Superior Court Judge Richard Keller Wednesday denied UC Berkeley’s request for a court order ending the tree-sit at Memorial Stadium. 

The Alameda County Superior Court judge said he needed more evidence before ruling on the move by the university to end the protest aimed at saving an oak grove the university hopes to cut down to build a high tech gym a stone’s throw from the Hayward Fault. 

“My intent is to maintain the status quo until we can get a full hearing,” said the jurist. Keller set Oct. 1 as the date for a full court proceeding that will include testimony from both sides. 

The university filed papers Tuesday seeking a temporary restraining order against the ongoing protest that began last December in the pre-dawn hours of Big Game day, when Zachary Running Wolf scaled a redwood near the stadium wall. 

University officials surrounded the site with a fence two weeks ago, and the bid for a court order was the next step aimed at halting a high-profile tree-in that even gained the attention of the New York Times. 

Running Wolf hailed the judge’s decision Wednesday as “a victory for us.” 

Until the court rules, the university agreed to allow the tree-sitters to have access to food and other necessities. 

Merci is a word that’s thrown around quite a bit at Ecole Bilingue, East Bay’s oldest bilingual school, and it’s not just because its 500-odd students have a lot to thank their teachers for. 

Conversational French is encouraged at this private French-American institution located in West Berkeley, and teachers, students and parents can be spotted talking fluent French at any given point of the day. 

“They grow up with two norms so they know there are always two ways of looking at things,” explained Frederic Canadas, principal, during the school’s 30th anniversary celebration Friday. 

“EB (Ecole Bilingue) is very special. In 30 years we opened a middle school, a one-to-one laptop learning program and five new languages. I think we are trying to ensure that EB will be here in the next 30 years so that we can celebrate its 60th anniversary.” 

Canadas, a veteran in bilingual education, grew up in Grenoble, France, and has taught in schools all over the world. 

“I came to EB from Finland and fell in love with it,” he said. “It was a dream come true.” 

Accredited by the French Ministry of Education and the California Association of Independent Schools, Ecole Bilingue grew from humble origins. 

Tired of ferrying their children across the Bay Bridge to the French-American school in San Francisco, seven families came together in 1977 to start their own bilingual institution in the East Bay. 

“I went to the French-American school in the city,” said Odile Arizmendi, “and we commuted all the time. My mother, Annie May DeBresson, and some other families decided that there was enough interest in bilingual education in Berkeley to start a school here.” 

DeBresson’s grandchildren, Olivia and Matias, are both EB students. 

“Some of the teachers who taught my brothers and sisters are still here,” Arizmendi said, “and they are really affectionate towards my children. That makes all the difference in the world.” 

Although tuition—at $15,115 for Pre-K through fifth grade and $17,490 for sixth through eighth grade—is steep, enrollment has never been better. 

“Parents are disappointed that their children are being wait-listed,” he said. “One of the challenges that the school faces right now is getting its facilities upgraded. We need bigger buildings to accommodate more students.” 

Besides excelling in academics, students are also taught to be global citizens.  

Last year the EB community reached out to children affected by Hurricane Katrina through Project Backpack and also raised money for leukemia research and relief efforts in Africa. 

Apart from focusing on French and English curricula, the school also offers its students and their families a community, one that offers them the best of two worlds and that is culturally, economically, and religiously diverse. 

On Friday afternoon, after listening to a brief history about their school, students were treated to homemade cup cakes and then sent home with a packet of California poppy seeds. 

“The obvious thing that strikes you about the school would be language,” said Arizmendi, “but the less obvious thing would be the true diversity. It’s like a home away from home.”  

More than 46 nationalities are represented at the school, and students come here from places as far-flung as Morocco, Belgium and Papua New Guinea. 

“When I first came here, I didn’t know English at all,” said fourth-grader Laila Bendrai shyly. “My mom’s from Morocco but I grew up in Montreal, Canada. So my first language is French.” 

“We couldn’t understand what she was saying,” said Cassie Fox-Mount. “But then I learned French and she learned English and we became best friends.” 

Almost half the students at EB arrive at the school without any prior exposure to French but are introduced to the language in their “maternelle” (kindergarten) classrooms. 

“Before they get to the alphabet, they learn basic songs and instructions in French. By the time they get to first grade, they can read and write in French,” said the school’s communication officer Jennifer Monahan. “Kids here learn things they don’t learn in any other school. Eight-year-olds are taught about the Civil War, Neolithic cave art and the Roman Empire. My daughter is learning trigonometry in sixth grade.” 

Monahan, who has a Ph.D. in French from UC Berkeley, said that EB graduates go on to attend some of the best high schools and colleges in the country. 

“By the time they get to eighth grade they are really articulate,” she said. “Their critical thinking and conversational skills are really amazing and they develop a very deep and complex understanding of the world.” 

Tucked between the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory and the future home of the Berkeley Bowl on Heinz Street, the middle school classrooms resemble buildings out of a Harry Potter novel. 

“They were built like that to break down barriers and create opportunities for collaboration and friendly competition across grade levels,” said Canadas. 

Thirty years ago, however, the campus was a different place. 

“There were about 50 students and eight to 10 teachers,” said fourth and fifth grade English teacher Zooey Gouguet, who was part of the original faculty. 

“There wasn’t a lot of hierarchy and it was more of a cooperative effort. Jeannette Rouger, the headmistress, not only handled admissions and all the accounting, but also taught a class. The campus was also a lot smaller. We only had four classrooms.” 

Over the years more classrooms took over a former bindery, bakery and a Moroccan copper warehouse. 

“The school has become 10 times bigger, but its philosophy remains the same,” said Gouguet. “The idea is to bring out the likes and differences between two cultures and languages. There are words which have the same origin but others that are totally different.” 

Decorated with charts representing the Founding Fathers, French alphabets and maps, each class tells its own story. 

“I like the multicultural aspect,” said fourth-grader Catherine Gougeln, as the bell rang for school to end.  

“It’s fun because you get to learn two languages. It helps when you want to tell secrets.” 

Stephen Barton, the former housing director who resigned under pressure from the city manager, will be honored tonight (Tuesday) by the City Council. 

While that may seem a contradiction, it is not, said Councilmember Linda Maio who is writing the proclamation. 

“The council is acting on its own perception and initiative” honoring an individual who has been an “extremely valuable resource,” Maio told the Daily Planet on Monday.  

In part, the proclamation Maio will read says: “…acting beyond the role of a staff person in simply carrying out stated policy Stephen Barton has introduced novel and creative programs and has shaped city policy and practice to ensure that Berkeley residents have opportunities for safe, affordable homes in our city….” 

Barton was asked to resign by City Manager Phil Kamlarz in June after City Attorney Manuela Albuquerque wrote reports condemning Berkeley Housing Authority staff, Barton, the city manager, deputy city manager and an interim Housing Authority manager for various problems at the BHA.  

The BHA has since been reorganized to be independent of the City Council, with all of its members now appointed by the mayor.  

Albuquerque is on sick leave until Oct. 1. 

The proclamation will be read at the beginning of the council meeting at 7 p.m. Before that, the council will meet in a workshop format at 5:30 p.m. to discuss new rules for public comment at its meetings. At 6:30 p.m. the council will meet as the Redevelopment Agency and look at creating “quiet zones” for trains—implementing enhanced safety measures while outlawing train whistles. 

At issue at the 5:30 p.m. work session will be questions of when and for how long the public will be allowed to comment at council meetings. Councilmember Kriss Worthington and Mayor Tom Bates have differing opinions, especially on when people should be allowed to comment on items not listed on the agenda. Bates says these items should come at the end of the agenda, at 11 p.m., but Worthington says they should be heard early in the evening.  

Questions on public comment were raised last year when SuperBOLD (Berkeleyans Organized for Library Defense) threatened to sue the city for violating the state’s open meeting laws by allowing only 10 public speakers per meeting chosen by lottery. 

The council will have an opportunity to enact the new public comment rules during its regular meeting later in the evening. 

Among other actions the council may take are: 

• Adopting its meeting calendar, which provides on average for two meetings per month in a total of 8 months, with a one-month winter break, a three-week spring break and a two-month summer break. 

• Implementing new rules on police asset forfeiture accounts, as recommended by the city auditor. 

• Adopting an agreement with the private College Preparatory High School in Oakland, giving the school regular playing time at the Gilman Street Sports Fields for 25 years in exchange for $600,000. 

• Making a decision on whether to allow a new home to be built at 161 Panoramic Way. 

• Writing a letter to thank the governor of Texas for not executing Kenneth Foster and asking him to modify the law under which Foster was condemned to death. 

• Supporting a boycott of the Woodfin Suite Hotels, which has not complied with Emeryville’s living wage law for hotel workers. 

• Approving the appointment of Carolyn Henry Golphin as library trustee. She is a former president of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce who was selected by the current library board of trustees. 

If the City Council approves a $396,000 grant on tonight’s (Tuesday) council agenda, someone could come knocking at your door, if you live near Telegraph Avenue or San Pablo Avenue, offering detailed information on public transportation services in your neighborhood and even giving you free BART or bus passes to encourage you to try out the services.  

Staff in the city transportation division and the nonprofit they named to pick up the grant funds, Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TLUC), laud the project aimed at getting people out of their cars and into buses and BART and onto their bikes. 

Transportation activist Michael Katz, however, says the taxpayer funds are a gift to TLUC that will be used “to pester Berkeley residents with telephone calls and knocks on the door.”  

And even worse, Katz says, is that the nonprofit slated to get the money could spend it going door to door promoting Bus Rapid Transit, a project it supports but that many Berkeley merchants say they hate. [His full opinion is printed in today’s Commentary section.] The BRT proposal would create a dedicated bus lane and bus stations on Telegraph Avenue. There is general support for the part of the BRT already implemented: rapid buses which make fewer stops and can turn red lights green on Telegraph and San Pablo avenues.  

Associate Transportation Planner Lila Hussain said TLUC will not be hired to do outreach for BRT. “They do a lot of other campaigns, such as fighting (state) cuts in transit,” she said. 

Stuart Cohen, executive director of TLUC, said the young people being trained for the project for the most part don’t know anything about BRT and are not being told about it at all. 

“All of our programs are totally separate, such as safe routes to school,” Cohen said. “It does happen that we’ve been working on BRT.” 

When city staff wrote the original grant application for the federal and regional transportation agencies earlier in the year, they named TLUC the sole source contractor, something that irks Katz, who said there are a number of organizations and consultants that could do the job, including Nelson/Nygaard, the consulting group which wrote the city’s Transportation Demand Management Study. 

Hussain argued that since TLUC is already written into the grant application: “If we don’t give it to them, we don’t get the money.”  

Resident and budget watcher Barbara Gilbert said she has a more general concern: “The city seems to be giving an enormous amount of money to a lobby group,” she said. 

“I’m astounded that the city gives so much money to groups that lobby them,” she said, noting that neighborhood groups that oppose what TLUC wants—transit corridors and the increased density she says they bring—have no funding to lobby against them. 

Katz noted the high cost of the project. The $396,000 targets only 7,500 households—that’s about $84 per family. 

But Cohen said addressing a limited number of households allows the workers in the field to personalize their efforts. For example, in a similar program in Alameda, outreach workers found that people didn’t know a bus ran directly to the Fruitvale BART station just a few blocks from their homes.  

The Berkeley Community Energy Services Corporation is under investigation and its executive director, Nancy Hoeffer, has been terminated. 

The CESC is a 20-year-old nonprofit organization whose board is the city’s Energy Commission appointed by the Berkeley mayor and City Council. The Energy Commission, sitting as the CESC board, “decided to end the employment of an at-will employee” at the end of August, Rae Mary, interim director of housing, told the Daily Planet on Monday. (The Housing Department oversees the city’s Energy Division.”) 

The termination was “not for cause,” Energy Commission Chair Ruth Grimes told the Planet. 

An investigator is being hired to look at “rumors of misuse of funds,” said Mary, who is a retired manager from Oakland’s housing office and who will be directing the Housing Department until a permanent employee is hired to replace former Housing Director Steve Barton.  

Mary said the CESC continues to deliver services to the city while being closely monitored. 

CESC is funded mostly by local and national government entities and by Pacific Gas and Electric; calls to CESC for more precision were not returned.  

According to the city’s energy division website, the nonprofit provides commercial energy conservation services and “is the prime contractor for a $1.3 million, five-year Rebuild America grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The goal of the grant is to influence energy-efficiency projects in eight million square feet of commercial and multi-family floor space in Berkeley, Oakland and Emeryville.” 

CESC is the fiscal sponsor for Sustainable Berkeley, a grouping of organizations and agencies including the Ecology Center, UC Berkeley, “green” health and dentistry businesses, Livable Berkeley, private consultants, the city and the CEAC. Hoeffer was a Sustainable Berkeley board member representing CESC.  

“We have no problem with CESC,” said Sustainable Berkeley spokesperson Catherine Squire in a voicemail message to the Daily Planet. “The problems with CESC have not affected Sustainable Berkeley.” 

An agenda for the Aug. 28 CESC closed-door session that listed “Employee discipline/dismissal” was provided to the Daily Planet by the city clerk. While Energy Commission meetings are posted on the clerk’s website, the CESC board meeting agendas are not; they are posted on the bulletin board in front of the Maudelle Shirek Building (Old City Hall), Grimes said. 

Grimes also noted there have been discussions about concerns with CESC for about a year that included members of city staff, the CESC board and an advisory committee. She declined to name the members of that committee or to discuss the concerns in question. 

Negotiations between the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192 on a two-year contract that expired last June have been extended on a month-to-month basis. 

But with AC Transit officials calling the talk extensions “not unusual,” and with union officials not answering press inquiries, an underground, unaffiliated group of bus operators are worried that their concerns and grievances are not going to be met in the new contract. 

Group members have threatened a walkout if their demands are not met, but it is uncertain how many bus operators they represent, and whether a wildcat strike—not authorized by the union—could succeed. 

For several months, group members have been circulating anonymous newsletters called “The Bus” and “The Open Letter” among the 1,800 operators and mechanics represented by Local 192. Group members say they must stay anonymous for fear of losing their jobs. 

“We don’t know what’s going on with the contract talks,” one of “The Bus” publishers said in an interview last week. “The union’s not letting us know.” 

A spokesperson for AC Transit said that the district would not talk about any of the group’s concerns that might be the subject of the current contract negotiations.  

“It’s really improper to negotiate in the newspaper,” AC Tranist Director of Communications and External Affairs Mary King said this week by telephone. King said, however, that she would personally look into other grievances presented by the group that might not be part of the contract talks.  

“We should find a way to resolve them, or at least lessen their impact on our employees,” King said. 

Two years ago, AC Transit and ATU Local 192 agreed to a two-year deal that gave bus drivers and mechanics a 3 percent raise and a $3 million a year district contribution to a health care trust fund for retired district employees. 

But “The Bus” underground transit newsletter representative said that it is working conditions as well as money that are on bus operators’ minds around the district this year. 

“We’ve got a long list of grievances that aren’t being addressed,” the representative said. 

In a release sent out to media outlets late last month, the group listed an annual cost-of living increase, full compensation for all bus operators (including new hires), “a more sufficient retirement plan,” and a “modified medical plan” as among its grievances. 

“Other concerns,” the group added in its media release, “are the unsafe driving conditions, and unsafe vanpool buses transporting the elderly. We are prepared, if our obligations are not met, to initiate a walkout.”  

Meanwhile, in a leaflet labeled “Contract Issues” that was circulated among drivers earlier this year, the group charged that AC Transit “screws” new drivers to the tune of $8 less per hour and $16,000 less per year during their probationary first year of work with the district.  

“We all do the same work,” the drivers’ group wrote. “Actually, newest drivers do the harder runs in general.” 

The leaflet also charged that under the current contract, drivers receive a written reprimand if they take a sick day off any time their medical leave accrual drops below 24 days. 

One of the specific grievances, the newsletter representative said in the Daily Planet interview, involved what the representative called “unsafe” conditions when drivers use the restroom during late nights on some lines. 

“We get a break during the layover at the end of the lines, and that’s when drivers are able to use the restroom,” the newsletter representative said. But the end of the line layover for the 18 line is at Marin and San Pablo avenues, the representative said, with the only available restroom a two-and-a-half to three-block walk down San Pablo Avenue to a donut shop.  

“That’s dangerous late at night, especially for the female drivers,” the representative said.  

He added that the available restrooms for the 40, the 12, and the 15 lines were even worse. That layover is at 11th and Jefferson, site of the Lafayette Square park.  

“The only restrooms are in the park,” the newsletter representative said. “At night, you’ve got to share them with the prostitutes and the crackheads smoking dope and shooting up.”  

On some lines, some AC Transit bus drivers have been independently observed leaving passengers on their buses at a stop in the middle of the line to go into a nearby fast food restaurant to use the restroom.  

Meanwhile, a leaflet published last March by a group of anonymous drivers signing themselves as the “Emeryville Division Action Committee” charges that AC Transit is skimping on the federally required 30-minute meal period for drives, and that action is causing a safety problem for passengers. 

The leaflet, issued shortly before the new AC Transit schedules went into effect this summer and entitled “RIDER ALERT! Help Us Stop Unsafe Schedules! Drivers are Human Beings—Not Robots” reads in part: “How would you like a job where your longest break all day is SIX MINUTES? SIX MINUTES to eat, SIX MINUTES to walk a block to wait in line to use the restroom, SIX MINUTES to unwind and load passengers again, SIX WHOLE MINUTES—IF YOU’RE ON TIME? Is this job for human beings or ROBOTS?” The leaflet goes on to say that “While longer main lines have longer breaks on paper, there’s more traffic, passengers, questions, and wheelchairs to cut into those breaks, too.”  

One of the contract demands the group has listed in its “CONTRACT ISSUES” leaflet is that all driver runs include a 30-minute meal break and two paid, 15-minute rest periods.  

AC Transit Director of Communications and External Affairs Mary King said that while she had not seen any of the group’s newsletters and had not heard the specific grievances prior to being contacted by the Daily Planet, she was personally familiar with some of the issues that the group had raised. 

“When I first came to AC Transit two and one-half years ago, there was no place for drivers to use the restroom” in the 11th and Jefferson streets area, King said. “The park facilities were locked at night, and city officials didn’t want to have them open for safety reasons. I personally worked out an arrangement with the city to give our drivers access.”  

King said she had not heard of any problems with driver use of the Lafayette Square facilities since then, and thought that the deal with the city included having the restroom facilities locked, with drivers provided a key code. 

She said she was unfamiliar with the allegations about the use of the donut shop on the 18 line and would look into it.  

King said that other issues raised in the group’s newsletters and releases “appear to be matters which are subject to the contract negotiations” and therefore couldn’t be commented on by the district. 

Terry Blount was introduced as the new secretary of the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) when the board met Thursday. 

Blount replaced former landmarks secretary Janet Homrighausen, who will be moving over to policy planning. 

A practicing planner for more than twelve years, Blount most recently worked for the city of West Hollywood as planner-in-charge of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission.  

He has also served as secretary to the commission and was in charge of overseeing the city’s historic preservation program. 

A member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, Blount holds a Master’s degree in planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and has undertaken numerous seminars, classes, and training sessions on historic preservation. 

Biofuels project 

The board reviewed the draft environmental impact report (EIR) for the proposed Biofuels Oasis project at 1441 Ashby Ave., which is scheduled to appear before the Zoning Adjustments Board next month. 

Located close to the Berkeley-Oakland city limit, the project proposes to restore the historic use of the site as a fueling station, with the only difference being that it would sell biodiesel instead of gasoline. 

Biofuels Oasis is a women-owned cooperative that now operates a biodiesel filling station on Fourth Street at Dwight Way and sells fuel made from recycled vegetable oil. 

The new station at Sacramento and Ashby would also sell “urban family supplies,” self-serve coffee and pre-packaged food.  

The current site houses a red-painted brick building with a pagoda-style tile roof. 

In order to accommodate vehicles up to 13 feet, the plan proposes to remove the existing fuel pump canopies and build taller canopies with solar panels, a move that most members on the LPC object to. 

The project was first referred to the LPC in June for advisory comments by the ZAB’s Design Review Committee since it is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. LPC members commented then that the heavy horizontal short beams which hold up the tiled canopy roofs were a “distinctive, desirable feature” which should be retained for new canopies. 

LPC members stressed the importance of saving the canopies once again at the meeting Thursday. 

“Raising the roofs drastically changes the proportions,” said LPC Chair Steven Winkle. “It changes the character.” 

“Solar is just not enough of an excuse for losing the feature,” LPC member Carrie Olson told the Planet. “I personally think they should go back to the drawing board and save the island caps somehow.” 

The project has also met with opposition from a group of South Berkeley residents, who say that the nature of the proposed business goes against the South Berkeley Plan’s policy of preservation of African American heritage and businesses in the neighborhood. 

The project threatens to shut down Kandy Mann’s Detail car wash—an African American business which currently operates on the site—because of the increased rent that the competition is offering the property owner. 

In order to convert the current site from a car wash to a fueling station, Biofuel Oasis will first have to obtain a use permit from the city. 

The Cambridge Apartments 

The board landmarked the Cambridge Apartments at 2500 Durant Ave.  

Designed by Berkeley architect Walter Ratcliff, Jr., in 1914, the five-story classical downtown building houses 48 apartments and four ground-floor storefronts. 

It was built for John Arthur Elston and George Clark, lawyers and business partners in the law firm of Elston, Clark, and Nichols. 

Although the building, situated in the Southside Campus neighborhood, was eventually occupied largely by students, a review of the 1916 directory revealed that the building’s tenants included attorneys, merchants, mining engineers, stenographers, clerks and teachers. 

The board praised LPC member Jill Korte’s presentation of the landmarks application and said that it should be made into a prototype for future applications. 

All Saints Chapel 

The board looked at plans to remove the rear portion of an existing seminary chapel at 2451 Ridge Road and construct a new assembly area. 

The Berkeley Zoning Ordinance requires any proposal to demolish a non-residential building which is over forty years to appear before the LPC. 

The proposed project is an Episcopal seminary located on “Holy Hill,” a cluster of religious schools located about one block north of the UC campus formally known as the Graduate Theological Union. 

Since the building doesn’t qualify as a historic resource under CEQA, staff recommended that the board discuss the proposal and give recommendations on the project. 

The board expressed confidence in the proposed additions based on excellent remodeling work done by the church in the recent past.

At around 3:45 p.m. Monday, a Berkeley High student was arrested for attempting to use a knife on a security guard at the school.  

The student was skateboarding into the high school when a security guard stopped him. When a group of security guards noticed a knife on the student, he attempted to use the knife on one of the guards.  

A group of security guards tackled the student while the school secretary phoned the Berkeley Police Department to ask for emergency help.  

Two cop cars arrived within minutes and handcuffed and arrested the young man. No injuries were sustained by the security guards. 

Hazardous metals and chemicals at UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station pose potential threats to the health of children who play in its marshland and workers who dig in its soil, state scientists have concluded. 

Their findings are contained in a 99-page report by the California Department of Public Health conducted at the request of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). 

Community members advising the state on the toxic cleanup at UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station (RFS) meet Thursday to consider the report. 

The meeting, held in Richmond City Council chambers at 1401 Marina Way South, formally opens at 6:30 p.m. 

The Community Advisory Group (CAG) was created at the request of local environmental and health activists after the DTSC took control of cleanup operations at the university site and the adjacent Campus Bay site. 

Both shoreline properties have long histories of contamination by chemical plants that once churned out an array of hazardous substances ranging from pesticides to explosives. 

CAG Chair Whitney Dotson said he’s not satisfied with the state report. “There needs to be a more thorough analysis of some of the issues, including past exposures and the possibility of radiation contamination,” he said. 

The deadline for submission of comments is Sept. 24. 

The final report, which will include all the comments as well as any changes made as a result of the comments, will be posted on the state agency’s website, said Ken August, a spokesperson for the department. 

The report contains no enforcement provisions. “Scientists make findings and sometimes they make recommendations,” August said. Enforcement actions would be up to state legislators or the UC Board of Regents, he said. 

The final report, including comments and changes, will be submitted to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry, the arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which funded the assessment. 

The document will also be posted on the state website, and may—or may not—be added to the federal agency’s website, August said, adding that the state wasn’t sure why some assessments were posted by the feds while others were not. 

Report findings 

According to the report, public health hazards do exist for children and teenagers who play regularly in West Stege Marsh, where toxic metals and the organic compound PCB are present in groundwater and soil sediments. Because of the risks, marsh access should remain restricted. 

Maintenance workers who regularly dig in contaminated soils also face a variety of risks and should wear respiratory protection equipment during their work. 

The report also identified two areas where health hazards were described as indeterminate, pending further investigation. 

The first involves areas of West Stege Marsh where remediation efforts have already occurred. The potential dangers come from radioactive materials generated at the adjacent Campus Bay site which may have migrated into the imported soils along with other hazardous substances. 

The second potential set of hazards comes from indoor air contamination after two buildings recorded unsafe levels of formaldehyde between September and October 2005. Further studies are needed to determine the source and extent of the potential threat. 

The one area where investigators declared no hazard exists was from past exposures to airborne mercury during cleanup work in the summer of 2003. 

But the authors outlined nine specific areas where more work was needed. They included: 

• Monitoring dust levels during all further work at the site.  

• Conducting additional groundwater tests along the eastern and northeastern margins of the site to determine the potential for water-borne contaminants to appear as vapor inside buildings in the area. 

• A program of annual water and sampling in the shoreline marsh to detect any intrusion of contaminants from the Campus Bay site, which should continue until the sites have been fully remediated. 

• Testing to determine whether radioactive materials from Campus Bay have contaminated soils, sediments and water in West Stege Marsh. 

• Additional tests of the buildings where earlier sampling found airborne formaldehyde. 

• More tests throughout the university property to identify all areas which may have been contaminated, with specific tests called for involving materials used at the university’s Forest Products Lab. 

• Provision of current maps to all RFS staff showing locations of all buildings, present and past, along with levels of contaminants found there. 

• Training programs for workers in the proper ways to handle contaminated soil, and 

• Annual training to help staff identify contaminated iron pyrite cinders that were dumped on the property from the sulfuric acid plant that once existed at Campus Bay. 

Complex history 

Long-standing concerns by Richmond residents, lab employees and people who work and live near the two sites overcame strong resistance to a change in regulatory oversight. 

A university official told the Richmond City Council that calls for a handover at RFS arose from confusion of the site with Campus Bay—a remark that drew gasps from the activists, who had been targeting the university along with the developers of Campus Bay. 

Until the aroused community members began demonstrating, flooding meetings and barraging local and state elected officials with demands for change, cleanup efforts at both sites had been under the supervision of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. 

Whitney Dotson and his sister Ethel were among the protesters, as were Sherry Padgett and Richmond Progressive Alliance member and future councilmember and present Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. 

Both Ethel Dotson and Padgett have suffered from health problems they suspect are linked to exposure to chemicals from the shoreline sites. 

What initially aroused the activists were the massive dust clouds generated during cleanup operations at the site when the water board was in charge. Their concern turned to anger when they discovered that the regulatory agency didn’t have any scientists on its staff who were experts in toxic substances and the hazards they pose. 

Oversight was handed off to the DTSC, which is well-staffed with experts, after calls by Assemblymembers Loni Hancock and Cindy Montanez and a vote by the Richmond City Council. 

The DTSC brought in the state public health experts soon after the handover. 

The draft report is available on the Internet at www.ehib.org/cma/projects/RFSPHAPC.pdf.

City crews have sealed off part of the main meeting and dining room at the North Berkeley Senior Center while they remove mold from a small portion of the facility, City Manager Phil Kamlarz said Monday. 

The room, which serves as the venue for countless city commission and committee meetings, can continue to be used for meetings and meals, he said. 

“It only affects a small portion of the building,” Kamlarz said. 

The center is located at 1901 Hearst Ave.

One of America’s richest foundations has promised $113 million to UC Berkeley to endow faculty chairs and recruit top graduate students. 

But there’s a catch: The grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation requires $110 million in matching funds from other donors over the next seven years. 

The additional $3 million is to pay for the costs of endowing funds at the university, according to an announcement from the foundation. 

The goal of the grant, announced Monday morning at a press conference, is the creation of 100 endowed chairs to keep the school’s best faculty from migrating to other jobs. 

“This gift is an extraordinary vote of confidence in the contribution that UC Berkeley and all great public universities make to society,” said Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. 

Walter Hewlett, son of the late computer magnate who created the foundation, called Berkeley the “crown jewel of public education—not just in California but in the country.”  

Funds would be used to add to the university’s current roster of 351 endowed chairs. 

Currently, $2 million in funding creates an endowed chair bearing the donor’s name, while an additional $1 million adds the adjective “distinguished” to the chair. 

According to a statement from the university’s media relations staff, the grant and its matching funds will create 80 regular endowed chairs “in all of the university’s 14 schools and colleges” and 20 of the distinguished variety “to advance Berkeley’s multidisciplinary teaching and research.” 

None of the chairs will be named for the Hewletts or their foundation, with the honor going instead to the donors providing the matching funds. 

The Hewlett grant is the largest in the university’s history, more than double the $50 million given anonymously in 1999 to fund molecular engineering studies. 

The next largest grant, $40 million, came in 2005 from Hong Kong industrialist Li Ka Shing’s foundation to fund research by the university Health Sciences Initiative. He is being honored in return by the name of the new building which will house the research—a structure that will replace the existing Earl Warren Jr. Hall. 

University officials pointed to the school’s need for endowments, with its current endowed funding of $2.5 billion trailing schools like Harvard ($29.2 billion), Stanford ($14.1 billion) and MIT ($8.4 billion). 

Prior to the grant announced Monday, the university had a total of $468 million in funds for endowed chairs. 

The Blue Ribbon Commission established by Oakland City Council last year to report on Oakland housing issues is recommending that council adopt an inclusionary housing ordinance targeted to households with incomes at or below 100 percent of area median income. 

But commission members were unable to agree on its second major charge, amending Oakland’s condominium conversion ordinance, and are presenting two minority reports on that issue for council to consider. 

The findings are part of a 105-page report issued by the Blue Ribbon Commission and scheduled to be heard by City Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee today (Tuesday) at the committee’s 4 p.m. meeting at Oakland City Hall. 

The 17-member Commission—composed of representatives of city councilmembers and current Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and former Mayor Jerry Brown with appointees by the city attorney and city administrator as well—was formed last October during a contentious council debate over adoption of an inclusionary zoning ordinance. Consideration of changes to the city’s existing condominium conversion ordinance was added to the commission’s responsibilities two months later. 

The commission met several times during the year to hash out its conclusions and the final report, including one meeting in each of the city’s seven council districts. 

In its report, available on the city’s website, the commission is recommending Oakland adopt inclusionary zoning set-asides for new ownership housing developments of 20 units or more, with an initial five percent inclusionary set-aside if the units are developed on-site, 10 percent if off-site, growing to 15 and 20 percent, respectively, three years after the ordinance is passed. 

