Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and City Councilmember Linda Maio vowed Wednesday night to reopen Pacific Steel Casting’s use permit to force action on odors emanating from the company’s West Berkeley plant. 

Their promises came during a public hearing on a Health Risk Assessment report prepared by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (AQMD) and the state Office of Environ-mental Health Hazard Asses-sment. 

Wednesday night’s hearing provided the public a chance to register their views before the public comment period ends Jan. 31. And comment they did, to the standing-room-only crowd packing the West Berkeley Senior Center. 

The ongoing controversy over the steel plant pits a union shop and a source of good-paying jobs in the city’s ailing industrial area against neighbors and environmental activists who fear the plant’s emissions may be the cause of cancers and other ailments. 

The meeting came a day after the AQMD announced it would be spending $750,000 over the next year-and-a-half to operate a mobile air-monitoring facility near the foundry. 

The battle over odors from the plant and worries about toxic contaminants have sparked protest meetings and lawsuits. The air-monitoring announcement comes less than two months after a small-claims court victory by neighbors who had sued because of the odors. 

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Dawn Girard awarded nine plaintiffs between $2,100 and $5,100 because of the “private nuisance created by Pacific Steel,” and “a real and appreciable invasion of the plaintiffs’ interests.” 

Another suit, filed by the AQMD and settled two years earlier, forced installation of a $3 million carbon air-filtration system atop one of the company’s three West Berkeley plants. 

It was the air board which mandated the Health Risk Assessment, which was prepared by Environ, an Emeryville consulting firm, at Pacific Steel’s expense. 

While officials from both state agencies said the study met their requirements, it didn’t satisfy critics who have been fighting for stricter controls on emissions from the facility. 

Risk levels 

Two state officials and Environ consul-tant Richard Daugherty contended that none of their findings showed any level of emissions that mandate remedial action. 

One set of data focused on health risks from cancer-causing chemicals, while a second focused on non-cancer risks, looking at both nearby residents and employees of nearby businesses. 

For carcinogens, state law requires community notification when risks rise to 10 cases per million, and mandatory reductions of emissions when levels rise to 100 per million or more. 

Daugherty said residential risks of cancer in the manufacturing zone reached 19 per million, dropping to less than 10 for the nearby residential neighborhood. 

Risks for workers at nearby businesses and plants were highest for those who worked the midnight to 8 a.m. shift (31 per million), dropping to 23 per million for the other two shifts. 

Residential exposure rates are based on a 70-year exposure, while the average time spent in any given residence is nine years, Daugherty said. Workplace exposures are based on a 40-year job tenure. 

Daugherty said non-cancer risks of acute or chronic health problems all fell below notification levels for residences, while some workers had risks slightly above one per million from chronic health problems, but less than one in a million for acute problems. 

Survey data did not include employees of Pacific Steel Casting itself. 

Odor concerns 

For Linda Maio, who with colleague Darryl Moore represents West Berkeley on the City Council, “the odor problem is very serious.” She said, “The odor problem was so serious it made me nauseous” as she was riding her bicycle near the North Berkeley BART station last week. 

Faulting a process she described as too slow, Maio said, “We want action now. We want it right away. We will give them a deadline, but it has to be in line with their use permit.” 

Such permits, which govern what can and can’t be done on a real estate parcel, are defined according to city zoning and other requirements and are subject to approval and modification by the Zoning Adjustments Board and can be appealed to the City Council.  

Maio urged her constituents to let her know any time they complained to the AQMD about conditions at Pacific Steel so she would have the ammunition to follow up on their concerns. 

“The odor issue is their Achilles heel,” said Mayor Bates. “It puts their use permit into jeopardy.” 

Odor, he said, is “the clearest problem,” and the city wants a plan to reduce odor. “We want action on it, and we want it now,” he said. 

But as for the deeper community concerns about health risks and their assessment, Bates said, “In all candor and in all honesty,” they “are very difficult to prove.” 

Darryl Moore was present for the meeting but did not offer a comment. 

Concrete critique 

More concrete official concerns came from Nabil Al-Hadithy, the city’s hazardous materials manager. 

With funding from Pacific Steel Casting, the city hired another consulting company, TetraTech EMI, to review the Health Risk Assessment, giving rise to a range of concerns, Al-Hadithy said. 

Two principal concerns focus on emissions of the metal manganese and the presence of air particulates from diesel fuel, generated by trucks and other uses at the plants. 

The assessment program doesn’t look at the fuel particulates, which produce a much greater degree of risk along freeways. 

Recent research has shown that manganese, a metal found in plant emissions, is 10 times more potent a nerve toxin than previously believed, and while levels still didn’t rise to actionable levels, they should be noticed to the community. 

A prepared review of the assessment by TetraTech faulted the document for maintaining that adverse effects didn’t occur before the levels for notification required by the AQMD. 

The report also didn’t include a table reporting the values used to establishing toxicity of materials covered in the report, 

Other potential flaws included the failure to provide testing data that covered different seasons, since the Environ site visit occurred when the plant was operating on its winter schedule. 

Another weakness cited was a failure to consider cumulative risks when Pacific Steel emissions were combined with those from other facilities, like the adjacent Berkeley Forge and Steel. 

The report also failed to note that there is no safe level for lead exposure, “which has impacts at any level.” 

Public worries 

But odor, while a concern to neighbors and activists, paled in comparison to their worries about toxins, especially those linked to cancer. 

Andrew Galperin joined in Al-Hadithy’s critique of manganese levels, noting that the levels reported from the plant were 20 to 30 times those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), with nickel levels at 200 times WHO maximums. 

He also criticized the study for failing to consider the impacts on people who had lived in the neighborhood for 20 or 30 years before the recently installed filtration equipment was in place. 

L.A. Wood called the assessment a sham, and called for hair and blood analysis from the Duck’s Nest child care center, which is located close to the foundry. 

Monitoring data collected by community members indicates more problems at the site than the assessment, he said. 

Janice Schroeder of the West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs said the study only looked for a limited range of chemicals and didn’t look at how activities at the plant may have changed over the years. 

She also said the report failed to consider impacts on plant workers who also live in the community. 

Several speakers said they worried about exposures to children who grow up in the area, and to families who eat fruit and vegetables grown in their yards. 

Schroeder and others also singled out the assessment’s failure to look at the impact of particulates. 

Peter Guerrero, who participated in the community monitoring program, said he had worked as a federal environmental regulator for 20 years before he moved to Berkeley. 

“In my opinion, the risk assessment is a tool with serious difficulties,” he said, “is easy to manipulate” and filled with questionable assumptions. 

“We will hold your feet to the fire if we need to,” said Steve Ingraham. 

“A fraud is being perpetrated here by the air district,” said Bradley Angel of Green Action for Health and Environmental Justice. 

A particularly sharp critique came from Amy Dunn, an employee of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, one of the sponsoring agencies of the study. 

A 15-year community resident, Dunn called the study “a limited tool” that “leaves out works, that leaves out odors.” 

“We need to figure out a different tool to protect our community,” she said. 

Another insider critique came from Toni Stein, a state employee who has served on the AQMD’s hearing board. 

“I find it perplexing that the city can’t get an agreement to get the complaints sent to them,” she said, referring to complaints filed with the agency about the West Berkeley foundry. 

City efforts to receive copies of the complaints have been stalled since 1998, she said. 

Officials promised they’d look into a way to providing them, though their current computer system doesn’t provide a way to retrieve them. 

Steel defenders 

While voices in favor of the plant were few, Pacific Steel Vice President and General Manager Joe Emmerichs concluded the meeting with a ringing defense of his company. 

“I’ve lived in Berkeley 45 years,” starting with the firm in 1969 and serving “in every position” at the plant, he said. “We don’t have any problem of anyone getting sick. We have not had any employees get sick—ever.” 

The company has a 94 percent retention rate for its 670 employees, “the highest in the industry,” Emmerichs said, and “one of the best safety records in the country.” 

Pacific Steel Casting operates “one of the cleanest foundries in the country ... in the world,” he said, “and 13 European foundries have come to Berkeley to see how we do it.” 

“We employ over 30 different nationalities, and we’re proud of it. We employ a lot of women and we’re proud of it,” Emmerichs added. 

When he finished, a sizable contingent of Pacific Steel Casting employees in the audience—some wearing hard hats, some baseball caps with the company logo—burst into applause.

The Democratic and Repub-lican Presidential primaries will dominate media coverage for the Feb. 5 California elections, now less than a month away, but several important state propositions are on the ballot as well.  

A summary of Propositions 91, 92, and 93 follows. (Propositions 94 through 97, all involving amendments to gambling compacts with California Native American tribes, are handled in the story to the right): 

Proposition 91—Transportation Funds Initiative Constitutional Amendment 

Don’t bother to worry about this one. The supporters of Prop 91 originally drew up this ballot measure to prohibit the legislature from transferring certain motor vehicle fuel taxes from transportation funding to the state’s General Fund. But things changed considerably in the state since then, and those same Prop. 91 authors have now placed the following language on next month’s ballot: “Prop. 91 is NO LONGER NEEDED. Please VOTE NO. Voters passed Proposition 1A in 2006, accomplishing what Prop. 91 set out to do.” Since it is the original Prop. 91 authors and advocates who are saying this, no more needs to be said. 

Proposition 92—Community Colleges Initiative Constitutional Amendment 

This one is going to be difficult for many voters to sort out, because it has divided the two major teachers organizations—the 340,000 member California Teachers Association and the 120,000 member California Fed-eration of Teachers—that have been traditional allies in supporting funding for public education in California. 

Since 1988, a minimum level of funding for both K-12 public schools and community colleges is supposed to be guaranteed through the voter-passed Proposition 98. (We say “supposed to be guaranteed” because there are some loopholes in Prop. 98 that have allowed state leaders to get around those guarantees.)  

Community college leaders and advocates argue that because their state funding base is lumped in with the more popular K-12 schools, community college funding sometimes gets slighted. In response they put Proposition 92 on the ballot, which would split off community college funding from K-12 funding, guaranteeing a certain base level of funding support for community colleges. In addition, Prop 92 would lower community college fees to $15 per unit per semester from the current $20, limit fee increases in the future, and establish the community college districts and state Board of Governors in the state constitution. 

Prop 92 advocates say that the measure is needed to stabilize community college funding, which has been treated as something of an educational step-child in recent years. Officially, opponents say that passage of the initiative would lead to higher taxes, since Prop 92 guarantees a funding level for community colleges. An unofficial concern among opponents is that if spending for public education remains roughly the same in California in the next few years, any increased monies for community colleges will necessarily have to come at the expense of funds for K-12 schools. 

Advocates for Prop 92 (www.prop92 yes.com/) include, among others, a long list of community college presidents and trustees as well as the California Federation of Teachers, the smaller of the two state teachers organizations. The proposition has also picked up support from several K-12 school board members, including, locally, David Kakishiba, Greg Hodge and Gary Yee of Oakland Unified, and Karen Hemphill, Nancy Riddle, Joaquin Rivera, and John Selawsky of Berkeley Unified. 

Opposition to Prop 92 (www.noprop 92.org/) is topped by California’s larger state teachers organization, the California Teachers Association, and includes such business groups as the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Business Roundtable, and organizations, like the California Taxpayers’ Association and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, traditionally skeptical of measures which might lead to increased state spending. 

Proposition 93—Limits On Legislators’ Terms In Office Initiative Constitutional Amendment 

In 1990, California voters passed Proposition 140, the historic initiative that limited the number of terms that California legislators can serve in office. Since that time, state legislators can serve only three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate. Conceivably, a legislator could move from three full terms in the Assembly to two full terms in the Senate, for a total time in the legislature of 14 years (the total time served can actually be up to two years more if the legislator’s first term comes in the middle of the unexpired term of an outgoing senator, but that’s another story). 

There are actually two separate interests that combined to draw up Proposition 93. 

Opponents of the original term limits law have been looking for ways to overturn it since its passage 18 years ago, but term limits remains popular among California voters, and so there is little chance that an initiative to end the practice would pass. Instead, the strategy of opponents is to gradually whittle away at the sides of term limits, in the hope that it will be weakened enough, in time, that there will be enough sentiment against it to do away with it altogether. 

Meanwhile, several powerful legislators are reaching the end of their final terms under the existing term limits law—including Senate President Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez—and so they and their supporters were looking for a way to extend their legislative stay for at least one more term. 

Out of a coalition between these two interests, Proposition 93 was born. 

In exchange for the current cap of six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate (for a legislative total of 14 years), Proposition 93 would allow a legislator to serve 12 total years in the legislature. Those years of service could be solely in the Assembly, or solely in the Senate, or in some combination of the two. In addition, to sweeten the pot for incumbents, legislators currently serving would be able to serve 12 years in the branch of the legislature where they currently sit, regardless of the amount of time they may have spent in the other branch. 

Practically speaking, passage of Proposition 93 would mean that Perata and Nuñez, as well as several other incumbent legislators, would each be eligible to serve an additional term instead of having to leave their current legislative seats at the end of this year. 

For term-limits supporters the choice is easy: a no vote on Prop 93. The choice is harder for opponents of term limits. Since Prop 93 is only a tinkering around at the edges of term limits—and a tinkering that greatly benefits a handful of powerful sitting legislators—term limits opponents have to decide if whittling away at term limits is the best way to eventually end them, or if they should wait for a better solution. 

Four propositions on the Feb. 5 California Presidential Primary ballot—Propositions 94, 95, 96, 97—all deal with identical issues, attempts by citizen groups to overturn recent amendments to gambling compacts between the administration of Governor Ar-nold Schwarzenegger and four individual Native American tribes.  

The main thing distinguishing the four propositions is that each involves a separate tribe. The negotiated gambling compact amendments themselves are similar. 

The gambling compacts allowing some forms of gambling on Native American lands in California were originally with 58 tribes in 1999. In 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger negotiated amendments with four of these tribes. Three of them involved tribe-owned casinos in Riverside County—the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians—and one in San Diego County—the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.  

In each of these compacts, the governor agreed to allow the tribes an expanded number of slot machines. In return, the tribes agreed to pay the state an increased amount of annual revenue. 

The state legislature ratified the compacts in 2007, after which groups opposing the compacts put the ratification propositions on the February, 2008 ballot. 

Because the propositions are a referendum on the compacts themselves, the yes and no votes can be a little confusing. The opponents of the compact amendments—who put the propositions on the ballot—want you to vote “no” on the propositions, because that will mean a rejection of the compact amendments, and the number of allowed slot machines and the state payments will remain the same as they are under the original 1999 agreements. The supporters of the compact amendments want you to vote “yes” on the propositions, because that will ratify the compact amendments and put them in effect. 

Proposition 94—Increase the number of slot machines operated by the Pechanga Band of Riverside County from the current 2,000 to 7,500. Increase the annual payment to the state from the current $29 million to at least $44.5 million. 

Proposition 95—Slot machines for the Morongo Band of Riverside County up from 2,000 to 7,500; annual payment to the state up from $29 million to at least $38.7 million. 

Proposition 96—Slot machines for the Sycuyan Tribe of San Diego County up from 2,000 to 5,000; annual payment to the state up from $5 million to at least $23 million. 

Proposition 97—Slot machines for the Agua Caliente Tribe of Riverside County up from 2,000 to 5,000; annual payment to the state up from $13 million to at least $25.4 million. 

In each proposed compact, annual payments to the state would increase with increased revenue to the tribes from the slot machines. 

Each of the four compacts call for a significant increase in the number of allowable slot machines in each of the casinos run by the respective Native American tribes. In addition, each of the compacts provides for a significant increase in payments from the respective tribes to the state, payments which the governor had been counting on to help fill the pending state budget gap. 

Voters who support increased gambling in the state will have no problem with these propositions. They will vote yes on all of them.  

Voters who are generally opposed to gambling and casino operations, but who are also concerned about the state’s budget problems, will have a more difficult choice.  

Is keeping down the number of gambling options in California more important, or is solving the state’s fiscal problem more important? Will these compacts be the end of the proposed slot machine expansion, or will they be a prelude to new requests for more slot machines in the future?  

None of these questions are answered in the voter information guide or the various ballot arguments for or against. Instead, they are decisions that have to be worked out by individual voters themselves.

For the first time since the issuance of the Blue Ribbon Affordable Housing Commis-sion’s report last year on inclusionary zoning and condominium conversion, Oakland City Coun-cil’s Community & Economic Development Committee met this week to try to resolve the year-long deadlock over the two issues.  

But while the city’s affordable housing policies dominated the discussion during the hour-long Tuesday afternoon CEDA session, it was the tall man from the second floor City Hall office who got a lot of the attention as well. 

Both citizens and Council-members alike urged Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums to issue his promised comprehensive housing policy recommendations in order to help move the discussion—and any possible compromise—forward.  

As he did when the committee first received the Blue Ribbon Commission report last year, Councilmember Henry Chang said at Tuesday’s meeting that “we need to hear from the mayor. We need to give him the chance to propose his piece.”  

Last year, Chang had said that he didn’t want the council to get too deep into its deliberations over the housing issues and then have the mayor issue his recommendations, causing the council to have to start all over again. 

Interim Community & Economic Development Agency Director Dan Lindheim, until recently the mayor’s budget director and chief economic adviser, told a reporter only that the mayor’s recommendations would be issued “soon,” later telling committee members that the mayor’s housing proposal would be issued “in the time frame you want for your [next] meeting.” 

The Council CEDA committee will take up the affordable housing discussion again on January 22, with the expectation that the discussion will then move to the full Council. But Committee Chair Jane Brunner indicated that if the mayor’s proposal were not in hand by the meeting on the 22nd, the council discussion would not wait. 

The 8-member City Council split down the middle in late 2006 both on a plan for a city ordinance proposed by Councilmembers Jane Brunner and Jean Quan to mandate space in new housing developments for units affordable to low-income residents—inclusionary zoning—as well as on changes designed to ease restrictions in city’s condominium conversion law proposed by Councilmember Desley Brooks.  

In a compromise, councilmembers sent both of the issues to a newly formed Blue Ribbon Commission composed of representatives of city councilmembers and current Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and then-Mayor Jerry Brown with appointees by the city attorney and city administrator. But the Blue Ribbon Commission itself split on the two issues, releasing watered-down inclusionary zoning recommendations and failing to come to consensus on condominium conversion. That put the issues back into the hands of Oakland City Council. 

The issues are difficult in part because while both are aimed at helping lower-income residents, in some ways they work at cross-purposes to each other. While inclusionary zoning is designed to increase the number of available lower-income rental units in the city, condominium conversion can lower the number of such units by turning them into ownership properties.  

This is one of the reasons that longtime Oakland advocates for lower-income residents have found themselves on the opposite sides of the inclusionary zoning/condominium conversion divide. 

At Tuesday’s meeting, CEDA Committee Chair Jane Brunner, who has been pushing for an Oakland inclusionary zoning ordinance for what she said was “eight to nine years,” said that this latest attempt will be a make or break effort. 

“In the next two months, my goal is either that Council will come up with a proposal that five members [a majority] will support, or else we’ll say that it’s not going to happen,” Brunner said. “We won’t keep coming back every few months to raise the issue again.” 

After listening to 19 public speakers repeat the familiar pro and con arguments, including two members of the Blue Ribbon Commission, CEDA Committee Councilmembers said there may be a chance for a compromise, so long as the two issues of inclusionary zoning and condominium conversion are linked together. 

“It has got to be both IZ [inclusionary zoning] and condominium conversion,” Council President Ignacio De La Fuente said. “We don’t have the luxury of advocating for just one need. We need to have a reasonable, balanced policy that increases the number of affordable rental units and increases the number of homeowners in the city. Unless we do both, I don’t think I’ll be doing my job.” 

Following De La Fuente’s remarks, Councilmember Larry Reid said that “the president of the Council spoke for the same position I’m taking” on the two housing issues. 

“It’s going to take a compromise by the Council,” Brunner said. While she continued to promote the need for an inclusionary zoning ordinance in Oakland—noting that “every other city [in the area] has it”—Brunner also said that “we need condo conversion. I don’t want to do so much, however, that we end up doing away with too many rental units.” 

Brunner also said she would resist calls from some of the public speakers for a comprehensive housing policy that included, among other things, relief for the city’s growing homeless problem. 

Referring to a set of proposals she submitted to CEDA Committee members “just to get the conversation started,” Brunner said that “I chose not to put other things in [besides inclusionary zoning and condominium conversion], but I think those should be the second things we do. If we try to do it now, it will take another six to 12 months to get something passed.” 

FRIDAY, JAN. 11 

International Day of Action to Shut Down Guantánamo Candlelight Vigil at 5:30 p.m. at downtown Berkeley BART. Please wear orange. Sponsored by Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture, the Fr. Bill O'Donnell Social Justice Committee of St. Joseph the Worker, the TEARS Ministry Team of FCCB. In San Francisco gather at 4 p.m. at the federal courthouse at 95 7th St., at Mission St., near Civic Center BART. Sponsored by Act Against Torture and others. www.actagainsttorture.org 

Teen Playreaders meets to read “Hamlet” and other plays based on the classic, at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. 981-6121. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert David Tufft, M.D. on “Hyperbaric Medicine” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant. 526-2925.  

Potters Council “Explore the Surface” Ceramic Workshop Listen, watch and learn from David Hendley, Gerald and Kelly Hong, Willie Hulce, Julia Kirillova, Sam Chung and Virginia Cartwright and others. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Leslie Ceramics Supply Co, Inc., 1212 San Pablo Ave. Workshop classes Sat. and Sun. from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at The Berkeley Potters Guild; 731 Jones St. Cost is $150-$380. 866-721-3322. www.potterscouncil.org/explorethesurface  

Circle Dancing in Berkeley Simple folk dancing in a circle, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut. Donation $5. 528-4253.  

Womansong Circle at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley Small Assembly Room, 2345 Channing. Donation $15-$20. 525-7082.  

SATURDAY, JAN. 12 

First Annual Christmas Tree Mulching Bring your trees from your neighborhood to People’s Park between 2 p.m. Sat. and noon Sun. Please leave your trees behind the Free Speech Stage to be turned into nutritional soil for the People’s Park Community Garden. 658-9178. 

Weed Warriors on East Bay Shore Join Friends of Five Creeks and Building with Books removing invasive weeds and helping to establish native vegetation from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Eastshore State Park. Meet at Sea Breeze Delicatessen, south side of University Ave. Bring lunch if you plan to stay the full four hours, but come for as long as you like. Dress in layers; we will work in a drizzle but heavy rain cancels. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

“Breaking Down Big Oil: How the Industry Works and How to Stop It From Driving War, Destroying Our Planet, and Decimating Our Democracy” with Antonia Juhasz at 7 p.m. at the Alameda Free Library, Conference Room A, 1550 Oak St. at Lincoln, Alameda. www.alamedaforum.org 

“The Fine Art of Pruning” Pruning is needed to maintain plant health, control plant growth, and encourage flowering and fruiting. Learn pruning basics with Kelley Dunn at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

The East Bay Chapter of the Great War Society meets to discuss “Refugees, Relief & Reconstruction- American Humanitarian Assistance” by Branden Little at 10:30 a.m. at the West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. 

Happy Hibernators Learn about the animals that hibernate during the winter to escape the cold at 10:30 a.m. at the Oakland Zoo, 9777 Golf Links Rd. Cost is $7.50-$10. Registration required. 632-9525. 

Kids Go Green Activities centered on ecology and climate change from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $9-$13. 336-7373.  

Potters Council “Explore the Surface” Ceramic Workshop classes Sat. and Sun. from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at The Berkeley Potters Guild; 731 Jones St. Cost is $150-$380. 866-721-3322.  

Yoga Benefit for Kristi Rudolph from 8:30 a.m. on at 7th Heaven Yoga Center, 2820 Seventh St. Donation $20-$50. 

Health Screenings including blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

“Be a Savvy Healthcare Consumer” with author Christine Larson at 3:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

“Have I Got a Story to Tell” A storytelling circle with Diane Ferlatte at 2 p.m. at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave., Oakland. 532-9142. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

SUNDAY, JAN. 13 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Field Trip “Tilden Regional Park” with Della Dash. Meet at 9 a.m. at the parking lot at north end of Central Park Drive near the Little Farm for a 4 mile hike to look at wintering birds. 843-2222. 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Field Trip “Albany Mudflats” with Oliver James. Meet at 8 a.m. at the raised platform located on the access road to the Albany Bulb to look at wintering birds. 843-2222. 

Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Refuge Workday Help prepare habitat for California Least Terns. Meet at 9 a.m. at main refuge gate, northwest corner of former Alameda Naval Air Station, Alameda. For more information and directions, contact Golden Gate Audubon volunteer coordinator, 843-2222. jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org  

El Cerrito Historical Society meets to discuss “Images of America: Albany” with author Karen Sorenson at 1 p.m. at the El Cerrito Senior Center, behind the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. 526-7507. 

“Will Annapolis Lead to Israeli-Palestinian Peace?” with Marcia Freedman and Ruth Atkin at 2 p.m. at Cafe Leila, 1724 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5-$15. RSVP to 524-1993, sf-bayarea@btvshalom.org 

“Who Killed the Electric Car?” Documentary showing at 1:15 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. 834-7640 

Cool Schools Global Warming Campaign meets to discuss Transportation and Climate Change from 2 to 4 p.m. RSVP for location. 704-4030. chicory@earthteam.net  

Grandmothers for the Oaks Celebration Bring warm clothes to donate, hot food and songs of solidarity at 2 p.m. at Memorial Oak Grove, on Piedmont, just north of Bancroft. www.saveoaks.com 

Cheri Lovre, Director of Crisis Management Institute, Salem, Oregon at 11:20 a.m. at Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 526-9146. 

