At least four teachers will be transferred involuntarily from Rosa Parks Elementary School next year—and many more might follow them willingly—two months after more than three-quarters of the faculty signed a letter of no confidence in their principal. -more-
For a city whose downtown recently has been characterized more by empty storefronts than thriving shops, Longs Drugs offers Berkeley an enticing opportunity. -more-
A recent speech delivered by a UC Berkeley lecturer during an impromptu anti-war protest in San Francisco has set off a firestorm of criticism around the country, including death threats and calls for his removal from the university. -more-
Richard Register and other Berkeley proponents of daylighting Strawberry Creek have come to San Luis Obispo so often that they’re “becoming a new type of economic tourism,” quipped San Luis Obispo City Councilmember Kenneth Schwartz. -more-
The biggest news swirling around tonight’s (Tuesday, May 25) City Council meeting isn’t on the agenda. -more-
It was two in the afternoon and I was unloading groceries from my car. On the second trip out the front door I saw her rounding the corner and coming toward me: a small, waif-like woman dressed in flannel pajama bottoms and a bubble jacket. I knew what was coming. I was going to get nailed. -more-
On May 22, more than a quarter of the graduating class of Boalt Hall law students protested actions taken by Boalt law professor John Yoo during his tenure as deputy assistant attorney general for the Bush administration. In January, 2002, Professor Yoo authored a 42-page memo for the Department of Justice advising that the U.S. is not constrained by the Geneva Conventions in its treatment of Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners captured in Afghanistan. The State Department vigorously opposed this position on several grounds, arguing that it could do great damage to our international standing and the legitimacy of our foreign policy. Subsequent events in both Iraq and Afghanistan and have borne out these concerns. -more-
Staff proposals for implementing the University Avenue Strategic Plan (UASP) are so confusing that the public, the commission, and even staff find it difficult to understand them, as is shown by each succeeding draft having additional mistakes and inconsistencies. The drafts have come so quickly that issues presented weeks ago have not been resolved, and have been buried by many new questions raised by the later revisions. Staff is pushing the commission to complete a final draft before the City Council recess in July, but neighbors and merchants are not convinced that the proposed zoning code changes will lead to the viable and vital University Avenue that the UASP promised. -more-
The season of political sophistry is well underway in Berkeley as it is across the nation. Evidence of this can be seen in John Koenigshofer’s less than rational, less than honest anti-rent control rant. The latest thoughtless tirade appeared on the op-ed page in the weekend edition of May 11-13. Mr. Koenigshofer signed his piece as “a Berkeley resident.” Perhaps modesty prevented Mr. Koenigshofer from revealing that he is a Berkeley landlord and realtor who works out of George Oram’s firm, one of Berkeley’s largest real estate interests. -more-
Jesse Arreguin recently wrote in this newspaper (Letters, Daily Planet, May 14-17) that “Costa Hawkins and excessive rent levels led to the lack of housing in Berkeley.” I doubt that Mr. Arreguin was living in Berkeley when rent control began in 1979, or that he has taken the time to study the history of this issue. -more-
Last week, San Francisco’s City Arts & Lectures offered a tantalizing twofer at Herbst Theatre: renowned urbanist Jane Jacobs was interviewed by Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for the New Yorker and, before that, for the New York Times. Jacobs, 88, lives in Toronto and seldom ventures into these parts. Not surprisingly, the event sold out. -more-
John King’s review of Jane Jacobs in the May 20 San Francisco Chronicle concluded with a swipe at the UC Hotel Task Force. -more-
For a nation created in part as a rebellion against corporate power, the United States has embraced the corporation to a degree unprecedented in history, enshrouding it with the protections Jefferson enshrined to shelter the individual from the undue intrusion of government. -more-
Sayre Van Young’s face and name are familiar to many Berkeley residents. For nearly four decades, she’s worked for the Berkeley Public Library, helping to answer the most common and esoteric questions posed at the reference desk. -more-
Melaleucas are blooming now; there’s a double row of Melaleuca linariifolia on Jefferson Street, on both sides of its intersection with Bancroft, and a nice row of them by the BART tracks on Masonic in Albany, among others. They look nifty in rows, with their profusion of tiny white flowers mounding the edges of the rounded crowns. One of their English names is “snow-in-summer,” a name shared with an easy herbaceous groundcover, Cerastium tomentosum. They look a little odd together, though, because they have such different color palettes: The tree is pale tan and slightly olive-ish green with creamy flowers, and the herb is silvery and cold white. -more-
Thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recently submitted state budget, Berkeley will likely have to cut an extra $300,000 on top of its $10 million deficit in fiscal year 2005. But if the governor’s word is good, city finances could be structurally sound by 2007. -more-