In addition, the commission is recommending that Oakland’s Redevelopment Agency double its contribution to the city’s Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund, 25 percent to 50 percent, within five years, that the fund target households at or below 60 percent of area median income with a preference for those households at or below 30 percent, that the City Council sponsor and support a $200 million bond measure to assist both rental and ownership housing, and that real estate transfer tax revenues generated from the first sale of newly constructed housing be used to support affordable housing in Oakland. 

But saying that, “after exhaustive discussion,” members of the commission were “not able to arrive at a consensus recommendation” on condominium conversions. The viewpoints represented in the two minority reports—one that condominium conversions enhance low and moderate income home ownership and should therefore be encouraged, the second that condominium conversions put available housing out of reach of low and moderate residents and should therefore be discouraged—reflect the deep divisions on the council that caused the council to put the issue in the commission’s hands last December. 

Saying the university’s “compromise” plan to settle city and community lawsuits over building a new athletic facility next to the football stadium was inadequate, the City Council voted 7-1-1 in closed session Tuesday to turn down a settlement offer and move ahead to trial.  

Councilmember Gordon Woz-niak voted in opposition and Councilmember Kriss Worthing-ton abstained. 

The vote came after a day of heavy community lobbying against the compromise, including a daytime rally and press conference which attracted some 60 supporters and produced an overflow crowd at the public portion of the closed-door council session. 

UC Berkeley did its own mobilization, bringing student athletes, their supporters, university officials and others to speak to the council in favor of UC’s offer. 

Three lawsuits targeting the university’s proposal to build an athletic training facility—those of the city, the Panoramic Hill Neighborhood Association and the Save the Oaks Foundation—will be heard together Sept. 19 and Sept. 20 in Alameda Superior Court.  

At issue is whether the university wrote an adequate environmental document concerning the construction of the training center adjacent to Memorial Stadium and whether the university has adequate plans to retrofit the stadium, which sits on an active earthquake fault. Other concerns noted in the lawsuits include the legality of cutting down the grove of trees west of the stadium to build the training facility and concerns that a proposed parking garage will bring increased traffic down a narrow road. 

Many of those calling on the City Council to continue the lawsuit homed in on the safety question. At the rally/press conference Tuesday afternoon called by “Stand Up Berkeley,” Gray Brechin, UC Berkeley geography professor and historian, was among those who spoke about the possible collapse of Memorial Stadium, which holds 70,000 people and daily houses 500 office staff. 

The stadium “is resting on one quarter of a million yards of loose fill. A fault passes through the middle,” Brechin said, going on to point out that there is “rusty rebar” sticking out of the structure, there are dry rot problems and more. 

The university has yet to announce specific retrofit plans for the stadium. 

Before the closed session, 18 speakers called on the council to settle the lawsuit and allow the university to move ahead building the training facility adjacent to the stadium. There were 47 speakers who opposed settling. Because of the lawsuits, a judge’s order has stopped the university from moving ahead with construction of the facility, originally planned to be built before the stadium is retrofitted. 

One of the arguments in favor of settling, repeated several times, including by women on UC lacrosse and crew teams, was that the new training facility was needed because currently female athletes have inferior locker rooms.  

“Several women’s teams have no facilities,” Berkeley resident Mitchell Wilson told the Daily Planet before the public comment period began, adding that building the stadium anywhere else would be “radically inconveniencing students.” Wilson, who held a printed sign calling for settling the lawsuit, said he is unaffiliated with the university. 

The offer released by the university to the council and public Tuesday afternoon included the university’s commitment to retrofitting the stadium, including “aggressively pursuing a financing plan.” That plan will be before the UC Regents in November. 

The university further promised (as it had earlier) to build only enough parking spaces to replace the parking lost when developing the various projects in the southeast quadrant of the campus. 

The offer included a promise to the city that in addition to eight football games, the seven other events to be held at the stadium would not have amplification greater than for football games, “which precludes scheduling of rock concerts or similar commercial high-amplification events,” the document says. 

The offer letter also repeated an earlier commitment to widening the access road to the stadium. 

The city’s attorney on the case, Harriet Steiner of McDonough Holland & Allen, summed up the council position in a short written response to the university’s offer: “The City Council reviewed the settlement offer and determined that it was not acceptable because it does not seriously address the issues that the city was concerned with . . .” 

At the public comment session before the council’s executive session, Ted Garrett, the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce’s new executive director, had claimed that an out-of-court agreement would improve now-strained town-gown relations. “The old paradigm of push and shove has to end,” he said. 

Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom spoke to counter the city’s arguments that alternative sites hadn’t been considered in the EIR. “We evaluated a dozen sites,” he said. “There’s one that meets our needs.”  

The cost of the lawsuit was raised several times. Settling out of court “stops the hemorrhaging of public funds,” said Alexis Kleinhaus, a Berkeley resident and former player on the UC Berkeley women’s varsity soccer team. Others said the money would be better spent for the homeless or other city needs. 

Inadequate sports medicine facilities will be brought up to quality standards in a new training facility, including the availability of a whirlpool, which is currently lacking, said Celia Clark, who works in sports medicine at the university.  

Among the 47 people spoke to the council before the closed-door session in favor of going forward with the lawsuit were people who have been sitting in the trees west of the stadium for months protesting the university’s plan to cut down the trees when it builds the training facility. 

“We can have old trees and a new gym,” said a man who identified himself as Ayr and who has been working on the ground to support the tree sitters. “We need to protect the few places we haven’t destroyed,” he said. Others noted that the oak grove is part of a fragile eco-system that should be preserved. 

While some who supported the settlement pointed to the cost of the lawsuit itself, Berkeley resident and opponent Judith Epstein noted that the city already pays for police and fire protection for all the events the university has at the stadium. To bring in more revenue, the university is now proposing seven more events each year in addition to the eight football games. 

Safety was brought up a number of times. “When that fault goes, we’ll be excavating the bodies,” Berkeley Disaster Commissioner Jesse Townley told the council. 

Michele Lawrence’s golf clubs ride along with her in the back of her silver 2004 Volkswagen station wagon wherever she goes.  

Berkeley Unified School District’s (BUSD) first Latina superintendent has no time for golf, but it’s her favorite sport none the less. 

School board agendas, report cards and classified documents clutter the back seat of her car, spelling out more work, more commitments and more time away from home. 

But after January, Lawrence will have a chance to bid farewell to her 20-hour-weekdays and finally play that eighteen-hole-game she had set her heart on. 

“Even though I have a deep and abiding role for public education, my role as superintendent, with the long hours and time commitment, have afforded me little time for myself,” Lawrence told the community at Wednesday’s Board of Public Education meeting. 

“So, while I am still young and healthy enough, I want to explore other life interests.” 

It was with mixed emotions that Lawrence announced her retirement, which will take effect from Feb. 1. 

While the surprise announcement caused her critics to breathe easier, there were those who felt a sense of trepidation at her departure. 

“I am sorry to see her go,” school board president Joaquin Rivera said after her announcement. 

“But there’s never really a good time for people to leave. It’s good that she is leaving when she can enjoy her retirement. If she had waited for some more time, she might not have been able to do that.” 

There were also those who said they were happy to see her finally leave. 

“She has always been very unresponsive and elusive,” said Berkeley High parent Elizabeth Scherer. “There were no efforts to reach out to the community. I hope they find a good replacement who can come up with solutions. Lawrence would not even admit there were problems.” 

During her tenure, Lawrence battled her critics by appearing at school board meetings, PTA associations and school picnics and trying to prove them wrong time and again. 

“She is very strong, very determined and has very high standards,” Rivera told the Planet. “One of the tough decisions she had to make was how to balance a faltering budget when she first started, and she did a great job with that.” 

After taking over a troubled school district from former superintendent Jack McLaughlin in 2001, Lawrence spent four of her six years as district superintendent trying to balance the district’s staggering budget deficit. 

“It’s definitely one of the things I am most proud of,” Lawrence told the Planet Thursday. “But it was definitely a group effort. We realized we had to reduce expenditures. Our employees went without raises, programs were cut and sacrifices were made. But it brought credibility and accountability to our system and restored the community’s faith in our schools.” 

Alameda County superintendent Sheila Jordan also credited Lawrence with accomplishing a stable budget. 

“She came at a time when it was clear that the budget was in trouble,” she said.  

“We had given a negative certification to the district and it was well on its way to being taken over by the state. She recreated the foundation and was able to work with the community to pass various parcel taxes and bonds to improve the schools.” 

A graduate of CSU Fullerton, Lawrence has worked in the California public schools for more than 34 years. 

She leaves behind a legacy of stronger academic programs, increased test scores and an attempt to defend the BUSD student assignment and integration plan. 

Under her, the district emerged victorious in two successive lawsuits filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation which charged the district with violating California’s Proposition 209 by racially discriminating among students during placements at elementary schools and at programs at Berkeley High. 

Recently, Lawrence also spoke to the judges and attorneys of the Ninth Circuit Court during their annual conference on the topic of the aftermath of Brown vs. the Board of Education 

“She is the finest superintendent I know anywhere,” said Berkeley High Principal Jim Slemp, who was hired by Lawrence to run the school four years ago. 

“People can connect to her leadership and her vision. She has changed the school district completely and really really really cares about her students.” 

The biggest challenge Lawrence faced at the high school was the lack of leadership on campus. The school, which saw eight principals in 10 years, changed dramatically after Slemp took over. 

Both Lawrence and Slemp were also pivotal in protecting students’ personal information from being used for military recruitment under the No Child Left Behind Act. 

Pressure from the federal government finally led to that policy being overturned, although both administrators promise to continue protecting their students’ rights. 

“She’s definitely leaving the district on a better footing,” acknowledged Barry Fike, former president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. 

“It’s taken longer than we expected, but she has focused on professional worker conditions and professional pay.” Teachers were left without a contract a couple of years ago, and all those walkouts and protests would have been unnecessary if the superintendent listened to us earlier. It was an unfortunate period but we did come out of it stronger. Hopefully the new superintendent will be able to focus on student achievement now.” 

Lawrence said her decision to retire in February had to do with budget decisions. 

“The new superintendent will have time to talk about new programs,” she said. “Otherwise, when you start in July everything is already decided and you have to wait another year.” 

Apart from playing golf, Lawrence said she is also looking forward to taking naps. 

“That and washing all the clothes that have piled up,” she said laughing. “I also want to pull some weeds and spend three solid months thinking of what I want to do next.” 

Contributed photo. BUSD Superintedent Michele Lawrence announces her retirement as school board member Joaquin Rivera looks on. 

The Planning Commission on Wednesday voted to drastically scale back a proposal to rezone parts of West Berkeley to allow car dealerships, appeasing critics who said the plan would displace recycling and building businesses by raising property values in the rezoned areas. 

In an attempt to encourage auto dealers to set up shop in Berkeley—a need identified by the City Council in 2005—the Planning Department came up with a proposal to allow auto sales in districts with large lots and proximity to the freeway. 

Staff had recommended rezoning two areas: one along Eastshore Highway between Codornices Creek, Virginia Street and 3rd, 4th and 5th Streets, the other south of Ashby between Bay Street, San Pablo Avenue and the Emeryville border. 

The debate centered on the desire to retain car dealerships—which generate $1.2 million in sales tax revenue—while protecting the thriving West Berkeley industrial community and meeting its zero waste goal. The commission heard from 30 or so critics of the proposal and representatives of three of the four auto dealerships in the city. Two of those businesses—Berkeley Honda and McKevitt Volvo-Nissan located on Shattuck—have expressed interest in relocating to West Berkeley. 

“If we want to grow our business it would be very helpful for us to be down by the freeway. That’s really the most important thing,” said Steve Haworth, General Manager of Berkeley Honda. 

In the end, the commission leaned toward opponents of the plan, deciding to go through with rezoning the Eastshore Highway area but to eliminate the proposed area south of Ashby, citing concerns that several recycling facilities and building businesses in that part of Berkeley might be forced out of the market by auto dealers able to pay higher land prices. 

In doing so, the commission rejected claims by David Fogarty, the city’s economic development project coordinator, that auto dealerships might actually have a more difficult time affording land prices in the proposed areas, an assumption he derived from recent land sales data. 

“I don’t think it makes sense to have an auto row right there and I think your rent will go up in a year if we allow this,” said commissioner William Falik. 

Urban Ore attorney John Moore said Fogarty’s analysis is flawed because it relies on land sales data. “An appraiser determines land value based on what the price per square foot is at comparable places.” he said. “I would strongly guess that auto dealers in comparable places are paying more.” 

Urban Ore, located just south of Ashby, is under a 10-year lease that runs out in 2009. At that point, Urban Ore will have to enter into arbitration to renew the lease for another five years. Moore said if the area were zoned for auto dealerships, the reuse business would most certainly be priced out. 

The commission also voted to examine exempting the city’s Transfer Station, located on 2nd Street near the Gilman Street freeway exit, from the proposed rezoned area along the highway at a subsequent meeting. The recycling center is expected to draw increased activity as the city boosts efforts to divert waste from landfills. 

The commission directed staff to come up with exact language to implement the new zoning policy, which will be considered at the next meeting. The City Council is expected to vote on the policy change in December.

A few Southwest Berkeley residents concerned about a proposed Community Benefits District (CBD)—an area where property owners will be taxed for particular services—called a meeting at the end of August to ask their neighbors what they think of the plan. 

More than 100 people came to the meeting at the Ecole Bilingue on Aug. 27 and, with the exception of a handful of supporters—mostly CBD steering committee members—expressed “enthusiastic” opposition to its formation, according to Sara Klise, one of the organizers of the neighborhood meeting. 

The first formal step toward creating the district was to be before the City Council Tuesday—a new ordinance enabling CBDs in Berkeley. However, Wednesday evening, Michael Caplan, acting manager of the economic development division, said in an email that consideration of the ordinance would be postponed.  

The West Berkeley Business Alliance (WBBA) steering committee, proposing the district, understands “this got off to a bad start [and] realize[s] that everyone would benefit if they reassess their approach on this, take a step back, and do more substantive public outreach to the community and potential assessees,” Caplan’s email says. 

In the meantime, the residents, small-business owners and small businesses who rent space within the proposed district—roughly between University Avenue south to the Oakland-Emeryville border and San Pablo Avenue west to the Bay—are continuing their efforts to fight creation of the district. 

Organizers of the Aug. 27 meeting are calling a second meeting Monday evening to begin to fashion what Klise is calling a “plan of action.” The meeting will be at the  

Ecole Bilingue, 1009 Heinz St. at 7 p.m. 

The West Berkeley Business Alliance (WBBA) has controlled the effort to create the assessment district. The CBD steering committee, made up uniquely of WBBA members, has mostly bankrolled the $60,000 effort. They’ve been working for about a year with the help of city staff, $10,000 from the city and consultant Marco Li Mandri from San Diego-based New City America.  

The idea behind the CBD is to collect an assessment from all property owners within district boundaries; assessments would vary according to property size. Some of the services the CBD may fund, according to draft steering committee documents, include security, beautification, transportation and planning activities related to possible zoning changes.  

Creation of the district would be by vote of the property owners within the district. The vote would be weighted, with the owners of larger properties having a vote proportional to the size of their properties. 

People showed strong opposition to the district at the Aug. 27 meeting, Klise said, noting, “They talked about getting together and hiring an attorney.” Some wanted to put the funds they would otherwise be paying to the district into fighting it, she added. 

All were welcomed at the meeting and members of the CBD steering committee were given time to make a presentation, Klise said, underscoring that the community meeting was open, in direct contrast to the CBD steering committee meetings, which have been closed to the public.  

Klise did manage to attend one meeting uninvited and said she wasn’t told to leave. However, an email from consultant Li Mandri confirmed that CBD steering committee meetings are restricted.  

Responding to a Daily Planet query, Li Mandri wrote in an Aug. 10 email: “Yes [they are restricted to the steering committee] until we finalize the plan. The purpose of the Steering Committee is not to debate the existence of the district, but rather to determine what the district will be. We need to finalize the plan because people will want to know what services would it fund and who would be included. Once it has been finalized it will be an open document and we will have a public meeting or meetings to discuss it. We are not there yet.” 

Klise said neighborhood and small businesses people who attended the neighborhood meeting were “furious” that they might be forced to pay for services that they didn’t want in the first place.  

“Not only do I have to pay, I get no say in anything that happens,” Klise said, referring to the weighted voting. 

The neighborhood meeting proved to the WBBA members present that opponents were “not the 10 crazy people they were making us out to be,” Klise said. 

Understanding the mounting opposition, the WBBA steering committee could decide not to form a CBD, but to create a simple Business Improvement District (BID), taxing only the commercial property owners.  

Councilmember Darryl Moore told the Daily Planet on Thursday that he is thinking along these lines: “I prefer to see a BID developed in West Berkeley that would include the business community and not residents,” he said.  

There are several BIDS in Berkeley: downtown, Solano Avenue, Telegraph Avenue and North Berkeley.  

If residents get taken out of the equation, Klise said the neighborhood group will have a decision to make: “Do we stay [in the fight] and help the small businesses?” She noted that small businesses do not need the proposed shuttle buses and many do not care about paying to spruce up the neighborhood, as they do not have customers who visit their sites.  

The property owners will pass on the tax to the businesses, Klise said. “Five hundred to six hundred dollars affects them—those are small businesses.”  

John Curl rents his woodworking space in West Berkeley. Rents will be increased to pay for the assessment, but those business owners who don’t own their properties won’t have a say in its establishment, Curl told the Daily Planet on Thursday.  

Curl added that the city is not giving information on the district to business owners who don’t own their properties. “Nobody’s coming to you, telling you about this,” he said. “Nobody’s going to notice us.”  

If the large West Berkeley landlords don’t put together the CBD, they will likely find another way to do what they want to do, Curl said. 

“This is just part of their strategy to gentrify West Berkeley,” he said. “They don’t give up. If they can’t do this, they’ll come back another way. There’s a lot of cards in their deck and they keep playing different cards.” 

As for the artists, residents and small business owners in the area, “We’re almost always in reaction mode,” Curl said. 

Moore said that in conjunction with the city’s Economic Development Division, he is planning a community meeting toward the end of September to address the Community Benefits District question. 

The enabling ordinance will likely not come back before the council until after that meeting.  

The draft ordinance as it is now written modifies the current ordinance establishing Business Improvement Districts. It allows creation of CBDs funded by both commercial and residential property owners and prevents a single land owner from controlling more than 20 percent of the weighted decision-making process (although there is no such landlord in the proposed CBD). It creates the district for 20 years, though normally BIDS have a life of 10 years, and it provides for repayment of the funds lent to start the project.  

For information on the neighborhood organizing efforts opposing the CBD, go to http://pottercreek.wordpress.com. For information on the CBD, call Marco Li Mandri at 619-233-5009.

Pedestrian pathways, high towers and hotels dominated the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) meeting Tuesday as landscape architects, urban planners and UC Berkeley officials fielded questions from city commissioners and community members about their vision for a better downtown. 

DAPAC’s 40th session kicked off with landscape architect Walter Hood—best known for designing Oakland’s Splash Pad Park and the de Young Museum gardens in San Francisco—introducing potential options for a “public right-of-way” on Center Street to the 14-member committee for the first time. 

Hood, a professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at UC Berkeley, was hired by Ecocity Builders and Citizens for a Strawberry Creek Plaza to do conceptual plans for an open space on Center Street. 

“I am not calling it a plaza at this point,” he said after the presentation. “It’s a street right-of-way from Oxford to Center Street, a pattern of development from the watershed to the site. We want to see and learn something different, look at how water flows in different ways ... how revelatory the 80 feet of space can be to people and if we can create light and shadow there.” 

Hood discussed various options with the committee, including a water feature, but was unable to make a powerpoint presentation due to a technical snafu. 

“I want to find something completely new,” Hood told the committee. “We just got a surveyor on board and we are gearing up to start working on a project. Hopefully, we will be able to start a survey in the next 30 days.” 

Mark McLeod, president of the Downtown Berkeley Association, emphasized the importance of involving downtown merchants in the proposed project. 

Deborah Badhia, executive director of the association, stated in a letter to DAPAC that although a water feature would be a desirable element in an improved Center Street, care should be taken to prevent flooding. 

She added that on-street parking should be maintained and that diagonal parking could be an acceptable alternative to the current configuration. 

“Any of us who work in the urban environment understand that cities are dynamic,” Hood said. “I would like to go back to the ABCs of urbanism.” 

DAPAC member Jim Novosel expres-sed concern about DAPAC’s involvement in the project, since the committee will be dissolved in November. 

Calling the Center Street Plaza project an advocacy plan, Matt Taecker said that public decision-making would be given priority. 

“I hope to add on a lot of things DAPAC has [suggested] and not those contrary to it,” Hood informed him. 

In January, DAPAC voted in favor of a pedestrian plaza on Center Street which would close off traffic and incorporate the best features of the hills, Strawberry Creek, the buildings and the bus and BART plaza on Shattuck Avenue. 

The UC Hotel Task Force—which oversees plans for the hotel the university proposes for the northeast corner of the intersection of Center and Shattuck Avenue—has also supported the concept. 

UC Considerations and Viewpoints 

Emily Marthinsen, assistant vice chancellor for capital projects and physical and environmental planning at UC Berkeley, presented the university’s current thinking on four critical areas in the Downtown Area Plan: public realm, height and density, employment, and housing and parking. 

Marthinsen, who said she was representing the chancellor, vice chancellor, provost and vice provost at the meeting, stressed that a successful downtown was critical to the university in its leadership. 

“The university is not a single entity,” Marthinsen said. “The university as a whole has interests in the downtown. Both academic and administrative officials as well as the Executive Campus Planning Committee have been engaged in the planning of the downtown.” 

Although the DAPAC is responsible for crafting the heart of the downtown plan, including its strategic statements, goals and policies, a complete draft of the plan—with recommended implementation measures and detailed background statements—will be developed after November with guidance from the Planning Commission. 

The 2005 legal settlement of a lawsuit filed by the city over the impacts of the university’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) 2020 resulted in the creation of DAPAC. UC contributed $250,000 toward the planning process, but reserves the right to cut off $15,000 a month from compensatory funds it is paying the city to mitigate the financial impacts its development would have on the community if a new downtown plan is not completed on schedule. 

In a letter to the city’s Planning Director Dan Marks, Marthinsen said that DAPAC’s direction is uncertain in several critical policy areas. 

“While the committee strongly advocates sustainability and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as city policy, many of its members also advocate a relatively low-density future for the downtown, despite its excellent transit access,” she claimed. “Some have proposed a three-story maximum base height for new buildings in downtown Berkeley, with taller buildings permitted if they meet ‘bonus’ criteria. The committee is also considering a very ambitious program of new public open spaces.” 

DAPAC member Gene Poschman said that the university should concentrate on the areas of conflict and agreement. 

“We shouldn’t be looking for differences, we should be looking for commonalities,” DAPAC chair Will Travis said. 

Marthinsen’s letter said that the university preferred a taller downtown than most DAPAC members. 

“Although a greater maximum height, particularly in the downtown core, would be desirable, the university considers a 90-feet limit as the minimum acceptable maximum height on blocks adjacent to the campus,” Marthinsen said. “There is space for buildings with extraordinary benefits, but that will depend on the site.”. 

She added that although the university was committed to meet its obligation to the public under its Long Range Development Plan which was supposed to extend until 2020, it was limited to “frontage and other improvements directly related to university projects.” 

“The university’s fund for landscape improvements is extremely limited,” she said. “The Campus Park landscape stewardship is our principle responsibility.” 

Marthinsen said that Downtown Berkeley as a job center would add to economic reliability for the city. 

“We have an interest in more office space,” she said. “We encourage synergies that have ties to us. Business groups that have spun off from academic research are looking for space. Having offices downtown is important for a healthy retail sector. As the downtown process has moved forward it’s been very clear to me that we share many goals.” 

DAPAC member Jesse Arreguin asked Marthinsen if UC wanted to develop 800,000 net new ground square feet downtown on current university-owned sites. 

“Yes, it will be on university-owned sites,” she replied. 

Marthinsen stressed that the downtown plan should not rule out parking as a use on any university owned site, and “should not preclude above-grade parking as a primary use on the University Hall Annex site.” 

The 2020 LRDP encourages more university parking. The university agreed to build no more than 1,270 net new parking spaces as part of the settlement agreement. 

According to the letter, the concentration of a greater number of spaces on the University Hall Annex site “supports the parking needs of the proposed hotel and museum on the adjacent block, and makes shared parking operations viable for the arts district and the retail core.” 

Land Use Alternatives 

Planning staff has asked DAPAC to choose a preferred land use alternative for the purpose of the environmental review of the downtown plan. 

Initially, staff had presented two alternatives in the form of a point-tower alternative and a baseline (development under existing conditions) alternative.  

After strong opposition to the point-tower idea, staff had scaled back the number of towers proposed and renamed it the “high rise” alternative.  

A third alternative which allowed an eight-story maximum base height in the Downtown was also added. 

There are various points of view expressed in the debate. 

Some members are willing to accept a modest increase in maximum height but want the new development to provide community benefits.  

This is put into perspective by DAPAC members Rob Wrenn, Juliet Lamont, Helen Burke, and Wendy Alfsen who want to maintain the existing heights of five stories in the core area and four stories in other areas but allow for those heights to be exceeded through bonuses for green and affordable projects.  

Another group, principally those associated with the university, wants taller buildings, and wants to expand the retail sector, build more parking and high end condominiums.  

DAPAC member and former UC Berkeley executive Dorothy Walker endorsed this view by proposing 3,000 new residential units downtown which would be accommodated by up to 20 high rise “point towers”.  

While Wrenn emphasized the importance of a transit accessibility study for downtown and of green buildings, Gene Poschman contended that research on transit oriented development and transit behavior did not justify creating a dense high-rise downtown Berkeley. 

Arreguin said that while the Walker alternative proposed high-rise buildings and more units than the other options, it would result in minimal affordable housing. 

He added that the Wrenn proposal would provide flexibility to create real incentives to build housing for low income residents and ensure that it was built downtown. 

DAPAC considered all three sets of alternatives at Tuesday’s meeting. Since the committee had limited time to discuss the alternatives and the additional information provided by Wrenn, Poschman and Arreguin, it agreed to meet again Oct. 3.

Parimal “Perry” Patel of Palo Alto-based BPR Properties told DAPAC Monday about a plan to renovate the Shattuck Hotel and expand the building to house 320 rooms, part of which involves the construction of a new tower at the rear end of the historic building. 

Patel did not provide any specifics for the dimensions of the tower, apart from the fact that the tower would be 16 stories high with 150 new hotel rooms and maybe even condos.  

The hotel, at 2086 Allston Way, is in the process of modernizing its rooms, after which owners plan to begin the construction of the tower. Patel said he had recently applied for city permits for the construction, though no commission has yet seen his plans. Since the proposed height of the addition exceeds current downtown zoning and violates Berkeley’s General Plan, it would require variances from the Zoning Adjustment Board. Changes to the exterior of the building, a designated historic resource, would have to be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

“We are not touching the outside of the building until we go before the Landmarks Preservation Commission,” said Robert Richmond of R2L Architects, the firm hired by BPR Properties to work on the proposed project. “We have not prepared any extensive drawings or conducted any studies on the massing yet. The height has been determined from the financial standpoint and not from the aesthetic standpoint. The majority of the tower will be behind the existing hotel building on Shattuck. This will soften the impact a tower would have on downtown.” 

In a letter to Dan Marks, Berkeley’s director of planning and development, Patel explained the reasoning behind the hotel’s proposed larger rooms. 

“In order to qualify for ranking as a ‘four star’ hotel and affiliation with a national hotel chain, we need somewhat larger rooms than can be accommodated in the historic building, even though we are merging substandard rooms and reducing the room count there from 220 to 172,” his letter said. 

“With the tower, a total hotel room count in the range of 320-plus will allow us to host larger events and make our hotel a major destination. A national hotel ‘brand’ and reservation system is necessary to get us the occupancy and room rates needed to make the project a success and justify the large expense we have already undertaken to renovate the historic building.” 

Patel stressed what he thought was the need for more meeting space in the city and his desire to work with the university to expand conference areas. 

“A lot of business is going to the Claremont Hotel, Doubletree or Emeryville right now,” he said. “We’d like to keep all the conferences in the downtown area.” 

DAPAC member Rob Wrenn asked if any market analysis had been done to show if Berkeley could support two hotels downtown. UC Berkeley is planning a 19-story hotel and conference center a few blocks away on the corner of Oxford and Center streets. 

Other concerns among DAPAC members for the Shattuck Hotel were related to parking and labor issues. 

Patel said he was also considering plans to build a parking structure downtown and valet services to meet parking demands. 

Long-term residents of the hotel have currently filed a petition with the Rent Board alleging that the owners are trying to force them out. 

The hotel is scheduled to reopen in spring of 2008. 

Christopher Hollis smiled and laughed in court today as prosecutors added another charge in a case in which he faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in state prison on charges that he murdered his close friend Meleia Willis-Starbuck in Berkeley two years ago.  

Hollis, a 23-year-old Hayward man, pleaded not guilty to the new charge against him, which is that he was an ex-felon in possession of a firearm July 17, 2005, when he allegedly fired a shot that took the life of Willis-Starbuck, a 19-year-old Dartmouth College student who attended Berkeley High School with him.  

The incident took place near her apartment at the intersection of College Avenue and Dwight Way, not far from the UC Berkeley campus.  

Prosecutor Elgin Lowe said Hollis wasn’t supposed to be carrying any weapons as part of the terms of his parole from his 2002 felony conviction for possessing marijuana for sale in Merced County.  

Hollis has been awaiting trial since Feb. 10, 2006, when a judge ruled that there was enough evidence for him to stand trial on charges that he murdered Willis-Starbuck.  

His trial was scheduled to begin Oct. 15, but Alameda County Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay today postponed it until Jan. 28 at the request of Hollis’ lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Greg Syren, who said he needs more time to prepare for the trial even though he’s represented Hollis for a year.  

Hollis smiled and waved at two women friends when he was brought into the courtroom and pulled up the sleeves of his yellow jail uniform to show them a lengthy scar on his left arm.  

Prosecutors initially charged both Hollis and Christopher Wilson, a 22-year-old Berkeley man who attended Berkeley High with Hollis and Willis-Starbuck, with murder for the shooting death of Willis-Starbuck as well as assault with a firearm in connection with a minor injury to UC Berkeley football player Gary Doxy, who was grazed on his right wrist.  

But a judge dismissed the murder and assault charges against Wilson after he identified Hollis as the shooter in the incident and pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of being an accessory to murder after the fact for driving Hollis from the scene. Wilson is expected to be sentenced after he testifies at Hollis’ trial.  

Prosecutors say that Hollis fired shots near Willis-Starbuck’s apartment building after she called him for help with an argument she and her female friends were having with some Cal football players.  

According to Wilson, Hollis and Willis-Starbuck were such close friends that they called each other “brother” and “sister.”  

At a preliminary hearing last year, Wilson testified that he and Hollis were at a party near the UC-Berkeley campus July 17, 2005, when Willis-Starbuck phoned Hollis to ask for help because she’d been in an argument with some men.  

