A bombed-out Israeli bus brought to Berkeley as part of a rally to address “global terrorism” drew hundreds of spectators to Martin Luther King Jr. Park Sunday. It also drew protesters who called the display propagandistic, one-sided and anathema to peace. -more-
Plans for the $120 million Memorial Stadium renovation moved a small step closer to realization Friday with the deadline for UC Berkeley’s call for submittal of qualifications from architectural firms. -more-
The dispute between Berkeley High School and Berkeley Alternative High School escalated last week, with principals of the respective schools differing sharply over which administration was responsible for the problem. -more-
Local city councilmembers and state Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) gathered in Cotati Friday to discuss the impact of casinos on their communities and consider a proposed statewide initiative that would impose a moratorium on new gambling pal aces. -more-
Wired Magazine founder Louis Rossetto got his wish Thursday when Zoning Adjustments Board members gave him final approval for an addition to his mother’s recently landmarked cottage. -more-
The City Council Tuesday is scheduled to vote on a plan to reduce auto lanes on a major North Berkeley traffic corridor, but not before residents get their chance to sound off on the proposal. -more-
New state laws mandate that California public schools must be “clean, safe, and functional,” and that all students be supplied with textbooks and other instructional materials and taught by qualified teachers. -more-
Berkeley’s Design Review Committee will get their first look at plans for the David Brower Center Thursday night. -more-
At the moment that President George Bush takes the oath of office Thursday, at 9 a.m. Pacific time, Artists and Writers for Peace are calling on people to gather at BART Plaza in downtown Berkeley, and in 14 cities around the country, to read the Langston Hughes poem “Let America Be America Again.” -more-
Last November’s election remade one-third of the nine-member City Council, but it is only starting to impact Berkeley’s 45 council-appointed citizen boards and commissions. -more-
Second-year Berkeley High School Principal Jim Slemp presented an ambitious eight-goal program to the school PTSA Thursday night, telling parents and teachers in a “State of the School” address that he is dedicated to raising academic scores for all BHS students and eliminating the achievement gap between social and racial groups. -more-
Berkeley High School will take a step towards building its small schools program Wednesday night when the Board of Education considers a proposal for the new BHS School of Social Justice and Ecology. -more-
Berkeley could be in for a red hot debate over the future of the fireplace. -more-
Unionized grocery workers from around northern California gathered Friday at the Oakland Hilton to announce plans to escalate their fight against three major grocery chains if the stores do not agree to protect health care and other union benefits. -more-
My friend Taffy invited me to visit her in New York. She and her friends sent me a round trip ticket to the East Coast including a jaunt to Jamaica, to a resort where you walk around without clothes and pay for drinks with beads. I’m not much of a nudist but I’m big on accepting gifts with no strings attached. -more-
Editors, Daily Planet: -more-
The recent dust-up about reconfiguring Marin Avenue to make it safer for pedestrians has all the elements of a classic Berkeley political tempest in a teapot. A couple of op-ed articles in this paper asserted that the Marin Avenue reconfiguration is a scheme by bicyclists to disrupt motor traffic. -more-
The City of Berkeley is being asked to extend and ratify a plan for Marin Avenue reconfiguration that will have a very large impact on Berkeley traffic patterns and safety. This plan was cooked up by the City of Albany with some input from Berkeley’s traffic and planning staff and support from Berkeley’s bike lobby. As I outlined in a communication of October, 2004, there is no public record of the Berkeley City Council ever really endorsing this plan or authorizing Berkeley city staff to participate in its formation. Only on Oct. 21, 2004 was this plan, already a done deal in Albany, submitted to Berkeley’s Transportation Commission (fondly known in some quarters as the Bike Commission) where it was, unsurprisingly, ratified. Now we are to finally have a full public airing of this matter in Berkeley, at a Jan. 18 public hearing. -more-
Among the myriad qualities that distinguish Mozart from all other composers is his dramatic sense. Others may be inventive, ingenious, clever at writing melodies, but few have his intrinsic understanding of drama. -more-
The taxonomists have been at it again, but this time they’ve done something that makes intuitive sense. Every couple of years the American Ornithological Union comes out with a supplement to its checklist of North American birds, with name and status changes. -more-
For members of the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church on Ashby Avenue, the best way to celebrate the upcoming anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday is to take action and continue his legacy, instead of just reminiscing about it. -more-
Mayor Tom Bates chastised UC Berkeley on Tuesday over recent revelations that it has set January deadlines for architects to submit qualifications to renovate Memorial Stadium and build a new academic building for its business and law schools. -more-
In the wake of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to renege on last year’s education funding agreement, Berkeley education leaders were united on one conclusion: If the governor gets his way, the financial impact on Berkeley public schools will not be good. -more-
