When he took over as interim director of the Berkeley Planning Department Monday, Dan Marks knew he was tackling what may well be the city’s toughest job. 

“Everything that happens in Berkeley is highly scrutinized,” he said. “People care about [planning]. They care about it a lot.”  

Marks, 53, should know. He served from 1995 to 1997 as Berkeley’s manager of Current Planning, handling development applications and enforcing the city’s zoning code before taking a job as Fremont’s planning director. 

Marks, who lives in Piedmont with his wife, said he took the Berkeley post so he could be closer to home and because he was ready for a new challenge. 

“I felt like it was time to move on from Fremont,” he said. “I’d been there for six years.” 

The interim director, who said he will decide in a few months whether to apply for the full-time job, was hesitant to lay out a roadmap for Berkeley development, arguing that urban planners have a different responsibility. 

“We don’t impose our vision,” he said. “Our goal is to articulate the vision of the community and implement that vision.” 

Marks inherits a department under siege. Vocal neighbors, aggressive developers and an activist Planning Commission have clashed loudly, publicly and repeatedly with planning staff in recent years—complaining about everything from phone calls that have gone unreturned, they say, to major planning decisions that have gone awry.  

That friction has contributed to high turnover throughout the department, starting at the top. Former planning chief Carol Barrett, citing conflict with the Planning Commission, became the third director to abruptly resign in five years when she handed in her notice five months ago. 

Phil Kamlarz, deputy city manager, took over the post temporarily in June when Barrett left. 

Planning Commission chairperson Zelda Bronstein, who often butted heads with Barrett, said Marks’ greatest challenge will be patching up relationships with the commission and neighbors who often feel ignored by the department. 

“There’s just been this rising tide of citizen questions and concerns about the fairness of the planning process of the city of Berkeley,” she said. 

Marks, who knows Planning Commissioners Gene Poschman and Susan Wengraf from his previous tour of duty in Berkeley, said he is confident that he will be able to build bridges. 

“I know some of the players,” he said. “I’ve had good relationships with these groups in the past.” 

Fremont City Councilmember Dominic Dutra, who raved about Marks, said the interim planning director should be able to handle the city’s competing interests. 

“His [completion of] three concept plans in our city—for the downtown and two historic districts—is a testament to his ability to work with people,” he said. “Historic areas can be very controversial.” 

Berkeley politicians and commissioners say Marks will also have to create a more user-friendly planning department. Homeowners and businessowners, they say, are not getting adequate help navigating a cumbersome permitting process. 

“This is one of the major, major problems facing the city,” said Mayor Tom Bates. “We need to take care of this.” 

Wendy Cosin, Berkeley’s deputy planning director, said the division has done the best it can in recent months balancing large and small projects and weighing the demands of neighbors and developers, while coping with a vacancy in the director’s chair and in a separate upper-level planning position. 

With Marks taking over this week and the “advanced planner” position due to be filled at the end of the month, Cosin said, “I think we will be in a better position to look at how we get our work done and respond more quickly to the demands of the job.” 

Cosin, who knows Marks from his previous work in Berkeley, said she was “very excited” about his arrival. 

While calling for better implementation of the current permitting process, Bates is also pushing to reform that process—seeking to streamline and improve a system that has lead to endless, litigious battles between developers and neighborhood activists. 

A mayoral task force on permitting and development that critics charge is slanted toward developers is scheduled to make a series of recommendations in September. 

Planning Commissioner Bronstein said handling the new recommendations will present yet another challenge for the interim director. 

Fremont Mayor Gus Morrison, who has known Marks for 20 years, said he will be up to the job. Marks is personable, he’s got a sense of humor and he’s straightforward, Morrison said. 

“He’ll tell you the truth,” Morrison said. “He’ll tell you what you need to know, not what you want to hear.” 

“He’s very energetic,” added Fremont City Manager Jan Perkins. “He’s very much a hard worker.” 

Perkins said that Marks was able to squeeze a high volume of quality work out of a relatively small planning staff of 25. 

Berkeley’s planning department is significantly larger, with 60 employees, and handles a dense, urban environment that contrasts sharply with the more suburban Fremont. 

But Dutra, of the Fremont City Council, said Berkeley’s progressive, urban setting will suit Marks well. Marks, Dutra said, was always a step ahead of a Fremont community that has been stumbling toward greater urbanization. 

“A lot of that is pretty new to us and I think Berkeley is a bit more progressive,” he said. 

For his part, Marks, who has also worked as a planner in the city of Napa and for BART, says he is ready to work in Berkeley. 

“I’ve done it before,” he said.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5 

Art is Peace, “The Inkwell Communiques,” based on a true story of one artist taking on several agencies of the government over the course of three presidential reigns, at 7:30 p.m. on Berkeley Rep's Thrust Stage. A benefit for Amnesty International's peace action campaign. A $20 donation is suggested. Reservations required, visit www.Frantix.net or call 415-621-1216. www.upontheseboards.org/forthcoming/inkwell 

Tomato Tasting at the Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Camera Club meets 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. 525-3565. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727  

College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6 

MeetUp for Howard Dean, at 7 p.m. at two Berkeley locations, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. and Au Coquelet, 2000 University Ave. at Milvia. 843-8724. 

Botanical Garden Twilight Tour: Seasonal Highlights at 5:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Admission is $5. Registration required. 643-2755. www.mip. 

berkeley.edu/garden 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/ vigil 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets every 1st and 3rd Wednesday at 7:15 a.m. at Hide-A-Way Café, 6430 Telegraph Ave. For information call Fred Garvey, 925-682-1111, ext. 164. 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. 872-0768. 

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. Meet at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts Studios at 1923 Ashby Ave. For further information call 644-2204. 

Introduction to Reiki Energy Healing, a free lecture by Tarra Christoff, MA, Reiki Master/ 

Teacher, at 6:30 p.m. at Phar- 

maca Integrative, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

Free Feldenkrais ATM Classes for adults 55 and older at 10:30 and 11:45 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut at Rose. For 

information call 848-5143.  

Community Dances, 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, AUGUST 7 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers meets at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave. A fly tying demonstration for beginners will be held at 6:30 p.m.; a light dinner will be available for a modest price at 7 p.m.; meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. Grizzly Peak Flyfishers is a non-profit, dedicated to conservation, education and fishing. For information contact rorlando@uclink4. 

berkeley.edu  

Rock Climbing 101, an introduction, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Lawyers in the Library at  

6 p.m. at the North Branch, 1170 The Alameda 981-6250. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 

Long Haul Infoshop Tenth Anniversary Party at 8 p.m. Celebrate the Infoshop’s 10th anniversary. Vegan chocolate cake, dancing, open house, and more. 3124 Shattuck Ave., across from La Peña, 1 block east of Ashby BART. 540-0751.  

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m. 

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. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 496-6000, ext. 135. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 

World Breastfeeding Day Celebration at 11:30 a.m. in Civic Center Park, followed at 12:30 p.m. by an attempt to set a new breast-feeding world record in the Berkeley Commu- 

nity Theater. Sponsored by the City of Berkeley Health Dept. 981-5344.  

Beginner’s and Ongoing Knitting Class for Afghans for Afghans Kids Campaign Learn to knit a simple child’s cap on from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Drop in for as much time as you need at Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. near Cedar, two blocks from North Berkeley BART. Suggested donation of $20 for AFSC Peace Work. Yarn, knitting needles, lesson, pattern, and snacks provided. 415- 565-0201 ext. 12. 

Howard Dean Precinct Walk meet at 10 a.m. at Au Coquelet Cafe, 2000 University Ave. We will supply you with a map, fliers, and strategies to help get your message out as you walk a precinct to tell your neighbors how we are going to take our country back. Please sign up and bring friends! After-party at Jupiter’s at 5 p.m. For information call Paul Hogarth 666-1260.  

Walk in Tilden Park with Solo Sierrans at 5:30 p.m. Meet at Lone Oak Picnic area for an hour walk through the cool woods. Optional dinner on Solano Avenue follows. We are mostly single, mostly over 50. You need not be a Sierra Club member to attend. For more information call Vera, 234-8949. 

Peace Lantern Ceremony at the north end of Aquatic Park, west end of Addison St., just south of University Ave. Make lantern shades and float them on the water in a beautiful Japanese ceremony remembering the victims of the atomic bombings (Nagasaki, Aug. 9, 1945) and of all wars. Lantern-making begins at 6:30 p.m., music 7:15 p.m, and lantern launching from 8 to 9 p.m. For information, or to volunteer call 594-4088. www.ProgressivePortal.org/lanterns/ 

Free Emergency Prepar- 

edness Class on Shelter Operations, for anyone who lives or works in Berkeley, from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th Sts. Register on-line at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes or by calling 981-5506. 

Family Shabbat with Rabbi Kai Eckstein “What Happened on Noah's Ark?” from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Please bring lunch for your family, and (finger) dessert to share. We also collect non-perishable food for the needy. For more information email kolhadash@aol.com or call 428-1492.  

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10 

Butterfly Mania for ages 5 and up, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area in Tilden Park. Take a closer look at our native butterflies. What do they eat and how? We will make butterfly trading cards and play games with them in our butterfly garden. Cost is $3. 525-2233.  

Top of the Bay Family Day with Lego Building, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science, Centennial Dr. 643-5961. www.lawrencehallofscience.org 

Stop the War Makers: Hands Around Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab A nonviolent rally and march around Livermore nuclear weapons lab, at 1:30 p.m. at Robert Payne Park, 5800 Patterson Pass Rd, at Vasco, Livermore. For information call Tri-Valley CAREs 925-443-7148. www.trivalleycares.org 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Repair Clinic, at 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Permaculture Workshop Series Ongoing workshops every second and last Sunday of the month at the BerkeleyEco-House, 1305 Hopkins St. Call for information, 465-9439.  

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers, a group dedicated to the sport of fly fishing through education and conservation, invites you to its monthly meeting, a casting demonstration and clinic conducted by the Oakland Casting Club at the McCrea Park Casting Ponds, 4460 Shepherd St. at Carson St., Oakland, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will include a barbecue lunch. The club will provide hot dogs, hamburgers and soft drinks; attendees are encouraged to bring side dishes. Expert, beginner and “wannabe” fly fishers are all welcome. For more information, call 547-8629. 

Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Palzang and Pema Gellek on “Tranquil Awareness” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, AUGUST 11 

Berkeley CopWatch meets at 6 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Volun- 

teers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING  

Tilden Farm Week, for ages 8 to 11. Mon. Aug. 11 to Fri. Aug. 15, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Come experience the old-time, country lifestyle during a week of farm camp fun! We'll learn about farm animals, dig, shovel, harvest, cook, have fun, and get dirty! At Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $135 residents, $149 non-residents. Registration required. 636-1684.  

Vista Community College Program for Adult Education (PACE) Enrollment through Sept. 6. PACE is a college alternative for adults with job and family responsibilities. Enrollment in American Sign Language classes is also being accepted. For information call 981-2864 or 981-2800 or email Marilyn Clausen at mclausen@peralta.cc.ca.us  

Community Food Drive Make a cash or food donation to the Safeway/ABC7 Summer Food Drive, benefiting the Alameda County Community Food Bank and its 300 member agencies. The food drive will help thousands of local low-income children who lose access to school meal programs during summer vacation. Now through Aug. 9, put nutritious, nonperishable food donations in the red food collection barrels in all Alameda County Safeway stores or make a cash donation at Safeway check-out stands. For more information or to sign up to host a barrel, call 834-3663, ext. 318 or visit www.accfb.org  

Free Energy Conservation Retrofits for Berkeley Residents CA Youth Energy Services is a nonprofit sponsored by the City of Berkeley that trains and employs high school students to provide conservation retrofits. Work includes weatherstripping, replacing lightbulbs with CFLs, cleaning refrigerator coils, replacing faucet aerators and showerheads with low-flow devices, installing earthquake preparedness measures, and a comprehensive audit. Available to home owners and renters. Call for an appointment, 428-2357. 

Free Energy Bill Payment Assistance The City of Berkeley has money to help low-income households in Berkeley, Emery- 

ville and Albany pay their gas and electric bills. For applications and more information, contact the Energy Office at 644-8544. TDD: 981-6903. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/energy 

CITY MEETINGS 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wednesday, August 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets Thursday, August 7, at 7 p.m., at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7461. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory

DAVIS’ DEFICIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The recent emphasis of the cost of the recall at $66 to 67 million by Gov. Davis is a strange strategy at best, considering that one percent of this deficit (that Davis has watched and double and redouble to its present level of $38 billion) is $380 million dollars! The cost of the recall is less than two tenths of one percent of the deficit.  

Apparently Davis hopes to scare voters into supporting him, while giving his opposition the opportunity to explain to voters the enormity of the fiscal problem confronting our state, and of course the impact this fiscal mess will have on every California community!  

The only positive fiscal action Davis could have taken was to have resigned and let the Lt. Governor take over and save the cost of the recall while keeping a Democrat in office.  

John Cecil  

• 

KUCINICH OVER DEAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Charlene Woodcock claims in “For Doctor Dean,” (Daily Planet, Aug. 1-4) that progressives are supporting Dean because he opposes the war, has the intelligence, honesty, integrity and the energy to defeat Bush and is willing to stand up to the right wing. 

Dennis Kucinich is all of the above plus he supports key progressive ideals such as real campaign finance reform, single payer health care and the elimination of NAFTA and the WTO. 

Kucinich runs well against Republicans. He has a record of attracting swing votes and has ousted republican incumbents three times. 

Kucinich has a proven record of standing up to the right wing. In 1977 as mayor he prevented the privatization of power in Cleveland, an action that would cost him the next election. 

Howard Dean’s rise in the polls to the level of “first tier democrat” has been supported by his mainstream media exposure and their portrayal of him as a grass roots candidate. Indeed the mainstream corporate media has a vested interest in portraying Dean and not Kucinich as the peoples’ candidate. 

I urge progressives to get behind the progressive democratic candidate in the primaries. Dennis Kucinich’s positions can be found on the web at www.kucinich.us. 

George Palen 

• 

TOUCH AND GO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks for two good articles on election technology (Daily Planet, Aug. 1-4). As Thom Hartmann shows, results that shake voter confidence can come from old or new systems. Don Hazen is right that we should insist on a voter-verifiable audit trail in any new equipment. That ability was originally present with paper ballots, sacrificed in the switch to punch cards — with now-famous results — and regained with modern optical-scan systems. It is now offered by many, but not all, vendors of touch-screen voting equipment. 

The touch-screen systems potentially offer better accessibility to the disabled and to language minorities. As an engineer and a member of an IEEE committee developing technical standards for those machines, let me assure readers that providing a voter-verifiable audit trail need not in any way impair accessibility. A voter who is blind, for example, using headphones to receive the data normally sent to the video screen, can use the same method to hear the data sent to the printer. Voters with and without visual impairments can have the same ability to verify, independently and privately, that the ballot they cast is the vote they intend. 

An excellent site on which to follow progress toward such an audit trail requirement is http://verifiedvoting.org. 

Finally I must address Hazen’s fear that “worst case thinking” about election tampering will keep people from the polls. Those people would be drawing exactly the wrong conclusion. By any method, it is easier to steal a few votes than to steal a lot of votes. The challenge now is not only to vote, but to bring enough of your friends to the polls to ensure a tamper-proof margin of victory. 

David Aragon 

• 

UNSUNG HERO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have thought for 30 years that Dr. Donald Sebanc was the unsung hero of Telegraph Avenue.  

I’m really glad to see that you sang Dr. Donald Sebanc’s heroism in your current issue. 

Allen Walden 

• 

YARD DUTY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Possibly because I’m too ignorant, but I don’t understand why the adult school needs to move at all. If the BUSD administration needs a new site, why don't they move in to Franklin themselves and leave the adult school where it is? They could even use some of the paved playground as a parking lot. This would open access to the playground, which currently is only available to fence climbers. Just as the teachers do, administrators could do rotating yard duty, perhaps an hour a week, supervising the playground. 

Barbara Judd 

• 

BUB VS. BMD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Ed Brodick had fun (Daily Planet, July 25-28) trying to get the right nuance to an acronym for editor O’Malley’s “Big Ugly Boxes.” Let me suggest an alternative for our high-rise boom that doesn't benefit by an acronym: “Buildings of Mass Destruction.” 

Victor Herbert 

• 

MORE TIME 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding the meeting on Aug. 20, three minutes of possible speaking time concerning something as important as the Franklin School and surrounding neighborhood is an insult. Aren’t we taxed enough to speak at our own meeting? Not only is it on an arbitrary “Lotto” system, which guarantees other subject matter, three minutes is not nearly enough. As a voting member and citizen of the Berkeley community I demand more time for andy and all speakers who wish to give information concerning the Franklin School area and why it will destroy our neighborhood. There continues to be a cover up of pertinent information and a politically instigated “rush job” on all of us. 

Saul Grabia 

• 

TWO CHOICES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

What the heck is the City of Berkeley doing owning commercial property at 2446 Durant St.?  

This is not a proper activity for the City of Berkeley to be engaged in! 

Either put this property up for sale tomorrow and get it back on the tax rolls, or lower our tax rate. Those are your two choices. 

If you don’t do either, you will be liable for a class action lawsuit on behalf of all property owners in the City of Berkeley. 

Berkeley has no business using taxpayer funds to take property off the tax rolls and compete with local businesses. This is not socialist Russia. It is the United States of America. 

How many other properties do you have that are not on the tax rolls, not generating tax revenue and causing expense to the City of Berkeley?  

Sell them. Get them back on the tax rolls, generating tax revenue and put the money back in the city budget.  

Stephen Jory 

• 

FREE RADIO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

About ten years ago. I was suddenly blasted by intruding voices and noise over the radio while listening to music. The sounds were clearly human, but were too distorted for discerning specific words. The volume was ten times normal listening volume. The shock impact of the sound definitely made my heart skip several beats each time. This interference continued about once or twice a week for several years. I was worried about damage to the electronics and speakers. I never figured out the source of this interference at the time. Many years later I learned that Berkeley Free Radio had rented a space down the block from me on Alcatraz during the corresponding time. Other people in the neighborhood also had similar problems.   

Vincent Osman 

• 

ADULT SCHOOL TRAFFIC  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

To all concerned: I was horrified to see that in the map included in the Traffic Impact Analysis dated July 3 the plan is to have the only entrance to the Berkeley Adult School parking lot on Virginia at the head of Kains Avenue. And the Main Entrance to BAS is at this same location. Kains Avenue is never once mentioned as a street that will be impacted by this and yet it is the only street that is a clear shot to the parking and the entrance. The Traffic Impact Analysis failed to see how this will impact Kains Avenue, and it definitely will. This will make Kains a main route to the BAS and change it drastically for the worse. This is unfair and unacceptable and everyone on Kains is against this.  

I am asking that you look seriously into this and make the appropriate changes which would eliminate the parking lot entrance on Virginia and the exit on Francisco and put them on San Pablo where they belong, leaving the main entrance where it is at present. Or reconsider the entire move of the BAS to Franklin, as it is located in the center of a small residential community. The Traffic Impact Analysis also fails to mention Stannage and Cornell and all the small streets surrounding Franklin that definitely will be impacted. 

Joyce Barison

Trish Mulholland does a powerful job in the title role of Bertolt Brecht’s mind-boggling anti-war classic, “Mother Courage,” which opened Saturday at the theater in John Hinkle Park. This mesmerizing production is, wonderfully enough, a free performance: Shotgun Theater’s annual gift to the community. You can bet that some people will go back to see it more than once. 

Mulholland is supported by a talented cast. Among numerous excellent performances are the roles of Mother Courage’s three adult children: her two sons, “Eilif,” (Leith Burke) and “Swiss Cheese” (Andy Alabran) and her mute, largely ignored, daughter, Kattrin (Gwen Larsen). Mother Courage’s wagon full of overpriced, miscellaneous wares is pulled from place to place by her sons, following various armies—they’re just customers to her—as they go through the horrors of the 17th century’s Thirty Years War.  

That war was consciously chosen as the play’s background. It destroyed much of Europe in a futile struggle over power by Kings and Emperors. Two generations of German soldiers died in a war that ended in a truce that did not name either side as a winner.  

All in all, this is a curious play. Brecht wanted to establish a new form of drama in which would differ radically from the traditional Aristotelian tragedy. He may have succeeded. You could even argue that it’s actually a musical tragi-comedy. There are a number of songs, reminiscent of the music in “The Three-Penny Opera.” They’re accompanied by Henri Ducharme’s accordian and a collection of percussion instruments played by Josh Pollack. But, at least in this production, the music seems more decoration and comment than fundamental to the action of the play.  

Brecht wrote “Mother Courage” in 1938, presumably as a warning to Sweden and Germany about Hitler’s politics. The play, however, is easily read as being not so much anti-Nazi as it is anti-war. It could be argued that the work is actually a scathing indictment of the role of capitalism as a basis for war. The present national concerns about the purpose and costs of the military actions in the Middle East are uncomfortably relevant. 

Brecht had hoped for immediate performances but was forced to flee the continent as the Nazis invaded. There was one wartime production in Switzerland in 1941 without Brecht’s participation. That audience saw Mother Courage as a victim, which prompted Brecht to make a number of subtle but important changes to the script. Mother Courage’s deliberate choice to be involved in, and make a livingfrom, war was clarified.  

Director Patrick Dooley has elected to use a 1995 translation by British playwright David Hare (“Skylight” and “The Blue Room”) which emphasizes the play’s sarcastic humor. Dooley says that most English translations don’t tend to be as funny as the original. And it is this humor that adds to the play’s complexity. 

It would be easy for the figure of the hardworking mother who suffers such losses to be sentimentalized. Just look at her name. But the act of “courage” referred to was scarcely noble: She ran through gunfire to retrieve the bread that she wanted to sell. She lies and cheats and seems to have no ideas other than those connected to material gain. And there’s certainly nothing soft and fuzzy about her mothering. Her idea of soothing her injured daughter is to assure her that her scars will make her so ugly that nobody will want to rape her. 