Wilson said he heard four or five shots after Hollis jumped from his car when they pulled into a parking lot near Willis-Starbuck’s apartment and jogged in a crouched position to the intersection of College and Dwight.

Officials of Children’s Hospital an-nounced plans this week to rebuild their aging hospital facility in Oakland, but whether the hospital will actually be built inside the city limits, and whether the announcement will settle the hospital’s dispute with the Alameda County Board of Supervisors over a proposed property tax increase ballot initiative, remains to be seen. 

Following the press conference, Children’s Hospital officials and Board of Supervisors representatives were sharply divided on whether progress was being made in resolving the dispute, or even whether talks were being held. 

At a Wednesday press conference, Children’s Hospital officials said in a prepared release that “the board of directors of Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland has approved a plan to rebuild a world-class pediatric medical center on its current site in Oakland. The new medical facility will be constructed on land between 52nd and 53rd streets near the hospital’s main campus. The hospital will continue to operate in its current facility during construction, which is expected to begin in 2010 and must be completed by 2013 to meet the state’s deadline for seismic upgrades. 

“Construction is expected to cost approximately $700 million,” the prepared release continued. The hospital plans to finance the new medical center through three sources including $173 million in past and future state bonds, $150 million raised through private donations and $300 million from The Children’s Hospital Construction Fund measure, which is a modest $2 per month parcel tax on residential properties in Alameda County.  

The measure includes a $100 a year assessment on small non-residential properties and $250 for large non-residential properties annually. Residents over age 65 and the disabled are exempt from paying the assessment. 

But passage of the parcel tax, which Children’s officials hope to have placed on the February, 2008 presidential primary ballot, has been put in jeopardy by a simmering dispute with members of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. 

Petition signatures for that proposed tax initiative are still being gathered. 

While supervisors have said that they support the rebuilding of the privately operated Children’s Hospital in Oakland, earlier this year they bitterly complained to hospital officials after Children’s began circulating petitions to put the parcel tax initiative on the ballot without first sitting down with county officials to iron out details and resolve conflicts.  

Saying that they were “blindsided” by the introduction of the ballot measure, supervisors said that it would tie up much of the county’s bonded indebtedness, making it impossible for the county to introduce a bond measure to retrofit the Alameda County Medical Center, the county’s own aging medical facility. In addition, supervisors said there were legal discrepancies and problems with the Children’s tax initiative that needed to be cleared up. 

Last month, the five county supervisors signed a public letter to area elected officials asking them to “withhold your endorsement [of the tax initiative] until our Board has completed its review of the measure.”  

A report by County Administrator Susan Muranishi “address[ing] the fiscal impacts of the measure, including its effect on the ability to finance infrastructure, the potential effect of the measure on County operations including on the Board of Supervisors, and any legal issues associated with the measure” is scheduled to be presented to the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 30. 

One of the issues to be cleared up is whether the language of the tax initiative allows Children’s Hospital to collect the tax money and then use it to rebuild its facility away from Oakland, despite hospital’s officials’ pledge this week that they will remain in the city. 

Following the Children’s Hospital press conference, a spokesperson for Children’s Hospital Vice President Mary Dean, who is coordinating the tax initiative, said that Dean felt that “good progress” was being made in talks with supervisors over supervisors’ concerns. Dean herself was out of town and not available to answer questions. 

But a spokesperson for Board of Supervisors President Scott Haggerty referred queries to the office of Supervisor Keith Carson, who Haggerty’s office said was the board “point person” on the Children’s Hospital issue.  

A spokesperson for Carson said that there had been “no follow-up” to the “issues and concerns” that supervisors had earlier expressed about the initiative.

Business for Better Government, the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee, should file its campaign disclosure forms in Berkeley and not with Alameda County as it has done since 2002, an Aug. 15 letter from the state Fair Political Practices Commission says. 

To correct the error, the PAC will have to re-file the disclosure forms with the city. 

“My feeling is that we’ve got to follow the law—and we will,” Ted Garrett, new executive director of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce told the Daily Planet. Garrett was not with the local chamber when the PAC filings were done and was only marginally familiar with the issue. When contacted Wednesday by the Planet, he had not received a copy of the FPPC  

letter. 

“If we need to change the way we file, I’ll let the PAC board know, ‘here’s what we’ve got to do,’” he said. 

On May 30, Deputy City Attorney Kristy van Herick wrote to the state Fair Political Practices Commission asking if the BBG should have filed with the city, given that the PAC’s only out-of city contribution was a $500 donation to a state assembly race. It spent more than $100,000 on various Berkeley campaigns in 2006. 

The question is important, according to Berkeley Fair Campaign Practices Commission Chair Eric Weaver, because of the differences in the way the city and county inform the public of the sources of funds from a candidate or committee. Berkeley campaign finance laws mandate that the city post the source of funds on the Internet and in newspapers, but to see reports of candidates and committees who file with the county, one must go to the County Registrar’s Office in downtown Oakland during business hours. 

The letter to van Herick from Scott Hallabrin, general counsel to the state FPPC, concludes: “The history of the PAC you have provided covers the five years (and three election cycles) covering 2002 through 2006. During that time, all but approximately 0.4 percent of the money the PAC has spent (for non-administrative purposes) has been spent on multiple candidates, measures or committees in city-only related elections. This extra-city activity by the PAC does not constitute “regular’ contributions, or a ‘significant degree’ of involvement in non-City campaigns. Therefore, the single, $500 contribution the PAC made to a non-City candidate should be deemed de minimis and the PAC (at this point) should be deemed a ‘city general purpose committee.’” 

Weaver said future commission action would depend on whether the PAC contests the ruling. If it does not, then the commission could ask the PAC to file locally. In that case, the PAC can be charged late fees of $10 per day, but only up to $100 he said.  

The commission will likely discuss the state letter either at its September or October meeting, Weaver said. 

Two major pieces of Berkeley property have changed hands, the Hotel Durant at 2600 Durant Ave. and the Berkeley Tower, a seven-story office building at 2015 Shattuck Ave. 

The six-story 1928 hotel, often used by visitors to the nearby UC Berkeley campus, was acquired by Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Inc.—a fast-growing San Francisco hotel firm. 

The 1983 office building, with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as its primary tenant, was bought by ScanlanKemperBard, a Portland-based real estate merchant banker. 

The 144-room hotel was designed by architect William H. Weeks, who also designed the landmarked Elmwood Hardware Building. 

The new owner describes itself as “California’s largest boutique hotel company,” with annual revenues of nearly $200 million. 

Founded in 1987 by Stephen T. “Chip” Conley Jr., Joie de Vivre now owns 35 hotels in California, said Dawn Shaloup, the firm’s public relations director. 

“We’re a collection of hospitality businesses based in San Francisco,” she said.  

The company has had a long-standing interest in acquiring an East Bay hotel, and when the firm was contacted by the hotel’s previous owners Buzz and Jeff Gibb, “We were very interested, because it’s such an iconic property,” she said. 

Shaloup said the firm has no immediate plans for the newest acquisition beyond performing a necessary seismic retrofit. 

“We are keeping all 100 of the current employees,” she said. 

Shaloup said the sale closed on Aug. 31. 

The Berkeley Tower, also known to the staff of LBNL as Building 937, is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of the northbound split of Shattuck Avenue at University Avenue. 

While retail businesses operate on the ground floor, the upper six floors are filled with an assortment of lab functions. 

Sale of the Berkeley Tower was part of a $61.5 million, two-building acquisition that also included Jackson Center I & II in Oakland. 

That building’s tenants are also primarily governmental agencies, including Alameda County, the federal Social Security Administration, the National Park Service and the Department of Homeland Security. 

Robert Scanlan, CEO of the new Berkeley Tower owner, said the Berkeley building was a very desirable buy because of its primary tenant. 

Governmental clients “tend to pay their bills on time,” he said. 

Scanlan said, “We’re hopeful the lab will renew at the expiration of its current lease, which ends in April 2009.” 

The company was formed in Portland in spring 1993, he said, and has acquired $2.5 billion in properties since then, with the 2007 total likely to hit $600 million, he said. 

Scanlan said the firm typically holds properties for three to five years, “and we try to create added value in that time,” he said. ScanlanKemperBard has scored major profits for its investors. “If you’d gotten in on everything we’ve done since we started, you’d have made almost a 25 percent rate of return” annually, Scanlan said. 

Berkeley High senior Rio Bauce was sworn in by Alameda County Superior Court Judge John True as the new student school board representative Wednesday. 

Bauce, who has chaired the city’s youth commission and is probably the youngest member to have served on the city’s planning commission to date, also writes for the Daily Planet. 

“I look forward to working with each member of the board, the Superintendent, the staff, students, parents, teachers, and other groups,” Bauce told the school board during the Board of Education meeting.  

“I want to thank all the students who supported me during my campaign and gave me ideas for the upcoming school year. Although I was elected by the students, I am open to feedback from everyone and I welcome your input.” 

He added that he hoped to increase funds for counseling staff, specifically at the high school level. 

“While the school counselors have been more efficient in dealing with schedule changes this year, there are simply not enough of them to accommodate 3,200 students,” he said. 

“I want to praise the School Board and the City for their cooperation in expanding youth playing fields around Berkeley. I hope to help build on that that.” 

Judge True, a former Berkeley High parent, praised Bauce. 

“I have heard about Rio from all my four kids and I am very impressed,” he said. “I am sure his commitment will help the school district on the whole.” 

Bauce, who moved to Berkeley from San Francisco when he was 3 years old, joined the National Youth Rights Association—a group dedicated to empowering youth—in high school. 

Although the group’s attempts to allow 17-year olds a vote in school board elections failed, Bauce continued to fight  

for students’ rights as youth commission chair.

A spokesperson for the proposed Wayans Brothers Oakland Army Base project says that despite the impression being given in some local media outlets, the Wayans Brothers are “absolutely committed to Oakland” and their Army Base proposal is not dead but is only being modified. 

The Wayans Brothers—film producers and nationally-known comics—are proposing putting a film production studio, a children’s digital arts learning center, retail development, and several other projects on a 47-acre West Oakland parcel formerly part of the now-dismantled base.  

In an Aug. 17 article entitled “Wayans partnership says no to movie studio in Oakland,” the San Francisco Chronicle said that “Actor/director Keenen Ivory Wayans and a Los Angeles development firm have dropped plans to build a movie studio and shopping center on the former Oakland Army base, a city official said today. Wayans and the Pacifica Capital Group informed city officials earlier this week that the land adjacent to the Port of Oakland would not work for the film studio/shopping center project that was dubbed Destination Oakland, a spokeswoman for City Administrator Deborah Edgerly said today.” 

An Oakland Tribune article “Wayans Quit Development Talks” published on the same day had a similar take, stating, “The Wayans Brothers development team pulled out of negotiations with the city over plans to build a movie studio and arts and retail center on the former Army base in West Oakland this week, leaving the future development of the base in question, city officials said Thursday evening.” 

But Britten Shuford, co-managing partner of the Wayans Brothers-Pacifica Capital Urban Development Partnership, the group the signed an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city over the army base property in early July, said the group has not pulled out of the deal, but is working on modifications to make it more feasible to them. 

“We plan to make the rounds with representatives of the mayor’s office, the city administrator, and City Councilmembers sometime this month,” Shuford said by telephone this week. 

Shuford said that “we learned at the same time that the city did that the Port of Oakland was proposing to fill in 42 acres of the bay directly across from our development, and they are planning to stack storage containers on that land six to 15 stories tall. That would entirely block our view of the San Francisco skyline.” 

Shuford was vague on details of how the Wayans-Pacifica group would modify their proposal, saying only that it would be reconfigured in some way on the same acreage that the city originally proposed to sell them.

When the UC Berkeley vs. Tennessee football game concluded Saturday and 72,500 fans poured out of Memorial Stadium, John Brandt of Davis found himself in what he called a “dangerous situation,” with gates on the west side of Memorial Stadium off-limits. 

“At the conclusion of last Saturday’s Cal football game, an enormous throng of people … attempted to leave Memorial Stadium, only to find out that numerous exit gates on the west side of the stadium had been locked ... An extraordinarily dangerous situation existed that should NEVER have happened … Once I was amid the crowd, there was virtually no way I could get out. Like everyone else, I simply had to wait until I was at the first open gate. This gate was about 10 feet wide, and EVERYONE was trying to get through it,” Brandt wrote to the city’s fire marshal, who sent the email on to the university Fire Marshal Anthony W. Yuen. 

Speaking to the Daily Planet Wednesday, Yuen said he apologized for the conditions people experienced. He emphasized that the gates were at no time locked, but “they were closed and staffed by police officers and staff in case of emergencies.” 

The university did not want people leaving by the west gates because of the fence the university had erected around the oak grove, occupied by protesters. If fans had exited the west gates, they would have walked straight toward the fenced-off area. The other exits led fans away from the protest area. 

Protesters have occupied trees in the grove since December, in opposition to university plans to cut down the trees and build an athletic training facility.  

Last week, the university erected a fence to protect the protesters from fans who may have verbally abused them, Yuen said. 

“I think we could have done a better job of letting people know” the west gates would be closed, Yuen said. “It’s kind of a unique situation.” 

Berkeley High School football practice was noisy and chaotic. The field was shared with the woman’s field hockey team, a jogger circling the perimeter and random groups of children throwing footballs. 

In the more-or-less football portion of the field, a coach is yelling: “Hit! Hit! I want to see you hit!” and players accelerate toward each other from a few yards apart until they crash with a sound that only crashing football players can make. 

No one seems to get hurt. But this isn’t surprising. Teenage athletes are nearly as indestructible as they think they are. 

A distance away, a group of offensive linemen watches silently. There are five of them. Even standing by, they stand in formation with a “Thou Shall Not Pass” look about them. After a while, they go off by themselves to practice the intricacies of their craft.  

This involve scores of perceptions and decisions in the few seconds they get to protect their quarterback from what off the field would be a felonious assault, or the second or two to swindle formidable people out of enough space for a running back to slip through who then unaccountably seems to look for the first opponent he can find to smash into. 

They are considered the most essential players on the team. Bob Ladouceur, head coach at De La Salle in Concord, one of California’s best teams, is also the offensive line coach. In the National Football League, the best offensive team frequently is the team with the best offensive line. 

Varsity line coach Greg Pedemonte, who looks like a math teacher, described a lineman’s skill as “esoteric.” 

“Misplace a hand by six inches and you lose control of the block,” he said. 

The players are big (Omar Kitami, a starting tackler on the junior varsity, is 14 years old and weighs 240 pounds) and you’d think they would be slow. 

But they have very fast hands. 

The shouts from a lineman scrimmage are esoteric. 

“If he pushes your hands away put them right back.” 

“Nice job Clarence, nice job. Take him all the way to the end of the  

field.” 

“See what happens when you do it like that. It works.” 

What worked was unclear. It’s all a blur of hands, shoulders, forearms and twisting bodies that lasts about three seconds. 

It’s like watching something like full-contact speed chess.  

Berkeley will play an exhibition game against Deer Valley this evening (Friday) at 5 p.m. at the Berkeley High School field. Admission is usually $8.

By Steven Finacom 

Special to the Daily Planet 

Historic parks, beautiful neighborhoods, Berkeley’s downtown, restored creeks, and a little-visited district where Bernard and Annie Maybeck developed their own real estate subdivision, are all part of the fall season of Berkeley Historical Society walking tours, starting this Saturday, Sept. 8.  

There’s also a visit to Berkeley’s historic radio museum—you probably didn’t know there was one, did you? 

All tours are on Saturday mornings. Reservations are required. Tours cost $10 per person, with discounts for Berkeley Historical Society members and “season ticket” purchasers. See sidebar for more details. 

Two of the tours this season, the first and the last, relate to the current centennial of Berkeley’s public park system. The first tour is also co-sponsored by the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) in honor of the centennial. The tours benefit the non-profit BHS and are led by volunteer guides. 

The schedule begins this Saturday in one of the most attractive residential districts of the North Berkeley hills. Guide Susan Cerny—author of two books about Berkeley and Bay Area architecture and landmarks—will lead a walk through Indian Rock Park, Mortar Rock Park, Grotto Rock Park, and John Hinkel Park. 

All these parks were gifts to the city from private landowners and developers, and all feature large natural stone outcroppings or manmade stonework, oaks, winding paths, and several decades of history.  

They’re surrounded by residential neighborhoods of picturesque homes whose designers and owners made every effort to incorporate the natural landscape into the built environment. This tour is not wheelchair accessible because of the steep terrain and outdoor stairs. 

The second tour, Sept. 22, heads down to Berkeley’s tidewater district and back to the early days of radio broadcasting. Sitting just south of Berkeley’s Aquatic Park, the old KRE radio station dates to 1937 and was one of the first buildings constructed in the Bay Area specifically for radio broadcasting.  

It’s now being refurbished as a museum of radio history by the California Historical Radio Society (CHRS). Steve Kushman, president of CHRS, will lead the tour and explain the history of KRE and why AM ration stations are often built in wetland areas. 

Tour three on Oct. 6 reprises a popular BHS tour to an area of Kensington known as Maybeck Estates. Here Annie Maybeck—the business brains of the family—had acquired land that she and husband Bernard sold to hand-picked homebuyers, and encouraged them to hand-build their own homes along a ridge with magnificent views. 

The Maybecks specified that buyers not smoke, and “Ben”—who hiked up the hill regularly to offer advice—suggested to one household that they should build a home without windows, live in it for a while, then decide where they wanted windows. They demurred. 

Paul Grunland, a Berkeleyan since the 1930s and expert on the history of the North Berkeley hills, leads the tour with Bob Shaner, a resident of the Maybeck Estates. The Maybecks’ son, Wallen, was one of the area residents, and it may be possible to tour his Maybeck-designed house. 

The history and historic built environment of downtown Berkeley, particularly around Shattuck Avenue and Center Street, is the focus of the fourth tour on Oct. 20. Leader Austene Hall, historic preservation and civic activist, will focus on “the old and new environment and how they came together.”  

She’ll be accompanied by UC Principal Planner Jennifer McDougall and environmentalist Juliet Lamont. All three are involved in the current Downtown Area Plan process. 

“Lower Codornices Creek: from rails to restoration” is the theme of the fifth tour on Nov. 3. Guided by long-time local creek activist (and previous BHS tour leader) Susan Schwartz, the tour will cover some 2.5 miles tracing through changing geography and history the route of Codornices Creek in north Berkeley and highlighting recent successful restoration efforts along the lower lengths.  

Drew Goetting of Restoration Design Group and Richard Register of Ecocity Builders, will join Schwartz to discuss their roles in Codornices projects. Portions of this walk are not wheelchair accessible. 

The last tour, on Nov. 17, led by the writer of this article and Linda Perry, is also part of the park centennial celebration. Downtown Berkeley is not usually thought of as an area of open space, but it has one of Berkeley’s most historic parks and a history of park plans, projects, and visions. 

The tour will visit the sites of a now-vanished park and civic fountains that once lay at the heart of downtown, a nearly forgotten war memorial grove, and a surviving park containing and surrounded by masterpieces of Art Deco and Moderne design.  

We’ll also learn about plans for downtown open space that never came about. Co-leader Linda Perry was a leader of the effort to restore the Marin Circle Fountain and both guides worked on preservation planning for Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Park. 

After the regular schedule of tours there’s a Dec. 1 bonus tour for those who subscribe to at least three of the earlier tours. The bonus tour visits Hillside School, one of Berkeley’s oldest surviving and most picturesque public school buildings, designed in 1925 by Walter Ratcliff. Past teachers, students, and parents at Hillside will lead the tour. 

Photograph by Steven Finacom. 

The 1937 KRE Radio Station beyond the south end of Berkeley’s Aquatic Park is being transformed into a radio history museum, and will be visited on a Sept. 22 tour. 

HISTORICAL WALKING TOURS 

All tours are on Saturdays, start at 10 a.m., end around noon. Reservations are required; space is limited. 

$10 per tour for the general public, $8 for BHS members. Members can buy a season ticket for $30. Join BHS when making tour reservations, for $20/individual, $25/family.  

Send a check payable to Berkeley Historical Society to P.O. Box 1190, Berkeley, CA 94701. Include phone and/or e-mail to receive instructions on where to gather for each tour. 

For last minute reservations, call 848-0181 between 1-4 p.m. on the Thursday or Friday before the tour, or visit the Berkeley History Center, 1931 Center St., during the same hours. 

More detailed descriptions of the tours are on-line at http://berkeleyheritage.com/calendar.html. 

The King in The King and I says “It’s a puzzlement!” when confronted with something he doesn’t understand. That line occurred to me last week when the publisher and I took in the Berkeley Repertory Theater’s 40th anniversary opening night performance of Shaw’s Heartbreak House, characterized by our reviewer as “sumptuous,” courtesy of comps provided by the theater’s PR department.  

The Rep has been in town even longer than we have, having started in an old house on College Avenue about six years before we moved into our old house on Ashby. Our kids used to walk to their matinees unsupervised by parents. Their current artistic director, Tony Taccone, taught two of our daughters in young people’s theatre programs with great results: one is now a college professor, a notable branch of the performing arts when done well, and the other is an opera singer. I think our name might even be on one of the bricks which memorialize contributors to their first new building. And the Planet under the four years of our ownership has faithfully publicized the Berkeley Repertory Theater’s efforts with the same previews, reviews and calendar listings which we provide for all local arts organizations free of charge. 

At the Solano Stroll, once again I thought “it’s a puzzlement” as I stopped off to check out the lineup of the many local theater groups in booths soliciting patronage and donations. Most of them are non-profit, which means that no dividends are dispensed to investors, though the compensation for staff and performers varies a lot. But even non-profits have to do something to let the audience know what they’re currently staging, and for that they’re dependent on the press.  

A significant segment of the press on which local theater companies depend is also “non-profit” in a different sense, that is to say not making any profit even though the form of organization would allow profits in theory. That’s true of the Chronicle as well as of the Planet, and I suspect it’s also true of the Express, even under its new ownership structure. Newspaper advertising revenue is declining, and as a result many papers are drastically cutting arts section staff and reviewing fewer and fewer productions. It’s a classic chicken-and-egg proposition: arts organizations are tempted to decide that they don’t have to advertise because they can get free “white space” publicity, but eventually that goes away if there’s no one at all willing to pay for it with advertising dollars.  

The Planet does have some faithful local arts advertisers: Ashkenaz, the Berkeley Opera, the Berkeley Arts Festival, the Berkeley Symphony, the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive and the San Francisco Mime Troupe among others are consistent, and they report getting good results from their ads. It’s hard, therefore, to understand why some of the other companies think that they can build audiences without advertising. And also why they think they can continue asking for local community donor support when they seem to feel no obligation to give back to the local community by spending some of their advertising dollars locally. Some don’t advertise anywhere because they are chronically broke, but not all of them. 

The Berkeley Repertory Theater does advertise in the Chronicle, and probably in other publications as well, but they have consistently refused to advertise in the Berkeley Daily Planet. As executive editor, I’m not supposed to worry about advertising sales, but as one of the owners (read “funder”), when a succession of sales managers complains to me that it’s impossible to get the Rep to advertise, I can’t help wondering why.  

It’s not that they don’t advertise anywhere, but they tell Planet sales people that our readers “aren’t the right demographic.” If that’s really true, at some point wearing my editor’s hat I begin to wonder why we bother with reporting on productions which our readers by the theater’s own definition don’t seem to be interested in.  

The owners of this paper have always supported local arts organizations in many different ways. We have regarded publicizing performances in the Planet as an extension of this long-time effort. And providing excellent arts coverage is also part of our commitment to our readers to produce the best possible paper given limited resources. But now we’re wondering if we’re making the right use of those resources, especially when many of the better-heeled organizations which we regularly review and list choose to use their advertising budget to support other publications.  

We’d like to hear from our readers on this topic. We can’t afford much market research: A really thorough survey would probably cost more than we pay all of our excellent reviewers in the course of the year. But we’d appreciate it if readers would write in and tell us what kind of arts coverage they want.  

And another topic for another day is a similar discussion with the local real estate industry. The editorial content of our home and garden section, launched last year, seems to be a tremendous success with readers, judging by the letters we receive about Ron Sullivan’s gardening and nature columns, Matt Cantor’s home maintenance column, our stories about historic buildings and interesting open homes and our new web-based features: the open homes directory and the map of zoning permit applications. But with a few outstanding exceptions the home and garden section has had lackluster support from the real estate advertisers we’d hoped would pay for it. 

Our major ongoing emphasis continues to be on local “hard news,” which is what distinguishes the Planet from some of the other publications distributed in the East Bay. But we’re also proud of our arts and home sections, and we’d like to keep on producing them if we can. Should we continue to offer them, and if so what should be in them? Readers, please let us know what you think. 

A number of citizens, including some who live in District 5, have forwarded to us Councilmember Laurie Capitelli’s thoughtful explanation of why he voted to reject UC’s proposed settlement of the city’s lawsuit on the EIR for the gym/office building proposed adjacent to Memorial Stadium. He makes several good points, obvious ones that can’t be reiterated too often. 

First, “As the provider of first-response emergency services to everyone, including UC students and staff along the Piedmont corridor, the city should have some input into the density and configuration of development along the eastern edge of the campus.” 

And also, even more important “the real seismic safety issue is not whether an athletic center can be built to appropriate standards, but the Memorial Stadium itself, its age and the fact that it straddles the Hayward fault. There is a lot of work to be done—time and resources—to determine whether or not the stadium is even capable of being retrofitted adequately under the strict requirements of the Alquist-Priolo Act. My deep fear is that UC will move its athletes into a new facility next to the stadium, only to find out that the stadium cannot be seismically retrofitted.” 

He ends by saying that the “City Council has the privilege and the responsibility to weigh all these factors in light of our priority —public safety—and make a reasoned decision based upon risks and benefits...To that end, I would support a negotiated settlement with the university, ONLY IF there are adequate mitigations that can be guaranteed. I was not satisfied this was the case in reviewing UC’s proposal last evening.” A sensible decision, supported by at least six of his colleagues.  

But in his final conclusion, his reasoning jumps the tracks a bit. He says that “I did vote to proceed with the lawsuit, leaving open the possibility of entertaining another more comprehensive and significant proposal from the university either before or after the results of the lawsuit are released.” 

Here’s the problem: The lawsuit contends that the environmental impact report submitted by the university is inadequate, that it doesn’t provide sufficient information on which to base crucial decisions. The problem with offering to settle “if adequate mitigations...can be guaranteed” is that until you have full information about what all the environmental impacts of the project will be, you can’t be sure that the offered remedies are adequate. 

One example of the problem is the one frequently cited by the ardent but poorly informed sports fans who want to build it all now and damn the torpedos: the location of the Hayward fault. Whether the building and the stadium are smack on top of the fault or a few feet or yards off it makes not much difference: what counts is how both buildings will behave when the big shaking comes down, how the 72,000-plus fans will get out, and where they’ll go when they do. Or even how the tenants of the gym/office building will get out if a game’s not in progress when the quake strikes.  

George W. Breslauer, executive vice chancellor and provost, and Nathan Brostrom, vice chancellor-administration, even admit the point in a letter to the UC faculty forwarded to us by a recipient who described it, tongue firmly in cheek, as a remarkable document which should be used in a rhetoric or logic course. A typical bit of shaky analysis: 

“The city also asked that we conduct additional seismic testing on the site of the new Student-Athlete High Performance Center. In response, an independent geological firm was hired. New cores were drilled and new trenches were dug, in addition to the ones we had done as part of our original study. The additional testing proved beyond any reasonable doubt that there are no active fault lines under the site. Recently those findings were reviewed and certified by the country’s leading seismic authority, the United States Geological Survey. Moreover, seismologists and engineers know from studies of past earthquakes that the level of ground shaking is approximately the same right next to a fault as it is anywhere else within two miles of the fault” [emphasis added].  

Exactly. Shall we discuss the failure of logic in the preceding paragraph, class? Proving that there are no active fault lines under the site proves.....what? Within two miles, it’s what we all agree is a toss-up, pun intended. 

One more point: on Thursday the UC student council, now grandly named the ASUC Senate, passed a resolution saying, among other things: “the ASUC encourage the City of Berkeley to engage in dialogue with the University of California regarding a settlement before the lawsuit goes back to court on Sept. 19, 2007.” 

Capitelli’s argument that the stadium and the gym can’t be considered in isolation is key. The reason so many different parties are suing the university at this point, including the city, is that the school is proposing so many projects simultaneously that it’s virtually impossible to assess their cumulative impact. Well-established California law, under the California Environmental Quality Act, prohibits “segmentation”: breaking up projects into small parts so that the overall impact is disguised. That’s why there’s absolutely no point in even considering settling the city’s lawsuit before it goes to court.  

The only way all the relevant information about the huge amount of contemplated activity, even just in Strawberry Canyon, can be intelligently analyzed is by doing a full dress environmental impact report with all the cards on the table. The Berkeley City Council has a responsibility to citizens not to settle for anything less, especially before the case goes to court. 

The sponsors of the ASUC resolution put out a Facebook call-to-action before the City Council meeting:  

“LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!” Meet on the Sproul steps at 3:30. We will take the bus to the City Council special session together and let them know we want a safe and state-of-the-art facility for the best student-athletes in the country!”  

Why sports-minded young folks thought they needed a bus to get to the City Council chambers, a few blocks from Sproul, is not clear. Perhaps someone, for example the Cal athletic department, offered to provide a bus for them?  

And not all students responded enthusiastically to the rallying cries. Here’s one Facebook naysayer: “Use that money to pay for tuition. This is a public university, not a football fan club. If our donors don’t like us without a good football team, then what does that say about them? College is about education, not thinly-veiled homoerotic wargames. We have a real war going on, anyway. You want to see grown men hurting each other, switch on CNN. Only in Iraq, sometimes kids get in the way.”  

The writer has no business blaming only gay men for excessive drooling over virile football players, since many women have the same problem, but otherwise he speaks for a lot of students and alumni, and for many Berkeley citizens. 

HEALTHCARE BILL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We don’t need a special legislative session. Tell your senator: Sheila Kuehl’s AB 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act—is the single payer plan that serves everyone, is affordable, and does not interfere with provision of medical services. Private insurers do not provide broad access to healthcare. The government can—as in Canada, France, and Britain—by eliminating private insurance’s duplication of bureaucracies and profits. California businesses will benefit by being relieved of the costs of paying into employee health insurance plans. AB 840, passed by the legislature but vetoed last year, has passed the Assembly again and is before the Senate. The Legislature’s obligation is to the people of California, not to private health insurers. They should pass AB 840 now by a veto-proof two-thirds majority and show us who they’re working for. 

Charlene M. Woodcock 

• 

BROWN ACT VIOLATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was surprised to read in the Sept. 7 Daily Planet (“Council Postpones Vote on Contentious Community Benefits District Plan,” Sept. 7) that the meetings of the West Berkeley Community Benefits District steering committee have not been public. Since the City Council authorized $10,000 in funding, and the steering committee is acting as an advisory group for the City Council with regard to the proposed district, that is a violation of the Brown Act. 

