Mayor Tom Bates said Friday he has no intention of calling a special election on the referendum that threatens to block implementation of the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance (LPO) approved by the City Council last month. -more-
The consultant who will help improve People’s Park in the coming months will be selected from a list of three finalists at a closed panel interview session on Friday (today). -more-
Yesterday, Jan. 12, 2007, will long be remembered as one of the most ignominious days in the history of UC Berkeley politics. The day after the county court refused to immediately allow the university to send in the chain saws, exactly 40 days after the tree sitters began their protest, and on one of the coldest days of the year with freeze warnings and weather forecast for record or near record cold lows in the 20s and 30s for the coming night, the UCB administration sent in their own police force to remove the ground support for the Memorial Oak Grove tree sitters. -more-
The Warm Pool Committee has received a copy of the final environmental impact report (EIR) commissioned by the Berkeley Unified School District. It consists of the EIR issued in September, copies of responses to that EIR, and the School District’s answer to those responses. Needless to say, their position regarding the warm pool is literally beyond belief. Their attitude is expressed in the following quote: -more-
Kathleen Cha’s brief explanation of ABAG’s (Association of Bay Area Governments) proposal to Bay Area cities, that they must develop new multilevel and multifamily housing (for 634,000 new residents regionally, 4,200 in Berkeley by 2015) [BDP, 1/5/07], is responding to concerns in the pages of the Planet initiated by an earlier article on that subject [12/5/06]. Cha’s growth estimates remain unattributed; she does not suggest what plans for the future they represent. Indeed, ABAG’s webpage projects population increases of a million in the next 20 years, and a Chronicle article [12/15/06] puts it at 2 million. The Chronicle advises us to simply reconcile ourselves to becoming “high density cities.” -more-
Councilmember Wozniak recently removed his appointee, Dean Metzger, from the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB). Since Mr. Wozniak has not publicly thanked Mr. Metzger for his ZAB service, I would like to do so—on behalf of many. In addition, Mr. Metzger has served his community on the Transportation Commission and through his neighborhood association (CENA), Berkeley Alliance of Neighborhood Associations (BANA), and Berkeleyans for a Livable University Environment (BLUE), among others. All these organizations and the city have profited greatly from his intelligence, integrity, and hard work. -more-
When the Democrats obtained a congressional majority in November’s midterm elections, it sent a message to the White House, and to all of America, that people are ready for change. Change in Iraq, change in the power of the presidency, change in foreign policy, and change in the way citizens are treated at home. But, in the throws of such a heated election, at least one important issue was left largely unaddressed—what America’s role should be in quelling the genocide in Darfur. -more-
As I move toward the conclusion of my first year as president of the Downtown Berkeley Association Board, I can look back with satisfaction on a number of partnerships we have formed in recent months which I think have made DBA increasingly influential as a molder of public policy in the downtown. One of the most important, I believe, has been the relationship we have crafted between the DBA and the group known as Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE)—an innovative economic development organization.” -more-
After recently going through my first election cycle as chair of government affairs, I wanted to offer a few thoughts on the Great ’06 Berkeley Political Struggle. I recently finished reading 1776 and John Adams by David McCullough and Founding Brother’s: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph Ellis, and so was able to experience this election cycle in the context of political history. Then, as now, the political bickering and posturing began before and lasted long after the actual votes were counted. There is a major difference however, the bullhorns are much larger today. -more-
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