Petty, materialistic, unscrupulous, insensitive, she is still a mother. Arguably she could be seen as a more of comic than tragic figure. Probably this is one of the few plays which truly deserves the classification “tragi-comedy.”  

Several actors play multiple parts. If there is a weakness in this production, (and it seems small-minded to nit-pick such fine work) it is the fact that budget issues required so much multi-tasking. There are times when a few of the actors become identifiable as the person who played another character in a previous scene. That said, it’s pleasing to notice the quality that is maintained among the actors in general. 

All told, an excellent production of a terrific play. 

“Mother Courage and Her Children” plays at 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 14 in John Hinkle Park. The Sept. 13 show will be held in Live Oak Park. Admision is free.  

There will be no performance Aug. 9.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5 

FILM 

The Inquiring Camera: “Ah! The Hopeful Pageantry of Bread and Puppet” 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. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“How to Get Your Novel Published,” hosted by James Rollins of The New York Times, Alan Jacobson of USA Today, and Kurt Bryan, suspense author, at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

“Galapagos: Land of Enchantment,” lecture and slide-show by Susanne Methvin at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose. 843-3533. www.easygoing.com 

Harry Potter Discussion Group at 7 p.m. Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698.  

www.blackoakbooks.com  

Berkeley Summer Poetry, with Lynn Breedlove, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mediterranean Cafe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. Free, open mic, poetry, prose, short fiction, amateur and advanced artists welcome. 549-1128. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

California Music Festival, Olivia Stapp directs opera scenes at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $12-$18, available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Mimi Fox, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Top Dog Run and Rumen Shopov & Friends at 8:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson with Lise Liepman at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6 

FILM 

Excess Evil: “Rosemary’s Baby” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, with Larry Cohen in person. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Hip Hop Film Fest at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5 per film. For film schedule call 415-285-1416.  

www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sue Fishkoff will discuss “Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch,” at 7:30 p.m. Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

www.blackoakbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam Chicken Grease! a hip-hop slam hosted by Nazelah Jamison and Karen Ladson, featuring Clare Lewis, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7, $5 with student i.d. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

California Music Festival, “Die Fledermaus,” directed by Olivia Stapp, conducted by Monroe Kanouse, at 7:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $18-$25, available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Kenny Cahn, country and western with a touch of city and eastern, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Stella Chiweshe from Zimbabwe at 9 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jules Broussard and Ned Boynton at 8 p.m. at Down- 

town, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Gail Brand with Pseudo- 

model and PlanterBox at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $6-$15 sliding scale. 649-8744. 

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Second Shot, Green Hell, The Caps, Stigma 13 perform Punk Rock at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Mark Wright Quartet, Berkeley native trumpeter, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter, 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625. www.jupiterbeer.com 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7 

FILM 

The Inquiring Camera: “Trial” and “The Lost Film” 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. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Fragments From the War on Terror “Metal of Dishonor,” a film by the Depleted Uranium Education Project, at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. A free film series co-sponsored by Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil. For more information see www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Hip Hop Film Fest at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5 per film. For film schedule email info@HipHopFilmFest.com or call 415-285-1416. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mystery Night, with authors Kent Gilmore, Max Isaacson and Katherine Shephard at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

Joe Anastasi, Global Leader of Deloitte & Touche’s Forensic Investigations practice, looks at corporate crime in “The New Forensics: Investigating Cor- 

porate Fraud and the Theft of Intellectual Property,” at 7:30 p.m. Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

California Music Festival, “Die Fledermaus,” directed by Olivia Stapp, conducted by Monroe Kanouse, at 7:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $18-$25, available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Todd Sickafoose Group and Scott Amendola Band perform jazz improv at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale. 649-8744. 

www.thejazzhouse.com 

The Reverend Screaming Singers, Joe Rut, and Sophie at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Keni El Lebrijano, flamenco guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Mitch Greenhill and Mayne Smith, traditional music duo, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 

CHILDREN 

Stage Door Conservatory's “Kids OnStage” presents “Blame it on the Wolf,” a free mini-musical by Douglas Love, at 7:30 p.m. at Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. 527-5939. StageDoorCamp@aol.com 

FILM 

Czech Horror and Fantasy on Film: “Valerie and Her Week of Numbers” at 7:30 p.m. and “Morgiana” at 9:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Hip Hop Film Fest at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5 per film. For film schedule email info@HipHopFilmFest.com or call 415-285-1416. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jeremiah Tower talks about “California Dish: What I Saw (and Cooked) at the American Culinary Revolution” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ballet Counterpointe Rep of Berkeley, “Works in Motion” showcasing local choreographers and ballet artists from the independent dance scene, at 8 p.m. at ODC Theater, 3153 17th St. at Shotwell, SF. Tickets are $15-$20 sliding scale, available from 415-863-9834. 

The Soukous Stars from Congo at 9:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $18. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Weary Boys, Gilbert Dribblers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Beatropolis performs nu-jazz, hip-hop, dNb and dub at 7:30 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $6-$15 sliding scale. 649-8744. 

www.thejazzhouse.com 

Brenda Boykin and Folk- 

lorico 57, new traditions in jazz and blues, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

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

Danny Caron and Friends at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Dub Vision, reggae and dancehall grooves, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter, 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625.  

www.jupiterbeer.com 

Ghandaia, El Jefe, Tribolectic perform Latin Funk, Hip Hop, and Jazz Electronica at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

The Locusts, Erase Errata, Hella, The Rah Brahs, My Name is Rar Rar 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, AUGUST 9 

San Francisco Mime Troupe Veronique of the Mounties in “Operation: Frozen Freedom” at 1:30 p.m. in Live Oak Park. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

FILM 

“The Cockettes” free screening with costume party at 8 p.m. at the Long Haul, a reading room, library and community center in South Berkeley lo- 

cated at 3124 Shattuck Ave. Wheelchair accessible. 540-0751.  

www.thelonghaul.org  

The Inquiring Camera: Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - Part Two: Remnants” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students; $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth; $8 adults. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Hip Hop Film Fest at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5 per film. For film schedule email info@HipHopFilmFest.com or call 415-285-1416. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Susan McDougal discusses “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Talk,” on her refusal to testify in the Whitewater investigations at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

African Drum Workshop with Wade Peterson. Beginners from 10 to 11:30 a.m., experienced from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at The Jazz House. Cost is $15-$25, and advance registration is encouraged. 533-5111. 

Ballet Counterpointe Rep of Berkeley, “Works in Motion” showcasing local choreographers and ballet artists from the independent dance scene, at 8 p.m. at ODC Theater, 3153 17th St. at Shotwell, SF. Tickets are $15-20 sliding scale, available from 415-863-9834. 

North Indian Classical Music, Lakshmi Shankar, vocals, and Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, tabla, at 7:30 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $12-$20. 415-454-6264. 

Adrian’s Music Salon with Michael La Macchia ensemble at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $6-$15 sliding scale. www.thejazzhouse.com  

Shawn Baltazor and Kenny Pexton, farewell concert, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

www.jazzschool.com 

Caribbean Allstars perform reggae at 9:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Luddites, Dead Science, Graham Connah’s Jettison Slinky, Good for Cows at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Slow and Slower at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Gram- 

my-winning folk music legend, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50 advance, $18.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Hot for Teacher: A Van Halen Tribute and Blitzenhamer perform at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Married Couple, alt-jazz,, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter, 2181 Shattuck Ave. 843-7625.  

www.jupiterbeer.com 

Strike Anywhere, From Ashes Rise, They Live, Robot has Werewolf Hand, The Disaster, Stalker Potential (last show) 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, AUGUST 10 

Opening Reception BACA National Juried Exhibition from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. Exhibition runs until Sept. 13. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

San Francisco Mime Troupe Veronique of the Mounties in “Operation: Frozen Freedom” at 1:30 p.m. in Live Oak Park. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org 

FILM 

W. C. Fields: “So’s Your Old Man” at 5:30 p.m. and “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” at 7:15 at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“East and West,” a 1923 silent film comedy, at 2 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. Suggested donation $2. 848-0237. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry at Cody’s with Dale Pendell and Dick Bakken at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Roger King will read from his new novel, “A Girl From Zan- 

zibar,” which recently won the Bay Area Book Reviewer’s Award for Fiction, at 7:30 p.m. Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698.  

www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Live Oak Concert, William Skeen, ‘cello, performs Bach Suites for solo ‘cello at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Cost is $10, BACA members $8, Students and seniors $9. Children under 12 free. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Third Annual Transbay  

Skronkathon BBQ from noon to 10:30 p.m. at The Jazz House. We supply the grills, tables and music, with fifty or so bands performing conceptual deconstruc- 

ted creative nonstandards, and you bring something for the grill, and enjoy the day. 649-8744. http://music.acme.com 

Flamenco Open Stage at Ashkenaz, at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

www.ashkenaz.com 

Phil Marsh, traditional and 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 

Steve Erquiaga and Trio  

Paradiso, originals with Argentine and Brazilian influences, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$15. 845-5373.  

www.jazzschool.com 

Catholic Comb, Soular perform Alt Rock at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886.  

www.blakesontelegraph.com 

MONDAY, AUGUST 11 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ezra Bayda reads from his new book, “At Home in the Muddy Water: A Guide to Finding Peace within Everyday Chaos,” at 7:30 p.m. Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poetry Express, Public Speaking for Poets Workshop, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.  

AT THE THEATER 

Aurora Theater Company, “The Accidental Activist” Aug. 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m., Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $20. Buy your tickets online at www.Frantix.net or 415-621-1216 or 866-372-6849. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Music Theater Company, “Oliver!” Lionel Bart’s musical will be performed Aug. 8 and 9, at 8 p.m. at Albany High School, 603 Key Route, Albany. Tickets are $15 general, $10 seniors, students, and low-income. 524-1224. 

Oakland Summer Theater, “The Death and Life of Sneaky Fitch,” Aug. 8 and 9, Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 3 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, $8 seniors and students. Chabot School Auditorium, 6686 Chabot Rd. To reserve tickets call 597-5026. 

Shotgun Players, “Mother Courage and Her Children,” by Bertolt Brecht, translated by David Hare, directed by Patrick Dooley. Runs Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m. in John Hinkle Park, until Sept. 14. No show Aug 9. Show Sept. 13 is at Live Oak Park, Shattuck and Berryman. Free. 704-8210.  

www.shotgunplayers.org 

In a new twist on an old summertime tradition, Berkeley children put up a lemonade stand on Saturday to raise money for their schools. 

The children and their parents selling lemonade in front of Old City Hall on Saturday morning were volunteers for Berkeley Schools Now (BSN), a parent-organized group dedicated to raising $500,000 by Dec. 31 for the city’s 16 public schools. The group’s organizers prepared fliers to hand out to passersby, and their children gave impassioned impromptu speeches about programs at their school that are in danger of elimination as a result of budget cuts at the local, state, and federal levels.  

Saturday’s event was timed to coincide with the mailing of a letter from State Assembly member Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), encouraging all Berkeley parents to donate their tax refund checks to BSN. Any residents who declared dependent children on their 2002 tax returns will receive a $400 rebate this summer, money that Hancock said should return to the schools that are suffering because of such tax cuts. 

“This is tax money that should have gone to schools in the first place,” Hancock wrote. “I urge you to invest your tax dollars in Berkeley’s children today. The return on your investment is incalculable.” 

The parents and students hosting the refreshment stand on Saturday handed out copies of Hancock’s letter, then asked pedestrians to donate whatever money they could on the spot. In return, children handed each donor a cup of lemonade, many of which ended up costing the customers $10 or $20. 

“I handed a little boy a $10 bill because I want him to grow up in good schools, which Berkeley has the capability, if not the resources, to provide,” said Berkeley resident Alan Park. “But the cold lemonade was a nice bonus.” 

BSN co-founder and executive board member Zasa Swanson said that the lemonade stand provided a good opportunity to get children involved in raising money for their own education. 

“It was all about having the kids participate,” Swanson said. “They would just go up to people without any prompting and ask them to help their school. It’s important to see the faces of the people this affects the most.” 

Swanson’s son, Tyler, said he was glad that many people gave him money when he worked at the lemonade stand. 

“We need to support our schools because they’re a little short on funds,” said Tyler, a fifth-grader at Arts Magnet School. “I hope it will help teachers’ pay at my school.” 

Although Swanson and other organizers were unsure of exactly how much money they raised at Saturday’s event, they said they were pleased with the turnout and community support. 

“Berkeley people in general are extremely helpful,” Swanson said. “This is a problem for all of us, and people recognize that. They really want to help.” 

The lemonade stand was only one of a number of fundraising activities put on by BSN, who will allocate the funds they raise to individual schools’ site councils based on enrollment at that particular school. Parent volunteers have been tabling at local supermarkets and farmers’ markets, and the group has sponsored a series of community meetings where attendees “pass the hat” to solicit donations. Swanson said future fundraising opportunities will include phone calls to Berkeley residents as well as more activities involving students. 

In her letter, Hancock commended BSN for their commitment to raising the $500,000 for Berkeley’s 16 public schools, citing a meeting at which a small group of parents raised $5,000 and pledges from single working parents to contribute $1,000 each by combining their tax rebates with monthly credit card payments. 

“While $500,000 will by no means address all the problems created by $10 million in budget cuts, it will make a difference in the education of all Berkeley’s schoolchildren,” she said. 

“I think everybody needs to help when the schools are in trouble,” said her son Tyler. “I want to help all the schools.” 

The next BSN meeting will be held at the Berkeley Unified School District annex at 1835 Allston St. at 7:30 p.m. To make a tax-deductible contribution, address checks to the Berkeley Public Education Foundation and write “Berkeley Schools Now” in the memo line. 

To the leaders of the Democratic Party: 

You, your party, and all Democrats, are poised to lose. You are on the brink of losing the Presidency, Congress, and elected office at every level. 

Your party and its leadership have been articulate in opposing Bush domestic policy—in its simplest and broadest terms, “enrich the rich at all costs.” Yet Bush domestic policy is inseparable from Bush foreign policy: again, in broad terms, the overt redefinition of America as a Miltary Imperium. It entails the flow of the country’s discretionary wealth, not into the physical preservation of this country and the well-being of its population, but into military bases, new generations of every form of weaponry, and the abrogation of the treaty which staved off world-scale conflict for 40 years. Half the military expenditure of the entire world is drawn from the American taxpayer. As in all totalitarianism, each step engenders the next -- the next enemy, the next level of security, the next equipment for and exercise of power. 

While the polls showed “growing support for war,” they also showed, and show, equivalent support for challenge to those policies, in Congress and on the streets, and even more massive support for cooperation with the United Nations. 

Although many distinguished Democratic leaders have spoken out, their voices, taken one by one, are negligible in the sweeping torrent of newspeak emanating from the White House each day. Invoking patriotism, insistent and carefully engendered fear, and the adroitly shifting, continual attack that nullifies rebuttal, Bush and Rove keep the fight where they can win: abstract heroics, unassailable platitudes, and a fictive image of the world. And the right-owned media march in lockstep. “The War is Over. Long Live the War.” 

This is a rich country—with crowded classrooms and closed libraries; neglected public services; unprotected natural resources; decaying infrastructure; withering arts support; and systematic withdrawal of the safety net constructed through Democratic leadership in the 1930s. 

This list defines the choice between acceptance of and payment for the United States as a Military Imperium, or the channeling of our wealth toward Life. At this point members of the minority party in Congress are the only agents with the power to frame the message and deliver it.  

We appeal to you to act now and to win. Here is a 3-point program. 

1. UNITE  

Your adversaries have a common resolute, coherent policy. Underneath identity politics and the bickering for place, so do you. Surely a majority of Democrats in Congress support increased aid to education, maintenance and extension of medical care and public health, protection of the environment, maintenance of the physical infrastructure of the country; and prevention of crime, misery, and starvation in the streets. Unite in saying so. Unite in castigating Republicans for their flagrant destruction of these basic values, item by item. There is already discussion of alternative uses of the billions assigned to cutting taxes. The even more costly and much more far-reaching military spending remains largely unchallenged. Unite in connecting the destruction of America with the shift of wealth to war and tax cuts.  

2. ATTACK 

Every lawyer knows it is more effective to attack than to defend. What takes a moment to allege takes years to disprove. No sooner was one “reason” for invading Iraq challenged, than another took its place. Invasion of Iraq saved George Bush Sr. from national focus on the Savings and Loan scandals; invasion of Iraq has spared his son from explaining his and his advisors’ intimate involvement with corporate corruption and fraud. 

When it is relevant— with this administration it is very relevant—attack ad hominem—another successful Republican tactic. Once the adversary uses it, it must be matched. The overwhelming preponderance of evidence is on your side. While the Republican right engaged in irresponsible, daily, and widely disseminated vilification of the Clintons, the politically significant conflicts of interest, shady deals, and illegal actions of Bush, Cheney, and Rove are rarely if ever mentioned by their political challengers, and often confined to the miniscule circulation of the progressive press. 

Even on national security—their trump card—the Bush administration has failed. The most likely sources and ports of entry for weapons of mass destruction have been left unguarded. The numbers of people in the world deeply motivated to trade their lives for death of an American, any American, has increased under Bush foreign policy, and will continue to increase. 

3. USE THE PRESS 

Mass media are the infrastructure of the country. Not the Constitution, not the right to vote, not community—but television, that glass panel of flashing light and moving images, and billboards, and print, that slam into consciousness most of the waking hours for most of us, every day. The media have become our consciousness, our nervous system.  

The strong, able Democrats in Congress must do what the Marchers did—engineer a series of events that the press cannot ignore. It took 150,000 marchers assembling in the Capitol for the whole media apparatus to at last direct its lens to the street, but they did. Although the politburo ignored them, two-thirds of the electorate saw, heard, and said the president should listen to the message. 100 Congressional Democrats, with their own “Contract for America,” stepping over the line together at a giant press conference will not be ignored. You are leaders. You still control the purse.  

When the Labor Party in England staged a similar manifestation of dissent, it was world news. We suggest a continuing series of press conferences on the Capitol steps, programmed with real information and argument, presented in a way that will be picked up by the press. You must take back your share of the press.  

A second event, designed to coerce media attention, is a vigil, from now until the election, of the people who maintain this country: teachers and professors, medical personnel, receptionists, postal employees, librarians, artists, firemen, etc.—all of whom are being fired, squeezed dry, deprived of facilities and equipment, asked to do the impossible—all in the interest of tax cuts and military expansion. And without leaders, without political instruction, they don’t know how to voice their complaints.  

Every week a new representative group of the decent, industrious, and at this point helpless people who make this country a good place to live, would share their problems and their lives in a vigil. Their slogan, on their own behalf and on behalf of the people whom they serve: We Want Our Money Back.  

The deplorable reshaping of democracy, world governance, the nature and extent of war, and the most recent world Imperium was a long time building. The presidency of George W. Bush has pushed it to critical mass. Human life, and the conditions for life cannot support an equally long time for correction. The rapid defeat in the next two elections of the Bush troika that rules the world will go a long way toward restoration.  

They are few and we are many. You are stronger than you think.  

Ariel Parkinson is a Berkeley painter, designer and poltical activist. 

When George Akerlof talks, the world listens. Especially when he tosses barbs at the White House. 

The Nobel prize helps, of course, but an observer can’t help wonder if much of the attention comes because the UC Berkeley professor has a knack for saying things that are widely covered everywhere else but in the American press—as in his recent call for civil disobedience to protest Bush administration fiscal policies he decried as “a form of looting” the poor and elderly to hand more wealth to wealthy supporters. 

A fixture at the UC campus since joining the Economic Department staff 37 years ago, Akerlof’s specialty is a much-neglected side of the Dismal Science. 

Traditionally, economists have posited the existence of Homo economicus, a thoroughly rational being who takes all facts into account, weighs them carefully, then acts in a manner designed to maximize self-interest. 

Of course, people don’t always act that way, as the long lines at Krispy Kreme and the Golden Arches make abundantly clear. 

Seeking to expand his understanding of humans as economic players, Akerlof reached beyond the traditional confines of his profession to the disciplines of psychology, sociology, and anthropology. 

Akerlof’s work has shown that self-perception, not just the rational play of market forces, enters into consumer decisions, a fact long known to any gifted seller. 

In a seminal 1970 paper, he looked at lemons—not the sorts that hang from trees, but those dumped on unsuspecting customers by used car dealers. Far from being the well-informed consumers of the traditional economic model, the customers Akerlof examined often wound up as dupes to unscrupulous sellers who worked very hard to make sure their marks didn’t have all the relevant facts. 

But it’s not his contributions to economic theory that have landed the celebrated professor in news pages and web sites around the world. It’s his harsh, unrelenting criticism of the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. 

Ever since George W. Bush started peddling his tax cut cure-all, Akerlof has been raising his voice, alone and with Nobel laureates like his frequent collaborator Joseph Stiglitz, calling the attention of public and press to what he charges are serious and dangerous flaws in the President’s economics policies. 

But the widely respected academic’s latest remarks have ignited a firestorm on the Internet while attracting very little attention from the American media. 

“I think this is the worst government the U.S. has ever had in its more than 200 years of history. It has engaged in extraordinarily irresponsible policies not only in foreign and economic but also in social and environmental policy. This is not normal policy,” he told the German publication Der Spiegel (www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0.1518.258983.00.html). 

So far Akerlof had said little more than he had in past statements on President George W. Bush’s policies, albeit this is the first time he ranked Bush dead last in the Presidential sweepstakes. 

The electronic firestorm was triggered by the eleven words that followed: 

“Now is the time for civil disobedience.” 

