Patrons of the café at the French Hotel are miffed that the tables and chairs that used to be regular fare on the sidewalk in front of the establishment are absent most of the time now. 

“Yesterday I was back there (at the café), and there were no tables and chairs out there,” said a patron who loves the coffee but desires a return to the sidewalk ambience. 

The café habitue, who asked that her name not be used, said patrons bring chairs out from inside the café, and they are willing to return them, but it’s not the same. She still buys a cup of coffee there, but not all the time. 

On a recent sunny morning coffee drinkers were waiting in a long line to buy the brew, even though they couldn’t sit outside. 

“I think it’s lousy,” said Larry Melnick, who brought along his own mug to be filled. “The guy didn’t pay for a permit or something.” 

Melnick noted that the lack of tables and chairs seemed to have little effect on business at the café. 

“I would ask management to bring back the tables,” said one customer, noting her interest in sitting at a table if one should be available. 

A concerned restaurant employee said, “You need a permit to have tables and chairs outside. It’s up to our owner to get a permit.” 

The café is operated by the Espresso Roma Corporation, owned by Sandy Boyd, who has two other coffee houses located on College Avenue and Hopkins Street. 

Boyd said Friday said he doesn’t go to the Shattuck Avenue café every day but employees told him a police officer came to the café and informed employees the tables had to come inside. 

Boyd maintains it was selective enforcement because another local café has no permit but has sidewalk tables, he said. 

“If there are tables out there, I don’t know anything about it,” said Boyd. 

Matt LeGrant, senior planner, said there is no record of Boyd having ever filed for a permit since the zoning ordinance was amended in 1995. It makes specific provisions for tables and chairs. 

The law sets certain standards including review and approval by the Public Works Department to insure adequate clearance for pedestrian movement, said LeGrant. Other establishments may have tables and chairs outside on the sidewalk without a permit, too, said LeGrant. 

He said planners are working with the police department and the Commission on Disabilities because they’re all interested in enforcement. 

However, he said Zoning Code Compliance Officer Maurice Norrisse “never received any complaint nor has he visited the French Hotel (for enforcement).” 

The cost of the administrative use permit application fee is $350, said LeGrant, but if the activity already is occurring, it could be subject to a double fee of $700. 

Boyd said sidewalk tables and chairs have been outside the café since 1984. “I guess I thought I was grandfathered in.” 

He said he has a permit application, but that he has not had a chance to review it for the site plan requirements. 

“Maybe I’ll have to hire an architect to delineate footage, and hire a surveyor to tell me exactly where my property line is located. If I have to do all those things it may take some time,” Boyd said. 

He said it could take as much as two months to complete the preparatory work for the application. 

“I’m aware of the problem. I’ve had a few calls from customers. From my perspective I certainly would like to have tables out there,” he said. “There are some customers loyal to the French Hotel, and we’ve had some very good workers for a long time. I think they come there for that. I don’t know that two or three tables would mean very much to the people in line.” 

Saturday, June 10 

Spring Yard Sale 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

The Pacific Center holds this annual Yard Sale as a fund-raiser for its programs. Clean out your closets and donate all that usable stuff you don’t need anymore (please no computer equipment or old electronics). Donations can be left at the Pacific Center through Friday. Sale continues through Sunday. 

510-548-8283; www.pacificcenter.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

East Bay Open Studios 

11 a.m.-6 p.m. 

Various sites around the East Bay 

Artists will open their doors to the public this weekend for the 18th annual event. A number of artists are located here in Berkeley, as well as in other communities throughout the East Bay. 

510-763-4361; www.proartsgallery.org 

Live Oak Park Fair 

11 a.m.-6 p.m 

Live Oak Park, North Shattuck at Berryman 

This free event will feature dozens of booths with original art and handmade crafts. A variety of food and entertainment will be offered. Scheduled entertainers include Colibri, family music from Latin America; Culture Shock, a hip hop dance troupe; Jean-Paul Valjean, an Algerian world champion master of balance; Zappo the Magician, from the Bay Area; and Fat Chance Belly Dance, also from the Bay Area. This is the fair’s 30th anniversary. The event continues through Sunday. 

510-986-9337 

La Peña Cultural Center’s 25th anniversary 

Noon 

Shattuck Avenue and Prince Street. 

The center celebrates 25 years of presenting world class talent and bringing arts and artists together to work for social change. Performers include spoken word, hip-hop, Andean music, flamenco and salsa. The indoor children’s stage will feature more performances. Valet bike parking will be provided. 

Rebel 

3 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Flanders Recorder Quartet 

8 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Paul Goodwin will be the guest conductor. 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $30, $40, $45. 

510-642-9988 

Pedestrian “Bike-In” Movie Night Party and Protest 

9 p.m. 

Underhill parking lot, Channing and College 

This week’s feature: “Clerks,” plus video activist shorts. Help transform a parking lot into a paradise every Saturday night this summer in protest of the University’s plan to build a new parking structure on the site. 

510-CREW-CUT; www.geocities.com/rickisyoung 

Ensemble Anonymus 

10:30 p.m. 

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $18. 

510-642-9988 

Sunday, June 11 

Spring Yard Sale 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

The Pacific Center holds this annual Yard Sale as a fund-raiser for its programs. Clean out your closets and donate all that usable stuff you don’t need anymore (please no computer equipment or old electronics). 

510-548-8283; www.pacificcenter.org 

Berkeley Hiking Club Hike 

8:30 a.m. departure, Shattuck Ave. and Berkeley Way 

Reconvene and meet leader at the steam train in Tilden Park. Hike will be a scenic eight-mile loop. 

510-548-4905 

Berkeley Hiking Club Mini-Hike 

9:30 a.m. departure, Shattuck Ave. and Berkeley Way 

Once reaching Sibley Volcanic Preserve on Skyline Boulevard, participants should meet in the parking lot. The hike will travel through mostly shaded trails to Redwood Park. On return, there will be a climb toward the end. Route runs about six miles. 

925-376-5095 

Live Oak Park Fair 

11 a.m.-6 p.m 

Live Oak Park, North Shattuck at Berryman 

This free event will feature dozens of booths with original art and handmade crafts. A variety of food and entertainment will be offered. Scheduled entertainers include Colibri, family music from Latin America; Culture Shock, a hip hop dance troupe; Jean-Paul Valjean, an Algerian world champion master of balance; Zappo the Magician, from the Bay Area; and Fat Chance Belly Dance, also from the Bay Area. This is the fair’s 30th anniversary. 

510-986-9337 

East Bay Open Studios 

11 a.m.-6 p.m. 

Various sites around the East Bay 

Artists will open their doors to the public this weekend for the 18th annual event. A number of artists are located here in Berkeley, as well as in other communities throughout the East Bay. 

510-763-4361; www.proartsgallery.org 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Signups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright are scheduled to participate. 

510-234-0727; 510-642-5168 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra 

3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Paul Goodwin will be the guest conductor. 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $30, $40, $45. 

510-642-9988 

Green Party Politics presentation and discussion 

6-7 p.m. 

Berkeley Grass Roots House, 2022 Blake St. 

Bud Dickinson will be giving his version of the History of the National Green Party: Why are there TWO? Discussion on Unity between Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) and Green Party USA (GPUSA). He has prepared a chart of the history, particularly the split between GPUSA and ASGP. County general meeting will follow at 7 p.m. 

510-644-2293; www.greens.org/cal/alameda

In Latin American circles, “El Mano de Dios,” (the hand of God) usually refers to Argentine superstar Diego Maradona’s only slightly illegal fisting of the ball into the English net en route to victory in the 1986 World Cup. 

Closer to home, however, one can seemingly observe God’s right paw on Shattuck Ave.  

Atop La Peña Cultural Center’s incredibly eye-catching and colorful mural, a larger-than-life hand descends from the heavens to strum an equally gargantuan guitar. Except this is not the hand of God – it is the hand of Victor Jara.  

“He was a Chilean singer, songwriter, professor, theatrical artist and musician, and he brought Latin American music to the world. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, and even spoke at U.C. Berkeley in the late ’60s and early ’70s,” explains La Pena’s longtime financial manager Laura Ruiz. “He was loved by the world, but he was one of the thousands incarcerated after the (Chilean) military coup. And he actually met a very cruel and gruesome death.” 

At the outset of the Pinochet regime, Jara and others were marched into a large soccer stadium, tortured and executed while thousands looked on. Before his execution, Jara was allegedly forced to play his guitar, even after guards had severed his hands. It was as a result of this incredibly repressive environment that, thousands of miles away, La Peña was born.  

“Back in 1975, a small group of North Americans and Latin Americans decided they wanted to have a place similar to the peñas in Chile and Argentina,” explains Ruiz. “Essentially, peñas were gathering places for people, places where people could gather and exchange music and art over food and drink. A place where everybody was welcome. Largely as a result of the overthrow of the Salvatore Allende government, people came together and formed the idea to begin such a place in Berkeley.” 

So what started as an informal meeting place where folks primarily stayed abreast of Chilean issues has grown into an incredibly broad, complex nonprofit organization. La Peña puts on over 150 musical and theatrical performances a year, operates a restaurant, houses resident artists, offers classes, heads educational programs in local schools and provides meeting space to numerous other organizations. And like so many Berkeley nonprofits, La Peña is wondering how 25 years went by so fast.  

“Saturday we’re going to throw an all-day party for the community and people of all ages,” says La Pena’s development director Sylvia Sherman. “There’ll be Venezuelan music, Eastern Caribbean percussion, an Andean ensemble, Cuban songs, salsa music, flamenco and, of course, a huge birthday cake.” 

The musical diversity of the big party is truly fitting for an organization that emphasizes A. diversity, and B. music. Long before the current rekindling of popular interest in Afro-Cuban music, La Peña was fighting to obtain visas for great Cuban musicians, promoting their concerts and helping produce their records. Scores of Cuban artists – including legendary pianist Chucho Valdez – have graced La Pena’s 180-seat theater. 

And the cozy theater – along with the rest of the 3105 Shattuck Ave. complex – really are La Pena’s. One of the reasons the nonprofit has lived to be a quarter century old is because, unlike other organizations, it doesn’t have to eke out the perilous life of a renter. 

“Given the current real estate situation, if we didn’t own this building we could easily be out on the street,” says Sherman. “There was tremendous community support to help La Peña purchase the building (in the late ‘70s). Something that has been true over the years is that in the key moments the community really has come out and shown us the support that allows us to take the next step and keep growing.” 

Case in point: In 1995, the situation looked grim when it was revealed that La Pena’s home base was in dire need of retrofitting. The community rallied, however, raising over $100,000 to help pay for the repairs. And, on an everyday basis, a number of dedicated volunteers keep the center running. 

“We’ve hosted artists from Spain, North Africa, theater artists from Australia, a women’s chorus from the Balkans and a wide array of artists from Mexico, Central America, France and England,” says Ruiz. “I think that’s what we’re really proudest of. We’re a space open to all walks of life. The programs span so many peoples and cultures. People come to La Peña and keep coming back. They’ve found a home, a cultural center that very much reflects who they are.” 

Visit La Peña online at www.lapena.org

Landlord, tenant share view on rent control 

In a refreshingly vicious – and highly entertaining – response to my earlier letter about the case for rent stabilization on vacated housing, Leon Mayeri depicts me and a presumed band of “cohorts” as wanting to “return to the old system” (Letters, June 3). 

Actually, Mr. Mayeri might be surprised to learn that my fine landlord and I agree completely on a forward-looking package: Protect tenants through vacancy control, but protect landlords by granting reasonable annual rent increases tied to the inflation rate (or the prime rate). 

In fact, my landlord was even more incensed than I was by the Berkeley Property Owners Association’s (BPOA’s) campaign to ban vacancy control. He was motivated to send the BPOA a letter asking them to stop attacking a state legislator who had simply sought to restore local home rule over rent policy. 

As for Mr. Mayeri’s presumptions that I inhabit a “gold mine” at a “frozen rent most people only dream of”: My apartment, while very pleasant, is about the size of the phone booth in which Clark Kent of the original Daily Planet changed into Superman. Furthermore, my landlord is in the midst of a major seismic retrofit that will ultimately raise my rent substantially – and I have no quibble with that. 

And as for Mr. Mayeri’s remaining accusations about “irrational exuberance,” “hysterical...lunacy and chaos,” and “seeds [of] permanent destruction”: I could respond by that he is no doubt part of a tiny land-owning elite that has enjoyed a 40 percent-plus increase in average Berkeley rents in the last 15 months. An astronomical rate of return, far outperforming our technology-drunk stock market! 

But why would I want to do that? Put aside the goofy extremist rhetoric, and there’s plenty of room for Berkeley’s landlords and tenants to live together in peace. 

Michael Katz 

Berkeley 

Property owners distort facts about rent control 

As president of BPOA, a lobbying organization for landlords, Robert Cabrera continuously assaults Berkeley rent control. In a May 16 op-ed piece (Daily Planet), Mr. Cabrera recycles his side’s myths and distortions. He alleges “developers are loath to invest” in new housing construction because “the City of Berkeley has a full-time paid lobbyist in Sacramento whose No. 1 goal is the repeal of Costa-Hawkins, ...which guarantees that new construction will not be recaptured (sic) by rent regulation...To developers, Berkeley is too politically risky a city to invest in.” 

These contentions utterly misrepresent the treatment of new construction throughout the history of Berkeley rent control. To set the record straight: New construction was never “captured” by rent control in the first place. Rents on all units built after enactment of the Rent Stabilization Ordinance have always been free from regulation. That exemption is part of our local law; Costa-Hawkins did not change Berkeley rent control in this regard. 

What affordable housing defenders find objectionable in the Costa-Hawkins Act is not what it says about housing that has never been covered by rent control, but what it says about housing that is covered. This unwholesome piece of state legislation took away from Berkeley and other California cities the power to prevent rents on apartments from skyrocketing whenever old tenants move out and new tenants move in. (Rent increases during the same tenancy remain regulated.) Weakening of rent control has substantially worsened Berkeley’s affordable housing crisis at a time when the regional housing situation is becoming graver and graver. 

Silicon Valley’s economic boom has generated 200,000 new jobs but only 38,000 new housing units. This disparity has produced a ripple effect causing enormous rent increases across the Bay Area. 

Expanding the supply of housing is desirable. But whatever the barriers (reasonable and otherwise) to housing construction may be, rent control is not among them. Because Berkeley is a fully built-out city, land is so scarce here that enough new housing cannot be built to tame wildly increasing rents. 

Sensible, effective rent control is more needed now than ever before. 

Randy Silverman, Chair, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board 

Chris Kavanagh, member, Berkeley Housing Advisory Commission

The Fine Arts Cinema is again hosting live music accompanying silent film, as is their wont. This time it’s not local musicians making melodies for the movies but a four-piece combo, touring the West Coast with instruments and film canisters. 

The After Quartet has its show set up at the Fine Arts until Monday night to perform an original score for “The Man Without a World,” a black and white, silent Jewish film set in a “shtetl” of Poland. 

The band, consisting of trumpet (Brian McWhorter), guitar (Kyle Sanna), bass (Eric Warren), and drums (Aaron Trant), is traveling from Seattle to Los Angeles playing mostly one-night stands in museums lobbies and second- (or third-) run theaters. 

The five-night Fine Arts Cinema gig is the longest stay of the trip, and one of the most welcome ones. It’s the most legitimate theater space on the tour, according to McWhorter, who also said, judging from the third row seat after sound check Thursday afternoon, “it’s the most clean.” 

McWhorter composed the 28 movements for the film score, adding up to 98 minutes of music. The band members met at the University of Oregon in 1993, when they started improvising jazz, and recently they recorded McWhorter’s original score for Fritz Lang’s expressionistic masterpiece, “Metropolis.” 

“We wanted to contrast ‘Metropolis’ with a new silent film,” said McWhorter. New silent films being hard to come by, he posted a query on the Internet and came up with “The Man Without a World.” 

The film’s scrolling introduction reveals the turbulent history of Yevgeny Antinov’s 1928 work. The Soviet director’s penchant for “decadent sexuality, questionable politics and friendly reference to Trotsky” made him unpopular with Soviet officials on the eve of World War II. Commissioned by American capitalists for the lucrative “Jewish nostalgia market,” the film never made it to the States and sat, forgotten, in an obscure archive in Odessa. 

It looks like an extraordinarily well-preserved treasure. Film buffs who tolerate Eastern European archival silent films with their choppy, fragmented scenes projected at the wrong speed may register a note of artifice in the pristine images and, curiously, no missing sequences. It looks too good to be true. 

And, in fact, it isn’t true. “The Man Without a World” was made by Eleanor Antin in 1991. A highly regarded performance and installation artist, Antin imagined Antinov and constructed his “oeuvre.” “The Man Without a World” is Antin’s attempt to connect with her unrequited heritage – she has never set foot in a temple – while keeping an eye on the historical space between then and now. 

