10/14/08
the Berkeley Chamber of
Commerce Bates/Dean debate
Held at Skate's yesterday
morning, I got to the debate late and came in as the mayor was
talking about the need to clean up downtown. Ms Dean agreed, we
need to clean up downtown. . . .
boy . . .
Skate's has a hell-of-a back-bar.
. . . I mean, it was 8:45 in the morning but still, . . .
Oh yeah, . . . the mayor's
presentations were fact-filled--he's a quietly verbal guy and
much smarter than I'd heard on the street. Ms Dean's positions
were often stronger, often similar, but seemed to lack enthusiasm--she
"spaced-out" a couple of times, once seriously.
Donuts and coffee were served--the
donuts real fresh and the coffee good. I recommend the chocolate-glazed.
"Race Starts With Little Fuel, and Goes
Uphill From There"
reports the New York Times.
"It is a classic road rally, 600 miles from the liberal embrace
of Berkeley to the anything-goes lights of Las Vegas. No speeding
is allowed, or in some cases even possible. And if you stop to
refuel, it had better be in someone's
On Saturday, five teams began
the Escape From Berkeley, maybe the world's most eco-friendly
motor race, driving all manner of alternative-fuel-burning jalopies,
roadsters, and even a frying oil-fueled Mercedes-Benz, with a
single goal: to complete the race using no petroleum.
'Gentlemen, start your whatever
they are,' the M.C. shouted to begin the race, which offers the
winner $5,000.
The final catch of the race is that participants - artists, environmentalists
and even a cattle farmer from Alabama - have to find or scavenge
their go-go juice, whether it is used vegetable oil from restaurants
or twigs and sticks from the side of the road. All the vehicles,
which had to be street legal, were allowed to start with a single
gallon of whatever fuel they used."
this 1952 MG-TD
was Bob Kubik's when he was
a Cal student
In the Huntsville Times,
sports columnist Bill Bryant writes "He does all his California
dreamin' here.
The weather is, as he puts it 'a little more apocalyptic,' and
more of the food is fried, but Tom Schneider is quite happy to
be spending fall semester at UNA.
The 23-year-old Cal-Berkeley
graduate and Walnut Creek, Calif., native is filling his weekdays
kicking back in classes like art appreciation and social psychology
and his Saturdays kicking field goals and extra points for the
Lions, the second-ranked Division II team in the country.
He's staying plenty busy
between the sidelines. Schneider leads the nation in field goals
per game (1.83) and is sixth in scoring per game (11.0)."
" Green Day: Punk Rock Masters Taming Mainstream
Radio Their Way"
offers SkyNewswire.com.
"Before they got together
as Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool were
merely three extraordinary hopefuls hoping and looking for their
big break. The trio has no formal training and got their 'practice'
from playing for free at punk clubs on Gilman Street in Berkeley,
California. Out on the streets is where the 3 talented individuals
got their big break they turned from punk rock's most unlikely
success story to a remarkable band with a series of chart-topping
hits. Together, they sold more than 10 million albums and won
a Grammy Award in the process. It's been a long journey for the
trio who started out singing out in the streets."
"Zeppelin coming to Bay Area for the first
time in 70 years"
reports Laura Casey in the West County Times.
"Before she even stepped inside the gondola of a 246-foot-long
Zeppelin NT, Alexandra Hall fell in love with it. And she became
the CEO of Airship Ventures, the company bringing a zeppelin to
the Bay Area for tours and research."
"What to expect with Wells-Wachovia merger" opine James Temple,Victoria Colliver,
Chronicle Staff Writers.
"Wells Fargo seems to
have won the fierce battle with Citigroup for Wachovia, but the
arduous task of actually integrating the companies may make that
part look easy.
The two banks must successfully
blend different cultures, systems and personnel, while changing
the countless little things like signs, logos, software, mailings
and checks at thousands of branches and for millions of customers.
The takeover would for the
first time give San Francisco's Wells Fargo & Co. a retail
banking presence in 15 primarily East Coast states, including
New York, Florida and Pennsylvania. The combined company would
have an estimated $713 billion in deposits, 6,675 branches, 12,227
ATMs and 48 million customers (before accounting for overlap).
Ken Crawford, portfolio manager
with Argent Capital Management in St. Louis, said he's confident
in Wells Fargo's ability to merge the operations but said acquisitions
of this size are inevitably 'a mess' ."
"Credit crunch hits Bay Area housing market
hard" reports Marni
Leff Kottle, in the Chronicle.
"San Francisco may be
3,000 miles from Wall Street, but the crisis that has engulfed
the country's biggest financial institutions is putting even more
pressure on the Bay Area's real estate market, making it increasingly
difficult for home buyers to get credit.
Cheap credit played a dramatic
role in fueling the housing boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s,
particularly in places like the Bay Area, where buyers relied
heavily on unconventional loans to purchase homes that would have
otherwise been unaffordable, economists said. That cheap credit
also played a dramatic role in toppling financial institutions
like Lehman Bros., Washington Mutual and Wachovia Corp., which
were saddled with growing piles of toxic loans as borrowers who
took advantage of lax lending criteria have proved unable to pay
back those loans.
Now, as the federal government
has agreed to spend $700 billion to shore up the country's ailing
financial institutions, economists and real estate professionals
say that the aid may help stabilize Wall Street. The housing markets
here and in other parts of the country, on the other hand, still
have a long road to recovery."
After watching our politicians
and pundits on Sunday morning TV, Marsha Wacko asked in frustration
"How could we have fucked-up the greatest, richest country
in the world?"
