February
2005
is
Black History Month
and
full-blossom time
in
Potter Creek
Milo's
out again.
Wake up chil'!
2/3/04
In his report
"Berkeley: Blacks favored in public housing, . . ."
Patrick Hoge writes "In its letter to the city, [HUD's] office
pointed out that while the 2000 census showed 15.7 percent of
Berkeley's low-income population was African American, 74.2 percent
of the people getting Section 8 rent vouchers and 87 percent of
tenants in city-owned rental units were African American. "
Read the full story at sfgate.com
There will be a City of Berkeley
Planning Commission meeting to rezone--"adopt a negative
declaration"--the proposed Potter Creek Berkeley Bowl site
from "Mixed Use-Light Industrial " to "West Berkeley
Commercial" on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 at the North Berkeley
Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue. The meeting starts at 7:00
PM
For more information, email
agatzke@ci.berkeley.ca.us.
And for the meeting agenda, go towww.ci.berkeley.ca.us.
2/9/05
HAPPY
YEAR OF THE ROOSTER!
"UC
announces stadium remodeling -- mayor gets teed off Bates says
university not sharing plans with its host city" reports
our Charles Burress at sfgate.com
927 Grayson
is FOR RENT, email
Merryll Saylan
for information.
Also, Merryll
is selling Ed's 2002 PRIUS, 21,000 miles, silver-purple, extras,
excellent condition--for more information email Merryll.
Bob and Paul
are in town to visit Milo.
Yup, there's
a Plaanning Commission meeting tonight. See 2/3/05 post.
Jill Ellis,
director of the CEID School emails that the school will be on
the Channel 7 News, Friday, February 11 at 6:00PM. Check it out!
Meyer
Lemon Pudding Cake
An old fashioned
recipe
2T butter
1/2 C sugar
3 eggs separated
1C milk
1 1/2 T flour
1/3 C Meyer lemon juice
grated rind of 1 Meyer lemon
Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.........Beat the butter until soft,
then gradually add the sugar, beating until incorporated.....Beat
in egg yolks one at a time.
Add milk, flour, lemon juice and rind; beat well (mixture might
have a curdled look--thats ok)
Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then fold into
the batter.
Pour into a 1 1/2 quart baking dish and set in a pan of hot water
that comes halfway up the sides of the dish. Bake for 50 to 60
minutes.
Serve tepid or chilled.
Nice served with a dollop of whipped cream.
As this bakes
it separates into a sponge layer on top and a creamy custard underneath.
(It's the
season for Meyer lemons. Meyer lemons are usually home grown here
in yards and gardens, although a few good produce markets have
them. I like them better that regular lemons, they are a cross
between a lemon and an orange and so are less acidic. Kimar)
2/11/05
Meyer Lemon,
Cream and Vodka Linguine
Bring a pot of water to boil and add salt
1 shallot minced
2 T olive oil
1 garlic clove minced
1/2 C vodka
3 T Meyer lemon juice
2 C cream
1# fresh linguine or fettucini
1 T capers drained
salt and white pepper
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot
and garlic and cook until limp and slightly brown, add vodka and
reduce to half. add lemon juice and cream. Cook over low heat
until the cream begins to thicken and bubble 3 to 5 min. keep
an eye on it and stir occasionally
Add capers and stir to incorporate.
Meanwhile add fresh pasta to pot of boiling, salted water and
cook to al dente about 3 or 4 min for fresh pasta. You
can use dried pasta, just remember to cook it longer
Drain pasta and immediately pour pasta into skillet of sauce stirring
carefully to cover pasta with sauce
Add salt and pepper and serve, you can toss finely chopped parsley
on top if desired
Note: if cream sauce becomes too thick, stir in a few tablespoons
of the pasta water to thin it down, stir to incorporate.
Kimar
There was
a proper dinner party last night in Potter Creek for Bob and Paul.
Of the 8 1/4 people present, Milo courteously ate first and then
slept soundly. The setting was elegant, the food beautifully presented
and delicious--I specially loved the carefully handmade cream-corn--the
wine perfect, the company warm, and the women beautiful.
Yesterday
morning I sat next to Bob and Paul as they had their breakfast
at the Westside. Even though there were only six or eight other
customers, it took 15-20 minutes for the food to arrive. When
it did arrive, the corn-beef hash was luke-warm and the pancakes,
dry and tasteless. The service was ordinary, as was my coffee.
It cost about $20.00-$25.00 for two.
2/12/05
Zelda B reports
that what was decided at Wednesday's Planning Commission hearing
was to extend the public comment period to the next meeting. And,.
. . another "traffic report," was submitted which was
commissioned by "some Potter Creek businesses"--this
time as comments on the already submitted report. Here are some
excerpts.
