Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday June 12, 2007

HOUSING DIRECTOR

Editors, Daily Planet:

I was saddened to learn that Berkeley Housing Director Steve Barton has resigned from his job. I am a single mother of wonderful twin daughters and we would not be living in our Berkeley condominium today if not for the efforts of Steve Barton.

About 15 years ago, the former building owner tried doubling the rent on each of the eleven units in our building. The Rent Board prevented the rents from skyrocketing but the owner then threatened to evict everyone and go out of business. The tenants got together and wanted to end the harassment by buying the building. The problem was that most of the tenants were working but of limited means. With Dr. Barton’s guidance, we were able to structure the financing so the sitting tenants could purchase the eleven units if they desired.

Rent control kept the tenants in our building from being pushed out of Berkeley and Steve Barton’s efforts and advice allowed us to purchase our units and become homeowners.

Without the assistance of Steve Barton and the Rent Board, my family probably would not be in Berkeley today. I try showing my gratitude to the city by volunteering in many ways including as a PTA officer, youth soccer coach and a middle school cheerleading coach. The other members of our building association contribute to the City in countless other ways. None of this would have been possible without Steve Barton.

Thanks Steve.

Hillary Kitka and the

Russell Street Homeowners Association

•

STEVE BARTON

Editors, Daily Planet:

Steve Barton was an asset to the City of Berkeley, a conscientious and extremely knowledgeable housing director, and I am appalled that he was forced out of his position.

His detractors make the ridiculous complaint that he promoted affordable housing as a political agenda. These detractors will see anyone who promotes affordable housing as having a political agenda, but they are wrong.

Affordable housing is a policy of the City of Berkeley, and the region, and it is what the housing director is hired to promote.

The ultimate responsibility for the demise of the Berkeley Housing Authority lies with the City Council in their role as the board of the Housing Authority. It is they who have the fiduciary obligations to monitor the use of Housing Authority funds, as well as its provision of Section 8 housing. If anyone should be fired in what is looking like a scandal of incompetence, it is the City Council. Passing the buck to a new Housing Authority Board on July 1 will not cure their shirking of responsibility for the past decade or so.

Instead, one of the city’s most competent employees is forced out. A sad commentary on the state of the city.

Anne Wagley

Former chair,

Housing Advisory Commission

•

THROWN UNDER A BUS

Editors, Daily Planet:

As a former BHA employee I know first hand the meaning of the term “thrown under the bus.” The BHA has been in a constant state of disrepair, dysfunction and the victim of City Council, city manager and, just as importantly, city attorney, disinterest since the 1980s. How else to explain the ten minute attention span given Housing Authority matters right before the much more sexy City Council meetings? Put another way, the Berkeley Housing Authority never mattered; to council or to the city manager or city attorney sitting on high at the fifth floor.

It is interesting, if not tragic, to note that the recently fired housing director has probably done more to preserve Section 8 units in Berkeley than any predecessor with the decision to allow property owners to raise rents just as state-wide vacancy decontrol was coming down the pike. Probably an additional 600-800 low-income tenants have been able to stay in Berkeley due to the foresight of Mr. Barton. Of course, this is of no concern to the brickthrowers at 2180 Milvia St. seeking scapegoats for a mess that they themselves created or have conveniently ignored for over two decades.

How ironic that with a “new” Housing Authority in place the city has agreed to subsidize the agency with substantial monies from the General Fund; something never approved of during the tenure of Mr. Barton. Dollars to doughnuts that without this taxpayer subsidy, the BHA would easily continue its downward spiral since the core problem of rotating directors, lack of staff to do even the most essential functions such as filing, and an overburdened caseload for its reps would simply fester and grow.

My guess is that three years from now, after the money has run out, and staff has been cut again to its sub-competent level, the Housing Authority will be right back where it is now.

It seems that the “fiduciary responsibility” or “contract oversight” so often harped on by the city attorney in her most recent diatribes extends only as far as she can throw a dedicated Housing Director out the window.

