Caltrans last week denied the city of Berkeley’s request for a $120,000 grant to fund a transportation plan to be used in shaping the development of a project that would feature about 300 units of housing over commercial space and parking at the Ashby Bart Station. 

Late on Thursday, project promoter Ed Church sent this email message to members of the task force recently appointed to plan the project, telling them to call off their Monday meeting: 

“I just met with Mayor [Tom] Bates and Councilmember [Max] Anderson. They suggest that you cancel your meeting scheduled for this coming Monday, June 5, and await a rescheduling date until after the City Council has had an opportunity to re-evaluate planning efforts along the Adeline Corridor.” 

Just because the state denied Berkeley’s request for a grant to plan a housing and commercial development at the Ashby BART main parking lot doesn’t mean the project is dead, however. 

The city-sponsored task force created to handle the project’s early stages had planned to meet Monday night, according to Chair and Berkeley Unified School  

District board member John Selawsky. 

“There still needs to be some sort of community process,” Selawsky said. And before the Church email was received, Bates told the Planet development there remains a top city priority.  

“In some ways it’s a blessing in disguise,” said Bates, one of the project’s leading proponents. “Obviously, we would’ve been pleased to get the money, but this gives us a way to come back to the community in a way that everyone’s comfortable with.”  

Selawsky was not available for comment after Church’s letter was forwarded to the Planet on Thursday night. 

The city’s standing policy for a number of years has been to build affordable housing on the site, Bates said, “and now we need to decide how to do it.” 

On Feb. 13, 2001, the council adopted a resolution making housing development at the site “a top priority,” with prices affordable “to the extent feasible” by public employees. 

On Dec. 13 last year, the City Council appointed the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation (SBNDC) as their agent for the project in the same vote in which they approved the SBNDC’s grant application. 

The plan ran into immediate well-organized and highly verbal opposition, both from alarmed neighbors and from the vendors and supporters of the Berkeley Flea Market, which occupies the parking lot on weekends. 

Selawsky said the task force had planned to take up the issue of what to do next when it met Monday night at 7 p.m. in the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. 

The group’s last meeting, held at the senior center on May 26, was interrupted repeatedly by shouting from an audience that had been stirred into action by a half-hour-long rally held outside before the meeting began. 

The project has roused considerable suspicion, in part because it was presented for approval to the City Council a month after the grant application had been filed in the city’s name. 

Flea market activists are opposed to any changes at the site, and have derided a city plan to relocate it to Adeline Street between Ashby Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The city has retained an engineer to look at the implications of the weekend closure. 

One critic, former City Council candidate Laura Menard, said project opposition was divided, with one group opposed outright and another faction hoping that the task force will sever ties with the SBNDC and steer an independent course. 

Denial reasons 

Caltrans spokesman David Anderson said the agency rejected the city’s application for a Community-Based Transportation Planning Grant “because the application received a low score.” 

Applications were judged on their ability to fulfill the agency’s seven criteria, including: 

• Support of livable community concepts. 

• The ability to address a deficiency, conflict or opportunity in coordinating land use and transportation. 

• Relevance to a study where considerable community benefit would come from addressing a deficiency in balanced multi-mode transit planning. 

• Leveraging resources for use in future developments. 

• Support for increased residential development or rehabilitation, including revitalization of an area. 

• The presence of synergistic effects that would lead to other benefits. 

• Innovation combined with an emphasis on community-based grassroots involvement.

Stop that initiative or we’ll sue, an attorney for Golden Gate Fields has warned Albany officials. Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) filed the initiative in question, an attempt to stop shoreline development, with Albany City Clerk Jacqueline Bucholz on May 16. 

What’s behind the threat: charges that the initiative’s proponents didn’t publish notice of their intent to circulate petitions in a legally qualified newspaper. The notice appeared in The West County Times, one of several area papers currently being sold by Knight-Ridder to MediaNews, but allegedly not one approved by the court for legal notices for Albany. It’s a subsidiary of the Contra Costa Times, published out of Contra Costa County.  

In her May 25 letter to Albany City Attorney Robert Zweben, track attorney Marguerite Mary Leoni charged that the West County Times “is adjudicated neither for the City of Albany nor for the County of Alameda,” thus invalidating the initiative. 

A representative of the advertising staff of the paper said Thursday that the West County Times wasn’t adjudicated for Albany, though the Berkeley Voice/El Cerrito Journal, a local weekly also part of the Knight-Ridder package, was. 

Tom Newton, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA), said the publication requirements are set in state statutes, and require a court finding before a paper can accept legal notices. 

“The laws were an attempt by the legislature to make sure the newspaper is established in the community and is one which residents will look to for important public notices,” he said.  

The measure would call a halt to all shoreline development—including a mall which Los Angeles super-mall developer Rick Caruso is planning with the racetrack’s parent corporation, Magna Entertainment. 

Their plan calls for an upscale open air mall on the track’s northwestern parking lot, within the zone where development would be banned by the CAS initiative. 

Under the initiative, waterfront development outside the immediate coastal strip would be suspended until a formal planning process is developed.  

Leoni cited a Sept. 21, 1989, opinion by the state Court of Appeals Third Appellate District holding that signatures collected before the legal notice requirement had been fulfilled “should not be counted because they were gathered outside the legal time period for circulating the petition.” 

CAS turned in 2,446 signatures for the intiative—nearly three times the required 950. If approved, the measure would go on the November general election ballot. 

High stakes 

The battle carries high stakes on both sides. 

In one corner is an ailing racing company seeking to revive itself through development deals and holding out promises of big tax and other benefits to the city. 

They are paired with a major developer with deep pockets and a demonstrated willingness to bankroll seven-figure election campaigns. 

In the other corner is a collection of environmentalists and local businesses who see the project as a threat to both the biological and the local commercial environments. 

Robert Cheasty, a former mayor and an environmentalist who runs his legal business out of a Solano Avenue office, is one of the initiative’s most outspoken backers. 

“We used the process the city uses for publication of all its notices,” said Cheasty. 

The City of Albany also publishes notices in the West County Times, raising possible issues for the city as well. Calls placed to City Attorney Zweben were not returned. 

Cheasty said the CAS had certainly fulfilled the intent of the publication ordinance. 

“There were stories in all the local publications and coverage by the television stations. We also posted the initiative on our web site,” he said. 

Another proof that the initiative was widely available is the fact that a fourth of the city’s voters signed it, Cheasty said. “We went out in good faith.” 

Cheasty said the decision cited by Leoni was only one of several cases related to the issue. “The authority on this issue is split,” he said. 

As for the attempt to kill the initiative, Cheasty said, “This is like Goliath telling David, ‘No slingshots.’” 

Even if the track suceeds in killing the initiative, their mall proposal would still have to go before voters under the provisions of Measure C, a 1990 initiative that called for public votes on all waterfront projects.

The City Council on Tuesday approved the Creek Task Force (CTF) recommendations that ease current building restrictions, but still would require various permits and environmental analyses to build or remodel near creeks.  

“Healthy creek corridors protect structures from erosion and damage, improve water quality, prevent floods, and protect and enhance fish and wildlife habitat,” wrote CTF supporters. the Sierra Club, Urban Creeks Council, the Golden Gate Audubon Society and other environmental organizations, in a newspaper ad. 

Opponents of the task force’s recommendations, however, called the recommended permitting process “onerous.” Neighbors on Urban Creeks Steering Committee member Vonnie Gurgin said it “tramples on the rights of property owners.” 

The 7-2 vote, with Councilmembers Betty Olds and Gordon Wozniak in opposition, came after a three-hour public hearing attended by about 140 people at Longfellow Middle School. 

“I’m horrified to think we’re voting tonight,” Olds said as the hour neared 11 p.m. “There have been so many issues raised tonight. The task force has been working a year and a half. I’d like to absorb what they’ve said.” 

The task force proposals were a compromise, CTF Chair Helen Burke told the council. 

“An uncompromised view would be for larger setbacks than [the 30 feet] CTF recommended,” she said. 

The task force labored on the ordinance for 18 months. “It is time now for action,” Burke said. 

Planning Commission Vice Chair David Stoloff, however, called for “more flexibility to protect private property” and asked the council to modify the task force recommendations to “avoid an onerous permit process.” 

The CTF recommendations run counter to both Planning and Public Works commissions’ advice to the council.  

Planning staff will draft an amendment to the 1989 Creeks Ordinance based on the council recommendations. It will be reviewed by Planning and Public Works commissions and the Creeks Task Force. After a second public hearing, the council will vote on the final ordinance. 

Task Force recommendations for allowing various kinds of structures to be built in various creekside locations turn on whether or not variances are required. A variance, issued by vote of the Zoning Adjustments Board, is usually needed if a proposed building project does not comply with zoning regulations, while planning staff may grant certain use permits for uses allowed by the zoning code. 

Current law prohibits almost all building or remodeling within 30 feet of a creek or culvert. Changes approved by the council include: 

• Remodeling an existing structure by making it higher or excavating would be possible with an over-the-counter permit and a professional environmental analysis.  

• Expansion of a roofed structure within 25-30 feet of a creek would take a use permit and an environmental analysis, but expansion to 25 feet or less from the creek would require a variance.  

• New construction of buildings with roofs within 30 feet of a creek would also require a variance. 

• An environmental analysis would be required when new decks are built within 10-30 feet and when replacing decks after a loss within 30 feet of a creek. A variance would be required to build closer than 10 feet. 

• Building on or near a culvert would not be governed by rules regulating creeks. 

In addition to CTF recommendations, the council voted to incorporate the right to rebuild the same size structure after a disaster with an over-the-counter permit, consistent with the “right to rebuild” zoning ordinance passed, in concept, by the council last week.  

A second resolution,authored by Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, which passed 6-1-2 (Mayor Tom Bates opposing and Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Wozniak abstaining), asked staff to explore allowing a use permit in instances where a variance had been recommended by the CTF, in order to make it easier to rebuild. 

Much of the disagreement among those attending the hearing revolved around elements of the ordinance the CTF left up to staff, including the definition of a creek. Some people argued that because Berkeley creeks range from flowing waterways with fish to trickles that run dry in the summer, that a “one-size-fit-all” approach to regulations is misguided. 

Arguing for a “case by case approach,” Jana Olson, a task force member who signed a CTF minority report, contended that “a lot of homes are on small rivulets. The situations are different.” 

Moreover, soil composition varies from solid rock or loose sand, she said. 

Also of concern was the question of the “environmental analysis” necessary to get a permit for building and rebuilding. 

“What will that involve?” asked Capitelli, underscoring that he feared the review could trigger the need for a more extensive environmental study. 

The difficulty of obtaining a permit to build or rebuild drew fire at the public hearing. Pointing to a potentially costly permitting process for remodeling her house on a creek—or the possibility that she would not be allowed to remodel—homeowner Sara Baughn said the proposed law hurts her investment. 

“Why should someone buy our house?” she asked. 

Homeowner Janet Byron countered that her house beside Strawberry Creek had tripled in value since she bought it in 1997, despite the strict rules in effect under the 1989 Creeks Ordinance. 

“I’m not worried about selling it,” she said. 

Friends of Five Creeks President Susan Schwartz urged the council to adopt the CTF recommendations, which, she wrote the council, “allow(s) homeowners reasonable flexibility to expand their homes, along with the security of being able to repair or rebuild.” 

The question of financial responsibility for repairing culverts that run through private property was brought into the mix by speakers who argued that should be the city’s responsibility. 

“It’s not fair to put [culvert repairs] on the backs of the homeowner,” Olson said. “How the water reaches the bay is a public, not private [issue].”  

In an interview during a break in the meeting, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque said that “all culverts on private land were built privately,” and therefore should be maintained by property owners. 

Graduation season is fast approaching, but more than 40,000 students statewide, including about 200 in Berkeley, still have not passed the high school exit exam.  

The California Department of Education released results from the March administration of the exit exam Thursday. Statewide, 41,758 students have not passed the test, meaning they will not know until well after graduation ceremonies are complete whether they will receive diplomas, since results from a May administration of the exam won’t be announced until July. 

About 200 Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) students have not passed the exam, said district spokesperson Mark Coplan. A smaller number are at risk of not earning diplomas this month, because the figure includes special education students who are exempt from the test mandate this year. 

The other students, who have met all graduation requirements but have not passed the exit exam, are eligible to walk the stage with their peers, per a decision by the Berkeley Board of Education in February. They will not, however, receive diplomas.  

This is the first year students must pass the exam to receive high school diplomas. The test assesses 6th- to 8th-grade math and 9th- to 10th-grade English, academic skills proponents say are key to success in life.  

“Maintaining this exam is critical to holding California schools accountable,” said State Superintendent Jack O’Connell in a May 30 press release. “Without these essential skills in English and math, [students] will face a very tough road ahead.” 

Critics of the test complain it unfairly discriminates against low-income and minority students, particularly English language learners who have difficulty with the English portion of the exam. Statewide, about 79 percent of English learners have passed the English language arts section compared with 94 percent of all students.  

In the English learners’ department at Berkeley High School, the March test netted five students who passed and 11 students who did not. Of those 11, about seven meet all other graduation requirements. The students have been in the United States for five years or less. 

Pedro Borges is among the few who passed. A native of Brazil, he’s lived in the United States for a year and a half. He failed the English portion of the exam the last time he tested, but worked arduously with his English language development teacher and took special seventh period exit exam classes. The hard work paid off--but the same isn’t true for some of his friends. 

“I have some friends who still haven’t passed the test,” he said. “They’re feeling really bad.” 

Madeleine Scott, a counselor for English language learners at Berkeley High School, said one of her students was accepted to Cal State East Bay, but did not pass the exam, and must now tell the school he cannot attend.  

“It’s a really difficult situation,” she said of all the students she knows who haven’t passed. “They are struggling with having been in high school and having completed all their requirements, and now not being able to graduate and receive a diploma.” 

A lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of students who claim the test is unfair for low-income and minority students nearly uprooted the exam requirement. In early May, an Alameda Superior Court judge granted an injunction against the test. The California Supreme Court later countermanded that decision. The case is scheduled to go to the state Court of Appeal later this summer. 

Students who have not passed the test can take it again in July and still earn a high school diploma. Summer classes, adult education courses and independent study programs are available to help students prepare for the exam. 

Members of the Nexus Institute were still occupying their rented West Berkeley home Thursday, the day after the deadline had passed for them to leave. 

Just how much how longer they will be allowed to stay remains an open question. 

Nexus, an artist collective founded in 1973, faces threat of eviction from their landlord, the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. 

Mim Carlson, the Humane Society’s executive director, offered little in the way of response. 

When a reporter noted that Nexus artists were still in residence, she said, “That’s what I’ve heard, too.” 

Asked if eviction might be in the works, Carlson did say the society’s board would be meeting to discuss their options, but declined to say where or when. 

“We’re still in there,” said Nexus co-president Carol Newborg. “Hopefully negotiations will continue on our attempting to purchase the buildings.”  

Nexus has been trying to negotiate a purchase, though talks were recently broken off unilaterally by the Humane Society. 

Carlson has said her non-profit needs to sell the building in order to raise much-needed funds. 

“The fence didn’t go up,” said Robert Brockl, a Nexus artist. The fence he referred to was one the Humane Society planned to erect around their landmarked brick building once the artists had departed. 

Victor Lap, one of the collective’s founders, said Nexus has occupied the facility at 2701-2721 Eighth St. since its founding. 

The site consists of a landmarked brick building and two non-landmarked sheet-metal-clad structures.  

Jos Sances, chair of the city’s Civic Arts Commission (CAC), said the CAC is asking the City Council to protect the artist spaces as required under existing city statute and the West Berkeley Plan. 

“There are 12 artist’s spaces and a woodworking shop where 12 artists work. We want to make sure there is no loss of spaces,” he said.  

CAC members voted unanimously on May 24 to ask the council to delay any evictions until the artists and craft workers “are provided with comparable space.” 

The West Berkeley plan includes a policy to “protect small businesses, particularly arts and crafts businesses, so they can continue to flourish in West Berkeley.” 

To implement that policy, section 23E.84.090 of the city code provides that “the Zoning Officer or Board must find that the space formerly occupied by the protected use has been replaced with a comparable space in the West Berkeley Plan area, which is reserved for use by any protected use in the same category.” 

“There’s a lot of language in the ordinance and in the West Berkeley plan that may be confused, but it clearly protects arts and crafts use,” Sances said. 

He said the commission isn’t asking that city mandate that the Nexus artists be allowed to say in the current home, only that some home is provided for them. 

“There are complicated negotiations going on, and there are also divisions within Nexus,” Sances said. “Rather than getting mixed up with any of that, we are just asking the city to protect the spaces.” 

City Civic Arts Coordinator Mary Ann Merker said the resolution would go before the City Council during their June 20 meeting. 

“Clearly the status quo needs to change,” said Newborg. “The Humane Society needs the money and we need a place to stay.” 

One solution might include the addition of a buying partner, “because there’s more space than we need” she said. “There should be a way to work together without them going broke and us getting kicked out.”

A federal court judge last week ordered the Department of Defense to expedite a Freedom of Information request made by the ACLU of Northern California on behalf of UC Berkeley Stop the War Coalition and UC Santa Cruz Students Against the War.  

The American Civil Liberties Union claims that the DOD’s TALON (Threat and Observation Notice) program collected data on both groups, as reported in December by MSNBC, and filed a lawsuit in March in federal court calling for the DOD to expedite the process of releasing the information. 

“Expediting the process” means moving the request to the front of the queue, said Mark Schlosberg, police practices policy director for the ACLU of Northern California. 

“I expect we’ll get the information in days or weeks—not months,” Schlosberg said. 

“There’s an urgency to inform the public, involving alleged government spying on Americans,” he added. 

The information the ACLU wants released concerns allegations of government data collection related to a campus Stop the War Coalition protest in April 2005. Information on the protest was reportedly collected by government agents and stored in the DOD’s TALON database. 

At UC Santa Cruz data was allegedly collected at a protest against military recruiting on campus last year. 

According to U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup’s order, the decision was influenced by some 70 news articles on the subject and inquiries into the TALON system by public officials including Senators Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bill Nelson, R-Fl., and Representatives Sam Farr, D-Calif., Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. and Robert Wexler, D-Fl. 

“On December 14, 2005, MSNBC.com published an article revealing that the Department of Defense had been gathering information on political protests within the United States,” according to Alsup’s order. “The article stated that about 40 anti-war gatherings were documented over six months, ranging from street demonstrations in Los Angeles to a planning session by Quaker peace activists. MSNBC.com said the information was gathered as part of the TALON … system …. The program was designed to gather information on terrorism and threats to military bases.” 

Getting the information is particularly critical at this time, Schlosberg said. 

“As we’ve seen in the last several weeks, issues of domestic surveillance are in the forefront,” he said.  

The San Francisco Bay Guardian joined ACLU as a plaintiff in the case. According to the judge’s order, the ACLU “asked for expedited processing on the grounds that they had a compelling need for the information because the Bay Guardian was a news organization that needed the information urgently to inform the public about alleged federal government activity. They also alleged that the military’s domestic gathering of intelligence on political activities was a breaking news story.” 

The Department of Defense did not respond before deadline to requests for comment. 

The Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) and the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held a joint meeting Wednesday, and the topic du jour was architectural preservation. 

The boards heard presentations from a handful of experts in the field, including well-known state historic preservation officer Wayne Donaldson. Featured perspectives ranged from traditional preservationism to “contextual” interpretations, in which contemporary structures complement existing streetscapes. The meeting was held as part of the visioning process for developing downtown Berkeley. 

Austene Hall and Carrie Olson of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association discussed the rich tradition of downtown Berkeley, which goes back 130 years, before the city was incorporated. 

In 1876, the steam train arrived downtown, Olson said, and the track cuts are still evident on Shattuck Avenue. She pointed out that many other features of bygone Berkeley remain today: Downtown is host to 94 historical buildings, including the Shattuck Hotel, the Mason-McDuffie building and the Shattuck Square building. 

She advocated for preserving downtown’s history. “Preservationists want a cohesive downtown,” she said. 

Architectural Resources Group Principal Bruce Judd looked at the economic benefits of preserving architecture downtown. 

“Historic preservation needs to be part of the economic strategy [of downtown],” he said. 

He argued that most cities with the best economic development, like Santa Fe, Carmel and Monterey, have one feature in common—they emphasize historic preservation. He further insisted that working with existing buildings rather than developing new structures creates more jobs, both in the construction phase and beyond, increases property value and otherwise improves a district’s economic standing. 

Donaldson, a leading figure in preservation architecture in California, took a philosophical approach to preservation. He urged board members to hone in on the culture of Berkeley when considering downtown’s future landscape. 

“To me, if you can focus on saving those communities that tell the story of cultures, then Berkeley won’t dwell too much on the physical structures,” he said. “…If you keep the scale, keep the communities and keep the spirit of the culture” then downtown Berkeley will attract people. 

UC Berkeley architecture professor and editor of PLACES magazine Donlyn Lyndon put a contemporary spin on preservation. He showed slides of modern structures in Spain, Italy and New York, among other places, to show how they mirror the “cadence” of established districts.  

“We need to seek not just replication of values but we need to endorse them,” he said. 

Due to time constraints, commission and committee members were unable to delve into much discussion about presentations, though Donaldson’s concept of preserving culture elicited some talk. DAPAC member Gene Poschman said it was too “nebulous” and instructed fellow members to be “less philosophical and anthropological” when visioning downtown Berkeley. 

Winston Burton, also a DAPAC member, disagreed. He said the idea gave him some context for thinking about preservation in a contemporary manner, one that doesn’t conjure up “steam trains and stagecoaches.” 

Following the close of the joint DAPAC-LPC meeting, DAPAC met to discuss a draft Environmental Impact Report for UC Berkeley’s southeast campus plans, which include retrofitting the stadium, a new athletic training center, new offices and parking. 

DAPAC members briefly debated whether to instruct the university to move its proposed 911-space parking lot elsewhere. Dorothy Walker offered a motion to do so, which Rob Wrenn quickly shot down saying, “It’s just taking one person’s problem and dumping it on somebody else.” 

Committee members eventually agreed to submit comments to the university saying DAPAC has reservations about the parking, and encourages the university to explore all other possibilities. 

Discussion of a recent Technical Advisory Committee charette, a subset of DAPAC, was deferred until the next meeting. 

L. A. Wood has filed an appeal to the Zoning Adjustments Board’s (ZAB) decision to modify a use permit that allows Pacific Steel Casting to construct odor pollution reducing facilities. 

Wood, a longtime critic of the steel company, submitted the appeal to the City Council May 29. He accuses ZAB of violating open meeting laws, inadequately scrutinizing the odor reducing technology and failing to require a full environmental review. ZAB approved the modified use permit for the $2 million carbon abatement system May 11.  

Wood is also demanding that City Council, which will hear the appeal, impose mitigations on one of the polluting sources at Pacific Steel. 

Pacific Steel, at 1333 Second St., has been the subject of complaints from West Berkeley residents for more than two decades. The foundry emits an odor many liken to the stench of a burning pot handle. 

Implementation of a carbon abatement system is the upshot of a settlement agreement reached between Pacific Steel at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District in December. The settlement issued Pacific Steel $17,500 in fines for emissions violations and required the company to take measures to curb odor. 

Wood said he expects the appeal to go before City Council June 13 or June 27. 

The “opt-out” notification high school military recruiter bill co-sponsored by Bay Area Assemblymembers Loni Hancock and Sally Lieber has moved on to the California State Senate, but solid Republican opposition and lack of full Democratic support mean that the bill continues to have little chance of surviving a possible gubernatorial veto.  

The Hancock-Lieber notification bill passed the Assembly last week on a 45-33 vote, with Republicans voting in a block against it. In addition two Democrat Assemblymembers, Nicole Parra of the Central Valley and Tom Umberg of Anaheim, voted against the measure. 

The bill would require that high schools include an “opt out” military recruiter checkout box on the emergency information contact forms filled out every year by the state’s students and parents. 

Supporters of the bill estimate this would dramatically increase the number of students and parents who choose to prevent high schools from releasing the student’s contact information to military recruiters. 

Military recruiter access to student information is required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act unless the parent or student notifies the school that such access is not desired.

Two self-professed gang members were wounded in a drive-by shooting in South Berkeley Monday night—and neither one is talking to police. 

Neither of the victims, a 21-year-old Berkeley man and a 20-year-old man from Richmond, “seems very interested in talking to us,” said Berkeley Police spokesperson Ed Galvan. 

The two were drinking in front of a Russell Street apartment next to the corner of Sacramento Street—an area that has seen several violent incidents over the last year. 

A car drove by and at least five pistol shots were fired at the pair, striking both men without inflicting life-threatening injuries, Galvan said. 

One neighbor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, reported that at least nine rounds were fired during the 10:55 p.m. drive-by. 

Both victims were rushed to an emergency room, Galvan said, and both were expected to be released from the hospital by this afternoon (Friday). 

Galvan confirmed the neighbor’s account that a white car was seen leaving the scene within moments of the shooting. 

The injured Berkeley man was not a resident of the neighborhood where he was shot, added Galvan.

With Alameda County Supervisors coming down to the wire on a decision for the purchase of a permanent new voting system, local voting activists are hoping for what they call an “interim solution” that will not commit the county past the November elections. 

“We want them to adopt a minimalist approach” to the current schedule of purchases said Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club Voting Rights Task Force member Michele Gabriel in a telephone interview. 

“We won’t have another major election for another two years,” she said. “There could be a change in the California Secretary of State after the November elections, which means there could be a complete change in which voting machines receive state certification, and which ones don’t. In addition, Alameda County doesn’t have a permanent Registrar of Voters, and it would seem that the new ROV should be in place before the county makes a decision on a permanent voting system.” 

County supervisors are scheduled to vote at a special Thursday morning meeting on June 8 at 11 a.m. between $17 million contract proposals for voting machine purchases from Diebold Election Systems of Texas and Sequoia Voting Systems of Oakland. 

The contract negotiations were authorized on a 3-2 vote by superivisors last March, but even supervisors who voted for the negotiations at the time cautioned that they did so in large part to move the contract proposal forward, and left room to change their minds when the time came for the vote on the actual contract. 

Under the original proposal, Alameda County would operate what they are calling a “blended” voting system, with most voters marking paper ballots that would be counted on optical scanners at each precinct. Each precinct would also have an electronic touchscreen voting machine available for any voter who wished to use them, an option which is aimed primarily at disabled voters. 

The proposed contracts call for the purchase of the optical scanners and electronic touchscreen voting machines from either Diebold or Sequoia in time for implementation during the November general election and beyond. 

Alameda County will operate a similar voting system for next Tuesday’s election, with the exception that all of the paper ballot voting will be counted by the county’s current handful of scanning machines at a central location in Oakland, and electronic touchscreen voting will be done at each precinct on machines leased for the June election only from San Diego County. 

Local voting activists are hoping that supervisors reject the Diebold and Sequoia bids outright. 

Diebold has achieved notoriety in recent years on charges that it has altered election outcomes to favor Republican candidates, and for that reason “my guess is that the county staff will recommend Sequoia,” said Berkeley Peace and Justice Commissioner Phoebe Anne Thomas Sorgen. But Sorgen said that “Sequoia is just as bad” as Diebold, with the problem being that both systems operate “hackable machines.” 

Both Sorgen, Gabriel, and Wellstone Voting Task Force member Dan Ashby said that rather than a purchase of either Diebold or Sequoia machines, Supervisors should forego purchase of scanning machines for the present, continuing the central scan of the paper ballots with the scanners already owned by the county. 

For the disabled voters, all of them recommended the purchase of Automark Touchscreen voting machines manufactured by Election Systems & Software (ES&S), one of the four companies which submitted a bid to Alameda County. 

Sorgen said that the Automark system allows touchscreen voting, but produces a paper ballot rather than tabulating the count electronically, thus minimizing the vulnerability of the system to hacking. In addition, Sorgen said that Automark “allows for ranked choice voting, which makes it compatible with Instant Runoff Voting, which is a concern for many Alameda County voters.” 

She also said that another advantage of Automark was that “it is already certified by the Secretary of State,” so it could be implemented immediately by the county. 

Ashby said that in addition to optical scanning, supervisors “could also consider returning to a hand-counted paper ballot system. There would be challenges, of course, but those could be overcome.” 

That was an option also suggested by Board of Supervisors President Keith Carson at the March 17 contract negotiation vote, stating that “while paper ballots might take a little longer to count, it’s a system that worked well recently in Iraq, and in South Africa, when Nelson Mandela was elected. And people have confidence in the result.” 

Carson was one of the two supervisors voting against going forward with the contract negotiations with Diebold and Sequoia. 

Officials from Alameda County, the Albany Chamber of Commerce as well as Albany residents and small businesses got together at the Albany City Hall Tuesday to talk trash. 

The event, which was co-hosted by Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and the Albany Chamber of Commerce, celebrated the one year anniversary of the Green Albany Project, which aimed at helping Alameda County meet its goals of diverting 75 percent of its waste from landfills into recyclable products. 

Congresswoman Barbara Lee recognized the efforts of the City of Albany, the Waste Management staff, county services and local businesses that have contributed towards the success of the project. 

“It’s a new day, a new possibility,” Lee said. “How often do you see Waste Management working with the city to promote greenery? Albany has proven to be a leader once again.” 

Supervisor Carson also lauded the project and acknowledged how Albany was setting the standard in terms of the future. 

“It works and it pays,” he said. “It is the morally and environmentally sound thing to do.” 

Albany mayor Allan Maris called the project a “milestone” and said it would pave the way for less landfill and more parks and open areas in the city.  

The Green Albany Project is the first of its kind in the United States and is staffed by a team of student environmentalists who are working with the Chamber of Commerce, the City of Albany, and Stopwaste.org. The project itself is funded by Stopwaste.org and is sponsored by the city and the Albany Chamber of Commerce. 

Twenty-six local Albany restaurants compost and recycle their food scraps and materials, saving nearly 150 tons of waste from entering landfills. In 2006 Albany’s businesses will divert 290 tons of its solid waste toward recycling and composting programs, organizers estimate. 

The brainchild of James Carter, former director of the Albany Chamber of Commerce, the project’s goal is to make the Albany business district the greenest in the nation. 

“The project doesn’t just save energy, it saves money too. Up to 80 percent of restaurant waste is organic,” he said. “One of the best things about this project is that people actually want to shop and dine at places that recycle.” 

Paul Revenaugh, the owner of Sunny Side Cafe on Solano and Curtis Street, was one of the first to join the project. 

“It’s great for the environment and cheaper,” he said. “I save more money recycling than by just dumping the trash in the garbage bin. The whole process is very addictive and I just want to keep the momentum going so that it spreads to other businesses.” 

Bryan Mathews, senior program manager for stopwaste.org, added that Alameda County needed to have a compost facility of its own as currently all the waste was being recycled in other counties. 

David Arkin, an award-winning green architect and member of the Albany Chamber Board of Directors, spoke at the event about the benefits of green building in Albany. 

“This project shows that businessmen can also be environmentalists,” he said. “The goal of green building is also to protect the environment, to harmonise with the site and to build as little as possible.” 

Mia Kitahari, student intern for the project said: “I never thought l would be this excited about trash, but here I am. I think it’s really good to put the word out there that environmentalism can actually be good for business.”

Even though the end of the school year is approaching, it’s not too late for local teenagers to find summer activities. 

In the Bay Area, there are hundreds of organizations offering jobs, internships, volunteer opportunities, and classes over the summer, but finding one that is enjoyable can seem like a daunting task. There are many resources available to help teens find these opportunities. 

For someone who has never worked before, finding a job is made easier by a variety of programs, books, and websites that help teenagers look for jobs, create resumes, and prepare for interviews. The City of Berkeley’s YouthWorks matches Berkeley residents from age 14-20 with jobs. 

Teens who are interested in YouthWorks can call 981-4970 for more information. For non-Berkeley residents, East Bay Works (www.eastbayworks.org) and Teen 411 (www.teen411.info), which are available to anyone, provide information about job opportunities and job training. 

For teenagers who are nervous about starting a job search, there is a variety of resources that can help. Websites such as Quintessential Careers (www.quintcareers.com/teen_job_strategies.html) and books such as H. Anthony Medley’s Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed offer detailed advice to help teens overcome their nerves before a job interview. 

Other books, including Cindy Pervola’s How to Get a Job if You’re a Teenager and Kathryn K. Troutman’s Creating Your High School Resume help teens find jobs and create resumes. 

In addition to working, teens can also choose an organization to volunteer with over the summer. Volunteering doesn’t have to be boring—in fact, the best way for teens to find a volunteer job can be to look for organizations that match their interests. 

Animal lovers can care for animals at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society, while avid readers can help younger children play summer reading games at the library. There are literally hundreds of organizations such as these, and they can be found through websites such as Volunteer Match (www.volunteermatch.org), ServeNet (www.servenet.org), and The Volunteer Center (www.helpnow.org). 

High school students also have the opportunity to take classes for college credit over the summer. UC Berkeley allows high school students to take a lower division Cal class. To be eligible, students must have completed 10th grade and have a B average or higher and must pay a $350 enrollment fee and $250 per unit. 

