Highland officials may soon be banned from traveling to Berkeley

Now, the City Council might take aim at another bastion of liberalism in the Bay Area -- Berkeley.

Highland plans to consider a resolution in two weeks that would bar city-funded travel to Berkeley for conferences or other city business.

Highland's possible move comes in response to the Berkeley City Council's approval last month of a motion calling the Marine Corps "unwelcome intruders" in the Northern California city.

At Tuesday's council meeting, Highland Councilman John Timmer called Berkeley's action "pretty disgusting" and called for a resolution to bar city-funded trips to Berkeley.

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Time for CodePink, tree sitters to unite

RANDOM THOUGHTS from Berserkeley in the wake of the Marine recruiting center fiasco:

# Perhaps the City Council should amend the Public Commons for Everyone Initiative to define disruptive street behavior to include radical, militant protest groups who chain themselves to recruiting center offices and scare away consumers from downtown. Otherwise, change the name to the Public Commons for Everyone Except Military Recruiting Centers and Businesses with the Misfortune to be Located Nearby Initiative.

# Am I the only one who finds amusing the way the City Council and CodePink have convinced themselves that they're advancing the anti-war movement with their shameful actions? Have they bothered to ask themselves why no one else in the movement has voiced any support for their actions? Or maybe Rep. Barbara Lee just hasn't had time yet to issue that statement endorsing their harassment of the Marines. Just as the New York Times has managed to rally conservatives around John McCain, the council and CodePink have rallied the rest of the nation around the Marines. The Marines couldn't have asked for a better advertising campaign.

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Berkeley businesses feel pinch of weekly anti-war protests

BERKELEY - People who are angry at city leaders for their anti-military stance are taking it out on businesses - canceling hotel rooms, restaurant reservations and theater tickets.

They are writing letters to the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce outlining their plans to boycott the city.

And they are steering clear of downtown shops because of the weekly anti-war protests that in recent weeks have become increasingly volatile.

Two weeks after the Berkeley City Council refused to apologize to the U.S. Marine Corps for calling them "uninvited and unwelcome intruders," Berkeley businesses are feeling the backlash from people who don't want to spend their money in the city.

"We're hearing of folks canceling reservations and canceling hotel rooms and we know there is a direct correlation. How big, I don't know. We're in a tough economic period anyway," said Ted Garrett, chief executive officer of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce.

Garrett said the chamber has received an estimated 300 e-mails, letters and faxes from people upset about the council's action and its refusal to apologize. "Folks are upset," he said. "Unfortunately, they are blaming the businesses."

Mo Hallaji, owner of Pollo's at Shattuck Avenue and Addison Street, said his business has declined 10 to 15 percent this month because of the traffic jams and fighting associated with the protests.

"They are killing our business," Hallaji said. "Everybody is against the war but that is not the right way to go about it if you want to accomplish something."

Quentin Moore, owner of Berkeley Hardware on University Avenue, is not far from the U.S. Marine recruiting center at 64 Shattuck Square, and the protests might be causing a downturn in his business.

"I see maybe two or three customers in here and maybe (the protests) are the reason," he said.

CodePink, which held another rally Tuesday, has been holding protests since last fall while the group The World Can't Wait got involved recently. They are becoming increasingly violent and volatile. Police have arrested five people recently, including two last week.

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Berkeley Retailers Targeted in Boycott Over Marines

Fashion retailers in Berkeley, Calif., might be caught in the middle of a campaign to boycott the city and its businesses because of an attempt to shut a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office to protest the Iraq war.

The city council in Berkeley, a hub of political activism, triggered the uproar last month when it passed a resolution describing the Marines as "uninvited and unwelcome intruders" and voted to look into ways of closing the recruiting station. The council has given a coalition led by the antiwar group Code Pink use of a parking space to picket the Marines' office, leading to confrontations with supporters of the military and the war.

Now a conservative organization, Move America Forward, is set to launch the boycott this week along with a cable TV advertising campaign. The group wants the council to rescind its resolution and apologize.

In response, antiwar forces called for a national "Buycott" of Berkeley, urging consumers, businesses and travelers to support the city.

All of this is testing the patience of fashion merchants, who otherwise embrace Berkeley's activist ethos.

"It's not the right platform to affect change like that," said John Kiskaddon, co-owner of Harper Greer, a plus-size store and wholesale line on Berkeley's 4th Street, a fashion row of independent boutiques and cafes.

