Though the thermometer hovered in the upper 40s and seemed even cooler beneath a mantle of oak leaves and an overcast sky, the crowd that gathered near Memorial Stadium Saturday was anything but cold. -more-
Rejecting the pleas of angry neighbors and threats of a lawsuit, the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) voted 5-3 early Friday to approve the “Trader Joe’s Building.” -more-
A marathon Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) session Thursday ended with approvals for two major housing projects, new bus yard, a new home for Freight & Salvage and demolition of the Drayage. -more-
Oakland’s newly elected state assemblymember, Sandré Swanson, has proposed setting up a Select Assembly Committee to investigate state takeovers of California schools, and the idea has already gotten support from key legislators from the affected districts. -more-
Freelance journalist Sarah Olson does not want to testify at First Lt. Ehren Watada’s court marshal in February. At around 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, she received a subpoena from the U.S. Army telling her to do so. -more-
Woodfin Suites housekeeper Alma Cruz has spoken out at City Council meetings, walked picket lines and talked to co-workers about the need for Emeryville’s Living Wage Law for hotel workers to be enforced. Voters approved the law—Measure C—in November 2005. -more-
The former bond counsel to the Peralta Community College District says that the list of projects in the Peralta’s troubled Measure A bond ballot statement last June may not be specific enough to have qualified the measure under the Proposition 39 requirements under which it was passed. -more-
2007 marks 10 years since the passing of baseball legend Curt Flood. Many of today’s sports enthusiasts, including those who follow baseball, have little sense of the man and his contributions to the sport of baseball. -more-
Immigrants whose lives are upended by unfair rules and arbitrary law enforcers should thank the day electrical engineer Jayashri Srikantiah decided to leave Intel to become a lawyer. -more-
UC Berkeley Campus Police have cited two of the tree-sitters protesting plans to cut down a grove of Oaks for the new Memorial Stadium, including former mayoral candidate Zachary Running Wolf, and served court orders barring them from campus. -more-
A number of citizens urged the Berkeley City Council Tuesday not to approve the second reading of the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance, which will make landmarking older structures and sites more difficult. -more-
Even before the second and final City Council vote Tuesday establishing a more developer-friendly Berkeley landmark law, opponents were preparing their counterattack. -more-
The city may have dodged one bullet by going along with developer Patrick Kennedy’s notion of how much time to devote to culture at the Gaia Building—Kennedy threatened to sue the city over the question—but by doing so, the city may be running head-on into a lawsuit Kennedy tenant Anna de Leon has promised to file. -more-
With the Hallmark Card takeover of UNICEF cards, Berkeley’s United Nations Association Center that has carried the popular cards for almost half a century, is shutting its doors tomorrow (Saturday)—hopefully a temporary closure to change the center’s focus, says UNA volunteer Mary Lee Trampleasure. -more-
In what can only be considered good news for opponents of the proposed massive Oak to Ninth development in Oakland, a Superior Court judge has tentatively ruled that a lawsuit filed by the Oak to Ninth Referendum Committee can go forward, at least for now. -more-
The newly constituted board of directors of the Peralta Community College District acted swiftly to tighten up spending procedures at the four-college district, sending back to district administrators $17 million of a $5 million Measure A bond project authorization request after complaining about details missing from the request papers. -more-
Holiday shopping unfinished? Unwilling to make one more trip to a multitude of malls or to … Emeryville? -more-
Over the weekend, talk at parties was how the project now known as Trader Joe’s got the green light from Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board to set up shop on University Avenue, accompanied by several stories of market-rate condos-in-waiting and a big parking garage. One Berkeley-reared guest at Saturday night’s event thought Trader Joe’s was a nice addition to Berkeley because it’s owned by a southern California family, and expands by bootstrapping, one store at a time. Well, no, we said. Since 1979 it’s been part of a German billion-dollar conglomerate, though the whole empire is indeed owned by two German brothers in a family trust. She seemed shocked, almost disbelieving, so cleverly has TJ’s (as it’s called by its devotees) marketed its downhome image. Founder Joe is long gone. But it treats its employees very well, she said. Well, yes, as long as they don’t try to organize a union, we said. That also seemed to surprise her. -more-
