Small Press Distribution (SPD) is celebrating its 35th year as the nation’s only non-profit book distributor. -more-
A controversial development project on San Pablo Avenue, first proposed in 1999 and then abandoned amid neighborhood opposition a year and a half ago, has taken on new life with a different developer. -more-
An unexpected surge in tax revenues on property transfers could erase more than a quarter of the city’s projected $7.5 million deficit next year, according to a first quarter budget update released by the city last week. -more-
Critics of the Ed Roberts Campus recently approved by the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) for South Berkeley have appealed the Nov. 15 decision to the City Council. -more-
For the holidays we at the Daily Planet want to give our readers an issue of their own. If you have a story you want to tell about something in the East Bay, about one of your favorite things, a recollection, or anything else you have wanted to see in the Planet, this is your chance. Send us your stories and poems and we will turn over our Dec. 24 issue to you. Get submissions to us by Friday, Dec. 17 for consideration. -more-
John Kerry won 90 percent of the votes cast for president in Berkeley, while George Bush won the support of only 6.6 percent of Berkeley’s voters. -more-
A Southern California State Senator, reacting to last fall’s UC hacking incident, wants to repeal current California laws allowing state agencies to release social security numbers and other personal data to public and private sector researchers. -more-
Mayor Tom Bates has backed off, in the face of City Council opposition, from proposing that Councilmember Linda Maio succeed Maudelle Shirek as vice mayor when the new council convenes today (Tuesday), his chief of staff said Monday. -more-
The Board of Education of the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) will consider a proposal at this Wednesday night’s board meeting to reopen collective bargaining agreement with its classified employees. -more-
A Berkeley non-profit foundation set up to promote excellence in local schools has received that distinction itself—an award from the Public Education Network in Washington D.C. for Excellence in Communication. -more-
I read in this very paper that the proposal to build the Ed Roberts Campus, the South Berkeley facility that will house a consortium of organizations serving the needs of the disabled, could be held up due to challenges from the California Office of Historic Preservation. -more-
Fireplace Ash Triggers $1.1 Million Blaze, Destroys Cragmont Ave. Home -more-
To follow-up on Charles Smith’s reflections (Letters, Daily Planet, Dec. 3-6) about policies that would effectively prohibit building on earthquake faults, there is already such a policy, a law even, voted in by the state Legislature in 1972. It is the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Zoning Act. -more-
As I’ve previously written in the Daily Planet, some time in the past year the Berkeley Planning Department removed from its website the lists of notices of decision that document the Zoning Adjustment Board’s recent approval of use permits. -more-
The Taking protections of our Federal (5th Amendment) Constitution is a significant protection and the envy of people throughout the world. In an era when property in parts of the world is taken by the use of force without just compensation to those displaced, this American right created in our constitution must be applied even under the most benevolent circumstances such as the good intentions of people like Chris Kavanaugh (Letters, Daily Planet, Nov. 19-22). -more-
Combining spectacle and intimate moments of dialogue and soliloquy in song with an extraordinary processional chorus of 40, The Play of Daniel is at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Bancroft Way this week in a joint production by Aurora Theatre Company and Pacific Mozart Ensemble. -more-
The seasonal tradition of “decking the halls” makes December a particularly colorful time to visit local house museums decorated for Christmas tours and events. -more-
My thanks to Tom Butt for the reminder that the monarch butterflies have returned to their winter bivouac in the eucalyptus grove at UC’s Richmond Field Station. -more-
Sutter Health carried out its threat against nurses and other union members who staged a one-day walkout Wednesday and refused to let them go back to work Thursday morning, the start of a four-day lockout. -more-
Over the strong objections of the Laney College president, Laney College staff representatives, and Trustee-elect Nicky González Yuen, a lame-duck session of the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees has authorized a free-of-charge, one-year agreement with an Oakland development firm to negotiate possible commercial development of certain Laney College and Peralta District properties. -more-
Richmond residents, business folk, environmental activists and newly elected City Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin braved the 40-degree cold Wednesday morning to picket one of the entrances to Campus Bay, protesting ongoing operations at the site. -more-
City officials Tuesday froze funds to Jubilee Restoration Inc., its third largest non-profit housing developer, after reports submitted by the organization in response to a federal probe revealed that the organization had diverted federal funds. -more-
