Features

SULLIVAN’S RANT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Ron Sullivan’s “rant” on landscaping is a classic (“Landscaping Fails When it Disregards the Real World,” Feb. 8-10). She should get a Pulitzer. 

I work as a landscaper, and I am shocked at what I see. 

On HGTV, I have heard the words “plant materials” hundreds of times. Never have I heard them referred to as “plants.” 

In college, I also heard them call “plant materials,” I never thought to question why we can’t call them “plants.” 

Would you call people any of the following: “person materials,” “personnel,” or “protoplasm units”?  

In many scary ways our human society is sick, weird, and confused. 

Richard List 

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DISCRIMINATION 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I couldn’t help noticing a recent article (“Feds Want City to House Students,” Feb. 4-7) that pointed out that “African-Americans comprise 74 percent of (Berkeley’s) Section 8 tenants” While equally low-income Asians, Hispanics, and Whites were vastly under-represented. I was greatly amused by HUDs solution to dealing with this clear-cut case of racial discrimination: “HUD recommended that Berkeley reach out to Asians and Latinos.” In other words, its still perfectly acceptable to these geniuses to discriminate against one race, white people. How brilliant. How utterly politically correct. How Berkeley can you get? 

Ace Backwards 

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SOCIAL SECURITY 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As my income is cut by 46 percent by Social Security, and as the cost of fuel and rent nudge skyward, having good sidewalks for my manual wheelchair in my neighborhood, (and having new recreation nearby such a a casino) could grow increasingly important. I use my car less and less in warmer weather. Much work on several sidewalks nearby goes on now for which I’m grateful. (Watering the street trees with underground automatic system should prevent their roots from growing upward in their search for water, and heaving sidewalks upward in that process, in the future, again.) 

Building a hotel and casino at the tennis courts near Peralta on Hopkins might provide jobs for people like me whom can only work part time. It could be 10 floors and turn the neighborhood into a thriving business district for this past of town, which would be a place for kids to stop and learn math and card tricks, and maybe real but easy work, window-washing and so on. (Just a little, bad joke.) 

According to the chief actuary at Social Security, the administration’s privatization of accounts will necessitate cuts in checks to all current recipients of up to 46 percent, says an ad for moveon.org. The ad is being blocked in the media by (attempted) actions of attorneys for the RNC, according to Amy Goodman on KPFA Feb. 8. 

Tim Plume 

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WEST BERKELEY BOWL 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

Regarding Dale Smith’s piece on Berkeley Bowl’s planned expansion in West Berkeley on Heinz street. She states that even though he doesn’t live in this neighborhood—he knows what is best. 

I actually do live on Heinz street, down the street from the site. Anyone who has spent anytime on the street would see what a ridiculous idea it is to place it there. 

1. Every other large market in the area has ingress from at least two street (the current Berkeley Bowl can be accessed by the surrounding four street). Heinz is a small two-lane street. Across from the proposed store is Hustead’s Tow Yard, that side of the street is often blocked by a tow truck, reducing the street to one lane. Across from Hustead’s is Scharrfenberger’s, which has a healthy stream of patrons and, of course, large trucks on Heinz making deliveries, which again reduces Heinz to one lane. Kitty-corner is the French-American School, at three o’clock there is a long line of parents. The idea of a large store on this tiny street is nonsensical. 

2. This is not a “highly polluted manufacturing area”—it is light industrial/biotech, artists studios, yoga and dance studios, a factory that produces book binding equipment, a printmaking studio, a day care center, a gym—all with in a few blocks of where I live. The idea that the school should move is ridiculous. (If that were the criterion, then no poor area would have schools at all). 

3. No-one has addressed where the employees will park their cars. It’s already extremely difficult to find parking at my end of Heinz Street. 

I invite Dale Smith to try driving down Heinz at peak traffic time, take a left toward the freeway and enjoy the gridlock that occurs on that one intersection at rush hour. 

