Francine Brevetti

By Francine Brevetti
Oakland Tribune

Bar Pilot Tom Miller guides the container ship NYK Atlas past another ship in the narrow channel…

At the helm of a container ship three football fields long, Capt. Tom Miller is maneuvering the NYK Atlas from 12 miles beyond the Golden Gate Bridge where the swells rise to 25 feet high to a berth at the Port of Oakland.

He is not the ship’s captain. Miller is a bar pilot, a member of the San Francisco Bar Pilot Association.

Every harbor has its own complement of bar pilots who know their individual harbors intimately, the channels and currents, depths and buoys. Whenever an oceangoing vessel pulls into a port, the captain of those vessels cedes some control of their ship temporarily to a bar pilot, who guides the ship to the dock.

It is a highly specialized profession that takes years of experience, training and competition. After the catastrophe involving bar pilot Capt. John Cota on Nov. 7, the skills and experience of bar pilots came into focus. Cota grazed the 900-foot Cosco Busan against the Bay Bridge, gashing a hole in the side and spewing 58,000 gallons of crude oil into the Bay.

The term “bar” pilot derives from the enormous, crescent-shaped sandbar miles outside the Golden Gate Bridge. The waterway there is extremely treacherous, crowded, and the bar shifts frequently, seamen say. The waters there are far more challenging than the harbors of Long Beach or Seattle, for instance.

Miller, 50, of Petaluma, is enthusiastic about his job. A tall, mustached redhead, he has been ushering behemoths through the estuary for 21 years after spending several years as a tugboat captain.He starts the day on a pilot boat 12 miles outside the Golden Gate because that’s where the Army Corps of Engineers created the channel that burrows through the sandbar. Its starting point is marked with a buoy.

To board the ship he is expected to pilot, Miller must jump from the launch boat to a rope ladder that clings to the side of a container ship. It’s a task that’s not for the faint-hearted. Pilots have died this way.

Once on the bridge of the vessel — today, the NYK Atlas, a Japanese vessel flying under a Panamanian flag with a Romanian crew — Miller discusses the challenging conditions ahead with Atlas Capt. Marcel Nikolai.

On this day, not only is the water turbulent, but three vessels are lined up in the Port of Oakland: one where the Atlas is to berth, one just ahead of that spot and one behind. The NYK Atlas has to pass all of these vessels, then turn around in a tight space, when the vessel in the space leaves. It gives new meaning to the concept of parallel parking.

‘I love my job’

“We’ve got current on the channel, cross currents from left to right,” Miller said. “So we have to favor one side of the channel to compensate for the drift that we’re going to get as we advance through the estuary.”

Miller said he enjoys the challenge of the job.

“At the end of the day, when I’m going home and I see a ship in the harbor, I can say to myself: I put that boat there,” he said. “I love my job.”

As the NYK ATLAS passes Yerba Buena Island, Miller watches the drift of the ship by checking visual cues against the bow to see which way the ship is headed. Of course, he is also amply provided with instrumentation on the bridge.

He gives commands to the helmsman who echoes them back to him: “Amidships.” This indicates that the rudder must resume its position at the center of the boat.

“Starboard 20″ — turn 20-degrees to the right.

But as Miller is judging the drift of the ship, approaching the channel between the Port of Oakland — where three vessels are dockside — and Alameda, he has to gauge his speed. It’s a balancing act.

“I have to get up speed to cross the currents, but I have to go slowly so as not to damage to the ships along the docks,” he said.

Just passing those large vessels on the NYK Atlas’ port side with any speed will create enough suction to throw them against the wharf and damage them.

A delicate dance

San Francisco bar pilots bring in vessels from Monterey to Sacramento, about 10,000 “moves” a year, coming and going.

Manipulating a container ship, one might say, is like coaching a hippo to dance on a dime. Consider that the ship is 300 meters long, 40 meters wide and may have as little as 2 to 5 feet draft between it and the Bay floor. The NYK Atlas is carrying 6,500 20-foot containers. That’s a lot of videogames, clothes, computers, building materials and Barbie dolls.

Asked if he’s ever touched the Bay floor, Miller shakes his head and shudders, “That’s not good.”

As the vessel proceeds down the channel between Oakland and Alameda, a sailboat floats in front, seemingly oblivious to the hulking presence towering in front of it.