Robert Lauriston 

• 

KANGAROO PRODUCTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Earlier this week the state Assembly, to its ever-lasting shame, and despite major public opposition, voted 44:27 to overturn the 37-year-old ban on the importation of kangaroo products into California. Senate Bill 880 (by Ron Calderon, D-Montebello) now awaits the governor’s signature. Or veto. 

The kangaroos (Australia’s national symbol) are spot-lighted at night (illegal in the United States), then massacred. Many wounded escape, to suffer a lingering death. The joeys (babies) have their little heads crushed, with governmental approval. Endangered species are likely to get into the mix, too, for once dead and skinned, it is nigh-impossible to tell one species of kangaroo from another. Enforcement will be a nightmare. And for what, pray? Soccer cleats, pet food and “novelty” items, God help us. Are you ready for coin purses made from kangaroo scrotums, or backscratchers and bottle openers made from severed forelimbs? They’re coming. Imagine the public outcry if we so crassly commercialized our own national symbol, the bald eagle. 

EVERY organization supporting this travesty has vested financial interests: various chambers of commerce, sporting goods stores, soccer clubs, etc. Reportedly, Adidas has spent nearly $4 million in recent years promoting this abomination and buying off legislators. Must money and greed always trump decency and ethics? So it would seem. Democrats and Republicans alike have lost their moral compass on this one, no thanks to term limits. 

Urge Governor Schwarzenegger to veto this cruel and regressive legislation. Call his office at (916) 445-2841, then press 1, then 5. You can express your concerns to a live person. Or fax the governor at (916) 445-4633. Rumor has it that Arnold plans to run against Barbara Boxer for the U.S. Senate. His signing this bill won’t help that campaign. May compassion rule. 

Eric Mills 

Coordinator, Action for Animals 

Oakland 

• 

LAPDOG OR WATCHDOG? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Funny how The Daily Planet goes to so much trouble to defend Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums against criticism of his relations with the press, with columns by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor and Randy Shaw, yet no mention anywhere in the paper of the resignation of the mayor’s press secretary a few weeks back or of the many other staff changes reported in the San Francisco Chronicle. I thought the role of the press was watchdog, not lapdog. 

Steve Reichner 

Oakland 

• 

KITCHEN DEMOCRACY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Steve Martinot’s discussion of Kitchen Democracy misses the point. For Berkeley residents, Kitchen Democracy is a way to express their opinions and be more involved in city issues. The City Council can use Kitchen Democracy as a way to gauge public opinion on a topic in the same way it uses public hearings. I doubt that many people “voting” on Kitchen Democracy think they are “taking part in any formal decision making process.” They are simply making their voices heard on issues that matter to them in an arena in which they feel comfortable. Many residents do not attend Berkeley City Council meetings because they occur at inconvenient times and because there are often many people that are uncomfortably hostile to those with opposing views. Thus, many people’s voices are not heard. Kitchen Democracy is simply another outlet for those attempting to take part in the democratic process. I am appalled at Steve Martinot’s attempts to marginalize this new democratic medium. 

Dave Schlessinger 

• 

NOTHING SAYS ‘SKID ROW’ BETTER THAN A BUNCH OF PREACHERS WITH  

MICROPHONES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While the mayor’s office, the city manager’s office, the Office of Economic Development, the Police Department, the City Council, area residents and merchants are doing everything they can to help bring about a glorious comeback for Telegraph Avenue, out-of-town evangelical preachers and their sizable entourage of prosthelytizers regularly pull a $35 permit to disrupt traffic and business at Telegraph and Haste. 

With a full-scale PA system, keyboards, guitars, microphones, and large signs indicating there is but one way to find “god,” these folks manage to alienate absolutely everybody who comes near that corner. 

Too bad if you’re a merchant on that same corner paying over $30,000 a month in rent (that’s a thousand dollars a day, every single day). Too bad if you’re one of the many area merchants working hard to make something great happen down there. Too bad if you happen to work outside anywhere near that corner, as many do. Too bad if you’re one of a number of newly opened businesses in the immediate area. Too bad if you’re one of the hundreds of residents who live within earshot (many of whom, like the merchants, have been complaining about this for many years—anyone remember Andy Ross and Cody’s Books?) Too bad if you’re anyone in Berkeley who’d love to see Telegraph keep improving, as it has done this past year. Maybe someone at City Hall can figure out what to do? 

Marc Weinstein 

• 

IMPEACH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On Saturday, Sept. 15, from 1-2:30 p.m., I and hundreds of others will once again be using our bodies to spell out the word “IMPEACH” (and probably a couple of others), this time at Crissy Field, in San Francisco.  

In the introduction to his 1974 book Impeachment, a Handbook, Yale professor Charles L. Black, Jr. noted that “the Framers of our Constitution very clearly envisaged the occasional necessity of this awful step, and laid down a procedure and standards for its being taken. Their actions on this matter were, as the records of their debates show, very carefully considered.”  

If the devastating assaults on our Constitution during the past six years aren’t enough to instigate impeachment proceedings, I can’t imagine what would be. As a naturalized citizen, I completely disagree with our elected representatives who argue that pursuing impeachment would be at the cost of important legislative action. I appeal to my fellow citizens to join me and to give voice to millions of others in telling Congress that there is no business more important right now than rescuing and preserving our Constitution.  

No, we won’t be naked! Of course, if we were, the mainstream media would probably cover us (figuratively speaking). However, the more of us who gather to speak up for this country’s highest values, the more likely it is that the event will be reported and thus stimulate our fellow citizens everywhere to demand that Congress fulfill its duty and save this nation’s future as a democracy, once again being governed by the rule of law. A helicopter flying over the event will create video and photos of the event, with our beautiful Golden Gate Bridge in the background.  

You surely don’t need me to remind you that if we all sit back and say “Nothing can be done,” nothing will be done. Contact info can be had at volunteerforchange.org. Video of two previous events is at beachimpeach.org.  

Hope to see you on the 15th!  

Nicola Bourne 

• 

MUSCLE-HEADED JOCK SCHOOL? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There are a lot of good reasons not to build a new sports training center adjacent to Memorial Stadium, including saving some irreplaceable trees and the fact that this stadium is a seismic disaster waiting to happen. But let’s take this one step further. At the risk of being run out of town by a gang of over-zealous football fans, I suggest that UC Berkeley, in the interest of education and research, eliminate its inter-collegiate football program all together. Take the step the University of Chicago took in 1939 by the forward thinking President Robert Maynard Hutchins who felt that big time athletics detracts from academics. Let’s take a lesson from Hutchins. Education isn’t about beating UCLA at football. How much of the resources of this school are being wasted on this one game? Are the players getting an education? Is Berkeley becoming a muscle-headed jock school? 

Name withheld by request 

• 

TOWN-GOWN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Sharon Hudson’s Sept.. 7 commentary, “The Myth of Cooperation,” is the clearest most realistic assessment of the continuing relationship between the ever-expanding behemoth called the university, and the relatively less powerful City of Berkeley. 

Like a company town that dominates the economic and social rules for its workers, the university comports itself like the colossus it has become. The current legal arrangements of responsibilities between the two entities were formulated a long time ago when neither the city nor the university were growing at the current pace and the demands for infrastructure—water, fire, police, sewage—were far more modest and could be accommodated. Since this earlier time, the university was exempt from taxes and by law the city provided these services gratis. 

In terms of numbers of buildings, persons, and services this is no longer the case, and although the university does provide a percentage (how big?) of actual cost it is made on a ‘voluntary’ basis. A perfect example of noblesse oblige. True cooperation for mutual satisfaction on both sides has not appeared despite the essential interdependence of the two entities. Where oh where is the fairness element in these two clusters of well informed, highly sophisticated people in our small geographical space? Thank you, Sharon Hudson, for making the obvious even more obvious. 

Joan Levinson 

• 

GETTING ONE’S VOICE HEARD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Within the past few weeks I wrote a letter to Barbara Lee, whom I hold in some respect. I received no answer. How does one make one’s voice heard in this so-called democracy of ours? Below is my letter for any reader who may have some special access. 

Dear Congresswoman Barbara Lee, 

My wife and I, who reside in your district, would like you to introduce a bill in Congress that would obligate President Bush to inform, consult with, and have a vote of approval from Congress before he carries out a major aggressive act against Iran (a pre-emptive strike, euphemism for a sneak attack). Even if you are the only one voting for your own bill, it would mean that you are the only Member of Congress who understands our Constitution and what our country is supposed to be all about. You have been in a similar spot before. 

Whatever the practical consequences as far as Iran would be, such a bill would force each Congressman out of the closet on the various Iraq issues, serve as a general litmus test for credibility, and focus voters’ attentions in the coming November elections. In The Declaration of Independence where the obligation of people to oppose tyranny is discussed, it states “.....when a long train of abuses and usurpations...evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, their duty to throw off such Government.” The tyrannous misuse of power is exactly what we are witnessing in our country at this very moment. The Founding Fathers would not be very happy. Nor is the present electorate at all satisfied with Congress standing by. 

Bennett Markel 

This summer UC has been using a campaign of misinformation and erroneous statements to convince the City of Berkeley to withdraw from the lawsuit to stop UC development on the Hayward Fault. The most important deception in this campaign is UC’s efforts to make it appear that the university is only asking for the approval to build the workout/office facility (the SAHPC). This is a red herring. The lawsuit is not only about the SAHPC but also includes the proposed new stadium and other buildings to be situated at the fault. If the suit is stopped for the purpose of allowing the SAHPC to go forward, the rest of the projects including the new, expanded stadium also would be automatically approved. The SAHPC and the new stadium are legally inseparable. This sleight of hand is why UC is so eager to restrict the focus of the debate to the gym. If people knew the truth that UC is planning to transform Memorial Stadium from football-only to one of the Bay Area’s largest entertainment venues, approval of these projects would come under more intense scrutiny. A quick, insider deal with the city would be more difficult and UC would be left with fighting an uphill battle in court. 

In their campaign to politically defeat the lawsuit, UC is also making an erroneous and dangerous claim that, since the site for the gym is more than 50 feet from the Hayward Fault it is as seismically safe as if it were two miles away. That statement is only true in certain locations and is unlikely to be the case at the stadium site where the damage zone is likely to be wider. This claim also conceals the true seismic risks by hiding the fact that it is local conditions that typically determine the amount of destruction from a major earthquake. Memorial Stadium is built on fill and is officially identified by the USGS as a liquefaction zone. In addition to the forces of the lateral tearing apart and the huge ‘S’ wave that would pass through the fault zone, this fill would reverberate like a bowl of jello in an earthquake. According to UC geologist Patrick Williams, the adjacent hills are seismically compressed and “can probably produce a larger moment-magnitude earthquake than previously estimated.” It is this uncontrolled shaking that is the most dangerous for large structures. The SAHPC is attached to and is the principal foundation for the stadium and being merely more than 50 feet from the fault will not isolate the SAHPC from these destructive forces. Also, UC’s own geologists (Geomatrix) have found faulting directly under the footprint of the SAHPC. Originally, when the Alquist-Priolo Act, California’s law intended to reduce human occupancy at earthquake faults was written, these faults were considered “active.” Since then the law was changed and now only the most recent faults are defined as “active.” But “older” faults can present an equal danger. It is reasonable to expect that these faults which branch off of the Hayward Fault will be activated when the main fault erupts. The university is a public institution and has an obligation to Californians to reveal the true magnitude of the risk. 

Another misleading claim of UC’s PR campaign is that the university has to build the SAHPC to protect the safety of the athletes and employees now at the stadium and portrays those who oppose building on the fault as the ones endangering these people. In fact, even before 1981 when the university first started moving these people to the facilities under the stadium, UC’s own experts have been very critical of this move and have repeatedly called for Cal to move these people away from the stadium. Yet, after 26 years of lack of concern, UC still keeps these people there. Now they are using their dangerous situation (created by UC itself) as an argument for development at the fault. UC should instead obey Alquist-Priolo and do everything it can to reduce occupancy at the fault. The students and employees currently under the stadium should be immediately moved out and no longer held hostage as a “talking point.” 

UC is also emphasizing that no public money will be used for the SAHPC or the stadium. This argument is deceptive. These projects will end up damaging UC’s financial health. Private donations that could be going towards education are being diverted to football. Also, since no insurance company would insure anything at that location, UC has no choice but to be self-insured (with state money). This means that California taxpayers will be left holding the bag after the earthquake. As expensive as rebuilding or decommissioning the stadium and gym would be, the cost to California of paying out the huge personal injury lawsuits that would follow the earthquake could be even greater. 

Hidden in the shadows by the constant focus on the SAHPC are UC’s plans to build a new stadium designed to transform Memorial Stadium from a football-only stadium to a multi-use entertainment venue. In the EIR UC says that they will have seven capacity night time concerts (most likely rock concerts) and also an unlimited number of smaller events. This expansion of use could bring an additional 600,000 to 700,000 people a year to the new stadium from outside Berkeley. Also, these events will be spread out over much of the year. Under this new plan there will be many more people in the vicinity of the fault and they will be there more often. Put together, this would greatly raise the risk of a human disaster. The purpose of Alquist-Priolo is to curtail development and to limit human occupancy at California’s faults. UC wants to do exactly the opposite. No other state or federal agency or private company could build there. Only the university can do it because—in order to protect academic freedom!!—UC is immune from normal governmental regulation. 

It now has been revealed that UC is planning to float bonds or some similar debt instrument to fund the construction of the new stadium. This would explain why UC is so adamant about having these concerts. They will be necessary to pay for the bonds. The new stadium will be very expensive. UC claims that they are merely “retrofitting” the stadium but that is misleading. Except for the outer wall which is being preserved for legal and aesthetic reasons as a façade, the stadium will be completely gutted, excavated and rebuilt anew. The stadium may well cost upwards of $250-$300 million. The university knows that it would take many years to raise that level of money by traditional means like ticket surcharges and booster donations. Issuing bonds lets UC more quickly get the necessary funds. But UC’s debt obligations would be so great that revenue from these concerts and events would be required to service the debt and retire the bonds. The covenants of the bond would surely legally require UC to continue with these concerts as long as necessary. That could be 20 years! Remember the McCartney concerts and the Raiders! The negative impacts on all the city of Berkeley would be enormous, probably permanent and the city would be powerless to stop it in the future. Just imagine the gridlock, the scramble for parking and the day-into-night partying that would result. The citizens of Berkeley would truly lose control of their city. Going forward with this development on the fault would also have a very negative impact on the public safety response for the rest of Berkeley. When the earthquake comes, with the landslides and fires, the police and fire personnel would be diverted from the neighborhoods of Berkeley to the stadium where the damage and injury would likely be the worst. 

How is it that a major institution like UC could be making such reckless decisions? No doubt there is more than one cause of UC’s clouded judgment, but one reason for UC’s obsession with big-time football is that this emphasis on the circus diverts the public’s attention away from the failing California higher education system. There are no new educational initiatives at UC—only tuition increases and big-time football. Emphasizing football works to give the UC leadership a pass on their failure to drive forward higher education in California. 

Today UC acts like an imperial institution, the natural result of almost no accountability to the public. UC’s irresponsible decisions flow from the dictum that, “We do it because we can.” Our city’s lawsuit is a great opportunity to change that and must not be dropped like what happened with the LRDP. It’s time that California had leadership that was obsessed with education and not football. Richard Blum says that he wants to reform and refocus UC. Wisely investing UC’s resources and immediately stopping these projects would be a good first step. 

Hank Gehman is a former Ivy football player and Cal graduate student.  

Imagine Berkeley’s City Council inadvertently pouring fuel on a burning controversy by granting almost $400,000 to an advocate for one side. Worse, imagine the money going to the dispute’s less popular side, in a “sole-source,” no-bid contract (the kind the Pentagon signs with Halliburton). And, worst of all, paying them to pester Berkeley residents with telemarketing calls and uninvited house visits. 

That’s the scenario lurking behind tonight’s Council item 29, a contract to promote the “Travel Choice—Berkeley” program. 

The underlying controversy is AC Transit’s proposed Bus “Rapid” Transit (BRT) route in Southside and downtown. BRT wouldn’t actually make buses much more rapid—AC Transit already took its best shot at that on June 24, when it gave us the promising new 1R Rapid Bus line. But BRT would certainly slow down everyone else, by removing half the lanes from Telegraph Ave. and other streets. 

The opponents include, not surprisingly, almost everyone around the proposed BRT route. Downtown and Telegraph merchants overwhelmingly oppose AC Transit’s lane grab. So do thousands of their customers and neighbors, who’ve signed petitions against it at Moe’s and Caffe Strada. 

Tonight’s agenda item is a $396,000 city contract for the Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC). This Oakland group is a busy advocate for AC Transit’s BRT plan, having received a major grant to promote BRT in East Oakland. TALC’s Berkeley contract involves encouraging “walking, bicycling, transit use, and ridesharing.” 

Everyone favors those automobile alternatives, but subsidizing a booster of the controversial BRT proposal seems an unwise move for elected officials. Even more unwise are the contract’s specified activities: “telephone outreach during weekday evenings and weekends, as well as door-to-door, in-person outreach.” In other words, telemarketing calls and uninvited knocks on the door. 

How much do you enjoy those dinnertime interruptions? Now imagine learning that the fresh-faced college student on your phone, waxing on about the wonders of buses and biking, has been paid to disturb you by your elected officials, using your regional tax dollars. 

The contract, I should clarify, says nothing about promoting BRT. But it specifically targets residents living within a half-mile of BART stations or “the Telegraph and San Pablo corridors.” TALC’s idealistic young telemarketers and canvassers will be sorely tempted to abuse these calls and visits to propagandize for BRT. 

I’m not out to demonize TALC, a well-intentioned group that’s achieved some good things. I served on a nonprofit’s board for years with its executive director, and know him as a highly effective organizer. 

But TALC is dead wrong in cheerleading for this BRT route, a $400 million boondoggle that would pay AC Transit to basically duplicate the adjacent BART tracks. 

Our city should not be lavishly subsidizing the wrong dog in this fight. BRT has only a tiny number of supporters in Berkeley. They’re an energetic group, whose bylines keep popping up in these pages. And they’ve used some outsized connections to postpone the AC Transit proposal’s inevitable demise. Even so, BRT is so radioactive that not one City Councilmember has (to my knowledge) endorsed it. 

If the city wants to promote the general, consensus goal of transit usage, it could competitively bid out a contract to professional consultancies that have no direct stake in the BRT controversy. Bidders might include, among other examples, San Francisco’s highly regarded Nelson/Nygaard group. 

Nelson/Nygaard very capably conducted Berkeley’s Transportation Demand Management study, and is now completing a Berkeley transportation mail survey. Its staffers are professional enough to avoid mixing planning services with issue advocacy. 

Most importantly, if the city wants to coax residents out of their cars, it shouldn’t be harassing us with telemarketing calls or visits. No one should be subsidizing such invasions of our privacy—least of all taxpayers ourselves. 

The city should choose less intrusive methods, like an attractive mailed brochure. That’s something city staff clearly knows how to do well, even without expensive outside consultants. Having once volunteered with staff to create a city mailing to promote bicycle safety, I’d guess that writing, design, printing, and mailing could all be done for way under $396,000. 

Look again at that fee. Assuming the targeted neighborhoods include some 6,500 households (an educated guess), TALC’s contract would pay it a whopping $61 per contacted home. 

Heck, I’d be willing to step up to the plate again. I’d gladly write about the virtues of straphanging, biking, unicycling, or even backwards walking. Let’s say $1 for my fee, and well under $96,000 for production and postage. 

The leftover $300,000 could subsidize my European travel budget for life. Then I could tell you about how efficient, attractive transit really ought to work.  

Here’s a preview from my self-financed summer research in Copenhagen and Berlin: Imagine buying advance transit tickets at your convenience, for about $2-$4 a ride. Punch your own ticket when you board, and you could transfer to absolutely anything for the next 90-120 minutes: any regional bus, BART, or even Caltrain. And those trains would run once every two minutes. 

To make automobile alternatives truly mainstream, that’s the level of service, integration, and convenience we need. For now, we need to invest our pennies efficiently, and to avoid provoking public backlash. 

Quashing AC Transit’s wasteful $400 million sideshow is an excellent intermediate step. Stopping TALC’s $400,000 sweetheart deal to harass us with telemarketing is the obvious first step. 

Michael Katz is a Berkeley civic watchdog and freelance writer. Thanks to Merrilie Mitchell and Barbara Gilbert for sniffing out Item 29 and its background. 

A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE 

Editors, Daily Planet  

I am from Tennessee and just returned home from a wonderful experience with the fans and citizens of the Bay Area. We were treated well every place we toured. The Cal fans were kind in victory. We would have enjoyed a victory, but your team played better. Those of us in the Southeastern Conference could learn some lessons on sportsmanship from your fans. I think you live in the most beautiful part of America. God has truly blessed you to allow you to live and work where you do. Hope to visit again. Thank you for all the kind words. I will be pulling for you to win the rest of your games this year.  

Phil Saylors 

Tennessee 

• 

UNNERVED BY TREE-SITTERS 

Editors, Daily Planet 

I flew from Tennessee to California to attend the UT-CAL game this past Saturday. The Cal campus is beautiful. Although I wore the most obnoxious orange clothes and shoes I had, everyone I met was exceedingly friendly and gracious. Except for the fact that my team lost the game (the better team won) everything else about my time and experience in Berkeley and on campus was exceptionally positive. 

I was, however, slightly unnerved by the people in the trees. Everywhere I went I heard people saying they had high-powered rifles and could be snipers. Although I didn’t take such talk seriously it did create a slight sense of uneasiness. I asked a police official stationed at the base of an occupied tree overlooking the football field if there were any truth to the “rumors.” His half-smile while saying “no” was not very reassuring. 

The attitude of the authorities and people in California is cavalier and dismissive as if a Virginia Tech or University of Texas Bell Tower incident couldn’t happen there. I know this is very unpleasant, uncomfortable, difficult and even painful to contemplate for some of you but it could happen. 

Perhaps they have conducted background checks and psychological tests to ensure the people they allow in the trees are emotionally and psychologically healthy and stable. I hope so. 

Robert W. Overman 

Memphis, TN 

• 

UC AND THE OAKS: WHAT ARE THE POLITICAL STAKES? 

Editors, Daily Planet 

The ongoing controversy over the oak grove is about much more than several dozen trees; it is about the character and future of the university. The campus’ architectural design of classical Greek and Roman arcs and lines was to embody principles of learning and democracy, and the current battles over its layout are simultaneously battles over the future of our public university.  

When John Galen Howard finished plans the university in 1922 he oriented what was to be a “City of Learning” on an east-west axis, drawing a stark line from the Strawberry Creek Canyon headwaters, through a central glade, and on out through the Golden Gate. Fiat Lux was literally inscribed in the landscape. The very geographic layout was designed to embody in this “Western Acropolis of Learning” ideals of public interest (but also racist imperialism, which, until recently, we had mostly moved past).  

Since then, much of the canyon and creek have been built over and polluted. The university’s idealist layout is being corroded and cornered on all sides by financial and military interests (Bechtel to the North, Haas and Lawrence to the East, in the West the Department of Energy and Shing bioterrorism center). Down go testaments to great figures of public interest such as Earl Warren Hall—named after the Berkely alum and Supreme Court justice key in forming landmark civil rights rulings—and up come glass-and-steel engineering complexes named after the highest bidder.  

True, the UC has throughout history embodied a contradictory mix of corporate and public interest. Yet, the university’s mix is being shifted in unprecedented ways by the deliberate international projects of free market idolatry and militarization waged by groups such as the Mont Peleran Society and the neo-conservatives.  

The campaign to save the oaks and stop UCBP are not in essence about these particular trees or that edifice, but about whether we seek to replace Fiat Lux with secretive deals with abusive corporations and eschew difficult public fundraising for short-term sports advertising gimmicks. The oaks and BP campaigns are rightly part of the Phoenix Coalition to free the UC—“democratize, demilitarize, divest” is their slogan—that ultimately requires reforming the Regents and Proposition 13.  

The blunders of UC pay scandals, back room dealings with BP, and now the heavy-handed oak fencing indicate an increasingly out of touch and arrogant UC administration. The chancellor has called the proposed BP-Berkeley collaboration “our generation’s moonshot.” We would do well to remember the numerous errors and threats to human life that plagued that mission and that its slim success relied heavily on chance, open communication, and flexibility.  

Go Bears!  

Clement S. Calado 

• 

EAST BAY-MARIN TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet 

In his Aug. 31 commentary, “Berkeley’s Misplaced Planning Priorities,” Paul Glusman states that “... there has never been any direct public transit between Berkeley or Oakland and Marin County.” For many years Golden Gate Transit (GGT) has been running a bus service from El Cerrito Del Norte BART station to San Rafael. The GGT No. 40 Express runs several times in both direction during the morning and evening commute hours. The No. 42 runs every half hour from 5:30 in the morning till 11:30 in the evening. Travel time is 30-40 minutes. Fare is $3.60 one way. The bus schedule for the 40/42 line is available at http:// goldengatetransit.org/schedules/pages/Bus-Schedules.php. Aside from arriving on BART, the El Cerrito Del Norte BART station can be reached by the 72 Rapid bus on weekdays from most locations on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley within 15 minutes. 

Len Conly 

• 

O’MALLEY’S FACTS 

Editors, Daily Planet 

As a longtime Berkeley resident who recently moved to New York, I read the Planet to catch up on some of the little quirks that make Berkeley so unique and utterly bizarre. However, it seems that recently the Planet has deemed it fit to publish columns that contain obviously false statements. In her recent column, Becky O’Malley states:  

“The whole ugly scene, complete with nasty skinhead cops with gas masks clubbing unarmed victims, has been captured on You Tube by LA Wood on the Berkeley Citizen website at www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKCY4MJuJeY> .”  

Has Ms. O’Malley ever watched the video she cites in her column? I can read through columns detailing the erosion of First Amendment rights, the expansion of the police state and the overall collapse of western civilization brought about by the cutting down of a small grove of trees, but when your own statements are completely contradicted by the video evidence that you cite as proof, it is too much. All the video shows is several police officers restraining two individuals without using excessive force, no use of clubs or other foreign objects, and, unless my eyes deceive me, not a single gas mask or skinhead in sight. I will grant Ms. O’Malley a certain amount of creative license, but each of her statements is loaded with additional meaning. Using them, without any sort of corroborating evidence, is both irresponsible and unprofessional—let alone completely wrong. 

Tomas Holmes 

• 

HOUSING BID 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Please pass my e-mail address onto Becky O’Malley. If she does live in Berkeley I’d love for her to give me her home after she moves out of this horrible country we live in. I love the city of Berkeley, I can’t think of a better place to live than in a great city in the greatest place in the world, the Bay Area. I can’t afford to live there and would love it if Becky would offer me her home when she moves to Canada or maybe Switzerland because she can’t stand the United States. It must be a fact that Michael Vick is exactly like every other athlete in the world and it also must be a fact that athletics are what is wrong with the world. Becky can you please leave me all your wisdom, so I can live a life like you, as you exit the USA.  

How about Becky you come back to reality, stay here in the US, vote against the Republicans in the next election, help push for sustainability and environmental understanding across the world, and quit worrying about a grove of oak trees between a city street and an athletic stadium. Many organizations in the Bay Area are pushing to save real wilderness lands and I’m a part of one of them/Save Mt. Diablo.  

If you don’t come to your senses please remember me, a contributing member of society who lives in an active earthquake region but who is not afraid, loves the country but knows there are many things that should change about our government. Athletics is not to blame for the worlds evils. 

Please remember me Becky as you exit the United States, I’d love to take your spot. 

Would love to hear an offer. 

Andrew Sproul  

• 

A FEW WORDS ABOUT  

SEN. LARRY CRAIG 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Mr. Allen-Taylor’s opinion piece regarding Sen. Craig was unusually empathetic and thoughtful amid the current media circus on the topic It was the best of Allen-Taylor’s writing thus far. 

Bob Gable 

• 

BUS RAPID TRANSIT 

Editors, Daily Planet 

A few recent letters have said that AC Transit should provide more bus service instead of building Bus Rapid Transit. Most recently, Teddy Knight wrote: “It would cost no more to double/triple the current schedules than to build BRT.” 

These letter writers don’t know a basic principle of transit funding: there are separate budgets for capital expenses and operating expenses. If AC Transit dropped the BRT project, it could not use that capital funding to operate more buses. It would simply lose the funding. 

BRT actually would allow AC to provide more frequent service. Because buses go more quickly in dedicated lanes, BRT would have lower operating costs than this line has now. AC could use the money saved to provide more frequent service on other lines. 

I can understand why people don’t know the difference between capital and operating expenses, when they have no history of supporting transit and suddenly become interested in the issue when a project is proposed in their back yards. But some of the red herrings that opponents are throwing at BRT are beyond understanding. 

For example, an opinion piece of July 31 claimed that, instead of BRT, we should use an “incremental approach,” which would include not only “more buses/shorter headway” but also “increased gas tax.” I can understand why he would not know that BRT funding cannot be used to run more buses at shorter headways, but I cannot understand why in the world he would think that stopping BRT would help us to increase gas taxes. 

BRT and increased gas taxes obviously are not mutually exclusive. I am in favor of increasing taxes not only on gasoline but on all CO2 emissions. And I am in favor of BRT for the same reason: because I want to slow global warming and leave a livable world to our children. 

Charles Siegel 

• 

IRAQ IS IMMORAL 

Editors, Daily Planet 

The Republican Party has fielded the worse White House team in history and although it has failed in some recent objectives— privatizing Social Security, reforming immigration—it remains strong and against all odds may win again in 2008.  

The party’s major source of strength comes from Bush’s global war on terror (GWOT), which, strictly speaking, is not a war but a tactical instrument, a political bludgeon he uses to intimidate and subdue his opponents. Democratic leaders are afraid to challenge the “war” head on; after a few whimpers they give Bush whatever he wants—money, tribunals, torture, spying, etc. 

The spearhead of Bush’s GWOT is Iraq and although public support is slipping away lawmakers of all stripes are diligently seeking ways “to keep on keepin’ on”—setting benchmarks, changing the mission, supporting (or replacing) Prime Minister al-Maliki, involving Iraq’s neighbors, etc. Neither lawmakers nor establishment intellectuals take ethical considerations into account. You’d think “morality” was a dirty word. 

Most every one seems to accept that armed might is a substitute for moral right. Old-fashioned virtue is no longer embraced as the wellspring of American ideals of freedom, justice, and equality. Bush leads the way, offering his own righteousness in place of what is right and Congress falls in line.  

The Bush team’s immoral behavior—unprovoked invasion—cannot be excused by faulty intelligence, inept planning, and incompetent leadership and his continuing military occupation cannot be disguised by U.N. Security Council resolutions.  

Sooner or later we as a nation will be ethically required to make right the bloody god-awful consequences of this president’s imperious and immoral calamity.  

