On a recent weekday afternoon, one employee, who said he has worked at the store for about a year and a half, proudly displayed a row of stickers affixed to the back of his nametag – one for every thief caught. Once he catches ten, he said, the store gives him a $50 gift card.

“It’s annoying,” he said of the shoplifters. “But kids will be kids.”

Employees at the store requested anonymity because they feared reprisals from their employer. But they said they catch at least one shoplifter every day. The thieves usually swipe small items, they said; the loss is balanced out by customers who purchase more expensive goods.

Retailers all along Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way south of the UC Berkeley campus say shoplifters steal from them almost daily. But other than constant vigilance, they said there’s not much they can do to stop the theft.

“It happens once a day, twice a day, sometimes three times,” said Erica Weston, who manages the Urban Outfitters store on Bancroft Way near Telegraph Avenue. “And that’s just the people we catch.”

Urban Outfitters is one of shoplifters’ most frequent targets, according to Berkeley police logs. The logs show the store called about shoplifting six times over the past ten days; on two occasions, the store called twice in one day. Neighboring outlet American Apparel called once in the same time period, as did Royalty Couture on Telegraph.

Representatives from many of the stores in the area declined to be interviewed for this article, citing store policy. But those who would comment said that the thieves are mostly teenagers who take small items. Some, they said, they recognize as repeat offenders.

Weston said her store prosecutes shoplifters aggressively. “That’s why you see us in the log so much,” she said. “We don’t just let people go.”

Employees at other retailers said it isn’t always worth it to call the police.

“It’s a waste of time,” said Sal Rahman, a manager at Royalty Couture. Often, he said, employees can catch the thief in the act and retrieve the stolen goods themselves. Then they ban the thief from the store.

Berkeley Police Department spokesman Andrew Frankel said the commercial area around campus is a hotspot for shoplifting and petty theft, perhaps because of the high concentration of young people. The beat officer for the area always goes to the location and takes a report, and, in some cases, formalizes the shopkeeper’s citizen’s arrest. But as far as deterrence, he said, the police can only give advice.

“The beat officer who’s there will offer input to the store about what they could to do eliminate temptations: maybe put the items that are most pilfer-able under lock and key or the direct observation of somebody working a cash register,” he said. “It’s worth it to install cameras.”

Retailers said their preferred method of deterrence was employee surveillance.

“We can always be more vigilant, offer better customer service and floor coverage,” said Weston.

Rahman agreed. “You’ve got to keep an eye out.”

Efforts to relocate the Oakland A’s baseball team to the city of Fremont by 2012 are underway. Employees at the Pacific Commons shopping center have mixed opinions about the A’s moving in next door.

According to the Fremont Baseball Village website, the Baseball Village will “create thousands of jobs” and bring much needed revenue to the area known as the “Gateway to Silicon Valley.” The Village will be built directly across from the Pacific Commons shopping center.

Located on the outskirts of the city on the Auto Mall Parkway, Pacific Commons includes more than 50 stores and restaurants. With only one main entrance, the area is a maze of parking lots and dead ends.

With the addition of the stadium, one of the primary concerns for Gale Robertson, 54, an employee at Lowes, is the increase in traffic. “There’s no BART station and it’s not practical to walk anywhere. So unless they figure out a good way to get people in and out it’s going to be a big mess,” she says. According the Village’s website, a new Warm Springs BART station, scheduled to open in 2014, will be built along with a Pacific Commons train station.

Traffic is not the only concern for employees. Suzie Nunez, 22, an employee at GameStop and Fremont native, says planners did not choose the best location for the Village. “The landfill is right down the road. When it gets hot out you can smell it here,” she says, “It’s going to be embarrassing to have people come here and smell that.”

Nunez is also concerned about the size of the stadium. With only 32,000 seats, it will be the smallest stadium in Major League Baseball. Increased competition for tickets and a longer commute for fans living in Oakland and the East Bay will “discourage people from going,” says Nunez, “Plus, they’ll be embarrassed that they have the smallest stadium.”

Lowes’ employee Dwayne Jackson, 24, does not believe the move discourage fans. By moving to Fremont, the stadium will be closer to the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara. “I think they’ll have higher ticket sales because it seems like more of the fan base lives out here,” he says.

Despite the negatives, some employees are also excited about the team coming. Jackson is “ecstatic about the move. I think it’s a good transition.” He says the relocation will be good for Pacific Commons’ businesses, “More people means more money.”

Sebastian de la Cruz, 21, says the stadium will improve business at GameStop, where he works. “Right now not many people come in here because of our location,” he says, “The new stadium will be better for business.”

Aside from the economics and logistics, the excitement of baseball is a factor. Robertson, a longtime A’s fan, is “thrilled they’re coming. I’m all for it.” Jackson, also an A’s fan, “can’t wait to see a game.”

The Pacific Commons’ employees have a front row seat to this development and Nunez says, the next few years “should be interesting.”