Few Fine Arts Cinema regulars will be taken by the charade. Although it looks (and sounds) like a silent film, the film has visual touches and a narrative sensibility of a modern film. The pans are a little too smooth, the close-ups linger a little too long, and the intertitles are a little too wordy to be mistaken for a genuine 1928 picture show. 

The man of the title is Zevi, a young Jewish man with poetic leanings who must choose between the bohemian artist’s life, filled with Anarchists and Zionists, and the quiet life of a shtetl tailor. Accordingly, he must choose between a traveling Gypsy dancer and his longtime sweetheart Rukheleh. Zevi runs off with the Gypsies while Rukheleh pines at home under the affections of the village butcher. 

“I focus on her a lot,” said McWhorter. “I sometimes feel for her more than Zevi.” 

Flashes of homoeroticism and radical political activism (complete with a big black ball with a bomb wick sticking out of it) take the storytelling out of its supposed early-century milieu. 

Antin’s masquerade is not a trick. It evokes a mood of a bygone era, when communism was the intellectual’s great social hope, and shtetls were still where the hearth was. Rather than point to early-century Jewish intellectual and cultural vibrancy in a period drama or documentary, Atin, here, has created her own artifact. Albeit artificial. 

Antin even had a musical score written for an organ. But that soundtrack has been removed to allow the After Quartet to play its own music.  

The music begins with acoustic guitar and concertina playing a lilting klezmer tune befitting the setting of the film’s story. Then, said McWhorter, it “creeps into a modern sounding score” as the instruments become electric, with the noise electricity allows. 

The music returns to a klezmer feel a few times during the performance, which can be loud and forceful, or softly ambient – particularly in the village scenes of wedding preparation where the festive gaiety of dress fittings and ritualistic bathings are tainted by the music’s poignant sadness. 

McWhorter wrote the music to allow for moments of improvisation, a tricky maneuver when your music needs to reflect the changing tones of different scenes. He said one of the challenges is getting the tempo right during the performance, so that the end of a measure equals the end of the scene. 

The After Quartet will take advantage of the extended stay at the Fine Arts Cinema by recording each performance. They say being able to settle into a space for five days allows them to get acquainted with the layout of the room and get some good sounds on tape. 

For showtime information, call the Fine Arts Cinema at 848-1143.

Imagine. 

You call the city with a dog-license question. You don’t know who to talk to, but get your question answered anyway – without endless transfers from department to department. 

City bureaucracy can be reinvented to serve citizens, say City Manager Jim Keene and a group of staff who have put together a group of projects they call “customer service initiatives.” 

And best of all, said the manager in a presentation to the council Tuesday night, the multi-layered initiative will be put in place by shifting staff and using already-budgeted funds. 

“We’ll restructure our existing resources,” said Budget Director Paul Navazio. 

The plan merges advanced technology with a human element. 

On the tech side, an advanced telephone system and computerized data tracking are to be put in place. 

The citizen will call a general city number and get a live receptionist – one of three people who will serve in this function. 

That person will be familiar with the top 300 kinds of requests the city gets, such as where to go for a dog license or to fight a parking ticket. The receptionist won’t simply give the caller the correct number. The staffer, trained to remain calm and polite, even in the face of an irate citizen, will stay on the line with callers to make sure the person gets transferred directly to the bureaucrat who can resolve the issue. 

If the issue is not immediately resolved, the receptionist would put the request into a computerized data tracking system that would monitor it, even continuously informing a manager that a specific problem had not been resolved. 

The system will have some advanced bells and whistles, such as the ability to attach a voice message to an e-mail. 

Navazio says one of the advantages of the system is the establishment of a hierarchy of needs. For example, a caller who reports a broken water main, will get assurance of it being fixed within a set timeframe, probably an hour or two. A person with a less pressing matter may be told, for example, that the problem will be fixed in three weeks. 

Navazio says people appreciate knowing exactly when their issue is going to be addressed, even it isn’t right away. 

The other piece of the multi-layered plan is called the Neighborhood Liaison Initiative. 

The idea is to break down the walls that divide city departments and get the bureaucrats working as teams to solve a problem. 

Here’s a real-life example: A frantic South Berkeley woman believes there is a prostitute operating out of a health club in her neighborhood. She called the Planning Department, but believed her complaint had not been heard. Actually, the department was looking at inappropriate signage at the business. When the business switched off the illuminated health club sign, planning staff believed the problem was solved. 

At the same time, other individuals had contacted the Police Department on the same matter. The two departments did not work together to solve the problem. 

And the citizen who had made the complaint was in the dark. She believed nobody was addressing the problem, although the police had it on a list of problems to address. 

Under the new initiative, a Neighborhood Liaison coordinator would bring together a multi-department team – in this case, the planning department and the police – to resolve the problem. 

And the complaining party would be informed of what steps the city was taking to resolve the question. 

Staff will include four neighborhood liaison positions, each responsible for a geographic quadrant of the city. 

An internal hiring process is already under way, something that irked some councilmembers who said they had been left out of the loop. 

Salary for the assistant-to-the-city manager positions will be $90,000 annually. This will likely be a salary hike for the individuals who get the job, just as it may be a raise for the three people who be transferred to the customer service “hub.” An eighth position will be a secretarial post to support the neighborhood liaisons. 

Navazio says that the increased salaries may be funded by using salaries for, say, 12 positions and paying eight people. The positions would be vacant positions. There would be no layoffs, he said. 

City staff gave the council its first report on the plan as part of a work session on the budget at last week’s meeting. Although the plan does not call for new expenditures – with the exception of a new “phase II” $880,00 telephone system – Navazio said it was important at this time to make the report and assure the council that the plan would not be a budget addition. 

The council already approved “phase I” telephones, for half the city offices, at $768,000. 

Staff underscored that the plan is still being finalized. 

With the announcement of the departure of the city manager, however, questions are being raised about whether the restructuring should be put in place before Keene leaves his post, or if a new city manager ought to carry through the restructuring.

SAN FRANCISCO – Theatre Bay Area, the largest regional theatre services organization in the nation, has named Cate Foltin as executive director following a nationwide search. 

Board President Derek Covert said in a press release that the board selected Foltin because of her “demonstrated passion for theatre and dedication to and knowledge of the field.” 

Foltin, 40, assumes her new position June 26. She brings more than 10 years experience in fund-raising at the local, state and national levels. She spent five years as a legislative analyst for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington, D.C., and six years as executive director of Stagecrafters Baldwin Theatre, a large community theatre in Royal Oak, Mich. 

“What attracted me to the job was that TBA has a great reputation as a service organization serving a range of theatres from the smallest to the largest, over a wide geographic area,” Foltin said in a press release. “It presents a whole array of opportunities and challenges.” 

She replaces Sabrina Klein, who resigned after five years to take on a new position as executive director of Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. 

Theatre Bay Area, founded in 1976, has 330 member companies and 3,200 individual members. For more information on TBA, visit www.theatrebayarea.org.

As a third-party candidate running against a popular congressional incumbent, Ellen Jefferds knows she has little chance of winning an election in November. But with nothing to lose, Jefferds wants to inform the public about alternatives to mainstream American politics. 

Jefferds, a Natural Law Party (NLP) candidate, spoke at a luncheon Friday afternoon at the Berkeley City Commons Club about her party and about voting in the 2000 election. 

Jefferds, who is running for Congress in the Ninth District for the first time against incumbent Democrat Barbara Lee, said it was her first time talking as a candidate and admitted that she was a bit nervous. 

“I have all respect for Barbara Lee, and I think amongst incumbents she is good person,” she said. “Although I still think that she is part of an establishment that is holding a monopoly on the American public right now. I think we need to break that open, just for the sake of getting new voices in there.” 

Jefferds moved to the Bay Area in 1967 to attend UC Berkeley. She is a current Albany resident and a member of the El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce. 

She began her speech, entitled “A Reason to Vote,” by explaining the importance of voting. She said that over half of the population and an astounding 89 percent of college students do not vote. Jefferds also offered that politicians today seem more interested in raising money for campaigns than improving the lives of Americans. 

Throughout her speech, Jefferds stressed the fact that voting for a third-party candidate isn’t necessarily wasting a vote. 

“Two-thirds of Americans say they are dissatisfied with their options,” she said. “What if they all vote for the same third party candidate? Then it isn’t a wasted vote.” 

Jefferds then discussed central issues for the NLP, including programs to improve health care, the education system, protecting the environment, and improving international relations. 

Most NLP candidates oppose the death penalty, but rather than supporting or opposing capital punishment laws, the party is trying to implement programs to improve crime rates. 

“Our emphasis is to shift people’s thinking away from punishment and towards preventing the crimes,” Jefferds said. “The idea is to shift the intentions from prosecution to prevention.” 

Similarly with abortion, Jefferds said that there should be a decrease in the number of abortions taking place – not because of legislation but because of education, as a result of birth control and more responsible behavior. 

In this year’s election, the NLP will have more than 1,000 candidates on the ballot in all 50 states, making it one of the largest third-party efforts in U.S. history. John Hagelin is running for president under the NLP, and three party members are U.S. Senate candidates. 

Jefferds admitted that she had little chance of defeating Congresswoman Lee in the November election, but said that she wants voters to be aware of third-party alternatives. Lee took 85 percent of the vote in the primaries. 

“Vote for what you believe in,” she said. “But look for new ideas. If you want to vote for the party you’ve been voting for for years, then do it, but not just out of habit.”

On Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and again on June 25 at 9:30 a.m., East Bay fire departments will conduct a Mutual Response Area-Training/Drill in Tilden Park. 

For the drills, the fire will be simulated only; there will not be any actual fire. Mutual Response Areas (MRAs) were developed after the 1991 Oakland/Berkeley Hills fire as a method to quickly control wild fires. They are a part of the annual training conducted during the fire season. MRA Drills are used for different fire departments to practice the communications and command skills needed to control fires. 

For more information about MRAs, contact the Berkeley Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief David Orth at 644-6665.

The East Bay Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group will sponsor a musical dialogue on June 17 at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Arts Magnet School Theater, located on Lincoln Street between Shattuck and Milvia. The concert, entitled “Arab and Jew: A Dialogue in Music,” will feature Ohad “Udi” Bar-David, an Israeli cellist, and Simon Shaheen, a Palestinian violinist and composer. 

Bar-David and Shaheen will play Middle Eastern music, including Jewish and Arab melodies. Bar-David began playing cello at age seven in Tel Aviv. Shaheen began studying the ‘ud as a child in the Palestinian village of Tarshiha in northern Israel. They both came to America to continue their musical pursuits. 

The event will benefit Open House in Ramle, Israel, which operates the Center for Jewish-Arab Co-Existence and a day care center for Arab Children. The East Bay Jewish-Palestinian Dialogue Group began meeting in 1998. Its members include American Jews, Palestinians, and others interested in working toward a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. 

For reservations and information, call Faye Straus at (925) 947-1543 or Hanan Rasheed at (925) 736-8026.

Office space throughout the East Bay is just about filled up, but three new office buildings are in the works for West Berkeley. 

The three planned buildings – one renovation and two new structures – will produce more than 40,000 square-feet of office space, some of which may be filled by technology companies. 

“We’ve had a hard time providing space for the rapidly expanding technology sector,” said Bill Lambert, the city’s manager of economic development, who described the 2 percent vacancy rate for office space in Berkeley as “incredibly low.” 

While he said the amount of new space these buildings will add is not huge, it will help meet the demand. 

Designer and developer Michael Goldin, who operates businesses from offices at 2332 Fifth St., has the zoning go-ahead to build two new buildings next door at 2336 Fifth in what is now an empty lot. He’s also planning to remodel the old vacant Berkeley Brass Foundry at 2629 Seventh St. 

He said a medium-size company could come into the foundry structure on an 8,000-square-foot plate, or a company could take the entire 21,000 square feet. One of the new buildings will be two-story, the other three-story, about 23,000 square feet. 

Goldin heads Goldin Design and Swervco, which involves design and fabrication of furniture and convenes the services of subcontractors, he said. With the new buildings he’ll take on the roles of developer and landlord. 

The new buildings will be mixed use, blending offices and live/work units. He plans three live/work units in the new structures. 

Goldin appreciates the West Berkeley zoning that allows for multiple uses. 

“It’s a dense region, people working and living there, retail area, all kinds of different businesses can happen here,” he said. 

The designer practices what he preaches; he and his wife, an artist, and their two children live near his offices in an industrial building. 

He compared the West Berkeley zoning that allows a diversity of uses with Europe’s mixture of homes and retail in the same general location, and he contrasted it with the Berkeley Hills, a strictly residential area. 

But there are problems with multiple use, he admits. Residents may have to live with industrial smells and noise or newcomers may complain about businesses that came long before they did. 

For the two new structures he wants to develop, he had to pass through Preliminary Design Review, zoning and Final Design Review stages with the city. 

Although the Berkeley Brass Foundry is not a landmark, he said they worked with the Landmarks Preservation Commission for five or six months. The entire process from pre-design to final approval took more than 16 months. 

Goldin wants to remove the wooden part in front of the Foundry and preserve the steel truss section in the back of the building that no longer will be zoned for industrial use. 

He believes the zoning process drains creative potential and feels it could be expedited. 

“We’re working within the required boundaries, and we passed,” he said. 

“We spent a lot of time to make the neighbors aware of the project and to listen to concerns. Everybody has the proper intentions. It’s very difficult to get through the process unscathed.” 

He wants to wire the new and remodeled buildings with fiber optic cable, and he envisions a “thumb key,” a high-tech mode of entry that would electronically identify occupants by their thumbprints. 

“We’re trying to make a project something out of the ordinary. 

“The whole reason I love design and the development is to support my habit as a designer. We want to create new ideas and exciting environments.” 

Friday, June 9 

“A Reason to Vote” 

Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 

Ellen Jefferds, Natural Law Party’s candidate for the Ninth Congressional District, will speak during this week’s meeting of the City Commons Club. Social hour begins at 11:15 a.m. Luncheon is served from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Speaker starts promptly at 12:30 p.m. Lunch is $11 or $12.25; admission to the speech is $1, free for students. 

510-848-3533 

Ensemble Anonymus 

Noon 

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Le Carrousel Du Roi 

4 p.m. 

Heather Farms Park, Walnut Creek 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Artaria Quartet 

5 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $18. 

510-642-9988 

American Bach Soloists 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $24, $30, $42. 

510-642-9988 

Tragicomedia, with soprano Suzie LeBlanc 

10:30 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $22. 

510-642-9988 

Saturday, June 10 

Spring Yard Sale 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

The Pacific Center holds this annual Yard Sale as a fund-raiser for its programs. Clean out your closets and donate all that usable stuff you don’t need anymore (please no computer equipment or old electronics). Donations can be left at the Pacific Center through Friday. Sale continues through Sunday. 

510-548-8283; 

www.pacificcenter.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

East Bay Open Studios 

11 a.m.-6 p.m. 

Various sites around the East Bay 

Artists will open their doors to the public this weekend for the 18th annual event. A number of artists are located here in Berkeley, as well as in other communities throughout the East Bay. 

510-763-4361; 

www.proartsgallery.org 

Live Oak Park Fair 

11 a.m.-6 p.m 

Live Oak Park, North Shattuck at Berryman 

This free event will feature dozens of booths with original art and handmade crafts. A variety of food and entertainment will be offered. This is the fair’s 30th anniversary. The event continues through Sunday. 

510-986-9337 

Rebel 

3 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Flanders Recorder Quartet 

8 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Paul Goodwin will be the guest conductor. 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $30, $40, $45. 

510-642-9988 

Pedestrian “Bike-In” Movie Night Party and Protest 

9 p.m. 

Underhill parking lot, Channing and College 

This week’s feature: “Clerks,” plus video activist shorts. Help transform a parking lot into a paradise every Saturday night this summer in protest of the University’s plan to build a new parking structure on the site. 

510-CREW-CUT; 

www.geocities.com/rickisyoung 

Ensemble Anonymus 

10:30 p.m. 

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $18. 

510-642-9988 

Sunday, June 11 

Spring Yard Sale 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

The Pacific Center holds this annual Yard Sale as a fund-raiser for its programs. Clean out your closets and donate all that usable stuff you don’t need anymore (please no computer equipment or old electronics). Donations can be left at the Pacific Center through Friday. 

510-548-8283; 

www.pacificcenter.org 

Live Oak Park Fair 

11 a.m.-6 p.m. 

Live Oak Park, North Shattuck at Berryman 

This free event will feature dozens of booths with original art and handmade crafts. A variety of food and entertainment will be offered. This is the fair’s 30th anniversary. 

510-986-9337 

East Bay Open Studios 

11 a.m.-6 p.m. 

Various sites around the East Bay 

Artists will open their doors to the public this weekend for the 18th annual event. A number of artists are located here in Berkeley, as well as in other communities throughout the East Bay. 

510-763-4361; 

www.proartsgallery.org 

Rhyme and Reason Open Mike Series 

2:30 p.m. 

UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2621 Durant Ave. 

The public and students are invited. Signups for the open mike begin at 2 p.m. Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright are scheduled to participate. 

510-234-0727; 510-642-5168 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra 

3 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Paul Goodwin will be the guest conductor. 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $30, $40, $45. 

510-642-9988 

Green Party Politics presentation and discussion 

6-7 p.m. 

Berkeley Grass Roots House, 2022 Blake St. 

Bud Dickinson will be giving his version of the History of the National Green Party: Why are there TWO? Discussion on Unity between Association of State Green Parties (ASGP) and Green Party USA (GPUSA). He has prepared a chart of the history, particularly the split between GPUSA and ASGP. County general meeting will follow at 7 p.m. 

510-644-2293; www.greens.org/cal/alameda 

Monday, June 12 

A Healthy Household 

6:30-9 p.m. 

City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

This workshop, sponsored by the Green Resource Center, will cover indoor air quality topics such as “to carpet or not to carpet,” non-toxic and healthy choices for interior finishes and cleaning methods, prevention and elimination of mold problems, and reduction of household allergens. Instructor: Jan Stensland. Cost: $30. 

510-845-0472; 

info@greenresourcecenter.org

ORINDA – Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” a slapstick comedy about a man who beats his rebellious wife into submission, reflects an Elizabethan social view that makes modern day audiences uncomfortable. 

But director Lillian Garrett-Groag has given a different and very exciting spin to “Taming of the Shrew” in the California Shakespeare Festival production currently running at Bruns Amphitheater in Orinda. 

In this Cal Shakes production, Mhari Sandoval plays Kate the shrew as a rebellious punk, with short, spiky hair, and boots under her dress. 

This Kate is a very physically violent person. She breaks windows. She attacks her sister Bianca with a pair of scissors, trying to injure her. 

When people see Kate coming, they run. She chases people, attacks them and beats them. 

At one point, Kate lobs what appear to be cow flops off the roof of a building onto people walking in the street below.  

After her father sets her up in an arranged marriage, Kate shoots her fiancé Petruchio (Triney Sandoval) with a canon, and celebrates when he gets wounded.  

In her relationship with Petruchio, who is at first her fiancé and later her husband, Kate is the physically violent person and the batterer. It’s usually staged the other way around.  

Petruchio does not strike Kate once during this fascinating production. When Kate first meets Petruchio, she attacks him and knocks him down. Kate repeatedly initiates physical fights with Petruchio, who is about her size, and she wins them. 

But Petruchio is game for the battle with Kate. Like kids on a jungle gym, they chase each other over the rooftops. 

When the two unexpectedly kiss, there is an electricity that shocks both of them. This is definitely a love story, and there is a powerful ka-chung force in their relationship. 

Still, Kate and Petruchio spend a long time making each other miserable before they can deal with their affection for each other. 

The current Cal Shakes production is quite powerful for about three-quarters of the play. Then some of the air goes out of it. 

That happens during the scene in which Petruchio torments Kate over clothes he has offered to buy her. The production seems to lose its power in this scene because it is re-stating old information about the relationship that the audience already knows. It never quite gets its amazing energy back on track again after this point. 

Further, Kate’s famous final speech on wifely duty and submission at the end of “Taming of the Shrew” is especially difficult to shoehorn into this production’s otherwise fascinating interpretation – although director Garrett-Groag has created some nice moments at the play’s end such as Petruchio’s own heart-felt kneeling submission to his wife during her speech. 

There are many wonderful performances in the current production. 

Real-life husband and wife team of Mhari Sandoval and Triney Sandoval get some serious electrifying chemistry going as Kate and Petruchio. This gold-digging Petruchio, in his punky, leather pants, is a good match for firecracker Kate.  

Stacy Ross plays Kate’s supposedly mild-tempered beautiful sister Bianca in a very interesting way as an angry, impatient, sexually promiscuous rebel with red stockings, red garterbelt and red underwear under her virginal white dress. 

Sharon Lockwood (Bianca’s elderly stuff-shirt suitor Grumio) has a funny scene with romantic rival Søren Oliver (Tranio) where they pitch their credentials to Bianca’s long-suffering father Baptista (well played by Julian Lopez-Morillas). 

Other amusing performances include Colman Domingo’s starry-eyed Lucento, another suitor of Bianca; Patrick Kerr as Petruchio’s bumbling, simpleton servant Grumio; and Amy Mordechai’s hookah-smoking Widow, an interesting spin on that small character. 

Sometimes Garrett-Groag’s staging has the look and style of an edgy, underground comic book. At other times, with all the running around that Kate’s chaos causes, it has a slapstick, Keystone Kops vaudeville feel. There are lots of silly walks. But the staging is also very graceful. 

Scenic designer Narelle Sissons has given this production both a Renaissance look and a punk sensibility. There are towers, but their window panes are broken. The walls are graffitied. 

The set’s dominant wine-red color suggests that the whole town and its people may be soaked in wine. 

A huge empty wooden picture frame far upstage frames the beautiful Orinda hillside behind the stage and effectively reminds us that we are watching a story. 

Tracy Dorman’s distinctive costumes include skirts and trousers for the townsfolk that are grape-stained at bottom from stomping in the grapes at harvest time – once again giving the impression that people in this world may drink a lot. 

Victor Avdienko’s sound design early on includes the effective shattering of glass each time Kate arrives. 

Garrett-Groag and Cal Shakes have created a funny, colorful, zany, odd, and offbeat sensibility to “Taming of the Shrew,” and an important rethinking of the story. Except for the problems at its very end, this is a terrific production. 

“Taming of the Shrew” plays Tuesday through Sunday, through June 24, at Bruns Amphitheater, just off Highway 24 in Orinda, one mile east of the Caldecott Tunnel. There is plenty of free parking, and a free shuttle from the Orinda BART station. For tickets call 510-548-9666, or visit the web site (www.calshakes.org). Dress warmly. 

Following the Sunday, June 18, 4 p.m. performance, there will be a free talk at the theater on “Creating, Directing and Staging Classics Now,” hosted by Cal Shakes’ new Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone and Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone.

After a week of speculation and closed-door huddles, the Tucson City Council voted unanimously Thursday morning to name Berkeley City Manager Jim Keene as Tucson’s next city manager. 

Keene’s start date is Aug. 21. Out of town attending a funeral, Keene could not be reached for comment Thursday. 

Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup praised the manager and the process by which he was selected. 

“There are three things we looked for: clear manager experience, someone who understands the Southwest culture, and (a person who has) real expertise in downtown redevelopment,” Walkup said in a phone interview Thursday morning. 

Keene served as manager for five years in Coconino County, Arizona, before coming to Berkeley in 1996. 

None of the Tucson councilmembers came to Berkeley to see the manager’s work first hand or to interview community members. But Walkup said the Los Angeles recruitment firm that narrowed 40 candidates down to five did go to Berkeley and assess the manger’s work. 

Walkup, a Republican leading a mixed partisan council of Republicans and Democrats, said he was particularly proud of the open selection process. 

The five finalists selected by the recruiting firm were interviewed by a panel of 15 citizens – each councilmember chose two participants and the mayor chose three. Keene was favored by 13 out of the 15 members, Walkup said. The citizens gave feedback to the council, which also interviewed the candidates, and the council made the selection. 

There was some give-and-take around salary and benefits, Walkup said. Keene’s salary will be $160,000 – $30,000 more than the current city manager. His current salary in Berkeley is $154,000, following a 9 percent increase last year. 

His start date comes sooner than the September date Keene had hoped for, but later than the July date Tucson asked for. He’ll only get about half the $700 per month car allowance he requested. 

Walkup said Keene’s first challenge in Tucson will “be sure you understand the people.” The manager will be working with a staff of 6,000. 

“He needs to understand how our system works,” Walkup said. 

Then, the manager will have to “become immersed in the establishment of our downtown,” Walkup said. There is a redevelopment project of about $400 million aimed at transforming Tucson’s downtown. It is built in a historic district, inhabited through the centuries by Native Americans, then the Spanish. So Keene will face the job of preservation while developing downtown, Walkup said. 

SUPPORTERS PRAISE MANAGER 

Mayor Shirley Dean was in Seattle at a mayor’s conference and unavailable for comment; however, Councilmember Polly Armstrong, another of Keene’s strong council supporters, said she refused to believe the move is a done deal. 

“I hope he doesn’t go,” Armstrong said, noting, however, “I understand why it is tempting to leave.” 

Armstrong pointed to “civil assault from a small group of people,” whom she declined to name. Keene has been under fire for a flawed first-round General Plan process, the erecting of a 170-foot communications tower downtown, and promotion of changes that would weaken the oversight of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

Armstrong praised Keene for his work on new “customer-service” initiatives. She also said she admired the manager for his non-hierarchical style of governance, which allowed creativity on the part of his subordinates. 

Armstrong said the manager could have got any position in the country he wanted. 

“His reputation nationally is extraordinary,” she said. 

She declined, however, to talk about the process for choosing a new manager. 

“I’m trying to encourage him to stay here,” she said. 

Rachael Rupert, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, seconded Armstrong’s praise for Keene. 

“Isn’t it ironic that we lost our second city manager to Tucson - both with good business sense,” she said, referring to former City Manager Michael Brown, who was city manager in Tucson for three years, after managing Berkeley from 1989 to 1993. 

Rupert said the city needs to look for a new manager with business sense and one who will carry out the bureaucratic restructuring Keene has proposed. 

The chamber would like to advise the city on the new manager’s selection. 

“Our chair would be more than honored to sit on a committee and be involved,” she said. 

“I’d like to de-politicize the process,” Rupert said, with a laugh, noting that it’s not likely to happen in this city. 

DETRACTORS LOOK TO FUTURE 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who has waged battle with the manager during his three years on council, said he is also looking forward to a selection process where the community can give its input. 

“I’m looking for someone who gives progressives and neighborhoods a chance,” he said, contending that Keene caused issues to bog down mired in the bureaucracy, when he disagreed with them. The Living Wage ordinance that took over a year to get before the council is an example, Worthington said. 

A new city manager should be sensitive to concerns such as affordable housing, historic preservation, neighborhood participation in decision-making and open government, he said. 

“The selection process should be discussed in public session,” he added. 

Pat McCullough, a city worker and shop steward for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, blames Keene for the more-than-a-year it took for his union to get a contract and for trying to change job descriptions without going through the union. 

He said the rank and file workers were also unhappy with Keene because of the impression that he favored managers over the workers. While workers got cost-of-living wage hikes, some managers got the possibility of much steeper raises. 

“When (former manager) Michael Brown was being selected, there was a way that we had to give input,” McCullough said. “I hope we’ll be involved.” 

THEATER 

AURORA THEATRE 

“Split” by Mayo Simon, June 1 through July 2. A mordant clear-eyed view of an older couple's love affair. $25 to $28. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. 

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE 

“Closer” by Patrick Marber, through July 9. A funny, touching and unflinchingly honest examination of love and relationships set in contemporary London. $38 to $48.50. Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; May 27, June 1, June 3, June 10, June 15, June 24, June 29 and July 8, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 845-4700 or (888) 4BRTTIX. 

CALIFORNIA 

SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 

“Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, June 3 through June 24. The classic romantic comedy of mismatched lovers forced into a union. $21 to $38 general; $19 to $38 seniors; $10 to $38 children. Wednesday and Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m.; June 13 and June 20, 7 p.m. June 24, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Bruns Memorial Amphitheatre, Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit on state Highway 24. (510) 548-9666 or www.calshakes.org 

LaVal’s Subterranean 

Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Yoni Barkan. The play will run from June 8 to July 8, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. each night. 1834 Euclid Ave. (510) 234-6046. 

MUSIC VENUES 

ASHKENAZ 

Ras Kidus, Shakaman, Foundation, Hurricane Gilbert and Majestic, P.O.D.E. Ville Man Dem-Unda P, Senagalese Dancers, DJ - Ashanti Hi Fi, June 9, 9:30 p.m. $11. 

Frog Legs, June 10, 9:30 p.m. Dance lesson with Dana de Simone at 8 p.m. included in price. $11. 

Requebra, June 11, 4 p.m. A children's Brazilian dance performance celebrating 500 years of Brazil. $7 to $9 teenagers; $5 children; free children under age 5. 

1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. (510) 525-5099 or www.ashkenaz.com 

BLAKES 

Psychokinetics, Felonious, June 9. $5. 

An Evening With Tang, June 10. $5. 

Doilies, June 11. $3. 

For age 18 and older. Music at 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. (510) 848-0886. 

FREIGHT AND SALVAGE 

Gunnar Madsen, June 9. $15.50 to $16.50. 

Jose-Luis Orozco, June 10, 10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. A children's concert and a benefit for Bahia. 

Mark Naftalin, June 10. $15.50 to $16.50. 

Darryl Purpose, June 11. With Daryl S. $13.50 to $14.50. 

Music at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 548-1761 or (510) 762-BASS. 

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER 

Amistades, June 9, 8 p.m. A CD release celebration featuring Rafael Manriquez and Quique Cruz. $12; $20 includes CD. 

3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

924 GILMAN ST. 

Plus Ones, Allison Williams. Smokejumpers, Sarah Bishop, Coleman Lindbergh, June 10. 

$5. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. (510) 525-9926. 

THE STARRY PLOUGH PUB 

Custard Pie, June 9. $5. 

Penelope Houston, Deborah Lyall, Valerie Esvray, June 10. $7. 

For age 21 and over. Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-2082. 

MUSEUMS 

UC BERKELEY ART 

MUSEUM 

“Master of Fine Art Graduate Exhibition,” May 20 through July 2. 

“Anne Chu/MATRIX 184 Untitled,” April 16 through June 18. 

“China: Fifty Years Inside the People's Republic,” through June 18. 

“Autour de Rodin: Auguste Rodin and His Contemporaries,” through August. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students ages 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 1 1 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-0808. 

HALL OF HEALTH  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level), Berkeley 

A hands-on community health education museum and science center sponsored by Children's Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. 

Free. For children ages 3 to 12 and their parents. 

(510) 549-1564 

LAWRENCE HALL 

OF SCIENCE 

“Experiment Gallery,” through Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

$6 general; $4 seniors, students and children ages 7 to 18; $2 children ages 3 to 6; free children under age 3. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

HABITOT CHILDREN’S MUSEUM 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

A museum especially for children age 7 and younger. Admission is $4 for adults; $6 child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child.  

Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (510) 647-1111 

JUDAH L. MAGNES MUSEUM 

2911 Russell St., Berkeley 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season,” through May 2002.  

Through Nov. 4: “Spring and Summer.” 

Free. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

(510) 549-6950

More than 80 percent of Berkeley voters would support a $125 million school bond if it appeared on the November ballot, a district-sponsored survey reports. 

But support for a special tax of 5 cents per square foot, which would be used for maintenance and fire safety at school sites, isn’t as strong – about 68 percent, slightly above the necessary two-thirds level, said they’d vote for the tax. 

Those results were presented Wednesday night to the school board, which must decide in the coming weeks whether to place the bond measure, the special tax or both items on the fall ballot. 

The school board directors were given a lot of numbers to chew on, including the possible support for the two measures if both were to be sent to voters. The survey by GLS Research found that only 47 percent of voters said they would vote for both measures, 21 percent would support only the bond and 9 percent would support only the tax. Twelve percent said they would vote against both measures, 4 percent said it would depend, and 6 percent were not sure. 

The telephone survey of 600 randomly selected registered voters was conducted between May 29 and June 1. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. 

A big concern for the school district is the presence of other bond or tax measures on the November ballot. The City of Berkeley is moving forward with several proposals, which have yet to be formally placed on the ballot, and the Peralta Community College District is considering its own construction bond, although some North County residents say it should be defeated if it doesn’t guarantee money for a new Vista College project. 

“Should you decide to proceed with the bond or the tax, or both, my sense is that this community will have to channel its passion for schools and its dedication for schools in an unprecedented manner into this campaign, because of the potential presence of so many other measures on the ballot,” said Paul Goodwin from GLS Research, who presented the survey findings to the school board. 

The $125 million figure for the possible bond was identified as the most feasible in the survey, in terms of community support and size to fund the necessary construction and repairs. A bond of $75 million had 83 percent approval, while a $175 million bond only received 49 percent approval in the survey. 

The school district says a new bond measure is necessary because Measure A, the $158 million measure approved by voters in 1992, is nearly out of funds and several major projects need to be completed. 

Work remains to be done at Berkeley High, Berkeley Adult School, King Middle, City of Franklin, and in the food program. The money also may be used for the warm water pool project at Berkeley High and the East Campus playing fields, although the latter project’s fate is still unclear. 

The tax measure would be used to fund corrective and ongoing maintenance at school sites around the district. A recent maintenance advisory committee report recommended that the BUSD double its current budget, from around $2 million to about $4 million. 

Voter education will be necessary for the tax measure, Goodwin said, which currently is not well understood by many voters. 

