees’ houses, and they cannot get outside to movies or nightclubs or just driving around to blow off steam, and these parolees boil over and explode, where does one think that explosion is going to be directed? 

Another quick statistic, since we’re reciting them. In the year 2000 there were a little over 2,300 domestic violence-related calls for assistance reported by the Oakland Police Department, almost 300 of them involving the use of weapons of some kind. The report did not specify whether the victims of the violence were wives or children. 

Mr. Brown, in his typically breezy way of making light of serious social problems that might result from his proposals, tells the Tribune that he believes “it’s very (beneficial) for these probationers and parolees to spend time in their homes.” Yes, but not under house arrest. It’s bad to be in the predicting business, but I’ll take a chance and predict that the longer Mr. Brown’s parolee curfew goes on, the more those domestic violence numbers are likely to rise, even if all of the parolees are not as violent as Mr. Brown appears to believe. How many Oakland women are going to be beaten or killed because their husband couldn’t get out of the house during an argument just to stand on the corner for 15 minutes and smoke a cigarette? 

Having lived for many years with a man who actually did have such violent tendencies that got played out in the home (see “No Charges In Mayoral Aide’s Dispute; Police Chief Responded To Call Of Fight Between Brown Confidant Barzaghi, Wife” by Heather MacDonald and Harry Harris, Oakland Tribune, July 17, 2004), Mr. Brown ought to know a little about this subject. 

This is one that needed a little more thought. 



Flashlight Robbery 

Three robbers, led by a flashlight-wielding woman with red braids, robbed an 18-year-old resident in the 3000 block of San Pablo Avenue Monday afternoon, reports Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

Police learned of the robbery from a health care worker at Alta Bates Medical Center, where the victim had come for emergency treatment of the head wound she sustained in the robbery. 

The woman had already departed by the time officers arrived, but officers tracked her down and learned the details of the assault. 

Loose Butt Bust 

Berkeley officers cited a merchant in the 2200 block of San Pablo Avenue Tuesday afternoon for violating Section 308.2 Subsection A of the California Penal Code, to wit: “Every person who sells one or more cigarettes, other than in a sealed and properly labeled package, is guilty of an infraction.” 

To the dismay of financially challenged smokers and those struggling to quit, the evil weed can’t be sold outside a pack. 

Officer Okies said the citation was issued after it was discovered during an ongoing sting operation that targets sales of the otherwise legal weed and booze to minors. 

Fortunate Trespass Call 

Berkeley officers responding to a report of a trespasser in a building in the 2400 block of Dwight Way heard a voice in distress. 

Further exploration thwarted a 30-year-old man they discovered in the process of attacking a 19-year-old woman. 

The suspect, Michael James Ellis, was arrested on charges of assault with the intent to commit a sex crime and false imprisonment. 

The woman didn’t require medical treatment. 

“The officers were able to stop things before something even worse could happen,” said Officer Okies. 

Armed Robber Sought 

Police are seeking the 40-year-old-or-so gunman who robbed a 21-year-old woman near the corner of Warring Street and Dwight Way shortly after midnight Wednesday.e

The recent defeat of every tax measure proposed by the City Council in the same election that Berkeley voters overwhelmingly approved tax increases to finance the school district and several state initiatives is evidence that a sufficient number of Berkeley voters are fed up with the way the City Council operates. Especially frustrating is the disregard for law and policy that the council shows by selling out our interest virtually every time developers present a plan. The Seagate project is a recent manifestation of this. Remember how opponents of the Height Initiative sought to demonize the Height Initiative’s supporters by calling them NIMBY’S who opposed affordable housing? Seagate is just the type of project the Height Initiative would have stopped, and anyone with perception can tell Seagate is primarily a luxury development. Despite that fact the City Council agreed to waive applicable city regulations, far beyond what state law required, in return for the few affordable units. It is a sad commentary that Kriss Worthington is the only member of the City Council who seemed to understand that disregard of the law by pro-development staff and the City Council was a major factor underlying much of the voter anger that defeated every single tax measure proposed by the City Council. 

All of which leads me to a discussion of the proposed development of the site where Brennan’s now stands. At issue is the landmarking of Brennan’s and a related proposal to develop the site for mixed/residential use. Although the immediate issue being considered at the Landmark Preservation Commission meeting this Feb. 7 is the landmarking of Brennan’s, ultimately the project will find its way to City Council, where if past experience is any indication, the developer will throw in a couple of “affordable” units to give the council political cover to approve another gift to developers that is detrimental to the long term interest of our city. 

It takes little reflection to recognize that the absence of residential units in the area makes it a potential goldmine for Berkeley. By issuing 24-hour operations permits and encouraging the development of bars and clubs in the area the city could create a Night Life Entertainment District. If even a small percentage of the thousands of East Bay residents who regularly travel over the bridge to San Francisco occasionally choose night life entertainment in Berkeley it would bring tens of millions of dollars annually to our city. This tax revenue could reduce the burden parcel tax increases place on homeowners, and would give Berkeley a night life entertainment venue that we sorely need. A Night Life Entertainment District will add vibrancy to our city, help grow and support locally owned businesses, and create long term economic viability, instead of the quick fix solutions our City Council usually looks to. 

The area already includes local landmarks such as the Amtrak station, Spengers, and the Shell Mound. Regardless of what City Council decides on the future development of the site I urge the commission to landmark Brennan’s. Doing so will make the area a showcase for Berkeley history and architecture and put an obstacle in the path of the greedy developers and pro-development city staffers, who think nothing of obliterating the history of our city. 

Elliot Cohen is a member of the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission. 

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Russell Schoch—longtime editor of the California Alumni Association’s magazine, the California Monthly—wrote in the December issue an “Editor’s Farewell” announcing his premature retirement. Had I read it more carefully at that time, I would have known that the essay was that of a man writing with a gun to his head. After 30 years of service to the award-winning magazine, Shoch was abruptly fired without warning by the CAA’s new Executive Director Randy Parent on Nov. 22. Parent terminated him without so much as a gold watch, let alone a farewell reception which would have given those of us who had worked for Schoch—and the many who admired the courage often needed to perform that service—the opportunity to express gratitude for all that he had done for the association and for the university. The Cal Monthly Editorial Advisory Committee was not informed that Parent intended to take this action in order to move the magazine in a radically different direction without consultation. In his belated Dec. 16 announcement to the CAA Board that Russell would be “leaving,” Mr. Parent said that they hadn’t always agreed, but that he was certain that Schoch “is a man of principle, integrity, and honor.”  

That has always been my impression and that of others such as Professor Emeritus David Littlejohn, chair of the ignored Editorial Advisory Committee, who subsequently wrote in protest that “the California Alumni Association and its flagship magazine have been since their founding—while 100 percent dedicated to Cal—totally independent of the Berkeley administration which has made them both almost unique among alumni associations and magazines at major American universities.” At considerable risk to his job, Schoch honored the University’s motto “Fiat Lux” by publishing provocative interviews with some of UC’s leading thinkers, thus earning the respect of editors around the country who knew of the pressures exerted upon him by powerful reactionary forces both within and outside the university. The stealth assassination of Schoch reminds me of shameful corporate tactics in which veteran employees are, without warning, given an hour to clean out their desks and vacate the premises. If, as Mr. Parent says, Schoch is a man of principle, integrity, and honor, what does such treatment by Parent ‘s “management team” say about themselves? Do they understand honor except as a good marketing noun? Furthermore, what does it portend for the “new direction” in which they intend to take the magazine if such are the nocturnal tactics needed to achieve their goals?  

