Citizens have clashed with UC Berkeley once again. -more-

Tuesday, May 16 -more-

A recent study published in the Journal of Housing Research titled Rent Regulation’s Pricing Effect in the Uncontrolled Sector concludes that rent controls, designed to lower the cost of housing for renters, may have the perverse effect of increasing rents for tenants in the unregulated sector. The study concludes that unregulated rents (such as those for vacancy decontrolled units in Berkeley) are $100 greater than they should be if rent controls were not in effect. -more-

René Magritte was the rugged individualist among surrealist artists and has endured as one of the most interesting. Now the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has a vast retrospective exhibition of some 65 paintings covering his whole mature career, from 1926 until his death in 1967, including many unfamiliar examples from private collections. It offers us a very special opportunity, through September 5th. -more-

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The San Francisco Board of Education has decided that the superintendent of the Washington, D.C., school system is the best candidate to lead the San Francisco Unified School District. -more-

The Berkeley High boys volleyball team’s postseason fate, which has hung in the balance since the regular-season finale on May 11, was finally decided on Sunday, as the North Coast Section seeding committee rejected the Yellowjackets’ at-large bid for a playoff spot. -more-

Members of the public will get their chance tonight to tell the City Council what they think about the police communications tower, which some Public Safety Building neighbors are calling the “Eyesore Tower.” -more-

The entire Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League got a dose of the Panthers’ depth on Saturday, as the St. Mary’s High track and field team dominated the league championship meet, winning both the boys’ and girls’ titles at Piedmont High. -more-

A surreal robbery and kidnapping experience early Friday morning left a Berkeley man with several minor injuries and without his wallet. -more-

The East Bay Community Law Center announced a new partnership last week that serves Alameda County families moving from welfare to work. -more-

Two men stole a car driven by a woman who visited the Berkeley Marina to relax early Sunday morning. -more-

A team of five art experts walked along Addison Street from Milvia Street to Shattuck Avenue last Monday afternoon, scanning the streetscape to develop plans for embedding art in the sidewalks. -more-

Monday, May 15 -more-

Not many attended the studio Open House held recently (May 8) by the University’s “New Century Plan” staff. In fact, in the hour I was there, only one other non-staff person was present. -more-

THEATER -more-

Five individuals representing the Berkeley High girls lacrosse team literally put the icing on the 2000 season on Saturday, taking part in the annual league all-star game – an event so informal that it degenerated into a cupcake fight after the final horn sounded. -more-

A principal described by his teachers as a "superlative" administrator was honored Friday as the Berkeley Public Education Foundation’s educator of the Year. -more-

I read in the May 13th Planet that the “City eyes bond for warm pool” at Berkeley High main campus. The desired $3,000,000 would fund improvements such as lockers, a water distribution system, and an air circulation system. I support the warm pool users’ quest for such improvements. The pool will provide therapeutic benefits to the disabled citizens, special education students, and seniors citizens of Berkeley. -more-

With 15 years of coaching success under his belt, Berkeley High track and field coach Darrell Hampton has always represented a strategic advantage to his athletes. But in Saturday’s East Bay Athletic League championship meet, Hampton admits it was the athletes alone who kept the EBAL title from going to the Wolves. -more-

A sizable crowd gathered in Martin Luther King Jr. Park under the sun and blue skies Saturday for the singing, dancing, and other forms of presentation at the sixth annual Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Festival. -more-

Golly. The next time my car is broken into in the darkness on 10th Street I’ll sure be celebrating the new lighting fixtures downtown. Even though downtown is arguably the best lighted place in town next to the football stadium, my neighborhood should certainly wait for improved lighting until the downtown merchants get their Christmas lighting because, after all, aesthetics come first. -more-

It’s only May, but a coalition of progressive organizations came together last week to choose a candidate to represent students on a progressive Rent Board Slate in the November election. -more-

Eight Berkeley artists were selected to create the sidewalk art for the Addison Streetscape. They are Lynne-Rachel Altman, Jenny Cole, Carolynn Haydu, Diana Maria Rossi, Rebecca Schwarz, Nancy Selvin, Sofie Siegmann and April Watkins. A selection panel that reports to the Civic Arts Commission chose their work from a field of 24 applicants. -more-

A stroke left John Terry aphasic and paralyzed on his right side a decade ago. And four years ago, at age 71, his wife, Ebba, who suffers from arthritis, fell and had to have a hip replaced. -more-

After striking out three times in his first three at-bats against Granada’s solid pitching staff in Friday’s home finale, Berkeley High first-baseman Greer Wiggins didn’t think it would be possible to erase the silver sombrero from the crowd’s memory in one swing. Turned out, he was wrong. -more-

