Posted Sun., Jan. 27—Not that I miss them, but I haven’t found any Argentine ants in the house this winter. I hesitate to consider this a permanent victory, though. They’re out there somewhere, biding their time. -more-
Posted Sat., Jan. 26—When heavy winter rains and cold weather are predicted even that hardiest of homeless people find themselves desperate for shelter. -more-
The perpetual ring of the telephone shatters the otherwise calm interiors of Michele Lawrence’s spacious office in the headquarters of the Berkeley Unified School District at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. -more-
The little town of Albany stood up Tuesday night, first to the University of California, and then to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and its partner, the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture. -more-
Berkeley peace activists are gearing up to circulate a petition to place a measure on the November ballot restricting where public and private military recruiters can locate within the city. -more-
Two weeks after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed slashing K-12 funding as part of his proposed state budget cuts, Berkeley public school officials announced Wednesday that it was time to get on the bus and head for Sacramento. -more-
The AC Transit Board of Directors tabled a proposed 25 cent bus fare in-crease Wednesday night to study its implications on ridership, with the issue likely to come back before them before the winter is out. -more-
Full implementation of AC Transit District’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line ran into a potential chokepoint Wednesday night when dismayed district board members learned that the planned bus-only lanes may not be possible in a 1,000-yard stretch in the heart of Oakland. -more-
Tenants and customers of West Berkeley’s landmark Sawtooth Building have been granted an extra month to use a parking lot they say is critical to their commercial survival. -more-
“Activism is the elixir of life” was his motto. And Milt Wolff was an icon of activism, as were his fellow veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. He could be seen at demonstrations and political events well into his 80s and even 90s. -more-
Civil rights in Berkeley has become like the residue of smoke once the smoker has left the room, says Osha Neumann, an attorney who works mostly with homeless and indigent people. -more-
Lawyers challenging UC Berkeley’s plans for a gym next to Memorial Stadium must produce expert evidence to back their claim that the two buildings are really one. -more-
Presenting the draft Downtown Plan to Berkeley’s Planning Commission Wednesday night, DAPAC Chair Will Travis declared that the commission could tinker with the proposal’s fabric only “at your peril.” -more-
West Berkeley zoning changes and a dramatic public challenge rounded out a Wednesday night Planning Commission schedule otherwise dominated by the Downtown Area Plan. -more-
The Berkeley Board of Education on Wednesday approved the appointment of Dan Lee to the Merit Commission. -more-
Posted Thurs., Jan. 24—Full implementation of AC Transit District’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line ran into a potential chokepoint Wednesday night when dismayed district board members learned that the planned bus-only lanes may not be possible in a 1,000-yard stretch in the heart of Oakland. -more-
Posted Wed., Jan. 23—The little town of Albany stood up Tuesday night, first to the University of California and then to the California Food and Drug Administration and the CFDA partner, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. -more-
Berkeley’s official design review panel gave a scathing review to developer Ali Kashani’s five-story condo complex planned for a corner of one of the city’s busiest intersections. -more-
Berkeley Design Review Committee members gave a qualified thumbs up Thursday night to plans for a controversial and long-delayed condominium project on University Avenue. -more-
While Albany is preparing to take an aggressive stand in opposition to aerial spaying intended to eradicate the light brown apple moth—epiphyas postvitattana—Berkeley has adopted a wait-and-see attitude. -more-
Oakland teachers fired the first shot in the upcoming Oakland Unified School District contract negotiations, with more than 100 representatives braving chilly afternoon temperatures last Thursday to present their contract proposals at a press conference in front of Castlemont High School in East Oakland. -more-
Berkeley Public Works officials told the Aquatic Park subcommittee that they expect to turn in a revised dredging work plan for the Aquatic Park lagoon to the Regional Water Quality Control Board this week. -more-
