Slamming what they called the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce’s Karl Rove approach to local elections, some 125 people demonstrated Wednesday on the steps of Old City Hall to “say no to big money and big lies.”  

Followed by a march to the University Avenue Chamber of Commerce office, the protest targeted the Chamber political action committee’s “hit pieces” attacking incumbent council-members Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington and the Yes on Measure J campaign. 

A recent filing with Alameda County shows that the Chamber PAC spent at least $61,793.58 on the effort.  

Addressing the hastily called noontime gathering, Worthington said people in Berkeley want “integrity and democracy,” not the “big lies” the Chamber PAC is delivering. 

“Thousands of dollars were spent by vested interests,” Spring added, pointing specifically to Chamber PAC contributions of $5,000 by Patrick Kennedy’s Panoramic Interests, and $10,000 contributed by Wareham Development to the effort. 

“The community will not put up with the distortions and lies,” Spring said, “We’re fighting for our community standards. I’ve never seen the elections sink this low.”  

While the Chamber pieces paint Worthington and Spring as anti-business, claiming, among other things, that they opposed the West Berkeley Bowl, Spring underscored that she, Worthing-ton and Councilmember Max Anderson abstained on a Bowl vote, holding out for a resolution in support of a union at the market. All three voted their support on the second reading of the resolution before the council after the pro-union resolution was prepared, she said. 

Moreover, Spring said, contrary to statements in the chamber mailer, “We did vote for more police officers and outreach workers” for Telegraph Avenue and downtown. “Business left Telegraph because of high rents and Internet sales,” she added. 

Worthington said he would have no problem if the Chamber sent out mailers about the true issues that divide him from them, such as his strong support for the Honda strikers and Claremont Hotel workers. 

“We can’t ask what’s the matter with Kansas without asking what’s the matter with Berkeley,” said former Landmarks Commissioner Patti Dacey, speaking for the Yes on J ballot measure. 

“The lies against Measure J are a degradation of the democratic process,” Dacey said, pointing to the mailer’s assertion that the measure is a “violation of state law” and blasting the mailer’s contention that the measure would remove the state historic standard of integrity.  

Correcting the record, Dacey said, in fact, the ballot measure would “integrate the standard of integrity into local law.” (The standard of integrity relates to the degree that changes are made in a structure over time.) 

At the close of the rally—which included District 8 challenger Jason Overman, representatives of the No on Measure I campaign and mayoral candidate Zelda Bronstein, and a representative from the Yes on Prop. 89 committee—protesters marched the several blocks from Old City Hall to the Chamber of Commerce office a few blocks away on University Avenue. There, Worthington delivered a letter, calling on the Chamber to “issue an immediate correction to the inaccurate information that your organization has disseminated to my constituents.” 

From behind a locked metal gate at the Chamber office on University Avenue, Chamber President Roland Peterson read a prepared statement, which distanced the Chamber from its political action arm, Business for Better Government. 

“It is …important for all to realize that the Chamber of Commerce is separate and distinct from the Business for Better Government PAC,” he read. “There is only a casual affiliation among the two, such as a shared address.” 

Peterson’s statement describes the Chamber PAC as a “grass roots movement of different local coalitions from West Berkeley and throughout the city, concerned citizens and small businesses alike, from the flatlands to the hills, who want to make Berkeley great again … This is not, we want to stress not, big business interests, but local interests, committed small business and the community fighting for positive change.”  

The statement goes on to argue, “We need to keep our tax dollars in Berkeley.” 

A look at the 34 Chamber PAC contributors filed with Alameda county on Oct. 26 for the period of July 1 to Oct. 21, however, indicates that the bulk of the $38,000 raised (the rest is in loans to the PAC) came from large businesses, almost half of them located outside Berkeley. In addition to San Rafael-based Wareham Development and Panoramic Interests, large contributions came from San Rafael-based Seagate Properties, Inc., which contributed $5,250, Emeryville-based Teece Family Foundation, which contributed $4,000, and Berkeley-based Ruegg & Ellsworth, which contributed $3,000.  

Among other contributions from outside Berkeley was a $1,000 donation from Oakland-based Bisno Development Co., $500 from the president of San Francisco-based Pacific Property Asset Management and six $250 contributions. 

While the Chamber’s filings did not indicate where the money was spent, the mailers were posted from Carlsbad. Daily Planet calls to Peterson on Thursday for further explanation were not returned by deadline. 

BATES ON DEVELOPMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Re Mayor Bates's 11/3 commentary, "Let’s Talk About Development," if he's as green as he makes out in his campaign literature, why did he fail to discuss the fundamental ecological issue of limits to growth? 

The East Bay's existing population is already making such demands on the water supply that EBMUD is seriously considering building desalinization plants. Do we really want to build ourselves into a perpetual drought? 

As for Bates's argument that we need to line the major traffic corridors with five-story apartment buildings in order to provide housing for Berkeley workers, the ones built in recent years always seem to have vacancies. Why aren't Berkeley workers snapping them up? My guess is they'd rather commute as far as necessary to give their kids the benefit of growing up in a single-family house with a yard--just like Bates's kids did. 

Robert Lauriston 

South Berkeley, District 3 

ANTI-MEASURE A POSTCARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Last night I received a postcard from anti-Measure A folk whining about the state of Berkeley Unified School District's pools and other recreational facilities. I'd like to remind them that the primary mandate of BUSD is to educate children, not provide recreation to adults. Starving the District of resources by defeating Measure A will make this already-challenging mandate nearly impossible. And if you think the facilities are poorly maintained now, sending the District into bankruptcy would only make the current situation much, much worse. 

I hope ten years from now when this measure is up for renewal, we try to make it permanent so this kind of nonsense no longer arrives in my mailbox. 

Brenda Buxton 

VOTING FOR BATES, MAIO OR WOZNIAK WILL LOWER THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME  

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Berkeley homeowners should be cognizant of the current real estate market when voting on November 7. 

The strong real estate market is over, and home prices are dropping. Yet massive apartment and condominium projects keep getting approved and built. Now that the real estate market is weakening, land use decisions will effect property values more and more. A glut of apartments and condo units will lower property values through the economic law of supply 

and demand.  

Berkeley is already the third most densely populated city in northern California, after San Francisco and Daly City. As Berkeley continues to rapidly develop, traffic will keep getting worse, historic buildings and views will be lost, and our city will become more dense, noisier, and more polluted. All of this will make Berkeley a less desirable place in which to buy a home, and in which to make a long-termcommitment to live. 

Mayor Tom Bates, and City Council Members Linda Maio (District 1) and Gordon Wozniak (District 8) have voted for nearly every development project that has come to the Berkeley City Council in the last several years. They have consistently refused to hold public hearings on the appeal of large-scale development projects approved by the Zoning Adjustments Board, and they have consistently refused to require environmental impact reports (EIRs) for these large-scale projects. 

Bates, Maio and Wozniak also voted last year to approve the secret deal with UC to double the size of downtown Berkeley and to hand development decisions for our downtown over to the university. If the secret deal with UC is not overturned, neighborhoods to the north and south of downtown Berkeley could soon be overrun with high-rise apartments, condos, and office buildings. 

Berkeley home owners should realize that a vote for Mayor Bates, for Council Member Maio, or for Council Member Wozniak is a vote to worsen the quality of life in Berkeley, and a vote to lower the value of your home. 

Clifford Fred, member of the Berkeley Planning Commission from 1988-1996 

BATES HAS CHANGED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

After I heard Tom Bates speak at Berkeley City College on Wednesday night I wondered about how the man had changed so much from the mid seventies when I knew him as a legislature in who helped us in the State Health Department in Sacramento battle for the needs of all citizens.  

In contrast Wednesday he announced to us that there are plans to build a 900-unit, nine story condimunium on Center Street, across the street from Berkeley City College as well as a 200-unit hotel on Center and Shattuck where the Bank of America is.When one of the students asked what is this going to do for the downtown parking for students he answered, "It will be a little bit of inconvenience."  

As it is many people avoid shopping in downtown Berkeley because parking is so hard. We have a wonderful community college smack in the middle of the downtown,where will students park? What will a nine story condo do to the character of the downtown? Bates obviously has more than the interests of Berkeley's citizens in mind, specifically the developers. 

Pauline Bondonno Cross 

FINANCIAL ENDORSEMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The endorsement of Tom Bates by the SF Chronicle is less political than financial. 

Given the paper's declining circulation they simply can't afford to have Tom stealing bundles of the Chronicle. 

F. Greenspan 

PERALTA RACE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Why should Berkeley residents care about a race for an Oakland seat on the board of the Peralta Community College District? 

Because the board in its entirety controls Berkeley City College (formerly Vista College). 

Because Berkeley citizens are eligible to take courses at Laney, Merritt, and the College of Alameda. 

Because Berkeley and Oakland are very closely linked. The fate of Oakland youth could hardly. be more important to us. No institution offers more hope for them than the community colleges. 

Because the District has just passed a $390 million–dollar bond issue, and we need to make sure the money is spent to best effect. 

Because there is a first-class candidate running for the seat. 

His name is Abel Guillen. Abel is young, and the first in his own family to go to college. He works hard. He cares deeply, He knows a lot about how to run college districts, He wants to make sure that every high school student in the district learns well in advance of graduation about opportunities through Peralta. He knows how to listen to the faculty, students and staff rather than outside contractors when it comes to making key decisions. 

To find out how to support Abel go to http://www.abelforperalta.com.  

Michael H. Goldhaber 

FAKE DEMOCRATIC PARTY MAILER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As five members of the California Democratic Party State Central Committee, we are disgusted that political consultants from southern California recently mailed a fake Democratic Party slate card to Oakland voters. It is bad enough that this fake mailer disguised itself as coming from the Democratic Party, but it also misrepresented several of the official positions of the Democratic Party.  

The Alameda County Democratic Party strongly supports Measure O (instant runoff voting in Oakland) (see http://www.acdems.org/endorsements.html for proof). And the California Democratic Party supports instant runoff voting (see http://www.cadem.org/site/c.jrLZK2PyHmF/b.1193757/k.A452/Political_Reform.htm for proof).  

Yet this fake slate card told Oakland voters to vote "no" on this measure. That kind of sleazy, underhanded tactic is what really turns off voters to politics. And ironically, it's that kind of mudslinging that Measure O/instant runoff voting is trying to stop. As San Francisco's experience with instant runoff voting has shown, IRV decreases negative campaigning because candidates may need the second or third ranking from the supporters of other candidates to win. So you have to be more careful what you say about those candidates in order to attract their voters' support. 

Setting the record straight: the Democratic Party, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and over 20 Democratic elected officials from Oakland and Alameda County all strongly support Measure O.  

Suzi Goldmacher, Chair, 16th Assembly District, Member, California Democratic Party State Central Committee 

Steve Chessin, Member, California Democratic Party State Central Committee and Member, California Democratic Party Executive Board 

Rob Dickinson, Member, California Democratic Party State Central Committee, Alternate Member, California Democratic Party Executive Board, Founding Member, San Mateo County Democracy for America 

Donald Goldmacher, Member, California Democratic Party State Central Committee 

Sherry Reson, Member, California Democratic Party State Central Committee, Founding Member, Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club 

HAVES AND HAVE NOTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The 7th district city council race is about haves and have nots. Kriss Worthington the incumbent survives on considerable less than the national average on a city council salary of about $24,000 a year so he can spend more time directly helping his constituents. George Beier his opponent is a multi-millionaire...and he wants Kriss's job. Nothing is ever enough for some people. 

There is a line in a play "Look Back in Anger" by John Osborne-"It is always the wrong people who go hungry". Kriss has the compassion to respond to a call from a constituent like myself in distress by getting on his bike and meeting with me in 15 minutes. He helped my neighbor a fragile professor who had been locked out of his apartment by his landlord who trashed this tenant's place, putting his stuff in the garbage after not paying an illegal rent. In my own Section 8 case and the professor's case Kriss advocated for us with this landlord and with the city's Housing Authority. 

I am an award winning photographer who has been sufferring from illness. I have helped host crime watch meetings when I was living at Russell St.. I object to the Chamber of Commerce's hit piece about Kriss not helping with crime. Kriss helped us become more safe from drug dealers who were assaulting, robbing and threatening the lifes of Section 8 tenants in my complex. 

Kriss is a proven supporter of affordable housing. I have been quite sickened by the lies and slander George Beier has posted in front of his campaign headquarters basically calling Kriss worthless. Kriss confronted the "politically incorrrect" problem of drug dealing in my neighborhood and building when no one in the local city government did. Kriss is deservedly respected for his devotion to La Causa the cause of progressive politics. I feel George Beier is trying to buy this election with his money. It has been hard for me to write this but it is my hope it can get in the paper for election day.  

Diane Villanueva Arsanis 

A GUIDE FOR THE UNCONVINCED VOTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Make no mistake: this article is an attempt to convince you how to vote on Tuesday. 

I produce the majority of Kriss Worthington's literature. This election season I've also written for Dona Spring, against Measure I, and for Measure J. Over the years I've produced literature for numerous candidates and for Berkeley funding bonds, among them disability bonds, library bonds, and parks bonds. I am schooled in the art of convincing. 

There was one overriding message I took away from the '60s, from the struggle against the Vietnam War, from the Civil Rights struggle, and from the women's movement, and that was that the end doesn't justify the means, but is, rather, simply determined by the means. Any movement which succeeds by imposing the will of an elite instead of realizing the will of the people it claims to act on behalf of is corrupt. 

The opposing sides in a contest look superficially alike because they have in common the determination to convince those who will decide the outcome to act on their argument instead of their opponent's. But it's possible, even surprisingly simple, to sift your way productively through the literature of a bitterly fought electoral contest. Just apply the following test: 

Reread the literature with an eye to the structure of its argument rather than its content. There are only two ways to make an argument: you can be guided by your end or you can be guided by your means. If the former, you will use all material at your disposal, no matter how relevant, to convince: if the latter, you will only be satisfied if you inform, and in informing convince. If as a reader you come away from an election piece with new understanding, that's the direct result of the author's attempt to inform you. If you come away with doubt and fear, it's the direct result of the author's attempt to manipulate you. 

Here's two productive examples from this election season. 

The Chamber of Commerce's anti-Measure J piece warns that if you vote for Measure J you will be allowing as few as 25 people to designate a new Historical District. In fact, a Council majority has already stated it will put into effect a substitute law if J should fail, a law that also will allow 25 people to designate a new Historical District. Both proposals use that number because it's the one recommended by the State Office of Historical Resources. The Chamber wasn't lying: it was just attempting to convince by misinforming. 

Two letters from Beier supporters in Tuesday's Planet: In "Real Progress vs. a Progressive Label" Charles Banks-Altekruse writes that "George seems capable of working respectfully and maturely with other City Council members to advance an agenda of constructive change and real progress." David Cottle writes for "Beier Progressives in the Bateman, Halcyon, LeConte and Willard neighborhoods" that "Beier has, in addition to genuine progressive credentials, the intelligence, creativity and temperament we need in Berkeley's elected leadership." They're either two people who happened simultaneously to realize that the most important thing to hammer into a letter to the editor this week is that George is every bit as progressive as Kriss, or they are part of an orchestrated Beier letter-writing effort echoing on-message talking points. If you have the time, go back and read these polished and perfectly meshing letters. (www.BerkeleyDailyPlanet.com, click on 'Search Archives', then "Tue Oct 31', then "Letters to the Editor' in the lower right column.) 

If you feel you've learned something from this article, I hope you'll vote for Measure J and for Kriss Worthington. 

Thanks. 

Dave Blake 

MONEY AND POLITICS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When it comes to politics, it's essential to understand how money works. I agreed to serve as Kriss's volunteer treasurer because as a community activist I appreciate his phenomenal work for our neighborhood and the progressive issues I care about. My position as treasurer has given me a window into what it costs to wage a campaign that communicates a candidate's record and vision to voters. Since powerful interests have targeted Kriss in past campaigns, I knew that we'd have to spend substantial money on our efforts, and indeed we have spent around $27,000 as of 10/21 (the last reporting period). 

But our expenditures, normal for a hard-fought campaign, have been dwarfed by the money Kriss's multimillionaire opponent has thrown into the race. George Beier has now won the dubious distinction of spending more than anyone has before on a Berkeley City Council race. As of the 10/26 campaign filing statement (which covers expenditures through 10/21 and which can be found at www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/elections), Beier has already spent over $72,000 (more than the mayor in a citywide race), including $27,000 of his own money, and he will be the first Council candidate in Berkeley history to surpass $100,000. Beier's also benefiting from the Chamber of Commerce PAC, which has spent over $15,000 already against Kriss, as well as a soft-money mailing from the conservative Berkeley Democratic Club (which deliberately tried to mislead voters by picturing Beier with Barbara Lee, even though she is an early and enthusiastic supporter of Kriss's), meaning that all told Kriss is being outspent by around three to one. 

It's worth asking what all this money is buying; if this is what we want politics in Berkeley to be about; and whether, in the end, we can truly afford it. 

Nancy Carleton 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HIT PIECES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I haven't written to the Daily Planet before, but I was moved to do so when a friend showed me a campaign hit piece she received in the mail. This Chamber of Commerce PAC mailer is really over the top! It accuses Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring of being responsible for the closing of Radston's and a few stores on Telegraph Avenue. It's so ludicrous that one tends to believe it will affect voters in a way opposite to that intended. 

For starters, I don't think either of these Councilmembers were responsible for the growth of stores like Office Max or Office Depot. Nor did they encourage property owners to charge the high rents that make it difficult for small businesses to survive. In addition, I don't believe Spring or Worthington own stock in Emeryville shopping centers. 

I live in District One and often walk to Fourth Street, a nice half hour stroll. There are several empty storefronts there, victims to some economic exigency or other. Yet, the Chamber is not blaming that Councilperson for those closings, nor would I want them to. (I happen to be a repeat voter for Linda Maio, my Councilperson.) In addition, the Chamber has not blamed the Mayor for the various stores that close (and then open under new owners), throughout the city. And, I wouldn't want them to assign blame there, either, because clearly it would be misplaced. 

Those of us who live in Berkeley like to think that our forward thinking city is fueled by the energy of intelligent, thoughtful individuals. The Chamber is trying to tell us otherwise. Hopefully, voters won't be fooled by this pathetic attempt to tarnish two hardworking, responsive and responsible Councilmembers. 

Sharon Maldonado 

UC Regents will be asked this month to approve the first of a major series of projects at Berkeley’s Southeast Campus. 

According to the environmental impact report for all the southeast campus projects the regents will be asked to greenlight a 132,500-square-foot 365-days-a-year strength conditioning and sports medicine high performance center to be constructed along the western base of Memorial Stadium. 

That structure is just the first of a series of major projects that will change the face of the campus around the stadium and will add height and lights to the stadium. 

Disgruntled Berkeleyans looking for dirt on the university will find it by the thousands of truckloads in an environmental impact report (EIR) released this week by the school. The document, almost a truckload in itself, examines the impacts of all the projects while largely dismissing worries of city officials and other critics. 

The dirt in question is literal. Excavation of a new 911-space, largely underground parking structure near Memorial Stadium will cause 20,000 truck trips down city streets over a four-month period—averaging 167 trips a day, seven days a week. 

That parade of heavily laden trucks is a major concern to city officials and neighbors, along with other traffic impacts that would result from projects drawing ever more people to the area. 

And the 20,000-trip figure represents just the traffic generated by the disposition of earth from the garage, which in turn is just one of many new building efforts planned by UC Berkeley in the years ahead, according to the EIR.  

The total doesn’t include simultaneous trips from other campus projects taking place nearby or elsewhere on the campus. Nor does it include the additional daily trips that would come from installing new academic facilities, a major parking lot and the training facility that will draw athletes from around the campus, as well as a week’s worth of new near-capacity events at Memorial Stadium. 

Those problems would add further congestion to already crowded neighborhood streets, slow emergency response times, especially during high-attendance events, and necessitate installation of new traffic signals, critics said. 

Concerns about traffic problems formed just a small part of the criticism leveled at the university’s plans by the city and neighborhood and other advocacy groups. 

Another major concern repeatedly stressed is the Hayward Fault, which runs directly beneath the stadium and immediately adjacent to the planned garage. See the accompanying story for more on this issue. 

But in the end none of the comments or the many petitions deflected the university’s determination to do as they first intended. 

SCIP to my U 

The EIR released this week focuses on the Southeast Campus Integrated Projects (SCIP), which compromises just one component of the massive building program planned by California’s premier public university in the next 14 years. 

Major projects included in the SCIP in addition to the training center include: 

• A retrofit to the landmark Memorial Stadium, which sits directly astride the Bay Area fault federal scientists say is the most likely to rupture in the decades ahead. 

• A $140 million to $160 million stadium retrofit and upgrade, including luxury sky boxes and a press gallery to be built above the structure’s western rim. 

• The 911-space parking structure northwest of the stadium.  

• A 186,000-square-foot “connection building” that would join offices and functions of the university’s law and business schools. 

All funds for the projects, estimated to cost more than a quarter-billion dollars, are to be raised from private sources. 

The massive report makes no substantial changes from the original draft document that attracted stinging criticism from city officials and has raised the threat of yet another city lawsuit against the university. 

“The writer’s comment is noted” is a phrase that runs like a mantra throughout the university’s official responses to criticisms, questions and comments submitted from organizations—both official and private—and from citizens ranging from preservationists to a multinational collection of players of pick-up soccer games. 

Can’t comment 

City Planning and Development Director Dan Marks wrote the City Council’s response, an acerbic 58-page broadside sent to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau in response to the draft EIR. He said city staff would be busy examining the several-thousand-page document released Tuesday in order to prepare a response in time for the UC Regents meeting at UCLA on Nov. 15-16. 

The regents are expected to vote approval of the EIR and SCIP buildings at that session. 

“I can’t comment on the document, and I won’t be able to until I have had the time to thoroughly read it and prepare our response. We want to have something ready before the regents meet,” he said. 

The EIR—prepared by Berkeley consulting firm Design Community & Environment (DCE)—largely dismisses criticisms, many because they refer to items cited in a previously approved EIR prepared for the 2020 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), which was the subject of a city lawsuit that was settled in a controversial agreement that subsequently became the subject of a citizen lawsuit. 

That EIR was also prepared by DCE. 

While the city charged that the draft SCIP EIR only set up the legally required project alternatives as “straw-men,” designed to be easily dismissed so that the university could do what it intended, the EIR dismisses the allegation, declaring that the regents have yet to review the alternatives, which “may yet be selected.” 

Other critics 

Among the critics who filed written reports were: 

• The Panoramic Hill Association,  

• Friends of Piedmont Way, which expressed concerns over proposed changes to the landmarked streetscape designed by Frederick Law Olmstead.  

• The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, which expressed concern about changes to the recently landmarked stadium, Piedmont Way and other nearby historic and landmark structures and their grounds. 

• Berkeleyans for a Livable University Environment. 

• The Willard Neighborhood Association. 

• The Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association. 

The final EIR acknowledges that the stadium expansion “would cause a significant adverse change in the historical significance” of the stadium, but says the new plan represents a solution of extraordinary quality meriting departure” from the campus’s own guidelines and the historical character of the stadium.  

The document is available on the Internet at www.cp.berkeley.edu/SCIP/EIR.html  

Tightwads worried 

Another group of critics comes from the habitués of Tightwad Hill, the UC Berkeley Bears fans who hike up Strawberry Canyon to plant themselves on the pleasant hillside slope that offers panoramic—and free—views of home football games. 

Don Sicular launched a website to protest the university’s plans for an 18-row expansion of the stadium’s eastern rim that would cut off views from the best hillside turf. The site, which features petition forms, is at www.tightwadhill.org. 

Sicular said the free seating tradition dates back to the first Cal game in the stadium played against Stanford on Nov. 24, 1923. 

Other critics have focused on the press box and luxury sky boxes for big bucks corporate and private donors planned on the western rim, as well as the eastern seats, charging they detract from the stadium’s internationally renowned esthetics.

THE DAILY PLANET ENDORSES 

Berkeley Mayor  

Zelda Bronstein 

Berkeley City Council 

District 1: no endorsement 

District 4: Dona Spring 

District 6: Kriss Worthington 

District 8: Jason Overman 

Berkeley Measures 

Measure A: yes 

Measure I: no 

Measure J: yes 

Oakland City Council  

District 2: Aimee Allison 

State Propositions 

1A: no endorsement 

1B: no 

1C: yes 

1D: yes 

1E: yes 

83: no 

84: no 

85: no 

86: yes 

87: yes 

88: no 

89: yes 

90: no 

Do UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium area development plans violate a state law created to save lives in major earthquakes by limiting new construction? 

That’s the contention of neighbors from the Panoramic Hill Association (PHA), who have raised the issue in a letter to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgenau—and it’s also the basis of a possible lawsuit by city officials. 

The UC Board of Regents is scheduled to vote on approving plans for a 132,500-square-foot athletic training center immediately west of the stadium when they meet at UCLA Nov. 15-16.  

While the city raised the question of valuation in discussions prior to voting to hire outside counsel to prepare possible litigation over the university’s stadium retrofit and expansion plans, neighbors took an additional step. 

PHA took the unusual tack of hiring a professional assessor to challenge the university’s claim that the stadium is exempt from the Alquist-Priolo Act because the planned retrofit would cost less than half the current value of the landmark structure. 

In its environmental impact report (EIR) on the quarter-billion-dollar stadium area projects, the university claims exemption of the stadium retrofit from the Alquist-Priolo Act—legislation passed following the disastrous Sylmar Earthquake of Feb. 9, 1971, that killed 58 people, most in the collapse of the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in San Fernando. 

In the aftermath of the San Fernando Valley quake that measured 6.6 on the Richter Scale—compared to the 6.9 magnitude of the Oct. 17, 1989 Loma Prieta temblor—state legislators passed the law regulating development on and adjacent to major faults. 

Memorial Stadium sits directly over the Hayward Fault, the seismic rift federal geologists predict is the most likely site in Bay Area for a 6.7 quake by the year 2032, with odds set at 27 percent. 

But Alquist-Priolo allows replacement of structures that were built before 1975—a standard the stadium meets by more than a half-century—so long as costs don’t run to more than half of the structure’s existing value. 

Michael Kelly, PHA vice president for university relations, wrote that the association had received no response from two requests to the university for additional information supporting their claim of exemption from Alquist-Priolo. 

One aspect of the law is the exemption—embodied in Section 2621.8 of the California Public Resources Code—excluding “alterations or additions to any structure within a special studies zone the value of which does not exceed 50 percent of the value of the structure.” 

With the university in the midst of raising funds from alumni and other donors for a project estimated to cost more than $100 million. PHA decided to see how much Memorial Stadium is worth by hiring Charles B. Warren, a San Francisco appraiser. 

Warren concluded that by the accepted standards of his profession, the proposed seismic retrofit and additions were “greater that 50 percent of any probable value of the structure.” 

He estimated the undepreciated value of the current structure at between $27 million at the low end at $110 million at the upper end. The lower figure comes from factoring the historic cost of $1,021,500 into contemporary dollars, while the high-end figure calculates the price of building a new, replacement structure. 

By figuring in depreciation as well, the actual value of the structure as it standards today would be zero, Warren wrote. 

In the final EIR released Tuesday, the university dismissed the criticisms as outside the scope of consideration for the document. 

Because the Alquist-Priolo Act doesn’t define value, the university said it might rely on Section 823 of the California Evidence Code, which “provides that the value of property for which there is no relevant, comparable market may be determined by any method of valuation that is just and equitable.” 

But the university did declare that it would make certain that the resulting construction would amount to no more than the allowable 50 percent—though just what basis it would use for determining the numbers wasn’t cited. 

The EIR likened the university’s decision to undertake a major building program on the fault to the fact that “Individuals decide to raise families, entertain and hold meetings at homes subject to disaster and catastrophe. This decision itself does not increase or exacerbate the likelihood that a disaster will occur, but increases individual exposure to risk.” 

“The university takes reasonable steps to reduce risks,” said the report, “including employing design work from reputable civil and structural engineers and engaging a seismic review committee to review and advise on structure design.” 

The university’s website features both the EIR and a collection of seismic reports prepared on the stadium area and the nearby site of a planned 911-slot parking lot which would be built, largely underground, adjacent to the Hayward Fault. 

The report on the proposed Student Athlete High Performance Center treats the proposed 132,500-square-foot structure adjacent to the stadium’s western wall as a separate structure sufficiently distant from the main active fault, which runs through the center of the stadium. 

However, the building would be structurally linked to the stadium, which led one city official—who declined to be identified in print—to wonder at the wisdom of considering the two buildings as separate. 

The report concluded that the training center is west of the active fault, and the potential for the soil beneath the building to drop in the event of a quake was “very low.”

While speakers at a noontime rally at Old City Hall were protesting a spate of Chamber of Commerce hit pieces received by voters over the past week, new mailers containing what Councilmember Dona Spring called “more brazen lies” were appearing in District 4 and District 7 mailboxes. 

The most recent piece put out by the Chamber PAC implies that Worthington and Spring are anti-business and responsible for the closure of Cody’s and the Act 1 & Act 2 Theatre on Bancroft Way, due to their support for “doorway camping on Telegraph,” voting against more downtown parking and not supporting the West Berkeley Bowl. 

Worthington argues that the parking issue is a red herring, and that for 20 hours every day, from downtown to the Telegraph Avenue area, there are 1,000 spaces available. The problem, he said, is letting people know where the spaces are located. He said that due to his advocacy, the city is meeting with the university and private parking-lot owners to talk about how new signage indicating available parking can be funded.  

Worthington said he is responsible for insisting that the 22 parking spaces on Telegraph Avenue removed by a city bureaucrat be replaced; this was funded at Worthington’s behest in the budget approved in July.  

Worthington points to “a dramatic reduction” in downtown parking with the removal of “Hink’s Parking” on Kitredge St. by the Transaction Corp. Library Gardens project. Along with others, Worthington said he fought for and got the replacement of some of that parking. He added that he does not want to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on building a new parking structure. 

Spring, who had been a strong advocate of parking under new sections of the high school and under the new library, said the Chamber would rather blame her for business leaving Berkeley than the property owners who raise rents beyond what small business owners can pay.  

Correcting the record, Spring said both she and Worthington voted to approve the West Berkeley Bowl after there were assurances that the council would be able to vote separately on urging the Bowl to unionize, if the workers wanted a union. 

“They have set the bar at a new low,” Spring said of the distortions in the mailers. 

Chamber of Commerce President Roland Peterson did not return several calls for comment on Thursday.  

In a call to the Daily Planet on Wednesday, George Beier, challenging Worthington for the District 7 seat, distanced himself from the Chamber mailers, which support him. “I don’t like the tactics,” he said. “I find it distasteful.”

Reaction to a Peralta Area 7 trustee candidates debate has raised questions about what local voters committed themselves to in last June’s Peralta Measure A bond vote. 

In that June election, voters overwhelmingly approved Measure A, giving the district the authority to issue $390 million in bonds to pay for upgrades to facilities in the four-college community college district. 

The question is: Did the June vote commit the district to a specific, line-item list of projects on which the $390 million must be spent, and did Peralta trustees authorize a plan for the district to be able to prioritize that spending? 

In an Oct. 24 article entitled “Peralta Candidates Get Facts Wrong on Key Issues,” the Planet reported that Area 7 challenger Abel Guillen said at an Oct. 17 Laney College candidates forum that Peralta “doesn’t have a plan for the spending of [the Measure A] bond money, just a laundry list of projects.”  

In the article, the Planet reported that contrary to Guillen’s assertion, the district included an itemized, budgeted list of projects on the ballot, committing the bond money to those projects. 

In response, Peralta Community College District trustee Nicky Gonzalez Yuen said by telephone last week, “I think [the Planet] got it wrong” in reporting that Peralta was committed to spending Measure A money only from an itemized list. 

The list of projects included on the Measure A ballot “is just a hodgepodge list, a wish list,” Yuen said. “There’s no budget attached to it. We don’t have enough bond money to accomplish it all. It’s kind of like a slush fund for the district. I think Abel’s contention is absolutely right. There’s only the most vague delineation of catchall projects. I almost didn’t vote for it when it came before the trustees [for approval last spring], it was so sloppily put together. There’s no way we can do everything on this list.” 

Yuen was correct in saying that only a broad summary of projects—not an itemized list—appeared on the ballot last June under Measure A. 

But the confusion comes from the fact that two lists were under consideration and circulated to the public during the February 28, 2006 board meeting in which Peralta trustees authorized the bond measure. 

One list, the broad, unbudgeted outline of projects to which Yuen referred, was included on the ballot as the “bond project list” legally required under the Proposition 39 guidelines under which Measure A passed. 

But a second list of projects, with estimated costs included next to each project, was part of the executive summary that was included for consideration by the board for the bond measure. Entitled “Estimated Cost Proposal for Capital Outlay Projects and Facilities Improvements District-Wide 2006-2021,” the items in the second list totaled $451.4 million. 

The executive summary explained that this list was generated after “the district … conducted a comprehensive facilities need inventory which identifies approximately $452 million in additional facilities repair, upgrade, renovation, and replacement needs for the next 15 years. … $390 million of this is being proposed for new local bond measure, while the remaining $62 million is expected to be contributed [by other sources].” 

An updated version of this list, keeping the same projects but adding more dollar figures, has been posted to the district’s Dept. of General Services webpage under the link “Measure A Capital Projects.” 

Does this mean that the district is committed to these projects under Measure A? Peralta Chief Financial Officer Tom Smith was out of the office this week and Peralta General Counsel Thuy Nguyen was out on maternity leave, but another trustee, Cy Gulassa, seems to think it the district is committed. 

“My understanding is that we were endorsing that [itemized list] as a requirement of the bond referendum” during the Feb. 28 trustee meeting, Gulassa said this week in a telephone interview. “That’s what I thought we voted on.” 

Gulassa added that several trustees, including himself and Yuen, “had expressed concern that the district did not have such a list” in the days immediately preceding the Feb. 28 meeting. “I wasn’t happy with everything that was on the list. But I was happy that they came up with a list.” 

Gulassa said that he wished that Peralta had come up with “an itemized list with comprehensive guidelines on how the money was to be spent and how it fit into the district priorities” such as he said was produced by the Foothill-DeAnza Community College District for a recent Proposition 39 bond measure. 

Gulassa formerly taught in the Foothill-DeAnza district. Yuen still teaches there. 

In addition, both Gulassa and Yuen have endorsed challenger Guillen over incumbent Alona Clifton in the Area 7 trustee race. 

If trustees did, indeed, approve the itemized construction bond list at the Feb. 28 meeting, California court rulings would suggest that the district is committed to following that list, even if the list itself did not appear on the June ballot. 

In a 1979 ruling concerning North Peralta Community College (the college that was housed in the building that originally housed Merritt College), the California Court of Appeals ruled that a bond measure is essentially a contract between a government agency and the voters, with “the resolution by which the bonding entity resolves to submit the issue to [its] electors” being one portion of that contract. 

Citing the North Peralta ruling in a recent bond measure case involving the Southern California school district of Hermosa Beach, the Appeals Court ruled that under Prop 39, “neither the state Constitution nor the Education Code requires that the list of specific school facilities projects to be funded through a bond measure be included on the ballot. … The School District satisfied the Constitution’s accountability requirements by preparing and making available the required list of projects.” 

There is still confusion whether Peralta trustees actually passed the itemized list at the Feb. 28 meeting, as Gulassa contends, or whether it only approved the more generalized list that later appeared on the June ballot. 

Board minutes from the meeting only refer to passage of Resolution 05/06-45. That resolution, as passed out at the meeting on Feb. 28, included an exhibit page for the bond project list which read “the specific college facilities projects to be funded are as follows:” The remainder of the page was left blank. 

Student votes could play a crucial role in deciding the outcome of the District 7 and 8 Berkeley City Council races, according to UC Berkeley students who attended a local elections forum at Dwinelle Hall Wednesday. 

The forum, organized to allow students to mingle with the City Council and mayoral candidates, was organized by Activists’ Commission for the Creation and Engagement of Services to Students (ACCESS) and the Cal Votes Coalition. 

“We decided to hold this one-time catch-all event to give students a chance to know the candidates and the different issues that are important this year before they go out and vote on Nov. 7,” said Igor Tregub, a UC Berkeley undergrad and ACCESS member. “Our main aim is to increase voter education and turnout.” 

Freshman Sarah Stoller, one of the about two dozen students who came to the event, said she cast her vote on Wednesday. 

“I voted for Jason Overman in District 8,” she said. “I live in that district and I think it’s important to have a student in the City Council who will actually pay attention to students’ woes. I think a vast majority of students would like to see a fellow student on the board. Students votes are definitely going to make or break election decisions this year.” 

Although Stoller said she finds mayoral candidate Zelda Bronstein’s ideas and opinions interesting, she voted for incumbent Tom Bates. “His environmental track record is incredible,” she said. “I have attended quite a few of Bronstein’s talks and she seems like an angry person.” 

Stoller also voted against Measure I—the Condo Conversion Initiative—because she is against rising housing costs.  

Alex Ghenis, another freshman, said he found the discussion on the ballot measures helpful. “I have decided to vote yes on H (Impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney) and no on I.” 

Ghenis said that he was leaning towards Mayor Tom Bates because he seemed more composed. “He is able to cite figures for different issues which is not the case with his opponents,” Ghenis said. 

The District 7 race between George Beier and incumbent Kriss Worthington sparked the most interest.  

“It’s difficult to decide,” said student Amanda Purcell. “Both Beier and Worthington are well informed on all the issues affecting students such as safety and affordable housing.” 

While Beier repeatedly stressed the immediate need to address crime on Telegraph Avenue, Worthington said that being obsessed with Telegraph alone was not the solution to the problem. 

“What are your actual views on affordable housing?” Purcell asked the candidates. 

“One thing I have not done is take away affordable housing such as the Chateau Coop, which has been attacked by my opponent in the past,” Worthington said. “Affordable housing for students lies in rent control. I want to keep landlords from doing dreadful things.” 

Beier said he supported affordable housing development in the city. “There are so many one-story buildings on Telegraph that can be turned into four- and five-story buildings,” Beier said. “Take the one story-buildings that housed the GAP and Berkeley Market for example. Commuter traffic will improve drastically if people in Berkeley can live and work in the same place.” 

When asked about what the candidates would do to increase student involvement in local politics, Beier said that he was reaching out to students through mediums they understood best. 

“I am trying to get students involved in politics in the campus, at the UCB Dining Commons, on Facebook, My Space and most recently through election videos on YouTube. Interacting with students makes me realize how fresh and interesting their ideas can be,” he said.  

Worthington emphasized that he had appointed more students to elected and appointed posts in the city than any other City Council member and would continue to do so if reelected. 

“Both of them have such good ideas that I will have a tough time deciding,” said Anne Chmilewski, a 2006 UC Berkeley graduate. 

Nicholos Smith, a senior and Chair of the Commission on Labor, said that he would be voting for Worthington. 

“Kriss has elected the most student council members,” he said. “I was elected as a student commissioner by him. He has tackled crime on Telegraph and has helped raise millions of dollars for affordable student housing. His track record is impeccable.” 

Berkeley’s first landmark has proved the Bay Area’s most popular—at least of the 25 structures Internet voters could pick to receive preservation funds. 

The winner after voting ended at midnight Tuesday was the First Church of Christ, Scientist at 2619 Dwight Way. 

The contest, sponsored by American Express Partners in Preservation, will award a total of $1 million to the top vote-getters in the contest that was heavily promoted by television and print advertising. 

“First Church won,” said Jennifer Bennett, a San Francisco publicist who has been working on the contest. 

The names of the other vote-getters and the amount of cash that will go to each will be announced on Nov. 14, she said. 

With 18 percent of the votes, the church edged out the second place Angel Island by two percentage points. 

The announcement comes as an updated version of the municipal ordinance that landmarked the church has emerged as the hottest, most-contested issue on the Berkeley ballot for Nov. 7. 

And the winner is  

Built in 1910 from a design by Bernard Maybeck with Julia Morgan, one of the city’s two preeminent architects, First Church of Christ, Scientists is located just across the street from the city’s other famous landmark, People’s Park. 

Maybeck is considered one of the exemplars of the Arts and Crafts school, which emphasized the use of handcrafted wood. 

One other Berkeley landmark was among the 25 candidates—the Berkeley City Club, formerly the Berkeley Women’s Club. A Julia Morgan design, the club was the fifth city landmark designation in a vote taken on the same evening as the First Church designation. 

Bennett declined to reveal the contest voting totals, and said how much money is allotted for church restoration will be decided next week when the panel meets. 

The awards are administered by an advisory committee that includes business owners, non-profit officials and public officials, most from San Francisco. 

All of the participating sites are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the caretakers of each had to provide a a restoration plan that could be completed by the middle of 2008.

The turn-of-the-century battle cry “Whose station? Our station!” echoed through Berkeley streets as KPFA listener-supporters fought in daily demonstrations for control of the left-leaning flagship Pacifica radio station. The resistance to an attempted takeover by the national board was won in the courts where, among other guarantees, local listeners got the right to elect local station boards. 

With nine of 18 listener board seats up for grabs this year (there are also three openings for the six staff spots elected by paid and volunteer staff) only 1,499 of some 26,000 eligible listener-supporters had cast mail-in ballots by mid-week; 2,603 members or 10 percent of the ballots must be returned by Nov. 15 to validate the election. 

Many of the candidates are divided into two distinct slates: the Alliance for a Democratic KPFA (http://www.allianceforademocratickpfa.org) and the Concerned Listeners for KPFA (http://KPFAlisteners.org). Eight candidates are running as independents. 

Each slate has lined up an impressive list of endorsers spanning the left political spectrum; both slates are demanding more extensive outreach and better programming. Each underscores the importance of hiring a long-term general manager and program director. 

The Concerned slate grew out of a Media Reform Committee of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, though none of the candidates are Wellstone members. 

The Alliance grew, in part, out of People’s Radio (http://peoplesradio.net), a group under whose banner a number of current board members ran in the last elections. People’s radio is supporting some, but not all, Alliance slate candidates and two independents. 

Staff vs. listeners 

Part of the difference between the two slates is the extent to which listeners or staff have a voice in control of the station. 

“There’s a clique of people running the station,” said Alliance candidate Sasha Futran in a phone interview with the Daily Planet.  

Alliance candidate Henry Norr, an occasional contributor to the Daily Planet and former S.F. Chronicle columnist, points to the short tenure of the last two general managers: “The staff, especially senior staff, drove out the last two general managers,” he said. “That’s not to say they didn’t have their faults, but staff seized on their mistakes. Staff didn’t want to be managed.” 

Norr said he isn’t “calling for anyone’s head,” but working at KPFA “is not a lifetime appointment.” 

“People don’t want to give up air time,” Futran said. “They don’t want new programming.” 

But Conn Hallinan, a member of the Concerned slate and a Daily Planet columnist, condemns what he calls the Alliance slate’s “relentless assault on the staff.” While the Alliance slate often speaks of an “entrenched staff,” many new staff have been hired over the last few years, he said. 

In defense of the staff, Concerned slate candidate Phoebe Anne Sorgen called the staff “underpaid and overworked.” While the Alliance calls the staff “entrenched,” Sorgen points to new programming since 2000 that includes Hard Knock Radio, Against the Grain, Saturday Morning Talkies, Voices of the Middle East, Pushing Limits, Countdown 2006, Guns and Butter, and Rock and Rebellion. 

The board and programming 

The Alliance slate is highly critical of KPFA programming. “There are a few very good programs and a lot of dead air-space,” Futran said. (The Alliance slate has supported freelance labor programmer Steve Zeltzer, first in his attempt to get more air time for Labor Collective programming and second when he was denied the status of a listener in his attempt to run for the board in that capacity.) 

Norr said he wants to hear more debate of controversial subjects, such as “the 9/11 business.” 

But Sorgen of the Concerned slate slammed the Alliance for getting into the “nitty gritty details,” contending they “think the board’s job is to determine programming.” 

However, she continued, “The board’s job is not to determine programming. That’s part of the reason we haven’t hired a program director—all the infighting about Democracy Now!” 

The Democracy Now! fight has dragged on for several years and is related to the Program Council decision (the Program Council is made up of listeners and staff) to move the popular public affairs magazine Democracy Now! from a 9 a.m. to a 7 a.m. slot. Instead it airs at 6 a.m. and at 9 a.m. Alliance slate members find this unsatisfactory. 

“The program council approved the change; senior staff at the Morning Show did not want change,” Norr said. The General Manager was not able to make the program change happen. “This is not a way to run a radio station,” Norr added.  

Outreach 

The Alliance platform demands more programming reflecting the diversity and changing demographics of the listening area, focusing more on young people and immigrant communities. 

Norr says the current programming is driving listeners away. “If we’re not reaching people, something is wrong,” he said, calling for more listener input into programming and rigorous program evaluation. 

Hallinan argues that while overall radio listenership has dropped 14-15 percent, KPFA has been steady, which, he said, shows the station is doing well. 

Still, national programming should be rejuvenated, Hallinan said, and outreach should be directed to people who don’t agree with KPFA. “The station is talking too much to itself. Sometimes I think it is preaching to the ministers,” he said.  

Further, he said the station needs to expand coverage geographically. The South Bay is growing, but KPFA has little coverage there. “And most of the listeners think that the Coastal Range is a wall that beats back barbarians,” he said. 

Both slates have lined up impressive lists of endorsers. The Concerned slate is backed by activist and UC Santa Cruz professor Angela Davis, Peter Olney, organizing director for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Norman Solomon, media critic, Larry Bensky, Sunday Salon host, David Bacon, labor journalist and KPFA programmer, Darryl Moore, Berkeley City Council member, as well as the Alameda County Central Labor Council. 

Backers for the Alliance for a Democratic KPFA include Renee Saucedo, attorney and civil rights activist; Gray Brechin, historian; Dennis Bernstein, KPFA staff and host of Flashpoints; Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet; Krissy Keefer, Green party Candidate for Congress; Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10 and Roy Campanella II, former general manager. 

In addition to Hallinan, retired UC Santa Cruz journalism professor and Sorgen, member of Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission, the Concerned slate includes cultural worker Andrea Turner, youth advocate Ernesto “Tico” Chacin, Oakland community activist Tina Flores, Pacifica Board Vice-Chair Sarv Randhawa, environmental educator Erik “Witatakae” Oberg, and Fresno LSB member Mark Hernandez. 

And in addition to Futran, a 25-year radio journalist, and Norr, fired San Francisco Chronicle technology reporter, the Alliance slate includes: civil rights activist Regina Carey, public service worker Bob English (of Vallejo), electoral reform activist Dave Heller and 30-plus year Pacifica supporter Akio Tanaka. 

Information on the elections and candidates, including downloads of KPFA’s question and answer sessions with the candidates is at: www.kpfa.org/elections/2006/

Eight candidates are running for the board as independents. 

• A professor of linguistics at Cal State Fresno, Vida Samiian, is a KFCF listener (some local programming emanates from KFCF-Fresno and other is transmitted from KPFA). A first generation immigrant, he says immigrants can be marginalized and wants their voices heard. He is supported by People’s Radio. 

• Jim Weber, a teacher, wants to promote more democratic relationship between listeners and the station. He attends every LSB meeting. 

• Retired postal carrier and union activist with a background in journalism, Dave Welch is calling for more community programming produced in collaboration with grassroots community groups and more on-site reporting. 

• Aaron Aarons supports anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist programming and a news department that starts from the premise “that the government and the corporations are lying until proven otherwise.” His web site is: http://aarons.f-m.fm/ 

• Howard Beeman is a farmer in Yolo County, and is running for re-election to the board. He wants KPFA to have a presence at more community events to gain broader listenership. 

• Director of Prison Radio, Noelle Hanrahan, former Flashpoints co-host, wants to bring new perspectives to the air. Endorsed by civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart, Hanrahan can be reached at info@prisonradio.org. 

• Running for re-election, Jane Jackson is a peace and disabilities activist and fought to get the station back from the national board in 1999-2000. She is endorsed by the People’s Radio group. 

• Born in a former British colony in South America, Nazreen Kadir is concerned with race and class issues. As the Bay Area demographics change, KPFA has to change with it, she says. With a degree in strategic management, Kadir said she wants to use her skills to help KPFA’s development. 

Cragmont Elementary students Alice Pearson Rickenbach, Emma Gordon, Katherine Gordon and parent David Adamson greet cars as they swing around the Marin Circle at a rally for Measure A on Monday.

In San Francisco and Berkeley, progressive incumbents are under siege by heavily-funded campaigns for being “soft on crime.” In San Francisco, Supervisor Chris Daly has been barraged with hit-pieces by the Police Officers Association and challenger Rob Black. In Berkeley, City Councilman Kriss Worthington is on the receiving end of the most expensive campaign in that city’s history. Like Black, Worthington’s challenger (George Beier) has blamed the incumbent for a high crime rate in the district, filthy streets and a struggling economy. By making crime and quality-of-life issues a central theme of their campaigns, Black and Beier have both attacked the incumbents on an issue where any individual supervisor or city councilmember has little control. Beier has already spent $72,000 of his own money on mail pieces and free beer for Cal students, and the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has kicked in an extra $9,000 in independent expenditures. All of this in a race where you need just 2,000 votes to win an election.  

Berkeley’s District 7 includes the UC-Berkeley campus and the southside neighborhood—including Telegraph Avenue, People’s Park and the three largest undergraduate dorms. Like Daly’s district in San Francisco, it has consistently elected and re-elected progressive candidates who strongly support rent control. But like Daly’s district, the neighborhood also has very high turnover—and the electorate is largely disengaged from local politics. More than half of District 7 is Cal students who graduate every four years, and election day on the Berkeley campus is eerily similar to election day in the Tenderloin. You literally have to remind people that there’s an election going on and you have to make voting extremely easy for them, or else they simply won’t show up. 

Both Kriss Worthington and Chris Daly have a strong progressive record in their respective legislative bodies. They were also first elected because they engaged their district’s most disenfranchised population. In 1996, Worthington defeated an incumbent, who had only appointed one student out of 35 to Berkeley’s various city commissions, and ran an aggressive campaign that mobilized student voters. In 2000, Daly was elected with overwhelming support from the district’s residential hotel tenants—on a campaign platform that promised to make visitor fees illegal and put sprinklers in every room to prevent the rash of hotel fires.  

Both incumbents have delivered for these core constituencies—but it’s uncertain if that will make much of a difference in 2006. With Cal students graduating and leaving town, and a huge influx of new SRO tenants from San Francisco’s master-lease program, representing these districts requires an intense and repeated outreach effort by the incumbent. “Every August, I always have to go out and introduce myself to thousands of new constituents,” said Worthington.  

This dynamic allows a well-funded challenger to step in and send out hit-pieces that give the district’s new voters a highly negative impression of the incumbent. The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has attacked Worthington for “supporting prostitution” and claims that he voted “yes” on 2004’s Measure Q—when in fact Worthington never supported the measure. Beier has blamed Worthington for the decline of small businesses on Telegraph Avenue (including Cody’s Books), although Worthington wrote the proposal to make it easier for small businesses to get permits and Pat Cody is one of his most passionate supporters.  

But the similarity is most striking when you look at the challengers’ attacks on crime. Like Black, Beier has attacked Worthington for representing a high-crime district. Worthington has been attacked for not supporting more police officers—although he sponsored an effort to double the number of bike-patrol cops on Telegraph Avenue. Daly has supported efforts to get more foot-patrol cops in the Tenderloin, but Black has criticized him for “attacking” the police. Both Worthington and Daly have strong track records on crime prevention, but you wouldn’t know it based upon what their challengers are saying—Daly was the main sponsor of Prop. A that narrowly failed on the June ballot, and Worthington has supported funding for more social workers.  

But while Black has largely ignored SRO tenants in District 6, Beier has aggressively courted Cal students in District 7. He has recycled the same attack that Berkeley moderates regurgitate every four years—that the City Council should have an all-student district so that students can elect one of their own, and has attacked Worthington for “blocking” this effort. Like Southern Republicans who support majority-black Congressional districts, it’s a cynical effort to deplete progressive votes away from other city Council districts. Most notoriously, Beier invited students to a local bar for “free beer”—where he put a $1000 tab on drinks for students to “come talk about politics.” 

Another main difference between the challengers is the background that they have with their district. Prior to running against Daly, Black had no real connection with District 6—he had previously worked as an aide to Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who represents Pacific Heights and the Marina. Meanwhile, Beier has lived in District 7 for several years—and even ran against Worthington in 1998. Of course, Beier never mentions this fact in his campaign literature, and most of the district’s constituents weren’t around back then to know about it. Now that he has retired and sold his software business, Beier has far more money to spend than he did eight years ago to get out his message. 

A few weeks ago, three Daly supporters in District 6 filed a complaint with the S.F. Ethics Commission over the number of independent expenditures waged against him. Now Berkeley progressives are waging a similar effort against the Chamber of Commerce’s hit pieces targeting Worthington. Progressives held a press conference at noon Wednedsay on the steps of Berkeley City Hall to demand a stop to the Chamber’s last-minute attacks. In Oakland, Mayor-elect Ron Dellums brokered a compromise with the local Chamber of Commerce to cut down on negative pieces. 

Reprinted with permission from BeyondChron.org

Proposition 1A—Transportation Funding Protection 

Laws and constitutional amendments locking in state and federal spending to specific areas have become popular these days, as lawmakers have taken to borrowing money from specified funds to increase the general fund. Prop 1A is one of those lock-box measures. 

Under Proposition 42 passed by California voters in 2002, most revenue from the state’s gasoline tax is limited to funding the state’s various transportation needs. Prop 42 contained a provision that allowed the state to suspend those provisions and transfer gas tax money to other parts of the budget when the state is facing fiscal problems. According to the State Legislative Analyst, “Proposition 42 is silent as to whether suspended transfer amounts are to be repaid to transportation.” 

