Posted Wed., Jan. 30—The question of dedicating space—a parking space—for Code Pink’s weekly demonstrations in front of the downtown Berkeley Marine Recruiting Center (MRC) raised hackles at Tuesday night’s Berkeley City Council meeting, when Councilmember Gordon Wozniak likened the demonstrations there to protests at abortion clinics. 

“There’s a line between protesting and harassing,” Wozniak said, referring to possible harassment of recruits. 

Wozniak was the lone vote in opposition to a resolution authored by Councilmembers Linda Maio and Max Anderson designating a parking space in front of the recruiting center for the demonstrators from noon to 4 p.m. every Wednesday for six months. 

The dedicated parking space “is showing favoritism to one side of the argument,” Wozniak said, adding, “My concern is giving a parking space in front of the Marine Recruiting Center seems confrontational.” 

While Dori Schmidt, whose husband owns The Berkeley Review, a test preparation business above the MRC, told the council that the demonstrations disrupt the business with their noise, other public speakers supported the parking space designation. 

“It’s not favoritism,” said PhoeBe Sorgen, a member of Code Pink and the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee. Rather, it’s following the Berkeley “tradition to stand up for peace,” she said. 

Bob Meola, a veteran who has staffed hot lines for military personnel trying to leave the service, told the council that use of the parking space will help the demonstrators deliver the truth to possible recruits.  

“People get lied to. They don’t get the jobs and training” they’re told they will get, Meola said. “It’s a community service to warn youth about the criminal liars.” 

Anderson spoke as a former Marine who had protested the Vietnam War, addressing the unfair advantage of the Marines that have “millions of dollars at their disposal to bombard the nation with propaganda.” 

Councilmember Betty Olds, who originally intended vote against the resolution, said she changed her mind, especially listening to one of the speakers who is a 90-year-old peace activist. Olds said it would have been hypocritical of her to oppose the resolution, since she, like many others in Berkeley, “found a psychiatrist who said their kids were all crazy to get them out of the [Vietnam] war.” 

Olds added, “The Marines ought to have had the sense not to come here.” 

The council also went on record calling on the governor to withdraw the California National Guard from Iraq, asking Congress to reaffirm the existence of the Armenian Genocide and adopting a policy, where practical, to cease purchases form Chevron Corp. They also raised meter parking fees from $1 to $1.25 per hour, made Berkeley a sanctuary for medical cannabis users and dispensaries and approved both the city manager and Police Review Commission reports on prevention of criminal activity by police. 

The Berkeley City Council will be addressing the issue of people lying on sidewalks and will have its first opportunity tonight (Tuesday) to address criminal behavior in its police department following the 2006 conviction of former Sgt. Cary Kent for stealing drugs from the evidence room he supervised and the alleged theft of cash and property belonging to suspects by another officer.  

The council meeting begins at 5 p.m. with a workshop on the city’s Climate Action Plan and continues at 7 p.m. with the public commons proposal, a contract with police, a resolution calling on the governor to remove the California National Guard from Iraq, a resolution opposing attempts by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to close medical marijuana dispensaries and more. 

Public Commons 

The mayor’s Public Commons for Everyone Initiative was intended to address the needs of people with inappropriate behavior so that they would not interfere with consumers’ enjoyment of shopping. 

Part of it is an ordinance that allows police to cite people lying on the sidewalk in commercial areas. When the measure came to the City Council in December, Councilmember Linda Maio would not vote for it. 

“I was concerned with what happens to people in the middle of the night,” Maio told the Planet on Friday, explaining that she was not sure if there was adequate space in shelters for the people sleeping on the sidewalk. 

To be sure homeless people have somewhere to sleep, she and Councilmember Laurie Capitelli have written a resolution that would stop police from citing people lying on the sidewalk when there were no shelter beds available and would have the officers direct people to an available shelter bed and even give them taxi scrip to get them there.  

Maio said she was told that there are five-to-10 shelter beds available each night. 

“There’s no enforcement if there’s no bed,” she said. 

Maio said that when homeless people go to shelters, they have the opportunity of being connected to services that will eventually take them off the streets. 

Asked how the council will know if the program is working, Maio said one way would be to ask for a report on how the taxi scrip was being spent.  

Also on the council agenda is a public hearing on raising the parking meter fee from $1 per hour to $1.25 per hour This is expected to raise $1 million annually, which would be dedicated to pay for services for the people acting inappropriately. That would include keeping bathrooms open all night, renting port-a-potties and providing housing with services for 10-15 people in need. 

Addressing police behavior 

“The possibility that a sworn and armed officer was not only working while under the influence of narcotics, but that he was able to steal drugs from what should have been the most secure location in Berkeley, cast a shadow of doubt on the entire department,” says the report authored by a Police Review Commission subcommittee.  

The council will consider separate recommendations by the PRC and the police chief. While Chief Doug Hambleton agreed with most of the commisision’s recommendations for change, there are differences notably in areas where the commission is asking the chief to go further in his investigation of the missing drug evidence. 

The full amount of missing drugs is unknown. While there was tampering with 286 drug evidence envelopes, there was no measure of the quantity of drugs missing. “Without knowing the total amount of drugs missing, the possibility that the amount of missing drugs was more than what would have been required to supply one addict can not be ruled out,” the report says. 

Committee members said they wanted more investigation into the quantities of drugs in those envelopes, as they suspected that there may have been more drugs missing than one person could have consumed. 

But the chief argues in his report that more investigation is costly and that the criminal—Kent—was apprehended, convicted and served his time, based on just a few envelopes with drugs missing that were fully investigated.  

The PRC report recaps the Cary Kent case, noting that 21 officers had observed that Kent had problems such as having a “sallow look,” being “withdrawn,” appearing “disheveled,” being “extremely talkative” and exhibiting “erratic” behavior. Twelve officers complained of Kent’s tardiness or missing appointments when he was responsible for bringing drug evidence to court, the report says.  

Despite this and other suspicious behavior, “the chief was never informed and did not suspect any drug abuse until November of 2005,” the report says.  

“The failure of BPD officers, particularly supervisors, to intervene given their observations of Sergeant Kent is unacceptable,” the report says, noting that officers in the narcotics unit are not all trained in detecting drug abuse and they are not trained to tell their supervisors if fellow officers appear unable to fulfill their responsibilities. 

Some other facts noted in the PRC report were that while Kent was placed on administrative leave Jan. 6, a warrant to search Kent’s office and car was not issued until Jan. 25 2006, and a search warrant for his computer wasn’t issued until Feb. 17 2006. 

The chief accepted most of the recommendations advanced by the PRC including:  

moving the responsibility for storage of all narcotics evidence out of the Special Enforcement Units; holding scheduled and unscheduled inspections; and identifying who is responsible for monitoring entry into secured drug storage areas.  

The authors of the report, PRC Commissioners William White, Sharon Anne Kidd and Sherry Smith, and community members Jim Chanin and Andrea Prichett, said that the report’s weakness was the inability of the subcommittee to interview various officers.  

“The [Berkeley Police Association] BPA’s attorney wrote to Chief Hambleton and threatened to sue the city if officers were interviewed about this incident,” the report says, noting that the objections were related to a California Supreme Court decision and a BPA lawsuit that shields officers from public scrutiny for personnel reasons.  

Also before the council will be: 

• The contract between the Berkeley Police Association and the city that will give the police a cumulative cost of living adjustment of 14 percent over four years, approximately $6.9 million between 2008 and 2012.  

• A resolution aimed at the Marine Recruiting Center downtown: asking the city attorney to look into enforcing a clause in the city’s municipal code prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and directing the city manager to send letters to the Marine Recruiting Center “advising them that the Marine recruiting office is not welcome in our city….” 

• A resolution calling on the governor to remove California National Guard troops from Iraq; 

• A request asking for information on pedestrian and bicycle accidents; 

• A resolution opposing attempts by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to close medical marijuana dispensaries and declaring Berkeley a sanctuary for medicinal cannabis use and distribution. 

Richmond’s Design Review Board this week will take up major renovation plans for the city’s Chevron Refinery, using an environmental impact report (EIR) one city councilmember calls “really pathetic” and “a piece of shit.” 

“I’ve been dealing with Chevron for decades,” said Tom Butt, the always-outspoken councilmember. And while Richmond was once a company town, he said the oil giant has alienated too many people to win an easy pass. 

He said too many questions remain unanswered about the extensive plans for what the oil company calls its Energy and Hydrogen Renewal Project. 

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin agrees. 

“I believe we need a re-circulation of the EIR with all relevant information and all potential impacts disclosed for full public review,” she said in an email to this newspaper. “Hundreds of public comments (some hundreds of pages long) were received by Planning Department expressing grave concerns about the project as proposed.” 

The Design Review Board, which meets at 6 p.m. Thursday in the temporary city council chambers at 1401 Marina Way South, is the first city body to take up the document. 

But the meeting will find two of the board’s five seats vacant with the citizen panelists in a state of limbo as the city moves towards ending the board’s existence and merging its functions into the Planning Commission. 

A council majority adopted a Maria Viramontes proposal to merge the two bodies, though the agencies continue their separate existences five months after the board’s intended termination. 

Butt said he hopes the board exercises its right to delay a decision until they have had time to review what he called “the nine pounds of documents [which] were dumped on them last weekend.” 

He said the board also has the right to call in consultants at Chevron’s expenses to review any questions they may have. 

While the slowly expiring board has a title that would seem to focus on issues of style and color, Butt said the body is also charged with evaluating how projects impact the quality of life in the community. 

Once the proposal has passed muster with the board, it then heads to the Planning Commission. 

Butt said he expects that whatever decision those bodies reach, an appeal to the city council is a foregone conclusion. 

“This massive project requires so much more than a dialogue between city staff, consultants, and Chevron,” said the mayor. “The pertinent dialogue here is the dialogue within the community who will be the recipient of any potential impact.” 

Butt has been targeting the project’s impact in emails to his constituents, focusing on issues of global warming, dangerous emissions and public health. 

Butt and McLaughlin are both concerned that the report failed to adequately address public health issues. 

“Western Contra Costa County has much higher rates of cancer and asthma than the rest of the county,” Butt said, charging that the EIR failed to adequately address the impacts of refinery pollutants when combined with other chemicals circulating in the city’s environment. 

McLaughlin raised the issue in her State of the City Address: “When it comes to expansion proposals from Richmond’s petrochemical industry, anything short of a reduction in each pollutant and a cumulative reduction in the overall pollution that is rained over our heads is simply more of the same ... a continuation of the environmental injustice that our city has suffered for decades.” 

The draft EIR generated “hundreds and hundreds of pages of comments from very reputable people and groups, including the Attorney General’s office,” Butt said. 

One of Butt’s particular concerns in environmental justice, “which is just glossed over in the EIR. It’s the idea that where there is a concentration of people who are already disadvantaged for economic and other reasons, you don’t do something that’s going to make it even worse.” 

“My position on the Chevron Expansion project is that this project must not increase pollution and must reduce current pollution levels for the people of Richmond,” McLaughlin said. 

On its own website, Chevron touts the project’s benefits, citing an overall decrease in noxious emissions and its promise to generate “millions in new tax revenues for Richmond that could be used to fund city programs including public safety, street repairs, libraries and youth services.” 

Butt said that while he believes his council colleagues have finally “had it with Chevron,” he worries that the company could promise enough grant funds to councilmembers’ pet projects to overcome their initial reluctance. 

According to the company website, the project includes four major components: 

• “Power Plant Replacement. Replace inefficient steam boiler plant built in the 1930s with gas turbine Cogeneration plant. 

• “Hydrogen Plant Replacement. Replace existing 40-year old high energy use plant with new energy efficient plant. 

• “Hydrogen Purity. Modify existing equipment to remove sulfur compounds and improve the purity of hydrogen used by refinery processing plants. 

• “Reformer Replacement. Replace 1960s gasoline reformers, with one plant of the same processing capacity as two existing plants.” 

The company said the construction effort will employ 1,200 workers. 

The city’s planning department website describes the project this way: “In general, the project would modify, replace and install typical refining equipment such as piping, heat exchangers, instrumentation, catalytic reactors, fractionation equipment, pumps, compressors, furnaces, tanks, hydrogen sulfide absorption capacity, hydrogen generation capacity and their associated facilities, including steam and electrical generation as well as some refinery buildings and infrastructure. These changes would include construction and installation of new facilities as well as replacement of or modifications to existing facilities.” 

David J. Teece, the UC Berkeley professor and until recently perhaps Berkeley’s richest private landlord, used illegal tax dodges and owes Uncle Sam millions, says the IRS. 

And the agency is taking him to tax court—again. 

But this time, he raised eyebrows at Forbes Magazine, prompting writer Janet Novack to remark, “An adverse outcome in the cases could hurt Teece’s credibility as a highly paid witness and provide fodder for hostile cross-examiners.” 

The feds want $12 million in back taxes and penalties, alleging the internationally famous business maven claimed $21 million in bogus short-term capital losses in 1998 and 1999, according to the Forbes account. 

In addition to holding the Thomas W. Tusher Chair in Global Business at the university’s Haas School of Business, Teece is founder, director and vice chair of LECG Corporation (the initials stand for Law and Economics Consulting Group.) 

The firm provides expert witnesses, and Teece’s expert submissions have been cited in decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The New Zealand-born economist also served as a member of the Atlas Group’s board of directors and as a trustee of Atlas Insurance Trust. 

Atlas was the brokerage arm of Golden West Financial, which owned the Atlas Funds and World Savings. Both have since been acquired by Wachovia Corporation, ending Teece’s tenure. 

Among his New Zealand-based investments, Teece holds major interests in investment funds and is the founder of Canterbury International, Australasia’s leading purveyor of rugby uniforms. He is named in a separate IRS tax case against Canterbury Holdings LLC, its American subsidiary. 

But to Berkeley residents not affiliated with the university, he has left his biggest mark on the city as partner with Patrick Kennedy in the Gaia Building and other downtown apartment buildings recently sold to a company controlled by an even richer landlord, Sam Zell’s Equity Residential. 

Just how much of the $140 million-plus sales price Teece will reap remains an open question. 

On Nov. 27, he signed a seven-year retention agreement with LECG guaranteeing him payments of $10 million divided between the last quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of the new year. The pact also allowed him to sell some of his previously restricted stock in the company. 

According to records filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, between Jan. 14 and Jan. 24, Teece sold 470,500 LECG shares for a total of $6,643,800. 

While Teece has yet to return a call from this paper, he granted an interview to the Wall Street Journal last March in which he acknowledged that 60 LECG consultants were making more than $500,000 a year each. 

The experts, who include people with powerful political connections in both parties, are consulted by leading companies around the globe. 

In 2006, according to LECG Corporation’s latest annual report, Teece earned $3,519,258 in fees in addition to his other earnings from the company.  

An examination of tax court filings in San Francisco shows that Teece and spouse Leigh G. Teece were named in an action filed last Aug. 15 and served two days later. 

The couple was also named in an IRS tax claim filed Sept. 14, 2004 and dismissed four months later because the allegations it raised had been covered in a still earlier action. 

Canterbury Holdings LLC. was named in three actions filed in 2004 and a fourth case filed July 21, 2006. 

According to Forbes, the most recent case against the Teeces alleges that Teece used partnership, options and stock in Germany’s Deutsche Bank to manufacture tax losses and shield his other income from federal taxes. 

A 2007 estimate printed in New Zealand—where he still owns a home and visits frequently—estimated his net worth at $94 million. 

Asked about the federal tax claims, David Roth, Teece’s Beverly Hills tax lawyer, said, “We have no comment.” 

The company’s stock, which trades on the NASDAQ exchange, was selling for as much as $17.87 on Nov. 9 but closed at $12.43 Monday. 

Dona Spring, the Berkeley City Councilmember whose district houses most of the buildings created by the Teece-Kennedy partnership, said that if the allegations are true “he needs to pay it back.” 

“That could help pay for some of the deteriorating streets, storm drains and schools,” she said, adding, “I wonder if, if it’s true, whether the local politicians who made money from his fund raisers will return it?” Recipients of Teece contributions include President George W. Bush, state Senator Don Perata, former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean and Berkeley Councilmember Gordon Wozniak.

Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission is asking the city tonight (Tuesday) to approve a resolution to “cease all purchases from Chevron, to the extent allowable by law.”  

In Richmond, Chevron houses more than 11 million pounds of toxic materials and has been responsible for more than 304 accidents, according to the resolution. “For illegally bypassing wastewater treatments and failing to notify the public about toxic releases, Chevron’s Richmond refineries were forced to pay $540,000 in 1998,” the resolution says, noting that the company is responsible for 95 Superfund sites. 

The resolution also points to Chevron’s role in Burma, Nigeria and Angola. Texaco, which became part of Chevron in 2001, dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into Amazon rainforests from 1964 to 1992, which “is often considered one of the world’s worst ecological catastrophes,” according to the resolution. 

When heavy winter rains and cold weather are predicted, even the hardiest of homeless people find themselves desperate for shelter. Thanks to funding from the city of Berkeley, the generosity of the congregation of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church—and some luck and community support—there is a haven from the storms.  

If it looks like it will be a bad night, signs reading “GIMME SHELTER” in big red letters are posted at places where homeless people are likely to be, announcing that St. Marks will be open at 7 p.m. for anyone needing a warm, dry bed for the night. The word then quickly goes out via cell phones to the street dwellers in the community. The emergency storm shelter is operated by J.C. Orton of Dorothy Day House. 

For a number of years shelter for the homeless was provided by a rotating arrangement among several churches with each hosting the shelter for three months at a time. Then in 2002, the city took an interest.  

As J.C. Orton tells it, the city approached Dorothy Day House, which provides meals and other services, and “asked us ‘what do you think of the idea of creating a shelter? We said ‘interesting but how would it work?’ They said ‘you guys find a venue and we’ll throw some money at it and you provide people and logistics to make it work.’”  

The hardest part of such an enterprise is finding a place for it. There are no facilities dedicated to providing round the clock social services for anyone. Orton approached the various churches that had hosted the shelter part time in the past. All refused except St. Marks, which has the smallest congregation and least resources. And they ask for no compensation for their expenses—the heating bill alone is no small item. 

The shelter is open only on rainy or very cold nights. There is enough funding this year for 66 nights. If J.C. decides to open the shelter he has to put out the announcements by early afternoon. That can call for some tricky decision making. If it looks like it will be stormy and he opens up and the weather turns out to be balmy the night is “wasted.” On the other hand if the weather turns ugly too late in the day to plan on opening, a lot of people will be very miserable.  

The doors are open from 7 to 9 p.m. for people to sign in. Each person is given a pad, a sheet and blanket for the night. J.C. also gives out sleeping bags that people can keep with them. The sheets are collected in the morning and taken to the laundromat. The room is large and radiant heating around the perimeter keeps it comfortably warm. There are usually between 50 and 60 people, four to six times as many men as women, mostly people between 26 and 55 years of age though there is a significant and increasing number of older people over 55. Many are chronically homeless and come to the shelter repeatedly whenever it is open. 

By 9 p.m. most people have settled down, reading, relaxing on their mats or in quiet conversation. For someone who is homeless and has virtually no income surviving from day to day is extraordinarily difficult. Leaving the shelter at 7 a.m. (most shelters put people out at that early hour so the facility can be cleaned up for the daytime users) the guests must usually an hour wait for a free breakfast—somewhere. During the day, between trudging all over town for lunch or dinner meals which are served at various locations and different times each day and taking care of personal needs like showers and laundry, there is little opportunity to earn money with occasional jobs or panhandling, let alone save enough to get into housing.  

We talked with Van who has been staying at the shelter frequently for several years. She does odd jobs, recycles, sells the Street Spirit newspaper, but she says “even if I get a job today and work 24/7 I would still not have enough money to afford a place.” While trying to come up with first and last month rent and security deposit, “I’ll still be on the street for eight months trying to save money” to get into permanent housing. Meantime it’s a great relief to be able to stay out of the rain. 

Juan is 45 years old, he has a disability and, he says, “I have a substance abuse problem ... but I’m making steps, getting help. I’m clean and sober now.” But being on the street makes it much harder. “(It) gives you the perfect excuse to go out there and say the hell with it, nobody else cares. But I do care and J.C. cares about me,” he says. “He cares about people.”  

A distinguished looking, white haired man who won’t give his name, “Call me Center and Shattuck” says “I’m here because it’s raining and I’m homeless” and when the shelter isn’t open “I sleep out on the streets in various places.” He has skills, he has had jobs, but bad luck has dogged him so he hasn’t managed to save enough money to get into an apartment. Like many other homeless people ‘Center and Shattuck’ is worried that the Public Commons for Everyone Initiative Berkeley just passed will bring about more harassment of people who are living on the street.  

On the positive side, asked if he thinks the city is doing better or worse with regard to homelessness, J.C. Orton who has been providing services for Berkeley’s homeless for many years, sees some improvement.  

“I think it’s important to give the city credit for what they are doing. (But) I think it’s important that the city do more,” he says. “Regardless of how much the city does it will never be enough.” 

At its Jan. 13, 2008 meeting, Berkeley Citizens Action members considered the presidential primary candidates and the propositions and measures on the upcoming Feb. 5, 2008 ballot.  

To receive the BCA endorsement, a proposition, measure, or candidate must receive at least 60 percent of all votes cast in that ballot. No candidate received the 60 percent necessary for an endorsement, though BCA voted on candidates from the Democratic, Green and Peace and Freedom parties.  

Using the same 60 percent rule, BCA members present and voting did decide to endorse a NO vote on Propositions 91, 93, 94-97 and Measures A and B. Proposition 92 (Funding of Community Colleges) received a YES endorsement.  

The steering committee of the Progressive Democrats of the East Bay also recommended NO votes on all ballot measures except Proposition 92, which got a YES recommendation. The Berkeley Democratic Club had previously made the same choices. 

However, the Progressive Democrats of the East Bay did endorse a presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich has since withdrawn from the race, though his name cannot now be taken off the California primary ballot. 

It had been commonly believed—at least by Assembly District 14 candidates Richmond Councilmember Tony Thurmond, Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington, and Berkeley resident Dr. Phil Polakoff—that East Bay Parks District member and former Berkeley City Councilmember Nancy Skinner had decided not to run for the Assembly seat now occupied by Loni Hancock. 

“I never announced such a thing,” Skinner told the Planet last week. “I’ve never been out of the race.” 

Skinner said she had been waiting until after the Feb. 5 election to start her campaign. If voters approve Prop. 93, Sen. Don Perata will stay in his present job as state senator and Hancock, hoping to win Perata’s seat if it’s vacant, will run for another term in the Assembly. 

A fundraising e-mail from Skinner to supporters last week said: “I had hoped to wait until the term limit issue is settled to activate my Assembly campaign, but politics, like nature, abhors suspense. So I’m writing to let you know my campaign has begun.” 

Neither Worthington, Polakoff, Thurmond nor Skinner plans to face Hancock if she runs again for the Assembly seat.  

If Prop. 93 fails, Hancock will run against Wilma Chan, a former assemblymember and former county supervisor, for the Senate seat Perata now occupies. 

Skinner is a long-time political ally of Hancock and her husband Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, assemblymember for 20 years before Hancock was elected.  

Skinner, who recently left her job as U.S. director of the Climate Change Group—an organization that works with Fortune 500 businesses and government leadership on climate change issues—told the Planet she will focus on “how do we move to a low carbon economy that would include maximizing jobs and economic opportunity” in the field of greenhouse gas reduction. 

All three other candidates say Skinner is beatable.  

While Skinner’s track record in the environmental movement will stand her in good stead with global warming wary folk, Worthington points out that he has a strong environmental track record, notably in shoreline protection and transportation issues and is past chair of the local Sierra Club. 

He also points to his record supporting labor, gay and women’s rights, racial justice and more. Worthington said he’s not only sponsored progressive legislation such as the city’s Living Wage, Equal Benefits, Zero Waste and Precautionary Principle ordinances, he’s walked picket lines for striking workers and sat in at the governor’s office to support the rights of disabled people. 

“It’s unfortunate that she will split the progressive vote by jumping in at such a late date,” Worthington said. 

Polakoff, who ran for mayor against Hancock, said Worthington and Skinner are too closely tied to Berkeley to win the election. “I’m not pigeon-holed,” he told the Planet. “I can talk to everyone—people in the hills and the flats.” 

Polakoff said he’ll be the choice for folks east of the Berkeley Hills. The 14th Assembly District extends through Lamorinda to parts of Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill. He’s endorsed by former Mayor Shirley Dean, Councilmember Gordon Wozniak and former Sheriff Charles Plummer. 

Polakoff said his activism has been outside the political arena, working on health care policy on the state and local levels and working on neighborhood issues as past president of the Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association. 

Richmond Councilmember Tony Thurmond says it’s a myth that the 14th Assembly District belongs to someone from Berkeley. 

“If you believe what people say, a Richmond resident cannot win,” Thurmond told the Planet. “But my decision to run is not based on what people think.” He says he can provide the best leadership for the entire district. 

In the Assembly, he would focus particularly on addressing violence reduction. “It’s important in the entire district—in Richmond, Oakland and Berkeley,” he said, noting that he would reestablish the I-80 corridor group to attack the problem among cities from Oakland to Richmond. “No one city can solve the problem alone,” he said. 

Thurmond’s supporters include California State Assemblymember Mervyn M. Dymally from Compton, former Alameda County Supervisor John Knox and SF Mayor Gavin Newsom. 

Candidates’ websites are: www.TonyThurmond.com, www.drphilforassembly.com and www.krissworthington.com. Skinner can be reached at nancyskinner@dslextreme.com. 

In a made-for-TV moment, under blue skies and beside a sparkling bay at Shorebird Park, Mayor Tom Bates rolled out the draft Climate Action Plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gases 80 percent by 2050—fulfilling the goals of Measure G, approved by Berkeley voters in 2004. 

The mayor told the gathering of community and press that Berkeley, one of three cities with the largest number of rooftop solar collectors in the country, has already begun to reduce its carbon footprint. 

“We reduced our greenhouse gases by 9 percent between 2000 and 2004,” said Bates, who had come from city hall to the event in an AC Transit fuel-cell powered bus.  

Bates lauded the plan, which will have cost more than $200,000 by the time it is approved in April. It was written by Climate Change Coordinator Timothy Burroughs and the city’s Energy & Sustainable Development staff and taken to a number of city commissions and to the business community for input.  

“This has gotten more scrutiny than any plan” developed by the city, Bates said, noting that the plan will remain a draft until the City Council approves it in the spring. The public will be able to send comments on an interactive website at www.berkeleyclimateaction.org until March 7. 

Staff will present the draft plan to the City Council at a 5 p.m. workshop today (Tuesday). 

The plan aims at making all structures in Berkeley achieve a net zero energy consumption level by increasing efficiency and shifting to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. 

By 2050 most people in Berkeley will be walking, biking or using public transit—personal vehicles will run on alternative fuel cells or electricity, the plan says. 

It further states that to achieve the greenhouse gas reduction goal, there must be zero waste sent to landfills and most food consumed in Berkeley will be produced within a few hundred miles of the city. 

When Bates took questions from the press and community, he was asked about the role of the development of biofuels in Berkeley’s future and the growing concern that producing agricultural products for biofuels has removed a food source from people in developing nations.  

Bates lauded the city’s use of biodiesel—its truck fleet uses 20 percent biodiesel made mostly from used vegetable oil. He pleaded ignorance, however, to the rest of the question: “I’m not an expert in biofuels,” the mayor said, explaining that he did not know anything about biofuels production in developing countries. 

Dan Kammen, director of UC Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, an advisor on the plan who spoke to the gathering after the mayor, helped the mayor with a response. He said he was aware of the controversy surrounding biofuels production, but noted that biofuels can be sourced from algae, which would not disrupt food production. He also said more can be done to fund agriculture in developing countries to blunt the negative impact of biofuels production. 

Community member Juliet Lamont told the mayor she hoped the plan would include protection for wildlife habitat and riparian corridors.  

“We want to look at all these things,” Bates responded. 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington, often at odds with Bates, stood behind the mayor holding the plan’s “join the movement to reduce greenhouse gas” banner, during the presentation.  

After the speeches, Worthington told the Planet: “We need an action plan—some ideas didn’t make it into the plan.” That includes consideration of the impacts of the University of California and the Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, which the plan does not address, Worthington said, and “it doesn’t include eco-passes,” which are public transit passes paid for by an employer or school and free for use by workers and students. 

It should also include very simple ideas such as mandating recycling in apartments, which are now left out of the city’s recycling efforts, Worthington said. 

The plan, however, says specific actions will be costly and “necessitate additional resources and sustained coordination across sectors.” 

Three more challengers, including one in the district of powerful Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, have announced for the Oakland City Council in what already was one of the most crowded election years in the city in recent memory. 

Realtor Mario Juarez is running for the seat currently held by De La Fuente from District 5 in central East Oakland. Former Oakland Planning Commissioner and AC Transit Director Clinton Killian has announced his intention to run for the Oakland City Council At Large seat currently held by longtime incumbent Henry Chang. And in the deep East Oakland District 7, neighborhood activist Clifford Gilmore—the son of Oakland’s first African-American City Councilmember, Carter Gilmore—is running against longtime incumbent Councilmember Larry Reid. 

Juarez, the owner of Realty First and Mortgage Mario Juarez Team in Oakland’s Fruitvale section, is a longtime Fruitvale resident who serves on the board of directors of the Fruitvale-based Unity Council, and was a Mayor Jerry Brown appointee to the Workforce Investment Board.  

Although his campaign is not yet official, he is already speaking out against the incumbent De La Fuente, saying that he is “running against one of the biggest egos in the city,” and saying that he is responding to a “craving in the community for change and new ideas.”  

Juarez says that he will be a strong advocate on issues of crime and violence, which he calls a “city-wide emergency” that has long been a problem in the Fruitvale area. 

De La Fuente could not be contacted for this story, but it is widely assumed that he is running for re-election. 

Killian, a longtime Oakland real estate, probate, and business attorney and currently a Montclair resident, recently picked up the early endorsement of District 16 Assemblymember Sandré Swanson.  

He was widely mentioned as a candidate in 2006 for the District 16 Assembly seat being vacated by former Assemblymember Wilma Chan, but Killian dropped out of the race later won by Swanson.  

Killian served on the AC Transit Board of Directors from 1994 to 2000 and was an Oakland Planning Commissioner from 2001 to 2005.  

In a recent article in The Globe newspaper, where Killian writes a weekly column, he said that crime prevention will be a major focus of his campaign.  

“And it’s not just about hiring more police officers,” Killian said, “but developing a comprehensive approach to attacking crime which includes prevention, creating safe neighborhoods and rehabilitation to move people away from criminal activity. It’s not going to be solved by doing one thing.”  

Killian also said that new business recruitment to Oakland and equalizing services in the city’s neighborhoods will be among his other priorities if elected. 

Killian joins an already-crowded At-Large field fueled, in part, by rumors that incumbent Henry Chang may not be running for re-election this year. Chang has not yet made any public announcement of his election plans and did not return phone calls in relation to this article. 

A second At-Large candidate will be Charlie Pine, co-founder of Oakland Residents for Peaceful Neighborhoods. Pine, an Allendale district resident and the only candidate to put up a campaign website so far [www.pineforoakland.org], lists “peaceful neighborhoods” as his major goal. “Let's make peaceful neighborhoods top priority,” a paragraph on the front page of his campaign website reads, “and let's get city government back to basic services like trimming the trees and repairing the streets. The budget has the money; but we must spend it for urgent needs, not political pork.“ 

A third challenger, AC Transit At-Large Director Rebecca Kaplan, has also announced her intention to run for the At-Large Oakland City Council seat. Kaplan lost to Chang in a 2000 runoff for Chang’s seat. 

But the major player in the At-Large seat may not be any of the announced candidates, even if Chang chooses not ito run. It is rumored that District 4 City Councilmember Jean Quan is considering a run for the At-Large seat if Chang chooses not to run. Quan could not be reached in connection with this article. 

In District 7, a Gilmore campaign pamphlet describes him as a community organizer who has “worked to establish Neighborhood Crime Prevention Councils throughout the city, stimulated neighborhood growth through economic investment, created accountability within local public schools, and worked continuously with Oakland’s youth as a coach and mentor.” 

Gilmore says he is running “to reverse the trends that have plagued Oakland for too long: crime, blight, and development that does not benefit the residents of District 7.” 

Incumbent Larry Reid, a former aide to former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, says he is running for re-election and that there are “exciting things” going on in the council district that extends to the San Leandro border. 

In West Oakland’s District 3, a third candidate, Covenant House Development Director Sean Sullivan, may be joining incumbent Nancy Nadel and Oakland School Board member Greg Hodge. Sullivan could not be reached in connection with this story. 

A fifth council seat—that of District 5 Councilmember Jane Brunner—is also up for election this year. 

Meanwhile, the schedule for this year’s council elections is still up in the air. Oakland City Council elections were originally scheduled for June 3, with Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) taking the place of runoff elections.  

But with Alameda County’s proposed IRV software still tied up in the approval process with the Federal Elections Commission—with the California Secretary of State’s office next in line to take a look—council has set a Feb. 5 date to consider setting a June 3 election with a Nov. 4 runoff schedule, scrapping IRV for this year. 

Oakland City Council Races 

At Large 

Incumbent: Henry Chang (not yet announced) 

Announced: Rebecca Kaplan, Charles Pine, Clinton Killian 

Possible: Jean Quan (if Chang does not run) 

District 1 

Incumbent: Jane Brunner (no information available on her plans) 

Announced: None 

District 3 

Incumbent: Nancy Nadel (running for re-election) 

Announced: Greg Hodge 

Possible: Sean Sullivan 

District 5 

Incumbent: Ignacio De La Fuente (not yet announced his intentions) 

Announced Candidates: Mario Juarez 

District 7 

Incumbent: Larry Reid (announced for re-election) 

Announced Candidates: Clifford Gilmore 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Member Chris Kavanagh, facing seven felony counts stemming from allegations that his real home is in Oakland and not Berkeley as he has claimed, was back in court on Thursday. 

The court set two more hearing dates for Kavanagh: a pre-trial hearing on Feb. 7 and a preliminary hearing on Feb. 22, according to Deputy District Attorney Trevor White.  

“There have been discussions between his attorney and myself” outside the courtroom, White told the Planet, declining to elaborate.  

Kavanagh’s attorney, James Giller, did not return calls for comment and Kavanagh did not respond to e-mails. 

Kavanagh took a three-month leave of absence from the rent board, which ended Jan. 31, after which time he was reinstated on the board.  

“He e-mailed that he was really sick and couldn’t make the [Jan 22] meeting,” Rent Board Executive Director Jay Kelekian told the Planet, adding that he had no further information on Kavanagh’s situation. 

In December the City Council had on a closed-door agenda a motion to ask the district attorney to ask Kavanagh to step down, but took no action at the time. 

Kavanagh continues to plead not guilty, White said. 

The West Berkeley Community Monitoring Project will release test results today (Tuesday) for air samples taken near the Second Street-based Pacific Steel Casting to check for toxics. 

The release, at the West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 6th St., 7 p.m., culminates more than six months of testing made possible with help from Global Community Monitor—an environmental justice organization—and grants from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD). The event is hosted by Greenaction, Global Community Monitor, West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs and the Ecology Center. 

A group of residents got together between April and November and collected 66 air samples at 24 locations near the steel foundry to monitor for particulate matter using portable air samplers recommended by the air district. Control samples identified pollution coming from the freeway and other nearby sources. 

According to LA Wood, who participated in the project, the sampler used a calibrated pump to gather particles on filters which were tested for heavy metal pollutants such as lead, manganese, nickel and zinc by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved laboratory. 

“It’s quite timely since Pacific Steel’s Health Risk Assessment (HRA) report is being reviewed for public comment until Thursday,” he said. “Our sampling project will undoubtedly give those in West Berkeley real hope that something concrete is being done to actually investigate the air emissions and health concerns generated by Pacific Steel.” 

