The historic 1911 Herschell-Spillman “Menagerie Edition” carousel at Tilden Park was closed earlier this month after state officials said that under state law it is unsafe without a guard fence around it. -more-
UC Berkeley’s Academic Senate probably won’t have a vote about the planned half-billion-dollar alternative fuel program now being negotiated with BP—the company formerly known as British Petroleum. -more-
The proposed agreement between one of the world’s largest oil companies, BP (formerly British Petroleum) and UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois has ignited a firestorm that promises to burn long and hot. -more-
Ousted Berkeley Planning Commission chair and environmentalist Helen Burke, defeated in a carefully staged coup Wednesday night, said Thursday that David Stoloff, her replacement, told her after the vote that he knew the only way he could beat her was by lying. -more-
While Berkeley’s revenue is higher than expected and the city will be able to write checks for $3.3 million above budgeted expenditures, the City Council may need to go to the voters to pay for essential services such as police and fire, City Manager Phil Kamlarz told the council at a budget workshop, part of the council’s regular Tuesday meeting. -more-
Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith issued a decision, made available this week, agreeing with the Berkeley Police Association, which had filed suit against the city, that open hearings on complaints against the police violate the officers’ privacy rights. -more-
State Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) is planning to introduce legislation, which, if passed, could reopen police complaint hearings around the state. -more-
With a major courtroom victory in hand, Berkeley protesters aren’t giving up their arboreal perches high in a threatened grove adjacent to UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium. -more-
Candy and balloons were not the only things Berkeley High students got to sift through on Valentines Day Tuesday. A group of juniors from the School of Social Justice & Ecology (SSJE)—a small school at Berkeley High—met up with their peers at BHS to dig through the school’s trash and dissect it. -more-
With Oakland Police officials insisting that no police chase preceded a Sunday evening North Oakland accident that resulted in the death of a 41-year-old Stockton woman, a North Oakland resident living within two blocks of the crash says she witnessed a police chase immediately before the fatal crash. -more-
On Wednesday, the Berkeley High School’s (BHS) School Governance Committee discussed the creation of a schoolwide advisory program for all students. Under the BHS Western Association of Schools and Colleges Action Plan, the school agreed to implement such a program, which would create a mandatory advisory class for students starting for the 2007-2008 school year. -more-
The Zoning Adjustments Board closed the public hearing for Wright’s Garage on Thursday and continued the matter to March 8. -more-
Section 8 renters living in apartments of two or more bedrooms will apparently escape the rent hike anticipated on March 1, according to city manager Phil Kamlarz. But those living in studio and one-bedroom apartments may be paying an additional $35 to $45 each month for rent. -more-
The city went to court in November to fight a Berkeley Police Association lawsuit which argued that open police complaint hearings and public availability of records of those hearings violate a police officers’ right to privacy. -more-
The Academic Performance Index (API)—the basis of California’s Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999 which measures the academic performance and growth of schools on a variety of academic measures—showed significant progress in most Berkeley public schools in 2006 with the exception of Berkeley High School. -more-
Supporters of Save Berkeley Iceland plan to show up in their skating and hockey gear at the Berkeley City Council tonight (Tuesday) to request the city’s help in saving the historic ice rink scheduled to close March 31. -more-
Staff is breathing easier at Berkeley’s 14-year-old support center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. -more-
Berkeley Planning Commissioners will get their first official look at expansion plans for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL) Wednesday night. -more-
By Kalima Rose -more-
Mayor Tom Bates praised the city’s role in protecting the environment and the economic growth in many of Berkeley’s shopping districts, but spent most of his State of the City address Tuesday evening setting the stage for the future: -more-
A recent issue of the snarky British magazine New Scientist discusses a concept we must have missed, one which clearly is a good description of the web-wired political landscape. The writer notes that some large entities, an oil company in the particular example, are starting fake grass-roots political campaigns to promote ideas advantageous to the promulgators, for example touting the environmental soundness of running cars on corn. (Where have we heard that one recently?) They generate email letters to the editor which seem to be from real people, but aren’t. This kind of faux-grass-roots politicizing is coming to be known as “astroturf,” after the simulated grass now seen on many an American football field. -more-
Meeting my father for the first time in 38 years forced me to think about the experience of many young adults who transition out of the foster care system and proceed through life without forging connections to caring adults. -more-
After years of public process, the David Brower Center and Oxford Plaza Family Housing are scheduled to break ground in April. Any major project, especially in Berkeley, receives close study. The City Council, all the various City agencies, commissions, and departments that have a voice in this civic process have carefully considered these two projects, and all have given their approvals. -more-
The Berkeley Housing Authority Special Meeting held on Tuesday Feb. 13th was an unusual event. Not only was it not previously announced, we read about it in the Daily Planet in the Tuesday edition, consequently it was not well attended by people whose shelter depends upon BHA. With the exception of one woman who spoke right to the point: that the City Council, who sits as the Housing Authority Board of Directors, have failed for 4 or 5 years to lift the agency out of it’s “troubled,” read failing, status, the other speakers recited jargon, statistics, and acronyms. I watched the performance, or should I say charade, on television. I was shocked at the lack of passion, outrage, or meaning that was expressed by Tia Ingraham, BHA Managing Director, or Steve Barton, Berkeley Housing Director, or the City Council members. Have none of these people ever suffered insecurity? Have none of these people ever serious been faced with the prospects of poverty? Darryl Moore thanked the two for an “informative report.” I was as mystified by his accolade as if indeed English was not my native language! -more-