“Without a supreme effort of that kind, the tax clearly faces higher obstacles,” Goodwin said. 

Director Ted Schultz felt the district has a “good shot” at passing both measures with a strong, active campaign, a sentiment echoed by other board members. 

Board President Joaquin Rivera said it was vital to support new construction with the maintenance money. 

“We cannot keep building buildings without being able to maintain them, because all the money, time and effort that has been put into them will go down the drain in just a few years,” Rivera said. 

Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said a more refined proposal would come to the board on June 21 for discussion. Administrators said the formal language for any bond or tax measure must be delivered to the county by early August. 

This week the Center for Independent Living (CIL), Berkeley and Oakland, and the World Institute on Disability (WID), Oakland, received a three-year grant from The California Endowment to work on increasing the economic independence of people with disabilities in California. 

The CIL/WID partnership collectively contributed to the passage of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (TWWIIA) that will stem the tide of 72 percent unemployment among people with disabilities nationwide. 

For more information on the TWWIIA legislation, visit www.workincentives-healthcare.com or www.ssa.gov/work.

The Berkeley Arts Center’s Words in Collision: Summer Performance Arts Series begins this today and runs through Saturday, June 24. 

The series of six pieces runs on Friday and Saturday evenings beginning at 8 p.m. at the Art Center in Live Oak Park. 

“Most of the work is literature-based with a strong visual component,” director Robbin Henderson told the Daily Planet. 

The series was curated by Jaime Robles, poet and editor of the Berkeley poetry magazine, Five Fingers Review. The series kicks off tonight with “A Voice from the Fire,” a storytelling performance about an 18th century couple, poet/artist William Blake and his wife Kate, written by Betsy Davids and James Petrillo. The story will be accompanied by slide images of Blake’s work. 

Saturday’s performance is “Scout,” a slide-text presentation written and performed by the Canadian-born poet, painter and translator Norma Cole. Cole, who has lived in San Francisco for the past 20 years, has been the recipient of a Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation Award, Gertrude Stein Awards, and awards from The Fund for Poetry. 

The second week of performances starts June 16 with a reading by poets and writers from the “Livres de poètes (femmes)” exhibition. Carlos Barón will read “Impunity” by Eduardo Pavlovsky, an exiled Argentinean playwright on June 17. 

Performances conclude the following weekend with “subtitled,” an interdisciplinary performance and “Out of the Q,” a three-act play by Dale Going. 

In addition to the performance times, there will be special gallery hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. during the three-week span. 

“There will be a really interesting presentation of artists’ books and one-of-a-kind books,” Henderson said. “It is a quite interesting installation and most of the books can be handled.” 

Admission to all the performances is a sliding scale $7 to $10. The Berkeley Art Center is located at 1275 Walnut St.

The BART Board released the District’s draft Fiscal Year 2001 Short-Range Transit Plan (SRTP) and Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for public review. 

The board will hear public comments on those documents at its regular July 13 meeting, which will begin at 9 a.m. in the BART Board of Directors room at the District’s Oakland headquarters, 800 Madison St. 

The plans provide an analysis of BART’s operating and capital funding needs, priorities, and funding strategies through Fiscal Year 2010. Plans are required by the Federal Transit Administration and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. 

The SRTP is a management and financial planning tool providing a long-term perspective of the current year operating program that gives an overview of BART’s organization, facilities and fare structure. It contains plans for the next 10 years. 

The CIP is a management and planning tool for BART’s capital program and lays out the District’s approach to capital investment decision-making and capital funding strategy. 

The public can download the plans from BART’s web site at www.bart.gov/inside.planing/index. Hard copies can be requested at the web site or picked up at the BART Public Affairs Office, 800 Madison St., Oakland. They can also be picked up at the Berkeley Central Library.

Live Oak Park Fair held this Saturday, Sunday 

This weekend, the Live Oak Park Fair celebrates its 30th anniversary. The fair will feature entertainment, 100 artists and craftsmakers, and a variety of foods. 

Scheduled entertainers include Colibri, family music from Latin America; Culture Shock, a hip hop dance troupe; Jean-Paul Valjean, an Algerian world champion master of balance; Zappo the Magician, from the Bay Area; and Fat Chance Belly Dance, also from the Bay Area. 

The Live Oak Park Fair is Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Live Oak Park, on Shattuck Avenue. 

Free parking is offered at King Middle School. For more information, call 986-9337. 

Poets featured during Rhyme & Reason session 

Poets Juan Sequeira and Wanna Thibideux Wright will perform at the Rhyme & Reason Open Mike Series on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at the UC Berkeley Art Museum. 

The poets will be followed by an open mike session, three to five minutes each. Admission is free; signups begin at 2 p.m. 

The art museum is located at 2621 Durant Avenue. 

La Peña organizes 25th anniversary celebration 

This Saturday, La Peña Cultural Center celebrates 25 years of presenting world class talent and bringing arts and artists together to work for social change. There will be a party, “Street Fiesta en la Calle - Party en el Vecendario” beginning at noon at Prince Street and Shattuck Avenue, one block east of Ashby BART. 

Performers include spoken word, hip-hop, Andean music, flamenco and salsa. The indoor children’s stage will feature more performances. Valet bike parking will be provided. 

Ecology Center plans class on gardening 

The Ecology Center will offer a class June 17 on organic container gardening with Val Peters, local educator, writer and gardener. The class will be held at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $15 for members and $20 for non-members; pre-registration is strongly advised. For more information or to sign up, call 548-2220. 

– Daily Planet Staff

The Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education took more than an hour of its meeting Wednesday night to honor some of Berkeley High School’s outstanding students. 

The special recognition awards were recommended by School Board Director Pamela Doolan, who has a child graduating from BHS this year. 

• The women’s basketball team was honored for its success this season, winning the East Bay Athletic League and the North Coast Section. The team placed second in the state championship game at Arco Arena. Players Aisha Hollans, Erica McGlaston, Sabrina Keys, Robin Roberson and Angelita Hutton were recognized for their performances this year. Coach Gene Nakamura also was honored by the school board. 

• The men’s basketball team, the wrestling squad and Ivan Holmes from the boys golf team were recognized. The basketball team won the league title and made the section playoffs. Austin Nichols, David Doubley and Zillion Cash were honored. The wrestling team placed sixth in league, and Marcus Glass placed 14th at the state tournament. Glass, Parker Robinson, Misha Balmer and Warren Howe were recognized by the board. Holmes was the first BHS golfer to make the NorCal Championships, after placing fifth in the section tournament. 

• The women’s crew was recognized for its three groups making the finals of the state championships. The varsity pair, Juliet and Veronica Bonszkowski, earned a bronze medal at state, and the freshman 8 earned a gold. 

• The school’s five state qualifiers in track and field were recognized. Daveed Diggs, Simone Brooks, Katrina Keith, Aisha Margain, T’carra Penick and Raqueta Margain all competed in last weekend’s state meet in Cerritos, and the girls earned second place in total team points. The girls 4x100 relay won the state championship. 

• The school’s chess team – Andrew Fan, David Petty, Simion Kreimer, Eric Plamer and Nicholas Gilbert – took second place in the state championship. Petty placed fifth in individual competition, Fan took seventh and Kreimer came in 17th in the state. 

• Nine students were honored for qualifying for the American Invitational Mathematics Exam: James Bloomsburgh, Lawrence Evans, Andrew Fan, Marcus Graly, Daniel Krause, Andrew Robinson-Sum, Morgan Sonderegger, Miriam Sorell and Jin Yu Yang. 

• The Berkeley High Jacket was recognized for its awards and accomplishments this year, including a Pacemaker award from the National Scholastic Press Association/Journalism Education Association; and the George H. Gallup Award, from the Quill and Scroll, the international honor society for high school journalists. The Mayor’s Award recognition went to Illiana Montauk and Megan Greenwell for their work on the Indian immigrant story, Varun Paul and Katie Flynn for their work on the fire story, and Steven Barrie-Anthony for his overall leadership. 

• Youth Radio was honored for its Silver Baton Award from the Alfred I. duPont Columbia University School of Journalism, presented for excellence in broadcast journalism, for the series of e-mails from Kosovo that aired on National Public Radio during 1999. The organization’s Youth Voices on Kosovo was also recognized. BHS student Finnegan Hammill began the series through his correspondence with Adona during the war, and Bella Mayeno-Choy of Berkeley gave voice to the e-mails. 

• Emma Bassein was recognized for winning the 2001 Congressional Seminar Essay Contest, and Sarah Wakeman won the “Avoid the 21” campaign essay contest. 

• Dan Seeman won the National Conference for Community and Justice High School Press Award for his essay “Who’s Failing Who?” 

• Rebecca Witcox and Jonah Van Bourg won the Etude Club of Berkeley’s music competition. 

• BHS orchestra director Karen Wells was recognized for her work in helping the orchestra grow and improve since the fall of 1994. 

• The BHS Jazz Ensemble and Combo participated in the Monterey 30th Annual High School Jazz Competition. The groups won first place in the Combo division and second place in the Big Band division. Seven BHS students auditioned and were chosen for the Monterey High School All-Star Band: Charles Altura, Tom Altura, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jonathan Finlayson, Cole Brandley, Jacob Fiss-Hobart, and David Grunwald. The Ensemble and Combos also were the sweepstakes winners at the Reno Jazz Festival in April. 

• Molly Berger was honored for her selection as the Ninth Congressional District winner in the 19th Annual Congressional High School Art Competition. Her work goes on display June 20 in Washington, D.C., where it will remain for a year. 

• Berkeley Alternative High School art teacher Larry Stefl and student Louis Rubio have been chosen to participate in an art exchange program in Paris this summer. 

• The board honored winners in recent poetry slam competitions, including Niles Xi’an Lichtenstein, who won first place at the fourth annual Youth Speaks Regional Poetry Finals; and the trio of Lichtenstein, Chinaka Hodge and Daniel Palou, who performed a group poem and earned a perfect score.

The City Council took a preliminary look Tuesday night at the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. 

There was not a lot to look at. 

Most the city’s expenses were set in stone last year, when a two-year almost $500 million budget was approved. 

For the next fiscal year there’s only about $3 million that has not been allocated. The city manager and council will divvy it up. 

Much of Tuesday night’s meeting was set aside for City Manager Jim Keene and his staff to present their priorities, in the context of the budget. That included about $2 million for projects the manager sees as vital to the city. 

If councilmembers accept the manager’s priorities, that would leave about $1 million for them to spend on their priority projects. 

At Tuesday’s meeting, some 40 people representing various community organizations pled their causes, asking for funding from the council. Other requests have been presented and still more are trickling in to the mayor and council offices. The needs described include improvements at the animal shelter, funds for developing programming at the local cable television station, funds for a variety of work with homeless adults and youth, money for bicycle and pedestrian safety, after school tutoring, youth jobs, arts projects – and the list goes on. 

If all the requests submitted to the council to date were honored, they would add up to about $12.5 million. 

The manager’s priorities include sidewalk repair, building maintenance, extra time to write and review the city’s General Plan, new staff for the city clerk’s office, telephone upgrades, a loan to the Freight & Salvage, fee waivers, a pension fund audit, increased police costs to transport prisoners to Oakland, due to the reduction of services in the Berkeley courts, and federally mandated disaster insurance. The total comes to about $2 million. 

At either next week’s council meeting or the one following it, the mayor and the vice mayor will each present recommendations for funding. 

Mayor Shirley Dean said she hopes to have her list ready by June 13, but a trip to a mayor’s conference – she’ll be in Berkeley just in time for the evening meeting – may cause her to delay her presentation until June 20. 

The range of needs is great and the task of deciding funding is not an easy one, the mayor said. 

Dean hopes, in part, to evaluate the requests by favoring projects already under way but only partially funded. 

“We can’t just start things and abandon them before they are done,” Dean said. 

For example, there were to be poems embedded in the sidewalk of the new Addison Street arts district. Bond funds were supposed to be set aside for that purpose, but the funding came up short, so the project is incomplete, Dean said. 

The Interstate 80 wheelchair/bike/pedestrian overpass is another example of a partially funded project. It lacks lighting, stairs and other amenities in the original plans. 

“We need to be really cautious,” Dean said. 

She characterized the process by which requests are considered by the council as “insane.” 

Councilmembers or organizations seeking funds for projects first go through a process of having the council vote to refer the project to the budget process. Then there is a final council vote on the budget. 

“There are so many good causes. The (dual) process raises expectations,” Dean said. People believe once their request has been “referred,” that the funds are theirs. 

Some projects have not even made the list, Dean added. 

“How are we going to move the antenna tower?” she asked, referring to the 170-foot communications tower next to the new Public Safety Building, which neighbors are fighting. 

The vice mayor plans to put forward competing recommendations. Several of the five members of the liberal/progressive council faction will help write the document, said Councilmember Linda Maio, who will take the lead on the budget work. 

No more than four councilmembers participate in the process, due to limitations imposed by the state’s open meeting law. 

Figuring out which of the requests to honor will be difficult, Maio said. “It’s the hardest thing that happens” on the council. 

Low-income housing will be one of the priorities, she said. 

Maio said that she hopes the council will look at the big picture. 

For example, arts funding is a priority, but it is buried in the nicks and crannies of the budget, rather than in one clear section called “arts projects.” 

For example, the city is funding the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, improvements to the arts district, after-school arts funding, and more, she said. 

Sometimes the mayor or the liberal/progressive coalition will take funding away from the manager’s recommendations. 

But Maio did not appear eager to do so. 

“I want to be sure staff has enough to do their brick and mortar things,” she said. 

Thursday, June 8 

Tai Chi Chuen with Henry Chang 

9 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

John Butt, organ and harpsichord concert 

Noon 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Paul O’Dette, Vihuela and Baroque guitar 

5 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $22. 

510-642-9988 

Community Health Commission 

6:45 p.m. 

Mental Health Clinic, 2640 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

Among the items to be discussed is the city’s health disparities report. 

Zoning Adjustments Board 

7 p.m. 

Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

A four-story mixed use project at 2700 San Pablo Ave., proposed by Patrick Kennedy and Gordon Choyce is will be discussed. Kennedy and Choyce want to demolish the existing building, and construct a 46,074-square-foot building that would exceed the maximum height allowed in that area. Proposed commercial use includes “quick service food use.” The developers will be bringing changes proposed for the project to the meeting, so staff is recommending that the board take no action on the project until June 22. 

Berkeley High School Chamber Orchestra 

7:30 p.m. 

The Crowden School, Sacramento and Rose streets 

This is the final concert for the year. Over a dozen chamber groups will perform music ranging from Mozart to Hindemith. Admission is free. 

510-644-8810 

North East Berkeley Association meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 

The association will elect its board of directors, discuss the proposed “Neighborhood Services Initiative,” and get updates on the General Plan and the Hills Firehouse. 

“The Good News” 

8 p.m. 

Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. 

Third-graders from Cragmont Elementary School will perform their musical farce based on the confrontation between KPFA and the Pacifica corporation. Donations are $5 for adults and $1 for children. 

510-525-6058 

Rebel 

8 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

The King’s Noyse 

10:30 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $22. 

510-642-9988 

Friday, June 9 

“A Reason to Vote” 

Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 

Ellen Jefferds, Natural Law Party’s candidate for the Ninth Congressional District, will speak during this week’s meeting of the City Commons Club. Social hour begins at 11:15 a.m. Luncheon is served from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Speaker starts promptly at 12:30 p.m. Lunch is $11 or $12.25; admission to the speech is $1, free for students. 

510-848-3533 

Ensemble Anonymus 

Noon 

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Le Carrousel Du Roi 

4 p.m. 

Heather Farms Park, Walnut Creek 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Artaria Quartet 

5 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $18. 

510-642-9988 

American Bach Soloists 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $24, $30, $42. 

510-642-9988 

Tragicomedia, with soprano Suzie LeBlanc 

10:30 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $22. 

510-642-9988 

Saturday, June 10 

Spring Yard Sale 

Pacific Center, 2712 Telegraph Ave. 

The Pacific Center holds this annual Yard Sale as a fund-raiser for its programs. Clean out your closets and donate all that usable stuff you don’t need anymore (please no computer equipment or old electronics). Donations can be left at the Pacific Center through Friday. Sale continues through Sunday. 

510-548-8283; 

www.pacificcenter.org 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

10 a.m.-3 p.m. 

Center Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

Live Oak Park Fair 

11 a.m.-6 p.m 

Live Oak Park, North Shattuck at Berryman 

This free event will feature dozens of booths with original art and handmade crafts. A variety of food and entertainment will be offered. This is the fair’s 30th anniversary. The event continues through Sunday. 

510-986-9337

THEATER 

AURORA THEATRE 

“Split” by Mayo Simon, June 1 through July 2. A mordant clear-eyed view of an older couple's love affair. $25 to $28. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. 

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE 

“Closer” by Patrick Marber, through July 9. A funny, touching and unflinchingly honest examination of love and relationships set in contemporary London. $38 to $48.50. Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; May 27, June 1, June 3, June 10, June 15, June 24, June 29 and July 8, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 845-4700 or (888) 4BRTTIX. 

