The 36-year-old Berkeley man accused of shooting a Berkeley police officer Tuesday morning will remain held without bail at Santa Rita Prison, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Winfred Scott ruled Thursday. 

At his arraignment hearing Thursday, Howard Street was animated, motioning to friends and family inside the courtroom, and demanding an opportunity to address the judge. 

Street said he had been in handcuffs since his arrest early Tuesday morning and denied outside contact. 

“I haven’t been able to make a phone call or nothing,” said Street, who was dressed in a red prison suit, his hands cuffed behind his back with five bailiffs standing behind him during the five-minute hearing. 

Judge Scott ordered Street to be assigned a public defender and returned to the courthouse today (Friday). 

Street, who has a criminal record dating back to 1987, was arraigned on charges of attempted murder of a police officer and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection with the shooting. Street was also arraigned on charges of first degree residential robbery, discharge of a firearm that resulted in great bodily injury, carjacking, and possession of a firearm by felon in connection with a home robbery in Oakland on May 5. Authorities did not give further details on the May 5 incident. 

After the hearing, Street’s mother, who declined to give her first name, maintained her son’s innocence. “I don’t believe he shot the policeman,” she said. 

A woman saying she was Street’s wife said she was able to talk to her husband only briefly since his arrest.  

During the hearing, Judge Scott read off a list of six prior felony convictions against Street, which included convictions for firearm possession by a felon, auto theft, escaping police custody and offering to sell drugs.  

Prosecutors charge that Street shot Berkeley Police Officer Darren Kacalek, 29, in the chest shortly after 2:36 a.m. near Fifth and Delaware streets Tuesday morning, as Kacalek, a three-year veteran of the department, tried to apprehend him. 

Kacalek, who was released from Highland Hospital Tuesday night, sustained a one-inch open wound in his chest and a small bruise on his heart, his mother Annette said by telephone from her home near Redding. 

The bullet ripped through Kacalek’s badge and bulletproof vest before becoming lodged in his chest.  

“He was pretty lucky,” Annette Kacalek said. “If the bullet hadn’t gone through the badge it probably would have done more damage.” 

She added that her son said the gunman fired a second bullet that narrowly missed his head. 

Okies said the early Tuesday morning incident that led to the shooting started when officers attempted to stop a black Mustang for vehicle code violations. The Mustang sped away east on University Avenue. Police did not give chase out of concern for public safety, Okies said, but when an officer spotted the car at Fifth and Delaware streets soon afterwards, the two occupants fled on foot, with officers following. 

Kacalek, who was called to help in the foot chase, caught up with Street. The two began to fight and Street fired his gun, Okies said. 

Police managed to stop Street near the scene, but the other occupant of the car remains at large, Okies said. Okies said he could not reveal additional deals about the incident because it was under investigation. 

Kacalek is due back at the hospital Friday for further evaluation, but is expected to recover fully and return to the force. 

Tuesday’s shooting was not the first for a member of the Kacalek family, which counts five law enforcement officials among its ranks. Kacalek’s uncle, a Fremont police officer, retired after he was shot in the neck in the line of duty many years ago, Annette Kacalek said. 

She learned of the shooting at around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday when Darren called her from the hospital. He told her he was all right and then handed the phone to his brother, a Highway Patrol officer, who told her Darren had been shot.  

“Since I had already heard Darren’s voice it didn’t freak me out as much,” she said. “Darren was kind of laughing, but I think he might have been on a lot of medication.” 

She said that despite the dangers of the work, she was not worried about her son returning to the force. 

“I give the boys to God,” she said. “I sleep fine because I know my boys are good and they’re out on American soil protecting us.” 

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Under intense public pressure, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to request that UC release it from a confidentiality agreement that has kept settlement talks over a town-gown legal dispute out of the public view. 

The council is requesting that the university allow it to publicly disclose the terms of a final settlement before both the city and the UC Board of Regents approve it. 

Although councilmembers have said that a deal is imminent, they did not announce that a final settlement had been reached at Tuesday’s closed door meeting.  

In February Berkeley sued UC over a 15-year development plan that it argued lacked sufficient detail and would spark a building boom without city oversight or effective measures to lessen the effects of the growing campus on surrounding neighborhoods.  

A deal would not only settle the lawsuit, but could also lay the framework for city-university relations through 2020. A key point of contention, especially with the city facing mounting budget deficits, is how much the university, which claims an exemption from local taxes and fees, should pay for municipal services like fire and sewers.  

City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said after the vote Tuesday that she would immediately convey the council’s request to UC’s attorney. However, she said that the university had already rejected an informal request to waive the agreement. 

UC attorneys declined to return phone calls for this story.  

With rumors circulating that under the proposed settlement, UC would pay the city around the $1.2 million in fees they had offered in January rather than the $3 to $5 million the city was reportedly seeking, Councilmember Dona Spring warned residents that even if the deal was made public before a vote, the terms of an agreement would not be altered by public input. 

“I don’t want to give people illusions that bringing this for public comment is going to change anything,” she said. 

Albuquerque said the confidentiality agreement was signed at the city’s request to prevent the university from using comments made at settlement discussions during a trial. Noting that UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau had previously revealed comments made by Mayor Tom Bates in private talks, Albuquerque said, “For that reason we wanted to ensure that all discussions would be purely confidential.”  

According to Albuquerque, the agreement not only bars the council from commenting on negotiations or conversations made in private council meetings, but also prohibits it from releasing the university’s offer or any counter offer, as it would otherwise be permitted under state law. 

Councilmembers seemed surprised at the restrictions placed upon them. Mayor Bates said that he was “of the view that this should be public,” and Councilmember Kriss Worthington objected on the grounds that the council had not formally voted in favor of entering into the confidentiality agreement. 

When Albuquerque responded that it was discussed in closed session, Worthington accused her of violating the confidentiality rules. 

“It seems you’re doing what you’re telling the city not to do, describing what happened in closed session,” he said. 

Reports that the settlement might mirror UC’s public offer has increased pressure on the council to negotiate in public. “If the numbers rumored are true it doesn’t appear that we are getting a fair deal,” said Wendy Alfsen, a member of Berkelyans for a Livable University Environment. 

Becky O’Malley, the Daily Planet’s executive editor, urged the council to release any proposed agreement to the public and added that legal advisors had questioned whether the confidentiality agreement was as stringent as Albuquerque interpreted it. 

“I’ve never seen a confidentiality agreement that affirmatively prohibited public release before a formal vote,” said Antonio Rossmann, a law professor at Boalt Hall. He said that although it is common for public institutions to enter into a confidentiality agreement during litigation, once they feel they have a deal, “that has to be public. It would be just outrageous if the university did not allow for public review on [the deal] before it is voted on.” 

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Facing the loss of 115 jobs and the threat of no raises over the next four years, BART workers Wednesday took to the stations to marshal rider support before they head back to the negotiating table. 

“We can’t afford to lose any more workers,” said June, a station agent working at the Ashby BART Station. Noting that BART has proposed laying off 28 part-time agents this year on top of past cuts, she said, agents are increasingly unable to adequately serve riders. “It’s horrible. A lot of booths go unstaffed every day.” 

To help close a $53 million deficit, BART is considering a series of measures which would cut staff and raise fees. While proposals to increase ticket prices by 15 cents and charge up to $5 for parking have grabbed most of the headlines, employees argued that the loss of 115 jobs, about half of which are vacant, will make BART dirtier and less safe.  

“When you cut staff, but add new stations, things start slipping through the cracks,” said Bud Brandenberger, vice president of the BART chapter of SEIU Local 790, which represents custodial and maintenance workers. 

Mark Raudelunas, a mechanic said previous cutbacks had BART vehicles waiting for repairs. “We can’t repair all the equipment that’s breaking down now,” he said. “There’s a huge backlog.” 

BART Chief Spokesperson Linton Johnson countered that the proposed layoffs would not make conditions at BART less safe and that the transit agency was not cutting any police officer positions. 

Joining SEIU in handing out fliers at BART stations Wednesday were members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents station agents and train operators. Officials from the two unions—BART’s largest—said they will endure the majority of this year’s proposed layoffs and have suffered the bulk of the 412 job cuts BART has made over the past three years. 

BART’s deficit stems mainly from falling revenues and increasing costs, according to General Manager Tom Margro. While sales tax revenues and ridership (BART’s two sources of income) have dropped over the past five years, employee salaries and benefits have increased. The system currently serves an average of 310,00 riders every weekday, down from 335,000 in 2001. 

To control employee costs, BART has offered SEIU and ATU four-year contracts with no raises, higher health care contributions and a clause requiring that workers pay their own pension contributions, union officials said. The unions’ current contracts, which expire June 30, gave them 22 percent raises over four years. Despite being far apart at the negotiating table, union leaders said they didn’t plan to strike.  

Brandenberger called on BART to save money by cutting management positions and capital improvement projects. Johnson responded that of the 115 jobs on the chopping block, 23 belonged to non-union employees. He said that union jobs accounted for 80 percent of the proposed cuts while union workers were 91 percent of the workforce. 

“Managers are taking the hardest hit,” Johnson said.  

With fewer station agents and custodial staff, BART has lowered its standards for station cleanliness, Johnson said. He added that the agency’s policy was to make sure there was one station agent at every station, but not at every booth at stations that have more than one station agent booth. 

Even if the BART Board of Directors approves the job cuts and fee hikes before the July 1 deadline for passing next year’s budget, BART will still be $30 million in debt, Johnson said. On Thursday, the BART Board is scheduled to consider proposals to raise fees and charge for parking at stations throughout the system in Berkeley and Oakland. 

Johnson said that to increase revenue BART has studied putting ads on tickets and parking lots and installing televisions with paid programming in stations and trains. 

Asked about the union flier she had just received, BART rider Sandra Rowland of Lafayette said she sided with the workers. 

“I’ve been on a BART train that was stranded in the middle of the Caldecott BART tunnel,” she said. “I know we need to worry about safety factors.” 

While the University of Texas and the University of California arm to fight each other for a $60 million contract to run Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear weapons research and development facility, peace advocates say the competition is misdirected and the debate should focus instead on the danger of developing weapons of mass destruction.  

“The university, especially a public university, has no place contributing to the development of nuclear weapons,” said Chelsea Collonge, UC Berkeley student with the statewide Coalition to Demilitarize UC. “It undermines our academic integrity.”  

University participation sugarcoats the labs’ weapons work, creating a “fig leaf of academic respectability,” said Jackie Cabasso, executive director of Oakland-based Western States Legal Foundation.  

Nonetheless, UC and UT are putting together “dream teams.” UC will partner with San Francisco-based Bechtel National, Inc. BWX Technologies, Inc. of Lynchburg, Va., “the nation’s premier manager of complex, high-consequence nuclear and national security operations,” and Washington Group International, of Boise, Idaho, will also be part of the mix, according to a UC press statement. 

The University of Texas lineup includes major partner Lockheed Martin, with the possible collaboration of Texas A&M and other universities. Southern California-based defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation said it would also bid on the contract. 

UC’s ties to the Los Alamos, New Mexico lab were forged in 1943 when the lab was founded with a singular purpose—to create the atom bomb. Because of a series of highly publicized security lapses and management gaffes over the last few years, the Department of Energy, which owns the labs, announced in the spring of 2003 that lab management would go out to competitive bid.  

The university oversees two other labs: the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, founded in 1931, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, founded in 1952. Competitive bidding for LLNL management will take place next year. UC recently won a five-year contract to continue to run the Berkeley lab. 

Competitors Suit Up 

Underscoring that final bid specifications are not yet available and that until they are, the university will not make a final determination on whether it will vie for the contract, UC spokesperson Chris Harrington claimed that the UC-Bechtel team is the top contender. 

“University management brings strong science and technology work,” compatible with the university’s mission of contributing to the safety and security of the nation, he said, explaining that he could not detail the advantages of the UC-Bechtel partnership due to the nature of the competition. The team effort will be led by Michael R. Anatasio, now head of the Livermore labs. 

Bechtel National, Inc., the Bechtel division proposed to partner with UC, brings knowledge of national security, intelligence and defense to the partnership. BNI’s experience includes developing technologies to fight terrorism, monitoring the consequences of terrorist acts, designing emergency response programs, and training military and civilian responders, according to a UC press statement.  

While both Bechtel and UC spokespeople declined to quantify costs associated with preparing a bid, the UT Board of Regents voted to budget $1.2 million for preparing a proposal. Harrington said UC’s outlay would come from the lab’s budget, kept separate from other university funds. 

Republican Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico was among those who have stood up to support the UC-Bechtel partnership. 

“The University of California has provided a solid science background to Los Alamos, as well as a highly regarded academic foundation,” he said in a statement. “By partnering with a group headed by Bechtel National, UC is bringing a strong management team with extensive experience managing challenging projects on board.” 

Asked to comment on the competition, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, chose to address only the question of reducing weaponry. 

“For me, the most critical issue is fundamentally changing U.S. nuclear weapons policies, and I will continue to work in Congress to end the development of nuclear weapons, to continue to reduce the size of our arsenal and to foster nonproliferation programs that will dismantle existing weapons and stop the spread of weapons technology,” she said in an e-mail. 

University of Texas Chancellor Mark Yudof said the UT-Lockheed team is the strongest.  

“For the first time since the creation of Los Alamos, the Department of Energy is challenging American industry and academia to come forward with their best guidance about how its vital work can be done better and more safely,” he said. “There may be industrial bidders who could do the job alone, but without access to the best minds in academia, they could not do it as well….We believe we have the winning combination.” 

Peace groups organize 

The bidders, however, face opposition from peace advocates in Texas, New Mexico and California. Pedro De La Torre, III, a graduating UT senior who speaks for UT Watch, a group opposing university involvement running the lab, said the university is getting into a “dysfunctional” situation where there are accidents and security breeches. “It would be taking on a liability.”  

It would be wrong for the university to be responsible for nuclear proliferation, when the U.S. should be reducing its nuclear stockpile, De La Torre said. 

“The existence of these weapons is a security threat,” he said. University Democrats, Icon Media and Peace Action Texas also oppose UT’s bid to run the lab. 

In California the Coalition to Demilitarize UC focuses its opposition, in part, on the university’s link with profit-making corporations. 

“The UC partnership with Bechtel, BWXT, and Washington International binds the university to industrial corporations that rely on the further militarization and nuclearization of our planet for their profit and power,” CDUC said in a press statement. Further, CDUC spokesperson Collonge said she fears, with the addition of Bechtel and the profit-making incentive, the lab will “design a whole new generation of weapons.” 

The statewide CDUC is working with UC Nuclear Free, Fiat Pax, Berkeley Watch, Tri-Valley CAREs, and coordinates with New Mexico-based Los Alamos Study Group and Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety to bring students to the UC Regents meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday, where the lab competition will be discussed. 

“It’s time to get UC out of the nuclear weapons business,” the CDUC statement advised. 

Harrington bristled at the implications. “The university is not in the weapons business,” he said. “It is in the business of managing three labs on behalf of the United States. Let’s not make it ‘weapons business.’”  

The labs’ charge goes “far beyond nuclear weapons work,” including cutting edge research on the Human Genome, HIV, anthrax and more, he added.  

Cabasso, whose organization, Western States Legal Foundation, recently issued a report, “Up For Sale: Bidding for Management of the Nuclear Weapons Labs” (www.wslfweb.org) said university work at the labs offers a cover for academicians to obfuscate their weapons work and “to tell themselves they are working at an institution of higher learning.” 

Pointing to corporate-run Sandia Labs, she said former director Paul Robinson was more straightforward, “proudly proclaiming” they were working on weapons of mass destruction. (Robinson left Sandia in April to help Lockheed prepare its bid to manage the Los Alamos lab with UT; Lockheed manages Sandia.) 

Pratap Chatterjee, author of Iraq, Inc. and program director at CorpWatch in Oakland, has studied Bechtel and agrees that the corporation is an expert in the nuclear weapons business. But, like Cabasso, Chatterjee says asking which competitor is best is missing the point. 

“Should we be doing nuclear testing at all? We should be shutting them down,” Chatterjee said. 

University equals transparency 

Harrington argued that university oversight of the labs creates transparency and a venue for public input. “The university is subject to open meeting laws,” he said. “We’re very transparent in what we do at the labs.”  

Chatterjee and Cabasso dispute this. Believing that the university is more transparent is part of the conventional wisdom, Cabasso said. “It hasn’t been true in the past 50 years. There’s an illusion of transparency, openness, but the ability to inform the public has been nil.” 

Public and private entities are either accountable or they are not, Chatterjee said. 

“The question is, is accountability enforceable?” he asked. “A government entity can be completely accountable or it can abuse human rights and rip off customers—a private entity can do so also.” 

There is the added potential that, with a private for-profit partner, the profit incentive will drive up costs without public scrutiny, Chatterjee said, noting, “Bechtel is a privately-held company. It does not have to reveal how much profit it makes….We have no idea what happens inside Bechtel.”  

Lockheed, a publicly-held corporation, might be “slightly more transparent,” Chatterjee said. 

Mike Kidder, spokesperson for Bechtel, said the transparency argument is a non sequitur. “Everyone is as transparent (as the next entity) and must meet the same requirements.” 

De La Torre of Texas says running the labs diminishes the university’s prestige and Michael Coffey of UC Nuclear Free agrees: “The university’s reputation is stained by that relationship (with nuclear weapons).”  

But spokespeople for both teams competing to manage the labs say just the opposite, citing duty to country as the primary reason for their involvement. UC manages the labs “as a public service,” Harrington said. 

Similarly, James R. Huffines, chairman of the UT Board of Regents argued: “The work of Los Alamos is fundamental to our national security. As one of the finest institutions in the country, we have a duty to pursue this proposal.” 

The UC Regents are scheduled to address the issue at their meeting Wed., 10 a.m., UCSF, 3333 California St., San Franscisco  

The fate of Berkeley’s many citizen commissions remains in question after the City Council Tuesday failed to reach a consensus on reducing the number of times city commissions will be able to meet. 

The council will debate the matter again June 21. 

With 44 citizen advisory bodies, Berkeley, per capita, is the unquestioned Bay Area commission king. Although supporters hail it as a model of representative democracy, some city officials, noting that city staff has been cut 10 percent over the past few years, say that staffing the monthly meetings has drained resources. 

Two months ago, City Manager Phil Kamlarz proposed reducing meetings for 23 commissions from 11 times a year to six or three times a year. As a compromise, Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Linda Maio last week proposed allowing some of those commissions to meet eight times a year and others to meet six times. 

To further soften the impact on commissions, Bates and Maio amended their proposal to grant those commissions proposed for eight meetings a year a ninth meeting and the opportunity to petition the city manager or the council for a tenth meeting. Commissions scheduled for six meetings a year would have the option to hold eight meetings, and petition for a ninth. 

Additionally, Bates and Maio agreed that the Humane Commission, Solid Waste Commission, Public Works Commission and the Commission on Disabilities could have a minimum of eight meetings a year, rather than six as originally proposed. 

The concessions were not enough to sway some councilmembers, who argued that the city should encourage greater citizen involvement at a time when national politics have left many feeling excluded. 

“When better financial times return, we’ll be stuck with a mindset of less participation,” said Councilmember Max Anderson, who called on the council to look for ways to reduce the burden on staff without cutting down commission meetings. 

Councilmembers Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington backed proposals made by various commissioners to have commission members or disinterested parties, such as university students, take meeting minutes to spare staff members. 

City Manager Phil Kamlarz said the city couldn’t rely on volunteers to take meeting minutes or notice meetings because state law required a high level of consistency and if the volunteers failed to meet state standards the city could be held responsible. He estimated that his proposal would save about two full-time staff positions, and said he would begin work to estimate the savings from the Bates-Maio plan. 

Meanwhile councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Gordon Wozniak wanted to further scale back commissions beyond the Bates and Maio plan. 

They proposed consolidating Public Works and Solid Waste into a single commission; the Energy Commission and the Community Environmental Advocacy Commission into another; as well as consolidating the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Waterfront Commission. 

Wozniak argued that by widening the scope of the commissions, the city would save time and attract more citizens to serve on them and follow their deliberations. 

Capitelli also proposed that the council close the loophole that allows some commissioners to serve more than eight consecutive years by resigning from the commission just before their term expires and then getting reappointed. He argued that the members with longer tenures tended to dominate meetings, “and discourage participation by other citizens.” 

The commission debate spilled over into a brief public hearing on the city’s proposed fiscal year 2006 budget. Of the 11 speakers, four argued against cutting commission meetings. Several speakers also used the forum to voice their opposition to radio tracking devices now being used on library books, while three members of SEIU, Local 535 argued against proposed job reductions. 

The council also agreed to further postpone adopting the Precautionary Principle ordinance, while the law’s chief backer, Councilmember Worthington, and city staff review proposed language in the ordinance. The law is designed to help the city make proactive environmentally sensitive decisions in purchasing, contracting and other activities. 

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A day before ballots went out to the Jefferson Elementary community to decide the fate of the school name, parents and teachers met at the West Berkeley school to discuss the controversial issue. 

Jefferson voters will have until May 26 to decide whether the school will continue to be named after the author of the Declaration of Independence or if the name will be changed to Sequoia. 

The name change has been proposed by Jefferson parents and teachers who believe that the former president’s connection to slavery—he owned slaves on his 18th century Virginia plantation—should disqualify him for honor in Berkeley. Those who support keeping the Jefferson name have said that while his participation in slavery should not be overlooked, it should not overshadow Jefferson’s accomplishments in laying down the foundation of American democracy. 

On Tuesday night, some 60 participants broke into small groups to debate the issue among themselves. The meeting was sponsored by the school’s oversight committee, and was facilitated by Carol Johnson of the Berkeley-based Equity Consulting Group. Two school board officers participated—President Nancy Riddle and Vice President Terry Doran—but the remainder of participants appeared to be people directly connected with the school. 

Jefferson Principal Betty Delaney said that the meeting “was designed to bring together divergent points of view.” 

It did, but with a volume of rhetoric distinctly lower than what has recently been playing out in letters-to-the-editor columns. 

In one of the groups, one man argued that “we should leave the name as it is, and then continue to have these types of discussions on race and the legacy of slavery. If we change the name to Sequoia, those discussions will end. America was founded on controversy. That’s how democracy advances, through controversy, and these types of discussions and struggles.” 

But a woman in the same group countered, “I don’t trust that the discussion will continue or that my point in the discussion will be heard. We don’t discuss slavery or race in our history books now, not really.” 

She also argued that “if the name remains Jefferson, people will not look on him as a controversial figure. They will see that as a confirmation that we see him as a hero. We don’t name schools after people we don’t respect. We don’t name schools after Hitler.” 

Several people commented that they wished that something like Tuesday night’s dialogue had been organized when the name-change controversy was first raised. 

“I think we would have had more information, and it would have set a better tone for the debate,” one woman said. 

The meeting began with presentations by representatives of the two opposing sides. 

Margeurite Talley-Hughes, a Jefferson Elementary teacher, said that Jefferson’s participation in slavery could not be explained away “because that’s what was happening during those times. George Washington refused to buy or sell slaves during his lifetime, and unlike Jefferson, upon his death, his slaves were freed. John Adams did not own slaves. Benjamin Franklin freed the few slaves that were in his possession, and then became president of the Philadelphia Abolition Society.” 

Talley-Hughes also read passages from Jefferson’s 1782 “Notes On Virginia,” in which he argued for the general inferiority of African-Americans in all things intellectual, also complaining of their alleged “disagreeable odor.” 

Supporters of the Jefferson name chose not to make a presentation themselves, but instead had UC Berkeley history professor Robin Einhorn make their case. 

But Einhorn appeared uncomfortable in the role, saying that “I’m not really here as a partisan” and “I’m not here to defend retaining his name.” 

Instead, Einhorn said she was speaking as a historian raising questions that the Jefferson Elementary community would have to answer for themselves.  

“The name Jefferson is shorthand to us for the sentiments expressed in the Declaration of Independence,” she said. “The question is, does it dishonor that sentiment to get rid of his name on the school? The historian’s view is that slavery is at the essence of America at its founding, and it is accurate to portray Jefferson as central to that essence. But saying that this portrayal of Jefferson is accurate does not necessarily mean that we should celebrate it.” 

BERLIN—On a calm spring day in Berlin recently, a horse with a dead-looking soldier on its back clopped across the cobblestones of a leafy neighborhood. The soldier wore a gas mask and slumped forward on the horse’s mane, or wobbled dangerously in the saddle.  

Berliners are used to unusual things, but this was bizarre. People scowled from cars and cafes. Kids ran excitedly behind the horse (”He’s not a puppet! He’s real!”), and the occasional homeless man walked up to give his opinion.  

The rider belonged to an “art-action” group called the Heavenly Four, which wanted to celebrate the defeat of Nazism with a dramatization of a satirical song by Bertolt Brecht. In “The Legend of the Dead Soldier,” an infantryman killed in World War I is dug up by a medical commission and sent back to the front.  

“He’s the soldier that Germans always dig up to send into another war,” said Michael Wildmoser, a tall young urban engineer from Bavaria who helped organize the event. “We want to warn against war in general.”  

