Video Shows Unarmed Black Man Kneeling with Hands Up
On March 14, 2020 at about 5:15 pm in front of US Liquors in Berkeley, an African American man was on his knees with empty hands outstretched while five Berkeley Police officers detained and then shot him with a “less-lethal” round. In a video recording of the incident provided to Berkeley Copwatch, the man is seen talking to the officers, one of whom is standing about 12 feet away and pointing a less-lethal weapon directly at him.
At least one witness recorded the precise moment when the officer decided to shoot what appears to have been a rubber bullet directly at the man’s torso. The man collapses in pain and is quickly surrounded and handcuffed by the other four BPD officers on scene. According to another witness, the man was taken away from the scene in an ambulance. Here is the video:
Troubling questions about the incident include:
If the man was on his knees, unarmed and surrounded, is shooting him in this situation misconduct or a crime?
What happened to this man? Was he arrested? Released? Why is it not possible to get information about this incident?
Was the fact that he was on his knees evidence that he was already following officer commands? How did officers justify this shooting in their report?
Where are the records of this incident and when will they be released?
Copwatch has made every effort to provide this video to the unidentified man so that he can use it in his own defense. If members of the public recognize him, please let him know that we can help connect him to additional witnesses.
It is very troubling that our requests to the Berkeley Jail asking for the name of the individual in question were denied. Calls to the Public Defender failed to locate any person or incident meeting this description. The District Attorney provided no assistance other than to suggest that we file a complaint with the Berkeley Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau (which we will not do because we do not believe they should be investigating their own crime). Because the man was taken away in an ambulance, medical professionals will not disclose information about the individual. Our California Public Records Act (CPRA) request to BPD was met with a form letter explaining that CPRA requests will be significantly delayed in Berkeley due to the COVID-19 virus.
Copwatch understands that these are difficult days for everyone and that many local departments are understaffed. However, without publicly available information of who is arrested and on what charges, our city runs a very real risk of “disappearing” people. If there is misconduct, there becomes no possibility of public accountability.
We demand public release of the police report, Use of Force reports, and access to the body camera footage from all officers involved in the incident.
We demand the immediate suspension of all officers involved until all relevant evidence is produced and this incident is thoroughly investigated by Berkeley Copwatch and independent experts.
Copwatch will conduct an independent, People’s Investigation. We will collaborate with credible professionals including Adante Pointer, civil rights attorney with the Offices of John Burris.
In response to the footage, Pointer explained, “We don't know the full picture, but based on what I see, this is someone who has complied, was on his knees and was not a threat. Why would these officers use that type of force? At that range, these munitions can cause serious injury or even death. Berkeley police need to account for this behavior by its officers and an independent investigation of this incident is definitely warranted.”
In response to the coronavirus pandemic and the statewide stay-at-home order that severely restricts the amount of people going to work, BART announced Monday that it will make deep cuts to its service until further notice.
Starting Wednesday, the transit system that once averaged up to 400,000 daily riders will cancel every other train during its weekday hours of operation, which were reduced to 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on March 23.
The new cuts mean that weekday trains will run every 30 minutes, a reduction that BART officials say will still allow for proper social distancing on trains since ridership is now at 7 percent of normal.
Weekend service remains unchanged for now, with the system operating from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
"With so many unknowns about the length of the shelter in place orders and the timing of recovery, we must take steps to protect the operating budget while also protecting our ability to run service every 30 minutes," BART General Manager Bob Powers said.
The new schedule could save the transit agency as much as $3 million to $7 million every month that it's in effect, according to BART officials.
Budget estimates pin possible budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 restrictions at somewhere between $258 million to $452 million, according to BART officials.
While the federal government has included some money in the recently passed stimulus package, it is not enough to fully reimburse the system for its losses.
With the reduction in the number of trains moving through the system, BART officials say they are now able to focus more effort on building, repair and maintenance projects.
For personalized trip planning assistance, call BART at (510) 465-2278 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Bonnie Hughes, lonely mother, grandmother and great-grandmother
Monday April 06, 2020 - 04:15:00 PM
As a resident of an old folks home we are just having so much fun. If you think that contemplating your navel is fun.
We cannot leave our rooms, our meals are brought to us, we have to wear masks just to go out in the halls—which of course we are not supposed to do. No more concerts, no more exercising, no more poetry gatherings. Just don’t get together with other people and stay six feet away from them if you should happen upon them.
