University of California clerical workers overwhelmingly have approved a new contract, ending a bitter, two-year fight with UC management over wages and workplace safety. 

The contract, a compromise crafted by a state mediator in March, gives 18,000 administrative assistants, library assistants and child care workers at UC’s nine-campus system a 2.5 percent raise over two years. 

The deal affects 2,300 local workers, both at the UC Berkeley campus and Oakland’s UC Office of the President. 

Approval, by a 2-to-1 margin, marks a victory for the university, which has argued for months that it could only afford a 2.5 percent hike, given the state’s fiscal crisis. 

The vote, taken last month, was announced Thursday. 

“We believe this agreement is a fair and balanced compromise considering the significant state funding constraints we’re experiencing,” said Judith Boyette, UC associate vice president for human resources and benefits, in a statement. “We’re very pleased the union and its members have chosen to accept this agreement.” 

Union leaders with the Coalition for University Employees (CUE) said they are pleased with improved layoff protections and modest gains on workplace safety. But they argued that the university could have tapped a $4 billion unrestricted reserve to fund a 15 percent wage hike. 

“We all know the university has lied to us about their ability to pay us better wages,” said CUE President Claudia Horning in a statement. “Clearly it will take more pressure from all the unions to get a wage offer that we all need and deserve.” 

University officials have long argued that the reserve, while technically unrestricted, is wrapped up in various financial obligations that cannot be ignored. 

“All UC funds are 100 percent committed each year and there are no rainy day reserves full of money for salary increases,” said UC spokesman Paul Schwartz. 

Union member Malla Hadley, a UC Berkeley scheduling coordinator, said she is skeptical of the university’s explanation. Ultimately, she said, she voted in favor of the contract because she didn’t think UC would bend in difficult economic times. 

“It’s impossible for us to expect that we’re going to see huge gains when people are being laid off left and right,” she said. 

The two-year contract battle spawned a nasty war of words that peaked in August 2002, when clerical workers at UC Berkeley joined lecturers in a two-day strike. Two months later, clerical workers at UC campuses in Santa Cruz, Davis, Riverside and Santa Barbara staged their own walk-outs, joined again by lecturers. 

In January, state mediator Micki Callahan intervened at the request of both parties and eventually hammered out the compromise contract. Union officials were not entirely pleased with the result. But after two years of negotiations, they decided to turn it over to their members for a vote. 

“It seemed to us that it was time to let the members decide what to do,” said CUE chief negotiator Margy Wilkinson. 

The union leadership remained neutral on the contract but workers, who had gone two years without a raise, voted 1,557 to 831 to approve Callahan’s proposal.  

The new contract covers the period from September 2001 to September 2004. CUE’s previous contract expired in the fall of 2001, and clericals have been working under the terms of their old contract for 16 months. 

Toni Mendicino, a UC Berkeley secretary, said she was disappointed with rank-and-file approval of the new agreement. “The wage is so inadequate,” said Mendicino, who earned $26,000 last year working four days per week. “The cost of living in California and our recent health and parking increases alone have offset the raises.” 

Scheduling assistant Michael-David Sasson, president of the CUE unit at UC Berkeley, said the wages were particularly insulting given a February report in the San Francisco Chronicle which found that upper-level administrators won 30 to 40 percent raises between 1996 and 2002, while clericals got 2 to 4 percent hikes, reaching an average salary of $33,138. 

Schwartz, the UC spokesman, declined to “rehash old issues.” But he told the Chronicle, in February, that large pay hikes are necessary to retain top-level administrators. 

“The market for clericals is very different than for senior managers, and we do not face the pressures or recruitment and retention issues with clericals that we do with senior managers,” Schwartz told the Chronicle. 

Mendicino said UC Berkeley union members will begin gearing up for the next contract fight shortly. Workers will meet next week, she said, to discuss improving communications with clericals on other campuses and boosting CUE’s overall membership. 

About one-third of UC’s 18,000 clerical employees belong to the union, although the CUE contract covers all the workers.

COMMUNITY MEETINGS 

FRIDAY, MAY 2 

Support the Artists of West Berkeley. The historic Sawtooth Building, on 8th St. between Dwight and Parker, with 50 artist studios is holding an open house from 10 a.m to 5 p.m., also on Sat. May 3.  

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310, 845-1143. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. 496-6000, ext.135. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship www.bpf.org 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon Series, “Syria,” with Beshara Doumani, PhD, Professor of History, UC Berkeley. Luncheon 11:45 a.m. $11.50 - $12.50, Speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925, 665-9020. 

The Rachel Corrie Banner Project fundraiser with  

Jessica Rice, at 7:30 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Hall at 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. For more information on Rachel Corrie's tragic death by being bulldozed by an Israeli soldier while protecting a Palestinian home from demolition, please go to www.electonicintifada.net $20 donation requested, no one turned away for lack of funds. 

Sex, Lies & International Economics a film on alternative economics for women’s equality at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. All events are free. 540-0751. ww.thelonghaul.org  

SATURDAY, MAY 3 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours, “Stage Craft Studios and the Bay Architects,” led by James Novosel. 10 a.m. $5 members, $10 non-members. For reservations call 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

Low-Income Cohousing informational meeting from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, South Branch, 1901 Russell St. 

African Spring Festival, at 6:30 p.m. at 155 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Featuring authentic African cuisine, dances, plays, music, fashion show and more. Tickets are $7 in advance, $ 10 general admission and $5 for children under 12. 286-7976.  

africanfestival@yahoo.com 

Studies from Nature, drawing workshop for ages 10-14 taught by artist Olga Segal, noon to 2 p.m. at the Ber- 

keley Art Center. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale; scholarships available on request. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Light Search and Rescue Class offered by the City of Berkeley’s Emergency Operations Center, from 1 to 5 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. For more information call 981-5605. TDD: 981-5799. 

Pet Adopt-A-Thon! The Milo Foundation will be showing pets for adoption on Fourth St., from noon on Saturday and 11 a.m. on Sunday until 6 p.m. both days. Volunteers and foster homes are highly encouraged for this event. Contact The Milo Foundation by email, milo@pacific.net or call 707-459-4900.  

Northcoast Timber Wars Movie Night featuring “Matole Resistance” and “Fire in the Eyes” at 7:30 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. All events are free. 540-0751.  

Introductory Day Long Meditation Retreat at the  

Berkeley Buddhist Priory, 1358 Marin Ave. Albany. Advance registration is necessary. 528-1876. www.berkeleybuddhistpriory.org 

Sick Plant Clinic, UC Botanical Garden experts diagnose your plant woes the first Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to noon at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755. www.mip.berkeley. 

edu/garden 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration at LeConte Elementary School, 2241 Russell St. from noon to 3:30 p.m. Music by Colibrí, mariachi music, baile folklorico performed by LeConte students, DJ music by DJ FUZE, and a special appearance by KMEL's Chuy Gomez. Also Latin American food and a silent auction. Benefit for LeConte's Dual Immersion Program and the LeConte PTA. Tickets are $3 for children and $7 for adults. 644-6290. 

Walking Tour to Explore Creek Mouths on the Bay Trail, sponsored by Friends of Five Creeks with Berkeley Path Wanderers and Friends of Albany Beach. Meet at 10 a.m. at Seabreeze Market, University Ave. just west of freeway. Bring water and dress in layers. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org.  

Birding Breakfast and Quarterly Bird Walk, with Chris Carmichael, Manager of Collections and Horticulture, and expert birder Dennis Wolff on a morning walk to discover the Garden's bird life. 8 to 11 a.m. UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Fee $35, Members $25. 643-2755 to register. 

Visit the Cedars, horticulturist Roger Raiche hosts a visit to his property, The Cedars, home to serpentine ecosystems and with the Rhodo- 

dendron occidentale in bloom. Fee $50, UC Botanical Garden Members $30. Reservations required, call 643-2755. 

Spartacist League West Coast Educational Conference, U.S. Imperialism at 2 p.m., The Kurdish Question and U.S. Invasion of Iraq at 5 p.m., and Sun., May 4 at noon, France 1968, Lessons of the Student Revolt and General Strike at Valley Life Sciences Bldg., Room 2040. 839-0851. slbayarea@compuserve.com 

Berkeley Potters Guild Annual Sale, on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 731 Jones St. 524-7031. 

www.berkeleypotters.com 

SUNDAY, MAY 4 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration at James Kenney Park, noon to 5 p.m. Health fair, legal clinic, crafts vendors and food booths. Entertainment by LAVA Band, Danza Azteca Cuauhtonal, Mariachi Estrella, and Ballet Folklor- 

ico de Sonia Ramirez. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley and the Duran Foundation. 540-1046 x 10. 

Exploring Clay, Inventing Creatures, a workshop for ages 5-10, noon to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Cost is $5 - $10 sliding scale; scholarships available on request. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Humanizing the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Day of Mutual Recognition, with Moham- 

med Alatar and Rabbi Michael Lerner, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the International House. Sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, facilitated by the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue group. Free Middle Eastern dinner included. Reservations required, call 301-2777 or email berkleytikkun 

@yahoogroups.com 

Eckhart Tolle's Talks on Video, at 7:30 p.m. to hear the words of the author of "The Power of Now" at the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. Will meet on the first and third Sunday of each month. 547-2024. EdShorelin@aol.com 

MONDAY, MAY 5 

Community meeting about moving the Berkeley Adult School to the Franklin School site will be the topic of a second community meeting at 7 p.m. at Ala Costa, 1300 Rose St., Cedar Rose Park. School Board Members John Selawsky and Terry Doran, along with Superintendent Michele Lawrence and BAS Principal Margaret Kirkpatrick will be present. For further information contact Principal Margaret Kirkpatrick, Berkeley Adult School, mkirkpat@bas. 

berkeley.net 644-6130, or Caleb Dardick, representing the BUSD Superintendent's Office, caleb@cdastrategies. 

com 704-0130. Information will be posted to www.berkeleypublicschools.org and http://bas.berkeley.net 

Berkeley CopWatch meets  

at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 

Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

Five Star Night, Annual Fundraiser for Alameda County Meals on Wheels at the Greek Orthodox Cathe- 

dral of the Ascension. For information call Marci Vastine 567-8056.  

Oakland/East Bay National Organization for Women, with Tammy Fitz-Randolph, certified mediator, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Library, 1901 Russell St. Meetings are open to all for free. 287-8948.  

TUESDAY, MAY 6 

Berkeley Camera Club, meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 525-3565.  

Disaster First Aid Class offered by the City of Ber- 

keley’s Emergency Oper- 

ations Center, from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. For more information call 981-5605. TDD: 981-5799. 

Household Energy Conservation Made Easy 

This class will cover do-it-yourself insulation, weatherization and metering, plus discussion of appliance use, and standby power along with examples of low- and no-cost solutions. This lecture also covers RECO measures required by the City of Berkeley. Speakers are Reuben Deumling, Berkeley Energy Commission; and Alice La Pierre, City of Berkeley Energy Analyst. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Energy Office. 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5435 or energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us  

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7 

YMCA’s 63rd Annual Com- 

munity Prayer Breakfast, with Lyn Fine, Buddhist educator, Rev. Rodney Yee, Chinese Community Church, and music by the McGee Avenue Baptist Choir. From 7:30 to 9 a.m. at the Brazilian Room in Tilden Park. Tickets are $20 and available by calling 549-4525 or email nandini@baymca.org 

“Tamalpais Tales,” an evening of anecdotes and reminiscences by Millie Barish, Tamalpais Road historian, in celebration of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s Spring House Tour, at 7:30 pm at the The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street at Arch. Presentation will be followed by cookies and conversation around the fireplace. Tickets, for $7, may be purchased at the door. As space is limited, you may wish to order your tickets by mail: BAHA, P.O. Box 1137, Berkeley, 94701 

South Berkeley Mural Project. Community members in South Berkeley are coming together to create a neighborhood mural on the side of the Grove Liquor Store on the corner of Ashby Ave and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Meetings are held every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Epic Arts Studios at 1923 Ashby Ave. For further information on ways to get involved please call 644-2204.  

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group 

meets the first and third Wednesdays of the month at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. Come join fellow friendly human rights activists to help promote social justice one individual at a time. 872-0768. 

THURSDAY, MAY 8 

Public Meeting on the Proposed Molecular Foundry Development by Lawrence Berkeley Nattional Lab in Strawberry Canyon, at 7:30 p.m. in the Strawberry Can- 

yon Recreation Center. All invited. For information, contact the Mayor’s office, 981-7100. 

Tariq Ali, author, Clash of Fundamentalisms; and Editor, New Left Review speaks on War, Empire, and Resistance at 4 p.m. in the Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Center, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Institute of International Studies. 642-2472. iis@globetrotter.berkeley.edu 

Education Not Incarceration, a coalition of teachers, students, parents and community members need you to join the rally at noon in at the State Capitol, Sacramento. Buses leave the Bay Area at 8:30 a.m. For information email ed_not_inc@earthlink.net or www.may8.org  

League of Women Voters Speaker Series program on “Rebuilding Together,” formerly “Christmas in April,” from noon to 2 p.m. in the Edith Stone Room of the Albany Public Library, 1247 Marin ave., at Masonic. 843-8824. lwvbae@pacbell.net 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers, invites you to a Fly Tying Extravaganza and Auction at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave., at 6:30 p.m. For information contact rorlando@uclink4. 

berkeley.edu  

ONGOING 

Alameda County Hazardous Waste Drop-Off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 8, 9 and 10 at Alameda County Household Hazardous Waste, 2100 E. 7th St., Oakland.Take advantage of this opportunity to safely dispose of prosucts such as paint, auto products, household batteries, cleaners and sprays, pesticides and fertilizers. Please do NOT bring asbestos, explosives, most compressed gasses, computer monitors, CRTs and TVs, computers & electronic equipment. Call 1-877-STOPWASTE or visit stopwaste.org/fsrecycle. For information on what to do with other items, call 800-606-6606, email HHW@co.alameda.ca.us, or visit http://householdhazwaste.org/oakland 

Cooking and Baking Classes, offered by The Bread Project in conjunction with Berkeley Adult School. Contact Lucie Buchbinder at 644-1713. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Section 8 Resident Advisory Board meets on Friday, May 2 From 3:30 to 5 p.m. at City Hall, 2180 Milvia St., Dog- 

wood Conference Room, 2nd Floor. Rick Mattessich, 981-5471. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/section8 

Public Works Commission Special Meeting on Friday May 2, on the develpoment of a workplan from 1 to 5 p.m. at 2180 Milvia St., Redwood Room, 6th Floor. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

Council Agenda Committee Meeting meets Monday, May 5 at 2:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Monday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen 981-7419. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/landmarks 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m.in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector 981-5510. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

Rent Stabilization Board meets Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Pam Wyche, 644-6128. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us\rent  

Youth Commission meets Monday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m.  

1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton, 981-6670. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/youth 

City Council meets on Tuesday May 6 for a Public Hearing on Allocation of $4.2 Million in Community Development Block Grant Funds, at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk, 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wednesday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Ruby Primus, 981-5160. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/women 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

Transportation Commission Bicycle Subcommittee meets on Friday, May 7 from 4 to 6 p.m. at 2120 Milvia St. Third Floor Conference Room. Carolyn Helmke, 981-7062. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/transportation 

Commission on Early Child- 

hood Education meets  

Thursday, May 8 at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Marianne Graham, 981-5416. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/earlychildhoodeducation 

Community Health Com- 

mission meets Thursday, May 8, from 6:45 to 9:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. William Rogers, 981-5344. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/health 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thursday, May 8, at  

7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/zoning   

School Board meets Wednesday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Queen Graham 644-6147 or Mark Coplan 644-6320. 

Sarah Jones has a hard time sitting still.  

Regardless of whether she’s holding court on the propaganda on Fox News, her recent successful lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission regarding her satirical hip-hop poem “Your Revolution” — “Technically, we haven’t won,” she explained Wednesday before her show, “but the FCC has admitted wrongdoing, and now ‘Revolution’ can be heard on the radio again … so call it poetic justice” — or the quality of the falafel she’s munching on, the 28-year-old poet and performance artist punctuates her statements with kinetic hand gestures and restless movements that are reminiscent less of a theatrical diva than a dervish.  

As anyone who has seen “Surface Transit” — her one-woman show that’s been selling out the Berkeley Rep for the last two weeks — can attest, even her silent and still moments on stage pack an emotional wallop. 

The theater will announce Friday that the run has been extended through June 1. Tickets for the extra shows go on sale this Sunday. 

Considering her background as a poet, it’s no surprise that she’s mastered the art of knowing exactly what to say and when to say it. But what is shocking is her chameleonic ability to turn herself into the eight disparate characters that comprise “Surface Transit’s” tour of the human condition with little more than a few minimal costume changes and an arsenal of accents at her disposal. Running the gamut from a recovering hip-hop MC to a Jewish grandmother to a white supremacist businessman from Alabama, Jones has a knack for both pitch-perfect mimicry and total transformation. 

“I was doing these poetry slams in New York, really pouring on the performance part of it,” she said, (it was her winning the prestigious Nuyorican Poets Café’s Grand Slam Championship in 1997 that catapulted her into the spotlight), “and I remember thinking, I’m doing the best I can to convey this idea I have to the audience. But what if I could actually take the experience I had of, say, meeting a homeless woman ... and instead of being this third party, what if she came up and delivered these ideas herself? What if they got to feel what was so compelling to me about this person? 

“Of course,” she added, “no one was there to tell me, ‘What, are you crazy? You’ve never done any acting before. Just read your poems, then sit down!’ It never occurred to me that it would be strange to become somebody else. Luckily, no one told me I was out of my mind. And luckily, it seems to have worked out.” 

She discovered a facility for impersonating different voices while attending the United Nations School in New York (during the interview, she broke into an East Indian accent that was uncannily accurate). Her tenure as a spoken word dynamo gave her the fearlessness to perform her heart out, she said. What she hadn’t expected was the time it would take to put such a show together. 

“When I’ve got the right elements — a room to bounce around in, access to the people I want to base my characters on, the space to observe … videotapes to get the right physicality, which is incredibly important — I can usually knock something like ‘Transit’ or ‘Waking The American Dream’ [her new show, which plays the Yerba Buena Arts Center in June] in a few months. At first, it was difficult. Now, it’s like a recipe. I know I’ve got to pre-heat the oven to 350, let it bake for 20 minutes, and then let the juices start running clear,” she laughed.  