UC Berkeley offers five summer sessions running at different times between May and August. There is still space in many classes, and more information (including a list of classes) can be found at summer.berkeley.edu. 

The Peralta Colleges also offer summer classes for high school students. Berkeley Community College (formerly Vista College) offers classes in subjects ranging from English to Psychology. Each class costs $26 per unit and, for many classes, the credit earned is transferable to both the UC and CSU systems. The program is open to students who have completed 9th grade, and more information can be found by calling the admissions office at 981-2805. 

Trying to find a job, internship, or other summer activity can be a challenging process, but there are a wide variety of resources available for teenagers who want to take the initiative to find them.

“People think Berkeley is different, that we don’t have undocumented people,” says Belen Pulido-Martinez, organizer with BOCA, Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action, a nonprofit dedicated to giving voice to people from communities with little power. 

“There’re here on Telegraph Avenue in every restaurant and on Fourth Street. Up in the hills—who’s doing the gardening? Who’s taking care of the babies?” she asked. 

While people in Berkeley without proper immigration papers are mostly from Mexico and Latin America, many are from Eritrea and other parts of Africa, Haiti, the Philippines and elsewhere, she said. 

As part of its effort to let the public know what immigrant communities face and to educate immigrants about their legal status, BOCA is sponsoring Immigrant Solidarity 2006 at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison St. at 1 p.m. on Sunday. 

At the event, older African-Americans who fought for civil rights and new immigrants will share stories. Attorneys will be on hand to consult individually with immigrants. Speakers will address legislation Congress is contemplating that could criminalize people without papers and those who help them. There will be gospel and Latin music and food from everywhere, organizers say. The event is free. 

BOCA is part of the nationwide faith-based activist movement PICO or People Improving Communities Through Organizing, headquartered in Oakland. PICO-California consists of 350 congregations and 450,000 people, working with health care, education, housing, fair wages and immigration issues. Some 1 million families in 150 cities and 17 states are involved nationwide. 

The Berkeley organization, founded in 1999, consists of 13 ethnically diverse religious congregations; one Jewish synagogue is among the Christian churches. “We're organized by congregation to make changes for the people who are the most needy,” said BOCA Executive Director Rev. Andrew McComb. 

“We develop leaders, pushing members to take leadership,” Pulido-Martinez added. Because BOCA is a nonprofit organization, the group does not support candidates for elections but works on issues.  

BOCA’s message is: “Don’t hide in the dark. There is strength in numbers; get to know each other,” McComb says. 

Among its activities, BOCA works with the Berkeley schools. The organization is part of the effort to divide Berkeley High into small schools. They also are working through the schools to bring health care to all Berkeley children. 

At the predominantly African-American McGee Avenue Baptist Church, a congregation that belongs to BOCA, issues are different. 

Elderly people are trapped at home and don’t feel safe going out, so BOCA helps them resolve issues of isolation, Pulido-Martinez said. 

Sunday at St. Joseph’s individual attorney consultations will be, in part, aimed at arming newcomers with information to help them avoid going to “Charlatans” who might get them into legal trouble with authorities, said Mark Silverman, immigration attorney with San Francisco-based nonprofit Immigrant Legal Resource Center, who will participate at the event. 

Immigrants should bring any legal papers they have with them to share with attorneys, Silverman said.  

Michael McBride, pastor of the Way Christian Center on University Avenue is helping to organize the Sunday event. Addressing the question of competition between African-Americans and Latinos for jobs, McBride, who is African-American, said, “A host of issues overlap. The nature of the particular political climate thrives on the ability to keep one group at odds with another. Fighting each other keeps us distracted form larger concerns.” 

About a dozen Berkeley residents filed into Council Chambers last Thursday to urge the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) to reject a proposal for new wireless facilities at a local Catholic church. The board took heed. 

Board members denied AT&T Wireless Services an application to erect three antennae and related equipment at St. Ambrose Parish, 1145 Gilman St. That same night, the board approved plans for more than a dozen cell phone antennae at a storage building on Shattuck Avenue. The difference?  

St. Ambrose is in the heart of a residential neighborhood; the storage business is not. City code stipulates that towers in residentially zoned districts must meet more stringent standards—providers must prove the location is necessary to improve their coverage, and interference with “neighborhood character” must be kept to a minimum. 

AT&T was unable to convince ZAB members it could meet those requirements. The board denied the proposal 7-2, with Robert Allen and Jesse Anthony voting against the rejection. 

But the real issue—the one that motivates residents to sit through lengthy civic meetings—is the very issue ZAB and all local governing bodies are forbidden from regulating: health and safety. 

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits local governments from rejecting wireless facilities on the basis of health concerns, so long as the stations conform to Federal Communications Commission standards. 

Some people fear that the radio frequency (RF) radiation telecom antennae produce can cause cancer, interfere with medical devices and otherwise affect personal health. 

Terry Dillon’s partner suffers from arrhythmia, and Dillon fears RF emissions could significantly upset her heart. The couple, who lives within 300 feet of St. Ambrose Parish, was prepared to move from their home of 20 years if the AT&T project won approval. 

“We were going to have to sell our house,” he said. “I didn’t want to move, but we would have had to because of the health concerns.” 

According to the World Health Organization and the American Cancer Society, existing research suggests that base stations are unlikely to produce or induce cancer. However, both organizations concede the research literature is incomplete. 

The United States is home to more than 200 million wireless subscribers, up from 24 million just over a decade ago. In 1994, there were fewer than 18,000 cell sites, which include antennae and other equipment. Today there are more than 180,000. 

Wireless providers select cell sites based on centrality of location and building height: churches, telephone poles and multistory businesses are desirable locations. Typically, providers offer a monthly fee in exchange for a lease on space to house their facilities.  

In the case of St. Ambrose, AT&T would have paid $1,500 to $1,700 a month to use the church’s steeple, basement and fence for equipment--money the parish needs to offset flagging membership, said pastor Father George Alengadan. 

“It’s a tough situation for us, because we need money to keep this place,” he said. 

As cell phone use grows ubiquitous and demand for more and better coverage rises, residents from across the country are voicing opposition to the construction of wireless facilities in their communities: “Zoners Nix Sprint Cell Phone Tower Application”; “City Council Notebook: Faulty Towers”; and “Santa Cruz Preschool Closes Citing Cell Tower Radiation” read recent headlines from papers in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Santa Cruz. 

In California, it could become a lot more difficult for local governments to regulate telecommunications facilities. SB 1627, the Permit Streamlining Act, introduced by Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) in February, would prohibit cities and counties from taking certain actions as a condition of permit approval for construction or reconstruction of a wireless station, including “that all facilities be limited to certain geographic areas or sites owned by particular parties within the jurisdiction of the city or county.” 

That means Berkeley would no longer have the authority reject cell sites because they are slated for development in residential neighborhoods. 

For resident Erika Lamm, who opposed the antennae proposal at St. Ambrose Parish, that could spell trouble. 

“If local control is taken away,” she said, “every church steeple will be prime location for a cell phone tower.” 

Stuck up 

An El Cerrito woman walking in the 2500 block of Ninth Street about 12:45 a.m. on May 23 was approached from behind by two men, one packing a pistol, said Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. 

When they demanded her purse, she complied, and watched as the duo beat their feet eastbound on Dwight Way and out of sight. 

Thrown for purse 

Two callers alerted police to screams for help coming from the corner of Regent and Woolsey streets at 8:40 p.m. on the 24th. 

Officers arrived to find a 26-year-old Berkeley woman who had been thrown to the ground by a man who grabbed her purse, which contained cash and an iPod. 

The suspect was gone by the time officers arrived, and the woman was taken to an emergency room for treatment. 

Trash fire 

Police and firefighters were called to the 2300 block of Channing Way at 5:20 a.m. last Thursday, where they found a curbside recycling bin ablaze. 

No suspects were located, and the fire was confined to the blue bin. Asked what kind it was, Galvan responded, “Paper, obviously. Bottles and cans don’t burn.” 

Beauty shop hit 

When the tall fellow with dreadlocks walked into Ginny’s Beauty Shop on University Avenue just before 11 a.m. last Thursday, he was looking for cash, not a haircut. 

The small black pistol he flashed was enough to convince the beauticians to grant his wish, and he had fled by the time officers arrived. 

Bat attack 

A 44-year-old Oakland man was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after he and another man attacked a man who was walking in the 2100 block of Seventh Street about 5:20 p.m. last Thursday. 

Officer Galvan said that while the victim was being rushed to an emergency room, officers were able to locate one of the suspects, who was also given a ride—his to the city lockup. 

Galvan said he was unable to report on the condition of the victim, a Berkeley resident. 

Rat pack 

The sounds of a woman screaming lead a Bancroft Way resident to call police at 12:15 a.m. last Friday to report that someone was in trouble near the corner of Bancroft and Roosevelt avenues. 

Arriving officers found a 26-year-old Berkeley woman who told them she had just been set upon by a gang of five or six juveniles, who had robbed her of her bag, which included a wallet and credit cards. 

Another purse  

An Alameda couple told police they were robbed by a pair of bandits who approached them as they were standing in front of a restaurant at Bowditch Street and Durant Avenue at 3:15 p.m. last Friday. 

The pair made off with the woman’s purse and its contents, said Officer Galvan. 

Bandits in furs 

Four young women, two of them wearing fur-lined black jackets, stole a Berkeley woman’s wallet and cell phone when they braced her in the 2400 block of Haste Street just before 2 a.m. Saturday. 

UC Police Department officers found the wallet nearby, and three of suspects were located within minutes—in part because of their unique garb. 

“You shouldn’t wear fur in Berkeley,” said Galvan. 

The suspects were all Oakland juveniles, he said.

Stop that initiative or we’ll sue, an attorney for Golden Gate Fields has warned Albany officials. Citizens for the Albany Shoreline (CAS) filed the initiative in question, an attempt to stop shoreline development, with Albany City Clerk Jacqueline Bucholz on May 16. 

What’s behind the threat: charges that the initiative’s proponents didn’t publish notice of their intent to circulate petitions in a legally qualified newspaper. The notice appeared in The West County Times, one of several area papers currently being sold by Knight-Ridder to MediaNews, but allegedly not one approved by the court for legal notices for Albany. It’s a subsidiary of the Contra Costa Times, published out of Contra Costa County.  

In her May 25 letter to Albany City Attorney Robert Zweben, track attorney Marguerite Mary Leoni charged that the West County Times “is adjudicated neither for the City of Albany nor for the County of Alameda,” thus invalidating the initiative. 

A representative of the advertising staff of the paper said Thursday that the West County Times wasn’t adjudicated for Albany, though the Berkeley Voice/El Cerrito Journal, a local weekly also part of the Knight-Ridder package, was. 

Tom Newton, general counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA), said the publication requirements are set in state statutes, and require a court finding before a paper can accept legal notices. 

“The laws were an attempt by the legislature to make sure the newspaper is established in the community and is one which residents will look to for important public notices,” he said.  

The measure would call a halt to all shoreline development—including a mall which Los Angeles super-mall developer Rick Caruso is planning with the racetrack’s parent corporation, Magna Entertainment. 

Their plan calls for an upscale open air mall on the track’s northwestern parking lot, within the zone where development would be banned by the CAS initiative. 

Under the initiative, waterfront development outside the immediate coastal strip would be suspended until a formal planning process is developed.  

Leoni cited a Sept. 21, 1989, opinion by the state Court of Appeals Third Appellate District holding that signatures collected before the legal notice requirement had been fulfilled “should not be counted because they were gathered outside the legal time period for circulating the petition.” 

CAS turned in 2,446 signatures for the intiative—nearly three times the required 950. If approved, the measure would go on the November general election ballot. 

High stakes 

The battle carries high stakes on both sides. 

In one corner is an ailing racing company seeking to revive itself through development deals and holding out promises of big tax and other benefits to the city. 

They are paired with a major developer with deep pockets and a demonstrated willingness to bankroll seven-figure election campaigns. 

In the other corner is a collection of environmentalists and local businesses who see the project as a threat to both the biological and the local commercial environments. 

Robert Cheasty, a former mayor and an environmentalist who runs his legal business out of a Solano Avenue office, is one of the initiative’s most outspoken backers. 

“We used the process the city uses for publication of all its notices,” said Cheasty. 

The City of Albany also publishes notices in the West County Times, raising possible issues for the city as well. Calls placed to City Attorney Zweben were not returned. 

Cheasty said the CAS had certainly fulfilled the intent of the publication ordinance. 

“There were stories in all the local publications and coverage by the television stations. We also posted the initiative on our web site,” he said. 

Another proof that the initiative was widely available is the fact that a fourth of the city’s voters signed it, Cheasty said. “We went out in good faith.” 

Cheasty said the decision cited by Leoni was only one of several cases related to the issue. “The authority on this issue is split,” he said. 

As for the attempt to kill the initiative, Cheasty said, “This is like Goliath telling David, ‘No slingshots.’” 

Even if the track suceeds in killing the initiative, their mall proposal would still have to go before voters under the provisions of Measure C, a 1990 initiative that called for public votes on all waterfront projects.

The City of Berkeley will not get a Caltrans Community-based Transit Planning Grant to plan a large condo development for the west parking lot of the Ashby BART station. Winning cities were posted on the Caltrans web site late Friday afternoon, and Berkeley was not among them. 

The application, which referenced a 300-plus-unit project, was sponsored by Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Max Anderson and spearheaded by development specialist Ed Church, using the South Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation as the community agency sponsor. 

Neighbors and flea market vendors had greeted the proposal with reactions ranging from skepticism to hostility, which they communicated vigorously to the Caltrans decisonmakers. 

See next Friday’s Daily Planet Weekend Issue for further developments.  

As a teacher for a GED program in San Francisco, Victor Diaz floated a novel notion: He would prepare students to earn high school diplomas. 

“The principal looked at me like I was fucking crazy,” he said last week, over iced tea and a half-eaten bagel. 

Diaz said the students in the program were treated as the pariahs of public education; they were juvenile delinquents, academic failures and miscreants. There were students who had spent three years at the school with little to no instruction, and not one had received a high school equivalency certificate let alone a diploma.  

Diaz forged ahead, enlisting students who expressed interest in graduating and an additional instructor to teach math and sciences. By the end of the year, nine of the 12 students left the school with San Francisco Unified School District diplomas. 

“It was a monumental moment in my professional career,” he said. “It was so moving to see those kids—we had a graduation at City College [of San Francisco], we had caps and gowns. It was the first time they’d had any of that.” 

Diaz, 39, has found a new incubator in the Berkeley Alternative High School, where he is finishing his first year as principal. 

Administrators, educators and others have long complained that the school is due for reform. Test scores are low—the school earned a 370 on a scale of 200 to 1,000, in which 800 is the goal on a state academic performance measure in 2005—and attendance is abysmal. The student population is 69 percent African-American, 21 percent Latino, and more than half the students participate in the free or reduced lunch program.  

Last week, the Berkeley Board of Education overwhelmingly approved a school overhaul. Under the new name Berkeley Technology Academy, or B-Tech, students will choose among three options to graduate: CSU- and UC-standard coursework, vocation preparation or independent study. Partnerships with community programs, new staff and a new student population, partly composed of kids who attend involuntarily, are additional features of the model. 

The latter is the upshot of a settlement agreement between the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) and a group of students that accused the district of unfair school transfers between 2002 and 2004. But the rest is of Diaz’s making. Administrators, parents and some students have expressed significant support for Diaz and his program, a fact he plays down.  

“I’m not some deep philosopher that has this new theory that’s going to be coined after me,” he said. “There are people who have done this work for years … and the heart of it is high expectations, relationships, academic rigor.” 

None of which he had growing up. 

A self-described “angry teenager,” Diaz drifted in and out of schools in East San Jose, before getting kicked out permanently at 16, when he physically attacked a female teacher. It was his sixth high school. 

Diaz fit the classic profile of a troubled teenage boy. His mother, a teen when she got pregnant, raised Diaz and his two sisters alone in a working-class neighborhood. The school district was about 80 percent Mexican, though instructors were nearly all white and punished students for speaking Spanish, he said. 

“There was a real push to acculturate us, there were no cultural studies,” he said. “I couldn’t articulate it at the time, but what they were doing wasn’t working for me. … I was completely discouraged and disgusted by the public school system.” 

Diaz wandered aimlessly for seven years. At 23, he was without an education, job skills or a future. 

That year, a community college coach in San Diego saw Diaz running and recruited him to join the track team. Diaz enrolled in classes, but it became immediately evident that he was at a loss as to how to “do school.” For a paper on a muralist, he submitted photocopied paintings from a textbook. “It was apparent that I couldn’t write,” he said.  

At the same time, Diaz started working with high school students, and found the experience rewarding. He decided then that if he was going to help young people learn, he had better get an education. 

Diaz went on to obtain multiple degrees, including a bachelor’s degree from UCLA, a J.D. from the New College in San Francisco, a master’s in education technology from University of San Francisco and a principal certificate from California State University Sacramento. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in superintendent training from UC Berkeley. He has taught alternative education in Oakland and San Francisco, and worked as the headmaster for a continuation program in Boston, Ma.  

Today, Diaz is self-possessed, sharp and well read—his office bookshelf includes “The Cornel West Reader,” Jonathan Kozol’s “The Shame of the Nation” and “Clockers.” Traces of the defiant teenager still emerge, though. He peppers an impressive vocabulary with old favorites like “shit” and “fuck”—earning him instant street cred among students—and releases a steady stream of outrage when discussing the failures of alternative education. 

“If people don’t think there’s a correlation between the number of kids in juvenile hall and the number of grown men in prisons with these unsuccessful programs, I don’t know what other fucking correlation you can make,” he said. “So I feel like I have an obligation to say, ‘I’ve got to try everything possible to retain the kids.’” 

That attitude has gotten him into trouble at the alternative school, where some teachers say he is too quick to befriend students and too light on discipline. Under his tenure, the school has earned the nickname “Hotel Berkeley,” because students come and go as they please. During the last recorded attendance cycle, Alternative High School 10th- to 12th-graders were absent 32 percent of the time, compared with about 20 percent for the same period in 2005 and 12 percent for the comprehensive school this year. 

Diaz has attracted further criticism for what some perceive as sheer effrontery because he walked into the school, overhauled the existing program and garnered little input from staff. It doesn’t help that only about half the teachers are returning next year. 

But Diaz is confident he knows what’s best for his students; after all, he lived it.  

“My fear is that I’ll be the administrator that I confronted in school or that I’ll have teachers who are like the teachers I confronted in school,” he said. “And that shit is unacceptable.” 

The Nexus Institute, a prominent West Berkeley artists’ collective, faces eviction from its home of 20 years when their lease expires Thursday. 

That much is certain. Beyond that, endless questions arise. 

“My understanding is that we’ll stay while we negotiate with them,” said Carolyn Newborg, a co-president of the collective. 

“Their lease is up on the 31st, and we’re not renewing. We notified them of that in October,” said Mim Carlson, executive director of the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society, the collective’s landlord. 

A co-op with a long and distinguished history in West Berkeley, Nexus currently resides in buildings at 2701-2721 Eighth St. 

The largest structure is the distinctive brick building at the southeast corner of Eighth and Carleton streets built in 1924 for Standard Die & Specialty by the Austin Building Co.—the firm that also built the distinctive H.J. Heinz Co. factory at San Pablo and Ashby avenues. 

Of the two other buildings, clad in sheet metal, one was used as a factory to make the World War II progenitor of today’s cluster bombs. 

Only the brick building is landmarked. The problem Nexus faces is that the Humane Society needs to sell the property to raise money to build a new facility at their headquarters, located on the same block at 2700 Ninth St. 

“Our realtor hasn’t brought us any buyers yet,” said Carlson. 

But Gregory Harper, an Emeryville attorney and artist who represents Nexus, said that’s not the case. 

“Somebody should let them know that we accepted their offer to sell to us,” he said. 

Harper said the Human Society broke off talks while Nexus was seeking answers to key questions about the property. For one thing, he said, the property the society is selling doesn’t legally exist yet. 

The Humane Society’s property is currently all one parcel, and would have to be split before it could be sold, he said. 

Other questions had to do with the site’s long history of industrial use. 

“There were underground storage tanks that we understand were removed,” Harper said, leading to more questions about possible residual contamination. 

Before such questions were answered, Harper said, “they abruptly said ‘No, that’s it. You’ve had long enough.’ We said we didn’t have enough information.” 

Asked about the offer, Carlson said, “You’ll have to talk to our attorney, Brian Smith.” A San Francisco attorney, Smith was unavailable for comment by the paper’s deadline. 

Any buyer would face an additional complication in the legal requirement to provide new space for the evicted artists. 

According to a July 23, 2004, memorandum from then-Assistant to the City Manager Jim Hynes, the Humane Society “is required to replace 75 percent of whatever the Nexus tenants currently have,” either at the current site or at another one within the West Berkeley district. 

Yet another complication arises from the landmarked building, which is an unreinforced masonry structure which requires a seismic retrofit. 

“We offered to do the retrofit if they renewed our lease,” said Bob Brockl, one of the Nexus artists. 

The collective includes 25 artists who operate a community gallery in the landmarked building. Classes are given as well. 

Before Nexus, the site was home to another Berkeley institution, Ohmega Salvage. 

“I hope we can resolve this,” said Newborg. “It’s a shame to have two nonprofits in conflict. Otherwise, our interests aren’t in conflict. We have artists who are animal rescuers and they have animal rescuers who are artists.”

“All these years I’ve been speaking about the Landmarks Demolitions Ordinance, and here it is,” said Carrie Olson. 

A veteran of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), Olson led the panel’s critique Thursday night of the city planning staff’s proposed environmental review of the proposed new landmarks ordinance based on proposals by Mayor Tom Bates and City Councilmember Laurie Capitelli. 

The commission’s meeting was a special session called just to consider their response to the proposed negative declaration submitted by city Planning and Development Director Dan Marks on May 1. 

A negative declaration is the least restrictive document possible under the California Environmental Quality Act, a finding that a proposed project—in this case, a municipal ordinance—carries no adverse impacts. 

While Marks wrote that “the city has found no substantial evidence ... that the project (the ordinance) may have a significant impact on the environment,” commissioners clearly disagreed. 

A source of particular concern was a provision that allows for demolition of a landmark to make way for a project “necessary to achieve an important public policy” where “the expected benefit” to the public “substantially outweighs the detriment” of demolition. 

At the very least, said commissioner Steven Winkel, any such demolition would require an environmental impact report under state law. 

No language in the proposed declaration “exposes the gravest threat in this ordinance to historic resources,” said Olson. 

Winkel said the provision “is significant enough that you could focus an EIR on that single issue.” 

Olson traced the origin of the provision to Deputy City Attorney Zac Cowan, “who said we should be able to demolish historic resources to build affordable housing.” When the LPC didn’t include the provision in their proposed revisions of the current ordinance, he said, ‘Don’t worry, staff will bring that back in its own draft.’” 

Because of the city holidays on Friday and Monday, Cowan was unavailable for comment. 

Another provision would effectively permit demolition of structures of merit—the city’s category for landmarks that have been altered over the years—when the value of preservation is “outweighed by the project’s public benefits in relation to General Plan policies.” 

At Winkel’s suggestion, commissioners agreed to call for a focused EIR on the proposed ordinance, one that would examine in depth the proposals’ potential impacts on the city’s aesthetic and cultural resources and on existing land use policies. 

Only three members of the public spoke at the meeting—preservationists John English and John McBride and Alan Tobey of Livable Berkeley, a group of infill development proponents whose members often find themselves at odds with ardent preservationists. 

English said the demolition-for-public-benefit provisions, “whatever that may mean ... would assign an unwonted, unwanted role of having to weigh the merits of new projects” against the value of landmarks. 

“It poses such a threat to Berkeley’s landmarks that an environmental impact report is needed,” he said. 

Commission Patti Dacey said the provision was especially ominous in light of sympathy for landmark demolitions she had heard from members of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, the group appointed by the city council and planning commission to provide city staff guidance on preparing a new downtown plan mandated in the settlement of the city’s suit against UC Berkeley’s 2020 Long Range Development Plan. 

“One DAPAC member even said we should pull down landmarks to build a park,” Dacey said. 

English said other provisions of the proposed ordinance, including a mandatory review of all building permits, “even to nondescript buildings” over 50 years of age, would swamp the commission with busywork at the expense of fulfilling their charge to preserve the city’s significant landmarks. 

”I agree with John English’s comments,” said Tobey. 

Tobey said the while it was easy to find faults with the mayor’s proposal, “I challenge you to do what the (city) council asked you to do, to work on a policy direction and not simply list what’s wrong with the proposal but work on a compromise the council could pass.” 

McBride said the public benefit language “is clearly for the City Council’s benefit,” and not for a commission which is specifically charged with preservation. 

Olson said she was also concerned with another provision that would increase the age of buildings eligible for landmark status from 40 years to 50—a measure that would exclude, at least for several years, buildings of significance built in the era of the Free Speech Movement and the antiwar movement of the early 60s which now fall under the LPC’s purview. 

Commissioners delegated the responsibility for drafting the official response to the city, which has to be submitted by June 8. Olson will consult with two or three other commission members, then submit the final draft for inclusion on the consent calendar for Thursday night’s meeting.

Development of a portion of a defunct Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) campus will move forward without city review, whether city officials and community members like it or not.  

Plans to relocate the district’s central offices to West Campus, an abandoned BUSD-owned site at University Avenue between Curtis and Bonar streets, will not slog through the public process required for most building projects in Berkeley, said Superintendent Michele Lawrence Thursday. 

District headquarters are currently housed in Old City Hall, a seismically unsafe building at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way that the district leases from the city, a lease set for expiration in 2009. 

Those two factors combine to necessitate a speedy move to West Campus, Lawrence says, and the city’s notoriously slow review procedures will only serve as a hindrance. (An existing BUSD project to erect a transportation yard between Sixth and Seventh streets, near Gilman, is stalled in the zoning process and is costing the district about $400,000 a year.) 

The proposed project, slated for the northeast corner of the 5.77-acre West Campus property, would involve refurbishing two buildings at University Avenue and Bonar Street, constructing a 10,000-square-foot addition along University, and demolishing several buildings north of Addison Street and east of a playing field at University and Curtis Street.  

Though most of the space is earmarked for district offices, the third floor of the Bonar Street building would accommodate classrooms for independent study students and alternative educational facilities. Experimental classrooms for middle and elementary school students are also in the works. 

Because California school districts are exempt from city zoning laws at sites where instruction takes place, BUSD staff insists plans for West Campus can circumvent the review process.  

“We’ve got the law on our side,” said Lawrence, claiming that the district has the backing of three attorneys. District Spokesperson Mark Coplan could not identity those lawyers, because they are still in talks with the city, he said. 

The city of Berkeley has not yet formed a legal opinion on the matter, Assistant City Attorney Zach Cowan told the Daily Planet last week.  

At a public meeting held Thursday to examine architectural renderings of the proposed project, community member John McBride insisted the district was navigating dicey legal territory, and called Lawrence’s dismissal of the public process “appalling.” 

McBride and others suggested that the district submit plans to the Design Review Committee (DRC), a sub-division of the Zoning Adjustments Board charged with reviewing design proposals in non-residential districts. 

District 2 City Councilmember Darryl Moore agreed it’s worth a shot. 

“I understand the superintendent’s need to expedite the process, it does take a long time to go through the permitting process,” he said. “But I do think a courtesy visit to Design Review Committee wouldn’t hurt.” 

After some prodding, Lawrence said she would consider going before the DRC as a matter of courtesy, but resolutely rejected a longer review. 

“Absolutely I will fight getting this thing into a process so it’s delayed,” she said. “I won’t do it.” 

The approval process was just one issue raised by community members, including West Campus neighbors, parents of independent study students and other project stakeholders, at Thursday’s meeting. 

Neighbors expressed distaste for the design scheme, particularly the frontage on University, which, as a flat façade with few windows, McBride found “really, really stark.” Another resident called it “horrible.” Architect Jose Vilar was open to suggestions, including adding a canopy on the eastern edge of the University structure that would serve the dual purpose of a bus shelter and an aesthetic enhancer. 

The independent study community was more concerned with the logistics of moving students from their existing locale on the Alternative High School campus at 2701 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

“I don’t see this location as kid-friendly,” said Gia Johnson, who has a child at independent study. “To me it just doesn’t look like it’s going to be a great fit. The location where they’re at right now is a good fit.” 

The existing campus is small, full of garden space and just blocks away from Berkeley High School, where independent students take occasional classes. Some parents say the new site, atop district offices, is too far away from Berkeley High and won’t offer students a cohesive school identity.  

“It feels to me like you’re squeezing a school into an office building, it doesn’t feel like a school, it feels like a community college,” said Meredith Gold, whose ninth-grader attends independent study. 

Independent study students are being relocated to West Campus because it is a larger space, and will give the program room to expand, said Lawrence. 

As for the school’s identity, “Those are kid decisions that ought to come later on down the road,” Lawrence said.  

Members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) and the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) will hold a joint meeting Wednesday night on the future of historic preservation in the city center. 

Following the session, DAPAC members will conduct their own meeting to offer comments on UC Berkeley’s massive building campaign at and near Memorial Stadium. 

The commission will meet again the following evening, this time to handle more routine items. 

Both meetings begin at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

Wednesday night, following an introduction by LPC Chair Robert Johnson and DAPAC Chair Will Travis, the panels will hear from a series of speakers, starting with Austene Hall of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. 

Two speakers from Architectural Resources Group, a San Francisco firm specializing in projects involving historical resources, will speak on economic development and preservation and the assessment of historic resources in the downtown area. 

That firm has been hired by the city to conduct a survey of historical buildings and other resources in the expanded downtown planning area. 

Donlyn Lyndon, a UC Berkeley architecture professor and editor of PLACES magazine, will speak on contextual design. 

Following a joint discussion by members of the two city panels, the LPC will adjourn and DAPAC members will provide their comments on the draft Environmental Impact Report on the university’s southeast quadrant projects as they may impact the downtown. 

Besides a massive retrofit and remodel of the stadium, the university is planning a major athletic training center abutting the stadium, an underground parking lot and a new office and meeting facility to unite functions of its law and business schools. 

Thursday meeting 

Commissioners will face a full agenda Thursday night, including landmarking proposals for two threatened buildings at UC and Berkeley’s equally threatened Iceland. 

The campus structures are Memorial Stadium—which is the subject of a planned major renovation that would gut the interior and add an above-the-rim structure with luxury skyboxes and press rooms—and the Bevatron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

Among the other items on the agenda is a hearing on the draft environmental impact report for the proposed block-square, five-story condominium-over-commercial complex planned for 700 University Ave.

Billed as a wake-up call to management, some 80 DoubleTree Hotel workers and their supporters held a 6:30 a.m. rally Friday, circling the hotel at the Marina with chants and drums, in an attempt to advance what their union, Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees 2850, says are “stalled” contract negotiations. 

DoubleTree General Manager George Rogers said that while the demonstration took him by surprise, “they have the right to speak their mind and raise their concerns.” 

Management is bargaining in good faith and, like the union members, is looking forward to signing a new contract, he said, adding, “I feel like we’re making great progress.”  

“Negotiations were moving along fine, but stalled when it got to health care and other big money issues,” said David Miller, who has worked in the hotel’s banquet division for 16 years. 

At issue for all the 160 unionized DoubleTree workers are the steep health care costs that management is asking employees to bear. Long-term workers would pay $206 per month for family medical and those who have worked less than three years would pay as much as $406. 

Currently, the hotel pays 95 percent of the costs for workers on the job for more than three years and 65 percent for those working three years or less. 

“Health care benefits are based on rates in Nebraska, not the Bay Area,” said Candice Nguyen, a gift shop worker. 

While the question of the cost of health benefits is common to all the DoubleTree Workers, employees in each division have particular concerns.  

A housekeeper at the DoubleTree, Carmalita Cotlen wants to decrease her daily workload. She is asked to clean 16 rooms, which she said includes making up a double bed with a heavy mattress and three sheets in every room. 

“If I finish early, they give me more or send me home” with fewer hours, Cotlen said.  

In addition to health-care issues, gift shop workers are calling for a redefinition of their jobs. Coffee shop operations have been added to the workers’ regular retail sales tasks. 

“We have no tip jar and no pay raise [for the added work],” Nguyen said.  

Banquet-room workers also have specific demands. “All hotels charge a service fee of 18-20 percent [for banquets],” Miller explained. 

DoubleTree recently began to charge 20 percent, but only 11.2 percent goes to the workers. Customers think the service fee all goes to the staff, said Miller. Banquet staff is asking for a larger percentage of these fees. 

As the noisy early morning pickets circled the hotel, one woman, who declined to be named, came out on her balcony to wave and cheer them on. She said she had talked to the workers about the health care issues. 

“I know personally that it’s an important issue,” she said.  

Workers at the hotel, then the Radisson, lobbied and demonstrated for a union, which they won in 2000. The contract they signed in December 2000 expired in December of last year.

Workers at the downtown Shattuck Cinemas, owned by Landmark Theaters, who earn just above minimum wage with no health benefits, will have their say about whether they form a union. 

The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a vote for June 16, according to Harjit Singh Gill, organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World. 