Akerlof’s remarks received little attention on the day they appeared, but in the days since, they’ve popped up on an ever-growing number of sites at opposite ends of the political spectrum, especially in the world of weblogs, where partisans of every stripe have found the modern-day agora from which to air their diverse views. 

Links to the German site can now be found on Rush Limbaugh newsgroups, where Akerlof has been labeled a “pinko” and “socialist” just as he has been lionized as a hero by those of the newly invigorated Left. 

When the German reporter asked if he would advocate withholding taxes as did Henry David Thoreau, the great popularizer of the term “civil disobedience,” Akerlof demurred. 

“No. I think the one thing we should do is pay our taxes. Otherwise it’ll only make matters worse.” 

Akerlof hailed the President’s father for committing “a great act of courage by actually raising taxes,” which he described as George H.W. Bush’s “best public service.” 

The Nobel laureate is no stranger to politics, being married to his frequent collaborator, fellow UC Berkeley economist Janet Yellin, who served as chair of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors. Yellin too is a major critic of the current administration’s economics policies, most recently in a July 22 New York Times op-ed piece attacking what she called the White House’s “binge mentality.” 

On July 23, my son, who is assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, was told along with the rest of his company at morning formation, to get his affairs in order. They are going to replace the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq. 

Jessie spent his first thirteen years around the military, from which I retired just seven years ago right there in Ft. Bragg. It's no surprise, then, that in the face of all my protests he joined the army anyway. The military is ‘normal’ to him. 

His mother and I have been scrupulously ‘normal’ for the last few days, self-consciously so. We show great attention to detail in our day-to-day activities. We stay busy. 

I reassure her and myself that he is a light wheeled vehicle mechanic, that he won’t be participating in convoys when his unit goes to Iraq in September, that Baghdad airport, where the motor pool probably is, has by now been turned into an impregnable fortress, that perhaps there wasn’t as much depleted uranium fired there as in some Baghdad neighborhoods, that he won’t be obliged to take lives and lose that little piece of his soul, that he won't fall into the habit of calling Iraqis ragheads or hajjis, that he can just save some money, do his job, and stay busy and out of harm’s way. 

This is what people say to each other who are in our position, because there is no alternative way to think and still go to work, still attend to the needs of other children, still manage relationships, and still maintain some modicum of self-control. 

On July 3, I wrote a piece for Counterpunch expressing my reaction to George W. Bush’s remark about “bring ‘em on.” I went after this remark for its counterfeit courage, for its puerility, for its utter hypocrisy and insensitivity. But now I am reminded, now that my son is going to go there (at his age I was already in Vietnam), that George W. Bush and his coterie are more than offensive. They are obscenities with a lot of blood on their hands, and their wretchedness is something far more terrifying and unspeakable—viewed as a parent—than this bit of schoolyard mouth. 

The Counterpunch column about this Texas preppy’s remark elicited a stunning reaction. My email was hit by a tidal wave, hundreds of responses an hour at first, reactions of empathy and outrage that told me there is a vast reservoir of doubt, fear, and rage filling up beyond the ken of the cringing institution that calls itself the press. Around 40 percent of those responses came from troops, military families, and veterans. There is a great well of sullen anger smoldering out there against these pop-opera generalissimos.  

Now, as parents facing our son’s first combat tour, we are even more part of that burning. 

The recent news stories about the Bush adminstration’s mountain of lies was not news to those of us who learned long ago to seek sources outside offcialdom. 

Millions of us said they were lying over a year ago. And we parents—many of us—know that our enemies are not in Iraq. Our enemies are in office, and they have the blood of children—some of them ours—on their hands. Everyone is someone’s child, even when they are grown. Even when they take paths we don’t approve of. 

Even when they become soldiers, and are sent to pay for lies with their bodies and hearts and the blood of others. 

I replied to every email, most perfunctorily, some at length. I skimmed at first, until I realized I had overlooked a letter from a woman whose son struggled for four years with post traumatic stress disorder before he took his own life. Not long after, his young wife did the same. This bereaved mother wrote to say thanks for giving her a voice. But it was she and others like her who are giving us a voice. 

I made calls, and the people I called made calls, and within four days a small group of activist veterans and military families had formed a coordinating committee to figure out how we might find those other voices and amplify them. We bought a web domain, made more calls, wrote statements of purpose, developed outreach literature, conferred for two hours at a time on the phone from the west coast to the east. We did more 

organizing in two weeks than I have seen with most initiatives in six months. As the word has leaked out, we are getting phone calls and email. What is this thing you are doing? Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Citizen Soldier, and others—these dissident military communities have networks! 

So we are going to give troops, their families, and critical veterans a voice. That’s the reason-for-being of “Bring Them Home Now!” We are using our web site www.bringthemhomenow.org as a communications clearinghouse to publish the voices of military communities and to link them to the networks and resources they will need to organize themselves. When military families rebelled recently at Ft. Stewart, the brass didn't hesitate to issue veiled threats that criticizing the war might impact on their loved ones’ careers. The brass will have no control over us, however, and those same people (mostly courageous women) will be able to say what they want, when they want, and we'll protect their identities if that’s what they need. Through them, we will communicate with the troops in combat zones, whose recent public dissent brought a swift and clear injunction from the CENTCOM commander threatening retaliate with the full force of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. 

We are going directly to those upon whom our would-be emperors depend to carry out their grandiose and deadly vision—the military. A friend of mine who passed away this year once said, “Soldiers [and their families] are political scientists. No-one cares as much as they do about what it is they are asked to die for.” For these political scientists, ‘Bring Them Home Now!’ will be a conference room, a classroom, and a loudspeaker. 

We will turn up the volume and the political pressure to bring our loved ones home, NOT ‘replace’ them with more of our children and spouses, and to leave the people of Central and Southwestern Asia to determine their own futures without Bush’s bombs and bullets. 

Stan Goff is the author of “Hideous Dream: A Soldier’s Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti.” He is a member of the BRING THEM HOME NOW! coordinating committee, a retired Special Forces master sergeant, and the father of an active duty soldier.

On July 23, my son, who is assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, was told along with the rest of his company at morning formation, to get his affairs in order. They are going to replace the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq. 

Jessie spent his first thirteen years around the military, from which I retired just seven years ago right there in Ft. Bragg. It's no surprise, then, that in the face of all my protests he joined the army anyway. The military is ‘normal’ to him. 

His mother and I have been scrupulously ‘normal’ for the last few days, self-consciously so. We show great attention to detail in our day-to-day activities. We stay busy. 

I reassure her and myself that he is a light wheeled vehicle mechanic, that he won’t be participating in convoys when his unit goes to Iraq in September, that Baghdad airport, where the motor pool probably is, has by now been turned into an impregnable fortress, that perhaps there wasn’t as much depleted uranium fired there as in some Baghdad neighborhoods, that he won’t be obliged to take lives and lose that little piece of his soul, that he won't fall into the habit of calling Iraqis ragheads or hajjis, that he can just save some money, do his job, and stay busy and out of harm’s way. 

This is what people say to each other who are in our position, because there is no alternative way to think and still go to work, still attend to the needs of other children, still manage relationships, and still maintain some modicum of self-control. 

On July 3, I wrote a piece for Counterpunch expressing my reaction to George W. Bush’s remark about “bring ‘em on.” I went after this remark for its counterfeit courage, for its puerility, for its utter hypocrisy and insensitivity. But now I am reminded, now that my son is going to go there (at his age I was already in Vietnam), that George W. Bush and his coterie are more than offensive. They are obscenities with a lot of blood on their hands, and their wretchedness is something far more terrifying and unspeakable—viewed as a parent—than this bit of schoolyard mouth. 

The Counterpunch column about this Texas preppy’s remark elicited a stunning reaction. My email was hit by a tidal wave, hundreds of responses an hour at first, reactions of empathy and outrage that told me there is a vast reservoir of doubt, fear, and rage filling up beyond the ken of the cringing institution that calls itself the press. Around 40 percent of those responses came from troops, military families, and veterans. There is a great well of sullen anger smoldering out there against these pop-opera generalissimos.  

Now, as parents facing our son’s first combat tour, we are even more part of that burning. 

The recent news stories about the Bush adminstration’s mountain of lies was not news to those of us who learned long ago to seek sources outside offcialdom. 

Millions of us said they were lying over a year ago. And we parents—many of us—know that our enemies are not in Iraq. Our enemies are in office, and they have the blood of children—some of them ours—on their hands. Everyone is someone’s child, even when they are grown. Even when they take paths we don’t approve of. 

Even when they become soldiers, and are sent to pay for lies with their bodies and hearts and the blood of others. 

I replied to every email, most perfunctorily, some at length. I skimmed at first, until I realized I had overlooked a letter from a woman whose son struggled for four years with post traumatic stress disorder before he took his own life. Not long after, his young wife did the same. This bereaved mother wrote to say thanks for giving her a voice. But it was she and others like her who are giving us a voice. 

I made calls, and the people I called made calls, and within four days a small group of activist veterans and military families had formed a coordinating committee to figure out how we might find those other voices and amplify them. We bought a web domain, made more calls, wrote statements of purpose, developed outreach literature, conferred for two hours at a time on the phone from the west coast to the east. We did more 

organizing in two weeks than I have seen with most initiatives in six months. As the word has leaked out, we are getting phone calls and email. What is this thing you are doing? Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Citizen Soldier, and others—these dissident military communities have networks! 

So we are going to give troops, their families, and critical veterans a voice. That’s the reason-for-being of “Bring Them Home Now!” We are using our web site www.bringthemhomenow.org as a communications clearinghouse to publish the voices of military communities and to link them to the networks and resources they will need to organize themselves. When military families rebelled recently at Ft. Stewart, the brass didn't hesitate to issue veiled threats that criticizing the war might impact on their loved ones’ careers. The brass will have no control over us, however, and those same people (mostly courageous women) will be able to say what they want, when they want, and we'll protect their identities if that’s what they need. Through them, we will communicate with the troops in combat zones, whose recent public dissent brought a swift and clear injunction from the CENTCOM commander threatening retaliate with the full force of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. 

We are going directly to those upon whom our would-be emperors depend to carry out their grandiose and deadly vision—the military. A friend of mine who passed away this year once said, “Soldiers [and their families] are political scientists. No-one cares as much as they do about what it is they are asked to die for.” For these political scientists, ‘Bring Them Home Now!’ will be a conference room, a classroom, and a loudspeaker. 

We will turn up the volume and the political pressure to bring our loved ones home, NOT ‘replace’ them with more of our children and spouses, and to leave the people of Central and Southwestern Asia to determine their own futures without Bush’s bombs and bullets. 

Stan Goff is the author of “Hideous Dream: A Soldier’s Memoir of the US Invasion of Haiti.” He is a member of the BRING THEM HOME NOW! coordinating committee, a retired Special Forces master sergeant, and the father of an active duty soldier.

As Berkeley artists and their patrons gathered for a Saturday night fundraiser, Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates bestowed official city recognition on the newly created Ashby Arts District. 

Formed to unify area arts organizations and raise awareness about arts activities, the district will “encourage cooperation, communication, and respect within this culturally rich district,” Bates said, and “provide recognition and support for the creative work and opportunities that exist.”  

Benefit performances on Saturday and Sunday featuring musical theater group Rosin Coven and the duet of Alexander Tsygankov and Inna 

Shevchencko on domra and piano served as the district’s inaugural event. 

Joint sponsoring the district are the Epic Arts Studio and several area arts organizations. Epic, a non-profit organization that works to promote community development through arts programs, initiated formal partnerships with existing area arts venues to better publicize neighborhood arts events. 

“[The venues] are all here already,” said Epic community organizer Tanya Hurd. “The problem is that most people don’t know about them. Since people do not know they are here, they go downtown to find art and entertainment.” 

Downtown Berkeley’s popularity as an entertainment hub had created problems for South Berkeley artists and residents, Hurd said, because as the downtown facilities were renovated, smaller arts organizations, unable to pay rising rents, were driven out. 

The recently established Downtown Arts District features several venues—including The Jazz School, the Berkeley Repertory Theater, and the 

Downtown restaurant—which frequently host musical performances. 

“Many local talented artists were ‘priced out’ of the mainstream and thus relegated to a lesser status,” Epic Arts staff wrote in a press release explaining the new Ashby Arts District. “We are convinced that art is ‘priceless.’” 

With that ideal in mind, Epic Arts set out to give the new district an identity as “Berkeley’s own ‘Off-Broadway’”—away from the town center but hosting a vibrant art scene. 

Representatives of Epic and the other organizations that created the new district say they hope to make art a more important part of the South Berkeley community by bringing local groups together to share resources to emphasize the project’s neighborhood focus. 

“Some of the plans we have for the future are collaborations so that our spaces are not all competing for audiences, but rather sharing them,” Hurd said. “The [benefits] were a wonderful example. Epic Arts and Transparent Theater worked together rather than hosting events at the same time.” 

Bates’ official proclamation, presented to Epic Arts Saturday night by a member of the mayor’s staff, recognized the effort to unite neighborhood groups as a key aspect of the official designation. 

“We saw a need for artists and arts organizations in this area to come together to create a stronger base,” Hurd said. “It’s one of the easiest, 

most direct ways of bringing community together.” 

Funds raised through the weekend’s benefit concerts and other activities will fund a community arts calendar for distribution to South Berkeley residents. Epic Arts is now looking for neighborhood sponsors to design, print, and distribute the calendar both to minimize costs and to make the calendar a true community creation. 

Citing five years of neighborhood opposition and bigger fish to fry, leading Berkeley developer Panoramic Interests has pulled the plug on a proposed San Pablo Avenue housing and commercial project in southwest Berkeley. 

The demise of the project, set to replace an old gas station, has revived concerns about a permitting and development process that routinely yields endless, litigious battles between developers and neighborhood activists. 

“I don’t consider this a victory,” said Douglas Press, a Mathews Street resident and attorney who unsuccessfully sued to block the project last year. “I think the problem here is that, as a community, Berkeley needs a better way to grow and develop.”  

Panoramic and its nonprofit partner, Berkeley-based Jubilee Restoration, have placed the 2700 San Pablo Ave. property on the market in the last two weeks and are asking for $1.44 million, according to their real estate broker, Don Yost of Berkeley-based Norheim & Yost. 

Panoramic project manager Chris Hudson said his company, headed by controversial developer Patrick Kennedy, is selling the property because neighborhood opposition has led to years of delays and Panoramic now wants to focus on larger projects. He said the company has no specific plans for the proceeds of any sale.  

Hudson said the designs and permits for the San Pablo Avenue project—a four-story development with commercial space on the ground floor and 35 housing units above—are included in the asking price. He said he hopes someone else will build it. 

“We think it’s a good project,” Hudson said. “The plans are good. The design is good.” 

As required by law, the project sets aside 20 percent of the housing units—or seven total—for low-income tenants. 

Yost, the real estate broker, said several large developers have passed on the project in the last two weeks because it is too small. He said most large builders say they won’t look at any proposal with less than 75 units. 

“It’s probably going to require more of a local buyer who understands the ropes of Berkeley,” he said. 

Yost added that several people interested in opening an automobile service business at the old gas station have called, but Panoramic and Jubilee have declined to sell it to those parties.  

Hudson said Jubilee Restoration is interested in buying out Panoramic, the majority partner, but has been unable to come up with the money. Jubilee did not return several calls seeking comment. 

The proposal has gone through a number of changes in the last five years, bouncing around from the Zoning Adjustments Board to City Council to the Alameda County Superior Court as neighbors have raised concerns about everything from parking to building size to the project’s potential impact on the city’s sewer system. 

City Council approved the final 35-unit project, scaled down from a one-time high of 60 units, in July 2002. This spring, the project survived a legal challenge from several of the neighbors and was ready to proceed. 

But Hudson said Panoramic, which has constructed seven buildings in Berkeley and has five more in various stages of planning and construction, has grown significantly since it first acquired the San Pablo Avenue property in 1998, and no longer wants to pursue smaller projects. 

If the neighbors had not put up such a fight, Hudson said, Panoramic would have built the project years ago. He said the demise of the plan shows that, in Berkeley, a “self-appointed” group of neighborhood activists can derail a project that would ultimately benefit their neighborhood. 

“Did they get what they wanted?,” he asked. “Did they want a gas station, or a vacant lot?” 

But neighborhood activist Julie Dickinson blamed Panoramic Interests, saying residents were always willing to accommodate a three-story project that was more in scale with the neighborhood, but Kennedy, Panoramic’s chief, refused to budge. 

“It was way too out of scale for the neighborhood—and that’s his M.O. all over Berkeley,” Dickinson said. 

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates has formed a task force on permitting and development that is scheduled to make recommendations in September for streamlining and improving the city’s often-contentious process for approving new development projects. 

Critics have charged that the task force is stacked with development interests, but Bates says it is well-balanced.

Drive-by may be linked to border feud 

A drive-by shooting that left no one wounded Thursday night may be linked to an apparent border feud between rival groups in South Berkeley and North Oakland, police said. 

Four to five men in a late model gray sedan fired several shots at the corner of Sacramento and Fairview streets at 7:21 p.m., police said, one of them piercing the window of the non-profit Western Institute for Social Research at 3220 Sacramento St. 

Institute President John Bilorusky said a bookkeeper was in the office during the shooting but was unharmed. He said staff are “not particularly happy” about the incident, but are not changing their habits  

“Unfortunately, a lot of us know that there are too many shootings affecting innocent people,” he said. 

Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Kevin Schofield said police do not know who the intended victim or victims of the shooting were, but have ruled out the Institute as the target. 

He said investigators are looking into any possible link to an apparent border feud that has been raging since June, but could not yet make a determination. 

“They’re looking into that—we’re not saying yea or nay at this point,” Schofield said. 

Stabbing at party 

After brandishing a gun, an uninvited guest at a West Berkeley Party was stabbed Saturday night, according to police. 

Police got a call at 11:21 p.m. reporting a fight between 20 to 30 partygoers on the 1800 block of Seventh Street. Officers arrived to find about 100 young people loitering outside the party, at the corner of Hearst Avenue. 

Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Kevin Schofield said police received a call from Alta Bates Medical Center later in the evening reporting that a stabbing victim had arrived in the emergency room. 

Police determined that the victim had wielded a gun at the party and had been stabbed. The department arrested the victim for brandishing a firearm and released him on the spot, pending an upcoming court date. 

Police have no one in custody for the stabbing. 

Schofield said the gun-wielder was one of a large group of people who crashed the Seventh Street party, sparking the fight. He said there is no reason, at present, to suspect gang activity. 

Burglar arrested in park 

Police arrested a suspected burglar in Ohlone Park early Monday morning shortly after a resident chased the alleged thief from a Francisco Street front porch. 

Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Kevin Schofield said a resident of a home on the 1500 block of Francisco heard the alleged burglar leaving through the front door and confronted him on the porch. 

The suspect, 42 year-old Richmond native Michael Vance, then fled to Ohlone Park where police, responding to a 3:16 a.m. call, found him hiding in a bush. Police arrested Vance for burglary and being in the park after hours. 

Pizza delivery man mugged 

Five juveniles robbed a pizza deliveryman in South Berkeley early Sunday morning, according to police. 

The robbers, who appeared to be 14 to 17 years old, forced a Mr. Pizza Man employee to the ground at the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Way and 63rd Street at 1:20 a.m. and stole a wallet, keys, cell phone and $300 before running away, according to Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Kevin Schofield. 

National Night Out 

At least fifty neighborhood watch groups will take to the streets Tuesday night as part of a National Night Out to combat crime, according to police. 

Marches, barbeques, musical performances and ice cream socials will be part of the festivities. The event, happening for 20 years in Berkeley, will allow neighbors, police and city officials to intermingle. 

“This is a great opportunity for Berkeley residents to meet the police officers and city staff who protect and serve the community,” said City Manager Weldon Rucker, in a statement. 

This year’s event comes amid an apparent border feud pitting rival groups in South Berkeley and North Oakland. 

“This is the worst year for the kids yet,” said South Berkeley resident Laura Menard. 

“Especially with all the recent violence, this is an opportune time for the neighbors to get to know each other” and for the police to ramp up community policing efforts, said Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Kevin Schofield. 

Festivities will generally take place between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. National Night Out, which takes place across the country, traditionally includes a display of outdoor lights and front porch vigils in a symbolic move to reclaim the night from crime.

“The Changing Garden: Four Centuries of European and American Art,” currently on exhibit at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University provides ample incentive for Berkeleyans to travel south for a day visit to our intellectual sister community on the Peninsula.  

The title of the exhibit is somewhat misleading. Although there are a scattering of home garden images and references, including an idyllic “small suburban garden” plan by Beatrix Ferrand (on loan from UC Berkeley’s Environmental Design Archives), you’re not likely to personally identify with the household “gardens” displayed here unless your family heritage happens to contain a palace, hunting lodge, French vicomte, English baron, or Italian cardinal.  

Nomenclature aside, the exhibit contains a clever and coherently arranged selection of works—plans, maps, photographs, etchings, paintings--that educate, illuminate, and entertain. It is topically organized around notable landscapes from Europe and North America—Central Park, the Villa d’Este, Versailles, Windsor, Stowe, and so forth—as well as topical sections such as “Water Displays,” “Gardeners at Work,” “Parterres, Mazes and Hedges.”  

The exhibit organizers had some fun with the theme. For example, a print of a 1746 costume reception in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles seems at first glance to bear no relation to the exhibit until you read that Louis XV and six members of his retinue “inspired by Versailles’s formal gardens, came disguised as pruned yew trees.”  

And there they are, looking like aliens at a Halloween gala. We know what to do when the “emperor has no clothes,” but how to behave when your head of state is, figuratively, a shrub? 

Elsewhere is a 1846 cartoon by Paul-Guillaume-Sulpice Clevalier, showing a smug burgher holding a pot containing a six inch twig; “My Cedar of Lebanon” the caption proclaims. Every confirmed home gardener will identify with both the hope and humor contained in that scene. 

