Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board members authorized a key document last week paving the way for the tallest structure to rise in downtown Berkeley in decades, the nine-story Seagate Building slated to replace four 1920’s era low-rise structures on Center Street. -more-
Recovering from surgery, Councilmember Dona Spring planned to spend Thursday night in front of her television set watching one of the most important Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) meetings of the year. -more-
Facing widespread public opposition, UC Berkeley announced Monday it will postpone submitting its Long-Range Development Plan (LRDP) to the UC Board of Regents. -more-
Councilmember Maudelle Shirek will mount a write-in campaign to keep her City Council seat, sources close to her said Monday. -more-
With Mayor Tom Bates scheduled to unveil a financial recovery plan today, the city’s latest budget projections show Berkeley falling further into the red. -more-
A watchful Berkeley Police officer and a crew of beefy private security guards kept a tight reign on revelers gathered Friday night during the second of in a series of “Battle of the Bands” events sponsored by a popular Shattuck Avenue tavern. -more-
Uninsured patients are scheduled to hold a press conference today (Tuesday, September 14) to announce two class action lawsuits against Sutter Health, the corporate conglomerate that owns Alta Bates Summit Medical Center as well as hospitals throughout Northern and Central California and the state of Hawaii. -more-
Area residents will have the opportunity to pick up a free digital thermometer near the UC campus during an end-of-September promotion for National Pollution Prevention Week. -more-
Supporters of Academic Choice, a controversial program at Berkeley High School, packed the Little Theater Thursday and elected four of their own to the School Site Council that had been critical of the program since it began three years ago. -more-
A legal challenge to Berkeley’s school integration plan that made national headlines last spring has died a quiet death. -more-
On Election Day 2004, everyone’s attention will turn toward Florida—the quintessential battleground state which marred the reputation of the electoral system for many voters, especially blacks. But months before the actual casting of ballots, the black m edia have been reporting that Florida already is embroiled in an electoral controversy rooted in discrimination. -more-
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s exuberant speech at the Republican National Convention suggested that the Governator may be less the moderate Republican than advertised. Hailed by some during the convention as the Obama of the right, the California governor came across as a devout, rock-ribbed Bush lover. -more-
“Are you getting enough sleep?” asked Pearl, peering into my eyes over the Scrabble board. -more-
Elevated House Takes Tumble -more-
As a result of the actions by the U.S. Government after 9/11, what is the reality in the “war against terrorism” three years later? -more-
It seems everyone—politicians, voters, letter writers and editorial columnists—expressed surprise—shock even—at the process by which a small San Pablo card room could morph into a super-size slot machine mecca. -more-
When the Democratic National convention ended, on July 30, John Kerry had a slight lead in the presidential polls and George Bush had a negative approval rating. By the time the Republican National Convention ended, on Sept. 2, Bush had taken a lead in the polls and had gained a positive approval rating. What happened during the month of August that explains this reversal? -more-
The roots of what might be called Berkeley’s counter-culture reputation go back long before the 1960s. -more-
There have been plenty of docudramas based on interviews or on confessional monologues, even a glut in recent years, but The Faith Project (playing Tuesday and Wednesday at the Ashby Stage) stands alone on this familiar ground. -more-
Sycamores are among the West’s most biologically useful trees. They line creek-cut canyons in the desert, extending a green and gracious welcome to the human traveler and to whole plant and animal communities with their shade and shelter and, not least of all, the holes in their trunks. -more-
Family members of a Berkeley man who mysteriously died in a California Youth Authority prison last weekend said Wednesday that they suspect foul-play and a cover up. -more-
Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board members authorized a key document last week paving the way for the tallest structure to rise in downtown Berkeley in decades, the nine-story Seagate Building slated to replace four 1920’s era low-rise structures on Center Street. -more-
Berkeley school officials believe that recently-reported “plummeting” state test scores at highly-rated John Muir Elementary School are incorrect and are seeking to have them revised by the state Department of Education. -more-
When Almateen Tweedie heard someone pounding on her front door the morning of Oct. 30, she assumed the guests were friends of her young sons. -more-
Without Sylvia McLaughlin and her fellow “tea ladies,” San Francisco Bay might’ve become just another example of urban sprawl—filled in, paved over and transformed into a flat urban plain. -more-
Commercial parking, landmarks and creeks consumed the lion’s share of the Berkeley Planning Commission’s Wednesday night session, producing lots of talk and no decisive action save for one member’s abrupt walkout. -more-
Berkeley’s fourth murder victim of the year—all in the past two months—has been identified as John Hunt, 40, of Oakland. -more-
