Country Joe McDonald led celebrants in a chorus of the “Hokey Oaky” Saturday, his own version of the venerable children’s song with the words tweaked to support the tree-sitters protesting the removal of coast live oaks from a campus grove. Photograph by Richard Brenneman.
Country Joe McDonald led celebrants in a chorus of the “Hokey Oaky” Saturday, his own version of the venerable children’s song with the words tweaked to support the tree-sitters protesting the removal of coast live oaks from a campus grove. Photograph by Richard Brenneman.

Page One

Cheerful Crowd Celebrates Stadium Grove Tree-Sitters

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Though the thermometer hovered in the upper 40s and seemed even cooler beneath a mantle of oak leaves and an overcast sky, the crowd that gathered near Memorial Stadium Saturday was anything but cold. -more-



Zoning Board Approves Trader Joe’s Building, Project Foes Planning Lawsuit

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Rejecting the pleas of angry neighbors and threats of a lawsuit, the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) voted 5-3 early Friday to approve the “Trader Joe’s Building.” -more-



Drayage Demolition Moves Forward; ZAB OKs Bus Yard, Condos

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday December 19, 2006

A marathon Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) session Thursday ended with approvals for two major housing projects, new bus yard, a new home for Freight & Salvage and demolition of the Drayage. -more-



Oakland School Takeover Investigation Gets Key Support

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Oakland’s newly elected state assemblymember, Sandré Swanson, has proposed setting up a Select Assembly Committee to investigate state takeovers of California schools, and the idea has already gotten support from key legislators from the affected districts. -more-



Army Subpoenas Oakland Journalist in Watada Court Marshal

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Freelance journalist Sarah Olson does not want to testify at First Lt. Ehren Watada’s court marshal in February. At around 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, she received a subpoena from the U.S. Army telling her to do so. -more-



Features

Woodfin Workers Protest Pre-Christmas Suspension

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Woodfin Suites housekeeper Alma Cruz has spoken out at City Council meetings, walked picket lines and talked to co-workers about the need for Emeryville’s Living Wage Law for hotel workers to be enforced. Voters approved the law—Measure C—in November 2005. -more-


Problems With Measure A, Says Former Peralta Counsel

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday December 19, 2006

The former bond counsel to the Peralta Community College District says that the list of projects in the Peralta’s troubled Measure A bond ballot statement last June may not be specific enough to have qualified the measure under the Proposition 39 requirements under which it was passed. -more-


Curt Flood: 10 Years Later and No Closer To the Hall of Fame

By Bill Fletcher, Jr., New America Media
Tuesday December 19, 2006

2007 marks 10 years since the passing of baseball legend Curt Flood. Many of today’s sports enthusiasts, including those who follow baseball, have little sense of the man and his contributions to the sport of baseball. -more-


Law Students Help Score Win for Immigrants in Supreme Court

By Rene P. Ciria-Cruz, New America Media
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Immigrants whose lives are upended by unfair rules and arbitrary law enforcers should thank the day electrical engineer Jayashri Srikantiah decided to leave Intel to become a lawyer. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday December 19, 2006

ABAG GUIDELINES -more-


Commentary: Examining the Opposition to the New LPO

By Alan Tobey
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Now that the City Council has passed its community-compromise LPO, after more than six years of stalling and resistance by the hyper-preservationist community who brought us Measure J, we’re faced with the bad dream of a referendum campaign and up to 23 more months of additional delay. And for what? Basically, it comes down to objection to the “request for determination” provision of the new law. So let’s look at RFD and its alleged dangers: -more-


Commentary: The 2008 Presidential Primaries: Another Inconvenient Truth

By Thomas Gangale
Tuesday December 19, 2006

The 2006 elections are over, and the 2008 presidential race has begun. Most news coverage will focus on personalities, and once in a while on issues. What will go mostly unreported is the fact that we have a serious structural flaw in the presidential selection process that renders the issues and personalities almost superfluous. The “inconvenient truth” is that the primary/caucus system is an unfolding disaster, a bad process that produces presidential nominees who are less than America’s best. -more-


Commentary: Who’s Being Served?

By Erin Wolfe
Tuesday December 19, 2006

The holiday season seems to open the flood gates of compassion, with volunteers and resources pouring in during the one time of the year the less fortunate are fed, clothed, and remembered. Meanwhile economists monitor the sales temperature, hoping feverish shoppers will exceed the boiling point and consumerism will bring balance to a system delicately suspended by a few coins in either direction. -more-


Editorial

Editorial: PC or Not, Trader Joe’s is Coming

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Over the weekend, talk at parties was how the project now known as Trader Joe’s got the green light from Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board to set up shop on University Avenue, accompanied by several stories of market-rate condos-in-waiting and a big parking garage. One Berkeley-reared guest at Saturday night’s event thought Trader Joe’s was a nice addition to Berkeley because it’s owned by a southern California family, and expands by bootstrapping, one store at a time. Well, no, we said. Since 1979 it’s been part of a German billion-dollar conglomerate, though the whole empire is indeed owned by two German brothers in a family trust. She seemed shocked, almost disbelieving, so cleverly has TJ’s (as it’s called by its devotees) marketed its downhome image. Founder Joe is long gone. But it treats its employees very well, she said. Well, yes, as long as they don’t try to organize a union, we said. That also seemed to surprise her. -more-


Columns

Column: Christmas in Las Vegas, Part One

By Susan Parker
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Friday, 4:30 p.m.: Arrive at Oakland International Airport with sister-in-law, one four-year-old and one two-year-old. Stand in line to check in bags. Stand in line to pass through security. Stand in line to view flight schedule. Learn that all Southwest Airline flights to Las Vegas are delayed by at least two hours due to bad weather in the Pacific Northwest. Stand in line at gate to see if tickets can be changed to fly out on 4 p.m. flight that is now leaving at 6 p.m. -more-