“Mostly, though, what I need is something grounded in the truth. Almost all of the characters in “Transit” were around me, either major figures or minor players in my life, but they were based on real people that I’d been thinking about for a while. Even the most far-fetched of them, like the racist businessman … I had met this smooth-talker in an airport lounge in Atlanta years ago. And even though he wasn’t a Klansman or anything like that, I could see how someone with a gift of gab could persuade you of even the evilest of ideas. It’s happened throughout history. So even he is grounded in reality, unfortunately.” 

What may be the most impressive aspect of Jones’ work is that even her worst characters, like the businessman or the homophobic cop, are still granted a sense of humanity. “In the end, even the vilest of us is still a human being, and it’s the artist’s responsibility to show that,” she said. “I’m interested in challenging the status quo, which isn’t the most popular thing for artists to be doing right now. But I’m even more interested in seeing what binds people. We’re all here on this earth. We’ve all got to work things out together.”

FRIDAY, MAY 2 

FILM 

Heroic Grace: Martial Arts 

Come Drink with Me at 7:30 and 9:25 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mike Riera on “Staying Connected to Your Teen- 

ager” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500. wwwcodysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Noon Concert with Shaw Pong Liu, violin, Monica Chew, piano. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

California Bach Society and Orchestra, Warren Stewart, artistic director, performs Mozart’s Requiem at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $25, $18 for seniors, $12 for students. 415-262-0272. www.calbach.org 

Solstice, a female vocal ensemble, will perform an a cappella concert at noon in the Reading Room of the Berkeley Main Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

University Dance Theater performs in their annual concert at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $8 - $14, available from 866-468-3399. For informations call 642-9925. or genturc@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Opera performs 

Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $38 adults, $33 seniors over 65, $16 children under 18, $10 students. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Anthony Jeffries and his All Stars, blues band at 8 p.m. at Rountree’s, 2618 San Pablo Ave. 663-0440.  

Sensasamba and the Aquarela Brazilian Dance Ensemble performs at 9 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 

525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Steve Seskin, Christine Kane 

An evening of song artistry at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Casey Neill and Little Sue, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Bay Area Latin Jazz Legacy 

Tribute to percussionist Benny Velarde with guest vibraphone and flautist Roger Glen, trumpeter Joe Ellis, and Willie Colon at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

For the Crown, Playing Enemy, For All It’s Worth, X Wear the Mark X, Blessing the Hogs, perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, MAY 3 

CHILDREN 

An Afternoon of Music and Dance, with Betty Ladzekpo and Berkeley Arts Magnet West African Dance; Chris Brague and the Berkeley Arts Magnet Percussion Ensemble; and Shaeedah Deal and Dancers from Willard Middle School and Malcolm X, at 3 p.m. at the  

Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Children’s Concert Season Finale with Colibri! at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $3 for children, $4 for adults. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

Heroic Grace: Martial Arts 

One-Armed Swordsman at 2:15 and 7 p.m., Golden Swallow, at 4:30 and 9:15 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at the West Branch Public Library, 1125 Univer- 

sity Ave. 527-9905. poetalk@aol.com 

Prose Reading to benefit Poetry Flash with Mel Fiske and John Richards, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody's Books. $5 donation. 845-7852. www.codys 

books.com, www.poetryflash.org 

Gloria Feldt, author and President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, reads from her new book, Behind Every Choice Is a Story, at 3 p.m., at Avenue Books, 2904 College Ave. 549-3532.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Free Folk Festival 

Music and workshops, activities for children, from noon to 9 p.m. at Malcolm X School, 1731 Prince St. Also Sunday, May 4. Sponsored by Freight and Salvage. For information 649-1423. www. 

freightandsalvage.org/bfff 

The Alex Buccat Quartet, featuring Michele Latimer, vocals and trumpet at 2:30 p.m. in Walnut Square, at Vine. 204-9228. www.walnutsquarecenter.com 

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, under the direction of Arlene Sagan, performs Brahms “German Requiem,” at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. Admission is free. 964- 0665. www.bcco.org 

Berkeley Opera performs 

Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $38 adults, $33 seniors over 65, $16 children under 18, $10 students, from 925-798-1300. 

www.juliamorgan.org 

West African Highlife Band performs at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 

525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Moore Brothers, Nedelle, Golden Shoulders, Willow Willow, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

University Dance Theater performs in their annual concert at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC campus. Tickets are $8 - $14, available from 866-468-3399. For informations call 642-9925. or enturc@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Il Giardino Armonica 

Music Before 1850: Music of Fontana, Farina, Piccinini, Purcell, Mancini, Vivaldi, Goldberg, Sammartini, at 8 p.m. at the First ongregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $42 from Cal Performances 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Javanese Gamelan 

Gamelan Sari Raras, Heri Purwanto, director. Music and Dance from Surakarta and Yogyakarta, at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets $2-$8 from 642-9988. 

www.ls.berkeley.edu/dept/music 

Chicano de Mayo Celebration with Quetzal and Domingo Siete. Dance to the grooves of two L.A. bands at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13 in advance, $15 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

World Stage: Juan de Marcos’ Afro-Cuban All Stars Latino rhythms: classic son montuno, contemporary timba, swinging big band guajira, jazz and funk at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Barbara Higbie, pianist, fiddler, singer and composer performs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50 adv, $18.50 door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Stfu, Born/Dead, Dead by Dawn, Dead Fall, Stockholm Syndrome, The Abandon perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 4 

CHILDREN 

Family Day with Gamelan Sekar Jaya, a program created for young audiences, members of the ensemble will demonstrate aspects of Bali's rich performance traditions using dance, gamelan instruments, and costumes at 2 p.m. at the Hearst Museum Gallery, Kroeber Hall. 643-7648.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Publication Celebration for 26 Magazine, Issue B with contributors Gillian Conoley, Joseph Kolb, Rick London, and Elizabeth Treadwell, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody's Books. $2 donation. 845-7852. www.codys 

books.com, www.poetryflash.org 

G. William Domhoff, a sociology professor at the Uni- 

versity of California, discusses his new book, “Changing the Powers That Be: How the Left Can Stop Losing and Win,” at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. 

FILM 

Eisner Awards 

Works from the Eisner Awards Competition at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Opera performs 

Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at 2 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $38 adults, $33 seniors over 65, $16 children under 18, $10 students, from 925-798-1300. 

www.juliamorgan.org 

World Stage: Juan de Marcos’ Afro-Cuban All Stars Latino rhythyms: classic son montuno, contemporary timba, swinging big band guajira, jazz and funk at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Les Yeux Noirs, a Paris-based octect, performs high energy dance music rooted in traditional Roma and Yiddish music at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $14. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Empyrion Ensemble, contemporary chamber music at 4 p.m. at The Crowden School Great Hall, 1475 Rose St. Cost is $10, age 18 and under, free. 559-6910.  

University Dance Theater, presents their annual performance at 2 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus. Tickets are $8 - $14 available from 866-468-3399. For information call 642-9925. genturc@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Lisa Says, a pop-folk ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10, $7 students. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Jeff Pittson Trio performs at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool,  

Cost is $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Ellen Hoffman with Melicio Magdaluoy & Anna deLeon, jazz pianist and composer, 8 p.m.at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Cuarteto Latinoamericano, with Sonia Rubinsky, piano, featuring a new piano quintet by UC Berkeley Professor of Music Jorge Liderman at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall. Tickets are $32. 642-9988. 

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Dance and Rhythm of India, a free concert, directed by Purnima Jha, with students from Thousand Oaks Elementary and the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

The Gourmet Ghetto Trio with Greg Kehret, bassist, at 1 p.m. in Walnut Square, at Vine. 204-9228. www.walnutsquarecenter.com 

MONDAY, MAY 5 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ayi Kwei Armah, Ghanaian author, will speak on The Writer in African Society, at 4 p.m. in 402 Barrows Hall, UC Campus. 642-8338. www.ias.berkeley.edu/africa/ 

The Last Word hosts a poetry reading at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. with Naomi Lowinsky, author of “Red Clay Is Talking” and Patrick Hunt, at 7 p.m. 649-1320. 

Michael Lemonick talks about “Echo of the Big Bang,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Christine Schäfer, soprano 

Ted Taylor, piano perform Schubert, Crumb, and Schu- 

mann at 3 p.m. in Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs. 

berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, David Milnes, director, perform new works by UC Music Dept. graduate student composers in the Berkeley New Music Project, at 8 p.m. in Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $2, $6, $8. 642-9988.  

TUESDAY, MAY 6 

FILM 

The Inquiring Camera  

Remembrance of Things to Come at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Anne Cummins reads from “Red Ant House,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Toids and Edessa perform at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson with Lise Liepman at 7:30, show at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Andy M. Stewart and Gerry O’Beirne, Scottish and Irish music masters, perform at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

“Let's Start Using Our Cranium and Get Rid of Depleted Uranium” an evening of music and educational speeches calling attention to health and environmental effects of depleted uranium (DU) weaponry used in the recent war in Iraq. All proceeds from the evening will go to benefit the Military Toxics Project and National Gulf War Resource Center. Blackbox theater, 1932 Telegraph Ave., Oak- 

land. $10. 919-5478. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7 

CHILDREN 

Karen Sudjian Lampkin and 

students from Whittier EDC perform songs, poetry, 

dance and living history at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

FILM 

Film 50: Timecode at 3 p.m. (sold out) and Video: Special Event, Screening the Body: Video Dance and Live Music, live video mixes by Douglas Rosenberg. Live music by Ryan Smith, Daniel Feiler, at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

COMEDY 

Comedy Show to benefit Berkeley Dispute Resolution Service, featuring a diverse line-up of the Bay Area’s rising stars, at 8 p.m. Cost is $15 and up, sliding scale. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alejandro Murguia, Francisco X. Alarcon and Maria Melendez read from “Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Literature from California” at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

John Derbyshire looks at “Prime Obsession: Bernard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Inez Hollander Lake, Ksenija Soster Olmer, and Sande Smith read from their book of stories, “A Cup of Comfort for Mothers and Daughters,” at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Noon Concert, Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Noon Concert Series, directed by Davitt Moroney. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Karen Sudjian Lampkin and Students from Whittier EDC in a free performance of songs, poetry, dance, and living history, at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Carrie Newcomer performs contemporary folk at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

THURSDAY, MAY 8 

FILM 

Heroic Grace: Martial Arts 

at 7:00, Vengeance! at 9:05 at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Diane Ravitch describes “The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

Douglas Rushkoff speaks about “Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Sharon Ellison, author of “Taking the War Out of Our Words,” describes how we use the rules of war as a basis for communication at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

UC Jazz at Noon free concert on Lower Sproul Plaza. 

Due West, a traditional bluegrass band celebrates its album release at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Lagbaja, Nigerian band playing a mix of Afrobeat with highlife, juju, funk and jazz at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $17. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Faun Fables, Joanna Newsom, Jessica Hoop at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. 841-2082. 

Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert in a program of songs and stories at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $16 in advance, $18 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Departing Planning Director Carol Barrett gets the Harry Truman Award for this week. Truman, you may recall, said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” and that’s exactly what Barrett is doing.  

She’s going back to the wide open spaces of Texas whence she came, with a few parting shots at the hot disputes over planning policy which are a Berkeley tradition. In Berkeley, unlike much of the rest of the country, we take our coffee hot, strong and somewhat bitter, and we tend to take our planning discussions the same way. 

San Marcos, Texas, is certainly a different kind of place from Berkeley. Its city government Web page spotlights a picture of a hometown soldier serving in Iraq. In Texas, there’s room for planners to really plan up a storm. About 40,000 people in San Marcos are trying to spread out over more than 18 square miles. (In Berkeley, we’ve already packed at least 110,000 into 12 square miles.) Undoubtedly, mouthy citizens don’t need to get in the way of professionals when it comes to making planning decisions. 

Some people in Berkeley now seem to think that kind of deference is a model to be imitated. Recently, even in these pages, such people have been advancing civic politesse codes, derived in part from Amitai Etzioni’s quasi-religious communitarian ideology, which peaked around 1984. City Council has authorized the city manager to conduct an investigation into commissioners’ manners, with a report due in September. A League of Women Voters team of “observers” has been making the rounds of commission meetings to check up on deportment. A councilmember’s aide has circulated an e-mail calling for a purge of dissident commissioners, and many already have been replaced. The mayor boasts of City Council meetings which are over by 9:15 p.m., with civic strife swept tidily under the rug. Only the churlish Winston Smiths among us object. 

This model for civic governance is usually accompanied by Only-in-Berkeley-ism. That’s the sub-sect of communitarianism which believes that Berkeley is the only place where citizens talk back to staff in such an annoying way. Believers in this theory, presumably, have never lived in Ann Arbor, Cambridge, Santa Cruz, Bloomington, Santa Barbara, Madison, Davis or any of the many other places with a high concentration of well-educated articulate inhabitants. (They also don’t watch the British House of Commons on late-night cable.) 

The Berkeley Planning Commission, to take one arbitrary example, has two professors, at least one lawyer and assorted other Ph.D.s among its nine members, and it shows. Admittedly, it’s rough for a city department head to hear from one of the professors that he’d give a C+ to a staff report as presented. On the other hand, putting up with that kind of intellectual critique has always been part of the job description for staffers in university towns, and it always will be. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It would be dishonest for an expert citizen commissioner who spots holes in staff data to keep quiet for fear of offending. 

Harry Truman, though no intellectual himself, didn’t suffer fools gladly either. Many who worked with or for him felt the sting of his caustic tongue. Those who could put up with him stayed on, and even enjoyed the challenge. Others left. That’s why Barrett gets the Truman Award. She couldn’t stand the heat of Berkeley’s intellectual stew, so she’s leaving, to her credit. In a small town in Texas she’ll get some respect. 

Becky O’Malley is executive editor of the Planet, a Landmark Preservation Commissioner, a member of the ACLU since 1959 and a registered Democrat.

You wouldn’t know it from the burly 41-year-old’s sanguine demeanor, but when William Mendoza returns home next week, he will face the threat of murder, torture and kidnapping at the hands of paramilitary agents opposed to the union activism that Mendoza and other union leaders have been engaged in for the last two decades. 

Before Mendoza arrived in the Bay Area on April 9 to begin his month-long tour of the United States, he was forced to walk around his hometown with two or three bodyguards, wear a bullet-proof vest most of the time, and frequently send his wife and three children into hiding to protect them from the men who would regularly call and threaten to kill them. 

Mendoza said neither he nor any member of his family has been physically harmed, but he still has reason to worry. Last June, his four-year-old daughter was the victim of a kidnapping attempt, and Mendoza continues to receive death threats on his cell phone even while traveling abroad. 

In a recent interview at the Plumbers Union Hall in San Francisco, minutes after giving a speech to a raucously enthusiastic crowd of unionists, Mendoza explained why he continues his activism in the face of such danger. “I believe it’s my duty as a worker and as a Colombian to denounce everything that’s going on in my country,” he said, speaking through a translator. “It’s better to act even if there’s fear than to not act at all.” 

Mendoza works for Bebidas y Alimentos, a Coca Cola bottling plant in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, and is president of SINALTRAINAL, the trade union that represents workers at several beverage and food companies in the country. Mendoza said he is one of 65 trade unionists in Colombia who have received death threats from paramilitary groups. Since 1989, 15 union activists from SINALTRAINAL have been killed by paramilitaries. Eight were workers at Coca Cola bottling plants. 

The murders of Coca Cola union leaders are the subject of a lawsuit filed in July 2001 by the United Steel Workers of America. The suit alleges that Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups acted as hired hands for Coca Cola, carrying out the intimidation and murder of union leaders with the aim of stamping out the movement for improved working conditions and wages for Coca Cola employees. The suit specifically targets two Florida-based Coca Cola bottlers, Panamerican Beverages and Bebidas y Alimentos, alleging that management at those two companies allowed and even orchestrated the assassination of trade unionists. 

Coca Cola denies all of the allegations. Rodrigo Calderon, spokesman for Coca Cola’s Latin American office, which is based in Mexico, said, “These allegations are false and we think they are being used for the shock value” and as “publicity stunts.” He added that Coca Cola has “extensive normal relations with labor unions in Colombia” and has provided workers threatened with violence by paramilitaries with a host of protections, including cell phones, personal bodyguards, armored vehicles, loans for securing their houses, job transfers and extensive life insurance. “We do everything possible to keep our workers safe,” Calderon said. 

Calderon added that the Colombian courts already have looked into allegations that Coca Cola was involved in the paramilitaries’ murders of unionists and concluded — once in 1997, and then in 2001 — that there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the company. He also said Coca Cola’s own internal investigation exonerated the company. 

Mendoza is visiting four states to raise awareness about the lawsuit and to boost support for an upcoming worldwide boycott of Coca Cola products. Mendoza and his supporters, including the United Steelworkers Union, plan to launch the boycott campaign on July 22 — the day that commemorates the 1986 assassination of Hector Daniel Useche Beron, the first SINALTRAINAL union leader killed by paramilitary groups in Colombia. 

Local labor rights and fair trade activists are hoping the boycott will reinvigorate their own campaign to educate students about the plight of workers at Coca Cola’s Colombian bottling plants. Specifically, they want to convince the UC Berkeley administration, which is now in the second year of a 10-year contract with the multinational beverage company, to use their leverage to pressure Coca Cola to do more to prevent the abuse of Colombian Coca Cola workers. 

Camilo Ramero, a UC Berkeley senior and a Colombian-American, said students should actively oppose the university’s silence on the issue. “This indirectly affects UC Berkeley students because our university is engaged in a contract that endorses Coca Cola’s violation of human rights,” he said. 

Ramero is a member of the Colombian Support Network (CSN), a group of student activists who are encouraging students to write letters to Coca Cola demanding they stop the human rights violations in Colombia and protect union leaders. Ramero said if efforts to hold Coca Cola accountable and ensure the safety of Mendoza and others fail, they will step up their campaign and urge the university to sever their contract with the beverage company. 

When asked to respond to students’ concerns about Coca Cola and the possibility of a campaign to get the administration to end its contract with the company, UC Berkeley media relations director Marie Felde said she couldn’t comment because she didn’t have enough information. “This is the first time I heard of it. I haven’t even heard of the groups you’re speaking of,” she said, referring to CSN and Students Organizing for Justice in the Americas. 

Mendoza said the response he’s received in the United States has been “extremely positive,” but said the country’s geographical vastness will make it difficult to amass widespread support for the boycott. Mendoza will speak to fellow unionists at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union convention on Friday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown San Francisco. He returns to his war-wracked homeland — and would-be assassins — next week. 