Marvin Chachere  

San Pablo 

• 

MISREPRESENTING KITCHEN DEMOCRACY AND CITY HALL 

Editors, Daily Planet 

In your Aug. 31 edition, Steve Martinot writes that Kitchen Democracy pretends to host referendums, and that City Council and the zoning board follow that pretense. 

Mr. Martinot is wrong on both counts. The KitchenDemocracy.org website clearly states that the Kitchen Democracy tally is not legally binding. Moreover, the archive of closed issues on the website contains cases where Berkeley City Hall decisions diverged from the Kitchen Democracy tally. 

Mr. Martinot is also wrong when he states that Kitchen Democracy does not belong to the constituency whose interests are presented in our issue statements. Kitchen Democracy is its users. If the 3,000 Berkeley residents and stakeholders who formulate, select and discuss Kitchen Democracy issues do not belong to that constituency, who does? 

Kitchen Democracy forums are simply another channel through which residents can participate in democracy. Some people prefer to attend City Hall meetings; others prefer to read about issues at home and check Yes or No on their browser. Simona and I believe that a healthy democracy welcomes all forms of participation. That’s why we started Kitchen Democracy eighteen months ago, and why we are thrilled to see it becoming more vibrant every day. 

Robert Vogel 

Co-Founder, Kitchen Democracy 

• 

KNOWING THE TRUTH 

Editors, Daily Planet 

This quote pretty well sums up the conflicts in Iraq and the Middle East: “All wars are holy wars fought by people who think they alone know the truth.” God told George Bush to invade Afghanistan and Iraq while Osama bin Laden claims he is fighting God’s holy war. Republicans of a religious stripe pushed America into war in Iraq and fundamentalist terrorists are on the rise everywhere. 

Ron Lowe  

Grass Valley 

• 

BERKELEY HIGH FOOTBALL 

Editors, Daily Planet 

I really hope you cover the Berkeley High football team a little this year. Coach Alonzo Carter and his student athletes have spent a lot of time and energy to prepare for the season that starts this week. While some in Berkeley may not care about high school sports, and view it as a distraction to what is “important” in life, there are many in our city (especially long-time residents) who believe youth sports develops character and discipline. These aren’t clichés for the boys on the teams sweating through practices and study halls. 

The football team at Berkeley High is energizing a lot of people who don’t normally read the Daily Planet, but might if it contained news about the boys they know in a positive light rather than just in crime stories. 

Coach Carter has the boys thinking about winning games and going to College. A great way to help many of the boys at BHS become successful young men in our society would be to support the football team. The football team doesn’t have a lot of rich parents or alumni to fund it, and Coach Carter’s program should be allowed to thrive with community support and your paper’s attention.  

Paul Lecky 

• 

CRYING FOR JUSTICE 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Crying for Justice 

The president said “I’ve got God’s shoulder to cry on.” He cries in mansions staffed with servants who peel grapes for banquets. Today’s news carried photos of a woman and her children crying in horror as her husband was hauled off by American soldiers in a night raid. She despairs that like other arrested men, his body might later be found dumped around Baghdad.  

The people of Iraq did no harm to Americans. The Iraq war was plotted with lies by Bush and Cheney. They should be in the docket of the War Crimes Tribunal. Bush must answer for hundreds of thousands of widows, orphans, amputees, and refugees. They have a right to demand justice and tell of their pain. They should have a chance to see Bush cry.  

News stories abound that Bush and Cheney are plotting a massive bombing attack on Iran. This would be the greatest disaster in history and lead to economic chaos, a bottomless military nightmare, and rivers of tears and blood.  

The people must swarm Congress, demand that Bush and Cheney be removed, and remind the generals and admirals that conspiring to wage a war of aggression is a war crime. 

John Mackesy 

Middletown 

• 

TRAIN NOISE IN BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet 

The sound of a train whistle has long had a connection for me to the romance of train travel. I have wonderful memories of taking the train across the United States and Canada. Unfortunately that sound is now waking me regularly between midnight and dawn. Although, I live more than a mile from the train tracks in Berkeley/Oakland, freight train engineers seem to like to blow their loud horns almost continuously as they go through Berkeley/Oakland during the night.  

I believe it is time to impose restrictions on this disturbance. Airports in the Bay Area measure the noise of airplanes landing and taking off. They are restricted in the hours that they can take off during the night. We need the same rules for trains in urban areas. It may be difficult to restrict the times that trains run through Berkeley but it should be easy to restrict the speed they travel at and the way they use their horns. For example, if trains in Berkeley were limited to 20 miles/hour from 11 p.m. till 6 a.m. they would not need to use their horns since there is no danger of a collision at that speed. In addition, just as airports measure their noise, Union Pacific should be required to install noise-recording machines at the Berkeley and Emeryville stations. This time history of train noise would establish a way for local residents to examine for trains that violate good procedures and would be an incentive for Union Pacific to improve their performance. 

Al Thompson 

Oakland 

• 

GRAFFITI 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Graffiti is the art of those who do not much care for public spaces. Why can’t these people accept the social responsibility of caring for our common property? I am under the impression that graffiti destroys the beauty of our clean walls and benches, and reveals at the same time the anger of some uncaring people. Such people may experience relief if they are given special public spaces fitted with whiteboards to display their anger. At the same time neighborhood watch committees can help. They can remind graffiti writers of their responsibility for the cleanliness of public spaces. If the graffiti writers still don’t stop, they should be dealt with severely. Let us keep our cities looking clean. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

On Tuesday, Sept. 4, I attended the public comment before the City Council on the university’s proposed Memorial Stadium athletic center and other interrelated projects. Opponents of the university project outnumbered supporters by two or three to one. But the repeated misuse of the word “cooperation” by supporters of the UC project during that event compels me to comment. 

To recap events leading up to the meeting: Without consulting with the city or the community, UC hatched a project to intensify multiple uses of the stadium area, a plan that would (famously) demolish a mature, attractive oak grove and (less famously) pile yet more damage on the neighbors of the university. The city and other groups sued to protect the trees and themselves. The university responded with a settlement offer to marginally reduce the damage. UC officials and supporters called UC’s offer “cooperation,” and claim to be “baffled” that the project victims and City Council refused to “cooperate” by accepting it.  

As usual, it is difficult to tell whether the university is self-deluded, or merely trying to delude the rest of us.  

The university and its supporters are confusing “cooperating” with “bargaining,” which is the real model for this situation. In bargaining, two parties are motivated solely by their own self-interests. Each attempts to achieve as many of his own unilateral goals as possible. Bargaining generally results in fair, or mutually acceptable, outcomes only if the two parties have approximately equal power.  

Because it is so powerful, and because the City of Berkeley is so effectively deluded, the university usually does what it wants without having to bargain. But the city is the only Berkeley entity with the power to achieve a bargaining outcome remotely resembling equity or justice. This is why it is abusive and unjust when the city fails to defend its citizens from the university, and forces citizens with few resources to defend themselves against a multi-billion-dollar entity. 

Unlike bargaining, to cooperate is to act or work with another or others for a “common purpose,” or “mutual benefit.” This means that the two partners share a goal and work together to achieve it. Because the goal is shared and the strategy is not adversarial, cooperation works fine despite imbalances in power and resources. The university cooperates occasionally when it shares goals with someone and can generate good PR for itself. This happens on “feel good” issues (student community volunteers, etc.), but rarely on land use issues.  

UC’s multi-million-dollar PR machine works overtime to convince us that we share UC’s goals. Most Californians agree with the goal of providing higher education and research. But beyond that, things become murky very quickly, especially in the host UC cities that bear a disproportionate share of UC detriments and costs. That’s why UC is doing its utmost to convince us that both a winning football team and a “high performance student athletic center,” built precisely where and how they want it, are vital to higher education in California and therefore in Berkeley’s best interest.  

Who believes this? 

Sadly, in almost all land use and livability matters, the university and the citizens of Berkeley share no common goal. The university’s development goals are entirely internal, often questionable, and rarely benefit the citizens of Berkeley. Because UC does not share the goal of keeping the city livable and pleasant, their gain is always our loss. In fact, the university is notorious for “internalizing the benefits and externalizing the detriments” of all its activities.  

The “goal” of the nearly powerless citizens is simply reactive: to minimize the damage. But minimizing the damage done by someone else’s goal hardly constitutes half of a shared goal. It stretches the definition of “mutual benefit.” So does giving or receiving payment for unwanted damages; this too is bargaining, not cooperation.  

Real cooperation starts early, by sharing goals and plans and asking each other how we can be of mutual assistance on mutual goals. If the university really believed that it shared any stadium project goals with Berkeleyans, it would have started “cooperating” in time for Berkeleyans to nix the Memorial Oak Grove location when it was still just a stupid idea and not a full-fledged plan. Devising plans in isolation without early consultation with others about their needs is not intended to be the beginning of cooperation. At best it is the beginning of bargaining. True cooperation on land use is very difficult, especially in crowded areas.  

Berkeleyans have a remarkable appetite for self-sacrifice, which has allowed bad development to diminish our city. But until we stand up and demand that the university make it a goal to be honorable in its treatment of others and to keep Berkeley livable, Berkeley citizens and the university can never cooperate. We can only move beyond bargaining into cooperation when the university acknowledges the legitimacy of our goals, not merely its own agenda. 

No matter how much they pretend otherwise, the university and other powerful developers love the bargaining model, in which they have the upper hand because of their power. However, it is to the developers’ advantage to pretend to be in a cooperative model, because it plays on the middle-class desire to be “nice,” which is pervasive in Berkeley, even in neighborhoods under attack by people who are not nice at all.  

When involuntarily caught in a bargaining model with a powerful adversary, do not accept the myth of cooperation. When your “partner” calls you “uncooperative,” ask him to explain your shared goals and mutual benefits. If the goal was not on your own “to do” list before your “partner” showed up with his project, you can bet you’re going to be a lot better off accumulating power than being nice. Good luck. 

Sharon Hudson is a university neighbor. 

For over two years, SuperBOLD and the First Amendment Project have been working towards a more democratic public comment procedure in Berkeley. In April 2006 the First Amendment Project threatened a lawsuit if the city did not discontinue the use of a lottery for choosing speakers at public meetings. The lottery denied some persons willing to speak the right to do so. It also resulted in some agenda items not being addressed by the public. 

In reaction to the threatened lawsuit, the City Council abandoned the lottery for choosing speakers and soon thereafter stopped requiring speaker cards. So far, so good. However, the mayor has continued “experimenting” with the public comment procedure for almost a year now. In fact, the latest brochure, Guidelines for Public Comment and Council Meeting Order, Revised June 2007 states: “The City Council is currently experimenting with its public comment procedures.” 

Presently, public comment is called for on consent calendar items before the council votes to approve them. Public comment is then intended to take place before or during council discussion of each action item, but sometimes the mayor has neglected to call for it. The mayor has moved public comment on non-agenda items, which used to follow comment on consent items, to the end of the agenda. As a result, he has on many occasions failed to call for comment on non-agenda items—clearly a violation of the Brown Act. 

Whether called upon or not, it is a great disservice to those persons raising issues of concern not on the agenda to be compelled to wait several hours to speak. Berkeley lags behind surrounding East Bay cities: Richmond, El Cerrito, Oakland, Walnut Creek and Livermore. All have an open forum for non-agenda items at the beginning of their meeting. Only two limit the comment time allotted for non-agenda items, but reconvene open forum at the end of the meeting. 

In the interest of bringing an end to the mayor’s experimentation with public comment, and to avoid litigation, Councilmember Worthington placed a recommendation, endorsed by SuperBOLD, on the council’s June 19 agenda. It was postponed to June 26 and again postponed so it could appear on the July 17 agenda with Mayor Bates’ competing proposal. 

Despite Council Rules of Procedure, which call for Old Business to precede New Business, Bates placed the “Recommendations on Public Comment” last on the July 17 agenda. Shortly after 10:45 p.m., Mayor Bates declared there was not time to discuss the public comment agenda items, and that he was postponing the items from the agenda until the Sept. 11 council meeting. He then informed those who had come to comment on the public comment recommendations, that the items were now non-agenda items. Therefore, they could address them at 11 p.m.—the public comment period for non-agenda items! 

Councilmember Worthington’s recommendation, in accord with the intent of the Brown Act, allows all persons who wish to speak the right to do so. The compromise is: the mayor is allowed to reduce the amount of time allowed each speaker when there are five or more persons wishing to speak on an agenda item. Worthington places public comment on non-agenda items, early in the meeting, after comment on consent items. 

Mayor Bates’ latest recommendation allows only three speakers in support of a consent calendar item, while the remaining supporters will be asked merely to stand. If there are more than three people in opposition to a consent item the Presiding Officer will move the item to the end of the Action Calendar.  

On action items, if there are more than nine persons desiring to speak, the presiding officer may limit the public comment for “remaining” speakers to one minute per speaker. The question here is, who was “not remaining” and how much time did they get to speak? This reeks of inequity. Further, Bates’ proposal keeps public comment on non-agenda items as the very last item on the agenda.  

Support the right of every member of the public who so desires, to speak. Lobby your councilmember to support Worthington’s recommendation. If the councilmembers want shorter meetings, they can meet weekly, rather than twice per month as they are scheduled for the rest of this year. 

The City Council will hold, in council Chambers, Old City Hall, on Tuesday, Sept. 11, a 5:30 p.m. work session on amendments to Council Rules of Procedure. This will be continued at the City Council’s meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. the same day.  

Please attend these meetings and speak in favor of Councilmember Worthington’s recommendation on public comment. 

Jim Fisher, Gene Bernardi and Jane Welford serve on the steering committee for Berkeleyans Organized for Library Defense (SuperBOLD).

Maybe a bit early like so many things this year, the vine maples at the Botanic Garden in Tilden Park are putting on their quiet fireworks show.  

One of our short list of native maples, vine maple, Acer circinatum, is way too uncommon in the gardened landscape. I suspect that people haven’t had enough practice with it as a tame plant to know its best habits and favorite conditions, though they’re easy enough to see in the wild.  

They do need water and a moist atmosphere. They’re native mostly to coastal places north of the Bay Area up through British Columbia; my favorite spot to meet them, though, is along the creek in the understory at Burney Falls, up north of Mount Lassen. They get respectably big there, posing picturesquely over a trail or peering into their dancing and shapeshifting reflections in fast-moving Burney Creek; they also grow in the fashion that gave them their name, sprawling in a trappy tangle underfoot.  

Burney Falls is a most unlikely place: an oasis in the north taper of the Central Valley, a good place to repair to on a hot day. The temperature difference from the top of the trail to creek below is at least ten degrees Fahrenheit and feels like more. Hot and dry up there, cool and moist down here in the mist thrown off by the waterfall—the reverse of what one comes to expect after spending time on a mountain—and the “up there” is the normal surface of the surrounding landscape.  

A mossy Douglas-fir forest carved into the sagebrush desert isn’t the only odd feature of Burney Falls. The waterfall itself, a big roaring rainbowmaking vapor machine, is inhabited by black swifts.  

These little birds nest and rear their young in niches in the rock under the gravity curtain of the falls, flying through tons of pounding water many times every day, forcing their way by sheer speed and bluff through that seemingly impassable kinetic moat to feed their kids and maintain their nests.  

They’re being respectable and domestic as any suburban play-date organizers, but the effect as the groups roar off and return spiraling from their bug-gathering expeditions is of tiny little motorcycle gangs ripping circles overhead and yelling “Yeeee-hah!”  

In such engagingly paradoxical places grow the southeastern ambassadors of this mostly northern little tree. It’s most common along the coast here in its California province, in the rich understory of the big-tree (not to be confused with Big Tree, one of several confusing vernacular names for the Sierran Sequoiadendron giganteum) forests, the northernmost redwoods and Douglas-fir and true fir.  

We don’t have a lot of native maples in the West; offhand I can think of only four in Califirnia, and only two we see much in the wildlands here: bigleaf maple, Acer macrophyllum, and boxelder, Acer negundo, which doesn’t look much like a maple until it grows the maple-nose seed structures called samaras.  

“Nose?” Snap one in half, split the seed and the resulting protuberant appliance will stick nicely to your nose for as long as you care to look silly. I don’t understand why the mythical Green Man doesn’t wear one. Symbolic wood-ha’nts ought not to be solemn. 

When it’s not sprawling over the ground and tripping hikers, vine maple stands up nicely as a multitrunked or single-trunked tree, its habit strongly resembling Japanese maple’s. In leaf, it is nearly identical to the Japanese native moon maple or full-moon maple. More confusion: Japanese maple, common in cultivation here and with dozens of cultivars, is Acer palmatum, while moon maple is Acer japonicum.  

Vine maple has those rounded, rickrack-bordered leaves like moon maple’s; I don’t trust myself to tell the two apart at a glance.  

Vine maple might have a more general inclination towards red than moon maple has; it certainly makes vine maple stand out in its native habitat. Its leaves are reddish to bronzed-gold in fall; red-tinged new foliage in spring; with red leaf pedicels and some reddish leaf-edges always. It’s paradoxically warm-looking in a cool green-shadowed forest.  

It’s more closely related to the Asian maples than to its North American neighbors. This sort of distributional oddity occurs in a good handful of other plant species like our redwoods who have a remnant living cousin in China, the dawn redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides. Follow the family trees of the magnolias and the rhododendrons for more examples of the surprised wrought by continental drift and eons of climate change. 

There are a couple of vine maples on the UC campus, passing for Japanese maples until you take a second look. The best place to see them en masse, though, is the Tilden Botanic Garden. In fact, that’s a good place to go get a taste of what the California landscape in its original state has to offer in this dusty, desiccated, drawn-out season. 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan. 

Vine maple leaves in Tilden Park's Botanic Garden, August 22, 2007.

Did Israel know that its settlement policies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza were illegal? Yes, according to a senior legal official who warned the Labor government of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in September 1967, “that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.” 

The man who wrote those words is Theodor Meron, a Holocaust survivor and currently an appeals judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Meron told the Independent, “I believe I would have given the same opinion today.” 

Meron says Eshkol’s foreign secretary, Abba Eban, was “sympathetic” to the view that the settlements would violate the Hague and Geneva conventions. 

There are currently some 240,000 settlers on the West Bank, and another 200,000 in occupied East Jerusalem.  

According to the Independent, Meron’s memorandum is “a direct challenge to Israel’s continuing contention that the Geneva Convention’s provisions on settling people in occupied territory did not apply to the West Bank because its annexation by Jordan between 1949 and 1967 had been unilateral.” 

The article points out that not only did the United Nations think that Israel was an occupier, so did the Israeli Army. A 1967 decree from the Israeli Self-Defense Forces command said that military courts would “fulfill Geneva provisions,” and the first West Bank civilian settlement at Kfar Etzion, was designated a “military outpost.” The Geneva Conventions allow military bases in occupied territories. 

A recent survey of West Bank land found that up to 38 percent of the settlements were built on Palestinian-owned land. According to Israeli writer Gershom Gorenberg, such settlements explicitly violate the 1907 Hague Convention. The settlements were declared illegal by the International Court of Justice and a series of UN resolutions. 

According to a new map of the West Bank produced by the UN Office for Coordination and Humanitarian Affairs, the network of Israeli settlements, roads and military bases blocks 2.5 million Palestinians out of 40 percent of the West Bank. The 60 percent of the West Bank left is split up by 450 roadblocks and 70 manned checkpoints. 

The expansion of “Israeli only” roads has drawn widespread criticism—and lawsuits— from human rights organizations. “We do not use the word apartheid in court,” says Yoav Loeff, a spokesman for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), “but it is difficult to find another term for roads that can only be used by Israelis.” 

In a recent report to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, B’Tselem, a human rights organization, and ACRI, said that government polices are aimed at “the dispossession of Palestinian residents of the center of Hebron.” 

According to the two organizations, the Israeli Army has blocked Palestinian residents from walking on a-Shuhada, one of Hebron’s major streets. Under pressure from B’Tselem and ACRI, the Army admitted that the order was “in error” and unlawful, but have yet to allow Palestinian residents to use the street. 

A recent study by the World Bank found that restrictions like those in Hebron have deeply crippled the Palestinian economy. The bank found that while Israel did have “security concerns,” that many of the restrictions have the effect of “enhancing the free movement of settlers and the physical and economic expansion of the settlements at the expense of the Palestinian population.” 

The Israeli settler population is growing at a rate of 5.5 percent a year, compared with a 3 percent growth rate for Palestinians. 

One group that has taken the issue head on is Machsom (Checkpoint) Watch, which monitors the treatment of Palestinians at roadblocks. Founded in 2001, the group sends 50 to 100 women out in 24 shifts to watch over the checkpoints.  

“Most the soldiers are very angry at us,” Daphne Banai told Robert Hirschfield of In These Times. “They don’t like having ‘those bitches,’ as they call us, looking over their shoulders.” Machsom Watch has successfully lobbied for the installation of water taps and shade at some checkpoints, and according to human rights groups, made life a bit easier for the Palestinians. 

Banai says the checkpoints are a violation of human rights, and that she is less interested in improving the behavior of the Israeli troops that man them, than getting rid of them altogether. “I want them gone,” she says. 

Canada, Russia, the U.S., Denmark and Norway are laying claim to the frozen north. At stake are oil and gas reserves thought to lie under the Arctic Ocean, as well as control of the Northwest Passage, a sea route that could greatly shorten the distance between the East Coast and Asia. 

First, Moscow planted a titanium flag on the Arctic seabed to underline its contention that the Lemonosov Ridge that runs from Greenland to Siberia is part of Russia’s continental shelf. Under the Treaty of the Sea, a country can lay claim to areas beyond its 200-mile territorial waters if it can prove such a geographical formation is connected to its mainland. 

A few days later, Canada’s conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, made a quick trip north to defend “our sovereignty over the Arctic.” Harper announced plans to build a military base on bleak Baffin Island, and another on the shores of the Northwest Passage. While other countries argue that the Passage is an international waterway, Canada claims the route is part of its territorial waters. Harper also announced Ottawa would spend $3 billion to build eight icebreakers. “We either use it [the Arctic] or lose it,” he said 

Because the United States never signed the Treaty of the Seas, Washington has been silent about Canadian and Russian claims, but it did send the icebreaker Healy through the Bering Straits to map the polar sea floor.  

Then things got silly.  

Reuters showed a video of the Russians planting their titanium flag on the sea bottom. But a sharp-eyed 13-year-old Finnish boy thought the photos looked awfully familiar. Indeed they did. The “Russian” submarines were footage from the 1997 movie, “Titanic.”  

There is nothing silly, however, about the more than $200 billion in gas and oil deposits the arctic may harbor. 

When former General Vang Pao was arrested this past June for trying to overthrow the current government of Laos, the media pretty much buried Vang’s role as a drug dealer. When mentioned, it was only in passing, and just that he was “linked to drug running” (New York Times) or that he “partly” controlled the opium trade (San Francisco Chronicle). 

Take the time to sit down with Arthur W. McCoy’s The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, and watch Andrew and Leslie Cockburn’s “Drugs, Guns and the CIA,” a Frontline special.  

It wasn’t Vang who was in control, it was the CIA. The agency used the profits from the drug trade to run its “secret war” in Laos and underwrite the huge sprawling air base at Long Chen. Vang was their front man, but it was the CIA’s Air America that flew the opium from outlying areas to Long Chen. From there it went to Saigon and Thailand, where it was refined into heroin and shot up by GIs in Vietnam and people all over Europe and the United States. 

Vang Pao made millions off the drug trade, but the CIA used it to run a war. When the Pathet Lao finally sent the U.S. and its puppets packing, the CIA moved the drugs-for-guns operation to Central America where cocaine was used to fuel the Contra War against Nicaragua.  

Lest we forget. 

State Sen. Don Perata’s SB67 sideshow vehicle tow bill passed in the Senate this week with no dissenting votes, not surprisingly, and now goes to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for consideration. It will not be surprising if Mr. Schwarzenegger signs it and thus propels it back into law, but it will be sad if he does. Fluidly, easily, without so much as a whimper of complaint from the usual civil liberties lobbies, California lops off a branch of the tree of Constitutional protections—the right of a citizen to due process before the seizure of property. But since the sideshows are so unpopular and the sideshow participants voiceless and unrepresented, we hardly think it matters, and wonder why this columnist—alone amongst all other sources—continues to make a fuss about it. 

It matters. 

It matters because Mr. Perata’s SB67 sideshow vehicle tow law—born in an Oakland experiment but available for application anywhere in the state—establishes and cements a precedent that allows police departments and cities throughout California to target “undesirable” elements in their jurisdiction, providing the ability to enact punishments without the bothersome necessity of having to first go before a court of law to determine that some law has been broken. 

That should bother us because history has taught that once granted such extra-constitutional abilities to be enacted against one set of “undesirables,” governments get greedy and seek the power to enact them against others, and soon enough what we thought was a solid and flowering tree of constitutional protection has been hacked and sawed round and round, beyond recognition. 

Already, ominously, it has begun to happen with SB67, even before the governor’s anticipated signature turns it into enforceable law. 

Some brief background. 

SB67 is the reinstatement of a bill originally passed in the sideshow hysteria of 2002, a bill that expired in January of this year after Oakland city and police officials failed to come back to the state legislature to provide information on how the original bill had been enforced, or why the bill was still needed. The original 2002 bill, the “U’Kendra Johnson Memorial Act,” the marriage of Oakland Police Department parsing and a local politician’s—Mr. Perata’s—desire to make a political gain out of a terrible tragedy. But to understand that you have to read carefully and patiently, all the way down to the end of the news accounts. 

At the bottom of last week’s MediaNews story (“Bill Meant To Put Dent In 'Sideshows'”) about the passage of SB67 in the assembly, MediaNews Sacramento Bureau reporter Steve Geissinger writes: “The reinstated law would again be named the U'Kendra K. Johnson Memorial Act, after a 22-year-old Oakland woman who was killed in 2002. A suspected sideshow participant being pursued by police crashed into the car Johnson was riding in.” 

“Pursued” is the operative word here. 

It is against Oakland Police Department policy to “chase” an individual accused of a non-felony crime, as was the case in the U’Kendra Johnson death, when Oakland police officers went after the car which they had observed “doing donuts” in the middle of Foothill Boulevard near Seminary. So to keep from admitting that they broke OPD policy and “chased” a driver for a minor traffic violation, the police officers involved and OPD officials have consistently said that police did not “chase” the driver, but only “pursued” him. The difference in wording meant little to U’Kendra Johnson, who died instantly when the “pursued” or “chased” car ran a stopsign on Seminary Avenue and plowed into the side of the car Johnson was riding in. But the difference in wording meant Oakland police were able to get away with not breaking an OPD policy that directly led to the death of an innocent Oakland citizen. That police can be so shady when asked to give their “word” should be a sobering enough thought as California citizens now contemplate the passage (or re-passage) of a bill that allows the confiscation of major pieces of property solely upon a police officer’s “word.” 

In Oakland, the original “U’Kendra Johnson Memorial Act” was designed to go after participants in Oakland’s sideshows, but since “sideshows” is not a term that is defined in state law, this has become a moving target aimed in many creative ways by Oakland police. 

The original state law somewhat loosely defined the offenses under which a vehicle could be towed and impounded for 30 days—the offenses being generally “reckless driving”—but that was not loose enough for some Oakland police officers. Instead, some of them enforced the state car confiscation law by using the definitions of sideshows contained in former Mayor Jerry Brown’s old arrest-the-sideshow-spectators Oakland city ordinance. Mr. Brown’s ordinance said that police could use several observations—cars spinning donuts, a large number of spectators, drivers playing their music loud, for example—to determine that a sideshow was going on. These occurrences were intended to be used in combination. Instead, some Oakland police took single occurrences—rather than the intended combinations of occurrences—out of the Oakland ordinance and then applied them to the state law. Thus you had the most infamous instances where Oakland police used the “U’Kendra Johnson Memorial Act” anti-sideshow law—written for violations of the state reckless driving statute—to tow and confiscate the car of a 35 year old basketball coach because the coach was driving through East Oakland taking team members home while allegedly playing his music too loud, something which the participating police officers said constituted participation in a sideshow. 

How has the original bill actually been enforced? Some media outlets, at least, think there is enough data available to make a determination. 

A Sept. 1 online California Chronicle article describing the passage of SB67 in the Assembly (“Perata Bill Cracking Down On Sideshows Clears Assembly Floor”) reads, in part, “The bill, SB 67, would reenact the provisions of SB 1489, also by Perata, that was signed into law in 2002 and contained a sunset date of January 1, 2007. The city of Oakland requested extending the law after collecting data showing that it was effective in keeping the streets of Oakland safe.”  

Really? The Oakland Police Department has never publicly released a report in Oakland, to my knowledge, showing data collected involving the enforcement of the original sideshow car confiscation bill, or what specific effect such enforcement had on sideshows in Oakland. Officials in the Oakland Police Department’s Records Division, in fact, have told me that they are unable to isolate such data between 2002 and 2004, the period when enforcement of the law was at its highest. So where is this data “collected” that is referred to in the California Chronicle article, and who was it “showed” to? I’ve asked repeatedly, and I haven’t seen it. 

Meanwhile, while Oakland police fail to provide information on how the original law was enforced in the past, we are getting a foretaste on possible expansion of the newly-enacted law’s targets in the future. 

In the same MediaNews article cited above, we learn that “(Governor) Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on SB67, but supporters expect him to sign it. … The governor also has been sympathetic toward Oakland's efforts to quell gang violence, which can spring from sideshows.” 

The “gang violence … can spring from sideshows” is the phrase that should stick out, here, if you’re astute and have been paying attention. 

Gang violence is one of the new buzz words in California political and law enforcement circles, a serious and rising problem into the curbing of which a lot of state attention and money is being poured. It is a particular problem in Oakland, the source of many of the murders which have taken place in the city over the past couple of years. 

But what is the connection between gang violence and sideshows? Do groups from different gangs make a habit of meeting at sideshows to fight? How much of the violence that takes place at sideshows can be attributed to gang rivalry? For that matter, how much violence takes place at sideshows? We have only anecdotal information, nothing more, because no official report written by any agency of the City of Oakland appears to exist that provides any documented evidence. And so we have a “solution” in hand, before we have determined or defined the problem. A bad way to run a government, as experience has taught us. 

We have already seen instances where vehicles were towed and confiscated in Oakland—incorrectly applying the state sideshow law—for someone simply playing their music too loud. With the turn towards curbing gang violence, will we soon see vehicles towed and confiscated on the word of police that the vehicle was displaying something which the police interpreted to be a gang “color?” And, if so, will this actually do anything to actually stop gang violence, or will it be a convenience merely to be used by (some) police and (some) politicians to “show” that “something is being done about the problem, your civil servants are serving you, and your tax dollars are at work.” 

There was a simple fix that would have remedied all of this, at least with regard to the new introduced “U’Kendra Johnson Memorial Act,” Mr. Perata’s SB67. Instead of allowing the 30-day car confiscation to take place immediately, upon the police officer’s word that a violation had occurred, with the towing and storage fees to be reimbursed if the charges were not proven in court, the act could have been amended so that the towing and confiscation could not take place until a conviction in court on the underlying offense. That would have preserved our Constitutional protections—which we say are supposed to be important—at the same time keeping intact all of the punishments in SB67 which supporters say are important. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get anybody interested in making this change to the bill. 