Prop 1A would end that silence. 

The measure requires that any transfer of money to the general fund under Prop 42 suspensions would be treated as loans from the transportation fund, not outright gifts, with strict rules on how and when that money must be refunded. In addition, it limits such transfers to twice in ten years, and prohibits new transfers until the old transfer money has been paid back. 

Twice since 2002, in fact, Prop 42 was suspended during state budgetary crises. 

Proponents of Prop 1A says the measure prevents gas tax money from being a slush fund that lawmakers can raid whenever the state gets in fiscal trouble. 

Opponents say that if we continue to lock in funds out of the budget for specific projects, we limit the ability of the governor and the legislature in future times to meet unforeseen circumstances. 

Proposition 89—Political Campaigns. Public Financing. Corporate Tax Increase. Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Limits. 

A yes or no vote on this proposition boils down to whether the voter thinks there should be public financing for elections. 

Prop 89 is written in the standard way state and local campaign finance laws have appeared in other places around the country. The measure would provide public campaign money for candidates who do not accept private campaign donations or use their own money to finance their campaigns, and who agrees to certain other restrictions. The money provided ranges from $250,000 for a State Assembly candidate to $15 million for a candidate for Governor. 

The money to finance these campaigns would come from a 0.2 percent raise in the state income tax on corporations. 

The proposed new law would not prevent candidates from opting out of public financing, but for those who choose to continue to get private donations, it would put severely stricter limits on such donations than are now present. 

For the State Assembly races in the general election, for example, individual, group or corporate donations are allowed up to $3,300; Prop 89 would cut that limit down to $500. Small contributor committees currently are limited to $6,700 in donations per assembly candidate; Prop 89 would limit that to $2,500. And while there is currently no limit on political party donations to assembly candidates, Prop 89 would impose a $20,000 limit. Prop 89 private contribution limits would be somewhat lower in the primaries. 

While limiting private contributions from individual donors, Prop 89 would also seek to discourage candidates from spending more than the publicly funded candidates are getting. For every dollar the privately funded candidate was spending over the public limit, Prop 89 provides one more dollar for the publicly-funded opponent. The idea is that if privately funded candidates get no money advantage from raising more money, they have no reason to raise more money, and the overall cost of the campaign would be held down.  

The proposition is opposed by business associations and corporations as well as taxpayer organizations. Unions have been split on the issue with some (the California Federation of Teachers, the California State Council of Laborers, the California State Firefighters Association, and the California Teachers Association, for example) in opposition, and the California Nurses Association and the California Teamsters in favor. The proposition is supported by civic organizations such as AARP, the League of Women Voters, and California Common Cause. 

Proposition 1E—Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention 

Proposition 84—Water Quality, Safety and Supply. Flood Control. Natural Resource Protection. Park Improvements. 

Prop 1E would authorize $4.1 billion in bonds to set up a Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Fund to be administered by the state Department of Water Resources (DWR), which would establish priorities, design projects, and prepare an annual plan for the uses of federal, state, and local funds. 

$3 billion of Prop 1E would go to repair and build levees and other flood control projects, $3 billion for Central Valley Flood Control System and Delta Levees, $500 million for the state's share of federally authorized Central Valley flood control projects, $300 million for grants to local agencies not in the Central Valley for stormwater management programs, and $290 million to create, enhance, and protect flood corridors. 

Proposition 84 authorizes another $5.4 billion in water-related bonds, some of which also involve flood control. Of that money, $1,535 million would go to various water quality projects, $928 million to protection of rivers, lakes, and streams, $800 million to flood control, $ 580 million to something called “sustainable communities,” $ 540 million to beaches, bays, and coastal water, $500 million to state parks and nature education & research, $450 million to forests and wildlife conservation, and $65 million to statewide water management and planning.” 

The placement of both 1E and 84 on the November 7 ballot gives California voters a sort of mix and match on how we want to fund water-related projects in the near future. 

Voters who think that protection from floods as well as enhancing water quality is extremely important may want to vote for the spending of the full $9.5 billion in the two measures. Voters who think that this is too much indebtedness, but who are leery of breaking levees after Katrina, can opt for 1E only, which focuses on the levees and the flood plain. On the other hand, voters who don’t want to spend a full $9.5 billion, who think that flooding is a problem that needs to be addressed, but who think that the other Prop 84 projects are necessary, can vote against 1E and for 84. And, finally, for those who either think that we are already too much in state debt for anything, or who think that the projects listed in either ballot measure are necessary, can vote down both. 

Every city in California is struggling to maintain financial health after years of state takeaways. I’m most proud to have saved Richmond from the brink of financial disaster by firing management, bringing in the State Auditor, and making unpopular decisions to dramatically reduce our operating expenses to save our City from bankruptcy. Today, our City is in the black with a balanced budget and new leadership that I helped recruit, including our City Manager, our Finance Director and our Police Chief.  

The single most important issue facing Richmond today is the need to reduce crime and violence. As a former Registered Nurse, I know we must keep our young people from gangs and drugs. My Safe Streets Now! Plan increases our police force to 215 police officers and puts more officers on patrol, especially in our most vulnerable neighborhoods. To address the root causes of homicide and violence, my plan funds violence prevention programs for youth and ex-offenders. 

I’m proud to have increased opportunities for Richmond’s kids by establishing the successful “Kids First” program, where I secured outside grant and other funding for after-school programs, sending over $5 million to our neediest schools. I have revived the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program, which has employed over 500 Richmond youth in the last two years. And just this year, I raised $20,000 to help fund the pre-apprenticeship program at Kennedy High School, which provides job training for youth. I will expand these initiatives so that we have after-school programs at every Richmond school and double the youth we are placing in summer jobs. 

Potholes are a key concern that I hear from residents, and I agree, we need to do more to fix our streets and eliminate blight. For the first time in over a decade, we have allocated $8 million towards street and pothole repairs, and I am committed to keeping our streets in good condition. I secured that funding by working with our regional transportation agencies and I will continue to work to increase that commitment to our City’s infrastructure. 

We need to continue to revitalize our downtown, and I am excited by the upgrades that are being made to Macdonald Avenue. I have recruited new retail shops for the area, including a new Target, developed the State’s first intermodal transit station that brings BART, AMTRAK and AC Transit together to meet our public transportation needs, created the neighboring Transit Village where more than half the homes are affordable to working families and laid the groundwork to develop 12th and Macdonald as a mixed use development that will bring together small retail businesses, services and housing within the next year. It is my goal to leverage the investments made in this key area so that we may make the same kind of investment along 23rd Avenue and down Cutting Boulevard. I will continue to work to attract new employers and businesses that will hire our Richmond residents. 

It is because of these accomplishments and priorities I have the endorsement of the Democratic Party, the Central Labor Council, Senator Diane Feinstein, Congressional Representatives George Miller, Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters, State Senators Don Perata and Tom Torlakson, Assemblymember Loni Hancock and Assembly candidate Sandre Swanson, County Supervisor John Gioia, County Sherriff Warren Rupf, School board members Charles Ramsey, Glenn Price, Karen Leong-Pfeiffer and Karen Leong Fenton, and local Crime Prevention and Open Space leaders. 

I respectfully ask for your support and your vote this coming Tuesday so that we can continue to move Richmond forward. 

I’ve achieved many of the things that I’ve wanted to achieve in life. I’m happily married, have a beautiful family, run a successful business, and have an amazing circle of friends. I want to give back to Richmond, the city that has given me so much. 

I list “banker” as my profession, but when I discusses my aspiration to become Mayor of the City of Richmond, I could be a mentor as well. 

In Richmond, young African-American men are at risk of death, injury, and detention due to violent crime. As a young African-American myself, I’ve had to make some of the same choices they face. What I want for Richmond is for successful African-American business people to stand up and be counted as positive role models for African-American youth, to be examples of the benefits of education and hard work. 

Neither educational or business success is a stranger to me. I earned an MBA in Management from John F. Kennedy University, in Orinda, and an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts from Wichita State University, in Kansas. I own First Bankers Mortgage, using my more than 25 years of experience in financial services to make it the success it is today. Operating my business with five other licensed individuals to focus on mortgage loan production for the Richmond community, I knows a thing or two about leadership and consensus. 

My business and educational background gives me a distinct advantage over the other candidates. Drawing upon the unique skillsets of individuals to accomplish tasks with efficiency means that I must rely on inclusion and delegation. Leadership isn’t about making yourself look good. It’s about motivating a team to be its best and showcasing its talents, giving credit and kudos to everyone for being a part of the effort. Involvement is empowerment, and I see that as vital to the future of Richmond. 

My “Plan to Create a Better Richmond” maps out this vision, focussing on eight key issues. 

On responsiveness to families and neighborhoods: The current City Council is dysfunctional and fragmented. As your new Mayor, I will build a united Council, so we can move forward to better serve the needs and concerns of Richmond residents. By having this focus, I can ensure that our City government will respond to families and neighborhoods in a way that increases the quality of life for all of us. 

On attracting and retaining businesses: Richmond has developed a reputation as a difficult place in which to do business. As your new Mayor, I want to reverse this misconception. Attracting and retaining businesses is central to generating revenue for infrastructure and services, addressing quality of life needs for residents, and fighting crime through gainful employment. 

On preventing violent crime: Violent crime is out of control in Richmond, and as your new Mayor, I want current laws regarding gun free school zones enforced. I will throw my full support behind the Chief of Police and the efforts of the Richmond Police Department. Meanwhile, the City’s Department of Employment & Training and the Education Commission will see to it that high-risk youth and adults are provided positive alternatives in education and employment. 

On educational reform: As your next Mayor, I will propose the formation of a Commission on Education, which will be the official liaison between the City government and the Cabinet of the West Contra Costa Unified School District and the School Board of Trustees. This Commission will help shape policies and ensure that our students are being prepared for college and university entrance, and job readiness standards prior to high school graduation. 

On the environment: As your next Mayor, I will meet the challenge to clean up past pollution, and bring environmentally sound and ‘green’ practices to the City of Richmond. I will apply for State and Federal ‘Superfund’ cleanup funding, and work closely with businesses to help develop practices that will contain and reduce contamination into water, land, and air. At the same time, I will move for the City of Richmond itself to do likewise. My goal is to take the lead for other cities in the region to follow.” 

On neighborhoods for all: Richmond’s working-class families are central to the City’s history. However, over the past 25 years, the City government has neglected the needs of everyday citizens. Now is the time for them to be brought back to the table as equal partners and stakeholders. As your next Mayor, I will initiate a massive outreach to all 39 Neighborhood Councils, the Richmond Neighborhood Coordinating Council, and community advocates, to hear the goals for their respective neighborhoods. 

On the promotion of arts and culture: Richmond is an old city with a long tradition in arts and culture. Many painters, photographers, actors, dancers, writers, musicians, and other creators call it their home. For this tradition to thrive, the City government must place more emphasis on the promotion of arts and culture, now and into the future. As your next Mayor, I will propose increased funding to both the Richmond Art Center and the East Bay Center for Performing Arts, so that they may continue to advance arts and culture in Richmond. 

On affordable housing: “Statistics prove that in areas of Richmond where home ownership is low, crime is high, and vice versa. Thus, home ownership—and the pride and responsibility that goes with it—may be effective in controlling crime. As your next Mayor, I will work to direct resources into communities affected by low income and high crime, to promote home ownership. Other cities that have done so have witnessed decreases in crime and boosts to educational performance, and I believe that it can do the same for Richmond. 

For more information regarding my campaign for Mayor of the City of Richmond, call (510) 612-1835, or visit my website at www.GaryBell.org. 

Richmond can be a great place … It is possible! In 2004 the City of Richmond was hit by a 35 million dollar tidal wave of a deficit that swept away over 200 city jobs and the few public services that Richmond residents could count on . In the throes of this disaster, I ran for the Richmond City Council offering a new vision and a new direction. I was elected with an overwhelming approval of the voters, and without taking a single dollar from corporate America. The people of Richmond were tired of decades of corruption, collusion, mismanagement and carelessness. 

I worked very hard on the Council these years and have had some very important accomplishments. 

First, I have made it clear to the people of Richmond that a true grassroots working representative can be both kind and firm in demanding from peers and staff the best for the families of Richmond. It is possible to have a clean, honest and independent representative who is not for sale. 

Second, I have helped to shift the thinking in my colleagues. Little by little, voting often in the minority, but presenting well the arguments for my positions and maintaining the connections with the grassroots movement, I was able to see significant shifts in the policy making of the Richmond City Council; what was inconceivable five years ago has become possible today and big industry is being called upon to be a better, more responsible neighbor and taxpayer.  

Here are some areas in which I initiated or helped to advance a Better Richmond:  

I have defended the community’s health. My March 2005 resolution demanded that one of the most toxic sites in California, the Zeneca-UC Field Station, come under the clean-up supervision of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (Cal EPA). I brought together the entire Richmond City Council for a unanimous vote. 

I protected consumers from higher taxation I was the only councilmember opposing a new sales tax hike (“Measure Q”). Voters agreed and soundly rejected this on the November 2005 ballot. Rather than leaning on consumers and hurting small businesses with regressive sales taxes, I am committed to ending special perks for big industry. I have also helped to secure a rebate for all low-income families hit hard by hikes in sewer fees. 

I helped end Chevron’s self-inspection process. I co-sponsored a directive, unanimously approved by the Richmond City Council, to repeal the 12-year-old practice of allowing Chevron to self-permit, self-inspect and self-certify its own work. 

I promoted clean, sustainable energy. I co-founded “Solar Richmond,” a not-for-profit grassroots initiative to educate and encourage more solar energy on residential, business and public properties, which will bring Richmond energy cost savings, environmental preservation and solar jobs and training for youth. I also introduced a resolution authorizing the City and the Port of Richmond to examine the use of biodiesel and biodiesel blends. It was passed unanimously. 

I worked for a new park along Richmond’s north shoreline. I championed on the City Council the East Bay Regional Park District’s plan to purchase and create a regional park on the Breuner Marsh property, next to Parchester Village. 

Today I am running for Mayor of Richmond. What this City needs most is good leadership. I can provide it. I can set a new tone for our city. 

Richmond continues to face enormous challenges. The economic implosion of our state and the outsourcing of jobs has added another layer of despair to the surplus of frustrated, unemployed young men we have in Richmond, who have given up hope and turn to crime and violence. When young men in the drug trade are confronted, countless times they tell us: “You want my gun? Give me a job!”  

That is what we need to do. As I write these lines the parents and grandparents of these young folks are mobilizing and organizing against homicides (the highest rate in the state) and Richmond’s “tent cities “ constitute both a call for an end to the fratricidal homicides and an indictment on our city for not having done enough. Richmond’s tent cities are therefore also protest statements against all those who have not responded to the deep roots of violence and have allowed it to go on for decades.  

So I will focus on giving the people of Richmond what they need and want: Priority for residents, priority on jobs, priority for the abandoned old neighborhoods, priority for our youth. I plan a Richmond Youth Corps which will employ thousands of youngsters and have educational components.  

I have been a supporter of Richmond measure T which we placed in the ballot for the voters to consider. It is passes it will generate an additional 8 million dollars in revenue from the refining of oil in Richmond. 

Measure T tells the local refining company in Richmond: Be responsible to the local communities in which you operate. Show reciprocity to the people who put up with the consequences of your operations: the flares, the toxins, the risks and shelters-in-place, the lower property values, and the kids in asthma clubs. Measure T asks for Richmond the equivalent of a few dollars for each million Chevron makes in profits. I expect and will demand that significant parts of this revenue are used to address the unemployment of youth and to prevent crime and violence.  

I’m ready for the job. I have what it takes and I think the people of Richmond are also ready. My colleague Councilmember Tom Butt says “A victory by McLaughlin in the mayor’s race would send a very loud signal that Richmond voters are truly ready for change, not just a different name on the door of an office … McLaughlin would be a good choice for mayor.” I’m running for Mayor and for a Better City: Run with me and tell every one of your friends in Richmond to vote on Nov. 7th. We are facing a time and an opportunity that we cannot waste. A Better Richmond is Possible … and in the making! 

The Zoning Adjustments Board decided last week to continue Milo Foundation’s hearing for a use permit to allow neighbors more time to mediate with the Solano Avenue pet adoption store.  

Staff also requested a continuance so that the item could be taken to the Planning Commission for guidance in applying the zoning ordinance in light of a last-minute report from the city attorney. 

The staff report indicated that the mediator who is working with about 15 neighbors and Milo representatives reported that the sides have made good progress in resolving their disputes regarding the adoption store’s operations and requested more time for discussion. 

Milo approached ZAB on Sept. 14 for a use permit to authorize existing dog/cat adoption services and create a dwelling unit in its existing two-story commercial building. 

On Thursday, City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque deemed the adoption store’s current use a “kennel” under the zoning ordinance, which is prohibited on Solano Avenue.  

Albuquerque stated that although Milo had said that many of the dogs on the premises did not stay there overnight, they were being regularly cared for on the premises, resulting in impacts on the neighborhood which were “materially indistinguishable from those of a kennel and appeared to include most elements of boarding,” which was “expressly forbidden.” 

The report further explained that even overnighting as few as four dogs as part of a commercial use was equivalent to kenneling since all boarding was forbidden in the district. 

The report stated that if city staff wanted the Planning Commission to consider amending the zoning ordinance to permit kenneling in this or other districts, the matter would have to be reviewed and approved by the Planning Commission. Any changes would be subject to environmental review before they were adopted. 

Albuquerque urged that Milo and its neighbors be immediately notified of this legal opinion so that their discussions could proceed with it in mind. 

Staff will discuss with the Planning Commission whether the zoning ordinance should be amended to permit a pet adoption center at its Nov. 8 meeting. 

Iceland and other properties 

East Bay Iceland’s appeal to install a temporary outdoor refrigeration system on the southern side of 2727 Milvia St. for the existing ice skating rink was also continued at the ZAB meeting. The rink has installed a temporary cooling system with a variable speed motor that has greatly decreased the noise neighbors had been complaining about. ZAB asked for a report on the current noise level  

till the issue is brought up at the next meeting.  

The ZAB also continued the hearing for a use permit modification for 2076 Ashby Ave., which would change from stucco to horizontal siding on east side of an existing three-story mixed-use building The attorney for U.S. Smog and Gas, which operates nearby, is refusing to let the applicant build on the property because they claim that it would be encroaching on the public right of way. 

The board asked the applicant to  

conform to his original plans or rework them so that the insulation of the water meter and the gas meter is aesthetically pleasing. 

The hearing to modify the use permit to allow the expansion of the South Berkeley Police Substation for employee lockers and vehicle storage was also continued to Nov. 9. The applicant told the board that they required more time to meet with the neighbors and would be coming back to the next meeting with a report. 

The board approved a request for a use permit to expand Chester’s, a restaurant on 1508 Walnut St., into the adjacent lease space and add the sale of hard liquor to the existing sale of beer and wine.

Hands off 

Rob Browning, the 66-year-old spouse of Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio, found himself in handcuffs Tuesday afternoon after a parking ticket dustup. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan said Browning was arrested following an altercation with a city parking enforcement officer. 

Though charged with battery of a public safety employee, Galvan said, Browning did not strike the parking enforcer. 

“I’m sure he didn’t mean for the outcome to be like this,” said Officer Galvan. 

The parking enforcement officer was driving along Berkeley Way about 12:50 p.m. when she spotted a van in a driveway that was parked and blocking a sidewalk. 

“There was no one there, and she issued a citation. She had driven about a block away when Mr. Browning drove up and confronted her, demanding she take the ticket back,” Galvan said. 

The officer explained that she couldn’t take the ticket back, and that Browning should make his arguments in court if he wanted to contest the citation. 

“Then he stuffed it into the epaulette of her uniform and took off” said Galvan. 

Police were called, who handcuffed Browning and took him to the Public Safety Center, where he was booked. Because he had proper identification and no prior record, he was then released, Galvan said. 

“It’s pretty similar to what would happen if you shoplifted a bottle of booze at Albertson’s and didn’t have a prior conviction for shoplifting,” Galvan said. 

Browning was cited under Section 243 (b) of the California Penal Code for battery on a public safety officer committed while the officer is in pursuit of their duty. California law defines battery is an unwanted used of force or violence, and doesn’t require the act of striking the intended victim.

Berkeley police apprehended a homeless man just after 6 a.m. Sunday—after he had set at least six blazes in the Telegraph Avenue area south of the UC Berkeley campus. 

The blazes did an estimated $70,000 in damage, said Deputy Fire Chief David P. Orth. 

Berkeley Police spokesperson Ed Galvan said the suspect “is presently being held for a psychiatric evaluation” and might not be criminally charged because of his mental state. 

Orth said the first fire was reported at 4:25 a.m. in a trash bin at 2508 Benvenue Ave. Firefighters arrived to find a neighbor dowsing the flames with a garden hose. They made short work of what was left. 

The next call was at 4:43 a.m. summoning engines to the rear of the Reprint Mint, a Telegraph Avenue shop specializing in reprinted artworks and posters. 

Firefighters found a dumpster at the rear of the four-story apartment-over-commercial building at 2448 Dwight Way fully in flames, and the fire had spread to the interior of the art business, causing an estimated $25,000 in structural damage and another $20,000 in damage to the building’s contents. 

Emergency workers had a brief respite before they were summoned back to another dumpster on Benvenue Avenue, this one at 2501. The blaze was quickly contained without any damage to nearby buildings. 

The next call came 15 minutes later and brought crews back to Dwight Way—2709 this time—where another trash fire had spread to the adjacent building, causing an estimated $25,000 in property damage, said Orth. 

As firefighters were battling that blaze, they spotted another, smaller fire in a nearby parking structure, which was knocked down with a fire extinguisher. 

Berkeley police made the next call, after finding a fellow standing near a burning plastic fire at 2636 Telegraph Ave. at 6:11 a.m. 

“He told them he was using the fire for heat,” said Orth. 

Though the admitted arsonist was already in custody, there was one more report of a fire that came in nine minutes after police spotted the igniter. 

UC Berkeley police knocked out that blaze—another torched dumpster—with a fire extinguisher, Orth said. 

West Berkeley blaze 

Firefighters rushed to 2417 Sixth St. at 2:49 a.m. Saturday after tenants in an upper unit in a three-story apartment building reported heavy smoke in their unit. 

Crews quickly established that the fire came from the apartment below, where the tenant had forgotten about a pan left cooking on the stove top, Orth said. 

The flames had spread in cabinets and the walls, inflicting an estimated $70,000 in damage to the structure and $5,000 in property losses.

The second round of campaign filings reveals that the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has outspent proponents of Measure J by nearly three to one. 

That initiative would update the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, preserving its key features while—backers say—bringing the law into conformity with all state ordinances. 

Business for Better Government — the chamber’s Political Action Committee —spent $61,793.58 between July 1 and Oct. 21, according to their filing with the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. 

Most—64 percent, or $39,600—went to mailers opposing Measure J, and much of the rest went to candidates who oppose the initiative. 

Despite logging $36,720 in cash and $800 in in-kind contributions, the chamber PAC reported an outstanding debt of $59,059.84 at the end of the filing period. 

That compares to $17,123 in contributions and loans received by backers of Measure J, a campaign which reported a debt of just $278. 

Major chamber donors 

The biggest guns in the chamber’s arsenal are developers, with Wareham Development—which is the major office and industrial builder in West Berkeley—topping the list with $10,000. 

Other big donors include: 

• Patrick Kennedy’s Panoramic Interests with $5,000; 

• UC Berkeley professor and private developer David Teece with $4,000. Teece was the backer of many of Kennedy’s projects and reportedly now backs Hudson McDonald LLC, which gave $250; 

• Seagate Properties, co-developer of a 9-story condo project on Center Street, with $5,250; 

• Development firm Ruegg & Ellsworth and its leasing arm, Ruell Enterprises, Inc., which gave $3,250. Owners are David Ruegg and Robert Ellsworth;  

• Tenth & Parker, reportedly a limited partnership, but with no filing listed with the California Secretary of State, with $1,000; 

• Bisno Development Co., LLC, with $1,000. The Oakland-based firm is headed by Los Angeles attorney Robert B. Bisno, who was reportedly the source of funding for the Library Gardens apartment complex—which is holding a grand opening this weekend. 

• Berkeley attorney William Falik, $1,000. 

• Abrams/Millikan, the firm headed by Denny Abrams, who spearheaded the redevelopment of Fourth Street into an upscale shopper’s delight, $500. 

• Aquatic Park Science Center, LLC, a Corte Madera corporation formed to develop the office/industrial complex of the same name in West Berkeley, $500.  

• Architects Marcy Wong and Donn Logan, $500; Peter J. O’Hara, president of Pacific Property Asset Management of San Francisco, $500. 

• Landmarks Preservation Commissioner and realtor/developer Miriam Ng, $350. 

Among other prominent names in the development community with $250 contributions were land-use attorney Rena Rickles, developer James E. Hart, and Essex Property Trust’s Pre-Development Projects, the funding partner of Urban Housing Group, which is planning a major housing over commercial project that would occupy a city block at 700 University Ave. 

BBG head Jonathan DeYoe also chipped in $250. 

Battle lines 

Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Laurie Capitelli proposed—and the council passed on first reading—a rival ordinance that Measure J backers say would greatly weaken protections for historical structures. 

Bates, Capitelli and other Measure J opponents say that the initiative could result in expensive litigation and claims that it removes state definitions of historical integrity in the landmarking process. 

The Bates/Capitelli ordinance didn’t become law because the council held off on a second vote until after the Nov. 7 election and the outcome of the Measure J vote. 

If voters pass the initiative, the law couldn’t be changed without another ballot measure, effectively derailing the Bates/Capitelli ordinance. 

While the anti-Measure J mailers accounted for the lion’s share of the BBG expenditures, the group also spent $7,290 each on mailers opposing City Council incumbents Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington and $2,440 each on mailers supporting Mayor Tom Bates and Worthington opponent George Beier. 

Chamber targets Spring and Worthington were two of the three councilmembers who didn’t support the Bates/Capitelli measure. The third was Betty Olds, whose term doesn’t expire until 2008. 

By comparison, the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance Update PAC—the campaign supporting the Nov. 7 initiative—logged $13,824 in expenses. 

The anti-J mailers were recorded as two expenditures, both estimates, of $19,800 each, the first on Oct. 16 and the second four days later. 

That mailer, which carried endorsements from Mayor Tom Bates and five councilmembers, was in the form of a color postcard mailed from Carlsbad. 

The chamber PAC held a $250-a-head fundraiser Sept. 21, attended by 40 or so members and other invitees. 

Oddly, BBG filing doesn’t record any receipts on that day and only one the next day, with most contributions reported on Sept. 29. 

Measure J backers 

Supporting the initiative is the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance 2006 Update PAC—LPO 2006, headed by Roger Marquis and Laurie Bright. In the group’s first financial filing—for the period May 1 to June 30—logged in by the City Clerk on July 26, the group reports receiving $6,006 in contributions, of which more than half, $3,460, was in the form of loans. 

The largest contribution for that period was $1,000 from the Council of Neighborhood Associations (CNA), of which Bright is president. 

The next largest—$500—came May 12 from Lesley Emmington, a preservationist who is a member of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the body which administers the LPO. 

Emmington made two other contributions during the filing period, $200 on June 11 and $100 on June 22. 

Bright recorded $263.13 in contributions during that period, with Marquis’s contributions totaling $299. 

The only other contributor was Pat Devaney, with $100. The remainder of funds received, $3,469, came from Marquis as a loan. A $75 non-monetary contribution was recorded for an article from the CNA newsletter. 

Expenses for the first filing period included $214.39 for copies, $99 for a legal ad required before circulating an initiative petition, $4,665 in costs for signature gathering, $500 in legal fees and $95 in shipping costs, and a $75 non-monetary contribution for a total of $5,998. 

The LPO initiative backers’ next filing covers the period July 1 to Sept. 30, reporting $6,628 in monetary contributions and $1,513 in non-monetary gifts, less a $1,149 loan repayment and $4,162 in expenses of which $1,513 were non-monetary. 

The largest single gift in that period—$1,400—came from the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA), the city’s most prominent preservationist group. 

The second largest gifts came as LPC member Emmington added another $556 to her contributions, and Prince Street neighborhood activist Erica Cleary gave $300. 

Daily Planet Arts Editor Anne Wagley gave $250, as did Tim Hansen and Elliot Cohen, activists whose letters and commentaries frequently appear in the paper. 

Former Mayor Shirley Dean gave a total of $228 in the filing period. 

Gale Garcia, another frequent writer to the Daily Planet, logged $200 in monetary contributions and provided postage and printing totaling $242. 

Councilmember Spring provided $166 in printing and postage costs. 

The latest report, covering the Oct. 1-26 period, lists $5,991 in cash contributions and $176 in non-monetary gifts. Adding in a $2,051 loan repayment, the total received came to $4,116, with expenses of $3,664, including a $426 value on non-monetary gifts. 

The largest single contributions of $1,000 each came from BAHA—bringing its total to $2,500—and Carl Bunch, a San Francisco Deputy City Attorney who is a Berkeley resident and preservationist. 

Gifts of $250 each came from Barbara Allen, who has been active in Neighbors on Urban Creeks, and her sometimes-opponent, creeks activist Juliet Lamont. Another $250 came from pathologist Diane Tokugawa. 

Many names are neighborhood activists whose names are also familiar to readers of the Daily Planet’s letters to the editor and commentary pages, including Robert Lauriston, Stephen Wollmer, Robin Wright and Jerry Sulliger.  

One donation came from a candidate endorsed by BBG, George Beier—who is running against Worthington. Beier gave $100. 

While Measure J backers filed both expenses and contributions with the office of acting Berkeley City Clerk Sherry Kelly, BBG only filed its expenditures. 

BBG contributions were filed only with the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. While Berkeley posts its electoral filings on the city website, the county records are only available by an in-person visit to the county courthouse on Lake Merritt. 

The chamber earlier explained that it filed with the county because the group wanted the option of being able to endorse state Assembly candidates. 

Besides the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce’s Business of Better Government Political Action Committee (PAC) and the backers of Measure J, the most active PAC to report contributions was the Berkeley Democratic Club’s PAC. 

With total contributions for the year through Oct. 21 totaling $9,487, the party PAC was a mere 15.4 percent of the chamber’s far grander total of $61,793.58. 

Many of the contributions came in the form of donated space in the club’s endorsement mailing, and benefited many of the same candidates backed by the chamber, including Mayor Tom Bates and City Council challengers Raudel Wilson and George Beier, who are challenging incumbents Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington. 

Other beneficiaries included incumbent Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, opposition to Measure J (the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance update initiative) and Berkeley Unified School District board candidates Shirley Issel, Nancy Riddle and Karen Hemphill. 

City Auditor Ann Marie Hogan, who is running for reelection without opposition, was also recorded as the beneficiary of ad/endorsement space. 

Typically, candidates reimburse party clubs for the reported value of the space, as Bates and the three school board candidates each gave $1,000, with Wozniak and Beier chipping in with $500 apiece, with an additional $50 from Wozniak’s spouse Evelyn. 

In addition, the Berkeley Democratic Club gave its own PAC $3,300. 

Local candidates who did not reimburse the cost of space as of the Oct. 21 filing date included Wilson, Hogan and East Bay Municipal Utility District candidate Andy Katz. 

The PAC spent $5,335.61 for printing and $3,900.47 for postage and also gave $250 to the North Alameda County PAC of the National Women’s Political Caucus. 

One committee that didn’t report any expenditures despite printing and mailing an oversized postcard supporting Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Gordon Wozniak was the Berkeley Fire Fighters Association Local 1227 Political Action Committee. 

The only expenditure reported to the city was an April 25 donation of $1,500 to the campaign of Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Phil Angelides. 

Another committee took legal form three months after it held a public forum and issued endorsements on candidates and measures. 

While school board member John Selawsky and activist Elliot Cohen recorded the formation on the Committee for a Progressive Berkeley on Oct. 17, the group was actually formed in the summer, and held an open public meeting in July where endorsements were made for local candidates and races. 

The group’s only contributor, Steve Wollmer, was recorded as giving $100 on Oct. 24. 

“It’s a group of us who consider ourselves progressives,” said Wollmer, who added that he gave the lone contribution to pay for door hangers and on the condition that he didn’t have to make calls. 

A rally to protest what Councilmember Kriss Worthington is calling “hit piece distortions” in recent Berkeley Chamber of Commerce political action committee mailers will be held at noon, Wednesday, Nov. 1, on the steps of Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

Councilmembers Worthington, Dona Spring, and a representative of the Yes on J Committee will speak.

If money talks in political campaigns, it’s roaring these days, at least in a couple of Berkeley campaigns.  

According to the Oct. 26 filing—that included Oct. 1 to Oct. 21 contributions—District 7 hopeful George Beier is the biggest spender so far in Berkeley’s 2006 campaign season, having paid out $72,150,27. The district has some 4,000 voters.  

In contrast, incumbent Kriss Worthington, who spent $41,000 on his 2002 campaign, has raised and spent only about $28,000. 

While bringing in a total of just under $100,000, Mayor Tom Bates has spent only about half of that. Challenger Zelda Bronstein has spent most of the $35,000 she’s collected, which includes an $8,000 loan to herself.  

Mayoral candidate Zachary Running Wolf has not filed a campaign finance report and candidate Christian Pecaut raised $250 and spent $176. 

In the District 8 race, incumbent Gordon Wozniak raised $50,000 and spent most of it, while challenger Jason Overman raised $17,000 and spent about $21,000 (which includes loans). In 2002, Wozniak spent $72,000 on his race, including a run-off. 

In District 4 Dona Spring has raised $14,000 and spent $12,000, while challenger Raudel Wilson has raised and spent almost exactly the same amount. The Chamber of Commerce political action committee spent an additional $7,000 for brochures opposing both Spring and Worthington. 

And in the District 1 race, incumbent Linda Maio has raised about $500 and challenger Merrilie Mitchell has not raised any funds. 

District 7 

Beier, who sold a software business a few years ago, has been able to pour his own money—$19,000 to date—into the mix. In total, he has $40,000 in outstanding loans.  

Candidates contributing to their own campaigns need not abide by the $250 individual campaign-spending limits.  

Beier has benefited by the $7,000 in anti-Worthington/anti-Spring campaign spending by the Chamber of Commerce political action committee that included contributions of $5,000 from Patrick Kennedy’s Panoramic Interests, $5,250 from San Rafael-based Seagate Properties, and $10,000 from Waresham Development Corporation. (The Chamber raised $38,000 and spent $61,000 to defeat Measure J and candidates Spring and Worthington and to support Beier and Bates. Contributors gave funds to the PAC without specifying the destination of the funds.) 

Beier picked up 62 donations, raising about $16,000 during the Oct. 1 to Oct. 21 period. About one-third of the donations came in over $200, about one-third of them were between $100 and $199 with the final third under $100.  

Of interest are three donations in this filing period from people who work for the Wareham Property Group, Inc., which is involved in developing west Berkeley properties—two $250 donations and one $50 donation from real estate developers with Ru-Ell Enterprises. There’s also a $250 donation from Berkeley School Board member Shirley Issel and a $50 donation from a senior vice president at Walt Disney.  

Worthington picked up 63 contributions during this filing period amounting to $9,000: 25 contributions of less than $100, 23 from $100 to $199 and 15 at more than $200. Donors included Assemblymember Wilma Chan, who gave $50 and Councilmember Max Anderson, who gave $250; Pat Cody, founder of Cody’s books, gave $50; parks advocate Mark Liolios gave $250, environmentalist Norman La Force gave $100; progressive attorney Osha Neumann gave $50: artist Khalil Bendib gave $100 and artist Chiori Santiago gave $50; the Sierra Club gave $250.  

Beier’s expenses include $22,000 (of which $8,500 was paid this period) of services purchased from a San Francisco-based mailing house, MSHC Partners. 

Mayor’s race 

This reporting period Bates collected $25,000 from 144 contributors of which 65 were for the spending limit of $250. Contributors include six labor unions,14 people identified as realtors or property managers and two UC Berkeley professors. 

Zelda Bronstein raised $11,000 from 33 contributors, 14 of which were for less than $100. Bronstein loaned her campaign $8,000. Contributors included three university professors, Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel and a number of retired persons. 

District 8 

In the District 8 race, incumbent Gordon Wozniak has garnered $51,000, of which $17,000 was raised this period. Wozniak picked up 47 contributions of which 16 were at $200 to $250. Of interest are contributions from three individuals who work for Wareham Development Group: Chris Barlow, Cassie Gaenger and Richard Robbins. Three other $250 contributions came from employees of Rue-Ell Enterprises: Dana, Alexandra and Robert Ellsworth. Wozniak also picked up $250 contributions from School Board Member Shirley Issel and from the Berkeley Firefighters Association. Two contributions of $50 came from Northeim/Yost Real Estate principals John Northeim and Donald Yost. Two UC Berkeley professors are also among the $50 donors: Gibor Basri and Joseph Cerny. 

Challenger UC Berkeley student Jason Overman has raised $17,000, including $10,000 in loans from himself. During this period he picked up $2,291 from 18 donors that include three students, City Councilmember Max Anderson, Transportation Commissioner Robb Wrenn and library activist Gene Bernardi.  

District 4 

District 4 incumbent Dona Spring has raised a total of $14,500, having picked up $1,500 this period from 16 individuals, of which nine were for less than $100. Spring spent about $12,000. Spring’s contributors include attorney Robert Raich, artist Susan Felix and writer Charles Pappas. 

Challenger Raudel Wilson raised a total of $14,500 of which he raised almost $3,000 this period. Like Spring, Wilson spent about $12,000. (Wilson told the Daily Planet he had paid for a districtwide mailing after the reporting period was over.) Fourteen people contributed to the campaign during this period, with ten of them giving $250 contributions. Contributors included the Berkeley Firefighters union, two realtors working at Coldwell Banker, Barbara and Kim Marienthal and Susan Muscarella, the executive director of the Jazz School. 

Led by the local Chamber of Commerce, the Berkeley pre-election season has taken a nasty turn. 

Two campaign pieces—one properly identified from the Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee and the other “inadvertently” without identification—are among the glossy missives District 4 and 7 voters found in their mailboxes last week. 

The chamber piece, delivered to Districts 4 and 7 voters, takes the form of a report card and gives Spring and Worthington failing marks on “important Berkeley issues.” The anonymous piece, now claimed by the chamber political action committee, links District 7 challenger George Beier with Mayor Tom Bates, although Bates has not endorsed Beier. 

“The chamber is supposed to be promoting ethics in business—it is so unethical of the chamber to be doing this,” Spring said, noting that the chamber was able to pour $7,000 into the campaign against her. “People should know who is responsible for putting out this hit piece.” 

Spring pointed to last week’s deal hammered out by Oakland mayor-elect Ron Dellums that got the Oakland Chamber PAC to voluntarily stop its infusions of cash aimed at influencing Oakland’s Nov. 7 election. 

“What a difference between the Oakland and Berkeley mayors,” Spring said, noting that Bates spoke at the September Chamber PAC fundraiser when, presumably, the funds for brochures opposing Worthington and Spring and supporting Beier and the No on Measure J postcard were raised. 

A number of elements such as “committed to reducing crime,” “supports the downtown,” and “supports business in Berkeley,” comprise the report-card mailer.  

On reducing crime, the chamber gave both Spring and Worthington a “D.”  

“It’s totally and blatantly false,” Worthington said, pointing to his support for police on Telegraph Avenue. At the Oct. 21, 2003, City Council meeting, soon after the city manager had removed police patrols from Telegraph Avenue, Worthington and Mayor Tom Bates put forward the following resolution:  

“Refer to the City Manager the Clarity, Priority and Responsibility Plan (CPR) for Telegraph Avenue: 1) creating a clear policy brochure to address questions of what laws prohibit and permit; 2) committing sufficient Police Department staffing to the Telegraph area; 3) requesting UC Berkeley restore staffing to the Telegraph area patrol; and 4) restoring Community Health and Safety Team staffing as needed.” (From the City Council Summary Oct. 21 2003.) 

The council majority refused financial support for the resolution, however, Worthington said, noting that he brought the request back to the council in June 2004 and June 2005. In May 2006 restoration of police and social service funding to Telegraph got approved after the uproar over Cody’s closing. 

Spring said she supported Worthington’s efforts to restore police patrols and made sure, when the resolution was approved this year, that it included downtown police patrols and social services. 

Spring notes that the chamber “report card” also implies that she, Worthington, and Councilmember Max Anderson are anti-business because they abstained on the approval of the West Berkeley Bowl. The Daily Planet reviewed the tape of the June 13 meeting, which shows that the three abstained because they wanted assurances written into the resolution that the Bowl management would allow the workers to turn in cards in support of a union—the quicker method establishing a union. 

The three councilmembers voted in favor of the West Berkeley Bowl on the final unanimous vote, the second reading of the ordinance, because, by that time, a separate resolution supporting a card-check vote for the union at the Bowl had been prepared. 

Asked in a phone interview Monday if he thought the chamber piece misrepresented Spring and Worthington’s positions, Chamber President Roland Peterson declined to comment. Peterson said, however, that the chamber supported Beier and District 4 candidate Raudel Wilson because: “Our vision is with Raudel and George in office we can move business-friendly laws to revitalize Telegraph and downtown,” Peterson said. 

The second chamber brochure while upbeat is misleading, Worthington said. “What do Tom and George have in common?” says the piece, answering: “went to [UC] Berkeley, stayed in Berkeley…” 

While the brochure lacks the sender identification required in Berkeley election law 2.12.330, the chamber issued an apology through a press statement: “The Business for Better Government PAC fully intended for recipients of its mailing to know who the sender is,” the statement said. 

Worthington points out that the brochure uses a common electoral gimmick, also used in a Berkeley Democratic Club mailer, that pairs a popular politician with an unknown. Bates has not endorsed Beier, but one might think he has, looking at the brochure. Similarly, in the BDC brochure Rep. Barbara Lee is standing with Beier. Worthington points out, however, that he himself is endorsed by Lee, not Beier.  

Bates was unconcerned about the mailer. “I think that’s pretty commonplace,” he told the Daily Planet. 

It’s not problematic “as long as the person does not say he endorses the other,” Bates said. 

On the question of support for downtown, the chamber brochure evaluates the candidates based on whether they “voted no on more parking in downtown.” 

Spring said she made a number of efforts to increase downtown parking including calling for parking under the new high school cafeteria, under the new library and that she got written into the new General Plan that any parking space that was eliminated would be replaced. 

Breaking a silence of several weeks, Oakland Mayor-elect Ron Dellums announced last week that he opposes the proposed sale of Oakland Unified School District Lake Merritt-area property by the state superintendent’s office. 

The proposed sale is “outside the democratic process,” Dellums said at a City Hall steps press conference on Thursday. The incoming mayor added that he was opposed to “continued ad hoc development in Oakland. I don’t want to pre-judge the [TerraMark/UrbanAmerica] project. It may turn out to be a good project. But we ought to do it within the confines of a coherent process.” 

In addition, Dellums said that the district should be returned to local control “as expeditiously as possible.” 

At the press conference, Dellums said that it was “premature” for release of any plan by his administration to address Oakland’s soaring murder rate—now at 126 for the year. In addition, Dellums said that he would “not oppose” a change to Oakland’s inclusionary housing zoning policy currently being considered by Oakland City Council. “I would not embrace the substance of the proposed policy” by Councilmembers Jane Brunner and Jean Quan “because it flies in the face of my stated positions on this issue.” 

But Dellums said that because some observers believe that Proposition 90, which is ahead in polls on the November ballot, might prevent cities from passing further zoning ordinance changes, “I would not oppose putting a placemarker ordinance down before the election, with the understanding that afterwards we would go back and revise it.” 

Last week, City Council voted 4-4 on Councilmember Desley Brooks’ motion to table the Brunner/Quan inclusionary zoning ordinance. Under Oakland’s strong mayor law, Mayor Jerry Brown has until this week to break the tie and either kill the proposed zoning ordinance or allow councilmembers to vote on it. 

Meanwhile, Dellums confirmed at his City Hall press conference that he had earlier communicated his views against the proposed OUSD land sale to California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell in a meeting between the two officials at O’Connell’s Sacramento office in September. Details of that Sacramento meeting had not been previously released by either Dellums or O’Connell, but news that the two leaders had “been in touch” on the OUSD land sale issue was first reported in the Daily Planet in mid-September. 

OUSD Advisory School Board member Greg Hodge said that he was “conditionally pleased” by Dellums’ announcement. “I’m glad he made the announcement,” Hodge said. “I hope it means that the sale will not go through.” 

The state superintendent’s office and the east coast-based development team of TerraMark/UrbanAmerica have been in negotiations for several months over the developers’ proposal to purchase between eight and nine acres of OUSD land, including the district’s Paul Robeson Building administrative headquarters and five adjacent schools and childhood education centers. Negotiations were extended in mid-September, and a spokesperson for the superintendent’s office said this week that “the project is still in the proposal stage.” 

Members of Mayor-elect Dellums’ transition team task forces say that Dellums went into more detail at a meeting of task force members last Wednesday night, saying that Dellums promised to work with local legislators—including Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) and presumed-incoming Assemblymember Sandré Swanson (D-Oakland)—to sponsor legislation to return the Oakland school district to local control. 

Speculation about Dellums’ position on the proposed OUSD land sale had risen since mid-September, when the OUSD board voted 6-1 to oppose the proposed sale and proposed an administrative and multi-school education center for the Lake Merritt-area properties. Two months before that vote, school board member Hodge had told a meeting of the Metropolitan Greater Oakland Democratic club that Dellums “told me that he will fully support whatever position on the sale is taken by the elected school board.” 

But a Dellums aide, Dan Lindheim, said this week that Dellums chose to meet privately with O’Connell rather than issue a public statement on the land sale “because a statement would be just one more voice in a chorus of voices against the sale, but Mr. Dellums felt that he could get more accomplished face to face.” 

Measure I would make substantial changes in Berkeley’s existing condominium conversion law, specifically promising to:  

1) increase annual condominium conversions from 100 to 500; 

2) increase the ability to evict tenants of converted units; 

3) reduce the affordable housing fee for condominium conversions; 

4) provide a discount for existing tenants to purchase condominiums; and 

5) eliminate “certain” existing restrictions to conversion (those “certain” eliminations are detailed below). 

The measure has the support of former Mayor Shirley Dean and Claremont Neighborhood Association President Dean Metzger as well as councilmembers Betty Olds and Gordon Wozniak. It is opposed by the remaining councilmembers, as well as Mayor Tom Bates and State Assemblymember Loni Hancock. 

The battle for and against the proposed measure has so far taken place outside the review of Berkeley’s campaign finance disclosure laws. No campaign committee for the measure has registered with the City Clerk, and the No on I Committee (which has registered with the clerk listing Rob Wrenn and Jesse Arreguin as co-treasurers) lists only $100 in contributions and no expenditures. Both the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce and the Berkeley Democratic Club have taken no position on the measure. None of the other campaign committees registering with the City Clerk hass listed expenditures for or against the measure. 

The proposed new law would increase the allowable condominium conversion approvals from the current 100 units per year to 500 units. Presumably, then, the proposed new law would do two things: it would make condominium conversions easier at the same time it is making more of them possible. How a voter decides on this issue, therefore, may hinge in large part on whether the voter thinks more condominiums or fewer are best for Berkeley and its residents. 

Measure I would also make it easier for existing tenants to purchase their converted units by requiring the building owner to pay tenants 5 percent of the purchase price of the unit; in effect, this would mean existing tenants would get a 5 percent discount on the price of the purchase. But that advantage is offset by some reductions in the rights of existing tenants that presently are guaranteed in Berkeley’s law. 

Below are highlighted some of the major provisions to Berkeley’s condominium conversion law that would be changed if Measure I passes. 

Elimination of restrictions to conversion 

The elimination of “certain” existing restrictions to conversions should get special scrutiny by local voters.  

Berkeley’s existing ordinance currently bars condominium conversion for buildings where the owners have filed notice of intent within the last 20 years to go out of the rental business, where no evictions have occurred within the last ten years for the purpose of owner or relative occupancy, or for units that have become vacant over rent limitation law issues or following serious safety, health, or building code violations. 

All of those restrictions are eliminated in the proposed new ordinance, making condominium conversion easier, but giving existing tenants fewer rights in the process. 

Voters will have to decide whether the need for new condominiums weighs more heavily than the loss of those tenants rights. 

Affordable housing fees 

Berkeley’s current condominium conversion ordinance provides that money from such conversions be used to help finance affordable low and moderate income housing development in the city. This money goes primarily to increase the amount of affordable rental housing stock in the city. The new proposed ordinance continues to provide affordable housing money, but substantially reduces the amount of money that would be transferred. 

Current law sets the affordable housing fee for condominium conversions by a complicated formula based upon the actual sale price of the condominium unit itself. 

The inclusion of that fee was a critical part of the current ordinance. Councilmembers included a provision in the ordinance that read: “the City Council finds and declares that it would not adopt this chapter permitting conversion of rental property to condominiums or cooperatives, but for the provision that the adverse effects of such conversions on low-income households will be mitigated by the affordable housing fee described herein.” 

While the proposed new ordinance includes that affordable housing fee, it in effect guts it, providing that the fee would be capped at $8 per square foot, with provisions that it be increased annually based upon increases in the Consumer Price Index. 

The Berkeley City Attorney’s Analysis of the proposed new law estimates that the affordable housing fee paid by each converted unit would be reduced by 90 percent. Thus, while the new law would probably open up more existing rental units in Berkeley for tenant ownership, it would also decrease the number of new rental units available to citizens with low or moderate incomes. 

Notice to tenants of proposed condominium conversion 

The new law would weaken provisions in Berkeley’s existing condominium conversion law guaranteeing that existing tenants are informed of the proposed conversion. 

Under Berkeley’s existing law, the owners must submit either a signed notice of intent from tenants to purchase their units, or else “evidence that a certified letter of notification was sent” to the tenants. 

The new law would eliminate that provision, referring only to notification based on state law. The state law referred to only requires that notices to the tenants be addressed to them and dropped in the mail; it does not require that the notices be sent by certified mail. That leaves open the possibility that some tenant notices may get accidentally “lost” in the mail. 

When a rental tenant chooses not to purchase 

As with the existing ordinance, the new ordinance gives existing rental tenants first rights to purchase the unit they are renting if the building converts to condominium use. But the new ordinance substantially alters what occurs if a rental tenant chooses not to exercise that right, inserting one measure that benefits the tenants and one measure that takes away existing rights. 

Current Berkeley law only allows for cash payments to renters if the landlord is going out of the rental business completely. The new ordinance would allow cash payments to all renters who choose not to purchase a condominium at an amount of 2 percent of the sales price of the unit. The City Attorney’s Analysis of the measure notes that “the cash payment under the proposed measure will generally exceed the amount currently payable” under the city’s existing ordinance. 

On the other hand, the new measure gives existing tenants only thirty days from the date they are notified of the proposed conversion to make up their minds and sign an agreement to purchase the unit. Current Berkeley law gives the tenants up to one year to sign such an agreement, under which they can continue to live (and pay rent) in the unit. Given the difficulties of cleaning up credit reports and getting bank approval for loans for home purchase, it seems that the one month requirement would shut many, if not most, of the existing tenants out of the condominium purchase process.

Absentee voting is becoming increasingly popular, but, as an insert in the mailed ballot indicates, the cost to send the ballot back is 78 cents—two first-class stamps or one 39-cent stamp and one 24-cent stamp. 

No ballots, however, will be thrown away for insufficient postage, according to Guy Ashley, spokesperson for the Alameda Registrar of Voters. The county has an arrangement with the U.S. Post Office that it will make up the difference for insufficient postage, Ashley said. 

A further note for those who wish to vote by mail: Today, Oct. 31, is the last day to register absentee. The requests must be in the hands of the registrar of voters—located in the courthouse basement at 1225 Fulton St., Oakland—by 5 p.m. 

On Nov. 7 Berkeley residents will decide on the fate of Measure A. 

Measure A renews two existing school measures—Berkeley School Excellence Project (BSEP) and Measure B—at existing rates. Both BSEP and Measure B expire in June.  

BSEP and Measure B provide the Berkeley Unified School District with $19.6 million annually, which primarily pays for 30 percent of Berkeley’s classroom teachers, all elementary and middle school libraries and music programs as well as school site funds.  

“If Measure A passes, the current budget level continues,” said Dan Lindheim, chair of the BSEP/B Planning and Oversight Committee. “Ninety percent of Measure A continues the essential class size reduction, school library, music and art, and site enrichment programs authorized and reaffirmed by Berkeley voters since 1986. If Measure A fails, the schools will lose 25 percent of their budget, which means eliminating 30 percent of the teachers, libraries, the music program, athletic programs, and much more—and this is even assuming the district can avoid a state takeover.” 

Although every major organization, elected official and candidate for office in Berkeley supports the measure, it does not come without opposition. 

Organizations such as the Council of Neighborhood Associations (CNA), Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations (BANA) and Berkeleyans Against Soaring Taxes (BASTA!) have attacked the measure, stating poor financial responsibility and management, dismal academic achievement and a lack of maintenance of community resources. 

Marie Bowman, president of BANA and board member of CNA, said that financial transparency and academic performance were some of the main concerns of these neighborhood groups. 

“We want better academic achievement, dismal results are unacceptable,” Bowman said. “BUSD has the widest back/white achievement gap in the county. We also want better financial transparency so that we can see if funds are being spent responsibly—both in day-to-day management and fiscal management.” 

Lindheim said that the opposition is trying to confuse voters. 