Prepared by Pacific Steel Casting with assistance from the environmental consulting firm ENVIRON, the HRA report examines the effects of both current and future emissions on residents and whether West Berkleyans need to be notified about health risks under air district guidelines. The community project’s air sampling identified Pacific Steel as “the largest point source of a variety of air pollutants of concern.” 

“Whatever the outcome of the tests, it’s impossible to tie it to one source,” said Elizabeth Jewel, of Aroner, Jewel & Ellis Partners, the public relations firm representing Pacific Steel.  

But Denny Larson, a project participant, said: “For years complaints and concerns have focused on odors of gaseous chemicals and not the particulate pollution which can be more reasonably assigned to Pacific Steel and is arguably more hazardous to health as heavy metals can accumulate in the body.” 

Although preliminary test results released in August indicated high levels of toxic metals nickel and manganese, Pacific Steel called the findings inconclusive and misleading since the air monitor was not EPA-approved and the results were not verified by the air district. 

According to Mark Cherniak, an independent international health expert, the levels of nickel and manganese found in the samples taken near the West Berkeley steel foundry were hundreds of times higher than considered safe by the World Health Organization. 

Community members are concerned that the Pacific Steel’s own health risk report identified children at the Duck’s Nest preschool—located a block away—as being most susceptible to risks from airborne hazardous material and subsequent cancer risks. 

The city’s Zoning Adjustments Board mandated the foundry’s first Health Risk Assessment in 1991 due to the pre-school’s proximity to it. “Our results are not inconsistent with the HRA,” Wood said. “We all recognize that there is a problem. What we differ on is the level of the problem. We believe that the sampling is indicative of a chronic exposure.” 

Snow, rain, wind. It’s that time of year when snuggling under an eiderdown, preferably with furry four-pawed friends, seems the only way to keep warm. 

It’s a great time to tuck up the garden, too. A thick layer of mulch and soil amendments placed on the vegetable beds now—stable manure, worm compost, hay, pine shavings—will quickly rot in snow, rain and wind, and be ready to turn under in the hyperactive months ahead, March, April and May, when we expect it to be warm enough above and below ground to plant. 

What to choose? The gardening year starts in fall in California, with winter rains breaking the dormancy of seeds of native flowers. In our climate, between Tilden Park and the Bay, cool-weather vegetables can be grown in fall too, as well as spring, depending on the micro-climate of the garden, except for favas, garlic and celery, which are best grown only in fall, no later than Oct. 15.  

Celery is a marsh plant. If sown as seeds in a pot, put the pot in a shallow dish of water for constant moisture. Commercial six-packs of young plants transplant well. 

Peas can be soaked overnight, to speed germination. Sow seeds where they are to come up, in moist soil, as they dislike being transplanted. Do not water until leaves appear.  

Most of the leafy Brassicas can be started in August or February as seeds. Transplant when true leaves appear. They like heavy soil, plenty of manure, and should be firmly and deeply pressed into the earth to just below their leaves. Do not buy large leggy plants. 

Mustard grows very fast. Sow directly. 

Turnips are sown directly. Protect against an egg-laying moth, whose caterpillars tunnel into turnip globes and ruin them, by covering with screen or by sowing only in fall. 

Carrots, Beets, Chard, Spinach and Onions can be sown directly and thinned later (which tends to uproot all of them) or sown in pots and transplanted later. 

Radishes can be spaced when sown. Keep the bed moist. 

LETTUCE and its relatives can be sown or bought as plants. 

POTATOES are frost tender. Plant between mid February to mid March for early potatoes. The tubers are formed on lateral rhizomes that grow from the stalks, so by mounding the plants with earth and organic material as they grow, more rhizomes and therefore more potatoes can develop. Potatoes will be found just below the surface, so be sure to keep them well mulched. Sunlight turns them green and inedible. 

Remember to defend leafy seedlings (cabbages, lettuce) from slugs, snails and cutworms with a collar of copper strip, sold by the foot in nurseries. Better still, acquire a pair of ducks. You will never again see a snail in your garden. Just be sure to shut the ducks securely into a cosy, well-ventilated coop every night at twilight, or they will be killed by raccoons. Ducks thrive on a daytime routine of snail patrol (and other foodstuffs of course) and nights spent safely on a deep litter bed of clean pine shavings. 

Keep the litter stirred, periodically refresh it, and totally replace it twice a year. Animal Farm on San Pablo at Cedar sells big bags of pine shavings. By year’s end you will have several bags of mulch already fortified with nutrients with which to coddle your vegetable beds when snow, rain and wind come round again in our cycle of local weather. 

Long before that, by Easter probably, you will have enjoyed fresh eggs with your flavor-rich, organically-grown vegetables. 

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. 

Linepithema humile has been called, against stiff competition, one of the world’s worst invasive species. Argentine ants don’t sting or bite, like that scourge of the South the red imported fire ant. What they do is more insidious: they disassemble whole ecosystems. They kill or drive out native ant colonies and eat their way through the local arthropod prey base. (They can handle much larger native ant species; photographs of a half-dozen of them dragging down a huge, as ants go, harvester ant are reminiscent of that Planet Earth footage of a pride of lions tackling an elephant.)  

Ant-eating reptiles like the coast horned lizard can’t stomach them, and horned lizard populations have declined by up to 50 percent in invaded areas. Plants that depend on native ants to transport their seeds are left partnerless. The Argentines use exotic plantings like iceplant as staging areas for colonizing native plant communities. 

Once they arrive in a new locale, Argentine ants form supercolonies containing millions of individual workers. Back home in South America, neighboring colonies live in a constant state of mutual hostility. But that isn’t true in California and other Linepithema beachheads in Mediterranean Europe, Asia, Australia, southern Africa, and the Pacific islands.  

According to research by Andrew Suarez, now at the University of Illinois, there is in effect one great big Argentine ant colony in California that stretches from San Diego to Ukiah. Normally, introducing a worker ant to a foreign colony is a death sentence. But you can drop an Argentine ant from Lompoc into a colony in Milpitas and she’ll receive a sisterly welcome, and be put right to work. 

That’s because she’ll have the correct colony smell. South American colonies are genetically varied, and each one has its distinctive odor which serves as a badge of membership. But the Argentine ants in the great California supercolony, descendants of a small founder population, all smell alike. They haven’t had time to re-evolve the variation. Although genetic bottlenecks are supposed to be a bad thing, reducing a population’s resistance to disease and other stressors, these ants seem to benefit from their genetic uniformity. 

Despite that, you would think that Argentine ant booms would eventually go bust, since eating everything in sight is not a sustainable foraging strategy. They don’t, though. These ants have another trick up their sleeves. 

According to a recent study by David Holway at UC San Diego, who collaborated with Suarez, Argentine ants do start out as generalist predators of other insects. At some point, however, they switch to a high-carb diet of the honeydew that aphids and scale insects excrete. “Honeydew nectar is essentially digested plant sap,” Holway says. “If you’ve ever parked your car under a tree and found your windshield covered with sticky stuff, that’s honeydew from aphids and scales.” Think, for example, of the tulip trees on University Avenue. It’s honeydew that fuels the growth of the supercolonies. 

A mutualist relationship with honeydew producers is not rare among ants. What’s unusual is the change from predation to nectar-sipping. It’s as if a band of human hunter-gatherers moved into a new hunting territory, killed off almost everything edible, then domesticated the last few sheep and became pastoralists. 

Holway and his co-authors tracked a Linepithema invasion in Rice Canyon in southern California, documenting the near-extirpation of native ants as the newcomers moved in; native diversity fell from 23 species to two. They used a technique called stable isotope analysis to determine what the Argentine ants had been eating, and identify when their diet changed. Comparing the ratio of heavy to light nitrogen isotopes allowed the scientists to distinguish carnivores from herbivores (or, in the case of the Argentines, carbovores.) 

So it appears that Argentine ants are flexible enough in their behavior to avoid the consequences of ecological overkill. As long as they have their scales or aphids, they’re in fine shape. 

And things are only going to get better for them. Species with limited ranges and narrow habitat and food requirements may be pushed to extinction by global climate change, but not the Argentine ant. Another recent study, headed by Nuria Roura-Pascual at the University of Girona in Catalonia, suggests that unoccupied areas in East Asia, northeastern North America, and elsewhere will become more suitable for invasion in a warmer world. Linepithema marches on. 

Posted Sat., Jan. 26—When heavy winter rains and cold weather are predicted even that hardiest of homeless people find themselves desperate for shelter.  

Thanks to funding from the city of Berkeley, the generosity of the congregation of St. Marks Episcopal Church—and some luck and community support—there is a haven from the storms.  

If it looks like it will be a bad night, signs reading “GIMME SHELTER” in big red letters are posted at places where homeless people are likely to be, announcing that St. Marks will be open at 7 p.m. for anyone needing a warm, dry bed for the night. The word then quickly goes out via cell phones to the street dwellers in the community. The emergency storm shelter is operated by J.C. Orton of Dorothy Day House. 

For a number of years, shelter for the homeless was provided by a rotating arrangement among several churches with each hosting the shelter for three months at a time. Then in 2002, the city took an interest.  

As J.C. Orton tells it, the city approached Dorothy Day House, which provides meals and other services, and “asked us ‘what do you think of the idea of creating a shelter?' We said ‘interesting but how would it work?’ They said ‘you guys find a venue and we’ll throw some money at it and you provide people and logistics to make it work.’”  

The hardest part of such an enterprise is finding a place for it. There are no facilities dedicated to providing round the clock social services for anyone. Orton approached the various churches that had hosted the shelter part time in the past. All refused except St. Marks, which has the smallest congregation and least resources. And they ask for no compensation for their expenses—the heating bill alone is no small item. 

The shelter is open only on rainy or very cold nights. There is enough funding this year for 66 nights. If J.C. decides to open the shelter he has to put out the announcements by early afternoon. That can call for some tricky decision making. If it looks like it will be stormy and he opens up and the weather turns out to be balmy the night is “wasted.” On the other hand if the weather turns ugly too late in the day to plan on opening, a lot of people will be very miserable.  

The doors are open from 7 to 9 p.m. for people to sign in. Each person is given a pad, a sheet and blanket for the night. J.C. also gives out sleeping bags that people can keep with them. The sheets are collected in the morning and taken to the laundromat. The room is large and radiant heating around the perimeter keeps it comfortably warm. There are usually between 50 and 60 people, four to six times as many men as women, mostly people between 26 and 55 years of age though there is a significant and increasing number of older people over 55. Many are chronically homeless and come to the shelter repeatedly whenever it is open. 

By 9 p.m. most people have settled down, reading, relaxing on their mats or in quiet conversation. For someone who is homeless and has virtually no income surviving from day to day is extraordinarily difficult. Leaving the shelter at 7 a.m. (most shelters put people out at that early hour so the facility can be cleaned up for the daytime users) there is usually an hour wait for a free breakfast—somewhere. During the day, between trudging all over town for lunch or dinner meals which are served at various locations and different times each day, and taking care of personal needs like showers and laundry, there is little opportunity to earn money with occasional jobs or panhandling, let alone save enough to get into housing.  

We talked with Van who has been staying at the shelter frequently for several years. She does odd jobs, recycles, sells Street Spirit newspaper, but she says “even if I get a job today and work 24/7 I would still not have enough money to afford a place.” Coming up with first and last month and security deposit, “I’ll still be on the street for eight months trying to save money” to get into permanent housing. Meantime it’s a great relief to be able to stay out of the rain. 

Juan is 45 years old, he has a disability and, he says, “I have a substance abuse problem ... but I’m making steps, getting help. I’m clean and sober now.” But being on the street makes it much harder. “(It) gives you the perfect excuse to go out there and say the hell with it, nobody else cares. But I do care and J.C. cares about me,” he says. “He cares about people.”  

A distinguished looking, white haired man who won’t give his name, “Call me Center and Shattuck” says “I’m here because it’s raining and I’m homeless” and when the shelter isn’t open “I sleep out on the streets in various places.” He has skills, he has had jobs, but bad luck has dogged him so he hasn’t managed to save enough money to get into an apartment. Like many other homeless people ‘Center and Shattuck’ is worried that the Public Commons for Everyone Initiative Berkeley just passed will bring about more harassment of people who are living on the street.  

On the positive side, asked if he thinks the city is doing better or worse with regard to homelessness, J.C. Orton who has been providing services for Berkeley’s homeless for many years, sees some improvement.  

“I think it’s important to give the city credit for what they are doing. (But) I think it’s important that the city do more,” he says. “Regardless of how much the city does it will never be enough.” 

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. 

She has exactly five minutes, she says, for an interview. “After that I need to prepare for the last school board meeting of my life.” 

Berkeley’s first Latino superintendent will step down from her role on Feb. 2, handing the job off to Bill Huyett. But—as Lawrence points out time and again during the course of the evening—she will continue to fight for the rights of public education after retiring. 

“As a state we have our priorities in the wrong place,” Lawr-ence told the Planet Wednesday, referring to Gov. Arnold Schwarz-enegger’s proposal to slash K-12 funding by $400 million this year and $4.4 billion in 2008-09. 

“We cannot continue to cut funding out of public education and expect a healthy state, especially when the future rests on the education and training we give our children,” she said. “As a private citizen I will have a little more flexibility to voice my opinion and more free time. I want to write letters and organize campaigns to educate people and create awareness.” 

The walls of Lawrence’s office are bare. 

“I have been packing,” she says. “All my paintings and books are waiting for me at home. Now I just have to mail in my key.” 

Bidding farewell to more than 30 years in public education is not easy, but Lawrence conducted business at usual at the meeting, correcting the smallest errors in the school’s annual budget. 

“It seems surreal,” she finally said in a brief speech to the Berkeley Board of Education while accepting a proclamation naming Feb. 1 as Michele Lawr-ence Day in the district this year. 

“But I am not dying, I am only retiring.” 

Napping tops Lawrence’s list of “to do” things right after retiring, followed by campaigning for Barack Obama (whom she has endorsed) and reading the paper over a morning cup of coffee. 

During her tenure as assistant superintendent and superinten-dent of different school districts, Lawrence said she has sat through 600 board meetings.  

After taking over Berkeley Unified in the midst of a financial crisis in 2001, she spent six years trying to balance the district’s staggering budget. 

“Looking back, there have been some really good things I am proud of,” she said. “Such as bringing stability to the organization and defeating the lawsuit from Pacific Legal Foundation that threatened our integration program.” 

Lawrence was also responsible for creating more student-centered schools with the Ulysses model. 

“I think I brought calm and focus and a clear vision of what’s important for children,” she said. 

Described at times as “unresponsive” and “elusive,” Lawrence has been criticized by various community organizations and union representatives for not closing the student achievement gap, considered by many as the most critical problem in the state right now. 

“I certainly want Bill to continue the development of stronger curriculum and teacher training,” she said, referring to her successor. “The news from the governor makes us have to switch our focus from the classroom to the checkbook, but we have to keep fighting. I want to see the expansion of the pre-schools—I wasn’t able to get that finished. I have confidence in Bill; he’s younger than me, but he’s a seasoned administrator.” 

Huyett, who joins the district on Feb. 4, will also have to deal with the relocation of the district’s headquarters from the seismically unsafe Old City Hall to West Campus, which is scheduled to take place within a year. 

“What I won’t miss about my office is the cold when the radiator doesn’t work, the toilets that don’t flush and the plaster that’s peeling from the walls,” said Lawrence, smiling. 

She said she regrets not being able to oversee the completion of the new classrooms for Berkeley High School. The school was recently placed on the National Register as a Historic District. 

The campus’ historic status and the fact that the district has been sued over the environmental impact report for the South of Bancroft master plan—which proposes to demolish the Old Gym and the warm-water pool housed inside it and build classrooms—poses a big problem for the district. 

“We need that building so that the teachers can get some relief,” she said. “Berkeley is the best and worst of the democratic process, but a truly amazing place.” 

Huyett, 57, admits that some of the issues he faces as the new superintendent will be a challenge. 

“But I look forward to it,” he said. “Berkeley has so much support for public education ... It gets out there and talks about its programs. And that’s what piqued my interest. People that work in this district are passionate.” 

At first glance Huyett might remind you of Mr. Chips, the popular schoolteacher at Brookfield, the fictional boys’ boarding school. However, underneath his cheerful demeanor lies a quiet determination. 

He talks about facilitating programs that will help close the achievement gap, something he has done successfully at Lodi, his former district. 

“But there is a big ‘but’ before it,” he says. “Every school district is different. I have to learn about it before suggesting anything specific. There is an immediacy with looking into the proposed budget cuts but that will not keep me from visiting the classrooms and meeting people.” 

Moving to a district three times smaller than Lodi could also be challenging for Huyett, but he describes it as a plus. 

“Small schools improve student situations,” he said, adding that he had worked in smaller districts such as Dixon, which was half the size of Berkeley. 

“At Lodi, I am really most proud of academic achievement. The API scores have gone up 125 points, distinguished schools have been named and many academic programs such as the pre-engineering and health care are in place.” 

Huyett will perhaps be best remembered in Lodi for building 12 new schools, including a high school. 

As he walked into Lawr-ence’s office before joining her for the board meeting, he spoke about his love for Berkeley. 

“It’s perfect for me,” he said. “I love movies and the theater, and restaurants. When I am not working or at home with my family and my two labs, Cossie (after Cosmopolitan Girl) and Kallie, that’s where I want to be.” 

Photograph by Mark Coplan. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence presides over her last school board meeting Wednesday. 

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. 

The City Council unanimously condemned UC Berkeley’s decision to cut down some 300 trees on the university-owned Gill Tract property at Marin Avenue and Buchanan Street, claiming that only some of the trees—home to Cooper’s Hawks and monarch butterflies—are diseased. The council authorized its attorney to go to court to block what Mayor Robert Lieber called “wholesale clear cutting,” if a delay in removing the trees—except seriously diseased Mon-terey Pines—could not be negotiated otherwise. 

The university, which says the trees pose a public-safety hazard, plans to begin removing 184 of the pines on Monday. “Campus officials emphasize that the removal has nothing to do with proposed development of campus-owned property nearby,” according to a Jan. 23 article written by Jonathan King in the internal UC publication The Berk-eleyan. 

Residents, including former Mayor Robert Cheasty, told the council they believe the tree removal is directly related to the proposed development. 

Council opposes spray 

Also on Tuesday, the council unanimously passed a strongly worded resolution opposing CDFA plans for aerial spraying to eradicate the light brown apple moth (LBAM). 

The state originally planned to begin spraying in Alameda County in the spring as part of ongoing efforts to eradicate the moth, but Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the council meeting, the CDFA/USDA released a statement saying they will delay the aerial spraying, John Connell, CDFA Plant Health & Pest Prevention Services director, told the council and some 45 people who waited until past 11 p.m. to hear the discussion on the LBAM. 

After the state sprayed in the fall in the Monterey and Santa Cruz areas, hundreds of people reported falling ill. Santa Cruz and Monterey counties filed lawsuits, alleging CDFA failed to perform a required environmental impact report before spraying. The EIR would have included a range of alternatives to the spray and would have considered public comment. 

CDFA says it did not need an EIR because the potential crop damage—to grapes, apples and other fruit—created an emergency situation. 

Connell addressed the decision to delay spraying: “In consultation with the technical working group, an international panel of experts, that panel recommended that CDFA/USDA take a look at other materials that have become available for [the eradication of] the light brown apple moth,” Connell said. “They do remain committed that this moth should be eradicated, and the primary tools to achieve that eradication would be an aerial application” of a product designed to disrupt mating behavior of the moths. New products are being developed and tested in New Zealand, Connell said. The CDFA expects to get the results of New Zealand trials by early April. 

Once they decide which product to use, the CDFA will first go back to the Santa Cruz/Monterey area to continue spraying there, then on to the Bay Area in early August, Connell said. 

The decision about which spray to use will be based on the product’s ability to eradicate the moth, not on health effects to humans, CDFA spokesperson Steve Lyle told the Planet Wednesday. It is the purview of the Environmental Protection Agency to certify the product on the basis of potential health impacts, he said. 

Meanwhile, the state plans to use other methods of eradication. It is evaluating, among other means, traps tied to host plants with pheromone-scents used to confuse males to get them to stop mating—mixed with a small amount of pesticide that would attract, then kill, the male moths, according to the Jan. 22 CDFA/ USDA statement. 

Neither the council nor the public was convinced that aerial spaying with any product should take place. 

“There’s no new information in what was released today,” Nan Wishner, chair of the Albany Integrated Pest Management Task Force, told the council. “The concern is that [the product] is used with aerial spraying.” 

The sprays used in the Santa Cruz area, Checkmate OLF-F and Checkmate LBAM-F, contain a synthetic phero-mone. When sprayed from the air, the pheromones are contained in microcapsules with ingredients some say are potentially harmful, such as formaldehydes. 

Opponents of the spraying say the microcapsules can cause lung damage, while the state says the product is safe. 

Albany resident Ed Fields told the council he objected to the state using a new product: “We will be the subject of the tests—they will try it out on us,” he said. 

The council was unanimous in its opposition to the spray: “Even a few people being hurt is not acceptable,” said Councilmember Farid Javandel. 

While the resolution cannot prevent the state from going ahead with its plans, Mayor Robert Lieber said it was important to take a stand. “We need a grassroots movement to say it’s not OK” to spray for the moth, Lieber told the Planet after the meeting. “We need to start having an effect on other communities.” 

Berkeley Councilmember Dona Spring said she intends to bring a resolution opposing the spraying to the Berkeley City Council at its first February meeting. The state plans to make a presentation to the Berkeley City Council on the LBAM Feb. 26. 

A community meeting on the spray will take place Jan. 30 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Environmental Health, 528 61st St., Oakland.

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. 

“Most towns regulate adult-oriented businesses—the initiative is modeled on that,” said Sharon Adams, the attorney who wrote the initiative, which is signed by former Councilmembers Carole (Davis) Kennerly and Ying Lee (Kelley) and Code Pink activist PhoeBe Anne Sorgen. 

While Adams said she believes the government has to follow local zoning ordinances, Acting City Attorney Zach Cowan told the Planet that “in general, the city can’t regulate the state, its entities or the federal government.”  

There are times when the government will waive its rights, such as the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s agreement to be regulated by the city’s hazardous waste regulations, Cowan said. 

The city attorney’s office does not weigh in on the legality of citizen-sponsored initiatives, Cowan added. 

Major Wes Hayes, Marine Corps Recruiting Command spokesperson, responded to the Planet by e-mail: “To answer your question; the Marine Corps works closely with the Army Corps of Engineers when determining the locations for recruiting offices all around the country. The ACOE takes all lawful regulations and zoning requirements into account before recommending locations of any Marine Corps Recruiting Office.” 

The impetus for the initiative is that anti-war activists were surprised one day last fall to find a Marine Recruiting Center located smack in the heart of perhaps the most anti-war city in the country. Berkeley has passed several resolutions opposing the war in Iraq and supported the impeachment of the president and vice president for their role in taking the country to war. 

Led by Code Pink, individuals and various groups—including the World Can’t Wait, Grandmothers for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, the Middle East Children’s Alliance and more—have been demonstrating for about four months on most weekdays outside the recruiting center at 64 Shattuck Square. 

The city can’t ban recruiters, Adams said. “Prohibition would be a restraint on the First Amendment right of speech.” But she says she believes they can restrict the recruiters to certain areas and create law where a public hearing would be mandated before permitting the recruiters to do their business. 

Entitled “Initiative Petition Establishing Zoning Requirements for Military Recruitment Offices and Private Military Companies,” the measure would prohibit locating a public or private military recruiting office within 600 feet of a residential area, school, library, health clinic or a building used for religious assembly.  

“The Berkeley community has spoken strongly in opposition to U.S. policy of military aggression,” said Lee, a library trustee and activist with the committee supporting Ehren Watada, the first commissioned military officer to refuse deployment to Iraq.  

Keeping youth from being lured into combat “is a health and safety issue,” Lee told the Planet. “We have the right to say no to pornography stores—why can’t we say no to those who promote killing and torture?” she said. 

If the initiative passes, it won’t affect the existing recruiting office. 

On Jan. 30, at noon, pro-war activist Melanie Morgan of KSFO Radio and Medea Benjamin of Code Pink are planning to debate the question of the role of the military in society—the debate will be held outside the recruiting station at 64 Shattuck Square, Adams said.  

Zanne Joi of Code Pink, one of the organizers of the debate, said its purpose is to keep the war “front and center.”  

A frequent protester at the recruiting station, Joi said: “Our hearts are broken every time we’re there, to see people who say we’re fighting for our freedom—we need to educate and inform.” 

In October Morgan organized a counter- demonstration outside the recruiting office, which attracted hundreds of pro-war demonstrators, outnumbering the anti-war protesters. 

Petitioners will need to collect some 2,000 signatures to get the initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot. 

On Tuesday, the City Council will address a resolution from the Peace and Justice Commission: 

• Asking the city attorney to investigate what the city can do with respect to the military recruiting office, given a conflict between the military’s prohibition against recruiting homosexuals and the city’s laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. 

• Asking the city manager to write letters to various U.S. Marine officials, telling them “that the marine recruiting office is not welcome in our city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders.” 

• Encouraging those groups that “volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the city of Berkeley.”

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. 

Superintendent Michele Lawr-ence warned at the school board meeting Wednesday that if the proposed cuts took place, the district would issue layoff notices to six or seven counselors and some pre-school staff in the Berkeley public schools. 

She added that after-school programs would also be in jeopardy. 

“Because most of K-12 funding comes from the state, our school district will be hurt,” Lawrence said. 

“If we did not have the parcel tax funds we would be doing many more layoffs.” 

A few districts, including Berkeley, get substantial local funding (around $20 million) from the Berkeley Schools Enrichment Program (Measure A) which is almost one-third of the General Fund. 

Calling the situation “troubling,” Berkeley Board of Education President John Selawsky told the Planet that California public schools could not afford further cuts. 

“We are working with so much uncertainty, so much can change,” he said. “We won’t know until the governor releases his May budget. But if the cuts are made, then the Berkeley public schools could lose anything between $2 to $2.5 million. One obvious place would be to freeze hiring, which means everyone is working more.” 

The governor proposes to cut $400 million this year—which Lawrence said would have minimal impact on Berkeley—and $4.4 billion in 2008-09, which meant $700 less for each of the approximately 6.3 million public school students in the state, including Berkeley. 

“At this point it’s not a matter of how we handle it or make the cuts, but how we can stop the action on the part of the governor,” said district spokesperson Mark Coplan, “The message has to be that California education cannot afford a single cut. It’s really ironic because 2008 was supposed to be the year of education reform.” 

County superintendent Sheila Jordan told the Planet that mid-year cuts were unacceptable. 

“We will get ready for layoffs but none of us will run decent schools,” she said. “This unites every district in Alameda County. Even wealthy districts like Pleasonton will be hit. We are really hoping to convince the legislature to stop the cuts.” 

According to a presentation given to the board by Lawrence, the district expects enough resignations and retirements to avoid actual certificated layoffs. 

Compared to most other states, California spends much less on public education. Education Week recently gave the state a D+ for school funding. 

“We have moved from 42 in the nation to 46, below Mississippi,” Lawrence said. “We are spending $2,000 less per student than the national average. Californians need to be very angry about this. It’s morally wrong when we do not invest in the future of our children. The revenue of prisons and correctional facilities continue to grow, so why is the revenue of our public schools lagging behind?” 

According to Lawrence, the proposed cuts are equivalent to: 

• Shutting down every school across the state for one month 

• Laying off 107,000 teachers 

• Cutting more than $20,000 per classroom 

• Eliminating all music, art, and career technical education programs statewide, plus cuts beyond that. 

“Because most music and arts programs are funded by parcel-tax money, we will be able to sustain them,” Lawrence said. 

Cathy Campbell, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, called the proposed cuts devastating. 

“It’s incumbent on all teachers, staff members and administrators to take action to stop these cuts,” she said. “The last time we faced a similar crisis in 2003-04 and 2005-06, Berkeley was part of a statewide effort where we went to Sacramento and rallied. The community needs to come together for this.”

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. 

With expenses increasing rapidly (district health benefits are reported up over 40 percent, fuel and oil up nearly 50 percent, and pension-fund contributions up 57 percent, all in the past three years) and subsidies from the state in jeopardy if fare revenues don’t increase, transit official directors took their first look this week at four fare-increase proposals. 

If directors had voted to move forward with the fare-increase process, a public hearing on the proposed increase could have taken place as early as April 9th, with directors then voting on final approval. 

However, Ward Two Director Greg Harper (Emeryville, Piedmont, Berkeley) balked at the proposals, saying, “We know from the past that when we raise fares we lose ridership. It takes three years to recover, and then we raise fares again. I’m not going to vote for another fare increase until we grasp what effect it will have on ridership.” Harper asked for detailed information surrounding the last three fare increases, saying that “without that, I feel I’m flying blind on these fare increases.” 

While Board President Chris Peeples (At Large) said he thought the district may need to hire an outside consultant to provide an analysis of the ridership impact of the last three AC Transit fare increases, he called for a tabling of the increase proposals until Harper could get the information from staff and draw up his own analysis. No date was set when the issue would come back before the board. 

Under the proposal recommended by AC Transit staff, adult fares would rise 25 cents from $1.75 to $2 beginning July 1, with the adult monthly pass rising from $70 to $80 and the youth and senior/disability passes rising from $15 to $28. The staff is also proposing raising the basic adult fare 25 cents every four years in a staggered schedule beginning in 2011, with a 10 cent raise that year and a 15 cent raise two years following. 

Other proposals include tying future fare raises to the Consumer Price Index, or offsetting the 25 cent fare increase by providing passengers with automatic, unlimited transfers. The district’s general counsel said that directors had the option of adopting any one of the four proposals, or mixing elements from the different proposals, or coming up with an entirely new fare proposal. 

A memo outlining the four AC Transit proposed fare increase proposals is available at http://www.actransit.org/aboutac/ bod/memos/87caf4.pdf.

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.  

At issue is the 12-lane expressway that currently runs over the 12th Street dam that divides Lake Merritt from the Kaiser Convention Center, separating East Oakland from downtown. 

The problem involves Oakland’s upcoming Measure DD restructuring of the 12-lane expressway, where normal speeds currently go above 40 miles per hour, into a slower, six-lane city road. 

If it’s not resolved, a civil and traffic engineer hired by the City of Oakland said the problem could—in the worst case scenario—cause traffic delays of two minutes or more in that single stretch during peak commute hours when BRT is eventually put in place. 

“That is enough of a delay to destroy the entire purpose of rapid transit,” AC Transit Board Vice President Rebecca Kaplan (At Large) told Oakland officials on Wednesday. “I don’t know where we go from here.” 

As proposed by AC Transit officials, BRT would operate on two dedicated, bus-only lanes carved out of the existing Telegraph Avenue and International Boulevard/E. 14th Street and running from UC Berkeley, through Oakland, and into San Leandro and back. Within those dedicated lanes, special AC Transit buses would be able to run free of auto traffic. 

The proposal has run into potential roadblocks at the two far ends of the system. In San Leandro, city officials have balked at setting up bus-only lanes in the narrow stretch of E. 14th Street that runs through the city’s downtown section, and AC Transit officials have been working with them to carve out an alternate solution acceptable to both sides.  

On Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, a loose coalition of merchants and residents has been actively opposing BRT’s proposed changes for months. Until this week, however, problems had not ap-peared publicly in Oakland. 

Oakland Measure DD Project Mana-ger Joel Peter told transit officials on Wednesday that Oakland project engineers and planners had been working for months to reconcile bus-only lanes over the 12th Street dam with Measure DD’s goals of traffic slowdowns in the area and creation of a park at the west end of Lake Merritt, with no success. 

“Everything we’re doing involves balance,” Peter said, adding that traffic engineering studies showed that if Oakland dedicated one of the three downtown-bound lanes to buses, the resulting backup of cars around the Alameda County Courthouse would eventually reach back to the eastern entrance to the 12th Street exchange, causing the buses to be delayed in entering the exchange, and defeating the whole purpose of the dedicated lanes. 

“How can we ask Berkeley to give dedicated lanes to BRT and not Oakland?” a frustrated Ward 2 Director Greg Harper (Emeryville, Piedmont, Berkeley) told Peter. “All the buses are going to bunch up here. We were told by Oakland that AC Transit was going to be in the loop on these decisions. I don’t know why all of a sudden, when space is available, we can’t get a lane when we’ve been planning for one for seven years.” 

Peter said that Measure DD planners were willing to look at any alternate solutions, and the issue is certain to come up at the end of this week at a regularly-scheduled transportation planning meeting between city and transportation agency officials. The Measure DD Environmental Impact Report is scheduled to be published on Friday of this week or the following Monday, with consideration by the Oakland Planning Commission on Feb. 13. 

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. 

Bayer Healthcare had posted signs in December announcing the impending closure of a lot leased by the city on Parker Street across from the building with the jagged roofline. 

John Curl, a building tenant, said meetings with Councilmember Darryl Moore, City Manager Phil Kamlarz and Bayer officials have produced an agreement to keep the lot open till the end of February. 

A longer-term solution may also be within reach, he said, though he didn’t want to say what it might be since negotiations are currently underway between the city and the Bavarian-based multinational. 

Another public meeting under the councilmember’s aegis has been tentatively set for Feb. 18, where more news may be announced, Curl said. 

“It’s really important for us,” he said, adding that tenants who leased performance spaces in the building would be destroyed if they lost access to a nearby parking lot.

“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. 

Wolff was sharp tongued and vibrant until the end. He could dominate a conversation, using history and politics to cast his spell. To have lunch with him was  

to take a journey through history. And it wasn’t so much his retelling of Spanish Civil War adventures, but his tales of a time when actions had meaning and taking a stand against injustice was clear-cut. Wolff radiated a sense of purpose that was contagious. He was an active participant in the Civil Rights movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and opposition to American intervention in Latin America. 

To have fought in the Spanish Civil War has become synonymous with idealism, and it was the defining experience of Wolff’s life. He took over the command of the American volunteers when he was 22 years old. The previous commanders had all been killed or wounded. Ernest Hemingway compared Wolff to Abraham Lincoln in stature and praised his military prowess. The two became drinking buddies and friends. 

After the war, Wolff became the commander of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, an organization dedicated to aiding Spanish Civil War refugees and vets, and to continuing the fight against fascism in its many forms. He had a sense of how to get publicity and an uncanny ability to raise money for progressive causes. During its heyday, nearly 1,000 people attended the annual VALB reunions. At one point they raised over $100,000 to send ambulances to Nicaragua to support the Sandinista government against the U.S.-backed Contras. 

Preserving the legacy of the struggle became Wolff’s raison d’être. Given any opportunity, he would talk about the Spanish Civil War and the activism of the Lincoln vets, from making speeches at political meetings to chatting up the person next to him in the supermarket line. 

I remember picking Wolff up at the hospital when he was nearly 80. He had been injured bicycling to a gym at five in the morning. As he was leaving, one of the Kaiser nurses who had attended him walked up and, clenching her fist, chanted, “¡Viva Communista! No pasaran!” A week later Wolff was on his way to Cuba to challenge the U.S. blockade. 

In contrast to his military exploits, Wolff was a self-made intellectual and artist, having dropped out of high school during the Great Depression. He attempted a career as a commercial artist and painter but was blacklisted by the FBI. He wrote two autobiographical novels, “Another Hill” and “Member of the Working Class.” 

On Jan. 14, Milt Wolff died in hospice care. He was 92. “No pep talks,” he warned those who visited him in his final days, some from as far away as Spain. He quickly turned the conversation to who would win the primaries. 

There will be a memorial to Milt Wolff on March 29, the time and place to be announced. For more information on the memorial go to www.MiltWolff.rb68.com. 

On March 30, in San Francisco, there will be an unveiling of a monument to all of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. For more information go to www.alba-valb.org.  

Richard Bermack is the author of “The Front Lines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.” 

Photograph by Richard Bermack. 

Milt Wolff in September 2007 in El Cerrito.