I worry about the loss of constitutional protections which are at the heart of Mr. Perata’s bill. I worry that it happened so easily, in the State of California, with almost no dissent. I worry about what will come next. 

I worry that the rest of us don’t seem to be worried. 

A hundred years ago, a sizable population of refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire made the East Bay its permanent home. Among the new arrivals were many Italian families, a good number of whom settled in West Berkeley. 

One shrewd capitalist immediately recognized in this new demographic trend a business opportunity that was too good to pass up. His name was Simone Marengo, and he was an old-timer, having been a West Berkeley homeowner since 1891 or ’92. 

A debonair figure, his stocky 5’2” frame invariably clad in a custom-made three-piece suit and a homburg hat on his head, Marengo (1867–1941) was a man of substance and authority, later to become known as West Berkeley’s unofficial mayor. 

He learned capitalism the hard way. Born in the Cuneo province of Piemonte in northern Italy, Simone completed only the third grade of elementary school before his father apprenticed him to a baker, where he slaved carrying immense sacks of flour. His conscription to the army was a welcome release from years of back-breaking labor, but halfway through his mandatory year of service, Simone’s father died. Aged 20, the young man had to provide for his mother, three sisters, and younger brother. America beckoned, and the family sailed to New York. 

Arriving in San Francisco in 1888, Simone began as a window washer. Before long, he had figured out that the road to affluence could be considerably shortened if he let others do the work. As a window-cleaning contractor, he prospered. By 1892—a mere four years after his arrival in the Bay Area—Simone was listed on the Alameda County assessor’s rolls as the owner of a house at 2216 Sixth St. in West Berkeley. 

The Marengo house was a spacious two-story Victorian with a well and a windmill in the rear. In this house, Simone and Natalina Marengo reared six children, five of whom survived to adulthood. In 1906 their extended San Francisco family found refuge in and around this house, as the Army erected a tent village on the adjacent open land. 

That year, Simone’s holdings in the assessor’s rolls still consisted of the one lot on which his house stood. By 1907, however, he was the owner of three houses on the 2200 block of Sixth St. and a lot at 2215 Fifth. 

One can only conclude that Marengo saw the growth potential of Berkeley and capitalized on it without delay. His San Francisco business having burned out, he devised a new stream of income in his own neighborhood. The two other houses on Sixth St. were rented to newcomers. For the empty lot on Fifth Street, he had a grander idea: the new population had to eat—why not manufacture pasta? 

On April 20, 1907, the Oakland Tribune printed a photo of the just-opened West Berkeley Macaroni Factory, a two-story building with a false front, shiplap siding, and rows of windows on front and sides. The accompanying story revealed that the factory’s construction had begun the previous November and that it covered an area of 46 ft. x 60 ft. and was equipped with the latest “improved” machinery. “The firm,” announced the Tribune, “has been doing business in Oakland and Berkeley for 19 years. S. Morengo [sic], the manager, is a baker by trade and sells to retail and wholesale companies 5,000 pounds daily. The establishment manufactures all kinds of paste and employs fifteen skilled workmen.” 

Whether the firm existed at all prior to the 1907 opening of the factory remains to be discovered. In his prior 15 or 16 years as a Berkeley resident, Simone never manufactured pasta. He was variously listed as a laborer, window cleaner, or house cleaner. In 1896, he operated a general merchandise store on the corner of 7th St. and Bristol (now Hearst Avenue). His chief associate and successor in the macaroni factory was Peter “Papa Pete” Costamagna, a San Francisco storekeeper a few years older than Marengo who had arrived in the U.S. in the mid-1880s. The skilled workers were new immigrants from Italy. Most likely, the firm’s résumé was a yarn that Marengo fed the newspaper for effect and credibility. 

According to his son Carlo, who still lives in West Berkeley, Simone Marengo was an articulate man with almost no trace of Italian accent. He was a natural promoter, even visiting local schools to tout the nutritional benefits of pasta. Costamagna, who settled at 728 Allston Way, was listed in the 1907 directory as “helper” and the following year as “driver, S. Marengo.” In 1921, Marengo and Costamagna would become in-laws as the former’s son married the latter’s step-daughter. 

Like many entrepreneurs, Marengo was more interested in creating the business than in running it. In 1908, Costamagna took over as manager, and a year later, he brought in Giuseppe Bertolè, a pasta maker recently arrived from Italy, who lived at Costamagna’s house. The business became known as Costamagna & Bertolè, and Marengo’s role was reduced to that of landlord. 

The firm’s stationery listed the types of pasta manufactured: “maccaroni [sic], spaghetti, vermicelli, tagliarini, mustaciolli [sic], ditalini, riginette, lasagnette, lasagne, stars, barley and all kinds of fine paste.” 

In 1914, Giovanni Coppa came in as co-owner, and the firm incorporated as West Berkeley Macaroni Company. Eventually “Papa Pete” retired, and the company continued under the ownership of Bertolè and Coppa. 

Meanwhile, Marengo wasn’t sitting idle. Through his eldest sister and her husband, he discovered investment opportunities in Redding, CA and began doing business there in 1906. Among his acquisitions were buildings, lots, and ranch land. 

The most notorious of his Redding properties was the Palm Hotel at 510 Division St.—a two-story structure with a saloon on the ground floor and rooms arranged in a row along a balcony above. This establishment catered to the miners who would come into town after long stints in the nearby gold and copper mines. Behind the hotel lived a troupe of prostitutes—in 1910 there were 10, three of whom were French and none Italian—who were available to the hotel’s clients, apparently as independent operators. Marengo derived his income—often in gold dust—by supplying accommodations, food, and oceans of beer. 

On the hotel’s permanent staff was Mrs. Marengo’s brother, Thomas Olivieri. The Marengos’ two eldest sons, Victor and George, served stints as barkeepers. Around 1918, the hotel burned down, with suspicion of arson falling on a disgruntled prostitute who had been evicted by Simone. Carlo Marengo says that his father replaced the hotel with a brick building, which he leased to the local Buick agency. 

Back in Berkeley, the Bertolè & Coppa pasta factory came to an end in the mid-1920s. Coppa retired, and Bertolè, who continued making pasta, moved to Oakland. For a while, the building was occupied by a company calling itself Radio Food Products, but the health department closed the operation because the boiler tanks had rusted. In the late 1920s, the building was used by a chemical works. Having been expanded in the rear years ago, the structure was now clad in wood shingles. 

During the Depression, the former macaroni factory stood empty, and many of its windows were broken. Simone Marengo finally leased it to the Nursery Cans and Containers Co., which obtained defective food cans from nearby canneries—like the Heinz factory on San Pablo Avenue—and recycled them for potting plants. 

Even during the hard times, Marengo knew how to cope. He allowed his tenants to remain in their houses even if they could pay no rent, figuring it would be better for the houses to be occupied. In his back yard, he grew vegetables and chickens for the family table. He made his own wine in the cellar, annually buying a ton and a half of grapes for the purpose. After repeatedly crushing the grapes for every last drop, the leftovers were fed to the chickens. 

Always a bon vivant, Marengo frequently entertained family and friends at gatherings where wine and song abounded. His closest friend was John A. Carbone, the “Orchid King,” whose large flower nursery was located on Fifth Street, directly behind the Marengo house. 

Following Simone’s death, his heirs disposed of his various properties. The former macaroni factory was sold in 1948 to the Berkeley Pump Co., which removed the windows on the side walls and stuccoed the exterior. 

Of the various Marengo properties on the block, the macaroni factory is the only survivor. In 1991, the building was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark, Structure of Merit. It was restored in 1994 and serves as the office of an environmental consulting firm. 

Daniella Thompson publishes berkeleyheritage.com for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

Photograph by Daniella Thompson  

The Berkeley Macaroni Factory at 2215 Fifth St.

Watering plants in containers is both easier and harder than it seems. Everyone has a vice about this, generally a tendency to either overwater or underwater. (If your tendency either way is impossible to reform, you might consider underwater plants. Go on over to Albany Aquarium on San Pablo Avenue just north of Solano and have a look at some nicely planted tanks first.) 

Overwatering does not mean adding too much water at one time; it means watering too frequently. If your planting mix and pot together have decent drainage, any excess water will run through and the plant’s roots will get access to the air they need in due time.  

If you water too often, though, roots will stay soggy and ultimately rot and/or drown. Fungi are pretty much ubiquitous and will show up in even “sterile” (usually just pasteurized, which is quite good enough) potting mixes because their little bitty spores are part of house and general urban dust.  

In fact, if you want to give yourself the heebie-jeebies, do a bit of research about what’s floating around us all the time. You’ll never trim your nose hairs again. Ever think about where the rubber is going as tires are wearing out? Uh-huh, you’re soaking in it. And spores of all sorts, mineral particulates, industrial outfall, pollen, little bits of dead bugs et alii, dander, shed skin cells, the excretions of dust mites which live on those shed skin cells… Dust mite allergies are partly allergies to the dung of those dust mites. You’re inhaling bug poo! No wonder you’re sneezing! 

But I digress. (And I’m allergic.) Some fungi are a necessary part of life for many plants. The magic phrase is “mycorrhizal association.” Most container plants, though, aren’t mycorrhizal associates. If you have a plant of local origin in a pot and it needs a boost, you might try a tablespoon or two of the earth from which it sprang, what the heck. 

A plant that’s succumbing to the ills of overwatering will look rather as if it needs more water: leaves drooping, bits yellowing or browning off. If it actually falls over, give it a respectful burial in the compost because chances are it’s rotted right through at the root crown.  

Stick your finger in the plant’s soil mix, if you want to know anything about its water. If it’s damp and the plant’s drooping, worry. I don’t mean the surface; get down to a knuckle or two below the top. If it stinks, also big trouble: stagnant water. Unpot the plant, gently shake off some of the wet soil, and repot with some new dry soil. Then vow to change your ways. 

Even succulents need water in pots, but they’re most susceptible to overwatering. Again, stick that finger in. If your plant has spines or points or vegetable fangs, keep a scrap of cardstock handy to shield yourself. If that doesn’t work, consider investing a few bucks in a soil water indicator; you can probe painlessly and watch the meter.  

Resource: Plant sales at Merritt College on Saturdays: Sept. 15, Oct. 13, Nov. 17, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. See www.merrittlandhort.com for updated plant lists.  

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Daily Planet’s East Bay Home & Real Estate section. Her column on East Bay trees appears every other Tuesday in the Daily Planet.

Everybody has a little internal list of least favorite ways to die. Some of these are rational, but mostly they’re derived from some fantasy, childhood experience or errant datum we’ve chanced upon. Perhaps we were children and heard an awful story. Maybe we encountered saw someone killed in a movie—lots of those, aren’t there?! Perhaps it was simply a story related by a friend. Regardless of the source we all have these.  

I think these fears extend into injuries as well and not just to the finality of death. I know that, for myself, certain kinds of sickness are nearly unbearable while others, and these may be the dread of another, are sort of no big deal. For example (am I grossing you out yet?) I have little fear of bleeding, having cut myself about a thousand times and sometimes rather severely. It might be a carpenter thing. Those of us who have built houses and handled tools are fairly accustomed to sucking our own blood while we wait for a promised coagulation. 

While I do not fear a death by blood loss nearly so much as numerous other fates, I am much aware that it is a common way to leave the humanosphere. In the late 1970’s deaths caused by glass lacerations were so common that the Consumer Product Safety Commission created a series of heavy guidelines that continue and grow today.  

What was happening was mostly one of two things. People were either walking through glass patio doors (OW!!) or striking and breaking shower doors or enclosures (OW again!). Blood loss can kill you in minutes if the damage is sufficient. The carotid (neck) or femoral (leg) arteries, when sliced, can bleed out in five minutes. Basically this means that you simply do not have the time to get adequate medical help. Again, sorry. This is so awful to discuss but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s important; mostly because there are real answers and valuable actions that CAN be taken. 

The glass industry, much aware of these issues (who gets sued, after all?) began in the early 1960s to produce shower and patio doors of a relatively new material called tempered glass. The easiest way to think of tempering is to visualize a vandalized car. Those funny little squarish pebbles of glass that litter the ground are the remains of tempered glass. Tempered glass, invented by the Austrian chemist, Rudolph Seiden (b.1900), is made by heating one side of a sheet of heat-strengthened glass to a higher temperature than the other and then cooling it very rapidly. This creates a tension between the two faces of glass that forces it to crack perpendicular to the plane of the glass, rather than in sharp shards that can cut through my sensitive and incredibly important body. Breaking perpendicular to the surface of the glass creates little squarish pebbles and, while these may cause abrasion, will spare us the nastier experience when we strike and break a sheet of glass. Danke schön, Herr Seiden! 

Let’s talk about patio sliding glass doors just a bit. I feel as though the greatest danger with these is where there is a distant objective that acts as an incentive to speed. Let’s say you have a swimming pool surrounded by happy people and clam dip twenty feet from the door and a good twelve or fourteen feet of room to cross toward the door leading to the pool. Now, let’s say that the door is clean and there’s nothing to alert one to the presence of the glass. You might, as many before you have done, assume that door is open. You see, it looks almost the same open or closed if the glass is clean. You might then be walking at 5 mph by the time you hit the glass. Some just walk right through and this, of course, it usually tragic. 

If you have a non-tempered sliding glass door please consider replacing it with a new one. These days you can’t buy anything BUT tempered glass doors unless you buy something used. If you’re really strapped for funds, there are two alternatives. The first is to put a safety film on the glass. These films are commonly available and help limit the nature of the breakage. The film is essentially a sheet of strong sticky plastic that holds the shards of glass together and prevents deep laceration. A very cheap alternative is to put stickers on the glass door so as to alert the potential victim to the fact that the door is present. This is a better but bad choice (all you parent know about these choices, right?). The point is that any action is better than none but given the concern level, replacement is the wise choice. 

So how do you know if you have a non-tempered glass door? Tempered glass nearly always bears a tempering mark or “bug” in one corner of the glass, usually at the bottom. The mark is sort of a glass tattoo, heat fused onto the glass and somewhat translucent. You may have to wash the door to find the mark. Well, HAVE you washed the sliding glass door in the last five years? If the door has no discernable mark, it is extremely likely that this door is low strength glass and dangerous. By the way, these same marks are used on all forms of tempered glass and you’ll recognize them as being similar to the ones seen on your car windows. 

Aside from breaking in such a mannerly and genteel fashion, tempered glass is also less likely to break at all, being roughly 4-6 times the strength of common glass. Laminated glass is another form of safety glass but less desirable than tempered due to the fact that it will still crack sharply and grab little flaps of skin (sorry) as one bounces off the plastic-reinforced sheet. Wired safety glass is a much older form and again, while safer than common float glass, can still do tremendous harm when compared with our beloved tempered glass. 

Shower doors are another major concern and have been the subject of the building codes for about 30 years. While no one is making anyone remove older ones, it has been impossible to buy a new untempered shower door or enclosure since the 1970s. Again, tempered ones have been available since the early 60’s but enforcement has taken time to catch up with manufacturer wisdom. What all this means is that you may still have a shower enclosure that can kill or injure someone who does nothing more malicious than swing around, elbows out, and smack the door.  

Today, none of the glass in a bathing area below 5’ and none of the glass in either an enclosure or a shower door may be non-safety type. This includes windows in the shower or bathing area as well as mirrors. Some special exceptions are made for art glass. 

The more we learn about the danger of glass in our houses, the more extensive the list of uses or places where we want to use safety glass grows. Here are a few of the other places we want to be looking out for: 

Windows that nearly reach the ground are vulnerable to kicking, rolling objects and children at play. Most codes today demand that where glass is within 18” of the ground, it should be tempered.  

Where glass is in any kind of door, including those multi-lite “French” doors, it should also be tempered. Again, unless you buy an old used door, you just can’t find a non-tempered “French” door. Nobody makes ‘em. 

Glass that is within about two feet of a door (sidelites) should be tempered due to the shock of a slammed door. Many a marital dispute has ended with the crash of such a window (followed by that most absurd of proclamations, “See what you made me do?”). 

Mirrored sliding closet doors (how I hate having to see myself that much) are not required to be tempered in most communities but must be adhered to a backing that prevents those nasty pieces from coming free. Nonetheless, you can buy these in tempered glass and this gets my vote. 

These are the traditional areas that we in the home inspection business have been looking at for decades- but wait, there’s more! Now the building codes are asking us to look at all glass in the walking path. If you can walk within three feet of any large glass pane (>9 s.f.) that is close to floor level (>18”) and at least three feet high, the new codes are asking that this be make of tempered safety glass. My guess is that we’re just a few years away from ALL of our windows being made of safety glass. It may seem like a pain but in the long run, we’ll look back in disbelief that we ever lived so blithely with such treachery. 

The code is also speaking to glass used in railings as well and thank Buddha! What crazier place than a stair railing might you use glass? Actually, I think glass is very cool and love it in all these odd places but I feel a lot better about that platform-heeled mom in short-shorts and a tee as she walks down the glassed-in stairway knowing that when the worst case occurs and she losses her footing, that the paramedics will spend most of their time complimenting her voluntary piercings and no time treating the involuntary ones. 

TUESDAY, SEPT. 11 

THEATER 

Lynn Manning “Weights” A one-man show of narrative and poetry on Mnning’s experiences as a blind man, at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Sponsored by UCB’s Disability Studies Program and Institute for Regional Development. Tickets are $15-$25. 925-798-1300.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash An Open Reading for Peace at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College auditorium, 2050 Center St. 525-5476. 

Celine Parrenas Shimizu author of “Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian/American Women on Screen and Scene” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. www.universitypressbooks.com 

Daniel Cassidy describes “How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Singers’ Open Mic with Kelly Park at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Bethany & Rufus at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. w 

Carioca, Brazilian guitariat, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12 

EXHIBITIONS 

New Works by Carol Dalton and Emily Payne opens at the Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., upstairs. 549-1018. 

“Wall Writings” A photographic investigation of abandonned buildings by Michelle Nye. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at The Light Room Gallery, 2263 Fifth St. 649-8111. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jazz Masters Concert with Danny Caron, blues guitarist, at noon at 12th and Broadway, Oakland.  

Wednesday Noon Concert, with Kevin Yu, cello and Chen Chen, piano, at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864.  

Ravi Abcarian Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Obeyjah and Buxter Hooten, benefit for Berkeley Television, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Pellejo Seco at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Brass Liberation Orchestra, Lloyd Family Players, Gamelon X, March Fourth Marching Band at 8 p.m. at Lobot Gallery, 1800 Campbell St., Oakland. All ages. Cost is $8-$15.  

Kids and Hearts at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

John Lester, Michael Manring at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Chuchito Valdez at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 13 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Old Time Music Convention Panel discussion with Donna Ray Norton, Rich Hartness, Lee Stripling at 11:30 a.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. www.BerkeleyOldTimeMusic.org 

“The Port Chicago Mutiny” by Robert L. Allen Presentation, film clip and Q & A with author at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books 2425 Channing Way at Telegraph, under the Sather Gate Parking Garage. 848-1196. 

Peter Thomson describes “Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Old Time Music Convention with Donna Ray Norton, Rich Hartness & Frineds, Todalo Shakers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761.  

Linda Zuliaca & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Chris Jones at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Hiroshima at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $18-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

FRIDAY, SEPT. 14 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “Urinetown, The Musical” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda, through Oct. 6. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Aurora Theatre “Hysteria” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through Sept. 30. Tickets are $40-$42. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Black Repertory Group “Secret War” Fri. at 8 p.m., Gala on Sat. at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $25-$45. 652-2120. www.BlackRepertoryGroup.com 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “Rumors” by Neil Simon, Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., selected Sundays at 2 p.m. at 951 Pomona Ave. at Moeser, El Cerrito, through Oct. 14. Tickets are $11-$18. 655-8974. www.cct.org 

Impact Theatre “Sleepy” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Oct. 13. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. 

Masquers Playhouse “The Shadow Box” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., selected Sun. matinees, at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Runs through Sept. 29. This show is not recommended for children. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

Ragged Wing Ensemble “Alice in Wonderland” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Envision Academy, 1515 Webster St., Oakland, through Oct. 13. Tickets are $15-$30. 800-838-3006. www.raggedwing.org 

Woodminster Summer Musicals “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat” Fri.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland, through Sept. 16. Tickets are$23-$36. 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

New Works by Carol Dalton and Emily Payne Opening reception at 6 p.m. at the Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., upstairs. 549-1018. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

John Curl and Marianne Robinson read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave., at Hearst. 841-6374. 

Richard Schwartz describes “Eccentrics, Heroes, and Cutthroats of Old Berkeley” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Kevin Merida and Michael A. Fletcher read from “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas” at 7 p.m. at Beebe Memorial Cathedral, 3900 Telegraph Ave., Oakland.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Rafael Manriquez at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$15.. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Mo’ Rockin Sextet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Ras Igel, Razorblade, Carl McDonald, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Berkeley Old Time Music Convention with Tom Sauber, Brad Leftwich & Alice Gerrard, Lee Stripling Trio, Heidi Clare at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Nomadics at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Polkacide, Fuxedos, Japonize Elephonts at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Dr. Know, Circle One at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Rainmaker at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Hiroshima at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $18-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 15 

CHILDREN  

“Mexica: An Aztec Tale” Sat. and Sun. at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave. 452-2259 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Inside Out” New works by painter Cheryl Finfrock and sculptor Michael Pargett. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Float Gallery, 1091 Calcot Place, Unit #116, Oakland. www.thefloatcenter.com 

Positively Ageless A Celebration of Art & Aging at 6 p.m. at 4th Street Studio, 1717 Fourth St. Cost is $25. Benefits Adult Day Services Network of Alameda County. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Nelson Peery discusses “Black Radical: The Education of An American Revolutionary” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

“Addicted to Hope” with comic Mark Lundholm at the California’s Writer’s Club, at 10 a.m. at Barnes and Noble Event Loft, Jack London Square. 272-0120. www.berkeleywritersclub.org 

East Bay Lesbian Poets read at 7 p.m. at Frank Bette Center for the Arts, 1601 Paru at Lincoln, Alameda. Open mic follows. 523-6957. www.frankbettecenter.org  

Robin Romm reads from her short story collection “The Mother Garden” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

String Band Contest and performance by Gallus Brothers at 11 a.m. at Berkeley Farmers’ Market. MLK and Center St.  

Berkeley Old Time Music Convention with The Tallboys, Dram County and Knuckle Knockers at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15, children ages 5-18, $5.. 525-5054.  

Interreligious Art & Music Festival from 1 to 5 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley, Ave. Free and open to the public. http://drbu. 

org/research/iwr/festival/ 

Araucaria, traditional Chilean music and dance, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568.  

Robin Gregory & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Five Eyed Hand at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Don Villa & Ethan Bixby, guitar, at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Jack Williams & Ronny Cox at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Royal Hawaiian Serenaders at 9 p.m. at Temple Bar Tiki Bar & Grill, 984 University Ave. 548-9888. 

Serenity Fisher, Zach Fisher at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Triple Ave. at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

The Unreal Band, Pat Nevins and Stu Allen of Workingman’s Ed at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Charles Wheal & the Excellorators at 9 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810.  

Ghoul, Funerot, Oskorei at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 16 

EXHIBITIONS 

“The Face of Place” mixed media by Janet Brugos, opening reception from 2 to 5 p.m. at L’Amyx Tea Bar, 4179 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. www.lamyx.com 

FILM 

Tomu Uchida: Japanese Genere Master “Policeman” at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Conversations on Art “Music, Liturgy and Cultural Fusions: The Making of Revisions Shahrokh Yadegari Through Music” at 2 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $10-$12. 549-6950.  

Rhoda Curtis introduces “Rhoda: Her First Ninety Years, a Memoir” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Lauren Bank Deen demonstrates crafts and recipes from “Kitchen Playdates” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sundays @ Four Chamber Music with Axel Strauss, violin and Miles Graber, piano at 4 p.m. at Crowden Music Center. Tickets are $12, free for children. concerts@crowden.org 

Americana Unplugged with Berkeley Old Time Cabaret at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

The Snake Trio at Jazz at the Chimes at 2 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $10. 228-3218. 

Cabaret in the Castle with Mark Gilbert & Friends, in a fundraiser for Berkeley City Club at 4:30 p.m. at The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $45-$55. 883-9710. 

Araucaria, traditional Chilean music and dance, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Vasen, Swedish folk revivalists, at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Quejerema & Quarto Latino Americano de Saxafones at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

MONDAY, SEPT. 17 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ernest Bloch Lecture Series with Martha Feldman on “Of Strange Births and Comic Kin” 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Tea Party Magazine reading with poet Craig Santos Perez at 7 p.m. at La Peña. Suggested donation $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

David Leavitt introduces “The Indian Clerk” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Poetry Express with Jan Steckel and Stephen Kopel at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Classical at the Freight with the Stern/Simon Duo at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ed Neff and Friends, bluegrass, at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100. www.lebateauivre.net 

Lavay Smith & The Red Hot Skillet Lickers at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Well, I was walking up 

Euclid Avenue 

this morning 

hand in hand 

with Galileo 

toward the Rose Garden 

and my old house on Oak Street path ... 

—Robin Blaser 

Poet Robin Blaser, cofounder (with Robert Duncan and Jack Spicer) of the Berkeley Poetry Renaissance in the 1940s—predecessor to the famed San Francisco Renaissance of a decade later—will give a benefit reading for the Poetry Center at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16, Knuth Hall Theater in the Creative Arts Building at San Francisco State University.  

Blaser will be honored by Small Press Traffic with a lifetime achievement award. The reading is also a celebration of his books The Holy Forest and The Fire, collected poems and essays, respectively, published last year by UC Press. Admission is $20, $10 students. Information: (415) 338-2227 or www.sfu.edu/poetry. 

Blaser, who wrote the poem that opens with the lines above during a visit to Berkeley in 1995, was born in Denver in 1925, and grew up in Blaser, Idaho. He came to Berkeley as a UC student in 1944, staying in the Hotel Durant, then on Channing Way and later at 2520 Ridge Road.  

The next year, Jack Spicer, newly arrived from Los Angeles, was brought to Blaser’s apartment as a potential roommate by Spicer’s musician friend Gene Wahl. “He arrived at the door in trench-coat, Hollywood dark glasses, sandals and carrying an umbrella ... his feet were stained purple with treatment for athlete’s foot ... He had a mustache, which disappeared a year later. He stood startingly and threateningly at the door, and I slammed it shut. Only to open it again when I heard his laughter,” Blaser wrote in The Collected Books of Jack Spicer, which he edited a decade after Spicer died in 1965. 

The next year, Spicer met Robert Duncan, an Oakland native, on the F train coming back from a Wednesday night anarchist meeting in San Francisco, partly presided over by poet Kenneth Rexroth.  

“Duncan was the really established one,” Blaser said from the steps of his Vancouver home in a phone interview. “I think Duncan was the one who thought of it as a kind of renaissance. He thought himself as the leader of all this, which annoyed Jack. But it was our renaissance. We were readers, and, joined into that import, had the sense of a movement of some kind.” 

The scene around the university and in San Francisco included many students on the G.I. Bill, as well as former conscientious objectors who’d had art and poetry presses in the conscientious objectors camp at Waldport, Ore. The university was the center and it was two teachers in particular who made a difference to the young poets. 

Ernst Kantorowicz, author of The King’s Two Bodies, who had been involved with poet Stefan George’s circle in Germany before the Nazi ascension made him a refugee, taught courses in medieval history. “It was taking Kantorowicz’s courses where we really came together,” said Blaser. “It gave us a context, an ability to think historically, to know how large the world is ... fundamental in working against that American thing that works ahistorically and pretends that there isn’t really anything but a kind of progression ... We took everything of his we could get. It even drew Duncan in.” 

In 1950, Kantorowicz helped lead a group opposing a loyalty oath at the University of California. When the cause failed, he went to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. “’I’d take you with me—but you’re poets!’ he told us when he left,” Blaser recalled, “and all of us dying to go with him!” 

The other teacher was a poet herself, the only woman in the English Department, “Josephine Miles, not to be forgotten ... not interested in the Middle Ages, but more interested in whether you use your own language,” said Blaser. “And Jo Miles agreed with our renaissance movement, which was kind of surprising, as she usually tried to calm things down!” 

Off-campus readings and meetings were often held at the home of Janie and Hugh O’Neill, 2029 Hearst, where Robert Duncan lived.  

Hugh O’Neill was a correspondent with poet Ezra Pound, incarcerated at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, D.C.—something Jack Spicer remembered in the opening to one of his “Love Poems” in his book, Language (1964): “ ‘To come to the moment of never come back to the moment of hope. Too many buses that are late.’ Hugh O’Neill in our ‘Canto for Ezra Pound.’ The ground still squirming. The ground not fixed as I thought it would be in an adult world ...” 

Robert Duncan talked about modern poetry there, and a group met to study Finnegan’s Wake. Blaser commented that it was where his own attachment to Mallarme’s poetry began, and—with readings by Puerto Rican Rosario Jimenez—Spicer’s love of Garcia Lorca’s poems. 

In The Collected Books of Jack Spicer, author James Herndon reminisces about playing pinball at the White Horse, “the violent and very obscene Cal rooting section at games” (which Spicer loved) and their show on KPFA, “the Most Educational Folk-Song Program West of the Pecos,” as Spicer would introduce it. 

The scene gradually scattered. Blaser went to work at the Widener Library, Harvard. Spicer taught in Minnesota after refusing to sign the loyalty oath, later living briefly in New York, then working at a job Blaser arranged for him at the Boston Public Library. 

“There was a strong separation between West and East in those days,” Blaser said. “We didn’t know much about the East. Jack couldn’t find a spot, couldn’t find a community there. Not a square foot. It was the unhappiest I ever saw him. He wouldn’t even dress for it. One day I was walking behind him and saw the snow going down his collar, running down his neck ... It was provincialism, but also a way of protecting the ground where one stood, a defense against not being recognized ... he just didn’t like the style of it.” 

By the late ‘50s both Blaser and Spicer were back in San Francisco, integral to the more famous poetry scene there—also known as “The Renaissance” for a while—their poems included in Evergreen Review’s San Francisco issue and in The New American Poetry, both edited by their old friend, Donald Allen. Also ironic was the location of the renowned 6 Gallery reading, where Allen Ginsberg premiered “Howl.” The “6” referred to Jack Spicer and five of his students from the San Francisco Art Institute, who took over an experimental art gallery on Fillmore near Union, which Robert Duncan had helped start. If Blaser and Spicer hadn’t been back East, they might well have been on the roster of readers that fabled night. 

“Poetry in San Francisco was built by Jack and Duncan—they wouldn’t have somebody else building it. A lovely thing about San Francisco, that sense of being specially elected,” said Blaser. 