Former BHA employee

Named withheld upon request

•

HELL HATH NO FURY

LIKE A WOMAN SCORNED

Editors, Daily Planet:

One has to wonder what was the purpose of the city attorney giving the council an “I told you so” letter pointing the finger at City Manager Kamlarz and Deputy City Manager Caronna regarding the recent melt down of Berkeley’s Housing Authority. I don’t recall any news article or council member laying the blame for the problems of BHA at the foot of the city attorney.

The citizens of Berkeley would be hard pressed to find a more competent, more knowledgeable and harder working city manager than Phil Kamlarz. And Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna isn’t too far behind. I say this from almost 30 years of intimately working with various governmental managers in numerous cities, which includes Weldon Rucker, Jim Keene, Hal Cronkite, Mike Brown and Elijah Rogers- who all held the city manager job prior to Phil.

Every manager, not just in government, receives advice about what “should” be done from a variety of sources and has to make a decision about the correct course of action. No manager gets it right 100 percent of the time. The council itself has already acknowledged that no small part of the BHA problem is a result of their failure.

So why should the city attorney, a member of the city’s management team, single out Phil Kamlarz and Lisa Caronna? Because they are ultimately responsible for everything that goes wrong with any of the 1,600 people who work for the City of Berkeley?

Steve Barton, who has worked for the city for almost two decades, was chosen by Weldon Rucker in 1999 to manage the Berkeley Housing Authority. A number of councilpersons and others are saying they are sorry to see him go. So he couldn’t have been so obviously bad that it should have been evident to the city manager that he was incompetent. As a city manager overseeing a $300 million dollar budget, you don’t really have the time to micro manage your department heads. You have to rely on them to generally make the right choice. And after all the Berkeley City Council was responsible for overseeing Steve Barton’s BHA.

And where was the city’s attorney prior to her “I told you so” letter? Did she meet with council, the people who really are responsible for reviewing the decisions being made at BHA, and indicate to them that she felt the city manager and his staff and/or Steve Barton were not following good legal advice. Isn’t that HER job? And if she did her job, why isn’t she complaining about how the council also ignored her advice? Or more likely when the city manager made, in her opinion, poor choices did she just sit by silently without bringing up her concerns to the council? Is the city attorney unable to have a managerial sit down with the city manager, herself and a few council persons to work through some issues?

Nobody’s advice, and that includes the Berkeley city attorney, is correct 100 percent of the time. And if not following advice 100 percent of the time is cause for public castigation, it makes the city attorney yet another dysfunctional City of Berkeley employee.

Doug Fielding

•

OUTRAGE AND SHAME

Editors, Daily Planet:

Does anyone else out there feel outraged and a little ashamed to see our scapegoating the poor and disabled homeless while at the same time they have allowed our Housing Authority to collapse into a cesspool of incompetence and corruption? Is no one outraged when the disabled are cast into the streets and our mayor and City Council make laws to jail them to keep their own mistakes and inaction out of sight?

Do you feel OK about people referring to our most vulnerable community members as (and I quote John McDougall in the Daily Planet) “human waste”?

Please join us as we let our mayor and City Council know that while we all want a safe and happy Berkeley, it is not appropriate to criminalize our poorest and most vulnerable.

At 6:30 p.m. on the steps of City Hall, the Inappropriate Street Behavior Players will be putting on a performance for all who wish to attend. There will be food and music and a good time had by all. If you would like to join our troupe or help with script writing and props I would love to have you.

Dan McMullan

Disabled People Outside Project

P.S. Does anyone else find it odd that while the Housing Authority comes under the microscope, Patrick Kennedy, Berkeley’s biggest builder of low-income housing (and someone who has for years been accused of all kinds of hanky panky over there), decides to sell all those big, shiny buildings he loves so much and hightail it out of town? Stay tuned, for heads are about to roll.

•

HOUSING AUTHORITY MORASS

Editors, Daily Planet:

Manuela Albuquerque’s recent memos listing management and staffing failures at the Berkeley Housing Authority proclaim that, she, as city attorney, is mandated by the charter to supervise all contracts involving the BHA.

On May 22, the city manager stood up and acknowledged his failure by not solving the Housing Authority morass. The mayor, City Council members and housing director properly each did the same that evening. Housing Director Barton later resigned his position. Having served on the Housing Advisory Commission for eight years I know that Barton worked extensively to make housing for those with limited resources possible in Berkeley.