Claire B. Cotts 

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SETTING PRIORITIES 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

The cartoon in the Feb. 11-14 Daily Planet (“My Budget Sets Priorities!”) said it all... almost. The war money is depriving all sorts of people and other beings of what they need and deserve. “Cancel the war! Fund the Schools!” and “No Billionaire Left Behind,” to quote two of my buttons, express the same. Yet, I see a ray of light. The obscene priorities of this administration just might unite diverse groups of people into anti-war and anti-ridiculously-rich positions. 

There are two ways to power in this country: money and numbers. I think we need to work on unity.. Ask—demand— what your country can do for you. That’s what it’s for. 

All empires are evil—and expensive. 

Ruth Bird 

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SELF-CHECKOUT SYSTEM 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

So what happens when the state-of-the-art library checkout system breaks down? They do, you know. A few weeks ago the library’s entire computer system was down for a week and the staff had to write out all the info by hand. 

The central library has had two do-it-yourself checkout machines for years. Half the time they’re broken. 

Nancy Ward 

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ANDRONICO’S 

Editors, Daily Planet:  

As much as I appreciate the friendly and helpful employees at the University Avenue Andronico’s, I have to disagree with Mr. Charles Siegel’s characterization of Andronico’s as a neighborhood grocery in danger of being put out of business by the Big Guys. 

Andronico’s is a boutique grocery whose (presumed) endangered economic viability (and indeed, its current competitive edge) comes, essentially, from its virtual monopoly-style pricing rather than its inherent focus on service to the neighborhood. 

John Herbert 

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RADIATION RISK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Matthew Artz’s article on the controversy surrounding the planned introduction of RFID at the Berkeley Public Library (“Library’s New Technology Sparks Controversy,” Feb. 15-17) fails to mention one crucial element of this controversy: the potential risk to public health posed by the radiation used by RFID wireless scanners. There is now a substantial and growing body of scientific research showing biological effects from radio frequency radiation similar to that utilized by RFID technology. To give but one recent example, the so-called REFLEX study, majority-funded by the European Union and conducted by 12 research groups in seven European countries, reported findings in late 2004 that radio waves from mobile phones harm body cells and damage DNA in laboratory conditions. This study and others like it point to the need for a precautionary approach of prudent avoidance with respect to technologies such as RFID where viable, less potentially harmful alternatives are available. 

I must also note that it is ludicrous for Library Director Jackie Griffin to label the solidarity of concerned residents from across the bay with Berkeley library workers and users an exercise in Machiavellian carpetbagging while simultaneously trundling her own carpetbag, replete with RFID tags and scanners, from her former redoubt in Eugene, Ore. 

Doug Loranger 

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MORE ON RFID 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I’m writing in response to the Feb. 15-17 article about RFID. One hundred and forty libraries out of 1,000 is a small drop in the bucket and so RFID is considered an experimental technology by privacy advocates like the ACLU who oppose its use in libraries. Oakland Public Library is implementing it in only one of 17 of its branches. The San Francisco Public Library tried to implement it last year but has been slowed by the controversy surrounding it. 

To this date there is no analysis showing its efficacy in reducing repetitive stress injuries. In the article, self-checkout numbers are used to show its supposed benefits, but nowhere in the article can it be said in a factual way that it is reducing RSI. So it is still not clear that RFID will reduce RSI. 

It is clear that the director of the Berkeley Public Library is a proponent of RFID. Just last spring she was in San Francisco at a Library Commission meeting pushing its theoretical benefits. As an intermittent director of Eugene Public Library she made sure it was implemented there before coming to Berkeley. Last spring she sold it to the Board of Library Trustees and they bought it. She left the public out of this decision and if you look at the Berkeley library’s website there is only a promise to inform the public on this controversial technology, something that might have been done before purchasing it. Well, it isn’t paid for yet. In a Feb. 11 Daily Californian article it is stated that the library still owes $500,000 and will be paying this off in the next five years. So the library may still be paying off this debt when it discovers that RFID does not reduce RSI. 

