After two years of meetings and hearings in which property owners often clashed with environmentalists, the Berkeley City Council approved a revised Creeks Ordinance (6-2-1) late Tuesday night aimed at safeguarding the city’s many open and culverted waterways. -more-
Despite promised lawsuits by the City of Berkeley and project neighbors, UC Regents voted Tuesday to approve a massive athletic training center along the western wall of Memorial Stadium. -more-
Gas masks, air filters and angry posters marked the Pacific Steel Casting protest rally on Saturday, which drew more than 250 protesters. -more-
UC Regents are scheduled to decide this morning (Tuesday) whether or not to approve the $112 million Student Athlete High Performance Center, a 142,000-square-foot building along the western wall of UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium. -more-
With the lion’s share of votes counted, Kriss Worthington has slightly widened his lead in the squeaker Berkeley City Council District 7 race, according to the Alameda County registrar of voters. In fact, all the winners increased their winning margins. -more-
The question for Alameda County election officials in the next few months is like a paraphrase of the old O’Jays song: “Now that we’ve got IRV, what are we gonna’ do with it?” -more-
Supporters and opponents of the proposed 148-unit Trader Joe’s Building on 1885 University Ave. turned out in full force at the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) meeting on Thursday. -more-
Councilmember Dona Spring quotes from an old Joni Mitchell song: -more-
Community members will have one more chance to weigh in at a public hearing tonight (Tuesday) on a proposed city law some praise for protecting creeks but one that others say would be costly to homeowners and restrict the use of their property. -more-
The Peralta Community College District will spend Measure A bond money on any of the broad range of projects that appeared on last June’s ballot, not just on the line item “Measure A Capital Projects” list, which currently appears on the district’s Department of General Services website. -more-
Loni Hancock came to Richmond Thursday night to visit the citizen panel she helped to create. -more-
Waskar Ari Chachaki is an ill-fated victim of the War on Terror. Born in the remote Andean highlands of Bolivia, by age 42 he had earned a Ph.D. from prestigious Georgetown University. Ari, the first member of the pre-Incan Aymara tribe with a doctorate in history from the United States, also helped establish eight indigenous organizations in Bolivia and Peru. He’s an expert in indigenous history, culture and political movements. -more-
Call her Madam. Madam Speaker, that is. -more-
Editor’s note: This article was published in the Nov. 10 issue, but did not run in its entirety. This is the complete article with updated vote totals. -more-
Berkeley School Board president Terry Doran will be retiring at the end of the BUSD meeting on Wednesday evening. -more-
It’s back to the vision thing Wednesday night for the citizens panel helping formulate a new plan for downtown Berkeley. -more-
The cities of Berkeley and Oakland teamed up Monday to host a one-stop service fair called Project Homeless Connect. -more-
SAN ELIZARIO, Texas—Residents of this hardscrabble town on the Mexican border are feeling jumpy and under siege. Since 9/11, border immigration enforcement and drug interdiction have been swept into the war on terror, with chilling effects. -more-
More than half a million dollars and piles of glossy mailers later, campaign weary incumbent mayoral and council candidates—Mayor Tom Bates and Council-members Gordon Wozniak, Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring and Linda Maio—will retake their old seats on the familiar council dais. -more-
Though Berkeley voters rejected Measure J Tuesday, backers say they’ll go back to the electorate if city councilmembers adopt the new landmarks ordinance they passed on first reading in July. -more-
With Alameda County operating its new Sequoia voting system for the first time in last Tuesday’s general election, the county experienced its share of opening -more-
Incumbents Nancy Riddle, Shirley Issel and challenger Karen Hemphill have won the three open seats on the five-member Berkeley Board of Education. -more-
While Albany’s going to pot, Richmond may be getting a new mayor and El Cerrito is in for the same old, same old. -more-
The defeat of Measure I, a property-owner-backed measure that would have eased conversion of rental units to condominiums, was much easier than No on I coordinator Jesse Arreguin had anticipated. -more-
In the three major contests in this week’s election for positions in Oakland-area government, voters split the difference, with two incumbents turned out and one incumbent re-elected. -more-
A search for a new Berkeley Library director has begun. -more-
City Manager Phil Kamlarz will be asking the Berkeley City Council in closed session on Monday to approve the appointment of Pamyla C. Means as City Clerk. -more-
One of Berkeley’s neighborhood services liaisons, Michael Caplan, got a new job Thursday when he was named acting manager of the city’s Office of Economic Development. -more-