Mantras of Henry Marshall, led by Marcia Emery, PhD. at 2 p.m. at Peralta Community Garden, Hopkins and Peralta. If by chance it rains, we will postpone until the following month. 526-5510. 

“Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement” with Shira Miller at 3 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

MONDAY, JAN. 14 

Berkeley Green Mondays with Diane Beeson, PhD and Tina Stevens, PhD, Co-founders of Alliance for Humane Biotechnology on “The human egg trade, cloning, and market eugenics” at 7:30 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 848-4681. www.berkeleygreens.org 

“Eat at Bill’s: Life in the Monterey Market” a film by Lisa Brenneis, followed by a discusssion with the market’s owner, Bill Fujimoto at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

“Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism” A discussion of the book by Ardea Skybreak at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Orientation from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. Come learn about volunteer opportunities. 644-8833. 

Kids Dance Program at Ashkenaz Creative Movement and Ballet for ages 3-8, Mon. and Wed. afternoons. Call for information. 233-5550. animamundi@jps.net 

TUESDAY, JAN. 15 

The Berkeley Garden Club meets at 1 p.m., at Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins St. The speaker will be Amy Meyer, Co-Chair, GGNRA, speaking on “The Creation of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Its Ongoing Ecological Restoration.” Cost is $3, free for members. 845-4482.  

Solo Sierrans Hike in Tilden Park to explore watersheds, newts and winter topics, on a trail that might be muddy. Meet at 1:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Area. Optional dinner follows. 234-8949. 

“Meeting Resistance” Molly Bingham and Steve Connors’ documentary on the the Iraq insurgency at 7:30 p.m. at Grand Lake Theater, 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. Cost is $10. 452-3556. 

“The Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez” Film screening followed by discussion of the impact of war and military recruiting on immigrant youth, at 4 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Cesar Chavez Branch, 3301 E. 12th St., Ste. 271 Free for youth. 535-5620. 

Retirement Community Information Fair with representatives from 12 East Bay retirement communities and the Adult Day Network of Alameda County from 1 to 3 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Martin Luther King Way. 848-1960, ext. 246.  

“If These Walls Could Talk” Video at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. 

“What is Everyday Creativity?” with Ruth Richards at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley Ave. 848-3440. www.ahimsaberkeley.org 

The Café Literario, book discussion group in Spanish, meets to discuss “El Túnel” by Ernesto Sábato at 7 p.m. at the West Branch Library, 1125 University Ave. 981-6270. 

“Winter Mountaineering: Basic to Advanced” A slide presentation with Tim Keating at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from noon to 6 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

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. 

End the Occupation Vigil every Tues. at noon at Oakland Federal Bldg., 1301 Clay St. www.epicalc.org 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

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. We always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 16 

“Caught in the Crossfire” A documentary on the plight of civilians in Fallujah and “Children of Abraham” at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. www.Humanist Hall.org 

Teen Chess Club from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the North Branch Library, 1170 The Alameda at Hopkins. 981-6133. 

War and Peace Book Group meets to discuss “A Very Long Engagement” by Sebastian Japrisot at 7 p.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 16. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Morning Meditation Every Mon., Wed., and Fri. at 7:45 a.m. at Rudramandir, 830 Bancroft Way at 6th. 486-8700. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 17 

Alan Alda in Conversation with Bob Osserman on Alda’s lifelong interest in science at 7 p.m. at The Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. Tickets are $14-$22. 647-2949. www.msri.org 

Golden Gate Audubon Society “Antartica: An Unforgettable Journey” with Eleanor Briccetti at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 843-2222. 

“Workshop: Zen and the Art of Mushroom Hunting” Discover the world of mushrooms with Debbie Viess in an evening slide lecture (and a field trip on Sat. the 19th) at 7:30 p.m. at Oakland Museum of CA, 1000 Oak St., at 10th St., Oakland. Cost is $35. Registration required. 843-2222. www.museumca.org 

Berkeley Democratic Club General Membership Meeting with Prof. David Tabb, on “The Presidential Primary” at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, Parlor Room, 941 The Alameda. www.berkeleydemocraticclub.com 

LeConte Neighborhood Association meets at 7:30 p.m. at the LeConte School cafeteria. (Please use Russell St. entrance.) Agenda includes a discussion of ways to make our homes and streets safer. We will also have our Board election for 2008. karlreeh@aol.com 

Appreciating Diversity Film Series “Aging Out” about foster youth who “age out” of the system at 7 p.m., followed by discussion, at Ellen Driscoll Theater, 325 Highland Ave., Piedmont. Appropriate for children 12 and older. www.diversityfilmseries.org 

“Dissent: Voices of Conscience” Celebrate the release of Col. Wright’s new book at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. Cost is $5-$10. 488-3559. 

Computer and Office Technology Classes begin at Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St. Enrollment open through Feb. 9. www.peralta.edu. 981-2800. 

“Sustainable Urbanism” with David Baker at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Orientation from 4 to 5 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. Come learn about volunteer opportunities. 644-8833. 

Small Business Panel and workshop for people thinking of starting, mamnaging and growing a small business at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. 526-7512.  

Babies & Toddlers Storytime at 10:15 and 11:15 a.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

ONGOING 

E-Waste Recycling St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County accepts electronic waste including computers, dvd players, cell phones, fax machines and many other ewaste products for disposal free of charge at many of its locations throughout Alameda County. Make a tax-deductible donation while disposing of your ewaste appropriately and helping those in need. Free bulk pick-up available. 638-7600. www.svdp-alameda.org 

Help a Newt Cross the Road Every year newts migrate across Hillside Drive to reach their breeding pools in Castro Creek. Volunteers prevent many of these creatures from being crushed by cars. We need volunteers every evening during January and February in El Sobrante. The newts are most active on rainy nights. annabelle11_3@yahoo.com 

Free Tax Help If your 2007 household income was less than $42,000, you are eligible for free tax preparation from United Way's Earn it! Keep It! Save It! Sites are open now through April 15 in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. To find a site near you, call 800-358-8832. www.EarnItKeepItSaveIt.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 15, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci.erkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Fair Campaign Practices Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 17, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6950.  

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 17, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5400.

When Rebecca’s Books, specializing in poetry, opened Oct. 27 at 3268 Adeline Ave. in South Berkeley, the Morning Star Choir came up from the Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Los Angeles to sing.  

It’s the choir that store proprietor Mary Ann Braithwaite and her son used to sing with, and Braithwaite just commented, “That’s love!” 

“My friends came up from L.A. for the opening,” she recalled, “and said, ‘You’re home!’ And I feel I’m home. I miss my support system there, but people here say, ‘We’re your support system!’ Amazing people I never have would thought to meet are coming in and out. And I’ve been learning from strangers. That’s part of Berkeley, too. I’m the happiest I’ve been since I had my children.” 

Walking im off the street, one feels what Braithwaite says her customers keep describing—Rebecca’s Books is warm and homey. Colorful covers—most new poetry books, some used, some cultural titles and a growing collection of children’s books—are on display around the main room and in ‘Polly’s Place,’ a children’s room in the back.  

“Rebecca’s Books is named after my mother,” Braithwaite said, “Polly was her nickname.” Looking over the back room, she remarked, “This is the hardest challenge.” 

Artwork covers the walls, much of it from Braithwaite’s own collection, with other pieces brought in by her old friend of 30 years, Oakland artist Woody Johnson as well as artists he’s referred. “People started coming in, saying ‘Woody sent me’—then Woody came in and hung them up!” 

There are cards, journals, jewelry, some handmade candleholders Woody Johnson provided. It’s a bookstore with a particularly personal touch, arrayed neatly yet casually. Asked about how the books are organized, “Braithwaite joked, “There is no organization! Somebody alphabetized it, and I ended up switching everything. It has its order. And I’ve had no complaints about it.” 

Another old friend, poet Reginald Lockett, has helped with the selection. “Every book is handpicked, 90 percent my own favorites.”  

Others have weighed in, too. “Ishmael Reed came by and offered to help. Berkeley poet Rebecca Fromer, a cofounder of the Magnes Museum, and her friend Ruth “came in at just the right time and soothed me ... I’m an impatient person, but that’s not the way to do it. I learn as I go along. I’m not going anywhere.” 

There are open mic readings every other Friday, M.C.’d by former Cal student Brandelyn Castine. More readings will be scheduled. California Poet Laureate Al Young has agreed to appear. And others less known have come by with their books and manuscripts. 

Braithwaite’s attitude is truly catholic, community oriented: “I don’t want to get a reputation having only strangers; on the other hand, all started that way. I’ve read things given to me that weren’t my type, but possibly those writers could do a reading. We’re very diverse. I was taught by Sister Mary Carol in school that it’s a matter of interpretation. Like music, poetry says different things to different people. And maybe that wasn’t the way it was written! I say, ‘If indeed your poetry means this, maybe I just don’t get it—but don’t tell me I’m wrong! I just see it different.’” 

Looking at pictures of her mother on the wall , Braithwaite talked about how her parents married in Tennessee and moved to Chicago, where she was born, moving again to L. A. when she was 11. She worked as an administrator for the Catholic Church for 21 years, retiring early and selling her house to found Rebecca’s Books. “I truly loved it, but always knew I’d do something else.”  

She’d lived in San Francisco from the late ’70s to the mid ’80s, and started visiting again a few years ago when her son was attending Dominican University in San Rafael. She acquired the store a year ago last month, and moved here in May.  

“I wanted this to be a black bookstore,” Braithwaite said, “But one day I was sitting in the Vault Cafe, on Adeline, with the young man who was my orderer, who’s white, looking around—and I said, These are my customers. So it’s black-owned, but for everybody, including children.” 

“It’s really sad kids aren’t exposed to poetry,” she went on. “I did Black History Month a while ago at our school down in L.A. I auditioned the kids to read poetry—as the poets. I picked them so they looked liked the poets. I had my little Ishmael Reed with long hair, my little Al Young ... my Langston Hughes was a tall, lanky kid ... I said, ‘You wear a suit and tie!’ I gave them each a poem and two days to prepare. They really got interested! They got on the internet and found more stuff—‘Can we read this?’ I had to tell them we only had ten minutes. It was kind of like my little going away.” 

Asked why she wanted a poetry bookstore, Braithwaite replied, “There’s a need. When you walk into most bookstores, you see the same four or five generic poets—and don’t get me wrong, I love them—but the same in every store. Poetry needs exposure. It does something to me, for me. I love to read. The majority of these books are in my house. That’s a good thing—and a bad thing!” 

With friends sending her library discards to give away—“and my accountant, who keeps telling me I’m not a nonprofit!”—Braithwaite wants Rebecca’s to be part of the scene, making its own unique contribution. “People come in and say, ‘I’ll be back,’ then bring in someone else with them. And there’s no competition. The biggest compliment I got was when some people walked by, and one said, ‘Honey, look! A City Lights in Berkeley!’” 

Customers and bank employees, aided by a passerby, captured a Berkeley man after he ransacked a San Pablo Avenue bank Monday, attacked two employees with a knife and beat an assistant manager with a telephone. 

Berkeley Police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said the attacker, 25-year-old Frank Eugene Moore III, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault weapon. 

Police first heard of the attack when a 22-year-old man called 911 to say that two men had just run out of the Bank of America at 2546 San Pablo Ave. screaming “Someone got stabbed!” 

After getting out of his car and calling 911, “as he turned toward the bank, he saw an office chair flying out the door, followed by a man running very quickly,” said Sgt. Kusmiss. 

Two other men followed the running man, catching up to him and holding him down, joined by the witness, who later told police the man was actively resisting. 

That was the scene that greeted officers as they arrived. 

In the subsequent investigation, officers learned that the 6-foot 2-inch, 180 pound attacker had walked into the bank and demanded help with a student loan. Another employee told the assistant manager, “The guy is impatient,” and she walked over to help. 

“She saw that he had started yelling at her colleague,” said Sgt. Kusmiss. “He was cursing very loudly.” 

When the assistant manager said they didn’t handle student loans at the branch, and that they were typically handled over the telephone, witnesses said Moore yelled, “Bitch, get me the student loan!” 

At that point, they said, the angry man yanked a phone from the wall and used it to beat her on the top of the head. 

“Then he pulled a steak-type knife from his pocket, swinging it and striking in a downward direction at the manager” and the other bank employee who had originally tried to help him, said the sergeant. 

After Moore hit the assistant manager and pulled the knife, the 35-year-old bank worker “jumped in to prevent him from killing her,” said Sgt. Kusmiss. 

The worker grabbed an office chair to fend him off, and then both men fell to the floor, pummeling each other with their fists until other bank workers and several customers intervened. 

During the fracas, a 77-year-old bank customer who was on crutches was knocked to the floor and sustained injuries. 

Meanwhile, the workers and customer were “able to push him (Moore) out the door,” Sgt. Kusmiss said, “and that was where the witness came in.” 

After police arrived, multiple witnesses identified Moore as the attacker. 

The assistant manager was taken to the hospital as was the injured customer. The banker suffered lacerations to her head, which were stapled in the emergency room. 

Moore also complained of injuries, and he too was taken to an emergency room, where he was examined and found to have suffered bruises in the attack. 

Moore was booked into city jail, and later taken to the county’s Santa Rita jail, where he was formally booked on the four felony counts. He remained in custody Thursday evening. 

Police found an incomplete application for Corinthian Colleges, Inc., in the assailant’s backpack. The only entries were in the comments section. 

Corinthian is a private educational corporation with several campuses in the Bay Area, including Oakland and Fremont. 

In her statement to police, one customer described the Monday afternoon’s attack as “the scariest thing I had ever witnessed,” said Sgt. Kusmiss. “The customers and employees were instrumental in detaining him, and quite possibly someone could have been seriously injured or killed” without their assistance, she said. 

Later investigation revealed that Moore was a Bank of America customer, but he hadn’t received any loans from the bank.

A Berkeley man with a long criminal record was sentenced Thursday to 56 years in state prison for attempting to murder Berkeley police Officer Darren Kacalek nearly three years ago by shooting at him at least five times. 

Howard Street’s lawyer, Andrew Steckler, asked Alameda County Superior Court Judge Joseph Hurley to give Street a lighter sentence, arguing that Street’s decision-making ability had been hampered by post-traumatic stress disorder due to being involved in many shooting incidents during his long criminal career. 

But Hurley said that by choosing a life of crime, Street, 39, “put himself beyond the law” and “deserves the full impact of the law” through a stiff sentence. He observed that Street “probably will not get out of prison.” 

Kacalek didn’t say anything at the hearing, which was attended by about 25 other uniformed Berkeley police officers, but afterward he said “justice was served” by the stiff sentence Street received. 

On Oct. 30, after deliberating for less than two full days, jurors convicted Street of the attempted murder of a police officer as well as willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder for the incident involving Kacalek for the shooting incident near Delaware and Sixth streets in West Berkeley in the early morning hours of May 17, 2005. 

The courtroom battle over UC Berkeley’s stadium area projects has taken a new twist—arguments over whether or not a judge should gather critical new evidence. 

A hearing on the issue is scheduled this afternoon (Friday) in a Hayward courtroom. The focus of the furor is the contention by plaintiffs challenging the university’s Memorial Stadium-area projects that the new high-tech gym planned along the stadium’s western wall is attached to the landmarked sports venue rather than a separate structure. 

While the City of Berkeley, Panoramic Hill Association, the California Oak Foundation and other plaintiffs contend the buildings are attached, they don’t want Judge Barbara J. Miller to collect expert evidence on the issue. 

If the buildings are attached, the $125 million gym project would fall under the provisions of the Alquist-Priolo Act that limit additions or renovations of buildings within 50 feet of active earthquake faults. 

Since the stadium itself sits directly atop the main trace of the Hayward Fault, a finding that the gym is attached to the stadium would sharply restrict the university’s plans—which include, in addition to the four-story gym and office complex, major renovations of the stadium itself. 

Judge Miller issued an order Dec. 10, two months after attorneys made their final arguments, calling on both sides to present written declarations from experts addressing the question. 

That triggered a flood of letters and briefs, with the plaintiffs opposing any move to introduce new evidence after both sides had rested their respective cases. 

In a Dec. 26 letter to the judge, San Francisco attorney Charles R. Olson, the university’s outside counsel, argued that the state Evidence Code gives the court “discretion to accept extra-record evidence.” 

Michael Lozeau, the attorney for the Panoramic Hill Association, said that the real issue before the court is not whether the structures are connected—though the plaintiffs contend that is, indeed, the case. 

The real issue, he said, is the fact that UC Board of Regents failed to consider the issue when approving the project more than a year ago. 

Construction of the gym was originally set to begin a year ago, but the lawsuit stalled the university’s plans. The planned cutting of a grove of Coastal Live Oaks led to an ongoing protest by tree-sitters which has now lasted more than 400 days.

Fire Chars Grocery, Smog Shop 

A Tuesday night fire did $150,000 in damage to a San Pablo Avenue grocery store and caused smoke damage to a business next door—a smog shop. 

Deputy Fire Chief Gil Dong said a passing motorist called 911 after spotting smoke pouring from the Dollar Deals Grocery Store at 2326 San Pablo Ave. at 8:56 p.m. 

Firefighters arrived moments later to find the building heavily involved in fire. The roof and walls sustained significant damage from the flames, which had been triggered by electrical problems, said the deputy chief. 

There were no injuries, and the store was unoccupied when the fire began. 

The adjoining 7 Days A Week Smog shop sustained smoke damage from the blaze, said Dong.

It is perfectly understandable why many citizens in Oakland have not waited to see if the pending Oakland police reorganization makes any changes in the problems of violence and crime in the city. Instead--almost as if the city’s police arbitration victory never happened and Chief Tucker’s reorganization plans were never announced--there have been continued loud cries from many neighborhoods that something must be done about the crime problem, including hiring more police. 

The first reason, I believe, that there is little patience for Mr. Dellums’ and Mr. Tucker’s police reorganization reforms to kick in is that we are far too used to having politicians and leaders offer quick solutions to complex problems, usually some piece of new legislation or regulation that gets the leader a lot of headlines and does little else. We get a lot of that in Oakland. The “solution” that comes readily to mind is when former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown--when he needed to buck up his law-and-order credentials for his run for California Attorney General--pushed an “arrest the sideshow spectators” ordinance through Oakland City Council. Whatever happened to that ordinance? Was it needed? Was it used? After all the state publicity Mr. Brown garnered from its passage, it has vanished from the public view. 

But the second reason many citizens don’t have a lot of confidence about the police reorganization is the way in which the reorganization made it into the public eye. 

When he originally announced the reorganization, Chief Tucker said he was proposing dividing the city into three districts--with patrol officers assigned to one district only with a single captain and command structure in each--with the catchword description of “geographical accountability.” What that meant, Mr. Tucker explained, was to have police officers and their commanders in closer touch with the individual communities and neighborhoods they were patrolling, rather than the current practice of having police generally roll around to any area across the entire city where trouble is reported. This would be a real step, Mr. Tucker went on to say, toward instituting “community policing” in Oakland. 

But the “community policing” and “geographical accountability” aspects of the plan were not the parts that got the most publicity when the chief’s proposal got closer to actual implementation. 

Instead, the Oakland Police Officers Association objected to the 12 hour shift portion of the proposal. That’s what went to arbitration and, when the arbitrator ruled against the OPOA, it is the 12 hour day that became the symbol of the reorganization, overshadowing everything else. 

Because of that publicity, it is difficult, now, to recall that Mr. Tucker always maintained that his goal was dividing the city up into three sections, and that he wanted to institute the 12 hour shifts only because it was impossible to do the division any other way. The 12 hour shifts, in other words, were only the means to establishing the chief’s ultimate goal, police and their commanders responsible for smaller geographical districts, so that they could become more familiar with those districts and the people and problems in them, and more accountable to the citizens in those districts. 

But because of the publicity over the police-city arbitration, much of the press and the public got it backwards, thinking that the purpose of the reorganization was to establish the 12 hour shifts. Thus, while a Kelly Rayburn article in the November 27, 2007 Tribune explained that the plan’s main thrust was the division of the city into three districts, the article’s headline itself read “Oakland mayor, police unveil 12-hour shift plan to curb violence.” 

Under the circumstances, it is understandable why the some citizens are either not generally willing to wait to give the plan a chance or do not think the reorganization is going to be that big a deal. It was revealed during the arbitration that many Oakland police officers were already doing 12 hour shifts and more, padding their regular 10 hour shifts with overtime. If the chief’s plan was simply to have police working the same number of hours on regular pay that they are currently working on overtime pay, the plan would be a mere reshuffling of the same number of cards in the same deck, with, therefore, little or no chance to curb crime in Oakland. 

I think it is more than that. But I also think it is going to take some time for Mr. Tucker’s reforms to kick in, and to see what kind of effect they have on the average citizen’s contact with the police. 

The calls for more police--above the currently-authorized 803--are going to continue to resonate throughout many parts of Oakland, in no small part because it is such a simple-slogan solution that is easy for people to grasp. Citizens want enough of a police presence where they live and work and shop to discourage criminal activity. When they call the police department--either the emergency or non-emergency number--they want a patrol officer to respond in a short amount of time. If they have been the victim of a crime, they want enough police resources put in for that crime to be solved, and the perpetrators arrested. The call for “more police” seems to meet those concerns, and so we will probably hear it in one or more of the Oakland City Council races scheduled for this June. 

Popular as the idea of “more police” is in some Oakland quarters, however, as I’ve written before, I can see little chance of implementation in the foreseeable future. Nowhere have I read any of the advocates identifying what portion of Oakland’s budget they would cut--what services they would trim or end, what employees they would fire--in order to free up the money to hire the new police. And given the suspicions generated by the city’s failure to hire the full complement of 803 police officers authorized by Measure Y, it is difficult to envision anyone in this climate being able to muster the two-thirds vote in Oakland necessary to pass a bond measure to fund the two to three hundred new police they are advocating for. But stranger things have happened. 

Meanwhile, I don’t think the Dellums Administration should do nothing else on the crime and violence front until the police reorganization reforms take hold long enough to be evaluated. The mayor’s staff is said to be working on a comprehensive public safety plan designed to integrate city and police resources to respond to crime and violence when it happens, and to begin eliminating its causes before it happens. The mayor alluded to that at last year’s West Oakland Town Hall meeting when he said that the scattered approach of small city funding to a large number of Measure Y violence prevention groups needed to be consolidated into an integrated, anti-violence strategy. Since then, we have heard little about that effort. But perhaps, with the mayor’s State of the City address coming up next week, we will hear more. 

While all of this is going on, for myself, I wish that the mayor would revisit one of the promises he made during the mayoral campaign of 2006. During that campaign, Mr. Dellums often expressed his willingness to sit down and meet with the “shot callers” in Oakland-gang leaders, essentially to see if some method could be worked out to lower the level of violence in the city. 

There are a number of such efforts already going on throughout the state. Before he was executed by the state of California, former Crips founder Stanley “Tookie” Williams had been working on such truces with Crips gang members from his cell on San Quentin’s Death Row. Following Williams’ death, Richmond community activist Barbara Becnel has set up the Stanley “Tookie” Williams Legacy Network (http://www.stwlegacy.net/) to continue that work, and last month, at a Contra Costa College showing of a new documentary on Williams, Becnel announced that the organization was sending several Richmond street leaders to Compton to meet with former Crips leaders to see how those anti-violence efforts were organized. Oakland should be joining and coordinating with those efforts. 

There are few leaders who have the national stature on progressive and civil rights issues of Ron Dellums, and few who could command the attention and respect of the “shot callers” as Mr. Dellums can. An Oakland anti-violence summit meeting, held with the people who can actually have some influence with those who are committing that violence, would be a good use of the mayor’s enormous talents and, if it succeeded even to a small degree in lowering the temperature in the streets, a tremendous step forward in the city. 

There are no quick fixes to the twin problems of crime and violence in Oakland. But if we take the time to think about them, and talk about them, and work on them, there are solutions. 

PERILS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s heartening to read the fervent advocacy for Housing and Public Health for Berkeley citizens in recent letters to the Daily Planet from Philip Ardsley Smith (housing) and Peter Schorer and Joan Levinson (cell phone towers). It is indeed alarming to witness the dominoes falling in Berkeley as elected representatives and city officials bow down to real estate developers, telecommunications giants, and university/corporate collusion called scientific experimentation and “green” progress.  

The entire Bay Area was rightfully alarmed and up in arms about the accident that dumped tons of poisonous oil into the bay, killed wildlife and fowled shores, and laid bare the lack of planning and preparation for such disasters. 

Will we wait until our hills and streams are poisoned by toxic chemicals, our residents become increasingly ill from electromagnetic exposure, and non-affluent citizens join the ranks of the homeless before Berkeley takes principled, socially responsible action on these crucial issues instead of caving in to the powerful forces that that are drooling to take over this city? Will Berkeley become just another bedroom community for commuters, while long-time residents, taxpayers and voters are driven out of our community? And where will we go?  

Berkeley’s citizens, leaders, and city officials concerned with housing and public health need to ally with counterparts in neighboring cities and San Francisco in a united fight for the rights of all people for decent housing and public health. 

