Features

RFID INSTALLATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As the library’s board of trustees debates the decision to install radio frequency identification tags (RFID) in circulation materials at Berkeley public libraries, here are some reasons why they should decide against it. 

First, the range of the RFID signal is not 18 inches as claimed by the system’s salespeople, but rather dependent on the transmitter’s power and the receiver’s sensitivity. One can copy the barcode on any book or CD, and create a list of “sensitive” library materials. Using a powerful transmitter/receiver with such a list, one could use RFID to locate library materials anywhere, without the patron’s knowledge. Patrons might no longer wish to research politically unpopular or potentially embarrassing subjects. The newest RFID systems will include signal encryption, reducing such risks of privacy invasion, so the Board should wait to purchase a more secure system. 

Further, there have been no repetitive stress injuries among library employees in 2004 (Daily Planet, Feb. 18), the library already has self-checkout machines and proven antitheft devices, and the true cost of RFID, including staff time, is greater than the projected two-year deficit. Faced with a budget crisis, I see no reason the board should buy RFID at all. 

Mark W. Hendrix 

• 

WHAT DOES IT TAKE  

TO BUILD A FIELD? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

High school students looking for examples of how power and politics work in the real world might want to study the Derby Street/baseball field debate, but they shouldn’t expect to witness any profiles in leadership. This is Berkeley’s version of a political third rail, and this time it’s the School Board that is trying to wiggle out of touching it by cynically neglecting to include a full-sized baseball field option in the current round of plans. 

You see, it happens that this new athletic facility, which would serve our children, would be located in one of the more politically potent parts of town, where a vocal group is opposed to it. As a result, the Derby Street field is a political hot potato that the City Council and the School Board have let kick around for more than six years. The city manager has a 1999 EIR for the Derby Street baseball diamond, complete with Farmers’ Market, sitting on the shelf, waiting to be dusted off and updated, once the council gets the request from the board. Now Derby Street has the backing of the mayor and, it seems, the votes needed to pass the council. 

At next week’s School Board meeting, on March 9, BUSD Director Terry Doran is introducing a motion to keep the Derby Street baseball field alive. The motion is almost pathetically tame, asking merely that the district include a regulation baseball diamond as a possibility in the planning process, period. This has been enough to cause the Derby Street political behemoth to stir once again, lashing out against officials that support the ball field and broadcasting two-faced praise of the district’s “fair” planning process, a process that was designed specifically to not include the diamond, so that, once again, the board can dodge a politically charged decision. 

There are children at Berkeley High who remember their older, now graduated, friends showing up in force in 1999 in support of the field. And now, six years later, it’s come down to asking for three votes to keep it from being killed altogether, with no guarantee that it will ever be built, and with no up or down vote on the merits of the proposal. Chalk up another victory to those who know how to work the “process.” Small wonder it’s so hard to motivate people outside the dominant political channels to see the point in taking part in our civic life. 

Phyllis Orrick 

NEW BUSES ARE POPULAR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Dorothy Bryant’s recent op-ed piece was highly critical of AC Transit’s fleet of Van Hool buses, but the facts present a very different picture. The truth is that the vast majority of AC Transit’s passengers really prefer these buses. 

AC Transit staff devoted considerable time and resources in designing a bus with passenger-oriented features that are actually based on market research and consumer preferences. These vehicles, with their low-floor entry, have been used throughout the world for many years. They are now an industry standard in Europe and Asia, where millions of daily riders in cities like Paris, Zurich, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, and Tokyo, to name a few, strongly prefer this style bus to the old high-floor buses that require people to lumber up and down three high steps to get on and off. 

The Van Hool bus actually achieved worldwide recognition in 2003 and 2004, as the best designed and engineered transit bus in Europe, beating out some of the biggest bus manufacturers in the world, including Mercedes Benz, Volvo, Neoplan of Germany, and DAF/Berkhof of the Netherlands. More than 15 journalists, who regularly cover the transit market in Europe, judged the highly competitive competition. 

AC Transit surveyed nearly 500 passengers when our prototype Van Hools arrived more than two years ago, and the average quality rating among those surveyed was 4.2 out of a maximum of 5. Equally significant, since we launched regular service with our Van Hool fleet in 2003, AC Transit’s overall ridership has climbed 7 percent. In particular, our San Pablo Rapid (Line 72R), which features Van Hools exclusively, has experienced a 66 percent growth in ridership. 