Twenty-two of the 28 workers petitioned the NLRB for the election. 

Winning the vote “means the workers will be able to sit down at the negotiating table and make demands," Gill said, noting that the right to form a union is just the beginning and that negotiating a contract will be the hard part.  

The only other unionized Landmarks Theater is Kendell Square, in Cambridge, Mass. The workers there have been in negotiations since July, Gill said. 

In addition to fair wages, Gill said the workers want a contract with a grievance procedure, which they do not have now. Landmarks Theaters did not return requests for comment.

The state-appointed administrator of the Oakland Unified School District has postponed a meeting with OUSD Advisory Trustees, leaving trustees in the dark as to the future of nearly 10 acres of valuable midtown district properties, including the district administration headquarters. 

School Board President David Kakashiba said that he was contacted by State Administrator Randolph Ward’s office saying that the meeting had been canceled, with no reason given and no new date set. 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell is currently considering bids from developers for either the sale or long-term lease of the properties. 

The sites include several school sites, among them La Escuelita Elementary, Dewey High School, Met West High School, and the Yuk Yau Child Development Center. A request for proposals was issued for the sale or lease early last year. 

The state superintendent has been operating the Oakland Unified School District through Ward following a state takeover of the district in 2003. The school board has no power to set policy or approve or deny the proposed sale or lease of the properties. 

The Daily Planet reported earlier this month that the state superintendent’s office had narrowed the bidding to one developer, but an official in O’Connell’s office said last week that this was incorrect, and the superintendent was still considering bids from three developers. 

The next meeting of the OUSD Board of Directors is scheduled for Wednesday.

The Police Review Commission on Wednesday established a subcommittee to review police policies related to the case of convicted felon Sgt. Cary Kent, who stole drugs from the police evidence vault of which he was in charge. 

At the same meeting the commission voted not to hear a complaint by CopWatch leader Andrea Pritchett, who asked the commission to broaden the investigation into the stolen drug evidence by looking at the four other officers who had access to the drug evidence during the same period as Kent. 

Prichett’s complaint was turned down (6–0–1, with Commissioner Annie Chung abstaining and Commissioners Sherry Smith and Danny Herrera absent) because the commission said Prichett was a third party, not directly injured by the offense she wanted investigated.  

However, Prichett’s complaint sparked discussion on the commission that resulted in the establishment of a subcommittee to review the Kent investigation with the goal of proposing new police policies. 

Commission staff Dan Silva argued it was premature to set up the subcommittee, contending the commission should wait until the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) had completed its study of the Berkeley Police Department and made its recommendations based on policy questions arising from the Cary Kent case. 

The commission, however, overruled Silva, voting 5–1, with Jack Radisch in opposition, in favor of setting up the subcommittee. 

“I feel we need to do more investigating. One month ago a lot of people at the meeting were seeking answers,” said Commission Chair Annie Chung, arguing in favor of setting up the subcommittee. “It’s really important to show we have taken active steps to look into this further. Others in the public want us to do something about it, rather than let things be as they are.” 

Commissioner William White agreed. “We want to make sure this issue is not swept under the rug silently,” he said. 

White pointed out that similar crimes happen in other police departments throughout the country. “We want Berkeley to be forthcoming,” he said. We want policies to avoid this behavior in the future.” 

“This case was a wake-up call,” added Commissioner Sharon Kidd. “We need to move forward so that it doesn’t happen again.” 

The POST review of police operations and policies that may have permitted the drug evidence theft has already begun, said Police Chief Doug Hambleton in a phone interview Thursday. 

POST has visited the department twice and will likely come one more time before making its recommendations, he said. Once POST releases its proposals, the chief said, he would work with his staff internally and then work with the PRC on policy recommendations. 

The police investigation into the Kent case is available for public review at the police department records division.

The last two times Alameda County voters have gone to the polls, they were inundated with ballot measures (eight state propositions along with local measures in Albany and Emeryville in the off-year election in November 2005; 16 state propositions along with 13 Berkeley, one Albany, two Emeryville, and two Oakland measures, as well as special measures for BART, AC Transit, and the East Bay Regional Park District in the general election of November 2004).  

For the June 6, 2006, election, the number of ballot measures is considerably trimmed down, with only two statewide propositions and a handful of local measures. 

Proposition 81: California Reading and Literacy Improvement and Public Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act 

This measure would authorize $600 million in bonds to provide grants to local agencies for the construction, renovation and expansion of local library facilities. Eligible agencies would be city, county, joint city and county, or special district applicants. The bond money would pay for 65 percent of the proposed local library projects; the remaining 35 percent would have to be paid by the applicants themselves. 

A seven-member state board (composed of the State Librarian Treasurer and Director of Finance, one Assemblymember and one State Senator, and two gubernatorial appointees) would adopt policies for bond money distribution and decide which agencies would receive grants. 

Support for Prop 81 includes members of the California Business Roundtable, the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, and Children Now. Opposition to the measure includes the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Placed on the ballot by the state legislature. 

Proposition 82: Preschool Education 

The brainchild of actor-director Rob Reiner, this measure would raise $2.5 billion per year to set up a new state-operated pre-school program for 4-year-old children to enter prior to kindergarten. 

The money would be spent to run the pre-school program, pay for facilities, train teachers, and provide an operating reserve. Attendance at the new pre-schools would be voluntary, and the program would be funded by a 1.7 percent state income tax addition for individuals making $400,000 a year or more, and couples making $800,000 a year or more. 

The pre-schools would be administered by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the various county school superintendents (significantly, the local school districts are not included as administrators of the pre-school program in this measure). Placed on the ballot by petition signatures. 

Measure A Bonds: Peralta Community College District 

In 2000, close to 80 percent of local voters approved the $153 million Measure E, the last construction bond sought by the Peralta Community College District. The hurdle for passing Measure E was high: two-thirds of the voters. 

Due to new state law, the hurdle for this year’s Measure A is much lower: 55 percent. In addition, Measure A is more a facilities bond than a construction bond since it includes the ability to purchase classroom equipment not allowed under Measure E. 

Measure A would raise $390 million in bond money to pay for repairs, renovations, construction, and classroom equipment for facilities of the four Peralta Community Colleges (Laney, Merritt, College of Alameda, and Berkeley City [formerly Vista]). The tax rate would rise an estimated $25 per $100,000 of assessed valuation. 

Projects funded by the bond money would be limited to those listed within the bond measure, and oversight would be provided by a mandated citizen oversight committee. Measure A has compiled an impressive list of officeholder supporters, including Congressmember Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), State Assemblymember Wilma Chan (D-Oakland), and Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. 

No organized opposition to the measure has surfaced. All voters within the cities served by the Peralta Community College District (Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, and Piedmont). 

Measure B Bonds: Oakland Unified School District 

In March of 2000, close to 85 percent of Oakland voters approved Measure A, the $303 million bond measure authorizing the first new school construction in the city in years. But this was in the days when Oaklanders ran their own schools, and support for the bond measure from the area’s major political players—Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and State Senator Don Perata in particular—as well as the influential Oakland Education Association union was a significant factor in its passage. 

Since 2000 the Oakland schools have been threatened with bankruptcy and were seized by the State of California (currently they are being run by a state-appointed administrator). There has been a flurry of school closings across the district. A divided teacher’s union is currently voting on a divisive new contract and public support for the Oakland public schools is at a historic low. 

In its text, Measure B would authorize $435 million in bonds for repair and modernization of existing city schools. In fact, it may be a referendum on what voters think about the current state of the Oakland public schools and their administration. The measure would add $35 in taxes per $100,000 in assessed property valuation. For passage, 55 percent voter approval is needed.

The race for the Democratic nomination for California attorney general has become something of a referendum on Oakland, with candidates Rocky Delgadillo and Jerry Brown debating over how good a job Brown has done in his two terms as Oakland mayor. 

Oakland may play a similar role in the race for California superintendent of public instruction. Incumbent Jack O’Connell is facing four challengers in this non-partisan campaign. 

With the Oakland Unified School District taken over by the state in 2003 by legislative action, O’Connell is currently running the Oakland public schools through his appointed administrator, Randolph Ward. 

Ward has had a tumultuous tenure in Oakland, but O’Connell himself was able to stay in the background until the spring of last year, when demonstrators sat in at his office—and were eventually arrested—demanding a direct dialogue with the state superintendent over the operation of Oakland’s schools. O’Connell eventually made a much-publicized visit to Oakland to publicly announce a recovery plan allowing eventual return of the running of Oakland schools to Oakland citizens. 

Political observers may be watching O’Connell’s vote in Oakland to see if he suffers any political punishment over the takeover. If O’Connell gets a low vote in Oakland, future state superintendents may be less likely to support state takeovers of local districts. If O’Connell does well in Oakland, however, the political equation will be less of a factor in decisions to take over schools. 

Another issue in the superintendent’s race will be over the state exit exam. The current law, which O’Connell wrote while serving in the California State Senate, mandates that students cannot receive a diploma without passing the exit test. Voters unhappy with the exit exam—and there are a lot of them—may decide to take their feelings out by voting against O’Connell in the superintendent’s race.  

None of O’Connell’s opponents, however, has established anything close to statewide name recognition prior to this election. 

The superintendent is being opposed by: 

• Dan Bunting, a Cloverdale School District trustee and retired school superintendent. 

• San Juan Unified School District teacher Grant McMicken, who is campaigning on what he calls the “Four KNOWS of Education” (“No Child Left Behind, No Family Left Behind, No School Left Behind, and No Community Left Behind”). 

• Orange County English and world history teacher Diane Lenning. 

• Youth Opportunities Unlimited Alternative High School (Los Angeles) teacher and International Socialist Organization member Sarah Knopp. 

Secretary of State 

A race that is expected to be more competitive is the campaign for the Democratic Party nomination for secretary of state. The incumbent, Bruce McPherson, is running unopposed in the Republican primary. He has served in his position since early 2005, appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger after Kevin Shelley resigned. 

With rising concern over California’s switchover to electronic voting systems, both the June primary and the November general election in the secretary of state’s race may turn out to be a running referendum of the future of California voting. The secretary of state’s office holds enormous power in that area, and there was speculation that it was Shelley’s criticism of electronic voting machines that led his political enemies to uncover the scandals that eventually drove him out of office. 

Last February, McPherson granted conditional certification to Diebold optical scan voting machines for use in 2006 elections in California. Diebold is easily the most controversial of the electronic voting machine makers in both California and the country and has been a target for voting activists. 

Competing in the Democratic primary for the right to challenge McPherson in the fall are two state senators, Debra Bowen and Deborah Ortiz. 

Bowen is making opposition to Diebold one of the centerpieces of her campaign. The first item in the news articles listed on her website—usually the spot for personal plugs—is a recent Oakland Tribune article entitled “Scientists Call Diebold Security Flaw 'Worst Ever'” that never even mentions Bowen. And the Bay Guardian’s endorsement of Bowen also highlights her opposition to Diebold, noting that “As chair of the Senate's elections committee, Bowen has gone after the makers of high-tech voting machines, particularly Diebold. She's made the accuracy and reliability of those machines a central part of her campaign.” 

In contrast, Bowen’s opponent, state Sen. Deborah Ortiz, does not yet appear to have fleshed out her position on electronic voting, stating simply on the League of Women Voter’s Smartvoter website that two of her three goals if elected are to “Inspire public's confidence in the integrity of our electoral system” and “Ensure security and accuracy of our voting systems.” 

Instead, Ortiz’ position papers released to Smartvoter are education, health, and support for seniors, all important issues, but not necessarily ones that are part of the secretary of state’s job description. 

The Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday centered on two main issues. 

The first was whether Helen Burke should represent the Creeks Task Force at the Berkeley City Council hearing on the creeks on Tuesday. 

The second was UC Berkeley’s Southeast Campus Integrated Projects (SCIP) draft environmental impact report, especially the California Memorial Stadium parking issue.  

Commission member Harry Pollack asked whether current Planning Commission Chair and Creeks Task Force Chair Helen Burke would represent the Planning Commission majority. 

Burke retorted that she would be representing the Creeks Task Force at the City Council and David Stoloff, Planning Commission Vice Chair, would be representing the Planning Commission. Helen Burke has been chair of the Creeks Task Force since its initiation. 

“It is not the business of the Planning Commission to tell the Creeks Task Force who or what should represent them,” she said. “This is an unwarranted attack on my ability as chair of the Creeks Task Force to represent their ideas at the City Council. If my opinion is asked, I plan to indicate how the Planning Commission recommendations can fit with the Creeks Task Force recommendations.” 

Memorial Stadium 

Commission member Susan Wengraf asked what the impact of the UC Berkeley’s SCIP would be on the city of Berkeley. 

Jennifer Lawrence, a planner with UC Berkeley, and Richard Randall, who was in charge of the CMS Project, were at the meeting.  

“I can’t even imagine what a nightmare parking would become especially during the weekends, when there are games or shows going on there,” Wengraf said. “There is bound to be at least 900 people using cars alone. How are people going to come in and out of there?” 

Stoloff commented that residents tend to feel trapped during major activities at the stadium and that there ought to be a way for the university to address this additional impact on neighborhood traffic.  

A member of the Panoramic Hill Neighborhood Association had sent a letter to the board saying that there needed to be a second emergency road for fire truck access on Panoramic Hill. 

Fredrica Drotos, another member of the association, told the commission the parking garage for the stadium needed to be located away from the residential part of the city.

Calling the looming closure of Cody’s Books on Telegraph Avenue a “wake-up call,” Councilmember Kriss Worthington has announced a community rally to save the celebrated bookstore and support Telegraph Avenue area businesses. 

The event, which he is calling “a wake-up, not a wake,” will be held at 7 p.m. June 8, at Trinity United Methodist Church, Bancroft Way and Dana Street. 

Pat Cody, who founded the original Cody’s Books with her husband Fred Cody, is helping to organize the event and will speak. Andy Ross, owner and president of Cody’s, will attend. 

May 13 

A 50-year-old Berkeley man called police to report that someone shot at him while he was driving in the 2100 block of Eighth Street at 12:16 a.m, said Berkeley police spokesperson Ed Galvan. The man, who received minor injuries from flying glass, said he had no idea who shot at him or why. 

A resident of Hearst Avenue called police at 10:35 p.m. to report that a man was swinging a club at passersby in Ohlone Park near the corner of Hearst and Sacramento Street. 

Police found one man who had been struck but not seriously injured, and another woman who had been attacked. They also found the bat-man, a 25-year-old man with serious mental problems. He was taken away for psychiatric observation. 

May 17 

An 18-year-old Berkeley woman called police to report that the night before, she had been confronted by a menacing man uttering threats who convinced her to hand over her purse after he approached her near the corner of Durant and Telegraph avenues. 

At 5:41 p.m., a pharmacist at United Pharmacy at 2929 Telegraph Ave. called officers to report that a gunman had just left the store, making off with narcotics the clerk had handed over after the gunman threatened to pistol-whip him. 

A 54-year-old Berkeley man called police at 6:27 p.m., moments after one of three young would-be carjackers who confronted him in the 1600 block of Woolsey Street struck him with a pistol and tried to make off with his car. 

The man kept his wheels, and a prompt response by police resulted in the arrest of a 19-year-old Berkeley man, identified as the ringleader, on suspicion of attempted carjacking. 

May 18 

After hearing shouts and spotting a fight occurring nearby, callers told police at 8:35 p.m. that a fight was breaking out in the 2500 block of McGee Avenue. 

Officers arrived to find that a group of young men had approached a couple as they were walking and grabbed the man’s wallet. He set out in pursuit and managed to recover his wallet. Officers found the suspects during a canvass of the area, but the robbed man, having recovered his wallet, declined to press charges against the youths. 

A 24-year-old woman called police at 10:28 p.m. to report that a man professing to be packing a pistol had demanded her hot pink purse as she was walking near the corner of Durant Avenue and Ellsworth Street. 

A search of the area turned up the purse, with most—but not all—of her belongings intact. 

May 22 

A Berkeley woman called police at 8:45 p.m. to report that her 16-year-old daughter had just been sexually assaulted. Police are looking for the suspect, who has been identified. 

An 18-year old Oakland woman reported that a pair of strong-arm bandits had stolen her purse as she was walking near the corner of Russell Street and Telegraph Avenue about 1:40 a.m. The pair departed in a white Honda Civic. 

Three young bandits, ages about 13, robbed a 10-year-old of his belongings by landing a punch or two and threatening to add more, shortly after 3:30 p.m. near the corner of Francisco Street and Franklin Avenue. 

A gang of four women in their late teens beat a La Honda woman and stole her belongings near the corner of Regent and Russell streets just before 7:30 p.m. The four were last seen fleeing in a green Toyota four-door. Their victim declined medical aid. 

May 23 

Two men in their 20s came up behind a Berkeley woman as she walked in the 2500 block of Ninth Street and demanded her purse at 12:45 a.m. 

Their mission accomplished, the pair fled and was last seen running from the scene on Dwight Way.

If you’ve come to this space looking for a recommendation card to take with you to the polls, you’ve come to the wrong place. We—the Publisher and I—still haven’t made up our minds which candidate for governor to choose. Frankly, they both look somewhat unattractive at this point.  

We met Angelides at the home of two environmental activists for whom we have the utmost respect, who have known him for years and who are big fans. It was a high-end fund-raiser, and the price of admission indicated that many attendees had to be pretty well-off, but Angelides told them straight-out that he planned to raise taxes on high incomes to pay for education. His prepared talk and all the questions afterwards were about education, to an audience which included many parents of school-age kids, and he scored well--not a wimp in that department.  

But afterwards, face-to-face, I asked whether he thought that it was possible to make cities so crowded that it drove families to the suburbs, and he seemed confused by the question, which admittedly turned the conventional wisdom on its head. After a pause, he trotted out the usual smart growth orthodoxies about why it was good to fill in all the open spaces in cities, which I guess added up to a no to my question. It seemed like a classic example of thinking inside the box, but on the other hand he didn’t change his position to accommodate my question, which shows that he was at least being honest. 

On the other hand… the Chronicle, which supports Westly, has been making a Very Big Deal of all the money being spent on Angelides’ behalf by big-time Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, a former employer and business partner who has bankrolled Angelides for most of his political career. Historically, the Hearst Corporation hasn’t endorsed candidates simply out of dedication to the public interest. Just the fact that Hearst is attacking Angelides while hyping Westly makes Westly suspect somehow. It’s tempting to think that there’s some other motive up their corporate sleeve, so to speak, prompting their devotion to Westly, but if so it’s hard to find.  

The building industry, however, is well known for buying politicians in both parties, and the last minute cash deluge from a developer on behalf of the Angelides candidacy does indeed look like more of the same. Acquaintances familiar with Sacramento, one a journalist and the other an environmental consultant, have told me lurid tales of past environmental crimes perpetrated by the Angelides-Tsakopoulos development enterprise. However Angelides has lately gotten endorsements from well-regarded environmentalists, including the Sierra Club, so maybe he’s changed. 

Westly is more reluctant than Angelides to tell the voters the truth: that Californians need to bite the bullet and raise taxes. He talks instead of belt-tightening and fiscal conservatism, which won’t begin to meet California’s funding needs, which he undoubtedly knows. However, that’s the sort of candidate’s campaign posturing which often changes after elections. It’s a point of view, whether or not he’s sincere, which might play better in a fall race against Schwarzenegger than Angelides’ call for more taxes. And is it the good news or the bad news that Westly’s spending his own money to run? 

What really makes it hard to choose between the two is reading reports that attack ads have started to appear for both candidates. I say reading because I don’t watch television much, which probably ought to disqualify me right there from any endorsement pronouncements. But I’d certainly vote for the candidate who renounced ugly ads and stuck to it. Unfortunately, that’s neither Westly nor Angelides.  

There’s one thing on the ballot that’s not hard to support, and that’s Proposition 82. Yes, yes, it’s not perfect—it leaves out schools based on particular educational theories like the Montessori Method. But nowadays most parents must be working by the time a child is four, whether in a single- or a two-income family. Someone’s going to be taking care of the kids, and they won’t all be going to unique preschools. Proposition 82 is a workable concept that will get some more kids into good enough schools, and if it works there will be an opportunity and an incentive for the legislature to create supplementary programs to serve the rest of the kids.  

And Proposition 81? Whoever votes against spending on libraries, even when they should?  

As far as the rest of the choices, you’re on your own. We’ve opened up these opinion pages to fans of various Oakland candidates, and perhaps they’ve persuaded our Oakland readers to vote for one candidate or another. Luckily I don’t live in Oakland, so I don’t have to choose, and I wouldn’t attempt to tell Oaklanders what to do. 

But I’m still on the fence about the Democratic candidates for governor, which is why you’ll see me at the polls in person on Tuesday—I couldn’t possibly make up my mind in time to vote absentee. Much has been made of media-engendered voter cynicism--- reporting the nasty things that candidates say about one another so that voters just want to stay home. I don’t think opting out of elections solves anything, but it is getting harder and harder to choose among the flawed offerings on the ballot.  

The Berkeley Downtown YMCA rescinded the membership of Berkeley resident Scott Prosterman last week for inappropriate behavior on the organization’s premises over a period of time. 

Prosterman said that he has been the victim of a campaign by YMCA administrators to discredit him for complaining about safety and hygiene problems at the facility. 

Although YMCA Executive Director Peter Chong said he could not comment on the reasons why Prosterman’s membership had been rescinded, he said that YMCA members had to abide by certain rules and decorum, and if they failed to do so, membership privileges could be taken away. 

“Our members are treated equally and fairly,” Chong said. “The safety and comfort of all our members come first. The YMCA has certain standards and certain policies that have to be maintained and if a certain member fails to do so, we have to act accordingly.” 

Prosterman is appealing his loss of membership. He said his dismissal was retribution for the dozens of complaints he has sent YMCA administrators about the problems with the swimming pools and locker rooms over the past year and a half. He said he was encouraged to submit the complaints by staff, but never received any response. 

“I have repeatedly complained about the Y’s reluctance to discipline badly behaving children in the pool, locker room, and throughout the building,” Prosterman said. “I have also repeatedly complained about the atmosphere in the men’s locker room and shower area, in which gay men feel free to openly solicit non-gay men.” 

Prosterman said his complaints were sent to Chong and Aquatics Director Aaron Dence, but nothing ever became of them.  

“I was humored with a position on the Health and Fitness Committee, which proved to be a useless indulgence and waste of time,” he said. “My repeated requests to make a presentation to the Y’s Board of Members was denied and ignored.”  

Jon Crowder, a YMCA member and a Berkeley resident, who was at the meeting where Prosterman was informed of his loss of membership, echoed some of Prosterman’s concerns. 

“I think part of the problem has to do with the lack of understanding between the management and Scott,” Crowder said. “Although Scott is the messenger who is being shot, I don’t think any of this is exactly intentional. However, I think that the hearing lacked fairness because it wasn’t up for discussion whether he would be staying. The management had already decided and they presented Scott with a check.” 

Crowder also mentioned that he had been harassed in the men’s locker room by a man on April 8, 2006, and had reported it. 

Chong said the Berkeley YMCA was in compliance with every regulation the City of Berkeley requires. He said the city Department of Health inspected the facilities on May 18.  

Manuel Ramirez, city health director, told the Planet that the May 18 inspection had been unannounced, as is standard procedure, but was prompted by a complaint filed by Prosterman on May 12.  

“At the time we were there, it was found that the pools were in compliance for the most part,” Ramirez said. “There have been earlier cases when either the free chlorine standard or the pH balance was not in compliance with our standards and were later rectified, but in this case it was in compliance.” 

Complaints against the Downtown YMCA, however, continue. Krassimir Stoykov, a former Olympic swimmer and teacher, was designated as the on-call lifeguard at the YMCA whenever someone didn’t show up or couldn’t complete a shift. Because of conflicts with his schedule Krassimir resigned in April.  

“I think they were trying to get rid of me because they thought I was trying to build a union,” he said in a telephone interview from Florida, where he now lives. “I had a good relationship with the members, and I liked my job, but the management was trying to make it into a private club. I couldn’t get the days I wanted off, couldn’t meet people when I wanted to, it was very frustrating. As for Mr. Prosterman, I never experienced any problems with him. There is a serious lack of direction at the Y.” 

A current employee, who did not want to be named, said that another ongoing complaint was about the aqua bikes. 

“The Y spent more than $10,000 to buy them and they are almost never used. One or two are usually left in the walking lane of the lap pool, which limits the walking/exercise space” she said. “Pool users frequently complain to the lifeguards about how the money could have been better spent.” 

According to the same employee, in March of 2005, “The lap pool began experiencing serious problems with air quality caused by diesel fumes from the construction of the Vista College building on Center Street directly north of the Y. The air quality problem persisted through the summer, and the Y’s solution was to turn off the ventilation system and open the pool doors. This created problems for the lifeguards, who sit in the direct path of the cold breeze from one of the open doors. There were many complaints, and at one point a swimmer who works for the Berkeley Building Department said that it was illegal to have our air intake system shut down.” 

Kate Bernd Barnett, a disabled member at the YMCA, who wanted to form a committee with other disabled members to help resolve issues faced by them, was told by the YMCA management that “they could make suggestions, but that they could not be an official committee.” 

“I have been with the YMCA for four years and in all those years I have faced tremendous difficulty to change clothes in the cramped confines of the women’s locker rooms,” she said. “There are kids running around and mothers have to change diapers on the filthy floors. It took us eight years, a couple of injuries, and a petition with 200 signatures to finally get a button for automatic access for the disabled. I would suggest an oversight committee to evaluate how disabled members at the Y are being served. What we have at the Downtown YMCA right not is definitely not a community-building situation.”

IGNACIO  

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Ron Dellums’ great vision for Oakland is identical to that of the person I hope will be our next mayor, Ignacio De LaFuente. I’ve wondered just what we’ve missed that, now, it’s said, it requires our long absent/retired former representative to stop lobbying for private interests, show us the way, and save us. 

Who’s missed that education, healthcare, economic progress, and criminality are inextricably intertwined? Oakland’s City Council, led by De LaFuente, regularly wrestles with the relationship in debates ranging from the school system to sideshows to the Port of Oakland. Ignacio’s led and encouraged collaboration among residents, NGOs, government agencies, and city departments notably the federal, state, regional and county agencies dealing with crime, education, and transportation. 

Who’s missed seeing that all residents have a stake and say in what happens in our future, and why government inefficiency can be tolerated no more than corporate welfare or criminal violence? We who’ve lived in Oakland the past decade, braving the street crooks and the boardroom crooks, know that Ignacio has worked diligently to overcome the cards we’ve been dealt and effect the “better world” vision we share. 

It’ll become more obvious that the best candidate for Mayor is the guy who’s been here living with and working for us, and that the only thing we’ve missed is the sleight of hand pushing voters to another messiah. 

Patrick K. McCullough  

• 

TELEGRAPH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Replacing Cody’s with a Walgreens?? Shame on Tom Bates for continuing his sell out of Berkeley. We have already lost much of the Shattuck Business district to chain stores. Jupiter, Alko’s, Berkeley Games, The Capoiera Cafe, Razan’s Kitchen and other locals are all that’s distinguishing Berkeley from a strip mall in Iowa. We do not want Telegraph Ave sold to corporate giants! 

That Tom Bates will grovel for the tax revenue of chain stores as he bends over to give UC access to 23 city-hall-sized pieces of tax free Berkeley property in our downtown, is both hypocritical and stupid. If we encourage and support small local business, Berkeley will benefit not only from tax revenues, but from profits that will be reinvested in our community rather than lining a distant corporate bottom line. 

And this is not just the responsibility of our local government. Think about every purchase you make. If you buy your book at Pegasus Books instead of giving your money to the Barnes and Noble chainstore across the street, that money will stay in our community! If we shopped at Cody’s instead of Amazon books, it wouldn’t be closing. Our local businesses are precious and need our support. Think before you shop! 

It is great to give some positive attention to Telegraph Ave. Attracting and supporting small local businesses (what’s happening with the Book Zoo?), planter boxes, lessening traffic, services for people in need, how about rent control for businesses, all can be helpful. But a strip mall by getting rid of any regulations that may hinder chain stores is an insult to the vision of Fred Cody, and bad planning. 

Cyndi Johnson 

P.S. The Green Machine is an oxymoron! Pay some locals to push a broom and you’ll get them off the sidewalk and purchasing in the stores instead of sending all that city money to the machine company. We’ll be a lot more likely to shop on the Ave if we are not insulted by being run over by a loud, polluting machine!  

• 

BOOK BUSINESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With all due respect to the comments of the owner of Amoeba Records, that landlords are jacking up rents on Telegraph Avenue, and that is contributing to business closures there, Cody’s building is owned by Andy Ross, so rent played no part in his departure. Mr. Ross made a business decision to open another major bookstore on Fourth Street, thereby shifting a significant portion of the new-book buying business in Berkeley from south campus to West Berkeley. With no huge increases in population to support another major bookstore in Berkeley, just where did Mr. Ross expect his business to come from, if not substantially from the customers who patronized the Telegraph Avenue store? 

This conscious decision to move has to be considered a major part of the lessening of customers and foot traffic on Telegraph Avenue, where a good portion of the people who visited went because Cody’s was there. Now that Mr. Ross has staked his claim in an area away from the intellectual heart of Berkeley, he has left that heart stranded without a major new-book bookstore for an area that not only depends on one, but will now suffer tremendously intellectually because somebody in his selfish greed thought more bucks could be made elsewhere, to hell with the cultural consequences. 

I work on the Berkeley campus and have spent literally thousands of dollars in Cody’s, but I live in San Francisco, where Mr. Ross has recently opened another store. Because of my anger at his irresponsibility, I will not step foot inside his store in Union Square. 

Alan Collins 

• 

VIEW FROM KENSINGTON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

How Berkeley can you get? How ironic can you get? Here’s City Council person Kris Worthington calling for a rally to “save” Cody’s and support other businesses on Telegraph Ave.  

Talk about chutzpah! It should not be lost on readers that Worthington and fellow Berkeley pols Linda Maio and Dona Spring have long helped perpetuate the climate of crime and fear that has for years diminished Telegraph’s commerce by sanctioning the bad behavior of the miscreants who hang out on the Ave.  

Voters, don’t let Worthington’s current spin on saving Cody’s dull your memories to his role in maintaining the disaster that is Telegraph Ave. Accordingly, those who wish to one day see a regeneration of Telegraph should in the next election give Worthington, Maio and Spring their walking papers. 

Dan Spitzer 

• 

SAVE CODY’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Please help save Cody’s. Or else generations of Cal students and Berkeley citizens will never know a decent bookstore. 

Mary Pugh 

Senta Pugh Chamberlain 

• 

MAYOR’S LPO DETAILS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Now that the mayor’s office has released actual markup language for the approved-in-principle revision of Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, we have had the chance to see just how many devils are hiding in the details. Though there really aren’t many points of disagreement still embedded, one of the devils-in-residence has been quite a surprise. 

The new ordinance would, for the first time, allow the Landmarks Preservation Commission to have initial authority to approve or deny the demolition of a designated city landmark or structure of merit—something preservationists have long desired as a seemingly natural part of the LPC’s scope. But the markup language goes even further by allowing, as a criterion to explicitly justify such demolitions, a “weighing of interests.” This would require the LPC to look not only at the value and current condition of a historic resource, but also to look at the potential virtues of a project proposed to replace that resource. Doing so would allow the LPC to approve a demolition if it found that “The proposed project is necessary to achieve an important public policy and and the expected benefit to the public substantially outweighs the detriment it will cause to [historic] resources.”  

Even ardent preservationists will concede that, on rare occasions, such a hard judgment call might need to be made by the city in favor of a demolition. But such “weighing” has been—and should properly remain—the responsibility of the city council, not the LPC. Only the council has the scope of oversight to decide on the basis of what’s best for the city as a whole, and it has the authority to act on an appeal from any LPC decision. The LPC has been established as an advocacy commission, and in its other deliberations it is expressly charged to look only at the historic merits of each resource that comes in front of it, and not to consider whether a proposed project would produce a better or worse result. 

This unfortunate provision was not among the draft ordinances forwarded to the Council by either the LPC or the Planning Commission, nor had it been requested by the Council. Questioned by the LPC on where the “weighing” language came from, Planning Director Dan Marks, responsible for the draft, simply said, “I just chose to put it in.” For a would-be “community consensus” draft, such unrequested creativity on the part of city staff seems especially out of place. 

Fortunately this unneeded language can be cleanly removed—without doubt what the mayor’s office should do even before the council again takes up the ordinance at a public hearing on July 11. That exorcism, and a bit more needed cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, can still give us a new LPO that the entire city will whole-heartedly support. 

Alan Tobey is a Berkeley citizen who has closely followed the revision of the LPO since the beginning of 2004. 

• 

PROPOSITION 81: YES 

Please vote YES on state Proposition 81 on the June 6 primary ballot.  

A YES vote on Prop 81 is a vote for the future of Berkeley’s West Branch Library and its patrons.  

The community that utilizes the West Branch includes many low-income families, recent immigrants and English language learners. The current conditions at West Branch are hindering its ability to adequately serve this diverse community. Built in 1923, West Branch is an early 20th Century building trying to serve a population with 21st Century needs. Visit West Branch and see for yourselves. It’s located at 1125 University Avenue.  