"First,
I would like to touch briefly on my background in traffic engineering,
which encompasses approximately 28 years of traffic engineering
experience, primarily in Northern California. I am licensed as
both a civil engineer and a traffic engineer, and certified as
a professional traffic operations engineer. My specialized professional
expertise is in the area of traffic operations and safety in congested
areas; however, my scope of work includes grocery stores . .
The study
addresses only the afternoon peak hour intersection analyses,
between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., while the operations at the intersection
of Heinz and Ninth are currently at levels of service "F
between 3:15 p.m. and 3:45 . . .
The study
excludes any analyses of traffic conditions at the grocery store
on a Saturday."
The report
is signed "Respectively (sic), Eugenie P Thompson."
"Battle Over West Berkeley Bowl Nears Finale" reports Richard Brenneman of
the Berkeley Daily P.
Is it nearly
over, or is it really over with all this just after-the-play antics?
Perhaps now
we can address the dirty little secret that west-Berkeley is an
environmental shit-hole, a product largely of its industrial past,
its proximity to the freeway, lots of truck traffic, the absurd
mixed-use zoning, science gone mad, the welcoming of chemical
and bug factories, the past storage of nuclear-waste, the large
concentration of hazardous material users, and the West-Berkeley
Plan. (Hell, even the Sovs couldn't make plans work. Still for
what it's worth, Sean Connery's character in "Russia House,"
a favorite movie of mine, responds to a CIA questioner with "Russia's
just as corrupt as the States but without all the bull-shit.")
Yah!
Meyer Lemon
Curd
3 oz butter
1 C sugar
2/3 C fresh Meyer lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
grated zest of 2 Meyer lemons
4 large eggs
pinch of salt
Use a double boiler or place a large metal bowl over a pan of
boiling water ( Do not let bottom of bowl touch water.) Put butter
in bowl and let melt, add remaining ingredients. Whisk for 5 minutes
until curd just begins to thicken. Then stir continuously with
whisk or wooden spoon until the curd thickly coats the back of
the spoon, this takes about 15 min.
Remove from heat and place in a bowl. When cool refrigerate.
Makes about 2 cups.
You can serve this like the Brits do with scones, of fill meringues
with it and top with whip cream or top a pound cake with curd
and whip cream.
(You can use Meyer Lemons any time lemon is called for in a recipe.
Some bars use Meyer juice in bar drinks like The Lemon Drop. Kimar)
2/13/05
Yesterday
at Noon, the streets of Potter Creek were filled with more people
than I ever remember on a weekend--neighbors, friends, friends-friends,
workers, proprietors, recyclers, students, artists, craftsmen,
tourists, residents, owners, renters, rentees. Long time friend
Marsha Wacko observed "We've had it to ourselves for so long,
now it's time to share it."
I'm
told the Nexus Collective has a new Board and that Aspy Khambatta
is one of its members. Here, in his portion of their workshop,
he demonstrates his not inconsiderable acting talent--exceeded
only by his wood working skill.
2/14/05
Happy
Valentine Day!
Increased
business today at Potter Creek's Good Vibrations, I trust--a co-op,
by-the-way.
Or, go to
our Sharffen Berger's retail outlet and get some chocolate--they
were on the Channel 2 News this morning around 7:00. I believe
that good-lookin' guy on the TV was our Jan.
Our flowering
fruit trees now are. You can see them along Heinz between 7th
and 9th and in front of Merryl's and Kruse' on 8th between Pardee
and Grayson.
RON &
ABBYS BERKELEY MUFFLER business card reads HONEST FRIENDLY SERVICE.
And that's literally true. In an era of chains and indifference,
this forty-three year old family business is old school, effortlessly
offering honest, friendly service. They are located at 6432 Shattuck
Avenue at 65th Street just inside Oakland. They are open from
8:30 AM until 5:00 PM Monday through Friday--their phone number
is (510) 655-6833.
2/16/05
As I left
Potter Creek last night at 7 o'clock, a low light-grey cloud had
drifted across all of Potter Creek. "Awful low to be part
of the storm" I thought, and as I looked toward the northwest
in the directon of Bayer, I saw it was rising from the ground.
When last I reported these regular emissions, I noted that our
American flag, flying high above the Bayer building was helpful
in determing wind direction and emission sources. Bayer lowered
flag a few days later and never again raised it.
"Air
pollution from traffic and power plants seems to cause genetic
changes -- the kind linked to cancer -- in developing fetuses,
a federally funded study released Tuesday has concluded"
reports Seth Borenstsein in his "Study
Links Air Pollution . . ." in the West County Times.
