Hungry for revenue, Berkeley is seeking to charge the University of California for millions in unpaid city services as it also plans to challenge the university’s Long Range Development Plan for being too massive and too vague. 

In a closed-door meeting Tuesday night, the City Council will discuss the legal implications of sending its largest landowner bills for sewer hook-ups and parking lot operations. 

Mayor Tom Bates said the issue of sewer fees will come to a head in March when the city recalculates fees for residents and businesses. “We will send UC a bill in March and we will pursue legal action if they don’t pay us,” he said. 

The prime hope for a legal triumph, councilmembers said, is a lawsuit by the East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) against UC Berkeley over how much it can charge the university for sewer treatment. The case, Bates said, is currently before the State Court of Appeals. 

“If East Bay MUD wins it seems pretty guaranteed that the city would have a good case too when it comes to sewers,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington said.  

“They’re not going to give us any money unless they’re forced to,” said Councilmember Dona Spring. 

As a state entity, UC has held that it is exempt from city taxes and fees. Currently, UC Berkeley pays the city $450,000 a year for sewer services as part of a 15-year deal that expires this year. According to a report last year by city consultant Economic & Planning Systems, Inc., providing sewer service to the university will cost Berkeley over $2.6 million this year and $3.8 million by 2014. However, city leaders are only asking for between $1.4 and $2.1 million in sewer fees. 

“We think that’s a range we could go to court with,” Bates said. 

He said city staff was still calculating an estimate of parking lot revenues it believed UC Berkeley owes the city. Berkeley taxes private parking lot operators ten percent of their revenues. Bates believes the university should pay the same tax on nights and weekends when university lots are primarily used for recreational events like football games and performances rather than for the university’s educational mission. 

“Clearly for those events they should pay what every other parking lot operator pays,” Bates said. 

With the city facing multi-million dollar budget shortfalls in upcoming years, an annual payment from the university approaching $2 million could help lift the city out of the red.  

On Wednesday, in a separate action, the city is scheduled file a lawsuit against the university, challenging the adequacy of its Long Range Development Plan. City officials contend the plan is purposely vague about specific developments and fails to deal properly with the impact of further growth on surrounding neighborhoods. 

Since December, city leaders have sought to extract payments from the university in return for not going ahead with the lawsuit challenging the university’s development plan. But with no further negotiations scheduled and the city facing a Wednesday deadline to file suit, Bates said a lawsuit was inevitable. 

A lawsuit would please neighborhood leaders who fear that a settlement would not provide enough money to lessen the effects of a university building boom. 

“Money isn’t the only thing,” said Wendy Alfsen of Berkeleyans For a Livable University Environment. “UC’s plan would have significant and severe impact on neighborhoods.” 

UC’s plan projects 2,600 new dormitory beds, between 1,800 and 2,300 new parking spaces and 2.2 million square feet of new academic and administrative space—three times more than called for in its 1990 plan. 

The city is planning to sue under the California Environmental Quality Act, on the grounds that the university has not identified the specific projects it plans to build and therefore couldn’t adequately provide mitigations to lessen their impact. 

If the city were to prevail in court, UC Berkeley could be compelled to redo its analysis, although once the judge approved the revised report the university could proceed with its development plans. 

While the council will discuss potential conflicts in closed session, Tuesday’s regular council meeting contains mostly items that appear likely to win broad support among councilmembers. 

Spring has proposed that the city apply to a $953,216 state grant program for a final feasibility study on the cost of opening up Strawberry Creek between Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue. The long-discussed project would coincide with the possible construction of a hotel and convention center on the site of the current Bank of America office at the corner of Shattuck and Center Street.  

Mayor Bates is proposing a resolution calling on the state to proceed with the original design for the new east span of the Bay Bridge. Last month, Governor Schwarzenegger, citing over $2 billion in cost overruns on the project, proposed scrapping the design for a simpler version. 

The council is also expected to give final approval to the Ed Roberts Campus, a two story complex which will contain offices to serve disabled residents. Neighbors have appealed the 86,057-square-foot project, slated to rise at the Ashby BART station fronting Adeline Street. The appellates wrote that they aren’t seeking to stop the project, but want to make sure that it includes measures to mitigate its effects on nearby residents, and they want to correct what they see as mistakes in the planning process. 

Also Tuesday, the council will conduct a public hearing on the Berkeley Police Department’s agreements with other law enforcement agencies and private security organizations. Under Berkeley law the city is supposed to conduct such public hearings every year, but hasn’t done so since 1986. Councilmember Spring said local attorney Jim Chanin, a former Police Review Commissioner, sought the hearing for fear that the BPD was sharing private information about his clients with other law enforcement agencies.›

With a Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) “work to rule” labor action scheduled to officially begin this week, meaning teachers refusing to work off the clock, the first effect Berkeley Unified School District parents and students are likely to see is a drop in homework. 

“But if that’s what parents are concerned about,” a high school math teacher told the Daily Planet in a telephone interview, “then maybe what it says is that parents don’t understand what it is that teachers do.” 

Last week, the BFT announced the work slowdown in response to Berkeley Unified’s latest contract proposal. Berkeley teachers have been working without a contract for two years, and contract negotiations are currently being coordinated through a state-appointed mediator. 

In an e-mail to union members, the BFT Executive Board said that work to rule “means that all work related to our jobs is completed during the duty day or during hourly paid time.” The duty day was describe as “7 hours 10 minutes...unless you are being paid extra for an after-school activity.” Teachers were encouraged to continue the work slowdown “until further notice.” 

Berkeley public school teachers said that means homework is going to be severely curtailed or eliminated altogether. At the request of BFT officials, who arranged the interviews, the teachers were to remain anonymous. 

A kindergarten teacher said that teachers at her school had decided to eliminate any homework that involves paperwork on the part of teachers. 

“That means no assignments that require preparation by the teachers, and nothing that requires grading,” she said. “There’s no time in the normal school day to complete those types of tasks.” 

A second grade teacher said that the homework action at his school was “a compromise between those teachers who favored no homework at all, and those teachers who said to assign homework, but not to grade it. We decided to simply give a generic form of homework, with teachers providing a minimum of feedback.” 

He said that he normally assigns a weekly homework packet to his students on Monday that consists of spelling words, math problems, and reading assignments. 

“I generally spend two to three hours over the weekend correcting the packets after they’re turned in on Friday, so that I can have them back to the students on Monday,” he said. 

He said that he planned to eliminate that form of homework, and instead would simply tell students to “read 20 minutes, write 20 minutes, and practice math problems. And when I get it back on Monday, I’m just going to check done, done, done, and that will be it.” 

A middle school English teacher said that homework involves three parts: planning it, using class time to explain it, and grading it. 

“I’ll continue to be able to give home reading assignments to my students,” she said, “but the type of homework that involves a collaboration between the student and the teacher—the type that is a vehicle for individual instruction—is going to be put on hold.” 

She explained the time constraints. 

“I teach 180 students during the course of my day,” she said. “If I assign essay homework that requires me to spend 3 minutes with each of them evaluating their drafts, that alone adds up to 9 hours of work. If I spend 5 minutes with each of them, that adds up to 16 hours. Assigning homework that involves that amount of my time is not possible to complete during the course of my contracted day.”  

But a high school math teacher called the curtailed homework policy the least important of the job action’s effects. 

“Nobody grades homework at the high school level,” she said. “The only thing we do is check off whether it’s done or not.” 

She said that the preparation of lesson plans will be the major loss to educational quality from the job action. 

“Many of the lessons are going to be cobbled together, rather than being well-planned,” she said. 

She explained that she typically spends 2 and a half hours per day on classroom work outside of her contracted time, “and I don’t spend it twiddling my thumbs. I plan lessons. I grade papers. I contact parents who have called me with questions about classroom work or their children’s performance. I have an hour of prep period per day to make out tests, run copies of them off, record grades on the computer, and deliver attendance logs to the office or complete other school business. Normally I spend my lunch hour tutoring students. Now I’m going to have to figure out how to do all of that within the confines of my duty day. So some of it will be cut.” 

She said that while she does most of her after-hours work at home, it is not unusual for teachers to work at the high school until 6 p.m. 

In its instruction letter to BFT members, the BFT Executive Board said that with the exception of Open House participation, which is mandated under the expired BFT-BUSD contract, all job-related work was to be completed during the 7-hour day. The board said that policy included parent-student conferences and participation in such committees as those formed through the Berkeley School Excellence Project and the various school site councils. 

In an interview with the Daily Planet last week, BFT President Barry Fike said that it was his belief that during the “work to rule” slowdown, some Berkeley teachers would continue to honor long-time commitments to after-school projects that are already in the works.?

With a Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) “work to rule” labor action scheduled to officially begin this week, meaning teachers refusing to work off the clock, the first effect Berkeley Unified School District parents and students are likely to see is a drop in homework. 

“But if that’s what parents are concerned about,” a high school math teacher told the Daily Planet in a telephone interview, “then maybe what it says is that parents don’t understand what it is that teachers do.” 

Last week, the BFT announced the work slowdown in response to Berkeley Unified’s latest contract proposal. Berkeley teachers have been working without a contract for two years, and contract negotiations are currently being coordinated through a state-appointed mediator. 

In an e-mail to union members, the BFT Executive Board said that work to rule “means that all work related to our jobs is completed during the duty day or during hourly paid time.” The duty day was describe as “7 hours 10 minutes...unless you are being paid extra for an after-school activity.” Teachers were encouraged to continue the work slowdown “until further notice.” 

Berkeley public school teachers said that means homework is going to be severely curtailed or eliminated altogether. At the request of BFT officials, who arranged the interviews, the teachers were to remain anonymous. 

A kindergarten teacher said that teachers at her school had decided to eliminate any homework that involves paperwork on the part of teachers. 

“That means no assignments that require preparation by the teachers, and nothing that requires grading,” she said. “There’s no time in the normal school day to complete those types of tasks.” 

A second grade teacher said that the homework action at his school was “a compromise between those teachers who favored no homework at all, and those teachers who said to assign homework, but not to grade it. We decided to simply give a generic form of homework, with teachers providing a minimum of feedback.” 

He said that he normally assigns a weekly homework packet to his students on Monday that consists of spelling words, math problems, and reading assignments. 

“I generally spend two to three hours over the weekend correcting the packets after they’re turned in on Friday, so that I can have them back to the students on Monday,” he said. 

He said that he planned to eliminate that form of homework, and instead would simply tell students to “read 20 minutes, write 20 minutes, and practice math problems. And when I get it back on Monday, I’m just going to check done, done, done, and that will be it.” 

A middle school English teacher said that homework involves three parts: planning it, using class time to explain it, and grading it. 

“I’ll continue to be able to give home reading assignments to my students,” she said, “but the type of homework that involves a collaboration between the student and the teacher—the type that is a vehicle for individual instruction—is going to be put on hold.” 

She explained the time constraints. 

“I teach 180 students during the course of my day,” she said. “If I assign essay homework that requires me to spend 3 minutes with each of them evaluating their drafts, that alone adds up to 9 hours of work. If I spend 5 minutes with each of them, that adds up to 16 hours. Assigning homework that involves that amount of my time is not possible to complete during the course of my contracted day.”  

But a high school math teacher called the curtailed homework policy the least important of the job action’s effects. 

“Nobody grades homework at the high school level,” she said. “The only thing we do is check off whether it’s done or not.” 

She said that the preparation of lesson plans will be the major loss to educational quality from the job action. 

“Many of the lessons are going to be cobbled together, rather than being well-planned,” she said. 

She explained that she typically spends 2 and a half hours per day on classroom work outside of her contracted time, “and I don’t spend it twiddling my thumbs. I plan lessons. I grade papers. I contact parents who have called me with questions about classroom work or their children’s performance. I have an hour of prep period per day to make out tests, run copies of them off, record grades on the computer, and deliver attendance logs to the office or complete other school business. Normally I spend my lunch hour tutoring students. Now I’m going to have to figure out how to do all of that within the confines of my duty day. So some of it will be cut.” 

She said that while she does most of her after-hours work at home, it is not unusual for teachers to work at the high school until 6 p.m. 

In its instruction letter to BFT members, the BFT Executive Board said that with the exception of Open House participation, which is mandated under the expired BFT-BUSD contract, all job-related work was to be completed during the 7-hour day. The board said that policy included parent-student conferences and participation in such committees as those formed through the Berkeley School Excellence Project and the various school site councils. 

In an interview with the Daily Planet last week, BFT President Barry Fike said that it was his belief that during the “work to rule” slowdown, some Berkeley teachers would continue to honor long-time commitments to after-school projects that are already in the works.?

Berkeley’s insatiable appetite for new buildings is about to claim one of its most charming victims, a Gilman Street garden of earthly delights. 

Though there’s little to see from the road other than a fence shrouded with greenery, visitors who chance upon A New Leaf Gallery will discover a beautifully crafted landscape, filled with charming surprises and spectacular sculpture. 

The grounds are carefully laid out along a serpentine path paved with stones and lined with trees and other plantings. Grapestakes and partial walls create settings within settings, each a unique setting for a unique artwork. 

While it may be one of Berkeley’s best-kept secrets, the outdoor gallery at 1286 Gilman has earned an international reputation and draws visitors from across the country—in part because the vast inventory of artists and works they offer on the Internet at www.sculpturesite.com. 

“People have been reacting with a sense of grief to word of the move,” said Brigitte Micmacker, who founded the gallery 15 years ago with spouse/sculptor John Denning. “Neighbors have been telling us that they can’t imagine living without it, and we’re discovering that it’s become intensely involved as a part of people’s lives.” 

But the gallery owners had little choice. The man who owns the 90-foot-by-100-foot lot at Gilman and Curtis streets notified them six months ago that he intended to build on the property, the long-time site of the nursery memorialized in the greenhouse-turned-gallery at the rear of the lot. 

“The idea originally was to separate the back 40 feet of the lot and build a three-story building with two stories of apartments above. We would have had to share the ground floor with two other retail businesses and we would have had a much smaller outdoor space,” Micmacker said. 

“And even then we would have had to move to another location off-site for a year during construction.” 

With a move already mandated and a long closing in the offing, it seemed logical to make a permanent move and keep the closure to a minimum. 

They found what they were looking for during their first foraging expedition across the Bay Bridge. 

Micmacker, Denning and gallery director and full partner Stephanie Everett will be moving to a radically new setting in San Francisco in April, when they open at 201 Third St., a block from the Museum of Modern Art and across the street from Moscone Center. 

“It’s an indoor gallery, so we won’t have the garden feeling we have here,” she said. 

The gallery’s unique Berkeley setting has made A New Leaf a favorite of both art students and gardeners.  

“Teachers send students here all the time,” said Micmacker. “A high school ceramics class comes every year, and we regularly have other classes coming through, from first-graders to graduate students.” 

Gardening and horticultural classes also pay frequent visits, as do gardening clubs, drawn by the immaculately laid out and carefully tended plantings and landscaping that took five years to create. 

“It all has to go. The trees, the rocks, everything. The landlord wants the land restored to the way it was when we first rented it,” Micmacker said. 

The gallery’s’ prices aren’t for the faint of wallet. Though many of the works in the current, final showing are reduced by 10 to 25 percent, that still leaves prices ranging from just over $500 to more than $32,000. 

That top price isn’t the highest aficionados can pay. Their website features truly monumental works commissioned from some of the 100-plus artists the gallery currently represents. 

Some of the most interesting works now on display—including the most expensive—are Denning’s human figures, including the remarkable “Poet,” a life-size cast metal figure with a hollowed-out chest pierced by a hummingbird. 

The gallery opened its gate in Berkeley on June 1, 1990, and will close in April, as soon as their new quarters are ready. For hard core fans, a hand-bound linen hardcover photographic book—A New Leaf Gallery: The Berkeley Years (1990-2005)—is in the offing. Dedicated and signed copies will be available for $300, $250 with advance payment. 

The gallery remains open until a closing date is fixed. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, “rain or shine,” Micmacker adds.Ë

Oakland Councilmember Jane Brunner has called for a city manager’s report to study transferring control of the much criticized Oakland Animal Shelter from police to civilian hands. 

“I was struck by the fact that Berkeley’s kill rate [for shelter animals] is around 10 percent and ours is 54 percent,” she said. “We have to ask what are the policies they put in place there.” 

Brunner’s request came after about 200 animal lovers packed City Council Chambers Thursday to decry what they said was poor leadership and systematic abuse of shelter animals. 

“I’ve seen a lot,” said Kate Beck, who as a rescue worker at the Oakland shelter two years ago recalled employees violating euthanasia procedures by carting several dogs at a time to the euthanasia room and not properly sedating them. “One day I saw five dogs piled up on the trailer, and the dog on top which should have been sedated was alert and wagging its tail,” she said. 

Oakland police opened an investigation of the shelter last month following detailed accounts of mismanagement and abuse from former shelter employee Lori Barnabe. 

Recently appointed Police Chief Wayne Tucker said of the shelter: “We’ve got minor problems, some major, and we want to work on eliminating them quickly.” Last week, in light of new allegations of mismanagement, Tucker placed Acting Shelter Director RaeShon McClarty on administrative leave. McClarty is still a candidate to become the permanent shelter director. 

Brunner and Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente called Thursday’s town hall meeting to address complaints about the shelter and seek citizen input as the city prepares to name a new shelter director. The position has been vacant since longtime director Glenn Howell left last June to take over animal control services in Contra Costa County. 

“We need to find someone who is committed to the ethical treatment of animals and who makes sure no healthy animal is euthanized,” said Cathy Marks at Thursday’s meeting. 

According to Barnabe, among a long list of violations, the shelter euthanized dogs that were cleared for adoption, and euthanized dogs without sedatives. In one case it mistakenly left a live dog in a freezer in a barrel with dead dogs. 

Although the city closed the application process last week with 14 applicants, Brunner said Oakland officials were considering upgrading the shelter manager’s classification and salary to draw more applicants.  

Currently the job pays $65,000—far below the salary offered by other large cities, said San Francisco Director of Animal Care and Control Carl Friedman in a Friday interview. “With the money they’re offering it would be hard to attract people with good knowledge and a proven history in field,” said Friedman, who earns approximately $130,000. 

Four years ago Berkeley joined San Francisco as one of the few U.S. cities to completely separate its police department from its animal shelter. Many of those in attendance Thursday wanted Oakland to follow suit. 

“We don’t need police officers there,” said Jacquee Castain, who echoed the sentiments of those who argued that police control hindered shelters from teaming up with civilians to find homes for sheltered animals. “We need to put police officers back in the police department.” 

“It’s very difficult for an animal shelter to be under the police,” said Friedman. “If you’re under another agency it just quadruples the bureaucracy and makes it harder to have the authority to hire and fire people.”  

Still nearly every municipal animal shelter in California is operated by local police departments, and Deputy City Manager Niccolo De Luca didn’t foresee Oakland going to civilian control. 

“It’s basically a public safety responsibility,” he said. “I don’t see where else it could go.” 

One prominent animal rescue worker, who declined to give her name, said that for now Oakland animal control officers could face physical danger if they weren’t affiliated with the police department. “The relationship protects the animal control officers when they have to confiscate an animal,” she said. “If they didn’t have that badge, people would lash out at them.” 

Berkeley, which switched to civilian oversight in 2001, has seen the kill rate for sheltered cats and dogs sink from approximately 66 percent in 1997, when the shelter admitted 2,904 dogs and cats to about 7 percent last year, when 1,651 were admitted. 

In San Francisco, 21 percent of the 11,877 animals taken to the shelter last year were euthanized, nearly all of which were classified as “unadoptable” due to illness, Friedman said. Nine years earlier, he said, the shelter took in 18,064 animals and killed 6,720 of them, about 40 percent. 

Officials at both shelters credited the reduced intake and kill rates on aggressive spay and neuter policies and strengthened ties with rescue organizations that take many of the animals that don’t get adopted. 

By contrast, at the Oakland Shelter, roughly 48 percent (2,227) of the 4,623 animals impounded last year were euthanized, according to a shelter report. Of the 2,455 dogs impounded, 1,338 (54 percent) were euthanized. 

OPD Sergeant Dave Cronin, the shelter’s interim director, acknowledged the statistics were troubling, but said at least when it came to dogs, Oakland is at a disadvantage. “Other shelters usually receive a more adoptable type of dog,” he said. “Sadly Oakland ends up with a lot of pit bulls and pit bull mixes that society is less willing to adopt.” 

Michael Cohen, 9, runs along the Berkeley pier on Monday afternoon. Cohen had come to play in the rain with his dad, brother and friends..

Another major player will drop a piece on the Laney land development chessboard this week when representatives of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District make a presentation to the Peralta Community College Trustees on plans to develop BART’s Lake Merritt Station. 

The presentation by BART Director Carol Ward Allen, Alameda County Planning Manager Val Menotti, and Property Development Real Estate Manager Jeffrey Ordway will take place at the Peralta Trustees’ regular board meeting today (Tuesday). 7 p.m., at the Peralta Administration Building, 333 East Eighth St., in Oakland. 

BART’s immediate plans are to increase pedestrian and bicycle access to the Lake Merritt station, and to provide security improvements. 

But more long-range goals, as outlined in its November 2004 Lake Merritt Bart Station Access Plan (available at www.bart.gov/about/planning/alameda.asp) are to take a look at the station’s parking situation, and a possible demolition of the BART administrative headquarters building replacing it with a transit village. 

With one of the two Lake Merritt BART parking lots sitting directly across Fallon Street from the entrance to Laney College, and with the BART headquarters only two blocks away from Madison, any changes to those two properties would have immediate impact on the community college. 

One such impact might be on the controversial plans of Oakland developer Alan Dones for commercial development on the Laney faculty and staff parking lot across East 8th Street from the college. Last year, the outgoing Peralta Trustee Board authorized Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris to enter into a contract with Dones to prepare a plan for the property, but Harris has yet to execute such a contract. Earlier this month, Dones told a meeting of Laney faculty, staff, and students that he was exploring putting a multi-story parking structure at the college tennis court site where the new art annex is scheduled to be built. With BART including a future goal of “share parking facilities off BART property” in its Lake Merritt Plan, some sort of coordinated parking development by Dones, Laney, and BART may be a possibility.›

Two months after BUSD Board Director Joaquin Rivera said “it’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything positive” about the district’s budget, district board members have learned that they are going to wait a little bit longer—the district has revised the “positive” certification of last year’s budget back down to “qualified.” 

A positive designation means that a district projects that it will meet its financial obligations over the next two years, a qualified designation means that it may not without “significant expenditure reductions and revenue enhancements.” 

Last December, district finance managers announced that its 2004-05 first interim budget report was $743,000 in the black and had been approved by the Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE). But because “we had to revise these numbers because some of our assumptions were unrealized,” according to Deputy Superintendent Glenston Thompson, the district is now projecting a $1.58 million deficit in its general fund. 

If the projections were to hold true, without any added revenue or budget cutting by the district, the general fund deficit would drop to $780,000 in the 2006-07 budget year. The drop in the expected deficit comes in part because, while district expenditures are expected to rise $1.3 million in the next two years, total revenues are projected to rise $2.2 million. 

“I’m sure the county will have some questions about this,” Thompson told district directors at the board’s Feb. 16 meeting. “We’re prepared to go down and answer them.” 

The first interim report uses budget figures only through last October 31, and is designed to ensure that the district is able to meet its ongoing financial responsibilities. 

The district also had to lower its projected 300-student average daily attendance increase, although that will not add to BUSD’s budget problems this year. District officials said they made their original projections based on an increase in enrollment in the district, but because that increase was centered in the high school—where the daily attendance rate is slightly lower than in the district as a whole—the actual attendance was lower than they thought. But because the state allows a district to use last year’s ADA figures in a period of declining enrollment, Berkeley will be able to put off the revenue loss for a year.

Glen Yasuda is asking city planning commissioners to put his plans for a new Berkeley Bowl on hold for a month while he prepares a new application. 

The hitch for Yasuda is his proposal to use a new warehouse at the proposed Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue location to keep foods for both the new store and for his existing location at Oregon Street and Shattuck Avenue. 

It all boils down to a matter of zoning. 

To build his new grocery store, Yasuda needs the commission to rezone the West Berkeley site from manufacturing and light industrial (MU-LI) to West Berkeley Commercial (C-W). 

The only problem is that warehouses, while permitted under the existing zoning, aren’t allowed in C-W zones. 

In a memorandum to planning commissioners, city Land Use Planning Manager Mark Rhoades wrote that Yasuda’s solution is to divide the property into two zoning parcels, C-W for the store and MU-LI for the warehouse section. 

“The amended application will also request an amendment” to the MU-LI uses to allow a warehouse exemption for food product stores. 

Yasuda now needs to prepare a revised application, a new environmental initial study and a revised project map. 

The revision would also trigger a new public hearing. 

Yasuda’s rezoning plans and the traffic his new store would generate have drawn mixed reactions in West Berkeley, where some residents welcome the store as filling a neighborhood need while others fear the loss of the MU-LI uses which are mandated in the existing West Berkeley Plan. 

If Yasuda has his way, commissioners will pull the project from their agenda when they meet Wednesday night at 7 o’clock in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Yasuda has asked that the hearing be rescheduled for the commission’s March 23 meeting. 