"I'm certainly not for the war, but the recruiting office should still be allowed to be there," said Susan Trefethen, owner of Molly b., with two stores on 4th and Vine streets, carrying a mix of labels such as Osaka from Germany, French designer Sara Pacini and designer Krista Larsen from Vermont.

The issue "hurts Berkeley more than it helps," Trefethen said. "But I doubt my customers would stop coming."

Berkeley's activism is part of its DNA, ranging from the free speech and anti-Vietnam war movements of the Sixties to banning Styrofoam.

Leslie Sobelson, manager and buyer for Berkeley-based sportswear retailer and wholesaler Bryn Walker, which has two of its 11 stores in the city, said the Marines should stay. "I am totally opposed to the military, but if they take out the Marines' right to be there, my right to do something might be taken away."

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Legislation To Suspend Transportation Funds to Berkeley for Anti-U.S. Marine Corps Actions

(Sacramento) Assemblyman Guy Houston (R-San Ramon) has introduced legislation to suspend $3.3 million in transportation funding to the city of Berkeley. Assembly Bill 2615 is a response to the actions taken by the Berkeley City Council on January 29th which denounced the presence of the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office in the city of Berkeley, and grants public resources to protesters.

"Berkeley s City Council has granted anti-military activists a public resource to assist in barricading the Marine recruitment office," said Houston. "The public right of way has been violated and our state must not stand idly by."

Due to public outcry from its initial January vote, the Berkeley City Council voted on February 13th to rescind its action to send a letter to the U.S. Marine Corps saying they are "uninvited and unwelcome intruders" but did not address other resolutions.

The city of Berkeley is scheduled to receive approximately $3.3 million in transportation funding over the next two years from Proposition 1B. The legislation will call for that funding to be suspended until Berkeley rescinds its January 29, 2008 resolutions.

"Under my proposal, until the Berkeley City Council rescinds its action to grant Marine protesters a public parking spot to serve a private agenda," said Houston, "the city of Berkeley will go without these state transportation dollars."

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City Council May Look Twice At Items From Commission

The Berkeley City Council will discuss an item tonight that will require the council to read items from the Peace and Justice Commission twice, an effort to allow for more public input.

But some officials say this requirement, introduced by Councilmember Gordon Wozniak, unfairly places a burden on only one of the city's 45 commissions, not all of them.

Wozniak said he created the item because more public input and adequate time is needed to consider items coming from that commission, especially in light of the recent controversy surrounding the Marine Corps recruiting center in Downtown Berkeley.

Last month, the Peace and Justice Commission recommended an item to the City Council that included sending a controversial letter to the Marines, calling them "uninvited and unwelcome intruders."

"The reason why you want to do that is because these statements are being done in the name of all the public," Wozniak said. "We should be requesting broad input so we can hear some counter-arguments without rushing it through."

But some council members say the item is unfair.

"I think Councilmember Wozniak was on the short end of two votes regarding the Marine recruiting station and sought to achieve something that he couldn't achieve through the democratic process of considering items that come from our commissions," Councilmember Max Anderson said.

Currently, items from all commissions are passed after only one reading. But under Wozniak's proposal, items from the Peace and Justice Commission would follow a path similar to that of ordinances and go through two readings before passing.

"It's a check and balance to something," Wozniak said.

Some say his item should be applicable to all commissions in the city.

"This kind of process issue is bad policy for a city government to set procedures from one group compared to any other group," said Steve Freedkin, former chair of the commission. "There is no substantive group. It should be applied to all other commissions."

Councilmember Betty Olds said she agreed with the idea of looking more closely at the commission's items.

"They could put forth whatever they want to put forth and they should," Olds said. "I'm just saying the articles tend to be more controversial from them than others."

Freedkin said he met with Wozniak Thursday to discuss alternatives to the original item. One compromise included requiring background information to be posted with the commission meeting agenda and posting minutes in the days following a meeting, rather than sometimes waiting as much as a month for them to be posted.

"The basic idea is to give people more access to policy proposals, and I think that most commissioners should get behind it because it increases the value of their work," Freedkin said.

Wozniak said he would draft the substitute motion for discussion tonight.

"I don't have a problem with treating (all commissions) the same, but it's particularly something you want to do with the Peace and Justice Commission, with the nature of resolutions they've produced," he said.

Some of the commission's members say the alternatives are better than the original item, as they will improve public participation in commissions.

"These would be improving the communications with the citizens, getting the word out, having more public input before votes are taken on the item," commissioner Michael Sherman said. "If all commissions get involved in this, something very positive came out of this thing."

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