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Students from Malcolm X Elementary School listen to Minoru Sano, at left, and Gerald Carter, center, talk about their lives represented in new murals at the school. The mural depicting Carter in behind him. Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee.
Students from Malcolm X Elementary School listen to Minoru Sano, at left, and Gerald Carter, center, talk about their lives represented in new murals at the school. The mural depicting Carter in behind him. Photograph by Riya Bhattacharjee.
 

News

Murals Depict Lives of Local Seniors

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday March 09, 2007

Dated but not forgotten: This is the story of 16 seniors who have called South Berkeley home at different times in the last century. 

Some, such as Eva Bell—who arrived during WWII—still live around the corner from Malcolm X Elementary School. 

Others, such as Adam Jones, Jr., who arrived in California from San Antonio in July 1944, passed away in January. 

But their stories live on, through murals installed on fences at Malcolm X Elementary School in south Berkeley by HereStories—a community group motivated to create murals that honor place, spirit and community history.  

The outdoor art project was inaugurated at Malcolm X in February. The idea for the murals—known as the South Berkeley Senior Stories—was an afterthought of another mural. 

“It was the South Berkeley Shines mural on the corner store at Ashby Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way that was our inspiration,” said Sara Bruckmeier, artistic director for HereStories. “That and Mr. Charles,” she said, referring to Berkeley’s Waving Man, who stood on the corner of Oregon Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way every morning waving to passers-by for 30 years. 

“We remembered Mr. Charles’ portrait adorning that mural and thought of honoring more elders of the South Berkeley community,” she said. “We wanted to go past the houses in south Berkeley and connect to the people. Connect the broader political and social history with the personal. The murals tell stories in two ways. They tell it by the pictures and they tell it through the stories written next to it.” 

When Bruckmeier, along with muralists Bonnie Borucki, Leif Aamont, O’Brien Thiele and Lou Silva approached elders at the South Berkeley Senior Center three years ago, they were met with a bit of apprehension. 

“It was one of the seniors, Mary Trahan, who broke the ice,” said Bruckmeier. “And her story features in the ‘Social Clubs Support Social Change,’ mural. Very soon Gwendolyn Reed smiled at us, and Gerald Carter—who is in the WWII mural—talked to us after warning that he didn’t have much to say.” 

It turned out Carter had quite a tale to tell. Abandoned at the age of two, Carter was found at an orphanage in Los Angeles by his grandparents in 1930.  

“I worked at the Del Monte Cannery and the Naval Supply Center in Emeryville as a teenager. During WWII, manpower shortage permitted kids to work up to 8 hours per day,” Carter told a group of awestruck fifth-graders in front of Malcolm X last week. 

Carter transferred to UC Berkeley in 1952 under the G.I. Bill, which provides financial aid to WWII veterans, and got his B.A. in architecture. He then went on to work as a Naval Architectural Technician for thirty years till he retired with excellent benefits. 

Divided into three zones, the mural of the map offers a snapshot about the legacy of housing discrimination in Berkeley. Every stroke of the brush brings alive not just life’s triumphs, but also its struggles. 

“It tells us about housing distribution by race in Berkeley in 1960, the year of the last census before the 1963 Fair Housing Act,” said Bruckmeier. “It shows the areas open to people of color and those that were not. Neighborhood boundaries were enforced in several ways and property developers included ‘restrictive covenants’ in their deeds. During WWII, migrants of color were restricted to settling in South and West Berkeley. One such migrant was the late Adam Jones, Jr., who came to work on the South Pacific Railroad in 1944.” 

In a recorded interview with Bruckmeier, Jones says: “It was a nice job. During that time, there were not many jobs here for Afro-Americans. If you didn’t shine shoes or work for a railroad, wasn’t nothing else for them to do.” 

Funding for the project came from the East Bay Community Foundation and the CA Council of the Humanities California Stories Fund. Eco Home Improvement and Ashby Lumber donated paint and plywood respectively. Chuck Wollenberg, Social Science Chair at Berkeley City College, advised the project and reviewed materials for historical accuracy. 

“Jai Waggoner, Arts Coordinator of Malcolm X, brought some of the students to paint murals as well,” said Bonnie Borucki. “Storyteller Orunamamu dropped in to tell stories to the kids. But in the end they painted what was close to their heart. Fairies, monsters, nursery rhymes flowed from their paintbrushes.” 

Borucki added that she had been touched most by the stories of segregation in the Berkeley schools that was present till 1964. 

“Teachers, administrators, parents and students were all challenged by it,” she said. “In Betty McAfee’s mural, the idea of how the Berkeley Unified School District devised a plan where kids would go to school together comes across beautifully.” 

As 10-year-old Yasmeen Mussard-Afcari listened to octogenarian Minoru Sano talk about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Army during lunch break at Malcolm X last week, Sano paused for a while. 

“I feel really good today,” Sano said, looking at the mural of him and his wife. 

Their story narrates the difficult times Japanese American residents went through during WWII. Yet Sano smiles at Yasmeen. 

“I look at my picture and I see that I am 86 years old today. I realize people in my parents’ generation used to dress up a lot more back in the 1920s. Today, no one cares that much,” he said grinning. “I also realize I have come a long way.”


Sustainable Berkeley Grows Outside City Control

By Judith Scherr
Friday March 09, 2007

Sustainable Berkeley, the mostly city-funded grouping of public and private individuals and institutions, promises to lead the local fight against global warming and at the same time “brand” Berkeley as the country’s leading green city.  

Poised to receive $100,000 in taxpayer money, Sustainable Berkeley is housed outside city government, where it is not subject to open meeting laws, union oversight or civil service protections, something that troubles open government advocates such as Councilmembers Kriss Wor-thington and Dona Spring. 

The City Council is likely to approve the funds Tuesday—a second, usually routine vote, part of a larger $3.3 million windfall spending package.  

A check will be cut to Sustainable Berkeley only after the council approves a Sustain-able Berkeley work plan to be addressed March 20, said City Manager Assistant Arietta Chakos.  

To date, the council has not been publicly briefed on the organization, although it gave the organization about $138,000 last year: three city councilmembers told the Planet they thought Sustainable Berkeley was a nonprofit corporation, which it is not.  

The Planet was able to learn about the group through documents obtained from the city through a Freedom of Infor-mation request and interviews with steering committee members. 

 

About the organization 

Sustainable Berkeley documents usually describe the organization as a “collaborative.” Its steering committee includes people from UC Berkeley, nonprofits, “green” healthcare professionals, and environmental consultants. City of Berkeley staff once sat on the board, but stepped off several weeks ago after the Planet contacted them with questions about the organization, saying that since they oversee the organization’s contract, it might appear to be a conflict for them to sit on the steering committee. 

Catherine Squire, former city of Berkeley sustainable development coordinator, now an “urban sustainability consultant,” co-chairs Sustainable Berkeley. As spokesperson for the organization, Squire spoke briefly by phone to the Planet Tuesday afternoon, declining a more thorough sit-down interview, as she was leaving town for a week. 

The Planet asked Squire about an Ecology Center contract with Sustainable Berkeley to research employment in “green” jobs. Because Ecology Center Executive Director Martin Bourque, who did not return calls for comment, sits on Sustainable Berkeley’s executive and steering committees, the Planet asked about the practice of Sustainable Berkeley steering committee members contracting with the organization. 

“It will probably continue to happen,” Squire said, adding, “People who are part of the partnership will get contracts. “ 

Also on the steering committee and the executive board is Nancy Hoeffer, executive director of Community Energy Services Corporation (CESC). “Nancy is paid to be our fiscal agent,” Squire said. 

She received $3,000, billed at $52 per hour, to help Sustainable Berkeley begin its work before staff came on board in January. In addition to its role as fiscal sponsor, the CESC helped write Sustainable Berkeley’s bylaws, facilitates hiring staff and shares some work with the organization.  

Another individual serving on the board is Gil Friend, CEO of Berkeley-based Natural Logic, Inc., which describes itself as “strategic advisors to the sustainable economy.” 

Friend, who was not available for a phone interview, has been involved in Sustainable Berkeley from the beginning, first as a paid consultant to the city and then as a member of the steering committee. 

 

Beginnings of Sustainable Berkeley 

In the document “Toward Sustainable Berkeley” Friend prepared for the city, as part of a $36,000 consultancy in which he was paid $200/hour for his work, according to city records, he describes the evolution of the organization. 

It goes back to 2004, when Mayor Tom Bates convened a Sustainable Business Working Group out of which, the report says, came a city staff-written plan, the September 2004 Sustainable Business Action Plan, which was endorsed by the City Council.  

Part of the Natural Logic contract (shared with Colorado-based What’s Working, Inc.) was to bring together people from three sectors: business, the community and nonprofits and UC Berkeley/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. The goal was to begin to implement the Sustainable Business Action Plan. Sustainable Berkeley evolved from this effort. 

“In the course of the conversations we’ve convened, a Sustainable Berkeley coalition has formed to create an infrastructure to coordinate, partner and leverage resources across business, civic, city and academic stakeholders to meet sustainability goals,” says Toward a Sustainable Berkeley—available on the internet—which lists the names of advisory committee members, who would become the organization’s steering committee. 

Today’s steering committee is substantially the same as the original one of June 2006. There are two, rather than three members representing UC Berkeley: Judy Chess of Cal’s Capital Projects and Christine Rosen from the Haas School of Business; Gil Friend, not listed as a member of the original advisory committee, is a current member; Ina Pockrass who calls herself a “transcendentist” was among the original group, as was Alexander Quinn of the Livable Berkeley advocacy organization. 

The executive committee, all members of the original advisory group, is co-chaired by Squire and health-care educator Dr. Joel Kreisberg; the Ecology Center’s Bourque and CESC’s Hoeffer are members. 

 

Transparency 

The monthly steering committee meetings are open to the public, but executive committee meetings are closed, Squire said. Whereas meetings covered by open meeting laws are generally held in the evening when working people can attend, Sustainable Berkeley sessions are held in the morning. 

Councilmember Dona Spring said Sustainable Berkeley should have come out of the Energy Commission, which created the CESC and serves as its board of directors. “The Energy Commission should take the lead,” she said. 

The steering committee is limited by its present by-laws to 15 people, Hoeffer told the Planet, noting she is writing new by-laws, which might enlarge the committee. (The Planet was unable to get a copy of the Sustainable Berkeley bylaws.) After people come to four steering committee meetings, they can ask to be on the committee; its members vote on their membership, Hoeffer said.  

It is important that the three sectors—business, university/labs and community—be represented in a balanced way, she added. 

Asked to confirm whether all steering committee members were Caucasian, at least in appearance—as the Daily Planet had been informed—Hoeffer said she thinks they are. However, she said, “Our goals are [to balance] the sector, not the individual.” 

Councilmember Worthington noted that if the steering committee were a commission and abided by the Fair Representation Act whereby councilmembers each choose a commissioner, there would be an attempt on the part of some on the council to try to make the steering committee reflect the racial and ethnic makeup of the city.  

 

Hiring not transparent 

Because Sustainable Berkeley is not part of city government, it does not follow public information access laws or civil service hiring principles. Asked for the salary of newly hired Timothy Burroughs, Squire replied: “I’m not going to say.” The position was not advertised. Recommended to the executive committee by Mayoral Chief of Staff Cisco DeVries, Burroughs was the lone candidate. 

 

Two parts of Sustainable Berkeley 

Squire explained the two distinct parts of Sustainable Berkeley: One works on the programs listed on the organization’s website, including giving out sustainability awards, reaching out to large businesses and restaurants to encourage energy reduction and working with interns to do a green job study and a Berkeley School District energy efficiency audit. A city grant of $138,700 and a $134,225 PG&E partnership funds some of this effort. Sustainable Berkeley partners with CESC on these projects. 

The other part of Sustainable Berkeley is distinct. That’s the piece Burrough’s will work on – convening people from the community and using their input to write a plan to reduce greenhouse gases. It will be funded by the city’s $100,000; grant funds the mayor’s office has applied for are pending. This will be a “public process. It will be democratic and transparent,” Squire said. The final plan will be submitted to the city manager, then to Mayor Tom Bates, and finally to the City Council for approval, she said. 

DeVries said he will spend half his time working for Bates on greenhouse gas issues. “He will collaborate with us and Tom Bates on greenhouse gas reduction,” Squire said.  

A champion of Sustainable Berkeley, DeVries wrote Jan. 11 to the Sustainable Berkeley Steering Committee: “We are proposing that the city enter into a contract with Sustainable Berkeley and provide it with adequate resources to play this lead role. While additional fundraising efforts are underway, Mayor Bates will work with the council to provide up to $100,000 from the city general fund to Sustainable Berkeley for the 2007 fiscal year to ensure we have a minimum funding level to carry out the project.” 

Steering commttee meetings are 8:30-10:30 a.m. on the first Thursday of the month at the Promenade Building, 1936 University Ave., second floor, the UC Berkeley Capital Projects office. The next meeting is April 5. (Meetings are not posted on the Sustainable Berkeley website.) 

 

 

 


Birgeneau: UC-BP Deal Criticism is ‘Abhorrent’

By Richard Brenneman
Friday March 09, 2007

Critics who say UC Berkeley shouldn’t taken $500 million from a British oil company to develop alternative energy espouse an “abhorrent” attitude and threaten academic freedom, declared Chancellor Robert Birgeneau Thursday. 

He spoke during a meeting held for members of the University’s Academic Senate which was also attended by students and a few members of the Berkeley community. 

Most of the speakers on the panel praised the half-billion-dollar contract with the former British Petroleum, though one—Ignacio Chapela—came down clearly against the contract, and another—former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich—said it raised serious questions which remained to be answered. 

Moderated by journalism faculty member Linda Schacht—perhaps better known to Berkeley residents as a member of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee—the panel spoke in response to criticism of the proposal unveiled last month by the chancellor, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and a host of officials. 

While most faculty members, seated in the front of the audience, appeared to applaud speakers who praised the agreement, many others and a majority of the students cheered the critics. 

By the time the meeting ended, critics still hadn’t received what they promised—more open discussion among the faculty and students, and promises that the final agreement would be aired and discussed publicly before it was approved. The university had even held its winning proposal secret—a non-binding agreement offering generalities, only promising to release it after it had already leaked to the press, and then declaring that all names would be excised. 

The document was finally posted in its complete form this week at www.ebiweb.org, the website of the Energy Biosciences Institute, as the resulting institution will be known. 

Speakers included: Vice Chancellor Beth Burnside, a professor of Molecular and Cell biology: Jay Keasling, a designated EBI faculty scientist and director of the Physical Biosciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, where many of the institute’s functions will be housed; Ignacio Chapela, a professor of microbial ecology and a leading critic of corporate academic partnership; Haas School of Business Professor David Vogel; S. Shankar Shastry, a professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering, and Reich, who is a professor at the Goodman School of Public Policy. 

“I am extremely enthusiastic about the possibilities of this project,” said Keasling, who described it as “a moon shot for all of us ... we can’t afford to fail.” 

Chapela delivered an impassioned plea that Schacht ended after he went over the prescribed eight-minute time limit condemning an agreement that would bring “the tragic aspects out our insatiable consumption to the corners of the Third World.” 

He ended to enthusiastic cheers from students and some of the faculty. 

Vogel said that while no corporations could be said to wear white hats, BP—now renamed Beyond Petroleum—wears a paler shade of gray as the first oil company to acknowledge global warming and voluntarily reduce its emissions. 

Shastry, who is also director of the university’s Center for Information Technology in the Interest of Society, hailed the pact as one more in a series of academic corporate partnerships than had improved society through new technology.  

But Reich cautioned that academic freedom has always been endangered, first by the church and state, then by the corporation. 

But when it came time for the questions, the overwhelming number of speakers criticized the university’s handling of the agreement, the lack of faculty consultation and what they called the agreement’s potential to stifle other research into areas like conservation and alternative forms of energy. 

LBNL Director Steve Chu said his staff had already committed to working on global warming—the critical issue of the time—as well as biofuels before the possibility of the BP agreement had arisen.  

During the questioning Keasling acknowledged the proposal had flaws, including the placement of oversight at the end—promising that oversight of both social and environment impacts would be conducted throughout the project. 

But the answers didn’t satisfy critics like graduate student Ali Tonack, who had been arrested last week after dumping molasses in front of the campus administration building. 

He cited the significance of the misdemeanor charge for which he was arrested—“obstructing business”—and vowed, “If you think things are sticky now, I promise you, the situation is going to become a lot more stickier.” 

While the Academic Senate was meeting, President George W. Bush was flying to Sao Palo, Brazil, eager to promote an ethanol development deal in that largest of South American nations. 

According to a story posted on the New York Times website, Bush is using the agreement—which will result in more greater production of the alternative fuel from Brazilian lands—as an economic weapon against the oil reserves of Venezuela and its president, Hugo Chavez, one of Bush’s harshest critics in Latin America. 

A day earlier, 900 Brazilian women from Via Campesina in São Paulo state occupied a sugar mill after its sale to agricultural giant Cargill, which plans to use sugar cane for processing into ethanol. 

The protesters charged that monoculture impoverishes small farmers, the assertion also raised by UC Berkeley Professor Miguel Altieri during a teach-in held to protest the BP proposal.


New Try for North Shattuck Plaza

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday March 09, 2007

It has come to this: The North Shattuck Association (NSA), the North Shattuck Plaza Inc. (NSPI) and the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association (LOCCNA) have agreed to appoint representatives to a newly formed committee that will help move the disputed $3.5 million North Shattuck plaza in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto forward. 

The move has given the controversial proposed plaza another chance at life. Only this time with more community input. 

“It’s a lot better,” David Stoloff, chair of NSPI and the Berkeley Planning Commission, told the Planet on Wednesday. “The objective of the committee is to determine where the parties agree and disagree and come up with a process everyone agrees on.” 

After the Berkeley City Council approved a schematic design—by Berkeley-based planning firm Design Community and Environment—in 2001, architects Meyer + Silberberg reworked the proposed parking and pedestrian area in 2006.  

Responses to the proposed park-like area on the east side of Shattuck between Vine and Rose streets were mixed, with some merchants and area residents supporting the idea while others oppose it.  

“The concerns go beyond the plaza and we need to address them separately. Problems such as panhandling and public right of way on sidewalks have to be put on a different level of concern altogether,” Stoloff said. 

Heather Hensley, executive director of NSA, said that the idea was to get the community involved in a public improvement project that would look at street lighting, better bike racks and bus stops and landscaping. 

“The major issues are around parking and panhandling,” she said. “We are currently working with the city to lengthen the meter times from one hour to ninety minutes or even two hours on North Shattuck. You can barely have lunch in an hour as well as buy gifts. We want to create a positive pedestrian shopping experience for everyone.” 

Hensley said that there was talk of converting the meters into loading zones in the morning after which they would function as meters. 

“A lot of cities do this. We are also working with nearby churches and schools as well as Safeway to allow paid parking. If this happens, then employees will no longer have to park on the streets and take spots away from customers.” 

Hensley added that Mayor Bates would be giving the City Council what she called a referendum on street behavior issues Tuesday. 

“This is a sensitive topic but there is some aggressive behavior on the streets we would like to discuss. Cities such as Santa Cruz regulate street behavior more closely than Berkeley and we need to enforce that.” 

NSA has yet to announce the names of its representatives. Tom Ford from Design Community and Environment is the facilitator for the new coordinating committee which could have its first meeting next week. 

Mim Hawley, one of the representatives of NSPI and a former city councilmember, told the Planet she was hopeful the new committee would dispel a lot of the misapprehensions about the project. 

“There’s been a lot of worry that we have been trying to ramp up something without public approval but that is not the case,” she said. “Everybody on the committee needs to make a few adjustments and efforts to make this idea work. In the end, it will make businesses prosper.” 

Some area merchants however are not too sure about that. John Coleman, bookkeeper at the high-end clothing store Earthly Goods on North Shattuck, said their position on the proposed plaza hasn’t changed. 

“We have 30 merchants who have signed our petition saying they don’t want to see any changes,” he said. “The merchants were never consulted to begin with. There has been meeting after meeting but no one seems to be getting the message.” 

Bob Brown, co-owner of Black Oak Books on Shattuck Avenue, said that the six to nine months of construction for the proposed plaza would destroy their business. 

“Changing the parking would be disastrous for us,” he said. “People come in all the time to sell books and if they can’t find parking spots it would have a negative economic impact on us.” 

Black Oak announced they were up for sale in January. Brown’s partner Don Pretari said that the bookstore was doing “okay” at the moment. 

“It’s not like a panic situation for us. We wanted to see if anyone had a long term interest in the store if we retired. But we are pondering and will for a while whether it’s worth going on with the bookstore,” he said. 

Fred Dodsworth, one of the three representative of LOCCHNA, called the proposed plaza an attractive nuisance. 

“Some people would like to see a plaza,” he said. “Some people would like to see nothing. I am trying to create a middle way. Personally I think a flat one-level parking structure near Bel Forno at Rose Street is a good idea. We are talking about spending a huge amount of money for decoration. We have to see that it’s safe, aesthetic and creates spaces for everyone to enjoy.” 

 


Berkeley Downtown Panel Discussion Targets UC Sites

By Richard Brenneman
Friday March 09, 2007

Presented with three significant documents—recommendations on UC Berkeley downtown developments, ground-floor uses and a proposed economic development package—citizen planners held off any final action Wednesday. 

Members of the Downtown Area Planning Advisory Committee—DAPAC—face a November deadline to complete their work on recommendations for a new downtown plan designed to accommodate 800,000 square feet of UC Berkeley uses in the city center, along with 1,200 parking spaces. 

Dorothy Walker, chair of the Subcommittee on City Interests in University Properties, presented the report of that panel, along with Kerry O’Banion, a UC planner who has served as an ex officio representative to DAPAC. 

Watching from the audience was Emily Marthinsen, the university’s assistant vice chancellor for Physical and Environmental Planning Capital Projects. 

Walker’s subcommittee was comprised of representatives of the university and DAPAC, heavily weighted with committee members who have found themselves in the minority in votes on key policy issues. 

The panel’s only consistent dissident was Helen Burke, a planning commissioner and Sierra Club activist who has consistently voted with the DAPAC majority. 

“A huge change of mind occurred,” said Walker, “and it’s a tribute to us that we were open.” 

The central change was the realization that “downtown will be not be attractive to big retail” like the department stores many had hoped to entice to the city. Instead, Berkeley needs to build on its strengths as an arts and cultural center and as a center of learning. 

“The plan must encourage arts and education first,” and work on attracting youth and the large university population to downtown attractions, she said. 

Walker, a retired UC Berkeley assistant vice chancellor for property development, praised her former employer. “All the work was done very collaboratively,” she said. “The university representatives repeatedly asked how they should be using their land downtown. They were very responsive.” 

O’Banion devoted most of his presentation to the two-block-long site of the former state Department of Health Services building at 2151 Berkeley Way, awarded to the university by the state legislature in September 2005. 

UC sites 

That property is one of three key development sites in what the university’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP)—the document that sparked the lawsuit resulting in DAPAC’s creation—dubbed the “west adjacent blocks” where downtown development would take place. 

The other two sites are the location of the planned Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive and the Tang Center parking lot, the square block at the southeast corner of the intersection of Fulton Street and Bancroft Way. 

The Tang site is where the university plans to erect a “surge building,” an office complex to house staff and functions displaced during mandated seismic retrofit of campus buildings—though the subcommittee has hopes that faculty housing might be built on the southern edge of the block. 

But the DHS building is the site of the most intensive planned development, once the existing structure is demolished, O’Banion said. 

The proposed new use is as a “Community Health Campus,” shared by the schools of public health and optometry and the departments of neuroscience and psychology. 

“All four have outreach programs and subjects coming in for assistance and diagnosis. The optometry clinic is very heavily used, and there is also a lot of outreach. They are all good, likely candidates to be off the main campus,” he said. 

The university even has a slogan for the project “From Publication to Public Action,” summarizing the range of services planned for the new facility, ranging from research (publication) to action (treatment and public health measures). 

Gene Poschman, a DAPAC member planning commissioner, raised immediate questions: first, how would the site handle the traffic? 

“Health care facilities are probably the greatest traffic generators, except maybe for Trader Joe’s,” he quipped. 

O’Banion said the necessary studies hadn’t been done.  

“One solution might be one level of parking under all or part of the building,” he said. 

 

The non-agreement 

While university officials have said all along they’re willing to grant the city retail uses along the site’s Shattuck Avenue frontage, Poschman pointed out that the legislation transferring the property from one state agency to another included requiring the grant of the first 75 feet of property depth along the street for retail use. 

While the university was recommending a depth of 100 feet, O’Banion said, there was no agreement to allow any commercial use, because the law also stipulated that the grant of retail use would only apply if approved by UC’s Board of Regents—an action never taken. “Therefore, it’s not a mandatory agreement,” O’Banion said, evoking murmurs from committee members and the audience. 

“But it’s a state law,” said DAPAC member Wendy Alfsen. 

“Unfortunately, the law said it takes effect only if there’s an action by the regents which has never occurred,” Walker responded. 

Subcommittee members had requested the 100-foot depth based on comments from business advisors and planning staff, who said that much depth would be needed to attract so-called “junior retailers” like Pottery Barn and major electronic stores, the types of businesses they said Berkeley might be able to entice. 

 

Housing questions 

Other questions centered on where to house the university population in light of the university’s declaration that no new housing would be built on the campus itself, as well as the question of whom to house. 

The subcommittee’s only reference was to faculty housing, something the university admits it sorely needs, and that was only mentioned as part of a discussion of the Tang Center lot, as a recommendation to build housing along the site’s Durant Avenue frontage. 

Jesse Arreguin, a Cal student and city zoning commissioner, said he was very concerned that housing for graduate and undergraduate students wasn’t covered in the subcommittee report, in light of recommendations in both the university’s LRDP and New Century Plan that both the Tang and the University Hall sites—the latter at University Avenue and Oxford Street—should be considered for student housing. 

“We’re not ruling that out, if we can show that student housing downtown is fully utilized, which it is not,” said Mim Hawley, a subcommittee and former city council member, citing vacancies in the recently completed Library Gardens apartments downtown. “There’s plenty of room on campus,” she said, which would be good for ailing Telegraph Avenue businesses. 

O’Banion later reiterated that the university would build no housing on campus, and said the university had two sites south of campus where new units could be built on university-owned parking lots. 

“As long as it’s within two blocks of campus on the south side, we don’t have to worry,” said Hawley. 

Arreguin said he was concerned because the LRDP projected housing as far from campus as San Pablo Avenue and Oakland, which raised questions of safety and access to campus services. 

Rob Wrenn, a transportation commissioner and a parent of college students, said off-campus housing not owned by the university was often a better deal for students, cheaper and without the obligation to sign a hefty contract that included meals. 

 

Other questions 

Alfsen asked if the university planned to install any facilities from its controversial $500 million biofuel program funded by the former British Petroleum in the downtown area.  

“We’re still working that out,” O’Banion said, though he didn’t anticipate that it would be included in any of the 800,000 square feet cited in the LRDP. 

Walker said the subcommittee had also considered recommendations that the university relocate its planned Student Athlete High Performance Center from the current planned site west of Memorial Stadium—where protesters have been lodged since Dec. 2, high in the branches of a grove of oaks and other trees that would be killed to make way for the $125 million high tech gym. 

Jim Novosel, a recent DAPAC appointee, said he would recommend that the university relocate the gym to the site of the old extension building next to Edward Stadium on Oxford Way. “I strongly recommend that we reserve that site for a building,” he said. 

The fate of the gym at the stadium is currently tied up in lawsuits, which have also stalled other projects in the area. 

After minor revisions, the subcommittee’s report will return to the full committee for more discussion and a vote—including a decision on whether or not it should form a university element many members want to see in the plan—but which Walker and Chair Will Travis have opposed.


Gaudy Adieu Planned for Doomed UC Print Plant

By Richard Brenneman
Friday March 09, 2007

The University Press Building—UC Berkeley’s doomed downtown landmark—will be granted one last fling before the wrecking ball comes. 

Slated for demolition to make way for a new university art museum and Pacific Film Archive building, the 1939 New Deal Moderne structure may soon serve as a projection screen for the digital animations of a trio of San Francisco artists whose work has made them Internet celebrities. 

The notion was floated last week to members of Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). 

Creators of works that float in the aesthetic ether somewhere between Hollywood “high concept” and sixties-era Happenings, Rebar’s highest-profile project turned parking spaces into sod-paved metered micro-parks.  

A single mention of that project on the popular website boingboing.net drew five million hits to their website in one 24-hour period. Their work was back on boingboing three months later, featuring a new project in New Mexico. 

Lately, Rebar’s been featured in cyberspace and newsprint for another, edgier bit of high concept performance art—an artistic exercise designed to determine just what is public space. 

In an action that will certainly find some resonance with a number of Berkeley development critics, Rebar launched actions called COMMONspace, to test the limits of a San Francisco density bonus regulation. 

In exchange for creating “privately owned public open spaces” (POPOS), San Francisco builders can receive bonuses allowing them to build bigger buildings. But just how public is the space that results? Rebar teamed up with Snap Out Of It (SOOI), a performance troupe, to stage a series of events to find out. 

“We are staging the events to test implicit social codes and explicit government regulations,” said Blaine Merker, one of three black-shirted Rebar members who appeared at the Landmarks Preservation Commission last Thursday. 

One thing they’ve learned already is that owners don’t look kindly on folks who use their spaces to fly kites, one of the events staged by Rebar and SOOI in a San Francisco POPOS. “We were shut down,” said Merker as a photo of the event was displayed on-screen. 

BAM/PFA Deputy Director David Wheelan, said Rebar is the first of what is proposed to be a series of uses of a building which is currently “not making a major contribution to the vitality of downtown. 

“BAM proposes interim uses without physical alteration” to the structure, he said. 

“As we understand it, our job is to charge the site with potential that will bridge campus and community,” said Merker. 

One possibility, Whelan said, is to treat the building’s surface as an interactive medium “to communicate and alter the self-awareness of people passing by.” 

The plant is at the northwest corner of Center and Oxford streets. The white concrete structure witnessed the printing of the original copies of the United Nations Charter in 1945 for the signatures of delegates gathered in San Francisco in for the U.N.’s founding. The LPC declared the building a city landmark on June 7, 2004, after the university had announced its intent to build a new museum at the site. 

“Another concept is using these fantastic glass block windows as projection surface,” said Rebar’s Matthew Passmore. “It’s a fantastic way to just awaken the building,” he said.  

One possibility is to allow passers-by to enter text from Palm Pilots that would be projected onto the building’s surface—either unaltered or in combination with text entered by others.  

“The third component is setting the stage for habituation of the site,” said John Bela, the third member of Rebar’s team. 

Examples displayed ranged from the simple—pulsing lights—to the everyday—the image of a painter with a roller apparently in the act of blocking out the view—to the existentially absurd—a pair of divers swimming toward the blocks. 

Rebar’s work would be only the first in a series of programs designed to use the building as a medium during the two to three years the structure remains before demolition, said Wheelan. 

“It’s a landmark. There’ll be a lot of objection to tearing it down,” said LPC member Fran Packard. 

“Be careful what you wish for,” said Chair Robert Johnson. “If you raise the profile of the building, you’ll raise the profile of the building—and you’ll hear about it down the line.” 

“We feel the pride and the responsibility to promote the museum’s use,” said Wheelan, acknowledging that “we do worry” about the impact. 

Commissioner Lesley Emmington cautioned Wheelan that merchants on Center Street have worked hard to create an ambiance for the streetscape and might worry at changes that threatened it. 

“You need to consult the merchants across the street,” added Johnson, adding that “the idea of images in the windows could be very exciting.” 

Emmington worried that the projectors might consume excess electricity at a time of growing emphasis on conservation, and Packard suggested the use of LEDs. 

“A solar array could be an element,” said Commissioner Steven WInkel. 

For another look at Rebar, see their website at www.rebargroup.net. 

The three members of Rebar were smiling as they packed up their gear.


UC Calls For Stadium Lot, Museum Seismic Studies

By Richard Brenneman
Friday March 09, 2007

Though the UC Berkeley’s massive Memorial Stadium-area expansion plans have been stalled by a court order, the university is moving forward with a seismic study. 

In a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) posted on the university website, the university provided a first look at drawings of a proposed parking lot that would contain “700+ spaces in 5 to 6 underground levels.” 

A cross-section diagram for the Maxwell Field Parking structure also show a subsurface path for delivery trucks leading directly to the stadium itself, which sits directly astride the Hayward Fault, but another diagram from an aerial view is truncated before the stadium so the point of connection isn’t visible. 

Mandated by the Alquist-Priolo Act, which governs construction on and near active seismic faults, the study will determine whether or not the planned structure falls within the 50 feet of an active fault trace, the limit of the act’s ban on new construction. 

Critics have charged that another project, the $125 million Student Athlete High Performance Center planned along the stadium’s western wall, is attached to the stadium and therefore an extension, not a separate building—but university officials say the structures are separate.  

The RFQ also requires the consultant to cooperate with a second “independent peer reviewer reporting directly to the university and its agents” and to cooperate with the university’s Seismic Review Committee “to ensure a highly credible end product.” 

 

Museum RFQ 

In addition to the parking structure RFQ, the university issued a second document seeking a consultant to prepare a separate seismic evaluation of plans for the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive building, which is slated to be built downtown at the northwest corner of the intersection of Center and Oxford streets. 

Now being designed by internationally renowned Japanese architect Toyo Ito, the new structure—likely to be the most innovative architecture in the city center in years—will be 82 feet high, Kevin Consey, the institution’s executive director, has said. 

Located on the site now occupied by the UC Printing Plant building, a city landmark where the United Nations Charter was printed, the new building will feature one or two levels of underground parking, according to the RFQ. 

The new consultant will work with Ito and project engineers during the design process, starting with a review of existing soil and geological conditions at the site and continue through construction, monitoring the work. 

Applications for both assignments must be submitted by Mar. 19.


Dellumns Pledges to Reorganize Oakland Police

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday March 09, 2007

The month-old administration of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums did something this week that the predecessor administration of Jerry Brown failed to do in eight years of office, hold a full-blown City Hall press conference to which all media was invited and questions were raised and answered with equal access to all areas of the press. 

The subject of the late Wednesday afternoon press conference was a problem that the Brown Administration often fiddled with but never was able to fix, how to organize and deploy Oakland Police Department officers in a manner that puts a significant dent in Oakland’s crime problem. 

Saying that this was part of a “major reorganization” of the Oakland Police Department in order to bring “100 Percent Community Policing” to the department, Dellums, OPD Police Chief Wayne Tucker, and OPD Deputy Chief Jeffrey Israel announced Wednesday a plan to bring the department’s patrol division up to something approaching full strength, at the expense of immediately staffing the district’s Measure Y officers. 

Specifically, Tucker and Israel said that all of the graduates of the next two Oakland Police Academies would be sent directly to patrol duty, rather than having some of them assigned as problem solving officers as called for in the anti-violence Measure Y. 

Since Measure Y, passed by Oakland voters in 2004 to address Oakland’s soaring crime rate, had specifically called for the hiring of 63 new problem-solving officers with defined “community policing” responsibilities, Deputy Chief Israel took pains to explain how siphoning new officers away from these specific community policing assignments would actually move the department closer towards community policing. 

Community policing cannot be confined simply to a handful of community policing officers, Israel explained. “We have to move to reorganize the department so that all of our officers are involved in community policing.” 

Speaking in support of the reorganization, Mayor Dellums added that “community policing is not an officer or a unit. It is a mindset, a broad concept that has to be embraced by the entire department.” 

The city currently has no written definition of “community policing,” however, so it was not clear what exact model the department is moving towards. Dellums promised at the press conference that he would provide a written definition. 

Israel said that reversing the department’s past practice of pulling officers from patrol duty for other assignments will “increase response time and provide more opportunity by patrol officers to engage in meaningful, long-term problem solving” in the neighborhoods to which they are assigned. 

The deputy chief added that fully staffing the department’s patrol division “is necessary for implementing the geographic restructuring of the department.” 

That geographic restructuring—in which the city will be divided into five jurisdictions overseen by an individual commander—was announced by Chief Tucker late last month. Presently, OPD operates under a shift-based watch commander structure in which commanders oversee activities in the entire city on eight-hour shifts. A consultant’s report commissioned by former Mayor Brown while he was still in office had recommended the change. 

Tucker has said that under the new geographic division, officers will be able to hone in on issues of “quality of life, crime, and the social needs within the geographic areas they are patrolling.” 

Tucker said that because the restructuring does not involve the hiring of more police than previously anticipated, he is “not anticipating a significant increase in cost” because of the reorganization plan. What new costs will occur, he said, will be principally in the purchase of automobiles and radios. “We haven’t completely figured out the budget for all of this,” he said. 

Also appearing at the press conference was Oakland City Councilmember Jean Quan, one of the Measure Y co-authors. Quan said that while Measure Y supporters “are nervous about the fact” that hiring of specific Measure Y officers “will be held back for eight months, it is a step forward towards community policing. Often, right now, when you place a 911 call, the officer responding doesn’t know your neighborhood. 

“Moving to a geographic division-based department means “the officer is more likely to know your neighborhood,” Quan said. She added that the reorganization was a positive step, and said that while predictions are dangerous, “I am predicting that over the next couple of years, this will bring the crime rate in Oakland down.” 

Oakland City Council Public Safety Commitee Chairperson Larry Reid stood in the back behind the media at the press conference, but did not speak at the conference. 