Prop 81 will not increase your local taxes. Funding will come from the state general fund. It is a bond measure that will help renovate libraries all over California. Priority will be given to projects that came close, but were not supported by the last round of state funding (Proposition 14). Our West Branch Library is one of those. If Prop 81 passes, the state would pay for 65% and local governments 35% of the cost of renovating libraries. Berkeley voters have already approved this city’s portion of the funding for a renovated West Branch.  

The money could only be spent on infrastructure, not personnel, administration or operating costs. That would mean a new Library Learning Center to teach students, parents and teachers to make the most of the Library’s resources. A Family Literacy Center would help young children learn to read and keep them reading. West Branch is also the home of Berkeley Reads, the library’s literacy program. Passage of Prop 81 means Berkeley Reads teaches more and more adult learners to read and write English, learn computer skills, get jobs and succeed in school.  

More information on Prop 81 is available at yesforlibraries.com.  

A vote for Proposition 81 is a vote for Berkeley’s much-loved and much-used West Branch, its patrons, wonderful staff and our city itself. VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 81!!  

Sincerely,  

Linda Schacht Gage  

President,  

Berkeley Public Library Foundation  

Amy Roth,  

President,  

Friends of the Berkeley Public Library  

• 

POLITICS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The editorial “Remembering the Cost of War” in the May 26-29 issue of the Daily Planet was incisive and true until the last sentence. 

The easy thing would be to leave it to the political process that has served to keep the plutocrats in power. Since the 2000 election, it should be clear that those in power won’t yield power; as far as they are concerned, they are the only legitimate rulers here, and the rest of the world must bow down to them, too. Don’t expect them to honor˜or even allow˜any election that might depose them. Whatever it takes˜crooked voting machines, insufficient voting machines, purging voter rolls, or canceling elections˜they’ll help “God” keep them in power. 

The Democrats are pretty slavish in their support of the republican agenda; witness its leadership’s reluctance to discuss impeachment, though it’s a popular idea; witness http://www.davidswanson.org/  

What it will take is a movement in the streets that forces the administration to step down.  

The World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime! www.worldcantwait.net 

I got my whole life to do something, and that’s not very long 

Ani Difranco 

• 

RHYME 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Here’s tip of my hat to the Planet, 

And how well that you woman and man it. 

With your editors’ labors 

and letters by neighbors, 

Your paper’s so good, they should ban it. 

Ove Ofteness 

• 

DELLUMS 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Randy Shaw (Charon Attack machine Targets Ron Dellums) employs a rather despicable technique to attack the SF Chronicle. He appears to believe that if you say something long enough, people will begin to believe what you say has some merit. Shaw keeps repeating that the Chronicle editorial writers were somehow duplicitous in asserting that Dellums lacks municipal government experience and that his approach to dealing with the myriad problems currently confronting the people of Oakland is utopian. Instead of repeating these statements ad nauseam, it would better serve the electorate if Randy Shaw were to provide some factual data as to Dellums prior municipal government experience or substantive reasons for believing that Dellums promise for Oakland is indeed other than utopian. Why not tell all of us, for example, where Dellums proposes to go to raise the money required to accomplish what he promises to do if elected Mayor of Oakland? 

Irving Gershenberg 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Ron Dellums’ great vision for Oakland is identical to that of the person I hope will be our next mayor, Ignacio De LaFuente. I’ve wondered just what we’ve missed that, now, it’s said, it requires our long absent/retired former representative to stop lobbying for private interests, show us the way, and save us. 

Who’s missed that education, healthcare, economic progress, and criminality are inextricably intertwined? Oakland’s City Council, led by De LaFuente, regularly wrestles with the relationship in debates ranging from the school system to sideshows to the Port of Oakland. Ignacio’s led and encouraged collaboration among residents, NGO’s, government agencies, and city departments ˆ notably the federal, state, regional and county agencies dealing with crime, education, and transportation. 

Who’s missed seeing that all residents have a stake and say in what happens in our future, and why government inefficiency can be tolerated no more than corporate welfare or criminal violence? We who’ve lived in Oakland the past decade, braving the street crooks and the boardroom crooks, know that Ignacio has worked diligently to overcome the cards we’ve been dealt and effect the „better world‰ vision we share. 

It’ll become more obvious that the best candidate for Mayor is the guy who’s been here living with and working for us, and that the only thing we’ve missed is the sleight of hand pushing voters to another messiah. 

Patrick K. McCullough 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I hear there is a proposal to require credentialing for pre-school caregivers. I know we all believe in credentialing, but we need to know what skills are most important for pre-school caregivers. The most important skill is sensitivity to the unspoken needs of a child. The second most important skill is the heart to give a child open 

attention even when the caregiver is stressed or worn out. The desire to reach out to the community for support is another important skill. Along with these skills, the pre-school caregiver certainly needs to know the developmental stages of the child and tested techniques for providing children challenges and opportunities. But the ability to make a child feel secure is essential. Pre-school caregivers should be selected not only on the basis of their credentials but also for their capacity for nourishing human relations. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

David Altschul employs a familiar tactic used by the apologists for Israel’s indefensible policies. He ignores every specific, documented criticism of Israel and reiterates all the old nonsense about “the Arabs” being solely responsible for the Palestinian conflict. This does not square with the meticulous research of Israeli historians like Tom Segev and Avi Shlaim which show the original Zionist antagonism towards the native Arabs as well Israeli belligerence towards the Arab states from the beginning. The Palestinians were never “nonexistent” to use Altschul’s repellent version of holocaust denial and the PLO did distinguish between Jews and Zionists, whom are not all identical. Altschul’s selective reading of the Arab media is not impressive, Al-Jazzera has had the freest, best investigative reporting of 

any media outlet in the Middle East. Women are required to sit in the back of the Orthodox synagogues in Israel, Reform and Conservative Jews have considerably less freedom of religion. Israel does have some courageous media outlets and they are constantly being censored by the Israeli government. Altschul overlooks the history of Israeli aid to Hamas as a counterbalance to the secular PLO. As he overlooks the horrible occupation that gave rise to the Hamas victory. Altschul’s “arguments” for Israeli policies parallel those former apologists for apartheid South Africa who would proclaim the superiority of that regime to those of the rest of Africa as if that mitigated the horrors of apartheid. 

Kris Martinsen 

Fundamentalist Christians have a long history of using out-of-context quotes from the Bible to justify hatred against gays, lesbians, and whosoever else they might be demonizing. They are on shaky ground. 

There are very few references of homosexuality in the Bible. Most explicitly are those in Leviticus. Leviticus is the book of the Bible which was used to justify slavery. Leviticus says that you can eat locusts, but not shellfish. How about bug salad for dinner  

As for the the tale of Sodom, all reputable scholars agree that it is a parable about mistreating strangers, not a warning about where to stick your rod and tackle. 

Jesus does not once say “hate gays”. Quite to the contrary, he says ‘Love Your Neighbors’. Paul mentions gays a couple times, but even that only brings the total number of Bible quotes to a half-dozen or so. 

Gay-bashers haven’t got a leg to stand on. 

Ron Lowe Grass Valley 

In their respective May 26 letters, both David M. Wilson and John Blankenship (”Correcting Chris” and “Condo Response”) criticize me for suggesting that a coordinated, “calibrated campaign” is now underway seeking to dismantle Berkeley’s long-established condominium conversion public policy. 

With all due respect to both gentleman, rather than the term “calibrated campaign”, perhaps “interesting coincidence” would be more appropriate: two pro-conversion op-ed commentaries published several weeks apart, and then the recent launch of a pro-conversion ballot measure petition campaign.  

Reasonable people may disagree but this series of events strikes me, again, as a very interesting coincidence. 

The proposed ballot measure would allow the annual conversion of hundreds and hundreds of existing affordable rental units across Berkeley into condominiums. 

In a complaint directed at me, Mr. Blankenship states that he does “not belong to the Berkeley Property Owners Association” (BPOA). At absolutely no point in my May 23 letter did I state that Mr. Blankenship is a BPOA member.  

Rather, what I stated was that Mr. Blankenship’s op-ed commentary happened to appear at the same time as the recent launch of a petition campaign that includes individuals belonging to or associated with BPOA members. 

Briefly, to respond to Michael Katz’s May 26 commentary assailing the David Brower/Oxford Plaza development (”Brower Center: Over-Hyped”), it is remarkable that Mr. Katz completely omitted any mention of Oxford Plaza’s unprecedented housing component: 96 units of housing----every single unit affordable----with half designed exclusively for work force families (two and three bedroom units). 

Contrary to Mr. Katz’s unfortunate misrepresentations, the Brower/Oxford development will be world class in caliber, designed as one of the “greenest” structures in the nation, and will include very sizable outdoor and indoor public space.  

With respect to parking, the city only agreed to allow this development to move forward if the existing number of city-operated parking spaces was replaced underground. The Brower/Oxford development will be a magnificent asset for Berkeley’s ongoing downtown revitalization. 

Chris Kavanagh 

I would like to clarify just a few of Mr. Katz’s misstatements that relate to the David Brower Center: 

The Brower Center: Mr. Katz’s editorial begins by acknowledging that the Brower Center/Oxford Plaza development project is indeed two separate projects, The David Brower Center (non-profit offices/conference facilities/restaurant/gallery) and Oxford Plaza (affordable family housing), but the ensuing torrent of mischaracterization fails to distinguish between the two projects. The distinction is quite important because each of these worthy projects has separate ownership, developers, management, mission, and financing. 

Psuedo-ecological name: Really? The Brower Center project was discussed with and approved by David Brower himself before his death in 2000. Ken Brower, David’s oldest son, is a board member of the David Brower Center, which is the project’s non-profit owner. Shirley Richardson Brower, Executive Director of the South Berkeley YMCA, has appeared at numerous times at public events to speak in support of the Brower Center. Indeed, all Brower family members are in full public support of the project. 

Greenwash by making exaggerated claims: The Brower Center is on track to be built at a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Standard, the highest possible Green Design standard established and monitored by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The USGBC is an independent certifying authority and there are only a handful of LEED Platinum buildings in the entire USA. Please visit www.browercenter.org for detailed information about the innovative green design features planned for the David Brower Center. 

Land for free: An offer was made to purchase the property from the city, in which case the city would have had cash but no parking lot, and no control over the development. The City Council decided instead to retain control through a Development and Disposition Agreement (DDA) that has resulted in attracting over $22 million of downtown investment for the Brower Center alone ($10 Million of private philanthropic donations, which leverage $12 million in conventional financing, tax credit financing, and program related loans from Foundations) while also creating employment opportunities, conference facilities that support the entire non-profit sector, and a vibrant center that will attract international attention while serving the progressive non-profit community through the coming decades, plus Oxford Plaza’s 96 units of sorely needed, cost-effective affordable/workforce family housing. In addition, the city also gets to keep its parking lot. Mr. Katz seems to believe that just having a parking lot is a better deal. 

Greedy developers: Mr. Katz characterizes the Brower Center owners as greedy developers pulling hidden strings for their own enrichment. So who are these demons? The building owner is the David Brower Center 501c(3) non-profit, which in turn is controlled by its Board of Directors. A visit to www.browercenter.org will give interested parties the complete list of board members and their biographies. What you will find are dedicated individuals who have devoted their working lives to improving environmental and social conditions for the whole community, which includes Mr. Katz. Apparently the few computer keystrokes required to call up that website were beyond the effort or imagination of Mr. Katz. 

The mission of the David Brower Center is to inspire and nurture current generations of activists and to build a foundation for future generations. That’s what we agreed with David Brower to do, and that is what we are building. Building for the future. 

Sincerely, 

Peter K. Buckley 

Chairman 

David Brower Center 

Back in Berkeley briefly after a 20-year hiatus, I’m surprised at a lot of what I see and hear in my hometown, but nothing is quite as peculiar to me as the Berkeley Daily Planet’s unloving coverage of the Oxford Plaza/David Brower Center. Most recent case in point: Michael Katz’s 5/26 commentary “Brower Center: Over-Hyped, Over-Sized, Over-Budget.” I hope someone else will educate Mr. Katz about the facts of the DBC. Let me just correct his interpretation of its namesake. 

Katz heard him, once, yet he’s happy to speak for David Brower. He asserts that if he were to see what’s going on, Brower would “spin in his grave like a wind turbine”; what’s more, building the David Brower Center would “forever exile the Archdruid’s pesky, uncompromising spirit from his birthplace.” 

Now, I listened to my Dad a LOT over our 50 years together, and I can tell you he was proud and flattered at the prospect of having his name on such a Berkeley building. And even with another’s name on it, he would be excited about this innovative structure designed to create and support a dynamic fusion of green and for-profit groups, diverse local and distant communities, cool things to do˜all under a LEED platinum roof. His enthusiasm for good urban design was almost as keen as his love of wildness. And, living for the moment in his house (where his ashes sit quietly, I assure you), it appears to me that far from being exiled, Dave Brower’s spirit is vigorous in Berkeley˜particularly in the people working so hard to make the Brower Center a reality in the face of ill-informed and mean-spirited commentaries like Michael Katz’s. 

Sincerely, 

Barbara Brower 

In the wake of the news of the upcoming closing of Cody’s bookstore, people are acting like something that has been happening for over twenty years is suddenly a “crisis.” This is not necessarily good. As useful as “crises” are in finally focusing attention on their causes, it is equally important to focus on controlling their consequences. Crises always energize those with ideological or self-interested agendas, which they advance as panaceas for the problem at hand.  

We can expect the proposals to “save” Telegraph Avenue—which must equally include “saving” People’s Park—to be of three types: 

1. Incrementalism. This is a minor variation on “excrementalism,” which has been city policy on Southside for the past twenty years. The incrementalist response is to apply a few more police and social workers to the area. But unless there is a radical shift in what these resources are directed to do, this is the same formula that has kept Southside just as it is now. Removing a few drug dealers won’t solve the problem; we must change the entire culture of permissiveness and uncivil behavior the city and university have fostered in Southside. Do I want incremental variations on the existing theme on Telegraph and People’s Park? No thanks. 

2. Experimentalism. This is when a group of wannabe urban planners descend on a troubled area to test out their latest urban design theories. They will tell those of us who have lived here for decades how to create “vibrant” commercial centers and healthy communities by rearranging our physical space, perhaps adding a few kiosks, benches, and banners of Nobel laureates. Their standard “solution” involves more and bigger buses, fewer cars, less parking, bigger buildings, more cutesy businesses, and most importantly, more people. Once those are in place, everything else automatically takes care of itself . . . supposedly. (But wait . . . doesn’t Telegraph already fit their model more than 4th Street, Elmwood, or Solano?)  

3. Opportunism. This is when the developers and commercial real estate interests, working through their political arm, the mayor, use this “crisis” as an excuse to “streamline” building and use permits for Telegraph Avenue. The danger is that the community love fest will not stop at removing unnecessary red tape and expense for some desirable businesses but will be used as an excuse to effectively eliminate neighborhood control over quality of life, the commons, and the public planning of Southside. Shall I give away my rights because Cody’s is giving up the ghost? I don’t think so. 

Berkeley is suffering from an unholy alliance of experimentalism (so-called “smart growth”) and opportunism (giving away of the commons to developers). It’s too bad that this is happening with the downtown area plan, but it doesn’t have to happen with Telegraph. Residents of Southside, Le Conte, and Willard neighborhoods, and the Telegraph merchants and shoppers, must take control of their own urban space—and not accept the choices of excrementalism, incrementalism, experimentalism, and opportunism.  

We could hold off on other solutions—“expensive” in more ways than one—until we have tried something new but simple and safe: ethical, equitable, and common-sense public policy. The City might start simply by giving Southside neighborhoods, along with People’s Park and Telegraph Avenue, the same respect, expectations, policing, and stewardship given to 4th Street, Solano, the Elmwood, and the wealthier Berkeley neighborhoods.  

That would be radical enough, in part because it would require reversing the City’s equally “permissive” relationship to the university. The university competes for commercial resources, and destroys the neighborhoods that healthy business districts depend upon, so it’s no coincidence that our most troubled commercial areas are those closest to the university. The blood of Cody’s is on the university’s hands as much as anyone’s. 

This is the dangerous moment: The upside of “crises” is that they galvanize change. The downside is that they galvanize hysteria. Decisions made under the influence of hysteria are rarely good ones. 

Sharon Hudson has been a Willard Neighborhood resident for 25 years.

Here are some thoughts on each of the nine items that were part of the Telegraph Avenue assistance package passed on May 23 by the Berkeley City Council: 

1. Public safety and police presence 

The Berkeley Police Department has repeatedly assigned officers to patrol the avenue and later removed them over many years. About three years ago they reduced the number of patrol officers to just two for the entire south campus area. Prior to that, things had been improving. UC’s police presence in the south side has never interacted with merchants, vendors and citizens as directly as Berkeley police officers have, so the UC police presence may have nothing to do with solving Telegraph’s problems. We need additional Berkeley police officers immediately and their mandate should be stopping socially aggressive behavior and fighting crime. Jaywalking and innocent minor violations should not be a priority when we have larger crimes and intimidating behavior to deal with. 

2. Street cleaning and sidewalk  

cleaning 

Obviously, we want our city to maintain the cleanliness of our streets. Why was this reduced in the past? Graffiti removal is a priority. All windows on Telegraph Avenue storefronts have been acid stained and this degrades the entire avenue. This started less than two years ago and has been attributed to an East Bay family that has not been prosecuted, nor have damages, which have been estimated at $750,000, been collected. If the Berkeley police cannot prosecute and collect damages from this family, the city of Berkeley must help with the exorbitant cost of repairing windows. 

3. Improving pedestrian lighting 

This is a clear and immediate need. Were the lights ever reduced? If so, for what reason? 

4. Facade improvement program 

No merchant would argue with having a wonderful, fresh storefront. We totally endorse this. 

5. Streamline the permits process for new businesses 

This is essential, but the review process should include members of the community and merchants in a consulting collaboration with the council. The community that results from these efforts should be a vibrant and original neighborhood and not a recreation of a suburban mall or even other neighborhoods in Berkeley. A Walgreens, for instance, although being a paying tenant and business tax contributor, would degrade Telegraph as a “destination.”  

6. Improve social services and mental health outreach 

We totally endorse this. A permanent mental health team should be in the south campus area because Berkeley funnels all of its homeless and disadvantaged to this area. This, again, was present before and then removed. We as merchants have been providing the city with de facto mental health and security with no city services to help us deal with this problem. We are not qualified as citizens to deal with this.  

7. Street behavior 

Aggressive panhandling, physical and verbal harassment must be stopped and punished.  

8. Request property owners provide rent incentives and coordinate to attract new retail shops and restaurants 

To have a diverse and unique destination shopping community will require an innovative discussion and search for the kind of retail, service and residential mix that should be available on the avenue. 

9. Joint marketing effort 

A joint marketing effort by the city of Berkeley and the university is a great idea, but it should also be directed at international tourism and day tourism, and should highlight Telegraph's rich history and its vibrant future. 

A last point not mentioned in any ordinance but that must be immediately dealt with is the issue of parking in the south campus area. There needs to be a change in the policy of ticketing individuals in the numerous yellow zones on Telegraph Avenue between the hours of 6 and midnight. Starting three months ago, police have been ticketing anyone parked for even five minutes when they pick up food or items from shops located on Telegraph, despite the avenue’s depressed evening traffic. This is having a terrible affect on night business as cars cannot make stops on Telegraph Avenue to make quick purchases at restaurants or stores, but rather are forced to park further away in the more dangerous and dim off-Telegraph streets. These after-hour commercial zones should be changed to fifteen minute or one hour time limits, and possibly converted to metered parking in the future. 

Al Geyer is the owner of Annapurna on Telegraph Avenue.

Ron Dellums is running for mayor of Oakland at a time when the people of Oakland are desperate for a change in leadership. The Board of Education has lost control of its own schools,the education of our own children. Under its current president, Ignacio De La Fuente, the City Council cannot even protect the safety of its own citizens. The security of life and limb is the first test of government, and De La Fuente has failed the test. He talks tough, he postures. But Oakland now has one of the highest murder rates of any city in the U.S., triple the national average. Our city is the crime capital of California, and entire sections of Oakland live in fear. Forty-six residents have been murdered in three months.  

Paralyzed by a crime wave, De La Fuente’s City Council lacks the courage and political will to declare a state of emergency.  

Nevertheless, the election of Ron Dellums, whose programs offer hope for change, is by no means certain. De La Fuente has already built a political machine, and Nancy Nadel may well become a kind of Ralph Nader in Oakland’s mayoral showdown June 6th.  

With the help of the San Francisco Chronicle and the East Bay Express, De La Fuente is promoting an insidious caricature of Ron Dellums, a misleading image that is taking its toll on public consciousness.  

De La Fuente portrays Dellums as a kind of outsider who lacks practical skills to run the city. He claims that Dellums is a mere dreamer with his head in the clouds. Dellums has nothing to offer, says De La Fuente, but “pie in the sky.” The Chronicle (April 28) argues that Dellums is not grounded In Oakland affairs. He’s too grandiose, too big for Oakland. Dellums is “eminently qualified to become Secretary of State” but not mayor of Oakland, Chronicle editors contend! Remember the male chauvinist tactic for isolating women from power? Put them on a pedestal.  

If De La Fuente’s caricature of Dellums strikes a cord, De La Fuente could actually win on June 6th. 

It is time to set the record straight 

Ron Dellums is hardly an outsider swooping down from Mars. He’s a homeboy. He attended Oakland Tech and McClymonds High Schools when he was a youth. He worked in Parks and Recreation, and he knows first hand about poverty and despair in Oakland. When he worked at Hunters Point Bay View Community Center, he gained invaluable experience mentoring at-risk kids in the ’hood, an experience that enables him to understand the roots of crime.  

In 1967, Dellums became an effective leader on the Berkeley City Council, familiar with zoning regulations, city finances, community planning agencies. Dellums knows about pot holes and day-to-day issues that arise in local government. Even in his early years, Dellums realized that corporate power can be made to respond to well-organized efforts on behalf of the seemingly powerless. 

Because of his down-to-earth achievements in local politics, Bay Area voters sent Dellums to Congress and kept him in Washington for nearly 30 years. 

Contrary to De La Fuente’s propaganda, Dellums’ practical achievements on behalf of Oakland are impressive and manifold. 

His ability to raise revenue, to form coalitions, to unite adversaries, led to the construction of Oakland’s Chabot Science Center, which houses a nationally known telescope. The Astronomy Center is a vast resource, an entire world of wonder and information, for Oakland students. 

It was Dellums’ savvy that brought the Federal Building to downtown Oakland. 

Larry Hendel, staff director of Local 790 of the Service Employees International Union, notes that the airport and the port are the great success stories of Oakland. “Their success depended on the audacity of Ron Dellums. Years ago the port was too shallow for super tankers. There was a point where our seaport survival was at stake. Dellums got the federal funds to get the port dredged. Now super tankers that once docked in L.A. come to Oakland. Dellums saved us. Dellums was the key.” 

The Chabot Science Center, the Federal Building, the bustling port are not “pie-in-the-sky” ideas. They are practical achievements based on coalition-building, fund-raising, and skills in negotiation. Dellums is a brilliant, practical negotiator who earns the admiration of friends and adversaries alike. It is almost a miracle that the former Chair of the Armed Services committee, surrounded by Hawks, got out of Washington with his principles and faith in tact.  

It is a rare moment when a beleaguered city gets an opportunity to elect a statesman. Ron Dellums is one of the most respected Congress persons in the world. Remembered for his role in helping to end apartheid in South Africa, for stopping production of the heinous MX missile, he is returning home to Oakland, a city he served for thirty years. That is why some parishioners are singing an African-American spiritual: “Let Not This Harpist Pass.” 

Paul Rockwell is an Oakland activist.

CALTRANS GRANT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The City Council should withdraw the Caltrans grant application and rescind the SBNDC contract. This is the only responsible action based on what we heard last week from BART official Jeff Ordway. At last week’s meeting we learned that the Flea Market lease agreement is binding until such time that BART requires the west lot for a transit purpose. Without support for the project from the Flea Market there is no basis for discussion with the larger community. The task force and the community should recognize this and respect the Flea Market rights. We have no business considering potential development until such an agreement is made between the project director and the SOBA with the Flea Market board of directors. This is a futile and fraudulent process with the very real potential of damaging an already fragmented community. 

The only question left to answer is why is SOBA, the South Berkeley area (SBNDC, Ed Church, Max Anderson and the city) pushing this project? 

The City Council acted prematurely on misinformation from the grant applicants. Council members stated their support was contingent on the Flea Market considering relocating and alleged changes to BART replacement parking policy. Neither is true. 

In the city’s planning department initial report, the alternative to the SOBA partnership was for the city to work with the community on a vision and  

apply for the grant next year. With such a reasonable alternative available, what will it take to put a stop to this train wreck? 

Laura Menard 

• 

BERKELEY  

HIGH SCHOOL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I would like to call the attention of your readers to some recent developments at Berkeley High School. A few weeks ago, one of my young neighbors was assaulted by a large group of teenagers in downtown Berkeley. I have since found out that this was not an isolated incident and that there have been a number of unprovoked and random attacks taking place in and around the Berkeley High campus. My heart sank when I learned of these incidents. 

In the late 1960s, my children were brutalized by just such attacks at Berkeley High. Finding it impossible to get protection, or in fact any action at all from school authorities, we transferred our daughters to private schools. Two sons opted to stick it out at Berkeley High, out of concern about private school costs. Years later they confided that they felt sick with fear at some point every day. They became adept at finding safe routes through the school, they learned to walk with friends; in short, they learned how to survive. We breathed a sigh of relief when they finished high school. 

Now, thirty-five years later, I learn that the violence continues, and that the response of school officials is much the same as it was in the 1960s. Like that earlier time, children who are hurt are afraid to come forward with names of their attackers (as was pointed out in an article in the most recent issue of the Berkeley High PTSA Newsletter). 

The current policy by high school administrators not to talk about these incidents is not the answer. The school claims that violence numbers are down each of the past several years, but refuses to discuss them. In fact, several of the mothers of the children who have been assaulted recently had a surprisingly difficult time even getting the school to agree to meet with them. 

The police need to break up the gangs milling around the Shattuck BART station and around the perimeter of the BHS campus and stop minimizing the severity of the attacks that go on every week. 

On a positive note, my grandson attends an elementary school with a no-violence policy. What has happened in Berkeley that this policy does not extend to older children, whose risks are greater, and whose injuries are much more serious, even life-threatening? 

Let’s insist on a viable alternative for these troubled youngsters, away from the students that they have been preying on, that will attend to their critical needs and help them to succeed. 

Gloria Pihl 

• 

WHAT WE CAN DO 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We face many problems, personal, social, ecological. Our careless and wasteful way of life is using up resources that cannot be replaced. Here in the United States we use far more than our share of the world’s resources—yet even here many are very poor and elsewhere there is great poverty and suffering. Many of us are lonely, anxious, despairing, often seeking distractions to avoid these frustrations. 

We need extensive change, both personal and social, to develop a more satisfying way of life that would include economic security for all, meaningful work, real community, real action to protect and restore our environment. However, we don’t have to wait for large-scale social change—we can begin by making changes in our own lives and situations, seeking companions who share our concerns We can live simply and frugally, sharing whatever we can. We can educate ourselves and one another about social and ecological problems and possible solutions. We can develop support groups, co-ops, and intentional communities. We can help each other develop an open-hearted, adventurous, loving way of life. Such personal and small-scale changes can be satisfying and valuable in themselves and can contribute greatly to wider social change. 

I hope for response. You can e-mail me at arthurgladstone@hotmail.com. 

Arthur Gladstone 

• 

A MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A “smart growth” advocate is best defined as someone who:  

a) Favors the construction of small, cramped housing units that they themselves would never consider living in.  

b) Is against allowing urban residents to have views of sky or trees or open space.  

c) Drives a car, but doesn’t want anybody else to own or drive one.  

d) Thinks city planning works best when citizens are excluded from the planning process.  

e) Continues to claim that infill development leads to a decrease in the amount of housing built in the suburbs—even though statistics show this is not true. (In fact, 90 percent of all new housing is still built in the suburbs.)  

f) All of the above.  

Please e-mail your answer to Mayor Tom Bates at mayorbates@ci.berkeley.ca.us. I’m sure he will want to compile the results and report back to us in his next “Bates Update.”  

Doug Buckwald 

• 

CREEKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We have a solid and effective foundation for protecting riparian areas in the Berkeley Creeks Task Force recommendations and these recommendations should be approved by the City Council on Tuesday, May 30.  

It is obvious by the mistakes made in the past that channelizing, rocking, culverting and building up to the edge of creeks are not a safe or logical means of controlling flooding and erosion on our creeks— rather, they exacerbate problems when homes sink into decaying culverts and foundations crack because they are built on creekbeds. 

This is no way to manage a precious natural resource, much less a resource populated by a threatened species. It is also no way to protect the residents of our city, who are frightened and angry because they can no longer be assured that their most valuable possesions—their homes—are safe. 

This city needs adequate protections and riparian buffers so that our riparian corridors can flourish and our homeowners will someday not have to worry about erosion and flooding. Do not allow structures to be built in the floodplains of creeks, and there will be no flood damage. Do not allow structures to be built on top of culverts, and there will be no lawsuits.  

We cannot erase what mistakes have already been made. But we can prevent them from happening and allow homeowners already in the unfortunate situation of being too close to a creek or on top of a culvert to have the same rights as any other homeowner, with the exception of building into the creek corridor. There is a balance, and it is the city’s responsibility to be the voice of reason and enforce that balance with integrity and equity. Otherwise, Berkeley will be nothing but another city full of crumbling infrastructure, that had the opportunity to protect its creeks and its people, and instead did nothing. 

I ask the mayor and City Council to please support the Creek Task Force’s recommendations in full. 

Kristen Van Dam 

• 

A CONTRARY  

VIEWPOINT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Contrary to Conn Hallinan’s opinion, the United States and Britain were quite right to provide modern armaments to the Nepalese army in its fight against Maoist guerrillas. The Maoists are reminiscent of the Sendero Luminoso rebels of Peru. Similar to the Shining Path, the Nepalese Maoists have murdered both village headmen and school teachers in their attempt to purge “Western class degradation” from the peasantry. And given the rate of illiteracy and true poverty in the Nepalese countryside, the Maoists’ violence and indoctrination have resulted in considerable support from a rural populace vulnerable to pie-in the-sky socialist rhetoric because they have so little.  

The Nepalese peasantry who support the guerrillas may not realize the horrific straits they are inviting. But most of the Nepalese intelligentsia does. Having rightfully deposed from absolute power an inept and avaricious monarch, the Nepalese democratic movement is—thanks to the aforementioned armaments provided by the West—now in a position to rid the countryside of the Maoist scourge. 

As for Iran, I’m surprised that old Marxist comrade Conn would justify a dangerous theocracy’s development of nuclear weaponry. Well, I guess when it comes to lefties like Hallinan, any regime which castigates the United States is worth defending, no matter how odious the tyranny. 

Dan Spitzer 

Kensington 

• 

TRUE — UNTIL THE  

LAST LINE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The May 26 editorial “Remembering the Cost of War” was incisive and true—until the last sentence. 

The easy thing would be to leave it to the political process that has served to keep the plutocrats in power. Since the 2000 election, it should be clear that those in power won’t yield power; as far as they are concerned, they are the only legitimate rulers here, and the rest of the world must bow down to them, too. Don’t expect them to honor—or even allow—any election that might depose them. Whatever it takes—crooked voting machines, insufficient voting machines, purging voter rolls, or canceling elections—they’ll help “God” keep them in power.  

The Democrats are pretty slavish in their support of the Republican agenda; witness its leadership’s reluctance to discuss impeachment, though it’s a popular idea; witness www.davidswanson.org. 

What it will take is a movement in the streets that forces the administration to step down.  

Robert Gruber 

• 

HEATMAIL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Kris Martinsen’s May 16 anti-Israel heatmail provides perfect proof of the old adage that those who don’t read are no better off than those who can’t. 

Kris clearly hasn’t read Yitschak Ben Gad’s Politics, Lies and Videotape, which details: the nine-decade violent opposition of Arabs to the presence of Jews in what is now Israel; the seven-decade rejection by Arabs of proposals for peaceful co-existence with a Jewish Israel; the non-existence of “Palestinians” prior to the Arab defeat in the 1967 war; and the virulent anti-Jewish foundation of the PLO covenant. 

Kris also is obviously uninterested in reading the Arab media posting available by free subscription at www.memri.org, which as recently posted the Hamas covenant declaring all of Israel to be sacred Muslim land that no infidel has a right to; and an interview with a Hamas official supporting that view. 

It’s clear, too, that Kris has read things I have not. Given that Israel has the best record in the Middle East on free speech, women’s rights, freedom of worship, environmental issues, and medical aid to Africa, perhaps Kris can explain why, if not for anti-Jewish rage, so many leftwingers fulminate against the Jewish state of Israel. 