Jack Henry 

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1984 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

I was very interested to read the essay (“The War in Iraq: Roll Over, George Orwell,” Feb. 15-17) that compared our current times to George Orwell’s 1984. Unfortunately, the writer has missed much of the historical context of the novel, which was published in 1949. At that time, the Labour Party had been in power for four years, and was in the midst of consolidating it’s power, nationalizing industries, and standardizing school curricula. In truth, the novel is a reaction against places like Berkeley! 

What would Orwell have thought about the current war on terror? Consider this quote from Orwell’s Notes on Nationalism, written during World War II: “It is, I think, true to say that the intelligentsia have been more wrong about the progress of the war than the common people, and that they were more swayed by partisan feelings. The average intellectual of the Left believed, for instance, that the war was lost in 1940, that the Germans were bound to overrun Egypt in 1942, that the Japanese would never be driven out of the lands they had conquered, and that the Anglo-American bombing offensive was making no impression on Germany. He could believe these things because his hatred for the British ruling class forbade him to admit that British plans could succeed. There is no limit to the follies that can be swallowed if one is under the influence of feelings of this kind. I have heard it confidently stated, for instance, that the American troops had been brought to Europe not to fight the Germans but to crush an English revolution. One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: No ordinary man could be such a fool.” 

Bob Jacobsen 

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THE SPIRIT OF JERRY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

As a long time resident of Berkeley, I’ve been pleased to see some of the new buildings going up around the city. It began with the Gaia building, which seemed a thoughtful and much-needed addition to downtown. Since then I’ve noticed several other buildings of a similar ilk, and it’s only been in the past month that I’ve begun to appreciate the cumulative effect of these buildings on our city.  

Looking more closely, I note that many of them are the works of Panoramic Management, and I am writing to applaud that company’s efforts. Though it’s unusual to write a letter to a newspaper in praise of a developer, in this case, it feels warranted. 

I particularly appreciate the design aspects of the buildings, which feel rooted in the best of the city’s downtown architectural history. It seems that someone really gave a lot of thought to our city’s buildings—both the best and worst of them—and made some great choices. At seeing the newly opened building on University and Shattuck, for example, a visiting friend recalled fondly how she had often seen Jerry Garcia perform in that exact spot, how it had become an ugly drug store and how beautiful this building is adding her highest compliment—“It has Jerry’s spirit.” 

I, for one, am proud of our city’s new buildings, and hope this trend continues. 

Joel ben Izzy 

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CLEAN AIR ACT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

The Clean Air Act is under attack. The Bush administration again is proposing to cut back key provisions in this landmark legislation. For over three decades, the Clean Air Act has worked, reducing air pollution during a period of dramatic economic growth. 

The administration’s plan, the so-called “Clear Skies” legislation, would move the country backward. It delays deadlines to meet the health standards in the Clear Air Act while relaxing pollution reduction requirements for power plants and other major pollution sources. 

Under the proposed legislation, pollutants from smokestacks such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury would increase to dangerous levels. These increased levels result in more harmful air for those most at risk—the elderly, children, and people with asthma. All major health organizations support the Clear Air Act and oppose this attempt to weaken it. 

The new plan relies on ineffective voluntary approaches to reduce carbon pollution, which could allow carbon dioxide pollution to continue to increase. 

We call on Senator Barbara Boxer, who serves on the Senate’s Environmental and Public Works Committee, before which this legislation is pending, to oppose the Bush plan to increase pollution and to ask her to support the Clean Air Act. 

Sherry Smith  

President, League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville 

Correction  

In the Feb. 15 issue in the story “Library’s New Technology Sparks Controversy,” Berkeley’s annual cost for workers’ compensation for library workers was incorrectly stated as “just over $1 million.” A 2002 city report showed that the total incurred workers’ compensation cost for all causes by the Berkeley Public Library for the five years 1995-2000 was only $1,079,807. Of this, only $4,009 over the five years was attributable to repetitive strain injuries. Library-provided documents show the total cost of repetitive stress injuries of all kinds was $167,000 from 2000-2004, including zero claims in 2004. Peter Warfield, executive director of the Library Users’ Association, supplied the Planet with city documents supporting these figures, which he obtained in January in response to a request for information filed in December of last year. e