The Housing Authority has been a dumping ground and troubled agency since the early 1980s. Tenants, owners and even bureaucrats have complained about the service for years. Some, blame staff incompetence or lack of caring. Others claim the root causes are under funding and shifting Federal rules. Whatever the reason, the Berkeley Housing Authority has not functioned optimally for 25 years.

Ms. Albuquerque has been city attorney since 1985—almost the entire span of this failure. Why is she just now coming forward to fulfill her obligations under the city charter?

Jumping on the bandwagon and issuing scathing memos after others have already made the decisions to replace the Housing Authority Board and all the employees at the BHA is disingenuous and self-serving. Albuquerque’s unchallenged reports are not solving any problems, only adding salacious and unsubstantiated details.

I find it troubling that the only person who has remained silent in acknowledging any failure is Ms. Albuquerque. Ironically, she is the one person that has had the unbroken authority to do something since the mid 1980s. Why she would chose to wait to issue her reports and illuminate us about the crisis until after the decisions to rectify the situation were made and the housing director resigned, remains an unanswered but intriguing question.

It would be refreshing if the city attorney would stop pointing fingers at others for a moment and display the decency to admit that she too is culpable as part of this failed team effort. Given that she has had the authority under the charter to address the situation for 22 years (three times longer than Barton held his post), she may feel compelled to follow Barton’s path.

Eugene Turitz

•

WRIGHT’S GARAGE PROJECT

Editors, Daily Planet:

The Wright’s garage project in the Elmwood shopping district has created more neighborhood discussion than can be remembered in years and the commentary in the June 8 Daily Planet has caused confusion about the Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association.

CENA (Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association) is not associated with the Elmwood Neighborhood Association. CENA is one of Berkeley’s oldest and largest neighborhood associations, is incorporated in the State of California, and abides by a legally registered set of by-laws. The CENA neighborhood and our board of directors have not taken sides on this issue.

Dean Metzger

President, CENA

•

JOE MAGRUDER

Editors, Daily Planet:

The June 8 article on AC Transit June 24 “service changes” was somewhat less than accurate. The service changes include discontinuance of the heavily used Line 52 which runs between the UC Campus and Albany Village by way of Cedar Street. While a new line 19 will run on Cedar Street, it will be of no use to those of us who live along Cedar and now use Line 52 to go to and from the UC Campus.

Joe Magruder

•

YASSIR CHADLY

Editors, Daily Planet:

Thank you Berkeley Daily Planet. Thank you City of Berkeley powers that be. Thanks to all Yassir’s appreciative fans. The world’s a better place because of our being able to express our voices.

Joan Trenholm Herbertson

•

SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE

Editors, Daily Planet:

THROWN UNDER A BUS

Editors, Daily Planet:

As a former BHA employee I know first hand the meaning of the term “thrown under the bus.” The BHA has been in a constant state of disrepair, dysfunction and the victim of City Council, city manager and, just as importantly, city attorney, disinterest since the 1980s. How else to explain the 10-minute attention span given Housing Authority matters right before the much more sexy City Council meetings? Put another way, the Berkeley Housing Authority never mattered; to council or to the city manager or city attorney sitting on high on the fifth floor.

My guess is that three years from now, after the money has run out, and staff has been cut again to its sub-competent level, the Housing Authority will be right back where it is now.

Former BHA employee

Named withheld upon request

•

HELL HATH NO FURY

LIKE A WOMAN SCORNED

Editors, Daily Planet:

Steve Barton, who has worked for the city for almost two decades, was chosen by Weldon Rucker in 1999 to manage the Berkeley Housing Authority. A number of councilpersons and others are saying they are sorry to see him go. So he couldn’t have been so obviously bad that it should have been evident to the city manager that he was incompetent. As a city manager overseeing a $300 million dollar budget, you don’t really have the time to micro manage your department heads. You have to rely on them to generally make the right choice. And after all, the Berkeley City Council was responsible for overseeing Steve Barton’s BHA.