Robbery ring 

What began as the arrest of a violent burglar at the Doubletree Hotel in the Berkeley Marina ended up as the smashing of a robbery ring which had terrorized Bay Area merchants. 

It took four officers to subdue 39-year-old Robert Andrew Farmer when they confronted him at the Marina hostelry shortly before 4 a.m. on Jan. 4. 

During the struggle, an alleged accomplice jumped out of a closet onto the backs of arresting officers and tried to grab a pistol out of one of the uniformed officers’ holster, reports Berkeley Police spokesperson Sgt. Mary Kusmiss. 

So Jenna Marine Mercure, 35, of Martinez, was also clapped into handcuffs and hauled off to the local lockup. 

There officers learned that Farmer was the subject of a $150,000 warrant resulting from a Pleasant Hill robbery when he had allegedly punched and stomped the head of a jewelry store clerk in the course of a heist, inflicting serious injuries. 

Investigators also realized that Farmer matched the description given by witnesses to a robbery two days earlier at the Red Bird, a jewelry and women’s clothing story near the Claremont Hotel in the 2900 block of Domingo Avenue. 

In that heist, Farmer had allegedly pulled a pistol and ordered a clerk to fill a snakeskin bag with jewelry while his partner went to the back of the store and made off with more jewelry. 

Sgt. Kusmiss said Farmer admitted the jewelry heist to investigators, and more digging led to links to their fences in El Sobrante and Richmond. 

Police recovered more than $150,000 in loot, which Sgt. Kusmiss said was restored to its owners. The investigation also led to the arrests of Farmer’s brother, Patrick Ryan Farmer, 29, who Kusmiss said has also admitted his participation in the robbery spree. 

Bank heists 

Bank robbers struck twice in Berkeley last week, striking once on Monday and again on Friday, both times on Shattuck Avenue. 

“We had six bank robberies for all of 2007, so two in one week is kind of unusual,” said Sgt. Kusmiss. 

The first robber struck at 5:15 p.m. Monday at the Washington Mutual branch at 2150 Shattuck. He approach a teller, presented a note and demanded cash. Loot in hand, he headed back out the front door and was last seen headed southbound on the avenue. 

The second robber, a different felon, walked into the Union Bank of California branch at 2333 Shattuck Ave. at 11:50 a.m. Friday, where he walked up to a teller, quietly informing the teller that he was robbing the place. He held his hand inside his jacket, as though gripping a pistol, said Sgt. Kusmiss. He also fled on foot, but out the bank’s rear door. 

Robbery arrests 

UC Berkeley police arrested two 17-year-olds they have charged with the robbery of a pedestrian Sunday night near the corner of College Avenue and Dwight Way. 

According to campus police, the victim flagged down a passing UCPD patrol car moments before midnight to report the crime, which had been perpetrated by a pair of young men who had rolled up in a white car and threatened to beat him if he didn’t hand over his cell phone and iPod. 

Less than an hour later, campus officers saw a similar car and made a stop. The pair was arrested after an identification by the robbery victim. 

Honda vs. bike 

A Berkeley bicyclist sustained minor injuries early Friday evening when he was struck by a Honda as he turned from The Alameda in North Berkeley. Sgt. Kusmiss said the cyclist, a 26-year-old Berkeley man, hit the passenger side of the car, which had failed to yield the right of way. The bike rider was thrown onto the hood of the car, and sustained abrasions and bruises. The driver, 74, is also a Berkeley resident.

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. 

Along with Melvin Dickson of the original Black Panther Party, Andrea Prichett of CopWatch, Jim Chanin, attorney and member of a Police Review Commission subcommittee and others, Neumann will speak on a panel tomorrow (Saturday) addressing the question of how to bring civil liberties back to Berkeley. 

Sponsored by Berkeley CopWatch and Disabled People Outside, the event will take place noon-2 p.m. at 1730 Oregon St. Participants will have a chance to speak out about their own experiences, Prichett told the Planet. 

Panelists will address various aspects of the loss of civil rights in Berkeley. 

“Police review has completely collapsed,” Neumann said on Wednesday. 

A California court case, coupled with a local lawsuit by the Berkeley Police Officers Association, has resulted in restrictions so severe that public complaint hearings against the police can no longer be held, he said. Behind-closed-door hearings are permitted, but the complaining party cannot be present to hear the police officer's response. 

“We need a reality check on what Berkeley really is,” Prichett told the Planet. One of the issues Prichett said she will raise on Saturday is the case of former police Sgt. Cary Kent, the officer who stole drugs when he was in charge of drug evidence. 

One of the key reasons to hold the panel Saturday is to remind the community of this issue, which will be before the City Council for the first time at its meeting Tuesday, Prichett said. 

Kent was convicted in April 2006 on three felony charges: grand theft, possession of heroin and possession of methamphetamine, and served a one-year detention in his home in Contra Costa County. Prichett is a member of the city’s Police Review Commission subcommittee that investigated the Kent issue and has made recommendations to the City Council, which the council will consider Tuesday. 

Prichett said she will speak at the forum Saturday about the need for the city to do further investigation. 

The subcommittee and a unanimous Police Review Commission is recommending, among other proposals, that the council ask the city manager to further investigate 286 envelopes containing drug evidence that had been tampered with, and to ask the chief to consider reassigning all officers currently assigned to the drug evidence room who had worked with Kent in the drug evidence room during the time he was stealing drugs.

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. 

That was the ruling Wednesday by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara J. Miller, upholding a directive she issued in December. 

Attorneys for the City of Berkeley and neighborhood and environmental groups challenging the university’s plans had contested the order, which had been supported by the university’s lawyers. 

The litigation before the Hayward judge addresses the question of whether or not UC Regents acted legally when they adopted the environmental impact report for a range of stadium-area projects and approved funding for one of the projects, the Student Athlete High Performance Center (SAHPC). 

Challenging the regents are Stephan Volker, representing the California Oak Foundation and City Councilmember Dona Spring, Michael Lozeau for the Panoramic Hill Association, and Sacramento attorney Harriet Steiner for the City of Berkeley. 

“We’re confident that the further evidence we will present in response to Judge Miller’s order will show that the SAHPC “is both an alteration of and an addition to California Memorial Stadium,” Volker said. 

Lozeau agreed. 

The issue is critical, because if Judge Miller finds the high-tech gym and office complex is a part of the stadium, then it would trigger cost limits imposed on additions and alterations to buildings within 50 feet of active earthquake faults. 

The stadium itself sits directly over the Hayward Fault, deemed the Bay Area’s most threatening fissure by federal geologists, and the Alquist-Priolo Act limits additions and alterations to half the value of the existing building. 

Just what the stadium’s value might be is another question altogether, with the university arguing for replacement value of a new stadium built to current building codes, while opponents say that current resale value should be the proper figure. 

Judge Miller’s order sets a deadline of Feb. 22 for submission of the experts’ declarations, with responses due by March 3 and oral arguments set for March 7. 

A final ruling on the issue should come within 30 days. 

“We welcome the opportunity to provide the court with this evidence,” said Dan Mogulof, executive director of UC Berkeley’s Office of Public Affairs. 

“We are confident that engineering experts will confirm that in no way, shape or form is the Student Athlete High Performance Center an addition or alteration to California Memorial Stadium.” 

Only Mogulof was willing to name an expert who would be presenting a statement. Among UC’s offering will be a declaration from Vice Chancellor Ed Denton. 

Denton had fought the delay caused by the court action, stating that a year’s delay would cost $8 million to $10 million.  

Asked about the additional delay caused by Miller’s decision to take more evidence after both sides had rested their cases, Mogulof said that “as frustrated as we are by the additional delay, we feel the benefits of providing the judge with additional evidence will far outweigh the costs.” 

Meanwhile, in the grove of oaks and other trees which would fall to make way for the gym, a band of tree-sitters continues their vigil high in the branches in protest of the university’s plans. The tree-sit is now well into its fourteenth month, despite its encirclement by a ring of two fences erected by the university.

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.” 

“If you pull at one loose thread, the whole thing will fall apart,” he warned. 

And with that—and with the backing of Mayor Tom Bates—the chair of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee gave a brisk yank on the proposal’s most delicate strand. 

Travis, who chaired the 21-member citizen panel through 50 meetings and two years of deliberations, urged commissioners to commission an economic study to see if the adopted development standards of the plan’s land-use chapter would generate funds to develop the social, transportation and open space amenities urged by the other chapters. 

He told commissioners he had made the recommendation after consulting with the mayor. 

An 11-10 DAPAC majority had specifically rejected commissioning a study, a rebuff targeted at repeated submissions by DAPAC staff planner Matt Taecker to consider a series of 16-story “point towers” to accommodate more housing in the city center. 

In the final land-use element adopted by DAPAC on an 11-1-8 vote, building heights would be restricted to 85 feet in most areas of downtown, with the exception of four structures at 100 feet, four more at 120 and two high-rise hotels which could rise 100 feet higher. 

A committee minority, which included Planning Commission Chair James Samuels, objected to the limits, warning that restrictions on height and building mass could kill development, along with their much-needed fees. 

The battle over building heights and massing—dubbed floor-to-area-ratio (FAR)—generated ongoing debates within the committee, with concessions coming mainly from those who favored smaller buildings. 

“The downtown is a wonderful place to have growth,” Travis told commissioners, arguing that growth, like toothpaste, has to come out somewhere if the squeeze is on. 

The squeeze facing the commission comes from three sources: 

• The Association of Bay Area Governments, which sets housing quotas each jurisdiction must allow to be built, though not requiring their actual construction; 

• UC Berkeley, which must receive and approve a completed plan by May, 2009, or it will start cutting back payments to the city under a court-approved settlement, and 

• The environmental review process, which will be taking place at the same time both the commission and City Council are contemplating implementation language and any changes they want to make to the plan.  

When Commissioner David Stoloff told Travis that the plan’s implementation provisions “probably need some incentives” for developers, the DAPAC chair responded that “nobody’s breaking down our doors” at the moment to build anything. 

While both Travis and City Planning and Development Director Dan Marks hailed the committee’s “remarkable” efforts, both disagreed with the panel’s decisions to adopt height and mass limitations without a study of economic feasibility. 

Marks told commissioners that they need to decide soon if they want a study, because there’s no funding budgeted for an analysis, and he would have to go to the City Council to seek the cash to pay consultants. 

Samuels asked if a commission resolution was needed to spark the study, and Marks agreed, adding that “DAPAC had a lot of goodies they expect ... and there’s a point at which they don’t get any goodies” if there’s no development. 

“When we presented the plan to the City Council, one of the councilmembers said he wanted to make sure the plan contained a poison pill,” Samuels said. “I interpreted that to mean that if building height” prevented development, “that was a poison pill.” 

Marks acknowledged that “some people don’t think we would get objective information,” prompting a vigorous nodding of Patti Dacey’s head. She was one of three planning commissioners who voted in favor of the plan’s height limits, along with Helen Burke and Gene Poschman. 

Moments later, after declaring that “experts can find whatever you want them to find,” Dacey quipped, “What about Paul Krugman?”  

Stoloff said he thought the plans FAR numbers “should be expanded a bit ... we need to have the square footage to generate the fees or we can’t have the amenities the plan calls for.” 

Limiting height forces the unit costs of housing higher, and the plan’s limitations, he said, would leave the downtown affordable only to the very wealthy and cost the city needed affordable housing. 

Poschman said he worried that the rush to complete an environmental impact report (EIR) on the plan even before the details were adopted was “a case of the tail wagging the dog.” 

He said he was also concerned that the planning staff proposal for the commission didn’t call for any public hearings and faulted “the lack of input from stakeholders.” 

“I don’t want to see this thing get end-loaded ... where we rush this thing to the council without having considered all if it,” he said, adding that he also wanted the commission to make its position clear on the point-tower issue. 

Burke and Dacey also urged public hearings, and Jennifer McDougall, the UC Berkeley planner assigned to downtown planning issues, said she would like to see any hearing conducted while students are in the city and not during the summer. 

According to Taecker’s current schedule, Oakland-based EIR consultants Lamphier-Gregory Associates will launch the draft EIR process in the near future, as staff begins work on an alternative that would be considered at the same level as the DAPAC proposal. 

Staff will also be preparing implementation language that can be written into the plan itself as well as a measure that can be added simultaneously or immediately afterwards to the city’s Zoning Ordinance. 

The draft EIR will be ready in September, with the final EIR completed by January 2009 and adopted with the plan itself in May 2009. 

The final plan must also pass muster with UC Berkeley, under terms of the settlement agreement that ended the city’s lawsuit challenging its growth plans.

West Berkeley zoning changes and a dramatic public challenge rounded out a Wednesday night Planning Commission schedule otherwise dominated by the Downtown Area Plan. 

At issue is what city staff calls “increased flexibility” that they say would ease the way for new projects in West Berkeley linked to research at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). 

But the proposal has raised concerns among West Berkeley’s artisan community, who fear that what may be in store is a virtual demolition-in-place of the existing West Berkeley Plan. 

Dave Fogarty of the city’s Economic Development Department said changes in zoning rules had become more crucial because of “the technology transfers that occur here” resulting from research at the university and LBNL. 

Because of that, he said, it is less important that traditional manufacturing activities continue in the city’s only industrial and manufacturing zones. 

But the loss of industrial jobs and their replacement by high-tech workers alarmed Bernard Marszalek of Inkworks and Rick Auerbach, who serves as the staff of WEBAIC, West Berkeley Artisans and Industrial Companies. 

Auerbach said the area’s current industries boast a workforce that is 65 to 70 percent African American, Latino and Asian, and the transition to high-tech jobs would offer jobs mainly to “highly educated white people.” 

“It’s flabbergasting, really,” he said. 

Auerbach said he was concerned that the commission’s mandate amounted to a virtual redrafting of the current plan, but Planning and Development Director Dan Marks said that the changes “would fit within the context of the [plan’s] goals and objectives.” 

Allan Gatzke, the planner assigned to the project, said the proposals would evolve over the course of five additional meetings, beginning with a tour of the area and meetings with businesses and community members that will also be open to the public. 

The tour will encompass six areas deemed suitable for major development projects: the Marchant Building, Macauly Foundry, American Soils, Peerless Lighting, Flint Ink and Fantasy Building sites. 

The impetus for the commission’s look at West Berkeley was a June 13, 2006, recommendation from City Councilmembers Linda Maio and Laurie Capitelli. 

That direction called for zoning changes “to allow for more rational use of space and enhance the ability of arts/crafts to locate in West Berkeley.” 

City staff reported that developers have pulled out of attractive projects because of the complex rules for development, and Fogarty said that traditional manufacturing jobs have declined in the area as part of a national trend. 

Because of high housing costs, he said, very few blue-collar workers employed in the area can afford to live in the city. 

But Auerbach and Marszalek bristled at his suggestion that West Berkeley may not need manufacturing. 

A more suitable model might be Bayer, the German company which operates a $100 million facility in West Berkeley that yields an annual production of chemical congeners that can be held in one hand. 

Fogarty said companies like Bayer posed as much a threat of raised rents for WEBAIC members as an expansion of commercial and retail business—a contention immediately challenged by Commissioner Gene Poschman, who asked for hard data to support the claim. 

“I don’t think Bayer raised the rent on adjoining property by a nickel,” he said. 

Helen Burke said she wanted the commission to offer a way for stakeholders to participate in discussion of proposed changes, and at greater length than the three minutes usually allotted during the public comment period. 

Drama, challenge 

The meeting had kicked off with a dramatic challenge to the commission from Berkeley attorney Christopher Lien, who demanded to know if the City Council’s representative was present. 

Meeting bemused gazes from commissioners and staff, he then cited city code Section 3.28.040.  

That provision, the second paragraph of city ordinance setting up the Planning Commission, provides that the council “appoint one of its members to act as a liaison representative” to the commission, “to attend the meetings of said commission,” advise council colleagues about the reasons for commission actions, and on the request of any commissioner, to advise the commission of council policies and decisions that bear on items under consideration by commissioners. 

“I don’t see this representative from the City Council here,” said Lien. 

“They don’t come in every time,” said commission secretary Jordan Harrison. 

“Was this ignored last week?” Lien asked. “Was it ignored the week before?” 

Receiving no response, he added, “This apparently has been ignored for a long period of time.” 

And a look through the Daily Planet’s archives shows no instance in recent years when the council has dispatched a member to regularly attend commission meetings. 

Lien had another bone to pick with commissioners as well: Enforcement of Meas-ure L, the 1986 ballot measure requiring the city to acquire and open parkland at the rate of two acres for every thousand residents in each census tract. 

When Commissioner Susan Wengraf told Lien his remarks were better directed to the council, the attorney responded, “And you have a right to demand that your city council liaison be here.” 

He concluded with a threat to take every commission decision to a public referendum unless the commission complied with the ordinances. 

Measure L, he said, was designation by voters as a high priority measure, and thus stands second only to the City Charter as a legal obligation of municipal government.

The Berkeley Board of Education on Wednesday approved the appointment of Dan Lee to the Merit Commission. 

The board had interviewed both Lee and former merit commissioner Roy Doolan on Dec. 19. They voted 4-1, with board president John Selawsky abstaining, to appoint Lee. 

Doolan, whose three-year term came to an end on Dec. 1, told the Planet before his interview that the school board might not reappoint him because he took an independent position on budget allocations, one out of step with the board’s wishes. 

He received a letter from the board in August notifying him that they were opening up the application process and that he could apply for the position if he wanted to.  

District superintendent Michele Lawr-ence, in an interview with the Planet in December, described Doolan’s concern as premature. 

Doolan, currently in New Zealand, could not be reached for comment after the vote. 

“The board has the right to choose its own appointees on the committee,” said school board president John Selawsky. “The board just felt that a change of scenery might help. We have been arguing about the real duties and functions for a long time. One of the main things is whether the Merit Commission can allocate a budget by itself.” 

Comprised of three members—one appointed by the Board of Education, one appointed by the collective bargaining units and the third approved and appointed by both—the commission deals with issues of personnel management. 

According to Doolan and Commission Chair Margaret Rowland, who was chosen by both bodies acting jointly, the disagreement between the commission and the school board arose from the commission’s budget allocations beginning in late February. 

Doolan had wanted to pay 100 percent of the director of the classified personnel’s salary from the commission’s budget, which had been the case about two years ago, but Lawrence had pushed for paying 80 percent of the salary out of the district budget, a move Doolan said limited the commission’s power. 

Lawrence contended that the shift had been suggested to cut back on money in all the departments in the district when it was in financial trouble. 

The County Board of Education approved the Merit Commission’s 100 percent budget allocation to pay the director’s salary in July. It will be effective until June 30, 2008. 

Doolan said he received a letter from the board in June which stated that he was not representing the interests of the school board. 

“I want to assure my fellow board members that you do represent our views and that you will convey this position at the Merit Commission meetings,” wrote former board president and board member Joaquin Rivera. 

Rowland wrote back saying that the commission’s independent status was outlined in the Education Code. 

“There has been no response to the letter we sent to the board and it’s become evident that there was some misunderstanding about the role of the board and the role of the commission,” Rowland told the Planet Wednesday. “My chief concern is that the autonomy of the Merit Commission be maintained. If the Merit Commission and the board hold a common meeting once a year, as happens in other districts, it would create better understanding.” 

Lee, a former nutrition services director for the Berkeley district and for the Hayward school district, is a graduate of Berkeley High School and UC Davis. His children attended Berkeley public schools. 

“I think it’s very important the way employees are treated in the district,” he told the Planet Thursday. “The training of employees so that they can go up in the ranks has always interested me. I am familiar with the education code and I totally agree with the idea of an independent Merit Commission.”

In 1968, General Westmoreland announced that we could finally see “the light at the end of the tunnel” in Vietnam. That announcement has come to define a paradigm: the tendency of leaders, military and political, to declare victory long before a conflict has actually been resolved. An editorial in the influential international scientific journal Nature in February of 2007 was in fact entitled “Light at the End of the Tunnel.” It was part of Nature’s Climate Change special edition, and it warned that the world-wide acceptance of the reality of climate change brought with it new perils: business and political leaders were starting to announce what steps they were taking to combat the problems of global warning as if the problem were solved, when in fact the solutions offered were not nearly enough to solve the problem. 

Another way to describe the kind of mistake Westmoreland exemplified in 1968 is the word “triumphalism,” as defined by Merriam-Webster: “an attitude or feeling of victory or superiority: ... smug or boastful pride in the success or dominance of one’s nation or ideology over others.” It’s almost always used in a pejorative sense, by those who want to point out that the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t as clear as some might think it is. 

Yesterday with the PR machine running at full tilt the mayor of Berkeley unveiled the first draft of his own program to combat climate change. At first glance, it seems to suffer from a bit of triumphalism. From the executive summary: 

“The climate action planning process produced a vision for addressing the threats outlined above. This plan’s purpose is to serve as a guide for setting the community on a path to achieve that vision. In 2050: 

• New and existing Berkeley buildings achieve net zero energy consumption through increased energy efficiency and a shift to renewable energy sources. 

• Public transit, walking, and biking are the primary means of transportation. 

• Personal vehicles run on alternative fuels or electricity. 

• Zero waste is sent to landfills. 

• The majority of food consumed in Berkeley is produced locally, i.e., within a few hundred miles. 

• Our community is resilient and prepared for the impacts of a changing climate. 

• The social and economic benefits of the community’s climate protection effort are shared equitably among everyone.” 

Surely this will happen—didn’t 81 percent of Berkeley residents vote for it in the last election? Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple. Neither Mayor Bates nor I will be around to find out, but you younger folks shouldn’t bet the farm on this glowing scenario. And more to the point, as the Nature editorial and many other scientific publications are now stressing, it won’t be nearly enough, even if the whole dream comes true in Berkeley. Much more needs to be done, and on a global scale, and no amount of local action in isolation should be expected to solve it. 

A couple of controversial plans now in the news are good illustrations of what might be called the tin fiddle theory of public policy. A tin fiddle, for those unfamiliar with this grandmotherly expression, is a novel design that seems to the inventor to be a much more robust replacement for the dull old wooden kind, but sounds awful. Tin fiddles are bright ideas that just don’t pan out as expected. 

On the local level: Consider the now infamous Van Hool buses which AC Transit has been feverishly rushing to adopt. Planet readers have been reading about their manifest problems in these pages for a couple of years now. We gladly note that our colleague at the East Bay Express, the excellent reporter Robert Gammon, has joined the chorus with his two-part series (last week and this week) documenting in exhaustive detail, lots of facts and figures, everything that’s wrong with the Van Hool picture. These buses are part and parcel of AC’s highly touted but widely criticized Bus Rapid Transit scheme, a solution in search of a problem. Meanwhile, ridership continues to decline as fares increase. 

On a larger canvas, anyone who wants to understand the curious twists and turns of science policy should read Gary Taubes’ new book, Good Calories, Bad Calories. His thesis, still shocking to many: The low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, promoted by the federal government, many public health agencies and even most physicians, is scientifically baseless, and might even be responsible for the alarming increase in diabetes and obesity in the same period. How the U.S. Dietary Guidelines evolved is fascinating reading, and an object lesson about the pitfalls of public policy initiatives by well-meaning politicians. If you can’t handle several hundred densely written pages with footnotes, he had an article on the same theme in the New York Times magazine last fall, available in the library or on line. There’s also an archived webcast of an excellent lecture he gave at UC Berkeley.  

Taubes spends a good bit of time on the common public health theory that even if you know something probably doesn’t work it’s a good idea to keep on recommending it just in case it might. That’s why, he says, many doctors continued to recommend removing cholesterol from your diet even after it was clearly established that dietary cholesterol didn’t cause heart disease. They should carefully study the story about the shepherd boy who cried wolf so often that nobody came to save him when the wolf actually appeared. 

Well-intentioned but inadequate local political solutions to the very major problems of climate change pose a similar risk. And less well-intentioned “solutions” which emanate from big corporate players like BP are even worse. Biofuels, for example, seem to have a worse carbon footprint than most alternatives.  

But by all means don’t take my word for any of this. The best feature of the city’s draft plan is that it allows for a month of public comment, and Berkeley’s civic community of sharp-pencil researchers should give it a full going over in the allotted time, before March 7. Please, as you do so, copy the Planet on your analyses. We look forward to reprinting them. Full details can found at www.berkeleyclimateaction.org. 

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.  

From a blog entry last June by Henry Fogel, president of the League of American Orchestras:  

“What started out as a sad story from Atlanta, where the Atlanta Journal-Constitution decided to eliminate designated titles for arts critics and to reduce the number of reviews, is now looking more and more like a trend that is gathering momentum with the speed of light...The Atlanta news was followed immediately by news that the Minneapolis Star Tribune is eliminating the position of full-time classical music critic, and that was followed in turn by New York Magazine’s dismissal of their music critic Peter Davis. To say that these developments are alarming is, frankly, to understate the case.” 

This is only one part of the generally bad news that’s coming from the newspaper industry these days. The latest Los Angeles Times editor has quit rather than agreeing to dismember his newsroom and Phil Bronstein is being kicked upstairs in the Hearst organization, either as a reward for committing successful mayhem at their San Francisco paper or as a punishment for not doing a thorough enough job. Newspapers have been crying wolf for a few years now, primarily because they’ve been taken over by financial types eager for the same obscene profits they’ve come to expect from the development industry (Sam Zell, who now owns the Chicago Tribune and the L.A. Times) or on Wall Street. The real crunch is still in the works. 

Ursula Le Guin (Berkeley-bred) has a fine piece in the February Harper’s about the alleged decline of reading. She skewers the nasty financial types who have taken over book publishing, and not-too-politely suggests that they should take their money elsewhere: “I keep hoping the corporations will wake up and realize that publishing is not, in fact, a normal business with a nice healthy relationship to capitalism... And the relationship of art to capitalism is, to put it mildly, vexed. It has not been a happy marriage. Amused contempt is about the pleasantest emotion either partner feels for the other.” Much of what she says applies just as well to journalism, and especially to the branch of journalism which has engaged with the arts, the critics. 

Arts organizations have always thought that they needed reviews to build audiences. The San Francisco Classical Voice website, sfcv.org, does a yeoman-like job of trying to fill the void left by the demise of the classical music reviewer, but it’s essentially preaching to the choir. It’s not really a substitute for the chance to catch the eye of the reader of a mass-market newspaper who might be persuaded to try a new experience by a glowing review of a new production. 

The partnership between artists and the publications which report on them has been happier than the one between Wall Street and publishing, but it’s not without stress. While it might not be a happy marriage of interests, it’s still a symbiotic relationship. Here at the Planet, a very modestly capitalized general circulation publication with a very broad audience, we try to spread our favors around as much as we can, to benefit both the artists and the consumers of their efforts, our readers.  

We generally do previews of one-time-only events, limiting reviews to repeating performances to give the readers a chance to attend if they want. This has meant that we’ve published a great number of play reviews, since theaters tend to do repeats, and many fewer concert reviews, since most concerts these days are one-night-stands. There’s not Big Money in Small Papers, even if there might be in book publishing or in owning all the papers in a metropolitan area. We’ve launched a separate arts section to make sure readers can find the arts coverage, but it has yet to attract enough advertising even to pay for itself.  

We do continue to be disappointed by the inability or the unwillingness of some theater organizations to understand that it’s conventional for advertising to pay for at least part of the cost of publishing newspapers. It might seem unbearably crass for a publication like ours to announce that we will no longer review productions by theaters which have consistently refused to advertise with us, but the temptation to do so is strong. Some groups are too poor to advertise anywhere, and that’s understandable. But when our mailbox is full of glossy and expensive brochures for seemingly well-funded theatrical enterprises, and when we see big display ads for them in regional publications which have recently fired most of their critics, the temptation to limit our arts reporting to publicizing the struggling small-fry grows ever stronger. 

MONEY WISELY SPENT OR WASTED? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the last two weeks, Berkeley Unified School District has sent around two e-mails to its parents. One claims that a budget crisis is looming, and wrongfully claims that California ranks 46th in the nation in public school funding. It’s the same old outdated false fact, being used to raise fear among parents. The second e-mail circulated hails a “State of Urgency” Community Forum organized by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock regarding public school funding. Both urge parents to take action to protect public school funding. 

So these two “public” e-mails have started banging the gong of stress and alarm, the same old cry of “poor,” under-funded public schools. The truth is, according to the Public Policy Institute, California ranks 26th in per pupil funding, right in the national average middle. And according to Ed-Data, the website by the California Department of Education, teacher salaries are the highest among the populated states, but teacher pupil ratios are also high. California, is far from being in the bottom of U.S. public school funding. 

At the same time, Mark Coplan the PR voice of BUSD, has sent out an e-mail asking people to buy $75 tickets for a party and gift for departing superintendent Michelle Lawrence with a optional “special lodging rate” of $135 at the Berkeley City Club, with an added request for donations for “scholarships” for this event. 

This sounds rather over the top. Maybe Michelle Lawrence should have the same goodbye party with cake and vegetables and dip, in the Council Chambers that Board of Education members have had in the past.  

With Berkeley schools’ high drop out rate, violence at the high school, and achievement gap, it doesn’t seem that our school district’s priority has been educating students. But they sure know how to ask for more nickels and dimes. 

Sharon Bauer 

• 

THE BEHOLDERS AND THE BEHELD 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Politicians, pundits, and opinion-makers do not agree on the proper classification of very important events. They argue about whether the savagery in Darfur is actually genocide, whether water-boarding is torture, whether the mess we’ve made in Iraq has plunged that long-suffering country into civil war, and they can’t decide whether the down turn in the nation’s economy is actually a recession. 

When you get right down to it our nation’s leaders are hung up on definitions – genocide, torture, civil war, recession. And yet as anyone who has a passing acquaintance with logic knows, definitions are good only to the extent of their usefulness.  

This means that genocide, torture, civil war or recession resides in the minds of the beholders. The subjects of their beholding—human beings in western Sudan, prisoners in Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq, and every American except the very rich—don’t care about how their plight is defined. They suffer and die irrespective of how they are beheld. 

Marvin Chachere 

San Pablo 

• 

• 

WEST BERKELEY ZONING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Jan. 25 article “West Berkeley Zone Changes Linked to UC, LBNL” represents me as telling the Planning Commission that “changes in zoning rules had become more crucial because of ‘technology transfers that occur here’ resulting from research at the university and LBNL.” In reality, I did not argue for zoning changes in West Berkeley but reported on employment trends in West Berkeley, which is what I had been requested to do. I showed that manufacturing had declined as a source of employment in West Berkeley as elsewhere, but made a point of saying that this did not mean that the sector was disappearing or becoming less important but was a sign of how productive it was. I said that manufacturing was essential to the national and state economy and said that many jobs in the service and other sectors depended on the continued strength of manufacturing. In that context, I said that for the future of manufacturing in California and the nation as a whole, what was important about Berkeley in particular was innovation from research at UC Berkeley and LBNL and how technology was transferred to the private sector. Berkeley is an important place for technology transfer in fields like biotechnology and the development of biofuels, whether or not the manufacturing of new products occurs in Berkeley. 

Richard Brenneman construed me saying that “it is less important that traditional manufacturing activities continue in the city’s only industrial and manufacturing zones.” I suppose it is not unfair of him to derive this as an implication, but it is nothing that I intended to say. What I did say was that the expansion from research intensive firms, including some that are classified as manufacturers and already allowed to operate in West Berkeley would put pressure on land values and drive up rents which might threaten some traditional manufacturers and other businesses. I said that the pressure on land values came from within manufacturing itself, and not just office or retail firms, and that the city needed to find some other way than zoning to protect businesses that could not afford higher rents.  

David Fogarty 

• 

LETTER TO HILLARY 

Dear Hillary, 

Your actions over the past weeks have ensured that I will not vote for you in the primary. I am a California voter. 

I was sickened to see the tarnishing of McCain’s reputation in 2000 by Bush’s subversive whisper campaign. I was sickened to see Kerry’s service to this country swiftboated to oblivion while Bush sat by tight lipped. These campaign tactics foreshadowed what history has shown: Bush’s lack of respect for the truth during the campaign was mirrored in his presidency. 

Now you are engaging in those tactics. 

From the fairy tale, the teacher’s union suit, to Reagan—you have shown that you are more interested in playing hardball politics with a passing glance at the facts than you are at debating the issues and proving that you are the best choice for the American people. 

I was leaning heavily towards voting for you after you displayed your policy acumen at the League of Conservation Voters/Grist forum on global warming. 

Your hardball tactics have succeeded; Barack Obama is in a tactical box and on the defensive while your misrepresentations have been fact-checked on the back page, the accusations are in the front of voters’ minds. 

Global warming, health care, the Iraq war—these are the crises our country confronts. Get your priorities straight. 

Daniel Bell  

• 

WHERE HAVE ALL  

THE ROSIE’S GONE? 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

She was known as Rosie the Riveter during World War II when she was building ships and planes to serve her country. Most have gone, but many still abound in this area. They are all invited to hear Betty Reid Soskin who, while not a riveter herself, was on the scene and is still on the scene at the Rosie the Riveter/Home Front National Park in Richmond where she catalogs their stories. Now a cultural anthropologist, Ms. Soskin will speak of that experience and of the discrimination faced by both black and white in the community while doing their part to end the war. Join Oakland Eastbay NOW and six co-sponsoring women’s groups at the Rockridge Library, 5366 College Ave., on Saturday, Feb. 2 from 2-4 p.m. as we celebrate Black History Month. 

Carol Norberg 

Oakland 

• 

COVERING THE ARTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Regarding Becky O’Malley’s Jan. 25 editorial “Where Have All the Critics Gone?”: O’Malley expresses disappointment that local theater organizations don’t give part of their revenue to the Daily Planet in the form of advertising. She writes, “It might seem unbearably crass for a publication like ours to announce that we will no longer review productions by theaters which have consistently refused to advertise with us, but the temptation to do so is strong.” 

Using Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre as an example, O’Malley’s uninformed point of view ignores the fact that Aurora provides the Daily Planet’s Theater Reviewer with two $55 tickets to each production. I am also on that very long press list and can tell you that many of us arts and entertainment writers from small, local papers appreciate Aurora’s generosity and wouldn’t be able to pay for tickets out of pocket. And if you think comp press tickets are a given, think otherwise. “Best of Broadway,” which has packed the large Curran Theater in San Francisco for years, cut their press list in half a while back. I know, I was one of the writer that was deleted. 

Joe Kempkes 

Laney Tower 

Oakland 

• 

EUPHORIC 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Wow, and Gosh almighty! I’m in a state of heightened euphoria waiting for my $300 check from Bush and Nancy! With that $300 I’ll be able to buy enough alcoholic beverages, sufficient to numb my critical faculties, which otherwise, would be telling me that $300 is a cruel joke. 

Robert Blau 

• 

MESSAGE TO BILL CLINTON: STOP DIVING DEMOCRATS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Why is Bill Clinton so involved in the front lines of trying to persuade the American people? Is he running for a third term? After Obama’s 28 point win in South Carolina, Clinton compared him to Jesse Jackson, saying that Obama only appeals to blacks. He doesn’t get it. This seems like the return of the southern strategy. It’s disgusting. During a speech, he said that had he not been married to her, he would still vote for her. This strikes me as false and disingenuous. 

He has said that Hillary knows how to unite Republicans and Democrats for a working majority, yet Hillary herself wants to continually “turn up the heat” on Republicans. 

These comments beg the question: Is the Clinton campaign merely about getting back in power? When a candidate is more about power and status than change, we suffer. Let us not shoot ourselves in the foot. 

If people are not troubled by Bill’s interference with voters’ ability to receive unfiltered messages and opinions from the candidates themselves, I must take issue. If people aren’t trouble by the trotting out of “slash and burn” tactics by the Clinton campaign, I must take issue. If people give Hillary credit for “experience,” without really saying what experience she has, I must take issue. 

People can support other candidates because they don’t believe Obama has had enough Washington DC experience- that is fine. 