Marianne Robinson 

• 

CELL PHONE TOWERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The cell phone antenna issue, while tearing apart the lives of some residents in this city, barely touches the rest. This is a great failure: a failure of the media, including the Daily Planet, to update and track this struggle in South Berkeley more informatively, a failure of the organizers to reach out beyond themselves, a failure of our city government to genuinely unite with the people of the neighborhood in a pro-democratic alliance, a failure of our religious leaders to advocate for the well being of the community and to demand ethical solutions, a failure in all of us as public citizens who, it seems to me, could act in a loving and generous way toward each other—even across class and race divisions. 

Don’t we want to know the truth about this stuff? Don’t we want to clean the environment and make our world less toxic? Read the following short, clear study from Israel in it’s entirety and then tell me you don’t believe in precaution and moratorium-perhaps followed by relocation of all radiation-emitting antennas to areas where people don’t live. A responsible newspaper would print this conscientious and important study for all to see! Perhaps it would shake people out of their complacency. But short of full exposure and minus the Town Hall Meeting we were promised by Barbara Lee’s office over a year ago, I urge you to read and discuss the following study. It is a good jumping off place. 

For more information, see www.antennebureau.nl/fileadmin/pdfs/Netanya-onderzoek.pdf. 

Laurie Baumgarten 

• 

LUDDITE’S 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

If I have to read another letter from one of Berkeley’s Luddite conservatives, I think I’ll scream (or laugh). 

It seems that every edition of the Planet brings forth another letter from another technophobe decrying the cell phone towers proposed for the UC Storage building. While I think that cell phones are indeed a very mixed blessing, it appears that most people in Berkeley are embracing this new strange technology. Some are taking advantage of other 20th and 21st century radio-wave based technologies like radio, wireless Internet, and television. There are even those who have embraced microwave ovens and enjoy venturing into the sun on occasion. 

While I too wanted to believe the worst about cell phone radiation, it appears that there is no real evidence to show that it causes any actual harm. 

I understand that conservatives fear change; different religions, different types of people, new buildings, and new technologies are all pretty scary until you get to know them better. 

By the way, I bought a cell phone last year. It mostly is off, or in vibrate mode, when it is on. I use it about 10 minutes a month. It isn’t too scary. 

Fred Massell 

Oakland 

• 

XXXXXXXXXX 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Another thousand times no, no and no on the proposed building of a new sports facility on the western edge of the Memorial Stadium—and for many of the same reasons I argued unsuccessfully some years ago for a different location for the Haas Business School.  

We have lived on the north south axisroad across the eastern edge of the campus less than a mile from the stadium for many years. We walk to football games and arts events on campus. Since the Haas Business School was built, where do all those people park? Every day I see commuters trying to cross in either direction on that edge of Campus driving, stopping, starting, moving fast then stopped still, trying to get to parking spaces. Day and night, pedestrian traffic brings long lines of cars to a halt—traffic can only go in a north/south direction. Once on the stadium road, there are no opportunities for turning east or west as the traffic builds up. Filling and more filling of that glorious, green open eastern end of my beloved alma mater breaks my heart. More tall state of the art concrete buildings, cars, people, trucks, buses, vans, motorcycles and congestion continue to obliterate the most beautiful and last natural edge of my Campus.  

Put our talented athletes nearer our degraded and neglected downtown! Put the athletic support staffs for all of Cal’s illustrious, popular sports teams, the vehicles and fans’ access where there is more parking than exists at the eastern edge of campus. Put these thousands of people within walking distance to a variety of activities near the multi-million dollar basketball facility on Bancroft, the huge Zellerbach entertainment complex, the hub of the Cal administration complex, the churches and performance spaces, the proposed world class art museum, the UC Press Building, the new baseball diamond on Bancroft Avenue, the beautiful Edwards track stadium, a unique architectural gem on the western edge of the campus. Put all of this activity close to BART and the buses, the restaurants, the clubs and bars, the huge, newly renovated state of the art public library, the professional theatres, the dozens of movie houses and hundreds of small retail shops.  

There is absolutely no argument for building this multi-purpose “jewel” on an earthquake fault in the trees in our foothills and residential neighborhoods further filling in the wildest, greenest, most forested and most open perimeter of our beautiful Campus. The football team and their support staff can travel a few blocks by van between the Stadium and the training center day and night. 

Judith Holland  

• 

PARKING, BRT, AND 

RAPID BUS PLUS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Parking is just one reason I am opposed to Bus Rapid Transit as it’s currently proposed. I’m more concerned about spending any more time and money to develop a preferred alternative if we feel that all of the alternatives will be disastrous for Berkeley. 

That said, AC Transit’s parking analysis in the draft environmental impact statement is greatly flawed. 

First, just like the DEIS analysis of shortest path for traffic, AC Transit’s proposal to replace just one parking space per block over the entire route flies in the face of observation. Parking is needed close to businesses. It makes no sense to say that five blocks away you’ll find a spot. Look at successful shopping areas like Fourth Street that have numerous parking lots scattered throughout the area. 

Second, it’s bad planning for AC Transit to do a mitigation count based on the entire line. The count should be done over each small section where businesses exist, such as Telegraph from Dwight to Alcatraz. Calculate the actual number of spots displaced by BRT in that section and do the replacement count based on that number. That analysis would come up with a much larger number than the entire line analysis did. 

Third, AC Transit found 1,300 spaces displaced over the length of the route, that’s 76 spaces per mile or 7.6 spaces per block. Imagine seven or eight spaces gone from every block on Telegraph. That would be a massive hit for the businesses that operate there. If the number were actually greater, the impact could be devastating. 

As I said, parking is just one of the issues I have with BRT. There are equally compelling arguments for the other issues as well. 

There is a solution to the tit for tat characterizing much of the current debate. Let’s come together around making Rapid Bus Plus work. This comprehensive improvement of the current bus line will implement the 5 things we know will speed service along the corridor without the need for dedicated bus lanes. 

How do we know we can get most of the speed increases without dedicating lanes or building stations that destroy parking -- AC Transit’s Jim Cunradi has said as much in his public appearances. AC Transit’s just not interested in improving the existing service without the “prestige” of a BRT system. 

People who want better transit today lobby AC Transit to implement Rapid Bus Plus now. 

Vincent Casalaina 

• 

LOUIE FLYNN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was sad to read of Louie Flynn’s death. Years ago I had the pleasure of playing Colonel Pickering opposite Louie’s Henry Higgins in a CCCT production of My Fair Lady, as well as the fun of playing Nathan Detroit in their Guys and Dolls, which Louie directed. He was one of the most constantly positive and enthusiastic men I’ve known, and through the years he generously shared his joy of theater with hundreds of aspiring actors and a wide community audience. A good man, a good life—he’ll be long remembered. 

Jerry Landis 

• 

OAK-TO-NINTH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was glad to see Mr. Taylor’s roundup of development issues, including the Oak-to-Ninth controversy. A modest correction: The Ninth Avenue Terminal has never been abandoned since it was built, and currently is still in operation housing a bulk cotton company. Towboats still tie up at its wharf. The building was constructed with public money, completed in 1929-30. Its size was doubled in 1950. It is a reusable historic building, and can serve new generations of Oakland far better on its current site than in a landfill. 

Thanks for your attention to Oakland issues! 

Naomi Schiff 

• 

MARINE RECRUITMENT STATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Mayor Tom Bates graciously met with CodePink Women for Peace Wednesday in front of the Marine Recruitment Station on Shattuck Square. CodePink wants the City of Berkeley to shut the center down because it recruits people to wage bloody war, against the values of Berkeley citizens. Mayor Bates committed to three actions as a result of the meeting: 1. to work with peace activists to draft a workable resolution or initiative that the City Council can consider, 2. to meet with the Marine Recruitment Center director, and 3. to ask the Berkeley police to stop harassing CodePinkers who are at the Center daily and to help CodePink get permission to have a parking space in front of the Center during the daily action. Readers who want tell Mayor Bates that they are against the Marines recruiting in Berkeley can e-mail, phone, or mail a letter to him: mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us, 981-7100, 2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704. 

Cynthia Papermaster 

• 

RECALL THE CITY MANAGER 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Shouldn’t City Manager Phil Kamlarz be added to Mayor Bates’ recall petition? After all, it was Kamlarz who brokered the illegal HUD deal to strip veterans,other disabled people, and the elderly of their homes, thus causing or adding to the 40 percent (and rising) Berkeley homeless figures reported recently by Fox TV News. In favor of developers , Kamlarz continues the tremendous rent jackups (ex. $100 more per month) for many Section 8 people who live alone- especially in higher rent Section 8 studios and one bedrooms. They can’t move because Section 8 new rentals have dried up in Berkeley and other cities. This increase in homeless and rent problems caused former Housing Director Steve Barton to take the fall, and the city attorney came tumbling after. And Kamlarz? He just continues on with the same heartless policies. Nothing has changed. As arguably this city’s most corrupt and secretive official-for the rich and against the Berkeley people, here are some of the laws he and his backroom cohorts are currently breaking: 1990 Berkeley Human Rights Ordinance; Berkeley Rent Stabilization Ordinance 13.T6.030-this could be remedied by including Section 8 protections in an amendment; 1977 Housing Element of the Berkeley Master Plan; U.S. Constitution, Article 6, Clause 2; Americans with Disabilities Act; Civil Rights laws of “disparate impact”; 1992 U.S. ratified International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 26; Veterans housing acts; U.N. Charter, Article 55-U.S ratifed as the supreme law of the land;U.S ratified Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment, Article161 or 16.1; U.S. ratified treaty Convention to Eliminate Racial Discrimination, Article 5(e)iii; HUD’s original purpose and rules; 1974 Housing Assistance Payments Program—just to begin with.  

Claudia Chin 

• 

MEMORIAL BENCHES 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I noticed there is a policy conversation going on with respect to the placement and number of “memorial” park benches in the Berkeley parks. I have never noticed that there are “too many” benches, “memorial” or otherwise at any park in the city. Live Oak Park only has some benches in the kiddie part of the fenced sand area, but there are no benches in the grassy area where the new equipment has been installed and where we need people sitting to monitor the monster-sized tunnel-slide! There is a broken wooden bench up against the building by the wisteria, and it has been broken for about two years now. This park sorely needs some benches to encourage adults to linger because the new equipment needs the watchful eyes of adults. The staff inside the building has other duties and cannot see very well out into the grassy area near the sidewalk, due to “line of sight” obstructions. This site is heavily used due to the Live Oak Theater, the afterschool program and it is a BUSD bus stop-hub. Some benches would bring more elders out of their homes to sit in the sun and provide a rest stop near the Thursday Farmer’s Market at Shattuck and Rose, as well! 

Linda Tumulty 

• 

‘CHANGE’ 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Now that we are hearing so many vacuous primary speeches, a local presidential debate that will cover the difficult, complex, and real issues—as opposed to the ongoing utterance of the word “change”—will be happening in San Francisco this Sunday, when former Congressional Representative Cynthia McKinney and Ralph Nader (an undeclared candidate) will engage in a debate for the Green Party presidential race, along with three other Green Party candidates. Moderators and hosts will include peace mom Cindy Sheehan, former San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez, San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, KPFA anchor Aimee Allison, and Board of Education member Mark Sanchez. The event will be held at Herbst Theater on Van Ness, at 2 p.m. 

It will be a relief to hear real issues, for a “change”! 

Victoria Ashley 

Alameda 

• 

LORIN DISTRICT CRIME 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There has been a rash of break-ins, muggings, beatings, thefts, loitering, graffiti, an exploding stolen car, dumped items, etc contributing to a declining quality of life in the Lorin district and neighboring Shattuck corridor of North Oakland. I’m wondering if the city of Berkeley and our council members notice or care. Neighbors and businesses alike are starting to talk about leaving.  

Recently a neighbor was stabbed outside Nick’s bar, near a hotspot of loitering, drug dealing, aggressive panhandling and litter, across from the M & H Liquor store. Neighbors have often complained that this spot near the City of Berkeley Police substation is one of the worst for loitering and associated problems to no avail. The incident outside Nick’s Bar has brought suffering to two families. Circumstances aside, one man is dead, possibly from the stabbing, and a 71-year-old who was punched before he pulled a knife on the deceased faces possible incarceration. Reluctance to enforce community standards against crime and nuisance behavior have led to unease, more crime, and an atmosphere that may have helped lead to tragedy. Just blocks away from the site of the incident is a shrine with a poignant card from a sweet little neighborhood girl who misses her family member.  

The city has taken action to solve problems in downtown Berkeley and the Telegraph area.  

City of Berkeley, police, mayor, councilmembers; please show us you care about South Berkeley and our neighbors.  

Robin Wright 

• 

AT BUSH’S MERCY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover planned mass jailings, wanted to suspend habeas corpus and imprison 12,000 Americans in 1950; and 97 percent of the people on the lists were U.S. citizens who had irked Hoover over the years. 

Following suit, Bush and Republicans in their six-year power surge passed legislation meant to classify civil disobedience as terrorism. Most know of the Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Less publicized are amendments to the Insurrection Act, the Posse Comitatus Act authorizing the president to declare martial law using the United States military to repress domestic insurrection, conspiracy, disorderly citizens and other undesirables. Add to this the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Act (VRHTPA) passed by the House in 2007. Since violence, radicalism, extremism and disasters are undefined almost everyone is at risk and at the mercy of the Bush administration. 

Ron Lowe

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Daily Planet extended an invitation to the Concerned Listeners' group to submit a commentary regarding the KPFA Local Station Board election which would have run alongside this one, with both sides then invited to comment on the other in a later edition. Concerned Listeners did not respond. 

KPFA’s recent Local Station Board (LSB) election was not the example of media democracy it was designed to be. This LSB election  

was not conducted in conformance with the Pacifica Bylaws; was corrupted by KPFA and Pacifica management and some staff intentionally violating rules to get votes for their allies’ slate; did not provide adequate information about the candidates to enable voters to make educated choices; and did not provide ballots to many eligible voters in a timely manner.  

New bylaws were adopted after the 1999 “hijacking” attempt was defeated by mass listener activity to protect and preserve KPFA and Pacifica. These Bylaws incorporated fair elections of governing boards for each station to eliminate the prior practice of self-appointing boards, which led to the crisis in the 1990s.  

Every voter, whatever their views on the issues and candidates, has a right to expect that the process by which we select our governing board will be fair, open, and orderly, in accordance with the Fair Campaign Provisions established by Pacifica’s bylaws and election supervisors; that the information voters need to make an informed choice will be available in a timely way; and that all candidates will be afforded an equal opportunity to present their views and their qualifications to the voters.  

In reality, the process has fallen far short of these standards:  

Management influence and improper and improper use of station resources 

The 2007 Fair Campaign Provisions, which every staff member, including managers, is required to read and sign, state that “No Foundation or radio station management or staff (paid or unpaid) or any other person may use or permit the use of radio station air time, website space, email lists, or other resources to endorse, campaign for or against, promote or disparage, or recommend in favor of or against any candidate for election as a Local Station Board.” On October 24, just over a week after ballots were mailed to listener-sponsors, KPFA and the other Pacifica stations posted on their websites an open letter from Dan Siegel, then Interim Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation, with the admitted objective of influencing voters’ choices: the letter directly disparaged one easily identifiable group of KPFA candidates, denouncing their strongly stated but clearly political free speech criticisms of some station personnel and management-allied LSB members, as “abusive,” “hateful,” “personal attacks.” This letter remained prominently featured on the KPFA website for more than a week, and was never removed from the National Elections Web page, to which KPFA’s was linked.  

Siegel’s was not the only serious violation of the Fair Campaign Provision quoted above. On October 30 veteran programmer Larry Bensky used a KPFA e-mail list and server to send out to an as yet unknown number of voters a message endorsing one slate of candidates and attacking the incumbent board.  

Defiance of supervisors’ authority 

In response to Bensky’s blatant violation of the rules, the election supervisors devised a partial remedy, instructing station management to allow each competing slate to send a 300-word message of their own to the same e-mail list Bensky used. The slates promptly produced their proposed messages, but KPFA’s managers refused to take the steps necessary to get these messages sent out on the list.  

Inadequate information 

The candidate statements mailed to listeners-subscribers with their ballots go only a small part of the way toward meeting this need; on-air candidate forums and announcements and in-person events are also essential for informing the electorate. After past elections, there have been both widespread sentiment and reports by election supervisors calling for more such events and publicity, but this year KPFA had less than ever before.  

Only one two-part on-air forum was held before ballots were mailed to listener-subscribers, but it was poorly publicized in advance, and afterwards the audio archives were not posted at the station website for weeks. Candidates were required to respond to a detailed questionnaire about their views and experience, but their responses were not posted online until the voting period was almost over. During the fall fund drive, which ran from Oct. 16 to Nov. 2, the station provided no information whatsoever about the election, on the dubious grounds that election information can’t be combined with fund-raising. KPFT in Houston does both. Even after the drive ended, station management did not begin airing candidates’ pre-recorded statements until less than a week remained in the voting period, and then there was no transparent system to ensure all candidates’ carts got equal treatment. Management tried to satisfy its obligation to air the carts by playing them all in a bloc –21 in a row - an approach guaranteed to minimize listener ship, and one that was particularly unfair to the candidates whose statements were aired last. The management-allied slate’s number-one candidate had her statement played first on the list of 21. Only one in-person candidate event was organized, in Berkeley, and it received very little publicity over the air.  

The black-out of election information during the fund drive was especially damaging: it left voters with minimal information when they first received their ballots, thus magnifying the advantage of the KPFA management-backed, “Concerned Listeners” slate that spent thousands of dollars to send its own carefully-timed mailing to arrive with the ballots during the black-out.  

Failure to provide ballots to all eligible voters 

Many listener-sponsors and unpaid staff reported not receiving ballot packets. The problem is particularly acute among unpaid staff, that vote in the staff elections, because management failed in its duty to provide a timely, accurate, and complete list of the unpaid staff. As recently as Nov. 29, after the elections should have been closed, more than 40 unpaid staff members had not received a ballot. The election supervisors have had to extend the election deadline several times, and it appears that many eligible staffers will not receive ballots before the election finally closes.  

KPFA and Pacifica listeners fought hard for the right to elect their governing boards. We are deeply dismayed that some powerful elements within the KPFA community have shown themselves willing to subvert our hard-won bylaws and abandon basic principles of fairness and democracy.  

If you would like to support fair elections at KPFA/Pacifica send contact information to Committee for Fair Elections at fair_elections@yahoo.com. 

Fair Election Committee member endorsers (at time of submission to the Daily Planet): 

Richard Phelps**, Henry Norr, Stan Woods, Akio Tanaka, Noelle Hanrahan, Joe Wanzala, Attila Nagy, LaVarn Williams*, Chandra Hauptman* ** — current board members (*also PNB); Carol Spooner, Steve Conley. Gerald Sanders, Willie Ratcliff — former board members; Tracy Rosenberg** — KPFA Local Election Board supervisor 2006 and board candidate. Bob English, Dave Heller, Mara Rivera, Steve Zeltzer, Carl Bryant, CC Campbell Rock — 2007 board candidates; Linda Hewitt, Virginia Browning, Daniel Borgstrom, Steve Gilmartin, Gregory Wonderwheel, Jim Curtis, Stephen Kessler, Mary Ratcliff, Molly Beyea, Chuck O’Neil, Janet Kobren, CR (Bob) Briscoe, Ann Garrison, Rabea Chaudary, Dianne Budd, Laura Wells, Lou Gold, Tim Modak-Pearson, Peter Broadwell, David Keenan, Bill Carpenter — listener members; Adrienne Lauby, Anthony Fest — staff members. 

(* = also PNB; ** = re-elected in preliminary [uncertified] results)

Albany Unified School District and San Jose Unified School District have both recently gone through a lengthy process to redesign their high school fields. Albany, a small school district with one high school, attempted to develop its high school field, located in neighboring El Cerrito, also a different county. San Jose developed five high school fields all located in San Jose. Both districts planned on putting lights in fields that had previously been unlit at night, causing neighbors to be concerned about increased disruptions to their lives and homes. Each district needed to go through a legal process, producing an environmental impact report for the project. Albany’s process ended up in a very contentious neighborhood battle, which is currently in litigation with neighbors and the nearby City of El Cerrito; no one is happy, not the school board, not the students, not their families, nor the neighbors or the community. San Jose ended up with a relatively smooth process where most folks seemed satisfied with the process and can accept the results. Why this difference? 

In San Jose, the district realized early on that neighbors, who were also parents and voters, needed to be consulted from the beginning and involved in helping make the decision concerning what types of restrictions the fields would ultimately have regarding lights, noise and traffic issues. Each step of the way there were community meetings. San Jose School District officials were clear from the start that respect for the nearby residents was paramount. They involved neighbors and parents at the beginning of their process, listening to all concerns. They researched and found a state of the art sound and light system. Almost from the start, they limited night games to only ten a year and in addition limited night practices to only 10 a year, ending at 7 p.m. This may have been a hardship for the sports enthusiast but ultimately the officials realized if they were going to win over the neighbors (who send their kids to San Jose schools and vote for school board members) compromises would need to be made. This resulted in a negative declaration and a relatively contentious free process. 

In contrast, Albany school officials realized the neighbors that would be most affected by the change in field use do not send their children to Albany fields, nor can the vote in district elections. Changing the field and filing the environmental impact process were just hurdles to be overcome. While legally required, there was no vision of mutual respect and mutual benefit. Even though the school district had been working with neighbors together to fight a nearby development project there was never even a mention that the field change was happening until the initial study was completed. Neighbors felt betrayed from the start. Notices were often late or non-existent. The final hearing date was changed at the last minute causing neighbors (some seniors who rarely attend public hearings) to show up without even a notice posted on the door to say the hearing had been changed. The initial report showed over 300 evenings of lights in the field (ranging from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. lights out time), there previously their had been none. While the school board had to listen to public comment there was never a two-way conversation. The school board did sit through lengthy evening hearings but ultimately were never receptive to the community’s concerns. A 1,000-page report, based upon public comment, was produced on the day of hearing, giving everyone the sense that all the public comment would be ignored; it was! The final decision increased rather than decreased the amount of time lights would be on in the neighborhood; thus no one should have been surprised that litigation resulted and acrimonious relations will continue for a long time---whatever the results of the lawsuit. 

The lesson is clear: If any government entity really wants to make big changes to an area they have to involve from the start those that will be most affected and must listen to their concerns with respect and openness. Do this and even difficult battles can be handled with a minimal amount of controversy. 

Ann Lehman is an El Cerrito resident. 

Author Maxine Hong Kingston, an Oakland resident and UC Berkeley teacher, will appear with members of the Veterans Writing Group she helped found in 1993 on Sunday at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists as a benefit reading for the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. 

Kingston, whose brothers served in Vietnam, will be just one of the readers who’s not a combat veteran. Other peace activists who belong to the workshop will join war veterans to read jointly. Some, like Sean McLain Brown, a Desert Storm vet, are represented in the anthology Kingston edited, VETERANS OF WAR, VETERANS of peace, which brings together the work of 80 writers on war and peace.  

“I hope people will stop and figure out just what the title means,” said Kingston.  

“Peace activists have often used the expression ‘Fighting for Peace,’” Kingston noted. “And people have, at first, thought of veterans as all men. But women have come forward, some of them civilians—Red Cross workers, Quakers, even CIA—who served in Vietnam in various roles, taking on the name of veteran, whether or not in uniform. That definition changed as we struggled along, working together through the years. And though some of the combat veterans weren’t in favor at first of nonmilitary members joining the group, after awhile they recognized, acknowledged ‘Yes, you’re a veteran, too. People who have been to war—and the war at home—we can call it that.’ And many combat veterans have become peace activists.” 

“At the beginning, when the group began, I felt anxious that I was not a veteran,” Kingston continued, “Who am I to talk to these people, try to teach them anything? But I kept my belief in the power of literature, of art to bring people home from war.” 

One peace activist who will read is Lee Swenson of Berkeley, head of the Institute of Natural and Cultural Resources, and former director of the Institute for the Study of Non-Violence, cofounded by David Harris and Joan Baez.  

“I have a couple of different stories in the book,” Swenson said, “One about choosing to write to friends in prison during the Vietnam war, draft resisters like Randy Keeler, a friend of David Harris, telling them what’s going on outside while they were in prison.” 

“Maxine’s been wonderful,” Swenson recalled. “We traveled the length of Vietnam together, 10 years ago as part of a veterans’ group. The William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences in Boston invited us. It’s named after its founder, a young black fellow who loaded Agent Orange onto defoliant planes on Guam, and later died of cancer.” 

Swenson went on: “The writing group used to meet every month. Now it’s four times a year. It’s helped get people’s heads together. Some have been really transformed.” 

“I was teaching at UC when the group was founded,” said Kingston, “But it  

wasn’t sponsored by the university—not by the government nor private corporations. I care so much about our group being independent. The National Endowment for the Arts is now sponsoring writing workshops for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder about the efficacy of government-sponsored groups using some of the same writing techniques to get stories out just as people are coming home. Some of the veterans I’m working with have put a decade and a half into thinking about it. It’s different when it’s mulled over.” 

“This work we’re doing is reverberating all over the place,” Kingston concluded. “The L.A. Public Library has started a group like ours. In Canada there are workshops for deserters of the current wars. I just came back from New York, where I read in a bookstore and met young Iraq War vets who wanted to start a group right away, coming back. They’re so young and energetic. They already have two chapbooks out. They made rags of their uniforms for the paper. They turned their uniforms into paper for books!” 

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was founded at the time of the First World War. For more information see www.wilph.org.