Spicer died in 1965. Relations between Duncan and Spicer had been strained; Duncan would also harshly criticize Blaser’s translation of Gerard de Nerval’s “Les Chimeres.” Blaser moved to Vancouver, where he taught at Simon Fraser University, retiring in 1986. The first edition of The Holy Forest, a narrative composed of shorter poems (in the style Spicer called “the serial poem”) was nominated for the prestigious Canadian Governor-General’s Prize. In 2000, Blaser’s libretto for Harrison Birtwhistle’s opera, The Last Supper, addressing the AIDS epidemic, premiered in Berlin and played at Glyndebourne, London and on the BBC. 

Photograph by Kenneth Taranta 

Poet Robin Blaserin 1993. 

Help give the Berkeley City Club a lift. That’s the purpose, literal and symbolic, of a special party this coming Sunday, Sept. 16, at the venerable Durant Avenue landmark  

The Landmark Heritage Foundation—the non-profit organization dedicated to preservation of the building—is hosting “Cabaret in the Castle,” an “afternoon social” event with live music, food and drink, prize drawings, and a guest expert on the architect of the building, Julia Morgan. 

And it’s all for a “lift,” meaning a second elevator.  

When Morgan designed the City Club for Berkeley women’s organizations nearly eight decades ago, she provided space for a second elevator in anticipation of future expansion.  

The expansion never occurred, but the elevator is now needed as part of the ongoing renovation and refurbishment of the historic structure. 

Proceeds from the Sunday event will help fund the project. Festivities start at 4:30 in the afternoon and continue through 6:30 p.m. 

The cabaret theme is built around live, danceable music from five musicians, Mark Gilbert and Friends. Guests are encouraged, but not required, to wear “cabaret costume or dress.” 

Those not inclined to dance can wander at will through the two main floors of the building, from lounges to auditorium to dining rooms to baronial stair hall, indoor swimming pool, covered terraces, and secluded interior gardens where luxuriant vines twine and luminous lighting glows. 

Hors d’oeuvres and a complimentary beverage will be provided. 

Drawing prizes include theater tickets, a 10-hour expert design consultation for bathroom or kitchen remodel, up to a week at a Bed and Breakfast in Italy (airfare not included), books, guest stays at the City Club itself, and other donations. 

Attendees interested in learning more about Julia Morgan can sit down to a talk by scholar Karen McNeill, who wrote her thesis on Julia Morgan.  

“She places Julia Morgan in a historical period,” says Mary Breunig, head of the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Her emphasis is not so much the architecture as it is a special “period of women’s development in California.”  

The talk will be short to allow time for questions and follow-up conversation. 

Piece by piece the City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation are refurbishing the complex building. “Our goal is to be a National Trust Historic Hotel,” says Breunig.  

The City Club was constructed to house both long-term residents and short-term guests, along with extensive space for events and the sponsoring women’s organizations to hold their meetings. 

Breunig adds that extensive dining facilities were included, in part, to lure Berkeley women to shop nearby on Telegraph and in Downtown, then get together at the Club with friends for lunch. Even back then—the 1920s—civic leaders and local businesspeople carped that Berkeleyans tended to go out of town to shop. 

Renovation and repair work so far has included replacing the ancient boilers, repairing many of the leaded glass windows throughout the huge structure, and redecorating the rooms used for hotel guests. 

Breunig recently went before the California Cultural and Historical Endowment Board to make the case for funding for additional projects. The water delivery system in the building needs work, exterior repairs are required, and the original furnishings—designed by Julia Morgan—need refurbishment after decades of use. 

A grant was recently received from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to address the building’s interior decor, and a completed survey of the interiors will be on view at the event. 

And as for that elevator? A design consultant experienced in historic buildings has been hired, and once the money is raised, the elevator can be custom built to fit with the City Club’s architecture and Morgan’s intentions. 

Space is still available at the event. Tickets cost $50 per person, or $275 for a table of six, with advance reservations. You can also just show up on Sunday, for $55 a person.  

Drawing tickets are $5 each (discounts for larger bulk purchases) and available at the event. 

If you’re lucky enough to be the owner of a Julia Morgan house, your admission costs only $45. 

Call 510-883-9710 or e-mail the Landmark Heritage Foundation at lhfjmorgan@earthlink.net to reserve.  

Maybe a bit early like so many things this year, the vine maples at the Botanic Garden in Tilden Park are putting on their quiet fireworks show.  

One of our short list of native maples, vine maple, Acer circinatum, is way too uncommon in the gardened landscape. I suspect that people haven’t had enough practice with it as a tame plant to know its best habits and favorite conditions, though they’re easy enough to see in the wild.  

They do need water and a moist atmosphere. They’re native mostly to coastal places north of the Bay Area up through British Columbia; my favorite spot to meet them, though, is along the creek in the understory at Burney Falls, up north of Mount Lassen. They get respectably big there, posing picturesquely over a trail or peering into their dancing and shapeshifting reflections in fast-moving Burney Creek; they also grow in the fashion that gave them their name, sprawling in a trappy tangle underfoot.  

Burney Falls is a most unlikely place: an oasis in the north taper of the Central Valley, a good place to repair to on a hot day. The temperature difference from the top of the trail to creek below is at least ten degrees Fahrenheit and feels like more. Hot and dry up there, cool and moist down here in the mist thrown off by the waterfall—the reverse of what one comes to expect after spending time on a mountain—and the “up there” is the normal surface of the surrounding landscape.  

A mossy Douglas-fir forest carved into the sagebrush desert isn’t the only odd feature of Burney Falls. The waterfall itself, a big roaring rainbowmaking vapor machine, is inhabited by black swifts.  

These little birds nest and rear their young in niches in the rock under the gravity curtain of the falls, flying through tons of pounding water many times every day, forcing their way by sheer speed and bluff through that seemingly impassable kinetic moat to feed their kids and maintain their nests.  

They’re being respectable and domestic as any suburban play-date organizers, but the effect as the groups roar off and return spiraling from their bug-gathering expeditions is of tiny little motorcycle gangs ripping circles overhead and yelling “Yeeee-hah!”  

In such engagingly paradoxical places grow the southeastern ambassadors of this mostly northern little tree. It’s most common along the coast here in its California province, in the rich understory of the big-tree (not to be confused with Big Tree, one of several confusing vernacular names for the Sierran Sequoiadendron giganteum) forests, the northernmost redwoods and Douglas-fir and true fir.  

We don’t have a lot of native maples in the West; offhand I can think of only four in Califirnia, and only two we see much in the wildlands here: bigleaf maple, Acer macrophyllum, and boxelder, Acer negundo, which doesn’t look much like a maple until it grows the maple-nose seed structures called samaras.  

“Nose?” Snap one in half, split the seed and the resulting protuberant appliance will stick nicely to your nose for as long as you care to look silly. I don’t understand why the mythical Green Man doesn’t wear one. Symbolic wood-ha’nts ought not to be solemn. 

When it’s not sprawling over the ground and tripping hikers, vine maple stands up nicely as a multitrunked or single-trunked tree, its habit strongly resembling Japanese maple’s. In leaf, it is nearly identical to the Japanese native moon maple or full-moon maple. More confusion: Japanese maple, common in cultivation here and with dozens of cultivars, is Acer palmatum, while moon maple is Acer japonicum.  

Vine maple has those rounded, rickrack-bordered leaves like moon maple’s; I don’t trust myself to tell the two apart at a glance.  

Vine maple might have a more general inclination towards red than moon maple has; it certainly makes vine maple stand out in its native habitat. Its leaves are reddish to bronzed-gold in fall; red-tinged new foliage in spring; with red leaf pedicels and some reddish leaf-edges always. It’s paradoxically warm-looking in a cool green-shadowed forest.  

It’s more closely related to the Asian maples than to its North American neighbors. This sort of distributional oddity occurs in a good handful of other plant species like our redwoods who have a remnant living cousin in China, the dawn redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides. Follow the family trees of the magnolias and the rhododendrons for more examples of the surprised wrought by continental drift and eons of climate change. 

There are a couple of vine maples on the UC campus, passing for Japanese maples until you take a second look. The best place to see them en masse, though, is the Tilden Botanic Garden. In fact, that’s a good place to go get a taste of what the California landscape in its original state has to offer in this dusty, desiccated, drawn-out season. 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan. 

Vine maple leaves in Tilden Park's Botanic Garden, August 22, 2007.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 11 

Code Pink, Women for Peace Strike to demand that Congress vote no more funding for war, from noon to night at the Federal Bldg., Oakland. 524-2776. 

Emergency & Disaster Preparedness Workshop for People with Disabilities at 10:30 a.m. at West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 Sixth St. Sponsored by the Center for Independent Living and the West Berkeley Senior Center. All are welcome. 841-4776, 981-5180. 

The 9/11 Truth Film Festival showing “Hijacking Catastrophe,” “The Reflecting Pool,” “Zeitgeist,” “Let's Get Empirical,” “9/11: Press for Truth,” and “9/11 Mysteries” from 1 to 10 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Donation $5-$10. 

“War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” A documentary at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club Forum “The Caring Economy” with Ruth Rosen and Fred Block, senior fellows at the Longview Institute, at 7:30 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave.Cost is $10. 339-9811. www. wellstoneclub.org 

“Confluence, Confusion, or Catastrophe: Prospects for Ending the Delta Stalemate” with John Cain, director of restoration programs of the Natural Heritage Institute at 5:15 p.m. at Wurster Hall, Room 112, UC Campus. 642-2666. 

Food and Farming Film “Harvest of Shame” on dislocation in agricultural landscapes, sprawl, immigration and crisis, with panelists: Christopher Cook (author, Diet for a Dead Planet); Ann Lopez ( armworkers Journey); Jason Mark (farmer, journalist), Carey Knecht (Greenbelt Alliance) at 6:40 p.m. at the Hillside Club 2286 Cedar Street at Arch. www.agrariana.org 

Womansong, PeaceSong An evening of participatory singing for women at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Small Assembly, 2345 Channing Way, at Dana. Donation $15-$20. 525-7082. betsy@betsyrosemusic.org 

BellaMusica Rehearsals begin at 7 p.m. and are held every Tues. at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 2005 Berryman St. www.bellamusica.org 

Berkeley High School Governance Council meets to discuss BSEP Changes, WASC Plan, Update on UC Approved Courses and other issues at 4:15 p.m. in the Berkeley Community Theater. 644-4803. 

Writer Coach Connection Volunteers needed to help Berkeley students improve their writing and critical thinking skills from noon to 3 p.m. To register call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Tilden Mini-Rangers Hiking, conservation and nature-based activities for ages 8-12. Dress to ramble and get dirty. From 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 1-888-327-2757. 

“How to Realize Helping Others is Helping Yourself” A public teaching with Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Master Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche at 7 p.m. at Upaya Center for Wellbeing, 478 Santa Clara Ave., Suite 200, Oakland. Suggested donation $20. 525-5292.  

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Baby-friendly Book Club meets to discuss “Little Earthquakes” by Jennifer Weiner at 10 a.m. at Kensington Library. 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library. 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

Community Sing-a-Long every Tues, at 2 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. 524-9122.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Healthy Aging Fair with health screenings and health and wellness information for seniors, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Centennial HAll, 22292 Foothill Blvd., Hayward. Sponsored by the Alameda County Commission on Aging. 577-3532. 

Students United For Peace shows the documentary “Berkeley in the Sixties” by Mark Kitchell at 7 p.m. in Evans Room 60, UC Campus. 848-8320. 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

“Voices from Puerto Rico and Hawaii” Women resisting militarism at 6:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Colloquium with Todd Gilens on “Endangered Species” of urban activity, at 1 p.m. at Wurster Hall, Room 315A, UC Campus. All welcome. http://laep.ced.berkeley.edu/events/colloquium  

Recording African American Stories Add your voice to the Library of Congress and the National Museum of African American History, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., by appointment, at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. For appointment call 228-3207. 

Center for Buddhist Education presents Rev. Ken Yamada at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple, 2140 Durant Ave. at Fulton. Cost is $15. 809-1460. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 13 

Berkeley School Volunteers Orientation from 3 to 4 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. Come learn about volunteer opportunities. 644-8833. 

“Lebanon, A Year Later” Lecture and slideshow by Zeina Zaatari on the aftermath of Israel’s War on Lebanon and the sectarian dilemma at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. 849-2568.  

Community Meeting on Plans for Children’s Hospital Oakland at 7 p.m. at North Oakland Senior Center, 5714 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. 428-3367. 

“Climate Change and Health” at 6:30 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Hosted by the Community Health Commission. 981-5437.  

“What is a Podcast and How Can it be Used in an Educational Environment?” with Mojdeh Emdadian at 7:30 p.m. in the Home Room, International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $5. 642-9460. 

East Bay Mac Users Group meets to discuss Word Processor Shoot Out: A Comparison of Options at 7 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kaiser Center, 2nd floor lobby, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com  

Free Diabetes Screening Come find out if you might have diabetes with our free screening test and make sure not to eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand, from 8:45 to noon at the Latina Center, 3919 Roosevelt Ave., Richmond. 981-5332. 

Babies & Toddlers Storytime at 10:15 and 11:15 at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

FRIDAY, SEPT. 14 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Eugenie Scott on “The Evolution of Creationism” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

“Don’t Fall for It” Learn the right ways to maintain good balance and prevent falls at 10 a.m. at Salem Lutheran Home, 2361 East 29th St. Free individualized screening after the talk. 534-3637. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Children’s Hospital, Outpatient Center Basement, 747 52nd St., Oakland. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com  

Conscientious Projector Film Series “When the Levees Broke” by Spike Lee at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. Donation requested. 528-5403. 

Berkeley Rep Book Club meets to discuss “Against All Enemies” by Richard A. Clarke, at 6 p.m. at 2081 Center St. RSVP to 647-2916. 

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310. 

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St at University. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253.  

SATURDAY, SEPT. 15 

Coastal Cleanup along the Berkeley Waterfront from 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at 9 a.m. behind Seabreeze Market at the corner of University Ave. and Frontage Rd. For other coastal clean-up sites see www.coastforyou.org 

Oakland’s Creek to Bay Day Volunteers need to remove litter and non-native invasive species at 16 locations in Oakland. For details about locations call 238-7611 or see www.oaklandpw.com/creeks 

Creek to Bay Day at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park A creek clean-up and beautification event. Tools, water and snacks provided. Bring sunscreen, hat, gloves and rubber boots. From 9 a.m. to noon at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave., Oakland. 532-9142. 

Community Peace Rally & Concert from 1 to 5 p.m. at People’s Park with music, speakers, tables and action circles. peacerally07@hotmail.com 

Walking Tour of Historic Oakland Churches and Temples Meet at 10 a.m. at the front of the First Presbyterian Church at 2619 Broadway. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. www. 

oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Oakland Point Meet at 10 a.m. at Cypress Feeway Memorial Park, Mandela Parkway between 13th and 14th St. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Historical and Botanical Tour of Chapel of the Chimes from 10 a.m. to noon at 499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. RSVP to 228-3207. 

Chalk4Peace A chalk art project for children midday at Museum of Childrens’ Art, 538 9th St., Oakland. 465-8770, ext. 310. and at Cragmont Elementary School, 830 Regal Rd. 644-8810. www.chalk4peace.org 

“The Day the Earth Stood Still” Oakland Outdoor Movie Series at 8:30 p.m. on Ninth St. between Broadway and Washington, Oakland. Filmgoers are encouraged to bring thier own chairs and blankets. 238-4734. 

Free Earthquake Retrofit Seminar sponsored by the Association of Bay Area Governments from 10 a.m. to noon at Albrier Community Center, 2800 Park St. 418-1676. http://quake.abag.ca.gov/fixit  

Interreligious Art & Music Festival from 1-5pm at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley, Ave. http://drbu.org/ 

research/iwr/festival 

Vegetarian Cooking Class “Demystifying Tofu, Tempeh, and Seitan” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro. Cost is $45 plus $5 materials fee. To register call 531-2665. www.compassionatecooks.com  

Positively Ageless A Celebration of Art & Aging at 6 p.m. at 4th Street Studio, 1717 Fourth St. Cost is $25. Benefits Adult Day Services Network of Alameda County. www.fourthstreetstudio.com 

Friends of the Albany Library Book Sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Edith Stone Room of the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 16. 

Chapel of the Chimes Historical and Botanical Tour at 10 a.m. at 4499 Piedmont Ave. RSVP to 228-3207. 

Kidpower Parent Child Workshop for chidren aged 4-8 to learn everyday safety skills, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Berkeley. Cost is $60, no one turned away. Email to register and for location. safety@kidpower.org www.kidpower.org 

“Crazy, Sexy Cancer Tips” with author Kris Carr at 3 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Saturday Music Classes for Children and Youth in Choir, Marimba, bands, drumming and dance begin at the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, 1616 Franklin St., Oakland. 836-4649, ext. 112. www.opcmusic.org 

AAU Boys Basketball Tryouts for 12U, 13U and 14U teams from noon to 2 p.m. at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA, 2001 Allston Way. For information call 665-3264.  

Fast Pitch Softball for Adults at noon on Saturdays in Oakland. For information call 204-9500. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 16 

Bike Against the Odds for the Breast Cancer Fund at 6:30 a.m. at Lakeside Park, Lake Merritt, Oakland. Cost is $50-$75. To register see www.breastcancerfund.org/bao2007 

Transit to Trails Meet at the Downtown Berkeley BART station at 9:30 a.m. for an AC Transit bus ride to Tilden, followed by a guided walk through the park. Registration required. 1-888-327-2757. 

Musical Block Party at Peralta Community Garden hosted by the Friends of Westbrae Commons. Meet at 1 p.m. at 1400 Peralta Ave., by the corner of Hopkins to celebrate three community gardens. 524-2671. 

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m., Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby & Stuart. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. 526-7377. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of the Eichlers of Oakland to learn about Oakland’s residential district of houses by Joseph Eichler, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Cost is $10-$15. Reservations required. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Sycamore Japanese Church Bazaar with Japanese food, Taiko drumming, crafts and activities for children from noon to 5 p.m. at 1111 Navellier St., El Cerrito. 525-0727. 

Retromobilia Classic Auto Show 60+ vintage cars and the latest alternative fuel vehicles, food, fun, music from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the 1800 block of Fourth St. between Hearst and Virginia Sts. 526-6294. www.fourthstreet.com 

Green Sunday on Oakland’s Green Economic Development: How it is Being Affected by the BP Deal With the University of California and the “Progressive” Dellums Administration’s Partnership with the Oakland Chamber of Congress at 5 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland. 

Mac Lingo “Reflections on My Religious Journey” at 10 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

East Bay Athesists meets to watch the documentary “The Attack on Science” at 1:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 222-7580. 

Kensington Farmers’ Market Bring your donated items for the Goodwill, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 

Bike Tour of Oakland around the Fruitvale District on a leisurly paced two-hour tour that covers about five miles. Meet at 10 a..m. at the 10th St. entrance to the Oakland Museum of California. Reservations required. 238-3514.  

Free Sailboat Rides from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club, Berkeley Marina. Wear warm, waterproof clothing and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. www.cal-sailing.org 

Martial Arts Around the World A Family Exploration Day from 1 to 4 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. 238-2022. 

Introduction to Wellness Integration at 11:30 a.m. at Pharmaca, 1744 Solano Ave. 527-8929. 

Sew Your Own Open Studio Come learn to use our industrial and domestic machines, or work on your own projects, from 5 to 9 p.m. at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. Cost is $3 per hour. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

MONDAY, SEPT. 17  

Free Boatbuilding Classes for Youth Mon.-Wed. from 3 to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Boathouse, 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. Classes cover woodworking, boatbuilding, and boat repair. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at West Pauley Ballroom MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

Dragonboating Year round classes at the Berkeley Marina, Dock M. Meets Mon, Wed., Thurs. at 6 p.m. Sat. at 10:30 a.m. For details see www.dragonmax.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Sept. 11, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Sept. 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5426.  

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Sept. 12, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. 981-6740.  

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs., Sept. 13, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5428.  

As part of an ongoing effort to print stories by East Bay residents, The Daily Planet invites readers to write about their experiences and perspectives on living in, working in or enjoying various neighborhoods in our area. We are looking for essays about the Oakland neighborhoods of Temescal and around Lake Merritt, Fourth Street in Berkeley, and the city of Alameda. Please e-mail your essays, no more than 800 words, to firstperson@berkeleydailyplanet.com. We will publish the best essays in upcoming issues in October. The sooner we receive your submission the better chance we have of publishing it.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 7 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “Urinetown, The Musical” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at 1409 High St., Alameda, through Oct. 6. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Aurora Theatre “Hysteria” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through Sept. 30. Tickets are $40-$42. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Black Repertory Group “Secret War” Fri.-Sun. at 2:30 and 8 p.m., Gala Sept. 15. Tickets are $25-$35. 652-2120. www.BlackRepertoryGroup.com 

Impact Theatre “Sleepy” opens at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave. and runs to Oct. 13. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468. 

Masquers Playhouse “The Shadow Box” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., selected Sun. matinees, at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. This show is not recommended for children. Tickets are $15. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

Woodminster Summer Musicals "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor® Dreamcoat” Fri.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland, through Sept. 16. Tickets are$23-$36. 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Heading North: Journey to Atacama Desert, Chile” Photographs by Thea Bellos. Artist reception at 6 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“The Sacred in the Mundane” works by Pauletta M. Chanco. Opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. 465-8928. 

“Down There” New Work by Ayako Higo and Meadow Presley at 7 p.m. at Front Gallery, 35 Grand Ave., Oakland. 444-1900. 

“Distractions” Works by Janelle Renée. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at The Gallery at Lavezzo Designs, 5751 Horton St., Emeryville. 428-2384. 

“Food for Thought” Works by Barbara Garber, Vita Hewitt and Laura Parker. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, 25 Grand Ave., upper level, Oakland. www.chandracerrito.com 

FILM 

“War Made Easy” narrated by Sean Penn at 8 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Zubeidaa” with filmmaker Shyam Benegal, at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

Sunset Cinema: “Mighty Warriors of Comedy” about an Asian American sketch comedy group from San Francisco, at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. 238-2022. 

“Great Wall of Oakland” Prjected video and improvisational music at 8:30 p.m. on Grand Ave., just west of Broadway. www.aoklandculturalarts.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Rhonda Benin and Soulful Strut at 5 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. 238-2022. 

Jim Ryan & Friends at 8 p.m. at Free-Jazz Fridays at the Jazz House, 1510 8th St., Oakland. Cost is $5-$15. 415-846-9432. 

E.W. Wainwright’s Tribute to Elvin Jones at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Adam Shulman Quartet, jazz and pop at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Cost is $10-$15. 845-1350.  

Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Iris Dement at 8 p.m. at The Thrust Stage. Cost is $26.50-$27.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Baha and Sam Coble at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Sleepyboy Moe, The Slow Poisoner, L. Cooper at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Du Uy Quintet at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Cari Lee & the Saddle-ites at 9 p.m. at Downtown, 2102 Shattuck Ave. 649-3810.  

MDC at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Kenny Burrell & The Jazz Heritage All-stars at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $14-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, SEPT. 8 

CHILDREN  

“The Panchatantra: Animal Lessons from India” Sat. and Sun. at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave. 452-2259. 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players “The Three Musketeers” Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at John Hinkle Park, Southampton Ave., off The Arlington, through Sept. 9. Free. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

The Crucible’s Fall Open House Celebrating Art & Community frp, 2 to 6 p.m., followed by Artist-in-Residence Reception from 6 tp 8 p.m. at 1260 7th St., Oakland. www.thecrucible.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Niloufer Ichaporia introduces delicacies from “My Bombay Ckitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking” at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Mozart, Mendelssohn & Brahms” with Tom Rose, calrinet, Darcy Rindt, viola, and Lynn Schugren, piano at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St.. Tickets are $18-$12. 549-3864. www.trinitychamberconcerts.com 

Iris Dement at 8 p.m. at The Thrust Stage. Cost is $26.50-$27.50. 548-1761.  

Stephen Taylor-Ramirez, Fontain’s M.U.S.E., The Simple Things at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082.  

Beyond Walls, Beyond Wars with Georges Lamman, presented by the Arab Cultural Initiative at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$14. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Dana Kemp’s Gateswingers Jazz Band at 8 p.m. at Central Perk, 10086 San Pablo Ave. at Central, El Cerrito. 558-7375.  

Eric Swinderman Quartet In Pursuit of Sound at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ.  

Sukhawat Ali Khan Band, The Wingin It Experience at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054.  

Del Rey & Suzy Thompson at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Diablo’s Dust, Fernando Tarango at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Izabella, Cas Lucas, Mattt Lucas at 9:30 p.m. at Blakes on Telegraph. Cost is $8. 848-0886.  

Dangerous Rhythm with Tim Fox at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5. 843-2473.  

The Ravines at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Royal Hawaiian Serenaders at 9 p.m. at Temple Bar Tiki Bar & Grill, 984 University Ave. 548-9888. 

Rock ‘N’ Roll Adventure Kids at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Bitches Brew at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 9 

THEATER 

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy “A Muslim, A Mormon, and A Jew Walk into A Bar” at 8 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. 800-838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“graham + erikson”A sculpture and photography exhibit at the Addison St. Windows, 2018 Addison St. Sidewalk reception at 3 p.m. 981-7533. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Nathaniel Tarn and H.C. ten Berge read their poetry at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Conversations on Art “Art and Memory: An Intergenerational Conversation with Mayer Kirshenblatt and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett at 2 p.m. at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St. Cost is $10-$12. 549-6950. www.magnes.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tessa Loehwig & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Evening for the Buffalo featuring Mike Mease and Phoenix & Afterbuffalo. Presentation at 7:30 p.m., show at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Skinny String Gals at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Americana Unplugged with The Stairwell Sisters at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

MONDAY, SEPT. 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“They Called Me Mayer July” Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust opens at the Judah L. Magnes Museum, 2911 Russell St., and runs to Jan. 13. 549-6950. www.magnes.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Robert Reich reads from his new book “Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donations requested. 559-9500. 

Peter Neumeyer discusses children’s literature and his new book “The Annotated Charlotte’s Web” at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Actors Reading Writers “Dream a Little Dream” stories by Lawrence Block, Thomas Meehan and James Thurber at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214. 

Brent Cunningham, Bill Luoma and Cynthia Sailers read their poetry at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Express with Buford Buntin at 7 p.m., at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Nada Lewis, French cafe music, at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100. www.lebateauivre.net 

Conjunto Karabali at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10. 238-9200.  

TUESDAY, SEPT. 11 

THEATER 

Lynn Manning “Weights” A one-man show of narrative and poetry on Mnning’s experiences as a blind man, at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Sponsored by UCB’s Disability Studies Program and Institute for Regional Development. Tickets are $15-$25. 925-798-1300.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Flash An Open Reading for Peace at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City College auditorium, 2050 Center St. 525-5476. 

Celine Parrenas Shimizu author of “Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian/American Women on Screen and Scene” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. www.universitypressbooks.com 

Daniel Cassidy describes “How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Courtableu at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Singers’ Open Mic with Kelly Park at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Bethany & Rufus at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. w 

Carioca, Brazilian guitariat, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$14. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12 

EXHIBITIONS 

New Works by Carol Dalton and Emily Payne opens at the Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., upstairs. 549-1018. 

“Wall Writings” A photographic investigation of abandonned buildings by Michelle Nye. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at The Light Room Gallery, 2263 Fifth St. 649-8111. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5-$7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jazz Masters Concert with Danny Caron, blues guitarist, at noon at 12th and Broadway, Oakland.  

Wednesday Noon Concert, with Kevin Yu, cello and Chen Chen, piano, at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864.  

Ravi Abcarian Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Obeyjah and Buxter Hooten, benefit for Berkeley Television, at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Pellejo Seco at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa dance lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Brass Liberation Orchestra, Lloyd Family Players, Gamelon X, March Fourth Marching Band at 8 p.m. at Lobot Gallery, 1800 Campbell St., Oakland. All ages. Cost is $8-$15.  

Kids and Hearts at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

John Lester, Michael Manring at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Chuchito Valdez at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 13 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Old Time Music Convention Panel discussion with Donna Ray Norton, Rich Hartness, Lee Stripling at 11:30 a.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. www.BerkeleyOldTimeMusic.org 

“The Port Chicago Mutiny” by Robert L. Allen Presentation, film clip and Q & A with author at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books 2425 Channing Way at Telegraph, under the Sather Gate Parking Garage. 848-1196. 

Peter Thomson describes “Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Old Time Music Convention with Donna Ray Norton, Rich Hartness & Frineds, Todalo Shakers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761.  

Linda Zuliaca & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Chris Jones at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Hiroshima at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $18-$26. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

NADA LEWIS PLAYS 

Nada Lewis will play the accordian at 7 p.m. Monday at Le Bateau Ivre. The evening will feature two sets of French tunes, Parisian cafe melodies, valse musette gems, and perhaps a few central European pieces. This is music for dinner or something light, a family gathering, a glass of wine with friends, a sweet dance, or coffee and dessert at the end of your day. No cover charge. Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. www.lebateauivre.net.

Under a suspended crocodile in the parlor of a country home which resembles a ship’s salon, with walls covered in primitive masks and scimitars, a female servant (Lynne Soffer as Nurse Guinness) is sympathizing with a newly arrived, ungreeted—perhaps forgotten--guest: “Since she’s forgotten all about it, it will be a pleasant surprise for her to see you!” 

This is just the first arrival in a madcap stream of entrances: obviously eccentric denizens, past and present, and visitors to what the neglected (and seemingly normal) young lady, Ellie Dunn (Allison Jean White), later dubs Heartbreak House, after her only flirtation with high romance is revealed as just another compulsive interlude of wishful seduction by the husband, Hector Hushabye (Stephen Caffrey), of her hostess, Heshione (Michelle Morain). 

But the seemingly normal young woman, her brusque older intended husband (David Chandler as “Captain of Industry” Boss Mangan) and even a prepossessing burglar (Chris Ayles) will all be revealed as eccentrics themselves before the strange menage (and all of eccentro-centric England) gets derailed from its elaborate (and very comic) round of games, self-explanations and handwringing by a worldwide crisis greater by far than any of their own provincial, self-imposed wrangles in Bernard Shaw’s inverted comic masterwork, which opens Berkeley Rep’s 40th anniversary season. 

The panoply of strange customers who set up shop in the home of irascible Capt. Shotover (Michael Winters), who “sold his soul to the devil in Zanzibar,” seems to establish a square root of not-so-Goethean elective affinities, at first one with another, then hilariously multiplying. Each character alternately seems to feel and explain, at great, glib length, attraction to and/or repulsion for the others, one by one.  

This doesn’t include the game of animal magnetism practiced by Ella over Boss Mangan, nor the recognition or revelation of identities and past relationships, which kick off with an open, if neatly sidestepped, secret: the return home, after a quarter century among colonial rulers, of the younger of “the demonic sisters,” Ariadne, now Lady Utterword (Susan Wilder), trailed by her ne’er-do-well flautist brother-in-law, Randall (Michael Ray Wisely).  

“Young people understand nowadays a soul is an expensive thing to keep, more expensive than a motorcar,” says the Captain. But this Manichean socialist, holding forth on the more-than-class differences of “our seed and theirs,” sits at his drafting table making his quickly dissipated fortune inventing clever new armaments for mass slaughter. 