Wildmoser and his friends belong to a lively wing of a debate in Germany over how to remember World War II that reaches far beyond the anniversary of V-E Day. The “Heavenly Four” name refers to the Allies who liberated Germans from Nazism on May 8, 1945, and “liberation” is the word used by any German who wants to admit the nation’s crimes and banish the ghost of Hitler.  

The point of the Heavenly Four’s event, in fact, was to counter a march in Berlin by the neo-Nazi NPD, which loathes the word “liberation.” The NPD tried to mount a parade in Berlin on May 8 to protest Allied “crimes” at the end of World War II. Berliners turned out in the thousands to squelch the parade; the NPD is even more alien to them than a dead soldier on horseback. Still, the party’s conscious (and increasingly successful) idea is to make Germans feel like victims again, the way they’d felt after World War I.  

This lunatic position would be easy to dismiss if the subject of wartime defeat weren’t so taboo in Germany. But the NPD speaks up, where other Germans don’t, about the firebombing of cities like Hamburg and Berlin and Dresden between 1943 and 1945.  

“I think we speak for a silent majority,” says the party’s chairman, Udo Voigt. “The current government wants to celebrate ‘liberation’ [from Nazism] on May 8, but many Germans don’t feel themselves liberated by the Allies ... So we say: ‘We’re not celebrating. Enough with the Cult of Guilt. There is no collective guilt.’”  

The problem with Voigt is that he speaks for a quiet, subterranean strain of German feeling. Not only civilians but whole segments of German civilization were incinerated in the firebombings; ancient cities like Dresden and Cologne were literally hollowed out. “The destruction of the city itself, with all its past as well as its present,” wrote the British poet Stephen Spender after visiting Cologne in 1948, “is like a reproach to the people who go on living there. The sermons in the stones of Germany preach nihilism.”  

Whether the Allies could have broken the Nazi machine by demolishing supply lines and oil refineries, instead of city centers, was a controversy even in Churchill’s time. Some excellent German writers, like the late W. G. Sebald, have started to mention it. The problem is to outline Germany’s loss without pretending to be victimized.  

Sebald points out that German literature, and to some extent German memory, draws a blank on the almost nuclear devastation left after the war. “The images of this horrifying chapter of our history have never really crossed the threshold of the national consciousness,” writes Sebald in his final book, “On the Natural History of Destruction.” “... I was not surprised when a teacher in Detmold told me ... that as a boy in the immediate postwar years he quite often saw photographs of the corpses lying in the streets after the firestorm brought out from under the counter of a Hamburg secondhand bookshop, to be fingered and examined in a way usually reserved for pornography.”  

The resurgence of parties like the NPD—which won 12 legislative seats in the eastern state of Saxony last fall, and keeps making offensive noises about a “German Holocaust” at the end of World War II—can be explained, in part, by this shameful silence. The extreme German right stands for national pride in a nation that has very little (still, after two generations).  

Most Germans will tell you they mistrust patriotism; they grew up with the idea that Americans rescued them from Hitler, and any contrary opinion still has a ring of disobedience, bitterness, ingratitude.  

“The majority of Germans today know, or so at least it is to be hoped,” writes Sebald, “that we actually provoked the annihilation of the cities in which we once lived. Scarcely anyone can now doubt that Air Marshall Göring would have wiped out London if his technical resources had allowed him to do so.”  

And that’s exactly the problem. Hitler had tried to erase a people; he would have gone on to erase London and Moscow and New York. And yet the towering moral shame still shadowing German pride is not enough to erase a collective, unspeakable grief.  

Michael Scott Moore is a novelist and reporter living in Berlin. His first novel, Too Much of Nothing, is out from Carroll & Graf.  

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NEWSWEEK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The attack on Newsweek’s expose regarding interrogators’ denigration of the Muslim faith, like the earlier attack on CBS’ expose of the president’s military history, is surreal. Joe Garafoli places the wrong emphasis in his story. By caving in under attack both Newsweek and CBS played the role of pliant servants to government intimidation. Both stories were factually and technically true, yet CBS’ and Newsweek’s weak and defensive mea culpa conveyed the impression of fundamental factual error rather than the technical errors in sourcing they were guilty of. 

This reminds one of the strange guilty pleas by thousands in the Stalin purge trials and during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It also reminds us of the U.S. government’s current use of highly coercive interrogation techniques to make people say things the government wants to hear. It is not merely the treatment of the Koran that is on trial at the bar of world and Muslim public opinion just now, but the U.S. government’s denigration of human dignity. If the media is compliant it will enhance this dehumanizing death spiral and our nation will suffer every-growing anti-Americanism. Shooting the messenger (in this case Newsweek) is but the greatest absurdity.  

Marc Sapir 

• 

HERE/THERE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Wherefore Art? To put Berkeley in a doghouse similar to that in which Newsweek currently resides? I say revoke their artistic licenses. 

What we have here is one zeitgeist, not two platzgeister. Erect a sign that says “<—NEITHER MUCH NOW—>.” 

But then again, to solve two problems with one ivy-covered stone, why not ship half of UCB to Oakland. That might improve both cities. 

Raymond A. Chamberlin 

• 

NO THERE, HERE OR THERE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the proposed sculpture proclaiming “Here” to motorists entering Berkeley and “There” to those heading toward Oakland: At the rate we’re going, soon there won’t be any there here, either. 

Zelda Bronstein 

• 

RFID TECHNOLOGY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am a Berkeley resident and taxpayer. I am appalled by the library spending more than half-million bucks on radio frequency identification tagging. There is no proof that this technology will work! The closest library that uses RFID is in Santa Clara; their multi-media is not tagged because effective RFID technology does not exist for this purpose. If Berkeley’s library gets tags for multi-media, as they are planning to, this technology will be brand-new and untested. Why should our library be the guinea pig? I have this message to the library trustees: “Stop experimenting with our tax dollars!!” The library’s primary priority should be re-opening on Sunday. Hold the director accountable for misuse of our money. 

C. Fourrie 

• 

UC LONG RANGE PLAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When the city challenged the environmental impact report of the UC Berkeley Long Range Development Plan, it was a statement that our city council cares about our quality of life and the environment. On behalf of the Sierra Club, I urge the council not to settle the current litigation against the University of California unless the settlement includes components that mitigate the traffic and air quality impacts of constructing between 1,800 and 2,300 commuter parking spaces. 

These parking spaces will generate significant traffic that will clog our streets, slow down AC Transit buses on major streets, and worsen our air. But there are transit alternatives that could accommodate UC growth without the negative impacts. Don’t settle for less. Settle for a plan that: 

• Reduces parking significantly, more than just a few hundred spaces. The parking is proposed to increase by twice the increase in faculty and staff headcount. Don’t settle for a plan that allows more than 1,000-1,300 spaces, which would maintain or reduce the current drive-alone rates to campus. 

• Requires as an environmental mitigation under CEQA that the university provide a universal transit pass for all employees in the form of a $1 million per year transit mitigation fund, subject to inflation or actual costs. 

This is more cost-effective than building additional parking, with either a 10 percent increase in parking fees or the capital program as the funding source. The current BearPass, while a slight improvement, comes far from realizing the potential of a universal pass like the Class Pass, which was successful reducing student drive-alone rates and encouraging transit use. Both AC Transit and BART directors have expressed willingness to develop such a program, which is justification to require that transit mitigation funds be set aside, with the requirement that UC actively seek a universal pass from both agencies. The joint city-UC TDM Study found that growth could be accommodated without building ANY parking by reducing drive-alone rates for faculty and staff from 50 percent to 45 percent. 

• Implements other TDM Measures suggested in past studies (move from offering monthly parking permits to daily parking permits; fund the Berkeley TRiP office; numerous other suggestions from the March 2001 Nelson/Nygaard study). 

Andy Katz 

Chair, Northern Alameda County Sierra Club 

• 

MORE ON UC PLAN 

I am writing in regards to the city’s negotiations with the UC Berkeley over the Long Range Development Plan (“Fighting Cal with a Rubber Banana,” Daily Planet editorial, May 13) 

I want to express my concern over the scope of these discussions as mentioned in recent media coverage. When the mayor first took his courageous stance to oppose the plan, I was optimistic that the issues of central concern to the student community would be remedied, despite UC’s railroading of this document.  

I want to commend the city for its efforts to speak out in the best interests of all of Berkeley and hopefully hold a firm line in future expansion. 

As a student, I personally support more university development. However, like most Berkeley residents, I firmly believe that such development must be effectively mitigated and that the local community must play a more direct role in the process.  

I strongly believe that the LRDP is flawed and needs revision. It does not comply with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act. Specifically, it does not fully analyze impacts nor address them. Additionally, what alarms me the most is the massive increase in parking proposed in the plan. 

UC Berkeley’s transportation policy is poor. Instead of investing millions in building more parking it can also develop alternative transportation programs such as a free faculty/staff transit pass and a BART Class Pass program. However, a very select group of faculty dominates these decisions, and the rest of the campus and city suffer accordingly.  

Case in point, UC is proposing to substantially increase the student contribution to campus transit through the upcoming Class Pass vote. The rationale for this decision is because some faculty want to remove all non-parking funding and direct it to building more parking. 

This is not in the best interest of anyone in this town, and someone needs to stand up before its too late. The ASUC was actively involved in the LRDP planning process. They submitted written comments and attended most public meetings. However, like the city and the neighborhoods their voice was not heard, and the three years of opportunities resulted in what UC wanted, not what anyone else did. 

Because of this, it was my firm hope that the city would fight against this parking increase and other policies, such as the parking replacement policy. 

While I have no position on fiscal compensation for services, I think the city has a credible argument. But this has dominated the debate, and there are other issues of greater importance to Berkeley residents. 

I urge the mayor and councilmembers: Please do not forget about these concerns; please fight for a more safe and sustainable community. We are looking to your leadership to guide us through this process. Please don’t give up at $1.2 million, there is more at stake and we need an equitable and beneficial solution for everyone in Berkeley. 

Jesse Arreguin 

• 

SUPPORT AMTRAK USE 

The good news is that the City of Berkeley is finally upgrading Berkeley’s Amtrak train stop at the foot of University Avenue, including a platform, lighting and disabled access. The bad news is that it appears that most of the unrestricted parking spaces currently used by train riders will no longer be available after the city’s redevelopment plans are complete. 

Berkeley’s plan to eliminate all but six unrestricted parking spaces will discourage many train commuters from continuing to use the train, particularly in the dark during early morning and evening hours and in rainy weather. Berkeley is the only city on Amtrak’s Capital Corridor route between Oakland and Sacramento that has not recently built or renovated a station with a safe waiting area and provided sufficient parking for Amtrak patrons. The city of Davis, for example, renovated an old train station similar to Berkeley’s former station and maintains 160 free parking spaces.  

In contrast, Berkeley has chosen to abandon its former train station, to provide only a minimal platform stop and to reduce the already inadequate number of parking spaces for train riders. Berkeley should be doing more to promote Amtrak use. At the very least, Berkeley should reconsider its current plan to expand short-term parking for Fourth Street shoppers at the expense of parking access for Amtrak riders. 

Julien Mercier 

• 

THOMAS JEFFERSON 

One of the main reasons that we study history is so we can understand the past to assure that we make a positive change for our children’s future. At Jefferson School, every student, staff member, parent and guardian has a chance to take a stand that will publicly acknowledge the pain and suffering of millions of Africans through the institution of slavery by changing the name of our school. 

For many, the name Thomas Jefferson brings up the tenets of the Declaration of Independence and the phrase “all men are created equal…with certain unalienable rights…of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” While Jefferson is credited with contributing these words to the document, he returned home to 200 enslaved African people on whose back his future, and the future of America, was built. This fact alone outweighs the impact of his accomplishments. 

In naming a school after Thomas Jefferson, we bury the story of human suffering by glorifying a person who was the master of enslaved Africans for 65 years. As an white woman who is an ally in the fight against institutionalized racism, I am compelled to take a stand alongside the many people at my school who are personally offended by the name of Jefferson, and need the name to change. Jefferson’s visionary words are hollow and offensive if they are not put into practice 

Maggie Riddle, Teacher 

Jefferson School 

• 

RECYCLING ASSOCIATION 

Your readers might be interested in the recent newsletter of the Northern California Recycling Association (www.ncra.org) where the co-owner of Urban Ore is concerned about gentrifying West Berkeley removing the industrial (and increasingly reprocessing) base from the community (Will recyclables be like garbage?; everybody loves it when you pick them up but nobody likes it when you put them down). There’s also a piece written by Berkeley’s GAIA staffer Monica Wilson who is worried that since a third of California’s cities have failed to meet their 50 percent goal, will they all jump on some purported high-tech bandwagon to cook and zap their trash to keep the landfills clear. Good reading.  

Arthur Boone 

• 

RACIST POSTER 

It may be of interest to you to report a story about a racist poster that is currently on display at the Berkeley Shattuck Landmark Cinema. The poster is displayed by the concession stand in the glassed in area labeled “employee of the month.” The poster has a picture of a man and describes him as Babu the snake charmer who works for the theater performing snake charming shows, but was recently bitten by his snake well entertaining audiences. This caricature is totally inappropriate for a public venue like the theater and I found it ridiculous and offensive to see it on view. When I asked a worker at the theater about the poster they said it was just for fun. I sure wasn’t laughing, it is disgusting. So much for Berkeley being a place where different cultures are not stereotyped or discriminated against. It was only too ironic to walk out of Crash, a movie about racial intolerance and cultural misunderstandings, only to see this poster. The workers of the cinema should be ashamed. 

Jacqueline Gehring 

• 

MALCOLM X 

In honor of the birthday of Malcolm X, I would like to share a few observations from the time I heard Malcolm in San Francisco. It was in 1963 at the Fillmore Ballroom, which was then home of the Nation of Islam. The ushers escorted me and the four or five other whites to good seats up front.  

Malcolm came out with a two big tripods to put pictures on, and he carried a pointer. His discourse was in the even voice of your typical college lecturer, as opposed to the few flamboyant lecturers. His topic was the history of “how the Negro got in the position we are now.” He began by saying, “They accuse me of preaching race hate.” He paused, smiled and said, “I don’ t preach hate, I only tell the truth.” 

The lecture that followed focused upon the conditions of slavery and how those conditions twisted the minds of slave and slave master alike. It was the most impressively argued and detailed lecture on slavery I had ever heard, and the year before I was a teachers’ assistant for Kenneth Stampps’ UC Berkeley history course on the Old South, and the year before that I had been the reader for the course.  

Malcolm’s first visual aid was a blowup of an advertisement from a Southern newspaper, circa 1850. Three things were for sale: a mule, a cow and a Negro. The mule was advertised for twice the price of the human being, the cow for only slightly more. Malcolm pointed out the difference, looked intensely at the advertisement, stroked his chin and asked, “What kind of system can create such a monstrous set of values?” Then he turned to the audience to say, “And they accuse me of preaching racial hate. I only present the truth...” 

Other visual aids included pages from a manual on how to discipline slaves, and advertisements about runaways. I left the Fillmore curious to know how Malcolm X became such a thorough historian of that sick old world of American slavery. I found out that the Massachusetts prison where Malcolm served time in the early 1950s happened to be a prison where there was a very large library of abolitionist literature. The library was donated by the old Bostonian family the Peabodys, and the books and pamphlets were given as part of a program to see that prisoners got rehabilitation during their incarceration. I was told that Malcolm X devoured the library. 

We know that many things and many events went into the making of the world renown revolutionary, Malcolm X, and I wish more people knew of his expertise in history. 

Ted Vincent 

Upon discovering that my teenage daughter was writing an essay on William Golding’s seminal novel Lord of the Flies, I had her view the film version with me, a film that absolutely terrified me when I first saw it at about the age of 10. We watched it al ong with my 10-year-old son who couldn’t bear to watch the whole thing. “Why are they being so mean to him?” he cried, tears streaming down his face as he turned away from witnessing boys his own age stone pudgy, philosophical “Piggy” to death. 

When Lord of the Flies made its debut in 1954, it was hailed as not only superbly written but as a parable of the times. A large group of English boarding school boys is stranded on an uninhabited island. While they struggle to survive, two boys emerge as potential leaders. After Ralph, who uses reason and goodwill to convince the boys to elect him as leader wins in a democratic vote, His rival, Jack, uses fear and physical might to, in effect, steal the election by stealing the community fire and terrorizing all those who resist him into submission or death. Not only do the boys murder Piggy but they also, in a fear-induced frenzy, kill Simon, the weakest among them, who is also the only one to have seen the truth of the “beast” they are all so frightened of. “What if the beast is us?” he queries. No one hears him until it is too late. 

Is life a war? A continuous battle for domination not just over land and goods, but a nonstop competition for the allegiance of others’ thoughts, feelings and actions? Is the ego ever satisfied?  

On May 6, two teenagers at Hercules High School entered the boys’ bathroom and proceeded to brutally beat up 17-year-old Hassan Rahgozar, breaking his jaw and blackening his eyes. The attackers, 18-year-old non-student Eric Guillebeau and a 17-year-old who had already been suspended for beating Hassan two weeks before, were arrested and charged with felony battery charges. A fellow “student” stood by and videotaped the attack and then broadcast it on the Internet. 

The budding filmmaker was not charged with a crime. He was suspended, however, and may not be allowed to graduate with his class. Hassan will be placed at another school to “ensure his safety.” Why is his safety in jeopardy? He was the victim. Yet, it is anticipated that rathe r than being treated with the empathy and support he deserves, he had better be worried about castigation and retaliation. 

This incident reminded me of Sherrice Iverson. Remember her? Sherrice was 7 years old on May 25, 1997, when she was followed into t he bathroom of a Las Vegas casino by then-19-year-old Jeremy Strohmeyer. Strohmeyer cornered her in one of the stalls and began to rape the little girl. His best friend, former UC Berkeley engineering student David Cash, peeked over the stall, saw what St rohmeyer was up to and rather than rescue the little girl, went outside and sat on a bench for 24 minutes to give his buddy some space. After he raped Sherrice, Strohmeyer strangled her to death. While Strohmeyer is serving a life sentence for murder, Cas h was not charged with any crime. He was, instead, allowed to remain at UC Berkeley—where he was admitted based solely on his grades and SAT scores—and provided with security to boot. He expressed no remorse for Sherrice but rather sued his high school fo r not letting him into his prom and tried to sell his story to make money and attract girls. 

“My kid can beat up your honor student” the bumper sticker on the black truck ahead of me reads. I pass another driver, this time in a shiny white Mercedes compl ete with UC Alumnus decals, whose bumper sticker reads: “Honk—I’m re-loading.” I go home and my 10-year-old son is watching cartoons brimming with gratuitous violence—bullying, fighting and hysterical laughing at others’ misfortunes. I turn the station a nd see a young man in prison garb being interviewed by the mother of his victim, a teenaged girl he had kidnapped, sodomized and killed. The mother asks, “Why did you do it?” The convict pauses, looks down and then straight at her as he replies: “I wanted them all to remember my name.” Not interested in learning his name, I turn off the TV. My son is now on the computer, bobbing his head in rhythm to the theme song of one of his favorite wrestlers: “I lie, I cheat, I steal, I lie, I cheat, I steal… I don’t care if you don’t like me… everybody wants to fight me…” 

Violent behavior is not part of my son’s genetic make-up. I don’t want him to lose the sense of compassion he felt for Piggy and Simon. I think the capacity to feel for others is a good thing. Bu t, in a society bred of violence and greed, where the bad boys are made heroes—sung about and immortalized on TV, in films and now on the Internet—the cards are stacked against him.  

What’s a mother to do? I could use a little help out there. Think of it this way: The life you help save could be your own. 

o

As was earlier announced, here and elsewhere, Mayor Jerry Brown is proposing shutting down the Kaiser Convention Center as a “cost-saving” venture to “balance Oakland’s budget.” Noting in a “Budget Facts” document on the mayor’s proposed policy budget for fiscal year 2005-07 released by City Administrator Deborah A. Edgerly that we are looking at a $32 million shortfall in those years, we learn that in order to help close that shortfall, Mr. Brown proposed to “shut [the Convention Center’s] doors on Jan. 1, 2006, upon completion of existing contracts with community groups. This closure will eliminate the growing annual city subsidy to the facility of an estimated $0.4 million per year, and result in the elimination of 20 positions, mostly part-time.” 

That $0.4 million per year sounds like a lot, until you put it into some context. 

Oakland’s general fund is estimated to be $463 million in fiscal year 2006-07, with total spending on all funds projected to be more than $1 billion for that year. You can do the math yourself, but spending $400,000 a year to keep 20 people on the job, even part time, and to operate the city’s largest public venue—where we have things like our high school graduations and cultural events—seems something of a bargain. 

The proposed closing of the Kaiser Convention Center by Mr. Brown also appears a little odd, considering that at the same time, just across town, the mayor is pouring city money into the re-opening of another theater venue…the old Fox Oakland. The Fox—which has been abandoned for many years—sits in the same neighborhood as the Paramount Theater, which is open, but reportedly barely breaking even. Once, when downtown Oakland was booming, we could support two major theaters in the same area, but who among us believes that can happen now? Apparently Mr. Brown. Getting the costs on Oakland projects is always an iffy thing, but back in late 2003, the city auditor estimated it would cost $800,000 just for cleanup and testing of the Fox Oakland (twice the amount we spend each year for the fully operational Kaiser, along with its 20 part-time employees). Estimates of the actual cost of full renovation of the Fox run from $20 million to $70 million. All of that money is not projected to come from the City of Oakland budget but, like the Raiders Coliseum deal, Oaklanders have learned to be wary that they will be caught holding these considerably heavy bags. 

So why close the Kaiser because its costing $400,000 a year to operate while simultaneously sinking at least $800,000 in city money-with potential millions more to follow-into the Fox? Beats me. 

Closing the Kaiser Convention Center on the first of January also appears a little shortsighted, considering what’s about to happen along the Lake Merritt Channel between Lake Merritt proper and the estuary. As all observers of recent Oakland history know, the channel is due to be opened up with money approved by Oakland voters three years ago in the water bond Measure DD. In that same measure, Oaklanders voted to do away with that highway—like 12th Street-14th Street bypass between the lake and the convention center. Nobody at the present knows what the new configuration will look like, except that when it is finished, the Kaiser Convention Center will be accessible by pedestrian traffic from both Lake Merritt and lower 14th Street. Presumably Mr. Brown does not just want to close the center down, but he wants to sell it—either as a building intact, or for its land—to some willing developer, waiting in the wings. But waiting to sell the Kaiser after the Lake Merritt Channel renovations are actually done would make it a far more valuable property. Someone whose interests were in making more money for Oakland would wait. Of course, someone who wants to get a better deal for a developer would rush the sale through early. I’m not making any accusations about Mr. Brown, or anyone else. I’m just passing out observations. 

Still, I will note that the proposed sale of the Kaiser Convention Center—at a time when it would appear to be on the least favorable terms to the city—is very much in line with past Brown administration policies. 

Back in 2001-02, the Port Commission announced that it was losing money on some of its Jack London Square retail properties, and, because it just wasn’t in the business of losing money, decided that some of those properties needed to be sold. So the Port Commissioners divided up the JL Square properties, figuring out which ones were making a profit and which ones were losing money and—you guessed it!—sold the profitable properties (including the Barnes & Noble bookstore and the Spaghetti Factory) to a group called the Jack London Square Partners (Ellis Partners and James Falaschi), while keeping the unprofitable properties in the hands of the Port. Don’t take my word for it. You can look it up. 

The “oddity” of the Oakland Port Commission Jack London Square deal aside, we are rapidly passing into a new era of government, in which we are told that government must be operated like a business and, therefore, government cost centers must generate a “profit.” 

That is news to many older taxpayers, who grew up in an era when government programs were considered “services,” already paid for by our various taxes. 

And so, when we look at the Kaiser Convention Center, we do not look at its bottom line. We look at it as the place where we crossed the stage to get our high school diplomas. We look at it as the location of the annual city Holiday Festival, where our elementary school age sons and daughters sang carols marvelously off-key, and where the anticipated event-for children and parents alike-was “Dancing Santa” jumping out of his sleigh to break-it-down in a way no other Santa in no other city could do. We look at the countless expos and gospel concerts and dance performances over the years that could not be performed anywhere else because there was nowhere else big enough in the City of Oakland to accommodate them. 

We look at the Kaiser Convention Center as an Oakland treasure, one of the benefits of living and paying taxes in this city. With the Kaiser closed, where will Oaklanders go? Where will we find our cultural heart, once this one is lost? 

Close it? Sell it? This one doesn’t make any sense, at least for Oakland taxpayers and citizens, those of us who will stick around here after the Jerry Brown Train moves out of the station two years from now. 

"

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas

Tom got lucky with a waitress 22 years ago, and the baby she had alone came out to California to see him. 

They had both wanted to meet each other. Neither of them had any money, so Tom’s old friends paid for bus tickets, cleaned off sofas, made lots of extra food, crossed their fingers, and helped it happen. 