But we do have our computers—imagine if this were even 5 years ago. Now we have orchestras streaming into our rooms with views of the musicians playing. From the Berkeley Book Fair yesterday poets read to us. And then there is Zoom where I will be watching my young cousin’s orchestra playing in Connecticut on the weekend.
It would be good to see my family in person. It is hard to hug on line—oops! not so close.
The latest developments around the region related to the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, as of Monday morning include:
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will be temporarily eliminating service Wednesday on all but 17 of its most-used bus lines in and around San Francisco as a result of the pandemic.
Contra Costa County is setting up a center this week at San Ramon City Hall, 7000 Bollinger Canyon Road, to accept community donations of protective equipment and supplies for use by health care providers around the county. The center will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.
The annual Artichoke Festival in Monterey has been postponed, but organizers of the 61-year-old nonprofit event are putting together a Drive-up/Drop-off Food Drive on Thursday to benefit the Food Bank for Monterey County.
As of Monday at 9:30 a.m., officials have confirmed the following number of cases in the greater Bay Area region:
Alameda County: 566 cases, 12 deaths (566 cases, 12 deaths at last check Sunday)
Contra Costa County: 386 cases, 6 deaths (386 cases, 6 deaths on Sunday)
Twenty-four residents and three staff members at an Orinda skilled nursing facility have tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, with two of the residents hospitalized, Contra Costa County health officials said Friday afternoon.
Dan Peddycord, Contra Costa County's director of public health, said health officials were called Tuesday to the Orinda Care Center, when two residents showed symptoms of coronavirus. All residents and staff were then tested, with the original two residents, 22 other residents and three staffers testing positive.
Fourteen other residents and staff tested negative, county Health Official Dr. Chris Farnitano said. A few tests, he said, remained outstanding Friday afternoon, with those results expected later Friday.
Except for the two who were hospitalized, the Orinda care facility residents remain at that center, Farnitano said, one or two per patient room. Some show symptoms, he said, and others do not. The three staffers were told to isolate at home for 14 days.
Farnitano said it's possible these staffers could return to work after 14 days, specifically to take care of patients who have tested positive.
The conditions of the two hospitalized seniors were not available Friday afternoon.
Farnitano said health officials are in the early stages of investigations at "more than one" skilled nursing facility in Contra Costa County, but that it's too soon to know whether there are any other outbreaks in facilities populated mostly by seniors.
Because seniors are among those at greatest risk of becoming ill and dying from coronavirus, Peddycord described skilled-nursing facilities as "sensitive settings." And Farnitano said it isn't a surprise that an outbreak would happen at such a facility.
"We've been preparing for this unfortunate situation for some time," Farnitano said. "We're all worried, and we're especially worried about our seniors." County staff has been offering training for workers at the Orinda facilities and others in proper distancing and best use of personal protective equipment.
Also on Friday, Farnitano and others said county officials now "strongly recommend" people wear cloth masks when going shopping or anywhere else where people gather, even with the proper six-foot "social distancing."
The best way to not spread COVID-19, they said, is to stay home as much as possible, and to stay as far away from people as possible when not at home.
The City of Berkeley’s Health Officer, along with health officials across the region and state, advises everyone to cover their nose and mouth with cloth when outside their homes for the protection of those around them.
Many people infected with COVID-19 have mild or no symptoms. But they can still spread it others, even if they don’t know they’re sick. Covering your face with cloth reduces the chance that you will unknowingly infect someone else.
Face coverings should cover your nose and mouth, and can be improvised from bandanas, t-shirts, or other cloth around your home. Wash your face covering between uses. Preserve the supply of N-95 and other medical grade masks for health care workers and first responders.
Face coverings are not a substitute for staying home except for essential activities, keeping six feet away from others for the few tasks that require leaving your home, and washing your hands often with soap and water.
Twenty-four residents and three staff members at an Orinda skilled nursing facility have tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, with two of the residents hospitalized, Contra Costa County health officials said Friday afternoon.
A University of California at Berkeley public health expert said that there are some hopeful signs in the fight to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic but it probably won't be completely controlled until a vaccine for it is developed.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Friday responded to calls from supervisors and housing activists that the city house all of its 8,000 homeless residents in hotel rooms, in the wake of a confirmed novel coronavirus case at a homeless shelter.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office said that deputies will be enforcing the county's new shelter-in-place order and urged residents against congregating at local beaches and parks.