Å

There’s a 350,000-pound spaceship headed straight for Berkeley, and the only questions left are where and when the big blue ball is going to land. 

Its first landing effort, in the city across the Bay Bridge, was foiled, so it recharted its course after finding signs of a friendlier reception in these parts.  

But when it arrives in Berkeley, the craft’s lone occupant, a bronze humanoid, won’t have to utter that ancient “Take me to your leader” chestnut because he and his craft are the invitees of Mayor Tom Bates. 

The craft itself is compromised of wedges of blue Brazilian metamorphic quartzite, sandstone transformed under heat and pressure—the same forces some have accused Bates of applying to bring the hefty creation here. 

The cerulean craft and its occupant are, of course, “Spaceship Earth,” commissioned by Power Bar founders Brian and Jennifer Maxwell before the former’s death last year. 

Bates and the Maxwells were good friends of the man memorialized in bronze, noted Berkeley-born environmentalist David Brower. 

If all goes as planned, the massive creation of Finno-American sculptor Eino will be in place before Brower’s second and even grander memorial rises on an already selected site. 

The four-story David Brower Center, to be built at Fulton Street and Allston Way, unlike the spaceship, has drawn nearly unanimous praise, both for its unique design and for its embodiment of green building principles. 

The center will house the offices of environmental organizations as well as ground floor eco-friendly retailers and restaurants. 

The spaceship, by contrast, has elicited a distinctly different response. The mass of the artwork is a 12-foot sphere composed of wedges of bolted-together quartzite, with continents and islands formed from 1,426 pieces of bronze bolted to the exterior. 

The Maxwells originally intended that the weighty work would be installed in San Francisco, and they enlisted some potent supporters on the Board of Supervisors to plead their case. 

But the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Visual Arts Committee saw things differently, rejecting the piece as “extremely grand and flamboyant” and lacking in “sensitivity to environmental issues.” 

But, like it or not, Spaceship Earth is coming, and the Civic Arts Commission (CAC) has been entrusted with picking the landing zone. 

Though there’s no final decision, a CAC panel has picked a short list of sites, most near the waterfront, said David Snippen, the group’s chair. 

The CAC gave the sculpture its conditional endorsement after Mayor Bates plied members with calls urging its adoption. 

But commissioners had grave misgivings about Eino’s original version, which featured a life-sized bronze Brower atop the quartzite globe and reaching for the stars. 

After critics blasted that depiction as “another white man dominating the earth,” Eino agreed to place Brower on a nearby bench as though contemplating the statue. 

Though other sites may be considered, the current list focuses on the Berkeley waterfront, with possible sites in Aquatic Park, at the intersection of University Avenue and Marina Boulevard, and two in the lawn area near the transition of Marina Boulevard into Spinnaker Way. 

Those locations would require the respective approvals of the city’s waterfronts and parks commissions. 

Other possible locations include Cedar Rose Park and at the westernmost end of Ohlone Park—which would require approvals from parks and neighborhood groups, something Snippen acknowledges could prove problematic. 

Another site, at Tilden Park, was rejected after a negative response from the University of California, but Snippen said the panel is looking at another UC site at the Lawrence Hall of Science, “but we need to talk to the university.” 

“We started with over 30 locations, and it’s still up in the air,” Snippen said. “We have done a good job of examining all the realities, and each site has its specific issues.” 

CAC panelists will hold discussions with the Waterfront Commission next Monday, followed by a consultation with the Parks Commission on March 8, he said. 

“We’ll get input from them, and then we’ll narrow down the choices for presentation to the City Council in May, or by June at the latest,” he said. 

The CAC will hold its next meeting Wednesday evening from 6:30 to 8:30 in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave.

City officials have called a Thursday night session to address what could become a major problem in Berkeley—“soft story” apartment buildings. 

With one in four Berkeley residents living in apartment buildings with ground floor parking or open commercial spaces, up to 95 percent of them could be rendered homeless by a major earthquake on the Hayward Fault. 

The soft story seminar, with Mayor Tom Bates presiding, begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

Among those scheduled to speak are: 

• David Bonowitz, chair of the Existing Buildings Committee of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California. 

• Jeanne Perkins, Earthquake and Hazards Program Manager for the Association of Bay Area Governments. 

• Tom Tobin, of the city Seismic Technical Advisory Group. 

• City Building Official Joan McQuarrie. 

A 1996 survey identified many of the city’s soft story structures, designated because the ground floor is devoted to parking, open commercial spaces or both. 

Because earthquake forces tend to concentrate on the ground floor, buildings with fewer internal walls and support tend to be more susceptible to powerful seismic waves. 

A 2001 survey of a sampling of Berkeley’s soft story buildings found that most could be adequately retrofitted to reduce major damage. 

The team estimated that 46 percent had severe or considerable vulnerability and were likely to be red-tagged after a major quake—requiring demolition or extensive repairs—and an additional 49 percent would be yellow-tagged, rendered uninhabitable pending lesser repairs. 

City staff members will also present possible solutions, said city project manager Dan Lambert, who said the session is the first step in formulating a soft story program for the city.›

TEACHER PAY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As one of the many long-time Berkeley teachers beginning to work contract-only hours this week, I was extremely disturbed by the remarks of school board members quoted in the Daily Planet. They suggest that teachers are asking for money that doesn’t exist.  

In fact, our team has asked for a fair share of any new money that the district receives, while at the same time accepting the fact that employees are going to need to pay some of the health care increases. The district’s own advisors have indicated that there will be some, though nowhere near enough, new money from the state. We are only asking that the district recognize that teachers need a fair share of that new money.  

We know their PG&E bills have gone up—so have ours.  

Louise Rosenkrantz 

• 

RFID TECHNOLOGY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s reassuring that Library Director Jackie Griffin tells us not to worry about the new RFID technology she is introducing to our libraries. 

Of course, we all know that no one in government would ever attempt to violate our privacy with this new system. The fears of the ACLU are groundless, she maintains. Anyway, no one in Berkeley pays attention to the ACLU. I’ll sleep more soundly knowing that “Big Sister” Griffin is there to protect us from any abuses of her new system. Now if only those “outside agitators” would quietly leave Berkeley and stop interfering with Jackie’s spending sprees for new technology. The poor director has apparently not gotten the message the voters sent her last November. 

Further, it’s good to know that Griffin is following the honored American managerial policy of firing those staff members who receive the lowest pay and benefits. God forbid if she had to let go her high salary—benefit cronies on the management level. These folks, who never see the library patrons and never experience their wants, must be preserved in their new building adjacent to the main library. 

It’s time to realize that libraries are too precious a resource to be left solely in the hands of librarians. It’s time for the Board of Library Trustees to start representing the citizens of Berkeley and stop being a rubber stamp for Jackie Griffin. 

Don McKay 

• 

WHO COUNTS? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The advertisement featuring your recent readership survey trumpets in large type, “In Greater Berkeley, almost everybody who counts reads the Planet.” At the bottom of the page, in very small type, we find that the people who count are people “who were out and about and shopping” at Fourth Street, the Gourmet Ghetto, the Berkeley Bowl, the Farmers’ Market, or the Elmwood Shopping District. It seems to me that you missed a lot of people here. Are we to presume that people who aren’t inclined—or can’t afford—to shop in the above areas, don’t count? 

I expect to hear this advertising line from the Wall Street Journal, not from the Daily Planet. Please put more thought into your advertising taglines. 

Francisco Dóñez 

• 

FINANCIAL HOLE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The City Council has identified “business retention” as a top budget priority. Meanwhile, business attraction tops priority lists in nearby cities; their leaders aim to grow their city economies, while Berkeley contents itself with attempts to staunch losses. 

The result is rising budget deficits and over-reliance on residential taxes, which already are too high. Perhaps most Berkeley residents don’t want Emeryville-style shopping malls to turn their city déclassé. But when even a popular organic grocer cant get a store built in Berkeley, it becomes clear that economic growth wont help dig the city out of its financial hole. 

Russ Mitchell 

• 

FATHER CRESPIN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As St. Joseph’s parishioners respond to the allegations regarding Father Crespin’s forced resignation (“Parishoners Confront Diocese Over Fate of Accused Pastor,” Feb. 18-21) I urge an open mind. There is more to George Crespin than perhaps meets the eye. 

First, the Bishop of Oakland believes the accusation is credible. That hurdle is significant. 

Second, Crespin has caused the Oakland Diocese to be sued. In order for such a suit to move forward, I understand a civil court must find that the lawsuit has merit. Civil authorities must believe it has merit because his alleged victim is part of the massive Clergy III coordinated action against the Roman Catholic Church. 

Third, Crespin was featured in a Dallas Morning News editorial just four days ago (“Games Bishops Play, Why DA Hill Should Be Wary, Feb. 15. The Morning News noted that when Crespin was chancellor of the Oakland Diocese, Crespin admitted that the Diocese did not put sex abuse allegations into a priest’s file. As chancellor, his job was to investigate sex abuse claims. Perhaps his own file was misplaced? We might never know. 

George Crespin surely did some very good things while a pastor at St. Joseph’s. But his legacy is mixed. To wit: From 1966 to 1994 he successively served on the Clergy Review Board, as Diocese chancellor and as Diocese vicar general. He was a very powerful man within the Oakland Diocese. 

With the depositions of Crespin and others because of Clergy III, it is irrefutable that during Crespin’s time in power, numerous reports of sex abuse involving a number of priests were made to the diocese, many to him. Not once did Rev. Crespin call the police or child protective services in order to protect a child. 41 priests are accused of abuse while serving in Oakland. George Crespin never turned in any of those priests while he had the ability to do so.  

These shortcomings don’t mean George Crespin is guilty of the accusation. However, the Diocese is doing the right thing. It is moving to protect children in the event the allegation is credible. Had the Diocese behaved that way while Crespin was in charge, dozens of catholic kids surely would not have been victims of child sexual abuse. 

Dan McNevin 

Emeryville 

• 

CLEAR JUDGMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s an old story. A beloved Catholic pastor is accused of sexual abuse. Loyal parishioners rush to his defense, with no more knowledge of the situation than their personal affection for their leader. 

Yet, as we have seen time and time again, many abusive clergy are well-liked, charismatic spiritual and organizational leaders with impressive curriculum vitae.  

Parishioners should not confuse their personal affection for the public persona to cloud their judgment regarding private behavior. Plenty of beloved leaders have lead dual lives or carried dark secrets.  

Tom Fike and Carolyn Scarr mistake an internal, personnel disciplinary investigation for the sort of standards of proof and judicial bias adhered to by the American legal system. I would point out that such a standard of proof is not required between an employer and an employee. In the end, Crespin’s employer will have to decide who they believe. 

This is not a new accusation; as long ago as Dec. 18, 2003, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests named Crespin as an accused abuser still in ministry. There has been more than a year for Crespin’s employer to avail themselves of “due process.” One must believe, then, that the suspension comes after due diligence and is not a knee-jerk reaction. 

Where the legal system will come in is in the aggregated civil case in which Crespin is now a defendant. That standard of proof will rely upon ‘a preponderance of the evidence’ as such is the standard in civil cases. 

Guilty or innocent, Crespin to a great extent finds himself in a bed of his own making. As chancellor of the Diocese, he participated in and perpetuated a system which did everything possible to protect priests from allegations of sexual misconduct and to suppress victims who might go to the authorities. It is for that very reason that it has taken accusers like his three decades to feel free to tell their stories. 

The St. Joseph the Worker community prides itself upon its concerns for social justice and the rights of the weak and oppressed. Will they show the same concern for an alleged victim of sexual abuse under color of great power when the alleged abuser is their beloved leader, one who has historically and for decades been one of the most powerful figures in the Diocese of Oakland? 

Greg Bullough 

• 

LANDMARKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I write in response to two letters on the topic of Berkeley landmarks (Daily Planet, Feb. 15-17). Ignacio Dayrit expresses concern that the landmark process might be used “to stop development of any kind”, rather than for historic preservation. Alan Tobey takes exception to the designation of the Celia’s building as a structure of merit, and to the very existence of this category of designation. 

Those of us who study local history and prepare landmark applications at our own expense (it isn’t cheap), do so because we desire to preserve the atmosphere of Berkeley, and its charming, distinctive buildings. Pro-growth enthusiasts seem to find it inconceivable that some of us actually love Berkeley, rather than wish to profit from it. Although I grew up over a mile away from the Celia’s building, all the children in my neighborhood knew it as “The Boy Scout Building”, a magical and treasured place we all admired. Whether one finds it beautiful or not (and I do), it is a part of our history. 

Mr. Dayrit’s reference to “development of any kind” surprised me. I am unaware of any developer proposing to build an ice skating rink, a park, a swimming pool, a night life entertainment district (as suggested by Elliot Cohen)—or any other amenity for the public. The recent projects endangering historic buildings all seem to be five story condo/rental blocks because these are perceived, in the prevailing real estate bubble, to be profitable ventures. 

In fact, the need to build big blocks of condos in Berkeley for teachers and firefighters is a myth. Our existing large condo buildings serve mainly as rentals, and are advertised as such daily, because the rental market has tanked. It is therefore unlikely that additional boxes, whether rentals or condos, will be a financial success. 

There is nothing salutary or “smart” about destroying our local environment—the existing Berkeley—to produce defective new buildings (see the Gaia, still shrouded after all these years). Moreover, flawed construction practices continue, such as leaving chipboard out in the rain (see Durant Avenue and Fulton Street), where it becomes a rich growth medium for mold. Considering that further new buildings are likely to have serious vacancy problems (in addition to mold), the pressure to expunge historic buildings for them boggles my mind. 

In conclusion, our Landmark Preservation Ordinance and its structure of merit designation are not the problem. While Berkeley needs many things, five story condo/rental blocks just aren’t on the list. I can only hope that the Zoning Adjustments Board, the City Council and the Planning Commission will wake up before they completely destroy the vitality of this town. 

Gale Garcia 

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Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas

I’m not an expert on movies that feature quadriplegics as protagonists, but recently there seems to be a glut on the market. I’m referring specifically to Million Dollar Baby and The Sea Inside, one a Hollywood blockbuster nominated for seven Academy Awards and the other a lesser known foreign film from the Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar. 

There aren’t many movies that explore quadriplegia, so my list of flicks that cover this theme is short. In 1994, while my husband Ralph was in the Spinal Cord Rehabilitation Center in Vallejo, I was shown two videos dealing with spinal cord disabilities. One was a how-to flick on the subject of catherization and the other was a graphically explicit film depicting the sex lives of wheelchair users. I watched both late at night in Ralph’s hospital room while he and his roommates slept. I didn’t retain much of the documented information as I was just beginning my new persona. That would be the “this-couldn’t-really-be-my-life” theme that I have maintained for the past decade. And as it turned out the films didn’t pertain to my new life anyway. A nurse had mistakenly given me a video on female self-catherization, and the second flick didn’t cover high injury quadriplegia. Everyone in that film was able to move their arms and bend at the waist, actions my husband cannot perform.  

When we got home from rehab a friend dropped off the only movie she could find on the subject, a cinematic adaptation of Jill Kinmont’s memoir, The Other Side of the Mountain. The 1975 movie tells the story of an eighteen-year-old competitive skier (a shoo-in for the 1956 Winter Olympics) who takes a near fatal fall during the last race of the season. Paralyzed below the shoulders, she and her supportive family cope with her disability and she eventually finds a new world and calling when she becomes a teacher on an Indian reservation. Although poorly acted and filmed, the movie made me cry. It was before I was given a prescription for Zoloft. Back then, everything made me cry.  

I rented a few documentaries covering spinal cord disabilities but it wasn’t until four years later that a new movie with a quadriplegic theme hit the big screen. Breaking the Waves, a Lars Von Trier directed film starring Emily Watson, was promoted as a life affirming account of dealing with disability. Upbeat and realistic is not how I would describe it. The starring quad recovers but his wife dies in the process of trying to save him.  

Flash forward nine years to the current Academy Awards race. Clint Eastwood directs and stars in Million Dollar Baby, a movie that explores assisted suicide. He is both hailed and derided as a realist broaching a taboo subject. But it’s The Sea Inside that gets the ethical ambiguities right. Based on a true story, Ramón Sampedro, a quadriplegic bedridden for 28 years, petitions the Spanish government to allow him to die. His petition is denied. He is visited by supporters and detractors. He daydreams about his life before his diving accident, and he spends many hours alone in his bedroom waiting for family members to feed, bath and dress him. One does not need to read the English subtitles to know the pain that Ramon and his caregivers experience. 

It’s a realistic, sensitive look at a difficult moral quagmire. Ramon’s older brother shouts in frustration that he hasn’t sacrificed his entire life for Ramon’s care in order to have him give up and take it away. Ramon’s elderly father ruminates on losing a son to an accident and losing him again to suicide. As Ramon’s sister-in-law gently clips her brother-in-law’s overgrown, unused fingernails, the camera closes in on both their faces. Ramon appears sad, resigned, and grateful. She looks overwhelmingly wrinkled and tired. No subtitles flash at the bottom of the screen, and with good reason. At that moment, not a single word of explanation is necessary.  

›

On Jan. 28, HBO aired a somber BBC film, “Dirty War,” about a hypothetical terrorist attack on central London. Using a small amount of Cesium wrapped in a few pounds of TNT, a group similar to Al Qaeda manages to render several miles of Central London uninhabitable, killing hundreds immediately and subjecting thousands more to the cancerous effects of a radiation dispersal device. 

Unfortunately for us, this is not science fiction, but a chilling possibility. In the past several years, a series of articles have described the same scenario; a prescient, January 2001, report co-authored by former Republican Senator Howard Baker observed, “the most urgent unmet national security threat to the United States today is the danger that weapons of mass destruction or weapons-usable material in Russia could be stolen and sold to terrorists or hostile nation-states and used against American troops abroad or citizens at home.” [a uthor’s italics] Most experts believe that it only a matter of time before there is another major terrorist attack on the United States; many fear that biological, chemical, or nuclear bombs will cause a horrendous number of casualties. 

The Bush Administration has, effectively, ignored the problem of loose nukes. Several observers have described this decision as, “the worst failure of government in modern times,” and most experts, Republicans and Democrats, are astonished that the Administration has maintained such a cavalier attitude about this looming catastrophe. More than a dozen years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the United States still lacks a comprehensive plan to secure the more than 30,000 nuclear warheads, and many tons of radioactive waste, that remain in the former USSR. 

Meanwhile, terrorists appear determined to carry their war into our country. Osama bin Laden and the other leaders of Al Qaeda have issued written threats (Fatwa’s) against us, pledging to kill millions of civilians.  

Sipping a cappuccino in a Berkeley cafe, some may shrug and say, “It won’t happen here,” but no one who reads Richard Clarke’s February Atlantic Monthly article, “Ten Years Later,” will remain sanguine. Based upon his experience as the national coordinator for security and counter-terrorism for Presidents Clinton and Bush, Clarke imagines a ten-year scenario featuring a series of low-tech terrorist attacks on casinos, amusement parks, malls, public-transit systems, and chlorine-gas facilities. In each case, the initial assaults result in horrendous civilian casualties. However, the real intent of the terrorists is to terrify the American public and to punch a hole in a significant sector of the American economy; simultaneous attacks on half-a-dozen shopping malls, scattered throughout the United States, would cause consumer panic and shut down retail shopping throughout the country. 

Could this happen in Berkeley? I interviewed Bill Greulich, Emergency Services Manager for the City of Berkeley Fire Department, to find an answer to this and the related question of what we should be doing to better protect ourselves. Greulich indicated that he, and his compatriots, takes these threats seriously, as do his counterparts at the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, Alta-Bates Summit Hospitals, and Bayer Laboratories. Since 9/11, the five organizations have been working together to prepare for the terrorist attack that they hope will never happen here. Twice they have conducted full-scale “event” simulations, the latest occurring last summer. 

According to Greulich, the results of these simulations, while sobering, contained some good news for Berkeley residents. There is a wealth of relevant expertise in the greater Berkeley area—for example, on the subject of decontamination after exposure to radioactive material—and our systems are, in general, more sophisticated than those of the neighboring jurisdictions. The fact that we live in an area exposed to earthquakes and fires works to our advantage, as many of the systems needed for these catastrophes are directly applicable. For example, we already have neighborhood emergency preparedness groups in place, and many Berkeley residents have received preparedness training—on Jan. 22 the Community Emergency Response Training group gave a class on “Responding to Terrorism.” 

But, of course, a terrorist attack on Berkeley, or one of its neighbors, would be horrendous; how we would respond depends, to a great extent, on the nature of the event. In Greulich’s view there are several different sizes of “weapons of mass disturbance,” they differ in their long-term consequences. 

The least severe would be a terrorist attack featuring conventional weapons, such as anti-personnel bombs or sub-machine guns. Imagine that fanatics disrupted the annual Big Game with a suicide bomb attack. There would be hundreds of casualties, and thousands would suffer varying degrees of post-traumatic stress disorder; nonetheless, there would not be permanent damage to the economy of Berkeley, or to the operations of the university. 

Both an attack of medium and maximum severity are predicated on events that once would be unthinkable, but now must be considered. Last summer, the Berkeley Fire Department, and the four other local agencies, simulated the effects on Berkeley of the detonation of a dirty-bomb on the roof of a parking-garage near Shattuck and Center. The blast would result in the deaths of dozens of civilians and severe property damage. The radioactive particle dispersion would have dreadful, but less immediate, consequences, as the radioactive cloud would, most likely, drift east over the UC campus and into the foothills containing the Lawrence Berkeley laboratory. Such an event would expose several thousand civilians in the downtown area, and students on campus, to large areas of varying contamination, creating a long-term health risk. A significant portion of the lower UC campus, and the adjacent area between Oxford and Shattuck avenues, could be uninhabitable for years. Obviously, this would cause great damage to the Berkeley economy and the University. 

The most severe attack would use biological weapons. A year after 9/11, the Bush Administration decided that Americans should be vaccinated against smallpox, because they believed the nation to be vulnerable to bio-terror assault. 

Unlike a bomb-based attack, which would immediately cause substantial casualties, a biological weapon does not have an immediate impact—indeed it might not be noticed, at first. Smallpox, or the equivalent, is readily transmitted from one person to another, and it usually is unclear who is carrying it. The disease has a subtle incubation period, which results in severe illness and, if untreated, death. A bio-terror attack in Berkeley might produce thousands of deaths, and spread throughout the Bay Area. The results, to say the least, would be catastrophic. 

These are difficult to scenarios to face, but they are no more difficult than the prospects of a major earthquake followed by a devastating fire. Berkeley residents have long been aware that we live in the shadow of impending disaster. 

Given our new reality, what Berkeleyites need to do is to broaden the scope of our individual and collective emergency preparations. If you haven’t done this already you should go to www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html, the City of Berkeley Emergency Services web page, and download the relevant information. First, discuss this with your family, and then with your neighbors. If you don’t have an emergency preparedness group in your neighborhood, start one. As the name suggests, “homeland security” begins at home. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and activist. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net.

PRO-ACTIVE, PRO-CHOICE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In a democracy it is always healthy to have an honest debate on issues of moment. In that spirit we welcome the article by Monika Rodman, et al (“Coming Out on Abortion,” Daily Planet, Feb.15-17). Let us begin by conceding that 1) no one, including pro-choice adherents, have a monopoly on truth; 2) our opponents’ views are as strongly held as ours; 3) they are as moral humans as we are. In fact, we applaud their social justice record of defending immigrants, supporting health care, opposing war, fighting apartheid and opposing the death penalty. Unlike some of their cohorts, these are consistent, moral people. We therefore welcome a dialogue to see if we can find common ground in addition to our strong differences. 

But there are indeed great differences between what many of us pro-choice folks believe and the assertions of many of those in the anti-choice movement.  

Does human life begin at conception? We say no (which is why we can oppose the death penalty but support choice); they say yes. It is this difference that prevents us from adopting their own term, “pro-life,” as if we believe we are against life! And it is that difference that invalidates Ms. Rodman’s analogy between slavery and choice. One involves a human being; the other does not.  

The march on Jan. 22 by Ms. Rodman and her cohorts used as one of its themes “Women Deserve Better.” But better than what? They believe that abortions harm women and should be prohibited. We have seen no proof that abortion harms women more than it helps them.  

Legal abortion, after all, prevents death or sterility from back alley abortions or unsanitary coat hangers, a teenager from being ostracized (or worse) by her parents for getting pregnant, the never-ending cycle of poverty for many poor families, a woman (often a teenager) from carrying or raising an unwanted child born of rape or incest, etc. Before Roe v. Wade rich and middle class women could get abortions that were relatively safe; poor women could not.  

We know no one who think that abortions are fun, or that it is cool to have one. But, in the spirit of finding common ground to minimize abortions, to make them less necessary for the women that seek them now, could we not agree on certain obvious public policy objectives to reduce the need for abortions? We refer to such things as age appropriate sex education not limited to abstinence only, free family planning for people without health insurance or means, and access to emergency contraceptives. Equally importantly, we have to work to remove the financial pressures that lead women to choose an abortion. If women had free prenatal and post-partum care, subsidized day care, and free health insurance for their children, they would feel less financial pressure to have an abortion.  

