BERKELEY — To an outsider, University Avenue Cooperative Homes may not look like Section 8 housing. Despite a few torn window screens and the two-tone paint job of pink and dark salmon, the apartment complex is a veritable garden. Rose bushes, lemon trees, and cucumber patches line the entrance while various shrubs accent magnolia trees in the courtyard.
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Monthly Archives: October 2004
Berkeley Council Hopefuls Reply to Questions
BERKELEY — Candidates for three open slots on the Berkeley City Council fielded questions last night focusing on housing, transportation, and business development downtown in a forum at the North Berkeley Senior Center.
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Olds Defends Record in Berkeley Council Race
BERKELEY — Betty Olds first became active in politics nearly a quarter of a century ago when she heard about a property owner’s intent to build a big mansion in her North Berkeley neighborhood. Convinced that the house would destroy the neighborhood’s character, she rallied other homeowners to approach then-mayor Shirley Dean for advice.
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Ignoring Protesters, Albany School Board Pursues Cell Antenna Contract
Albany school board member Sherri Moradi took one look at the proposal and knew she would vote against it.
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Candidate Kidd Focuses on Crime in Berkeley
OAKLAND — Oakland police Lt. James Meeks recalls a crisis several years ago when, as a last resort, a woman dragged her rebellious teenage daughter down to the station for help. The mother complained she’d lost all authority over the girl, who had been ditching school, staying out all night, and physically threatening her mother.
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Columnist Urges Voter Turnout in Berkeley Speech
BERKELEY — Nationally-syndicated political columnist Molly Ivins urged greater voter participation and free speech yesterday at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Auditorium in a memorial lecture to honor the late Mario Savio, a spokesman for the 1964 Free Speech Movement celebrating its 40th anniversary this week.
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Author Ivins Regales Berkeley Crowd With Wit, Insight
BERKELEY — Nationally syndicated political columnist and best-selling author Molly Ivins tickled and inspired a crowd last night in a lecture at UC Berkeley that was as much stand-up comedy as political commentary.
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Richmond Vote on Point Molate Delayed a Week
RICHMOND — The Richmond City Council will spend at least one more week contemplating whether to sell 220 acres of the city’s Point Molate to a developer hoping to build a casino on the site or to oil giant ChevronTexaco.
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Black, Asian Clerics Unite to Support Gay Marriage
BERKELEY — Calling for an end to discrimination and homophobia, seven local Asian-American and African-American religious ministers united yesterday at Berkeley’s Pacific School of Religion in an emotional call supporting the rights of gays and lesbians to marry.
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Experts Warn of Moral Crisis From Genetic Science
BERKELEY — Two leading thinkers in the field of genetic engineering told an audience at UC Berkeley last night that human capability to design children is not a distant dream but a coming reality that presents moral challenges American society is not yet prepared to deal with.
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Murder Rattles South Beach
SAN FRANCISCO — In the idyllic South Beach neighborhood filled with luxury high-rises and clear bay views, few residents expected a murder.
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Richmond Candidate Pushing to Change Council
RICHMOND — Andres Soto looked out onto 23rd Street, the broad artery that runs from Richmond’s industrial blocks on the south side, through its depressed civic center and into this working class neighborhood called Belding-Woods.
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Activists Aim to Grow Voter Turnout in Oakland
OAKLAND — Oakland residents hungry for barbecue and pony rides who flocked to De Fremery Park for the 30th annual Black Cowboy Parade were in for an unexpected civic freebie on Saturday: Voter-registration, courtesy of a new organization on the voting block.
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Panelists Argue Berkeley Prostitution Measure
BERKELEY — Measure Q, the November ballot initiative that would reduce the criminality of prostitution in Berkeley, sparked a heated debate yesterday at a panel sponsored by the East Bay Chapter of the National Organization for Women.
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Berkeleyans View Debate, Then Argue Its Meaning
BERKELEY — Students who crowded into Moses Hall’s library last night to watch the first of three nationally-televised debates between President Bush and Democratic contender Sen. John Kerry argued afterward about its meaning in a forum co-hosted by the Center on Politics and the Undergraduate Political Science Association.
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Homeless Help Police Dimond District
OAKLAND — Just as the mid-day rush is dying down at the Subway sandwich shop on Fruitvale Avenue in the city’s Dimond District, Angel Sanabria strides in and helps himself to a glass of water. He grabs a handful of paper towels from behind the counter, then wipes down the tables, picks the trash up off the floor, and tucks in all the chairs. Order is restored.
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Rape Victim Advocates Help Richmond Police
Richmond — Richmond police Detective Patrick Davis understands his limitations.
Davis recalled one woman who, he later learned, lost consciousness after a night of drinking and worrying how her religious family might react to her sexual identity as a lesbian. When she woke up, she found herself being carried up a flight of stairs. The woman was then sexually assaulted by several men.
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Mill Valley Merchants Lament Loss of Film Fest
MILL VALLEY — The Mill Valley Film festival opened Wednesday, but not in Mill Valley. There, business owners lamented the loss of dollars and magic.
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Berkeley Museum: Portraits on the Edge
Katy Grannan will accept the Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers tomorrow evening at the Berkeley Art Museum where three of her photos are on display. She is a Brooklyn-based photographer whose work is both discomforting and engaging.
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Community Arts Space Survives Cop Crackdown
SAN FRANCISCO — A driver on Bryant Street in the Mission will pass a row of non-descript, brownish gray furniture and machinery warehouses. Suddenly, at 18th Street, there’s an explosion of color: murals, stencil paintings, and graffiti art cover a half-block-long facade. Even the garbage can outside is covered with blue and orange circles.
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Cheney, Edwards Sharply Conflict over Iraq
BERKELEY — Vice-President Dick Cheney said there are more similarities than differences between himself and challenger Sen. John Edwards, but when the topic of war in Iraq came up in last night’s nationally televised vice-presidential debate, the two men differed dramatically.
Cheney and Edwards argued over issues ranging from taxes and healthcare to the national debt, but they spent a large portion of the 90-minute debate in Cleveland attacking each other’s competence in foreign policy.
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Arts High School’s Freedom Helps Writers Bloom
SAN FRANCISCO — Their October 15 performance may be little more than a week away, and students in the School of the Arts creative writing department haven’t even gotten around to auditioning. But no one seems worried. Who has the time to fixate after writing a 20-page piece of speculative fiction and analyzing the many ways literature can seem to speed or slow the passage of time?
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Pictures of Life: Photographer Reviews His Work
BERKELEY — One minute the father was playing with his children, and the next he threw one of them to the ground and began to choke him. Eugene Richards snapped a photo and then walked over to the man’s wife and reminded her that he was documenting the event.
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Life at the Trial — 600 Reporters and a Few Nuts
Inside the Redwood City courthouse, Scott Peterson stands accused of killing his wife. But Peter Shaplen, who runs the courthouse press pool, isn’t worried about murders. He is talking to someone who could really give him trouble: Frank Chu.
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Oakland Hails Institute’s Century of Service
OAKLAND — City Council President Ignacio de la Fuente had more than one reason to take in last night’s celebration of the recent relocation of an East Bay refugee-aid organization to downtown Oakland. De la Fuente often has upwards of 50 requests for his time each week. But this one was personal.
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