A proposed reorganization of the City of Berkeley’s 49 commissions, advisory boards, and task forces surfaced at this week’s Council Agenda Committee meeting, sparking immediate statements of alarm and concern from commissioners and councilmembers. -more-
Christmas shoppers on Fourth Street this past month who caught the mellifluous strains of Miles Davis wafting through the air were surprised to find that they did not come from a store playing a CD a little too loud but instead from the golden horn of 13-year-old Nate Schneider, performing his renditions of the late, great trumpeter’s tunes. -more-
Berkeley schools will take home a $700,000 windfall from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education budget, district officials said Wednesday. -more-
“Virgil struck the chord of modern passions, and it vibrated more powerfully then the minstrel himself expected.” -more-
Hoping to revive condominium construction in Berkeley, City Council approved amendments to the city’s inclusionary housing ordinance at Tuesday night’s Council meeting. The fractious and often-confusing debate on the housing laws included two last-minute amendments by Mayor Tom Bates that, if they had been adopted, might have taken condominiums out of the reach of moderate income Berkeley residents altogether. -more-
With cheers and chants, 21 Californian “Deaniacs” boarded the eastbound 9:35 a.m. Amtrak train in Emeryville last Tuesday. They were headed for Iowa, where they will be doing volunteer work for Howard Dean through Monday evening, when Iowa Democrats will gather at 1,993 precinct caucuses around the state to choose their candidate for president. -more-
Despite requests from a host of elected officials and one community religious leader, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Dean Tom Campbell refused to honor the long standing boycott of the Claremont Resort and Spa, positioning the school as the last large business to patronize the resort. -more-
Attorneys for the Berkeley Unified School District last week asked a judge to toss out a lawsuit that threatens to end racial balance in its elementary schools. -more-
Let’s say you are a Hispanic female. You have an account at a local bank. You walk into the bank to deposit a check made out to you by your stockbroker. The bank teller suspects that the check is phony. It is a large check and the fact that you are Hispanic makes the teller suspicious. Also there is a smudge on the check. The teller calls the broker and is told that the check is phony. The manager then calls the broker back and is told the check is valid. Still, nobody calls the police and tells them not to come. The police come and detain you. -more-
Beyond the political posturing on all sides about President Bush’s proposed immigration reform, the long lines and anguished waiting of would-be immigrants in the system shows that the process of granting documentation to newcomers has ground to a virtual halt. -more-
The Bush-Cheney political operation is working with business groups to help President Bush overcome the impact of pro-labor coalitions that have sprung up since the enactment of campaign finance reform legislation. -more-
Come November Berkeley voters could be asked to start the ball rolling on the legalization of prostitution in California. -more-
State-appointed Oakland School Administrator Randolph Ward says that when he first got to California some years ago, he intended to register to vote as an independent. Instead, he says that by mistake, he ended up checking the box on the California Voter Registration Form for the American Independent Party, the party originally formed in 1968 to advance the presidential candidacy of the anti-black segregationist George Wallace. “Who the hell knows what that means?” Mr. Ward told the Oakland Tribune this week, the “that” referring, presumably, to the American Independent Party. Well, actually, a lot of us who were around in the ‘60s know what that means. Let’s hope that during Mr. Ward’s several years as a schoolteacher he was not called upon to instruct in modern American history. -more-
Residents spoke out Wednesday against a police proposal to return German Shepherds to the force more than a quarter century after they were banned. -more-
Many buyers want to buy a house that needs some work so they can quickly gain “sweat equity.” About half of the buyers I work with say this during our initial consultation, but many soon find that painting the interior walls is what they really meant. -more-
It all started when my wife Lisa tried to renew her California driver’s license. Easy, you think? Read on. -more-
Despite the unveiling last Friday of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $76 billion 2004-05 budget with its restoration of Vehicle License Fee monies to California’s cities and counties, Berkeley’s top two officials say it’s far too early to tell how big an economic hit this city will take. -more-
Nothing pumps an audience more than music with a beat, performers with attitude, and dancers jumping off the stage into the audience! This is exactly how Berkeley High School’s Dance Production 2004 begins. -more-
Just two days after approving a use permit, city planners booted a nonprofit from its office space in one of Berkeley’s most drug-blighted neighborhoods, revoking their permit amid allegations the group’s chief planned to bring a cannabis club to the site. -more-
The Daily Planet editorial of Dec. 19-22 invited positive ideas for the future of the Holy Land. Following is a summary of a peace plan which I presented -more-
“If somebody was to ask me how I came to be here, I swear b’fore God that I wouldn’t know what to say to ‘em. My whole life, I always wanted to be able to hear stories ‘bout how I came into the world a wanted and special child. But the folks I lived with told stories, ‘bout my mama that wasn’t meant for children’s ears. Truth be told, seemed like nobody could even dig up a idea of how I got inside my mama, let alone what happened afterwards. Since no one was gonna tell me what I wanted to hear, I let myself believe that God had gave me a mouth and mind of my own to do what I seen fit…” -more-
Following a unanimous rejection by Zoning Adjustment Board commissioners Thursday, the developer of the controversial Library Gardens project says he’s been hammering out a compromise to add public parking spaces to the largest apartment complex ever planned for the city center. -more-
Two weeks ago, national representatives of Eddie Bauer stores announced the closure of its retail outlet at Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way in downtown Berkeley, seven years after Berkeley preservationists fought a pitched and ultimately unsuccessful battle to prevent the city from allowing the demolition of the 1890’s-era Edy’s Ice Creamery building where the Bauer store now stands. -more-
A light agenda awaits Berkeley City Council schedule for their first meeting of the new year at 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday, Jan. 13)—its first meeting in a month—proving either that the city is exhausted from wrestling with budget deficits throughout the fall, or that it is merely taking a breath before gearing up for the new money battles this winter and spring. -more-
Apparently, the apartment downstairs and one over from mine was broken into last week. One of our neighborhood methamphetamine enthusiasts forced his way through the bathroom window and started rifling through some drawers while the tenant and her boyfriend were, ahem, busy in the back bedroom. -more-
There are few harvesting thrills for the home vegetable gardener to equal the digging of new potatoes. Disinterring a bed of Jerusalem artichokes is one of them. -more-
“The business part of Berkeley lies west of the campus, the center of the shopping section being enormously wide Shattuck Avenue, which is desolately ugly as it takes its way southward towards Oakland. The few shopping blocks in the center of town have some very good-looking buildings, a few in the modern streamline type that are as successful as any to be found anywhere, but no effort has been made to achieve a harmony. One lone skyscraper sticks up like a sore thumb, increasing the similarity at night, when what is an untidy-looking scaffolding by day transforms itself into a flaming red sign. The decent and considerate skyline of the street is made to suffer, as well as the view from every house on the hills behind. An achievement not only in bad taste but in poor psychology, for many a Berkeley citizen rages against the insult to the city’s beauty.” -more-
Fired reporter Henry Norr’s offhand snipe that the San Francisco Chronicle “apparently sees no problem in having a Sacramento bureau chief whose wife is Arnold Schwarzenegger's deputy chief of staff and was previously a flack for Maria Shriver” prompted not one but two indignant denials from Chronicle functionaries. They told us that the Chronicle's Sacramento bureau chief, Greg Lucas, has agreed to be reassigned, and is no longer covering the governor, the Legislature or any area of state government. -more-