The Atlas captain and the pilot become irritable. This impasse wastes time and they are already facing considerable stress today. They expect the sailboat’s skipper to do what’s necessary — get out of the way. Seconds tick by with no diversionary action from the diminutive craft. Finally, the container ship sounds its alarm, deep, low and unmistakable. The sailboat glides to the Alameda side of the channel.

Meanwhile, there is a delay among the three vessels lined up at the port. One is moving later than anticipated.

The Atlas prepares to make its 180-degree turn so it ends up facing the proper direction. The tugboats are crucial in this operation.

“The ship’s engine drives us forward and aft while the tugs push us side to side,” Miller said.

Although the pilot is giving commands to the tugboats behind the Atlas, he can’t see them because the mass of containers stacked up on deck obscure visibility.

The bar pilot and the captain go out on deck to observe the tugs as they pull the ship’s stern in an arc with only 20 feet to spare at either end. The maneuver takes 45 minutes.

By the time the ship is turned and looking at the Bay Bridge, the other vessels have departed. Miller steers the ship alongside the dock at the AP Moeller terminal.

‘We are right here’

Miller hands Capt. Nikolai a sheaf of papers to sign: the San Francisco Bar Pilots invoice for their services for this move — $5,000.

Miller thinks the price is well-earned, but cheap for four hours of work.

“The movements go on seven days a week, 365 days a year,” Miller said. “When you’re cuddling up to your significant other in the evening and discussing how terrible the weather outside is, we are right here. We board 12 miles outside of the pilot station, where it gets really rough. It was not pretty there today. Where we board is extremely dangerous. The pilot boat was going 25 feet up and down.”

Since the amalgamation of bar and river pilots in 1984, San Francisco Bar Pilots have maintained a safety record of 99.74 percent of all vessel movements in the Bay without pilot error, according to statistics from the pilots association.

Last year, Miller was the bar pilot who brought in the luxury liner Queen Mary 2, which is 113 feet longer than the original Queen Mary.

“I was very honored,” he said.

Asked about Cota, Miller expressed only concern for his former colleague. But the accident has been stressful for Miller.

“While I always knew I had a big responsibility to shoulder, when that happened, I realized, my god, this is really a big, important job,” Miller said. “Look at the consequences when something goes wrong. I always knew that, but this event reinforced that.”

So far, Miller has had no mishaps in 21 years of service. But he doesn’t discount the possibility that it may happen, considering all the challenges of the job. But he doesn’t expect to lose his license or livelihood.

In the past, that was the worst that could happen to a bar pilot’s career.

Today, the pilot of the Cosco Busan is facing criminal charges under environmental laws.

By Francine Brevetti

STAFF WRITER

Facing an $18 million budget shortfall, the Port of Oakland’s board of commissioners has alerted employees that it may eliminate 70 to 80 positions within the next few months, said Commissioner Victor Uno.

With airlines in bankruptcy, high jet fuel costs, declines in imports, and a high debt service to repay, port officials decided to reduce or eliminate new capital improvement projects and eliminate at least 70 jobs this year, according to port spokesperson Marilyn Sandifur.

Layoffs may be minimized by eliminating vacant positions and instituting a hiring freeze. But some people will also lose their jobs, officials said, although the exact number, and when the layoffs will occur, will not be known until the port adopts its budget in July.

Since 95 percent of the port’s work force is unionized, Executive Director Omar Benjamin and commissioners have been conferring with the pertinent unions; another meeting will be held later this month, Uno said.

Francine BrevettiOakland Tribune

OAKLAND — Extravagant manicures and pedicures are in high demand these days despite concerns about catching infections at less-than-immaculate salons.