Crow Talk and Chickadee Alarms: What Birds Are Saying

By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet
Tuesday December 19, 2006

I’ll admit that I don’t have much of an ear for the language of crows. Ron says they have a specific call that means “Raven!,” uttered when the crows are harassing one of their larger relatives or escorting it out of the neighborhood. This wouldn’t surprise me at all, since they do have an extensive vocal repertoire. -more-


Arts Listings

Arts Calendar

Tuesday December 19, 2006


Arts: Hits and Rarities From the Cole Porter Songbook

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Arts: Mussorgsky’s ‘Khovanchina’ at First Congregational Church

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday December 19, 2006

Events Listings

Berkeley This Week

Tuesday December 19, 2006

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: PC or Not, Trader Joe’s is Coming 12-19-2006

Editorial: Winter Whine is Back in Season 12-15-2006

Public Comment

Letters to the Editor 12-19-2006

Commentary: Examining the Opposition to the New LPO By Alan Tobey 12-19-2006

Commentary: The 2008 Presidential Primaries: Another Inconvenient Truth By Thomas Gangale 12-19-2006

Commentary: Who’s Being Served? By Erin Wolfe 12-19-2006

Letters to the Editor 12-15-2006

Commentary: The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth By Anne Wagley 12-15-2006

Commentary: How To Enjoy Using People’s Park By Chris Kohler 12-15-2006

Commentary: Not On the Agenda? Sit Down! By Doug Buckwald 12-15-2006

Commentary: Auto-Oriented Center Would Not Comply With LEED By Roy Nakedegawa 12-15-2006

Commentary: Do Benefits of Drug War Outweigh the Costs? By Travis C. Ash 12-15-2006

Commentary: History Repeats Itself in Korea By Peter Schurmann, New America Media 12-15-2006

Commentary: Mexico: A Look at the New Calderon Administration By Eduardo Stanley, Translated by Elena Shore, New America Media 12-15-2006

News

Cheerful Crowd Celebrates Stadium Grove Tree-Sitters By Richard Brenneman 12-19-2006

Zoning Board Approves Trader Joe’s Building, Project Foes Planning Lawsuit By Richard Brenneman 12-19-2006

Drayage Demolition Moves Forward; ZAB OKs Bus Yard, Condos By Richard Brenneman 12-19-2006

Oakland School Takeover Investigation Gets Key Support By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 12-19-2006

Army Subpoenas Oakland Journalist in Watada Court Marshal By Judith Scherr 12-19-2006

Woodfin Workers Protest Pre-Christmas Suspension By Judith Scherr 12-19-2006

Problems With Measure A, Says Former Peralta Counsel By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 12-19-2006

Curt Flood: 10 Years Later and No Closer To the Hall of Fame By Bill Fletcher, Jr., New America Media 12-19-2006

Law Students Help Score Win for Immigrants in Supreme Court By Rene P. Ciria-Cruz, New America Media 12-19-2006

Tree Protesters Cited, Banned From Campus By Richard Brenneman 12-15-2006

Council Adopts New Landmarks Ordinance By Judith Scherr 12-15-2006

Preservationists Will Challenge New LPO at Polls By Richard Brenneman 12-15-2006

Kennedy Threatens Lawsuit, Wins Gaia Culture War By Judith Scherr 12-15-2006

Without UNICEF Cards, U.N. Store Shuts its Doors By Judith Scherr 12-15-2006

Judge Allows Oak-to-Ninth Referendum Lawsuit to Proceed By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 12-15-2006

Peralta Faces Funding Cuts, Federal Investigation By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor 12-15-2006

A Telegraph Avenue Holiday Shopping Guide By Steven Finacom, Special to the Planet 12-15-2006

Police Blotter By Richard Brenneman 12-15-2006

Columns

Column: Christmas in Las Vegas, Part One By Susan Parker 12-19-2006

Crow Talk and Chickadee Alarms: What Birds Are Saying By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet 12-19-2006

Column: The Public Eye: Designing an Ideal UC Art Museum: Back to the Future By Michael Katz 12-15-2006

Column: Undercurrents: Behind the Scenes With Actor-Politician Jerry Brown 12-15-2006

East Bay Then and Now: Charles Manning MacGregor, Indefatigable Builder By Daniella Thompson 12-15-2006

About the House: The General Contrator Problem By Matt Cantor 12-15-2006

Garden Variety: Gift Houseplants That Don’t Give Tsuris By Ron Sullivan 12-15-2006

Arts & Events

Arts Calendar 12-19-2006

Arts and Entertainment: Around the East Bay 12-19-2006

Arts: Hits and Rarities From the Cole Porter Songbook By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 12-19-2006

Arts: Mussorgsky’s ‘Khovanchina’ at First Congregational Church By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 12-19-2006

Crow Talk and Chickadee Alarms: What Birds Are Saying By Joe Eaton, Special to the Planet 12-19-2006

Berkeley This Week 12-19-2006

Arts Calendar 12-15-2006

Arts and Entertainment: Around the East Bay 12-15-2006

The Theater: Shotgun Players Bring ‘The Forest War’ to Ashby Stage By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet 12-15-2006

East Bay Then and Now: Charles Manning MacGregor, Indefatigable Builder By Daniella Thompson 12-15-2006

About the House: The General Contrator Problem By Matt Cantor 12-15-2006

Garden Variety: Gift Houseplants That Don’t Give Tsuris By Ron Sullivan 12-15-2006

Berkeley This Week 12-15-2006