Even if you are uninterested in the evolution of designed landscapes, go for the art. There are intriguing oils and watercolors, including three by John Singer Sargent, one of them a literally luminous scene from 1879, “The Luxemborg Gardens At Twilight.”  

Turn 180 degrees from that painting and you’re facing “Promenade in the Luxemborg Gardens,” circa 1907, by Maurice Pendergast. Close up, it appears an utterly abstract composition of large daubs of paint with much of the underlying wood panel still visible; stand back several feet and it resolves into a wonderful impressionistic landscape. 

Turn again and there’s a Whistler lithograph, “Conversation in the Luxemborg Gardens,” 1893. So the exhibit proceeds, showing several interpretations and impressions of each setting. 

Most of the exhibit—which contains some 200 items, but is quicker and easier to view than that number would suggest--examines landscapes designed and built prior to the 20th century. There are a few images of Central Park in later years, and a few token pieces—including plans for the grounds of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and San Francisco’s Crissy Field renovation—which sketch in a modern context.  

The exhibit venue, Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center, is a fine small museum (“one of the last, best, free museums” a friend calls it) refurbished and expanded from the Stanford Art Museum that was seriously damaged and temporarily closed by both the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes.  

The visible permanent collection provides a digestible and respectable survey of art and design across ages and cultures, from ancient Greek ceramics to Chinese jade, Western landscape paintings, and numerous Rodin bronzes.  

I was happy to see large landscapes by William Keith, and entertained to note that he was described here in Stanford territory as a “favorite of the Stanford family…”, “a California resident of Scottish descent,” and an artist who originally “settled in San Francisco.” All true, but no mention of the fact that he made his home in Berkeley for many years, a stone’s throw from the UC campus. 

It is all well worth an afternoon, including a look at the building’s architecture, which (for the most part) harmoniously merges old and new. 

The collection on display is manageable, not exhausting; it seems scaled for a half-day’s visit. There are two floors of permanent galleries in the old building, grouped around an impressive marble entrance foyer, newer galleries to the rear, and a number of small outdoor sculpture courts and plazas.  

The museum contains those ubiquitous commercial twins, gift shop and café, the latter offering the tasteful but slightly overpriced fare--salads, sandwiches, and soups--obligatory in such venues. Both spaces are pleasant, small-scaled, and serviceable, and the café has an outdoor dining terrace that overlooks lawns and a Rodin sculpture garden.

Reprinted from Newsday, July 29 

There was no ceremonial viewing of the body of Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter on July 28. His remains have not arrived here from Iraq. He was a spectacular 21-year-old who was killed when a convoy in which he was riding was attacked early in the morning outside of Baghdad. 

His mother, Cathy Heighter, spent yesterday afternoon sitting with relatives in her mother's house on Long Island. She expects the body back next week. Then there will be a public viewing. 

“I want to let people know he died for this country,” the mother was saying. “He died an American hero.” 

“He was supposed to be home in June,” one of the women in the living room said. 

“Been there too long,” an aunt, Barbara Adams, said. 

“They wanted to come home,” one of the others said. 

“They’ve been there too long,” Cathy Heighter said. 

She is a pretty woman of 45. She wore a cream blouse and blue pants and sat on a living room couch underneath front windows. She has a respiratory ailment that causes her to cough persistently. 

“The field commander called me,” she was saying. “He talked so very highly of Raheen. He said the troops looked up to him. He fought to the end. He emptied his gun. 

“I loved him,” she said. 

“He loved you,” one of the women said. 

Already her son has written the moving, memorable lines of the war. They were in a letter sent on June 20 and arriving at his mother’s house on July 2: “Today is a blissful day ... today is the first time I realized you have tried your hardest to bring the bestowed, hidden, optimistic and spontaneous qualities out of me ... as I sit here in tears, I thank you.” 

The mother never liked the idea of the Army from the start. He was 17, and she was in her beauty shop, “Beyond Images of Beauty” on Main Street in Bay Shore, when an Army recruiting officer came in. He said that he had seen Raheen in high school and the young man told him that he wanted to join. 

“The recruiter said he just needed my signature,” she said. “I told him, ‘Don’t even ask. Get out of here.’” 

Her son, however, saw his life ahead as something that he had to run right up to like a train on the tracks outside. 

Let me tell you what this country lost in Iraq the other day when Rasheen Heighter was shot dead because he was there. 

At 14, he came home from school and took a number two pencil and drew a father holding his son. Holding the child to his chest with a powerful left arm protecting the child from a world that the father, his face strong and simultaneously haunted by pain, could see ahead for the son. 

It is a wonderful drawing. 

He and his mother, who sells art out of her bright beauty shop, made prints of the drawing and sold them. He thought that was a good enough start, but he was going to go so much higher. He was going to pierce the sky.  

When he graduated from high school, he worked in a brokerage, and he studied for a license exam, but he saw so much more dancing on horizons that only he could discern. He wanted to go to college outside of New York. He had to. Sure, he would use such a place, with its walks through trees, with its professors, as an exciting studio for his art. But there were so many other things on his mind. He found the romance of thought overwhelming. 

The combined income of his mother and father, who was in construction, wasn’t spectacular but it was over the limit for scholarships and loans. 

There was one way. Out there in the high school halls and the gym and the football field were the military recruiters with their dark bargains. You put your body up and if nothing happens you get college paid for. Raheen took the Army. That is the contract signed by so many in the country. The Army buys them for a college degree. It works unless you wind up in Iraq and come home in a box. 

On Aug. 7, 2001, he walked into his mother’s shop and said he was leaving for the Army the next day. He had sold himself. He was now old enough to enlist without her written permission. “He put me in shock,” she said yesterday. “We got up at 5:30 the next morning. He had three big duffel bags packed. They told him to bring only one. I hugged him. I told him I loved him. I told him be a man.” Which was redundant. 

The other day at 10 a.m., she was on the phone in her beauty shop with a customer who was late and wanted to change times. Her oldest son, Glynn, and two Army officers walked in and stood nervously. “You think you’re seeing ghosts,” she was saying yesterday. “I’m standing there on the phone and I know they are there to tell me that my son is dead. How can this be happening? They are ghosts. I told the woman on the phone, ‘You can come anytime.’ I hung up. And then they told me.” 

“Why do we stay there?” an aunt said. “They don’t want us there.” 

“Shooting at us. They don’t want us there.” 

“They don’t want us there.” 

“Do they know why they’re there?” they were asked. 

“No. They don’t know. They’re there for their country. That’s what they know,” the soldier’s mother said. 

“Do you know?” one aunt was asked. 

“Oil.” 

“Oil,” Cathy Heighter said, softly and so sadly. 

Resolution of the San Francisco Labor Council 

Bring the troops home now—End the occupation of Iraq—Money for human needs, not war—Repeal the Patriot Act. 

Whereas, the people in Iraq want the US occupation to end, and the US soldiers in Iraq want to come home. We ask: Who is benefiting from this war, and who is paying the price?; and  

Whereas, every day, people are dying as a consequence of this illegal occupation—Every day human misery expands in the drive for world Empire and corporate globalization—Every day, jobs are lost and vital social programs that serve and protect working people are being looted and destroyed, as the Bush administration cynically manipulates the so-called “war on terrorism” to carry out the social transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top; and 

Whereas, the Bush administration lied to the people, to the Congress, and to the United Nations as it raced to wage war against Iraq. Now tens of thousands of Iraqis and many hundreds of GIs have been killed or maimed—by Rumsfeld’s count over 1,000 attacks on US forces since May 1. As the anger of the Iraqi people inevitably grows, the body count on both sides will sharply increase; and 

Whereas, as the anti-war movement predicted, the Iraqi people view US forces as colonial occupiers, not liberators. American soldiers are killing and being killed in a war that serves only the interests of U.S. oil monopolies and corporate elites—George W. Bush’s real constituents. Soldiers and their families are realizing that high government officials, mostly millionaires who shuttle between corporate boardrooms and government posts, are using U.S. troops as a private security detachment for the multinational corporations’ plunder of Iraq's oil riches; and 

Whereas, the Pentagon now admits they will have 150,000 troops in Iraq for the “foreseeable future,” at a cost of nearly $4 Billion a month—on top of the cost of maintaining US troops and bases in 130 other countries—and this rapid rise in the power and reach of the military is closely linked to the unprecedented assault on the civil rights, union rights, benefits (including veterans’ benefits), and living standards of working people going on right now in the United States; and 

Whereas, the Bush administration—which only came to power due to massive racist disenfranchisement and voting fraud—has used the excuse of their “endless war” to sponsor a wholesale assault on the Bill of Rights, institutionalize racial profiling, assume extraordinary powers for the Executive branch, and adopt new repressive laws like the Patriot Act; and 

Whereas, on October 25, 2003 the anti-war, civil rights, social justice and labor movements—joined in ever increasing numbers by family members of military personnel and veterans and international delegations—will march on Washington, D.C. to demand an immediate end to the US war and occupation in Iraq, repeal of the Patriot Act, and money for human needs, not for war; therefore be it 

RESOLVED, that the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO, demands: 1) an immediate end to the US/British war and occupation in Iraq—Bring the Troops Home Now; 2) repeal of the Patriot Act and other repressive laws; 3) reordering of national priorities toward the human needs of our people. We need jobs and real security, not militarism and empire-building; and be it further 

RESOLVED: that the council endorse the October 25, 2003 International March on Washington, D.C. behind the banner: Bring the Troops Home Now-End the Occupation of Iraq-Repeal the Patriot Act-Money for Human Needs, not for War and Empire—and will urge affiliated unions, other labor councils, state federation and AFL-CIO to do the same. 

Adopted unanimously, July 28, 2003. 

There is no more “Berkeley” topic of conversation than what, where and how we eat. Sure, the discussion may begin as a consideration of presidential candidate options or your feelings about Patrick Kennedy’s new building on University Avenue. But before long you’ll be discussing which Indian restaurant you like best, or Berkeley Bowl vs. Monterey Market, or gelato downtown. 

No wonder, then, that we love our farmers’ markets—perhaps a bit too much. We now have three, not counting the offerings in neighboring El Cerrito and Oakland, and now, I’m told, even Emeryville (real fruit on a fake Main Street!). Even the North Berkeley mini-market, which happens in too small a space on one of the Elephant Pharmacy parking lots for a scant four hours on Thursday afternoons, draws nearby residents and passers-by. (Why not four?—a Sunday market in West Berkeley, perhaps, on Spenger’s parking lot or near the waterfront.) 

The Tuesday afternoon market on Derby near MLK is as much a scene as a place to stock up on organically grown fruit—the local cherries are gone, but peaches and nectarines are everywhere, and the tomatoes and melons have finally come in. 

Topping the social as well as comestibles hierarchy, though, is the downtown Saturday market. At this time of year, it fills the Center Street block between Milvia and MLK, and you’re as likely to come across an old friend as you are to find some tasty snap peas. Families shop together, dogs and bicycles are everywhere (though officially dogs aren’t allowed in the market itself), and the offerings are far broader than at most outdoor markets.  

Walking eastward, you’ll wander past pretty good kettle popcorn and locally prepared ethnic foods, breads and pastries that rival any you’ll find offered in upscale food stores, artisan-roasted coffees, organic produce trucked in from Watsonville or the Foothills or exotic Bolinas, California oils and vinegars, seedlings and plants for your garden, and fish freshly caught off the North Coast. There’s also music, with buskers scattered about.  

Want to people-watch? This is the place to do it. Alice Waters has been spotted here, as have the mayor and his wife, the assemblywoman. Students shop alongside octogenarians, the strait-laced and the funky.  

Want to learn about the food you eat? Far more easily than can be done at most local stores, you can ask a question of someone who may actually have grown the unfamiliar leaf vegetable you’re curious about, or strike up a conversation about varieties of nectarines with someone who truly cares about that topic.  

There’s much to be said for allowing those of us who are city-bound to feel more fully the rhythms of nature. Shopping for produce in stores masks the local patterns of growing seasons—did that apple grow in Sebastopol, Boise, on Long Island or in New Zealand? It’s one the many subtle ways that helps us to live more sensibly in this part of the world. 

But oughtn’t it also to be the case that shopping at farmers markets would also allow us to live more economically? Anyone who’s shopped at a big Bay Area farmers market knows that’s not the place to find bargains.  

True, the produce is more likely to be organically grown, and that’s still a comparatively expensive way to grow things. Nonetheless, prices at the Berkeley farmers markets are likely to be comparable to the prices being charged for similar, if not the same, produce at high-margin local stores like Andronico’s and Whole Foods, and they’re often higher than at Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market. I can recall buying strawberries from one of the Saturday regulars, an organic, union-supporting grower down around Monterey Bay, only to find those same strawberries from that same grower in Monterey Market later that day for 75 cents less a basket.  

Some farmer-vendors say they set prices on a cost-plus basis, but that’s hardly universal. For a demonstration of how extreme pricing can be based on what the traffic will bear, check out the weekend market at the redone San Francisco Ferry Building—stone fruit for $6 a pound, for heaven’s sake! 

Many vendors decide what they’ll charge at the start of the season, then stick to it. That means prices become competitive for a given crop only at the season’s height, when additional vendors show up. Overall, though, pricing seems not to matter that much as a factor in shopping volume. People come and buy because the food is fresh, it’s healthily produced, its being sold by the people who grow it, and because the market is an event, a scene. They don’t come to buy food inexpensively. Which is a good thing, because often it isn’t.

The Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) presents Summer Noon Concerts 2003, a unique series of nine free concerts, Thursdays at noon in June & July, beginning June 5th. From Rhythm & Blues to Brazilian capoeira, these concerts at the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza (Shattuck Ave. at Center St.) are a showcase of the culturally rich performing arts in Berkeley. This outdoor summer celebration of Berkeley-based musicians & dancers is just a small sampling of the performing arts happening nightly in clubs, cafes, schools, theaters and concert halls in Downtown Berkeley. 

On Thursday, June 5th, our concert series opens with Rhonda Benin and Soulful Strut performing some of the best in R & B, with a splash of jazz and a solid helping of the blues. Soulful Strut appears regularly at many Bay Area nightspots such Enricos Sidewalk Café and Restaurant. 

On Thursday, July 31st, our concert series closes with SoVoSó, a highly visual and imaginative a capella ensemble that sings a compelling mix of jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, world, pop, and improvisational music. The ensemble is made up of former members of Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, and McFerrin says, “SoVoSó is tight, soulful, and a whole lotta fun.” 

This event is easily accessible by transit and there is one hour free parking daily from 9 am to 5 pm in Center Street Garage. Seating will be available. 

For a complete schedule of entertainers for the Downtown Berkeley Summer Noon Concerts 2003 visit the Downtown Berkeley Association website at www.downtownberkeley.org

UC Berkeley students will pay 30 percent more in fees, but local schools and government will escape relatively unscathed under a final budget approved by the State Assembly Tuesday, officials said.  

The Assembly passed the nearly $100 billion spending package on a 56-22 vote just two days after the State Senate approved a similar document. Gov. Gray Davis is expected to sign the budget, a month overdue, Saturday afternoon. 

But California still faces a $7.9 billion shortfall next year, leaving municipal and university officials concerned about the possibility of heavy cuts in 2004-2005 and beyond. 

Biggest loser among agencies with local ties this year is the nine-campus University of California, taking a $410 million cut—$111 million more than Gov. Davis had recommended in his May budget proposal.  

The additional cut, anticipated by UC number crunchers for weeks, triggered a 5 percent fee hike for students at all nine of the university’s campuses. The jump comes on top of a 25 percent increase approved by the UC Board of Regents last month. 

UC Berkeley undergraduates who are residents of California will now pay $5,858 per year in fees, while resident graduate students will fork over $6,169. 

“This fee increase is deeply regrettable but given the magnitude of cuts we are taking, it is unavoidable if we are to protect the quality of the student instructional program,” said University of California President Richard Atkinson in a statement announcing the jump. 

In general, financial aid will cover the fee hikes for students from families with an annual incomes of $60,000 or less. But students said the increase will hit middle class pupils hardest.  

“The fees are going to have the strongest effect on students who are, for one reason or another, not eligible for financial aid,” said Gustavo Mata, a fourth-year undergraduate at UC Berkeley who serves in the student government. “It’s really detrimental.”  

The university—which has seen state funding dip 13.6 percent since 2001-2002—also took heavy cuts in administration, libraries, research and outreach to traditionally low-performing high schools. The budget also delays the opening of the 10th campus in Merced a year to the 2005-2006 school year. 

City budget manager Paul Navazio said the legislature hit Berkeley with a $2.1 million cut from its projected $280 million budget. The city had already budgeted for about $400,000 of the cuts, he said, leaving Berkeley with a $1.7 million shortfall. 

Cuts include small reductions in law enforcement grants, transportation projects and health programs, but most of the $1.7 million comes from a one-time, $1.2 million cut in vehicle license fee revenues that the state has pledged to repay in 2006. 

Navazio worried aloud about the state fulfilling its promise to pay back the $1.2 million. But assuming that the cut is truly temporary, he said the city should be able to avoid any significant new pain this year by dipping into a $6 million reserve, continuing its hiring freeze or putting off street and sidewalk repairs for a year. 

Still, with state legislators facing a shortfall of at least $7.9 billion next year, Navazio said Berkeley may fare worse in 2004-2005. 

“The city, in one way, dodges the bullet—but only because [the Legislature is] reloading,” Navazio said. 

“The future is not bright for us,” said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. 

Berkeley already faces a 2004-2005 shortfall of about $10 million, regardless of what the state legislature does, and city officials are weighing a series of politically dicey options for closing the gap: chopping programs, cutting worker pay—which would require union approval—and asking the voters for millions in new taxes through a 2004 ballot measure. 

Navazio said the city will conduct a $25,000 public opinion poll this fall to see if the measure has “a snowball’s chance in hell” of passing in tough economic times. An 11-member mayoral task force on revenue—composed of local business leaders, members of a citizen budget commission and others—will also weigh in on the issue. 

If City Council decides to go forward with the measure, members will have to decide whether to place it the on the March or November 2004 ballots. A March vote would be advantageous because it would come before City Council takes up the 2004-2005 budget in June, Navazio said. But, under state law, a March ballot measure would require a two-thirds vote, while a November initiative would require only a simple majority. 

Eric Smith, associate superintendent of business and operations for the Berkeley Unified School District, said Wednesday that he had not yet had time for a detailed reading of the state budget, which slashed about $2 billion from K-12 education statewide. 

But Smith said an initial examination didn’t reveal anything particularly damaging to the local schools. 

“At first blush, I don’t think we’re going to be significantly penalized,” he said. 

Teri Burns, deputy superintendent for government affairs with the California Department of Education, said education “fared very well” statewide considering the overall magnitude of the shortfall. 

She said the heaviest cuts came in maintenance, instructional materials, summer school, reading programs and teacher training. 

State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) was one of 45 Democrats in the Assembly who joined with 11 Republicans to pass the budget Tuesday. 

She’s not pleased with the final product. 

“I feel that this was a dreadful budget that we passed,” she said, lamenting the UC fee hikes and cuts in family planning services. 

Hancock said she would have preferred a budget that raised taxes on the wealthy and preserved government programs. But she said a state requirement that two-thirds of the legislature approve the budget allowed the Republican minority to hold out against tax hikes. 

“Essentially it was a budget written by Republicans that we ended up agreeing to,” she said. 

Henry Brady, a professor of political science and public policy at UC Berkeley, said locals will not begrudge Hancock, a staunch liberal, for approving a budget that cut social services. 

“I don’t think in a place like Berkeley she’s hurt at all,” he said. “She has a very safe seat. People know her inclinations.”  

FRIDAY, AUGUST 1 

Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting at 8:30 a.m. on the 6th floor of City Hall, 2180  

Milvia St.  

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. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 496-6000, ext. 135. www.bpf.org 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2 

Free Emergency Preparedness Class on Light Search and Rescue, for anyone who lives or works in Berkeley, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 997 Cedar St., between 8th and 9th Sts. Register on-line at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes or by calling 981-5506. 

Native Plant Restoration sponsored by the Citizens for the Eastshore State Park and California Native Plant Society. Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the large bird sculpture at the west end of Buchanan St., Albany (west of I-580 and immediately north of Golden Gate Fields parking lot). Bring work clothes, boots, and gloves as well as sunblock and water. For more information, call Sarah Ginskey, 558-8139 or Tina Gerhardt, 848- 0800, ext. 313. 

Tomato Tasting at the Farmers’ Market, Center St. at MLK, Jr. Way, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free samples of a range of tomato varieties, cooking demonstrations begin at 11 a.m. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.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 

Summer Maintenance for Year-Round Garden Beauty  

A free lecture demonstration at 10 a.m. Discover how simple garden-maintenance techniques during the summer can help your garden to be healthy and beautiful all year long, including mulching, watering, fertilizing, and deadheading. At Magic Gardens 729 Heinz Ave.  

520-6927. 654-2484. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 

KPFA Free Speech Radio Benefit for KPFA's New World Center, and welcoming Gus Newport, our new General Man- 

ager, and former Mayor of the City of Berkeley. Film screening of “Straight Outta Hunter’s Point” and performances by Emmit Powell and the Gospel Elites, Gregory Joe Bledsoe and the Source of Light. From 7:30 to 10 p.m. at Roundtree’s, 2618 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $12 adults, $10 seniors and children. For tickets and information call 848-4300 or 848-6767, ext. 634. 

Tibetan Buddhism, Barr Rosen- 

berg on “Path of Heroes,” at 6 p.m. at Tibetan Nyingma Institu- 

te, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Eckhart Tolle Talks on Video Free gathering at 7:30 p.m. to hear the words of the author of “The Power of Now” at the Feldenkrais Ctr., 830 Bancroft Way. 547-2024.  

