(No charges were filed and the City of Berkeley paid some claimed damages -- See The Berkeley Daily Planet, November 11, 2005.) -more-
Two weeks after signing a landmark deal with UC, the City Council returned Tuesday to a Bronx cheer. Two or three dozen neighborhood activists, along with a few politicians, filled out the council chambers to slam the deal they see as a sell-out to UC Be rkeley. -more-
Although they live at what city officials believe to be one of Berkeley’s most harrowing intersections—at least for pedestrians and cyclists—residents around Hillegass and Ashby avenues are fighting a proposed traffic light at the spot. -more-
As a phalanx of registered nurses paraded outside the Watergate Office Tower in Emeryville Tuesday, inside a delegation of officials from the California Nurses Association confronted one of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s major fundraisers. -more-
For 27 years, Nat Courtney and Frank Alvarez, former classmates at St. Mary’s High School, fixed cars at Jim Doten Honda. Wednesday they were among 24 current and former technicians picketing outside the dealership accusing the new ownership of union busting. -more-
Four decades after it was abandoned and nearly a century after it was built, a landmarked former grocery store is back in business—this time as housing. -more-
Congress dealt medical marijuana users their second blow in as many weeks Wednesday, defeating a proposal that would have barred the Justice Department from prosecuting medical pot growers and users in states with medical pot laws. -more-
Two East Bay street fairs celebrating local and national history and showcasing regional artists, musicians, and businesses are taking place this weekend. -more-
Almost a quarter century ago, HIV attacked John Iversen—but it didn’t knock him out. Already a seasoned activist for social justice, Iversen kicked back with a vengeance. -more-
The issue of fiscal oversight continued to provide the major heat at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Peralta Community Colleges Board of Trustees, this time with one of the more veteran board members lighting the fire. -more-
http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Work -more-
Jefferson, Washington, Longfellow, Emerson, Malcolm X—how much do our school children really know about any of these famous figures? Have they memorized any of Emerson’s poems? Can they quote Longfellow? Everyone is familiar with the “I Have A Dream” spe ech, but are our kids learning about Martin Luther King’s stance against the Vietnam war or the common ground he shared with Malcolm X? And speaking of Malcolm, have our students ever actually listened to his powerful oratory in their classes? Have they d iscussed the reasons for his rage or how his perspective shifted after his pilgrimage to Mecca? How meaningful are any of these school names? -more-
In an Internet discussion that followed one of my columns on Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown’s recent proposed “arrest the sideshow spectators” ordinance, one observer called my views on the subject “shameless nonsense” and “callous, illogical and overly fixated on Jerry Brown. …The inability to see the trauma inflicted on neighborhoods by this kind of criminal activity [the sideshows] tells me that Jesse must be so anti-Jerry Brown that he can’t think straight. If the mayor were to suddenly become in favor of legalizing sideshows, Jesse Douglas Allen-Taylor would probably be his biggest critic.” -more-
Flames seared several acres of the Albany Bulb Tuesday evening before crews from the East Bay Regional Parks District were able to bring them under control. -more-
An article on the settlement of the Berkeley High expulsion discrimination lawsuit in the June 7-9 issue misidentified Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action. S -more-
On May 9, over 200 residents filled the North Oakland Senior Center for a meeting called by the city’s Redevelopment Agency on expanding the existing MacArthur/ Broadway/San Pablo Redevelopment Area north to the Berkeley border so as to abate the “blight”. -more-
The City of Berkeley recently entered into a settlement with the University of California regarding the 2020 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). In the aftermath of this agreement, there have been many opinions expressed on this issue. As someone actively involved in the LRDP process, I wanted to offer my perspective on the settlement and the impact that it will have on the future of Berkeley. -more-
I live in North Berkeley near Hopkins street. I observed Berkeley Unified School District personages cleaning up and repairing a school yard at Hopkins and Josephine street over the Memorial Day weekend. I commend them on their efforts to work both Saturday and Sunday of this weekend, but question some of their actions. -more-
In a lowdown cellar bar, a bartender, bleary-eyed and mumbling in German, slams on the lights and opens the heavy iron door for a piano player, who’s just come down the stairs and rapped. Not a word’s spoken as the pianist sits on the piano bench and looks long at the bartender, hunched over in a chair, then wielding a pushbroom, finally opening the door as two younger men pile downstairs. -more-
Being a condemned prisoner, I’m viewed among the least able to qualify as a promoter of redemption and of peace. But the most wretched among society can be redeemed, and find peace, and reach out to others to lift them up. Real redemption cannot be faked or intellectualized. It must be subjective: experienced, then shared. -more-
Early morning on Ocean View Boulevard is peaceful but not solitary. It’s a wonderful time to be out. The salt tinged air is fresh and the turquoise waves crash along the rock-crusted shore of Monterey Bay. Distinctive tapping draws my attention to an already busy sea otter, using the rock on his chest to open a breakfast mollusk. Nearby two more otters swim in tandem, like friends chatting and planning their day. Walkers and their dogs greet me with smiles and “Good morning.” A group of surfers, both young and old, listen to rock music from a truck radio, gearing up to ride the waves. We’re all savoring this beautiful coastal path as we begin our day in Pacific Grove. -more-
