This is not about architectural preservation but natural preservation. I have been reading the EIS for the proposed clear cutting and herbicide application in the Berkeley Hills, specifically Strawberry Canyon, and it is complete overkill--cutting 12,000 trees and applying herbicide to the trunks, including herbicides which are used to eliminate native trees, just not the trees FEMA seems to like.

Fire can be controlled in a more effective manner by selective cutting and clearing as has been done at LBNL.

I received this petition from MoveOn.org and am passing it on to others who may share my concerns. If you want all the details on what is proposed, check http://ebheis.cdmims.com.

To sign the petition, click here:

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-the-deforestation-3?source=s.em.mt&r_by=4624511 -more-

I am not a tree hugger or an activist. Three weeks before our wedding on November 9, 1991, my husband lost everything he owned in the Oakland HIlls Firestorm. I have every sympathy and interest in fire mitigation. I now live near the Lake Chabot area referenced in this proposal.

The problem I have is that this EIS proposal has been essentially hidden from public review. If it hadn't been for an activist finding out about the final public meetings at the last minute and contacting the press, none of the affected residents would've been aware the meetings. Why? -more-

EMA is proposing a plan to deter fire danger by clearcutting several forest areas in the hills, targetting eucalyptus mostly, and spraying herbicides to kill undergrowth.

Here are some facts about the plan.

The herbicides they will be using (spraying) are highly carcinogenic. That means the plan will be detrimental to people. We cannot say which ones. On FEMA's own account, they will be spraying 60 feet from water sources.

The plan will be highly beneficial to Monsanto. -more-

Rant Warning! The following commentary has been assigned an AR Rating (for “Angry Rant”) by Daily Planet editors. It is the work of a disenchanted old geezer and former supporter of the Obama Administration. Children and idealists should be accompanied by an adult if reading this. The editors sincerely wish the author a speedy recovery and return to a semblance of harmony. The Daily Planet assumes no responsibility for disillusionment expressed in this commentary. -more-

Recent events in Berkeley have laid bare many of the weaknesses in our approach to caring for those with mental illness. The February 2013 death of Kayla Moore in police custody is just the most recent example. There have been others such as the tragic murder of Berkeley resident Peter Cukor in his own home by a mentally ill person. There was also the recent hog-tying and hooding of homeless youth Jeremy Carter though he was never even accused of being violent and, of course, the daily pipeline of individuals who, instead of getting help managing their mental health, are being processed into prisons where they are in even more jeopardy. The current government system protects neither the person needing help or the public. It begs the question of whether it is the police who should be responding to mental health cases at all. -more-

Last weekend folks managing BUSD/Tim Mollering Memorial Field left irrigation systems running for what appears to have been 72 hours. It is still running at the time of this writing I believe. At a rate of what appears to be nearly 200 gals a minute down into the storm drains.

I observed a twenty-four hour cycle of this by virtue of the park being on my route for walking my dogs.

I observed water running Sunday 7 am, Sunday 7 pm and Monday 6 am.

In comments made by city representatives, this problem may have started as early as Friday May 17.

Calls to BPD, City 311, EBMUD, and BUSD resulted in no correction of this wasteful happenstance. -more-

Welcome to the 7^th annual Berkeley CO and War Resisters’ Day. In 2007, the Mayor and the City Council proclaimed May 15^th, “…as the day on which Berkeley acknowledges, honors, and celebrates conscientious objectors and war resisters, civilian and military, past, present, and future.” May 15^th is also International Conscientious Objectors’ Day. The City publicly recognized “that conscientious objectors and war resisters, past and present, civilian and military, have, due to conscience and principle, often sacrificed their time and freedom in prison or in exile or underground; and…conscientious objectors and war resisters often worked to end war and have refused for moral, ethical, political or religious reasons to participate in war; and…their resistance to militarism sets a noble example and an outstanding model for our youth and our whole community; and… their strength and their courage in following their consciences is often unsung.” -more-

The next issue is late. A reader told me not to apologize so much for irregular publication dates, so I won't. -more-

Berkeley receives grants for renovation of BART Plaza, Hearst Avenue (Daily Cal)

FEMA, eucalyptus cuts, and herbicides: Fix or pox for fire prone East Bay hills?
(Bay Area Indymedia, KPFA)

Berkeley set for $12.7m in downtown transport grants (berkeleyside.com) -more-

The most famous running joke in the Peanuts comic strip repeats at the beginning of every football season. Charlie Brown asks Lucy to hold the ball for him so he can kick it. At the last moment, just before Charlie gets his foot on the pigskin, Lucy snatches it away. Despite years of torment, each new season Charlie Brown finds a reason to believe that Lucy will hold the ball down where he can kick it. But this never happens. Sound familiar? It’s the story of Barack Obama and the Republican Congress. -more-

What happened to the recent Arab Peace Initiative (API) unanimously endorsed by the 22-member Arab League in 2002 at the Beirut Summit of the Arab League? It is time for Israel to accept the API as a basis for peace negotiations. -more-

I am sitting at home after an uneventful outing of doing errands; I have a deep peacefulness as I look at the overcast light filter in through the blinds in my living room, and as I sit in my chair facing my computer. Things seem bright and cheerful, safe and sane, peaceful and comfortable. It has not always been this way. It has been literally decades that I haven't felt safe like this. And yet, the externals in my life are not so different. Sure, at times there have been crises that needed to be dealt with, but there were also uneventful times in which I should have felt at peace, and didn't. -more-

One might easily imagine that things in the East Bay would slow down over the Memorial Day Weekend. Not so! There's actually a plethora of exciting events and entertainment the next several days. (How do you like that "plethora?") -more-

Sixty actors, directors, and designers received the Critics Circle “Outstanding” awards at the Critics Circle’s Awards Gala & Dance Party held at the California Ballroom in Oakland on May 6. -more-