It’s the time of year when the lower-middle-brow fashionistas who inhabit the pages of the magazines I sneak peeks at in supermarket checkout lines say we should be wearing Winter White. That’s as it may be, but it certainly is the season for Winter Whine. Winter Whine is the sound you hear emanating from everyone who is dissatisfied with their relationship to winter holidays, or with other people’s mode of marking the winter solstice. -more-
Now that the City Council has passed its community-compromise LPO, after more than six years of stalling and resistance by the hyper-preservationist community who brought us Measure J, we’re faced with the bad dream of a referendum campaign and up to 23 more months of additional delay. And for what? Basically, it comes down to objection to the “request for determination” provision of the new law. So let’s look at RFD and its alleged dangers: -more-
The 2006 elections are over, and the 2008 presidential race has begun. Most news coverage will focus on personalities, and once in a while on issues. What will go mostly unreported is the fact that we have a serious structural flaw in the presidential selection process that renders the issues and personalities almost superfluous. The “inconvenient truth” is that the primary/caucus system is an unfolding disaster, a bad process that produces presidential nominees who are less than America’s best. -more-
The holiday season seems to open the flood gates of compassion, with volunteers and resources pouring in during the one time of the year the less fortunate are fed, clothed, and remembered. Meanwhile economists monitor the sales temperature, hoping feverish shoppers will exceed the boiling point and consumerism will bring balance to a system delicately suspended by a few coins in either direction. -more-
The Berkeley city attorney has stated that false claims have been made against the city in the lawsuit over the settlement agreement with the University of California (Friberg v. Bates, case no. 05230715). -more-
In 1969, I was among the many that originally built the park. I’m afraid (or delighted) that we didn’t have either a committee nor, unfortunately, the university’s permission. What we did have was... people. People directly affecting the park. Voting with their presence and participation. -more-
I have been quite busy ever since three tree-sitters climbed into the trees at Memorial Oak Grove in the pre-dawn hours Saturday before the Big Game between Cal and Stanford. Our group, Save the Oaks at the Stadium, did not know of this plan in advance, but we support the tree-sitters fully in their endeavors and we will do everything we can to make sure that they are safe and have everything they need. It takes real courage to take such an action, and I believe that each one of our tree-sitters is a true hero. -more-
It is good to hear that the Hotel and Conference Center (HCC) will adopt LEED’s principles to the optimum in its design. As I understand the LEED principles, the project is supposed to show “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.” The HCC is located in the heart of downtown Berkeley where it is in Berkeley’s most transit-intensive area. The Downtown Berkeley BART station, which has the second-highest station ridership use of East Bay stations, is just across the street. The BART station is utilized by more than 11,000 patrons per day and 10 AC Transit bus routes stop right at this area. Also there is a planned Bus Rapid Transit system similar to Boston’s Silver Line that will terminate in this locale. This BRT is projected to handle well over 60,000 riders a day over its route and could be extended down University to the Amtrak Station in the future. -more-
EDITOR’S NOTE: This commentary originally appeared in the Daily Planet’s web edition on Oct. 17. -more-
As news coverage focuses on the upcoming round of six-party talks this Monday aimed at resolving the standoff with North Korea, I am reminded of an historical event that occurred more than 100 years ago. -more-
Mexico’s new president Felipe Calderón took office on Dec. 1. In a televised inauguration, congressmen could be seen fighting for control of the podium where Calderón was to be sworn in—some attempting to block him, others to ensure that he was able to take his oath of office. Calderón and outgoing president Vicente Fox, both members of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), entered through the back door and hastily carried out the oath of office amidst shouting that made it impossible to hear what they were saying. -more-