Schoch’s firing should be a subject of concern to those who value the shrinking realm of independent media even as consolidation and full-tilt commercialization proceed apace, as documented by the Graduate Journalism School’s Dean Emeritus Ben Bagdikian in his landmark study The Media Monopoly. The corporate-speak of the memo which Mr. Parent and Operations Director Mark Appel sent to CAA Board Members on Jan. 4, 2005 to announce the “great excitement and anticipation” they felt in filling Schoch’s shoes with his former subordinate, Kerry Tremain, gives additional cause for concern: “The appointment is made after months of careful thought and consideration on how best to undertake an enormous challenge — production of the most impactful and important alumni magazine in the country.” Those months of thought were apparently given by no one but themselves, and certainly without consultation with the man who stood in their way, let alone with their own advisory board.  

In response to letters of protest sent to the Monthly by Professor Emerita Susan Ervin-Tripp and others questioning the future independence of the magazine, Kerry Tremain responded: “As for the magazine’s future, I assure you it’s not bloody likely that it will become bland. I heartily welcome your criticism if you perceive that it becomes so. This is an understandable, but unfortunate and untrue rumor. Myself and the new senior editor are investigative reporters that have worked at national news outlets, have exposed corruption at high levels, and have not a bone in our bodies inclined toward the bland.”  

For anyone who knows magazine publishing, Tremain’s protestations ring naive at best, especially after reading a “Blue Sky” prospectus—unsigned, but apparently written in the “months of thought” that preceded Schoch’s sacking—for a new California magazine that will replace the California Monthly. It will do so using the alumni association subscription base as a foundation on which to build a putatively brainy upscale general circulation magazine. Deep within the mangled syntax of that prospectus, under the heading “Leveraging Our Resources,” lies the following declarative: “A quick look at consumer magazine staff lists reveals that we are, at least in the near future, woefully understaffed to advance the editorial and business strategy outlined above. Therefore, we must maximally leverage skills and partners. Topnotch reporters and editors know that over half the job is motivating sources, writers, PR people and others to work on your behalf. Editors should be ambassadors, using strategic diplomacy to advance the publication’s goals.”  

Let me translate and forecast what such IPO gibberish portends for the revamped and renamed California Monthly, and for the Alumni Association.  

In the 1980s, I left freelancing for San Francisco Magazine and the California Monthly to write a monthly urban design column called “Cityscapes” for San Francisco Focus, and so witnessed the remarkable transformation of KQED’s program guide from the inside. Publisher Earl Adkins and editor Mark Powelson, who had previously worked at the scruffy Berkeley Barb, had a similar dream to create a West Coast version of the Atlantic Monthly by using the upscale demographics of KQED’s membership list. In short, they used KQED’s non-profit cover to produce an ever-more commercial city magazine. Membership lists do not pay the bills, so however good their initial intentions to produce quality fare, they (and I) soon learned the limitations imposed on content by a magazine dependent on advertising and subject to the increasingly conservative board of KQED. During my tenure there, Focus morphed into a slick journal of high consumption whose writers were employed to deliver well-heeled consumers to advertisers. When my articles veered from harmless aesthetics to the more substantive mechanics of land speculation and consumer critique, they began to be killed. When Adkins left the magazine, the advertising sales director moved across the hall into his office. The change was only a formality because, as Focus’s media kit made clear to those privileged to see it, advertising largely drove the magazine’s content.  

Increasingly constrained by what I was permitted to say, I left Focus. I have heard that its editors’ overreaching plans to create a publishing empire—combined with the costly headquarters building which CEO Tony Tiano constructed for the station—nearly took KQED down.  

Tremain may be sincere in his stated intention to publish a quality independent magazine, but as editor and author Lewis Lapham explained at a Journalism School event, the editorial independence of magazines such as the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Mother Jones, or his own Harper’s can only be guaranteed by committed long-term patrons with deep pockets such as John MacArthur, Adam Hochschild, and Sy Newhouse.  

The reprehensible treatment of Russell Schoch suggests that the new direction in which a few people intend to take the Cal Monthly may be more than merely unethical—it could be illegal. I question Mr. Parent’s apparent intention to run a commercial enterprise out of and under the non-profit cover of an alumni association at a public university. At the very least, there should be a public forum held on the campus—possibly sponsored by the Graduate School of Journalism—at which Parent, Appel, and Tremain can explain to the immediate community and to duly notified alumni what they have done and what they intend to do, but above all, how they plan to finance that venture while maintaining an independent editorial voice.  

Berkeley resident Gray Brechin is the author of Imperial San Francisco. 

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In a letter published in the Jan. 28-31 Daily Planet, a reader states that he “would be much more inclined to give some thought to the meetings between the mayor and Seagate developers if Zelda Bronstein’s name wasn’t associated with the story.” He asks: “Has anyone else noticed that Ms. Bronstein’s name appears regularly in news reports concerning opposition to development projects or requests for commercial expansion?” Having read in the Daily Cal that I oppose the West Berkeley Bowl, and knowing that I was against the expansion of Jeremy’s clothing store on College Avenue, he writes: “The Seagate project has gone through all the required levels of our city government checks and balances. Perhaps Ms. Bronstein could try and see that not all development is bad for our city....give it a rest!”  

The writer’s faith in Berkeley’s land use approval process is touching. I wish I could share it. But I can’t, for reasons that I hope the following discussion makes clear. First, however, I want to set the record straight: I support a new Berkeley Bowl of 27,000 square feet, which is what most of the local community wants, and what the store’s owner first proposed.  

As for the other items on the list: My problem with Mayor Bates’ clandestine meeting with the Seagate developers is of a piece with my opposition to both the Seagate project itself and Jeremy’s expansion. In each case, what I object to is not development but questionable official behavior.  

Start with the mayor’s meeting. Until last July, city law made it illegal for the mayor and councilmembers to discuss in any way a development that was under consideration by the Zoning Adjustments Board or, if a project was being appealed, by the City Council itself. More than once, I found myself cut off mid-sentence by a scrupulous councilmember for having merely mentioned a project that was in the pipeline.  

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque’s assertion to a reporter that the specifics of the Seagate project were never discussed in Mayor Bates’ hour-and-a-half conference with Darrel de Tienne, Dennis Fisco and Mark Polite in April 2004—a claim echoed by the mayor himself—is simply not credible. Her ex post facto interpretation of the law contradicts her own pre-July 2004 instructions to the council on ex parte contacts.  

According to the Berkeley Municipal Code, one of the city attorney’s duties is to “give legal advice in writing” to the mayor and other city officials “when requested to do so by them, upon questions of law” [emphasis added]. Did Mayor Bates ask City Attorney Albuquerque for such advice before meeting with the Seagate developers? Did she offer it? If so, she should publish her opinion for all to see. What are the penalties for violating the rule against ex parte contacts? Is Albuquerque going to impose those penalties on Mayor Bates? If not, why not?  

The illegalities in the Seagate project itself are too numerous and complex even to summarize here. For a full discussion, see the text of Friends of Downtown Berkeley’s appeal, which is posted on the City Council’s Jan. 18 agenda at the start of Item 7d (www.ci.berkeley.ca.us). (Full disclosure: I filed that appeal in behalf of FDB.) Once again, the issue is not development but rather city officials’ unconscientious behavior.  