The DAPAC recently recommended limiting the options for a future design study of the Center Street corridor in Downtown Berkeley to that of closure to vehicular traffic (except for service and loading) and allowance for a maximum feasible creek. In making this recommendation, the DAPAC has rejected alternate street right of way considerations that would accommodate vehicular traffic and/or parking in some manner. -more-
There’s been so much spin about the “Brower Center” that I assumed most people in Berkeley had heard about it. Those of us who watch local land use in stunned dismay certainly have. -more-
There is no need for divisiveness about the North Shattuck Plaza at Shattuck and Vine. We’re going to build anyway, so why should there be rancor about it? There is no need for you to worry about it, talk about it or disturb yourselves. We have already obtained the approval of the City Council for its development. For the good of the community. We got the council’s approval based on your approval. If you don’t remember approving, trust us. You did. Your failure to object loudly will be deemed further approval. -more-
Sometimes the writings of the far end of the political spectrums, both on the right and on the left, are so bizarre, one is left shaking one’s head in near disbelief. Joanna Graham’s strange conflation of unprovoked personal attacks; justification for and rationalization of what she characterizes as “the rise in anger against Jews” (what I would call anti-Semitism); and cryptic allegations of conspiracies between a local developer, the “Israel lobby machine,” and the rabbis of Congre-gation Beth El is one such example. -more-
As the fables about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and clandestine ties with al-Qaeda began to unravel following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the flagship of U.S. news reporting, the New York Times, took itself to task for its failure to challenge its news sources. In May, 2004, the Times wrote: “Information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged … Articles based on dire claims about Iraq tended to get prominent display, while follow-up articles that called the original ones into question were sometimes buried. In some cases, there was no follow-up at all.” -more-
This being the third (and final) column on the subject of the disruption at the City of Oakland’s Paramount Theater Inaugural last month, some readers may be wondering with all of the other issues to talk about, why so much time is being spent on this. -more-
I met a very nice fellow today. A composer. Funny how homeowners end up being something other than just … homeowners. Neat guy, writes music for films, TV, industrials (corporate film) and the like. He also had the composure of musician, smooth and philosophical. Good thing for all those involved in selling him this house because let me tell you, he had some pain and it would be very easy to acrimonious with this particular type. -more-
Molly Ivins would just love this story: her fellow Texan and journalist, PBS’ Jim Lehrer, reported on the NewsHour that billions are missing in funds allocated for Iraq reconstruction. According to inspector general Stuart Bowen, one item among the rabbit holes this money fell into was one leading straight to—get this—an Olympic-sized swimming pool in Baghdad. I can’t figure out if Baghdad is the Emerald City, Wonderland, or a WETA creation. -more-
After Ralph died, I went to Scottsdale, Manhattan, Atlantic City, and Las Vegas (twice). I painted walls and furniture in my house, cleaned closets, and returned the downstairs furniture upstairs and the upstairs furniture to its rightful place downstairs. I perused farmers markets and street fairs, attended readings and spoken-word events. I took my niece and nephew to parks, museums, and Berkeley’s Iceland. I watched them perform wobbly somersaults at Head Over Heels and throw themselves, joyfully, into the plastic ball pit at the Emeryville Public Market. -more-
Talk about your misperceptions: for years, I thought the California towhees in my yard were having boundary issues. Two towhees would fly toward each other, one or both uttering a loud squealing call that was nothing like their normal “chip” or “tsip.” It sure sounded like fighting words. The towhees would appear to confront each other with fluffed-out feathers. Then they’d break off and go back to scuffling through the leaf litter for bugs. -more-
THE ART OF LIVING BLACK ARTISTS’ TALK -more-
In Shopping for God, her solo piece now playing at The Marsh-Berkeley in the Gaia Building, Erica Lann Clark, an accomplished storyteller with a distinctive stage presence, seems at first to cover familiar territory, albeit in her own, humorously idiosyncratic, sketchy way. But once she gets down to brass tacks, what she has to say—and act out—is much more than just another autobiographical story. The shopping is over. Or has it just begun? -more-
I met a very nice fellow today. A composer. Funny how homeowners end up being something other than just … homeowners. Neat guy, writes music for films, TV, industrials (corporate film) and the like. He also had the composure of musician, smooth and philosophical. Good thing for all those involved in selling him this house because let me tell you, he had some pain and it would be very easy to acrimonious with this particular type. -more-
Conductor Nicole Paiement and Ensemble Parallèle present the world premiere of Lou Harrison’s Young Caesar at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Feb. 16 and 17. -more-
TheatreFIRST brings to the stage G. E. Lessing’s masterpiece, Nathan the Wise, the original play of ideas (and of religious and cultural toleration and understanding) in the modern sense at the Old Oakland Theatre in a witty and exhilarating production in Edward Kemp’s illuminating new translation. -more-
Talk about your misperceptions: for years, I thought the California towhees in my yard were having boundary issues. Two towhees would fly toward each other, one or both uttering a loud squealing call that was nothing like their normal “chip” or “tsip.” It sure sounded like fighting words. The towhees would appear to confront each other with fluffed-out feathers. Then they’d break off and go back to scuffling through the leaf litter for bugs. -more-