David Altschul 

• 

MORE ON THE CREEKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am a longtime Berkeley resident (since 1989) who owns a rental property (my former residence) beside Strawberry Creek in Berkeley, at 1435 Allston Way. I am the founder and former president of Friends of Strawberry Creek, and have served on the Board of Directors of Greenbelt Alliance since 2002. Please note that I speak for myself and not these organizations. 

I am writing to express my strong support for the recommendations of the Berkeley Creeks Task Force. I ask the mayor, City Council, Planning Commission, etc., to please accept these as is and not accept any amendments that would undermine the integrity of the task force’s effort. I think they are a reasonable compromise that balances the needs of creekside property owners with efforts to restore and improve our local watershed resources. 

I am especially interested in seeing the city finally fund and hire a citywide watershed coordinator.  

Janet Byron

One afternoon this past March, after several consecutive days of rain, the clouds cleared and I walked the length of upper Cerritos Creek in north Berkeley. This humble creek—and likely many others—fails to conform to the impassioned rhetoric and vision of the creek ordinance hawks. Such creeks should not be governed by any of the “one-size-fits-all” creek ordinance amendments proposed. Allow me to introduce to you upper Cerritos Creek as it appeared that March afternoon so you can understand why. 

Cerritos Creek begins 220 feet below Spruce Street, downhill from the slide and sandbox at Dorothy M. Bolte Park. The creek is wholly within Berkeley for only 2,300 feet; this segment is upper Cerritos Creek. Two-thirds of this creek is open. The remainder is underground in 18-26-inch corrugated, fiberglass or concrete pipes.  

For the first 400 feet of upper Cerritos Creek the ground is damp but there is no moving water. In the next 300 feet, before it enters an 18-inch corrugated pipe just above Florida Avenue, the creek width generally varies from one to two feet and contains less than two inches of trickling water. A storm drain from Northampton Avenue discharges into this section, but there is no significant flow now. This 300-foot segment runs across backyards, under fences and a wooden sundeck and within 30 feet of residences, including within five feet of one home. Natural vegetation covers or grows along the banks of almost all of the first 700 feet.  

Some creek water flows under the culvert inlet above Florida and into the aggregate base beneath the street, repeatedly causing premature failure of the asphalt pavement. Beginning 175 feet further downstream, the corrugated pipe under the Florida-Boynton intersection is loaded with gravel and cannot contain creek water because its underside is corroded. The underground culvert continues for 450 feet, beneath the corner house and in backyards within 30 feet of the next six homes along Boynton. It then discharges into the open creek bed. For the next 600 feet, until it enters the 26-inch culvert just above Arlington, the open creek is one to three feet wide and two to three inches deep as it passes less than 30 feet from all but one of the next 10 residences. Storm drainage from five streets is piped into this segment, but little flow is occurring this afternoon. The creek flow at the Arlington culvert is 1.5-2 cu.ft./min. West of Arlington the water cascades from the culvert to the open channel more than 10 feet below. 

Nearly all lots on Boynton through which the creek or culverts pass are relatively small, typically 50 feet by 100 feet. Few if any structural improvements along upper Cerritos Creek equal or exceed the 40 percent development area allowed.  

Neighbors living along upper Cerritos Creek are mystified that any of the proposed creek ordinance amendments could be thought reasonably to apply to such creeks. All proposals, except that of Neighbors on Urban Creeks (NUC), would impose straightjacket regulatory approaches to discrete, non-uniform situations. Although NUC presents a more rational regulatory approach than others, it is overbroad as applied to upper Cerritos Creek. 

Regulatory proponents, from inside and outside Berkeley, have lectured us with rhetoric, romantic images and, at times, a textbook knowledge of streams generally. They use Strawberry and Codornices creeks in their examples but give no evidence they know anything about upper Cerritos Creek or how ill-fitting their cookie-cutter experiment is for this modest creek and its neighborhood. Their rhetoric and images do not meet the reality of this creek.  

By stepping back, it becomes clear Berkeleyans have lost sight of or never knew the problem(s) this regulatory effort is intended to solve. Consequently, we have numerous, complex and overarching bureaucratic solutions madly circulating in search of problems yet to be defined and agreed upon.  

• No one would argue construction activities along creeks should be allowed to degrade the quality of the creek bed or water. In fact, state and local environmental regulations already prohibit such degradation.  

• No one would argue construction over or near a creek or culvert should not be engineered carefully by licensed professionals. In fact, adequate building, engineering and safety standards already apply.  

• Fish will never swim upper Cerritos Creek. They would never find adequate water depth or food and would be washed away by major storms.  

• The general public will never walk along open segments of upper Cerritos Creek. Except for Bolte Park, the creek is wholly within private property. Deer occasionally wander the creek bed, but they are never confused for burglars.  

• Some advocate treatment of storm sewer discharges to creeks, but none of the ordinance amendments proposes treatment.  

• Expensive disputes over discretionary review and lawsuits are minimized if the creek ordinance covers only major creeks included by broad consensus.  

• The continuing dispute over who is liable for culvert failures—the elephant in the room no one can talk about—does not justify cramming all creeks into a uniform ordinance designed for Strawberry and Codornices creeks.  

There is no reasonable basis to include upper Cerritos Creek and its adjacent properties in Berkeley’s creek ordinance. Further, what is true for unexamined upper Cerritos Creek is undoubtedly true for other creek segments.  

After all the community effort spent on amending the creek ordinance, the City Council will do something. For some in our society, it is an inconvenient fact of good governance that for laws to be good they should be tailored to fit the circumstances they are intended to address or correct. So, what reasonably can be done to get the square pegs in square holes and the round pegs in round holes? The council should amend the ordinance following the NUC principles but limited to major creek segments within public lands and along private lands where there is broad consensus. Thereafter, other creeks can be considered for possible inclusion. The Planning Commission should prepare a list of such creeks, grouped in order of priority and importance.  

One size does not fit all. Ask any 10-year old kid with an older sibling. 

Patrick Finley is a Berkeley resident.

There’s a popular saying in the Bay Area: “A better world is possible.” According to Aimee Allison, a young, dynamic candidate for the Oakland City Council, “A better world begins in Oakland.” For her it begins in District 2, where she’s waging a grass-roots campaign against the Brown–De La Fuente machine. Pat Kernighan, her opponent, is one of the Oakland insiders. She votes consistently with De La Fuente. In her first election, Kernighan raised $86,000, a lot of money for a small district. Some say she just bought the election. In contrast, Allison accepts no corporate donations. 

City Council contests rarely attract attention. But the outcome of the Allison groundswell may well change the tone and direction of Oakland’s City Council, an administration that does not even run its own schools, and is currently paralyzed by a wave of crime and murder. If Allison, who has an audacious plan to attack the roots of crime, wins a seat, she becomes a swing vote, and the corporate backers of De La Fuente may just meet their match.  

Crime in Oakland is the biggest issue on voters’ minds today. Under Brown, De La Fuente and Kernighan, Oakland presently has the highest murder rate of any city in the country, according to the L.A.Times. That fact alone requires a change of leadership. In the context of Oakland’s failure to protect the safety of its own citizens, the Allison campaign against crime takes on special significance. Only a few weeks ago, the manager of the Bangkok Palace restaurant was gunned down near Allison’s campaign office on Grand Lake. 

“That night of the shooting,” Allison told me, “took me through the trauma of violence in Oakland. As the police hauled the manager out on a stretcher, I saw the victim with a bullet in his head. He was a real person, not just number 46. His co-worker was sobbing, and I sat with him through police questioning. The whole experience touched me, and I realized that City Council policies are not working. Our leaders have failed to grasp the magnitude of violence in Oakland. That’s why I am calling for a new, bold policy to end the crime wave, to dig into the roots of crime.”  

Last week I walked with Ms. Allison through her precinct, door-to-door. Every person who opened a door agreed the City Council has failed to do its job. Allison took time to explain the dynamics of crime in Oakland. “There are 10,000 parolees in Oakland on any given day,” she said, quoting the police chief. “They are the products of a city without jobs, decent education. When they get out of prison, they’re dumped on Oakland streets like empty cans. The city provides no jobs, no skills, no training programs, no drug rehabilitation. Inevitably many fall back into a life of crime. 

“We not only need more cops, we need a new structure that prevents crime. Our city officials lack the political will to enforce Measure Y, which provides some money for prevention. After the Riders settlement, when police corruption was exposed, the judge ordered internal changes. But the city fails to hold the police accountable.” Allison stressed the themes of community police, accountability, and programs of social uplift for youth. 

Crime, or course, is an economic as well as legal issue. Allison is often asked: How do you fund programs of social uplift when our city is so poor? 

Her answer is refreshing. Oakland, she says, is not really poor. Oakland has the fourth largest port in the United States. World commerce now depends on our unique waterways—the Oakland estuary and harbor. Oakland is the source of billions of dollars in profit for multi-national corporations. All the motors at the Toyota plant in Fremont pass through the Port of Oakland. Airport commerce rose ten percent at the Oakland Airport last year. In short, Oakland as a city is rich in resources. Its land, its tax breaks and services for developers, its vibrant labor force, its beautiful climate lure corporations from around the world.  

While the port depends on the generosity of Oakland, the port pays no taxes. It’s autonomous. It does not even attempt to discharge its responsibilities to the community that sustains it. All the board members of the port are appointed by the mayor. Allison intends to change the submissive relationship between the public sector and corporate power. She wants a partnership with business, not serfdom. 

Raising revenue from the port is the centerpiece of her economic plan. Her revenue-sharing approach offers a sharp contrast to the focus of Brown and De La Fuente and Kernighan: bringing Yuppies to downtown Oakland. Gentrification does not address the poverty or crime, Allison insists. 

Corporations are standing in line to get access to Oakland’s water, land and climate. Allison intends to leverage our wealth to improve our quality of life. 

Whatever happens June 6, one thing is clear. With her determination and charisma, Aimee Allison is a rising star in Oakland’s time of darkness. 

Paul Rockwell is a columnist for Common Dreams and In Motion Magazine.

The 2006 California Democratic Party convention was a far cry from that in 2005. Whereas progressives were trying to get organized and recognized (as the Progressive Caucus) in 2005, in 2006 we showed that we are a real force in the CDP. The 2006 convention was a “platform convention” in which the CDP adopts its platform for the next two years and endorses candidates for the Democratic nomination for partisan offices.  

Commencing several months before the convention, the CDP platform committee traveled around the state, holding hearings on what should be in the platform, and came out with a draft platform. Progressives (read the Progressive Caucus of the CDP and the progressives in various Assembly Districts around the state) read the platform and found it singularly lacking in a progressive vision. As a consequence we commenced lobbying the platform committee for changes in four areas: poverty, clean money, Iraq and single-payer health care. 

We continued our lobbying efforts at the convention, packing the platform committee with supporters and experts on the various subjects. The results? The platform was enhanced in the following particulars never before seen in the CDP platform: 

1. On poverty: Many changes, including support for living wage legislation and COLA’s in SSI/SSP payments. 

2. On public financing of elections and election reform: “California Democrats believe that a healthy democracy is based on clean elections: public financing of political campaigns at all levels of government, campaign spending limits, restoration of the fairness doctrine and a strong role for political parties.” Then, as a bullet point, “Support and implement clean money legislation.” 

3. On single-payer health care: “California should lead the nation in providing comprehensive quality health care to all our people by transitioning to a single-payer public health care system.” 

4. And on Iraq, the following language: “We call upon the Bush administration and Congress to bring our troops home starting now. . . . We must turn Iraq over to the Iraqis starting immediately, end the wrongful occupation of Iraq and re-establish a commitment to the rule of international law and human rights; provide for the financial security of the Iraqi people during Iraq’s transition toward self-governance; return the national territory of Iraq to the sovereign control of the people of Iraq with no permanent U.S. bases in that country; support international diplomatic efforts to assist in peaceful reconciliation among the Iraqi people; and contribute financial resources to rebuild Iraq’s physical and economic infrastructure.” 

Perhaps equally meaningfully, this convention saw the surge of impeachment sentiment expressed, and the CDP went on record Saturday morning as follows: 

“The California Democratic Party calls for the immediate investigation of the President and Vice President of the United States for committing the following alleged acts: 

“Misleading Congress and the American public about an unproven and unrealized threat to national security by Iraq in order to justify war thereby violating the federal anti-conspiracy statute and the False Statement Accountability Act. 

“Ordering the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American citizens without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review as required by law. 

“Violating the Federal Torture Act Title 18 United States Code, Section 113C and the UN Torture Convention and the Geneva Convention, which are U.S. law under Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. 

“Ordering indefinite detention of accused persons without access to legal counsel, without charge, and without the opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, all in violation of U.S. law and the Bill of Rights. 

“Sufficient questions have been raised in public discourse, in the press, and on the floor of Congress to warrant an investigation of these and other alleged crimes, misdemeanors, and acts of misfeasance and malfeasance, and to merit an investigation into the propriety of impeachment.” 

On the Saturday night of the convention, almost a thousand people jammed a theater in Sacramento to attend a forum on impeachment sponsored by the Progressive Caucus and several other organizations (including the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club and East Bay for Democracy) to hear Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, Bob Fertik, Elizabeth De La Vega and Shayana Kadidal discuss the topic of impeachment, moderated by Air America’s Mike Malloy. Tim Goodrich delivered an inspiring and heartfelt opening, reminding the crowd about the devastating effects the Bush Administration has had on our country.  

On Saturday the convention voted to endorse for office in the June primaries Phil Angelides for governor and Debra Bowen for Secretary of State, in each case picking the best progressive for the job. Additionally, the CDP voted to endorse Sandre Swanson for Assembly (16th AD) and Jerry McNerney for Congress (11th CD), again picking progressives for office. 

All in all, it was a far better convention than 2005. 

Mal Burstein is a Berkeley attorney and Democrat.

Do I have a reasonable point? 

Why have the media not focused or reported on the real problem—the lack of labor law enforcement and the ineptitude of the departments of labor and of elected lawmakers in general, as well as state labor agencies to enforce existing laws that prevent illegal labor practices. There are labor laws that make it illegal and would thereby have prevented hiring illegal migrants. Also, wouldn’t enforcing fair business practices have forced businesses to provide legal and fair working wages and conditions to those Americans “who refuse to work those types of jobs.” 

Now it’s an “illegal immigrant” problem. Not a corrupt business and labor practice problem. Not an inept and corrupt government obligation unfulfilled. (And, why can’t the media name who is in charge or responsible to the voter and the citizen to enforce these laws?) Now it is an epidemic of immigrant’s human rights. But what about the rights of American citizens to fair wages and benefits for all jobs? 

It is really a problem caused by those in charge ignoring the “rules of law”—when and where they count. Thanks to our elected law makers and labor law enforcement officials and agencies, illegal aliens are determining the basic labor standard. 

If law enforcement and law makers had long ago enforced the labor laws regarding illegal hiring practices (and fined or jailed businessmen!) or enforced labor practice laws that created fair working wages and conditions, then this illegal immigrant epidemic would not exist. If law makers cared about preventing social ills and solving social problems, these government officials would not have ignored the truth that a fair minimum wage and benefits do not exist in the workforce at base-level jobs. 

Just because you can run a business and make a profit, doesn’t make that business legal or ethical or good for the marketplace or society. If labor laws demanded decent pay and basic benefits from employers, then the native work force—the students, the unemployed, the undereducated, the unskilled and the welfare-dependent would find that menial and manual and base-level jobs are attractive and beneficial toward the real cost of living—allowing them to invest in the future (to job advancement or to further education or to home ownership) instead of forcing them to live day-to-day and hand-to-mouth or to join underground economies. 

With a decent living wage and fair employment practices and enforcement of these by our government officials, then the incentive to hire and exploit illegal immigrant workers would not flourish in the business world. Illegal workers would be discouraged by honest employers or encouraged to find legal routes to join our workforce. Or they might even become desperate enough to fight for their own worker rights in their own exploitive and corrupt countries. Instead, it is easier to illegally undercut labor practices in our country, thanks to our inept government officials and greedy and corrupt employers. 

But now this “illegal migrants and workers” problem has become an epidemic, also thanks to the greed of businesses and the ineffectiveness of law makers to do their jobs—to provide legal guidelines to prevent social problems, to enforce laws that provide social solutions, and to serve the entire spectrum of our society and not just the moneyed special interest of business. 

Good and fair labor laws and labor practices would help all employers and employees to be good, productive, law-biding citizens. But now illegal immigrants will determine how to lower the value of human service and prove that it is OK and “legal “ to exploit anyone for the cause of business profiteering. 

Greed, corruption, and apathy, the American way—and welcome to the third world. 

Adolfo Cabral is a Berkeley resident.

Readers of the May 5-9 issue of the Daily Planet risk having some serious misperceptions of the Berkeley Unified School District’s Maintenance Department. I know that bad news is generally more exciting than good or okay news, but when a news article presents a misleading picture, those who know the true picture need to speak up. Since I was one of the persons quoted and since, after working here for almost four years, I know the department pretty well, I’d like to set the record straight.  

Let me say first that the Maintenance Department is working: maintenance is getting done, repairs are getting made. Four years ago, I, too, heard that this department was “in disarray,” only to find when I began working here that this was not the case. Moreover, the department improved, slowly and surely, under Director of Maintenance Rhonda Bacot, who was also new at that time and who brought a wealth of knowledge and experience in maintenance as well as a friendly, can-do, service-oriented outlook. I credit her organization and training of staff for the fact that the department did not collapse when our a.m. shift supervisor died unexpectedly at the beginning of December, when our p.m. supervisor retired at the end of December, and when we lost Rhonda herself to another school district at the beginning of March. 

I also give great credit to Pedro Reynosa, our acting supervisor for both a.m. and p.m. shifts—also a very capable and can-do person. The weight of seeing that work actually gets done has fallen on his shoulders. He is the busiest man I know. Credit is also due to other capable and hard-working maintenance employees—too many to list here. 

Now for a few specifics:  

• The work order system. Work orders come in from the schools and district offices through a user-friendly system and are immediately assigned. While some workers are much better than others at completing work, work orders are not left incomplete. They are dealt with in various ways and closed out electronically. Could the system be improved? Most certainly. It has the potential to be used in additional ways and to provide all kinds of reports. Additional office help would provide this. 

• Rent. Rent due to the district is being collected, thanks to my colleague Sally Reed, who has taken on what used to be a full-time job—property management, along with most of another formerly full-time job—that of Custodial Supervisor, along with her regular work in the Maintenance Department. Needless to say, Sally does not have much time to chase after deadbeats, so yes, there are a few rental payments slow to come in. Additional office help would benefit this situation. 

• Contract work. Under Rhonda Bacot’s administration, employees were trained and encouraged to develop their talents and interests, with the effect that contracted work was cut back considerably. I personally witnessed a reduction in payments (which had been large!) to companies repairing heating systems, security and fire systems and play yard equipment—to name a few. 

To sum up: The Maintenance Department is working! In 1990 Berkeley taxpayers very generously voted $4 million to ensure decent maintenance in the BUSD. This funding enabled the district to hire additional workers and to, at long last, have enough money to purchase much-needed equipment and supplies. As one there in the thick of it all, I’d like to let people know: your tax dollars are being spent as you intended!  

Ann Aoyagi is Administrative Coordinator, Maintenance Department in the Berkeley Unified School District.

“Spell it!” demanded the young redhead, eyes glaring, hands on narrow hips. 

“I know how to spell it,” responded the brown boy, indignantly. 

“Then spell it!” the freckled second grader dared him. 

“I don’t have to spell it!” her classmate retorted. 

“My mom says that people who say ‘I don’t have to spell it’ are losers.” And with a flick of her long, shiny tresses, she turned on her heel and dismissed him. 

An instant of pain flickered in his dark eyes, quickly replaced with anger. His face hardened and he, too, turned away. Perhaps the eight-year-old wordsmith had touched something inside him. A nagging, resurfacing voice that many African-Americans and other oppressed people often hear. A voice whispering to him, taunting him, telling him: you’re not good enough, you’re not smart enough, you—who you are right here and right now—are simply not enough. 

This exchange—written here exactly the way it happened—is not atypical of the numerous interactions I witness while working in the Berkeley Unified School District, primarily with second and third graders. 

While Berkeley prides itself on its history of integration within the public school system (well, at least it used to), the fact is that the disparity between not just the races but the classes is growing larger, just as it has throughout our country. 

Part of the reason for the sense of distance felt between so many Americans has to do, in part, with our seeming inability to truly empathize with those who appear to be different. There’s a disconnect. An uninformed assessment. A judgment. A dismissal. 

What the little girl was telling the little boy was, in so many words, that he was stupid and they both knew it. Her mother had told her how to judge people like him and she was simply doing as she was instructed to do. 

Over time, her words combined with other disapproving words, hostile stares, repeated rejection, avoidance, fear and even repulsion, dished out by various shop- keepers, authority figures, teachers, neighbors, media and even complete strangers, all contributed to what is too often a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Kids aren’t born thinking they are inferior any more than they are born to be “bad” or indifferent. These are learned attitudes and behaviors that become internalized; they become part of a person’s hard drive, stamped onto some internal mechanism that defines who we are and what we’re about. 

While it doesn’t excuse antisocial behavior, it can explain the thought processes; the reasons why a person automatically goes from “A” to “B” to “C”.  

In my last column (May 16) I wrote about losing my firstborn child to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. What I didn’t mention was this: four days after my daughter died, I was distraught. I held this searing, boomeranging pain inside of me that the four walls around me could not contain. I had to get out of the house. I needed to move, to walk. My husband took my hand and we started walking, from south Berkeley toward UC Berkeley. 

As we walked along Campus Road nearing our alma mater Boalt Hall, a jeep full of young white men, what we used to call “frat boys,” approached us. As they passed, one of them laughingly shouted at us: “Nigger!” 

I was stunned, incensed, livid. My hormones, already off-kilter with grief, went off the charts. If I had had a gun, there might be one less Corporate-CEO-Daddy’s Boy in the world today. I wasn’t thinking. I was feeling. And all I felt was rage.  

There have been countless times when I, along with every other black person I know, have been on the unwelcomed receiving end of mindless, cruel racism. I have been followed through stores as though I were a common thief. I have been ignored by clerks when clearly I was next in line. Passed over while waiting for a table. Ignored by waitresses. I recall standing at a bus stop on University Avenue, my arms laden with law books, only to have some white man in a long American car pull up and ask “How much?” 

Not long ago, I was in a popular bakery near closing time and the clerk jumped back from the register, a look of terror on her face as she stared towards the door. I turned to look. A tall black man was running toward the entry way. He stopped, bent over and scooped up his toddler who giggled as he kissed her. He had run towards the bakery door chasing his two-year-old, not planning on armed robbery. 

I live in south Berkeley, in the house my grandparents purchased in 1934. They were among the first people of color to integrate this neighborhood. As the elders in our community passed away, some of their children and grandchildren inherited their homes, debts and responsibilities but not their dreams of a better life. 

Two, some say three, generations have been lost to drugs, in particular to crack cocaine. There are those who blame this on the CIA, who insist that there was a well-orchestrated conspiracy to destroy African-Americans through drug addiction and that they have the documentation to prove it. I’m not going to debate that assertion here. Whatever the cause, it is evident that far too many in our communities have suffered the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, many beginning in utero.  

Addiction is often accompanied by depression, lack of education, diminished mental capacity, unemployment, poverty and various expressions of antisocial behavior. I wonder whether any of these factors contribute to the mess on Oregon Street. 

We’ve all read about the drug dealing emanating from 1610 Oregon St. in south Berkeley, not far from my home. We’ve read numerous articles alternately describing the owner of the property, 76-year-old Lenora Moore as a long-suffering grandmother dedicated to her ailing husband and as an irresponsible maven who has no control over her drug-dealing offspring.  

What we haven’t read about are the offspring: the source of the disruptive, illegal activity. Who are they? What are their names? Are they all merely “alleged” drug dealers? Have any of them been arrested? Convicted? Why or why not? Is anyone going after them? Has anyone asked them why they continue to use and disrespect their grandmother? There is nothing “African-American” about that. 

Quite the contrary. In African cultures, the elders are held in the highest regard; lovingingly cared for and listened to. They would never be placed at such risk by their own children or any other young people in their community.  

I recently spoke with one of the families directly affected by the Oregon Street controversy, some of whom had grown up around the children and grandchildren of Mrs. Moore. 

I wanted to know what these “alleged” drug dealers were like as kids, if there were any warning signs or predictors. I wasn’t surprised to hear that these young adults were the schoolyard bullies, the neighborhood vandals. 

Never mind school. Apparently, they are bullies still: vandalizing the property of their distraught neighbors, threatening to kill those who complain. 

There are many African-American families who do not want this activity in their neighborhood. However, they are reluctant to speak out for fear of retaliation.  

I wonder whether or not these bullies-turned-dealers are some of the same kids who were told they were stupid and worthless so often and in so many ways that they came to believe it, not only of themselves, but of everyone around them, including their grandparents, including you and me.  

Not to excuse their behavior, mind you, simply to try to understand it, so that perhaps we can do more to cut out the source of this cancerous growth—this indifference towards other human beings—at its roots.

We didn’t do anything about it when it happened the first time and so, perhaps, that is why it has happened again . . . a high-speed police chase, supposedly from an East Oakland “sideshow,” ending in the death of innocent bystanders. Saturday night, it happened on 90th and MacArthur Boulevard. 

As always when the East Oakland “sideshows” are involved, it’s important—if you wish to get to the truth—to save the articles and official statements, read the fine print carefully, and check current “facts” against the “facts” as previously presented. Official “facts” given out about Oakland’s sideshows are like houses built on the Hayward fault—the ground tends to move under them and if you don’t pay attention, some of it ends up disappearing altogether or changing so much you can hardly recognize it. 

Reporting on the first court appearance of 33-year-old Oakland resident Amiri Bolten, Oakland Tribune staff members Harry Harris and Kristin Bender write in Thursday’s paper that “Bolten’s 1988 Chev- rolet van . . . first attracted the attention of police near the intersection of 73rd and Ney avenues about 9:20 p.m. Saturday because it was blaring loud music. Officers stopped the van and while walking up to it smelled marijuana inside, said Traffic Officer Jeff Thomason.” 

Thomason, it should be noted, was not one of the officers involved in the incident; he’s just the one who talked with the reporters. The Tribune account goes on to say that after the officers walked up to the van “without warning, the van sped off and officers pursued it, radioing to other officers and supervisors that they were in a chase.” According to the Tribune account, Bolten sped up 73rd Avenue to MacArthur with the police following some blocks behind, turned right, and then roared through a red light at 90th and MacArthur, hitting a Nissan Sentra driven by 25-year-old Jessica Castaneda-Rodriguez of Oakland. Castaneda-Rodriguez was killed in the crash, along with a passenger, 21-year-old Salvador Nieves Jr., also of Oakland. A second passenger, a 24-year-old San Leandro woman, was hospitalized in critical condition. 

The Thursday Tribune report said that Bolten was captured trying to run away from the accident scene, and that officers “found marijuana in the van.” The paper reported that Bolten has been charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office with “vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, one count of evading police causing injury or death, hit and run, and a parole violation.” 

But not DUI or possession of marijuana? Even though that was the underlying offense which was supposed to have triggered the pursuit in the first place? An interesting omission, but perhaps that was an oversight, either by the DA’s office, or by the reporters, to be corrected as we go on. 

In any event, the Harris-Bender Thursday morning Tribune account of the chase and accident were slightly different from those printed in the Tribune on the previous Monday, this one attributed to Tribune “staff reports.” 

In the Monday story, the Tribune said that “Strategic Area Command officers were in the vicinity of 73rd and Ney avenues about 9:20 p.m. Saturday when they saw a full-size 1988 Chevrolet van involved in “sideshow activities, which can include reckless driving, people hanging out of car doors and doing donuts in the street.” 

This is an interesting way to characterize the initial circumstances, don’t you think? The Tribune “staff reporters” don’t actually say that the Chevrolet van was doing “reckless driving [with] people hanging out of car doors and doing ‘donuts’ in the street.” In fact, it doesn’t even say that such activity was going on in the vicinity at the time the police stopped the Chevrolet van. Why, then, one wonders, did the Tribune include the reckless driving, etc., in the original story? Was it actually going on at the time at 73rd and Ney, or did they just add it, for “color”? Perhaps the good folks at the Tribune will someday explain. 

Three other items are notable in the original Tribune story. The article says that “police said Bolten appeared under the influence of alcohol while driving,” but does not mention any marijuana. It also says that “the names of the officers chasing Bolten were not released,” although it doesn’t say why this should be. 

Why is the marijuana important to this story, both its absence in the original Tribune account, and its addition later? 

Without the “smell of marijuana” from Bolten’s van, what we are left with is Strategic Area Command officers riding through what the Oakland Police Department officially calls the “sideshow zone,” stopping a car because of “blaring loud music,” and then chasing it after the driver ran away. If this was the case, then two innocent young people are dead and another is in critical condition in the hospital because the City of Oakland has decided that “blaring loud music” is a serious offense. At least, it is in the sideshow zones of East Oakland. 

(A “sideshow zone,” by the way, is not the official police description of the location where a sideshow is actually taking place. It is the Oakland police designation of geographic areas—all in East Oakland—where they enforce traffic laws in a stepped-up way. No sideshow has to be occurring—or ever has to have occurred in that location—for this stepped-up enforcement to take place.) 

The Castaneda-Rodriguez/Nieve tragedy is agonizingly similar to the death of 22-year-old U’Kendra Johnson, who was killed on Seminary Avenue in the early morning hours in February 2002 by driver Eric Crawford, who was also being chased by Oakland police. 

Back in 2002, police said they’d seen Crawford spinning donuts on Foothill Boulevard just before they started chasing him, and most newspaper and television accounts at the time blamed Johnson’s death on the sideshows. Before Johnson’s death, there had not been any deaths at or near a sideshow, and very little reported violence, even though murders were rampant on the streets of Oakland. The Johnson death ushered in the hysteria over sideshows, and became an instant political platform with State Senator Don Perata naming an anti-sideshow bill after Johnson, and gruesome, in-color accident-scene photos of the car Johnson died in appearing on the cover of promotional pieces for two candidates running for Oakland City Council to advertize those candidates’ positions of cracking down on the sideshows. 

The facts that witnesses denied that a sideshow was taking place at the time that police began chasing Crawford, or that the accident had more to do with a police chase and Crawford’s drinking and driving, were lost in all the general uproar. 

U’Kendra Johnson’s mother eventually filed a wrongful death action against the City of Oakland, the Oakland Police Department, and the two officers involved in the high-speed chase of Crawford, but she later quietly dropped it, without comment. And Oakland police said that while the officers did chase Crawford, they never got close enough to have any effect on the accident. (That’s the same position currently being taken in the Castenda-Rodriguez/Nieves accident.) 

U’Kendra Johnson’s death—and the official attribute of it to the sideshows—opened the political floodgates against the sideshows, leading to Oakland City Council passing Mayor Jerry Brown’s “arrest the sideshow spectators” law, and the setting up of the so-called “sideshow zones” in East Oakland, where Oakland Police officials openly admit that they enforce traffic laws different than in the rest of the city. Under this policy, police crack down on minor traffic violations in East Oakland, not because the drivers are involved in sideshows, but on the theory that doing so will prevent sideshows from occurring. In any other city, that would be called both discriminatory and unconstitutional. In Oakland, they are getting by with it. 

The high-speed police chase over a “sideshow” incident that led to the death of U’Kendra Johnson in 2002 got covered up, so that most Oakland citizens never knew that such a high-speed police chase ever took place. Now we have another one, in which two more innocent citizens have been killed. 

This time, maybe, we should pay closer attention to what is being done on our streets by the people we are paying to protect us. 

It’s unlikely that the producers of the documentary An Inconvenient Truth thought that they were producing a sequel to Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. But it’s impossible to see this 96-minute film about Al Gore’s single-handed fight to educate America about the dangers of global climate change and not wonder how different things would be if he had won in 2000. 

It’s hard to forget how close that presidential contest was, the fact that millions of Americans decided that they trusted George Bush more than “wonk man,” that the dark forces of Karl Rove managed to label Al “an enemy of the people.” 

Of course, in the alternate universe where Gore won the 2000 election, 9/11 would still have happened. But we probably wouldn’t have diluted the war on terror by attacking Iraq or crippled our economy by taking on a mountain of debt. And Gore certainly would have recognized the danger posed by Hurricane Katrina. One thing for sure, George Bush wouldn’t have gone on the road, night after night, to show Americans his elaborate multi-media pitch about the evils of global warming. 

Most of us remember the 2000 presidential election ending with a disputed Florida vote count, where the Supreme Court ultimately determined the results. But the fact is that George Bush was close to Gore in the popular vote because millions of Americans liked and trusted him. Under the direction of the Machiavellian Karl Rove, the Bush campaign did a number on Al Gore. A lot of voters were put off by his personality. Americans bought Bush’s claim that Gore was a liar; that he had bragged of inventing the Internet. On November 7, 2000, many Americans voted for George Bush believing that he was a “good Christian man,” who would usher in “an era of responsibility.” 