“Because of that lack of support, they are waging a campaign of deliberate misinformation,” he said. “There is absolute transparency in the current system. The BSEP report that comes out annually documents all the funds and the public have full access to it.” 

Members of United Pool Council have also opposed Measure A. They state BUSD’s negligence toward the warm water pool as the main reason. 

Lindheim said the allegations were untrue. “The pools are run by the city, not by the schools. It is a city bond issue and has nothing to do with Measure A,” he said. 

School board director John Selawsky called the oppositions’ accusations “preposterous.” 

“I urge all citizens to read the measure carefully,” he said. “All inaccuracies can be put to rest then.” 

Berkeleyans for School Management Access Accountability Responsiveness and Transparency (BeSMAART), another neighborhood group chaired by Yolanda Huang, a former BUSD parent, proposes performance auditing—applying the standards of the federal government’s Accountability Office—to set standards for the district administration and to evaluate administrator’s performance. 

“I am all for performance audits,” said Lindheim. “I think we are probably going to include it in Measure A.” 

School Board Director Nancy Riddle, who was involved in the process of rewriting Measure A and is up for reelection this year, spoke about the steps that had been taken to ensure its success. 

“We conducted public surveys, public hearings, and dozens of smaller focus groups and sought and received heavy input from the planning and oversight committee. Additionally, the district completed an 18-month community planning process to identify these programs that most improve academic achievement. Those priorities are written directly into Measure A, including increased professional development, improved systems to monitor achievement data, and additional counseling.” 

School board candidate Karen Hemphill said that without long-term financial stability that comes with passing Measure A, Berkeley’s schools would struggle to raise the academic achievement of all students, including students with special education needs, struggling students, average students, as well as academically gifted students. 

“How are our schools supposed to make progress on closing the achievement gap if they have 25 percent less money than our schools have now?” she asked. “How can Berkeley compete to attract top-quality teachers without long-term financial stability?” 

Huang and Bowman also said the timeline of the parcel tax measure is too long.  

“Ten years is way too much,” Huang said. “There should be more frequent reporting to the community of how the school district is doing and community review.” 

Bowman said that since technology was changing so frequently, a four-year term would be more suitable. “We want the school district to rewrite Measure A for the March 2007 ballot so that it addresses the current loopholes in academic achievement and financial transparency,” she said. 

Lindheim, however, said that there was no time to write a better measure. 

“More importantly there is no better measure,” he said. “If the measure isn’t approved in November, then 40 percent of BUSD teachers will be laid off. New teachers will be the first to get fired.” 

Cathy Campbell, vice president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, echoed Lindheim’s thoughts.  

“BSEP and Measure B have ensured that Berkeley students receive more than a reading, writing and arithmetic kind of education. They allow schools to have an identity,” she said. “They provide funds for the sports program and the gardening program at Malcolm X which is really important for my son. They are also a resource for teachers to continue to grow and learn.” 

Karen Pertschuk, a BUSD alumni and parent, said that the parcel taxes had allowed her son to study in a smaller classroom which resulted in better interaction with the class teacher.  

“They keep the class sizes under control and provide money for the instrumental music program,” she said. “My son would not have had music this year if Measure B had not passed this year.” 

Campaign filings 

The campaign disclosure statement for Measure A was filed on Oct. 26.  

Total contributions received in support of Measure A amounted to $66,338.63. Total expenditures made towards the campaign were $49,512.96. 

Berkeley developer Patrick Kennedy’s monetary contributions in support of the Measure A campaign totaled $1,250. The California Federation of Teachers and ZFA Structural Engineers both contributed $1,000. 

No campaign contribution and expenditure forms have been filed by BeSMAART, which is campaigning against Measure A.  

Berkeleyans’ Against Soaring Taxes did not disclose the cost of the “No on Measure A” posters it has put up on the telephone polls in Berkeley and had not filed updated forms with the city by the Oct. 26 deadline. 

Questions, comments and rebuttals greeted committee members from the North Shattuck Association and North Shattuck Plaza (NPS), Inc., at the community meeting held Thursday to discuss the North Shattuck plaza draft plan. 

The proposed $3.5 million dollar plaza would transform Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto to streetscape by closing off Shattuck Avenue between Vine and Rose streets. The current angle parking and access lane along the eastern side of the avenue would be replaced with a 50-foot-wide pedestrian walkway with landscaped plantings, two rows of trees and benches. 

As NSP Inc. Chair David Stoloff, who also serves on the city planning commission, showed off the plans to residents, the tree-lined walkway plan produced comparisons among some to similar landscaping in Paris.  

Stoloff described the project as a “rare opportunity to transform a public space filled with traffic into a ‘living room’ for Berkeleyans.” 

“We want to give the space back to the pedestrians,” he said. “A place to see and to be seen.” 

Not everyone from the community was impressed with the plans. There were concerns from neighbors about why no community input had been taken when deciding about issues of parking, the selection of trees and access for the elderly and the disabled. 

Some elderly residents said that taking away street parking from the front of the stores would stop them from coming there to shop. 

Heather Hensley, executive director of the NSA, informed residents that the current proposal would bring about consolidated parking by reducing the five-vehicle entrance along the south side of Rose Street to three. 

Hensley also addressed neighbors’ concerns regarding traffic congestion and added that a traffic study would be conducted prior to the environmental impact report. 

Neighbors also said that moving the parking northward would not help to solve the problem of already struggling independent stores—such as Black Oak Books—because customers would have to walk some distance to get to them. 

“We will try to make the parking neutral,” said Councilmember Laurie Capitelli, under whose district the proposed plaza falls. “People will have to walk a block but we hope the amenities the plaza provides will make up for it.” 

Capitelli also said separate meetings would be held with the community to discuss the parking and the traffic issue.  

He added that the total number of trees would rise from 42 to 102 and that measures would be taken to improve the soil permeability.  

Some neighbors were concerned about the shortage of trees and others thought the proposed number of trees was “too many.” 

“Some people actually like being in the sun,” commented a neighbor, to which Hensley said that care would be taken to ensure sufficient sunlight in the plaza.  

“We are also looking at plans to include green areas in the plaza where parents could rest with their children during shopping,” she said 

“Would the new plaza be a magnet for the homeless?” was a question on one of the comment cards. 

“Will we not change our community because we are afraid that it will be a magnet for the homeless?” said Capitelli. “Not to build a civic amenity for that reason is unacceptable to me.” 

Hensley said that the project was not receiving any funding from the city.  

“The NSP Inc. is collecting funds for the project and there are also several state and federal grants for pedestrian improvement that could be looked into,” she said. 

Hensley also said that most of the North Shattuck businesses were in support of the project. 

“We are holding meetings with each store about their concern. Long’s has a concern about the loss of the driveway but studies will be done to assess how much it is actually used,” she said, adding that restaurants would benefit from the extended space outside.  

A representative from Black Oak Books said that although the store was supportive, they were concerned about the loss of parking spots in front of the store. 

Stoloff outlined the plan to place a kiosk in the plaza, adding that 100 square feet of space would be available for vendors. 

“The kiosk has a vital function,” he said. “We are hoping to attract a vendor who will help the kiosk to produce income that will support the plaza’s upkeep. The kiosk will also keep an eye out on plaza safety issues.” 

Stoloff said that the final plaza plans would go to the City Council for approval and that it would take six to nine months for the plaza to be completed.  

“We want Berkeleyans to know that everyone is going to be involved in the process,” said Capitelli. “We welcome input on what people would like to have because we are all responsible for its success.” 

Students robbed 

Two UC Berkeley students, a man and a woman, were robbed at 1:13 a.m. Sunday as they walked along Fulton Street near Dwight Way, campus police report. 

The suspect, brandishing a pistol and clad in a hoodie, demanded their valuables, then fled north on Fulton after they complied. 

Another couple robbed 

A second student couple was also robbed, this time at 1:50 a.m. Saturday as they walked along the 2500 block of Dwight Way near the corner of Telegraph Avenue, said campus police. 

They were approached by a gang of five teens, one armed with a knife, who demanded their possessions. After they complied, the couple was allowed to leave. 

Rat-packed 

A 19-year-old Cal student was slammed in the head with a skateboard early Saturday morning by one of a gang of five teens matching the descriptions of the suspects in the knife robbery. 

The student told university police the group approached him as he walked along Regent Street near the corner of Dwight Way at 2:40 a.m. 

One of the rat packers slammed the student in the head with a skateboard before the group headed south on Derby Street. 

The student was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital, police said. 

Octogenarian robbed 

Two strongarm bandits robbed an 87-year-old Yountville man of his wallet as he was walking along the 2100 block of Woolsey Street at 11 a.m. last Wednesday, reports Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. 

The bandits were last seen headed northbound along Shattuck Avenue. 

Willard Park mugging 

A 27-year-old homeless man was mugged in Willard Park at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday by a 30-something man clad in a black and yellow shirt who punched him in the face. 

The assailant was last seen near the park restroom, said Officer Galvan. 

i-Jacked 

A bearded bandit who made like he was packing a pistol in is pants demanded a 30-year-old Berkeley man’s i-Pod as the victim was walking along the 2300 block of Stuart Street shortly before 4 p.m. on the 24th. 

Though the music listener thought the fellow was faking it with the purported pistol, he decided discretion was the proper course and handed over the music machine, reports Officer Galvan. 

Gang of three 

A trio of strong-arm bandits robbed a Berkeley woman of her cash after they braced her near the corner of 10th and Delaware streets shortly before 8 p.m. on the 24th, said Officer Galvan. Though they inflicted some hurt, the woman declined the services of Berkeley paramedics. 

Baddies busted 

A partial car plate remembered by a man who was robbed of two backpacks and a duffel bag near the corner of Bancroft Way and College Avenue just before midnight on the 22nd led police to four suspects in a stolen van. 

Officer Galvan said the victim’s information—which included the description of their hot wheels—led an officer to stop an older model van on University Avenue near the Sacramento Street intersection moments later. 

Not only did the van prove to be stolen—from Alameda—but the four occupants precisely matched the descriptions provided by the robbery victim. 

“Sometimes you get lucky,” said Officer Galvan. The four suspects, ranging in age from 17 to 19, came from Alameda and Oakland. 

Gummed up 

By resisting a security guard who nabbed him as he stole out of the University Avenue Andronico’s Park and Shop just before 4 p.m. on the 22nd, an 18-year-old Berkeley man turned a minor shoplifting into robbery. 

“All that for two packs of Trident gum,” said Officer Galvan. 

His three associates managed to get away and were last seen speeding away down Addison Street in their car, along with whatever booty they’d managed to pilfer. 

Another rat pack 

A 17-year-old Berkeley man was robbed by a gang of three, one of whom—decked out in the usual hoodie—punched him in the face just before 4:30 p.m. on the 22nd near the corner of Channing Way and McGee Avenue. 

The man handed over his cash and the trio of teenage felons departed. The man declined medical aid, said Officer Galvan.

On Nov. 7, District 2 voters in Oakland face a clear choice for City Council. It is an opportunity to create a progressive majority in one of the nation’s most diverse cities. And it is a choice between two very different futures for Oakland.  

One Oakland is a city controlled by developers and gripped by fear. A “bedroom community” for San Francisco—a town that says yes to any developer instead of working to create good jobs for the families who live here. This is the Oakland that has watched 120 people killed this year, and failed to show leadership in taking on the real causes of violence.  

In this Oakland, big-money developers get too much, and our children get too little. Sadly, this is the Oakland my opponent represents.  

The other Oakland is a model for what is possible. Community policing and peacekeeping teams that make us safer. New jobs in the green economy that create economic opportunities, and make our environment cleaner. A stronger “Sunshine Ordinance” to end City Hall corruption. And Mayor-elect Dellums has a chance to succeed.  

I represent this Oakland, and with your vote on Nov. 7 we can make it a reality.  

Who I am 

Every Election Day, my father would remind me how previous generations struggled for the right to vote. I took that sense of duty to heart, and have spent my life working for social justice. I am:  

• A wife and a mother with a beautiful son. 

• An honorably discharged Army conscientious objector, who publicly protests war and privately counsels soldiers.  

• A businesswoman who has helped dozens of small businesses.  

• A teacher and a mentor. I taught high school social studies, and currently mentor Oakland youth about alternatives to violence. 

I have deep roots in District 2. Together with groups like Sierra Club, ACORN, SEIU, the Labor Council, the Oakland Education Association and the Nurses Association (all of whom endorsed me), I have fought for change in District 2.  

What I stand for 

In June, almost two-thirds of District 2 voted for progressive leadership. I will work in partnership with Mayor-elect Ron Dellums and Councilmember Nancy Nadel to enact a strong, solutions-driven agenda. My priorities are:  

Preventing violence  

Oakland’s leadership is failing to address the horrific murder rate in Oakland. I have a clear plan to address the root causes of violence:  

•Effective policing. Right now the police chief doesn’t have the power or the support to get officers out of their cars and on to the streets. I will push to revise the Oakland Police Officers contract, giving the Chief the power to implement community policing and to put officers on the street at night and on weekends.  

• Peacekeeping Teams. Much of the crime we’re seeing is retaliation for other crimes. I’ve proposed a conflict resolution and crisis response team that can stop retaliation before it starts.  

• Re-entry internships and job training. Over 10,000 people in Oakland are currently on parole or probation. I’ll work to reintegrate parolees and probationers in Oakland with accessible housing, job training, drug rehabilitation and medical care.  

• Provide alternatives, like expanded recreation, sports and cultural programs for young people. These are proven deterrents to crime.  

Double funding for children and youth  

The current Oakland Fund for Children and Youth does a lot, but it could go further. I am calling for twice as much funding so that the fund—along with Measure Y—could make a real difference.  

Create jobs that protect the environment 

Oakland is poised to be a national leader in “green jobs,” creating a Silicon Valley of green capital right here in Oakland as a way to lift people up out of poverty. I will work to:  

• Attract green businesses and new clean energy and clean tech jobs.  

• Use the growing green economy to create a youth jobs corps, and living wage jobs.  

• Ask the Port to pay its fair share, and advocate for a “healthy port” that doesn’t pollute our communities.  

Stop the corruption in City Hall 

The recent FBI probe is embarrassing, and it erodes confidence in our leaders. If elected I will work to:  

• Make government accountable by strengthening the Sunshine Ordinance.  

• End backroom deals that waste taxpayer dollars.  

Who funds my campaign—and who funds my opponent  

Simply put: I will not be bought. I accept no contributions from corporations. My funding comes largely from my friends and neighbors who believe in change.  

My opponent? Sadly, we can see where her priorities lie:  

• Almost 40 percent of her funding comes directly from developers, corporations and builders.  

• In the current election, over half of Councilmember Kernighan’s funding comes from outside of District 2.  

• Even her own supporter, former candidate Shirley Gee, said that Councilmember Kernighan is “heavily influenced by Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and housing developers.”  

My business experience has taught me to fight for the small businesses—not corporations—and that’s the leadership I’ll bring to City Council.  

Why make a change?  

I stand for people over profits—the grassroots and the families in District 2.  

We have the opportunity for real solutions and real leadership—and the chance to win a bold and truly progressive victory that will echo across the region.  

In a time where so much is wrong, I ask District 2 voters to vote for leadership for a change. 

For more information, see www.Aimee Allison.org. 

EDITOR’S NOTE: 

Oakland District 2 City Councilmember Pat Kernighan declined the inivitation to submit a statement to the Daily Planet.

Ten days before he was killed on Oct. 27, journalist Brad Will posted a news report on the Internet called “Death in Oaxaca,” about a 41-year-old man shot as he manned a barricade with his family and neighbors, much as thousands of Oaxacans have been doing for five months. Will, 36, from New York, had “not seen too many bodies in my life—eats you up,” he wrote in his dispatch to Indymedia. (http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/77343.shtml) 

The Oaxacan man Brad Will wrote about was “one more death—one more martyr in a dirty war—one more time to cry and hurt.” Will himself was shot with a camera in his hand. Photos taken by others show him thin and glassy-eyed, lying on a sidewalk stripped of his shirt as two others try to help, bullet holes ringed with red blood on his solar plexus, as if targeted by a sharpshooter. 

The Oaxaca standoff has been a hidden story, largely ignored by the U.S. press. What has been silenced with the death of an independent reporter like Will, unfunded by any large organization, was one of the few voices that has tried to tell the story to the world. Teachers began the strike in May by requesting a salary raise and peacefully occupying the city center. In the following weeks Gov. Ulises Ruiz ordered the teachers forcibly removed, which drew other demonstrators to join the occupation and eventually paralyzed the city. Paramilitary and off-duty officers have shot at the demonstrators—at least 13 deaths, including Will’s. have been counted. Residents called for the resignation of Ruiz, an iron-fisted governor blamed for the deaths, and for a corrupt administration. The strikers insisted on non-violence. Now President Vicente Fox, with just one more month in office, has sent in federal troops to re-take the city. 

The conflict in Oaxaca is part of a larger movement of demands for wider democracy in Mexico, often spearheaded by indigenous groups, the most well known of which is the Zapatista movement in the Lacandon jungles and other areas of Chiapas, south of Oaxaca. Of some 500 Oaxaca municipalities, more than 400 are overwhelmingly Indian; among the 70,000 teachers affected by the strike, many of the activists are bilingual indigenous teachers. While teachers voted last week to return to work, others have vowed to continue to paralyze the city until demands are met. Now that Fox has sent in federal riot police with automatic weapons and military helicopters in the wake of Will’s and two other deaths, it’s not clear which direction the Oaxaca story will take, but it’s clear it will not disappear. 

The Popular Assembly of the Oaxacan Peoples, known by its Spanish acronym APPO, a collection of activist groups, has said it will maintain the occupation. Monitoring its radio station Asamblea Popular de Oaxaca (www.asambleapopulardeoaxaca.com) as federal troops came to the city, a listener could hear a town at war and the sounds of resistance. Light small fires to make smoke and obscure the vision of helicopters, announcers advised, give blood, and bring food to strategic points. There were warnings about neighborhoods being searched (“Police in ski masks dressed in gray are going house to house in Colonia Aleman”), and reports of federal troops’ movements at various sectors. There were also constant calls to remain peaceful, to avoid anyone who suggested violent reactions, to avoid provocations that might call down reaction from troops and police. Sugar and sand might be thrown in front of vehicles, an announcer suggested, to slow their progress. 

“It is clear that this is more than a strike, more than expulsion of a governor, more than a blockade, more than a coalition of fragments—it is a genuine peoples revolt,” wrote Brad Will in the days before he died. “After decades of...rule by bribe, fraud and the bullet the people are tired—you cannot mistake the whisper of the Lacandon jungle in the streets—in every street corner deciding together to hold—you see it in their faces—indigenous, women, children—so brave—watchful at night—proud and resolute.” 

Small demonstrations are taking place in cities such as San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, deploring the Oaxaca deaths and Fox’s decision to send federal police and soldiers to Oaxaca. The Spanish-language daily La Opinion said 70 persons from the Oaxacan community demonstrated in front of the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles, and quoted Odilia Romero, a representative of the Binational Indigenous Organizations Front, made up largely of Oaxacans in Southern California and the agricultural Central Valley. “There is no need to repress the people of Oaxaca, who are a peaceful people,” Romero told La Opinion. Strikers have blamed Gov. Ruiz for acts of violence before and since the strike began. Ruiz is a member of the PRI, the party which has governed Oaxaca for 70 years. “If he stays, the repression is going to be stronger against those who are against him,” Romero said. 

The Fox administration began with hope because he was the first to break the 70-year stranglehold of the powerful PRI party on Mexico’s presidency, and because President Bush gave strong signals then about immigration reform, which would benefit Mexicans. Fox is leaving with no immigration reform in the north and a fence going up on the U.S. border; and in the south, a former tourist mecca occupied by federal troops holding off a disgruntled population. It has taken the death of an American to shine a light on the struggle in Oaxaca, where demands for “direct democracy,” more autonomous rule that answers local needs without corruption, are not likely to go away. “What can you say about this movement—this revolutionary moment,” Brad Will asked in his last dispatch. “You know it is building, growing, shaping.” 

The arrival of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce’s latest Measure J hit piece in mailboxes all over town on Wednesday generated a remarkable explosion of outrage from Berkeley citizens—it’s jammed our e-mail box. We’ve printed the largest Planet ever today, but it hasn’t got room for everything. You can read last-minute contributions on the web and in Tuesday’s paper, if you’re still undecided. 

In view of the crush, I’ll keep my own remarks brief. The Chamber PAC’s choice of an ugly section of chain-link fence topped with barbed wire as this week’s Swift Boat photo selection marks them as—what? yahoos? philistines? Babbitts?—no, they probably don’t understand such fancy literary epithets. They’re ignorant, that’s for sure.  

I first encountered the Chamber’s clueless political action committee a few years ago when they came out against a ballot measure to fund emergency attendants for disabled people. The Chamber president at the time was the manager of Berkeley Honda, a nice fellow from whom my family had bought two cars. I called him up and complained, he paid attention, and within a week the Chamber had overturned the foolish action of its PAC. But they don’t seem to have learned much from that experience.  

The photo is of the backside of the old California Ink Company factory, which was designated a historic resource in 1986—the year Loni Hancock was elected mayor— because it was then the oldest continuously operating factory in Berkeley. The designation was a tribute to the old Berkeley where honest businesses employed solid decently paid working people to produce useful products—beauty had very little to do with it. Today’s Planet reprints historian Susan Cerny’s 2001 article about the history of Cal Ink, along with Daniella Thompson’s haunting pictures of the site in its current neglected state. The Landmarks Commission, according to their October 1986 minutes, designated just four of the many buildings on the site “because of their historic importance and intact physical condition” on a 5-1-1 vote. The decision could have been appealed to the City Council, but no one challenged it at the time. If the buildings have been allowed to decay in the last twenty years, it’s the fault of the city of Berkeley for not enforcing its own laws.  

The Chamber PAC has told disgraceful lies not only about Measure J, but also about the voting records of Councilmembers Spring and Worthington. A reader brought another of the Chamber’s last minute mailers to the Planet office on Thursday morning. This one features doctored photos of the 4th Street Cody’s with “Closed” superimposed on it, and of the Berkeley Bowl on Shattuck labelled “West Berkeley,” accompanied by consummate distortions of votes on those businesses.  

The politicians and others whose names are prominently featured on Chamber mailers have yet to repudiate them. Voters who don’t like this kind of politics should cast protest votes for opponents of candidates listed as endorsers, namely Bates, Hancock, Maio and Wozniak. They should also make their views known to Chamber members, who are listed on the Internet.  

A panel discussion of the upcoming national election at UC’s Wheeler Auditorium last Thursday featured some familiar faces—Joan Blades of MoveOn.com, Prof. George Lakoff of “framing” fame, and the bloggers’ hero, Markos Moulitsas, “Daily Kos,” with political scientist Bruce Cain as moderator—articulating their now-familiar themes about what’s happened to progressive politics in the United States and what can be done about it. Cain joked that the panel was “fair and balanced” just like Fox News. A strongly partisan audience was obviously hoping that one of them had brought along a crystal ball showing a clear victory for Democrats nationally next week, but no one was confident enough to make such an optimistic prediction. The fourth panelist, political science professor Paul Pierson, was a new face, a last-minute replacement for Robert Reich, another familiar member of progressive pundit arrays.  

Pierson’s a co-author, with Jacob Hacker, of a book which came out in January, Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy. Its thesis is sometimes contrasted with Lakoff’s rhetorically-based “framing” hypothesis, which contends that it’s not so much what you say in political discourse as how you say it.  

Pierson characterized such theories as supporting the “senior class president” model of politics, which defines elections as essentially popularity contests where “the candidate who wins must be the one closest to the electorate.” He emphasized that he didn’t mean that framing and spin were unimportant, but that he believed that the institutions surrounding the contestants played the major role in determining outcomes.  

The discussion Thursday focused in on what role the structure of today’s national Republican and Democratic parties might have in determining the outcome of next week’s election. Several panelists alluded to poll results showing that voters’ opinions on national issues are much more liberal than those of the Republicans they elect to office, which Pierson attributes to the power of institutions to shape elections. 

He summarized his book’s analysis in a January interview with Barry Bergman, posted on UC’s public information website: 

“….we don’t accept what we think is the primary way that people often think about electoral politics: that it’s primarily a popularity contest between two competing sets of ideas, and two competing teams, and that if one teams wins it must be because they’re doing things that are closer to what people want — their ideas are better, their ideas are more popular, end of story.  

"What we’re trying to point out in the book is that politics isn’t just about ideas and platforms. It’s about organization, and it’s about how the structure of political institutions, and the ability of particular organizations to use those institutions, translates into political power.” 

Some of us in the audience who follow politics in Berkeley were struck by how well the Pierson model describes the local scene, though it’s not clear what it would predict for outcomes of current local contests. This was made even more apparent by last week’s deluge of glossy mailers, a significant percentage of which seem to be paid for by the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee. Some pieces, though not all, complied with the law by listing the PAC’s name as sponsor, but the tip-off was the use of U.S. postal permit No. 157, mailed from Carlsbad. This campaign could mark a sea change in Berkeley politics similar to what we’ve seen on the national level since the Republicans took over. 

The centerpiece of the Chamber’s effort was distributed in Districts 4 (Spring) and 7 (Worthington) late last week. We’re posting it on the Planet’s Internet edition, but briefly described, it’s a large print red and brown cardboard fold- 

out headed “GUESS WHO FAILED ON IMPORTANT BERKELEY ISSUES? WHO’S FAILED YOU?” A grid design lists issues on the left side and mayor and councilmembers across the top, and gives a letter grade from A to F to each one on each issue. We’ll leave it to our reporters and our correspondents to detail the specific enormous factual errors in what’s said about the candidates’ positions on the chosen issues. Let’s just look for the moment at what the graphics convey.  

The piece is a transparently nasty effort to cut two candidates, Spring and Worthington, out of the pack. Their so-called “records” are highlighted in red, and their “failing” averages of D and F are further circled in red in case you miss the point. Bullets highlight catch phrases (“Protect and enhance our neighborhoods”), the same kind which were featured in the very expensive push-poll which called many of us last summer, paid for by a source as yet unrevealed. It’s a package of half-baked slogans which the Chamber seems to think Berkeley is dumb enough to swallow. 

Bates, Beier and Raudell Wilson, the mailer’s high-score candidates, are three examples of the “senior class president” model in action. (One sharp-tongued observer described Beier’s performance at a meeting of business leaders as “Mr. Toastmaster”). This trio might win, not because they understand local issues and represent Berkeley voters’ wishes, but because they have big money and powerful organizations on their side. Beier, a self-made millionaire, also has the means to add his personal bucks to the Chamber’s war chest. If they’re successful, as Pierson’s theory points out, it won’t mean that they represent what the electorate really wants. It will just mean that well-funded interests which control organizations like the Chamber of Commerce have figured out how to manipulate elections. 

This would be a good place to acknowledge that we made a mistake in our last editorial. We thought that Tom Bates has endorsed George Beier, but Bates campaign representative Armando Viramontes (on loan from Bates’ wife Loni Hancock’s Assembly office) called to tell us he hasn’t gone quite that far. He simply hasn’t endorsed Worthington, Beier’s opponent, which is indeed different from endorsing Beier himself, but not very different. (He did endorse the Chamber’s B and C rated picks, Wozniak and Maio.)  

Bates has pointedly ducked endorsing Spring, Worthington and Jason Overman, the real progressives in the race. He admits participating in the $250-a-head private party which raised much of the money for the Chamber PAC’s mailers, and his snide remarks about Spring at the event, as captured by Will Harper in the Express, are quoted in a Wilson campaign piece. Like George Bush, Bates could be described as “a uniter, not a divider”—with the remarkable achievement of snaring both the conservative Berkeley Democratic Club and the pathetic remnant of their old nemesis Berkeley Citizens Action as endorsers. Neither the old-line Democrats nor the former old-leftists who have recently been born again as Democrats seem to understand the pernicious consequences of Bates’ attempt to dump Spring and Worthington, if they even know about it.  

Bates has the incalculable institutional advantage of a long and largely respectable political career, which he’s successfully used to disguise his own recent role in Berkeley politics as a front for development interests. He’s also carried water for developers by his persistent attempts to sabotage Berkeley’s Landmark Preservation Ordinance, now reborn as Measure J and the target of another Chamber PAC mailer, also filled with what can only be called blatant lies.  

We’ve lived in Berkeley for 33 years, and we’ve never seen a campaign in which out-and-out lies played such a big role. It turns out that organizations like the Chamber PAC are just about immune from Berkeley’s campaign reform laws. Albany has seen similar manifestations in the way mall promoters are trying influence its council elections. It seems that the virus which has infected national politics in the last eight years is starting to take root around here—if you have enough money and power behind you it doesn’t matter what kind of lies you tell, the bigger the better. After this election is behind us, we need to work on that. 

THE DAILY PLANET  

ENDORSES: 

Mayor: Zelda Bronstein 

District 1: No endorsement 

District 4: Dona Spring 

District 7: Kriss Worthington 

District 8: Jason Overman 

Measure A: Yes 

Measure I: No 

Measure J: Yes 

More to come... 

ANIMAL SHELTER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

For years, conditions at the City of Berkeley animal shelter have been appalling, causing needless suffering and disease. We have tried to find out why there is no new animal shelter. 

The bond measure allocating the money for a new animal shelter passed four years ago. That is, the money has been set aside and is available. 

Insofar as we can determine, no person or agency takes responsibility for there not being a new animal shelter four years after the voters approved the money to build one. It seems that everyone involved blames everyone else. 

As best we can tell, those involved have been embarrassingly incompetent or lacking in the political will to get the job done. 

For the animals, we ask the mayor, the city manager, the City Council and the Humane Commission to work together to carry our the will of the voters. 

Bruce Max Feldman, D.V.M. 

Annie Van Nes, Veterinary Nurse 

• 

SHELTER OVERDUE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The only development project Mayor Bates doesn’t like is the new city animal shelter Berkeley voters approved in November 2002. 

Four years ago Berkeley voters passed Measure I to provide bond funds to build a new city animal shelter. This was the only local ballot bond measure to pass in the 2002 election. 

Despite an official one year joint subcommittee of City Councilmembers Spring and Olds and Citizens Humane Commissioners Posener and McCormick, who met repeatedly with the City Manager, plus representatives of local animal rescue groups, and animal humane organizations, no progress has been made in replacing the old outdated city animal shelter. No site has been selected or purchased, no shelter plans have been drawn up, and no construction start date has been set. 

Backroom ideological, personality and political clashes have dead-locked this voter mandated project. 

Four years of stalling and squabbling is enough! Vote for Zelda Bronstein for mayor, and have her get the city started on building our overdue new animal shelter. 

V.Tamaradze 

• 

A SIMPLE QUESTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As we reach the moment of decision regarding the future of Berkeley’s City Council and the District 7 representative in particular, I am convinced that the choice between George Beier and Kriss Worthington comes down to a simple question: 

Do we want more of the same with Worthington, or do we want to give Beier a chance to implement his vision for change? Becky O’Malley said on these very same pages last week, “Beier actually put his finger on the cause when he said during the debate that South of Campus’s real problem is the drug culture.” That’s what we need in Berkeley, leaders who look to the cause of the problems and propose solutions, not based on knee-jerk ideology, but on reasoned analysis. We need leaders who can work with each other, even when they respectfully disagree, to build broad consensus for building a better Berkeley. One of those leaders is George Beier and I hope voters in District 7 will join me in voting for him. 

Gregory S. Murphy 

• 

SCHOOLS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With Measure A on the ballot next Tuesday, I want to share some of my views as a parent and an alumna of the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD). Berkeley supports its schools. Berkeley has done an incredible job of keeping alive the unique legacy that I experienced, and will never forget. So much so, that several years ago we moved back to Berkeley after four years on the East Coast because we wanted our son in the Berkeley public schools. He is in now in the fourth grade, and we have never regretted our decision. 

Is BUSD perfect? Of course not. How could it be, after a steady erosion in combined state and local funding since 1978? But because Berkeleyans have worked hard to support our schools over time, my child is having a wonderful experience, and getting a lot of the “whole child” education that I received. Words that come to mind are innovation, creativity, diversity, arts, and excellence. 

I have seen first-hand that Berkeley’s essential contribution to the schools, to be renewed in Measure A, is very carefully monitored and audited. Committees of parents sit on oversight committees (I am on the instrumental music program committee) and the precious funds are tracked by a system that is independent of the district. I am also satisfied with the way in which our superintendent, Michele Lawrence, has improved all aspects of fiscal responsibility since coming to the district in 2001. She is a strong leader and manager. I have seen first hand how the money from the Measure B supplement two years ago translated into the reversal of dire cuts that had been in place for one year at my son’s school. The instruments are back in the hands of the fourth graders, the libraries are open, and the class sizes are back to being “teachable.” 

It’s too bad the “rebuttal” in the voter information pamphlet is misguided—there is nothing wrong with Measure A. For those who missed it, one of the signers of the rebuttal Johnnie Porter, retracted his opposition in a letter printed in this paper. He explained that he had been mislead by the opposition, and supports Measure A. Measure A is good for the schools, and we all know that what is good for the schools is good for Berkeley. 

Karen Jeffrey Pertschuk 

• 

MEASURE J AND  

HOMEOWNERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If Measure J fails, homeowners will be among those who pay. Measure J is the Citizens’ Initiative that would update and continue our current Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO). If it is defeated, the mayor’s Revised Landmarks Ordinance will be read into law, and that ordinance has a provision not contained in either our current LPO or Measure J. 

The mayor’s Revised Ordinance, which repeals our 32-year-old LPO, would require that all permits for exterior repairs of buildings older than 40 years be reviewed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), as stated in Section 3.24.210. 

“An application for ordinary maintenance and repairs shall include plans and specifications showing the proposed appearance, color and texture of materials and the proposed architectural design of the structure. ... The planning director shall refer the application to the [LPC] where it shall be placed on the next regular agenda.” 

At a minimum, this means new fees for homeowners and delays in the repair process. Workers also may charge for the time to write and file permits, as well as for the delays. Homeowners lose. 

Homeowners’ losses are developers’ gains. Developers would rather demolish older homes and replace them with profitable new constructions. Demolition becomes easier under the Mayor’s Revised Ordinance. That’s why the Chamber of Commerce PAC opposes Measure J with such vehemence.  

One might ask why the Mayor’s Ordinance would contain a provision so detrimental to homeowners? While no one can know for sure what runs through the minds of the Councilmembers who voted for this abomination, the best guess is that overworking the LPC with new business will keep it from meeting the required deadlines to review requests for determination (RFD). An RFD opens a new and complicated process, which could potentially release a historic structure from landmarks review for over two years.  

Under the mayor’s ordinance, it would be possible for a developer to make an RFD without disclosing potential demolition and construction plans. The RFD would allow a property owner or agent of the owner to secure an exemption from landmarks review for two years or until a project under review may be completed. This exemption, called “Safe Harbor” by city staff, could allow a historic resource to be destroyed and redeveloped without further guidance from the LPC.  

Since the LPC would be forced to review every single permit for exterior repairs of all older buildings, this decreases the chances it might complete a thorough review of an RFD by its deadline. Once the property falls under the Safe Harbor exemption, it has no landmarks protection for at least two years, even if new information surfaces. This is what the PAC likes so much. 

So it’s no wonder that they’d produce an expensive mailer to mislead homeowners at the last minute. Among the collection of lies, the PAC’s mailer says that Measure J would “give total control” of property to “unelected officials” and “would slow even minor home owner upgrades for up to one year.” These are lies, blatant lies, from developers who have a lot to gain under the mayor’s revised ordinance. Only the mayor’s revised ordinance delays repairs and forces homeowners to go through new permitting processes. 

It may be unethical for the Chamber PAC to lie, but it is legal. Homeowners beware, because these lies hit you where you live. 

Judith Epstein 

• 

MEASURE J SMEAR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I just received the latest Chamber of Commerce post card against Measure J. On its cover is a selected image of “Flint Ink: Abandoned and Toxic Site…another Landmark?” 

You bet. The former industrial site has an interesting and compelling history that began around 1900 when Flint Ink’s predecessor, Cal Ink, moved from San Francisco to Berkeley. Sensationalized smear pieces such as the one that arrived in my mail today ignore and distort Berkeley’s history as a major early 20th-century industrial city. And yes, indeed, all the industries in West Berkeley, as elsewhere, created toxic wastes and dumped them into the nearest water ways-in this case the bay.  

The landmark process helps us acknowledge our history by documenting our past and sometimes this leads to a landmark designation. That does not mean that this site will not change, but it does mean that there is a written history of the site and photos of how it looked in the past. Perhaps a plaque will be placed somewhere.  

Susan D. Cerny  

Author of Berkeley Landmarks (1994; revised 2000),  

Former chair of the LPC  

• 

LIBRARIES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a library employee and Measure N campaign volunteer, I would like to respond to Ms. Zoia Horn’s letter regarding Measure N and Oakland Library’s use of “self-service options for faster check-out.” The simple use of the term “self-service options” is not code for RFID. The Oakland Public Library (OPL) has no plans to implement RFID.  

Many libraries here in the Bay area and nationwide, have implemented self check without RFID over the last two decades and it has been a successful system based on reading of barcodes, same as your grocery stores. Until recently, barcode checkout and checkin were the only options available for libraries; RFID was recently introduced and briefly, tested at one branch at Oakland Public Library. After an assessment of its implementation, its use at the branch was discontinued.  

The introduction of self-serve options is merely taking a staff-oriented practice that OPL has used since the 1980’s and moving it forward to allow the patron the option of checking out his/her own materials instead of standing in line, again, similar to the self check at groceries and other retail outlets. In libraries, this actually promotes patron privacy because the only person who sees what is being checked out is the patron. 

Gerry Garzon 

Deputy Director, Oakland Public Library 

• 

NO CREDIBILITY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Barbara Gilbert has no credibility as an “advocate for Berkeley homeowners, taxpayers and neighborhoods...” (“A Disenchanted Berkeley Homeowner’s Voting Guide”, Oct. 31) when she claims that “she has not yet decided how I will vote” on Measure A, for public school funding.  

During the three paragraphs detailing her uncertainty about Measure A she never acknowledges the role that she is currently playing in the anti-Measure A campaign. Yet, as a director of the Northeast Berkeley Association (NEBA), her group has been one of the main naysayers on this measure. This is dishonest. 

C. A. Gilbert 

• 

ALBANY COUNCIL RACE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is dismaying to see the obscene amount of money being spent on the race for City Council in our little Albany. Who would have thought? Both Joanne Wile and myself were wary of Rick Caruso and the kind of money that he was throwing around Albany while trying to get his project approved. We thought that there would be opposition with money attached if we ran. Well, according to the financial reports of Golden Gate Fields and their affiliates, over $30,000 has been spent to try to defeat Joanne and I. And that’s just the reported amounts. There are flyers coming almost every day from the racetrack owners against us with ridiculous, really laughable, claims about what Joanne and I could do to the City of Albany or the Racetrack if we get elected. Wow! What power we have to make a huge, rich, multinational firm afraid of two older women who have spent their careers dedicated to public service, teaching and helping others. 

It is obvious that Magna is still involved in wanting to get its way and that they still hope to have influence to do that. Joanne and I are standing in the way of their efforts to turn Albany into one more mall town, destroy the small-town character we all love and drain the life out of our local businesses. In my heart I know that Albany voters are much too smart to allow that to happen. 

Marge Atkinson 

Albany 

• 

PROP. 1A 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The ballot argument for Proposition 1A states that “Drivers spend $20.7 billion in extra fuel each year and 500,000 hours stuck in traffic every day because of our overcrowded roads.” If you do the arithmetic, this works out to $113 per hour for extra fuel costs while stuck in traffic ($20.7 billion/year/(500,000 hours/day x 365 days/year). Pardon me for being skeptical. 

Propositions 1A through 1E are touted as being part of the “Rebuild California” plan. The bond measures all claim that they will require no new taxes. Something for nothing? No, not quite. If you look at the five measures you realize that they are not really “rebuild” measures, they are new build measures to handle growth. If we get more people then we raise more tax revenue without adding an actual new tax. Of course, more people means we need yet more infrastructure, with less space for it, so we probably will be even farther behind than before. 

Pardon me for skeptical again, but shouldn’t we be trying to build a sustainable society? At some point, that means no more population growth, and that means maintaining what we have, and not spending money to accommodate even more people. 

Robert Clear 

• 

ALBANY SCHOOL BOARDA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My thanks to Nadine Ghammache for her letter to the editor urging Albany voters to elect me to the Albany School Board.  

I would like to clarify that I am not part of any slate seeking election to the board. In fact I decided to run for the Albany School Board was when I realized there was an effort underway to stack the School Board with three candidates with a special agenda.  

We currently have some great individuals on the School Board, and I feel it would be a mistake to turn the School Board into a rubberstamp for a few individuals. I believe that the interests of our community are better served with a diverse School Board.  

With this goal of diversity in mind, I urge voters to consider voting for Dave Glasser for the Albany School Board. His professional financial background in banking will help him deal with School Board fiscal issues, and will bring a much needed in-depth knowledge of public finance to the School Board. 

Thank you to those of you that are considering to vote for me. I can be reached at kindlealbany@aol.com 

John Kindle 

Albany School Board candidate 

• 

KRISS WORTHINGTON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am urging residents of Berkeley District 7 to support Kriss Worthington’s campaign for City Council for two straightforward reasons: I think he is the best councilperson in Berkeley, and I do not like what I see in his opponent. Kriss is, to me, the ultimate public servant. He is unassuming and seeks no personal glory for the impressive work he puts into his job as our representative. He is always available for input from his constituents, and takes a common sense approach to solving our problems. He actively supports both a genuinely safe community and authentic progressive causes, and is endorsed by every progressive organization in the area who has endorsed someone. 

I met Kriss’s opponent, George Beier, at the 10th anniversary celebration of Halcyon Commons Park. While George sported a giant commercial for himself throughout the proceedings, Kriss spoke softly in support of the community’s work in creating and maintaining the park. While George campaigned aggressively for himself at this event, Kriss did not mention his own campaign. It simply would have felt inappropriate to him. 

George Beier’s campaign has barraged us with fliers on an almost daily basis. These fliers are dishonest because they contain false implications about Kriss: that he is soft on crime, that he doesn’t support local businesses, and that there is no substantive difference between the two candidates on the issues. Both are true progressives, the fliers proclaim. 

In reality, George’s campaign is heavily backed by two very deep pockets: his own vast earnings, and the Chamber of Commerce. George has spent more money on this campaign than anyone has ever spent before on a city council race in Berkeley. The Chamber of Commerce feels that they see an opening here; they are excited by their best chance in a very long time to defeat Berkeley’s most effective progressive and turn the city council around in their favor. 

Polls indicate that this election will be close. I am frankly appalled at George Beier’s self-aggrandizing and dishonesty. I do not want him and his values representing my neighborhood on the City Council. As my family and I prepare to move to New Zealand, we very much want to leave this community in supportive, caring hands. I hope you will join us in supporting Kriss for another term as our representative on the City Council. 

Joel Hildebrandt  

• 

ALAMEDA AT CROSSROADS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Alameda is at a crossroads. The question is not whether we will grow, but how we will grow. Will we have uncontrolled growth that clogs the tubes and other estuary crossings and channels traffic through our neighborhoods, impacting children, pedestrians and bicyclists? Or, will we carefully consider the proposed projects and make sure that the growth fits within the Island’s infrastructure constraints? 

If we are to make the right decisions, we need solid traffic expertise on City Council. I am a civil and traffic engineer with 30 years’ design experience throughout northern California. I bring to the council energy, a proactive approach, and proven expertise in resolving transportation challenges that would fit our island’s infrastructure, without sacrificing breathtaking panoramas, historic architecture, convenient city access, safety and sense of community.  

The City Council’s approved projects, and the vacant and other development proposals would add up to 150,000 cars a day to Alameda’s streets, yet no one has studied the impacts of these projects on our neighborhoods. With my Island Traffic Plan, the citizens would set maximum daily traffic volumes for residential streets and maximum trip times for entering and leaving the Island and Harbor Bay. Every new project would be measured against those thresholds. My plan puts the people in charge of Alameda Island’s growth, not big developers.  

We’ve seen what uncontrolled growth has done to other cities. Alameda can do better. We can have growth that preserves the unique quality of life that we all treasure and doesn’t overwhelm our neighborhoods. If elected, I will work hard to merit your confidence and achieve those goals. Vote for Pat Bail for council and Doug deHaan for mayor, together we will work towards growth that fits. 

Eugenie P. Thomson, P.E. PTOE 

Candidate for Alameda City Council 

• 

GOLDEN GATE FIELDS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Over 10 years ago we chose to move to Albany and pay a high price for a small house because we liked the small town atmosphere, the good schools, and the safe neighborhood. I am very disappointed that our good neighbor, Golden Gate Fields, has chosen to spend money on glossy mailers attacking my neighbors and public servants.  

In contrast to these negative mailers, I was pleased to meet Marge Atkinson last Saturday at my door steps. I had never met Marge Atkinson before and I appreciated how she feels about her neighbors, our schools, and our city. In Albany, we need leaders from the community who care about preserving the small town atmosphere. Marge Atkinson and Joanne Wile have no plans of closing Golden Gate Fields but have a plan for serving the community including Golden Gate Fields. 

Ahmed Elbaggari 

Albany 

• 

MEASURE J 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As of today, most Berkeley households will have received two anti-Measure J hit pieces mailed on behalf of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce (a third is said to be on its way). In each one, the headline “Another landmark?” underscores an old structure photographed to look as ugly as possible. It’s no secret to anyone that the land under Celia’s Restaurant and Cal Ink represents “opportunity sites” for development, so the buildings have to be portrayed as objects of derision unworthy of preservation. 

Whether Celia’s was worthy of a Structure of Merit designation has no bearing on Measure J, since the City Council voted not to certify the designation. 

The Cal Ink industrial site has been a landmark since 1986. At the time of its designation, it was the oldest factory in Berkeley operating at its original location. Twenty years after the designation, Flint Ink is out of Berkeley, having left behind a neglected and toxic site. So who’s responsible? Naturally not Flint, but the Landmarks Preservation Commission. At least that’s what the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce would have you believe, with the mayor’s tacit approval. 

Think of all the condos that could be built on the Cal Ink site! The only thing standing in the way is that pesky Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, an inconvenient law that only the little people in the neighborhoods want, and they don’t count.  

So how do we get rid of the LPO? Easy. Just pin all of Berkeley’s ills on it. And if it doesn’t sound entirely credible, let’s throw in a handful of lies. Nobody will know the difference anyway. Let’s tell those saps that the existing LPO (and thus Measure J) “violates state law.” It sounds convincing, even if it’s a bare-faced lie. Let’s tell the fools that it will “give total control over their properties to unelected officials.” They won’t know that not only is this patently false, but that the mayor’s proposed LPO is no different in this respect. 

Let’s plant in their feeble minds that Measure J “allows designating anything built before 1966 as a landmark.” They won’t bother to investigate the truth and won’t discover that Measure J includes fairly stringent criteria for designating historic resources. 

Let’s have them believe that only Measure J will reduce the number of signatures on a landmark petition to 25. Surely they won’t check the mayor’s proposed LPO and won’t discover that it stipulates exactly the same number, because the State Office of Historic Preservation recommended it. 

While we’re at it, we’ll also tell the innocent ninnies that Measure J “removes the state historic standard of integrity from our landmarking process.” That’s a particularly good one. Everybody will fall for it. So what if it’s a shameless fib? Who’s to know that Measure J incorporates the state standard of integrity into the LPO? 

And finally, let’s hit them where it really counts—in the pocketbook. We’ll tell them that Measure J will waste tax payers’ money and slow down their home upgrades. Yes, it’s only an urban legend, but you know how many people fall for those. 

That should take care of it. Then we’ll plant some of our own on the Landmarks Preservation Commission—people smart enough to appreciate an opportunity site when they see one. 

In 10 years, no one will remember what Berkeley used to look like. 

Daniella Thompson 

• 

PRESERVATION IS  

GOOD BUSINESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Imagine if Berkeley still had some of the historical mills, vaudeville theaters, early industry, and working small farms it once had. Imagine if it had museums of Berkeley’s early years next to those sites where the history, music, and literature of its early times was celebrated, instead of sneered at and reviled by developers eager to build profitable condominiums.  

Developers try to give voters the impression that landmark preservation inhibits profits. They are wrong. Berkeley’s square footage is finite, so landmarks do literally stand in the way of remaking the entire town from scratch. But landmarks do not stand in the way of healthy profits. Quite the opposite; landmarks can be the key to lively commercial centers, tourism, and new development. 

Politicians who don’t realize this need to travel, and see the way preservation has dovetailed with commercial goals in other cities and towns. I just returned from the mountains of West Virginia, where people travel thousands of miles to hear the distinctive music of the region and pore over the historical buildings and battlefields that represent America’s past. 

The Chamber of Commerce’s efforts to discourage people from supporting Measure J, which preserves the current landmark ordinance, is short-sighted from even a business perspective. Our past, far from burdening our future, supports and strengthens Berkeley’s efforts to build a healthy downtown. 

Carol Denney 

• 

BEIER AND MEASURE J 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is difficult to see how George Beier could be in the pocket of developers or the chamber when he was an early supporter and contributor of Measure J, the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. It is interesting to note that George’s opponent, Kriss Worthington, has failed to take a position on this controversial measure. George has replaced me on the Zoning Adjustments Board when I am away and with one exception, voted for the neighborhoods and against development that disregards the detriments out of scale projects impose on them. George voted for the flying cottage project because staff told him he had no choice. Since that time, George realizes he is an independent thinker and votes accordingly—not as staff directs. Maybe instead of being “pro-development,” George is actually “pro-neighborhood.” George is focused on reviving Telegraph Avenue but not at the expense of our historic landmarks. As President of the Willard Neighborhood Association, member of the Peoples Park Commission, and Chancellors Neighborhood Task Force, George has fought against oversized development that is inappropriate for our neighborhoods. He supports a planning process that includes all constituents. 

Dean Metzger 

• 

MEASURE A, SCHOOL LIBRARIES AND NEBA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I received the NEBA News too late to attend their Oct. 5 meeting, but feel compelled to respond publicly to the misinformation the newsletter contained. I am sorry NEBA has chosen to oppose Measure A on the Berkeley ballot. I am especially alarmed that some of the reasons cited for taking this position are stated as fact without any supporting documentation. 

On page 1, they write that the “impossibly long horizon” (10 years) of Measure A “prevents meaningful oversight and accountability.” The many Berkeley citizens and BUSD employees who have served during the past 20 years as volunteers on site BSEP (Measure A) committees as well as the district Planning and Oversight Committee, who examine and scrutinize all BSEP proposals and expenditures, deserve our thanks for their devotion to making sure the money is well spent, not NEBA’s cavalier dismissal of their service. To say this money has “no impact on the deplorable student achievement gap” shows NEBA’s lack of knowledge of school libraries and the effect library personnel and collections have on students. Studies in 16 states have proven the positive influence of all facets of school libraries on improving student achievement. In BUSD schools, all library employees are paid with this funding. In addition, we are able to build strong collections K-12 with our materials budget at a time when most districts in California and nationally are struggling to provide their libraries with a bare minimum. While California school libraries rank 51st (behind all other states and the District of Columbia) in every quantifiable category that is counted, Berkeley stands as a shining example of what can be accomplished by committed and generous citizens. NEBA’s statement that BSEP “doesn’t provide improved...programs for students...unable to achieve…in reading” further exposes their lack of knowledge and awareness. At Berkeley High, where I work as Library Media Teacher, I collaborate closely with teachers to build our library collection with titles that not only support the curriculum, but also meet the students’ need for recreational reading. For example, during the 2005-06 school year I saw the positive impact for students who entered 9th grade reading below grade level, by having appropriate titles in sufficient quantity to meet their demands. Without BSEP/Measure A funding we could not have this success with our students. 

I also question the statement on page two that the “average salary plus compensation for teachers is $80,000.” Even with a BA, masters degree in library science and dozens of credits beyond that, in addition to 25 years experience, and allowing for benefits, my salary doesn’t even approach this figure. My husband, however, wants to know where I’m hiding the extra dollars. I would appreciate NEBA’s informing me as to what steps I can take to attain this “average salary.” 

Ellie Goldstein-Erickson 

• 

ALBANY BOARD  

OF EDUCATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was not surprising to see Nadine Gammache’s endorsement for Miriam Walden and Jaime Calloway in editorials last week. Miriam Walden orchestrated Nadine Gammache’s Board campaign in 2004, serving as her treasurer. This election, Miriam Walden is running a joint campaign with Jaime Calloway, arguing that she needs a team that she can rely on in the Albany Board of Education. I believe that the community, parents and students of Albany are best served by five independent voices on the board—voices that reflect the varied views of our fine community. My concern with maintaining independent voices on the board is why I have chosen to run this year. As a board member I will strive to maintain the kind of responsive, collegial and open minded Board that Albany has always relied on. I would appreciate your vote. 

David Glasser 

• 

ALBANY CITY COUNCIL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The mailings and literature drops concerning the Albany City Council race tell a very revealing story about the candidates. On one side we have two candidates, Marge Atkinson and Joanne Wile, stressing the currently hot topic of development on our waterfront and supported by a large environmental organization, the Sierra Club. On the other side are two candidates, Francesco Papalia and Caryl O’Keefe, who profess that there are many other issues on which to focus and who claim support only from old-line Albany insiders and vaguely named groups like Concerned Albany Neighbors (CAN). 