However, don’t trash Obama’s experience as a community organizer (when he could have left law school and made thousands at a top NY law firm), as a constitutional law expert (and Professor at the University of Chicago), as an 8 year Senator in the Illinois legislature (where he passed death penalty reform, a universal healthcare commission bill, an ethics reform package, and a mandate for energy companies to buy energy from renewable sources). 

I am proud of the Obama campaign for sticking to the issues, and hope that people don’t vote for Hillary on Feb. 5 merely because “Bill will get back in the White House.” Don’t get me wrong; Clinton had a successful Presidency that inspired many Americans. It is unfortunate that his wife will not do the same. I will never forgive her for voting to go to war in Iraq. This campaign is not about Bill—he is living history. 

Obama is a transformational, inspirational and experienced figure. He’s ready to lead. Just ask President Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline; she just endorsed him. 

Nicholas E. Smith 

Former Chairman,  

Berkeley Labor Commission 

New York, NY 

• 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In your Jan. 18 issue J. Douglas Allen-Taylor wrote eloquently about South Carolina, its deep-rooted racism, and the unholy triad of John Calhoun, “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman, and Strom Thurmond. I read the article with special interest because between the ages of about 1 and 3 I lived in that beautiful/terrible state, learning to walk and talk in the little town of Hardeeville. So maybe I’m to some degree a South Carolinian, though I’ve often been sorely tempted to say that Sherman had the right idea about the place. 

But Barack Obama’s stunning victory in the South Carolina primary suggests there may be hope even for my almost-native state. Messrs. Calhoun, Tillman, and Thurmond must be rapidly spinning in their graves. 

John English 

• 

CONGESTION, POLLUTION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is not the only method that is capable of reducing traffic congestion and pollution, and for the East Bay, may not even be the best method. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, it may even be possible to use increased parking to meet these goals. In particular I’m suggesting the construction of off-street structures or lots that provide preferential or discounted parking for car-pools, car or bike-shares, and bikes or motor-scooters, plus space for shuttle/local bus pick-up and drop-off. 

A shift from single occupancy cars to multi-occupancy cars, or to bikes or motor bikes, could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A Prius with four people gets 180 passenger miles per gallon of gasoline, which is equal to the most optimistic claims for BRT. Furthermore, increasing the occupancy of the vehicle directly reduces the number of vehicles on the road, without the need for a dedicated bus lane. 

To actually make the parking preferential would require a method of verifying that a vehicle is carrying more than one occupant. Possibilities include a parking lot attendant, video checking, or a driver’s license or other ID check. The first two would provide entry level jobs. Providing a discount, or a reasonable chance to find parking, would be incentive for a driver to offer car pooling. If a car-pool matching system is put in place the riders may even get a ride to and from their house, and if there is a shuttle in place at the other end, both driver and rider get almost direct service to their destination. 

Having off-street parking would relieve pressure from on-street parking. In residential neighborhoods residents would be less likely to have to fight with commuters to park at home. In some business districts some of the on-street parking could perhaps be converted to pedestrian walk ways. Done properly, preferential off-street parking would result in less commute traffic, but possibly more shopping traffic. However, system-wide, shopping in local business areas reduces shopping in malls, and thus reduces overall traffic.  

In short, the preferential parking scheme may let you have your cake and eat it too. 

Robert Clear 

• 

WARM POOL 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’ve tried very hard to keep quiet about Berkeley City Councilmember(s) who keep harping about people other than Berkeley residents using the warm water pool in Berkeley and thereby invalidating the need for the city’s financial support to save the warm water pool. 

I am a regular warm pool user who just happens to live in Oakland now; however, my roots are deeply embedded in Berkeley where I spent my formative years. I attended Longfellow, Willard and am an alumnus of Berkeley High and in my mind, heart and soul I am and always will be a “Berkeley girl.” This being the case, I feel it gives me an inherent connection to the city which cannot be broken merely by where I may physically reside. Also, four generations of my family have attended Berkeley High. 

I left Berkeley because I married an Air Force officer who subsequently lost his life on a bombing mission over North Vietnam. In my travels all over the world with him I always wore my being “from Berkeley” with great pride and was always very proud to extol the uniqueness of my home town—even to a U.S. president on one occasion and a couple of four star generals on another and even though we were together for a very serious matter, they all got quite a kick out of my ramblings about Berkeley. 

Most or all people who live in the Bay Area pay absolutely no attention to boundaries. They shop, dine; play, etc. in all of the numerous surrounding cities on a regular basis. I’m sure if you ask any one of them if they were ever asked where they live before they paid their money in these cities you would receive a resounding no. Likewise, have you ever had a Berkeley merchant ask you where you live before accepting your money? I think not. Bottom line, bigger picture where people live who use the warm pool is a very, very weak and petty argument for being against the warm pool and it’s possible out of town users. If you’ll please excuse the attempt at humor and a little levity, this argument just does not hold water. Further, Berkeley is known world wide for its diversity, freedom of spirit and has won national awards for its deep caring and compassion for the disabled. Are you going to allow a couple of individuals to taint and destroy this legacy? 

While it is understandable that the mayor and City Council would have concerns about Berkeley bearing the preponderance of financial responsibility for the warm pool while it is, in fact, a regional pool, is this really a valid argument against supporting the pool when one considers the hundreds, maybe, thousands of people from all over the Bay Area and the world who shop, work and/or spend money in Berkeley who don’t physically reside within Berkeley city limits? It is a great and wonderful effort to support “shop locally” and support the local merchants, etc. However, in a place such as the Bay Area no one city has everything one might want and/or need and part of the culture of being here is having a myriad of choices all over the East Bay as well as across the bay down the Peninsula and up to Napa Valley, etc., etc., etc. Need I go on? 

Last, but by far not least, all of you who are against saving the warm water pool which serves the elderly and disabled should really, really, think about “there, but by the grace of God, go I.” You may be able to say this now but what about later? Eventually, it could be you in need of warm pool therapy. 

Juanita Kirby 

Warm Pool User 

Oakland 

• 

ECHOES OF BUSH THE FIRST 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We hear an echo of the first Bush presidency’s disastrous economy happening in America today, but the root cause for our crisis is not the same. Unlike his father, George W. Bush has succeeded in shifting much of our country’s wealth from the middle class to the upper one percent of the economic elite. The magnitude of this shift has not been seen since the turn of the last century. 

So when people say Americans have not given our current placeholder his just due for a surging economy, it is not because we have been consumed by an occupation of Iraq that that may well last another decade, it is because the average person in this country is much worse off economically today than they were 10 years, or for that matter 20 years ago. 

While the wealthiest Americans have seen their income increase dramatically and their percent of income taxed go down, most American families are barely keeping pace with inflation and the primary reason they are holding steady is because both wives and husbands are working today. Real wages in this country have stagnated under George W. Bush. The poor are more numerous and there are fewer services available for them. 

Its no wonder that when the average American looks at the economy they don’t see it as a rising tide lifting all boats. If our next President wants to help America recover, (s)he must make sure that any recovery benefits all the people. Our country has been strong because we have a work ethic and a spirit of entrepreneurship ingrained in us. Our leaders need to unleash that so we can rebuild the middle class. 

That will be an economy about which people can say “Yes, I believe that America will be strong again!” 

Vincent Casalaina 

• 

IMPEACHMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you, Rebecca DePalma, for your letter about how crucial it is to impeach, for the sake of our trust in government and the Constitution and to hold our elected officials accountable for crimes. Whether there are 12 months or 12 minutes left of this administration, if Cheney has committed crimes we need to know the truth. Pelosi and Conyers have basically said to Cheney—we’re not going to impeach you, so go right ahead and violate the constitution, steal from us, manipulate Congress to attack Iran, and so forth. Berkeley voters passed a measure calling for impeachment in 2006, and the Berkeley City Council voted for a resolution to Impeach Bush and Cheney. Each of us can take immediate and effective action to get Cheney’s impeachment hearings to start. Nine members of the House Judiciary Committee are calling for Cheney’s impeachment hearings to open immediately, and they need our support. Senior Judiciary Committee member Robert Wexler (D-FL) has a petition that now has 214,000 signatures. Go to www.wexlerwantshearings.com to sign the petition. When you’re there, watch Wexler’s stirring five-minute speech to Congress last week. It’s true statesmanship—not the wimpy cowardice Pelosi and the Democratic “leadership” have shown so far. We can impeach Cheney, and we must. Finally, our own Representative Barbara Lee is a co-sponsor of Kucinich’s House Resolution 799 to impeach Cheney. With over 50 percent of the country wanting him impeached, we should be able to get it done. 

Cynthia Papermaster 

• 

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Many years have passed but the theory has not changed. Love thy neighbor to get the best out of our shared human connection. War stirs fear and hatred; it cannot succeed as a method for turning neighbors into friends. Maybe we should begin to practice Gandhi’s method. Whenever he went into a troubled situation he listened deeply to everyone involved. He talked to those who were oppressed and he talked to the oppressors. He provided an example of what thoughtful listening was like. He understood each point of view before feeling his way to human justice in a tense situation. 

To everyone involved in the tense situation he provided the cooling example of open listening. Can we begin right from home and school by becoming open listeners? “Listening deeply to a fellow human being I brought peace to the world.” 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

ABORTION AND THE GOP 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In the 35th year of Roe v. Wade religious protesters are still intimidating, harassing and stalking abortion providers, women and opponents of their self-serving crusade 

Over the past three decades children of anti-abortionists have been brainwashed, indoctrinated and programmed into believing a doctrine of deception, secrecy and the elimination of a woman’s freedom of choice. 

A clip about an abortion opponent at the Washington, D.C. rally caught my eye as it provides a view of the future. A man was marching with his wife and four children, ranging from 1 to 10. Anti-abortion proponents put their small children out in front of protests carrying grotesque and obscene signs bigger than they are. 

President Bush and leading GOP presidential candidates all support this vocal minority and fringe movement. 

Ron Lowe 

Grass Valley

Recent weeks have seen television ads and mailers from a broad list of progressive groups and politicians urging a yes vote on Prop. 93, which revises the state’s term limits law. Progressive groups who work at the state level have little choice but to back a measure designed to keep the current Democratic leadership in place, and Prop. 93’s passage will enable some progressive legislators to extend their careers. But Prop. 93 is a disaster for progressive interests. 

Its primary impact is twofold. First, it would keep the politically ineffective and non-progressive Democratic leadership team of Fabian Nuñez and Don Perata in place for another four years. Second, Prop. 93’s passage would enable Gov. Schwarzenegger to continue to escape blame for the state’s fiscal problems, as Nuñez and Perata have proved incapable of rallying broad public support against the governor’s agenda. New leadership in Sacramento requires Prop. 93’s defeat. 

Although Republicans were the driving force behind passage of California’s term-limits law, the measure has not furthered conservative interests. To the contrary, the California legislature has become more progressive since term limits took effect in 1996. 

Despite making a colossal mess of the state’s economy, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s popularity ratings have not fallen to Bush levels. The reason the governor has escaped being the target of popular rage is less his celebrity than the incompetence of the Democrats legislative leadership. 

And the entire reason Prop. 93 is on the ballot is to give these leaders another four to six years. 

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez came to power due to the backing of organized labor, particularly UNITE HERE. He has rewarded labor and UNITE HERE’s support by backing the anti-union Indian gaming compacts that are now before the voters in Props 94-97. 

Nuñez has made a series of deals with Schwarzenegger aimed at continuing the speaker’s political career through Prop. 93’s passage. Nuñez even got the governor to endorse Prop. 93—which speaks volumes as to the measures’ non-progressive impact. 

Nuñez was a shining progressive star when becoming speaker, but his deal with the governor on Indian gaming, his betrayals of unions, and his widely-publicized and questionable use of campaign funds for junkets and high-priced meals have left him incapable of rallying Californians for progressive causes. 

Why in the world would any progressive vote to give Nuñez another six years as Speaker? 

Unlike Nuñez, Democratic Senate leader Don Perata never had progressive credentials. Perata’s entire political career has been designed to keep him in power, and Prop. 93 would give him four more years even though he has served in the State Senate since 1998. 

Perata has done nothing to justify the voters giving him another four years in leadership. 

And having worked on tenant issues at the state level under Democratic Senate leaders Lockyer, Perata and Burton, I have seen firsthand how leadership makes a tremendous difference. 

Tenant measures that went nowhere under Lockyer became law under Burton. And after Burton was termed out and Perata came in, tenant issues again became politically difficult. 

Burton’s departure highlights the critical political context of Prop. 93. If extending term limits kept a solid and productive progressive like Burton in power, I would be all for it. 

But Prop. 93 keeps politically bankrupt leadership in power, at a time when new leadership is needed to build public opposition to the Schwarzenegger agenda. 

Locally, term limits would give Perata another four years and Assemblymember Loni Hancock another six. 

Neither of these longtime politicians have anything new to offer. Nor do they represent the forces of “change.” 

It is not clear who will be elected to replace Hancock, but former Oakland Assemblymember Wilma Chan would be the favorite to replace Perata in the State Senate (Hancock is her chief opponent). Chan would represent quite an upgrade for progressives. 

So ignore the fact that Republicans are leading the opposition to Prop. 93, and that the Democratic Establishment is its chief backer. Prop. 93 will setback progressive change at the state level for years, and must be defeated. 

Randy Shaw is the editor of BeyondChron.org.

Berkeley’s Elected Officials Unanimously Say Yes to Propostion 92 

Berkeley citizens are among the most active and contentious in the world. So are their elected officials. So, it’s not very often when they agree on much. An extraordinary thing has happened in this Feb 5 primary though. Every single locally elected official in Berkeley agrees: Vote yes on Proposition 92, the measure to save our community colleges. Yes, unanimously, Mayor Tom Bates, Supervisor Keith Carson, the entire Berkeley School Board and full City Council, City Auditor Ann-Marie Hogan, the whole Rent Board, Representatives to EBMUD, the Parks District, BART, AC Transit and of course the Peralta College Board— all of them agree, Prop. 92 is good not just for Community Colleges but also for the City, the state and all citizens.  

Voting for Prop. 92 in the Feb 5 primary is not only the single most important thing voters can do to help the lives of 2.5 million community college students in our state, it is also the single most important thing voters can do to help stop California’s economy from turning into a nose dive. The only question is this: will voters be able to see through the campaign of disinformation and outright lies being put forward by opponents of Prop. 92?  

What does Prop. 92 do? 

• Lowers student fees to $15 a unit & limits increases to the cost of living. 

• Guarantees minimum funding for community college growth. 

• Does not hurt K-12 funding. 

• Guarantees a system of community college districts that are in touch with local needs and accountable to local voters 

Everyone has praise for California’s community colleges. Even the opposition to Prop. 92 says, “We all support community colleges.” But here’s the stark truth: California’s per student funding of community colleges ranks 45th in the nation. For 15 years, the Sacramento politicians have not had the political will to do the right thing by middle class and working families. The UC’s are funded at $18,000 per student, the CSU’s get $12,000, and the K-12 system gets $8,500. And even this is not enough. But Community Colleges come in dead last at a miserable $5,200 per student. 

What Californians need most is good jobs and good schools. Community Colleges deliver on both scores building an educated citizenry who can work in, and create, skilled jobs. Yes, there are many demands crying for attention in the state budget, from health care to public safety and choices must be made. So, we can invest in people at the front end and give them a real chance of success, or we can clean up the disasters that happen when our citizens are shut out of the economy. The old approach to budgeting will impoverish us as a state because it does not make investing in our people and in our communities our top priority. 

Prop. 92’s funding of Community Colleges is vital because these are investments that pay for themselves in very short order. More educated citizens use fewer state social services, stay out of prison, and pay far more in taxes. In fact, for every dollar we invest in community colleges we get back $3.00 in budget savings and revenue. The best antidote to the coming recession is passage of Prop. 92. In lean years, the worst thing you can do is to eat your seed corn. Instead, you plant it and look towards the coming year’s crop. In other words, a sound economy requires long-term planning, not panic. 

Prop. 92 makes more that just good budget sense. It also transforms the lives of Californians and helps our communities flourish. Community college students who earn a vocational degree or certificate see their wages jump in just three years from $25,600 to $47,571. I personally don’t know of any other more effective way to lift people out of poverty and to give them a shot at the kind of life America promises. 

Opponents of Prop. 92 have sent out a misleading hit piece claiming that community college spending is not accountable and will not benefit students. They also say that Prop. 92 will hurt K-12 funding. These are complete fabrications meant to scare and confuse voters. The truth: state law requires that at least 50 percent of every community college dollar be spent directly in the classroom. And this does not even include spending for counselors, librarians, financial aid specialists, tutors and the host of other services needed to support today’s students. The truth: K-12 funding is not touched by Prop. 92. This is why Oakland School Board President David Kakashiba, the entire Berkeley School Board and the SF School Board have all endorsed Prop. 92. Finally, locally elected community college Boards of Trustees and annual outside financial audits guarantee accountability at the most local level. If Trustees are not doing a good job, voters can throw us out of office at each election. This is our most basic system of democratic accountability. To assert otherwise is a lie, plain and simple. 

Prior to now, no one has seriously ever argued that California’s community colleges are “not accountable,” are wasteful or lack transparency of budgets. As the Contra Costa Times editorialized in their endorsement of Prop. 92: “[The community college] system is by far the most efficiently run in California.” The truth is that Prop. 92 writes into the State Constitution a stronger system of local accountability by constitutionally establishing a system of locally elected boards of trustees who must stand for election before a local electorate and by taking Sacramento politics out of the hiring process at the State Chancellor’s office. 

The American Promise. Go and spend an afternoon or an evening at Berkeley City College. What you’ll find is an amazing institution that literally is transforming the people’s lives. You’ll find great students who cannot afford four years at the now-overpriced UC’s. You’ll find laid-off workers, many with BA degrees, re-tooling for a new job or preparing for graduate school. You’ll find basic skills students who dropped out of high school but now are building a path towards a career and a productive place in their communities. You’ll find immigrants learning English and trying to find a new home in America. You’ll also find a lot of students who have a love of life-learning. 70 percent of all college students in the state are attending classes in one of the 109 CC campuses. We like to say that community colleges accept the top 100 percent of students. In other words, community colleges are these vital institutions that represent the very core of the promise of America.  

We can all say that we support community colleges, but when Sacramento politics for 15 years in a row has shortchanged the community colleges and left their funding near the bottom in national rankings, you just have to question how sincere their support is. It’s time for the citizens of this state to exercise the power of direct democracy once again and do what Sacramento cannot seem to do: invest in the future. Vote yes on Proposition 92. 

Nicky González Yuen is vice president of the Peralta Community College Board of Trustees representing Berkeley, Emeryville and Albany and also chair of the De Anza Community College Political Science Department.

Thousands of absentee voters registered as independents are in for a shock when they open their ballot envelopes for the upcoming primary election and discover there are no presidential candidates’ names on their ballot. If you’ve already opened your envelope and discovered this, then you’re probably one of over 10,000 California voters who have already called their county Registrar of Voters to find out how to fix the problem. You learned that the Registrar would mail you a partisan (e.g., Democratic or American Independent) ballot, which you could then fill in and mail back. (Republicans have excluded independents in this election.) 

If you are registered as a Democrat, a Republican, or another officially recognized third party such as the Green Party, you received a Vote by Mail ballot in the mail that included your party’s slate of presidential candidates. However, if you are registered as an independent (or “Decline to State”) voter and requested an absentee (Vote by Mail) ballot, the ballot you received was a “non-partisan” ballot. This means that it has all the measures and propositions listed, but no slate of presidential candidates. 

Unfortunately, many independent voters haven’t looked at their ballots yet, and time is of the essence. Voters must request their new ballots from their Registrar by the Jan. 29 or it’s too late. They can also carry their ballot into their polling place and exchange it there for a ballot with presidential choices. 

But here the voter who registered independent may run into another problem: This year, California has eliminated walk-in polling places in many precincts throughout the state. So voters who are used to voting at their walk-in polling place may assume it’s still there and then discover it’s gone. 

Voters in areas where their polling places have been eliminated can only vote by using Vote by Mail ballots (formerly referred to as absentee ballots). They will have already received them, but may not have known why. A mail-in ballot must be received by your County Election Department by the close of polls (8 p.m.) on election day (Feb. 5). You may also choose to bring it in person to any county polling place on election day. 

Another problem reported by Registrars of Voters is that some people who wished to register as independents mistakenly registered as American Independents (an official third party with its own slate of candidates). Unfortunately, those voters just discovering this mistake will not be able to vote for any other party’s candidates, because the deadline to change their affiliation was Jan. 22. 

So, if you are a voter who registered independent and absentee and wish to vote for one of a political party’s presidential candidates, you must call your Registrar of Voters at your county’s Election Department and request a partisan ballot (e.g., Democratic Party or American Independent Party). You should receive a new ballot promptly. Alternatively, you can bring your independent (Decline to State, or non-partisan) ballot to your polling place on election day and exchange it for the partisan ballot of your choice—if your polling place is still there. 

These are some of the problems California voters may face as a result of confusing rules and changes in how we vote. Voters who registered independent and haven’t yet dealt with these problems need to examine their ballots immediately, call their Registrars, and get new ballots. Otherwise, they risk losing their voice in this important upcoming primary election. 

Constance M. Piesinger is a resident of Yountville (Napa County) and a supporter of Barack Obama.

The arguments for and against the California Indian Gaming agreement propositions, Propositions 94, 95, 96 and 97, has prompted me to re-examine an underlying assumption about Indian gaming. That is, does California’s $7 billion Indian gaming industry substantially benefit California Indians economically and socially? There are 105 tribal entities in California with approximately 56,158 tribal members. There are 31 gaming tribal casinos. Yes, Indian gaming revenue has been used to build houses, schools, roads and sewer and water systems and to fund health care and education for California’s gaming tribes and to a lesser extent, its non-gaming tribes. However, there remains a large economic and social disparity between California Indians and those of other Americans. 

The average income for American Indians in California is well below the national average. “An Impact Analysis of Tribal Government Gaming in California,” published by the Center for California Native Nations at the University of California, Riverside (January 2006) (“Analysis”), using 2000 statistics, found that the average income of California Indians was only 53 percent of the national average. The Analysis estimates that it will take 55 years at the present rate to close the gap. Further, the Analysis found that 26 percent of the California gaming tribe families and 30 percent of the non-gaming tribe families lived in poverty compared to 9 to 10 percent at the national and state level. The unemployment rate among the Indian population was 17 percent compared to 7 percent for non-Indian Californians. As for education, the Anaylsis found that 14 percent of Indians over the age of 25 are college graduates compared to 30 percent for non-Indians, and 6.3 percent of gaming tribes and 14.4 percent of non-gaming tribes had less than a 9th grade education compared to 7 percent for non-Indians. 

In addition, there are large social gaps between American Indians (including Alaska Natives) and the general population. ( I am assuming that these statistics for American Indians as a whole would be similar for California Indians.) Crime rates among the American Indian population are significantly higher than in the general population. Based on Office of Applied Studies survey data, alcohol abuse is 10.7 percent and illicit drug use is 5 percent for American Indians as compared to 7.6 percent and 2.9 percent respectively for the general population. Census figures show that in 2004 one in six American Indians was separated or divorced compared to one in eight in the general population. Finally, the suicide rate among American male adolescents is two to four times the rate of the general population. 

Clearly, gaming revenue has not been the cure-all for the economic and social problems in the Indian community. Hopefully, future gaming revenue will be judiciously spent to eliminate the economic and social disparity between American Indians and the general population.  

Ralph E. Stone is a retired attorney living in San Francisco.

Children’s Hospital and Research Center Oakland is a hospital for very sick children and serves all of Northern California. Alameda County has the good fortune of having this hospital, located in its jurisdiction and has placed two measures on the ballot to support its construction program, Measure A and Measure B.  

Both measures are asking for a mere $24 per residential parcel (seniors and very low-income families are exempted), $150 per small business parcel and $250 per large business parcel per year. Is this too much to keep a hospital operating that provides treatment for children with serious illnesses like diabetes, cancer, birth defects and injuries like dog bites and gunshot wounds? The 10-year-old boy who was shot by a stray bullet while practicing a piano lesson on Jan. 10 was rushed to Children’s Hospital. 

Measure A is the better one because it provides enough funding to cover the county’s administrative costs. Even the sponsor of Measure B, the hospital, acknowledges that. 

Although this hospital is a private hospital, it is a non-profit and treats children of any family whether they can pay or not. About two-thirds of patients are on Medi-Cal. It is a community good, so shouldn’t the community be willing to pay something for it? 

We may not have children or grandchildren or even expect any, but we surely have friends, relatives and neighbors who do. And even, most of us were once children. 

The “high-rise” extension will be the nursing facility that will increase the hospital’s capacity from 171 beds to about 250. Nursing facilities of hospitals must be seismically upgraded by 2013. Constructing adjacent to their present hospital and re-using it for clinics and administration after the extension’s completion is the fiscally responsible and sustainable solution. They will be able to bring their scattered clinics to this central location, which will not only create more efficient service, but also eliminate much vehicle travel. 

Some neighbors object to a 12-story tower. Would they rather the hospital limit it to six stories? If so, to provide the same capacity, they would have to double its footprint and acquire another block of homes. That would be far more intrusive than a 12-story tower, particularly if it is set back from a four or five-story podium. The site is adjacent to Highway 24, which is not even the most desirable location for single-family residences. 

All but three residences have been acquired without eminent domain, which the hospital does not wish to use. Losing one’s home may seem devastating, but the compensation may enable owners to buy a better home in a location away from a freeway. 

Some of the loudest voices protesting this expansion do not even live near the hospital so you cannot call them “NIMBYs” (Not-In-My-Back-Yard) but rather “BANANAs” (Build-Absolutely-Nothing-Anywhere-Near-Anything). 

The process for placing the bond measures on the ballot can be described as convoluted but that is now a non-issue. Children should not suffer because of grown-ups’ silly behavior. The question at-hand is: are voters willing to pay $24 per year to help an existing, highly respected institution provide even better service to more very sick children. At least two-thirds of voters need to say ‘yes.’ 

What are our community’s priorities? 

Joyce Roy is an Oakland activist and semi-retired architect whose grandchildren live in Marin County. 

For decades, the stench from airborne chemicals emitted by Pacific Steel Casting has been allowed to pollute the air downwind from its foundries with virtual impunity. Environmental changes have come slowly to this part of the city. While other industrial polluters are much smaller, or have moved away in response to the growing residential population in this district, PSC’s operations have been allowed to expand. Until recently, it appeared that nothing would ever change. 

About six months ago, a group of residents, with the aid of Global Community Monitor, an environmental justice organization, began collecting air samples across the northwest portion of the city. Aided by a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), this monitoring project is an historic effort. It is the first serious attempt to actually define the impacts from spewing stacks, unabated roof vents and open doors at the Second Street steel foundry. Nothing of this magnitude has ever been attempted in the neighborhoods outside the fence line of Pacific Steel. 

A team of community volunteers set up portable air samplers on residential rooftops downwind from the steel foundry. This “citizens’ science” effort has detected some startling findings about airborne metal particulates. The large collection of samples clearly shows excessive manganese and nickel levels at many locations close to Pacific Steel. Predictably, the foundry claims the airborne metals are not from their operations. However, according to the Air District, 100 percent of the manganese, and 99% of the nickel from all industrial sources in the area originate from PSC. Community air monitoring has proved that these airborne particulates can’t be blamed on the freeway. 

Global Community Monitor’s report, generated by this extensive monitoring project, is due to be released this week. Needless to say, the results raise serious health concerns. It also reveals the city’s unsafe zoning practices in West Berkeley that fail to adequately protect nearby citizens from this longstanding environmental injustice. 

West Berkeley Cancer Zone 

This new information about Pacific Steel’s emissions couldn’t have come at a better time since the foundry has been required to update their sixteen-year-old Health Risk Assessment (HRA). The HRA has been called a whitewash by residents, and as expected, requires no real changes in PSC’s emissions or risk reduction. 

“Low risk” or “No risk” is the message of the draft HRA to those residing and working near PSC. At least this is what the foundry’s consultant, Environ, has stated. But then, this is the sort of spin that contractors like this Emeryville firm get paid to serve up for industry. In any case, Environ has had their hands full trying to show that PSC, without any buffer to the surrounding community, creates no risk to the public’s health. 

One requirement of the new HRA is to provide an estimate of the cancer burden from the foundry. This demand was triggered by PSC’s emissions of hexavalent chromium, arsenic, cadmium and nickel. The consultant’s analysis of the cancer risk posed by the steel mill included a map reflecting the narrowest possible “zone of impact.” The map drew a tight line around PSC that most conveniently excluded the two closest children’s facilities, the Duck’s Nest preschool, a mere block away, and the city-supported transitional housing at Ursula Sherman. 

Environ’s estimates were counter to the findings from the community’s air monitoring which show high levels of airborne nickel more than a half mile from the facility. Although Environ publicly touted its analysis of PSC’s cancer risk to be on the conservative side, the community’s data places this assumption, as well as the entire HRA, in doubt. 

Duck’s Nest, Canaries in the Mine Shaft 

The most troubling interpretation of health risks created by Pacific Steel has been the stance taken by the HRA in addressing the Duck’s Nest. The children at this preschool have been identified in the report as the maximally exposed “sensitive receptors”. Environ concludes that if estimates of cancer risks are acceptable for this group of children just outside the fence line, then all is well. And of course, this is exactly what the consultants have rationalized. All too literally, the children at the Duck’s Nest have become the “canaries in the mine shaft”. 

Environ is right to assume that the children at the facility and those living nearby are the most sensitive to exposure from airborne hazardous chemicals and consequent cancer risks. Early exposure to carcinogens may increase the incidence of adulthood cancers. These toxic burdens can also cause certain cancers to appear much earlier in life. 

It’s unlikely that Environ knew much about the community monitoring team or their sampling efforts at several properties around the childcare facility, including the fence line to the play yard. These samples were collected at the end of last fall after the upgrades to the foundry’s emissions listed in the HRA had been put in place. Citizen monitoring data associated with the Duck’s Nest suggests an entirely different exposure scenario on site. Almost every sample revealed high levels of both manganese and nickel. 

Certainly the best way to measure Environ’s cancer burden analysis of PSC is to provide body burden testing for all West Berkeley residents, especially for children exposed to the steel mill’s emissions. Many metals, like nickel, bio-accumulate. Blood and hair testing should be provided by the city, at no cost, to all those downwind within a mile of the foundry. 

Undoubtedly, BAAQMD recognizes the many uncertainties that can result from exposure to such toxic emissions. The Air District has recently installed an air-monitoring trailer four blocks downwind of the foundry near the Duck’s Nest. Even though the Air District says it is merely studying regional air quality, make no mistake; it is Pacific Steel that is being monitored. Why else would BAAQMD make a $750,000 commitment of taxpayer money for such extensive monitoring if they really believe the cancer and chemical exposure estimates of the HRA and Environ? 

Monitor West Berkeley Zoning 

Duck’s Nest is no stranger to PSC and has had a long history with the foundry. The few attempts to monitor air quality in West Berkeley in the late 1980s were done in association with this preschool. The close proximity of Duck’s Nest to Pacific Steel was the driving force that mandated the first Health Risk Assessment of the foundry by the city’s Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) in 1991. 

Since the HRA is a condition of Pacific Steel’s permit, ZAB now has a legal obligation to publicly review the new HRA after its approval by the Air District. This gives the city a legal opportunity to study and set new conditions for the foundry’s operating permit. A timetable and deadline for the long overdue odor management plan would be a good place to start. As the HRA points out, PSC no longer operates in a purely manufacturing district. A thorough examination of their permit by Zoning is long overdue. 

Our city continues to play a game of obfuscation concerning PSC’s toxic legacy. More than anything else, this has perpetuated the city’s negligence to control Pacific Steel’s emissions. Recently, both Mayor Bates and Councilmember Linda Maio have voiced strong concerns regarding PSC emissions and their commitment to protect citizens downwind from the steel factory. The city has the authority to control the health and environmental impacts produced by Berkeley’s biggest polluter. Now is the time! 

To learn more about the air monitoring results in West Berkeley, please come to the Community Meeting tonight, Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 Sixth St. 

L A Wood maintains a local political blog at www.berkeleycitizen.org. 

FOCUS ON AREA-WIDE 

TRAFFIC CALMING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In his Jan. 25 Planet commentary, Michael Katz attacks traffic circles as traffic diverters rather than safety enhancements. But he summarily dismissed the idea of area-wide traffic calming. Increased parking charges and congestion fees for non-residents can make a real difference to Berkeley’s quality of life. Instead of debating traffic circle safety, let’s focus on area-wide traffic calming.  

Scott Mace 

• 

IMPROVING SAFTEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Kudos to Michael Katz for his thoughtful commentary on Berkeley’s efforts to improve traffic and pedestrian safety. It is refreshing to read an account that avoids easy generalizations. As a frequent traveler on Spruce, Marin and Solano avenues, I have often pondered the net result of the “improvements” that have been attempted in recent years. These improvements certainly leave much to be desired, but have they made the situation worse? I honestly don’t know.  

Effective solutions are sometimes counter-intuitive. Witness a recent report on European cities that appear to have safely solved their traffic problems by actually removing curbs, stop-signs and traffic signals: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18217318. 

John Lutterman 

Davis 

• 

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Recently I just about hit a pedestrian who was crossing a street while wearing jeans and a dark hooded sweatshirt which made him nearly invisible under low-light conditions. Another pedestrian warning is in order: Please, please, please wear light colors in the rain and at night; at least use a white hat or scarf. Never talk on a cell phone while crossing a street. Never buy a black or navy blue raincoat or parka. Also, if you are walking at night please carry a flashlight and turn it on when crossing streets. Remember that current steeply sloped windshields on recent models of cars have major blind spots just to the sides of straight ahead. 

Judith Wiese 

• 

PEDESTRIAN SURVIVAL ON MARIN AVENUE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

My kudos to Michael Katz for a thoughtful article on the dangerous life of pedestrians. The new Marin Avenue configuration may look more bucolic, but it has not benefited pedestrians. At problem intersections such as Colusa I definitely feel much less safe now: First, because the four-lane configuration is de facto still at work here due to turning cars. Second, what was formerly a predictable four-lane behavior has now been rendered more chaotic by motorists’ last-minute swerves to turn. 

Also, the entire crossing now has to be accomplished on one light, or good bye life! And I am not a slow walker! A solid widened, elevated median strip with the formerly predictable four-lane pattern in place would make me feel much safer. 

My personal caveat to pedestrians everywhere: A reflective vest will enhance your chances of survival! I wear it regularly around my sidewalkless home turf, and my motoring neighbors appreciate it too. As a driver myself I too often have experienced heart-stopping moments at night. Especially crossing traffic with dark clothing on rainy nights has got to be an absolute invitation to suicide! Do you believe in Darwin? 

Juergen Hahn 

• 

SIMPLE TRAFFIC CALMING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

We could help prevent future pedestrian deaths using the simple, inexpensive form of traffic calming that has recently been implemented on Oxford Street at Virginia. 

When I lived on this street, residents used to complain that cars treated the street like a freeway and that it was impossible to cross at Virginia. 

Recently, the city has added bright green signs saying that cars must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk in the middle of Oxford at Virginia. These signs are placed at many dangerous crossings, but at this intersection, the city has also striped bulb-outs next to the sidewalks and put little plastic stanchions with reflectors at the edge of the bulb-outs, narrowing the space that cars pass through to the width of the lane. 

I have often heard that narrowing the street slows traffic, and this visual narrowing proves it: cars slow down to near the legal speed limit when they go through this intersection, even if no one is crossing. I think it would be even more effective to have the bright green yield-to-pedestrian sign at the edge of the bulb-out, since it is so prominent visually. 

Because it only involves striping and plastic stanchions, this intersection treatment would be less expensive and less controversial than most traffic calming devices, and far less expensive than enforcement. Of course, it only works on two-lane streets where cars speed—but there are plenty of those in Berkeley. 

We could add this treatment to many of our dangerous intersections very quickly—maybe quickly enough to prevent another death. 