Sensing that it wasn’t “hanging chads” that had defeated him, Gore left the political stage. But he didn’t give up. After taking some time off, he returned to his original, heart-felt message, “Our ability to live on planet earth is at stake.” 

Gore’s story parallels that of the protagonist in An Enemy of the People, one of Ibsen’s most famous plays. Dr. Thomas Stockman discovers that environmental pollution threatens the municipal baths at his small Norwegian community, a health resort. He thinks that if he tells the townspeople the truth, they will believe him and take remedial action. Instead, his fellow citizens brand Stockman “an enemy of the people,” because they are afraid of the economic consequences of his news. They harass him and his family, but Stockman doesn’t leave town. At the end of the play, he declares, “The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone.” 

After the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore never left town either. He embarked on a one-man crusade to wake up America to the perils of global climate change, a subject he’d been interested in since his college days. He put together a multi-media presentation and schlepped it back and forth across the US. Gradually the presentation got better and attracted more attention. Eventually it became the subject of the movie that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. 

The documentary has problems. It’s too long. How many times do we need to see Gore walking through airports or sitting in hotel rooms staring soulfully at his laptop computer? And it doesn’t give viewers enough to do. Al refers them to www.climatecrisis.net, but he easily could have shown them what’s being accomplished in green cities such as Curitiba, Brazil, and Oslo, Norway. And Gore misses an opportunity to lobby for collective action, the formation of a public-private partnership to address global warming. 

Moreover, An Inconvenient Truth can’t decide what it is. Is it an information-oriented documentary about the dangers of global climate change, where Gore does the voice over? Is it a semi-biographical film about Al reinventing himself? Or is it a soft political film implying that the United States made a big mistake ditching the wonk man for that cheeky Dubya? The documentary is at its best when it shows us the redemption of Al Gore: how he found moral clarity by standing up for his beliefs and woke up America to the peril caused by its shortsighted policies. 

In the process, public perception changed and America grew fond of Al’s awkwardness. He’s no longer labeled “an enemy of the people.” In fact, in some quarters he’s become a folk hero. There are whispers that if Hillary Clinton falters, wonk man might be drafted as the Democrats’ presidential candidate in 2008. 

There’s been a reversal of fortune. Americans are waking up to discover that they made a bad mistake electing George Bush. That he can’t be trusted and isn’t even that likeable. That Dubya not only doesn’t have a plan to solve America’s problems, he hasn’t recognized most of them. Rather than usher in an era of responsibility, he’s championed an era of unbridled self-interest. After five and a half years, it’s Bush who’s become the enemy of the people. 

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

It never ceases to amaze me what madness the media and the legal community have created out of a little thing like mold. 

It happened with asbestos about 25 years ago and, although that has calmed down a great deal, there are still companies making millions removing what is most likely not going to hurt you if you leave it where it is. 

These are, of course, hot button issues because for every 1,000 cases of not mattering very much, you can always find one that might be a real case. And so we all suffer for a lack of understanding and good shared knowledge about the subject. 

Molds are funguses. They are part of our world, they’re literally everywhere we go and on almost every surface in nature. They are part of what makes the biosphere operate. Without funguses, bacteria and insects (FBI), we would have no breakdown of organic matter and no transformation into new life (including the produce at the store, the fish in the sea, you and me). 

Molds are also part of our intimate world. They’re not just outside the door, they’re in the pizza, the brie and some less common foods like tempeh and the meat substitute quorn. 

Without mold, there’s no penicillin. In short, we eat mold, we breath it and it lives in our shower. Additionally, mold’s first cousin, the mushroom, is on the diet for most folks and, if properly chosen, proves quite safe. 

For most of us and under the majority of conditions, molds do very little harm to us. When we take a walk in the woods we are surrounded by molds which are releasing their spores (to give birth to more of the little wonders) into the air. 

The problem with mold in the home is almost (I said almost) entirely a matter of moisture. For homes that have moisture problems, mold is a real issue. But, then again, moisture would be a problem if there were no molds at all. 

If you have high humidity in your home a wide range of funguses, including those that have no interest in human beings, can do quite a bit of damage to the wooden (and wood pulp) parts of your home. 

Those oft-seen pest reports are, locally, mostly about fungal damage and usually not so much about the work of insects. Again, this is invariably about water or elevated humidity levels in the home. 

There is one fabulous exception to this that we’re not seeing too much in this area but has done some major damage to houses in Southern California. That would be poria incrassata which brings it’s own water with it (eek) and can, thereby, consume lots of wood when no leaks exist to wet the wood. We don’t have much of it up here so don’t freak. 

But back to the main point; that molds (again, a subset of the funguses) are rarely found in large growing colonies except where a good source of moisture is present. In other words, when the inside of the house is leaking. There are mold problems in houses that have competent roofs and walls but which have basements which flood or weep copiously. 

There are houses that have mold in closets because the overall humidity in the house is high. There are houses where mold is growing in lots of places because it’s either raining inside the walls or the roof. Or when there is a source of water below and very low porosity through the structure. The last case is more common in newer homes than in old ones. 

We’ve begun, in recent years, to build houses that are so tight that they’re literally pressure tested before they can pass muster. Our local housing stock is mostly very porous and so we lose lots of heat and pay high bills. But, we also don’t have the same kind of problems with fungi.  

I’ve been in a few houses that clearly had serious mold/fungus problems and they were invariably ones that had a moisture problem that would require addressing even if there were no concern about the dreaded M-word. It’s not OK to have the inside of the house be damp, is it? Well, I suppose if you’re Newt-Man it would be a good thing but I don’t have a big N on my spandex wrapped chest and so, like most folks I will call for help if the inside of the house gets wet. 

Here are a few things you can do if you believe you have mold in your home. First, if you’re getting sick, talk to a doctor. If you have good reason to believe it has to do with where you’re living, get out. This will do two things. 

First, it may help you get better, and second, it will act as a control in an experiment, helping you to understand what may be making you ill. You’ll have eliminated one variable from the equation and can run the experiment again (i.e. stay alive). 

Second thing. Find and address sources of wetness. Molds and funguses are found in homes as a result of leaks or of elevated humidity due to inadequate isolation or ventilation of moisture sources, such as wet crawlspaces, basement or gas appliances (gas appliances give off huge amount of water vapor).  

Some of the simple things that CAN but do not always work to address the latter include: the use of vapor barriers (plastic sheeting over damp soil), sump pumps, drainage systems, diverting gutter downspout water away from the house and increased crawlspace ventilation (which allows moisture to reach equilibrium with the outdoors through evaporation). 

For many houses I see, a vapor barrier combined with a small amount of ventilation (1 square foot per 1,500 square feet) should be sufficient, although I prefer to see 5-10 times this amount of ventilation. One square foot per 150 square feet of crawlspace is the basic code requirement and I virtually never see it met. I also see quite a few houses that clearly have elevated moisture levels. 

A hygrometer can be bought from any cigar store (I’ve gotten them on ebay) and can be hung inside the house to monitor moisture levels. The only problem with this method is that various molds and fungi propagate at a wide range of moisture levels (some only grow at 100 percent!) so once again, we’re back to basics. 

Keep the house as dry as possible and if you have allergies, try to keep it bone dry. If you have significant allergies to mold, my person feeling is that you should never try to live in an environment that has any significant moisture level and that will exclude many places. 

I, for example, don’t eat any dairy. Life’s throws us all curve balls but I’m a happier guy when I don’t eat cheese. So I’d suggest that you grin and bear it and stay away from clammy housing if you know you react poorly to mold. 

If your landlord has a damp house and you have good reason to believe you’re getting sick from it, move out. If you’re child seems to be getting sick from your damp rental, move out and if it’s your house, well, it’s time to find the window leak, the roof leak or the moisture in the basement.  

The important thing is to keep everything as dry as possible, starting with your sense of humor. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.

One of my favorite places to look for—or just look at—esoteric, obscure, clever, or kinky garden tools is Hida Japanese Tools on San Pablo, across from REI and a few doors down from Ashkenaz. 

Hida started as a woodworkers’ tool shop with some bonsai wares, than branched out into other pruning and gardening tools; it’s where I got my brace of hori-horis. (By the way, I was wrong last week when I said they all have full tangs. They don’t, but the tangs are long and the tools are tough enough to stand on.)  

I used to buy stuff from them on a regular basis when I was a pro, and still allow myself to be tempted. For one thing, I made more money gardening than I do writing, and I could tell myself that whatever odd marvel I went home with was part of the job.  

They were, still are, a lot cheaper and more reliable than the average computer accessory.  

I bought my extension pruner there, when they had two models and $50 was a lot to pay. Since then, Hida’s added to the long-reach line and now there are, oh, about a dozen kinds including telescoping and two-handed shear models, and pole saws with those wonderful (and replaceable) Japanese blades. 

I still like the one I have, and Hida still sells it. It’s about five feet long, very lightweight, and has a pistol grip; I can control my cuts with it almost as well as I can with my Felcos. Don’t confuse this with the average pole pruner, which I’ve always found clumsy. Don’t underrate the value of a good controlled cut either, as a tool that lets you make one will maintain even the monetary value of the tree you keep healthy and don’t mutilate.  

Don’t need a long reach? Hida’s still the best place for saws. A good Silky or similar pruning saw cuts through branches like butter. Learn to make a jump cut and, unless you cut a lot of Hollywood junipers, you won’t need a chainsaw. (Those abominable little chainsaws on poles I see in magazine ads shouldn’t be sold without a permit and proof of expertise. Better to buy a three-year-old a pistol. Ugh.)  

Hida’s branched out into kitchen knives and grooming scissors and other tempting cutlery. There are more and better bonsai tools, and oddments like the long, flexible, leaf-shaped knife I find perfect for getting plants out of pots. 

If you absolutely must have a pink trowel, this is where to find it—along with its less colorful brethren in half a dozen useful shapes and sizes. Since I don’t read Japanese, there’s at least one tool there I still don’t know the use of, despite a helpful diagram.  

On the other hand, there are implements there that say, “Take me home!” just by the way they fit and balance when I pick them up, and are eloquently enough made to speak their usefulness immediately. For tools you didn’t know you needed, look into Hida.  

Another hot tip 

The Berkeley Garden Club will hold its annual plant sale at 547 Grizzly Boulevard (at Euclid) from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, June 17.  

Hida Tool  

1333 San Pablo Ave. 

524-3700, www.hidatool.com. 

Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

The bad news is that Berkeley’s downtown retail district is sick, and Telegraph Avenue is catching the disease. 

The worse news is that planners are working hard to make all of this worse. 

Do most Berkeley residents and business owners want Shattuck Avenue downtown to lose travel lanes and parking spaces? Want left turns prohibited from Shattuck onto Center Street? Want downtown streets permanently choked down to narrow lanes or completely blocked to cross traffic?  

Does any reasonable person really believe that downtown Berkeley needs to become even more congested? If not, pay close attention to the city’s “Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza and Transit Area Design Plan.” This little-noticed planning effort could become an even bigger fiasco than the Ashby BART lot’s redevelopment-by-stealth. 

At an April 29 Downtown Plaza “public workshop” that I attended, the presiding city staff and most of their consultants were competent and courteous. And the plan’s original, limited goal of making the BART “drum” and brick plaza more attractive initially seemed worth considering. (Although I increasingly agree with participants who said to leave the structures alone —just add some cafe seating to help tame the space.) Disturbingly, though, this project’s scope has crept far beyond that basic goal in at least three unwelcome directions.  

First, all four “design options” that the consultants sketched out would facilitate AC Transit’s proposed “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT) boondoggle by significantly changing the downtown core: They would convert mixed-use lanes to bus-only lanes. They would remove parking on both sides of Shattuck Square or elsewhere. And they would prohibit left turns onto Center. 

One particularly wretched option would replace Shattuck Avenue’s grassy median with an ugly, paved bus plaza—extending into a gray moonscape that would completely block Center Street to cross traffic at Shattuck. That ought to kill the city’s young “Arts District” in its crib by making it impossible for patrons to get to parking, let alone events. (Two major parking garages have entrances on Center west of Shattuck.) 

Significantly, Berkeley’s City Council has never approved cooperating with AC Transit’s controversial proposal for “exclusive” bus lanes. It may never do so: Judging from the thousands of signatures on petitions opposing it and from past discussion on these pages, that proposal is wildly unpopular. Faster buses are a great idea—on routes where they’d provide a real alternative, not right near BART. 

San Leandro officials have already flatly refused to surrender mixed-use lanes along that city’s portion of AC Transit’s proposed route. While Berkeley officials dither, San Leandro was perhaps inspired by Berkeley’s heritage of rebelliousness and free speech. 

Why did Berkeley’s Transportation Division spend $15,000 hiring consultants to plan for this unapproved and unpopular scheme? A staff member’s answer was convincing, if not exactly satisfactory: A regional agency contributed even more, contingent on the plan’s including BRT elements. 

Even so, did our City Council and city manager really intend to authorize Berkeley’s transportation manager to light a fuse leading to this bus-only lanes powder keg? 

Second, all four of the displayed options would narrow or close streets in unhelpful, if not dangerous, ways. They would choke down every Shattuck Avenue intersection with “curb extensions,” the sidewalk tumors that are spreading like an epidemic among Berkeley’s corners. 

As a bicyclist, I can tell you that these things are an obstruction and a hazard to cyclists. But they’ve become a fad with planners, just like designing around the automobile’s needs was dogma in the 1950s. Today’s planners assume that curb extensions improve pedestrian safety. But in nine years of asking, I haven’t found one planner who could identify any evidence for this.  

Worse, one of the sketches would arc a big new curb barrier right into cyclists’ path on Shattuck’s east side. Others would narrow Shattuck Square’s east branch, or Center Street east of Shattuck, down to tiny traffic lanes that would leave hardly any room for motor vehicles, let alone bikes. 

Again, does anyone really think downtown Berkeley isn’t already congested enough? If you oppose these notions, now is the time to ask our mayor and City Council to take a firm stand against them. 

Finally, the consultants devoted considerable effort to above-ground alternatives for the “bikestation” (bike-parking facility) that a cycling group currently operates inside the BART station. All this effort was basically wasted.  

The nearby Civic Center Garage already provides secure, attended bicycle parking above ground. Several city-owned bikes park there, as does mine. This garage is open much longer hours than the BART facility. It’s also just steps from the former Berkeley TRIP transit storefront, which could and should be reopened. 

But the consultants offered no plans for preserving or expanding this great facility. They hadn’t even heard of it. Why such blindsided, redundant planning? 

A guess: Last time I checked, about half of Berkeley’s “Transportation” [sic] Commission was directly or indirectly affiliated with the bike group, known as BFBC, that runs the BART bikestation. This gives those commissioners an inherent conflict of interest when steering initiatives like this one. In fact, the city attorney has ordered the commission to rescind at least one vote over this issue. Much of the other goofiness presented on April 29 may have been encouraged by this commission. 

Reality check: Handouts justified this whole overreaching planning effort as largely intended to facilitate transfers among buses and BART. That’s nonsense. Those transfers work fine now—although they’d work better if they were free. Any real navigation problems that transit riders experience could be solved with a simple signboard at the BART station. 

The complaints I hear most frequently about downtown Berkeley aren’t about making bus transfers. They’re that traffic is too congested and parking too scarce. Blocks of empty storefronts and closed movie theaters are mute testimony to the many people who believe this. They’re staying away in droves, with a nasty impact on the city’s tax base and vitality. 

And believe me, reserving whole lanes and removing scarce parking, for buses that run only every 10-20 minutes will simply make more people stay away. It boggles the mind that transportation officials are paying consultants to examine how to worsen these problems on blocks that still function, sort of. This approach has even worse implications for Telegraph Avenue’s economic health—something I’ll discuss in a future column. 

Michael Katz uses trains, buses, bikes, and automobiles to patronize cool businesses until they decay into Berkeley-standard empty storefronts. 

Editor’s Note: Since we’ve lost Zelda Bronstein to the mayoral race, we’ve opened up her former space in the Public Eye Column to other active participants who can write good essays of about 1,000 words on local politics.

She’s Got the Paddle and We’re Up the Creek,” screamed last week’s headlines in a local weekly. 

The front page featured an unflattering sketch of Sheila Jordan holding a wooden paddle, much like the one I had in my Virginia classroom when I was an elementary school teacher 32 years ago. The subtitle said: “As Alameda County’s schools endured record financial woes, Superintendent Sheila Jordan often seemed more interested in spanking employees who questioned her judgment or her alleged illegal behavior.” 

Something about the picture and the accompanying headlines triggered a reaction in me. It brought back miserable memories of teaching science to 6th- and 7th-graders at Lylburn Downing Elementary School in Lexington, Virginia. 

I could believe that Sheila Jordan might paddle someone. After all, I whacked some of my students in 1974—even after swearing I never would and hiding the instrument of destruction in the back of my classroom closet. 

But that was before Sally Martin threw a chair at me, Clyde Walker broke the wall clock, and William Tinsley poked the eyes out of the spotted lizard that lived quietly alone in a glass aquarium on the windowsill by the radiator. 

I read the article. Sheila Jordan hasn’t actually spanked any of her employees, but according to the writer she has done a lot of questionable things. Being the superintendent of schools for Alameda County is a big job, much bigger than keeping order in an overenrolled, undersupplied classroom in the backwaters of Virginia. But that’s not to say my job wasn’t important or hard. It was. And I almost didn’t live to tell about it. 

I grew up in the genteel suburbs of Philadelphia where corporal punishment in the public schools had been banned long before I reached kindergarten. I don’t remember kids misbehaving in 1957 at Wenonah Elementary School. With the exception of Ricky Hinman, who had some anger issues, we were a quiet group of five-year-olds, anxious to please our teacher, Mrs. Rosenberg, and to learn how to tie our shoes, count to ten, and recite the ABCs. 

Nothing in my life prepared me for Sally, Clyde or William, or for Clyde’s cousin Venus, or William’s twin sister Wilma, or Sally’s half-brother Boo. 

I’d taken all the required courses, observed in a multitude of classrooms, student-taught for half a year, and graduated with honors with a degree in elementary education from a college that specialized in training teachers. 

But I didn’t know the first thing about discipline or how to keep students engaged and interested. Sally, Clyde, William, Wilma, Venus, and Boo were all about teaching me the fundamentals. 

Two months into the school year, after I’d run out of options, I took out the paddle and put it to use: first on Clyde, and then William; later on Sally, Wilma, Venus and Boo. I couldn’t send offenders to the front office anymore because Mr. Thompson, the principal, sent them back to me a few minutes later. I couldn’t call Clyde’s mother because she hung up whenever she heard my voice. 

I didn’t want to call Mrs. Tinsley because she scared me. She had told me if anyone messed with William, she’d given him permission to “pick up a brick and beat the shit out of them.” Sally stayed with foster parents. Venus resided in a phoneless house. Wilma lived with William, and Boo bounced back and forth between foster care and an elderly, overwhelmed grandmother. 

When the school year ended, I enrolled in a National Science Foundation seminar that taught teachers how to use a hands-on approach. The following September I concentrated on conducting simple experiments, growing plants and tiny animals, and looking closely at little things in order to understand the bigger world outside our classroom. I didn’t need a paddle. 

Oh sure, there were occasions when I wanted to smack someone on the bottom, send them to the principal’s office, or call their mother or grandmother. But the paddle stayed in the closet and after awhile I forgot about it. 

Until last week, that is, when I read about Sheila Jordan. That’s when I wanted to get out my old paddle and teach her a few lessons.

Hollywood juniper—Juniperus chinensis “torulosa” or J. chinensis “Kai-zuka”—is one of those trees you know even if you’ve never heard of it. It’s all over the place, one of those Sunset magazine California place markers, the twisty green thing waving its arms outside half the apartment buildings on the West Coast. It’s a city feature like pigeons, and like pigeons you hardly ever see a dead one.  

The Hollywood part of its name is apt: left to its own devices, the thing has a distinct tendency towards the dramatic. (I confess I think of it as Juniperus histrionicus; I suppose I’m analogizing from Histrionicus histrionicus, the harlequin duck, gaudily dressed and often sounding disproportionately alarmed.) It flings its branches about in showstopping gestures like Polly Pureheart fleeing the nefarious villain; the only organized thing about its shape is that most of those branches head off in roughly the same direction. This generally has something to do with the prevailing winds at its site, but I wouldn’t count on that for a compass either.  

It’s hard to get past the ubiquity of this tree—or shrub, by some reckonings—to convince myself of its interesting qualities. It’s so tough and easy to find that it’s become a “gas-station plant,” one of those landscape stalwarts you see almost everywhere because they can survive almost everywhere. So it’s a bit of a shock when I see it praised, especially as “unique,” in tree and garden publications and websites. 

Taken on its own, the cultivar does have certain charms. Those drama-queen branches can be shaped easily enough to more subtle, or subtly dramatic, bonsai-like styles. In fact, Hollywood junipers have been made into good bonsai by accomplished artists and are also good material for beginning bonsai students. Their commonness makes them inexpensive and easily available, and also means that someone looking for a change from the mass garden look might have one to give away for the work of digging it up. Then all you have to do is spend a few years reducing it, and you have a head start on a nice thick aged-looking trunk. 

Part of the Hollywood juniper’s appeal for bonsai and in a garden lies in the trunks’ and major limbs’ shapes. In a tree more than a few years old, these have a rippled, sinuous, muscular quality like a dawn redwood’s. It’s all very Charles Atlas except when it isn’t: there’s a Hollywood juniper near McCone Hall on the UC Berkeley campus that gets called “Squidward” by, well, I’m not sure who owns up to watching that much Spongebob Squarepants but that’s where the eponymous character shows up. I think it looks more like some larval Ent, myself.  

Another unheralded virtue of our gas-station tree lies in the fact that the cultivar is (by most accounts) a clone of a female plant. That means it doesn’t pollinate. That means it isn’t allergenic—unless you get up close and personal, pruning it or otherwise making skin contact. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s as itchy as any other juniper then; arborists talk about the 24-hour rash we get, generally on hands and forearms, from pruning junipers as just a fact of life.  

That also means they bear berries, and I can witness about that too: birds love them. Watch, especially in winter, for flocks of robins or cedar waxwings or both in your juniper. The robins whinny and holler and fly in and out in their barroom-brawl fashion; the waxwings are more genteel, if no less active, sometimes passing berries around to each other like dessert at a potluck. If you have to prune and your tree has berries, wait till spring, when the mobs have dispersed to breed. 

Pruning is one grudge arborists and landscapers have against Hollywood juniper, despite its reliability. If you have to make serious cuts in the thing, you need a chainsaw. The wood’s tough and dense and thick beyond all reason in such a relatively fast grower. If you have one that’s out of bounds and you don’t use a chainsaw yourself at least weekly, call in a pro. The results can be amazing, and you’ll spare some limbs, including your own.

FRIDAY, JUNE 2 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. 1409 High St., Alameda, through June 11. Tickets are $12-$15. 523-1553.  

Berkeley Rep “The Glass Menagerie” at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $59. Runs through June 18. 647-2949.  

Berkeley Rep “The Miser” at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $53. Runs through June 25. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

East Bay Improv at 8 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 597-0795.  

Shotgun Players “King Lear” Thurs.-Sun at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. to June 18. Tickets are $15-$30, reservations suggested. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Theatre of the Sacred Soul “A Man For All Seasons” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at All Souls Episcopal Parish, 2220 Cedar St. Donation $10. 848-1755. 

We Theater “The Tempest” at the Albany Bulb, Fri. and Sat. at 4 p.m. Donation $12. agentava@weplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Janine Brown & Lucy Traber 2005 Members’ Showcase Winners. Reception at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893. 

New Work by Chris Russell and Kari Morris Reception at 7 p.m. at Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

“Possibilities” Paintings by Donna Mendes, “Disassembly” figurative paintings by Marty McCorkle, and “Celebrating the Body Through Art” work by Nancy Ballard at Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., at Telegraph. www.estebansaber.com 

“Birds and Flowers in Japanese Art” Early 20th century woodblock prints by Ohara Koson and early 21st century color etchings by Ando Shinji, to July 28 at the Schurman-Scriptum Gallery, 1659 San Pablo Ave. 524-0623.  

The Portrait Show An introduction to The Thin Ice Collective. Reception at 7 p.m. at Auto3321 Art Gallery, 3321 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Exhibit runs to June 11. www.auto3321.com 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 3 and 4” at 7 p.m. “Decalogue 5 and 6” at 9:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mona Lee will show slides and talk about her book “Humbler Than Dust: A Retired Couple Visits the Real India by Tandem Bicycle” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Eduardo Galeano shares his new book, “Voices of Time: A Life in Stories” at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison, at 27th St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$12. 415-255-7296, ext.253.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Ruth Botchan Dance Company and Shahrzad Dance Company “Bridges: A Concert Bridging Jewish and Persian Cultures” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m at Western Sky, 2525 Eighth St. Tickets are $15-$18. 848-4878.  

Harry Best and Shabang and Tom Rigney and Flambeau at 5:30 p.m. at Park Place and Washington Ave., Pt. Richmond. 237-9375.  

Los Nadies & Tere Estrada at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Sony Holland and her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

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

The Ravines and Ronnie Cato, singer-songwriters, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Matthew Sperry Memorial Festival with Daniel Popsickle, Black Cat Duo and Dot Dot Dot at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

Look Back and Laugh, This is my Fist, Army of Jesus at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

L.A.E., Ranch Hand Brown at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Raw Deluxe Band at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Bill Frisell New Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 

EXHIBITIONS 

East Bay Open Studios Sat. and Sun. For maps and times see www.proartsgallery.org 

“Duane Cramer Works, 10 years in the making” Black and white photography. Reception at 6 p.m. at FLOAT 1091, Calcot Place, Unit#116, Oakland. 535-1702.  

Photography by Russ Greene at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs through June. 595-5344.  

THEATER 

California Shakespeare Theater “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at the Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda. Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. through June 25. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

FILM 

Superfest International Disability Film Festival from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$20. For schedule and access accomodations call 845-5575. 849-2568.  

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 7 and 8” at 6:30 p.m. “Decalogue 9 and 10” at 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Heather Lende introduces “If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

Bay Area Poets Coalition Open Poetry Reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, dining hall, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street, not in Lodge parking lot. 527-9905.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley World Music Festival featuring African, Latin American, Celtic, Indian music from noon to 9 p.m. Sat. and Sun. along Telegraph Avenue, with All West African Concert at People’s Park on Sat. from 1 to 5 p.m. www.telegraphberkeley.com 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

“A Special Evening of Harp Music” with Bay Area Youth Harp Ensemble, Pleiades Harp Ensemble, and Triskela Harp Trio at 8 p.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 2005 North Berryman St. Tickets are $7-$15. 548-3326. 

Donna Lerew, violin, and Lynn Schugren, piano, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St. Tickets are $15-$20. 848-4088. 

The Moon Town Schmatts Bassoon Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets aare $8-$12. 549-3864  

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Aphrodesia” at 7:30 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m., at The Marsh, 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $20-$50. 800-838-3006. 

GTS, Ojada at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $10. 451-8100.  

Alice Stuart & the Formerlys at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Los Mapaches at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568.  

Dangerous Rhythm, Tim Fox at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

The Snake Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Greg Pratt at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7 per family. 558-0881. 

Karen Blixt at 8 p.m. at the Jazz 

school. Cost is $15. 845-5373.  

Fred Randolph Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Mayim and Katherine Peck, singer-songwriters, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Loosewig Quartet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Chantigs, Everest, Fainting Goats at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Second Opinion, The Helm, Hit Me Back, Robot Eyes at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 4 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Tilden and Beyond” Paintings by Mary Robinson. Reception at 2 p.m. at Tilden Park Environmental Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

“My America: Art from The Jewish Museum Collection 1900-1955” opens at at 2 p.m. at Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $6-$8. 549-6950. 

FILM 

Superfest International Disability Film Festival from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$20. Reception at 6 p.m. For schedule and access accomodations call 845-5575. 849-2568. 

“The Cosmology of Words ... The Journey from Griot to Rapper” A documentary by Christina Abram-Davis at 6 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Fundraiser for the Jamaica Study Abroad program July 2006 of the Merritt College Ethnic Studies Department. Donation $10. nefetertinaproductions@yahoo.com 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 1 and 2” at 1:30 p.m. “Decalogue 3 and 4” at 3:45 p.m. and “Decalogue 5 and 6” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alameda Architectural Society 2006 Preservation Awards with Woody Minor on “The History of Measure A” at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, corner of Santa Clara Ave. and Chestnut St., Alameda. 986-9232. 

Julie Gamberg reads from her book of poems “The Museum of Natural History” at 4:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Maxine Rose Schur reads from “Places in Time: Reflection on a Journey” at 1 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Robert Greenfield will present “Timothy Leary: A Biography” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley World Music Festival featuring African, Latin American, Celtic, Indian music from noon to 9 p.m. Sat. and Sun. along Telegraph Avenue. www.telegraphberkeley.com 

Oakland Civic Orchestra “An Afternoon in Vienna” at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., near Lake Merritt, Oakland. Admission is free.  

Piedmont Choirs Spring Sing at 3 p.m. at Farnsworth Theater, Skyline High School, Oakland. 547-4441. 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Galax Quartet Adagios and other movements at 7 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana at Durant. Tickets are $10. 601-1370.  

Twang Cafe with The Whoreshoes, early honky tonk country and Kemo Sabe, modern camp fire songs at 7:30 p.m. at at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Americana Unplugged: Jimbo Trout & The Fish People at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Falso Baiano Choro Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Marc Cary’s Focus Trio at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373.  

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

Sam Misner & Megan Smith at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Verse, Crime in Stereo, Guns Up at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, JUNE 5 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Judy Jones reads from “Bones of the Homeless” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Actors Reading Writers “English Eccentrics,” stories by Alan Bennett and P.G. Wodehouse at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave.  

Poetry Express with Avotcja and Ramon Pinero at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.  

Christopher Robin and JC read their poems at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Bookstore, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 

Leonard Pitt talks about “Walks Through Lost Paris: A Journey Into the Heart of Historic Paris” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Peter Hallifax and Julie Jeffrey, viols. The Complete Published Works of Forqueray, one suite each morning for five days, through Fri. at 11 a.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana at Durant. TIckets are $7-$10, $25-$35 for the series. 220-1195. 

North Oakland Community Charter School Spring Concert at 6:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Free. www.juliamorgan.org  

The Sitka Trio at 1 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana. Tickets are $15. 559-4670. 

Longy School of Music at 4 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, 2316 Bowditch Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 978-853-2700. 

Coro Ciconia “What is a Motet?” Learn as you sing at 5:30 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $12. 843-0450.  

La Foolia “The History of Western Music” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St. Tickets are $15. 601-9631.  

DeLaMuse Songs of Dowland, Sances, Monteverdi & Caccini at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 831-566-3207.  

Blue Monday Jam, NC Connection at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Yoshida Brothers at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $20. 238-9200. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 6 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski Early Works: Program 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“A Celebration of Jaime de Angulo” presented by Malcom Margolin, Stefan Hyner, and Steve Dickison at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Linda Donn reads from “The Little Ballonist” at 7 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Artists’ Vocal Ensemble, “Music of the Apocalypse” at 5:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft at Ellsworth. Tickets are $10-$20 at the door. 717-9422. 

Ensemble Cerumina “Music across the Alps” at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, 2316 Bowditch Ave. Donations appreciated. 459-1582. 

Alta Sonora and Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble “Viaggio: a Musical Tour of Renaissance Italy” at 8 p.m. at International House, Bancroft and Piedmont. Tickets are $10-$15. 233-0868.  

Singer’s Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

PhilipsMarine, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Yoshida Brothers at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $20. 238-9200.  

Michael Coleman Trio Jazz Jam at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Bring your instrument. 451-8100.  

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

"Stitches in Time I: Food and Identity" Textile and multi-media works about food and cultural identity. Reception at 1:30 p.m. at Richmond Health Center, 100 38th St., enter at 39th and Bissell, Richmond. 231-1348. www.artschange.org 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski Early Works: Program 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ivan Doig reads from his new novel “The Whistling Season” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. 

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 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Berkeley Baroque Players at 8 p.m. Pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. at International House Auditorium, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 272-9147. 

Vox Populi Vocal Ensemble “Sacred music of Guillaume Dufay” at 6 p.m. at Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea, 2316 Bowditch St. Tickets are $10-$12. 843-3608.  

Bay Area Classical Harmonies Music for the Dead from Bach to Byzantine Chant at 6 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $12-$18. 868-0695  

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

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ.  

Whiskey Brothers, old time and bluegrass, at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473.  

Home at Last Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Juio Bravo, salsa, at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Grant Geissman at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$18. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, JUNE 8 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Future Tense” sculpture installations, constructions and mixed-media works by four artists opens at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Insitute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

FILM 

“New Orleans Music in Exile” a film by Robert Mugge at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd Flr. Community Room, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6233. 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “The Double Life of Véronique” at 7 p.m. and “Blind Chance” at 9 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Pollan reads from “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” at 7 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Harlyn Aizley talks about “Confessions of the Other Mother: Non-Biological Lesbian Mothers Tell All” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Ramor Ryan introduces his new book “Clandestines: The Pirate Journals of an Irish Exile” at 7:30 pm. at AK Press Warehouse, 674-A 23rd St., Oakland. 208-1700. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ensemble Vermillian Seventeenth Century Italian Chamber Music at noon at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $15. 559-4670. 