To cite one particularly blatant example of such improbity: Addressing what he called “a question of fact” that had arisen during the council’s Jan. 11 discussion of the Seagate project, Land Use Planning Manager Mark Rhoades stated: “The Downtown Plan’s provisions for the cultural bonus are embedded in the Zoning Ordinance. They’re in Section 23E.68.070,” he said. “There’s a table that talks about base height and bonus height for the cultural bonus.” The truth of this claim was critical, since the staff reasoning that legitimated the Seagate’s code-busting, nine-story height was based on awarding the project a huge amount of bonus space (ultimately, over 52,000 square feet) in exchange for providing a relatively paltry amount of arts space (12,067 square feet).  

In fact, the phrase “cultural bonus” is nowhere to be found in Section 23.E.68.070. That’s because the cultural bonus has never been enacted into city law; it’s just a policy in the city’s General and Downtown plans. The city attorney let Rhoades’ fabrication go unchallenged.  

The City Council, for its part, dismissed the appeal by a vote of 8-0-1 (Worthington abstained) and asked the Planning Commission to consider, among other things, ways of strengthening the comparable units section of the city’s affordable housing law, whose protections against a development’s “ghettoization” of low-income tenants were all openly violated by the Seagate’s use permit. The council’s request would be laughable if it wasn’t so dismaying. For what needs to be strengthened is not the law but Berkeley officials’ willingness to enforce it.  

Official failure to enforce the law was also instrumental in Jeremy’s expansion. Staff readily admitted that a city planner had erroneously issued a permit for Jeremy’s 2161 College Ave. location. When the Zoning Adjustments Board approved a use permit for Jeremy’s to expand into the space next door, another Elmwood merchant appealed the decision. His appeal was supported by two neighborhood associations. At the council’s Dec. 14, 2004 meeting, Councilmember Wozniak observed that a mistake had been made with respect to the original permit. He then made the winning motion to dismiss the appeal and have the Planning Commission review the law!  

I invite my critic to read the law, to study the staff reports and the notices of decision and the city attorney’s memorandums, and to watch the video archives of ZAB and Council meetings. If there are letters and appeals, read them, too. Then tell me if you still think that I and my colleagues—for, as should also be clear by now, my concerns and my efforts are shared with many others in town—should give it a rest.  

Zelda Bronstein is a former chair of the Berkeley Planning Commission.  

Organizations and individuals dedicated to fellowship, the appreciation of nature, and other high ideals flourished in Berkeley in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, when locals provided much of the energy behind causes such as the Sierra Club. 

On and off the UC campus, social clubs, organizations, and individuals were also busy building unique clubhouses, lodges, resorts, and other places to gather and socialize. 

Many of the remarkable community buildings Berkeleyans created then still survive, o ften in their original ownership and use. Those buildings will be the focus of an evening lecture series “Hidden Lodges of Berkeley and Beyond…,” organized by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), starting on Feb. 10.  

Often built in w o od and stone to embody the era’s rustic “building with nature” philosophy, these buildings arose not only in Berkeley but also in places Berkeleyans liked to visit and vacation, including Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Valley. 

Each structure represents not on ly an architectural legacy but also the living cultural history of Berkeley institutions, organizations, and people.  

The five illustrated talks, held every second Thursday evening of the month, February through June, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., will not only i ntroduce the history, architecture, and heritage of several buildings but also allow a look inside a special few that are not typically or fully open to the public. 

Featured building include: Senior Hall, a rustic “log cabin” built nearly a century ago o n the UC Berkeley campus; the adjacent Faculty Club designed by Bernard Maybeck and expanded by other noted architects; Yosemite’s Le Conte Memorial Lodge, a granite walled Sierra Club education center; and Glen Alpine Springs, a little known Lake Tahoe a re a resort with several buildings planned and designed by Maybeck. 

The series kicks off Feb. 10, with a lecture by Jim Thompson, who has worked to document and preserve Glen Alpine Springs. He will orate dressed in 19th century costume backed up by a Po wer Point presentation with numerous historic photographs. 

Glen Alpine Springs—which sits above Fallen Leaf Lake, near South Lake Tahoe—drew attention as early as the 1870s when a newspaper called it “the best tasting springs in the entire state.”  

Late r that decade an “all purpose resort” was developed there for Californians drawn to the healthful water, mountain air, and magnificent alpine scenery at the edge of what is today’s Desolation Wilderness. 

Visitors, including early Berkeley residents, floc ked to Glen Alpine for summer visits, traveling by train to Truckee, steamboating across Lake Tahoe, and taking horse drawn stages or wagons to the upland resort. 

John Muir called Glen Alpine Springs “one of the most delightful places in all the famous Tahoe region.”  

In the early 20th century the Maybeck family vacationed at Glen Alpine and, following a fire that destroyed many of the original buildings, Bernard Maybeck took on a commission not only to design new structures but master plan the resort. 

He carefully plotted trees and topography and inserted fire-resistant stone, metal, and glass buildings, many of them remarkably modern in form, into the boulder strewn landscape. The resort no longer functions as an overnight destination, but the curren t owner, and supporters like Thompson, are working to preserve it. 

The setting for Thompson’s talk is also an attraction of the lecture series. Senior Hall was completed in 1906 as a UC campus meeting hall for the elite men of the Senior Class at Cal (la ter it was opened to other classes and, much later, to women students). 

The Order of the Golden Bear, a student, faculty, staff and alumni service organization founded in 1900, built Senior Hall and gave it to the University. The order is still active, r emai ns the custodian organization for the building, and is co-sponsoring the lecture series.  

Awaiting a full renovation, Senior Hall is not in frequent use. Most people on campus and most Berkeley residents have never seen the interior, which is one of earl y Berkeley’s rustic marvels.  

Built almost entirely of redwood (including walls of logs with the bark still on them), with a massive clinker brick double fireplace and exposed roof trusses, the hall was designed by University Supervising Architect John G alen Howard, better known for his neo-classical structures including Sather Gate, the Campanile, and Doe Library. 

The history of Senior Hall’s design and use will be outlined in the second lecture in the series, presented on March 10, by retired Campus P lanner Harvey Helfand. 

Helfand, a noted photographer and author of the definitive architectural guidebook to the Berkeley campus, will also speak about the nearby Senior Women’s Hall designed by Julia Morgan and now a campus childcare facility. 

The Marc h lecture is also likely to include a rare opportunity to see the Hall’s “secret” room designed for discussion of the Order of the Golden Bear. 

The third series lecture, on April 14, will explore the story of the early residents of Berkeley’s Pa noramic H ill, the steep heights above Memorial Stadium where many early professors and conservationists, including Sierra Club founders, built homes. 

Panoramic Hill will also be the site of BAHA’s annual May 1 Spring House Tour. 

Attention turns from th e green hi lls of Berkeley to the loftier heights of the Sierra on May 12 when Bonnie Johanna Gisel, author, historian, naturalist, and curator of the Le Conte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite, visits Berkeley to speak about the history of that historic edifice in the fou rth lecture in the series. 

Le Conte Lodge, designed by Maybeck’s brother-in-law, John White, just over a century ago, was built by the Sierra Club to honor UC Professor Joseph Le Conte, and has been a Yosemite gathering place and education ce nter ever si nce.  

The architecture and the history of the Faculty Club, adjacent to Senior Hall, will be the featured attraction at the end of the lecture series, June 9.  

On that occasion, the club, which is co-sponsoring the lecture series, will host a special dinner in Maybeck’s marvelous Great Hall for lecture attendees and club members. 

Attendees at some of the earlier lectures may also purchase dinner at the Faculty Club before the other lectures, space permitting (see the BAHA website for more details).  

Local historian Steven Finacom is one of the organizers of the “Hidden Lodges” lecture series. 

