Extra

Berkeley is continually promoting itself as a leader, a city of innovation, ahead of the pack and occasionally it is. On June 12, 2018, Berkeley did declare a Climate Emergency and passed a resolution to be Fossil Fuel Free by 2030. The Declaration even made Fox Business News commentary The problem is follow-through.

Saturday, February 23 at the well-attended “Can Berkeley be a Livable City for All?” forum sponsored by the Berkeley Neighborhood Council, Mayor Jesse Arreguin and Planning Director Timothy Burroughs would lead you to believe there is a communication problem not an action problem. Let’s pull back the curtain.

On Tuesday, February 26, the same day San Francisco Supervisors will vote to put forward their Climate Emergency Resolution, the Berkeley City Council will vote on Mayor Arreguin’s agenda item #22 to retire the Ad Hoc Climate Emergency Subcommittee.

Rather than retiring this important committee, the Mayor should be expanding the mission of the Climate Emergency Ad Hoc Subcommittee to be the center of communicating, informing, educating and engaging our community into action. If communication is the problem, then dissolving the Climate Emergency Subcommittee, which is establishing a network of regional and local climate organizations and community activists, is contrary to addressing the identified “communication problem” with the public—or maybe... community engagement is the problem that doesn’t need to be fixed.