Berkeley High School came under a brief lockdown Wednesday morning when Berkeley police searched the campus for a 17-year-old high school junior who was arrested for robbing a sophomore. -more-
The Gaia Building on Allston Way was back before the council Tuesday. -more-
The District Attorney’s office charged Berkeley City College student Andrew Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, with murder in the stabbing death of UC Berkeley engineering student Chris Wootton this afternoon (Tuesday). -more-
Anger over the brazen Friday night shooting in a troubled Berkeley neighborhood has renewed calls for a greater police presence and pitted neighbor against neighbor. -more-
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents picked up a Berkeley family around 9:30 a.m. today (Tuesday), during what immigration authorities called routine targeted enforcement action, and took all four family members to the Office of Detention and Removal Operations in San Francisco for questioning. -more-
Rep. John Conyers, chair of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, didn’t mince words in a recent letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency administration asking for a response to allegations that the agency has stepped up raids on dispensaries of medical marijuana. -more-
A 60-year-old Vietnam veteran is facing felony death threat and misdemeanor domestic violence charges for allegedly striking and threatening to kill his girlfriend and then barricading himself inside his house for nearly nine hours, Berkeley police said today (Tuesday). -more-
Four years after Berkeley residents voted overwhelmingly for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), the City Council will vote tomorrow (Tuesday) on whether to implement the new voting process for the mayoral and council district elections in November. -more-
Berkeley police arrested Berkeley City College student Andrew Thomas Hoeft-Edenfield, 20, as a suspect for the fatal stabbing of UC Berkeley engineering student Christopher Joseph Wootton on Saturday. -more-
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) made minor changes in its plans for its planned biofuel lab, but rejected any move to another site, according to a recently released environmental review. -more-
Bloomington, Indiana, a Friday night in April, there’s a rally downtown to open the new Barack Obama campaign center. About 50 or so people are milling about the small room, holding plates of food in one hand and shaking strangers’ hands with the other. For the first time in 40 years, a Democratic candidate has a reason to open a campaign office in Indiana. -more-
UC Berkeley officials briefed the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Thursday on several campus projects sites still at the planning phase at landmarked buildings and sites. -more-
Campaign statements from candidates in two key local legislative races—former 16th District Assemblymember Wilma Chan in Senate District 9 and Berkeley physician Phil Polakoff in Assembly District 14—do not appear on the official ballot pamphlets for the June 3 primary, some of which have already been mailed to voters. -more-
Former Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board member Chris Kavanagh was sentenced today (Thursday) to five years probation, including six months in the Alameda County jail, for his conviction for one felony count of falsely registering an ineligible voter, namely himself. -more-
When customers arrived at Maggie’s Coffee House in El Cerrito Tuesday morning, they were surprised to see a regular customer standing his ground between a tree and three men, one of whom was carrying a chainsaw. -more-
Early Monday evening a running gun battle left one man critically injured and police searching for a lime green car that struck several cars during an exchange of gunfire with a pedestrian. -more-
The state Senate Environmental Quality Committee unanimously passed a resolution Monday calling for a moratorium on aerial spraying for the light brown apple moth (LBAM) until the state agriculture department “can demonstrate that the pheromone compound it intends to use is both safe to humans and effective at eradicating the light brown apple moth.” -more-
Sunday brunch at the Berkeley Thai Temple could soon become a thing of the past. -more-
It’s the only place in Berkeley where you can pet a Komodo dragon. And if you are lucky, watch in bug-eyed wonder as tarantulas perform handstands and Burmese Albino pythons bask in the afternoon sun. -more-
If the City Council gives its OK, the UC Berkeley College Republicans may have a parking space of their own on Shattuck Avenue on Wednesday afternoons, directly across the street from the Code Pink anti-war, anti-recruitment demonstrations in front of the Marine Recruiting Center -more-
The tangled ties between UC Berkeley and the agro-chemo-pharmaceutical industry grew gnarlier this week, with GMO and herbicide giant Monsanto thrown into the equation. -more-
A plan to support the proliferation of solar panels in Berkeley, approved in concept by the City Council last year, is neither quick nor cheap to implement, city officials have found. -more-
If Mayor Tom Bates and councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Dona Spring have their way, free evening parking in downtown Berkeley may be a luxury of the past. -more-
Members of the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) today (Thursday) will look at efforts to rehabilitate the low-income housing building located just across the street from People’s Park. -more-
An Alameda County jury on Tuesday convicted Christopher Hollis of voluntary manslaughter for the death of 19-year-old Meleia Willis-Starbuck, who was fatally shot near the intersection of College Avenue and Dwight Way in Berkeley in the early morning hours of July 17, 2005. -more-
Berkeley Police are seeking a dapper-looking credit card thief who has managed to steal nearly $20,000 in cash and illegally purchased goods. -more-
The power of incumbency brings with it two major political pluses: the ability to raise campaign money and the ability to gain endorsements. -more-
In the race to succeed Don Perata in State Senate District 9, candidates Loni Hancock and Wilma Chan are virtually dead even in large campaign contributions in the last month and a half. -more-
Three Bay Area marches on May Day—and an eight-hour shutdown of West Coast ports—will merge traditional calls for better pay and benefits with support for the rights of immigrants and a call to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. -more-
The flood of beer commercials for the coming Cinco de Mayo would make one think that the event signifies Cinco Cervezas. Swamped in suds is the actual meaning, which is the commemoration of the battle at Puebla in 1862 where a hastily collected Mexican army stopped invading troops on their march to Mexico City to establish a colonial empire funded by Emperor Napoleon of France for Austrian Archduke Maximillian. -more-
The Berkeley Organizing Congregation for Action (BOCA) will partner with the First Congregational Church of Berkeley Saturday to deconstruct myths, fears and assumptions about immigration. -more-
“The people want public parks where we can all go, and be free.” One hundred years ago in late April, 1908, that was the sentiment at a meeting where voters gathered to urge the passage of bonds to purchase undeveloped land for public park use in north Berkeley. -more-
Campus police are looking for two different groups of young men who harassed and sexually groped young women last weekend. -more-
If the City Council gives its OK, the UC Berkeley College Republicans may have a parking space of their own on Shattuck Avenue on Wednesday afternoons, directly across the street from the Code Pink anti-war, anti-recruitment demonstrations in front of the Marine Recruiting Center -more-
Members of the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) on Thursday will look at efforts to rehabilitate the low-income housing building located just across the street from People’s Park. -more-
An early Monday evening running gun battle left one man critically injured and police searching for a lime green car which had struck several cars during an exchange of gunfire with a pedestrian. -more-
The Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) at its meeting Thursday will hear a presentation on landmarked UC Berkeley campus projects which are in their planning phase. -more-
The state Senate Environmental Quality Committee unanimously passed a resolution yesterday (Monday) calling for a moratorium on aerial spraying for the light brown apple moth (LBAM) until the state agriculture department “can demonstrate that the pheromone compound it intends to use is both safe to humans and effective at eradicating the light brown apple moth.” -more-
Posted Mon., April 28—Campus police are looking for two different groups of young men who harassed and sexually groped young women over the weekend. -more-
Posted Mon., April 28—Three Bay Area marches on May Day—and an eight-hour shutdown of West Coast ports—will merge traditional calls for better pay and benefits with support for the rights of immigrants and a call to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. -more-
Posted Mon., April 28—A power outage affecting some 300 AT&T phone customers interrupted phone service at a number of Berkeley offices this morning, according to Public Information Officer Mary Kay Clunies-Ross. By 2 p.m. all phones and services were back on line. -more-
Posted Mon., April 28—If Mayor Tom Bates and councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Dona Spring have their way, free evening parking in downtown Berkeley may be a luxury of the past. -more-
Russell Street residents faced off Thursday against their neighbors at the Berkeley Thai Temple, charging them with running a commercial restaurant in a residential neighborhood, bringing litter and congestion to the area, every Sunday. -more-
Berkeley Unified School District PTA members made their district proud when they formed the largest contingent at the “Flunk the Budget” California State PTA rally in Sacramento Thursday. -more-
Oakland Police are investigating a Tuesday morning shooting in which neighbors say a North Oakland man shot an intruder breaking into his 59th Street home. -more-
The courts and the governor took independent actions Thursday that resulted—at least temporarily—in stopping the planned aerial and ground spraying for the light brown apple moth. -more-
The Berkeley City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to postpone the public hearing on the Berkeley city attorney’s draft sunshine ordinance—which promises greater access to local government—to October and granted a 90-day extension to complete their work to the citizens’ group working on an alternate draft. -more-
Berkeley voters are more likely to approve a bond measure on the November ballot that supports watershed management and clean stormwater issues, but few would be willing to shell out their hard-earned dollars for a new skate park. And they’d be more willing to add a $50 item to their tax burden than a $150 item. -more-
The City Council adoption Tuesday around midnight of an ordinance that would add open-space and parking regulations in all commercial-area development, a preemptive strike against possible fallout from the passage of Proposition 98, was a disappointment to some West Berkeley residents who hoped to see the passage of a competing ordinance—one that would have limited building heights along San Pablo Avenue. -more-
Community members turned the heat up a notch on Pacific Steel Casting Tuesday when Berkeley lawyer Tim Rumberger filed a class-action nuisance lawsuit against the foundry on behalf of thousands of West Berkeley neighbors. -more-
A 21-year-old Emeryville man died and two people were injured in a spectacular crash on Interstate 80 at Ashby Avenue early Wednesday. -more-
The Daily Planet sat down with the four candidates in the California Assembly District 14 race recently and asked their views on various issues. The Daily Planet will reproduce portions of their responses in upcoming issues, beginning this week with the issue of health care. -more-
The Berkeley Board of Education voted Wednesday to proceed with the South of Bancroft Plan—which calls for the demolition of the nationally landmarked Old Gym to make room for a stadium and 15 new classrooms, with the option of relocating the warm-water pool located inside it to a site on Milvia Street—and approved $1.4 million for Baker Vilar Architects to design the new facilities. -more-
The Berkeley Unified School District was able to bring back all its “pink-slipped” classroom teachers Wednesday, after the district rescinded potential layoff notices for 11 multiple-credentialed teachers. -more-
Planning commissioners voted Wednesday night to extend the comment period on the draft environmental impact report (DEIR) for Berkeley’s long-delayed Southside Plan. -more-
Proposed revisions to Berkeley’s wireless ordinance ran into opposition Wednesday night both from neighbors, who branded the proposals as weak, and from phone companies, which said they were too strict. -more-
A private company founded by the head of one of two UC Berkeley programs created to turn plants into fuels for planes, trains and automobiles is launching a commercial venture to turn sugar cane into diesel fuel. -more-
It’s May Day today, a traditional holiday in a wide spectrum of traditions. For the Old Left and much of the rest of the world, it’s a Labor Day, a day for assertive marching and waving red flags. The ILWU and friends are honoring the old-school customs by trying to shut down shipping on the Left Coast to protest the war in Iraq. Pre-left traditions from Olde England were celebrated by gathering baskets of spring flowers to hang anonymously on the doorknobs of sweethearts and friends. Even in my innocent college days first year students left May baskets for favorite seniors—do they still do that, I wonder? -more-
Like every other Left-of-David-Brooks opinion writer in the country, I’m longing to lay into television journalism in general, ABC’s in particular, and especially George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson for the travesty of an interview show that was wrongly labelled as a presidential primary debate last week. -more-
Could the tragedy of Christopher Wootton’s death have been avoided if we had been more proactive with prevention and enforcement efforts in our community? Sadly, we think it’s possible that might be the case. We are a group of neighbors who have volunteered our time for over two years on the Chancellor’s Task Force on Student/Neighbor Relations working on issues of alcohol-related behavior in the Southside. -more-
From the beginning, the idea of converting an industrial property in the middle of our manufacturing district to recreational fields and a skate park, was pure folly. Like the lie that requires another to cover up its dishonesty, the planning and rezoning of the park complex have led to a series of outrageous decisions, and of course, more of our tax dollars being spent to “fix” a multitude of mistakes. -more-
Over the past week top Pentagon officials have upped the Bush regime’s verbal attacks against Iran in what may be a prelude to actual military attacks. On April 21, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates delivered a speech at the West Point military academy where he accused Iran of being a rogue nation that supports “terrorism; that is a destabilizing force throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia and, in my judgment, is hellbent on acquiring nuclear weapons.” He went on to say, “Another war in the Middle East is the last thing we need. And in fact, I believe it would be disastrous on a number of levels. But the military option must be kept on the table, given the destabilizing policies of the regime and the risks inherent in a future Iranian nuclear threat – either directly or through nuclear proliferation.” Gates and all other top Bush administration officials, including the president, continually emphasize that the military option is always on the table in regard to Iran. -more-
Many people familiar with the Berkeley City Council’s resolution calling the Marines Corps Recruiters unwelcome intruders and the resulting protests might be surprised to learn that they had been deliberately bamboozled into believing that the Berkeley leaders were insulting the men and women who serve in the Marines. The mass hysteria was fanned by the nation’s mostly pro-war media who were willingly led by the nose by Republican war hawks. Their goal was to paint war critics like Berkeley as unpatriotic haters of the troops and to deflect attention from the disgraceful behavior of the Marine Recruiters which was the topic of the Berkeley resolution. -more-
This is in response to Laurie Capitelli’s April 18 commentary in the Daily Planet. He begins his commentary standing at Vine looking south “down a vibrant Shattuck Avenue thronging with pedestrians…spilling out across traffic to claim and use the grass median strip.” What he does not say, is that this thronging mass of pedestrians does not continue down Shattuck Avenue or continue into the real downtown of Berkeley. -more-
Why would a moth that has probably been in California for at least a decade, that is not spreading as rapid as California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) demographic models predict and that has not devastated the agriculture in the countries where has been established for decades, suddenly become the target of the state agriculture’s department and agribusiness? This little insect is simply being used as an excuse to protect California’s big agriculture interests and to justify the continuation and expansion of the budgets of the state’s agricultural bureaucracies. For this strategy to work, it is necessary to resort to the well known terror campaign, so familiar to us as it is daily used by the current U.S. administration as a mechanism to justify the war that enriches a few big military industries and oil companies and impoverishes the vast population now subjected to increasing home foreclosures, unemployment, increased oil and food prices and cuts on education and other basic services. -more-
Oakland crime is out of control. Our city is in crisis and our residents are in shock. Oakland is one of the 10 most dangerous cities in the country. Our 2008 murder rate is nearly 60 percent higher than at this same time last year. Recently, a young East Oakland mother was killed while she slept in her bed; she was struck by a bullet intended for a group of people outside her home, a 10-year-old boy was permanently disabled when a bullet ripped into him while he took piano lessons in Montclair, diners were robbed at gunpoint at six restaurants in just the last two weeks, and many residents have been assaulted on the streets, and subjected to car-jackings and other personal and property crimes. -more-
On April 23, the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) unanimously approved a resolution, brought by School Board Director Karen Hemphill, in opposition to the aerial pesticide spraying proposed for the Bay Area. (The current CDFA plan is to spray every 30 days for nine months of each year for up to five years or longer.) The board’s resolution requests that the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) act to protect the health and welfare of the residents and natural environment of Alameda County by immediately shifting its light brown apple moth (LBAM) control methods to least-toxic Integrated Pest Management methods. The resolution also urges BUSD to join neighboring jurisdictions, including other school districts and local governments, to oppose the spray and requests that the Alameda County School Board and other local school districts take a similar stand. -more-
It’s unfortunate that the concept of visualization has gotten such a bad rap. Because of its connection with what turned out to be mushy-brained 1960s social science, or perhaps because it has become the butt of so many jokes (e.g., the bumper sticker “Visualize Whirled Peas”), it now languishes in history’s big dustheap, somewhere between encounter groups and last week’s coffee grounds. As it turns out, we probably cannot change reality simply by “visualizing” an alternative one. -more-
Most Berkeley residents are aware of the encampment in the oak trees by the University of California’s Memorial Stadium. -more-
To protect and to serve” has never been UC Police policy when it comes to student protest. Back in 1969, UC Police enforced UC policy on People’s Park. UCPD failed, and today we have a park, not a parking lot. In 1999, when hunger strikers defended Ethnic Studies, UCPD beat the protesters. Again they failed, and today Ethnic Studies has tenured faculty. -more-
Mayor Bates, at the April 14 meeting of the City Council Agenda Committee, declared that the City Council would proceed with an April 22, 2008 Public hearing on the Draft Sunshine Ordinance left behind by the city’s former city attorney. This, despite the City Council’s receipt of a letter (from the very prestigious panelists that the City Council itself had invited to participate in a March 2007 Sunshine Ordinance Workshop) requesting that the public hearing be postponed in order that a Sunshine Ordinance draft in process by a citizens’ group could also be subject to public review and consideration. This citizens’ group was initiated by, and participated in by, the very panelists whom the mayor and councilmembers had encouraged to do just that. -more-
It has been a year and a half since the Memorial Stadium oak trees—now part UC Berkeley protest fame—have had to call a new kind of longhaired species resident. Perched on limbs, sitting on the sidewalk or frequenting the I-House Café, protestors continue to sit even though student support is clearly on the wane. As an athlete at UC Berkeley, I probably spend more time inside cracked and unsafe walls of Memorial Stadium than any other lecture hall, coffee house, or library on campus. The oak grove is part of my campus, and if I have learned nothing else from Berkeley’s history, I have learned that if someone is doing something I do not agree with, it is my turn—my responsibility—to stand up and have myself be heard. -more-
Laurie Capitelli begins his April 18 Daily Planet commentary standing at Vine looking south “down a vibrant Shattuck Avenue thronging with pedestrians…spilling out across traffic to claim and use the grass median strip.” What he does not say, is that this thronging mass of pedestrians does not continue down Shattuck Avenue or continue into the real downtown of Berkeley. -more-
Posted Mon., April 28—From the beginning, the idea of converting an industrial property in the middle of our manufacturing district to recreational fields and a skate park, was pure folly. -more-
Posted Mon., April 28—Over the past week top Pentagon officials have upped the Bush regime’s verbal attacks against Iran in what may be a prelude to actual military attacks. -more-
With respect to the North Shattuck Plaza, a proposal which recently resurfaced in the city’s Master Pedestrian Plan, and whose “comment period” has recently ended, I write concerning both the issue and the process. To the issue of the plaza as proposed I stand opposed. The process to which I refer is that of government imposition of such plans (to which I stand opposed) without the active and informed participation in their formulation by those who will be effected by them. A “comment period” does not constitute participation. -more-
The Daily Planet had a headline article regarding concrete cracking at the skate park. Mixed in with this was my name, as well as eight-year-old comments about environmental issues from someone on the Disability Commission. There is no connection here. -more-
The city is considering placing a bond measure on the ballot to rebuild our public pools. Pools built nearly half a century ago, in cooperation between the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) and the city, have reached their life expectancy. Crumbling infrastructure makes these pools increasingly expensive to maintain and keep viable financially and operationally. As a result, two of the three outdoor neighborhood public pools in Berkeley are closed most of the year, with West Campus pool closed even on summer weekends. Only King pool serves its North Berkeley neighborhood year around. Additionally, the city’s Warm Water Pool, housed in Berkeley Highs Old Gym, must be relocated and rebuilt. Now is the time to look at alternative scenarios. Now is the time to explore facilities that can support existing programs and act as a springboard to launch new, exciting, aquatic programs. -more-
Remember Joseph Heller’s Catch 22? “All the enlisted men and officers on combat duty had to sign a loyalty oath to get their maps from the intelligence tent, a second loyalty oath to receive their parachutes from the parachute tent, a third loyalty oath, etc.…Every time they turned around there was another loyalty oath to be signed…To anyone who questioned the effectiveness of loyalty oaths, [Captain Black] replied that people who were loyal would not mind signing all the loyalty oaths they had to. To anyone who questioned the effectiveness of the loyalty oaths, he said people who really owed allegiance to their country would be proud to pledge it as often as required.…The more loyalty oaths a person signed, the more loyal he was.” -more-
City officials are considering a panoply of new tax measures for the November 2008 ballot. The measures under discussion include the following projects, either separately or bundled in some fashion: public safety-police; public safety-fire; public safety-youth violence prevention; watershed management; warm water pool; (the forgoing are referred to herein as “the city measures”); and a very big general parks and recreation measure, including all pools, several playing fields, a new skate park, and more. Additionally, the library and BUSD are each very interested in substantial capital improvement measures ($25 million for the library), but appear to have made a deal to hold off until the city gets a first crack at the voters this coming November. Note that there will also likely be some regional and state revenue measures, as well as some potential changes (to extract more dollars) in the way that the State of California taxes property owners. -more-
In the printed edition of “Fight Against Moth Spray Gains Boots on the Ground” by Judith Scherr on April 8, the event our collective organized for Thursday, April 10, from 7-9 p.m. at the Berkeley Ecology Center was mistakenly credited to Pesticide Action Network (PAN). We are not affiliated with them, nor do we wish to be confused with them, because our organizations have very different approaches to anti-pesticide action. We advocate no compromise about chemical substances that harm human and environmental health, while they refuse to take a complete no toxics stand. -more-
Barack Obama’s political faux pas at the Marin county fundraiser is certainly something he could have done without, especially in light of the fact that his poll numbers were beginning to look good in Pennsylvania against his opponent. We don’t know if he was being candid or he merely misspoke. But whatever his intention was, this is exactly the sort of ammunition you don’t want to provide your opponents in this age of information where news propagates like wildfire click by click. Even though if you read his statement in full and not out of context, the last sentence of that statement doesn’t sound as bad as his opponents may like the voters to realize. But for McCain and Hillary to call him elitist is not only laughable but just plain disingenuous. -more-
Beware: The United States Department of Agriculture plans to drop bombs of pesticides over the Bay Area this summer. We can thank a former UC Berkeley professor for that. -more-
In 1903, Wisconsin’s “Fighting” Bob La Follette organized the first primaries in the U.S. La Follette hated boss-controlled conventions. The aim of the primaries, he once said, is to remove the nomination from the hands of professionals. -more-
In the six weeks between the Mississippi and Pennsylvania primaries, the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination deteriorated into trench warfare. When the dust cleared, Hillary Clinton won a nine-point victory in Pennsylvania, one that moved her no closer to securing the nomination. And the struggle between Clinton and Obama left a trail of bitterness. -more-
There was a time, many years ago, when I was embarrassed to admit that most of my clothes came either from second-hand stores or thrift shops. -more-
If the junior United States senator from Illinois—Barack Obama—is seeking guidance from the life of Illinois’ most famous politician in his quest for the presidency, replicating Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War “knockout blow” is the wrong place to look. Instead, it is the Civil War’s “terrible math” that is a better guide for this particular moment. -more-
Old Berkeley may have been solidly Republican, but it never lacked for colorful and even eccentric characters. How else to explain the flights of fancy some early Berkeleyans commissioned when building their homes a century ago? -more-
My two previous columns provided background on planned major construction by the University of California and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in undeveloped areas of Strawberry Canyon, and discussed a state and federally listed species, the Alameda whipsnake, which very likely inhabits the area to be developed. (Since last week I’ve received a credible report of a whipsnake sighting in the UC Botanical Garden, near the proposed site of the Helios Facility.) -more-
Some days I feel like I’m juggling so may balls that I ought to be on the Ed Sullivan show (this is an age test, folks). You remember that guy who had a dozen plates all spinning high in the air on little wooden dowels? Perhaps that’s a better analogy, since I’m quite sure that, if I were to rest for a minute or two, I’d be surrounded by shattered china. I’m sure you know the feeling? -more-
Posted Mon., April 28—In the six weeks between the Mississippi and Pennsylvania primaries, the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination deteriorated into trench warfare. When the dust cleared, Hillary Clinton won a nine-point victory in Pennsylvania, one that moved her no closer to securing the nomination. And the struggle between Clinton and Obama left a trail of bitterness. -more-
The recent victory of Fernando Lugo in Paraguay’s presidential election not only broke the right-wing Colorado Party’s 61-year monopoly on power, according to journalist and author Richard Gott, it signals “that the new mood in Latin America is not just a creation of a competent economist in Ecuador, a charismatic colonel in Venezuela, or a couple of union leaders in Brazil and Bolivia, but the result of a heartfelt and deep-rooted desire for change.” -more-
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been engaging in a political-difference dialogue with one of the candidates for Oakland City Council At Large, Charles Pine. I’m not going to go into the details of that dialogue; it’s all on-line, and you can look it up, if you haven’t been following it. I only raise it because I hope this serves as an example of how political dialogue ought to take place. Mr. Pine put his political positions out on his campaign website, following that up with public statements at a candidates forum. I wrote my criticisms in my column about those positions, signing my name to the criticisms. Mr. Pine answered those criticisms in a letter to the editor of my newspaper and liked his answers so much, apparently, that he posted them as well on his campaign website under the link “Exchange With Columnist About Law And Order.” -more-
If your house disappears from zillow.com, does that mean it no longer exists? Because that’s exactly what happened last month. -more-
I’m sure there’s a reasonable rationale behind it but to a posyhugger, the stretch of road leading into Sunol-Ohlone Regional Park is an instrument of torture. All along the roadcut on your right, if you’re on time for it, you’ll see a fine display of paintbrush, the occasional blue dicks and bindweed, and the first flush of Calochortus albus, the subtly gorgeous white fairy-lantern, much of it conveniently near eye-level as you pass. -more-
If you get to know anyone well enough, you’ll eventually find out which super-power they have. Most super-powers are fairly innocuous while a few are more apparent and seemingly heroic. My ex-girlfriend could find a parking place in front of coliseum Rock & Roll events. Right smack in front. Stunning. Clearly a super-power. Some people know just when to buy the 24 pack of toilet paper and never run out. For some, this is inconceivable. Some can find the screw they dropped in the grass, while I’ve been forced to leave many behind. Next time you pass some little balding guy on the street, remember, he has a super power. See if you can guess which one he has. It might be a doozy. -more-
The scene should have been a familiar one to a theater reviewer: rows of seats, the seatholders with an air of anticipation, focused on the spectacle to commence before them. -more-
Follies is one of Sondheim’s greatest works,” said Michael Morgan, Oakland East Bay Symphony director and conductor, of the concert version of the Stephen Sondheim-James Goldman Tony-winning musical the symphony will stage at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre May 16 and 18, with Academy Award-Tony-Grammy winner Rita Moreno, Val Diamond (Beach Blanket Babylon) and cabaret diva Sharon McKnight as guest stars. “[It’s] the timeless story of aging, learning from past mistakes and passing wisdom down from generation to generation.” -more-
Carla Zilbersmith of Albany is a dynamic performer—jazz singer, impressionist, comic, actor—who has also been influential as teacher and director. Her original show, Wedding Singer Blues, was a critical success here and in Los Angeles. Diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), she’s retiring from teaching, but will continue to perform—at the JazzSchool, June 14 and Anna’s Jazz Island on July 11, and also at 8 and 10 p.m. this coming Tuesday, May 6, at Yoshi’s Jack London Square in a benefit for her, with 30 musicians, including musical satirist Roy Zimmerman as well as the JazzSchool Composers Collective Big Band. Carla will sing standards from her new CD Extraordinary Renditions. 238-9200, www.yoshis.com or www.quiltmamas.com. -more-
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni climbed up the red-tiled stairs of the International House at UC Berkeley on a recent April afternoon with the familiar gait of someone who has done it a thousand times before. -more-
Almost from the beginning of the medium, filmmakers sought to exploit cinema’s unique properties. From the moment they could, directors were eager to transcend the limits of traditional theater by putting the camera in motion, by sending it racing, swooping and soaring; by using a variety of lenses to shape the image, to magnify, distort and exaggerate; and by using the editing process to suggest, startle and surprise. -more-
Old Berkeley may have been solidly Republican, but it never lacked for colorful and even eccentric characters. How else to explain the flights of fancy some early Berkeleyans commissioned when building their homes a century ago? -more-
My two previous columns provided background on planned major construction by the University of California and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in undeveloped areas of Strawberry Canyon, and discussed a state and federally listed species, the Alameda whipsnake, which very likely inhabits the area to be developed. (Since last week I’ve received a credible report of a whipsnake sighting in the UC Botanical Garden, near the proposed site of the Helios Facility.) -more-
Some days I feel like I’m juggling so may balls that I ought to be on the Ed Sullivan show (this is an age test, folks). You remember that guy who had a dozen plates all spinning high in the air on little wooden dowels? Perhaps that’s a better analogy, since I’m quite sure that, if I were to rest for a minute or two, I’d be surrounded by shattered china. I’m sure you know the feeling? -more-
If I’d had a normal life, I could’ve been a Schopenhauer or a Dostoyevsky!” Funny, awkward explosions like that are rare but significant moments in Chekhov’s plays, which—as one spectator at the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley production of Uncle Vanya put it—seem to run on the rhythms of “the comedy of everyday life.” -more-
Guitarist John Schott will join poet Steve Dickison in an unusual “back and forth, call and response” poetry and music improvisation as part of this coming Monday At Moe’s reading series, 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books on Telegraph Ave. Admission is free. -more-
If your house disappears from zillow.com, does that mean it no longer exists? Because that’s exactly what happened last month. -more-
I’m sure there’s a reasonable rationale behind it but to a posyhugger, the stretch of road leading into Sunol-Ohlone Regional Park is an instrument of torture. All along the roadcut on your right, if you’re on time for it, you’ll see a fine display of paintbrush, the occasional blue dicks and bindweed, and the first flush of Calochortus albus, the subtly gorgeous white fairy-lantern, much of it conveniently near eye-level as you pass. -more-
If you get to know anyone well enough, you’ll eventually find out which super-power they have. Most super-powers are fairly innocuous while a few are more apparent and seemingly heroic. My ex-girlfriend could find a parking place in front of coliseum Rock & Roll events. Right smack in front. Stunning. Clearly a super-power. Some people know just when to buy the 24 pack of toilet paper and never run out. For some, this is inconceivable. Some can find the screw they dropped in the grass, while I’ve been forced to leave many behind. Next time you pass some little balding guy on the street, remember, he has a super power. See if you can guess which one he has. It might be a doozy. -more-