The cast is well up to a long evening’s comedy, especially the Shotover family—Captain and demon daughters—and the burglar who intends to be caught in the act. Chris Ayles’ entrance in the role picks up the pace and opens up the humor considerably.  

But director Les Waters has staged the play as a version of a later, more cinematic convention: screwball comedy. This skews the timing of Shaw’s marvelous lines and overloads (and slows down) what should be a satire with a zany, schtick-laden treatment of a cooly stylized stagepiece of great originality. 

Though the program mentions critical awareness of Shaw’s playing off Chekhov, there’s no sense of his parody, even burlesque, of the cult of Russian plays and novels—or of Oscar Wilde and Aestheticism, for that matter—which flourished among the would-be Bohemians of England’s Georgian middle class.  

Shaw, in his own way, covered similar ground as poet Ezra Pound did in his “Moeurs Contemporains” and novelist Ford Madox Ford did in some of the character and milieu studies in his Parade’s End quaternity of novels. All blasted the involuted English ego in its game of hide-and-seek, fiddling very artistically while Rome burned. Ford Madox Ford wrote in the ‘20s how he—and so many others—discounted the crises leading up to The Great War, so sure were they that the Labour Party, the Socialists in France, German Social Democrats, and independents generally would prevent a war. The house of cards rapidly fell, and many artists and poets were the first to fall in the carnage that followed. 

The program notes also make an unconvincing argument for the “surrealism” of Shaw’s charming, smarmy grotesques. What’s missed, both in the notes and too often on stage, is the hyper-self-aware quality actors of Shaw’s plays ideally adopt toward the characters they portray, one reason Bertolt Brecht acclaimed the Irish master of the English stage as genius and role model. 

As usual, The Rep’s production is sumptuous—Annie Smart’s set, Anna Oliver’s costumes, Alexander Nichols’ lighting, and the sound design and original music by Obadiah Eaves add up to a diverting, spectacular picture of the period—too much so. It’s more a setting for Galsworthy than for Shaw, a confection worthy of Masterpiece Theatre, complete with wigs. 

“How is this all going to end?” says one of the characters. Not with a whimper, but a bang, contradicting the Captain’s admonition, “I say let the heart break in silence” ... a dourly funny line after all the talk, all the fuss and nonsense of this bunch chasing their own tails.  

The Rep’s production does provoke occasional bursts of laughter at the spirited antics of the actors and at Shaw’s ingenious text, a bitter rebound off the wall of conventional comedy, but its stylization of laughter and reflection are mainly ignored. 

Contributed photo. Susan Wilder and Lynne Soffer in Heartbreak House, Shaw’s comedic masterpiece staged by Obie-winner Les Waters for Berkeley Rep’s 40th birthday. 

Heartbreak House 

The Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. 

throught Oct. 14 

647-2900 

www.berkeleyrep.org

Cal Performances has started a rush ticket program for community members. For select performances, Cal Performances offers UC Berkeley student, faculty and staff, senior and community rush tickets. Rush tickets are announced two hours prior to a performance and are available in person only at the ticket office beginning one hour before the performance; quantities may be limited. Rush ticket sales are limited to one ticket per person; all sales are cash only. Rush ticket prices are $10 for UC Berkeley students; $15 for UC Berkeley faculty and staff (UCB ID required) and seniors age 65 or older; and $20 for all other community members. Information is available at 642-9988 (press 2 for the rush hotline) two hours prior to a performance only.

A hundred years ago, a sizable population of refugees from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire made the East Bay its permanent home. Among the new arrivals were many Italian families, a good number of whom settled in West Berkeley. 

One shrewd capitalist immediately recognized in this new demographic trend a business opportunity that was too good to pass up. His name was Simone Marengo, and he was an old-timer, having been a West Berkeley homeowner since 1891 or ’92. 

A debonair figure, his stocky 5’2” frame invariably clad in a custom-made three-piece suit and a homburg hat on his head, Marengo (1867–1941) was a man of substance and authority, later to become known as West Berkeley’s unofficial mayor. 

He learned capitalism the hard way. Born in the Cuneo province of Piemonte in northern Italy, Simone completed only the third grade of elementary school before his father apprenticed him to a baker, where he slaved carrying immense sacks of flour. His conscription to the army was a welcome release from years of back-breaking labor, but halfway through his mandatory year of service, Simone’s father died. Aged 20, the young man had to provide for his mother, three sisters, and younger brother. America beckoned, and the family sailed to New York. 

Arriving in San Francisco in 1888, Simone began as a window washer. Before long, he had figured out that the road to affluence could be considerably shortened if he let others do the work. As a window-cleaning contractor, he prospered. By 1892—a mere four years after his arrival in the Bay Area—Simone was listed on the Alameda County assessor’s rolls as the owner of a house at 2216 Sixth St. in West Berkeley. 

The Marengo house was a spacious two-story Victorian with a well and a windmill in the rear. In this house, Simone and Natalina Marengo reared six children, five of whom survived to adulthood. In 1906 their extended San Francisco family found refuge in and around this house, as the Army erected a tent village on the adjacent open land. 

That year, Simone’s holdings in the assessor’s rolls still consisted of the one lot on which his house stood. By 1907, however, he was the owner of three houses on the 2200 block of Sixth St. and a lot at 2215 Fifth. 

One can only conclude that Marengo saw the growth potential of Berkeley and capitalized on it without delay. His San Francisco business having burned out, he devised a new stream of income in his own neighborhood. The two other houses on Sixth St. were rented to newcomers. For the empty lot on Fifth Street, he had a grander idea: the new population had to eat—why not manufacture pasta? 

On April 20, 1907, the Oakland Tribune printed a photo of the just-opened West Berkeley Macaroni Factory, a two-story building with a false front, shiplap siding, and rows of windows on front and sides. The accompanying story revealed that the factory’s construction had begun the previous November and that it covered an area of 46 ft. x 60 ft. and was equipped with the latest “improved” machinery. “The firm,” announced the Tribune, “has been doing business in Oakland and Berkeley for 19 years. S. Morengo [sic], the manager, is a baker by trade and sells to retail and wholesale companies 5,000 pounds daily. The establishment manufactures all kinds of paste and employs fifteen skilled workmen.” 

Whether the firm existed at all prior to the 1907 opening of the factory remains to be discovered. In his prior 15 or 16 years as a Berkeley resident, Simone never manufactured pasta. He was variously listed as a laborer, window cleaner, or house cleaner. In 1896, he operated a general merchandise store on the corner of 7th St. and Bristol (now Hearst Avenue). His chief associate and successor in the macaroni factory was Peter “Papa Pete” Costamagna, a San Francisco storekeeper a few years older than Marengo who had arrived in the U.S. in the mid-1880s. The skilled workers were new immigrants from Italy. Most likely, the firm’s résumé was a yarn that Marengo fed the newspaper for effect and credibility. 

According to his son Carlo, who still lives in West Berkeley, Simone Marengo was an articulate man with almost no trace of Italian accent. He was a natural promoter, even visiting local schools to tout the nutritional benefits of pasta. Costamagna, who settled at 728 Allston Way, was listed in the 1907 directory as “helper” and the following year as “driver, S. Marengo.” In 1921, Marengo and Costamagna would become in-laws as the former’s son married the latter’s step-daughter. 

Like many entrepreneurs, Marengo was more interested in creating the business than in running it. In 1908, Costamagna took over as manager, and a year later, he brought in Giuseppe Bertolè, a pasta maker recently arrived from Italy, who lived at Costamagna’s house. The business became known as Costamagna & Bertolè, and Marengo’s role was reduced to that of landlord. 

The firm’s stationery listed the types of pasta manufactured: “maccaroni [sic], spaghetti, vermicelli, tagliarini, mustaciolli [sic], ditalini, riginette, lasagnette, lasagne, stars, barley and all kinds of fine paste.” 

In 1914, Giovanni Coppa came in as co-owner, and the firm incorporated as West Berkeley Macaroni Company. Eventually “Papa Pete” retired, and the company continued under the ownership of Bertolè and Coppa. 

Meanwhile, Marengo wasn’t sitting idle. Through his eldest sister and her husband, he discovered investment opportunities in Redding, CA and began doing business there in 1906. Among his acquisitions were buildings, lots, and ranch land. 

The most notorious of his Redding properties was the Palm Hotel at 510 Division St.—a two-story structure with a saloon on the ground floor and rooms arranged in a row along a balcony above. This establishment catered to the miners who would come into town after long stints in the nearby gold and copper mines. Behind the hotel lived a troupe of prostitutes—in 1910 there were 10, three of whom were French and none Italian—who were available to the hotel’s clients, apparently as independent operators. Marengo derived his income—often in gold dust—by supplying accommodations, food, and oceans of beer. 

On the hotel’s permanent staff was Mrs. Marengo’s brother, Thomas Olivieri. The Marengos’ two eldest sons, Victor and George, served stints as barkeepers. Around 1918, the hotel burned down, with suspicion of arson falling on a disgruntled prostitute who had been evicted by Simone. Carlo Marengo says that his father replaced the hotel with a brick building, which he leased to the local Buick agency. 

Back in Berkeley, the Bertolè & Coppa pasta factory came to an end in the mid-1920s. Coppa retired, and Bertolè, who continued making pasta, moved to Oakland. For a while, the building was occupied by a company calling itself Radio Food Products, but the health department closed the operation because the boiler tanks had rusted. In the late 1920s, the building was used by a chemical works. Having been expanded in the rear years ago, the structure was now clad in wood shingles. 

During the Depression, the former macaroni factory stood empty, and many of its windows were broken. Simone Marengo finally leased it to the Nursery Cans and Containers Co., which obtained defective food cans from nearby canneries—like the Heinz factory on San Pablo Avenue—and recycled them for potting plants. 

Even during the hard times, Marengo knew how to cope. He allowed his tenants to remain in their houses even if they could pay no rent, figuring it would be better for the houses to be occupied. In his back yard, he grew vegetables and chickens for the family table. He made his own wine in the cellar, annually buying a ton and a half of grapes for the purpose. After repeatedly crushing the grapes for every last drop, the leftovers were fed to the chickens. 

Always a bon vivant, Marengo frequently entertained family and friends at gatherings where wine and song abounded. His closest friend was John A. Carbone, the “Orchid King,” whose large flower nursery was located on Fifth Street, directly behind the Marengo house. 

Following Simone’s death, his heirs disposed of his various properties. The former macaroni factory was sold in 1948 to the Berkeley Pump Co., which removed the windows on the side walls and stuccoed the exterior. 

Of the various Marengo properties on the block, the macaroni factory is the only survivor. In 1991, the building was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark, Structure of Merit. It was restored in 1994 and serves as the office of an environmental consulting firm. 

Daniella Thompson publishes berkeleyheritage.com for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). 

Photograph by Daniella Thompson  

The Berkeley Macaroni Factory at 2215 Fifth St.

Watering plants in containers is both easier and harder than it seems. Everyone has a vice about this, generally a tendency to either overwater or underwater. (If your tendency either way is impossible to reform, you might consider underwater plants. Go on over to Albany Aquarium on San Pablo Avenue just north of Solano and have a look at some nicely planted tanks first.) 

Overwatering does not mean adding too much water at one time; it means watering too frequently. If your planting mix and pot together have decent drainage, any excess water will run through and the plant’s roots will get access to the air they need in due time.  

If you water too often, though, roots will stay soggy and ultimately rot and/or drown. Fungi are pretty much ubiquitous and will show up in even “sterile” (usually just pasteurized, which is quite good enough) potting mixes because their little bitty spores are part of house and general urban dust.  

In fact, if you want to give yourself the heebie-jeebies, do a bit of research about what’s floating around us all the time. You’ll never trim your nose hairs again. Ever think about where the rubber is going as tires are wearing out? Uh-huh, you’re soaking in it. And spores of all sorts, mineral particulates, industrial outfall, pollen, little bits of dead bugs et alii, dander, shed skin cells, the excretions of dust mites which live on those shed skin cells… Dust mite allergies are partly allergies to the dung of those dust mites. You’re inhaling bug poo! No wonder you’re sneezing! 

But I digress. (And I’m allergic.) Some fungi are a necessary part of life for many plants. The magic phrase is “mycorrhizal association.” Most container plants, though, aren’t mycorrhizal associates. If you have a plant of local origin in a pot and it needs a boost, you might try a tablespoon or two of the earth from which it sprang, what the heck. 

A plant that’s succumbing to the ills of overwatering will look rather as if it needs more water: leaves drooping, bits yellowing or browning off. If it actually falls over, give it a respectful burial in the compost because chances are it’s rotted right through at the root crown.  

Stick your finger in the plant’s soil mix, if you want to know anything about its water. If it’s damp and the plant’s drooping, worry. I don’t mean the surface; get down to a knuckle or two below the top. If it stinks, also big trouble: stagnant water. Unpot the plant, gently shake off some of the wet soil, and repot with some new dry soil. Then vow to change your ways. 

Even succulents need water in pots, but they’re most susceptible to overwatering. Again, stick that finger in. If your plant has spines or points or vegetable fangs, keep a scrap of cardstock handy to shield yourself. If that doesn’t work, consider investing a few bucks in a soil water indicator; you can probe painlessly and watch the meter.  

Resource: Plant sales at Merritt College on Saturdays: Sept. 15, Oct. 13, Nov. 17, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. See www.merrittlandhort.com for updated plant lists.  

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Daily Planet’s East Bay Home & Real Estate section. Her column on East Bay trees appears every other Tuesday in the Daily Planet.

Everybody has a little internal list of least favorite ways to die. Some of these are rational, but mostly they’re derived from some fantasy, childhood experience or errant datum we’ve chanced upon. Perhaps we were children and heard an awful story. Maybe we encountered saw someone killed in a movie—lots of those, aren’t there?! Perhaps it was simply a story related by a friend. Regardless of the source we all have these.  

I think these fears extend into injuries as well and not just to the finality of death. I know that, for myself, certain kinds of sickness are nearly unbearable while others, and these may be the dread of another, are sort of no big deal. For example (am I grossing you out yet?) I have little fear of bleeding, having cut myself about a thousand times and sometimes rather severely. It might be a carpenter thing. Those of us who have built houses and handled tools are fairly accustomed to sucking our own blood while we wait for a promised coagulation. 

While I do not fear a death by blood loss nearly so much as numerous other fates, I am much aware that it is a common way to leave the humanosphere. In the late 1970’s deaths caused by glass lacerations were so common that the Consumer Product Safety Commission created a series of heavy guidelines that continue and grow today.  

What was happening was mostly one of two things. People were either walking through glass patio doors (OW!!) or striking and breaking shower doors or enclosures (OW again!). Blood loss can kill you in minutes if the damage is sufficient. The carotid (neck) or femoral (leg) arteries, when sliced, can bleed out in five minutes. Basically this means that you simply do not have the time to get adequate medical help. Again, sorry. This is so awful to discuss but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s important; mostly because there are real answers and valuable actions that CAN be taken. 

The glass industry, much aware of these issues (who gets sued, after all?) began in the early 1960s to produce shower and patio doors of a relatively new material called tempered glass. The easiest way to think of tempering is to visualize a vandalized car. Those funny little squarish pebbles of glass that litter the ground are the remains of tempered glass. Tempered glass, invented by the Austrian chemist, Rudolph Seiden (b.1900), is made by heating one side of a sheet of heat-strengthened glass to a higher temperature than the other and then cooling it very rapidly. This creates a tension between the two faces of glass that forces it to crack perpendicular to the plane of the glass, rather than in sharp shards that can cut through my sensitive and incredibly important body. Breaking perpendicular to the surface of the glass creates little squarish pebbles and, while these may cause abrasion, will spare us the nastier experience when we strike and break a sheet of glass. Danke schön, Herr Seiden! 

Let’s talk about patio sliding glass doors just a bit. I feel as though the greatest danger with these is where there is a distant objective that acts as an incentive to speed. Let’s say you have a swimming pool surrounded by happy people and clam dip twenty feet from the door and a good twelve or fourteen feet of room to cross toward the door leading to the pool. Now, let’s say that the door is clean and there’s nothing to alert one to the presence of the glass. You might, as many before you have done, assume that door is open. You see, it looks almost the same open or closed if the glass is clean. You might then be walking at 5 mph by the time you hit the glass. Some just walk right through and this, of course, it usually tragic. 

If you have a non-tempered sliding glass door please consider replacing it with a new one. These days you can’t buy anything BUT tempered glass doors unless you buy something used. If you’re really strapped for funds, there are two alternatives. The first is to put a safety film on the glass. These films are commonly available and help limit the nature of the breakage. The film is essentially a sheet of strong sticky plastic that holds the shards of glass together and prevents deep laceration. A very cheap alternative is to put stickers on the glass door so as to alert the potential victim to the fact that the door is present. This is a better but bad choice (all you parent know about these choices, right?). The point is that any action is better than none but given the concern level, replacement is the wise choice. 

So how do you know if you have a non-tempered glass door? Tempered glass nearly always bears a tempering mark or “bug” in one corner of the glass, usually at the bottom. The mark is sort of a glass tattoo, heat fused onto the glass and somewhat translucent. You may have to wash the door to find the mark. Well, HAVE you washed the sliding glass door in the last five years? If the door has no discernable mark, it is extremely likely that this door is low strength glass and dangerous. By the way, these same marks are used on all forms of tempered glass and you’ll recognize them as being similar to the ones seen on your car windows. 

Aside from breaking in such a mannerly and genteel fashion, tempered glass is also less likely to break at all, being roughly 4-6 times the strength of common glass. Laminated glass is another form of safety glass but less desirable than tempered due to the fact that it will still crack sharply and grab little flaps of skin (sorry) as one bounces off the plastic-reinforced sheet. Wired safety glass is a much older form and again, while safer than common float glass, can still do tremendous harm when compared with our beloved tempered glass. 

Shower doors are another major concern and have been the subject of the building codes for about 30 years. While no one is making anyone remove older ones, it has been impossible to buy a new untempered shower door or enclosure since the 1970s. Again, tempered ones have been available since the early 60’s but enforcement has taken time to catch up with manufacturer wisdom. What all this means is that you may still have a shower enclosure that can kill or injure someone who does nothing more malicious than swing around, elbows out, and smack the door.  

Today, none of the glass in a bathing area below 5’ and none of the glass in either an enclosure or a shower door may be non-safety type. This includes windows in the shower or bathing area as well as mirrors. Some special exceptions are made for art glass. 

The more we learn about the danger of glass in our houses, the more extensive the list of uses or places where we want to use safety glass grows. Here are a few of the other places we want to be looking out for: 

Windows that nearly reach the ground are vulnerable to kicking, rolling objects and children at play. Most codes today demand that where glass is within 18” of the ground, it should be tempered.  

Where glass is in any kind of door, including those multi-lite “French” doors, it should also be tempered. Again, unless you buy an old used door, you just can’t find a non-tempered “French” door. Nobody makes ‘em. 

Glass that is within about two feet of a door (sidelites) should be tempered due to the shock of a slammed door. Many a marital dispute has ended with the crash of such a window (followed by that most absurd of proclamations, “See what you made me do?”). 

Mirrored sliding closet doors (how I hate having to see myself that much) are not required to be tempered in most communities but must be adhered to a backing that prevents those nasty pieces from coming free. Nonetheless, you can buy these in tempered glass and this gets my vote. 

These are the traditional areas that we in the home inspection business have been looking at for decades- but wait, there’s more! Now the building codes are asking us to look at all glass in the walking path. If you can walk within three feet of any large glass pane (>9 s.f.) that is close to floor level (>18”) and at least three feet high, the new codes are asking that this be make of tempered safety glass. My guess is that we’re just a few years away from ALL of our windows being made of safety glass. It may seem like a pain but in the long run, we’ll look back in disbelief that we ever lived so blithely with such treachery. 

The code is also speaking to glass used in railings as well and thank Buddha! What crazier place than a stair railing might you use glass? Actually, I think glass is very cool and love it in all these odd places but I feel a lot better about that platform-heeled mom in short-shorts and a tee as she walks down the glassed-in stairway knowing that when the worst case occurs and she losses her footing, that the paramedics will spend most of their time complimenting her voluntary piercings and no time treating the involuntary ones. 

FRIDAY, SEPT. 7 

“Sisters of Selma: Bearing Witness for Change” A documentary of Bloody Sunday in 1965, at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the WOrker Church, 1640 Addison St. Free. 482-1062. 

“War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” Film screening and discussion with Normon Soloman at 8 p.m. at La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $8. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Circular Migration of Labor” with Rosalio Muñoz, chair, CPUSA Subcommittee on Immigration at 7 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. Suggested donation $5. 251-1120. ncalview@igc.org 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Kaiser Permanente Offices, Harrison Building, Room 8-K, 1950 Franklin St., Oakland. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com  

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310. 

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St at University. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253.  

SATURDAY, SEPT. 8 

East Bay AIDS Walk from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Lake Merritt, Bellevue and Grand Aves. To register see www.eastbayaidswalk.kintera.org 

Berkeley Historical Society Walking Tour of Rocks, Parks and Neighborhoods of North Berkeley from 10 a.m. to noon. Co-sponsored by the Berkeley Historical Society and the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. Cost is $10. To register and for meeting place call 848-0181. 

Open The Farm Meet and greet the animals at the Little Farm in Tilden Park as you help the farmer with morning chores, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. 525-2233. 

Reptile Rap Meet our resident snake and turtle friends with an interactive talk for the whole family, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Sierra Club Grassroots Organizing Workshop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 2530 San Pablo Ave. RSVP to 848-0800, ext. 307. 

Recycle Your Electronics Sat. and Sun. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the El Cerrito Dept. of Motor Vehicles, 6400 Manila Ave. Items accepted are computer monitors, computers, televisions, VCR and DVD players, toner cartridges, printers, fax machines, telephone equipment, cell phones and MP3 players. Sponsored by the City of El Cerrito. For information call 1-888-832-9839. www.unwaste.com 

Restoration Workday on the Banks of San Pablo Creek from 9:30 a.m. to noon at 4191 Appian Way, El Sobrante. For information call 665-3538. 

Walking Tour of Oakland City Center Meet at 10 a.m. in front Oakland City Hall at Frank Ogawa Plaza. Tour lasts 90 minutes. Reservations can be made by calling 238-3234. 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Montclair Village Meet at 1 p.m. at Montclair Branch Public Library, 1687 Mountain Blvd. for a gently sloping walk. 763-9218.  

Salud! A Celebration of Latino Art, Health and Community with health information, visual art and live music, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave. 601-4040. www.wcrc.org 

The Crucible’s Fall Open House from 2 to 6 p.m. followed by Artist-in-Residence reception at 1260 7th Street, Oakland. www.thecrucible.org 

Fall Bloomimng Perennials & Shrubs at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens Nursery, 729 Heinz Ave. off 7th St. 644-2351. 

“Interested in Becoming a Foster Parent?” Information and training from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. RSVP to 925-370-1990. 

“The Art of Narration in Television and Radio Ads” with Paul Rowan at Dramatically Speaking, at 9 a.m., 1950 Franklin St., Room 2C, Oakland. Free, but please RSVP. ID required to get into building. 581-8675. Lunni8@aol.com 

East Bay Baby Fair from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Jewish Community Center of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut St. 540-7210. www.eastbaybabyfair.com 

Common Agenda, a local alliance of some 20 organizations in the Bay Area meets at 2 p.m. at the Peace Action Office, 2800 Adeline St. at Stuart. 524-6071. 

Auditions for Soli Deo Gloria from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1323 Central Ave., Alameda. For infromation call 888-734-7664. www.sdgloria.org 

Careers in Travel a full day class at Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St. Cost is $10. RSVP to 981-2931.  

Luna Kids Dance Open House and creative dance class from 1 to 3 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. 644-3629. 

Produce Stand at Spiral Gardens Food Security Project from 1 to 6 p.m. at the corner of Sacramento and Oregon St. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Fast Pitch Softball for Adults at noon on Saturdays in Oakland. For information call 204-9500. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

SUNDAY, SEPT. 9 

Solano Stroll “Going Green - It’s Easy” with a parade, entertainment, food, information booths, and more from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Solano Ave. in Albany and Berkeley. info@solanostroll.org 

Oakland Heritage Alliance Walking Tour of Broadway Auto Row Meet at 10 a.m. at 28th and Broadway, the tip of the Flatiron Building. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Huston Smith “Three Outstanding Experiences of My Life” at 10 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensington. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

The Red Oak Victory Ship Pancake Breakfast from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on board the ship, in Richmond harbor off Canal Blvd. Cost is $6, children under 5 free. 237-2933. 

The Great War Society meets to discuss “The Asquiths & Woods” by Peter Wood at 10:30 a.m. at 132 Montwood Way, Oakland. For information call 527-7118. 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to keep your bike in excellent working condition through safety inspections, from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

MONDAY, SEPT. 10 

The 9/11 Truth Film Festival Films include “Hijacking Catastrophe,” “The Reflecting Pool,” “Zeitgeist,” “Let's Get Empirical,” “9/11: Press for Truth,” and “9/11 Mysteries” from 1 to 10 p.m. Mon. and Tues. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Donation $5-$10. 

Wills, Trusts and Estate Planning Workshop for six consecutive Mon. eves. from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Berkeley Adult School, 1701 San Pablo Ave. Pre-registraion encouraged. 644-6130. http://bas.berkeley.net  

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra rehearsals begin for Puccini's Messa di Gloria at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Pre-registration strongly recommended. www.bcco.org  

Children’s Dance Program begins with classes in creative movement and ballet at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman. For details call 233-5550. animamundi@jps.net 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at West Pauley Ballroom MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com  

People’s Park Community Advisory Board meeting at 7 p.m. at Trinity Methodist Church, 2362 Bancroft Ave. 642-3255.  

TUESDAY, SEPT. 11 

Emergency & Disaster Preparedness Workshop for People with Disabilities at 10:30 a.m. at West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 Sixth St. Sponsored by the Center for Independent Living and the West Berkeley Senior Center. All are welcome. 841-4776, 981-5180. 

The 9/11 Truth Film Festival showing “Hijacking Catastrophe,” “The Reflecting Pool,” “Zeitgeist,” “Let's Get Empirical,” “9/11: Press for Truth,” and “9/11 Mysteries” from 1 to 10 p.m. at the Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Donation $5-$10. 

“War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” A documentary at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

“Confluence, Confusion, or Catastrophe: Prospects for Ending the Delta Stalemate” with John Cain, director of restoration programs of the Natural Heritage Institute at 5:15 p.m. at Wurster Hall, Room 112, UC Campus. 642-2666. 

Food and Farming Film “Harvest of Shame” on dislocation in agricultural landscapes, sprawl, immigration and crisis, with panelists Christopher Cook (author, Diet for a Dead Planet); Ann Lopez (Farmworkers Journey); Jason Mark (farmer, journalist), Carey Knecht (Greenbelt Alliance) at 6:40 p.m. at the Hillside Club 2286 Cedar Street at Arch. www.agrariana.org 

Womansong, PeaceSong An evening of participatory singing for women at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Small Assembly, 2345 Channing Way, at Dana. Donation $15-$20. 525-7082. betsy@betsyrosemusic.org 

End the Occupation Vigil every Tues. at noon at Oakland Federal Bldg., 1301 Clay St. www.epicalc.org 

Berkeley High School Governance Council meets to discuss BSEP Changes, WASC Plan, Update on UC Approved Courses and other issues at 4:15 p.m. in the Berkeley Community Theater. 644-4803. 

Writer Coach Connection Volunteers needed to help Berkeley students improve their writing and critical thinking skills from noon to 3 p.m. To register call 524-2319. www.writercoachconnection.org 

Tilden Mini-Rangers Hiking, conservation and nature-based activities for ages 8-12. Dress to ramble and get dirty. From 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8, registration required. 1-888-327-2757. 

“How to Realize Helping Others is Helping Yourself” A public teaching with Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Master Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche at 7 p.m. at Upaya Center for Wellbeing, 478 Santa Clara Ave., Suite 200, Oakland. Suggested donation $20. 525-5292.  

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Baby-friendly Book Club meets to discuss “Little Earthquakes” by Jennifer Weiner at 10 a.m. at Kensington Library. 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

Community Sing-a-Long every Tues, at 2 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave. 524-9122.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12 

Walking Tour of Old Oakland “New Era/New Politics” highlights African-American leaders who have made their mark on Oakland. Meet at 10 a.m. at the African American Museum and Library at 659 14th St. 238-3234. www.oaklandnet.com/walkingtours 

Healthy Aging Fair with health screenings and health and wellness information for seniors, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Centennial HAll, 22292 Foothill Blvd., Hayward. Sponsored by the Alameda County Commission on Aging. 577-3532. 

Students United For Peace shows the documentary “Berkeley in the Sixties” by Mark Kitchell at 7 p.m. in Evans Room 60, UC Campus. 848-8320. 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

“Voices from Puerto Rico and Hawaii” Women resisting militarism at 6:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Colloquium with Todd Gilens on “Endangered Species” of urban activity, at 1 p.m. at Wurster Hall, Room 315A, UC Campus. All welcome. http://laep.ced.berkeley.edu/events/colloquium  

Recording African American Stories Add your voice to the Library of Congress and the National Museum of African American History, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., by appointment, at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. For appointment call 228-3207. 

Center for Buddhist Education presents Rev. Ken Yamada at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple, 2140 Durant Ave. at Fulton. Cost is $15. 809-1460. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. 548-9840. 

THURSDAY, SEPT. 13 

Berkeley School Volunteers Orientation from 3 to 4 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. Come learn about volunteer opportunities. 644-8833. 

“Lebanon, A Year Later” Lecture and slideshow by Zeina Zaatari on the aftermath of Israel’s War on Lebanon and the sectarian dilemma at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donations accepted. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Climate Change and Health” at 6:30 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. Hosted by the Community Health Commission. 981-5437.  

“What is a Podcast and How Can it be Used in an Educational Environment?” with Mojdeh Emdadian at 7:30 p.m. in the Home Room, International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. Cost is $5. 642-9460. 

East Bay Mac Users Group meets to discuss Word Processor Shoot Out: A Comparison of Options at 7 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound St., Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kaiser Center, 2nd floor lobby, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland. To schedule an appointment go to www.BeADonor.com  

Free Diabetes Screening Come find out if you might have diabetes with our free screening test and make sure not to eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand, from 8:45 to noon at the Latina Center, 3919 Roosevelt Ave., Richmond. 981-5332. 

Babies & Toddlers Storytime at 10:15 and 11:15 at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Council Agenda Committee meets Mon. Sept. 10, at 2:30 p.m., at 2180 Milvia St. 981-6900. 

Peace and Justice Commission meets Mon., Sept. 10, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5510.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Mon., Sept. 10, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. 981-7410.  

City Council meets Tues., Sept. 11, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Sept. 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5426.  

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Sept. 12, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. 981-6740.  

Commission on Early Childhood Education meets Thurs., Sept. 13, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5428.