One of the pundits exclaimed
as if hearing Marsha "We're all socialists now!'
"Financial crisis can lead to violence" reports the AP's Kelli Kennedy.
"An out-of-work money manager in California loses a fortune
and wipes out his family in a murder-suicide. A 90-year-old Ohio
widow shoots herself in the chest as authorities arrive to evict
her from the modest house she called home for 38 years.
In Massachusetts, a housewife
who had hidden her family's mounting financial crisis from her
husband sends a note to the mortgage company warning: 'By the
time you foreclose on my house, I'll be dead.'
Then Carlene Balderrama shot
herself to death, leaving an insurance policy and a suicide note
on a table.
Across the country, authorities
are becoming concerned that the nation's financial woes could
turn increasingly violent, and they are urging people to get help.
In some places, mental-health hot lines are jammed, counseling
services are in high demand and domestic-violence shelters are
full."
"Sunny outlook for solar industry:Bailout
package offers incentives to install systems" reports Mike Lee
of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
"Berkeley, for example,
will be one of the first U.S. cities to help arrange financing
for residential photovoltaic systems. By year's end, it will allow
homeowners to pay for them over 20 years on their property tax
bills.
'Everybody is talking about it . . . and I am confident that other
(cities) will follow,' said Julia Hamm, executive director of
Solar Electric Power Association, an industry group in Washington,
D.C."
"SunPower, Suntech Expect U.S. Tax Credit
to Rescue Solar Power"
reports Christopher Martin on bloomberg.com.
Whole Foods was the first national retailer to install a solar
system at its site in Berkeley, California, in 2002 and has added
systems on other outlets that get up to 24 percent of their needs
from solar."
In their Business Mirror,
Philippine Sen. Edgardo J. Angara opines about "Creating
'green jobs' in the countryside. .
Producing renewable energy
tends to be more labor-intensive than sourcing energy from fossil
fuels, which rely heavily on expensive high-tech equipment rather
than manpower.
A 2004 report of the Renewable
and Appropriate Energy Laboratory in the University of California,
Berkeley, for instance, estimated that by 2020, a scenario of
40-percent biomass, 55-percent wind and 5-percent solar energy
mix would produce 188,018 new jobs in the US, in contrast to the
additional 86,369 jobs that would be created with a 50-percent
natural gas and 50-percent coal energy mix."
Mal Sharpe emails about the
Dixeland Band "Big Money in Jazz"
. . . we are going be at
Armando's
in Martinez this Thursday night for 8-10pm.
[Check out their community calendar for Oct. 16 and
learn about all
the nooks and crannies of the band. (Note that Joe McKinley, of
the Sun
Ra Arkestra, will be replacing Ari Munkres on Bass. . . . ] We
are looking forward to this unique music
venue.
Of course we will still be at The Savoy-Tivoli on Grant
Ave. in North
Beach from 3-6 on Saturday.
Then again, it still is Sunday
at the glamourous No Name Bar in
Sausalito from 3-6.
A literary calendar for the
week of Oct. 12-18 from the Mercury News is here.
"To Moscow and back by Deux Chevaux" is a report by BBC NEWS.
"The Citroen 2CV was unveiled at the Paris Salon de l'Automobile
on 7 October 1948. On its 60th birthday, Stephen Mulvey pays homage
to a car that took him and a friend to Russia, Estonia and Ukraine,
with barely a hiccup."
full story
Photos of Sally in Paris
are here.
Well, Ok then.
10/16/08
"Tilden Carousel Reopens" is a story by Riya Bhattacharjee in the Planet.
"After undergoing a $700,000 renovation which lasted nearly
nine months, the rare 1911 Herschell-Spillman Menagerie edition
merry-go-round has reopened in Tilden Park."
Celebrating
the installation of the
East side of the Bridge Sculpture Installation
time&date: 11:30 am, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008
location: University Ave. Exit off I-80,
right on 6th, right on Addison
into Aquatic Park
speakers: Mayor Tom Bates and City Council
Member Darryl Moore, the artist
Scott Donahue and the Chair of
the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission,
David Snippen
the Mayor emails
(an excerpt)
The Bates Update
Public Art Sculptures for the I-80 Bike Bridge Unveiled - October
18
Two new sculptures will stand
tall on each side of the I-80 pedestrian bridge, introducing people
to Berkeley. The multi-figured sculptures are the product of the
City of Berkeley public art program. The Berkeley Civic Arts Commission's
Public Art Program held a national competition for artists to
create entry sculpture to the City of Berkeley. Scott Donahue
won that competition and created Berkeley Big People.
Installation of the 12-foot tall sculptures has already begun,
and will be completed in time for the Opening Celebration on October
18th at 11:30 a.m. The event is open to the public.
Please contact Mary Ann Merker, Civic Arts Coordinator 510/981-7533,
mam4@ci.berkeley.ca.us with any questions.
"Berkeley: Re-elect Bates" opines the Chron.
"Nearly six years ago, newly elected Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates
came into office to face a $20 million deficit and a deeply divided
City Council.
Today, Bates is running for a third term by citing his ability
to bridge that budget gap - it required a workforce reduction
of 10 percent - while calming the political atmosphere. Seven
of the eight council members have endorsed his re-election; the
eighth, Kriss Worthington, remains neutral."
"Golden Bears visit Wildcats in Pac-10
action" reports
sportsnetwork.com. "The last of the unbeaten teams
in the Pac-10, the 25th-ranked California Golden Bears, head to
Tucson to tangle with the Arizona Wildcats. Cal is coming off
its second bye week of the season, which has given the Bears a
chance to rest some of their walking wounded.