Friday, 4:30 p.m.: Arrive at Oakland International Airport with sister-in-law, one four-year-old and one two-year-old. Stand in line to check in bags. Stand in line to pass through security. Stand in line to view flight schedule. Learn that all Southwest Airline flights to Las Vegas are delayed by at least two hours due to bad weather in the Pacific Northwest. Stand in line at gate to see if tickets can be changed to fly out on 4 p.m. flight that is now leaving at 6 p.m. -more-
I’ll admit that I don’t have much of an ear for the language of crows. Ron says they have a specific call that means “Raven!,” uttered when the crows are harassing one of their larger relatives or escorting it out of the neighborhood. This wouldn’t surprise me at all, since they do have an extensive vocal repertoire. -more-
Next Tuesday morning, UC’s Berkeley Art Museum will host a public discussion of goals for its planned new downtown site. Attending will be Toyo Ito, the Tokyo architect whom the museum has engaged to design its new building. With this internationally renowned designer on board, and a downtown location on the map, BAM and its visitors face exciting possibilities. -more-
In a scene in the Civil War movie Gettysburg, a Confederate spy named Harrison is sent out on a night mission to scout out the position and strength of the Union army encamped in the Pennsylvania valley. The spy, identified in the movie as a former Mississippi stage actor, takes the assignment, but tells the general “but I must confess, sir, the thing that bothers me about this job [spying] is the absence of an audience. When you do it right, no one knows you’re doing it. Nobody watches your work. It’s very hard on an actor.” -more-
Between 1900 and 1910, Berkeley’s population more than tripled, from 13,214 to 40,434 inhabitants. Much of the growth was stimulated by the flight of thousands of San Franciscans to the East Bay following the 1906 earthquake and fire. -more-
I met a nice couple the other day. Sadly, they were clearly in some distress over the fortunes of their remodeling process. They’d engaged a GC (builder-speak for general contractor) last year to do a rather sweeping and costly rehab on a mid-sized house in the hills of Oakland and things hadn’t gone quite as well as they’d hoped. -more-
Oh my, this is a touchy time of year, all those cultural sensitivities waiting to be stepped on. Wishing someone “happy holidays” would seem universal enough, but I read a newswire piece the other day in which a guy was quoted as bragging that he’d bullied some hapless WalMart clerk into wiping that phrase off a window because, “It’s supposed to be ‘Merry Christmas!’” Honestly, sometimes it makes me miss good old Saturnalia. -more-
“Both a little naughty and a little nice” is the apt description for husband and wife cabaret team Billy Philadelphia and Meg Mackay’s holiday season show, A Little Cole in Your Stocking, featuring hits and rarities from Cole Porter’s songbook (as well as a few “traditional and non-traditional holiday songs”), playing evenings at 8 p.m., Dec. 20-23 and 27-30, at the Aurora Theatre, where it debuted last year. -more-
A 16th-century Russian conspiracy swept Boyars and Old Believers last Friday night into the First Congregational Church at Dana and Durant, where they put on a private show of Modest Mussorgsky’s opera, Khovanchina, for an audience of friends and family. -more-
I’ll admit that I don’t have much of an ear for the language of crows. Ron says they have a specific call that means “Raven!,” uttered when the crows are harassing one of their larger relatives or escorting it out of the neighborhood. This wouldn’t surprise me at all, since they do have an extensive vocal repertoire. -more-
MUSIC FROM THREE GREAT COMPOSERS -more-
At the outset of The Forest War, Mark Jackson’s new play (which he also directs), produced by the Shotgun Players at the Ashby Stage, a doddering old Grand Lord Karug (Drew Anderson) and his retinue slide out onto the stage, facing the audience, in an impression of Kabuki. -more-
Between 1900 and 1910, Berkeley’s population more than tripled, from 13,214 to 40,434 inhabitants. Much of the growth was stimulated by the flight of thousands of San Franciscans to the East Bay following the 1906 earthquake and fire. -more-
I met a nice couple the other day. Sadly, they were clearly in some distress over the fortunes of their remodeling process. They’d engaged a GC (builder-speak for general contractor) last year to do a rather sweeping and costly rehab on a mid-sized house in the hills of Oakland and things hadn’t gone quite as well as they’d hoped. -more-
Oh my, this is a touchy time of year, all those cultural sensitivities waiting to be stepped on. Wishing someone “happy holidays” would seem universal enough, but I read a newswire piece the other day in which a guy was quoted as bragging that he’d bullied some hapless WalMart clerk into wiping that phrase off a window because, “It’s supposed to be ‘Merry Christmas!’” Honestly, sometimes it makes me miss good old Saturnalia. -more-