Saturday, 88 years after the guns went silent in Europe at the end of World War I, Berkeley will celebrate Veterans Day with a flag ceremony at Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park. -more-
There was at least one post-election celebration in Berkeley that brought together Bates and Bronstein backers and Measure J fans and foes in a common spirit of -more-
Third- and fourth-graders at LeConte Elementary School skipped their science, math and writing classes on Tuesday for a hands-on lesson in civic participation. -more-
West Berkeley residents will join environmental justice groups and community members on Saturday in a rally against the toxic pollution and noxious odors emanating from Pacific Steel Casting. -more-
In the months leading up to Tuesday’s election, the conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C., was that immigration would be a powerful wedge issue that would help the Republicans either limit their losses or even retain control of the House of Representatives. -more-
Two polls, one on the eve of the election, the other through the media’s exit polling, confirmed earlier independent polls that the public wants a solution and wants that solution to be comprehensive. -more-
Asian American voters in eight states continued a decade-long shift towards Democratic candidates, with 79 percent of those polled favoring Democrats in Tuesday’s congressional and state elections. They also rejected an affirmative action ban that won in Michigan. -more-
The Arnold Effect was on awesome display Tuesday. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger trounced his hapless and ineffectual Democratic opponent and nearly pulled a few Republicans along with him into other state offices. -more-
In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy vs. Ferguson that Jim Crow laws mandating various forms of segregation were OK and that if Blacks had a problem with that “badge of inferiority” it was “solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it.” -more-
After their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court failed, several Berkeley Sea Scouts (BSS) have tried to make the public understand the service they offer. The BSS have been under pressure because the City of Berkeley has accused them of operating under the discriminatory policy against gays and atheists of the Boy Scouts of America. For this reason the city took away their previously free use of the dock at the Berkeley Marina, sparking the court case. -more-
The Zoning Adjustments Board denied the expansion of the South Berkeley Police Substation for employee lockers and vehicle storage on Thursday. -more-
Let’s hear it for Grandma! Grandmothers all over the country, including this one, are delighted that one of their own has taken on the job of cleaning up the House—the House of Representatives, that is. Losing no time, Berkeley’s Grandmothers for Peace planned to rally Thursday at Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco office to let her know that they would support her in an effort to extricate the country from the mess in Iraq left behind by her Republican predecessors (with more than a little help from some misbehaving Democrats). -more-
On Sept. 6 I boarded the No. 51 AC Transit bus in Alameda and, after putting in money, was told that the transfer machine was not working. The driver subsequently gave me an expired transfer card on which he’d written that the transfer machine was broken and signed his employee number. He instructed me to give this to the next driver. -more-
I am a student of violence. There is, to consider, the actual explosion of rage, when flesh collides with flesh. I have been at the wrong end of two encounters, I have seen it happen to another, and have heard, sometimes within minutes, of many others. But I am even more interested in the moments before the eruption—the thickening of the voice, the ape-like bulking of the shoulders, the trembling of the cheekbones, the reek of flammable testosterone. I’m crackingly alert to the warning signs that scream: MOVE! What is my line of work? Parking enforcement for the City of Berkeley. -more-
I can’t say I was surprised when I awoke early on Nov. 8 to find Pat Kernighan the declared winner of Oakland’s competitive District 2 City Council race. -more-
It’s convenient, of course—and not entirely wrong—to blame the 57-43 defeat of Measure J on greedy developers, conservative businesspeople and negative campaign mailers. But Measure J proponents also need to look in the mirror. Not only were they weakened by others, they contributed to losing the race all on their own. -more-
Halloween may have come and gone, but the sadly misconceived project at 1885 University Ave. still begs the question, Trick, or Treat? The answer, of course, is both. The supposed Treat? Trader Joe’s. The Trick? Trader Joe’s with a four-story, 148-unit apartment building looming menacingly above it, The Hudson-McDonald Tower of Horrors. -more-
Recently, an attorney for the Berkeley Police Association, Harry Stern, disparaged Berkeley Copwatch for its service to the community. Those remarks were absolutely unwarranted, shameful, and insulting to the citizens of Berkeley. -more-