'With our second bye week
of the season, we are taking advantage of the opportunity to work
on fundamentals in practice, give our younger guys a chance to
get in some extra work and allow some of our bumps and bruises
to heal,' coach Jeff Tedford said.
Cal was last in action on
October 4th, notching a 24-14 win over Arizona State. The Bears
will return to Berkeley for two straight home games following
this weekend's tilt."
our Councilman, Darryl Moore
emails
(some excerpts)
Some upcoming events that
I thought might be of some interest
Berkeley FIRST Workshops
In preparation for launching the Berkeley FIRST solar financing
program on November 5th, the Office of Energy and Sustainable
Development is hosting three public information workshops and
one meeting for solar installers over the next few weeks.
The public workshops for
residential and commercial property owners are scheduled on the
following dates:
October 16 7:00-8:30p.m. South Berkeley Senior Center 2939
Ellis Street
October 21 7:00-8:30p.m. West Berkeley Senior Center 1900 Sixth
Street
We are also in the process
of setting up another workshop for Southwest Berkeley. When
we get a date more secured, we will let everyone know.
All-Storm Day
Public Works staff is doing their best to ensure that all of the
storm drains are in good working order for this upcoming rainy
season. They are partnering with volunteers from Cal and
other City departments will be conducting an All-Storm Day event
on Saturday, Oct 18 in your districts, and we want residents to
know!
Please come and help out this Saturday in helping to keep our
storm drains and the Bay clean. If you'd like to participate,
please contact Shallon at (510) 981-7071 or sallen@ci.berkeley.ca.us.
Another way you can help
keep your area flood-free, is to Adopt-A-Drain. For more information
about how to Adopt-A-Drain or organize a storm drain sewer stenciling
project, they can contact Josh Bradt at (510) 981-6418 or via
e-mail at jbradt@ci.berkeley.ca.us.
Voter Registration Festival
in San Pablo Park
Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action (BOCA), Black Berkeley
Ecumenical Ministerial Alliance (BBEMA), South/West Berkeley Concerned
Citizens (SWBCC), and the San Pablo Park Neighborhood Council,
along with other neighbors in South/West Berkeley are sponsoring
a voter registration festival and empowerment day at San Pablo
Park on October 18th. There will be basketball tournaments,
soccer games, free food and much more fun!!! This is intended
as a proactive response to the escalated violence recently and
it is the last Saturday to register to vote before November's
election. It is clear we have to create more opportunities
for peaceful gathering and interaction between neighbors, families,
community leaders, etc., so come out on Saturday and meet your
neighbors.
"UC assessment of wildfire risk to homes
available in Spanish"
reports the Merced Sun Star.
"To assess the risk
of wildfire damage to their houses and communities, Spanish-speaking
homeowners can use a new interactive Web site designed by University
of California, Berkeley, fire researchers.
At http://firecenter.berkeley.edu, residents can find a questionnaire
in Spanish. By answering questions about their home's construction
and landscaping, participants can get a science-based assessment
of their house's vulnerability to wildfire and suggestions for
reducing their risk. The same tool is also available on the site
in English.
Californians can also type
in a specific address to see if they live in a region at risk
for wildfires and obtain information about fires that have occurred
in the area since 1950. For people living in fire-prone areas,
tips and resources for recovering from wildfire have recently
been added to the site."
"Portland Adopts Sweatshop-Free
Ordinance" is a report by Kristan Foden-Vencil on del.icio.
"Portland became the first city in the Northwest to adopt
a new sweatshop free ordinance Wednesday. The ordinance means
the city will not buy police and firefighter uniforms from suppliers
who use sweatshop labor.
It'll have little effect
immediately -- as most city uniforms are already made in the U.S.
But Commissioner Sam Adams says, it's a good first step.
Sam Adams: "There's
nothing magical or more important about sweat-free conditions
for the procurement of apparel. The city procures a lot of other
items. And after we figure out how to do this well, I intend to
expand the sweat-free expectations to the procurement of other
items."
That could include computers
and other things made overseas.
About 180 government entities have taken preliminary steps toward
the idea.
A few, like the state of
Pennsylvania and the city of Berkeley, California, have already
adopted ordinances similar to Portland's."
"Bellevue to Berkeley" writes Ben Williams at youthradio.org.
"Berkeley, California
is a great place to live. I moved here from Bellevue, Washington
about a year ago, and it was hard to adapt at first. But once
I had lived here for a while I got the hang of it. The Bay Area
reminds me of the Northwest in many ways, and the similarities
of the two areas made my transition much easier."
"FBI Investigates California College That Overpaid
Financial Aid to Some Students, Underpaid Others"
is a report at nextstudent.com.
"A California community
college is being investigated by the FBI and the Department of
Education for overpaying students more than $327,000 in financial
aid during the 200506 school year, reports the Contra Costa
Times ("Berkeley City College Overpaid Financial Aid,"
Oct. 8, 2008).
Berkeley City College, under
former financial aid director Robert Vergas, was also found to
have underpaid Pell Grant recipients by nearly $40,000.
The federal government has
ordered Berkeley City College to repay the Department of Education
for the funds it overpaid to its students. The school has already
repaid $40,000 and will pay about $37,000 per quarter until the
balance is paid off."
"Think outside the box with cornbread mixes" reports Amanda Gold, Chronicle Staff Writer.
"There's something about
the marriage of chili and cornbread that makes perfect sense.
The stew-like blend of salty and acidic tomatoes, beans, meat
and vegetables offsets the crumbly, savory-sweet bread beautifully.
Together, they make a complete meal.