While the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to strangle the economy, the Port of Oakland reported Friday that shipping schedules have "stabilized" after a small reduction in voyages.
Alhambra High School in Martinez will no longer be considered as an "alternate care site" for treatment of some patients with the COVID-19 coronavirus, the Martinez schools superintendent said.
As of Saturday at 9:30 a.m., officials have confirmed the following number of cases in the greater Bay Area region:
Here we are again, week 3 or is it 5 or 35 or 53 of lockdown, and the president of the United States of America is still crazy as a hoot owl. A friend in The East called me in some alarm yesterday, because she’d just watched her first Trump daily press conference, and she noticed that his discourse wandered wildly all over the place to no particular point. Well, yes.
Myself, I’ve already seen too many of them, so I hadn’t watched this one. After she called I dutifully looked on YouTube for the recording, just to see how much had changed, and I realized that I couldn’t distinguish among the available presidential press conferences except by the color of Trump’s ugly crotch-skimming ties.
Here in limbo facts of all kinds have started to drift. Thanks to Zoom and its competitors I’ve been able to chat with seldom-seen friends and experience all kinds of interesting information dumps, but I can’t necessarily remember what day of the week it is.
And I’m not alone in that. The online New York Times informed us today that Charles Blow would be Twittering on Wednesday, April 7. Well, no.
I now know a whole lot more about immunology than I’d ever hoped to, thanks to a couple of really excellent programs presented online last week by Caltech and UCSF. Folks, we’re in deep trouble, but you knew that, didn’t you?
It looks like my cohort might be expected, if we’re lucky, to spend all of our remaining golden years at home under wraps, kind of like a Faberge egg in a Czarist palace, as the world waits for a vaccine or at least a reliable antibody test. Not much fun really, so let’s talk about something completely different instead.
In the blink of an eye, we’ve gone from offering bonuses to developers for including density to density as the enemy. Here’s a good article on the changes which might be in store for cities like Berkeley with the new distrust of density for density’s sake: The Geography of Coronavirus by Richard Florida.
Being stuck at my desk with only the internet for diversion allowed me to take part in the online version of another conference I might never have attended otherwise.
The statewide advocacy group Livable California invited participants in a Saturday Zoom event to “chat with urban planner Peter Calthorpe, a leading density advocate who stunned Silicon Valley this year by slamming SB 50’s attempted upzoning of residential areas.
“Amidst COVID-19 turmoil, Peter will discuss why the legislature should end its divisive fixation on upzoning our residential neighborhoods. He’ll discuss focusing future housing in commercial corridors.”
I’d been familiar with Calthorpe’s work since he was one of the original advocates of what was then called the New Urbanism as well as an early advocate of Smart Growth. Transit-Oriented Development is one of his signature coinages. His Berkeley-based planning design firm is world renowned, with considerable work in China.
For some years he’s been a resident of Berkeley’s Claremont district, an original transit oriented development as one of the turn of the 20th century “streetcar suburbs”, though the streetcars are long gone. Years ago I attended some sort of political fundraiser in the garden of his lovely home.
All of these buzz-worded trends added up to one core assertion: We can have it all with the right planning. Developers can continue to amass fat profits without causing too much environmental damage. There’s no limit to economic growth, even in the Bay Area.
Before the big bang of COVID-19, groups like Livable California had already begun to suggest that California’s purported housing crisis might be caused by too many jobs, not just too little housing production. Peter Calthorpe has always been a Growth guy, albeit Smart, so the contentious world of land use advocates was shaken when he denounced what we might call Wienerism. That’s the endless push to wrest control of land use from local governments and put it under state control.
San Francisco Senator Scott Wiener started it all. He has been aided and abetted by a coterie of state legislators who get major campaign funding from the development industry lobby, including Berkeley’s own representatives, State Senator Nancy Skinner and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks.
Last year’s AB50, his latest attempt, went down to defeat as did some predecessors, but there are several more in the hopper for this year. One of them has Ms. Wicks’ fingerprints all over it.
Calthorpe’s informal presentation, complete with attractive power point illustrations and charts, sketched out his alternative to the Wiener-Skinner-Wicks ideology of mandating multiple unit developments in most of California’s “single family” neighborhoods, facilitated by drastic upzoning. His drawing board was El Camino Real, the wide and long drag that runs six lanes and more the length of the Peninsula where he grew up.
