Page One

Safeway to Rebuild Shattuck Store

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007
Rounds of applause punctuated occasionally by bouts of “boos”—enough to prompt a scolding from City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli—greeted varied proposals for Safeway’s planned North Shattuck Avenue makeover at a meeting Thursday evening at the Jewish Community Center. -more-

Retired Police Officer Arrested in Fatal Crash

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007
A retired Berkeley police officer was jailed Sunday night on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving after he allegedly struck and killed an elderly Berkeley woman on Solano Avenue. -more-

Questions of Bias at Jazz Festival, School

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007
A Berkeley jazz school that has profited from tens of thousands of city dollars is remiss in hiring an almost all-white faculty, serves mostly white students and has engaged only a handful of African Americans for the Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival, say local African American musicians and supporters. -more-

Oakland Activists Call for School Closure Moratorium

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday June 05, 2007
A revived and newly energized movement to restore local control to the Oakland public schools held several hours of testimony from Oakland residents on Friday evening calling for an end to the state school takeover of Oakland Unified School District and a moratorium on school closures in the district until that time. -more-

Berkeley Residents Speak Out About City Budget

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007
A group of about 10 civic-minded residents turned out for a lightly publicized public hearing on the budget at the North Berkeley Senior Center Tuesday evening, hoping city staff would listen to their ideas. -more-

Updates

Steve Barton Out as Housing Director

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007
“Today, Housing Director Stephen Barton stepped down from his post,” Berkeley City Manager Phil Kamlarz wrote in an email to the mayor and City Council Tuesday. -more-

News

UC, Lab Opt Out of Nanoparticle Report

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007
Berkeley was in the national headlines for weeks after the City Council approved a policy in December 2006 that requires local businesses to report to the city on their use of nanotechnology materials as well as guidelines for safety procedures and disposal of the substances. -more-

LeConte Community Honors Denise Brown

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday June 05, 2007
Everything was purple at LeConte Elementary School Friday. -more-

College Republicans Support Woodfin

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 05, 2007
A group of about 10 College Republican counterprotesters came out Saturday to support the Woodfin Suite Hotel in Emeryville, as some 50 demonstrators—separated from the Republicans by a handful of Emeryville Police—condemned the hotel for what they said is the unjust firing of 12 employees and refusal to comply with the city’s Measure C. -more-

Landmark Flint Site On the Auction Block

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007
The former site of Flint Ink in West Berkeley went on the auction block Friday, but just who won remains a mystery. -more-

School Board Meeting Preview

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday June 05, 2007
The Berkeley Board of Education will review the proposed solar project at Washington Elementary School for the third time Wednesday and vote on whether to approve $750,000 in funds from the Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) and $305,000 in PG&E funds. -more-

DAPAC, Landmarks Meetings Crowd Calendar

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007
Two DAPAC meetings—both centering on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)—and a session of the Landmarks Preservation Commission mark the week’s major events in land use. -more-

Oakland Bills Makes Their Way Through State Legislature

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday June 05, 2007
SB1019 Peace Officer Records (Sen. Gloria Romero) -more-

Safeway real estate officer Todd Paradis fields questions from neighbors of the chain’s North Shattuck Avenue store, which is slated for demolition and an upgraded and expanded replacement. Photograph by Richard Brenneman.
Safeway real estate officer Todd Paradis fields questions from neighbors of the chain’s North Shattuck Avenue store, which is slated for demolition and an upgraded and expanded replacement. Photograph by Richard Brenneman.

Editorials

Financial Woes Plague UC Hotel Developers

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 05, 2007
Money woes are forcing developers of the high-rise hotel and condo tower planned for the corner of Center Street and Shattuck Avenue to take another look at their project. -more-

Reader Commentaries

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday June 05, 2007

Commentary: Irreplaceable Asset Slated for Wrecking Ball

By Marie Bowman
Tuesday June 05, 2007
The Berkeley Unified School District’s plans to demolish the original gymnasium building are wrongheaded, wasteful and contrary to the values held dear by Berkeley’s residents. The building, with its beautiful hardwood floors, classrooms, historic murals, and swimming pools, dates back to the beginnings of Berkeley High School and is worth preserving as a contribution to the school’s future. Many residents who use its warm water pool would not be able to function without the physical therapy it provides. -more-

Commentary: Nuclear Weapons

By Marvin Chachere
Tuesday June 05, 2007
From time to time we read news stories about nuclear non-proliferation but seldom does the media attend to the general risk involving the existence of these “doomsday weapons.” The reason the media avoids this angle may be similar to the reason New Orleaneans avoid talk about hurricanes yet to come and Californians don’t talk much about earthquakes. Precisely because it is inevitable, forecasting regional destruction is uncertain and media reports arouse unnecessary un-ease. A more likely reason is cowardice: analyzing the possibility of total extinction exposes the absolute futility of everything else. -more-

Commentary: Accurate Information Important for Intelligent Discussion

By Tracie de Angelis Salim
Tuesday June 05, 2007
Personal attacks will not help make a point; rather, they dilute from the intention of making a larger point speak loudly. While Carmel Hara’s letter to the editor may be an isolated instance of a personal attack on Joanna Graham, sadly the pages of the Daily Planet continue to be used as a forum for assault on character rather than a place for intelligent discourse. I find a great opportunity within his letter to make a larger point. -more-

Columnists

Green Neighbors: Elderberry Tree Stands in the Margins

By Ron Sullivan
Tuesday June 05, 2007
Elderberry is a bit more a tree than last column’s rose is, but we usually see it as a shrub: multi-trunked, relatively small. But the wonderful natural history writer Donald Culross Peattie called it a tree, and I’ve seen western pewee and other tree-nesting birds make themselves homes in tall specimens; that’s good enough for me. -more-

Arts & Entertainment

Arts Calendar

Tuesday June 05, 2007
TUESDAY, JUNE 5 -more-

The Theater: A True New York ‘Death of a Salesman’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday June 05, 2007
A cellist strikes up in pizzicato as an older man, dressed in the fashion of the late ‘40s, shambles onstage at the Julia Morgan Center, gazing out above the audience as if down the road—or into the past. A crowd forms, staring at him—and disperses. A woman’s voice is heard, calling his name. “I’m tired to the death!” And Willy Loman, brilliantly rendered by Corey Fisher, is home again, in Traveling Jewish Theatre’s remarkable version of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. -more-

The Theater: Theater Groups Stage 3 Weeks of ‘365’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday June 05, 2007
Leave it to the Shotgun Players to organize a posse to go after weeks 26, 27 and 30 of playwright Suzan-Lori Parks’ monumental, year-long, nationwide collaborative theater project. -more-

Daily Planet Wins 6 Peninsula Press Club Awards

Tuesday June 05, 2007
The Daily Planet’s Justin DeFreitas swept two categories at the Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards Saturday night at Foster City’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. The contest is sponsored by the Peninsula Press Club. -more-

Events

Berkeley This Week

Tuesday June 05, 2007