Isabella Nail Bar, recently opened in Montclair Village, is designed to offer these beauty services in a sanitary environment, thanks to its founder, Nguyen Uyen, a chemist.In two months since she opened Isabella Nail Bar, Nguyen has attracted such a following that she said she’s looking for a second property.Nguyen, her family name, worked as a chemist for Analog Devices for almost 10 years. She began looking into the area of beauty care when two of her sisters-in-law, both manicurists, fell ill from having handled for several years the acrylic used in nail care. One of them lost her 8½-month-old unborn baby, Nguyen said.The chemist went online and educated herself about the products used in nail salons. She learned that one of the largest distributors for nail products for professional salons uses ingredients so harmful that they are banned in Europe — formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate.”None of these things are in my products,” she said.She also learned the difference between a so-called organic product and a certified organic product.”Anybody can say their product is organic, but only the government can say it is certified organic,” Nguyen said.Sally Robb Haims, spokeswoman for the Green Spa Network, an alliance of spas devoted to environmentally friendly products, said the government certifies certain products as organic but does not mandate standards of organic purity.”The bottom line is, you need to educate yourself and learn to read labels,” Haims said.She said consumers can learn more about ingredients in cosmetics through the Environmental Working Group’s online Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database, which features more than 25,000 cosmetic and personal care products and can be accessed at www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep.Mindful of the practices of some nail salons that do not thoroughly cleanse their foot baths, Nguyen, an Orinda mother of two, designed her own foot baths. She designed a plumbing system that would flush water out rather than recirculate it — as many competitors do — to avoid the spread of infection. Then she engaged a company called Sanijet to construct the tub and incorporate her plumbing design.To ensure sanitary tools, she has installed an autoclave, the pressurized device medical professionals use to sterilize their instruments.But her salon isn’t anything like a sterile, clinical doctor’s office. It is a restful, feminine haven.All of her work seems to be paying off. Nguyen expects to be profitable this year. She has had an excellent reception in her first two months in Montclair, and a core of clients from Berkeley have been urging her to open a store in that city.”People want me to do all sorts of things, like start an organic juice bar or my own line of products,” she said with a broad smile and a grateful, if weary, voice.

By Francine Brevetti
Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND — Researchers stood on a downtown street corner Tuesday counting people and bicycles as part of a project studying the effect of vehicular traffic on pedestrians and cyclists.

The project began in April and will produce a report at the end of the year under the supervision of UC Berkeley doctoral student Bob Schneider, who is studying city and regional planning, and Lindsay Arnold, a research associate with the university’s School of Public Health.

Bicyclists and pedestrians will be counted at 50 sample sites around the county, including areas of high and low traffic density. Pedestrians are counted either manually or automatically by infrared sensors that are imbedded in the sidewalk or installed in signs. From noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, researchers stood on corners at 12th Street and Broadway in downtown Oakland counting people one by one.

Beginning next month, devices will be imbedded in Oakland and Dublin to count bicyclists.

There’s a great need to know more about how pedestrians and cyclists use city streets so planners can figure out ways to keep them safe from vehicles.

“There’s been a significant increase in pedestrian and bicycle issues with people’s increased understanding of the importance of physical activity and rising gas prices,” Schneider said.

However, Schneider and Arnold said the data on pedestrian and bicycle accidents have not been systematically captured in a way that helps planners create safer streets.

For instance, while the traffic lights at 12th and Broadway include a countdown timer so pedestrians know how long they have to cross the street, Broadway has no bike lanes or overhead signals instructing vehicles how to behave around bicyclists, Arnold said.

Jason Patton, bicycle and pedestrian program manager of transportation services with the city’s Community and Economic Development Agency, said the ultimate benefits of the study would be to produce a predictive model of pedestrian and bicycle traffic that could be used by cities and counties to build safer streets. There are such models already, he said, but they’re complex and used mostly by university research.

To fund the study, Caltrans is contributing $15,000 and the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority is contributing $25,000.

By Francine Brevetti
Oakland Tribune

PORT OF OAKLAND — Containership company APL celebrated the renovation and redesign of its terminal Tuesday.

APL and the Port of Oakland shared the $68 million renovation cost for the project.

The reconstruction work unified two parcels of land at the 80-acre terminal on Middle Harbor Road, eliminated abandoned buildings, reclaimed vacant land and redesigned the container yard for faster cargo transport.

APL spokesman Mike Zampa said the terminal can now move three times as much cargo in the same amount of time, allowing the company to move as much as 360,000 boxes a year. Furthermore, APL has installed equipment that will reduce deleterious emissions.

APL’s President of the Americas John Bowe said an increase in cargo-handling abilities was achieved without adding an acre of space.

“That’s a dramatic productivity gain,” he said.

By adding capacity, APL said additional shipping services could be routed to Oakland where the company employs 500 people.

The company renamed its terminal Golden Gateway Central in a ceremony attended by Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and others.

By Francine BrevettiOakland Tribune

Jose Robles and his brother-in-law went to Tijuana last year on a mission to bring a relative to the United States. Instead, it turned into a bureaucratic tangle that could have threatened Robles’ job as a machinist at the Port of Oakland.

