Features

TRAFFIC CIRCLES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

To those who can’t figure out the traffic circles (suggestion: veer right), I fear sharing the road with you. 

Tom Case 

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THE BIKE LANE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Daily Planet has published quite a few letters recently about traffic circles, pro and con. In many of these, I’ve noticed an alarming assumption being made. A number of writers have asserted that, at a traffic circle, “cars will be forced into the bike lanes.” That’s alarming because the writers don’t appear to understand the traffic rules, and since I’m often sharing the road with them on my bike, that worries me. 

Here’s the deal: There’s often just one lane through the circle. It is the bike lane. It’s also the car lane, and the truck lane, and the lane. If there’s a cyclist going through the traffic circle drivers coming up behind are supposed to slow down and follow the bike through the circle and out the other side. This radical requirement is, of course, a major threat to Western civilization, as a very fast driver caught behind an unusually slow cyclist could be delayed by as much as 20 seconds. Per circle! 

Bikes are traffic, and when there’s just one traffic lane, all the traffic has to line up in it, bikes along with cars. Following a bike is not an impossibility. Twenty-five MPH is the maximum speed limit, but you’re allowed to drive slower if you need to. I devoutly hope that any Berkeley drivers who find themselves behind my bike will see the need...best I’ve been able to manage lately on the flat is only about 22 MPH. Cut me some slack, folks, I’m a senior citizen. 

David Coolidge 

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ALBANY BULB 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thanks for covering the Albany Bulb situation. I noticed two things, one is that the City of Albany is abusing homeless people, by throwing their belongings away. It looks like they are oppressing them again.  

Second thing, where is there proof that those toxins are not still in the soil there? Is there any investigation into that? If there are toxins (metals) they can be very dangerous. If they are still there, no one should be allowed in the area, or they could get cancer, right? 

About 20 years ago that subject was brought up during Rainbow Village. I’m curious how to find out what is the real hazard of these “metals.”  

John Delmos 

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DOWNTOWN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is great to see someone like Roy Nee who has enough faith in downtown Berkeley to take on the Shattuck Hotel. I am really excited at the idea of having a world class hotel downtown. It sounds like Mr. Nee is planning to bring the hotel up to modern standards while still respecting the historic value of the building. I believe with a revived Shattuck Hotel this will help attract more retail business. This is just another step forward to help improve the downtown.  

These are exciting times for downtown Berkeley! 

Raudel Wilson 

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FILM FESTIVAL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read with interest your article on Mr. Nee, the new Shattuck Hotel owner. 

Your article references the new Shattuck Hotel owner’s plans for a Berkeley film festival. These proposed plans will certainly need to address one of the nation’s largest independent film and video festivals already in existence, the Berkeley Video and Film Festival. 

As the director and founder of the Berkeley Video and Film Festival, I would like to point out that the East Bay Media Center has been producing the festival in Berkeley since 1991. 

It may be misleading to your readership of the Daily Planet, an ongoing sponsor of the Berkeley Video and Film Festival, to imply that a Berkeley film festival is in the planning stages, when the Berkeley Video and Film Festival already exists. 

Mel Vapour 

Director, Berkeley Video and Film Festival 

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TOM’S CHICKEN SOUP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Former President Lyndon Johnson once said, “You can’t make chicken soup out of chicken [poop].” He would have also known that the ethically challenged can sell quite a bit of the poop soup as long as they do the right marketing and most people haven’t actually tasted the stuff. 

I’m sure Johnson was referring to a politician when he said the above, which brings me to the Tom Bates piece in the Daily Planet regarding the City of Berkeley’s return to progressive leadership. 

The “soup” Tom is selling sounds very nourishing, but having tasted it, by attending the tightly controlled City Council meetings, remarking on the disgraceful secret deal with Cal, following the public reaction in the Planet and on the street, attending the fake “town hall meetings” discussing the budget cuts, seeing how effective the mayor was at raising tax revenues, and last but not least, the continuous limitation of citizen influence on city and council decisions, I would say Tom’s “soup” contains no actual chicken. 