And where was the city’s attorney prior to her “I told you so” letter? Did she meet with council, the people who really are responsible for reviewing the decisions being made at BHA, and indicate to them that she felt the city manager and his staff and/or Steve Barton were not following good legal advice? Isn’t that her job? And if she did her job, why isn’t she complaining about how the council also ignored her advice? Or more likely when the city manager made, in her opinion, poor choices did she just sit by silently without bringing up her concerns to the council? Is the city attorney unable to have a managerial sit down with the city manager, herself and a few council persons to work through some issues?

Doug Fielding

•

OUTRAGE AND SHAME

Editors, Daily Planet:

Do you feel OK about people referring to our most vulnerable community members as (and I quote John McDougall in the Daily Planet) “human waste”?

Please join us as we let our mayor and City Council know that while we all want a safe and happy Berkeley, it is not appropriate to criminalize our poorest and most vulnerable.

Dan McMullan

Disabled People Outside Project

P.S.: Does anyone else find it odd that while the Housing Authority comes under the microscope, Patrick Kennedy, Berkeley’s biggest builder of low-income housing (and someone who has for years been accused of all kinds of hanky panky over there), decides to sell all those big, shiny buildings he loves so much and hightail it out of town? Stay tuned, for heads are about to roll.

•

HOUSING AUTHORITY MORASS

Editors, Daily Planet:

On May 22, the city manager stood up and acknowledged his failure by not solving the Housing Authority morass. The mayor, City Council members and housing director properly each did the same that evening. Housing Director Barton later resigned his position. Having served on the Housing Advisory Commission for eight years, I know that Barton worked extensively to make housing for those with limited resources possible in Berkeley.

The Housing Authority has been a dumping ground and troubled agency since the early 1980s. Tenants, owners and even bureaucrats have complained about the service for years. Some blame staff incompetence or lack of caring. Others claim the root causes are under funding and shifting federal rules. Whatever the reason, the Berkeley Housing Authority has not functioned optimally for 25 years.

Ms. Albuquerque has been city attorney since 1985—almost the entire span of this failure. Why is she just now coming forward to fulfill her obligations under the city charter?

Jumping on the bandwagon and issuing scathing memos after others have already made the decisions to replace the Housing Authority Board and all the employees at the BHA are disingenuous and self-serving. Albuquerque’s unchallenged reports are not solving any problems, only adding salacious and unsubstantiated details.

I find it troubling that the only person who has remained silent in acknowledging any failure is Ms. Albuquerque. Ironically, she is the one person that has had the unbroken authority to do something since the mid-1980s. Why she would choose to wait to issue her reports and illuminate us about the crisis until after the decisions to rectify the situation were made and the housing director resigned remain unanswered but intriguing questions.

Eugene Turitz

•

WRIGHT’S GARAGE PROJECT

Editors, Daily Planet:

The Wright’s garage project in the Elmwood shopping district has created more neighborhood discussion than can be remembered in years, and the commentary in the June 8 Daily Planet has caused confusion about the Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association.

Dean Metzger

President, CENA

•

JOE MAGRUDER

Editors, Daily Planet:

The June 8 article on AC Transit’s June 24 “service changes” was somewhat less than accurate. The service changes include discontinuance of the heavily used Line 52, which runs between the UC Campus and Albany Village by way of Cedar Street. While a new line 19 will run on Cedar Street, it will be of no use to those of us who live along Cedar and now use Line 52 to go to and from the UC Campus.

Joe Magruder

•

YASSIR CHADLY

Editors, Daily Planet:

Thank you Berkeley Daily Planet. Thank you City of Berkeley powers that be. Thanks to all Yassir’s appreciative fans. The world’s a better place because of our being able to express our voices.

Joan Trenholm Herbertson

•

SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE

Editors, Daily Planet:

I’ll be joining seniors, California doctors, the California Nurses Association, Michael Moore and many others in Sacramento this next Tuesday because single-payer is on the line—for real. SB840, Sheila Kuhl’s single-payer bill, is going to pass the Legislature again, but at least one other competing bill, with support from Democrats in two cases and Republicans in another, is also going to be sent to the governor’s desk. Even Loni Hancock, one of the co-sponsors of the single-payer bill, has voted for another bill (as well as single-payer) on the grounds that Arnold will veto the Kuhl single-payer bill again and something is better than nothing. Hancock is right on single-payer, but wrong on that other bill. As a doctor, a patient, a senior and a member of Physicians for a National Health Program, I know that only kicking out the health insurance companies can solve the out-of-control health care crisis. We need to make it clear that there is huge public support for full, equal, quality comprehensive universal health care for everyone in California now. Please set aside your other important life affairs and join in this push to show they cannot pull the wool over the public’s eyes again. Put Arnold on the hot seat and make sure he knows his veto will be seen as a glaring attack upon the public’s rights and interests. Call California Alliance for Retired Americans to reserve a seat on the bus, leaving Ashby BART at 9:50 a.m.: 663-4086.