The restructuring received warm praise from the man who holds hiring and firing authority over the chief of police and who will pay the political price if the project fails, Mayor Dellums. 

“The chief gets it, he understands the problem completely,” Dellums said. He called the patrol staffing move “the first step in a series of steps. This is an important day in the civic life of Oakland, in the community, and in the police department. This step turns a corner.” 

Meanwhile, the mayor showed two distinct and opposing sides to his personality at the first press conference of his administration. When a reporter asked why anyone should believe the new police deployment would work when there has been a series of failed reorganizations and redeployments and anti-crime plans in the recent past, Dellums snapped back that, “I know it’s your job to ask cynical questions, but I don’t accept the premise of your question. I don’t see that level of cynicism out in the community. People are hoping that we come up with something that will work. They desperately want us to succeed.” 

The mayor was considerably less snappish, however, when it was pointed out by his own staff members that several times during the press conference, while clearly intending to say that he had conferred with the chief of police, he said, instead, that he had conferred with the mayor. 

Once, when Dellums said that “I’ve talked with the mayor about this and he has my full confidence” and a reporter called out, “if the mayor doesn’t have your confidence, the rest of us are in trouble,” Dellums joined in the laughter from the rest of the media representatives.


Council to Address Government Transparency in Workshop

By Judith Scherr
Friday March 09, 2007

“The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”  

—Ralph M. Brown Act 

 

 

Berkeley citizens elect the mayor and council, but that doesn’t mean they give away their power to them. When they have the time, energy, inclination—or when something makes residents so mad they can’t restrain themselves—they will rush to City Hall to let the decision makers know what’s on their minds. 

But the door needs to be open for them when they walk in, say supporters of “sunshine,” a term often used to talk about transparency in government. Rules for addressing the city council (and commissions, task forces and more) need to be part of a process that welcomes citizens’ input and offers them the information they need in order to understand the problem they wish to address. 

The City Council will hold a workshop on a Sunshine Ordinance written by city attorney Manuela Albuquerque before the regular council meeting at 5 p.m., March 20.  

In recent years Berkeley has taken giant steps toward using the internet to broaden access to public information, such as posting meeting time and place on-line and giving electronic access to agendas and background information. Council and school board meetings are broadcast on cable television, over the radio and on the web. 

Faced with the threat of a lawsuit from SuperBOLD (Berkeleyans Organizing for Library Defense) working with the Oakland-based First Amendment Project, the mayor has recently sponsored new rules for public comment at city meetings, correcting a decades-old policy of limiting public speakers to 10 only, chosen by lottery. 

SuperBOLD members say that public comment rules should be written into the proposed sunshine ordinance. They insist that the Board of Library Trustees must also follow open meeting laws. The organization was formed when the Library Board voted to install radio frequency chips to track books without a public process to debate the controversial technology.  

Reacting to a failing grade in public information as rated by a Contra Costa Times study of many cities, Police Chief Doug Hambleton last week promised the City Council he would improve public service for those seeking police records. 

“Neighborhood groups have a hard time getting crime information,” said Councilmember Dona Spring, who is advocating for a strong Sunshine Ordinance. Spring said she never been able to get the police report on the death several years ago of Fred Lupke, well-known for his activism around disability and other issues. Lupke was killed by a motorist while riding in his wheelchair on Ashby Avenue. 

Another example of a problem that needs to be remedied, Spring said, is when the city applied for a grant to plan a development on the Ashby BART station parking lot, but did not involve the community. The grant proposal should have come to the council and been discussed publicly, she said. 

Other situations which a sunshine law might address include: 

• the city’s relegating policy development to nonprofits, organizations or advisory bodies whose meetings are not public; 

• delivering background documents to councilmembers at council meetings or on the same day as meetings, not allowing them or the public time to study issues they will vote on; 

• council meetings that extend beyond 11 p.m., when councilmembers made critical decisions after the public is asleep or when they themselves are tired; 

• closed session meetings which could be public; 

• lawsuits settled in closed session without the public being given advance notice of an intent to settle.  

How violations of a Sunshine Act will be adjudicated will be another issue that the City Council will have to consider. In her proposed sunshine law, the city attorney gives the power to the city manager.  

“Letting the city manager handle sunshine complaints is a horrible idea,” said Rick Knee in an e-mail to the Planet. Knee is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists Freedom of Information Committee and a member of the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task Force. 

“The ordinance should provide for a permanent task force or commission, or at least an independent ombudsperson, to adjudicate sunshine complaints, prescribe remedies and impose penalties on willful violators, gauge the effectiveness of the ordinance and recommend changes to it,” he said. 

 

The City Council will hold a Forum on a proposed Sunshine Ordinance March 20 at 5 p.m., 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

The draft sunshine ordinance and accompanying materials can be viewed at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/agenda-committee/2007/packet/031207/2007-03-20%20DRAFT%20Work%20Item%2001a%20BATES%20Panel%20Discussion%20and%20Workshop%20on%20Draft%20Sunshine%20Ordinance.pdf 

 

 


Perata Moves to Bring Back Sideshow Law

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday March 09, 2007

A little over a month after Oakland city officials were blamed for allowing a sideshow-abatement state law to lapse, the California legislature is quietly moving to reinstate the law on an “urgency” basis. 

Oakland’s inaction and the legislature’s fast-track action may mean that California’s five year experiment in suspending due process to permit the seizure of cars, aimed at curbing sideshows, could become a permanent part of state law without state officials or the public ever learning how it worked—or did not work—in Oakland. 

The first hearing on SB67, the sideshow car seizure law re-enactment bill introduced by State Senator Don Perata (D-Oakland) in mid-January, will be held on March 27 in Sacramento by the Public Safety Committee of the State Senate. 

Under the original ordinance that SB67 seeks to renew, SB1489, passed in 2002, cities can seize vehicles and hold them for a mandatory 30 day period without a prior hearing, and solely on the word of a police officer that the vehicle was being used in a “speed contest,” “reckless driving,” or an “exhibition of speed.” While no legal definition of sideshows existed at the time, SB1489 was specifically aimed at Oakland’s sideshows. 

The original law contained a sunset provision, causing it to expire on January 1st of this year. An Oakland Tribune article published last month said that Oakland “failed last year to document the law’s success in time to renew it.” 

Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker says that the sideshow car seizure law is necessary, both for the state and for Oakland. 

“We should not lose the ability to confiscate cars that are engaging in sideshows,” Tucker said in an interview this week. “That’s a huge deterrent.” 

And a spokesperson in the office of Senator Perata said that Oakland City Council Public Safety Committee Chairperson Larry Reid had contacted the Senator’s office requesting reinstatement of the bill, and the Oakland Police Department provided their office with information supporting its reinstatement. 

“It was so successful,” Perata Public Information Officer Alicia Trust said, “the City of Oakland asked us to do it again.” 

Trust said that Perata’s office has not received any communication in opposition to the reinstatement of the bill, and urged anyone with such views to forward their positions to Perata. 

There is opposition in Oakland to the sideshow car seizure bill, and some local activists and public officials are concerned that there has been no public review of the five-year law in Oakland, at which the original law was aimed. 

“I’m absolutely concerned that there are no hearings planned for Oakland,” Peralta Community College District Trustee Linda Handy said by telephone. Handy, who represents one of the East Oakland flatland areas that has been designated a “sideshow zone” by Oakland police, said that “if this was has been effective in doing what it says it was supposed to do, then substantial detail should be available to support its reauthorization. Tell us how it has reduced crime in our community.” 

Handy said her concern is that the sideshow car seizure law is “not being used in the manner in which it was intended,” causing “a direct impact on young African-American males, contributing to their disproportionate contact with the police. This bill has led to racial profiling. It has given the police carte blanche to ignore the civil rights of these young people.” 

And Rashidah Grinage, a longtime Oakland activist with PUEBLO organization who regularly monitors Oakland police activities, agreed, saying that “I don’t think the city has provided information about the efficacy of the law.” She said there was a pattern in similar legislation in the past dealing directly with Oakland’s crime problems, mentioning Oakland’s anti-loitering ordinance, passed in 2003. 

“It was supposed to stop crime by getting criminals off the streets and making our streets safe,” Grinage said. But once it was passed, after much fanfare, she added that “that’s the last we heard about it. The city never documented the effects. Nobody said a word about it since. Once they pass something, they take their eye off the ball. Should it be modified? Should it be scrapped? Nobody knows. It’s just nuts.” 

Grinage said Oakland’s anti-loitering ordinance quietly died by a sunset provision, without a public discussion. 

The sideshow seizure bill has led to a number of widely-publicized abuses by Oakland police. In 2005, Oakland officers seized the van being driven by a 41 year old Oakland resident, Eugene Davis, on an allegation that Davis was playing his car stereo too loud, one of Oakland’s definitions of a “sideshow violation.” 

Davis turned out to be a basketball coach who was driving two of his players home from a game. Both he and the two players were left on an Oakland street to figure out how to get home while his van was towed away. 

Talking about the towing and storage and ticket fees that resulted, Davis later said, “basically, I got jacked.” 

Davis was able to get the towing and storage fees rescinded after he went public about the incident, and an embarassed Chief Tucker intervened and publicly apologized to him. But the incident remains a black eye on the department’s implementation of the law. 

And a little over a year later, the Oakland Tribune reported an even more serious event, when two Sacramento Latino teenagers were shot, one of them critically, by rival gang members after the teenagers’ car was towed by Oakland police for an alleged sideshow offense and the driver and occupants were left by police on a late night, East Oakland street to try to find their way out. 

 


Police Review Commission Looks at Protecting Protesters

By Judith Scherr
Friday March 09, 2007

When can Berkeley police infiltrate political groups? What is the local police role when a government spy agency asks them for help? 

A Berkeley Police Review Commission subcommittee has begun looking at the issue in order to create policies that balance appropriate police behavior with maintaining civil rights. 

“People need to feel free to engage in and organize protests without the fear of being monitored,” said Mark Schlosberg, Police Practices Policy Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. A former member of Berkeley’s PRC, Schlosberg is advising a PRC subcommittee which is writing the policy. 

Mike Sherman, PRC co-chair and member of the subcommittee, put the need to write the guidelines in a larger political context: They are necessary “in this era when civil and political constitutional rights are being systematically stripped away from the American citizen,” he said, adding, “We need to respond to [the erosion of civil liberties] the best we can to protect the citizens of Berkeley.”  

Schlosberg authored a 2006 ACLU report called “The State of Surveillance: Government Monitoring of Political Activity in Northern and Central California,” in which he describes a situation where such regulations were needed. 

On April 7, 2003 there was a peaceful protest against the Iraq war at the Port of Oakland targeting the role of two shipping companies protesters believed were transporting weapons to Iraq and facilitating the war. In the midst of a peaceful picket, police moved in with little warning, dispersing the picketers by shooting wooden dowels and shot-filled beanbags as protesters fled, according to the report.  

(Fifty protesters were hurt and Oakland was sued, eventually paying out some $2 million.) 

It turned out, according to the report, that the organizing group had been infiltrated by two Oakland police officers, who even helped plan the route of the march.  

“Infiltrating the protest would have been highly inappropriate in and of itself,” the report says. “Officers taking leadership roles and helping direct the protest is even more invasive….” 

Such abuse was more prevalent in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Schlosberg said, when there were no clear police guidelines.  

The Berkeley Police Department submitted draft guidelines to the subcommittee, which will work with police to modify some of their policy suggestions and eventually arrive at regulations acceptable to both police and PRC. Neither Sherman nor Schlosberg spoke directly to the police draft, which includes some of the following suggested guidelines: 

Information can be used to create an intelligence file when there is reasonable suspicion based on legally-obtained information that the subject may be involved “in definable criminal conduct and/or supports, encourages or otherwise aids definable criminal conduct.” 

Plainclothes officers can be used:  

• during investigations involving groups or individuals involved in First Amendment related activities “where there is reasonable suspicion to believe the individual or group involved was involved, is involved or is planning to be involved in criminal activity.” 

• “when crowds involved in First Amend-ment related activities are marching, only in order to determine the best response for police to safely address traffic-related issues.” 

Plainclothes officers shall not: 

• assume leadership roles in an organization or cause dissention within an organization. 

• attend meetings to obtain legally-privileged information such as reporters’ confidential sources, attorney-client communications or physician-patient communications. 

Police offered the following videotaping guidelines: “It is often difficult to ascertain whether criminal activity is going to break out during a protest, march or during other protected First Amendment-related activities. Additionally, due to the contentious nature of many of these events, there is often city liability involved. Videotaping these events serves to protect both the city and the various constituents involved….” 

The guidelines also say the department will cooperate with outside agencies “consistent with this policy.” 

Schlosberg offered some thoughts on appropriate police guidelines independent of the BPD draft. The use of undercover officers should be restricted to suspicion of criminal activity, he said. “It should be the last resort.” 

There should also be specific guidelines for the police to videotape demonstrators, including documenting criminal activity. “The video should be destroyed if it does not document evidence,” Schlosberg said, noting that not every demonstration should be videoed.


A First Look at the Plans for People’s Park Renovations

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday March 09, 2007

San Francisco-based MKThink Group presented an initial needs assessment plan for People’s Park to the park’s Advisory Board on Monday. 

The two main goals identified by MKThink—represented by planner Mark Miller, Art Taylor and Alesha Kintzer—centered on making the park a safer and more attractive place for a diverse crowd. 

“People’s Park is an underutilized urban setting,” said John Selawsky, People’s Park Advisory Committee co-chair. “I don’t see any vibrancy there most of the time. Look at some of the great parks of the world. Golden Gate and Central Park have young people flocking there all the time. We have 20,000 to 30,000 students within half a mile of the park and no one goes there. This has got to change.” 

Selawsky added that he was impressed with MKThinks presentation. 

“They are sensitive to community needs,” he said. “This is a challenging concept but if anybody can pull this off, it’s them.” 

“We are looking at a lot of outreach right now,” said Irene Hegarty, director of Community Relations at UC Berkeley. “Besides planners, the team also has sociologists and behavioral psychologists.” 

She added that MKThink would be implementing their plan for the needs assessment by partnering with a UC project manager. 

“We have to try a mixture of approaches. A lot of people won’t come to the meetings because of the different controversies surrounding People’s Park, so we will have to go to them,” she said. 

Discovery—the first step outlined in the plan’s flow-chart—is scheduled to go on until May. It involves exhaustive research into the history of the park by digging up relevant archives, newspaper clippings, interviewing park users and student groups as well as visiting the park itself. 

“The discovery phase will include confirming goals, doing historical reviews, conducting interviews and observation of the physical uses of the park,” said Selawsky. 

Board members have also come up with a list of stakeholders which includes residents and merchants on Telegraph Avenue, the City of Berkeley, constituents, student groups and non-profits. 

Selawsky suggested a historical review of the park. 

“You don’t go into a place without going into the history of the place,” he said. “MKThink needs to understand the richness, diversity and depth of People’s Park. Speaking to park activists who took part in demonstrations there will help to get an idea of the agreements and disagreements over the park. We want to go into this with eyes wide open and with as few preconceptions as possible.” 

He said there was also talk of holding an online survey. 

The second step would be a needs assessment process which would take into account all the information gathered. It would help identify conflicts, patterns, best practices and common principles. 

“There is some debate about how MKThink would make use of summer, but they hope to finish phase one before then and start on phase two by fall,” said Hegarty. 

Phase three is the conceptual phase which would articulate and evaluate options for a physical design based on the needs assessment. 

Selawsky told the Planet that he was skeptical about whether the $100,000 budget approved by UC Berkeley for the current process would get past phase two. 

The final two steps are planning and design and implementation. 

The planning and design phase includes concept advancement, landscape, universal and sustainable design and cost analysis. Details of the implementation phase have not been provided yet. 

Terri Compost, a community gardener at People’s Park, told the Planet that MKThink seemed genuinely interested in trying to hear all the concerns and learn about the significance of the park. 

“I am cautiously hopeful,” she said in an email to the Planet. “I believe the Park can benefit from attention and collective visioning.” 

Though hiring outside paid experts might go against the nature of the park, Compost said, “In some ways it is refreshing to have an outside entity's perspective searching out what really are the core issues of the park and what may be some common ground for improvement.”


Berkeley High Stages “Arts on the Run” Program

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday March 09, 2007

What excites Willard Middle School eighth grader Naima Yi most about attending Berkeley High next year is its visual arts program, something the thirteen-year-old described as “super awesome.” 

Naima got a taste of BHS’s acclaimed visual arts program on Thursday, thanks to the high school’s annual Arts on the Run program, an hour long event which gives eighth graders an overview of the wealth of performing and visual arts programs available to them in the classroom. 

“I really really really want to go for the mixed media arts. It’s my super favorite thing in the whole world,” said Naima. 

Naima’s excitement is shared by students, teachers and administrators alike.  

Suzanne McCulloch, program supervisor for the Berkeley Unified School District’s Visual and Performing Arts curriculum, described Arts on the Run as a very important link between the high school and middle school. 

“It’s a showcase of Berkeley High School talent. It provides an opportunity for BHS students to present themselves in public and allows them to set a good example to the younger generation,” she said. 

“For the middle schoolers, it’s a good way to ask questions, to learn about all the wonderful things awaiting them in high school.” 

Started by Berkeley High dance teacher Marsha Singman almost a decade ago, the program underwent a hiatus for a few years, till it was revived by BHS Vice Principal Denise Brown. 

“Denise’s sudden death in February prompted me to make this happen once again. I hope to make this an annual feature. Next time the emphasis should be more on explaining the classes to the kids. We also want to focus on the sports programs.” 

Students from BHS’s jazz, modern dance and media arts divisions traveled on two school buses from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and made stops at Willard, King and Longfellow elementary schools for an hour each. 

“We are here to show the eighth graders what kind of dances they can get involved in when they get to Berkeley High,” said BHS senior Nina Gordon-Kirsch, who was practicing steps at Willard for the choreography “Hip Hop Thesis,” which would be performed by the Dance Production students. 

“I went to King but I never got to see BHS perform. I think it helps a lot in making up your mind about a program,” she added. 

Although hip hop does not feature on the list of dances in the classroom at BHS, “Hip Hop Thesis” was clearly the huge favorite among all the performances that day. 

Visual arts instructor Kimberly D’Adamo illustrated the various visual arts offerings—ranging from traditional and digital photography to ceramics—and the creative arts curriculum—which includes such media as 2D and 3D art, welding, sculpture, printmaking and magazine production—through a powerpoint presentation. 

Performances included scenes from the popular Disney movie High School Musical by the theater class, the solo song “One Night Only” from the Academy-Award winning movie Dreamgirls, and quartets by the BHS Jazz club. 

“It’s a great way to introduce students to artistic offerings at BHS,” said Willard eighth grade history teacher Richard Hourula. 

“They are not just spectators. They can start anticipating what they can expect at high school and how they can make best use of their time,” he told the Planet. 

As the Berkeley High Orchestra received a standing ovation for Dvorak’s 4th Movement from the New World Symphony, instructor Karen Wells said the purpose was to show students that high school was also about having fun. 

McCulloch told the Planet that research showed that students who participated in the arts went on to excel in their SATs and higher studies.  

“It’s important to find a niche for yourself in school. There are over 3000 students at Berkeley High but we have something for everybody. Students should know that collaborative efforts build strong personalities,” she said. 

McCulloch also supervises the Berkeley LEARNS after-school program, which provides students a chance to dabble in the creative arts after class hours. 

Efforts are being made to offer this program—primarily funded by state grants—to Berkeley Technology Academy (B-Tech) students as well.


Edwards Brings Presidential Campaign to Berkeley

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday March 06, 2007

In a speech that touched on topics both local and global during his campaign stop at the Berkeley YWCA Sunday, Democratic presidential contender John Edwards sent a message to UC Berkeley. 

“The greatness of a university is not only measured by its great men and women or by its great resources. But greatness is also recognized in how you treat those who work hard every day to make this university what it is,” said Edwards, referring to the UC custodians who are locked in a labor dispute with university authorities. 

“We stand in solidarity with the men and women of this university who deserve the dignity of earning a livable wage,” he said to a cheering crowd of more than a thousand people who had crammed alleyways and parking lots to listen to him speak at his “Tomorrow Begins Today” rally. 

Edwards said he was at the YWCA instead of the campus to show his support for campus janitors who are part of the American Federation of State and County Municipal Employees. 

“How about if we actually have a living wage in the U.S.?” he asked. “How about if we make it easier, not harder for workers to join unions?” 

Edwards said that unions were the future of America. 

Michelle Wasserman, president of the Cal Berkeley Democrats, said that she endorsed John Edwards because she believed he would bring about specific change. 

“I am tired of the increasing tuition and the cuts in university grants,” she said. “Edwards cares about the people. He cares about the lives of women—as a lawyer, a senator, a husband and a father of two daughters.” 

When asked if he approved the public-private partnership between UC Berkeley and BP (formerly British Petroleum) for academic research during a press meet at a back room of the YWCA, Edwards admitted that he did not have enough details about the deal to make a decision. 

“I don’t have the facts but any kind of public-private partnership between a public and a private institution is a terrific idea,” he said. 

Reminiscing on the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery that led to black voting-rights marchers being brutally abused and beaten up by state troopers, Edwards said the march for equality was still continuing. 

“I was 11 years old at that time and living in the south which was filled with discrimination,” he said. “Segregation still exists today. I remember the ‘whites only’ signs in the diners. The white kids sitting downstairs at the movie theaters and the black kids upstairs.” 

He added, “The march for equality at UC Berkeley is part of the greater march for fairness.” 

When reporters asked Edwards if he was seeking an apology from author Ann Coulter—who had called him a “faggot” at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington last week, Edwards said he wasn’t. 

“I think it’s important we don’t reward selfish, hateful, childish, racist behavior,” he said, adding that the slur was no more tolerable than the language he had heard being directed at African Americans while growing up. 

Edwards also spoke strongly on the genocide in Darfur, global warming, HIV Aids in Africa, and the war in Iraq. 

“I voted for the war and I was wrong to vote for it. No excuses,” he said. “Congress should use constitutional power to stop George W. Bush from accelerating troops in Iraq. They should force him to bring back troops by next year. The president has already exceeded his authority by monitoring civil war in Iraq.” 

Calling the current healthcare system dysfunctional, Edwards said that he was the only presidential candidate who had plans for a universal detailed health care system that involved $90 to $120 billion in funds. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


News Analysis: GMO Research Dominates BP-UC Partnership

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday March 06, 2007

Critics of the proposed agreement between UC Berkeley and BP — the rebranded British Petroleum — should take their best shots now, because once the deal is signed not only Big Oil, but Big Academy and Big Government Lab will mobilize their own PR folks to fire back. 

Should a final contract be signed as UC Berkeley proposes, the collective public relations efforts of academia and the corporation will be formally obligated to uphold the project as the world’s leading research in alternative energy, implicitly holding up biofuels as the preeminent solution to world energy woes. 

What’s more, venture capital firms have promised to marshal their lobbying efforts to catch the ears of hesitant legislators and other government leaders. 

All these efforts will target would-be critics of a project that proposes nothing less than to re-engineer living plant cells to toil away as microfactories, delivering the raw materials to other living cells toiling away to turn plantstuff into fuel to keep cars and trucks on the road.  

These facts—and many more—emerge from a close reading of the 93-page submission, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily Planet, which was used by UC Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana (UI) to win the promise of a half-billion dollars from the global oil giant,  

One commonly understood phrase is missing though omnipresent throughout the first 56 pages of the document and appears only in the final and shortest item in the research program—and then only as a warning that “This research will profit from paying significant attention to the evolving regulatory and societal response to genetically modified organisms at the domestic and international level.” 

Genetically modified organisms—or GMOs—have provoked political firestorms, and bans in Europe and protests and suicides by Indian farmers have heightened the controversy around their creation and use. 

But, as the document makes clear on page 56, “Synthetic biology is a core function with the EBI,” with “synthetic biology” being the reframed and university-and-BP-preferred alternative name to GMO. 

“Synthetic biology is the design and construction of new biological entities—such as enzyme, genetic circuits and cells—or the redesign of existing biological systems,” states the proposal. 

Still to be finalized is a basic legal document for the project, which is to be negotiated between and signed by UC Berkeley and BP, with the University of Illinois and LBNL serving as subcontractors to Cal. 

BP itself would create a proprietary subsidiary to conduct its own research in separate quarters in the same building. 

 

Designer genes 

While some gene-engineered microbes are eating GMO plantstuff and excreting ethanol and other fuels, other microscopic forms of “synthetic biology” could be slaving away deep beneath the earth’s surface, chomping down on hard-to-reach oil and rendering it easier to extract or digesting coal into cleaner forms of liquid fuel. 

But most of the emphasis is on biomass—chopped up bits of cropped plants—as the likely source of the energy-creation efforts of the Energy Biosciences Institute, or EBI. 

The proposal lists three potential sources of biomass to be used for fuels in addition to corn: fast-growing poplar trees, switchgrass and miscanthus—with the emphasis on the last, a tall, hardy perennial already being used in European pilot programs. 

Experiments will focus on developing GMO strains tweaked to overcome biological factors that make it hard for microorganisms to digest. 

Tasked with creating the new plants are the Biomass Engineering, Lignin, Feedstocks and Breeding laboratories. The Feedstock Pretreatment, Enzyme Discovery, Enzyme Evolution and Engineering and Biofuels Chemistry laboratories will explore processing the plants, and the Laboratory for Integrated Bioprocessing will focus on treating a single organism that would both produce enzymes to break down biomass and convert the resulting compounds to fuels. 

The Pathway Engineering Lab, aided by the Host Engineering Laboratory, will identify the genes that produce critical enzymes and develop organisms that thrive in harsh industrial conditions in the presence of compounds that might otherwise destroy the microbes in their naturally occurring forms. 

Several more labs will focus on enzymes. 

The Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery and Fossil Fuel Bioprocessing labs will concentrate on petroleum and coal, respectively, while the Biological Carbon Sequestration lab will seeks ways to trap more carbon and keep it from the atmosphere. 

Another lab will focus on harvesting, transport and storage. 

The remaining labs will focus on marketing, social and environmental implications, and developing tools to implement, evaluate and regulate the emerging GMO-derived fuel industry. 

 

Construction sites 

The proposal sites the main offices and labs in a purpose-built facility at LBNL. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged $40 million in state funds for the structure, and the university has lined up $15 million in private contributions and $30 million in state lease revenue bonds, based on revenues anticipated from BP. 

The structure, envisioned as a three-story building, will be located next to a planned new parking lot with 150 spaces—the same number as the anticipated number of staff positions. 

Initially, the program would operate in two existing structures, Hildebrand Hall, a research building, and the Calvin Laboratory, a structure scheduled for demolition to make way for a new office and meeting complex joining the university’s law and business schools. 

Initial plans call for a three-story building at LBNL with special containment labs designed to prevent release of any of the organisms created at the lab. The lab rated Biohazard Safety Level 2 on a scale from one to four, with four covering the most lethal agents. BSL 2 is the level mandated for handling the HIV, influenza and hepatitis viruses. 

The proposal accepted by BP last month declares that UC Regents are scheduled to approve the structure this month, with detailed design work to start by summer. 

That schedule is dependent on approval of the Environmental Impact Report for LBNL’s Long Range Development Plan, now the subject of public hearings, including an upcoming joint meeting of the city’s Planning, Landmarks Preservation, Transportation and Community Health commissions. The session begins at 7 p.m. Mar. 14 in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

The City Council will add its own comments the following Tuesday. 

The deadline for all public comments is March 23. A copy of the draft EIR is available on the lab’s website at www.lbl.gov/LRDP/. 

A smaller, 6,748-square-foot lab will be housed in an existing building at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana in the Institute of Genomic Biology building. 

The project will use a variety of other facilities and scientific equipment at LBNL and will occupy some of the space in a new 11,600-square-foot Biomolecular Nanotechnology Center.  

Plans also call for use of the university’s Oxford Tract and Growing Field and yet another university-own site three miles from campus. 

In addition to controlling all of the research conducted by its own scientists, BP has the right to review all research conducted by faculty and students at the institute to make sure no trade secrets for corporate research leak out. 

In addition to testing crops at sites provided by UI, the Biofuels Markets and Networks and the Biofuels Evaluation and Adoption laboratories will seek out test sites in Europe, China and Africa and field research sites in the U.S., Europe, China, India, Africa and Latin America—looking at both growing conditions and the political and regulatory climates. 

 

PR and outreach 

The public relations push is mandated on page 56 of the proposal, which calls for the combined PR efforts of BP, the two universities and the lab “to ensure that the EBI maintains national and international visibility as the world’s premier energy research institute.” 

Implications of this massive PR push for other forms of energy research, including solar, wind, tidal and even nuclear, aren’t mentioned. The universities have committed to pushing biofuels as the premier solution to the world’s energy crisis—and as a lab representative told the Berkeley Planning Commission, the primary purpose of the fuels is to keep transportation moving. 

The proposal also recruits the extension services of the two university systems to sell the institute to students at the universities and in public schools, and to grant access to both forms of academia to BP engineers and scientists to encourage the young to pursue careers in the field. 

Scientists will also get to work on marketing their work with the help of MBA. students from UC Berkeley’s Management of Technology Program, a joint effort of the Haas School of Business, the College of Engineering and the School of Information. 

Senior industry executives and venture capitalists have pledged to support the program by: 

• Investing in BP spinoff companies and other businesses needed to solidify the emerging industry. 

• Bringing in new corporate partners in line with BP’s interest. 

• Mentoring EBI graduate and post-doctoral students looking for jobs in the industry. 

• “Advocating for” federal and state policies supporting EBI and the biofuel industry. 

The closest the proposal comes to a watchdog body is the Social Interactions and Risk Laboratory, which is staffed by two economists, a biologist, an MBA and a Harvard-trained lawyer. There is no provision for lay membership or an ombudsperson.  

 

Rights 

Patent rights to inventions and discoveries fall into two classes: BP-only and open research. 

The first category involves the work of BP scientists in the half of the building they lease from the university, a space from which university staff are “excluded entirely in performance of their university activities.” 

However, BP will also contract with faculty and do research jointly with faculty members, resulting in more complex financial relations. 

University-only research would belong to the university, but profits from discoveries by joint teams would be shared, as would the fruits of research by BP scientists using university or LBNL facilities. 


Public Commons Initiative Targets Street Sitting

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday March 06, 2007

Next week, Mayor Tom Bates will introduce the “Public Commons for Everyone Initiative,” a proposal some say could provide the needed muscle to displace those who sit endlessly in the city’s public spaces adjacent to businesses. Others contend the mayor’s plan would erode the civil rights of those targeted, especially the homeless and mentally ill. 

The proposal, if adopted in principle by the City Council, will then go to the city manager and several commissions for their input, before returning to the council in May.  

Chamber of Commerce President Roland Peterson, also director of the Telegraph Avenue Business Improvement District, says the city needs new tools to address inappropriate street behavior. 

He describes the problem as groups of youths “who sit for hours on end” on the street. While generally they don’t block stores or the public right of way, he says, most objectionable is that they verbally accost passersby, sometimes asking for money, sometimes being crude, even sometimes being witty. And when they get up and move on, they leave a lot of litter behind them, he says. 

“I hope we can get some restrictions on long-term sitting,” Peterson said, underscoring that the restrictions would exclude such activities as sidewalk dining or watching a parade. 

Attorney Osha Neumann, who often defends homeless and poor people, said the mayor’s plan could lead to “civil rights violations without trying to get to the root of the problem.” 

Neumann said there is nothing illegal about sitting on the sidewalk and asking for money and condemned those who say the homeless are responsible for the death of Cody’s, the Telegraph Avenue bookstore that closed last summer. “[The homeless] are the easiest possible target,” he said. 

Mayor Tom Bates was not available for comment. The proposal, which comes from his office, underscores the role the city plays in providing services: “Our community has a long and strong history of funding and supporting services dedicated to improving the lives of people who are homeless or living in poverty and for people facing issues of substance abuse and/or mental illness,” it says. 

out that the actions of added police and mental health teams on Telegraph Avenue have “the unintended consequence of transferring some of the street behavior problems to the downtown and surrounding areas.” 

Bates’ proposal speaks to the needs of the business community. While lack of parking and Internet sales plays into businesses leaving Berkeley, another factor is the “social deterioration of our streets,” the proposal states. 

The proposal speaks to “working with local merchants to develop clear expectations for street appearances,” addressing social conditions by “improving outreach and access to services and by creating consistent community standards for public behavior—specifically preventing behaviors such as prolonged sitting and smoking in front of businesses, yelling at people as they walk along the corridor, and/or selling or consuming drugs.” 

The proposal includes providing “effective legal tools for keeping the sidewalk free from obstruction.” 

Like Neumann, Councilmember Dona Spring said she fears the measure will interfere with people’s civil rights. “I don’t want to see a double standard,” she said, noting that people would still be allowed to sit on the sidewalk in front of cafes. “They don’t want people without money sitting down,” she said, adding that in the recommendation there was no mention of new funding to expand services. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said the emphasis should be on attracting vibrant businesses. When there’s a bustling business, such as the new Peet’s on Telegraph, “the homeless fade into the background,” he said. 

Deborah Badhia, executive director of the Downtown Berkeley Association, hadn’t seen Bates’ proposal when reached by the Planet Monday afternoon, but said the DBA wants public space available for everyone who visits downtown. Now that space is sometimes “dominated by negative street behavior,” she said. 

Berkeley has a host of services, she said, and may need increased enforcement against negative behavior. “The DBA wants a good, healthy balance between services and enforcement,” she said. 

Stepped-up enforcement may be particularly necessary for people on the lower end of the economic scale who don’t benefit from the same kind of financial safety net as middle-class people, whose family might help them get needed physical or mental health treatment, Badhia said. Law enforcement can direct people into treatment programs. “If it’s the right moment, people will accept treatment,” Badhia said. 

In an undated article posted on the Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS) website, BOSS executive director boona cheema writes about the differing views people have of panhandlers: “We cannot find consensus as to how to end poverty and homelessness and respond to its most visible prodigy, the panhandler. People who beg for survival or to feed their addictions or supplement their mediocre wages are seen as the failures of this great country … [They are written] violations until misdemeanors become felonies and [we] put them in jail where we seem to be warehousing everyone who seems like a threat to this great society. Whether to criminalize them, or to allow them the right to beg, sleep, lie or sit in our streets has been at the heart of calm and heated debates in the history of the United States.”  

The debate moves to the Berkeley City Council March 13.


Landmarks Panel Challenges LBNL Report

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday March 06, 2007

On a 5-0-2 vote, Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) raised a challenge to expansion plans for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Thursday night. Commissioners Miriam Ng and Fran Packard abstained on the vote. 

The major concern of the majority was the impact of a massive construction program planned over the next 18 years in Strawberry Canyon in the Berkeley hills. 

The comments came in response to a formal request to contribute concerns about the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) filed on the lab’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) 2025. 

“We’re concerned that the LRDP does not recognize the impact on a potential cultural landscape,” said Lesley Emmington. 

“It’s incorrect to say the projects will have no significant impacts,” said Chair Robert Johnson, citing the conclusions of the DEIR, adding that the university should include mitigations or alternatives lacking in the document. 

Commissioners will get a second chance to comment next Wednesday when they and three other city commissions conduct a 7 p.m. public hearing in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

The EIR motion came near the end of a long session that featured a presentation from UC Berkeley on plans to turn the exterior of the old UC Printing Plant into a projection screen for displaying electronic art pending demolition of the landmark to make room for a new museum. The session also included hearings on plans for two other landmarks and efforts to designate the endangered Iceland as a city landmark. 

Members also got a sneak peak at a new development planned for downtown Berkeley, the renovation of the landmarked Fidelity Savings Building and construction of an adjacent six-story apartment-over-retail building on a narrow lot at 2323 Shattuck Ave. 

Architect Jim Novosel drafted the plans, which call for restoration of both the interior and exterior of the landmark. 

“The foundation of this project is preservation,” he said, and the developer had agreed to forego the right to add additional height to the landmark while adding the mixed -use building to the north, which features solar energy collectors on the roof of a traditionally styled exterior. 

Inclusion of units reserved for lower-income tenants would allow the addition of a sixth floor above the five normally permitted downtown, he said.  

While commissioners had qualms about some of the details of the upper two floors, the plan met with general approval and seems likely to win a final nod.  

The Iceland hearing pitted attorney Rena Rickles against advocates of the rink whose owners say is too expensive to run. 

With the rink slated to close at the end of the month, Rickles asked commissioners to wait on acting on the landmark application so the owner could negotiate a compromise that would allow for development plans that would remove the unique earth berms built to help cool a structure which retains most of its original construction details. 

Plans being formed by developer and broker John Gordon would call for alterations to the building, while preserving the Milvia Street facade and maintaining a smaller skating area while adding new uses. 

Iceland produced two world-class ice skaters in Peggy Fleming and Brian Boitano, said Tom Killelea, who hopes to keep the rink intact. The building also housed the first national skating events west of the Mississippi, he said. 

Elizabeth Grassetti, president of the University Skating Club, also argued for preservation. “We want to see it stay a skating rink for the next 100 years,” she said. 

When Mother Nature upstaged Rickles with a twitch precisely at 8:40 p.m., after a brief moment of startled silence, the first words were about numbers, the precise spot where the temblor tickled the Richter Scale, sparking a series of speculations settled minutes later when a number arrived by Steve Winkel’s PDA (a pocket-sized computer called a personal data assistant). 