Saturday, May 13 -more-

The Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste (CMTW) has put forth a new teaching on tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Before examining this new teaching, let me remind you that the CMTW preaches that tritium is the “baddest” of all radioactive substances and that the “evil” Department of Energy (DOE) has endangered the good citizens of Berkeley by locating a scientific laboratory that uses it in a “dangerous” earthquake and firestorm area. Although the tritium at Berkeley Lab is stored in the inert form of uranium tritide, this is never mentioned in the CMTW’s teachings. Furthermore, they suppress the fact that tens of thousands of curies of tritium are also stored in fragile glass tubes in public and private buildings throughout Berkeley. -more-

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE -more-

Not every little leaguer gets the chance to hop the fence of his favorite team’s home field, take a couple of hacks off Randy Johnson or shag flies alongside Barry Bonds. -more-

Lighting was the highest priority of participants in public workshops last year where they identified preferences for streetscape improvements for downtown Berkeley. -more-

The Yellowjackets may be out of the playoffs, but for five Berkeley High girls lacrosse players, the season isn’t quite over yet. -more-

Since the Alameda County Board of Education took action regarding the danger tritium emissions could pose to children on field trips to the Lawrence Hall of Science, people associated with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have written opinion pieces attacking the credibility of the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste. Although I’m not a member of the Committee, the tone and tenor of these attacks are such that I feel obligated to respond. The Committee is made up of citizens who volunteer their time because they are concerned about their community and the dangers posed by tritium. Although these folks are not scientists their belief that LBNL’s activities endanger this community has been confirmed on several occasions, such as when the Environmental Protection Agency, in response to a Committee complaint, put the lab site on the Superfund list because the tritium emissions were found to have exceeded federal cancer-risk screening concentrations. -more-

ASHKENAZ -more-

Berkeley police are searching for a woman they believe is responsible for a strong-armed robbery late Thursday night. -more-

UC BERKELEY ART -more-

Ron Mix, founding publisher of the Berkeley Daily Planet, has resigned his position with Bigfoot Media Inc. to accept the position of Vice President/Chief Operating Officer with Pizazz Printing in Milpitas, the company that prints the Planet. -more-

A.C.C.I. GALLERY -more-

When patrons of the Claremont Branch Library walk through the doors of the reopened facility Monday morning, they’ll find wider aisles, more accessible restrooms and improved wheelchair ramps and railings. -more-

By allowing the construction with virtually no public process of an immense industrial-style tower on McKinley Street, our highly competent City staff has created a huge, needless problem for itself. The thing is a desecration of the Civic Center in general, of Old City Hall in particular, which it looms over like a giant oil derrick, and an almost inconceivable affront to the residential neighborhood in which it stands. Because I have the highest respect for our staff, I am dumbfounded that they would commit such a foolish blunder. But there it is. They’ve done it. Their job now is to remove it with as little further disruption as possible for the rest of us. Neither Council nor residents should have to waste another minute assisting them out of their blunder. -more-

Just one day after Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson pitched a near-perfect eight innings apiece in the much-anticipated National League baseball showdown, Berkeley High’s Lilli Bermeo and Granada’s Sylvia Moses set out to make Thursday’s East Bay Athletic League softball matchup just as classic. -more-

THEATER -more-

OAKLAND – The trial of middle-school teacher Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi, charged with obstructing a police officer in the course of duty, opened in superior court Thursday morning. -more-

Friday, May 12 -more-

With Thursday’s three-game sweep over East Bay Athletic League rival California High in the bag, the Berkeley High boys volleyball team can only sit back and play a different game until Sunday’s playoff seeding meeting: namely, the waiting game. -more-

Officially, no one from the Berkeley Unified School District or the Berkeley Federation of Teachers cannot discuss “all matters” surrounding the current state of mediation between the two sides. -more-

A proposal to raise fees for some planning and development permits will be the topic of a public hearing during next week’s City Council meeting. -more-

The Berkeley Civic Arts Commission will present a public forum Saturday to review new guidelines and grant applications for the Arts Grants Program. -more-

There’s a twist some might call “ironic” in the case of Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi, accused of obstructing a police officer during the summertime height of the conflicts between KPFA “free-speech” radio and its governing board. Jacobs-Fantauzzi’s attorney Richard Krech subpoenaed photographs taken by The Oakland Tribune the morning of the arrest, but the newspaper’s chief photographer, Ron Riesterer, is refusing to turn them over. The Trib’s attorneys are evoking California’s shield law, which protects journalists, including photographers, from having their work used in behalf of a particular party. -more-

Another protest. Another forcible ejection by the authorities. Yet another opportunity for outsiders to exclaim “only in Berkeley” (perhaps condescendingly, perhaps not). Another odd amalgamation of anger, hope and happiness. -more-