Marc Sapir MD, MPH

•

THE NEW EAST BAY EXPRESS

Editors, Daily Planet:

Thank you for your interest in the new arrangement at the East Bay Express. I am happy to attempt to answer your questions.

1) I am currently living in Oakland near Lake Merritt with my wife and chocolate Labrador. Our six children are in college and beyond and spread over the country and Europe.

2) Stephen Buel and I are managing the paper: he oversees the editorial side and I am in charge of business. Although I don’t own either a majority or plurality of the stock I do carry the title of president of the LLC that owns the paper.

3) Jody Colley, formerly sales and marketing director at the San Francisco Bay Guardian, a long-time resident of the East Bay, and a former employee of mine at the Pitch in Kansas City, has been hired as our publisher and given an equity stake in the new corporation.

4) Other than Bradley Zeve, the founder of the Monterey County Weekly, and Kelly Vance, our film reviewer, the outside investors consist of friends who have no connection to the publishing world and are not now nor have they ever been involved in any way, business or otherwise, with either New Times or Village Voice Media.

5) When it makes sense for one sales rep to handle a client who wants to advertise in both our paper and the SF Weekly, we have created a mechanism that will allow that. This is a common practice with alt-weeklies in close proximity, particularly in the Bay Area and California. Whenever similar partnerships are proposed, we will be open to discussion. As a new, independently owned paper we set our own rate structure and are not privy to the details regarding the lawsuit involving the previous owners and the Bay Guardian.

Tim Redmond, the Bay Guardian editor, mentioned in his first report regarding this change of ownership, how rare it is that a chain-owned media outlet has returned to independent control. It’s understandable that corporate media aren’t rushing to report on the benefits that papers like yours, the Bay Guardian, and now again the East Bay Express offer their communities. So feel free to add your thoughts to this list:

1) Locally owned and operated newspapers are invested, accessible and participate in their communities.

2) Our shareholders consider the profit motive secondary to offering an alternative voice and are supportive to other perspectives.

3) Our vision includes a desire to heavily support local arts and non-profit entities, increase our reach within the East Bay core area, offer primarily local content and use the Internet as well as other new media options to ensure we stay available and interactive.

Finally, it is our intention to not take ourselves too seriously and have some fun. I agree that introducing each of our investors and their backgrounds could only enhance the overwhelmingly positive response the change has received. Please keep your eye on our blog, 92510, at Blogs.EastBayExpress.com, where the full story will be posted. And thanks again.

Hal Brody

Independent Owner/Operator

East Bay Express

•

WISH IT WERE TRUE

Editors, Daily Planet:

In his latest column about my latest column, Jesse Douglas Allen-Taylor proffers the following suggestions: That I made up quotes and attributed them to anonymous sources; and that the new owners of the East Bay Express only printed my final story to illustrate the sort of crap they won’t be publishing in the future.

How I wish it were true. It’s long been my dream to go out as a disgraced liar. Fortunately, I’ve taken a new job at the Village Voice, so I still have plenty of time to fuck up. Where there’s life, there’s hope.

Chris Thompson

•

DELLUMS ADMINISTRATION

Editors, Daily Planet:

Your columnist, J. Douglas Allen-Taylor, defends Mayor Dellums from media criticism by pleading that we hold off judgment: “So is Mr. Dellums leaning too much toward corporations to help solve Oakland’s problems, or is he not leaning that way enough? Mr. Gammon, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Riles, and the good folks at ORPN are free to draw whatever conclusions they want, of course, but the truth is, perhaps it is simply too soon to tell.” (Berkeley Daily Planet, June 8.)

