Forget the F-word. For most of those standing-room-only crowd in the North Oakland Senior Center Monday, the real verbal bombshell was the R-word. -more-
In a stunning victory for community activists, the California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Thursday agreed to hand jurisdiction over two adjoining contaminated Richmond sites to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). -more-
Employees in the building at 1947 Center St. which houses the City of Berkeley’s Office of Transportation were temporarily evacuated Thursday afternoon after a man walked into the building around 3 p.m. claiming to have a bomb in his backpack. -more-
In a surprise turn, Berkeley’s Planning Commission Wednesday appeared to agree that the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) should have the power to stop demolitions of city landmarks. -more-
A battle is brewing over a plan to scale back Berkeley’s 44 citizen commissions. -more-
After four years of trying, Mike Hogan is giving up on his effort to save Ozzie’s, the popular soda fountain at 2900 College Ave. in the Elmwood district. -more-
After several months of once-every-two-week mediation sessions, talks between the Berkeley Unified School District and the Berkeley Federation of Teachers took a dramatic turn this week, with a Monday session convening at 9 a.m. and running until 3 a.m., and then reconvening Wednesday afternoon. Two more sessions are scheduled next week, for Monday and Wednesday. -more-
The East Bay media market became a little bit more crowded Tuesday with the roll-out of the East Bay Daily News. -more-
Thousand Oaks Elementary School in Berkeley has been selected as one of 248 California schools to receive a 2004-05 Title I Academic Achievement Award. -more-
At least when it comes to electrical things, do-it-your-selfers may find their craft considerably more expensive. -more-
John A. (“Jay”) Vincent, a well-known yachtsman, engineer, environmentalist, family man and Richmond civic leader passed away Wednesday, May 4. He was 93. -more-
Bay Area lyric tenor John Patton, Jr. passed away on April 18 in his Richmond home. The oldest of eight children, he was born on Feb. 18, 1930 in Garland City, Ark., on a sharecrop farm to sharecropping parents. At the age of 6, he knew he wanted to be a singer and pursued his dream and love of music when he moved to Richmond with his parents in 1944. -more-
City Manager Phil Kamlarz announced this week that Berkeley services won’t shut down one day a month this year as he had threatened they might have to, and one city swimming pool will be spared closure this winter. -more-
The man who wasn’t there continues to be the subject of the most interest at the Peralta Community College District Trustees meetings. -more-
A few days ago I was talking to a friend about shoes: I’d recently read that Nike owns Converse, which shocked my friend, an oblivious Converse-wearer. She had thought that by buying Converses she was withdrawing her support of the big shoemakers who are notorious for utilizing sweatshop labor. Our conversation turned to how these days it seems everything for sale comes from somewhere problematic, so much in fact that sometimes it feels like you have to either buy nothing or just ignore ethics altogether. -more-
When the BART Board of Directors met April 28 to discuss next year’s proposed budget, BART station agents, train operators, transit advocates, and advocates for the blind, disabled, seniors and students turned out in force to protest proposed reductions that we feel put rider safety at risk. -more-
In the afterglow of April 15, it may be timely to consider adopting the Willy Sutton approach to tax-collection. As the wily bank-robber once observed: If you want to prosper in your chosen career, you have to go “where the money is.” -more-
I’ve been the recipient of responses to a “Letter to BUSD Teachers” written by me in collaboration with other concerned Berkeley parents. The letter has been widely circulated among parents and teachers, and has been sometimes forwarded with an attachment on teacher compensation not authorized or endorsed by the parents originally involved. In all cases it has provoked discussion. Following an event organized by the Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT) and billed as an Informational Meeting, which many parents found to be intimidating, and where they were thanked for coming out to show support when many came with questions and comments and were not prepared to offer support for the BFT positions, we felt it was necessary to offer an opportunity for parents to express dissenting views. -more-
Berkeley has always been a town which valued education at all levels. We show our support in myriad ways. With the possibility of a teacher strike in this community within the next six months, now is the time to support those whose everyday job is to teach our children. Whether we have school-age children currently or not, we recognize that the entire community has a stake in fostering literacy, numeracy, creativity, and citizenship among other good things in our young. Teachers who are valued by the community are teachers who project positive values in every word and gesture. Teachers pour their love into their teaching. They give the community their working lives and expect respect for their labors and reasonable compensation in return. -more-
I’m not going to get into a popularity debate with recent letter writers to the Daily Planet. I’m sure that the parents who take time to talk to me support the teacher actions while parents who are frustrated with work-to-rule will talk to each other. At first, I was taken aback by their claims of fiscal realities, but I shouldn’t have been surprised since the district has a full time public relations officer who has repeatedly used public funds to misinform parents about the budget. There’s a historic reason why teachers, clerical, and plant workers have no confidence in the district’s fiscal data: -more-
For the last two years, there has been mounting anger in Oakland over the rule of Oakland School Administrator Randy Ward, who was appointed by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell after the California legislature seized the Oakland Unified School District from Oakland residents and taxpayers. -more-
Joy Carlin, a Berkeley woman of the theater, has found a solution to the age-old complaint that there’s a shortage of roles for mature actresses. She’s playing a 16-year-old, the title role of Kimberly Akimbo, a play by David Lindsay-Abaire, at the San Francisco Playhouse near Union Square through May 21. -more-
This weekend’s ninth annual Jazz on Fourth Street Festival marks a musical homecoming for multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum. -more-
Last week, Berkeley Unified School District produced one of those math brain teasers during this spring’s overhaul of its principal corps. Question: if Berkeley Unified has three elementary school principal slots to fill—at Rosa Parks, Oxford, and John Muir—and fills one of them, how many elementary school principal slots does the district have to fill? Answer: three. -more-