The Golden Age of Spain with Karol Steadman soprano, at 1 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $10-$15. 805-773-1057. 

Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord, at 2 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $10-$20. 240-418-9585. 

Pedro Jesús Gómez, lute and vihuela “The Lyre of Orpheus” at 5 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 549-3864.  

The Albany Consort Great Concertos and Cantatas at 6:15 at University Lutheran Chapel, 2425 College at Haste. Tickets are $15. 408-773-0375. www.albanyconsort.com 

Howard Kadis, lutenist, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $10-$15.  

De Profundis Low Sounds Only at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Bowditch at Durant. Tickets are $10. 459-7462. 

Baroque Cabaret with Sheli Nan and the Musicians Angelic at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. TIckets are $20-$25. 919-4493. www.shelinan.com 

The Klez-X at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Steve Gannon Monday Blues Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Be Brave Bold Robot, Dustin Aaron, Drunken Boat at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Hwy 42, Cult of Sue Todd, Toofless Sean Corkery at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Gary Burton Quartet Revisited at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$65. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

The Berkeley World Music Weekend is this weekend, Sat. and Sun., from noon-9 p.m., on Telegraph Avenue from Bancroft Way to Parker St., with over two dozen performances, all free. 

The festival “is music for everyone ... not only showcasing the variety of traditional and contemporary music in the Bay Area ... but with many glimpses into the often-unseen sides of the Telegraph neighborhood, a vibrant part of the community that exemplifies what Berkeley is,” said Gianna Ranuzzi, the event’s organizer. 

Picking up a schedule at the information table in front of Cody’s Books, at Telegraph at the corner of Haste, gives an idea of the great spectrum of sounds and where to find them as the Weekend unfolds. 

Events kick off Saturday at noon at outdoor and indoor venues turned into music cafes, as well as on street corners and in People’s Park.  

Remencier’s “Radtrad” Celtic music, with Laurie Chastain, Ed Sherry and Tris King, leads off at Cafe Med on Saturday. Other delights along the avenue include The State of Gujarat’s Indian folk music with vocals, The Spirit of ‘29 playing Dixieland and Klezmer, and The Smyrna Time Machine with the “Greek Blues” of Rebetika as well as the dance music of the Aegean. There will also be Arabic, Andalusian, Reggae, Latin and more (and jazzier) Irish music. 

In People’s Park from 1-5 p.m., there’ll be “the first outdoor musical event of Amoeba Music,” an All-African mini-event, with Dijaly Kunda Kouyata (Senegalese), Markus James and the Wassonrai with Stephen Kent on didjeridu, playing and singing “Blues from Mali,” and the West African Highlife Band.  

From 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, Mario Tejada will open his rarely seen banquet room at La Fiesta, next to Amoeba Music, for Parlor Tango. “So there’ll be dancing, inside and out, all afternoon,” said Ranuzzi, “and the walls at La Fiesta are thick; other sounds from the park won’t intrude.” 

Sunday will open up with Sean Smith’s acoustic steel guitar at Ann’s Kitchen, with Unity Nguyen playing Vietnamese music at The Med while Pete Olson’s Trio comes across with cajun and Country Stomp at the Durant Food Court, from 12:30-2 p.m. 

Rafael Manriquez’s Chilean sounds will overlap with Orquesta D’Sol’s salsa and funk at Cody’s and on the veranda of the Beau Sky Hotel, respectively. Other Latin flavors will be presented by Quijerema’s “New Latino Americana,” on Saturday and by the Mauro Correa Quartette with Brazilian Chorro Sunday, both at Raleigh’s Pub.  

After an arc of sounds—from Jeff Whittier on classic Indian flute to Kaila Flexner and Gari Hegedus’ New Balkan sounds, from Moh Alileche’s Amazighe Berber music and song to John Waller’s Psychedelic Funk—the weekend ends with the trio of Stephen Kent, Geoffrey Gordon and Peter Valsamis going “beyond World Music” with didjeridu and electronic trance grooves in the Festival Finale, 7-9 p.m. at The Village. 

One act deserves a special mention: Vukani Mawethu, a nonprofit multiracial choir singing South African freedom songs in Zulu, Xhosa, Sethu and English, were originally formed in 1986 by the late choirmaster James Madhlope Phillips for just one concert at Zellerbach Hall. They have performed on the same stage as Nelson Mandela and have toured the cities and townships of South Africa in 1997. Vukani Mawethu will present their choral harmonies at Cody’s, 3-4 p.m. on Sunday. 

The Berkeley World Music Weekend plays at various locations around Telegraph Avenue, Sat.-Sun., June 3-4, noon-9 p.m. For more information see www.telegraphberkeley.com.  

Contributed photo  

Markus James & the Wassonrai will perform Mali Blues during Berkeley  

World Music Weekend's all West African concert at People's Park Saturday 1-5 p.m. 

Barbara Cushman is an artist to the very tips of her fingers. The form of her artistry has varied widely and wildly, ranging from cuisine and salad dressing to pottery, jewelry and collage. The key to her successes, however, has always been inventiveness. Having envisioned what she wants to do, she finds a way to achieve it. “Experience has always been my teacher,” she says. As much could be said of her life.  

After a year at Barnard College, Barbara, eager to live as an adult, dropped into the turmoil of the 1960s and Manhattan’s vie de bohème. She had jobs with publishing companies, including as an executive secretary, lived in her own apartment and studied pottery at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. Feeling that she would never be a success as a potter, however, she moved in May 1972 to San Francisco, where “always learning from experience” she engaged in a variety of enterprises, such as restaurants south of Market (using her own recipes), a cheese shop, a crafts shop (where she worked with beads) and then returned to food work.  

To meet Barbara, who was born in Brooklyn, is to encounter a New York presence—a perceptiveness, a strength of character, a generosity, and, yes, a graciousness that are the better qualities of that city as a bastion of traditional liberalism. To visit her loft in West Oakland is quasi-magically to enter a New York environment, such as you would find in Chelsea and Greenwich Village: a very large, regular space in what was formerly an industrial building where working and living areas meld into one another to create an organic entity. Daylight illuminates the far end of the space from the entrance where most of her living is done. Her possessions include numerous works of art acquired from friends such as the renowned painter Ray Saunders and the neurologically challenged clients of Oakland’s famed studio, Creative Growth.  

“I will not throw anything away,” Barbara boasts. Anything may be just what she needs to finish a work-in-progress or the stimulus for a new series of works. Works-in-progress, works finished but not yet sold, and works that are not for sale seem to cover all surfaces and fill all drawers. 

Like most artists in America, Barbara has had to work part-time at a non-art activity to sustain life so that she might sustain her creativity. Thousands of Bay Areans recognize her as the attractive, mature cheese consultant at the Rockridge Market Hall Pasta Shop, where she has worked since 1992. A streak of tint in her hair, often red, an immaculate apron and necklaces of her own making identify her visually immediately. Her connoisseurship identifies her as an authentic fromagère.  

At present, Cushman is working with collage, artists’ stamps, mail art, and custom-made cards. Her materials are borrowed images, glue, thread, photo-sensitive and fine papers, found objects, used postage stamps, textiles, etc., etc., etc. Her tools are, most importantly, her imagination, her eyes and her hands—then photo-copying machines, a sewing machine, scissors, an antique perforation press, and whatever else will obtain the results that she desires. Her most proximate antecedents are artists who use appropriation, assemblage, collage, or are practitioners of Dada, Funk, Kitsch, naïve art, Pop, Surrealism and especially Fluxus for the pioneering of mail- and rubber-stamp art. People who acquire Cushman’s works often frame them, despite their ostensible informality, to protect them as objects that contribute beauty and meaning to their lives.  

Cushman’s production, which she labels a “cottage industry,” is valiantly labor intensive. She makes works in a series by hand, often individualizing them by a small component such as a used postage stamp or the impression of an inked rubber stamp. For example, the collage “Faces of Love: Angie & Xavier” (2006; 5 x 7 inches overall), although specifically a tribute to personal friends, is, more generally, an homage in diptych form to love in bloom. Through successive layerings and printings, Cushman, using a photocopier, has on the left created a heart-shaped image of a woman’s blue eyes and red lips on top of flowers in a glass vase, while on the right she has printed the image in profile of a 1920s swain within a heart, on which are printed the much reduced images of a French postage stamp, distinguished by a Gallic cock, and a calendar for the month of February having the 14th, marked in red. 

An authentic, used 10-centime postage stamp with the traditional, striding figure of the République française completes the inner composition. Red pinked edges enclose the images, which are framed by grids of red dots; decorative piercing one-fourth-inch from the edge of the picture plane finishes the surface. Inside, above the message space, is the rubber-stamped image of a woman’s hands embracing the back of a man’s neck. On the very back of the work another rubber-stamped image appears: a man and a woman embracing in a heart-shaped profile. (Cushman provides appropriate first-class postage on the envelopes of some works, if their designs are compatible.)  

More often than not, the messages that the artist conveys relate to the pleasures of love, both physical and spiritual. Gridded formats include images: in “Royalty,” of multicultural expressions of love; in “Baby I’m Yours,” of mothers and their children; in “Kiss & Tell,” of lips and couples kissing; and in “Dance With Me,” of couples dancing “from Brueghel’s peasants to courtly aristocrats to aficionados of tango to athletic modernists, among others. Cushman’s “Happy Hanukkah” card includes images of the tablets, men blowing shofars, menorahs, and so forth.  

Many images from Barbara Cushman’s cards are also available in a 17 x 11-inch format suitable for framing. Her works are available at the Barbara Anderson Gallery, 2243 5th Street in Berkeley, and the Creative Growth Art Center, 355 24th Street in Oakland.  

Photograph: Barbara Cushman’s “Faces of Love: Amgie & Xavier” (2006), a tribute to friends, is, more generally, an homage in diptych form to love in bloom.

It never ceases to amaze me what madness the media and the legal community have created out of a little thing like mold. 

It happened with asbestos about 25 years ago and, although that has calmed down a great deal, there are still companies making millions removing what is most likely not going to hurt you if you leave it where it is. 

These are, of course, hot button issues because for every 1,000 cases of not mattering very much, you can always find one that might be a real case. And so we all suffer for a lack of understanding and good shared knowledge about the subject. 

Molds are funguses. They are part of our world, they’re literally everywhere we go and on almost every surface in nature. They are part of what makes the biosphere operate. Without funguses, bacteria and insects (FBI), we would have no breakdown of organic matter and no transformation into new life (including the produce at the store, the fish in the sea, you and me). 

Molds are also part of our intimate world. They’re not just outside the door, they’re in the pizza, the brie and some less common foods like tempeh and the meat substitute quorn. 

Without mold, there’s no penicillin. In short, we eat mold, we breath it and it lives in our shower. Additionally, mold’s first cousin, the mushroom, is on the diet for most folks and, if properly chosen, proves quite safe. 

For most of us and under the majority of conditions, molds do very little harm to us. When we take a walk in the woods we are surrounded by molds which are releasing their spores (to give birth to more of the little wonders) into the air. 

The problem with mold in the home is almost (I said almost) entirely a matter of moisture. For homes that have moisture problems, mold is a real issue. But, then again, moisture would be a problem if there were no molds at all. 

If you have high humidity in your home a wide range of funguses, including those that have no interest in human beings, can do quite a bit of damage to the wooden (and wood pulp) parts of your home. 

Those oft-seen pest reports are, locally, mostly about fungal damage and usually not so much about the work of insects. Again, this is invariably about water or elevated humidity levels in the home. 

There is one fabulous exception to this that we’re not seeing too much in this area but has done some major damage to houses in Southern California. That would be poria incrassata which brings it’s own water with it (eek) and can, thereby, consume lots of wood when no leaks exist to wet the wood. We don’t have much of it up here so don’t freak. 

But back to the main point; that molds (again, a subset of the funguses) are rarely found in large growing colonies except where a good source of moisture is present. In other words, when the inside of the house is leaking. There are mold problems in houses that have competent roofs and walls but which have basements which flood or weep copiously. 

There are houses that have mold in closets because the overall humidity in the house is high. There are houses where mold is growing in lots of places because it’s either raining inside the walls or the roof. Or when there is a source of water below and very low porosity through the structure. The last case is more common in newer homes than in old ones. 

We’ve begun, in recent years, to build houses that are so tight that they’re literally pressure tested before they can pass muster. Our local housing stock is mostly very porous and so we lose lots of heat and pay high bills. But, we also don’t have the same kind of problems with fungi.  

I’ve been in a few houses that clearly had serious mold/fungus problems and they were invariably ones that had a moisture problem that would require addressing even if there were no concern about the dreaded M-word. It’s not OK to have the inside of the house be damp, is it? Well, I suppose if you’re Newt-Man it would be a good thing but I don’t have a big N on my spandex wrapped chest and so, like most folks I will call for help if the inside of the house gets wet. 

Here are a few things you can do if you believe you have mold in your home. First, if you’re getting sick, talk to a doctor. If you have good reason to believe it has to do with where you’re living, get out. This will do two things. 

First, it may help you get better, and second, it will act as a control in an experiment, helping you to understand what may be making you ill. You’ll have eliminated one variable from the equation and can run the experiment again (i.e. stay alive). 

Second thing. Find and address sources of wetness. Molds and funguses are found in homes as a result of leaks or of elevated humidity due to inadequate isolation or ventilation of moisture sources, such as wet crawlspaces, basement or gas appliances (gas appliances give off huge amount of water vapor).  

Some of the simple things that CAN but do not always work to address the latter include: the use of vapor barriers (plastic sheeting over damp soil), sump pumps, drainage systems, diverting gutter downspout water away from the house and increased crawlspace ventilation (which allows moisture to reach equilibrium with the outdoors through evaporation). 

For many houses I see, a vapor barrier combined with a small amount of ventilation (1 square foot per 1,500 square feet) should be sufficient, although I prefer to see 5-10 times this amount of ventilation. One square foot per 150 square feet of crawlspace is the basic code requirement and I virtually never see it met. I also see quite a few houses that clearly have elevated moisture levels. 

A hygrometer can be bought from any cigar store (I’ve gotten them on ebay) and can be hung inside the house to monitor moisture levels. The only problem with this method is that various molds and fungi propagate at a wide range of moisture levels (some only grow at 100 percent!) so once again, we’re back to basics. 

Keep the house as dry as possible and if you have allergies, try to keep it bone dry. If you have significant allergies to mold, my person feeling is that you should never try to live in an environment that has any significant moisture level and that will exclude many places. 

I, for example, don’t eat any dairy. Life’s throws us all curve balls but I’m a happier guy when I don’t eat cheese. So I’d suggest that you grin and bear it and stay away from clammy housing if you know you react poorly to mold. 

If your landlord has a damp house and you have good reason to believe you’re getting sick from it, move out. If you’re child seems to be getting sick from your damp rental, move out and if it’s your house, well, it’s time to find the window leak, the roof leak or the moisture in the basement.  

The important thing is to keep everything as dry as possible, starting with your sense of humor. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor, in care of East Bay Real Estate, at realestate@berkeleydailyplanet.com.

One of my favorite places to look for—or just look at—esoteric, obscure, clever, or kinky garden tools is Hida Japanese Tools on San Pablo, across from REI and a few doors down from Ashkenaz. 

Hida started as a woodworkers’ tool shop with some bonsai wares, than branched out into other pruning and gardening tools; it’s where I got my brace of hori-horis. (By the way, I was wrong last week when I said they all have full tangs. They don’t, but the tangs are long and the tools are tough enough to stand on.)  

I used to buy stuff from them on a regular basis when I was a pro, and still allow myself to be tempted. For one thing, I made more money gardening than I do writing, and I could tell myself that whatever odd marvel I went home with was part of the job.  

They were, still are, a lot cheaper and more reliable than the average computer accessory.  

I bought my extension pruner there, when they had two models and $50 was a lot to pay. Since then, Hida’s added to the long-reach line and now there are, oh, about a dozen kinds including telescoping and two-handed shear models, and pole saws with those wonderful (and replaceable) Japanese blades. 

I still like the one I have, and Hida still sells it. It’s about five feet long, very lightweight, and has a pistol grip; I can control my cuts with it almost as well as I can with my Felcos. Don’t confuse this with the average pole pruner, which I’ve always found clumsy. Don’t underrate the value of a good controlled cut either, as a tool that lets you make one will maintain even the monetary value of the tree you keep healthy and don’t mutilate.  

Don’t need a long reach? Hida’s still the best place for saws. A good Silky or similar pruning saw cuts through branches like butter. Learn to make a jump cut and, unless you cut a lot of Hollywood junipers, you won’t need a chainsaw. (Those abominable little chainsaws on poles I see in magazine ads shouldn’t be sold without a permit and proof of expertise. Better to buy a three-year-old a pistol. Ugh.)  

Hida’s branched out into kitchen knives and grooming scissors and other tempting cutlery. There are more and better bonsai tools, and oddments like the long, flexible, leaf-shaped knife I find perfect for getting plants out of pots. 

If you absolutely must have a pink trowel, this is where to find it—along with its less colorful brethren in half a dozen useful shapes and sizes. Since I don’t read Japanese, there’s at least one tool there I still don’t know the use of, despite a helpful diagram.  

On the other hand, there are implements there that say, “Take me home!” just by the way they fit and balance when I pick them up, and are eloquently enough made to speak their usefulness immediately. For tools you didn’t know you needed, look into Hida.  

Another hot tip 

The Berkeley Garden Club will hold its annual plant sale at 547 Grizzly Boulevard (at Euclid) from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, June 17.  

Hida Tool  

1333 San Pablo Ave. 

524-3700, www.hidatool.com. 

Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

FRIDAY, JUNE 2 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Kim Marienthal Realtor and Board Member of “Liveable Berkeley.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Tilden Room, MLK Student Union, 5rd floor, UC Campus. To make an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. www.BeADonor.com  

Berkeley Chess School classes for students in grades 1-8 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. A drop-in, rated scholastic tournament follows from 7 to 8 p.m. at 1581 LeRoy Ave., Room 17. 843-0150. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310, 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 

Spring Faire at Washington Elementary School with face painting, boat races, obstacle course, Indian floor art, book exchange, food and performan- 

ces, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, enter on McKinley. 486-1742.  

“Inspect-the-Paths Day” Berkeley Path Wanderers Association needs current information about every path in Berkeley to pinpoint those most in need of cleaning, weeding, or repairs. Volunteers will get a list of paths to survey and inspection sheets to fill out. Meet at 1 p.m. by the Rose Garden sign on Euclid. Bring a BPWA map, a pen and clipboard (or something to write on), and, optionally, a digital camera and a tape measure. 540-7223. 

National Trails Service Day with REI from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Tilden Park. Children 14 and older welcome, but must be accompanied by an adult if under 18. Pre-registration required. 527-4140. 

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour: “The Lorin: Kindred Spirit or Conquest?” led by Dale Smith, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market’s Family Fun Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Civic Center Park, Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Performances, information and activity booths. 548-2220, ext. 227. 

“Gardening to Manage Pests Naturally” A workshop to learn how to attract beneficial insects to your garden and to discover least-toxic methods for managing common garden pests, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Peralta Community Garden, 1400 Peralta Ave., near Hopkins. 444-7645. www.bayfriendly.org 

People’s Park Community Garden Tour Learn about native and edible plants as we tour with long time gardener, Terri Compost. Meet at 2 p.m. at the south west corner. Free. 658-9178. 

Berkeley Progressives Platform Meeting on City Planning, Labor, Health, and Housing, at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. 704-0803. 

Emergency Preparedness Class on Disaster First Aid from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. Free, but registration required. 981-5506.  

E-Waste Recycling Sat. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the main parking lot of the El Cerrito City Hall. Accepted items: computers/computer components, televisions, VCR & DVD players, toner cartridges, printers, fax machines, copiers, telephone equipment, cell phones and MP3 players. Not accepted are: appliances, batteries, paints, pesticides, etc. 1-888-832-9839.  

Youth Empowerment Day to stop “Pushouts” from School into Prison with community leaders and entertainment at 6 p.m. at McClymonds Educational Complex, 2607 Myrtle St., West Oakland. 225-8491. 

Social Responsibility Summit & Community Microbusiness Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at International Community School, 2825 International Blvd. at 29th St., Oakland. 540-7785, ext. 314. 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 7-12 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Toddler Nature Walk for toddlers and their grown-up friends to look for reptiles, at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 636-1684. 

Summer Pond Exploration to capture and release dragonfly nymphs, mayfly niads and other aquatic wonders, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. 636-1684. 

East Bay Atheists with a video of Richard Dawkins, Oxford University Professor of Evolutionary Biology, on ways to address the arguments of Creationists against evolution, at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 222-7580.  

California Writers Club with winners of the Fifth Grade Writing Contest at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square. 272-0120.  

“Making Gardens Works of Art” at 3 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Adult Learning Festival with information on learning opportunities, performances and author readings and fun for the whole family, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Lakeside Park, Lake Merritt, Oakland. 879-8131. www.AdultLearningFestival.com 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

“In Service to the World” A talk with Peace Corps Volunteers at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, West Auditorium, 125 14th St. 238-3134. 

Pre-School Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 4 

“A Taste of Albany” tastes from menus from over 20 different restaurants on Solano Ave. in Albany, music by 20 jazz groups, cable car rides, children’s entertainment, and arts and crafts, from 1 to 6 p.m. Sponsored by the Albany Chamber of Commerce. 525-1771. tasteofalbany.com  

Informational Forum on Immigration from 1 to 3 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker School, 2125 Jefferson St. Sponsored by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action. www.berkeleyboca.org 

Beginning Biological Art and Illustration for Youth, ages 9 and older from 2 to 4 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Reservations required. 238-3818. 

Welcome Home the Butterflies Help weed and plant the Butterfly Garden in Tilden Park from 1 to 3 p.m. Dress to get dirty and bring garden gloves if you have them. 525-2233. 

Build It Green Home Tour of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tour book costs $15. 845-0472.  

Alameda Architectural Society 2006 Preservation Awards with Woody Minor on “The History of Measure A” at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, corner of Santa Clara Ave. and Chestnut St., Alameda. 986-9232. 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to keep your bike in excellent working condition through safety inspections, from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

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 

Sunday Summer Forum: Towards a More Just World with Dr. Lola Vollen on her work with exonerated prisoners at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Art of Happiness” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JUNE 5 

Public Hearing on UC Berkeley’s Building Plans for the 451,000 gross square foot Southeast Campus Integrated Projects at 7 p.m. in the Anderson Auditorium, Haas School of Business, UC Campus. 642-7720. www.cp.berkeley.edu 

Art Making at Schoolhouse Creek Join Friends of Five Creeks and environmental artist Zach Pine to make ephemeral art using found materials at the mouth of Schoolhouse Creek, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Photographs of works will be exhibited as part of “Art to Action on Berkeley Creeks.” Free, but enrollment limited; register 708-5528. zpine@aol.com 

Kensington Library Knitting Club, the “Castoffs” meets at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. All ages and levels of experience welcome. 524-3043. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60+ years old meets at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $2.50. 524-9122. 

McGee Avenue Toastmasters meets at 7:30 p.m. at McGee Ave Baptist Church, 1640 Stuart St.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 6 

REMEMBER TO VOTE TODAY 

“Pack Light, Pack Right” Tips for comfort on the trail at 7 p.m. at from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

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

Berkeley Discussion Salon on “Travel and Favorite Vacations” at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. at Rose.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around Preservation Park to see Victorian architecture. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of Preservation Park at 13th St. and MLK, Jr. Way. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Earthlings” a documentary on the industries which rely on animals for profit at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

“Girl, I’ve Been Through A Lot ...” Poetry workshop for girls age 13 to 17 at 4 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Room 219, 125 14th St. 238-3134. 

Classes in English and Citizenship offered by the Oakland Adult Education program Mon.-Fri. from 6 to 9 p.m. Free. Register at Lincoln Elementary School, 225 11th St., room 205. 879-8131. 

Environmental Health for Children Bring toys, pottery and lunch boxes from home and the Berkeley Public Health Dept. will test them for lead, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. in Oakland. We need your help with blood drives all over the East Bay. 594-5165.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oakland State Building, 2nd floor, 1515 Clay St. To make an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

Swami Khecaranatha Kundalini Yoga Talk at 7 p.m. at Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary, 816 Bancroft at 6th. Free. 486-8700.  

“Organizing Your Time and Energy” at 6 p.m. at The Breema Clinic, 6201 Florio St., Oakland. 428-1234.  

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704.  

THURSDAY, JUNE 8 

Save Telegraph A community meeting with Pat Cody, Andy Ross, neighbors, business people, shoppers, authors, street artists and students at 7 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 2362 Bancroft Way. For more information call City Councilmember Kriss Worthington at 981-7170. 

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

Tilden Explorers An after-school nature adventure program for 5-7 year olds, who may be accompanied by an adult. We will explore the ponds and learn about aquatic insects from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Alternatives to War Through Education A project of Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors at 7:30 p.m. at the Niebyl Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. The speaker will be Eduardo Cohen on “The Selling of War and US Foreign Policy: Propaganda, Racism and News Media Complicity.” 649-1696. 

“The Sociology of African American Language” Prof. Charles DeBose reads from and discusses his new book at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 654-9587. 

East Bay Mac Users Group presents QuickBooks/Quicken at 6 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 

An Evening of Chocolate, demonstration class, with Alice Medrich at 7 p.m. at Epicurious Garden, 1511 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $100. All proceeds support the Berkeley High School Development Group. 464-1181. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 9 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Breda Courtney on “Why the World Celebrates James Joyce on Bloomsday” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

Berkeley Critical Mass Bike Ride meets at the Berkeley BART the second Friday of every month at 5:30 p.m.  

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310. 

SATURDAY, JUNE 10 

Live Oak Park Fair Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. featuring 125 artists and craftspeople. Free. Free shuttles provided from the North Berkeley BART Station to the park. 898-3282. www.liveoakparkfair.com 

Repainting Willard Community Peace Labyrinth from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Volunteers needed. 526-7377. 

Walk on the Wild Side A 5.5 mile hike over varied terrain to investigate wildlife, wildflowers and a wild watershed. Meet at 9 p.m. at the Wildcat/Alvarado staging are in Tilden Park. Bring a sack lunch, water and sunscreen. 525-2233. 

“Backyard Habitat” a workshop to learn about the wildlife native to the area, what they need to secure food and shelter from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at De Anza High School, 5000 Valley View Road, Richmond. Free. 665-3538. www.spawners.net 

Full Moon Walk at John Muir National Historic Site A walk to the top of Mt. Wanda, in Martinez, to see the full moon, and nocturnal animal life along the way. Free, but reservations required. 925-228-8860. 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684. 

Cerrito Creek Work Party Meet at at 10 a.m. at the end of Adams St., one block west of San Pablo, to remove invasives. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

La Pena's 31st Birthday A celebration with an open house and performances by artists and groups who have had long association with La Peña, at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Free. 654-9587. 

Jeremy’s One Man Show with giant transforming origami, juggling, magic, comedy, unicycling, at noon at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. Free for all teens in grades 6 through 12. 526-7512.  

Emergency Preparedness Class on Light Search & Rescue from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. Free, but registration required. 981-5506.  

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour: “Explore the New Berkeley City College Building” from 11 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Walking Tour of Jack London Waterfront Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Broadway and Embarcadero. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234.  

East Bay Baby Fair Resources for pregnancy, birth and parenting from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 540-7210. 

Vegetarian Cooking Class on Breakfast and Brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. Cost is $45. 531-2665.  

Cooking the African Way A demonstration on how to make nutritious Nigerian Yoruban food at 1 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Martin Luther King jr. Branch, 6833 International Blvd. 615-5728. 

New Business Startup Expo Meet new local entrepreneurs and learn how to start your own business, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland CIty Hall. 879-4020. 

Learn to Row Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at The Jack London Aquatic Center, 115 Embarcadero, Oakland. 208-6067. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Creeks Task Force meets Mon. June 5, at 7 p.m. the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7410.  

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon. June 5, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., June 5, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510.  

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., June 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5190.  

School Board meets Wed. June 7, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. 644-6147. 

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., June 8, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5356.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., June 8, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. Mark Rhoades, 981-7410.  

TUESDAY, MAY 30 

FILM 

A Theater Near You “Mouchette” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Terri Jentz reads from “Strange Piece of Paradise” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

Tell it on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $8-$12.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Unconditional Theatre’s Political Dialogues Dramatic reading of ballot measures at 8:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 644-2204.  

Zoyres Eastern European Wild Ferment at 7 p.m. at Mama Buzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Cost is $3-$7. 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $5. 525-5054.  

Ellen Hoffman and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Randy Craig Trio, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Jeff Gauthier Goatette, Nels Cline at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200.  

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 

FILM 

Arab Women Film Festival “Souha Surviving Hell” at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568.  

A Theater Near You “The Weeping Meadow” at 7 p.m at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Scott Anderson reads from his novel of expats and diplomats, “Moonlight Hotel” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

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 

Music for the Spirit for Memorial Day at 12:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

Loose Wig Jazz Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Aphrodesia” at 7:30 p.m. at The Marsh, 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $20-$50. 800-838-3006. 

justGO! Concert Music and cultural smorgasbord at 5:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 540-8136.  

David M’Ore Band, blues, rock, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054.  

Gorilla Math, 2 Cape May, Earthquake Weather at 9 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0886.  

Orquestra Sensual at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Sol Spectrum at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

The Other, Lebowski at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Steve Baughman, Alec Stone Sweet at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Fareed Haque Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 1 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Expect Respect: The Power, Joy, and Dignity of Being a Woman” Group show opens at Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement, 920 Peralta St, Oakland. 835-8683.  

FILM 

7th Annual Berkeley High School Film Festival at 6 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, on Allston between Milvia and MLK. Tickets are $8 adults, $5 students The festival will feature documentary, fiction, and experimental works from students at Berkeley High School.  

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski Kieslowski’s First Films at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free first Thursday screening. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES.  

Frederick Crews reads from “Follies of the Wise: Dissenting Essays” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Word Beat Reading Series with Buford Buntin and Priscilla Caretto at 7 p.m. at Mediterraneum Caffe, 2475 Telegraph Ave. 526-5985. 

Nomad Spoken Word Night at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Potentials and the MLK, Jr. Middle School Band at 7:30 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School Auditorium, 1781 Rose St. Contributions appreciated. Fundraiser for the King Jazz Band. 644-6280. 

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Aphrodesia” at 7:30 p.m. at The Marsh, 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $20-$50. 800-838-3006. 

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

Tangria Jazz Group at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

JL Stiles, Lindsay Mac at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. 

New West Guitar Quartet at 8 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

This Charming Band: The Smiths Tribute at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $6. 451-8100.  

Bill Frisell New Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200.  

FRIDAY, JUNE 2 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” at 8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. 1409 High St., Alameda, through June 11. Tickets are $12-$15. 523-1553.  

Berkeley Rep “The Glass Menagerie” at 8 p.m. at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $59. Runs through June 18. 647-2949.  

Berkeley Rep “The Miser” at 8 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $53. Runs through June 25. 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

East Bay Improv at 8 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 597-0795.  

Shotgun Players “King Lear” Thurs.-Sun at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. to June 18. Tickets are $15-$30, reservations suggested. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Janine Brown & Lucy Traber 2005 Members’ Showcase Winners. Reception at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893. 

New Work by Chris Russell and Kari Morris Reception at 7 p.m. at Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. 

“Possibilities” Paintings by Donna Mendes, “Disassembly” figurative paintings by Marty McCorkle, and “Celebrating the Body Through Art” work by Nancy Ballard at Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., at Telegraph. www.estebansaber.com 

FILM 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 3 and 4” at 7 p.m. “Decalogue 5 and 6” at 9:15 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Mona Lee will show slides and talk about her book “Humbler Than Dust: A Retired Couple Visits the Real India by Tandem Bicycle” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Eduardo Galeano shares his new book, “Voices of Time: A Life in Stories” at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison, at 27th St., Oakland. Tickets are $10-$12. 415-255-7296, ext.253.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Ruth Botchan Dance Company and Shahrzad Dance Company “Bridges: A Concert Bridging Jewish and Persian Cultures” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m at Western Sky, 2525 Eighth St. Tickets are $15-$18. 848-4878.  

Harry Best and Shabang and Tom Rigney and Flambeau at 5:30 p.m. at Park Place and Washington Ave., Pt. Richmond. 237-9375.  

Los Nadies & Tere Estrada at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Sony Holland and her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

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

The Ravines and Ronnie Cato, singer-songwriters, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Matthew Sperry Memorial Festival with Daniel Popsickle, Black Cat Duo and Dot Dot Dot at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

Look Back and Laugh, This is my Fist, Army of Jesus at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

L.A.E., Ranch Hand Brown at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Bill Frisell New Quartet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16-$26. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 

EXHIBITIONS 

East Bay Open Studios Sat. and Sun. For maps and times see www.proartsgallery.org 

“Duane Cramer Works, 10 years in the making” Black and white photography. Reception at 6 p.m. at FLOAT 1091, Calcot Place, Unit#116, Oakland. 535-1702.  