When the mayor’s chief of staff, Dan Boggan Jr., simultaneously receives both $200,000 a year as a Clorox director and $97,000 a year for 25 hours a week at City Hall, the conflict of interest is apparent on the face of it. The interests of Clorox shareholders do not coincide with the interests of Oakland residents. Furthermore, anyone who feels he needs to hold two such posts as well as two additional corporate directorships for a total income of more than $500,000 a year certainly appears most interested in his personal fortune.

To give just one example of what emerges from such conflict of interest, Mayor Dellums announced he will seek an increase next year in the Landscape and Lighting Assessment tax, despite voters’ rejection of the same increase last year. Clorox has an interest in imposing a regressive property tax rather than, for example, a graduated levy based on business revenues. For the year ended June 30, 2006, Clorox made a profit of $444 million on sales of $4.6 billion.

Seems as though we better rush to judgment because Clorox and its official at the top of the Dellums administration are certainly rushing to the bank.

Charles Pine

•

RUTH MENIKETTI

Editors, Daily Planet:

How tragic—yet another fatality in my neighborhood, the second in two weeks, this time an acquaintance, Ruth Meniketti. When I moved to Albany in 1973 she was a familiar attendee at City Council meetings, at Ashkenaz doing folk dancing, often at the library, strolling along Solano. She was constantly going to a meetings at the senior center about Albany’s history and always with a smile on her face and a willingness to help Albany in so many ways. Another tragedy for the elderly, albeit active, pedestrian who is simply trying to cross the street.

My late husband Bert and I met Ruth while we were all volunteering with Dario Menkietti and her on the free Albany Community News. She contributed articles, worked on editing and even delivered the weekly.

The electronic movable police flashboards, which indicate digitally our speed, are helpful, even with the recent traffic slowing one lane down Marin Avenue. Hopefully the city councils of Albany and Berkeley can come up witDario Menkietti and her on the free Albany Community News. She contributed articles, worked on editing and even delivered the weekly.

The electronic movable police flashboards, which indicate digitally our speed, are helpful, even with the recent traffic slowing one lane down Marin Avenue. Hopefully the city councils of Albany and Berkeley can come up with creative ideas and solutions not only to deal with folks who continue to drive “under-the-influence” but also seem to be unaware that they too at times are pedestrians who deserve to cross busy streets safely.

Sylvia Scherzer

Albany

•

REMEMBERING RUTH

Editors, Daily Planet:

Thank you for your article on Albany resident Ruth Meniketti, who was struck by a car and killed while crossing Marin Avenue. I write in sadness at her sudden death and in deep appreciation for her life and contributions to the community. I have known Ruth only a few years, so I am sure others in the community can speak more eloquently than I about her lifetime of service to the city of Albany, including her tenure as the longest-serving Parks and Recreation Commissioner. I write to honor her consistent commitment to protecting and caring for the environment, her steady presence and participation in community life, and her willingness to show up and work for what she believed was right. Ruth was a lovely woman who generously contributed her time and energy to her community. I will miss her as I know many others in Albany—and beyond—will too.

Nan Wishner

Albany

•

RECUSAL

Editors, Daily Planet:

The Elmwood Neighborhood Association requests that Berkeley City Councilmember Gordon Wozniak recuse himself from any and all council deliberations and decision-making on the issue of the Wright’s Garage conversion proposed by Mr. John Gordon.

The grounds for requesting this recusal are compelling:

1. Councilmember Wozniak has stated publicly and repeatedly that he favors approval of the Gordon project. For example, on the Kitchen Democracy.org website, he has stated “I strongly support this project for various reasons.” And most recently he has stated on the same website: “For several reasons, I support the conversion of Wright’s Garage from the non-conforming auto repair use to various retail uses and a full-service restaurant.”

2. Councilmember Wozniak’s Kitchen Democracy article on Wright’s Garage was biased; it didn’t disclose the plans for a bar and lounge, nor did it discuss the three-year traffic task force on Benvenue and its conclusions. Even after a constituent called to inform him about the task force, he withheld the information from the subsequent updates sent to Kitchen Democracy voters. Additionally, voters were never informed about the number of people who might occupy the building.