Also in the
Times is Michelle Locke's
"CHP sued for Seizing Medical Marijuana." "'It's been more than
eight years since California voters approved the right to use
marijuana medically and since that time law enforcement has resisted
upholding that. While this resistance is pretty widespread across
California, CHP are the worst violators by far' " writes
Locke of the suit filed by Berkeley's American's for Safe Access.
2/17/05
I'm told
by their neighbors that Acme Bread received a flour delivery before
5:00 AM this morning. Innocent enough? Well, the flour is delivered
by a tanker-truck and is blown/sucked into Acme's storage bin
by a powerful motor, which, during mid-day deliveries, can be
heard a block away. At 5:00AM it must be deafening. And during
the delivery, which takes a couple of hours, the driver regularly
bangs on the tanker with a metal rod to loosen flour stuck to
the tanker's insides. Immediately cross the street from Acme are
work/live units, and there are homes within a very short half-block.
Acme is, in fact, surrounded by dozens of residents. Come on Mr
Bread "Get your shit together!" By the way, what is
that stink that you regularly belch into our neighborhood? It
smells similar to bleach and with a secondary baking-bread odor.
And how, some years ago, were you able to tear down that lovely
old workers-bungalow to make a loading dock? "Must be a friend
of the Mayor's" "Fast Eddie" Saylan cracked at
the time.
Emissions
also come out of this vent at Adams and Chittenden Scientific
Glass--three feet below and two feet from my roof. Perhaps that's
why it fills my warehouse with an irritant. In fairness, they
now use a filtering process "recommended" by Bay Area
Air Quality. While melting "gold plastic decals" at
high temperatures onto glass-tubes in one of their "glass-baking"
ovens, they run the resultant fumes through a jug of water and
out the vent. "Call 'em" said George, "we've got
their number." I knew environmental science was primative,
but damn. (I'll have to tell my friends who run auto-body shops
and are exhausting their fumes through half-dozen in-line 4' x
6' fiber filters. Hey, Bay Area Air Quality says just run it through
a jug of water.
And sadly,
it is my experience that as Potter Creek is more and more built
up, the Bay winds less and less act as an air freshener, blocked
as they are by more and more structures.
Finally,
yesterday my twenty-six year old TOYOTA 4 X 4 with over 200,000
miles easily passed its smog test. On seeing the test print-out,
Christopher remarked with surprise "I've seen 1997-98 passenger
cars that weren't this clean." The thirty-something guy who
gave the test said "Your truck's in better shape than I am."
The smog
test was done in Potter Creek at Berkeley Smog Test Only Center.
They're good, efficient and fair. They are at 1010 Carleton and
they are open from 8:00 AM until 6:00 PM Monday through Friday
and until 4:30 PM on Saturday. Their phone number is (510) 549-2355.
Herman Tse is the owner.
2/18/05
Excerpts
from our Mayor's February report.
" I
have been attending neighborhood and living room meetings around
the City for the past month to talk about my vision for Berkeley,
discuss the budget, and - most importantly - hear from people
about the City's priorities should be. I have another 20 meetings
scheduled over the next few months and would love to see you at
one of them. Please send me an email if you plan to attend one
of the meetings listed below or if you'd like to host a meeting
in your neighborhood.
Upcoming
neighborhood meetings:
Monday, February
28th at 7:30 p.m. Park Hills Neighborhood
Association (at Shepherd of the Hills, 401 Grizzly Peak Blvd.)
with Council Member Betty Olds.
Wednesday,
March 2nd at 7 p.m. Claremont/ Ashby area
meeting (at John Muir Elementary School) with Council Member Gordon
Wozniak.
Monday, March
7th at 7 p.m. Ashby BART area meeting (at St.
Paul's AME Church on Ashby St.) with Council Member Max Anderson.
Monday, March
14th at 7:30 p.m. Thousand Oaks area (at
Thousand Oaks Elementary school) with Council Member Laurie Capitelli.
Wednesday,
March 16th at 7 p.m. San Pablo Park area (at San
Pablo Park) with Council Member Darryl Moore."
Read da Mayor's
policy brief on environmental leadership somewhere at
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us
Policy briefs
are all well and good but I'd still like to know what that green
ooze is coming up through the pavement on Ashby just east of the
underpass in the east-bound lane.
How out-of-date
is the West- Berkeley Plan?
One of Potter
Creek's leading architects turned down an art gallery project
knowing that his client could not get a use permit in our mixed
use zone--no retail sales of art he was told.
Want to rent
a small space and sell beautiful Chinese artifacts over the Internet
in our mixed use zone? You can't get a use permit to sell retail
over the Internet.
But, I'm
told that the manager of one of our multiple workspace rentals
is telling prospective renters that, in fact, retail sales are
permitted there--probably just a misunderstanding.