Rickles, unfazed, had already picked up precisely where she’d been halted moments before, offering a small joke. The attorney urged compromise, adding, “We would very much not like to appeal.” 

Commissioner Jill Korte said any effort to limit the initiative was premature before the commission had determined which features of the building were architecturally significant, and colleague Gary Parsons, an architect, said the earth berms were “pretty radical” at the time of construction, a green idea amazing for the time. 

Emmington said supporters should explore ways to find additional funds in the same way proponents of the Richmond Plunge had helped save that landmark public swimming facility. 

Members opted to create a subcommittee consisting of Johnson, Winkle and Packard to work on a final application with proponents and Rickles. 

Members also opened a hearing on modifications to the landmarked South Pacific station at 700 University Ave. needed to let Brennan’s Irish Pub take up quarters in the Spanish-style landmark. 

The move was made necessary by plans to level the surrounding block, including the pub’s current home, to make way for high-density housing over a retail complex. Barring a sudden reversal, approval seems likely at next month’s LPC meeting


Multi-School Education Center Discussed

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday March 06, 2007

Supporters of a new multi-school education center for Oakland Unified School District’s Second Avenue properties moved quickly to capitalize on the momentum gained from the collapse of the deal to sell that property, winning key commitments from local political and agency leaders for their project at an overflow mass meeting of more than 300 parents and students at Laney College last Thursday night. 

Meanwhile, although the property sale to another developer is not completely dead, it appears less likely to be able to re-materialize this year after a spokesperson for state Sen. Don Perata said that there was no bill currently pending before the state Legislature to extend the deadline for the sale of that property past the current June 30 date. The date has passed for any new legislation to be introduced for the current legislative term.  

Perata was the power behind the original drive to sell the Second Avenue properties. 

With the Laney Forum so packed at last week’s mass meeting that there was standing-room-only along the auditorium’s upper railing high above the stage area, State Assemblymember Sandré Swanson and Oakland City Councilmember Pat Kernighan as well as representatives of Oakland Unified School District State Administrator Kimberly Stathan and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums all voiced support for the education center project. 

The meeting was organized by a loose coalition representing the five schools currently on the Second Avenue property, the Oakland Community Organizations, the East Bay Asian Youth Center, and OUSD’s Office of Community Accountability. 

A spokesperson for Stathan said that her office would begin setting up the planning process for the development of the facility.  

Assemblymember Swanson, who has introduced a bill in the assembly to return local control the Oakland schools, told the cheering gathering that he came to the meeting personally “because I wanted to hear for myself the enthusiasm you have for this project. I am so proud of you. You are Oakland, and Oakland is you. You have to have your schools built on the Second Avenue properties because this is what you deserve.” 

The loudest cheers were reserved for School Board President David Kakishiba, who represents the area where the Second Avenue properties are located, and who has led the fight on the board of trustees to preserve the schools in their present location. Kakishiba spoke only briefly, saying that the board had gone on record last September in support of the education center construction, and “that position is the current position of the board of education.” 

Neku Pogue, representing Don Perata, gave qualified support for the project, saying that “the decision lies with the district. The district is supporting it, and the senator certainly will not step on their toes.” When one community resident asked Pogue if Perata would commit to meeting personally with representatives of the five schools to talk about the project, Pogue said that Perata was a “busy person,” but she would try to set up a meeting.  

Asked if Mayor Dellums would discourage developers from continuing efforts to purchase the Second Avenue properties, Dellums’ educational representative, Kitty Kelly Epstein, said that “the mayor is a very persuasive person. He has already used that persuasion to discourage the purchase of that property by developers. I assure you that he will do so in the future.” 

Five schools—Dewey Academy High School, MetWest High School, La Escuelita Elementary School, Centro Infantil Child Development Center and Yuk Yao Child Development Center—currently sit on the 8.25-acre property along with the district’s aging Paul Robeson Administration Building. 

Last September, at the end of public hearings on state Superintendent Jack O’Connell’s proposed sale of the Second Avenue properties to the TerraMark/UrbanAmerica East Coast development team, OUSD’s advisory board of trustees voted 6-1 (trustee Kerry Hamill voting no) to oppose the proposed sale and to support trustee Noel Gallo’s proposal to build new facilities on the site to house the child development centers, a multi-school kindergarten to high school program, and new district administrative facilities. 

Under SB512, the general state education bill passed in 2005, the state superintendent’s office has until June 30 to sell the Second Avenue property under special guidelines that allow the streamlining of the sale procedures, as well as allow the proceeds of the sale to go towards helping to retire OUSD’s debt to the state. After that date, the sale would be more difficult to carry out, and the proceeds could not be used to help retire the state debt. 

Last month, state Administrator Statham and state Superintendent Jack O’Connell announced that the state and TerraMark/UrbanAmerica had reached a mutual agreement to break off negotiations over a contract for the East Coast developers to purchase the land. 

At the same time, O’Connell refused to rule out the sale entirely to any other developer, stating only that there were no current plans to sell the land. Under the original RFP issued two years ago, there were two other developers—Gilbane Properties of Palo Alto, and a development team including Oakland-based Strategic Urban Development Associates. While the state would not have enough time to solicit new development proposals to beat the June 30 deadline, there still remains time for O’Connell to reach agreement with one of the two remaining developers from the original RFP. 


So An Brings Music, Activism to Bay Area

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday March 06, 2007

Topical folksinger, hero, revolutionary, teacher, social worker, ex-political prisoner, Annette Auguste—best known as So An—is celebrated among Haiti’s poor majority for her commitment to the tiny nation’s struggle for sovereignty and democracy, according to members of the Berkeley-based Haiti Action Committee, which is bringing So An to the Bay Area this week. 

So An, 65, grew up in Porte-au-Prince. She had a happy childhood and, as her parents were factory workers, she was able to attend school.  

The presidency of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, beginning in 1956, cast a shadow over the country. “In Duvalier’s time nobody could say what they wanted to say or talk normally because we were so afraid of Duvalier and the Tonton Macoutes,” So An told the Daily Planet, speaking in French—her second language after Haitian Creole—in a phone interview Saturday from Port-au-Prince.  

“That’s why I left to go to New York City [as a young adult]. There I found people who had the same outlook as I. We fought against Duvalier from New York.” 

There, So An participated in radio broadcasts, which helped cohere the U.S. anti-Duvalierist movement, according to Pierre Labossiere of the Haiti Action Committee, who told the Daily Planet he was inspired as a young Haitian refugee by the broadcasts’ anti-Duvalierist and feminist messages. 

Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier succeeded his father and was forced out in 1986; a succession of rulers followed him. In 1990, Jean Bertrand Aristide, an outspoken priest who preached liberation theology, was elected president, but overthrown by a military coup seven months into his rule. 

Three years later, with the help of the U.S. Marines, Aristide was returned to power. That’s when So An decided it was time to go home. 

In Haiti she did social work, “helping people go to school and to get something to eat, taking sick people to the hospital,” she said, all the while, working to strengthen the movement for democracy.  

“The fight for democracy is something everyone must do. The democracy is us. It brings honor to everyone. With Aristide, there was real democracy because everybody could talk to each other and demonstrate if they wanted to,” So An said. 

Aristide served the remainder of his five years in office after which René Préval was elected and served five years. A president cannot succeed himself in Haiti, and so Aristide did not run for office again until 2000, when he was re-elected president by 92 percent of the vote. 

But on Feb. 29, 2004, according to Aristide, the U.S. Marines “kidnapped” him and forced him into exile. (Some insist that Aristide asked the U.S. to help him leave, as some 200 former Haitian soldiers were threatening to march on Port-au-Prince.) Aristide remains in South Africa today.  

With Aristide gone and with the backing of the U.S., France and Haiti, Gérard Latortue, a Haitian living in Florida, was named interim prime minister, and the unelected Haitian government, with the help of the Multinational Interim Force (MIF)—made up mostly of American, French and Canadian military—started rounding up Aristide allies. (The MIF was replaced by mostly South American military under U.N. command in June 2004.) 

So An was among those packed into Haiti’s prisons. 

In a call for her release in January 2006, Amnesty International describes So An’s arrest: “Annette Auguste… a prominent folk singer, community leader and supporter of the Fanmi Lavalas party [Aristide’s party] was arrested at her home around midnight on 9 May 2004, by a contingent of U.S. Marines [belonging to the MIF] on suspicion of possessing information that could pose a threat to the U.S.-military force deployed in Haiti…. 

“During the arrest they reportedly used explosives to open the front gate; shots were fired and the door to the house was forced open, even though the Marines reportedly met no resistance. According to Lt. Col Dave Lapan, a spokesman of the MIF, U.S. soldiers searched Annette Auguste’s house but no weapons or evidence on the allegations was found.”  

Nevertheless, along with some ten members of her family, including a five-year-old grandchild, So An was handcuffed and arrested. The others were freed, but So An was imprisoned for two years and three months, without a trial. 

“Imagine that I could threaten America, the most powerful country in the world!” So An said. “They wanted to attack me because I’m a friend of Aristide’s.” 

So An survived her time in the sweltering overcrowded women’s prison by doing just what she did on the outside: “I taught people to read and to do crochet. There are a lot of people in prison who don’t know how to read or write.” 

So An did more than merely survive in prison: “I went to prison with my pride and came out with my pride as well,” she said, pointing out that while she is out of prison, the jails are still crowded with Aristide supporters. 

The U.S.-backed interim prime minister is back home in Florida; Préval took office as president last year. “I said to myself that now there is a president who was elected democratically, he has to do what is necessary. He needs to do something for the political prisoners,” So An said. 

But she said she found that “this democracy wears a mask.” In fact, she said, Haiti is now run by a “disguised occupation”: the U.N. military forces. The superpowers “do not want to show openly they are an occupation,” she said.  

Today there are 8,550 uniformed U.N. personnel in Haiti, including 6,782 troops and 1,768 police, supported by 432 international civilian personnel, 642 local civilian staff and 166 United Nations volunteers, according to the U.N. website.  

Of the U.N. military incursions into Cité Soleil, the large impoverished shantytown where many innocents have been reported killed by the U.N. military, So An said: “We have [the U.N. military] in Haiti. If you take a look in Cité Soleil, they are the masters.” (The U.N. contends its forces go into Cité Soleil to apprehend criminals.) 

U.S. supporters can help grassroots Haitians, So An said.“You have to help denounce those things and write it in your newspapers.” 

So An will speak at 7 p.m., March 10, at The Uptown, 401 26th St, Oakland. Music will be by Vukani Mawethu and So An, accompanied by her husband, master drummer “Tido” Wilfrid Lavaud. At 7 p.m., March 14, at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland, So An will introduce a new film by Oakland/Port-au-Prince filmmaker Kevin Pina, Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits. 

 

 


Corrections

Tuesday March 06, 2007

The membership of the City of Oakland Blue Ribbon Affordable Housing Commission that appeared in the Feb. 20 Planet story “Oakland’s Inclusionary Housing Commission Under Fire” had a number of errors. 

Katherine Kasch was listed twice, once as a De La Fuente appointee, and again as a Dellums appointee (misspelled as Catherine Cash). She is a Dellums appointee. Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente’s appointee is Gregory McConnell, who heads up the real estate developers group the Better Housing Coalition. Councilmember Nancy Nadel’s appointee’s name was misspelled. His name is Michael Rawson. 

 

In the March 2 story “Local Booksellers Cheer Barnes & Noble’s Demise,” quotes attributed to Pegasus Books store owner Amy Thomas should have been attributed to Pegasus Books (Shattuck Avenue) store manager Tim Rogers.


Running Wolf Free Again, Faces Hearing

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday March 06, 2007

“I’m free at last,” said Zachary Running Wolf, after his release from jail last Wednesday following his Feb. 23 arrest by UC Berkeley Police on a charge of threatening a peace officer. 

Running Wolf sparked the ongoing protest in the grove west of the university’s Memorial Stadium, which helped draw the eyes of national news media to challenges to the school’s massive building plans at the landmarked site. 

The tree-in began before dawn on the morning of the Big Game, Dec. 2, when Running Wolf scaled a stately redwood and took up residence high in the branches, with other protesters finding perches in nearby oaks. 

The university plans to level most of the trees to make room for a $125 million, four-story gym featuring the latest high-tech devices for enhancing the speed and agility of members of the university’s sports teams, with the football squad heading the list. 

University fundraisers have already collected $100 million of the needed funds, and Athletic Director Sandy Barbour recently emailed donors that the university would prevail against lawsuits now challenging the Student Athlete High Performance Center and other projects in the stadium environs. 

While neighborhood activists and city officials targeted the project largely on the grounds of impacts on nearby streets and views, Running Wolf and his fellow arboreal activists have drawn media attention to the trees. 

When John English, a retired planner and a preservation activist, filed initiatives to have the stadium declared a city landmark and an official entry on the National Register of Historic Places, university officials had no objection to listing the stadium, but asked that his inclusion of the surrounding grounds be cut back. 

English said Thursday that he had cited the trees in the applications because they play a significant role at the landmark site, helping both to soften the impact of the massive stadium and to highlight the landscape of Piedmont/Gayley Way, itself a city landmark designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York’s Central Park and the founder of modern American landscape architecture. 

The City Council nearly complied with the university’s request to ax the grove from the landmark filing, then drew back when members realized that their action would effectively remove the stadium’s landmark status during the critical period when the city was itself challenging the university’s Environmental Impact Report encompassing the stadium, the gym and a planned nearby underground parking garage. 

Running Wolf said he is scheduled for arraignment on two charges next Thursday: the accusation that he threatened a police officer and for vandalizing stop signs. 

An environmental activist, he was arrested in possession of spray paints and a stencil with cutout letters spelling out DRIVING. 

Many stop signs in Berkeley and Oakland have had that word sprayed beneath the larger letters reading STOP, and a miniature stop sign similarly ornamented was among the items confiscated during one of the two police raids at the grove last week. 

Running Wolf, who denied making a specific threat to officers who arrested him, said he believes he was charged “because they’re trying to knock me out of the mayor’s race.” He said he plans to challenge Mayor Tom Bates again when the incumbent’s term ends in two years. 

He said he was released after Karen Pickett of Copwatch found a sponsor willing to post the $2,000 cash deposit needed to make his $20,000 bail. 

Meanwhile, campus police were back out in force at the grove Thursday morning, gathering up the few items protesters had on the ground, “a couple of cardboard signs, some orange peels and some bits of rope,” said Doug Buckwald, who has been organizing support for the tree-sitters. 

Buckwald spent part of the afternoon at another protest on campus, the student-led demonstration outside California Hall protesting the $500 million alternative energy accord between the former British Petroleum, the university, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois. 

Two 19-year-old UC Berkeley students were arrested at that demonstration, Nathan Murthy and Ali B. Tonak. 

Each was charged with trespassing on campus property with the intent to damage or obstruct after they dumped molasses in front of California Hall, where Chancellor Robert Birgenau has his offices. 

After booking at Berkeley City Jail, both students were released pending court appearances.


SF Cody’s May Close

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday March 06, 2007

The property housing Cody’s Books at 2 Stockton St. in San Francisco is being marketed to new tenants, raising speculation on whether Cody’s will be moving from the location as well, according to a recent story by Sarah Duxbury in the San Francisco Business Times . 

Andy Ross, former owner and current president of Cody’s Books, did not return phone calls from the Planet on Monday. 

Started by Pat and her late husband Fred Cody in 1956, Cody’s flagship store on Telegraph Avenue was sold to Ross in 1977. Ross added the second store at Fourth Street in Berkeley and a new one in San Francisco. Cody’s on Telegraph closed in July, citing poor sales. Ross sold Cody’s to the Tokyo-based company Yohan, Inc, in September. 

During the announcement, Hiroshi Kagawa, CEO of Yohan, Inc., vowed to strengthen Cody’s. Yohan also bought Berkeley-based Stone Bridge Press last year. 

Leasing agent Cushman & Wakefield have already shown the property to prospective tenants on behalf of the landlord—a Morgan Stanley-managed pension fund—according to Duxbury’s report. 

The Cushman & Wakefield website lists the property size as 21,720 square feet with 2,500 square feet ground floor area and 19,220 square feet basement area. Cody’s occupies approximately 22,000 square feet and is the property’s sole occupant. 

The Business Times also said that Cody’s was paying in the “neighborhood of $600,000 annually.” 

Over the weekend, it was business as usual at the Cody’s Union Square location. Both staff and customers said they were unaware of the report. 

Kazuko Morgan, the real estate contact for Cody’s Books, told the Planet Monday they were looking for tenants for 2 Stockton St. but couldn’t confirm whether it was for the space housing Cody’s. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Dellums Calls for Coherent Housing Policy

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday March 06, 2007

Only hours before they were to become public record as part of Oakland City Council’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Affordable Housing, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums released its second set of task force policy recommendations last week, calling for several proposals for a “coherent and responsive public policy to address affordable housing needs in Oakland.” 

Two of the Housing Task Force’s recommendations were virtually identical to the areas being scrutinized by the Blue Ribbon Commission itself, developing an inclusionary zoning policy for the city, and changing Oakland’s condominium conversion policy. In addition, the task force made recommendations in seven other housing policy areas, including the development of a city industrial land conversion policy that prioritizes the rezoning to affordable housing where such land is rezoned, and strengthening Oakland’s rent control law. 

In its summary, the Housing Task Force said that its recommendations “will need courageous and bold leadership” and that the city “should lead the effort to chart a new course of responsible public policy for housing and ensure our community remains both economically and racially diverse.” 

The task force added that its recommendations represented “a major shift in housing policy from a speculative development to people-oriented and sustainable development.” 

In the period between his election last June and his taking of office in January, Dellums organized 41 volunteer citizen task forces to make recommendations in various city policy areas. The task forces turned over those recommendations to the Dellums administration earlier this year, but until last week, only the public safety recommendations have been made available to the public. 

Dellums has not commented publicly on the housing recommendations, and staff members have said privately that the mayor’s office will not necessarily adopt all of the recommendations, but will most likely go through them point by point to develop them into a working housing strategy. 

While the Housing Task Force report includes a minority report of those members who dissented on the main decisions of the group, the deepest division appeared in the recommendation to strengthen the city’s rent control law, with 10 task force members voting for the recommendation, five voting against it, and 6 abstaining.  

A recommendation to prioritize allocation of public funds to the neediest passed 19 to 4. A recommendation to create a separate housing department within the city’s Community and Economic Development Agency passed 20 to 4, a recommendation to change the city’s condominium conversion policy to strengthen protections for renters, to prevent renter displacement, and to provide affordable housing for all income levels passed 21 to 4. And a recommendation to expand resources and funding for affordable housing passed 21 to 1. 

The Dellums administration has given no timetable as to the release of recommendations from all of the task forces, but appeared to speed up release of the Housing Task Force report after city staff members said they were going to make the report a part of the Blue Ribbon Commission packet, making them available to the public. 

Both the Housing Task Force and the Blue Ribbon Commission are pushing for city elected officials to take action on affordable housing issues before the summer break, with the task force setting a May 1 deadline for implementation of a city inclusionary zoning policy. 

Ron Carlisle, one of the two co-conveners of the Housing Task Force, said that the May 1 deadline was “a big issue” for task force members. 

“At the time the task force was meeting, City Council was debating both the inclusionary zoning ordinance and a change in the city’s condo conversion law,” Carlisle said by telephone, “with the council splitting down the middle on the issue. There were charges by some of the task force members that some of the opposition to affordable housing in Oakland wanted to leave these issues unresolved. In addition, several people were charging that the outgoing administration [of Jerry Brown] was delaying the process.” 

Carlisle said that as a co-convener to the task force, he remained neutral on that issue. 

But Carlisle believes that the task force and the Blue Ribbon Commission are in sync with trying to make changes in Oakland’s housing policy quickly. 

“The commission chairman is committed to bringing something to the council as soon as possible,” he said.


S.F. State Professor Matthew Stolz

Tuesday March 06, 2007

Matthew F. Stolz, retired professor of political science at San Francisco State University, died of cancer at his Berkeley home Feb. 20. 

Professor Stolz, 71, led the life of a political theorist in the classical tradition of Plato and Aristotle, constantly interrogating himself, his students, and his colleagues in his quest to understand the political world. A highly dedicated teacher, he also contributed to scholarship by publishing Politics of the New Left (Glencoe, 1971). He also wrote about the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt in political science journals. At the time of his death, he was at work on a series of essays on the political thought of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams.  

In the 1970s, Professor Stolz founded the San Francisco State Political Theory Colloquium, for which he received an official commendation. The colloquium gave tangible form to his commitment to political dialogue by bringing together graduate students, visiting scholars, and S.F. State faculty to participate in intensive readings of current political theory. He co-authored papers with members of the group and drew graduate students into the process of publication. Visiting British scholar Harro Hopfl, who met Professor Stolz in the colloquium, characterized him as a “brilliant political theorist” who imbued his students with a full sense of the seriousness of political and civic discourse.  

Born in Oakland in 1935, Professor Stolz was educated at Fremont High School and the University of California at Berkeley. He graduated from Berkeley in 1956 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and as political science scholar-of-the-year. He continued in graduate studies at UC Berkeley, receiving his doctorate in 1965.  

As the son of working-class parents, he appreciated the price students paid for their education and was devoted to redeeming that investment. He declined employment at a prestigious private college to teach at public institutions in Northern California—first the University of California at Davis and then S.F. State. He joined the S.F. State political science department in 1967 and retired in 2004. For the past two decades he was senior faculty member in political theory and unofficial “dean” of political theorists at the university.  

Professor Stolz was a demanding teacher with high standards and expectations for his students. Instead of lecturing formally, he turned his classrooms into arenas for thoughtful discourse. He insisted that his students master the primary texts in political theory, and he dazzled and tutored his department’s most gifted students. A soft-spoken and gentlemanly scholar, his commitment to theory was not as an academic specialty but as a vocation. As one of his protégés wrote in dedicating a recent book to Professor Stolz, “He was a brilliant teacher who taught me how to dwell in thinking.”  

Although a quiet man, Professor Stolz often spoke out as the conscience of his department. He said the best department meeting he ever attended was one in which the chair threw an eraser at him. He was passionate about politics and considered the 1960s a glorious moment in which theory and practice came together. He was a union member and walked the picket lines in civil rights demonstrations and in the 1968-69 S.F. State strike. He was also active in protests against the Vietnam War and both Iraq wars.  

Professor Stolz loved San Francisco State and identified with its students. He brought his wide-ranging reading to the classroom in an array of courses from Hegel to the Frankfurt School to the Italian tradition of political theory. But his first love was always the Greeks and the Classical tradition. A few days before his death he was asked if he would like a non-denominational spiritual counselor, and replied, “I would prefer a political theorist.”  

In private life he was a voracious reader, dubbed “the fastest reader in the West” by colleague Mason Drukman. With an extensive library of books and music shelved and stacked throughout his house, he ingested prodigious quantities of classical and modern literature and literary criticism, contemporary philosophy, and all periods of European and American history and music. In his later life—after overcoming a long disinclination to air travel—he enjoyed visits to Europe, especially sabbaticals in Florence and Bologna.  

Professor Stolz blended his love of reading with a love for the outdoors through walks and conversations. He greeted nature with a sharp eye, taking pleasure in identifying plants and birds, especially at Inverness and the Marin seashore. His greatest botanical pleasure was an annual search for the uncommon species Fritillaria biflora, the chocolate lily. While walking with great vigor he would bring up ideas from whatever he had been reading, talking about them the way other people gossip or discuss sporting events. In this way he clarified his thoughts by testing them against the responses of his companions.  

In his last days, Professor Stolz was surrounded by the people he loved most, including his wife, Kathleen Kahn, his stepdaughter, Sasha Crehan, and his granddaughter Olivia Feinstein, all of Berkeley; his granddaughter Melissa Crehan of Eugene, Ore.; and his many close friends and colleagues.  

In lieu of flowers, his family suggests that donations to fund a Matthew Stolz scholarship for political-theory students be sent to Professor Gerard Heather, Political Science Department, S.F. State University, 1600 Holloway Ave., San Francisco, 94132.  


Pacific Steel Casting Final Emissions Report Released

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday March 06, 2007

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District reviewed Pacific Steel Castings’s (PSC) final emissions inventory report and released it to the City of Berkeley and the public on Feb. 23. 

In an e-mail statement to community members, District 1 councilmember Linda Maio, who represents the neighborhood the West Berkeley based steel foundry falls in, said the report was completely open. 

“This means that PSC has not withheld any information as ‘trade secrets’, as we previously thought they might,” she said. “The report will serve as the basis for completion of the health risk assessment.” 

Under the Air Toxics “Hot Spots” Information and Assessment Act of 1987, PSC’s Berkeley Facility is required to quantify air emissions of listed substances resulting from operations at the facility. 

Berkeley Hazardous Materials Manager Nabil Al-Hadithy told the Planet on Thursday that the report of the emissions from the three plants at PSC contained a year’s worth of analysis. 

“The data itself will not tell us anything about the health risks involved,” he said. 

“The information will be transferred into a dispersion model after which the doses will be converted into a health risk assessment report.” 

The dispersion model is software created by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment—part of the California Department of Health Services—which has been employed by the air district to carry out the assessment.  

Consultants from the city as well as PSC have started working on the health risk assessment report which will be available in mid-April. 

ENVIRON International Corporation assisted PSC with the development of the final environmental impact report (EIR). The report summarizes the methods used by ENVIRON to develop emission estimates for the EIR and provides the results to the air district for their final review and approval. 

The report includes a description of the facility and its processes, the substances used, produced, or present at the Facility and the processes and equipment that emit the listed substances and ENVIRON’s emissions estimation methodologies for these substances at relevant process units at the Facility. 

Located at 1333 Second St., PSC produces steel castings that are used in different industries. Area residents have complained for years about noxious odors and emissions which they feel impose a health risk.  

A previous version of the emissions report was submitted to the air district on Nov. 16, 2006. 

This final version of the report incorporates the changes asked by the district in its Feb. 5 letter to PSC. 

 

The inventory report can be found at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/council1/images/PSC_EIR_021507.pdf


Briefly Noted

Tuesday March 06, 2007

DAPAC to Mull Report by Town/Gown Panel 

DAPAC members face a full agenda Wednesday night, including possible action on a subcommittee report on suggested ways the city can influence construction on university properties downtown. 

DAPAC, short for Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, is tasked with setting guidelines for a new city plan that arose out of a city lawsuit challenging UC Berkeley’s plans for expansion into the city center. 

Wednesday night’s meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. on the second floor of the North Berkeley Senior Center, will feature three significant discussions. 

First up is consideration of the report of the Subcommittee on City Interests in University Properties, a joint town/gown panel tasked with finding ways to accommodate city aspirations along with university plans to add 800,000 square feet of construction and 1,200 parking places downtown. 

The report was adopted by the subcommittee last week with the only significant dissent coming from Planning Commissioner Helen Burke. 

The report may face a rockier reception at the full committee, where Burke has been on the winning side of several critical votes. 

Another key question to be resolved is whether or not the plan will contain an element focusing on the university, a suggestion actively discouraged by the university and DAPAC Chair Will Travis. 

Also slated for discussion is a staff report on possible ground floor uses in downtown buildings, given the character of each street and transportation models. 

The third item for consideration is a proposed draft chapter on goals and policies for inclusion in the plan’s Economic Development element. 

—Richard Brenneman 

 

 

Zoning Board Considers Kelly House, Wright’s Garage 

The Kelly House and Wright’s Garage are on the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) agenda Thursday. 

Applicant Bruce Kelly will once again appear before the ZAB to request a use permit for a two-story single-family dwelling with 1,460 square feet of floor area, two parking spaces, at an average height of 24 feet, on a 3,295-square-foot vacant lot. 

At the Feb. 24 hearing, Kelly described the proposed project as a small, sustainable and affordable design—something that should be encouraged by the city. Neighbors and members of the Panoramic Hill Association opposed the Kelly project, calling it a threat to their health and safety because of the area’s poor access, potential fire hazard, and location on an earthquake fault. 

The neighborhood is bound to the north and west by lands owned by UC Berkeley, to the south by the East Bay Regional Park District’s Claremont Canyon Preserve, and to the east by the Berkeley-Oakland Border. 

The Fire Department is requiring a fire access stairway from lower Panoramic Way, on the southern side of the property. 

Kelly told ZAB members that he proposed to widen the road in front of his house from fifteen to twenty feet at his own expense in order to make the neighborhood safer for residents. 

ZAB members had asked Kelly to submit an arborist’s report before commenting on the project. The item first appeared before the ZAB on Jan. 11. 

 

• • •  

 

Applicant John Gordon will appear before the ZAB for the fifth time to request a use permit to convert an existing commercial building at 2629-2635 Ashby Ave. (the Wright’s Garage Building) into a multi-tenant commercial building. 

Gordon had first made the request on Dec. 14. Area residents worry that a large-scale full-service restaurant at the proposed building, currently zoned for a car repair shop, would lead to traffic and parking problems in the neighborhood. 

City staff told board members at the Feb. 8 board meeting that they were working with the applicant to address parking concerns. 

—Riya Bhattacharjee 

 

 

UC Extension Hearing 

San Francisco has postponed the public hearing on the draft environmental impact report for the rezoning and development of the UC Berkeley Extension Laguna Street campus from March 8 to March 15. 

A specific time has not yet been set for the hearing. The deadline for written public comments has also been extended to March 19. 

The controversial 55 Laguna St. development project has received opposition from the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, Save the UC Berkeley Extension Laguna Street Campus group and Friends of 1800. 

Community members want to retain public zoning of the historic six-acre campus, which has had 150 years of public use. UC Berkeley has engaged a private developer, A.F. Evans, to convert the site into a high-density housing and shopping center. Their proposal is currently under review by the San Francisco Planning Department.  

—Riya Bhattacharjee 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: Corporate Ties Could Hide GMO Risks

By Becky O’Malley
Friday March 09, 2007

Why shouldn’t public universities welcome big grants from big corporations? After all, times are tough, and they need all the money they can get to keep tuition costs down, right? Well, maybe, but let’s take a look at the real costs of inviting the fox to sleep over in the henhouse.  

In California the state-supported University of California is granted a privileged independent position under the state constitution. This was originally intended to protect the academic freedom of faculty members, but it’s been used as the excuse for other more dubious claims of sovereignty. UC’s branches now answer only to themselves, and claim that they don’t have to follow any local laws regarding, for example, zoning. That’s why the University of California at Berkeley plans to build a couple of big new labs and a gymnasium right on the Hayward fault while thumbing its august nose at local attempts to raise safety questions regarding disaster evacuation and other details.  

These days only about a third of UC funding, depending on how you count, comes from the state, so all the rest is raised from outside sources. That includes grants from governments and foundations, and also big contributions from those with financial interests in what the university is up to. Barclay Simpson, a big time manufacturer of construction widgets, has both been board chair of the school’s art museum and is lending his name and presumably his bucks to the proposed gym. Elsewhere in this issue you can read about Richard Blum’s revolving door relationship with UC as regent, contractor, spouse of senator, and donor. 

But the new deal with British Petroleum (now cozily called just BP) puts all of that in the shade. Presumably Mr. Simpson may put in a good word from time to time on behalf of a favorite artist or athlete, but he surely has acquired no contractual right to control the organizations he supports with his dollars. The BP deal, like others similar which have attracted less publicity, will have all sorts of links in it which give the corporation control over things they should never be allowed to influence. The proposal which won the prize for UC included an offer to bend the university’s s public relations effort to tout the virtues of the products produced by the joint venture. Corporate scientists will be working cheek-by-jowl with academic researchers in Strawberry Canyon, creating an atmosphere not conducive to reporting any bad news about the results. 

Many years ago, courtesy of the National Science Foundation, I had the privilege of participating in a seminar at Stanford sponsored by what was then called the program on Ethics and Values in Science and Technology (EVIST). It had two major goals. The first was stimulating “research on ethical aspects of contemporary issues involving scientific and technological research and development and on social values that influence and are influenced by the work of scientists and engineers.” The second was improving “discussion, understanding, and policies and practices affecting and affected by science and technology.”  

Seminar members came from many fields: medicine, history, business and ethics, to name a few. At that time I was a journalist at the Center for Investigative Reporting and recently admitted to the California Bar, so I looked at the several case histories we studied from both angles. Two of the most interesting were the crash program attempting development of an artificial heart, described by Wikipedia as one of the long-sought scientific Holy Grails, which is still not close to success, and the widespread use of the synthetic estrogen DES on pregnant women, which resulted in many problems for their offspring. The most striking lesson I learned from our studies was how often the profit motive contaminated the results of what should be scientific research.  

The project produced one major book, Worse Than the Disease: Pitfalls of Medical Progress, written by principal investigator Diana Dutton with Thomas Preston and Nancy Pfund. I wrote a couple of magazine articles myself on related topics, and learned a lot in the process. One was about the role of drug companies in promoting dangerous kinds of birth control pills to doctors, and another was about how cigarette companies successfully avoided dealing with the fires caused by their products. They were hot news at the time, but now many people are well aware of the dangers posed by the involvement of what we’ve come to call Big Pharma and Big Tobacco in what should be unbiased scientific study. Many recent stories have exposed pressure put on researchers by both industries to conceal risks created by their products. 

But it’s a different story when it comes to Big Green. Intelligent people desperately wishing for an easy fix to the real problem of climate change are suckers for greenwashing, the practice of painting dubious for-profit projects and companies as environmental salvation. Our state university’s new partner BP has frequently appeared on Top Ten lists of the world’s worst greenwashers compiled by non-profit environmental watchdogs, but you didn’t see that in the public relations blitz which accompanied the announcement of the deal. You also didn’t see anywhere except in the Planet that the planned research was exclusively aimed at producing fuels from genetically modified organisms—GMOs—now causing almost as much concern in authentic environmental circles as global warming itself. 

Politicians were quick to jump on the BP bandwagon, with both Mayor Bates and Assemblymember Hancock (who should know better) appearing on the platform at the press conference which led off the campaign. The mayor’s city-funded publicity blog, the Bates Update, trumpeted the news on Feb. 27 that an organization called SustainLane Government “analyzed U.S. cities to see which led in combining Cleantech investments, infrastructure and supportive policies into a physical ‘cluster.’ Berkeley was named the third best in the United States.” 

You had to click through the included link to discover that the award was given only because of the BP-UC deal, which didn’t involve the city. “The city of Berkeley’s participation ... is in the planning stages,” the SustainLane report said.  

Before those plans go much further, Bates and the City Council might want to consider whether their constituents are likely to be fans of one of the biggest GMO projects ever conceived. And if there are still people at the University of California—faculty, students, even administrators—who still care about the tattered remnants of what used to be called academic freedom, they might still think about whether taking half-a-billion dollars from Big Green could pose any ethical or environmental problems downstream. The contract technically still hasn’t been signed, not that there’s much doubt that it will be.  


Editorial: Berkeley’s Bookstores in Peril

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday March 06, 2007

Last week the Planet carried a story about the Barnes and Noble store on Shattuck closing, including interviews with managers of other bookstores who expressed satisfaction at the impending departure. With all due respect, we’d like to differ with their analysis, even though one of them is a much-valued long-term Planet advertiser. 

There’s an old business school discussion about why you often see four gas stations on a single corner. It’s been generally conceded that this is a good situation for all four, because the motorist looking for gas knows just where to look. The service station existing in splendid isolation suffers from it.  

The gas station business has changed a bit, though the corners near our home and office do still have multiple stations, but in the bookstore business clustering works for everyone. Shopping on Telegraph for books and music has always been the number one entertainment for our out-of-town visitors because they can find a variety of choices in easy walking distance of one another. Downtown was starting to get a similar reputation, in part because the—dare we say it—parking lot at Barnes and Noble made a good base for out-of-towners with cars, who also checked out the offerings at Pegasus and recently Half-Price Books.  

Non-mall retail of all kinds everywhere in the country continues to suffer from America’s radically changing buying patterns, and that’s as true of bookstores as it is of any other kind of business. The phenomenon was first described in a seminal 1985 book, The Malling of America: An Inside Look at the Great Consumer Paradise, by William Severini Kowinski, and the trend continues. It has now been joined by a trend that’s even more threatening to booksellers, the easy availability of books on the Internet.  

And the publishing industry isn’t helping matters. A recent San Francisco Chronicle article about the demise of the Los Angeles Times book review section reported that “some insiders believe that book review sections are disappearing because publishing houses and chain bookstores now advertise almost exclusively in national magazines or the New York Times.” 

David Cole, publisher of News Inc., a weekly newsletter tracking the industry, was quoted saying, “If Barnes & Noble took out full-page ads every week, there would be more book review sections.”  

But Paul Bogaards, director of publicity at Alfred A. Knopf, differed with him: “Where are the ads in the sports section?” he asked the reporter. “If you put out a great newspaper or a great magazine, the readers will come. Consumers want credible reporting on books in newspapers.”  

Someone has to pay for the printing, even of “great newspapers” which have plenty of readers, and traditionally it’s been advertisers. The Planet does have a monthly book review section, and we don’t have a sports section. The Chronicle has continued its book reviews too. We do get a few small ads from bookstores and the very occasional publisher or author. (We have almost no ads from sports purveyors, but then neither does the Chronicle, despite devoting a whole section every day to sports.) In other words, both papers do pretty well by book readers, but it seems to make very little difference to book sellers, wholesale or retail. Publishers used to pay for “co-op” ads in local papers, but no more. Advertising continues to decline. 