The largest business in the city has mailed out hit pieces fatuously claiming that Atkinson and Wile want to close the racetrack (as if the City Council could do such a thing—the racetrack’s PR firm thinks we’re stupid) while CAN, purportedly independent from the Papalia and O’Keefe campaigns but run by O’Keefe’s husband,

Those of us lucky enough to live in Berkeley celebrate its unique character—beautiful tree lined streets, craftsman houses, parks, shoreline, and much else. But the uniqueness of this place is more than just its appearance. We are all enriched by a vibrant arts and music scene, by a strong activist community, and by the diversity of people, cultures, and ideas. As this city evolves and changes with time, it is important to protect both parts of Berkeley’s heritage. 

Some people argue that we can’t have both—that protecting our quality of life requires we close the doors to Berkeley and try and stop most new housing from being built. I disagree with that view. With vision and careful choices we can expand housing opportunities for the people who work here, maintain our lovely residential neighborhoods, have the best of new building design, and create a vital urban environment. 

Berkeley is doing a remarkable job of protecting our unique architectural heritage with strong protections for historic buildings and neighborhoods. In fact, Berkeley has nearly 300 landmarks and other protected buildings and sites—more than the entire city of San Francisco. In my four years as mayor, we have added over 40 new historic designations to the list. 

Yet our other heritage, that of a diverse cultural life, is threatened. Berkeley’s housing market is among the most expensive in the nation. Only 10 percent of present Berkeley residents can afford to buy the average-priced home in our city, which is now nearly $700,000. The average one bedroom apartment rental is more than $1,000 a month. Two bedroom apartments—the minimum size for most families—are averaging $1,500 a month. 

These housing costs push many people out of the city and are challenging to Berkeley’s unique character. In addition to changes in our racial diversity, we are also losing artists, activists, and anyone not in a high-end professional job as they move to less expensive cities. This isn’t just speculation. Berkeley has actually lost population over the past few decades. Today, Berkeley has 14,000 fewer residents than it did in 1970. The percentage of African-American residents has declined by more than 30 percent in the same time period. 

What’s more, these demographic and economic changes hurt our quality of life. The lack of affordable housing in Berkeley actually contributes to our traffic congestion as more and more of the workers at UC Berkeley, Bayer, the schools, and other job centers are forced to live outside the city and commute. Census data tells us that people who actually live in Berkeley are less likely to drive themselves to work than residents of nearly any other city in the Bay Area. In fact, the percentage of Berkeley residents that get to work without driving in their car alone (57 percent) is more than double the state average. 

The good news is that with care, creativity, and high design standards, we can address all these challenges and maintain our diversity, protect existing neighborhoods, reinvigorate our downtown, and support our neighborhood shopping areas. 

I believe we are meeting this challenge. Berkeley has approved over 1,400 units of new apartments and condominiums over the past four years, 36 percent of which were set-aside as permanently affordable units. 

Of course, not every housing project that is proposed is a good one. Berkeley remains the most difficult city in the Bay Area for new development and many projects are withdrawn or turned down after opposition from neighbors, staff, the Zoning Adjustments Board, or the City Council. That is as it should be. But given all the debate in this newspaper over development, it may come as a surprise to find that many of these new projects were so widely accepted and non-controversial that they were never even appealed to the council. 

For me, there are two key threshold issues regarding any major new development. 

First, any major new development must be in the downtown or along a major transit corridor. In the 1960s, we saw a number of large ugly apartment buildings built in the middle of residential neighborhoods. Those days are over. The issue today is how best to protect those homes and neighborhoods that border major traffic corridors where higher density development is appropriate. 

In 2004 we protected neighborhoods with new zoning as outlined in the University Avenue Strategic Plan. We increased setbacks from neighboring homes, reduced shadowing, and increased the amount of required open space. We continue to review the zoning to see what changes should be made in other areas to provide the City with flexibility to ensure nearby homes are protected. 

Second, we expect and demand that all new buildings be well designed and attractive. This means buildings must provide residents with appealing units and grounds as well as a design that is attractive from the street and encourages pedestrian traffic with cafes and neighborhood serving shops. Many developers complain about multiple visits to our Design Review Commission, but I believe that is a sign our process is working. 

Without question, land use and development decisions are some of the most controversial faced by any city, especially an engaged city like Berkeley. Change is difficult and no decision is likely to please everyone. But to be a progressive and forward-thinking city does not mean closing ourselves off from the world. We should be no more afraid of change than we are of stagnation. 

Let’s embrace what we love about this town and ensure that new development respects and enhances it. Remember, Berkeley is more than just a collection of single-family homes—it is also one of the world’s most innovative and creative places. We need to protect that legacy as well. 

Tom Bates is running for re-election as mayor of Berkeley. He previously served for 20 years as a member of the state Assembly representing Berkeley. 

In November 2002, 68 percent of Berkeley voters said yes to Measure I, which authorized the city to issue $7.2 million of bonds for an urgently needed new animal shelter. Given that the other four city tax measures on the ballot failed to get the necessary two-thirds approval, Measure I’s victory was particularly impressive. Yet four years later, the city has not even secured a site, much less broken ground, for a new facility. Nothing. 

This failure is the fault of one person above all: Tom Bates. Working behind the scenes, the mayor blocked a plan to locate a new shelter at the former, two-acre Urban Ore site at Sixth and Gilman. The plan, endorsed on Nov. 4, 2003 by the joint Council/Humane Commission Animal Shelter Committee, involved a land swap. In 2000 the Sixth and Gilman site was purchased by the Berkeley Unified School District for its new bus yard. The subcommittee unanimously recommended that the city use the $1.5 million of the bond money earmarked for land acquisition to buy a portion of the 3.4-acre McCauley Foundry site at 811 Carleton, and then trade the Carleton property for the parcel at Sixth and Gilman. Notes from the committee’s November meeting indicate that School Boardmember John Selawsky “attended … and spoke strongly in favor of the swap.”  

But the city never formally approached the BUSD about the trade, in large part because of Tom Bates’ objections to siting an animal shelter—and for that matter, a bus yard—on Gilman Street. The mayor’s views were summed up by his chief of staff, Cisco de Vries, in a Sept. 29, 2003 e-mail (which I first saw only a few days ago) sent to Mal Burnstein, the mayor’s close political adviser and designated emergency stand-in as mayor. De Vries wrote: 

Mal, 

Tom’s position is that the Gilman corridor from 2nd to San Pablo is an ideal spot for retail development in the city. If we want economic development and the $$ that brings the city, here is our chance. He has been really forceful with the school district that he will do whatever he has to do to prevent a bus yard there. (Also, we have been working to find them another spot, including at AC Transit or at the Foundry location). 

He has been 100% clear that he will not support the animal shelter there either. That site can be the lynch [sic] pin of the new retail development in the area. It won’t fulfill that purpose as the animal shelter. 

Give me a call if you want to chat about this. 

Deputy City Attorney Zach Cowan subsequently met with the Animal Shelter Committee and told its members that a land swap with the BUSD would be impossible, since public bonds monies from Measure I could not be used to purchase land that would then be traded for another parcel. In fact, Measure I referred only to money to be used “to acquire property, if necessary, and to construct or rehabilitate a building for an animal shelter which meets the requirements of state law.”  

Since then, efforts to site and build a new shelter have come to a standstill. Given Tom Bates’ track record, a new shelter may never be built as long as he is mayor.  

Moreover, Bates’ determination to Emeryville-ize West Berkeley has hurt Berkeley public schools. The BUSD’s plans for a bus yard at Sixth and Gilman have been stalled in the city’s Planning Department for a year and a half. Meanwhile, the district is spending $500,000 a year to rent three sites in West Berkeley to house its buses. In an Oct. 22, 2004 letter to city planner Greg Powell, BUSD Director of Facilities Lew Jones wrote: “The ongoing rental costs required to pay for the three sites is financially crippling the district.” Set that reality against Bates’ claims about all he has done for Berkeley public schools in the past four years. 

With the mayoral election less than a week away, voters would do well to ponder this episode. Tom Bates has behaved like a one-man City Council, dictating major city and school district policy from behind closed doors.  

When I’m mayor, I will ask the council to to do whatever possible to move forward with a new animal shelter. I will “liberate” the BUSD bus yard. And I will renew Berkeley’s commitment to open and accountable government. 

Zelda Bronstein is a candidate for mayor of Berkeley.

Home ownership remains a cornerstone of the American Dream. In 1993, unable to afford a San Francisco broom closet, I crossed the bay to purchase a sweet bungalow under $200,000. Today, Berkeley starter homes list at $600,000-$700,000. 

To protect ethnic and cultural diversity, Berkeley housing policy has focused on rent and eviction controls as well as prohibitions on condominium conversions for many decades. Such policies have become counterproductive to their original intent. Berkeley voters can bring current housing policy in line with reality under November’s Measure I initiative that seeks to increase the number of condominium conversions allowed per year from 100 to 500. 

Unfortunately, the ballot description suggests Measure I will reduce affordable housing stock. That could send it to defeat—instead of allowing the measure’s revenues to advance Berkeley’s diversity goals. 

It’s time to consider incentives that accommodate affordable housing for the young middle class who want to invest in Berkeley; get involved in local issues, send their kids to our schools, and use their creativity and enthusiasm to raise the social capital of all our neighborhoods, while preserving Berkeley’s historic character. 

Current Berkeley homeowner occupants are becoming quite an elderly group. Our architectural heritage is also at risk. About 50 percent of housing predates World War II. Not only do many of these properties need serious infrastructure upgrades to plumbing and wiring; years of neglect as rentals and deferred maintenance of built-in woodwork, stained glass, rock terraces and retaining walls is all too common. 

Condominiums can offer a more affordable opportunity for university employees, police, firefighters, teachers, city government employees, and other middle-income individuals and families to buy into the equity that serves as a foundation for the American Dream. Allowing unused rental stock to be transformed in this way could also serve to moderate the trend toward home hyper-valuation. 

Measure I protects tenant rights in several ways. Should citywide vacancy rates drop below 3 percent, conversions drop for that year, too. At all times, converting owners must give first right of refusal to the sitting tenant. 

Are you worrying about down payments? Don’t. Owners must give opt-in tenants 5 percent of the unit’s purchase price in cash. This will assist them to secure financing. 

Still worried about the tenant? Don’t. Their no-buy decision still gains them 2 percent of the purchase price for relocation. If the condo lists for $400,000, that translates to $8,000 the tenant receives to smooth his move. 

While we’re on the subject, Berkeley gains fiscal resources in three ways: 

1. An estimated $215 million from the 1.5 percent transfer tax on each sale. 

2. Ongoing increased property taxes from the boost in the units’ assessed values. 

3. An $8 per square foot condo conversion fee earmarked for the city’s affordable housing fund that can be used to develop additional housing for low-income residents. 

The inability of the youthful middle class to afford to raise their families in a Berkeley home of their own is a roadblock to our diversity goals. In creative desperation, many use TIC purchases of multi-unit properties to buy a home. 

TIC law is often poorly understood and puts young, financially vulnerable first time buyers at great risk. Consider this: tenants-in-common co-own their properties. If one defaults on a loan, all partners’ loans are jeopardized. If one partner wants to refinance, everyone else has to refinance, too. If one person just lost their job, that loan for all is unlikely to go through. 

Homeowners consider their equity as a partially liquid asset and often use 2nd mortgages to cover emergency health and safety expenses, pay for property improvements, and send kids to college. This flexible use of individual assets is typically not accessible to TIC owners. 

Today Berkeley has thousands of market rate rental vacancies. For years, developers have been given preferential treatment to build hundreds and hundreds of small unit rentals all over town. It’s time to shift our strategy by encouraging more middle class home ownership in Berkeley. Vote yes on Measure I. 

Fern Leaf is a Berkeley resident.

I have lived in Berkeley for over 40 years and care deeply about its future. I want my city to preserve its economic and cultural diversity and its commitment to basic fairness. For this reason, I have joined Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the Sierra Club, and many other community leaders and organizations in opposing Measure I, the eviction for condo ordinance.  

Measure I would subject many renters of modest means to displacement from their homes and, with rising rents, push them out of Berkeley completely. According to a report issued by Berkeley’s city manager, up to 500 tenant households a year could be evicted under Measure I. 

Measure I would abolish Berkeley’s current, carefully written Condominium Conversion Ordinance, which was adopted by a unanimous City Council. Real, comprehensive, protections for tenants would be eliminated and replaced with the requirement that displaced households receive a modest relocation check at the time of their eviction. The City’s ability to secure replacement affordable housing would also be dramatically reduced if Measure I is adopted. 

The City Council and mayor worked long and hard last year to pass an Ordinance that was fair and evenhanded to property owners and protected the rights of tenant families. Over 50 percent of the students in Berkeley’s public schools come from these tenant families. 

The present law allows up to 100 rental units per year to be converted to condominiums. It is working for both property owners and tenants, with more than 100 units already having begun the conversion process. It provides right of first refusal and eviction protections to sitting tenants, and includes significant restrictions on condo conversion if an owner has emptied the building of all tenants under the state’s Ellis Act.  

San Francisco and Los Angeles have each lost several thousand rental units the past few years through these “Ellis Act” evictions. Berkeley has avoided a similar fate, primarily because of the restrictions against bad faith evictions in our present City Council-passed condo conversion ordinance. The City Council ordinance also contains significant incentives for an owner to sell to their tenant, allowing long-term residents their most realistic opportunity to become a Berkeley homeowner. 

All of these carefully crafted protections and incentives, as well as other vital provisions will be eliminated if Measure I is adopted! 

The proponents of Measure I claim it is designed for “workforce housing” to allow teachers and artists an opportunity to purchase a home in Berkeley. Unfortunately, nothing in Measure I requires this use. Nothing in Measure I lists workforce housing as a priority/preference or enables it to be realized for more than a handful of current Berkeley tenants.  

School Board members and teacher representatives tell us that many more teachers and students are at risk of losing their homes (as renters) in Berkeley than could hope to afford to purchase their unit under this proposed law. This is why they have decided to oppose Measure I.  

Last year, the average condominium in Berkeley sold for just under $500,000. According to the city, in order to finance the purchase of this unit, most buyers require a household income of over $120,000 a year just to afford the monthly mortgage payments.  

The median income for non-student tenant households in Berkeley is under $30,000 a year. Starting salaries for teachers in Berkeley are well below $50,000 a year. The 5% discount Measure I requires owners to offer renters on the purchase price of their apartments will enable just a handful of relatively well-off renters to buy. The majority of renters in units being converted to condos—those of modest means, seniors, families, and the disabled—will be at risk of eviction. This is why many leaders have called Measure I “a cruel hoax.” 

I serve on the Assembly’s Housing Committee and am fully aware of the housing crunch that impacts most of our state. I am aware that the goal of home ownership eludes an increasing number of Californians. Though the hot housing market of the past several years appears to be cooling off a bit, prices are still out of reach for a majority of first-time homebuyers, especially in the Bay Area. Rents also remain excessive for too many families.  

Under these circumstances, the proponents of Measure I seek to tempt us with proposals that promise to create more housing opportunities by cutting back government regulation and affordable housing production. The promise is illusory; public regulation and investment are necessary components of all solutions that offer any genuine hope of providing housing that low and moderate income Californians can afford.  

Most tenants and property owners have praised the Condo Ordinance adopted by the council the past year. However, some rental property owners and representatives of the property owner association chafe at these sensible regulations, primarily because each unit that is converted from rental to condominium increases the sales value of that unit by $200,000-$300,000.  

Workforce housing is not the motivation behind placing Measure I on the ballot. It appears to be more about windfall profits.  

I think it is worth noting that the primary supporter of Measure I, the Berkeley Property Owners Association, also spent the past year fighting against two proposed bills in the state legislature that would have 1) helped protect victims of domestic violence from unfair evictions and 2) established the right of tenants to display a flag or political poster in the window of their rental unit. Measure I is one more unfortunate example of simply being out of step with the values of our community. 

We should not further diminish the ability of moderate-income people to stay in their homes and remain participants in the life of our city. Please join me, and many other community leaders in voting no on Measure I. 

Loni Hancock has served Berkeley as a councilmember and mayor and currently represents Berkeley and the 14th District in the state Assembly. 

Measure A gives Berkeley voters a clear choice: keep things financially as they are (a yes vote) or drastically cut school budgets by 25 percent (a no vote).  

Most Berkeleyans will vote yes on Measure A, but how can anyone even consider not? Because Measure A needs a two-thirds majority, this is a critical issue. 

All Measure A does is renew two expiring school measures (BSEP and Measure B). Measure A does not ask taxpayers for more money; it does not raise taxes. 

A yes vote continues the status quo by extending funding for the current BSEP and Measure B programs.  

A no vote means cutting everything funded by the expiring BSEP and Measure B. 

If Measure A passes, school budgets are balanced. 

If Measure A fails, devastating cuts will be necessary threatening the viability of the school district. The county Office of Education (with state responsibility for fiscal oversight) has already notified the district that if Measure A were to fail, the county or state would have to intervene. 

Measure A would continue funding the 30 percent of all classroom teachers currently supported through BSEP and B. These funds keep class sizes small and provide for the wide range of class choice at Berkeley High. Small class sizes are explicitly written into the Measure (20:1 for K-3, 26:1 for 4-5, and 28:1 for 6-12) and are crucial if teachers are to improve achievement for all students.  

Measure A continues funding the entire elementary and middle school library and music programs (librarians, other library staff, books, music teachers, instruments). It continues funding for counselors, tutors, mentors, and most enrichment and extra-curricular activities. 

If Measure A fails, all of this is cut! 

So why would anyone even raise questions about Measure A? 

Let’s review the arguments used by the small, but vocal, opposition. All are wrong on the facts. 

1) Too much flexibility. Putting aside the question of whether flexibility is good or bad, in fact the measure specifies the exact allocation of spending: 66 percent for class size reduction (teachers); 6.25 percent for music; 7.25 percent for libraries; 10.25 percent for site programs (allocated by parent/staff committees at each school for counselors, tutors, mentors, enrichment teachers, etc.); and 10.25 percent for technology (computers), teacher training, parent outreach, and evaluation. For class size reduction, the measure specifies the actual class sizes: 20:1 for grades K-3; 26:1 for grades 4-5; and 28:1 for grades 6-12. 

2) Oversight. Measure A continues the strict oversight and accountability of BSEP and Measure B. This includes separate accounts, an internal program control office, a parent/staff district-wide oversight committee, and independent audit. This oversight has been lauded by county and state oversight agencies, as well as by independent auditors. I wish all public funding were subject to the rigorous oversight of these parcel tax measures. 

3) Length. First, Measure A is two years shorter than the 12-year BSEP Measure it replaces. Second, many districts have permanent, non-expiring parcel taxes. Third, calls for a four-year measure make no sense. Because of the three-year state budget approval cycle for school districts (districts must demonstrate sufficient revenues for the current year plus two subsequent years), a four-year measure would require a new election every two years (i.e., to ensure that the third year is financed). This would mean no financial stability, no ability to plan, and no ability to retain teachers. 

4) Governor’s budget. Most new dollars in the governor’s budget are earmarked one-time monies. The ongoing (not one-time) monies are mostly the state COLA (cost of living adjustment), which is actually a two-year make-up from monies withheld in prior years. Most COLA dollars are already contractually committed to finance the teachers’ cost of living adjustment (teachers received a 1 percent COLA last year and zero increase for the three prior years), and for establishing the 3 percent reserve required by the state.  

5) Achievement gap. There is an achievement gap in Berkeley, as in many other districts. This is not acceptable and needs to be directly addressed by individual schools and by the district as a whole. That said, it defies logic that cutting 30 percent of classroom teachers would improve student achievement.  

6) March ballot. Some say defeat the Measure and re-write a better measure for the March ballot. First, opponents make no arguments for improving the measure other than the charges above which have no validity. Second, there is no scheduled March ballot. If Measure A fails, the district would have to call a special election to stave off bankruptcy. Even so, by state law, some 40 percent of all Berkeley teachers would receive layoff notices if Measure A were not passed prior to March 15. 

Measure A is a well-thought-out continuation of Berkeley’s commitment to its children. 

Please continue to care and continue your support for Berkeley’s children, Berkeley’s schools, and Berkeley’s future.  

Join me, every Mayoral candidate, every City Council and School Board member, almost every civic organization, and your representatives Barbara Lee, Don Perata, Loni Hancock, and Keith Carson, in supporting Measure A. 

Dan Lindheim is chair of BSEP/B Planning and Oversight Committee.  

I’m a Measure A supporter and co-president of the PTA at Emerson Elementary. I’ve been out campaigning for Measure A on weekends and following the letters to the editor here in the Daily Planet. I’d like to address this letter to those Berkeley residents who may be on the fence about whether to support Measure A. 

You may not like the choices school administrators have made regarding pools or other matters, but that is not what Measure A is about. Measure A provides funds that directly support our children by providing them with more qualified teachers, libraries, arts education, music education, and more. 

You may think that Berkeley schools are failing in their mission, and that the achievement gap is too large. Everyone is concerned about the achievement gap, but supporting Measure A does not mean blanket acceptance of the status quo. The school district can do better, and it will, but only with the resources that Measure A provides. How can we ask for committed and visionary administrators, teachers, and parents, but then not provide them with the tools necessary to implement that vision? Does anyone really believe that having 40-45 children instead of 26 in an elementary school classroom will help close the achievement gap? 

In addition to providing education, the Berkeley School District has chosen to meet certain basic unmet needs of children so that they have the foundation from which to perform better, including a healthy breakfast and lunch and access to special services for children who need extra help. Active parent groups meet to address the achievement gap. If schools were struggling financially simply to provide education, there simply would not be the resources to adequately address the achievement gap. 

You may think 10 years is too long to support schools. Children are in Berkeley public schools for 13 years. And similar measures have been on the books continuously for the past 20 years in Berkeley. In fact, the whole point of Measure A is not to raise our taxes, or even to ask for a new tax …. all this measure does is replace the current parcel taxes for BSEP and Measure B that expire at the end of this school year. 

You may think that it would be better to present a slightly different measure on the March ballot. As a PTA parent who works days and nights to ensure that Emerson Elementary has the funds it needs to provide basic services to our students, and then volunteers on weekends to help pass Measure A, and who has donated money to Measure A that would otherwise have been donated directly to the school, I ask you, if you value efficiency and good administration, is rejecting this Measure and asking the community to rally the same forces six months later efficient? Are there really enough problems with the simple concept of extending a parcel tax to support our schools that it would merit such waste? 

Jodi Levin is a Berkeley resident. 

With most Berkeley campaigns focusing on development, an important issue receiving too little attention is what City Hall is not doing to support local businesses. 

In this regard a July 18 City Council vote is very revealing. At issue was a proposal by the city manager to give Office Max, a Wal-Mart type stationary chain, a three-year purchase contract worth over one-and-a-half million dollars. 

During public comment period I asked City Council to reject the proposal and award the contract to local Berkeley businesses. My preference was dividing the contract into three separate purchase contracts, thus saving three local stationary shops by awarding them over $150,000 annually in city purchases over the next three years. 

No one on the City Council supported my preference, but Councilmember Spring did try to help our businesses by proposing the Office Max contract be granted for one year and directing staff to award contracts for the final two years to local businesses. Neither the mayor, nor any other councilmember would second Spring’s proposal. 

The same city employee who created a scandal by neglecting to collect property taxes for several Kennedy properties claimed that dividing contract up in any manner would be too costly. Although dividing the contracts may have added an extra $20,000 or so, over three years, an additional $7,000 annually would easily be compensated for by the tax revenue and other benefits of local purchasing. 

On the campaign trail or off, politicians never tire of saying they care about our local businesses. Berkeley voters need to watch what they do, and ignore what they say. When City Hall had an opportunity to help our local businesses the mayor and four councilmembers instead gave $1.5 million of our tax money to a corporate chain instead of to our businesses. This callous disregard for our local stores was especially significant, coming, as it did, within weeks of the closing of Cody’s Books, and a week after an announcement that Radston’s, a local stationary store, would soon close its doors. 

The mayor, who was the last to vote, announced “well I guess I get to make the decision,” and then decided to vote against Berkeley businesses. Joining him were Councilmembers Anderson, Captellia, Maio and Wozniak. By law five affirmative votes were necessary to grant the contract. With two councilmembers absent, Moore, to his credit, abstaining, and Dona Spring voting no, any one of the five could have changed the outcome. 

More pathetic than the result were the excuses. The mayor recently commented that the reason Radston’s went out of business was due to a rent increase, and had nothing to do with the failure to offer city contract to Radston’s. Clearly, an additional $150,000 in annual purchases would have enabled Radston’s to pay the rent increase! 

The Mayor also claimed he “had no choice” and had to vote for the contract. In fact they had at least four choices, any of which would have benefited local businesses. First, they could simply vote down the proposal. Second, they could have accepted Dona Spring’s proposal and vote to contract for one year and direct staff to arrange that future contracts go to local businesses. Third, they could have done as I preferred, and offered separate three-year contracts of approximately $500,000 each to three local stores. As a fourth choice, they could have adopted a policy that “Request For Proposal’s” give local businesses the opportunity to compete unless there is a vital reason not to do so. 

This fourth point is vital. A “Request For Proposal” (known as an RFP) states the criteria a bidder must meet to qualify for a contract with the city and effectively determines what businesses will qualify for the contract. It is possible to write an RFP in a manner that excludes all local businesses, and that is exactly what happened here. The RFP required all transactions, including accounting reports, be available on line. An inability to meet the qualification about generating accounting reports is why ALKO, a local store that did bid on the contract, was disqualified. Although ALKO did have on-line ordering capacity their system could not do everything on line, so the city went with the corporate giant. 

The sad fact is that the three incumbents who voted against our city are likely to be returned to office. But we can register our disappointment in the hypocrisy by telling them what we think and by voting against Mayor Bates and Councilmembers Maio and Wozniak. 

Elliot Cohen also urges a yes vote on Berkeley Measure H (impeachment), Measure J (citizen’s Landmark Ordinance), Measure A (schools) and state Proposition 87 (oil tax), and ask they vote no on Measure I (evict tenants for condo’s), and state Propositions 85 (parental notification of abortion) and 90 (preventing regulation of development). 

The one thing that Mayor Bates and the Chamber of Commerce PAC won’t bring up in their campaign against Measure J is the fact that Measure J would be exempt from Proposition 90. 

Proposition 90 is the state initiative that would limit the power of eminent domain that cities often use to force property owners to sell their land to a public agency.  

In the Kelo v. City of New London ruling, the US Supreme Court said that states could enact their own laws limiting the use of eminent domain. Proposition 90 would enact such a law. Some of the provisions of Proposition 90 go much farther. They require a public agency to compensate owners for any “substantial economic loss to private property” suffered as a result of regulatory or zoning actions. The only exceptions are: 

(1) Taking property for a public use such as a road or a school or a park.  

(2) Legislation to protect the health and safety of the public, (both Measure J and our current Landmarks Preservation Ordinances (LPO) are expressly written with the common intent to protect the health and safety of the public). “The purpose of this legislation is to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the city through: 1. The protection, enhancement, perpetuation and use of structures, sites and areas that are reminders of past eras…”(Measure J). 

(3) Regulations that existed prior to the passage of Proposition 90, are exempt . 

It is this last category of exemption that voters need to be aware of when choosing whether or not to vote for Measure J. The current Landmarks Ordinance and the amendments offered in Measure J would be exempt from the provisions of Proposition 90. 

It also appears from the language in Prop. 90, any subsequent ordinance passed by the City Council such as the mayor’s revised Landmarks Preservation Ordinance would not be exempt. The reason is that the mayor’s plan is not an amendment. It repeals the 32-year-old LPO and replaces it with an entirely new ordinance. This means that the Mayor’s new ordinance could be challenged by developers as new legislation and as such would fall under the provisions of Proposition 90. If this occurred, historic preservation in Berkeley would likely be over for all time. The city could not afford to defend a lawsuit every time a developer wanted to demolish a historic building or the city wanted to protect one. The practical result would be that the city would have no choice but to abandon preservation planning, and Berkeley neighborhoods would be left with no way to protect historic buildings. This should be frightening to any citizen who cares about neighborhood quality and character. 

It’s hard to believe that the mayor, the council majority and the developers are not aware of this fact. One cannot help but wonder if this is a backdoor attempt to end preservation in Berkeley using Proposition 90 as the weapon and votes against Measure J as the bullets. The current LPO has served the city and its neighborhoods well for 32 years. It would be a terrible loss to the future of our neighborhoods, if Berkeley voters are mislead by a few greedy developers using PAC money to kill historic preservation in Berkeley altogether. Please don’t take my word for it. Study the laws and Proposition 90, and then choose. If you do, I am sure you will choose to vote yes on Measure J. 

Laurie Bright is the president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations, a former chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Board Member for the Berkeley Architectural Association. 

Thirty-two years ago right here in Berkeley hundreds of wonderful old brown shingles, stucco bungalows, and Queen Anne Victorians were being torn down to make way for apartment buildings designed so poorly they were referred to as “refrigerator boxes.” Thousands more wonderful structures were threatened with plans to widen and connect streets, expand the University, and combine lots in the heart of residential neighborhoods so that taller apartment buildings, sometimes up to 10-stories, could be built. No neighborhood was safe, and it seemed no one could do anything to stop it.  

Then, a handful of courageous residents stepped forward to claim Berkeley’s future. They fought against all odds and the big money of developers, and achieved approval of the Neighborhood Preservation Initiative (NPO) on the ballot and pressured the Council to approve the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO). 

Today, neighborhoods have been re-zoned, and residents participate in the process of deciding the future of their neighborhoods. Less than 300 landmarks, structures of merit, and Historic Districts have been approved, less than ten buildings and sites per year have been protected from the wrecker’s ball. They range from Maybeck’s lovely First Church, Christ Scientist, Morgan’s stately Berkeley City Club, the astounding Hearst Memorial Mining Building and South Hall on campus, to the more humble homes marking Berkeley’s beginnings in the Sisterna West Berkeley neighborhood, the restoration and reuse of the Golden Sheaf Bakery as the JazzSchool and Aurora Theater which give special ambience to our Downtown Arts and Theater District, the Adeline-Ashby area with its unique antique row, the Kawneer “sawtooth” industrial building that now beautifully houses artists and crafts people. Not just structures have been recognized, but also the stone pillars in North Berkeley and the Claremont, and places like Rose Walk—places that define us as a City.  

Today, the continuation of honoring all Berkeley neighborhoods and protecting them from needless demolition and inappropriate development is threatened once again unless we come together to approve Measure J on November 7th. Just think what Berkeley would be like if we hadn’t had the LPO for the past 32 years! Measure J updates the LPO with six provisions recommended by the State and has been certified to be in compliance with State and National law and, most importantly, it safeguards the LPO from City Hall politics in the future. 

We need Measure J for three important reasons: First, it’s fair. Unlike the Mayor’s proposed alternative, under Measure J, everyone—owners and neighbors alike—will have a fair and equal chance to comment on whether any structure or site should be designated as an historic resource. Decisions won’t be tipped in any particular way, but instead will be made on the basis of how important an example it is, and on its integrity. Final judgments on designations are made by the people you elect, the City Council in open meetings.  

Secondly, it’s environmentally sound. Today, when we understand much more about what hurts our environment, we know we must act green. Measure J proudly carries the Green Party endorsement. The Mayor’s proposed ordinance increases demolitions that fill up our landfill, and wastes energy and fouls our air trucking it there. Compare that result to what happens under Measure J which encourages adaptive re-use and restoration of existing buildings. Measure J also has the happy result of increasing economic vitality because people like to go to commercial areas that are a mix of old and human-scale new buildings that respect their surroundings.  

Lastly, Measure J provides a legacy for the future by protecting our neighborhoods. These are the places that we call home, the special places of our lives that once gone, can never be replaced. These are also the places where most of our affordable housing exists—smaller, older apartment buildings which are especially vulnerable to demolition under the Mayor’s proposed ordinance. That’s why almost every neighborhood organization in the City and the highly respected Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association have endorsed Measure J. 

The strength of Measure J is that in this City of adventuresome politics, supporters come from every neighborhood. We support different candidates, hold widely divergent opinions, and cross all lines. But we are working together, because a Yes Vote for Measure J is a vote that saves everyone’s future.  

Shirley Dean is the former mayor of the City of Berkeley.

The Patio is my favorite pub in all the world. Great food (one of the owners is a chef and the other’s a damn good cook), great conversation from owners and (some) customers, alike, and great beer. So why is this place going out of business? 

Berkeley, a fascist enclave in Northern California, runs the place with special interests like no others. On the one hand, there are the downtown boys: city government. Think of the Old West. The guys who got to town first took control of its assets, decided which streets would get the hookers and which the opera, and paved the way for their children. The last is a reasonable aim, but the rest were signs of the oligarchy that included Wyatt Earp and that sort. The my-way-or-the-first-stage-out-of-town type prevailed. That’s Berkeley’s city government. 

The second bunch is that feckless University of California crowd that doesn’t see itself as a bureaucratic organization, but as a college. Do yourself a favor and go to their website, look at their careers page, and then talk to me, okay! I am proud of their Nobel Laureates just like you are, but come on—gardeners wanted? The Cal cops get $65,000, and there may be more cops than English Department faculty, even including 3rd year doctoral students. 

The third crowd is that old hippie bunch who bicycle their way to the recycling stand, drop off their empties, proceed to Starbucks for tea (not coffee), and then finish the morning by feeling the organic tomatoes at the “This Tomato’s Better Than You” store. In the afternoon, they smoke dope, walk dogs, and join the inevitable protest whenever anyone wants to un-people People’s Park. 

So how does all this affect the business prospects of The Patio? 

To put it simply, the city wants to improve downtown Shattuck Avenue’s business climate (the government’s downtown, too) so they don’t much care about Telegraph Avenue’s business climate, where The Patio is. The university is afraid to take the heat it will certainly take if they move to reclaim People’s Park and do something useful with the land, like make a dorm or a parking lot, both of which are needed. Did I mention that The Patio borders People’s Park? And, the ageing hippies—most of whom are property owners and as far from “free of encumbrances” as any stock broker, constantly fuss over changes to any old thing, and that includes that “Monument to Blather”, People’s Park. 

The “free speech” movement is no more entitled to worship every fireman in NYC. In fact, living firemen are infinitely more important than an idea whose early proponents have drifted into latte-filled complacency. If we had some god-damned leadership in Washington, and if we could get along without constantly having to deal with our national fascination with god (in Berkeley, it’s spirituality), then free speech would mean something more than that which comes with tenure. 

These old attitudes: resistance to change, vested interest, and denial of responsibility, are how the City of Berkeley, its University, and its denizens ruin ordinary things like The Patio. They are petty, self-absorbed people and institutions who sacrificed their very birthright (what would Berkeley be without the free speech movement) for their “fair” share of the say-so in their little smokeless world. (What’s hubris? It’s Berkeley declaring itself a “nuclear free zone.” What?! Explain this, please!) 

So they tell us, at this little restaurant-pub called The Patio, that we cannot remain open later than 8:30pm without paying nearly $2,700 in fees to the city, and even then they cannot guarantee that we would be able to remain open a single minute later because we don't know what the result of the public hearing will be. Maybe the public will object. How many publics! How many decibels of objection! What if our supporters are louder than those who object? What then? Are we defined as trouble makers? Nonsense! Any fool can see that this is complete bullshit, so why is it done? It’s broke, hoss, so let’s fix it! 

I cannot afford to gamble my scant resources by playing Russian roulette with the city government. If they cannot tell me whether it takes three grandmothers, four hobos, and seven children under twelve to carry the day, what can I expect of the public hearing process? It’s a process that is vague enough to guarantee that the city can do anything it wants. Ergo, I will win or lose my appeal based on the whim of these oligarchs. Am I making any sense here? Who do they think they are, and where’s the free speech beyond my own voice! 

Ted Preisser is a Berkeley resident.

Everyone supports libraries—it’s like Mom and apple pie. But hardly any of the Measure N money is going to the branch libraries- instead it is going to build a new main library in a building that wasn’t meant for that purpose, for an unbelievable amount of money. This year I will be paying $77.42 per year on my prop tax bill for “City Library Serv.”—not a bond measure, but an assessment we were sold a few years ago in order to keep the libraries open and fully staffed. Meanwhile, the number of top-level managers has almost doubled—from eight in 2002 to fourteen now—does Carmen Martinez need that much help?  

According to the ballot information, the new Main Library will cost $98 million for 150,000 square feet—which works out to $653 per square foot. The normal cost for a new commercial building of this sort is around $151 per square foot. Even tripling that cost to allow for the complications of adaptive reuse would only make it $68 million. And building it new somewhere else (perhaps the Port of Oakland would give the city some cheap land like they give Signature for Oak-to-Ninth...) would come in at $22.6 million. The proponents claim it will cost only $315 per square foot for construction costs—I guess the other $337 per square foot is for furnishings, landscaping, and probably graft—that’s some pretty expensive custom shelving!  

The Yes on N campaign has been careful to have frontpeople like Ishmael Reed and David Kakishiba to make us feel like this is all about reading and education, because citizens would be lot more suspicious if Ed deSilva signed the ballot argument! But almost no mention has been made of books—it’s all about computers and wi-fi and teen rooms. The city could buy computers (assuming a cost per computer of $1000, even though you could buy one at Office Depot for $650, because the city always gets screwed on these things); that would buy 98,000 computers, which would be enough to give one to every family in Oakland that might want one! 

The ballot information mentions that issuance of these bonds might reduce the city’s credit rating because we have so much debt. They don’t bother to mention the $4,488,517,817 (that’s billion, folks!) in Redevelopment Agency debt, on top of the city’s other debt. Nor do they mention that the reason they keep reaching into our pockets with endless fixed charges and special assessments is because over 50 percent of the city is in redevelopment areas, and any rise in property taxes there (the so-call “tax-increment”) does not go into the General Fund. In fact, a great deal of the tax increment goes to pay the interest on the bonds issued by the Redevelopment Agency.  

This tax is also distributed unequally. For instance, I have friends who own a pre-Prop. 13 home in North Oakland. Their house is assessed at $22,375, and their taxes are $882 a year. This measure will cost them about $10. When their assessment goes up 2 percent, that will be $448, to $22,823. My house, for which I paid $495,000, is now assessed at $535,000, having gone up about $10,000 every year since I bought it. My taxes last year were $7512.00, this year they are $7775 ($263 increase). Next year, even without this measure, they will rise to $8152.00 ($377 increase). If this measure passes, they will rise by $588 to $8740.00. Essentially what is happening is that more and more of the property tax burden is being shifted not only onto residential homeowners, but onto recent homeowners—the people who are already paying the highest taxes and the highest mortgage payments. 

I am sure that Ishmael Reed and Maxine Hong Kingston, the writers who signed the ballot argument, can probably afford to pay the tax. (As I recollect, Mr. Reed is a long time resident of North Oakland—possibly pre-Prop. 13). I am also a writer, but unlike them, my writing earns me a poverty-level income that would, frankly, qualify me for the very low-income housing that the city is always seeming to want to build. By some miracle, a good credit rating, and a great deal of hard work I managed to purchase this house, yet the money I might have spent fixing it up has mostly gone to property taxes and insurance. Perhaps it wouldn’t bother me so much if I actually got some services from the city. But we have no cops, we can’t afford gardeners for city parks or people to pick up trash, yet there seems to be plenty of money for planners to “service” the developers, for outside consultants, for a city attorney who is the highest paid official in the state, and for a level of corruption that runs so deep I am hard-pressed to explain to outsiders how bad it is. I’m sure the threat that otherwise the Kaiser Auditorium will be sold for private development is probably for real—since all the City Council seems to be able to do is attempt to sell off all of Oakland to the well-heeled developers who fund their political campaigns. 

As a preservationist I am all in favor of adaptive reuse, but trying to put a library into this building is like trying to ram a square peg into a round hole. And I simply do not believe that this is cheaper than adding on to the existing Main Library. I am especially amused by Jean Quan’s argument that with the Measure DD improvements to that end of the Lake, it’s bound to become a cultural mecca. Those improvements came about as a response by the Coalition of Advocates for Lake Merritt to the City Council’s plan to sell that end of the Lake to the Catholic Diocese for a cathedral. CALM came up with an alternate proposal, the Lake Merritt Boulevard Plan, which was eventually incorporated into Measure DD. Now the city wants to take credit for it. That end of the lake might yet become a cultural mecca—one with an auditorium, if the city wasn’t so completely incompetent. And if we had any freaking cops, so that people might be willing to go there at night! And after this magnificent edifice is built, what happens to the old Main Library? Will it be labeled “under-utilized,” and sold off for another high-rise by the lake, as the city tried to do with the Fire Alarm Building across the street? 

I’m a writer. I love books. I love libraries. I will fight for the Kaiser Auditorium to be preserved and not sold for development. But I will not vote for Measure N and I urge others not to vote for it either. 

Oakland resident Jane Powell is an author and a Daily Planet contributor. 

As the Daily Planet has reported George Beier is the biggest spender in this year’s local elections. In fact he has set a record for the most money ever spent on a City Council race. He had spent $72,150 as of Oct. 21. It’s quite likely he will top $100,000 before he’s done. To put this in perspective, Mayor Tom Bates had only spent $52,375 by October 21 and he is running citywide in all eight districts. 

On top of the $72,150 that Beier has spent, the Chamber has, so far, spent $9730 to attack Kriss Worthington. So a total of $81,880 had been spent by Oct. 21 to help elect Beier. A large chunk of this money comes from Beier himself; with another big portion from real estate interests and other special interests. 

The strategy being used by the Beier campaign is clever, though not new. It’s been done before. It works like this: 

The Beier campaign puts out literature that doesn’t even mention Kriss, albeit with misleading statements about crime and transit. His literature is “positive.” Meanwhile, other groups supporting Beier, in this case the Chamber of Commerce, sling the mud and engage in the negative campaigning. Beier can then say, as he has, that he has nothing to do with the negative campaigning. 

But the real question is: will he repudiate the false and misleading statements that are being made on his behalf by an organization whose support he has welcomed? As of the writing of this letter, he has not. 

What is Beier doing with all the money he has spent? Well, he can pay professionals to run his campaign and can pay for polls and for people to drop literature at people’s doors and to put signs on utility poles (which is not actually legal in the case of wooden poles). 

Most City Council candidates can’t afford pollsters and have to rely on volunteers. Their campaigns are usually run by people who receive a small stipend at best. 

Another thing that a wealthy candidate like Beier can do is pay for lots of slickly designed campaign mailers, which Beier has done. Two of his mailers are very misleading. 

Crime 

One mailer is about crime and makes the false assertion that District 7 has the city’s highest crime rate.  

While it doesn’t say so, the mailer’s data is crime per acre data, which, of course, inflates the crime rate in District 7, because District 7 has the highest population density in the city. District 7 has more people per acre than any other part of the city. The legend on the mailer’s map of crime indicates that it’s for a period of less than a year and is for some types of crime, not all crime.  

When the Police Department make reports to the council about crime and especially when they compare crime rates in Berkeley to crime in Oakland, Concord, Richmond, and other nearby cities, they use crimes per 10,000 population.  

If you want to estimate the probability that someone will be a victim of a particular type of crime, crime per population rather than crime per acre is the way to do it. When you look at crime per 10,000, you will find that District 7 does not have the city’s highest crime rate, especially for violent crime such as murder and robbery. The basic pattern of crime in Berkeley is not very surprising: it’s lowest in the hills, highest in parts of South and West Berkeley (especially violent crime) and somewhere in between in the neighborhoods south of the UC campus. There seems to be a relationship between average incomes of residents and crime. 

2003 is the most recent year for which the FBI’s uniform crime report statistics are available by Census Tract. You have to be careful with more recent, more raw data, especially if you are comparing cities or areas within cities. And you need to look at trends over time because there are lots of year-to-year fluctuations in particular types of crime. If you want to look at the city’s crime statistics, you can find them on the city’s website.  

In my District 7 neighborhood (part of Census Tract 36), crime has fallen substantially since Kriss Worthington has been in office. But I would hesitate to suggest, as Beier does, that whoever happens to be in office is responsible for the current crime rate or trends in crime rates. A lot of factors affect crime. The real question is what can elected officials do about it. 

It’s a matter of public record that Kriss Worthington fought to restore cuts for police on Telegraph made during the city’s post-9/11 budget crunch and to ensure adequate staffing. In October 2003, he co-sponsored a Council item with Mayor Tom Bates to do so; his item was pulled by Councilmember Wozniak, who happens to share a campaign office with George Beier. Kriss has been a consistent supporter of community policing; even before he was first elected in 1996, he was involved in the Berkeley Safe Neighborhood Committee. George Beier talks a lot about crime, but what has he actually done? 

Bashing transit 

George Beier also sent out a mailer than falsely claims that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) with dedicated lanes for buses on Telegraph will “cause gridlock on Telegraph.” What is his evidence for this? A traffic study? Some other analysis by a traffic engineer or transportation planner? The fact is that he has no evidence. Traffic analysis has been done for the BRT EIR, which will be released by the year’s end. 

We won’t know all the details on an intersection by intersection basis until then. But we already know based on statements that AC Transit’s Jim Cunradi has made publicly on various occasions that gridlock will not result on ANY portion of Telegraph under any of the BRT alternatives being considered. Why is George Beier bashing an effort to improve transit without waiting to get all the facts? 

Rob Wrenn is a former Chair of Berkeley’s Planning Commission.

BATES ON BUILDINGS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I read in your Oct. 24 report on the Le Conte Neighborhood Association mayoral debate that Mayor Bates said allowing high-rise buildings to abut small residences is a problem created by the city’s faulty zoning laws. If he really thinks that’s a problem, why in the past four years why has he done nothing to fix it? 

Why hasn’t he taken an active role in pressuring developers to scale back proposed apartment blocks that would loom over neighboring homes, such as Hudson McDonald’s blockbuster at University and MLK? Why didn’t he vote against any of them when they came before the City Council? The truth is Bates has actively promoted such development by proposing and supporting changes to the general plan and zoning code, supporting the city attorney’s creative, developer-friendly readings of state law, and appointing pro-growth, anti-preservation commissioners. The report also says Bates claimed that 300 low-income units were built during his term in office. In his campaign mailer, he goes further, claiming “more than 500 units of below-market rate housing” approved on his watch. Reality check: Those are roughly number of units that are officially “inclusionary” by law, but since the law defines low income relative to the median for Alameda and Contra Costa counties, almost all of them are rented at market rates. 

The truth is that most below-market-rate housing in Berkeley exists thanks to rent control. The changes Bates favors to the zoning, landmarks, and condo conversion laws would tend to promote development that would displace low-income renters in favor of high-income owners. They would also tend to remake Berkeley in the image of Emeryville. 

Robert Lauriston 

South Berkeley, District 3 

• 

ANOTHER LANDMARK LIE? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was wrong. I thought the Chamber of Commerce’s hit piece about Measure J would be slick and utterly truth-free. Instead it was childish, sleazy and truth-free. 

It is interesting that the brief structure of merit designation of the building that houses Celia’s Mexican Restaurant has garnered such intense ridicule. 

City Council overturned the designation almost immediately. So the developers won. The amount of whining generated by the fleeting recognition of this building’s history is truly astounding. 

Does anyone think that such vicious, ceaseless ridicule would be inflicted on a building that housed an expensive French restaurant, or any other establishment frequented by the wealthy? 

Such mean-spirited elitism is shocking. This is Berkeley, after all. At least it was—has it been renamed Developers R Us yet? 

Gale Garcia 

• 

MEASURE A 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

To Cal students and staff: This is your chance to help support public education by voting yes on Berkeley’s Measure A in the upcoming election. Measure A is known as BSEP. There is no doubt that the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project (BSEP) has been a boon to our schools. As a public school teacher and principal (retired), I know first-hand about the success of smaller class sizes, the pleasure of sufficient books, maps, materials, and the joy of enrichment programs in science, P.E., and music.  

Yet BSEP influences Berkeley beyond the school day. For example: we are the home of one of the greatest universities in the world. When UC Berkeley tries to recruit top-notch young professors and instructors, one of the first questions candidates ask is, “How are the local public schools?” These are professors and instructors who not only buy our real estate and use our businesses and services—they attract students who do the same.  

This example may seem rather simplistic, but it is my way of having you support BSEP, Measure A in the November election.  

It is our responsibility as the supportive generations to see that our students flourish educationally. We don’t all have children, grandchildren, or kids we know using our public schools, but there is a kid in public school now who will touch our future.  

Children have the responsibility to learn. We as taxpaying citizens have the responsibility to renew Measure A. Then it is perfectly OK to say to a kid, “As a taxpayer, I am paying dearly for your education. Go to school, behave yourself, and learn.”  

It will make you feel good, our schools will get better and better, and as public schools supporters we can say we are doing our best. Vote yes on Measure A! Thank you. 

Marian Altman  

Board Member, Berkeley  

Public Education Foundation  

• 

ELECT AIMEE ALLISON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This is a call to action to the progressive community to volunteer or donate, to join Nancy Nadel, Dolores Huerta, Keith Carson, the Oakland Education Association, the Central Labor Council, the California Nurses Association, the Sierra Club Wilson Riles and more to stand together to elect Aimee Allison to City Council, District 2 in Oakland with the same passion and vigor that we elected Ron Dellums in June. Oakland’s future stands in the balance. 

Join me with the passion that many of you have stood beside me to create the vision that Education Not Incarceration represents—a society that is integrated and just; a society that respects the earth and its people, a society that understands and prioritizes the voices and lives of our youth. This campaign represents a significant opportunity to assure that our City Council can speak with vision and action to breathe life into a city whose people are too often suffering deeply under the weight of poverty and racism, lacking quality education, health care, and economic opportunity. 

Oakland is in a powerful balancing point. We can become an integrated city with a vision for environmentally sustainable lifestyle and an equitable accessible economy; or we can become city run by and for the rich, where poor and young people are increasingly pushed out of our city, into prison or other communities. 

For more information on how you can get involved go to www.aimeeallison.org or stop by the office at 3208 Grand Ave. (two doors from Grand Lake Theater). 277-0182. 

Jonah Zern 

Program Coordinator for Education  

Not Incarceration 

• 

REAL PROGRESS VS.  

A PROGRESSIVE LABEL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Both candidates for Berkeley City Council, District 7 are smart, energetic, articulate, committed and compassionate. Yet only George Beier can move this city beyond negative rhetoric, stereotyping labels and destructive sniping towards constructive action, partnership and real, meaningful progress. 

Berkeley is distinguished by its informed, opinionated, passionate citizens. But too many seem only interested in labeling and complaining versus listening and doing. Don’t get me wrong: we need agitators to stir things up and keep it lively. But we desperately need more visionary “doers”—especially in our city government.  

After multiple debates, I still haven’t heard a coherent, strategic, and comprehensive vision for our city from Kriss. Sure, I know who and what he’s against but not what he stands for or, more importantly, how he is going to make those things happen.  

Defining oneself by one’s enemies is clever politics. It works especially well in rigid, divisive ideological environments like Berkeley, Baghdad and the Beltway. Finger pointing and a litany of politically correct statements, positions and endorsements create strong ideological labels, sound bytes and political theater but contribute little to solving our city’s most pressing issues. Remove the simplistic, convenient jargon and the question remains: Who’s Kriss and why’s he more qualified than George to create real, substantive progress in Berkeley?  

Berkeley needs more doers, visionaries, leaders—and less ideological, adolescent whiners. We need mature candidates who flexibly, creatively and constructively collaborate. We need imperfect pragmatists like George Beier rather then more perfect but ineffective ideologues.  

Beier has proven effectiveness beyond the bombastic realm of politics in business and non-profits. In the debates I’ve witnessed, he’s shown wit, compassion, pragmatism and vision. He has laid out a multi-point plan and vision (www.georgebeier.com) to address everything from crime to homelessness to revitalizing Telegraph Avenue. More importantly, George seems capable of working respectfully and maturely with other City Council members to advance an agenda of constructive change and real progress. 

Kriss has had 10 years to “progress” the city forward yet our most pressing issues—schools, housing, crime, homelessness, housing, business retention, etc.—remain stuck in ideological quagmires. How “progressive” is that?  

Everyone talks about a better future, but few can make the hard choices, sacrifices and compromises to create real change and sustained progress. George Beier is capable of such leadership and deserves the support of District 7. 

Charles Banks-Altekruse 

• 

DISTRICT 7 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Over the past six weeks I have attended three public events featuring question and answer sessions with District 7 candidates George Beier and Kriss Worthington. I have come away convinced that George Beier has, in addition to genuine progressive credentials, the intelligence, creativity and temperament we need in Berkeley’s elected leadership.  

I am equally sure that Kriss Worthington offers the wrong approach to the challenges facing our city. He consistently alienates and vilifies any individual, group or institution that doesn’t share his point of view. He pits tenants against landlords and residents against the university. He treats local business owners as if they were Halliburton and Enron. The negative consequences of Worthington’s approach to “leadership” are glaringly evident in District 7. If Worthington had spent his time in office bringing stakeholders together rather than splitting the world into us and them, our community could have stopped the decline of Telegraph and reduced criminal activity years ago.  

In contrast, George Beier offers an end to divisive stalemate politics. Among “Beier Progressives” in the Bateman, Halcyon, LeConte and Willard neighborhoods, there is genuine enthusiasm for his results-oriented campaign of ideas, and gratitude that George, when attacked by Worthington, consistently takes the high road, declines to respond in kind, and stays focused on facts, problem-solving and his hopeful vision for District 7.  

As a 17-year resident of Berkeley I believe that George Beier’s candidacy offers a tremendous opportunity for our city that even the most committed Worthington supporters will recognize after George takes office. George listens and responds thoughtfully to all. He is guided by a positive vision of community-building and revitalization, not a political litmus test.  