Senior Hall lies in the southeast portion of the university campus; the closest street parking is along Bancroft Way near College Avenue. The cl osest campus parking lots, about five minutes walk from Senior Hall, are along Gayley Road below Memorial Stadium or under tennis courts across Bancroft Way from the Berkeley Art Museum.  

To find Senior Hall, head for the Faculty Club, which is located o n the south b ank of Strawberry Creek, near the Music Department buildings and Hertz Hall. Senior Hall is immediately behind—to the east and upstream—of the club, and downhill from the large Haas School of Business complex. Senior Hall and the Faculty Clu b are wheelcha ir accessible. 

Tickets: $10 ($6 for full-time students). A discounted “season ticket” for the five lecture series costs $40 ($25 for full-time students). For details call BAHA at 841-2242 or see www.berkeleyheritage.com.›

Over the stage of a tiled plaza, backed by a screen framed by flags of the Western Hemisphere—not so much draped as running together, a Rorschach test— are projected words of Simon Bolivar, the Liberator, of how we’re the children of one America, out of different origins and different colored skins: “This dissimilarity is of the greatest significance.” 

These words were spoken almost 200 years ago, and their continued veracity is tested on this set (Christina LaSala’s design). 

The dual nature of the U.S. premiere of Fronteras Americanas, staged by TheatreFIRST at Mills College, soon becomes plain: playing the author of the piece (Argentinian-Canadian playwright Guillermo Verdicchia, who first achieved notice a decade ago playing himself in this play) is Bay Area actor and comedian Ben Ortega, of Peruvian origin. Identifying the Latinos in the audience, Verdicchia/Ortega separates them from “the gringos.” The piece has been written to be seen by an Anglo audience, and the performer’s ambition is to tell about himself, a Latino among gringos, of his trip home to Argentina, to be a kind of an Everylatino before Anglo onlookers—and maybe a little bit of a gadfly. 

Almost immediately, another character’s introduced—a Mexican bandito from central casting, guns blazing, grinning, shouting—an Alfonso Bedoya impression, for all the world. But the performer peels off the mustachio and proceeds to perform a comic striptease, assisted by the audience, of the bandoliers and the rest of “my old Halowe’en costume.” In place of this kitschy joke, Verdicchio/Ortega introduces another figure, a Chicano or Pachuco, whose name has so puzzled Anglos he’s taken on a venerable English name: Wideload. 

Wideload struts through and banters with the audience, playfully baiting them at times (extolling local neighborhoods: “Piedmont—you got professionals, you got families ... you got professional families! ... So how ‘bout a Chicano for a neighbor? Liven up the neighborhood--you like music?”). 

Wideload also interrupts and burlesques the often heartfelt tale (bordering on confession) of “the other guy in this piece—that neurotic Argentinian”-- the playwright Guillermo’s Canadian education and his journey back to Argentina, terrified he’ll be questioned about doing his military service. “Don’t you hate to go to the theater and have some guy just talk about his life?” cracks Wideload; “What about plays? Remember plays?” 

But this is cabaret in more ways than set design. Guillermo’s tale rambles through his arrival in Chile (he’ll sneak into Argentina over the Andes) and the shooting of an unknown man in the street outside his hotel window the night he arrives (the memory sticks with him; he identifies with the corpse, traces of which seem to follow him: “I realize I have willed this to happen!”) to his nausea just before his flight back, his visit to a brujo who administers a potion that brings up further memories—of his fear and disgust over other latinos. 

Meanwhile, Wideload discourses on Tango “forbidden by Pope Pius X, it was born of a gaucho’s crude attempts to walk”), on The Latin Lover (“always being reincarnated ... a little secret: Latins aren’t sexier than Anglos; the difference is we like it—and practice, a lot!”), the Drug War, a movie audition for a Latino role (“a short guy in a dirty suit—perfect for me!”)—even the difference between ferrets and avocados (one northern and cold, the other southern and tropical: “It takes generations to domesticate a ferret, but only one to revert to a feral state ... Avocados make lousy pets; never give an avocado to a ferret!.”). 

It’s all sketched out in pantomime and much mugging by the indefatigable Ben, directed by the able Wilma Bonet—with constant counterpoint onscreen, the media projections designed by Verdicchia and theatreFIRST Artistic Director Clive Chafer. 

An ambitious trip, with many sidetrips, that seems to end where it began— “Where I make the most sense, in this Noah’s Ark of a nation ... Big, clean—back in Canada!” 

It occurred to me that aspects of the script that seemed a little too much at loose ends, dropped threads unconcerned with being picked up, were due to being intended for an Anglo-Canadian audience. But the Whitmanian cry of triumph at the end declares for the border itself as being home. “I am the Pan-American Highway!” Before intermission, Wideload told us we were all strangers, going through the show together, to find “a common bond, a point of reference ... it’s a theory, anyway ... maybe what you all have in common is, you’re listening to me!”  

Verdicchia’s declared his ambition to make monologue function as dialogue; a fastchanging, somewhat amorphous script often diverts or entertains more than informs or draws out. But the most intriguing aspect, not fully developed, of this collage of a show with its layers of text and of identities of speaker (and of spectator?) is not just the self or stranger-as-other, but the Other-within-the-self: as the screen reads “Towards un futuro post-Columbian,” Ben/Guillermo (whose tour-de-force this is) says, ecstatically: “Me, your neighbor, your dance partner!” 

8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 13 .  

Tickets: Thurs. and Sun. $18; Fri. and Sat. $22; half-price for those under 25 years old. Seniors, students, and members are $3 off. 

Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. 

For tickets and information, call 436-5085 or visit www.theatrefirst.com. ›

FRIDAY, FEB. 4 

EXHIBITIONS 

New Works by Julia Alpers, Mark Fox, Blane Fontana and Anthony Pearce. Reception at 7 p.m. at Art Beat Salon & Gallery, 1887 Solano Ave. 527-3100. 

FILM 

African Film Festival: “Soldiers of the Rock” at 7 p.m. and “Daresalam” at 9:05 p.m at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “Seduced” by Sam Shepard opens at 8 p.m. at the Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, and runs Fri. and Sat. through Feb. 19. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Aurora Theatre, “Dublin Carol” by Conor McPherson Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun at 2 and 7 p.m. through March 6 at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Fetes de la Nuit” at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Runs through Feb. 27. Tickets are $43-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Ragged Wing Ensemble “The Serpent” theater with movement, masks and puppetry, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., through Feb. 19, at the Eighth Street Studios, 2525 8th St. Tickets are $10-$20 sliding scale. 527-8119. www.raggedwing.org 

"Bridge & Tunnel" workshop performances by Sarah Jones at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 7 p.m. Sun. through Feb. 20 at Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $30-$40. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater, “The Mousetrap” Agatha Christie’s classic mystery Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Feb. 19 at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Tickets are $10-$15. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rosemary Gong explains “Good Luck Life: The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kodo, synthesis of music and martial arts at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$46. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Bill Frisell’s 858 Quartet, contemporary jazz guitarist, at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $20-$25. 762-2277.  

Rhythm Village, West African music and dance, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$14. 849-2568.  

Houston Jones at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

The Art of the Trio with the David K. Matthews Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz 

school.com 

Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys, bluegrass, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $29.50-$30.50. 548-1761.  

Denise Perrier Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

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

Moore Brothers, Alela, Mariee at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Midnight Laser Beam, Casiotone for the Painfuly Alone at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Subliminal Twinkies, The Loyalists, Sizemix, electro-funk-indie-hiphop, at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886.  

Jami Sieber at 8 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento.  