Harry Wiener 

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AWARDS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We all celebrate every award the Daily Planet has gathered. Whether or not we agree with all editorial stands, whether or not we think that some letters you publish are, as you so gently put it “wrong-headed,” it’s not possible to overpraise the positive energy you generate in this community, nor to overestimate the energy and dedication it takes to do it. 

Bravi tutti at the Berkeley Daily Planet. 

Dorothy Bryant 

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PASSING OUT MONEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read in the papers recently that Ariel Sharon has just asked the United States for an extra $2.2 billion to cover the cost of relocating Israeli “settlers” away from the Gaza Strip.  

OK. I got out my calculator.  

If the U.S. gives Sharon 2.5 billion dollars to help move 9,100 settlers, that’s $241,758.24 each! For a family of four, that’s $967,032.96 per family. How come we aren’t giving almost $1 million per family to the poor displaced settlers in Rwanda? In Columbia? In Haiti? In Darfur? Or in Iraq? 

And what about the people in New London, Conn. that the Supreme Court recently kicked out of their homes? Are they getting $ 1 million per family too? 

And what about me? Give me $241,758.24 for every member of my family and we will settle anywhere! But preferably in a condo on the Riviera.  

Jane Stillwater 

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PUBLIC POOLS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My wife and I live near King Pool. Swimming has been medically prescribed for both of us--my wife for heart issues and me for my lower back. We swim at King every other day and have done so year-in-year-out since moving to Berkeley in 1988. Two of our three children attended schools in Berkeley. We have both dedicated our professional lives to K12 education. In addition, as home owners, we pay significant taxes to maintain our schools. We know of what we talk, and walk it! 

We are deeply disturbed at the very skewed priorities being exhibited by the school district, actions which contribute to the city’s financial burden. This burden is forcing the closure of Willard and King pools from September through May (not “winter closures” as stated officially; rather closures for two-thirds of a year). 

The school has never contributed a penny towards the maintenance of the public pools. In fact, BUSD’s response when the city asked the district to contribute to pool maintenance was to punish students by terminating the King and Willard aquatics programs! This decision came at a time 49 percent of Willard’s students and 30 percent of King’s are low income. By terminating aquatics, the school district is denying many children the opportunity to ever learn to swim, much less swim. 

At the same time, for example, according to news accounts, BUSD is budgeting $23-26 million to re-do West Campus. What for? District administration offices? Yet, the school district refuses to contribute $50,000 a year to help keep pools open for neighbors and for the 1,500 students at King and Willard. 

There is something very wrong with this situation--might we say, something is indeed rotten within BUSD--its administration and the school board (who like it or not are the employers of the administrators). 

Peter Seidman and  

Bonnie Benard 

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BERKELEY HONDA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My name is Tim Lubeck and I was recently hired as a service advisor at Berkeley Honda. I heard about the opening and the change of ownership and applied for the position. I was hired June 1 and worked alongside the mechanics, who are now walking the picket line, for two weeks. 

Your stories and letters to the editor are slanted toward the “plight” of the mechanics and while the new ownership is usually quoted correctly, it is more like, “Well, here’s what management has to say.”  

On June 15, we took in 60 vehicles for service, had most of them torn apart, when the mechanics and one service advisor, walked off the job at 10 a.m. It took a day and a half to clean that mess up, to the distress of many unhappy customers. 

Those employees walked out on $31 an hour, full medical and dental coverage for themselves and their entire family (comparable to what the union offers) and a private 401K with a monthly contribution of $465. 

The union pension plan that they so desperately want is $1.5 million upside down locally and $200 million nationally. The employees only realize 5 percent of the $465 per month currently contributed because of administration costs and poor management and while they can retire at age 65, they can not begin collecting any money until age 72. 

I certainly hope the plan is transferrable to their grandkids, because they are the only ones who might see any of the money. 