3. Councilmember Wozniak is actively mobilizing a selected portion of the community in favor of the city’s approval of the proposal. On June 7 (after the council received the week’s packet with its many letters opposing the Wright’s Garage project), Councilmember Wozniak e-mailed Kitchen Democracy members and asked them to send letters about the project to the City Council in time to make the supplemental packet. Kitchen Democracy members who voted on this issue constitute a population that favors approval. Councilmember Wozniak did not solicit e-mails from his district as a whole, only this select population. It might be considered odd that Councilmember Wozniak solicited letters from a population of people described by Kitchen Democracy as “too busy for City Hall,” unless it is understood in the context of finding people who would write letters with the opinion he wanted.

Recusal is legally required and in keeping with historical precedent. In the past, the city attorney has required councilmembers and commission members who have expressed opinions about an application—whether pro or con—to recuse themselves when the item comes before the body on which they serve. Ruling on project applications is a quasi-judicial act. Judges are supposed to come to cases with an open mind (and not pre-judge the situation). Regarding the Gordon project for Wright’s Garage, Councilmember Wozniak has stated in no uncertain terms that he has already made up his mind. Therefore, he is obligated to recuse himself when the measure comes before the City Council.

Recusal entails, we note, that Councilmember Wozniak must leave the council chamber while the item is under consideration.

Elmwood Neighborhood Association

•

BERKELEY AS CALCUTTA

Editors, Daily Planet:

Who made the closed-door decision to suddenly turn Berkeley into a street version of Calcutta? Those who rent or have a business in Berkeley can now expect a holocaust of homelessness that City Manager Phil Kamlarz and his underlings have set up.

Don’t know about it? Most people don’t. It was largely done in meetings that the public wasn’t informed of. Everyone in Berkeley can be affected by the upwards of 1,000 or more Berkeley citizens who may be ripped from their homes by the $60 a month rent raise for one-bedrooms and $50 a month rent jackup for studios.

Who are the first group of people to be affected? Don’t bullies usually start with the perceived weakest? The elderly and disabled are being targeted and could lose 750 of their Berkeley homes to start with. These people are being overcharged against the law on Section 8, but what makes us think that any of us are safe? In the rush to give Berkeley property and funds to huge, badly managed developers’ properties, it’s becoming clear that perhaps none of us is exempt. Oh, they couldn’t do that to us; it’s against the law, right? Berkeley’s mostly rubber-stamp City Council (with a few brave exceptions) is suddenly trying to back off from the coming Section 8 evictions by a staff shell game shakeup. Instead of stopping the evictions this second, they’re busy trying to point fingers at each other.

The coming Housing and Urban Development Inspector General investigation will probably end up stating the obvious: Berkeley (like Oakland and L.A.) is breaking the law by possibly mismanaging HUD and other Berkeley housing funds. It is discriminating by age and disability (including veterans) by not allowing these HUD tenants the same rights as any other Berkeley citizen. If there is a budget shortfall, shouldn’t everyone shoulder it equally ,or none? Why are tenants whose landlords have jacked their rent way above HUD fair market rents be the ones to suffer?

These are just some of Berkeley’s questionable practices. And the laws Berkeley is currently breaking? 1990 Berkeley Human Rights Ordinance; U.S. Constitution, Article 6, Clause 2; Berkeley Rent Stabilization Ordinance, 13.T6.030—this could be remedied by including Section 8 protections in an amendment; 1977 Housing Element of the Berkeley Master Plan; 1992 U.S.-ratified International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 26; U.N. Charter, Article 55 U.S.-ratified as the supreme law of the land, Americans with Disabilities Act; Civil Rights laws of “disparate impact”; Veterans Housing Acts; Fair housing Act; U.S.-ratified Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Article 161 or 16.1; U.S.-ratified treaty Convention to Eliminate Racial Discrimination, Article 5(e)iii; HUD’s original purpose and rules; 1974 Housing Assistance Payments Program—just to begin with.

Philip Ardsley Smith

Berkeley Citizens for Fair Housing

Endorsed by the Berkeley Gray Panthers

•

BLACKS, JAZZ GO WAY BACK

Editors, Daily Planet:

As a black woman who is a contributing producer to the jazz program hosted by Doug Edwards at KPFA, I would like to share a little bit from personal history.