Charles Siegel 

• 

A FEW POINTS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I believe Michael Katz is correct when he says that those who advocate for traffic circles have more on their minds than preventing pedestrian fatalities. I live in the Le Conte neighborhood, and have since before there were any traffic calming measures. I remember what Fulton and Ellsworth were like when they served as urban freeways to and from the university, and I surely have welcomed the change. (Before people lay down in the street to demand major change in the early seventies, they had been begging for years for stop signs, to no avail.) 

Here are a few points I’d like to make. 

First: How could we calculate the number of children (or adults) who have NOT become victims because the whole area has less cars, and overall they are not going as fast? Mr. Katz conceded that investigators determined neither of the tragic recent fatalities in north Berkeley was caused by traffic engineering issues. Believe me when I tell you I know my neighborhood is safer and more livable for residents with the changes that have come here in the past three decades. Granted Shattuck and Telegraph are busier, but even without bollards and circles here, they would have high volume traffic, and they are more business-focused. Yes, there are residents, but not nearly so many families with children. 

Second: Fulton Street, sporting three traffic circles, is a major bikeway. I use it myself, and it is far superior to the various paving-striped bike routes where cyclists have to compete with cars cutting them off, buses, long waits at red lights, and “bike lanes” that abruptly end amid heavy traffic. 

Third: Yes, this is California, not Finland. I think there are some drivers who are not slowed down much by the circles, just as there are people who run stop signs or execute “California rolling stops.” There is also some confusion over which intersections on Fulton have stop signs in which direction. So no, it is not a perfect solution. But I do believe that overall it has gotten better gradually for residents, pedestrians and bicyclists in this area with the advent of diverters, circles, and other traffic calming measures in the past thirty years. 

Donna Mickleson 

• 

MISLEADING CLAIMS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

There were a number of misleading claims about traffic calming research in a Jan. 15 commentary by Michael Jerrett (“Implement Area-Wide Traffic Calming in 2008”). 

Jerrett’s claim that there is overwhelming evidence traffic calming reduces accidents and saves pedestrian lives is not true. Traffic calming research acknowledges the large variations in studies around the United States. 

In fact, a study by the ITE and FHWA, “Traffic Calming State of the Practice,” states: 

“Traffic calming in the United States is largely restricted to low volume residential streets. Collisions occur infrequently on such streets to begin with, and any systematic change in collision rates tends to get lost in the random variation from year to year. This limits our confidence in drawing inferences about safety impacts of traffic calming.” 

Research from Portland, Ore., one of the first cities in the country to use devices such as humps and circles, showed a reduction in accidents of only 5 percent, and even that was statistically insignificant. 

Mr. Jerrett praises a study in Oakland by then medical student, June Tester, which has been criticized. The conclusions of this study were found to be falsely interpreted and the methodology, flawed. 

Dr. Tester’s study claimed children who lived on a block with a speed hump were 50 percent less likely to be hit by a car—either on the block, or strangely, as far away as 1/4 mile. However what the numbers actually show could be interpreted as humps making children less safe. The results had a 95 percent confidence level that a child living near a speed hump was between 85% less likely to 6% more likely to be involved in a pedestrian accident. This is an indication that the sample size was too small to show with any real certainty, anything about safety at all. The full critique can be found at: http://ti.org/vaupdate63.html. 

Dr. Tester did her study solely using a database of hump installations from 1995 and later. But Oakland began installing speed humps in 1994—a fact not mentioned in the “Limitations” section of her analysis. Therefore the study was done without truly knowing whether an incident had occurred near a hump, or not. 

Mr. Jerrett ignores studies on the other side of the issue. Two studies, one from Boulder, Col., and one from Austin, Texas, show that risk to resident survivability is many times greater from delay by devices such as humps and circles to emergency responders to time-critical emergencies, than from cars—speeding or not. 

A measured approach to addressing the problems of speeding in communities is what research on traffic calming has advised, not the emotional one-sided argument presented in Mr. Jerrett’s commentary. 

Kathleen Calogne 

Boulder, CO

To treat the spate of pedestrian traffic deaths and accidents as a uniquely Berkeley problem is blind provincialism at its worst as the problem is widespread throughout the country. There have been system change efforts to make Berkeley streets safer including lowering of speed limits, protruding peninsulas to shorten the crossing time and distance, trials of flags and flashing ground lights, the change to one lane of traffic each way on Marin, the bicycle boulevards and so forth. Many people have expressed their opinions as to whether these and other changes contribute to or alleviate the risk to pedestrians. Like one letter writer I have no doubt that talking on cell phones while driving contributes to many accidents and there is ample data from the transportation safety people to back that up. Cell phone driving has to be stopped by state laws that are highly promoted and enforced. But, beyond that hazard (and drunk driving) do we understand the major causes of such accidents? 

For as long as I can remember we have trained our children to be safe by crossing the street in the crosswalk at an intersection. I believe that this paradigm is probably wrong and contributes to accidents. One Planet commentator mentioned the support posts in all cars that can obscure forward lateral view as one begins a corner turn. I can remember, not once but several times, being scared out of my wits because I began a turn seeing no pedestrian and found myself almost into the crosswalk when I became aware of a pedestrian in the crosswalk. No matter how you sit there will always be a brief blind spot to the side. And if you happen to be glancing toward the side at the moment a pedestrian is behind that post you may risk injuring them.  

Besides the post problem there is a more obvious one that explains why drivers can not and do not spend enough time looking thoroughly for pedestrians when turning. Upon commencing a turn, whether left or right, a driver has to be concerned with oncoming traffic and assuring it creates no problem for a turn, and also lateral traffic for the same reason. This is a necessary precaution even when one has a green light. In this process, looking ahead into the turn is a competing priority for the driver’s attention, even if the driver is stopped for the turn. In rainy weather, moreover, the lateral field of vision of the driver is further restricted by the field of the windshield wipers.  

The fact that reckless and drunk drivers hit pedestrians at a higher rate tends to obscure the risks that pedestrians face from the problems of normal driving patterns. It seems likely that increasing the number of cross walks placed mid-block rather than at intersections can reduce pedestrian risk. This ought to be considered citywide here or in another urban environment so that the change can be promoted publicly to local drivers and the results evaluated. 

In Berkeley we have several safe and successful midblock crosswalks, such as in front of the old University Theater on University Avenue and in front of the French Hotel and the Shattuck post office on North Shattuck Avenue. Drivers tend to be very aware of these locations and to behave appropriately. But, if enhancements were necessary, mid-block crosswalks can be easily supplemented with push buttons for pedestrians that activate a large blinking orange warning light 100 feet before the crosswalks. In that setting a driver looking forward faces no competing risks for attention.  

A portion of the deaths at intersections may result from competing factors for driver attention. We can not afford to place pedestrians as a secondary consideration for drivers. Commentaries about inappropriate behaviors of citizens—whether pedestrians or drivers—tend to obscure the reality that crosswalks at traffic intersections do not seem to protect pedestrians as they are intended to do. There should be no other perceptual competitors for a driver’s attention than the pedestrian as each driver approaches a crosswalk. And the lateral blind spot needs to be eliminated as well. For both these reasons, frontal approaches to many or most crosswalks is a rational public safety measure.  

Berkeley resident Marc Sapir is the former director of Retro Poll.

TRAGEDY AND COMEDY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank goodness, things seem to have evolved a little from the days when Reagan gassed, beat, and arrested protesters who objected to UC Berkeley’s policies. Nowadays, tree-sitters haven’t been beaten or gassed; although I understand that a few of them have been cited for misdemeanors. The lawyers who represent Cal are contending that, among other things, the tree sitters are sullying the reputation of the university by making Cal the laughing stock of the country. I see it as wonderful theater, and am puzzled that the officialdom of our finest university don’t see the humor and wit in the whole enterprise. After all, as someone wiser than I once said: “Life is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think.” And, thinking is the point of going to college, right?  

Robert Blau 

• 

ALCOHOL INSPECTION FEE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Kudos to the City Council for backing away from the alcohol inspection fee. 

Berkeley doesn’t need additional employees to recruit hirsute teens in an attempt to entrap local businesses. And what are the chances that a quarterly inspection would turn up some loitering late-morning drinkers? 

Rather, why not have concerned citizens call the city to report sidewalk drinking or perceived sales to minors? I’m not clear why graffiti near grocery stores is more pernicious than it is anywhere else, but heck I’ll call about that too if you like. 

If “we” are desperate to pass a measure, how about a sign at the business entrance to provide a phone number and ask citizens to report untoward conduct? Not only will that be inexpensive, but it will focus attention on those businesses that require attention. 

John Vinopal 

• 

IMMIGRATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I just read in the Chronicle today that an all-time record three million new immigrants applied for U.S. citizenship last year. Hey, I thought we, the American people, had established a level of immigration at about one million per year. What’s to be done about the two million extra people per year who are now in our country? Are we now required to let anyone who wants U.S. citizenship, to have it? Who decides U.S. policy? We the American people? Or millions of foreigners? This is completely insane!  

Think this through carefully, Daily Planet readers, because there will be no turning back. The world population is now exploding out of control. Are we now responsible for the endless millions, if not billions, of immigrants who are fleeing countries that they’ve already over-populated off the face of the earth, and let them flood into our country and do the exact same thing here?  

Peter Labriola 

• 

CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL  

EXPANSION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Add my voice to Suzy Parker’s plea to protect the community in our North Oakland neighborhood, and I echo letter-writer Rhoda Slanger’s reminder that if Measure A passes, public institutions like Highland stand to lose. 

I want to see North Oakland free of the specter of a 12-story tower sprouting up amidst small single family homes, and free of the noise and pollution of construction, helicopter landings and increased traffic. Most of all, I want to protect my community from the actions of an institution which is not being truthful or cooperative with the public. 

Children’s Hospital has saved the lives of children I know and love, but that does not excuse its dismissive treatment of its neighboring community. We have tried to hold productive discussions with hospital higher-ups, only to find that our needs as a thriving community are not heard and our suggestions for constructive compromise are ignored. There are so many ways Children’s could work with the community in which it resides to create a workable solution for all. 

I urge your NO vote on Measures A and B. There are other funding options available for Children’s, a private hospital, that would not take scarce monies away from public institutions. 

Beth Baugh 

Oakland 

• 

BHS CLASSROOMS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

While I was glad to read in “Berkeley High Teachers Press District for More Space” that the critical shortage of classrooms at BHS is finally getting some attention, the article left me confused. Why is there a continuing classroom shortage at Berkeley High, when Berkeley citizens approved a bond measure ($116.5 million Measure AA of 2000) to replace the 26 classrooms lost after Building B was burned down eight years ago? 

Other school districts send frequent updates to taxpayers on how bond funds are being spent and provide progress reports on construction projects. Where has the classroom construction bond money for BHS gone? Why don’t we get updates like other taxpayers around the state do? Please, someone, find out where the funds from the bond measure to build new classrooms at Berkeley High have gone. We have fewer classrooms now than we did before the bond measure passed, while the number of students remains about the same. Is any of that money left, or is it all gone? Berkeley taxpayers and the BHS community deserve answers to these questions. It would be a relief to learn that all that money isn’t gone with the wind. 

Maureen Burke 

• 

STUFF THAT WORKS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It must be hard sometimes for the folks who run our city to get a clear picture of what’s working. Finding out what’s not working is easy—Berkeley sometimes seems to be a city inhabited solely by squeaky wheels. We squeak at council meetings and public hearings, on the phone, in countless e-mails, and in the letters column of the newspaper. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but there’s not nearly enough of the flip side—praise for what works. 

For the past 15 years in South Berkeley, Officer Jim Marangoni has been what’s works about the Berkeley Police Department. I’m writing now because he’s stepping down as lead beat officer of Beat 12, and we can’t let the moment past without recognizing what an enormous positive effect he’s had on our neighborhood. 

Jim is the definition of community policing. For starters, he knows everyone—law abiders, law breakers, and the big sliding scale in between. He has been a constant fixture of neighborhood meetings, always willing to explain whatever situation we faced at the time in a patient, clear, never condescending way. Even when he was filling us in on the drug dealing and assaults that are still-too-common features of life in this corner of the city, hearing his straight, unvarnished talk about it was always comforting. When you’re facing a scary situation, it’s incomparably scarier if you don’t have accurate information you can trust, and we knew Jim would always give us that. 

Having that information—and, more importantly, feeling that we had a solid link to the police department and the city—made it possible for us to do our part in addressing the crime scene: Suing the drug dealers, working with the DA’s office, intelligently lobbying our elected officials. I don’t know how we could have done it without Jim. 

It’s sad to think that this isn’t the norm in our city. Some parts of the Berkeley Police Department, I’m told, are suspicious about interacting too much with the community, fearing that it can only get you in trouble. Here’s my take-home lesson: Community policing requires commitment at the top to back up the officers who back up the folks on their beat. While he hasn’t always had that backing, Jim has shown it’s worth the effort. Engaging with the scattered citizens in our neighborhoods makes us into a community. It makes our gritty blocks safer for our kids. And it makes Berkeley a better city. So here’s my plea to you civic leaders: Join me in praising cops like Jim Marangoni, and give us more like him. Thank you for your attention. 

Paul Rauber 

For the ROC Neighborhood Association and the South Berkeley  

Crime Prevention Council 

• 

OLD DIVERS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

“The risk of a fatal car crash with a driver who’s 85 or older is more than three times higher than it is with a driver between 16 and 20. The very old are the highest-risk drivers on the road.” (“The way we age now,” The New Yorker, April 30, 2007.) 

At my last two license renewals I didn’t miss one question. After cataract surgery I now have better than 20/20 vision. I’m 83 and don’t want to give up driving. But I could have a seizure or a momentary disconnect and turn into a killer. 

A few years ago in Santa Monica an 86-year-old driver confused the accelerator with the brake pedal killing 10 people and injuring 60. The driver was convicted of manslaughter. Eventually (if not now!) there will have to be an age limit for driving. 

In the meantime steer clear of anyone leaving the Andronico’s parking lot in an Olds 98.  

Sam Craig 

• 

HOUSING AND HOMELESS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Never in my 40 years in Berkeley have I seen so many “For Rent” signs gracing so many buildings. Now that the bottom has fallen out of the housing market you would think that people would be clamoring for an apartment in this town but no, they seem to be empty, at least partially. If you wonder why take a tour of the mayor’s crown jewel at the corner of University and Sacramento, the one he is proudest of. It is 82 units of long, meandering halls. The apartments are small, cheaply built and should you move into one, would immediately feel like a cell with nothing to do except sit or sleep. In addition there are 17 parking places for 82 units, so chances are you have no car, and if they think, as they advertise, that you are close to amenities, that too is only partially true; if you consider BART and AC transit amenities, you can use them to go other places. The close restaurants are nice, but for special occasions, and the grocery store is close but also not cheap. Of course there is the 7-11, which the building has wrapped itself around so snugly. 

But my point is not that these developer’s buildings are unpleasant to look at and to live in, but why, if there are so many empty apartments in the city, do we have people sleeping on the sidewalks and in the parks? Shelter is shelter. These buildings are here to stay now, so we have to accept that, but why do we have to continually accept that people have to suffer in the cold on the street? 

I know that money is the issue—it always is—but it would seem that the city could work out some accommodation. It has been very cold even inside an apartment; I can only imagine what it is like to sleep outside. 

Constance Wiggins 

• 

CODEPINK SPECIAL TREATMENT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I am responding to Cynthia Papermaster’s Jan. 11 letter to the editor regarding the meeting between CodePINK and Mayor Bates. Ms. Papermaster stated that Mayor Bates committed to taking three actions as a result of that meeting. It is my opinion that CodePINK is getting special treatment because of their cause. The first action the mayor apparently agreed to take was to assist the group in drafting a resolution for consideration by City Council. I ask, has the group bothered to attend any Peace and Justice (P&J) Commission meetings? The city’s website shows that there was a P&J meeting on Jan. 7, which included a status report on the Marine Recruitment Office (Section D, Item 8a.). In addition, aren’t there already resolutions regarding Iraq on the table? According to the letter, Mayor Bates also agreed to meet with the officer-in-charge of the Marine’s Officer Selection Office. To what end? What purpose does this serve? Thirdly, the mayor was asked to keep the police from doing their job, which is to keep the peace and cite individuals that are in violation of city ordinances. Having a large, loud group taking up a sidewalk is loitering, and blocking pedestrians from passing is a disturbance. Having a bus doubled parked, blocking car traffic, and parked at meters over the allotted time is an infraction—period.  

Lastly, the mayor was asked to consider giving the group their own dedicated parking space in front of the recruitment office. Given the limited parking in Downtown Berkeley, I believe the spaces should be kept for people who have business to conduct in the area. Downtown businesses are struggling as is, and eliminating parking will have the adverse effect of keeping people away who would patronize downtown restaurants and businesses. Furthermore, if the mayor gives CodePINK its own parking space, it would set a precedent for other groups to receive a space in front of City Hall, the Police Department, or any business place of their choosing. Get a grip people! Just because you want to protest an organization located in Berkeley, doesn’t mean your cause is more deserving than any other. It doesn’t allow you to disturb the lives of Berkeley business patrons or residents. You have the right to be heard within the limits of the law. Your message is getting out! You don’t need local government to bend over backwards for you. 

María Ryan 

• 

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY 

Editors, Daily Planet 

Several letters have been published in the Planet recently about pedestrian safety. I have always followed a simple rule when interacting with cars as a pedestrian: Always assume automobiles have the right of way. Indeed, this is the law in a number of other countries, and it seems to work reasonably well to protect walkers from harm without unduly inconveniencing them. I recognize that it may not be politically correct to recommend this approach in Berkeley, but it does have its tangible benefits. I walk frequently, and I have certainly avoided serious injury or death on a number of occasions by adopting this attitude. The drivers who missed stop signs or went through red lights just weren’t paying careful attention—a common occurrence in a crowded urban area such as this. 

Driving instructors teach their students to “Drive Defensively.” The main idea behind this slogan is that you should expect other drivers to make mistakes—and while another driver may be in the wrong, it is not worth risking your life to try to assert your right of way. I think it is even more important to “Walk Defensively.” You just can’t win when the equation is 3,000 pounds of hurtling metal against 150 pounds of soft flesh and bone. 

Walk defensively, and keep on walking. 

Doug Buckwald 

• 

A VOTE FOR HILLARY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When people are unhappy with Washington, politicians market themselves as agents of change. In 2000, Bush and Gore both marketed themselves as anti-Clintons, happily married and faithful to their wives. Reagan was the anti-Carter in ’80, Carter was the anti-Nixon in ’76, and Nixon himself was the “New Nixon” in ’68. Despite the marketing, Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Bush are remembered as mediocrities or worse. How do we know the newest agent of change, Barack Obama, won’t also be a mediocrity or worse? We don’t. It’s a crap shoot. And history shows change usually isn’t an improvement. 

By contrast, Bill Clinton was an extremely competent, unusually bright, successful president. He was energetic and hard-working. As a result, he was very popular. America had eight years of peace and prosperity under Clinton. And in 2008, the safest bet to get America back on track is a vote for Hillary Clinton. 

Nathaniel Hardin 

El Cerrito 

• 

OBAMA: VISION TO GUIDE POICY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

This country has rarely had such an accomplished team of policy wonks running for president as Bill and Hillary Clinton. They understand policy and how power works our government, but, the Clintons are also lightening rods for enmity. We need a president who can inspire a vision of our country working together—Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and non-believers—to solve the enormous problems Bush and Cheney have left us with. Barack Obama reminds us of the best that America can be. With the Clintons working in his administration as policy advisors, activating the levers of power they are so experienced with, we really could turn our country toward the good society we want and that the world needs. 

Bruce Joffe 

Piedmont 

• 

POLLS AND PUNDITRY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Jan. 22 San Francisco Chronicle’s front page positioning of the Field (popularity) Poll on the Democratic presidential candidates was unfortunate. Camillo’s group reached only 377 “likely” Democratic Primary voters and 20 percent of these had not yet decided, leaving only 300 respondents. It is known widely that for every person who willingly gives a poll response, two, three or four others decline to participate, and these decliners may have either similar or different views from those who do participate. In general, that unknown lessens the value of poll results and makes “margin of error” statistics unrealistic.  

In the presidential race, results showing candidates far ahead or behind can cause changes in voting patterns irrespective of voters’ views and beliefs. Pollsters don’t discuss this problem of the “self-fulfilling” prophecy. When there is a publicized wide discrepancy between poll results and the outcome (as in New Hampshire), the pollsters fall over each other looking for the best explanation. What they need to discuss is how much their popularity polls create momentum for and against candidates, thus undermining the democratic process. In the case of New Hampshire the polls may well have contributed to the voters’ in that maverick state shifting away from the media-anointed leader. In the case of California it might have the same or a different affect. Overall, popularity polls are an unwarranted interference in the democratic process, and resemble the circus appeal of voyeuristic reality TV programs. We’re drawn to them, though we know they are foolish. Daily popularity polls are one reason we can’t have useful elections in the current environment. They cause people to discuss the polls, rather than the issues.  

Marc Sapir 

Former director of Retro Poll  

• 

A PLEASANT FANTASY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In an idealistic Jan. 22 commentary, Nazreen Kadir calls for a peaceable world, citing our nearly identical DNA heritage. Ah, but the variable one percent or so of that DNA conceals a wide range of inherited personality traits necessary to the past survival of our species. While most of us, perhaps, are disposed to peaceful coexistence, essential for social stability, some of us carry an inclination to anger, defiance and violence, which were equally necessary social attributes called on to rally a warlike response to any attack on the tribe. Unless some future world government undertakes, through eugenics, to eliminate those traces from our DNA, a peaceful planet is a pleasant fantasy. 

As to the question of human spirituality, and whether its source is “some higher power, some super-natural energy, some extra-terrestrial, some celestial being,” I suggest it is none of these. We may reasonably expect that there is a power quite beyond our comprehension that formed the universe, but to suppose it somehow governs our worldly affairs is only superstition—a cry of the human ego that stubbornly persists in seeing itself as central to that universe, as if the unseeing power that allows the collision of galaxies and the random extinction of earthly species were somehow concerned with our mutant, wayward and destructive offshoot. 

Jerry Landis 

• 

AERIAL SPRAYING 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has a plan to aerial spray the Berkeley and San Francisco areas to “eradicate the little brown apple moth.” The new projected start date for the Bay Area has now been moved to August 2008. They have already begun aerial spraying in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties (Fall 2007) where many people became immediately ill. We understand the CDFA plans to continue spraying indefinitely until the moth is eradicated. This aerial spraying is of a synthetic moth hormone in a carrier base of toxic chemicals encapsulated in plastic. The LBAM (little brown apple moth) is not a human vector, nor has it been claimed that it even carries one. 

We want to know: 

What is the public health rational for spending our precious tax dollars on this moth? 

What are the full public health ramifications of the spraying? We are already seeing the immediate dangerous effects. 

What are the full environmental ramifications of the spraying? On wildlife, on birds, on bees, on dogs and cats and on the ecosystem as a whole? 

Why have our elected officials been so silent on this matter? 

Is there an actual problem with this moth, or are these preventative measures? If preventative, what is the theoretical problem? 

As we understand, there is no clear and present danger to people from this moth.  

We do know that the aerial spraying is dangerous to anyone and anything that breathes, or touches anything with these chemicals on the surface, such as cars, plants, etc. 

We are also aware that there are non-toxic alternatives to address any problem with this moth that the CDFA deems necessary to address. Aerial spraying is outdated, unsustainable and expensive. 

As tax payers and parents, we expect our elected and other state officials to do what is in the best interest of everyone. 

State officials will make their presentation about the aerial spraying to the Berkeley City Council Tuesday, Feb. 26,  

Sign the petition to stop the spraying and get updates at www.stopthespray.org. 

No aerial spraying; safe alternatives must be chosen! 

Alisa Rose Seidlitz 

Regina Beatus 

Co-chairs, Parents United for Health 

• 

PUBLIC DISPLAY OF IGNORANCE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

When one writes what is supposed to be a play on words, the writer should understand that which he purports to parody otherwise his ignorance might shine through. Indian tribes are not given “sovereign immunity.” It is an inherent attribute of sovereign status. Mr. Kachinga Gangale should read and analyze before spouting gibberish. See 55 I.D. 34 (1934). Does he perchance know that Indians, with the exception of the handful of highly successful gaming tribes (about 15-20), are classified as the “sickest of the sick and the poorest of the poor”? Does Gangale know that in Indian Country, health and mortality rates are above only Haiti in the western hemisphere? Does he appreciate that health-wise due to serial, improvident federal policies that Indian health is on a par with sub-Saharan Africa’s population? To the tribes he targets, say only good luck and God bless. If he wants to find out what the life of California Mission Indians has really been like, I refer him to Helen Hunt’s Century of Dishonor, specifically the appendices. Maybe facts and knowledge will temper his hubris.  

S. Willett 

• 

BUDGET CRISIS 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I do not think today’s budget crisis should be solved by reducing funding for education. Even more than a balanced budget we need to build communities where justice prevails and young people are eager to do their part to maintain society. What I know from my experience as a classroom educator in my native country of India is that knowledge is power. It is through education that we can most deeply empower our children. 

Teaching is rewarding in itself but even teachers have to feed their families. Perhaps the highest paid public employees could donate one month of their salaries to prevent cuts in funding for schools and colleges. 

Let us not axe the root of community in our culture. 

Romila Khanna 

Albany 

• 

A MUZZLE FOR BUSH 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Oh, please, please, won’t someone, anyone, put a muzzle on George W. Bush? With several months of his presidency remaining, this man, with his sabre-rattling and incessant ranting about Iran, is only adding to the tensions and unrest around the world. Granted that Iran does pose a danger, is this not all the more reason why we should exercise caution and diplomacy in dealing with this country? Our president, on the other hand, persists in describing Iran as “the world’s top sponsor of terrorism.” 

While I’m certainly no admirer of Malmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s president, I have to agree with his charge that Bush’s message “reflects his own conceptions and is a message of rift, a message of sowing the seeds of division.” When hearing Bush repeat over and over his warnings about Iran, I can’t help comparing this reckless goading with that of the two brothers who allegedly teased and taunted the tiger in last week’s fatal attack in the tragic San Francisco Zoo incident. Granted that this comparison may be a stretch of the imagination, I nonetheless feel very strongly that our great leader is fueling much of the ominous talk and dire warnings of a possible nuclear attack. Will no one speak up and demand an end to such dangerous rhetoric? 

Dorothy Snodgrass 

Berkeley 

P.S.: Responding to a reader’s complaint that the Planet featured Ron Lowe’s letters “not once but twice in recent issues,” let me say that I, and I’m sure many other readers, look forward to Mr. Lowe’s letters. His always thoughtful and insightful assessment of this country’s problems and injustices reflect my own feelings. 

And I don’t mind one bit that he lives in Grass Valley!

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. 

I agree with most everything Mr.Capitelli says in his e-mail. We do need to “change the culture of driving in Berkeley.” Most importantly, we need have the City Council direct the Police Department to enforce the existing laws. The driving habits and “the culture” will change if the City Council could think outside the box and campaign for safer streets by having no tolerance for “failure to yield”, rolling stops, and other careless driving. Start by setting up “sting operations” at various crosswalk locations on a regular basis, installing many, many more of the flashing lights in crosswalks, and putting up blunt signs such as In Less Than 7 Months, 4 People Were Struck And Killed Within 1 Mile Of This Location. Slow Down. Pay Attention. Pedestrians and bicyclists have their own responsibility to do the right thing. Use crosswalks. Don’t cross on red. Everyone please, Look left, look right, look left again. It’s all stuff we learned in grade school, but we’re all too distracted. If the city put up signs and banners on Ashby, University, and all the major streets announcing their new campaign, out-of-towners would understand that Berkeley can actually do something humanitarian and wise.  

If you are sick and tired of feeling in danger every time you cross the street, please take a moment to contact your councilmember, and pass the word. 

Steve Douglas lives in Berkeley’s  

Thousand Oaks neighborhood. 

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. 

Less obvious is what we should consider doing next: Undo recent street modifications, based on unfounded “safety” fads, that may have actually made streets less safe. 

I suspect the last thing we want to do is to “implement area-wide traffic calming,” as Michael Jerrett’s Jan. 15 commentary advocated. 

I’ll eagerly await the collision-data analysis that Councilmember Spring and colleagues seek. But as a lay volunteer participant in past city bicycle and pedestrian safety campaigns, I’ve helped analyze similar statistics before. Here are a few patterns to expect: 

First, and not surprisingly, peds and cyclists get hit primarily at locations where there is a high volume of both nonmotorist and vehicle traffic. Collisions are very rare on residential streets. 

(This implies that Berkeley spends much of traffic-management budget and effort on residential locations that aren’t very hazardous. As we’ll see, those investments must be about something other than safety.) 

Second, it doesn’t help when traffic signals aren't designed to adequately sort out different transportation modes and directions. 

Third, it doesn’t help when an intersection confuses motorists with unfamiliar physical features. 

Some places, like the odd dogleg intersection of University and Milvia, brew up a perfect storm of all three problems. It’s no surprise that University/Milvia regularly ranks as one of the city’s worst collision hotspots. 

Where systematic statistics are lagging, sometimes anecdotes paint an instructive picture. Let’s start with mine. 

Last month, I was almost run over beside a “traffic circle” installed months earlier at Berkeley’s Spruce/Vine intersection. This is near the unobstructed Spruce/Virginia intersection where Professor Jerrett complains of high vehicle speeds. Be careful what you wish for. 

A taxi whizzed by inches from my nose, making no effort to slow down. I doubt the driver ever saw me. This was after dark, when the shrubbery planted atop traffic circles can make pedestrians invisible to motorists approaching from the opposite side. 

So, tentative conclusion No.1: Traffic circles are a visibility hazard to nonmotorists. 

I’ve had several near-collisions at other Berkeley traffic circles, while driving or bicycling. Few motorists bother to signal turns these days, and the circles hide the remaining clues about other vehicles’ directions. 

Everyone entering a traffic circle looks like they’re turning right. If they continue past the first corner, you assume they’re going straight. If the nitwit is secretly planning to turn left—usurping your right of way to enter the intersection—you barely know until it’s too late. 

So, tentative conclusion No. 2: Traffic circles are a confusion and navigation hazard. 

My tentative conclusions are debatable. But no one seriously claims that thrusting a large bollard into a small residential intersection makes that intersection inherently safer. 

Strictly speaking, constricting the intersection makes it physically less safe. The apologist’s claim is that this causes motorists to drive more slowly and prudently. 

But I’ve seen no indication that California’s rebellious drivers react that way. The strongest evidence for traffic circles’ benefits comes from the Northwest and Northern Europe—places where some civility still reigns. 

Anyway, many “traffic-calming” devices aren’t even designed to directly affect safety where they’re installed. They’re designed to make that location onerous enough to divert vehicles (and any accompanying nuisance or collisions) elsewhere. 

“One study found a 72 percent reduction in injury crash rate on traffic-calmed streets in Denmark and a 96 percent increase in the injury crash rate on adjoining streets.” That striking summary is from the most systematic report I’ve seen on this subject, Reid Ewing’s “Traffic Calming: State of the Practice.” This federally funded metastudy is a free download at: www.ite.org/traffic/tcstate.htm. 

Diversion brings us back to Marin Avenue The stretch where Sandra Graber was killed on Dec. 31 had been narrowed in 2005 by two lanes. 

Marin Avenue homeowners in Albany and Berkeley had requested this restriping. They asserted that it would reduce vehicle speeds, protect pedestrians, and benefit the environment. 

But an advance environmental study showed that the narrowing would instead worsen air pollution and noise. One later evaluation found that average vehicle speeds actually increased after restriping. 

Skeptics began to wonder: Had the narrowing’s real goals been to divert traffic elsewhere, raise property values, and make it easier to back out of one’s driveway? 

In a bitter irony, the first person killed on this restriped stretch (last June) was respected Albany environmental leader Ruth Meniketti. Like her, Sandra Graber was a pillar of her community. 

Would either woman be alive today if Marin Avenue had never been narrowed? One can only wish. In each collision, a motorist was found at fault in ways unrelated to the street’s layout. 

But opponents had warned early on that the restriping would eliminate pedestrian safety islands. And anyone who’s been on Marin lately at peak hours knows that the single remaining lane leaves traffic backed up with impatient, stressed-out drivers. 

Other “traffic-calming” approaches have their own detriments. Berkeley stopped installing speed humps not just to avoid delaying emergency vehicles. Disability-rights activists pointed out that driving or riding over them caused excruciating pain to some people with spinal injuries. 

So, what are we left with to protect nonmotorists? The basics. Prof. Jerrett himself writes that “even modest measures such as stop signs will reduce accidents by 70 percent.” Stop signs are cheap and well-understood. 

Councilmember Capitelli (in a Jan. 4 Planet commentary) correctly admonished every driver to “SLOW DOWN and PAY ATTENTION and BE RESPONSIBLE.” And, we need to teach our children well: that every vehicle is a threat. 

From city staff, we need to demand diligent traffic enforcement, smart signals, and careful evaluation to ensure that every dollar we invest yields maximum safety benefits, with minimum detriments. 

Simply placing novel obstructions in drivers’ paths doesn’t automatically improve safety. The sad, unintended consequence is that it sometimes does the opposite. 

Michael Katz writes, rides, walks, BARTs, buses, and drives around Berkeley. 

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.”  

However, other quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. in the same talk don’t ring as frequently: “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  

On this day of remembrance in 2008, storm clouds fill the sky, gloom lingers in the atmosphere, and rains saturate the ground as the right of life and pursuit of happiness mimic the weather amongst the hundreds of homeless residing within the East Bay of California. It is here that a non-profit organization, Nights on the Street - Catholic Worker, attempts to make life a little happier by easing hunger pains and providing ponchos to help repel the rain. Outside on the corner of College and Dwight, in the Newman-Holy Spirit parking lot, a handful of volunteers ranging in race, age, and stages of life provide a full meal including salad, beans, fried chicken, and juice to over a 150 people indiscriminate of job status, drug afflictions, race, sex, religious background, medical condition, etc. As many cuddle in front of a warm fire with a hearty meal throughout this cold, rainy season in the East Bay, it is easy to forget about our brothers and sisters on the streets. As volunteers and friends, members of Nights on the Streets hear their stories, visit them in hospitals and prisons, attempt to comfort and attend services in the loss of friends and family, etc. For whatever reason, post-war syndromes, broken families, raped and battered children and/or adults, spiritual journeys, physical handicaps, neurological disorders, etc, these fellow brothers and sisters lay on the streets unable to support a roof over their head amidst astronomical tenant prices consistent in the East Bay. Organizations like Nights on the Streets attempt to lessen the suffering even if for a couple of hours.  

Nights on the Street - Catholic Worker is an organization that was developed here in Berkeley by J.C. Orton over 10 years ago to help serve those in need on “their turf.” It started and continues to run out of Mr. Orton’s house, which has been transformed into a soup kitchen and “supply warehouse” housing crates of canned foods and stacks of sleeping bags and ponchos. Volunteers come together every Sunday morning from 7:30-9 a.m. to serve breakfast, including oatmeal, grits, English muffins, eggs, fruit juice, coffee and hot chocolate to those in need at People’s Park (2556 Haste St.) and Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park (MLK Way between Allston Way and Center).  

During the winter months, volunteers drive along the main streets of Berkeley three nights a week bringing hot soup and hot chocolate with a smile to the homeless and needy, in addition to handing out hundreds of ponchos, jackets, and sleeping bags. On average, between 50-100 people anxiously await the “blue van’s” soup on wheels. On nationally recognized holidays, like MLK Jr. Day, where the government takes a vacation from feeding our homeless, Nights on the Streets provides a full meal. 

Until we can figure out a way to end homelessness and poverty in America, we have a responsibility to treat all humans with dignity and respect regardless of race, sex, job, income, social activities, religious preference, etc. Rev. King had a dream: equality for ALL . . . let’s continue striving to make this dream a reality. We take a moment to thank all of those who volunteer financially, physically and/or spiritually with humanitarian work aiding “in a dream.”  

