If the City Council decides to uphold a commission designation of Berkeley Iceland as a landmark, it could put a crimp in development plans for a housing/childcare project, while breathing new life into the plans of a nonprofit corporation to re-open the now-shuttered 68-year- old ice skating rink. -more-

Berkeley residents have until Aug. 10 to express their concerns about the environmental review of zoning ordinance and General Plan amendments to open up West Berkeley to car dealerships. -more-

An auditor’s report released late Monday morning says Berkeley police and city workers mismanaged asset forfeiture accounts, which could have caused the city to lose the uninsured funds or allowed the money to be misused or embezzled—neither of which happened, according to the audit. While the council and public did not receive a copy of the audit on asset forfeiture funds until late Monday morning, the council will be asked to approve the report and its suggested remedies at tonight’s (Tuesday) council meeting. -more-

Threatened by citizens considering a lawsuit to force state-mandated public participation in city meetings, Mayor Tom Bates has been experimenting since the fall with a variety of rules aimed at increasing opportunities for public comment at council meetings. -more-

The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) set the appeal of an administrative use permit to construct an addition to a one-story, two-unit building at 2516 Ellsworth St. for a public hearing Thursday. -more-

West Berkeley-based Pacific Steel Casting (PSC) is scheduled to release its health risk assessment report (HRA) to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Monday. -more-

Warnings of criminal penalties, charges of intimidation and ousters of worried UC Berkeley workers and concerns about radioactive contamination dominated discussions about two polluted southeast Richmond sites Thursday. -more-

Oakland Assemblymember Sandré Swanson modified his AB45 Oakland Unified School District local control bill again last Wednesday, giving back more powers to State Superintendent Jack O’Connell over when state control of the Oakland schools will end and winning, in return, key Republican support and passage in the California State Senate Education Committee. -more-

Two teenagers were arrested Friday on charges of shooting a gun at passing vehicles on the 2600 block of California Street. -more-

Corporal punishment -more-

The San Francisco Preservation Consortium appealed the San Francisco Planning Commission’s decision not to landmark the UC Berkeley Extension Laguna Street campus last week. -more-

DUMBING DOWN THE MEDIA -more-

On Tuesday July 17, the City Council will take up the issue of how public comment at Council meetings is structured. We will be deciding who gets to address the Council and how long they will get to speak. -more-

I attended the hearings on the landmark designation for Iceland, our jewel in the heart of Berkeley. Those wishing to preserve Iceland spoke spiritedly on behalf of this well-loved asset—and they were brilliant. They paid tribute with eloquence and soul. -more-

One of my favorite songs from long ago begins “Why, oh why, oh why oh why did I ever leave Ohio?” -more-

These essential questions are being raised more and more often, at least in California, and several local authors and filmmakers have addressed them recently in illuminating ways. -more-

As the psychedelic ’60s morphed into the sour reality of the ’70s, many a dazed survivor was struck with the revelation that there was more to life than sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. For some, a search for enlightenment led to Buddhism, which had a particular appeal for Jewish hippie intellectual lefties—such as a fair percentage of my pals. Picking up on this trend, a local stand-up comic, Darryl Henriques, did a shtick where he inhabited the persona of the Swami from Miami, chief guru of the Bu-ish religion. -more-

The week before the Fourth of July we were up at Lassen Volcanic National Park watching the traffic at Hat Lake. The place was jumping. -more-