Today we have five or six picketers walking a very tight line in front of the entrance to the service department. They stop every vehicle attempting to come in for scheduled appointments and disseminate their literature and propaganda. It is a very intimidating scene for some of our older customers and many drive off without hearing our side of the story. They tell our customers that we have no certified mechanics, no tools and that most of the work is being towed back in because of bad repairs, all of it untrue.  

We currently have four master technicians, two of them fully Honda certified and we are scheduling work so that they can oversee every vehicle that we take in. 

Your stories do not report that some of the mechanics/employees that were not offered positions with the new Berkeley Honda were not current on their Honda certifications and licenses, including smog testing. Management hired the cream of the crop from the previous employees. Is ownership required to hire an employee with expired licensing and no recent schooling just because he has worked with the previous employer over 20 years? 

Berkeley Honda has kept the same pricing that was in place with Jim Doten Honda. They are bending over backwards to make customers new and old feel welcome. It is sad that we have to deal with verbal abuse and taunting on a daily basis and this is from people who expect to come back to work alongside us when and if the strike is settled. 

The new owners have a tremendous capital investment in the building and the people of the new Berkeley Honda. I find it disheartening that good employees walked away from a tremendous financial package and now they want to destroy what is left of their former workplace. 

Berkeley is known for freedom of expression and choice and people should have the right to get their car serviced without being verbally assaulted and harassed. I really feel that your stories and letters fall short on describing what is really going on here at Berkeley Honda. The general consensus is that Berkeley Honda is a bad place to do business. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

Tim Lubeck 

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DEPARTMENT OF PEACE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Although I’m currently living on the other side of the planet, I recently read a commentary written by John Wornick called “Opposed to a Department of Peace.” I don’t know if I have ever read a more veiled, emotionally charged piece. In writing in the name of serving on the Peace and Justice Commission to ensure that our local lawmakers don’t waste their time or our dollars, he managed in a clearly vitriolic manner to: demean the intelligence and significant efforts of many Congressional members who are co-sponsors; misrepresent their numbers as only a “few members,” when in fact there are 53 co-sponsors of the bill; misrepresent the bill by erroneously indicating that it calls for “dozens and dozens of largely redundant programs”; derogatorily call the proposed department the “Department of Peace, Puppies, and Chocolate”; and refer to “progressives” as if it were a racial stereotype and slur. I’m all for having public dialogue about the actual practical issues John raises, such as: whether lawmakers on a local level should be reading about or writing resolutions on national and international issues; whether the City Council should consider resolutions that were not fully supported by the Peace and Justice Commission; and whether a Department of Peace is redundant or not.  

This is not what was being suggested at all, but rather a seemingly angry response at a commission being sidestepped. Anger comes from fear, and if John felt threatened and therefore angry, perhaps he could more productively stick to expressing that in an honest and owned fashion, instead of acting it out in a veiled manner in supporting his opinions. 

Marty Landa 

Alive Today Enterprises 

Australia 

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NEW LANDMARKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After reading the commentaries by Sharon Hudson and Janice Thomas on historical preservation, I wonder if there will come a day when my children will read that the Gaia and Acton Court buildings are being landmarked. “Although controversial when built, these fine examples of turn of the century ...”  

After I wrote a commentary on the urban infill problem I got an error correction from Alan Tobey (thank you), but there was no response from Hudson or Thomas. Evidently, they don’t feel a response is needed for concerns that “historical preservation” could become excessive, or could actually impose a social burden on society that requires compromise.  

Is everyone so focused on their own comfort and desires that they have lost all sense of the common good? We have had people fighting to block senior housing on Sacramento, and now we have Karl Jensen essentially suggesting that we throw the homeless to the wolves to save money. People are offended by the style of the police blotter, but have nothing to say about the breakdown in the social contract that it chronicles. Landmark preservation may help us gentrify our way out of such messy problems by moving them somewhere else in the short term, but at some point even the “Here/There” sculpture isn’t going to be enough to keep the barbarians from the gates.  

Robert Clear  

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WOZNIAK IN ACTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley City Councilmember Wozniak fired the chairperson of the Housing Advisory Commission on the basis that she wrote a commentary critical of the secret deal between the city and the university. Her essay was published in the Daily Planet on June 24. Wozniak was quoted in the Planet’s June 28 edition confirming that her opposition was indeed a factor in his firing her. 