MONDAY, AUGUST 4 

Art is Peace presents “The Inkwell Communiques” Based on a true story of one artist taking on several agencies of the government over the course of three presidential reigns. August 4 and 5 at 7:30 p.m. on Berkeley Rep's Thrust Stage. A benefit for Amnesty International's peace action campaign. A $20 donation is suggested. Reservations required, visit www.Frantix.net or call 415-621-1216. www.upontheseboards.org/forthcoming/inkwell 

Berkeley Biodiesel Cooperative Orientation at 7:30 p.m. for those interested in making biodiesel welcome. Call for location. 594-4000 ext. 777. biobauerx@hotmail.com  

National Organization for Women, Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets at 6 p.m. in  

the Boardroom of the Oakland YWCA, 1515 Webster St. Assemblywoman Loni Hancock will speak on how the California GOP budget proposals affect women. 287-3948. 

Berkeley CopWatch meets at 6 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Volun- 

teers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5 

Tomato Tasting at the Farmers’ Market, Derby St. at MLK, Jr. Way, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Free samples of a range of tomato varieties, cooking demonstrations begin at 11 a.m. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org 

Berkeley Camera Club meets 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 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727  

College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6 

MeetUp for Howard Dean, at 7 p.m. at two Berkeley locations, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. and Au Coquelet, 2000 University Ave. at Milvia. 843-8724. 

Botanical Garden Twilight Tour: Seasonal Highlights at 5:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Admission is $5. Registration required. 643-2755. www.mip. 

berkeley.edu/garden 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/ vigil 

Berkeley Communicators Toastmasters meets every 1st and 3rd Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. at Hide-A-Way Café, 6430 Telegraph Ave. For information call Fred Garvey, 925-682-1111, ext. 164. 

Amnesty International Berkeley Community Group meets at 7 p.m. at the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1606 Bonita Ave., at Cedar St. 872-0768. 

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. Meet at 7 p.m. at Epic Arts Studios at 1923 Ashby Ave. For further information call 644-2204. 

Introduction to Reiki Energy Healing, a free lecture by Tarra Christoff, MA, Reiki Master/ 

Teacher, at 6:30 p.m. at Phar- 

maca Integrative, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

Free Feldenkrais ATM Classes for adults 55 and older at 10:30 and 11:45 a.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut at Rose. For 

information call 848-5143.  

Community Dances, 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, AUGUST 7 

Grizzly Peak Flyfishers meets at the Kensington Community Center, 59 Arlington Ave. A fly tying demonstration for beginners will be held at 6:30 p.m.; a light dinner will be available for a modest price at 7 p.m.; meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. Grizzly Peak Flyfishers is a non-profit, dedicated to conservation, education and fishing. For information contact rorlando@uclink4. 

berkeley.edu  

Rock Climbing 101, an introduction, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Lawyers in the Library at  

6 p.m. at the North Branch, 1170 The Alameda 981-6250. 

ONGOING  

Vista Community College Program for Adult Education (PACE) Enrollment through Sept. 6. PACE is a college alternative for adults with job and family responsibilities. Enrollment in American Sign Language classes is also being accepted. For information call 981-2864 or 981-2800 or email Marilyn Clausen at mclausen@peralta.cc.ca.us  

Community Food Drive Make a cash or food donation to the Safeway/ABC7 Summer Food Drive, benefiting the Alameda County Community Food Bank and its 300 member agencies. The food drive will help thousands of local low-income children who lose access to school meal programs during summer vacation. Now through Aug. 9, put nutritious, nonperishable food donations in the red food collection barrels in all Alameda County Safeway stores or make a cash donation at Safeway check-out stands. For more information or to sign up to host a barrel, call 834-3663, ext. 318 or visit www.accfb.org  

Summer Science Weeks at Tilden, for ages 9 - 12, Aug. 4 - 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Tilden Park. Different topics daily, including pond and stream, reptiles and amphibians, dinos, astronomy, rainforests. Cost is $150 for Berkeley residents, $166 for non-residents. Financial assistance available. Registration required, call 636-1684.  

Institutes for Educators: Gold Rush to the Golden Gate, Aug. 4 - 9. Join us on a journey through the SF Bay watershed, from the foothills of the Sierra to the Bay. Along the way discover how you can integrate watershed concepts and Bay curriculum into your teaching. Each day will have on-the-water experiences, expert speakers, and hands-on activities. The program will also introduce educators to habitat restoration and ways to incorporate service learning projects into their work. Network with other Bay Area educators and receive a wealth of resource materials. Cost is $195. Contact Save the Bay for more information, 452-9261. devo@savesfbay.org, www.savesfbay.org 

Free Energy Conservation Retrofits for Berkeley Residents CA Youth Energy Services is a nonprofit sponsored by the City of Berkeley that trains and employs high school students to provide conservation retrofits. Work includes weatherstripping, replacing lightbulbs with CFLs, cleaning refrigerator coils, replacing faucet aerators and showerheads with low-flow devices, installing earthquake preparedness measures, and a comprehensive audit. Available to home owners and renters. Call for an appointment, 428-2357. 

Free Energy Bill Payment Assistance The City of Berkeley has money to help low-income households in Berkeley, Emery- 

ville and Albany pay their gas and electric bills. For applications and more information, contact the Energy Office at 644-8544. TDD: 981-6903. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/energy 

CITY MEETINGS 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Monday, August 4, 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks 

Fire Safety Commission meets Wednesday, August 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. David Orth, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/firesafety 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets Thursday, August 7, at 7 p.m., at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7461. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/environmentaladvisory

Sometimes a picture really is worth 1,000 words. The picture below confirms the worst fears of Berkeley’s small but vigorous group of urban design watchers, who think that the recent spate of Big Ugly Buildings is the product of a sinister cabal composed of the City of Berkeley’s Planning Department staff, private developers, and UC’s planning staff. And here they all are, in a photo taken in May at UC’s Faculty Club, at the banquet of the Northern California chapter of the American Planning Association, celebrating an award to the city of Berkeley for its infill housing program. 

Barrett’s April cover letter applying for the award said that: 

“The mixed-use projects included in this submittal, both designed and built, are all located on transit corridors or in the downtown. They incorporate appropriate densities, open space, reduced parking and affordable units among other sustainability principles. These projects are excellent models for, and examples of, smart growth principles." 

She further claimed that,  

“The City has successfully developed these plans and projects with a high degree of citizen involvement and engagement by appointed and elected officials, an enlightened development community, financial tools that help facilitate affordable housing, and a performance-based zoning ordinance. All of these ingredients provide a successful recipe for high density, infill housing projects which embody many of the best practices for sustainable development.” 

The Gaia Building (all electric heat) is one of the 22 allegedly exemplary projects celebrated in this submission.  

Another choice bit of self-congratulation from Barrett: “There has always been generous public dialogue and input from citizens in developing plans and ordinances, and in response to development proposals. Developers have worked with neighbors and staff to design projects that are appropriate for their location.” 

Perhaps the neighbors of Kennedy’s latest project would like to comment on this statement.  

Mark Rhoades, the city’s Current Planning Manager, said in a letter to city staff announcing the award: “Many people in Berkeley don't believe that the city's progressive attitude toward housing and social equity will ever equate to slowing down development in our greenbelts, suburban, and exurban fringe. This kind of recognition is proof otherwise.” 

Maybe we’ve missed something, but we’re still not clear how this award proves that 22 Big Ugly Buildings in Berkeley, mostly containing small expensive apartments for well-heeled singles, will slow down development on the exurban fringe, which is still, as it has always been, mostly single family homes. What it does prove is that planners, as always, are their own biggest fans, and that they have little interest in annoying citizen opinions to the contrary. 

Becky O’Malley is Executive Editor of the Daily Planet. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 1 

FILM 

Czech Horror and Fantasy on Film: “The Pied Piper” at 7:30 p.m. and “Who Killed Jesse?” at 9:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Disinformation Film Series: “Brothers and Others,” a film on the plight of people of Arab descent in the U.S. since 9-11 and the impact of illegal detentions on peoples’ lives, at 7:30 p.m., at Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. Followed by a discussion with immigration attorney Nancy Hormachea. Donations requested. 528-5403.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Young Musicians Program Final Recital at 7:30 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-2686. 

Italian Art Songs, Isabelle Metwalli, soprano, and Trevor Ste- 

phenson, harpsicord, at 8 p.m. Chamber Arts House, 2924 Ash- 

by Ave. Suggested donation $10. 

California Music Festival presents an evening of chamber music at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Pre-concert lecture at 7:15 p.m. Tickets are $12-$18, available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Jerry Garcia’s Birthday Bash, Rex Foundation Fundraiser, with Sun Masons, Savant Guard, and Seconds on End at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5.  

841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, Louisiana’s premiere band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50 in advance, $19.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Brothers Antonio and Man- 

uel de la Malena in a evening of flamenco, dinner shows at 6 and 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $27-$55. For reservations call 843-0662. www.cafedelapaz.net 

Anzanga Marimba Ensemble with Julia Tsitsi Chigamba and the Chinyakarae Dance En- 

semble at 8 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10 in advance, $12 at the door. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mitch Marcus Quintet, original compositions, at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Machel Montano and Xtatik 5.0, with Tropical Vibrations, at 9:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $20 in advance, $25 at the door. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jackie Ryan at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Beneath the Ashes, To See You Broken, The Diskords, Secret Janet at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2 

CHILDREN 

Storytelling for children ages 5 to 9 at 11 a.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

FILM 

The Inquiring Camera: “Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - Part One: Rust” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808. 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 Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. Free. 527-9905. poetalk@aol.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

UC Berkeley Summer Symphony, under the direction of Alexander Kahn, Mei-Fang Lin and Kumiko Takahashi, at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free, donations welcome. 701-6590. www.geocities.com/summersymph2003. 

Gale Dobson Sextet, celebrating the release of her new CD “Parallel Reflections,” at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Victoria Williams and Mark Olson and the Creek Dippers at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $12. Carmel- 

ized at 10:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Son de Madera and Son Borikua perform Afro-Caribeño music at 8 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Houston Jones, acoustic americana, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $15.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band at 9:30 p.m., dance lesson with Diana Castillo at 8:30 at Ashkenaz. Cost is $18 in advance, $20 at the door. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Joshi Marshall at 9:30 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Brothers Antonio and Man- 

uel de la Malena in a evening of flamenco, dinner shows at 6 and 9 p.m. at Cafe de la Paz, 1600 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $27-$55. For reservations call 843-0662. www.cafedelapaz.net 

Plan 9, Penis Flytrap, Proud Flesh, Free Verse, The Pox 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, AUGUST 3 

FILM 

W. C. Fields: “It’s a Gift” 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. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Last Word Poetry, at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Bookstore, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Midsummer Mozart Festival Serenade for Winds in C Minor, Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, featuring violinist Dorota Anderszeuska, and Symphony #35 in D Major. Conducted by Berkeley resident George Cleve at 7 p.m. at St. John’s Presby- 

terian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $28. 415-292-9620. www.midsummermozart.org  

Young Musicians Program Final Concert at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. 642-2686. 

Bay Area Latin Jazz Legacy Series with Insight and Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco. Panel at 6 p.m., concert at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Live Oak Concert, with Sol- 

stice, a female a cappella sextet, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Cost is $10, BACA members $8, Students and seniors $9. Children under 12 free. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

Music of Kenneth Gaburo Experimental music, theater, and text at 8 p.m. at CNMAT, Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, 1750 Arch St. Cost is $5-15 sliding scale. 

Forward Kwenda with Eric Azim, mbira master from Zimbabwe, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $16.50 in advance, $17.50 at the door. 548-1761.  

www.freightandsalvage.org 

Christy Dana Quartet, trumpet originals and new takes on jazz standards, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10-$15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Nejad, Persian poetry and traditional improv/jazz music at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $13. 649-8744. www.thejazz- 

house.org 

For the Crown, In Control, Modern Life is War, Dragnet at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, AUGUST 4 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Neil M. Levy will read from his new book, “The Last Rebbe of Bialystok,” at 7:30 p.m. Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

www.blackoakbooks.com 

Poetry Express, open mic from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

California Music Festival, with cellist Christine Walevska and pianist Del Parkinson, at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $12-$18, available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5 

FILM 

The Inquiring Camera: “Ah! The Hopeful Pageantry of Bread and Puppet” 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. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“How to Get Your Novel Published,” hosted by James Rollins of The New York Times, Alan Jacobson of USA Today, and Kurt Bryan, suspense author, at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

“Galapagos: Land of Enchantment,” lecture and slide-show by Susanne Methvin at 7:30 p.m. at Easy Going Travel Shop and Bookstore, 1385 Shattuck Ave. at Rose. 843-3533. www.easygoing.com 

Harry Potter Discussion Group at 7 p.m. Black Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com  

Berkeley Summer Poetry, with Lynn Breedlove, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mediterranean Cafe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. Free, open mic, poetry, prose, short fiction, amateur and advanced artists welcome. 549-1128. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

California Music Festival, Olivia Stapp directs opera scenes at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $12-$18, available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Mimi Fox, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Top Dog Run and Rumen Shopov & Friends at 8:30 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Balkan dance lesson with Lise Liepman at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6 

FILM 

Excess Evil: “Rosemary’s Baby” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive, with Larry Cohen in person. Cost is $4 members, UC students, $5 UC faculty, staff, seniors, disabled, youth, $8 adults. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Hip Hop Film Fest at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5 per film. For film schedule call 415-285-1416. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sue Fishkoff will discuss “Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch,” at 7:30 p.m. Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

www.blackoakbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam Chicken Grease! a hip-hop slam hosted by Nazelah Jamison and Karen Ladson, featuring Clare Lewis, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7, $5 with student i.d. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

California Music Festival, “Die Fledermaus,” directed by Olivia Stapp, conducted by Monroe Kanouse, at 7:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $18-$25, available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

Kenny Cahn, country and western with a touch of city and eastern, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Stella Chiweshe from Zimbabwe at 9 p.m., at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12 in advance, $14 at the door. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jules Broussard and Ned Boynton at 8 p.m. at Down- 

town, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Second Shot, Green Hell, The Caps, Stigma 13 perform punk rock at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7 

FILM 

The Inquiring Camera: “Trial” and “The Lost Film” 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. 642-0808.  

www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Fragments From the War on Terror “Metal of Dishonor,” a film by the Depleted Uranium Education Project, at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge. A free film series co-sponsored by Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil. For more information see www.geocities. 

com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Hip Hop Film Fest at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5 per film. For film schedule email info@HipHopFilmFest.com or call 415-285-1416. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mystery Night, with authors Kent Gilmore, Max Isaacson and Katherine Shephard at 7:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble. 644-0861. 

Joe Anastasi, Global Leader of Deloitte & Touche’s Forensic Investigations practice, looks at corporate crime in “The New Forensics: Investigating Corporate Fraud and the Theft of Intellectual Property,” at 7:30 p.m. Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

California Music Festival, “Die Fledermaus,” directed by Olivia Stapp, conducted by Monroe Kanouse, at 7:30 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $18-$25, available from 925-798-1300. www.juliamorgan.org 

The Reverend Screaming Singers, Joe Rut, and Sophie at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082.  

www.starryploughpub.com 

Keni El Lebrijano, flamenco guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810. 

Mitch Greenhill and Mayne Smith, traditional music duo, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50 advance, $16.50 at the door. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

AT THE THEATER 

Berkeley Music Theater Company, “Oliver!” Lionel Bart’s musical will be performed Aug. 1, 2, 8 and 9 at 8 p.m. at Albany High School, 603 Key Route, Albany. Tickets are $15 general, $10 seniors, students, and low-income. 524-1224. 

“Nothing is Sacred,” one woman comedy play by Erica Sodos, Aug. 1 and 2, at 8 p.m. at The Jazz House. Cost is $10-$15 sliding scale. 649-8744. www.thejazzhouse.org 

Oakland Summer Theater, “The Death and Life of Sneaky Fitch,” Aug. 1, 2, 3, 8 and 9, Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 3 and 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, $8 seniors and students, $5 on Sun. Chabot School Auditorium, 6686 Chabot Rd. To reserve tickets call 597-5026. 

Shotgun Players, “Mother Courage and Her Children,” by Bertolt Brecht, translated by David Hare, directed by Patrick Dooley. Runs Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m. in John Hinkle Park, until Sept. 14. No show Aug 9. Show Sept. 13 is at Live Oak Park, Shattuck and Berryman. Free. 704-8210.  

www.shotgunplayers.org 

Young Actors’ Workshop, “Animal Farm,” Opening Night Benefit, August 1 at 7 p.m., August 2 at 8 p.m. and August 3 at 2 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $12, $10 for seniors and students. Opening Night is $40 in advance, and $45 at the door. For reservations call 232-7346. 

EXHIBITIONS 

ACCI Gallery, “Taste and Touch,” Members Exhibition with artists Toby Tover-Krein, Ellen Russell, Jean Hearst and Biliana Stremska. The exhibition runs to Aug. 11. Gallery hours are Mon. - Thurs., 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. www.accigallery.com 

Addison Street Windows, “Windows” An all-media ex- 

hibit by San Francisco Women Artists, through Aug. 11. 2018 Addison St. 658-0585.  

The Ames Gallery, “Conversations with Myself” Works by Barry Simons. Paintings and collages incorporating the artist’s original poetry. By appointment or chance. Exhibition runs until Aug. 15. 2661 Cedar St. 845-4949. www.amesgallery.com  

Berkeley Art Center, 19th National Juried Exhibition: “Works on Paper” runs Aug. 6 to Sept. 13. Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut St. Open Wed. - Sun. noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. 644-6893.  

www.berkeleyartcenter.org  

Berkeley Historical Society, “Focus on Berkeley” A photography exhibit by the Berkeley Camera Club, Berkeley High School students and community photographers in celebration of the City’s 125th Anniversary. Exhibition runs until Sept. 13. Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center St. 848-0181. 

Berkeley Public Library, “The Lighter Side of Crop Circles,” photographs by Ben Ailes. Runs until Aug. 30. First Floor Catalog Lobby, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck. 981-6100.  

Graduate Theological Union Library, “Hand-crafted Books by Bay Area Artists” Each book is accompanied by a statement addressing the issues and process involved in the creation of the work. Exhibition runs until Sept. 30. Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd.  

649-2541. 

Kala Art Institute, Kala Fellowship Exhibition, Part II The Kala Fellowships are awarded annually to eight innovative artists working in printmaking, book arts, video and digital media. Runs until Sept. 6. Call for gallery hours. 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977.  

www.kala.org 

A New Leaf Gallery, “Four Elements of Sculpture: Fire, Air, Water and Earth,” Exhibition runs to Aug. 31. 1286 Gilman St. Call for gallery hours. 527-7621. www.sculpturesite.com 

Red Oak Realty “Mixed Media,” by Stan Whitehead. Reception for the artist on Aug. 8, 6 to 8 p.m. Exhibition runs through Oct. 23, Mon. – Sat., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 1891 Solano Ave. 527-3387. 

Slater/Marinoff & Co., “All Animal Art” Forty photographers and artists have donated works to help fund the costs of the Milo Foundation’s work in finding homes for abandoned dogs and cats. Exhibition runs until Aug. 31. Hours are Mon. - Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sun. 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. 1823 Fourth St. 548-2001.

The Berkeley schools are unsafe, poorly managed, and fail to address the needs of minority and special education students, according to a sweeping new state study. 

The 740-page report, compiled by the state’s Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), finds problems ranging from uncertified fire extinguishers, to payroll failures, to a special education program which “has been seriously undersupervised and is out of compliance with many state and federal mandates.” 

According to the report’s findings, “the district is having some difficulty meeting basic legal and professional standards.” 

School district officials said the FCMAT report is fair and accurate, but downplayed its importance and insisted that progress is being made in many areas. 

“There are no significant surprises here,” said Superintendent Michele Lawrence. “We really have made some significant headway.” 

The study was funded through a September 2002 bill, authored by former State Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Berkeley), that forgave a $1.1 million fine the school district owed the state for filing late paperwork in 2000, and poured $700,000 of it in into the FCMAT report. 

The bill requires the district to spend the remaining $460,000 to implement the study’s recommendations over the next two years. In December FCMAT must file the first of four bi-annual reports on the district’s progress. 

The report, compiled between February and May 2003 and released by the district this week, found a host of problems with the district’s special education program. Shortcomings included 189 individual education plans for special education students that were out of compliance with state and federal law, a lack of adequate teacher training and the absence of a basic manual on special education.  

Julia Epstein, communications director for the Berkeley-based Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and parent of two children at Berkeley High School, said the report points to serious failings. 

“FCMAT’s blistering report on special education will not surprise parents of children with disabilities who have struggled to get access to appropriate services in Berkeley,” she said, in a statement. “For a community that prides itself on inclusion and diversity and calls itself progressive, it’s hard even to come up with a scathing enough adjective for Berkeley’s public school record on students with disabilities.”  

Ann McDonald-Cacho, whose son will be a senior at Berkeley High School this fall, said the sheer volume of problems in the special education program is overwhelming. 

“The state of affairs is that there are so many things to be fixed, it’s hard to know how long it could possibly take, because you can’t put energy into all things at once,” she said. 

But McDonald-Chaco said there appears to be a will among district leaders to address the problem.  

Ken Jacopetti, director of special education for the Berkeley schools, said the district is making a concerted effort to improve. A comprehensive review of compliance procedures is underway and a full audit of the program is due in early-September, he said. 

In addition, the district is taking steps to better integrate special education students into regular classrooms, he added. 

The FCMAT report also criticizes the Board of Education for failing to provide the district with a clear vision, particularly around the “achievement gap” that separates white and Asian students from blacks and Hispanics. 

Board of Education Director Nancy Riddle said the focus should be on pouring over student achievement data and making sure that money is spent on programs that actually work to close the gap, rather than initiatives that just “feel good.” 