The latest addition to Berkeley’s growing “popup” house collection got the go-ahead from Zoning Adjustments Board members Thursday despite nearly unanimous neighborhood opposition. -more-
The City Council will yet again Tuesday be asked to weigh in on the fate of 11 artisans refusing to leave their homes at an illegal live-work West Berkeley warehouse. -more-
With a proposed tax increase on wealthy Californians no longer in play and a comprehensive education plan by legislative Democrats yet to be released, education leaders are divided on what concrete commitments they actually have from State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata on education funding. -more-
Several Berkeley residents living near the railroad have a message for train conductors who blast past their homes night and day: “Don’t blow your horn.” -more-
The Zoning Adjustments Board’s decision Thursday to approve a use permit for remodeling the recently landmarked monolithic block building at 2750 Adeline St. marked the end of an era for South Berkeley. -more-
Picketers gathered outside the main gate of UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station (RFS) Monday morning—but unlike other protests there, this one wasn’t directed at the toxins polluting the site. -more-
The longtime manager of the Berkeley Community Theater has reportedly been placed on administrative leave, but because the Berkeley Unified School District will not comment on the reported action or even confirm it, there is no official word as to how long the leave may last, and what might be the cause. -more-
BERLIN—Berlin’s annual Turkish-European Street Festival tries to bring a dose of Near-Eastern culture to a stubbornly white European town. You can buy kafta and börek in the booths and pretend, for one afternoon, that the “Strasse des 17. Juni” is a boulevard in Istanbul. But this year, in the wake of three decisive elections in Europe—two defeats for the E.U. constitution, plus a regional victory for the German right—the street fair’s motto, “We Are Europeans,” had a forced multicultural spirit that not even the festival-goers believed. -more-
Peralta Community College Trustees will consider the growing cost of building the new Vista College this week -more-
For one neighborhood in North Oakland the national battle over abortion has been delivered to their mail boxes. -more-
If would-be developers and neighborhood activists find the inclusionary and density bonuses hard to understand, they’re not alone. -more-
Proud traces of Berkeley’s building and construction trades abound in a little-known niche of the urban environment: our sidewalks. -more-
http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Work -more-
In a March article in The New Republic, Robert Reich bemoaned the failure of Democrats to control four essential American stories. Two of these are myths with hopeful themes, “the triumphant individual” and “the benevolent community.” The other two portray powerful images of fear, “rot at the top” and “the mob at the gates.” The latter describes how, “the United States is a beacon of virtue in a world of darkness, uniquely blessed but continuously endangered by foreign menaces.” Reich observed that after 9/11 the Bush administration skillfully turned this metaphor to their advantage: al Qaeda became the barbarians at the gates, heathens preparing to pillage the American heartland. -more-
Almost a year ago, a Kaiser Permanente medical equipment contractor suggested that Ralph use a device other than a head array to control his wheelchair. The head array uses an infrared beam and somehow, when Ralph moves his head in various directions, his wheelchair slides in and out of a variety of gears: forward, backward, up, and down. It is a miracle in modern technology that doesn’t often work as it should. -more-
Appended to the Berkeley Public Library June 8 Action Calendar memo to the Board of Library Trustees from the director of Library Services, Subject: Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Adoption is a “Service View-Adult Services Fiscal Year 2005 Summary.” The second bulleted item consists of the following in toto: -more-
Suddenly the proposal to change the name of Berkeley’s Jefferson School because Thomas Jefferson was a slaveholder is at full boil. First broached over a year ago, the idea seems to have lain fallow until about a month ago. In a very short time the process for deciding the question has leapt forward with virtually breakneck velocity. -more-
A white divan (modern) backed by tiers of screens on which multiple images of a camel are projected: This is the simple set on the Ashby Stage on which the Shotgun Players’ production of Arabian Night will spin a tangled web. -more-
What caught my eye was the color contrast: something bright red crawling along the green garden hose. It was a creature I had never seen before, a thumbnail-sized spider with a black cephalothorax and a red abdomen, a huge pair of forward-facing eyes, an d a glint of green about its mouthparts. Distracted from watering, I followed it around the lawn as it maneuvered through the grass blades, following one to near its tip where it suddenly pounced on something small, brown, and shiny. -more-
Today my 3-year-old granddaughter will enjoy what she calls “gradulation.” This is the little party at her home day care center for which the teacher bakes cupcakes to mark the departure of the four oldest children for “real” pre-schools. Even though it’s a small group, only about 10 kids, most of whom are too young to talk much, she’s taking it very seriously, insisting on wearing the elaborate tulle ballerina dress which a cousin gave her to the party. She’s been ready to move on for a long time now. Ever since she was 2 and a half, she’s told people that she was 3, stamping her little foot and furrowing her tiny brow if anyone dared to contradict her. -more-
Monday’s voice mail carried a request that the Daily Planet print the full text of the rejected European constitution, as a follow-up to the Pacific News Service analysis we printed last week. E-mail transmitted a suggestion that we reprint the full text of the agreement between UC Berkeley and the City of Berkeley. Unfortunately, our page count, which is determined by the amount of advertising we have for each issue, doesn’t allow us such luxuries, though we can and will make such documents available to our readers on the Internet via either links or full texts. -more-