All these strategies would reduce the need for abortions, and thus make choice unnecessary for many women and anti-choice irrelevant. Both sides could cooperate to make a better world for women and families by working to achieve these programs, yet no one would be forced to abandon strongly held beliefs. How about it? 

Catherine Trimbur  

and Mal Burnstein 

• 

NOT SO ALONE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After reading the commentary “Coming Out on Abortion” I feel less strange and alone living in the Berkeley area. 

Abortion is the “ultimate exploitation of women.” I witnessed it close up when I was 13 and learned my mother was pregnant. The prospect of a sibling thrilled me. But my older sister and my father insisted that mother have an abortion. Mother wept at the idea. She did not want to be “dismembered.” She thought that defying the designs of nature would bring harm to her body. To keep harmony in the family, she acquiesced to their wishes and made an appointment with a doctor to discuss ending her pregnancy. 

The appointment never came. Shortly before the consultation was to occur, this respected and beloved doctor, wrapped his head in a wet towel and fatally shot himself. His tragic suicide strengthened my mother’s resolve to protect her own body and to follow her convictions. 

Each time my fun, interesting and wonderfully unique 36-year-old little brother calls on the phone, and I hear his voice, happy and full of life, I am sadly reminded of the disturbing events surrounding his birth. 

I hope you let the writers know how much I appreciate them. 

Regina Pettus 

Albany 

• 

PRE-BORN, PRE-DEAD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The guest commentary by Monika Rodman et al. was sad and funny. The question at the foundation of every argument on the issue of abortion (but which is usually skirted) is: “When does human life begin?” But the question behind that particular gorilla-in-the-room is a much more complicated one that is avoided altogether: “What is life?” Fetuses are clearly sentient. So are amoebas. Rodman et al., sadly, cannot bring themselves to break new ground in their presentation, preferring the usual approach of abortion foes—tugging at heartstrings, this time with the addition of trying to establish some kind of social justice credentials for themselves in a vain attempt to sway the local progressive crowd. 

The only thing readers know for certain is that Rodman et al. believe that human life begins significantly sooner than birth, hence the deliberately misleading and accidentally hilarious term “pre-born children” in place of the more accurate and descriptive “fetus.” Obfuscating terminology is the evil twin of Politically Correct Speech, which has also resulted in (mostly unintentionally) confusing language. As an exercise in clarity, I suggest that the absurd phrase “pre-born children” be replaced with “fetuses,” yielding the meaningless sentence: “None of us are outsiders in the cause of justice toward fetuses.” Justice toward fetuses must certainly have to do with making sure that pre-mothers have access to the best pre-natal medical care possible, since the health of the fetus is completely dependent on the health of the mother. 

Not all fetuses are born. Not all newborns survive. But all life ends. Compassionate people focus on the life that already exists around them, and for good reason; the puzzle and wonder of actual existing life is where compassion lies because we all will die eventually. Compassionate people don’t refer to life as “pre-death” regardless of the inevitability of death. Fetuses are no more “pre-born children” than living breathing people are “pre-dead humans.”  

C. Boles 

• 

LEARNING VIOLENCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you so much for printing Monika Rodman et. al.’s article on pro-lifers in the Bay Area. She hit the nail on the head: Simply because a pre-born child is not wanted at the moment is no excuse for destroying him/her. Having witnessed my birth mother’s horrific mental illness that was a direct result of her two abortions, I can honestly say that abortion, the violent ending to an unwanted pregnancy, is no more a solution than the death penalty is to our burgeoning crime rate in America. Destroying life isn’t the answer. The next time that people become aghast at the American violence in Iraq, they should ask themselves where such violence was learned. Well, it was learned right here at home, where we are “taught” that abortion is simply the removal of a few unwanted cells, that human life doesn’t count, and that if someone is in your way, destroy him/her! 

Martin Bickerstaff 

Alameda

During the November, 2004 election, both Gayle McLaughlin and Lynda Deschambault provided a crucial political breakthrough of sorts for the Green Party of California: Both women surprised local observers by becoming the first Green Party candidates ever to win municipal offices in Contra Costa County. 

Ms. McLaughlin, a first grade teacher and local environmental activist, won election to the Richmond City Council despite a crowded field of 15 candidates, including several incumbents. Ms. Deschambault, a local citizen activist, captured a seat on the Moraga Town Council. 

Both first-time candidates pursued a determined “do-it-yourself” approach to the election process: campaign door-to-door across their neighborhoods and articulate a strong alternative vision for their respective communities. 

Both women represent the very best of the Green Party’s evolving maturity and political sensibility: step forward—confidently—into the local political process, impart the Green Party’s core values, and make a difference at the community/public policy level.  

Tapping into the latent frustration and malaise of voters weary of local Democratic and Republican Party politics-as-usual, Ms. McLaughlin’s and Ms. Deschambault’s election successes were underscored by veteran Contra Costa County Supervisor (and Democrat) John Gioia’s telling remark to the San Francisco Chronicle: “There’s no doubt to me this is a clear message from the voters.”  

Across California—and nationally—the Green Party has steadily achieved important electoral successes at the local, municipal, county and state levels by building a viable party infrastructure to compete against local, entrenched political establishments.  

In California, the Green Party now holds 67 elected offices including two City Council majorities in Sebastopol and Arcata, six Green mayors (including Sonoma, Sebastopol, Fairfax and Truckee), and scores of city council and county supervisor seats statewide.  

During the 2004 election cycle, the Green Party of California fielded 89 candidates for office, including U.S. Congress, state Senate, state Assembly, school boards, open space districts, water districts, etc. 

All of the above totals represent the largest number of elected Greens and Green candidates since the state party’s founding 15 years ago—by any measure, an impressive accomplishment for a nascent third party (nationwide, the Green Party holds 220 elected offices across 27 states). 

The precursor to the Green Party of California’s recent election successes and candidate numbers was gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo’s 2002 election campaign run: Camejo received California’s highest third party vote total since 1934, capturing significant percentages in a dozen counties across Northern California (15 percent in San Francisco, 17 percent in Mendocino, 14 percent in Sonoma, 12 percent in Santa Cruz and Marin). 

Former Green San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzales successfully harnessed this voter energy by nearly toppling Democrat Gavin Newsom during San Francisco’s 2003 razor-thin mayoral run-off election. 

With newly elected Contra Costa Greens Gayle McLaughlin and Lynda Decshambault in mind, the Green Party’s attention is now focused on the Oakland City Council special election set for May 17. 

Aimee Allison, a Stanford-educated non-profit business consultant, former Oakland schoolteacher, mother and African-American Gulf War veteran who became a conscientious objector is the Green Party’s candidate for Oakland’s District 2 City Council seat (Lakeshore/Lake Merrit). 

Ms. Allison’s decision to step forward as a City Council candidate has generated enormous excitement. Her candidacy reflects the Green Party’s strong commitment to local neighborhoods and a progressive public policy vision for Oakland. 

Steadily—and perhaps not that quietly—the Green Party is making noise.  

Chris Kavanagh is a member of the Green Party of Alameda County. 

›

Out of the darkness, Capt. Rachel Radcliff (Jan Zvaifler) steps, in fatigues with a Big Red One patch on her shoulder, briefcase in tow, wearily reeling off the dizzy details, in operations jargon and military time, of a journey to yet another Middle Eas tern backwater under fire. 

“Hours waiting on tarmac ... transport snafu ... Is THAT a McDonald’s? ... so this’s what an invasion looks like ... 24 coffins to be shipped home.” The opening of Central Works’ Enemy Combatant at the City Club is ominous, a dream of the recent past, or is it a nightmarish continuation, the future bringing more of the same? 

“Welcome to the Ice House!” A greeting yelled in hoarse voice by Col. Lester Kaye (Keith Cox), an old colleague of her father. Capt. Radcliff was invited to look out from this old Turkish fortress on the heights in Yemen over the baked sands of the Saudi desert from 8,500 feet. “That’s why it’s called the Ice House.”  

Asked by Rachel why she’s been summoned to such a place (“I don’t know what my mission is.”), Col. Kaye reveals there’s something on ice in the Ice House. “There’s a ghost here, do you read me?” he says, an “enemy combatant” charged with killing a CIA interrogator--an American citizen to be tried in situ by a military commission for treason. 

Capt. Radcliff is a Judge Advocate General, brought to defend the Enemy Combatant, a Mr. Morehouse, Marvin Samuel (played by David Alan Moss). She finds him in a cell on the tile floor, a black American in orange prison jumpsuit, reading a dog-earred po cketbook Qu’ran, prostrating himself, praying, but otherwise silent, refusing help, not responding to his name. He tells her she’s not wanted, he’s at peace—and she’s CIA, she’s a Jew. 

Explaining military law (“They can convict on a 2/3 majority, even on sentence of death; hearsay is admissible”) she asks, “Does any of this make sense to you?” He giggles. “Shall I file for an alternative?” He responds, “Do what you will.” And he asks Allah to wash away his sins “with ice water and frost.” 

So begins the triangle of dialogues and monologues that define the action of Enemy Combatant. Rachel reports to Col. Kaye what Marvin/Farid’s said—and that her mother’s a Jew. “Really!”—”Do you have a problem with that?”—”What was it like?” Her father a military man, m other a liberal—there were arguments. And Rachel wonders about the new protocols. Farid asks her if he can write a letter to his mother; he can’t have a pen since it could be a weapon. “The pen’s mightier than the sword?”—“How did you get here?” 

Farid op ens up in a tour-de-force series of monologues on his translation from gospel church in Oakland to Nation of Islam to Malcolm X’s autobiography to true Islam and a one-way ticket to Yemen, where he avows he got caught in the middle of the anti-terrorist invasion, and was tortured into a confession. 

Intercut with Farid’s one-man theater of moods, gestures of ecstasy and terrors, Col. Kaye addresses the audience with material from the CIA KUBARK document on coercive interrogation: “I can’t teach anyone to be an interrogator ... only teach guidelines ... conducted under duress, it will probably involve legality ... Remember this—time is on your side.” 

Gary Graves’ play obviously takes off from the John Lindh treason case, and reels in concerns from what’s happened since, including Abu Ghraib and the background to the confirmation hearings for Alberto Gonzalez. Graves’ script is ambitious, endeavoring to embody the upshot of a densely tangled controversy into an innovative chamber play. 

His stage direction takes the text out onto the floor of this chamber by the City Club patio and uses every square inch with an economy that highlights David Alan Moss’s ecstatsies and terrors, his wounded dignity dissolving in a pantomime of being stripped of all human dig nity. 

Central Works is a company founded on collaboration in order to make a performance, and it shows: all three performers are at the top of their game, especially working together, with Graves’ direction. 

But more than the ancient mountain fortress i s haunted. Something in the text rings hollow. Marvin/Farid’s character is presented too much as an innocent victim. The ambiguities attendant on the Lindh case and the arguments over measures to fight the “War on Terror” are passed over or only hinted a t too late. 

A maze of questions opens out into a melodrama, where Moss’ remarkable monologues become histrionics. Jan Zvaifler’s Capt. Rachel Radcliff (who covers her own ambivalence with adherence to duty) is sometimes displaced into ingenuousness and p assivity. And Keith Cox’s Col. Kaye is too much the bad guy—almost omniscient, like Iago replying “You know what you know.”  

This gap in a script that essays into difficult territory undercuts the production’s effectiveness, but—seen as a work-in-progres s—Enemy Combatant is effective nonetheless, and a platform for the excellence of the cast and the director.  

The last image especially sticks: Farid in raw cotton mufti and knit cap, sitting on the tile floor in a patch of light, barred with shadow—remot e, silent, peaceful. Such memories it recounts and triggers, the very image of what another American citizen charged with treason may have been evoking when—freed from 13 years custody, a journalist remarked he must be enjoying the peace and quiet of free dom—poet Ezra Pound replied, “Peace and quiet are two completely different things,” then returned to his own haunted silence. 

Nicole Galland is living the life of most writers’ dreams. Her first novel, The Fool’s Tale, was published last month and she has since signed a deal with her publisher for two more. 

The six-figure two-book deal made it possible for her to leave her job last week as literary manager at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre to make time for a full-time writing life. After spending most of her career in theater—as an actor, director and screenwriter—she is changing course and devoting her life, for at least a ti me, to novels. 

Galland, 39, grew up on Martha’s Vineyard and has lived in the Bay Area on and off since 1989. She began the book that became The Fool’s Tale, a story of love and political intrigue in medieval Wales, when she was 23. 

Over the followi ng 15 years she worked on it in fits and starts, leaving it for years at a stretch. One night three years ago she decided to purge her unused computer files and start fresh. A moment away from deleting the stalled manuscript, something made her give it on e last shot. 

“I was bound and determined to let go of things and I hesitated to let go of it,” she said. 

She stayed up all night in her Oakland home rereading the manuscript and found her way out of her writing block. She took a two-week research trip to Wales and ended up staying four months, long enough to finish a first draft. The final book was complete within a year. 

On a whim, Galland chose Wales as the setting for her novel after traveling there with a friend following her college graduation. 

“I wasn’t thinking about my book,” she said, “but I noticed that the way people spoke, the cadence of their language, reminded me of my narrative whenever I tried to write my book.” 

Medieval Wales was an ideal setting for two reasons, she said. First, the disputed border between Wales and England at the time fit her story, and second, it was a place where she could explore the relationship between a jester and a king. Galland has always been intrigued by the unique status of the fool—a man of lowly birth, but with the right to speak frankly to the monarch.  

“All my life I’ve had this fascination with fools. I think it was because when I was a kid I felt like I was never allowed to act out,” Galland said. “I was raised between various different households, so it was never safe to play the fool because I never knew what the rules were. On the other hand, my grandmother always called me her little rascal.” 

She admits that she has an uneasy relationship with authority. One example she gave was a year ago wh en she went to Japan to become a Buddhist nun. An argument with the abbot forced her to leave the monastery and return to the United States. She said her tendency to have confrontations with those in positions of power led her, from an early age, to ident ify with literary figures who challenge authority. 

“When I was introduced to Shakespeare in high school I fell in love with all the fool characters,” she said. “Of them all, the one that played that role the easiest was Lear’s Fool, because his best scen es are with the king, and it’s just the two of them.” 

Gwirion, the king’s jester and confidant in The Fool’s Tale, gets into a bind when his adversarial relationship with the queen becomes a love affair. This treachery leads to a confrontation between th e king and the fool. The book’s showdown is a reworking of a confrontation that Galland herself had 13 years ago on a Berkeley street, transported to 12th-century Wales. Galland was walking home from campus one night when a man grabbed her. 

“There’s a ve ry intense moment in the end of the book that is an idealized reconstruction of that night I was almost murdered,” she said, recalling how she verbally challenged the man as he held a gun to her chest. “I call it my Arthur Miller moment, which was basical ly forfeiting my life for doing what I believed was the right thing. That event is the end of the book, but in a completely different way.” 

Last month, at a book signing at Cody’s bookstore, Galland said she realized her story had strangely come full circle.  

“I had a realization that Berkeley had given me an experience that allowed me to finish the book and now I was kind of returning it to Berkeley by appearing at Cody’s,” she said.  

Galland has just finished a second novel and is beginning a third. The second is set in the same period as The Fool’s Tale but in a different part of Europe. The third book will connect the characters from the first two books. 

Galland said she regrets leaving Berkeley Rep, which she joined a year and a half ago, but found herself pulled in too many directions with promoting The Fool’s Tale while researching and writing her other books. 

“My plate is very full right now for the next five to six years, in terms of writing projects,” she said. “I know what I need to write about. It’s a new chapter in that, for a while—maybe not forever, but for a while—I get to be a full-time writer.” 

Galland’s new life has yet to fully sink in. 

“It’s an American dream and it’s happening, but I’m not experiencing it that way right now,” she said. “I know I will soon, in a week or two, when my life has finished shifting its patterns and I’m not trying to split my attention in so many ways. Maybe then I’ll feel it all, but right now it’s just an enormous amount of transition.” 

THE FOOL’S TALE 

By Nicole Galland 

William Morrow, 523 pages,  

$25.95›

We’ve all had the experience of rereading a book after many years and discovering a different book from the one we remember. The knock-out stunner has become a simplistic dud, or the ho-hum classic has been transformed into a profound statement touching our deepest hopes or fears. What’s actually changed, of course, are the times, and the reader’s experience. 

It just happened to me again, rereading Albert Camus’ The Plague after 40-odd years. 

Back then, Camus was most famous for The Stranger. I read The Plague after he won the Nobel Prize (1957), and shortly before he was killed in a auto accident (1960) at age 47. The book had come out just after World War II, when devastated Europe was still full of refugees and holocaust survivors, stuck in border camps or wandering, in search of lost loved ones. The U.S.A. was comparatively unscathed. Moreover, we were the good guys, the Marshall Plan saviors of foreign friends and ex-enemies. We weren’t about to call ourselves war criminals for dropping atom bombs on Japan, but we already had a healthy peace movement against ever doing it again. When I read The Plague, we were beginning to come up out of the McCarthy witch hunts, having avoided fatal persecutions. The Cold War dragged on, but we were prosperous, and had not yet heard of a place called Vietnam. 

Living in that climate (and still under age 30), I saw The Plague as an allegory of World War II, an indictment of previous wars, and a protest against any future war, which, we feared, would surely turn atomic. 

I took note of the various characters and their symbolic roles: Dr. Rieux, the narrator and soft-spoken healer; Father Paneloux, the priest who gives the usual sermon explaining the epidemic as God’s punishment for unspecified sins, then loses his faith; the visiting journalist, Lambert, outraged, trying to escape when the town is quarantined; and the one happy citizen as the death count rises, Cottard, a criminal on the run, who delights in seeing everyone else feeling just as he does in normal times—scared, suspicious of everyone, isolated, grieving, cornered, hopeless.  

In that first reading, what had I made of the newcomer to town, the enigmatic, self-exiled Jean Tarrou? 

Jean who? I had completely forgotten Tarrou. Even though Dr. Rieux bases much of his narrative on notes from Tarrou’s journal. Even though Tarrou and Rieux become friends and co-workers in plague relief. Even though, near the end of the novel, the two men have a conversation in which, from Tarrou, comes the uncompromisingly moral voice of Camus spelling out his disturbing challenge to us. Had I forgotten Tarrou because the times and my age made me unable or unwilling to take in his words? 

Let me quote just a few bits of Tarrou’s statement to Rieux (not enough to spoil the book if you haven’t read it.) “When I was young I lived with the idea of my innocence.” He describes his sudden realization of institutionalized evil in the world—a plague he is determined to devote his life to fighting. Only after many years had passed, he says, he lost his illusions about his innocence and about the true effects of his actions. “I came to understand that I, anyhow, had had plague through all those long years in which paradoxically enough, I’d believed with all my soul that I was fighting it . . . I have realized that we all have the plague . . . I have lost my peace. And today I am still trying to find it . . . each of us has the plague within him; no one, no one on earth is free from it. We must keep endless watch on ourselves lest in a careless moment we breathe in somebody’s face and fasten the infection on him . . . it’s a wearying business, being plague-stricken. But it’s still more wearying to refuse to be. The good man is the man who has the fewest lapses of attention. “ 

I’m older, feeling less “innocent” in my intentions or actions, and living in different times. Above all I am living in what seems to be a very different U.S.A. Perhaps I’m simply able to take in more of what Camus is telling me. 

Read The Plague. I’m not saying it’ll give you any comfort. Read it anyway.  

TUESDAY, FEB. 22 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: “The Future is Behind You” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Laxmi Hiremath introduces “The Dance of Spices: Classic Indian Cooking for Today’s Home Kitchen” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Gator Beat at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Diana Castillo at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Solas, Irish folk ensemble, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50- $23.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

James Colley, Grant Langston and the Supermodels, Toshio Hirano, Americana country, at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Danny Caron, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Chris Von Sneidern, Adrianne Serna, Kyle Vincent, singer, songwriters, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Vital Information at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Wed. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Randy Craig Trio, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23 

THEATER 

“Bright River” A hip-hop retelling of Dante’s Inferno, every Wed. through March 16 at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $12-$35 available from 415-256-8499. www.inhousetickets.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Haiga Paintings” and “Photographs of Japan” by Kazumi and Kim Cranney at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. www.giorgigallery.com 

FILM 

Cine Contemporaneo: “Cenizas del Paraíso” by Marcelo Piñeyro, at 7 p.m. in the CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch St. In Spanish with English subtitles. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

Film 50: History of Cinema: “My Darling Clementine” at 3 p.m. and Video Games and Contemporary Art Practice at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kala Fellows Talk with Kin Kwok, Gwen Meyer, and Katherin McInnis at 7 p.m. at Kala Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

Natalie Robins describes “Copeland’s Cure: Homeopathy and the War Between Conventional and Alternative Medicine” at 7:30 p.m. at at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Andrew Schelling reads from “Erotic Love Poems from India: A Translation of the Amarnshataka” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with In Black and White, music by Jorge Liderman, at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Dhol Patrol with SoulSalaam, Bhangra/Pan-Arabic beats, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Salsa Caliente All Stars at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Brian Girard Soul Jazz Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Le Flange Du Mal, underground music, at 10 p.m. at The Ivy Room, 858 San Pablo Ave. at Solano Ave. 524-9220.  

Fabulous Disaster, Oc Toons, Riot A Go-Go, punk, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886.  

The Tuna Helpers, God of Shamisen at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 24 

FILM 

Films of Nicholas Philbert: “To Be and To Have” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Melissa Boyle Mahle discusses “Denial and Deception: An Insider’s View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11” at 7:30 p.m. at at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America” with editor Pooja Makhijani and contributors at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Leah Steinberg and Lavender Fogg at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

“Academy Awards Night” with film historian Harry Chotiner and film producer Ron Yerxa at 7:30 p.m. at College Prep School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $5-$10. 658-5202. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bill Tapia, 97-year-old ‘ukulele maestro at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Randy Paufve Dance at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Michael Wilcox Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Kronkite, Big Band, Lesser Lights at 8 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Goapele at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$20. 238-9200.  

FRIDAY, FEB. 25 

THEATER 

Aurora Theatre, “Dublin Carol” by Conor McPherson Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun at 2 and 7 p.m. through March 6 at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822.  

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Fetes de la Nuit” at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Runs through Feb. 27. Tickets are $43-$55. 647-2949.  

Black Repertory Group “Thurgood Marshall” a play by Dr. Lenneal Hendersen, with Faye Carol and The Dru-Band at 7 p.m. at 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $7-$15. 

Central Works, “Enemy Combatant” at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Performances are Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. through March 26. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

Impact Theatre, “Othello” at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid. Thurs.- Sat. through March 19. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

Un-Scripted Theater Company “You Bet Your Improvisor!” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through March 26 at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St. at Telegraph. Tickets are $7-$10. 415-869-5384. www.unscripted.com 

FILM 

Films of Nicholas Philbert: “In the Land of the Deaf” at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jim Wallis looks at “God’s Politics: Why the Rights Gets It Wrong, and the Left Doesn’t Get It” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donation $10. Sponsored by Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

www.codysbooks.com  

Nicholas Philbert in Conversation discussing his films at 1:30 p.m. at at Pacific Film Archive. Free. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Sir Roger Penrose discusses “The Road to Reality: The Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland East Bay Symphony performs Mahler, Bunch and Beethven at 8 p.m. at the Parmount Theater, 2025 Broadway. Pre-concert lecture at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are $15-$60. 625-8497. www.oebs.org 

Trisha Brown Dance Company, 35th Anniversary Celebration, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jaranón y Bochinche, Afro-Peruvian music and dance at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $15. 849-2568.  

The Moodswing Orchestra at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 8 p.m. with Nick & Shanna. Cost is $18. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Erika Luckett at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Blame Sally at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Sabrina Stewart, Inspect Her Gadget, Stiletta, rock, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7-$9. 848-0886.  

Lemon Lime Lights, The Unravellers, The Kissers at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. 841-2082.  

Josh Workman Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Thomas Faut at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Vinyl, funk jazz at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Unbound, io, Minipop, Push to Talk and Chelsey Fasano, rock, at 7 p.m. at Imusicast 5429 Telegraph Ave Cost is $8. 601-1029. www.imusicast.com 

Cuarteto Sonando, Afro-Cuban jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Unseen, Ramallah, Pistol Grip, Brain Failure at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Plot Against Rachel, Lowly at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Goapele at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$20. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, FEB. 26 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Asheba at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Serving the People - Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party Photographs” at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Reception at 2 p.m. with Billy X. Jennings and other BPP members in the Community Room. Exhibition runs to March 19. 981-6100. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org 

“Potters for Peace, the Road to Hope” an exhibition of Nicaraguan Pottery and fim screening at 5 p.m. at Berkeley Potters Guild, 731 Jones St. 524-7031. www.berkeleypotters.com 

“The Art of Living Black” Ninth Annual Bay Area Black Artists Art Tour from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sat. and Sun. at various locations throughout the Bay Area. Call the Richmond Art Center for a directory of participating artists and locations. 620-6772. www.therichmondartcenter.org 

FILM 

Films of Nicholas Philbert: “Every Little Thing” at 7 p.m. and “Animals” at 9:25 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rhythm & Muse featuring performance poet Paradise at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center. Free. Berkeley Art Center. 527-9753. 