The report, authored by FCMAT and four subcontractors, also finds consistent problems with school safety, an issue that has plagued the district for years. Poor security lighting, fire drills that are not properly conducted or recorded, and unsupervised adults on campus who go unchallenged by school staff, are all cited in the study. 

Board of Education Director Shirley Issel said the school safety problem is, in part, a cultural one. Berkeleyans like to have open campuses that welcome parents. 

“We choose to have our campuses that way and we’re uncomfortable with—you go to the office and check in—because that seems too structured,” she said. “But I think that’s important for student safety.” 

The report focuses on another cultural problem—something it labels “the Berkeley way.” Parents and staff at each school, according to the study, are bent on autonomy and shun attempts at centralized control. As a result, according to the study, curriculum and teaching vary widely from school to school. Centralization, the report concludes, “is necessary to provide direction and accountability.”  

Lawrence, who has been criticized for consolidating power in the superintendent’s office, said she welcomed the study’s findings. 

“That has been my consistent message to my community and to our personnel—that we have to create a unified school district that celebrates the independence of our schools but is linked by common values, common objectives,” she said. 

Kalima Rose, a parent activist and senior associate at the Oakland-based PolicyLink, which focuses on community engagement in public life, said parents would be happy to engage in a centralized process if problems were clearly laid out and the community was engaged in solving them. But absent that process, she said, school sites have resorted to their own devices.

GREEN RESPONSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In response to Norman Solomon's commentary (July 29-31 edition), let me make this clear: The Green Party is working on a viable electoral strategy for the 2004 presidential race. We are a grassroots party so this is taking time. 

We care about our impacts and are taking that into account as we work on our strategy. We are considering the effects of our campaigns on the country as a whole. 

Budd Dickinson,  

Member of Alameda County Green Party County Council and alternate delegate to the Green Party of the US  

Coordinating Committee 

• 

ADULT SCHOOL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I want to add my opposition to that of Joyce Barison (Letters, July 29-31 edition) to the proposed move of the Berkeley Adult School. The negative impact on the neighborhood of the proposed move is more than valid, no matter how much the school board denies it.  

My opposition, however, stems from the impact on female students if the school is moved to a less lit, less foot-traffic location. Certainly, the present University Avenue location provides more safety for female students attending early evening and night classes. In addition, seniors from nearby Strawberry Creek Lodge have protested the proposed move for safety and transportation reasons. With the increasing ineffectiveness of taxi scrip, will their pleas for a  

single bus-accessible adult school location be ignored? 

From what I’ve read of the proposed move, it appears to be mainly for the convenience of the administrative wing of the BUSD. The impact of the proposed move on students, the citizens they serve, seems to be falling on deaf ears.  

Will our progressive-led council be responsive to students or condone an elitist land grab by the BUSD?  

Maris Arnold 

• 

STUDENT FEES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

One-third of the undergraduate students accepted this year to UC Berkeley are transferring from one of California’s public two-year community colleges—many others accepted directly from public high schools are from low-income and/or immigrant families and/or are children of single parents with or without college diplomas.  

Some of these students join the largest housing co-operative, founded at Stiles Hall in 1933—University Students Co-op Association. There are now 17 group-living facilities that house 914 students; in addition, there are three apartment complexes, housing 380 students. The $1,400 last-minute increase in fees is a burden on these UC students, as it is on so many others.  

Why target UC and Cal State students while putting off or eliminating an increase in fees for owners of motor vehicles? Republican state legislators propose to cut UC’s budget by $400 million. Meanwhile, Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, who incidentally holds two degrees from a public university, wants to eliminate the inheritance tax, and would pay $327,000 less tax under national legislation proposed by the Republicans, according to calculations by Bloomberg News on Cheney’s 2001 tax return.  

I do not accept criticism of UC Student Regent Matt Murray, who wisely voted against the increase. At the same time, the 120 students currently enrolled in community colleges around the state who earned UC eligibility in high school and who were promised enrollment at the soon-to-be-completed UC Merced should be redirected to one or other of the UCs.  

The severity of the crisis is such that Vista Community College in downtown Berkeley should be closed altogether.  

Richard Thompson 

• 

TOTAL INFORMATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

John M. Poindexter is the highest-ranking member of the Reagan Administration to be found responsible for the Iran-Contra scandal. (The Administration secretly contravened Congress and gave money to the terrorist Contras, fighting in Nicaragua; the funds came from the sale of high-grade weapons to Iran after its fundamentalist rebels took over Iran’s government, and captured and held the U.S. Embassy in Teheran for 444 days.) 

The full story never has come out because the release of presidential papers from the Bush Sr. and Reagan aministrations has been suppressed by the current president, Bush Jr. 

Poindexter surfaced again last year as the Bush Administration’s nominee to run the Total Information Awareness database that would keep track of all Americans, supposedly looking for terrorists. In response to objection by more reasonable advisors, the name was changed to the Terrorist Information Awareness database. Now, this criminal is being proposed to head government-sponsored internet gambling, where people bet on terrorist activities. 

The absurdity of this Administration matches its cynicism. There are few powers in the world that are more threatening to our liberty and democracy. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

• 

WASTE OF TIME 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There is something that people need to understand: what the SAT tests are and what they aren’t. After learning from a recent letter to the Daily Planet that UC President Richard Atkinson wants to continue using the SAT I as a primary evaluation of pre-college “achievement” I was appalled. This year I will be going into my senior year at Berkeley High School and after taking the SAT I twice, the SAT II six times, and spending countless hours studying, I learned what the SAT tests really are. 

First, the SAT test is a reasoning test; it is meant to measure how effective a student is at figuring things out. The SAT test does very little if anything to test “actual” understanding. In fact, the math and verbal sections contain knowledge that should have already been learned by sixth or seventh grade. It is a test of how well a student is able to break apart the intricate puzzle that the test makers create to seemingly befuddle the already overworked eleventh graders who are forced to take it. 

When the Regents decided that they will not count the SAT II Subject tests (this is discussed in the aforementioned letter) as twice that of the SAT I, they insured that students will be judged as much on “actual achievement” as how well they can work through an onerous maze of multiple choice questions. 

On the other hand, the SAT IIs are subject tests and evaluate, relatively accurately, the knowledge of students. The ineffectiveness and fallacious nature of the SAT I was especially obvious when an applications officer from a small private college named Lewis and Clark said that he and his colleagues had rejected an applicant who scored a 1590 on the SAT I (ten points less than perfect), because they “weren’t sure whether he would graduate high school or not.”  

The SAT I is not only a waste of time, but it focuses on the wrong areas of applicants. Students should be accepted because of an obvious will to learn, a want to make a difference, and a desire to become mentally stronger. No single test can predict this, and that’s what people need to understand.  

Eli Weissman 

• 

FOR DEAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Progressives are supporting Howard Dean’s candidacy for President, even though he does not claim to be a programmatic progressive, because he has been an outspoken opponent of Bush’s unjustifiable and terribly costly invasion of Iraq and his outrageous tax cuts for the wealthy. Dean has the intelligence, honesty, integrity, and energy to defeat Bush and to stand up to the right-wing minority that is disregarding the democratic process in order to claim power it can’t win at the polls, now in California as well as in Florida in 2000 and in the attempt to unseat Bill Clinton. Howard Dean’s positions can be found on his campaign Web site, www.DeanforAmerica.com. 

Charlene Woodcock 

• 

MISQUOTE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In “Budget Impasse Threatens City” (Daily Planet July 4) the article attributes to me a statement which says that I “warned that the school (Vista Community College) may have to close its doors in September or October.” I neither said nor implied that this would happen. Visa Community College and all other Peralta colleges (College of Alameda, Laney and Merritt) will remain open, even in the face of the state budget crisis. 

I want to assure our students and our community that Vista is here to stay. Peralta trustees are committed to keeping all Peralta colleges—College of Alameda, Laney, Merritt and Vista Community College—open and running. They are doing everything possible to ensure that all Peralta colleges are able to meet students’ needs. 

Shirley Fogarino 

Public Information Officer, 

Vista Community College 

• 

NEED FOR DETOX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Our community recently lost an addict in recovery to a violent death—in layman’s terms, a man who was working to turn his life around was murdered on the streets of Oakland. 

Terry Wafer made the courageous decision to change himself when he came to Options, an alcohol and drug recovery center here in Berkeley. Mr Wafer made great progress in his recovery, but hit a bump in the road to his sobriety that many in recovery experience. He relapsed. Unfortunately, there is no detoxification center in Alameda County that Options could send him to. Our staff grieves Terry’s passing—we grieve for all those who were “caught up” in the events leading to Mr. Wafer’s demise. The consensus among our staff is that Terry Wafer is a good man who made a mistake. He needed more help. He needed a detox center. 

Alameda County responds to our budget crisis with disproportionate cutbacks to medical and social programs that serve East Bay residents who are working to develop life skills to internalize their locus of control. You don’t have to be an actuary to understand that our decisions to roll back the Alameda County social safety net will multiply the actual costs to our community. 

Neal Rockett 

Oakland 

• 

MISTAKES MADE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Mistakes must have been made, I feel, regarding the infamous boosting out of the good doctor Donald Sebanc from Sather Gate Mall (Daily Planet, July 29). 

That area needs modest but firm anchors of long standing. If the doctor is being vindictively punished by some hidden bureaucrat or is just the victim of the usual Berkeley snarling red tape and often anti-business scowling and frowning, we may never know. 

It sounds as though the city of Berkeley, which I love deeply, owes an apology to the doctor, at the very least...emphasis on “very.” 

Terry Cochrell 

• 

HIT AND RUN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If a hit and run driver is caught, the person that sold them their car should be held responsible. 

Bicycles are “legal” vehicles and have the same rights and responsibilities on the road. 

All bicycles should have identification numbers, if not licenses, warning devices, lights visible as required. Pedestrians and bicyclists should be required to wear light colored clothing at night.  

Charles Smith

Is the Berkeley School District trying to pull a fast one on City Hall? 

City Manager Weldon Rucker thinks so, and he’s fired a warning shot across the district’s bow in a letter to the Berkeley Unified School District’s Office of Facilities Planning. 

Rucker’s July 29 letter asks the school district to hold off on their plan to move the Berkeley Adult Unified Adult School from its present location at 1222 University Ave. to the now-empty Franklin Elementary School at 1150 Virginia Ave.  

The reason? Rucker says the move is part of a broader plan that includes relocating school district’s headquarters from the old city hall building to the University Avenue site, construction of a new transportation facility at a district-owned site at 1325 Sixth St., and moves of other district functions. He cites two school district studies that seem to say just that. 

Since the Adult School move is just one part of a broader plan, Rucker said the district should abandon their Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) on the Adult School move and submit their overall plan in its entirety, rather than piecemeal. 

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) “requires that an agency that proposed to undertake a project disclose and analyze the full impact of the project,” Rucker wrote to Gary Moriarty, senior project manager for 3D/International, the consulting firm retained by the school district’s Office of Facilities Planning to prepare the declaration. 

“I urge the District to withdraw the proposed MND and circulate a revised environmental documents that discloses and analyzes the full scope of the project,” Rucker concluded. 

BUSD Facilities Planning Manager Lew Jones disagreed. “The evidence is clear” that the adult school move to Franklin School is a stand-alone project, he said. “We don’t have definitions yet of each of the other projects, and each of them has to be studied.” 

Jones said the city manager’s comments will be considered along with the statements of neighbors and others who have commented on the proposal.  

The school board has two sepate actions to consider. First is to rule on the MND, and then, if the document is accepted, to move forward on the adult school relocation. 

If the city decides to challenge the board, they would have to do so in the courts, Jones said. 

The fates of the Franklin School and University Avenue sites have stirred considerable controversy among neighbors, who have been circulating petitions urging the district to hold off until the district can draft a detailed environmental impact statement on the net effect of the district’s proposed moves. 

The BUSD’s March 2003 Facilities Construction Plan outlines a series of projects, including those outlined in Rucker’s letter. 

Because the city and district are separate, autonomous agencies, there is some question as to just how much the city can do to delay the adult school move. 

Rucker wants a detailed environmental impact statement that pulls together the implications of the whole series of moves suggested in the school district’s construction plan.

The trustworthiness of our nation’s voting system is the essential link to hopes for fairness, social justice and the future of our country. If Americans are excluded from voting or feel their votes don’t or won’t be counted, their investment in their communities and society is dramatically eroded. With corruption in our elections, the country can be dominated by an unrepresentative minority and our aspirations for a healthy democracy thwarted. 

After the 2000 election debacle in Florida and other states, the very nature and competence of our voting system was called into question. All measure of voting security irregularities were documented, including suspicion of fraud, voter roll purges, language barriers, obstacles to disabled voters and insufficient or undertrained staff. 

To address these formidable problems, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed by Congress after much struggle. But the passage of the Act was just the beginning. Its implementation, which falls on the states, is being contested across the country. To help protect the future of voting, especially for those who have historically been shut out, engagement with and monitoring of the implementation of HAVA is essential to ensure the success of a new system. Voting fairness is a crucial issue for all of us working for change. 

The advent of electronic voting has also introduced a host of new problems that have recently been dramatically exposed. The companies developing and installing these machines are owned, to a large extent, by Republicans and conservatives. There are not enough checks and balances on these companies, which continue to insist that the code in their machines is proprietary. The situation increasingly suggests the privatizing of our election process and the removal of the transparencies and non-partisan involvement of public servants that has provided the public with some confidence that the system is fair. 

The problems with touchscreen voting machines and the lack of a voter-verifiable paper trail is currently a hot topic. Traveling the Internet like wildfire, the story has recently broken through to the New York Times, NPR and CNN. Fear of computerized voter roll purging and the manipulation of election results has caused tremendous anxiety among election reformers as well as computer professionals. Perhaps just as alarming, some paranoid writers have suggested that the next election is all but lost due to the new technology. 

The problem with this worst-case thinking is that it creates the potential for self-fulfilling prophesies, due to its negative impact on would-be voters, especially young people and those already alienated. Fearing conspiracy, more and more voters succumb to cynicism, give up on the system and stay home on Election Day. And who benefits from a shrunken electorate? Conservatives and the current administration. Since right-wing views represent a distinct majority the more people who don’t vote (more than 100 million in the U.S.) the more likely that Bush & Co. will prevail and the conservatives will stay in power. 

So we have a challenge ahead of us. We must push hard on the reform opportunities. It is important to have new machines in place by 2004 to restore confidence and not discourage more people from voting. We must ensure that other potential reforms included in HAVA will be implemented, resulting in more competent staffing at the polls, making it harder to purge voters and easier for everyone, including the disabled, to vote. At the same time we must insist that voting machine manufacturers sell systems that support voter-verified individual ballots and an accurate ballot audit trail—while being cognizant that some of this technology may not be ready and that paper, in the past, has been the source of significant instances of fraud and abuse as well as being problematic for the blind. 

Don Hazen is executive editor of AlterNet.

In 1877 a women’s sewing society began collecting funds to build an Episcopal church in West Berkeley. Today, the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd remains in its original building at 1823 Ninth St. It is the oldest continually occupied church in Berkeley. 

On Aug. 10, Good Shepherd will celebrate its 125th anniversary, which coincides with the founding of the city of Berkeley. In recognition of the special day, the congregation will hold a special worship ceremony and a community party, and the mayor plans to declare Aug. 11 “Good Shepherd Day.” 

But the real celebration, congregants say, is the recent completion of phase one of a renovation process to upgrade the structure of the classic carpenter gothic building and make it more attractive to passersby and members alike. 

The bulk of the funds raised for the renovation project—a capital campaign brought in $70,000—went toward replacing leaky gutters, enhancing the building’s structural foundation, and making other small repairs to ensure the safety and solidity of the historic church building. But on the occasion of its anniversary, Good Shepherd also received an aesthetic makeover, taking on a new coat of brightly colored paint. 

“Cars and bikers and pedestrians have been stopping to look since we got the building painted,” said Jane Redmont, the communications director for the church’s anniversary and remodel. “Those bright colors do make a difference.” 

Redmont added that the attendance at Sunday morning worship services since the building was painted has consistently been three or four people more than the church’s average—a major gain considering the congregation is comprised of about 50 people. 

But attracting new people to participate in church activities is not a new goal for Good Shepherd, whose motto is “Welcoming, thoughtful, progressive.” 

An item from the Berkeley Advocate newspaper in October 1877 noted that “an Episcopal interest is springing up and attracting many of various shades of belief,” a quote that rings true for many involved in the congregation, who emphasize their welcoming attitude to people invested in, questioning, or doubting their faith. 

“The members range widely in their relationship to certain doctrinal statements,” Redmont said. “More than many other churches there is room at Good Shepherd for questioning and seeking.” 

With this encouragement of participation from people of all faith backgrounds comes an emphasis on maintaining a diverse congregation. Though the members are predominantly white, the group has a wide age range, as well as variances in gender, sexual orientation, and social class. Congregants include artists, students, business administrators, a yoga teacher, restaurant staff, and unemployed people. 

“On a Sunday morning we typically have at least two Ph.Ds and one homeless person in the church,” Redmont said. 

Church member Barry Hathaway said that the diversity at Good Shepherd make it a welcoming place to be. 

“It’s a great group of fascinating people,” he said. “The variety gives it spirit.” 

Good Shepherd is a unique church not only because of its diverse congregation. Unlike most Episcopal mission churches, the congregation’s vicar, Kathleen Van Sickle, is not a priest, but rather a deacon who works 65 percent time as the primary administrator and pastor of the church. Van Sickle has been at Good Shepherd since 1987, and says she enjoys the opportunity to be an integral part of the community. 

“We love our little congregation,” she said. “But we’re not here for ourselves. We’re trying to show with our lives and our worship and everything we do that the Gospel is there for all.” 

The senior warden of the church, Laura Peterson, recognizes Good Shepherd’s role as a part of the West Berkeley neighborhood where it sits. Peterson, who lives just two blocks away on Seventh Street, said the church has an opportunity to help not only its members but also the community. 

“It’s important to be able to get the neighbors together as community center,” she said. “It’s nice to be a place that people look to to come together.” 

To that end, Good Shepherd puts on a monthly meal for the homeless population and hosts occasional events that are specifically pegged as community-oriented. During the war in Iraq, the church held weekly prayers for peace that were Christian-oriented but welcoming to people of all faith backgrounds. 

“We’re all about getting as many people as possible involved in everything we do,” Peterson said. “We see our mission as not just about our members but for everybody in the world around us.” 

Good Shepherd will host a special Anniversary Liturgy on Sunday, Aug. 10 at 10:00 a.m. A barbeque party will take place at the church following the service at 11:30 a.m. 

It’s Tuesday night. Do you know where your City Council is? 

Summer is here, and Berkeley’s top politicians are taking their annual warm weather break—leaving City Council chambers empty until a new season of Tuesday night meetings begins Sept.. 9. 

Councilmembers Gordon Wozniak and Linda Maio are already thousands of miles from the headaches of local government. Wozniak is taking a bike trip on Prince Edward Island in Canada and visiting a daughter in Maine, while Maio is in the midst of a lengthy vacation with stops in Cuba, New York City and Italy, according to aides. 

But others are staying closer to home. 

“I lead a boring life, what can I say?,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington. 

Operating on a councilmember’s modest annual salary of $25,000, Worthington said he just doesn’t have enough money to afford a big trip. 

“The stereotype is, as an elected official, you get rich from all the bribes,” he said. “[But] if you don’t take those bribes—I’m actually much poorer as an elected official than I was decades before that.” 

Worthington said he will while away the summer hours organizing a local 40th anniversary celebration of the civil rights movement’s March on Washington, featuring Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech, and pursue the more mundane task of cleaning his apartment. 

“Compared to all the political battles, cleaning your apartment is actually a nice, boring thing,” he said. 

Councilmembers said coping with a $9 million budget shortfall this year—closed with a selective hiring freeze, tax hikes and cuts—made for tough times at City Hall. 

But the city’s top politicians, and their aides, said a new truce between the moderate and progressive factions on the council, facilitated in large part by Mayor Tom Bates, made for a much more civil debate this year than in the past. 

“The sense of people working together up here is just wonderful,” said Maio aide Brad Smith. 

But with an $8 to $10 million deficit looming next year, no one is looking forward to the fall. 

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to take a look at more cuts next year,” said Councilmember Miriam Hawley. 

In the meantime, Hawley is working her way through Tony Hillerman’s latest mystery, “The Sinister Pig,” and planning for a two week trip to Vancouver with a stop in Seattle. 

Hawley said she plans to visit the recently-opened Peet’s Coffee in Seattle—patronizing a chain, with Berkeley roots, that has just made a small dent in the heart of the Starbuck’s empire. 

Mayor Tom Bates was in Sacramento this week, waiting for his wife, State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, to escape the legislature’s budget quagmire. 

“Free Loni!,” he cried Tuesday afternoon in a telephone interview with the Daily Planet, just hours before the Assembly, in a marathon session, passed a long overdue, $100 billion budget. 

Bates said the lengthy budget fight had already scotched plans to visit Hancock’s father, a Unitarian minister who lives in the Transylvania section of Romania—the birthplace of the Unitarian movement. 

But the mayor said he planned a week’s vacation with his wife at Lake Tahoe to rest up for this fall’s political season. 

Councilmember Betty Olds said she has no travel plans and will, instead, focus on tidying up her garden and enjoying the pleasures of summer in the city. 

“It’s certainly a restful time in Berkeley,” said Olds. “It’s foolish for people to leave Berkeley in the summertime when life is so quiet and serene, when the university really isn’t operating. 

“The students aren’t here,” she said. “You can find a parking place.”

Berkeley police arrested a man in Concord Wednesday whom they suspect was responsible for the shooting death of 19-year-old Ronald Easiley Jr. 

Easiley was killed on the morning of Jan. 14 in the area of California and Harmon streets. He was Berkeley’s first homicide of 2003. 