His words resulted in an action—the firing of someone—while her words were merely meant to inform and persuade. 

In the process of campaigning, his words convinced people to vote for him. 

His constituents essentially hired him for the job.  

The words in his oath are a promise to maintain the laws and the policies of Berkeley and the interests of his constituents.  

Mina Edelston 

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RFID 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have been a frequent user of the Berkeley Public Library for decades. I have turned in my library card. I will not be checking out materials from the library until all the issues with radio frequency identification have been resolved. 

Terry Cochrell 

Our pleas to city officials to refrain from enforcing rolling brownouts obviously fell on deaf ears. And now the threat of a major catastrophic fire is becoming a hard reality in the wake of recent fires in the city (including one yesterday near Fish Ranch Road). Despite assurances by the mayor’s office, the City Council and the Fire Department that Station 7 on Shasta Road was going to be staffed for the entire fire season, Berkeley hills residents were put in a perilous situation on July 6 when Station 7 was closed until 5 p.m. It was only through the diligence of its residents that the station was staffed after 5 p.m., following angry calls to the mayor’s office and the Fire Department. 

To place Berkeley residents in this precarious situation is not only irresponsible, it is highly negligent and constitutes a breach of trust by city officials who place greater priority on their pet projects over basic necessities like public safety. The threat of a major catastrophic fire hangs over us like the sword of Damocles and our city officials have acted like Dionysius by cutting our fire services. Alas, the sword hangs only by a strand of a horse’s hair.  

Cecilia Gaerlan 

Co-Captain, Shasta-Sterling Neighborhood Group 

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FORGET ROVE! 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

When the day is done I have four choices for news in prime time (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox), five if your include PBS. Actually “news” is somewhat inaccurate; “news bites” would be better. But, come to think of it, the news on any given day occupies a tiny portion of the half-hour alloted; reports of actual events get squeezed by the weight of advertising, pseudo entertainment and prophesies of “experts”—“Well, professor, tell our audience what you think the next move of X will be.” [Replace X with Bush, the Democrats, the terrorists, the insurgents—whatever.] Lately I’ve begun to ask myself “Why bother?” 

Consider how the issue involving Rove, Bush’s main man, has been hogging the news. Everybody has something to say. Did he leak? Did he lie? Did he violate the law? In spirit? In fact? Such questions are minuscule when compared to the Watergate potential of the Downing Street Memo—documented evidence that the Bush network was fixing the case for war, promising one thing while planning another.  

Karl Rove may be a liar, a thug, a genius. He may be fired. He may keep his job. He may get the Medal of Honor. The point, unacknowledged by newspersons everywhere is that Rove is alive and almost 1,800 of his fellow citizens, soldiers mostly in their early twenties, are not. Karl Rove is healthy but several thousand of his countrymen are permanently maimed.  

Newspersons, forget Rove! We belittle ourselves as a nation by spotlighting his venial sins rather than the grievous sins of George W. and his prompters.  

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo  

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STATIST RESPONSE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

What a clever title for Lin Biao’s letter (“Statist Quo,” July 12). And oh how bad it makes me feel to have come to that from a guy that was considered a (rhetorical) bomb-thrower in my distant youth. Age has its definite drawbacks. 

But wait. Taxes in society are quite analogous to club dues. Those that don’t like them can vote out the rascals that installed them. And there ain’t no free lunch in this or any other society. Those folks that don’t like taxes are sure interested, for the most part, in the services they buy. 

Just one example: The U.S. just lost a Toyota assembly plant to Canada despite several American states offering more financial incentives. It seems Toyota found that Canadian workers were better educated than American workers, so Toyota needed to spend less in training (and Toyota liked the lower health care cost per employee hour—about $5—that Canada’s national health plan offered) So we spend money on education and health care, and we get good paying jobs; we don’t spend that money, we lose the jobs.  

Mal Burnstein›