CALIFORNIA 

SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 

“Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, June 3 through June 24. The classic romantic comedy of mismatched lovers forced into a union. $21 to $38 general; $19 to $38 seniors; $10 to $38 children. Wednesday and Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m.; June 13 and June 20, 7 p.m. June 24, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Bruns Memorial Amphitheatre, Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit on state Highway 24. (510) 548-9666 or www.calshakes.org 

LaVal’s Subterranean 

Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Yoni Barkan. The play will run from June 8 to July 8, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. each night. 1834 Euclid Ave. (510) 234-6046. 

MUSIC VENUES 

ASHKENAZ 

Grateful Dead DJ Night, June 8, 10 p.m. With Digital Dave. $5. 

Ras Kidus, Shakaman, Foundation, Hurricane Gilbert and Majestic, P.O.D.E. Ville Man Dem-Unda P, Senagalese Dancers, DJ - Ashanti Hi Fi, June 9, 9:30 p.m. $11. 

Frog Legs, June 10, 9:30 p.m. Dance lesson with Dana de Simone at 8 p.m. included in price. $11. 

Requebra, June 11, 4 p.m. A children's Brazilian dance performance celebrating 500 years of Brazil. $7 to $9 teenagers; $5 children; free children under age 5. 

1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. (510) 525-5099 or www.ashkenaz.com 

BLAKES 

Ripe, JDogs, June 8. $4. 

Psychokinetics, Felonious, June 9. $5. 

An Evening With Tang, June 10. $5. 

Doilies, June 11. $3. 

For age 18 and older. Music 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. (510) 848-0886. 

FREIGHT AND SALVAGE 

Rory Block, June 8. $17.50 to $18.50. 

Gunnar Madsen, June 9. $15.50 to $16.50. 

Jose-Luis Orozco, June 10, 10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. A children's concert and a benefit for Bahia. 

Mark Naftalin, June 10. $15.50 to $16.50. 

Darryl Purpose, June 11. With Daryl S. $13.50 to $14.50. 

Music at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 548-1761 or (510) 762-BASS. 

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER 

Don't Look Back, June 8, 6 p.m. $5 to $25. 

Amistades, June 9, 8 p.m. A CD release celebration featuring Rafael Manriquez and Quique Cruz. $12; $20 includes CD. 

3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

924 GILMAN ST. 

Plus Ones, Allison Williams. Smokejumpers, Sarah Bishop, Coleman Lindbergh, June 10. 

$5. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. (510) 525-9926. 

THE STARRY PLOUGH PUB 

Carlos, Fluke Starbucker, Replicator, June 8. $5. 

Custard Pie, June 9. $5. 

Penelope Houston, Deborah Lyall, Valerie Esvray, June 10. $7. 

For age 21 and over. Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-2082. 

MUSEUMS 

UC BERKELEY ART 

MUSEUM 

“Master of Fine Art Graduate Exhibition,” May 20 through July 2. The 13th annual exhibit of work by candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree. Artist Talk, May 21, 3 p.m. At Gallery 2. 

“Anne Chu/MATRIX 184 Untitled,” April 16 through June 18. The exhibition features a selection of Chu's T'ang dynasty funerary figures sculpted following her travels to Xian and Guangdong. The wooden figures range in height from 28 inches to over six feet.  

“China: Fifty Years Inside the People's Republic,” through June 18. The work of 25 Chinese and Western photographers explores half a century of social and political upheaval in this unusual exhibit. The 200 photographs, both black-and-white and color, cover the many regions, cultures and people that make up China as well as the mix of traditional life and the modern one. 

“Autour de Rodin: Auguste Rodin and His Contemporaries,” through August. An exhibit of 11 bronze maquettes on loan from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in Los Angeles. The bronzes range in style from the artist's classically inspired “Torso of a Woman” to the anguish of “The Martyr.” Some of the maquettes were cast during Rodin’s lifetime, others have been cast fairly recently under the aegis of the Musee Rodin which alone is authorized to cast his sculptures posthumously. 

$6 general; $4 seniors and students ages 12 to 18; free children age 12 and under; free Thursday, 1 1 a.m. to noon and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley. (510) 642-0808. 

HALL OF HEALTH  

2230 Shattuck Ave. (lower level), Berkeley 

A hands-on community health education museum and science center sponsored by Children's Hospital Oakland and Alta Bates Medical Center. Free. For children ages 3 to 12 and their parents. (510) 549-1564 

LAWRENCE HALL OF SCIENCE 

“Experiment Gallery,” through Sept. 10. Step inside a giant laboratory and experiment with concepts surrounding sound, light, mechanics, electricity, and weather. 

$6 general; $4 seniors, students and children ages 7 to 18; $2 children ages 3 to 6; free children under age 3. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley. (510) 642-5132 or www.lhs.berkeley.edu 

PHOEBE HEARST MUSEUM 

Kroeber Hall, UC Berkeley 

“Modern Treasures from Ancient Iran,” through Oct. 29. This exhibit explores nomadic and town life in ancient and modern Iran as illustrated in bronze and pottery vessels, and textiles. 

“Pana O’ahu: Sacred Stones – Sacred Places,” through July 16. An exhibit of photographs by Jan Becket and Joseph Singer. 

Wednesday through Sunday 10 am -4:30 pm; Thursday until 9 pm (Sept-May) 

(510) 643-7648 

HABITOT CHILDREN’S MUSEUM 

Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 

A museum especially for children age 7 and younger. Highlights include “WaterWorks,” an area with some unusual water toys, an Infant Tree for babies, a garden especially for toddlers, a child-scale grocery store and cafe, and a costume shop and stage for junior thespians. The museum also features a toy lending library. 

Admission is $4 for adults; $6 child age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child.  

Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

(510) 647-1111 

JUDAH L. MAGNES MUSEUM 

2911 Russell St., Berkeley 

“Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season,” through May 2002.  

An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. Highlights include treasures from Jewish ceremonial and folk art, rare books and manuscripts, contemporary and traditional fine art, video, photography and cultural kitsch. Through Nov. 4: “Spring and Summer.” 

Free. Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (510) 549-6950. 

GALLERIES  

BERKELEY PUBLIC LIBRARY, SOUTH BRANCH 

“You’re Blase: The Art of Nick Mastick,” May 15 through June 15. An exhibit of collages. Free. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 1901 Russell St., Berkeley. (510) 644-6860. 

GRADUATE THEOLOGICAL UNION 

“On Common Ground.” through June 23. This exhibit is a portrait of faith-based communities in Los Angeles. 

“Finding the Sacred Mountain,” through June 20. An exhibit of sumi-e and watercolors by Robert Kostka. 

Free. Monday through Thursday, 8:30 am. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 7 p.m. Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd., Berkeley. (510) 649-2541. 

KALA INSTITUTE 

“Markings/Imprints,” through July 28. The 2000 Kala Art Institute Fellowship Awards Exhibitions, Part I, featuring works by Susan Belau, Liliana Lobo Ferreira, and Jamie Morgan. 

Free. Tuesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Workshop Media Center Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave., Berkeley. (510) 549-2977. 

NEW PIECES GALLERY 

“Progressions: the Quilt as Art,” through June 29. An exhibit of quilts by Jill Le Croisette. 

“Go We to the Revels Masked,” through June 29. An exhibit of dolls by Elise Peeples. 

Free. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1597 Solano Ave., Berkeley. (510) 527-6779. 

A PIECE OF ART 

Jane Fox, Mixed Media Works, April 27 through June 10, with an artist reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 1. Ongoing new works by Gallery Artists in ceramic, metal, glass, wood and works on canvas and paper. Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment. Closed Monday and Tuesday. 

701 University Ave., in the parking lot across from Spenger’s. (510) 204-9653. 

TRAYWICK GALLERY 

“nudge,” May 17 through June 18. An exhibit of new work by Terry Hoff. Reception, May 17, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Artist Talk, June 9, 10:30 a.m. 

Free. Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. 1316 10th St., Berkeley. (510) 527-1214. 

To publicize an upcoming event, please submit information to the Daily Planet via fax (841-5695), e-mail (calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com) or traditional mail (2076 University Avenue, 94704). Calendar items should be submitted at least one week before the opening of a new exhibit or performance. Please include a daytime telephone number in case we need to clarify any information. 

A contract that will make Berkeley teachers’ salaries more competitive with their peers passed its final hurdle Wednesday night. 

The Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education unanimously approved the four-year contract agreement, which will increase salaries by 11.5 percent over the first two years of the deal. 

Earlier in the board meeting, Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike announced that the contract was ratified by more than 90 percent of teachers who participated in the union vote. Turnout was high, he noted, with about three-fourths of the union’s membership participating. 

A total of 525 union members voted, and 481 of them – 91.6 percent – supported the contract. The agreement was approved at every site, and some schools delivered unanimous votes of approval. 

“This huge vote not only signifies a huge victory for us, but also a significant opportunity,” Fike said, encouraging the union and the district to turn attention to alignment, budget restructuring and internal department reforms. 

The approved contract will raise K-12 teachers’ salaries 2 percent for the current year, retroactive to July 1, 1999. An additional 9.5 percent raise will be given during the 2000-2001 school year. 

“It’s a win-win agreement, and I’m going to be proud to sign that contract,” Board Vice President Terry Doran said before the board’s vote. 

The agreement calls for starting teachers to be paid $36,337 – current entry-level pay is $31,278 – and educators on the top end of the pay scale will see their salaries increase from $54,846 to $63,335. 

More increases will occur in the two subsequent years, to make the district’s salaries even more competitive. The union and district have agreed on a list of 30 other school districts around the state – 18 in the greater Bay Area and 12 in Southern California – that will be the gauge to determine how much the BUSD will raise its salaries. 

By the 2002-2003 school year, Berkeley must reach the rank of 15 of the total 31 districts, based on a complex financial formula. The BUSD must be halfway there by the 2001-2002 school year. 

The initial 11.5 percent increases will cost the district around $3.2 million, and will be funded through a combination of new revenue from the state and cuts in the BUSD’s budget. Board President Joaquin Rivera said every effort should be made to ensure that the cuts will have the “least effect on the classroom.” 

Pay also will be increased for other teachers represented by the BFT, including Berkeley Adult School teachers, early childhood education instructors, substitutes, and instructors who are paid via stipends or on an hourly basis. 

Under the agreement, neither side can “reopen” the compensation issue before the end of the contract. 

The vote closes the book on a contentious 14 months of negotiations, which began as part of the regular process that allows each side to “reopen” two articles of the contract each year. For months, the negotiating process remained a rather private one, until in early 2000, when the union became more vocal and more public in its discontent with the state of negotiations. 

In March, the two sides reached an impasse and called for a state mediator to step in to help them reach an agreement. Teachers held rallies on the steps of Old City Hall, a parent activist group threatened a student strike, and the mediator declared a press and information blackout. 

Finally, in the early morning hours of May 25, after a second consecutive marathon negotiation session, the two sides reached an agreement. 

At least one board member felt that even though the contract will benefit the community, the process for reaching that agreement was not beneficial. 

“I think a lot of damage was done to this community in the negotiations this year, and I think it’s very harmful to public education when we’re not working totally collaboratively,” said Pamela Doolan, who did vote for the contract.

The Tucson City Council will hold an executive session at 10 a.m. today to discuss the appointment of its next city manager, according to the city clerk’s office. 

Berkeley City Manager Jim Keene tops the list, confidential sources told the Arizona Star, in a story printed by the paper Tuesday. 

Tucson Councilmember Jose Ibarra is quoted in Tuesday’s Tucson Citizen, the city’s afternoon paper, also saying that Keene is that city’s choice. 

The city’s mayor and council are not returning press calls until the selection is made, an aide to the mayor told the Daily Planet. 

Wednesday’s Tucson Citizen reported that Ibarra is under investigation by the Arizona’s attorney general’s office for allegedly speaking to the Tucson Citizen about discussions in the executive session. 

Ibarra is quoted in Wednesday’s Tucson Citizen, saying he never disclosed what went on in closed session. 

“The Tucson Citizen stands by its story,” says the Wednesday story that carries no byline.

About half of the 60 or so people gathered at the Lutheran Church of the Cross Monday night were unhappy with plans to build low-income/special-needs housing in the 1700 block of University Avenue. 

The building would block a neighbor’s sunlight, bring drug users into the area, take parking from commercial neighbors and add to the congestion on University Avenue, they said. 

The other half of the group – some project neighbors and some advocates for the elderly and disabled – looked at the housing much differently. It would bring life and safety to a block otherwise deserted at night, allow disabled people to visit their neighbors because all the units would be accessible, help people live productive lives as a result of the services provided to them at the project, they said. 

The nonprofit developers, Affordable Housing Associates, will ask the City Council next week for a $487,000 loan to help purchase the property. The rest of the $1.1 million purchase price is expected to come from private sources. 

Volunteers from the Berkeley Dispute Resolution Services moderated what might otherwise have become a contentious meeting. 

Developer Ali Kashani, AHA’s executive director, described the project as a 29-unit building, with 20 two-bedroom and nine three-bedroom apartments, above commercial space and a community room. 

Disabled tenants will be housed in at least 40 percent of the units. The units will be affordable to persons with very low to moderate incomes, from about $900 per month, to moderate income of $2,000 per month. 

Some people with lower incomes may get apartments if they have Section 8 certificates. 

Toolworks, a nonprofit organization, will provide services for the tenants, such as teaching them to interview prospective attendants. Services will be based on needs of the tenants. Another organization, Hearth Homes, will help raise funds for the services. 

The purpose of Monday’s meeting was for the developer to present the project and for the neighbors to give feedback. 

Several people who live near the proposed building argued that the project would hurt neighboring businesses, whose employees and customers now park in the lot where the project would be built. 

But Kashani answered that because the land is for sale, a for-profit developer would surely have built an even larger project, with less parking. Kashani said he is providing 47 parking spaces, seven for the commercial establishments on the site. The spaces that tenants do not need will be leased to neighboring commercial establishments, he said. 

Another neighbor of the project, Louise Francis, noted that this was a neighborhood of families with small children. 

“We’ve had horrible experiences with neighbors with mental disabilities,” she said. 

Kristy Feck of Toolworks said that people with psychiatric disabilities would be among the people who may live in the units. However, all tenants would be screened to make sure they have the ability to live in a community setting and add to it in a positive way. People who cannot live independently will not be permitted to live in the project, she said. 

Some people asked to be involved in the tenant-screening process, but Kashani said that would not be legal. 

Others said they were concerned that the height of the building would block sunlight and destroy the privacy of neighbors. They said a two-story building would be more appropriate for the area. 

But Berkeley Way neighbor Larry Bilick noted that there are a number of four-story and three-story buildings already in the neighborhood. He pointed out that he couldn’t afford to buy his own house, at current prices, and was “proud that (the new residents) would be moving into our neighborhood.” 

“I’ll be there on the first day to welcome them in,” he said. 

In a covert narcotics surveillance operation Tuesday, police detained a man at 4:55 p.m. in the 1200 block of Haskell Street. Miller said he was either on probation or parole and he was found in possession of six individually wrapped bags of marijuana for sale. 

Demond Spikes, 20, of Berkeley was booked on charges of possessing and selling marijuana.

There’s just a little wiggle-room – about $1.5 million – for additions to the new fiscal year budget, under discussion by the council at tonight’s meeting. 

Most of the approximate $250 million budget is made up of “fixed” costs, such as personnel, or already-allocated funds. The 2000-2001 budget, which kicks in July 1, is the second year of the council’s first two-year budget. 

Groups vying for a piece of the unallocated funds are expected to line up at the public hearing, but the council is not expected to make final budget decisions until later this month. 

The Telegraph Area Association, asking for $55,000 is one of them.  

Although she will be supporting the request, Councilmember Dona Spring said she has been asking the association for years to become more self-sufficient and to reduce its dependence on the city. 

She pointed to the North Berkeley Merchants Association and the University Avenue Merchants Association which generally receive much smaller amounts of funding. 

But TAA executive director Kathy Berger argues that her association is much more than a merchants’ group. 

Students, long-term residents, representatives of nonprofit organizations, merchants, university representatives and an ex-officio city representative sit on the TAA board. 

“We bring all these folks together,” Berger said, likening the TAA to a development corporation, which advocates for the development of an area and not a sector, such as merchants. 

Organizing neighborhood watch programs is among the association’s activities. The Telegraph Avenue area is different from other Berkeley neighborhoods in that many of its residents are transient. So it is much more difficult to start a neighborhood watch group or a neighborhood association there, Berger said. 

“A resident will call us (when there’s been a break-in) and we’ll bring the neighbors together,” Berger said. Or they could get neighbors together to lobby a landlord to make repairs to a building. 

The association is trying to get a grant to hire a part-time organizer to help the area prepare for a catastrophic earthquake. 