Berkeley police arrested Christopher Farley Patrick, 21, at an apartment complex at 2751 Monument Blvd. in Concord at about 6:10 a.m. Wednesday. Patrick was sleeping and was taken into custody without incident, according to the Berkeley Police Department press release. Patrick was booked into the City of Berkeley Jail. 

Berkeley police had the apartment building under surveillance after receiving information that Patrick may have been staying in the apartment complex in Concord. 

Police spotted Patrick as he entered an apartment. They assembled their Barricaded Subject Hostage Negotiation Team, obtained a search warrant and, with the support of the Concord Police Department's SWAT team, arrested Patrick, according the department release. 

“We were confident that Patrick was locked down in that apartment,” said Lt. Allen Yuen of Berkeley’s Special Enforcement Unit in a statement. “We did not want him to slip away again.” 

Yuen said, “He had no idea we were there until we were inside the apartment.” 

— Daily Planet Staff

Are computerized voting machines a wide-open back door to massive voting fraud? The discussion has moved from the Internet to CNN, to UK newspapers, and the pages of The New York Times. People are cautiously beginning to connect the dots, and the picture that seems to be emerging is troubling. 

“A defective computer chip in the county’s optical scanner misread ballots Tuesday night and incorrectly tallied a landslide victory for Republicans,” announced the Associated Press in a story on Nov. 7, just a few days after the 2002 election. The story added, “Democrats actually won by wide margins.” 

Republicans would have carried the day had not poll workers become suspicious when the computerized vote-reading machines said the Republican candidate was trouncing his incumbent Democratic opponent in the race for County Commissioner. The poll workers were close enough to the electorate—they were part of the electorate—to know their county overwhelmingly favored the Democratic incumbent. 

A quick hand recount of the optical-scan ballots showed that the Democrat had indeed won, even though the computerized ballot-scanning machine kept giving the race to the Republican. The poll workers brought the discrepancy to the attention of the county clerk, who notified the voting machine company. 

“A new computer chip was flown to Snyder [Texas] from Dallas,” County Clerk Lindsey told the Associated Press. With the new chip installed, the computer then verified that the Democrat had won the election. In another Texas anomaly, Republican state Senator Jeff Wentworth won his race with exactly 18,181 votes, Republican Carter Casteel won her state House seat with exactly 18,181 votes, and conservative Judge Danny Scheel won his seat with exactly 18,181 votes—all in Comal County. Apparently, however, no poll workers in Comal County thought to ask for a new chip. 

Startling Results 

The Texas incidents happened with computerized machines reading and then tabulating paper or punch-card ballots. In Georgia and Florida, where paper had been totally replaced by touch-screen machines in many to most precincts during 2001 and 2002, the 2002 election produced some of the nation's most startling results. 

USA Today reported on Nov. 3, 2002, “In Georgia, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll shows Democratic Sen. Max Cleland with a 49 percent-to-44percent lead over Republican Rep. Saxby Chambliss.” Cox News Service, based in Atlanta, reported just after the election (Nov. 7) that, “Pollsters may have goofed” because “Republican Rep. Saxby Chambliss defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Cleland by a margin of 53 to 46 percent. The Hotline, a political news service, recalled a series of polls Wednesday showing that Chambliss had been ahead in none of them.” 

Just as amazing was the Georgia governor’s race. “Similarly,” the Zogby polling organization reported on Nov. 7, “no polls predicted the upset victory in Georgia of Republican Sonny Perdue over incumbent Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes. Perdue won by a margin of 52 to 45 percent. The most recent Mason Dixon Poll had shown Barnes ahead 48 to 39 percent last month with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points.” 

Almost all of the votes in Georgia were recorded on the new touchscreen computerized voting machines, which produced no paper trail whatsoever. And nobody thought to ask for a new chip, although it was noted on Nov. 8 by the Atlanta Constitution-Journal that in downtown Atlanta’s predominantly Democratic Fulton County “election officials said Thursday that memory cards from 67 electronic voting machines had been misplaced, so ballots cast on those machines were left out of previously announced vote totals.” Officials added that all but 11 of the memory cards were subsequently found and recorded. 

Similarly, as the San Jose Mercury News reported in a Jan. 23, 2003 editorial titled “Gee Whiz, Voter Fraud?” “In one Florida precinct last November, votes that were intended for the Democratic candidate for governor ended up for Gov. Jeb Bush, because of a misaligned touchscreen. How many votes were miscast before the mistake was found will never be known, because there was no paper audit.” (“Misaligned” touchscreens also caused 18 known machines in Dallas to register Republican votes when Democratic screen-buttons were pushed: it's unknown how many others weren't noticed.) 

Apparently, nobody thought to ask for new chips in Florida, either. 

In Minnesota, the Star Tribune reported just a few days before the election (Oct. 30, 2002) that, “Dramatic political developments since Sen. Paul Wellstone's death Friday have had little effect on voters’ leanings in the U.S. Senate race, according to a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll taken Monday night. Wellstone’s likely replacement on the ballot, former Vice President Walter Mondale, leads Republican Norm Coleman by 47 to 39 percent—close to where the race stood two weeks ago when Wellstone led Coleman 47 to 41 percent.” 

When the computerized machines were done counting the vote a few days later, however, Coleman had beat Mondale by 50 to 47 percent. If Mondale had asked for new chips, would it have made a difference? We’ll never know. 

One state where Republicans did ask for a new chip was Alabama. Fox News reported on Nov. 8, 2002 that initial returns from across the state showed that Democratic incumbent Gov. Don Siegelman had won the governor’s race. But, overnight, “Baldwin County took center stage when election officials released results Tuesday night showing Siegelman with 19,070 votes—enough for a narrow victory statewide. Later, they recounted and reduced Siegelman's tally to 12,736 votes—enough to give Riley the victory.” 

What produced the sudden loss of about 6,000 votes? According to the Fox report: “Probate Judge Adrian Johns, a member of the county canvassing board, blamed the initial, higher number on ‘a programming glitch in the software’ that tallies the votes.” All parties were not satisfied with that explanation, however. Fox added: “The governor claimed results were changed after poll watchers left.” 

It turns out the “glitch in the software” in Alabama was discovered by the Republican National Committee's regional director Kelley McCullough, who, according to a story in the conservative Daily Standard, “logged onto the county's municipal Web site and confirmed that [incumbent Democratic Governor] Siegelman had actually only received 12,736 votes—not the 19,070 the Associated Press projected for him. A computer glitch had caused the error. The erroneous tally would have put Siegelman on top by 3,582 votes, but the corrected one gave Riley a 2,752-vote edge.” 

As the Murdoch-owned Daily Standard noted, “If it hadn’t been for one woman, the Republican National Committee's regional director Kelley McCullough, things might have gone terribly wrong for [Republican Gubernatorial candidate] Riley.” 

Similarly, in Davison County, South Dakota, the Democratic election auditor noticed the machines double counting votes (it's not noted for which side) and had a “new chip” brought in. 

Hacking Democracy? 

This is just the tip of the iceberg of ‘00 and ‘02 election irregularities, as reported by www.votewatch.us. Either the system by which democracy exists broke that November evening, or was hacked, or American voters became suddenly more fickle than at any time since Truman beat Dewey. 

Maybe it’s true that the citizens of Georgia simply decided that incumbent Democratic Senator Max Cleland, a wildly popular war veteran, was, as Republican TV ads suggested, too unpatriotic to remain in the Senate, even though his Republican challenger, Saxby Chambliss, had sat out the Vietnam war with a medical deferment. 

Maybe, in the final two days of the race, those voters who had pledged themselves to Georgia’s popular incumbent Governor Roy Barnes suddenly and inexplicably decided to switch to Republican challenger Sonny Perdue. 

Maybe George W. and Jeb Bush, Alabama’s new Republican governor Bob Riley, and a small but congressionally decisive handful of other long-shot Republican candidates around the country really did win those states where conventional wisdom and straw polls showed them losing in the last few election cycles, but computer controlled voting or ballot-reading machines showed them winning. 

Perhaps, after a half-century of fine-tuning exit polling to such a science that it’s now used to verify if elections are clean in Third World countries, it really did suddenly become inaccurate in the United States in the past few years and just won’t work here anymore. Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that the sudden rise of inaccurate exit polls happened around the same time corporate-programmed, computer-controlled, modem-capable voting machines began recording and tabulating ballots. 

But if any of this is true, there's not much of a paper trail from the voters' hand to prove it. 

You’d think in an open democracy that the government—answerable to all its citizens rather than a handful of corporate officers and stockholders—would program, repair and control the voting machines. You’d think the computers that handle our cherished ballots would be open and their software and programming available for public scrutiny. You’d think there would be a paper trail of the actual hand-cast vote, which could be followed and audited if there was evidence of voting fraud or if exit polls disagreed with computerized vote counts. 

You'd be wrong. 

Upsets In Nebraska 

It’s entirely possible that Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel—who left his job as head of an electronic voting machine company to run as a long-shot candidate for the U.S. Senate—honestly won all of his elections. 

Back when Hagel first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996, his own company’s computer-controlled voting machines showed he’d won stunning and unexpected victories in both the primaries and the general election. The Washington Post (1/13/1997) said Hagel’s “Senate victory against an incumbent Democratic governor was the major Republican upset in the November election.” According to Bev Harris, author of “Black Box Voting,” Hagel won virtually every demographic group, including many largely black communities that had never before voted Republican. Hagel was the first Republican in 24 years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska. 

Six years later Hagel ran again, this time against Democrat Charlie Matulka in 2002, and won in a landslide. As his Website says, Hagel “was re-elected to his second term in the United States Senate on November 5, 2002 with 83% of the vote. That represents the biggest political victory in the history of Nebraska.” What the site fails to disclose is that about 80 percent of those votes were counted by computer-controlled voting machines put in place by the company affiliated with Hagel: built by that company; programmed by that company; chips supplied by that company. 

“This is a big story, bigger than Watergate ever was,” said Hagel’s Democratic opponent in the 2002 Senate race, Charlie Matulka (www.lancastercountydemocrats.org/matulka.htm). “They say Hagel shocked the world, but he didn't shock me.” 

Is Matulka the sore loser the Hagel campaign paints him as, or is he democracy’s proverbial canary in the mineshaft? Between them, Hagel and Chambliss’ victories sealed Republican control of the Senate. Odds are both won fair and square, the American way, using huge piles of corporate money to carpet-bomb voters with television advertising. But either the appearance or the possibility of impropriety in an election casts a shadow over American democracy. 

“The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which all other rights are protected,” wrote Thomas Paine over 200 years ago. “To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery.” 

That slavery, according to Hagel's last opponent Charlie Matulka, is at our doorstep. “They can take over our country without firing a shot,” Matulka said, “just by taking over our election systems.” 

Revolution by control of computer chips? Is that really possible in the USA? 

Who's Counting the Votes? 

“Imagine it's Election Day 2004,” says U.S. Congressman Rush Holt, also a scientist with a Ph.D. in physics who knows more than a little bit about both politics and computers. “You enter your local polling place and go to cast your vote on a brand-new touchscreen voting machine. The screen says your vote has been counted. As you exit the voting booth, however, you begin to wonder. How do I know if the machine actually recorded my vote?” 

It's a question that probably hasn't occurred to many Americans, even those who used the touchscreen machines particularly notable in states where there were “upsets” and “glitches” in the 2002 election. But it occurred to Congressman Holt, and after looking at the law, the voting machines and the companies that produce them, he concluded that, “The fact is, you don't [know if the machine actually recorded your vote].” 

Bev Harris has studied the situation in depth and thinks both Congressman Holt and candidate Matulka may be on to something. The company with ties to Hagel even threatened her with legal action when she went public about the company having built the machines that counted Hagel's landslide votes. 

In the meantime, exit-polling organizations have quietly gone out of business, and the news arms of the huge multinational corporations that own our networks are suggesting the days of exit polls are over. Virtually none were reported in 2002, creating an odd and unsettling silence that caused unease for the many voters who had come to view exit polls as proof of the integrity of their election systems. 

As all this comes to light, many citizens and even a few politicians are wondering if it's a good idea for corporations to be so involved in the guts of our voting systems. The whole idea of a democratic republic was to create a common institution (the government itself) owned by its citizens, answerable to its citizens and authorized to exist and continue existing solely “by the consent of the governed.” 

However, the recent political trend has moved us in the opposite direction, with governments turning administration of our commons over to corporations answerable only to profits. The result is the enrichment of corporations and the appearance that democracy in America has started to resemble its parody in banana republics. 

Further frustrating those concerned with the sanctity of our vote, the corporations selling and licensing voting machines and voting software often claim Fourth Amendment rights of privacy and the right to hide their “trade secrets”—how their voting software works and what controls are built into it—from both the public and the government itself. 

Secret Software 

“If you want to make Coca-Cola and have trade secrets, that's fine,” says Harvard’s Rebecca Mercuri, Ph.D., one of the nation’s leading experts on voting machines. “But don't try to claim trade secrets when you're handling our votes.” 

The window into who owns whom among the various companies—most of which are not publicly traded—is equally opaque. One voting machine company was partially funded at startup by wealthy Republican philanthropists who belong to an organization that believes the Bible instead of the Constitution should govern America. Another is partly owned by a defense contractor. Even the reincarnation of a company that helped Enron cook their books has gotten into the act. 

“There are several issues here,” says reporter Lynn Landes, who has written extensively about voting machines. “First, there's the issue that the Voting Rights Act requires that poll watchers be able to observe the vote. But with computerized voting machines, your vote vanishes into a computer and can't be observed.” 

To solve this, many are calling for a return to paper ballots that are hand-counted. It may be slower, but temp-help precinct workers may even cost less than electronic voting machines (which are a multi-billion-dollar boon for corporate suppliers), and will ensure that real humans are tabulating the vote. 

“Second,” says Landes, “there’s the issue of who controls the information. Of all the functions of government that should not be privatized, handling our votes is at the top of the list. This is the core of democracy, and must be open, transparent, and available to both the public and our politicians of all parties for full and open inspection.” 

Although Rush Holt is suggesting there be stringent standards, he hasn’t gone so far as to say corporations shouldn’t process our votes. But why not? Most government functions—from our courts to our fire departments—run fairly smoothly, despite carping from the extreme right wing. Increasingly, people across America are demanding that—like in other democracies around the world—our system of voting should be publicly owned. 

Another point Dr. Rebecca Mercuri raises is that the Help America Vote Act (HAVA)—passed after the 2000 election—calls for the President to appoint, as the Act states, “with the advice of the Senate,” members to “an independent entity, the Election Assistance Commission.” The commission is then to create “the Election Assistance Commission Standards Board, the Election Assistance Commission Board of Advisors...and the Technical Guidelines Development Committee” to establish standards and oversee compliance of the law by voting machine companies. 

“But the commission has not yet been established,” says Mercuri, even though billions in federal dollars have been distributed under HAVA for states to buy electronic voting machines and license their software from private corporations. “As a result,” Mercuri says, “there are currently no meaningful federal standards for voting machines. Many of the machines used in 2002 were built to industry guidelines that many question and were established in 1990.” 

And those standards are problematic. In the course of researching “Black Box Voting,” Harris did a Google search on one of the voting machine companies, Diebold Election Systems, and found it maintained an open FTP site on the Internet apparently through the 2002 election. In it, she located computer code used to tabulate elections and, apparently, actual vote count files that could be downloaded or even replaced by any visiting hacker. 

A Web site for the New Zealand news publication The Scoop has published Diebold's files on the Internet, producing lively discussions among computer enthusiasts and scientists who have apparently (and perhaps unlawfully) cracked the company's various codes. 

The Scoop also performed a statistical analysis comparing American polls and computer-controlled voting machine results. In many states there were no variations. In a few, however, they found that “the Republican Party experienced a pronounced last minute swing in its favour of between 4 and 16 points. Remarkably this last minute swing appears to have been concentrated in its effects in critical Senate races (Georgia and Minnesota) where [the Republican Party] secured its complete control of Congress.” 

Purging Voter Rolls 

While corporate bungles or the potential for outright vote fraud are a concern of many opposed to electronic voting machines, another issue of concern is the concentration of voter rolls in the hands of partisan politicians instead of civil servants. 

In most states, local precincts or counties maintain their own voter rolls. Florida, however, had gone to the trouble before the 2000 election to consolidate all its voter rolls at the state level, and put them into the custody and control of the state's elected Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, who was also the chairman of the Florida campaign to elect George W. Bush. 

As described in disturbing detail in the documentary “Unprecedented” and in Greg Palast's book “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy,” Harris spent millions to hire a Texas company to clean up the Florida list by purging it of all convicted felons—using a list of felons who lived in the State of Texas. 

One of the legacies of slavery is that a large number of African Americans share the same or similar names, and sure enough, when the Texas felon list was compared with the Florida voter list over 94,000 matches or near-matches were found. Those registered Florida voters—about half of them African Americans (who generally vote Democratic)—with names identical or even similar to Texas felons were deleted from the Florida voter rolls, and turned away from the polls when they tried to vote in 2000 and in 2002. 

Now, under HAVA, states across the nation are consolidating their voter lists and handing them over to Harris’s various peers to be cleaned and maintained. 

Another concern is Internet voting, since it’s impossible to ensure its accuracy. Imagine if all the time a voting machine was being used, it also had its back door open and an unlimited number of technicians and hackers could manipulate its innards before, during and after the vote. 

Activists suggest this is one of the reasons it’s dangerous that so many electronic voting machines today are connected to company-access modems, but it’s an even stronger argument against the very core of democracy—the vote—being handled out in the public of cyberspace. 

Nonetheless, the Pentagon is moving ahead with plans to have a private corporation conduct Internet voting for overseas GIs in 2004, and many fear it’ll be used as a beta test for more widespread Internet voting across the nation. While many Americans think the ability to vote from home or office over the computer would be wonderfully convenient, the results could be disastrous: Even the CIA hasn’t been able to prevent hackers from penetrating parts of its computer systems attached to the Internet. 

Votes Are Sacred 

On most levels, privatization is only a “small sin” against democracy. Turning a nation’s or community’s water, septic, roadway, prisons, airwaves or health care commons over to private corporations has so far demonstrably degraded the quality of life for average citizens and enriched a few of the most powerful campaign contributors, but it hasn't been the end of democracy. 

Many citizens believe, however, that turning the programming and maintenance of voting over to corporations that can share their profits openly with politicians (or, like Hagel, become the politicians), puts democracy itself at peril. 

A growing number of Americans are saying our votes are too sacred to reside only on “chips,” and that it’s critical that we kick corporations out of the commons of our voting, and that we make sure we have a human-verifiable vote paper trail that goes all the way back to the original hand of the original voter. 

If there are chips involved in the voting process, these democracy advocates say, government civil service employees who are subject to adversarial oversight by both parties must program them in an open-source fashion, and in a way that produces a voter-verified paper trail. 

Anything less, and our democracy may vanish as quickly as a network of modem-connected election-counting computers can reboot. 

Thom Hartmann is a nationally syndicated daily talk show host and the author of “Unequal Protection” and “The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight,” among other books. 

The headline in today’s East Hampton Star screams out at me. Renee Zellweger’s $2.15 million house in East Hampton may be haunted! But further down in the article it says that Renee isn’t worried. She never stays there anyway. 

It’s day 25 of my stay at the William Flanagan Memorial Creative Person’s Center in Montauk, New York and now I have ghosts to worry about too. It’s bad enough that there is constant sand between my toes and a whirl of mosquitoes buzzing around my head, but Renee’s house being haunted? It’s just too much. I decide to get out of my “creative persons” paranoid rut by taking a site-seeing tour.  

I’m the only person on the county bus. The driver is so happy to see me that he gives me a running commentary as we barrel eastward on Highway 27 toward the old Montauk Point Lighthouse.  

“Alec Baldwin has a compound here,” he tells me. “See the house on the hill? That’s Dick Cavett’s. And the big house next to it? That’s his too. Robert De Niro lives over there and Bianca Jagger lives down that road. Roy Scheider’s place is on the other side of the highway. You know who he is don’t you? Jaws.” 

Ah, yes Jaws. Another thing to worry about. I guess I won’t be going into the ocean this week. It’s too rough anyway.  

The bus driver drops me off at the lighthouse and gives me 10 minutes to walk around. I approach the entrance but am stopped by a woman sitting in a kiosk. “Six dollars,” she says.  

“I’m only walking to the lighthouse and back,” I say. ”I have to get back on the bus in 8 minutes.”  

“Sorry,” she answers. “It’ll cost you six bucks.” 

I look at the lighthouse from the kiosk. I walk slowly to the bus and get on. “What do you think?” asks the bus driver. “Gives you a creepy feeling being all the way at the very end of Long Island, doesn’t it?”  

“Yes,” I agree.  

But the creepy feeling is not enough to keep me from going back to the lighthouse the next day. I have looked at a map and discovered that it is a five mile beach walk from the lighthouse to the village of Montauk. I talk to one of the artists at the center and he gives me some advice. “You can walk it,” he says. “But the tide has got to be just right and you’ll have to climb a lot of rocks. You’ll know you’re halfway when you reach the Andy Warhol Compound. Pack a lunch, take plenty of water and wear sturdy shoes.” 

I am intrigued. In the East Bay we don’t have “compounds.” We live in apartments, condos, cottages and houses. I imagine tall, weird buildings made out of bizarre materials and strange, wild people running around in costume on the beach. Maybe if I walk by slowly and smile they’ll invite me to their party. 

But when I finally make it to the Warhol beachfront property I am surprised, and pleasantly amused. It is not the avant garde warehousey place I have envisioned. Indeed, it is a stately white New England-looking farmhouse, with multiple wings, green shutters and a grandmotherly atmosphere. There is no one there to invite me to a party. 

I keep walking and thinking. Perhaps the William Flanagan Memorial Creative Person’s Center could be classified as a compound. There is more than one building on the property. There are people of no blood relationship living together here, five artists per month plus two caretakers. When I get back to Oakland, where I live with my disabled husband, his two unrelated attendants, a little dog, a big bird and a sometimes visiting child, I think I’ll start calling my little Victorian house on Dover Street a compound. I like the sound of it. 