David Cottle 

• 

FISCAL EMERGENCY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Board of Education can declare a “Fiscal Emergency” for “unforseen financial events” (Measure A, Section 6.H.) They did this in two of the last four years and gave all school administrators a 15 percent pay raise. Superintendent Michelle Lawrence now enjoys a $230,000 salary and received an additional interest-free $300,000 loan from the district. All this during a “Fiscal Emergency.” Measure A has just such a Fiscal Emergency clause. 

While the School Board deserves adequate funding and flexibility, I would like to see some measurable improvement in the classroom—some little bang for our buck, any sign that we’re not just flushing more big green ones down the toilet. Remember, our children (the ones who are doing so poorly in our schools) are supposed to graduate and PAY taxes. Taxes like Measure A that go up and up every year. (Section 4.C.) 

The mere fact that we keep voting for these mistakes should expose the sham we affectionately call “public education.” 

P. Wooton 

Emeryville 

• 

ALBANY CITY COUNCIL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If you read only one thing about the Albany City Council election, please consider the neutral “Election Code Section 9212” report on the Albany Shoreline Initiative, available on the City of Albany website: www.albanyca.org. Although the courts pulled the Initiative for election law violations of proper notice to voters, many of the substantive issues live on in the public debate.  

What really matters in this election? Most of us want council members who will be competent and trustworthy consumers of legal, technical and financial information on city affairs. But as the Sec. 9212 report shows, the Initiative carried serious legal flaws threatening costly, unproductive trauma for Albany. The initiative apparently violated basic provisions of Albany’s Charter regarding City Council powers and responsibilities, as well as federal Constitutional protections for due process. As the report plaintively reminded, “the law is settled that the City may not simply pass a law, by initiative or otherwise, that requires a private property owner to dedicate any land for public access, open space or use, without paying the owner fair market value.”  

I keep waiting for candidates Joanne Wile and Marge Atkinson to say something like this: “We still want minimal waterfront development, but we realize the Initiative didn’t go about it in a lawful manner.” I could support that, but I haven’t heard it yet. I feel more heat than light coming from the Wile/Atkinson camp, which concerns me greatly. 

Lisa Schneider 

Albany 

• 

ALBANY WATERFRONT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am not in favor of large-scale development at Albany’s waterfront. I am opposed to any new gambling activities at Golden Gate Fields. I find that I can’t support the two Sierra Club backed Albany City Council candidates, Marge Atkinson and Joanne Wile. I say this, not because of the Sierra Club’s endorsement, but rather because of Wile’s and Atkinson’s apparent uncritical endorsement of Sierra Club polices. There are numerous instances where Sierra Club policies have been a poor fit for Albany. 

The Sierra Club supports intense urban infill development that could threaten Albany’s small-town ambiance. The Sierra Club strongly supported the condominium development in El Cerrito Plaza.  

The Sierra Club’s preservationist policies often make open space areas completely off limits to people. Last year, the Sierra Club hijacked the environmental process for the Berkeley sports fields to add a fenced off habitat area at Albany’s plateau. The Sierra Club initially proposed fencing off the entire plateau. The City of Berkeley rejected this as being too generous, but still half the plateau will forever be off limits to any kind of public use.  

In the past, the Sierra Club has actually supported increased gambling activities at Golden Gate Fields. In 1996, the Sierra Club sponsored an agreement with the racetrack owner that would have circumvented the normal CEQA review process and allowed the owner to build a 125,000 square foot card room at the track.  

Maybe most importantly, the Sierra Club, at least the local chapter, seems disinterested in and maybe incapable of engaging in a collaborative decision-making process. This was evident in the proposed Shoreline Protection Initiative. Billed as a “citizens’ planning process,” the initiative actually would have set in place the key planning parameters without any public planning, without any public discussion. The initiative also proposed to create a committee to implement the already established parameters, but then packed the committee with representatives of private environmental corporations and local environmental groups no one has heard of. 

Albany is a very small town in the midst of a large metropolitan area. We face a myriad of unique challenges. We don’t need single-issue ideologues. We need smart, independent thinkers. It does not appear that either Ms. Wile or Ms. Atkinson posses these qualities. 

Clay Larson 

Albany 

• 

PEOPLE’S PARK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

About 25 years ago I swung a pick in People’s Park to tear up the asphalt parking lot which the university had installed against popular opinion. It felt good and right to unpave paradise. A quarter century later the park has become the third rail of city politics; none of our elected officials have the guts to confront it, yet few students or long term residents feel comfortable using it. People do vote with their feet. No wonder—this paper reports that university garden staff collected 1,000 needles there in eight months. 

I admire my neighbor, George Beier’s, willingness to engage with both the university and current park users in a non-adversarial manner. What a contrast to our career politicians who refuse to take a meaningful position on anything to do with the park. I first met George while working on the revitalization of Willard Park about 15 years ago. I admired his optimism and hard working spirit. The tot lot we built at Willard has been jammed from day one. Willard hosts families, students, dogs without leashes and people without homes. While a few blocks away, People’s Park has acquired a reputation as little more than a drop in center and shooting gallery. People’s Park will not live up to it’s name nor its promise until all of us choose to spend time there. Hurrah for George Beier for sticking his neck out! Berkeley needs more council members who are unafraid to shake things up. 

Jim Rosenau 

• 

GEORGE BEIER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have attended two public District 7 forums where I heard George Beir address the future with innovative solutions while Kris Worthington spoke of the past. Now to gain footage Kris has taken the personal attack mode to denigrate George rather than presenting his plans. Despite this George has stayed the course on the high road continuing to address the central issues that affect our daily lives—transportation, Peoples Park, affordable housing, UCB relationship, homeless housing, and the highest Berkeley crime rate. I want thoughtful representation and see that in George Beir. 

Joe Halperin 

• 

SOUTH CAMPUS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A few words in regards to Becky O’Malley’s editorial (“Lets Celebrate Progress in South Campus Business Climate,” Oct. 27), much of which I agree with, some of which I disagree with.  

First of all: Mark Weinstein, owner of Amoeba Records, is one of the most respected merchants on Telegraph. O’Malley’s characterization of Weinstein as sort of a former-hippie-turned-opportunistic-self-serving-yuppie is hardly accurate. In the 15 years that I’ve been on the Telegraph scene, Weinstein has long been a calm, voice-of-reason amidst the warring factions that is the on-going merchants-versus-street-people war. In fact, Weinstein has contributed considerably, financial and spiritual, to many People’s Park concerts, as well as assisting numerous individual street people (I hope he doesn’t mind me mentioning this, because he’s a bit of a soft touch and I don’t want to encourage more of these bums to hit up on him). It is precisely because of this respect that Weinstein’s words of warning have more resonance than some of the other strident and screeching voices on the scene. I do, however, agree with the general premise of O’Malley’s editorial. Like it or not, Berkeley is in fact a direct product of the ’60s counterculture and its values. And perhaps it is slightly hypocritical for the record stores making money selling records by drugged-out rock stars, the books stores selling books by authors who romanticize their legendary drug use, and tattoo-parlors that celebrate trendy youth rebellion to be casting stones at the anti-social behavior of many of the street people, many of whom are the end results of these products. One letter-writer went on to point out “....the ’60s was nothing but a bad experiment that failed.” Which may be true. But compared to what? A failed mainstream culture filled with the worst kind of exploitive corporate predators, and a war machine that is wasting billions in Iraq? 

I will add this: For years I’ve heard people talk about “the street people” on Telegraph in the most banal black-or-white terms. Victims or trouble-makers. When in fact its both. Many of the Telegraph street people are seriously damaged people who need help (I should know, occassionally I’ve been one of them). But its also true that many of them are trouble-making, do-nothing bums who wish to contribute nothing to society while leeching off the labor of others. My question to Becky O’Malley is: What’s to be done about them? Aside from Berkeley’s legendary “tolerance.”  

Ace Backwords 

• 

GLOBAL WARMING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If this planet of ours has a ghost of a chance for survival, the American psyche has to learn to court simplicity. Last Monday, at Al Gore’s inspiring talk on Prop. 87 and global warming in Martin Luther King Park, Berkeley missed an opportunity to shine the spotlight on one who models environmental action. Daily, Councilmember Kriss Wor-thington consciously steps on the pedals of his bicycle instead of the gas pedal of an automobile, as he makes his way through town. Kriss doesn’t even own a car! Even his apartment doesn’t exceed the minimum daily requirements for living space (not very lucrative for developers, who have been enjoying a heyday in this country since 9/11). Kriss, now up for re-election, is somewhat of a hybrid thinker/politician, understanding that downsizing may be an adjunct to our very survival. 

Al Gore also is a bit of a hybrid, and often looks to hybrid solutions to our oil and transport problems. And while these are certainly steps in the right direction, they may overlook certain important considerations related to global warming and the health of the planet and its populations. My concern is that the impact on the atmosphere of emr, or electromagnetic radiation (which includes microwave emissions from cell phone antennas), is often left out of the equation. Man-made emr throws more electrons into the atmosphere, creating more lightening and green house gases (Parrot). Emr also has a way of resonating, changing the structure of the magnetosphere in its wake (Helliwell). Such changes ultimately are reflected back into trees, compromising a mainstay of our carbon reducing capacity. (Fraser-Smith). Stanford is way ahead of UC Berkeley on this one, Folks! Could this be because the Berkeley National Lab is largely funded by the DOE, which also funds microwave weapons research? I strongly support the work that Al Gore is doing, and certainly support Kriss Worthington’s efforts for our city and our planet. To bring to the attention of Gore other elements of global warming that still need to be considered, please write to: The Honorable Al Gore, 2100 West End Avenue, Suite 620, Nashville, TN 37203. Please don’t forget to vote yes on 87! In the meantime, give priority to bicycles on the road! 

Kate Bernier 

• 

LANDMARKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While many landmark preservationists have a genuine concern for the historical, cultural, architectural, or educational significance of Berkeley’s buildings and neighborhoods, there are also those who see the Landmark Preservation Ordinance as a means of restricting further development. That’s the job of the Planning Department and ZAB. It’s not a legitimate function of the LPO, and its past abuse for that purpose—the attempt to landmark undeserving structures only to prevent new construction in their place—has damaged the public regard for the LPO. Measure J unfortunately reflects the goals of the obstructionists over those of legitimate preservationists. If you read part of J (page BEM—25 of your voter information pamphlet) you will see that a structure may be designated a Berkeley landmark even if it fails to meet the criteria for listing in the California Register of Historic Resources, or even if it has “lost its historic character or appearance.” In other words, almost any old structure in Berkeley, however altered it may be, can be used to prevent or delay a land use project. The revision of the LPO embodied in Measure J is an excessive attempt to control what Berkeley property owners may or may not do with their land. A more reasonable revision can be found. Please vote no on J. 

Jerry Landis 

• 

VICIOUS ATTACK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I recently received a mailing from Golden Gate Fields containing a particularly vicious attack on two of our Albany City Council candidates, threatening financial ruin for the city if we dare to vote for them. This Albany voter, for one, does not appreciate businesses that attempt to influence local elections by using bullying tactics. 

I don’t buy their line that our choice is between large-scale development on the waterfront or bankruptcy. We need city councilmembers who will work for the kind of mix of open space and development that will be best for our overall, long-term quality of life. 

I believe Marge Atkinson and Joanne Wile will work toward that goal, and they deserve our support. 

Mark Maslow 

Albany 

• 

HE’S MISUNDASTOOD! 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Like Dan Quayle, Congressman Foley’s difficulties with the English language have been tragically distorted by the media. Who is really at fault? Those charity magazine ads incessantly admonishing us: “You can help this child, or you can turn the page.” 

Albert Schnitzler 

• 

CLIMATE CHANGE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When I was a boy, I delivered newspapers in my hometown. This summer, as a research assistant with UC Berkeley, I studied the very real effects of global warming. One hundred percent of all scientific papers published in the last decade conclude that climate change is a real and important issue; we must address it immediately. Thanks to Prop. 87, we are given the chance to create a brighter, healthier future and a more stable economy.  

Take a stand for our economy, our health and our future! As fossil fuels burn,  

• California’s debts to China pile up.  

• Preventable diseases like asthma and lung cancer are on the rise.  

• Climate change threatens our coastal cities.  

This is not a political issue. This is an urgent moral issue, and we have the power to make a difference. 

With no cost to the public, and a very lenient, flexible cost to oil producers, we have the choice: 

• To bring cheaper, clean, renewable energy to the entire state now!  

• Or not to bother…  

This is also an economic issue. We import most of our oil from unstable areas like the Middle East and Venezuela where the governments and not the citizens benefit from the oil industry. I’ve just returned from Venezuela, one of the world’s biggest oil exporters, where three quarters of the people live in poverty. 

To pay for this foreign oil, the United States sells bonds to countries like China. Fact: Because of our dependence on foreign oil, China has unprecedented control over the US economy. If China were to sell all U.S. bonds it owns, the U.S. economy would be in danger of collapsing. 

We stand on the brink of a perilous path toward economic and political instability and environmental catastrophe. And yet, the solution is simple: yes on Prop. 87! Here is a well-written, fair and proactive step toward solving our current environmental and economic problems.  

Prop. 87 will cost nothing to voters; in fact, it is designed to save us all money at the pump. Nobody wants to pay more at the pump! Prop. 87 will ensure cleaner, cheaper fuel that will drive gas prices down and benefit us all.  

On Nov. 7, the future of our economy, our health and our environment rests in the hands of California voters. Vote to empower yourself. You can make a difference. 

Gavin Hudson 

• 

MAIO’S VIEW 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I simply can’t stand by while Mayor Tom Bates’ uninformed opponents blame him for the worst developments in town. Many of us are distressed over the construction of unsightly, hulking buildings along our major arterials. A truly objectionable building like the chintzy, cardboard-appearing apartments at Acton and University was approved by that dedicated champion of for-profit development, the former mayor Shirley Dean. I opposed it. She actively encouraged it. Tom Bates had nothing to do with it.  

Everyone wants the downtown to prosper. Tom Bates has successfully attracted development to the downtown, where new housing belongs, because it is served by an array of mass transit and will enhance Berkeley’s economic climate. Thanks to Mayor Bates’ leadership, a citizen’s committee, in concert with UC, is shaping how best that growth should occur. 

Why is it so important that we have new, quality housing? Berkeley’s population has dropped significantly over recent decades while housing costs have skyrocketed beyond the reach of our workforce (our teachers, librarians, nurses—not to mention artists, musicians, and craftspeople). Faced with having to buy our homes now, many of us could not afford them.  

Though Berkeley now has fewer people, we have many more cars. People who work and study in Berkeley are forced to commute from elsewhere, driving through our neighborhoods, along our small streets, degrading our environment and theirs by dependence on the polluting automobile. We all know that this unhealthy pattern is ultimately unsustainable.  

One way to address the problem is to secure permanently affordable housing for those who work and study in Berkeley. That housing must be well-designed both for its residents and for its neighbors. Tom Bates understands this. He understands the need for healthy, well-planned growth that will benefit all of our citizens. He doesn’t just say “no.” He embraces “yes,” which is why he gets my vote on Nov. 7. 

Linda Maio 

• 

A WARRIOR REMEMBERED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This is the season of mild temperatures and wild color. Autumn brings to mind the upcoming anniversary of the loss of sculptor, Ishmael Rodriguez, and I want the world to remember this fascinating artist. He’s never far from my thoughts and heart. In his brilliant way, he contributed much insight to the creative discourse. He came up from the streets of West Oakland to do great things. His imperfections were the soil I grew flowers of knowledge from. I give myself credit for enabling him to live a full life, despite obstructive forces from the California legal system. 

Ishmael went to Woodstock in 1991 and became a real New Yorker in spirit, the New York spirit that’s redeeming, although he never wanted to be buried in New York. I made sure I brought him home to the place of his many dreams, aspirations and fulfillment—Northern California. He said in November, two days before I lost him, “if it wasn’t for you, I’d be dead a long time ago.” 

Ishmael saw it as almost a crime for creativity to go unacknowledged. He was a challenge— he represented a different point of view from certain aspects of Anglo culture because of his experience, mentality, and the fact that he transcended his background in significant ways, as a real artist would. He etched an imprint on history and I pay tribute to this prolific and generous Puerto Rican artist. He lives forever through his inspiring artwork; his life and work were gifts. Thank you, Ishmael. Adios. 

Glenda “GG” Wasserman 

Oakland 

• 

FOR WORTHINGTON 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There is a huge struggle going on in the nation, the state and locally over the corrosive and corrupting influence of money on the political process and on democracy itself. On the national level, corporate domination of government policy both foreign and domestic has led and is leading to ever more tragic results, from wars of aggression causing untold death and destruction to prescription drug programs that benefit wealthy corporate pharmaceutical and insurance interests instead of the public.  

On the state level Proposition 89 offers us an opportunity to curtail the dominance of corporate wealth on the electoral process by publicly funding candidates to elective office. This, of course, would constitute a great stride in the direction of democratizing the political arena. 

Locally, I’d like to draw your attention to the District 7 race here in Berkeley where the convergence of personal wealth of one candidate and the economic clout of the Chamber of Commerce have combined to create a dramatically unlevel playing field that is threatening to make a mockery of our local attempts at campaign finance reforms. If money can trump tireless service, dedication, honesty, experience and results, we are all in serious trouble. 

Kriss Worthington has emerged over his 10 years of service on the Council as a voice of conscience and an advocate for those who have the fewest economic resources. He supports and amplifies the voice of neighborhoods as they struggle for the means of improving the quality of life for all. He has been and continues to be an ardent supporter of small businesses and working people. He is a stickler for following the letter and the spirit of laws, especially those that protect us all from the whims of the powerful and wealthy. I urge you to return Kriss Worthington to his seat on the Berkeley City Council so that he may continue his work on your behalf. 

Max Anderson 

Berkeley City Council District 3 

• 

PECAUT’S PERSPECTIVE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s no surprise that once you even suggest adding up the total number of dollars extorted by landlords every month, year, and decade—these parasites start having nightmares of communist revolution. 

While campaigning, I once expressed my astonishment at the injustice of the renter’s plight to a landlord, who then exclaimed, “but that’s my income!” No, it’s not. That’s someone else’s income stolen for you by the landlord establishment’s thugs. But without the lawyers and cops prepared to throw a poor renter and her belongings onto the street, how would our dear landlords “survive”!? They would not, and that is my purpose. 

Search hard, ye defenders of landlordism, for the reason hundreds of apartments and storefronts sit empty while those sleeping on the street are kicked to death and jailed. You will find no human cause. Only bacterial lust for cash. And for those who retain principle and intelligence, search even harder for a leftist group that dares point the finger at these twenty-first century lords. There are none! 

Without the landlord’s police whip, no renter would hand over the bulk of their earnings to a lazy punishing leech. And with all that extra money, she sure could work less and care for her children better. “As a property owner,” John Parman and his larcenist lord-buddies all over Berkeley sure wouldn’t take kindly to their “property” keeping the money she earns each month. And they will spend every dollar they’ve stolen making sure that never happens. By any means necessary.  

Oh yes, and these politics are founded in principle, mathematics, and common sense justice. Not belief. What’s backing up your landlord racket? Violence, of course.  

Christian Pecaut 

• 

ALBANY COUNCIL RACE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Sierra Club members are proud of our democratic traditions: including participation in local, state and national politics, and our history as the oldest, largest, democratic environmental organization. Among many other achievements, club members’ political activism helped create our first national parks, including Yosemite. On a local and state level: we helped create the Eastshore State Park and helped to pass Albany’s Measure C, which gives ultimate control of its waterfront to Albany voters. 

There are those in Albany, ironically including a candidate for city council, who would end representation for the roughly 700 Sierra Club members in Albany. 

Francesco Papalia, who supports a multi-millionaire, Bush-allied, mega-mall developer wanting to build on the Albany shoreline, says in his Daily Planet candidate statement (Oct. 27) that the Sierra Club and other membership organizations should get “no representation without taxation.” 

(Given Mr. Papalia’s other strange statements, we shouldn’t be surprised he intentionally reverses this important Revolutionary War quote.) Sierra Club members make up almost 10 percent of Albany voters. Several hundred of our Albany members have expressed support for protecting the waterfront. Dozens have volunteered or contributed money specifically for the Albany shoreline campaign. 

Voters should be very careful about any candidate who would silence—or “not represent”—any legitimate organization. Think about it: the National Organization for Women, Move-On, political parties—even churches—all are organizations that don’t pay taxes in Albany. Who else would Mr. Papalia “not represent”? 

Mike Daley 

Conservation Director 

Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter 

• 

MORE ON ALBANY COUNCIL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the Albany City Council election, I’m voting for O’Keefe and Papalia and urging my fellow citizens to do the same. Here’s why: 

1. O’Keefe and Paplia realize that there is more to Albany than the shoreline. There are schools, sewers, roads, streetlights, public safety issues, and city services, too. Starving the city to feed a pie-in-the-sky fantasy is short-sighted and foolish. 

2. Opponents Wile and Atkinson favored the Sierra Club initiative that would have stolen decision-marking power from the citizens and put it in a self-selected cabal of outside zealots. 

3. Wile and Atkinson and their supporters lie when the say O’Keefe and Papalia are pro-Caruso. O’Keefe and Papalia are pro process, pro analysis, and pro Albany. Acceptance of Caruso’s proposal was not a foregone conclusion by any means, and it is false to claim that anyone who wanted to see it in more detail was in favor of it. 

4. Wile and Atkinson haven’t offered a plan they know will work, and since this is their only issue, a vote for them is a vote for nothing at all. 

5. Re the lawsuit filed against O’Keefe. A cheap shot, worthy of Karl Rove and done—with ironic chutzpah!—to benefit Wile and Atkinson  

6. I smell religiosity in the Sierra Club/Wile/Atkinson approach. They’ve made the shoreline into a moral crusade worthy of any fundamentalist who insists true believers either check their brains at the door or burn in hell for asking questions and demanding that analysis and reason lead the way. 

Albany, don’t be fooled. Turn the ideologues back and keep the citizens in charge. 

Peter Goodman 

Albany 

• 

HONEST PEOPLE WITH VISION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Sure we can vote for the people who are spending all that money on fancy campaign literature. There is a “Vote For George Beier” sign on almost every lawn in District 7. And they are really nice signs too. Bates, Wazniak and Wilson also have really great signs, slogans and hit pieces. Why not? They have a product to sell: Big Box Berkeley. And they really really really want us to buy it! 

But what product is Worthington, Bronstein, Spring and Overman trying to sell us? A view of the future where there is clean air, good schools, good streets, good sewers, peace and justice, affordable housing, public safety and fiscal accountability.  

What if all the things that David M. Walker, head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, said recently are true? “The ship of state is on a disastrous course, and will founder on the reefs of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it.” What if he is right—and the head of the GAO has no reason to spread lies. What if our economic world IS about to fall apart? Who do you want guiding Berkeley if there is economic uncertainty ahead? A coalition of big-box developers and their cheering section? I think not. 

What if all these rumors about various Iraq-gates and Page-gates and Abramoff-gates and 9-11-gates are true? Who do you want to be giving Berkeley a voice against the corruption in Washington? Big Box developers concerned with doing away with our landmarks? Or progressives who will continue to help Berkeley be a light to the world? Vote for Worthington, Bronstein, Spring and Overman. Only they are prepared to help us change the future and help make it safe.  

What if a recently-released 700-page global warming report commissioned by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer is true and if we don’t act now only 200 million people will be left standing once the polar ice caps melt? Who do you want leading Berkeley and getting us ready for this coming time of crisis? Worthington, Bronstein, Spring and Overman! They are honest people with vision. 

Jane Stillwater 

• 

CHAMBER OF HORRORS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

For decades Berkeley has had a City Council sharply riven by rent control, development, West Berkeley industry and downtown parking. But the division between those who say what they mean and those who have to take time to figure out what they want to appear to mean (the latter forming a distinct majority on this Council) is the one that always interests me most. 

Laurie Capitelli often tantalizingly joins the minority, and I wish he’d do it more often. His careful quote in Friday’s Planet, that the Chamber of Commerce Measure J Landmarks mailing shows “it’s unfortunate we live in this world of 30-second sound bites and 10-word messages on post cards,” takes a typically halfway tone for him: he recognizes dishonest literature and wishes his name wasn’t affixed to it, but he won’t risk offending the people who put his name there. If Councilmember Capitelli really wants to do good by both his reputation and his constituency, he either wouldn’t let his name be associated with statements he knows aren’t true, or would repudiate it if he wasn’t properly contacted before his name was used. The same goes for everyone listed on that shameful piece. 

Dave Blake 

• 

FOR DAVID BAGGINS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I will be voting for David Baggins because he is a candidate who strongly feels, like many other parents in BUSD, that the district needs to tighten the process for proving residency. All of my son’s sophomore classes at BHS have more than the Measure A goal of 28 students per class. How can we maintain reasonable class sizes if we continue to admit students without a “fixed Berkeley address.” I agree with Becky O’Malley that there is “absolutely no credible data” to support this discussion. That’s because BUSD’s current policy only counts the honest families who apply for an inter-district permit. 

As I talk to parents at various functions who live outside of the district and drop my kids off at friends’ homes outside of Berkeley I wonder how many students can BUSD effectively educate. Taxpayers and policy makers need to have accurate data to make informed decisions on how to allocate BUSD funds. 

Lorraine Mahley 

• 

BEIER VS. AC TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

So, is George Beier running against AC Transit? You might think so, based on the misleading campaign flyer that recently arrived in District 7 mailboxes. While George never uses the words “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT), that’s what he’s talking about when he falsely claims that bus-only lanes on Telegraph will lead to more traffic. Beier says BRT will cause gridlock on Telegraph. How does he know this? AC Transit says that, based on their analysis, BRT will reduce traffic overall and won’t cause major problems to traffic flow on Telegraph. There will still be turning lanes at intersections and will be room for both cars and buses. 

AC Transit will soon be releasing their BRT EIR, complete with a detailed traffic analysis, soon. Please, George, read that. It makes sense that BRT will reduce traffic. Dedicated lanes will allow buses to move faster and not get stuck in traffic; it will help them stay on schedule. Faster, more reliable service will attract new riders from among those who currently drive. That’s what happened in Los Angeles with their new BRT line; the faster service attracted people who had formerly driven to work. 

So with BRT, traffic will decrease. As a result, less pollutants, including greenhouse gases will make it into the air. Is Beier not concerned about global warming? We know that in California, cars and trucks are the single biggest source of the emissions that cause global warming. Don’t we want to encourage people to use transit? Don’t we want our council members to work with AC Transit to improve transit? And what about District 7 residents? BRT is not only good for people commuting to Berkeley. District 7 has more transit-dependent residents than any other part of the city. Students make up more than half the residents and a sizeable majority of them don’t own cars or, at least, don’t bring them with them when they live in the dorms and apartment buildings. Should these students have to put up with slow, unreliable bus service? 

Based on the latest campaign filings, Beier’s Council campaign has spent more than any other City Council campaign in Berkeley history. He has spent about 50 percent more than incumbent mayor Tom Bates—and Bates is running citywide in all eight districts. It’s a shame that Beier is spending his campaign money on misleading flyers about crime and transit. In addition, the Chamber of Commerce PAC, which is headed up by a Republican, is putting out disgusting hit pieces trashing Kriss Worthington, Beier’s opponent. Like Beier’s own campaign materials, these flyers are full of statements that just aren’t true. Beware of last minute negative campaigning. Talk is cheap; look at each candidate’s record. What has Beier actually ever done besides putting out misleading campaign literature that would make him a good choice for council? 

Claire Risley 

• 

WORTHINGTON, SPRING  

SUPPORT NEIGHBORHOODS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Ward Street Neighbors are so concerned that Kriss Worthington be re-elected, even though he is not our direct council representative. Kriss’s district has always been fortunate to have a full time, true representative on the City Council—Kriss puts his districts’s interests above all else. However, he’s been very smart to identify issues in South Berkeley that affect the whole area. Case in point right now, Kriss has supported So. Berkeley neighbors who refuse the invasion of 18 cell phone antennas in the middle of the LeConte/Adeline neighborhood. (This project is a potential model for cell phone invasions in other Berkeley nighborhoods) His opponent, George Beier was on the ZAB and voted in favor or this ridiculous and dangerous cell phone installation, even though it was a groundless application based on corporate greed rather than common sense. Talk is cheap and Votes Count—so whatever Beier says now about what he will do for District 7—he votes with big developers (Patrick Kennedy, Nextel and Verizon) and he agreed that “yes, this is not a neighborhood.” So much for neighborhood interests. Kriss puts citizens and neighborhoods first, against the insane cell phone invasion which is backed by the City of Berkeley against neighborhood interests and he did the same in bringing the Berkeley Bowl to the old Safeway site.  

Dona Spring is another great city councilmember who stands with neighbors in critical issues accross the city. She is also up against a ZAB member, Raudell Wilson, who voted for the cell phone invasion, saying we “are not a neighborhood.” If these candidates are willing to so blatantly and cavalierly vote against citizens’ rights, with no due process, why would we elevate them to City Council? The Berkeley City government is already routinely operating against neighborhood interests. Opponents try to blame Kriss and Dona for the deterioration of Telegraph and downtown, when they are up against a city-wide trend that has Berkeley city staff working full blast for developers—against voters and citizens. Make your vote count—re-elect Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring and vote for neighborhood rights and democracy.  

Ward Street Neighbors  

• 

BUS RAPID TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bus-only lanes have become a political football. The planned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is supposed to reduce the car traffic on Telegraph, but we hear fear that a bus-only lane for the BRT will generate gridlock and spill traffic onto side streets. During the recent District 7 debate at the City Club, a representative of the Telegraph merchants wanted both candidates to solemnly swear they’d never allow a bus-only lane. 

District 7 Council candidate George Beier just sent out a mailer in which he claims that the BRT will cause gridlock on Telegraph. Beier has long been opposed to making a traffic lane into a bus-only lane. Beier’s mailer offers no facts to back up his claim of gridlock. AC Transit’s Jim Cunradi, who manages the BRT project, says that no BRT system anywhere has caused gridlock. Cunradi has documentation for numerous BRT examples. Beier should read some of this stuff. A bus-only lane makes bus trips faster than car trips, so that a substantial number of people will choose to commute by bus instead of clogging Telegraph with their cars. If a BRT is properly deployed, there are actually fewer cars on the road. People like Beier seem to think that nobody would ride a bus to work in progressive Berkeley, but would rather contribute to gridlock, air pollution and global warming. AC Transit will soon release the environmental impact report (EIR) on the BRT. Perhaps this will clear up the confusion generated by the politics. I hope Beier reads the EIR. 

The anti-bus hysteria has also fixated on fear of a “Transit mall” which supposedly would create a bus-only zone on Telegraph, north of Dwight. Cars would not be allowed north of Dwight. I don’t think there are any plans for a “transit mall,” beyond the existing group of bus stops on Bancroft at the end of Telegraph, but there are definitely proposals for a bus-only lane on Telegraph, perhaps only during the commute hours. 

AC Transit hasn’t decided whether a bus-only lane on Telegraph is needed for the BRT project. The EIR will include a traffic analysis. I wish we could read it now, instead of Beier’s uninformed hysteria. Berkeley is supposed to have pledged to do something effective about air pollution and global warming. Are we going to have leadership, or will our politicians purvey hysteria?  

Steve Geller 

• 

BEIER’S FEAR-MONGERING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

George Beier recently sent out a campaign mailer that attacks AC Transit’s proposal to improve bus service on Telegraph Ave via implementation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). His brochure presents a distorted picture of BRT, contains statements that are clearly false—especially his assertion that it will mean “more traffic.” 

Beier says that BRT’s dedicated lanes will “cause gridlock on Telegraph and route cars through Bateman and Willard”. This is simply untrue. What is the source for this misinformation? In tiny print at the bottom of the mailer, it says: “check the facts” and then refers people to an article in the Daily Planet from Jan. 30, 2004. Does this article from 2004 report on the results of a traffic study or provide some other evidence that BRT will cause “gridlock”? It does not. The vast majority of people who receive Beier’s misleading mailer will not check this alleged source. You can check it out yourself on the Daily Planet’s website. Beier’s mailer also states, again with no evidence, that BRT “would send thousands of cars through LeConte [neighborhood west of Telegraph].” 

The details of how BRT will impact traffic in Berkeley will be revealed as soon as AC Transit releases its environmental impact report, which is expected by the end of the year. The EIR will contain a detailed traffic analysis and will show intersection by intersection what the impacts of BRT will be.  

But rather than waiting for the facts, Beier has decided to engage in fear-mongering. Do District 7 residents want to be represented by someone who tries to scare them with unsubstantiated assertions? Do they want a councilmember who makes decisions without carefully evaluating the real facts? 

Bus Rapid Transit will reduce traffic along the Telegraph corridor. BRT will reduce bus travel time and improve reliability of service, and, by doing so, will attract new riders who currently drive. One of the primary reasons that people give for choosing to drive instead of using public transit is that buses take too long and often don’t stay on schedule. A well-designed BRT system will simplify boarding for disabled passengers. 

AC Transit is estimating that ridership will increase by 30-40 percent. This will mean a reduction of trips by automobile and a reduction in global warming emissions. The more people who decide to switch to transit as a result of improved service, the more traffic along Telegraph will be reduced. 

Beier, in his campaign, is not talking about local initiatives to address global warming or about sustainable development. In California, the transportation sector is responsible for over 40 percent of global warming emissions. Instead of working to improve transit and reduce emissions, Beier is making assertions that have no factual basis and seems to be trying to get elected by bashing AC Transit. Beier also falsely implies that a transit mall on Telegraph between Dwight and Bancroft is the only option for that segment of the proposed BRT route. In fact, it’s only one of the options being considered and evaluated in the EIR. AC Transit and the city may opt to leave those blocks as they are. Policy-making should be based on a careful evaluation of the best available information. Let’s wait for the traffic analysis to be released instead of rushing to judgement.  

Len Conly 

• 

KERNIGHAN’S FAILURE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The entire Bay Area is watching the runoff in District 2 in Oakland between incumbent Pat Kernighan and the audacious challenger, Aimee Allison. Pat Kernighan is an experienced politician. She knows the ins and outs of City Hall, but her failure to deal effectively with violent crime in Oakland may bring about her defeat Nov. 7. 

Some months ago, Kernighan and the Oakland City Council had an excellent opportunity to make a practical difference in fighting crime, a chance to declare a state of emergency. The proposal would have enabled Oakland’s police chief to post patrols at peak hours of crime. With her ally, Ignacio De La Fuente, Kernighan voted down the bill—at the expense of public safety. Many dozens of citizens have been murdered since she refused to declare a state of emergency in Oakland.  

Of course many decent public servants are overwhelmed by crime waves in American cities. But it is upsetting to hear Kernighan credit herself for being smart and tough on crime. The Chamber of Commerce, from which she receives contributions, erected a glass-enclosed poster on her behalf in the Grand Lake area. The poster (standing next to rows of autos with “clubs” and car alarms) read: “Thank you, Pat, for helping to make our community safe.”  

No incumbent should have bragging rights on the issue of violent crime in Oakland. Drive-by shootings, acts of vengeance, drug wars, gang violence, car-jackings are a regular feature of nightlife in Oakland.  

Kernighan often says she is a practical leader who gets results. But when she is confronted with the ugly results of her City Council policy, she says crime “is a societal issue.” She becomes metaphysical, not pragmatic. 

The security of life and limb is the first test of government, and Kernighan, Brown, De La Fuente have all failed the test. Oakland has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation, triple the national average. In a matter of months, 120 citizens have been killed. 

Kernighan says she “has experience at city hall.” She does. It’s an experience of failure. 

In contrast to Kernighan, Aimee Allison’s plan to end violence is multifaceted. For effective policing, Allison says, the Oakland Police Officers Contract needs to be revised, giving the Police Chief more power to get officers on the streets for community policing. Allison wants to create peacekeeping teams that know the streets, stopping retaliation that feeds on the violence epidemic. She is planning re-entry internships and job training programs to reintegrate parolees and probationers with accessible housing, job training, drug rehabilitation and medical care. She wants to fully fund a city jobs program for graduates of Oakland’s high schools. And she wants to expand recreation, sports and cultural programs—proven crime deterrents for young people. 

As Allison says: “A better world begins in Oakland.” 

Paul Rockwell 

• 

HIT PIECE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The only conclusion I can draw from the hit piece distributed by the Berkeley Business Group, a report card on crime and business and prostitutes, is that since the seven members of the council—including the mayor and Councilmember Wozniak—who were given the highest ratings and since this part of the political spectrum thinks that crime is rampant and business is dismal, one can only conclude that they support a new and more effective council and mayor. Hence since with such a majority and such a dismal record we agree that we should support a change. 

And since the report card on Kriss Worthington is so far from any conceivable reality—we are all waiting for George Beier to repudiate it. After all, he has said he is running a clean campaign.  

Paul Rabinow 

• 

A HATEFUL CITY? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On the one hand I feel that Lisa Robin’s letter in your Oct. 27 edition is so ridiculous it barely merits the effort of a response. Yet on the other hand, as I’m a firm believer that silence can—and many times does—indicate approval, I feel compelled to respond.  

Ms. Robin, the City of Berkeley has not “denounced” organizations like the Sea Scouts, it simply has refused to subsidize the berth of an exclusionary organization whose values clash with those of the city. You ask when citizens of Berkeley will elect people who “truly represent the citizens of the City of Berkeley” I’m happy to tell you, they have been electing such people, in elections every two years for the last 40 years that you have lived here. Perhaps if you were to get out of your sheltered, 1950s era mentality, you’d see that. 

While you call Berkley a “hateful city,” and then characterize organizations “bent on homosexuality”—which affirm life and love in it’s many forms—as valuing, “sickness and death,” we as a community must ask ourselves who’s really being hateful here. 

Michael Moniz  

• 

WHERE AND WHAT IS NEBA? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In researching the organization that seems to be spearheading the campaign against the Measure A extension of the existing school parcel tax I’m beginning to wonder what the Northeast Berkeley Assoc. (NEBA) is?  

Looking at the Berkeley City web site for neighborhood organizations, I see about 50 listed, only two of which have no link to a web page or any other information about them. One of these is NEBA. In their latest newsletter there is no phone number listed, no e-mail or website, and no address other than a P.O. Box. While there is a “candidates night” listed there seem to be no regularly scheduled business meetings, monthly or otherwise. As a past and current member (although I have never received any receipts for my membership ‘dues’), I have never been asked to vote on issues that the supposed board decides, including on Measure A. 

Could this be a ‘shell’ group for some outside anti-tax organization with no real investment in Berkeley’s kids? Which sees any and all taxes as bad, regardless of the cost to society? 

Where and what is NEBA? 

C.A. Gilbert 

• 

PEOPLE’S PARK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In response to the “People’s Park is a Sewer” letter: First of all, the problem with peoples park is that it is not maintained properly as a city park nor is it seen as a city park. It either needs to be maintained and made more attractive so many residents can enjoy it or torn down. The latter appears to be a big problem as everytime an attempt is made to tear it down a riot ensues. The last time a riot ensued I noticed that most of the protesters were too young to remember what the park represented in the first place. (Not the so called old pony tailed hippies mentioned in the letter). 

Downtown San Jose’s Saint James park was similarly neglected by the city of San Jose but was eventually taken charge of. It now sports a nice tot lot and attractive park benches etc and is enjoyed by the surounding residents and office people. Yes, it still has some homeless but it is not taken over by them anymore.  

Sherri Adams 

San Jose 

• 

NO ALTERNATIVE  

TO MEASURE A 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The opponents of Measure A generally seem to agree on the real need for the parcel tax for our schools; they simply want it rewritten to incorporate their own individual specific concerns and priorities. Some would like a shorter term, or more particular allocation of funds, or better oversight; others want more public input; while still others want to address the warm water pool or perhaps cold water neighborhood pools.  

Since most everyone favors the measure for our schools, the only question is, could Measure A reasonably and practically be rewritten to incorporate all these divergent special interests, and could we or should we hold a special election for a newly rewritten measure at a cost of something like $400,000? 

The answer to both questions is no.  

The county Office of Education is on record as saying: “If the renewal (measure A) is not successful, we [the county] will be required to immediately intervene and to take appropriate action, including declaring a ‘lack of going concern’ under Education Code Section 42127.6.” The real consequences of this required county action are unclear, but they could include not allowing $400,000 dollars to be spent on a special election with no guarantee that the outcome would be any better. 

And even if such an election were to be held, we run into exactly the same problem. The measure could never be written to address everyone’s problems with the current measure, and even if it could be, the rewritten measure would likely be worse than the one we are now looking at. (The pork barrel is just not large enough.) 

The opponents of Measure A are not so much against Measure A as they are interested in their own very specific agendas. Their opposition to Measure A is a kind of blackmail, and since Measure A represents about 25% of the total school budget, it is a very powerful kind of blackmail. Our schools just cannot function adequately without these funds. We all need to support Measure A as it is, and not let the education of our children be held hostage to special interests. 

Chuck Smith 

• 

PLEASE HELP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Oct. 15 my black cloth shoulder bag was taken from the bus stop at Russell Street and College Avenue. The bag contains my personal medication and some very vital personal items which I am in desperate need of. If you find this bag, please call the Planet at 841-5600. Thank you. 

Edward Joseph 

• 

A CITY DIVIDED 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I have lived in Albany for almost 40 years. I have never seen the city so divided. I believe the current owner of Golden Gate Fields, Magna Entertainment (MEC) and Caruso caused the divisiveness. They are afraid to take the traditional development approval process in Albany (such as the new Target Store). The documents they must file with the city would have doomed their project. They never filed an application. 

They were trying to promote a mall. However, I believe they were using the mall as a Trojan horse to bring casino gambling to Albany. Before voting I ask every Albany voter to go directly to MEC’s own web site (www.magnaentertainment.com), click on the Investors link, and at the bottom of the page, click on Annual Report. Read or print pages 6 and 10 of the 2005 Report where you will find MEC’s business strategy and their specific plans for Albany. 

Their strategy is to convert their racetracks into world-class destination resorts called a “racino.” A racino combines six elements: live racing, a 1,500-slot-machine-casino, a retail mall, an entertainment center, a hotel, and housing. Their prototype racino is in Gulfstream, Florida. In the next paragraph, they explicitly name their next two target sites: Santa Anita and GGF in Albany for similar mixed-use developments. Caruso’s initially brought five racino elements to his Albany coffees. No wonder they did want an open, full disclosure process with public hearings, government input, etc. like

Wednesday, Barack Obama speaking about his book, The Audacity of Hope, said “Americans were yearning for an end to slash and burn politics.” Unfortunately, the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce BBG PAC wasn’t listening. On Thursday, a no-holds-barred-we-don’t-care-about-the-truth hit piece urging No on Measure J appeared in Berkeley mailboxes. This hit piece is so over-the-top that people should vote YES on Measure J just to send the message that cheap shots mailed from Southern California have no place here.  

Seeking to demonize the current LPO (Landmarks Preservation Ordinance which Measure J makes permanent), the piece displays a picture of Celia’s Restaurant and claims this is a landmark. Absolutely false! At most, Celia’s was considered as a structure of merit but nothing becomes a landmark or a structure of merit until the City Council decides to either let the designation stand or review it. The council chose to review it, and Celia’s never was designated anything. Strike One!  

The anonymous authors of this piece go on to claim that Measure J “violates state law” and “may cost millions in litigation.” Here are the real facts! For 32 years, no court has invalidated any part of the current LPO. No case has been lost nor have damages been paid because of our LPO. No judge has ever issued an order that the LPO violates the law. 

Six years ago, the state certified Berkeley’s LPO as being in compliance with all state and federal laws. Nothing in Measure J changes this certification. Every California city faces state law deadlines regarding development applications. Berkeley routinely notes these deadlines as part of our zoning permit process to ensure that timely decisions are made. Strike Two! 

Among the other wrong claims made by the PAC are that Measure J:  

• “Gives total control over your property to unelected officials.” False! Your elected City Council makes the final judgment about historic resources 

• “Removes state historic standard of integrity.” False! Measure J includes integrity in its standards.  

• “Slows even minor home owner upgrades for up to one year.” False! This is the most laughable claim of all because the mayor’s ordinance waiting to be enacted if Measure J is defeated includes not only making it easier to demolish historic resources but it requires that all permits for exterior repairs to older structures, whether a historic resource or not, be reviewed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission! Under the mayor’s proposed ordinance it will be easier to demolish a 100-year old Victorian than to obtain a permit to pave your driveway. Strike Three! 

Worst of all, this is being paid for by unknown individuals who are spending $40,000 to defeat Measure J. The names of the contributors, their addresses and the amounts contributed have not been disclosed under Berkeley’s campaign laws. We may never know who they are. 

On the other hand, everyone can learn everything about the Yes on J campaign by visiting their website: www.lpo2006.org.  

So, toss that No on J card into the recycling bin and vote YES on Measure J. You will be saying loudly and clearly that you want to protect our neighborhoods and the environment by not demolishing buildings that should be re-used, and, most importantly, you won’t let developers buy this election! 

Wendy Markel is president of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Her title is used here for identification purposes only.

Public education is the most critical social justice issues before us today if we are to assure the future of a working democracy. On Nov. 7, Berkeley voters will have the opportunity to renew their support of the public education system by voting yes on Measure A. 

If passed, Measure A will continue the city’s commitment of providing the children with the best education possible. As Berkeley residents prepare to cast their votes, I urge them to remember that Measure A is not a new tax—but a continuation of a financial commitment the community made to city schools years ago.  

Measure A renews two existing school measures—BSEP and Measure B, both of which provide funding for the19 schools and programs throughout the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD). The revenue generated by BSEP and Measure B represents about 25 percent of BUSD’s overall budget—money that is used to maintain caps on classroom size, fund salaries of nearly a third of the teachers and finance the district’s entire library program. 

Measure A will continue other programs that are critical to a well-rounded education, such as music programs for students in grades 3 through 8; site enrichment at each campus; parent outreach efforts, and professional development and program evaluation throughout the system. 

Berkeley is a leader in the county-led “Art is Education” programs that we consider an equity issue. The commitment that every student has the arts integrated into every class, every day will be lost as the funding that provides for drama, arts and physical education disappears. The economic crisis that would occur will force the district to make deep cuts that will cripple the progress and the hopes of the district’s students and their families.  

As superintendent of Alameda County schools, one of my responsibilities is to provide fiscal and budgetary oversight to the18 unified school districts in the county that I have been elected by voters to serve. 

Several years ago, when the district was forced to cut $13 million to balance its budget, the school board and the superintendent guided the system out of its fiscal crisis by consistently making courageous and tough decisions. Now, the district has a sound budget with systems in place to remain fiscally solvent. 

Assisting the district in its fiscal recovery was the passage of Measure B and Measure BSEP—both of which expire in June 2007. Not only is BSEP accountable and clear in how the district spends its revenue, it provides a Planning and Oversight Committee comprised of parents and administrators to ensure the funds are wisely appropriated.  

Measure A also outlines how all funds will be used, and creates the administrative oversight to ensure all revenues are spent properly. 

School districts are under tremendous pressure to raise test scores, but BUSD cannot fulfill its commitment to the community on a starvation diet. To cut funding now is counterproductive and unfair to the children and families of the community. Without Measure A, the system will return to an era of unmanageable class sizes and threats of teacher layoffs and program reductions. 

If the city of Berkeley is going to continue to prosper and our children are going to mature into responsible and productive citizens, with every single child receiving the support needed to reach his or her potential, we must pass Measure A. 

I urge every registered voter to vote early by mail or on election day, and to vote yes on Measure A. 

Sheila Jordan is superintendent of Alameda County schools. 

“What’s that, Mama?” asked my 6-year-old daughter one recent afternoon, as she looked over my shoulder at the newspaper I was reading. She was pointing at a photograph of yet another impromptu street corner shrine in Oakland; a Mickey Mouse doll with “RIP Pooh” scrawled on its shirt, some flowers, an empty, open liquor bottle of the deceased’s preferred brand. 

I took a deep breath—and explained to her that when young people are unsuccessful learners, they often get frustrated and don’t finish their education. That then they have trouble finding work which will pay enough to support themselves, and that sometimes they wind up committing crimes to make money, like selling illegal drugs, and that sometimes they are even willing to kill each other over “whose” street corner it is.  

Unfortunately, it’s not the first conversation on this subject we’ve had; her cousin, a sweet young man, suffered with the burden of undiagnosed learning disabilities. His path then led him to drug addiction, expulsion from high school, from addiction to drug dealing to petty theft, on into armed robbery, looped in and out of rehab and jail, and ended with his tragic death at 23, leaving a wake of broken hearts behind him. My daughter listened carefully, and then solemnly told me that she thought that she would be a successful learner—which I have every expectation will be true. 

We in the Bay Area hear frequent reports on the failed public educational systems all around us—Oakland and Richmond under the mandatory control of the state, San Francisco’s shrinking middle class fighting over the few spots in the top-performing schools, low enrollment leading to widespread school closures in San Francisco and Oakland. The unplanned segregation that results when schools begin to falter and those who have money abandon the public schools altogether, leaving behind those who don’t. The news out there is so uniformly bad, that most of us set off to tour kindergartens with dread, expecting under-performing public schools and steeling ourselves for a tuition indebtedness we had hoped not to incur until college. Except that here in Berkeley we found—really good public schools. 

Somehow, in the midst of the bad news all around us is the quiet, seemingly unnoticed success of the Berkeley public schools. The schools are fully subscribed, the class make-up diverse, the buildings well-maintained. The classrooms aren’t crammed—my daughter’s first grade class has 22 kids in it. They are staffed by passionate, caring and talented teachers and principals, and assisted by involved parents. Is it perfect? Of course not. All of the parents, teachers, and principals I have spoken to are deeply concerned about how to close the “achievement gap” between the different ethnic groups. Some children with special needs don’t seem to be getting as many services as they require. Every child would be better served if their families were more involved in their education. However, my observation is that, on the whole, things are very healthy. 

So why are Berkeley schools thriving while those around us flounder? There is, of course, a complex matrix of reasons which keeps them healthy and strong. But a critical mass in either direction is a powerful force; we in Berkeley are fortunate that civic leaders in the 1980’s foresaw that the frozen property taxes of Proposition 13 would, if unmitigated, have a devastating effect on our schools, and that they took appropriate steps to safeguard those schools. 

Thus was born the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program (BSEP), first passed in 1986, which raises additional funds for the schools through a small additional property tax assessment. The money is specifically used to reduce class sizes—it pays for the salaries of approximately 125 teachers. It pays for libraries and librarians, arts and music and physical education in the elementary schools, teacher training… the list goes on and on. This year the measure is up for renewal, and it’s called “Measure A”. It is not a new or additional tax; it merely continues the same assessment we’ve been paying for the last twenty years. For those of us lucky to have owned our homes for a while, it doesn’t add up to much. And if you’re a renter, it’s free. 

There is a group in town trying to get us to vote this measure down. (Interestingly, they want us to vote it down so badly that one of them actually hacked into our PTA’s on-line discussion group last week to proselytize on the subject. Our PTA, which has endorsed Measure A, was not amused.) Roughly, they argue that the school district is not managing the funds wisely, and that the solution to the academic achievement gap is—wait for it—to scrap the funding which shores up our public schools. 

Wow. That’s some pretty interesting logic. The way to close the achievement gap is to take away 30 percent of the teachers? How will it serve our underprivileged youth to have 10 more kids in the class, less teacher attention, and no arts or physical education? And I mean no disrespect to the people in our surrounding cities, who I’m sure are trying mightily to solve their educational problems and certainly deserve better, but do we really want to model our schools after those of Oakland and San Francisco, where those with means attend private school and those without are left to struggle alone? 

So why should you vote for this measure, even if you don’t have kids in our public schools? In addition to the obvious public good achieved by educating the children of your neighbors, friends, and fellow citizens, there are numerous purely selfish reasons to do so. Do you really want our young people to be unsuccessful learners, left with no choice but to join our thriving underground economy? If you are a property owner, is saving a few bucks a year on your property tax bill worth the loss in value your home will suffer if our schools become, shall we say “unattractive?” What about the ability of the University of California, or Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, or local companies, to attract top talent to town if the schools decline; how will that affect your property values? What effect will it have on your quality of life when your new favorite restaurant closes because disaffected youth have taken back the block and people don’t feel safe there at night anymore? (Maybe you can laugh about that, but in my neighborhood we had to wait years for a restaurant to serve anything past 3 p.m.—no one wanted to come to San Pablo Avenue at night.) These are just a few of the considerations in how one decision affects the whole. As one of my neighbors, who is a teacher, put it: “pay now or pay later.” 

The health and strength of our entire community is wrapped up in the success of our public schools. Do not doubt it. I urge you, for your own peace of mind when you go to bed at night, for the pleasure of a healthy community, to vote yes on Measure A. 

Christine Staples is a Berkeley resident.

The Daily Planet recently reported that Al Gore came to Berkeley to support Proposition 87. Berkeley residents might be surprised to learn that our Chamber of Commerce has come out against Prop 87, even though a large majority of Berkeley residents will certainly vote for this proposition that deals positively with our nation’s oil addiction by taxing oil companies to fund alternatives to our current oil dependency and to reduce oil consumption. 

In fact, the leadership of Berkeley’s Chamber of Commerce has long been out of touch. A conservative group, who are not representative of most Berkeley business owners, let alone residents, dominates the Chamber and routinely takes Republican positions in a city where 90 percent of the residents voted for John Kerry. 

In addition to opposing Proposition 87, the chamber is also opposed to Proposition 89, the campaign financing measure backed by Berkeley’s representative in the Assembly, Loni Hancock, who sought to establish a similar reform through the Legislature. The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce has also declined to support Proposition 86, the cigarette tax initiative that will fund emergency rooms and health insurance for children. 