For some local activists, failing to convince Coca Cola to protect its workers abroad now may mean more than losing another campaign — it also may mean losing a friend. Jeremy Rayner, an Oakland resident who helped organize Mendoza’s campus visit in early April, said, “To me it’s personal now that I’ve met William. I think about whether or not they will guarantee his safety once he returns. It’s really disturbing.” 

Meeting Set for Foundry 

At Strawberry Creek 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will hold a community discussion this week on their proposal to construct a six-story, 86,500-square-foot molecular foundry in Strawberry Canyon. 

The foundry will be primarily used to study nano technology. 

Opponents have raised concerns that LBNL’s plan to build such a large facility in Strawberry Canyon will upset the environmental balance in the canyon and create an eyesore.  

The lab is holding the discussion May 8 at the Strawberry Canyon Recreation Area in the Hass Club House’s Club Room on the second floor. The Club House is on Canyon Road above the UC Memorial Stadium. 

— John Geluardi

For four years the Crowden Music Center has brought some of the Bay Area’s finest chamber musicians to Berkeley as part of its Sundays at Four concert series. This weekend, the center is hosting the Empyrean Ensemble, a professional contemporary music ensemble in residence at the University of California, Davis. 

“We are trying to take the daunting out of classical music concerts,” said Ben Simon, who founded the family-friendly series four years ago. “This year started to catch a younger audience, and we’re trying to accommodate a younger audience, which is what classical music really needs. And we’re having a lot of fun with it.” 

The Empyrean Ensemble, formed in 1988, is bringing five of its members to the Crowden School’s Great Hall on Sunday. Its founder, the composer Ross Bauer, is also the parent of a Crowden student. 

“We talked several years ago about what an exciting thing it would be for our audience,” said Simon. “The group is flexible. They will be geared for a young audience, playing very listenable contemporary music.” The instruments for the afternoon will include clarinets, violins, viola , piano and a prepared piano -- wood screws, erasers and paper are used to change the string’s temper. 

The performance, the seventh this year, will last about an hour — a length, Simon said, that is perfect for families. The ensemble will play contemporary chamber music, written within the last 25 years. 

The Crowden Music Center incorporates the Crowden School, a private middle school with intensive music training in addition to a full academic schedule. The music center offers after-school and weekend music and art classes for students of all ages.  

“The performances are probably the best bargain in the Bay Area when it comes to professional musicians,” said Deborah Berman, executive director of The Crowden School. “And aside from that, it is in a warm, intimate atmosphere, which is where chamber music is supposed to be played.” 

All the musicians who participate in the Sunday series play for free. Money from ticket sales goes toward Crowden scholarship students and the music program. 

“We already do give scholarships, but we don’t ever have enough,” Berman said. “That is something we are working very hard on now and this concert series helps.” 

Following this week’s performance, a concert June 1 finishes off the series until next fall. In the finale, a repeat from last year, the Crowden faculty will take to the stage to perform masterpieces from the chamber music repertoire.  

“I round up as many of the Crowden professional music faculty as I can,” Simon said. “We have some wonderful artists at the Crowden School and lovely talent. This is a chance for them to shine and for our community to see the quality of the teachers at the school, and it is really just a lot of fun, the end of the season, final run.” 

The Empyrean Ensemble plays this Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Crowden Music Center’s Great Hall in North Berkeley. Tickets cost $10 for adults, and those 18 and under get in for free. Visit the Web site at: www.thecrowdenschool.org.

GRANDSTANDING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for both John Geluardi’s and Al Winslow’s reportage on Tom Bates’ patronizing adventure in pseudo-homelessness. The telling episode for me was Winslow’s quote of Bates, who when roused from sleep by a policeman, instantly came up with “I'm the mayor and we have a permit.” In other words, he’s not really a homeless bum. He’s a well-respected gentleman with supporters.  

When the policeman asked to see his permit, Mr. Bates (who lied about having one) then said City Manager Weldon Rucker okayed that he and his coterie could stay put. 

If Mr. Bates was sincerely interested in getting a taste of being on the bottom, he wouldn’t have identified himself to the policeman. He also wouldn’t have exempted himself from the violence done to many homeless people when they are roused from sleep and made to scrounge for another sleeping place.  

However, Bates chose not to join the homeless for one night. Therefore, his mayor’s night out was a grandstanding pose. After all, he could have just gone to People’s Park quietly in the daytime and spoken with the homeless then. 

I suggest the homeless follow Mr. Bates’ example. When they are awakened from sleep by the police, they should say they are the mayor, and that Weldon said it was okay to sleep where they are. 

Maris Arnold 

• 

A NEW DAY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a Berkeley citizen who has sometimes substituted on the Planning Commission and sits on a couple of other commissions, I read the article about Planning Director Carol Barrett’s resignation with interest. The relationship between commissions and staff, as you can see, is not always transparent. Particularly when the issues are as divisive as land use decisions — philosophical differences do inevitably surface, but they need not be aired as dirty linen. 

I have been present at many Planning Commission meetings, usually because there is a topic of interest, but I stay and watch out of fascination for process. I have seen members of the commission disagree many times, often with determination, although not with raised voices. The commission did a magnificent job working with staff — drafting and guiding the General Plan through many years, thousands of commission, volunteer and staff hours, and a 5-4 vote by City Council a couple of months after Ms. Barrett became our planning director — that must have been quite an eye opener to how we do things here in Berkeley. 

Ms. Barrett thinks there are those who want a planning director who will stop all development. That is certainly not what I have seen. I have seen a public that wants clear and consistent guidelines for development, and to know early in the process whether projects meet those guidelines as infill in their neighborhoods. This is true whether it is a second-story addition in the hills, or a five-story building in the flats. I also suspect this is true in almost any other densely built city. 

Looking back to before Ms. Barrett was hired, a new day was dawning on Berkeley, promises of a process developed to involve all stakeholders early in the process. I still have a vision of that day. 

Carrie Olson 

• 

RENT BOARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Barbara Gilbert’s call for the city to adopt rational fiscal policies (”Wake Up: We’re In Budget Trouble,” April 29-May 1) is right on the money. Her account of the rent board’s budget is about to become incorrect, however. 

On May 5, the rent board will hear a proposal to increase its own budget by 10 percent to $2.9 million, not the $2.6 million Ms. Gilbert describes. The board will cover the entire increase by raising the fees it charges landlords. This comes at a time when, by all accounts, rents are down and vacancy rates are up dramatically. Moreover, the rent board’s own statistics show that it has processed fewer and fewer complaints in recent years. Rather than tighten its own belt with the rest of the city, however, the rent board is trying to grab the biggest piece of pie for itself.  

To put in perspective the amount of money that the rent board absorbs for its own bureaucracy, it is worth noting that the entire rest of the city receives $2.4 million from the business license fee charged to landlords. That’s with landlords paying the highest license fee rates of any business except waste disposal.   

Ms. Gilbert points out that Berkeley’s private housing providers are also paying the highest property taxes in the state. The total burden on this particular type of Berkeley small business can exceed 10 percent of gross revenues — a punitive burden on the very people who provide one of the most important services in our community. 

For the sake of the city, it is time to replace tired political attitudes with sound public policy. 

Michael Wilson  

President 

Berkeley Property 

Owners Association 

• 

WASTEFUL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The wasteful ferry subsidies driving state Sen. Don Perata’s proposed $3 bridge tolls are reason enough to ask Assemblywoman Loni Hancock to oppose Perata’s related bills, SB 915 and SB 916. 

A ferry advocate quoted in your article (“Perata Floats Ferry Proposal,” April 22-24) foresees subsidized fares on her chosen “yachts” that are “on par with the price of a BART ticket from Berkeley to San Francisco ... currently ... about $3.” That’s absurd. Ferry costs per rider are vastly higher than those of current BART trains or transbay buses. And ferries generate worse air pollution. 

In Perata’s scenario, we would lavishly subsidize the small and declining number of commuters who find ferries convenient, while denying funds to cleaner and more cost-effective transit options that can move many more people. That’s right: Perata would provide not one cent to current bus and BART service, even though both are caught in a downward spiral of service cuts and fare increases. He wouldn’t even fund the Bay Bridge’s own seismic retrofit, which is essential but over budget. 

Voters likely will approve only one toll increase in uncertain economic times. Yet Perata’s approach would pre-empt that one increase, and permanently deny it to the projects that most need and deserve it.  

Let’s vote down this wasteful proposal (a favor to developers in Alameda who’ve long backed Perata) and reserve future toll increases for core transit services. To really get people out of their cars, for example, why not subsidize transbay bus and BART fares of $3 per round-trip, the same cost as motorists’ bridge toll? 

Ferry enthusiasts should retain the right to sip cocktails on their chosen “yachts.” But amid a budget meltdown, it’s only fair for them to pay the full costs, with no public subsidies. (In return, I won’t ask bridge commuters to pay for my next Caribbean cruise.) 

Tom Brown 

• 

INVITATION TO MEDIATE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Timothy Lynch, Hali Hammer and your readers should do some research. It is thanks to my seven years of efforts that Marissa Shaw, Karen Craig and the ADA compliance officer, both current and former, knew anything at all about the accessibility problems at previous festivals and interested themselves in the issue. 

The current location, Malcolm X, was brought about by a petition signed by over 50 concerned citizens who objected to yet another self-appointed director’s selection of a very different location, which happened as recently as this summer. Hali Hammer insisted that she had unilaterally “signed a contract” for a different hall which had inadequate dance and workshop space, but decided after receiving the petition that perhaps she did not sign a contract after all. 

If any reader, or writer, wants to see the letters and e-mails by all the festival directors, including the current director, attacking me over the years, just give me a call.  

To claim that no retaliatory behavior has taken place without reading these vitriolic archives strikes me as absurd. They were liberally spread through five newspapers, the Internet, commission and council meetings, and countless moments not only recounted to me by others but documented in signed affidavits. The festival’s first director, Jessica Bryant, acknowledges blacklisting me for the early festival years in a signed letter, copies of which are available to anyone interested. 

The “open” meetings the current director cites were also the result of my efforts. Hali’s first action as self-appointed director was to have a very private meeting she does not mention, a meeting at which she attempted to finalize her preferred location for reasons of convenience to herself, a convenience which seems to have been the major factor in location selection for the festival’s entire history.  

Hali’s initial response to the petition was to put it on the Internet and encourage others to contact the signers to discourage them from supporting it. Judy Fjell was so frightened that she dis-invited me from playing a gig with her at the Freight and Salvage, citing concerns about her career. Hali did eventually make a private apology for doing this, but the larger, public message was sent that joining the community effort to improve access is a dangerous thing to do. 

I have never “attacked” any of the festivals or the hard-working people who put them together and make them the joyous occasions they are. I played at one, I’ll be playing Saturday night, and I have worked hard for seven years to make sure the entire community can participate at great cost to myself. I’ve never confused the festival itself with the entirely human mistakes often made by often well-intended organizers. 

Hali’s contention that I refused a meeting is peculiar, considering her own vehement and repetitive refusals to meet after she violated (and continues to violate) agreements she made earlier this summer to stop transforming a public community issue into a personal attack.  

I’m happy to have this opportunity to publicly invite her to meet me and other interested community members at the Dispute Resolution Center, where perhaps someone can clarify for her that raising the issues of accessibility and inclusion is not a personal matter and benefits the entire community. I’ll let the community know from the stage on Saturday whether she accepts my invitation. 

Carol Denney 

In his first state of the city address, Mayor Tom Bates touted a congenial City Council, praised new development and warned of a looming budget deficit. He also promised to enhance the city’s business environment and to improve educational services for the city’s youth.  

Marking his 150th day in office, Bates spoke to about 200 people in the auditorium at Longfellow Middle School on Tuesday. City Councilmembers Miriam Hawley, Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington attended the address as well as a dozen city commissioners and several Board of Education directors. 

The mayor’s speech lasted nearly an hour and, typical of his style, he spoke rapidly without benefit of prepared text. His comments frequently were applauded by the audience, which was largely comprised of supporters. 

Bates spoke mostly about the city’s future. He opened his address, however, by describing one change that has already taken hold: the improved working relationship among City Councilmembers. 

Bates credited the new spirit of congeniality, in part, to the newly instituted Agenda Committee, formerly the Rules Committee. He said the committee has improved the content of agenda items by making sure they are complete before council considers them. 

The council previously was known for contentious meetings characterized by late-night discussions punctuated with effronteries and backbiting. 

“There have been some really radical things happening in Berkeley,” he said. “We’ve had [City Council] meetings over at 9:30 p.m. I get home and my wife asks me, ‘What are you doing here?’” 

Bates then addressed the city’s future with a mixture of enthusiasm and caution. 

Budget questions 

The state budget deficit is the most critical issue facing the city, Bates said.  

“The state of California is far and away in the worst shape of any state in the union,” Bates said. He then chastised state Assembly Republicans for refusing to raise taxes to cope with a $36 billion deficit. “The situation in Sacramento is a log jam with Republicans holding teachers, schoolchildren and poor people hostage.” 

He said the impact on Berkeley will be a $4 million deficit in fiscal year 2004-2005 followed by an $11 million deficit the following year.  

“We can handle the first year raising fees and fines,” he said. “We can raise parking tickets from $23 to $30 and our fines will still be comparable to other Bay Area cities.” 

The city manager instituted a hiring freeze several months ago, which also will help to offset next year’s deficit. 

However, Bates said the following year will be more difficult to contend with and that a ballot measure to raise taxes might be necessary as well as deep cuts to programs and city staff.  

“We will have to be resourceful and we will have to make the most with less,” he said.  

Business development 

Berkeley needs to do more to welcome businesses, Bates said. He said the city will have to counter slouching sales taxes by streamlining the business permit process to attract new businesses.  

Sales tax, which accounts for about 13 percent of the city’s general fund, is down by about 6 percent or $1.2 million, Bates said. 

“We have to recognize that we need people coming to Berkeley to purchase things,” he said. “I will do everything possible to help business come here and thrive.” 

As an example of a business impediment, he described former state Assemblywoman Dion Aroner’s difficulties getting her consulting business started. “She can’t get a permit because the fire inspectors are too busy,” he said.  

Bates said he has formed a task force and expects to hold a public hearing on permitting changes within the next three to four months. 

Development  

Bates said he wants to see more housing developed in Berkeley, especially affordable housing. To that end, the Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting and Development was formed to consider ways to speed the development process without restricting public input. The task force is expected to offer recommendations in the next several months. 

“I want to see commercial and mixed use on arterioles that are well designed and opened not just to students but to the entire community so we can actually have poor people living here,” he said. 

Bates described a pending development boom which includes 2,000 residential units either under construction or approved in a two-mile radius of downtown. 

Bates also said it was time to assess the strain UC Berkeley puts on the city’s infrastructure and services. UC Berkeley is one of the largest property owners in town but, because of its state-owned status, does not pay property tax to the city of Berkeley.  

In addition, Bates said the university is working on plans to develop 2 million square feet of new housing, research space, administrative offices and parking facilities within the next 10 years and should pay something to the city for sewers, utilities and police and fire service. 

“If they’re going to develop, they have to help us,” he said.  

Bates proposed a “shared study” with UC Berkeley to determine infrastructure costs.  

The homeless 

Bates spoke briefly of his 24-hour homeless stint last week. He said Berkeley has a variety of homeless services that show the city is a “wonderful, loving and outreaching community.”  

He also described the problem of homelessness as intractable and called on a regional approach to providing homeless services.  

“The city of Berkeley spent $3 million on homeless programs and the entire county of Contra Costa spent only $2 million,” he said. “This is simply not fair. Perhaps we can cut out Contra Costa’s highway funding and divert it to cities who want to do something on a regional basis.” 

Schools 

Bates campaigned on the promise of improving Berkeley’s schools. In his first months in office he forged new alliances with the Berkeley Unified School District in the hopes of improving school safety and educational services, he said. 

He organized a Youth and Education Summit, a series of meetings which began in late March. They include members of the Berkeley School Board, the Berkeley Public Education Foundation and the Berkeley Community Fund. The collaboration is exploring ways to maintain and improve school services in the face of a budget deficit of between $4 million and $8 million in the coming year. 

“Our school kids have to have an opportunity to learn, and I want to do everything I can to improve their lives,” he said. “Stay tuned to this because we’re off to a wonderful start.”

Berkeley High School Drama Department  

“Guys and Dolls”  

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, directed by Jordan Winer. The musical is based on short stories by Damon Runyon, of gamblers and chorus girls who lived on the fringes of the criminal world in the Broadway district of New York City. Sat. May 3 at 8 p.m., Sun. May 4 at 7 p.m. in the Florence Schwimley Little Theater on Allston Way between Milvia and MLK Jr. Way. Tickets are $7, $5 with student i.d. and are on sale at the box office 1/2 hr. before performance time. 

Youth Musical Theater  

Commons 

“Les Miserables”  

Performed by students of King, Longfellow, Willard, BHS, and Albany High. This school edition is shorter than the Broadway version, but not short on talent. Sat May 2 through May 10 at 7:30 p.m., Longfellow Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Tickets at the door, $ 5 - $8. 848-1797. ttp://busduse.org/lesmiz 

Stagebridge and Berkeley Adult School 

“Senior Moments” 

A lively original comedy by James Keller, on Sat. May 3 at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Adult School, 1222 University Ave. Ticket information and reservations are available by calling 444-4755.  

1 Foot 2 Players 

“The Maids”  

By Jean Genet. Maids play a nightly game masquerading as their mistress, unti the game unravels with devastating consequences. May 2-18, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 pm, with 1 extra late show Saturday, May 3 at 11 p.m., at Ann Davlin Dance Studio, 2311 Stuart St., between Telegraph and Ellsworth.$10 general, $8 seniors/students. Call 644.1889 for tickets and information.  