Anton Barbeau at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Flowtilla, groove jazz-funk, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

McCoy Tyner with Terence Blanchard, Ravi Coltrane, Charnett Moffett, Eric Holland at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $22-$30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, FEB. 5 

CHILDREN 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gary Lapow at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Danna Troncatty Leahy, author of “Ciao Bambino” at 2 p.m. at Lucciola Children’s Bookstore, 3980 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 652-6655. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Art of Living Black” Ninth Annual Bay Area Black Artists Exhibition Artists’ Talk at 2 p.m. at the Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave., Richmond. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

FILM 

African Film Festival: “Agogo Eewo” at 5 p.m., “Campus Queen” at 7 p.m. and “Madame Brouette” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Dr. Cornel West reads from his new book “Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism” at 1 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St., Oakland. Free, donations welcomed. Sponsored by Laney College. 

Sandra Gilbert reads from her new volume of poems at 11 a.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 3rd flr Community Room. 981-6121.  

Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading from 3 to 5 p.m. For location or other information call 527-9905.  

“Rumi’s Teachings on Global Peace and Harmony” with Dr. Majid Naini at 7:30 p.m. at the Islamic Cultural Center, 1433 Madison St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15. 832-7600. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High School Concert Orchestra at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, North Branch, 1170 The Alameda. 981-6250.  

Trinity Chamber Concert with Sarah Holzman, flute, Krisanthy Desby, cello, and Miles Graber, piano, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. http://trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Healing Muses “Bringing Light to Darkness” a celebration of winter and the coming of spring at 8 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. Tickets are $15-$18, reservations recommended. 524-5661, ext. 3. www.healingmuses.org 

Kodo, synthesis of music and martial arts at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$46. 642-9988.  

Virginia Iglesias Flamenco Dance Company at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $18-$20. 849-2568.  

Daria songs from “Feel the Rhythm” at 1 p.m. at Hear Music, 1809 Fourth St. 204-9595.  

G.Q Wang, recital of art songs, at 7:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 526-3805. 

Davka, Middle Eastern Ashkenazi jazz, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. 

Anton Mizerak with Manose and Kim Lorene at 7:30 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice. Tickets are $10. 540-8844.  

John Newby Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Samantha Raven, singer-songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Bluegrass and Old-Time Festival at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

Sandy Chang at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Psychokinetics, Sol Rebelz at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Replicator, Cold War, Raking Bombs at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Jami Sieber at 8 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento. 

Neurohumors, improv, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 6 

EXHIBITIONS 

Matrix 214: Mark Manders “The Absence of Mark Manders” sculptures and installations opens at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way and runs through April 10. 642-0808.  

Matrix 215: Althea Thauberger “A Memory Lasts Forever” video installation with photographs opens at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way and runs through April 10. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Bark and Beyond” giclée color prints by Helene Sobol opens at Photolab Gallery, 225 Fifth St., and runs through March 19. Reception from 3 to 5 p.m. Gallery hours are Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.. 644-1400. www.photolaboratory.com/gallery 

FILM 

African Film Festival: “Cosmic Africa” at 5 p.m., and “The Price of Forgiveness” at 6:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sally Woodbridge, architectural historian, speaks on  

“John Galen Howard and the University of California: The Design of a Great Public University Campus” at 7:30 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Free. Wheelchair accessible. 

Althea Thauberger and Mark Manders, gallery talk at 4 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Poetry Flash with Nils Michals and Mark Wunderlich at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera “Il Trittico” at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300. www.berkeleyopera.org 

Takács Quartet, chamber music at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42, available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Healing Muses “Bringing Light to Darkness” a celebration of winter and the coming of spring at 4 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 1501 Washington Ave., Albany. Tickets are $15-$18, reservations recommended. 524-5661, ext. 3. www.healingmuses.org 

Herb Bielawa, composer-in-residence, 75th Birthday Concert, at 7:30 p.m. at The Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Tickets are $10-$15. 524-2912. www.uucb.org 

Chamber Music Sundaes with San Francisco Symphony musicians and friends at 3:15 p.m. St John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $7-$15 at the door. 415-584-5946 www.chambermusicsundaes.org 

Kodo, synthesis of music and martial arts, at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$46. 642-9988.  

Turkish Sufi Music, poetry, and dance at 7 p.m. at 7th Heaven Yoga Studio, 2820 7th St. at Ashby. Tickets are $12-$15. 665-4300. 

The Black Irish Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Native Fruits, music brunch at 10 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

MONDAY, FEB. 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

“I Love Mozart” works inspired by music from the radio show “Island of Sanity,” at the 4th St. Studio, 1717D 4th St. www.fourthststudio.com 

“Be Mine” ACCI’s Valentine’s Day show opens at 1652 Shattuck Ave. and runs through Feb. 28. Gallery hours are Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

FILM 

Seeing Through the Screen: Buddhism and Film “After Life” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Mesopotamia Endangered: Witnessing the Loss of History” with Joanne Farchakh, Lebanese journalist, at 5:30 p.m. at 370 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus.  

Actors Reading Writers “Love, Place and Memory” at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Free.  

M.G. Lord describes “AstroTurf: The Private Life of Rocket Science” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Fred Rosenbaum describes “Taking Risks: A Jewish Youth in the Soviet Partisans and His Unlikely Life in California” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Poetry Express, featuring Mahogany 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 

Trovatore, traditional Italian songs, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

El Cerrito High School Jazz Groups at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, FEB. 8 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: “War” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Kundun” Martin Scorsee’s film on Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, followed by discussion at 7:30 p.m. in Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. For tickets call 925-275-9005. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mary Gordon reads from her new novel “Pearl” at noon at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary & Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. www.mrsdalloways.com 

“Archeology and Arabization of Morocco” with Prof. Elizabeth Fentress, University College, London at 7:30 p.m. at 370 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus.  

Sam Davis discusses “Designing for the Homeless: Architecture That Works” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Cypress String Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20. 525-5211. 

Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Roy Hargrove and others at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$62. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Martyn Joseph, Welsh contemporary folk troubadour, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761.  

The Sweatshop Band, Baby Buck and Cathy Rivers, Americana country, at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Mose Allison at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Thurs. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Carlos Oliveira Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9 

THEATER 

“Bright River” A hip-hop retelling of Dante’s “Inferno,” every Wed. through March 9 at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $12-$35 available from 415-256-8499. www.inhousetickets.com 

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema: “Nanook of the North” at 3 p.m. and “Parallel Universum, Part I” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

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

Jeff Chang describes “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation“ at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam, 5th Annual Erotic Slam at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with the University Symphony Orchestra at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864.  

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

Savant Guard at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bluegrass Old-time Festival at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761.  

Rad Audio, indie nu-wave, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“You Are Here” paintings, drawings and sculpture examining cultural identity, opens at the Kala Art Institute, and runs through March 26. Reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Gallery hours are Tues.Fri. noon to 5:30 p.m., Sat. to 4:30 p.m. 540-2977. www.kala.org 

“Be Mine” ACCI’s Valentine’s Day show reception for the artists from 6 to 8 p.m. at 1652 Shattuck Ave. Gallery hours are Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

FILM 

African Film Festival: “Dirt for Dinner” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

“Kordavision” documentary by Cuban photographer Alberto Díaz at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Public Library, 325 Civic Center Plaza, off Macdonald Ave. Part of the Latino Film Festival. 620-6561. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Yael Chaver documents Yiddish literature in “What Must Be Forgotten: The Survival of Yiddish in Zionist Palestine” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Elliot Currie talks about “The Road to Whatever: Middle-Class Culture and the Crisis of Adolescence” 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 Julia Montrond and Robert Tricara at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761.  