The National Register of Historic Places granted the Berkeley High campus the status of a historic district, the National Park Service announced last week. -more-
More than two months after HazMat experts replaced local volunteers to clean up the gunk left over from the Cosco Busan oil spill, city officials declared the Berkeley shoreline reopened Wednesday. -more-
Berkeley Planning Commissioners begin their review of the proposed Downtown Area Plan Wednesday, when DAPAC Chair Will Travis formally presents the document for their critique. -more-
AC Transit bus drivers and mechanics voted overwhelmingly last week to authorize a strike in the event ongoing contract negotiations break down, but no strike appears imminent. -more-
The San Francisco Planning Commission unanimously approved the 55 Laguna mixed-use project last week. It proposes to develop the historic UC Berkeley Extension site for private use. -more-
The Berkeley Democratic Club could not agree on a presidential candidate to endorse at its meeting on Thursday night. The vote was: Obama 15, Clinton 13, Edwards, 4 No endorsement, 2. -more-
California voters who have not registered with any party can vote in next month’s Democratic presidential primary if they request a ballot from their local Registrar of Voters office. -more-
This is hard. To write about a dear friend’s passing before her absence has fully sunk in is quite a challenging task. What I can easily write about is what I know about Rae; who she was and what she meant to me and so many others in the arts community. -more-
Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), in which voters are allowed to rank their second and third choices in a multi-candidate election rather than waiting for a possible runoff between the top two vote-getters, will almost certainly not be held in Oakland and San Leandro June municipal elections in 2008 as was anticipated. -more-
The Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) on Thursday will hear a project proposed for 1923 9th St. and 1920 10th St. involving the demolition of five rent-controlled units to allow construction of a 15-story condominium project. -more-
Christopher Rodriguez, a 10-year-old Oakland boy who likely will be partially paralyzed for the rest of his life after being struck by a stray bullet while taking a piano lesson, “has a rough road in the future,” Dr. Jacob Neufeld said last week. -more-
Building support for live local performances is a Gordian knot which has no easy solution. At a recent gathering of supporters of a well-regarded classical music organization, someone asked in all innocence why the staff had not been able to arrange for more reviews of the group’s one-night-only performances in what still passes for the major metropolitan daily. Well, arts reviewers are dropping like flies all over the country as newpapers perceive themselves, rightly or wrongly, as being in trouble. -more-
The “What Were They Thinking?” award for this week goes to whoever put together the elaborate plan for inspecting every establishment in Berkeley which sells alcohol, to be paid for by a flat fee that would have been the same for all sellers, from the little deli that sells an occasional six-pack of beer to the big grocery and liquor stores that sell hard liquor by the case. It’s not that alcohol isn’t associated with problems for some users, but the city’s plan was primarily a solution in search of a problem. And the award shouldn’t go only to the bureaucrats who put it together—the elected councilmembers who passed the measure at first reading and were geared up to finalize it last week before restaurateurs rallied to protest deserve part of the credit (or blame) too. -more-
I’m sure most everyone has heard about the tragic deaths of pedestrians in our neighborhood. In less than seven months, four people have died within one mile of Thousand Oaks. Laurie Capitelli, our city councilmember, Betty Olds, and Dona Spring are gathering information to determine what kind of new safety measures the city can take to limit these horrendous accidents. In the Friday, Jan. 11 edition of the Berkeley Voice, Mr. Capitelli is quoted “We want to know if these deaths are a horrible coincidence or if there are some things going on that we need to address.” I have no doubt that all of our political leaders would like to improve the safety of our streets, but Mr. Capitelli also said in a recent e-mail to his constituents “After three years in the District 5 office, I can truthfully say the number one constituent complaint is about traffic; too much, too fast, too reckless.” It has been obvious to me and anyone who walks, rides, or rolls around Berkeley that the conditions for these “horrible coincidences” were all in place, even though alcohol and impaired visibility were a factor in two of these accidents. Over the last few years, traffic and related safety issues have been the number one topic of Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association (TONA) meetings, and repeated requests to improve enforcement have fallen on deaf ears. Our previous Councilmember Mim Hawley, told a TONA meeting that police were reluctant to write tickets as the city only kept half of the fine, the other half going to the state. -more-