Robert MacNeil discusses “Do You Speak American?” his new book on American English at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

East Bay Poets, “Painting With Words” a reading and open mic at 2 p.m. at the Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave.at Ashby. Julia@juliamontrond.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Kensington Symphony with Florence Kline and Nancy Hunt, flutes, and Dana Kemp, trumpet performs Hayden and Beethoven at 8 p.m. at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Ashbury Ave., El Cerrito. Suggested donation $8-$10, children free. 524-4335.  

Trisha Brown Dance Company, 35th Anniversary Celebration, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26-$48. 642-9988.  

Four Seasons Concerts presents “Triangulo” in a program of Latin American music at 7:30 p.m. at the Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St., Oakland. Tickets are $25-$35. 601-7919. www.fourseasonsconcerts.com 

Bay Area Classical Harmonies with Presidio Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at Arlington Community, 52 Arlington, Kensington. 

Jim Hudak, piano at 1 p.m. at Hear Music, 1809 Fourth St. 204-9595.  

Dream Kitchen, with John Schott and music of the twenties, at 2 p.m. at Down Home Music, 10341 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito. 525-2129. 

Zydeco Flames at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Dance lesson at 8 p.m. with Dana De Simone. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Ken Mahru with Loyalty Day at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Matt Berkeley Group, jazz, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Suzy Thompson with Del Ray, Larry Hanks & Thompspn’s String ticklers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Larry Stefl Jazz Group at 9:30 p.m. Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Desoto Reds, Safety First, Imogene, indie, pop, rock, at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $7. 848-0886.  

Homenagem Brasileira at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$18. 845-5373. www.jazz 

school.com  

Pyeng Threadgill at 8 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. at 8th. Cost is $10. www.pyeng.com 

Eastbay Rats Benefit with Turks, Hobogoblin and Resistaleros at 9 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Grapefruit Ed at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082.  

Matt Renzi Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

All Bets Off, Time for Livin’ Killing the Dream, Lights Out at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 27 

CHILDREN 

The Sippy Cups, a musical performance for children at 4 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts. Tickets are $5-$10. 925-798-1300.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Haiga Paintings” and “Photographs of Japan” by Kazumi and Kim Cranney. Reception at 1 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. 848-12288. www.giorgigallery.com 

THEATER 

“Beowulf” The epic translated and performed by Philip Wharton at 7:30 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid. Sun. nights through Mar. 20. Tickets are $10-$15. 415-608-9683. 

FILM 

Films of Nicholas Philbert: “Louvre City” at 12:30 p.m. and “Animals” at 2:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Let the People Speak” a celebration of Black History Month with Kokomon Clottey and Aeeshah Ababio-Clottey at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852.  

“Stalking the Folk Art of Mexico” with Marion Oettinger of the San Antonio Museum of Art at 2 p.m. at the Phoebe Hearst Museum, Bancroft Way at College. 643-7648. 

“Oakland Beat” An evening with young Oakland poets at 7 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Sponsored by California Shakespeare Theater, Campo Santo and Intersection for the Arts.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Pacific Mozart Ensemble “Voices from Farther East” a concert of Eastern-influenced choral music at 5 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way at Durant. Tickets are $15-$20. 415-705-0848. www.pacificmozart.org 

The Maybeck Trio at 3 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Road, Kensington. 548-3121.  

Sun String Quartet plays Haydn’s “Quinten Quartet” at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Sliding scale donation $10-24. 701-1787. 

“Reflections: Music to Soothe and Uplift the Spirit” Celtic, medieval and traditional melodies with Eileen Hadidian, recorder and flute, Patrice Haan, Celtic harp at 7 p.m. at Grace North Church, 2138 Cedar St. Donations $10, children free, no one turned away. 213-3122. www.gracenorthchurch.org 

Songs for the Hard Times The 67th Annual Reunion of the Veterans and Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade with Utah Phillips at 1 p.m. at the Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St., Oakland. Tickets are $40. 548-3088. 

Bay Area Classical Harmonies with the Presidio Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center. 

Community Women’s Orchestra Winter Concert at 4 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, 5201 Park Blvd., Piedmont. Donations $5-$10. 689-0202. 

Masters of Persian Classical Music “A Journey into the Heart of the Middle East” at 7 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $24-$48. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Ethel, 20th century music and beyond, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $32 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Persia in Motion” with Shahrzad Dance Academy at 4 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $5-$10. 

Papa Gianni and the North Beach Band at 2 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Bart Davenport and The Jonah Kit at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761.  

Flamenco Open Stage with Adela Clara and Antonia& Virgina Juan at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Jaya Lakshmi accompanied by Jason Parmar on Tabla at 7:30 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. Donation $14. 843-2787.  

Color Black, Blair Hansen, Hands of Time at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. |

Like many things called “California,” California pepper trees aren’t. Schinus molle comes from the inter-Andean valleys of Peru. The tree, a broadleafed evergreen, is distributed all over the world now, used as a landscape and street tree in arid and semiarid areas. Those broad leaves aren’t so broad in appearance; they just aren’t quite conifer needles, but finely divided compound leaves like soft miniature palm fronds. The “peppers” are clusters of pink to red berries that persist long enough to be a decorative asset, and are small enough not to be too much of a mess when they do fall.  

The story is that the ones in California originated from a handful of seeds given to Father Antonio Peyri, first superior of Mission San Luis Rey near San Diego, by a sailor who could say only that they were from South America. Father Peyri planted the seeds and they grew, and there’s one still alive at the Mission in an enclosed garden. Whether that’s true or not, pepper trees are strongly associated with the missions.  

I’ve always liked elder specimens of this tree, with their gnarled black trunks and graceful feathery leaves. You can see a nice set of examples around the tennis courts at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Russell Street, though they’re aging past the point of grace in some ways. Part of the problem is pests and disease. Pepper trees are susceptible to root rot, other fungi, phytophthora, and insects including scale and thrips. Severe scale infections have done in a few trees I knew, and others have limped along just looking sickly and feeble for years. I have to admire their toughness in surviving this long, but the sick ones start looking ghastly after a decade or so, poor things. 

They are tough in other ways, including drought tolerance. This isn’t always a virtue. Schinus molle, and to an even greater extent its cousin Schinus terebinthifolius, Brazilian pepper tree, are unfortunately invasive—in California, mostly in riparian habitats, but S. terebinthifolius is a villain in other places like Florida. In fact, that one’s on the list of the hundred worst invaders worldwide that was published in the current issue of National Geographic. It’s right up there with Dutch elm disease, zebra mussel, and the Argentine ant.  

S. terebinthifolius gets planted here as a substitute for S. molle because it’s a little less susceptible to some of the latter’s pests and diseases. It looks rangier, possibly because most of the ones I meet are younger.  

Both the Peruvian and Brazilian pepper trees are sources for the “gourmet” pink peppercorns, hence the Spanish name “falso pimentero.” Beware of scarfing those up, though. They’re in the family Anacardiaceae, along with cashews and sumacs, and some people are wildly allergic to them. I do wonder if sending hordes of ambitious market harvesters into seriously Schinus-infested areas might not be a good solution to the invasion, though.  

Now if we could also convince them to go for the kudzu in the Southeast… its roots are much like arrowroot, after all, source of a delicate and useful cooking starch. And somewhere in the archives of Audubon magazine, there’s a recipe for starling gumbo. As for biological controls, I have to wonder if the water hyacinth-choked waterways of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are really too cold for manatees. Isn’t there a warm-water power-plant outfall or two where they could hang out? Just askin’.  

The berries, as well as other plant parts, contain a variety of chemicals (Don’t we all?), some of which are tingly or aromatic enough to have been used for herbal medicines. Various actions are ascribed to these chemicals—most of which exist in more concentrated form in other plants—and the list is confusing and vague enough to persuade me that, as they say, “more research is needed.”  

Meanwhile, if you’re going to wildcraft your own spring tonic, please leave the struggling city pepper trees unmolested—they probably contain hazardous levels of assorted exhaust components anyway—and find an invading population along a creek somewhere. Give our green urban neighbors a hand for their grace and toughness, and let their existence be a tonic for your spirit.

TUESDAY, FEB. 22 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at Inspiration Point to look for birds of the grassland and chaparral. 525-2233. 

Return of the Over-the-Hills Gang Hikers 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness, and fun are invited to join us on a series of monthly excursions exploring our Regional Parks. Meet at 10 a.m. at Briones. Registration required. 525-2233.  

Bird Walk on the Martin Luther King Shoreline from 3 to 5 p.m. Dress for rain and wind. 525-2233. 

“Sea Kayaking in the Bay Area and Baja” a slide presentation with Mitch Powers, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

El Cerrito Democratic Club “The Social Security Debate” with Prof. J. Bradford DeLong, Economics Dept., UCB, at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary, Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Ashbury Ave., El Cerrito.  

The Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society Low Cost Spay/Neuter Day, in recognition of the 11th Annual Spay Day. Spay/neuter costs are $5-$10. 845-7735. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

“Christianity, Islam and Ecology” Forum with Rosemary Radford Ruether and Ibrahim Farajaje at 7 p.m. at the Richard S. Dinner Boardroom, Graduate Theological Union, Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. Part of The Graduate Theological Union’s Theological Roundtable on Ecological Ethics and Spirituality. 649-2560.  

Black History Celebration with a showing of “Roots” at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

Black History Celebration with Keith Carson, Alameda County Board of Supervisors and Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, entertainment and refreshments, at noon at the County Admin. Bldg, 1221 Oak St. Oakland.  

Reverse Annuity Mortgages with Cherisse Baptiste from ECHO Housing at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

School Age Storytime for ages 5 and up at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets from 3 to 6 p.m. 843-1307. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org  

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23 

Tilden Tots A nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll search for amphibians from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Wildlife Careers for Teens with information on zoo keeping, wildlife biology and wildlife education, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. Free, but reservations required. 632-9525, ext. 202. www.oaklandzoo.org 

The Oakland Bird Club “Sierra Birds: A Hiker’s Guide” with author Jack Laws at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, Upstairs Meeting Room, 5366 College Ave. Free and open to the public. 444-0355, 654-4830. 

Great Decisions 2005: “Russia” with Jordan Gans-Morse, Grad student, Political Science, UCB, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. Cost is $5, $40 for the series. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

“South Berkeley Expo” from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Staff from Public Works, Police, Fire, Parks, and Health and Human Services will present information on community services and opportunities for residents to work together. 981-7071. 

“Indictment: Bush and Company’s Violations of the Constitution” with Doris Walker, attorney with the National Lawyers Guild at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Sponsored by the Gray Panthers. 548-9696. 

“American Dictators” A documentary of Alex Jones and the staged “election” of 2004, at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390  27th St., midtown Oakland. Free, $5 donation requested. 910-0696. 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “The Templar Revelation by Picknett and Prince at 6:30 p.m. at the Barnes and Noble Coffee Shop, El Cerrito Plaza. 433-2911. 

AARP Free Tax Assistance for taxpayers with middle and low incomes, with special attention to those 60 years and older. From 12:15 to 4:15 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Appointments must be made in advance. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Artify Ashby Muralist Group meets every Wed. from 5 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, to plan a new mural. New artists are welcome. Call Bonnie at 704-0803. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, FEB. 24 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at Golf Course Road turnout, Tilden Park, to look for nuthatches. 525-2233. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll search for amphibians from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Tilden Explorers An after school nature adventure for 5-7 year olds who may be accompanied by an adult. No younger siblings please. We’ll search for amphibians. From 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

District 2 Town Hall Meeting with Councilmember Darryl Moore at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Youth Alternatives, 1255 Allston Way. Come discuss current neighborhood issues and concerns. 981-7120. 

Black History Celebration with dance, poetry, skits and light refreshments, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Frances Albrier Community Center, 2800 Parker St. 981-6640. 

Community Forum on Soft Story Builings and Reducing Risk, with presentations by local and national experts, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7406. TDD 981-7474. 

“Devastation for Democracy” The Future of the Iraqi People, Culture and Politics, with Dahr Jamail and Medea Benjamin at 7 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Donation $10, no one turned away. www.vituous.com 

“Confronting Empire: Hope, Fear & U.S. Intervention in El Salvador’s Presidential Elections” A documentary screening followed by discussion, at 7 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 415-648-8222. 

“Gaza Strip” A free film screening at 6:30 p.m. at the 3rd flr. Community Meeting Room, Berkeley Public Library Central Branch, 2090 Kittredge St. 

“Rhetorics of Holy War” a conference covering contemporary Islam, the crusades, contemporary evangelicalism, Buddhism, medieval Byzantium, and more. Thurs. and Fri. at 9:30 a.m. at the Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 415-451-2876. ocker@sfts.edu 

Easy Does It Disability Assistance Board of Directors Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Classrooms A/B. Meeting is accessible and open to the public, with time for public comment. 967-4003. 

Older People United, a discussion group for elders over 75 at 1:30 p.m. at the Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public Schools at 1:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Caleb and Ting Tango Classes Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Tango Studio. Cost is $20 for one class or $60 for four. To register call 655-3585. stellatango.com. 

FRIDAY, FEB. 25 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Ludmilla Kutsak on “The Fabergé Egg.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020. 

“So How’d You Become an Activist?” with Carolyn Scarr and Dr. Marc Sapir at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St., at Bonita. Suggested donation $5. 528-5403. 

“The 9/11 Omission Report: What the Commission Didn’t Answer” with John Judge at 7 p.m. at Fellowship of Humanity, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations requested. 625-1106. 

“Constitutional Actions in Mexico” with Justice José Ramón Cossío Díaz of the Mexican Supreme Court at 4 p.m. in the Faculty Lounge, Boalt Hall, UC Campus. 642-2088.  

Special Character Storytime for children with Arthur the Aardvark, at 10:30 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, 2352 Shattuck Ave. 644-0861. 

Berkeley Youth Alternatives Crab Feed at 7 p.m. at 1255 Allston Way. Cost is $35. Reservations required. 845-9010. www.byaonline.org 

“Three Beats for Nothing” meets at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice. No charge. 655-8863, 843-7610.  

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Humanistic Shabbat with Kol Hadash at 7:30 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. 428-1492. info@kolhadash.org 

SATURDAY, FEB. 26 

Wet & Wild Come walk in the rain or shine and see who is out in Tilden Park. Meet at 11 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233.  

Giddy for Goats Come meet Lola and Princess and the kids and learn how to care for goats, at 3 p.m. at the Little Farm, Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

Let Worms Eat Your Garbage Learn about the benefits of composting at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

“Serving the People - Body and Soul” A Black Panther Party history lecture and video screening with Billy X. Jennings, Richard Aoki, Sister Sheba and James Buford at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Library Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100.  

“Election Rigging 101” A teach-in on the 2004 election and what we must do to restore democracy, with Bob Fitrakis, Editor, Columbus Free Press and others, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., Oakland. Donation $10. Please bring lunch. www.democraticrenewal.us 

“Harriet Jacobs: A Black Woman’s Fight to Smash Slavery” with Carla Wilson, Spartacist League at 3 p.m. at the YWCA, 1515 Webster St., Oakland. 839-0851. 

“Bringing the Hip Hop Youth into the Struggle for Reparations” a conference with Fred Hampton, Jr. and Pedro Noguera, held in the Valley Life Science Building, UC Campus. struggle4reparations.com  

Emergency Response Training Class on “Basic Personal Preparedness” from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Fire Dept. Training Center, 997 Cedar St. To register call 981-5606. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/fire/oes.html 

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Most items are priced at just 50 cents and include fiction, mysteries, children’s books, magazines, records, and a special “white elephant” table. Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave, Albany. 536-3720, ext. 5. 

From Tsunami Relief to Creative Rebuilding Performance, silent auction, bake sale at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Tickets are $15-$50. Proceeds benefit Sarvodaya. 444-8511, ext. 15. www.artsfirstoakland.org 

UC Berkeley Asia Business Conference on “Asia’s Global Leadership” from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Haas School of Business, at UC Campus. Cost is $50, $20 students. cochairs@berkeleyabc.org 

California College of the Arts Open House from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 5212 Broadway. Prospective students can tour studios, meet faculty and current students and view student work. 415-703-9523. 

Kol Hadash Chai (18th) Anniversary with a dinner and entertainment at 6:30 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. For reservations call 428-1492. info@KolHadash.org 

SUNDAY, FEB. 27 

All Things Fungal Considered from 10 a.m. to noon at Tilden Nature Center. We’ll seach for mushrooms and lichens and learn the science of fungi. Bring your lunch. 525-2233. 

Laurel Canyon Cryptogram Slog We’ll look for plants without flowers and learn about their life cycles. Be prepared for lots of mud. Meet at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

“Casinos in your Neighborhood-Good, Bad or What?” A panel discission to hear all sides from 4 to 6 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Sponsored by Berkeley Citizens Action. 

Benefit for the Oakland GI Rights Hotline/CCCO, from 3 to 6:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. The program will present three decades of anti-war activism, from Vietnam to Iraq. Donations requested, $5 and up. 465-1607. www.girights.org 

Yonatan Shapira, Israeli refuser pilot at 3 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Donation $5. 524-1993 www.refusersolidarity.net 

Songs for the Hard Times The 67th Annual Reunion of the Veterans and Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade with Utah Phillips at 1 p.m. at the Calvin Simmons Theater, 10 Tenth St., Oakland. Tickets are $40. 548-3088. 

Celebrate Black History Month with African stamp art at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-111. www.habitot.org 

Analysis of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” with Terry Wilson at 6 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. A lasagna and salad supper will be served at 5 p.m. for a $4.00 donation. 526-3805. 

Celebrate KerBlooms 52nd Issue at a benefit dinner for the Anarchy Magazine Collective. Vegan dinner at 7:30 p.m. and readings at 8:30 p.m. at the Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave. 540-8705. www.thelonghaul.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

The TaKeTiNa Rhythm Process A workshop from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Interplayce, 2273 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $85-$110. 650-493-8046. www.villageheartbeat.com/registration.php 

“Ashenazic Jews: History and Culture,” a conference sponsored by Kol Hadash, with visiting Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi Sherwin Wine. From 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sat. and to 12:30 p.m. on Sun. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. For registration information 428-1492. info@KolHadash.org 

“Mysticism and the Inner Path to Enlightenment” Tea and discussion with Mother Clare Watts, a nondemoninational priest, at 1 p.m. at the Rose Garden Inn. Cost is $15. RSVP to 635-4286. 

“The Rise of the Jewish Doctor” with John Efron at 3 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 845-6420. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Abbe Blum on “The Tibetan Wheel of Life” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, FEB. 28 

Tea and Hike at Four Taste some of the finest teas from the Pacific Rim and South Asia and learn their natural and cultural history, followed by a short nature walk. At 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, in Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. www.ebparks.org 

Berkeley High School Site Council meets at 4:30 p.m. to discuss WASC process and the role of the School Site Council, South of Bancroft facilities plan report, and Freshman Seminar report. bhssitecouncil@berkeley.k12.ca.us, bhs.berkeleypta.org/ssc 

BUSD East Campus Planning Meeting at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Alternative High School Multipurpose Room, 2701 MLK Jr. WAy. 644-6066. 

“Critical Viewing” an ongoing group that examines the craft(iness) of short film, TV drama, and commercials. Free. co-sponsored by the Berkeley Adult School and BRJCC. New members always welcome. Mon. from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net 

“The Jewish-American World of Philip Roth” at 7:30 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 845-6420. 

ONGOING 

Nature Journal Writing with fieldtrips offered at the Downtown Oakland Senior Center, Vets Memorial Building at Grand Ave and Harrison, next to Lake Merritt. Meets Mon., 10 a.m. to noon and Thurs. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free. To register call 238-3284. 

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Seeks Host Gardens The tour, which will be held in the spring of 2005, will showcase Alameda and Contra Costa County gardens that contain at least 30% native plants, don’t use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, and provide habitat for wildlife. To receive a host application, contact Kathy Kramer at Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net or 236-9558.  

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Feb. 22, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Budget Review Commission meets Wed., Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7041. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/budget 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., Feb. 23, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/civicarts 

Disaster Council meets Wed., Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., Feb. 23, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed. Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Planning Commission meets Wed. Feb. 23 at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed. Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/policereview 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs. Feb. 24, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning  ™

The Berkeley Federation of Teachers union has announced what amounts to a work slow-down in response to Berkeley Unified School District’s latest contract proposal. 

Flanked by a phalanx of red-armband-wearing teacher representatives from each of the district’s schools, a visibly angry BFT president Barry Fike told district directors and Superintendent Michele Lawrence at this week’s board meeting that beginning next week, teachers would work the exact hours called for in their contracts, but no more. 

Fike called the action a “scale down,” and gave no timetable as to how long the job action would last. He said that following the district’s presentation of its latest contract proposal at a Wednesday afternoon meeting, the BFT executive committee met in executive session to reject the proposal. 

In a chant delivered in unison following Fike’s presentation, teachers said the red armbands “show our anger and our passion. We want the contract to be completed so only our passion remains.” 

Lawrence said, following the meeting, that because the district had not received formal notification of the BFT executive committee action, the district considers its proposal “still under consideration.” She called the union’s board presentation “a statement of their dissatisfaction, but I haven’t heard a formal rejection yet.” 

Berkeley teachers have been without a contract for two years, and contract negotiations between BFT and the district are currently being held through a state-appointed mediator. Fike said that the union and the district are at an impasse over pay raises, payment for health benefits, and class sizes. 

Fike also said that teachers normally work many hours outside the normal teaching day, including before and after school and weekends. 

“This is the type of activity that will cease by those teachers who choose to honor our call,” he said. The union was drawing up a list of school activities that would possibly be affected by the scale down, which it would release later this week, he said. 

At Wednesday night’s board presentation, Fike said it was “duplicitous, conniving, and exploitative to imply that the need to give consideration to the district’s classified employees, or the lack of state funds, keeps you from fairly compensating teachers. You ask us to come back next year after you attend to all your other spending priorities. Your call would be laughable, if it weren’t so deadly serious.” 

BFT received announcements of support from BUSD’s two other employee unions. Berkeley Council of Classified Employees president Ann Graybeal said that the district’s classified employees “stand with the BFT in the action they are choosing to take; we know that they are asking for no more than their fair share.” 

Business Representative Stephanie Allen of Stationary Engineers Local 39, which represents district food service workers, custodians, and bus drivers, made the most heated charge of the night, calling Superintendent Michele Lawrence by name and saying, “you have one of the most anti-union administrations in the history of the district; it’s time for you to clean up your act.” 

Lawrence was low-key in her rebuttal, calling it “completely understandable that our teachers are frustrated. Teachers ought to be rewarded. But we don’t have the ability to give our employees raises as long as we have the current budget situation. The responsibility of the superintendent and the board is to ensure that the district does not go belly-up. If that is considered to be anti-union, so be it. I consider it to be pro-labor as well as pro-children when we meet our fiduciary responsibility.” 

Director John Selawsky was less diplomatic, saying that the charge that the district administrative was anti-union “is a cheap, uncalled for shot. I resent that comment.” 

Selawsky suggested that teachers were going after the wrong target, saying that they should “contact our local representatives and the governor and tell them that we shouldn’t lower Prop 98 funding.” 

Director Joaquin Rivera said that he had either sat in on or received reports from each of the negotiating sessions with BFT, and could “assure the community that this board and this administration has approached negotiations in good faith. But we don’t have the money and you can’t negotiate what you don’t have. It troubles me that teachers haven’t had a pay raise in two years. But it troubles me more that classified employees, who are our lowest-paid workers, haven’t had a raise for longer than that.” 

“It’s not like the district is pocketing money and putting it in stocks,” said Student Director Lily Dorman-Colby. “Sometimes the people who come here don’t understand that for everything we add to the budget, something has to be cut. It’s a lose-lose situation. It pains me if we can’t pay our teachers enough. But it also pains me when we have to cut programs.” 

›

All four colleges of the Peralta Community College District are in danger of losing their accreditation if deficiencies are not corrected within two years, according to a warning by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). 

Peralta Federation of Teachers (PFT) president Michael Mills charged that Peralta was “being singled out” for punishment for infractions that are being overlooked in other community colleges. 

Jeff Heyman, Peralta spokesman, said that while the warning letters were “obviously something of concern to us,” the district administration and trustee board were still analyzing the letters, and did not yet have a formal response. Written progress reports to WASC are due by October. 

The four warning letters were sent on Jan. 31 to the presidents of Laney, Merritt, Alameda, and Vista colleges following a Jan. 12-14 meeting of WASC’s Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, with a similar letter going to Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris. The letters were signed by Accrediting Commission Executive Director Barbara Beno. 

Beno has a history with Peralta. She was Vista College’s president for 12 years, and before that served as director of research and planning for the Peralta Community College District. 

The letters cite each of the four Peralta colleges for three identical deficiencies, all of which involve the district administration rather than the colleges themselves: the failure of the Peralta District to implement a districtwide strategic educational and financial plan, the failure of the district to implement a plan to fund the district’s long-term health care benefit liability, and interference of the district’s Board of Trustees in the day-to-day operation of the district. 

In addition, the letter to Merritt College President Dr. Evelyn Wesley included the recommendation that Merritt “identify the most effective ways to assure that its institutional research and evaluation processes, policies, and practices are developed and implemented within a timely and efficient manner.” 