Alexander Tsygankov and Inna Shevchenko, Russian folk artists on the domra and piano, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Humanzee, The Famous at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

Peter Barshay Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.?

An elementary school with students dancing and banging on drums might seem to be begging for a strong dose of discipline. But at the Berkeley Arts Magnet school, where the drumming may be Afro-Cuban and the dance a Mexican folk number, the curriculum is based on what elsewhere might be chaos.  

Each year, the school hires visiting artists who teach students how to paint, dance, sing, act, or drum in lessons that are incorporated into other classroom subjects.  

Though some parents send their children to the magnet school because it’s close to home, others rave about the school’s focus on the arts, pointing to the good ways their kids learn and mature.  

“It really cracks open a child’s learning,” says Diana Correia, who chose to send her son and daughter to the school because of the arts focus. Like other parents, Correia said she’s seen the arts program get kids excited about school and motivate them to succeed academically.  

Principal Lorna Skantze-Neill says teachers explain academic concepts by using art-related examples. Music is built around timing. Quarter notes, for example, can also be a handy way to explain the often vexing concept of fractions. “You start making patterns for them,” she says. “They pay particular attention to details, which I believe comes from the arts.” 

Founded as Whittier School in the late 19th Century at Milvia and Virginia streets, the original wood building was replaced in the 1930s by a two-story concrete structure with wide inside corridors, high ceilings, and tall windows that give it an open, airy feel. Whittier became Berkeley Arts Magnet in 1981. 

“The philosophy in the founding of this school,” says Carole Ono, a longtime instructor, is that “arts are part of a basic education, that kids find arts, whether visual or performing, as a way to express themselves.” Students who have trouble with traditional subjects, Ono said, can find other ways to excel in the arts.  

Most of the money for the arts program comes from the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project, a parcel tax first approved by voters in 1986 that now generates more than $10 million a year for enrichment programs and class-size reduction in the Berkeley Unified School District. Voters re-authorized the tax in November.  

At Berkeley Arts Magnet staff and parents form a committee that decides how to use the school’s share of the BSEP money. Committee chair Rachel Greenberg said the school gets $65,000 for the arts from BSEP, but additional fund raising brings the total to about $90,000 a year. 

Last year, the panel spent most of the money on five visiting artists who taught dance, percussion, chorus, drama and visual arts. The artists are hired as classified employees, and receive health care benefits. But this year, Greenberg said, the rising cost of providing those benefits means that the school hired just four visiting artists. Because the BSEP funding level remains fixed, it doesn’t keep pace with the increased cost of benefits, she said.  

Though a new crop of visiting artists is hired at the beginning of each school year, dancer Betty Ladzekpo has been coming back since 1988. Ladzekpo, who studied African music and dance at UC Berkeley, mainly teaches West African dance, but her sessions with students incorporate dance from several cultures.  

Ladzekpo, known as “Miss Betty” in the classroom, said some students respond strongly, citing some who went on to study dance at Berkeley High School and one who became a dance major in college.  

“Parents have told me,” she said, “that ‘every night, they’re practicing this dance in the mirror, or my kindergartener puts on a show for me every night.’” 

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

FRIDAY, FEB. 4 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Debra Pryor, Chief of the Berkeley Fire Dept. 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. 

Outings on Fridays with Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association Tour of the Hearst Memorial Mining Building, UC Campus at 11 a.m. Cost is $15. Reservations required. 841-2242. www.berkeleyheritage.com 

“From Chiapas to California” with Ramon Penate Diaz and Miguel Pickard from Chiapas, in an evening of spoken word and music at 8 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. 654-9587. 

“Dancin’ in the Street: The Influence of Black Music of the Vietnam Era” from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts., Oakland. Cost is $15-$20. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“The Thursday Club” screening of a new documentary by George Csicery about Oakland police officers and the Black Panthers at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts., Oakland. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“Life and Debt” Stephanie Black’s award winning documentary examines the devastating effects of globalization upon local agriculture and industry in Jamaica. Part of the First Fridays series at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free. 482-1062. 

Literacy & Beyond! Lunar New Year Celebration at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley YMCA, 2001 Allston Way. Free. 665-3271. 

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. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

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

SATURDAY, FEB. 5 

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.  

“Pinguicula and Utricularia in the Cloud Forests of Ecuador” hosted by Geoff Wong of the Carnivorous Plant Society, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

“New Era/New Politics” Walking Tour of Oakland highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. Tour is free and lasts about 90 minutes. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Waterfalls of Berkeley Discover the little-known waterfalls of urban Berkeley on the moderately challenging walk. Find three stepped waterfalls tucked away in parks and neighborhoods, and see gardens and historic homes. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations required. For details call 415-255-3233. www.greenbelt.org 

Mushroom Walk in The Redwoods Join Berkeley Path Wanderers for an easy walk in Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, looking for showy mushrooms, enjoying birds, and pondering the lives and histories of redwoods. Meet at the Canyon Meadow Staging Area, the main parking lot farthest into the park from Redwood Gate, the main park entrance on Redwood Rd at 10 a.m. For information contact Robert Mackler, walk leader, 799-6756.  

Tilden Toddlers For ages 2-3 to explore the Nature Area and look for amphibian friends. From 2 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. 525-2233. 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 7-12 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. 

Magnificent Magnolias and Other Early Blooming Trees at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Celebrate Black History Month with Bambara Mud Cloth painting at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-111. www,habitot.org 

“Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism” with Dr. Cornel West at 1 p.m. at Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St., Oakland. Free, donations welcomed. Sponsored by Laney College. 

“Evidence for Global Warming: A Scientific Perspective” from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts., Oakland. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Progressive Democrats of America organizational meeting to form an East Bay Chapter, at 1 p.m. at Temescal Oakland Library, 5205 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

Emergency Response Training Class on “Disaster First Aid” from 9 a.m. to noon at the Fire Dept. Training Center, 997 Cedar St. To register call 981-5606. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

“Rumi’s Teachings on Global Peace and Harmony” with Dr. Majid Naini at 7:30 p.m. at the Islamic Cultural Center, 1433 Masicon St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15. 832-7600. 

Valentine Making from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Free and all supplies will be provided. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 845-4116. www.nativeplants.org 

SUNDAY, FEB. 6 

Conifers of California from 10 a.m. to noon at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Early Bloomers Look for currant leatherwood and trillium from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Mythical Owls Learn about owls and separate fact from fiction at 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Healthy Gardening Workshop Learn about basic integrated pest management to keep both garden and gardener healthy from 1 to 3 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. Registration required. 643-2755. 

Alan Rinzler’s Writer’s Workshop at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph Ave. Seating is first-come, first-served. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Oakland Tet Festival A celebration of the Vietnamese New Year with music, dance and food, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Clinton Park, 1230 6th Ave., by International/14th St., Oakland  

Institute for World Religions Book Study Group on “Dimensions of Unity” at 2 p.m. at Vara Healing Arts, 850 Talbot, Albany. 548-4517. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Jack ven der Meulen on Tibetan Yoga “Listening to the Heart” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, FEB. 7 

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 

Help Find Frogs Learn how to help with Friends of Five Creeks’ every-other-year frog survey at 7 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin, Albany. Volunteers learn at the meeting to recognize frog calls and then listen at likely spots after sundown. 548-3787. www.fivecreeks.org  

Winter’s Sky at New Moon Time Meet at 6:30 p.m. at Tilden’s Inspiration Point and dress warmly for the evening’s star study. 525-2233. 