Is West Berkeley’s Nexus Gallery headed for the wrecking ball? Bob Brockl, a leading figure in the gallery and collective housed in a pair of buildings at 2701-2721 Eighth St., hopes it isn’t. -more-
Scientists from the Berkeley-based California Department of Toxic Substances Control have discovered the world’s highest recorded levels of a recently banned class of fire retardants in the eggs of seabirds that nest along the shores of San Francisco Bay. -more-
Mekayla Blanck, 11 (right) and Celina Borucki-Gibson, 10, participate in an impromptu candle light vigil at the corner of Ashby Avenue and Adeline streets Thursday night where participants marked the death toll of more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. The vigil at Ashby and Adeline, where a few dozen people gathered at 8 p.m., was one of several in the Bay Area, five of which were in Berkeley. The vigils were organized in part by MoveOn.org. -more-
Seeking to undercut a ChevronTexaco legal action to block the sale of Point Molate, Richmond city councilmembers Tuesday reconfirmed in public their closed-door extension of exclusive negotiating rights with a would-be casino developer. -more-
“I think we might have lost her.” -more-
For the next few weeks, the Berkeley Planet will publish lists of alleged violations of human rights by the Bush administration for readers to think about, and perhaps use, in their work on the November election. -more-
Once back South, some years ago, I passed a half-hour or so that could have been used for good fishing time trying to convince an old segregationist about an instance of racial injustice. Afterwards, T.C. Brown, who used to keep me in line, led me out of the meeting by the arm with a quiet lecture on the theory of time-waste. “Boy,” she said, “don’t you know you can’t wake up somebody what ain’t ‘sleep?” -more-
Muslim extremists often cite the Quran, out-of-context and contrary to the Holy Book’s spirit of mercy and compassion, to justify their crimes. Thus, for instance, in the four-page document that investigators found in Muhammad Atta’s luggage in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the terrorist ringleader invoked no fewer than 18 verses from the Quran to exhort his band of brothers to commit violence that took nearly 3,000 lives. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
An article recently appeared in the Daily Planet regarding police rights to challenge Police Review Commission findings (“Court Ruling Hamstrings Police Review Commission,” Aug. 31-Sept. 2). The article was somewhat indignant at the idea that the burden of proof should be on the accuser (Police Review Commissions) and not the accused, (even though this is a fundamental principle of American justice). It is implied that the Berkeley Police Department is insensitive to the public because it challenged 32 of 52 “sustained” complaints filed against it at the PRC. It compares this to numbers from Riverside and San Diego. A closer look at the numbers reveals that the Berkeley Police are not insensitive but rather portions of the public are hypersensitive and distinctly anti-police. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
You don’t need to be a newly arrived UC Berkeley freshman to be unclear on the concept of Economy Culture: in many years of regular attendance, I’ve been constantly surprised by those interested in opera, for example, but not bothering because “it’s so expensive.” -more-
Two of the area’s orchestras, the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Berkeley Symphony, will go into high gear unusually early this season. Regional orchestras, as a rule, start up a few weeks after the beginning of the season in San Francisco and nationally, but it’s different this time. -more-
There’s a lot to be said for hard-to-reach places. If Muir Woods had been more accessible to loggers, it wouldn’t be here today. There’s also a lot to be said for vision. If William Kent and his wife Elizabeth Thacher Kent hadn’t seen something worth preserving, Muir Woods National Monument wouldn’t be here today. -more-
From the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge take Hwy 1 south and exit at Hwy 1/Stinson Beach. Follow signs to Muir Woods/Mount Tamalpais. Approx. 25 miles, 45 min.-1hour. Parking limited. -more-
This Sunday, Sept. 12, Solano Avenue in Berkeley and Albany hosts the Annual Solano Stroll, a day-long fun and food festival. -more-
Sunday’s Solano Stroll was a typically festive Berkeley event. It started out cold and windy, but eventually the fog burned off and citizens came out to stroll in more than respectable numbers. The Planet was lucky—because we’d contributed space to the S olano merchants’ association for advertising the event, we got space across from Andronico’s to set up a table and chairs with a sunshade, where we could sit with our grandchildren and enjoy the passing throng. -more-
It’s hard to believe that it’s been only three years since Saudi Muslim extremists commandeered commercial aircraft and crashed them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. What was before September 11, 2001, a small fire fanned by a few fanatics has become a firestorm which threatens to engulf the world. The historic willingness of human beings to kill and be killed for a religious ideology has been demonstrated again and again since 9/11, most recently in the appalling occurrences in North Ossetia, now part of Russia, where men and (most tragically) women were willing to kill defenseless children who had done nothing to harm them, in support of an abstraction which is essentially meaningless to non-believers. -more-