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation (financial, clothing and/or food) or volunteer with Nights on the Streets, please contact J.C. Orton at 684-1892 or e-mail: noscw@sbcglobal.net.  

Troy Skwor is on Nights on the Street - Catholic Worker’s board of directors. 

A friend asks me to check out the website www.idealist.org. I click on their URL and up pops a paid plea from Children’s Hospital Oakland, (CHO). It asks for help distributing 50,000 “Vote Yes on Measure A” yard signs. That’s one helluva lot of soon-to-be-thrown-away plastic signs. 

My neighbors and I buy 50 green and white signs that say “Vote No on Measure A: Build healthy neighborhoods, not high-rises.” We get them at a discount because they’re recycled. The messages vary. “Put the Christ back in Christmas!” some shout. Others urge readers to “Boycott Turkish Products!” A few list contact information for “Doggie-doo Pet Grooming Services.” We paint over the original slogans and stick them in our front yards. 

This sums up the David and Goliath battle we’re fighting to stop Children’s 

Hospital, a private corporation, from building a 12-story 196-foot high-rise at 53rd and Dover streets: Our 50 signs vs. their 50,000, plus BART and freeway-viewable banners; our website and letters to the editor vs. their expensive TV commercials and glossy “Get Well” cards. Slick Sacramento political marketing gurus pitted against me and my neighbors and a Kinko’s Xerox machine.  

CHO is spending more than a million bucks on their campaign to get Alameda 

County voters to endorse their expansion with a $300 million parcel tax. Their signs and messages shout that’s it’s a retrofit and rebuild, but it’s not.  

My neighbors and I aren’t opposed to expansion, but we want them to find a more appropriate spot for their hulking high-rise, or to build on their own campus closer to the freeway and their existing helipad, away from our one-and two-story single family homes. And, by the way, we don’t want to pay for it. 

To make our case, we attend lots of community meetings. Folks who don’t live in our neighborhood—or anywhere near a 12-story high-rise or helipad—suggest we shouldn’t have moved to the flats of North Oakland if we didn’t want Children’s Hospital to take our homes. Floyd Cole, who’s lived on 53rd Street for over 40 years and will never again see the sun from his front window if CHO builds its high-rise, says, “I’m a Flatland Man. I don’t like hills. Never wanted to live there and I won’t move there now.” 

We ask our Oakland City Councilmember Jane Brunner for help, and she responds three weeks later with this email: “I’ll study the plans CHO has filed.” 

When we point out that there is no master facilities plan and that the preliminary project application has not yet been filed, there’s silence in District 1 cyberspace. 

We fire off more letters to newspapers and get the attention of local TV and radio stations. Lee Otis Odom, the sole homeowner left on 52nd Street, between MLK and Dover, is interviewed by KGO Channel 7. 

Bob Schenker, who faces losing his unique home/studio on 53rd Street, is interviewed on NBC11. I’m on KTVU-Channel 2 for exactly five seconds. 

The mailman delivers an oversized postcard that appears to be from the Democratic Party. “Everyone says that curing sick kids is important,” it says. “If you mean it, vote yes on measure A.” But it’s not from the Dems; it’s from a marketing firm down in Sherman Oaks. We counter with some cheap bumper stickers: “No on Measure A or your tax $$ will bulldoze homes.” 

And then THE LETTER arrives in our mailboxes. It appears to be handwritten by a child. It asks the reader to “vote yes on Measure A if you mean it.” It’s signed “Adriana, age 14, Leukemia.” 

The exploitation of vulnerable children for political purposes makes me sick to my stomach. My neighbors feel the same. Children’s Hospital should argue their case based on the merits of their proposed expansion, not sick children. Fifty thousand yard signs and they still need to use 14-year-old Adriana with leukemia to do their bidding. Shame on you, CHO. 

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. 

Linepithema humile has been called, against stiff competition, one of the world’s worst invasive species. Argentine ants don’t sting or bite, like that scourge of the South the red imported fire ant. What they do is more insidious: they disassemble whole ecosystems. They kill or drive out native ant colonies and eat their way through the local arthropod prey base. (They can handle much larger native ant species; photographs of a half-dozen of them dragging down a huge, as ants go, harvester ant are reminiscent of that Planet Earth footage of a pride of lions tackling an elephant.)  

Ant-eating reptiles like the coast horned lizard can’t stomach them, and horned lizard populations have declined by up to 50 percent in invaded areas. Plants that depend on native ants to transport their seeds are left partnerless. The Argentines use exotic plantings like iceplant as staging areas for colonizing native plant communities. 

Once they arrive in a new locale, Argentine ants form supercolonies containing millions of individual workers. Back home in South America, neighboring colonies live in a constant state of mutual hostility. But that isn’t true in California and other Linepithema beachheads in Mediterranean Europe, Asia, Australia, southern Africa, and the Pacific islands.  

According to research by Andrew Suarez, now at the University of Illinois, there is in effect one great big Argentine ant colony in California that stretches from San Diego to Ukiah. Normally, introducing a worker ant to a foreign colony is a death sentence. But you can drop an Argentine ant from Lompoc into a colony in Milpitas and she’ll receive a sisterly welcome, and be put right to work. 

That’s because she’ll have the correct colony smell. South American colonies are genetically varied, and each one has its distinctive odor which serves as a badge of membership. But the Argentine ants in the great California supercolony, descendants of a small founder population, all smell alike. They haven’t had time to re-evolve the variation. Although genetic bottlenecks are supposed to be a bad thing, reducing a population’s resistance to disease and other stressors, these ants seem to benefit from their genetic uniformity. 

Despite that, you would think that Argentine ant booms would eventually go bust, since eating everything in sight is not a sustainable foraging strategy. They don’t, though. These ants have another trick up their sleeves. 

According to a recent study by David Holway at UC San Diego, who collaborated with Suarez, Argentine ants do start out as generalist predators of other insects. At some point, however, they switch to a high-carb diet of the honeydew that aphids and scale insects excrete. “Honeydew nectar is essentially digested plant sap,” Holway says. “If you’ve ever parked your car under a tree and found your windshield covered with sticky stuff, that’s honeydew from aphids and scales.” Think, for example, of the tulip trees on University Avenue. It’s honeydew that fuels the growth of the supercolonies. 

A mutualist relationship with honeydew producers is not rare among ants. What’s unusual is the change from predation to nectar-sipping. It’s as if a band of human hunter-gatherers moved into a new hunting territory, killed off almost everything edible, then domesticated the last few sheep and became pastoralists. 

Holway and his co-authors tracked a Linepithema invasion in Rice Canyon in southern California, documenting the near-extirpation of native ants as the newcomers moved in; native diversity fell from 23 species to two. They used a technique called stable isotope analysis to determine what the Argentine ants had been eating, and identify when their diet changed. Comparing the ratio of heavy to light nitrogen isotopes allowed the scientists to distinguish carnivores from herbivores (or, in the case of the Argentines, carbovores.) 

So it appears that Argentine ants are flexible enough in their behavior to avoid the consequences of ecological overkill. As long as they have their scales or aphids, they’re in fine shape. 

And things are only going to get better for them. Species with limited ranges and narrow habitat and food requirements may be pushed to extinction by global climate change, but not the Argentine ant. Another recent study, headed by Nuria Roura-Pascual at the University of Girona in Catalonia, suggests that unoccupied areas in East Asia, northeastern North America, and elsewhere will become more suitable for invasion in a warmer world. Linepithema marches on. 

Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Ron Sullivan’s “Green Neighbors” column on East Bay trees.

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.  

We added facts about Children’s Hospital Oakland (CHO), and the history of measures A and B. We included content on eminent domain because the public needs to know that Children’s Hospital thinks it has the right to take away our homes. Also on the website are photographs of neighborhood houses and kids.  

We want to show that the blocks surrounding CHO are ethnically and socially diverse, and that many young children live here. They will be directly affected by the 12-story tower and helicopter landing pad Children’s plans to build if Measure A passes.  

I have lots of photographs of neighbors and neighborhood structures stored in my computer because I once took a class in graduate school that involved studying my hood, specifically the blocks between 54th and Dover streets and 36th Street and San Pablo Avenue. Every week I accompanied my then housemate, Willie, to and from his place of employment, Doug’s Barbecue.  

While walking with Willie I’d always find something interesting to photograph: a pair of well-worn work boots dangling from a telephone wire; a porcelain toilet bowl in the middle of a beautiful garden; a heartfelt message on a church signboard; a homeless encampment underneath a freeway overpass.  

To prepare for our campaign against Measure A, I looked through my old pictures. I found photos of every church Willie and I had passed by, 17 in all, and 4 that will be within the shadow of CHO’s proposed 196-foot high-rise. There were photographs of Mrs. Brown’s 80th birthday bash and pictures of several summer block parties.  

I’ve got lots of snapshots of kids in red plastic fireman hats climbing in and out of a big ladder truck, neighborhood canines eating leftover hot dogs, teens listening to music and talking on cell phones. I found photographs of Andrea’s sister selling Valentine’s Day flowers on the corner of 54th Street and MLK, and shots of Jernae taken when she was 14. She is dressed in a long white gown, sitting on a church pew next to our neighbor Chris, also 14 and clad in an oversized orange and black basketball jersey and matching sweatpants.  

Jernae has just completed her Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Program at The First African Methodist Episcopal Church down on 34th Street, and she looks pure and virginal, in contrast to the next photo on file: Andrea, just out of jail, standing in my hallway, relieved to be home and wearing the same formfitting red shift and leopard-printed bedroom slippers she wore on the night she was arrested, six weeks before.  

My neighbors chose not to post Andrea’s photograph although they admitted that she sure looked happy. Another rejected photo was of my niece, Kanna, her tiny body covered in a blue hospital gown, an IV line in her small, thin arm. The photograph was snapped two years ago in a pediatric wing at Children’s Hospital. Kanna was taken there after having an allergic reaction to a vaccination. 

I thought that the photograph should appear on our website as it exemplifies the emotional dilemma Measure A presents to Alameda County voters. No one wants to vote against sick children. But to have any rational debate about Measure A, we have to separate what CHO does for kids from what it wants to build at 53rd and Dover streets, and how it wants to pay for it. 

On the Livable Oakland website are photographs of my neighbors and me. We look happy. We look sad. Some of us seem scared, while others exude confidence. We appear frazzled and wrinkled, young and healthy, big and strong, little and fragile. We probably look a lot like you and your neighbors.

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.  

Ms. Smoothe (she’s never given any other identification, so I can’t call her by any other name), writes, “During Monday night’s State of the City address, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums made one promise to the city of Oakland, saying, ‘Whatever it takes, by the end of this year, we will be at 803 police officers. Whatever it takes.’ Sadly, no matter how sincere the Mayor’s intentions are, the realities of the Police Department hiring process make this impossible, even with intensified recruitment efforts.”  

After citing some facts and figures to show why she believes this, Ms. Smoothe’s column concludes that “the first available Academy for applicants who take the Feb. 21 test will be the 166th Academy, beginning in September 2008, which will not be graduating until February 2009. Even if the department makes immediate changes to recruitment and training, it is already too late to have any impact on the number of police that will complete the Academy during this year.” 

Jeff Collins of the Community Policing Advisory Board made the same point during public comment following the mayor’s shorter address to Oakland City Council the night following his Marriott speech, Mr. Collins saying that despite stepped-up recruiting, “the Oakland Police Academy is flunking more people this year than ever before. It’s not a function of our recruiting. It’s a function of the heightened marketplace.” Mr. Collins told me before the Council meeting that police recruiting is getting to be like corporate head-hunting these days, with some of the larger departments even offering lucrative signing bonuses. 

For those reasons, I had the same doubts about the ability of Mr. Dellums’ to fulfill his full-strength police promise. During his speech, the mayor gave eight approaches to how to reach the 803 goal by the end of this year. While most of them were very important initiatives to raise the number of Oakland police to full strength in the long term—such as sponsoring pre-academy preparation programs in conjunction with the Peralta colleges, or supporting concurrent academies rather than one at a time—only one of the mayor’s proposals, encouraging veteran officers to stay on rather than retiring, appeared to have much chance of making a difference in absolute OPD numbers by the end of this year. 

The mayor is most likely going to take a political hit on this as we near the end of 2008 and if—one could even say when—we are short of the 803 full-strength target. How big a hit will be determined by how short, as well as how successful (or unsuccessful) are Mr. Dellums’ other police reforms, particularly Chief Wayne Tucker’s breaking down of the department’s command and deployment structure into more manageable, community-friendly geographic districts. If the police reorganization results by the end of the year in citizens seeing better response and follow-up from patrol officers and commanders, as well as police and city actions to mitigate crime and violence problems in advance, then the significance of reaching the 803 police strength will seem less immediately important. 

It’s good, for a change, to see some reasoned, thoughtful criticism of the mayor. The silly season of the Dellums Corps d’Attack continues, at the gallop, led with spurs digging and whips flailing by the folks at the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Two weeks ago was the “Could Dellums Be An Albatross?” Jan. 11 posting by Chronicle political blogger Carla Marinucci, in which Ms. Marinucci began by asking the rhetorical question “Is it time wonder whether Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s wooing of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums was really such a wise move?” 

She thinks that it was not, saying that Ms. Clinton’s decision to ask Mr. Dellums’ advice on urban matters, including public safety, has “got to rankle Oakland residents in both the flatlands and the hills who are increasingly livid about what critics complain is Dellums’ utter lack of urban policy. To wit: the Oakland police department is working without a contract, the schools are in receivership, and even the streets are on an 85-year resurfacing cycle. That means it might happen once in your lifetime, if you’re lucky.” 

This borders on the witless, if not boldly stepping over. Granted, Ms. Marinucci is no Oakland expert, her column generally concentrating on state and national politics. Still, if one is going to write about Oakland politics, one ought to at least get within shouting distance of the actual implication of the facts. And so: 

1. The Oakland police department is working without a contract. True. However, the current contract expired in June of last year, meaning that if former Mayor Jerry Brown began negotiations six months in advance, which is normal, both he and Mr. Dellums have had equal time trying to work out an agreement. Why this is an indication that Mr. Dellums has “no urban policy” but does not mean the same thing for Mr. Brown is a mystery you will have to take up with Ms. Marinucci and her Chronicle colleagues (more on that point in a second). Why conducting contract negotiations while the employees continue to work under the old contract is an indication of anything other than the normal give-and-take of labor relations is a puzzlement to me as well. Meanwhile, we do know that the Dellums Administration had a breakthrough in a corollary contract issue, winning an impartial arbitrator’s ruling over the ability of the Oakland Chief of Police to assign patrol officers to 12-hour shifts. 

2. The schools are in receivership. True, again, and two for two for Ms. Marinucci. However, Oakland public schools—like most schools in the State of California—operate independently of city government, so it is difficult to understand how Ms. Marinucci can conclude that this is a bad mark on Mr. Dellums. In any event, the state takeover of the Oakland public schools took place under former Mayor Jerry Brown (yes, there’s that man again) and, if you are to believe the articles by former Oakland Tribune investigative reporter Robert Gammon, with Mr. Brown’s active collusion. So again, the bad mark would seem to stick on the departed Mr. Brown rather than the present Mr. Dellums, if any bad mark need accrue. Meanwhile, after he was elected but before he was sworn in as mayor, Mr. Dellums intervened with California State Superintendent Jack O’Connell to help stop the pending sale of OUSD’s 2nd Avenue properties. The OUSD state administrator and board are now cooperating to turn part of that property into an educational center, protecting five schools from dispersal. And during his tenure, Mr. Dellums has instituted cooperation with the Oakland schools that was distinctly absent during Mr. Brown’s time in office, including proposing a joint city-school effort to put health clinics in every high school and middle school in Oakland, and using Oakland City Hall facilities to convene an OUSD teacher recruitment summit last summer in coordination with then-OUSD state administrator Kimberly Statham and Oakland Education Association (teachers’ union) president Betty Olsen-Jones. This seems to indicate an education policy. 

3. The streets are on an 85-year resurfacing cycle. Potholes and dilapidating streets are an increasing problem and we wish the city administration could (or would) do something about it. That they haven’t is a function more of a lack of available money and personnel than a lack of policy. But if this is the most Ms. Marinucci can come up, we’ll concede the argument. Yes, Ron Dellums has not yet fixed Oakland’s potholes. 

At the same time Ms. Marinucci is “criticizing” Mr. Dellums for an alleged lack of urban policy, my good friend, Chronicle East Bay columnist Chip Johnson, is continuing his ongoing criticism of the mayor over public safety issues, and longing for the days when he appears to believe that things were being done under the administration of Jerry Brown. Really. 

In an “OK, Mayor Dellums, It’s Time To Actually Do Something” column printed the same day as Ms. Marinucci’s posting, Mr. Johnson writes “One of Oakland’s most prominent citizens, state Attorney General Jerry Brown, said his office would be willing to discuss [with Mr. Dellums’ office, presumably] any plan to provide resources and aid to help Oakland police take on special projects and cases. ‘If we see a plan from them, we’ll listen to it,’ Brown said Thursday.” 

And then in a “Hiring Cops Is A Good Start But Dellums Must Get Tough On Crime” column a week later, Mr. Johnson reiterated his suggestion that Mr. Dellums should use Mr. Brown as a public safety resource, Mr. Johnson added: “If [Mr. Dellums] wants to put a dent in crime, he’s going to have to develop long-term strategies and become a crime-fighting mayor, like his predecessor.” The predecessor Mr. Johnson refers to is Jerry Brown. 

This is an odd resurrection being conducted by Mr. Johnson of Jerry Brown’s Body (of work) in the field of public safety. We don’t remember Mr. Brown as a “crime-fighting mayor,” and this is the first time we can think of that term being applied to him.  

We do remember Mr. Brown generating considerable publicity by calling in the police to clean up the Telegraph Avenue and 27th Street neighborhood where he and his new wife, Anne Gust, had recently moved, and once he went down to a downtown club and reportedly snatched a cellphone out of a woman’s hand during a police action. But perhaps Mr. Johnson can provide more details on why he believes Mr. Brown should be considered a “crime-fighting mayor.”  

Finally, we seem to recall, from dim memory, that Oakland’s problems of crime and violence were virtually identical during the Brown years as they are, now, in the first year of Mr. Dellums’ tenure, leading to the conclusion that if Mr. Brown did fight crime while he was mayor of Oakland, crime won. But perhaps that’s being too flip. If so, I apologize. 

In any event, why all this leads Mr. Johnson to believe that Mr. Dellums should copy the Brown public safety strategies, rather than develop and implement his own, is beyond my capabilities to understand. 

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. 

By 1911—five years after the San Francisco earthquake—Benvenue, Hillegass, and Regent Streets were almost completely built out to Ashby Avenue, streetcars and commuter lines were running along Ashby and College, and a cluster of local shops and services served the neighborhood. 

The homes built along Benvenue, Hillegass, and Regent were spacious and elegant—often architect-designed—and many featured brown-shingle exteriors and craftsman interiors complete with wood-paneled walls and beamed ceilings. It was a fashionable neighborhood, populated by businessmen and professionals. Apartment buildings were unknown here. 

This changed on May 6, 1916, when the Berkeley Daily Gazette announced: 

The new apartment house, “Hillegass Court,” 2821 Hillegass Ave., is just completed for the owner, G. A. Mattern, and is rapidly being occupied by families which had made their choice of apartments during its construction. Architects Wright & Rushforth, of San Francisco, have endeavored to carry out a design suitable to the character of its surroundings, with ample lot area for lawns and shrubbery on all sides, with a driveway to the garage located on the south and in the rear. The central court arrangement affords a degree of privacy to the three entrances, there being one in each wing, and within the terraced court is sufficient area for a nice display of lawn. 

There are a total of sixteen apartments of two, three and four rooms each, with sleeping porches to eight of them. The owner has spared no expense to provide the essentials to health and comfort; light, air, sun, heat and ventilation are well provided for. The basement being high and dry, affords ample storage facilities for tenants, besides a social room, kitchen, laundry and the usual basement equipment. Louis Engler of this city was the contractor, and the cost amounted to about $30,000. 

Hillegass Court went up on a triple lot that had remained open on the block between Stuart and Russell Streets. A handsome, C-shaped structure, it bears a vague resemblance to a lakeside Kurhaus in an Alpine resort. According to a legend that circulated for many years among the tenants, the design is a copy of a 1912 French building Mattern admired. Since there is no record of Mattern having traveled to Europe in the 1910s (he would travel there frequently between 1921 and 1940), it’s possible that he might have seen such a building in a magazine or in an architectural journal shown him by the architect. 

The architect, George Rushforth (1861–1943), was an Englishman who, with his new bride, immigrated to California in 1887. The couple’s first stop was Los Angeles, where their eldest son was born. By 1890, they had moved to Stockton, where they lived for a decade and a half, bringing three more sons into the world. In 1902, George designed Stockton High School. 

In the wake of the 1906 earthquake, Rushforth shifted his field of operations to San Francisco. The move was motivated not only by the better professional opportunities available in the Bay Area but by the need to educate four sons born between 1888 and 1894. 

In 1907, Rushforth opened an office at 2277 California Street with two compatriots, George A. Wright and Bernard J.S. Cahill. He commuted from Berkeley, where the family home was at 2321 Blake St. 

A practical architect, Rushforth was no prima donna; he sought to give his clients what they wanted. This flexibility is evident in the variety of styles seen in his work. Among the better-known San Francisco buildings designed by Wright, Rushforth & Cahill is the 7-story Hotel Whitcomb at Market and Eighth Streets (1911), which was adapted by the architects for use as a temporary City Hall from 1912 to 1915. 

In Berkeley, Rushforth’s most famous work is the Gothic-style Trinity Methodist Church (1927–28) and Trinity Hall (1934) on Dana Street between Durant Ave. and Bancroft Way. 

Rushforth’s connection to his Hillegass Court client was a family affair—his second son, Archibald (1890–1976), married Mabel Mattern and worked in her father’s business. The firm was the famous Gantner & Mattern Co. of San Francisco, later known as Gantner of California. It manufactured sweaters and coats, knit underwear and hosiery, but was especially known for its swimwear. In 1907, it advertised ladies’ bathing suits from $1.90 to $40, men’s from $1 to $6, and boys’ from 75 cents up. Girls at the time did not seem to merit their own swimwear. 

The company promoted its aquatic apparel by exhorting the public to learn to swim, offering a pair of water wings free with every suit. It maintained a baseball team, the Gantner-Matterns, who played in an amateur league that included St. Mary’s College in Oakland. In March 1906, the team played a benefit game against the university’s varsity team, with U.C. president Benjamin Ide Wheeler pitching the first ball. The proceeds went to pay off the $900 mortgage on the house of James Tate’s widow at 2022 Delaware Street. Mr. Tate, known as “Jimmie Potatoes,” had been a university gardener for 20 years. 

The company’s owners, John Oscar Gantner (1868–1951) and George Alfred Mattern (1864–1945), were immigrants’ sons. Gantner’s father was a Swiss saloon keeper, while Mattern’s was a German boat maker. In 1870, the Gantners lived next to another Swiss immigrant family, the Pfisters. John Pfister (born c. 1809) was a brewer who supplied the Gantner saloon. 

The family connections continued into the next generation, but not in the same field. By 1880, John Jacob Pfister (b. 1844) was running the J.J. Pfister Knitting Company, manufacturers of crochet and knitted goods, bathing suits, tights, underwear, sporting uniforms, and importers of bolting cloth. That year, 16-year old Alfred Mattern was working in a woolen mill. He would rise to superintendent at J.J. Pfister & Co. while still in his mid-twenties. At the same time, John O. Gantner would become Pfister’s corporate secretary. 

Mattern, who could never make up his mind whether he was George A. or Alfred G., first appeared in the Berkeley directory in 1893, residing at 2157 Dwight Way. The last time he was listed as a Pfister employee was in 1897, and two years later his occupation was given as “manufacturer.” In 1907, he built a new house at 2701 Regent Street and Derby (the site is now a lawn facing the Willard Park mosaic bench). 

Not much has come down to us about G.A. Mattern’s personal life. He fathered a boy and two girls. His son, Hermann A. Mattern, and his son-in-law, Archibald W. Rushforth, would spend their careers as managers at Gantner & Mattern. The only family member who didn’t fit the business mold was the youngest daughter, Laurinne Easter Mattern, who edited the 1915 commencement issue of the Anna Head School publication, Nods and Becks, and listed herself as an orchestral musician in the 1930 U.S. census. 

In December 1907, the San Francisco Call recorded that G.A. Mattern was one of 750 citizens who attended a Merchants’ Association banquet promoting consolidation of all the cities around San Francisco Bay. A rare lighter note was struck by the same newspaper in August 1910, when it reported, “Frightened by the shouts of his son, who had a nightmare, G.A. Mattern, a wealthy manufacturer of 2701 Regent street, jumped out of bed at an early hour this morning and fell off the sleeping porch of his home, 15 feet to the ground. […] He is now suffering from a fracture of the hip and other injuries.” Awakened by his own screams, Hermann found his father in the garden and summoned Dr. Edith Brownsill, who lived at 2614 Channing Way (current site of the university’s Crossroads dining center). 

In the late 1910s, the Matterns would build a new home at 100 Tunnel Road, but before departing from the Berry-Bangs tract, they beautified it with Hillegass Court. Ron Erickson, a former tenant in the building, described it in 1986: 

There is still a low-ceilinged dance room in the basement, about 60’ x 30’, with original light fixtures, a wood dance floor, and a small serving area at one end. It is thought to have been a meeting-place for the Red Cross during the war. 

Many if not all rooms contained wall beds, built-in ironing boards (still being used), and cabinets just outside each apartment door, accessible for deliveries. All the apartments differ in small, charming details. The larger ones have built-in china closets or secretaries. 

The ornamental work in the exterior design is reflected somewhat in the original stair banisters. All hallways, and much of the apartment interiors, is paneled in beautifully grained cedar divided by three-inch ribs. Unfortunately, all woodwork in the halls was painted a light green, probably in the Fifties. Fortunately, this paint is scraped off fairly easily without chemicals, revealing a rich-grained, brown-reddish stained surface. Altogether, except for superficial alterations, the building seems to be in its original form. 

Once Hillegass Court was completed in 1916, Mattern erected a house for Mabel and Archie Rushforth on the open southern third of the property. To design this unprepossessing Brown Shingle, he didn’t have to go farther than his in-law, Rushforth père. 

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

Daniella Thompson 

Hillegass Court, an elegant 1916 apartment building at 2821 Hillegass Ave.

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.  

One of my favorite critter sightings, and I’ve seen this a number of times, is seen in a crawlspace. It’s a pile of empty snail shells mounded up like a stack of beer cans on a bachelors beaten-up coffee table. It took me a while to figure it out but apparently, raccoons like snails and will collect a bunch of them, kick back under the house and snack away. Are raccoons French? 

A range of animals also live out their lives, fight, give birth and die under and inside houses. At least one or twice a year, I’ll get a call that has to do with animal sounds in a wall, attic or below the floor. If they can get in, all the things that would be happening in the woodland will occur in your house at 3 a.m.; and you get to listen. (That seems to be a favored time for figuring or amour d’bete). 

Some odd few may enjoy these interlopements but most people prefer to keep the wilds outside. If you are among the latter, you may wish to avail yourself of some of the following strategies and data. 

First, mice and rats get inside of almost everyone’s house. If you see evidence (scatological or otherwise) don’t be surprised. Rodents come into houses for warmth, food (when they can get it) and to escape predators, which is why they like the tiny entryways that bar the cat but allow the mouse. 

Mice are very small, smaller than they look. Their skulls are somewhat flexible and they are more fur than flesh. Field mice can enter through openings smaller than one half inch in diameter. Rats vary in size but can also squeeze through three quarter inch openings below doors or around pipes. To prevent these from entering, you will need to begin by identifying every tiny opening in the side of your building. Louvered metal or wooden vents often allow for rodent entry. Replace louvered (with stamped out slits that you can fit your fingers through) metal vents with ones made of quarter inch galvanized steel mesh. Caulk the back rim and screw them in place. 

If you have an old house with wooden foundation vents, you can install the same quarter-inch steel mesh on the inside of these without ruining their marvelous grandmotherly appeal. Take a roll of mesh and a pair of tin snips and cut a rectangle two to four inches larger in each direction than the vent space. Cut away the corners so that you have four tabs that you can bend onto the adjacent jambs or framing or simply snip into the corners diagonally and fold then over each other. Affix these firmly in place using a staple gun and half inch long staples. 

You can do the same thing behind half inch steel mesh vents or any grate that has a larger than one centimeter opening. 

Look carefully around the doors to your electrical or gas compartments. Many do not fit tightly and are virtual rat freeways into your house. Some doors fit so badly that the only real answer is to replace them and make the replacement a nice snug fit. Some doors can be altered with a piece of trim. Remember that a small opening for you may be huge to an animal. 

By the way, once their under the house, there are loads of vessels, chaseways and separations between the crawlspace and the inner walls for critters to traverse so keeping them out at the perimeter is the easiest way. 

Gaps around plumbing, especially large waste lines, are very common. Gaps can be caulked using a good quality caulk. I like polyurethane caulks for their ability to grasp porous materials such as wood. Sikaflex is one good brand. For larger openings you can decide if wood and nails are the answer or something like expanding foam. Keep in mind that rats can eat through foam. If you do use foam, it should be covered over with wood, paint or anything that can minimize exposure.  

For larger openings, mesh can be secured in place thus preserving more ventilation. 

Large mesh areas can be torn out by raccoons and it may be wise to double the mesh. I like a combination of quarter inch mesh and chicken wire. Very large openings can be a combination of quarter inch mesh and welded wire (which comes in a range of mesh sizes and is very heavy duty). 

While you’re at it, it pays to check your attic vents. Many have very large openings and I’ve seen more than a few full sized bird’s nests as evidence. Since bird feces can be virally rich, birds nesting should be considered a real health hazard. 

While it’s nice to make sure the doors to your house fit well for energy conservation reasons, a large bottom gap is also how mice can get inside. This too, is worth looking at. The last one I’ll mention is perhaps the least likely but I have seen evidence of animal entering through roof vents these, too, can be screened except in the case of gas appliances and dryer vents (which shouldn’t go through your roof anyway but, hey, there they are). 

If you’ve really worked your way through all of this, you are in much better shape and likely to have fewer all night parties raging in the wall. A determined animal may still enter by burrowing or may gnaw through a wooden barrier but this isn’t worth worrying about. Deal with that when you have the evidence. 

Ants can’t be stopped by any of these methods so don’t try. Keep the kitchen floor clean and take out the garbage regularly. If that doesn’t do it, you may need to use one of the nasty agents that we all prefer to avoid. Grant’s Ant Stakes work pretty well but be sure to follow the instructions. 

Many a night as I drive home, my headlights catch the eyes of a deer on my curvy little Berkeley street. How lucky we are, I think, to live in a time and place where life flourishes and lives safely among us. While I may not want to hear raccoons fighting over dinner late at night, their presence in my neighborhood is a blessing. I don’t want to live in a city devoid of animal life and if I have to work a bit to corral them, oh well, it’s a small price. 

Photograph by Matt Cantor. 

This wooden ventilation screen, seen from the inside, lets in six rats at a time.

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.  

Add that to the huge number of endemic species we have here, and the proportion of them that are threatened or endangered, and it’s hard to make a case for much other than conservation and restoration in our gardens.  

Here again is where my own history and bias inform my thinking, and I’ll be forthright about it. I came to gardening via birding and natural history. Wanting to know what the bird was sitting on led top wanting to know how it all fit together, then who the individuals in the system were. So when it comes to plants as well as other organisms, I guess my mindset is one of discovery rather than shaping.  

I got to thinking about that a few years back when we stumbled upon a woodland garden just north of Yuba Pass in the Sierra. It was, at the time, open to the public; I believe it’s closed since. We try to get up to the area every summer for the wildflowers and birds, and so spend some time tramping about in the yellow pine and red fir forests.  

We’ve seen fantastic things like the baroque red saprophytes snowplant and pine drops; stalks of tiny white rein orchids massed in roadside ditches; whole meadows of impossibly blue camas and fizzy yellow madia; violets and larkspurs and lilies and paintbrush and pussy paws—all more or less by accident. Creeks spread out into wet meadows of elephant’s-heads and corn lilies and shooting stars, then re-channel themselves to make perfect bankside gardens of moss and ferns and buttercups.  

Streamcourses and boulders and shrub groupings all follow the original aesthetic of Nature, ruled by gravity and light and water arriving all the way to the local sky and peaks from the Pacific. Every form, no matter how varied, has the inevitability of mathematics. Who could improve on this?  

Not, as it seemed, the planners of this garden. It was pleasant enough, but even allowing for its raw, not-quite-finished state, it seemed forced in some places, bare in others. There was a lake and a lakeside lodge with flagpoles, an arched bridge and some rather handsome paths, but nothing looked so perfect as the surrounding mountains do, despite human incursions and devastations.  

Compared to the manzanitas and ceanothuses beyond its borders, the shrubs looked thirsty and out of place. Compared to the unique local wildflowers, the herbaceous stuff looked ordinary; I’d seen most of it in gardens here at home. Why go all the way up there to see what I’d seen here? 

If I didn’t know any better I think I’d have loved the place. But having returned to the area year after year, having come to know it, I did know better: the wilderness next door. 

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

TUESDAY, JAN. 29 

FILM 

Experimental Documentaries “we will live to see these things, or, five pictures of what may come to pass” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Beth Lisick reads from “One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Louise Dunlap describes “Undoing the Silence: Six tools for Social Change Writing” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Del Sol String Quartet “Rhythms and Sounds from Around the World” with clarinetist Jeffrey Anderle at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20. 525-5211. 

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

Randy Craig Trio, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Bandworks at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. 

Chris Botti at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $35-$40. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 30 

EXHIBITIONS 

Youth Arts Festival Artwork from Berkeley K-12 public school students. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at Berkeley art Center. 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 644-6893. 

“Awakening” Hand-drawn mandalas by Maia Apalonia, opens at NoneSuch Space, 2865 Broadway, Upper Floor, Oakland, and runs through March 1. 625-1600.  

Works by Sunhee Kim opens at Christensen Heller Gallery, 5829 College Ave., Oakland. 655-5952. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“From the Cinema of Abstractions to Narrative Illusionism” with Prof. Marilyn Fabe at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

The Believer Magazine Pizza Party at 7:30 p.m. at Moe's Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Andrés Reséndez describes “A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey to Cabeza de Vaca” 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 

Wednesday Noon Concert “Schubert and Beethovan in Vienna” at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

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

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

Gator Beat at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun/Zydeco dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $7. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Orquestra Bakan at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Pacific Manouche at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 31 

FILM 

Jean-Pierre Léaud “Two English Girls” 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 

Jennie Wang reads from “The Iron Curtain of Language: Maxine Hong Kingston and American Orientalism” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585.  

Lashonda Barnett describes “I Got Thunder: Black Women Songwriters on Their Craft” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

Richard Friar discusses “The Keepers: Part 1: WWIII” the first book in “The Keepers” trilogy and the battle machines he has included in the novel at 6:30 p.m. at El Sobrante Library, 4191 Appian Way, El Sobrante. 374-3991. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Change the Beat” Benefit for Educate, Ugandan and Rwandan refugees, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Berkeley Symphony with the US premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s “Lotus under the moonlight” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$60. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org 

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

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

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

Ben Benkert and the Burnouts, Raya Nova at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. 

Joe Reilly, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Phantom Family, La Otracina, rock, heavy metal, at 9 p.m. at Maxwell’s Lounge, 341 13th St., Oakland. Cost is $7. 839-6169. 