The letters are a follow-up to reports on the colleges made by WASC accrediting evaluation teams last November. The letters cite “the district’s failure to satisfactorily address the recommendations made to it” in those earlier reports. 

In a telephone interview, PFT president Mills said that the infractions listed in Beno’s letters did not warrant a warning. “WASC should have just alerted us to the problems,” he said. 

“The unfunded health care liability sticks in my craw,” Mills said. “They’re asking the district to have the money on hand to meet all present and anticipated future medical costs for its employees, but public agencies typically don’t have that kind of funding.” 

Mills added that the district has “gone to great lengths to reduce our health care costs. We switched all of our current retirees so that Medicare is their primary health care provider. In addition, all new Peralta employees hired since last July are not guaranteed lifetime medical benefits. It pains me as a labor leader to have to say this, but that’s a concession we had to give up in order to ensure the fiscal health of the district. Why the Accrediting Commission did not take this into account is beyond me.” 

Mills said he knew of at least 10 WASC-accredited colleges who were in the same health care funding situation as Peralta and who have not been issued similar warnings. 

Mills also said that because four of the seven Peralta trustees were newly-elected last November, the district should have been informed about possible problems with the previous board, but not cited. 

He said that the only legitimate concern of the Accrediting Commission was the lack of a strategic education plan. “The district needs to do that,” he said. 

Public Information Officer Heyman agreed that the unfunded health care liability issue was “unfair.” 

“With health care costs skyrocketing, nearly all public institutions are going through the same problem,” he explained. Heyman added that it was “a little unclear” what WASC meant by its “micromanaging” charge against the trustee board. 

But he concluded that “there’s nothing in the warning letters that are difficult or impossible to comply with. We’re working on it.”›

Berkeley has $3.5 million more than it had anticipated, but $7.5 million less than it needs to get its recurring expenses in line with its recurring revenues, city officials reported at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. 

A booming real estate market, producing a higher than expected return on property transfer taxes, is responsible for the windfall, but City Manager Phil Kamlarz has cautioned against spending the bulk of the money to spare city programs slated for cuts. 

Even though the appearance of $3.5 million effectively cuts the city’s deficit to $4 million, Kamlarz is still calling it a $7.5 million deficit since he proposes spending the windfall to buy new items rather than patching holes in the budget. 

“We want to be responsible,” Kamlarz said at a media briefing Thursday. He feared that by allocating the money to save city programs endangered by the looming cuts, the city would merely be delaying inevitable cuts in future years. “It’s good budgeting to get recurring revenues and expenditures in balance. We might as well deal with this sooner rather than later.” 

On Tuesday, the council delayed a vote until next week on Kamlarz’ proposal to devote $2.4 million of the windfall toward the purchase of a police and fire dispatch system. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington raised the loudest objection to the city manager’s plan to immediately set aside most of the $3.5 million for a new dispatch system. 

“Just because we have $3.5 million more than we are budgeted for doesn’t mean we have to spend it right away,” said Worthington, who wants to delay action on the city manager’s recommendations until this spring when the council considers the entire budget. 

Currently Berkeley Police use a 13-year-old computer-aided dispatch system (CAD) that police brass says keeps them from providing accurate and timely information to the public. CAD data is based on information received in the initial call to police, not the final report. If the incident differs from the dispatch call, police must manually correct the data into their records system, which Captain Doug Hambleton previously told the Daily Planet could take weeks to months. 

Police thought they were finished with CAD three years ago when they acquired a $700,000 dispatch program, but the system never worked, and the city has since returned it for an undisclosed refund. 

Kamlarz stressed that the city must act quickly to replace CAD because its manufacturer will no longer service it after next year, but although most councilmembers appeared to support the purchase they were wary about buying another faulty system. 

“I assume it is necessary, but we have to figure if we have to spend that much money and how we can avoid getting another bum system,” said Councilmember Dona Spring. She requested that city staff produce a report detailing the price and performance of dispatch systems purchased by neighboring cities over the last 10 years. 

On Thursday, Kamlarz said the city had not yet settled on a new dispatch system and would request bids from manufacturers later this year. 

Kamalarz also proposed spending $500,000 to help close the deficit in a fund for transportation improvements, $250,000 to fund a lawsuit against UC Berkeley’s Long Range Development Plan, $30,000 for a solar bond fund match, and $300,000 for technology to improve customer service. The council also postponed the manager’s request to provide feedback on consolidating and reducing meeting sessions for city commissions, which Kamlarz estimated could save $120,000. 

The council, which focused solely on the budget Tuesday, did authorize Kamlarz to confer with unions over a plan to save money by shutting down non-essential city services one day a month beginning in July. 

Rising labor and benefits cost and declining revenues plunged the city in to the red three years ago, and appear likely to dent future budgets as well. City officials project a $3.4 million deficit in fiscal year 2007 and a $2.4 million deficit in 2008 and 2009. 

With more available money this year than anticipated, a battle is already afoot over how to spend it. Neighborhood leaders and fire department members urged the council Tuesday to restore a department ladder truck it took out of service part-time last November to help balance this year’s budget. 

“Money should not have been a reason to reduce the hours of operation of the fire truck in the first place,” said Dean Metzger, president of the Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association. “Now in our opinion even the money issue is moot.”  

Cutting funding for fire department overtime that helped staff the truck company—one of two in Berkeley—hasn’t kept the truck out of service every night as anticipated, according to fire department officials. Over the last 89 evenings since the cutback, the company was in operation 28 nights when the fire department was fully staffed and didn’t need overtime to man the truck. 

Under the current deficit reduction plan, the fire truck is slated to be eliminated beginning in July. Other positions slated for cuts include school crossing guides, and seven vacant police officer jobs. 

While the council debates how to spend the unanticipated revenue, it must also determine how to extract concessions from employees to help balance the budget. By an 8-1 vote (Worthington, no) the council authorized Kamlarz to begin discussions with city unions about closing non-essential city services one day a month to save $1.2 million in the general fund.  

Last year the city realized the same savings by striking a deal with all of their unions except the firefighters to defer scheduled salary increases. As part of that deal, however, the city surrendered its right to compel the unions to take pay cuts for the remainder of their contracts. Kamlarz said Thursday that union leaders have indicated they won’t entertain similar concessions this year. 

Before Tuesday’s meeting, the council met with union representatives, who councilmembers said were angry over the proposal because police and firefighters were immune to the cuts since public safety is considered an essential service. 

“It’s grossly unfair to only be negotiating with certain employees when some of the highest paid employees are untouched,” Worthington said. 

According to a staff report, most city departments are on budget for the current fiscal year. The one department significantly over budget is the fire department, which due to high numbers of employees on workers compensation and paid leave is projected to be $510,000 over budget.  

During Tuesday’s meeting department officials also revealed that the city pays to keep an engine above Memorial Stadium on UC Berkeley football game days. 

The tax on property transfers is forecast to be $4.5 million more than the city had budgeted. On the flip side, several revenue sources have come in below budget, with the poorest performer remaining parking fine revenue, slated to fall $400,000 short of projections. 



Oakland diocese officials, under tough questioning from a crowd numbering over 250 at Berkeley’s St. Joseph The Worker Church, this week clarified earlier statements that allegations of sexual misconduct against Pastor George Crespin were “credible.” 

Church officials explained that the term meant that the allegations were only possibly true, rather than likely, as many of the parishioners had assumed the term meant. 

“I apologize on behalf of the diocese if we used that word and gave the wrong impression,” said the Rev. Raymond Breton, the diocese expert on canon law, to loud applause. 

Two weeks ago Crespin, 69, abruptly retired from the parish upon learning that a former parishioner had accused him of sexual abuse 30 years prior while Crespin was a priest at Our Lady of the Rosary in Union City. Crespin has worked at St. Joseph’s since 1980, and served as pastor for the last 10 years. The diocese has not revealed the accuser’s identity. 

Diocese policy calls for a priest faced with a “credible” allegation of sexual abuse to be placed on administrative leave. Although Breton told parishioners Tuesday that, legally, “credible” meant the accusation had the potential to be true, churchgoers contested that the language had unfairly tainted the investigation. 

“It was outrageous,” said Tom Fike, an attorney and longtime St. Joseph’s parishioner. “If any judge had commented that an allegation was credible, that judge would have been recused from the case.” 

Tuesday’s forum at St. Joseph’s, conducted in both Spanish and English, was meant to both heal wounds and answer questions about the sexual misconduct allegations. 

Parishioners gave a standing ovation and stomped their feet after a clergyman delivered a prayer honoring Crespin for “having given his life to the good of the church and the dignity of the community.” 

Crespin, who in a written statement has denied the charges, is scheduled to return to Berkeley this weekend after spending the past week with family in New Mexico, said acting parish administrator Father Jayson Landeza.  

Throughout the investigation, which Breton guessed would last six months, Crespin is prohibited from dressing as a priest, conducting public mass and being alone with anyone under the age of 18. 

“It’s not a punishment,” Breton told parishioners. “It’s the only way we can protect everybody involved.” 

The Oakland Diocese, which serves Alameda and parts of Contra Costa counties, currently has 44 pending cases of sexual misconduct against clergymen. In the case of Crespin, the charge is too dated for criminal charges to be filed, although if the accusation is substantiated, the diocese could be liable for monetary damages. 

During a question and answer period, parishioners charged that the church had prejudged Crespin.  

Asked why church officials were not giving the benefit of the doubt to the accused, Breton replied, “For too long in the church the pendulum was on the side of the priest and deacon. This was done to give more credibility to the church to respond to the crisis of sexual abuse in this country.” 

When a second parishioner asked about whether the diocese was looking in to rumors that the accuser is mentally ill, Breton said that even if that were the case, it didn’t mean that the allegation was unfounded. 

“The [mental illness] could be a result of an experience when you were younger,” he said. 

Upon the completion of a preliminary investigation, Crespin will have the right to a church attorney, Breton said. Should Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron find after the investigation that the sexual misconduct probably occurred, Breton added that the bishop would order a more thorough investigation, whose findings Crespin could appeal the Vatican. 

With Crespin now officially retired, Rev. Raymond Zielezieski, the diocese vicar for priests, said the parish would soon form a 10-person transition team, headed by Landeza, to search for a new pastor. Landeza, who attended St. Joseph’s as a child and now serves as pastor at St. Columba in Oakland, will not be a candidate to replace Crespin, he told the Daily Planet after the meeting. 

Although Crespin faces diocese-imposed restrictions during the investigation, he will still be able to meet with parishioners in groups and in their homes, Breton said, responding to a boy who wanted to know if he could talk to Crespin in person. 

Landeza, when prodded by a parishioner, offered his support for holding a retirement party in Crespin’s honor while the investigation proceeded. 

After the meeting a number of parishioners interviewed all proclaimed their trust in Crespin’s innocence, but split on the performance of diocese officials in answering their questions. 

Elvira Rose, who has attended mass at St. Joseph’s for over 35 years, credited the officials for a good presentation.  

But Carolyn Scarr, a Methodist, who worked with Crespin in the interfaith peace movement, faulted the officials for not adequately explaining the investigation process. 

“What is the standard of proof? Will he be able to cross examine his accuser? Can he get a change of venue? They didn’t answer any of those questions,” she said. “This might be Catholic due process, but it doesn’t sound like real due process.”?

A group of six African-American women who are Emeryville city employees have accused city management of discriminating against them based on their race. 

According to their union, the women have been harassed on the job and unfairly disciplined for the past four months. At least three of them said the city began targeting them after they confronted a white city employee they say made racial slurs. 

“No one likes to talk about race, but we are very concerned that what is going on is racism,” said union representative Larry Hendel during public comment at the Emeryville City Council meeting Tuesday night. 

According to Hendel, who works for the Service Employees International Union local 790, the employees have filed internal complaints with the Human Resources department, union grievances as well as a complaint to the state Fair Employment and Housing Commission/Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. If the issue is not resolved, the union has also threatened litigation. 

“We don’t want [litigation],” said Hendel. Instead the employees and the union hope the City Council will step in. 

At least one of the women has once before been involved in a discrimination case with the city. Leslie Pollard, who works in the planning department, won $125,000 several years ago. Since then she said she has continually been a target. 

While addressing the City Council Tuesday night she had to pause several times because she was overcome with emotion. 

Pollard and two other employees were the ones who confronted the white employee who is accused of making the racial comments.  

Pollard was called into a meeting with the employee after both sides filed internal complaints. After the meeting the city asked her to see a psychiatrist who determined she was unfit to work. She said she was immediately told to clear her stuff out of her office and was placed on paid family medical leave. Last week she was told she was being fired after 27 years on the city staff. 

Pollard said the city has refused to tell her what she was diagnosed with and why they won’t let her work.  

“No one has ever told me what the mental disorder is,” said Pollard. “Yet I have to stand here and convince [the City Council] there is nothing wrong with me.” 

Rose Flippan, another city employees who said she was offended by racial slurs, also said she has continually been a target since addressing the issue. 

“When I went to speak to my boss [about the slurs] I was told I was the problem because I was the one who was complaining,” said Flippan.  

Flippan said she’s also been disciplined unfairly for minor infractions. 

Charles Bryant, director of planning and Pollard’s boss, would not comment when contacted by the Daily Planet. Emeryville City Manager John Flores said he could not comment either but forwarded the following statement as part of press release issued by the city. 

“The City of Emeryville’s policies and practices dictate that we not discriminate against any applicant or employee because of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, or because she or he is a disabled veteran….. The city’s implementation of these policies has achieved the diverse workforce we have today—and we are proud of that diversity.” 

The press release also said the city is “obligated to maintain confidentiality of employment related matters involving our employees, and therefore responding to specific questions regarding employment actions is inappropriate.” 

“It’s the policy of the council not to discriminate and it’s the policy of the staff not to discriminate,” said Richard Kassis, the mayor. “I’d be shocked if any of it turned out to be true.” 

Kassis said even though the City Council is being asked to intervene, it will likely let the city management handle the case. 

“It’s not our role as policy makers to insert ourselves into the personnel process,” he said. “We have confidence in our city manager,” whose job it is to address the issues. 

City Councilmember Ken Bukowski said he would like to investigate the case more but is prevented by city law from contacting any of the women directly.›

Plans for a new Berkeley Bowl at Ninth Street and Heinz Avenue hit a stumbling block at the last Planning Commission meeting and have forced the developer to submit a revised project application. 

Senior Planner Allen Gatzke declined to comment Thursday on the reasons for the amended proposal—because planning commissioners had yet to see a copy—but the Daily Planet has learned that a zoning conflict is responsible. 

During a Feb. 9 planning commission hearing and workshop on the project, a project critic noted that Bowl owner Glen Yasuda’s plan called for demolition of a working warehouse on the site. 

According to existing city codes, any functioning warehouse space demolished on West Berkeley land zoned for manufacturing and light industrial (MU-LI) use must be replaced somewhere else within that zone, a provision not provided for in Yasuda’s application. 

But an even more serious glitch was acknowledged by Planning Director Dan Marks. 

To build the new supermarket, planning commissioners must first rezone the site from MU-LI to commercial—and therein lies the rub. 

City zoning codes prohibit warehouse construction on commercially owned property, and Yasuda wants to use the facility to store food for both the new store and the existing Bowl on Shattuck Avenue. 

“A warehouse is not allowed in CW (commercial) zoning,” Marks observed. 

Planners and the public can see how the developer and city staff resolve the momentary crisis when the new application is released this morning (Friday). 

The application goes to the planning commission Wednesday night, where another hearing/workshop had been scheduled on the earlier proposal. 

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave.

BARRD, the RPA—and a capacity crowd in council chambers—want DTSC, UCB doesn’t, CSV wasn’t saying and the Richmond City Council’s working it out. 

Though two versions of Councilmember Gayle McLaughlin’s resolution calling the state to hand control of toxic cleanup at two controversial South Richmond properties failed to win majority support Tuesday night, the battle’s far from over. 

Councilmembers who turned thumbs down said they didn’t oppose McLaughlin’s idea for a regulatory switch on the Campus Bay waterfront and at the adjacent UC Berkeley Field Station—only that they wanted some more answers. 

Their other concern was the second part of resolution, which called for a halt to all cleanup activities on both sites, pending a full review by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). 

Councilmember Maria Viramontes said she wanted to hear from Contra Costa County Public Health Director Dr. Wendel Brunner before she voted, a point echoed by others on the council. 

When it came time to vote, Mayor Irma Anderson and Councilmembers Nathaniel Bates, Mindell Penn and Richard voted no on the resolution, Viramontes and colleague John Marquez abstained, leaving only McLaughlin, Tom Butt and Vice Mayor Jim Rogers in favor. 

Loud boos from the audience followed. 

Rogers immediately moved the passage of an amended resolution, leaving out the call for an immediate work stoppage. Penn said she was appalled at the move. “I’m not going to have it rammed down my throat,” Penn said. “I don’t want any part of this.” 

More boos. 

“This is also about councilmembers learning to work together,” declared Viramontes. “This could have probably passed if some people had been willing to work with other members.” 

More boos. 

“This issue, this item is over,” said the mayor to still more boos. 

City Attorney Everett Jenkins stopped Anderson, reminding her that she couldn’t declare the item over because a motion and second were on the table. 

Cheers. 

But this time the abstainers joined the naysayers and Rogers’ motion failed 3-6. 

More boos. 

But the resolution wasn’t dead. Viramontes, Anderson and others said they’d be happy to reconsider—but only when they’d received input from Brunner and Jenkins’ office—the latter worried about the measure’s potential for sparking lawsuits. 

Tuesday’s meeting hinted at a shift in the opposition to Campus Bay and the toxics cleanup at both sites. 

Previous protests drew only a few members of Richmond’s large African-American community, while Tuesday witnessed a a much larger turnout. 

Following the two defeats of McLaughlin’s resolution, the council paid honors to the project’s most outspoken opponent, African-American Ethel Dotson, for her role in creating a DTSC Community Advisory Group (CAG) to serve during the DTSC-supervised cleanup. 

The body, which has no official power to act, serves both as a conduit for community views to reach the DTSC and for DTSC information to reach the concerned public. Dotson presented the DTSC with 80 signatures from area residents, 30 more than required. 

The fight for McLaughlin’s resolution isn’t over. 

A member of the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA), McLaughlin has championed the cause of Bay Area Residents for Responsible Development (BARRD), the activist group which has led the fight to oust the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board from oversight of cleanup of Campus Bay and the field station. 

Heavily contaminated by a century of chemical manufacturing, both sites are targeted for development by Cherokee Simeon Ventures (CSV), a joint venture between a Marin County developer and a multinational venture capital firm which specializes in development of restored hazardous waste sites. 

Critics say the water board is incapable of providing adequate oversight. The board’s director admitted to a legislative hearing four months ago that his agency doesn’t have a toxicologist on its staff. 

The DTSC, a statewide agency well-stocked with toxics experts, assumed jurisdiction of most of the Campus Bay site in December, but the regional water board remains in control of the waterfront and the full UCB site. 

Mark B. Freiberg, director of the university’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety, told the Richmond council before the vote that the school intended to run its own cleanup under water board supervision. 

Tuesday evening, Freiberg told the council that “there is confusion in the public mind between the two sites,” noting that 60 UC staffers were involved in a $30 million ongoing cleanup effort at the university-owned property. 

“I am very proud of the way that the university has approached the cleanup with a very aggressive stance” to remove contaminants from the site, he said. 

Russ Pitto of Simeon Properties left the comments to Doug Mosteller, the project manager for Cherokee Investment Properties, which is bankrolling the Campus Bay development. 

“I am here to state that we have been and will continue to work with DTSC,” Mosteller said. “We are currently working under an order from DTSC, and Cherokee supports the formation of a (DTSC) Community Advisory Group.” 

As Freiberg noted, Cherokee Simeon Ventures is the university’s pick to transform the field station into Bayside Research Campus, a joint academic/corporate research park with more than two million square feet of new construction. Unlike at Campus Bay, the developer would have no role in the ongoing toxic cleanup. 

For Padgett and the other critics of the water board’s handling of the site, the mission statements of the two agencies reflect a profound difference in focus. 

The website of California Water Resources Board, parent of the local boards, carries this statement from Chair Arthur G. Baggett Jr.: “The State Board's mission is to preserve, enhance and restore the quality of California's water resources, and ensure their proper allocation and efficient use for the benefit of present and future generations.” 

The DTSC’s statement reads: “The Department's mission is to restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality, by regulating hazardous waste, conducting and overseeing cleanups, and developing and promoting pollution prevention.”?

The Oaks Theater hadn’t even officially changed hands Thursday when the projectionists’ union announced a labor action at the 1875 Solano Ave. movie house. 

Pickets will go up today starting at 2:30 p.m., an hour ahead of the day’s first screening. They will leave after the evening’s last showing begins at 8:30. 

At issue is the fate of the theater’s two projectionists, both members of one of the oldest unions in show business, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes (CQ), Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada (IATSE). 

Jason Mottley, business agent for IATSE Local 169, said the Oaks has been a union shop since the theater first opened in 1925. 

Longtime operator Allen Michaan has said his Renaissance Rialto is severing its lease because the small, East Bay operation didn’t have the economic clout to win major first-run films. 

Metropolitan, based in Los Angeles, is a larger operation with 15 screens across North America and specializes in art films. 

Mottley said Metropolitan wants to change to a non-union shop and has said it will dump one of the union projectionists and keep the other for a year while he trains their replacements. 

That concession would allow him to work until his scheduled retirement at a 25 percent cut in wages and a 33 percent cut in hours. 

Under the current agreement, projectionists are paid $15.49 an hour 

“One of the projectionists has been there 26 years and the other’s been there 24 years,” Mottley said. 

Metropolitan President David Corwin said his company had been negotiating with the union, and that the call from a Daily Planet reporter was the first he’d heard of the intended job action. 

“They had an agreement with the previous operator who had multiple screens in the area,” Corwin said. “None of the other theaters in Berkeley have union employees.” 

Not so, said Mottley. The union official pointed to union workers—including projectionists—at all but the UA 7 on Shattuck Avenue. 

As for the latter, “that’s because they’re part of Regal, which is the largest operator in the country and doesn’t have any union employees except in Chicago and New York,” he said. 

The IATSE local currently has 40 members in Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa and Solano counties, he said  

While Corwin declined to comment on the specifics of negotiations, Mottley said the chain originally tried to get both projectionists to abandon the union. 

Pickets will return to the Oaks from 11 a.m. to 9 a.m. Saturday through Monday, he said. 

“They’ll remain indefinitely as long as we can get them out there,” Mottley said.

Berkeley Unified School District Directors approved this week a revamping of Berkeley High’s Academic Choice program, as well as the high school’s fourth small school. 

With directors asking numerous questions and expressing some concerns about both programs, and with one abstention apiece during the two votes, Wednesday night’s decisions were a far cry from the board’s unanimous, high-praise approval two weeks ago of the School of Social Justice and Ecology. 

The deliberations came in a marathon session that lasted until 1:30 a.m. Thursday. 

The new Arts and Humanities Academy (with an acronym pronounced by its supporters as the triumphant AHA!), is now scheduled to open this fall with a ninth-tenth grade enrollment of 120, projected to rise to 240 in all four grades by 2007. 

BHS Vice Principal Denise Brown, a member of AHA’s design team, said that the school was meant to supplement the high school’s existing arts program rather than supplant it. She said that at the point AHA grows to its full capacity of 240, 10 percent of the arts classes at Berkeley High will be filled by AHA students, while the remaining 90 percent “will serve all students.” 

And Berkeley High dance teacher and AHA lead teacher Linda Carr said that while AHA students will be expected to apply to sign up for the “highest levels of art classes” during their junior and senior years, they will have to audition for these classes in competition with all Berkeley High students. 

Board directors John Selawsky and Shirley Issel both suggested that AHA needed to increase its communication with existing arts organizations in both the district and the city at large, and Issel asked the board to put off a vote until the district prepares a pending strategic plan for the arts. 

After learning that the district’s eight grade students are scheduled to be introduced to Berkeley High’s programs at a March 3 meeting, Board President Nancy Riddle said that “Usually I honor a board member’s request to postpone a vote, but the time is so short that either we pass it tonight or put it off for a year. I think the concerns would have to be very severe to put it off that long.” 

After Student Director Lily Dorman-Colby amended the motion to require the AHA team to come back to the board following approval to answer questions and deal with the board’s concerns, the board approved the school with only Issel abstaining.  

The board also approved modifying the high school’s Academic Choice. It began in 2001 as an accelerated academic program that allowed sophomores, juniors and seniors to still participate in the high school’s elective classes. But it soon fell into controversy amidst charges that it was becoming a segregated, mostly-white conclave within Berkeley High. 

Under the revised plan approved this week, incoming students will be brought into the program with the same diversity mix as the high school as a whole, and the program will be expanded to include the 9th grade. 

Both Dorman-Colby and Director Joaquin Rivera expressed unqualified support for the Academic Choice proposal. 

“I’m very impressed, and those of you who follow board meetings know I don’t say that very often,” Rivera said. 

Dorman-Colby added, “Just months ago, I was not in support of Academic Choice, but because of the changes you’ve made, I’ve flipped my decision, and now I completely support it.” 

But Board Vice President Terry Doran, who later abstained on the vote, expressed doubts. 

“Does this lead to a better Berkeley High School or a better Berkeley High School for some students?,” he said. “That’s the challenge before this board.” 

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Zoning Adjustments Board members gave their final approval to building plans that will transform a landmarked automotive showroom into a Buddhist studies center. 

The exuberant embodiment of Art Deco design, the Howard Automotive Building at 2140 Durant Ave., has been an official Berkeley landmark since 1983, when baseball great Reggie Jackson sold Chevrolets there. 

The structure’s origins are linked to yet another sporting legend, a remarkable race horse named Seabiscuit, owned by Charles Howard Stewart, who commissioned the structure in 1930 as part of his multi-state dealership empire. 

The building languished after Jackson closed his salesroom, and various plans for its development failed—although one did yield a meticulous restoration to its former state of glory. 

The Buddhist Churches of America bought the structure, and filed designs that call for the addition of a two-story residential and office addition over the former shop area on the southern flank of the building along Fulton Street. 

Landmarks Preservation Commissioners—who have final say over the designs—ordered modifications, which have been implemented by Emeryville architect Sady S. Hayashida. All that remains to be resolved is the color scheme for the addition. 

The structure will house offices of the church, facilities for the Institute for Buddhist Studies, a book store, living quarters for visiting scholars and an underground parking level beneath the existing lot on Durant. 

ZAB members voted their approval without discussion or public comment. 

They also gave their nod to Satellite Housing’s application to build a 79-unit senior housing complex at 1535 University Ave. 

The use permit will allow construction to begin later this year on the four-story, 80,501-square-foot project which has won praise from the Design Review Committee (DRC). 

If all goes as planned, the structure will be ready for occupancy in two years. 

The use permit ZAB approved calls for 16 units to be permanently reserved as low-income inclusionary units, and federal funding requirements and an agreement with the city housing department mandate that all the other 63 units be rented to low-income seniors. 

Wendy Alfsen, of Walk and Roll Berkeley, asked ZAB members to require a transportation plan with the city, while a project neighbor worried that the construction of four- and five-story buildings along University would destroy the sense of neighborhood. 

Alon Chaver, who owns a fourplex next to the project worried about the building blocking winter sun from his property and questioned the amount of parking. 

But the board liked the project, and voted their approval with only Dean Metzger in opposition. 

The project heads back to the DRC for final approval. 

The one remaining issue is the murals Satellite plans for the structure. The non-profit firm has asked local muralist Juana Alicia [see the Nov. 30, 2004 Daily Planet], whose colorful creations in the tradition of the great Mexican muralists evoked some concern from DRC member Carrie Olson, who hoped for works in the more staid Bernard Maybeck tradition.

SULLIVAN’S RANT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Ron Sullivan’s “rant” on landscaping is a classic (“Landscaping Fails When it Disregards the Real World,” Feb. 8-10). She should get a Pulitzer. 

I work as a landscaper, and I am shocked at what I see. 

On HGTV, I have heard the words “plant materials” hundreds of times. Never have I heard them referred to as “plants.” 

In college, I also heard them call “plant materials,” I never thought to question why we can’t call them “plants.” 

Would you call people any of the following: “person materials,” “personnel,” or “protoplasm units”?  

In many scary ways our human society is sick, weird, and confused. 

Richard List 

• 

DISCRIMINATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I couldn’t help noticing a recent article (“Feds Want City to House Students,” Feb. 4-7) that pointed out that “African-Americans comprise 74 percent of (Berkeley’s) Section 8 tenants” While equally low-income Asians, Hispanics, and Whites were vastly under-represented. I was greatly amused by HUDs solution to dealing with this clear-cut case of racial discrimination: “HUD recommended that Berkeley reach out to Asians and Latinos.” In other words, its still perfectly acceptable to these geniuses to discriminate against one race, white people. How brilliant. How utterly politically correct. How Berkeley can you get? 

Ace Backwards 

• 

SOCIAL SECURITY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As my income is cut by 46 percent by Social Security, and as the cost of fuel and rent nudge skyward, having good sidewalks for my manual wheelchair in my neighborhood, (and having new recreation nearby such a a casino) could grow increasingly important. I use my car less and less in warmer weather. Much work on several sidewalks nearby goes on now for which I’m grateful. (Watering the street trees with underground automatic system should prevent their roots from growing upward in their search for water, and heaving sidewalks upward in that process, in the future, again.) 

Building a hotel and casino at the tennis courts near Peralta on Hopkins might provide jobs for people like me whom can only work part time. It could be 10 floors and turn the neighborhood into a thriving business district for this past of town, which would be a place for kids to stop and learn math and card tricks, and maybe real but easy work, window-washing and so on. (Just a little, bad joke.) 

According to the chief actuary at Social Security, the administration’s privatization of accounts will necessitate cuts in checks to all current recipients of up to 46 percent, says an ad for moveon.org. The ad is being blocked in the media by (attempted) actions of attorneys for the RNC, according to Amy Goodman on KPFA Feb. 8. 

Tim Plume 

• 

WEST BERKELEY BOWL 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Regarding Dale Smith’s piece on Berkeley Bowl’s planned expansion in West Berkeley on Heinz street. She states that even though he doesn’t live in this neighborhood—he knows what is best. 

I actually do live on Heinz street, down the street from the site. Anyone who has spent anytime on the street would see what a ridiculous idea it is to place it there. 

1. Every other large market in the area has ingress from at least two street (the current Berkeley Bowl can be accessed by the surrounding four street). Heinz is a small two-lane street. Across from the proposed store is Hustead’s Tow Yard, that side of the street is often blocked by a tow truck, reducing the street to one lane. Across from Hustead’s is Scharrfenberger’s, which has a healthy stream of patrons and, of course, large trucks on Heinz making deliveries, which again reduces Heinz to one lane. Kitty-corner is the French-American School, at three o’clock there is a long line of parents. The idea of a large store on this tiny street is nonsensical. 

2. This is not a “highly polluted manufacturing area”—it is light industrial/biotech, artists studios, yoga and dance studios, a factory that produces book binding equipment, a printmaking studio, a day care center, a gym—all with in a few blocks of where I live. The idea that the school should move is ridiculous. (If that were the criterion, then no poor area would have schools at all). 

3. No-one has addressed where the employees will park their cars. It’s already extremely difficult to find parking at my end of Heinz Street. 

I invite Dale Smith to try driving down Heinz at peak traffic time, take a left toward the freeway and enjoy the gridlock that occurs on that one intersection at rush hour. 

Claire B. Cotts 

• 

SETTING PRIORITIES 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The cartoon in the Feb. 11-14 Daily Planet (“My Budget Sets Priorities!”) said it all... almost. The war money is depriving all sorts of people and other beings of what they need and deserve. “Cancel the war! Fund the Schools!” and “No Billionaire Left Behind,” to quote two of my buttons, express the same. Yet, I see a ray of light. The obscene priorities of this administration just might unite diverse groups of people into anti-war and anti-ridiculously-rich positions. 

There are two ways to power in this country: money and numbers. I think we need to work on unity.. Ask—demand— what your country can do for you. That’s what it’s for. 

All empires are evil—and expensive. 

Ruth Bird 

• 

SELF-CHECKOUT SYSTEM 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

So what happens when the state-of-the-art library checkout system breaks down? They do, you know. A few weeks ago the library’s entire computer system was down for a week and the staff had to write out all the info by hand. 

The central library has had two do-it-yourself checkout machines for years. Half the time they’re broken. 

Nancy Ward 

• 

ANDRONICO’S 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As much as I appreciate the friendly and helpful employees at the University Avenue Andronico’s, I have to disagree with Mr. Charles Siegel’s characterization of Andronico’s as a neighborhood grocery in danger of being put out of business by the Big Guys. 

Andronico’s is a boutique grocery whose (presumed) endangered economic viability (and indeed, its current competitive edge) comes, essentially, from its virtual monopoly-style pricing rather than its inherent focus on service to the neighborhood. 

John Herbert 

• 

RADIATION RISK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Matthew Artz’s article on the controversy surrounding the planned introduction of RFID at the Berkeley Public Library (“Library’s New Technology Sparks Controversy,” Feb. 15-17) fails to mention one crucial element of this controversy: the potential risk to public health posed by the radiation used by RFID wireless scanners. There is now a substantial and growing body of scientific research showing biological effects from radio frequency radiation similar to that utilized by RFID technology. To give but one recent example, the so-called REFLEX study, majority-funded by the European Union and conducted by 12 research groups in seven European countries, reported findings in late 2004 that radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA in laboratory conditions. This study and others like it point to the need for a precautionary approach of prudent avoidance with respect to technologies such as RFID where viable, less potentially harmful alternatives are available. 

I must also note that it is ludicrous for Library Director Jackie Griffin to label the solidarity of concerned residents from across the bay with Berkeley library workers and users an exercise in Machiavellian carpetbagging while simultaneously trundling her own carpetbag, replete with RFID tags and scanners, from her former redoubt in Eugene, Ore. 

Doug Loranger 

• 

MORE ON RFID 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m writing in response to the Feb. 15-17 article about RFID. One hundred and forty libraries out of 1,000 is a small drop in the bucket and so RFID is considered an experimental technology by privacy advocates like the ACLU who oppose its use in libraries. Oakland Public Library is implementing it in only one of 17 of its branches. The San Francisco Public Library tried to implement it last year but has been slowed by the controversy surrounding it. 

To this date there is no analysis showing its efficacy in reducing repetitive stress injuries. In the article, self-checkout numbers are used to show its supposed benefits, but nowhere in the article can it be said in a factual way that it is reducing RSI. So it is still not clear that RFID will reduce RSI. 

It is clear that the director of the Berkeley Public Library is a proponent of RFID. Just last spring she was in San Francisco at a Library Commission meeting pushing its theoretical benefits. As an intermittent director of Eugene Public Library she made sure it was implemented there before coming to Berkeley. Last spring she sold it to the Board of Library Trustees and they bought it. She left the public out of this decision and if you look at the Berkeley library’s website there is only a promise to inform the public on this controversial technology, something that might have been done before purchasing it. Well, it isn’t paid for yet. In a Feb. 11 Daily Californian article it is stated that the library still owes $500,000 and will be paying this off in the next five years. So the library may still be paying off this debt when it discovers that RFID does not reduce RSI. 

Jack Henry 

• 

1984 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was very interested to read the essay (“The War in Iraq: Roll Over, George Orwell,” Feb. 15-17) that compared our current times to George Orwell’s 1984. Unfortunately, the writer has missed much of the historical context of the novel, which was published in 1949. At that time, the Labour Party had been in power for four years, and was in the midst of consolidating it’s power, nationalizing industries, and standardizing school curricula. In truth, the novel is a reaction against places like Berkeley! 

What would Orwell have thought about the current war on terror? Consider this quote from Orwell’s Notes on Nationalism, written during World War II: “It is, I think, true to say that the intelligentsia have been more wrong about the progress of the war than the common people, and that they were more swayed by partisan feelings. The average intellectual of the Left believed, for instance, that the war was lost in 1940, that the Germans were bound to overrun Egypt in 1942, that the Japanese would never be driven out of the lands they had conquered, and that the Anglo-American bombing offensive was making no impression on Germany. He could believe these things because his hatred for the British ruling class forbade him to admit that British plans could succeed. There is no limit to the follies that can be swallowed if one is under the influence of feelings of this kind. I have heard it confidently stated, for instance, that the American troops had been brought to Europe not to fight the Germans but to crush an English revolution. One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: No ordinary man could be such a fool.” 

Bob Jacobsen 

• 

THE SPIRIT OF JERRY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a long time resident of Berkeley, I’ve been pleased to see some of the new buildings going up around the city. It began with the Gaia building, which seemed a thoughtful and much-needed addition to downtown. Since then I’ve noticed several other buildings of a similar ilk, and it’s only been in the past month that I’ve begun to appreciate the cumulative effect of these buildings on our city.  

Looking more closely, I note that many of them are the works of Panoramic Management, and I am writing to applaud that company’s efforts. Though it’s unusual to write a letter to a newspaper in praise of a developer, in this case, it feels warranted. 

I particularly appreciate the design aspects of the buildings, which feel rooted in the best of the city’s downtown architectural history. It seems that someone really gave a lot of thought to our city’s buildings—both the best and worst of them—and made some great choices. At seeing the newly opened building on University and Shattuck, for example, a visiting friend recalled fondly how she had often seen Jerry Garcia perform in that exact spot, how it had become an ugly drug store and how beautiful this building is adding her highest compliment—“It has Jerry’s spirit.” 

I, for one, am proud of our city’s new buildings, and hope this trend continues. 

Joel ben Izzy 

• 

CLEAN AIR ACT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Clean Air Act is under attack. The Bush administration again is proposing to cut back key provisions in this landmark legislation. For over three decades, the Clean Air Act has worked, reducing air pollution during a period of dramatic economic growth. 

The administration’s plan, the so-called “Clear Skies” legislation, would move the country backward. It delays deadlines to meet the health standards in the Clear Air Act while relaxing pollution reduction requirements for power plants and other major pollution sources. 

Under the proposed legislation, pollutants from smokestacks such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury would increase to dangerous levels. These increased levels result in more harmful air for those most at risk—the elderly, children, and people with asthma. All major health organizations support the Clear Air Act and oppose this attempt to weaken it. 

The new plan relies on ineffective voluntary approaches to reduce carbon pollution, which could allow carbon dioxide pollution to continue to increase. 

We call on Senator Barbara Boxer, who serves on the Senate’s Environmental and Public Works Committee, before which this legislation is pending, to oppose the Bush plan to increase pollution and to ask her to support the Clean Air Act. 

Sherry Smith  

President, League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville 

Correction  

In the Feb. 15 issue in the story “Library’s New Technology Sparks Controversy,” Berkeley’s annual cost for workers’ compensation for library workers was incorrectly stated as “just over $1 million.” A 2002 city report showed that the total incurred workers’ compensation cost for all causes by the Berkeley Public Library for the five years 1995-2000 was only $1,079,807. Of this, only $4,009 over the five years was attributable to repetitive strain injuries. Library-provided documents show the total cost of repetitive stress injuries of all kinds was $167,000 from 2000-2004, including zero claims in 2004. Peter Warfield, executive director of the Library Users’ Association, supplied the Planet with city documents supporting these figures, which he obtained in January in response to a request for information filed in December of last year. e

Click here to view the latest work by Justin DeFreitas 

Buddhist references to Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown tend to get stale from overuse. Still, you just can’t help saying that it’s karma when the man who sat on his hands and did nothing while the Oakland public schools were being seized by the state is now in danger of having his upcoming state attorney general candidacy put in some difficulty by a threatened federal court takeover of the Oakland Police Department. 

In early 2003, the City of Oakland settled with more than 100 residents who fielded a lawsuit claiming they had suffered serious mistreatment by Oakland police. Among the actions Oakland police were accused of were racially profiling African-American and Latino citizens, beating folks without legal justification, lying on the witness stand, and planting false evidence against suspects. The settlement is often mistakenly called the “Riders settlement” by the local press, after four West Oakland police officers who called themselves the “Oakland Riders,” and who were fired and faced criminal charges on some of these matters. But the Oakland police misconduct lawsuit, filed by attorneys John Burris and James Chanin, involved many more police than just the four Riders. 

Part of the 2003 police misconduct settlement was that the Oakland Police Department put systems in place to keep their officers from breaking the law. But OPD has been a little slow in complying, leading to a severely-critical report by the court-ordered Independent Monitoring Team last December. So this week, according to the Oakland Tribune, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson gave Oakland a stiff lecture, warning police and city officials in his courtroom that “unless the Police Department shows significant progress in the coming weeks, he will consider citing the city or city officials for contempt of court. The most serious sanction the judge could order [according to the Tribune] would be to strip the city of its power over the department and put a caretaker in charge.” Judge Henderson gave the city until April 25 to come up with significant progress. 

This is no idle threat. Henderson is the same judge who has been monitoring prison guard misconduct at Pelican Bay State Prison for years through a Special Master, forcing needed reforms, and recently warned Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that he would order the federal takeover of the entire California prison system if the state did not stop mistreating its prisoners. The judge has a reputation for being serious about making sure that law enforcement officials and officers don’t go outside the law. 

Knowing what probably was going to happen in Judge Henderson’s court this week may be at least one possible reason why Mayor Brown so suddenly reversed himself in naming an interim police chief. 

When Chief Richard Word left the Oakland Police Department last November, Brown refused to name a temporary replacement (a search for a permanent replacement is ongoing, but it may be delayed until after a new mayor is elected next year). Anyway, instead of immediately replacing Word, Brown chose to run the department himself through City Manager Deborah Edgerly, a command-and-control nightmare that left nobody in the ultimate decision-making position who had ever strapped on a gun and covered a police beat. 

One wonders why Jerry Brown would want to run the Oakland Police Department when, after all, he has shown little interest in working in the job at which we are actually paying him…running the City of Oakland. And, after the lessons of Oakland Parks chief Harry Edwards or Assistant City Manager George Musgrove as school superintendent, one would have thought he’d had his fill of the idea that just because a guy is smart in one area, you can put him anywhere, to run anything. 

(The sad experience of Harry Edwards is still fresh in Oaklanders’ minds, but people may have forgotten that in the days after Carol Quan was forced out as Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District, Mayor Brown had Mr. Musgrove moved over from the city manager’s office to run the school district, even though Mr. Musgrove had—um—no experience running a school district. The results weren’t pretty. Mr. Musgrove seemed generally surprised one afternoon when he received a storm of protest from teachers after he arbitrarily moved up the date for district-wide, state-mandated student testing. Not having ever run a school district, it apparently never occurred to Mr. Musgrove that thousands of people in the district might have been spending as much as year of preparation pointing toward the original test date.) 

Anyhow, none of those experiences seemed to faze Mr. Brown, who resisted—for two months—sometimes heated calls from the public, the Oakland Police Department, and Oakland City Councilmembers to appoint an interim police chief. Asked about his refusal by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Matier & Ross political columnists last December, the mayor gave one of his typical smart-ass answers to serious issues he wants to avoid, saying “Interim chief? What’s does that mean? In between? Everyone is interim—we’re all in between something.” (I’d put in a gratuitous Buddhist comment here but, like I said, those things can get quickly worn out.) 

One can only speculate that Mr. Brown—who has no experience as a practicing lawyer since passing the California bar many, many, many years ago—needed to buck up his qualifications for state attorney general by putting the “he’s had hands-on experience running a city police department” handle on his résumé. 

But Mr. Brown suddenly switched gears, this month naming retired Alameda County Assistant Sheriff Wayne G. Tucker as interim Oakland chief. And so it was Interim Chief Tucker (and not Mr. Brown) who had to stand in the courtroom and listen to the scolding from Judge Henderson, the judge stating “I haven’t seen anything like this in 25 years. This is contemptuous. I’m so angry at the slap in the face, the ignoring of this decree.” It was Interim Chief Tucker (and not Mr. Brown) who had to admit that the OPD suffered from a "failure of leadership" for not following the orders of the misconduct consent decree. And it was Interim Chief Tucker (and not Mr. Brown) who, according to the Tribune report, “promised it would not continue under his watch.” 

City Manager Edgerly made the trip over to San Francisco, but if Mr. Brown was even there—which is doubtful—it wasn’t mentioned in either the Chronicle or the Tribune reports. Not a good record for a man who wants to be able to tell voters he was tough enough to send cops out every day and night in harm’s way. 

Police Seek Serial Predator 

Berkeley Police are seeking the public’s help in identifying the armed rapist who has struck twice in North Berkeley in the last two weeks. 

The first attack was reported on Monday, Feb. 7, when a woman was grabbed as she was about to enter her home in the 1900 block of Francisco Street. Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies described what followed as “a battery with sexual overtones.” 

The second attack happened just before 7 a.m. last Friday when a man matching the description of the first suspect confronted and raped a woman as she was walking along Delaware Street near the corner of San Pablo Avenue. 

The assailant is described as an 6’1” African American adult between the ages of 20 and 30 weighing approximately 175 pounds. He wore a black ski mask, a black, puffy nylon hooded jacket and dark pants. 

Okies said police have stepped up patrols in the area, and the department will hold a community meeting on the crime Thursday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. in the West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 Sixth St. 

Bus Fracas Suspect Cleared 

A spokesperson for the Alameda County District Attorney’s office announced Thursday that the agency has declined to press charges against an Oakland man arrested during a Jan. 16 disturbance in Berkeley. 

Police arrested Reuven Kahane following a fracas with a 14-year-old Palestinian youth at the exhibit of a bombed-out Israeli bus on display at Martin Luther King Jr. Park. 

The dustup apparently began when the youth charged Kahane, who was wearing a traditional Jewish kepoh, not realizing that the Oakland man was a supporter of Palestinian/Israeli reconciliation. 

Drugs Bust 

Acting on a search warrant, Berkeley Police searched a residence near the corner of Haste and Dana streets shortly after 4 a.m. Monday. 

They left with 22 grams of cocaine, one tablet of ecstasy, 16 grams of marijuana, packaging materials and three felony suspects, ages 36, 26 and 21.  

Subway Gunman 

A 20-something gunman wearing a Navy peacoat and a black knit cap walked into the 1105 University Ave. Subway outlet Tuesday night about 8:15 and demanded the contents of the till. 

His financial appetite temporarily sated, he then fled. 

Wallet, Keys Taken 

Two bandits confronted a pedestrian near the corner of Russell and Cherry streets at 8:28 p.m. Tuesday and persuaded him to hand over his wallet and keys. 

South Berkeley Gunshots 

As Berkeley officers were rolling in response to a “man with a gun” call in the 1500 block of Tyler Street, the dispatcher broke through with the announcement of “shots fired.” 

Officer Okies said that just what happened isn’t entirely clear, but witnesses reported that a pedestrian fired at a rapidly departing car, and at least one bullet struck a house in the neighborhood. 

There were no reports of injuries. 

First Responders Charity Game 

The folks who drive the black-and-whites will shoot hoops with the folks who drive the big red trucks tonight, with the proceeds from ticket and food sales to go to public safety scholarships and Berkeley youth programs, said officer Okies. 

The event gets underway a 7:30 p.m. in the Berkeley High School Donahue Gym, 2246 Milvia St. Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for students with a Berkeley High ID. 

Billed as “Berkeley’s Finest versus Berkeley’s Bravest,” the battle of the hoops pits Berkeley Police versus Berkeley firefighters. “Last year’s game was a great success,” said Officer Steve Rego, an event organizer and a member of last year’s police team. 

“All the participants had a good time,” he said, “and raised money for a good cause.” 

ô

Dale Smith’s column in the Feb. 11 Daily Planet grossly misrepresents Ecole Bilingue’s position on the proposed Berkeley Bowl expansion by implying that EB is trying to “derail” the project.  

The school’s official position on the Berkeley Bowl construction (which has been sent to local papers, including the Daily Planet), is this: We are not opposed to the construction of a store, and we realize that many school parents and neighbors would welcome the convenience of having a grocery store—especially the Berkeley Bowl—in the neighborhood. However, we have specific concerns about the impact of store traffic on both safety and parking, and we want to see a traffic management plan that takes into account the presence of 400 children across the street from the store.  

We are asking that the city and the promoter adopt forward-looking traffic plans that address the anticipated problems. We feel strongly that a wait-and-see approach to traffic problems is not appropriate in this context where children’s safety is at stake. The liability created by such a position is great if an accident occurs. We are also asking that the Bowl be directed towards an application for a use variance rather than be granted a zoning change, so that issues surrounding the imposition of use conditions can be addressed.  

We object strongly to Smith’s contention that the school “should not be located in that area.” EB is located in a mixed use-residential zone where schools are a permitted use. We are only two blocks from the residential zone east of San Pablo Avenue and we are only one of several schools located in this neighborhood (Aquatic Park Preschool, Center for the Education of the Infant Deaf, Black Pine Circle, and Rosa Parks School). We trust that the city would not let schools and residents live in the area if it were such as described by Smith (“It is highly polluted by the manufacturing/industrial residents and exhaust from the freeway.”) Moreover, we have been at this location since 1977. We are stakeholders in the neighborhood, and committed to working with local residents and businesses to ensure that growth is managed in a way that reflects the interests of everyone here.  

Smith’s claim “Ecole Bilingue would occasionally complain about development in that part of town” is also misleading. By law, the Bay Area Air Quality Management Department (BAAQMD) informs our parent body of any new development applications with a potential for pollution and we in turn investigate the detail of such permit applications. Asking questions so that we can keep parents informed of projects that affect their children is responsible school management, not “complaining.” Luckily, Richard Brenneman’s article published on the same day presented a more informed and balanced view of the issue. 

Thank you for letting us set the record straight. 

Frédéric Canadas is the head of Ecole Bilingue.*

We need to create a new Voter’s Internet Party. With every passing day it is becoming painfully more obvious to all but the most fanatically partisan of us that the vast majority of the senators and representatives from both of the two major political parties are irrevocably corrupted by the unseemly influence of major corporations and the wealthy ruling elites. Therefore, we, the vast majority, who want clean honest open government, need to form a new political party that will serve our interests, and not those of the ruling wealthy corporate elites. Therefore, may I suggest that we create a new Voter’s Internet Party to honor the ideal of a traditional count-all-the-votes democracy.  