The relative — the brother of Robles’ brother-in-law — didn’t have a valid visa to cross into United States. The three men were detained, photographed, fingerprinted and held overnight. Robles, who is in the country legally, had nothing to do with the man’s offense.

Robles was scared. He had worked as a machinist for shipping line AP Moeller for 17 years.

“They don’t listen to you. You’re nobody over there, when you’re in those places,” Robles said of U.S. border enforcement.

The next day, the man at fault was arrested while Robles and his in-law were released with no further charges pending. But the matter was not closed for Robles.

This year, when the machinist, a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, applied for his Transportation Workers Identification Certificate — or TWIC card — his application was denied. Through his union, he contacted the National Employment Law Project — based in Washington, D.C., with an Oakland chapter — whose lawyers were able to sort it out for him.

“I couldn’t sleep at night thinking of all this and wondering how I was going to be able to get my (TWIC) card,” he said, referring to the certificate  that is required for all port workers under new Department of Homeland Security regulations. “Probably I’m going to lose my job. My wife was very worried, too. I felt like I had been thrown away.”

But law project staff members checked with the San Diego courts and district attorney and ascertained that Robles hadn’t been charged with any wrongdoing. They demonstrated to the Transportation Security Administration that their client had not been prosecuted or charged. Three weeks later, Robles had his card.

Staff members at the National Employment Law Project say Robles’ situation is not uncommon.

“Almost all appeals to the TWIC program are successful, so that shows you how inaccurate the records are,” said Maurice Emsallem, the National Employment Law Project’s public policy director, who is based in Oakland.

The project’s mission is to shepherd people through background checks they increasingly encounter when looking for jobs with employers who screen for criminal records.

Since Robles works on a maritime terminal at the Port of Oakland, he has to pass the criteria of the new identification document that all workers on federally regulated maritime facilities must acquire by the end of the year.

Administered by the Transportation Security Administration, TWIC cards are designed to weed out possible terrorists from the nation’s ports. The worker’s fingerprints and iris biometrics are scanned into it. A TWIC card is denied to anyone convicted of felonies associated with terrorism.

The Transportation Security Administration, in administering the TWIC program, refers to the FBI’s database to ascertain the applicant’s criminal record. But that database, according to the National Employment Law Project, records arrests, not the outcome of arrests. In other words, according to the Transportation Security Administration, Robles appeared just as guilty as if he had been convicted.

“Lots of FBI records are inaccurate because they have the arrest information, but don’t tell you what happened after that. So a lot of workers are getting denied TWIC,” Emsallem said.

Through the first week of May, Transportation Security Administration has disqualified 4,500 applicants nationwide, fielded 2,000 requests for appeals and granted 1,700 appeals. Only 13 applicants have been disqualified finally.

Nico Melendez, Transportation Security Administration spokesman, called the process “very user-friendly.”

“If a person is disqualified, that’s what the appeals process is for,” he said.

About 8,000 TWIC applications so far have been submitted in the Bay Area, 7,400 from Oakland, according to Lockheed Martin, which holds the contract for administering the application process.

Emsellem said state and federal laws and private companies are increasing their demands for background checks.

“We’ve been doing outreach with the port, maritime and transportatio

n unions,” said National Employment Law Project attorney Laura Moskowitz. “We have a lot of information on our Web site, which people can find.”

The process for appealing also can be found on the Web site by clicking “Second Chance Labor Project.” It is available in seven languages.

For details, contact the National Employment Law Project at 510-663-5700.

Trucker Tomas Soto said he was injured by rocks thrown at his truck at the Port of Oakland….

VIDEO

• Truckers protest Monday at the port

by Francine Brevetti

 Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND — About 80 striking truckers from Middle Harbor Road at the Port of Oakland were ticketed and dispersed Tuesday after some of them committed vandalism, police said.

Some drivers had damaged a truck’s window while the driver was operating the rig, Sgt. Peter Lau said.

Nevertheless, the protesting truck drivers who own and operate their own rigs vowed to continue demonstrating at the port for the rest of the week. They say motor carrier firms have been underpaying them for diesel fuel.

“No Stopping Anytime” signs are posted along Middle Harbor Road. But on Tuesday the port’s main artery was lined with protesters’ automobiles and some truck cabs.

“Yesterday (Monday) was peaceful,” Lau said. “There were agreements among the officers here that we would let them (the strikers) use their First Amendment rights. However, the port’s traffic was not going to be obstructed and people were not being hurt.”

Now that is all changed.