When I say they had no money, I don’t mean because they were budgeting for a two-week vacation, or because they had their savings tied up in stocks. I mean Tom came 500 miles from where he was living in a garage, making what he could off odd jobs and drinking to stay steady, with only a few dollars on him. His 22-year-old daughter’s mom was moving from relative to relative on her way toward resettling near her aging parents about eight states away. Sarah, the daughter he’d never met, had no home, no job, and when her sandal strap broke we spent a solid 20 minutes in Wal-Mart trying to find wearable two-dollar footwear. 

Sarah was tall, smiled easily, and moved comfortably through the unfamiliar neighborhood her mother had often described to her. She knew where she could find a job back in the Midwest, she had an idea of the work that might interest her. She had her mother somewhere, her hopes, and her health. 

Tom, on the other hand, was not walking well, and couldn’t make it through the day without a drink. He’d spent a couple decades helping his aging mother through a long illness until her death. His own family’s affections for him were thin enough not to recognize the value of his years of care-giving, or the cost to him, a man who had no work history and was suddenly without a home, since they’d decided to sell the trailer he’d shared with his mother until she died. 

It takes courage to be 22 years old and go see a father you’ve never met before. It takes courage to jump on a bus, break out of your world, and meet the neighbors and friends who’d been the closest family your mother had when her own family failed her. 

It also takes courage to have no money, unsteady legs, failing hands that used to play as fluidly as Renbourn and Kottke, and welcome a daughter the world sees you as having failed into your heart. Tom put his arms around Sarah and told her how glad he was to meet her. He told her stories, played her songs, and made her feel as welcome as he could sitting in someone else’s home, a homeless man with nowhere to go and an addiction he could not disguise from a daughter he’d dreamed of someday meeting. 

Sarah and I had dinner with the man who was her mother’s birthing coach, a man who just stepped in because someone needed to, the way ordinary people sometimes become heroes. We talked and laughed and told stories, the way families at their best must be able to do. We took pictures with our arms around each other on the porch of the house where she was born. We walked her through the streets that had called to both her parents, and played her the music that had been the center of the world. 

One of us bought her a plane ticket when the visit was over, so she could avoid the long bus trip back to the Midwest. Another couple of us talked to Tom and calculated that his interest in going to a rehabilitation clinic was strong enough that it was worth kicking together the money. Maybe meeting his daughter helped motivate him, or maybe he just had no choice, but he’s there now, unraveling years of a hard habit. 

Tom got lucky with a waitress 22 years ago, but he got a lot luckier 22 years later, when a wind of fresh forgiveness circled through a small group of friends who couldn’t have known how much good making small gestures and smiling in the right places could do. Sarah, somewhere back in the Midwest, holding the photograph of all of us on the porch, probably thinks of us as family. And lucky for us, at least for a moment, we were. 

Computer Violence 

Police were called to an apartment at College Avenue and Channing Way Wednesday morning when an argument between two women became violent. According to Police Information Officer Joe Okies, one woman shoved a computer keyboard into another woman’s stomach. Police have not arrested the accused attacker. 

Phony Cops Rob Boy 

A 14-year-old boy walking along the 800 block of Tacoma Avenue was robbed by two men around 11 p.m. Tuesday, Officer Okies said. The two men at first told the boy they were police officers and once they stopped the boy ordered him to hand over cash. They remain at large. 

Reported Assault 

A resident on the 1700 block of San Pablo Avenue found her neighbor at the door late Wednesday evening with bruises on her face. The victim, a 21-year-old female, reported that she had been assaulted. The suspect, believed to be a 35-year-old male, has not been arrested. 

Macho Men 

Two construction workers working a building project on the 2100 block of Milvia Street came to blows, just before 9 a.m. Tuesday morning. Police were summoned, but made no arrests, Okies said. 

Unwelcomed Guest 

Police arrested a 19-year-old Berkeley man Tuesday afternoon at Berkeley High School, where he is not enrolled, after he got into a fight with a student. 

Graffiti Taggings 

Police received reports of separate graffiti taggings at 8:51 a.m. and 8:53 a.m. Monday. The first report was of vandalism to a building at Gilman and Tenth streets. The second came from a home on Summit Road where the vandal painted a “1” on the resident’s garage.›

In the debate over President Bush’s appeals court nominees, Democrats are kicking and screaming over the possibility that Republicans may seriously use their congressional majority to their advantage, and in so doing force Democrats to play by the rules and actually vote on the nominees.  

This Republican threat to eliminate the ability to filibuster judicial nominees (a move known as the “nuclear option”), is of course, in reaction to the Democrats’ feverish efforts to filibuster every single one of President Bush’s 52 appeals court nominees on the basis that they are unqualified right-wing extremists who have “deeply held beliefs.” 

As indicated by recent history, Democrats’ definition of an “extremist” must denote any religious person who doesn’t happen to favor redefining marriage, sanctioning fetal genocide and starving retarded hospital patients to death.  

Or, to really understand what all the fuss is about, let’s take a brief look at some of the “unqualified” nominees whom Democrats have thus far blocked with the filibuster.  

There is Judge Priscilla Owen, who is so unqualified that she graduated in the top of her class from Baylor Law School, earned the highest score on the Texas Bar Exam, received the highest rating from the liberal American Bar Association and was re-elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 2000 with 84 percent of the vote 

These credentials didn’t suffice for Senate Democrats, including Patrick Leahy and Dianne Feinstein, who dismissed Owen as a “conservative extremist.” 

Hmm. Being a “conservative extremist” didn’t seem to prevent Owen from acquiring the support of three former Democratic judges on the Texas Supreme Court as well as a bipartisan group of 15 past presidents of the State Bar of Texas and being lauded by Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Hill, a Democrat, who gushed: “I can assert with confidence that [Owen’s] approach to judicial decision-making is restrained, that her opinions are fair and well-reasoned, and that her integrity is beyond reproach.” Indeed, the only trace of apparent “extremism” as it would be defined by liberals is the fact that Owen is a Sunday school teacher. 

Then there is “right-wing extremist” Judge Janice Rogers Brown, who is such a right-wing extremist that she received endorsements from such liberal publications as the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle as well as a bipartisan group of 16 California law professors, and was described by her judicial colleagues (Democrats and Republicans alike) as “a jurist who applies the law without favor, without bias and without an even hand.”  

On April 28, the New York Times lambasted Brown as “an extreme right-wing ideologue” and “a consistent enemy of minorities.” (Let’s just set aside for a moment the distracting paradox inherent in the concept of an “enemy of minorities” who is also an African-American.) 

Then, of course, there’s Alabama Chief Justice William H. Pryor, a devout Catholic whose chief defect according to Sen. Chuck Shumer is that Pryor (gasp!) has “deeply held beliefs.”  

Yes, you read it right. Not cocaine. Not adultery. Not Chappaquiddick. Judge Pryor’s principal unforgivable scandal is his unlawful possession of illicit “deeply held beliefs.” 

Nevermind that Pryor has shown obedience to the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade precedent. Nevermind that he opposed a bill passed by the Alabama legislature which negated the precedent and ordered state prosecutors to comply with it. The mere fact that he personally opposes abortion in accordance to his Catholic beliefs deems him unfit. 

Proponents of the fight to preserve the filibuster include Sen. Robert Byrd, a former Klansman particularly familiar with using the filibuster (he used it against the Civil Rights Act of 1964), who took the issue to the Senate floor on Feb. 28, comparing in his speech Republican tactics on nominees to Hitler’s use of power in Nazi Germany.  

Also included is Sen. Ted Kennedy, who has vowed “to resist any Neanderthal that is nominated by this president of the United States for any court – federal court in the United States.” Yes, the same Ted Kennedy who said on Jan. 28, 1998: “Nominees deserve a vote…The president and the Senate do not always agree. But we should resolve these disagreements by voting on these nominees—yes or no.”  

They also include Sen. Barack Obama, who on April 28, said: “It is ironic for me to have to speak out on behalf of a filibuster that for many years hampered the passage of civil rights law, often times by the way defended by some of the same folks who are now arguing that the filibuster is awful when it comes to judicial nominations.” 

Sigh. 

If nothing else, at least this issue has provided liberals another opportunity to resort to their brilliant method of pouring gas on the fire by turning any argument they can’t win into a racial dispute. But perhaps Obama has a point. After all, it’s not as if they have Robert Byrd on their side. Oh, wait… 

Democrats can whine all they want about the “rights of the minority.” But as long as they are the minority, it is up to Republicans whether or not the minority gets to have its way. If they are going to act like babies, let them. They do not, however, need to be allowed to interfere with the Senate’s responsibility to give the nominees a fair up-or-down vote. Yes, even if, God forbid, the nominees do have “deeply held beliefs.” 

Piedmont High School senior Christian Lee Hartsock is a screenwriter, videographer and political columnist.  

On May 2, the City of Berkeley Youth Commission voted 10-1-1 to approve a two-part proposal, recommending that the Berkeley City Council support state legislation to allow local choice in setting a voting age of 16 years or older and send the previously proposed ballot initiative back to the Youth Commission for them to hold a public hearing on the details of an amendment in Berkeley regarding lowering the voting age to 16, if and when the state permits such an action. 

The proposal put forth at Monday's meeting was drafted by members of the Berkeley High School Chapter of the National Youth Rights Association (NYRA-Berkeley). The National Youth Rights Association is an organization advocating for youth empowerment. This includes, but is not limited to lowering the voting age, lowering the drinking age, and eliminating the curfew.  

In March of 2004, a bill was introduced into the California State Senate by former State Senator John Vasconcellos (D-Silicon Valley) called SCA 19. This bill was originally intended to allow 14 and 15 year olds one-quarter of a vote and 16 and 17 year olds one-half of a vote. After passing two committees, it was amended to allow people 16 years of age and older to have a full vote. John Vasconcellos abandoned the bill after he discovered that he was short one vote to pass the last committee. If passed by the third committee, the bill would have gone to the floor of the Senate for approval. 

The voting age needs to be lowered for many reasons. One that resonates with many is that American teenagers contribute an estimated $9.7 billion per year in sales taxes alone to the economy, as well as millions of dollars a year in income taxes. However these youth who pay taxes have no say in how their own tax dollars are spent. Does this remind you of taxation without representation? 

Juveniles can be tried as adults in the criminal justice system. How can society treat youth as adults in terms of criminal punishment, but not let them act as an adult in society by giving them the right to vote? This is a double standard—youth can be given the same punishment as an adult in the court systems, but are severed from their personal beliefs when they wish to vote. 

Many conclude that youth are not educated enough to make informed decisions. This standard might be valid if it was applied to everyone. Senile people are not stripped of the right to vote. Nor are alcoholics, neurotics, or psychotics who live outside of hospitals robbed of the right to vote. Many youth are ready to vote in this day and age.  

Some have said that youth would vote just as their parents do. This is not necessarily true. Youth are just as influenced by people around them as adults are. It makes sense that people who you care about and care about you will tell you what they think about issues. Ultimately, though, it is one’s own decision as to what they vote on. 

If youth were given the right to vote, voter turnout would increase greatly because many new voters would register. Additionally, surveys have shown that youth increase their parent’s likelihood to vote. A program called Kids Voting USA started in the mid to late 1990s allowed children to vote in the actual polling stations where their parents voted. The study showed that 5-10 percent of adults who voted indicated that Kids Voting USA was a strong factor in their decision to vote. Not only will youth voting increase the number of voters, it also will encourage young people to get involved in politics early on, which can contribute to a lifetime interest in voting. 

We have made appointments with nearly every councilmember to discuss our proposed legislation. We also have meetings set up with Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), Assemblyman Gene Mullin (D-San Mateo), and the Alameda County Field Representative for Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California). We are awaiting approval for an appointment with Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). 

For more information, please visit NYRA’s website at www.youthrights.org or visit NYRA-Berkeley’s website at http://berkeley.youthrights.org. 

This recommendation will be presented to the Berkeley City Council at their Tuesday, May 24 meeting (pending approval from the Agenda Committee) on 1234 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in the City Council Chambers at 7 p.m. I encourage you all to come support us and speak at the meeting. If nothing else, you can watch the council meeting on Berkeley TV Cable 33. 

Berkeley High School student Rio Bauce is a member of the City of Berkeley Youth Commission and treasurer of NYRA-Berkeley. 



Opening with a Puja, a ritual of blessing conducted by lamas, and closing with the sounds of Karma Moffett’s Long Horns, the 22nd annual Himalayan Fair transforms Live Oak Park this weekend into an open-air market for art, antiques and clothing, with foodstalls and traditional performing arts from Tibet, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia. 

Founded by Berkeley resident Arlene Blum, the first woman to climb Annapurna and author of Annapurna: A Woman’s Place (now available in a 20th anniversary edition from Sierra Club Press) the Himalayan Fair is meant to recreate “all the good things,” the sounds, the crafts, the food of a Nepalese marketplace, “and, in the process ... provide sponsorship for grassroots projects in the Himalayan countries.” 

Booths will display Tibetan silver jewelry and coral beads, Afghan coats, Pashmina and other finely-woven wool shawls, tribal dress of all kinds, as well as hand-woven and dyed Indian fabric, books, CDs of Central and South Asian music, statues and images of deities of various religions. 

Half a dozen foodstalls will provide Tibetan, Nepali, Indian and Afghani delicacies, from Momos to Masala Dosas to BBQ chicken kabobs, with spicy chai and cool yogurt lassi to drink and kulfi, Indian ice cream, for dessert. 

Barbara Framm, fair committee member, said the entertainment at the fair will range “from Mongolian throat singers to Classical dancers from the southern tip of India--and everything in between.” 

Highlights, Framm said, include Shabaz (formerly the Ali Khan Band), Bamboo Moon Express with Mindia Devi, Vendhana Dance Co. (Kathak) with a special guest artist from India, and Dhot Rhythms (from Berkeley) dancing the vigorous Panjabi Bhangra to drumming. Kalanjali Dances of India will perform Sunday, as well as Vishnu Tattva Das’ Odissi Vilas dance company. Local Tibetan and Nepalese community groups (TANC and NANC) and Global International Exchange Nepal will also provide music and dance from these Himalayan countries. 

“It’s just like a big party,” Framm said. “Everybody eating, listening to the music, strolling while looking at beautiful things on display ... people are sure to meet others they haven’t seen all year—a community of those who’ve been coming for 20 years.”  

Proceeds from the fair are donated to projects in the countries represented. Last year, over $31,000 went to over a dozen orphanages, schools, clinics, job-training programs and cultural services in South and Central Asia. The fair is put together by a part-volunteer effort of the local Tibetan and Nepali community. Last year, a Nepalese boy from an orphanage in Kham that receives support from fair proceeds came to participate, and to thank his benefactors. 

The fair is wheelchair accessible with facilities for the disabled. A free, decorated shuttlebus will run between North Berkeley BART and the Fair from noon, ending at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday. Sponsors for the Himalayan Fair include the City of Berkeley, Downtown Berkeley Association, North Shattuck Association and KPFA. 

As Katherine Kunhiraman puts it: “Continuous entertainment, blending professional and community groups—and almost the entirety of ticket sales go to grassroots organizations. This is the best deal in town. One dollar is a lot of rupees!” 

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If Michael Moore represents the modern face of documentary filmmaking—in which the filmmaker doubles as star of the show, dominating the onscreen time with questions and commentary—then Smith College Master of Social Work candidate Lindsay Duckles must be the old school, where the filmmaker gets out of the way and lets the subject tell the story. 

I like the old school better. 

Duckles’ low-budget, half-hour, iBook-created documentary of a year-long student-organized struggle at Berkeley Alternative High School is part of the long tradition of Berkeley activist history because it concentrates on the most important element—the activists themselves. The film, Berkeley Alternative High School—The Struggle for Social Justice, debuted Thursday night at Berkeley Alternative High. 

The film, which was pared down from 40 hours of filmed footage, is broken into three parts that show a guiding storyteller’s hand that never gets in the way of the story. 

The first part are close-up interviews with Berkeley Alternative students, who talk of their feelings after learning that they were being excluded from Berkeley High extracurricular activities. 

“I didn’t understand,” the first student says, a thoughtful and articulate, dark-skinned African-American girl. “I was disappointed.” Her face fills the screen, and it is impossible to ignore, or forget. 

Later comes an angry male student who speaks of the rumor—later denied by BUSD Superintendent Michele Lawrence—that BAHS graduating seniors were going to be denied permission to participate in graduation at the Greek Theater with their BHS counterparts. 

“I want that,” he says, emphatically. “I want my family to see me walk across the stage and get my diploma. If I have to spend all year to fight that, I don’t care.” 

While another student talks of the Greek Theater graduation being “the real experience, and I want to experience it all,” the film shows still photos of past Greek Theater graduation exercises. 

The second part of the film shows a 2004 BAHS meeting, in which angry parents and teachers debate the meaning of the exclusion. 

But the highlight is shots from a pivotal January town hall meeting at the Alternative High, in which both parents and teachers confronted Superintendent Lawrence, and the superintendent tried to explain the district’s position and work out a compromise. 

The film ends with a speech at that meeting by outgoing BAHS principal Alex Palau, in which he outlined two historic visions for Berkeley Alternative, one which saw it as a dumping ground for problem students, another which viewed it as a small but equal partner in the city’s education mission. 

Following the meeting, talks between BAHS, BHS, and BUSD representatives resulted in an agreement that BAHS would continue to participate in all BHS extracurricular activities. 

Duckles, who grew up in Sonoma County and has family ties in Berkeley, appears to have lucked out in documenting the BAHS dispute. While interning at the Berkeley Mental Health Department and doing video therapy with BAHS students last fall, she approached BAHS Guidance Counselor Mercedes Sanders about a possible subject for a documentary to be turned in as a college project. 

Sanders, who had already been working with BAHS students about the problems with BHS, got Duckles involved early enough so that she was able to document the struggle from the beginning to end. The result is a rare piece of activist history: a documentary that does not rely upon retrospective, but unveils the events as they unfold. 

While Duckles has to return to Smith College this month, she is hoping that BAHS students will photograph their participation in the BHS graduation exercises, and that those photos will eventually be included in a final version of the film as its triumphant conclusion. 

Meanwhile, besides turning it in as a college project, Duckles said she is hoping to distribute the film to a wider audience, including possible showing by Berkeley Community Media and surrounding school districts. 

›

FRIDAY, MAY 20 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater “The People’s Temple” at the Roda Theater, through June 5. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through May 21. Tickets are $12-$20. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Impact Briefs 7: “The How-To Show” Thu.-Sat at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through May 28. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

Master of Fine Arts Exhibition opens at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, and runs through June 19. 642-0808.  

“Smoke, Lilies, Jade” work by twelve local LGBT artists at Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. Reception at 6 p.m. Exhibition runs to June 30. 601-4040, ext. 111.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Youth Speaks: The Oakland School Slam at 7:30 p.m. at Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Cost is $3-$5. To participate, call 415-255-9035, ext. 18. Oaklandslam@youthspeaks.org 

Chuck Palahniuk reads from his new book “Haunted” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $10, free wih purchase of the book. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

David Antin reads from his new work of free-form pieces “I Never Knew What Time It Was” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Kim Addonizio An evening of poetry from her workshops at 7 p.m. at Temescal Cafe, 4920 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 595-4102. 

Debra Grace Khattab, poet, at the Fellowship Café & Open Mic at 7:30 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, Cedar & Bonita Sts. Donation $5-$10.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater, “Barre to Bravura” at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $14-$18 at the door. www.berkeleyballetorg 

Nguyen Dance Company “Struggle to Survive: 30 Years Cry for My Country,” on the 30 year anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at the Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. Tickets are $15. 415-336-3154. www.dannydancers.org 

Oakland Opera Theater, “White Darkness” at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Sun. at 2 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway at Second St., through May 22. Tickets are $18-$32. www.oaklandopera.org 

Oakland East Bay Symphony with the Oakland Symphony Chorus at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway. 625-8497. www.oebs.org 

Hideo Date at 8 p.m., Doug Arrington at 9 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Hip Hop Exchange Sin Fronteras at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Los Bros, Latin fusion at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9-$11. 525-5054.  

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

Moonrise with Lady Michal & Neal Hellman, acoustic pagan folk, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Vince Wallace Quintet at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Dialectic, Maxwell Adams, The Sevenmillionaires at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Patty Larkin at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761.  

Morning Line, The Cowlicks, Joe Rathbone at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Ben Adams Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Doug Blumer at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Dick Hindman Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

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

Lua, a quartet of voices, percussion and strings at 6:30 p.m. at Cafeé Valpariso, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 841-3800. 

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

Meneguar, Gospel, Self-Employed Saviour at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Bill Evans Soulgrass at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, MAY 21 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Fresh Paint” paintings done by students of Larry Robinson. Reception at 5 p.m. at Piedmont Lane Gallery, 4121 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. 

THEATER 

“Requiem for a Friend” an intermedia performance ritual, directed by Antero Alli, Sat. and Sun. at 9 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Cost is $10. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Religious Extremism and ‘The People’s Temple’” at 5 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2015 Addison St. Free. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Naomi Wolf reads from “The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from My Father on How to Live, Love, and See” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater, “Barre to Bravura” at 2 and 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $14-$18 at the door. www.berkeleyballetorg 

Trinity Chamber Concerts “Voci e Violini” at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. trinitychamberconcerts.com 

“Jazz with a French Twist” A benefit concert for St. Ambrose Church with Duo Gadjo and Anouman at 8 p.m. at 1145 Gilman St. Tickets are $10. 525-2620. 

Contra Costa Chorale with the New Millennium Strings Orchestra at 2 p.m. at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Ashbury, El Cerrito. Tickets are $12-$15. Children under 16 free. 524-1861.  

American Bach Soloists “Sonic Tapestries” at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. Tickets are $20-$30. 415-621-7900. www.ameriacanbach.org 

Robin Gregory Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

West African Highlife Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Darcy Menard at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Jinx Jones Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Mitch Marcus Quintet at 9 p.m.. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Barefoot Nellies, bluegrass, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Carl Nagin, flamenco, at 7 p.m. at Spuds, 3290 Adeline Ave. Cost is $7. 597-0795. 

Nerissa Nields at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Poor Bailey, Bordelo, Company Car at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Sheldon Brown Group at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. 

Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Conversation with the artists at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mercury Dimes, Wrangletown at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Loco Bloco Drum and Dance Ensemble at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 548-1159.  

Judy Wexler Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Local Band Night with Bandalism, The Annoyance, The Heist at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 22 

CHILDREN 

Music for People and Tingamajigs Concert An outdoor labyrinth of interactive instuments for the whole family from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $4-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Gary Laplow at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“From Isolation to Connection” works by artists with psychiatric disabilities opens at the Berkeley Art Center, through July 1. Reception from 2 to 4 p.m. 644-6893. 

THEATER 

“La Zapatera Prodigiosa” by Federico García Lorca, performed by students of College Prep at 7 p.m. at Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, at Brookside, Oakland. Free. 652-0111. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Irreconcilable” gallery talk on the MFA Graduate Exhibition at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Poetry Flash with D. Nurkse, Jerry Ratch and Sherry Karver at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852.  

UC Extension Student Reading at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater, “Barre to Bravura” at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $14-$18 at the door. www.berkeleyballetorg 

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Listen to the Elements: Music of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire,” at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $15-$20 at the door. Children under 12 free. 531-8714. www.coolcommunity.org/voci  

CDQ Brazil at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

“From the Shtetl to La Scala” with soloist Heather Klein at 2 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

Memories in Red, Savage Machine, This May Never End at 4 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. All ages show. 848-0886.  

Americana Unplugged: Jimbo Trout & The Fish People at 4 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

Peace Brigades International and Kid Beyond at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15-$25. 849-2568.  

Greta Matassa & Mimi Fox at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $18. 845-5373.  

Songs of “Les Miserables” performed by the River City Theater Company at 2 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Loudon Wainwright III at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761.  

Flamenco Open Stage with Stephanie Neira and Grupo Sabores de Espana at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

MONDAY, MAY 23 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Exhibit A” Photographs by Mark and Michele Nelson. Reception at 7 p.m. at Lanesplitter Pub & Pizza, 2033 San Pablo Ave. 845-1652. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jim Leff introduces “The Chowhound’s Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express with Cynthia Bryant at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Vicki Burns and Mark Little at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

West Coast Songwriters Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $5. 548-1761.  

Northgate High School Jazz Groups at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200.  

TUESDAY, MAY 24 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

David Skibbins reads from his new mystery “Eight” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Carol Setters, author of "Kick Start: A Cosmic Biker Babe's Guide to Life" at 7 p.m. at Change Makers Books for Women, 6536 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 655-2405. 

Susann Cokal introduces her historical novel “Breath and Bones” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

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

Clarinet Thing with Beth Custer, Ralph Carney, Ben Goldberg, Sheldon Brown, and Harvey Wainapel at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50- $18.50. 548-1761.  

Jug Free America, Orth at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Brian Kane, solo jazz guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

7: ES-EL at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6-$7. 848-0886.  

Ah LaRocca at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Flutology at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200.  