Our Republican-minded chamber leadership has opted to support two inexperienced and unqualified candidates for City Council: George Beier and Raudel Wilson. Both have served only very briefly on city commissions and lack a working knowledge of how city government works. Apparently, the chamber leadership thinks they will be pliable, knee jerk development supporters. All development is good from this conservative chamber point of view, regardless of whether it is environmentally sound and whether neighborhood residents support it or not. 

The chamber knows that there are few Republicans in Berkeley so they tend to support those Democrats who are most likely to support a laissez-faire, anything-goes approach to development of our city. By contrast, both Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring have a history of supporting sustainable development projects with positive environmental impacts. 

Both Kriss and Dona are concerned about global climate change and want the city to take positive steps to deal with the challenge it poses, by supporting “green building", solar power, improved transit service, Eco Pass free transit passes to encourage transit use, and other measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All levels of government, federal, state and local, need to be part of an effort to slow global climate change so that the world can adapt to difficult challenges (rising sea level, more severe weather, severe heat waves). 

If you live in City Council District 7 or Council District 4, you’ve probably received hit pieces from “Business for Better Government” attacking Kriss Worthington and Dona Spring for allegedly being anti- business. This literature is full of lies and distortions of both incumbents’ positions. The hit piece provides no documentation and no dates for the alleged positions taken by the incumbents. 

You might get anonymous hit pieces with “Permit No. 157, Carlsbad, CA” appearing with the postage paid info. Whenever you receive election literature in the mail or at your door, check to see who produced it. Beware of anonymous literature and beware of last-minute hit pieces. They are sent out late to make a response difficult. 

In addition to being out of touch on current ballot initiatives, the Chamber leadership has a history of being out of touch with the values shared by most Berkeley residents. They supported Arnold Schwarzenegger’s special election initiatives that were overwhelmingly rejected in Berkeley and statewide. They have opposed virtually every progressive ballot initiative and council action, including the living wage ordinance that requires people who contract with the city to pay decent wages to their employees. They opposed domestic partner benefits when it was introduced. 

Many residents have also already received the chamber’s “Vote No on Measure J” mailer which is rife with inaccuracies about that measure which would continue Berkeley’s commitment to historic preservation, as was reported in the Planet. To be an informed voter in Berkeley, you need to be aware of the current chamber leadership’s conservative, pro-all-development bias and their propensity for spreading misinformation. 

The current leadership of the chamber is giving the business community in Berkeley a bad name; they need to be replaced with people who are more in tune with community values. 

Rob Wrenn has served as chair of both the Planning Commission and the Transportation Commission. 

Sweeping together popular and questionable proposals into one package is an old political trick that too often frustrates many voters. But often the politicians gamble on the enthusiasm for one part to carry the wriggling bundle through to a win. 

Measure N is just one such a questionable bundle. 

Three proposals are made in the Measure N: 

1. Improvement of old neighborhood branches (as basic as installing badly needed public toilets) and creating new branches for neighborhoods that need them.  

2. Moving the Main Library into part of the Henry Kaiser Convention Center, a few blocks from the current Main. 

3. Installation of “self-service options for faster check-out.” This is quoted from a mailing sent by an Oakland Neighborhood Library Coalition urging a vote for Measure N. 

I am enthusiastic for the improvement and expansion of neighborhood branch libraries. Libraries are essential for lifelong learning and enjoyment, from early childhood to ancients like me. They are needed for getting vital information whether as students or adults trying to make a living or for daily problems like repairing furniture, cooking, parenting and, of course, lending CDs, DVDs, videos, as well as providing access to Internet on the computers. Neighborhood branch libraries are particularly important for children and seniors who will use them if they are within walking distance. So, yes, yes, for that part of the smorgasbord which in Measure N has been served up as a stew.  

“Relocating” the Main Library to the Kaiser Convention Center building, however, is another kettle of fish altogether.  

First, a Main Public Library belongs in the middle of town, where people work, shop, meet. go to restaurants, to theaters, movies, and have public transportation and parking available. It should be convenient for quick drop-ins or extensive research. The building should be functional as a library, for librarians and the public. Librarians and the public can tell what is wanted and what is needed if they are given clear information, possible options, and an opportunity to question and speak. For so major a move with so large a bond measure, there was mighty little opportunity for questions and input by the public and little in the newspapers. 

The Kaiser Convention Center is an impressive building, but it is in the wrong place for a Main Library. The foot traffic is minimal. (It does have parking, but then you need a car). The Berkeley Daily Planet’s informative fine article, “A Guide to Oakland’s Measures M,N and O” (Oct. 6) by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor, provided a background for this choice: “Finding a public use for the recently closed Kaiser Convention Center.” He listed that as quite a separate task in Measure N. 

One can appreciate the vacancy problem for the City Council, and understand the convenience of such a quick solution The building, at this point, is a white elephant. It is a valuable asset that requires a wise choice for public use. As for a Main Library, better by far it would be for the Oakland Public Library to begin researching a good location and get the public’s enthusiasm for a sizable, attractive Main Library that Oakland deserves. Solving the Kaiser Center vacancy problem, however, should not be the Library’s mission. NO for that section of Measure N. 

The last proposal is another hot potato. Installing “self-service options for faster checkout” sounds harmless. What it masks is the installation of a highly controversial RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) system. RFID is being used to track prisoners, cattle, products in stores, and now, credit cards, although those are having privacy troubles as revealed in (“Researchers see Privacy Pitfalls in No-Swipe Credit Cards” that are using RFID. (New York Times, Oct. 23). RFID is a booming new business and is pushing hard to expand into more fields, including libraries. Some libraries have succumbed to the Siren song of vendors, with very mixed results: trouble with charging out DVDs, CDs, and despite promises of charging of a stack of books at one blow, it has been a one-by-one process too often.  

But the major problem of RFID in libraries is that those little tags inserted in books and other materials potentially can be used to undermine the privacy of library users by discovering what they read, listen to and borrow from the library. Librarians have defended these freedoms and rights as part of the ethics of the profession. 

In the current period of concerns about governmental surveillance, spying, warrentless searches and attacks on critics and dissenters, this potential attack on library user privacy is an inappropriate technological tool to use in a library. As a retired librarian of many years, I cannot accept this subversion of our basic role as protectors of people’s right to think, speak, read without fear of even the possibility of Big Brother watching in person or through reading of radio frequency signals. 

For the first time in my life I sadly will vote against a funding bond measure for libraries. This hodge-podge Measure N is unworthy of support. 

As a small addendum: Remember the Berkeley Public Library’s year-long battle around RFID that was established without adequate consultation with the community and librarians. The director was asked to resign, I believe. The ACLU opposes RFID, as does the American Library Association, although not as confidently as it should.  

Zoia Horn is an Oakland resident

Since I am known as an advocate for Berkeley homeowners, taxpayers, and neighborhoods, many Berkeleyans have asked me about my local voting choices in the upcoming November 7 election. As do I, many of these long-term Berkeley residents feel politically homeless, disenfranchised, and less than sanguine about the future of middle income homeownership, of our lovely neighborhoods, and of our entire little polity.  

So even though I am underwhelmed by our local ballot options, in the spirit of sharing my version of Homeowner Populism, I offer with humility and some trepidation my voting thoughts and choices. 

For mayor, I am voting for Zelda Bronstein. Zelda is smart, knowledgeable, and fearless, and deserves a ton of respect for her willingness to take on the Bates machine for a meager two-year term. She is totally correct in her analysis of the infamous UC-City Settlement Agreement and in her opposition to overscale buildings, top-down destruction of neighborhoods, and the need to retain our current strong landmarks protections. Also, over the last few years, I have witnessed growth in Zelda in her understanding of the need to mitigate taxation of homeowners, to improve public safety enforcement, and to provide parking for the legitimate parking needs of residents, visitors, and businesses. I continue to hope for more flexibility from Zelda with respect to loosening up some small areas of (large) West Berkeley for essential economic development, and to accepting that, for the time being, Berkeley has more than its fair share of rental housing and so-called affordable housing. 

For City Council Districts 1,4,7 and 8 I am making no recommendations.  

For city auditor, long term incumbent Ann-Marie Hogan is running unopposed. While Ms. Hogan has done a credible job within the narrow way she has been defining the city auditor job, I will be abstaining on this position, which is my usual procedure when there is no choice of candidates and/ or when I know nothing whatsoever about any of the candidates.  

For Rent Board, there a five candidates for five seats, chosen by a cabal of rent board devotees. I will be abstaining on these positions to protest: the lack of candidate choice and landlord representation; a rent control system that allocates benefits without regard to need; small landlords being forced to pay for a social subsidy that is the responsibility of the entire community; the bloated Rent Board bureaucracy that blows more than $3M annually, money that could be far better spent directly on the housing-needy. 

For BUSD Boardmembers, there are five candidates for three slots. Two of the incumbents, Nancy Riddle and Shirley Issel have done a credible job and deserve re-election. Of the three other candidates, David Baggins and Karen Hemphill each have something to offer. David is a smart newcomer with a strong background in educational theory and research who is willing to shake things up and challenge the accepted local practices with respect to such matters as out-of-district enrollment and inadequate academic choices for parents and students. As for Karen, who is now part of the educational ruling junta, I have seen some growth since the 2004 election, toward a less divisive and more sensible approach to the achievement gap, and she will also provide a “representative” of the African-American community. My choice would be David Baggins because the issues he is raising are critical and he has shown appropriate courage in doing so. 

On Measure A, public school funding, I have been enmeshed in this issue but have not yet decided how I will vote. I do want Berkeley to have superb public schools that serve and entice all Berkeley children, and I do believe that BUSD has made substantial improvements over the last few years. I also know that many, many problems remain and there is a long way to go. Yes, this measure is about our children, but the real question is how best to create a better school system over time and how much trust we put in public officials when there is a minimum of democratic feedback and accountability mechanisms. 

This is what I like about Measure A: its stated purposes and fund allocation, as far as they go; the fact that, except for the generous escalator clause, it asks for no more money than currently; and there is some built-in accountability and some reasonable flexibility. Here is what I do not like: the unusual 10-year term that is far too long to allow for democratic accountability to the voters and for potentially changed circumstances such as declining enrollment; there is no provision for reduction and return of taxpayer money based on increased state funding through the Schwarzenegger reallocations (already substantial) and from a possible Proposition 88 victory; also, if BUSD reduced the $1 million cafeteria deficit, the $1 million plus deficit due to student absenteeism, and some of the $2 million cost for excessive bussing, they would have quite a bit more money available and all those taxpayer dollars would not be needed. 

BUSD claims that it will almost collapse if Measure A is defeated. While I simply do not believe this and I strongly object to the kamikaze approach to the voters (similar to what the city did in 2004 prior to the defeat of the four new tax measures), I do think that it would be highly stressful and disruptive to BUSD and to the entire community to have come back to the voters in Spring 2007 with another measure. 

On Measure E, Rent Board Vacancy, I will be voting no since this measure will allow the self-perpetuating Rent Board to appoint a new member in case of vacancy rather than go to the voters, albeit in elections that are usually a joke. 

On Measure F, Gilman Playing Fields I will be voting yes to enable the necessary zoning plan amendments to permit the proposed playing fields and related uses. 

On Measure G, Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, tThe 80 percent reduction in Berkeley’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is a good goal. But the potential components and costs of the proposed implementation plan are not specified. The devil is always in the details, and I do not think I want to vote for this until I see more detail, since our city has a history of setting grandiose goals and then insisting that its’ homeowners bear most of the cost burden. So for now I’ll vote no. 

On Measure H, Impeachment of Bush, Cheney, et al I will be voting NO for three reasons: this measure is a distraction from and substitute for immediate local issues on which our Council should be asking us to vote, such as UC expansion, overdevelopment in our neighborhoods, more downtown parking; Bush is not the devil nor do I smell sulfur and, as a responsible centrist Democrat and American citizen, I would like to get him out of office the proper and less polarizing way—i.e. by voting him out; and three, I am not enamored with Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission, that initiated this measure, and I think that this commission usually distracts us from our numerous local woes and generally does more harm than good. 

On Measure I, Condo Conversion I will vote yes. Berkeley has a high rental housing vacancy rate and a need for more homeowners. Housing prices are generally declining and this measure will enable young families and many tenants to buy into Berkeley at moderate prices. It will be an incentive to upgrade our relatively charming existing housing stock of older homes rather than build more ugly units. It will bring millions of dollars into city coffers via fees, transfer tax, and upgraded property taxes. The measure contains generous provisions for existing tenants to help them purchase and/or relocate. 

On Measure J, Landmarks Preservation I am voting yes. This measure will re-adopt and update our existing landmarks ordinance and help save our landmarks, structures of merit, and historic neighborhoods. A yes vote will pre-empt a noxious alternative measure by the City Council majority which not only would make it easier to demolish structures and destroy neighborhoods, but would also impose substantial permit requirements and costs on ordinary homeowners making simple exterior repairs.  

Barbara Gilbert is a former aide to ex-Mayor Shirley Dean.

On the eve of Halloween while teaching a Berkeley class of second graders, the discussion naturally turned to the costumes the kids planned to wear on Halloween day. One of the boys grinned, with arms crossed and head tilted to the side. 

“I’m gonna be a gangster!” he declared. Most of the other children laughed in excited delight. A few stole glances at me to see whether I approved or not. 

I tried to keep the feeling of shock and dismay from appearing on my face. I didn’t want to seem harsh or judgmental. I simply wanted to know why this was the young boy’s choice. 

“What’s a gangster?” I led. 

Some of the children laughed a bit nervously, not quite sure how to define the word. 

“What’s so good about being a gangster?” I prodded. 

“Gangsters are cool,” one boy proclaimed. 

“Yeah,” another agreed. “They have money and guns and bling and they get the ladies.” 

Both boys and girls giggled at that.  

“Are you gonna have a gun?” one boy asked the proclaimed Halloween gangster.  

“Yeah, but not a real one,” he replied. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have even a play gun at all,” I said. “Someone could think it’s a real gun and you could get into real trouble. You know, guns just lead to violence. And I’m not so sure you want to look like someone who does violent or hurtful things.”  

After a moment of silence a few other kids offered descriptions of their less dangerous costume choices. I then had them all go to their desks and draw themselves in these costumes. The illustration on this page came from one of two boys who drew themselves as a “hip hop gangsters” (their term).  

I collected their drawings and had them follow me to my desk. Both drawings depicted them dressed as a rapper named “50 Cent” and firing a gun, complete with bullets spewing from its barrel. One drawing showed a falling hand dropping its gun. Both had curse words written across the top.  

A profound feeling of sadness overtook me as I looked into their handsome brown faces. They were actually very sweet boys; sensitive and polite. They reminded me of my own son. And they reminded me of two fourth-grade boys I had taught in Richmond two years ago. I had the class imagine where they would be ten years from now and draw that scene. One boy drew himself in a prison. Another drew his father shooting him to death.  

“What do you think of these words?” I gently asked.  

They looked at me quizzically and shrugged, seemingly oblivious to any sense of wrongdoing or inappropriateness. 

“What would your parents or families think of these words?” I asked. “That’s how my uncle talks,” responded one. “When my father’s home, he uses those words, too,” said the other. 

These boys come from communities bombarded by images full of saggy, prison-style pants, bling, grills, degradation of women, homophobia, the glorification of fast money and smoking guns. I’m not saying that all rap or hip hop is negative. Some of its poets are intelligent, well-informed and talented. However, those who receive the most air-play are decidedly not. 

I recently learned that one of the most popular local hip hop radio stations, KMEL is also owned by mega-conglomerate Clear Channel, which also owns talk radio station KNEW, home to numerous right-wing, racist and homophobic radio “personalities.” Coincidence? I think not. Their programming is targeted to specific audiences for specific purposes—ultimately to make a profit through advertising. By virtue of playing lyrics with predominantly negative, self-destructive messages, Clear Channel contributes to making anti-social attitudes and behaviors the “norm” in many communities which are most isolated and in need of information and assistance. 

When I weed through all of the election materials piled up by my front door, I wonder which of these candidates, which of these measures are going to help these kids and their families? Of course, Measure A comes closest. As an artist and writer, I’m happy to see school money going to fund the arts, libraries, music and other enrichment programs. However, what I really want to see is more money set aside for family outreach and education. You can have the most wonderful library in the world but if a child isn’t accustomed to picking up a book, what good is it? It seems to me that most of the neighborhood groups coming out against Measure A are comprised of adults who can afford to send their children to private schools and/or supplement their children’s education with all sorts of opportunities and experiences and/or adults without school age children who prefer not to spend their tax dollars on ours. What many do not get is that it is imperative that we care about all of Berkeley’s children, not just those who look like us or live in our neighborhoods. If we don’t exercise care now, we will definitely care later when these same kids grow up to become problems in our society. Each one can be so much more than that. 

When I got home that day, I showed the drawings to my 12-year-old son and one of his friends. They laughed. 

“I don’t like 50 Cent. Who’s 50 Cent? I’m all about the dollars!” My son joked. When they understood that I had some serious concerns, they became more serious as well. 

“That’s just what they grew up by,” Jason’s friend said. “I used to be bad like that ... they just want bling and money because they probably don’t have anything ... they steal and smoke and stuff cause they’ll do anything to get attention.” 

“Yeah,” said Jason. “And the songs brainwash you into thinking that stuff is cool.” 

“What would you say to one of these kids if he told you he wanted to grow up to be like 50 Cent?” I asked. 

“I’d tell him ‘if you think he’s cool, then you’re not cool.’” 

“Me too,” Jason chorused. Smart boys. 

Parents need to be taught how to parent. Children need better role models than 50 Cent. And we all need to redefine “cool.”

Some time ago, maybe more than once, I wrote in this column that in his campaign for California attorney general, Mayor Jerry Brown was going to use his Oakland track record in a different way than most politicians usually do. Politicians generally spotlight their positive achievements in office, and in his race against State Senator Chuck Poochigian, Mr. Brown has certainly done that. But in areas where Mr. Brown has failed in Oakland—and there were many such failures—he has excused those failures by putting the blame on Oakland. In effect, he’s been telling California voters that Oakland was so bad, nobody could fix it, and he wants voters to give him points for even giving it a good try. 

And so, I was not surprised when a Sacramento television station (KCRA) posted a story on Mr. Brown’s campaign on its website last week in which Mr. Brown seemed to be exploiting Oakland’s crime rate to boost his own credentials. The story read, in part, “Jerry Brown is a fixture on the streets near his Oakland condo. During the day it’s a fairly safe place to walk his dog, Dharma, but at night it’s a different story. ‘Well, there was a killing right there at the KFC, another one right there, and then a shooting over there at the karaoke club,’ Brown said. ‘If you want a crime fighter,’ [the mayor continued], ‘you ought to have someone who knows what crime is. I’ve picked gun shells off the street not 100 feet from where we’re sitting.’” 

What logic there is to this type of thinking escapes me, as much has escaped me in the last eight years about how Mr. Brown thinks. If living in a neighborhood where crime occurs qualifies one to be elected as a crime fighter, then one might as well argue (as I once wrote in a short story) that it makes sense to elect a dead man as coroner because, after all, who knows the needs of the dead better than a dead person does? Logic or illogic aside, there is something ghastly and unconscionable about the elected mayor of Oakland leading reporters around pointing out killing spots—not as a way to prevent more Oakland killings—but to somehow show off his credentials for a “higher” office. 

Still Californians, who often have no trouble recognizing hypocrisy and demagoguery when it comes to national Republicans, seem to miss it entirely when it comes to the homegrown variety. 

In endorsing Mr. Brown, for example, the Oakland Tribune describes him as “Long a champion of the environment,” the Los Angeles Times says “He has been a consistent fighter for the environment,” and the Sierra Club of California said “Throughout his career, Jerry Brown has been a ground-breaking leader on the most important environmental issues of our time. Jerry has been a champion of renewable energy, clean water, and clean air for California. As Mayor of Oakland, Jerry has overseen Oakland’s transformation into one of America’s top ten green cities. After evaluating the records of all the candidates for Attorney General, it was clear to us that Jerry Brown is exactly who California needs to defend and protect its environment.” 

Maybe so. But it was also Jerry Brown, in a hurry to meet his goal of 10,000 new inhabitants in downtown Oakland, who induced the legislature to pass AB436 in 2001, a Wilma Chan-sponsored bill that suspended portions of the California Environmental Quality Act in downtown Oakland, and downtown Oakland only.  

In reporting how Mr. Brown explained that full-blown CEQA environmental protection wasn’t needed for downtown Oakland, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson reported Mr. Brown saying in 2001 “I haven’t seen any spotted owls or snail darters in downtown Oakland.” 

Perhaps that was supposed to be a joke—Mr. Brown often finds serious policy questions funnier than the average observer does. But it later became a public policy argument advanced by others. In a 2002 Oakland City Council meeting, then-Oakland City Councilmember Danny Wan defended his support for that bill by arguing that CEQA was passed in 1970 more as protection for rural and suburban development, not urban development. Therefore, Mr. Wan asserted to fellow Councilmembers and the public, easing certain CEQA protections in downtown Oakland wasn’t really a weakening of CEQA’s environmental protections, since those protections weren’t aimed at cities anyway. It was a dangerous (as well as completely incorrect) notion, then and now, all set loose by Mr. Brown, who was willing to sacrifice long-established environmental protection principles for short-term gain. 

What is true about the environment is also true about education. 

Mr. Brown promised to promote and support quality education in Oakland in his initial campaign for mayor and based upon that promise, Oakland citizens later passed a ballot measure giving the mayor the power to appoint three new members to join the seven elected members of the Oakland Unified School District board of trustees. Armed with that power, Mr. Brown immediately abandoned it, seeming to lose any interest in the day to day workings of the district, and apparently leaving his appointees with no clear instructions on what policies he wanted them to follow. 

Instead, Mr. Brown put all of his energies into his two charter schools, the Oakland School for the Arts and the Oakland Military Institute, to which he donated many hours of city staff time and many thousands of dollars in city money. How successful have those experiments been? The military institute recently failed not only to reach its state-mandated Academic Performance Index goal of 6 points (to 677 on a scale of 1,000), it actually lost 13 points over the 2005-06 school year. Mr. Brown’s arts school did even worse. The state gave it a goal of a 3 point API rise to 741; instead of making that goal, OSA dropped 18 points over the past school year. 

When things seemed to be going good at the two schools, Mr. Brown couldn’t stop talking about them. Now that they are falling on tougher times, all mention of them appear to have been dropped from his public pronouncements. Poor children. 

Meanwhile, while Mr. Brown had three appointees to the Oakland school board (compared to seven electees from all of the rest of Oakland citizens), the Oakland school district came close to bankruptcy and was taken over by the state, and has been on a downward spiral ever since. Under less dire circumstances, the city of Emeryville figured out a way to legally transfer city funds to the school district to help win back local control for that district, and Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa down in Los Angeles got the state legislature to pass a law giving the LA mayor’s office authority over the school district. Does Mr. Brown take any responsibility for the events that led to the state takeover of the Oakland schools, or is he now offering some plan to help the district get back on its feet? 

Not to my knowledge. 

Last week, former Oakland city employee Nereyda Lopez-Bowden surfaced in Sacramento to remind us of that Mr. Brown’s former roommate and longtime confidante—Jacques Barzaghi—was once sanctioned for sexual harassment of Ms. Lopez-Bowden after Mr. Brown put him on the city payroll. 

After Ms. Lopez-Bowden appeared at a press conference sponsored by Mr. Brown’s Attorney General opponent, Chuck Poochigian, Mr. Brown’s campaign consultant, Ace Smith, remarked, “It’s clear Chuck Poochigian has finally crossed the line from desperate to undignified. Anyone who has looked into this matter knows it was handled by an independent professional with lots of integrity.” 

But the question was not whether the investigation—coordinated through the office of Oakland City Attorney John Russo, and not through the office of Mr. Brown—was not thorough and professional. And the punishment seemed fair—three weeks suspension, counseling, and a restriction that he couldn’t be in the room with a woman staff member by himself (all imposed by City Manager Robert Bobb, not Mr. Brown). But the question was, why did Mr. Brown allow his friend, Mr. Barzaghi, to remain on the city payroll after the sexual harassment charges were proven? In fact, once returned to his job after his suspension, Mr. Barzaghi was treated to a raise in salary. 

It would seem in this case, Mr. Brown’s loyalty to an old friend trumped whatever commitment the mayor may have to women’s rights and cracking down on workplace sexual harassment. 

And that, in the end, has been the problem with Jerry Brown in Oakland. You cannot rely on Mr. Brown’s principles, regardless of how cleverly he states them or how many times, only that he will violate them, at will, when it is necessary for his personal political future and agenda. That is no longer Oakland’s problem, however. Not, at least, by ourselves. On the eve of next week’s general election, it would appear that Mr. Brown will soon belong to all of California, again. Good luck. 

Some time ago, maybe more than once, I wrote in this column that in his campaign for California attorney general, Mayor Jerry Brown was going to use his Oakland track record in a different way than most politicians usually do. Politicians generally spotlight their positive achievements in office, and in his race against State Senator Chuck Poochigian, Mr. Brown has certainly done that. But in areas where Mr. Brown has failed in Oakland—and there were many such failures—he has excused those failures by putting the blame on Oakland. In effect, he’s been telling California voters that Oakland was so bad, nobody could fix it, and he wants voters to give him points for even giving it a good try. 

And so, I was not surprised when a Sacramento television station (KCRA) posted a story on Mr. Brown’s campaign on its website last week in which Mr. Brown seemed to be exploiting Oakland’s crime rate to boost his own credentials. The story read, in part, “Jerry Brown is a fixture on the streets near his Oakland condo. During the day it’s a fairly safe place to walk his dog, Dharma, but at night it’s a different story. ‘Well, there was a killing right there at the KFC, another one right there, and then a shooting over there at the karaoke club,’ Brown said. ‘If you want a crime fighter,’ [the mayor continued], ‘you ought to have someone who knows what crime is. I’ve picked gun shells off the street not 100 feet from where we’re sitting.’” 

What logic there is to this type of thinking escapes me, as much has escaped me in the last eight years about how Mr. Brown thinks. If living in a neighborhood where crime occurs qualifies one to be elected as a crime fighter, then one might as well argue (as I once wrote in a short story) that it makes sense to elect a dead man as coroner because, after all, who knows the needs of the dead better than a dead person does? Logic or illogic aside, there is something ghastly and unconscionable about the elected mayor of Oakland leading reporters around pointing out killing spots—not as a way to prevent more Oakland killings—but to somehow show off his credentials for a “higher” office. 

Still Californians, who often have no trouble recognizing hypocrisy and demagoguery when it comes to national Republicans, seem to miss it entirely when it comes to the homegrown variety. 

In endorsing Mr. Brown, for example, the Oakland Tribune describes him as “Long a champion of the environment,” the Los Angeles Times says “He has been a consistent fighter for the environment,” and the Sierra Club of California said “Throughout his career, Jerry Brown has been a ground-breaking leader on the most important environmental issues of our time. Jerry has been a champion of renewable energy, clean water, and clean air for California. As Mayor of Oakland, Jerry has overseen Oakland’s transformation into one of America’s top ten green cities. After evaluating the records of all the candidates for Attorney General, it was clear to us that Jerry Brown is exactly who California needs to defend and protect its environment.” 

Maybe so. But it was also Jerry Brown, in a hurry to meet his goal of 10,000 new inhabitants in downtown Oakland, who induced the legislature to pass AB436 in 2001, a Wilma Chan-sponsored bill that suspended portions of the California Environmental Quality Act in downtown Oakland, and downtown Oakland only.  

In reporting how Mr. Brown explained that full-blown CEQA environmental protection wasn’t needed for downtown Oakland, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson reported Mr. Brown saying in 2001 “I haven’t seen any spotted owls or snail darters in downtown Oakland.” 

Perhaps that was supposed to be a joke—Mr. Brown often finds serious policy questions funnier than the average observer does. But it later became a public policy argument advanced by others. In a 2002 Oakland City Council meeting, then-Oakland City Councilmember Danny Wan defended his support for that bill by arguing that CEQA was passed in 1970 more as protection for rural and suburban development, not urban development. Therefore, Mr. Wan asserted to fellow Councilmembers and the public, easing certain CEQA protections in downtown Oakland wasn’t really a weakening of CEQA’s environmental protections, since those protections weren’t aimed at cities anyway. It was a dangerous (as well as completely incorrect) notion, then and now, all set loose by Mr. Brown, who was willing to sacrifice long-established environmental protection principles for short-term gain. 

What is true about the environment is also true about education. 

Mr. Brown promised to promote and support quality education in Oakland in his initial campaign for mayor and based upon that promise, Oakland citizens later passed a ballot measure giving the mayor the power to appoint three new members to join the seven elected members of the Oakland Unified School District board of trustees. Armed with that power, Mr. Brown immediately abandoned it, seeming to lose any interest in the day to day workings of the district, and apparently leaving his appointees with no clear instructions on what policies he wanted them to follow. 

Instead, Mr. Brown put all of his energies into his two charter schools, the Oakland School for the Arts and the Oakland Military Institute, to which he donated many hours of city staff time and many thousands of dollars in city money. How successful have those experiments been? The military institute recently failed not only to reach its state-mandated Academic Performance Index goal of 6 points (to 677 on a scale of 1,000), it actually lost 13 points over the 2005-06 school year. Mr. Brown’s arts school did even worse. The state gave it a goal of a 3 point API rise to 741; instead of making that goal, OSA dropped 18 points over the past school year. 

When things seemed to be going good at the two schools, Mr. Brown couldn’t stop talking about them. Now that they are falling on tougher times, all mention of them appear to have been dropped from his public pronouncements. Poor children. 

Meanwhile, while Mr. Brown had three appointees to the Oakland school board (compared to seven electees from all of the rest of Oakland citizens), the Oakland school district came close to bankruptcy and was taken over by the state, and has been on a downward spiral ever since. Under less dire circumstances, the city of Emeryville figured out a way to legally transfer city funds to the school district to help win back local control for that district, and Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa down in Los Angeles got the state legislature to pass a law giving the LA mayor’s office authority over the school district. Does Mr. Brown take any responsibility for the events that led to the state takeover of the Oakland schools, or is he now offering some plan to help the district get back on its feet? 

Not to my knowledge. 

Last week, former Oakland city employee Nereyda Lopez-Bowden surfaced in Sacramento to remind us of that Mr. Brown’s former roommate and longtime confidante—Jacques Barzaghi—was once sanctioned for sexual harassment of Ms. Lopez-Bowden after Mr. Brown put him on the city payroll. 

After Ms. Lopez-Bowden appeared at a press conference sponsored by Mr. Brown’s Attorney General opponent, Chuck Poochigian, Mr. Brown’s campaign consultant, Ace Smith, remarked, “It’s clear Chuck Poochigian has finally crossed the line from desperate to undignified. Anyone who has looked into this matter knows it was handled by an independent professional with lots of integrity.” 

But the question was not whether the investigation—coordinated through the office of Oakland City Attorney John Russo, and not through the office of Mr. Brown—was not thorough and professional. And the punishment seemed fair—three weeks suspension, counseling, and a restriction that he couldn’t be in the room with a woman staff member by himself (all imposed by City Manager Robert Bobb, not Mr. Brown). But the question was, why did Mr. Brown allow his friend, Mr. Barzaghi, to remain on the city payroll after the sexual harassment charges were proven? In fact, once returned to his job after his suspension, Mr. Barzaghi was treated to a raise in salary. 

It would seem in this case, Mr. Brown’s loyalty to an old friend trumped whatever commitment the mayor may have to women’s rights and cracking down on workplace sexual harassment. 

And that, in the end, has been the problem with Jerry Brown in Oakland. You cannot rely on Mr. Brown’s principles, regardless of how cleverly he states them or how many times, only that he will violate them, at will, when it is necessary for his personal political future and agenda. That is no longer Oakland’s problem, however. Not, at least, by ourselves. On the eve of next week’s general election, it would appear that Mr. Brown will soon belong to all of California, again. Good luck. 

During the first 75 years of the 20th century, West Berkeley was the location of many manufacturing plants that produced diverse products from vegetable oil to ink, and from huge hydraulic pumps to tanned hides. 

Cal Ink originated in 1891, in Los Angeles, as a subsidiary of Union Oil Company, and was sold to an E.L. Hueter of San Francisco in 1896. Sometime between 1900 and 1903, the company moved its manufacturing plant to West Berkeley, into buildings that had been part of the Raymond Tannery. In 1999 Cal Ink, now Flint Ink of Michigan, was the oldest factory in Berkeley operating at its original location. 

On the blocks bounded by Camelia, Gilman, Fourth, and Fifth streets, there were about twenty buildings dating from 1906 to 1978. The sprawling factory included manufacturing buildings, laboratories, storage tanks, and offices. 

Over the years, Cal Ink made almost every type of ink product, from a white ink for marking bees to perfumed ink used in advertising. The products developed and manufactured at this plant included: moisture-proof and heat-resistant inks, inks that resist scratching and oxidation, inks used for newspapers, magazines, boxes, bags, labels, and linoleum, plastic, steel, aluminum, airplane parts, and fabric. It is one of the largest suppliers of ink to the graphic arts industry. From time to time it produced many of the raw materials for ink, such as pigment colors and varnishes. An international company, it uses materials from all over the world including: drying oils from South America, shellac from India, pigments from Europe, and carbon and mineral oil from the United States. It then exports its various inks around the world. During World War I, Cal Ink developed and produced the first “Litho Red” ink made in the United States. 

After 1919, the company changed ownership several times, merging with or buying other companies, and occasionally creating subsidiaries. Today the company is a division of the Flint Ink Company of Detroit. Although ink was still being made at this location in 1999, portions of the complex have been sold and some buildings demolished. 

This article was originally published Sept. 29, 2001 in the Berkeley Daily Planet. 

California Ink Co. Industrial Site 

1326–1404 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 

The California Ink Co. Industrial Site was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark on 17 Nov. 17,1986. 

Photograph by Daniella Thompson  

The California Ink Co. Industrial Site, 1326–1404 Fourth St., was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark on Nov. 17, 1986. 

I was working with a couple of young volunteers from UC’s redoubtable Habitat for Humanity group last weekend when one of them exclaimed, “Yuck! I found a worm.” 

Said worm was firmly ensconced in its burrow in the hard dry clay and I couldn’t pick it up to move it, so I advised the volunteer to weed on down the row and let the critter go on about its work. 

I’m not the daintiest woman in Berkeley, but I can remember feeling that way about worms. That was a very long time ago, longer than my co-weeder has been alive. I think I slugged Joey Williams when he presumed to chase me with a worm. I wasn’t really invincible in kindergarten—I quit playing Kill ‘Em, a sort of all-on-one neighborhood football, when somebody tore my favorite shirt in an illegal maneuver—but I had some years when I felt more akin to the poor worms.  

Some of us got our empathy with earthworms when our parents read Lowly Worm to us; some of us, like my lab partner, were still squeamish when we had to dissect earthworms in high school. 

I really hated the sound and feel of the scalpel when it cut the worm’s skin, though it was the formaldehyde that made me gag. Poor worm indeed. 

Gardeners learn to get along with worms even if we don’t find then cuddly. Like spiders and such predators, they’re on our side and we’d better appreciate their work. It’s reassuring to find them in the soil and the compost bin.  

In fact, as I mentioned last week, you can get specialized worm-composting bins for small spaces. When you run them right, they don’t stink even a little—I’ve seen one folk-art painted worm composter that doubled as its owners’ coffee table, and back when I was doing hard time at the Ecology Center there was a desktop composter – originally a card file—that was used as a demonstrator and squeal-inducer. 

Charles Darwin’s last book was about earthworms, which he studied and reported on with his typical exhaustive, careful attention. It would be fair to say he exalted the humble:  

The plough is one of the most ancient and most valuable of mans inventions; but long before he existed the land was in fact regularly ploughed, and still continues to be thus ploughed by earth-worms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures. 

“Lowly” here is the antonym of “highly,” not any status designation.  

Recently, a close relative of the Willamette earthworm (thought extinct) was discovered in the Palouse Valley. I’m thrilled. I now have hope of meeting this creature, which can reach three feet in length and smells of lilies. 

There’s one in Australia, the Gippsland earthworm, that reached ten feet, and I’m sure would make a nice quiet pet. Maybe someday I’ll go back to Pennsylvania and chase Joey Williams with one.  

There’s an old saying ... “Da Nile ain’t just a river in Egypt.” No, denial is alive and well right here in the Bay Area.  

We are told that about 85 percent of people in the bay area are unprepared for a major quake (I think that’s conservative), and that over 150,000 homes will be uninhabitable when the Hayward fault ruptures. 

At least the people in New Orleans knew Katrina was coming and most had a chance to get out. The big difference is that we don’t know when the Big One is coming, but we do know that it’s inevitable. We will have no notice.  

What’s wrong with us? Don’t we care about our own safety, our children’s safety, the safety of our elderly and disabled?  

Is your home adequately retrofitted? Furniture and appliances secured? Emergency kit ready? Automatic gas shut-off valve installed?  

No? What are you thinking? Do it now! 

Larry Guillot is owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing, and kit supply service. Call him at 558-3299, or visit www.quakeprepare.com.

The construction world is in love with novelty. Every year, trade shows display the latest inventions and materials with promises of low cost, easy installation and life-long service. Of course, these things never turn out to be as true as presented and the buyer must always beware.  

I’m an old fashioned guy and I tend to like the time-tested and proven-by-abuse. I figure that if something can go wrong it will (Call me Murphy). That might make me a cynical crank (probably true) but it also makes me a great shopper. That’s another thing. I hate to do anything twice or to spend money on something that turns out to be a boondoggle. And so, with all of this in mind, let us turn, dear reader, to the latest in a seemingly endless series of new materials that may be causing unforeseen problems. 

This one is actually quite old and valuable in many ways but not without some serious concerns. It’s what I call Poisonwood and the industry calls Pressure-treated wood. Your house may contain some and if it does there are a few things that are good to know. If you’re building a house now or in the future, it’s a really good issue to explore since it’s being used widely in construction today and presents some special issues. 

Pressure-treated woods are used in places where fungal decay or insect consumption is at its highest. These places include ground contact or contact with damp concrete such as where the bottom of your house meets the foundation. This “mudsill,” which bolts to the foundation is now often made of pressure-treated wood.  

Many decks are built using this material as well, although I generally see it being used for the understructure and not the visible top components. In some parts of the country, foundations are actually made from this material alone (instead of a concrete footing) and other structures that may experience dampness can also be built or repaired using this innovative material. Actually, pressure treatment of woods isn’t all that new. Processes still used today go all the way back to the 1830’s and many other processes were developed around the turn of the last century.  

Materials used include copper (most methods involve copper in some form), ammonia, chromium and arsenic. Arsenic-containing compounds are used less today as a result of voluntary changes in the industry based on EPA studies that found elevated levels of arsenic in soils near construction (ergo my rather nasty term-poisonwood).  

There have also been concerns about workers sawing or handling these woods. CCA (chromated copper arsenate) isn’t used widely any longer as a result of the studies I just mentioned but can still be found in shingles, shakes, wooden foundations and some commercial construction.  

The most common form of PT (pressure-treated) wood seen today in the west is CA or Copper Azole. Although this seems somewhat healthier, there’s a fascinating thing happening with woods treated in this way …. they eat metal for lunch. This seems to have something to do with the copper/steel reaction that we also see with plumbing systems but the specific chemistry is beyond me.  

What I do know is that the lumber industry is aware, the hardware industry is concerned and a lot of contractors are not tuned in. I don’t blame the contractors. They’re busy cleaning up so that you’ll give them that progress payment on the kitchen remodel. It’s hard to stay current on all the issues. Also, the cities don’t seem too focused on the issue but then again, when inspectors have to see 20 houses in a day, how can they pay attention to new errata such as this. 

Here’s a little useful information on the issue and what you might want to do. First, take a look at your house with special attention to mud-sills, decking and other pieces of wood that are exposed to moisture. You’re looking for PT lumber and we’re going to look at the hardware connections. PT lumber tends to be greenish from the coppery treatments and can vary from light to dark. Some types of PT are bluish but you’re not likely to see those ones.  

Most PT has roller marks from a process called incising (like those front teeth of yours) in which the surface of the wood is punctured in longish slits that allow the chemical preservative to penetrate more deeply into the wood and help it to last longer. Most of what we’re protecting against in this process is fungus and there’s nothing dry about the rot that is eventually going to eat your stair stringer.  

When you find some of this wood, take a look at the hardware that holds it in place or keeps other things attached to it. Mudsills may be bolted down to a foundation and it’s worth looking at the bolts, washers (or square “bearing plates”) and nuts to see if they have a lot of visible corrosion. I’ve seen some relatively new construction in which the rust had grown prolifically in a short period and wondered if these connections were going to be providing much strength if an earthquake struck ten years from now. 

A bolt may have a great deal of excess thickness but a non-galvanized bearing plate may have long since become too thin and weak to do its job. My biggest concern with PT wood is for decks or balconies that are high enough to represent a falling hazard. I’d want to be sure that the hardware used for my 25’ high deck was really corrosion resistant and wouldn’t weaken over time. 

As I said, the industry is aware and has specific recommendations for hardware connections that involve use of PT wood. Hardware companies like the, ever astute, Simpson™ have gone further to provide analysis of the various levels of corrosiveness initiated by differing PT woods (there are at least 5 current methods of pressure treatment in use). They’ve also given us some special hardware to be used, such as their Z-max double galvanized hardware and stainless steel for the deeply worried. I’m just concerned enough so that I don’t want to see any conventional hardware or nailing being used connection pressure treated woods. I’ve seen the corrosion and I’m convinced that this is an issue that’s just beginning to present itself. Part of the reason for this is the change in formulations being used and part because PT wood is seeing much wider use than in the past. 

If your carpenter is using this wood, get them to wear a mask when they’re sawing and ask if they’re aware of the need for special hardware. These actions alone will be a good start but I’d like to take one more step and it’s a big step …. backward. 

Before PT woods were commonly being used, most settings that presented the same fungal propensities were addressed through the use of naturally pest resistant woods like Coastal Redwood. Although many of us have concerns about excessive cutting of Redwood, it is a fast growing tree that can be well forested and provide sustainable use (if the birthrate isn’t too out of control). It’s also non-toxic and very effective against both fungal damage and many insects (due to its tart, tannic taste). A good dense piece of Redwood heartwood can be quite effective and not lead to any discernable metal corrosion as the years roll by. 

If you want to spend big bucks on other fungally resistant woods, there is also the Western Red Cedar, Merbau, Huon Pine (used for building ships) and Ironbark, but you’ll only end up draining your bank account. So, If you’re building, talk to your contractor about these issues. I don’t think that pressure-treated woods are a bad choice any more than I think that an angiogram is a bad medical procedure. It’s just a matter of knowing what you’re getting and how best to proceed to get the good stuff and avoid the bad. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor at mgcantor@pacbell.net.

When we go to the polls on Nov. 7, many of us will be voting against George Bush and a subservient Republican Congress. The majority of the electorate is outraged by Bush’s war in Iraq and the failure of his Administration to protect America. In many parts of America voters will also be protesting specific Bush policies that have depressed local economies, raised gasoline prices, and degraded the environment. Indeed, Americans have ample reasons to vote against George Bush and the GOP. Yet, it’s always healthier to cast a positive vote: to be for something. So, what are we voting for? 

It’s comforting to think we are voting for a change in Iraq policy. But it’s hard to believe that the White House will change their “stay the course” position on Iraq, even if Democrats retake the House and Senate. A Democratic majority could hold hearings and spur a national debate on Iraq. Nonetheless, it’s unlikely there’ll be a significant change until after the 2008 Presidential election.  

In a recent interview, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi promised that in the first 100 hours after Democrats regain control of the House there would be new rules to “break the link between lobbyists and legislation;” legislation to enact all the recommendations of the 9/11 commission; and a hike of the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour, among other actions. While important, these changes would not be earthshaking. 

If Democrats retake Congress, their primary actions will be defensive: They will block Bush initiatives such as further tax cuts for the rich. Perhaps they will be able to curtail further damage to the environment and erosion of our civil rights. A Democratic victory on November 7th will stop the US from tilting further to the right, but not effect a course correction. The election will produce a stalemate. 

Republican TV ads bemoan the possibility of an impasse. But it’s not necessarily a bad thing for the United States. A deadlock in Washington could promote a national debate between Conservatives and Liberals. A discussion not about specific legislation, but rather about the direction of America: what should Americans expect from the Federal Government? 

For the past decade this debate has been waged at the cliché level: Liberals have been mocked as the champions of “big government.” Conservatives have contrasted themselves as proponents of limited government; a stance epitomized in the Grover Norquist quip, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” Yet, six years of the Bush Administration have not reduced the size of the Federal Government. In practice, the conservative ideology has produced a web of inconsistencies: It’s okay to have a bloated defense/security bureaucracy, but not okay to have the personnel and policies required to protect America from corporate abuse. Individual civil rights must be subordinated to the security concerns of the United States; however, the “rights” of big business get a free pass.  

Now is the time for Democrats to propose an alternative ideology. Not one driven by sound bites, such as “the era of big government is over.” Rather, a philosophy that’s based upon the common good. A progressive vision for America that articulates a positive role for the Federal government. 

To spur this discussion, here are five arguments Democrats might use: 

1. The American people are the best defenders of the United States. Therefore, Federal budget priorities must be changed. Funds should be shifted from the defense and security sectors to programs that strengthen the citizenry, such as healthcare and education. America spends too much on the military and this is weakening our democracy. 

2. The United States is not engaged in an international arms race, but rather a competition in the global marketplace that we are losing. Therefore, America requires a new vision in order to regain its competitiveness. Federal leadership is needed to provide this strategy. 

3. A cornerstone of this new vision for America is recognition that Democracy is best served by placing limits on capitalism. The interests of big business are not always consistent with the common good, such as protection of the environment and the rights of working people. The Federal Government must intervene to insure that Democracy is not subverted by big business. 

4. Fiscal solvency is another, essential component in a new vision. Federal leadership is required to balance the budget and stop America’s addiction to debt financing. 

5. Finally, the security and solvency of America requires a nation-wide program for energy independence. While development of non-carbon-based sources of energy should be part of this effort, a vital component will be conservation. Federal leadership must motivate Americans to engage common sacrifice, reduce fossil-fuel consumption for the common good.  

If Democrats prevail, there will be a stalemate in Washington. That’s not a bad thing. It’s an opportunity for Americans to consider what kind of government they want before they vote in the 2008 presidential election. 

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

I went to the Wells Fargo branch closest to my home in order to close Ralph’s checking account. I could have emptied it by using his ATM card, but our mortgage is automatically withdrawn from this account on a monthly basis. I needed to officially close it and get the automatic payments stopped.  

I gathered up my Power of Attorney papers, a death certificate, recent bank and mortgage statements, stood in line, and waited for an available teller.  

“I’d like to close my deceased husband’s account,” I said.  

“You can’t close it for 90 days,” answered the young man behind the window.  

“Why not?” I asked.  

“Policy,” he said.  

“All right,” I said. “I don’t have to close the account right now, but I’d like to stop the automatic payment to the mortgage company. As you can see,” and here I showed him Ralph’s bank statement, “there’s not enough money to cover the mortgage this month. Remove the auto pay and I’ll wait 90 days to close the account.”  

“I can’t do that,” said the man. “You’ll need to call your mortgage company.”  

“I already have,” I said. Again, I showed the man the statement. “You can see right here that the money is withdrawn by Wells Fargo, not Citimortgage.”  

The teller looked at the statement, and then tapped some keys on his computer keyboard. He squinted at the screen in front of him. “Sorry,” he said without looking at me. “You’ll have to wait 90 days.”  

“Can I speak to a manager,” I said.  

A manager appeared at the clerk’s side. He, too, squinted at the computer screen, punched some more keys and then looked at me. “Sorry,” he said, “But we can’t do nothin’.”  

“Nothing,” I said. “You can’t do nothing.”  

“Yes,” he said in agreement.  

“Can I put money into the account?”  

“Oh yeah,” said the manager. “You can put money in, you just can’t close it.”  

“That doesn’t seem right,” I said.  

He shrugged.  

“Do you have a complaint form I can fill out?”  

“No,” said the bank manager. “No form.”  

“Then how do I make a complaint?” I asked.  

“Tell us your problem and we’ll discuss it at our next staff meeting.”  

“How do I know you’ll really discuss it?” I asked.  

“You don’t,” said the manager.  

I gathered up my papers and left. Maybe I could get the mortgage money from Ralph’s E-Trade account and transfer it to the Wells Fargo account.  

When I got home I called E-Trade. The customer service representative said it was easy to close an account. She told me where on their website I could go to download the proper forms. All I needed to do was to send them in with a letter of instruction and a death certificate. I printed out the forms but completing them wasn’t easy. I recalled E-Trade and asked for help. The man on the other end of the line didn’t know what forms I was talking about so he transferred me to someone else. A woman came on and methodically clicked off instructions. After some confusion we discovered that we were each looking at different versions of the same forms. “It doesn’t matter,” said the woman. “They say the same thing. Just fill ’em out and send in a death certificate, a letter of instruction, and a letter of testament from an attorney.”  

“My instructions say I need only a death certificate and a letter of instruction.”  

“Better get an attorney’s testament,” she said.  

“I-”  

“I’m looking at your husband’s account right now,” said the woman. “He’s got $700 in stock. That’s hardly worth worrying about.”  

“Excuse me,” I said.  

“You know what I mean,” she answered. “We’re not talking a lot of money.” She paused, but only for a second. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked.  

There was. It began with the word “Kiss”, but I didn’t bother to say it.  

One fair day in mid-October, near dusk, Joe and I were strolling the first mile of the Mitchell Canyon trail on the east side of Mount Diablo. The sun was low; the shadows, long; only the west-facing ridgetops were glowing in the red-gold sunset, and we’d just about decided to turn back, when Joe whispered: “Coyote!” 

Sure enough, barely discernible from the dry grasses and brush along the roadside, there was a coyote. We froze in place, then cautiously lifted our binocs. The coyote ignored us, trotting toward us in a zigzag walk, alert and stopping to attend to things stirring out of sight. When I realized that the wind was at out backs, clearly carrying our scent coyote-wards, I swapped my glasses for the camera and aimed and snapped a picture.  

Our camera has an hilariously authoritative fake shutter sound; sometimes, as then, I wish I’d turned that off. But the coyote never blinked, just kept making the rounds, sniffing for dinner. She made a nonchalant circle around us as we stood there and I snapped off shot after shot. Some few yards past us, she pounced at something, probably a vole, and fetched it out, dropped it once, picked it up and ate it: snap snap.  

As we followed, she stopped again, nosed at something brown on the road, and snapped up bits of that too. I assumed it was a horse turd until we got a closer look. It was a big shattered pine cone, with one or two nuts left under the scattered scales. Coyotes eat pignoli!  

Well of course they do. Coyotes are adventurous generalists, and pignoli are delicious and full of nice fats and protein. They’re tasty in Spanish and Italian main dishes, in salads, in candies—I like them raw or pan-toasted myself. Italian stone pine is the usual source of the classic European commercial nuts, but pines of all sorts can be persuaded to yield their tasty seeds, by birds’ beaks, squirrels’ incisors, or coyotes’ opportunistic noses and tongues and fangs.  

Or, if you’re human people, by boot heel, stone, mill, or fire. The First People here in California were connoisseurs of pine nuts, and a favorite along the Coast Range (were the fat brown-hulled nuts of Pinus sabiniana, currently called “gray pine.” That’s what our coyote acquaintance was eating. 

Thereby hangs a tale. 

Once upon a time, back when shoveler ducks were “Jew ducks” and Brazil nuts were “N****r toes” (Huh. My folks raised me right, all right. I can’t even type that word without choking.), this tree was known as “digger pine,” or, I suppose, “Digger pine.” This name was in dubious honor of the local indigenous tribes, who feasted from a plentiful land and practiced the kind of farming that uses controlled fire and smart cutting instead of plows. Europeans myopically or conveniently missed this subtlety, and called the land “pristine and untouched wilderness” and declared that the local people didn’t work for a living, but merely dug stuff out of the ground to eat.  

In the last couple of decades it dawned on a critical mass of people that the name was insulting. So the tree is now “gray pine,” for its graceful, sparse grayish foliage. Sometimes it’s “bull pine” because it tends to fork into a Y or pair of horns, or “ghost pine” for its less-than-solid appearance. 

It grows in scattered stands in open country or chaparral, its misty color standing out from summer dun and winter green, its height from its plant neighbors’.  

Its foliage makes only light shade, so it gives meager relief from heat. But that also lets one spot its big cones from a long distance: a great convenience for the wild-groceries shopper.  

One amusing habit of gray pine is its tendency to lean. In some places, like some of the stands along Mines Road east of Livermore, they lean in unison, seemingly caught in a ponderous if airy dance. In others, they tilt more randomly, “creating,” as Ronald Lanner said, “a suspicion of a drunken forest staggering as it ascends the oak-studded foothills.” (I recommend his book Conifers of California.)  

If you plant one in garden soil, it’ll grow denser foliage and smaller cones. I’d call it good company, but I personally prefer to see it in its graceful native shape on its lean, demanding native ground.  

Photograph by Ron Sullivan.  

Sparse foliage give an airy, insubstantial look to a native landscape “ghost,” Pinus sabiniana.

FRIDAY, NOV. 3 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Hedda Gabler” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Nov. 18 at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman. Tickets are $12. 525-1620.  

Albany High School Theater Ensemble “Pretend-O-Cide” Thurs. at 7 p.m., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Albany High School Little Theater, 603 Key Route Blvd, Albany, through Nov. 11. Tickets are $5-$10. www.myspace.com/ahsuburoi 

Altarena Playhouse “Merrily We Roll Along” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St, Alameda, through Nov. 12. Cost is $15-$18. 523-1553.  

