Public Comment

Circles, Trees, and Responding Without Thinking

Kelly Hammargren
Saturday July 28, 2018 - 01:14:00 PM
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Once again the City of Berkeley is acting in a knee jerk response, in the absence of public input, neighborhood engagement and thoughtful planning. A letter from Andrew Brozyna, Deputy, Public Works Department (510-981-6496) informs “Neighborhood Representative” that trees in circles will be removed, vegetation lowered to 2 1/2 feet and that any sign will be no higher than 3 1/2 feet. Just for reference the stop sign at my nearest corner is 7 feet 5 inches to “ALL WAY” and 10 feet to the top of “STOP.” 

The City has made some sort of settlement behind closed doors: A settlement which we are not supposed to discover over an incident that we are not supposed to know, but yet as residents of Berkeley we will pay for it through our taxes and we will pay for it through the impact to our neighborhoods. 

The City blanket response ignores the fact that different locations need different solutions and guarantees an unsatisfactory outcome further exacerbated through select recipient notifications.
Email, call and then show up Tuesday, July 31, 6:00 pm, City Hall 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way for the open comment period and inform the City:
  • Sustainable / green cities don’t cut down trees precipitously
    • San Francisco and Seattle both encourage tree planting in circles
  • Neighbors some of whom have worked on the circles for decades are a ready resource
  • Replanting needs to support bees, butterflies, birds not a check list
Public engagement can be messy and frustrating, but that is how we get a City that represents all of us