Whipping up a loaf from scratch
is fairly easy to do - you can find a recipe for one with today's
cover story about chili (see Page F6). But packaged cornbread
mixes can be completed even faster. In most cases, it takes less
than five minutes to combine the dry mix with water or milk, eggs
and butter before baking.
Nevertheless, unless it's
doused with butter, cornbread can dry out very quickly, and some
versions will crumble against even the slightest pressure.
Today's panel - due to scheduling
issues we convened Food section staffers instead of the regular
panelists - tasted products that ranged from overly sweet to bland
and savory. Some contained kernels of real corn, while others
were more cakey.
We baked the cornbread mixes
according to package directions, and served them at room temperature.
For the most part, the results were less than satisfying."
And Amanda Gold writes
"From vegetarian to double beef, one simple method produces
countless chilis.
Years ago, my friend Karin invited a small group of women
over for a dinner party. She's one of those untrained cooks who
churn out fabulously elaborate meals with little effort, so I
eagerly anticipated a gourmet feast. As the evening approached,
thoughts turned to rich coq au vin, osso buco, rack of lamb -
restaurant-quality dishes she's made her signature.
As we pushed through the front door, we were hit by the aroma
of cumin hanging languidly in the air. The table was already set
with small bowls overflowing with garnishes surrounded a big,
steaming pot of ... chili?
I was stunned - aside from
being decidedly un-Karin, chili had always felt like 'man food'
to me, something quick and easy that could feed a pack of hungry
athletes. But as I tucked into her white chicken chili, it was
impossible to contain my delight - each bite produced new levels
of flavor, from smoky chile peppers and creamy beans to earthy
oregano."
"Hunger's Diary" is a story by Lauryn Silverman at youthradio.org.
" 'Looking back in time,
it's hard to unravel the mystery of my ongoing battle with anorexia'
Lauryn Silverman is a 16-year-old
high school junior from Berkeley, California, and one of eight
million Americans, seven million of them women, who suffer from
eating disorders every year. Lauryn says she's beaten her eating
disorder, but statistics show only half of those with anorexia
fully recover.
Lauryn was recently recognized
by American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) with a prestigious
2005 Gracie Allen Award for this piece on her struggle with anorexia."
"Veggie-Oil Lotus Wins Alt Fuel Race to
Vegas" reports Chuck
Squatriglia from wired.com.
"A veggie oil-burning
Lotus clone from Oregon beat a wood-burning pickup from Alabama
in a madcap alt fuel race to Las Vegas that included a 200-mile
detour and saw three of the five teams drop out before reaching
the finish line.
Jack McCornack and Sharon
Westcott rolled across the finish line at the Sahara Hotel-Casino
1,418 minutes after leaving Berkeley, California, having driven
their topless Lotus 7 replica more than 800 miles to collect the
$5,000 first-place prize in Escape from Berkeley.
'We signed up to do this
before we even knew there was money involved,' McCornack, who
sells the bio-diesel-burning cars through his company, Kinetic
Vehicles, told the New York Times. 'It just seems like great fun.'
The race mashed up Mad Max
and Cannonball Run and threw in a touch of the DARPA Grand Challenge
and Burning Man. The only rules were you can't use petroleum and
you have to scavenge your fuel along the way. Even the race organizers
are amazed anyone finished at all."
"State presents bold plan to clean up air" is a report by Kelly Zito, Chronicle Staff
Writer.
"California regulators,
following the lead of Bay Area air quality managers, would impose
fees on the state's worst air polluters as part of a bold proposal
to slash emissions to 1990 levels.
The fees, along with green technology job training and a cap-and-trade
system outlined Wednesday by the California Air Resources Board,
would vault the state ahead of federal efforts to curb climate-changing
greenhouse gases."
"Warehouses gear up for holiday sales" is a story about bargins by the Chronicle's
Sally Socolich.
"In good times and bad,
some things don't change - most people love a bargain. This is
your first clip-and-carry column for the fall and holiday shopping
season. Several sales take place this weekend, but some extend
over one or two days or two or three weekends or may not occur
for two or three weeks. (A few listings involve outlets that are
open year round.)
Company Web sites often provide a glimpse of sale inventory and
offer expanded information on products, sale directions and parking.
Unless otherwise noted, assume that companies accept checks and
major credit cards. Mark your calendars and prepare to bring home
the bargains."
"19th Annual Conference on Financial Reporting,
Oct. 24; Hosted by UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business" is a press release at ascribe.org.
"At a time when the integrity of financial
reporting is more important than ever, the 19th annual Conference
on Financial Reporting at the University of California, Berkeley's
Haas School of Business, Center of Financial Reporting and Management,
gathers key global players - standard setters, enforcement officials,
financial executives, practitioners, and academicians -- to address
the critical role and future of financial reporting. Topics will
include the SEC proposal for US companies to adopt international
reporting standards; the impact of key regulatory proposals; and
ways to improve financial reporting; and promote accounting practices
that are useful to investors."
10/17/08
our Jarad emails about the
meeting of Berkeley neighborhood watch groups held this week
Attendees included:
Kris Worthington (city council)
9 representatives from 3-5 neighborhood watch groups in South
and West Berkeley
Jim Smith - well known large property owner in W. Berkeley who
actively fought these same problems 10-15 years ago in W. Berkeley
1 member of a business owners association for the Alcatraz / Adeline
area
Topics discussed included:
Why the neighborhood watch
program is outdated and ineffective.
How neighborhood watch divides the city into discrete pieces and
effectively separates the city rather than joining it together
in a concerted city-wide effort against crime.
