Last Friday we found ourselves in Oakland at lunch time, in fact in the Old Oakland area near Ninth and Broadway where the Friday Farmers’ Market is held. Every farmers’ market has its own personality. -more-
It’s been an established tradition on these opinion pages that we print almost everything we get that’s borderline literate. We accommodate even those correspondents who are spelling or grammar challenged, bringing their output up to normal print standards for the pleasure of our readers. We do have a few correspondents who, though literate enough, are so obsessed with one topic that they run the risk of boring the audience to death. -more-
Last summer in these pages John Gertz complained that the “old” Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission was “setting Berkeley’s citizens against one another by condemning one side alone.” He reassured us that the “newer members are unlikely to support anti-Israel resolutions. But neither are they inclined to put forth pro-Israel or anti-Palestinian resolutions. [T]hey are waging a peace campaign—they want peace to return to Berkeley on this issue.” (Daily Planet, July 29, 2005) Now he is suggesting that that same commission, as well as the City Council, “should call the Palestinians to task” for electing Hamas. -more-
On April 18 the Berkeley City Council seems set to pass a new sewer lateral ordinance. This ordinance requires the inspection and repair (as necessary) of sewer laterals to private property at the time of sale or in conjunction with a general property improvement valued at $100,000 or more or plumbing-related improvements valued at $50,000 or more. The inspections and repairs will be done privately, but they will be overseen by City of Berkeley staff at a cost to property owners for the oversight and necessary permits of several hundred dollars. Over the next 20 or so years, the value of these required repairs is estimated to be in the range of $1 million. -more-
I thought about writing this op-ed last summer when Reverend Pat Robertson said that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez should be “taken out,” but I decided to pass on the opportunity. I figured people were making too big a fuss over that. Surely, being a man of the cloth, Robertson had no malicious intent. He’s a good Christian, so when he talked about “taking out” Hugo Chavez, I’m sure he meant taking him out to dinner or something like that, possibly a movie as well, and walking him home after the movie, and then.... Well, we all know that Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor.” -more-
What a sad day. I returned my library book at my local branch, picked up the book I had reserved, and checked it out—all without speaking to a soul, much less a wise librarian. -more-
Steven Donaldson’s commentary piece in this paper (“West Berkeley Bowl: Community Needs vs. Power of the Wealthy”) has unfortunately lowered the discourse on an important community issue through unnecessary personal attack, name calling, and by portraying misinformation and innuendo as truth. We feel it is necessary to offer objective information so that Berkeley citizens are able to make an informed decision. Mr. Donaldson asserts that those expressing their opinions and concerns about the Bowl (which he terms opposition) are “a small cadre of political ideologues” who are “ignoring the needs of the neighborhood, do not care about the working families of the neighborhood,” and are “funded by someone living in the Berkeley hills.” -more-
Although I can appreciate James K. Sayre’s concern over avian mortality resulting from wind turbines, I feel compelled to clarify several assertions made in his recent commentary, “Wind Turbines Will Kill Birds and Bats” (Daily Planet April 4). -more-
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