My father, a former Berkeley resident of 50-plus years, originally from Louisiana, exposed me to the music first. I then began humming the jazz standards from the ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s made popular by blacks and whites alike to both my children before and after they were born. I continue to expose my daughters to the music and they carry it around with them just as I do.

My 12-year-old daughter Naima (named for the Coltrane song) can sing a few jazz standards from memory beautifully though she has been to only a couple of concerts.

My 9-year-old daughter Naomi has been playing blues and jazz on the harmonica and accordion since age 3 (she sometimes plays them simultaneously). She enjoyed Mark Hammel’s (who teaches at the Berkeley Jazz School) annual blues harmonica blowout at Yoshi’s; I made sure we went. We were the only blacks there which made me ponder the absence, but I realize that many black parents are not making this a priority. Yoshi’s gets credit form having matinees so that this can be done. For those black families who do not attend, I think it has more to do with who has the disposable income. Further, these folk instruments are no longer taught in schools and few radio stations even play jazz.

To make sure they continue their relationship with their musical heritage, we have been listening to Wynton Marsalis’ newest CD because it masterfully merges jazz and rap, a good compromise for me who struggles with time and finances. It is a fresh interpretation of both art forms and my sixth-grade students at Longfellow Middle School also love it!

Two things that has come out of this continued dialog is the fact that blacks who invented jazz need to pool economic resources and musical talents for future generations and accept the fact that jazz is so loved by the world, we are all in this together.

Gabrielle Wilson

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REPLY TO A RACIST

Editors, Daily Planet:

If a white person had written an opinion piece titled, “Why I’m a Racist,” as Madeline Smith Moore did (June 8), this newspaper would have had a major riot on its hands.

Ms. Moore is very good at describing the racism that she and other blacks have experienced, but she somehow never gets around to asking what might prompt some whites, including liberals, to discriminate in the way they do. Could it be that most of the high-crime areas in big cities are predominantly black? Could it be that to this day, a black parent who makes sure his or her child puts homework first, is still a rarity? Could it be that, despite billions of dollars spent trying to motivate and help black students, a black student who studies hard and does his or her homework, runs a real chance of getting beaten up by other black students for “acting white”?

Ms. Moore also somehow doesn’t get around to mentioning the extraordinary financial rewards that whites, racist and not, are perfectly willing to bestow on blacks who demonstrate extraordinary ability. (So far, this has been primarily in sports and entertainment.)

A white racist couldn’t hope for anything better than to have blacks continue to think, “If I’m not succeeding, it’s someone else’s fault,” because that will keep blacks on the bottom far more effectively, and with far less effort, than any overt discrimination.

The outstanding black leaders of the future will begin virtually every speech with, “Racism exists. It’s never going away. Now what?” Will Ms. Moore seriously ask us to believe that if the average black student was as capable as the average Jewish or Asian student, nothing would change for blacks in this country?

Peter Schorer

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MAKING THE POPULATION CONNECTION

Editors, Daily Planet:

Population growth affects everyone everywhere. People change the environment, As of now, we have altered more than one third of Earth’s ice-free surface and threatened the existence of many plant and animal species. These changes also pose threats to our well-being (Population Bulletin 2003). From the global warming that shortens skiing season to the water pollution that prohibits surfers from enjoying the ocean, environmental degradation, furthered by increasing population pressure, does and will continue to affect all of our lives. So how do we protect our well-being?

Many people look towards conservation as the solution to this environmental problem. In the past couple of days, articles sighting positive steps toward sustainability have appeared in the paper; Berkeley is adopting a composting plan and funding a Bio-fuel project! These are commendable movements in the right direction, but I am afraid a critical piece of the puzzle is missing-the population question.

No matter how much we conserve, increasing population will increase pressure on our environment. We need to highlight the correlation between population pressure and environmental degradation, and increase awareness about the importance of stabilizing population growth.

Please support this seemingly obvious but much overlooked piece of the sustainability puzzle through increasing awareness. Talk to your family and friends-emphasize that a fundamental way of securing our well-being in the future is through addressing population growth right now.

Georgia Gann

Berkeley Field Organizer

Population Connection

www.popconnect.org