A popular scapegoat for Berkeley business woes is “street behavior.” That’s code for rude or rowdy homeless folks, some of them even substance abusers or uncooperative mental patients, who tend to congregate in non-mall retail areas. They like retail areas because that’s where the money is: charitable shoppers with their hands already in their pockets for parking meter change.  

And now comes the news in the San Francisco Business Times that Cody’s San Francisco store is closing too. With all the Berkeley-bashing that attended the closing of its Telegraph store, will we see downtown San Francisco blamed for this one?  

One reason spare-changers are more often on city streets than in malls, conveniently overlooked by doctrinaire planners, is transit. That’s right, transit. Non-mall retail areas (Telegraph, downtown Berkeley, Union Square) are well-served by BART and buses, and disreputable street beggars tend not to have cars to drive to malls. Many don’t even have bus fare, which is why they cluster on city streets near sources of sustenance.  

Local politicians are always quick to jump on the blame-the-beggars bandwagon. Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates is sending to the City Council this very week a request for the smarmily-named “Public Commons For Everyone Initiative (PCEI)”.  

It uses ’80s style communitarian jargon to contend that the reason local retail is in trouble is because a few bad apples have landed in the midst of our otherwise lovely community. Bates’ memo proposes “creating consistent community standards for public behavior—specifically preventing behaviors such as prolonged sitting and smoking in front of businesses, yelling at people as they walk along the corridor, and/or selling or consuming drugs.”  

Lots of luck. Those standards don’t need to be created: They already exist, but are more honored in the breach than in the observance. It’s not the standards that are lacking, it’s the remedies. 

And will sanctions be uniformly enforced? Will prolonged sitting on the median in front of the Cheeseboard subject pizza-eaters to discipline? Will furtive smokers at the French Hotel be arrested? Will football fans who yell “Go Bears” of a Saturday afternoon be detained? Will Peet’s, Berkeley’s biggest drug dealer, be run out of town?  

One more time: Local street-side retail is in trouble everywhere, even in towns where they routinely run the homeless out of town on sight. Bookstores in particular are in trouble, because it’s so easy to buy books by name on the web that books have become a fungible commodity, and publishers are doing nothing to help.  

If we really value our Berkeley bookstores, and I really do, we need to come up with genuine solutions to the very real problems of those estimable institutions which let us enjoy a comfortable browse through their stock even when they suspect we might go home and make our purchases on the Internet. I suspect that almost all of the dedicated readers in Berkeley (and we have a lot of them) read the Planet, so I’d like to ask you all to make some creative suggestions for what we can do to help save our beloved remaining booksellers before it’s too late. 


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Friday March 09, 2007

NORTH SHATTUCK PLAZA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

David Stoloff in his March 6 commentary is misleading the public once again about what is happening on North Shattuck Avenue. 

After two highly contentious community meetings, Stoloff’s North Shattuck Plaza concept was “off the table” according to Councilmember Laurie Capitelli and Heather Hensley, executive director of the North Shattuck Merchants Association. 

The plaza idea met with vehement opposition from more than 30 merchants in the Vine-Rose area including Earthly Goods, Black Oak Books, Peets, Chester’s Cafe, the Laundromat, Masse’s, Toyo, the Produce Center, Terrestra, the Bel Forno Cafe and Andronico’s. 

On top of this, neighborhood residents are clearly divided about the plan. Some want no change, others want some sprucing up or more trees and flower boxes, but almost no one wants to remove the angled parking that now runs from Black Oak Books to Longs. If the angled parking remains, as most people want, there is no room for Stoloff’s plaza. 

Yet he keeps pushing his soundly rejected idea in different guises, hoping, I suppose to manipulate the process, just as he manipulated himself into the chairmanship of the Planning Commission. 

Art Goldberg 

 

• 

RUNNING WOLF’S WORDS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Message to Zachary Running Wolf: You do a disservice to activists everywhere when you claim the Berkeley campus police arrested you for sitting in the campus tree to knock you out of the 2008 Berkeley mayor’s race.  

You could have proudly proclaimed right to exercise your right of free speech, and to call more attention to UC Berkeley’s completely insane plan to convert Bowles Hall into a glorified guest room for the business school, build a multi-million-dollar gym directly on an earthquake fault, and knock down several perfectly fine trees, 

Instead you give further fuel to those who would disparage the good name of my wonderful home, Berkeley, by claiming there is a police conspiracy, when it is clear there is none. 

Massimo Introvigne 

 

• 

TIMES ARE A-CHANGIN’ 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After almost a year of avoiding your editorials I read the March 3 gem. Things never change, do they? Old gal Becky still has her head lodged way up her anal canal. Everyone else on the planet knows that Berkeley streets are a living disgrace because of the presence of large numbers of bums. Telegraph is the worst. Why go to one of our “independent” overpriced bookstores when you can safely and cheaply order books from the privacy of your home via Amazon and Alibris? You can get anything you want and you don’t have to be at the mercy of the particular prejudices of local store buyers. And, no, Becky another goofy local law won’t stop this welcome trend. Horsesmiths were en masse displaced by the automobile industry and the overpriced local market fell victim to the large chains. For most consumers this is a good deal. We live in an ever-changing global economy that has no place for Berzerkeley NIMBYs. Some industries like second-hand bookstores and daily newspapers aren’t going to make it. There are a very few exceptions here that I’d like to see survive at least among the bookstores, in Oakland but not Berkeley, and none among the daily liepapers. Let’s be honest, liberalism has killed Berkeley, and now itself is dying an overdue demise. KPFA has lost listeners galore in the past decade and the Daily Planet is barely hanging in there despite narcotics-induced hallucinations that most “thoughtful” people around here read it.  

Michael P. Hardesty 

Oakland 

 

• 

CO-OP BOOKSHOPS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Many people share your concern for the demise of our Berkeley bookshops. Last year, at a community meeting in response to the closing of Cody’s on Telegraph, several people suggested that we form a co-op and take over Cody’s. 

Well I am a member of a co-op, a worker co-op, a rare breed in the co-op community, but not in the Bay Area, which has the largest concentrations of worker co-ops in the country. 

The worker co-op model is not uncommon in the book community and in fact for over 30 years two stores in San Francisco have used this model: Bound Together and Modern Times. The co-op model can take several forms, but the common thread is that those who run these shops see their work as vital to the intellectual vibrancy of the community. 

The sense of mission enables the core staff to attract volunteers to help with the venture and often that extra, unpaid, assistance makes it possible for the shop to pay its bills by relieving core staff paid hours. This model is very common in food co-ops. And in fact the bookshop volunteers can be rewarded with perks as a “thank you” for their gift of hours, just as food co-op members get discounts on their food purchases. 

The biggest stumbling block with implementation of a bookstore co-op is not however the lack of passion, but the lease. Hand in hand with an innovative collective structure must come an innovative approach to land ownership. Just as we preserve wilderness through land trusts, it seems that a similar approach must be introduced to maintain community resources. 

We live in an age when public services are increasingly privatized much to the determent of the community. The irony is that the market can no longer maintain those aspects of the life of a community that add quality to the experience. Isn’t it time to think creatively about taking the market, and its drive for profits, out of the business of meeting peoples’ needs? I personally think it never did adequately in the first place. Neither did those working people in Rochdale, England who set-up the first co-op store in the mid-19th century. 

B. Marszalek 

 

• 

BERKELEY’S FAR LEFT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Maybe the bookstores are all closing because every one I have ever been to in Berkeley seems to only want to cater to the far left of the city. The liberal (read communist/socialist) leanings of the 1960s generation is finally being discovered as the trash that it is. People want to return to reading normal things and not about some nutcase’s diatribe on what is wrong with this country, etc. 

The biggest problem we have in this country and specifically Berkeley is that these freaks from the ’60s, many who are still on acid just hang around and accomplish nothing but taking up space and urinating/defecating on business’ doorsteps. That makes it highly improbable that people with money would shop there. Berkeley has become a museum piece on the failure of the ’60s. 

The idea sounds great when discussed, however, it is just not going to work. You have smelly, wild-haired freaks sitting in the bookstores all day reading for free and true buying customers do not like that kind of ambiance when looking for and buying books. 

I suggest time limits for browsing, unless buying, of 10 minutes, then clear out. Don’t start with “These people have rights, too.” They have none when it comes to the private sector and the manager or employee of a bookstore can throw out anybody he wants and should. Berkeley needs to set apart an area where only the leftover flower children and the like can stay and not bug people who have jobs and money to spend at these establishments, 

Clean up Telegraph already, it is a shithole. Why Berkeley allows the nuts to run rampant on its streets is beyond me. I think we need to place a whole bunch of them in psych institutions whre they belong. Can’t do that though because the nut jobs from the ACLU will raise a stink. 

No total solution here but some things to look at to move Berkeley to the city it was before the flower-power peace-freak drugheads took it over and decided how they wanted their little Camelot. 

Spare change seekers are another one. Get them the hell out of town! What is so hard about that? When one comes up to me, which is rare, I tell them to back off and do it quick or you will need more than money to fix your problem. You see, I will have stomped his face into the pavement. 

Christopher Fuller 

 

• 

EYES OF THE BEHOLDER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It goes without saying that where our side sees a terrorist the opposing side sees a hero, a patriot, sometimes a martyr. To think otherwise requires an independent active mind because separating Us from Them is innate and persistent. And yet, the need to overlook differences and accept the oneness of mankind has never been more urgent because the alternative, descent into barbarity, is where the Bush administration is taking us under the absurdly named “war on terrorism.”  

Terrorism is spreading intense fear and the people who do it do not identify themselves as terrorists. 

Attila terrorized Rome. Genghis Khan terrorized a continent. Senator Joe McCarthy terrorized Hollywood actors and script writers. 

But it isn’t only individuals who use terror to achieve their purposes. Organizations use it: the Algerian Freedom Fighters used it against the French, the Irish Republican Army against the English and the Klu Klux Klan used it to keep Negroes in their place. 

Our governing officers find terror useful and sometimes actively stimulate public awareness with “chicken little” announcements of “barbarians at the gate.” Spreading fear helps them suppress opposition, enabling the enactment of measures—the mis-named Patriot Act and the new military tribunals—that they would not otherwise dare. To paraphrase Santayana, if we do not remember the Cold War we will be condemned to repeat it. 

Given nature’s many capricious acts of destruction—hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, plagues, etc.—and given the fragility of human life (made more delicate by ubiquitous cars and airplanes), fear is unavoidable.  

To live at all means restraining and containing our fears.  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

 

• 

THE PUPPET MAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to thank you for helping me to reach the public with my desire to find out more about Tom Roberts, aka The Puppet Man. I have had good responses to my request published in the letters column and would like to summarize the info thus far. It turns out that other people have used my information published in your paper to look up this much-loved street performer. 

Again, Tom Roberts performed a puppet act on the streets of Berkeley. Many students from the early to mid 1970s recall him on the Sproul steps and his act his with affection. He would give flowers to young women and quip, “Berkeley is so liberal, I have to have to pass out two hats!” He wrote books of poetry, which were published locally and/or by him. One such title: I Gotta Hunger—I Gotta Need, inscribed and signed by Tom Roberts (The Puppet Man), Berkeley local folk artist and puppeteer. 44 pp illustr. soft cover, Cody’s Books, Inc. Berkeley, CA, 1971. 

Other books by Tom Roberts: To Chico With Love, Mosaic Mexicano, and Bridge to Berkeley. 

Roberts lived at 1010 Bush St., San Francisco, which is now the Balmoral Residence Club. I called to see if they have always been the BRC but I only got the voicemail. No response as of yet. If I had $40 and a dream (I have the dream end of it) I’d try to find his Social Security number, birth date, and when he died. I’d like to think he had a hundred people flood the street at his funeral, but it seems unlikely. 

So folks, please contact me with any memories, photos (I have one), or what have you by contacting me at rhubarbfarm@hotmail.com. 

Nathaniel Rounds 

 

• 

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The new fad way to say that you’ve screwed up on the media is to say: “I take responsibility” for this or that. Or even more dramatically, “I take full responsibility” for etc. What ever happened to “I was wrong and I regret it.” Or, “I’m guilty” for this or that. Or, even more explicitly:” I’m a jerk, or stupid.” “Taking responsibility” for something is evasive and meaningless nonsense when it comes to the horrors of Walter Reed or the tragedy of the Iraq War. It sounds like you’re a good guy, not a screwup, or a lackey, or a criminal, or a scoundrel.  

Robert Blau 

 

• 

A NEW KINDNESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In this season of hacking, sweating, coughing, sneezing, sputum spitting, joint-aching-seizures, a new kindness was invoked: At the Berkeley Bowl grocery store, near the neat rows of disciplined shopping carts awaiting commands, are stands holding dispensers of 5” x 8” size chemically treated handi-wipes (like the smaller ones we put in our purse for awkward moments). 

Couple of swishes over the handle of the cart you select with the disposable wipes, and the season-of-sharing (germs) is partially aborted. 

What happens at your grocery store? Safeway? Albertsons? Andronicos? Luckys? Monterey Market? 

Len Holt 

 

• 

FAITH-BASED PROGRAMS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Supreme Court is considering a case on White House faith-based programs. What would George Washington have thought about George Bush’s pet project of bringing religion back into politics under the guise of faith-based initiatives and of using U.S. tax dollars to support programs in tax-exempt churches? 

Ron Lowe 

Grass Valley 

 

• 

THANKS, COMRADE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Retired anthropologist Dr. Eugene Ruyle’s March 2 letter regarding Zachary Running Wolf seems to justify blatantly illegal behavior on the grounds that Running Wolf is “a dedicated and respected activist for the local community and for Native American issues.” Well, good for Running Wolf, a known vandal who regularly defaces public signage and whose latest arrest was for threatening police officers with violence. 

Much of Ruyle’s letter is taken up with irrelevantly patting himself on the back for his activist role in stopping development at Puvungna, a native “sacred creation center” on the property of Cal State Long Beach. He implies that the oak grove near Memorial Stadium involved in the current controversy fueled largely by Running Wolf’s political agenda is somehow equivalently “sacred,” apparently because Running Wolf says so. This simply is not true. In fact, it is a lie. 

A cursory Internet search about Dr. Ruyle reveals that he is a Marxist ideologue whose so-called “anthropology courses” at Cal State Long Beach were criticized by students as rants on the evils of capitalism, bourgeois culture and Euro-American guilt for the problems of the world. His online course notes for an introduction to cultural anthropology class contain such gems as “The sociobiology of Marxism is a sociobiology of hope, for it tells us that we humans can solve our problems, and are in fact solving them in revolutionary societies such as Nicaragua, Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union.” Despite the reactionary leftist politics of many Daily Planet readers who may agree with him, most informed people not only in the United States but around the world recognize the absurdity of pairing “hope” with the Soviet Union, and doubt that revolutionary Marxism has “solved” anything, ever. And if some see “hope” in China, it exists only because the Chinese have rejected revolutionary Marxism in favor of rampant capitalism. 

Finally, Ruyle states “Campus officials need to listen to the people.” This implies that the opposition to removing the oaks and getting on with the proposed athletic center is monolithic. In fact, it is not. Not even close. In addition to the “evil capitalists” who have pledged more than $100 million in private, personal funds for construction, nearly 7,000 people have signed an informal online petition in support of the University’s position. You don’t see that reported in the local media. I wonder why? 

Michael Stephens 

Point Richmond 

 

• 

SCHOOL FOOD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a chef, and the current director of Nutrition Services in Berkeley School District, I want to thank so many in our community for their insights and understanding of the importance good nutrition, sustainable agriculture, and fresh foods can play in the health of the community. This is so evident in our many farmers markets and other organizations supporting these efforts. We too, in Berkeley schools share this value.  

The district’s vision is to have every child to seek, grow, prepare and eat nourishing, delicious and sustainable grown food. To teach them to make choices that have a positive influence on their personal health, family, community and surrounding environment. To this end, dramatic changes are being made in the lunch program. 

We have salad bars in every school, so children can have salad with every meal or they can make a meal from the salad bar (in the high school the organic salad bar is a major offering). Fresh fruit and vegetables are served daily; a quarter of our produce is now locally farmed and/or organic. Almost all of the food is made from scratch; that which isn’t cooked in our kitchens is made by Bay Area businesses. Breads served are organic and/or whole grain. Schools serve only hormone- and antibiotic-free low-fat and non-fat milk. 

Lunches at school are a very affordable and convenient option, costing $3 in the elementary schools, $3.50 in the middle schools, and $4 at the high school. But we still don’t have the rate of participation that gives me the confidence all our students are eating a healthy lunch. We need our parents and members of the community to encourage students to take advantage of our school cafeterias. The more students we serve the more improvements can be made, most importantly, the better chance we have of combating the escalating obesity and diabetes issues facing our nation’s children. 

If you are a parent of a Berkeley Unified School student, I urge you to have your child try the new school food.  

Ann Cooper 

Director of Nutrition Services 

Berkeley Unified School District 

 


Commentary: Profits Before Education in UC-BP Partnership

By Nathan Murthy
Friday March 09, 2007

Let us first set aside the potential ad hominem attacks against BP Amoco PLC. So what if it is the corporation that pleaded with Washington and London to remove the democratically elected prime minister of Iran from office which resulted in a violent coup d’etat in 1953 because of concerns over control of Iran’s oil resources? So what if it is the corporation that deliberately failed to adequately maintain its Alaskan pipeline so it could drive up the price of oil, and which, upon discovering the whistle blower, hired a CIA operative to break into the employee’s office? So what if it is the corporation who, along with oil giants ExxonMobil and Shell, heavily influenced the new Iraq Oil and Gas Law which would give Big Oil a 75 percent concession to Iraq’s oil resources in a so-called “Production Sharing Agreement”? Yes, let us put BP’s past (as well as its recent past) behind us and look towards the future of renewable energy so that, in the words of Berkeley National Laboratory’s Steve Chu, we can “help save the world.” 

Before wholeheartedly embracing Chu’s messianic vision, it would be wise of us to realize what industrial-scale biofuel and ethanol production would entail. Take a gander at a nation that has already shifted its gasoline consumption to a 40 percent reliance on ethanol—Brazil. Since 1973 the South American nation has intensively cultivated sugarcane for the production of ethanol, and since then Brazil has witnessed some dire results: massive deforestation, increased air and water pollution, and loss of life in some of the world’s most biologically diverse regions. A preeminent Brazilian environmentalist, Fabio Feldman, adds: “Some of the cane plantations are the size of European states... In order to harvest you must burn the plantations which creates a serious air pollution problem in the city.”  

But those are Brazil’s problems. What problems does the United States face? First, the United States has only 625,000 square miles of arable farmland. In order to fully supplant fossil fuels with biofuels at our current consumption levels, we would need 1.4 million square miles of land—land we do not have, and land that would be seized from developing countries. Second, we need to also consider that nearly all of the fertilizers and pesticides used in massive agricultural projects are oil-based products. Intensifying agricultural projects using these products does not ameliorate our dependence on oil. And third, according to research done by UC Berkeley scientist Tad Patzek and Cornell University professor David Pimentel, ethanol production from corn and switchgrass would, respectively, require 29 and 45 percent more fossil fuel energy than produced. Biodiesel production from soybean would require 27 percent more.  

However, Berkeley researchers and scientists are assuring us that such negative-return projects will not be the focus of the Energy Biosciences Institute. Instead, those working in the laboratories will study the use of cellulosic plants such as Miscanthus weed. Much of the research with such plants will necessitate the application of genetically modified organisms—a technological field which is in itself shrouded by controversy. 

Finally, what can be said about the corporatization of our public university? The role of the university in the context of the global economic order coincides with the advent of the Cold War. The Eisenhower administration in the 1950s increased funding for “educational” programs in the domain of the sciences and technology and installed additional programs so that it could cement the United States as a dominant power and remain competitive with the Soviet Union in both the global political and economic landscapes. At this juncture of human history we begin to see the role of the university as a key component of ensuring that U.S. students would be fully integrated with this hegemonic scheme. Part of that scheme includes the realization of US citizens as trained, well-disciplined adults who are eager to jump the corporate bandwagon.  

The University of California has since then churned out such “contributions” of “societal good” as the atomic weapon and the “Berkeley Mafia” who were essential in providing Indonesia’s Suharto regime with the game plan for the New Order (It’s quite ironic how the proposal equates the value of the EBI with the development of the atomic bomb). If the University and the State of California were truly committed to higher learning in the purest sense, why then has Governor Schwarzenegger planned to increase student undergraduate fees by 7 percent, graduate fees by 9 percent, and cut academic preparation by $33 million, all while pledging $40 million in California tax-payer dollars to the construction of the EBI? The trend is obvious: profit before education (unless the two coincide). With $500 million over the course of ten years, the University will double its corporate endowments and solidify a semi-unilateral dependency on a single corporate entity. 

If students are at all concerned about the fate of public higher education for our generation and the generations to come, we must challenge proposals that threaten our access to education. We must engage colleagues and faculty who are concerned about this threat. And we must see behind the gossamer veil of the university which purports a progressive solution to energy usage. 

 

Nathan Murthy is a UC Berkeley student. 

 


Commentary: The Origins of the N-Word

By George Abram
Friday March 09, 2007

I write in response to J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s recent column about the infamous slur word that is America’s pride and joy. The ignoble word that bigoted, racist, vulgar, people will continue to use. They use it in secret and public to try and make inferior a certain group of American and world citizens. 

Your paper performed a disservice to all your readers, especially your young readers and recent immigrants who may not know the origin and use of this slur. Other people, like the writer Allen-Taylor, also are misinformed and ignorant to whom this word really belongs. The Daily Planet’s editorial staff also will be able to find some light in the following truths. 

This vicious slur word can never be our word (I am an American citizen with African heritage who is nearly 60 years old, born and reared in California). I want to keep our American history in perspective. My grandfather’s father and mother were born in 1860 in Marion County, Mississippi. My great-grandmother lived nearly 100 years and she shared her history with her family, never once did she ever refer to herself nor her people using the “N word.” Mr. Allen-Taylor does himself and many other people a great harm by writing about something he obviously knows little about. And to use two failed comedians for your reference and support…shame on you Mr. Allen-Taylor. Now, some history for Daily Planet readers: 

The slur word originated and first was used by the scum who made their money trading in human beings. This country began oppressing African people early on in its history. As early as the 17th century laws began appearing that plainly discriminated against and offered no protection to Africans on the American continent. The human traders at that early time began referring to African people with the corruption of the Spanish word for black: “Negro.” This was their common identifier for people from the African continent. The human trading and human owning vulgar people were identifying Africans with their slur word, while the Africans were still speaking their tribal language. And even today the slur word is used by racist and other vulgar people in combination with other words like sand (slur word) etc. to denote any so called non-white humans. It is not our word. 

Throughout American states and cities in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries various racist segregationist laws passed. These laws identified the American citizens of African heritage anyway and however they desired. The U.S. census designated their citizens with African blood either B for black M for mulatto, of course cities and states were more creative and would use words like Colored, Black, African, Negro, Negra, on and on. Read for yourself, the laws that were written used whatever word they felt like using to identify us. We were not calling ourselves anything vulgar, any name we were called came from the white rulers, not from the oppressed. When my grandfather needed medical care in Mississippi in the early 1900s from an on the job injury, it was the racist who said we do not allow “slur words” in our hospital. It is the law. We don’t treat colored people. Of course he died from lack of medical care. Him and along list of other. It is not our Word. 

More recently, Gov. George Wallace of Alabama, and of course other segregationist racist white rulers of states in our union, declared on national television, “There will be no [slur word] admitted to the University of Alabama while I am alive.” The governor’s face was twisted and he meant what he said, but he failed. Yet, his stance was nothing compared to the evil racist citizens of Little Rock, Arkansas. Children going to school caused the whole town of white people to become a violent dangerous Mob, and they were calling the teenage students (girls and boys) every slur word you could ever imagine, along with threats that hopefully no one reading this will ever have to endure. Do you not remember? Restoring civil order required the 101st Airborne Division sent by President Eisenhower from Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. It is not our word.  

Now Mr. Allen-Taylor, what group of people was calling who what? You say you are not going to allow white people to use the word. You are either ignorant or inexperienced, if you are ignorant to truth; there is hope, why write to justify, write for truth. White people invented the word and use it whenever the hell they please. It is not our word. 

Friday Night High School football is an institution in California. In 1964 our team traveled to the town of Glendale, about 10 miles from Pasadena. As the football team stood by waiting to run on the field, what name do you think the racist scalawags were calling us? “Slur word” and “Slur word lovers.” We fielded a team, an integrated team of mixed human tribes, but those dumbos in Glendale were sick with their sickness. It is not our word. 

I spent 12 months in the Airborne Infantry in Vietnam, shot five times and a survivor simply to be a witness for all time, against war. Believe me Mr. Allen-Taylor, there is not a word you can use or say to make me blink. I see you, and others like you, on the bus, the BART, on the street, all misinformed and lost from your own great history of survival. Stop being ashamed to say “African!” “Africa!” Say it loud….that is your heritage and you need not try and hide from it. Singing songs with and calling yourselves by names invented by the worst human beings displays very clear you have what is known as a slave mentality. Bob Marley reminded us all: Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our mind. 

 


Letters to the Editor

Tuesday March 06, 2007

BARNES & NOBLE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a downtown Berkeley retailer, it was disheartening to see the Planet’s headline above the masthead applauding the local booksellers cheering the departure of Barnes & Noble from their Shattuck Avenue location. When we opened Ristorante Raphael in the summer of 2003, we were excited to be part of the Downtown Berkeley Renaissance. Major retailers had moved in, and it looked as if retail business was on an upswing. 

Alas, that vision has not come true. We feel the loss of every business that closes its doors, from Paper Plus, to See’s Candies, to Power Bar, and especially our next-door neighbor, the Act I & II movie theater. With the departure of Barnes & Noble, we now face another empty storefront, which will no doubt take years to rent, even with a parking lot. 

The only bright spot in this latest retail downturn is the comment of our Councilmember Dona Spring, as quoted in the Planet, “I don’t think it is good news…” I hope Ms. Spring and the other City Council members are finally realizing that the current business climate of Berkeley must be changed. If a large national retailer such as Barnes & Noble feels downtown Berkeley is not viable, then why would an individual retailer—the art gallery or unique boutique we desperately need—justify taking a chance in our local business environment? 

We have been carefully following the progress of DAPAC, hoping that the future of downtown business would be incorporated into the area plan. I have attended a few DAPAC meetings, and the business perspective is far down the list of priorities. Unless I am mistaken, there is no representation at all of the business community on DAPAC. Morale is sinking amongst retailers, and we do not feel anyone is listening to our perspective. 

Our restaurant is located on Center Street, and the future there indeed looks bright. We can envision the grand pedestrian mall, the hotel, the museum, and the crowds of people it will attract to downtown, and to our business. However, that vision is many years away, and it is the years between now and then that will determine the survival of retail in downtown Berkeley. 

Hope Alper 

 

• 

SAFETY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There is one thing that we can never get enough of: safety. This is especially true if the costs are hidden or delayed. Thus the Berkeley City Council was cajoled into spending $1 million to end rolling closures of fire stations under the threat of increased response time for fire and medical emergencies. Most people correctly think of Fire Department response time in terms of medical emergencies because there are about eight times more calls for medical help than for structural fires. Fortunately, medical service calls are relatively inexpensive. The Fire Department spends roughly 15 percent of its budget on emergency medical services compared to about 70 percent on fire operations. There is already a special parcel-based paramedic supplemental tax in Berkeley. Furthermore, Berkeley has one station for every 1.4 square miles; whereas, comparable cities have one fire station every two to eight square miles. The hefty $1 million dollar “insurance policy” purchased by the City Council is not buying the safety the public thinks it wants. It is, however, adding to the salaries of the firefighters, a substantial number of whom have salary and benefits of over $100,000 per year. 

Robert Gable 

• 

BP-UC DEAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks to Anne Wagley for her letter exposing the deficits of the BP-UC Berkeley deal so praised by the mainstream media. It is horrifying to think that this colonization, as a student called it, of our potentially great public university by a giant oil company, should be done under cover of presumably beneficent “green” research. The proponents carefully neglect to note that this is GMO research and that besides the potential to corrupt non-genetically-modified plants, it will inevitably result in deforestation and displacement of food crops in Third World countries. It will bring non-academic researchers who answer to a for-profit company into our public university, and it will give BP legal cover, since the University is even harder to sue for malfeasance than is a private corporation. I hope the chancellor will reconsider and the Academic Senate will defend the interests of our university and oppose this terribly misguided plan. The University of California was built by California taxpayer dollars. Influence over its research should not be handed over to a global corporation to further profits in a technology that, given its damage to our planet, must be terminated. 

Charlene Woodcock 

 

• 

NIMBYISM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s Feb. 27 editorial “How About Some Density in the ‘Burbs?” misses the point. An argument for increased density in suburban areas is just that—it is not an argument against new housing in the urban core. Nor is attacking straw-men “who think that every flatlands back yard deserves a condo of its own.” No one is seriously advocating anything of the sort. 

Quite ironically, it is a suburban flavor of the very same NIMBYism epitomized by this piece that has prevented the suburban density O’Malley supports. How can we expect someone else to allow change in their community when we refuse the any growth in our own? 

As far as our Berkeley expatriates are concerned, why is it surprising that people who prefer Lafayette to Berkeley move there? Shall we tear down some high-density housing to get them back? It is preposterous to suggest that higher density will drive out Berkeley residents—most of us live here because we enjoy the density. We wouldn’t be paying through the nose to live here if we didn’t. 

Not once is it shown exactly how recent new housing is detracting from Berkeley’s livability—because it isn’t! It is true Berkeley has at times suffered because of certain developments, but we mustn’t hold all future growth hostage to an amorphous fear from the past. Most Berkeleyans love the city for its walkability, intensity, and vibrancy; additional housing will not only contribute to those things so many enjoy, but allow more people to enjoy them. 

Eric Panzer 

 

• 

NORTH SHATTUCK PLAZA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Helen Villett’s commentary about the proposed North Shattuck Plaza requires some amplification. First, the “group” she refers to in her commentary is a corporation, and she is vice chair of its board. More information is available at www.northshattuckplaza.org. Second, Ms. Villet says there is a “goal of maintaining the same number of parking spaces.” According to this website, there are 84 existing spaces; of these 17 would remain; 53 new spaces would be created with eight more “possible.” Of the “possible” spaces six could be created right now. My arithmetic: a net loss is 12 spaces. Finally, Ms. Villett says “Most successful shopping areas do not have parking right in front....” I invite her to tour Fourth Street in Berkeley, Rockridge in Oakland, and, if she wants a trip to the suburbs, downtown Walnut Creek.  

Christopher Adams 

 

• 

TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Reading about AC Transit and the Van Hool buses has led me to think about my own experiences with buses. As a car-less, partially disabled (bad leg) getting-older person who has used public transportation in both San Francisco and the East Bay for many years, I really like taking buses in San Francisco but I hate AC Transit. In fact, while I will happily travel around The City hopping from bus to bus, I go out of my way (walk, take cabs from the closest BART station, beg rides from my friends, stay home) to avoid taking a bus in the East Bay. 

Why? It’s certainly not because they’re more crowded (San Francisco buses are often packed) or dirtier. And while the Van Hool buses haven’t made it easier, my attitude predates their arrival on the scene. Partly its because San Francisco bus routes seem more logical and intuitive. Easier to understand which helps a lot when I’m going somewhere I have never been before. 

Mainly, though, it’s because I find riding the bus in the East Bay an ordeal. The usual attitude of AC Transit drivers falls somewhere between indifferent and hostile while drivers in The City I find to be at least polite and often friendly and even humorous. Here buses seem to lurch more and, when traffic’s light, will race down the street. If I am going someplace unfamiliar, I have to memorize the streets before the stop in advance and make sure I can see the street signs from the window as there is no interior signage (like in San Francisco) or announcement of the stops, and if I ask the driver to announce my stop when I get on, there is a good chance he will forget. And if I don’t get up and get that button pushed or cord pulled and make my way to the door before the bus stops so I can jump right off, I either get curt comments from the driver, have to wait until the next stop, or both. On the other hand, last time I was in the City I was told (nicely) by the driver to sit back down and wait until the bus came to a full stop. 

Now I don’t think this is because drivers in The City are nicer people than those in the East Bay. I suspect it is more a reflection of the management and where they place their emphasis. Maybe keeping on schedule is seen as of utmost importance. Good customer relations certainly aren’t high on the list of things to do. Which is sad, really, because I would like to take the bus on this side of the Bay. 

Joanne Kowalski 

 

• 

OXFORD REFERENDUM 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We failed to achieve the daunting task of gathering 4,073 signatures within the 30-day period allotted for a referendum of the land giveaway for the “Brower Center” project. Thanks to all those who took the trouble to understand the complicated issues, and brave the cold, rainy weather to sign our petition. 

We initiated the referendum for several reasons. We were concerned about the lack of an environmental impact report, the lack of public process, the loss of parking and its impact upon our downtown, the concealment of the true cost of the project, and the massive impacts that this project would have on the city and on the citizens who will be deprived of funds diverted into it. 

The referendum campaign brought some sunshine into the corrupt process by which this bloated project was approved and funded. Some details of the diversion of city money into this project have been revealed, and more will follow.  

Berkeley citizens need to continue asking questions and demanding answers. We need to get our elected representatives to do a better job of caring for our money and our welfare. If they fail to act in the interests of the people, perhaps it is time to reexamine our City Charter, which gives all the power to the City Council, except for the power of the citizens to take action through an Initiative or a Referendum. 

Gale Garcia 

Barry Wofsy 

 

• 

IRAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Becky O’Malley’s editorial “It Looks Like They Plan to Bomb Iran” highlights a serious problem, but most people remain totally ignorant of or are in denial about the coming war. Another U.S.-launched war would seem ludicrous. But to a president who claims to get directions from God, nothing is extreme. I congratulate the Daily Planet for focusing attention on this issue. 

Will the Democrats stop a war against Iran? Dream on! Hillary Clinton has stated that Iran cannot be allowed to possess nukes and “no option can be taken off the table.” John Edwards echoed her: “At the top of these threats is Iran.…To ensure that Iran never gets nuclear weapons, we need to keep all options on the table. Let me reiterate: all options.” And rising star Barack Obama told the Chicago Tribune in September 2004, “Launching some missile strikes into Iran is not the optimal position for us to be in…On the other hand, having a radical Muslim theocracy in possession of nuclear weapons is worse. So I guess my instinct would be to err on not having those weapons in the possession of the ruling clerics of Iran.” 

Overthrowing the Islamic regime has been a key component of the Bush global strategy of radically reshaping the world, beginning in the Middle East-Central Asian region, in order to solidify the United States as the world’s sole imperialist superpower. Bush’s 2006 National Security Strategy refers to Iran 16 times and states: “We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran.” The Bush regime has created a State Department Office of Iranian Affairs and an Iranian Directorate inside the Pentagon as it created special “intelligence” groups to invent pretexts for war on Iraq. 

Do not be fooled by recent diplomacy. The Bush regime in the buildup to the attack on Iraq also pretended to be exploring all possible diplomatic solutions while it had actually already made the decision to go to war and was preparing for war. 

How do we stop this coming war which will spread death and destruction throughout the Middle East and possibly ignite a world-wide conflagration? It will not be halted by Congress or the courts. Only concerted mass action in the streets will stop it. Only by driving the Bush regime from power can the war be averted. To see how you can help do so, please go to worldcantwait.org. 

Kenneth J. Theisen 

Oakland 

 

• 

MOTHER NATURE FOR  

PRESIDENT 

Once again the dust has settled in a post mid-term election atmosphere only to be kicked up again by many presidential hopefuls calling for healthcare reform, a plan to stay or exit Iraq, or simply calling each other names. However, one area that has not adequately been addressed is our addiction to oil and the ensuing contribution to climate change. The United States is about 5 percent of the global population but consumes about 25 percent of the world’s oil and contributes 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Any future American president must aggressively attack this problem if there is to be the change necessary to avert dangerous shifts in global climate. According to the most comprehensive study to date, written by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there will be a 2.5 degrees to 11.5 degrees surface temperature increase by 2100. There are two proposals, one in the House and one in the Senate that would reduce emissions by 80 percent below the 1990 levels by 2050. Henry Waxman and Bernie Sanders now need the support of their colleagues if the United States is to tackle climate change at a national level. The only way that either our newly elected officials or presidential hopefuls will address these problems is if we step up pressure from the grassroots. 

Joshua Sbicca 

Canvass Director, 

Environmental Action 

 

• 

CALL CONGRESS NOW 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

President Bush’s request for nearly $100 billion in supplemental war funding comes up for a vote on Wednesday March 7 in the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. A vote of the full House will occur the following week. A Congressional vote for this supplemental appropriation will enable Bush to expand and continue the war. 

1. Call the Congressional Switchboard Toll-free (800) 614-2803 or (800) 828-0498. 

2. Ask for your Congressional Representative and ask him/her to cut off all funding except that which is needed to bring the troops home. 

3. Call a second time and ask for Democratic leaders from California, Nancy Pelosi or Tom Lantos. 

Marge Lasky 

Grandmothers Against the War


Commentary: Dot-Condo?

By John F. Davies
Tuesday March 06, 2007

It’s no longer a secret that the Bay Area housing market is in freefall, and that this downturn is spreading nationwide. But this doesn’t seem to have occurred to the investor community. Consider a recent front page of the San Francisco Chronicle business section: “Hershey’s Transfers Production to Mexico.” “Bay Area Housing Market in 24 Month Decline,” “Business Expects Rosy Economic Outlook.” Please go back and read this again, and than ask yourself if there isn’t a massive case of denial happening here. But never fear. For there is a solution to this housing crisis. In a word: condominiums! 