Police will be there in force for the rest of the week, and will enforce the area’s parking rules, Lau said.

The crowd on Tuesday was highly agitated. At one point, five police officers surrounded and detained a man driving a station wagon, then ordered him to depart.

The crowd then became extremely vocal. Several strikers said police should support them, not oppose them.

Driver Kibraab Weldaad was among those who said the motor carrier firms — which act as brokers between shipping lines and customers — have not been reimbursing drivers for the rising cost of diesel fuel, as stipulated in an agreement struck four years ago.”It costs me $700 to fill up the truck,” he said. “In a week it cost me $1,200 because I only get 7 miles to a gallon.”Jerry Philips, a partner of Impact Transload & Rail, said his firm and the other major motor carrier companies serving the Port of Oakland pay drivers fairly. This week’s unrest was organized, according to him, by truckers from the Central Valley who serve railroad carriers.

Traffic at the port has slowed considerably, Philips said.

“We are at a dead standstill,” he said. “A few drivers managed to get some stuff out before picketers showed up.”

Port officials said they would not know the impact of Tuesday’s disturbance on traffic until today.

By Francine BrevettiOakland Tribune 

Until 20 years ago, marine terminals managed the transport of cargo from ship to shore manually with pencils and clipboards. That is, until Navis, a small, privately held Oakland-based company, introduced software that allows marine terminals to computerize their shipyards.

Since then it has been followed by copycats and competitors.

Acquired by Zebra Technologies, a publicly listed Illinois-based conglomerate in December 2007, Navis can now work in complement with other Zebra companies and provide more flexibility and oomph for its customers, explained general manager John Dillon at its recent annual conference.

Zebra has $1 billion in revenue and is capitalized at $2.5 billion. It specializes in printing systems involved in tracking inventory such as barcodes and RFID tags — those devices that identify merchandise with radio waves. Think of the microchip on your dog.

Dillon emphasized that many of Navis’ solutions complement those of WhereNet and Proveo, which that are now under the same umbrella. While WhereNet has been its competitor in some cases, some companies use both. APL Logistics employs both tools at its terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, according to its Oakland-based spokesman Mike Zampa.

In Oakland, Navis has 200 employees and will add another 50 by the end of the year, Dillon said.

“Navis serves 200 large terminals and are installed in 400 sites in 50 countries,” Dillon said.

Dillon said the world experienced a downturn in container traffic last year and he expected that to continue this year.

“There’s been no effect on our business yet, but we expect to pull back on spending (from customers),” he said. But he expected an increase in exports to be beneficial to Navis and Zebra business.

A privately held company before its acquisition, Navis would not disclose its earnings at that time.

At the end of last year, Navis was apparently deluged with offers from terminal operators, manufacturers, large software companies, aerospace and defense contractors and terminal consortiums.

Wanting to avoid any conflicts of interest or dependence on government contracts, the investors found Zebra not only cash-rich but “a benign public company.”

Article Created: 05/05/2008 06:49:05 PM PDT

Striking truck drivers yell at the working truck drivers on Middle Harbor Road on Tuesday, during…

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VIDEO

• Truckers protest Monday at the port

On a day when Mexicans celebrated their freedom from European oppression — Monday’s Cinco de Mayo — Latin American and Punjabi truck drivers who are independent owners lined up on Middle Harbor Road seeking freedom from poverty.

The drivers, their cars and truck cabs were lined up fender-to-fender outside the Union Pacific rail terminal protesting insufficient support for diesel fuel from the motor carrier companies who are their customers.

Four years ago, the companies that dispatch the drivers to carry cargo agreed to pay them every year 5 percent of their fuel costs above $2 per gallon. But in fact, these protesters claimed most of them were not. Instead they claimed they are shouldering $4.50 per gallon themselves.

“We are paying more than we make,” said a driver who did not want to be named.

About 50 men standing in small groups — divided by the language they spoke — immersed themselves in intense conversation and held signs encouraging one another to “Fight for Your Rights.”

Twenty of the drivers, from the Richard Daniels Transportation Company of Oakland, claim the company has not paid them for the diesel. Drivers for other companies said those motor carriers which use their services recompense them anywhere from 34 cents a gallon to 12 percent of their costs.

Every time a truck passed by with a colleague who was not standing in solidarity with them, the protesters shouted, hooted, whistled and gesticulated their displeasure.

Ajit Singh Gill, an independent contractor who calls himself an organizer of other owner-operated truck drivers, said company owners have not stood up to their end of the bargain.