Why there is a need to adopt the Community Involved Policing model
as defined by the US Dept. of Justice (http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/default.asp?item=36)
in order to bring a strategic city wide plan together to combat
organized gangs (which is organized crime).
Why all cooperation between the city and the residents to fight
crime should be based on quantitative metrics.
How officers used to be assigned to a beat for a full 12 months
and under Chief Hambleton this has changed and officers are now
rotated every 3 months.
How 3 month rotations prevent officers from learning all
of the issues and players in the beats they are assigned
to.
Why residents and business owners in West and South Berkeley want
BPD to start using mobile survelliance cameras currently being
used in Oakland, Milpitas, Redwood City, etc
The need to insist that the City Attorney start using state laws
on the books to combat gangs in Berkeley (these laws are known
as Street Terrorism, Nuisance, & Abatement Laws). Currently
the City Attorney regularly refuses to use these laws stating
that "Berkeley is different" and that the laws can't
be used here (per email from Ryan Lau).
The need to rewrite eviction laws in Berkeley so that an
eviction for just-cause, such as drug dealing, prostitution, etc. can
be fast-tracked (following a successful police raid) and not cost
a responsible and cooperative landlord attorney fees, court costs,
and force the landlord to pay the tenant to leave (which has happened
to a landlord on Dwight and 9th Street 2x in the past).
It was also discussed how the council and city employees (outside
of BPD) like to color residents that insist on law and order as
politically conservative and unprogressive.
Almost every person in attendance had been painted by the city
as ultra-conservative people depite the fact that Social Democracies
like Holland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc. that
are progressive and tolerant also insist on law and order first
and foremost above all else.
How street gangs are better organized than the police and residents
& how it is now up to us to change the rules of the game.
Laura Menard chaired the
meeting and with Ozzie had hammered out a starting document that
will be presented to the city council. A signature sheet is currently
being circulated by Laura Menard and a couple of other neighborhood
watch organizers and it is being circulated in the business owners
association in the Alcatraz / Adeline area.
All in attendance agreed that significant and far reaching changes
needed to be implemented by the city to get crime under control
and to ensure that it remains under control. Jim Smith pointed
out that neighborhood watch "was a good concept in the 1970's
when it was about preventing home break-ins, but the game changed
in the 1980's with drug gangs taking over the streets."
As BPD points out to all neighborhood watch members, the gangs
on the street know how to play the game. Since the gangs know
the rules of the game, it's time to change the rules of the game
in Berkeley by using legal and technical means that have not yet
been leveraged by a highly reluctant city council and city administration.
Jarad
"'It Came From Berkeley': Wackiness in
context" is a book
review by Justin Berton at sfgate.com.
"If Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly ever reads local journalist
and Chronicle contributor Dave Weinstein's book, 'It Came From
Berkeley: How Berkeley Changed the World,' O'Reilly might be amused
to learn that the lefty college town originally was founded on
religion, as a moral retreat from that Sodom and Gomorrah across
the bay, San Francisco.
'Berkeley was always meant to be a place apart,' Weinstein said.
'A really 'oral, quiet place, where intellectuals could meditate,
surrounded by nature."
The description still fits, even if downtown is more crowded by
men who wear pink tutus while riding unicycles.
But for anyone who has wondered how and why Berkeley became an
adjective meaning zany-liberal-smarty-pants, Weinstein tracks
down the historical and cultural dominoes that led to milestones
such as the Free Speech Movement, bans on plastic foam cups, traffic
'calming' roundabouts and, of course, tree-sitting."
After growing up in socialist
Milwaukee until eighteen, I came to Berkeley in my early twenties.
For after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, I enrolled
in graduate school at Cal. What I found was a fairly ordinary,
and by Wisconsin standards, even conservative, college town.
My religious rights as a
Christian Scientist were violated by the compulsory physical required
as part of Cal's enrollment. I was required to sign a loyalty
oath a part of enrollment at Cal--unheard of in Wisconsin. And
the real bummer, Evelyn, the woman I lived with in Madison and
came with to Berkeley, found that the job she had been offered
at the University was no longer available when she showed up in
person. Evelyn is African-American. That would be, . . . er, .
. . Racist?
Forgot,. . . here bottled
goods could not be sold within a mile of campus, at Madison, beer
was served in the student union.
"Smoke Got in Their Eyes, And Now There's
a Law" reports Richard
Brenneman in the Planet.
"The persistent efforts
of 30 to 40 Berkeley neighbors have given Berkeley a new law,
one that proponents say promises relief from a chronic, unhealthy
and all-too-frequent menace.
The neighborhood threat targeted
by the recently passed ordinance? The particulate emissions otherwise
known as smoke.
"UC Considers Owl Box for People's Park
Rat Problem" reports
our Riya Bhattacharjee in the Planet.
"People's Park might
not get a free clothing box any time soon, but an owl box is more
than welcome, especially if it acts as a rat patrol.
A drastic increase in rats
in the 2.8-acre UC Berkeley-owned community park just off Telegraph
Avenue in the last month has resulted in university officials
brainstorming ideas to control the rat population.
Although the proposal to
use the barn owl (Tyota alba), the City of Berkeley's official
bird, to get rid of the rodents is still being discussed, the
university's director of community relations, Irene Hegarty, said
Monday that she was open to volunteers putting up an owl box in
the park to see if it yielded positive results."