After a second tragic pedestrian death on Marin Avenue, I’m glad to hear several Berkeley City Councilmembers calling for better traffic enforcement, signage, and analysis of collision statistics—and for driver restraint. -more-
On this day reflecting over Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, we remember his famous words: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” -more-
We—all 6.6 billion of us humans—live on the surface of a ball which we call planet earth. We have some theories and some evidence as to how land masses and oceans formed over millennia. The land masses were fixed, for the most part, until recently when the waters start to rise and encroach on bordering populations. We are in this together, so what should our response be? What should be our guide? -more-
Almost everything I know I learned from sitting in front of the television watching old movies. -more-
As I once again encounter the god-damned Jesus freaks holding forth at the corner of Telegraph and Haste, and wonder what should be done about them, the answer seems clear: put up with their crap. My reasoning follows. -more-
Beyond all the bloviating, bombast that we have been subjected to in the last few months, (and will continue to be bombarded with for the foreseeable future) there are several questions we voters should be asking ourselves amidst this egomaniacal cacophony, otherwise known as politics. -more-
The Berkeley old Adult School complex on lower University Avenue (directly across from All Star Donuts, 1255 University, Berkeley 94702) sits empty, idle, deteriorating, just as it did when I arrived in Berkeley three years ago. I’ve had countless conversations with Berkeley’s homeless, frequently centering on how the old unused Adult School would make an ideal shelter complex. As it surely would. The building has miles of space for dormitories, numerous lavatories and several full-service kitchens. -more-
Ciao. I’m Don Tommaso. I’m the capo of the Kachinga Tribe, and I’m makin’ a special appeal to youse, the voters of California. When youse go to the polls on Feb. 5, please vote yes on Propositions 94, 95, 96, and 97. These propositions would approve agreements that four Indian tribes have negotiated with the State of California to triple the number of Indian-run slot machines in some parts of the state. Ka-CHING! -more-
Concord, New Hampshire, Thursday, Jan. 3, 8:30 a.m., 4°F -more-
For over a year now walking has been my primary commute mode from my house on Grizzly Peak to my job (via BART) in downtown San Francisco. This has been made possible by the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association’s work to build paths on the rights of way created long ago when the Berkeley Hills were originally mapped and subdivided. (See BPWA’s website at www.berkeleypaths.org for more on this excellent organization and the history of the paths of Berkeley.) -more-
My neighbors and I put together a website (www.livableoakland. com) about our fight against Measure A, which will appear on the Feb. 5 ballot. In it we posted information about our neighborhood, sometimes known as Lower Temescal, or Baja Rockridge, or just plain North Oakland. -more-
I don’t usually find myself in agreement—even partial agreement—with NovoMetro columnist V Smoothe, but she raises some points in her Jan. 16 post “Mayor’s Cop Promise Impossible To Keep” that ought to be considered. -more-
The settlement of the residential blocks south of the UC campus began, naturally, on the streets closest to the university and progressed southward. In 1903, the area now known as the Willard neighborhood, comprising the Hillegass and Berry-Bangs tracts and bounded, clockwise, by Dwight Way, College, Ashby, and Telegraph Avenues, was most densely built along Benvenue and Hillegass Avenues north of Derby Street. -more-
When you crawl around under houses every day, you see some odd things. It’s part archaeology, a little zoology and, of course, all that construction stuff. It doesn’t take too long doing this to realize that you’re not always alone down under the house (or up in the attic). There are little neighbors that like to share the space. They’re not trying to get inside your house, per se. It’s just that they want a safe warm space and you happen to be right there. Termites use the same logic. They don’t know that they’re eating a house. What’s a house to a termite. They’re just eating some fallen trees that happen be in their path. -more-