Chris Botti at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $35-$40. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

FRIDAY, FEB. 1 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Barefoot in the Park” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman, through Feb. 16. Tickets are $10-$12. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Altarena Playhouse “Wait Until Dark” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Altarena Playhouse, 1409 High St., Alameda, through Feb. 16. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Aurora Theatre “Satellites” at 8 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. through March 2. Tickets are $40-$42. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Black Repertory Group Theatre “A Raisin In The Sun” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 3201 Adeline St. Tickets are $5-$25. 652-2120. blackrepertorygroup.com 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “The Cocoanuts” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., some Sun. matinees at 2 p.m., at 951 Pomona Ave., at Moeser, El Cerrito, through March 2. Tickets are $15-$24. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

foolsFURY Theater “Monster in the Dark” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 5 p.m., through Feb. 17, at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets are $12-$30. 800-838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com 

Masquers Playhouse “Angel Street” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. through Feb. 23 at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $18. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Tilden Odyssey” Textured paintings, collages, and monotypes by Sheila Sondick on display at the Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park, through Feb. 28. 525-2233. 

“Double Vision: Artist Partners” Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, 25 Grand Ave., upper level, Oakland. Exhibition runs to March 15. www.chandracerrito.com 

“Yea We Said It, And No We’re Not Sorry” works by Malik and Milton Bowens for Black History Month. Opening reception at 5:30 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Exhibit runs to Feb. 29. 465-8928. 

Huey P. Newton Photography Exhibit Celebrating the achievements and influence of the founder of the co-founder of the Black Panther Party at the West Oakland Branch of the Oakland Public Libray, 1801 Adeline St., through Feb. 29. 238-7352.  

“Heart Attack: The Ying & Yandg of Love” Group art show opens at Eclectix, 7523 Fairmunt Ave., El Cerrito. 364-7261. www.eclectixgallery.com 

FILM 

The Medieval Remake “Lancelot of the Lake” at 7 p.m. and “The Knithgt” at 8:45 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Kelly Corrigan reads form “The Middle Place” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500.  

MUSIC AND DANCE  

Noon Concert, with Kai Chou, cello and Wiggin Wi, piano at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. 

Zydeco Flames in a celebration of Black History Month at 5 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak, Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2002. 

Andrea Prichett & Friends of Carol Denney, Funky Nixons, Phoenix, After Buffalo, MC Che X in a fundraiser for Carol Denney & Berkeley Liberation Radio at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. Tickets are $12-$15 sliding scale. 849-2568. 

Dwight Tribble & Muzuki Roberson Quintet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ.  

Soja, Rebellion, reggae, at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054.  

Palm Wine Boys at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Darryl Henriques at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761.  

Andrew Sammons and Friends, jazz, swing, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Trick Kernan Combo, rock, jazz, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. 

Dave Matthews Blues Band at 8 p.m. at The Warehouse Bar & Grill, 402 Webster St., Oakland. 451-3161. 

The Connie Lim Band, Tara Tinsley, Rabbitmotaei at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082.  

Kevin Seconds, Ryan Stark, Eric Core and others at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

3rd Date at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Greg Scott, R&B, pop, at 9 p.m. at Maxwell’s Lounge, 341 13th St., Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. 839-6169. 

SATURDAY, FEB. 2 

CHILDREN  

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Joe Reilly singing environmental songs at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children. 849-2568.  

Active Arts Theatre for Young Audiences “Little Women” Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m., through Feb. 3, at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $14-$18. 925-798-1300.  

African Tales with storyteller Kirk Waller Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellvue Ave., Oakland.  

FILM 

Screenagers: Bay Area High School Film Festival at 1 and 3:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

Human Rights Watch Film Festival “Everything’s Cool” at 6 p.m. and “The Unforeseen” at 8 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

18th Annual African American Celebration through Poetry from 1 to 4 p.m. at the West Oakland Branch of the Oakland Public Library, 1801 Adeline St. 238-7352.  

David Rieff reads from his memoir and tribute to his mother “Swimming in a Sea of Death” at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading from 3 to 5 p.m., at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street, not in Lodge parking lot. 527-9905.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Arts Festival with Sarah Cahill, pianist, premieres new music at 8 p.m. at 2213 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $10. 665-9496. 

The Laurel Ensemble, “French Romance and American Modernism” at 8 p.m. at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets are $8-$12. 549-3864. www. 

trinitychamberconcerts.com 

La Richie & Co. “Indoor Fireworks: The Pyrotechnics of Handel and his London Oboists” at 8 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College at Garber. Tickets are $10-$25. 528-1725. www.sfems.org 

Ethiopian Arts Forum: Either/Orchestra, led by Russ Gershon, with special guest Mulatu Astatke at 9:30 p.m. at Historic Sweet‚s Ballroom, 1933 Broadway, Oakland. Tickets, available at the door, are $20, $30 for VIP area. 501-3413.  

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra Winter Concert at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $12-$15. 849-9776. 

Winds Across the Bay “Winds Goes to the Movies” with music from Star Wars, The Aviator, Henry V, Lord of the Rings, Fiddler on the Roof, King Kong, and more, at 2 p.m. at the Hilltop Community Church, 3118 Shane Drive, Richmond. Tickets are $5-$10. 243-0514. www.windsacrossthebay.org 

Mardi Gras Countdown with Chelle and Friends at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Eric Swinderman Quintet “In Pursuit of the Sound” at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Mardi Gras with Hot Pink Feathers and Blue Bone Express at Café Van Kleef, 1621 Telegraph Ave. Oakland. Cost is $10.  

Creole Belles with Andrew Carriere and Suzy Thompson at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Rodney Brillante, Lily Virginia, guitar, ukulele, at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Jim Post “Mark Twain and the Laughing River” at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $19.50-$20.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

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

Caroline Chung Trio, jazz, at 9 p.m. at Downtown. 649-3810.  

Apple Pie Hopes, The Hobo Gobbelins and Jonathan Beast & the Bathroom Floors at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Tera Mellos, Planets, Car 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. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 3 

EXHIBITIONS 

California Society of Printmakers Valentine Show from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Chamber Arts, 2924 Ashby Ave. between College and Claremont. art@lilahands.com 

Watercolors by Emily Weil Opening reception at 4 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

FILM 

The Medieval Remake “The Seventh Seal” at 2 p.m. and “the Virgin Spring” at 4 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Rumi: and 800th Birthday Party with Coleman Barks and musicians Stephen Kent, Geoffrey Gordon, Sukhawat Ali Khan and Kris Yenny at 8 p.m. at King Middle School, 1781 Rose St. Tickets are $15-$20 at Cody’s and at www.kpfa.org 

Jim Wallis on “The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Suggested donation $10. 559-9500.  

“Radical Fatherhood and Political Parenting” Reading and discussion with Tomas Moniz and Rahula Janowski at 5 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Young People’s Symphony Orchestra Winter Concert at 3 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $12-$15. 849-9776. 

Live Oak Concert Solo Violin with Donna Lerew at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., near Eunice. TIckets are $10-$15. 644-6893.  

Angela Kraft-Cross, organ concert at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, 2619 Broadway. 444-3555. 

Mamak Khadem Ensemble, Middle Eastern fusion, at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $25. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Plays Monk at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Ana Nitmar at 7 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. 

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

Az Samad, Shelley Leong at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Jesse Evans, Swann Danger, Otto Nervous at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

MONDAY, FEB. 4 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Real or Surreal” Art by Mari Kearney opens at Cafe Diem, 2224 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Art, Technology and Culture Colloquium “Giant Robot Architecture” with Greg Lynn and Angewandte at 7:30 p.m. at 160 Kroeber Hall, UC Campus. 643-9565.  

“The Adventures of a Wildlife Photographer” with Eleanor Bricetti at 12:30 p.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

David Lance Goines will present an illustrated lecture on the process of making posters at 7:30 p.m. at the Hillside Club. 

Actors Reading Writers “Transformational Romance” stories by N.M. Kelby and Jonathan Lethem at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214. 

Aurora Theatre “Our Dad is in Atlantis” reading followed by discussion at 7:30 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. 843-4822.  

Poetry Express with Cherise Wyneken at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Quake City at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100.  

Trovatore, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

SF Bluegrass & Old-Time Festival with Town Mountain, Spring Creek and Homespun Rowdy at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $15.50-$16.50. 548-1761 www.freightandsalvage.org 

Larry Coryell with Bombay Jazz at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $12-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

In a Victorian parlor, a querulous wife (Michelle Pond as Bella Manningham) feels things are slipping away from her grasp, though she’s unable to explain how or why, while her prepossessing husband (David Shirk as Jack Manningham), in quiet, gentle tones or with impatience, treats her as a child, whether a naughty one or a child unaware of the import of what she’s doing. 

Bella’s fear is that she—like her late mother—is losing her mind. And her husband supplies the proof of it: household items squirreled away which Bella has no memory of moving out of their accustomed place.  

The maidservants are the witnesses. Jack even calls them in to testify—loyal Elizabeth (Jean Rose) with supportive words, saucy young Nancy (Heather Morrison) with condescension and a smirk. 

But while the master of the house is out, an eccentric stranger comes calling. Introducing himself as Rough (Norman Macleod), a neighbor, the gentleman declares to Bella that the trouble isn’t in her mind, but in what he knows happened, a long time ago, in the house. 

Like a moth between two candles, Bella orbits between two stories, as the plot thickens when the gaslight goes low. 

“Gaslight,” that lurid brightness at night before electricity, is the title the Masquers production of Patrick Hamilton’s Angel Street is best known by. Alfred Hitchcock’s film of that name took that popular potboiler beyond the constraints of theatrical runs and word-of-mouth, to an enduring recognition. And the gaslights in the parlor themselves signal the changes in this hypnotic duel of wills that does seem to be a battle of darkness with light. 

Michelle Pond, longtime Masquer, who just played flirtacious Nancy Twinkle in that farce to end all light opera, Little Miss Sunshine, fulfills the vow set down in her program bio, giving up “hamming it up” in musicals to “simply let this fabulous script take me on this sad, frightening and hopeful journey each night.” She takes the audience along with her, truly the subject in every sense. 

David Shirk plays Jack less with an air of mystery than as a man self-assured to the point of complete self-absorption, difficult to read until he plays his hand—an admirable characterization in this kind of melodrama. 

And Norman Macleod brings an analytical seriousness to what becomes, as he describes it, a labrynthine predicament. It’s a bit lightened by his whimsicality, the only levity in Bella’s grim dilemma. 

Patricia Inabnet’s direction sets the tone from which the drama evolves. Rob Bradshaw’s sober, matter-of-fact set provides grounding along with Debbi Sandmann’s lights and Jerry Telfer’s sound design. Jo Lusk’s costumes, so important to establish period, class and character, seem impeccable. 

When players greet the audience in the lobby after the show, the mood lifts, and it’s like waking from a dream. An old-time entertainment has done its work; the Masquers have conducted their visitors on a seance through Victorian shadows. 

Angel Street 

Masquers Playhouse 

105 Park Place, Richmond 

Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2:30 p.m. 

through Feb. 23 

Tickets $18 

www.masquers.org, 232-4031

McSweeney’s, the San Francisco Mission District publishing concern founded by author Dave Eggers, is coming to Berkeley with a pizza party (they will provide the pizza) at Moe’s Books at 2476 Telegraph Ave. to celebrate the 50th issue of their monthly magazine, The Believer, on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Moe’s is one of 20 stores nationally where McSweeney’s is planning a celebration this week. “Any magazine today producing 50 issues is remarkable,” said Owen Hill of Moe’s. “McSweeney’s has a list of young, clever writers. The Believer is a good, open-ended interview/review magazine. We’ve hosted a pizza party before for their video magazine, and they're good at getting enough veggies for the vegetarians, enough meat for the carnivores!” 

A pair of Oakland writers have offered a compelling blueprint for the world’s energy ministers as they debate how best to address global warming and replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. 

In Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, longtime writers and organizers for a variety of environmental groups, argue that countries that want to get serious about combating global warming will have to start doing more than just finding better ways to limit carbon emissions—they will have to find new ways to create and invest in clean energy. 

In fact, Nordhaus and Shellenberger write, the “the politics of limits,” which they see as defining the environmental movement, have failed to address the challenges posed by global warming. What is needed, they say, is a new approach built on investment in technological innovation and financial security, not on limiting economic potential and talking about the coming ecological apocalypse. 

According to Nordhaus and Shellenberger, we must find a way forward rather than concentrating only on how to reverse our path. The authors have expanded on the theme of their 2004 article “The Death of Environmentalism,” which raised quite a few eyebrows at the time for criticizing the accepted gospel of how to best protect the environment. 

The authors point out that only a few of the countries that signed on to Kyoto will reduce their emissions at all by the deadline. Most will meet the required 5 percent reduction by buying carbon reduction credits from developing countries. The authors express little hope that the Kyoto limits-based approach is the answer to reducing real emissions as the global demand for energy is expected to grow more than half by 2030 and carbon dioxide emissions are projected to rise 55 percent in that time unless cleaner energy sources are discovered.  

Nordhaus and Shellenberger propose a combination of investments in technology and economic development to drive the quest for these sources. “We argue for a pro-growth agenda that defines the kind of prosperity we believe is necessary to improve the quality of life and to overcome ecological crisis,” they write. “One of the places where this politics of possibility takes concrete form is at the intersection of investment and innovation.” They say a pro-growth agenda can help stabilize the climate. Environmentalists can’t solve the ecological crisis, they contend, because only those who put prosperity first have the ability to push for such a revolution in our politics to prepare for and address global warming. 

Despite the growing ubiquity of green merchandise, media coverage, and talk among politicians about ending global warming, Nordhaus and Shellenberger point out that the environment remains a low priority and is actually decreasing in importance among most voters. The environmental movement as we have known it in this country for the past 40 years has stalled, they argue. It has become a partisan issue and worse than that one that doesn’t effectively motivate voters on the left. Environmental groups have become just another special interest group, the authors argue, focused on a sole issue, often to the detriment of competing progressive causes. Sure, most people say they favor protecting wetlands, improving the air and reducing global warming, but when it comes to priorities, jobs, crime and health care are justifiably higher concerns for almost everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike. 

Nordhaus and Shellenberger point out that only with rising affluence do people turn their attention to certain quality of life issues such as environmentalism. In this way, economic security is the basis for ecological concern. Americans have become more affluent and less secure at the same time, they write. With growing job insecurity, greater economic disparity, rising health care costs and growing debt, Americans in general feel less in control of their lives than they did a generation ago when sympathy with environmental causes was stronger. “It is only when people are feeling in control, secure and free to create their lives that they behave expansively and generously toward the collective,” Nordhaus and Shellenberger write.  

The authors propose that progressives stop feeding this insecurity by telling horror stories about the coming ecological collapse, such as Al Gore did in An Inconvenient Truth, and instead look for ways to create more secure and healthier communities where people feel able to seek quality-of-life issues that include ecological concerns. Nordhaus and Shellenberger propose that new environmentalists look at how successful evangelical Christians have been in such community building, paying attention to the needs and values of how people live and creating new ways for them to belong and feel fulfilled. 

On the international level, they argue for debt elimination for countries like Brazil and a new understanding that certain countries, such as ours, can no longer leverage their own economic national interests against the world’s ecological needs. The authors devote a chapter to the economic and ecological challenges facing Brazil, explaining how the country’s crippling debt payments are responsible for exacerbating the deforestation of the Amazon and preventing the country from addressing the material needs of its citizens, denying the society any possibility of striving toward the prosperity that is needed to elevate ecological concerns among its citizens. They write: “Until the world’s wealthiest countries seriously support Brazil’s goals for itself, the colossus of the south will have neither the means nor the motives to save the Amazon.” 

In this way, they argue, environmentalists must stop seeing new prosperity in countries like China and India as a threat to ecological stability and understand that along with the obvious dangers and challenges there also exist opportunities to create new environmental values there. And likewise, in the Unites States, the answer for a more efficient way of living is to increase urban density. Nordhaus and Shellenberger ask why some should have the right to privilege their neighborhood (or their county) over others. “In the name of opposing development that is ‘out of scale with the neighborhood,’ they end up blocking the transformation of American communities into vibrant, creative, and high-density cities,” the authors write. Nordhaus and Shellenberger tell us that we have to prepare for climate change, that the reality of global warming is here and that means that we have to learn how to live differently.  

They give credit to veteran environmentalists who fought for limits effectively in winning the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, but the fight against global warming is a different beast, they say, and it’s time for the old leaders to step aside. According to Nordhaus and Shellenberger the old strategies of pushing for caps on emissions, reductions on manufacturing and bans on chemicals are inadequate to address such a complex problem as global warming. Without any vision for forward motion, speaking only about limits and what we can’t or shouldn’t do, the authors conclude that environmentalists have become the naysayers of the nation, the killjoys in the conversation about how to move forward.  

Nordhaus and Shellenberger have been part of crafting a new Apollo project on clean energy, calling for the investment of $300 billion in energy markets over the next decade to help propel technological breakthroughs in wind, solar, mass transit, carbon sequestration, hydrogen and other energy sources. “A new Apollo project tells an overarching story about America,” Nordhaus and Shellenberger write. “It begins by acknowledging what America is great at: imagining, experimenting, and inventing the future.” 

BREAK THROUGH: FROM THE DEATH OF ENVIRONMENTALISM TO THE POLITICS OF POSSIBILITY 

By Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger.  

Houghton Mifflin Company. 2007. $25.

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. 

Linepithema humile has been called, against stiff competition, one of the world’s worst invasive species. Argentine ants don’t sting or bite, like that scourge of the South the red imported fire ant. What they do is more insidious: they disassemble whole ecosystems. They kill or drive out native ant colonies and eat their way through the local arthropod prey base. (They can handle much larger native ant species; photographs of a half-dozen of them dragging down a huge, as ants go, harvester ant are reminiscent of that Planet Earth footage of a pride of lions tackling an elephant.)  

Ant-eating reptiles like the coast horned lizard can’t stomach them, and horned lizard populations have declined by up to 50 percent in invaded areas. Plants that depend on native ants to transport their seeds are left partnerless. The Argentines use exotic plantings like iceplant as staging areas for colonizing native plant communities. 

Once they arrive in a new locale, Argentine ants form supercolonies containing millions of individual workers. Back home in South America, neighboring colonies live in a constant state of mutual hostility. But that isn’t true in California and other Linepithema beachheads in Mediterranean Europe, Asia, Australia, southern Africa, and the Pacific islands.  

According to research by Andrew Suarez, now at the University of Illinois, there is in effect one great big Argentine ant colony in California that stretches from San Diego to Ukiah. Normally, introducing a worker ant to a foreign colony is a death sentence. But you can drop an Argentine ant from Lompoc into a colony in Milpitas and she’ll receive a sisterly welcome, and be put right to work. 

That’s because she’ll have the correct colony smell. South American colonies are genetically varied, and each one has its distinctive odor which serves as a badge of membership. But the Argentine ants in the great California supercolony, descendants of a small founder population, all smell alike. They haven’t had time to re-evolve the variation. Although genetic bottlenecks are supposed to be a bad thing, reducing a population’s resistance to disease and other stressors, these ants seem to benefit from their genetic uniformity. 

Despite that, you would think that Argentine ant booms would eventually go bust, since eating everything in sight is not a sustainable foraging strategy. They don’t, though. These ants have another trick up their sleeves. 

According to a recent study by David Holway at UC San Diego, who collaborated with Suarez, Argentine ants do start out as generalist predators of other insects. At some point, however, they switch to a high-carb diet of the honeydew that aphids and scale insects excrete. “Honeydew nectar is essentially digested plant sap,” Holway says. “If you’ve ever parked your car under a tree and found your windshield covered with sticky stuff, that’s honeydew from aphids and scales.” Think, for example, of the tulip trees on University Avenue. It’s honeydew that fuels the growth of the supercolonies. 

A mutualist relationship with honeydew producers is not rare among ants. What’s unusual is the change from predation to nectar-sipping. It’s as if a band of human hunter-gatherers moved into a new hunting territory, killed off almost everything edible, then domesticated the last few sheep and became pastoralists. 

Holway and his co-authors tracked a Linepithema invasion in Rice Canyon in southern California, documenting the near-extirpation of native ants as the newcomers moved in; native diversity fell from 23 species to two. They used a technique called stable isotope analysis to determine what the Argentine ants had been eating, and identify when their diet changed. Comparing the ratio of heavy to light nitrogen isotopes allowed the scientists to distinguish carnivores from herbivores (or, in the case of the Argentines, carbovores.) 

So it appears that Argentine ants are flexible enough in their behavior to avoid the consequences of ecological overkill. As long as they have their scales or aphids, they’re in fine shape. 

And things are only going to get better for them. Species with limited ranges and narrow habitat and food requirements may be pushed to extinction by global climate change, but not the Argentine ant. Another recent study, headed by Nuria Roura-Pascual at the University of Girona in Catalonia, suggests that unoccupied areas in East Asia, northeastern North America, and elsewhere will become more suitable for invasion in a warmer world. Linepithema marches on. 

Joe Eaton’s “Wild Neighbors” column appears every other Tuesday in the Berkeley Daily Planet, alternating with Ron Sullivan’s “Green Neighbors” column on East Bay trees.

TUESDAY, JAN. 29 

Community Meeting on Pacific Steel and West Berkeley Air Quality Monitoring Learn about air monitoring results in West Berkeley and what toxics have been found in the air at 7 p.m. at West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 6th St., at Hearst. Sponsored by Greenaction, Global Community Monitor, West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs, and the Ecology Center. 415-248-5010. 

“The Eleventh Hour” A documentary by Leonardo DiCaprio on the state of the global environment, and practical solutions for restoring the planet’s ecosystems at 5 p.m. at Boalt Hall, Room 110, UC Campus. Sponsored by the California Center for Environmental Law and Policy. 642-6774. 

“Navigating the Mekong” A film by Mic O’Shea on his solo kayak adventure from Tibet to the South China Sea at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

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

Alameda Women’s Commission “Community Conversation” to gain support for CEDAW (The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) at 5:30 p.m. at the Alameda Library, 1550 Oak St., Alameda. Free, but reservations requested. 259-3871. 

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

“The TV show House and the Experience of Socialist Society So Far” Discussion taking off from an excerpt of “Making Revolution and Emancipating Humanity” by Bob Avakian at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. 

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 

Street Level Cycles Community Bike Program Come use our tools as well as receive help with performing repairs free of charge. Youth classes available. Tues., Thurs., and Sat. from 2 to 6 p.m. at at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 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. 30 

Proposed Spraying to Combat Apple Moth in Alameda County A community meeting on the spray will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Environmental Health, 528 61st St., Oakland. 594-9864. 

Rally Outside the Marine Recruiting Station in Berkeley at 10 a.m. for the launching of the Military Recruiting Zoning Ordinance Initiative to refine the zoning regulations of military recruiting. 524-2776. info (at) bayareacodepink (dot) org 

Pools for Berkeley meets at 7 p.m. at the City of Berkeley Corporation Yard, 1326 Allston Way. www.poolsforberkeley.org 

“Paradise Now” A film about Palestinian recruits for a major operation in Tel Aviv, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. www.Humanist Hall.org 

“Understanding Children’s Temperament” with Rona Renner, R.N., at 6:30 p.m. at Windrush School, Multipurpose Room, 1800 Elm St., El Cerrito. 970-7580. 

Cash for College Workshop at 6:30 p.m. at Albany High School, 603 Key Route Blvd. or Oakland High School Theater and Library, 1023 Macarthur Blvd. For details see www.calgrants.org 

“Women’s Hormone Balance: PMS, Infertility, and Menopause” at 7:30 p.m. at Rockridge Curves, 5665 College Ave., Suite 1, Oakland. Free. Foundation for Wellness Professionals. 849-1176. 

Pacific Boychoir Auditions for boys ages 5-9 at 410 Alcatraz in Oakland. Please call for an audition appointment. 652-4722.  

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. 

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

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART station. www. 

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

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

After-School Program Homework help, drama and music 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. 31 

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

World of Plants Tours at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755.  

Fitness Class for 55+ at 9:15 a.m. at Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

Stress Reduction Free intro class at 7 p.m. at 1672 University Ave. 524-8833. 

FRIDAY, FEB. 1 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Andrew Stern, Emeritus Journalism School Professor, UCB, on “Photojournalism Today: Including Photos from Pamplona, Running of the Bulls.” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

“King: A Man of Peace in a Time of War” A documentary of Martin Luther King Jr. with rare footage from the Mike Douglas Show and his views on the Vietnam War, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Friends Church, Sacramento at Cedar St. 684-9303. 

“The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream” A documentary on how “peak oil” affects life as we know it at 3 p.m. at Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St. Followed by discussion with Berkeley Oil Independence Task Force. www.relocalize.net/groups/oilindependentberkeley  

“The Story of Stuff” A documentary on the underside of our production and consumption patterns at 7 p.m. at Center for Urban Peace, 2584 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. 549-3733. ext. 6. 

Friday Films for Teens at 3:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd flr., 2090 Kittredge St. For details call 981-6121. 

“Enlivening the Chakras” with Anodea Judith at noon at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200.  

Mahea Uchiyama Center for International Dance Open House from 6 to 9 p.m. at 729 Heinz Ave. 845-2605. 

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310. 

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St at University. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253.  

SATURDAY, FEB. 2 

“Education is Everybody’s Business” Latino Education Summit with information on applying to college, financial aid, with workshops in both English and Spanish. From 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at CA State Univ. East Bay, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd. Free, but registration required. 885-3516.  

Save the Bay Trash Removal Technology Tour at Lake Merritt from 10 a.m. to 1 pm. Cost is $25, free for Save the Bay members. Call for details 452-9261, ext. 119. 

Masked Bandits Learn about clever racoons through a craft and a nature walk, for ages 6+ at 2 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Grounhog Day Children’s events from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Storytelling at noon at Habitot Children’s Museum, 2065 Kittredge St. 647-1111.  

“Where Have All the Rosies Gone?” with Betty Reid Soskin of the Rosie the Riveter/Home Front National Park at 2 p.m. at Rockridge Library, 5366 College Ave. 

Politcal Affairs Readers Group meets to discuss”Africa Today” by Libero Della Piana and “The Eagle Flies Over Africa” by Vijay Prashad at 10 a.m. at Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. Sponsored by the Communist Party (Oakland Berkeley). 595-7417.  

Preschool Storytime, for ages 3-5, at 11 a.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

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

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

Oakland Artisans Marketplace Sat. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Jack London Square. 238-4948. 

SUNDAY, FEB. 3 

Lunar New Year Celebration with activities for the whole family from noon to 5 p.m. at the Oakland Museum of California, Oak and 10th St., Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2002. 

Toddler Nature Walk, for 2-3 year olds, to look for salamanders at 10:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

An Amphibian Amble A walk to look for newts, ensatinas and salamanders in local puddles, ponds and under logs, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Alan Rinzler’s Writer’s Workshop on “Getting Published” at 3 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. Other sessions on March 9 and April 6. 559-9500. 

“The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America” with Jim Wallis at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way at Dana. Suggested donation $10. 559-9500.  

“Radical Fatherhood and Political Parenting” Reading and discussion with Tomas Moniz and Rahula Janowski at 5 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

Berkeley Rep’s Family Series Monthly theater workshop for the entire family at 11 a.m. at Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, Nevo Education Center, 2071 Addison St. Free, but bring a book to donate to the library at John Muir Elementary School. 647-2973. 

Old Time Radio East Bay collectors and listeners gather to enjoy shows together at 5 p.m. at a private home in Berkeley. For more information email DavidinBerkeley at Yahoo.com. 

Kensington Farmers’ Market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 303 Arlington Ave. at Amherst, Kensington. 525-6155. 

Berkeley Chess Club meets every Sun. at 7 p.m. at the Hillside School, 1581 Le Roy Ave. 843-0150. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

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 

Tibetan Buddhism with Steve Randall on “A New Way of Inquiry” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 809-1000 www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Sew Your Own Open Studio Come learn to use our industrial and domestic machines, or work on your own projects, from 5 to 9 p.m. at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. Cost is $3 per hour. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

MONDAY, FEB. 4  

Golden Gate Audubon Society Field Trip “Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland” with Bob Lewis. Meet at 9:30 a.m. From 880, exit at Hegenberger, and head west. Turn right on Pardee and then left on Swan and right into the park. 843-2222. 

Berkeley School Volunteers Orientation from noon to 1 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. Come learn about volunteer opportunities. 644-8833. 

Free Boatbuilding Classes for Youth Mon.-Wed. from 3 to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Boathouse, 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. 644-2577.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. 548-0425. 

Dragonboating Year round classes at the Berkeley Marina, Dock M. Meets Mon, Wed., Thurs. at 6 p.m. Sat. at 10:30 a.m. For details see www.dragonmax.org 

CITY MEETINGS 

City Council meets Tues., Jan. 29 , at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www. 

ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

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. 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 

Donate the Excess Fruit from Your Fruit Trees I’ll gladly pick and deliver your fruit to community programs that feed school kids, the elderly, and the hungry. The fruit trees should be located in Berkeley and organic (no pesticides). This is a free volunteer/ 

grassroots thing so join in!! To scehdule and appointment call or email 812-3369. northberkeleyharvest@gmail.com http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

FRIDAY, JAN. 25 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “Barefoot in the Park” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. at Berryman, through Feb. 16. Tickets are $10-$12. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org 

Altarena Playhouse “Wait Until Dark” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Altarena Playhouse, 1409 High St., Alameda, through Feb. 16. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org  

Aurora Theatre “Satellites” at 8 p.m. at 2081 Addison St. through March 2. Tickets are $40-$42. 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “The Cocoanuts” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., some Sun. matinees at 2 p.m., at 951 Pomona Ave., at Moeser, El Cerrito, through March 2. Tickets are $15-$24. 524-9132. www.ccct.org 

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. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Masquers Playhouse “Angel Street” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. through Feb. 23 at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $18. 232-4031. www.masquers.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Best Western” Art by Martin Webb. Artist reception at 5 p.m. at Estaban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., Oakland. Exhibit runs through Feb. 18. 444-7411. www.estebansabar.com 

FILM 

Jean-Pierre Léaud “Love on the Run” at 7 p.m. and “Sweet Love, Bitter” at 8:40 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sonja Lyubomirsky describes “The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland East Bay Symphony Verdi’s “Requiem” at 8 p.m. at Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. Pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m. 444-0801. www.oebs.org 

Pacific Lutheran University’s University Chorale Concert at 7 p.m. at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 1658 Excelsior Ave., Oakland. Free, donations accepted. 530-6333.  

“The Solo Violin” with Donna Lerew at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery, 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $5-$10.  

The Isaac Schwartztet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $12-$10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Rhonda Benin & Soulful Strut at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Tempest, Avalon Rising at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Joni Davis at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Any Old Time String Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Ben Ross, Christopher Hanson at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Straggler, Superthief, Humanzee at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Benefit for People’s Park Anniversary with New Thrill Parade, Tulsa, Wildlife, Jump off a Building and the Functionelles, at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blow Out with John Mayall, Kenny Neal, Fingers Taylor & Lazy Lester and the Blues Survivors at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $22-$30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com  

Bayonics at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5. 548-1159.  

Paula Fuga at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Russell Taylor, R&B, at 9 p.m. at Maxwell’s Lounge, 341 13th St., Oakland. Cost is $10-$15. 839-6169. 

SATURDAY, JAN. 26 

CHILDREN  

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

Active Arts Theatre for Young Audiences “Little Women” Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m., through Feb. 3, at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $14-$18. 925-798-1300. www.willowstickets.org  

Uncle Eye Songs and stories at 11 a.m. at Studio Grow, 1235 Tenth St. Cost is $7. 526-9888. 

THEATER 

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  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Don Clausen: Retrospective, 1964 to Present” Reception at 2 p.m. at Alta Galleria, 2980 College Ave., Suite 4. Exhibition runs to March 1. 421-1255. www.altagalleria.com  

FILM 

African Film Festival “Waiting for Happiness” at 6:30 p.m. at “Bamako” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“As if in Sleep: Collected Stories by Tim Barsky” at 8 p.m. at at the JCC of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut St. Tickets are $12. 848-0237. 

“The Music of Kurt Weill: September Songs” A film of staged and choreographed dramatizations of Brecht-Weill songs set in an old warehouse, at 5 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph at Alcatraz, Oakland. 527-9584. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Jane Bernstein describes “Rachel in the World: A Memoir” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

A Conversation with Christopher Taylor and David Benson author of “Music: A Mathematical Offering” at Chern Hall, Grizzly Peak and Centennial Way. 642-9988. 

Andrew Demcak and Nina Lindsay, poets, at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. claybanes@gmail.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

American Bach Soloists “Christmas Oratorio” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $16-$42. 415-621-7900. 

The Arlekin String Quartet Celebration of the 35th Anniversary of Young People's Chamber Orchestra at 4 p.m. at Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave. Suggested donation $15-$25, includes dinner. 595-4688. 

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, with Winton Marsalis, trumpet, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $34-$68. 642-9988. www.calperformances.net 

De Rompe y Raja “Diáspora Negra” at 8:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $13-$15. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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

Baba Ken & Kotoja at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. African dance lesson at 9 p.m. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Benefit for the Oak Grove Tree Sitters Legal Defense with music by The Funky Nixons, Hali Hammer, Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Heritage Chorus and others at 7 p.m. at Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2901 Derby St. 548-6310. 

Fatlip, Omni at 8 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $12. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Jon Roniger, Scott Waters at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Danny Maseng and Soul on Fire, a multi-media concert at 8:15 p.m. at Temple Sinai, 28th and Webster, Oakland. Free. 451-3263. 

Ravi Abcarian Group at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Any Old Time String Band at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $20.50-$21.50. 548-1761.  

Jonathan Alford Group with Maria Marquez and Alan Hall at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15-$18. 845-5373.  

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

Izabella, Cas Luas at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blow Out with John Mayall, Kenny Neal, Fingers Taylor & Lazy Lester and the Blues Survivors at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $22-$30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SUNDAY, JAN. 27 

FILM 

“The Trial of Joan of Arc” at 3 p.m., “The Passion of Joan of Arc” at 4:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Dorothy Bryant reads from “The Berkeley Pit” at 4 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500.  

“Egyptology: Asasif Tombs of the 25th and 26th Dynasties: A Case Study in the Construction of Identity” with Jean Li, at 2:30 p.m. at Barrows Hall, Room 20, Barrow Lane and Bancroft Way, UC Campus. 650-363-8081. 

Linda Jon Myers and workshop students read from “Becoming Whole” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra “Virtuosi” by Yu-Hui Chang at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Pre-concert talk at 7:30 p.m. Free. 415-248-1640. www.sfchamberorchestra.org 

Christopher Taylor, piano, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $34. 642-9988. www.calperformances.net 

Prometheus Symphony Orchestra at 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 116 Montecito Ave., Oakland. Free, donations suggested. 415-864-2151. www.prometheussymphony.org  

Midsummer Mozart Festival Benefit Concert featuring pianist Seymour Lipkin, at 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant. Tickets are $75 and include reception. 415-627-9141. lori@midsummermozart.org.  

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

John Young at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Bandworks at 1:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Dayna Stephens, tribute to Sonny Rollins, at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15-$18. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Cheap Suit Serenaders at 5 and 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Flamenco Night with Dani Torres at 5 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blow Out with John Mayall, Kenny Neal, Fingers Taylor & Lazy Lester and the Blues Survivors at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $22-$30. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

MONDAY, JAN. 28 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Cycle of Life: Awakening” Works by Asian women artists. Opening reception and lecture at 4 p.m. at Institute of East Asian Studies, 2223 Fulton St., 6th flr. Exhibit runs to May 15. 642-2809. 

“New Works by Gallery Artists” including Tyrell Collins, Carol Dalton, Hedi Desuyo, Anne Hunter Hamilton, Jenifer Kent, Grayson Malone, Lucy Matzger, Kevin Nierman, and others, opens at the Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., upstairs. 549-1018. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sylvia Sellers-Garcia reads from her debut novel “When the Ground Turns in its Sleep” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Poetry Express with Nancy Wakeman at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Megan Lynch, bluegrass, at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100.  