This belief, trumpeted by the likes of Tom Bates, Gavin Newsom, and Jerry Brown, is that condominiums are the magic bullet that will give new opportunities for home ownership in the ever-pricey Bay Area. However, what’s not said here is that these condos will still be way beyond the price range of low and middle-income people. And just who’ll reside in these new buildings? The newly affluent of the new economy, that’s who! Or so proclaims a recent article in the latest issue of San Francisco Magazine. But there‘s a hidden and dangerous flaw in this line of reasoning, for it ignores the fact that personal, corporate, and government debt is at an all time high, with no end in sight. 

The present crisis had its origins about seven years ago. In the wake of the dot-com collapse, real estate soon became the hot investment commodity. The wild feeding frenzy that followed jacked up property values to the point where even so-called “blighted” properties in West Oakland were fetching high six figure sums. But yet, as the history of California is my judge, with every boom comes the harsh and inevitable bust. Last Tuesday’s 500-point drop on the New York Stock Exchange vividly shows the ever increasing fragility of global financial markets. It should concern anyone that the travails of an investment firm in a corner of China can cause earthquake tremors throughout the rest of the financial world. A good look at business web sites shows that even establishment economists are now stating the inevitability of a major recession throughout the United States. The debate now is not whether it will happen, but just when and how deep it will be. Of course, Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, and their media allies reassure us that there’s nothing to worry about. They do what they always do in times like this: damage control. They attempt to calm us with soothing catchphrases like “soft landing,” and “market correction.” We are again told: “Don’t worry! We have everything under control. The market will take care of itself!” But one doesn’t have to be a Nobel laureate to understand the depths of our present financial crisis.  

The legacy of these condo projects is likely to be a lot of empty glass boxes standing vacant in the midst of once-vibrant neighborhoods, along with even more homeless on the streets. And, with an ever-shrinking pool of buyers, the overheated, over-leveraged housing market will likely continue to spiral ever downward. Perhaps more people may then come to realize that the recent real estate boom was resting upon a giant house of cards. The newly affluent of the new economy may soon wake up one day and find that wealth quickly gained is also wealth quickly lost. 

So what can we all do? The first thing is to pay off our debts as quickly and expeditiously as possible. Next of course, would be to vote out of office those officials who advocate these misguided development policies. I would also take the advice of activist Joanna Macy and start setting up informal networks of people who can assist each other in the times ahead. While I in no way know exactly what the future holds, my beliefs can best be summed up by the actress Bette Davis: “Hang on everyone, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!” 

 

John F. Davies is a Berkeley resident.


Commentary: Who Really Wants a North Shattuck Plaza?

By David Stoloff
Tuesday March 06, 2007

Many people are attracted by North Shattuck Plaza, the idea of a park-like area where people can sit and eat, have coffee, or read a book or meet their friends in the heart of our neighborhood shopping area (the proposed location would be on the east side of Shattuck between Vine and Rose streets). Some opponents to the plaza idea are so aggressive that they forget or discount the history of the concept. When they do this, they ignore or twist facts. In addition, they make personal attacks on the supporters of the North Shattuck Plaza concept. 

Here are some facts in chronological order.  

 

2001 

The Berkeley City Council approved a schematic design, done by a planning firm, that included a small park/plaza in the area adjacent to Longs blank wall. The advisory committee to the firm included neighborhood residents, merchants, and property owners. No funds were allocated for development of the idea, which was part of a study of ways to improve the appearance and pedestrian portions of the public right-of-way of Shattuck Ave. between Hearst and Rose Streets. The “North Shattuck Urban Design and Circulation Report” can be found at: www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/council5/Nspaza.html. 

 

2001 

North Shattuck Business Improvement District (BID) was created by agreement of a majority of the property owners, many of whom operate businesses along Shattuck Avenue between Delaware and Rose streets. The owners agreed, in most cases with the agreement of their commercial tenants, to a special property tax assessment, the proceeds of which are used to make physical improvements and conduct activities that enhance business in the area. 

North Shattuck Association (NSA) was formed to administer the Business Improvement District. NSA established a budget that included the implementation of the plaza and other pedestrian safety improvements identified in the 2001 study. 

 

2005 

NSA was convinced that the improvements proposed for the East side of Shattuck between Vine and Rose Streets would attract more people and improve the business climate in the area. Based on this belief, NSA agreed to use a portion of its income to fund schematic drawings for the North Shattuck Plaza concept. 

 

January 2006 

North Shattuck Plaza, Inc. (NSPI) was formed to collaborate with NSA in continuing the planning process, fund raising and working with the city to implement the 2001 concept of creating a sizable area for pedestrian use along the east side of Shattuck between Vine and Rose. 

Following a traditional urban-planning concept of weaving public and private efforts, a board of directors was formed consisting of a City Council member, six non-official neighbors, and three NSA members. The Business Improvement District agreed to fund the project through schematic drawings and then seek public input.  

A design firm was hired to oversee a land survey and review the 2001 schematic design. A design committee made up of additional business owners and local design professionals was organized to assist in the design review 

 

Autumn 2006 

In October, following completion of the survey, proposed revisions to the 2001 schematic drawings were the subject of a public meeting sponsored by NSA and NSPI at the Jewish Community Center. 

The meeting, widely advertised in advance, was to elicit public comment, input, ideas, and reactions to the schematic ideas. 

There were several objections to the ideas: 

• Parking problems were foreseen. 

• An increase in panhandlers was feared. 

• Loss of business during construction was a concern. 

• Responsibility for maintenance of the area was also a concern. 

Despite the fact that the meeting had been called to get public input, there were many complaints that the process did not include public input. This was because of the mis-conception that the schematic drawings constituted a plan—a fait accompli—which was not the case. There was also skepticism that a public-private effort could represent the needs and wishes of the public. 

 

Where do we go from here? 

NSA and a number of business owners remain committed to implementing the concepts contained in the 2001 study. Also, there are many in the Live Oak Codornices Creek Neighborhood Association (LOCCNA) as well as the larger community who are interested in improving the area. The most recent positive development is that NSA, NSPI and LOCCNA have agreed to appoint representatives to a newly formed committee that will attempt to find areas of agreement and draft a process for a broad based community effort to move the project forward. 

For anyone interested in being on our mailing list or volunteering to work on this effort, contact us at info@northshattuckplaza.org or visit our web site at www.northshattuckplaza.org 

 

David Stoloff is the chair of  

North Shattuck Plaza, Inc. and of the Berkeley Planning Commission.


Commentary: U.S. Wars Over Arms Shipments

By Kent MacDougall
Tuesday March 06, 2007

Bush administration accusations that Iran is supplying roadside bombs that are killing American soldiers in Iraq are all too reminiscent of pretexts used by half a dozen previous administrations to justify acts of war. 

Weapons shipments first became a casus belli in 1914 when Woodrow Wilson was president. Determined to prevent revolutionary Mexico from slipping out of U.S. hegemonic control, and a full three years before the United States declared war on Germany, Wilson ordered a U.S. naval fleet to prevent a shipment of German machine guns and ammunition from reaching Mexico. U.S. battleships bombarded Veracruz, the expected port of delivery, and Marines occupied it after several days of bloody house-to-house fighting. Alerted, the German ship sailed down the coast and unloaded at another Caribbean port. The Marines remained in Veracruz for seven months, and U.S. military incursions in Mexico continued for another five years. 

In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge used real or imagined weapons shipments to justify armed intervention in Nicaragua. Faced with a popular revolt against a Washington-supported political faction that was illegally in office, Coolidge charged that Russian Bolshevism threatened Nicaragua and that a Bolshevist-influenced Mexican government was supplying the Nicaraguan rebels with arms. So the Marines, who had guarded American interests in Nicaragua from 1912 to 1925, returned after less than a year’s absence for seven years of counter-guerrilla warfare. 

In 1954, it was Guatemala’s turn. The supposed menace was its mildly reformist government’s purchase of Czech arms to defend itself against an impending military coup engineered by the United States. Citing the Czech arms purchase as proof of “communist infiltration,” the Eisenhower administration unleashed a small army of Guatemalan exiles and Central American mercenaries that the CIA had recruited and trained, and directed their invasion of Guatemala. Democracy was crushed and replaced by a succession of brutal right-wing dictatorships. 

John F. Kennedy dragged the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1962 in ordering the interdiction on the high seas of Soviet missiles en route to Cuba, in defense of its revolutionary government against the very real threat of a U.S. invasion. The crisis this blockade precipitated was dispelled only by removal of missiles that had already reached Cuba in exchange for a U.S. secret agreement to remove comparable American missiles from Turkey and to pledge not to invade Cuba. 

In the 1980s, the Reagan administration used the double-barreled pretext that Nicaragua was both receiving Soviet bloc weaponry and supplying arms to anti-government guerrillas in nearby El Salvador to justify a violent campaign to overthrow Nicaragua’s reformist government. While the CIA mined Nicaraguan harbors and blew up fuel depots, bridges and power stations, the U.S. military recruited, trained and supplied a surrogate army of “freedom fighters.” These “Contras” sabotaged rural cooperatives, schools and health clinics. They also murdered civilian supporters of the Sandinista government in a partially successful campaign to destabilize the government and undermine its popular support. 

Since the dissolution of the Soviet bloc, an emboldened and increasingly bellicose U.S. political/military establishment has used ever more flimsy justifications for armed intervention overseas. And weaponry has gained new prominence as a pretext. In 1998, Bill Clinton ordered U.S. Navy warships to fire missiles that demolished a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan, on the strength of a single soil sample taken near the plant that contained a chemical “precursor” in the manufacture of nerve gas. And in 2003, Iraq’s nonexistent “weapons of mass destruction” provided the chief pretext for the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq. 

And now comes Iran, a more formidable adversary than nearly all targeted by previous administrations on charges of receiving or supplying weapons deemed threatening to American interests. Attacking Iran for supplying weapons to Iraqi resistance fighters would ensure that this repetition of history would end not in farce but in tragedy for all involved. 

 

Kent MacDougall is a retired UCB  

professor of journalism. 


Columns

The Byrne Report: Looking into Blum’s Connections to UC Construction

By Peter Byrne
Friday March 09, 2007

I have reported elsewhere on the history of U. S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s 2001-2005 conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum’s former stake in two war contractors, URS and Perini corporations. Unfortunately, the senator is not the only one in her family with an ethics problem. In March 2002, Gov. Gray Davis appointed Blum to a 12-year term as a regent of the University of California. For the next three years, both URS and Perini benefited from construction contracts awarded by the regents.  

A “conflict of interest” is defined as using a governmental position for personal gain. But since the laws governing official ethics are written by people who often have actual or potential conflicts, they are packed with loopholes and are basically unenforceable. So if you’re waiting for Feinstein or Blum to be indicted, dream on. Nevertheless, we serve history by documenting such trespasses.  

In 1992, former regent Willis Harman talked enthusiastically to the San Jose Mercury News about the pleasures of appointment: “this is definitely a great club to belong to because the majority of members travel in fairly high circles. Through them, you tend to meet others in high financial, business and society circles.” The current crop of regents is full of politically savvy business folks such as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s personal financial adviser and longtime business partner Paul Wachter. Blum was a genuine catch for the club, which, it turns out, was already doing business with him.  

In May 2001, URS announced the award of “a contract from the University of California at Los Angeles to perform construction-management services for the $150 million replacement project for Santa Monica Hospital.” URS, which designs and sells advanced weaponry, also held a $125 million design and construction contract at UC’s Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab. So URS had substantial interests in UC capital projects when Blum, its principal owner, became a “decider” on construction planning and awarding contracts.  

Perini was similarly situated. When Blum became a regent, the construction firm of Rudolph & Sletten was midway through building dorms and a dining hall for UC San Diego under a contract with the regents. After Blum’s appointment, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laborator, which is also managed by the regents, hired Rudolph & Sletten as the construction manager and general contractor for a $48 million nanotech laboratory, the Molecular Foundry.  

Construction management and general contracting are not normally awarded to the same firm, as the construction manager is supposed to oversee general contracting costs. By the nanolab’s dedication in March 2006, the project had gone over budget by $4 million.  

On Oct. 4, 2005, Perini Corp. announced the acquisition of Rudolph & Sletten while it was still building the regent’s nanolab. It paid $53 million cash for the $700 million-a-year construction firm. Shortly thereafter, Blum divested his Perini stock at a substantial profit.  

Back to URS: On May 26, 2005, 50 UC Berkeley students interrupted a meeting of the regents to protest the Blum-URS-Los Alamos conflict of interest. Nevertheless, UC’s general counsel ruled that Blum’s ownership of a university contractor while a sitting regent was not a conflict—which is illogical but not surprising given that the regents have a long history of tolerating ethical conundrums. But the Los Alamos and Santa Monica Hospital deals were only part of Blum’s ethical problems. Public records available at the UC Berkeley Facilities Services website show that, after Blum joined the board, URS wrote portions of the Long Range Development Plan for UC Berkeley: the sections on hydrology, air quality and hazardous materials. These construction projects will change the face of the campus and cost hundreds of millions of dollars through 2020.  

In an expensive act of privatizing a governmental function, Blum’s URS was hired by the Regents on July 29, 2005, to provide “program management services” for the development of a $200 million Southeast Campus Integrated Project, which includes a seismic retrofit of Memorial Stadium and a substantial expansion of the Haas School of Business. The university delegated URS to manage the planning, design, contracting and construction of the mammoth project for an initial fee of $4.5 million. So far, according to a UC Berkeley spokesperson, URS has been paid $1.7 million.  

In November 2005, Blum resigned from the URS board of directors and also divested his investment firm of about $220 million in URS stock. In April 2006, the Feinstein-Blum family made a $15 million “gift” to UC Berkeley. The expanded business school is slated to house the Richard C. Blum Center for Developing Economies, which will encourage students to study the effects of global poverty upon political radicalism.  

Words fail me. 

 

 

Peter Byrne is a investigative journalist based in the Bay Area. Research for his investigative series on U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein is supported by a grant from the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute.


Column: Undercurrents: Some Thoughts on Race Now That Black History Month is Over

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday March 09, 2007

Interesting, isn’t it, how much of the country continues to react to the complications surrounding the issue of race like the little boy who finds himself amazed, after multiple trips to the zoo, that the zebra continue to have stripes. The zebras have always had stripes, since they have been zebras, and the stripes have been there on the zebras each of the times the boy comes to visit. But each time, upon viewing the phenomenon, the little boy’s mouth drops in amazement, his eyes open wide, and he stands on tiptoe and leans over the railing to get a better look at this wonderful curiousity which has never been pointed out to him before, except for all of the many other times it was pointed out in the visits prior to this. 

So it is with (most) Americans and race, particularly—though not exclusively—in those matters which involve the race which used to define America’s race issue, African-Americans. 

Some thoughts growing out of recent controversies on the issue. 

There has long been the myth—fostered both inside and outside the South—that there was no social contact between African-Americans and their Southern white neighbors during the days when segregation of the races was the law of the Southern land. Actually there was quite a bit, not all of it under the table or under the bedsheets, which was how Elvis Presley was able to spend so much of his youth time in the Black churches of his native rural Mississippi listening to gospel groups and choirs, and so, therefore, how the inflections and cadences and accents of Black music ended up so much a part of his own.  

So, too, did the young Bill Clinton have much contact with his African-American neighbors in his days growing up in Arkansas, and experience that rubbed off on his ways and mannerisms so much that it led to the remark—lately attributed to the novelist Toni Morrison, but you’ll have to do your own Google search to confirm it—that Mr. Clinton was our “first Black President.” Whoever first said it, it was always meant as an insider’s Black joke, not to be taken for the truth of the matter asserted, as they say in the courtroom, but only a wry comment on the nature of race and race perceptions in America and the ways of white folks who sometimes act more Black than is popularly perceived. Lately, however, with the growing contest between the U.S. Senators, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, for the Democratic Presidential nomination, the Clinton-as-first-Black-President comment has begun to be repeated, ad infinitum, ad nauseum, by various television anchor-type personalities to the point where it has lost both its original meaning and humor, so that now one wants to emulate one of the above-mentioned Mr. Presley’s most infamous acts and take pistol to hand, thence projecting out and away towards the offending television screen. 

It was always meant to be a joke, folks, nothing more, and to try to give it more meaning makes it virtually meaningless. 

But there are worse offenses to the senses of some of your African-American neighbors and friends coming out of recent media fascinations, if you’d care to hear about them. 

The other race-based issue in the news of late is the revelation that the great-great-grandfather of African-American leader Rev. Al Sharpton was once enslaved by a descendant of an ancestor of the late U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond (I purposely use the word “enslaved” here rather than “owned,” since you can take someone from their home at gunpoint, brace them in chains and make them work your fields against their will, which is enslavement, but you cannot “own” another human being, no matter how much you assert it or have it placed within your statutes or your national Constitution). 

In any event, what we cannot abide full-force and full-face, we seek to minimize through farce. The images of Mr. Thurmond flashed over the television screens in connection with the Sharpton-Thurmond connection story show the late Senator in his last days when he was well over a hundred years old, a fleshless cadaver-like figure, almost like the Skeletor character from the comic books, which makes about as much sense to understanding the issues involved as using one of Mr. Sharpton’s baby pictures at the same time, leading to snickerings in the Daily Show audience and wonderings why someone so weak and wasted could ever have possibly scared anyone at all, except little children, or the toked-out taking in a low-grade horror movie. 

Coupled with the parched-face picture of the Senator in the recent stories was almost invariably the title “the segregationist, Senator Strom Thurmond.” What exactly does that term mean to modern viewers and readers, “segregationist,” one wonders. Does it limit what was denied to African-Americans in the 100 years between the fall of Reconstruction and the rise of the civil rights laws to a loss of right to socialize with their white neighbors as if, in Malcom X’s famous phrase, the only important issue in the day was the fact that we could not sit down on the toilet next to white people? 

A better word needs to be fashioned for a more bitter time. 

Parting the races was by far the last and the least of it. The destruction of African-American political and economic power was the real goal, segregation one of the means to keep that destruction in place. 

A brief history lesson, for those who missed it. Immediately after Lee surrendered at Appomatox Courthouse and the Confederacy collapsed, a brief era of relative equality bloomed in the Southern states in which African-Americans voted and took political office as well as opened businesses and took ownership of large sections of land. In response, former Confederate soliders formed rifle clubs and secret societies—the Ku Klux Klan under former Confederate cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest, for example—for the purpose of driving the former African captives out of their political offices and businesses and homes and land and back into semi-slavery on the old plantations. 

There followed a period of the worst sustained terrorist violence this country has ever seen, with lynchings and political assassinations against African-Americans a common occurrence on Southern streets and country lanes. One of the centers of this counter-revolution was in Edgefield County, in which cabals of former Confederate terrorists devised plans to prevent Black voters from going to the polls by any means necessary, those means including house-burnings, beatings, economic intimidation, or killings. One of the leaders of this white terror, “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman, at one point governor and then later United States Senator from South Carolina, boasted on the record at the 1895 South Carolina Constitutional Convention that white forces “retook” the state from Black officeholders in the 1860’s and 1870’s through “fraud and violence.” 

If the name of Edgefield County sounds at all vaguely familiar to you, it is the home of Strom Thurmond, whose father, J. William Thurmond, was a close friend of and advisor to Ben Tillman, and Thurmond later said, with some pride, that he learned his first political lessons sitting on Mr. Tillman’s knee. 

In the late 1860’s, when Union troops guarded their right to vote, African-Americans held a majority in the South Carolina State Legislature, and had large representation in legislatures and other political offices in the rest of the Southern states. When, in the infamous compromise that won him the disputed 1876 Presidential election, Rutherford Hayes withdrew the federal troops from the South, the white supremacist terrorists had a free hand, and before the century was out, Black voting in the South was virtually nonexistent, and the African-American presence in Southern legislatures and other Southern offices had vanished. 

It is no coincidence, therefore, that a hundred years later, in that two-year period following the 1980 election when Republicans took over brief majority in the United States Senate and Mr. Thurmond ascended to the chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he made it one of his top priorities to try to kill the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was sunsetting that year, and needed reauthorization by Congress. At that point, there was only a smattering of black officeholders in the South. Had Mr. Thurmond prevailed, it would have remained that way, probably down to this day. 

I purposely waited until the end of Black History Month to talk about these things because, after all, this is not Black History, but American History. Our failure to read it and understand it means that some of us, at least, will continue to be constantly surprised and amazed as the issue of race continues to resurface in America, like the little boy at the zoo, wondering over and over and each time afresh, why the zebra continues to show up with those stripes. It does because it was born with them, and painting them over does not make them go away. 


Just What Is a Bungalow?

By Jane Powell
Friday March 09, 2007

It really annoys me when I see a real estate listing with a picture of a bungalow which announces something like “fabulous Victorian”—you would think there are enough bungalows around here that agents would get a clue, but apparently not. So herewith I shall answer the question “What is a Bungalow?” 

The question is fundamentally rather complicated. Dictionaries provide these definitions: “A low house having only one story or, in some cases, upper rooms set in the roof, typically with dormer windows”; “a usually one storied house with a low pitched roof”; “a small house all on one level”; “a small house or cottage usually having a single story and sometimes an additional attic story”; “a thatched or tiled one story house in India surrounded by a wide verandah”; “a usually one storied house of a type first developed in India and characterized by low sweeping lines and a wide veranda.” 

Bungalows and other Arts and Crafts houses, and the design philosophy that shaped them began in 19th Century Britain. The Arts and Crafts Movement was a reaction to the many changes in society brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Although advancements in technology were beneficial in many ways, producing the sewing machine, the cookstove, and indoor plumbing, there was a serious downside: pollution, sweatshops, and mass production of shoddy, badly designed goods. The Arts and Crafts reformers believed that a return to handcraft would restore the dignity of labor, that good design in homes and furnishings would result in an improved society. The most famous of them was William Morris, a gifted designer whose textile and wallpaper designs have been in continuous production since the 19th Century. 

The message of the Arts and Crafts Movement had spread all over the world by the turn of the 20th century. In the United States, it took on distinctive characteristics and was in many ways more successful here. When the ideas reached these shores around 1900, they were taken up by progressive idealists in many cities, and popularized by people like Gustav Stickley, through his magazine, The Craftsman, Elbert Hubbard at the Roycrofters, and Edward Bok at The Ladies Home Journal. There was just one problem with the movement as imported from Britain—Americans had no medieval tradition to look back to, being a young country. So we opted for incorporating various alternative ideas either involving traditional ways of building like log cabins, Spanish missions, and native American dwellings, or things considered exotic, such as architecture and decorative arts from Japan, which had only recently opened up to the outside world.  

It is generally agreed that bungalows descended from thatched Bengali peasant huts in India, called variously “banggolo,” “bangala,” or “bangla” (depending on who’s translating). The British altered the native dwelling into something that conformed better to their idea of what a house should be, and built these Anglo-Indian bungalows in compounds outside of the cities and towns, as well as in “hill stations” where the Europeans would go in the summer to get away from the heat. Eventually the bungalow was exported to all corners of the British Empire as being the proper sort of house for Europeans in the tropics.  

The bungalow’s initial use as vacation architecture meant that it came to be associated with leisure and informality, in a natural setting. This association continued even as bungalows began to be built in cities. Architectural styles used for resort houses in the nineteenth century, such as the Shingle Style on the East Coast (so called because of the shingle siding used), the rustic Adirondack style in the mountains (featuring rustic wood and log detailing), and even the Spanish haciendas of the West and Southwest had a lasting influence on bungalow architecture. 

The other thing that distinguished the American Arts and Crafts Movement was a more practical and democratic approach to the whole thing. Rather than throwing the machines out with the bathwater, so to speak, we viewed machines as useful tools that could be used to relieve drudgery, and do the tedious and repetitious parts of the work, freeing up time and thought for the artistic part, and allowing the hand labor to be devoted to artistry. Having no medieval tradition, we opted to celebrate simplicity, natural (especially local) materials, and honesty of structure. Of course much of this was lip service, because honesty of structure, especially on houses, was often a sham. This hypocritical aspect of the movement in no way diminishes the beauty of both the objects and the houses. In fact, it was probably what allowed the movement to succeed, and allowed the middle and working classes for the first time to own houses that were both economical (so they could afford them), artistic (they were beautiful), and practical (bungalows and other Arts and Crafts era houses were the first truly “modern” houses, with indoor plumbing, central heating, and electricity.  

The bungalow’s popularity spread from the West Coast to the East, contrary to the way that architectural styles had traveled across America in the past. In fact, the first bungalow-style house was built in Piedmont in 1876 by the Reverend Joseph Worcester, three years before the first house to be actually called a bungalow was built on Cape Cod. Certainly the West Coast, particularly California, embraced the ideal of the bungalow, and unquestionably ran with it. Hooray for us! Because of plan books and pre-cut houses, California-style bungalows were built across the U.S. sharing stylistic similarities even though there are regional differences in climate, locally obtainable building materials, the skills of available workmen, and the innate preferences of builders and owners.  

In a bungalow home the front door often opens directly into the living room, or to a small entry off the living room, because these houses were informal. No fancy parlors here. Often you can see into the dining room as well, which may be separated only by bookcases or columns. The main feature of the living room is the fireplace, which was the center of family life. In the evening, the family gathered around the hearth to read, play music or games, embroider, or just talk.  

Natural wood and colors from nature were the order of the day. Textiles helped to soften the room (as well as the furniture). The embroidery could also be purchased as a kit, and both women and men were encouraged to do some sort of handcraft to personalize their home, and to decorate with materials from nature. 

Homes were built with an eye to bringing the outdoors in- French doors opened from the formal rooms onto porches, which often were covered with vines or wisteria. 

Unlike today, meals were eaten in the dining room, which usually had a built-in china cabinet, as well as paneling and a plate rail for displaying plates and other artful objects.  

The food came from the first truly modern kitchens. Indoor plumbing, electric lighting, gas stoves, and refrigeration, some of the better products of the Industrial Revolution, first came together in the kitchens of the Arts and Crafts era. Homemakers were demanding more labor saving devices and convenience, now that they no longer had servants to do the housework.  

The bedrooms in a bungalow tended to be much simpler and lighter than the formal rooms, and often had painted woodwork. Children’s rooms often had special wallpaper or borders illustrating nursery rhymes or other themes. Stenciled or embroidered bed linens were fashionable. Closets were small because people had fewer clothes. 

In between the bedrooms was the bath, in a small house usually only one. A wall-hung or pedestal sink was the norm, and a clawfoot or built-in tub. 1” white hexagonal tiles were a common flooring material. These bathrooms were distinguished by their whiteness, coming during a time of obsession with sanitation and cleanliness. Later on in the 1920s and ‘30s there was an explosion of color in bathrooms, so houses from that time are more likely to have wildly colored bathrooms. 

Many bungalows had sleeping porches off the bedrooms, as it was believed that sleeping in the fresh air year-round was good for you, and in warm climates, that was probably true. 

Okay, that’s all well and good but it still doesn’t tell you what a bungalow is. At least part of the problem is that it’s a “know one when you see one” kind of thing. Of course, the good thing about being an author is that you get to make up your own definition. So here’s mine: A bungalow is a one or one-and-a-half story house of simple design, expressed structure, built from natural or local materials, with a low-slope roof, overhanging eaves, and a prominent porch, built during the Arts and Crafts period in America (approximately 1900-1930). If it’s two stories it’s no longer a bungalow, though it can still be Arts and Crafts or craftsman (often known in Berkeley as a “brownshingle”). 

Although there are many people who allow for Spanish, Tudor, Colonial, Cape Cod, and even ranch houses as bungalows if they are one or one and half stories, I’m drawing the line there. Well, sort of. Because everything in the above definition has an exception- for instance, the dates. There were bungalows built after 1930, and in fact the National Park Service maintained the style for park buildings long after the bungalow era was technically over. And here’s another thing- there’s no such thing as architectural purity. So a bungalow may have some classical detailing normally found on a Colonial Revival house- things like neoclassical columns or dentil molding. Or a bungalow may have arched windows or a Mission-style gable that would normally be found on a Spanish Revival house. Many bungalows have a medieval English influence as reflected in half-timbering or diamond-pane windows. And don’t even get me started about the cognitive dissonance between the outside architecture of a house and the interior style.  

Bungalows and Arts and Crafts houses were, and still remain, one of the most pleasant, livable styles of houses built in the 20th century. There’s been much talk lately about “the New Urbanism”- new towns being built that are walkable, houses with front porches and architectural details from the past. But in bungalows we already have the “Old Urbanism,” and it still works. Life is far more complex these days than it was back then, and these houses still serve as a haven from the demands of the world outside, they still nurture us and our families, and will continue to do so. This saying appeared in a magazine of the time: “A small house, a large garden, a few good friends, and many good books.” That’s my definition of a good life.  

 

 

Photograph by Jane Powell. 

A bungalow in Oakland’s Laurel District. 

 

 

 

 


‘So How’s the Market?’

By Arlene Baxter
Friday March 09, 2007

Lately I have been known to make outbursts over my Sunday morning cup of tea. It’s usually because I’m reading an article in a local paper purporting to give an update of our real estate market. Some of the articles come from wire services and describe a totally irrelevant national picture. Other times the article is describing the “local market,” but what they’re really discussing is the entire East Bay, from Hayward through Hercules. 

“Which planet are these people on?!” is a common question I ask whomever will listen. But mostly I am asking myself: how do I best counter this misinformation for my new buyers? 

I am someone who likes a challenge, but lately several articles in the print media have made the task of educating my clients all the more difficult. This Sunday’s example was a headline declaring: “Home buyers now have the market advantage.” Explain that to the 18 buyers who competed on a fixer this week in Albany. 

When I visited the brokers’ open the agent was standing in a flooded kitchen wielding a mop. Two of the offers she received a week later ranked as “ridiculously high.” A lovely traditional home in North Berkeley listed at just under a million received nine offers and went “really high.”  

The week before, a home in a coveted block of the Claremont that had been listed in the fall but did not sell, came back on the market. It received three offers and supposedly went from just under $2 million to $2.5 million. In the same area and same week a home listed for $1.35 million, fully updated, received three pre-emptive offers. Multiple offers, pre-emptive offers, contingency-free offers, concessions to the sellers such as free rent-back: we’re seeing it all again. 

To make any simple declarative statement about our market is always risky. To declare what we’re experiencing locally as a buyers’ market is just inaccurate. In my role as a director of the California Association of Realtors, I speak with many colleagues throughout the state. I certainly hear about communities where much of the inventory sits for several months before receiving an offer. 

I’ve heard about the huge number of condos for sale along that long beach in Long Beach. And I know that outside of California there are areas of true market devaluation. I also know that you don’t really have to go very far from Berkeley to find pockets of inactivity. In Richmond there are currently 150 two bedroom, one bath properties on the market. That’s more than the entire inventory of Berkeley. And indeed things were slower even here last autumn. 

But right now, in the first part of March, in all price ranges in Berkeley and the immediately adjacent communities, we are experiencing an active market. And it’s following a familiar pattern: the buyers are ready before the sellers. It makes perfect sense: buyers must decide that they are ready to make a move, and ideally speak with a responsible realtor and a trusted loan broker. 

The seller, on the other hand, must not only prepare mentally and emotionally, but must start disposing of possessions, pack the rest, choose a listing agent and make the myriad other decisions required to effectively sell one’s home. And they may also be involved in buying on the other end. It is not shocking that the basic equation of supply vs. demand is producing, in the early spring, a little flurry of activity and the return of multiple offers in many cases.  

The imbalance between buyers and sellers seems especially acute this spring. My guess is that all those buyers who were sitting on the fence in the fall, hoping that prices might actually drop, have realized that’s not going to happen. So we have the holdover buyers from 2006 joining some number who would normally have joined the fray in 2007 anyway, producing an especially high number of buyers ready to pounce on a small amount of inventory. 

The sellers who either had no choice but to sell now, or who were contrarian enough to believe that there never was a bubble, have benefited from being ready early in the year. The question no one can answer is: once this “glut” of buyers has made their purchases, will the market continue to be strong? 

It’s true that not all properties are experiencing blissful results for the sellers. A house with a quirky floor plan, or one needing major structural work, or one that appears over-priced will sit around in any market. You’ve probably heard it before, and it’s still true: homes that are priced appropriately, and perhaps a wee bit low for what they are, that are presented attractively and marketed actively by a trusted agent will do well in any market. If they are in a desirable neighborhood, and are mostly updated, then they have even more advantage.  

When people learn that I’m a realtor it is common for their next question to be “So, how’s the market?” The only truly valuable market update is the one provided by your agent, who knows your priorities, who knows what neighborhood you want to live in, who knows your price range, your taste, your ability to accept risk and how quickly you need to move.  

The good news is that the annoying article, having proclaimed a buyers’ market in the headline, went on to urge sellers to choose an agent who was a good communicator, someone who could present a solid market plan and would market the property extensively. That’s good advice in any market. 

 

 

Arlene Baxter is the 2007 President of the Berkeley Association of Realtors, and an agent at Berkeley Hills Realty. You may reach her at baxter@pobox.com. The opinions expressed are her own, and not necessarily those of the BAR. 

 


About the House: On the Matter of Open Floor Plans and Remodels

By Matt Cantor
Friday March 09, 2007

Okay Matt, I have been thinking about this for a while. There is a design feature I’ve noticed while looking at open houses these past years. 

Many times, when an older but small house is “remodeled” or “updated” walls are removed so that living/dining/kitchen all become one big room. Real estate descriptions often say “open floor plan” as though really, it just is the best (kinda like they say granite or stainless steel with the same final-statement tone). 

So, do we assume the masses really prefer an “open floor plan”? Does this structurally compromise the house in earth-quake terms? What is actually wrong with a separate kitchen? What about noise and smells? Is this just a style preference? What do you, someone who appreciates historical homes, think of this type of remodel? 

Your thoughts please! 

—Tina always-thinking-about-floor-plans Laxar 

 

Dear Tina,  

What a great question. The removal of interior walls is a subject worth at least a few words so here goes: 

First, from a seismic standpoint, interior walls produce very useful “shear resistance” and can be critical in preventing collapse of portions of a building. While it is possible to build large open spaces suitable for earthquake forces, our buildings are generally not built that way and depend to a large extent on interior walls to transfer those forces between the planes of the building and to help hold walls up as they move to and fro. 

I’ve often seen interiors that have been “opened up” to give a more modern feel and better flow and wondered if there had been any engineering applied to the remodel. Usually there had been none and those homes were left vulnerable to increased damage when the big one hits. By the way, one group from UC Davis is claiming that a major earthquake will hit Northern California in the next year to 18 months so these issues may be more pressing than previously considered. I have no idea how accurate this data is but it will doubtless beg these questions more than before. 

Another issue regarding the removal of walls is that they are often done without consideration for roof or ceiling loads. All walls cannot be fully removed without some serious alterations and here are some basic concepts that one can apply to the question if you’re thinking about doing such a removal.  

First, it’s essential that one determine what loads rest upon the wall. If you have a living space above the room in which you plan to remove a wall it’s less likely you can get away with it. You’ll have to determine if the floor joists (the planks that stand on edge and run from wall to wall below the floor boards) are resting upon the wall. If they do not, and run parallel to the wall, then the wall may be considered a “curtain wall.” If you have a roof or attic directly above the room you’re planning to change, it’s more likely you’ll be OK, but again, you have to find out what rests on the wall you want to eliminate. If loads are bearing on the wall, you’ll have to find a way to carry them down to the foundation other than via that wall and there are several things to consider. My first question always would be, “Do you really need to remove the entire wall?” If not, a header or beam can be run across the part of the wall you want to remove. This can be fairly small and the effect can be dramatic without any major structural change. An opening of eight feet can feel much the same as a complete removal but may only require a 4” x 8” beam as substitution. 

Each situation is different and an expert does need to look and be sure that the removal doesn’t have nasty consequences. This job is also fairly cheap so it might be just the thing to turn two small dead spaces into one that changes the way your home feels and functions. Another way to manage a wall removal (either partial or complete) is to open up a large archway. I’ve done this in my own home and it creates an airy feeling while keeping wall space and adding architectural interest. We have both full arches and partial archways that have cabinetry and counters from waist height down. The latter gives views and resolves claustrophobia without losing the practical elements of storage and division.  

This is a good point at which to stop and discuss those issues. Loss of wall space isn’t just an engineering issue. It’s also practical and aesthetic. While the 1960’s edict of all plans as open plans may have once seemed sophisticated and free, a wall is not really a bad thing. Walls shape space and provide surfaces on which to develop storage and work-space. Walls provide a modicum of privacy and generate hubs of activity. One of the reasons large commercial open spaces are often so dead is that they lack as sense of place created by barriers.  

Don’t get me wrong, I opened my own house up quite a bit but it’s very important to consider the effect of each wall either kept or ushered away since the effects on the space can be dramatic. A small section of wall can make a huge difference and a big empty space might not work as well as it looked in the magazine. 

Before I finish with the structural stuff let me talk about one last strategy since it’s a really good one and might help you get what you’re after. It’s often possible to remove a wall in a room directly below an attic by adding a beam which rests above the ceiling joists. Now, this may sound nutty but it actually works quite well. A “strongback” is a beam that connects with the ceiling joists that lose support through the loss of a wall. The strongback must rest at either end on a wall or post that remains in place and the ceiling joists then hang off of it. It’s pretty simple really and the effect is such that you can remove a large section of wall and have the ceiling run smoothly from space to space without any visible change or bump. This won’t work in every house but if you have a fairly accessible attic, I’ll bet it will work for you. The only hard part will be getting the strongback into the attic in the first place. This sometimes requires punching a hole in the roof and, of course, repairing said hole. 