Union employees at the University of California’s nine campuses, including Berkeley, turned out Thursday to protest the university system’s attempt to scale back or eliminate their jobs as a way to deal with state budget cuts. -more-
Reginald Zelnik, a much-beloved UC Berkeley professor of Russian history and a passionate defender of Free Speech Movement (FSM) activists in the 1960s, died on campus Monday afternoon. He was 68. -more-
EMERYVILLE—In a unanimous vote Tuesday night in front of a divided community, the Emeryville City Council passed a resolution to help movie giant Pixar Animation Studios take a major step towards tripling the size of its Emeryville campus. -more-
The embattled Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) took another body blow this week when it learned that it will lose about $200,000 in federal funding, a 12.5 percent cut. -more-
To honor the legacy of Berkeley-born environmentalist David Brower, architects of the complex that will bear his name are using state-of-the-art “green” building techniques, while next door on the site, affordable housing developer Resources for Community Development (RCD) is employing the most innovative financing plan Uncle Sam has to offer. -more-
Formed to provide free treatment for the injuries inflicted on protesters during the People’s Park riots of 1969, the Berkeley Free Clinic is still going strong 35 years later and looking for volunteers from years past to help them celebrate their anniversary. The private celebration will be held during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. -more-
An overwhelming number of University of California professors have indicated that they want the university to compete for the management of Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Los Alamos National Lab, according to the results of a faculty poll released Wednesday to the UC Board of Regents. -more-
After giving residents their third opportunity in three weeks to comment on UC Berkeley’s Long-Range Development Plan, the five members of Berkeley Planning Commission present at Wednesday night’s public hearing offered a few comments of their own to listening UC representatives. -more-
The story “Residents Blast UCB’s Long Range Expansion Plan” in the May 14 edition mistakenly reported that under UC Berkeley’s long range development plan, over 75 percent of new academic space would be built on the main campus or adjacent blocks. The 75 percent figure only counts the main campus and adjacent blocks to the west. -more-
How can a person survive in today’s high-rent, high-unemployment Bay Area, especially when that person is a single mother without a college degree? Indeed, with plenty of highly credentialled types are pounding the pavement in search of work, how do you survive even with a college degree? -more-
Jury Convicts Killer of Berkeley Driver -more-
While Berkeley voters seem inclined to support a new tax to boost funding for public schools, they give the school district mixed grades on achievement, according to a school district-commissioned survey released Wednesday. -more-
The recently filed lawsuit by certain Oakland politicians and taxpayers to try to overturn the state seizure of the Oakland schools has drawn a flurry of criticism and complaint from predictable sources. Me, I’ve always thought that for a man bound hand and foot in a closet, any movement is a good movement. But let’s examine the issue to make sure. -more-
Donald Rumsfeld’s alleged comment (“...consistent with the Geneva Convention.”) is familiar to me, as heard from commanders of POW Stalags in Germany in WW-II. They lied to the International Red Cross Protective Power Teams from Geneva assigned to inspect Allied POW camps. Get used to it people! Military establishments lie, “pass the buck” and lie again when ever it is strategically appropriate for the mission at hand. It has always been so, for thousands of years; it is the nature of the beast. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
Each year since 1999, the Composers In the Schools Program, administered by the American Composers Forum, has provided instruction in composition to Bay Area high school students, and has given these students a chance to hear their music played and perfo rmed by professional musicians. As I’m finishing my fifth year of teaching in this program, and as there is nothing else like it that I’m aware of in the public school system, I thought I’d provide a brief report from the frontlines. -more-
You’d think that 15 years as artistic director of the Subterranean Shakespeare Company would have cured Stanley Spenger’s enthusiasm for producing major plays on minor budgets. This is, after all—or, more accurately, was—the company that first baptized the cellar at La Val’s pizza parlor as a near-requisite initial location for the East Bay’s fledgling theatrical groups. But the man seems to be addicted to the work. -more-
Lovemaking at its best takes place in an endless present moment. Eating, however, is one of those rare human pleasures that, at its pinnacle, places us in the past, the present and the future all at the same time. -more-
A famous Celtic bard once wrote: -more-
As this is being written (Thursday morning) the latest news from Iraq is that, according to the Washington Post, “U.S. soldiers raided the home of America’s one-time ally Ahmad Chalabi on Thursday.” Well, sure. Guess what, guys? As we say in the trade, W E TOLD YOU SO. You’re just learning that Mr. Chalabi is a thug? Somewhat sleazy? It’s hard to believe that it’s little more than a year since huge demonstrations were mounted world-wide to tell whoever was running the show in Washington that: -more-