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets at 6 p.m. at the Oakland YWCA, 1515 Webster St., with speaker Claudette Begin, union activist and former candidate for mayor of San Jose on the Socialist Workers Party ticket. 287-8948. 

“Mesopotamia Endangered: Witnessing the Loss of History” with Joanne Farchakh, Lebanese journalist, at 5:30 p.m. at 370 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by The Archaeological Institute of America, San Francisco Society, The Dept. of Near Eastern Studies, UCB. 

An Evening with Roy Campanella, KPFA’s new General Manager at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, corner of Cedar and Bonita. Bring snacks to share, childcare provided. 

Home Buyer Assistance Information Session for first-time homebuyers at 6 p.m. at 1504 Franklin St., Suite 100, Oakland. Free, but call to reserve a seat. 832-6925, ext. 100. 

TUESDAY, FEB. 8 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at the Botanic Garden parking lot to look for rufous-crowned sparrows and others in the Big Springs area. 525-2233. 

Mini-Rangers for ages 8-12 for an afternoon of nature study, conservation and rambling through the woods and waters. Meet at 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Fee is $6-$8, reservations required. 525-2233. 

Bird Walk at the Martin Luther King Shoreline at 3 p.m. Dress for rain and wind. For more information call 525-2233. 

Extreme Digital Photography with photographer Jonathan Chester at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“The Nature of Indian Water Rights” with Olney Patt, Jr., Executive Director, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, at 5:30 p.m. in 105 North Gate Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Water Resources Center Archives. 642-2666. 

Live From Death Row with Kevin Cooper via speakerphone from San Quentin Prison at 7 p.m. in Room 30,Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. 333-7966. 

“Islamizing the Berbers” Excavations at Volubilis and the first centuries of the Arab conquest of North Africa with Elizabeth Fentress, Prof., Institute of Archaeology, University College, London, at 7:30 p.m. at 370 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus.  

Black History Celebration with a showing of “Amistad” at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

“Speaking for the Buddha? Buddhism and the Media” a conference Feb. 8-9 from 1:30 to 6 p.m. in the Lipman Room, Barrows Hall, UC Campus. http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/speakingforthebuddha” 

Berkeley School Volunteers Workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public Schools at 7 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Sts from 3 to 6 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

“Solomon’s Steps: Applying the Wisdom of Solomon in Resolving Day-to-day Conflicts” Tues. at 7:30 p.m. through Feb. 22, at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $25-$40. 845-6420. 

Rethinking Age An inter-generational workshop at 7:30 p.m. through March 1, at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $30. 845-6420. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 9 

“New Era/New Politics” Walking Tour of Oakland highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. Tour is free and lasts about 90 minutes. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Stop Martial Law in Oakland and for the African Community Everywhere” with Omali Yeshitela, founder of the Uhuru Soldarity Movement at 7 p.m. at Uhuru House, 7911 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. 569-9620. 

AARP Free Tax Assistance for taxpayers with middle and low incomes, with special attention to those 60 years and older. From 12:15 to 4:15 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Appointments must be made in advance. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Chiapas to California Speaking Tour with Ramon Peña Diaz at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Donation $5-$10 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove” An Alex Jones Film presented by Erin McCann at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, but $5 donations accepted. 910-0696. 

East Bay Genealogical Society with Jeremy Frankel of the UC Library at 10 a.m. at the Family History Center at 4766 Lincoln Ave., Oakland. 635-6692. 

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 Feb. 16, Mar. 8, 15. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

Artify Ashby Muralist Group meets every Wed. from 5 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, to plan a new mural. New artists are welcome. Call Bonnie at 704-0803. 

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. 

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors 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 

“The Giants of Assimilation: A Rogue’s Gallery of a Vanishing Jewish Type” with author Mark Cohen at 11:30 a.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 845-6420. 

“You Can’t Fool Mother Nature” Global Climate Change with Dr. Wil Burns at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 845-6420. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 10 

“Ralph Bunche: An American Oddessey” a documentary narrated by Sidney Poitier, at 7 p.m. at 155 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Discussion follows. Free. www.unaeastbay.org 

“Looking Ahead: The Struggle for Justice, Peace and Equality in Palestine/ 

Israel” with Prof. George Bisharat, UC Hastings College of the Law, at 7:30 p.m. at Fellowship Hall at the Unitarian Church, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Donation $5-$20, no one turned away. 465-1777. 

“History from the Point of View of the African People” with Omali Yeshitela, founder of the Uhuru Soldarity Movement at 7 p.m. at Fellowship of Humanity, 390 27th St., Oakland. 625-1106. 

“The Freedom Radio Project: Supporting the Youth Voice in Palestine” A benefit film screening and concert, at 7 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Co-sponsored by KPFA Radio & The Middle East Children’s Alliance Tickets are $15. 452-3556. 

“Language Communities or Cultural Empires” The Impact of European Languages in Former Colonial Territories, a two day conference, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Lipman Room, 8th flr, Barrows Hall, UC Campus. For information contact hsutton@berkeley.edu 

“Bridge to Babylon” Judeo-Arabic music at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $20. 845-6420. 

“Signs Out of Time” A documentary about the life of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas by Donna Read and Starhawk narrated by Olympia Dukakis at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. Cost is $5. 883-0600. 

East Bay Mac User Group meets at 6 p.m. at Expression Center for New Media, 6601 Shellmound St. http://ebmug.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon., Feb. 7, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

citycouncil/agenda-committee 

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

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

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., Feb. 7, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

Youth Commission meets Mon., Feb. 7, at 6:30 p.m., at 1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/commissions/youth 

City Council meets Tues., Feb. 8, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www. ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Feb. 9, 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 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Feb. 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/commissions/homeless 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed., Feb. 9 at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Library Board of Trustees meets Thurs. Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. at 1901 Russell St., Jackie Y. Griffin, 981-6195. www.ci.ber- 

keley.ca.us/commissions/library 

Planning Commission meets Wed., Feb. 9, 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., Feb. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/com 

missions/policereview 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Feb. 9, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti, 644-6376 ext. 224. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/waterfront 

Community Health Commission meets Thurs, Feb. 10, at 6:45 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/health 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Feb. 10, 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., Feb. 10, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning  

A Berkeley High School student found with a gun last week on campus was arrested and has been expelled, said district officials, who added that the student’s actions were apparently inadvertent and it did not appear that the student intended to use the weapon. 

In an e-mail sent out to BHS faculty and staff last week, Vice Principal of Discipline and Safety Denise Brown said that a student was detained by school safety officers last Thursday after students reported seeing a gun in her backpack. 

Because she is a minor, the student has not been identified by school authorities or Berkeley law enforcement officials. 

“The student who was in possession of the gun was extremely upset because she had forgotten that she had the gun in her backpack,” Brown wrote. “She says, and her father confirmed with me, that he had given her the gun for safekeeping.” 

BUSD Public Information Officer Mark Coplan said it was his understanding that the student’s father had given her the weapon to “put away in a safe place where her younger siblings could not get access to it.” 

Coplan called the situation “a real tragedy. This girl was an ‘A’ student. She wasn’t a troublemaker. But the administration really didn’t have any choice in the matter. They had to expel her.” 

A spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department said that law enforcement officials had not yet made a decision as to whether to bring criminal charges against the student.

Betty Bunton died on Sunday. She complained about shortness of breath, and an ambulance was called, but she was dead on arrival at Alta Bates. It was probably asthma, which she’d had as long as we knew her, now at least 10 years. 