“La Casa Azul” 

A work based on the life of Frida Kahlo with author/ 

actress Sophie Faucher, Robert Lepage, director, May 8 - 10 at 8 p.m., May 10 at 2 p.m. and May 11 at 3 p.m., at Zellerbach Playhouse. Tickets are $36-$52. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Aurora Theater Company 

“Partition”  

Written by Ira Hauptman, directed by Barbara Oliver. April 17- May 18. Wed. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 and 7 p.m. $32-$34. 2081 Addison St. 843-4822. www.auroratheater.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater 

“Surface Transit” 

Written and performed by Sarah Jones, directed by Tony Taccone. April 18 - May 18. Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949, (888) 4BRTTIX www.berkeleyrep.org 

Shotgun Theater Lab  

“Fig Leaf:  

Tales of Truth  

And Transgressions”  

A glimpse of truth and transgressions. May 5, 6, 12 and 13 at 8:00 PM La Val's Subterranean, 1834 Euclid $10. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Shotgun Players 

“Vampires” 

By Harry Kondoleon, directed by Joanie McBrien, April 12 - May 17, Thursday through Sunday, at 8 p.m. La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid at Hearst. www.shotgunplayers.com

The education establishment has shown itself to be an advocate of low standards, false educational theory, poor selection and training of teachers, and it is incredibly wasteful with taxpayer dollars. Today’s teachers suffer from the inability to pass on the accumulated knowledge of civilization from one generation to the next. Teachers unions operate as political organizations while masquerading as professional groups, and now they want to eliminate one of the few objective tools we have to measure their performance.  

State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock would eliminate the state exit exam requirement and leave it to school districts to decide if they want to use the test as a criterion for graduation. In the Berkeley Daily Planet article of April 18, a student asked, “What if you get straight A’s and flunk the test?” Considering the current rate of grade inflation, that possibility is not far fetched.  

Proof that grade inflation is epidemic in public schools is easy to find. The SAT people at the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J., collect, then correlate, students’ grades against their scores on the SAT test. The SAT is taken by 1.7 million teenagers, 70 percent of all 11th-graders. From 1988 to 1998, the number of “A” students taking the test went from 28 percent to 38 percent, yet the SAT scores dropped dramatically. Parents are often fooled by the establishment’s propaganda; they believe that because their children are getting good grades they are learning.  

Even with SAT test scores declining, the average college-bound 11th-grader has a higher test score than his teacher. Teachers in the United States are self-selected from the bottom one-third of high school and university graduates. The unfortunate reality is that the teacher hopefuls had only a 964 SAT score, far below average. Another standardized test, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), is taken by college seniors applying for graduate school in business, engineering, health science, humanities, life science, social science, physical science and education. The GRE test shows that test takers seeking to enter the field of education come in at the absolute bottom of the eight specialties. 

More than two-thirds (69 percent) of all public elementary school teachers majored in “general education” and not in a specific subject as undergraduates. Education training focuses more on how to teach than on content. 

A Pennsylvania study shows that ordinary math majors in that state had to complete courses in deferential equations and advanced calculus to earn a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. But would-be high school math teachers, including those who would teach advanced placement classes, could waive taking these courses and instead enroll in a “Mickey Mouse” class like the history of mathematics. 

Teachers and educators are, by and large, humane and well-meaning people. Their sin is that they have discarded traditional scholarship as a major goal and have adopted the psychologist, social worker model rather than that of academic instructor.  

A recent international math competition included 24,000 eighth-grade students, chosen at random from the United States, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland and Canada. They were all given 63 math questions and also asked to fill out a yes or no response to the simple statement “I am good at math.” With the great emphasis on self-esteem which permeates American schools, two-thirds answered “yes.” The South Koreans were a bit less assured and only one-quarter answered “yes.”  

When the test results came in, the United States was last and the South Koreans had won the contest. The math scores were in reverse ratio to the self-esteem responses.  

One multiple choice question asked what the average was for the five numbers: 13, 8, 6, 4, 4. Only 40 percent of American kids got it correct. I have an eighth-grade final exam from Salinas, Kan., from 1895. One question says, “Find the interest of $512.60 for eight months and 18 days at 7 percent.” No multiple choice either. The fact is that the average Joe was better educated 100 years ago. 

Proponents of the bill to eliminate exit exams, which is being sponsored by the California Teachers Association, say the exit exam unfairly punishes students for inequities in the educational system. 

Perhaps the teachers union should look at their own testing and qualifying system. A 66-page report sent to congress in June of 2002 by the Education Department criticized the majority of states for lax standards. It noted that one test that California demands all teachers to pass is the California Basic Education Skills Test. That test is set at the 10th-grade level. The report said that another common test that assesses a teacher’s reading, writing and math skills set passing grades “shockingly low.” 

California teachers are now the highest paid in the United States. They average about $53,000 per year. Remember that is for a nine-month year which computes to about $70,000 for a normal worker’s year.  

The state of California spends more that 50 percent of the state budget on education, yet half of all freshmen entering the University of California system need either remedial math or English. The high school exit exam is the only objective measure of teacher accountability. Do not take it away. 

Michael Larrick is a Berkeley resident and parent of a Berkeley High School student.

Local UC lab escapes federal contract review 

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham dealt the University of California a major blow this week when he opened bidding on the management contract for the Los Alamos weapons laboratory, which the university has operated unchallenged for 60 years. 

Abraham’s announcement has fueled speculation that the federal government may open the contract on a second UC-run weapons lab, Lawrence Livermore. But UC’s third national lab — Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — appears to be safe. 

The lab, located in Berkeley, has not been tainted with the accounting scandals that have rocked Los Alamos, the New Mexico-based weapons lab. 

Spokesman Ron Kolb added that the non-military nature of Lawrence Berkeley’s research and its special ties to the UC Berkeley campus separate it from Los Alamos. 

“We’re pleased because we always felt that the conditions we operate — the non-classified nature, the relationship with the campus — separate us from the weapons lab,” said Kolb. 

Nonetheless, the federal government’s General Accounting Office, which conducted part of the Los Alamos investigation, began a two-week review of Lawrence Berkeley’s books this week. 

A recent “wall-to-wall” inventory check by the Berkeley-based lab accounted for 98 percent of the lab’s equipment. Los Alamos has come under fire for misplacing equipment, among other things. 

—David Scharfenberg 

ANG cuts jobs 

Alameda Newspaper Group management Thursday announced editorial layoffs at its five original papers, including the flagship Oakland Tribune, that have left as many as 18 people out of work. 

According to Oakland Tribune reporter Sean Holstege, who is also vice president of the Northern California Media Workers Union, 13 full-time employees and as many as five part-time employees showed up for work Thursday and were told they were laid off. The cuts included reporters, editors, copy editors and paginators. 

The other papers affected by layoffs were The Argus, The Daily Review, The Tri-Valley Herald and the San Mateo County Times. 

ANG’s East Bay newspapers reach 500,000 daily, the largest circulation in the East Bay and the third largest in the Bay Area. The San Mateo County Times has a daily circulation of 37,000.  

According to a statement issued to employees by management, new publisher Beverly Jackson analyzed the books and determined “it has become clear through a strategic planning process that we need to constrict before we can expand.” 

Jackson did not return calls to the Daily Planet on Thursday. 

Holstege said the atmosphere around the paper was one of shock and concern for the employees who were laid off. “We don’t have a lot of ability contractually to contest the layoffs,” he said. “Right now we are looking at what we can do to protect the people who are still here and minimize the harm to the people who were let go.” 

Holstege said some options might include a rehire list and possibly negotiating severance pay for those who lost their jobs.  

The impact of the layoffs to the editorial quality of the paper is uncertain.  

“We have to figure out how to cover a lot of assignments and maintain quality,” Holstege said, “and we don’t have any answers today.” 

—John Geluardi 

Bay Area students to rally in Sacramento 

More than 2,000 Bay Area students, including as many as 1,000 from Berkeley, are expected to protest state education cuts in Sacramento on May 8. 

“We feel passionately that the state of California needs to critically examine its values,” said Wayne Au, a Berkeley High School teacher who is helping to organize the event. “Do we value educating children? Or do we place more value on locking young people up?” 

An ad hoc group of Bay Area teachers, students and community activists called “Education Not Incarceration” is the primary organizer. The group has raised about half of the $20,000 it needs to fund the event, with most of the money going toward 10 buses for Berkeley students and 10 buses for Oakland students. 

The Berkeley Board of Education has endorsed the event, and students who attend, most of them from the high school, will be on official, district-sanctioned field trips. 

Democrats and Republicans in the state Legislature agreed on a $3.6 billion package of cuts this week, including a $328 million reduction in public education funding.  

But the $3.6 billion package represents only a small dent in the state’s estimated $34.6 billion shortfall for next year. Billions more in education cuts are expected. 

More information on the event can be found at www.may8.org or by calling (510) 444-0484. Donations can be sent to the Berkeley High School Development Group, P.O. Box 519, Berkeley, CA 94701. Checks should be made out to “BHSDG — May 8th Field Trip.” 

—David Scharfenberg

Bike cop spots suspect 

On Wednesday around 2:45 p.m., a bicycle patrol officer noticed that a pan handler he was familiar with had the same name as one appearing on a $780,000 warrant. The officer detained the 43-year-old Berkeley resident who regularly hung out at the Wells Fargo at University and San Pablo avenues.  

It turned out the man was, in fact, wanted for a 2002 incident in Richmond which involved assault with a deadly weapon, auto theft and possession of cocaine. The suspect also had a $289 warrant for an open container.  

Warrant served on minivan 

On Wednesday night about 7 p.m., the Special Enforcement Unit served a narcotics search warrant on a 34-year-old Antioch woman who is known to frequent the waterfront in west Berkeley.  

Officers detained her minivan at 7th Street and Dwight Way and found approximately two grams of rock cocaine packaged for sales in the woman’s bra.  

The woman was booked into the Berkeley jail on charges of possession of cocaine for sales and a warrant for driving while intoxicated.

In an unlikely alliance, UC Berkeley’s mathematics department joined with the Aurora Theater Company last week for a discussion at the Bechtel Engineering Center entitled “Hardy and Ramanujan in Berkeley.”  

Since both revered mathematicians are long dead, the title refers to Aurora’s current production: the world premiere of the play “Partition,” based on the true story of the relationship between the two geniuses. 

In the early 20th century, Hardy was a renowned mathematician at Cambridge. Out of the blue he received a remarkable letter from Ramanujan, a mostly self-taught young man living in India. Hardy brought Ramanujan to Cambridge where the two worked together. Ultimately, the close bond between the two men was broken by the weight of their cultural and personality differences. 

The UC forum last Friday was planned as a discussion of the scientific and cultural background of Ira Hauptman’s play. Panelists included Aurora artistic director Barbara Oliver and two distinguished mathematicians: Jeremy Gray, chair in the history of mathematics at the Open University in England, and David Hoffman, associate director for external collaboration at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) at Berkeley. 

(MSRI was the direct organizer of the event. Ramanujan’s significance to mathematicians is perhaps demonstrated by the fact that MSRI’s money-raising arm, the Archimedes Society, has one level of contribution designated a “Ramanujan Donor.”) 

The panel’s contributions were interwoven with pertinent scenes from the play, acted by Rahul Gupta, who embodies the intuitive, emotional Ramanujan, and David Arrow, who plays the uptight Britisher G.H. Hardy. The actors, relying on their own research of their characters, also took part in the discussion. 

Hoffman said that Cambridge, at the time, was the “only university for mathematics in England” and Hardy wanted to bring “pure mathematics” there. Hardy prided himself on the idea that nothing he ever did “was of any use.” To his dismay, Hardy felt he had not been that successful with the university. 

The firm distinction between pure and applied mathematics is one that still exists, according to Hoffman, although the demands of historical events led to some breakdown of the categories, for example, during World War II, when some pure mathematicians found themselves working for fairly practical purposes. 

Hoffman clarified one point from which the play departs from historical truth: it introduces a famous mathematical mystery known as “Fermat’s last theorem” as a significant part of the plot. The longtime mystery exists, but had nothing to do with Ramanujan’s death, as in the play. 

“Partition” appears to be grounded in historical accuracy, though decorated with some identifiable fantasy elements, the panelists said. It uses the participants’ real names and many accurate biographical details. If the play becomes widely known, it may be the way that its historical figures are remembered. 

It is understandable that Hardy’s various eccentricities would be significant to the play: They were dramatic. He, for example, would never look in a mirror, and shrank from letting anyone touch him. He even refused to shake hands. 

Constance Reid, the biographer of a number of 20th-century mathematicians, is not a mathematician herself. However, she is unusually knowledgeable about them. Reid said she enjoyed the play but objects to the portrayal of Hardy.  

“I have known a number of mathematicians who loved and admired Hardy,” she said. “This was not their Hardy.  

“Hardy was a wonderful writer,” she added. 

“In fact, the playwright apparently felt compelled to use everything Hardy ever said that was quotable. I personally enjoyed hearing them all again. I hope that everyone who saw the play will be inspired to read Hardy’s little book, ‘A Mathematician’s Apology,’ which he wrote seven years before his death.”

Lawyers for Tod Mikuriya, M.D. — a psychiatrist who has lived and practiced in Berkeley since 1970 — have filed a motion to dismiss the case against him brought by the Medical Board of California (MBC). 

If the motion fails, Mikuriya will spend the week of May 19 in an Oakland courtroom defending his handling of 17 cases in which medical board investigators claim he “departed from the standard of care.”  

Mikuriya, 69, is a leading authority on the medicinal use of cannabis. He has edited an anthology of pre-prohibition scientific papers and reported extensively on his own clinical observations. Since Proposition 215 passed in 1996, legalizing marijuana for medical use in California, he has approved and monitored its use by more than 7,000 patients, most of them seen at ad hoc clinics arranged by cannabis clubs in rural counties. 

(Many California doctors have been afraid or otherwise reluctant to approve cannabis use by patients whose conditions are not terminal. Mikuriya has been willing to approve its use to alleviate physical or emotional pain.) 

The medical board is the state agency that issues doctor’s licenses and can revoke or suspend them. Its policies are voted on by physicians appointed by the governor; its day-to-day operations are conducted by investigators who are career law-enforcement officers. 

Mikuriya says that not one of the board’s investigations into cases he allegedly mishandled stemmed from a complaint by a patient or a patient’s loved one. 

“Nor were any of the complaints from other physicians or health care providers,” he adds. “They came from cops and sheriffs and deputy DAs in rural counties who couldn’t accept that a certain individual had the right to use marijuana. And not one of their complaints alleges harm to a patient.” 

Mikuriya is represented by his longtime personal attorney, Susan Lea, and by Bill Simpich and Ben Rosenfeld — members of the team that sued the FBI on behalf of Darryl Cherney and Judi Bari. He is also represented by John Fleer, who is retained by Norcal Insurance, Mikuriya’s malpractice carrier. 

“We helped him review his files, case by case,” says Fleer. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I have a feel for whether a doctor has a detailed understanding of a case. Mikuriya not only had understanding, he had an unusual level of sympathy for his patients … I’m afraid the board is holding him to an artificially high standard.” 

The primary basis for dismissal, according to Mikuriya’s motion, is the section of state law established by Proposition 215 (Health and Safety Code section 11362.5) which reads: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no physician in this state shall be punished, or denied any right or privilege, for having recommended marijuana to a patient for medical purposes.” 

Although the MBC investigation is ostensibly about departures from the standard of care, Mikuriya’s defenders say it’s really about medical-marijuana recommendations. 

A letter to Mikuriya from senior investigator Thomas Campbell, dated June 28, 2002, states bluntly, “The Medical Board of California has concluded its investigation into the matter of your treatment and subsequent recommendations and approval of medical marijuana for numerous patients.” 

Almost all of the patients Mikuriya sees had been self-medicating with cannabis before consulting him. He says that the 15-to-20-minute exams he conducts are sufficient to take a full history, review a patient’s medical records and prior test results, make or confirm a diagnosis, discuss various aspects of cannabis use (he routinely advocates the use of a vaporizer), and note his findings and observations. His initial interviews, he says, “are always face to face, in person, confidential and live.” Follow-ups may be via video, phone or e-mail. 

“Successful doctor-patient relationships are characterized by candor and trust,” Mikuriya said. “Removing the stigma of criminality promotes candor and trust.” 

The medical board charges that Mikuriya didn’t establish bona fide physician-patient relationships. “The board is seeking to hold Dr. Mikuriya to an ambiguous standard of care,” says Lea, “that doesn’t even apply to most primary care doctors and specialists, let alone doctors acting as medical consultants.” 

Ironically, since the passage of Proposition 215, Mikuriya has been imploring the medical board to develop clear-cut guidelines for doctors who recommend cannabis. In February of this year he introduced a resolution urging the California Medical Association to lobby the medical board to create such guidelines.  

Mikuriya’s motion to dismiss asserts that the case against him was initiated by “a coterie of federal and state law enforcement officials,” led by former Attorney General Dan Lungren and Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey. Shortly after Proposition 215 passed, Lungren instructed California police chiefs, sheriffs and district attorneys to keep arresting and prosecuting citizens for using and cultivating marijuana, and to force their doctors to testify in open court. Lungren then flew to Washington, D.C., to strategize with the drug czar and other federal officials opposed to the implementation of Proposition 215. 

On Dec. 30, McCaffrey held a televised press conference at which he warned California physicians that recommending marijuana could cost them their licenses. McCaffrey displayed and ridiculed a long list of conditions for which marijuana reportedly provides relief. It was headed “Dr. Mikuriya’s (Proposition 215 Medical Advisor’s) Conditions,” and McCaffrey dismissed the whole field of medical marijuana as, “Cheech and Chong medicine.” 

In response, a group of Bay Area physicians and patients, led by AIDS specialist Marcus Conant, sued the drug czar on First Amendment grounds. The plaintiffs got an injunction barring the feds from taking action against California doctors who “in the context of a bona fide physician-patient relationship, discuss, approve or recommend the medical use of marijuana.” Mikuriya’s lawyers argue that the Conant injunction “applies with equal force to other government actors, such as the complainants in this case.” 

In addition to documents establishing the Lungren-McCaffrey connection, Mikuriya’s lawyers are citing an October 1997 memo from Lungren’s right-hand man, Senior Deputy Attorney General John Gordnier, requesting that district attorneys in all 58 counties notify him of any cases involving medical-marijuana recommendations by Mikuriya and one other doctor (Eugene Schoenfeld, who once upon a time wrote the Dr. Hip column for the Berkeley Barb).  

Two of Gordnier’s assistants, Deputy Attorney Generals Jane Zack Simon and Larry Mercer, are slated to argue the medical board’s case against Mikuriya. 

“I can’t understand why [Attorney General] Bill Lockyer would assign these two prosecutors to the case,” said Simpich. “It’s almost as if he’s granting Dan Lungren a last request from beyond the political grave.” 

It remains to be seen what penalty the board would impose if the charges against Mikuriya are upheld, but patients and staff at local dispensaries are fearful. 

“It seems that Dr. Mikuriya has been targeted for being knowledgeable and outspoken,” says Debby Goldsberry, director of a medical marijuana care facility on San Pablo Avenue. “Patients are afraid of losing his expert care and advice. Everybody’s wondering, ‘Who’ll be next?’”