2/21/05
A Potter
Creek acquaintance in the know says Glen Yasuda will ask the Planning
Commission to allow him to resubmit his west-Berkeley Bowl plan
at a March 23 meeting. He wants only the non-warehouse part of
his project rezoned commercial. If all is rezoned as presently
proposed, he cannot build his warehouse in the commercial zone.
The Berkeley Daily Planet confirms this and further reports that
"The revision will trigger a new public hearing [and that]
Yasuda now needs to prepare a new environmental initial study
and a revised project map."
Bryan Stryzek
of Kava Massih emails
"Event:
Planning Commission Meeting
Project:
West Berkeley Bowl at 920 Heinz Avenue
Location:
North Berkeley Senior Center
Date: Wednesday,
February 23, 2005 "
Bryan also
reports that the Bowl is on the agenda for citizen discussion
8:00 PM
But I'm wondering
what we'll speak about if the current proposal is withdrawn?
Lipofsky
wonders why the French -America School is so concerned about the
impact of the Potter Creek Berkeley Bowl on them when for as long
as he can remember they have been "threatening to move out
of Potter Creek." He also wonders why people who don't live
in Potter Creek are suddenly so passionately interested in the
impact of the Bowl here--he cynically suggests it's to be in the
newspapers or on TV, and finally why our increasingly part time
community activist is interested in issues in Potter Creek rather
than those elsewhere, where he spends more and more time.
2/25/05
Today is
the 105th Birthday of Zeppo Marx
2/26/05
From long-ago
Herb Caen
"The
San Franciscan of today is more interested, for instance, in the
exploits of a Pierre Monteux than in the socialite descendants
of the florid, hard-hitting millionaires who left their stamp
on the city in the form of gingerbread mansions and ever-fading
legends.
At seventy-three,
the bouncy, bubbly little maestro of the San Francisco Symphony
is richly enjoyed by thousands who never attend a concert. With
his thick mane of black hair and his white Santa Claus mustache,
he is a daily sight to see as he walks his French poodle, Fifi,
around the Fairmont Hotel. Delighted passersby on the California
cable car are likely to lean out from their perches and shout
"Hiya, maestro!" or even, if they're among the cognoscenti,
"Yoo-hoo, Chummy" -- that, for reasons unknown to the
management, being his nickname. Chummy obligingly answers any
and all public greetings with a Gallic wave of his arm, a bow
of his leonine head, and voilà! more admiring non-attenders
for the San Francisco Symphony.
In 1948 the
amazingly vital M. Monteux conducted one hundred and fifty-three
concerts -- more than any other major conductor in the country.
His Symphony records sold so widely and steadily that his annual
royalties from them alone totaled $40,000. He scampers out onto
the stage of the Opera House at such a furious rate that there
has been some talk among Symphony directors of banking the sharp
turn from the rear of the stage to his podium.
In fact,
I've been able to detect only two small signs of approaching age
in the redoubtable maestro. A small step has been affixed to the
podium to allow him to mount it more easily. And now, when he
conducts from a score, which is seldom, he wears glasses.
Even his
wife, Doris, an equally energetic person, is unable to explain
this perpetual youth. 'Maybe,' she ventures, 'it's because he
eats a plateful of oysters, washed down with champagne, after
each concert.' With more than one hundred and fifty concerts on
the agenda each year, you can see that M. Monteux makes deeper
inroads into the oyster world than even the pearl industry.
Incidentally, Mme. Monteux is a woman of almost limitless capabilities.
Along with acting as her husband's manager, press agent, and one-woman
claque, she is an indefatigable speech maker on any subject you'd
care to mention. One day in 1946 I followed her with awe and admiration
as she spoke on 'Medicine in Russia' at the San Francisco Breakfast
Club; 'Commercial Aspects of Music' at Mills College; and 'Football
and Football Coaches'at St. Ignatius High School.
Mme. Monteux is also a patron of the arts, to the point where
the Monteux apartment in the Fairmont is crammed with paintings
by young San Francisco artists struggling to get ahead. Her special
pet was the now successful Tom Lewis, who was 'discovered' by
Mme. Monteux working away in a tiny Montgomery Street garret.
After she had already bought a stack of Lewis's paintings, Mme.
Monteux insisted on taking her husband up to Lewis's studio. There,
she made the young painter display one after another of his works,
and each time she would turn to the maestro and murmur: 'Isn't
that wonderful?' And each time Monteux would nod: 'Yes, it's beautiful,
but--'
At last his wife demanded: 'Chummy, why do you always say It's
beautiful, but'?' 'Because,' twinkled Monteux, 'if I don't say
`but' you'll want to buy it!'"
To be
continued
For more
stories about "Chummy,"read Pierre Monteux, Maître
Monteux's
San Fransico Years
The
Monteux Era
return
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