With widespread use of the Internet, we now have a relatively easy, inexpensive and efficient way to contact and organize the many millions of American voters that have been disenfranchised and disillusioned in the 21st century by the Bush and Co. theft of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. The brilliant example of the highly effective grassroots campaigns of the Internet-based MoveOn.org in the 2004 presidential campaign has shown that Internet-organizing can be a powerful tool for progressive social change.  

Orange. Since orange has been clearly identified in the mass media as the color of protest of election fraud first in the Ukraine and later in the United States, let us use the color orange to help identify our new Internet Voter’s Party.  

We need our new Internet Voter’s Party to help facilitate our country’s return to the exclusive use of traditional hand-counted paper ballots. We need to stage thousands of 21st century versions of the 1773 Boston Tea Party by dumping all of the computerized electronic voting machines and computerized electronic vote tabulating machines into the nearest body of water. As long as there are any computerized electronic voting machines and computerized electronic vote tabulating machines used in any voting precinct in the country, there will be Republican hackers, riggers and thugs who will find ways to rig, hack and steal future American elections.  

We need our new Internet Voter’s Party to demand that all future elections be administered by professional non-partisan state civil servants, not by partisan political hacks such as the 2000 Republican Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and the 2004 Republican Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. 

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will not be accepting any corporate donations or contributions.  

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will be grass-roots based on small individual annual contributions not to exceed a maximum of $100 per year. Of course, individuals will be encouraged to donate their own time and energy to help build the new Voter’s Internet Party.  

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will thus avoid the corporate corruption, which has long been the hallmark and the curse of the two large political parties.  

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will honor the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. 

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will honor and preserve our natural environment. 

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will honor social security, labor laws and privacy laws.  

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will honor a woman’s right to choose. 

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will honor international law, international treaties and international obligations.  

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will honor the working people of American with good working conditions and a living wage for all.  

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will honor the public’s right to control public airwaves and to thus require public interest broadcasting on television and radio instead of the current arrangement of allow greedy private corporations to dominate our airwaves.  

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will honor the right to universal health care and universal single-payer health insurance.  

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will return the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to its traditional watch-dog role of protecting the American consumer instead of its current practice of protecting and enlarging the obscene profits of greedy drug manufacturers. 

Our new Voter’s Internet Party will not torture anyone under any circumstances. Our new Voter’s Internet Party will consider the Golden Rule in regards to torture: If you don’t want it done to you when you are in legal custody, then we will not do it to anyone in American legal custody. 

James K. Sayre is an Oakland resident. 

0

I can’t suffer in silence anymore! I know there are worse problems in this world—the stupid war, tsunami disaster, starvation, AIDS, etc. etc., but right now I MUST say something about the stupid, even dangerous new buses AC Transit has unleashed on our streets. 

First of all, I am an urban walker, a native San Franciscan, transplant to Berkeley. I can’t imagine living any place where I’d have to step into a car every time I leave my house. I own a car but never use it within San Francisco or Berkeley during the day if I can avoid it. (We chose our house to be near a BART station for trips to San Francisco.) When I walk far enough in Berkeley to get very, very tired, I hop on a bus to come home. Since I’ve just turned 75, that weariness attacks me sooner. 

The first time I saw one of these new abominations lurching and rocking its way toward me, I thought “new driver?” but no, the thing just does that. Something odd about the springs. I stepped on, looking forward to swinging round easily and sinking into one of the front seats reserved for old and disabled. But, no! Those seats were a step up, like a Greyhound bus! Seeing the little “reserved for disabled and elderly” sign by them was like a bad joke, since getting up and down from those seats is a true hazard for anyone with mobility problems. Furthermore, the aisle was narrow, seats were few, hand-hole poles VERY few, none overhead, and with inconveniently placed buttons to signal that you want to get off (no wires along the windows to pull on). 

Since then, each time I get onto one of these buses, hoist myself up, or stumble down the aisle to one of few seats at floor level (where you can’t see out the windows!) I watch as a person my age or older struggles to get in and up to a seat, then down from a seat and out again. I watch young mothers with a couple of active pre-school kids trying to pay the fare, hold onto the kids, hoist them up into a seat before they fall a second time! 

I ask myself, with so many mothers with young children and so many old and infirm people using AC transit, poor people who can’t even own a car, what genius made the decision to choose this design? Or is this a fleet of buses rejected by every other country in the world? Or someone took a bribe, or jumped at a bargain the manufacturer wanted to unload? It seems too late to protest--they’re everywhere—but I am outraged anew every time I get on one of these awful things. And all I need to do is mention them to get a similar reaction from other people who use them. Of course, many will refuse to do so, if they can afford to drive. And isn’t that just what Berkeley was trying to avoid?—more cars driving and parking on our streets? 

Berkeley author Dorothy Bryant is a frequent contributor to the Daily Planet. 

When I think of my great-grandfather, Walter Gordon, two memories come to mind. One of them was when I was in the fourth grade attending Malcolm X Elementary School in Berkeley. Our class had planned a Grandparents Night and invited all of our grandparents to attend a potluck dinner and celebration. Before the event I had proudly told my teacher that my great-grandfather was the first black police officer in Berkeley. 

Well, on the night of the actual event, when Grandpa Walt and Grandma Sis arrived I introduced them to my teacher. She greeted them both and they started chatting. Shortly thereafter my teacher said to my great-grandfather, “Jonathan told me you were the first black police officer in Berkeley.” 

Once grandpa Walt heard this he immediately turned to me with a glare that I can still see very clearly. My first thought was that he had told me this under the assumption that I would keep it to myself, that I betrayed a secret he had shared with me. I felt ashamed. He then turned to my teacher and calmly but sternly said, “No, I was the first Negro police officer in Berkeley.” 

The other memory I have is one of our visits with Grandpa Walt and Grandma Sis. One thing Grandpa Walt would always do when my family visited was pick my brother and me up at the same time, me in one arm and Craig in the other and squeeze us tightly. This would oftentimes make me giggle. Well, this particular visit was different from others. He lifted both of us up, as usual, but the difference was that my great-grandfather had recently gone blind. Nevertheless, his hug was a strong as ever. 

He would say, “It’s not that I’m blind it’s just that my eyes can’t see.”  

I think both of these memories are good examples of the strength, dignity and pride of my great-grandfather, Walter Gordon, a local hero that I remember. 

Walter Arthur Gordon was born in Atlanta, Ga, in 1894. When he was 10 years old his family moved to Riverside, where he graduated from high school. His father was a Pullman porter and moved his family to California, like many Negroes at that time, looking for a better opportunity. 

Walter’s father greatly influenced him. Those who knew Walter said he was always quoting his father. When they came to Riverside and he and his brother Edwin went to school their father told them, “Now listen, you’re going to a school where there are whites and Negroes, and I don’t want either of you to come home crying to me, telling me that you’re not getting a square deal on account of your color.” 

In 1914 Walter entered the University of California, Berkeley. During his undergraduate years his scholarship was considerably above average. He was active in campus affairs. For example, he co-founded and was a charter member of the Alph Phi Alphi fraternity on campus, which is still alive today. He was an intercollegiate wrestler and boxer, winning the state championship in both. He played football with coach Andy Smith’s early teams, playing every position except center. In 1918, his senior year, Walter Camp selected him as All-American, Berkeley’s first. 

The 10 years after he graduated were unbelievably busy for my great-grandfather. Andy Smith chose him to be an assistant football coach, a position that he held for 24 years under four different head coaches. He was also chief scout for many of the great Cal football teams, one team in particular, the group labeled “The Wonder Team”—a team that went undefeated one year, thoroughly dominating its opponents en route to a Rose Bowl victory over Ohio State. 

August Vollmer, Berkeley’s chief of police at the time, invited him to join the police department, where he became the first Negro officer. He served on a full-time basis for 10 years. In addition to that he enrolled in Boalt Hall School of Law in 1921. 

I remember a time schedule that my great-grandmother used to show me which described his daily schedule. He barely had enough time to sleep, let alone study. In 1920 he married Elizabeth Fisher and they eventually had two sons and a daughter. One of the sons, Walter Gordon jr., is my grandfather. 

In 1923 Walter Sr. began a new career. After graduating from Boalt he passed the California bar and began private practice from an office above the Wells Fargo building at the corner of University and San Pablo in west Berkeley. Walter Gordon was also President of the Alameda County NAACP from 1923 to 1933. During a 10-day period he recruited 500 new members. 

Walter Gordon continued his private practice until 1944. During that time and after he did a number of things. He continued his coaching and scouting work. He was a member of the executive board of the University YMCA. For six years he was a member of the Oakland YMCA board. He was vice-president of the Lawyer’s Guild of San Francisco and a member of the Commonwealth Club of California. 

In 1943 California Gov. Earl Warren, a longtime friend, named Walter Gordon to the Board of Prison Terms, on which he served until the adoption of the then new California Adult Authority. 

Then, in 1955, President Eisenhower appointed him governor of the Virgin Islands, a position he held for three years. In 1958, he was named U.S. District Judge for the Virgin islands, and he served on that court until his retirement in 1969 when he returned to Berkeley. 

In 1991, The Walter Gordon Memorial Fund was established at Boalt Hall for summer internships. 

Jonathan Wafer is a writer and a member of the Berkeley Police Review Commission.

The 11th Other Minds Festival will present programs of new and unusual music, Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 24-26, at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center—including a centennial tribute to 20th-century political composer Marc Blitzstein (best-known for his pro-labor 1937 musical, staged by Orson Welles, The Cradle Will Rock), and a 60th birthday salute to composer, long-time music director of KPFA-fm and co-founder of Other Minds—Charles Amirkhanian. 

Another 60th birthday celebration, on opening night, for English composer Michael Nyman (famed for scoring films by Peter Greenaway), will feature Nyman’s performance of his own work (including that from the Jane Campion film, The Piano, and his String Quartet No. 3, influenced by the music of Armenia, played by local group Del Sol). 

The program begins at 8 p.m. (after a panel discussion with the composers) with Phill Niblock’s “Sethwork,” performed on guitars with e-bow by Seth Josel (accompanied by films by the composer), and composer Daniel Bernard Roumain performing his String Quartet No. 4, “Angelou,” on electric violin with the Del Sol Quartet, and DJ Scientific sampling Maya Angelou’s poetry—a piece commisioned by Other Minds in its world premiere. 

Friday at 8 p.m. is the 60th birthday celebration for Amirkhanian—long familiar to Berkeley listeners as Music Director of KPFA, 1969-92. Amirkhanian co-founded Other Minds in 1992 and continues as its artistic director. His radiophonic tape piece, “Son of Metropolis San Francisco”—utilizing tapes of Bay Area ambient sounds, Synclavier synthesizer and organ chorale—will be performed. 

Following will be innovative British guitarist (and professor of compositional music at Mills College) Fred Frith with both solo improvisations and in duo with Berkeley resident Sudhu Tewari (on homemade electroacoustical instruments from discarded electronic equipment) as the group Normal. The program—which also opens with a composers’ panel—closes with Spanish composer Maria De Alvear singing the world premiere of her work “Gran Sol” with Italian singer Amelia Cuni accompanying in Indian Dhrupad vocal style, and Bay Area favorite Joan Jeanrenaud on cello. 

The centennial tribute to Marc Blitzstein (1905-64) begins at 11 a. m. Sat. with a showing of Tim Robbins’ 1999 film, a fictional recounting of the remarkable circumstances of Orson Welles’ staging of The Cradle Will Rock for (and against!) the Federal Theater Project—which at one point locked out the troupe performing this pro-labor musical. 

At 2 p.m., Sarah Cahill—first of a string of Berkeley residents performing—will play Blitzstein’s unpublished “Piano Percussion Music” (1929), followed by a recital of songs by Blitzstein on texts by Walt Whitman and e. e. cummings, and from his stage and concert works No For an Answer, Regina and The Cradle Will Rock. Vocalists, accompanied by Sarah Cahill, will be Amy X. Neuberg (of Berkeley), John Duykers and Eric A. Gordon, Blitzstein’s biographer (Mark the Music, St. Martin’s Press, 1989). 

Gordon, who will be staging a Blitzstein Centennial tribute Feb. 27 in Great Neck NJ (Blitzstein’s 100th birthday is Mar. 2), will close the program with a discussion of Blitzstein’s life and music after a screening of the 1927 experimental German film Hände (Albrecht Viktor Blum), with Blitzstein playing piano as sound accompaniment. Members of Blitzstein’s family will be in attendance. 

Saturday night at 8 p.m., following the composers’ panel, the closing Festival program will feature five movements from Alaskan composer John Luther Adams’ “Strange and Sacred Noise” (1997), devoted to different combinations of percussion instruments as played by So Percussion quartet—who follow with a performance of Evan Ziporyn’s “Melody Competition” (2000), based on west Balinese Mebarung, a “battle of the bands,” and will incorporate the sounds and techniques of gamelan. Jazz violinist—and Vietnam vet—Billy Bang closes the festival with selections from his “Vietnam Reflections” (released on disk last January), accompanied by a quartet including trumpet and horns, piano, bass and drums.  

Other Minds, in just over a decade, has presented an extraordinary array of both compositional and improvised musics from around the world, besides working with and celebrating eminent—if often neglected—composers, like the late Lou Harrison, Conlon Nancarrow and Ned Rorem. 

This year’s centennial tribute to Marc Blitzstein is a case in point: student of both Nadia Boulanger and Arnold Schoenberg (a unique distinction); documentary film composer; critic who predicted the integration of jazz with compositional concert music; influenced by both Dada and the political imperatives of Bertolt Brecht’s composer, Hans Eissler; WW II veteran and agitprop labor anthem tunesmith and lyricist, Blitzstein composed a great body of unusual—and unusually accessible work—that is long overdue for rediscovery. The 11th Other Minds Festival is determinedly furthering that historical process, as well as showcasing, premiering and commissioning new and recent work. 



Upon the death of Arthur Miller the American media began a steady repetition of the theme that has always been utilized to define and eviscerate the significance of Miller’s work: As the San Francisco Chronicle typically intoned in prose designed both to eulogize and pacify the power of Miller’s work, he “exposed the flaws in the fabric of the American dream.” A great many writers have condemned the American dream and it is not completely false to hold that Miller also exposed its pathology. But it is, nevertheless, extremely misleading. 

It is much like noting that a particular individual suffers a distorted sense of reality. The judgment may well be valid, but we do not understand the illusion until we learn how and why it was produced. What Miller exposed was not the dream as such, but the underlying social system that required the dream in order to obscure the true nature of that society and to make life within it bearable. That underlying system is, of course, American society, which must redefine itself so that it may appear human and decent to its members, lest they grasp its reality and succumb in terror and defeat. And in the early plays at least, at the heart of that American society is the structure of capitalism, driven by a virulent competitiveness and an invidious structure of power, masked by the verneer of the dream and its credo that the height of human fulfillment is monetary acquisition and that those who fail in this task are lost through their own personal failure.  

Anyone who have never seen Death of a Salesman on the stage has never really experienced the play. Both the film and the TV version are bound to fail, for the only device they can utilize to reveal the nature of time in the lives of the characters is the flashback, which unfortunately loses the anguished tension between the dream world of the Loman family at the time of Biff’s and Happy’s adolescence and Willie’s earlier forays into the jungle of salesmanship in the towns of New England, on the one hand, and the reality of the life that imposes itself on Willie, and drives him on to suicide, on the other. Willie’s being is stretched between two dimensions: his youth when the dream of success was alive and still possessed credibility, and present existence in which he can only legitimate his life by exchanging it for the value of the insurance policy that he believes he can realize with his suicide. 

The play is redolent with the contradictions of Willie’s mind between capitalist reality and liberal ideology: Biff is hardworking, but he is lazy; Willie is well liked, but they make fun of him; he is “vital in New England,” but he is no longer necessary; he will open the windshield of the car, but the Studebaker window doesn’t open; Biff’s stealing shows initiative, but Willie gives him hell for it; the refrigerator has the biggest ads, but it breaks down just when you have paid for it; “Business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me of course.” These are the contradictions of Willie’s mind because they are the contradictions of Willie’s society, the contradictions between “murderous” reality and Willie’s fantasy that he will escape this destruction, that he will “come out on top.” 

Illusion alone did not defeat Willie; it was the reality of the real contradiction in himself that he imparted to Biff and Happy and the brutal and changing reality of American economic life, symbolized in the technical transformation of Howard’s new tape recorder that indicates the obsolescence of Willie’s once personalized form of salesmanship, useful though fragile, now on the verge of mechanization and complete human extinction 

In short, Willie’s illusion and growing hallucination is the story he must tell himself to keep from paralysis and despair. In the last climactic scene Biff, who alone is concerned to discover the reality that is destroying them, confronts Willie: “...you’re going to hear the truth-what you are and what I am!” And what is that truth? Simply, Biff declares: “Pop! I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you.” Some will succeed in this system—Bernard seems to be one —but the great majority of those who accept the fantasy of competitive achievement, will lie, at the end, broken in quiet desperation.  

In the introduction to his collected plays, Miller wrote of the character Joe Keller in All My Sons: 

He is not a partner in society, but an incorporated member, I am not merely speaking... of a literal corporation but the concept of a man’s becoming a function of production or distribution to the point where his personality becomes divorced from the actions it propels. 

This fits quite well Marx’s theory of alienation. 

One hundred and fifty years before Miller wrote Death of a Salesman, at the beginning of development of capitalism, Marx wrote: 

The demand to give up the illusions about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions. 

Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers from the chain not so that man will wear the chain without any fantasy or consolation but so that he will shake off the chain and cull the living flower. 

The task of the writer is to shred the imaginary flower so that the chain can be destroyed and the living flower culled. 

Richard Lichtman is a distinguished scholar at the Wright Institute, previously professor of philosophy at UC Berkeley, and currently developing a degree program in critical theory. ›

FRIDAY, FEB. 18 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, “Seduced” by Sam Shepard Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at the Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck at Berryman, through Feb. 19. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Albany High School, “Oklahoma!” at 8 p.m. at Albany High Little Theater, 603 Key Route Blvd., Albany. Also on Sat. and 2 and 8 p.m. Tickets are $5-$10. 558-2575. 

Alchemy Works “The Wisdom of Eve” A tale of an ingenue understudy gone bad. Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. Runs through Feb. 20. 845-5576. 

Aurora Theatre, “Dublin Carol” by Conor McPherson Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun at 2 and 7 p.m. through March 6 at 2081 Addison St. Tickets are $28-$45. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Berkeley Repertory Theater, “Fetes de la Nuit” at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Runs through Feb. 27. Tickets are $43-$55. 647-2949.  

“Bridge & Tunnel” workshop performances by Sarah Jones at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat., 7 p.m. Sun. through Feb. 20 at Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $30-$40. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theater, “The Mousetrap” Agatha Christie’s classic mystery Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Feb. 19 at 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito. Tickets are $10-$15. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

Impact Theatre, “Othello” at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid. Thurs.- Sat. through March 19. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. www.impacttheatre.com 

Independent Theater Productioins presents three one-act plays, produced, directed and acted by Berkeley High students at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, Cedar St. Tickets are $5-$10. 

Ragged Wing Ensemble “The Serpent” theater with movement, masks and puppetry, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., through Feb. 19, at the Eighth Street Studios, 2525 8th St. Tickets are $10-$20 sliding scale. 527-8119. www.raggedwing.org 

“Rhythm & Blues, with a Little Bit of Soul” A musical tribute of the contributions of African Americans to the art of music. A Longfellow Stars EDP Annual After School Scholarship Program Fundraiser. At 6:30 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School Theater, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $2-$7. 883-5258. 

FILM 

Film Preservation: “A Farewell to Arms” at 7 p.m. and “Paths of Glory” at 9:15 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

9th Annual Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Finalists will go on the the Grand Slam Finals, Feb. 26th, at Herbst Theater in SF. Cost is $4-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org  

Robert Burns Celebration, his songs, his letters, his life, at 8 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, 1501 Washington Ave., at Curtis, Albany. Tickets are $10-$15.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

University Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“Country Joe” McDonald at 7:30 p.m. at at the Fellowship Café and Open Mic, at Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. Suggested donation $5-$10. 841-4824. 

Groundation Celebrates Bob Marley at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

“Sight Unseen” featuring size-diverse dancers from around the Bay Area at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat. at Temescal Arts Center, 511 48th St., at Telegraph, Oakland. Free. www.bigmoves.org 

Judy Wexler at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Claudia Russell, Lowen & Navarro, contemporary acoustic folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $16.50-$17.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

FourMinuteMile, Electric Badness, rock, at 9:30 at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $6. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Toychestra, Conspiracy of Beards, Hall Flowers, at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Som’ma, Persian beat freedom concert at 8 p.m. at 21 Grand, 449B 23rd St., Oakland. www.sommamusic.com 

Shimshai & the Natural Mystiquensemble at 9 p.m. at Studio Rasa, 933 Parker St. Cost is $14. www.studiorasa.org 

George Kahn Quintet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Stephen Yerkey, singer-songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

The People, Aphrodesia, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Hugh Schick Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Born/Dead, Deadfall, This Is My Fist at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Tribute to Jimmy Smith featuring Joey DeFrancesco, James Moody and others at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s, Jack London Square, Oakland. Tickets are $15-$22. 238-9200. 

SATURDAY, FEB. 19 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gerry Tenney at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568.  

THEATER 

Central Works, “Enemy Combatant” opens at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Performances are Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. through March 26. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

Independent Theater Productioins presents three one-act plays, produced, directed and acted by Berkeley High students at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, Cedar St. Tickets are $5-$10. 

FILM 

Film Preservation: “No Way Out” at 7 p.m. and “Counsellor at Law” at 9:20 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Morrie Turner, cartooning legend, celebrates his 40th year as a syndicated comic strip artist at 1 p.m. at Dr Comics and Mr Games, 4014 Piedmont Ave. in Oakland. 601-7800. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

University Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $3-$10. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Philharmonia Baroque “Mighty Samson” by Handel at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

“A Night with Ustad Shujaat Khan,” North Indian classical music, at 8 p.m. at the Julia Morgan Theater. Tickets are $10-$50, available at the door only. www.juliamorgan.org 

Kotoja, Afro-Beat, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

TOK, Jamaica’s dancehall artist at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $20. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Yair Dalal, Israeli composer and oud player at 7 p.m. at Kehilla Community Synagogue, 1300 Grand Ave., Piedmont. Tickets are $11.50-$16.50. 415-276-1511.  

Scarth Locke, singer-songwriter, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

The Frank Wakefield Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Ghost Next Door, The SIck, The Rivals hard rock, punk, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $10. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Ben Goldberg at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com  

Moot Davis with Pete Anserson, The Cowlicks at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Sara Leib Quartet at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Times 4, jazz-funk quartet, at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Allegiance, Life Long Tragedy, Go It Alone at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 20 

EXHIBITION 

“Interpolations,” works by Jennifer Foxley at the Albany Community Center Foyer Gallery 1249 Marin Ave., Albany, to April 29. Reception for the artist from 4 to 5 p.m.  

THEATER 

“Beowulf” The epic translated and performed by Philip Wharton at 7:30 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid. Sun. nights through Mar. 20. Tickets are $10-$15. 415-608-9683. 

FILM 

Film Preservation: “The Scarlet Letter” at 3 p.m., “Vitaphone Shorts” at 5:30 p.m. and “The Second Floor Mystery” at 8 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ross Tobia, El Cerrito author, introduces his new book, “Grand Unified Theory, Physics for a New Age” at 1 p.m. at Shutter Café, 10064 San Pablo Ave. El Cerrito. 

Poetry Flash, poetry and dance with Alan Bern and Lucinda Weaver & Richard Beban at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. Donation $2. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Philharmonia Baroque “Mighty Samson” by Handel at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $28-$62. 415-392-4400. www.philharmonia.org 

Chamber Music Sundays presents San Francisco Symphony musicians and friends at 3:15 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $7-$19 at the door. 415-584-5946. 

Bugallo-Williams Piano Duo at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $26 available from 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Markus James and The Wassonrai, music and a film from northern Mali, at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12. 525-5054. 

Ace of Spades acoustic series at 1 p.m. at MamaBuzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. fFee for all ages. 289-2272. 

Linda Tillery and The Cultural Heritage Choir celebrating black history month at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $14-$16. 849-2568.  

Mingus Amungus at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Todd Denman, Leo Rickard & Patrick Sky, uillean pipers, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Facing New York, Desa, rock, at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886.  