The south-of-campus area has a number of characteristics particular to it, that make earthquake preparedness a priority. 

It has numerous soft-story buildings - apartments with the garage on the ground floor of the building. Many of these kinds of buildings failed during the January 1994 Northridge earthquake. There are a number of unreinforced masonry buildings that have not been retrofitted. 

“There are a lot of absentee landlords” who own these buildings, Berger said. 

It is the third-densest area in the Bay Area, with only Daly City and areas of San Francisco that are denser, Berger said. 

“We have such a diverse and mixed area, with shoppers, visitors, merchants” who do not live in the area, Berger said. “The restaurants do not have back-up generators. There are special needs at the Center for Independent Living.” 

The association works on issues of special interest to the merchants. Upgrading the Sather Gate garage is one. Increasing police activity on the Avenue is another. 

Because of links between the social service community and TAA, the merchants will begin to offer jobs to applicants recommended by local agencies, she said. 

In addition to city funding, TAA gets matching funds from the University and expects to get at least $90,000 in foundation grants this year. 

“The organization is working toward becoming more self-sufficient,” Berger said. 

The council will entertain dozens of other requests. Those listed below are just some of the requests for funds: 

• The University Avenue merchants want pedestrian lighting and extra sidewalk cleaning below Milvia Street. 

• If the council does not put a bond measure on the ballot to build a larger, wheelchair accessible council chambers, the disability community is asking the council to set aside $500,000 to remodel the current council chambers. That would provide wheelchair access to and from the council dais, call buttons on the elevator operable to people with manual impairments, accessible restrooms and automatic door openers. 

• A volunteer coordinator for the Berkeley Animal Shelter is requested at $55,000. 

• Animal shelter needs of about $145,000 include an affordable spay and neuter program, advertising animals in need of adoption, improvements for the health of the animals at the shelter. 

• The Humane Commission is asking for $3 million for a new animal shelter. 

• The Youth Suitcase Clinic, serving homeless and low income youth, wants $10,000 for acupuncture services for youth with psychosocial needs and drug dependency. 

• The Berkeley Dispute Resolution Service requests $25,000, in addition to its current $52,000 funding from the city. The city referred some 150 calls to the agency last year, including police-related cases, tree-view cases, zoning cases and court cases. 

• The Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Center is asking for $48,000 to increase disabled access, purchase a new ventilation system and replace the dance floor. 

• The How Berkeley Can You Be? parade and festival is asking for $1,000 to hire the San Francisco Mime Troupe to perform at this year’s festival. 

• The Solano Avenue Association is asking for $10,000 to help put on the Solano Avenue Stroll in September. 

• The Strawberry Creek Lodge Tenants Association is asking for $30,000 to fund a meals program for low-income seniors. 

There are a number of other organizations hoping for funding from the city. City staff is preparing a complete list of groups, which the council has already “referred” to the budget process. The funding is a two-part process, with organizations first asking the council for a preliminary “referral,” which a majority must approve, then asking for final approval. 

Tuesday, June 6 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

Edward Parmentier, harpsichord concert 

Noon 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Orientation for Yan Xin Qigong 

1:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

American Bach Soloists: International Violin Competition Finals 

5 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Special Council Meeting 

6 p.m. meeting; 7:30 p.m. public hearing. 

City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

The council will hold a special meeting that will include a budget update and public hearing on the budget. 

Computer literacy course 

6-8 p.m. 

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 Eighth St. 

This free course will cover topics such as running Windows, File Management, connecting to and surfing the web, using Email, creating Web pages, JavaScript and a simple overview of programming. The course is oriented for adults. 

510-644-8511 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

510-531-8664 

Ensemble Clement Janequin 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Wednesday, June 7 

Edward Parmentier, harpsichord concert 

Noon 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Concert: Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin, and John Butt, harpsichord 

5 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $20. 

510-642-9988 

Telecommunications Task Force public workshop 

7-9 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

The workshop is entitled “Bridging the Digital Divide.” Its participants include OpNet; WEAP; Berkeley Neighborhood Computers; Bill Lambert, City of Berkeley OED; Ceda Floyd, City of Oakland Clerk; and Girl Geeks. 

510-526-8685 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

West Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. 

This storytime program is designed for families with children up to 3 years old. The free, participatory program features a half hour of multicultural songs, rhymes, lap jogs and stories to give very young children a lively introduction to the magic of books. Parents also will enjoy the new stories, rediscover old favorites and learn new songs and games to share. 

510-644-6870 

Berkeley Friends Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

2151 Vine St. 

Audie Bock, independent Assemblywoman from California’s 16th district, will speak on “Challenges to an Independent Legislator.” As an assemblywoman, Bock holds the highest office yet to be won by a Green Party candidate. She has since withdrawn from the Green Party and re-registered as an Independent. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and no charge for admission. 

BUSD Board meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Board/Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

California Bach Society 

8 p.m. 

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $20. 

510-642-9988 

Ensemble Clement Janequin 

10:30 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Thursday, June 8 

Tai Chi Chuen with Henry Chang 

9 a.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

John Butt, organ and harpsichord concert 

Noon 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Paul O’Dette, Vihuela and Baroque guitar 

5 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $22. 

510-642-9988 

North East Berkeley Association meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 

The association will elect its board of directors, discuss the proposed “Neighborhood Services Initiative,” and get updates on the General Plan and the Hills Firehouse. 

Rebel 

8 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

The King’s Noyse 

10:30 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $22. 

510-642-9988 

Friday, June 9 

“A Reason to Vote” 

Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 

Ellen Jefferds, Natural Law Party’s candidate for the Ninth Congressional District, will speak during this week’s meeting of the City Commons Club. Social hour begins at 11:15 a.m. Luncheon is served from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Speaker starts promptly at 12:30 p.m. Lunch is $11 or $12.25; admission to the speech is $1, free for students. 

510-848-3533 

Ensemble Anonymus 

Noon 

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Conversational Yiddish 

1 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

510-644-6107 

Le Carrousel Du Roi 

4 p.m. 

Heather Farms Park, Walnut Creek 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Artaria Quartet 

5 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $18. 

510-642-9988 

American Bach Soloists 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $24, $30, $42. 

510-642-9988

Derby Street vote bad news for youth 

It is unbelievable to me that the City Council rejected a proposal to expand the environmental review process for a children baseball field. Why is the City Council afraid of compromise? 

Ms. Shirek said “the hardball field might be rented to adults.” There is no “adult” baseball league in Berkeley. “Hardball” has underhanded connotations. This is baseball. It is a game played by the children of Berkeley. 

How can City Council members be against Prop. 21, and then deny the city’s only public high school a playing field? Why are you demonizing youth by dismissing baseball as “hardball?” 

How can City Council members who know the difficulties of being a student at Berkeley High, especially this past year, turn around and deny these students a playing field? 

How could you as responsible adults even consider a plan for a playing field that has an open street running through the middle? Or even consider keeping an open street between a school building and playing fields? 

This is not the city of Berkeley’s money, it is the BUSD’s money. This is not the Ecology Center’s land or the Farmers’ Market land, this is the BUSD’s land. 

When this field is built more than 15 teams at Berkeley High will have space to play during the school year, and, in the summer, city recreational teams can use the space. What a service it would be to the children of this city to have another space to play. 

Dianne Ruyffelaere 

Berkeley 

Chandler was a true visionary 

Tertius Chandler, whose death the Berkeley Daily Planet reported on June 3-4, was an original thinker with visionary ideas about social progress as well as in history. He wrote about cities and their populations since ancient times. His booklet “The Tax We Need” shows why land rent is the best source of public finance. His masterpiece was “Chandler’s Half Encyclopedia,” 1,600 pages of text on history, biography, and many topics, all done on a typewriter. His original ideas on history included Zeus as an actual king and Moses as the adviser to the Egyptian pharaoh Ikhnaton. He also wrote about little-known kingdoms in Africa and the Americas. We have much to learn from him, and he should be remembered as an important Berkeley historian and social reformer. 

Fred Foldvary  

Berkeley 

Field would be bad news for neighbors 

I have a big opposition to the East Campus Ballfield. People that want the ballfield are people who don’t live in the neighborhood. There are a few who want in the neighborhood, not many. I would like to see someone (if they have a space in their neighborhood) to put a ballfield there. Anybody??? I didn’t think so. I have my stance because I am a child who likes the Farmers’ Market and I used to work there. Also I live in the neighborhood and would not want (aside to public housing, Iceland, a big walkway, and a alternative high school) a big ballfield. 

Rio Bauce 

Berkeley 

Protect trees on University Avenue 

The public should realize that the “installation” of “urban friendly trees” on University Avenue includes at some point the wholesale removal of the existing tulip poplars, an aspect of the UA Strategic Plan which was never allowed public discussion as the written record proves. These most graceful street trees, which have survived decades of difficult living, deserve community protection. 

Carol Denney 

Berkeley

Despite “Wizard of Oz”-like winds that were either a pain – or push – in the rear depending on which way you were running, athletes from both St. Mary’s and Berkeley High made quite a splash over the weekend at the state track and field championships in Cerritos. 

Propelled by their nationally renowned sprinters, the BHS girls placed second overall, while the St. Mary’s boys finished third, helped in large part by Ebon Glenn’s eye-catching 7-foot high jump. 

“That was a great finish for us, we totally exceeded expectations,” said St. Mary’s head coach Jay Lawson. “Going into the meet we thought if we ran well, we’d be in the top six, and I honestly didn’t really think we’d finish in the top three. But we had personal bests almost across the board for the kids that went down there, so we had a great meet.” 

The Panthers’ third-place performance was especially clutch considering highly ranked triple-jumper Solomon Welch was unable to compete due to an injury. 

“He’s one of the top five in the state. We thought between him and Ebon Glenn, they were the two most important people for us to get us a lot of points,” Lawson said. “Solomon didn’t get a chance to do the triple jump because he was hurt in the long jump. Everyone else performed their best marks of the year and Ebon did a great job winning state.” 

Glenn managed to wrest the state title away from Palmdale’s Jerrick Holmes, the only other prep athlete in California to clear 7 feet this year. The Panthers star is ranked seventh nationally among high-schoolers. 

Also registering strongly for St. Mary’s was Halihl Guy, who finished third in the 300 intermediate hurdles at 37.95, and the 4x400 and 4x100 relay teams, which placed fourth and fifth, respectively. The 4x100 team registered a 41.84 time, good enough for a school record. 

Serra took the competition with 38 points, followed by Long Beach Poly’s 24 and St. Mary’s 20. 

The swirling winds on Cerritos Junior College’s track were more of an impediment to the BHS girls’ team, with an emphasis on sprinting. Sprint times were slower than usual, including those of the Yellowjacket standout Aisha Margain. 

“The track conditions were terrible,” said BHS head coach Darrell Hampton, whose team scored 29 points, finishing second to J.W. North High’s 45. “If you look across the board, 11.90 wins the state meet – never before.” 

That 11.90 mark belonged to Monterey’s Sani Roseby, who finished three-hundredths of a second ahead of Margain, who placed third. Margain’s 11.93 time is a full three-tenths of a second slower than the time with which she blew away the competition at the Meet of Champions. Margain, a senior, also finished third in the 200 with a 23.73 time. 

The ’Jackets finally took advantage of the winds in the 4x100 relay, as Katrina Keith, Margain, T’carra Penick, Simone Brooks won state with a 45.96 time. BHS took third in the 4x400 relay at 3:45.53, with junior Raqueta Margain – Aisha’s sister – running in place of Brooks. 

Individually, Penick finished sixth in the 400, while BHS’ sole male representative, Daveed Diggs, landed third in the 110m high hurdles at 14.23. 

“He was very good, another PR (personal record), another qualifier for junior nationals,” said Hampton. “We’re going down to Denton, Texas on the 23rd of June.” 

Also qualifying for the junior nationals along with Diggs were Penick and both Margain sisters. 

“You always hope for better, but for the program in its first year like this, I’m very happy,” added Hampton. “Some people go a lifetime never making state, and we popped up to take second place in our first time out – well, my first time out. We’re getting a lot of comparisons to the great teams (coach) Willie White had (in the mid-’70s to mid-’80s), and that’s all good for the city.”

The voting period ends today on a tentative contract agreement that will give teachers in the Berkeley public schools an 11.5 percent salary hike over a two-year period. 

The final ballots must be cast by 5 p.m., and union leaders will count ballots this evening. Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Barry Fike said a final count may be available by the end of the night, although it could be delayed because some votes will be delivered through the school district’s internal mail system, so they may not arrive until Wednesday morning. In any case, the vote will be known before the start of Wednesday night’s school board meeting, where the contract agreement will go before the board for its ratification. 

The teachers are voting on a contract agreement that includes a 2 percent raise for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and a 9.5 percent Negotiators from the union and the school district reached an agreement in the early morning hours of May 25, after a marathon 21-hour negotiation session. That followed months of public and private confrontations over the state of teachers’ salaries in the Berkeley Unified School District. 

The BUSD estimates that it will cost almost $3.2 million to fund the two years of salary increases, requiring additional cuts in the district’s budget. More than $1.1 million already has been slashed, and more recommendations are likely to be made soon if the contract is ratified by the union today and the school board Wednesday. 

And more cuts could be made down the road. The agreement calls for the BUSD to continue raising teachers’ salaries through the entire life of the contract, which would run through June 30, 2003. By the end of that school year, total compensation for teachers must be at the 55th percentile of a list of 31 comparative districts around the state. Right now, the BUSD is near the bottom of that pool. 

“This is going to be a challenging task, because it’s a moving target we’re going after,” said School Board President Joaquin Rivera. “Every year we’ll have to reassess to determine where we’ll have to be. A lot of people are focusing on the first and second years of this agreement, but the last two years are the most critical ones.” 

The BUSD intends to fund most of the first two years through the anticipated increased funding from the state, made possible by California’s booming economy. The catch is, other districts are planning the same strategy. So, while Berkeley teachers will be getting paid more, they won’t necessarily be getting paid more than their peers in other districts if the BUSD were to rely solely on the new state money. Making Berkeley salaries more competitive with other districts was a central goal for the union in the negotiations. 

“We expect that many districts will be doing the same thing, and that’s why the key to this contract is the third and fourth years, because that’s when we really are guaranteed that Berkeley teachers’ salaries will become competitive,” Fike said. 

The agreement calls for starting teachers to be paid $36,337 – current entry-level pay is $31,278 – and educators on the top end of the pay scale will see their salaries increase from $54,846 to $63,335. The deal also addresses the “tier inequities” in the salary schedule, which had created situations where teachers with the same years of experience were paid differently. Teachers who had gained experience in other districts were winding up with bigger paychecks than their colleagues who had spent their entire careers in the BUSD. 

The major salary increases will benefit K-12 teachers, but instructors at Berkeley Adult School also will get paid more under the deal. 

Two other changes, largely unnoticeable to the general public, will be made under the proposed agreement. The teaching “duty day” will be increased by 30 minutes this next year and an additional 10 minutes by the 2002-2003 school year, and three staff development days will be added over the life of the contract. 

“I think it’s a good statement to make,” Fike said. “It’s a symbolic gesture to show that in Berkeley, we’re striving not only to have our students achieve above average, but to pay our teachers above average and work an above-average duty day and work year.” 

The increased duty day will allow for minutes to be “banked” for such activities as minimum days at the elementary schools, parent-teacher conferences at middle schools, and extended lunch at the high school.

The Tucson City Council was expected to announce a decision for its choice of city manager at its regular meeting Monday, but did not do so, according to Suzanne Machain, Tucson’s assistant director for human resources. 

Berkeley City Manager Jim Keene is among the five top candidates vying for the post. 

Machain said the council went into closed session, returned to public session twice, each time making an announcement that they had made no decision. 

After the second closed session the council went on with its regular business, and Machain concluded they would not make a decision that day.

Keith Stephens just got his driver’s license last Thursday, and the 18-year-old Berkeley High Student was looking forward to Saturday night’s Senior Ball. 

Instead, he spent the weekend in the Berkeley jail. 

He, his sister and his grandmother were arrested in connection with a brawl with police that originated after Berkeley police approached the car he was driving, which lacked current vehicle registration. 

The incident brought out at least 15 police to the scene of the fight to help the two officers and calm the crowd of neighbors and family members that formed around the brawl. 

On Monday afternoon, Stephens, a high school football player, was charged with two misdemeanors by Judge Carol Brosnahan. 

Berkeley police said he attacked them. One of the misdemeanor charges was interfering with a police officer, the other was for battery of a police officer. He is scheduled to appear in Brosnahan’s courtroom Friday. Stephens had been held on $35,000 bail but Brosnahan released him on recognizance, in light of the fact that he did not have a prior record. 

Two of Stephen’s high school teachers came to court and attorney L.W. Holt, who came as a friend of the Stephens family, asked Flora Russ and Robert McKnight to stand up in support of their student. 

Deputy District Attorney David Lim had argued against bail, and he said that based on the police report, Stephens posed a danger to the community. 