Many people in Berkeley who didn’t know Betty by name knew her on sight. She was that skinny little dark-skinned African American woman, missing one foot and usually wearing a bandanna, who scooted around town in a series of hard-used manual wheelchairs. She’d been homeless for many years, even before she lost her foot. It was partly her own choice, because she said she didn’t like to sleep indoors in the summer, but she’d been kicked out of a lot of places too. She was one of the many victims of crack cocaine, a habit which few can ever beat, and she didn’t beat it.  

She made her way in the world on the basis of her considerable personal charm. No matter what shape she was in, she had a wry quip and a good story to tell as she asked for help, most often financial but sometimes a ride somewhere or some food. Her stories were often not exactly true, but they were touching. We knew her before she lost her foot, which was amputated after she survived a jump from the roof of a building which shattered her ankles. Why she was on that roof and why she jumped varied in the telling, but the most likely explanation is the terrifying paranoia which crack can sometimes cause in its users. She said she thought someone was chasing her, but it was probably her own personal demons at her heels. 

She came from Oakland, but chose Berkeley to live in because she liked the people here, and a lot of them liked her. A lot of them tried to help her over the years.  

A lawyer named Steve got her on SSI, doing all the considerable paperwork needed to prove her disability. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a Federal income supplement program funded by general tax revenues (not Social Security taxes). It is designed to help aged, blind, and disabled people who have little or no income, and it provides cash to meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter. One might ask why you need a lawyer to prove that you’re disabled if you’re missing a foot, but with our safety net in tatters people have to cross incredible hurdles to get any help.  

Bill at the Roxy Deli on the corner near our office let her run a tab when she was down on her luck, as she frequently was. Many households gave her occasional money or food when she rang their doorbells, most of them probably worrying as we did that the money might go for drugs instead. After she got on SSI, friends who hoped she could beat her bad habits talked to Affordable Housing Associates, and Ali Kashani found her an accessible apartment. That lasted only until someone gave her some crack, which caused her to climb up to the roof of her unit in a drug-induced frenzy, going through a glass skylight in the process. AHA said, regretfully, that they just weren’t equipped to deal with someone like her, and told her to find another place.  

The place she found, more often than not, was on the street or on someone’s doorstep. St. Paul A.M.E. Church tolerated her sleeping under their eaves, and she sometimes attended Sunday services and took up her own collection afterwards. Her health got worse and worse, but she still slept outdoors when the weather permitted. In bad weather, she knew a few motels which would take in disreputable looking people with cash. She hated shelters—“all those crazy people in there, you can’t get any sleep.” 

Betty was delighted when the Planet materialized in her Ashby BART neighborhood. She’d take copies around to merchants and tell them that they ought to be advertising. Sometimes she passed them out to people getting off BART, not demanding but accepting some change in return. She figured out that she could find people in our office on deadline nights, and came around to ask for a few bucks when she needed them. 

Money was always a problem, of course. Her SSI stipend, if she could hold on to it, might have been enough to support her, but it frequently slipped though her fingers, undoubtedly sometimes to buy drugs. She lost a lot of her money in a blatant scam perpetrated by one of America’s major corporations, one which they’re probably still using on gullible poor people. Ever since we took over the Planet, we’ve been intending to do a real investigation of how the con worked, but we never got around to it. Now that Betty’s dead, we wish we had. 

Every time we saw her, she’d ask us when we were going to put in the Planet the story about how Wells Fargo was stealing from poor people. We’re working on it, we’d say, and we kind of were, but not hard enough. It’s a complicated story, with legal twists and turns, but it’s time now at least to lay out the bare facts about what happened to Betty. 

She arranged, on advice from us and Steve, to have her SSI check automatically deposited in an account at Wells Fargo, because it’s hard for someone with no fixed address to cash checks. The account came with an ATM card, which she would use from the beginning of the month until it stopped working towards the end of the month, and that was fine for a couple of years. Since she had no address, we let her use ours to get her statements, which she had trouble reading, so from time to time she’d come by and we’d explain them to her.  

One day a year or so ago she appeared at our door in great distress, because she’d tried to use the ATM card at the bank to take some of her money out for food, and even though it was the beginning of the month she couldn’t get any cash. We pulled out her most recent statement to take a look at it, and discovered that she seemed to have gotten some sort of automatic loan provision for up to $500 dollars additional per month. She knew nothing about this, hadn’t asked for it, and even though we’d been looking at her statements we knew nothing about it either.  

Following her normal pattern, she’d been taking out cash as she needed it, not realizing that she’d used up her monthly allotment, and had inadvertently gotten deep into debt because of this new scheme. Even worse, payments on this debt were being automatically deducted from her $800 government check as soon as the money came to the bank, before she’d seen any of it. And worst of all, the interest rate she was being charged, printed right there on the statement, seemed to be an incredible 90 percent, which guaranteed that Betty’s Social Security check was now encumbered by so much interest that it was going to be completely confiscated every month, forever.  

We studied the statement carefully, trying to figure out how this was possible. But even though one of us is a lawyer and the other has a Ph.D. and we’ve run a successful business, we couldn’t figure out what was going on. 

It seemed so incredible that we called Wells Fargo up thinking it must be a misprint or some other kind of computer error. Not at all, we were told, that’s just the way this new product works, it’s a service to our customers. It turned that this was not just any kind of a loan, but was a “Direct Deposit Advance”, paid out in the certainty that the client would be getting a check deposited at the first of the next month, so the bank was sure to be paid back. What if the customer doesn’t ask for it and doesn’t understand it, we asked. Too bad, was the answer.  

We were sure this couldn’t be legal. We called a lawyer friend who worked in a San Francisco firm which often handles lawsuits against banks, and he thought it sounded highly dubious. He agreed to look into it pro bono, spent several days researching the procedure, and came back to report, amazed, that what Wells Fargo was doing was perfectly legal, thanks to an obscure recent court decision. He had coincidentally encountered a similar case that same week. A developmentally disabled man in Marin had been having his whole disability check taken by Wells Fargo. His brother finally figured out the problem and came to the law firm looking for redress, but there didn’t seem to be any. 

The lawyer said this practice would have been illegal under California law, but Betty’s statement revealed that the “Direct Deposit Advance” loan came from “Wells Fargo Bank Nevada, N.A.”. The lender was not subject to California law since it was registered in Nevada. Someone somewhere in the Wells Fargo empire must have worked hard to figure out the loophole which essentially lets a lender take a depositor’s whole check, every month, if she has withdrawn too much money for one or two months. When you multiply Betty’s $800 a month times all the SSI recipients and other vulnerable people who have direct deposit accounts, it adds up to a big haul for Wells Fargo, and a lot of poor people in trouble.  

What could we do for Betty? We introduced her to another local lawyer, Osha Neumann, who tried to extricate her from Wells Fargo’s clutches, but couldn’t get back the money which they’d already taken as interest on her “loan.” 

What can be done about this practice? We don’t know, and we don’t even know if it’s still going on. We’ve laid this all out here so someone else can try to figure it out. Barbara Lee is on the House Banking Committee, so maybe she can take a look at remedies. Loni Hancock or Wilma Chan might want to see if anything can be done in California. We hope other publications will find other victims and do stories about them. It’s too late now to do any more for Betty, but in her memory we hope that telling this story as she wanted us to do will help someone else avoid getting conned as she was. 

What can be done for other people with the crack habit which ruined Betty’s life? Not much, certainly not while there are not enough places in treatment programs for addicts like her. Even with treatment, beating crack addiction is generally believed to be close to impossible, so it would be better to keep people from getting started. But that’s another long story, too long for today.  

—Becky O’Malley…