JAKARTA, Indonesia — News of controversial Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir’s upcoming public trial is throwing new light on the horrific Bali nightclub bombings that killed 193 people in this southeast Asian nation last October. 

At the time, several suspects said Bashir knew about the bombings. Indonesian authorities have not charged him with the Bali crime, but with treason for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government and set up an Islamic state. 

Whether Bashir is convicted or eventually linked solidly to Bali, those bombings are seen here as far more than a criminal case. They have helped reshape politics in Indonesia, which hosts the world’s largest Muslim population. 

President Megawati Sukarnoputri, like her counterparts in the region, was adamantly opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. “We are saddened to watch their show of strength, which is not only destructive but also retrogressive and wrong,” she said in an April speech. Yet her government is quietly cooperating with international efforts to combat the threat posed by radical Islamic militias, something that wasn’t the case before October. 

“There was a reluctance to take on the issue of homegrown terrorism before the Bali bombings, partly because no one in the government wanted to be seen as a puppet of the United States, and no one wanted to provoke a Muslim backlash,” said Sidney Jones, Indonesia Project director for the International Crisis Group. 

That changed after the Bali bombings, which Jones called “a wake-up call for the government.” 

For many, the government’s emergence from denial is best symbolized in the efficient police work that appears to have cracked the case. The main police investigator assigned to the investigation, I Made Pastika, accepted help from Australian and other foreign investigators and quickly followed the trail of evidence that led from the crime scene. More than two dozen Islamic militia members have been arrested. 

Jones said Indonesians have been “astonished” by the quick and effective police work. Police are often regarded here as loathsome and corrupt. 

Police forces were separated from the Indonesian military in 1999, yet the divorce has been plagued by turf battles between the two groups over control of drugs, prostitution, gambling and natural resources. The Bali bombings have given the civilian police an opportunity to distance themselves from the larger and more corrupt military. 

“The only way you’re going to reform this place and keep democracy on track is to keep internal security in civilian hands,” Jones said, claiming the post-bombing investigation has let the police know “that they can get praise and direct economic rewards for doing a professional job.” 

Government officials point out that one of the country’s most violent Islamic militias, the Laskar Jihad, disbanded in the weeks following the Bali bombings. Yet diplomatic sources here claim the group’s dissolution resulted less from government pressure than from the loss of Saudi financing, as well as from internal dissent over bad organization and the impure lifestyle of some leaders. 

Even the most radical Muslim leaders here made it clear after the Bali bombings that they didn’t approve of such tactics. About the only group to publicly side with those arrested for the bombings is the Islamic Defenders Front, which readily provides incendiary sound bites for foreign reporters but, many observers say, is nothing but a bunch of thugs-for-hire recruited by the Jakarta police. 

The testimony provided to date by the two main suspects in the Bali bombings is at times contradictory, and investigators remain unclear what links they may have to terrorist networks. “While the police have caught the hands that did the bombing, they have not yet caught the body and brain that are behind the hands,” said Natan Setiabudi, general secretary of the Indonesian Communion of Churches, the country’s main ecumenical organization. 

Whether U.S. actions in Iraq will produce an anti-American and anti-democratic backlash remains to be seen. 

Indonesians were opposed to the U.S.-led invasion, but with few exceptions the almost daily protests in the streets of Jakarta did not produce huge crowds. Yet many here worry that the young men who fought for groups like Laskar Jihad will come back to the cause with renewed enthusiasm in the wake of the military defeat of another Muslim nation.

A PEOPLE OF STARTS 

One of the reasons that political dialogue in the United States has become so difficult is that we have lost our literary references. Used to be that we had writers like Jonathan Swift and Count Leo Tolstoy and Harriet Beecher Stowe as our guideposts, but today, quoting from a Jay Leno joke about George Bush or using a Roxie Hart line to explain crime and punishment doesn’t quite have the same resonance. 

This is no reflection on the state of American intelligence, which is probably about the same as it’s always been, but rather a comment on the state of our common consciousness as a country. 

All that came to mind because I wanted to start this column off by saying that in the middle of the Iraq War, I had a Rip Van Winkle moment. I realized that I couldn’t do so because most readers these days are familiar only with the Saturday morning cartoon version, and you’d think I went bowling up in the mountains with some dwarves, got drunk, fell asleep for 20 years and grew myself a long beard. 

In fact, the whole point of the actual, original text version of the Washington Irving story was that Van Winkle slept entirely through the American Revolution. When he went up into the mountains, America was a British colony. Twenty years later, he came down to his village a little bit befuddled to find out that he was the only one who still considered himself a loyal subject of King George. 

Things being considerably speeded up these days. 

Like many others, somewhere in the middle of the late Iraqi war I found myself in an information overload, and took a break from television and newspapers. At the time I stopped paying close attention, American forces were on the outskirts of Baghdad, and our Iraqi allies, the Shiites, were helping us topple the last remnants of the heinous Hussein regime. 

Back on Jan. 19, in an article that generally warned against counting on the Iraqi Shiites as allies, Robert Collier of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that, still, “Many American analysts are predicting that the long-downtrodden Shiites, who comprise about 60 percent of the nation’s population, would welcome U.S. troops as liberators.” 

After the U.S.-British invasion, the Chronicle reported on March 26 that “a fascinating drama seemed to be unfolding in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, a short distance to the north, where Shiite Muslim civilians were reported to have launched at least the start of a revolt against Hussein’s regime. ‘There is some sort of uprising going on in Basra,’ Maj. Gen. Peter Wall, the British military’s chief of staff, told the BBC. … ‘It could be the beginning of something important.’” 

Sleep a bit. Mow the lawn. Switch on CNN again. Baghdad has fallen and the hoped-for Shiite uprisings are occurring, though not against Hussein, but rather against the victorious Americans. Shiite Iraqis march in the streets of Baghdad, telling us to go home, and the attention of America’s Iraqi policy has suddenly turned to preventing the establishment of the heinous Shiite regime. Slept well, Rip? 

“The possibility of a virulent burst of Shiite religious militancy appears to constitute one of the chief threats to American plans to install an open, democratic system in Iraq,” a New York Times reprint in both the Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune told us on April 26. 

Forgive me, friends, if I toss in another literary reference. This feels like the middle of George Orwell’s “1984.” 

Not the parts about Big Brother and the telescreens, but the part where Oceania (Western Europe) at war on one day with Eurasia (Russia) and allied with Eastasia (China), turns around the next day and declares war with Eastasia and peace with Eurasia, so that Winston Smith at the Ministry of Truth has to change all of the historical documents in order for the citizens of Oceania to believe that they had always been at war with Eastasia and at peace with Eurasia. Substitute Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia with United States, Iran and Iraq, for example, and you’ll get the point. 

In turn-of-millennium America, of course, many of us have done Orwell’s Oceania one better, not even requiring the government-sponsored destruction of history. We murder history, every day, in our own minds. We Americans have developed a remarkable capacity for a self-contained personal Doublethink, the ability to both toss one fact or idea into Memory Hole oblivion at the exact moment a contradictory fact or idea surfaces, and to retrieve that original fact or idea again when it is, inevitably, needed to prove some other point or justify some other act. Our ability to juggle contradictory beliefs has become absolutely breathtaking, more to be marveled at than our military might. 

“[They can] be swung on an idea as on a cord; for the unpledged allegiance of their minds [make] them obedient servants,” a famous scholar-warrior once wrote. “Without a creed they could be taken to the four corners of the world (but not to heaven) by being shown the riches of earth and the pleasures of it. … Their mind [is] strange and dark, full of depressions and exaltations, lacking in rule, but with more of ardour and more fertile in belief than any other in the world. They [are] a people of starts…” 

T.E. Lawrence — Lawrence of Arabia — was writing in “Seven Pillars Of Wisdom” about the British opinion of Arabs three-quarters of a century ago. Sadly, he might easily have been talking about much of the world’s opinion of Americans today. If we read more of the world’s more serious writings, we’d know that. 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor is an Oakland resident.

In a small corner of West Berkeley, next to a noisy set of train tracks and behind a copper-colored gate, lies one of the most remarkable sites in the East Bay: a twisting, colorful community garden, overflowing with flowers, artwork and purpose. 

At the center of the Peralta Community Garden is one of the city’s most remarkable people, Karl Linn — an 80-year-old psychologist and landscape architect who fled Nazi Germany as a child and has spent a lifetime building gardens that pull people together. 

“All I’m doing to contribute to the growth of community among people has to do with my experiences with racism,” said Linn, who was the only Jewish child in the small farming community of Dessow. “I still hear Hitler’s shrill voice talking about how to get rid of the Jews. I still hear the Nazis’ goose-steps on the cobblestones.” 

Linn and the Peralta Community Garden are at the center of a new documentary by local filmmaker Rick Bacigalupi that will premiere Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The 76-minute screening, at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian-Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., is free and open to the public. 

The film, “A Lot in Common,” begins in 1997, when the garden was just an overgrown patch of dirt owned by BART. The documentary builds slowly, tracing a core group of community activists who survive city politics, a brouhaha over a bunny rabbit and a friend’s battle with cancer to build the garden. 

The film includes interviews with PBS reporter Ray Suarez, author Jane Jacobs and British scholar David Crouch to lend context to the story. But it is the neighbors — a retiree and his grandson, a psychic and her rabbit, and Linn himself — who are the stars. 

Bacigalupi said it was Linn’s move from refugee to dedicated community organizer that drew him to the story. 

“I think it’s really interesting what people do with hate,” the filmmaker said. “He turned it around into a lifetime of love.” 

Linn, a stocky, bright-eyed man with a thick German accent, grew up on a fruit tree farm in northern Germany where he developed a strong connection to the animals and trees on the family land. 

“Seeing 2,000 fruit trees blossom was so exhilarating,” he said. “So nature was always a place of peace, of healing, of inspiration.” 

Linn’s world changed in 1933 when the Nazis took power and the children in his two-room schoolhouse turned on him. 

“My fellow students started to experience me not as a friend, but as the only target they could find to practice anti-Semitism,” he said, recalling an unsuccessful attempt to force him into singing a hateful, anti-Jewish song.  

After a pair of Nazi soldiers threatened his father, the family sold their farm and fled to Palestine, settling in an area that would later become part of Israel. Linn, who now hosts Jewish-Arab dialogue sessions in Peralta Community Garden, said he is still torn about his family’s move to Palestine, where he took up residence next to a Palestinian graveyard. 

“I realize that Jews had no place to escape because of the Holocaust,” he said. “But, at the same time, displacing others to save your life is very burdensome.” 

As a young man, determined to understand how Nazism could flourish, Linn left Palestine to train as a psychologist in Switzerland before emigrating to the United States.  

After a brief stint as a therapist, Linn turned to landscape architecture, convinced that nature and labor could heal the human spirit. As a professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1950s, Linn began taking his students to inner-city neighborhoods where they worked with residents to build common areas and a sense of community. 

On the streets of North Philadelphia, Linn struck up a lifelong friendship with Carl Anthony, a black community organizer. 

Anthony, now a program officer for the Ford Foundation in Washington D.C., said he remembers being awed by Linn. 

“I was impressed with how he was able to combine social justice issues with urban planning,” Anthony said. 

Anthony was particularly enthralled with Linn’s notion of “urban barn-raising.” The concept, still central to Linn’s thinking, builds on the Mennonite tradition of coming together as a community to construct a barn — or, in the urban setting, a community garden or common space — that bonds the community. 

“The experience of inter-dependence is a very important experience for all of us,” said Linn. “It helps with [feelings of] isolation.” 

For two decades, Linn used urban barn-raising as an organizing principle, creating nonprofit organizations around the country — in New York City, Chicago, Louisville, Ky., and Syracuse, N.Y. — that focused on the communal construction of common spaces. 

In 1987, Linn moved to the Bay Area. Within six years, Berkeley had named a small garden after him — just across the street from a plot of land, owned by BART, that Linn and a group of neighbors would change into the Peralta Community Garden. 

Today the garden includes a mix of ambitious art projects, Tibetan peace flags, an eco-friendly tool shed and periodic community gatherings. 

Linn’s persistence helped raise the government and foundation money that funded the park and the neighborhood volunteerism that built it. But some who worked with Linn kid him, good-naturedly, for going a bit overboard. 

“He’s a good person, he’s good hearted,” said Kay Wade, one of the neighbors, in the film. “But he’s a control freak.” 

Bacigalupi said there was some tension early in the filmmaking process, when Linn sought to exert control over the documentary and to mute criticism of the garden and his leadership. 

But in the end, the filmmaker said, “Karl had a tremendous generosity of spirit. He was open to constructive criticism and showing more than just the community garden line. 

“Karl is truly an amazing person,” Bacigalupi continued. “His commitment and drive and just his sheer stamina is unbelievable. It’s very easy to forget that he is 80 years old.”

TUESDAY, APRIL 29 

State of the City Address by Mayor Bates, at Longfellow Middle School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St., at Sacramento, at 5:30 p.m. If you have questions or need more information, please contact the Mayor's 

Office at 981-7100 or mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

The Reality of Public Power 

Panel Discussion 

Moderator: Reid Edwards, Director of Community Relations, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Panelists: Bill F. Roberts, Ph.D, President, Economic Sciences Corporation; Hal Concklin, Director of Public Affairs, Southern California Edison; Paul Fenn, Director, Local Power; Cynthia Wooten-Cohen, Energy Consultant. At 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. For reservations: 981-5435. energy@ci.berkeley.ca.us 

“Palestine is Still the Issue,” a documentary by John Pilger will be screened at 7 p.m. in Wheeler 100, UC Campus. Flyer available at http://justiceinpalestine.org/flyers/PalestineIssue.pdf. For a map or directions, see www.berkeley. 

edu/map 

Berkeley Camera Club 

Meets every Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 525-3565.  

www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30 

Berkeley Poetry Slam at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. $90 cash prizes. Cost is $7 at the door, $5 with student i.d. 841-2082. 

Community Dances in Berkeley, traditional English and American dances, 8 p.m. every Wednesday, $9. 7 p.m. first Sunday, $10. Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St., 233-5065. www.bacds.org 

THURSDAY, MAY 1 

BOSS Graduation, Join the community for a very special Graduation honoring poor and homeless people who have achieved self-sufficiency and independence. The evening will include a ceremony, performance and a sit-down dinner, 6 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel at the Berkeley Marina, 200 Marina Blvd. Tickets $50 each.  

To RSVP, call 649-1930. 

A Lot in Common, video documentary by Emmy award-winning producer/editor Rick Bacigalupi about the growth of community as neighbors, artists and others build and use the Peralta and Northside Com- 

munity Art Garden Commons, at 7:30 p.m., at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Uni-versalists, Cedar St. and Bonita. For information contact Rick Bacigalupi 415-282-0340. ALotinCommon@aol.com 

Third Annual May Day Celebration, at 2 p.m. at Ink Works Press, 2827 Seventh St., with food, drink, music, dancing and children’s activities, in honor of the workers who struck in Chicago in 1886 for the eight-hour day. 845-7111. www.igc.org/inkworks 

Black Panthers 1968 Gallery Talk, by Ula Taylor, Professor of African American Studies, on the experience of women in black revolutionary movements, at 12:15 p.m. in the Berkeley Art Museum Theater Gallery, 2626 Bancroft Way. 643-6494.  

rmacneil@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Bike Repair: Suspension  

Do it yourself! Part of The Missing Link Bicycle Co-Op’s 30th annual Free lecture series, at 7:30 p.m. at Missing Link, 1988 Shattuck Ave. 843-7471.  

Berkeley Liberation Radio 104.1 FM, holds public meetings for all interested people first and third Thursdays, 7 p.m. at the Long Haul Info Shop, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 595-0190 

FRIDAY, MAY 2 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 

548-6310, 845-1143. 

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. 496-6000, ext.135. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship www.bpf.org 

The Rachel Corrie Banner Project fundraiser with  

Jessica Rice, at 7:30 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Hall at 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. For more information on Rachel Corrie's tragic death by being bulldozed by an Israeli soldier while protecting a Palestinian home from demolition, please go to www.electonicintifada.net 

$20 donation requested, no one turned away for lack of funds. 

Sex, Lies & International Economics a film on alternative economics for women’s equality at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, a reading room, library and community center in South Berkeley located at 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. All events are free. 

540-0751. ww.thelonghaul.org  

SATURDAY, MAY 3 

Studies from Nature, drawing workshop for ages 10-14 taught by artist Olga Segal, noon to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Cost is $5-$10 sliding scale; scholarships available on request 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tours, “Stage Craft Studios and the Bay Architects,” led by James Novosel. 10 a.m. $5 members, $10 non-members. For reservations call 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

Light Search and Rescue Class offered by the City of Berkeley’s Emergency Operations Center, from 1 to 5 p.m. at 997 Cedar St. For more information call 981-5605. TDD: 981-5799. 

Northcoast Timber Wars Movie Night featuring “Matole Resistance” and “Fire in the Eyes” at 7:30 p.m. at the Long Haul, a reading room, library and community center in South Berkeley located at 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. All events are free. 

540-0751. ww.thelonghaul.org  

Introductory Day Long Meditation Retreat 

9:30 am - 4:30 pm 

Berkeley Buddhist Priory 

1358 Marin Ave. Albany 

Advance registration is necessary. 528-1876.x www.berkeleybuddhistpriory.org 

Sick Plant Clinic  

UC Botanical Garden experts diagnose your plant woes the first Saturday of every month from 9 a.m. to noon at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755. www.mip.berkeley.edu/garden 

Cinco de Mayo Celebration at LeConte Elementary School, 2241 Russell St. from noon to 3:30 p.m. Music by Colibrí, mariachi music, baile folklorico performed by LeConte students, other musical acts, DJ music by DJ FUZE, and a special appearance by KMEL's Chuy Gomez. Also Latin American food and a silent auction. Benefit for LeConte's 

Dual Immersion Program and the LeConte PTA. Tickets are $3 for children and $7 for adults. 644-6290. 

Walking Tour to Explore Creek Mouths on the Bay Trail, sponsored by Friends of Five Creeks with Berkeley Path Wanderers and Friends of Albany Beach. Meet at 10 a.m. at Seabreeze Market, Univer- 

sity Ave. just west of freeway. Bring water and dress in layers. 848-9358. f5creeks@aol.com, www.fivecreeks.org.  