MONDAY, FEB. 21 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

PlayGround, readings by emerging playwrights, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $15. 415-704-3177. www.PlayGround-sf.org 

Bill Hayes discusses “Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Elizabeth McKenzie reads from “Stop That Girl: A Novel in Stories” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Poetry Express with Diana Q and Paradise, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Trovatore, traditional Italian songs, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Songwriters Symposium at 8:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Mike Vax Jazz Orchestra at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $8-$12. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, FEB. 22 

FILM 

Alternative Visions: “The Future is Behind You” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Laxmi Hiremath introduces “The Dance of Spices: Classic Indian Cooking for Today’s Home Kitchen” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Gator Beat at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson with Diana Castillo at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Solas, Irish folk ensemble, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50- $23.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

James Colley, Grant Langston and the Supermodels, Toshio Hirano, Americana country, at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174. www.storkcluboakland.com 

Danny Caron, solo guitar, at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Chris Von Sneidern, Adrianne Serna, Kyle Vincent, singer, songwriters, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886. www.blakesontelegraph.com 

Vital Information at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Wed. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Randy Craig Trio, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23 

THEATER 

“Bright River” A hip-hop retelling of Dante’s Inferno, every Wed. through March 16 at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $12-$35 available from 415-256-8499. www.inhousetickets.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Haiga Paintings” and “Photographs of Japan” by Kazumi and Kim Cranney at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. www.giorgigallery.com 

FILM 

Cine Contemporaneo: “Cenizas del Paraíso” by Marcelo Piñeyro, at 7 p.m. in the CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch St. In Spanish with English subtitles. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu 

Film 50: History of Cinema: “My Darling Clementine” at 3 p.m. and Video Games and Contemporary Art Practice at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kala Fellows Talk with Kin Kwok, Gwen Meyer, and Katherin McInnis at 7 p.m. at Kala Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

Natalie Robins describes “Copeland’s Cure: Homeopathy and the War Between Conventional and Alternative Medicine” at 7:30 p.m. at at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

Andrew Schelling reads from “Erotic Love Poems from India: A Translation of the Amarnshataka” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryplough.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with In Black and White, music by Jorge Liderman, at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Ned Boynton Trio at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Dhol Patrol with SoulSalaam, Bhangra/Pan-Arabic beats, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $6. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Salsa Caliente All Stars at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Brian Girard Soul Jazz Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Le Flange Du Mal, underground music, at 10 p.m. at The Ivy Room, 858 San Pablo Ave. at Solano Ave. 524-9220.  

Fabulous Disaster, Oc Toons, Riot A Go-Go, punk, at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $5. 848-0886.  

The Tuna Helpers, God of Shamisen at 9:30 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

THURSDAY, FEB. 24 

FILM 

Films of Nicholas Philbert: “To Be and To Have” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Melissa Boyle Mahle discusses “Denial and Deception: An Insider’s View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11” at 7:30 p.m. at at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com 

“Under Her Skin: How Girls Experience Race in America” with editor Pooja Makhijani and contributors at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Word Beat Reading Series at 7 p.m. with featured readers Leah Steinberg and Lavender Fogg at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

“Academy Awards Night” with film historian Harry Chotiner and film producer Ron Yerxa at 7:30 p.m. at College Prep School, Buttner Auditorium, 6100 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets are $5-$10. 658-5202. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bill Tapia, 97-year-old ‘ukulele maestro at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Randy Paufve Dance at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Michael Wilcox Duo at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Kronkite, Big Band, Lesser Lights at 8 p.m. at The Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $5. 444-6174.  

Goapele at 8 and 10 p.m. through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $16-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

Unless you’re a graduating fifth grader, it’s hard to find a compelling reason to leave Oxford Elementary School. 

It’s the kind of school where people tend to stick around. Kathleen Lewis, the principal, has been here 17 years, and a few of the school’s 17 teachers have been here almost as long. Lewis says stability is part of what makes Oxford great. 

“Right now we have a good mix of younger people who have been around a few years, and people who are veterans,” says Lewis. “People stay a long time.” 

Families tend to stay around Oxford too. A tradition of parent involvement makes the school a welcoming place. Julia Perkins is the mother of two Oxford kids, one beginning the 2nd grade, the other a recently graduated sixth grader. She’s involved in the PTA, and has helped in classrooms. This year, Principal Lewis asked her to come to Oxford to work as the school’s secretary. 

“Every parent wants to feel good about their school and connect with that school,” says Perkins. 

Events throughout the year, like a Harvest Fair and a Winter Fair, bring the school’s families together. In the spring, the PTA holds a raffle, which raises funds for special staff like music teachers. 

While pupils at Oxford are encouraged to speak their mind—they even have “community meetings” once a week—there’s a strong emphasis on appropriate behavior. Staff at the school credit vice principal Albert Williams for that. Williams keeps kids in line in the school’s hallways and playground, intervening whenever a situation looks as if it might escalate into tantrum or tussle. 

“A lot of times a kid has a problem, he takes care of it, and no one even knows,” says Lewis.  

The small school is housed in two modern buildings, discreetly situated on a tree-lined block of Oxford Street, north of Eunice, in the Berkeley hills. Although the current structures date from 1965, the school is one of the oldest in Berkeley—kids have been learning here since 1910. 

The walls are posted with the word “WALK,” written in blue tape. In the school’s rear yard, ball courts and equipment lockers are freshly painted, and the small, terraced garden waits to be tilled by a new crop of students. Black and white photos showing kids working in the garden are proudly displayed near the front door. The school was in some danger of losing money from the district that supported its garden two years ago, but PTA and staff saved it by getting parents to pledge financial support. 

Like all elementary schools in Berkeley, Oxford serves kids who live all over the city, not just those in the neighborhood. The families of the school’s 316 pupils range from homeless to wealthy. 

Rita Davies teaches a combination class of second and third graders at Oxford. Originally from England, Davies has 40 years of teaching experience, and has taught at Oxford for the last 10 years. Typically, her second graders go on to be her third graders, and she gets to watch them develop over two years.  

The theme of her class, “Caring and Sharing,” is strung up in bright red letters above the blackboard. With tables and chairs arranged in small groups and a big green couch, her classroom looks comfortable enough to be somebody’s living room—albeit someone with a surfeit of awfully small chairs. 

When asked what’s special about Oxford, she too mentions the high level of parent involvement.  

“The essence of a good school is the people,” says Davies. “Kids like to come to this school—it’s a place people care about them.” 

This is the tenth in a series profiling the Berkeley elementary schools. The reports are written by students of the UC Berkeley Journalism School.

FRIDAY, FEB. 18 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Edward Norse, Prof., UCB, on “The Promise of Fusion and Solar Power.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

Berkeley Fire Dept. vs. Berkeley Police Dept. Charity Basketball Game at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley High School Donahue Gym. Tickets are $5, $2 for BHS students with i.d. Proceeds will go to scholarships and youth programs. 981-5506. 

Malcolm X: Living Martyr A 40th Year Commemoration with Amir Abdul Malik Ali, Fred HamptonJr., and Shaykh Hashim Ali Alaudeen at 7:30 p.m. in 145 Dwinelle Hall, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Graduate Minority Student Project. 

“Judaism in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe” with Johannes Heil, visiting scholar at the Erasmus Institute at the Univ. of Notre Dame at 4 p.m. at the Badè Museum, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 415-451-2876. 

“Drought and Corruption in Northeastern Brazil” with Nicholas Arons discussing the impact of drought and the phenomenon of drought politics at 4 p.m. in the Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall, UC Campus. 642-2088. www.clas.berkeley.edu  

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 7:15 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

“Three Beats for Nothing” meets at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center to sing for fun and practice, mostly 16th century harmony. 655-8863, 843-7610. dann@netwiz.net 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. wibberkeley@yahoo.com 548-6310, 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, FEB. 19 

Historical and Botanical Tour of Chapel of the Chimes, a Julia Morgan landmark, every third Sunday at 10 a.m. at 4499 Piedmont Ave. at Pleasant Valley. Reservations required 228-3207. www.chapelofthechimes.com 

Kids Garden Club For children 7-12 years old to explore the world of gardening. We plant, harvest, build, make crafts, cook and get dirty! From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $5-$7, registration required. 525-2233. 

Sushi Workshop Learn the natural history and how to make seven types of sushi. From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $25-$40. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Help Bring Back the Wild Join the Bayshore Stewards as we restore a rare tidal marsh on the UC Richmond Field Station, near the Bay Trail in Richmond, from 9 a.m. to noon. We will provide tools, gloves, rain gear and refreshments. We will also provide some instruction on planting and an overview of the project. Heavy rain will cancel the event. For more information call Elizabeth 231-9566. 

Water is Life Workshop on water problems and solutions for a sustainable future, including water pollution in the Bay Area, creek restoration, and greywater systems. Sat. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Free.548-2220, ext. 233.  

Explore the Alternatives of Demanding, Thirsty Lawns with Gail Yelland on ecological and turf free ground coverings at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. www.magicgardens.com 

Berkeley Historical Society Photography Workshop on how to make a Life Magazine-style photo essay, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center St. in the west wing of the Veterans Memorial Building. 848-0181. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/histsoc 

“War and Fleece: How Economic Shock Therapy Backfired in Iraq” with journalist Naomi Klein, at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St., in a benefit for the Middle East Children’s Alliance. Tickets are $20 or $50 including reception with Naomi. No one turned away. 548-0542.  

“The Mystery of the Heart” Community drumming and chanting at 7 p.m. at Unity of Berkeley, 2075 Eunice St. Donation $10-$20. 528-0304. www.unityofberkeley.org 

West Knitting Group for all levels and ages at 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, West Branch, 1125 University Ave. 981-6270. 

Intercollegiate Bhangra Competition at 6 p.m. at Berkeley Community Theater, 1930 Allston Way. Portions of the night’s proceeds will be donated to The American Red Cross to help the victims of the tsunami tragedy. For registration details and ticket information see www.dholdiawaz.com  

Emergency Response Training Class on “Fire Supression” from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Fire Dept. Training Center, 997 Cedar St. To register call 981-5606. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/fire/oes.html 

California Writers Club with Madeline DiMaggio speaking on “Selling Your Story to Hollywood” at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square, Oakland. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

Pre-School Storytime for ages 3-5 at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations meets at 9:15 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, Sproul Conference Room, 1st Floor, 2727 College Ave. www.berkeleycna.com  

SUNDAY, FEB. 20 

Early Morning Bird Walk to look for early spring arrivals. Meet at 7:30 .m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

Glorious Mud For ages 7 to 11 to explore the soggy grounds, identify animal tracks. Come prepared to get dirty. From 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center. 525-2233. 

Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at Willard Community Peace Labyrinth, on blacktop next to the gardens at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. Enter by the dirt road on Derby. Free. Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the East Bay Labyrinth Project. 526-7377.  

“Parrot Care 101” A free class on the care, feeding and daily play needs of your parrots, at 1 p.m. at Pet Food Express, 6398 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Please do not bring your bird to the class. Donations to the Oasis Exotic Bird Sanctuary accepted. www.squawkandhowl.com 

“African American Veterans: Voices from the Vietnam Experience” a panel discussion at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts., Oakland. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

“California African American Jazz” a family exploration afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts., Oakland. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Celebrate Black History Month with African textile collage at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-111.  

Haiku and Renga: Poetry and Nature Walk around the park with stops for creative writing of Japanese-inspired poetry. From 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Berkeley Cybersalon “TV Goes Online” with panelists from LinkTV, INdTV, Google, Yahoo, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation at 6 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10. 527-0450.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park, Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Jack Petranker on “Milking the Painted Cow” a new book by Trathang Tulku, at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, FEB. 21 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60 years and over meets Mondays at 9:45 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Join at any time. Cost is $2.50 with refreshments. 524-9122. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, FEB. 22 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at Inspiration Point to look for birds of the grassland and chaparral. 525-2233. 

Return of the Over-the-Hills Gang Hikers 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness, and fun are invited to join us on a series of monthly excursions exploring our Regional Parks. Meet at 10 a.m. at Briones. Registration required. 525-2233.  

Bird Walk on the Martin Luther King Shoreline from 3 to 5 p.m. Dress for rain and wind. 525-2233. 

“Sea Kayaking in the Bay Area and Baja” a slide presentation with Mitch Powers, at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

El Cerrito Democratic Club “The Social Security Debate” with Prof. J. Bradford DeLong, Economics Dept., UCB, at 7:30 p.m. in the sanctuary of the Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Ashbury Ave., El Cerrito.  

The Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society Low Cost Spay/Neuter Day, in recognition of the 11th Annual Spay Day. Spay/neuter costs are $5-$10. 845-7735. www.berkeleyhumane.org 

“Christianity, Islam and Ecology” Forum with Rosemary Radford Ruether and Ibrahim Farajaje at 7 p.m. at the Richard S. Dinner Boardroom, Graduate Theological Union, Hewlett Library, 2400 Ridge Rd. Part of The Graduate Theological Union’s Theological Roundtable on Ecological Ethics and Spirituality. 649-2560.  

Black History Celebration with a showing of “Roots” at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

Reverse Annuity Mortgages with Cherisse Baptiste from ECHO Housing at 1:15 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 

School Age Storytime for ages 5 and up at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext.17.  

Family Story Time at the Kensington Branch Library, Tues. evenings at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Organic Produce at low prices sold at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon Streets from 3 to 6 p.m. This is a project of Spiral Gardens. 843-1307. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org  

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll search for amphibians from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Wildlife Careers for Teens with information on zoo keeping, wildlife biology and wildlife education, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. Free, but reservations required. 632-9525, ext. 202. www.oaklandzoo.org 

The Oakland Bird Club “Sierra Birds: A Hiker’s Guide” with author Jack Laws at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, Upstairs Meeting Room, 5366 College Ave. Free and open to the public. 444-0355, 654-4830. 

Great Decisions 2005: “Russia” with Jordan Gans-Morse, Grad student, Political Science, UCB, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. Cost is $5, $40 for the series. The Great Decisions program will meet for eight Wednesdays. Briefing booklets are available. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

“South Berkeley Expo” from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Staff from Public Works, Police, Fire, Parks, and Health and Human Services will present information on community services and opportunities for residents to work together. 981-7071. 

“Indictment: Bush and Company’s Violations of the Constitution” with Doris Walker, attorney with the National Lawyers Guild at 1:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Sponsored by the Gray Panthers. 548-9696. 

“American Dictators” A documentary of Alex Jones and the staged “election” of 2004, at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390  27th St., midtown Oakland. Free, $5 donation requested. 910-0696. 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “The Templar Revelation by Picknett and Prince at 6:30 p.m. at the Barnes and Noble Coffee Shop, El Cerrito Plaza. 433-2911. 

AARP Free Tax Assistance for taxpayers with middle and low incomes, with special attention to those 60 years and older. From 12:15 to 4:15 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Appointments must be made in advance. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Winter Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Artify Ashby Muralist Group meets every Wed. from 5 to 8 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, to plan a new mural. New artists are welcome. Call Bonnie at 704-0803. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, FEB. 24 

Early Morning Bird Walk Meet at 7:30 a.m. at Golf Course Road turnout, Tilden Park, to look for nuthatches. 525-2233. 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll search for amphibians from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Tilden Explorers An after school nature adventure for 5-7 year olds who may be accompanied by an adult. No younger siblings please. We’ll search for amphibians. From 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

District 2 Town Hall Meeting with Councilmember Darryl Moore at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Youth Alternatives, 1255 Allston Way. Come discuss current neighborhood issues and concerns. 981-7120. 

Black History Celebration with dance, poetry, skits and light refreshments, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Frances Albrier Community Center, 2800 Parker St. 981-6640. 

Community Forum on Soft Story Builings and Reducing Risk, with presentations by local and national experts, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7406. TDD 981-7474. 

“Devastation for Democracy” The Future of the Iraqi People, Culture and Politics, with Dahr Jamail and Medea Benjamin at 7 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Donation $10, no one turned away. www.vituous.com 

“Confronting Empire: Hope, Fear & U.S. Intervention in El Salvador’s Presidential Elections” A documentary screening followed by discussion, at 7 p.m. at Changemakers, 6536 Telegraph Ave. 415-648-8222. 

“Rhetorics of Holy War” a conference covering contemporary Islam, the crusades, contemporary evangelicalism, Buddhism, medieval Byzantium, and more. Thurs. and Fri. at 9:30 a.m. at the Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Rd. 415-451-2876. ocker@sfts.edu 

Easy Does It Disability Assistance Board of Directors Meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Classrooms A/B. Meeting is accessible and open to the public, with time for public comment. 967-4003. 

Older People United, a discussion group for elders over 75 at 1:30 p.m. at the Gray Panthers, 1403 Addison St. 548-9696. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping in Berkeley Public Schools at 1:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Caleb and Ting Tango Classes Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Tango Studio. Cost is $20 for one class or $60 for four. To register call 655-3585. stellatango.com. 

“Gaza Strip” A free film screening at 6:30 p.m. at the 3rd flr. Community Meeting Room, Berkeley Public Library Central Branch, 2090 Kittredge St. 

ONGOING 

Collect Cleats for All Feet Donate your cleats and other sports equipment to Sports4kids Swap Shop, which works to make sports equipment available to all children who want to play. Donation barrels for cleats at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. Other locations at www.sports4kids.org 

“Half Pint Library” Book Drive Donate children’s books to benefit Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland. Donations accepted at 1849 Solano Ave. through March 31. 

All Net Basketball for boys and girls ages 9 to 11, begins Tues. Mar. 8, from 4:30 to 6 p.m., and runs for five weeks. Fee is $10-$15. For information call Berkeley Youth Alternatives, 845-9066. sports@byaonline.org 

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Seeks Host Gardens The tour, which will be held in the spring of 2005, will showcase Alameda and Contra Costa County gardens that contain at least 30% native plants, don’t use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, and provide habitat for wildlife. To be added to the mailing list, or to receive a host application, contact Kathy Kramer at Kathy@KathyKramerConsulting.net or 236-9558.  

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Feb. 22, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Budget Review Commission meets Wed., Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7041. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/budget 

Civic Arts Commission meets Wed., Feb. 23, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Mary Ann Merker, 981-7533. www.ci.berkeley.ca. 

us/commissions/civicarts 

Disaster Council meets Wed., Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., at the Emergency Operations Center, 997 Cedar St. William Greulich, 981-5502. www.ci.berkeley.ca. us/commissions/disaster 

Energy Commission meets Wed., Feb. 23, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Neal De Snoo, 981-5434. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/energy 

Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets Wed. Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Kristen Lee, 981-5427. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/welfare 

Planning Commission meets Wed. Feb. 23 at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Janet Homrighausen, 981-7484. www.ci.berkeley. ca.us/commissions/planning 

Police Review Commission meets Wed. Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/policereview 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs. Feb. 24, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410. www.ci.ber 

keley.ca.us/commissions/zoning  ›

A reader’s letter in this issue chastises the Daily Planet’s business side for a tongue-in-cheek headline on the latest house ad: “In Greater Berkeley, almost everyone who counts reads the Planet.” The same question was raised in the newsroom by a staffer who thought that the line might seem elitist to some, as it in fact did to this reader.  

Our house ads, we confess, are directed primarily at advertisers, not at readers, and for advertisers shoppers are what they're looking for. We know that we have more than 24,000 readers because they pick up their free papers, and of course not all of them can afford to shop in the shopping areas where we polled. But keep in mind that the Daily Planet has been supporting readers with free news for close to two years now. The paper continues to come closer to breaking even, but it’s not there yet. No one has come up with a better idea for how to pay for newspapers, one that wouldn't involve appealing to advertisers, who of course want to appeal to shoppers.  

Could we be charging for the paper? Probably not. Each copy of the paper costs more than 50 cents to produce, and mail delivery of subscriptions adds more than $1 per issue. Readers who can’t afford to shop in Berkeley probably can’t afford to pay that much for their papers either. 

Is Internet publication the answer? Salon, the first and still almost the only real online magazine, finally turned a profit for the first time in ten years, just in time to salute founder David Talbot on retirement. Many more have come and gone without breaking even. News on most of the rest of the Internet is thin, except for what’s reprinted from newspapers. And no one has figured out how to pay for it. 

Yesterday’s Washington Post carried an article about the woes of the major papers: Daily circulation across the industry has declined every year since 1987. It’s a complicated picture, because despite declining circulation profits are still healthy for the media conglomerates. On the one hand, papers face competition for the attention of information consumers from broadcast media and the Internet. On the other hand, newspaper advertising is still a much better source of revenue than online publishing. The article notes that “for the first nine months of 2004, the Post booked $433 million in ad revenue. For the same period, Washingtonpost.com reported $45 million in revenue, hardly enough to support a newsgathering staff the size of the Post’s.” 

Hunter S. Thompson’s suicide on Sunday marked the end of an era when journalists hoped to use edgy writing as a way of delivering social commentary, though serious newsgathering was generally left to the mainstream press. Others of yesterday’s “new journalism” heros have fallen on hard times. Ken Kelley, sometimes a fine writer and once a golden-haired boy wonder who edited a lively underground paper in the early ‘70s, was picked up last week by federal agents on charges of having child pornography on his computer in what was described in the San Francisco Chronicle as “a small apartment over a South of Market muffler shop.” Many papers like his, once heralded as the way to attract younger readers to print, have been swallowed up by national chains more interested in sensationalism than in news.  

Most of the news in broadcast media is cribbed, one way and another, from print media. It’s rare that any broadcast outlet does serious sustained reporting on a story. Newspapers, big and small, are still the primary medium for in-depth reporting. Community papers like the Planet cover the local news that the big dailies miss, and when we do a good job our stories are picked up by the mainstream press. And newspapers, small and large, are mostly supported by advertisers, who in turn are supported by shoppers. We’re very grateful to our advertisers, many of them small merchants who are trying to make a decent living by giving good value to their customers, and who support an independent press with their advertising dollars. We do believe that almost everyone who counts reads the Planet, both the shoppers that our poll contacted around town and the non-shoppers that we see reading the paper on park benches, in cafes and on buses all over town. We’re proud to have them all as readers. 

—Becky O’Malley 

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We’ve gotten a lot of mail in the past few weeks about the Berkeley Public Library’s plans for introduction of radio frequency identification devices (RFID) in a time frame close to proposed staff reductions. Library managers contend that there’s not a causal link; Library Director Jackie Griffin sent the Planet a copy of a letter to someone who raised the issue in which she said “the reduction in hours is a financial reality given our budget deficit as is the reduction in staff. Reducing the staff is not caused by RFID nor was the decision made to purchase RFID taken with reducing staff as a goal.” On the other hand, the initial technology buy for RFID is at least half a million dollars, probably more, and the money has to come from somewhere. Proponents suggest that implementing this kind of mechanized system, which enables readers to check out their own books, will save money by reducing workers’ compensation costs, but they haven’t supplied data which backs up this hypothesis. It’s not surprising that there are still some skeptics out there. 

We dropped in on a recent meeting of the Library Board of Trustees at which this topic was discussed. Our first observation was that the meeting room at the South Berkeley Branch Library was dramatically too small for the number of people who wanted to attend. People were lined up 10 and 20 deep out of every door. Since one well-advertised feature of the lavish new Central Library building is big meeting rooms, the choice of the little room at the South Branch indicates that someone in a planning capacity is out of touch with public opinion on how important the upcoming decisions are for Berkeley. This information, coupled with the fact that for the first time in recent memory a library tax measure lost in an election, suggests that Library Board members need to do a better job of exploring exactly which cost-cutting measures are likely to meet with civic approval. The minutes of that meeting and previous meetings where the staffing cuts were discussed have yet to be posted for the information of those who couldn’t squeeze into the meeting room, unfortunately.  

Last Saturday night we attended a sold-out gala at the main library where patrons paid handsomely for a filet mignon dinner and the privilege of sitting at table with an author with a Berkeley connection. The evening’s theme was “Love the Library,” and the enthusiastic participation of both authors and patrons suggested that a lot of people do indeed love the idea of having a fine local library. But libraries without librarians, or at least with fewer humans in the mix, are not apt to engender the same amount of affection in the long run.  

When we looked on the library’s website trying to figure out what time the dinner started, we discovered that their computer system had been on the blink for several days. That reminded us of another problem with RFID, a principle we learned from 20 years in the software business: It never pays to be an early technology adopter. In the few minutes we were able to squeeze into the back of the room at the South Campus Branch we heard a dispute over whether 100-plus users of the chosen system worldwide was a lot or a few. The answer, of course, is “it depends.” It’s certainly not a lot, but is it enough? Is there published evaluation literature on the system’s robustness and efficacy? A quick check on the web found one librarian’s blog complaint about persistent malfunctions in the RFID system she was using. 

Then there’s the whole complex question of whether RFID technology is a long-term threat to privacy. The Electronic Frontiers Foundation, a very respectable, technologically savvy watchdog organization, certainly thinks so, as does the ACLU. Both are adamantly opposed to any large-scale implementation of RFID technology in libraries given the current state of the art. In a recently published paper, UC computer scientists David Molnar and David Wagner say that “current conventional wisdom suggests that privacy risks are negligible unless an adversary has access to library databases. We show this is not the case.” 

Berkeley Public Library management touts its adoption of what they call “best practices” for preserving privacy while using state-of-the-art RFID. However Molnar and Wagner looked at BPL’s best practices and concluded that while they are indeed the best available given today’s technology, they are not good enough to overcome the inherent privacy risks which still exist: They do not in fact prevent the “unauthorized reading of tag data” which many fear. 

All in all, it seems that leaping ahead with RFID implementation presents some big problems. Each controversial topic (staffing model, RFID costs/benefits, privacy) needs its own intelligent discussion. At a minimum, the Library Board of Trustees needs to hold a well-advertised public meeting in a hall big enough to accommodate everyone who has information to share or an opinion to contribute. Otherwise they’ll hear the voice of the people of Berkeley only when it’s too late, at the ballot box.  

—Becky O’Malley