When the people of Oakland enacted the Campaign Reform Act of 2000, they wanted to make sure that non-affluent voters had an equal voice in the political life of the city. The preamble states: “The integrity of the governmental process, the competitiveness of campaigns and public confidence in local officials are all diminishing.” The high cost of elections “gives incumbents an overwhelming and patently unfair advantage.” -more-
It was a Cold War love story. Julia Robinson had never met the man she was writing. He was from Leningrad; she was from Berkeley. And yet they did one of the most precious things a man and a woman can do together. They did mathematics. And they did that beautifully, solving one of the twentieth century’s greatest conundrums, Hilbert’s “Tenth Problem.” -more-
“The past is prologue” wrote Shakespeare, and it was 20 years ago that several key events predicted the future of Berkeley and framed our present. -more-
As the dust settles from the tumultuous 2006 mid-term elections, let’s consider the big political winners and losers: -more-
I lost my husband and acquired a teenager. It’s not much of a deal. I still have to clean and shop, and carry out the trash. I still have to water the plants, pay the bills, and turn down the volume on the television. -more-
Down a tree-canopied lane bordered by lush fields of lettuce, corn and pumpkin. Through a filigreed iron gate and white picket fence. Past goldenrod Arden Station where Tucker waits to pull a visitor-laden rail car to Deer Park Station. Drop out of the frenzied pace of modern life. Get lost in the country estate of a wealthy 20th century farmer, a place caught in time. Visit Ardenwood Farm. -more-
Before it got drafted to be an allegedly “heathier” substitute for chocolate, carob was a dietary staple of poor folks and a treat even for the wealthy. Ceratonia siliqua is a handsome, tough, warm-climate tree that grows long, thick, flat brown pods to cradle its seeds. -more-
“It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.” -more-
When Democrats quit celebrating their victory in the mid-term elections and begin to consider their priorities for the 110th Congress, they need look no further than Iraq. The basic issues that plague Iraq--security, infrastructure, and governance--are the same that beset the United States. Due to a devastating combination of managerial ineptitude and ideological inflexibility, the Bush administration has lost Iraq and severely damaged the United States. They couldn’t stop the looting there and refuse to stop the looting here. -more-
It’s doubtful that politics brings out more silliness in the human character than any other human endeavor—it just seems that politicians, and the people they employ, seem so much more intent than anyone else on broadcasting the odd things that are sometimes on their minds. -more-
Dear Matt, -more-
I just had to ask. The charming young salesperson at Berkeley Indoor Garden did have list of what, other than the obvious, customers grow using B.I.G.’s wares: orchids and other tropicals, carnivorous plants, some rare and picky succulents, sometimes lettuce and herbs and baby greens just to have them handy. -more-
The visitor from New York, who wandered into the Gaia Building lobby by mistake, caught a glimpse of the program for Azeem’s solo show at The Marsh, and said as he left, “I get enough ‘Rude Boy’ at home!” -more-
Down a tree-canopied lane bordered by lush fields of lettuce, corn and pumpkin. Through a filigreed iron gate and white picket fence. Past goldenrod Arden Station where Tucker waits to pull a visitor-laden rail car to Deer Park Station. Drop out of the frenzied pace of modern life. Get lost in the country estate of a wealthy 20th century farmer, a place caught in time. Visit Ardenwood Farm. -more-
Before it got drafted to be an allegedly “heathier” substitute for chocolate, carob was a dietary staple of poor folks and a treat even for the wealthy. Ceratonia siliqua is a handsome, tough, warm-climate tree that grows long, thick, flat brown pods to cradle its seeds. -more-
50 YEARS OF GREAT ARTHOUSE CINEMA -more-
“I did not stop to consider, I did not care, whether the book was of any value or not; it was easier and cheaper to buy it than to spend time in examining its value. The most worthless trash may prove some fact wherein the best book is deficient, and this makes the trash valuable.” -more-
In 1998, amid an orgy of end-of-the-millenium top 100 lists, the American Film Institute released its list of the 100 best American films, a list that included three Charlie Chaplin movies but inexplicably no Buster Keaton films, despite the fact that several of his works, most notably The General (1926), rank among the silent era’s best and frequently hover near the top of many critics’ lists of the best films ever made. -more-
Now that the election is over, with all its slogans and clichés and simplistic solutions for myriad complex problems, along comes a documentary that provides a solid, sobering dose of geopolitical reality. -more-
Dear Matt, -more-
I just had to ask. The charming young salesperson at Berkeley Indoor Garden did have list of what, other than the obvious, customers grow using B.I.G.’s wares: orchids and other tropicals, carnivorous plants, some rare and picky succulents, sometimes lettuce and herbs and baby greens just to have them handy. -more-