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

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 

THEATER 

Berkeley Rep, “Honour” opens at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. and runs through July 3. Tickets are $20-$39. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

FILM 

Berkeley High Annual Student Film Festival at 6 p.m. at Florence Schwimly Little Theater, Berkeley High Campus. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Martha O’Conner introduces “The Bitch Posse” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Jorge Emmanuel, Abe Ignacio and Helen Toribio discuss “The Forbidden Book: The Philippine-American War in Political Cartoons” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit “Famous War Horses Played on the Organ” at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

Vechirka, an Ukranian party with Kitka at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Donations help sent the group to the Ukraine this summer. 444-0323. www.kitka.org 

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Jug Free America at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Happy Turtle, jazz-funk-lounge at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Sonic Camouflage at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Free. 763-7711. www.cafevankleef.com 

Penny Lang & The Echo Hunters at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Anthony Wilson Nonet at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, MAY 26 

CHILDREN 

Story Theater PLUS! With students from Redwood Day School and the College of Marin at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater. www.juliamorgan.org  

THEATER 

Subterranean Shakespeare “The Taming of the Shrew,” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park, through June 24. No show June 2. For reservations call 276-3871. 

FILM 

Latino Film Festival: “Oscar” in Spanish with subtitles at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alan Burdick introduces “Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com  

Iain Boal, T.J. Clark, Joseph Matthews and Michael Watts discuss “Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in a New Age of War” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Word Beat Reading Series with Charles Curtis Blackwell and Phillip T. Nails at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Art Maxwell Group at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Benefit for the Family of George Robinson at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$20, sliding scale. 525-5054.  

King Wilkie at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Mirror Image, Send for Help at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryplough.com 

Jeremy Cohen and Dean Riley at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Tango #9 at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Piano Music by Tim Ross and Jack Kruscup, Thurs.-Fri. at 5 p.m. at the Faculty Club, UC Campus. Early Bird specials at $13.99. For reservations 540-5678.  

Gary Burton Generations Band at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $12-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

?

Whenever I travel the first thing I search out is a guided walking tour. It’s my favorite way to get up close and notice the details that lend character and uniqueness to a business district or neighborhood. When the visual is supplemented with interesting stories and pieces of history, the experience is magnified. 

From now through October, you can revisit or discover anew eight distinct areas around downtown Oakland: Old Oakland, City Center, Uptown to Lake Merritt, Preservation Park, Chinatown, Jack London Waterfront, Churches and Temples and New Era/New Politics. Sponsored by the Oakland Tours program, trained guides lead you on a 90-minute free walking tour. It’s a great opportunity to look into Oakland’s past, get acquainted with her present, and enjoy the contrast of an evolving skyline above historic landmarks and churches. 

To sample the program I selected two tours. I went to Preservation Park, an area I never knew existed, and revisited an old friend, the Jack London waterfront. 

Preservation Park is located on 13th Street at Martin Luther King Jr. Way, just one block from the looming Ronald Dellums Federal Building. One block and a hundred years separate these two distinctive elements of Oakland’s downtown. A recent Saturday found me outside cast stone pillars and a wrought iron gate bracketed by white roses, the entrance to Preservation Park. Here I joined tour guide Renata Combs for a fascinating walk and oral history back to a time when Oakland was the second largest waterfront city in California. 

Saved from the wrecking ball of the 980 freeway, Preservation Park now provides business space for nonprofits and small businesses. This lovely setting is definitely the place to go to work. 

Though smaller in scale, the tree-lined streets, curved, flower bedecked walkways and lush lawns mirror the landscapes of early neighborhoods. Low walls topped with iron and sturdy picket fences set the park’s boundaries. Inside there are five restored buildings in their original locations. The remaining eleven were relocated from the path of the freeway. In all they represent a 40-year window, 1870 to 1911, on Oakland’s architectural history from early Victorian and colonial revival to arts and craft. 

RCoombs is an experienced guide, evident from her storehouse of knowledge and her ease and enjoyment in her subject. She led the group around the park, discussing not only the buildings before us but also the families who lived there, their history and that of the times in which they lived.  

Inside the front gates, the Remillard home, built in 1887, is typical of the Queen Anne style, with its rounded shape, turrets and fish-scale shingles. As lovely as these Victorians may seem, Coombs pointed out that their construction was responsible for the destruction of most first growth redwood forests. Even knowing this, it was difficult not to admire the attractive tri-color scheme of pilgrim blue, slate gray and deep maroon. I also learned that the decorative trim of Victorians was added after purchase, being mass-produced in the United States—sort of like adding buttons and ribbons to a favorite dress. 

One focal point at the center of Preservation Park is the lovely Latham-Ducell fountain. Brought over from France, this cast iron edifice with the goddess Diana above spouting lion heads was in full operation on my visit. We walked around the corner to the First Unitarian Church, a state historic landmark. When built in 1861, in the masonry Romanesque style, it was the largest building in Oakland.  

Our final stop was the African-American Museum and Library, housed in one of the original public library buildings. It now houses an enormous reference library and archives on black history. In fact, this library is the meeting point for another Oakland tour, “New Era/New Politics.” 

Later I walked around “Old Oakland.” The themes of Preservation Park are repeated here in the cobbled sidewalks, tree-lined streets, vintage designed lamp-posts and brick buildings. The same vivid contrast also exists: the towering buildings of new Oakland dominate the skyline, but, surprisingly, do not deter from the charm of the past. Apparently there is room for both. 

In 1852, a wharf was needed to transport goods and lumber during the Gold Rush. Oakland filled that need. Today Jack London Square attracts residents and visitors alike to popular restaurants, shops and concerts. One recent weekday, missed connections with the tour guide resulted in my solo tour of the area and I counted myself lucky to be strolling under the sun, enjoying the crisp breeze and the attractive landscaping. 

I began my tour at the foot of Broadway and headed toward the bronze statue of a peripatetic Jack London, appearing ready to stroll down the wharf. The farmers’ market was in session so I enjoyed the colorful sights, appealing smells and sweet taste of spring cherries and apricots, while listening to the classical guitar of a street musician. 

More tributes to the wharf’s namesake center around Heinhold’s First and Last Chance Saloon, where the next stop for an overimbiber could be China. London’s White Fang and an attractive fountain modeled after a cascading mountain stream are next to the cabin from his Gold Rush experiences in the Yukon. I tried to pick out the original logs from the replicates in this semi-original structure. I couldn’t tell which were which. 

A holiday feeling prevailed as I passed restaurants with outdoor seating, tree-lined pathways, large concrete planters, thick green lawns and cobbled walkways. A large group awaited the arrival of the ferry while others seemed content to drift along just enjoying the day.  

I was sorry to have missed the historic narrative of the tour, but that was quickly remedied when I reached the U.S.S. Potomac, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “floating White House.” Inside the visitor center, I was fortunate to encounter Jerry Silsdorf, senior docent, who took me on a dockside tour and regaled me with stories of life aboard this famous yacht. There’s no stopping a history buff, and Jerry, like Coombs, could talk for much longer than the normal 45-minute tour. 

FDR had good cause to fear fire, so his 165-foot ship, built in 1934, is all steel. During the hot, sultry days of a Washington summer, he’d leave the actual White House behind, and conduct business aboard ship, among statesmen and even King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. 

We passed through the Main Salon, furnished elegantly but modestly with dining table and Oriental carpet. Historic photos lined the walls into the president’s stateroom and bath. All was designed to allow wheelchair access. A single photo of Eleanor, Roosevelt’s “eyes and ears,” adorned a chest.  

My favorite area was the afterdeck, furnished like a spacious outdoor veranda with built-in wide-cushioned seating that accommodated FDR. A rattan chest held supplies needed for cocktails and the president’s favored pastime—poker.  

The simplicity throughout was in contrast to what one would expect of a president’s residence, and I admired that most of all, as I did the smokestack converted into an elevator, where FDR used his strong upper body, along with pulleys, to travel between decks. Between the careful restoration and Jerry’s narrative, it wasn’t difficult to imagine the spirit of President Roosevelt out on the deck overlooking the water. 

As part of an excellent walking tour or on your own, Oakland has a lot to offer. The interesting combination of a revived past and a vibrant present is worth one or several visits to this close neighbor. Although I’ve lived in the East Bay for many years, I’m still surprised by the variety of places and information I have yet to uncover. And that’s a good thing. ?

FRIDAY, MAY 20 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with John Karam, on “Islam in Latin America” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925. 

“Robert F. Williams: Self-Defense, Self-Respect, and Self-Determination” a new audio documentary at 7 p.m. at First Unitarian Chuirch, 685 14th St. Donation $5-$25. 208-1700.www.akpress.org 

Kirtan, improvisational devotional chanting at 7:30 p.m. at 850 Talbot, at Solano, Albany. Donation $10. 526-9642. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” a small group meeting weekly at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. No charge. 655-8863, 843-7610.  

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. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169.  

SATURDAY, MAY 21 

Native Plant Walk in Strawberry Canyon Meet at 10 a.m. in the parking lot on the right on Centennial Road above the UC Stadium. Cost is $10-$15. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Pepperweed Pull Join Save the Bay, Friends of Strawberry Creek, and Friends of Five Creeks removing invasive perennial pepperweed, a threat to shorebird habitat, from Eastshore State Park at the mouth of Strawberry Creek, from 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at the cove west of Sea Breeze Deli, University Ave. just west of the I-880/580 Freeway. 848- 9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Bay Friendly Gardening Design at 10 a.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr.. Bring your site plans. Free, but registration required at www.stopwaste.org 

Snaking Through the Hills Join us for a hike up the watershed to see where reptiles like to sun. Meet at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. 525-2233. 

Strawberry Tasting at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Center St. at MLK Jr. Way. Cooking demonstrations at 11 a.m. 548-3333.  

Barbara Lee Town Hall Meeting for Veterans to help access benefits and services from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany.  

United Nations Association UNICEF Center Open House from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1403-B Addison St., with music, food, and door prizes. 849-1752. 

Barbara Lee Town Hall Meeting on “State of the African Diaspora” at 2 p.m. at Oakland City Council Chambers, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza. 393-6262. 

Longfellow Health Fair Health and nuitrition information, free health screenings, cooking demonstrations, food and student performances from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Longfellow Family Resource Center, Ward St. between Sacramento and California Sts. 644-6360. 

Rosa Parks Kids Carnival with entertainment, food, cake walk and silent auction from noon to 4 p.m. at the Rosa Parks School, 920 Allston Way.  

Himalayan Fair in Live Oak Park from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Himalayan arts, crafts, music and food. Cost is $8-$20. 869-3995. www.himalayanfair.net 

Journey to Tibet slide-show with Dorjee Tsewang at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park 644-6893. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of the Ashby Station neighborhood, from frog pond to flea market, led by Dale Smith, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Growing Smart in Berkeley A tour of downtown Berkeley with Greenbelt Alliance. Reservations required. 415-255-3233.  

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Rockridge Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Claremont Middle School, 5750 College Ave., with performances, rummage sale, silent auction, arts marketplace and food. Benefits the Middle School Arts Program. To donate items call 420-7022. 

“Is the AFL-CIO Breaking Up?” join the Democratic Socialists of the East Bay for a discussion from 10 a.m. to noon at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., near Alcatraz. 415-789-8497. www.dsausa.org 

Family Violence Law Center Fundraiser at 6 p.m. at the Lake Merritt Hotel in Oakland. 208-0220. www.fvlc.org 

Community Party and Open House with children’s activities at Vara Healing Arts, at 850 Talbot, at Solano, Albany. Cost is $4-$7. 526-9642. 

Bay Area Story Telling Festival Sat. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area. Tickets are $7-$11 for individual events, $31-$55 for the weekend. 869-4969. www.bayareastroytelling.org 

Loose Leash Dog Walking, a training session on city manners from 11 a.m. to noon at RabbitEars, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Cost is $35. Reservations required. 525-6155. 

Walking for Prader-Willi Syndrome A fundraiser at 10:30 a.m. at Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. Cost is $20 individual, $50 family. 800-400-9994. 

California Writers Club “Harnessing Your Dragons” to improve productivity and creativity with Jane Porter at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square. 482-0265. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

Girlstock with music, art and stories from 2 to 10 p.m. at at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class in Disaster First Aid from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes 

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

SUNDAY, MAY 22 

Himalayan Fair in Live Oak Park from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Himalayan arts, crafts, music and food. Cost is $8-$20. 869-3995. www.himalayanfair.net 

Albany Festival of the Arts from noon to 8 p.m. at Memorial Park, 1331 Portland Ave., with music, theater, dance and poetry. Free.  

First Annual Taste of El Cerrito with food, wine, coffee and tea tasting at 5 p.m. at the El Cerrito Community Center, Moeser Lane at Asbury Ave. Cost is $10-$20. 

Dynamite History Walk in Point Pinole at 10 a.m. to discover the park preserved by dynamite. 525-2233. 

World Social Forum Report Back by representatives of the National Lawyers’ Guild, WILPF, ReclaimDemocracy, and others at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. Donation $5-$15.  

Music for People and Tingamajigs Concert An outdoor labyrinth of interactive instuments for the whole family from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $4-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Peralta Community Gardens Potluck at 4 p.m. at Peralta and Hopkins. Please bring food or drink to share. Rain cancels. 549-2455. 

“La Place du Marché” French market stalls with food, wine, and French products and raffle from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Ecole Bilingue, 1009 Heinz Ave. at Ninth St. Admission is $7, children under 12 free. 

Hands-On Bicycle Clinic from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

Memorial Service for Dr. Peter Louis Trier at 3 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. 527-2279. 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations call 848-7800. 

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 

“Insights Received While Producing a Multimedia Experience: Reflections on the Tao” with Mike Bukay, nature photographer, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Pema Gellek and Lama Palzang on “The Buddha’s Enlightenment” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, MAY 23 

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.  

An Evening with Jon Carroll, SF Chronicle columnist at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $18, benefits Heart’s Leap School. 925-798-1300.  

Berkeley High School Site Council meets at 4:30 p.m. in the school library. bhssitecouncil@berkeley.k12.ca.us  

Adaptive Reuse in Los Angeles: A Model for Recycling Oakland’s Heritage? with Hamid Behdad, Director of the Adaptive Reuse Program, City of Los Angeles, at 6 p.m. in the Oakland City Council Chambers, City Hall, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Free and open to the public. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

“Got Stress?” A seminar on how to reduce it at 6:30 p.m. at Piedmont Ave. Branch Library, 160 41st St., Oakland. 597-5011. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

Philip Roth Book Club facilitated by Laura Bernell at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

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

Adoption in Interfaith Jewish Families at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $10-$15. 839-2900, ext. 347. 

TUESDAY, MAY 24 

Morning Bird Walk in Wildcat Canyon Meet at 7 a.m. at the end of Lark Rd. off San Pablo Dam Rd. to look for grasshopper sparrows. 525-2233. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Return of the Over-the-Hills Gang Hikers 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness, and fun are invited to join us on a series of monthly excursions exploring our Regional Parks. Meets at 10 a.m. For information and to register call 525-2233.  

Bird Walk along the Martin Luther King Shoreline to see the Clapper Rails and the elusive Burrowing Owl at 3:30 p.m. 525-2233. 

“Mount Rainier, the Alaska Range and Rescues” with Mike Gauthier, lead climbing ranger at Mount Rainier National Park, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

“Modern History of Tibet: From 1905 to 1959” with Topden Tsering, formerly the editor of Tibetan Bulletin, 6 p.m. at Cornie Barbara Room, adjacent to Fellowship Unitarian Universalists Hall, 1924 Cedar.  

“It’s Payback Time: Strategies for Real Estate Investors” with Adam Weiss at 7 p.m. at Red Oak Realty, 2099 Pleasant Valley Ave., Oakland. Cost is $10, reservations required. 292-2009. 

Berkeley PC Users Group meets at 7 p.m. at 1145 Walnut St. corner of Eunice. All welcome, no charge. 527-2177.  

Small Business Class “Opening a Restaurant” from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. Sponsored by the Small Businees Network. Free but registration required. 981-6148. 

Kensington Library Renewal Project meeting to discuss the future of the Kensington Library at 7 p.m. at Kendington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

Sing-Along every Tues. from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic. All ages welcome. 524-9122. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Introductory Buddhist Meditation Class at 7 p.m. at Dzalandhara Buddhist Center, in Berkeley. Suggested donation $7-$10. For directions call 559-8183.www.kadampas.org 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz at 7:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880. 

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

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” 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. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/wallkingtours 

Community Discussion on Diversity at 7 p.m. in the Albany High School Library, 603 Key Route Blvd. Sponsored by Embracing Diversity Films and the Albany High School PTA. 527-1328. 

“Universal Health Care for California: The Next Steps” with Don Bechler on Senate Bill 840, at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 548-9696. 

“Drug Policies” a panel discussion with Dale Gieringer of NORML, Sgt. Robert Eastmand of the SF Police Dept. and Allen Hopper, ACLU Drug Law Reform Project at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Main Library Community Room, 325 Civic Center Drive. Sponsored by the ACLU. 558-0377. 

“The Oath” A film on the Kenyan Mau Mau Rebellion at 7:30 p.m., followed by discussion at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, donations accepted.  

“20 Things People with Cancer Want You to Know” with Irene Marcos at 7 p.m. at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. Please RSVP to margo@wcrc.org 

Study Skills and Organization Workshop for Teens at 7 p.m. at Classroom Matters, 2607 7th Street, suite E. Free. 540-8646. www.classroommatters.com 

“Prevention of ADHD” with Bette Lamont at 7 p.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. Donation $10.  

Balinese Music & Dance Workshops Wed. evenings through June 8 at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $15 per class. Registration required. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, 6485 Conlon Ave., El Cerrito. 237-6849. www.gsj.org 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

Sing-Along every Wed. at 4:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, MAY 26 

Morning Bird Walk in Briones Meet at 7 a.m. at the Bear Creek Rd. entrance to Briones to look for Lazuli Buntings. 525-2233. 

“Our Synthetic Sea” a documentary on the pollution of the Pacific Ocean by plastics at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220.  

Public Hearing on Cleanup of Lawrence Berkeley Lab, sponsored by the State Dept. of Toxic Substances Control at 6 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7461.  

“Iraq and the Anti-War Movement” with Medea Benjamin, of Code Pink and Global Exchange and Lincoln Malik, who was born in Iraq, worked with the resistance against Saddam, but opposed the US invasion at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Free, donations accepted. Sponsored by Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club of the East Bay and others.  

League of Women Voters Annual Meeting with Kathay Seng on “Rogue Redistricting: A National Redistricting Crisis?” at 4:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. http://lwvbae.org 

Lag B’Omer Picnic with Kosher barbeque, archery, astrobounce, from 5 to 9:30 p.m. Sponsored by Chabad of the East Bay. 540-5824. 

Older People United for elders over 75 meets at 1:30 p.m. at Berkeley Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

“Are Your Children Afraid to Go to the Doctor?” A workshop for parents at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave. Oakland. To register call 658-7353. 

“Downsizing California: Should We Split Up the State?” with Tim Holt at 2 p.m. in the Community room, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. 981-6109. 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., May 24, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Budget Review Commission meets Wed., May 25, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7041. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/budget 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., May 25, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/civicarts 

Disaster Council meets Wed., May 25 at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., May 25, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Planning Commission meets Wed., May 25 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., May 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/policereview 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., May 26 at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/zoning  u

With continued budget shortfalls looming, the AC Transit Board of Directors has scheduled public hearings this week on proposed fare increases or fare restructuring, as well as a proposed new $24 parcel tax on the 2005 or 2006 ballot. 

The hearings will be held at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. May 18 at the Scottish Rite Center at 1547 Lakeside Dr. in Oakland, near 17th Street.  

The board is considering five separate fare proposals for comment at the hearing. 

Two of the proposals, 1 and 5, would both cut 50 cents off the $1.50 adult bus fare and 25 cents off the 75-cent youth, senior, and disabled bus fares, but would eliminate transfers as well as pre-paid tickets and passes (except for the senior/disabled pass). 

Proposal 5 would also offer a 31-day youth ticket. Proposal 1 would add an estimated $8 million to AC Transit’s annual budget, while Proposal 5 would add $6.1 million, according to the district. 

Proposal 2—the moderate fare hike—keeps all of the passes, but raises adult fares by 25 cents and youth, senior, and disabled fares by 10 cents, as well as doubling the present 25 cent transfer fee. This proposal would add $7 million to the annual budget. 

Proposal 3—the steep fare hike—keeps all of the passes, issues free transfers, while increasing the adult fare by 50 cents and the youth, senior, and disabled fare by 25 cents. This proposal would raise $8.7 million for the annual budget. 

Proposal 4 is not a fare hike at all. It freezes fares at their current levels and introduces a weekly, unlimited ride ticket. This proposal would decrease AC Transit’s annual budget by $300,000. 

AC Transit has declared fiscal emergencies for the past two years, reducing both service and staffing. Two parcel tax measures designed in part to assist the bus system’s fiscal problems, Measure AA and Measure BB, were passed in recent years. Still, AC Transit’s operating budget shortfalls are projected to reach $40 million by 2008. 

AC Transit fares were last raised in 2002. 

To be included in the public record of the hearing, any written comments must be received no later than 6 p.m. on May 18, addressed to AC Transit Board of Directors, 1600 Franklin St., Oakland, 94612, or faxed to 891-4874.ˆ

The Berkeley City Council will meet in closed session today (Tuesday) to discuss its lawsuit against UC Berkeley. There will be a 20-minute public comment session at 9 p.m. before the council goes behind closed doors. Councilmember Dona Spring said that the council could take a vote at the meeting on a city deal to drop its lawsuit against the university. 

City officials refused to comment on the meeting and councilmembers interviewed Monday said they had not been briefed on what items would be presented to them. 

According to Spring, the council has already voted in favor of a settlement framework under which UC Berkeley would pay more each year than it has in the past for city services like sewer fees in return for the city’s dropping the lawsuit, filed in February under the California Environmental Quality Act to challenge the university’s environmental impact report on its 15-year development plan. 

The city’s suit claimed that UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan lacked sufficient detail and gave the university a green light for a building boom that would further drain city services. 

Although Spring hinted that the university had not moved far from their public offer last January to pay the city $1.2 million a year for city services—about double this year’s payments—councilmembers have been forbidden to discuss the negotiations. 

The gag order stems from a confidentiality agreement signed between the city and UC Berkeley, said City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque. She said the agreement was designed to prevent either side from using statements made during negotiations at a trial. She added that the city had not yet filed a motion for a hearing on the merits of its case. 

Albuquerque refused to comment on whether Spring’s comments about the council vote at a previous closed session meeting violated the confidentiality agreement. Spring said that after her comments were published, Albuquerque e-mailed councilmembers warning them that even to say the two sides were close to a deal violated the confidentiality agreement. 

The council is under intense pressure from civic activists to drive a hard bargain with the university. Many residents blame UC Berkeley, which as a state institution has maintained that it is exempt from city taxes and assessments, for contributing to mounting city budget deficits. They fear that continued campus growth will cause the city’s quality of life to deteriorate. 

With passions high, Councilmember Kriss Worthington argued that the city should publicize the proposal. 

“The public deserves to know what’s proposed in the deal,” he said. “If the public only has a chance to respond after the council has already approved it, it would be a tall order to convince the council to change its mind.” 

Worthington also questioned whether the city could refuse to reveal the proposal made by the university. 

Albuquerque said that in order to release the proposal to the public, a majority of the council would have to vote to waive its attorney-client privilege.  

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak said the council would be best served by keeping the negotiations private.  

“[If we served the interests of] a few citizens who want to micromanage everything and look over our shoulders, I don’t think we would be able to negotiate anything,” he said. “That is why you have elected representatives.” 

Albuquerque said the council would announce the outcome of Tuesday’s meeting only if it approved a settlement. 

Neighbors of West Campus, the school district’s property on University Avenue, got their first glimpse of the conceptual plan for the site Thursday night and most didn’t like it. 

The gathering, held in the vacant on-site cafeteria, drew a smaller and ca lmer turnout than the last session on April 21, but the underlying tension remained. 

The clearest illustrations of the conflict were the two rival plans proposed for the site, one from the Berkeley Unified School District and its consultant, the other fr om the West Campus Neighborhood-Merchant Association (WestNEMA)—a group formed in response to the district’s push for development at the site. 

The district’s version, drafted with the help of consultant David C. Early and his firm, Design Community & Env ironment, calls for about 152 parking spaces in three lots—two of them in locations which neighbors found objectionable. 

The neighbors’ plan preserved the area south of the gym between Browning and Curtis streets as a grassy park area with a small presch ool/childcare facility at the southwest corner of the property. In the same space, the district plan calls for 60 parking spaces in two lots on either side of a daylighted Strawberry Creek. 

Because that portion is in the heart of the residential neighbor hood, neighbors decried the increased traffic that would inevitably result. They also faulted the district/Early plan for allowing vehicle access to the main campus area from Addison Street, a concept they had rejected in previous sessions. 

“We don’t wan t any parking south of Addison except for day care, and we don’t want any surface parking,” said Barbara Boucher to nods of approval from others in the audience. 

WestNEMA proposed a 200-to-250-car parking structure in the main campus area north of Addiso n Street. 

While the district plan calls for housing the district’s warehouse, kitchen and building and grounds facility on the main portion of West Campus site, neighbors urged the district to move those services to the new district bus facility at Sixth and Gilman streets on land which the district has proposed to develop for commercial purposes. 