I’ll finish with the last part of Tina’s question, that having to do with historical homes. It’s a rare remodel on an older home (say 1930’s on back) that looks right with major walls removed. Division of spaces is a critical component in design and snatching one arbitrarily out of an antiquarian residence often (but not always) doesn’t feel right. It may be that a partial removal or a half-height arch might be enough. This is where architects shine and are well worth their fees, so consider one if you’re going down this road. Also don’t forget our friend the structural engineer. If you’re planning on removing more than one short wall, you might want this gal/guy to lend a hand. 

Whatever your final decision, don’t rush through the design process. Take your time and make it fun. There are few things in my life that have ever proved as much fun as playing games with walls. Yes, I know. I’m really weird. 

 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor at mgcantor@pacbell.net.


Connecting with Nature at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum

By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet
Friday March 09, 2007

Are you ready to make personal contact with your wild neighbors? Ready to go eye-to-eye with the swiveling head of a great horned owl, outstare a magnificent Bald Eagle, chuckle at an opossum burrowed head-deep into a cereal box, count the leaves being pulled out of a Trader Joe’s Indian Fare carton by a California ground squirrel? 

In a perfect world, we’d prefer meeting most wild animals roaming free and independent on their home-ground. Unfortunately, injuries and habituation prevent some animals from enjoying that option. Fortunately, there’s an organization that rehabilitates injured wildlife and provides homes for those which have become too tame to be returned to nature. 

Located in the heart of Walnut Creek, surrounded by quiet residential neighborhoods and an expansive community park, the Lindsay Wildlife Museum connects us to animals living in nearby open spaces and our own backyards. Since 1955 this non-profit organization has reached out to children and adults through changing natural history and art exhibits, hands-on activities, classes, outreach education and community programs, Wildlife Ambassadors and its rehabilitation hospital.  

After an absence of several years, I returned to the Lindsay Museum one cold winter weekday. The low slung building of natural-toned stone, white tubular accents and large expanses of tinted glass are almost camouflaged amid its surrounding gardens. In one section bony oak woodland branches harbor massive bird nests and bulbous galls above a thick blanket of tanned leather leaf litter. Additional natural communities foster a “living with nature” theme highlighting meadows, chaparral, redwoods, wildlife gardens, drought-tolerant and deer-resistant specimens. 

I followed the resident Great Horned Owl inside to the Thomas J. Long Exhibit Hall, ready to get acquainted with Wildlife Ambassadors and explore. Tethered high atop exhibit cases I gazed up at raptors – hawks, kestrels, owls, falcons and eagles, each occupying its own space. Below them mammals are housed in roomy enclosures hung with greenery and various wood structures, each designed to keep the animal comfortable and safe. 

Information placards provide biological details and explain the reason for each animal’s presence. An adult coyote never learned how to be wild, being raised by humans. A turkey vulture suffers from arthritis, while a common king snake is missing an eye. Materials engage young viewers. Children circle drawings on “What can you find?” sheets. Volunteers join you at exhibits, answering questions and teaching about wildlife. 

An impressive two-story replica of Mt. Diablo’s balancing rock gives voice to the distant past while illustrating present inhabitants. Fossils share sandstone pushed upward from an ancient seabed with native plants, deer, gray fox, whipsnake and quail. The Discovery Room offers hours of engagement with hands-on activities for anyone small enough to occupy pint-sized tables and chairs. Animal puzzles, a puppet stage, pelts and rocks to touch and shelves of animals promise a good start toward fostering compassion for nature. 

The Lindsay Museum excels in its daily stage presentations, combining entertainment with education and awe. Joining a group of first and second graders I was introduced to a Bald Eagle whose collision with an electrical wire in Bozeman, Montana resulted in an amputated wing. Using morsels of food as lures, the trainer encouraged exercise as the eagle hopped from perch to perch, ending at the pool where he was showered with refreshing water. The kids were questioned about nest size, eyesight, social calls and what they could do to help wildlife. We came away better informed, inspired by the museum’s commitment and the eagle’s will to survive. 

Nature seen through the eyes of an artist adds another dimension to the Lindsay Museum. “A Natural Inclination”, the art of Andrew Denman, combines the observation skills of the naturalist with the creativity of the artist. Denman paints wildlife, still life and landscapes as realistic depictions, often overlaid with abstract and stylized elements, including the artist’s perceptions and interpretations.  

A landscape of eucalyptus forms the backdrop to long strips of bark, leaves and squares of solid color. Likewise, a small ocean landscape of Bodega Head is only one element among the still life of crabs and shells. Graphite drawings, of wolves and red-tail hawk, focus on Denman’s skill as an illustrator.  

The thirty works on display provide clear evidence of Denman’s respect for the natural world and his thoughtful juxtapositioning of the original with the experimental. 

Occupying a small but well-stocked area within the exhibit hall is the museum gift shop, both browse and purchase-worthy. For budding birders, Audubon stuffed birds with bird calls serve as both tactile and auditory companions. If Monopoly has become passé, try Bug-opoly, Ocean-opoly and Dino-opoly. Wildlife themed hats, t-shirts, socks, jewelry, toys, puzzles and books happily share shelfspace. 

Along with education, the beating heart of the Lindsay Museum is its onsite rehabilitation hospital, the oldest and one of the largest in the United States. Open everyday for injured and orphaned wildlife, all services are free. Whether it’s a ruddy duck with a fractured bill, an arboreal salamander suffering from chlorine toxicity or a badger with head abscesses and body punctures, staff and volunteers treat and care for each one. During the busy season, they might see up to 150 animals per day.  

The year 2006 was a busy one for the museum. Over 500 classrooms and 50,000 visitors toured the museum. Docents brought exhibits to an additional 8,000 students and 15,000 community members. Almost 6,000 injured animals were brought to the wildlife hospital. Six hundred volunteers donated over 70,000 hours. 

Set a date for visiting the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, adding your stats to the year 2007. Watch the gray fox curled up in a ball, marvel at the dexterity of the opossum’s tail, listen for the raptor’s cry. Spread the word about how to help injured wildlife and avoid future problems. Contribute to keeping our wild neighbors safe and reducing the hospital’s workload.  

 

Getting There: Take Hwy 24 east to Hwy 680 north. Take the Treat Blvd/Geary Road exit and turn left over the freeway. Turn left on Buena Vista and right on First Ave. The museum is halfway up the block on the left. Park in the parking lots, not on the street. 

Lindsay Wildlife Museum, 1931 First Ave., Walnut Creek (925) 935-1978, www. wildlife-museum.org. Open Wed.-Fri. noon-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Adults $7, seniors $6, ages 2-17 $5. 

“A Natural Inclination” is on exhibit through March 18.


Column: The Public Eye: Ten Maxims for a Liberal Foreign Policy

By Bob Burnett
Tuesday March 06, 2007

The catastrophic occupation of Iraq is evidence of far more than the incompetence of the Bush administration; it is proof that the conservative worldview is fatally flawed. As the forty-third presidency staggers to an ignominious finale, liberals must prepare not only to govern America, but also to proclaim a new vision. Liberal foreign policy should be based upon 10 elemental concepts: 

1. America needs to lead by example, rather than by force. While it seems obvious to most Americans that the United States should practice what it preaches, this essential moral maxim was abandoned by a Bush administration whose operating philosophy is: “Do what I say, not what I do.” Bush conservatism brought a host of problems to US democratic process: stolen elections, denial of civil rights, and unlawful expansion of presidential authority, to mention only a few. Liberal leaders must practice democracy and set foreign policy from that moral ground. 

2. Propagating democracy requires a multinational effort, rather than unilateral action. Americans believe that democracy should be spread throughout the world; the question is by what means. Conservatives maintain the US has unique moral status in the world and, therefore, the privilege to govern the world community: “We’re the biggest and, therefore, the best.” This conceit, the belief in American exceptionalism, serves as an excuse for U.S. imperialism. Liberals believe that a multipolar effort is required to spread democracy. 

3. Democracy cannot be imposed; it has to be nurtured. Bush conservatism argues that American military power can catalyze western-style democracy in non-democratic states: “Might makes right.” Liberals believe that while multinational police forces can protect human rights they can’t guarantee democracy. 

4. There’s more to foreign policy than shaking a big stick. Conservative foreign policy presumes that a strong military is America’s best ambassador: “Adopt democracy or we’ll shoot you.” This big-stick approach hasn’t worked in Afghanistan or Iraq and shows no sign of working in the rest of the world. Liberal foreign policy recognizes that diplomacy is an essential tool both in promoting democracy and building coalitions in the national interest. 

5. Democracy is not synonymous with capitalism. The Bush administration advocates a cardboard version of democracy that emphasizes property rights and open markets, and glosses over the necessity for human rights and civil society. Its approach stems from an elemental conservative maxim: “In a democracy, free markets inevitably solve national problems.” Predictably the application of this doctrine in non-western societies produced authoritarian, plutocratic states featuring rampant inequality and environmental degradation. 

6. Some emerging democracies cannot support western-style capitalism. Because of their confidence in the power of the open market, Bush conservatives invariably get the cart before the horse: “Ensure capitalism and democracy will surely follow.” In many non-western states, democracy must be nurtured—by engendering civil society—before it is strong enough to support free-market capitalism. In the meantime, capitalism must be limited or national resources will be squandered and plutocrats will prevail. 

7. The global marketplace is not a substitute for global civil society. Coincident with their belief in spreading democracy through militarism, Bush conservatives have deregulated the international economy. They’ve promoted globalization in the naïve belief that this would inevitably remedy international economic, environmental, political, and social problems: “The market will provide.” The results have been devastating: economic inequality and environmental destruction—to name only two problems—have spiralled out of control. Liberals believe in the importance of international governance. 

8. The United Nations and other international organizations need to be revamped rather than abandoned. Conservatives argue that the U.N. doesn’t work and, therefore, should be replaced by a coalition of democracies headed by the United States. They believe that because America is the pre-eminent world power, it should determine international policy on all important matters: “We’re number one; therefore, we call the shots.” Liberals argue that America should redefine its role to that of building coalitions, exercising its power judiciously in a multipolar world. 

9. America needs to close its overseas military bases and bring American troops home. The United States maintains more than 700 overseas military facilities and has an active military presence in more than forty countries. Bush conservatives argue that this guarantees national security: “We’re safer because of our military hegemony.” Liberals believe that conservatives continue to fight the cold war; that the socio-political realities of the 21st century, and the campaign against terrorism, dictate that the US should bring its troops home, beef up homeland security, and strengthen international alliances. 

10. America needs to replace military spending with foreign aid. Conservatives ignore the economic and social roots of terrorism, the reality that rampant globalization fostered the conditions that produced Al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. In place of a systemic analysis, Bush conservatives proffer platitudes: “They hate us because of our freedoms.” Liberals recognize that eliminating the conditions that foster terrorism requires the rich nations of the world to help the poor, to guarantee the elemental human rights that underpin democracy. 

The key to transforming U.S. foreign policy is for American liberals to practice democracy at home. 

 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net.


Column: Wired for Life

By Susan Parker
Tuesday March 06, 2007

At a dinner party last week I announced to everyone at the table that I needed a job. Soon. Very soon. My guests nodded in approval. They had professional careers. A few were mothers who worked part-time. One was a doctor, another a nurse. At the table were several writers, a scientist, and a union member. I was the oldest person in the room, and the most minimally employed.  

“Write,” said Sarah. “That’s what you do best.” 

“No,” said her husband Rob. “She needs to make money.” 

“Why not go back to the climbing gym?” suggested Fred. “You liked it there. Work and stay fit at the same time.” 

“I think I’m a little old for the gym scene,” I said. 

“Nonsense,” shouted someone much younger than me. “What are you 50, 55? That’s not too old. Sixty is old, but not 55.” 

“Better hurry,” whispered the young man sitting next to me.  

“What kind of job do you want?” asked Rob.  

“That’s a problem,” I said. “I don’t know.” 

“Full or part-time?” said Fred. 

“Part-time, I think.” 

“Clerical or managerial?” asked Sarah. 

“Clerical,” I said. “No responsibilities.” 

“A job without responsibilities,” said Tom. “Is there such a thing?” 

“Not a lot of pressure,” I tried to explain. “Something I can do easily, but get personal satisfaction from. And…” 

“And what?” 

“I want a short commute. Walk, bike, or take the bus.  

“Sandwich making at Genova’s,” said Rob. “You can walk there. I love their Italian combo.” 

“I- 

“How ‘bout the Bowl,” suggested someone else. “That might be fun. All that food.” 

“Aisle Two,” said April. “Creams and potions. Aisle Two smells good. But don’t be a checker. You have to memorize too many things. Those green leafy vegetables all look alike.”  

“What about the bulk section?” 

“Same thing. If the customer doesn’t put the right code on it, you’re screwed. You have to come around the counter and compare what’s in the bag to everything in the bins.”  

“Not a security guard,” said Nance. “I don’t think you’d be good at it.”  

“Ticket taker on the ferry,” said Fred. “I’ll take you down to the union hall next week. Sign the book. Go through training. It’s unpaid, but you’ll learn everything you need to know. Just smile and point the riders to the right box. Say ‘put your ticket here,’ and nod your head. People love being told what to do.” 

“I- 

“But don’t be the ticket seller. Be the taker, not the giver. Sellers sit in a little kiosk. Takers get to stand outside.” 

“I- 

“Eighteen dollars an hour,” he continued. “Seasonal. You get the whole winter off to do other things.”  

“Like look for another job,” said Rob. 

“Okay, let’s go back to the beginning,” said Tom. “You want a part-time job with no responsibilities that you can bike to, right?” 

“Some responsibilities,” I said. “I can handle some.” 

“And you have no idea where or what kind of work you want to do,” said April. 

“Some place exciting,” I explained. “A place that does something I can get into. But not a hospital,” I added. “I’ve spent too much time in hospitals.”  

“Let’s clarify this more,” said Rob. “It sounds like you want a boring job in an exciting place, as opposed to an exciting job in a boring place. Is that correct?” 

“I think so,” I said.  

“That’s it,” he shouted. “I’m quitting my job and becoming a career coach.” 

“Yes,” everyone agreed. “You seem to have the knack.” 

I got up to the clear the table. Maybe I could be a waitress. I’d spent a lot of time working in restaurants 35 years ago. “Coffee, anyone?” I asked. 

“Peet’s!” said April. “You could get a job at Peet’s.”  

“Exciting and excitable,” said Rob. “You’ll be wired for life.”  

“And at your age,” whispered the whippersnapper next to me, “that might be the benefit you need the most.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Wild Neighbors: Coots, Hawks and Gulls: A Day in the Food Chain

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday March 06, 2007

I’ve been birding in California long enough that new species are hard to come by. Every couple of years, something exotic may blow in from Siberia, but I’ve met just about all the natives and regular visitors. There are still surprises, though. Familiar birds—birds you think you know reasonably well—keep doing unexpected things. 

A week or so ago I went to the Flyway Festival at Mare Island, a sort of birder’s expo featuring conservation exhibitors, book and optics vendors, and field trips. I hooked up with a trip to an area that was new for me, the American Canyon Wetlands: tidal marsh with freshwater inflows abutting a new development. We saw a fair number of hawks, ducks, and saltmarsh songbirds, but nothing extraordinary for most of the morning. 

Then, as I was distracted by a male yellowthroat that kept popping in and out of the gumplant near the water’s edge, there was a commotion among a nearby flock of coots. Although the coots didn’t take wing, the whole flotilla was moving out into deeper water. What had cause the exodus was a hawk—a female northern harrier, we realized once someone had trained a scope on it—standing in the shallows, its feet planted on a submerged coot. 

In the right habitat—open grasslands, wet or dry—harriers can be common, especially in winter when local birds are augmented by migrants from the north. In more than 40 years of observation, I had never seen a harrier take a coot. I couldn’t recall even having read about it.  

Harriers are consummate rodent-hunters: their owl-like facial feathers allow them to target mice and voles by sound alone. They’ll sometimes pick up a vole’s nest, shake it to dislodge the occupant, and snag it as it drops. The books say rodents make up the bulk of a harrier’s diet, with a few songbirds thrown in.  

Clearly, though, there were exceptions—and I later found references to harriers drowning waterfowl. They’ve been known to kill birds as large as ducks, bitterns, grouse, and pheasants, with females taking on larger prey than males.  

The harrier stood there. There was no sign of struggle in the water. Once a peregrine falcon swooped over her, and she flinched. Then a western gull swam up to inspect. The gull dwarfed the hawk, but she held her ground, glaring over the shoulder at the larger bird. She didn’t seem to be trying to lift off with her prey, and we speculated as to whether she could get airborne with a pound and a half (according to the Sibley guide) of dead weight. A reporter from the Napa Register, who happened to be on hand, interviewed the witnesses. 

The harrier must have decided she couldn’t, and she took off. The gull moved in. The coot, not quite dead, gave one last spasmodic thrash as the gull towed it to a mudbar. That was it, though. The gull began working at the carcass; lacking a raptorial beak, it didn’t seem to be making a lot of headway. “This guy needs a can opener,” someone said.  

And then a new player arrived. An adult red-tailed hawk touched down and claimed possession of the coot. The gull, prudently, moved away—but not too far. Now the redtail had to deal with the aerodynamic issues. It stood there on the coot as if working things out. It was at about this point that we noticed that the tide was coming in. The water was up around the hawk’s thighs. It didn’t take off, and it wouldn’t give up the coot. And I thought, there has to be a metaphor here.  

Eventually, the redtail, like the harrier before it, gave up. Back came the gull. As the group of birders dispersed, it was working away at the coot again, sending a drift of black feathers into the water. Just another day in the food chain, and a salutary reminder that there can be a lot more to bird behavior than you’d ever guess from the field guides.  

 

 

A female northern harrier; males are gray and white. Photograph by Ned Kroeger.


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday March 09, 2007

FRIDAY, MARCH 9 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” Fri and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda, through April 1. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Aurora Theatre Company “The Birthday Party” Wed. - Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through March 11. Tickets are $38. 843-4822 

Berkeley Rep “The Pillowman” at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through March 11. Tickets are $33-$61. 647-2949. 

Berkeley Rep “To the Lighthouse” at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. and runs through March 25. Tickets are $45-$61. 647-2917. 

Central Works Theater Ensemble “Lola Montez” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. through March 25. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

Impact Theatre “Cartoon” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, through March 10. Tickets are $10-$15. www.impacttheatre.com 

“Triumph” A one woman show by Vanessa McDaniel at 3 p.m. at Black Repertory Group, 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $10. 652-2120. 

UC Dept. of Theater “Dolly West’s Kitchen” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $10-$14. 642-9925. http://theater.berkeley.edu 

Virago Theatre “Orphans” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at BridgeHead Studio, 2516 Blanding Ave, Alameda, through March 31. Tickets are $10-$15. 415-439-2456. www.viragotheatre.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Somebody” The New World of Figurative Art Works by seven artists exploring the human form. Reception at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

“Person Place and Thing” Paintings by Susan Kendall, Renie McDonough and Pam Wright opens with a sidewalk reception at 6 p.m. at the Addison St. Windows Gallery, 2018 Addison St. 981-7533. 

FILM 

Women’s Film Festival and Disgital Arts Club, selected screenings at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 981-2884. 

“Boris Eifman: Work in Progress” A documentary by Alex Gutman at 7 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Mr. Eifman will be present to introduce the film and will answer audience questions afterwards. 642-9988. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Tom Odegard and John Rowe read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid at Hearst. 841-6374. 

Alfred McCoy, author of “A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror” at 7:30 p.m. at at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. 

Sharon Lamb describes “Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Christy Dana Quartet Plus Three at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20. Sponsored by the Berkeley Arts Festival. 524-1124. 

Trillium, harp trio, celtic, world, classical at 8 p.m. at Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Tickets are $15, children $5. 526-9146. 

Tony Bellaver “Interventions” Performance art from 1 to 4 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Donations accepted. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

MamaCoatl & Cihuatl Tonali for International Women’s Day, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Danny Hoch Hip Hop Workshop at 8 p.m. at 2116 Allston Way. Tickets are $7-$15. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Classical with a Twist Vicki Trimbach performs at 8 p.m. at the Jazzcafe, 2087 Addison StTickets are $15. 1-800-838-3006, event 6103. 

Carla Zilbersmith & Allen Taylor Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ.  

Womansong Circle Celebrating International Women’s Day in song at 6:45 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donation. $15-$20. 525-7082. 

Swingthing at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. 

Houston Jones, Americana, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Willie Porter at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

The Nomadics, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

The Freak Accident, The May Fire, Space Vacuum from Outer Space at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Behind Enemy Lines, Born/Dead, Bumbklatt at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

The Brothers Lekas at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

B-Side Players, Raw Deluxe at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

Suburban Legends, 5 Days Dirty, All the New at 8:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10-$12. 763-1146.  

Chroma, electro-groove jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Stanley Clarke at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $24-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, MARCH 10 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Colibri and Nancy Raven at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Owen Baker Flynn and his “Act in a Box” celebrates National Reading Month Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. 452-2259. 

EXHIBITIONS 

8 in 07 A group show of East Bay artists. Reception at 4 p.m. at the Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Gallery hours are Wed.-Sun. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Exhibition runs to April 1. 848-1228. 

Recent Works of Changming Chen Artist reception at 2 p.m. at Alta Galleria, 2980 College Ave., Suite #4. 421-1255.  

“Sexicon: The Art and Language of Erotica” from noon to 4 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at Living Room Gallery, 3230 Adeline St. www.myspace.com/livingroomcollective 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 1:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

THEATER 

“Facing the Mountain” Armenians and Turks Share Their Stories A Playback Theatre Performance at 8 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Tickets are $10. For reservations call 642-9460. 

Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, queer theater and comedy, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

FILM 

Women of Color Film Festival “Sidestepping the Eternal Repetition” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Feminist Art” a lecture by Lousie Stanley at 10 a.m. and “Feminist Postmodern Installations” at 11 a.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 981-2884. 

“The Bay Area Concept: Bruce Nauman and the Late Sixties” Symposium from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

Joe Hill discusses his scary novel “Heart-Shaped Fox” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Jessica Livingston describes “Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera Company “The Seraglio” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300.  

West Coast Blues Hall of Fame Awards Show at 7 p.m. at Kimball’s Carnival, 522 Second St., Oakland. Tickets are $30. For reservations call 836-2227. www.bayareabluessociety.net 

The Albers Trio “Eastern European Masters” at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra “Violin and Viola Virtuosity” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Free. 415-248-1640. 

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jewish Music Festival “Klezmer Buenos Aires” 8 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St.. Tickets are $22-$26. 800-838-3006.  

Moment’s Notice Improv music and dance at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St. Coat is $8-$10. 847-1119. 

Steve Tayor-Ramirez, at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Faye Carol & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sila and the Afrofunk Experience at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is TBA. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

John McGaraghan and Scott Waters at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Cascada de Flores at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Clarinet Thing with Beth Custer, Ben Goldberg, Sheldon Brown, and Harvey Wainpel at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Polkacide, The Kehoe Nation, The Whoreshoes and others at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $8-$10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

The Ravines, rock, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Ten Ton Chicken, 7th Direction, Powel St. Jon and Friends at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Cyril Guiraud Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Insect Warfare, California Love, Reagan SS, Noisear at 6 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $8. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 11 

CHILDREN 

Oakland Hebrew Day School “Into the Woods, Junior” at 1 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $5 children, $7 aduults, at the door.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

Works by Ellen Oppenhiemer and Peralta Elementary Students Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

FILM 

“Thieves in the Temple: The Reclaiming of Hip Hop” written and performed by Aya de Leon at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jack Tillmany and Jennifer Dowling on “Oakland Theaters: A Pictorial History” at 2 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive Theater. 642-0808.  

Mitchell Schwarzer describes “Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Area: A History and Guide” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Poetry Flash presents poets David Roderick and Rebecca Black at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Aaron and David Requiro, chamber music, at 4 p.m. at Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. Tickets are $12, free for children under 18. 

Soli Deo Gloria and Orchestra Gloria at 3:30 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd., Piedmont. Tickets are $20-$25. www.sdgloria.org 

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$56. 642-9988.  

Classic Flamenco and Mariachi Dive Bar Piano with Seth Montfort, at 5:30 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $15. 415-362-6080. 

Alarm Will Sound Works by composer Conlon Nancarrow at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. 642-9988. 

Soul at the Chimes with harpist Destiny and Sonata Pi at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes,4499 Piedmont Ave. Oakland. Tickets are $20-$25. www.brownpapertickets.com 

The Hot Club at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Danny Hoch Hip Hop Workshop at 7 p.m. at 2116 Allston Way. Tickets are $7-$15. 647-2949. 

Tinkture, Kumbulus, Storm Temple and others at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Ellen Seeling/Susan Muscarella Group at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

MONDAY, MARCH 12 

EXHIBITIONS 

Paintings of Michael Murphy opens at The LightRoom, 2263 Fifth St. and runs through April 13. 649-8111. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Writing for the Greater Good” a panel discussion on the recent issue of Greater Good magazine at 5:30 p.m. at 105 North Gate Hall, UC Graduate School of Journalism, Hearst at Euclid Ave. http://journalism.berkeley.edu 

Fred Alvarado on “Urban Dreamscapes” creating community murals at 5:30 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, César Chávez Branch, 3301 E 12th St. Oakland. 535-5620. 

Jennifer Baumgardner discusses “Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Debra Di Blasi and Paul Vangelisti read at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Dinah Lenney reads from “Bigger than Life: A Murder Memoir” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poetry Express with Jan Dederick at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Classical at the Freight with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Danny Hoch Hip Hop Workshop at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $7-$15. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Skyline High School Jazz Ensemble at 8 and $10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com  

TUESDAY, MARCH 13 

FILM 

Alternative Visions “When a Stranger Comes to Town: Recent Animations” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Stehen Hawking on “Origin of the Universe” at 7:30 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $15-$32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Gordon Ball and Hilton Obenzinger read at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Mike Farrell reads from his memoir “Just Call me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Susan Snyder, author of “Past Tents: The Way We Camped,” reads at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Rohini Hensman reads from “Playing Lions and Tigers” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

GiveWay at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Courtableu, Cajun/Zydeco at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ellen Hoffman and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Danny Hoch Hip Hop Workshop at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $7-$15. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Debbie Poryes and Friends, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Kim Nalley at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14 

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema “8 1/2” with a lecture by Marilyn Fabe at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Understanding Tibetan Monastic Music in the 21st Century” at 4 p.m. in the Seaborg Room, Faculty Club, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Center for Buddhist Studies. 643-6536. 

 

 

 

 

 

Kim Stanley Robinson introduces “Sixty Days and Counting” a trilogy of near-future eco-thrillers at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Carol Cosman reads from her new translation of Albert Camus’ “Exile and the Kingdom” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Open Storytelling hosted by Ed Silberman at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera Company “The Seraglio” at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300.  

Gyuto Monks Tibetan Tantric Choir at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Harvey Wainapel Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Eric & Suzy Thompson, Del Ray & Steve James at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Billy Dunn & Bluesway at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Orquestra La Verdad at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Sentinel at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Machina Sol at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra with special guest Faye Carol at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, MARCH 15 

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

“A Visual Journal” Oils and works on paper by Lisa Bruce. Reception from 4 to 7 p.m. at Bucci’s, 6121 Hollis St., Emeryville. Exhibition runs to March 30. www.lisabruce.com 

“Somebody” The New World of Figurative Art Works by seven artists exploring the human form at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Khalil Bendib, editorial cartoonist will present a slide show and talk about his work. Reception at 6 p.m., presentation at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Valentino Achak Deng on the situation in the Sudan at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Sisters in Crime Panel discussion with local mystery writers at 6 p.m. at the South Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1901 Russell St. 981-6149. 

Antonia Juhasz, Steven Hiatt, and Jonathan Schwartz discuss “A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Jazzin’ Up Mama's Hymns: A Socio-Historical and Cultural Interpretation of Gospel Blues with Mark Wilson at 7 p.m. at 125 Morrison Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. 

Ken Alder discusses “Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jewish Music Festival “Ensemble Lucidarium” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $22-$26. 800-838-3006. www.jewishmusicfestival.org 

Eda Maxym’s Imagination Club with Stephen Kent at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ben Flint Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Travis Jones and Chojo Jacques at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Me & My Arrow, Merch, The Swamees at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

The Tie One On’s at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Headnodic & Raashan Ahmad at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Randy Westons’s African Rhythms Quartet, featuring Billy Harper at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16-$22. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

 

 


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Friday March 09, 2007

UC PERFORMING ARTS’ ‘DOLLY’S WEST KITCHEN’  

 

Final performances of Dolly’s West Kitchen, Frank McGuinness’s play about a family in Donegal (just across the border from Ulster) in the closing days of World War II, will be staged at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at Zellerbach Playhouse. The play, which documents rising tensions in the neutral Republic of Ireland (including rumors of a British invasion) and in Dolly’s home, with divided loyalties and the scandal of adultery brewing, is the latest example of UC Performing Arts’ new, eclectic and ambitious production schedule. Christine Nicholson directed this piece by the noted playwright and screenwriter of Dancing at Lughnasa. $8-14. 642-8268. http://theater.berkeley.edu. 

 

PFA HOSTS ANTONIONI RETROSPECTIVE 

 

Pacific Film Archive is presenting a retrospective of the work of modernist director Michelangelo Antonioni. Antonioni had his roots in the neo-realist school of Italian filmmaking but soon moved beyond it into the langorous, minimalist films that would make his reputation, a body of work that often depicts the world and the human soul as vast, empty landscapes. The series runs through April 22. $4-$8. 2575 Bancroft Way. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. 

 

THE NEW WORLD OF FIGURATIVE ART 

 

“Somebody: The New World of Figurative Art” opens today (Friday) at ACCI Gallery with a reception from 6-8 p.m. The show features works by a group of artists in various mediums and runs through March 31. 1652 Shattuck Ave. Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. www.accigallery.com.


Vangelisti Returns to Read at Moe’s

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday March 09, 2007

San-Francisco-born, Los Angeles-based poet and translator Paul Vangelisti will give a rare East Bay reading from his new book, Days Shadows Pass (Green Integer 129, Los Angeles), and share the rostrum with “multimedia fiction” writer Debra Di Blasi and her The Jiri Chronicles (FC2 Books/U. Alabama Press), part of her sprawling “transmedia” project of over 400 individual works taking many forms, 7:30 p.m. Monday at Moe’s Books on Telegraph Ave. Admission is free. 

“Both writers are on the edges of the avant-garde,” said Owen Hill, programmer of the Monday at Moe’s series. “They’re not particularly members of any group, and are unusual, sounding different to the ear than much experimental writing. The influence of the Italian Neo-Avantgarde on Paul’s poetry gives it a different sound, more musical than we’re used to. Debra’s work is more lyrical, too, than most contemporary prose. They’re both different, yet both are, I think, easier to pick up on for those who don’t normally read experimental writing.” 

Debra Di Blasi is based in the Midwest, although she lived in San Francisco in the late ’80s, contributing to SOMA Magazine. Edward David Hamilton of the Iowa Review coined the “multimedia fiction” monicker for her writing, which the New York Times Book Review characterized as “clear, resonant prose, laced with bittersweet humor.” Previous books include novellas Drought and Say What You Like (New Directions), which won the Thorpe-Menn Book Award, and short stories Players of an Accidental Nature (Coffee House Press). Di Blasi founded Jaded Ibis, a transmedia corporation, and also produces work in poetry, music, painting, video, visual art, websites, audio interviews, clothing, jewelry and, most recently, “celebrity scents.” 

Paul Vangelisti was born in SF’s North Beach, brought up in the Marina, attended USF and Trinity College in Dublin, and has lived in Los Angeles since 1968. He’s published over 20 books of poetry and almost as many of translation, as well as co-editing Invisible City/Red Hill Press with John McBride (of Berkeley) in the ’70s. 

Currently, he edits the New Review of Literature and heads the Creative Writing Program at Otis College of Art and Design. His visits to San Francisco are called “elusive,” though recently he was heard reading Jack Spicer’s poetry with his co-editor Luigi Ballerini at New College during a program of readings by San Francisco contributors to their remarkable bilingual anthology of postwar American poetry, in volumes city by city, published by Mondadori in Italy, Nuova poesia americana. 

Days Shadows Pass is “a different book from my others,” said Vangelisti, “Only two of which are made up of short poems, the others being longer work or long sequences. It looks elegiac—several poems are inspired by, dedicated to, dead poet and artist friends who were important to me—but they’re really about exile. Not exile from anything, but towards a hope for meaning. In the elegiac sense, they’re full of different forms of constraint—and we live in a time of absolute constraint. The only way I can approach a political question like this is to deal with constraint as a poet, perpetrate poetry like perpetrating a crime. To situate the strength of poetic language in a given time and place—that is exile, my natural position.” 

 

Sound of hard freight before dawn 

a few lights and chill in the arroyo, 

considering the lie of the strangers 

and later on the flock of pigeons 

at noon soaring and tumbling 

silver then white then sunlight 

against the weight of air. 

—Paul Vangelisti 

an excerpt from “Absolutely Like Spring,” Days Shadows Pass


Bay Area Composers Featured at San Francisco Event

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday March 09, 2007

The San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra will present a panoply of music by Bay Area composers Katrina Wreede, Lisa Scola Prosek, Alexis Alrich, Loren Jones, Erling Wold, and Chris Carrasco, this Saturday at Old First Church in San Francisco. 

Mark Alburger, himself a Bay Area composer, and conductor for many of the pieces, commented on the program, “Katie Wreede’s piece, ‘Children’s Garden,’ will be performed by Alexis Alrich on piano, the composer (who’s from the East Bay) on viola and Lisa Scola Prosek, voice--an ongoing trio.” 

“That will be the only chamber music,” said Alburger. “The rest will be chamber orchestra. Lisa Scola Prosek is a composer of Bel Canto for the 21st century, and there will be two selections from her opera, Bel Sagor, which will be premiered at the end of May, about the devil meeting his match in a witchy woman--and having a horrible time of it! There’s a duet and full ensemble, with soprano Eliza O’Malley in full voice and Maria Mikheyenko also up in the stratisphere, plus Aurelio Viscarra, tenor, and Micah Epps, bass.” 

The third composer will be Loren Jones, “with selections from his continuing 12-movement essay about life and times in San Francisco, Dancing on the Brink of the World, from brothels and barrooms on the Barbary Coast, and the Panama-Pacific Exhibition, like carny music, going to ‘the outer districts,’ in chilly, muted tones.” 

Alexis Alrich also is “serially introducing a larger piece, which she will conduct, with Matthew Cannon as soloist on a five-octave marimba. For Alexis, tonality is the music of the future!” 

Erling Wold’s revival of an older piece, “Baron Ochs,” will follow. “Erling’s one of the most wonderful post-Minimalist composers around,” said Alburger, “whose music is played in Europe. When Alexis Alrich premiered her piece, ‘California Oaks,’ Erling joked that ‘I’d better revive “Baron Ochs”’—and now he is!” 

The concert will be concluded by “a 19-year-old up-and-comer,” as Alburger put it—Chris Carrasco, with “The Mind Suite,” which Alburger describes as “a descent into madness! Chris is a fine percussionist, with a drum and bugle corps background. He played with The Blue Devils. But he’s Philip Glass-influenced. We wanted the grand finale to be a lot of fun, with some real in-your-face rhythmic music.” 

 

SAN FRANCISCO COMPOSERS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 

8 p.m. Saturday. $12-$15. Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento St. and Van Ness, San Francisco. (415) 474-1608. 

www.oldfirstconcerts.org or www.sfcco.org.


Moving Pictures: ‘An Unreasonable Man’

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday March 09, 2007

When, in her final column, Molly Ivins called for the people to get out in the streets, bang pots and pans and raise hell, lefties all over the country responded with tributes and clarion calls to heed her message. Meanwhile, for more than six years, many of these same self-described liberals have excoriated the most accomplished and tenacious hell-raiser of them all, Public Pot-and-Pan-Banger Number One, Ralph Nader. 

An Unreasonable Man, a new documentary opening this weekend at Shattuck Cinemas in downtown Berkeley, examines the career of the controversial consumer advocate-turned-presidential candidate, giving much needed context and perspective to a lifetime of public service. 

The film argues that it has almost become axiomatic, despite much evidence to the contrary, that Nader cost Al Gore the 2000 election, his 19,000 votes in Florida spanning the 537-vote differential between Gore and Bush many times over. The inconvenient truth of the matter, however, is that there were 10 third-party candidates on the Florida ballot and every one of them received more than 537 votes. And nation-wide, more than 10 million registered Democrats forsook Gore in favor of Bush. Mean while Nader, once a left-wing hero, became a pariah almost overnight, trashed by progressives for defending the very same values and truths for which they claimed to stand. Finally, Democrats could speak with one voice. 

An Unreasonable Man documents the efforts, from both the right and the left, to undermine Nader and his causes, from General Motors’ blundering attempts to smear him in the 1960s as well as the more concerted and successful maneuvers by the Republican and Democratic parties to keep him from even attending, much less participating in, the presidential debates. For the most part it’s a simple and straightforward film, presenting the views of Nader’s supporters as well as his opponents, including many who once counted themselves among the former but have since joined the latter. But, even though directors Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan have ostensibly attempted to present a balanced portrait of Nader’s career with the intent of letting the viewer make his own evaluations of the man and his record, at times they tip their hand, revealing their own sympathetic views. For instance, towards the end of the film, as Nader, in an interview, gives voice to the principles that drive him, the directors find it impossible to resist the urge to back his words with a soaring, patriotic score. 