Holt could not speak for Stephens because he did not represent him, and Brosnahan asked the youth several questions that he hesitated in answering. 

Lim said Stephens showed disrespect for law enforcement and was unresponsive to questions in his brief court appearance. 

When Brosnahan asked Stephens if he was aware of the severity of the charges, that he could spend 18 months in county jail, he responded with an audible “yes.” 

The incident occurred after Stephens parked his mother’s 1996 green Dodge Intrepid on the street next to his grandmother’s house in the 900 block of Channing Way. 

According to the Berkeley Police Department report, Stephens made an unprovoked attack on Officer Tim Gardner and on his partner Stan Libed. 

Capt. Bobby Miller said Stephens “jumped out of the car,” and when the officers asked him to return to the car he refused and hit Gardner in the head and body with his fist. 

Latisha Stephens, the student’s sister, who was a witness and a participant in the struggle between police and her brother, said he didn’t know a patrol car was behind him and he had “just stepped out of the car.” 

She said she and her grandmother were standing nearby and they scolded him for taking the car without permission or an up-to-date vehicle sticker. 

The student had picked up Latisha’s 4-year-old son and his 16-year-old cousin at the King Childcare Center, and a friend of his was riding in the passenger seat when he returned to his grandmother’s house, where he lives. 

He stood by the car and didn’t move, said Latisha, because “he knew he was in trouble with me (and his grandmother).” 

When the officers reached his car, she said one of them used his hand to push her brother back into the car. 

Soon afterward, she said the other officer held him “in a choke hold,” and pulled his hands behind his back, and then the first officer struck him with a “billy club” on his arms and legs, and then his head. 

Family members and neighbors gathered around the struggle, and 23-year-old Latisha said she asked the officers to stop hitting her brother. She became embroiled in the melee herself and said an officer struck her repeatedly in the thighs with his baton. 

She said her brother asked to be arrested, “but they still beat him.” She said he might have got his hands loose once to strike an officer, but that he was prevented from striking out because his hands were held behind his back. 

According to Miller, Gardner and Libed came to a stop behind the Stephens’ car and it moved a short distance and pulled to the curb. 

He said Gardner and Libed got out and noticed the registration was expired for more than six months, but a tab on it indicted it was current. 

As the two officers approached the car to investigate, Miller said, a group of people had formed and they were telling the young man not to cooperate with police. 

“You don’t have to say anything,” was one of the comments made, Miller reported. 

Miller said Libed tried to handcuff Stephens, but he wouldn’t cooperate and Libed could only help occasionally, because he had to hold the crowd of more than 10 people back at the same time. Within three minutes they had called for help. 

Gardner used his baton to bring the suspect under control, said Miller, and at one time in the fight Gardner went down to the ground with the suspect on top of him. 

Latisha Stephens was arrested on charges of physically interfering with police and for allegedly spitting on an officer. 

Alice Frazier, Keith’s grandmother, repeatedly waved the crowd forward toward the struggle, made anti-police remarks and urged her grandson to resist, the police department alleges. She was arrested on charges of inciting a riot. 

Two people in the crowd were arrested and Keith Stephens and Gardner were treated for injuries at Alta Bates Medical Center. 

Stephens mother, Patricia, said her son has held two jobs while in high school and he wants to be a firefighter. “Keith has so much he has to do and this does not make any sense,” she said. 

She said police pulled out the dashboard on her car, and she maintains they were looking for drugs. 

“This is a case of driving while black,” she said. “I feel he can have gold chains and a diamond earring If he works he can have those things without dealing drugs.” 

The family says they have hired civil rights attorney John Burris to defend Keith. 

Meredith Marran, a Berkeley author who is writing a book about Berkeley High School to be published by St. Martin’s Press in the fall, said this episode was not what she had in mind for her last chapter. 

For her book, “Class Dismissed, Senior Year in an American High School,” she followed the careers of three students - Jordan Etra, Autumn Morris and Keith Stephens - by sitting in classes with them for the last year, and getting to know their families. 

She said Keith is “academically challenged” but he has worked hard to overcome his academic difficulties, and he will be the first in a family of four children to attend college. 

Keith’s father, Kenneth Stephens Sr., a City of Berkeley refuse worker, said outside the court that he had old his son to be careful because with a dark complexion and wearing an earring he would stand out in the neighborhood below San Pablo Avenue. 

He mentioned police “stigmatizing that everyone is doing drugs. Not every young person down there is doing that.” 

At 5 p.m. Sunday, power tools and extension chords covered the ground as over 200 volunteers put the finishing touches on walls, fences and benches. Children, meanwhile, waited anxiously to try out their new playground. 

Five minutes before 6 p.m., the kids lined up and began chanting “We want to play.” Then, with the cut of a ribbon, they poured into Dreamland for Kids in unison. 

“It’s jam-packed with kids and parents,” said Project General Manager Zasa Swanson, after nearly being trampled by kids running into the playground for the first time. “This is just amazing.” 

Volunteers worked practically around the clock in the final drive to finish the playground, located in Aquatic Park between the foot of Bancroft Way and the foot of Dwight Way. Even Mayor Shirley Dean and her husband, Dan, came out to lend a hand in the final hours before the project’s deadline. 

“I think the playground is wonderful,” Dean said. “It’s a really positive kind of thing, and everybody is enjoying themselves and having a good time.” 

The playground had to be finished by Sunday evening, and organizers invited the public to a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 6 p.m. Sunday.  

Leathers and Associates, an architectural group from Ithaca, N.Y, assisted local organizers in building Dreamland for Kids. The playground’s construction lasted two weeks; the first phase ran from May 18 to May 21, and the second began Wednesday and ended Sunday. Hundreds of volunteers from around the Bay Area turned out during the course of construction. 

Apart from a few small details that will be completed by today, the playground was finished by the time of the opening ceremony. A garden will be installed this summer and landscape work on the surrounding area of Aquatic Park will be done in the next few months as well. 

“This park will be a destination landmark for not just children, but for families all over the East Bay,” said Mark Liolios, who oversaw public relations for the project. 

“I thought if we were lucky, the playground could be really good. ... It’s fantastic.” 

So far, children and their parents have taken to the playground very nicely. Joe Newell, the 10-year-old who came up with the name “Dreamland for Kids” simply said, “I think it’s cool.” 

Project organizers said they hoped that all of the Berkeley community would use the playground, and that classes would visit to learn about the ecology of Aquatic Park, a theme that is incorporated into the playground. 

Dreamland for Kids features several large wooden structures connected by spider-web walkways, several slides, two sets of swings, and benches for parents to sit on. There are areas for both older and younger children to play in. 

The ground is covered with wood chips, and soon bricks and tiles will be placed along the walkways throughout the playground. 

Organizers are still fund-raising, with hopes to raise $130,000. The public can purchase bricks for $100, which will be inscribed with the name of the donor, and tiles for $25, which children can paint. 

For more information on donating, call 510-649-9874.

Monday, June 5 

Political Junkies 

Noon 

119 Moses Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Edward Parmentier, harpsichord concert 

Noon 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

John Butt, organ concert 

5 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Peace and Justice Commission 

7 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

The commission will discuss the trial of Sara Olson (a.k.a. Kathleen Soliah) and will discuss the “possible false testimony” of an officer at the trial of Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi among other items on its agenda. 

Landmarks Preservation Commission 

7:30 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Public hearings will be continued on the Civic Center Historic District and other structures. Among the new public hearings is one on the “H.S. Heinz Co. Plant” at 1099 Ashby Ave. 

Nobel Peace Prize nominee lecture 

7:30 p.m. 

Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and founder of Sahaja Yoga Meditation, will deliver a free lecture. In addition to being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Mataji has been honored by the U.S. Congress and the United Nations, and has received numerous honors in her contribution to peace, health, and well being in over 80 countries. Mataji has created an international cancer research center in Bombay, India, a hospital in Bombay, an academy of the arts in Nagpur, India, an organization in New Delhi for homeless people, and a school to create youth with idealism and with honesty of purpose of life. 

510-895-3005 

Infinita Bellezza: The Musical Secrets of Giovanni Kapsberger 

8 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Concert will feature Paul O’Dette, The King’s Noyse and Tragicomedia. Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Tuesday, June 6 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

Edward Parmentier, harpsichord concert 

Noon 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market 

2-7 p.m. 

Derby Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Milvia Street 

510-548-3333 

American Bach Soloists: International Violin Competition Finals 

5 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Special Council Meeting 

6 p.m. meeting; 7:30 p.m. public hearing. 

City Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

The council will hold a special meeting that will include a budget update and public hearing on the budget. 

Berkeley Camera Club 

7:30 p.m. 

Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda 

Share your slides and prints with other photographers. Critiques by qualified judges. Monthly field trips. 

510-531-8664 

Ensemble Clement Janequin 

8 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Wednesday, June 7 

Edward Parmentier, harpsichord concert 

Noon 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Concert: Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin, and John Butt, harpsichord 

5 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $20. 

510-642-9988 

Telecommunications Task Force public workshop 

7-9 p.m. 

North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

The workshop is entitled “Bridging the Digital Divide.” Its participants include OpNet; WEAP; Berkeley Neighborhood Computers; Bill Lambert, City of Berkeley OED; Ceda Floyd, City of Oakland Clerk; and Girl Geeks. 

510-526-8685 

Baby Bounce and Toddler Tales 

7 p.m. 

West Branch Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. 

This storytime program is designed for families with children up to 3 years old. The free, participatory program features a half hour of multicultural songs, rhymes, lap jogs and stories to give very young children a lively introduction to the magic of books. 

510-644-6870 

Berkeley Friends Meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

2151 Vine St. 

Audie Bock, independent Assemblywoman from California’s 16th district, will speak on “Challenges to an Independent Legislator.” As an assemblywoman, Bock holds the highest office yet to be won by a Green Party candidate. She has since withdrawn from the Green Party and re-registered as an Independent. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and no charge for admission. 

BUSD Board meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Board/Council Chambers, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way 

California Bach Society 

8 p.m. 

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $20. 

510-642-9988 

Ensemble Clement Janequin 

10:30 p.m. 

First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988 

Thursday, June 8 

Free computer class for seniors 

9:30-11:30 a.m. 

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

This free course offers basic instruction in keyboarding, Microsoft Word, Windows 95, Excel and Internet access. Space is limited; the class is offered Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Call ahead for a reservation. 

510-644-6109 

John Butt, organ and harpsichord concert 

Noon 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $16. 

510-642-9988 

Paul O’Dette, Vihuela and Baroque guitar 

5 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $22. 

510-642-9988 

North East Berkeley Association meeting 

7:30 p.m. 

Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 

The association will elect its board of directors, discuss the proposed “Neighborhood Services Initiative,” and get updates on the General Plan and the Hills Firehouse. 

Rebel 

8 p.m. 

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley campus 

Part of the Sixth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. Tickets $26. 

510-642-9988

Men are horny dogs who lie to women for sex, and because women are afraid to be alone they sometimes go along with it. 

That seems to be the statement of Mayo Simon’s new play “Split” which Aurora Theater opened Thursday in its world premiere at Berkeley’s City Club. 

In the set-up of this triangle love story, which runs about 90 minutes without an intermission, a 61-year-old married man flies to Los Angeles to meet his 50-something secret lover because she has announced that she is getting married and ending their affair. 

As East Coast college philosophy professor Arthur (Owen Murphy) and West Coast theater grant-writer Clare (Elizabeth Benedict) review their relationship, “Split” appears as though it is going to be about the painful rejection process at the end of a relationship. 

Divorced now for 10 years, Clare explains to Arthur that her engagement to a new suitor is her last chance for marriage. So she wants to shift the relationship with Arthur to “friends” status. 

As they talk about their history, and deal with Arthur’s hurt and jealously, Arthur slowly tries to insinuate himself back into Clare’s life, and sabotage her new romance. 

Appearing from time to time in the course of the story is a third character known as “The Speaker” (Jack Powell). 

The Speaker is usually audible only to Arthur. He gives Arthur occasional destructive advice on how to trick Clare, or how to break down her resistance, or how to get sex from her and then abandon her. 

The Speaker appears at various times as an airline pilot, a waiter, an airport skycap, a pizza delivery man, and a homeless woman on the beach. 

But “Split” ultimately is an unsatisfying experience. The script wanders back and forth over the same repeated territory, circling around the emotional issues, instead of dealing with them. The play feels slow. 

After 90 minutes of slogging through their baggage, Arthur and Clare aren’t able to find any new understandings about themselves or their lives in this difficult situation. 

Although a climax breakdown scene near the end is one of the play’s more real moments, Arthur and Clare don’t seem to come out of it wiser or changed. 

Further, the morose, self-pitying Arthur is an unsympathetic character, making it hard for an audience to care about what happens to him. 

Arthur is emotionally dishonest from the top of the play, but not in any particularly new or insightful or illuminating way. He comes across as a just sleazy person who is trying to wreck Clare’s life simply out of childish selfishness. 

“Split” marks the local directing debut of set designer Loy Arcenas. Arcenas created the wonderful, versatile set earlier this season for American Conservatory Theater’s production of Tom Stoppard’s play about A. E. Housman, “Invention of Love.” 

But missing from Arcenas’ production of “Split” is any sense of romantic chemistry or sexual tension between the two lead characters. 

It’s hard to feel in their personal chemistry that Arthur and Clare really like each other. And Clare’s late character reversal to sudden solicitousness for Arthur is hard to believe. 

Arcenas also designed the set for “Split” – an effective nondescript, abstract, upper-middle-class beige hell, variously serving as an airplane interior, an airport, a restaurant bar, a beach at night, and Clare’s apartment. 

Producing new plays is a difficult and risky business, and the Aurora has done it twice this season. 

In December, the theater staged the world premiere of Le Clanché Du Rand’s wonderful “Transcendental Wild Oats,” the story of a 19th century Massachusetts utopian commune. 

Kudos to the Aurora for being real artists, and for taking risks. 

Aurora Theater’s “Split” plays Wednesday through Sunday, through July 2, at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. For tickets and information, call 510-

THEATER 

AURORA THEATRE 

“Split” by Mayo Simon, June 1 through July 2. A mordant clear-eyed view of an older couple's love affair. $25 to $28. Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. (510) 843-4822. 

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE 

“Closer” by Patrick Marber, through July 9. A funny, touching and unflinchingly honest examination of love and relationships set in contemporary London. $38 to $48.50. Tuesday, Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; May 27, June 1, June 3, June 10, June 15, June 24, June 29 and July 8, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 845-4700 or (888) 4BRTTIX. 

CALIFORNIA 

SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL 

“Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, June 3 through June 24. Classic romantic comedy of mismatched lovers forced into a union. $21 to $38 general; $19 to $38 seniors; $10 to $38 children. Wednesday and Thursday, 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m.; June 13 and June 20, 7 p.m. June 24, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Bruns Memorial Amphitheatre, Shakespeare Festival Way/Gateway Exit on state Highway 24. (510) 548-9666 or www.calshakes.org 

MUSIC VENUES 

ASHKENAZ 

Edessa, June 6, 8:30 p.m. Dance lesson with Nancy Klein at 7:30 p.m. included in price. $8. 

Zydeco Flames, June 7, 9 p.m. Dance lesson with Olivia Thierry at 8 p.m. included in price. $8. 

Grateful Dead DJ Night, June 8, 10 p.m. With Digital Dave. $5. 

Ras Kidus, Shakaman, Foundation, Hurricane Gilbert and Majestic, P.O.D.E. Ville Man Dem-Unda P, Senagalese Dancers, DJ - Ashanti Hi Fi, June 9, 9:30 p.m. $11. 

Frog Legs, June 10, 9:30 p.m. Dance lesson with Dana de Simone at 8 p.m. included in price. $11. 

1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. (510) 525-5099 or www.ashkenaz.com 

BLAKES 

An Evening With Quimbambo, June 6. $3. 

“Third World” with UC Buu, DJ Add, Jah Bonz, Big Willie, June 7. $5. 

Ripe, JDogs, June 8. $4. 

Psychokinetics, Felonious, June 9. $5. 

An Evening With Tang, June 10. $5. 

Doilies, June 11. $3. 

For age 18 and older. Music at 9:30 p.m. 2367 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. (510) 848-0886. 

FREIGHT AND SALVAGE 

The Ellis Island Old World Folk Band, Marhaba, June 7. $13.50 to $14.50. 

Rory Block, June 8. $17.50 to $18.50. 

Gunnar Madsen, June 9. $15.50 to $16.50. 

Jose-Luis Orozco, June 10, 10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. A children's concert and a benefit for Bahia. 

Mark Naftalin, June 10. $15.50 to $16.50. 

Darryl Purpose, June 11. With Daryl S. $13.50 to $14.50. 

Music at 8 p.m. 1111 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 548-1761 or (510) 762-BASS. 

LA PEÑA CULTURAL CENTER 

Don't Look Back, June 8, 6 p.m. $5 to $25. 

