The little red wagons have been swapped for grown-up soft coolers (still red), wagon operators have been replaced by food runners about twice as tall, and food portions are slightly larger, but everything else is about the same: Alternative High School students are receiving a free morning meal. -more-
The Oakland City Council took its first formal look at the massive Oak Street to Ninth Street waterfront development project Tuesday night, hearing presentations both from the developers themselves and an overflow crowd of organizations and Oakland resi dents that spilled over into two downstairs hearing rooms at City Hall. -more-
Berkeley police arrested two suspects in the Saturday night murder of a father who was shot after he took a gun away from a party goer in his Prince Street home. -more-
After almost five years of struggle between management and workers, peace has finally descended on the majestic Claremont Resort & Spa. -more-
A cautious Peralta Board of Trustees gave Chancellor Elihu Harris limited authority to explore the administrative takeover of the troubled Compton Community College District, but only after inserting language giving the board a greater say in the outcome. -more-
Oakland Police responding to a report of a car crash on Brookdale Avenue at 9:05 p.m. Tuesday found a 40-year-old Berkeley woman suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. -more-
Further tests are needed to determine just what killed a Berkeley man whose body was discovered in a burning car near his home at 1900 El Dorado Ave. early Friday morning. -more-
What’s that old saying? There’s no such thing as a free, uh, wind turbine. -more-
Oakland teachers will hold a one-day strike April 20 if contract talks fail to lead to a settlement, the union announced yesterday. -more-
Explaining why he wants to run for mayor, Richard Berkeley paraphrased Emiliano Zapata: “The only reason to take power is to give it back to the people,” he said. -more-
The downpour didn’t stop some 30 people from searching for “sunshine”—open, accessible government—at a community meeting in City Hall Monday evening. -more-
There is simply nothing like a freshly harvested homegrown vegetable for flavor. That easiest of all vegetables to grow, the humble radish, is absolutely at its tastiest best when pulled from the ground in spring, given a good scrub under the kitchen tap, and eaten then and there. Pungent, crisp, it is the very essence of spring. -more-
On March 15, Berkeley police seized 120 pounds of dried marijuana, more than 5,000 plants, $120,000 cash and several weapons from a growing outfit headquartered at 809 Allston Way in West Berkeley. -more-
A South Berkeley birthday party for a 15-year-old turned lethal Saturday night after the host tried to relieve a heavily tattooed man of a black pistol. -more-
A Berkeley cinema staple for 35 years has closed. -more-
The state chancellor of the California Community College system has asked the Peralta Colleges to become the administrative agent for Compton Community College in an effort to keep the troubled, 6,600-student Southern California school from being disbanded on June 30 because of loss of accreditation. -more-
Richmond’s getting ready to take the Plunge. -more-
The ongoing saga of the Gaia Building took a new turn Thursday night when members of the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) voted to reopen the thorny issue of culture. -more-
The Zoning Adjustments Board voted to declare Black & White Liquors a public nuisance Thursday after attempts at a compromise were torpedoed by state law and city code. -more-
Berkeley’s public schools are ranking higher than ever in the Academic Performance Index when compared with similar schools, according to data released Wednesday. -more-
Calling for peace in Iraq and denouncing federal legislation that would criminalize undocumented U.S. residents, the 27-day Latino March for Peace from Tijuana to San Francisco took a detour through Oakland Monday morning. -more-
Candida Martinez, booking agent for the Shattuck Down Low, stood in the drizzle Friday evening watching the picketers in downtown Berkeley and remarked on the irony that women opposing sexual slavery would demonstrate against Girl Fest, another organization fighting sexual exploitation of women. -more-
Depending on your political leanings, you may be exceedingly glad—or plumb horrified—to learn your child is maladjusted. -more-
Hispanic media report that hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters are marching in cities across the country on behalf of immigrant rights. -more-
The Berkeley Police Department addressed growing concerns related to teen parties in Berkeley at the Northbrae Church Community Center last Thursday, two days before a teenage party in the city ended in the death of one of the parents. -more-
San Francisco was the site of a “reverse rebellion” last weekend. -more-
Last week I pulled an unopened box of shredded wheat off the top shelf in our pantry to offer to grandchildren, and happened to notice that its “sell by” date was 2003. That’s how long it’s been since I visited that shelf, and, not coincidentally, that’s how long we’ve been running this paper. Many things in our lives stopped when this enterprise started. The relentless pressure of twice-weekly deadlines, coupled with the never-ending minutiae of running an understaffed small business, leaves little time for frivolous entertainments like eating shredded wheat. -more-
It’s been three years since the United States invaded Iraq, so the press this month has been full of reminiscences tempered by a pinch of self-doubt. Some of the many high-visibility commentators, both press and politicians, who were dead wrong about what was going on have acknowledged that they were duped by the official story, but many have not. The Daily Planet was in the process of re-inventing itself that same month three years ago, and we’re proud to say we’ve been aware of how bogus this invasion was from our first day, and have told our readers about it (not that many of them were fooled anyhow.) -more-