But for the most part the filmmakers are able to stay in the background and simply let their subjects do the talking. And they do plenty. Journalist Eric Alterman says it’s time Nader left the country; he’s done enough damage here. Phil Donahue takes issue with those who criticized Nader for claiming in 2000 that there wasn’t a dime’s bit of difference between the two political parties; the Democrats then spent the next six years proving him right, Donahue says, caving in to the Bush administration’s every whim. Some former Nader’s Raiders say their erstwhile leader has lost his way; others consider the man an American hero. 

Among the more humorous moments are the appearances of Michael Moore, a man who has made a name for himself with films in which he juxtaposes bits of footage to reveal the hypocrisy of those he targets. Here the tables are turned as we see Moore campaigning for Nader in 2000, asking his audience “If you don’t vote your conscience now, when will you start?”, then spinning 180 degrees around by 2004 to chastise those who took his advice, equating a vote for Nader as a transitory moment of pleasure that can only lead to a lifetime of pain. 

One of the more fascinating dynamics that have arisen from Nader’s clash with his one-time loyalists is the pressure that has been brought to bear on the many public interest organizations he has founded. Some of these groups have found it more difficult to do their work; fundraising and outreach efforts have suffered due to the diminished reputation of their figurehead, who, in many cases, is no longer even involved with these groups. It’s ironic that former President Jimmy Carter should count himself among Nader’s critics, as a similar effect was repeated recently with the publication of Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Just as some of Nader’s colleagues feel their work has been hindered by his political campaigns, the backlash against Carter’s book led to the resignation of several Carter Center staffers who felt Carter’s decision to speak his mind on the Israel-Palestine conflict undermined the efforts of the center to continue its role as a mediator and non-partisan monitor of elections in the Middle East. 

It’s an interesting question: Should one pursue one’s long-term goals even when that strategy jeopardizes one’s own short-term tactics? Both men are acting on the principle that truth always wins out, no matter the immediate consequences, and that ultimately history will rule in their favor. And both seem secure in the knowledge that their legacies, far from being tarnished by these actions, will one day be defined by them.  

 

AN UNREASONABLE MAN 

Directed by Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan. 122 minutes. Not rated. Playing at Shattuck Cinemas. 

 

Photograph: Consumer advocate-turned-presidential candidate Ralph Nader is the subject of  

An Unreasonable Man, a new documentary by Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan.


Moving Pictures: Vittorio De Sica’s ‘Bicycle Thieves’

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday March 09, 2007

Some films carry with them the burden of their own achievements, their reputations so ingrained in the public consciousness that often those who have never seem them convince themselves they have. And when they finally do see those films the expectations can be almost insurmountable, rendering the experience underwhelming. Try explaining to the uninitiated the allure of Casablanca, or the innovation and genius of Citizen Kane. For many younger viewers these films are merely overhyped relics from a pitiful, technologically challenged era. 

Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948) is one of those films. Those seeing it for the first time, stripped of its historical and political context, may be slightly baffled, and not by its slice-of-life documentary approach, its focus on the everyday lives of common people and ultimate lack of closure. Instead, the problem stems from the fact that these techniques have become commonplace and too often employed in lesser films that only aspire to the humanity and depth of a film like Bicycle Thieves, one of the classics of Italy’s vaunted neo-realist movement.  

Criterion has released the film in a new DVD edition that features a pristine transfer as well as extra features that help locate this enduring masterpiece in the cinematic pantheon.  

The plot is simple: In Rome, during the aftermath of World War II, when out-of-work men roam the city like dogs, Antonio Ricci gets hired to put up posters around the city. The only requirement is that he own a bicycle. Things are looking up for him and his family for about a day or so, until his bicycle is stolen. The rest of the film largely consists of Antonio and his young son desperately scouring the city for the stolen bike. 

De Sica did not embrace the neo-realist label, though this and several other of his works have come to define it. The movement began as a reaction to the rather staid environment in Italian filmmaking at the time. It was a complacent industry, modeled to an extant after the American film industry, manufacturing light escapist fantasy for the masses. The Italian film industry had been built up in the years before World War II by Mussolini as a method of shoring up the fascist narrative, but the machinery he put in place would, once the war was over, serve as a powerful means of documenting the tragic effects of that narrative.  

The neo-realists’ idea was to take this unique medium and turn its gaze on the real world, to eschew manufactured sets, tidy plotlines, ornate photography and camera movements and instead simply confront everyday life. The conceit even extended to the casting, as it did in Bicycle Thieves, with De Sica hiring non-professional actors for the lead roles.  

Simple touches are sprinkled throughout the film, details which may not seem especially subtle today but certainly were by the standards of most Hollywood fare of the time: The posters Antonio must plaster along the backalleys of Rome feature glamorous images of Rita Hayworth in luxuriant repose, in stark contrast to the run-down environs and egos of the main characters; and when Antonio lifts his wife to a window to peer into the headquarters of his new employer and admire the building’s relative opulence, the window is abruptly closed from within. Thus the message is clearly and effectively conveyed that the finer things in life are not to be had by these down-and-out folks, though optimism and ambition still glitter in their eyes.  

Bicycle Thieves presents a moving and compassionate portrait of the working class struggling in the face of deprivation and poverty, and though the film’s reputation may precede it, at times to the point of distraction, the film’s techniques are ultimately as poignant and as timeless as its content. 

 

 

BICYCLE THIEVES (1948) 

Directed by Vittorio De Sica. 89 minutes. In Italian with English subtitles. Criterion Collection. $39.95. www.criterionco.com.


Just What Is a Bungalow?

By Jane Powell
Friday March 09, 2007

It really annoys me when I see a real estate listing with a picture of a bungalow which announces something like “fabulous Victorian”—you would think there are enough bungalows around here that agents would get a clue, but apparently not. So herewith I shall answer the question “What is a Bungalow?” 

The question is fundamentally rather complicated. Dictionaries provide these definitions: “A low house having only one story or, in some cases, upper rooms set in the roof, typically with dormer windows”; “a usually one storied house with a low pitched roof”; “a small house all on one level”; “a small house or cottage usually having a single story and sometimes an additional attic story”; “a thatched or tiled one story house in India surrounded by a wide verandah”; “a usually one storied house of a type first developed in India and characterized by low sweeping lines and a wide veranda.” 

Bungalows and other Arts and Crafts houses, and the design philosophy that shaped them began in 19th Century Britain. The Arts and Crafts Movement was a reaction to the many changes in society brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Although advancements in technology were beneficial in many ways, producing the sewing machine, the cookstove, and indoor plumbing, there was a serious downside: pollution, sweatshops, and mass production of shoddy, badly designed goods. The Arts and Crafts reformers believed that a return to handcraft would restore the dignity of labor, that good design in homes and furnishings would result in an improved society. The most famous of them was William Morris, a gifted designer whose textile and wallpaper designs have been in continuous production since the 19th Century. 

The message of the Arts and Crafts Movement had spread all over the world by the turn of the 20th century. In the United States, it took on distinctive characteristics and was in many ways more successful here. When the ideas reached these shores around 1900, they were taken up by progressive idealists in many cities, and popularized by people like Gustav Stickley, through his magazine, The Craftsman, Elbert Hubbard at the Roycrofters, and Edward Bok at The Ladies Home Journal. There was just one problem with the movement as imported from Britain—Americans had no medieval tradition to look back to, being a young country. So we opted for incorporating various alternative ideas either involving traditional ways of building like log cabins, Spanish missions, and native American dwellings, or things considered exotic, such as architecture and decorative arts from Japan, which had only recently opened up to the outside world.  

It is generally agreed that bungalows descended from thatched Bengali peasant huts in India, called variously “banggolo,” “bangala,” or “bangla” (depending on who’s translating). The British altered the native dwelling into something that conformed better to their idea of what a house should be, and built these Anglo-Indian bungalows in compounds outside of the cities and towns, as well as in “hill stations” where the Europeans would go in the summer to get away from the heat. Eventually the bungalow was exported to all corners of the British Empire as being the proper sort of house for Europeans in the tropics.  

The bungalow’s initial use as vacation architecture meant that it came to be associated with leisure and informality, in a natural setting. This association continued even as bungalows began to be built in cities. Architectural styles used for resort houses in the nineteenth century, such as the Shingle Style on the East Coast (so called because of the shingle siding used), the rustic Adirondack style in the mountains (featuring rustic wood and log detailing), and even the Spanish haciendas of the West and Southwest had a lasting influence on bungalow architecture. 

The other thing that distinguished the American Arts and Crafts Movement was a more practical and democratic approach to the whole thing. Rather than throwing the machines out with the bathwater, so to speak, we viewed machines as useful tools that could be used to relieve drudgery, and do the tedious and repetitious parts of the work, freeing up time and thought for the artistic part, and allowing the hand labor to be devoted to artistry. Having no medieval tradition, we opted to celebrate simplicity, natural (especially local) materials, and honesty of structure. Of course much of this was lip service, because honesty of structure, especially on houses, was often a sham. This hypocritical aspect of the movement in no way diminishes the beauty of both the objects and the houses. In fact, it was probably what allowed the movement to succeed, and allowed the middle and working classes for the first time to own houses that were both economical (so they could afford them), artistic (they were beautiful), and practical (bungalows and other Arts and Crafts era houses were the first truly “modern” houses, with indoor plumbing, central heating, and electricity.  

The bungalow’s popularity spread from the West Coast to the East, contrary to the way that architectural styles had traveled across America in the past. In fact, the first bungalow-style house was built in Piedmont in 1876 by the Reverend Joseph Worcester, three years before the first house to be actually called a bungalow was built on Cape Cod. Certainly the West Coast, particularly California, embraced the ideal of the bungalow, and unquestionably ran with it. Hooray for us! Because of plan books and pre-cut houses, California-style bungalows were built across the U.S. sharing stylistic similarities even though there are regional differences in climate, locally obtainable building materials, the skills of available workmen, and the innate preferences of builders and owners.  

In a bungalow home the front door often opens directly into the living room, or to a small entry off the living room, because these houses were informal. No fancy parlors here. Often you can see into the dining room as well, which may be separated only by bookcases or columns. The main feature of the living room is the fireplace, which was the center of family life. In the evening, the family gathered around the hearth to read, play music or games, embroider, or just talk.  

Natural wood and colors from nature were the order of the day. Textiles helped to soften the room (as well as the furniture). The embroidery could also be purchased as a kit, and both women and men were encouraged to do some sort of handcraft to personalize their home, and to decorate with materials from nature. 

Homes were built with an eye to bringing the outdoors in- French doors opened from the formal rooms onto porches, which often were covered with vines or wisteria. 

Unlike today, meals were eaten in the dining room, which usually had a built-in china cabinet, as well as paneling and a plate rail for displaying plates and other artful objects.  

The food came from the first truly modern kitchens. Indoor plumbing, electric lighting, gas stoves, and refrigeration, some of the better products of the Industrial Revolution, first came together in the kitchens of the Arts and Crafts era. Homemakers were demanding more labor saving devices and convenience, now that they no longer had servants to do the housework.  

The bedrooms in a bungalow tended to be much simpler and lighter than the formal rooms, and often had painted woodwork. Children’s rooms often had special wallpaper or borders illustrating nursery rhymes or other themes. Stenciled or embroidered bed linens were fashionable. Closets were small because people had fewer clothes. 

In between the bedrooms was the bath, in a small house usually only one. A wall-hung or pedestal sink was the norm, and a clawfoot or built-in tub. 1” white hexagonal tiles were a common flooring material. These bathrooms were distinguished by their whiteness, coming during a time of obsession with sanitation and cleanliness. Later on in the 1920s and ‘30s there was an explosion of color in bathrooms, so houses from that time are more likely to have wildly colored bathrooms. 

Many bungalows had sleeping porches off the bedrooms, as it was believed that sleeping in the fresh air year-round was good for you, and in warm climates, that was probably true. 

Okay, that’s all well and good but it still doesn’t tell you what a bungalow is. At least part of the problem is that it’s a “know one when you see one” kind of thing. Of course, the good thing about being an author is that you get to make up your own definition. So here’s mine: A bungalow is a one or one-and-a-half story house of simple design, expressed structure, built from natural or local materials, with a low-slope roof, overhanging eaves, and a prominent porch, built during the Arts and Crafts period in America (approximately 1900-1930). If it’s two stories it’s no longer a bungalow, though it can still be Arts and Crafts or craftsman (often known in Berkeley as a “brownshingle”). 

Although there are many people who allow for Spanish, Tudor, Colonial, Cape Cod, and even ranch houses as bungalows if they are one or one and half stories, I’m drawing the line there. Well, sort of. Because everything in the above definition has an exception- for instance, the dates. There were bungalows built after 1930, and in fact the National Park Service maintained the style for park buildings long after the bungalow era was technically over. And here’s another thing- there’s no such thing as architectural purity. So a bungalow may have some classical detailing normally found on a Colonial Revival house- things like neoclassical columns or dentil molding. Or a bungalow may have arched windows or a Mission-style gable that would normally be found on a Spanish Revival house. Many bungalows have a medieval English influence as reflected in half-timbering or diamond-pane windows. And don’t even get me started about the cognitive dissonance between the outside architecture of a house and the interior style.  

Bungalows and Arts and Crafts houses were, and still remain, one of the most pleasant, livable styles of houses built in the 20th century. There’s been much talk lately about “the New Urbanism”- new towns being built that are walkable, houses with front porches and architectural details from the past. But in bungalows we already have the “Old Urbanism,” and it still works. Life is far more complex these days than it was back then, and these houses still serve as a haven from the demands of the world outside, they still nurture us and our families, and will continue to do so. This saying appeared in a magazine of the time: “A small house, a large garden, a few good friends, and many good books.” That’s my definition of a good life.  

 

 

Photograph by Jane Powell. 

A bungalow in Oakland’s Laurel District. 

 

 

 

 


‘So How’s the Market?’

By Arlene Baxter
Friday March 09, 2007

Lately I have been known to make outbursts over my Sunday morning cup of tea. It’s usually because I’m reading an article in a local paper purporting to give an update of our real estate market. Some of the articles come from wire services and describe a totally irrelevant national picture. Other times the article is describing the “local market,” but what they’re really discussing is the entire East Bay, from Hayward through Hercules. 

“Which planet are these people on?!” is a common question I ask whomever will listen. But mostly I am asking myself: how do I best counter this misinformation for my new buyers? 

I am someone who likes a challenge, but lately several articles in the print media have made the task of educating my clients all the more difficult. This Sunday’s example was a headline declaring: “Home buyers now have the market advantage.” Explain that to the 18 buyers who competed on a fixer this week in Albany. 

When I visited the brokers’ open the agent was standing in a flooded kitchen wielding a mop. Two of the offers she received a week later ranked as “ridiculously high.” A lovely traditional home in North Berkeley listed at just under a million received nine offers and went “really high.”  

The week before, a home in a coveted block of the Claremont that had been listed in the fall but did not sell, came back on the market. It received three offers and supposedly went from just under $2 million to $2.5 million. In the same area and same week a home listed for $1.35 million, fully updated, received three pre-emptive offers. Multiple offers, pre-emptive offers, contingency-free offers, concessions to the sellers such as free rent-back: we’re seeing it all again. 

To make any simple declarative statement about our market is always risky. To declare what we’re experiencing locally as a buyers’ market is just inaccurate. In my role as a director of the California Association of Realtors, I speak with many colleagues throughout the state. I certainly hear about communities where much of the inventory sits for several months before receiving an offer. 

I’ve heard about the huge number of condos for sale along that long beach in Long Beach. And I know that outside of California there are areas of true market devaluation. I also know that you don’t really have to go very far from Berkeley to find pockets of inactivity. In Richmond there are currently 150 two bedroom, one bath properties on the market. That’s more than the entire inventory of Berkeley. And indeed things were slower even here last autumn. 

But right now, in the first part of March, in all price ranges in Berkeley and the immediately adjacent communities, we are experiencing an active market. And it’s following a familiar pattern: the buyers are ready before the sellers. It makes perfect sense: buyers must decide that they are ready to make a move, and ideally speak with a responsible realtor and a trusted loan broker. 

The seller, on the other hand, must not only prepare mentally and emotionally, but must start disposing of possessions, pack the rest, choose a listing agent and make the myriad other decisions required to effectively sell one’s home. And they may also be involved in buying on the other end. It is not shocking that the basic equation of supply vs. demand is producing, in the early spring, a little flurry of activity and the return of multiple offers in many cases.  

The imbalance between buyers and sellers seems especially acute this spring. My guess is that all those buyers who were sitting on the fence in the fall, hoping that prices might actually drop, have realized that’s not going to happen. So we have the holdover buyers from 2006 joining some number who would normally have joined the fray in 2007 anyway, producing an especially high number of buyers ready to pounce on a small amount of inventory. 

The sellers who either had no choice but to sell now, or who were contrarian enough to believe that there never was a bubble, have benefited from being ready early in the year. The question no one can answer is: once this “glut” of buyers has made their purchases, will the market continue to be strong? 

It’s true that not all properties are experiencing blissful results for the sellers. A house with a quirky floor plan, or one needing major structural work, or one that appears over-priced will sit around in any market. You’ve probably heard it before, and it’s still true: homes that are priced appropriately, and perhaps a wee bit low for what they are, that are presented attractively and marketed actively by a trusted agent will do well in any market. If they are in a desirable neighborhood, and are mostly updated, then they have even more advantage.  

When people learn that I’m a realtor it is common for their next question to be “So, how’s the market?” The only truly valuable market update is the one provided by your agent, who knows your priorities, who knows what neighborhood you want to live in, who knows your price range, your taste, your ability to accept risk and how quickly you need to move.  

The good news is that the annoying article, having proclaimed a buyers’ market in the headline, went on to urge sellers to choose an agent who was a good communicator, someone who could present a solid market plan and would market the property extensively. That’s good advice in any market. 

 

 

Arlene Baxter is the 2007 President of the Berkeley Association of Realtors, and an agent at Berkeley Hills Realty. You may reach her at baxter@pobox.com. The opinions expressed are her own, and not necessarily those of the BAR. 

 


About the House: On the Matter of Open Floor Plans and Remodels

By Matt Cantor
Friday March 09, 2007

Okay Matt, I have been thinking about this for a while. There is a design feature I’ve noticed while looking at open houses these past years. 

Many times, when an older but small house is “remodeled” or “updated” walls are removed so that living/dining/kitchen all become one big room. Real estate descriptions often say “open floor plan” as though really, it just is the best (kinda like they say granite or stainless steel with the same final-statement tone). 

So, do we assume the masses really prefer an “open floor plan”? Does this structurally compromise the house in earth-quake terms? What is actually wrong with a separate kitchen? What about noise and smells? Is this just a style preference? What do you, someone who appreciates historical homes, think of this type of remodel? 

Your thoughts please! 

—Tina always-thinking-about-floor-plans Laxar 

 

Dear Tina,  

What a great question. The removal of interior walls is a subject worth at least a few words so here goes: 

First, from a seismic standpoint, interior walls produce very useful “shear resistance” and can be critical in preventing collapse of portions of a building. While it is possible to build large open spaces suitable for earthquake forces, our buildings are generally not built that way and depend to a large extent on interior walls to transfer those forces between the planes of the building and to help hold walls up as they move to and fro. 

I’ve often seen interiors that have been “opened up” to give a more modern feel and better flow and wondered if there had been any engineering applied to the remodel. Usually there had been none and those homes were left vulnerable to increased damage when the big one hits. By the way, one group from UC Davis is claiming that a major earthquake will hit Northern California in the next year to 18 months so these issues may be more pressing than previously considered. I have no idea how accurate this data is but it will doubtless beg these questions more than before. 

Another issue regarding the removal of walls is that they are often done without consideration for roof or ceiling loads. All walls cannot be fully removed without some serious alterations and here are some basic concepts that one can apply to the question if you’re thinking about doing such a removal.  

First, it’s essential that one determine what loads rest upon the wall. If you have a living space above the room in which you plan to remove a wall it’s less likely you can get away with it. You’ll have to determine if the floor joists (the planks that stand on edge and run from wall to wall below the floor boards) are resting upon the wall. If they do not, and run parallel to the wall, then the wall may be considered a “curtain wall.” If you have a roof or attic directly above the room you’re planning to change, it’s more likely you’ll be OK, but again, you have to find out what rests on the wall you want to eliminate. If loads are bearing on the wall, you’ll have to find a way to carry them down to the foundation other than via that wall and there are several things to consider. My first question always would be, “Do you really need to remove the entire wall?” If not, a header or beam can be run across the part of the wall you want to remove. This can be fairly small and the effect can be dramatic without any major structural change. An opening of eight feet can feel much the same as a complete removal but may only require a 4” x 8” beam as substitution. 

Each situation is different and an expert does need to look and be sure that the removal doesn’t have nasty consequences. This job is also fairly cheap so it might be just the thing to turn two small dead spaces into one that changes the way your home feels and functions. Another way to manage a wall removal (either partial or complete) is to open up a large archway. I’ve done this in my own home and it creates an airy feeling while keeping wall space and adding architectural interest. We have both full arches and partial archways that have cabinetry and counters from waist height down. The latter gives views and resolves claustrophobia without losing the practical elements of storage and division.  

This is a good point at which to stop and discuss those issues. Loss of wall space isn’t just an engineering issue. It’s also practical and aesthetic. While the 1960’s edict of all plans as open plans may have once seemed sophisticated and free, a wall is not really a bad thing. Walls shape space and provide surfaces on which to develop storage and work-space. Walls provide a modicum of privacy and generate hubs of activity. One of the reasons large commercial open spaces are often so dead is that they lack as sense of place created by barriers.  

Don’t get me wrong, I opened my own house up quite a bit but it’s very important to consider the effect of each wall either kept or ushered away since the effects on the space can be dramatic. A small section of wall can make a huge difference and a big empty space might not work as well as it looked in the magazine. 

Before I finish with the structural stuff let me talk about one last strategy since it’s a really good one and might help you get what you’re after. It’s often possible to remove a wall in a room directly below an attic by adding a beam which rests above the ceiling joists. Now, this may sound nutty but it actually works quite well. A “strongback” is a beam that connects with the ceiling joists that lose support through the loss of a wall. The strongback must rest at either end on a wall or post that remains in place and the ceiling joists then hang off of it. It’s pretty simple really and the effect is such that you can remove a large section of wall and have the ceiling run smoothly from space to space without any visible change or bump. This won’t work in every house but if you have a fairly accessible attic, I’ll bet it will work for you. The only hard part will be getting the strongback into the attic in the first place. This sometimes requires punching a hole in the roof and, of course, repairing said hole. 

I’ll finish with the last part of Tina’s question, that having to do with historical homes. It’s a rare remodel on an older home (say 1930’s on back) that looks right with major walls removed. Division of spaces is a critical component in design and snatching one arbitrarily out of an antiquarian residence often (but not always) doesn’t feel right. It may be that a partial removal or a half-height arch might be enough. This is where architects shine and are well worth their fees, so consider one if you’re going down this road. Also don’t forget our friend the structural engineer. If you’re planning on removing more than one short wall, you might want this gal/guy to lend a hand. 

Whatever your final decision, don’t rush through the design process. Take your time and make it fun. There are few things in my life that have ever proved as much fun as playing games with walls. Yes, I know. I’m really weird. 

 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor at mgcantor@pacbell.net.


Connecting with Nature at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum

By Marta Yamamoto, Special to the Planet
Friday March 09, 2007

Are you ready to make personal contact with your wild neighbors? Ready to go eye-to-eye with the swiveling head of a great horned owl, outstare a magnificent Bald Eagle, chuckle at an opossum burrowed head-deep into a cereal box, count the leaves being pulled out of a Trader Joe’s Indian Fare carton by a California ground squirrel? 

In a perfect world, we’d prefer meeting most wild animals roaming free and independent on their home-ground. Unfortunately, injuries and habituation prevent some animals from enjoying that option. Fortunately, there’s an organization that rehabilitates injured wildlife and provides homes for those which have become too tame to be returned to nature. 

Located in the heart of Walnut Creek, surrounded by quiet residential neighborhoods and an expansive community park, the Lindsay Wildlife Museum connects us to animals living in nearby open spaces and our own backyards. Since 1955 this non-profit organization has reached out to children and adults through changing natural history and art exhibits, hands-on activities, classes, outreach education and community programs, Wildlife Ambassadors and its rehabilitation hospital.  

After an absence of several years, I returned to the Lindsay Museum one cold winter weekday. The low slung building of natural-toned stone, white tubular accents and large expanses of tinted glass are almost camouflaged amid its surrounding gardens. In one section bony oak woodland branches harbor massive bird nests and bulbous galls above a thick blanket of tanned leather leaf litter. Additional natural communities foster a “living with nature” theme highlighting meadows, chaparral, redwoods, wildlife gardens, drought-tolerant and deer-resistant specimens. 

I followed the resident Great Horned Owl inside to the Thomas J. Long Exhibit Hall, ready to get acquainted with Wildlife Ambassadors and explore. Tethered high atop exhibit cases I gazed up at raptors – hawks, kestrels, owls, falcons and eagles, each occupying its own space. Below them mammals are housed in roomy enclosures hung with greenery and various wood structures, each designed to keep the animal comfortable and safe. 

Information placards provide biological details and explain the reason for each animal’s presence. An adult coyote never learned how to be wild, being raised by humans. A turkey vulture suffers from arthritis, while a common king snake is missing an eye. Materials engage young viewers. Children circle drawings on “What can you find?” sheets. Volunteers join you at exhibits, answering questions and teaching about wildlife. 

An impressive two-story replica of Mt. Diablo’s balancing rock gives voice to the distant past while illustrating present inhabitants. Fossils share sandstone pushed upward from an ancient seabed with native plants, deer, gray fox, whipsnake and quail. The Discovery Room offers hours of engagement with hands-on activities for anyone small enough to occupy pint-sized tables and chairs. Animal puzzles, a puppet stage, pelts and rocks to touch and shelves of animals promise a good start toward fostering compassion for nature. 

The Lindsay Museum excels in its daily stage presentations, combining entertainment with education and awe. Joining a group of first and second graders I was introduced to a Bald Eagle whose collision with an electrical wire in Bozeman, Montana resulted in an amputated wing. Using morsels of food as lures, the trainer encouraged exercise as the eagle hopped from perch to perch, ending at the pool where he was showered with refreshing water. The kids were questioned about nest size, eyesight, social calls and what they could do to help wildlife. We came away better informed, inspired by the museum’s commitment and the eagle’s will to survive. 

Nature seen through the eyes of an artist adds another dimension to the Lindsay Museum. “A Natural Inclination”, the art of Andrew Denman, combines the observation skills of the naturalist with the creativity of the artist. Denman paints wildlife, still life and landscapes as realistic depictions, often overlaid with abstract and stylized elements, including the artist’s perceptions and interpretations.  

A landscape of eucalyptus forms the backdrop to long strips of bark, leaves and squares of solid color. Likewise, a small ocean landscape of Bodega Head is only one element among the still life of crabs and shells. Graphite drawings, of wolves and red-tail hawk, focus on Denman’s skill as an illustrator.  

The thirty works on display provide clear evidence of Denman’s respect for the natural world and his thoughtful juxtapositioning of the original with the experimental. 

Occupying a small but well-stocked area within the exhibit hall is the museum gift shop, both browse and purchase-worthy. For budding birders, Audubon stuffed birds with bird calls serve as both tactile and auditory companions. If Monopoly has become passé, try Bug-opoly, Ocean-opoly and Dino-opoly. Wildlife themed hats, t-shirts, socks, jewelry, toys, puzzles and books happily share shelfspace. 

Along with education, the beating heart of the Lindsay Museum is its onsite rehabilitation hospital, the oldest and one of the largest in the United States. Open everyday for injured and orphaned wildlife, all services are free. Whether it’s a ruddy duck with a fractured bill, an arboreal salamander suffering from chlorine toxicity or a badger with head abscesses and body punctures, staff and volunteers treat and care for each one. During the busy season, they might see up to 150 animals per day.  

The year 2006 was a busy one for the museum. Over 500 classrooms and 50,000 visitors toured the museum. Docents brought exhibits to an additional 8,000 students and 15,000 community members. Almost 6,000 injured animals were brought to the wildlife hospital. Six hundred volunteers donated over 70,000 hours. 

Set a date for visiting the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, adding your stats to the year 2007. Watch the gray fox curled up in a ball, marvel at the dexterity of the opossum’s tail, listen for the raptor’s cry. Spread the word about how to help injured wildlife and avoid future problems. Contribute to keeping our wild neighbors safe and reducing the hospital’s workload.  

 

Getting There: Take Hwy 24 east to Hwy 680 north. Take the Treat Blvd/Geary Road exit and turn left over the freeway. Turn left on Buena Vista and right on First Ave. The museum is halfway up the block on the left. Park in the parking lots, not on the street. 

Lindsay Wildlife Museum, 1931 First Ave., Walnut Creek (925) 935-1978, www. wildlife-museum.org. Open Wed.-Fri. noon-5 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Adults $7, seniors $6, ages 2-17 $5. 

“A Natural Inclination” is on exhibit through March 18.


Berkeley This Week

Friday March 09, 2007

FRIDAY, MARCH 9 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Spreck Rosekrans on “Hetch Hetchy” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

Help Restore Native Oysters Volunteers are needed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Marina and at other sites in the Bay Area to help Save the Bay gather information about our native oyster population. For information call 452-9261 ext. 109.  

“Quality Education through Arts Learning” Workshops, panels and resources from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and Sat. from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Mills College Concert Hall, Oakland. Tickets are $35-$45. Register online at www.artseducation.org 

“The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil” at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation of $5 accepted. www.HumanistHall.net 

“Reconnecting with the Root” Spiritual health and empowerment workshop from 3 to 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. 

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St at University. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

SATURDAY, MARCH 10 

Tibetan Flag Raising Ceremony at 9 a.m. at Berkeley City Hall, 2180 Milvia St. March for Tibetan Freedom continues at 11 a.m. at Justin Herman Plaza, S.F. www.freetibetmarch.org 

Let Worms Eat Your Garbage A free worm compost workshop to learn an amazing way to recycle fruit and vegetable scraps. From 10 a.m. to noon at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Vegetarian Cooking Class “Hearty Homestyle Italian Cuisine” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro. Cost is $45, plus 435 for food and materials. Registration required. 531-COOK. www.compassionatecooks.com  

Bird House Gourd Crafting Learn the natural history of gourds and how to make a bird house out of one, from noon to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $20-$29. Registration required. 636-1684. 

“Art in the Garden” a drawing class with Karen LeGault from 1 to 4 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $25-$35. Registration required. 643-2755. 

Help “Save The Bay” Plant Natives Volunteers will restore some of the last remaining wetland habitat in the East Bay at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland from 9 a.m. to noon. RSVP to 452-9261 ext. 109. www.savesfbay.org 

Emergency Summit to Prevent War with Iran with a panel of speakers followed by workshops, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Evans Hall, Room 10, UC Campus. Donation $10. 836-7961. www.handsoffiran.org 

“Facing the Mountain” Armenians and Turks share their stories at 8 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Tickets are $10. For reservations call 642-9460. 

“The Fight Against Capital Punishment: From Baghdad to San Quentin” with Barbara Cottman Becnel, advocate for the late Stanley “Tookie” Williams at 7 p.m. at The Home of Truth, 1300 Grand St., Alameda. Donations accepted. www.alamedaforum.org 

“If Women Ruled the World: Waging Peace in the U.S. and the Middle East” at 12:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 981-2884. 

NAACP Berkeley Branch meets at 1 p.m. at 2108 Russell St. All are welcome. 845-7416. 

African American Basketball Pioneers Panel Discussion and exhibition at 2 p.m. at the African American Museum and Library, 659 14th St., Oakland. 238-6713. 

Haiti Action Committee with Haitian activist and former political prisoner So An at 7 p.m. at The Uptown, 401 26th St., Oakland. Donation $5-$50. 483-7481.  

Burma Human Rights Day Benefit with documentary “Inside the Secret City,” speakers and dinner, at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Cost is $15. RSVP to 220-1323. www.badasf.org  

East Bay Atheists meet at 1:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Main Library, 3rd Floor Meeting Room 2090 Kittredge St. Burt Bogardus will speak on “The Teachings of Jesus Christ.” 222-7580. 

Hopalong Animal Rescue Come meet your furry new best friend from noon to 3 p.m. at 2940 College Ave. 267-1915, ext. 500. www.hopalong.org  

Luna Kid Dance 15th Anniversary Celebration at 10 a.m. at Haas Pavillion, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. www.lunakidsdance.org 

Dramatically Speaking Toastmasters Club meets at 9 a.m. at 1950 Franklin St., Room 2F. RSVP required, ID needed to get into building. 581-8675. 

Petite Pooches Playgroup for small dogs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., one block north of Solano on Ensenada at Talbot. 524-2459. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 11 

“Open Garden” Join the Little Farm gardener for composting, planting, watering and reaping the rewards of our work, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cancelled only by heavy rain. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Clouds and You Learn the names of clouds and their families on a short hike, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Herstory of the Bay Celebrate Women’s History Month on a five mile walk honoring women who have made a difference in our community. From 2 to 5 p.m. at Point Isabel. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Meeting to Plan the People’s Park Anniversary Folks interested in helping with this year’s celebration (to be held April 22) are welome to come to the planning meeting at the Park’s Stage at 4:30 p.m., at Cafe Med if it is raining. 658-9178. 

Celebration of the Memorial Grove tree-sit 100th day at noon at Memorial Grove with music, food and activities for children.  

Community Party for KPFA from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Fellowship, corner of Cedar and Bonita. Food donations appreciated. 525-3583. 

St. Patrick’s Day at the Kensington Farmer’s Market with Irish music, soaps, soda bread, marmalade and more from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Kensington Farmers’ Market, 303 Arlington Ave. 684-6502. 

Summer Programs for Children Information Fair Learn about all types of camps and day programs for sports, music, drama, computers and more, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland. www.aauw-op.com 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

“Sacrifice and Blood: Biblical Images and Their Relevance Today” with Beth Glick-Rieman at 9:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Jack Petranker on “Opening to Light” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, MARCH 12 

“Women Trailblazers” A panel discussion in celebration of Women’s History Month at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at East Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com (code UCB) 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 13 

Tuesdays for the Birds Tranquil bird walks in local parklands, led by Bethany Facendini, from 7 to 9:30 a.m. Today we will visit Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

DEAR Day: Drop Everything and Read Come read in a Berkeley Public School at 9:30 a.m. For information or to sign up call 644-8833. bsv@berkeley.k12.ca.us 

National Nutrition Month Cooking Demonstrations at 2:30 p.m. at the Tuesday Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 548-3333. 

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds, at 3:15 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Berkeley High School Governance Council will discuss Student Support Plans, Advisories, and Common Assessment Measures at 4:15 in the Berkeley Community Theater. 644-4803. 

“Religion and Freedom of Speech: Cartoons and Controversies” with Robert Post, Prof of Law, Yale Univ. at 7:30 p.m. at the Lipman Room, Barrows Hall, UC Campus. 643-9670. 

Women’s HerStory “HIV/AIDS and the Down Low” Lecture and discussion at 6 p.m. at Laney College Forum, 900 Fallon St. http://laney.peralta.edu/womensherstorymonth 

A Talk with Valentino Achak Deng one of Sudan’s “Lost Boys” at 7:30 p.m. at JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

“Late Pleistocene to Holocene Evolution of the San Francisco Bay” at 5:30 p.m. at the Goldman School of Public Policy, Room 250, corner of Hearst and LeRoy. 642-2666. 

St. Patrick’s Day Party with Irish Songs at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

“Past Tents: A Portrait of Camping in the Early West” with author Susan Snyder at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14 

Teach-In and Vigil Against American Torture every Wed. at noon at Boalt Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave.  

Walk, Talk, Buck the Fence What’s at stake in the Ecology of Berkeley’s Strawberry Canyon A walk at 5 p.m. every Wed. with Ignacio Chapela and expert guests to discuss what is at stake in the proposed steps for the filling of the Canyon by the UC-LBL Rad-Labs, and now British Petroleum. http://canyonwalks.blogspot.com  

“Solving the Klamath Crisis” in commemoration of the 10th Annual International Day of Action for Rivers, at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Free. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Stromwater Designs: Designing a Soft Path” with Rosey Jenks at 1 p.m. at Wurster Hall, 315A, UC Campus. Part of the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Colloquium. http://laep.ced.berkeley.edu/events/colloquium 

“Arab-Israeli-Palestinian Peace: From Crisis to Hope: Making Peace an Urgent Priority for U.S. Policy” with Ronald Young of the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative, from 9:45-10:45 a.m. at Giesy Hall, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, 2770 Marin Ave. 559-2731. www.plts.edu  

“Genocide Widows and Survivors in Rwanda” A lecture and discussion with Laura Frazier at 1 p.m. at Laney College Forum, 900 Fallon St. Oakland. Part of Women HerStory Month http://laney.peralta.edu/womensherstorymonth 

“Photography for EBay” Learn professional quality studio lighting techniques for use at home, with instructors from the Pacific Center for Photographic Arts, at 7 p.m. at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Cost is $35. Registration required. 428-2463. 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Building Connections Through Rhythm A drumming workshop for Women HerStory Month at noon at Laney College Theater Building Room 319, Oakland. http://laney.peralta.edu/womensherstorymonth 

Kentro Body Balance Movement Class at 7 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

New to DVD: “Borat” at 7 p.m. at JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Discussion follows. 848-0237. 