African Spring Festival, at 6:30 p.m. at 155 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Featuring authentic African cuisine and professional and student performances including dances, plays, music, fashion show and more. Tickets are $7 in advance, $ 10 general admission and $5 for children under 12. 286-7976.  

africanfestival@yahoo.com 

Low-Income Cohousing  

For low-income working people, both families and individuals, and people on fixed incomes. Informational meeting from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, South Branch, 1901 Russell St. 

Community Dances in Berkeley, traditional English and American dances, 8 p.m. every Wednesday, $9. 7 p.m. first Sunday, $10. Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St., 233-5065. www.bacds.org 

Unselt Birding Breakfast and Quarterly Bird Walk, with Chris Carmichael, Manager of Collections and Horticulture, and expert birder Dennis Wolff on a morning walk to discover the Garden's bird life. Heavy rain cancels this walk. 8 to 11 a.m. UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Fee $35, Members $25. 643-2755 for more information or to register. 

Visit the Cedars, horticulturist Roger Raiche hosts a visit to his property, The Cedars, home to serpentine ecosystems and with the Rhododendron occidentale in bloom, along with other early bulbs and annuals. Fee $50,UC Botanical Garden Members $30. Reservations required, call 643-2755. 

Gardening for Wildlife, from 10 a.m. to 3.p.m. at Diamond Park Recreation Center, Oakland. Learn how to diversify your garden's architecture by including native trees, shrubs, and annuals that provide habitat for a variety of wildlife, including butterflies. Attract wildlife to your garden by providing food, water, and shelter for birds, butterflies, and beneficial garden insects. Avoid the use of pesticides that affect water quality and harm beneficial insects, birds and other wildlife. Cost is $10. For information call Mary Malko 231-9430. or email mary@aoinstitute.org, www.aoinstitute.org 

SUNDAY, MAY 4 

Exploring Clay, Inventing Creatures, a workshop for ages 5-10, at noon to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Cost is $5 - $10 sliding scale; scholarships available on request. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Berkeley Free Folk Festival, also on Sat. May 3. Music and workshops, activities for children, from noon to 9 p.m. at Malcolm X School, 1731 Prince St. Sponsored by Freight and Salvage. For information 649-1423. www.freightandsalvage.org/bfff 

Humanizing the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Day of Mutual Recognition, with  

Mohammed Alatar and Rabbi Michael Lerner, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the International House. Sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, facilitated by the Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue group. Free Middle Eastern dinner included. Reservations required, call 301-2777 or email berkeleytikkun@ 

yahoogroups.com 

Eckhart Tolle's Talks on Video, free gatherings, at 7:30 p.m. to hear the words of the author of "The Power of Now" at the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. Will meet on the first and third Sunday of each month. 547-2024. EdShorelin@aol.com 

MONDAY, MAY 5 

Berkeley CopWatch meets at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 

Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

Five Star Night, Annual Fundraiser for Alameda County Meals on Wheels at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension. For information call Marci Vastine 567-8056.  

Oakland/East Bay National Organization for Women, with Tammy Fitz-Randolph, certified mediator. She will discuss conflict resolution particularly as it applies to women from 6 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Library, 1901 Russell St. Meetings are open to all and are free. 287-8948.  

ONGOING 

Activist Skill Class: Practical Skills for Difficult Times 

Tactics and strategies of activism with Karen Pickett and Phil Klasky. Classes offered through Merritt College, Tuesday evenings and Saturdays, beginning April 29 through May 24. To register call 548-2220 x 233. Classes at  

The Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 

Cooking and Baking Classes, offered by The Bread Project in conjunction with Berkeley Adult School. Contact Lucie Buchbinder at 644-1713 for more information.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Community Environmental Advisory Comission meets Thursday, May 1 at 7 p.m. at  

2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy 981-7461. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory 

Public Works Commission 

meets Thursday, May 1 at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, Jeff Egeberg 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thursday, May 1, at 7 p.m. in the  

South Berkeley Senior Center 

Oscar Sung 981-5410. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/housing 

Public Works Commission meets Thursday, May 1, at 7 p.m., in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley. 

ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

Council Agenda Committee Meeting meets Monday, May 5 

at 2:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers. Sherry M. Kelly, city clerk 981-6900. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Monday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen 981-7419. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m.in the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector 981-5510. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/peaceandjustice 

Youth Commission meets Monday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m. at 

1730 Oregon St. Philip Harper-Cotton 981-6670. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/commissions/youth 

FILM 

S.F. International Film Festival showing Cautionary Tales at 7 p.m. and Historias Minimas at 9:15 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $7.50 members, UC students; $8.50 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $10 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND 

LECTURES 

Merle Updike Davis, Clinical Social Worker, and author of “Ties Across Time: A Woman’s Life in Social Work” speaks at Tea and Talk at 11:15 a.m. at the YMCA, 2001 Allston Way. 848-9622. 

Greg Palast reads from “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852. ww.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Symphony performs Mozart, Overture to Don Giovanni; Unsuk Chin, Violin Concerto (U.S. Premiere) with Tibor Ková, violin; Mozart, Piano Concerto in C Minor, with Benedetto Lupo, piano; and Régis Campo, Symphony No. 1 (World Premiere), at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC campus. Tickets are $45, $32, $21 and $10 students. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org  

Double Fling Ding: Crooked Jades, Bluegrass Intentions and Evie Ladin perform at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11. 525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Austin Willacy, ‘til Dawn 

House Jack vocalist plus vibrant young a capella ensemble at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 adv, $16.50 door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30 

FILM 

Film 50 showing The Piano at 3 p.m. (sold out). S.F. International Film Festival showing Hukkle at 7 p.m. and We are the Music at 9 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft Way. Cost is $7.50 members, UC students; $8.50 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $10 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND 

LECTURES 

Focusing on Photography a panel discussion exploring approaches to photography from the perspectives of art, anthropology, and journalism. Participants include Constance Lewallen, BAM; Kenneth Light, Center for Photography Gallery, Grad School of Journalism; and Ira Jacknis, Hearst Museum. At 5:30 p.m., 160 Kroeber Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthro- 

pology. 643-7648. nmullen@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Millicent Dillon reads from her new novel “A Version of Love,” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

John Oliver Simon and students from Cragmont, Hawthorne and Rosa Parks Elementary Schools, read their poetry in English and Spanish at 6 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. 

Mark Costello reads from “Big If,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 2454 Telegraph Ave. 

845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Noon Concert, Faculty Recital, Compositions for piano, written and performed by Cindy Cox. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. Hertz Hall, UC campus. 642-4864.  

http://music.berkeley.edu 

Sauce Piquante 

Cajun dance lesson with Cheryl McBride at 8 p.m., show at  

8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. ww.ashkenaz.com 

Third World with MC UC BUU, DJs Kuu & Curious perform Dancehall, Hip Hop, and Funk at 9:30 p.m. at Blake’s on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Caroline Aiken, singer/songwriter, performs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 adv, $16.50 door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jacqueline Rago and Students Recital, an evening of Venezuelan music and persussion, in a benefit for La Peña, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8. 849-2568.   www.lapena.org 

THURSDAY, MAY 1 

FILM 

S.F. International Film Festival, presents Women's Prison at 7 p.m. and Monday Morning at 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. A pre-film reception will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the BAM Theater Gallery. Cost is $7.50 members, UC students; $8.50 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $10 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND 

LECTURES 

Lunch Poems: Student Reading, includes winners of prizes from the Academy of American Poets, Cook, Rosenberg, and Yang as well as students nominated by Berkleley's creative writing faculty, at 12:10 p.m. in the Morrison Room, Doe Library, UC Campus. 642-0137. zrogow@uclink4.berkeley.edu 

Black Panthers 1968 Gallery Talk with Ula Taylor, Pro- 

fessor of African American Studies, at 12:15 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum Theater Gallery, 2626 Bancroft Way. In conjunction with the photographs by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones. 643-6494 

rmacneil@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Raphael Cushnir describes “Setting Your Heart on Fire: Seven Invitations to Liberate Your Life,” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500. wwwcodysbooks.com  

Bill McKibben explores the dangers of technology in “Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age,” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

UC Jazz at Noon free concert on Lower Sproul Plaza. 

Tien-Huicani, traditional music from Mexico’s gulf coast 

8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

La Peña Community Chorus in a benefit Concert for Tzotzil Indigenous Communities in Chiapas, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15 sliding scale. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

New Century Chamber Orchestra presents Music for Immortality, featuring music by Mendelssohn, Mahler and Shulman, at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $35 from 415-397-1111. www.ncco.org 

Fred Frith and Toychestra Together and Apart, a new concerto for guitar and toys by Dan Plonsey, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. 

FRIDAY, MAY 2 

FILM 

Heroic Grace: Martial Arts 

Come Drink with Me at 7:30 and 9:25 p.m., at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND 

LECTURES 

Mike Riera on “Staying Connected to Your Teenager” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 559-9500. wwwcodysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Noon Concert with Shaw Pong Liu, violin, Monica Chew, piano. Concert is free, doors open at 11:55 a.m. Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

California Bach Society and Orchestra, Warren Stewart, artistic director, performs Mozart’s Requiem at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $25, $18 for seniors, $12 for students. 415-262-0272. www.calbach.org 

Solstice, a female vocal ensemble, will perform an a cappella concert at noon in the Reading Room of the Berkeley Main Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 

981-6100. 

University Dance Theater performs in their annual concert at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC campus. Also on Sat. 2 and 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Tickets are $8 - $14, available from 866-468-3399. For informations call 642-9925. or genturc@uclink.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley Opera performs 

Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Also on Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Tickets are $38 adults, $33 seniors, $16 children under 18, $10 students. 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Lyon Opera Ballet, performs at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus at 8 p.m. Also on Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Tickets are $24, $32, $46. 642-9988.  

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Anthony Jeffries and his All Stars, blues band at 8 p.m. at Rountree’s, 2618 San Pablo Ave. 663-0440.  

Sensasamba and the Aquarela Brazilian Dance Ensemble performs at 9 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 

525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Steve Seskin, Christine Kane 

An evening of song artistry at  

8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door.  

548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Casey Neill and Little Sue, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Bay Area Latin Jazz Legacy 

Tribute to percussionist Benny Velarde with guest vibraphone and flautist Roger Glen, trumpeter Joe Ellis, and Willie Colon at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

For the Crown, Playing Enemy, For All It’s Worth, X Wear the Mark X, Blessing the Hogs, perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

An Afternoon of Music and Dance, with Betty Ladzekpo and Berkeley Arts Magnet West African Dance; Chris Brague and the Berkeley Arts Magnet Percussion Ensemble; and Shaeedah Deal and Dancers from Willard Middle School and Malcolm X, at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center.644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

SATURDAY, MAY 3 

CHILDREN 

Children’s Concert Season Finale with Colibri! at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $3 for children, $4 for adults. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

Heroic Grace: Martial Arts 

One-Armed Swordsman at 2:15 and 7 p.m., Golden Swallow, at 4:30 and 9:15 p.m. 

Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

THEATER 

Berkeley High School Drama Department presents “Guys and Dolls,” music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, directed by Jordan Winer. The musical is based on short stories by Damon Runyon, of gamblers and chorus girls who lived on the fringes of the criminal world in the Broadway district of New York City. At 8 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater on Allston Way between Milvia and MLK Jr. Way. Also on Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $7, $5 with student i.d. and are on sale at the box office 1/2 hr. before performance time.  

Youth Musical Theater Commons presents “Les Miserables,” performed by students of King, Longfellow, Willard, BHS, and Albany High. This school edition is shorter than the Broadway version, but not short on talent. At 7:30 p.m., Longfellow Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. Admission/donation $8 adults, $5 youth, seniors. 848-1797.  

Stagebridge and Berkeley Adult School present a lively original comedy “Senior Moments,” by James Keller, at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Adult School, 1222 University Ave. Ticket information and reservations are available by calling 444-4755.  

READINGS AND 

LECTURES 

ay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at the West Branch Public Library, 1125 University Ave. 527-9905. poetalk@aol.com 

Prose Reading to benefit Poetry Flash with Mel Fiske and John Richards, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody's Books. $5 donation. 845-7852. ww.codysbooks.com, www.poetryflash.org 

Gloria Feldt, author and President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, reads from her new book, Behind Every Choice Is a Story, at 3 p.m., at Avenue Books, 2904 College Ave. 549-3532.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Free Folk Festival 

Music and workshops, activities for children, from noon to 9 p.m. at Malcolm X School, 1731 Prince St. Sponsored by Freight and Salvage. Also on Sunday. 649-1423.www.freightandsalvage.org 

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, under the direction of Arlene Sagan, performs Brahms “German Requiem,” at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. www.bcco.org 

West African Highlife Band performs at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 

525-5054.  www.ashkenaz.com 

Moore Brothers, Nedelle, Golden Shoulders, Willow Willow, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

Il Giardino Armonica 

Music Before 1850: Music of Fontana, Farina, Piccinini, Purcell, Mancini, Vivaldi, Goldberg, Sammartini, at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $42 from Cal Performances 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Javanese Gamelan 

Gamelan Sari Raras, Heri Purwanto, director. Music and Dance from Surakarta and Yogyakarta, at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets $2-$8 from 642-9988. 

www.ls.berkeley.edu/dept/music 

Chicano de Mayo Celebration with Quetzal and Domingo Siete. Dance to the grooves of two L.A. bands at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13 in advance, $15 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

World Stage: Juan de Marcos’ Afro-Cuban All Stars Latino rhythms at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Barbara Higbie, pianist, fiddler, singer and composer performs at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50 adv, $18.50 door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Stfu, Born/Dead, Dead by Dawn, Dead Fall, Stockholm Syndrome, The Abandon perform at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, MAY 4 

CHILDREN 

Family Day with Gamelan Sekar Jaya, a program created for young audiences, members of the ensemble will demonstrate aspects of Bali's rich performance traditions using dance, gamelan instruments, and costumes at 2 p.m. at the Hearst Museum Gallery, Kroeber Hall. 643-7648.  

READINGS AND 

LECTURES 

Publication Celebration for 26 Magazine, Issue B with contributors Gillian Conoley, Joseph Kolb, Rick London, and Elizabeth Treadwell, at 7:30 p.m. at Cody's Books. $2 donation. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com, www.poetryflash.org 

G. William Domhoff, professor at the University of California, discusses his new book, “Changing the Powers That Be: How the Left Can Stop Losing and Win,” at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. 

FILM 

Works from the Eisner Awards Competition at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-1412. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu  

World Stage: Juan de Mar 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

cos’ Afro-Cuban All Stars Latino rhythyms: classic son montuno, contemporary timba, swinging big band guajira, jazz and funk at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Les Yeux Noirs, a Paris-based octect, performs high energy dance music rooted in traditional Roma and Yiddish music at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $14. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Empyrion Ensemble, contemporary chamber music at 4 p.m. at The Crowden School Great Hall, 1475 Rose St. Cost is $10, age 18 and under, free. 559-6910.  

Lisa Says, a pop-folk ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10, $7 students. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Jeff Pittson Trio performs at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool,  

Cost is $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Ellen Hoffman 

with Melicio Magdaluoy & Anna deLeon, jazz pianist and composer, 8 p.m.at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 in advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Cuarteto Latinoamericano, with Sonia Rubinsky, piano, featuring a new piano quintet by UC Berkeley Professor of Music Jorge Liderman at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall. Tickets are $32. 642-9988. 

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Dance and Rhythm of India, a free concert, directed by Purnima Jha and students from Thousand Oaks Elementary and the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

SUPPORT FERRY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Those who oppose ferry service from Berkeley to San Francisco are correct on one point: Ferries are not a cost-effective way to relieve traffic congestion. We have a bridge and a tunnel, and better use of these resources would be a better way to solve our traffic congestion problems. 

But this doesn’t mean that ferries don’t have an important role to play. The real purpose of the Berkeley ferry is to provide an attractive alternative to existing modes of transportation and to address transportation problems not being met by other modes. 

The remarkable thing about a new ferry service from the Berkeley Marina to San Francisco is that so much of the system is already in place. We have deep water right up to the east end of the fishing pier. We have at least 600 existing parking spaces, mostly unused during the week, in close proximity to the site. We have frequent bus service all day right to the site. And we even have an existing pier ready to serve as a ferry terminal with relatively inexpensive additions. 

The distance is only 5.6 miles, and this is covered in only 20 minutes at 17 knots. By modern standards this is a relatively slow, economical and energy-efficient speed. (See the Berkeley Waterfront Web site at www.BerkeleyWaterfront.org for more details of the Berkeley Pier low-speed ferry proposal.) 

Is a ferry service elitist? The cost of moving a passenger from Berkeley to San Francisco by ferry is approximately $6.50. This is about the same as the cost of a BART ride. If the ferry is elitist, then so is BART. 

Also, ferries carry bicycles during commute hours, allow dogs on outside decks and can accommodate wheelchairs with no delay in service. This is not elitism, this is serving the mobility needs of a diverse community. 

Will a Berkeley ferry have negative environmental impacts? 

By the twisted logic of the Sierra Club, anything that accommodates parked cars is an environmental negative. Never mind that each car parked near the ferry replaces one that would have driven to San Francisco in heavy traffic. Never mind that travel by ferry enforces a non-automotive mode of transportation for at least one end of the trip. Never mind that the Berkeley Marina site has absolutely no effect on the Eastshore State Park. The Sierra Club is opposed, and it will take a significant show of local support to overcome this opposition. 

The issue is not traffic congestion or air pollution. The issue is the quality of life in Berkeley. And the issue is mobility for people not served by existing public transit. 

The Berkeley Ferry was once a valued public amenity for everyone who lived here and in nearby communities, and it can fulfill this role again. 

Paul Kamen 

• 

MATH MISTAKE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There must be a mistake in your article about the mayor’s personal investigation of homelessness in Berkeley. If there are 1,000 to 1,200 homeless in Berkeley and the city applies $10.3 million to the problem, that works out to over $85,000 per homeless person. That’s nearly three times my annual salary, and I have a home, health care and enough to eat. 

Sometimes I give money to people selling “Street Spirit.” How can they possibly need a handout from me? 

Robbin Henderson 

• 

APPALLED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the father of a girl with cerebral palsy and as a person who was involved with the disability access review of a potential site for this year’s Berkeley Free Folk Festival, I was appalled when I read the commentary that Carol Denney wrote in your pages last weekend. For Ms. Denney to attack the festival with such vicious and untrue words is just not right. 

