Public Comment
New: The Berkeley public must participate in defining community benefits
Late-night council meeting is the wrong choice
Based on extensive citizen input, the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) called on the City Council to seek meaningful community input about the types and scope of significant benefits to be required of developers of the three large scale developments allowed in the downtown. In response, the Mayor has scheduled the discussion as a regular City Council item at the end of a very long and controversial council agenda on April 7. This will insure that discussion of the benefits will be truncated and ineffective. This is not the type of community forum we sought when we pressed ZAB to involve the community in the definition of these benefits, given the impact these buildings will have on all of our citizens. We urge members of the City Council to vote to table this item on the April 7 agenda and to sponsor open public forums in which the public is invited to participate in defining community benefits.