Musica ha Disconnesso, traditional Italian music, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Classical at the Freight with S.F. Chamber Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $6.50-$7.50. 548-1761  

Kenny Durham Project co-led by Jules Rowell and Bill Belasco with Joel Dorham at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $6-$10. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, JAN. 29 

FILM 

Experimental Documentaries “we will live to see these things, or, five pictures of what may come to pass” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Beth Lisick reads from “One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Louise Dunlap describes “Undoing the Silence: Six tools for Social Change Writing” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Del Sol String Quartet “Rhythms and Sounds from Around the World” with clarinetist Jeffrey Anderle at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Tickets are $20. 525-5211. 

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

Randy Craig Trio, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Bandworks at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. 

Chris Botti at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $35-$40. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

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

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 30 

EXHIBITIONS 

Youth Arts Festival Artwork from Berkeley K-12 public school students. Opening reception at 5 p.m. at Berkeley art Center. 1275 Walnut St. in Live Oak Park. 644-6893. 

“Awakening” Hand-drawn mandalas by Maia Apalonia, opens at NoneSuch Space, 2865 Broadway, Upper Floor, Oakland, and runs through March 1. 625-1600.  

Works by Sunhee Kim opens at Christensen Heller Gallery, 5829 College Ave., Oakland. 655-5952. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“From the Cinema of Abstractions to Narrative Illusionism” with Prof. Marilyn Fabe at 3 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808.  

The Believer Magazine Pizza Party at 7:30 p.m. at Moe's Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Andrés Reséndez describes “A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey to Cabeza de Vaca” 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 

Wednesday Noon Concert “Schubert and Beethovan in Vienna” at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Free. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

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

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

Gator Beat at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun/Zydeco dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $7. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Orquestra Bakan 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.  

Pacific Manouche at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

THURSDAY, JAN. 31 

FILM 

Jean-Pierre Léaud “Two English Girls” 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 

Jennie Wang reads from “The Iron Curtain of Language: Maxine Hong Kingston and American Orientalism” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. www.universitypressbooks.com 

Lashonda Barnett describes “I Got Thunder: Black Women Songwriters on Their Craft” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Richard Friar discusses “The Keepers: Part 1: WWIII” the first book in “The Keepers” trilogy and the battle machines he has included in the novel at 6:30 p.m. at El Sobrante Library, 4191 Appian Way, El Sobrante. 374-3991. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Change the Beat” Benefit for Educate, Ugandan and Rwandan refugees, at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Berkeley Symphony with the US premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s “Lotus under the moonlight” at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $20-$60. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org 

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

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

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

Ben Benkert and the Burnouts, Raya Nova at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082. 

Joe Reilly, singer-songwriter, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

The Phantom Family, La Otracina, rock, heavy metal, at 9 p.m. at Maxwell’s Lounge, 341 13th St., Oakland. Cost is $7. 839-6169. 

Chris Botti at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $35-$40. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

There is no shortage of great film festivals in the Bay Area, celebrating the cinematic heritage of every corner of the globe.  

However, there is just one San Francisco festival that focuses purely on American film, or at least on a purely American film genre. For despite the Frenchified name, film noir is uniquely American in origin and in tone. 

The annual Noir City festival begins today (Friday) at the Castro theater in San Francisco, screening double features every day—20 films in all—through Sunday, Feb. 3. 

Film noir was not a self-conscious movement. Indeed, it was only defined in retrospect, and by outsiders, hence the French term. And yet, nearly 70 years since its genesis, it is still not easily defined.  

The genre stems from the crime fiction that emerged during the 1930s, when the Great Depression rocked the foundations of the devil-may-care America of the Roaring ’20s. Writers like Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, and multitudes of lesser-known pulp authors reshaped the literary landscape with dark, cynical, morally ambivalent tales of crime, sex and vice, stories steeped in shadowy imagery, tough talk, and a hardscrabble hyper-realism that portrayed a brutal, hostile world. There were no heroes, only anti-heroes, self-preserving pragmatists whose cynicism was born of dashed hopes and faded ideals.  

The genre didn’t spread to film until the 1940s, where it took on the darker undercurrents of the American psyche during and following the horrors of World War II. And while there is still some debate over which film deserves the mantle of the first noir, the most influential of the early efforts was John Huston’s 1941 adaptation of Hammett’s Maltese Falcon, in which Humphrey Bogart captured the cynicism and weariness of San Francisco private eye Sam Spade as he fell into and then delicately extricated himself from a web of deceit spun by Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941), though not itself a noir, had a strong influence on the visual side of the genre, with its shadowy sets, striking German Expressionism-derived camera angles and somber tone. And Double Indemnity, Billy Wilder’s 1944 thriller starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, is frequently cited as the film that essentially codified the genre and its dominant characteristics, including the ruthless femme fatale as personified by Stanwyck’s icy Phyllis Dietrichson. 

Noir City, the festival and the foundation, were founded by Eddie Muller and Alan Rode to present and preserve this cinematic legacy. And it is a legacy greatly in need of preservation, for although noir has enjoyed a great resurgence in recent years, many of these films were B pictures, cheap studio products created simply to fill out a double bill, and then forgotten days after they closed. The Film Noir Foundation helps to rediscover, preserve, and strike new theatrical prints of these neglected classics so that they can be presented in all their tawdry glory. 

The festival starts Friday with a two-film tribute to actress Joan Leslie, who will be interviewed on stage during the intermission. Repeat Performance (1947) is the first of the festival’s many rare films, none available on DVD, many not available even on VHS, and some which have not screened in decades. Leslie stars as a young woman given the opportunity to relive the past year of her life, and the chance to opt this time not to kill her husband in what the festival program describes as a noir version of It’s a Wonderful Life. The Hard Way (1943), directed by Vincent Sherman and photographed by the great James Wong Howe, is what the festival has termed an “honorary noir,” for though it doesn’t quite qualify, it is certainly one of Leslie’s darker films. 

Other highlights include Saturday’s tribute to screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, featuring The Prowler (1951), presented in a brand-new 35-millimeter print, and Gun Crazy (1950); Hangover Square (1945), a quintessential noir featuring a melodramatic plot of madness and murder, beautiful but dangerous dames, Wellesian camera angles, and an ominous and evocative score by the great Bernard Herrmann; a double feature by director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton (Jan. 30); D.O.A. (1950), set in San Francisco (Jan. 31); and Conflict (Feb. 1), one of Bogart’s lesser-known noirs. 

Saturday Feb. 2 will feature three films, including the Coen Brothers’ The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001), the most recent production on this year’s program, along with (schedule permitting) an onstage interview with actor Billy Bob Thornton. And the festival will close Feb. 3 with a screening of Jules Dassin’s Night and the City (1950), one of the darkest films in the genre. 

NOIR CITY 6 

Through Feb. 3 at the Castro Theater,  

429 Castro St., San Francisco. 

For more information see www.noircity.com or  

www.thecastrotheatre.com.

‘APPARITION OF THE ETERNAL CHURCH’ 

Tonight (Friday) at 7 p.m. Paul Festa’s acclaimed music film, Apparition of the Eternal Church, which registers the “often riotous” responses of 31 nonbelievers to Catholic composer Olivier Messiaen’s apocalyptic musical vision, receives its Bay Area premiere by CalPerformances at Wheeler Auditorium—admission free. Participants include local cultural folk such as Richard Felciano, Eisa Davis and Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket), as well as pronouncements from Harold Bloom.

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. 

Corie’s little Arcadia is, in her mind, a love nest for her and brand-new husband Paul (David Irving), from which they may romp in early ’60s New York. Corie’s the pert, adventuresome one, whose escapade gives Neil Simon’s comedy its title, Barefoot in the Park, at Berkeley Actors Ensemble.  

Paul’s her straight man, a lawyer just handed his first case: “Staid,” Corie taunts him with when they argue, an observer to her doer. She’s constantly egging him on, in her exuberance, to join her in stunts and games. 

Corie also thinks the five-floor walkup will serve as a barrier to her stifling mother (Ljuba Davis as Ethel Banks), though it just gives the be-furred yenta another scene to dramatize, when she makes it over from ‘way out in Jersey, where she lives alone. 

(Though a comic telephone man (Jerome Solberg) has a few tart things to say about the ascent; a delivery man (Jose Garcia) on the other hand is too winded to complain.) 

Rounding out the cast is eccentric upstairs neighbor, Mr. Victor Velasco (David Spinner), bon vivant, raconteur and jack-of-all-trades, who makes his appearance requesting the use of the Bratter’s window to enter his apartment.  

Corie craftily sets up her mother with Mr. Velasco, who insists they all convene at an Albanian restaurant on Staten Island. But her cleverness hits the wall when Mrs. Banks and Mr. Velasco really do seem to hit it off—and her husband gets on her about her irresponsible highjinks. Corie suddenly is more overprotective of her mother than her mother is of her and falls apart over Paul’s criticism, questioning whether they were ever in love. 

Director Alan Barkan, together with assistant director Eric Carlson, worked well with cast members, who rise up from the one-liners of former TV gagman Simon to become an ensemble, especially during the hysterical second act. But even Simon’s gags aren’t so easy to deliver—the combination of tossed-off giddiness with a little Big Apple sangfroid is often missed in productions far from Manhattan. The Actors Ensemble bunch hits the mark much more often than not. 

Wendy Welch shows great comic flair, her maniacally gesturing hands and forearms syncopating the madcap movement of her various funny walks. David Irving is a fine foil for her nutty exuberance, getting his own back in the end.  

Ljuba Davis, in her theatrical debut, shows her long experience as a folk singer, comfortable with stage and dialogue as she spins out a performance that seems to send up both her character and herself, with great good humor. And David Spinner is a dead ringer for his Neil Simon eccentric turn, charming and goofy and at moments the sanest of the bunch. 

Alan Barkan, in his program note, points out that the play opened a month before the JFK assassination, at the tail-end of that time of public optimism that characterized the early ’60s. “At least then, laughter came easier.” Helen Slomowitz’s costumes, as ever, pinpoint the time and place, as well as Shu Ping Guan’s “decorated” apartment, which goes from blank to busy, bare to kitsch.  

In the end, the comedy goes through the roof: Corie and Paul, dimly glimpsed above the skylight, shouting admonitions and endearments to each other, and boisterous nonsense to the rest of the world—that is, New York—in general. 

BAREFOOT IN THE PARK 

Presented by Berkeley Actors Ensemble at  

8 p.m. Friday and Saturday through Feb. 16 at  

Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave. $10-$12.

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.  

They will be performing intimate pocket versions of some of Mozart’s most charming compositions for an audience of exactly 100 people. For the lucky century of Amadeans who get into this benefit concert, there will also be largesse of fine food and wine along with the great music. 

Seymour Lipkin, a student of Rudolf Serkin’s who won the Rachmaninoff Competition at 19, has conducted and played the piano with every major orchestra, conductor, chamber ensemble and festival in the world. He has been a frequent guest with the Midsummer Mozart Orchestra and a longtime friend, colleague and, at one time, a teacher of piano and conducting to George Cleve. He will be donating his performances to the festival.  

For this benefit concert, Lipkin and four string players from the festival Orchestra will be playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 13 in C Major in a transcription for piano accompanied by string quartet, a performance possibility suggested by Mozart. This sparkling work was composed by Mozart after his first year living in Vienna, and first played there in March and later in the year in Salzburg in October of 1783 It was one of his few piano concertos published during his lifetime. 

Lipkin will also perform as a soloist on the Piano Sonata in D Major, Mozart’s final piano sonata. It was composed in 1789 and has often been associated with the six easy sonatas Mozart was supposed to compose for Princess Frederika of Prussia in that year. The difficulty and experimental nature of the music, though, belies this unless the Princess was an amateur with virtuosic capabilities. 

Also on the program is the late serenade, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, probably Mozart’s single most familiar melody. It has been heard in over three dozen films and television episodes and has been used to catch the ears of battalions of insomniacs by many a late night CD offering of classical music treasures. Even these indignities have not destroyed it. Mozart wrote it in Vienna in 1787 and for this performance it will be performed by a nonet from the Orchestra’s string section.  

The Orchestra horn section will also have a chance to present its talents when flutist Maria Tamburino and oboist Laura Griffiths combine to play instrumental duets from a 1792 edition of operatic arias taken from The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro. Some of the duets for flute and violin from this edition have been performed at a previous benefit and although the words are missing the emotions and personalities of the characters in the operas are perfectly transposed into their wood and metal alter egos. 

It is easy to convey the personal and historical facts surrounding the creation of this music during the rococo epoch in Eighteenth Century Europe. It is harder to explain the afterlife of this music, its movement from ephemeral popularity during Mozart’s lifetime to appreciation from a few cognoscenti like E.T.A. Hoffman, Eduard Morike and Soren Kierkegaard to the preternatural fame of the man today. The reason we still listen is not because of the cheese monger/French horn player, the Masons, the Popes and cardinals, Sheridan’s brother-in-law, princes and princesses, mesmerists and Jewish-Italian librettists, fascinating as these are. 

We listen not because this music was once great, but because it is now even greater and we need it even more today. In order to have it, we also need the imagination and insight and virtuosity of a George Cleve or a Seymour Lipkin. Through their work with the Midsummer Mozart Festival they inspire and discipline fellow musicians in order to bring these sacred treasures to life, not as musty, mechanical, note-perfect simulacra but as living, moving experiences full of beauty, surprise and humanity.  

Even if you cannot be one of the lucky hundred who attend this benefit concert, watch for this summer’s schedule of five programs, July 18 through Aug. 3, in San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Jose, Berkeley, and Sonoma. Complete concert details will be available in the spring at www.midsummermozart.org. 

MIDSUMMER MOZART FESTIVAL BENEFIT CONCERT 

5:30-8:30 p.m. Sunday at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. Hors d’oeuvres, fine wines and a silent auction. Admission is $75, limited to 100. (415) 627-9141, or lori@midsummermozart.org.

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. 

By 1911—five years after the San Francisco earthquake—Benvenue, Hillegass, and Regent Streets were almost completely built out to Ashby Avenue, streetcars and commuter lines were running along Ashby and College, and a cluster of local shops and services served the neighborhood. 

The homes built along Benvenue, Hillegass, and Regent were spacious and elegant—often architect-designed—and many featured brown-shingle exteriors and craftsman interiors complete with wood-paneled walls and beamed ceilings. It was a fashionable neighborhood, populated by businessmen and professionals. Apartment buildings were unknown here. 

This changed on May 6, 1916, when the Berkeley Daily Gazette announced: 

The new apartment house, “Hillegass Court,” 2821 Hillegass Ave., is just completed for the owner, G. A. Mattern, and is rapidly being occupied by families which had made their choice of apartments during its construction. Architects Wright & Rushforth, of San Francisco, have endeavored to carry out a design suitable to the character of its surroundings, with ample lot area for lawns and shrubbery on all sides, with a driveway to the garage located on the south and in the rear. The central court arrangement affords a degree of privacy to the three entrances, there being one in each wing, and within the terraced court is sufficient area for a nice display of lawn. 

There are a total of sixteen apartments of two, three and four rooms each, with sleeping porches to eight of them. The owner has spared no expense to provide the essentials to health and comfort; light, air, sun, heat and ventilation are well provided for. The basement being high and dry, affords ample storage facilities for tenants, besides a social room, kitchen, laundry and the usual basement equipment. Louis Engler of this city was the contractor, and the cost amounted to about $30,000. 

Hillegass Court went up on a triple lot that had remained open on the block between Stuart and Russell Streets. A handsome, C-shaped structure, it bears a vague resemblance to a lakeside Kurhaus in an Alpine resort. According to a legend that circulated for many years among the tenants, the design is a copy of a 1912 French building Mattern admired. Since there is no record of Mattern having traveled to Europe in the 1910s (he would travel there frequently between 1921 and 1940), it’s possible that he might have seen such a building in a magazine or in an architectural journal shown him by the architect. 

The architect, George Rushforth (1861–1943), was an Englishman who, with his new bride, immigrated to California in 1887. The couple’s first stop was Los Angeles, where their eldest son was born. By 1890, they had moved to Stockton, where they lived for a decade and a half, bringing three more sons into the world. In 1902, George designed Stockton High School. 

In the wake of the 1906 earthquake, Rushforth shifted his field of operations to San Francisco. The move was motivated not only by the better professional opportunities available in the Bay Area but by the need to educate four sons born between 1888 and 1894. 

In 1907, Rushforth opened an office at 2277 California Street with two compatriots, George A. Wright and Bernard J.S. Cahill. He commuted from Berkeley, where the family home was at 2321 Blake St. 

A practical architect, Rushforth was no prima donna; he sought to give his clients what they wanted. This flexibility is evident in the variety of styles seen in his work. Among the better-known San Francisco buildings designed by Wright, Rushforth & Cahill is the 7-story Hotel Whitcomb at Market and Eighth Streets (1911), which was adapted by the architects for use as a temporary City Hall from 1912 to 1915. 

In Berkeley, Rushforth’s most famous work is the Gothic-style Trinity Methodist Church (1927–28) and Trinity Hall (1934) on Dana Street between Durant Ave. and Bancroft Way. 

Rushforth’s connection to his Hillegass Court client was a family affair—his second son, Archibald (1890–1976), married Mabel Mattern and worked in her father’s business. The firm was the famous Gantner & Mattern Co. of San Francisco, later known as Gantner of California. It manufactured sweaters and coats, knit underwear and hosiery, but was especially known for its swimwear. In 1907, it advertised ladies’ bathing suits from $1.90 to $40, men’s from $1 to $6, and boys’ from 75 cents up. Girls at the time did not seem to merit their own swimwear. 

The company promoted its aquatic apparel by exhorting the public to learn to swim, offering a pair of water wings free with every suit. It maintained a baseball team, the Gantner-Matterns, who played in an amateur league that included St. Mary’s College in Oakland. In March 1906, the team played a benefit game against the university’s varsity team, with U.C. president Benjamin Ide Wheeler pitching the first ball. The proceeds went to pay off the $900 mortgage on the house of James Tate’s widow at 2022 Delaware Street. Mr. Tate, known as “Jimmie Potatoes,” had been a university gardener for 20 years. 

The company’s owners, John Oscar Gantner (1868–1951) and George Alfred Mattern (1864–1945), were immigrants’ sons. Gantner’s father was a Swiss saloon keeper, while Mattern’s was a German boat maker. In 1870, the Gantners lived next to another Swiss immigrant family, the Pfisters. John Pfister (born c. 1809) was a brewer who supplied the Gantner saloon. 

The family connections continued into the next generation, but not in the same field. By 1880, John Jacob Pfister (b. 1844) was running the J.J. Pfister Knitting Company, manufacturers of crochet and knitted goods, bathing suits, tights, underwear, sporting uniforms, and importers of bolting cloth. That year, 16-year old Alfred Mattern was working in a woolen mill. He would rise to superintendent at J.J. Pfister & Co. while still in his mid-twenties. At the same time, John O. Gantner would become Pfister’s corporate secretary. 

Mattern, who could never make up his mind whether he was George A. or Alfred G., first appeared in the Berkeley directory in 1893, residing at 2157 Dwight Way. The last time he was listed as a Pfister employee was in 1897, and two years later his occupation was given as “manufacturer.” In 1907, he built a new house at 2701 Regent Street and Derby (the site is now a lawn facing the Willard Park mosaic bench). 

Not much has come down to us about G.A. Mattern’s personal life. He fathered a boy and two girls. His son, Hermann A. Mattern, and his son-in-law, Archibald W. Rushforth, would spend their careers as managers at Gantner & Mattern. The only family member who didn’t fit the business mold was the youngest daughter, Laurinne Easter Mattern, who edited the 1915 commencement issue of the Anna Head School publication, Nods and Becks, and listed herself as an orchestral musician in the 1930 U.S. census. 

In December 1907, the San Francisco Call recorded that G.A. Mattern was one of 750 citizens who attended a Merchants’ Association banquet promoting consolidation of all the cities around San Francisco Bay. A rare lighter note was struck by the same newspaper in August 1910, when it reported, “Frightened by the shouts of his son, who had a nightmare, G.A. Mattern, a wealthy manufacturer of 2701 Regent street, jumped out of bed at an early hour this morning and fell off the sleeping porch of his home, 15 feet to the ground. […] He is now suffering from a fracture of the hip and other injuries.” Awakened by his own screams, Hermann found his father in the garden and summoned Dr. Edith Brownsill, who lived at 2614 Channing Way (current site of the university’s Crossroads dining center). 

In the late 1910s, the Matterns would build a new home at 100 Tunnel Road, but before departing from the Berry-Bangs tract, they beautified it with Hillegass Court. Ron Erickson, a former tenant in the building, described it in 1986: 

There is still a low-ceilinged dance room in the basement, about 60’ x 30’, with original light fixtures, a wood dance floor, and a small serving area at one end. It is thought to have been a meeting-place for the Red Cross during the war. 

Many if not all rooms contained wall beds, built-in ironing boards (still being used), and cabinets just outside each apartment door, accessible for deliveries. All the apartments differ in small, charming details. The larger ones have built-in china closets or secretaries. 

The ornamental work in the exterior design is reflected somewhat in the original stair banisters. All hallways, and much of the apartment interiors, is paneled in beautifully grained cedar divided by three-inch ribs. Unfortunately, all woodwork in the halls was painted a light green, probably in the Fifties. Fortunately, this paint is scraped off fairly easily without chemicals, revealing a rich-grained, brown-reddish stained surface. Altogether, except for superficial alterations, the building seems to be in its original form. 

Once Hillegass Court was completed in 1916, Mattern erected a house for Mabel and Archie Rushforth on the open southern third of the property. To design this unprepossessing Brown Shingle, he didn’t have to go farther than his in-law, Rushforth père. 

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

Daniella Thompson 

Hillegass Court, an elegant 1916 apartment building at 2821 Hillegass Ave.

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.  

One of my favorite critter sightings, and I’ve seen this a number of times, is seen in a crawlspace. It’s a pile of empty snail shells mounded up like a stack of beer cans on a bachelors beaten-up coffee table. It took me a while to figure it out but apparently, raccoons like snails and will collect a bunch of them, kick back under the house and snack away. Are raccoons French? 

A range of animals also live out their lives, fight, give birth and die under and inside houses. At least one or twice a year, I’ll get a call that has to do with animal sounds in a wall, attic or below the floor. If they can get in, all the things that would be happening in the woodland will occur in your house at 3 a.m.; and you get to listen. (That seems to be a favored time for figuring or amour d’bete). 

Some odd few may enjoy these interlopements but most people prefer to keep the wilds outside. If you are among the latter, you may wish to avail yourself of some of the following strategies and data. 

First, mice and rats get inside of almost everyone’s house. If you see evidence (scatological or otherwise) don’t be surprised. Rodents come into houses for warmth, food (when they can get it) and to escape predators, which is why they like the tiny entryways that bar the cat but allow the mouse. 

Mice are very small, smaller than they look. Their skulls are somewhat flexible and they are more fur than flesh. Field mice can enter through openings smaller than one half inch in diameter. Rats vary in size but can also squeeze through three quarter inch openings below doors or around pipes. To prevent these from entering, you will need to begin by identifying every tiny opening in the side of your building. Louvered metal or wooden vents often allow for rodent entry. Replace louvered (with stamped out slits that you can fit your fingers through) metal vents with ones made of quarter inch galvanized steel mesh. Caulk the back rim and screw them in place. 

If you have an old house with wooden foundation vents, you can install the same quarter-inch steel mesh on the inside of these without ruining their marvelous grandmotherly appeal. Take a roll of mesh and a pair of tin snips and cut a rectangle two to four inches larger in each direction than the vent space. Cut away the corners so that you have four tabs that you can bend onto the adjacent jambs or framing or simply snip into the corners diagonally and fold then over each other. Affix these firmly in place using a staple gun and half inch long staples. 

You can do the same thing behind half inch steel mesh vents or any grate that has a larger than one centimeter opening. 

Look carefully around the doors to your electrical or gas compartments. Many do not fit tightly and are virtual rat freeways into your house. Some doors fit so badly that the only real answer is to replace them and make the replacement a nice snug fit. Some doors can be altered with a piece of trim. Remember that a small opening for you may be huge to an animal. 

By the way, once their under the house, there are loads of vessels, chaseways and separations between the crawlspace and the inner walls for critters to traverse so keeping them out at the perimeter is the easiest way. 

Gaps around plumbing, especially large waste lines, are very common. Gaps can be caulked using a good quality caulk. I like polyurethane caulks for their ability to grasp porous materials such as wood. Sikaflex is one good brand. For larger openings you can decide if wood and nails are the answer or something like expanding foam. Keep in mind that rats can eat through foam. If you do use foam, it should be covered over with wood, paint or anything that can minimize exposure.  

For larger openings, mesh can be secured in place thus preserving more ventilation. 

Large mesh areas can be torn out by raccoons and it may be wise to double the mesh. I like a combination of quarter inch mesh and chicken wire. Very large openings can be a combination of quarter inch mesh and welded wire (which comes in a range of mesh sizes and is very heavy duty). 

While you’re at it, it pays to check your attic vents. Many have very large openings and I’ve seen more than a few full sized bird’s nests as evidence. Since bird feces can be virally rich, birds nesting should be considered a real health hazard. 

While it’s nice to make sure the doors to your house fit well for energy conservation reasons, a large bottom gap is also how mice can get inside. This too, is worth looking at. The last one I’ll mention is perhaps the least likely but I have seen evidence of animal entering through roof vents these, too, can be screened except in the case of gas appliances and dryer vents (which shouldn’t go through your roof anyway but, hey, there they are). 

If you’ve really worked your way through all of this, you are in much better shape and likely to have fewer all night parties raging in the wall. A determined animal may still enter by burrowing or may gnaw through a wooden barrier but this isn’t worth worrying about. Deal with that when you have the evidence. 

Ants can’t be stopped by any of these methods so don’t try. Keep the kitchen floor clean and take out the garbage regularly. If that doesn’t do it, you may need to use one of the nasty agents that we all prefer to avoid. Grant’s Ant Stakes work pretty well but be sure to follow the instructions. 

Many a night as I drive home, my headlights catch the eyes of a deer on my curvy little Berkeley street. How lucky we are, I think, to live in a time and place where life flourishes and lives safely among us. While I may not want to hear raccoons fighting over dinner late at night, their presence in my neighborhood is a blessing. I don’t want to live in a city devoid of animal life and if I have to work a bit to corral them, oh well, it’s a small price. 

Photograph by Matt Cantor. 

This wooden ventilation screen, seen from the inside, lets in six rats at a time.

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.  

Add that to the huge number of endemic species we have here, and the proportion of them that are threatened or endangered, and it’s hard to make a case for much other than conservation and restoration in our gardens.  

Here again is where my own history and bias inform my thinking, and I’ll be forthright about it. I came to gardening via birding and natural history. Wanting to know what the bird was sitting on led top wanting to know how it all fit together, then who the individuals in the system were. So when it comes to plants as well as other organisms, I guess my mindset is one of discovery rather than shaping.  

I got to thinking about that a few years back when we stumbled upon a woodland garden just north of Yuba Pass in the Sierra. It was, at the time, open to the public; I believe it’s closed since. We try to get up to the area every summer for the wildflowers and birds, and so spend some time tramping about in the yellow pine and red fir forests.  

We’ve seen fantastic things like the baroque red saprophytes snowplant and pine drops; stalks of tiny white rein orchids massed in roadside ditches; whole meadows of impossibly blue camas and fizzy yellow madia; violets and larkspurs and lilies and paintbrush and pussy paws—all more or less by accident. Creeks spread out into wet meadows of elephant’s-heads and corn lilies and shooting stars, then re-channel themselves to make perfect bankside gardens of moss and ferns and buttercups.  

Streamcourses and boulders and shrub groupings all follow the original aesthetic of Nature, ruled by gravity and light and water arriving all the way to the local sky and peaks from the Pacific. Every form, no matter how varied, has the inevitability of mathematics. Who could improve on this?  

Not, as it seemed, the planners of this garden. It was pleasant enough, but even allowing for its raw, not-quite-finished state, it seemed forced in some places, bare in others. There was a lake and a lakeside lodge with flagpoles, an arched bridge and some rather handsome paths, but nothing looked so perfect as the surrounding mountains do, despite human incursions and devastations.  

Compared to the manzanitas and ceanothuses beyond its borders, the shrubs looked thirsty and out of place. Compared to the unique local wildflowers, the herbaceous stuff looked ordinary; I’d seen most of it in gardens here at home. Why go all the way up there to see what I’d seen here? 

If I didn’t know any better I think I’d have loved the place. But having returned to the area year after year, having come to know it, I did know better: the wilderness next door. 

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

FRIDAY, JAN. 25 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Robert E. Friend on “Permanency for Foster Youth” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

Albany Lions Club Annual Crab Feed at 5:30 p.m. at Albany Veterans Memorial Building, 1325 Portland Ave., Albany. Tickets are $30. 418-6101, 236-1344. 

Friday Films for Teens at 3:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 3rd flr., 2090 Kittredge St. For details call 981-6121. 

Kol Hadash Humanistic Tu B’Shvat Seder at 7:30 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave. Details on what ritual food items to bring are posted at www.kolhadash.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. 26 

Bird Rescuers’ Get-Together Celebrate the Bay and join in a thank-you get-together for everyone who helped after the November oil spill. We will see pictures from the spill, celebrate wildlife that was rescued, chat and hear about what others did, remember and reflect on plans to make it better next time, at 3 p.m. at Shorebird Park Nature Center, 160 University Ave. 981-6720. 

Help Plant Natives on Berkeley Paths Please join BPWA and Friends of Five Creeks planting natives and removing weeds on Covert Path, part of a long-term project creating demonstration plantings and an “interpretive trail” from hills to Bay in the Codornices Creek watershed. Meet at 10 a.m. at the top of Covert Path, downhill side of Keeler Ave. a short distance southeast of Twain Ave. 848-9358. www.fivecreeks.org 

Civil Rights Panel and Community Speak-Out with Kris Worthington, Berkeley City Council member, Osha Neumann, Attorney and former Police Review Commissioner, Melvin Dickson, Commemoration Committee for the Black Panther Party, Andrea Prichett, Copwatch, Subcommittee on Evidence Theft Issues, Mike Diehl, Activist and advocate for homeless rights, James Chanin, Attorney, former Police Review Commissioner, from noon to 2 p.m. at 1730 Oregon St., below MLK Jr. Way. www.berkeleycopwatch.org  

Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with Jamil Dakwar, American Civil Liberties Union Director of Advocacy and Human Rights Programs from 2 to 5 p.m. at Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. Sponsored by United Nations Association-USA East Bay. Cost is $5-$15. 864-9005. www.unausaeastbay.org 

Vegetarian Cooking Class “Healthful Resolutions: Lo-Cal, High Flavor” featuring kale and nori salad, Asian-inspired lettuce wraps, yellow split pea dal, hummus and fruit smoothies, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro. Cost is $55 plus $5 material fee. to register call 531-COOK. www.compassionatecooks.com 

Benefit for the Oak Grove Tree Sitters Legal Defense with music by The Funky Nixons, Hali Hammer, Rockin’ Solidarity Labor Heritage Chorus and others at 7 p.m. at Redwood Gardens Community Room, 2901 Derby St. 548-6310. 

Play Around the Bay Symposium on the disappearance of children’s play, and proposals for postitive change, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Doubletree Hotel, 200 Marina Blvd. Cost is $40-$55. 647-111 ext. 35. www.habitot.org  

Scalky Sleepers Learn how scales help animals weather 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 

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.  

Preschool Storytime, for ages 3-5, at 11 a.m. at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

“The Music of Kurt Weill: September Songs” A film of staged and choreographed dramatizations of Brecht-Weill songs set in an old warehouse, at 5 p.m. at the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph at Alcatraz, Oakland. 527-9584. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

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

Oakland Artisans Marketplace Sat. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Jack London Square. 238-4948. 

SUNDAY, JAN. 27 

“End the Occupation” A discussion with Max Elbaum, editor of War Times, at 11 a.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donations accepted. www.Humanist Hall.org 

“Labor, the WPA Proposals and the Fight for New Orleans and Katrina Survivors” A public forum and video screening at 2 p.m. at the Fellowship of Humanity, 390 27th St., Oakland. Sponsored by the Labor Video Project. 415-282-1908. 

Films for a Future: “The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil” at 2 p.m., followed by a discussion, at Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

People’s Park Anniversary Planning Meeting at 5:30 p.m. at Cafe Med Telegraph, north of Dwight New people encouraged to come. 658-9178. 

“Elections: Not how Leaders are Chosen, Not how Decisions are made and Not how you can make a difference” with Larry Everest at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. www.revolutionbooks.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

MONDAY, JAN. 28 

“Exploring Jazz with Len Lyons” A course to explore the basic building blocks of this unique musical language Mon. from 6 to 8 p.m. through March 10, at 2199 Addison St. For information contact Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, a continuing education program for people 50 and over. 642-9934. olli.berkeley.edu 

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. 

TUESDAY, JAN. 29 

Community Meeting on Pacific Steel and West Berkeley Air Quality Monitoring Learn about air monitoring results in West Berkeley and what toxics have been found in the air at 7 p.m. at West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 6th St., at Hearst. Sponsored by Greenaction, Global Community Monitor, West Berkeley Alliance for Clean Air and Safe Jobs, and the Ecology Center. 415-248-5010. 

“The Eleventh Hour” A documentary by Leonardo DiCaprio on the state of the global environment, and practical solutions for restoring the planet’s ecosystems at 5 p.m. at Boalt Hall, Room 110, UC Campus. Sponsored by the California Center for Environmental Law and Policy. 642-6774. 

“Navigating the Mekong” A film by Mic O’Shea on his solo kayak adventure from Tibet to the South China Sea at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

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

Alameda Women’s Commission “Community Conversation” to gain support for CEDAW (The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) at 5:30 p.m. at the Alameda Library, 1550 Oak St., Alameda. Free, but reservations requested. 259-3871. 

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

“The TV show House and the Experience of Socialist Society So Far” Discussion taking off from an excerpt of “Making Revolution and Emancipating Humanity” by Bob Avakian at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. 

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 

Street Level Cycles Community Bike Program Come use our tools as well as receive help with performing repairs free of charge. Youth classes available. Tues., Thurs., and Sat. from 2 to 6 p.m. at at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704.  

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 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. 30 

Proposed Spraying to Combat Apple Moth in Alameda County A community meeting on the spray will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Environmental Health, 528 61st St., Oakland. 594-9864. 

Pools for Berkeley meets at 7 p.m. at the City of Berkeley Corporation Yard, 1326 Allston Way. www.poolsforberkeley.org 

“Paradise Now” A film about Palestinian recruits for a major operation in Tel Aviv, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. www.Humanist Hall.org 

“Understanding Children’s Temperament” with Rona Renner, R.N., at 6:30 p.m. at Windrush School, Multipurpose Room, 1800 Elm St., El Cerrito. 970-7580. 

Cash for College Workshop at 6:30 p.m. at Albany High School, 603 Key Route Blvd. or Oakland High School Theater and Library, 1023 Macarthur Blvd. For deatails see www.calgrants.org 

“Women’s Hormone Balance: PMS, Infertility, and Menopause” at 7:30 p.m. at Rockridge Curves, 5665 College Ave., Suite 1, Oakland. Free. Foundation for Wellness Professionals. 849-1176. 

Pacific Boychoir Auditions for boys ages 5-9 at 410 Alcatraz in Oakland. Please call for an audition appointment. 652-4722.  

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. 

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

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART station. www. 

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

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

After-School Program Homework help, drama and music 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. 31 

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

World of Plants Tours at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755.  

Fitness Class for 55+ at 9:15 a.m. at Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

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. 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 

Donate the Excess Fruit from Your Fruit Trees I’ll gladly pick and deliver your fruit to community programs that feed school kids, the elderly, and the hungry. The fruit trees should be located in Berkeley and organic (no pesticides). This is a free volunteer/ 

grassroots thing so join in!! To scehdule and appointment call or email 812-3369. northberkeleyharvest@gmail.com http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu