M. H. O'Malley

At 1 a.m. flames were still visible from the roof of the Sequoia Apartments on Telegraph at Haste.

Extra

Sequoia Building Demolition Likely,
Say City Officials;
Not All Residents Accounted For

By Steven Finacom

Saturday November 19, 2011 - 05:06:00 PM

At a press conference held this afternoon on a closed-down Haste Street with the still smoldering Sequoia Apartment building in the background, Mayor Tom Bates, City Manager Phil Kamlarz, and Assistant Fire Chief Gil Dong said that it hasn’t been fully established whether all the occupants of the building got out during the five alarm blaze, and that the historic building, constructed in 1916, will probably be demolished in the immediate future. -more-

Apartment Fire Still Smouldering

By Steven Finacom

Saturday November 19, 2011 - 11:45:00 AM

The fire that started in the Sequoia Apartments at Haste and Telegraph on the evening of Friday, November 18, was still burning the next morning. Berkeley Fire Department crews continued to pour water into the mixed-use structure, a historic apartment building that contains 39 units and restaurants popular with the campus crowd, including Café Intermezzo and Raleigh’s pub. The building has four floors—including the commercial level—along Telegraph and five levels on Haste.

A column of smoke was visible throughout Berkeley this morning above the severely damaged building. Along Telegraph the top floor apartments and some on the third floor below appeared gutted. The sky and charred lathe and plaster walls were visible through several of the fourth floor windows. Along Haste the damage extended down to the second floor, which was one of the first portions of the building visibly burning last night. Some of the aluminum window frames hung blackened and distorted above the street. -more-

Berkeley Fire at Sequoia Apartments on Telegraph Contained at 3 a.m., Chief Says

By Sasha Lekach (BCN)

Saturday November 19, 2011 - 08:53:00 AM

A four-alarm fire at an apartment building near the University of California at Berkeley has been contained more than six hours after the fire department first received reports of a fire, a Berkeley fire chief said. -more-

Flash: Huge Fire Raging at Telegraph and Haste in Berkeley

By Becky O'Malley and Steven Finacom

Friday November 18, 2011 - 11:30:00 PM

Fire bursts through the windows on the south side.

11:30 p.m.

A four-alarm fire is raging in the Sequoia Apartments building, on the northwest corner of Haste and Telegraph in Berkeley. The tile-faced five-story building, which dates from the early 20th century, has 39 apartments on its upper floors. The storefront on the first floor for many years housed Mario's La Fiesta Restaurant. There was a two-alarm fire in the building in February of this year. -more-

Page One

Press Release: Occupy Oakland Takes to the Streets on Saturday at 2

From Kevin Seal

Friday November 18, 2011 - 07:18:00 PM

Occupy Oakland will take to the streets at 14th and Broadway this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. for a mass rally and march. -more-

Occupy Cal Camp and Police Low Key on Friday Morning

By Steven Finacom

Friday November 18, 2011 - 12:48:00 PM

The “Occupy Cal” encampment seemed at an early morning ebb on Friday as I arrived on the UC Berkeley campus for work. After the police action on Thursday night that had cleared away the tents and most of the other objects and art—from pianos to sculpture—that had accumulated on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Mario Savio Steps of Sproul Hall displayed only a few signs, some black and white balloons, and perhaps a dozen Occupiers. -more-

"Occupy Cal" Votes on Next Step

By Ted Friedman

Saturday November 19, 2011 - 12:11:00 PM

Students at the Occupy Cal general assembly on Thursday night voted to re-occupy Sproul Plaza on Monday. Their sign was lifted off the steps by gas balloons to avoid retribution from UC police for violating rules banning installations at the site.

-more-

Occupy Cal Plans to Re-Group

By Jeff Shuttleworth (BCN)

Friday November 18, 2011 - 08:15:00 AM

About 200 Occupy Cal protesters gathered on the steps of Sproul Hall at the University of California at Berkeley last night for a general assembly meeting to decide if they will set up an encampment again. -more-

Signs from A Protest--Tuesday's Action

By Steven Finacom

Friday November 18, 2011 - 07:56:00 AM

-more-

A Last Look at Occupy Cal on Wednesday

By Steven Finacom

Friday November 18, 2011 - 08:14:00 AM

By Steven Finacom -more-

Public Comment

An Open Letter to Cal Parents and Alumni

By Peter Ernst, San Diego

Friday November 18, 2011 - 07:21:00 PM

Dear Parents and Alumni of Cal:

Like many of you, I have been so proud that our daughter is attending an institution with the stature of Cal. Until last week. While the context of the protests have not been thoroughly reported nationally and are difficult to judge, students linked by their arms should not be bludgeoned. Did the students err? Quite possibly. Did they deserve to be beaten? Absolutely not. Any respect the students and the rest of had for the judgment of the Cal police and administration has been lost by this senseless response. -more-

Peralta Colleges Take Steps to Reinvest Money in Community-Based Financial Institutions

By Abel Guillen

Friday November 18, 2011 - 07:24:00 PM

This week, the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees adopted a resolution for the local reinvestment of its student fees and community tax dollars that will move the East Bay colleges’ funds from large, for-profit banks to community-based financial institutions. -more-

Letter to Chancellor Regarding Violence Against Students

By Nathan Danielsen, Class of 2007, US Peace Corps in Senegal from 2007 to 2010

Friday November 18, 2011 - 07:27:00 PM

Dear Chancellor, -more-

Unequal Pay

By Robert Clear

Friday November 18, 2011 - 06:46:00 PM

I just finished reading a stock proxy. Like most proxies, it has a section on compensation for its five named executive officers. Also, not atypically, this section was a full third the length of the full proxy, in this case despite the fact that there were two appendices with a restatement of the articles of incorporation. What is particularly relevant to current events in this proxy, was that the compensation section, like all such sections I have read, had no discussion of how executive compensation compares to the compensation of any of the other employees of the company. In the corporate pay structure there is no connection between executive compensation, and worker compensation.

It gets worse. Worker compensation is a cost, and a well-run business does what it can to limit this cost. This includes automation, outsourcing, temporary or part-time employment without benefits, layoffs, and even efforts to eliminate minimum wage laws. On the other hand, the compensation philosophy espoused in proxies almost guarantees pressure to increase executive pay. Companies present themselves as being in competition to attract and hold scarce executive talent. Every compensation section I have read has an extensive discussion of the pay in comparable companies. To ensure company success, target compensation for their executives is almost always at or above the median of their competitive group. At or above, that is the rub. All companies cannot be at or above the median, at least not all the time. A company can, however, raise its pay to the median or above at a particular time. It will then be at or above the median until its competitors raise their executive pay so that they are at or above the median. -more-

Editorial

Will Berkeley's Occupy Cal Save the World?

By Becky O'Malley

Wednesday November 16, 2011 - 09:40:00 AM

Carol Denney, a frequent contributor to these pages, is fond of saying that the reason the Free Speech Movement took place at the University of California at Berkeley was NOT because free speech flourished on this campus. Quite the contrary: it’s been the tradition at Cal, going way back in pre-history before I was an undergraduate, for arrogant administrators to try to keep the lid on student speech. It could be described as a form of hubris (a ten-dollar word I learned in Cal’s English department): “we’re the top …students are damn lucky to be here…so they should shut up and drive.”

At the University of Michigan, another school I had the opportunity to observe in the 1960s after I graduated from Cal, the bosses took the opposite tack. By and large, they ignored student protests, so there were never any major riots on the part of either students or police. Eventually the more radical students got bored, founded first SDS and then the Weathermen, and went off to tear up Chicago instead, which was much more satisfying—and now like Bill Ayres they’re almost all professors somewhere or other.

But at Cal, as we called it back in the day before the name of the town was appropriated by the university’s PR department, decision-makers have always provided satisfying opposition to student action which has historically stimulated more student action. And the current crop of well-paid administrators is keeping up the tradition. Lots and lots of them, including Chancellor Birgeneau ($428,712.84) who okayed the police action last Wednesday where heads were bashed and stomachs jabbed with batons, are firmly part of the richest 1%, and they have no qualms about asserting their power over impecunious and mouthy students because of it. -more-

Columns

The Public Eye: Politics 2012: They’ve Gone Too Far

By Bob Burnett

Friday November 18, 2011 - 06:54:00 PM

While the 2012 elections are twelve months away, Republicans have handed President Obama and Democrats a winning theme: ”they’ve gone too far.” -more-

Eclectic Rant: What Next for Occupy Wall Street after Adverse Court Ruling?

By Ralph E. Stone

Friday November 18, 2011 - 07:03:00 PM

On November 15, 2011, New York City Police evicted Occupy Wall Street (OWS) from lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. Later that same day, OWS obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring that they immediately be allowed back into Zuccotti Park with their tents, tarps, and sleeping bags. But the next day, the New York County Supreme Court In the matter of Waller V. The City of New York, et. al. declined to extend the TRO. Thus, the OWS eviction stands, although OWS's application challenging the eviction will continue. -more-

SENIOR POWER… A Play for an Older Actress

By Helen Rippier Wheeler

Friday November 18, 2011 - 07:32:00 PM

This week I saw and heard Bill Cain’s play, How to Write a New Book for the Bible, world premiered at the Berkeley Rep. In short, “A man moves in with his mother when she can no longer care for herself… Their reunion heals old wounds, opening a heartfelt and humorous new chapter in their relationship … this timeless tale celebrates a mother’s love and a son’s devotion.” -more-

On Mental Illness: Psychosis or Depression, Take Your Pick

By Jack Bragen

Friday November 18, 2011 - 06:40:00 PM

Living with schizophrenic illness entails several different “catch-22’s” in which the options are limited. One of these conflicts is the choice between being overmedicated and thus depressed, versus not taking enough medication and being mildly psychotic. It seems, for me at least, there is little or no middle zone between these. -more-

Arts & Events

Eye from the Aisle: The Hot Mikado at Pt. Richmond MASQUERS, Uneven but Thrilling

by John A. McMullen II

Friday November 18, 2011 - 09:04:00 AM

It started out like a typical community theatre musical, kind of lackluster, some good actors and singers, some mediocre, the set very Japanese but everyone dressed for Guys and Dolls. It was the Point Richmond Masquers Playhouse production of The Hot Mikado, a swing era rewrite of Gilbert & Sullivan. For the most of the first act I was in and out, occasionally nodding. The band was flat and non- ensemble with no drummer (!?). The choreography seemed uninspired. There was a good barbershop-like harmony at one point. There is one truly impressive baritone, a couple of pretty girls, one a guy who had great moves, but pretty unmemorable all around. -more-

Theater Review: David A.Moss in 'Cracked Clown' at the East Bay Media Center

By Ken Bullock

Friday November 18, 2011 - 09:06:00 AM

"I'm so glad you came to see me ..." -more-

Back Stories

Opinion

Editorials

Will Berkeley's Occupy Cal Save the World? 11-16-2011

The Editor's Back Fence

What Would You Do if You Ran UC Berkeley? Suggestions... 11-14-2011

UC Executive Salaries 11-14-2011

Whose Oakland? (Whose Berkeley?) 11-14-2011

Cartoons

Cartoon Page: Odd Bodkins By Dan O'Neill 11-16-2011

Public Comment

An Open Letter to Cal Parents and Alumni By Peter Ernst, San Diego 11-18-2011

Peralta Colleges Take Steps to Reinvest Money in Community-Based Financial Institutions By Abel Guillen 11-18-2011

Letter to Chancellor Regarding Violence Against Students By Nathan Danielsen, Class of 2007, US Peace Corps in Senegal from 2007 to 2010 11-18-2011

Unequal Pay By Robert Clear 11-18-2011

Shock and Awe: Berkeley Mayor and Councilmembers attempt late-night switch in redistricting plans By Jacquelyn McCormick 11-16-2011

Watch the Berkeley City Council's Discussion of Redistricting Proposals 11-16-2011

To Occupy or Be Occupied---a bird’s eye view By Marc Sapir 11-16-2011

Occupy the Pentagon: Add Your Voice to Reducing the Military Budget By Nick Carlin 11-16-2011

Have Yourself a Slice of Occupy, a ragtime salute By Carol Denney 11-15-2011

Whose Streets? Oakland’s Shadow Government Presses City Hall to End the Occupation by Adrian Drummond-Cole and Darwin Bond-Graham 11-14-2011

Press Release: UC Students Oppose Regents Decision to Cancel November Meeting Darius Kemp, UCSA Communications and Organizing Director 11-14-2011

Exchange of Letters about Occupy Oakland By Rabbi Michael Lerner, Jordan Ashe 11-14-2011

Call for Open University Strike and Solidarity Actions on November 15th Issued by Occupy Cal 11-14-2011

An Open Letter to Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau from a Madison Mother By Corinne Heath, Madison, Wisconsin 11-12-2011

Labor Activists Issue Urgent Call to Alameda Labor Council for Labor Defense of Occupy Oakland 11-12-2011