City Councilmember Darryl Moore, whose district includes the site, told the gathering he sided with the neighbors. 

“[Those services] need to be on Gilman Str eet and away from this residential community,” Moore said. 

District as Developer 

Both plans call for private development on the western half of the site along University Avenue, with the WestNEMA proposal asking for a 50 percent larger area than the dis trict draft. 

Planning Commissioner David Stoloff also urged private development on the eastern half at the corner of University and Bonar Street—a designated city transportation node which entitles a developer to erect a larger structure. 

“I see the sch ool district as a developer, just like the infamous Patrick Kennedy or anyone else,” said Bonar Street resident Joe Walton. 

But BUSD acting as a developer would not bound by the same rules as a private individual such as Kennedy, who has build many large apartment building in Berkeley in recent years, including a few along University Avenue, and who has become a polarizing figure in discussions about development and land use in the city. 

“The school district is a legally separate agency not beholden to city law in a number of ways,” Early said. “If a project doesn’t fulfill its [instructional] mission, it’s not exempt from city zoning code, and if it’s purely educational it’s exempt. There’s a big gray area in between which will be decided on a building by building basis.” 

Former Planning Commissioner Zelda Bronstein said the building and grounds facility and the district warehouse were clearly light industrial uses and therefore not appropriate for a site zoned for commercial and residential, such as West Campus. She also challenged district plans to install commercial uses at the Gilman Street site, which is zoned for light industrial. 

Site Committee  

Neighbors continued to press for a site committee, putting the question to the two district board members in attendance, Terry Doran and John Selawsky. 

“Honestly, I don’t know what it takes” to create a committee, Doran said. 

“I will talk to staff,” Selawsky said, “but in the past they have been formed after the board gives conceptual approval to a project.” 

Councilmember Moore also endorsed the neighbors’ call for a site committee to work with the district throughout the development process. Neighbors had a sign-up sheet ready for site committee volunteers, and were collecting names as the meeting ended.  

Thursday’s session was the fourth of five scheduled meetings on plans for West Campus. The final meeting before the draft master plan goes to the school board for formal consideration on June 29 will be held in the West Campus Cafeteria on June 2 at 7 p.m. 

At least one neighbor, Avraham Burrell, said he was talking to an attorney about the project, warning board members that “you’ll hear more on the 29th.” 

Mayor’s Aide Talks 

Calvin Fong, assistant to Mayor Tom Bates, listened quietly througho ut the meeting until neighbor Richard Graham asked him what the mayor would like to see on the site. 

“The mayor is very clear that he would like to see private development on the corner” of University Avenue, he said, “and we are just as anxious as the d istrict to find out under whose jurisdiction the site will be developed.” 

Making it clear he was speaking only for himself, Fong said he agreed that surface parking adjacent to a daylighted Strawberry Creek on the southern segment of the property was a b ad idea. He said he was intrigued by the idea of a parking structure, but cautioned that costs would be high. 

Grants were available for daylighting the creek, Fong said, but added that he wasn’t clear about the kitchen, warehouse and building and grounds facility. 

“We’ll have to see how this plays out,” he said. “Lots of money will be involved.” 

Sound Blight 

The meeting featured one moment of tense levity at the start when Connie McCullah announced that a neighbor was backing up a truck near the open cafeteria rear door so officials could hear the sound residents could expect to hear from delivery and district trucks that would use the site. 

Early moved quickly to shut the door, setting off a tense moment. Neighbors later opened the windows to let the sound back in.?b

A $50,000 public art project to delineate the border between South Berkeley and North Oakland has created a rift among Berkeley officials and appears headed for a City Council vote. 

By the end of next week, a grassy hill where the BART tracks go underground near the Ashby station is scheduled to be home to eight-foot steel letters proclaiming “Here” to motorists entering Berkeley and “There” to those heading towards Oakland. 

The proposal, one of 19 submitted, was unanimously selected by the Civic Arts Commission and approved by the City Council in 2003, but now that the letters are ready at least two councilmembers want to scuttle the work. 

“It can be seen as a put-down to Oakland,” said Councilmember Dona Spring, adding that she intended to call for a council vote to halt the work’s installation. The project is currently listed on the council’s agenda as an information report. 

Other items on Tuesday’s agenda: The council is scheduled to consider proposals to reduce the number of annual meetings for about two dozen city commissions and to vote on a Precautionary Principle ordinance, a model for making proactive environmentally sensitive decisions in city purchasing, contracting and other activities. 

A public hearing on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2006 is also scheduled for the meeting. 

Opponents of the “Here, There” sculpture say they fear the work would call attention to a Berkeley-Oakland divide at a time when Oakland police have said drug dealers from both cities have engaged in border wars. 

“The turf war is real,” said Laura Menard, president of a South Berkeley Crime Prevention Council, “I think it will underscore the type of base logic that goes on with these territorial wars.” 

Besides fear of violence, opponents say they are hesitant to label Oakland as “there” in light of the oft-quoted statement by writer Gertrude Stein, who said of Oakland, the city where she was born, “There’s no there there.”  

“By using a literary reference, what it says is ‘we’re smart and rich and you’re nowhere,’” said Civic Arts Commissioner Bonnie Hughes, who voted in favor of the project, but has since reversed her position. The quote from Stein, who left the city as a girl after her parents died, meant not that Oakland had nothing to offer, but that the Oakland of her youth no longer existed. 

“Why can’t people lighten up a little bit?” said Steven Gillman, an Oakland artist, who along with Katherine Keefer, designed the work. Gillman described the sculpture as an artistic alternative to putting up signage alerting motorists that they had entered a different city, and didn’t understand why “Here/There” would be more divisive than a standard sign. 

“It seems people can turn just about anything into some kind of negative problem,” he said. 

Oakland officials haven’t raised any objections, according to David Snippen, former chair of the Civic Arts Commission and a fan of the work. 

“The Oakland committee thought it was great. They saw the humor in it,” he said, adding that Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown was expected to attend a celebration for the project on June 7. 

Councilmembers who don’t quite get the humor haven’t given up trying change it. Kriss Worthington, whose district borders Oakland, has proposed making the sculpture read, “Here, There and Everywhere,” referencing a Beatles song. 

“It’s an opportunity to turn it into something more humorous,” he said. 

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, with tongue in cheek, suggested placing the letters on a rotating platform so both cities could at different times be “here” and “there.” 

“For Christ’s sake,” said Gillman, upon learning of the proposals. “I don’t understand why these issues weren’t addressed when the council approved the budget two years ago, not one week before it’s installed.” 

Mary Ann Merker, the city’s civic arts coordinator, said financial constraints would make it difficult to approve last-second modifications. Adding a platform or additional words, she said, would send the project above the $50,000 already budgeted and spent through a city policy allocating 1.5 percent of capital improvement projects to public art. 

Gillman insisted the work is a bargain for the price and that the council should be content with it. 

“They’re getting a world-class piece,” he said. “And now they seem like a bunch of scared chickens running around worried and frightened.” 

ˆ

Shamean Trucks spent most of her youth as a foster kid, feeling like an unloved outsider in her own home. But thanks to a placement made three years ago by Berkeley’s only foster care and adoption agency, she is entering adulthood as a member of a tight-knit family. 

“The family I lived with before never should have been licensed to be foster parents,” said Trucks, 19, who now attends Los Medanos College. 

She suffered mental and physical abuse at the home where she lived from the age of 4 until 15, when the county put her in a youth home. By the time she was 16, Trucks said she was counting the days until her eighteenth birthday, when she would finally leave the system. 

“When you’re in foster care it seems there is no way you can really win,” she said. 

But Alameda County officials turned to Berkeley’s A Better Way to find her a suitable home. The family it selected, a multi-racial foster care version of the Brady Bunch in Antioch, Calif. with an African American mother, a white father and eleven biological and adopted children of all ethnic stripes, turned to be a perfect fit for Trucks, who is half white and half Asian. 

“It felt like a family,” Trucks said. “I was still different, but in a way that fit.” 

Founded in 1996, A Better Way has made its mission to serve children the foster care system has failed. Executive Director Shahnaz Mazandarani said she formed the agency after frustrations working with another foster care group. 

“Most of the attention and money was going for administration, not children,” she said. “I decided to form an organization whose first priority would be children.” 

A Better Way seeks to make their children’s lives as normal as possible. The agency assigns one social worker to be responsible to perform roles traditionally filled by different counselors. “I want to eliminate all these strangers in the lives of children,” Mazandarani said. 

Once foster parents are found, a social worker from A Better Way meets weekly with each family and foster child.  

“They followed through a lot better,” Trucks said of the agency. “With the county I felt like my social workers were strangers. They showed up about once a month. There wasn’t anyone at A Better Way that I didn’t build a relationship with.” 

Like the roughly 15 other independent foster care agencies in Alameda County, A Better Way gets its foster children from county referrals. Most of the children it places, Mazandarani said, typically have suffered serious emotional trauma and are more difficult for the county to place. 

The agency works with 80 parents who provide room for up to 120 foster children at one time. A Better Way currently has fewer available spaces for foster children than in previous years, partly because many of its families have chosen to legally adopt the foster child they cared for, Mazandarani said. Since the agency received a license to handle adoptions, it has overseen the adoption of 50 children by their foster parents. 

Only 20 percent of foster children in A Better Way are re-united with their biological parents, Mazandarani said. When she began the organization such a low percentage would have bothered her, but now, after finding that many biological parents didn’t take an interest in their children, she encourages the foster parents she works with to pursue adoption. 

Parents interested in fostering children must undergo a rigorous screening and training process, Mazandarani said. About 40 percent of parents who enter the program don’t become foster parents with the agency. 

“We show no mercy when it comes to screening parents,” she said. “We don’t tell them that foster parenting is fun and you’re going to have a lot of a lot of good times with the children.” 

For Annie Kassof, a Berkeley foster parent, the biggest struggles have been parting with a child she became close to and dealing with a child with severe emotional trauma. She recalled one foster child, who had a history of sexual abuse, who once broke a chair against the wall in her home. 

Even when the placement goes well, as in Trucks’ case, complications inevitably arise. Trucks said that she and one of her foster parents’ daughters, who is three years younger than she is, have had difficulties building a relationship. 

“We’re still working on it,” Trucks said. “It’s easy to be jealous of each other.” 

A Better Way is the only agency in the county that provides trained therapists to all of its children to help them deal with past trauma and interact with their foster family. 

“All of these children are emotionally disturbed,” Mazandarani said. “We have to help then deal with their problems if we can expect them to have a normal life.” 

After years of paying for therapists from its own funds, last year Alameda County awarded the agency a contract to pay for staff therapists that serve their children and, if the demand is not too high, children in foster homes placed by the county or other agencies. 

Mazandarani hopes that the county will one day grant the agency money to work with former foster children. According to state statistics, 65 percent of the 4,355 teenagers who left foster care in 2001 were homeless when they left the system. 

Roughly 80 percent of foster kids with A Better Way are African American and Latino, and the majority of its foster families are African-American. For white foster parents like Kassof racial differences can provide additional challenges. 

“I had to educate myself on things like hair,” she said of caring for an African-American girl she later adopted. “A social worker had to show me how to take out extensions to make braids.” 

Besides her adopted daughter, Kassof has a biological teenage son and is currently fostering two other children. She said that she has encountered hostility to her multi-racial family, but remains committed to foster parenting. 

“I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing,” she said. “There just aren’t many families like mine.”h

What was thought to have been a soft landing for South Shattuck Avenue’s long-disputed “flying cottage” may end up being a head-first crash into the hard asphalt of a backyard parking lot. 

Last Thursday, after an hour-and-a-half hearing, members of the City of Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board voted 1-4, with one abstention, to deny a motion that would have decided that the three-story mixed use structure at 3045 Shattuck Ave. was in compliance with Berkeley’s zoning ordinance. 

Robert Allen and Raudel A. Wilson voted yes; David Blake, Dean Metzger, Carrie Sprague, Andy Katz voted no, with Rick Judd abstaining. Jesse Anthony was absent and Chris Tiedemann recused herself because she was not present at the original hearing. 

Owner Christina Sun had proposed building a three-story, commercial-residential mixed-use structure on the site to replace a one-story residential dwelling. Sun has already raised the original dwelling and built two stories under it, but construction was halted over charges that she misrepresented the ultimate use of the building, and since then—with neighbors fighting the construction—the issue has dragged through a long series of City Council and zoning hearings. 

The popular “flying cottage” name for the structure came from the fact that since construction was halted, the original one-story dwelling appears to fly in the air on top of a two-story, temporary structure. 

The May 12 hearing centered on whether or not the building’s proposed two-space backyard parking lot conformed to Berkeley’s backyard parking ordinances, and was continued from a April 28 hearing. 

At issue is planning staff’s contention—which Principal City Planner Debra Sanderson says has never been disputed by either the Planning Commission or the City Council—that the 1999 revision of Berkeley’s Zoning Ordinance which appeared to ban parking in the definition of a “yard” was actually what she called a “drafting error.” 

“While I don’t feel 100 percent for approval,” said Commissioner Wilson, “under the guidelines, it appears that the proposal fits as a mixed commercial-residential use.” 

In announcing his vote rejecting that interpretation, Commissioner Katz called the zoning ordinance vague, complicated and confusing. 

“We’ve got different interpretations of this issue from different people: one from the former ZAB Chair and present City Councilmember [Laurie Capitelli], another from staff, and another from the applicant and her attorney,” Katz said. “I’m just not convinced that [staff’s interpretation] is consistent with the ordinance.” 

Katz suggested setting the matter for a use permit public hearing, but was told by staff that ZAB had no power to force a use permit under the ordinance. 

“We shouldn’t allow people to put up buildings in the middle of the night and then come here and have us say, gee, they’ve spent so much money already, we should just let them go forward,” said Commissioner Metzger. 

He said Sun should win ZAB approval only if she moved the parking into a garage on the first floor of the structure. The owner’s representative had earlier told commissioners that a garage had originally existed on the property, but was destroyed when the building was raised to its present three-story height. 

Because five votes were needed to either kill the issue or move it forward, ZAB commissioners agreed to continue the hearing until May 26. Tiedmann said that she was willing to view a tape of the April 28 hearing to make her eligible to vote at the May 26 hearing. However, with four votes already against the backyard parking lot, it was not certain what effect any new hearing, or new vote, would have on the project, unless the owner changes the parking proposal. 

In answer to a question from the board, planner Sanderson said that ZAB has within its discretion to revisit any adverse zoning decision if the owner returns with altered plans.e

Members of a Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) panel took their first crack at a tough and complicated nut Thursday afternoon: the density bonus. 

Just how much bigger buildings are developers entitled to when they include state-mandated units set aside for low-income tenants? The issue has become a political hot potato in Berkeley, where city officials routinely grant developers extra height above that allowed in city codes and plans. 

One of the first structures to raise concerns was the Gaia Building, developer Patrick Kennedy’s seven-story—or is it nine?—creation at 2116 Allston Way, and the issue has been raised to fever pitch intensity over plans for the Seagate Building, a planned nine-story building set for construction at 2041-65 Center St. 

The Berkeley Housing Department calculated that the Seagate tower was entitled to reach 14 stories.  

The developer’s plans only called for nine stories, and were accepted by the city despite considerable protest from activists who urged the structure not exceed seven floors, the maximum permitted under the Downtown Plan. To add to the confusion, de Tienne later told the Daily Planet that the plans used in the housing department calculation were based on an expensive new technology the developer might not even use. 

“I doubt if anyone is happy with the current process,” said ZAB member Bob Allen. 

“We also need to understand clearly how many concessions we can or should give away,” said his colleague Dean Metzger. 

“The law is not that straightforward,” acknowledged Rick Judd, a ZAB member who is also a land use attorney. 

Developer Evan McDonald, who appeared at the meeting with partner Christopher Hudson, acknowledged that “everyone’s disappointed with the process” while pointing to the architectural-award-winning structures like the Bachenheimer, Fine Arts and Touriel buildings the duo had built for developer Kennedy. 

“They have added 34 low-cost housing units to the city, and all of the projects that have come out of our office we are very proud of,” he said. 

Further complicating the issue is the city staff’s application of its own standards contradicting the specifics of the existing state law. 

“Ours is a bonus for square footage, not density,” said Blake. “It’s very different from the rest of the state.” 

Members asked Principal Planner Deborah Sanderson to provide them with the computer spreadsheet program that staff uses to calculate bonuses, and Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman said he would prepare a detailed report on the statutes and practices used in other cities. 

While ZAB initiated the bonus inquiry, they’ll soon be joined by the Planning Commission and the Housing Advisory Commission. 

The ZAB subcommittee will continue to meet on the issue at 4 p.m. June 1 and continue to meet on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 4 p.m.

Earlier this year, students at Berkeley Alternative and Berkeley High schools joined together to challenge a decision by Berkeley High administrators to exclude BAHS students from several after-school Berkeley High activities. 

With support from parents and BAHS faculty and administration, the students worked to get that exclusion reversed. 

This Thursday the public is invited to the showing of a half-hour graduate student film documenting how it happened. “Berkeley Alternative High School—The Struggle For Social Justice,” will be shown free at 6 p.m. at the BAHS Auditorium at 2701 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Berkeley. 

The film is the product of Lindsay Duckles, a Master of Social Work intern at the Smith College School for Social Work, who produced with iMovie on her iBook laptop. It is her first film. 

“I originally heard about the issue last fall,” Duckles said in a telephone interview, “when Berkeley Alternative students began saying that they were being excluded from Berkeley High’s graduation and prom. They were pretty pissed off. So I started filming them during regular junior and senior meetings they held at the school, and then later meetings with parents, and finally the community meeting at the school at which the superintendent spoke. We follow the process all the way through, from how the students got themselves organized to the eventual outcome.” 

Duckles said production of the movie “hasn’t cost me anything,” and Thursday’s screening will be just as low budget. 

“I’m making cookies, and [BAHS Guidance Counselor Mercedes] Sanders is providing the punch,” she said. 

In the rich world, public health workers battle fat; where people are poor, they fight starvation.  

“Obesity and famine are happening at the same time in this era of globalization,” said Dr. Paul Farmer, physician, anthropologist, human rights activist and author, speaking in Zellerbach Hall Saturday at commencement ceremonies for UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.  

Farmer encouraged graduates to look for solutions to health problems “by connecting the dots” between rich and poor nations. To cure ill health, much of it linked to social ills, the doctor prescribed a heavy dose of activism for the graduates—and the will to work for social justice to blunt the inequities.  

Farmer knows both the rich and poor—the powerful and impuissant—worlds. He has lived and worked in rural Haiti, which he calls home, for two decades, and he spends time each year treating low-income patients in Boston and teaching at Harvard University Medical School; he also finds time to work at clinics his organization, Partners in Health, has established in Peru, Mexico, Guatemala and Rwanda and to care for tuberculosis patients in Siberian prisons.  

“Public health activism needs to be global and local at the same time,” Farmer said. It’s local in the sense that the doctor pays close attention to patients and the social and cultural milieu in which they live—and universal because healthcare is a human right. Understanding the global power balance is critical because political and economic priorities of rich countries either help or hinder healthcare delivery in poor countries, he said.  

“To say that people as people have a right to health care is a radical message,” said Farmer, who also received a human rights award from Global Exchange in San Francisco Thursday evening.  

Naturally, good science is important in curing illness, but science must be paired with activism and social justice, Farmer said, using new and effective AIDS medications as an example. This medicine “is at risk of commodification, something to be bought and sold.” Farmer has worked to bring generic, low-cost drugs to the poor.  

Beyond obtaining medicine for patients, the activist public heath worker may need to create a system to deliver the medication as needed. This is what Farmer has done in central Haiti. His group of about 1,000 Haitian healthcare workers has not only improved delivery of services, but has boosted the general standard of living by providing jobs.  

Farmer’s standard for equitable health care goes beyond the right of people to see a healthcare professional and get drugs. These rights take on meaning only in the context of a patient’s getting nutritious food, drinking clean water and becoming literate. Farmer’s vision also addresses mental health needs, particularly for “those who are damaged by violence and oppression.”  

He rejects the notion—sometimes suggested to him—that patients would appreciate healthcare services more were they charged a fee. The doctor said he not only looks at free healthcare as a right, but he believes patients in rural Haiti, like patients in East Oakland, deserve high quality, modern care. Farmer is equipped to perform cesarean sections in his operating room in central Haiti. And he has a modern blood bank there as well.  

Farmer also refuses to accept the idea that only some can benefit from care. So when a patient, Ti Joseph, appeared to be on his deathbed, dying from AIDS and drug-resistant tuberculosis, Farmer did not hesitate to treat him. The message once again: healthcare is a human right—for everyone. (Today Ti Joseph is one of Farmer’s healthcare workers.)  

When people understand they have rights to food, education, healthcare, economic stability and to live without fear of violence, they become empowered. “But we don’t want to empower people from Marin County,” Farmer quipped, adding levity to his message. “There is no universal right to Pilates classes.”  

Farmer looks at war and violence from a public health perspective. “Those of us who are in public health are called to have certain standards regarding what may be considered a just war,” he said, citing the article published last fall in the British medical journal, Lancet, that estimated that some 100,000 civilian Iraqis, mostly women and children, have died during the war in Iraq. 

“Passion and indignation have a place in public health,” Farmer said.  

An activist for democracy in Haiti, Berkeley resident Andrea Spagat, who works in San Francisco in the field of teen violence and substance abuse prevention, met with Farmer in a private meeting with members of the Haiti Action Committee. There Farmer was asked to address the current political situation in Haiti. (The exiled democratically-elected president says he was forced out of office by the United States, France and Canada, whereas spokespersons for these countries say he resigned.)  

“(Farmer) said he takes his cue from the poor in Haiti—so few respect the needs as articulated by the very poor,” Spagat said. “He says the very poor of Haiti want (President Jean-Bertrand) Aristide back.”  

Farmer’s popularity was most evident at his Friday talk in a Public Health School auditorium, where students and faculty filled the seats, crowded into aisles, sat behind him on the podium and strained to hear him outside the doorways. During the question and answer session, one student acknowledged that he decided to go into public health after reading one of Farmer’s books and asked for advice, and he would graduate the next day.  

“You don’t have to follow anyone’s example,” Farmer answered, noting there are many ways to approach public health. The important thing is to choose something you feel passionate about. “For me, it’s the mix of delivering services directly and thinking about the broader social implications of the work or the social roots of disease and suffering.”  

Wael El-Nachef, an undergraduate in public health, was familiar with Farmer’s work; Friday’s lecture reinforced his admiration. “His recognition that social justice relates to health is very impressive,” El-Nachef said. “Not everyone (in public health) recognizes that.”  

For more information, see Farmer’s Website www.pih.org and his latest book, Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights and the New War on the Poor (University of California Press). Farmer was also the subject of Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains: Healing the World: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer (Random House).  

The shelves are lined with cans of jackfruit, mango, coconut, lychee, palm, pineapple, aloe vera, bananas; with sealed packages of dried radishes, turnips, fish, squid and anchovies; with jars of pickled gooseberries, cucumbers, salted prunes, garlic. There are dried spices, chilis of all degrees of hotness, nine different flavors of curry paste and dozens of varieties of bottled sauces. Except for some cans of Dole pineapple chunks and a bottle of Heinz ketchup everything else comes from Thailand. 

I could fill this article simply by listing the ordinary and the exotic offerings at the newly opened Tuk Tuk Thai and Asian Market at 1581 University Ave. This is the latest incarnation of the market space previously occupied by Piccadilly Circus and, before that, Wild Oats Market. The local business community is happy about the market’s arrival. 

“We’re really pleased that Tuk Tuk has come,” said Maulin Chokshi, president of the University Avenue Association. 

He credits the market’s owner, Mr. Thanu Chaichana, with business experience and good connections in the community. And unlike the previous stores in this location which appealed to a limited group of shoppers, this market “is going to be pulling from a different clientele. (There will be) people coming from out of the area,” which is bound to benefit the other businesses on the avenue. 

The market is still very much a work in progress; many of the shelves are still bare and owner’s ambitious plans have yet to be fulfilled. Thanu Chaichana came to the United States from Thailand in 1980, moved around a bit between California and Arizona and by 1994 started his first Thai restaurant on Solano Avenue in Berkeley. 

Since then his business has expanded so he now owns a number of Thai restaurants and also distributes imported supplies to other restaurants in the area. His family too, has grown and many of them are employed in the business. 

The Tuk Tuk Thai and Asian Market is a new kind of venture for Thanu. It is different running a market that depends on walk-in trade, Thanu explains. It’s not like having regular customers to deliver to. 

“I know (with) grocery stores it’s hard to make money,” he said. “You have to (offer) good quality, good prices.” 

He is offering that, and a lot more. Along with the Asian foods there are the standard grocery store products; meats and dairy, dry goods and produce, but among these too, there are items not to be found in the usual markets.  

There is a big section for “take away,” a deli counter with interesting Thai dishes for people hungry for a quick snack. Along the back wall are shelves of dishes, cooking and serving utensils, and tucked in a corner near the cash registers are some beautiful hand-made art and craft items. Thanu plans to carry more of these. He says that the quality, variety and popularity of Thai merchandise are “upscale” these days and are being exported to markets world wide. He will be going to a big exposition of Thai products in Los Angeles next month. And he finds that Americans are increasingly interested in Thailand, not just the goods but the people and the culture of the country too. 

Looking at the market now, there is still a lot of empty space but Thanu has big plans. 

“Besides the produce, beside the food court, beside the merchandise which is imported from Thailand we plan to combine everything.. to be a Thai center,” he said. “If you walk in this market you will get everything that you’re looking for.”  

That is going to include entertainment, CDs, DVDs books and tapes too. 

Danai Trassnon, the store manager, came from Thailand with no experience in marketing but boundless energy and enthusiasm. He explains that they are setting up a system to import goods directly from Thailand and distribute to Thai businesses here, eliminating the middlemen who currently are all from other countries. And he talks about the company’s future: not just a market, or a center as Thanu puts it. Danai is even more expansive. 

“We have a goal here to be like an Asian town,”’ he said. “We need to be complete,” he has already learned the lingo, “one-stop shopping.”  

The market is open seven days a week from 9 a.m-9 p.m. with take-out food starting at about 10:30 a.m., in time for lunch. About 60 percent of Thanu’s staff are family members. Everyone is friendly, everyone clearly enjoys their work. 

I am not usually an impulse shopper but I couldn’t resist buying a couple of Thai imports, at reasonable prices. A jar of anchovies dipped in a tangy batter fried to a crisp and coated with sesame seeds was fantastic. A can of sweet red beans and tapioca pearls in coconut milk didn’t excite me that much—I haven’t developed the taste that Asians have for the sensation of chewing tapioca pearls—but the can was easy to open, no tools needed, and had a nifty plastic lid which concealed a spoon with a folded handle. We could use more of that user friendly packaging. 

And by the way, “tuk tuks” are brightly colored, open sided, three wheeled “taxis” used in many parts of Asia. They’re fast and maneuverable, good for getting around on crowded city streets. Powered by two-stroke engines they are very smelly and loud, making a sound like tuk tuk. A picture of a tuk tuk is used as the market’s logo. 

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Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas_

PRESERVATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This is my home town. It has changed a lot in my lifetime, I have a thousand stories about Berkeley life, some lively and a few deadly. That is probably like most towns. But I have always thought Berkeley was special. I chose to spend my copious amounts of free time (a joke to those who know me) on preservation issues.  

Preservation is not a lonely word—it goes hand in hand with community-building. We do not look at buildings in isolation, but as part of the fabric of community and society. We operate with principles and guidelines, and in unison with other like-minded groups all over the state and the country. This is National Preservation Month, and oddly enough, while we bomb the hell out of other countries (thank goodness this town says that is wrong) the country celebrates recognizing that if we do not stop and smell the roses, those with money to be made or power to be had will strip away what we hold dear, and future generations will be left without knowing what came before.  

The Landmarks Preservation Commission has been working on ordinance revisions to comply with the permit streamlining act—and has produced a draft for the first of two phases. Development interests seek to put in their own language—they want to demolish and rebuild without obstruction. There is no nicer way to say it.  

For those who were inspired by Zelda Bronstein’s insightful article last week, there are ways to get involved. The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association holds educational events throughout the year, and you can contact them for more details (www.berkeleyheritage.com).  

For those of you who have chosen to make Berkeley your home, I would ask you to look around as you walk or drive through town—think about what makes it important to you. How do we turn our dreams for a better future into reality? Preservationists will tell you it starts with understanding and learning from our past.  

Carrie Olson 

• 

CITY COMMISSIONS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Your recent article about curtailing commission meetings left out a few points. We value our commission contributions beyond measure. Members of Berkeley’s 40-plus commissions contribute their time and effort voluntarily. They study issues thoroughly and craft thoughtful recommendations to the City Council. To a person, they are committed and dedicated to their task. Our proposal to reduce the number of commission meetings per year was made in the spirit of compromise and with the city’s budget shortfall in mind. 

Our proposal does not go as far the city manager’s proposal, yet makes some reductions to help address the city’s budget deficit. Where the manager recommends meetings be reduced from 11 to six per year, our proposal reduces meetings from 11 to eight per year, with the flexibility for the commission to call an extra meeting if their workload so demands. This just means the commissions will take a longer summer recess and eliminate one meeting during the winter holiday. People travel or are otherwise distracted during these times. For other commissions which do not usually have heavy agendas, our proposal increases the manager’s recommendation of four meetings per year to six meetings per year with the option for an extra meeting if needed.  

The city has been in budget-cutting mode for two years. Every department has had to cut staff positions, employees have taken leave voluntarily and given up their cost-of-living increases. Some council aides have reduced their time voluntarily to put those funds back into the general fund. Community groups have had their funding cut and general expenses have been reduced across the board. Almost everyone has accepted belt-tightening with a team spirit, for which we are grateful.  

We are not pleased with having to impose reductions anywhere. This compromise proposal tries to be responsive to commissioners’ concerns about reducing their meetings and the reality of the budget. We propose it for review and comment, offering it as a compromise proposal which we felt was warranted. 

Tom Bates, Mayor 

Linda Maio, Councilmember 

• 

WARM POOL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While listening to a marathon council meeting, I became physically ill, with guilt perhaps, listening to the desperate needs of homeless providers and knowing that many millions would be needed if BUSD insists the warm pool be rebuilt across Milvia, just because some officials at BUSD might cave to various pressures to eject the disabled and other community swimmers from the campus at BHS. 

We all should be grateful to the City Council for supporting the exercise programs at warm pool, BHS; especially thanks to Ms. Betty Olds, Mr. Worthington and Ms. Spring for their amendment to urge keeping the present structure and location with attendant much less expensive additions and alterations. 

With help from a lifeguard who wishes to study architecture I am working on schematics for a remodel within the two sturdy pool rooms. With 12,000 square feet of existing enclosure there are many good options. 

Terry Cochrell 

• 

LANDMARKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m relieved that enough planning commissioners manifested the common sense to rein in the zeal of others who were intent on stripping the Landmarks Preservation Commission of all its meaningful powers, and especially the power to deny demolitions. 

Yet some grave perils to our Landmarks Preservation Ordinance are still ahead. When planning commissioners Burke and Wengraf recommended “strict adherence to the standards of integrity set out by the secretary of interior standards, as recommended by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO),” they subverted the spirit of the SHPO’s own language, which was quite inclusive and allows a building to be designated on the strength of its historic, cultural, or social merits quite apart from any architectural merit or integrity it may or may not possess. 

On the issue of structures of merit, Burke and Wengraf’s recommendation was to abolish the designation for now and to “create a new designation with lesser protections, distinct from a landmark designation, as suggested by SHPO.” Again, the SHPO never suggested such a thing. It merely asked the LPC to think about the issue of having two separate categories with equal protections. 

I’ll say it again: The SHPO asked the LPC—not the Planning Commission or any other body unqualified to deal with architectural and historic resources. The LPC was going to deliberate the structure of merit issue at a later date. Let the experts do their job without meddling. 

Especially in light of the real-estate interests’ outcry for architectural integrity in landmarks, the structures of merit category makes eminent sense, for it allows buildings that have been altered but retain their historic, cultural, or social significance to be designated and protected. 

What Berkeleyan would want this city to lose the Durant Hotel, or the Weisbrod Building at 2001 San Pablo, or Weltevreden (the Cal Band house) on the Northside, or the Squires Block at Shattuck and Vine? These are all designated structures of merit. The appellation “merit” was not given without reason. 

Daniella Thompson 

• 

MEDICAL CENTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Well, it’s a race for the bottom. County government hits a new low. The Grand Jury wrote a scathing, completely biased and often inaccurate report on the Medical Center. The authors clearly hate unions, love consultants and didn’t bother to talk to the workers they were so willing to slander. At first I thought it read like something Arnold Schwarzenegger would write, pissed off at nurses and not thinking clearly. 

Then it hit me, many of the statements sounded like quotes of things Sheriff Plummer has said at Authority Board meetings. According to some sources Sheriff Plummer and the Civil Grand Jury are pen pals; he writes them little notes. The sheriff sure must be mad that the Grand Jury report uses lots of his exotic ideas and even some of his language and doesn’t give him credit anywhere, they didn’t even say they spoke to him. 

Then the same day the Grand Jury Report comes out slamming the Medical Center, we learn that the Board of Supervisors plans to appoint Sheriff Plummer to the Hospital Authority Board; corruption or coincidence, you be the judge.  

Ann Nomura 

• 

NONSENSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read Richard Brenneman’s article “Do-It-Yourself Electrical Repairs May Get a Lot More Expensive,” at first with disbelief and then anger. Initially I had hoped it was intended to be a Friday the 13th joke. 

If this type of nonsense is permitted to be implemented, it is only a matter of time before we will have to obtain a permit to change light bulbs (how many bureaucrats does it take to change . . .?) It is administrative arrogance such as this change in the new California Electrical Code, that caused California voters to adopt Proposition 13. 

I doubt very much that any California homeowners, including this writer, would ever get a permit for any of the activities that your reporter cites in the article, nor do I foresee many contractors rushing out to obtain an $85 permit for the 20-minute house call to change a switch. So why make us law-breakers? Why is this insanity happening? There must be an awful lot of civil servants in our government who have nothing better to do but to inconvenience and harass the hands that feed them. 

Perhaps we will need to mount the barricades once again. While I am not generally in favor of legislation by referendum, instances such as this are causing me to change my mind. It is apparent that we have way too much governmental overhead, if our civil servants have the time to concoct this type of regulations. 

Peter Klatt 

• 

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The people of Alameda County recently voted to tax themselves in order to fund public medical institutions (such as Highland Hospital and community clinics). But the so-called liberals on the Board of Supervisors aren’t content with the added funding. They still want to gut, cut and privatize these vital public services because the costs are a drain on the public budget. (Isn’t that a given? As the medical crisis nationwide continues won’t it cost more to provide public health services?) Their attack now has evolved from spending millions on a consulting firm (Cambio) given the job of eliminating “inefficiencies,” to putting the sheriff (will the posse comitatus be next?) on the hospital’s board of directors.  

Charlie Plummer says that medical services are “not an employment agency for the unions….and every agency has to live within their budget.” This is Bush-type ignorant yahooism. Plummer likes to tell us what the Medical Center “is not” but he doesn’t discuss what it is. He isn’t served by it; he’s not among the tens of thousands of uninsured in the county; he’s just a bureaucrat who is competing to take his share of the public pie for the sheriff’s department. Shame on the Board of Supervisors. Let’s throw those bums out and elect people who will truly fight for public rights. As for Charlie, he’d best leave his six guns behind when he comes to town, because this ain’t Dodge and we don’t need a sheriff running the health care system.  

Marc Sapir 

• 

OZZIE’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Wow, our neighborhood soda fountain, the last of it’s kind for at least a 25-mile radius or more, is closing again. Every time it comes as terrible news and threatens the few historic elements left in the Elmwood District, not to mention another hard-working and interesting purveyor of historic Americana has to move on. It is true that this one small district lacks a breakfast spot, though many are all around elsewhere. It seems like a great potential for the owner of the current shop (no longer a pharmacy) and she could benefit from the customers earlier in the morning, if she could really understand the client base a little better. Obviously it costs to be open longer hours, but if you know how to run things then one can benefit from the situation. Perhaps expand the newsstand aspect of the place. Michael has great energy and fits into the scene so well; now what will we get? Perhaps the end of a very long and wonderful era. It is the one place in the neighborhood where people can really easily hang out due to the counter-style seating, pop in for a spot of ice cream or lunch (breakfast would really be handy) and catch up on some neighborhood news or just learn from the old timers what they have to share. 

Too bad!  

Valenta de Regil 

• 

ANIMAL SLAUGHTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Recently, I learned that high schools in California allow animal slaughter on school grounds within the agricultural curriculum. However, the state Education Code affirms that “each teacher shall endeavor to impress upon the minds of the pupils…the humane treatment of living creatures.” Not only is animal slaughter instruction a squander of educational funds, it also encourages violent behavior among youth. Countless studies have established a connection between animal cruelty and human violence.  

I was happy to learn that Assemblymember Johan Klehs introduced AB 1685, which would outlaw animal slaughter on school property. By prohibiting slaughter in schools, a strong message will be delivered that the promotion of animal cruelty will not be tolerated in California schools. 

Christine Morrissey 

Director, East Bay Animal Advocates 

Martinez 

• 

TRAFFIC CIRCLES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the ongoing discussion of traffic circles, I have not yet seen this important point: When traffic circles are in an intersection designed for them, as in Marin Circle, they have a very different effect on non-motorized traffic than when they are squeezed into intersections where they do not fit. I easily can believe that circles that leave room for crosswalks and bike lanes have an excellent safety record. Any circle should reduce head-on collisions. The problem is with squeezing together the car, bike, and pedestrian lanes running in the same direction. The circles springing up like mold in the Berkeley flatlands push cars towards or into the normal crosswalk space, and certainly through any bike lane space. Traffic rules dictate that when there is no gutter lane space, bikes have a right to what lane exists. Having the bike lane fade out at each intersection is dangerous. As a pedestrian, my daughter freaks out whenever the cars going the same nominal direction as her, veer at her as they go around the circle. If they are going too fast for good control, she is in increased danger. To reduce the danger in some places, they are moving the crosswalks back away from the intersection; they also will need to modify curb cuts to the new crosswalk positions. This may affect parking spaces, one of Berkeley’s most important resources, so it’s sure to stay interesting. 

Barbara Judd 

• 

PERVASIVE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The religious extremists in America are no different than the religious extremists in the Middle East except that they drive nicer cars. Same MO: Secrecy, deception, intimidation and infiltration. We saw the same modus operandi used by the Taliban and we see it with the fanatics in the Middle East. Religious zealots have infiltrated the U.S. government, the Bush administration, the Republican Party, the Kansas school board and boards of education around the country. It is time we stop using flowery language when we talk about this takeover crowd. If you don’t see this happening you’ve been very inattentive and are in for a rude awakening. These crusaders use the pseudonyms of fundamentalist, evangelical, and Christianity as covers for their extremism. Pervasive is the only way to describe this spreading cancer. 

Ron Lowe 

Nevada City 



In response to rapidly rising gasoline prices, President Bush called for Congress to pass his energy plan even while admitting that such an action wouldn’t reduce costs. “I wish I could simply wave a magic wand and lower gas prices tomorrow … [my bill won’t] change the price at the pump today.” 

What Bush’s energy bill will do is to protect the windfall profits of big oil companies such as Exxon Mobil, whose earnings for the first quarter of 2005 were up 44 percent. The Bush legislation will also make it easier for the petroleum giants to drill and build refineries wherever they want. 

It’s a sadly familiar pattern. This administration doesn’t have a plan for any of the difficult problems that confront America: homeland security, the economy, global climate change, and now, energy. Instead of a reasonable first step, asking Americans to make a common sacrifice with across-the-board conservation, the administration offers instead, magical thinking. In the president’s fantasy, the “free market” will miraculously solve our gasoline shortages. 

Bush insists that the Republican version of the tooth fairy—the “technology wizard”—will magically make everything better, “In the years ahead, technology will allow us to create entirely new sources of energy …[it] is the nation’s ticket to energy independence.” He holds up the development of hydrogen fuel as an example, a solution that sober minds believe won’t be a reality for at least 20 years. 

The inability of the Bush administration to get a grip on America’s energy problems raises the question of what a common-sense energy policy would actually look like.  

It seems obvious that a realistic plan would begin with an acknowledgment that the world is at, or very near, “peak” petroleum production. Americans are about to experience huge increases in oil prices. For this reason, we should do everything possible to reduce our reliance on petroleum, which is about forty percent of our total energy utilization. (This estimate does not include natural gas, which is another 25 percent.) Because transportation accounts for two-thirds of all American oil usage, it follows that we should diminish our everyday consumption. Private automobiles are by far the largest consumers of petroleum. Paris and Los Angeles are cities of roughly the same population density; however, residents of Los Angeles use four times the annual energy, because Los Angelenos are totally dependent upon the private automobile while Parisians utilize a superb train and subway system. Americans should begin to rely on public transportation as much as possible. 

The next logical step would be for all those who insist on owning their own automobile to replace it with a hybrid. The current generation of hybrid cars—fueled by electricity and gasoline—performs at approximately 50 miles per gallon (mpg). The next generation will use different batteries, ones that plug into the electrical grid at night, and, as a result, will get 75 mpg. Today, in Brazil, it is possible to buy vehicles with flexible-fuel tanks that use petroleum, ethanol, and methanol in combination. If you add this capability to a plug-in hybrid, then performance increases to roughly 400 miles per gallon of gasoline. A realistic energy policy would provide tax credits for hybrid vehicles and incentives to promote the manufacture of plug-in and flexible-fuel-tank hybrids. (It would also provide for “carbon fuel” taxes to penalize all those who resist moving to alternative fuels.) 

American Industry accounts for 25 percent of our oil usage and much of this stems from the production of plastics. A realistic energy plan would tax plastics in all forms. Petroleum is also used in a variety of other products, such as detergents, fertilizers, film, and paints; all of these goods should be taxed. The remaining 8 percent of our petroleum usage results from energy-generation by public utilities and consumers, in forms such as generators and furnaces. Utilities need to be subjected to positive and negative incentives so that they will stop using carbon-based fuels and turn to renewable sources such as solar, biomass, and wind. 

Finally, a common-sense energy plan would ask all Americans to make their residences more energy efficient. Once again, there could be incentives for improving home insulation and adding features such as solar panels to heat our water and generate electricity. Citizens could also be motivated to replace their old, power-hungry appliances with new, low-powered versions. (The San Francisco Sierra Club website—http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.org— has a good summary of these alternatives.) 

Providing a reasonable alternative to the Bush energy plan is not rocket science. A common-sense energy policy means taking a look at our major uses of oil and figuring out reasonable alternatives and incentives to drive Americans in the desired direction. Sadly, our experience with the Bush administration suggests that they aren’t interested in reasonable alternatives; the giant energy companies—who are among the biggest donors to Republican causes—support their current policies. However, Americans can still intervene through Congress to force them to get a grip on reality. We can dismiss the Bushies’ magical thinking and demand that the United States adopt a common-sense energy policy. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and activist. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net. 

0

Did you feel the earthquake two weeks ago at 4 a.m.? At our house there was pandemonium. Andrea ran into my room and threatened to jump into bed with me. Willie woke up and asked what was going on. Downstairs, Ralph and Whiskers slept through it, but upstairs was ablaze with light and activity. It was like a hysterical pajama party.  

Shortly after the shaking stopped, something weird happened. The lights went dim and then came on again. I attributed this phenomenon to the earth’s movements, but Andrea had a different theory. “It’s that old man who used to live in Willie’s room,” she said. “He’s tryin’ to make contact.” 

“I don’t think so,” I answered, but her hypothesis gave me pause. 

Leroy Ligons was 82 years old when he passed away of lung cancer in our back bedroom in 2003. A retired bartender, avid card player and sports fan, he moved to the Bay Area from Omaha over 60 years ago. It was during World War II, but Leroy didn’t serve in the armed forces because he was the sole provider for his younger brothers and sisters. Back in Nebraska the government had trained him to be a machinist, but because the union didn’t allow African Americans within their ranks, Leroy was out of work. Then the government taught him welding skills and Leroy found a job in the Richmond shipyards. In 1958 he switched careers. He bartended in a series of low paying clubs patronized by African Americans. In the early seventies, Leroy and a handful of others sued the Local 52 Bartenders Union and broke the color barrier. He became a homeowner, a husband and a father.  

But that was a long time ago. When we met Leroy, introduced to us by our then live-in employee, Jerry, Leroy’s house was gone, his ex-wife deceased, and his children scattered and only marginally in touch. 

Leroy moved into our home temporarily. I drove him to the North Oakland Senior Center to get housing advice.  

Shirley Sexton, who is in charge of Information, Assistance, and Referral at the Senior Center, asked Leroy a series of questions.  

“What is your full name?” 

“Salathiel Lee Ligons,” answered Leroy. “Do you know what my name means?” 

“No,” said Shirley. 

“King of the Black Jews.” 

“Are you Jewish?”  

“No. I was raised Catholic. Now Jerry takes me to Downs Memorial church every week for a free lunch.” 

“Where were you born?” asked Shirley. 

“Portsmouth, Virginia. Moved to Philadelphia, and then to Omaha. Spent my childhood there. Colder than a you-know-what’s-what there, if you know what I mean.” 

“I know what you mean,” said Shirley. 

“Seventeen degrees below zero when I left in 1942,” added Leroy. “Haven’t bothered to go back since.” 

“I understand,” said Shirley. “Have you been employed, Leroy?” 

“All my life,” he answered. “I was a meat packer when I was a kid. Then a machinist, a welder and a bartender. Worked at the racetrack and Spengers for years. Retired in 1987. 

“What’s your income now?” asked Shirley. 

“One thousand a month. Sixteen dollars over the amount needed to qualify for MediCal.” 

Shirley shook her head. “Yes,” she sighed. “Do you take any medications?” 

“None,” answered Leroy. 

“Do you have any savings?” 

“Not a penny.”  

“Do you own any property?” 

“Not anymore. I’m a rolling stone.” 

“Yes,” said Shirley. “It appears you are.” 

“And I gather no moss.” 

“I hear you.” 

“And there’s somethin’ else you should know about me,” said Leroy. 

“What’s that?” 

Leroy looked around and then leaned forward in his chair, so that he was close to Shirley. “I don’t like bein’ around old people,” he whispered. 

“That could be a problem,” said Shirley. 

“I know,” answered Leroy. “But I’ve got to be able to run.” 

“Run?” 

“Run free,” said Leroy. “You know what I’m sayin’?” 

“We all do,” said Shirley. 

“But I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.” 

“Yes,” agreed Shirley, “I’m afraid you are.” 

Soon after, Leroy qualified for MediCal, and took up residency at Harriet Tubman Terrace on Adeline Street. But when he was diagnosed with lung cancer and given only a few months to live, he returned to our house. And now Andrea thought he might be trying to communicate with us.  

“I hope you’re right,” I said. “I miss Leroy and I’d love to chat with him. He probably wants to talk politics. I know he can’t stand the fact that George is still in office.” 

“No,” said Andrea. “He’s tryin’ to tell us to go back to bed, and that’s exactly where I’m goin’.” 

The lights haven’t blinked since the earthquake, but I suspect that we’ll be hearing from Leroy again soon.e

Police Nab Fleeing Passengers  

Berkeley police outran three men who tried to flee their car after police stopped it on the 2800 block of Fulton Street at 10:22 p.m. Saturday. They were arrested for interfering with an officer in the course of his lawful duty, said Police Officer Joe Okies. 

Fish-Food Fisticuffs 

Police responded to a fight at Spenger’s Restaurant that broke out just before midnight on Saturday. According to Officer Okies, the combatants threw restaurant property at each other during the melee, but had been separated by the time police arrived. 

Slick Attack 

An argument at a house on the 3000 block of Harper Street turned violent early Friday morning when a woman doused a man’s face with grease, Okies said. Police arrested the 44-year-old Berkeley woman.  

Assault Via Tray 

A 51-year-old man entered police headquarters at about 9:30 p.m. Friday to report that he had been battered with a food tray, Okies said. The attack occurred about one hour earlier at 1802 Fairview St. ›

EDITOR’S NOTE: 

The Daily Planet has taken the unusual step of forwarding J. Stacey Sullivan’s response to Terry Francke of Californians Aware back to him for comment before publication, because we believe that their lively dialog is central to the crucia l decisions which have been placed on the agenda for the Berkeley City Council’s hastily scheduled closed meeting at 9 o’clock tonight (Tuesday). For too long in Berkeley, the Brown Act’s narrowly drawn exemptions to disclosure requirements have been stre tched to the breaking point so that city officials can keep bad deals a secret from the voting public. Before the current elected and appointed officials bargain away the city’s right to receive fair recompense for services rendered and to control its own planning for areas near campus, and before the city aborts its lawsuit against UC’s completely inadequate environmental study of its Long Range Development Plan, the public should have an extensive opportunity to study the proposed deal and comment on it. The reason democratic decision-making, in the full light of day, is still the best system is that it prevents horrendous mistakes like those which got San Diego in the soup. The City Council should appreciate the good advice it can get from its sophisticated citizens, instead of continuing the smoke-filled room school of public policy which has caused debacles like buying a toxic waste site from UC for the Harrison skate park. The Planet will continue to demand full disclosure in the public interest.  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Speaking as an attorney, a Berkeley resident, and someone with extensive experience with the legislative process and the Brown Act, I would like to point out a basic error in Terry Francke’s letter in the May 13-16 edition. What M r. Francke erroneously uses as legal authority for his disagreement with Antonio Rossman is what is known as “findings and declarations” language, with which the Legislature makes general statements about the need for and intent of a statute. This languag e can be cited by a judge as persuasive or indicative of legislative intent, but it does not have the same force of law as the substantive provisions of the statute. In the case of the Brown Act, two of those substantive provisions authorize closed meetin gs to address pending litigation and settlement agreements (Gov’t Code Secs. 54956.9 and 54957.1(a)(3)). As Mr. Rossman correctly states, a breach of confidentiality by either party in this context could not only blow up the negotiations but expose the ci ty to additional liability. What Mr. Francke refers to as “the Rossman twist” is in fact a straightforward and succinct statement by an eminent legal authority of the law as applied to the facts. If Mr. Francke has a problem with the law, he is free to try to change it. 

J. Stacey Sullivan 

Ms. Sullivan, 

You state in your letter to the Berkeley Daily Planet, “In the case of the Brown Act, two of those subtantive provisions authorize closed meetings to address pending litigation and settlement agreements (government code sections. 54956.9 and 54957.1(a)(3)). As Mr. Rossman correctly states, a breach of confidentiality by either party in this context could not only blow up the negotiations but expose the city to additional liability.” 

1. The closed session authorities you cite allow the local body to confer in closed session with its own attorney—not with the adversary or its attorney. 

2. There is no authority in California law under which a party in litigation with a public agency may prevent the agency from making disclosures to the public of information known to both parties. 

3. Absent a protective order, there is no authority creating liability for a local body that chooses to disclose to the public the progress of settlement negotiations or indeed anything else it has learned from the adverse party in litigation or in negotiations to settle litigation. 

4. Accordingly while there is a confidentiality of communication between each party and its own attorney, the fact that settlement negotiations are under way does not create a duty of “confidentiality” such that the government may not inform the community of what it knows. 

If you can find any statute or case to the contrary, I’d be glad to learn of it. Or if you can point to even a single case of actual liability created by an alleged breach of confidentiality illustrating your point, even one not reaching case law, I’d be glad to hear of it, as I’m sure the Daily Planet’s readership would as well. 

Keeping the public in the dark about the progress of litigation or settlement negotiations (typically matched by comparable secrecy surrounding real property and development deals and bargaining with public employee unions) is not only not legally compelled but ultimately dangerous to sound public admini stration. That at least has been the experience of California’s most profoundly troubled major city, San Diego. Its city council early this year adopted, as part of a curative “Right to Know” ordinance, provisions requiring a certain procedure before ever y closed session on litigation, property negotiations or employee unit bargaining: 

1. “In open session, before public comment or City Council discussion of any closed session item, the city attorney or appropriate staff shall provide an oral update or progress report on matters under litigation, real property negotiations, or employee unit bargaining.” 

2. “The public shall have the opportunity to directly address the City Council on any closed session item on the agenda, prior to City Council questions and discussion on the item and after the oral report by the city attorney or appropriate staff.” 

3. “At the regular or special meeting of the City Council, the mayor and councilmembers shall have the opportunity to discuss the basis for convening into closed session, ask questions, and respond to questions from the public.” 

Berkeley officials have talked about a sunshine ordinance for years now, but somehow never got quite motivated enough to proceed with one. As San Diego shows, however, being as open as possible with the community about expensive and otherwise consequential lawsuits, land deals and bargained employee benefit packages is not only not legally prohibited or fraught with liability but entirely sensible and prudent policy for officials who respect their constituents enough to treat them like adults with, yes, a right to know how the city’s being run. 

Cordially, 

Terry Francke 

General Counsel 

Californians Aware 

Carmichaele

Fay Abrahams Stender, a world-renowned liberal lawyer and pacifist, died May 19, 1980, as a direct result of six gunshot wounds suffered in 1979, in her home in Berkeley. A city resident for most of her good life, she was born of a long line of Berkeley-born family. 

May 19 will be the 25th anniversary of Fay’s death. As a long-time friend of Fay’s, I am urging the city to proclaim a Fay Stender Day and honor her in every way possible, including a suitable—and well-publicized—ceremony. She deserves no le ss. 

Like all Good Samaritans, Fay was a modest person who never blew her own trumpet. She just quietly went about bettering the lives of many, many thousands of people. The depth and scope of her good works were well-nigh astonishing. 

She is perhaps bes t-known for championing prison reform and women’s rights, but she did much more. Civil rights, civil liberties, Her anti-war activities. Her anti-Apartheid work. Her work for the “disappeareds” in South America. You name it, and she was there on the front line. 

As a long-time partner of famed San Francisco-based defense attorney Charles Garry (along with her husband Marvin), she helped literally thousands of prisoners pro bono, in toto spending more time in San Quentin, visiting her charges, than many pr isoners. Huey Newton and George Jackson were amongst her pro bono clients, but mainly she helped the poor and the down-trodden, prisoners who could not afford adequate counsel for defense and appeal. It was this work that ultimately got her killed. (Ther e is no rational explanation for such evil acts.) 

On a personal note, although I saw little of her in her final years (I lived in Chicago), I was privileged to be her friend for 25 years, from a few days after I got off the boat from England, August 1955. Her husband Marvin is my oldest American friend. My first job in the U.S. was as a statistician on the now-famous Jury Project at the University of Chicago Law School. Marvin was on the project, Fay was then a law-student whom I met a few days after I m et Marvin. 

A little-known fact, Fay was a very fine classical pianist. The first year, I lived at International House, and Fay would visit occasionally and play Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms on the grand piano in the vast lounge. I knew even then that Fay was a very special human being, beautiful within and without. Warm, friendly, with an exceptionally fine mind. She left two great children, Oriana and Neal. 

On this 25th anniversary of her death, Fay deserves to be remembered with honor, for a good life well-lived. There are few Fay Stenders in this far from perfect world of ours. Selfless people who quietly go around helping their human beings as a way of life. 

We should honor such rare and wonderful people. Fay deserves no less. Let us have a Fay Stender Day in Berkeley, and let it be worthy of Fay. Not merely a proclamation dashed off in 5 minutes, but a formal day of celebrations of Fay’s good life. 

Fay Stender lives on the scores, if not hundreds of thousands of lives she touched directly and indirectly. Let us not forget her. 

Brian Gluss is a Berkeley writer, researcher and political activist.Ã

Remember the old progressive values: better working conditions, shorter work weeks, higher wages? These issues hark back to the capital “P” Progressive Era, when workers struggled to win decent wages and working conditions from the Robber Barons. The movement made great gains in the early and middle 20th century, and fell victim to its own success as its core values became less important, nearly forgotten altogether. These issues ought to be front and center on the progressive stage once again. American middle class incomes have been stagnant for 30 years, and income inequality is the highest it’s been since the Gilded Age of laissez faire capitalism. 

Sure, we’re all for saving the whales and the spotted owls and the snail darters and the medflies. Sure, we want clean air and clean water. But meanwhile, we all have to eat and pay the bills. 

If you think that the main problem in American society is economic justice, take a look at Boston-based Grassroots Campaigns, Inc., which has offices in major California cities. Their motto is “Building grassroots support for progressive candidates, parties, and campaigns.” And, they have been spectacularly successful at it. In 2004, Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. had a target of raising five million dollars for the Democratic Party. They ended up raising $22 million! 

How did they do it? By exploiting their workers to a degree that would make John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie beam with approval. The starting annual salary at Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. is $24,000. 

But, as they say on late-night TV, “Wait, there’s more.” More, more, more hours of toil. For this princely sum of $24,000, Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. expects its employees to work 60 to 70 hours a week, seven days a week. This works out to an hourly rate that is barely above the minimum wage in Massachusetts and California, and well below San Francisco’s “living wage.” 

Worse working conditions, longer work weeks, lower wages. Right on, man! 

For all its political rhetoric, Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. is like any other business, but instead of the profits going to the shareholders, they go to the Democratic Party. In Marxist terms, GCI was able to hand over $22 million to the party instead of the targeted $5 million by extracting surplus labor value from its workers. Obviously, the less you pay the workers and the more you work them, the more money you get to keep for your own purposes. But of course, Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. is fighting the good fight for the progressive cause—for the party—and we must all make sacrifices for the revolution, comrade. The ends justify the means, as usual. 

I recently attended what I expected to be a traditional job interview at GCI’s offices in Berkeley. Instead, it turned out to be a mass indoctrination session, where we were told how wonderful it was going to be to adopt this “lifestyle choice.” Now if that isn’t Doublespeak, I don’t know what is. You have the “freedom” to choose “slavery.” 

Most of the attendees either had or were about to receive political science degrees, so they should have had a course in political economy somewhere along the way, and they should have learned all that Marxist stuff about surplus labor value and rates of exploitation. I guess they didn’t let all that education go to their heads. But I’m an old horse, and when they saw that I wasn’t buying the Party line, they whisked me out of the building as though I had a plague that was about to spread to the rest of the herd. 

For my money, these so-called progressives at Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. are worse than the capitalists. 

Farms? In Berkeley? You bet... Animal Farm. 

ÿ

MEXICO CITY—On May Day 1.2 million people filled the streets of Mexico City, the largest protest demonstration in Mexican history. This great, peaceful outpouring cried out for formal democracy at the ballot box, true choice in the country’s coming national elections and a basic change in its direction.  

“People want justice,” says Rufino Dominguez, coordinator of the Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations, a group that organizes indigenous people both in Mexico and the United States. “To us, democracy means more than elections. It means economic stability—our capacity to make a living in Mexico, without having to migrate, and a government that attends to the needs of the people.”  

The marchers were defending the Mexican political leader most likely to hear those demands. Last month, Mexico President Vicente Fox attempted to impeach Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, undoubtedly Mexico’s most popular politician. Fox’s attorney general accused Obrador of using the city’s power of eminent domain to take land for an access road to a new hospital, in defiance of a court order. The charge was a pretext, a political move to prevent him from running for president in 2006. The attempt backfired when public outcry instead forced the attorney general to resign.  

“Lopez Obrador criticizes the voracity of the banking system and Fox’s free trade policies, and he has an austere style in a country accustomed to the excesses of imperial presidents,” explains Alejandro Alvarez, an economics professor at the National Autonomous University. “Above all, he shows solidarity with the poor.” Mexico City now pays a small pension to all its aged residents, and provides school supplies to its children.  

Lopez is not a radical on the order of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who on May Day declared socialism his country’s goal. Lopez’s plan for redeveloping the city center is business-friendly. He capped the budget for the subway system, on which most poor residents depend. Compromise or no, however, in the eyes of millions of Mexicans, Obrador represents a chance to scrap the present economic policies of Fox’s National Action Party (PAN).  

PAN’s strategy for economic development relies on promoting privatization and foreign investment. Its austerity policies have held wages down and discouraged independent union organization, while opening Mexico to imports from the United States.  

As a result, income has declined. The government estimates that 40 million of the country’s 104.5 million people live in poverty, 25 million in extreme poverty. Mexico has become an exporter both of the goods made by low-wage labor in foreign-owned border factories, and of labor itself, as millions of people cross that border looking for work in the north.  

The march of a million Mexicans is a clear demonstration that movements protesting those policies are growing. According to Alvarez, “the social movements of the last two years have been, in the countryside, openly against NAFTA, and in the city, against privatization and the dismantling of the welfare state.” This is the upsurge in popular sentiment that Lopez Obrador hopes to ride into office, and the reason why he represents such a problem, not just for Fox, but for the Bush administration as well. Mexico, under the impetus of this movement, would go in the direction of Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, and even Venezuela—rejecting the free trade model, and economic control from Washington.  

No one understands the price of free trade policies better than those who have paid it, leaving their homes and traveling thousands of miles in search of work. Juan Romualdo Gutierrez Cortez, an indigenous leader and schoolteacher in the southern state of Oaxaca, emphasizes that “migration is a necessity, not a choice. You can’t tell a child to study to be a doctor if there is no work for doctors in Mexico. Children learn by example. If a student sees his older brother migrate to the United States, build a house and buy a car, he will follow.”  

Mexico has produced a unique political movement, uniting the population of the world’s largest city, estimated at 21.5 million, with the 9.2 million Mexicans now living north of the border. Those pushed out want the right to participate in deciding whether free trade policies, responsible for their migration, should be changed. These Mexicans living in the United States have little reason to be loyal to a political class that created the conditions forcing them to leave.  

The national congress voted over a decade ago to permit Mexicans in the United States to vote, but only set up a limited system to implement that decision at the end of April. Observers predict that of the 9.2 million Mexicans living in the United States, fewer than half a million will cast ballots. Dominguez, however, believes that in a close election, barring fraud, those votes could determine Mexico’s next president. This prospect must be as frightening to President Fox as the candidacy of Lopez Obrador. Not only is a candidate proposing a change in Mexico’s direction, but a sizable number of people have good reasons for voting for him.  

David Bacon is a freelance writer and photographer who writes regularly on labor and immigration issues. His latest book is The Children of NAFTA (University of California Press, 2004). e

With Making Noise Quietly, TheatreFIRST has something of an oxymoron: a low-key tour de force. Maybe a double oxymoron, considering the title. So many shows try in good faith to make statements about war, or about the social or simply human situation that leads up to it, taking on the subject either directly, or with a great deal of irony. In Making Noise Quietly, British playwright Robert Holman shows what comes out of it, with no big displays of violence, brutality or overwrought emotionalism, and only the driest, most transparent irony. 

And Holman does it in three seemingly unrelated dialogues. These scenes are pieces of complex sophistication, though they’re staged naturally enough. But the impressions build up. We come away with something else than what we came in with, something even a little different from what we experienced during the play. 

The careful show of disparity among characters and how they’re grouped reveal techniques usually associated with realistic novels or film. There are two young men of very different backgrounds who meet in the south English countryside during World War II: a young man inadvertently bringing tragic news to the mother of a former shipmate during the Malvinas (Falklands) War of 1982 and a German woman painting in a forest while an Englishman and a boy look on, three decades after World War II’s end. 

But this is modern theater in its grand sense, even though rendered almost in miniature. It provides a sense of chamber theater, but outdoors in the daylight and finally in the gathering dusk of three landscapes, without the walls that would build irony and resonance from the characters’ words and spare actions. There’s nothing in the expression of the text, nothing in the staging that’s indebted to television or commercial film, something increasingly rare in today’s theater, especially when representing everyday life and conversation. 

The scenes (Holman identifies them as three short plays, a triptych, and co-directors Clive Chafer and Erin Gilley have chosen paintings from the times of each scene that are projected at the start of each) quietly unfold, as the title seems to indicate. 

The first, “Being Friends,” finds a rather quiet Quaker conscientious objecter (David Koppel) working on a farm accosted by an ebullient artist and writer (Noah James Butler) with a novel forthcoming, preface by Edith Sitwell, who’s on a picnic; they stretch out on a grassy hummock by a pond and talk freely about everything, from the war to their sex lives, interrupted by an aerial raid in the distance, the concussion of bombs. When the objecter speaks about why he left the hospital he first did his service in, and of his obsession with a dying German prisoner, possibly tortured, whom he attended, his doubts over his objection to service come up; he’s thinking of enlisting. 

“Don’t get yourself killed, “ says his new friend, the artist, “The War is too real for me; I have a belief in the reality of unconsumated experience.” 

In the second, “Lost,” which follows immediately on the first, Koppel plays a very different part, in school tie and blazer, with a Public School accent, visiting the mother (Sue Trigg) of his former shipmate who was lost in the Malvinas War, only to discover she was unaware of her son’s death and hadn’t heard from him in five years. Trigg expresses the gamut of emotions, from anger to grief, humiliation at this proper young man hearing her complaint and finding her in her humble surroundings, to smiling, eyes half-closed through her tears. There’s an extraordinary sense of rationalizing loss, separation and the tangled, incomplete business of a dysfunctional family’s past with the meaning of the war. 

After a break, the third—and most complicated—piece (directed by Erin Gilley; the first two by Clive Chafer), Making Noise Quietly, unfolds in two scenes in the Black Forest. A German woman (Milissa Carey) seems to have adopted a strange pair: a Cockney soldier (Noah James Butler, in quite a shift from the artist Eric) and a young boy (Dan Marsh) whom he cares for, yet beats and yells at. With great reserves of patience and determination she makes inroads of trust to the kleptomaniacal, grunting and squealing little boy. Back and forth, up and down, this funny menage explores the effects of violence from two wars and the effects of reason and care on those who’ve been brutalized and who brutalize. 

A fine cast and sensitive direction give these scenes a thought-provoking life after the theater. TheatreFIRST presents an admirable performance of Holman’s clear-sighted everyday parables of humanity and the subtle effects of violence--both oblique and straight-forward. These are revealing dialogues, not paradoxical, but embodying every social contradiction, between seemingly mismatched people who have come together somehow through the brutality of war, which takes everything apart. 

TheatreFIRST presents Making Noise Quietly, May 12 to June 5 at Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. For more information, call 436-5085 or see www.theatrefirst.com.

TUESDAY, MAY 17 

CHILDREN 

Lariat Larry Stories and Rope Tricks at 6:30 p.m. at Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Annual Quilt Show at the North Berkeley Public Library, 1170 The Alameda, at Hopkins, through May 21. 981-6250. 

“Sojourns” New works by Michael Shemchuk and Emily Payne opens at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., and runs through June 26. 549-1018. www.cecilmoochneck.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

James Morgan describes “Chasing Matisse: A Year in France Living My Dream” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kenny Washington at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Albany High School Jazz Band at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10, benefit for the Albany Music Fund. 525-5054.  

Bohi Busick at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Mark Goldenberg, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Sam Rivers Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alexandra Pelosi describes “Sneaking into the Flying Circus: How the Media Turn Our Presidential Elections Into Freak Shows” at 12:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Peter Kramer introduces his new book “Against Depression” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

Trina Robbins introduces “Wild Irish Roses” at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. 

Rosemary Radford Ruether discusses “Goddesses and the Divine Feminine” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

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

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Music for the Spirit with Leonard Ott, trumpet at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. 

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Valerie Troutt, nu-jazz and soulfusion, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5. 849-2568.  

Balkan Folk Dance at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Lessons at 7 p.m. Cost is $7. 525-5054.  

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

Sonic Camouflage at 8 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, 763-7711.  

Falso Baiano, Brazillian jazz at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Old Bind Dogs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50- $20.50. 548-1761.  

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

High Like FIve, Sap, Heros Last Mission at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6-$7. 848-0886.  

Clairdee at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, MAY 19 

CHILDREN 

Barry Yourgrau introduces “Nastybook” for young readers at 7 p.m. at Cody’s on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Homecoming” a mini-retrospective of the work of Kay Sekimachi and Bob Stockdale. Informal talk on Kay Sekimachi by Carole Austin at 5 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527.  

“Journey: Images & Alzheimer’s” An exhibition of works created by people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Reception at 6 p.m. at the Piedmont Community Hall, 711 Highland Ave., Piedmont. 644-8292. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ann Cummins, Samina Ali, and Kem Nunn join with Mimi Albert in conversation to celebrate the 10th birthday of the Bookmark Bookstore, Friends of the Oakland Public Library, at 6 p.m. at 721 Washington St. Donation $5. 444-0473. 

Eric Bogosian talks about his new novel “Wasted Beauty”at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

“Epic Tales of California” a panel discussion with Lauren Coodley, Richard A. Walker, and Gray Brechin at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Berkeley Live and Unplugged Open mic featuring music and spoken word at 7 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, 1924 Cedar St. 703-9350.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Mozart for Mutts & Meows with George Cleve at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. A benefit for Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. Tickets are $75. For information and reservations call 845-7735, ext. 19. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

Oakland Opera Theater, “White Darkness” at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Sun. at 2 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway at Second St., through May 22. Tickets are $18-$32.  

Mal Sharpe & the “Big Money in Jazz” Sextet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Swamp Coolers at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Old Blind Dogs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Move, Damond Moodie at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

Carlos Ayres and Mochi Parra, AfroPeruvian, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Dr. Abacus at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711. www.cafevankleef.com  

Ginny Wilson and Tommy Kessacker at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Bill Evans Soulgrass at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200.  

Piano Music by Tim Ross and Jack Kruscup, Thurs. and Fri. at 5 p.m., Kerr Dining Room, Faculty Club, UC Campus. Early Bird specials at $13.99. For reservations 540-5678.  

FRIDAY, MAY 20 

THEATER 

Berkeley Repertory Theater “The People’s Temple” at the Roda Theater, through June 5. Tickets are $20-$55. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, through May 21. Tickets are $12-$20. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Impact Briefs 7: “The How-To Show” Thu.-Sat at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through May 28. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

Master of Fine Arts Exhibition opens at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, and runs through June 19. 642-0808.  

“Smoke, Lilies, Jade” work by twelve local LGBT artists at Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. Reception at 6 p.m. Exhibition runs to June 30. 601-4040, ext. 111.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Youth Speaks: The Oakland School Slam at 7:30 p.m. at Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Cost is $3-$5. To participate, call 415-255-9035, ext. 18. Oaklandslam@youthspeaks.org 

Chuck Palahniuk reads from his new book “Haunted” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $10, free wih purchase of the book. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

David Antin reads from his new work of free-form pieces “I Never Knew What Time It Was” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Kim Addonizio An evening of poetry from her workshops at 7 p.m. at Temescal Cafe, 4920 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 595-4102. 

Debra Grace Khattab, poet at the Fellowship Café & Open Mic at 7:30 p.m. at Fellowship Hall, Cedar & Bonita Sts. Donation $5-$10.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater, “Barre to Bravura” at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $14-$18 at the door. www.berkeleyballetorg 

Nguyen Dance Company “Struggle to Survive: 30 Years Cry for My Country,” on the 30 year anniversary of the fall of Saigon Fri. and Sat at 8 p.m. at the Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St., Oakland. Tickets are $15. 415-336-3154. www.dannydancers.org 

Oakland Opera Theater, “White Darkness” at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. Sun. at 2 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway at Second St., through May 22. Tickets are $18-$32. www.oaklandopera.org 

Oakland East Bay Symphony with the Oakland Symphony Chorus at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway. 625-8497. www.oebs.org 

Hideo Date at 8 p.m., Doug Arrington at 9 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Hip Hop Exchange Sin Fronteras at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Los Bros, Latin fusion at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9-$11. 525-5054.  

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

Moonrise with Lady Michal & Neal Hellman, acoustic pagan folk, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Vince Wallace Quintet at 9 p.m. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Dialectic, Maxwell Adams, The Sevenmillionaires at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Patty Larkin at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761.  

Morning Line, The Cowlicks, Joe Rathbone at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Ben Adams Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Doug Blumer at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Dick Hindman Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373.  

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

Lua, a quartet of voices, percussion and strings at 6:30 p.m. at Cafeé Valpariso, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 841-3800. 

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

Meneguar, Gospel, Self-Employed Saviour at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Bill Evans Soulgrass at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $15-$26. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, MAY 21 

THEATER 

“Requiem for a Friend” an intermedia performance ritual, directed by Antero Alli, Sat. and Sun. at 9 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St. Cost is $10. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Religious Extremism and ‘The People’s Temple’” at 5 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2015 Addison St. Free. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Naomi Wolf reads from “The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from My Father on How to Live, Love, and See” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater, “Barre to Bravura” at 2 and 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $14-$18 at the door. www.berkeleyballetorg 

Trinity Chamber Concerts “Voci e Violini” at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. trinitychamberconcerts.com 

“Jazz with a French Twist” A benefit concert for St. Ambrose Church with Duo Gadjo and Anouman at 8 p.m. at 1145 Gilman St. Tickets are $10. 525-2620. 

Contra Costa Chorale with the New Millennium Strings Orchestra at 2 p.m. at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Ashbury, El Cerrito. Tickets are $12-$15. Children under 16 free. 524-1861.  

American Bach Soloists “Sonic Tapestries” at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. Tickets are $20-$30. 415-621-7900. www.ameriacanbach.org 

Robin Gregory Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

West African Highlife Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9 p.m. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054.  

Darcy Menard at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Jinx Jones Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Mitch Marcus Quintet at 9 p.m.. at Cafe Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $5. 763-7711.  

Barefoot Nellies, bluegrass, at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Carl Nagin, flamenco, at 7 p.m. at Spuds, 3290 Adeline Ave. Cost is $7. 597-0795. 

Nerissa Nields at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Poor Bailey, Bordelo, Company Car at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Sheldon Brown Group at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. 

Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Conversation with the artists at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mercury Dimes, Wrangletown at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Loco Bloco Drum and Dance Ensemble at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Judy Wexler Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Local Band Night with Bandalism, The Annoyance, The Heist at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 22 

CHILDREN 

Music for People and Tingamajigs Concert An outdoor labyrinth of interactive instuments for the whole family from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $4-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Gary Laplow at Ashkenaz at 3 p.m. Cost is $4-$6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“From Isolation to Connection” works by artists with psychiatric disabilities opens at the Berkeley Art Center, through July 1. Reception from 2 to 4 p.m. 644-6893. 

THEATER 

“La Zapatera Prodigiosa” by Federico García Lorca, performed by students of College Prep at 7 p.m. at Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, at Brookside, Oakland. Free. 652-0111. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Irreconcilable” gallery talk on the MFA Graduate Exhibition at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2625 Durant Ave. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Poetry Flash with D. Nurkse, Jerry Ratch and Sherry Karver at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

UC Extension Student Reading at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater, “Barre to Bravura” at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $14-$18 at the door. www.berkeleyballetorg 

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Listen to the Elements: Music of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire,” at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $15-$20 at the door. Children under 12 free. 531-8714. www.coolcommunity.org/voci  

CDQ Brazil at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

“From the Shtetl to La Scala” with soloist Heather Klein at 2 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $5. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

Memories in Red, Savage Machine, This May Never End at 4 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. All ages show. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Americana Unplugged: Jimbo Trout & The Fish People at 4 p.m. at Jupiter. 655-5715. 