Aurora Theatre “Ice Glen” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through Dec. 10. Tickets are $38. 843-4822.  

Azeem’s “Rude Boy” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way, through Nov. 25. Tickets are $15-$22. 415-826-5750. www.themarsh.org 

Berkeley Rep “Passing Strange” at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. through Dec. 3. Tickets are $45-$61. 645-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Central Works “Andromache” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. through Nov. 19. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1382. 

Gate Theatre of Dublin “Waiting for Godot” Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $65. 642-9121. 

Masquers Playhouse “Company” by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through Dec. 16.. Tickets are $18. 232-4031.  

Shotgun Players “Love is a Dream House in Lorin” by Marcus Gardley, inspired by true stories of Berkeley’s historic Lorin District, Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Nov. 12. Sliding scale $15-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

TheatreFirst “Criminal Genius” Thurs.-Fri. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Old Oakland Theatre, 481 Ninth St., at Broadway, Oakland, through Nov. 19. Tickets are $19-$25. 436-5085. www.theatrefirst.com 

UC Dept. of Theater “Suburban Motel” six plays by George Walker at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus, through Nov. 19. Tickets are $8-$14. For schedule see http://theater.berkeley.edu 

Youth Musical Theater Company “Guys & Dolls” Fri.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m. Sun. at 3 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $6-$15. 595-5514. www.ymtc.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Abstract Paintings by Sibylle Szaggers opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Gallery hours are Wed.-Fri. noon to 7 p.m., and Sat. noon to 4 p.m. Exhibition runs to Nov. 30. 465-8928.  

“Terrorists, Aliens and Criminals” Graffiti Exhibit by Students from East Bay Schools, including Berkeley High School opens at 7 p.m. at Café Prism, 1918 Park Blvd., Oakland. Exhibit will remain on display until November 27. www.myspace. 

com/thebrownbuffaloproject 

“The Allure of Form” Works by Julie Alvarado, Scott Courtenay-Smith and Fernando Reyes. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St. at Telegraph., Oakland. Runs to Nov. 27. estebansabar.com 

“The Best of Boontling’s 2 Years” opening reception at 7 p.m. at Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Exhibition runs to Dec. 17. www.boontlinggallery.com 

Therese Brown: Photographs & Tarra Lyons: Paintings Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Mercury 20 Gallery, 25 Grand Ave. at Broadway, Oakland. Gallery hours are Thurs.-Fri. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sat. 1 to 5 p.m. mercurytwenty@gmail.com 

“Recycled Runway” Artist reception for Sandy Drobny and Daphne Ruff at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts Gallery, 550 Second St., Oakland. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Chris Baty, author of “No Plot? No Problem!” kicks off National Novel Writing Month at 7 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Wes “Scoop” Nesker and Perry Garfinkel on “Buddha or Bust: In Search of Truth, Meaning, Happiness and the Man Who Found Them All” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Organists Ann Callaway and Richard Mix Recital of works by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven at 11:15 a.m. at Saint David of Wales Catholic Church, 5641 Esmond Ave. at Sonoma, Richmond. 

“Side by Side” Dance by Dandelion Dance Theatre, Nina Haft, Randee Paufve, Sonja Del Waide, Laura Renaud-Wilson and Dancers at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12-$15. 925-798-1300.  

University of California Alumni Chorus will perform Mozart’s Mass in c minor at 8 p.m. in Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $6-$15. 642-3880. 

Skyflower Ensemble “Music from Germany: 1676-1720” at 8 p.m. at MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda. Donation $10. 528-1685. 

Snake Trio “New Directions in Jazz and Venezuelan Music” at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $15 at the door. 845-1350.  

Nathan Clevenger Quintet at 8 p.m. at 1510 8th St., Oakland. Donation $5-$15. sfjazzmusic@yahoo.com 

Hecho in Calfias Festival Ni de aqui, ni de alla. An evening of poetry, music and theater by and about immigrant communities at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Woman Sing the Dharma, Western musical setting of Buddhist teachings with Betsy Rose, Jennifer Berezan and Eve Decker at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley Ave. Suggested donation $18. 525-7082.  

The Moscow Circus at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“...and Words by Barry Warren,” a vocal jazz concert showcasing Barry’s lyrics to music by great jazz composers with Barry Warren and the Larry Dunlap Trio at 8 p.m. at Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. Tickets are $15. 843-2459. 

Eric Swinderman Group at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Shotwell 25 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Orixa and Mucho Axe, Dia de los Muertos Festival, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Tickets are $10-$12. 525-5054.  

John Reischman & the Jaybirds at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Zoe & Dave Ellis’ “Zadell” at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Shelly Doty, Green & Root, Carrie Katz at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Plum Crazy, 7th Direction at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

The Mad Youth, Sueco at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Flip the Switch, Issue 10, Dan Potthast at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Dia de los Muertos with Santero and guests at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159.  

Sadao Watanabe with the Peter Erskine Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $25. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, NOV. 4 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Jerry Kennedy in a interactive sing along at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Contrasting Worlds” Three different perspectives on reality. Opening reception at 6:30 p.m. at The Stone Art Gallery, 600 50th Ave., Oakland. 536-5600. 

“Autumn: The Undertaker” featuring collected works from 5 local artists. Opening reception at 7:30 p.m. at Spasso Coffee House, 6021 College Ave. 428-1818. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Robert Greenfeld talks about “Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Katherine Min reads from her new novel “Secondhand World” at 3 p.m. at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. www.ewbb.com 

Bay Area Poets Coalition Open Reading, at 3 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 

“Side by Side” Dance by Dandelion Dance Theatre, Nina Haft, Randee Paufve, Sonja Del Waide, Laura Renaud-Wilson and Dancers at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12-$15. 925-798-1300.  

The Moscow Circus at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988.  

Trinity Chamber Concerts Howard Wiley’s Angola Project exploring the roots and legacies of African American prison spirituals, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

The Jason Moran Trio and the Vijay Iyer Quartet at 8 p.m. in Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Four Seasons Concerts with Rene Heredia, flamenco guitarist at 7:30 p.m. at Regents Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. Tickets are $35-$40.  

Carol Alban, flute, the Fluteville Flute Choir, and vocalist Alvenson Moore at 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. Benefit concert for In Defense of Animals. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale donation. www.myspace.com/carolalban 

Works in the Works Dance performance by Cherie Hill, Jeanne Disney, Linda Blair Dance Company and others at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studio, 2424 Eighth St. Tickets are $10 at the door. 527-5115. 

Hecho in Calfias Festival “We Got Issues” theater collective at 2 p.m. and “Mujeres de la frontera” at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Rene Heredia, Flamenco guitarist at 7:30 p.m. at Regents Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. Tickets are $35-$40. 601-7919. 

Stephanie Bruce & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Caribbean Allstars and Callaloo at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Sotaque Baiano, brazilian, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159. 

Stuart Rosh and Charlie Marvin at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Rachel Garlin, original folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Michelle Amador Duo at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373.  

Times 4 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Pat Nevins & Ragged Glory in a tribute to Neil young at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Blind Duck, traditional Irish music with Steven Donaldson & group at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473.  

Ellen Seeling’s “Deuce” at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Rafael Manriquez at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $12. 558-0881. 

Resistant Culture, A.D.T., Eskapo, Flatbush at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 5 

THEATER 

Hecho in Calfias Festival “Migritude” Shaija Patel’s one-woman show at 5 and 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle Guided tour at 12:15 p.m. in Gallery 2, Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

Eyewitness II Photography Exhibition and Auction Benefiting the Graduate School of Journalism, Center for Photography Preview at 11 am., Reception at 2 p.m., Auction at 3 p.m. at North Gate Hall, corner of Hearst and Euclid. Cost is $25. http://journalism.berkeley.edu/events/photoauction 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lunch Poems with Will Alexander at 12:10 p.m. in the Morrison Library, in the Doe Library, UC Campus. http://lunchpoems.berkeley.edu 

Gray Brechin and Richard Walker on “The Road to Serendip: A Scholar’s Discoveries in Urban Imperialism” at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum Theater, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

“California as Muse: The Art of Arthur & Lucia Mathews” A walk through the exhibition with curator Harvey L. Jones at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Seminar on Jade with Don Kay and Leore Mason at 2 p.m. at Christensen Heller gallery, 5829 College Ave., Oakland. 655-5952. 

Naomi Seidman talks about “Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation” at 6 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Angela Kraft-Cross, organist, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, Sanctuary, 2619 Broadway. Suggested donation $10. 444-3555. 

Volti “Baltic Traditions Now” at 4 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $8-$20 415-771-3352. www.voltisf.org 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and dancers from The SF Ballet School Trainee Program at 2 p.m. at Berkeley High School’s Little Theater, 1980 Allston Way. 415-248-1640. www.sfchamberorchestra.org  

“Blessed Rhythms” honoring Jacqui Hairston, with music by the KTO Project, Khalil Shaheed’s Oaktown Jazz Workshop, and the Voices of Praise at 5 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., at 27th, Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15, $5 for children under 12. 444-8511, ext. 15. www.artsfirstoakland.org 

Works in the Works Dance performance by Cameron Kelly, Rachel Leshaw, Liliana Sandoval and others at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studio, 2424 Eighth St. Tickets are $10 at the door. 527-5115. 

The Duo-Tones, surf music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

“Twang Cafe” with Three Mile Grade and Wee at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. All ages welcome. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Mariinsky Academy: Viktoria Yastrebova and Alexei Markov with pianist Larissa Gergieva at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

The Moscow Circus at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jazzschool Advanced Jazz Workshop performs at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Piano Trio Summit at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $18. 845-5373.  

California Friends of Lousiana French Music with Mes Bon Amis at at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jason Armstrong & Joe Kenny at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MONDAY, NOV. 6 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Actors Reaading Writers “A Literary Feast” works by M.F.K. Fisher, Alice B. Toklas and Monique Truong at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Free.  

Duncan McNaughton & Micah Ballard read at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Leonard Pitt reads from “A Small Moment of Great Illumination: In Search of Valentine Greatrakes, the Master Healer” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Last Word Poetry Series presents FrancEyE and Robert Lipton at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Bookstore, 2349 Shattuck Ave.  

Poetry Express featuring contributors to the East Bay lesbian anthology “What We Want From You” at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Freight Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Khalil Shaheed, all ages jam, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Scott Ammendola & Wil Blades Duo at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, NOV. 7 

EXHIBITIONS 

Wildlife Sculpture by Bob O’Neill opens at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park, and runs to Dec. 24. 525-2233. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Charles Mann describes “1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Del Sol String Quartet “Premieres Without Borders” featuring premieres by Reza Vali (Iran), Marc Blitzstein (USA), Jack Brody (New Zealand), and Eric Lindsay (USA) at 8 p.m. at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Post-concert discussion with the musicians and composers facilitated by Charles Amirkhanian, Executive Director of Other Minds. Tickets are $7-$20 at the door. 415- 831-5672. delsolquartet.com 

Sauce Piquante at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Catie Curtis, contemporary folk originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ellen Hoffman Trio and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca, Election Night Dance Party at 8 and 10 p.m. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 8 

EXHIBITIONS 

“At Thadeus Lake” by Sherri Martin, winner of the 2006 Kala Board Prize at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibition runs to Nov. 25. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

“The Black Panthers” Photographs by Stephen Shames and posters from the archives of Alden Kimbrough on display at the Oakland Asian Resource Gallery, 310 8th St., Oakland., through Nov. 30. 532-9692. 

FILM 

“Animated Enemies” Selected and introduced by film historian James Forsher at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“We Are the Earth” with David Suzuki at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $10-$12 at independendt bookstores. 415-255-7296, ext. 253. www.globalexchange.org 

Michael Wex will talk about “Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All its Moods” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

David Henkin discusses “The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth Century America” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

Poetry Flash with Elizabeth Arnold and Graham Foust at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College Auditorium, 2050 Center St. 525-5476. 

Jean Ellison, storytelling, at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

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

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with Takahashi & Imbrie, and an 85th birthday celebration of Andrew Imbrie, at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Musica Antiqua Koln, with Marijana Mijanovic, contralto, at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, Dana at Durant. Tickets are $48. 642-9988. 

The Atmos Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Akosua, Ghanaian-American singer-songwriter at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Red Archibald and the Internationals at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $7. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Orquestra America at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

J Soul at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Beep, jazz jam at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Free. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Catie Curtis, contemporary folk originals, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Cedar Walton Trio with guests Steve Turre and Vincent Herring, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $20-$24. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, NOV. 9 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Whitework Embroidery” at Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles, 2982 Adeline St. Runs through Feb. 5. Hours are Mon.-Sat. noon to 6 p.m. Free. lacismuseum.org 

Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle Guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. in Gallery 2, Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

THEATER 

Youth Musical Theater Company “Guys & Dolls” Thurs.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $6-$15. 595-5514. www.ymtc.org 

FILM 

“New Work by Gunvor Nelson” with filmmaker Gunvor Nelson at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove reading of “Voices of a People’s History of the United States” at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Community Theater, 1930 Allston Way, Berkeley High Campus. Benefit for the Middle East Children’s Alliance. Tickets are $25. 1-800-838-3006. 

Culinary Authors Read in a Benefit for the Center for Independent Living, with Bruce Aidells, Fran Gage and Peggy Knickerbocker at 6 p.m. at Ginn House, Preservation Park, 660 13th St. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. Tickets are $50-$60. 841-4776, ext. 153. 

Anna Moschovakis and Elizabeth Treadwell, poets, read from their latest work, at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Maragret Schaefer reads from her new translation of Arthur Schnitzler’s “Bachelors” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Bocalicious Spoken Word Swap Meet at 7 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Past, Post, and ... Now!” Mills College Repertory Dance Concert at 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. at Lisser Hall, Mills College, 5000 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland. Tickets are $12-$15. 430-2175. 

Jamie Laval with Ashley Broder, Celtic violin and mandolin, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Pete Yellin Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $9. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Rachel Sage, Joni Davis, DAnielle French at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

The Ramana Vieira Ensemble at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Push to Talk, The Attachments at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Jazz Mine at 6:30 p.m. at King Tsin Chinese Restaurant, 1699 Solano Ave. 525-9890.

50 YEARS OF GREAT ARTHOUSE CINEMA 

Pacific Film Archive kicks off a six-week retrospective of Janus Films, the premier U.S. distributor of foreign and classic arthouse cinema. Friday’s showings include Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows and Jules and Jim. 2575 Bancroft Way. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.  

THE ALLURE OF FORM  

Artists Julie Alvarado, Scott Courtenay-Smith and Fernando Reyes reveal the sensuality of the physical landscape and the human form. Their works are on display at the Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., Oakland, through Nov. 27. Opening reception Fri. Nov. 3 at 5 p.m. Gallery hours are Mon., Thurs., Fri., and Sat. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sun. noon to 6 p.m. www.estebansabar.com 

AFRICAN AMERICAN PRISON SPIRITUALS 

Howard Wiley’s Angola Project explores the roots and legacies of African American prison spirituals, as part of the Trinity Chamber Concert Series at 8 p.m. on Sat. Nov. 4, at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

ROOTS MUSIC COMES ALIVE AT TWANG CAFE 

Three Mile Grade, a Bay Area roots band with a repertoire spanning three centuries of music from the 1800s to their own ruminations on contemporary life, will bring their down-home music to the Twang Cafe at 7:30 p.m., Sunday. The Twang Cafe is a monthly Americana music series held the first Sunday of each month at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. www.twangcafe.com.

Oakland director Stanley Nelson will attend screenings tonight (Friday) at Shattuck Cinemas for his new film, Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple.  

It’s the harrowing tale of the Rev. Jim Jones, an Indiana outcast drawn to the preacher’s life, who founded a temple, moved it to the Bay Area, and then when trouble came in the form of public scrutiny and allegations of financial corruption and physical and sexual abuse, flew his flock to Guyana where he built Jonestown, a supposed utopia where he and his followers could live free of “persecution.”  

It’s a story that, to Northern Californians, may seem at once both familiar and mysterious, a story we may have lived through but one that has been clouded by myths, misconceptions and gallows humor over the ensuing decades. Nelson’s film brings much unseen footage and documentation to the tale, including footage of Jones in the pulpit, audio and film from inside the Jonestown camp in Guyana, and even footage from the fateful day when Jones ordered the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan.  

Rep. Jackie Speier, aid to Ryan at the time, took a bullet that day and tells her story in one of the film’s many compelling and deeply emotional interviews. The footage from the assault was photographed by a cameraman who lost his life during the episode, essentially recording his own death. 

Other victims and followers of Jones tell their tales, candidly, passionately, tearfully and even at times with humor. It is a tribute to Nelson and co-producer Noland Walker that these people, after all they have gone through, are so comfortable before the camera.  

“For many, this was their best chance to talk to someone who would listen,” Nelson told the Daily Planet. Jim Jones, Jr. is one of the participants. He discusses the mixed feelings he still harbors for his infamous father. “This is the man who took him out of an orphanage,” Nelson says, “who taught him to shoot a basketball, who taught him how to read.” Yet he was also the manipulative megalomaniac who led 900 people to their deaths, a fate his son only survived by chance, having absented himself to play in a basketball tournament that day. 

It’s a gruesome tale and a difficult one to relive. It is Elmer Gantry come to life, only more violent and pathological, the sunglasses-clad rock star/preacher taking advantage of the vulnerability of people in need, of starry-eyed optimists looking for a home, for community, for friendship and love. “People’s Temple grew and became successful by promising many things and delivering on those promises: an integrated community, care for the elderly and social activism,” says Nelson. 

“If you want to see me as your father, I’ll be your father,” Jones told his flock. “If you want me to be your god, I’ll be your god.” He would be their Charon as well, whether they asked for it or not, shepherding them across international borders to a commune that would serve as their prison and as their graveyard.  

Nelson uses no narration to lead us through his film. Instead he allows his subjects to tell the story in their own words. And he provides never-before-heard audio of People’s Temple, final days, recently declassified by the CIA, in which a woman challenges Jones’ order to drink the poisoned Kool-Aid. Jones can be heard pleading with his followers. “Don’t be like this,” he says and assures them they are just “crossing over.” 

Nelson will attend one of the Friday evening screenings and will take questions and will be joined for the following screening by Jim Jones Jr. 

JONESTOWN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PEOPLE’S TEMPLE 

Directed by Stanley Nelson. Produced by Nelson and Noland Walker. Script by Walker and Marcia Smith. Photographed by Michael Chin. 85 minutes. Not rated. Playing at Shattuck Cinemas.

Quentin Tarantino once reminisced about the strange compliment that old master of maverick filmmaking, Sam Fuller, gave his heist film, Reservoir Dogs at an early screening. “So, you made that film about morons? That’s good; it’s been awhile since anyone’s made a film about morons.” 

That seemingly off-the-wall review could be applied to George Walker’s play, Criminal Genius, staged by TheatreFIRST at the Old Oakland Theatre. Walker’s savvy (and hilarious) take on a dysfunctional crime family—well, really a loopy menage operating out of a crummy motel—provides a rare glimpse into the very theatrical, imaginative yet worldly work of this accomplished Canadian playwright, who never fails to discover social dimension in the most solipsistic character’s comic soliloquies.  

Ironically, too, as TheatreFIRST artistic director Clive Chafer pointed out, it comes on the heels of a month-long run of Walker’s short plays on the UC campus. “Walker must be wondering about this sudden burst of interest in the East Bay!” he said. 

Non-violent father-and-son crime team Rolly (Soren Oliver) and Stevie (Mick Mize), holed up in the cheap motor lodge (glaring painting of an eagle aloft under the volcano hangs above the bedstead), find it hard to confront Phillie (John Sousa), the alcoholic motel clerk, who wants the 40 bucks they don’t have for another day’s stay, much less their hectoring boss Shirley (Amy Crumpacker), who wants to know why they haven’t torched the building she hired them to burn ... or even to communicate with each other without squabbling over everything. 

They are truly proud, however, of their trophy, proof of genuine malfeasance: a hostage, Amanda (Erin Carter), who turns out not only to be the daughter of the client who hired Shirley (who, of course, hired them), but her father’s antagonist—a driven, oddly charismatic figure who quickly reorganizes this little gang of losers, while recruiting sheets-to-the-wind Phillie to the cause, to follow her on a quixotic, ninja-like assault on daddy’s crime empire. 

The plot of this caper-gone-sideways veers all over the boards, concentrated within the four flimsy walls of the drive-in flophouse, constantly interrupted by all kinds of verbal (and physical) slapstick that keeps the characters convulsed—as well as the audience. 

Erin Gilley’s direction and the trouperish ensemble keep the jerky, idiosyncratic rhythms of Walker’s tale slouching onward towards its absurd Armageddon, each member of this little Wild Bunch putting in more than their two cents’ worth, over and over. Some of the syncopations and nuances aren’t quite there, yet; Walker’s Canadian comic idiom, wrangling over the most minute of discrepancies (think Doonesbury), hasn’t totally translated into Stateside-ese, but the lemming-like forward motion of the hellbent gang gains its dynamic as it goes, and it certainly does go. 

Valiant thespians TheatreFIRST have spent the past five weeks converting a former architectural office, removing cubicles and carpet, to a very serviceable performing space. It’s a pleasing addition to the nightlife of Oakland’s vigorous Old Town, across Broadway from Chinatown—an urbane East Bay treat. 

CRIMINAL GENIUS 

Presented by TheatreFirst at 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and at 3 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 19. Old Oakland Theatre, 481 Ninth St., Oakland. $19-$25. 436-5085. www.theatrefirst.com. 

The Del Sol String Quartet will present ‘Premieres Without Borders,’ pieces by the late Marc Blitzstein (famous for The Cradle Will Rock), New Zealander Jack Body, Persian-American Reza Vali and West Coast native Eric Lindsay, at 8 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 7 at the Ashby Stage. 

Composers Body, Vali and Lindsay will be in attendance, and a post-concert discussion will be lead by former KPFA programmer and founder of Other Minds festival Charles Amirkhanian. Admission is $20 ($15 seniors, $7 students); information: (415) 831-5672; delsolquartet.com 

Amirkhanian, commenting on the different pieces and composers, was particularly excited by Blitzstein’s 1930 “Italian String Quartet,” a virtually unknown, unpublished and professionally unplayed piece he discovered in the collection of manuscripts held by the composer’s estate. Blitzstein’s centennial was celebrated by Other Minds at last year’s festival. “He was the most politically active of the composers, like Bernstein, who were close to Copeland; he studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, who wrote on this manuscript, ‘Brilliant for strings!’” Amirkhanian said. “Blitzstein was called ‘The American Kurt Weill;’ his translation and arrangement of Three Penny Opera played on Broadway. And this piece, in four movements, is rich with humor and irony.” 

Jack Body, who teaches at the University of Wellington, was featured at Other Minds two years ago. “He’s always searching for unusual instrumentation,” Amirkhanian commented, “and travels a great deal in his musical studies. But he’s not just inspired by ethnic music, whether Indonesian or from New Guinea. He’s also looking for something extra. There’s always a quirky filip in whatever he does; true personality. He takes chances, always refining.” 

Body’s piece, “Epicycle,” was originally composed in 1989 for Kronos Quartet, but now features a new final movement, from 2004, that changes the whole work’s quality. Body called “Epicycle”: “A cycle within a cycle, a circular melody that generates slower melodies from within itself. The first section is a kind of auditory kaleidoscope.” The second section is inspired by traditional Korean music “to explore different styles of vibrato.” 

Reza Vali, born in Iran, now teaching at Carnegie Mellon, is represented by his “Nayshaboorak (Calligraphy # 6),” written for Del Sol, “based in a system far removed from European Equal Temerament,” according to Amirkhanian. It’s based on the Dastgah system, Nava mode, of ancient Persian music, polyphonically constructed. 

Eric Lindsay, from Puget Sound, now based in Los Angeles, is known for his vocal music, but wrote “Hopkin and the Wired Night” for Del Sol, after seeing the handwritten posters of a little boy trying to find his lost frog, which also provoked an internet phenomenon. 

“His music is lush, evocative, with unusual lines,” Amirkhanian said, “Completely inventive.” The composer remarked that the piece shows “rapid exchange and mutilation of musical ideas.” 

Del Sol Quartet was founded in 1992 and will be featured at the next Other Minds festival in San Francisco this December.  

The First Annual Buriel Clay Playwrights’ Festival will play all next week, Monday through Saturday evenings, Nov. 6-11 (Mon. at 7:30 p.m., Tues.-Sat. at 8 p.m.), at the African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton St. (at Webster) in San Francisco, featuring the work of local playwrights, as well as participants from Sacramento, Los Angeles and New York. 

Artistic director Robert Henry Johnson of RHJ Productions announced the line-up of plays and commented on them. His own Tiger in a Watermelon Field, “an ode to the 90s jazz scene ... with Hip-Hop all around, it’s ten love stories about young people interested in jazz,” opens the festival on Monday. Tuesday, eight one-act plays, on themes from “mundane trivialities ... to the imagined realities of post-apocalypsic society,” by Greg Beuthin, Mario Louis Gonzales, Nicole Henares, Helene Jarra, Julian Phillips and Shereel Washington will be featured.  

Etosha Moss’ When Moons Burst Like New Plums, explorations of “sexism and the black female body politic” in poetry recited by four black women, plays Wednesday; Anthony D’Juan’s The Purveyors on Thursday “is a tragedy in blackface, as a slave woman comes between the two partners of The Christy Minstrels.” Shakespeare’s Lost Masterpiece by Larry Americ Allen debuts Friday, as “a burnt-out white professor discovers a black homeless man unknowingly possesses a manuscript of The Bard’s.” 

Concluding the festival on Sat, actor Ben Guillory (The Color Purple) will direct Johnson’s Black Apple Murders, “a Thanksgiving psycho-thriller murder mystery set in New England in an old town of the first Pilgrims”  

The plays will be presented as “staged readings by professional actors rehearsed by professional directors,” in the theater named after Buriel Clay, San Francisco author and founder of the SF Black Writers Workshop, remembered for his insistence that arts should be funded in the neighborhoods, “which resulted in the creation of what’s now the African American Art and Culture Complex—and had repercussions all around the country.” 

The first two nights are free; Wed-Sat, a suggested $10 donation per show. Information and reservations: (415) 568-5371. 

During the first 75 years of the 20th century, West Berkeley was the location of many manufacturing plants that produced diverse products from vegetable oil to ink, and from huge hydraulic pumps to tanned hides. 

Cal Ink originated in 1891, in Los Angeles, as a subsidiary of Union Oil Company, and was sold to an E.L. Hueter of San Francisco in 1896. Sometime between 1900 and 1903, the company moved its manufacturing plant to West Berkeley, into buildings that had been part of the Raymond Tannery. In 1999 Cal Ink, now Flint Ink of Michigan, was the oldest factory in Berkeley operating at its original location. 

On the blocks bounded by Camelia, Gilman, Fourth, and Fifth streets, there were about twenty buildings dating from 1906 to 1978. The sprawling factory included manufacturing buildings, laboratories, storage tanks, and offices. 

Over the years, Cal Ink made almost every type of ink product, from a white ink for marking bees to perfumed ink used in advertising. The products developed and manufactured at this plant included: moisture-proof and heat-resistant inks, inks that resist scratching and oxidation, inks used for newspapers, magazines, boxes, bags, labels, and linoleum, plastic, steel, aluminum, airplane parts, and fabric. It is one of the largest suppliers of ink to the graphic arts industry. From time to time it produced many of the raw materials for ink, such as pigment colors and varnishes. An international company, it uses materials from all over the world including: drying oils from South America, shellac from India, pigments from Europe, and carbon and mineral oil from the United States. It then exports its various inks around the world. During World War I, Cal Ink developed and produced the first “Litho Red” ink made in the United States. 

After 1919, the company changed ownership several times, merging with or buying other companies, and occasionally creating subsidiaries. Today the company is a division of the Flint Ink Company of Detroit. Although ink was still being made at this location in 1999, portions of the complex have been sold and some buildings demolished. 

This article was originally published Sept. 29, 2001 in the Berkeley Daily Planet. 

California Ink Co. Industrial Site 

1326–1404 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 

The California Ink Co. Industrial Site was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark on 17 Nov. 17,1986. 

Photograph by Daniella Thompson  

The California Ink Co. Industrial Site, 1326–1404 Fourth St., was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark on Nov. 17, 1986. 

I was working with a couple of young volunteers from UC’s redoubtable Habitat for Humanity group last weekend when one of them exclaimed, “Yuck! I found a worm.” 

Said worm was firmly ensconced in its burrow in the hard dry clay and I couldn’t pick it up to move it, so I advised the volunteer to weed on down the row and let the critter go on about its work. 

I’m not the daintiest woman in Berkeley, but I can remember feeling that way about worms. That was a very long time ago, longer than my co-weeder has been alive. I think I slugged Joey Williams when he presumed to chase me with a worm. I wasn’t really invincible in kindergarten—I quit playing Kill ‘Em, a sort of all-on-one neighborhood football, when somebody tore my favorite shirt in an illegal maneuver—but I had some years when I felt more akin to the poor worms.  

Some of us got our empathy with earthworms when our parents read Lowly Worm to us; some of us, like my lab partner, were still squeamish when we had to dissect earthworms in high school. 

I really hated the sound and feel of the scalpel when it cut the worm’s skin, though it was the formaldehyde that made me gag. Poor worm indeed. 

Gardeners learn to get along with worms even if we don’t find then cuddly. Like spiders and such predators, they’re on our side and we’d better appreciate their work. It’s reassuring to find them in the soil and the compost bin.  

In fact, as I mentioned last week, you can get specialized worm-composting bins for small spaces. When you run them right, they don’t stink even a little—I’ve seen one folk-art painted worm composter that doubled as its owners’ coffee table, and back when I was doing hard time at the Ecology Center there was a desktop composter – originally a card file—that was used as a demonstrator and squeal-inducer. 

Charles Darwin’s last book was about earthworms, which he studied and reported on with his typical exhaustive, careful attention. It would be fair to say he exalted the humble:  

The plough is one of the most ancient and most valuable of mans inventions; but long before he existed the land was in fact regularly ploughed, and still continues to be thus ploughed by earth-worms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures. 

“Lowly” here is the antonym of “highly,” not any status designation.  

Recently, a close relative of the Willamette earthworm (thought extinct) was discovered in the Palouse Valley. I’m thrilled. I now have hope of meeting this creature, which can reach three feet in length and smells of lilies. 

There’s one in Australia, the Gippsland earthworm, that reached ten feet, and I’m sure would make a nice quiet pet. Maybe someday I’ll go back to Pennsylvania and chase Joey Williams with one.  

There’s an old saying ... “Da Nile ain’t just a river in Egypt.” No, denial is alive and well right here in the Bay Area.  

We are told that about 85 percent of people in the bay area are unprepared for a major quake (I think that’s conservative), and that over 150,000 homes will be uninhabitable when the Hayward fault ruptures. 

At least the people in New Orleans knew Katrina was coming and most had a chance to get out. The big difference is that we don’t know when the Big One is coming, but we do know that it’s inevitable. We will have no notice.  

What’s wrong with us? Don’t we care about our own safety, our children’s safety, the safety of our elderly and disabled?  

Is your home adequately retrofitted? Furniture and appliances secured? Emergency kit ready? Automatic gas shut-off valve installed?  

No? What are you thinking? Do it now! 

Larry Guillot is owner of QuakePrepare, an earthquake consulting, securing, and kit supply service. Call him at 558-3299, or visit www.quakeprepare.com.

The construction world is in love with novelty. Every year, trade shows display the latest inventions and materials with promises of low cost, easy installation and life-long service. Of course, these things never turn out to be as true as presented and the buyer must always beware.  

I’m an old fashioned guy and I tend to like the time-tested and proven-by-abuse. I figure that if something can go wrong it will (Call me Murphy). That might make me a cynical crank (probably true) but it also makes me a great shopper. That’s another thing. I hate to do anything twice or to spend money on something that turns out to be a boondoggle. And so, with all of this in mind, let us turn, dear reader, to the latest in a seemingly endless series of new materials that may be causing unforeseen problems. 

This one is actually quite old and valuable in many ways but not without some serious concerns. It’s what I call Poisonwood and the industry calls Pressure-treated wood. Your house may contain some and if it does there are a few things that are good to know. If you’re building a house now or in the future, it’s a really good issue to explore since it’s being used widely in construction today and presents some special issues. 

Pressure-treated woods are used in places where fungal decay or insect consumption is at its highest. These places include ground contact or contact with damp concrete such as where the bottom of your house meets the foundation. This “mudsill,” which bolts to the foundation is now often made of pressure-treated wood.  

Many decks are built using this material as well, although I generally see it being used for the understructure and not the visible top components. In some parts of the country, foundations are actually made from this material alone (instead of a concrete footing) and other structures that may experience dampness can also be built or repaired using this innovative material. Actually, pressure treatment of woods isn’t all that new. Processes still used today go all the way back to the 1830’s and many other processes were developed around the turn of the last century.  

Materials used include copper (most methods involve copper in some form), ammonia, chromium and arsenic. Arsenic-containing compounds are used less today as a result of voluntary changes in the industry based on EPA studies that found elevated levels of arsenic in soils near construction (ergo my rather nasty term-poisonwood).  

There have also been concerns about workers sawing or handling these woods. CCA (chromated copper arsenate) isn’t used widely any longer as a result of the studies I just mentioned but can still be found in shingles, shakes, wooden foundations and some commercial construction.  

The most common form of PT (pressure-treated) wood seen today in the west is CA or Copper Azole. Although this seems somewhat healthier, there’s a fascinating thing happening with woods treated in this way …. they eat metal for lunch. This seems to have something to do with the copper/steel reaction that we also see with plumbing systems but the specific chemistry is beyond me.  

What I do know is that the lumber industry is aware, the hardware industry is concerned and a lot of contractors are not tuned in. I don’t blame the contractors. They’re busy cleaning up so that you’ll give them that progress payment on the kitchen remodel. It’s hard to stay current on all the issues. Also, the cities don’t seem too focused on the issue but then again, when inspectors have to see 20 houses in a day, how can they pay attention to new errata such as this. 

Here’s a little useful information on the issue and what you might want to do. First, take a look at your house with special attention to mud-sills, decking and other pieces of wood that are exposed to moisture. You’re looking for PT lumber and we’re going to look at the hardware connections. PT lumber tends to be greenish from the coppery treatments and can vary from light to dark. Some types of PT are bluish but you’re not likely to see those ones.  

Most PT has roller marks from a process called incising (like those front teeth of yours) in which the surface of the wood is punctured in longish slits that allow the chemical preservative to penetrate more deeply into the wood and help it to last longer. Most of what we’re protecting against in this process is fungus and there’s nothing dry about the rot that is eventually going to eat your stair stringer.  

When you find some of this wood, take a look at the hardware that holds it in place or keeps other things attached to it. Mudsills may be bolted down to a foundation and it’s worth looking at the bolts, washers (or square “bearing plates”) and nuts to see if they have a lot of visible corrosion. I’ve seen some relatively new construction in which the rust had grown prolifically in a short period and wondered if these connections were going to be providing much strength if an earthquake struck ten years from now. 

A bolt may have a great deal of excess thickness but a non-galvanized bearing plate may have long since become too thin and weak to do its job. My biggest concern with PT wood is for decks or balconies that are high enough to represent a falling hazard. I’d want to be sure that the hardware used for my 25’ high deck was really corrosion resistant and wouldn’t weaken over time. 

As I said, the industry is aware and has specific recommendations for hardware connections that involve use of PT wood. Hardware companies like the, ever astute, Simpson™ have gone further to provide analysis of the various levels of corrosiveness initiated by differing PT woods (there are at least 5 current methods of pressure treatment in use). They’ve also given us some special hardware to be used, such as their Z-max double galvanized hardware and stainless steel for the deeply worried. I’m just concerned enough so that I don’t want to see any conventional hardware or nailing being used connection pressure treated woods. I’ve seen the corrosion and I’m convinced that this is an issue that’s just beginning to present itself. Part of the reason for this is the change in formulations being used and part because PT wood is seeing much wider use than in the past. 

If your carpenter is using this wood, get them to wear a mask when they’re sawing and ask if they’re aware of the need for special hardware. These actions alone will be a good start but I’d like to take one more step and it’s a big step …. backward. 

Before PT woods were commonly being used, most settings that presented the same fungal propensities were addressed through the use of naturally pest resistant woods like Coastal Redwood. Although many of us have concerns about excessive cutting of Redwood, it is a fast growing tree that can be well forested and provide sustainable use (if the birthrate isn’t too out of control). It’s also non-toxic and very effective against both fungal damage and many insects (due to its tart, tannic taste). A good dense piece of Redwood heartwood can be quite effective and not lead to any discernable metal corrosion as the years roll by. 

If you want to spend big bucks on other fungally resistant woods, there is also the Western Red Cedar, Merbau, Huon Pine (used for building ships) and Ironbark, but you’ll only end up draining your bank account. So, If you’re building, talk to your contractor about these issues. I don’t think that pressure-treated woods are a bad choice any more than I think that an angiogram is a bad medical procedure. It’s just a matter of knowing what you’re getting and how best to proceed to get the good stuff and avoid the bad. 

Got a question about home repairs and inspections? Send them to Matt Cantor at mgcantor@pacbell.net.

FRIDAY, NOV. 3 

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 

Zen and the Art of Mushroom Hunting at 7:30 p.m. at Live Oak Recreation Center, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Field trip on Sun. Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sponsored by the Golden Gate Audubon Society. Cost for lecture and trip is $30-$40. To register call 843-2222.  

Climate Change Fair featuring screenings of “An Inconvenient Truth” at 7 and 9:15 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. 415-559-9500.  

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Mary Breunig on “News from the Castle.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

“Resisting Militarism” with speakers Carlos Mauricio, torture survivor, and Elizabeth Stinson, draft resistance organizer at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. Benefit for School of the Americas Watch. Suggested donation $15. 504-7522. 

Screening of “Iraq for Sale” A Robert Greenwald documentary at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Community Media, Studio A, 2239 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Free. 848-2288. 

Movies that Matter “Bowling for Columbine” at 6:30 p.m. at Neumayer Residence, 565 Bellevue St. at Perkins, Oakland. 451-3009.  

“Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., between Broadway and Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Children’s Hospital Outpatient Center Basement, 747 52nd St., Oakland. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 4 

Animals on the Move A short walk for the entire family to learn the locomotion and migration patterns of Park residents at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

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. 

“Bay-Friendly Gardening to Manage Pests Naturally” A workshop to learn about least-toxic methods for managing common garden pests, such as snails, slugs, aphids and yellow jackets, from 9 a.m. to noon at El Cerrito Community Center, 7007 Moeser, El Cerrito. 665-3546.  

“Natives Across the Americas” with performances by Medicine Warriors Dance Troupe, All Nations Singers and others, information and exhibits from noon to 5 p.m. in the West Auditorium, of the Oakland Public Library, at 125 14th St. 482-7844. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

“Solar Thermal and Electricity for Educators” A workshop on the global energy situation, the range of solar education projects, and how to address state curriculum standards with these projects. For teachers of grades 4-12. From 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at Rising Sun Energy Center , 2033 Center St. 665-1501 ext.13. www.risingsunenergy.org 

Sick Plant Clinic Dr. Robert Raabe, UC plant pathologist, and Dr. Nick Mills, UC entomologist will diagnose plant illnesses and recommend remedies. Bring a piece of the plant in a securely sealed container. From 9 a.m. to noon at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755. 

“Partnership Not Dominance” Workshop by international mediator and peace researcher Johan GALTUNG with Barbara Becnel from 1:30 to 6 p.m. at Neighborhood House of North Richmond 820 23rd St., Richmond. SUggested donation $10-$50. No one turned away for lack of funds. 232-4493. www.transcend.org  

Native American Heritage Month Celebration of culture featuring performances, Native American vendors and Indian tacos from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, 103 Kroeber Hall , UC Campus. 643-7649.  

Doggy Tune Up A three session workshop to learn coming when called, walking without pulling, no jumping on people, and stay, Sat. from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Grace North Church, 2128 Cedar St. Registration required. 849-9323. www.companyofdogs.com 

Parent Voices’ a grassroots, parent led and parent run organization that advocates for more affordable and quality child care for working families. meets at 10 a.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Register by calling 658-7353. www.bananasinc.org 

“Mad Sheep: The True Story Behind the USDA’s War on a Family Farm” book signing with author Linda Faillace at 11 a.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center St. at MLK Jr. Way. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org  

Bilingual Storytime Stories in English and Spanish for toddlers and preschoolers at 10:30 a.m. in the Edith Stone Room at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Writing Your Ethical Will A workshop to learn how to evaluate your life, harvest your wisdom and share your beliefs, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $35. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Produce Stand at Spiral Gardens Food Security Project from 1 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon St. 

Healing Power of Gratitude Workshop at 10 a.m. at Creating Harmony Institute, 828 San Pablo Ave., Suite 115C, Albany. Cost is $5. Registration required. 526-1559. 

Chi Kung, Guided Imagery from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. at John F. Kennedy University, Berkeley Campus, 2956 San Pablo Ave., 2nd Floor. 649-0499. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

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. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Yoga for Peace at 9:30 a.m. at Ohlone Park, MLK at Hearst. Bring a yoga mat, warm blanket, and peace sign.  

Spiritwalking: Aqua Chi(TM) at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Also Wed. at 3:30 p.m. Cost is $5.50, $3.50 seniors & disabled. Bring your own towels. 526-0312. 

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, NOV. 5 

Purr-casso Art Sale and Gala Cat themed art sale featuring decorative, wearable, and functional art pieces celebrating our feline friends, from noon to 5 p.m. at Hollis Street Project, Grand Hallway, 5900 Hollis St, Emeryville. Benefit for the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. 845-7735 ext. 13. www.berkeleyhumane.org  

Turtle Time Meet the turtles of the Tilden Nature Area, learn the difference between native and non-native and much more at 11a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Hike to Sindicich Hike under diverse oak woodlands to the Sindicich Lagoon to look for dragonflies, newts and nymphs. Bring lunch for this four-mile hike. Meet at the Bear Creek Staging Area of Briones at 11 am. 525-2233. 

Open Garden at the Little Farm Join the gardener for composting, planting, watering and harvesting at 2 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Rain cancels. 525-2233. 

African/African Diaspora Film Society presents “Aristide and the Endless Revolution” at 2 p.m. at Parkway Speakeasy Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $5. www.parkway-speakeasy.com 

Afghan Friends Network presentation on the history of Afghanistan, a discussion about women’s rights, and information about the programs of the Afghan Friends Network with Elsie De Laere and Humaira Ghilzai at 2 p.m. at the Albany Library. 526-3720, ext. 16. 

Autumn in Asia Garden Tour at 10 a.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $8-$12. Registration required. 643-2755, ext. 03. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Yiddish Films: The Dybbuk at 3 p.m. at JCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

“Stealing America: Vote by Vote” Documentary screening at 7 p.m. in Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St. Free.  

IRV Peace Meet-up and Rally at 1:30 p.m. at Splashpad Park, LakeShore and Grand Ave., Oakland. 644-1303. 

Harmony Center Open House from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Oakland Veteran’s Hall, 200 Grand Ave. at Harrison St. 451-3009 http://joyfulharmony.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 

Kickabout at Codornices Park Soccer for all, skill and talent not required. For more information contact cambour@hotmail.com  

Tibetan Buddhism with Erika Rosenberg on “Eastern Wisdom Meets Western Psychology” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, NOV. 6 

“Acting Locally Against Global Warming” with Tom Kelly of Kyoto USA on local efforts to lessen global climate change, at 7 p.m. at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin. 848-9358. 

“Nonviolent Resistance in Palestine & Lebanon” Panel discussion with returning volunteers of the International Solidarity Movement at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Hall, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. Suggested donation $5-$10, no one turned away.  

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets at 6 p.m. at the Oakland YWCA, 1515 Webster St. The speakers will be Ms. Sara Mostafavi and Ms. Christine Stouffer, both immigration lawyers practicing in Berkeley, on the particular immigration problems women face. 287-8948. 

“Beyond Conception: Men Having Babies” documentary about a gay male couple, an egg donor, and a lesbian surrogate building a modern family, at 6:30 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Registration required. 658-7353.  

East Bay Atheists will show the conclusion of Richard Dawkins’ video “Root of All Evil” at 1:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd Flr. 222-7580. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers from noon to 1 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people aged 60 and over meets at 9:45 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Donation $3. 524-9122. 

TUESDAY, NOV. 7 

Remember to Vote Today 

“Let’s Go Vote” Voting activities for children from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

Torture Teach-in and Vigil every Tues. at 12:30 p.m. at the fountain on UC Campus, Bancroft at College. 

“Legacy: Portraits of 50 Bay Area Environmental Elders” with author John Hart and photographer Nancy Kittle at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

“Sacred Sites in Changing Landscapes: Shamans and Commercial Shrines in the Republic of Korea” with Dr. Laurel Kendall of the American Museum of Natural History, New York, at 7 p.m. in the Ges Chapel, 1735 LeRoy Ave. 649-2440. 

“Japan Remodeled: How Government and Industry Are Reforming Japanese Capitalism” with Steven K. Vogel, Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley at 5 p.m. at IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Flr. 642-2809. 

Discipline Strategies that Really Work with Young Children at 6 p.m. at Habitot Children’s Museum. Registration required. 647-1111, ext. 14. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at UC Berkeley Tau Beta Pi, on Leroy, between Hearst and Ridge. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.  

Discussion Salon on Immigration at 7 p.m. at JCC, 1414 Walnut.  

Enhancing Immunity, from chicken soup to echinacea at 1 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm.524-9992. 

Handbuilding Ceramics Class from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at St. John’s Senior Center, 2727 College Ave. Free, except for materials and firing charges. 525-5497. 

Albany Library Homework Center is open from 3 to 5 p.m., for students in third through fifth grades. Emphasis is placed on math and writing skills. 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720 ext 17. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 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. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 8  

“How We Stopped The War” and “The Vietnam Experience” two films presented by Country Joe McDonald at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. Cost is $5-$10. 644-6893. www.berkeleyartcenter.org 

“We Are the Earth” An evening with David Suzuki at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $12 advance, $15 door. 415-255-7296, ext. 244. www.kpfa.org 

“Bi-National State or Jewish State?” with Prof. Joseph Heller, at 7:30 p.m. at Morrison Library, UC Campus. Sponsored by the Magnes Museum. 549-6950. 

“Post 9/11: A Students’ Perspective” at 6 p.m. at FSM Café at Moffitt Library, UC Campus. 643-7742. 

“Transit of Mercury” as it crosses in front of the face of the sun from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $7-$13. 336-7300. www.chabotspace.org 

“All About Osteoporosis and Why We Fall” at 10 a.m., followed by additional workshops at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave., Suite 104. To register please call 558-7800. 

Chosing Infant Care A workshop for parents from 10 a.m. to noon at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. To register call 658-7353. 

Dream Workshop at 1 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

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. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

New to DVD “Adaptation” at 7 p.m. at the JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

THURSDAY, NOV. 9 

“Voices of a People’s History of the United States” Narration, reading or singing by Alice Walker, Sandra Oh, Steve Earle, Aya de Leon, Leslie Silva, Marisa Tomei, John Trudell, Howard Zinn, Anthony Arnove, Melanie DeMore, Nora el Samahy at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley High campus, 1930 Allston Way. Tickets are $25-$150. Benefits Middle East Children's Alliance and Speak Out. 1-800-838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5473 

“Gathering and Publishing Your Neighborhood History” with authors William Wong (Oakland's Chinatown), Erika Mailman (Oakland Hills), and Annalee Allen (Selections from the Oakland Tribune Archives and co-author of Oakland Postcards) at 7:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. Oakland. Donation $8-$10. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org  

Center for Independent Living Fundraiser with reception and readings by culinary authors, Bruce Aidells, Fran Gage and Peggy Knickerbocker at 6 p.m. at Ginn House, Preservation Park, 660 13th St. at Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. Tickets are $50-$60. 841-4776, ext. 153. 

“Comparing the Buddhisms of East and Southeast Asia: A World Historical Perspective” with John McRae of The University of Tokyo at 5 p.m. at IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St., 6th Flr., 643-6536.  

WriterCoach Connection seeks volunteers to help students improve their writing and critical thinking skills. Training session from noon to 3 p.m. For information call 524-2319.  

Workshops for Seniors Effective Estate Planning at 10 a.m. at Center for Older Adult Services, 828 San Pablo Ave., Suite 104. To register please call 558-7800. 

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.  

ONGOING 

Albany-Berkeley Girls Softball League Free Clinics Oct. 29- Nov. 6 in Berkeley, for girls in grades 1-9. For details see www.abgsl.org or call 869-4277. 

Volunteer at Emerson Elementary School Come anytime Mon.-Thurs. from 8:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. For details call 883-5247. 

Each One Teach One Mentoring Program of the Oakland Unified School District is curbing student absenteeism, decreasing suspensions and increasing student participation with the help of volunteer mentors like you. For more information call 495-4010, 495-4011.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon. Nov. 6, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Nov. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jane Micallef, 981-5426.  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Nov. 8, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7484.  

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Nov. 8, at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 981-4950. 

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs., Nov. 9, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5428.  

Mental Health Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at 2640 MLK Jr. Way, at Derby. 981-5213.  

West Berkeley Project Area Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 9, at 7 p.m., at the West Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7520. 

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Nov. 9, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. 981-7410.  

TUESDAY, OCT. 31 

FILM 

Alternative Visions “Experiments in Terror” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Tell It On Tuesday Storytelling by Julia Jackson, Sandra Niman, Kikelomo Adedeji and Steve Budd at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Cost is $8-$12. www.juliamorgan.org 

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Balkan Halloween Masquerade, songs from the Greek underworld and beyond at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10, $8 with costume. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Singers’ Open Mic with Ellen Hoffman at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Dia De Los Muertos Celebration with Anthony Blea y su Charanga at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Come in costume. Cost is $10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 1 

THEATER 

Gate Theatre of Dublin “Waiting for Godot” Wed.-Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $65. 642-9121. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Karl Reichley “Harvest Works” Paintings and Sculpture at the Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremeont Ave. through Nov. 30. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

FILM 

“Morality, Politics and War” selected and introduced by film historian James Forsher at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Anthony Shadid, Washington Post correspondent, talks about his new book, “Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War” at 8 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Alexei Yurchak introduces “Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. 

Hecho in Calfias Festival Madrinas and Padrinos of Hecho, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Eastern European Artists-in-Residence Artists Talk with Kalin Serapionov and Aleksandra Janik at 7 p.m. in the Kala Gallery, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977. 

Peter Stone discusses “Heist: Superlobbyist Jack Abramoff...” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 415-559-9500.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Wednesday Noon Concert, with performances from the Graduate Composition Seminar at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Yefim Bronfman, piano, Gil Shaham, violin and Lynn Harrell, cello at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $30-$52. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Calvin Keys Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Chocolate O’Brian at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Whiskey Brothers Old Time and Bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Afrissippi, world boogie, African blues at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $9. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Dreamdate, Scrabble, The Scattered Pages at 8 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Humbria, at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Casey Neill & Jim Page at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kenny Rankin, in a solo show at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, NOV. 2 

THEATER 

Albany High School Theater Ensemble “Pretend-O-Cide” Thurs. at 7 p.m., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Albany High School Little Theater, 603 Key Route Blvd, Albany, through Nov. 11. Tickets are $5-$10. www.myspace.com/ahsuburoi 

Azeem’s “Rude Boy” opens and runs Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way, through Nov. 25. Tickets are $15-$22. 415-826-5750.  

EXHIBITIONS 

Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle Guided tour at 12:15 p.m. in Gallery 2, Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

FILM 

“Jean Renoir, The Boss” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free first Thursday. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Architecture of Ratcliff” with Woodruff Minor, author, and Kiran Singh, photographer, at 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

Mal Sharpe talks about life as an “imposter” and his CD/DVD “These 2 Men Are Imposters” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Murray Silverstein, poet, at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720 ext 17. 

Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld talk about translating from ancient and contemporary Hebrew, at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film” A multimedia presentation by music historian Richie Unterberger at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

St. Mark’s Choir Association performs Requiem by Jacob Clemens non Papa at 7:30 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. 845-0888. 

University Chamber Chorus Music for All Soul’s Day at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. Free.  

Dia de los Muertos Benefit Concert for the Zapatistas, featuring Fuga, Los Nadies, La Plebe at 7 p.m. at 2232 MLK, Oakland. Cost is $8 - $20 sliding scale. www.2232mlk.com 

Fikir Amlak, Red Meditation, Binghi Ghost, Luv Fyah, reggae, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

John Schott’s Dream Kitchen + 3, the music of Jelly Roll Morton with Suzy Thompson, Bob Mielke and Richard Hadlock at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Hecho in Calfias Festival From Folclorico to fusion at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Max Perkoff Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $7. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

System 3, Burnt at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. 

That Man Fantastic, Music Lovers, French Disco at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Jazz Mine at 6:30 p.m. at King Tsin Chinese Restaurant, 1699 Solano Ave. 525-9890. 

Kenny Rankin, in a solo show at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Showtime @ 11 Hip Hop at 10 p.m. at the Golden Bull, 412 14th St. at Broadway, Oakland. 893-0803. 