"Jazz Violinist Jenny Scheinman Profiled:Eclectic
musical taste yields marvelous results" is a story in Strings by Robert
L. Doerschuk.
"Though she has won awards from jazz publications and been
included for five consecutive years in Downbeat magazine's list
of Top Ten Overall Violinists, Jenny Scheinman does little on
her two latest albums to invite easy categorization as a jazz
player. In fact, her recent instrumental project Crossing the
Field seems better described as a marriage of chamber composition
and lyric improvisation, sometimes driven, and sometimes not,
by a jazz rhythmic engine. And her eponymous August release, Jenny
Scheinman, goes a step further by diminishing or even removing
the imprint of the violin."
"Crisis Shakes the Foundations of the Ivory
Tower:Plunging Stocks and Crumbling Credit Are Rocking Long-Flush
Universities and Threatening the Promise of Higher Education"
report Craig Karmin and
John Hechinger at wsj.com.
"The financial and economic tsunami that has ripped through
Wall Street and the housing market is beginning to wash across
the college green.
Higher education hasn't yet
seen anything to compare with foreclosures and bank nationalizations
in the private sector. But seized-up credit markets, shrinking
endowment funds and a reduction in state subsidies are punishing
universities from California to Vermont.
A campus construction boom
is slowing, administrations are cutting jobs and faculty may be
forced to pay more into their pension funds. The demise of a $9.3
billion investment fund used by 900 colleges has some schools
scrambling to pay their bills.
It all brings a gloomy pall
to what has been, until recently, a booming industry. Higher education
has grown rapidly in the last half-century into a formidable slice
of the economy. U.S. colleges and universities spend $334 billion
annually, employ 3.4 million people and and enroll 17.5 million
students.
The boom was powered by a
growing stream of donations, strong returns on endowments, rising
enrollments and tuition prices that climbed well above the rate
of inflation -- paid, more and more, by families who borrowed
heavily to meet the bills.
All of these wealth generators
for the Ivory Tower are facing threats in the current economic
turmoil. The cratering stock market has already hit endowments.
Falling markets typically take a toll on gifts, many of which
are made, for tax reasons, in the form of appreciated stocks and
bonds. Analysts and schools are predicting even bigger tuition
increases than those seen so far. But this time, families may
be in no position to meet the higher bills. Falling house prices
have sapped their ability to use home-equity loans for tuition
payments, and the credit crunch has forced many lenders to stop
making student loans."
But Daniel B. Wood, Staff
writer of The Christian Science Monitor writes
"California eyes going
'green' despite slump. Although a new climate plan would boost
utility bills, some predict it will stimulate the economy.
California moved ahead this week with plans to slash greenhouse-gas
emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and foster a green economy, even
as some business groups questioned the costs in difficult economic
times. . . .
It is possible that costs may rise in the short run and then level
off or drop, says Dan Kammen, an energy expert with the University
of California, Berkeley. "I suspect prices will rise initially
then decline as diversity gets built into the system. Also, the
reductions in external gas, oil, and imported electricity get
replaced with renewables and [low cost]energy efficiency,"
he says."
And more than you might want
to know about the "Global
financial crisis" is at bbcnews.com.
"Sculpture
depicts Berkeley's biggest protests" is a report by Carolyn
Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer.
"Berkeley is immortalizing
its greatest protests - from People's Park to disability rights
to the tree-sitters' standoff at Memorial Stadium - in a towering
sculpture of fist-waving demonstrators on a pedestrian and bicycle
bridge over busy Interstate 80."
It's an angry and in your-face-work,
and since "what goes around comes around," look for
some "good ole boys" to 'torch it,' . . . sooner than
later.
Our since-the-Sixties tradition
of love and peace has deteriorated into anger and confrontation?
10/18/08
from my log
10/16/08--7:45 AM--off-and-on
all AM--VERY, VERY SERIOUS irritant in front room, dry eyes, dry
throat, cough, VERY light head, nausea, wear mask. 10:14 AM--similar,
leave.
10/17/08--7:36 PM--SERIOUS
irritant in front of warehouse and in IMMEDIATELY warehouse front
with "melting plastic" odor.
"Not
all share in Bay Area's cleansing air" reports Kelly
Zito at sfgate.com.
"Fog. Sun. Sun. Fog.
Fog.
It's the cycle that defines
and dismays San Francisco. But it's also part of the natural machinery
that keeps Bay Area residents breathing some of the cleaner air
in the state.
However, not all neighborhoods enjoy the same benefits of the
Bay Area's famous, cleansing breeze.
'Yes, we have good air, but that's only a partial answer,' said
Linda Weiner, spokeswoman for the American Lung Association in
San Francisco. 'We have pockets of really serious pollution, and
unfortunately they're in low-income communities and communities
of color.'
Marine fog and the air currents
freshen up Bay Area air in two ways, according to Eric Stephenson,
air monitoring manager for the Bay Area Air Quality Management
District.
First, if fog forms over
the Bay Area due to air/ground temperature differences, those
little tiny droplets often fall and remove particulates from the
air. In the second instance, when fog blows in off the ocean,
it brings in clean marine air and pushes more polluted air out
toward the Central Valley.
The interplay between Bay
Area air and Central Valley air is well-known and documented.
The Golden Gate and bay essentially create a giant funnel - pouring
fresh and polluted air into the 240-mile Central Valley, where
mountains to the east act like a stopper. Bay Area air isn't the
only culprit however - soil particulates, diesel trucks and huge
generators also dump pollution into the air, Stephenson said.
The flow also reverses course.
For instance, Stephenson said Central Valley air frequently cascades
into the Bay Area during the winter; the opposite is true in summer."
And "Spare-air
ban on winter indoor wood burning" is a sfgate.com
story by Jane Kay
"This winter, for the
first time, Bay Area residents won't be able to burn wood in fireplaces
and stoves on Spare the Air Days and Nights.