Problems with renovation work are expected to delay opening of Berkeley’s Elmwood Theater until past the first of the year, but a local engineer involved in seismic retrofit of the theater building says his portion of the project is not to blame. -more-
Longtime Berkeley Police Review Commission Director Barbara Attard announced her resignation this week to become San Jose’s police auditor. -more-
Balloons made of Mylar and aluminum don’t mix too well with power lines, as more than 4,000 South Berkeley customers of PG&E’s electric service discovered abruptly at 9:06 Saturday morning. -more-
T-Rex, 25, says he has been living on Berkeley streets since he was eight. Wednesday night, however, he and his dog escaped the bitter winds blowing through their wooded hillside squat to take refuge in the city’s shelter for homeless youth. -more-
Linda Olivenbaum, spouse of newly elected Berkeley City Councilmember Max Anderson, Jr., made a gruesome discovery in her back yard when she went to move her car recently. -more-
In a hotly contested election race that ends Monday, two groups are vying for nine open seats on KPFA 94.1 FM’s Listener Station Board. -more-
Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board members greenlighted a five-story University Avenue condominium project Monday, saying they were delighted that the developer would be offering units to low-income residents. -more-
Twenty years down the road, if anything good has come from the terrible gas leak in Bhopal, India, it is the birthing of a new generation of unlikely heroes. -more-
Four weeks after the presidential election, there continues to be a controversy about the difference between the exit poll projections and the actual results. Almost daily, conspiracy theories surface on Internet blogs, only to be refuted a few hours later. -more-
The Oakland chips are beginning to fall in place for Mayor Jerry Brown’s run for California attorney general in 2006, and if you thought the whole purpose of the effort was for the Oakland chips to fall in place for the rest of us in Oakland, you went and slept through part of this production, didn’t you? -more-
Against Thomas Lynch’s set of “life on this sorry sawmill camp”—great beams hold up roof and sidings of rusted metal, flanked by a two-story tall iron wheel, with a ragged line of treetops painted on the backdrop—Lonnie (Kevin Jackson) comes out at dawn and sings the Shack Rouser Song “Wake up . . . Day’s breakin’.” -more-
On Tuesday, Dec. 7, the City Council will vote on the Foothill Bridge, which UC Berkeley proposes building on upper Hearst Avenue, at the intersection of La Loma, Hearst, and Gayley Road. To build this bridge, UC Berkeley must obtain an encroachment permit (airspace approval), from the city. -more-
Since there is no worldwide religious consensus, the belief in divine revelation produces this devastating dichotomy: Either God is not almighty because He was incapable of making Himself clear regarding the existence of one true religion, or the Almighty created mostly defective people who can’t recognize His clear message. Consequently, faiths based on a revelation by a god who claims to be both omnipotent and omnibenevolent must either inculcate a prejudice against nonbelievers or an aversion to impartial consideration. -more-
Go West, ye seekers of gifts. To be precise, go to San Pablo Avenue, to Fourth Street, and to venues nearby and in between. Here are some choice possibilities that turned up on a recent random tour of shops on the west side of town. -more-
Berkeley Repertory is joining in a production called Polk County with Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, and here it is, the East Coast cast, same director, same staging, same everything. It sounds as if the Rep is getting off pretty easy. But it turns out that it isn’t all that easy at all, as we’ll get into later. The question now is, what’s the reason for all the hoopla? -more-
It’s a beautiful, crisp morning in the town of Sonoma. Sunlight reflects off color-saturated autumn foliage and whitewashed adobe buildings. From the park in Sonoma Plaza, a pleasant walk leads you past Sonoma State Historic Park, charming boutiques, enticing eateries and beautifully restored Victorian homes. A perfect day for an extended “paseo” in the heart of wine country. -more-
On Wednesday of this week the Planning Commission has scheduled a workshop to discuss proposed revisions to the Landmark Preservation Ordinance. More hours of my life than I care to count, over a four-year period while I was on the Landmark Preservation Commission, were devoted to work on a revised LPO which was ultimately endorsed last summer by a majority of LPC commissioners. Practically every clause represents a compromise between commissioners who are dedicated to conserving old buildings as much as possible and those who regard some old buildings as opportunity sites for new construction. But like most compromises, the attempt to please everyone might turn out to have pleased no one. -more-
It’s become a staple Christmas Grinch feature for small town papers, metro dailies, and even NPR: The Salvation Army’s familiar bell ringers with kettles for donations are banned from yet another collection site. This year’s villain is the Target chain, which gets a fair amount of favorable publicity at other times of the year from its foundation’s support of a variety of charitable causes. Target’s excuse is that if they let the Salvation Army collect, everyone else wants to do it too. Sorry, but that’s not good enough. -more-