FRIDAY, NOV. 3 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Hedda Gabler” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. through Nov. 18 at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman. Tickets are $12. 525-1620. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Albany High School Theater Ensemble “Pretend-O-Cide” Thurs. at 7 p.m., Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Albany High School Little Theater, 603 Key Route Blvd, Albany, through Nov. 11. Tickets are $5-$10. www.myspace.com/ahsuburoi 

Altarena Playhouse “Merrily We Roll Along” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St, Alameda, through Nov. 12. Cost is $15-$18. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Aurora Theatre “Ice Glen” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through Dec. 10. Tickets are $38. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Azeem’s “Rude Boy” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way, through Nov. 25. Tickets are $15-$22. 415-826-5750. www.themarsh.org 

Berkeley Rep “Passing Strange” at the Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. through Dec. 3. Tickets are $45-$61. 645-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org 

Central Works “Andromache” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. through Nov. 19. Tickets are $9-$25. 558-1382. 

Gate Theatre of Dublin “Waiting for Godot” Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. at the Roda Theater, 2025 Addison St. Tickets are $65. 642-9121. 

Masquers Playhouse “Company” by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through Dec. 16.. Tickets are $18. 232-4031. www.masquers.org  

Shotgun Players “Love is a Dream House in Lorin” by Marcus Gardley, inspired by true stories of Berkeley’s historic Lorin District, Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Nov. 12. Sliding scale $15-$30. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

TheatreFirst “Criminal Genius” Thurs.-Fri. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m. at Old Oakland Theatre, 481 Ninth St., at Broadway, Oakland, through Nov. 19. Tickets are $19-$25. 436-5085. www.theatrefirst.com 

UC Dept. of Theater “Suburban Motel” six plays by George Walker at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Campus, through Nov. 19. Tickets are $8-$14. For schedule see http://theater.berkeley.edu 

Youth Musical Theater Company “Guys & Dolls” Fri.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m. Sun. at 3 p.m. at Longfellow Middle School, 1500 Derby St. Tickets are $6-$15. 595-5514. www.ymtc.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Abstract Paintings by Sibylle Szaggers opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Gallery hours are Wed.-Fri. noon to 7 p.m., and Sat. noon to 4 p.m. Exhibition runs to Nov. 30. 465-8928.  

“Terrorists, Aliens and Criminals” Graffiti Exhibit by Students from East Bay Schools, including Berkeley High School opens at 7 p.m. at Café Prism, 1918 Park Blvd., Oakland. Exhibit will remain on display until November 27. www.myspace. 

com/thebrownbuffaloproject 

“The Allure of Form” Works by Julie Alvarado, Scott Courtenay-Smith and Fernando Reyes. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St. at Telegraph., Oakland. Runs to Nov. 27. estebansabar.com 

“The Best of Boontling’s 2 Years” opening reception at 7 p.m. at Boontling Gallery, 4224 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Exhibition runs to Dec. 17. www.boontlinggallery.com 

Therese Brown: Photographs & Tarra Lyons: Paintings Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Mercury 20 Gallery, 25 Grand Ave. at Broadway, Oakland. Gallery hours are Thurs.-Fri. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sat. 1 to 5 p.m. mercurytwenty@gmail.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Chris Baty, author of “No Plot? No Problem!” kicks off National Novel Writing Month at 7 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Wes “Scoop” Nesker and Perry Garfinkel on “Buddha or Bust: In Search of Truth, Meaning, Happiness and the Man Who Found Them All” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Organists Ann Callaway and Richard Mix Recital of works by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven at 11:15 a.m. at Saint David of Wales Catholic Church, 5641 Esmond Ave. at Sonoma, Richmond. 

“Side by Side” Dance by Dandelion Dance Theatre, Nina Haft, Randee Paufve, Sonja Del Waide, Laura Renaud-Wilson and Dancers at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12-$15. 925-798-1300.  

University of California Alumni Chorus will perform Mozart’s Mass in c minor at 8 p.m. in Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $6-$15. 642-3880. 

Skyflower Ensemble “Music from Germany: 1676-1720” at 8 p.m. at MusicSources, 1000 The Alameda. Donation $10. 528-1685. 

Snake Trio “New Directions in Jazz and Venezuelan Music” at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $15 at the door. 845-1350.  

Nathan Clevenger Quintet at 8 p.m. at 1510 8th St., Oakland. Donation $5-$15. sfjazzmusic@yahoo.com 

Hecho in Calfias Festival Ni de aqui, ni de alla. An evening of poetry, music and theater by and about immigrant communities at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Woman Sing the Dharma, Western musical setting of Buddhist teachings with Betsy Rose, Jennifer Berezan and Eve Decker at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley Ave. Suggested donation $18. 525-7082.  

The Moscow Circus at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

“...and Words by Barry Warren,” a vocal jazz concert showcasing Barry’s lyrics to music by great jazz composers with Barry Warren and the Larry Dunlap Trio at 8 p.m. at Jazzschool, 2087 Addison St. Tickets are $15. 843-2459. 

Eric Swinderman Group at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Orixa and Mucho Axe, Dia de los Muertos Festival, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Tickets are $10-$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

John Reischman & the Jaybirds at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Shotwell 25 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Zoe & Dave Ellis’ “Zadell” at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Shelly Doty, Green & Root, Carrie Katz at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Plum Crazy, 7th Direction at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $6. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

The Mad Youth, Sueco at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Flip the Switch, Issue 10, Dan Potthast at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Dia de los Muertos with Santero and guests at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7. 548-1159.  

Sadao Watanabe with the Peter Erskine Trio at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $25. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, NOV. 4 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Jerry Kennedy in a interactive sing along at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Contrasting Worlds” Three different perspectives on reality. Opening reception at 6:30 p.m. at The Stone Art Gallery, 600 50th Ave., Oakland. 536-5600. 

“Autumn: The Undertaker” featuring collected works from 5 local artists. Opening reception at 7:30 p.m. at Spasso Coffee House, 6021 College Ave. 428-1818. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Robert Greenfeld talks about “Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698.  

Katherine Min reads from her new novel “Secondhand World” at 3 p.m. at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350. www.ewbb.com 

Bay Area Poets Coalition Open Reading, at 3 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 

“Side by Side” Dance by Dandelion Dance Theatre, Nina Haft, Randee Paufve, Sonja Del Waide, Laura Renaud-Wilson and Dancers at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12-$15. 925-798-1300.  

Trinity Chamber Concerts Howard Wiley's Angola Project exploring the roots and legacies of African American prison spirituals, at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864.  

The Jason Moran Trio and the Vijay Iyer Quartet at 8 p.m. in Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. Tickets are $32. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Four Seasons Concerts with Rene Heredia, flamenco guitarist at 7:30 p.m. at Regents Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. Tickets are $35-$40.  

Carol Alban, flute, the Fluteville Flute Choir, and vocalist Alvenson Moore at 7 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. Benefit concert for In Defense of Animals. Cost is $10-$20 sliding scale donation. www.myspace.com/carolalban 

The Moscow Circus at 2 and 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Works in the Works Dance performance by Cherie Hill, Jeanne Disney, Linda Blair Dance Company and others at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studio, 2424 Eighth St. Tickets are $10 at the door. 527-5115. 

Hecho in Calfias Festival “We Got Issues” theater collective at 2 p.m. and “Mujeres de la frontera” at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Rene Heredia, Flamenco guitarist at 7:30 p.m. at Regents Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd., Oakland. Tickets are $35-$40. 601-7919. 

Stephanie Bruce & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Caribbean Allstars and Callaloo at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $11-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Sotaque Baiano, brazilian, at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159. 

Stuart Rosh and Charlie Marvin at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Rachel Garlin, original folk, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Michelle Amador Duo at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$15. 845-5373.  

Times 4 at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Pat Nevins & Ragged Glory in a tribute to Neil young at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Blind Duck, traditional Irish music with Steven Donaldson & group at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473.  

Ellen Seeling’s “Deuce” at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810. 

Rafael Manriquez at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $12. 558-0881. 

Resistant Culture, A.D.T., Eskapo, Flatbush at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, NOV. 5 

THEATER 

Hecho in Calfias Festival “Migritude” Shaija Patel’s one-woman show at 5 and 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and His Circle Guided tour at 12:15 p.m. in Gallery 2, Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

Eyewitness II Photography Exhibition and Auction Benefiting the Graduate School of Journalism, Center for Photography Preview at 11 am., Reception at 2 p.m., Auction at 3 p.m. at North Gate Hall, corner of Hearst and Euclid. Cost is $25. http://journalism.berkeley.edu/events/photoauction 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lunch Poems with Will Alexander at 12:10 p.m. in the Morrison Library, in the Doe Library, UC Campus. http://lunchpoems.berkeley.edu 

Gray Brechin and Richard Walker on “The Road to Serendip: A Scholar’s Discoveries in Urban Imperialism” at 3 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum Theater, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

“California as Muse: The Art of Arthur & Lucia Mathews” A walk through the exhibition with curator Harvey L. Jones at 2 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Seminar on Jade with Don Kay and Leore Mason at 2 p.m. at Christensen Heller gallery, 5829 College Ave., Oakland. 655-5952. 

Naomi Seidman talks about “Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation” at 6 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Angela Kraft-Cross, organist, at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, Sanctuary, 2619 Broadway. Suggested donation $10. 444-3555. 

Volti “Baltic Traditions Now” at 4 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $8-$20 415-771-3352. www.voltisf.org 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and dancers from The SF Ballet School Trainee Program at 2 p.m. at Berkeley High School’s Little Theater, 1980 Allston Way. 415-248-1640. www.sfchamberorchestra.org  

“Blessed Rhythms” honoring Jacqui Hairston, with music by the KTO Project, Khalil Shaheed’s Oaktown Jazz Workshop, and the Voices of Praise at 5 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2501 Harrison St., at 27th, Oakland. Tickets are $10-$15, $5 for children under 12. 444-8511, ext. 15. www.artsfirstoakland.org 

Works in the Works Dance performance by Cameron Kelly, Rachel Leshaw, Liliana Sandoval and others at 7:30 p.m. at Eighth Street Studio, 2424 Eighth St. Tickets are $10 at the door. 527-5115. 

The Duo-Tones, surf music, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

“Twang Cafe” with Three Mile Grade and Wee at 7:30 p.m. at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. Cost is $5-$10. All ages welcome. 644-2204. www.epicarts.org 

Mariinsky Academy: Viktoria Yastrebova and Alexei Markov with pianist Larissa Gergieva at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

The Moscow Circus at 3 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $22-$42. 642-9988. www.calperfs.berkeley.edu 

Jazzschool Advanced Jazz Workshop performs at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Piano Trio Summit at 4:30 at the Jazzschool. Cost is $18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

California Friends of Lousiana French Music with Mes Bon Amis at at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jason Armstrong & Joe Kenny at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

MONDAY, NOV. 6 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Actors Reaading Writers “A Literary Feast” works by M.F.K. Fisher, Alice B. Toklas and Monique Truong at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Free.  

Duncan McNaughton & Micah Ballard read at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Leonard Pitt reads from “A Small Moment of Great Illumination: In Search of Valentine Greatrakes, the Master Healer” at 7:30 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

Last Word Poetry Series presents FrancEyE and Robert Lipton at 7 p.m. at Pegasus Bookstore, 2349 Shattuck Ave.  

Poetry Express featuring contributors to the East Bay lesbian anthology “What We Want From You” at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Freight Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Khalil Shaheed, all ages jam, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Scott Ammendola & Wil Blades Duo at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

The photograph by Ted Streshinsky, “People’s Park Riots, National Guard and Protester” (1969), depicts the brutality of the power structure. A threatening mass of steel-helmeted soldiers with bayonets drawn advances on a defenseless young girl, with her hair in a headband and clutching a newspaper. Walt Whitman once defined the role of poetry in the modern world as the “vivification” of facts, a reflection which certainly applies to this image of force against innocence. 

Among the photographs in the People’s Park section in the current exhibition is also a picture by Kathryn Ann Bigelow, “James Rector Killed.” Rector was an innocent bystander who was watching the turmoil from a nearby roof when he was killed by gunshots fired by Governor Ronald Reagan’s National Guard. 

The current show, a reprise of the 2001 exhibition, which was also the occasion of a fine catalogue with 20 essays by distinguished writers. The Berkeley Art Center is to be commended for bringing it back as it is certainly relevant at this time, when even more horrific actions would call for strong and passionate opposition. 

Consisting of numerous photographs, the show is an eloquent visual document of the turmoil and agitation in the Bay Area at a time, when, it can be said, history was changed. The exhibition is organized in sections, addressing Civil Rights, Black Power and the Black Panthers, Berkeley and the Free Speech movement, the Peace Movement, the Feminist Revolution, the Rise of Latino Power, Cesar Chavez and La Huelga, Queer Defiance, Native American Activism and the beginning of the Environmental Movement. Among other things, it demonstrates the close relationship between apparent opposite activities: political action and the hippie counterculture. But the latter, with its slogan “Make love, not war” was also political in its stance against conforming to a corrupt system. It was all related to the war in Vietnam. 

The many photographs by some of the finest photo-journalists of the time, George Elfie Ballis, Jeffrey Blankfort, Nacia Jan Brown, Richard Misrach, Stephen Shames, Michelle Vignes as well as Streshinsky and Bigelow, are works which provoke the viewer to look and gain new insight into the actions of a turbulent time. 

It is true that the political and cultural disruptions of those years caused a reactionary backlash, as the former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey said, “To me all the problems begin in the ’60s.” But Mr. Armey and his friend the Hammer, Tom Delay, are gone and it does appear as if the rightward swing of the pendulum has just about run its course. 

Photograph: “People’s Park Riots, National Guard and Protester” (1969) by Ted Streshinsky, part of The Whole World’s Watching at the Berkeley Art Center. 

If you consider yourself a cinephile, you’ve probably encountered the distinctive logo of Janus Films, a two-headed icon that resembles a weathered coin from some ancient civilization. And if you’ve seen that image on more than one occasion, you’ve probably come to associate it with a certain feeling, the feeling that something good is on the way, something challenging, something different, something relevant, and, if we can indulge a bit of stuffiness, Something Important. For Janus Films, for 50 years now, has come to symbolize all that is best in arthouse cinema, bringing classic foreign films to American audiences. 

Pacific Film Archive is doing its part to help Janus celebrate its golden anniversary as the preeminent distributor of arthouse cinema with a six-week series of classic films from its catalog, from seminal works of the French New Wave to the austere metaphysical ruminations of Ingmar Bergman to the psychological probings of Carl Dreyer. The series starts at 7 p.m. Friday with Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows and will be followed in December by a series of seven samurai classics from the Janus collection. 

Named for the two-headed Roman god of gates, doorways and beginnings, Janus Films grew out of the arthouse film movement of the 1950s. Founders Bryant Haliday and Cyrus Harvey ran the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Mass., originally a legitimate theater. But financial difficulties led them to cease live performances in 1952. Inspired by Henri Langlois’ Cinematheque francaise in Paris, they converted the theater to a cinema and began showing foreign and classic American films to enthusiastic crowds. One of the more popular programs the duo ran was a series of Humphrey Bogart films which ran during finals week at Harvard, establishing the “Bogie Cult,” where moviegoers dressed in costume and recited dialogue during screenings. 

Eventually Haliday and Harvey expanded with a second theater in New York before founding Janus in 1956. The fledging company took a chance on a relatively unknown Italian director by the name of Federico Fellini, purchasing the American rights to two of his films, neither of which proved a great financial success for Janus. However, in 1958 the distributors landed the rights to Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, which elevated the company’s profile if not its profits, and followed with Bergman’s Wild Strawberries, a financial success. The success of Strawberries allowed them to re-release The Seventh Seal, showing both films concurrently to big crowds and excellent reviews, and Janus was finally up and running, following soon with films by Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Juan Antonio Bardem and Michelangelo Antonioni. 

In the mid-’60s, the company became something of a victim of its own success. Major studios had taken notice of the public’s interest in foreign fare and began offering considerable sums for the rights to distribute the work of critical favorites like Bergman and Truffaut, cutting deeply into Janus’ niche market. 

Haliday and Harvey sold the company to theater critic and financier William Becker and documentary producer and television pioneer Saul Turell. The pair greatly expanded the company’s catalog, creating a “Gold List” of the most important films in international film history, tracking the legal rights to each film and securing licensing deals for as many of them as possible. The duo managed to secure the rights to such seminal works as Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion, the European films of Orson Welles, as well as Citizen Kane, and Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, firmly re-establishing Janus’ reputation at a time when film courses were cropping up at universities across the country and placing the company at the heart of another wave of the arthouse movement.  

In the 1980s, Janus partnered with video companies to further expand its reach, and in 1999 joined with the Criterion Collection, releasing high-end DVDs of films from the Janus catalog in editions which include informative and analytical supplemental features, such as commentary tracks (the first company to do so), documentaries and essays by the world’s foremost film critics and scholars. 

Today, another generation is holding the reins. William Becker’s son Peter is now president of the Criterion Collection and Saul Turell’s son Jonathan seves as managing director of Janus Films and chief executive officer of Criterion.  

“The company has adapted well to video,” says Becker, but the job is ongoing. The two have carried on their respective family traditions by ensuring that the collection adapts and thrives in a market that continues to undergo significant transformations. Each new format and distribution model requires further innovation to ensure that the Janus collection continues to be preserved, seen and appreciated. “These films need to be preserved and presented to new audiences,” Becker says.  

To celebrate its anniversary, Janus has struck new 35-millimeter prints for more than 30 of its finest films and made them available for a series of retrospectives showing around the country. Susan Oxtoby, senior film curator at Pacific Film Archive, has selected 16 of them to screen here in Berkeley. Her selection encompasses a wide array of the collection, providing a cross-section of the best of foreign film, balancing the selection by style and geography with films from France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Poland and the U.S.S.R., and of course the Japanese samurai films coming in December. 

The series amounts to “a history of world cinema,” says Oxtoby, allowing viewers to “dip into certain styles.” 

Most of the films in the PFA series are as yet unavailable on DVD. But some of the biggest titles among them are available from the Criterion Collection. In fact, Criterion is also joining in the celebration with the release of an impressive box set of DVDs. Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films contains 50 of Janus’ greatest films in one album, along with a book with notes on each film, as well as an introduction by film critic and historian Peter Cowie covering the history and influence of the distributor. Thirty years ago you would have to travel the world to see all these films, and now they only take up about six inches of shelf space. The complete set retails for $650 and is available at www.criterionco.com. The book can also be purchased separately for $65. 

50 YEARS OF JANUS FILMS 

Friday, Nov. 3 

7 p.m.: The 400 Blows (France, 1959) 

Dir: Francois Truffaut 

9 p.m.: Jules and Jim (France, 1961) 

Dir: Francois Truffaut 

Sunday, Nov. 5: 

4 p.m. The Earrings of Madame de…  

(Italy, 1953) 

Dir: Max Ophuls 

Friday, Nov. 10 

7 p.m.: Knife in the Water (Poland, 1962) 

Dir: Roman Polanski 

9 p.m.: Death of a Cyclist (Spain, 1955) 

Dir: Juan Antonio Bardem 

Sunday, Nov. 12 

3 p.m.: Day of Wrath (Denmark, 1943) 

Dir: Carl Dreyer 

5 p.m.: The Seventh Seal (Sweden, 1957) 

Dir: Ingmar Bergman 

Sunday, Nov. 19 

3 p.m.: Cléo from 5 to 7 (Francie, 1961) 

Dir: Agnes Varda 

Friday, Nov. 24 

7 p.m.: The Cranes Are Flying (U.S.S.R., 1957) 

Dir: Mikhail Kalatozov 

9 p.m.: Monika (Sweden, 1953) 

Dir: Inmar Bergman 

Sunday, Nov. 26 

3 p.m.: Kwaidan (Japan, 1964) 

Dir: Masaki Kobayashi 

Friday, Dec. 1 

7 p.m.: The Rules of the Game (France, 1939) 

Dir: Jean Renoir 

Saturday, Dec. 2 

5 p.m.: Beauty and the Beast (France, 1946) 

Dir: Jean Cocteau 

Friday, Dec. 8 

6:30 p.m.: Il Posto (Italy, 1961) 

Dir: Ermanno Olmi 

Saturday, Dec. 9 

5 p.m.: La Strada (Italy, 1954) 

Dir: Federico Fellini 

Saturday, Dec. 16 

8:15: The Organizer (Italy/France, 1963) 

Dir: Mario Monicelli 

Pacific Film Archive 

2575 Bancroft Way. 642-5249. 

bampfa.berkeley.edu

Francois Truffaut was one of the critics for Cahiers du Cinéma, the seminal French film journal of the 1950s and ’60s, and one of the founders of the Nouvelle Vague (the New Wave), the inconoclastic film movement of the mid-’50s. The critics were dissatisfied with contemporary French cinema, accusing it of having lapsed into complacency. They sought a new cinema, a personal, auteurist cinema, one that depicted real life with urgency and verisimilitude.  

But these weren’t your average armchair critics. These were men with the talent to back up their arguments. And Truffaut did just that.  

His first film, The 400 Blows, was a revelation. Truffaut examined the life of Antoine Doinel, a 13-year-old boy on the cusp of adolescence and adulthood, played by Jean-Pierre Leaud. It is one of cinema’s greatest portrayals of childhood and adolescence, full of humor, wit, sadness and beauty.  

Truffaut uses his locales masterfully. When Antoine and a friend ditch school, they venture to an amusement park, one whose charms they are beginning to outgrow. One scene shows them taking in a Punch ‘n’ Judy show, where children aged 5 or 6 sit in rapt attention while the two older boys sit in the back, leaning against a wall, jaded but without taking much pleasure in their jadedness, instead seeming to long for the simplicity of childhood.  

Antoine then tries out one of the park’s rides, what is sometimes today called the Gravitron, a circular room that spins until the customers are pinned to the wall. The world begins to hurdle by in mad rush for Antoine, the chaos and confusion of adolescence made concrete and dizzying.  

But perhaps the most famous image from The 400 Blows is the final frame, an ambiguous but powerful conclusion wherein Antoine, seeking escape and refuge, runs away across landscapes and along winding roads, through bushes and trees and finally to the sea, whereupon the frame freezes as Antoine turns from the sea to face the camera. Is it a dead end? Has he learned that he can run away from everything but not himself? Has he essentially quit running and turned to confront his life and his problems? Is it despair or is it epiphany? Or both? Truffaut’s genius was in capturing the essence of the dilemma, all too aware that solutions are much harder to come by. 

Photograph: Jean-Pierre Leaud in Francois Truffaut’s New Wave classic The 400 Blows.

“Do you play jazz? Do you play blues?” 

“Do you live in a windmill? Do you wear wooden shoes?” 

The European adventures of a black rock musician (based on his own experiences by singer-guitarist, now playwright Stew) cut loose from family, friends and church in L.A., but still in thrall to his self-image and the images others have of him, are acted out by a brilliant cast, as Stew himself sings, strums and talks it through in rhyme, with a stellar quartet backing him up: such is Passing Strange, now playing at Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage, on its way to New York’s Public Theater.  

Stew travels from an epiphany in church, where his mother drags him, but an epiphany about music; from joining the choir at the urging of a cute girl who’s heretofore ignored him, then being turned on and exhorted by the hip choirmaster to follow “St. Jimmy Baldwin” overseas; from a “one chord in unison” punk band, The Scare-O-Types, to writing his own songs, to a chorus of crackerbarrel incomprehension and gratuitous advice from his elder relations. 

The Youth (Daniel Breaker), Stew’s younger self, takes off to the Old World, finding himself a Black American curiosity in early ‘80s Amsterdam and Berlin, where he’s spontaneously put up, offered love and companionship, encouraged in his creativity and exposed to a new aesthetic and its verbiage, grilled about his politics. 

And he finds himself faking it, as all the while, The Mother (Berkeley native, sweet-voiced Eisa Davis) whose unconditional, but uncomprehending, love he brushed aside, waits for his return in an empty house. 

Interviewed by Rep dramaturg Madeleine Oldham, Stew denied the urge to write a play, much less a “rockin’ Broadway musical,” aspiring instead to stage “something that took the electricity of a rock show and merged it with the rock and roll potential that exists within theater.” 

There’s a rambling, wayward sense of that when the show opens, the electricity passing over from Stew and the band to the dynamic ensemble of players (de’Adre Aziza, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge and Rebecca Naomi Jones, as well as Breaker and Davis). Then the relentlessly linear, autobiographical plot begins to attain critical mass, over and over, as Stew deftly turns the tables, exposing The Youth’s self-absorption, as the caricatures he encounters turn out real folks, telling him, “I don’t want to be a song!”. And our young man abroad is caught clutching the bag of his own potential creativity, wanting recognition, but only on his own terms. 

It’s unusual for rock to be critical of youth (and youth culture), though there’s a kind of L.A. tradition that puts up the glitz and fractures it, from Frank Zappa and Randy Newman on ... and Stew acknowledges Gore Vidal, who’s scored “the self-pity of the young,” as icon (along with Bob Dylan, the later Coltrane, Bach, the Wagner of “The Ring,” Delta bluesman Charlie Patton, The Fall, Edward Albee and T. S. Eliot).  

But it’s a long show, though the cast puts over the unravelling string of routines nicely, with good staging by Annie Dorson, and choreography by Karole Armitage, as well as a set by David Korins that throbs with neon when in Europe, yet glimmers mutedly behind a dark, gauzy scrim in LA. 

Other rock ventures into narrative and drama have preserved the intensity while articulating a tale; The Who’s Qaudrophenia comes to mind, both “rock opera” and movie, thwarting the heaviness of autobio by projecting the story onto a disaffected fan who belonged to the defunct scene the group rocketed out of to success. Instead of an episodic odysssey, The Who focused on an episode, a vicarious daytrip and nervous breakdown, allowing for plenty of reflection and reminiscence, the backstory sliding into the intensity of the moment—rock’s hallmark. 

There’s good playing by the band (Jon Spurney, Marc Doten, Russ Kleiner and Heidi Rodewald, Stew’s collaborator since their band, The Negro Problem), and a few memorable songs, like “Come Down Now” and “Love Like That,” sounding a little like Joanie Mitchell or other songwriters coming out of Folk. Stew has a strong presence, thoughtfulness as well as glib wit, and more than one arrow in his quiver—or bowstring to his guitar. 

But the bulging grab-bag of concert, cabaret, comedy sketch and disparate other schtick, from Sammy Davis to Hip-Hop, tends to exhaust rather than refresh the material, leaving it to the excellence of the cast to sell it. That material too often approaches cliche, if only to burlesque it. More interesting might have been something from one of Stew’s interview reminiscences, like the blue collar friends of his father, who would “suddenly, after the third beer, recite Poe or Eliot, word for word.” 

A critic from one of the dailies remarked afterwards that Passing Strange was like that original modern play, Peer Gynt, at least in its message: the hero travels the world and experiences everything, only to find it’s the relationships he left back home that are real. Or maybe Henry James’ tale, “The Beast In The Jungle.” 

However well the problem of getting it across is or isn’t realized, Passing Strange is an attractive show that gains strength towards its bittersweet conclusion, leaving something like the hint of a melody out of unresolved chords. It’ll be interesting to see where Stew & co. take the notion of staging their music from here. 

Passing Strange 

at Berkeley Rep’s Thrust Stage 

2025 Addison St. 

Through Dec. 3 

Tickets $45-$61 

645-2949 

The Cerrito Theater opens Wednesday for the first time in more than 40 years, operated by Speakeasy Theaters, the same folks who run Oakland’s Parkway Theater.  

Speakeasy is kicking things off with a signature blend of classic and contemporary screenings: Michael Curtiz’s 1942 classic Casablanca and Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 breakthrough Pulp Fiction.  

The theater was built in 1937 by the Blumenfeld family, owners of a chain of Bay Area movie theaters. They built the Oaks Theater on Solano Avenue and operated Berkeley’s Shattuck Cinemas, as well as a host of other theaters in Marin, Solano, Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The Cerrito was designed by architect William B. David. 

The drive to restore and reopen the Cerrito Theater began in 2001. The theater had shut down in the early ’60s and had, for most of the intervening 40 years, been used as a storage facility for Keifer’s furniture store. When the building finally went on the market and locals were allowed into the vacated building, they found the original art deco murals still intact. An advocacy group, Friends of the Cerrito Theater, was formed and the group then persuaded the city to purchase the building. Soon after, Speakeasy Theaters, operators of Oakland’s Parkway Theater near Lake Merritt, were enlisted to run the venue. And thus began a community-driven restoration process that has seen the interior details restored, a second theater added upstairs, and the installation of a brand new marquee, lit for the first time last week.  

Catherine and Kyle Fischer, co-founder of Speakeasy Theaters, were excited by the opportunity to not only open a new theater, but to be part of a community effort to revitalize a long-forgotten treasure. Fischer says the partnership is a good fit. “We’re known for building community,” she says. “And we’re a lot of fun!” 

Fischer says the Cerrito will feature many of the same popular hallmarks as the Parkway: food and beverages (including alcohol), couches, table seating as well as traditional theater seats, and over the next few months, Fischer says, the theater will roll out some of its popular programming features, such as the Baby Brigade, a night for parents with babies. The Parkway bases much of its programming on community input, and the Cerrito will do the same, taking feedback from their customers in shaping a schedule that will likely include a blend of new and classic films, family films, and festivals. 

The Cerrito opens Wednesday with Pulp Fiction at 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Casblanca at 6 and 9 p.m. The schedule will be repeated on Thursday. For more information, see www.picturepubpizza.com . For information on the restoration or to join the Friends of the Cerrito Theater, see www.cerritotheater.org. 

The Cerrito Theater opens its doors Wednesday. Photograph by Richard Brenneman.

Casablanca may seem like something of a cliché these days. Its reputation is so prevalent that for the viewer who rents a copy to take home, either for the first time or the thirty-first time, it may be a rather underwhelming experience. The film may seem dated and filled with overly familiar scenes, rendering the movie a sort of post-modern compendium of oft-quoted lines.  

But Casablanca on the big screen is an entirely different experience. To see the film projected larger than life in a room full of fellow moviegoers, and in an authentic theater from the era, which likely showed the film in its original run in 1942, is to set aside the decades of lionization and all the baggage containing the myths of its now legendary stars, and immerse oneself in one of the most compelling and satisfying products of Hollywood’s regimented studio system. 

It’s an unlikely classic. The movie is often used as an example to undermine the auteur theory, the notion put forward by the critics and filmmakers of the French New Wave, that a director is the sole author of a film. Casablanca is fascinating in that it was never meant to be a great film; in fact, many of those working on it at the time considered it something of a lemon, a contractual obligation they would be happy to put behind them.  

But what emerged was a film that embodied all that was best in the studio system, with excellent screenwriters reshaping the film until the last minute; a sure-handed director making the most of his sets and players; fine actors transforming two-dimensional characters with compelling performances. If you’ve only seen it on video, in the isolation of a private living room, Casablanca, like many great films of the past, can be underwhelming. There is something lost on the small screen, no matter how big that small screen may be. Movies of this era were meant to be seen on the big screen, not because they contained big action sequence or special effects, but because they contained big emotions. 

Humphrey Bogart’s talents are arguably better displayed in other films; he’s tougher and grittier in the Maltese Falcon; he’s darker and perhaps more compelling in his films opposite Lauren Bacall, or in the underrated In a Lonely Place. But Casablanca is where Bogart truly made the big time, stepping up to play a complex romantic leading man after only having played thugs and tough-talking detectives. And Ingrid Bergman delivers one of her finest performances, conveying deep undercurrents of longing and regret even without saying a word. And the direction of Michael Curtiz and the photography of Arthur Edeson lends an evocative sheen to the melodrama, with dark shadows and probing searchlights piercing through the obfuscations of characters embroiled in a forlorn mix of politics, war and love.

Sometimes, reinventing your own wheel works. Independent bookstores have long been battling the competition of chains and online retailers by mimicking tactics such as online selling and attractive websites. But increasingly, they are realizing that their ultimate trump is focusing on what has been theirs all along—a physical presence with strong community ties. 

“My salary is now fully devoted to event coordination,” said Lewis Klausner, who works at Black Oak Books in Berkeley. “We are definitely doing more events than we did two years ago.”  

Such events generate more foot traffic and build a relationship with the community.  

Other stores are forming more unlikely partnerships in an attempt to weave themselves into the neighborhood’s social fabric. 

Modern Times in San Francisco is a weekly drop off point for Eatwell Farm, a group that provides organic produce.  

“Eatwell gets a convenient location for drop off, and we get a source for our own food and the benefit of ... [their] members coming through our store,” the Modern Times website said. The store also donates books to prisoners through the Prisoners Literary Project, a venture pioneered by Bound Together Bookstore and Bay Area prison activists. 

Northern California has the nation’s second largest book buying market, according to The Northern California Independent Bookseller’s Association website.  

Hut Landon, executive director of the association, said that it has 240 member stores, a figure that has been steady over the last few years despite the business struggles bookstores have been facing. 

“We have had eight or nine stores close, but we’ve also had four or five new stores open,” he said. “The net change has been very little.” 

“A number of stores are also stocking college textbooks, selling at school fairs and at conferences,” Landon said. Modern Times, for example, orders course books for the New College of California and partners with them on events.  

Other bookstores around the country have also focused on using their physical presence as a plus.  

At Elliott Bay, Seattle’s most popular independent bookstore, staff member Tracy Taylor said the local community has always appreciated their knowledgeable staff. With 40 full-time staff members, the store is pushing its budget, but it is worth it.  

“Our payroll is a large percentage of our costs, but we believe that people who are here five days a week can be more focused and provide customers with service they want,” Taylor said. 

The Elliott Bay staff meets regularly to discuss books, and staff members update each other on books every day. “We are just trying to do more of what we have always done well,” she said.  

But despite the innovative tactics, some stores are struggling.  

Modern Times will celebrate its 35th Anniversary next month and acknowledged that this summer they were on the verge of shutting down. To remain open, they took an interest free loan from the Bay Area Worker’s Collective.  

The goal is to pay back the $20,000 they borrowed. So far, they have raised $10,000 through various fundraising efforts. On their anniversary, they will throw a party and host a fundraising dinner at the store.  

Customers can also “adopt a section of the store,” O’Sullivan said. ”Sort of like Adopt a Highway.” And, one of the store’s back rooms is rented as meeting space to the public.  

Stores have also realized the power of forming a community with each other. BookSense.com is a consortium of independent bookstores. The site provides independent bookstore bestseller lists, and offers free software that allows stores to sell books on their websites. 

But most successful is the Book Sense gift card. The card can be bought and used at hundreds of independent bookstores across the country. Black Oak Books, Modern Times and Cody’s Books all carry the card, as does Elliott Bay in Seattle. Sales of the card, which started in 2003, have exceeded $11 million.  

Landon also believes that more independent bookstores need to maximize what the Internet has to offer. “There is potential for a greater web presence and much more focused e-mail marketing, he said.  

Simply selling online is not enough. 

“We list and sell on Amazon,” Jon Wobber, owner of Shakespeare & Co. on Telegraph Avenue, said. Still, the tactic hasn’t moved him out of the red. 

Already this year he has had several unprofitable months. His average monthly sales amount to $20,000. Subtract $5,000 for rent, $5,000 for salaries, a few thousand to restock and pay other bills, and most months he’s left with little profit.  

Four weeks of coupon ads in The Daily Californian have failed to produce a single coupon-buying customer for Wobber. “I’ll probably try flyers next,” he said. 

Stores need to be more innovative, Landon said. “They can keep track of customer sales records, which is technologically easy now, create lists of customers for different genres and e-mail them when a new book is out,” he said. “Coupons can be e-mailed. Big stores have been doing all this for a long time.” 

Klausner said email marketing has been working at Black Oak. “We have been able to decrease the cost of advertising with the Internet,” he said. 

On the Black Oak Books website, customers can register to receive an e-mail calendar. The site also lists staff book reviews and has an online forum where customers can discuss books. 

At Modern Times in San Francisco, staff member Brenda O’Sullivan updates the store website regularly. She runs a blog, lists events, staff favorites and links to community resources. 

Powell’s Bookstore, a Portland-based independent bookstore, started their website in 1994, even before Amazon.com. In 2005, Forbes Magazine awarded them with a “Best of the Web” award for their user-friendly site and original content, which includes personal essays by authors.  

Most recently, Powell’s has been offering a free store shipping option. Customers can order a book online from any Powell’s location in Oregon and pick it up at the downtown Portland branch, Dave Weich, Director of Marketing and Development at Powell’s said. 

The key to the book business, Weich said, is to find ways to continually innovate and change with the times. “Whether it’s through partnerships with local business … or email newsletters, there are so many ways to go about it.“ 

One thing is for sure, he said, “I don’t think a bookstore, a flat out bookstore, can survive, and even if it can, I don’t think it can thrive.”  

MUSIC OF MEXICO, TEXAS AND BEYOND 

La Peña presents its seventh annual “Hecho en Califas Festival,” with music, poetry, theater and visual art, this Wednesday through Sunday. The lineup of more than 50 Latino artists includes performers from California, Mexico, Texas, and New York. All shows at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. For details, www.lapena.org or 849-2568. 

ROOTS MUSIC COMES ALIVE AT TWANG CAFE 

Three Mile Grade, a Bay Area roots band with a repertoire spanning three centuries of music from the 1800s to their own ruminations on contemporary life, will bring their down-home music to the Twang Cafe at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The Twang Cafe is a monthly Americana music series held the first Sunday of each month at Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby Ave. www.twangcafe.com. 

DECORATIVE STYLE AT OAKLAND MUSEUM 

Harvey L. Jones, senior curator of art and curator of the Oakland Museum of California’s new exhibit “California as Muse: The Art of Arthur and Lucia Mathews,” will talk about the artists at an informal walk through the gallery at 2 p.m. Sunday. As masters of the California Decorative Style, the Mathews were pre-eminent in the artistic life of San Francisco at the turn of the century and their leadership was a major force in the rebuilding of the city after the 1906 earthquake and fire. This retrospective includes more than 150 works by them, including murals, paintings, drawings, graphic design and illustrations, and frames, furniture, and decorative objects from their collaborative designs for the Furniture Shop. The exhibit runs through March 25 at the Oakland Museum, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. For details, www.museumca.org or 238-2200. 

One fair day in mid-October, near dusk, Joe and I were strolling the first mile of the Mitchell Canyon trail on the east side of Mount Diablo. The sun was low; the shadows, long; only the west-facing ridgetops were glowing in the red-gold sunset, and we’d just about decided to turn back, when Joe whispered: “Coyote!” 

Sure enough, barely discernible from the dry grasses and brush along the roadside, there was a coyote. We froze in place, then cautiously lifted our binocs. The coyote ignored us, trotting toward us in a zigzag walk, alert and stopping to attend to things stirring out of sight. When I realized that the wind was at out backs, clearly carrying our scent coyote-wards, I swapped my glasses for the camera and aimed and snapped a picture.  

Our camera has an hilariously authoritative fake shutter sound; sometimes, as then, I wish I’d turned that off. But the coyote never blinked, just kept making the rounds, sniffing for dinner. She made a nonchalant circle around us as we stood there and I snapped off shot after shot. Some few yards past us, she pounced at something, probably a vole, and fetched it out, dropped it once, picked it up and ate it: snap snap.  

As we followed, she stopped again, nosed at something brown on the road, and snapped up bits of that too. I assumed it was a horse turd until we got a closer look. It was a big shattered pine cone, with one or two nuts left under the scattered scales. Coyotes eat pignoli!  

Well of course they do. Coyotes are adventurous generalists, and pignoli are delicious and full of nice fats and protein. They’re tasty in Spanish and Italian main dishes, in salads, in candies—I like them raw or pan-toasted myself. Italian stone pine is the usual source of the classic European commercial nuts, but pines of all sorts can be persuaded to yield their tasty seeds, by birds’ beaks, squirrels’ incisors, or coyotes’ opportunistic noses and tongues and fangs.  

Or, if you’re human people, by boot heel, stone, mill, or fire. The First People here in California were connoisseurs of pine nuts, and a favorite along the Coast Range (were the fat brown-hulled nuts of Pinus sabiniana, currently called “gray pine.” That’s what our coyote acquaintance was eating. 

Thereby hangs a tale. 

Once upon a time, back when shoveler ducks were “Jew ducks” and Brazil nuts were “N****r toes” (Huh. My folks raised me right, all right. I can’t even type that word without choking.), this tree was known as “digger pine,” or, I suppose, “Digger pine.” This name was in dubious honor of the local indigenous tribes, who feasted from a plentiful land and practiced the kind of farming that uses controlled fire and smart cutting instead of plows. Europeans myopically or conveniently missed this subtlety, and called the land “pristine and untouched wilderness” and declared that the local people didn’t work for a living, but merely dug stuff out of the ground to eat.  

In the last couple of decades it dawned on a critical mass of people that the name was insulting. So the tree is now “gray pine,” for its graceful, sparse grayish foliage. Sometimes it’s “bull pine” because it tends to fork into a Y or pair of horns, or “ghost pine” for its less-than-solid appearance. 

It grows in scattered stands in open country or chaparral, its misty color standing out from summer dun and winter green, its height from its plant neighbors’.  

Its foliage makes only light shade, so it gives meager relief from heat. But that also lets one spot its big cones from a long distance: a great convenience for the wild-groceries shopper.  

One amusing habit of gray pine is its tendency to lean. In some places, like some of the stands along Mines Road east of Livermore, they lean in unison, seemingly caught in a ponderous if airy dance. In others, they tilt more randomly, “creating,” as Ronald Lanner said, “a suspicion of a drunken forest staggering as it ascends the oak-studded foothills.” (I recommend his book Conifers of California.)  

If you plant one in garden soil, it’ll grow denser foliage and smaller cones. I’d call it good company, but I personally prefer to see it in its graceful native shape on its lean, demanding native ground.  

Photograph by Ron Sullivan.  

Sparse foliage give an airy, insubstantial look to a native landscape “ghost,” Pinus sabiniana.

TUESDAY, OCT. 31 

Tuesday is for the Birds An early morning walk for birders through Bay Area parklands. Bring water, sunscreen, binoculars and a snack. This week we will visit Keller Beach at Miller Knox. For meeting location or to borrow binoculars, call 525-2233.  

“Combatants for Peace” Bassam Aramin and Yonatan Shapira speak on stooping the cycle of violence in Israel-Palestine at 5 p.m. at 145 Dwinelle, UC Campus. aafek@berkeley.edu 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 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. 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 1 

“Democracy on Deadline” the Global Struggle for an Independent Press, a documentary, at 6:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. Panel discussion following the film. 238-3514. www.itvs.org 

Debate on Proposition 89: Public Financing of Campaigns with Yes on 89 spokesperson Jan S. Rodolfo and No on 89 spokesperson Sandy Harrison, at 7 p.m. in Room 2050, Valley Life Sciences Bldg., UC Campus. The public is encouraged to participate. Submit questions to caldebateseries@gmail.com 

“Exploring Patagonia” A slide show and talk by Wayne Bernhardson, author of “Moon Handbooks: Patagonia” at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

Healthy Eating Habits Seminar at 6:30 p.m. at New Moon Opportunities, 378 Jayne Ave. 465-2524. 

Breema Open House at 6 p.m. at 6201 Floria St., Oakland. 428-1234.  

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

American Red Cross Blood Services is holding a volunteer orientation from 10 a.m. to noon in Oakland. Registration required. 594-5165.  

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 

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, NOV. 2 

“History of Western Ornithology” with Harry Fuller at 6:30 p.m. at Live Oak Recreation Center, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Sponsored by the Golden Gate Audubon Society. Cost is $15-$20. 843-2222. 

Mario Savio Memorial Lecture & Young Activist Award Ceremony with hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang, former State Senator and 60’s activist Tom Hayden, and spoken word artist Aya de Leon at 7:30 p.m. at Pauley Ballroom, Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union, UC Campus. Free. 415-559-9500. www.savio.org/the_lectures.html 

“The Long Walk to Freedom and Justice in South Africa” with Francis Wilson, Univ. of Cape Town at noon at 223 Moses Hall, UC Campus. 642-8338. 

Drivewell: Promoting Older Driver Safety, with Colleen Campbell, from Alameda County’s Public Health Department’s Senior Injury Prevention Project at 1:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720. 

“Day of the Dead Benefit for the Zapatistas” at 7 p.m. at 2232 MLK Way, near 19th Street BART, Oakland. Cost is $8-$20 sliding scale. 923-0676. www.chiapas-support.org 

“When God’s Friend Became God’s Problem The Punitive Elijah and the Loving God,” Distinguished Faculty Lecture by Dr. L. William Countryman at 7:30 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. 649-2440. www.gtu.edu 

“Lives per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction” with Terry Tamminen at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books, 1730 Fourth St. 415-559-9500. 

Day of the Dead at Habitot Children’s Museum with activities from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111. www.habitot.org 

“Toxics and Children Don’t Mix” A workshop for parents and child care providers at 7 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Registration required. 658-7353. www.bananasinc.org 

“The Interplay of Buddhism and Law in the Pre-communist Mongolia” with Vesna Wallace, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, at 5 p.m. at the IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton St. 643-6536. http://buddhiststudies.berkeley.edu/events 

“What is Your Story?” an exploration of myth, storytelling and dream work connected to community building at 7:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

“Forward Forever, Environmental Justice & Hip Hop” film and community discussion at 5 p.m. in the Laney College Theater. Fundraiser for the Ghana Study Abroad Program. www.peralta.edu/sustainable 

“Nutrition Bandits” Learn how to eat for health with Edward Bauman, at 5:30 p.m. at Pharmaca Interative Pharmacy, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

AnewAmerica Annual Gala “Weaving Our Common Threads” at 6 p.m. at the Holy Redeemer Conference Center, 8945 Golf Links Rd., Oakland. Tickets are $75. RSVP to 540-7785, ext. 314. www.anewamerica.org 

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 

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline at Alcatraz. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

FRIDAY, NOV. 3 

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 

Zen and the Art of Mushroom Hunting at 7:30 p.m. at Live Oak Recreation Center, 1301 Shattuck Ave. Field trip on Sun. Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sponsored by the Golden Gate Audubon Society. Cost for lecture and trip is $30-$40. To register call 843-2222.  

Climate Change Fair featuring screenings of “An Inconvenient Truth” at 7 and 9:15 p.m. at Wheeler Auditorium, UC Campus. 415-559-9500.  

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Mary Breunig on “News from the Castle.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

“Resisting Militarism” with speakers Carlos Mauricio, torture survivor, and Elizabeth Stinson, draft resistance organizer at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison. Benefit for School of the Americas Watch. Suggested donation $15. 504-7522. 

Screening of “Iraq for Sale” A Robert Greenwald documentary at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Community Media, Studio A, 2239 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Free. 848-2288. 

Movies that Matter “Bowling for Columbine” at 6:30 p.m. at Neumayer Residence, 565 Bellevue St. at Perkins, Oakland. 451-3009.  

“Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism” at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., between Broadway and Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $5. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Children’s Hospital Outpatient Center Basement, 747 52nd St., Oakland. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

SATURDAY, NOV. 4 

Animals on the Move A short walk for the entire family to learn the locomotion and migration patterns of Park residents at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

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. 

“Bay-Friendly Gardening to Manage Pests Naturally” A workshop to learn about least-toxic methods for managing common garden pests, such as snails, slugs, aphids and yellow jackets, from 9 a.m. to noon at El Cerrito Community Center, 7007 Moeser, El Cerrito. 665-3546.  

“Natives Across the Americas” with performances by Medicine Warriors Dance Troupe, All Nations Singers and others, information and exhibits from noon to 5 p.m. in the West Auditorium, of the Oakland Public Library, at 125 14th St. 482-7844. www.oaklandlibrary.org 

“Solar Thermal and Electricity for Educators” A workshop on the global energy situation, the range of solar education projects, and how to address state curriculum standards with these projects. For teachers of grades 4-12. From 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at Rising Sun Energy Center , 2033 Center St. 665-1501 ext.13. www.risingsunenergy.org 

Sick Plant Clinic Dr. Robert Raabe, UC plant pathologist, and Dr. Nick Mills, UC entomologist will diagnose plant illnesses and recommend remedies. Bring a piece of the plant in a securely sealed container. From 9 a.m. to noon at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. 643-2755. 

“Partnership Not Dominance” Workshop by international mediator and peace researcher Johan GALTUNG with Barbara Becnel from 1:30 to 6 p.m. at Neighborhood House of North Richmond 820 23rd St., Richmond. SUggested donation $10-$50. No one turned away for lack of funds. 232-4493. www.transcend.org  

Native American Heritage Month Celebration of culture featuring performances, Native American vendors and Indian tacos from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, 103 Kroeber Hall , UC Campus. 643-7649.  

Doggy Tune Up A three session workshop to learn coming when called, walking without pulling, no jumping on people, and stay, Sat. from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Grace North Church, 2128 Cedar St. Registration required. 849-9323. www.companyofdogs.com 

Parent Voices’ a grassroots, parent led and parent run organization that advocates for more affordable and quality child care for working families. meets at 10 a.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Register by calling 658-7353. www.bananasinc.org 

“Mad Sheep: The True Story Behind the USDA’s War on a Family Farm” book signing with author Linda Faillace at 11 a.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center St. at MLK Jr. Way. 548-3333. www.ecologycenter.org  

Bilingual Storytime Stories in English and Spanish for toddlers and preschoolers at 10:30 a.m. in the Edith Stone Room at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Writing Your Ethical Will A workshop to learn how to evaluate your life, harvest your wisdom and share your beliefs, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. Donation $35. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

Produce Stand at Spiral Gardens Food Security Project from 1 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon St. 

Healing Power of Gratitude Workshop at 10 a.m. at Creating Harmony Institute, 828 San Pablo Ave., Suite 115C, Albany. Cost is $5. Registration required. 526-1559. 

Chi Kung, Guided Imagery from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. at John F. Kennedy University, Berkeley Campus, 2956 San Pablo Ave., 2nd Floor. 649-0499. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

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. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Yoga for Peace at 9:30 a.m. at Ohlone Park, MLK at Hearst. Bring a yoga mat, warm blanket, and peace sign.  

Spiritwalking: Aqua Chi(TM) at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Also Wed. at 3:30 p.m. Cost is $5.50, $3.50 seniors & disabled. Bring your own towels. 526-0312. 

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, NOV. 5 

Purr-casso Art Sale and Gala Cat themed art sale featuring decorative, wearable, and functional art pieces celebrating our feline friends, from noon to 5 p.m. at Hollis Street Project, Grand Hallway, 5900 Hollis St, Emeryville. Benefit for the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. 845-7735 ext. 13. www.berkeleyhumane.org  

Turtle Time Meet the turtles of the Tilden Nature Area, learn the difference between native and non-native and much more at 11a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Hike to Sindicich Hike under diverse oak woodlands to the Sindicich Lagoon to look for dragonflies, newts and nymphs. Bring lunch for this four-mile hike. Meet at the Bear Creek Staging Area of Briones at 11 am. 525-2233. 

Open Garden at the Little Farm Join the gardener for composting, planting, watering and harvesting at 2 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Rain cancels. 525-2233. 

African/African Diaspora Film Society presents “Aristide and the Endless Revolution” at 2 p.m. at Parkway Speakeasy Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $5. www.parkway-speakeasy.com 

Afghan Friends Network presentation on the history of Afghanistan, a discussion about women’s rights, and information about the programs of the Afghan Friends Network with Elsie De Laere and Humaira Ghilzai at 2 p.m. at the Albany Library. 526-3720, ext. 16. 

Autumn in Asia Garden Tour at 10 a.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $8-$12. Registration required. 643-2755, ext. 03 http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Yiddish Films: The Dybbuk at 3 p.m. at JCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

IRV Peace Meet-up and Rally at 1:30 p.m. at Splashpad Park, LakeShore and Grand Ave., Oakland. 644-1303. 

Harmony Center Open House from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Oakland Veteran’s Hall, 200 Grand Ave. at Harrison St. 451-3009 http://joyfulharmony.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 

Kickabout at Codornices Park Soccer for all, skill and talent not required. For more information contact cambour@hotmail.com  

Tibetan Buddhism with Erika Rosenberg on “Eastern Wisdom Meets Western Psychology” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, NOV. 6 

“Acting Locally Against Global Warming” with Tom Kelly of Kyoto USA on local efforts to lessen global climate change, at 7 p.m. at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin. 848-9358. 

“Nonviolent Resistance in Palestine & Lebanon” Panel discussion with returning volunteers of the International Solidarity Movement at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Hall, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. Suggested donation $5-$10, no one turned away.  

National Organization for Women Oakland/East Bay Chapter meets at 6 p.m. at the Oakland YWCA, 1515 Webster St. The speakers will be Ms. Sara Mostafavi and Ms. Christine Stouffer, both immigration lawyers practicing in Berkeley, on the particular immigration problems women face. 287-8948. 

“Beyond Conception: Men Having Babies” documentary about a gay male couple, an egg donor, and a lesbian surrogate building a modern family, at 6:30 p.m. at Bananas, 5232 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Registration required. 658-7353. www.bananasinc.org 

East Bay Atheists will show the conclusion of Richard Dawkins’ video “Root of All Evil” at 1:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd Flr. 222-7580. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from noon to 1 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group for people aged 60 and over meets at 9:45 a.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. Donation $3. 524-9122. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

Albany-Berkeley Girls Softball League Free Clinics Oct. 29- Nov. 6 in Berkeley, for girls in grades 1-9. For details see www.abgsl.org or call 869-4277. 

Volunteer at Emerson Elementary School Come anytime Mon.-Thurs. from 8:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. For details call 883-5247. 

Each One Teach One Mentoring Program of the Oakland Unified School District is curbing student absenteeism, decreasing suspensions and increasing student participation with the help of volunteer mentors like you. For more information call 495-4010, 495-4011.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5190.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed. Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

School Board meets Wed. Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers. 644-6320. 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. Oscar Sung, 981-5400.  

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs. Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419.  

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., Nov. 2, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406.