Regulators in the Bay Area Air Quality Management District
are clamping down on wood burning between November and February
as a way to meet a new federal law limiting the amount of breathable,
fine particles.
During the winter months
and under certain weather conditions, burning wood in households
contributes up to one-third of the total fine particulate matter
in the air on the worst Bay Area nights and threatens health,
according to regulators."
"Hybrid cars not always as green as they
seem" reports Michael
Cabanatuan at sfgate.com.
"Read the glossy magazine
ads, watch the slick TV commercials, listen to Hollywood celebs
rave about their choice of cars on talk shows, and you'll get
the idea that hybrid cars can save the planet.
While some of them clearly
curb pollution, hybrids aren't the answer - at least not for everyone.
Many folks can't afford one, don't like what's available, or want
to drive a car that doesn't use gasoline and spew smog into the
skies.
Hybrids may be billed as
a pollution solution, but they still run on gasoline, and some
models increase gas mileage only by 2 or 3 miles per gallon while
adding thousands of dollars to the cost of a car.
'There's a lot of green-washing
going on out there,' said Spencer Quong, senior vehicles engineer
for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Experts say there are plenty
of other options for motorists eager to combat global warming.
Off-the-shelf options range from electric vehicles to conventional
gas-powered cars to cars that run on compressed natural gas. For
those willing to leave the fossil-fuel grid altogether, there's
biodiesel or plug-in hybrid conversions.
Don't write off conventional
cars, the experts say. Many gas-powered cars get mileage nearly
as high as - or sometimes higher than - many hybrids. Auto manufacturers
have begun producing higher-mileage compact cars such as the Honda
Fit (35 mpg) or the Toyota Yaris (36 mpg). Of course, as the familiar
auto dealer disclaimer says, your mileage may vary. Driven carefully
- no quick starts, no high speeds - they can get squeeze more
miles out of a gallon of unleaded.
Many used cars on the market
also get respectable mileage, and at a far lower cost than even
a used hybrid. The EPA Web site includes fuel efficiency ratings
for used cars as well as new vehicles."
"Even eBay suffering in this economy"
reports Verne Kopytoff,
Chronicle Staff Writer.
"Sales aren't what they
once were for Peter Vasilev, owner of a consignment store that
specializes in auctioning items on eBay.
More customers are coming
in with cast-offs rummaged from their closets and garages. Now,
with the economy slumping, their items are garnering far less
money, if they manage to find a buyer at all.
'We're seeing a lot more
people coming into the store who basically need money to pay bills,'
said Vasilev, who operates an iSold It store in Pleasant Hill.
'Now, fewer items are selling, and the ones that are aren't selling
for quite as much.'
Over the years, conventional
wisdom among eBay executives was that a bad economy wasn't as
painful for the online bazaar as for other companies, as shoppers
trolled the site for bargains. That theory is being put to the
test in the current downturn, at the same time eBay is dealing
with unrest among many of its users over recent changes to the
Web site and increasing competition from Amazon.com."
"The War on Pot Is a War on Young People" is a story by Paul Armentano at AlterNet.
"74% of all Americans
busted for pot are under 30 -- it's long past time young people
joined ranks and helped end this drug war.
Paul Armentano delivered
this speech at NORML's 2008 National Conference, 'It's Not Your
Parents' Prohibition' in Berkeley, California.
Young people, in many cases
those under 18-years-of-age, disproportionately bear the brunt
of marijuana law enforcement.
Demographically speaking,
the above statement is a 'no-brainer.' Yet this is hardly a fact
that we as a reform community like to admit or emphasize. Instead,
you'll hear reformers argue that the war on pot is a war on patients
-- and at some level, it is. Or you'll hear advocates proclaim
that marijuana enforcement disproportionately impacts African
Americans and Hispanics -- and to some degree, it does. Attend
enough of these conferences and you'll inevitably hear that our
movement needs better representation from women and minorities,
both of whom face unique hardships because of the drug war, and
that criticism is appropriate too. But, one thing you'll most
likely never hear is that our movement needs greater involvement
from teenagers and young adults.
But we should -- because
for the young people in the audience, the war on pot smokers is
really a war on you.
According to a 2005 study commissioned by the NORML Foundation,
74 percent of all Americans busted for pot are under age 30, and
one out of four are age 18 or younger. That's nearly a quarter
of a million teenagers arrested for marijuana violations each
year. To put this bluntly, we now have an entire generation that
has been alienated to believe that the police and their civic
leaders are instruments of their oppression rather than their
protection."
"Coach
Carter has a Satchel full of hope" writes Carl Steward,
Oakland Tribune sports columnist.
"Alonzo Carter, one
of the Bay Area's best high school coaches in any sport, is in
the midst of a fascinating transformation of a school most agree
has always had juggernaut potential.
Berkeley High's football
program isn't there yet - Carter will be the first to tell you
that in his own colorfully blunt way - but an afternoon with this
tornado of a man in his new surroundings offers vivid signs of
the progress he is making after just 11/2 years on the job.
It's well-documented that
the 40-year-old Carter worked miracles at McClymonds High, his
tiny West Oakland alma mater, building a nationally renowned program
and getting more than 60 players signed to college scholarships
during his eight seasons there.
Now, at a school five times the size in enrollment (roughly 3,400),
he is employing many of the same methods not only to try to build
a powerhouse but also to change a culture."
