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UPDATE: Both Rob Browning (husband of Councilmember Linda Maio) and Councilmember Jesse Arreguin have informed me that Browning did not actually say nothing at Saturday's Save the Post Office rally, as I report below. Arreguin said in an email: "I don't know if you noticed but Rob Browning was shaking his head when I spoke about R and was heckling me. No different than Joe Wilson." Browning put it this way: "When Jesse Arreguin used the occasion to showcase his support for Measure R (his attempt to undo our Downtown Plan), I addressed Arreguin directly, in a voice loud enough for many to hear, to make it clear that support for the post office is not synonymous with support for Arreguin’s measure." Since I myself wasn't paying attention at that moment, I'm not sure if it's accurate to characterize Browning's interruption as heckling--but he seems to have made his opinions clear. I do think the First Amendment supports a reasonable amount of tasteful heckling, if that's what it was."

So I went to today’s Save the Berkeley Post Office rally, where I saw what are possibly the best, most public spirited people in Berkeley. Unfortunately, there are only about a hundred of them, and almost all of them are over 50. I’m in no position to complain, needless to say, being a good bit over 50 myself, but still.

It is glaringly apparent to me at this juncture that these worthy people have been sucker-punched by the city council majority councilmembers loyal to Mayor Tom Bates, who were distinguished by their absence this morning. I was told by three different people, all of whom I know to be reliable, that the Bates gang had decided not to show up because supporters of Measure R, the downtown zoning initiative, would be present and perhaps allowed to speak. (Linda Maio’s husband Rob Browning did attend, said nothing.)

A couple of speakers told me they consciously omitted mentioning R because they wanted to preserve the shaky coalition with the anti-R councilmembers—fat lot of good it did them, of course. A couple of Measure R supporters, notably the vanishingly small number of feisty under-30s, brought and flaunted their Yes-on-R signs anyhow. This included Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, the guy who first said that we’d need to enact a zoning overlay to protect the public buildings in Berkeley’s Civic Center, including the Post Office.

He was right, of course, so right that even Berkeley’s conservative councilmembers voted to pass the necessary zoning change before the vote on the Measure R initiative could take place. That’s the sucker punch, of course.

The difference between an initiative and a council-passed ordinance is that the latter can be axed by a simple majority vote of council. I know nothing about sports pools, but if someone can explain them to me I’d like open a pool right now on how long it might take the Berkeley City Council to repeal the historic district zoning overlay if Measure R loses.

If Measure R passes, of course, it would buy more time for the effort to save the Post Office. But downtown developers have invested vast sums trying to defeat it, and they might well succeed.

If it goes down, it looks like the only chance to save the Berkeley Post Office, both the structure and the function, is the lawsuit which environmental law ace Antonio Rossmann, whose office is in downtown Berkeley, has agreed to undertake on the city’s behalf. 

It looks very much like the much-touted “negotiations” which were supposedly taking place between Mayor Bates and the Postal Service executives were just a stalling maneuver until the right buyer could be found. 

I wish I could say I was surprised. 

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