To be sure, some people don’t like our new buses. It’s impossible to please everyone, but the majority of our customers really do appreciate the new design and its many passenger-friendly conveniences, like low-floors, wide doors, electric door openers, big windows, rear windows, great views, bright destination signs, easy access for people in wheelchairs, third-door exits, and a wide-open area in the center of the coach to better accommodate extra passenger loads. 

Jaimie Levin  

AC Transit director of marketing and communications 

• 

BERKELEY BOWL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In a Feb. 11 Daily Planet commentary piece, Dale Smith wrote “yes, it’s possible to grocery shop on a bicycle, but not when you’re feeding a family of four.” I’ll admit my family is only three at the moment, but I don’t see any barrier to shopping for one more. People often comment on my cart as a I push it down the aisles at the Berkeley Bowl, “does that hook to the back of a bicycle?” The answer is yes it does, and I’m always tired of shopping long before it is full. My main complaint about shopping at the Bowl by bike? The bike racks are frequently full, and I have to park across the street at Walgreen’s. 

Bryce Nesbitt 

• 

PETER HILLIER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

James Day (Letters, Marc 4-7) admits he was not at the meeting that I reported on, and that Mr. Hillier walked out on, despite appeals from both the chair and audience members that he stay and discuss the issues. Mr. Day agrees with my premise that public officials work for us and should answer to us, and that those who don’t should leave office, yet he characterizes my letter as an “ugly attack” and an “ugly mockery...spewed out” by me. I did not intend my letter to attack or mock Mr. Hillier, but to describe the event and state my premise, and in fact, I forwarded my letter to Mr. Hillier as well as to the Daily Planet. 

I’m pleased to learn that Mr. Hillier was helpful with the Adult School matter. We have not found that the case with issues surrounding Solano and Marin avenues. I hope that he may have another less stressful opportunity to discuss those issues with us. 

Jerry Landis 

• 

OAKLAND SHOOTING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Patrick McCullough is a black man. If he were a white man living in Burlingame, I doubt that the newspapers would be as critical of his actions. 

It seems that black men are supposed to know their place. Black men aren’t allowed to complain if drug dealers—who by some sorry coincidence also happen to be black—insist on selling drugs in front of their homes. Black men are supposed to maintain “solidarity” with all other black people—even if the other black people are criminals. Black men are supposed to keep quiet when drug dealers, and the added crimes they and their customers commit, move into the neighborhood. 

Black men aren’t allowed to own property, either. It seems if a black man spends 10 years of his life working to buy a house, it is somehow “property that is easily replaced” and the black man is expected to give it over and lose his equity without a fuss. 

Black men aren’t allowed to protect their families. After all, everyone knows that “real black men” have no love or affection for their families because of a history of slavery. Any black man who would defend his family is obviously an evil violent person, as opposed to the “real black men” who kill each other over drug turf. 

And most important of all, reputable, educated middle-aged hardworking black men who have no criminal record are to be considered to be no more believable than juveniles who hang out on the corner with disreputable companions who sell drugs. After all, as every real white person knows, all black people not only look alike, but they act alike. And if they don’t behave in the fashion approved by real white people then obviously they need to be “corrected.” In the past the Klan did the correction; but today’s methods are not as crude. Today the newspapers and “activists” demand that the police, the district attorney, and others remind black people to stay in their place—and to remember that all black people are to be considered equally credible—except that those who best resemble unfortunate stereotypes are to be considered the most credible of all. 

Nadja Adolf 

Newark 

• 

GIANT MOUND OF DIRT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

To answer Miko Sloper’s question in the March 4 Daily Planet: That “giant mound of dirt” west of the freeway and south of Seabreeze Market and Deli is one of many mounds of dirt that have been on that site for decades. The property is leased by a construction company that uses it for temporary storage of topsoil—a “put and take” operation, aka a “dirt hotel.”  

Change is in the works, however. This area is now part of the Eastshore State Park, and the first draft of the site plan for this section of the park has recently been released. It can be viewed at www.well.com/user/pk/waterfront/photo-of-the-week/Photo050221.html.  

State and East Bay Regional Park representatives will be on hand to discuss details of the plan at the Waterfront Commission meeting on Wednesday, March 9. at 7:30 p.m. in the Marina Conference room.  

Paul Kamen 

Chair, Berkeley Waterfront Commission 

?