Few event planners have done more to address the concerns of those with disabilities than the organizers of this year’s festival. The site visit I was part of was led by wheelchair users and disability rights advocates Marissa Shaw, Karen Craig and the ADA Compliance Officer for the city of Berkeley, Don Brown, who is also a wheelchair user. 

These advocates all contributed fully in the final selection of Malcolm X School as the site that best meets the needs of the disabled community as well as the needs of the festival. These are strong, active and vocal people who are hardly terrified of speaking their minds to make sure accessibility issues, comfort and the law are not just considered but dealt with. 

Carol Denney’s claim that disability rights advocates have been intimidated, blacklisted or subject to retaliation by folk festival organizers is patently false. Far from being blacklisted, Ms. Denney is playing the main stage of the festival in exactly the prime time slot she requested. 

I hope that no one in the Berkeley community will be turned off to the festival by Carol Denney’s libelous screed. The Berkeley Free Folk Festival this year promises to be the best ever. There are multiple stages, workshops of all kinds, children’s activities and a wealth of diverse local talent that really highlights why Berkeley is so special. The festival is free and completely accessible to all. 

Timothy Lynch 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This coming weekend, a wonderful event will take place. The Berkeley Free Folk Festival will be held at Malcolm X School on Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4, from noon to 9 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, and presented as a gift to the entire community. To see a schedule, go to freightandsalvage.org/bfff and view the complete program, including two stages, music and dance workshops, kids’ activities, an open mike and a jam 

room. All participating in any way, from organizers to performers, are donating their time to make this happen. 

I was both distressed and saddened by the commentary by Carol Denney that was published in 

last weekend’s Daily Planet, and I would like to address what was written. I have never taken part in any “campaign of retaliation” against anyone, and those who know me think it strange for me to be accused of such. I 

certainly never acknowledged having participated in such a retaliation, although I did apologize to Carol, both personally and in a letter she asked me to sign, for anything that I or anyone from the festival might ever have done to contribute in any way to divisions in the community. It is unfair to make accusations about the present staff when the past directors are no longer even involved, and everything has been done by open process. All issues raised have been addressed and no one I know of (except Carol) feels retaliated against or terrified of bringing anything up. 

Our first festival meeting was June 1 in accessible City Council Chambers. Meetings were announced in The 

Planet and any member of the community was welcome to attend. The date for our initial meeting had actually 

been arranged with Carol to make sure she could come. (The date of the November public meeting was changed 

to accommodate Carol when she realized that she would be out of town on the initial date scheduled.) The festival was originally supposed to take place in November 2002, but was moved ahead to May 2003 — in large part due to input that it was hard for people in wheelchairs to attend festivals during the rainy season.  

On October 9, a tour of possible school sites for the festival was arranged. Both Carol and Marissa Shaw of the Disabilities Commission went around with me to check accessibility, and we were all satisfied with what we saw.  

Carol asked for several meetings with her personally, which I agreed to. I met with her at least five times. Three of those meetings were attended by mutual friends of ours, invited by Carol. When she e-mailed me that she wanted yet another meeting with our two friends, I got in touch with them but neither was interested in attending. The issues had all been discussed and acted upon. At one point I suggested that we have a “talking stick” meeting in the community with people who’d had misunderstandings or problems with Carol so that we all could straighten things out. She declined this suggestion. By now I had spent months dealing with this, and I needed to get on with festival business.  

While Carol says that she has been blacklisted, she has played at several of the festivals, including this 

year where she will be on the main stage at 7 p.m., a prime-time spot she had requested. I must now get back 

to the business of the festival. It will be wonderful, accessible, inclusive and most of all, fun. 

Hali Hammer is a singer-songwriter, 

Festival Coordinator and Berkeley resident and 

activist. 

• 

TITLE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As an “old-time Wobbly,” I was delighted to read in your April 25-27 edition that employees at the East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use had voted to unionize with the Industrial Workers of the World. The Planet erred in calling it “International Workers of the World,” a redundancy. This rank-and-file run union, Industrial Workers of the World, is popularly called “IWW” or “The Wobblies.”  

Workers at two other nonprofit Berkeley recycling shops are under IWW contracts, “Curbside Recyclers” with The Ecology Center and Community Conservation Centers, or “Buy Back.” 

Harry Siitonen 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read with great interest Angela Rowen’s article of April 22 about the persistent problem of racial disparities in community health, despite the declining overall death rate in Alameda County. I agree that the education and prevention initiatives being undertaken by the city of Berkeley and Alameda County are important means to remedy this crisis. I also wish to point out that making high-quality treatment options available regardless of insurance status will also go a long way toward solving the problem. 

I work at LifeLong Medical Care, where we offer the same, state-of-the-art treatment options and personal attention to our uninsured clients as we do our insured clients. East Bay African-Americans comprise 34 percent of our client base, making them the largest population we serve. Over 41 percent of our clients have no insurance at all, and only 12 percent of our clients have private insurance. Lack of insurance often equals lack of quality medical care for most Americans, but LifeLong is dedicated to the health of the entire community, not just its insured members. 

Clearly all health care providers need to improve the care they offer to those who suffer from racial inequities, and we need to find a way to provide universal health coverage for all. The current state budget crisis, the war in Iraq and the President’s proposal to cut taxes further will mean that LifeLong and other safety net providers will have to turn away people who need basic health care to the detriment of the community. Individuals in the East Bay generously give their time and money to help LifeLong provide care. We welcome and are grateful for that support, and we know 

that everyone wants to be part a healthy community without continued inequities based on race. 

Jessica Matthews 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the April 25 issue, there were a couple of letters decrying the many so-called exotic species of plants that now grow in California. In particular, the blue gum tree (Eucalyptus globulus), was singled out for abuse. The fantasy that the heavy frosts of 1990 killed off many blue gums was based upon ignorance of how the tree grows. If its smaller outer branches are damaged by heavy frost, it merely grows back from the large branches, the main trunk and the 

surviving root system.  

My survey of the literature plus personal observations have shown that the Blue Gum tree has provided useful food, resting, roosting and living habitat for many species of animals including about 20 species of insects, several 

species of spiders, four amphibians, 10 reptiles, three mammals and over 50 species of birds. Hummingbirds and orioles utilize the nectar of winter flowers for food. Vultures, hawks, owls, woodpeckers and other birds use the blue gum for nesting and roosting purposes. The monarch butterfly has long since adopted the blue gum for its overwintering 

roosting and feeding.  

There seems to be a severe double standard here: People who are born in the United States are considered 

native-born. Plants that sprout here from seed as still labeled as “exotics” or “aliens” or worse. These blue gum trees are a magnificent addition to the landscapes of coastal California. They have done yeoman service in many unpleasantly windy areas by slowing down the summer winds. So lighten up, folks, and enjoy the pungent scent of the blue gums.  

James K. Sayre 

Oakland 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Thank you for printing Zac Unger’s garden column “Cheering for the Intruders Among Us.” It's nice to see someone express appreciation for the entire spectrum of vegetation around us — so refreshingly different from the “ethnic cleansing” approach favored by many of our fellow Californians. 

Aija Kanbergs 

It is a week of both celebration and anxiety for homeless advocates in Berkeley. 

On Thursday night, the nonprofit Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) will host its annual graduation ceremony — honoring 10 formerly homeless men and women who tapped BOSS’ job training and substance abuse programs this year to pull themselves out of desperation, addiction and prostitution. 

But recent layoffs, a 25 percent decline in foundation grants and impending budget cuts from state and local government have tempered the celebratory mood at BOSS, which provides housing, health care and education for 3,000 homeless people in Berkeley, Oakland and Hayward each year. 

“I expect the next few years to be very tough,” said executive director boona cheema. 

BOSS recently cut ties to its transitional housing program for homeless teenagers on King Street, laying off all six of its workers.  

Cheema said the Oakland-based Fred Finch Youth Center will take over the program. Its near closure, she said, suggests that nonprofits are already hurting, even though the next government budget cuts aren’t due until June at the earliest. “This is not something that will happen in the future,” said cheema. “In BOSS, it’s already happening.” 

About 80 percent of BOSS’ $8 million annual budget comes from federal, state, county and local government, including some $1 million from the city of Berkeley. 

Cheema said she expects the state to slash $400,000, the county to cut $250,000 and the city to deduct about $150,000 from the $450,000 it pays each year for a street sweeping program that employs the homeless. 

Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz said the Department of Public Works has raised questions about the effectiveness of the street sweeper program and said the city, which faces a deficit next year, is considering cuts. 

Kamlarz also said the city, which spends about $1.5 million on homeless services, may shift some of the dollars it spends on BOSS to other organizations. 

But on the whole, Kamlarz said, homeless services will fare better than other programs in the city manager’s proposed budget, which will be unveiled May 13 before City Council. 

Bates, who spent a night on the streets last week, has made homeless services a top priority, and others in the council’s progressive majority have also signaled their support. 

“It is vital that, as we see skyrocketing numbers of people becoming homeless from the economic downturn and horrible federal policy, we try to counterbalance that on a local level,” said City Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

City Councilmember Betty Olds said homeless programs, like dozens of other services, will need to take their fair share of cuts. 

Leyna Bernstein, director of consulting services for the San Francisco-based Management Center, which provides nonprofits with management advice, said organizations like BOSS, which rely heavily on government money, are particularly vulnerable during tough economic times. 

Sonja Fitz, BOSS’ grants manager, said it’s been difficult to find new donors. “Our long-term funders are staying true, but we have not been able to interest anybody new,” she said. 

BOSS will pull in a small amount of money during Thursday’s graduation at the Berkeley Marina Radisson Hotel, from 6 to 8 p.m. The event, which doubles as a fundraiser, is expected to draw about 250 people at $50 per head. 

This year’s ceremony will focus on 10 people, including 40-year-old Sharon Barrett. 

In February 2001, Barrett and her then 10-year-old daughter, Shercee, had to leave their Oakland apartment when Barrett’s landlord decided to sell the building. Unable to find housing, Barrett and Shercee spent their nights in a shelter, a car and in the home of an older man who asked Barrett for sex. 

Depressed and scared, Barrett turned to drugs and alcohol before BOSS and the Bethlehem Temple in Oakland helped turn her life around. 

“Between those two, they just wrapped their arms around me and loved me until I could love myself,” she said. 

The article “West Berkeley Struggles to Maintain Character“ (April 25 edition), by John Geluardi, was mostly accurate in its portrayal of the struggle of craftspeople, artists and manufacturers to preserve their important contributions to West Berkeley. However, it was incorrect in asserting that the upcoming public workshop “will, in effect, reconvene the West Berkeley Committee.” 

The original West Berkeley Plan Committee was set up by the City Council in 1985, under the guidance of the Planning Commission, to develop an area plan to guide change in West Berkeley. At that time there was no plan for land use, and rapid change based purely on market forces was causing great disruption in the community. Artists, craftspeople and industries were particularly at risk in the face of unregulated office development. Gentrification was spiraling out of control, threatening the working class residential community, with its many African-American, Latino and Asian members. 

The Plan Committee soon had the participation of representatives from every stakeholder group: residents, property owners, artists, craftspeople, developers, union workers, manufacturers, environmentalists, the black clergy. Over the following years, this group developed the concepts of the West Berkeley Plan. The names of 65 of these regular participants in the Plan Committee can be found on the inside cover of the plan. I am proud to say my name is on that list. 

The West Berkeley Plan is a powerful document aimed at maintaining the primary industrial character and preserving every valuable use in that very diverse part of town. Like all area plans, it analyzed the area and set forth policies, goals and implementation strategies. It did not write zoning ordinance. When the plan was adopted unanimously by the City Council in 1993, its concepts became policy. At that time the Plan Committee was disbanded. Committee members went home assuming that the city would adequately implement the plan. 

In the following years city staff and the Planning Commission proceeded to write the ordinances and to establish the procedures that were supposed to implement the plan. This is what is being questioned today, the implementation of the plan, not the concepts, policies and goals written by the Plan Committee. That is why the work at hand is the job of the Planning Commission, doing its job of oversight, and not the job of a “reconvened” Plan Committee. 

Over the years it gradually became clear to many people that the city did not seem to be adequately implementing the plan concepts, policies and goals, particularly in the MU-LI (Mixed Use-Light Industrial) district. A full investigation was called for. The MU-LI district was called “the linchpin” of the plan, the heart of the plan; preservation of the industrial character of the MU-LI was considered key to the plan’s success and to the preservation of arts and crafts. Yet it seemed as if the MU-LI was being permitted to disintegrate piecemeal. 

The City Council called on the Planning Commission to make an investigation. The result of that investigation, the MU-LI subcommittee’s final report, is currently before the commission. The recommendations do not propose to change one word of the plan. They are geared to trying to get the West Berkeley Plan back on track. 

The Planning Commission Workshop to discuss the recommendations of the MU-LI Report will take place on June 11, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center at Hearst and Milvia. I strongly urge the community to attend and participate. Maintaining the character of West Berkeley is key to preserving the dynamic diversity that sets our city apart from all others. The West Berkeley Plan is a great plan. It deserves to be fully implemented and work as originally intended. 

Copies of the West Berkeley Plan and the MU-LI Report can be obtained from the Planning Department, 2118-20 Milvia, third floor. 

John Curl  

Planning Commissioner

Less than two years after taking over the Department of Planning and Development, Director Carol Barrett submitted her resignation late last week to take a planning job in the city of San Marcos, Texas, her home state. 

Barrett’s resignation takes effect June 6. City Manager Weldon Rucker said he is considering the formation of a three-person transition team to manage the department until either an acting director or new permanent director is named. 

Barrett is the third planning director to abruptly leave the city in the last five years. Director Gil Kelley resigned in 1998. Liz Epstein accepted the job, immediately went out on maternity leave, and then resigned suddenly when she was due to return to work.  

Rucker said he’s been troubled by the high turnover in city planning staff including the string of departing directors. He said one goal of the transition team will be to assess planning procedures and suggest ways to stabilize the department.  

“The planning department is where you have very tough, intense discussions about land use and planning policies,” Rucker said. “Some of those leaving the department have said that they don’t think there has been universal support, including from my office and the commissions.” 

Barrett is leaving a department that has been the focal point of controversy as pressure to develop housing meets with resistance from vocal neighborhood organizations concerned that too many tall, densely designed buildings — typical of recently approved projects — will change the city’s character.  

Among the reasons Barrett cited for her departure was difficulty working with the Planning Commission. The nine-member commission oversees and develops planning policy and makes recommendations on zoning ordinance amendments.  

Members fight among themselves, and the commission often clashes with planning department staff over competing visions of the city’s future. 

Barrett said she appreciated her time in Berkeley but added that too many people believe the planning director’s job is to prevent any development. 

“I think public planning anywhere is a challenge. If it was not challenging, I would not have made the move out here at all,” Barrett said. “But I became a city planner because that’s what I really enjoy doing, and one of the reasons I’m resigning is because I don’t necessarily agree with the direction the elected leaders of the Planning Commission are going.” 

The two commission-elected officials on the Planning Commission are Chair Zelda Bronstein and Vice Chair Gene Poschman.  

Bronstein did not return calls to the Daily Planet regarding Barrett’s departure, but Poschman scoffed at the ability of the chair and vice chair to dominate the commission’s agenda.  

“Anybody can put anything on the commission’s agenda at any time,” Poschman said. “It would be very difficult for two people to take the commission off in their own direction.” 

Poschman said he didn’t doubt Barrett had a difficult relationship with the commission but attributed it to a “natural conflict between staff and commissioners that arises from different roles and different values.” 

Poschman added that the job as planning director in San Marcos sounded like a good opportunity for Barrett. “It sounds like an excellent job that’s close to her family,” he said.  

Barrett starts her new job on June 9. San Marcos is about a 30-minute drive from Austin, where Barrett worked for 10 years before accepting her post in Berkeley 19 months ago.  

Barrett bought a home in the Bay Area in the last six months; her husband, however, never left Austin and one of her two sons currently works there. Her other son is a junior at UC Berkeley. 

One commissioner described Barrett’s relationship with Chair Bronstein as particularly bad.  

Commissioner Susan Wengraf said Barrett was treated with very little respect by the commission’s leadership. She said Bronstein, as the commission’s chair, would not meet with Barrett to iron out differences. 

“If certain commissioners had a different agenda than the director, they should have met with her to work those issues out,” Wengraf said. “It seemed to me that Director Barrett was trying very hard under adverse conditions. She was understaffed and working against a hostile commission.” 

Commissioner Rob Wrenn said Bronstein was a model commissioner.  

“I’ve never observed Zelda Bronstein do anything inappropriate at meetings,” he said. “In fact, what I’ve seen is that she has been a very effective chair.” 

Barrett said she’s grateful to the city manager for the opportunity to work in Berkeley. She said she was proud of getting the city’s general plan adopted as well as the award the city recently received from the American Planning Association for its infill development.

The vision of the city of Berkeley moving steadily toward ecological health by way of urban redesign and honest assessment of the future is quite different from the vision of Berkeley championed by the O’Malleys’ recast Berkeley Daily Planet. The O’Malley vision aspires to maintain the memory and coziness of the past at all costs. It is the positions of privilege of the established property owners here, the building styles and small sizes acceptable to the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) and the desire of a number of vocal neighborhood activists to keep things from changing. 

The ecological city vision recognizes that the world of, say, the 1940s, was a time when Berkeley had most of the buildings BAHA respects and neighborhood status quo activists cherish, a time when it appeared that cars and small cities got along pretty well. The world population was less than half what it is now and average per capita consumption an even smaller fraction of what it is today. Sprawl amounted to almost nothing, and the range of exotic chemicals in common use contributing to the poisoning of the environment was minuscule. Climate change was a wild doomsday scenario then — and a compounding, daily growing reality today. 

The global warming environmentalists, as I call them, those who perpetuate low density sprawl, automobile dependence, oil addiction and so on, by maintaining cities of low density while proclaiming their concern for environmental health, are refusing to look honestly into the future. They are in fact encouraging global warming and other environmental disasters. Like the citizens of many Bay Rim cities, in Berkeley they have resisted allowing city and town centers to grow taller and provide housing in balance with jobs and commerce, thus forcing development into the suburbs, causing housing shortages around the Bay and driving prices through the ceiling. Massive sprawl also results, as far away as the agricultural land of the Great Central Valley, and our share of responsibility for pollution and global climate change. 

What we need, if we take the ecological trends seriously, is taller buildings and clusters of interconnected buildings with ecological design features like rooftop gardens, solar greenhouses and pedestrian streets. These must be restricted to downtown areas and good transit centers. Why? Because density with great diversity of activity works miracles at getting people out of cars and off the fossil fuel addiction. Why isn’t it happening? Because of an extraordinary lack of architectural imagination and a repression of innovative experiments. 