It’s business as usual with the Ashby BART “development.” In a recent move by Ed Church and the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation (SBNDC), SBNDC is now going to choose a team of people who will represent all of South Berkeley to the City Council in a process to hire a developer for the Ashby BART site. And this before we have had one conversation as a community about what we want regarding the Ashby BART station. -more-
Write on behalf of some landmark preservation dispute and people roll their eyes over how the preservationists have just gone too far, pushed too hard, and need a more balanced perspective. -more-
Who could oppose something as apple pie as a baseball facility? Anybody, as long as the impacts and costs are too severe. -more-
The approval of the West Berkeley Bowl has turned into an absurd saga, strung out over two years by a hand full of people with the money and time to use the system for their own personal agendas completely ignoring the needs of the local community. It’s the power of the moneyed few over the working families of West Berkeley. -more-
The prospect of rebuilding the gutted neighborhood at the Ashby BART station brings fresh awareness of older problems in our area. For the new life to take root and grow we have to dig out the gravel in the garden that is stunting the existing growth. Every gardener knows this is where the real work is. It is an essential effort that will enable the whole place to thrive. -more-
When Bush Jr. first launched the Iraq war three years ago, I published an article titled “War Programming,” which took him to task for the timing of it.” I argued: -more-
U.S. Secretary Of State Condoleeza Rice’s recent visit to Jakarta was the concluding act in the Bush administration’s five-year drive to whitewash the Indonesian military’s sordid past, green light Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua, and forge another l ink in Washington’s plan to ring China with U.S. military bases and allies. -more-
My grandfather Ellis was a dreamer, a visionary who always had more ideas and plans carried around in his pockets than he had room in his life to complete. The house he and my grandmother once had off of Seminary Avenue in East Oakland was full of his projects—gardens and sheds and walkways—in various stages of completion and uncompletion. Once, he decided he wanted to add an upstairs bedroom to the house and immediately began to build it, starting with an outside staircase. The staircase was completed and then my grandfather got distracted by other things, so that for the longest it hung there on the side of the house by itself, a stairway to noplace. -more-
The following is an excerpt from Richard Schwartz’s Earthquake Exodus, 1906: Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees. The Daily Planet will run two more excerpts in the coming weeks. -more-
If you’re a fan of Bob Dylan, you’ll remember his anti-boxing song, “Who Killed Davey Moore?” This song ponders the death of world featherweight champion Moore, who died of head injuries incurred in a bout on March 21, 1963. -more-
I told my parents not to see the movie Brokeback Mountain. “You won’t like it,” I said. -more-
I’ve never heard anyone call Jews lovable. The Irish are lovable, and the Italians. The French are admired for their savoir faire, the English for their gentility—still, “some of my best friends are Jews.” -more-
“I get goosebumps listening to that music,” Howard Wiley said. “Anything you do that gives you goosebumps—that experience is good.” -more-
The Jazz House, homeless this past year and a half since losing their lease on Adeline Street, is coming back to Berkeley tonight (Friday) at 8 p.m. with a show by young Finnish drummer Andre Sumelius, with his countryman, saxophonist Jussi Kannaste, and bassist John Shifflett, at Da Silva’s Ukelele Shop, 2547 Eighth St., co-produced by Berkeley Arts Festival. Sumelius won the Finnish Grammy for his 2001 album Kira. -more-
Jacques Demy has taken a lot of hits over the years. He was a man who attempted to make movies for everyone, yet he was never what people wanted him to be. He wasn’t political enough, wasn’t edgy enough, wasn’t rebellious enough. -more-
The following is an excerpt from Richard Schwartz’s Earthquake Exodus, 1906: Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees. The Daily Planet will run two more excerpts in the coming weeks. -more-
Over the years I’ve probably been asked how I inspect a house or what am I looking for at least a thousand times. It’s a valid question. I guess it’s like saying “How do you inspect a square kilometer of desert?” -more-
Persistent readers may have noticed, in this and other writings in this and other publications (I refer specifically to my every-other-Tuesday back page column on the trees of Berkeley in the Daily Planet), that I have definite opinions and strong feelings about, of all things, the treatment of trees. -more-
“We’re free and clear, Willy. Did you hear me? Free and clear!” -more-
The Bush-Cheney regime may represent a radical break with this nation’s traditions in many areas, but in making torture a central weapon in its “war on terror,” the current administration is simply building on a body of theory and practice that goes back more than half a century. -more-
Frederick Crews’ latest book, Follies of the Wise: Dissenting Essays, will be published next week by Shoemaker & Hoard. -more-
In the 1950s, Albert Camus famously wrote, “There is but one truly philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” -more-
When Europeans came to the Berkeley area in 1772 they encountered the Native Americans known today as the Ohlones. Anthropologists speculate that several waves of immigration preceded them, and linguistic evidence suggests that they arrived here around 500 A.D. -more-
A couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail message from Susan Schwartz, president of Friends of Five Creeks, about a recent sighting: two pairs of steelhead that had followed Codornices Creek in from the Bay, as far upstream as Masonic Avenue, where they appeared to be attempting to spawn. -more-