Oakland resident Susan Parker spent the month of July in Montauk, New York as the guest of the Edward F. Albee Foundation. For information on this artist residency program visit www.pipeline.com/~jtnyc/albeefdtn.html.

For 34 years, Dr. Charlie Berger has been taking care of Berkeley pets—4,600 of them, to be precise. 

On Thursday, Berger tended to his last patient, ending an era for himself and the animal owners who love him. In the years since Berger first began the Campus Veterinary Clinic at 1807 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, he has seen the field of veterinary medicine undergo a transformation that redefined the way he provides medical care for animals. 

Nowadays, he says, pets that visit his clinic have available a level of treatment comparable to that of their animal owners. 

“It has been a field that was widely explored,” Berger said, looking around at the medical instruments and jars of pills and ointments that line the shelves of his examination room. “It’s a different practice now than it was 

when I began.” 

But for Berger—who has spent extensive time in the wilderness of Alaska and the Yukon—being a veterinarian is about the personal interactions with the animals to whom he tends. He says that working with animals was a natural career choice—“Put simply, I like and respect animals more than I do people”—though he never thought he would end up caring for domestic pets for the bulk of his career. 

“I was going to do it for two years,” he said. “I don’t know what happened.” 

Berger was born in a Brooklyn apartment house where his contact with animals was limited. Seeing pictures of wildlife in other places and hearing about them in books, he said, encouraged the “pictures in his mind” that led him to begin to study animal life and medicine. 

With a veterinary degree in hand and experience as a zoologist, Berger initially came to Berkeley in 1969 after he was drawn by the beautiful women he had seen on a visit to the area. He bought the clinic on what was then 

Grove Street and opened a practice, attracting area families who sought a family veterinarian for their beloved pets. 

He married one of the beautiful women, then found another when the first left him. Today, he is married to a third wife, a psychotherapist who helps in the clinic and coordinates his schedule. 

“People with pets in Berkeley love this man,” said his wife, Erin Donahue. “He’s been there for pets being born, pets dying. He’s been a part of their lives.” 

Over the years, Berger said the idea that has kept him going is the exploration of the interactions between humans and animals. 

“That very primitive relationship transcends everything—race, economics, intelligence, gender, education,” he said. “A relationship that progressed from man and hunter to more parent and child is such a social commentary.” 

Now Berger is hanging up his stethoscope in favor of time spent studying animals of a wilder variety. He and Donahue will move permanently to their vacation home in Vermont, but Berger will spend much of his time traveling to the wilderness areas he loves—Alaska, the Arctic, and the Yukon. He will coordinate commercial canoe trips and wildlife expeditions and focus on his photography and his writing. 

“Some people do yoga, and some go to church,” Berger said. “I poo-pah both of those. For me, an early morning canoe through the lily pads on the Spatsizi River [in British Columbia] is what gives me life. I’m lucky that I’m going to get to spend my time doing that.” 

Berger said that the idea of retiring occurred to him only recently in realizing that he is growing older. In recent months he has been to too many friends’ funerals and wants to enjoy his life while he can. 

“Two wives have left me, my [physician] died, and my accountant absconded,” he said. “It makes you think. There are still a lot of rivers I want to canoe while I’m able.” 

The animal owners that have depended on Berger’s services over the past 34 years say his retirement is well-deserved but that they will miss his services and gentle bedside manner. 

“I’ve been taking my pet to Dr. Berger since 1966,” said Kay Eisenhower. “He’s outlived two husbands. He’s absolutely wonderful—a genius with animals. It is so sad that we are losing him.” 

Berger himself often appears nonplussed by the sadness over his departure. 

“I feel like I’m in an open casket with all these women coming by and crying,” he said. “And I’m trying to tell them I’m not dead yet.”

Intellectuals usually make poor politicians because they are prone to muse publicly about the political process, revealing far too much about its true inner workings and, too often, their contempt for both the process and the general population.  

To survive and prosper, after all, the magician must not be tempted to explain the trick whilst he is in the midst of tricking us. That Jerry Brown—who, I am sure, would dearly want to be remembered as an intellectual—continues to survive as a politician is a tribute either to his considerable political skills or else to our failure to pay attention to what the little man behind the curtain is actually saying.  

In May, following a period in which he said very little in public up here in Oakland about the situation surrounding the state takeover of the Oakland public schools, the mayor traveled down to the Los Angeles Bar Association to tell the L.A. lawyers, in part, what he thought about the situation surrounding the state takeover of the Oakland public schools.  

“Now in Oakland,” Brown explained, in a revealing passage that has to be read twice over, at least, to appreciate how much it reveals, “we had a little problem. The Oakland Unified School District made some improvements and they did a pretty good job, but they spent $100 million they didn’t have… So now there’s a bill and the school district’s going to get $100 million. So when someone says: What do you think about this horrible thing? [the ‘horrible thing’ presumably being the state legislation to allow the state superintendent to take over the Oakland schools], I say, What do you mean? We spent $100 million we didn’t have and now we’re getting a fresh 100 million to start all over again and we get to throw the superintendent out and get a new one, called the state administrator. And we don’t have to have a school board. So I figured that’s a win-win for everybody. Except the school board…”  

And except for Oakland citizens, who must continue to pay for a public school system that no longer has to be accountable in any way to Oakland citizens. But let’s not be picky.  

The more interesting part of the mayor’s statement is his math on the $100 million. Presuming that the Oakland School Board actually spent $100 million that it didn’t have (former Superintendent Chaconas and present school board members have consistently disputed that figure), the $100 million reimbursement from the State of California comes in the form of a loan, not a gift. At some point in the near future it will have to be repaid, which means that at that future point, Oakland-generated money which might be going towards present services will instead be going to service past debt.  

This would seem to be “win-win” only for those who do not see themselves as blending their long-term futures with the future of Oakland, and do not plan to be here when the piper must be paid.  

Or are we being picky again?  

In any event, the mayor, in his springtime L.A. Bar Association address, went on, at some length, to explain some of the politicians’ tricks to the assembled lawyers, for those who might want to take up the craft themselves:  

“There’s a law we passed while I was running for reelection [for California governor],” the mayor explained, “that said every high school will establish strict graduation standards, and no student can graduate without meeting them. So I took out an ad… The ad said we solved the problem of standards and slack performance in schools, because now we have graduation standards...Well that was 1978 and of course, Deukmejian had an education program, Wilson had something, Gray Davis has these exit exams and now even George Bush has a ‘no-child-left-behind’ with the same kind of idea: standards examination. The point I want to make is that if you’ve got a problem, you can milk that thing a long time.”  

I would have thought that he was referring here only to other politicians, but the mayor keeps bringing the subject back to himself.  

“When my father was running for District Attorney of San Francisco in 1943,” Mr. Brown continued, warming to the subject, “he had a slogan [that] said: ‘Crack Down On Crime. Pick Brown This Time.’ I tell you I’ve been using that slogan. I find it still works. Everybody keeps making similar claims: ‘...if you elect me you’re going to crack down on crime’... Between reducing crime and improving education, you can keep that going a long time.”  

The trick for the astute politician, if I am understanding the mayor right, is not to actually solve any of these problems, but to keep up the nice slogans while spending the hundred millions that happen to come your way.  

But then, I’ve never been much of an intellectual, so this is probably going way over my head.  

“Mercy,” as my old editor, Jim French, used to say.

How does an artist confront the challenges of capturing reality on the most ephemeral of media? The Berkeley Art Center answers that question next week when it unveils a national juried exhibition, “Works on Paper.” 

Of 25 Bay Area artists represented in the works of contemporary drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, mixed media and digital images, seven are from Berkeley. 

While most of the artists are seasoned veterans of the art world, exhibiting is a new experience for Berkeley watercolorist Haseoo Pyun, who emigrated from South Korea in 1998 and has lived in Berkeley three years. Her first-ever submission to a show is the image of Lake Tahoe she calls “Serenity.” 

Pyun, whose favorite watercolor subjects include penguins and the Golden Gate Bridge, says she wants people to appreciate the beauty of her work. 

“I didn’t put any specific meaning in my art. I don’t want to define art. I don’t want to limit the meaning. People have their own perspective,” says Pyun who began painting watercolors about two years ago. She says the process helps her concentrate. “When I draw or paint I can totally focus on one subject. That’s the main reason I started.”  

Pyun, who first sketches her subjects on location then paints them later at her studio, said being picked for the show was “a great honor.” 

A more whimsical take on watercolors at the exhibit is provided by Berkeley artist Irene Dogmatic in her brightly colored “Harlequin Romance.” A play on words, just about everything in the painting is “harlequin something or another,” says Dogmatic. There are harlequin ducks, harlequin lilies, a harlequin Great Dane, and the two main figures in the painting are dressed in harlequin clown suits.  

“I’ve done a lot of work around the concept of romance, “ says Dogmatic. 

Another of her word play paintings, “Significant Otters,” depicts a pair of the critters kissing. She also paints large canvases often with a political theme and has a thriving side business doing realistic portraits of pet owners’ beloved dog and cats. She executes her colorful, highly patterned paintings in either watercolor on paper or acrylic on canvas. 

Dogmatic, who received her undergraduate degree in art from Cal in the early 70s, came up with her last name, an alias, during the correspondence art movement that flourished from the early 70s to the late 80s. Correspondence artists would write each other for ideas for their various projects and would always use a pen name. “It was sort of like the Internet, but it was through the mail,” says Dogmatic. 

When Esquire magazine published an article about the movement in the early 70s featuring Dogmatic and her paintings, the name stuck. She says the name also works well for her because she’s always used a lot of canine imagery. 

Another Berkeley exhibitor, photographer Pamela Cobb, specializes in landscape-based shots of rock formations. Cobb travels the deserts of the American Southwest in search of images to capture. 

A first glance at her three-by-four-foot black and white photograph “Capital Reef Canyon” reveals what seems to be an abstract creation, but it’s a real view shot from beneath a cavern’s rock overhang in Utah. A broad band of sky broken by the image of a mountain top in the distance divides the image’s upper third—the massive rock face overhead—from the lower third, the rubble on the cavern floor. 

“You can’t really tell what it is or where it is and that’s what appealed to me about the point of view,” says Cobb who describes her work as “looking for abstraction in the landscape and then photographing it as it is. I’ve removed the context just by my point of view. It’s real, it exists, but it’s also abstract and sort of inconclusive what you’re looking at.” 

A graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts, her work has appeared throughout the Bay Area as well as in Maine, Chicago and Philadelphia. 

Over 650 artists from across the country submitted 2,500 slides of their work to be considered for the juried exhibition, now in it’s 20th year. Marian Parmenter, Director of the San Francisco Museum of Arts (SF MOMA) Artists’ Gallery at Fort Mason, whittled that number down to 49. Each artist has one piece in the show.  

“I do this all the time all over California and this was a particularly exciting show,” says Parmenter. “It was incredibly diverse and very challenging and the work was of such a high caliber it was really, really hard to choose.” 

Parmenter says she wasn’t looking for anything in particular when judging the artwork. “When there’s that much work you don’t try to have a theme. It doesn’t seem quite fair,” she said. Parmenter did have her favorites though, noting that the photography submitted was “extremely strong.” She said she also felt compelled to include some “very funny dog pictures. I couldn’t resist.” 

Because the art is chosen blindly, Parmenter didn’t have any information about the artists. 

While Parmenter didn’t know that many of the artists in the show are from the East Bay, she isn’t surprised. About half of the 1,200 Bay Area artists she works with at the Artist’s Gallery (an outlet for artists to rent out their work) live in the East Bay.  

The other Berkeley artists in the show are Timothy Andrew Phelan, Pamela Blotner and Barbara Kronlins. Other East Bay artists exhibiting works are Alva Svoboda, Shane Weare, Arngunnur Yr, Katherine Westerhout, Soffia Saemundsdottir, Othmar Tobisch, Margaret Chavigny, Michele Nye and Mary Ann Hayden of Oakland; Brooke Barer of Richmond and Albert Edgerton of Piedmont.  

A reception for the artists and the announcement of awards will be held at the Center Sunday, Aug. 10, from 2 to 4 p.m. The show opens for public viewing this Wednesday. 

The Berkeley Art Center is located at 1275 Walnut St., Berkeley. Admission is free. 

For more information, call the center at 510-644-6893 or visit their Web site, www. berkeleyartcenter.org. 

Ashby Arts District Fundraiser 

The Transparent Theater will play host to a unique fundraiser this weekend—an effort to create a new arts district in South Berkeley. 

Epic Arts Studio, which operates the performance space, is staging the Saturday and Sunday concerts as a benefit for the newly-designated Ashby Arts District. 

Epic Arts has initiated formal partnerships with La Pena Cultural Center and The Jazz House to collaborate on future programs and encourage other artistic venues to participate in Ashby area events. 

The effort to create the arts district scored a major victory earlier this week when Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates issued a city proclamation recognizing the project. Now the only hurdle for Epic Arts coordinators is the fundraising process. 

“We realize that there are many communities operating side by side that often never interact,” said Epic Arts community organizer Tanya Hurd. 

“Through collaboration of events and programs we can bridge gaps between organizations and the communities they serve.” 

—Megan Greenwell 

UC Summer Symphony Concert  

The UC Berkeley Summer Symphony will present a free concert in Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley Campus at 8 p.m. Aug. 2. 

The orchestra, directed and funded entirely by UC Berkeley students, is the summer extension of the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. Orchestra members include members of the UC Berkeley Symphony, the San Francisco and Oakland Youth 

Symphonies, and other musicians from around the Bay area. 

This year's music directors are Alexander Kahn, doctoral student in music history and literature, Mei-Fang Lin, doctoral student in composition, and Kumiko Takahashi, recently graduated with a B.A. in music. 

This summer, the orchestra will be performing Smetana's The Moldau, Beethoven's Violin Concerto, and Chaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. The soloist in violin concerto will be Julieta Mihai, a Romanian violinist who has just completed a DMA in violin performance at the University of Illinois.  

For details, visit www.geocities.com/ 

summersymph2003 or call 510-701-6590. 

—Daily Planet Staff

The Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) presents Summer Noon Concerts 2003, a unique series of nine free concerts, Thursdays at noon in June & July, beginning June 5th. From Rhythm & Blues to Brazilian capoeira, these concerts at the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza (Shattuck Ave. at Center St.) are a showcase of the culturally rich performing arts in Berkeley. This outdoor summer celebration of Berkeley-based musicians & dancers is just a small sampling of the performing arts happening nightly in clubs, cafes, schools, theaters and concert halls in Downtown Berkeley. 

On Thursday, June 5th, our concert series opens with Rhonda Benin and Soulful Strut performing some of the best in R & B, with a splash of jazz and a solid helping of the blues. Soulful Strut appears regularly at many Bay Area nightspots such Enricos Sidewalk Café and Restaurant. 

On Thursday, July 31st, our concert series closes with SoVoSó, a highly visual and imaginative a capella ensemble that sings a compelling mix of jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, world, pop, and improvisational music. The ensemble is made up of former members of Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, and McFerrin says, “SoVoSó is tight, soulful, and a whole lotta fun.” 

This event is easily accessible by transit and there is one hour free parking daily from 9 am to 5 pm in Center Street Garage. Seating will be available. 

For a complete schedule of entertainers for the Downtown Berkeley Summer Noon Concerts 2003 visit the Downtown Berkeley Association website at www.downtownberkeley.org

Remembering A-bomb victims 

As a remembrance of a bombing, a group of East Bay volunteers will stage a call for peace this weekend. The Saturday event will mark the 58th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II. For the second year in a row, participants from Bay Area groups including Women For Peace, ProgressivePortal.org, and the Berkeley Peace and Justice commission will float “peace lanterns” in the San Francisco Bay from the Berkeley Aquatic Park.  

The ceremony will feature an opportunity for participants to make their own paper lanterns to float in the water, as well as a performance of traditional Japanese music. The lantern floating ceremony will include a remembrance for the 74,000 killed in Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, as well as victims of all wars. This is the second year for Berkeley’s commemoration event. Similar ceremonies are held every August in Japan. 

“I would like to extend my sincere respect to you all for holding this ceremony every year to console the souls of the victims of the atomic bombings and to pray for the everlasting world peace,” wrote Nagasaki mayor Iccho Itoh in a letter addressed to the city. “I would like to extend my warm wishes for the … continued prosperity of the City of Berkeley.” 

The Peace Lantern ceremony will take place this Saturday at the Berkeley Aquatic Park on the west end of Addison Street. Lantern making will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a musical performance at 7:15 p.m. and the lantern floating ceremony at 8:00 p.m. 

—Megan Greenwell 

Out to best breastfeeding record 

More than a thousand Bay Area women will set out Saturday to defend their own world record for the most number of women breastfeeding at one place and time. 

Organizers said they did not know how many women would turn out on Saturday, but said they expected more than the 1,130 they had last year to capture the world record. The Berkeley group broke the previous world record held by Sydney, Australia. 

Later this year, the women of Sydney plan to stage their own demonstration again, hoping to beat Berkeley and win back their title. 

The simultaneous breastfeed is sponsored by the California Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, as well as the City of Berkeley and Alameda County Public Health Departments and the Native American Health Center. 

The breastfeeding competition is organized as part of the celebration of World Breastfeeding Week and California Breastfeeding Awareness Month, which are designed to promote awareness about the health benefits of breastfeeding. Former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher will speak at the event to encourage mothers to keep their infant children on breast milk instead of formula. 

“It’s a very important thing because in the U.S. many mothers rely on formula instead of breast milk, which is better for babies,” said Melody Hansen, a national spokesperson for La Leche League, an international organizations that helps educate mothers about breastfeeding.  

“Marketing and free distribution of formula, as well as commercials that make it seem like formula is better than breast milk, really hurt our push to show women that breast feeding is the best way to keep their babies healthy.” 

The breastfeeding count will take place at the Berkeley Community Theater on the Berkeley High School campus on Saturday. Registration for mothers and musical performances will begin at 11:30 a.m. in Civic Center Park, followed by Satcher’s speech at noon. The procession to the theater will start at 12:45 p.m., and the official count will commence at 1:30 p.m. Results will be announced at 3:30 p.m. 

—Megan Greenwell 

BPD Captain breaks glass ceiling 

Stephanie Fleming becomes the Berkeley Police Department’s first woman to reach the rank of captain Thursday when she takes the oath in the Berkeley Council Chambers, 3124 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, at 1:30 p.m. 

A 25-year department veteran and Berkeley native, in 1997 Fleming became the department’s first African-American lieutenant. 

“I’ve had my challenges along the way, but nothing I could not overcome,” Fleming said in a statement released Monday. “I feel like a pioneer of sorts because I’m laying the stepping stones for the other women in my department.” 

Fleming, a graduate from Oakland Technical High School, earned a Bachelor of Arts in sociology at UC Berkeley in 1975. She was joined the Berkeley Police Department in 1978, working in the Patrol Division, Property Crimes and the Community Services Bureau. 

Promoted to sergeant in 1985, Fleming was elevated to the rank of inspector five years later when she was assigned to the Internal Affairs Bureau. Most recently she headed the department’s Bureau of Inspections and Control. 

Among her honors, Fleming was named PAL Officer of the Year in 1993 and earned the Community Policing Award in 1999. 

—Daily Planet Staff

According to the latest figures from the Bay Area Green Business Program, Berkeley leads the region by a long shot in certified environmentally-friendly businesses. 

A total of 27 restaurants, auto repair shops, dentists and other businesses have taken steps to conserve water and energy, recycle and prevent pollution, earning certification as an official “green business” from the program, operated by the Association of Bay Area Governments. 

Oakland ranked second with 17 certified businesses, followed by Concord, in Contra Costa County, and Novato, in Marin County, with 15 each. 

“Berkeley businesses have really stepped up to the plate,” said Pamela Evans, director of the Alameda County Green Business Program, the local wing of the broader Bay Area program. “Their combined efforts have ensured that tons of waste are diverted from landfills, fewer dangerous chemicals are drained to the Bay and thousands of dollars are saved due to energy and water conservation measures.” 

The broader program, launched in 1996, includes six of the nine Bay Area counties—Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara and Sonoma. San Francisco County is expected to join by year’s send or early in 2004, according to Ceil Scandone, regional coordinator for the program. 

Art Ratner, owner of Art’s Automotive on San Pablo Avenue, said “a swarm” of city and county officials descended on his shop in 2000 when he decided to certify as a green business. 

“They find things in your business that you are not even aware of,” he said. 

Ratner said the shop moved to water-based solvents, ratcheted up its water conservation efforts and hastened the shift to low-energy light bulbs as a result of the process. 

Ratner said the green business seal makes a difference to about one in 50 customers. 

“It’s one more reason [to patronize the shop]—and that suits me fine,” he said. 

Jennifer Cogley, eco-business coordinator for the city of Berkeley, credits Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education, a non-profit based in both Oakland and Los Angeles, for the recent rise in the town’s certified green business numbers. 

The non-profit’s Greening Ethnic Restaurants program has attracted a host of new businesses to the certification process since March 2002. 

“Our success is built on conducting language- and culture-specific outreach to minority ethnic businesses, a hard-to-reach population,” said Ritu Primlani, who heads Greening Ethnic Restaurants. “We help to create a model that says that environmentalism isn’t just for people who are fluent in English and can afford it.” 

Primlani projects that, over the course of five years, the first 30 Bay Area restaurants her program has helped certify, in Berkeley and beyond, will redirect solid waste from landfills to recycling equivalent to 22.8 Boeing 737 aircraft filled to a maximum capacity of 79 tons. 

For a list of green certified businesses, see the Bay Area Green Business Program’s web site at www.abag.ca.gov/bayarea/enviro/gbus/.