The Editor's Back Fence

1) The guy who identified himself to the Berkeley City Council tonight as some kind of managerish person at the Oxford/Center Starbucks. He thinks putting a very popular Starbucks on the corner of Ashby and Telegraph would turn that intersection into a pedestrian mecca. Uh-huh.

2) Then there's Mayor Bates, who expressed surprise that neighbors report the Alta Bates parking garage full at 8am. "Why,"he said, "when I go there at 10 I can find a space." But wait--doesn't he say he's given up his car, that he's a non-driver? Just sayin'

3) And at the tail end of the meeting, at the eleventh hour, literally, the Mayor's Majority, whom he's suckered into believing that filing an action to get a judge to set the district lines for the November local election will result in his district map triumphing. As Councilmember Arreguin pointed out, the judge will be able to examine ALL the plans submitted for consideration, and will be obliged to pick the one which best follows the charter. And that's not the blatant gerrymander which the M's M. passed.

How much will hiring an outside lawyer to sue the city (yes, that's what they're planning to do!)cost the taxpayers? Plenty, and a lot of citizens will remember that when they're deciding how to vote on the revenue measures the council wants to put on the very same ballot.