Peace Brigades International and Kid Beyond at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15-$25. 849-2568.  

Greta Matassa & Mimi Fox at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $18. 845-5373.  

Songs of “Les Miserables” performed by the River City Theater Company at 2 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Loudon Wainwright III at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761.  

Flamenco Open Stage with Stephanie Neira and Grupo Sabores de Espana at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com_

A couple of weeks ago, over Tuscan roast pork and some good wine, I asked a fellow dinner guest who works on the UC campus if there were still three-spined sticklebacks in Strawberry Creek. He wasn’t sure about the sticklebacks, but he said the crayfish were still around. 

The crayfish were news to me. As it happens, this particular species—the signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus—is a protagonist in one of those ecological horror stories about invasive exotics running amuck. Native to the Pacific Northwest, it’s made itself at home not just in Strawberry Creek, but all over California, from the Delta to Lake Tahoe, and in Britain, Scandinavia, and Japan. And here in the Bay Area, it probably drove a close relative to extinction. It’s hell on small fish, too. 

Named for the white patch on near the hinge on each of its claws, this beast is about six inches long, bluish-brown to reddish-brown in color in an unboiled state. Signal crayfish originally ranged from British Columbia south to Oregon and east to Idaho, where they inhabited small streams and ate whatever they could get their pincers on: aquatic plants, algae, carrion, insects, snails, small fish. 

They mate in the fall, and the females schlep the fertilized eggs around with them for the next seven or eight months. The tiny crayfish, miniatures of their mother, hatch in the spring and stay with her until after their second molt, when they strike out on their own. 

What are they doing here? In 1912, someone had the bright idea of using signal crayfish to study crayfish predation on young trout. Batches of crayfish were shipped from the Columbia River to a state Fish and Game hatchery in Santa Cruz County. When the study was completed, the crayfish were released into the San Lorenzo River. 

From that beachhead, the exotics spread through most of Northern California. They were popular as fishbait, and anglers would dump the leftover contents of their bait buckets into lakes or streams.  

When they got to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, they must have thought they’d reached crayfish heaven. Signal crayfish, along with Louisiana red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), thrived and multiplied there. They became part of the Delta food chain, comprising 90 percent of the diet of river otters. And they supported a commercial fishery that as of the 1970s shipped almost all its catch to Sweden. 

Scandinavians, like Cajuns, take their crayfish seriously (in Sweden, boiled in salted water with dill.) Their native species, the noble crayfish (Astacus astacus), was nearly wiped out by a fungal disease called the crayfish plague that first struck in 1907. In the 1960s, the Swedes decided to eliminate the American middlemen and raise their own signal crayfish, which they considered acceptably close in taste to the noble crayfish. Signals are resistant to the plague, although they can be asymptomatic vectors. So 60,000 signal crayfish traveled from Tahoe to Sweden. 

Signal crayfish thrived in Swedish waters. They were also introduced to Britain in 1972 to stock farms for the restaurant trade. Some, inevitably, escaped, and now they’re preying on native British fish and outcompeting the native white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes). Exotic crayfish can devastate streams, eating their way through the aquatic vegetation, then going after fish, frogs, turtles, and snakes. Biologist Philip Fernandez, who fights crayfish infestations in Arizona, says “I used to like eating them, but now I think of them as aquatic cockroaches.” 

Other European countries, notably Ireland and Norway, were alarmed enough to ban the import of all non-native crayfish. But similar efforts elsewhere have been stymied by one of those wonderful institutions of economic globalization, the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs. Because it had a preexisting trade in crayfish, Germany was not allowed under GATT to block the import of exotic crayfish, regardless of any disease risk to its native species. (It’s a good thing the British abolitionists celebrated in Adam Hochschild’s new book Bury the Chains didn’t have GATT to contend with.) 

Meanwhile, back in California, the signal crayfish had also reached the Bay Area, which was already home to the sooty crayfish, P. nigrescens, found here and nowhere else in the world. I haven’t been able to identify the tipping point, but before too long there were no more sooty crayfish; it was the first North American crayfish species to meet global extinction. What happened can be inferred from the competition between signal crayfish and the Shasta crayfish (P. fortis), endangered but still hanging on in the Northern California mountains. Compared with Shasta crayfish, signals have a broader diet and tolerate a wider range of water conditions; they’re larger, more prolific, faster-growing, more aggressive. And they’re pushing their Shasta relatives to the wall. 

The sooty crayfish may be long gone, but signal crayfish are still impacting stream ecosystems in the Bay Area. A couple of years ago, biologist Frank Yoon implicated the exotic species in the decline of a small fish called the prickly sculpin in Strawberry Creek.  

He sank four isolation cages in the creek and stocked them with sculpins (caught elsewhere) and signal crayfish. Control cages contained only fish. After 10 days, only two sculpins remained in the experimental cages, while the control cages had 100 per cent survival rates. Yoon didn’t catch the crayfish in the act, but you could make a prima facie case for predation. He did see crayfish attacking sculpins in a laboratory setting. 

Can anything be done about these invaders? The British have reported some success with pheromone traps using slow-release gels. And while I don’t have a population estimate, I suspect even in Strawberry Creek you’d have the makings of a lot of etouffe. Hey, if P. leniusculus is good enough for those picky Swedes, I’m willing to approach it with an open mind.

TUESDAY, MAY 17 

Morning Bird Walk in Wildcat Canyon Meet at 7 a.m. at the end of Rifle Range Rd. for a stroll to see the birds of wood and creekside. 525-2233. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. In case of questionable weather, call around 8 a.m. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Bird Walk along the Martin Luther King Shoreline to see the Clapper Rails and the elusive Burrowing Owl at 3:30 p.m. 525-2233. 

Mini-Rangers at Tilden Park Join us for an afternoon of nature study, conservation and rambling through the woods and water. Dress to get dirty, and bring a healthy snack to share. For children age 8-12, unaccompanied by their partents. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Berkeley Garden Club “Container Gardening Through the Year” with Patricia St. John, landscape designer, at 1 p.m. at Epworth Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 524-4374. 

Strawberry Tasting at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market, from 2 to 7 p.m., Derby St. at MLK Jr. Way. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

“A Bicycle Journey Around the World” Dave Stamboulis introduces his new new book on his seven year journey at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Take Back Our Schools Day On the 51st Anniversary of Brown vs. Board, noon rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza, at City Hall, Oakland. 289-3318. 

Small Business Class “The Financial Plan” from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. Free but registration required. 981-6148. 

“Healing Therapies for Pain and Energy” with Lori-Ann Gertonson, DC , from noon to 2 p.m. in the Maffly Auditorium, Alta Bates Herrick Campus. 644-3273. 

“The Happiness Makeover: How to Teach Yourself to Be Happy and Enjoy Every Day” with Mary Jane Ryan at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512.  

Berkeley Salon Discussion Group meets to discuss “Bring Back the Good Old Days” from 7 to 9 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 601-6690.     

Introductory Buddhist Meditation Class at 7 p.m. at Dzalandhara Buddhist Center, in Berkeley. Donation $7-$10. For directions call 559-8183. 

Local Ledgends: Charlene Spretnak of the Women’s Spirituality Movement at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 6 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advance sign-up needed. 594-5165. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz at 7:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880. 

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

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland uptown to the Lake to discover Art Deco landmarks. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theater at 2025 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Founder of Critical Mass, Chris Carlsson, on the success of this monthly convergence of cyclists at 7:30 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. 527-0450.  

“Can Cultural and Environmental Destruction be Reversed?” A Perspective from Little Tibet with Helena Norberg-Hodge at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220. 

“The Cradle Will Rock!” a video of the WPA Theater in the 1930s at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. Light supper will be served. 548-9696. 

Balinese Music and Dance Workshop at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $60 for all five classes, $15 per class. Registration required. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, 6485 Conlon Ave., El Cerrito. 237-6849.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Action St. 841-2174.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

North East Berkeley Association meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda, for a Q&A with Mayor Tom Bates and City Council Members Betty Olds and Laurie Capitelli and Officer John Nuddlefield of the Berkeley Police Department. NEBA will hold elections at this meeting. Dues are $35 family, $25 for individuals. Only members are eligible to vote. The meeting is free and open to the public.  

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

com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, MAY 19 

Bike to Work Day Register online to help the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition better calculate participation and to be included in a grand prize drawing. 486-0698. www.511.org 

“Seeing the Red Owl: A Naturalist’s Journey Into Madagascar” with Luke Cole at 7:30 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Sponsored by Golden Gate Audobon. 843-2222. www.goldengateaudobon.org 

“Berkeley Alternative High School: A Struggle for Social Justice” a documentary at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Alternative High School auditorium, 2701 MLK Jr. Way, followed by panel discussion. 610-3998. 

Mozart for Mutts & Meows with George Cleve at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. A benefit for Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. Tickets are $75. For information and reservations call 845-7735, ext. 19. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

Washington Elementary After School Open House at 7 p.m. After school activities include circus art, music and dance, earth awareness and reading. Sliding scale fees. 644-6939. 

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets with Mayor Bates at 7:30 p.m. at the LeConte School cafeteria. 843-2602. 

“From Baghdad to Baseball” Challenges and Rewards of Investigative Reporting with Steve Fainaru of the Washington Post and Mark Fainaru-Wada of the SF Chronicle at 6 p.m. at Youth Radio Cafe, 1801 University Ave. www.youthradio.org 

“Spiders: The Wanderings of Weavers” with Rosemary Gillespie, Prof. of Insect Biology, UCB, at 12:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $4-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“What Stinks?” A Zooarchae- 

ological Puzzle at Oakland’s Peralta Adobe in the 1840s at 6:30 p.m. at the Peralta House, 2465 34th Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $25, free to members. 532-9142. 

Celebrate Elephants Silent Auction and Reception at 6 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. Donations $25, benefits the Amboseli Elephant Research Camp. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

“Take Back Your Time” a Simplicity Forum from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, Claremont Branch, 2940 Benvenue Ave. 549-3509. www.simpleliving.net 

FRIDAY, MAY 20 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with John Karam, on “Islam in Latin America” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925. 

“Robert F. Williams: Self-Defense, Self-Respect, and Self-Determination” a new audio documentary at 7 p.m. at First Unitarian Chuirch, 685 14th St. Donation $5-$25. 208-1700.www.akpress.org 

Kirtan, improvisational devotional chanting at 7:30 p.m. at 850 Talbot, at Solano, Albany. Donation $10. 526-9642. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” a small group meeting weekly at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. No charge. 655-8863, 843-7610.  

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. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169.  

SATURDAY, MAY 21 

Native Plant Walk in Strawberry Canyon Meet at 10 a.m. in the parking lot on the right on Centennial Road above the UC Stadium. Cost is $10-$15. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Pepperweed Pull Join Save the Bay, Friends of Strawberry Creek, and Friends of Five Creeks removing invasive perennial pepperweed, a threat to shorebird habitat, from Eastshore State Park at the mouth of Strawberry Creek, from 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at the cove west of Sea Breeze Deli, University Ave. just west of the I-880/580 Freeway. 848- 9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Bay Friendly Gardening Design at 10 a.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr.. Bring your site plans. Free, but registration required at www.stopwaste.org 

Snaking Through the Hills Join us for a hike up the watershed to see where reptiles like to sun. Meet at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. 525-2233. 

Strawberry Tasting at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Center St. at MLK Jr. Way. Cooking demonstrations at 11 a.m. 548-3333.  

Barbara Lee Town Hall Meeting for Veterans to help access benefits and services from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany.  

United Nations Association UNICEF Center Open House from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1403-B Addison St., with music, food, and door prizes. 849-1752. 

Longfellow Health Fair Health and nuitrition information, free health screenings, cooking demonstrations, food and student performances from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Longfellow Family Resource Center, Ward St. between Sacramento and California Sts. 644-6360. 

Rosa Parks Kids Carnival with entertainment, food, cake walk and silent auction from noon to 4 p.m. at the Rosa Parks School, 920 Allston Way.  

Himalayan Fair in Live Oak Park from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Himalayan arts, crafts, music and food. Cost is $8-$20. 869-3995. www.himalayanfair.net 

Journey to Tibet slide-show with Dorjee Tsewang at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park 644-6893. 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of the Ashby Station neighborhood, from frog pond to flea market, led by Dale Smith, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc/ 

Growing Smart in Berkeley A tour of downtown Berkeley with Greenbelt Alliance. Reservations required. 415-255-3233.  

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Rockridge Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Claremont Middle School, 5750 College Ave., with performances, rummage sale, silent auction, arts marketplace and food. Benefits the Middle School Arts Program. To donate items call 420-7022. 

“Is the AFL-CIO Breaking Up?” join the Democratic Socialists of the East Bay for a discussion from 10 a.m. to noon at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., near Alcatraz. 415-789-8497. www.dsausa.org 

Family Violence Law Center Fundraiser at 6 p.m. at the Lake Merritt Hotel in Oakland. 208-0220. www.fvlc.org 

Community Party and Open House with children’s activities at Vara Healing Arts, at 850 Talbot, at Solano, Albany. Cost is $4-$7. 526-9642. 

Bay Area Story Telling Festival Sat. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Grove Regional Recreation Area. Tickets are $7-$11 for individual events, $31-$55 for the weekend. 869-4969. www.bayareastroytelling.org 

Loose Leash Dog Walking, a training session on city manners from 11 a.m. to noon at RabbitEars, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Cost is $35. Reservations required. 525-6155. 

Walking for Prader-Willi Syndrome A fundraiser at 10:30 a.m. at Cesar Chavez Park, Berkeley Marina. Cost is $20 individual, $50 family. 800-400-9994. 

California Writers Club “Harnessing Your Dragons” to improve productivity and creativity with Jane Porter at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble, Jack London Square. 482-0265. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

Girlstock with music, art and stories from 2 to 10 p.m. at at 7 p.m. at Belladonna, 2436 Sacramento St. 883-0600. 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class in Disaster First Aid from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th. To sign up call 981-5605. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes 

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

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, MAY 22 

Himalayan Fair in Live Oak Park from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Himalayan arts, crafts, music and food. Cost is $8-$20. 869-3995. www.himalayanfair.net 

Albany Festival of the Arts from noon to 8 p.m. at Memorial Park, 1331 Portland Ave., with music, theater, dance and poetry. Free.  

First Annual Taste of El Cerrito with food, wine, coofee and tea tasting at 5 p.m. at the El Cerrito Community Center, Moeser Lane at Asbury Ave. Cost is $10-$20. 

Dynamite History Walk in Point Pinole at 10 a.m. to discover the park preserved by dynamite. 525-2233. 

World Social Forum Report Back by representatives of the National Lawyers’ Guild, WILPF, ReclaimDemocracy, and others at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship, 1924 Cedar St. Donation $5-$15.  

Music for People and Tingamajigs Concert An outdoor labyrinth of interactive instuments for the whole family from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $4-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Hands-On Bicycle Clinic from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Free. 527-4140. 

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800 or 883-9710. 

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 

“Insights Received While Producing a Multimedia Experience: Reflections on the Tao” with Mike Bukay, nature photographer, at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Pema Gellek and Lama Palzang on “The Buddha’s Enlightenment” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, MAY 23 

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.  

An Evening with Jon Carroll, SF Chronicle columnsit at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $18, benefits Heart’s Leap School. 925-798-1300.  

Berkeley High School Site Council meets at 4:30 p.m. in the school library. bhssitecouncil@berkeley.k12.ca.us  

Adaptive Reuse in Los Angeles: A Model for Recycling Oakland’s Heritage? with Hamid Behdad, Director of the Adaptive Reuse Program, City of Los Angeles, at 6 p.m. in the Oakland City Council Chambers, City Hall, 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Free and open to the public. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

“Got Stress?” A seminar on how to reduce it at 6:30 p.m. at Piedmont Ave. Branch Library, 160 41st St., Oakland. 597-5011. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

Philip Roth Book Club facilitated by Laura Bernell at 7:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 848-0237. www.brjcc.org 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

Adoption in Interfaith Jewish Families at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Richmond Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $10-$15. 839-2900, ext. 347. 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., May 17, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., May 18, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Katherine O’Connor, 981-6601. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/humane 

Commission on Aging meets Wed., May 18, at 1:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/aging 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., May 18, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., May 18, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/labor 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., May 19, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Prasanna Rasaih, 981-6950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/faircampaign 

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., May 19, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7000. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/transportation3

On the first of May we had the pleasure of dropping in at three homes on the Bringing Back the Natives garden tour which we learned about from Ron Sullivan’s article in these pages. This was not one of your elegant events featuring name architects and landscape designers which are staged, with pricey admission fees, for the benefit of good causes, though we’ve enjoyed some of those too. This one was more basic: just an outright public relations triumph designed to show anybody who’s interested what you can, yes, try at home. The three sites were in the Northeast Richmond flats, numbered streets not far from Barrett and San Pablo. The houses there are modest in scale, and the small gardens on flat city plots were designed and executed by the homeowners themselves. Showcasing native plants in luxuriant display, they demonstrated gardening with minimal water to attract butterflies and other wildlife to the city. That area is a fertile alluvial plain, better for gardening than hilltop view lots. Look at the web page bringingbackthenatives.net to get a glimpse of what they’re up to. 

I thought of these joyous gardens while reading Richard Brenneman’s article about the desire of some Oakland real estate interests to label areas in North Oakland and Temescal as “blighted” targets for redevelopment. The neighborhoods in question are not unlike the Richmond neighborhood where the native gardens are located: flat yards, small houses, nothing particularly fancy about many of them. But it’s possible for anyone with a bit of land to create personal paradises like the ones we saw on May 1, and in fact some in Oakland were on the tour.  

“Blight” is a relative term. One of the residents of the “blighted” area in Oakland is Denny Abrams, who created Berkeley’s spectacularly successful Fourth Street shopping area. I encountered him last Sunday at the jazz festival he sponsors every year for the benefit of Berkeley school music programs. He was fulminating about the stupidity embodied in redevelopment schemes over the years, and about this new one in particular. The Fourth Street area, in the wisdom of the people who controlled Berkeley in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, was slated to be leveled as part of a sterile industrial and office “park” which would have taken out much of West Berkeley.  

Public outcry over several years, often led by the activists who wrote Berkeley’s Landmark Preservation Ordinance and founded the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, saved the old Oceanview district, and Denny turned it into what is now the biggest producer of sales tax revenues in Berkeley. He said the city planners of the era thought Fourth Street would be a good site for an all-new racquetball club!  

Victory for the Berkeley Citizens Action slate was the new broom that put an end to these foolish plans. But it’s been hard to keep real estate speculators from setting off an endless barrage of bad ideas aimed at flatland neighborhoods with redevelopment as the weapon. Rising Bay Area home prices, even without redevelopment, already threaten the ability of average citizens to buy modest houses with room for a little garden in areas like North Oakland and Northeast Richmond. Yet it’s the existence of such homes in already developed cities that has prevented many people from migrating to former farmlands in areas like Fairfield and Tracy.  

The newest foolish fallacy that planners are trying to foist on city dwellers, akin to, and sometimes accompanied by, redevelopment, is the notion that it’s a good idea to build massive apartment buildings on major streets which happen to be right on top of viable existing urban neighborhoods. Adjacent city dwellers fear that their gardens will be robbed of sunlight by the shadow of these new buildings.  

And “affordable ownership” of a condo in a big box building, touted here by some recent correspondents, is a notoriously poor investment. Because big boxes are already overbuilt, rental vacancies are indeed up, and rents are down. Renters are better off continuing to rent and saving their money until they can afford to buy the small house with room for a little garden that they really want. Cities should not bail out speculators by helping them convert unappealing units to condos when rents drop. 

Continuing disappearance of space for urban community gardens is one more manifestation of short-sighted planning. To the avid redeveloper, vacant lots are more “blight.” But if the goal is to persuade people to go on living in cities, preserving room to garden should be a central strategy. Instead of being used to buy community garden space, however, redevelopment money is often used for pretentious and pointless street décor: fancy light standards, foolish banners and similar unusable money-wasters. 

Judging by the number of people who were at the meeting last week in North Oakland and their passionately negative speeches, redevelopment there may be an idea whose time has come and gone. Perhaps we don’t need to worry about it. But in case anyone in Oakland still thinks it might fly, local residents do seem to be ready to take the redevelopers on if they need to.  

—Becky O’Malley 

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Well, I think we can safely say that the fast-track canonization of John Paul II is a sure thing now. Not only has the new Pope waived the waiting period, but the requisite miracle has occurred. Anna DeLeon, the pride of Immaculate Heart High School, who has arm-wrestled for months or even years with developer Patrick Kennedy, has brought him to his knees. Anna’s Jazz Island bar opened on Saturday night in Kennedy’s Gaia Building. It is the heir to a long line of struggles and failures by wanna-be impresarios who didn’t have the muscle to collect on Kennedy’s promise to devote the first floor of the building to some cultural use in return for an extra story or two of student apartments upstairs. What Anna brought to the party that earlier would-be tenants lacked: (1) a law degree from Boalt, a good match for Kennedy’s Ivy League law degree; (2) extremely good political connections from years of swimming in leftish waters; (3) quick wits; (4) incredible tenacity and general chutzpah.  

The struggle over the Gaia Building and the “cultural bonus” it received dates back to before the turn of this millennium. In the beginning, there was a controversy about whether the City of Berkeley should allow Kennedy to demolish a historic stable building, on the site from the turn of the last century, without doing a CEQA-mandated environmental impact report. I myself, when I was young and foolish, believed that I had Kennedy dead to rights over that one. He must have thought my threatened EIR lawsuit had some merit, because he agreed to donate several thousand dollars to an architectural history organization if I would drop it, which I did. The city planner who approved the city’s deal over the Gaia departed soon thereafter, and current planners have been heard to say that it never should have happened, but it did.  

The subsequent history—how nothing materialized to justify the cultural bonus for years—is a saga in itself. The building’s name, for those of you who are new to town, derives from the earth-mother in Greek mythology, a somewhat obscure reference for a building that looks like a cross between a Las Vegas casino and Turkish baths. The eco-feminist Gaia Bookstore, the putative original cultural tenant, went belly-up before it moved in. Then the Shotgun Players tried to turn the cramped and cave-like first floor space into a theater, but the project faltered when they couldn’t pay for finishing it out to code. 

Anna, a veteran of many rent control struggles, concocted a tight lease which says that she didn’t have to pay rent until 90 days after she moved in. At least, that’s the way she reads it. Evidently there was, shall we say, some difference of opinion about what it means, but her theory has prevailed. She’s in, hasn’t paid a cent of rent, and won’t have to until after the end of the summer slow season. 

The club takes advantage of the low ceilings, with a décor described by a mutual friend as reminiscent of New York’s Hotel Carlyle. Actually, it’s more The Carlyle Goes Hawaiian, thanks to an assortment of almost-real palm trees acquired at the Planet Hollywood auction. Ceiling conduits are disguised by paint; there’s a string of faux-grass-skirt tinsel over the bar. Originally the space lacked bathrooms (a real minus for a watering hole), but after some tough talking they’re in—down the hall and decorated in Early Gymnasium white tile and fluorescent lights, but in. There’s even a mop sink somewhere (I didn’t see it), the last detail required by code before occupancy. It materialized in a hurry when Mayor Bates wanted to schedule an event in the space a few weeks ago. 

The politicos, including Bates and his lovely Assemblymember, were out in force at Saturday’s opening. The Bates-Hancocks came in about 9:30 p.m. with their friends the Wozniaks. (Evie Wozniak, Gordon’s wife, was once Loni Hancock’s appointment secretary. Small world, isn’t it?) From the progressive end of the dais, new councilmember Max Anderson was there. Peralta Community College District Trustee Alona Clifton was front and center.  

And of course, the jazz artists were in attendance, hoping that the club would be a real venue, a source of gigs to come. The Legendary Miss Faye Carol, Berkeley’s blues and jazz queen, was there, as was equally legendary hard bop saxophonist Hal Stein, who sometimes plays at Downtown, the chi-chi restaurant in a restored historic building on Shattuck. 

At the party I chatted with the Planet’s neighbor Fernando A. Torres of La Peña, the cultural center which has survived for 30 years. He’s an original member of the collective which runs La Peña, and the publicity coordinator for its varied menu of events. He said that there had been some effort to persuade La Peña to move downtown, but that they’d decided to stay where they are now. He wasn’t enthusiastic about the concept of relegating the arts to a small designated downtown “arts district,” preferring to stay close to the audience in our lively South Shattuck neighborhood (also home of the Starry Plough and of Anna’s first club.). “Now we’ve got the Ashby Arts district,” he said enthusiastically. The Shotgun Players have bought the Ashby Stage theater, and more is happening there all the time without any “cultural bonuses” for developers.  

Can Anna’s turn sluggish downtown Berkeley into a real late-night music destination? Maybe. We’ll see what happens when she starts paying rent and construction begins on the next door Oxford parking lot, where we parked with some difficulty on Saturday. We wish her well.