Photography by Russ Greene at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. Exhibition runs through June. 595-5344.  

THEATER 

California Shakespeare Theater “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at the Bruns Amphitheater, 100 Gateway Blvd., Orinda. Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 4 p.m. through June 25. Tickets are $15 and up. 548-9666. www.calshakes.org 

FILM 

Superfest International Disability Film Festival from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$20. For schedule and access accomodations call 845-5575. 849-2568.  

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 7 and 8” at 6:30 p.m. “Decalogue 9 and 10” at 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Heather Lende introduces “If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Telegraph. 845-7852.  

Bay Area Poets Coalition Open Poetry Reading from 3 to 5 p.m. at Strawberry Creek Lodge, dining hall, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street, not in Lodge parking lot. Free. 527-9905, poetalk@aol.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley World Music Festival featuring African, Latin American, Celtic, Indian music from noon to 9 p.m. Sat. and Sun. along Telegraph Avenue. www.telegraphberkeley.com 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

“A Special Evening of Harp Music” with Bay Area Youth Harp Ensemble, Pleiades Harp Ensemble, and Triskela Harp Trio at 8 p.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 2005 North Berryman St. Tickets are $7-$15. 548-3326. 

Donna Lerew, violin, and Lynn Schugren, piano, at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St. Tickets are $15-$20. 848-4088. 

The Moon Town Schmatts Bassoon Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets aare $8-$12. 549-3864  

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Aphrodesia” at 7:30 p.m. at The Marsh, 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $20-$50. 800-838-3006. 

GTS, Ojada at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $10. 451-8100.  

Alice Stuart & the Formerlys at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Los Mapaches at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568.  

Dangerous Rhythm, Tim Fox at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

The Snake Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ.  

Greg Pratt at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7 per family. 558-0881. 

Karen Blixt at 8 p.m. at the Jazz 

school. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Fred Randolph Trio at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Mayim and Katherine Peck, singer-songwriters, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

The Chantigs, Everest, Fainting Goats at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Second Opinion, The Helm, Hit Me Back, Robot Eyes at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 4 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Tilden and Beyond” Paintings by Mary Robinson. Reception at 2 p.m. at Tilden Park Environmental Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233.  

“My America: Art from The Jewish Museum Collection 1900-1955” opens at at 2 p.m. at Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $6-$8. 549-6950. 

FILM 

Superfest International Disability Film Festival from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$20. Reception at 6 p.m. For schedule and access accomodations call 845-5575. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“The Cosmology of Words ... The Journey from Griot to Rapper” A documentary by Christina Abram-Davis at 6 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Fundraiser for the Jamaica Study Abroad program July 2006 of the Merritt College Ethnic Studies Department. Donation $10. nefetertinaproductions@yahoo.com 

Against Indifference: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski “Decalogue 1 and 2” at 1:30 p.m. “Decalogue 3 and 4” at 3:45 p.m. and “Decalogue 5 and 6” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Alameda Architectural Society 2006 Preservation Awards with Woody Minor on “The History of Measure A” at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, corner of Santa Clara Ave. and Chestnut St., Alameda. 986-9232. 

Julie Gamberg reads from her book of poems “The Museum of Natural History” at 4:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Maxine Rose Schur reads from “Places in Time: Reflection on a Journey” at 1 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Robert Greenfield will present “Timothy Leary: A Biography” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley World Music Festival featuring African, Latin American, Celtic, Indian music from noon to 9 p.m. Sat. and Sun. along Telegraph Avenue. www.telegraphberkeley.com 

Oakland Civic Orchestra “An Afternoon in Vienna” at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave., near Lake Merritt, Oakland. Admission is free. www.oaklandnet.com/parks/programs/civicorchestra 

Piedmont Choirs Spring Sing at 3 p.m. at Farnsworth Theater, Skyline High School, Oakland. 547-4441. 

Oakland Opera “X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X” at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro Opera House, 201 Broadway. Tickets are $32-$36. 763-1146. 

Galax Quartet Adagios and other movements at 7 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana at Durant. Tickets are $10. 601-1370.  

Twang Cafe with The Whoreshoes, early honky tonk country and Kemo Sabe, modern camp fire songs at 7:30 p.m. at at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

Voci Women’s Vocal Ensemble “Aphrodesia” at 4 p.m. at The Marsh, 2118 Allston Way. Tickets are $20-$50. 800-838-3006. 

Falso Baiano Choro Band at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Marc Cary’s Focus Trio at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373.  

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

Sam Misner & Megan Smith at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Verse, Crime in Stereo, Guns Up at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, JUNE 5 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Judy Jones reads from “Bones of the Homeless” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Actors Reading Writers “English Eccentrics,” stories by Alan Bennett and P.G. Wodehouse at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave.  

Poetry Express with Avotcja and Ramon Pinero at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave.  

Christopher Robin and JC read their poems at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Bookstore, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 

Leonard Pitt talks about “Walks Through Lost Paris: A Journey Into the Heart of Historic Paris” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Peter Hallifax and Julie Jeffrey, viols. The Complete Published Works of Forqueray, one suite each morning for five days, through Fri. at 11 a.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana at Durant. TIckets are $7-$10, $25-$35 for the series. 220-1195. 

The Sitka Trio at 1 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana. Tickets are $15. 559-4670. 

Longy School of Music at 4 p.m. at St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, 2316 Bowditch Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. 978-853-2700. 

Coro Ciconia “What is a Motet?” Learn as you sing at 5:30 p.m. at Loper Chapel, Dana and Durant. Tickets are $12. 843-0450.  

La Foolia “The History of Western Music” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St. Tickets are $15. 601-9631.  

DeLaMuse Songs of Dowland, Sances, Monteverdi & Caccini at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $10-$15. 831-566-3207.  

Blue Monday Jam, NC Connection at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100.  

Yoshida Brothers at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $20. 238-9200. 

Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski made The Decalogue, a series of 10 one-hour films based on the Ten Commandments, for Polish television in 1988. Since that time it has rarely been screened commercially, other than in a handful of film festivals. 

Pacific Film Archive is providing a rare opportunity to see these great films on the big screen, and over a series of just a few days, which is essential for retaining the mood of the work as a whole. The screenings are part of a larger career retrospective spanning the late Kieslowski’s impressive career.  

Each film in The Decalogue is a separate and distinct creation, though they are all of a piece, united by theme and tone. It can be seen as a novel in the form of a series of short stories, like Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio; each film can be appreciated individually, yet together they create a unique and self-contained world, with shared locations and characters establishing each drama as part of a larger framework, as part of the larger drama of humanity.  

The notion of a series of films based on the Ten Commandments may sound tedious, suggesting an overly intellectual and theoretical approach to the medium. Like Kieslowski’s Colors Trilogy—Blue, White and Red, each film deriving its theme from the symbolism of the French flag—it may give the impression that the director is more interested in themes than characters. But Kieslowski is not that sort of director and The Decalogue is not that sort of project. 

This not an intellectual exercise; these are not merely illustrations of the Commandments. Rather, Kieslowski uses the Commandments as a springboard, a starting point for an examination of universal themes and crises.  

Each film in the series is like a finely crafted short story, containing in one hour a remarkably efficient and emotional narrative with fully realized characters and relationships. Each has a plot but the focus is on the people and on the complex web of decisions and relationships that constitutes each life. Much of the action takes place without dialogue. Kieslowski trusts his script, his actors, his cinematographers (a different one for each film), and he trusts his own skills as a director, allowing this collaboration of talents to convey the necessary information with subtlety and grace. Together they find the telling details, those crucial moments and actions that bring a character sharply into focus for the audience and make clear the conflicting emotions that cloud each moral dilemma. 

Decalogue 1, for example, features a professor addressing his class from behind a vast lectern while his young son sits among the students. A point-of-view shot demonstrates the feelings of the son as he watches his dad from behind the framework of a projector, catching glimpses of his father as a sort of God-like being holding forth on the rules of the universe. Later, when the grieving father walks into a church and destroys an altar, Kieslowski does not overplay the visual parallel between the altar and the lectern, but rather keeps his camera focused on the man and his emotions. The juxtaposition is there for those who wish to see it and it adds a layer of meaning to the story, but Kieslowski does not belabor the point, for it is not necessary in the comprehension and appreciation of the film.  

In Decalogue 2 a woman is shown destroying a house plant and breaking a drinking glass out of what seems like sheer perversity. Kieslowski does not explain her actions, but the suggestion seems to be that she is girding herself for the destructive act of having an abortion. 

Decalogue 3 features a woman reestablishing contact with her former lover. They are both married and have recently ended their illicit affair, but she draws him out on a mad search for her phantom husband, visiting jail cells and empty subterranean parking garages in the middle of the night. The staging again suggests something deeper at work, as though the man is being forced to venture into the netherworld of his guilty conscience before declaring to his wife, in the closing shot, that he will not be venturing out at night anymore. 

Decalogue 5 takes a darker turn with a story of murder and capital punishment. A young man senselessly attacks an older man and a young defense attorney is later assigned the case. Much of the film is shot in a dark sepia tone, while the perimeter of the frame is often shrouded in a murky haze, suggesting the nebulous morality of state-sanctioned execution and the vague boundaries that distinguish it from murder.  

Another example of Kieslowki’s technique is in Decalogue 9, where a man learns of his infertility and returns home to break the news to his wife. As they ride together in an elevator, they are engulfed in darkness, with shafts of light briefly illuminating one and then the other. Kieslowski has subtly shown us the rift between them; they are individuals now, not a couple, alone in darkness and unified only by her hand reaching through the blackness to touch his face, to establish contact across the gulf that is widening between them. 

It’s not all darkness and brooding however. Decalogue 10 concludes the series on a more humorous note, as two brothers are reunited by their estranged father’s death and find themselves becoming obsessed by his stamp collection. This film is not without its serious themes and moments of suspense and anxiety, but is leavened with a dark humor not seen in the previous pictures. 

And all throughout these films run two more unifying threads, one conspicuous and one quite subtle. The first is the recurring appearance of a mysterious young man with a piercing gaze who observes the action but never takes part. He seems to play the role of a sort of mute Greek chorus, offering a silent commentary on the tragedy and absurdity of the dramas playing out before us. The other is the recurring sound of barking dogs, usually somewhere off in the distance and often at crucial moments—a lonely but portentous refrain, suggesting that damnation looms beyond each moral quandary. 

There was a time when camera technique meant something, when acute angles or a shaky handheld camera signified something about character or plot. But the language of cinema has become diluted of late, with directors using every flourish and every gimmick imaginable, like a sort of pyrotechnic display: all flash and spectacle but with little substance. in contrast, Kieslowski subjugates his technique to the film, keeping the camera always at the service of the story.  

Orson Welles once said that a movie should not reveal all its secrets in a single viewing. We view paintings more than once; we read stories and novels more than once; we listen to a piece of music over and over again throughout our lives. Why should movies not be the same way? Kieslowski seems to adhere to this maxim, creating small but dense portraits of people at crucial turning points in their lives. His films can be seen once and enjoyed, but a second and third viewing reveals the rich, textured layers of his creations, films that lay rooted in modern reality but speak eloquently and timelessly of universal truths. 

THE DECALOGUE (1988) 

Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. 

Written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz and Kieslowski. 

Playing June 1-3 and repeated June 4-11 at at Pacific Film Archive. Discounted tickets for the entire series are available. 2626 Bancroft Way. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.

In June of 1945, General George S. Patton, Jr. returned from Germany to his native Southern California for a triumphant homecoming. Patton’s welcome included a parade and a movie star-studded celebration at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Never known to shy away from the limelight, he exulted in playing the war hero to the cheering crowds. 

Yet, despite his love of publicity, Patton was exceptionally discreet about one stop on his itinerary. On June 11, he paid a visit to the Huntington estate in San Marino and presented for safekeeping in the Huntington Library a packet of documents he had brought from Germany. 

The documents Patton gave to the library were originals of the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, bearing the signature of the Fuehrer himself, Adolf Hitler. The most infamous section of this Nazi legislation, named the “Blood Law,” prohibited marriage and sexual intercourse between Jews and “pure-blooded” Germans. Jews were further forbidden to employ in their household “pure-blooded” German females under the age of 45. 

The “Blood Law” may appear relatively mild compared to later Nazi atrocities. However, since it legally decreed Jews to be an inferior race, historians consider it a critical initial step on the hellish road to the Holocaust. 

Before the year was over, Patton was dead. Back in Germany, he was fatally injured in a freak auto accident, succumbing Dec. 21, 1945. Disregarding the obvious historical importance of the Nuremberg originals handed to them by Patton, the Huntington waited 54 years until they publicly divulged the existence of the documents in their possession. 

Why were the Nuremberg Laws secreted in the Huntington vaults for more than a half-century? Anthony M. Platt’s book, Bloodlines: Recovering Hitler’s Nuremberg Laws, from Patton’s Trophy to Public Memorial, published earlier this year, focuses on the quest for the answer to this question. 

I won’t spoil the book for prospective readers by giving that answer here. But I will reveal that the hunt by Tony Platt, a Sacramento State professor since 1977, and his co-researcher, Cecilia E. O’Leary, to unravel the Huntington-Nuremberg mystery is a fascinating account covering much unexpected ground. 

Describing the origins of the “Blood Law,” Platt reviews the disgraceful record of eugenic sterilization in California in the early 1900s. And he examines the close ties between California’s pre-WWII eugenics advocates and their German counterparts, who furnished the Nazis with the intellectual rationalization for their racial policies. 

Among the California eugenicists, Platt and O’Leary discovered, were quite a number of Huntington Foundation trustees, perhaps the most prominent being Nobel laureate and Caltech leader, Robert Millikan. Platt additionally provides evidence of George Patton’s extreme racist and, in particular, anti-Semitic views. 

Bloodlines also tells the story of the three American soldiers who located the Nuremberg originals in a small town German bank safe. And it details the saga of Henry Edwards Huntington , who, for all his faults, gave us as a legacy a magnificent library, museum and garden. 

There’s Platt’s personal tale as well. Raised in a secular Jewish home in Manchester, England, he felt his greatest kinship as an adult in the left activist community. And Platt, a controversial criminology professor at UC Berkeley in the early 1970s, notes that what prejudice he’s directly experienced in life was primarily related to his politics. Nonetheless, he discloses, in the process of researching and writing Bloodlines, surprising emotions connected to his own Jewish heritage surfaced. 

In 1999, when the Huntington finally informed the world they held originals of the Nuremberg Laws, they also announced they would entrust the documents on permanent loan to the Skirball Cultural Center. About four miles north of the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Skirball has as its primary mission the recounting of the “Jewish people’s journey, culminating with their history in the United States.” Appropriately, the Nuremberg Laws are now there on display, as part of its core exhibit: “Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America.”  

Reading Tony Platt’s book, I promised myself I’d visit both the Huntington complex and the Skirball Center on my next trip down south. That trip recently took place. En route to the Huntington with a friend, I pulled off the freeway for a brief tour of Old Pasadena, the city’s historic district. 

When we returned to our rental car, to our dismay, a rear tire was totally flat. The cause soon became apparent. Weirdly, a huge nail was spiked straight through the tire’s inside wall. Visions of crazed Pasadena eugenicists fresh in my mind from Platt’s Bloodlines, I joked to my friend that some lunatic anti-Semite must have hammered the nail into our tire. 

“He spotted us together,” I told her, “and since I clearly look Jewish and you clearly do not, he decided to send me a little message.” 

Standing in front of the “Blood Law” the following day at the Skirball and staring at Hitler’s signature, my joke didn’t seem funny anymore. 

BLOODLINES: RECOVERING HITLER’S NUREMBERG LAWS, FROM PATTON’S TROPHY TO PUBLIC MEMORIAL 

By Anthony M. Platt with Cecilia E. O’Leary 

Paradigm Publishers, 240 pages, $18.95 (paper; hardcover also available)

Somewhere between writing and producing, Stephanie Weisman and her performance piece, Aphrodisia, ended up in The Marsh. 

This is where the tale gets sticky. Because the marsh is, first of all, a real one in Delaware; then, it’s also The Marsh, “a breeding ground for new performance,” the project Weisman founded in 1989 for theatrical development and showcasing solo performances that have blossomed into Marshes in San Francisco, Berkeley and affiliates in the North Bay—and also refers to the poem and resulting performance piece finally receiving its premiere at the Berkeley Marsh on June 1 that Weisman first wrote almost 20 years ago about her experience on that Delaware marsh ... that led to her founding of The Marsh. 

Weisman, who originally hails from Newburgh, N.Y., was trained as a singer until the age of twelve. She attended the State University of New York at Buffalo as both undergrad and graduate student, teaching small press publication and editing the Black Mountain 2 poetry review, with poet Robert Creeley (who died last year) as advisor. 

“He was my mentor,” Weisman said. “We met weekly for three years, and he taught me everything I needed to know about the creative process. I didn’t really have a theatrical background, but teaching small press publishing—providing the tools and venue, showing that everybody can publish, setting up collaboration—gave me what I needed to be a producer.” 

But Weisman’s own work was always on hold. 

“I was not much into sending my own work out,” she said. “Joan Murray, a poet friend of mine, finally came to my house and took the manuscript of Dancemasters to the Buffalo Literary Center—and I got a State Council Award. I made it into a performance, and produced it myself, did the posters and postcards, got the people and filled the house. I felt I was a natural producer, but had no experience. ... Someone said, in advance of the performance, ‘So what’re you doing about lights?’ and I said, ‘What?’ Turned out she liked to do the lights.” 

After 11 years at Buffalo came Weisman’s illuminating experience—three months living on the marsh. 

“It was the first time in my life when I could just sit and do nothing but write,” she said. “I was living with an artist who saw technique and aesthetics on the same level, and was interested in life cycles, which we had all around us on the marsh, and always talked about. The house was up on stilts, and the water came up underneath when there were storms. It was fall, nobody was around. After an urban life, I was so affected by the elements, the migration of birds—yet out on the beach I’d see military jets flying overhead from Dover, and really saw that planes came from people watching birds.” 

After moving to Berkeley in 1988, and having another peak experience “getting my voice back” with the Roy Hart Theatre in France, Weisman founded The Marsh and her own creative plans went on hold. 

Then, not long ago, she found herself singing the text to Aphrodisia. Composer Ellen Hoffman worked with her to annotate and arrange the melody into a choral piece with chamber music for cello, bassoon, violin and clarinet. The finished piece is performed by Deborah Gwinn, with Ellen Webb’s choreography danced by Damara Vita Ganley, and sung by Voci women’s vocal ensemble, conducted by Jude Navari, with lights by Joan Arhelgar. 

Another triumph of collaboration, like the many that Weisman has guided through The Marsh. 

“Even my husband, Richard DiLeo, built the sets,” she said. “I needed a landscape architect—it’s a marsh, right? And the show’s been put together from an original that was only 12 minutes long. The first act is a set of women’s choral pieces throughout history. It’s a vision of the whole process—from coal to diamonds. Coming from an Eastern European Jewish background, the future is the hardest thing to conceive of. What I came to understand from the experiences Aphrodisia is all about is that time really is a continuum. And that’s what The Marsh is all about: it might be the best idea in the world, but how do you do it? What does it take?” 

APHRODISIA 

7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays through June 10 at The Marsh Berkeley in the Gaia Arts Center, 2118 Allston Way. For more information see www.themarsh.org or call (415) 826-5750.

Hollywood juniper—Juniperus chinensis “torulosa” or J. chinensis “Kai-zuka”—is one of those trees you know even if you’ve never heard of it. It’s all over the place, one of those Sunset magazine California place markers, the twisty green thing waving its arms outside half the apartment buildings on the West Coast. It’s a city feature like pigeons, and like pigeons you hardly ever see a dead one.  

The Hollywood part of its name is apt: left to its own devices, the thing has a distinct tendency towards the dramatic. (I confess I think of it as Juniperus histrionicus; I suppose I’m analogizing from Histrionicus histrionicus, the harlequin duck, gaudily dressed and often sounding disproportionately alarmed.) It flings its branches about in showstopping gestures like Polly Pureheart fleeing the nefarious villain; the only organized thing about its shape is that most of those branches head off in roughly the same direction. This generally has something to do with the prevailing winds at its site, but I wouldn’t count on that for a compass either.  

It’s hard to get past the ubiquity of this tree—or shrub, by some reckonings—to convince myself of its interesting qualities. It’s so tough and easy to find that it’s become a “gas-station plant,” one of those landscape stalwarts you see almost everywhere because they can survive almost everywhere. So it’s a bit of a shock when I see it praised, especially as “unique,” in tree and garden publications and websites. 

Taken on its own, the cultivar does have certain charms. Those drama-queen branches can be shaped easily enough to more subtle, or subtly dramatic, bonsai-like styles. In fact, Hollywood junipers have been made into good bonsai by accomplished artists and are also good material for beginning bonsai students. Their commonness makes them inexpensive and easily available, and also means that someone looking for a change from the mass garden look might have one to give away for the work of digging it up. Then all you have to do is spend a few years reducing it, and you have a head start on a nice thick aged-looking trunk. 

Part of the Hollywood juniper’s appeal for bonsai and in a garden lies in the trunks’ and major limbs’ shapes. In a tree more than a few years old, these have a rippled, sinuous, muscular quality like a dawn redwood’s. It’s all very Charles Atlas except when it isn’t: there’s a Hollywood juniper near McCone Hall on the UC Berkeley campus that gets called “Squidward” by, well, I’m not sure who owns up to watching that much Spongebob Squarepants but that’s where the eponymous character shows up. I think it looks more like some larval Ent, myself.  

Another unheralded virtue of our gas-station tree lies in the fact that the cultivar is (by most accounts) a clone of a female plant. That means it doesn’t pollinate. That means it isn’t allergenic—unless you get up close and personal, pruning it or otherwise making skin contact. I can tell you from personal experience that it’s as itchy as any other juniper then; arborists talk about the 24-hour rash we get, generally on hands and forearms, from pruning junipers as just a fact of life.  

That also means they bear berries, and I can witness about that too: birds love them. Watch, especially in winter, for flocks of robins or cedar waxwings or both in your juniper. The robins whinny and holler and fly in and out in their barroom-brawl fashion; the waxwings are more genteel, if no less active, sometimes passing berries around to each other like dessert at a potluck. If you have to prune and your tree has berries, wait till spring, when the mobs have dispersed to breed. 

Pruning is one grudge arborists and landscapers have against Hollywood juniper, despite its reliability. If you have to make serious cuts in the thing, you need a chainsaw. The wood’s tough and dense and thick beyond all reason in such a relatively fast grower. If you have one that’s out of bounds and you don’t use a chainsaw yourself at least weekly, call in a pro. The results can be amazing, and you’ll spare some limbs, including your own.

TUESDAY, MAY 30 

Public Hearing on Creeks Ordinance at 6 p.m. at Longfellow School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. 981-6900. 

A Year of Greening Albany An afternoon mixer celebrating Albany’s environmental movement at 3:30 p.m. at Albany City Hall, 1000 San Pablo Ave. 

City and County Resources for Older Adults at 1:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720. 

National Senior Health & Fitness Day with speakers, information booths on massage therapy, fitness testing, arthritis prevention, dentistry, and more, plus entertainment from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Salem Lutheran Home, 2361 East 29th St., Oakland. Free. 534-3637.  

Raging Grannies of the East Bay invites new folks to come join us the 2nd and 4th Tues, of each month, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. to sing (any voice will do), help plan our next gig, or write outrageously political lyrics to old familiar tunes, and have fun at Berkeley Gray Panthers office, 1403 Addison St., in Andronico’s mall. 548-9696. 

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Free Handbuilding Ceramics Class 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. John’s Senior Center, 2727 College Ave. Also, Mon. noon to 4 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Materials and firing charges not included. 525-5497. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

Brainstormer Weekly Pub Quiz every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Pyramid Alehouse Brewery, 901 Gilman St. 528-9880.  

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 

“Palestinian Lesbians Speak Out from the Occupation” at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Friends Church, 1600 Sacramento St. at Cedar. Donation $10-$20. Sponsored by Bay Area Women in Black. www.bayareawomeninblack.org 

Walking Tour of Oakland Chinatown Meet at 10 a.m. at the courtyard fountain in the Pacific Renaissance Plaza at 388 Ninth St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“American Dictators” A documentary by Alex Jones on the election of 2004 and the degeneration of our political process at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

Bayswater Book Club meets to discuss “American Theocracy” by Kevin Phillips at 6:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, El Cerrito. Also organizing meeting to become a Democratic Central Committee Chartered Club. 433-2911. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Stitch ‘n Bitch Bring your knitting, crocheting and other handcrafts from 6 to 9 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

THURSDAY, JUNE 1 

“Remembering Faith Fancher” A benefit for the Breast Health Center at Alta Bates Summit at 6 p.m. at Scott’s Seafood Restaurant in Jack London Square. For ticket information and reservations call 204-1667. 

“Cat Training & Behavior: Yes You Can!” A lecture at 7:30 p.m. at Borders Books in Emeryville. 644-0729. www.openpaw.org 

Helmet Safety Day Decorate helmets and compete in a toddler rodeo from 5 to 7 p.m. at Habitot, 2065 Kittredge St. Cost is $5-$6. 647-1111. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

FRIDAY, JUNE 2 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Kim Marienthal Realtor and Board Member of “Liveable Berkeley.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925 or 665-9020.  

“Postcard from Cuba” A report-back from the Berkeley Palma Soriano Sister City delegation on their recent trip to Cuba at 7 p.m. at the Neibyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. Donation $5-$20. 717-9663. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Tilden Room, MLK Student Union, 5rd floor, UC Campus. To make an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. www.BeADonor.com  

Berkeley Chess School classes for students in grades 1-8 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. A drop-in, rated scholastic tournament follows from 7 to 8 p.m. at 1581 LeRoy Ave., Room 17. 843-0150. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets Fridays at 8 p.m. at the East Bay Chess Club, 1940 Virginia St. Players at all levels are welcome. 845-1041. 

Women in Black Vigil, from noon to 1 p.m. at UC Berkeley, Bancroft at Telegraph. 548-6310, 845-1143. 

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 

Spring Faire at Washington Elementary School with face painting, boat races, obstacle course, Indian floor art, book exchange, food and performan- 

ces, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2300 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, enter on McKinley. 486-1742.  

National Trails Service Day with REI from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Tilden Park. Children 14 and older welcome, but must be accompanied by an adult if under 18. Pre-registration required. 527-4140. 

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour: “The Lorin: Kindred Spirit or Conquest?” led by Dale Smith, from 10 a.m. to noon. Cost is $8-$10. 848-0181.  

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around the restored 1870s business district. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of G.B. Ratto’s at 827 Washington St. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market’s Family Fun Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Civic Center Park, Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Performances, information and activity booths. 548-2220, ext. 227. 

Emergency Preparedness Class on Disaster First Aid from 9 a.m. to noon at 997 Cedar St. Free, but registration required. 981-5506.  

Report-Back from Berkeley’s Sister City in Cuba at 7 p.m. at Casa Cuba, Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Suggested donation $5-$20. 717-9663. 

E-Waste Recycling Sat. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the main parking lot of the El Cerrito City Hall. Accepted items: computers/computer components, televisions, VCR & DVD players, toner cartridges, printers, fax machines, copiers, telephone equipment, cell phones and MP3 players. Not accepted are: appliances, batteries, paints, pesticides, etc. 1-888-832-9839.  

Youth Empowerment Day to stop “Pushouts” from School into Prison with community leaders and entertainment at 6 p.m. at McClymonds Educational Complex, 2607 Myrtle St., West Oakland. 225-8491. 

Social Responsibility Summit & Community Microbusiness Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at International Community School, 2825 International Blvd. at 29th St., Oakland. 540-7785, ext. 314. 

Kid’s Garden Club for ages 7-12 to explore the world of gardening, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 636-1684. 

Toddler Nature Walk for toddlers and their grown-up friends to look for reptiles, at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area, Tilden Park. 636-1684. 

Summer Pond Exploration to capture and release dragonfly nymphs, mayfly niads and other aquatic wonders, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. 636-1684. 

East Bay Atheists with a video of Richard Dawkins, Oxford University Professor of Evolutionary Biology, on ways to address the arguments of Creationists against evolution, at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 222-7580.  

California Writers Club with winners of the Fifth Grade Writing Contest at 10 a.m. at Barnes & Noble, Jack London Square. 272-0120.  

“Making Gardens Works of Art” at 3 p.m at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary and Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Adult Learning Festival with information on learning opportunities, performances and author readings and fun for the whole family, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Lakeside Park, Lake Merritt, Oakland. 879-8131. www.AdultLearningFestival.com 

Sick Plant Clinic UC plant pathologist Dr. Robert Raabe, UC entomologist Dr. Nick Mills, and their team of experts will diagnose what ails your plants from 9 a.m. to noon at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755.  

“In Service to the World” A talk with Peace Corps Volunteers at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, West Auditorium, 125 14th St. 238-3134. 

Pre-School Storytime for 3-5 year olds at 11 a.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

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.  

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755.  

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 4 

“A Taste of Albany” tastes from menus at over 20 different restaurants on Solano Ave. in Albany, music by 20 Jazz Groups, Cable Car rides, children’s entertainment, and Arts & Crafts, from 1 to 6 p.m. Sponsored by the Albany Chamber of Commerce. 525-1771. tasteofalbany.com  

Informational Forum on Immigration from 1 to 3 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker School, 2125 Jefferson St. Sponsored by Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action. www.berkeleyboca.org 

Beginning Biological Art and Illustration for Youth, ages 9 and older from 2 to 4 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Reservations required. 238-3818. 

Welcome Home the Butterflies Help weed and plant the Butterfly Garden in Tilden Park from 1 to 3 p.m. Dress to get dirty and bring garden gloves if you have them. 525-2233. 

Build It Green Home Tour of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tour book costs $15. 845-0472.  

Alameda Architectural Society 2006 Preservation Awards with Woody Minor on “The History of Measure A” at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, corner of Santa Clara Ave. and Chestnut St., Alameda. 986-9232. 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to keep your bike in excellent working condition through safety inspections, from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

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 

Sunday Summer Forum: Towards a More Just World with Dr. Lola Vollen on her work with exonerated prisoners at 9:30 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Art of Happiness” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812.  

MONDAY, JUNE 5 

Public Hearing on UC Berkeley’s Building Plans for the 451,000 gross square foot Southeast Campus Integrated Projects at 7 p.m. in the Anderson Auditorium, Haas School of Business, UC Campus. 642-7720. www.cp.berkeley.edu 

Art Making at Schoolhouse Creek Join Friends of Five Creeks and environmental artist Zach Pine to make ephemeral art using found materials at the mouth of Schoolhouse Creek, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Photographs of works will be exhibited as part of “Art to Action on Berkeley Creeks.” Free, but enrollment limited; register 708-5528. zpine@aol.com 

Kensington Library Knitting Club, the “Castoffs” meets at 7 p.m. at 61 Arlington Ave. All ages and levels of experience welcome. 524-3043. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people 60+ years old meets at 10:15 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Cost is $2.50. 524-9122. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. 548-0425. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 6 

Remember to Vote Today 

“Pack Light, Pack Right” Tips for comfort on the trail at 7 p.m. at from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

Berkeley Discussion Salon on “Travel and Favorite Vacations” at 7 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. at Rose. Please bring snacks to share, no peanuts please. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland around Preservation Park to see Victorian architecture. Meet at 10 a.m. in front of Preservation Park at 13th St. and MLK, Jr. Way. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

“Earthlings” a documentary on the industries which rely on animals for profit at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations of $5 accepted. 

“Girl, I’ve Been Through A Lot ...” Poetry workshop for girls age 13 to 17 at 4 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Room 219, 125 14th St. 238-3134. 

Classes in English and Citizenship offered by the Oakland Adult Education program Mon.-Fri. from 6 to 9 p.m. Free. Register at Lincoln Elementary School, 225 11th St., room 205. 879-8131. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation at 10 a.m. in Oakland. We need your help with blood drives all over the East Bay. For more information, please call 594-5165.  

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oakland State Building, 2nd floor, 1515 Clay St. To make an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. www.BeADonor.com  

Swami Khecaranatha Kundalini Yoga Talk at 7 p.m. at Sacred Space Yoga Sanctuary, 816 Bancroft at 6th. Free. 486-8700.  

“Organizing Your Time and Energy” at 6 p.m. at The Breema Clinic, 6201 Florio St., Oakland. 428-1234.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

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. 548-9840. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704.  

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council Special Meeting Public Hearing on Creeks Ordinance, Tues., May 30, at 6 p.m. at Longfellow School Auditorium, 1500 Derby St. 981-6900. 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., June 1, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/housing 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs. June 1, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/landmarks 

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., June 1, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/commissions/publicworks 

Creeks Task Force meets Mon. June 5, at 7 p.m. the North Berkeley Senior Center. Erin Dando, 981-7410. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/planning/landuse/Creeks/default.html 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon. June 5, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

citycouncil/agenda-committee 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., June 5, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Manuel Hector, 981-5510. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/ 

commissions/peaceandjustice