Eric Hughes emails
Bluegrass at Julies Tuesday
10/21 7PM
Greetings bluegrass fans,
Tired of thinking about the stock market? Want to get away
from politics for a while? Need a great cup of tea and the
best scone in town? Then join us this coming Tuesday, October
21st, at Julies in Alameda at 7PM. We'll be playing all your
favorites from our CD: "Fogged In," and some new
ones as well.
Julies Coffee & Tea Garden is at 1223 Park Street in Alameda,
California. http://www.juliestea.com/
The Foggy Gulch mySpace page is at http://www.myspace.com/foggygulchband
and you can find our CD "Fogged In" at http://cdbaby.com/cd/foggygulch
We hope to see you Tuesday!
Respectfully,
Eric Hughes
Foggy Gulch Band
10/19/08
"Mad magazine to auction early works" writes Richard Pyle at sfgate.com.
"Alfred E. Neuman, the
grinning face with the flapping ears, has gazed out from the covers
of Mad magazine for half a century - becoming such a familiar
presence that Charles, Prince of Wales, may have felt it necessary
to deny that he looked like him."
Sally and Richard were guests
at the "Gala Opening Celebration" of our Hotel
Durant. The opening featured a swing band, wine bar, dessert
munchies, grilled specialites, and (argh!) a live "Greatful
Dead" jam band. (The hotel has been redecorated by Sally's
friend, Steven Miller.) Richard commented that there were hundreds
present and that one of the men's room had a red-painted urinal
with the Stanford logo at its bottom. The Durant is part of the
local chain, joie de vivre
hotels.
Brennan's
opened in its new location last week--in the converted old railroad
-passenger-station behind its former location--with a fancier
interior but the same old fashioned food, hofbrau and bar.
"Magic Theatre to Present Evie's Waltz
Starting 11/8" reports
broadwayworld.com.
"Loretta Greco has chosen
Evie's Waltz to make her directorial debut as Artistic Director
of the Magic Theatre. Evie's Waltz, written by Carter W. Lewis,
marks the second play of Magic Theatre's 2008/09.
Gloria and Clay are living every parent's nightmare: their son
has been suspended for carrying a gun to school. As they
wrestle with their predicament, an unexpected visit from their
son's girlfriend turns their backyard barbecue into a high-stakes
game of cat and mouse. "Evie's Waltz is an unflinching play
about the difficulties of parenting and being a teenager."
Artistic Director Loretta Greco says. "There is no handbook
for this. Every American family will relate to this piece
which poses more questions than answers. It is sure to promote
many vibrant discussions." Evie's Waltz performs November
8 December 7, 2008 at Magic's Southside Theatre (Bldg D,
Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA parking lot entrance
at Marina Blvd. and Buchanan St.). Tickets are $20-$45 (with student
rates at $15) and are available at (415) 441-8822 or www.magictheatre.org.
Evie's Waltz is sure to incite
lively dialogue between generations. Young and old are invited
to attend one of two special matinees scheduled for November 19
and December 3 (both at 2:30pm). A stimulating conversation,
facilitated by a member of Magic Theatre's artistic staff, will
follow each of these performances."
"California asking voters to get on board
the $45B bullet train" reports
Eric Bailey in the Seattle Times.
"For a quarter-century
it has been a California dream on one drafting board or another
- a bullet-train system so novel, environmentally friendly and
fleet that it could reshape transportation in the car-crazy Golden
State
from my log
10/19/08--10:05 AM--irritant
off-and-on all AM in warehouse front and IMMEDIATELY in front
of warehouse with odor like "ozone-heavy-air" in a spare-the-air
day, cough, wear mask.
Eternally useful
links
Bay Area home prices from sfgate.com
Bay Area foreclosures from sfgate.com
Our City Council update is
here.
Our Planning Commision update
is here
You can find more information
about our current weather conditions than is good for you at www.wunderground.com
Want to see weather coming
in, going out, beautiful sunsets, and much, much more? Check out
http://sv.berkeley.edu/view/
This very hip site was in an email from reader and contributor,
Tony Almeida. Read Tony's Jimi Hendrix story on the only page that routinely gets
more hits than Scrambled Eggs.
Best gas prices in 94710,
as well as all of US and Canada, are here
at gasbuddy.com
Kimar finds Costco routinely
has the lowest price.
Richmond
Ramblers' motorcycle club member, Cliff Miller emails a very
useful link
If you ever need to get a
human being on the phone at a credit card company or bank, etc.,
this site tells you how to defeat their automated system and get
you to a human being within a few seconds.
http://gethuman.com/
Markets
is not just a reference for Berkeley-Hills radicals with 1.5 mil
homes and considerable portfolios.
Our City of Berkeley Boards
and Commissions page is here--redone
and friendly.
Berkeley
Police reports at insidebay area.com are here.
Our Berkeley
PD Site with crime statistics and more is here.
Crime Log for 94710 is
here
This site is NOT affiliated
with Berkeley PD.
Take time to report
crime!
All reports
of crime-in-progress should first go to Berkeley PD dispatch--911
or non-emergency, 981-5900. THEN make sure you notify EACH of
these City people.
The contacts
are below:
Our new Area
Coordinator is Officer Karen Buckheit, Berkeley PD - 981-5774
kbuckheit@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Angela Gallegos-Castillo,
City Mgr Off - 981-2491 agallegos-castillo@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Ryan Lau,
aid to Darryl Moore - 981-7120 rlau@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Darryl Moore,
City Councilman dmoore@ci.berkeley.ca.us
More
Scrambled Eggs & Lox, here
and
Stories about Berkeley and stories about recorded-music
are at
Journal of Recorded Music 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
ronpenndorf@earthlink.net
The original owner
of all scanned material retains copyright. The material is used
only to illustrate