Thursday, May 11 -more-

At the School Board meeting on May 3rd, the board excepted the challenge of PFIST (Parents For Increased Salaries for Teachers) for a forum on May 16th, where both the union and the board could give some real answers to the community. Board President Joaquin Rivera, (a teacher himself) advised the community to put pressure on both parties, the board and the union, or the forum could be blocked. He pointed out that both sides would have to allow the mediator to lift the vow of silence that has kept us uninformed up until now. He also said that the public had a right to hear both sides, and that the board wanted for that to happen. The board spoke more freely that night than I have ever witnessed in my 5 years as a PTA officer, and I think they enjoyed that freedom. -more-

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE -more-

The Berkeley High girls lacrosse team finally got the mixture of offense and defense it’s been searching for all year in Wednesday’s first-round playoff matchup with Monte Vista. But even the Yellowjackets’ best game against their league nemeses in three meetings wasn’t enough, as Monte Vista advanced to the second round with an 8-5 win. -more-

Scores of protesters used Wednesday’s appearance by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as an opportunity to denounce this country’s foreign policy in several regions of the world. -more-

The Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste (CMTW) wishes Gordon Wozniak (Perspective, April 29) would do some thinking about a more serious radioactive problem instead of trying to distract the public with a sermon of his beliefs about tritium-filled exit signs. -more-

ASHKENAZ -more-

The Berkeley High Yellowjackets aren’t big disco fans, but “Stayin’ Alive” will be No. 1 on their list of priorities, when they battle league rival California High in today’s regular-season volleyball finale. -more-

Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Jack McLaughlin will meet with the San Francisco school board sometime this weekend for a second interview for that district’s top job. -more-

UC BERKELEY ART -more-

The Cal basketball program recognized walk-on forward Ryan Forehan-Kelly’s 1999-2000 contributions on Wednesday, granting him a scholarship for the 2000-2001 season. -more-

Opponents of a proposed University Avenue housing project aimed at housing persons with disabilities and limited income say they’re not NIMBYs – Not-in-My-BackYarders. -more-

A.C.C.I. GALLERY -more-

Former Cal football star Deltha O’Neal was awarded with a Pac-10 conference medal for his athletic and academic career on Tuesday afternoon, at the athletic program’s annual Academic Honors Celebration Luncheon. -more-

A passenger riding in the rear seat of a Saturn sedan was killed early Tuesday morning when the car collided with a bread truck at the intersection of University Avenue and Sixth Street. -more-

The owner of the Raja Restaurant at 2160 University Ave. was shot in the leg early Wednesday morning in an attempted robbery. -more-

A 10-year-old girl crossing the intersection of Alcatraz Avenue and Ellis Street on her bicycle around 3 p.m. Wednesday was hit by a driver in a Ford van but was not seriously injured. -more-

Police have noted a rise in the number of compact discs stolen from apartments and houses in recent burglaries. -more-

Wednesday, May 10 -more-

The U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program was established in 1974, providing project-based and tenant-based housing assistance to low-income persons who rent. When both tenant and landlord qualify under Section 8, tenant pays one third of her/his income for rent, with the balance subsidized. It has been one of the best possible uses of federal funds, because it countermands need for costly welfare-type expenditures associated with sheltering persons with small incomes who are willing, able, and eager to live independently. And yet when conservatives’ attempts to eliminate HUD failed, they were able to focus on the Section 8 program and its various components. Seniors currently receiving Section 8 rent subsidies in project-based buildings, for example, have been receiving annual notices of possible loss of their status. -more-

THEATER -more-

The “belly-itcher” in the well-known ballyard chant was nowhere to be found on Tuesday afternoon – just two great pitchers – as the Berkeley High softball team took on league powerhouse Livermore at James Kenney Park. -more-

In a surprising twist, a state mediator issued a “total press and information blackout” Tuesday in connection with the contract negotiations between the Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. -more-

St. Mary’s High 1998 graduate Jerriod Mack, who helped establish the Panthers as a boys track and field powerhouse before moving on to Cal, was recognized by the Pac-10 conference on Tuesday as the Men’s Field Athlete of the Week. -more-

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With four days remaining in the 2000 boys volleyball season, there’s still a chance that somebody in the East Bay Athletic League will beat league leader Foothill. But it won’t be Berkeley High. -more-

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, one of the most prominent women in American public life and the outspoken advocate of President Clinton’s foreign policy, is the lead speaker at the UC Berkeley commencement today. -more-

Berkeley Schools Superintendent Jack McLaughlin has kept his word – in a manner of speaking. -more-

An Oakland man was robbed early Friday morning in a parking lot on Fourth Street. -more-

The legacy of musician, professor and minister W. Hazaiah Williams will be honored during a memorial concert Saturday night at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in Oakland. -more-

A man was robbed in his apartment building on the 2500 block of Piedmont after returning home from a card club in Oakland about 2:40 a.m. Tuesday. He drove home and walked up to the second floor and was about to enter his apartment when he was suddenly accosted by two men in the hallway. -more-

The usefulness – of utter lack thereof – of tracking the nation’s average wage was demonstrated in a big way Tuesday night by a little guy – former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. -more-