The two sides in a battle over a proposed movie cineplex and multi-story parking garage project in downtown Alameda both agree that more parking is needed in the city’s downtown area, and the 77-year-old Alameda Theater should be restored. They just don’t agree that the $23.7 million Historic Alameda Theater Rehabilitation Project is the way to do it. -more-
Released from jail and with no charges pending against him, the 56-year-old Oakland man accused in the 1970 shooting death of a Berkeley police officer continued to insist on his innocence in a telephone interview with the Daily Planet and protested his treatment at the hands of Berkeley police. -more-
The shooting death of Berkeley Police officer Ron Tsukamoto in August 1970 occurred during a period of tense confrontation between left-leaning community and political organizations and law enforcement agencies in Berkeley and the Bay Area, as chronicled in the pages of the Berkeley Daily Gazette. -more-
KPFA’s Local Station Board voted overwhelmingly Sunday to retain General Manager Roy Campanella II despite a complaint filed by eight female station workers charging him with sexual harassment. -more-
Waist-deep in the big muddy, Berkeley’s Creeks Task Force (CTF) is slogging ahead with its efforts to come up with a new framework to address a highly turbulent issue. -more-
City officials are considering Berkeley Iceland’s proposal to stay open while the embattled ice rink upgrades its antiquated cooling system. -more-
Bayer Corp. is considering laying off 54 janitors at its Berkeley facility. The jobs would be contracted out to a firm that pays its employees nearly half what current Bayer janitors make, according to union officials. -more-
The Berkeley Unified School District moved quickly to fill the gap left by the resignation of outgoing Deputy Superintendent Glenston Thompson, bringing back the man Thompson himself replaced a year ago. -more-
Two subcommittees of the Landmarks Preservation Commission will meet with two developers at the site of their projects, each one involving a structure under the commission’s jurisdiction. -more-
The story, “Waterfront Development Frays Albany Council” in the Aug. 12 issue incorrectly reported that Albany City Councilmember Allan Maris accused his council colleague Robert Lieber of “lying to the press.” Although he did accuse Lieber of authoring e-mails distorting Maris’s positions, it was Albany resident Steve Pinto whom he accused of making false statements in a letter to a local newspaper. The story also incorrectly reported that Matt Middlebrook is a top executive at the public relations firm of Fleischmann-Hilliard. Middlebrook has left that company to become vice president of government relations for Caruso Affiliated Holdings.? -more-
Since the London bombing attacks, Arab writers have expressed amazement that for two decades the British government looked the other way as Islamist extremists preached hate-filled jihadi ideologies in city mosques. Now, several Arab commentators insist that Downing Street must have made a deal with London’s radical Islamists: They could say what they wanted about Jews, the corrupt West and Iraq, as long as they didn’t attack the United Kingdom at home. -more-
http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Work -more-
One of my treasured mementos is a yellowing copy of the December 1971 issue of a Berkeley community newspaper called New Morning. Laid out like a tabloid, its 12 pages radiate the freewheeling exuberance of this city’s political counterculture some 30 years past. The pervasive tone is sounded by the comic book-style narrative that occupies most of the front page. “Friends,” it begins, “this is a lesson in dialectics called OM is MAO spelled backwards.” -more-
I hadn’t seen the Scrabblettes in several weeks. Everyone was busy so we postponed lunch and playing Scrabble together until Pearl got back from barging in France and Rose returned from ferrying among Washington’s San Juan Islands. Louise stayed home but that didn’t mean she wasn’t otherwise engaged. There was gardening to do, plays and movies to see, friends to visit, and a trip down memory lane to West Oakland with her mother. -more-
The Live Oak Codornices Neighborhood Association (LOCCNA) has heated up its war against the members of Congregation Beth El, using misleading signs and Daily Planet letters to spread misinformation. The underlying myth that this group continually promulgates is that Congregation Beth El is moving into a new neighborhood. -more-
As a former resident of Berkeley, I and many of my friends, also Cal graduates now living in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, enjoy reading the Daily Planet online. So it was especially disheartening to read the past several issues of the Planet, and the outrageously racist, anti-Jewish and anti-Arab comments made by numerous letter writers. -more-
On behalf of the West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs, I would like to respond to Matthew Artz’s Aug. 5 article, “City, Pacific Steel Will Study Noxious West Berkeley Odor,” and to Tom McGuire’s Aug. 9 letter to the editor about Pacific Steel’s “daily emissions of toxic effluvia,” as Mr. McGuire eloquently puts it. The West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs builds on the more than 25-year history of community action regarding Pacific Steel Casting Company’s pollution. We are everyday people in Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito and Kensington concerned about the quality of life, the impact on workers at Pacific Steel and other local businesses, the risk to children in nearby childcare centers and schools, the risks to pregnant women and their unborn, the risk to elders and those with compromised immune systems, and the danger to the environment. -more-
Call me stolen-elections-hypersensitive (see 2000, then 2004) but something happened last week that perked up my vote fraud antenna and makes me wonder why no one else I know of has picked up on it. -more-
“A Celebration of Latin Jazz” begins Thursday and runs through the weekend. This year’s festival will feature jazz and film, poetry, dance and food celebrating Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian music and culture. -more-
Don’t panic, folks. Those trees aren’t dying. -more-