Say what you will about the quality of his achievements, from the silver screen to the governor’s mansion, there’s no doubting the ambition of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  

Running With Arnold, a new documentary by Dan Cox, opening today at Landmark’s Opera Plaza in San Francisco, traces the remarkable career of the Austrian body builder-turned-real estate magnate-turned-Hollywood actor-turned-California governor. 

The man is bold, single-minded and determined, and the story of his climb from scrawny kid to political powerhouse is very impressive indeed. But what the film makes clear—and this is hardly a revelation—is the utter vacuousness of that ambition. Schwarzenegger, it seems, is all but incapable of valuing his achievements in anything but the most shallow of terms. He measures his Hollywood films solely by box office receipts, his political career entirely by polls, popularity and partisan victories. There is little room in his worldview for anything more complex or meaningful.  

That said, the film relies on appearances almost as much as Arnold himself, using innuendo and circumstantial evidence to tie the governor to several right-wing conspiracies. The scenarios of these shady dealings are plausible enough, but even those inclined to be sympathetic toward Cox’s take would have to admit the case he presents is a bit thin. 

His choice of talking heads can be questioned as well. Much of the film consists of gags and one-liners from a bevy of comedians. There is no shortage of wit, but the film, like its subject, is woefully short on substance. 

Directed by Dan Cox. 72 minutes. Not rated.

FRIDAY, JAN. 11 

THEATER 

Encore Theatre Company & Shotgun Players “The Shaker Chair” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Jan. 27. Tickets are $20-$30. 841-6500.  

EXHIBITIONS 

IN•FORMATION Featuring Edge Art Group. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

FILM 

The Medieval Remake “Andrei Rublev” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kim Shuck and Molly Albracht Sierra read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. 841-6374. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Hurricane Sam & The Hotshots at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Wake the Dead at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Hamir Atwal Trio and Uncle Jesse at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Mucho Axe, Latin world groove at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Rustler’s Moon at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Nomadics, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Pockit, Matthew Hansen at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Monster Squad, Whiskey Rebels, Cropknox 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. 

Grease Traps, Mophono at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Beep! Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Roy Hargrove Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $14-$24. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JAN. 12 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gerry Tenney at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Henry Neff introduces “The Hound of Rowan” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Music and Puppets with Jen Miriam at 11 a.m. at Studio Grow, 1235 Tenth St. Cost is $7. 526-9888. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Heels Overhead” Color Photographs by Charles Klein. Artist reception at 5 p.m. at Photolab GAllery, 2235 Fifth St. Exhibition runs to Feb. 16. 644-1400. www.photolaboratory.com 

THEATER 

“Old Man River: Mark Twain and the Mississippi” A dramatic portrayal and slide show at 5 p.m. at College Avenue Presbyterian Church, 5951 College Ave, south of Claremont, Oakland. Donation $10. 

San Francisco Theater Project “Aftermath of War: in their own words” Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $15-$20. 925-798-1300. www.willowstickets.org  

“Marriage Counselling” at 8 p.m., Sun. at 6 p.m. at Black Repertory Theater, 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $15. www.mikeglendinning.com 

FILM 

Jazz and the Movies “Beware” at 6:30 p.m. and “Too Late Blues” at 8:10 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Have I Got a Story to Tell” A storytelling circle with Diane Ferlatte at 2 p.m. at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave., Oakland. 532-9142. 

Claire Becker, Sarah McKinnon, Matthew Thomas Russell, Dan Sanders, Ammon Torrence and Just Kibbe read from their latest works at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jewish Music Festival presents Aron Saltiel at 8 p.m. at JCC East Bay, 1414 Walnut St. www.jewishmusicfestival.org  

Monterey Jazz Festival at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $34-$52. 642-9988. www.calperformances.net 

Pellejo Seco at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Tito y su son de Cuba at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cuban dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

W. Allen Taylor & His Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Jacob Wolkenhauer, Mike Zawitkowski at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Steve Seskin, Don Henry & Craig Carothers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bill Ortiz Group at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Gaucho, Gypsy Jazz Band at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Socket, Machina Sol at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Joshi Marshall Project at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Killing the Dream, Ruiner, Ensign, Broadway Calls 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, JAN. 13 

FILM 

The Medieval Remake “Alexander Nevesky” at 2 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Maxine Hong Kingston and ten veterans will read selections from their book “Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace” at 3 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. Cost is $20 and includes reception. For reservations call 725-8515.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Live Oak Concert “Ensemble Theatrum Musicum” Elizabethan works for small consort, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 644-6893. berkeleyartcenter.org 

David Daniels, countertenor, Martin Katz, piano, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48. 642-9988. www.calperformances.net 

Stephanie Bruce & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Pappa Gianni & the North Beach Band at 2 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Big Lion, folk-rock, at 2 p.m. at It’s A Grind Coffee House, 555 12th St., Oakland. 268-9902.  

Escalay, Middle Eastern jazz, at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Flamenco Open Stage with Alicia Zamora at 6:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Young Lions, Old Dogs with Samora and Elena Pinderhughes, David Belove, Paul van Wageningen, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373.  

John McCutcheon at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $26.50-$27.50. 548-1761.  

This Bike is a Pipebomb, Vema Cam, Max Levine Ensemble at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, JAN. 14 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Cultural Connections” Group show in various media with a special tribute to Chauncey Bailey opens at the Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, State of California Bldg. Atrium, 1515 Clay St. 622-8190. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jane Rhodes describes “Framing the Black Panthers: The Spectacular Rise of a Black Power Icon” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Poetry Express with Livermore Poet Laureate Connie Post and Damnyo from Los Angeles, at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Babshad Jazzz at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100.  

Parlor Tango at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Howard Wiley & The Angola Project, featuring Faye Carol, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$15. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 15 

FILM 

Experimental Documentaries “Best in the West” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

JCC Film Salon “The Unkown Soldier” at 7:30 p.m. at at the JCC of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $6-$8. 848-0237. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Marc Lecard, mystery novelist, reads at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Laurie R. King reads from her new mystery “Touchstone” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tom Rigney & Flambeau at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Rebecca Griffin, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Albany High School Jazz Band at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $15. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 16 

EXHIBITIONS 

East Bay Women Artists “Begin the Beguine” Reception at 6 p.m. at Royal Ground Gallery, 2058 Mountain Boulevard, Oakland. 841-0441. 

FILM 

The Medieval Remake “The Valley of the Bees” at 6:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Penny Rimbaud, poet, with saxophonist Louise Elliot, at 7:30 p.m. at Moe's Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Cafe Poetry, hosted by Paradise, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Fred Luskin describes “Forgive for Love: The Missing Ingredient for a Healthy and Lasting Relationship” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

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 

Whiskey Brothers, old-time and bluegrass at 9 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Beatitude Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Swing Fever at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dacne lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

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

Neurohumors at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Anais Mitchell at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

David Hildalgo and Louie Perez of Los Lobos at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, JAN. 17 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Cultural Connections” Group show in various media with a special tribute to Chauncey Bailey. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at the Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, State of California Bldg. Atrium, 1515 Clay St. 622-8190. 

FILM 

“Lola Montez” with film historian Stefan Drossler in person at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Michael Parenti discusses “Contrary Notions” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

“Open Secrets: The Literature of Uncounted Experience,” with author Anne-Lise Francois at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. www.universitypressbooks.com 

Marion Bundy reads Dorothy Parker at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Glenn Staller, classical guitar, at 12:15 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 5th flr., 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6100. 

Beau Soleil with Michael Doucet at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Reid Whatley Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Yolanda & Ric at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Disappear Incompletely, Adam Shulan Quartet at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

David Hildalgo and Louie Perez of Los Lobos at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

The grocery business used to be a very lucrative one in the early days of the 20th century. Some East Bay retail grocers amassed considerable wealth, not to mention social prestige. Stephen J. Sill was one of them (his store building, designed by James Plachek, still stands at 2145 University Ave., now occupied by Berkeley Ace Hardware). Another was Frederick Charles Koerber (1876–1953), who owned several grocery stores in Oakland and Berkeley before branching into real-estate development, mortgage banking, and municipal politics. 

Fred was born in San Jose, one of nine siblings. His parents had immigrated from Germany as teenagers. George Koerber was a wood dealer, an occupation taken up by his son Adolph. Another son, John, became a grocer, and Fred most likely got his start with him. 

Eventually Fred moved to Oakland, where he married the widow Sarah Elizabeth Cash Cook (1870–1956) in 1904. His store was located at 1932 Broadway, and he was active in the California State Retail Grocers’ and Merchants’ Association, serving on the reception committee in 1906, when the association held its annual convention in Oakland. 

In 1907 Koerber, a shrewd businessman, constructed a building of stores and apartments at the junction of the newly completed Ashby Avenue streetcar line and the College Avenue Key Route lines. This Edwardian edifice, whose architect is unknown, is said to be the earliest commercial building in the Elmwood district. The Koerber grocery was relocated to this building, and the owners took up residence in one of the apartments on the second floor. 

The upscale grocery trade was based on home deliveries, and Koerber delivered. On March 21, 1908, his delivery business suffered a temporary setback reported in the Oakland Tribune: 

“A. N. Kite, driver for Frederick C. Koerber, dealer in groceries and fruits, 2649 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley, was thrown 40 feet through the air from his seat, but landed uninjured, when his wagon was struck by Telegraph Avenue car No. 350, at Sixtieth Street and Telegraph Avenue this morning. 

The wagon was smashed to pieces, the car crashing clear through the center of the side, and the horse was badly injured. 

Fruits and groceries were scattered for half a block and for over an hour the small boys of the neighborhood fought over the spoils.” 

Business flourished, and Koerber quickly added to his holdings on adjacent lots. In 1909 he obtained a permit to construct a one-story, two-room store on Ashby. By 1911, he owned three contiguous commercial buildings. On his World War I draft card in 1918, he reported two business addresses: 5498 College Ave. in the Rockridge district and 469 13th St. in downtown Oakland. In 1919, Koerber was fined $5 after another store of his, Key Grocery at Fifth and Washington in Oakland, was charged with selling rain-damaged prunes. “Fermented prunes may be all right as the main ingredient of a home-made brand of booze,” opined the Tribune, “but they are prohibited from sale by Oakland grocery stores.” 

By the early 1920s, Koerber had moved on from the grocery business to pursue other activities. In March 1923, he filed his candidacy for a seat on the Berkeley City Council in the May election that would launch the city manager form of government. He was endorsed by the merchants’ association of his district but wasn’t elected that year. In 1925 he ran again, on a slate of four candidates endorsed by the Berkeley Municipal League. All four (the others were Thomas Caldecott, Captain John Atthowe, and Walter Mork) won their seats, with Koerber coming in fourth, having garnered 6,700 votes. 

By mid-September, a mere four months past the election, Koerber tendered his resignation, claiming that “owing to the press of private business he was unable to devote the required time to the council.” 

The private business concerned mainly real estate. In November 1922, it was announced in the Tribune that a four-store building Koerber was erecting next to the George Friend Company’s office [on the northwest corner of Solano and Colusa Avenues] was nearing completion. “Residents of the Berkeley Park district will soon have a shopping center of their own, and will not have to depend on downtown stores,” predicted the paper. 

George Friend (1875–1963) was a former actor who for many years starred in stock companies at Oakland’s Ye Liberty Playhouse and Fulton Theatre. In 1906, he eloped with 15-year-old Gertrude Spring, daughter of the flamboyant capitalist John Hopkins Spring. The bride’s father was furious, but by 1911 he forgave the couple and put George to work selling properties in his newly subdivided Thousand Oaks tract. George started in the office of Newell-Murdoch Co. (Newell was another Spring son-in-law), became the manager within a year, and a year later had taken over the firm, as Newell and Murdoch pursued their own developments. 

By 1915, Friend had moved his office from downtown Berkeley to Solano Avenue. He took with him several salesmen from the old office, including Thomas R. Weldon and Reed W. Thomas, and added new ones, among them an English-man called Percy Nutt. The association of this trio with Fred Koerber may have begun in 1922, when he built the four stores next to Friend’s office. 

On Feb. 10, 1923, the Berkeley Courier reported, “The property situated on University just behind the Courier Building has just been sold. There will be a building upon it before the summer is here.” On April 9 of that year, the Tribune gave further details: “A one-story business block and basement will be erected on the south side of University avenue, 252 feet west of Shattuck avenue, by Fred C. Koerber and Henry Bischoff, according to an announcement made today. The building will have a frontage of 51 feet on University avenue with a depth of 90 feet and will contain three stores and basements.” 

What Koerber ended up building was a six-story block—the tallest in Berkeley. When he changed his mind and why he changed it has not been explained, but on Sept. 15, 1923, the Berkeley Gazette announced on its first page: 

Actual work on Berkeley’s biggest building, the new Koerber Block, on the south side of University avenue, just east of the U.C. Theater, has been started. Contracts call for the completion of the structure by February 1, according to Fred C. Koerber who, with Dr. L. L. Koerber, his sister, and H. C. Bischoff, well-known local builder, will be the owners. 

When completed, the building will represent an investment of upwards of $200,000. It will be six stories of steel, brick and cement and considerably larger than the Berkeley Bank Building, at present the city’s tallest building. The building will be of Class A, strictly fireproof construction, and will have a frontage of 51 feet and a depth of 80 feet. 

Henry C. Bischoff was not a well-known local builder (that was John A. Bischoff, father of the artist Elmer Bischoff) but a grocer with a store at 2848 Grant St. In the 1930s, he would move his store to 2635 Ashby, in Koerber’s Elmwood building. 

More interesting than Bischoff was the third partner, Lillie Louise Koerber, M.D. (1879–1959). A strong and independent woman, Lillie graduated from San Francisco’s Cooper Medical College in 1901 and took up residence in the Mission district, where she spent her entire working life as a physician and surgeon. She was a member of the California Organization of Women Physicians for Federal Recognition and was listed in Who’s Who Among the Women of California in 1922. 

Lillie Koerber’s domestic life was highly unconventional for her time. She was always head of the household, remained unmarried into her seventies, brought up a girl she adopted on her own, and for over four decades maintained what appears to have been a personal and professional partnership with a Greek-born physician by the name of John N. Tavlopoulos. 

It might have been Lillie’s investment that made the Koerber Building mushroom from the planned one story to the actual six, with 60 offices above the ground floor. 

Who designed the building? We don’t know. The façade features elegant arched windows on the top floor (KPFA had its first home there in 1949) and is clad with handsome terra cotta tile in Beaux-Arts relief patterns, yet no architect’s name appears on the blueprints or in any newspaper account. The construction was managed by Berkeley Building Co., which was initially based in George Friend’s office on Solano and Colusa.  

Two days after the Gazette announced the beginning of construction, the great Berkeley Fire decimated close to 600 homes on the Northside. This might explain why the Koerber Building was completed three months later than planned. Immediately after the fire, Berkeley Building Co. began placing ads in the Gazette. These depicted a cottage and invited, “Let us build your home. We finance and plan all classes of construction on percentage or contract.” 

As the Koerber building neared completion in April 1924, the official leasing agents began taking daily ads in the Tribune, targeting “doctors, dentists, and all professional men” and promising “neat, attractive, well lighted, fully equipped offices in a building located where all the transportation meets.” The agents were none other than Thomas, Wheldon & Nutt, whose relationship with Koerber allowed them to open their own realty office at 2029 Shattuck Ave., where they also ran the Berkeley Building Company. 

In the meantime, Fred Koerber had become a stockholder in the East Bay Bond and Mortgage Corporation, where he was able to observe that “the modern, carefully managed mortgage company offers an unusually profitable opportunity for those unable to operate in a large way on their own account.” 

In February 1933, he sold the Koerber Building to the state manager of the State Farm Mutual Insurance Company. “As part of the transaction,” reported the Tribune, “Koerber obtained a 3,600-acre ranch near Duncans Mills, on the Russian River, which he says he plans to subdivide.” 

What Koerber did with the ranch has not been revealed. For once, his business acumen may have deserted him. Fortunately for the rest of us, Duncans Mills remains one of the most bucolic and least developed hamlets on the Russian River. 

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

On Boxing Day we took a stroll with friends through the Blake Estate gardens. Allen had had the very good idea to go there; the place was devoid of humans except for brief walk-ons—one groundskeeper with a wheelbarrow, one woman with a dog—and the four of us.  

I hadn’t been there in years, but most of the good stuff I remembered was still there: the long pool between the house and the built grotto, the native meadow, the woods garden on the north side. This is founded on native redwoods and includes native ferns and some understory, but also has deftly sited exotic irises, dogwood, cyclamen, and the like.  

Woodland gardening is, for most of us, a fairly high-end practice simply because it requires custody of a woodland. When Elizabeth Lawrence wrote The Little Bulbs, her informant “Mr. Krippendorf”—a real person and his real name, a lifelong friend of Lawrence’s, but never addressed more familiarly in the text than that—and “my dear Mrs. Dorman” and her daughter Caroline, among others she cited, had acres of woodland in Ohio and Louisiana respectively. They weren’t upper-class, not even as much as Lawrence’s garden-design clients in North Carolina were.  

Of course it’s possible even now, a generation or two later, to be poor while owning a good hunk of land; it’s just not likely here and now in the Bay Area. It’s amazing how our species’ rapidly increasing numbers in so many places have turned what used to be the most mundane pleasures into unaffordable luxuries. I myself am given to bouts of lonesome yearning for dark nights, with or without stars.  

There’s more going on in woodland gardening than shade. What’s casting the shade is a living element of a woods garden, and trees’ requirements and compatibilities must be respected as much as their role as design elements. I saw a garden east of the hills some years ago where the live-oak woods bordering the flat “civilized” area had been inlaid with pie-slice patches planted with azaleas. It might have looked nifty on paper and even in the ground for a season, but frying azaleas in summer or watering established live oaks to preserve the shrubs would be bad choices to have.  

Those azaleas would have looked pretty garish to a locally practiced eye anyway. We have glorious native azaleas but they’re mostly white-flowered and rarely understory dwellers. Where rhodies and rosier forms of azalea live, farther north, they live under redwoods and Douglas-firs, in wetter woodlands. You don’t have to be an expert to find the bad pairings aesthetically bothersome; it just takes learning to understand why. 

The Blake garden is well done in its transition from formal to more natural areas, and the way its imported plants fit into the woods is part of that. The bank plantings of Cyclamen hederifolium, for example, relate to the native shooting-star, the several Dodecatheum species. Native irises—in bloom on Dec. 26!—and exotic Japanese-type irises echo each other amicably.  

More on woodland gardening next week.

A woman I’ve been working with is toying with the notion of being her own general contractor on a rather large remodel she doing here in the Berkeley Hills. I have to admit that when she first told me this, I blanched a bit. I know what it means to do this job and it’s so much more than most people think that it was hard not to start shaking my finger at her right there and then.  

But for every rule there is an exception and a very few novices do have what it takes to become the job boss. A general contractor is an interesting animal. Part carpenter, part job superintendent, part boss, part H.R. manager and part salesperson, just for starts. It’s a surprisingly tough job and also a job that varies quite a bit as we move up from single-person crews to crews of five, 10 and 20. By the time you’re a contractor overseeing more than five people, it’s likely you will never pick up a hammer once on a job (unless it’s to show off for the client). There just isn’t the time. 

If you’re lucky enough to have a sales force and a job estimator (this assumes a crew of at least 12), you’re now officially a C.E.O. At this point, it’s all about managing a group of people and showing them what to do. If you’re lucky enough to have one or more good job supervisors running the jobs, you’re doing even less of that. But this is not true for about 90 percent of the contractors in the U.S. Most contractors manage crews of 5 or less and have to wear all the hats. It’s a daunting job. 

A good general knows at least a little about what every other specialist does, and has to keep each of them doing their job properly. Often, the cost of each specialty, such as electrical wiring, falls inside the overall bid and must be estimated in advance and controlled throughout the job. Everyone’s problem becomes the G.C.’s problem because it affects his or her bottom line and their ability to complete the job within the agreed upon time constraints. This makes the G.C. a whip, forcing reluctant sub-contractors to fulfill their obligations even when it involves some harsh exchanges.  

I was trying to imagine my client pushing the plumber to finish the work on time and under budget, and I was having trouble getting the right image. Not that she couldn’t be tough if she needed to be, but one also has to have the authority that comes with experience. It takes a while to know how each trade is expected to perform and what kinds of demands one can make. 

An electrician, for example, should know how much of the wood can be cut away to install wires through a wall stud and how to protect the wood surface if the wires are too close to the surface. An experienced G.C. can demand, with impunity, that the electrician come back and fix these things because they know how the sub should be doing their job.  

A homeowner is far less likely to know where all the edges lie. A G.C. who knows what “rough finish” for waste lines looks like can also know when NOT to issue a progress payment. When the plumber asks for money, an experienceD contractor, familiar with the protocols and the contract can respond by walking around the site and pointing out what’s required for the next payment to be released. If they know what they’re talking about, it’s rarely an argument. If they’re not sure and enough sob stories are on tap that day, a check may be issued prematurely. 

One of many areas of expertise for the contractor is knowing how to shop. Even if the plans are fairly specific, each component in a construction project needs to fit and has to be carefully measured, recorded, listed and bought. Even the best contractors can spend half their day shopping for various parts, tools and whatnot during many days of a complex remodel. It’s often a surprise (as well as a source of disbelief) to the homeowner that the contractor is spending that much time shopping. 

Managing your own crew is also quite a job. It’s rare for a G.C. to sub everything, although, in theory, it can be done. The problem is that there is so much interstitial makeup to every job that it simply doesn’t make sense to shop it out. Plumbing, electrical and heating are often subbed out along with tile and drywall, but carpentry and the many less-tangible items are usually left to the contractor and her crew. That’s an awful lot to know, as well as a lot of learning on the fly. 

With so many materials and construction styles changing today, it’s amazing that G.C.s don’t regularly screw up. Well, wait … Actually, they do, don’t they. Even great G.C.s make all sorts of mistakes but the good ones catch their mistakes and move through them gracefully and absorb the inevitable losses into their contingency payments (most generals include healthy contingency fees in their budgets proving that that one also has to be a fair accountant to do this job). 

A novice usually becomes flustered with the inevitable errors and gets bogged down rather than learning, fixing and moving on from each one. As with many jobs, experience is at the core of the skill set. This is a job one cannot be taught at school, although I’m sure one can learn many of the component skills there. 

Good quality help is often expensive. Oh well, life’s not fair … but trying to circumvent the cost of doing it well is often terribly expensive in ways that don’t become apparent until you’re hip deep in quicksand. Also, getting a good G.C. to step in once things are bad (over budget, late, screwed up) may be very difficult. Many will simply look at your debacle and say to themselves “Do I want to start out working for someone under these conditions when things can always get worse as we move along.” If they do say yes, it may be at high cost and with more rigorous conditions designed to protect themselves. 

Contracting, like juggling (actually a lot like juggling), looks easy before you try it. In fact, it takes years to become good, and that’s assuming you have the acumen and comportment for this particular vocation. So repeat after me; I will not perform a bone-marrow transplant on myself, I will not land the plane myself, I will not be my own contractor on a $250,000 rehab. Thank you, I feel much better. 

A power outage caused by the heavy storm that swept through Northern California led to a Saturday morning fire that claimed the life of a Berkeley man. 

Richard Dury died after he was trapped in a bathroom by the flames that gutted a home at 1156 Keith Ave. Investigators suspect the blaze was caused by candles left burning after the storm knocked out power to the area. 

Deputy Fire Chief Gil Dong said firefighters were summoned to the scene by a 911 call from neighbors at 2:26 a.m. 

“On arrival they found heavy fire on two floors,” he said. A second alarm was called at 2:33, bringing a total of 27 firefighters, two chief officers, five engines, two trucks and two ambulances to the scene. 

Dury’s caretaker had managed to escape the fire by leaping from a first floor window, but by the time the first firefighters arrived, flames were shooting out the windows, making entry impossible, said the deputy chief. 

The home was built on the downhill side of the street, with the residential floors beneath a third-floor garage and entry level.  

Flames had already consumed the floorboards on the uppermost level, preventing rescue efforts from above. The fire had also spread to nearby redwoods. 

It wasn’t until 4:53 a.m. that firefighters had the blaze under control. They found Dury’s body in the second floor bathroom, which had been heavily damaged in the fire. 

The dead man worked at the Shattuck Avenue Safeway store, where he was a popular figure. 

The fire, which started on the lowest level, was probably caused by candles the caretaker had lit because of a storm-caused power outage and left burning after he went to sleep for the night. 

“I really want to stress how important it is to have working smoke detectors,” said Dong. 

Storm havoc 

The storm kept firefighters, public works staff, city arborists and police busy fighting water backups, downed trees and an assortment of other emergencies. 

“During one 12-hour period we responded to 48 calls for downed power lines, fallen trees and flooding conditions,” said Dong. 

Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna said the city received a total of 225 calls for service during the storm, including a hundred downed tree reports and most of the rest for flooding. 

The worst flooding was on Bancroft Way and the Union Pacific RailRoad tracks in West Berkeley, where heavy flooding was dispersed by firefighters, public works crews and railroad staff. 

“That area took a huge hit last year,” Caronna said. 

“We used our hydro sub and our FlotoPumps,” said Dong, working between 10 a.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. 

The sub is a 1,000-gallons-per-minute heavy duty pump also dubbed “Big Bertha” for its prodigious output. The smaller pumps move about 120 gallons a minute. 

Caronna said the city has worked hard over the last two years to prepare for flooding at locations where storms typically bring problems. “Traditionally, we’ve had flooding at Malcolm X Elementary School, but this year we had prepared and there were no problems,” she said. 