For more information of the proposed A’s ballpark visit: www.thefremontbaseballvillage.com

In a unanimous vote, the Fremont City Council voted to support Senate Bill 791 during its September 16 meeting — a bill that, if passed by the Legislature, would allow the city, and surrounding areas to sell land currently owned by the California Department of Transportation and use the revenue for approved local transportation projects.Supporters see the measure as a positive step toward completing city road projects since the current law says the revenue can only be used on state projects. Opponents have raised concerns over wasteful spending and environmental hazards.

CalTrans and the Alameda County Transportation Authority own roughly 60 acres of land in Fremont. This land was originally intended for the construction of a freeway.

Jim Pierson, the director for transportation and operations for Alameda County, said that, for development reasons, this “Historic Alignment” design was abandoned almost 20 years ago. As a result of a growing population, Pierson said, “The “need for a highway in the area is increasing.”

In order for the city to build this highway, it must first find a source of revenue. Pierson explained that the current law states that whenever land owned by Caltrans is sold, that money goes into the state Caltrans budget.

SB 791 will allow revenue from the sale of the Caltrans property in Fremont to be used for three specific non-state highway projects. This includes the construction of a connector road from interstate 880 through Fremont and Union City.

But half a dozen residents who attended the meeting felt that SB 791 is not in the best interests of the community.

Ron Moeller, 67, said the city council has shown a complete disregard for a huge amount of money that only applies to a small amount of land.

“It’s a 1.4-billion dollar road like the Alaska bridge to nowhere,” he said.

Melodye Khattak is concerned about the pollution this new road will produce.

“We’re going to get a lot more traffic from the valleys going right through Fremont. That’s going to affect our air and our drinking water,” said Khattak.

For residents neighboring the Caltrans property that will not be developed into a roadway, some are still reluctant to see that land developed at all.

For the past 20 years, Marcus DiFranco, 50, and his wife and two daughters have been able to open their backdoor to see grazing horses belonging to a farm renting the property from Caltrans.

“We bought this house knowing there might be a road in our backyard one day,” said DiFranco, “It’s a relief to know that won’t happen, I just wish they could leave the horse farm. It’s beautiful.”

As the measure moves forward and construction projects begin, there will be people on each side following the issue. When asked what he’s going to do next, Moeller replied, “I think I’m going to sit in a tree. Maybe we’ll try and hire those [Berkeley] tree sitters to come down here.”

Shahin Saki, owner of the Z & S Beauty Studio in Berkeley’s Shattuck Square, is feeling the economic crunch on her business. But her customers are not leaving because of problems on Wall Street; they’re leaving because of problems on Saki’s street.

Sahari Saki's salon is hidden behind the CodePink truck

In January 2007, The United States Marine Corps Officer Selection Station moved in next door to Saki. A few months later, the organization CodePink began protesting outside the selection station. One year later, these protests still persist every Wednesday.

“We’ve lost a lot of business and I don’t know how we’ll get it back,” said the soft-spoken Saki as she looked out the window of her salon, her family’s sole source of income and a business she’s run the last 19 years, since she fled the Iran-Iraq war .

Saki has witnessed it all. Somewhere behind the hundreds of people, the pink flatbed truck and the pink banners is her store.

She is concerned that no one can see her salon when the protestors are outside. Her clients have no parking; city police often prevent them from walking to the salon, and they are nervous sitting by the window.

But, a year later, the number of protestors who show up each Wednesday are a fraction of what they used to be.

Leeza Vinogra, a 71-year-old retired nurse, has been coming to the CodePink protests every Wednesday since they started.

Shahin Saki's store behind the banner

Vinogra blames recruiters for what is going on in Iraq. She said that the selection station “insinuated themselves into the city. They’re stealthy.”

Saki said the Marine selection station does not try to conceal the protestors from potential recruits. They even displays photos from some of the larger more colorful demonstrations on their website.

Vinogra said CodePink will not give up, even in the face of harassment, or, when, as she claimed, government officials take away their permits.

The permits are required when large groups of people assemble in one place and when sound amplifiers are used. Lisa Corona, Berkeley’s Deputy City Manager, said that no permits were taken away but that CodePink previously had a 90-day permit and has not applied for a new one.

No one from the Marine selection office was available for comment.  In a statement by former Bay Area Selection Officer Cpt. Rickard Lund, published in the Berkeley Daily Planet last year, he said he supported the protestors’ freedom of speech. But he also said the protestors’ anger is misdirected at people who have no control over policy issues.

“War is made by politicians. The conflict in Iraq was ordered by the president and authorized by Congress,” he said.

When asked why she wasn’t protesting the local ROTC and JROTC programs, Vinogra did not have an answer.

Shahin Saki watches police arrest CodePink protesters

She also said that she never protested recruiting stations in the past because she “didn’t know there was anything to protest.” She would consider continuing her protest after the wars in the Middle East are over “as long as there are other protesters with me.”

Saki hopes that is not the case.

While Saki is opposed to war and killing, in the last year, she said that, “the only new customers I’ve gotten are three CodePink protestors and one Marine.”

She would like to visit City Hall and formally complain, but is unable to find the time between her work and her children.

For Saki, an Iranian, the war in Iraq has taken on new meaning. As the protests continue, she will do the only thing she can do. Watch.

Photos courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps’ San Francisco Officer Selection Station