Facing an estimated $1 million shortfall, library officials Wednesday presented their board of trustees with a restructuring plan that calls for laying off between 11 and 13 employees and centralizing teen-service librarians in the main branch. -more-
Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission gave their blessings Monday to the Ed Roberts Center, a starkly modern building planned for the western entrance of the South Berkeley BART station. -more-
San Mateo developer Dan Deibel has yielded to critics of his proposed condo and commercial project for the 700 block of University Avenue and agreed to more testing for archaeological artifacts at the site. -more-
Berkeley Planning Commissioners Wednesday voted to give developer Avi Nevo their tentative approval of his plans to convert two apartment projects into condominiums. -more-
Berkeley schools will apparently see the effects of the passage of Measure B sooner than expected. -more-
On Jan. 6, a soldier from Afghanistan’s nascent national army was killed, along with two assailants, when troops were sent in to eradicate an opium field in Uruzgan province. The central government of President Hamid Karzai recognizes that these could prove the opening shots of a new opium war. A month earlier, on Dec. 11, Karzai’s finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, published an op-ed piece in the New York Times, “Where Democracy’s Greatest Enemy Is a Flower,” pleading for international support for crop-substitution programs. Opium is the key to power for Afghanistan’s warlords, who still control much of the country. -more-
It is always interesting to see the great fits of outrage that flow in recent years from the camp of my liberal-progressive-Democrat friends whenever there is some revelation of a moral transgression of a prominent conservative. First there was Bill Bennett and his gambling binges, then Rush Limbaugh and his prescription drug habit, and Bill O’Reilly and his sexual harassment of a Fox News employee. Now comes Armstrong Williams, the conservative commentator, who admits accepting a quarter of a million in public dollars from the Bush Administration to promote the president’s education law. In a column, Williams calls this “an obvious conflict of interests.” -more-
(Names have been changed to prevent me from embarrassing and being therewith scorned by my otherwise adoring children.) -more-
Firefighters rushed to the vacant home at 2828 Fulton St. Monday evening for the second time in as many weeks. -more-
Brian Edwards-Tiekert and Carol Spooner cover many of the issues regarding the recent Staff Local Station Board (LSB) election at KPFA. However, to really understand what the LSB did you must know some pertinent facts that Brian Edwards-Tiekert left out of his article on the LSB decision. -more-
Kudos to Superintendent Michele Lawrence, Shirley Issel and Terry Doran of the Berkeley School Board, and City Councilmember Darryl Moore for attending the packed Berkeley Alternative High School Meeting Jan. 10, where they heard touching stories of seniors who have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their young lives to make it to their last year of high school. Worried parents, passionate students, and some outraged adults gave much heartfelt testimony to a sympathetic Michele Lawrence about their very real concerns. -more-
Thai Garlic Restaurant -more-
Sandwiched between the two UC Berkeley campuses and Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve is a narrow wedge of hillside marked by narrow one-lane roads threading through some of Berkeley’s most distinguished houses, including the creations of Frank Lloyd Wright, Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck and William Wurster. -more-
Workers assemble the last of the scaffolding that now encloses the entire western and southern walls of the Gaia Building. Though representatives of developer Patrick Kennedy declined to state the reason for the recent work, tenants have reported more leaks in a structure that has been partially stripped of stucco. The stucco has been replaced at least three times in the last two years. -more-
In a genre of architecture where squat and boxy seem perpetually in vogue, Cragmont Elementary School is a resplendent, 45,000-square-foot, $8 million exception. Nested into a hillside on Regal Road, Cragmont frames views of San Francisco Bay. -more-
UC Berkeley’s latest long range development plan has been much criticized, and rightly so, by Berkeley’s civic responsibles. City officials have prepared a cogent criticism of the university’s plans, both disclosed and undisclosed, which is about to be taken up this week by UC’s Board of Regents. If past performance is any indication of future behavior, the Regents are unlikely to give the city much consideration. In the past, they have arrogantly asserted their right under the state constitution to do as they please, and there’s no reason to think they’ll change now. Chains are being rattled, lawsuits are being threatened, and it might all make some difference, but since the city has a history of backing down in confrontations with the mighty U, the Regents are probably not very worried. -more-
Democracy in action can be pretty disappointing. It hardly seems like four years ago that a few hardy souls from greater Berkeley rounded up our raggedy old winter clothes and jumped on a Southwest flight to Washington to protest George W. Bush’s usurpation of the presidency when he’d clearly lost the 2000 election. While we were there, we thought we were making a brave showing with our clever banners, even though the weather was abominable. Much to our chagrin, when we got home we discovered that no one who’d been watching the televised inauguration had seen us, or even heard about the protest. When we saw Fahrenheit 9-11 this year, many in the theater were surprised to see the 2000 inaugural protest footage which Michael Moore included, since it never made it to home TV. -more-