El Grupito, a group for practicing and maintaining Spanish skills, meets at 7:30 p.m. at Diesel Books, 5433 College Ave., Oakland. 653-9965. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, MARCH 15 

Tilden Mini-Rangers An afterschool program with hiking and nature-based activities for children aged 8-12, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Dress to get dirty. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Women’s History Month “Rosie the Riveter” a lecture with the National Park Service on the World War II Home Front National Park at 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. Optional pot-luck dinner follows. Registration required. 636-1684. 

“Hardy Californians: A Woman’s Life with Native Plants” A discussion of the new expanded edition of Lester Rowntree’s book with Rowntree’s grandson at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 525-0689. 

Valentino Achak Deng on the situation in the Sudan at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Proposed New Berkeley/ 

Albany Ferry Terminal Public Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 1247 Marin Ave. For information see www.watertranist.org 

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets at 7:30 p.m. at LeConte School. We will discuss gang tag graffitti, the mixed-use building proposed for 2700 Shattuck/2100 Derby, the cell phone antennas, changes proposed for Telegraph, the Save the Oaks issue and more. Please use Russell St. entrance. 843-2602. 

“Understanding California’s Tsunamis: Where Do They Come From and How Are They Formed?” at 12:30 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Sisters in Crime Panel discussion with local mystery writers at 6 p.m. at the South Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1901 Russell St. 981-6149. 

Teen Book Club meets to discuss underrated and overrated books at 4:30 p.m. at the Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. Bring a book to share. 981-6107. 

“Eat at Bill’s: Life in the Monterey Market” a new documentary by Lisa Brennis at 7:30 at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street at Arch. Cost is $5. 843-8724. 

“Keeping Kosher on the Prairie, Keeping Chickens in Petaluma” with Eleanor Kaufman at 6:30 p.m. at Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St Cost is $6-$8. 549-6950. 

“Travel to Greece” with Lonely Planet author Michael Stamatios Clark at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Public Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. Free. 526-7512. 

Family Story Time for children ages 3-7 at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, North Branch, 1170 The Alameda, at Hopkins. 981-6107. 

ONGOING 

Tax Help at the Berkeley Public Library Sat. from 11:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the South Branch. Call for appointment. 981-6260. Also every Tues. and Thurs. at the West Branch from 12:15 to 3:15 p.m. Call for appointment. 981-6270. 

Berkeley Youth Alternatives Girls Basketball Age 15 and under league begins April 11 and 18 and under begins April 13. From 5:30 to 8:30 at Emery High School, 1100 47th St. Emeryville. Cost is $175 per team. 845-9066. www.byaonline.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Youth Commission meets Mon., March 12, at 6:30 p.m., at City Council Chambers, Old City Hall. 981-6670.  

City Council meets Tues., March 13, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., March 14, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5426.  

Planning Commission meets Wed., March 14, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., March 14, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. Cliff Marchetti, 981-6740.  

Design Review Committee meets Thurs., March 15 , at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7415.  

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., March 15, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6950.  

Transportation Commission meets Thurs., March 15, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Peter Hillier, 981-7010.


Correction

Friday March 09, 2007

 

Michelle Wasserman, president of the Cal Berkeley Democrats, says she was misquoted in the March 6 story “Edwards Brings Presidential Campaign to Berkeley.” Although she was supportive of Edwards’ positions, she has not yet made an endorsement for the 2008 Democratic nominee for president. 

Also, the quote attributed to Wasserman, “Edwards cares about the people. He cares about the lives of women—as a lawyer, a senator, a husband and a father of two daughters,” was spoken by someone else.


Arts Calendar

Tuesday March 06, 2007

TUESDAY, MARCH 6 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Dream Landscapes” works by Billana Stremska opens with a reception at 6 p.m. at at the Claremont Hotel Club Gallery, 41 Tunnel Rd. RSVP to Katy Yong at 549-8512.  

FILM 

Alternative Visions: “Nicky Hamlyn: Film Art Phenomena” with Nicky Hamlyn in person, at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Arab Film Festival Documentaries by Lebanese Women including “Here and Perhaps Elsewhere” at 7 p.m. at the California Theater, 2113 Kittredge St. Tickets are $6-$8. 415-564-1100. www.aff.org 

“Little Miss Potentiality Returns” a film by Thalia Drori, at 9:15 at the Parkway Speakeasy Theater, Oakland. thaliadrori.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Eric Dyson discusses “Debating Race” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donation $10. 848-3696.  

“A Short Trip to Italy” multi-media presentation by Countess Alessandra Ranghiasci on her family’s 150 room ancestral palace in Gubbio, Italy's best preserved medieval village, at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $15. 848-7800.  

Daniel Mason reads from his new novel “A Far Country” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Art IS Education Performances and Art Show by students of the Emery Unified School District at 4 p.m. on the steps of Emeryville City Hall, 1333 Park Ave.  

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun/Zydeco dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Ellen Hoffman and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Jenny Ferris and Laura Klein, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Sean Jones at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$12. 238-9200.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7 

FILM 

Film 50: “The Conversation” with a lecture by Marilyn Fabe, at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

Independent Lens “Black Gold” an expose of the coffee-industry at 6 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Oakland. Free. 238-2200. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Chalmers Johnson discusses his new book “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic” with Gray Brechin at 7:30 p.m. at King Middle School, 1781 Rose St. Tickets are $12-$15 at Cody’s. 559-9500. 

Joe Conason discusses why “It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Whiskey Brothers Old Time and Bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Terrie Odabi Quartet with guest Steve Turre, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $15. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Wadi Gad and Junior P, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Orquestra Universal at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Birds & Batteries at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Joshua Eden at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

SF Jazz High School All Stars at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, MARCH 8 

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808 

FILM 

Women’s HerStory Film Series “Unbought and Unbossed” at noon at 4 p.m. at Laney College Forum, 900 Fallon St. http://laney.peralta.edu/womensherstorymonth 

Arab Film Festival Documentaries by Lebanese Women including “Lebanon/War” at 7 p.m. at the California Theater, 2113 Kittredge St. Tickets are $6-$8. 415-564-1100. www.aff.org 

Women of Color Film Festival “Gathering Strands” with filmmakers in person at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Speaking Fierce” in honor of International Women’s Day, with Eli PaintedCrow and Anuradha Bhagwati, veterans, Kaylah Marin, Aimee Susara and others at 6:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harison St., Oakland. Tickets are $5-$15 sliding scale. 444-2700. 

“Documenting Oakland” with Erica Mailman, author of “Oakland’s Neighborhoods,” Jeff Norman, author of “Temescal Legacies” and Vietnemense poets from the Vietnamese Artist Collective at 6 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, 125 14th St. 238-3271. 

Nora Gallagher introduces her first work of fiction, “Changing Light,” a love story set in the summer of 1945 in the shadow of Los Alamos and the making of the first atomic bomb at 7:30 p.m. in the Tucson Common Room, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 2451 Ridge Rd. 204-0710. 

Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz on their new book “Testimonios: Early California through the Eyes of Women, 1815–1848” at 1 p.m. at Oakland Museum Lecture Hall, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

Spoken Word Swap Meet at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

T Cooper, Michelle Tea and Katia Noyes tell stories at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Stephen Davenport reads from “Saving Miss Oliver’s: A Novel of Leadership, Loyalty and Change” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera presents a free noontime concert at the Central Berkeley Public Library, 5th Floor, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Jewish Music Festival “Musical Fortunes” with Dan Cantrell, Kitka, Michael Alpert at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $20-$25. 800-838-3006. www.jewishmusicfestival.org 

JGB featuring Melvin Seals with Rainmaker at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $17-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Muireann NicAmhlaoibh at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jim Grantham Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Edo Castro and Jeff Schmidt at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

And a Few to Break, The Attachments, Timothy Rabbit at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Headnodic & Raashan Ahmad at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Stanley Clarke at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $24-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

FRIDAY, MARCH 9 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” Fri and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda, through April 1. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Aurora Theatre Company “The Birthday Party” Wed. - Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through March 11. Tickets are $38. 843-4822 

Berkeley Rep “The Pillowman” at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through March 11. Tickets are $33-$61. 647-2949. 

Berkeley Rep “To the Lighthouse” at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. and runs through March 25. Tickets are $45-$61. 647-2917. 

Central Works Theater Ensemble “Lola Montez” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. through March 25. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

Impact Theatre “Cartoon” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, through March 10. Tickets are $10-$15. www.impacttheatre.com 

“Triumph” A one woman show by Vanessa McDaniel at 3 p.m. at Black Repertory Group, 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $10. 652-2120. 

UC Dept. of Theater “Dolly West’s Kitchen” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $10-$14. 642-9925. http://theater.berkeley.edu 

Virago Theatre “Orphans” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at BridgeHead Studio, 2516 Blanding Ave, Alameda, through March 31. Tickets are $10-$15. 415-439-2456. www.viragotheatre.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Somebody” The New World of Figurative Art Works by seven artists exploring the human form. Reception at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

“Person Place and Thing” Paintings by Susan Kendall, Renie McDonough and Pam Wright opens with a sidewalk reception at 6 p.m. at the Addison St. Windows Gallery, 2018 Addison St. 981-7533. 

FILM 

Women’s Film Festival and Disgital Arts Club, selected screenings at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 981-2884. 

“Boris Eifman: Work in Progress” A documentary by Alex Gutman at 7 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Mr. Eifman will be present to introduce the film and will answer audience questions afterwards. 642-9988. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Tom Odegard and John Rowe read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid at Hearst. 841-6374. 

Alfred McCoy, author of “A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror” at 7:30 p.m. at at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. 

Sharon Lamb describes “Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Christy Dana Quartet Plus Three at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20. Sponsored by the Berkeley Arts Festival. 524-1124. 

Trillium, harp trio, celtic, world, classical at 8 p.m. at Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Tickets are $15, children $5. 526-9146. 

Tony Bellaver “Interventions” Performance art from 1 to 4 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Donations accepted. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

MamaCoatl & Cihuatl Tonali for International Women’s Day, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Danny Hoch Hip Hop Workshop at 8 p.m. at 2116 Allston Way. Tickets are $7-$15. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Classical with a Twist Vicki Trimbach performs at 8 p.m. at the Jazzcafe, 2087 Addison StTickets are $15. 1-800-838-3006, event 6103. 

Carla Zilbersmith & Allen Taylor Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ.  

Womansong Circle Celebrating International Women’s Day in song at 6:45 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donation. $15-$20. 525-7082. 

Swingthing at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. 

Houston Jones, Americana, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Willie Porter at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

The Nomadics, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

The Freak Accident, The May Fire, Space Vacuum from Outer Space at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Behind Enemy Lines, Born/Dead, Bumbklatt at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

The Brothers Lekas at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

B-Side Players, Raw Deluxe at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$7. 548-1159.  

Suburban Legends, 5 Days Dirty, All the New at 8:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10-$12. 763-1146.  

Chroma, electro-groove jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Stanley Clarke at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $24-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, MARCH 10 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Colibri and Nancy Raven at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Owen Baker Flynn and his “Act in a Box” celebrates National Reading Month Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. 452-2259. 

EXHIBITIONS 

8 in 07 A group show of East Bay artists. Reception at 4 p.m. at the Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Gallery hours are Wed.-Sun. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Exhibition runs to April 1. 848-1228. 

Recent Works of Changming Chen Artist reception at 2 p.m. at Alta Galleria, 2980 College Ave., Suite #4. 421-1255.  

“Sexicon: The Art and Language of Erotica” from noon to 4 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at Living Room Gallery, 3230 Adeline St. www.myspace.com/livingroomcollective 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 1:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

THEATER 

“Facing the Mountain” Armenians and Turks Share Their Stories A Playback Theatre Performance at 8 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Tickets are $10. For reservations call 642-9460. 

Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, queer theater and comedy, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

FILM 

Women of Color Film Festival “Sidestepping the Eternal Repetition” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Feminist Art” a lecture by Lousie Stanley at 10 a.m. and “Feminist Postmodern Installations” at 11 a.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 981-2884. 

“The Bay Area Concept: Bruce Nauman and the Late Sixties” Symposium from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

Joe Hill discusses his scary novel “Heart-Shaped Fox” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Jessica Livingston describes “Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera Company “The Seraglio” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $15-$40. 925-798-1300.  

West Coast Blues Hall of Fame Awards Show at 7 p.m. at Kimball’s Carnival, 522 Second St., Oakland. Tickets are $30. For reservations call 836-2227. www.bayareabluessociety.net 

The Albers Trio “Eastern European Masters” at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra “Violin and Viola Virtuosity” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Free. 415-248-1640. 

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$56. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jewish Music Festival “Klezmer Buenos Aires” 8 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St.. Tickets are $22-$26. 800-838-3006. www.jewishmusicfestival.org 

Moment’s Notice Improv music and dance at 8 p.m. at Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th St. Coat is $8-$10. 847-1119. 

Steve Tayor-Ramirez, at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Faye Carol & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Sila and the Afrofunk Experience at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is TBA. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

John McGaraghan and Scott Waters at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Cascada de Flores at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Clarinet Thing with Beth Custer, Ben Goldberg, Sheldon Brown, and Harvey Wainpel at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Polkacide, The Kehoe Nation, The Whoreshoes and others at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $8-$10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

The Ravines, rock, at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Ten Ton Chicken, 7th Direction, Powel St. Jon and Friends at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Cyril Guiraud Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Insect Warfare, California Love, Reagan SS, Noisear at 6 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $8. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 11 

CHILDREN 

Oakland Hebrew Day School “Into the Woods, Junior” at 1 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $5 children, $7 aduults, at the door.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

Works by Ellen Oppenhiemer and Peralta Elementary Students Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

FILM 

“Thieves in the Temple: The Reclaiming of Hip Hop” written and performed by Aya de Leon at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jack Tillmany and Jennifer Dowling on “Oakland Theaters: A Pictorial History” at 2 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive Theater. 642-0808.  

Mitchell Schwarzer describes “Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Area: A History and Guide” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Poetry Flash presents poets David Roderick and Rebecca Black at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Aaron and David Requiro, chamber music, at 4 p.m. at Crowden Music Center, 1475 Rose St. Tickets are $12, free for children under 18. 

Soli Deo Gloria and Orchestra Gloria at 3:30 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd., Piedmont. Tickets are $20-$25. www.sdgloria.org 

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32-$56. 642-9988.  

Classic Flamenco and Mariachi Dive Bar Piano with Seth Montfort, at 5:30 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $15. 415-362-6080. 

Alarm Will Sound Works by composer Conlon Nancarrow at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. 642-9988. 

Soul at the Chimes with harpist Destiny and Sonata Pi at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes,4499 Piedmont Ave. Oakland. Tickets are $20-$25. www.brownpapertickets.com 

The Hot Club of San Francisco at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ.  

Danny Hoch Hip Hop Workshop at 7 p.m. at 2116 Allston Way. Tickets are $7-$15. 647-2949. 

Tinkture, Kumbulus, Storm Temple and others at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Ellen Seeling/Susan Muscarella Group at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

MONDAY, MARCH 12 

EXHIBITIONS 

Paintings of Michael Murphy opens at The LightRoom, 2263 Fifth St. and runs through April 13. 649-8111. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Writing for the Greater Good” a panel discussion on the recent issue of Greater Good magazine at 5:30 p.m. at 105 North Gate Hall, UC Graduate School of Journalism, Hearst at Euclid Ave. http://journalism.berkeley.edu 

Fred Alvarado on “Urban Dreamscapes” creating community murals at 5:30 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, César Chávez Branch, 3301 E 12th St. Oakland. 535-5620. 

Jennifer Baumgardner discusses “Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Debra Di Blasi and Paul Vangelisti read at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Dinah Lenney reads from “Bigger than Life: A Murder Memoir” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poetry Express with Jan Dederick at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Classical at the Freight with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Danny Hoch Hip Hop Workshop at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $7-$15. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Skyline High School Jazz Ensemble at 8 and $10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com  


Jewish Music Festival Returns to Berkeley

By Ben Frandzel, Special to the Planet
Tuesday March 06, 2007

Celebrating both the richness of Jewish musical traditions and new innovations that spring from them, Berkeley’s 22nd annual Jewish Music Festival will explore the diversity and beauty of Jewish music from the world over for the next two weeks. With major artists from Argentina, Italy, Israel and the United States, “in some ways it’s the richest festival we’ve ever had, because it’s so eclectic,” says Festival Director Ellie Shapiro. “There’s everything from Italian Renaissance music to a poetry slam, cutting edge to Israeli pop.”  

The festival opens this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley (FCCB), with Musical Fortunes, a world premiere by Emmy-award winning Bay Area composer Dan Cantrell. Inspired by both klezmer and Romani (Gypsy) music, the song cycle features Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble, klezmer multi-instrumentalist, singer and dancer Michael Alpert, Romani musicians Rumen Shopov and Dusan Ristic, dancers, and stage direction by Aaron Davidman of A Traveling Jewish Theatre. 

The festival will also spotlight a little-known but extraordinary body of music by presenting Italy’s superb Ensemble Lucidarium in a program called La Istoria de Purim: Music and Poetry of the Jews of Renaissance Italy. For both Jewish music fans and the Bay Area’s early music community, this Bay Area premiere is a unique opportunity for discovery. The concert takes place at FCCB on Thursday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. 

Turning to an equally unique contemporary repertory, the festival presents Klezmer Buenos Aires, performed by Argentina’s Lerner Moguilevsky Duo, who mix klezmer, tango, jazz and Argentinean folk music. The musicians say they make their music “without anthropological pretension,” but instead create a heady mix that unites the passion and virtuosity of their musical sources on an array of keyboards, woodwinds and percussion. Their performance will take place on the Thrust Stage at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St., on Saturday, March 10 at 8 p.m. 

Along with its international reach, the festival’s devotion to local artists includes a homecoming for New York-based, Berkeley-bred jazz musicians Steven Bernstein and Peter Apfelbaum. On Sunday March 18 at Berkeley Rep, they’ll perform music from their Grammy-nominated recording Diaspora Blues, a work inspired by famed cantor Moshe Koussevitsky.  

At 2 p.m. on the 17th, Bernstein and Apfelbaum join fellow musicians Ben Goldberg, John Schott and Basya Shechter for a panel discussion at the JazzSchool, 2087 Addison, exploring the impact of John Zorn’s Tzadik Records and its Radical Jewish Culture series, which has featured all of their work and stretched the boundaries of Jewish music. That evening at 8 p.m., Berkeley Rep will play host to Pharaoh’s Daughter, Schechter’s groundbreaking group that mixes jazz, rock, Hasidic music, and sounds from across the Mediterranean and Middle East. 

The local focus continues with a new work by UC Berkeley composer Jorge Liderman, Aires de Sefarad, a world premiere for violin and guitar performed by Duo46, and inspired by the music of Sephardic (Mediterranean) Jews. This will take place on Thursday, March 22 at 8 p.m. at Congregation Beth El, 1301 Oxford St. The program opens with Avi Avital, a remarkable young Israeli mandolinist who at age 22 won Italy’s “Citta di Voghera” competition and has already soloed with orchestras around the world. Avital’s virtuosity will be spotlighted in a concert of his own that afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St., Berkeley.  

Several programs will take place in San Francisco locations, including a concert by Israeli vocalist Noa, and a program of rediscovered chamber music written by composers in the Terezin concentration camp. There are related programs throughout the Bay Area. 

Summing up this year’s festival, Shapiro comments, “We wanted to highlight emerging artists as well as new music this year. We’re a very committed Berkeley organization, collaborating this year with La Peña, the Jazz School, Freight and Salvage, and the Magnes Museum, as well as serving the greater Bay Area. We’re about participation as much as performance, and all this comes together on Community Music Day.” This event concludes the festival with a day of workshops, programs for children and families, an instrument petting zoo, a poetry slam, and much more. It all happens on Sunday, March 25, at the Jewish Community Center. 

 

JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL 

Information and tickets for all programs are available at (800) 838-3006 or www.jewishmusicfestival.org. 

 

Photograph: Avi Avital will perform at the  

22nd annual Jewish Music Festival.


The Theater: Berkeley Rep’s ‘Lighthouse’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday March 06, 2007

A peripheral quality of action and inaction pervades the stage set of Berkeley Rep’s very interesting staging of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. The sensory world juts out and curves through the playing space, projections of flights of birds, enormous raindrops, swirling seas seen from above move on the screens, music and recorded natural sounds pour through, the beacon flashes—and the cast of characters, drawn from Woolf’s memories of family summers on the Isle of Skye, meet at the intersections of social politeness and private thoughts and feelings. 

Woolf’s novel seems to defy adaptation, with its almost complete reliance on that celebrated mode of modern prose, the internal monologue. 

Modern theater in fact had developed a whole panoply of techniques for dealing with the internal, the diffident and the ineffable, from Strindberg and Chekhov (both influenced by Maurice Maeterlinck) through Pirandello and the experiments of Dada and the Surrealists by the time To the Lighthouse was published in 1929, developments which led, after the war, to the Theatre of the Absurd. 

Adaptor Adele Edling Shank and director Les Waters mostly eschew these parallels to the internal monologue, concentrating on a synthesis of self-narrating soliloquies, overlapping like the visual motifs to give a sense of various facets of the characters. 

This bears mixed results, especially as the development of the play is as diced up as the elements of the scenic design and the spoken component of the script. The show progresses from a series of seemingly disjointed vignettes, which then cohere around discussion among the Ramsay family at home about a deferred boating party to the lighthouse and also dialogue between two of their guests about the Ramsays; to a dinner party at a stage-breadth table that plays off the hostess’ (a fine performance by Monique Fowler as Mrs. Ramsay) soliloquizing of her intentions versus the overlapping thoughts of the guests as they observe and react to each other at table; to more conventional scenes of dialogue, then to a long poem about the passage of time; leading to the finale, a kind of opera, when a bereaved Mr. Ramsay and two of his children hoist sail onstage and sail past the ever-vigilant lighthouse while, on shore, old guest Lily Briscoe (Rebecca Watson) finishes a painting.  

Watson sings well to the pizzicato, and Edmond Genest’s distant, blank gaze both counterpoints the more intentional glances of family and guests, which attempt to bind together their common space in lieu of dialogue, and completes his excellent portrayal of this eccentric intellectual and father in glimpses that end in the long, blank look of age and mortality on the world. But the rocky sense of mood that tosses the valiant cast like the rough waves of the sea begs the question: should the show have been all opera, all sung?  

Ethereal, impressionistic, very aesthetic, yet the game’s worth the candle—candlepower?—of what serves as our beacon: the excellent, eclectic cast, both veterans of Broadway and regional stage (Watson, Fowler, Genest, Clifton Guterman, Whitney Bashor) and staunch local troupers (Jarion Monroe, David Mendelsohn, Lauren Grace and Noah James Butler) and young performers (Jack Indiana, Sophie Gabel-Scheinbaum, Gabriel Stephens-Siegler and Amara Radetsky) as the Ramsay children; the score, the design (Annie Mart’s set, Christal Weatherly’s costumes, Matt Frey’s lighting, Darron L. West’s sound and the best of Jedediah Ike’s video) and the director’s conception of the great dinner party. 

“The great revelation has never come, perhaps never will ...” The end effect is, in a way, less that of Woolf’s world of strangely interpersonal solipsism than of the Victorian-Edwardian world she conjures up in this rare, for her, ensemble from memory, very English in its sweeping, impersonal sentimentality, coming alive with vivid apercues and regrets, only to come away with a thronged picture or poem that only reveals what’s missing. “These journeys of remembrance!” 

 

TO THE LIGHTHOUSE 

Presented by the Berkeley Rep through March 25. $45-$61. 2025 Addision St. 

647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org.


Wild Neighbors: Coots, Hawks and Gulls: A Day in the Food Chain

By Joe Eaton
Tuesday March 06, 2007

I’ve been birding in California long enough that new species are hard to come by. Every couple of years, something exotic may blow in from Siberia, but I’ve met just about all the natives and regular visitors. There are still surprises, though. Familiar birds—birds you think you know reasonably well—keep doing unexpected things. 

A week or so ago I went to the Flyway Festival at Mare Island, a sort of birder’s expo featuring conservation exhibitors, book and optics vendors, and field trips. I hooked up with a trip to an area that was new for me, the American Canyon Wetlands: tidal marsh with freshwater inflows abutting a new development. We saw a fair number of hawks, ducks, and saltmarsh songbirds, but nothing extraordinary for most of the morning. 

Then, as I was distracted by a male yellowthroat that kept popping in and out of the gumplant near the water’s edge, there was a commotion among a nearby flock of coots. Although the coots didn’t take wing, the whole flotilla was moving out into deeper water. What had cause the exodus was a hawk—a female northern harrier, we realized once someone had trained a scope on it—standing in the shallows, its feet planted on a submerged coot. 

In the right habitat—open grasslands, wet or dry—harriers can be common, especially in winter when local birds are augmented by migrants from the north. In more than 40 years of observation, I had never seen a harrier take a coot. I couldn’t recall even having read about it.  

Harriers are consummate rodent-hunters: their owl-like facial feathers allow them to target mice and voles by sound alone. They’ll sometimes pick up a vole’s nest, shake it to dislodge the occupant, and snag it as it drops. The books say rodents make up the bulk of a harrier’s diet, with a few songbirds thrown in.  

Clearly, though, there were exceptions—and I later found references to harriers drowning waterfowl. They’ve been known to kill birds as large as ducks, bitterns, grouse, and pheasants, with females taking on larger prey than males.  

The harrier stood there. There was no sign of struggle in the water. Once a peregrine falcon swooped over her, and she flinched. Then a western gull swam up to inspect. The gull dwarfed the hawk, but she held her ground, glaring over the shoulder at the larger bird. She didn’t seem to be trying to lift off with her prey, and we speculated as to whether she could get airborne with a pound and a half (according to the Sibley guide) of dead weight. A reporter from the Napa Register, who happened to be on hand, interviewed the witnesses. 

The harrier must have decided she couldn’t, and she took off. The gull moved in. The coot, not quite dead, gave one last spasmodic thrash as the gull towed it to a mudbar. That was it, though. The gull began working at the carcass; lacking a raptorial beak, it didn’t seem to be making a lot of headway. “This guy needs a can opener,” someone said.  

And then a new player arrived. An adult red-tailed hawk touched down and claimed possession of the coot. The gull, prudently, moved away—but not too far. Now the redtail had to deal with the aerodynamic issues. It stood there on the coot as if working things out. It was at about this point that we noticed that the tide was coming in. The water was up around the hawk’s thighs. It didn’t take off, and it wouldn’t give up the coot. And I thought, there has to be a metaphor here.  

Eventually, the redtail, like the harrier before it, gave up. Back came the gull. As the group of birders dispersed, it was working away at the coot again, sending a drift of black feathers into the water. Just another day in the food chain, and a salutary reminder that there can be a lot more to bird behavior than you’d ever guess from the field guides.  

 

 

A female northern harrier; males are gray and white. Photograph by Ned Kroeger.


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday March 06, 2007

TUESDAY, MARCH 6 

Tuesdays for the Birds Tranquil bird walks in local parklands, led by Bethany Facendini, from 7 to 9:30 a.m. Today we will visit the Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll learn about the water cycle, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Documentaries by Lebanese Women including “Here and Perhaps Elsewhere” at 7 p.m. at the California Theater, 2113 Kittredge St. Tickets are $6-$8. 415-564-1100. www.aff.org 

Civil Rights Tales with Stagebridge Theater at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

“Universal Health Care: What are the next steps?” with Richard Quint, MD, MPH, at noon at the Albany Library, at Marin and Masonic Aves, Albany. Brown Bag Luncheon Series of the League of Women Voters. Bring your lunch, hot drinks provided. 843-8824. 

“A Short Trip to Italy” multi-media presentation by Countess Alessandra Ranghiasci on her family's 150 room ancestral palace in Gubbio, Italy's best preserved medieval village, at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $15. 848-7800.  

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 2 to 3 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Free Legal Assistance the first Tues. of the month at 6 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Advance registration required. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Discussion Salon on Schools and Gangs at 7 p.m. at JCC, 1414 Walnut.  

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7 

Walking Tour of UC Berkeley Campus with retired East Bay Regional Park District Naturalist Alan Kaplan. Meet at 10 a.m. at the campus entrance gate at Euclid and Hearst for this moderately paced, 2-hour walk. Dress in layers and wear comfortable shoes. 526-7609. www.berkeleypaths.org  

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll learn about the water cycle, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Teach-In and Vigil Against American Torture every Wed. at noon at Boalt Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave.  

“Torture, Human Rights and Terrorism” a panel discussion in conjunction with the exhbition of paintings of Abu Graib by Frenando Botero, at 4 p.m. at Booth Auditorium, Boalt Hall, UC Campus. 

Walk, Talk, Buck the Fence What’s at stake in the Ecology of Berkeley’s Strawberry Canyon A walk at 5 p.m. every Wed. with guests to discuss what is at stake in the next proposed steps for the filling of the Canyon by the UC-LBL Rad-Labs, and now British Petroleum. http://canyonwalks.blogspot.com  

“Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic” Chalmers Johnson in conversation with Gray Brechin at 7:30 p.m. at King Middle School auditorium, 1781 Rose St.Tickets are $12-$15. 848-6767, ext. 609. 

“Black Gold” a documentary expose of the coffee-industry at 6 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Oakland. Free. 238-2200. 

New to DVD: “L’Enfant” at 7 p.m. at JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Discussion follows. 848-0237. 

Beyond the Ivory Tower: Alternative Careers for Asia Specialists, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Flr. RSVP required. 642-2809.  

Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Oreintation from 10 a.m. to noon at 6230 Claremont Ave. Registration required. 594-5165. 

Accessible Telephones, for those with vision, hearing, speaking and memory loss, on display from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190. 

Lomi Lomi Hawaiian form of bodywork, at 7 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

WriterCoach Connection seeks volunteers to help students improve their writing and thinking skills. Commit to 1-2 hours per week during the school day and work one-on-one with students in their English classes. Training from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, MARCH 8 

Holocaust Remembrance Day 2nd Planning Meeting at 4 p.m. at 2180 Milvia St. 5th Floor Redbud Room. 981-7170.  

“Unseen and Unheard: Finding Bats in the Night Sky” with Dr. Joe Szewczak, from Humboldt State Univ., at the East Bay Scence Cafe, at 7 p.m. at Spud's Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. 558-0881.  

The Natural History of the Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Proposed New Berkeley/ 

Albany Ferry Terminal Public Meeting to discuss the possible locations, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. For information see www.watertranist.org 

Activism in the Americas for International Women’s Day and the LGBT comunity with speakers Alejandra Sarda and Marcela Rios Tobar at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Sliding scale donation $5-$20. Benefits NACLA Report on the Americas. 849-2568.  

Documentaries by Lebanese Women including “Lebanon/War” at 7 p.m. at the California Theater, 2113 Kittredge St. Tickets are $6-$8. 415-564-1100. www.aff.org 

Movies and Speakers on the Anti-G8 Movement at 6:30 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-0751. 

Free Diabetes Screening from 8 a.m. to noon at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Do not eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand. 981-5332. 

“The Care Crisis: The Problem That Has No Name” with Prof. Ruth Rosen at noon at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 981-2884. 

Family Story Time for children ages 3-7 at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, North Branch, 1170 The Alameda, at Hopkins. 981-6107. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755.  

FRIDAY, MARCH 9 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Spreck Rosekrans on “Hetch Hetchy” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

Help Restore Native Oysters Volunteers are needed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Marina and at other sites in the Bay Area to help Save the Bay gather information about our native oyster population. For information call 452-9261 ext. 109. http://www.savesfbay.org/ 

bayevents 

“Quality Education through Arts Learning” Workshops, panels and resources from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and Sat. from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Mills College Concert Hall, Oakland. Tickets are $35-$45. Register online at www.artseducation.org 

“The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil” at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation of $5 accepted. www.HumanistHall.net 

“Reconnecting with the Root” Spiritual health and empowerment workshop, with MamaCoatl and chihuatl Tonali from 3 to 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St at University. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

SATURDAY, MARCH 10 

Tibetan Flag Raising Ceremony at 9 a.m. at Berkeley City Hall, 2180 Milvia St. March for Tibetan Freedom continues at 11 a.m. at Justin Herman Plaza, S.F. www.freetibetmarch.org 

Let Worms Eat Your Garbage A free worm compost workshop to learn an amazing way to recycle fruit and vegetable scraps. From 10 a.m. to noon at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Vegetarian Cooking Class “Hearty Homestyle Italian Cuisine” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro. Cost is $45, plus 435 for food and materials. Registration required. 531-COOK. www.compassionatecooks.com  

Bird House Gourd Crafting Learn the natural history of gourds and how to make a bird house out of one, from noon to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $20-$29. Registration required. 636-1684. 

“Art in the Garden” a drawing class with Karen LeGault from 1 to 4 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. COst is $25-$35. Registration required. 643-2755. 

Help “Save The Bay” Plant Natives Volunteers will restore some of the last remaining wetland habitat in the East Bay at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland from 9 a.m. to noon. RSVP to 452-9261 ext. 109. www.savesfbay.org 

“Facing the Mountain” Armenians and Turks share their stories at 8 p.m. at International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Tickets are $10. For reservations call 642-9460. 

“The Fight Against Capital Punishment: From Baghdad to San Quentin” with Barbara Cottman Becnel, advocate for the late Stanley “Tookie” Williams at 7 p.m. at The Home of Truth, 1300 Grand St., Alameda. Donations accepted. www.alamedaforum.org 

“If Women Ruled the World: Waging Peace in the U.S. and the Middle East” at 12:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 981-2884. 

NAACP Berkeley Branch meets at 1 p.m. at 2108 Russell St. All are welcome. 845-7416. 

African American Basketball Pioneers Panel Discussion and exhibition at 2 p.m. at the African American Museum and Library, 659 14th St., Oakland. 238-6713. 

Haiti Action Committee with Haitian activist and former political prisoner So An at 7 p.m. at The Uptown, 401 26th St., Oakland. Donation $5-$50. 483-7481.  

Burma Human Rights Day Benefit with documentary “Inside the Secret City,” speakers and dinner, at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Cost is $15. RSVP to 220-1323. www.badasf.org  

East Bay Atheists meet at 1:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Main Library, 3rd Floor Meeting Room 2090 Kittredge St. Burt Bogardus will speak on “The Teachings of Jesus Christ.” 222-7580. 

Hopalong Animal Rescue Come meet your furry new best friend from noon to 3 p.m. at 2940 College Ave. 267-1915, ext. 500. www.hopalong.org  

Luna Kid Dance 15th Anniversary Celebration at 10 a.m. at Haas Pavillion, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. www.lunakidsdance.org 

Dramatically Speaking Toastmasters Club meets at 9 a.m. at 1950 Franklin St., Room 2F. RSVP required, ID needed to get into building. 581-8675. 

Petite Pooches Playgroup for small dogs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., one block north of Solano on Ensenada at Talbot. 524-2459. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 11 

“Open Garden” Join the Little Farm gardener for composting, planting, watering and reaping the rewards of our work, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cancelled only by heavy rain. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Clouds and You Learn the names of clouds and their families on a short hike, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Herstory of the Bay Celebrate Women’s History Month on a five mile walk honoring women who have made a difference in our community. From 2 to 5 p.m. at Point Isabel. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Meeting to Plan the People’s Park Anniversary Folks interested in helping with this year’s celebration (to be held April 22) are welome to come to the planning meeting at the Park’s Stage at 4:30 p.m., at Cafe Med if it is raining. 658-9178. 

Community Party for KPFA from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Fellowship, corner of Cedar and Bonita. Food donations appreciated. 525-3583. 

St. Patrick’s Day at the Kensington Farmer’s Market with Irish music, soaps, soda bread, marmalade and more from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Kensington Farmers’ Market, 303 Arlington Ave. 684-6502. 

Summer Programs for Children Information Fair Learn about all types of camps and day programs for sports, music, drama, computers and more, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Scottish Rite Center, 1547 Lakeside Drive, Oakland. www.aauw-op.com 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

“Sacrifice and Blood: Biblical Images and Their Relevance Today” with Beth Glick-Rieman at 9:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Jack Petranker on “Opening to Light” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, MARCH 12 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at East Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com (code UCB) 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

Tax Help at the Berkeley Public Library Sat. from 11:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the South Branch. Call for appointment. 981-6260. Also every Tues. and Thurs. at the West Branch from 12:15 to 3:15 p.m. Call for appointment. 981-6270. 

Berkeley Winter Campaign for Cats We are providing free trapping assistance and spay/neuter to feral and homeless cats in Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville and Piedmont, through March 2007. The cats will be spayed/neutered, vaccinated, treated for fleas and returned safely back to their neighborhoods. To report a neighborhood in need or to volunteer, please call 908-0709. 

Medical Care for Your Pet at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society low-cost veterinary clinic. 2700 Ninth St. For appointments call 845-3633. www.berkeleyhumane.org  

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on Labor meets Wed., March 7, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Delfina M. Geiken, 981-7550. 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., March 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5190.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed., March 7, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., March 8, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Kristin Tehrani, 981-5356.  

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs., March 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Angellique De Cloud, 981-5428. 

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., March 8, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. Iris Starr, 981-7520.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., March 8, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410.