“They didn’t increase anything,” Gill said. “Some of us have stopped working. We want to work. But we will have to stop because we don’t have that much money.”

Richard Coyle, president of Devine Intermodal of Sacramento, said he was paying his drivers $4.50 per gallon.

Gill reported that truckers en route to Stockton, Lathrop and Sacramento had stopped in sympathy with those at the port of Oakland. No outside confirmation of this could be obtained.

By Francine BrevettiOakland Tribune 

YOU GO to your pharmacy for your prescription drugs, and when you’re looking for alternative remedies, you seek out an herbalist, naturopath or homeopath. But a new holistic pharmacy expanding in the Bay Area combines the best of both those worlds, offering traditional pharmaceuticals and alternative medicines as well as experts capable of dispensing advice on the use of Western, Asian and alternative medicine products.

Barry Perzow, chief executive officer and chairman of the rapidly growing Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy _ eight have opened in the Bay Area inthe last year _ has been in the natural food business for 40 years.

He started with a chain he founded called Capers in Canada.

Several transformations later, he moved to Boulder, Colo., and founded Pharmaca.

“I realized that one segment of the retail industry that has not changed in 40 or 50 years was pharmacies,” he said. “I thought the time had come to start a new model that was ready to adapt to the aging population and changing demographics and lifestyles.”

A 2004 survey by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that 36 percent of U.S. residents over 18 use some form of complementary or alternative medicine — therapies or practices not currently considered part of traditional Western medicine.

In the last year, Pharmaca has opened stores in the Rockridge district of Oakland, as well as Berkeley, Los Gatos, Mill Valley, Monterey, Napa,Novato, San Francisco and Sonoma. It has three stores so far in Southern California, in Irvine, La Jolla, and Pacific Palisades.

Perzow could be on to something. His other main competitor, Elephant Pharm, has only four stores in the Bay Area. Besides its Berkeley base, it has opened stores in Los Altos, San Rafael and Walnut Creek.

Pharmaca boasts a wide array of products, and everyone on staff is a specialist, Perzow said.

“Our staff is made up of professional health care practitioners, from the pharmacists themselves to the naturopathic physicians, nutritionists, herbalists, homeopathic doctors and aestheticians,” Perzow said.

Pharmaca’s naturopathic physician, Dr. Suen Sohn, said she and her colleagues do not diagnose. Their role is to advise on dosages of herbal and mineral supplements and counsel on whether these complement prescription drugs customers are already taking.

“Prescription drugs may deplete nutrients and that customer may have extra needs for supplements,” Sohn said. “Also, people often read something about a herbal product and they come in curious for more information, so we offer guidance.”

She also said that the pharmacy offers the full range of Chinese herbal formulations in capsule form.

Sleeping aids, aromatherapy remedies, Bach flower essences, dietary supplements, lotions and shampoos are among the offerings on the shelves. Many products are formulated to eliminate toxins and stimulate the body’s internal cleansing process to counteract substance abuse, unbalanced diets or exposure to pollution.

The company accepts most major insurance programs for prescription products.

Along with traditional over-the-counter products, the store sells specialized products called professional lines, which are typically offered for sale only in the offices of doctors or alternative medicine practitioners.

Products such as Metagenics, Pure Encapsulation and Thorne are kept in closed glass cases since purchase is based on a practitioner’s advice.

Pharmaca also sells beauty products sold in spas and high-end salons, and Perzow promises its own line of beauty products will be out in June. Much of the store’s products — from greeting cards to Pharmaca’s brand of chocolate — are environmentally friendly and organic. He plans to add expanded selections of organic baby and pet products in the future.

Three Pharmaca stores in the Bay Area, including the one in Rockridge, are partnering with the Teleosis Institute in Berkeley in a pilot program that disposes of unused or expired medications in an environmentally safe way.

Perzow plans to open one store a month throughout the West until the current 20 stores number 100. He is looking at several sites in Sacramento, San Jose, Menlo Park and Danville.

His expansion plans have depended on venture capital. Pharmaca recently received an infusion of $20 million from Highland Capital Partners in Le

xington, Mass., and Physic Ventures in San Francisco.

Tom Stemberg, Highland Capital’s managing general partner, said Pharmaca was an attractive investment because research showed it has “potent customer appeal.” Pharmaca stores had healthy profits and are part of a fast growing market, he said.