Faced with the facts, many people in Berkeley and other towns with vociferous land use conservatives deny there is a connection between their city’s low density and the environmental debacle. That is meaningless denial. 

Medium density corridors are in Berkeley’s general plan, and are promoted by Smart Growth advocates everywhere. But those who promote this policy will help transit just a little while freezing the basic pattern of low-density, car-dependent development into 20 or 30 times as large a land area between those arterioles. In contrast, centers-oriented development works far better and provides the economic engine of development to open up more landscape, allowing parks, community gardens, pedestrian bicycle paths and creek restoration projects to expand. 

This sounds complex, but it is not. It amounts simply to shifting density toward the centers and creating open spaces furthest away. The process can use money from development capital flows in a market of willing sellers and buyers; it adds semi-natural garden and park areas in support of neighborhood values and a green environment in all areas of a city but the centers. Change can only be gradual, providing time for a learning process that we all must go through if we are going to honestly face the impacts of the way we build and live. 

Richard Register is a Berkeley resident. 

Richard Register 

Berkeley

During a tour of Bay Area churches Sunday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson stopped into Berkeley’s Mt. Zion Baptist Missionary Church to lend his support to local hotel employees who have been without a union contract for nearly two years.  

Jackson spoke to about 200 people and a bank of television news cameras on behalf of Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union, Local 2850. The union, which includes cooks, banquet servers, dishwashers and housekeepers, has been without a contract at the Claremont Hotel and Spa and the Emeryville Holiday Inn since July 2001.  

Union members earn between $8 and $13 an hour, and those with children say it has become increasingly difficult to afford rent, clothing, food and medical insurance in the Bay Area. 

“It is immoral to have a sumptuous world on one side and people who are starving on the other,” said Jackson, who spoke before a table laden with bags of rice, juice and canned soups donated for the union workers. “These workers don’t want any more than their fair share. What we want is profits for the owners, security for the workers and service for the customers.” 

The event at Mt. Zion was organized by a group of religious organizations who have come together to support the workers. Joining Jackson on the pulpit were five other religious leaders including Mt. Zion’s the Rev. M.T. Thompson; Father Bill O’Donnell of St. Joseph the Worker, and Rabbi David Cooper of the Kehilla Community Synagogue.  

According to Local 2850 Vice President Wei Ling Huber, workers who have family medical insurance through their jobs will have to pay an additional $67 for their medical insurance premiums starting May 1; two months later, the premium will be raised to $120. 

“Meanwhile the hotel management has been playing hardball,” Huber said. “They’ve been delaying negotiations for months and changing worker schedules and reducing their hours to discourage union activities.” 

In a press release issued Monday, Claremont marketing director Denise Chapman denied the Claremont has not been bargaining in good faith and pointed to a complaint filed against Local 2850 by the National Labor Relations Board for “failing and refusing to bargain.” 

“We are disappointed that the Rev. Jackson did not have an opportunity to acquaint himself with the Claremont Resort and Spa’s labor situation in greater detail,” the press release read. “Had he such an opportunity, he would have found that the Claremont has a long history of successful, mutually rewarding relationships with unions.” 

Huber said the Claremont was grasping at straws by bringing up the complaint.  

The Berkeley City Council disagreed with the hotel’s bargaining practices last June and unanimously approved a boycott of the hotel.  

“Starting in May, workers are going to have to make a very difficult choice. ‘Do I buy food for my children and or do I buy medical insurance,” said City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, who attended the Mt. Zion event.

This weekend’s 34th anniversary celebration of the People’s Park riot wouldn’t have been the same without a little controversy. 

The celebration, which took place at the park Sunday afternoon, was full of speeches and songs and art. But there were also murmurs about a recent decision by UC Berkeley to take down an acacia tree on the east end of the park. 

The university-owned park has been a battleground since 1969 when 2,000 activists, at the height of the political ferment of the sixties, clashed with local authorities over plans to build student housing on the small patch of land just south of campus. 

Ever since then, local activists, gardeners and homeless people have staked claim to the park, engaging in sporadic, territorial skirmishes with the university. The latest emerged two weeks ago when UC Berkeley took a chainsaw to the acacia. 

“It appeared to be in danger of falling over,” explained the university’s Director of Community Relations Irene Hegarty. 

Hegarty said the university was particularly concerned because the tree was near a children’s play area and a similar acacia had fallen of its own accord just a couple of years ago. 

But activists objected. 

“I was just astonished that they would do this,” said longtime activist Lisa Stephens. “It’s not the university’s decision. They may think they own the park, but they don’t. It’s our park.” 

The university did, in fact, run the idea past a community advisory board and one member, Dana Merryday, said the decision seemed like a no-brainer at the time. 

“The acacia was cracked and we agreed as a group that it could be unpredictable,” said Merryday. “We really didn’t think of the historical value of the tree.” 

Stephens said the public process should have involved more than the advisory board. “They know that’s not adequate,” she said. “This is a major, major change to the park.”  

Hegarty said the university has delayed plans to take down three more tress in the face of community concerns. 

Talk of the acacia controversy rippled through Sunday’s celebration of the 1969 riot, but a festive mood dominated the event.  

Children played basketball and skateboarded, vendors sold jewelry and glass art, and liberal icons like hippie performer Wavy Gravy and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) made speeches. Country Joe McDonald and Will Scarlett performed music. 

“This has been 34 years of keeping hope alive, of keeping democracy alive and of making sure the Constitution lives,” said Lee, as quoted by the Associated Press. 

CORRECTION 

In an article on the Creative Re-Use workers’ union efforts in the April 25-27 issue, the Industrial Workers of the World were incorrectly identified.

Forget about furs and champagne. Forget about the world-class singers and spectacular staging on the other side of the bay, and forget about spending $100 or more for a ticket. If you love opera, love the combination of music and theater, do not miss the Berkeley Opera’s flawed but exciting production of “Eugene Onegin” at the Julia Morgan Theater.  

The musical scene in Berkeley is rich not just because of big names who appear through Cal Performances but because of smaller, less publicized ventures. In this production, the Berkeley Opera has done the near-impossible: grand opera on an intimate scale. Much of the singing is outstanding; the small orchestra fills the theater with warm, rich sound; the chorus is effective, and the inventive staging makes a virtue of limited resources. The result, sung in English with projected supertitles, is an ideal introduction to Tchaikovsky’s rarely performed work. 

The plot of “Eugene Onegin,” taken from Pushkin, has everything one could ask from Russian literature or from opera: infatuation, jealousy, remorse, grand balls, love letters, even a duel. At the center is the title character, bored, dashing and Byronic. Onegin rejects the passionate overtures of Tatiana, a landowner’s daughter, quarrels with his best friend Lensky, and comes to regret both his coldness and his rage. Pushkin’s men and women love the unavailable (Onegin only responds to Tatiana when she is married to someone else), and the truest passion in the opera — so real and threatening it must be wiped out with death — is between Lensky and Onegin. 

Several of the principals sang superbly. The most accomplished were Jorge Gomez, a ringing, expressive tenor, as Lensky, and Clea Nemetz as his fiancée Olga, Tatiana’s more conventional and cheerful sister (Cary Ann Rosko Harvath will sing Olga on May 2 and 4). Sergey Zadvorny, a recent immigrant from Ukraine, provided a powerful bass aria (and some authentic Slavic flavor) in the final act as Tatiana’s husband Prince Gremin.  

Jilian Khuner as Tatiana warmed up as the evening progressed. Her singing seemed listless at first, but she was splendid in the letter-writing scene and both queenly and melancholy at the end. (Lanier McNab will sing the role on May 2 and 4.) Unfortunately, Jo Vincent Parks was less impressive as Onegin, leaving something of a vacuum at the center of the production. This production coarsens Onegin’s character (his rejection of Tatiana is not just cold but brutal), and makes it hard to understand why everyone finds him so charming. Parks improved in the final act, but in general he lacked the dash and smoothness that Onegin ought to have. (Joe Kinyon will sing Onegin on May 2 and 4.) 

These weaknesses, however, are minor. In spite of some peculiar decisions (a silent Onegin is present like a ghost throughout Tatiana’s letter-writing scene), the staging is excellent, with some lovely and witty effects achieved with great economy: the use of chairs to suggest a ballroom, members of the chorus silhouetted on ladders against a white backdrop. The English translation and supertitles make the action understandable, and the production has several moments — Tatiana’s letter, the ball scene where festivity leads to violence, Lensky’s poignant aria before the duel — that remind you what opera is all about. This is a production, and a company, that Berkeley is fortunate to have. 

“Eugene Onegin” runs through May 4. Call 925-798-1300 for information.

Sally Streets, East Bay director emeritus of Berkeley Ballet Theater, received the Isadora Duncan Award for Sustained Achievement Monday night for her work as a dancer, choreographer, instructor and mentor.  

“She’s a brilliant artist and a funny woman who has accomplished so much,” said Lauren Jonas, Diablo Ballet Company’s artistic director. “She’s run a dance school. She’s a choreographer. And she works directly with students. While there are a lot of women in dance, there are not a lot of women directors. Sally’s real and approachable, she’s a very natural person with no outside baggage.” 

“Sally’s a true master teacher of ballet and a mentor to so many,” said Frank Shawl of Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. “Professional dancers study with her because they can learn from her. She has a great eye. She has the ability to see what a person needs to work on. She can help them change the way they look at dancing.”  

“I started ballet about the age of nine with Dorothy Pring in Berkeley,” Streets said. “Once I stepped into that studio, I knew I wanted to be a dancer. That’s were I met Victor Anderson and Anya Linden [now Lady Sainsbury]. She was my best friend as a child. I grew up and joined New York City Ballet and she went back to England and became a ballerina with the Royal Ballet.” 

Streets danced briefly in New York, with Mia Slavenska’s Ballet Variante and New York City Ballet, before returning to Berkeley where she married Alexander Nichols. Three children and eight years later Streets returned to dance with Alan Howard’s Pacific Ballet Company and then Ron Guidi’s Oakland Ballet. 

In 1979 Streets was asked to teach at Berkeley Ballet Theater. Shortly thereafter the founder left. Streets resuscitated the floundering company and dance school, which has launched numerous performers into the national and international dance scene, including her daughter, Kyra Nichols, principal dancer with New York City Ballet. 

Streets also taught at San Francisco Ballet, the Royal Ballet in London and the New York City Ballet. 

Streets’ two sons, Robert and Alex, also followed her into the footlights. Robert danced briefly before pursuing a spiritual path; Alex, a lighting and set designer, still works in the business and has won several “Izzys” for his designs. 

National dance critic and former dancer Paul Parrish has known Streets for 20 years. 

“Sally’s not into ‘pink’ dancing. She’s very much about honest dancing and the efficiency of movement, not the mystique, not that morbid atmosphere that sometimes surrounds ballet,” Parrish said. “She’s one of the great teachers. For a ballet dancer Sally has a huge following in modern dance. She understands both the anatomy and the physics of dance. She requires everything of a dancer, technically, imaginatively, but especially musically.” 

“You have to be aware to function as a dancer,” Streets said. “It’s given me a strong will. If I want to do something I think I can, I never think I can’t. It might be foolish at times but —” she trails off laughing. 

She has chosen to make her career in the Bay Area. “Some dancers want to go to New York to feel they’re dancing in the big city,” she said. “Some people don’t mind where they dance, they just want to dance. I think a lot of people stay here and dance because they like living in the Bay Area. I went all over the world in my travels with ballet. After all was said and done, I wanted to live here.” 

For more than a decade, a tiny little hole in the wall on north Shattuck Avenue has been hoppin’ and boppin’ to the melodies of live modern jazz. You won’t find it in the phone book under nightclubs, but the joint is jumpin’ nevertheless. The secret is in the cheese. 

This, the teeniest of the Bay Area’s live jazz venues, is better known at The Cheese Board Pizza Collective, and they serve up live jazz twice a day, four days a week. They also serve what is arguably the best pizza in the Bay Area.  

“I’m a regular,” said Wendell Brooks, a Berkeley High School history and music teacher and choir director. “This is a special place. What’s great is they often have older people who you would not normally see in any other venue. This is a venue that has a sense of community.” 

Brooks recalled standing in line one afternoon when a businessman from the peninsula came by and asked why there were so many people standing in line. The man complained that the shop was too small, too ratty and served only one kind of pizza. On top of that, they were only open a few hours a day. But what he really didn’t understand was why they are so successful.  

“This is what they do,” said Brooks. “This is it. We support it because the product is great.” 

Standing outside and listening to the music last Friday afternoon, Peter Lull and his friend, Mika Matsui, tried to explain the magic. 

“It’s a one-of-a-kind place,” said Lull. “I come here every week. I love Berkeley community and this is it at its best. There’s a little bit of everything. There’s the gourmet food. There’s the people coming and going. There’s the excellent music. Especially these guys [Lee Gaines on piano and Chuck Walker on drums], they’re so classy. You can tell that they’ve lived so much. The jazz is awesome. It’s just a nice crossroads here and I like to linger at the Cheese Board crossroads.” 

Kathie Campbell, who works across the street at Masse’s Pastry Shop, stops on Fridays. “I think Chuck and Lee are the best,” she said. “I’m a former musician and I’ve been listening to their music for years.”  

Fifty-year Berkeley resident Lee Gaines has been pounding the Cheese Board’s keyboards for six years. 

“It’s very, very laid back,” she said. “We’re just like a big family. I feel honored if I look around and I see someone’s toes tapping.”  

Arthur Dembling, Yesi Tezin, Dwight Ferron and Willy Perez manage the collective’s Friday afternoon shift, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Perez books the entertainment for the week.  

“It’s actually whatever the shift likes,” said Perez  

“He’s looking for cheesy music,” Tezin shouted over him, laughing. “That’s what he gets.” 

“We’ll hire anybody,” Perez said. “People walk in off the street and they say, ‘Oh, I play this, I play that.’ They leave their name and whenever we have an opening we call them. They come out and if they’re too much for us then we let them go. We’ll talk it over during that shift, and it’s what that shift can stand. If the shift says, ‘Oh no. It’s too loud or it’s not my kind of music,’ then we say no. We go with what we think we can work with. They’re not here for the money. They get paid exactly what we get paid, by the hour.” 

There’s very little turnover among the musicians or the collective members. 

Betty Shaw decided in her late forties that she wanted to become a jazz musician. She’s been at it now for more than 20 years, the last seven at the Pizza Collective piano.  

“It’s a wonderful job. It’s one of the few places where you can play jazz,” Shaw said. “I’m here on Friday and Saturday for lunch time with a wonderful bassist named Ron Croddy who used to work with Dave Brubeck. With all my heart I’m grateful for this place. I really am because it’s been a wonderful, wonderful experience. 

“At first when I started playing here, a lot of the jazz people didn’t have a high opinion of the place, but as the years have gone by it’s increased in stature. Now a lot of people want to work here. It’s a nice place to work. I don’t blame them.” 

The Cheese Board Pizza Collective is located at 1512 Shattuck Ave. Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 7 p.m., closed Sundays and Mondays. 

An Alameda County Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered developers to delay demolition of the John M. Doyle House until May 19, giving preservationists a chance to appeal the court’s April 29 decision that rejected their request for a formal environmental review of the project and cleared the way for developers to go ahead with plans to replace the building with a five-story, 35-unit residential and retail complex. 

Attorneys for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) filed a lawsuit last December against the city and developers Panoramic Interests and Touriel Building. The lawsuit argues that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires an environmental impact report be completed on any project that seeks to do irrevocable damage to a historic resource. The lawsuit claims the Doyle House, located at 2008 University Ave., is a historical landmark because it was owned and built by John Doyle, an early Berkeley pioneer who helped incorporate the city, which was once a part of Oakland township, in 1878. 

The court ruled on Tuesday there was no substantial evidence that the structure holds historical significance that would warrant protection under CEQA.  

Hours after the court’s ruling, developers obtained a permit from the city to demolish the building, allowing them to begin destruction of the house on Friday. BAHA, the group fighting the development, went into court on Thursday to ask the judge to prevent the demolition until they could file an appeal to the decision. Judge Steve Brick denied the request for a stay; instead, the developer agreed to put off demolition and the judge issued a stipulation in the record making the developers legally bound to their promise. 

Attorneys for BAHA will file a request for a stay on Wednesday, and the developers will file their response a week later. If the stay is granted — a decision that will be made on May 16 — BAHA can then file their appeal. 

Panoramic Interests’ Patrick Kennedy said he is losing money every day the project is delayed and said if the stay is granted on May 16, allowing the appeal to proceed, he will ask the court to require the plaintiffs to post a bond to cover the costs associated with the delay of the project in the event the preservationists lose the case. “We have contracts signed that would have to be broken, and we already have the financing set up for this,” he said. “We’re talking several hundred thousand dollars.” He criticized the “delaying tactics” and “frivolous lawsuit” of the preservationists, whom he called “NIMBYs masquerading as preservationists” and “career obstructionists.” 

BAHA attorney Kathy Shuck said she believes the court’s intention was to allow time for the case to be heard and ruled upon before demolition, but to also make sure that the appeal is heard fairly soon for the benefit of both parties. “The judge made it clear that he was very concerned with getting the case into the court of appeals as quickly as possible,” she said.

Purse snatching victim dragged  

Early Sunday morning a 47-year-old woman was walking home from church on Emerson Street when a dark colored car pulled alongside her. Two teenage girls emerged from the car and began to follow her. The woman turned to face the girls and asked what they were doing, when one of the girls tried to grab the older woman’s purse, according to police.  

The woman struggled to keep her purse. The two girls knocked her into the street where they kicked her. A car pulled up and the two girls jumped in. The driver began to drive away, dragging the victim for about 10 feet before she finally released the purse. The victim suffered from swelling on her hand but refused medical attention. The two girls were described as 16 to 18 years old and were wearing dark clothing.  

Dog kicked on Shattuck 

On Sunday night a woman walking her dog on the 1600 block of Shattuck Avenue stepped under an overhang to get out of a burst of rain. She noticed a homeless man in a sleeping bag.  

The man rose from the ground and approached the woman saying that he couldn’t have the dog urinating in the sleeping area. The dog then approached the man, wagging her tail, and the man kicked the dog in the ribs, according to the police report. The woman called police and the man was arrested and held on a charge of cruelty to animals. Bail was set at $5,000.