The heaviest rains, dropping two inches on southwest Berkeley, came during a a four-hour period starting at 8 a.m. Friday. But public works crews had been on alert and working 12-hour shifts since the day before, and were ready for the downpour. 

Supervisors had been assigned to work night shifts, and workers were staffing switchboards after hours until calls dropped off, Caronna said. 

A mere five minutes may have spelled the difference for two workers who had been eating lunch in a pickup truck cab in the 1900 block of Seventh Street, Dong said. 

Five minutes after they had swallowed their last bites, a redwood tree, loosened by saturated soil and uprooted by the storm winds, toppled over, flattening the truck. 

Another redwood was saved from keeling over only by a third, which managed to keep it propped up. 

Because the first tree took out power lines, crews had to wait for Pacific Gas & Electric crews before they could chop up the fallen tree. 

Another tree toppled into a building in the 1300 block of Seventh, and yet another crashed in the 1200 block of Hearst Avenue, while the intersection of Ashby Avenue and Fulton Street was briefly closed after another tree took down a power line. 

A tree took down yet another power line at the intersection of Poppy Lane and Miller Avenue. 

“Fortunately, the city was well prepared because we held meetings in advance of the storm,” Dong said. Public works crews had been placed on 12-hour shifts. 

Fire stations, which keep empty sand bags for residents, ran out of their supplies several times during the storm. 

A PG&E representative said the storm caused 21 outages affecting 834 customers in Berkeley, while five outages in Albany cut power to 700 customers. For Oakland the figures were 62 outages affecting 8,700 customers, while in Richmond 40 outages cut power to 3,719 customers. 

Less than 1 percent of affected users were still without power by early Monday afternoon.

While no one knows everything the new year will bring, there are at least two major Oakland development issues and controversies we know are coming up, unresolved in the old year and therefore carried over to the new. 

Oak to Ninth Development 

The controversial proposed development of a stretch of aging Oakland waterfront property just south of Jack London Square was the subject of litigation all through 2007. The prediction for 2008 is easy to make: more litigation, with, perhaps, a return to the Oakland Planning Commission process sometime in the year if the appeal by developer’s attorneys and City Attorney John Russo is dismissed. 

In 2006, Pleasanton-based Signature Properties developers won the blessings of the Jerry Brown mayoral administration and then 6-0 City Council approval of its proposed 3,100-residential unit, 200,000-square-foot commercial space development in an area along the Oakland estuary that includes the abandoned (and historic) Ninth Avenue Terminal. 

The approved project was the immediate subject of several citizen lawsuits: one charging that the project’s environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was faulty, one seeking to prevent the planned demolition of most of the Ninth Avenue Terminal, and one challenging Russo’s throwing out of petitions that would have forced a ballot referendum on the project.  

The ballot referendum litigants dropped their lawsuit when they ran out of money, and a California Superior Court judge ruled against the Ninth Avenue Ter-minal litigants, but the same judge found that the EIR was, indeed, faulty in several respects, ruling that the Oak-to-Ninth project needed to go back through both the Oakland Planning Commis-sion and Oakland City Council approval processes in order to correct the problems. 

Last December, Russo and attorneys for Signature Properties asked the judge to reconsider her ruling or grant a new trial, and a ruling by Judge Jo-Lynne Lee is pending. Several scenarios are possible. The judge could reverse her ruling or grant a new Superior Court trial, neither of which are likely.  

If the judge denies the appeal, Signature and Russo could appeal the decision to the California Court of Appeal, a court process that would take up the rest of 2008, and more. Or Signature and Russo could drop any further appeal, sending the Oak To Ninth project back to the Oakland Planning Commission to correct the EIR deficiencies according to the judge’s original ruling. That would mean the Planning Commission would start a new round of EIR hearings on the project, leading to a new commission and City Council vote. 

Whatever the case, one thing seems almost certain: no ground will be broken to begin construction on the Oak To Ninth development in 2008. 

Housing Issues 

This is another set of Oakland issues that carried over from 2006 through 2007 and is expected to reach some conclusion in 2008. 

In 2006, the Oakland City Council split down the middle on two controversial housing issues: a proposed ordinance that would require affordable housing set-asides for city-subsidized housing projects in Oakland, and proposed changes to loosen the requirements on conversion of existing rental units in the city to condominiums. When the council could resolve neither issue, they voted to form a 17-member Blue Ribbon Commission for recommendations. 

After holding hearings throughout the city during 2007, the Blue Ribbon 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—issued a 105-page report with affordable housing recommendations that seemed to satisfy neither side and had no majority recommendations on condominium conversion. That put the two issues back into the hands of the divided City Council. 

Late last year, after receiving the Blue Ribbon Commissions recommendations, the council decided to delay new deliberations on the two housing issues until hearing the recommendations of Mayor Dellums. Presumably Dellums’ staff is now working on those recommendations.  

If those mayoral recommendations are being worked out in consultation with key councilmembers with an eye towards a compromise solution, the two housing issues might be quickly settled once the recommendations are made. Otherwise, expect this to be a 2008 renewal of the Council housing fights of 2006. 

June Elections 

Oakland city issues in 2008 will be played out across the background of city elections, with several council seats going back before the voters in June. Two of those councilmembers already have serious opposition. 

In Council District 3 (West Oakland-Downtown), longtime incumbent Nancy Nadel, running for re-election, is being challenged by Greg Hodge, who represents the same District 3 voters on the newly-empowered Oakland School Board. Nadel and Hodge were both candidates in the 2006 Oakland mayoral election, but Hodge dropped out after Ron Dellums announced his intention to run, and Nadel came in third to Dellums, with 13 percent of the vote, in the June 2006 election. Nadel was unopposed for the District 3 Council seat in 2004. 

AC Transit Trustee Rebecca Kaplan has announced her intention for a second run for the Oakland City Council at-large seat currently held by longtime incumbent Henry Chang, who has not yet announced whether he is running for re-election.  

Kaplan lost handily to Chang, 44 percent to 56 percent, in a 2000 runoff for the at-large seat. In 2004, Chang easily beat Oakland Housing Commissioner Melanie Shelby for re-election, 54 percent to 37 percent. 

Three other Council seats—Council President Ignacio De La Fuente in District 5 (Fruitvale), Jane Brunner in District 1 (North Oakland), and Larry Reid in District 7 (East Oakland going towards the San Leandro border)—are up for new terms in the 2008 election, with the veteran incumbents in each expected to run for re-election, and no announced opposition so far. 

Both De La Fuente and Brunner were unopposed in 2004. After it was rumored that Reid would not run for re-election that year, then District 7 School Board member Jason Hodge (no relation to Greg Hodge) briefly entered the race, but dropped out after Reid announced that he was running. Hodge’s name remained on the ballot, even though he did not campaign, and Reid eventually won in a landslide with 68 percent of the vote to Hodge’s 20 percent and 11 percent for AFSCME labor leader Michael B. Hudson, who did campaign. 

In other Oakland elections, Alameda County Department of Social Services Civil Rights Coordinator Darleen Brooks has announced plans to run for the Area 2 Peralta Community College District Trustee seat currently held by incumbent Marcie Hodge, who is Jason’s sister. Brooks is the sister of Oakland City Councilmember Desley Brooks, who defeated Marcie Hodge for the council seat in 2006. Hodge has not yet announced her re-election plans. 

Meanwhile, an Oakland election that may, or may not, be contested in 2008 is the District 9 California State Senate seat currently held by Senate President Don Perata (D-Oakland). Perata is barred from running for re-election by California’s term limits law, and current District 14 Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) and former District 16 Assemblymember Wilma Chan (D-Oakland) have both announced plans to run for the vacant seat.  

All of that would change, however, if Proposition 93, which seeks to revoke term limits, passes on the Feb. 5 ballot, allowing Perata the chance to run for another term. In that case, presumably neither Hancock or Chan would run against the powerful Perata. 

Berkeley logged what may be the first murder of the year when a 44-year-old man died Thursday at Highland Hospital, 12 days after he was stabbed outside an Adeline Street bar. 

Police were called at 11:19 p.m. on Dec. 22 by an employee of a market at 3198 Adeline St., after Kent Washington Evans walked into the store, bleeding from a neck wound. 

Berkeley Police Community Services Officer Steve Burcham said Evans was taken to Highland Hospital, where he underwent surgery later that night. 

Witnesses told police Evans and another man had been engaged in an altercation outside of Nick’s Lounge at 3212 Adeline St. 

The argument, which reportedly began over remarks made about the dead man’s companion, escalated into violence when Evans struck the other man, who responded moments later by pulling a folding knife and stabbing Evans in the neck. 

The assailant then got into his car before driving off with a woman. 

“We got a license plate and were able to track him down to his home in Oakland,” said Officer Burcham. 

Police arrested Roy Smith Jr., 71, at his residence and booked him into the city lockup for assault with a deadly weapon. He was later released on bail. 

With the death of Evans, the case now becomes a homicide, and even though the assault took place in 2007, the death will count as the city’s first killing of the new year, Officer Burcham said. 

Berkeley recorded five murders in 2007. 

A formal decision of whether to charge Smith with homicide will be made by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. 

Meanwhile, an autopsy was under way Monday afternoon to determine the exact cause of death.

Bayer’s plans to close a parking lot used by artists and clients of West Berkeley’s Sawtooth Build-ing follow the company’s lease of an adjacent building. 

The German pharmaecutical giant has leased the building at 921 Parker St., and another business located on an adjacent building on the same parcel can’t get more than a year’s extension on their lease. 

And another groups of artisans who work at the adjacent building at 925 Parker fear they may have lost their shop to Bayer.  

Howard Levine, general manager of Alliance Graphics, said he is concerned about reports that Bayer is planning on buying the entire parcel. 

“We’ve called to try and find out more, but no such luck,” said Levine. 

The 17-year-old business is one of the few union shops in the Western states producing silk-screen and embroidered clothing, caps and other items. 

The company is a project of the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)—hence the company’s name—and all profits fund the alliance’s programs. 

Clients include a wide range of union and progressive causes, including KPFA, environmental groups and social justice organizations. 

While Levine said Alliance wants a long-term lease on their building, they’ve only been able to win a one-year renewal, heightening concerns about the future of the firm’s tenancy. 

Bayer’s closure of the lot, initially set for Dec. 31 but extended to the end of January, has sparked protests from the artists and artisans in the Kawneer Building, popularly known as the Sawtooth Building for the jagged profile of its roofline. 

Woodworker John Curl and other occupants of the landmarked building say the lot is critical to their continued success, especially for the dance and yoga studios which attract sizable numbers of visitors to their classes. 

In search of a solution, City Councilmember Darryl Moore has scheduled a meeting he will host next Monday with tenants, a representative from Bayer and representatives of the Sawtooth Building’s owner. 

The session begins at 6 p.m. inside the 2525 Eighth St. entrance to the building. 

Curl has sent e-mails seeking support for the building’s tenants and other community members. 

One possible long-term solution would be construction of a parking structure at the site of the lot, something Curl said the Bayer had endorsed—so long as the city pays part of the cost. 

In the interim, he said, options proposed have included a request to Bayer to open the lot for evening public parking, a city lease on part of the nearby Fantasy Building parking lot, adding eight parking spaces along Carleton Street by restriping from parallel to angle parking and installation of two-hour parking meters. 

Sawtooth tenants have opposed the notion of meters.  

The parking lot had been leased for five years by the city from Bayer when the company signed a long term development agreement with the city in 1991, and the agree was twice extended—the last time with the assurance from then-City Manager Weldon Rucker that there would be no further extensions. 

Bayer spokesperson Trina Ostrander said last week that the drug company needs the lot to replace spaces that will be temporarily lost due to construction of a new lab building and to house 150 scientists who are moving from a lab in Richmond to work at the West Berkeley facility. 

A call placed to her office Monday morning about the lease of the Parker Street building was not returned by deadline. 

What would it take to get Bay Area folk to trudge through Iowa snow in the heart of winter? 

For Linda Schacht and her husband John Gage of Berkeley and Jeremy Wolff of Lafayette, it was the call of the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and the hope they would portend a new day in American politics. 

In a phone interview from Des Moines, Schacht, lecturer at the UC Berkeley journalism school, told the Daily Planet she believes Barack Obama has a different way of looking at things, one that brings people together. 

“He’ll talk to anybody who has a good idea because he wants information. And I love what he says: ‘This isn’t a blue nation or a red nation, this country is the United States of America.’ That is such a powerful message.” 

“People here are sick of the division,” she said, noting the river outside her hotel window had frozen overnight. 

For Schacht and Gage, chief researcher and vice president of the Science Office for Sun Microsystems, the trip to Iowa—which began the day after Christmas with Schacht’s 92-year-old father—was a family affair, with son, Peter, 29, working for the campaign soon after Obama announced his intention to seek the presidency and daughter Kate Gage, 25, who jumped into the campaign from the day she arrived, doing crowd control and other campaign work all over the state.  

“If Peter hadn’t been involved, I think we would have come here anyway. I think [Obama] represents the future,” Schacht said. “If he becomes president, the view of the United States from other places will change enormously.” 

Jeremy Wolff, a student at UC Santa Cruz, also came to work for the Iowa caucuses. His choice: John Edwards. “I’m passionate about this race,” he said in a phone interview Friday from Council Bluffs, where he was cleaning up the campaign office.  

Wolff made phone calls, stuffed envelopes, set up for events, including the Council Bluffs Precinct 4 caucus. He’s worked in campaigns before—the last one was the race for the Pleasanton-Tracy area House of Representatives seat, working for Democrat Jerry McNerney who beat incumbent Republican Richard Pombo. 

Outsiders on the campaign trail 

Both Schacht and Wolff said they were careful not to tell Iowans how to vote. Instead, they presented their candidates to the voters they met as they went door to door. 

“The people here are really into the process,” Schacht said. “They have really researched all of the candidates. And they talked the lingo. They liked to invite you in and talk about the candidates.” 

“It is startling to be in a state where almost everyone you talk to has thought about what kind of government they want,” said John Gage, writing on his blog at http://blogs.sun.com/SunScience/. 

“Maybe it’s because they see they can have an immediate personal impact, in contrast to states where one person’s vote is lost in a huge pool,” Gage wrote. “Here, one person can change the balance in a caucus of 50 people. People feel a personal responsibility, so they spend the time to learn.” 

Schacht talked about one 21-year-old she met. “He said Ron Paul was the only candidate who would really get us out of Iraq immediately. I talked to him for a long long long long time and finally got him to agree that it would be a wasted vote and that there were Democrats that would get us out of Iraq just as quickly. He showed up at the Democratic Caucus last night and voted for Barack—that was great,” she said. 

Schacht said there was an enormous amount of antipathy towards Hillary Clinton, which, she said came from Democrats as well as Republicans. They would say—and sometimes whisper—“I just want to do anything to make sure Hillary doesn’t become president,” Schacht said. “We heard it over and over and over again.” 

The question of whether an African American could do the job was raised during her campaigning once, perhaps, Schacht said. One person didn’t think Obama could win, and Schacht said she thought the implication was because he was black.  

Wolff also knocked on doors and spent a lot of time talking to people. There was one Clinton supporter, a retired teacher living on disability with a child who had cancer, he talked to for a half hour.  

“She was talking about all the issues that were important to her—we talked about health care and education,” Wolff said. Wolff said he was able to talk to her about the money Clinton took from lobbyists, drug and insurance companies.  

Like Schacht, Wolff said the campaign he worked on was careful not to tell people who to vote for. He said he would tell them why he likes Edwards. “A lot of people appreciated that Californians would come out in six degree weather,” Wolff said. 

The caucus 

Schacht said the excitement of the caucus and the ability for people to register on-site “brings more people into the process.” 

There are Democratic and Republican caucus sites. In years past, one would have to register to vote, and register with a political party or as an independent, 12 days before the caucus. 

The law changed this year, Schacht said, making it possible for people to register to vote at the caucus and to declare their party affiliation that night.  

“They want to make it very, very easy to participate,” Schacht said. “They just have to be able to prove that they live here now.” 

Once the signing in and registration process is complete, the doors are closed and instructions are given, people are asked to walk to the area corresponding to the candidate of their choice. During this time, individuals can try to convince caucus-goers to change their minds about their preferred candidate. 

Any candidate that does not attract 15 percent of the total caucus-goers is considered not viable. Supporters of a non-viable candidate either leave the caucus or join the group of another candidate.  

Once again, during this “realignment” time, participants can be persuaded to change alliances before the final count. 

Schacht and her husband went to the caucus at Saydel High School in Saylor, Iowa, a little town north of Des Moines, where they were observers and reporters for the Obama campaign. 

There were 250 participants, up from 150 the previous year, Schacht said, describing the area as working class and semi-rural. “There were a lot of union people so Edwards did very well in that caucus,” she said.  

Neither Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd nor Joe Biden had the 15 percent needed to stay in the race, “They all got together and formed one group, so Bill Richardson got one delegate,” she said. 

Schacht described how the Richardson group “kept yelling, ‘we need one more person, we need one more person.’” This was during the realignment time period. 

So one of the people in the Obama group was persuaded to join the Richardson group. But the loss of that person and the gain in the Richardson camp meant that, while Richardson got the requisite number of votes to get a delegate, Obama got one rather than two delegates. “Every vote counts,” Schacht said. 

This caucus got seven delegates: Edwards, three; Clinton, two; Obama, one; Richardson, one. 

Both Schacht and Wolff plan to bring the campaign home to California. Schacht is planning a January fundraiser for Obama and Wolff is bringing literature that he collected for other Santa Cruz students. 

Bay Area politicians who came out early for Clinton may regret it, Schacht said. “Some Bay Area politicians jumped on the Clinton band wagon due to the ‘inevitability factor,’” Schacht said. They believed a Clinton win was a sure thing.  

When the Democratic votes were tallied in Iowa, Obama took 37.58 percent of the state, Edwards got 29.75 percent, Clinton got 29.47 percent and Richardson got 2.11 percent. 

Actor, director, playwright, and pillar of the East Bay’s vibrant community theater scene for half a century, Louis Flynn is dead at the age of 86. Few individuals have touched so many others through the arts—not only participants in theatrical productions and other programs, but audience members as well. Flynn, or “Louie” as he was known affectionately to generations of theater people onstage, in the front of the house, and behind the scenes, died in El Cerrito on Jan. 4 following a brief illness. 

Flynn’s most visible legacy is Contra Costa Civic Theatre, which he co-founded with his late wife Bettianne in El Cerrito in 1959. Their vision and determination was enhanced by 20 local families who backed their belief in the dedicated husband-and-wife team with solid financial guarantees to remodel an old Boys Club and create a community theater in 1970. This dedication resulted in the theater’s home at 951 Pomona Avenue in El Cerrito. 

Louis Flynn was born in Edina, Miss., on Feb. 26, 1921. An accomplished pianist, Flynn would accompany his mother at singing recitals and church. A reluctant last-minute replacement in a school play at the age of 6, he would perform onstage for the next eight decades. Some of Flynn’s most memorable roles in his long career include Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, and Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner. 

Entering military service during World War II, Flynn served in the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, 30th Infantry Regiment until 1945. Though he participated in significant and historic events, including landing at the beaches of Anzio in Italy, battles in Southern France, and entering Germany in 1945, battle-scene recollections were rare. It was the entertainers in touring USO shows that Flynn recalled fondly, among them Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontane, Jack Benny, and Ingrid Bergman along with Maurice Evans in G.I. Hamlet. 

Flynn received his bachelor’s degree from Seattle University in Seattle, Washington. There he met his future wife, Bettianne Foster, who was in the audience of a drama department production that she was reviewing for a Seattle newspaper. Graduate school followed at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where Flynn completed his master’s degree in playwriting. Samuel French published his master’s thesis project, The Orchid Sandwich, in 1976 under the title Madness on Madrona Drive. The play has been performed several times on Contra Costa Civic Theatre’s stage—most recently in 2006—and numerous times around the nation. 

Louis and Bettianne married June 11, 1949, in Seattle. They moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1955 and settled in El Cerrito in 1956. In 1959 they founded Contra Costa Civic Theatre, with Louis serving as artistic director, remaining in that role for the next 48 years. CCCT’s first curtain rose on Feb. 15, 1960, for the play Dear Ruth. Bettianne managed the administrative end of CCCT. During Louis’ run at CCCT, he served as director, producer, and, most prominently, as an actor in literally thousands of performances. His most recent appearance was as the trolley car driver in Meet Me in St. Louis in summer 2007. 

Outgoing and energetic, Flynn acted anywhere, anyplace, and in any medium including early Bay Area television. These appearances included background work in locally shot films and on other Bay Area stages with stars as varied as Glenn Ford, Luciano Pavarotti, Dan Dailey, and Giselle Mackenzie. In the 1970s he hosted the The Louis Flynn Show, interviewing local notables on a local cable access station. 

The Flynns envisioned a community theater that was a family affair. For almost 50 years, generations have come to participate both on- and offstage at CCCT. An enthusiastic supporter of arts education for all ages, Flynn could be found lending his support with brief appearances alongside young performers in student productions at CCCT. His most recent such appearance was as the Masked Avenger in CCCT’s 2007 Summer Drama Camp video. Flynn would often say, “It is ludicrous to think that only one person or family is responsible for Contra Costa Civic Theatre. It is an ensemble of very talented individuals with whom I was fortunate to have fallen in with … I fell in with the right crowd.” 

Louis lived a rich, full life right up until the end. He continued to play walk-on roles at CCCT, hosted cast parties, and enjoyed having friends over for dinner. He hosted the monthly CCCT Artistic Advisory Committee meetings at his home and was actively working on selecting productions for the upcoming 2008-09 season. Flynn invented and relished CCCT’s unique closing night ritual of presenting Saint Genesius medals to everyone involved in the production. His love of film made him a regular at the movies, and he was a card-carrying member of the Jeanette MacDonald Fan Club. 

According to Flynn’s daughter, Kathleen Ray, “Nothing made Louie happier than when complete strangers approached him on the street, at the grocery store, or while walking his dog Kelly, and telling him how much they had enjoyed a recent production at CCCT.” Kate Culbertson, CCCT’s current artistic director commented, “Louie’s youthful exuberance was infectious … people just loved being around him.” 

Louis Flynn received several proclamations and honors from the El Cerrito City Council, recognizing CCCT’s contribution to community theatre and acknowledging its commitment to volunteers. In 1978, the El Cerrito City Council named CCCT’s home on Pomona “The Flynn Building.” Additional honors include: 

• City of El Cerrito: El Cerrito Wall of Fame, 1991 (Louis & Bettianne). 

• Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors: Arts Recognition Award, 2002, honoring Louis Flynn for being a “…leader in the arts and having a significant impact on the arts of Contra Costa County.” 

• California State Senate: 2002, Certificate of Recognition acknowledging “outstanding achievements as artistic director and co-founder of Contra Costa Civic Theatre.” 

• Solano Stroll: 2000, a local “Living Legend.” 

Louis Flynn is survived by his daughter Kathleen Ray of Richmond, who runs the Drama Department at Head-Royce School in Oakland, son Matt Flynn of Los Angeles, art director on the television show “The Office,” son-in-law Ken Ray and grandson Alexander Ray, also of Richmond, and granddaughter Maureen Ray of Oakland. 

The Neptune Society handled cremation. Contributions in honor of Louis Flynn may be sent to the Flynn Memorial Fund, Contra Costa Civic Theatre, 951 Pomona Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530.  

A celebration of Louis’ life will be held at a later date in 2008. Details will be announced on CCCT’s website: www.ccct.org. For further information contact the CCCT office at 524-6654. 

Horizon Studies, a lifelong-learning institute at the Berkeley City Club, will be offering two six-week classes that give historical background on Islam and the volatile situation in the Middle-East: “The Spirit of Islam: Past and Present" and "Iran and the U.S.—An Anthropological Perspective.” 

These courses, taught by university professors, provide mature students with in-depth information in an engaging format: classes combine lectures, slides, videos and discussion.  

Preview the upcoming classes at the Winter Open House on Tuesday, Jan. 15, from 10-11:30 a.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. The classes will run from Jan. 29 to March 4. The Spirit of Islam will meet Tuesdays 10 a.m.–noon and Iran and the U.S. will meet Tuesdays 1–3 p.m. 

Director Bruce Elliott, who also teaches European History at UC Berkeley, said, “our mission is to take university-quality education beyond the institution to people in the community.”  

Details on the Middle-Eastern series and the Horizon Studies program are available online at www.horizonstudies.org.

Comments based on the meager amount of hard data emerging from the Iowa and New Hampshire Democratic primaries have offered a lot of speculation but few facts. This is primarily because the commentators, as they themselves will tell you, prefer to report the horse race (“as they come around the bend, Obama is gaining on the left...”) rather than the track statistics which experienced bettors actually use. Or at least that’s the theory. 

The top site for Internet gamblers is InTrade.com, out of Ireland. It allows speculators to buy and sell “shares” in the prospects of candidates. One economist’s view, from several proffered on the site to attract potential “investors”: 

“The [Intrade] markets offer a great way to track the market-based consensus on political and current events. People put real money on the line in making predictions, which is better than snap judgments in opinion polls or no-stakes views of pundits.” That’s Tom Gallagher at the ISI Group. Or ask Koleman Strumpf, professor of economics at the University of Kansas: “When people ask me who will win the next election, I say ‘Let me look at the price on Intrade. It is the best forecast I know.’ ”  

So what are they saying about the potential nominee of the Dems? At the time of this writing, the odds for Hillary Clinton as nominee were at 57.8 percent, for Barack Obama at 43 percent, and poor old Edwards and Gore, choices for many thinking folks around here, were hovering around 1 percent each. The most interesting thing about the site is the historic graphs: not just how are they doing now, but how have they been rising and/or falling since 2005? Neither of the last two ever got above 20 percent. Clinton started in the 40 percent range, and has trended up, with some downs, since then. Obama, the classic dark horse, started at flat nowhere, and has seen an almost meteoric rise into the forties.  