The City Council has approved the framework of a settlement that would resolve its legal dispute with UC Berkeley, councilmembers said Friday. -more-
With Alta Bates Summit Medical Center on the brink of losing its accreditation, hospital officials are bracing for a crucial Thursday meeting in Chicago. -more-
Berkeley businesses could be in store for a green revolution if a novel clean energy bond comes to fruition. -more-
Required to close an $8.9 million shortfall, city leaders today (Tuesday) are scheduled to present a proposed budget to the City Council at a 5:30 p.m. work session. -more-
Calling Berkeley’s fire marshal “a bully,” the owner of a West Berkeley warehouse said he was considering taking legal action to halt city-mandated fines and expenses that have cost him over $100,000 in the past month. -more-
With the threat of union action looming, the University of California and the American Federation of State, County And Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have agreed to a system-wide contract for UC’s 7,300 service workers across the state. The new three-year contract runs through January 2008. -more-
One month after an alleged alcohol-related hazing incident brought police attention to UC Berkeley fraternities, the university announced this week a “ban on alcohol consumption at all events hosted by campus fraternities and sororities.” -more-
UC Berkeley announced Monday their architectural choices to design two major projects for the southeastern part of the campus: the retrofit of Memorial Stadium and the new academic commons building for the law and business schools. -more-
With the Berkeley Unified School District locked in a contract dispute with teachers, in part over requests for increased money, BUSD board directors continue this week with the task of trying to balance an already shaky budget. -more-
Daniel David, Berkeley resident and son of well-known chef and wine expert Narsai David, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison Friday for his role in a phone scam. -more-
The ever-controversial density bonus, proposed revisions to the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and South Berkeley’s “Flying Cottage” top the agendas of the city’s land use panels this week. -more-
Friday’s Daily Planet will feature an expanded Letters to the Editor and Commentary section which will include the volumes of submissions we’ve received regarding BUSD teachers’ work to rule action. -more-
To experience Berkeley at its civic and civil best, you can’t beat the spring house tour of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Just staging the event involves nearly 200 volunteers. That’s not counting the homeowners who open their residences to the public for an afternoon. Equally impressive is the way the tour brings out a general graciousness that’s often lacking in daily Berkeley life. -more-
In Michelle Carter’s Writing in the Public Context class at San Francisco State, it isn’t enough that I have spent an hour a week for 13 weeks walking with my housemate, Willie, down to Doug’s B.B.Q. and back, snapping photographs along the way, transferring them onto my computer and sending them off to my fellow classmates. I have to come up with a final project that includes a 15-minute presentation in front of the class. This assignment has worried me since the start of the semester. -more-
When opponents of library use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology testified at Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission meeting in March, 2005, one of the commissioners repeatedly asked whether the industry was using this library in particular, or libraries in general, to promote RFID. A letter sent by a major book industry group to members of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors last summer shows that the answer is a resounding yes. -more-
When I read about the upcoming deal on the LRDP, I had an overpowering -more-
The 23rd annual Celebration of Old Roses will be held Sunday, May 15 from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the El Cerrito Community Center on Moeser at Ashbury. Sponsored by the Heritage Roses Group, the event is free. -more-
A planning document for the UC Berkeley campus has won an unusual accolade. The university’s Landscape Heritage Plan is receiving a Webby Award this year. Sometimes referred to as the “Oscars of the Internet,” the Webbys honor high quality and innovative website design. -more-
Creed, the knight, is snapping photos of his therapist, Dr. Tulip, in a scene in A Knight’s Escape, by Eastenders Repertory now at the Ashby Stage. -more-
The story of one of Berkeley’s most important early families, and the history of a National Landmark building in Yosemite built to honor one of the Sierra Club’s patriarchs, will be featured this Thursday evening, May 12, in the fourth lecture in the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s monthly series, “Hidden Lodges of Berkeley and Beyond.” -more-
Students, faculty, and parents at Berkeley’s Malcolm X Elementary School welcomed a new dendro-American citizen to our town in a brief ceremony Friday morning, April 29, National Arbor Day. A 35-foot northern red oak had been planted in the schoolyard to replace a senior elm, removed because it was dying. -more-
One more time, at the risk of becoming a tedious scold, the Berkeley Daily Planet wants to go on record on behalf of the public interest in demanding that those who run the government of the City of Berkeley (manager, staff, attorneys, mayor, councilmembers….?) make full public disclosure regarding any deals they’re making with the University of California before they take the final vote on such deals. Oh, and we don’t mean in the Friday release of a Tuesday agenda. We mean long enough in advance of the vote that the public, including the press, has time to investigate the details of the deal and comment on their ramifications. It’s a cliché that the devil is in the details, but the average voter/reader might not appreciate how deeply the bad details can be buried in the public process. -more-
Thanks to tips from the Daily Planet’s theater writers, we spent two evenings last weekend enjoying dramatic presentations, both of which did exactly what they were supposed to do: illuminated real life in ways we might not have expected. Parents like us who raised children born in the often tumultuous ‘60s and ‘70s sometimes wonder if the kids in that cohort were helped or harmed by their exposure to the crosscurrents of political and cultural change which were sweeping the country at the time. Judging by what we saw in these performances, the kids turned out pretty well. -more-
In 1900 the principal American novelists were Mark Twain, Henry James, Edith Wharton, and young Frank Norris. A glowing portrait of him in the early days of his success was written by Hamlin Garland, who called him, “a stunning fellow—an author who does not personally disappoint his admirers. He is handsome, tall and straight, with keen brown eyes and beautifully modeled features... a poet in appearance, but a close observer and a realist in fiction.” -more-