The Berkeley Bowl signed a two-year contract with its workers Sunday, ending a divisive labor standoff at the popular supermarket. -more-
One day after Berkeley police arrested a retired Oakland high school teacher for the 1970 murder of a Berkeley policeman, the Alameda County district attorney’s office refused to press charges. -more-
No criminal charges have yet been filed against a Berkeley man arrested three weeks ago after police and firefighters discovered a massive cache of firearms and an indoor marijuana-growing operation in his apartment above an Adeline Street liquor store. -more-
When the Albany City Council adjourned around midnight Monday, most councilmembers stayed around to chat, but Robert Lieber headed straight for the door. -more-
Berkeley Landmarks Preservation commissioners raised new questions about the fate of a vacant West Berkeley warehouse Monday night, which is potentially bad news for developers. -more-
The first stages of construction on what was once called the Seagate Building will begin Monday, said project developer Darrell de Tienne. -more-
Summertime provides school teachers with an opportunity that most professionals don’t have—three months to do whatever they want. -more-
Eight female KPFA employees filed sexual harassment complaints against station General Manager Roy Campanella II Thursday, alleging that Campanella asked them out on dates and retaliated against employees who refused his advances. -more-
Though the shaky accreditation status of the Alta Bates-Summit hospitals has been upgraded one level, the hospitals have a lot to do before they can win a clean bill of health. -more-
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has authorized complaints against Alta Bates hospitals charging that they illegally locked out workers following a one-day strike. -more-
A plan to eliminate two traffic lanes on Marin Avenue has been delayed until early October because Albany couldn’t find a single contractor to both re-stripe the street and make needed repairs to the asphalt. -more-
The Berkeley Public Library main branch is planning to open again on Sunday afternoons starting at the end of September, Library Director Jackie Griffin told the Daily Planet in a phone interview. -more-
Looking to reduce what the Alameda County Office of Education has called the “antipathy” between public charter schools and public school districts, two Berkeley-based educators have organized a cooperative public and charter school fair this weekend in Emeryville for representatives of both types of schools to present their programs to prospective students. -more-
Berkeley Unified School District Deputy Superintendent Glenston Thompson has voluntarily left his job with the district after one year to return to the private sector. His last day was Aug. 3. -more-
While rising student fees and allocations from the state budget get the bulk of attention at meetings of the University of California Board of Regents, some of the real work of UC financing will be going on next week when the UC Regents’ Committee on Investments and Investment Advisory Committee meet to discuss the management of the university’s portfolio. -more-
http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Work -more-
Since my last column concerning the tragic death of Meleia Willis-Starbuck, I have been feeling a heaviness in my heart as I make my way around Berkeley watching teenagers on street corners laughing, loud talking, play fighting—wondering who might be next. I worry about my teenage daughter walking around at night with her friends. “We’re just going to Anna’s house/to Mel’s/to the movies/up on Telegraph/to the “Y”/to the park/around the corner—Chill out, Mom! You worry too much. I can take care of myself. Besides, it’s my life, not yours.” -more-
They held two open-air, free music concerts at Arroyo Viejo Park near 77th and Bancroft in Oakland this month, and if your first thought was “Why didn’t I hear about any violence?” that tells more about the public perception of the East Oakland flatlands than it does about the reality. -more-
On Aug. 14, 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, so this Aug. 14, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of Social Security, a program that has dramatically cut the poverty rate for seniors and today provides a guaranteed income for over 48 million retirees, families of workers who have died, and disabled people. -more-
With U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, as North Korea boast about nuclear weapons, it’s amazing our elected officials appoint Peace and Justice commissioners opposed to bringing the troops home and creating a federal peace department. -more-
Known around the world for alternative thinking, tolerance, magnificent beauty, a great university and birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, Berkeley residents have much to be proud of. -more-
Regarding the Aug. 5 commentary “Little Rock Redux” by Katherine Haynes Sanstad, this is an open letter to Beth El congregants and sons of Ms. Haynes Sanstad. -more-
The San Francisco Mime Troupe returns to the East Bay this weekend for a series of free shows, starting this weekend with a couple of performances in Willard Park/Ho Chi Minh. -more-
Cindy Sheehan has finally managed to capture the imagination of the nation and of the world. Those of us in northern California have been aware of her campaign against the war in Iraq for more than a year. Members of Military Families Speak Out, including Cindy Sheehan, spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Berkeley in July of 2004, but it’s taken a while for the national media to process their message. This has historically been the case for ideas and movements originating outside of the New York-Washington corridor. -more-
The Greek slave Aesop told the story of a shepherd boy watching his flock in the hills above town who repeatedly called for help from fellow villagers, saying a wolf was about to attack the sheep. Each time he called, neighbors came, only to find that nothing was happening. Then one day a wolf did come, and the boy cried out for help again. But this time the villagers thought his cries of “wolf, wolf” were false, as before, so they didn’t come, and the wolf devoured the flock. -more-