What does it all mean? If you know, by all means go ahead and “invest.” I’m not a betting woman myself—I’m going to have enough trouble deciding how to invest my one vote come February. Still, the temptation to indulge in punditry, which is probably what the gamblers actually rely on to make their decisions, is irresistable. Bus Rapid Transit and KPFA will just have to wait. 

What struck me most strongly on Wednesday is that all three front-runners are lawyers. This is no surprise, since invariably head counts in legislative bodies and elsewhere in government show an overwhelming preponderance of lawyers. Baby-boomers and those who followed them had noticed by the end of the 1960s that law school was where you learned to how to tinker with gears that ran the machine that ran the country, perhaps after you’d already tried out Mario Savio’s famous dictum to throw your bodies on them instead.  

If you think this is going to turn into an anti-lawyer rant at this point, you’re wrong. I love lawyers: good thinkers, great talkers, often funny, even when I disagree with them. My personal heroes in the sixties were mostly lawyers, Thurgood Marshall heading the list. The three lawyers now hoping to bear the Democratic standard are good examples of what you can do with a law degree if you’re so inclined.  

John Edwards is the classic torts lawyer. For the uninitiated, that means he’s made his living filing suits on behalf of people who think someone’s done them wrong. And often someone has, which is why he wins. Clever lawyers of his ilk sometimes win even when they shouldn’t, which is what gives traction to the unstinting corporate effort to restrain the practice of personal injury law, but there would be many more abuses of ordinary people without personal injury attorneys.  

But the flash and dash that plays so well in front of juries isn’t necessarily an asset on the campaign trail. What voters do seem to like (and his showing is much more respectable than the bettors seem to believe) is that he always takes the side of the powerless over the powerful. And you can learn to do that effectively as well as ardently in law school. If Edwards were the nominee and eventually the president, he’d probably be just as effective jawboning Congress to do the right thing.  

Hillary Clinton took a safer route, migrating from an early taste of public interest work (she interned for a summer with Oakland’s own Bob Treuhaft, radical husband of the equally spicy Jessica Mitford) to corporate practice for the big boys in Arkansas. Despite her feminist credentials, Clinton is just young enough to have missed the real hard core discrimination against women experienced by law school applicants a few years older. (I first applied to law school about the same time she did, as a woman of thirty or so, and was told to my face by the assistant admissions dean that the University of Michigan had never had a female student with small children and wasn’t about to start.)  

Many women in her generation traded their early idealism for the realpolitik of going along to get along in what was still a man’s world, ending up like Hillary doing corporate dirty work. You can see women like this at city council meetings, often appearing on behalf of the polluters and the developers. Other female law school graduates of that time (myself included) moved on to other pursuits when it became apparent that much of the practice of law was a lot like being a housewife: cleaning up after other peoples’ messes.  

Barack Obama tried out community organizing before going back to school to be a lawyer. The age of my children and a classmate of one of them, he’s been able to use the tools his Harvard Law School education gave him to full advantage in the public interest arena.  

Hearing Obama interviewed by a reporter trying to trip him up on Wednesday, after he’d come in second in New Hampshire, was a fine demonstration of why he was a topnotch law student and is probably an excellent law professor, one of his several day jobs while building his political resume. In classic Socratic style, he managed to turn every single question back on the questioner, revealing no more than he wanted to of his position on the hot topics while still appearing affable and even presidential. Is this good or bad? It’s probably a great survival skill for a candidate facing hostile media, but it induces a certain amount of anxiety in those of us who’d like to know what he’d actually do if elected.  

What does any of this tell the would-be election handicapper? Not much, perhaps, but it does give a clue or two about why Hillary Clinton came from behind in the home stretch in New Hampshire. I’d heard male critics, even some who should know better, complaining about her “harsh” or “aggressive” personal style in debates, and I’m sure I’m not the only woman of my age who cringes when she hears that. Women who have taken advantage of their improved opportunities are damned if they do and damned if they don’t: either too strong or too weak, seldom just right. Women lawyers like Hillary Clinton are particularly vulnerable to this kind of trash talk. 

It seems clear (and there’s no shame in this) that Clinton’s handlers were listening too. A sign that she’s been advised to soften her image is the flowered dress she wore for her victory speech on Tuesday, a change from the no-nonsense pants suits she’s previously favored. And then there was that teary moment. 

The ever more offensive Maureen Dowd asked snarkily in Wednesday’s NYT, “Can Hillary Cry Her Way Back to the White House?” Any competent actress, even in a high school play, can cry a tear or two on demand, so there’s every possibility that the episode was less than spontaneous. But what of it? Courtroom lawyers male and female in the Edwards mold have often both produced and provoked tears on their clients’ behalf. 

The power of “una furtiva lacrima” (a furtive tear) to move the viewer is celebrated in the Donizetti aria made famous by Pavarotti. Method actors know that the best way to produce tears is to think about something you’re really sad about. Hillary Clinton has had plenty of real things to cry about over the last decade or two, and as another song has it, it’s her party and she can cry if she wants to. It seems to work, and that’s what counts at the end of the race. 

Despite my announced official position on the race for the Democratic nomination for president—that I’m happy to let those who care passionately decide who it will be—I occasionally sneak a peek at the campaign propaganda. Watching the thrust and counter-thrust in the battle of slogans, and how the press reports on it, you can get a pretty good picture of what Americans care about, or at least what the people in power or aspiring to power hope they care about. 

The word of the week, maybe even the word of the month, is “change.” Right after the Iowa caucusers (many more of them Dems than Repugs) had trudged home through the snow, the quick-turnaround soothsayers announced that Obama and Huckabee had come out ahead because they promised change. After I heard all the normally sharp-tongued partisans on Left, Right and Center, my favorite radio program, drooling over Obama’s victory speech regardless of their individual politics (the show tries to provide One of Each to comment on the week’s news) I felt compelled to look it up on YouTube. (I should probably be disqualified from commenting since I seldom watch broadcast television.) There it was, on enormous signs purposefully thrust into the Obama picture. On the podium: “Change we can believe in.” Held by supporters in the background: “Stand for change.”  

Okay, we get it. Tired of Bush? Want a change? Here’s the guy who brings the most change the fastest. But wait for the spin. On Monday Hillary Clinton talked to Renee Montagne on NPR, and assailed Obama for changing his mind on a couple of issues: Change is bad, she implied.  

Still, “it’s time for a change” is the most durable and long-lasting of political slogans. I used it myself to great advantage when I managed a few campaigns in my youth, and it worked every time. It’s second only to a denunciation of potholes for grabbing the attention of even the most reluctant of voters, since the status quo, almost by definition, is never what it could and should be.  

Voters are easily persuaded that a new broom sweeps clean. Berkeley’s current mayor Tom Bates ate out on promises of change when he successfully opposed incumbent Shirley Dean, even though it’s been development business as usual since he won. Ron Dellums owed much of his Oakland mayoral victory to not being Jerry Brown. In Richmond outsider Gayle McLaughlin was elected mayor precisely because she hadn’t been part of the previous administration.  

Now an unlikely coalition of local activists is coming together in Berkeley around the proposition that we need an immediate change from Bates himself, in the form of a recall election, even though he’ll be up for a vote again before long. Some of them were Shirley Dean supporters when Bates defeated her in his first run for the mayor’s job, but others were strongly anti-Dean. And there’s a substantial number of otherwise sensible people here who think that it would be better to impeach President Bush now than to tough it out until November. Change is still selling well in the urban East Bay. 

But is change for change’s sake always a good buy? It’s related to that other slippery word, progress, which carries with it the implication that all change is for the better. Both Democrats and Republicans at various points in their history have latched on to the title of “progressives,” based on the very American hope that every day in every way we’re getting better and better. “Progressive” has been especially beloved of those who hope that they’re above the two-party system, everyone from the Bull Moose Republicans at the turn of the twentieth century to the mid-century supporters of Henry Wallace on the left of the Democrats.  

“Conservative,” progressive’s oppo-site number, hasn’t fared nearly as well. Conservative Democrats have withered on the vine and eventually faded away, while supposedly conservative Republicans have actually tended to espouse radical change in the last half-century. But there’s something to be said for conservation, if what we’re conserving is what’s best about America: for example the Bill of Rights and related traditional civil liberties. The Patriot Act was a big change, for sure, but not for the better. A few traditional conservatives have spoke out against it, but not many. 

On the local level, five of the nine Berkeley city council members have probably claimed the title of “progressive” at some point in their career, while the remainder have eschewed the conservative label in favor of the more moderate “moderate.” But when push comes to shove, only two of the five “progressives” reliably vote against powerful monied interests, the posture which best fits the modern definition of being progressive. Two more of the so-called progressive five (one the mayor, the other his loyal follower) have voted consistently to further empower the powerful, whether it’s developers who want carte blanche to build wherever and whatever they please or merchants who want to make the streets safe for shopping by banishing the poor. The current council’s two legislative claims to fame, passed by a Mod-Prog coalition, have been the revision of the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance to make it easier to tear down buildings which stand in the way of builders and the Public Commons for Everyone Initiative, proof that 1984 marked not the end but the beginning of the Orwellian era in local government (even though the PCEI didn’t outlaw sex on the sidewalk). 

Perhaps it’s time to examine the idea that all change is good. With a president like George Bush, it’s easy to imagine that anything would be better than what we’ve got now, and that might even be true. But the next president will have to stand for something besides not being Bush, and the voters deserve to know what that might be.  

Hillary Clinton’s main claim to fame these days is her experience, but experience doing what? Standing by her man, when her man and his Democratic Leadership Council allies made quite a few changes in the federal government which were anathema to true progressives of the post-1948 variety? And then there’s that vote to invade Iraq, but perhaps she’s changed her mind about that one. 

Obama’s principal asset is that he wasn’t around when a lot of the bad stuff came down, but voters need to know what he’ll do when he does face such decisions. Clinton cites his vote for the latest version of the Patriot Act which contained only modest improvements on the original horror, which she voted for herself, of course. Edwards freely admits having changed his mind about Iraq, no ifs, ands or buts, but what about Iran? Or Afghanistan? Or Darfur, or Kosovo? 

Is it progressive to continue to try to be the policeman of the world by dint of military might? Is it possible? Can we maintain our civil liberties if we do? These are questions for which the voters should demand answers between now and August.  

On the local level a year later, voters might want to ask candidates and potential candidates if they’ll continue to back the inexorable march of huge luxury condos down our main avenues. Stances on repealing the new pro-developer landmarks ordinance when it’s up for a vote in November might give a clue.  

In large matters and small, the underlying questions of what it means to be progressive and whether change is always progress have become central. We’ve grown up with the vision of a universe in which possibilities are infinite, but we’re belatedly realizing that it’s now (and perhaps always was) a finite world we live in, and choices must be made. Just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s good. 

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding Isabella La Rocca’s Jan. 4 letter calling for a boycott of Kentucky Fried Chicken, I presume it was inspired by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ five-year campaign focused on KFC. Readers should be aware that the real targets of PETA’s campaign are the large wholesale chicken producers that supply all major restaurant chains, conventional supermarkets, and the vast majority of independent restaurants. In this context, singling out KFC may be politically pragmatic, but it’s ethically arbitrary. If you want to boycott inhumanely-raised chicken, limit your purchases to the small but growing minority of restaurants and markets that specifically identify their suppliers and/or have been certified humane by organizations such as Humane Farm Animal Care (certifiedhumane.org). 

Robert Lauriston 

• 

TRADITION OF TORTURE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s column (Dec. 14) speaks to an issue that is coming more and more into focus. 

“There is a Tradition to American Torture,” and there is also the problem of what to do about it. The founding fathers took on “cruel and unusual punishment” in the Bill of Rights, but they neglected to ban torture in the Constitution. They seem to have thought it was “obvious.” 

He says, “However it may be treated with shame, like the odd cousin never let out of the closet while company is in the house, torture has been—and remains—an American tradition. To end that tradition, we must first stop pretending that it does not exist or feign shock and surprise when it resurfaces, as it does, periodically.” 

This summer in San Francisco the American Psychological Association split over psychologists providing services for (interrogation) torture. A similar issue happened with the American Anthropological Association. “Resurfacing” is happening in a serious way. 

I work with the Coalition for Justice and Accountability in San Jose. Our group was organized around police brutality, notably the July 2003 shooting of Bich Cau Tran by the SJPD. We struggle against several kinds of torture, including, as well as police brutality, Tasers, forensic abuse of prisoners, and child abuse. We are allied with the SVDebug effort to create police oversight in San Jose. We also struggle against behavioral health “treatment” when it takes the form of torture, and we were a cosponsor of the “Ethical APA” demonstration against interrogation torture in San Francisco this summer. 

This country should face up to the “tradition” and move towards a Constitutional ban on torture. 

Andrew Phelps 

• 

RELIGION AND THE CANDIDATE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor (Jan. 4) suggests that a debate on faith and religion should be part of the electoral process, to explore and explain the relevant positions of process, to explore and explain the relevant positions of candidates. Since the supposed merits of various religious superstitions and shibboleths have been debated and fought over for thousands of years and since there can never be a factual basis for any opinion, I doubt that we would be enlightened by such a colloquium. 

In an ideal world we could hope for a candidate who had the courage to eschew any religious affiliation, but given a populace that considers obeisance a virtue, the best we may hope for is a pledge not to let religious conviction affect political policy. Meanwhile, we have a president who—acting on the advice of god, he tells us—has wasted our military reserve, crippled our economy, and eroded our stature in the world. Such a president can send thousands of men to their death in military adventures, comforting himself that their valor will win them a virtuous place in an eternal afterlife. So long as we elect men who believe such hokum we consign ourselves to having a madman as president. 

And one would-be replacement rejects evolution, perhaps the most researched and validated concept in science, while his belief that the world was created 6,000 years ago dismisses many areas of established knowledge in physics, chemistry, genetics, geology, archeology, and astronomy. It’s an international embarrassment that this ignorant man is considered a viable candidate for the presidency. 

Jerry Landis 

• 

NO ROOM AT THE INN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s Undercurrents essay entitled: “A Religious and Spiritual Test for Candidates,” he calls for a “roundtable” where representatives of all major faiths from Christians through Wiccans can discuss their faiths and religions. But nowhere in this dialogue does he include the 14 or so percent of us who are estimated to have no religious views. 

Not that much different from Mitt Romney who, to smooth over apprehensions about his Mormonism, tries to appeal to all faiths but leaves “no room at the inn” for us non-believers. Instead, he cites “secularism” as the great common enemy. His fellow Republican ex-president George H. W. Bush once said: “I don’t know that atheists should be regarded as citizens nor should they be regarded as patriots. This is one nation under God.” 

As a life-long atheist and/or secular humanist, I regard our thinking to be more along the lines of our Deist early statesman who wrote the Constitutional clause decreeing the separation of church and state than that of most theists. 

Theists talk about “values” candidates for office as those professing a religious faith as if non-believers have no “values.” 

I was raised by working-class immigrant atheist parents, of whom I’m proud and whose values were part and parcel with their humanist, democratic socialist politics. They inspired me with their advocacy for the underdogs and have-nots of society, social equality, the rights of labor and in their horror of war as a means of solving human problems. They had no need for a supreme being to arrive at these values in their lives. 

Only one member of the U.S. Congress has the courage of his convictions to declare himself a non-believer. He is Rep. Pete Stark of our own Bay Area. So deep is the prejudice of so many of the religious in America. 

But it is different in some other countries. A couple of years ago, overwhelmingly Roman-Catholic Chile elected an avowed agnostic, Michele Bachelet, as its first woman president. 

Tarja Halonen, the first woman president of Finland, now serving her second six-year term, left the Lutheran Church, a state religion, some decades ago in protest over its refusal at that time to ordain women clergy. In a country that is now 80 percent Lutheran, her current popularity figures surpass 80 percent. 

One hopes that some day our own country would become so open-minded and leave religous affiliation or profession aside as a determinant for elective office. 

Harry Siitonen 

• 

CAPITAL WICCAN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In reading J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s column “A Religious and Spiritual Test for Candidates” (Jan. 4), I noticed that when he is mentioning religions, he uses the terms Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Christian, Buddhist, Islam and Mormonism. He also uses “wicca” and “ifa.” I’m not sure why he chose to not capitalize the latter two religions, or why the editors chose to allow the article to be printed that way. It is admittedly a very minor quibble with what was otherwise a good column, but it has been my experience that when the uncapitalized form is used, it reveals an opinion that the religion isn’t a “real” one, and that it can be denigrated. I do not know if this was the author’s intent or not, but I wanted to ask the Berkley Daily Planet to consider using the term “Wicca” in its proper capitalized form, just as it would any other religion. 

Robert A. James 

McFarland, WI 

• 

REPUBLICAN FEAR FACTOR 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Voters in both parties went for new faces, new voices and a new approach to politics in Iowa’s caucuses. There is nothing new about the Republican winner Mike Huckabee. He is the product of three decades of religious and political inbreeding of the far right. 

Mike Huckabee as George Bush’s shadow and as a future Republican president would bring America four more years of Bush administration lite; more war, more deficits, more lies and secrecy, and more policies out of touch with mainstream America. 

How scary is Mike Huckabee: Fear factor 7. 

Ron Lowe 

Grass Valley  

• 

ANTENNAS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I live in the south campus area but am not nearly as close as some longtime friends to the UC Storage building—where the City Council has signed off on a minimum of 23 cell towers beamed straight out from Ward and Shattuck into this dense residential neighborhood. 

People who have lovingly kept up and improved their home right in the “line of fire” are now most reluctantly looking into selling the house they’d hoped to one day pass on to their son. 

Why? Two reasons come to mind: First, a recent Israeli study which showed that some 622 people living close to cell towers for three to seven years faced four times the risk of cancer compared to those who did not. 

Second is the haunting memory of an older woman who came to a public hearing on the UC Storage proposal. She told of how dramatically her own life and health changed for the worse when a cell tower was beamed toward her apartment from a short distance. It was clear she had no “political” axe to grind, but wanted others to hear her story. 

The EPA says California cannot use a higher vehicle-emissions standard than the federal one. The FCC says it’s fine for media conglomerates to own all the outlets in a market, and that human health can’t be taken into consideration in siting cell-transmission towers. 

Let’s show support for those directly affected by the UC Storage decision. Personally, I think several of our council members need spine transplants. 

Donna Mickleson 

• 

BROKEN SIGN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

On New Years’ Day I took a walk at Eastshore Park. “Where?” a friend asked: “Oh, you mean ‘the Bulb.’” 

Several small wooden signs, like oblong mushrooms, seemed to have sprung from the damp ground. “Trust Everyone.” “Share Everything.” Their idealism and optimism a reminder of the creative spirit that painted the caves at Lascaux and drew beauty out of the scrap and refuge that still litters this place. 

The beach was sealed off with yellow tape because of the oil spill. I walked the trail to Mad Mark’s castle and hobbled down the rocks to the breakwater. The rippling water reflected its shifting patterns on the hillside rocks while water birds fed and traveled across the surface of the bay. 

I noticed a small piece of metal embedded in the ground. “Listen” it read. So I stood in place and heard the wind while overhead two lines of cloud met in a burst of spectrum like a compressed rainbow. 

On my way back I saw lying on the ground two pieces of wood with lettering on them. Approaching closer I recognized them as the broken halves of the “Trust Everyone” sign I had seen on my way in. I suppose you could call the vandalism of that sign ironic. But that would be too cerebral a response. I felt it as heartbreak. 

Pete Levine 

Albany  

• 

GLOBAL WARMING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It’s easy to be seduced by intensifying winter storms and summer hurricanes into thinking that global warming only produces the melodramatic effects we see on television. But the real effects of global warming are arriving far more gently—and in Berkeley I have the personal data to prove it. When I moved into my northwest Berkeley house in 1977 (near Lalime’s restaurant on Gilman Street and a mile from the bay) I built a highly insulated space in the basement to use for wine storage. The temperature never changes measurably from day to night, but it does gradually change from summer to winter and back. Throughout the ’80s and ’90s that annual temperature variation consistently ranged between 60 and 65 degrees every year. In the current decade the annual variation—now over several years—has consistently moved up to between 62 and 67 degrees. That’s not much of a change, but it is a measurable one. It’s my own little two-degree share of global warming, and it’s a data source I will certainly continue to monitor. 

Alan Tobey 

• 

WISH LIST 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

With the coming of each new year, I’ve been in the habit of making a Wish List—things that I believe would make this a better country. This year my list includes, among other things, the following: 

1. An end to the war in Iraq. 

2. Peace in the Middle East. 

3. A let-up in random, senseless shootings. 

4. No Britney Spears stories on TV and in the press. 

Having heard all I can bear about the trials and tribulations of Britney—her marital woes, custody battle for her children, frequent stays in rehab and/or the slammer on drunk driving charges, her nervous breakdown this past week, and, of course, her shaved head—in desperation I’ve sought help from above. “Heavenly Father, in your infinite mercy, please, please spare us further saturation of this unfortunate woman’s problems. Above all, may we not be subjected to similar stories about her pregnant 16-year old sister, Jamie Lynn!” 

It’s my sincere hope that we can go back to the more uplifting news of Jolie and Brad. 

Dorothy Snodgrass 

• 

MORE BRITNEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

A recent newspaper headline announced: “Spears exits hospital, escorted by Dr. Phil.” I for one am fed up with reports, sightings, etc. of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan. They seem such vacuous people who shouldn’t appear in the media again until they discover a cure for cancer, settle the Mideast crisis, curb global warming, or perform some more newsworthy accomplishment other than being their silly, self-destructive selves. Otherwise I really don’t want to hear their names or see their inane faces in the news again. They seem such useless and annoying creatures. The media has more important news to cover. 

Ralph E. Stone 

San Francisco  

• 

THANKS FOR PUBLISHING 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

I would like to compliment you and your newspaper for publishing the article “Christmas Should Be All Year.” 

In fact, Mariana Castilho Rogedo was extremely happy to describe Christmastime in the present days. A great deal of consumerism and lack of understanding among people prevails. 

The same situation occurs here in Brazil, unfortunately, as a result of this world trend. 

My congratulations to Mariana. 

Antonio Castilho de Souza 

Belo Horizonte, Brazil 

• 

WHAT HAVE WE  

ACCOMPLISHED? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It was recently reported that after four-and-one-half years, 3,000 U.S. troops have died in Iraq and another 28,661 wounded. A 2006 “Lancet” study estimates that since the U.S. invasion in March 2003 through July 2006, there have been 654,964 “excess deaths” of Iraqis due to the war. In addition, it is estimated that 2.2 million Iraqis have been displaced inside the country and another 2.2 million have sought shelter in neighboring countries. Finally, the Iraq war costs to date exceed $480.6 billion and the cost could eventually surpass $1 trillion. 

What have we accomplished? Quoting President Bush: “Victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world—a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties and answers to its people.” That’s not today’s Iraq. Iraq is no closer to a functioning government or to a reconciliation among its various religious groups as when the war began. In fact, a September 2007 BBC, ABC News, and NHK poll of 2,000 Iraqis found that about 70 percent believed that the recent surge “hampered conditions for political dialogue, reconstruction and economic development” and that nearly 60 percent see attacks on U.S.-led forces as justified. When will this president and Congress come to their senses and bring our troops home? 

Ralph E. Stone 

San Francisco 

• 

SAGA OF SEVEN YEARS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

First there was the bait and switch - substituting war in Iraq for the apprehension of Osama bin Laden. 

There were non-existent WMD’S, War in Iraq, and “Mission Accomplished.” 

There were Bush tax cuts for the most wealthy using Clinton-era surpluses to hoodwink the public. Since then Bush and anti-tax Republicans have run up deficits in the trillions. 

There was Abu Graib, Gitmo, Gonzalez, secret prisons and always the coverup. 

Along came Hurricane Katrina, “Brownie,” and Bush administration ineptness. 

There was the White House outing of Valerie Plame, and U.S. Attorneys, “Scooter” Libby taking the fall for higher ups in the Oval Office. 

Now the missing CIA torture tapes. 

How much more damage can Bush do in the remaining year? 

Ron Lowe  

Grass Valley  

• 

A BETTER WORLD FOR  

CHILDREN 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the new year 2008 I would like to see more peace, more happiness, better health and better education for all Bay area schools. I would like to see communities sharing their best resources with school-age children. 

I am distressed, when I read news about the difficult situation a child has to face. Neighborhood streets are preyed upon by a few uncaring adults who can take away an innocent child’s safety. The child cannot step out to play for fear of getting harassed or abused or kidnapped or killed. These uncaring adults on account of drugs or other addictions have lost the power to think that children of any group or race need the whole community’s help to grow and develop fearlessly. Those who have not experienced secure spaces during their early years may lose motivation. 

I am especially concerned about low income, single parent families which are already struggling to raise their children in this kind of unsafe environment. I have overheard children saying that they don’t like to walk home without their mothers because they don’t feel safe walking alone. 

My personal wish is for neighborhood communities to contribute their helping hands and their vigilant eyes to protect all children. Perhaps neighborhood adults can be more observant while children play close to schools or near public parks. Perhaps neighborhood businesses can help install good lighting in areas where children hang out. I will be very happy if civic leaders can give more thought to the safety of our children in the East Bay. 

Romila Khanna 

In December a recall petition was begun against Mayor Tom Bates of Berkeley. 

Two questions come to mind: What has Bates done wrong, and what has happened to the petition? 

Bates’ agenda for development and growth in Berkeley is against the predominant opinion of the citizens, and he works to achieve these goals through secret deals. He has also been visibly rude to Berkeley citizens protesting some of his actions as documented on City Council videos. 

The list of problems is long; it includes: 

• Ignoring citizens’ opinions at City Council meetings. 

• Using the Green movement as a pretext to overdevelop, cut trees, fund developers—the Brower Center is a boondoggle, a public parking lot has been eliminated and City funds are being used to support this private development. 

• Encouraging huge polluting development in favor of University expansion, such as a virtual take-over by BP (British Petroleum) and massive development in our Strawberry Canyon above Memorial Stadium. 

• Discouraging citizens from shopping downtown by eliminating downtown parking, ruining businesses. 

• Giving Federal HUD Section 8 vouchers to developers (Project-based Section 8) and not to deserving tenants. 

• Voted against saving Iceland, a landmark ice rink. He said, “We can put up a plaque.” 

• Weakening Landmark laws to enable demolition of the structures that give Berkeley character. The mayor and the Board of Education are intent upon replacing our warm pool (in a landmarked school facility) with a tremendously expensive building that has no parking for handicapped users? $4 million in bond money was voted in by the electorate to fix the pool, and now the City wants a $15 million bond issue to replace it. 

• Supporting unpopular BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), which would turn leafy Berkeley avenues into bus-only lanes even though BART already serves the same corridors. 

• The DAPAC committee for downtown Berkeley came out of his secret deal with the University in 2005. Development enthusiasts were appointed to this body; thus high-rise and extreme growth were the consensus. 

The recall petition 

The City Clerk refused to review or approve the form of the petition and additional requirements surfaced in the City Charter in regards to a recall—That a precinct number be placed after every signature, and “that each petition had to be sworn to before an officer competent to administer oaths.” Does this mean a notary public? We are awaiting the City Attorney’s opinion. 

These are serious roadblocks to First Amendment rights of citizens to make petitions for Recall. It could take more than 1,000 hours of petitioners’ time and more than $30,000 in Notary fees! 

This is reminiscent of the Mayor’s collection and trashing of the Daily Californian on the eve of his first election several years ago. 

A comprehensive list is at recalltombates.blogspot.com, Or check the website at berkeleyrecall.com. Signatures are being collected by volunteers. Please email or call Julie Dickinson at julieeed@msn.com, or 510-432-1054. 

Julie Dickinson is active in Berkeley politics.

When Jane Brunner ran against then-Planning Commissioner Peter Smith in 1996 for the Dist. 1 (North Oakland) open seat vacated by Sheila Jordan, one of her most pointed criticisms of Smith was his “ambition.” She charged that Smith, whose father worked on disarmament issues in the Clinton administration, would use the council seat as a stepping stone to higher office, such as Congress. 

Now, Brunner is reconciled to stay put, after an unsuccessful stab at an Assembly seat and an unexpected roadblock to the job of City Attorney. Brunner was thwarted by rival machines—the Bates and even the Perata machine to which she belongs—when her Rockridge residence street was redistricted out of District 14. It’s no secret Brunner hoped to succeed John Russo for City Attorney—a job that pays more than the California Governor. Unfortunately for her, Sandre Swanson beat Russo for the Assembly job, and Russo is also stuck in place. 

So, unable to move up, Brunner is running for re-election, resuming her infrequent—formerly—monthly community advisory meetings and increasing her visibility. Brunner was unopposed 4 years ago and no opponents have come forward so far this time. But will she have so easy a time of it again? Her teflon quality has served her well to date. For example: 

Others get blamed 

Crime and public safety are hot button issues in Oakland right now, but much of the frustration seems directed at Mayor Dellums, in office one year, and not at long-time incumbents like Brunner, in office 11 years. And the most teflon-coated, wily politician of them all—Jerry Brown—seems headed back to the governorship by way of Attorney General, in part because of “fixing Oakland!” 

Griping about crime saturates the postings on the OPD yahoo group. One not atypical holiday posting from Ian Martin, the owner of the Nomad Cafe building at 6500 Shattuck: “HELP! SIX MUGGINGS! BROKEN WINDOWS!” Many feel unsafe even walking to Ashby BART in the middle of the day! But I don’t necessarily feel that secure myself—my immediate neighbor was hit on the head with a metal object and knocked from his bike while coming back from work right in front of his house. Recently, my partner and neighbor were verbally and physically assaulted by an irate hot goods peddler (calling himself “Mr. Murder”) in front of our house. 

So while citizens complain the large Measure Y bond measure we voted for hasn’t resulted in more officers on the beat, and Dellums is pummeled, Brunner and her fellow incumbents get a pass. 

She’s good at window-dressing 

As part of political consultant Larry Tromutola’s stable, she’s coached to trumpet mom and apple pie issues like litter, smoking, plastic bags (“no way!”) and street trees (“yup!”). She’s also good at playing Lady Bountiful. Like all the councilmembers, Brunner has a large pot of money to use at her own discretion. She’s spent it on capital improvements like roundabouts and—most recently—the gussying up of an edge of Bushrod Park on Shattuck. The resulting Steps to Nowhere are so far used only by skateboarders who have—literally—broken them in. The stairs, turf, and new trees cost over $370,000, with $353,000 coming from Brunner’s discretionary pot of money. 

Alarmingly, from a public safety standpoint, the alternative to the park “up-grade” was additional street lighting on Shattuck. 

In the quest for more money for police, no rock is being left unturned. Even local redevelopment boards are voting to “buy” officers. So, while it’s perhaps unrealistic to think Brunner or other Councilmembers are going to return their slush funds to the General Fund to hire more police, nevertheless, that IS one alternative. 

No scrutiny of the developers’ maven 

Brunner keeps a day job in the Siegel & Yee law firm. Her most publicized ethical dustup occurred in a flap with powerful developer Phil Tagami. Brunner was accused of helping to negotiate a good rent for her spouse, James Nixon, and his non-profit in the Rotunda Building. The City underwrote the renovation of the Rotunda to the tune of $12 million and Brunner was head of the City’s CEDA committee, which oversaw the complex leasing and funding. Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson complained about the apparent conflict-of-interest in an Aug. 4, 2000 piece headed “Shaky Ethics in Oakland Downtown Development Deal Bad Ethics in Brunner’s Aid to Spouse.” The Aug. 12, 2000 East Bay Business Journal also covered the story. 

The issue was referred to the Ethics Commission, where all such matters are sent to die. 

Her support for developers is normal for this City Council, and their contributions to her go unmentioned. The most controversial market rate condo developers in Dist. 1 are Roy Alper, Patrick Zimski, and Ron Kriss. Their projects generally involve demolition of historic buildings, with the loss of affordable residential and commercial space. The developers’ aggressive tactics have included deceptive mass mailings to residents. All but their first project have resulted in appeals to the City Council and, now, a lawsuit.  

Brunner has consistently voted to deny the appeals, while calling for miniscule changes. Her campaign contribution reports reveals $6000 in campaign contributions from these same developers and spouses in the period of 2003—2006. The developers gave the maximum $600/individual amounts, at the time when their projects and the Temescal rezoning they were attempting to influence toward increased heights and density were in the balance. I asked a “good government,” former member of the Oakland Ethics Commission whether the $6000 amount was a significant one. He said that the contributions would stand out in any of the council districts. 

In addition to supporting their projects, Brunner also indirectly pushed a taxpayer subsidy for these entrepreneurs. The recent effort to declare most of the rest of North Oakland “blighted”, in order to place the areas into a redevelopment zone, would have benefitted Alper & Co. The first project in the pipeline was street enhancements for upper Telegraph Ave. Many of these “improvements” totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars were for improvements of the sidewalks, streets, and other public infrastructure around their existing condos, and projects in the pipeline. 

Brunner also supports the Children’s Hospital Oakland expansion right out of the chute, even before the details of the expansion are explained. Their plans include a twelve story 180’ tower and the displacement of homeowners and tenants, including unwilling sellers if the project is approved as proposed. 

She successfully passes the buck 

After belatedly updating the General Plan, Oakland has now waited some 9 years to update the zoning, a step that was to follow soon thereafter. Brunner has taken to blaming the delay on Brown, who wouldn’t hire the staff to do the work. 

Despite the fact that Rockridge and Temescal had been most recently rezoned of any area in the city—1989 and 1991 receptively—Brunner undertook a series of meetings—some dozen in all—to rezone Temescal. The staff-heavy meetings were contentious and no consensus ever emerged over issues of building heights and preservation. In exasperation, Brunner who had been warning residents to compromise with developers before the council took up the matter, finally announced there would be no more community meetings and the proposed zoning would go to the Planning Commission. 

But as a result of a lawsuit over planning department practices, the City has abruptly decided to reverse course and conduct an EIR on Temescal rezoning. Perhaps the 12 meetings that ended in fizzle contributed to Planning Director’s Claudia Cappio’s abrupt resignation. She couldn’t have been happy about the hundreds of staff hours spent in only one area’s rezoning, only to have the whole process start over again. But who blames Brunner for the flawed, acrimonious, and wasteful process? 

Meanwhile, because the zoning hasn’t been updated, the city renewed their “best-fit” procedure for spot-zoning projects that violate existing zoning. No surprise STAND, the group most involved in the dustup over out-of-scale condo projects in Temescal, wasn’t noticed by Brunner’s office about the re-authorization. 

Ineffectual doesn’t matter 

Since City Council seems a job few want (while requiring considerable money to run for), seat-warming seems to be considered adequate. Even the issues Brunner says she cares about, like inclusionary zoning and housing affordability, haven’t been moved by her, despite her starring role in the Perata/De La Fuente/Brown block. 

She has a “progressive,” green veneer 

Brunner has made a name for herself pushing street trees and, indeed, saving the mature street trees on her block in Rockridge from the city’s cutters was her only community activity prior to running for Council. She held an Iraq War teach-in, and supported Howard Dean. 

She also, to self-generated fanfare, helped to launch the Sunday farmers’ market on the DMV parking lot on Claremont. But when some rare Brunner-bashing erupted on the Temescal Families website over a recent unannounced closure of the market for Colombo Club parking, she peremptorily responded that two Sundays a year were given over to Colombo parking. Complaints by still irate members on the site over whether the market proprietor was charged rent for those weekends or whether Colombo pays any at all were rebuffed with regal silence. 

Frank Rich has written that the country is suffering from clinical depression. He was referring to the effect of Bush, but the political process in Oakland is just as sad. The incumbents have been there a very long time, and haven’t done very much but fret about public smoking and let others take the heat about crime. Even Nancy Nadel—the “conscience of the council”— seems diminished. Hopefully, Brunner will attract a challenger this time round. Maybe even the desperate tactic of term limits for local officials, or elimination of the rancid fiefdoms district elections have created, is necessary to thaw the frozen political process in Oakland. 

Robert Brokl is an artist/activist living in North Oakland 36 years. This letter reflects his opinions, not necessarily those of any organization to which he belongs.

Many distinguished scholars agree in general that we are witnessing “the last days of the American Republic.” But, ordinary people don’t need to rely on scholarly insights because the evidence that our republic is failing hits us almost every day, evidence summarized in the record low job approval ratings of both President Bush and Congress.  

So many basic prescriptions of the Constitution have been violated that our government no longer honors the genius of its founders: legislative, executive and judicial powers go unchecked, unbalanced and often overlap. Even so, I can neither weep for the loss nor welcome what we have become.  

I 

The reason I do not weep arises from the conditions of my growing up in Mobile, Alabama, at a time when Jim Crow was in its prime; I was too white to be Negro and too dark-skinned to be white.  

The Constitution allowed for each slave a political credit worth 60 percent of a man and this allotment was deposited in the voting accounts of the slaveholders. Emancipation effectively emptied those accounts and a subsequent attempt at redirection—“forty acres and a mule”—failed. The void was eventually filled by the “separate but equal” doctrine. Then Jim Crow arrived to personify prejudicial practices and to impose capricious and degrading legal limits on former slaves and their descendents. Thus, the 60 percent credit evolved into a segregated condition fixated on a “one drop” rule—one drop of Negro blood from one of my sixteen ancestors debased, by fiat, gallons of other kinds. 

So it happened that Grandpa, Daddy and I were inured to those blessing of the liberty the founders sought to secure for themselves and their posterity. 

Let the following anecdotes stand for a myriad of ways, both subtle and blatant, that Jim Crow used to annul for us those constitutional provisions.  

A hundred years ago my maternal grandpa was jailed for picketing in front of City Hall against a cumulative poll tax, starting at $1.50, that few whites and no Negroes could afford. Daddy was a union leader at the aluminum ore company plant, ALCOA, outside Mobile. When union bosses reneged on their promise to negotiate for in-house professional training and career advancement for Negro employees Daddy resigned in despair, disgust and rage. He retired after two decades as a janitor. 

Let this incident stand for my own encounters with being second-classed. In 1945 I was admitted to a northern college on condition that, because I was Negro—the only Negro, as it turned out—I would have to get grades above the norm. To be equal I had to be better. 

So it happens that the Constitution’s purpose of providing for unity, justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, general welfare and liberty becomes a revered list for vacuous rhetorical political flourishes. Why, therefore, should I weep for benefits that I never fully enjoyed? 

II 

I look at the nation we have become and I see a pearl of promise being uncultivated, ignored and debased. Those old and noble American ideals, although honored more in the breach than in the fulfillment, are so distorted by officials sworn to uphold them that I have little and my children will have less to say about how we are governed.  

Consider the drift of the “American experiment” from its mooring as a republic towards a de facto empire.  

Our government spans the world; our soldiers are installed in almost 800 military installations in almost 200 nations worldwide. Hegemony, by its nature, requires the protection of a “standing army” and ours is a stupendous and expensive military complex that prospers and wags the authority of civilians constitutionally designated to control it. A nation that becomes a fortress to those outside will be a prison to those within. 

Despite shrinkage in the gap between major left and right political parties, partisanship, like a virus, has infected the body politic frustrating every attempt to solve problems. For instance, neither the legislative nor the executive branch is able (or willing) to find a way to honor our immigrant heritage without criminalizing millions of decent residents. Separating us from them is shallow patriotism.  

Or again, those in positions of authority assume that increased security necessarily means diminished liberty. The drift initiated by ubiquitous legalized spying leads to a “1984” future in which the television we watch is also watching us. 

The Constitution gives Congress the power to vote for war and yet it votes a resolution that transfers to the president the unconditioned right to start a war. Never mind that his stated reasons are lies as they were, for example, in 1964 (when President Johnson told the nation that our destroyers were fired on by North Vietnam torpedo boats), or again in 2002 (when Bush insisted that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction).  

Bush’s two-term presidency has greatly advanced the imperial drift. Bush makes signing statements that effectively veto legislation and claims inherent powers normally exercised by Congress.  

We do not have a government of, by and for the people. Seventy percent of Congresspersons favor policies opposed by the same percentage of the public: military occupation in Iraq, legal hair splitting about torture, double standards in choosing friends and foes, and double dealings when it comes to the needy, the dispossessed and the darker masses.  

Finally, we the people are complicit in the failure of the republic. 

We know that might does not make right, that the ends do not justify the means and that legal is not the same as moral. But we fail to act. We fail to demand openness. We allow ourselves to be influenced by a media that values image and celebrity above substance and service. Commerce is not a substitute for culture nor does great wealth lead the way to a better world. 

We must reject bogus patriotic cant that paraphrases Malvolio’s self-righteous boast: America was born to greatness, America achieved more greatness, and America’s current super-greatness has been thrust upon us. When great nations boast, they have already become tyrannical. 

I do not welcome a nation-state in which my children and their children will live not as citizens but as subjects.

Throughout 2007 Americans were warned of a looming steroid scandal in major league baseball. Nonetheless, many fans were surprised when Barry Bonds and 88 other players were identified as steroid users in the Mitchell Report. Sadly, indications are this is only the tip of the drug iceberg, as steroids are said to be an issue at all levels of American sports. Recent estimates suggest two to three percent of high school athletes use steroids, a number in the tens of thousands.  

Athletes use steroids because the drugs enhance their appearance and performance in the short term; they ignore long-term consequences including liver and heart damage. The epidemic use of dangerous drugs is a metaphor for our national character: America seeks to look buff now; we disregard the impact on future generations. Our massive overinvestment in the military-industrial complex helps us feel secure in an uncertain world, but undermines the viability of the American way of life for future generations, for example, by adding to our staggering national debt and deferring needed domestic expenditures. 

It’s possible to discern five aspects of what might be termed “Steroid Ethics.” The first is that many Americans only care about the short term. The “make hay while the sun shines, in the long term we’ll be dead” attitude is not unique to professional athletes or politicians. Many U.S. business leaders now focus exclusively on the present, taking the position that what matters most is performance in the current quarter. As a consequence, corporate executives take ethical shortcuts, for example, by abandoning communities where they have established ties and moving their factories to countries where labor costs less. And it’s become an entrenched cultural pattern for Americans to live beyond their means, often using their home equity to finance their profligate lifestyle. 

The second aspect is that many Americans will do anything to win. In the past athletes were told, “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.” Unfortunately, this isn’t being taught anymore, or if it is, few of us are listening. Our national motto might well be “the ends justify the means.” 

While the origin of our “winning is everything” attitude has many roots, we can point to the presidency of George W. Bush for providing the moral example that, for many Americans, legitimized Steroid Ethics. During his 2000 presidential campaign, Bush’s subliminal message was “greed is good” and “it’s in your personal interest to vote for Dubya.” His goal as president has been to consolidate his personal power, increase the influence of Republicans, and feather the nests of his affluent supporters. The sine qua non of the Bush Administration has been to maximize personal advantage.  

Sadly, a third aspect of Steroid Ethics is that many of us have adopted a herd mentality. Steroid users typically rationalize their behavior by arguing that all their friends are taking the same drugs. Business executives justify their exorbitant salaries by noting their peers are also raking in millions of dollars. Republican members of Congress ignore their president’s ethical lapses because, as the titular head of their party, all their peers support him. At a time when many of their fellow citizens are struggling to make ends meet, wealthy Americans justify exorbitant tax breaks by arguing they have to look out for number one—everyone does it. We’re willing to go along with the crowd, to participate in what columnist Frank Rich termed ‘the good German” syndrome. 

A more subtle aspect of Steroid Ethics is our reliance on magical thinking. Many steroid users hold onto a childlike faith that advances in medicine will eventually remedy the deleterious side effects of the drugs they ingest. Similarly, President Bush believes “history” will vindicate his administration. In the same vein, conservative theorists and many business leaders argue that despite Dubya’s mishandling of the American economy, in the long run “the market” will make the necessary corrections and everything will be okay. Neoconservatives argue that by having a bloated military we can enhance our national competitiveness; they seem to believe other nations like to trade with bullies. 

Finally, Steroid Ethics suggest we have become a nation of narcissists. Drug abusers are obsessively interested in themselves, they show bad judgment and selfishness. Many captains of industry are also overly concerned with money and personal power. This same psychological condition afflicts the president and his closest advisers, as they too are obsessed with their own image. A large segment of the American public favors image over substance, feels it’s better to look good than to be good. This explains our obsession with trash celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. 

My point is that the ethical system that supports steroid use, and drug use in general, has a corrosive influence on American society. At the personal level, this drastically diminishes the long-term quality of life. At the societal level, it undermines democracy: It’s a way of seeing and behaving that exaggerates the importance of individual accomplishment and ignores the notion of common good. Steroid Ethics is cultural cancer. 

Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer. He can be reached at bobburnett@comcast.net.

I was at that footsore stage where one’s mind settles fixedly on the goal—getting home and barefoot—but the shrub by the sidewalk stopped me anyway. It looked apple-ish but different; its leaves were longer and larger, and it was bearing fruit I didn’t recognize. It was obviously something in the rose family, but half the fruit-bearing trees I meet are roses: not much of a distinction.  

The fruit resembled nothing so much as giant brown rosehips. Each had that telltale five-flanged calyx remnant on its distal end. The skin was slightly rough, like a Bosc pear’s. They were almost perfectly globular. They tweaked at something in the back of my brain; I almost knew what they were but couldn’t quite name them. It was like running into a long-lost second cousin.  

After snooping around as much as felt decent, I was still stumped. There were noises from a back window of the house, though, so I walked up the driveway and yoo-hooed.  

A youngish guy well-decorated with plaster dust and paint poked his head out the door. He was the new owner of the place, friendly and willing to chat, and fortunately someone had told him what his acquisition was: a medlar tree. 

Well. I had seen medlars before—the plant at least—as whip-trunked, indistinguishable little saplings in a San Francisco nursery. How is it that I hadn’t seen the fruit at, say, the Berkeley Bowl? Maybe I had. Apparently my brain has reached field capacity on some matters, as the runoff seems to be increasing.  

Humans have invented writing for such problems, though, so of course I hit the books as soon as I’d hobbled home. What I found reinforced my still only half-formed conviction that some things, like calomel and the bombard, are obsolete for good reasons.  

Medlars, Melaspilas germanica, are indeed roses, related to loquats (which get called “Japanese medlars”) and hawthorns. They have a feature in common with persimmons, though: the fruit isn’t ready to eat until it’s been hit hard by frost, or has been allowed to soften—“bletted”—in cool storage. For medlars, a pile of moist sawdust or bran in the cellar is classic. Some people eat the finished product by poking a hole in the skin and sucking out the pulp.  

I’m disposed to like this idea, as I love soft Hachiya persimmons. But when people from Chaucer to Shakespeare keep calling medlars “rotten,” and D.H. Lawrence goes on about “… autumnal excrementa” and “… an exquisite odour of leave taking,” I find the idea less appealing somehow.  

Then again, I do like durian. A controversial fruit with a custardy texture might be right up my alley. Unfortunately, the single pome I was bold enough to ask for got lost in the shuffle when I brought it to Stew Winchester’s taxonomy class for show-and-tell. Stew himself was less than impressed, telling me that he’s used to bigger medlars. Hmph.  

But I never got to take it home and stash it under the bed until it got wrinkly and edible, or, more likely, forgotten until it was moldy. So I still don’t know what it tastes like, and the usual descriptions don’t help much. 

Stew’s larger fruit likely came from medlar scions grafted onto some related rootstock; reputedly, Crataegus, i.e. whitethorn or hawthorn, stock yields the biggest fruit. If the little tree I met was grafted, I’m not sure what its roots are; it’s multistemmed and not much more than a shrub. 

The Victorians supposedly relished medlars, but they were typically fond of odd fiddly things. Think of all those ferns and Gondwanalandish araucarias. Think of the silverware.  

Medieval Europeans liked them because they were among the few fruits available in winter. I wonder if their edibility was discovered by someone who thought she was storing ugly apples and never got around to throwing them all onto the compost after biting into a few.  

If you want one, nag your local nursery or ask the California Rare Fruit Growers. Their local scion exchange happens Saturday, January 19, noon to 3 p.m at the UCSF Mission Center, 1855 Folsom St., San Francisco. See the Golden Gate Chapter page of http://www.crfg for details. 

Here’s an oddity: a new species—not variety; whole species—of medlar, Mespilus canescens, was discovered in 1990 in the flat eastern third of Arkansas. It’s the only other species in the genus. There are about 25 individuals in the “wild,” that is, in the 22-acre conservation easement on private land. They’re reluctant to reproduce on their own, though they flower and bear shiny red fruit. Some suspect it’s of hybrid origin; unlike animals, plants have been known to speciate that way.  

Whatever’s happening, conservationists are grafting the new medlar onto Crataegus wood with some success. We don’t know what’s we’re messing with, so save all the parts! 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan 

Medlar fruit and leaves. These, about poolball-sized, are apparently some puny medlars. 

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Green Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Planet’s East Bay Home & Real Estate section.

TUESDAY, JAN. 8 

FILM 

“Banished” by Marco Williams, chronicles the history of three towns that forcefully banished African-American families at 6:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., Oakland. www.pbs.org/independentlens/banished 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Andrew Carriere & the Cajun Zydeco All Stars at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $9. 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.  

Matt Moorish, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

The Ambrose Akinmusire Group in an Oaktown Jazz Workshops Benefit Concert at 8 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $25. 238-9200.  

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 9 

EXHIBITIONS 

East Bay Women Artists “Begin the Beguine” Group show opens at Royal Ground Gallery, 2058 Mountain Blvd, Oakland. 841-0441. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Coast of Utopia Reading of the trilogy by Tom Stoppard “Voyage” at 7 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Other readings on Jan. 16 and Jan. 23. Tickets for all three are $150. 841-6500, ext. 303. 

Dana Frank describes “Local Girl Makes History: Exploring Northern California’s Kitsch Monuments” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

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. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Ravi Abcarian Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Bass Culture Revue at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Orquestra Sensual at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

John Richardson Band at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Margo Leverett & Friends at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Andy Bey at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$18. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, JAN. 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Art and History of Early California” A curator’s tour with Inez Brooks-Myers at 1:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum, 10th and Oak St 238-2022.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny will discuss her book “An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area” at 7:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Cost is $8-$10. 763-9218. 

Zaid Shakir introduces his collection of essays “Scattered Pictures: Reflections of an American Muslim” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

Susan Debroah (Sam) King reads from “One Breasted Woman” poetry collection at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Donations accepted. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

The Red Hot Chachkas at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Klezmer dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $13-$15. 525-5054.  

Sourdough Slim at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Peter Anastos & Iter at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Laura Klein & Ted Wolff, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Kapakahi, The Angry Philosophers at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082  

Roy Hargrove Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $14-$24. 238-9200. 

FRIDAY, JAN. 11 

THEATER 

Encore Theatre Company & Shotgun Players “The Shaker Chair” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m., at The Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Jan. 27. Tickets are $20-$30. 841-6500.  

EXHIBITIONS 

IN•FORMATION Featuring Edge Art Group. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at ACCI Gallery, 1652 Shattuck Ave. 843-2527. 

FILM 

The Medieval Remake “Andrei Rublev” at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kim Shuck and Molly Albracht Sierra read their poetry at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. 841-6374. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Hurricane Sam & The Hotshots at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Wake the Dead at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Hamir Atwal Trio and Uncle Jesse at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Mucho Axe, Latin world groove at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Rustler’s Moon at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Nomadics, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Pockit, Matthew Hansen at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Monster Squad, Whiskey Rebels, Cropknox 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. 

Grease Traps, Mophono at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Beep! Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Roy Hargrove Quintet at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $14-$24. 238-9200.  

SATURDAY, JAN. 12 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gerry Tenney at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Henry Neff introduces “The Hound of Rowan” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Music and Puppets with Jen Miriam at 11 a.m. at Studio Grow, 1235 Tenth St. Cost is $7. 526-9888. 

THEATER 

“Old Man River: Mark Twain and the Mississippi” A dramatic portrayal and slide show at 5 p.m. at College Avenue Presbyterian Church, 5951 College Ave, south of Claremont, Oakland. Donation $10. 

San Francisco Theater Project “Aftermath of War: in their own words” Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $15-$20. 925-798-1300. www.willowstickets.org  

“Marriage Counselling” at 8 p.m., Sun. at 6 p.m. at Black Repertory Theater, 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $15. www.mikeglendinning.com 

FILM 

Jazz and the Movies “Beware” at 6:30 p.m. and “Too Late Blues” at 8:10 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“Have I Got a Story to Tell” A storytelling circle with Diane Ferlatte at 2 p.m. at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave., Oakland. 532-9142. 

Claire Becker, Sarah McKinnon, Matthew Thomas Russell, Dan Sanders, Ammon Torrence and Just Kibbe read from thier latest works at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jewish Music Festival presents Aron Saltiel at 8 p.m. at JCC East Bay, 1414 Walnut St. www.jewishmusicfestival.org  

Monterey Jazz Festival at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $34-$52. 642-9988. www.calperformances.net 

Pellejo Seco at 9 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

W. Allen Taylor & His Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Jacob Wolkenhauer, Mike Zawitkowski at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Steve Seskin, Don Henry & Craig Carothers at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $21.50-$22.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Bill Ortiz Group at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Gaucho, Gypsy Jazz Band at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Socket, Machina Sol at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Joshi Marshall Project at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Killing the Dream, Ruiner, Ensign, Braodway Calls 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, JAN. 13 

FILM 

The Medieval Remake “Alexander Nevesky” at 2 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Maxine Hong Kingston and ten veterans will read selections from their book “Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace” at 3 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall, Cedar and Bonita. Cost is $20 and includes receptions. For reservations call 725-8515.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Live Oak Concert “Ensemble Theatrum Musicum” Elizabethan works for small consort, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 644-6893. berkeleyartcenter.org 

David Daniels, countertenor, Martin Katz, piano, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $48. 642-9988. www.calperformances.net 

Stephanie Bruce & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Pappa Gianni & the North Beach Band at 2 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Big Lion, folk-rock, at 2 p.m. at It’s A Grind Coffee House, 555 12th St., Oakland. 268-9902.  

Escalay, Middle Eastern jazz, at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Flamenco Open Stage with Alicia Zamora at 6:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $8. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Young Lions, Old Dogs with Samora and Elena Pinderhughes, David Belove, Paul van Wageningen, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

John McCutcheon at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $26.50-$27.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

This Bike is a Pipebomb, Vema Cam, Max Levine Ensemble at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, JAN. 14 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Cultural Connections” Group show in various media with a special tribute to Chauncey Bailey opens at the Craft & Cultural Arts Gallery, State of California Bldg. Atrium, 1515 Clay St. 622-8190. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jane Rhodes describes “Framing the Black Panthers: The Spectacular Rise of a Black Power Icon” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Poetry Express with Livermore Poet Laureate Connie Post and Damnyo from Los Angeles, at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Babshad Jazzz at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100. www.lebateauivre.net 

Parlor Tango at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Howard Wiley & The Angola Project, featuring Faye Carol, at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$15. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Few sculptors worked in wood in the late 1950s and ‘60s when Louise Nevelson made her great wooden walls. By the time she produced her Sky Cathedral in 1958, which was shown at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, she was 60 years old.  

She was an artist who did her great work late in life, a phenomenon fairly rare in the history of artists. Born to a Jewish family in the lumber business in Ukraine, she grew up near great forests in Maine and married a gentleman named Nevelson who was in the shipping business.  

She began studying painting in New York, separated from her husband, studied with Hilla Rebay (who became the first director of the Guggenheim Museum), went to Europe, studied with Hans Hoffmann in Munich, went back to New York, became an assistant to Diego Rivera in mural projects and began making small-scale sculptures of a Surrealist persuasion. She exhibited in New York galleries in the 1940s, and received good reviews, an unusual occurrence for women artists at the time.  

Her groundbreaking work was the creation of walls which she made from cut-off wood items—wheels, dowels, parts of chairs, boxes—all kinds of found objects which she scavenged on the streets of New York. She chose those pieces whose shape, scale and texture appealed to her. She then assembled them into large walls, which she painted black to conceal their previous function, endowing things which once had a practical function with a sense of mystery.  

Her process of making sculpture by assembling pieces is related to that of her colleagues such as David Smith and Herbert Ferber, except that they welded metal pieces and wood was Nevelson’s material of choice.  

In the spectacular exhibition in 1958 at MoMA the viewer entered into a dark night and was not at all interested in detecting the previous identity of all, the pieces. “I really deal with shadows and space,” she wrote. “Those are the important things in my work and for me, because I identify with the shadow.”  

But after the night comes the day, and Louise Nevelson began painting her walls a monochrome white in the late 1950s. These she named “Dawn’s Wedding Feast.” These festive works, she felt, would express hope and a new beginning. Finally, still working in monochrome, she produced golden walls which resemble altars in Baroque churches. But black, which she said “encompasses all colors, is the ultimate,” is the color to which she returned in her final phase.  

Although Minimal Sculpture was the leading mode for sculpture in the ‘70s in public spaces, Nevelson received many commissions. Her black metal walls and sometimes free-standing pieces began to appears in Princeton and Philadelphia and in Scottsdale, Arizona and Louisville, Ky.  

There is a Louise Nevelson Plaza filled with her work in Lower Manhattan and a beautiful white relief wall in St. Peter’s Church on Lexington Avenue, as well as a great wall in a synagogue in Great Neck, called “The White Flame for the Six Million” (1970-71.) One of her public pieces is in the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.  

Unlike so much “Plopp Art” which we see in public places, Nevelson’s sculptures are site-specific and adapted to the environment in which they are placed. The retrospective of Nevelson’s sculpture was organized by the Jewish Museum of New York and is installed at the de Young Museum the way it should be seen.  

Image: Louise Nevelson’s Case with Five Balusters, from “Dawn’s Wedding Feast,” 1959. 

The Sculpture of Louise Nevelson:  

Constructing a Legend 

Through Jan. 13, de Young Museum 

Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco.

“I grew up in Berkeley in the 1970s,” said jazz pianist and composer Benny Green, who leads the acclaimed Monterey Jazz Festival All-Star Band this Saturday at Zellerbach Auditorium, after playing the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz Thursday. “It was a wonderful time to be in Berkeley—which looks a little different these days, but whenever I think of it, I go back in my mind to those days of the post-Flower Child generation.” 

Born in New York and a student of classical piano at seven, Green began his jazz studies in Berkeley, influenced by his tenor saxophonist father “introducing me to jazz, but also the jazz education program introduced by the late Phil Hardymon. He’d visit all the schools, from fourth grade on ... if a young person was serious, it became a goal to play in the high school band, really a big deal to us. I didn’t realize right away what a special program it was, that other towns, other states didn’t have such a program. It was important, too, because I associated older people with jazz, the faces on the sleeves of my father’s records, and in the jazz program I could hear and play with my peers, playing the music.” 

Green began his career as a teenager in the Bay Area. “I went professional at 15,” he recalled, “backing [singer] Faye Carroll and playing with [trumpeter] Eddie Henderson. Tenor player Hadley Caliman helped me so much.” He also worked in a 12-piece band led by bassist Chuck Israels. At 19, Green moved to New York, and worked briefly with alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, then spent four years backing the late, great bop vocalist, Betty Carter. 

“My goal when I moved to New York was to learn Art Blakey’s music, to join [Blakey’s band] The Jazz Messengers.” Green played with the late innovative drummer and group leader from 1987 until late ‘89, when he joined trumpeter Freddy Hubbard’s quintet.  

Recalling his formative time with Blakey, Green emphasized “the feeling on the bandstand. Art was so powerful, so electric ... he had the ability to elevate what everybody was doing, to breathe so much life into our improvisations and shape them. And he created the illusion you were the one doing this! I discovered sitting in playing with others that sometimes the bottom would drop out. I ended up feeling it was Art playing me! We had to work hard. It was his idea that we should all write music, to see how it worked in a group context, that we should become bandleaders ourselves--to be the ones with the initial conceptions and blossom as composers. He groomed us as composers and performers.” 

In 1993, Green joined the now late bassist Ray Brown’s trio. That year, virtuoso jazz pianist Oscar Peterson chose Green to receive the first City of Toronto Glen Gould International Protege Prize in Music. Green remembered Peterson, who died Dec. 26 at age 82. “His human achievement is just staggering. The example he set for all of us, with his integrity and emotional depth, created a legacy to learn from. But when Oscar died, he took a lot of information with him.” 

“I love learning from older people musically,” Green went on, “from generations closer to the time musicians played for dancing. They honored the melody ... there’s so much to learn from them, not just in terms of theory, but in the way they carry themselves.” 

One older musician Green singled out as someone who carries himself well is James Moody, saxophonist and flautist, who was a close Dizzy Gillespie associate, playing in the trumpet master’s late 40s big band. Moody will turn 83 in March. “He’s been around, been through it all and knows what goes on--and stays optimistic! He has such a positive attitude that comes through, is so enthusiastic ... great to emerge from a long life not embittered by experience, still playing music.”  

Green talked about the other members of the All-Star group—trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard (another Blakey alumnus), bassist Derrick Hodge, drummer Kendrick Scott and special guest vocalist Nnenna Freelon—of how the group gelled after a few quick rehearsals over a weekend to bring excitement to the world’s longest-running jazz festival’s Sunday finale show last September.  

“We have a variety of instrumental and vocal possibilities ... not all six of us will be up on stage for every tune. Terence is such a wonderful composer and he, Derrick and Kendrick have worked together all the time, for several years now, as the nucleus of Terence’s own band—that we want to feature his music as much as possible. And we want to see how much new music we can perform. There’s such diversity, such rich talent in this group. We came to perform, and at Monterey we came together in just a couple of days in our musical intentions and felt like a team, a family. And the way the audience received us there inspired us to new heights.”  

Monterey Jazz Festival: 

50th Anniversary Tour with Benny Green 

Sat, Jan. 12, 8 p.m., Zellerbach Hall,  

UC Berkeley Campus. $34, $40 and $52.  

www.calperfs.berkeley.edu. 

I was at that footsore stage where one’s mind settles fixedly on the goal—getting home and barefoot—but the shrub by the sidewalk stopped me anyway. It looked apple-ish but different; its leaves were longer and larger, and it was bearing fruit I didn’t recognize. It was obviously something in the rose family, but half the fruit-bearing trees I meet are roses: not much of a distinction.  

The fruit resembled nothing so much as giant brown rosehips. Each had that telltale five-flanged calyx remnant on its distal end. The skin was slightly rough, like a Bosc pear’s. They were almost perfectly globular. They tweaked at something in the back of my brain; I almost knew what they were but couldn’t quite name them. It was like running into a long-lost second cousin.  

After snooping around as much as felt decent, I was still stumped. There were noises from a back window of the house, though, so I walked up the driveway and yoo-hooed.  

A youngish guy well-decorated with plaster dust and paint poked his head out the door. He was the new owner of the place, friendly and willing to chat, and fortunately someone had told him what his acquisition was: a medlar tree. 

Well. I had seen medlars before—the plant at least—as whip-trunked, indistinguishable little saplings in a San Francisco nursery. How is it that I hadn’t seen the fruit at, say, the Berkeley Bowl? Maybe I had. Apparently my brain has reached field capacity on some matters, as the runoff seems to be increasing.  

Humans have invented writing for such problems, though, so of course I hit the books as soon as I’d hobbled home. What I found reinforced my still only half-formed conviction that some things, like calomel and the bombard, are obsolete for good reasons.  

Medlars, Melaspilas germanica, are indeed roses, related to loquats (which get called “Japanese medlars”) and hawthorns. They have a feature in common with persimmons, though: the fruit isn’t ready to eat until it’s been hit hard by frost, or has been allowed to soften—“bletted”—in cool storage. For medlars, a pile of moist sawdust or bran in the cellar is classic. Some people eat the finished product by poking a hole in the skin and sucking out the pulp.  

I’m disposed to like this idea, as I love soft Hachiya persimmons. But when people from Chaucer to Shakespeare keep calling medlars “rotten,” and D.H. Lawrence goes on about “… autumnal excrementa” and “… an exquisite odour of leave taking,” I find the idea less appealing somehow.  

Then again, I do like durian. A controversial fruit with a custardy texture might be right up my alley. Unfortunately, the single pome I was bold enough to ask for got lost in the shuffle when I brought it to Stew Winchester’s taxonomy class for show-and-tell. Stew himself was less than impressed, telling me that he’s used to bigger medlars. Hmph.  

But I never got to take it home and stash it under the bed until it got wrinkly and edible, or, more likely, forgotten until it was moldy. So I still don’t know what it tastes like, and the usual descriptions don’t help much. 

Stew’s larger fruit likely came from medlar scions grafted onto some related rootstock; reputedly, Crataegus, i.e. whitethorn or hawthorn, stock yields the biggest fruit. If the little tree I met was grafted, I’m not sure what its roots are; it’s multistemmed and not much more than a shrub. 

The Victorians supposedly relished medlars, but they were typically fond of odd fiddly things. Think of all those ferns and Gondwanalandish araucarias. Think of the silverware.  

Medieval Europeans liked them because they were among the few fruits available in winter. I wonder if their edibility was discovered by someone who thought she was storing ugly apples and never got around to throwing them all onto the compost after biting into a few.  

If you want one, nag your local nursery or ask the California Rare Fruit Growers. Their local scion exchange happens Saturday, January 19, noon to 3 p.m at the UCSF Mission Center, 1855 Folsom St., San Francisco. See the Golden Gate Chapter page of http://www.crfg for details. 

Here’s an oddity: a new species—not variety; whole species—of medlar, Mespilus canescens, was discovered in 1990 in the flat eastern third of Arkansas. It’s the only other species in the genus. There are about 25 individuals in the “wild,” that is, in the 22-acre conservation easement on private land. They’re reluctant to reproduce on their own, though they flower and bear shiny red fruit. Some suspect it’s of hybrid origin; unlike animals, plants have been known to speciate that way.  

Whatever’s happening, conservationists are grafting the new medlar onto Crataegus wood with some success. We don’t know what’s we’re messing with, so save all the parts! 

Photograph by Ron Sullivan 

Medlar fruit and leaves. These, about poolball-sized, are apparently some puny medlars. 

Ron Sullivan is a former professional gardener and arborist. Her “Green Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column. Her “Garden Variety” column appears every Friday in the Planet’s East Bay Home & Real Estate section.

TUESDAY, JAN. 8 

End the Occupation Vigil every Tues. at noon at Oakland Federal Bldg., 1301 Clay St. www.epicalc.org 

Baby-friendly Book Club meets to discuss “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson at 10 a.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. Toys and board books are available for the babies. 524-3043. 

“Banished” A documentary by Marco Williams on the history of three towns that forcefully banished African-American families at 6:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., Oakland. www.pbs.org/ 

independentlens/banished 

Native Hawaiian Independence with Lynette Hi’ilani Cruz with Hawaiian music, crafts and food, at 7 p.m. at Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2951 Derby St. 548-6310. 

The Adoptee’s Challenge A 6-week Albany Adult School class open to everyone who is interested in adoption. Tuesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Cost is $30 for the entire six weeks. www.albanyadultschool.org 

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. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

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. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 9 

Pacific Steel Health Risk Community Meeting at 6 p.m. at the West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 6th St. westberkeleyalliance.org 

Civilian War Victim Series “Beyond Borders” A film about the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and discussion with Dr. Brian Gluss at 1 p.m. at Emeryville Senior Center, 4321 Salem, Emeryville. 596-3730. 

“Hidden Wars of Desert Storm” at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. www.Humanist Hall.org 

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, Edith Stone Room, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720. 

“Avalanche Safety” A lecture with Dick Penniman at 6 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $20. 527-4140. 

Teen Chess Club from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the North Branch Library, 1170 The Alameda at Hopkins. 981-6133. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART Station. www.geocities.com/ 

vigil4peace/vigil 

After-School Program Homework help for children ages 8 to 18, every Wed. from 4 to 7:15 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Cost is $5 per week. 845-6830. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, JAN. 10 

Berkeley Bay Docent Training Thurs. and Fri. from 9 a.m. to noon Bay Interpretive Training (Bay IT) offers fun hands-on activities train volunteer docents who can commit to 14 hours per month to learning and helping naturalists lead environmental-education programs for school-age children at Shorebird Nature Center, 160 University Ave. 981-6720. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina/marinaexp/volunteer.html  

Happy Hibernators Learn about the animals that hibernate during the winter to escape the cold at 10:30 a.m. at the Oakland Zoo, 9777 Golf Links Rd. Cost is $7.50-$10. Registration required. 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

“Art and History of Early California” A curator’s tour with Inez Brooks-Myers at 1:30 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., Oakland. 238-2022. www.museumca.org 

East Bay Mac. Users Group meets to discuss iLife’08 at 7 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound Street, Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 

Babies & Toddlers Storytime at 10:15 and 11:15 a.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

FRIDAY, JAN. 11 

Teen Playreaders meets to read “Hamlet” and other plays based on the classic, at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. 981-6121. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert DAvid Tufft, M.D. on “Hyperbaric medicine” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

Potters Council “Explore the Surface” Ceramic Workshop Listen, watch and learn from David Hendley, Gerald and Kelly Hong, Willie Hulce, Julia Kirillova, Sam Chung and Virginia Cartwright and others. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Leslie Ceramics Supply Co, Inc; 1212 San Pablo Ave. Workshop classes Sat. and Sun. from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at The Berkeley Potters Guild; 731 Jones St. Cost is $150-$380. 866-721-3322. www.potterscouncil.org/explorethesurface  

Circle Dancing in Berkeley Simple folk dancing in a circle, each dance taught before we do it. No experience or partners needed. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut, at University. Donation $5. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

Womansong Circle at 7:15 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley Small Assembly Room, 2345 Channing at Dana. Suggested donation $15-$20. 525-7082. betsy@betsyrosemusic.org 

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. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 12 

Weed Warriors on East Bay Shore Join Friends of Five Creeks and Building with Books removing invasive weeds and helping to establish native vegetation from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Eastshore State Park. Meet at Sea Breeze Delicatessen, south side of University Ave., just west of I-880/580. Bring lunch if you plan to stay the full four hours, but come for as long as you like. Dress in layers; we will work in a drizzle but heavy rain cancels. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

“The Fine Art of Pruning” Pruning is needed to maintain plant health, control plant growth, and encourage flowering and fruiting. Learn pruning basics with Kelley Dunn at 10 a.m. at Magic Gardens, 729 Heinz Ave. 644-2351. 

“Breaking Down Big Oil: How the Industry Works and How to Stop It From Driving War, Destroying Our Planet, and Decimating Our Democracy” with Antonia Juhasz at 7 p.m. at the Alameda Free Library, Conference Room A, 1550 Oak St. at Lincoln, Alameda. www.alamedaforum.org 

The East Bay Chapter of the Great War Society meets to discuss “Refugees, Relief & Reconstruction- American Humanitarian Assistance” by Branden Little at 10:30 a.m. at the West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 1125 University Ave. 

Happy Hibernators Learn about the animals that hibernate during the winter to escape the cold at 10:30 a.m. at the Oakland Zoo, 9777 Golf Links Rd. Cost is $7.50-$10. Registration required. 632-9525. 

Kids Go Green Activities centered on ecology and climate change from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. Cost is $9-$13. 336-7373.  

Potters Council “Explore the Surface” Ceramic Workshop Listen, watch and learn from David Hendley, Gerald and Kelly Hong, Willie Hulce, Julia Kirillova, Sam Chung and Virginia Cartwright and others. Workshop classes Sat. and Sun. from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at The Berkeley Potters Guild; 731 Jones St. Cost is $150-$380. 866-721-3322. www.potterscouncil.org/explorethesurface  

Health Screenings including blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

“Be a Savvy Healthcare Consumer” with author Christine Larson at 3:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

“Have I Got a Story to Tell” A storytelling circle with Diane Ferlatte at 2 p.m. at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave., Oakland. 532-9142. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

SUNDAY, JAN. 13 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Field Trip “Tilden Regional Park” with Della Dash. Meet at 9 a.m. at the parking lot at north end of Central Park Drive near the Little Farm for a 4 mile hike to look at wintering birds. 843-2222. 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Field Trip “Albany Mudflats” with Oliver James. Meet at 8 a.m. at the raised platform located on the access road to the Albany Bulb to look at wintering birds. 843-2222. 

Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Refuge Workday Help prepare habitat for California Least Terns. Meet at 9 a.m. at main refuge gate, northwest corner of former Alameda Naval Air Station, Alameda. For more information and directions, contact Golden Gate Audubon volunteer coordinator, 843-2222. jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org  

El Cerrito Historical Society meets to discuss “Images of America: Albany” with author Karen Sorenson at 1 p.m. at the El Cerrito Senior Center, behind the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. 526-7507. 

“Will Annapolis Lead to Israeli-Palestinian Peace?” with Marcia Freedman and Ruth Atkin at 2 p.m. at Cafe Leila, 1724 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $5-$15. RSVP to 524-1993, sf-bayarea@btvshalom.org 

“Who Killed the Electric Car?” Documentary showing at 1:15 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. 834-7640 

Cool Schools Global Warming Campaign meets to discuss Transportation and Climate Change from 2 to 4 p.m. RSVP for location. 704-4030. chicory@earthteam.net  

Grandmothers for the Oaks Celebration Bring aorm clothes to donate, hot food and songs of solidarity at 2 p.m. at Memorial Oak Grove, on Piedmont, just north of Bancroft. www.saveoaks.com 

Cheri Lovre, Director of Crisis Management Institute, Salem, Oregon at 11:20 a.m. at Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 526-9146. 

Mantras of Henry Marshall, led by Marcia Emery, PhD. at 2 p.m. at Peralta Community Garden, Hopkins and Peralta. If by chance it rains, we will postpone until the following month. 526-5510. 

“Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement” with Shira Miller at 3 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

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, JAN. 14 

Berkeley Green Mondays with Diane Beeson, PhD and Tina Stevens, PhD, Co-founders of Alliance for Humane Biotechnology on “The human egg trade, cloning, and market eugenics” at 7:30 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 848-4681. www.berkeleygreens.org 

“Eat at Bill’s: Life in the Monterey Market” a film by Lisa Brenneis, followed by a discusssion with the market’s owner, Bill Fujimoto at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Contra Costa Chorale rehearsal at 7:15 p.m. at Hillside Community Church, 1422 Navallier St., El Cerrito. New singers welcome. 527-2026. www.ccchorale.org 

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 

ONGOING 

E-Waste Recycling St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County accepts electronic waste including computers, dvd players, cell phones, fax machines and many other ewaste products for disposal free of charge at many of its locations throughout Alameda County. Make a tax-deductible donation while disposing of your ewaste appropriately and helping those in need. Free bulk pick-up available. 638-7600. www.svdp-alameda.org 

Help a Newt Cross the Road Every year newts migrate across Hillside Drive to reach their breeding pools in Castro Creek. Volunteers prevent many of these creatures from being crushed by cars. We need volunteers every evening during January and February in El Sobrante. The newts are most active on rainy nights. annabelle11_3@yahoo.com 

Free Tax Help If your 2007 household income was less than $42,000, you are eligible for free tax preparation from United Way's Earn it! Keep It! Save It! Sites are open now through April 15 in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. To find a site near you, call 800-358-8832. www.EarnItKeepItSaveIt.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Jan. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345.  

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed., Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. at the South Branch Library. 981-6195.  

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Jan. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950. 

Waterfront Commission meets Wed., Jan. 9, at 7 p.m., at 201 University Ave. 981-6740.  

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Jan. 10, at 7 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5400.