Amistades, June 9, 8 p.m. A CD release celebration featuring Rafael Manriquez and Quique Cruz. $12; $20 includes CD. 

3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 849-2568 or www.lapena.org 

924 GILMAN ST. 

Plus Ones, Allison Williams. Smokejumpers, Sarah Bishop, Coleman Lindbergh, June 10. 

$5. Music at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. (510) 525-9926. 

THE STARRY PLOUGH PUB 

Carlos, Fluke Starbucker, Replicator, June 8. $5. 

Custard Pie, June 9. $5. 

Penelope Houston, Deborah Lyall, Valerie Esvray, June 10. $7. 

For age 21 and over. Wednesday, 8 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:45 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-2082. 

To publicize an upcoming event, please submit information to the Daily Planet via fax (841-5695), e-mail (calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com) or traditional mail (2076 University Avenue, 94704). Calendar items should be submitted at least one week before the opening of a new exhibit or performance. Please include a daytime telephone number in case we need to clarify any information.

“I’m just having fun,” Stelton Mitchell says. “I’m trying to instill that principle into the guys not to put pressure on yourself, because sometimes that can be your worst enemy.” 

With that said, it seems appropriate for Mitchell, coach of the Berkeley High School boy’s basketball team for practically the last two decades, to take a break. In late May, Mitchell announced that he is stepping down as head coach of the varsity boy’s basketball team. 

Mitchell has been involved in the Berkeley sports scene for over three decades, coaching basketball and football and teaching physical education classes at Berkeley High School. He is in his 34th year of teaching at either the junior high or high school level. 

“I had been coaching in the district for about 33 or 34 years and it was time for me to take some time off and do some things myself: be able to go and play golf, be able to travel some,” he said. 

Mitchell began his reign as head coach of the boy’s basketball team in 1980 and coached through this season, except for three years he took off from 1994 to 1996. He also coached the girl’s varsity basketball team for five years. 

“He brought a great deal of basketball knowledge and basketball experience over the years,” Co-Athletic Director Karen Smith said. “Plus, being an on-campus coach he was easily accessible to all the students, which is great in a high school setting.” 

An upbeat, cheerful man, Mitchell enjoys being around students and does not plan on leaving high school athletics entirely. He will continue teaching physical education classes at Berkeley High. 

“I want to have fun and I like to see the smiles coming from my students’ faces,” he said. 

Mitchell said that coaching became very time consuming and that while it was fun teaching his players the game, it had become a nonstop job. 

“When you are coaching, it used to be that you do seasonal sports,” he said. “Now it has gotten to a point where once the actual season is over, you have to get involved in the camps, take the players different places so they can bond together as a unit, and all kinds of things. You just need some R and R every once in a while. It’s just human.” 

During an era when there is so much pressure to win and for teenagers to become millionaire sports stars, Mitchell has remained a throwback to the times when sports were all about having a good time. 

“I played football, basketball, baseball in high school,” Mitchell said. “I was all-district, all-city, all-state, and I didn’t do it because I thought I was good, I did it because I liked it.” 

He keeps that philosophy when it comes to coaching. 

Berkeley High basketball teams under Mitchell have won numerous league titles. One team even reached the state semifinals in the early 1980s. The boy’s basketball team has won the East Bay Athletic League title the last two years, compiling a 26-2 combined record. 

Mitchell has also seen many of his players receive scholarships to play college basketball, and even some have reached the professional level. However, he has always been more interested in seeing his students succeed in academics, rather than athletics. 

“All too often people put too much emphasis on athletics and not academics, and my thing has always been academics first,” Mitchell said. 

Mitchell’s successor has not yet been chosen, but Smith said the athletic department hopes to hire a coach by the end of the school year.

The California Regional Water Quality Control Board was not asked for its input in the formulation of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study to evaluate tritium levels emitted by the lab’s Tritium Labeling Facility. 

And that didn’t sit well with the water board. 

In a May 1 letter, Water Resources Control Engineer Michael Rochette told the lab that the water control board wants groundwater studied as part of the process. And it wants to be among those consulted on the study. 

“The RWQCB has concerns regarding radiological impacts to water quality at LBNL. Tritium concentrations in groundwater in the area near the National Tritium Labeling Facility are elevated above background concentrations and, in one groundwater monitoring well, exceed United States Environmental Protection Agency’s tritium Maximum Contaminant Level for drinking water.” 

Rochette did not returns calls on Friday to comment further on the water board concerns. 

Spokesperson Ron Kolb said LBNL has no problem incorporating ground water into the Tritium Sampling and Analysis Plan. It would be “easy to build in,” he said. 

The lab is conducting the study on the request of the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency found that tritium levels were high enough to mandate a more thorough evaluation, to determine whether the labs should be designated as a Superfund site, requiring cleanup. 

The EPA does not require groundwater studies, Kolb said. “Our groundwater is not connected to our drinking water.” 

He said the addition of the groundwater to the study would be redundant. LBNL already does routine groundwater analysis, both at the facility and outside of it, he said. The water board “approves our monitoring plan every year,” he said. 

Rochette’s letter says “tritium concentrations in groundwater samples collected near the National tritium Labeling Facility exceed background concentrations....” 

Kolb explained, however, that these concentrations were found at wells drilled at LBNL proper for monitoring purposes and not off site. Wells outside the laboratory are within the requisite concentrations of 20,000 pico-Curries per liter, he said. 

Rochette says, however, that the water under LBNL is identified as having industrial or agricultural purposes, so the level of contamination there should be taken into consideration. 

Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste Co-Chair Gene Bernardi said it is inappropriate for the EPA to use a “drinking water standard” in its groundwater evaluation. 

People could be using well water to fill a child’s plastic swimming pool or to water the vegetable garden, Bernardi said. 

“They forget about the ecological chain,” she said. 

Tritium can enter a person through the skin, dogs can drink it in creeks and people eat vegetables watered with well water. 

The three community members sitting on the Environmental Sampling Project Task force, which is discussing what should be sampled in the Tritium Sampling and Analysis Plan, have sent a letter to LBNL calling on it add the water board to the task force. The signatories are Bernardi, Laurie Bright, representing Citizens Opposing a Polluted Environment, and Carroll B Williams, a former school board member who represents the Panoramic Hill Association. 

Kolb said he thought the task force would approve the inclusion of the water board on the task force at its next meeting, which will be August 10. 

Rochette asked LBNL for a response within 60 days of writing the letter to the seven specific concerns he noted. 

“An investigation of tritium contained in soil, surface water, sediment, ambient air, but not groundwater will leave a significant exposure pathway unaddressed for any future risk assessments,” Rochette said.

The first phase of improvements along University Avenue from Milvia Street to Shattuck Avenue is tentatively scheduled to begin on Wednesday. 

Today and Tuesday, Bauman Landscapes Inc., the contractor for the Measure S improvement project will begin to lay out placement of electrical wiring under the asphalt pavement in the street. 

That means University Avenue will continue to have “no parking” signs posted on the south side of the street today, said Howard Suan, Engineering Inspector. 

Suan also said the work will begin in increments, and the area will not become a “hard hat village.” Instead, the work will proceed in small chunks that are easier for merchants, customers and residents to live with. 

The project will tackle the south side of the street first, which is expected to take three or four weeks. 

The work on the north side also will run for three or four weeks, but that construction won’t begin until the contractor reaches Oxford Street, and then returns down to Milvia on the north side of the street. Only one lane will be closed at any time. 

As of Friday, the project was still awaiting an underground service alert evaluation where the utility companies pinpoint where their pipes and wiring are located, and the city does the same with its traffic lights. 

Suan said once Bauman Landscapes crews know where the existing utilities are located, they can decide where to excavate the trench for the pedestrian lamp posts like the ones already on Addison Street between Milvia Street and Shattuck. 

But the trench is no chasm, Suan said. The area that will hold the electrical conduit will be six inches wide and two to three feet deep. 

The trenching won’t require much more than two or three workers, with a backhoe and saw cutter, and a cement truck. A crane will be needed to lift the lamp posts into position. 

Bauman will probably work 100 feet at a time, and as they move they’ll move the barricades with them, and no-parking signs will be posted 48 hours prior to working.” 

Suan said the crosswalk will be moved west of where it is now, and a “bulb” extension will be placed at the curb to make it easier for wheelchairs to navigate the crosswalk. 

In addition, an irrigation pipe for planters in the median strip will be installed as well as new urban friendly trees on University and also on Shattuck. 

Time lost is money, Suan said. 

“We’re trying to minimize the impact. That’s why we say one block at a time,” Suan said.

Artists from around the East Bay open their doors this weekend and let the public in to see their work during the first two days of East Bay Open Studios 2000. 

Open Studios, an event now in its 18th year, is put on by an organization called Pro Arts, whose purpose is to promote and advocate for the visual arts and artists in the East Bay. This year there are nearly 400 artists taking part, covering the entire spectrum of media. 

Juana Alicia is one of these artists. She is a mural painter who recently moved to Ninth Street in Berkeley from San Francisco. She has done murals for Whole Foods in San Francisco and has one in the new San Francisco Airport terminal. 

“One of the benefits (of Open Studios) is that people become familiar with your work,” Alicia said. 

As a few faces appeared at her door and hugs and greetings were exchanged all around, she added, “It also gives my friends an excuse to come see me.” 

Paintings of a smaller scale, though no less impressive, were being shown by Debbie Moore, who has been painting in her studio next to Freight and Salvage for 15 years. 

“I felt like I wanted to open up the doors,” she said. 

Moore calls her work Erotic Art Paintings. The pieces are largely interpretations of nude performances of the X-Plicit Players, of which Moore is an active member. Moore’s son Horizon had photos on display alongside his mother’s work. His work was of the X-Plicit Players’ performance at last year’s “How Berkeley Can You Be?” parade. 

Moore said her work evolved from painting super heroes for her children. Now, she “enjoys the idea of children seeing the nude body as super heroes.” 

At the West Berkeley Senior Center, 11 artists were showing their work as a group. They came together at a Pro Arts meeting called Sharing Space, meant for artists who do not have studios of their own to open to the public. Through the help of Curtis Billue, one of the artists, and Councilmember Kriss Worthington, they were able to get the City of Berkeley to donate the space. 

Linda DeLaurenti is one of the artists displaying her work at the senior center. This is her second year showing her oil paintings with a group at the center. 

“You get a lot more people (visiting) if you have a group of artists together,” DeLaurenti said. 

Last year the center got 200 to 300 people a day showing up to see artists’ work. Though Saturday’s turnout seemed a bit slower, things are expected to pick up as the event goes on. 

DeLaurenti pointed out that the benefit of Open Studios is not just in getting the public to see your work, but in hearing about your art from them. 

“The thing I like best is you get feedback,” she said. “You get to find out what they like in your work.” 

The Pro Arts gallery at Ninth, near Broadway in Oakland, is showing a sample of each artist’s work through the 11th. That exhibit runs Wednesday through Sunday and is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

East Bay Open Studios 200 continues next weekend, June 10 and 11. Artists open their doors at 11 a.m. and close them again at 6 p.m. 

Maps showing the locations of all the artists are available at various cafés and businesses around Berkeley and the East Bay, as well as all branches of the Berkeley Public Library. 

For a complete list of places you can pick up maps, see the Pro Arts web site at http://www.proartsgallery.org. 

Edward Andrews, a Berkeley resident, has been named a Toyota National Scholar and was awarded $20,000. 

Andrews attended Saint Marks School in Southborough, Mass. For the last 10 years of his life, Andrews volunteered at Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), the largest service provider for homeless and needy children in the Bay Area. 

Andrews also founded a nonprofit organization, SAY-YAY! (Save American Youth-Youth Advocates for Youth!), and set up an annual holiday toy drive. 

The Scholars program, which has awarded $4.48 million in four years, honors 100 high school seniors from around the nation; 88 are regional winners, while only 12 are national winners. Andrews, winner of a Toyota National Scholarship will receive $20,000 over four years to study at a four-year college starting in the fall of 2000. 

The winners of the Toyota Community Scholars program were selected by a panel of college and university admissions officials from across the United States. It recognizes students who have distinguished themselves as leaders in the classroom as well as in their communities, through commitment to community service. 

The scholarship winners attended an awards banquet May 12 in Louisville. College football coach Lou Holtz was the featured speaker. 

“Each year, we are amazed at the special qualities these students possess,” said James Press, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Sales, in a press release. “Not only are they at the top of their class academically, but they are also at the top in terms of caring about the world around them. When you sit down and talk with these teen-agers, you can’t help but feel good about the future of this country.”

The Lawrence Hall of Science’s Summer Science Fundays begin Wednesday, June 21 and last all summer. 

The first special event, entitled “What is Summer!” lasts from noon-2 p.m. It will include art and science activities that explore the sun, seasons, astronomy, and how fog is made. 

Events continue every Wednesday afternoon through Aug. 30. The second event, June 28 from noon-2 p.m. explores seeds-how to use them to make music, create jewelry, and how to plant them. 

Other Fundays include folk tales exploring Asian Cultures, Ice Cream Day, how to make musical instruments, and the LHS Summer Games 2000. 

Tickets are $2 for ages six and up. To receive a group discount for 12 or more people, call 642-5134 in advance. LHS exhibits are open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

The Lawrence Hall of Science is located above the UC Berkeley campus, on Centennial Drive. Parking is 50 cents an hour. LHS is also accessible by AC Transit and the UC Berkeley Shuttle. For more information, call 642-5132 or visit www.lhs.berkeley.edu.

The California fire season is here again and the Berkeley Fire Department would like to remind everyone to be careful. Here are some hints to remain fire safe. 

If you live in the hills: 

• Remove flammable vegetation from around your home a minimum of 30 feet. 

• Limit flammable vegetation on the down slope side of your property up to 100 feet from any structure, 

• Make sure you have a spark arrester on any fireplace. 

• Clear your roof and gutters of leaves and needles. 

• Don’t have open fires. 

• Have an evacuation plan should a wildfire occur in your area. 

• Be especially alert during High Fire Hazard Conditions; when it is hot, windy and dry. 

• Report fires or suspicious behavior; don’t depend on someone else to do it. Call 911. 

General fire safety tips no matter where you live: 

• Be careful with barbecues; don’t place them on wooden decks or railings. 

• Don’t put burned BBQ coals in the trash or on flammable materials. 

• Dispose of all smoking materials in a proper container and smoke only in safe areas, 

• Check your smoke detector batteries and have an escape plan for your home. 

• Fireworks are dangerous – and illegal in Berkeley. 

For more information contact the Berkeley Fire Prevention Division at 644-6158. To sign up for a Community Emergency Response Training Class, call 644-8736.

Members of the UC Berkeley faculty spent part of this week learning how computer technology can aid their teaching styles and improve the quality of their classes. 

Thirty-two professors participated in the Summer Technology Program at the Haas Business School from Monday to Wednesday, where 10 faculty members gave various presentations on emerging technology. 

“The times are changing,” presenter Michael T. Hardie said. “People are finding out this year that if they want to know how to do something, they want to learn how to do it. A lot of people felt that they had to rely on their Teacher Assistants to do things, and they wanted more control.” 

In its third year, its second at the Business School, the Summer Technology Program has expanded to include more professors than in previous years. 

“It’s a great program for opening faculty members’ eyes to what is possible, and it’s a real smorgasbord of tools that can be used in all different ways in people’s courses,” French professor Rick Kern said. 

Faculty members attended hands-on workshop sessions on how to build a course web site, conduct Power Point presentations, scan images, and learn how to incorporate the Berkeley Internet Broadcasting System (BIBS) into their lectures. 

BIBS allows professors to broadcast their lectures live on the Internet and then archive them. This gives students who could not attend a lecture the opportunity to watch the lectures on their computers and not miss out on anything. It also allows students to review parts of lectures they had difficulty understanding. 

In a session Wednesday morning, three technology staff members went over WebCT and CourseInfo, two programs that professors can use to build web sites for their classes. These web sites feature discussion boards, notes from the professor, and other course information and materials that can benefit students. 

“For me, what is really helpful is just to know about the different possible uses of (technology), so that when I am ready to work on it, I have a way of starting,” said Yu-Wen Ying, who works in the Social Welfare Department. 

Not all of the faculty who attended the workshops had previously used any of the computer programs for their courses. However, some were already incorporating computer technology into their teaching methods, and learned about new technology. 

“I’ve been using technology quite a bit in my classes over the last 10 years or so – using email and having students design their own web pages,” Kern said. “So my interest is developing multimedia assessment tools.” 

Kern and other faculty who attended the session will work with colleagues to find ways of including this technology into their departments beginning in the fall semester.

The Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) presented Berkeley with the “Outstanding Chapter Member of the Year” award at the Academy’s Symposium on Elder Law, held May 4-7 in Philadelphia. 

NAELA was formed in 1988 to enhance the quality of legal services available to older persons in the United States. 

NAELA’s 3,400 members are attorneys who have demonstrated experience and training in working with older people’s legal problems.