News

‘Popup’ House Plans Create Neighborhood Discord By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday June 14, 2005
The latest addition to Berkeley’s growing “popup” house collection got the go-ahead from Zoning Adjustments Board members Thursday despite nearly unanimous neighborhood opposition. -more-

City Council May Prolong Drayage Eviction Standoff By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday June 14, 2005
The City Council will yet again Tuesday be asked to weigh in on the fate of 11 artisans refusing to leave their homes at an illegal live-work West Berkeley warehouse. -more-

PTA Leaders Wonder Where Perata Stands By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday June 14, 2005
With a proposed tax increase on wealthy Californians no longer in play and a comprehensive education plan by legislative Democrats yet to be released, education leaders are divided on what concrete commitments they actually have from State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata on education funding. -more-

West Berkeley Residents Demand Quieter Train Whistles By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Several Berkeley residents living near the railroad have a message for train conductors who blast past their homes night and day: “Don’t blow your horn.” -more-

Former Artists’ Colony Approved for Home, Commerce By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday June 14, 2005
The Zoning Adjustments Board’s decision Thursday to approve a use permit for remodeling the recently landmarked monolithic block building at 2750 Adeline St. marked the end of an era for South Berkeley. -more-

UC Staff Walk Out; Toxic Inquiry at Field Station By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Picketers gathered outside the main gate of UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station (RFS) Monday morning—but unlike other protests there, this one wasn’t directed at the toxins polluting the site. -more-

BHS Theater Manager Placed On Administrative Leave By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday June 14, 2005
The longtime manager of the Berkeley Community Theater has reportedly been placed on administrative leave, but because the Berkeley Unified School District will not comment on the reported action or even confirm it, there is no official word as to how long the leave may last, and what might be the cause. -more-

German Turks Feel the Heat Of European Discontent By MICHAEL SCOTT MOORE Pacific News Service

Tuesday June 14, 2005
BERLIN—Berlin’s annual Turkish-European Street Festival tries to bring a dose of Near-Eastern culture to a stubbornly white European town. You can buy kafta and börek in the booths and pretend, for one afternoon, that the “Strasse des 17. Juni” is a boulevard in Istanbul. But this year, in the wake of three decisive elections in Europe—two defeats for the E.U. constitution, plus a regional victory for the German right—the street fair’s motto, “We Are Europeans,” had a forced multicultural spirit that not even the festival-goers believed. -more-

Vista College Construction Overruns on Agenda By J. DOUGLAS ALLEN-TAYLOR

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Peralta Community College Trustees will consider the growing cost of building the new Vista College this week -more-

North Oakland Doctor Harassed by Anti-Abortionists By MATTHEW ARTZ

Tuesday June 14, 2005
For one neighborhood in North Oakland the national battle over abortion has been delivered to their mail boxes. -more-

Density Bonus Law Confounds Officials By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday June 14, 2005
If would-be developers and neighborhood activists find the inclusionary and density bonuses hard to understand, they’re not alone. -more-

Sidewalk Stamps Make Local History More Concrete By LINCOLN CUSHING Special to the Planet

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Proud traces of Berkeley’s building and construction trades abound in a little-known niche of the urban environment: our sidewalks. -more-

Editorial Cartoon By JUSTIN DEFREITAS

Tuesday June 14, 2005
http://www.jfdefreitas.com/index.php?path=/00_Latest%20Work -more-

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday June 14, 2005
RADICAL BERKELEY -more-

Column: The Public Eye: Barbarians at the Gate: America’s Four Myths By BOB BURNETT

Tuesday June 14, 2005
In a March article in The New Republic, Robert Reich bemoaned the failure of Democrats to control four essential American stories. Two of these are myths with hopeful themes, “the triumphant individual” and “the benevolent community.” The other two portray powerful images of fear, “rot at the top” and “the mob at the gates.” The latter describes how, “the United States is a beacon of virtue in a world of darkness, uniquely blessed but continuously endangered by foreign menaces.” Reich observed that after 9/11 the Bush administration skillfully turned this metaphor to their advantage: al Qaeda became the barbarians at the gates, heathens preparing to pillage the American heartland. -more-

Column: Waiting for a Better Way to Control a Wheelchair By SUSAN PARKER

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Almost a year ago, a Kaiser Permanente medical equipment contractor suggested that Ralph use a device other than a head array to control his wheelchair. The head array uses an infrared beam and somehow, when Ralph moves his head in various directions, his wheelchair slides in and out of a variety of gears: forward, backward, up, and down. It is a miracle in modern technology that doesn’t often work as it should. -more-

Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Garden tool brandished -more-

Fire Department Log By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Disaster Averted -more-

Commentary: Were Elder-Abuse Items Weeded Out of the Public Library? By HELEN RIPPIER WHEELER

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Appended to the Berkeley Public Library June 8 Action Calendar memo to the Board of Library Trustees from the director of Library Services, Subject: Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Adoption is a “Service View-Adult Services Fiscal Year 2005 Summary.” The second bulleted item consists of the following in toto: -more-

Commentary: Jefferson School: What’s the Rush? By ROB BROWNING

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Suddenly the proposal to change the name of Berkeley’s Jefferson School because Thomas Jefferson was a slaveholder is at full boil. First broached over a year ago, the idea seems to have lain fallow until about a month ago. In a very short time the process for deciding the question has leapt forward with virtually breakneck velocity. -more-

Shotgun’s Exotic Exploration of an Apartment Block By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet

Tuesday June 14, 2005
A white divan (modern) backed by tiers of screens on which multiple images of a camel are projected: This is the simple set on the Ashby Stage on which the Shotgun Players’ production of Arabian Night will spin a tangled web. -more-

Arts Calendar

Tuesday June 14, 2005
TUESDAY, JUNE 14 -more-

Jumping Spiders Display Elaborate Courtship Dances By JOE EATONSpecial to the Planet

Tuesday June 14, 2005
What caught my eye was the color contrast: something bright red crawling along the green garden hose. It was a creature I had never seen before, a thumbnail-sized spider with a black cephalothorax and a red abdomen, a huge pair of forward-facing eyes, an d a glint of green about its mouthparts. Distracted from watering, I followed it around the lawn as it maneuvered through the grass blades, following one to near its tip where it suddenly pounced on something small, brown, and shiny. -more-

Berkeley This Week

Tuesday June 14, 2005
TUESDAY, JUNE 14 -more-

Richard Brenneman: A young cyclist rides by the Victorian cottage at 2901 Otis St. where the Zoning Adjustments Board has approved a three-story condo popup over the strong protests of neighbors..
Richard Brenneman: A young cyclist rides by the Victorian cottage at 2901 Otis St. where the Zoning Adjustments Board has approved a three-story condo popup over the strong protests of neighbors..

Editorials

Editorial: Giving Our Readers What They Want By BECKY O'MALLEY

Tuesday June 14, 2005
Monday’s voice mail carried a request that the Daily Planet print the full text of the rejected European constitution, as a follow-up to the Pacific News Service analysis we printed last week. E-mail transmitted a suggestion that we reprint the full text of the agreement between UC Berkeley and the City of Berkeley. Unfortunately, our page count, which is determined by the amount of advertising we have for each issue, doesn’t allow us such luxuries, though we can and will make such documents available to our readers on the Internet via either links or full texts. -more-

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