Woodland gardening takes on a new aspect when one is practicing it here in coastal northern California. There are considerations one must take with regard to natural resources and scarcity—as much a product of time as of place, as everything living here gets more squeezed by human overpopulation, including us humans who are doing the overpopulating. -more-
As we sail into the murky political waters of 2008, it’s useful for liberals (progressives) to remember our core beliefs. Two elemental American narratives illuminate these values: the triumphant individual and the benevolent community. -more-
Lately I’ve been channeling my old friend Mrs. Scott. She’s the neighbor who came to our rescue after Ralph had his bicycling accident 13 years ago. The day Ralph came home from the hospital, she marched through our back door and took over. She cooked and cleaned and introduced us to others in the neighborhood. She went with us to doctors’ appointments, watched over the people I hired to help with Ralph’s care, became my right (and left) arm, my best friend, my guardian angel. -more-
I don’t know how old you have to be to think of Sunset magazine and early 1960s swimming-poolside dioramas whenever you see a Cordyline australis in its other vocation, as a plain old yard or streetside tree. It’s a classic, though, to complete the post-TK look that starts with a turquoise pool, maybe kidney-shaped, and a Weber kettle. Some of us get whiffs of vinyl, chlorine, and firestarter fluid from our subconscious every time. -more-
There is no shortage of great film festivals in the Bay Area, celebrating the cinematic heritage of every corner of the globe. -more-
A door on-stage is thrown open, and a vivacious young woman (Wendy Welch as Corie Bratter) surveys the room before her, and heaves a happy sigh. The room is a bare, freshly-painted fifth-floor walkup apartment, with only a ladder and paint cans for adornment. -more-
This Sunday at the Berkeley City Club, world-renowned pianist Seymour Lipkin will join music director George Cleve and the Midsummer Mozart Orchestra to initiate the 34th season of the Midsummer Mozart Festival. -more-
The settlement of the residential blocks south of the UC campus began, naturally, on the streets closest to the university and progressed southward. In 1903, the area now known as the Willard neighborhood, comprising the Hillegass and Berry-Bangs tracts and bounded, clockwise, by Dwight Way, College, Ashby, and Telegraph Avenues, was most densely built along Benvenue and Hillegass Avenues north of Derby Street. -more-
When you crawl around under houses every day, you see some odd things. It’s part archaeology, a little zoology and, of course, all that construction stuff. It doesn’t take too long doing this to realize that you’re not always alone down under the house (or up in the attic). There are little neighbors that like to share the space. They’re not trying to get inside your house, per se. It’s just that they want a safe warm space and you happen to be right there. Termites use the same logic. They don’t know that they’re eating a house. What’s a house to a termite. They’re just eating some fallen trees that happen be in their path. -more-
Woodland gardening takes on a new aspect when one is practicing it here in coastal northern California. There are considerations one must take with regard to natural resources and scarcity—as much a product of time as of place, as everything living here gets more squeezed by human overpopulation, including us humans who are doing the overpopulating. -more-
As the swipe of hip-hop shifts gears into salsa, solo performer Danny Hoch stalks out on stage in character, under a banner for a festival, Williamsburg “Celebrate Your Community” day, spouting long, loopy lines in thick, nasal Brooklynese, cutting his imaginary friends out where the audience sits before the Berkeley Rep Thrust Stage, doing the dozens on down through the ethnicities—then the 49 other states, working hard on California—then shouting out, “All you American crackers, out of our neighborhood!” -more-
I don’t know how old you have to be to think of Sunset magazine and early 1960s swimming-poolside dioramas whenever you see a Cordyline australis in its other vocation, as a plain old yard or streetside tree. It’s a classic, though, to complete the post-TK look that starts with a turquoise pool, maybe kidney-shaped, and a Weber kettle. Some of us get whiffs of vinyl, chlorine, and firestarter fluid from our subconscious every time. -more-