His scheme repopulated a string of one-story strip malls and parking lots with a charming-appearing combination of 4-6 story apartment buildings, ground floor shops and offices. mature trees, park benches and the obligatory bicycle lanes.
The most interesting innovation was presented as a mass alternative to private vehicles, “Autonomous Rapid Transit”. This is self-driving electric vans which move speedily through dedicated lanes but also go off route to deliver passengers directly to destinations. But will we want to share any small compartments with strangers after 2020?
In Saturday’s conference Calthorpe suggested that all of California’s current housing needs could be met by rebuilding the numerous similar strips which exist throughout California as he envisions. Will it work?
We’ve got a brave new world in front of us post-COVID, and what the goals of planning will be is not clear. Iconic contemporary concepts like urbanism, density and public transit might be challenged after the necessity of mandated physical separation under the odd name of Social Distancing.
Now usage of mass transit is dominated by people of color who work in the service industries. If crowded BART cars will be considered toxic for the next 18 months, more service workers will prefer to drive in from Tracy in their funky old cars. Mass transit might lose its appeal, along with increased urban density
As the excellent Charles Blow points out in today’s New York Times, social distancing is a privilege for those of us who have comfortable homes to work from when offices are closed, and pleasant—yes—back yards to sit in when the parks are closed, or perhaps balconies on apartments where residents can grow some tomatoes if they can't go to the beach.
Bruce Brugman, my old boss at the San Francisco Bay Guardian in the 70s and 80s, used to fulminate against two main villains, PG&E and the Manhattanization of San Francisco, for which he was roundly mocked by subsequent post-millenial generations. He’s been proved right, in spades, on the former topic, and insofar as he’s been able to slow down the Manhattanization of the Bay Area in the last half-century he’ll probably turn out to have been prematurely right on that one too.
Berkeley sometimes copy-cats San Francisco on policies related to homelessness. Of course, the local copies turn out to be something even worse than San Francisco's, given our relatively smaller resources. The Pathways project is an example. It is probably useful, therefore, to keep an eye on the atrocities taking place in San Francisco to anticipate what our own Mayor and City Council might do next.
The pandemic presents the state, at all levels, opportunity to adopt newly brutal and murderous policies expressing its tendency to declare this or that segment of society an enemy of society to be purged. Why the state has such tendencies is an important question but a large one that I won't take up here. We can simply observe this tendency, before and during the pandemic, in contemporary examples such as the mass internment of immigrants, the purposeful refusal to provide basic sanitation (or release) to prisoners, and the ongoing property confiscations and brutal evictions known as "sweeps". We see it also in the numerous expressions of white supremacy in the actions of the security state and the policies of the federal government. We see it in the City's persistent failure to pick up garbage from, or adequately maintain, sanitation facilities for encampments.
Does this tendency towards brutality merely resemble the early stages of Nazism in historic Germany? Or is a similar dynamic now actually unfolding? In either case, how do we stop it?
The pandemic raises the specter of a seemingly inevitable spread of the disease to, through, and from unhoused people and encampments. In reaction to this public health concern, Mayor Breed has led the establishment of a new emergency mass shelter in San Francisco. Accompanying this essay is a picture of what it looks like inside.
Would you stay there? Could you in good conscience recommend to an unhoused person who seeks safety from the disease to stay there? To me, and I don't use the phrase lightly, that is a death camp: an environment ripe for the spread of a deadly disease among a particularly vulnerable population.
And we also know that, in the past, the creation of new emergency shelters - no matter how inadequate, has been used as a quasi-legal excuse for sweeping encampments.
It is not hard to imagine that we are but a hop, skip, and a jump from compelling people into "shelters" like in that picture, either with the force of law or by making entry a mandatory condition of access to vital services.
We also know from the comments section on Berkeleyside that at least a loud subset of Berkeley residents would cheer the creation of more or less compulsory segregation of unhoused persons. Our Mayor would no doubt hear some "It's about time!" and "Attaboy!".
And meanwhile, in spite of years of outcry, here in Berkeley, our Council and City Manager have failed to establish and adequately maintain the most basic public personal sanitation facilities, safe encampments, or an adequate supply of even minimal shelter. To this day, the foot-dragging continues.
Now is the time to push back and use our collective muscle to create alternatives. None of knows for certain how long the quarantine will last but that it would stretch well into June is hardly implausible. School districts, colleges, and universities are even preparing for the possibility that their campuses will not be able to re-open in the fall. We can all hope for the best but we should prepare for the all-to-imminent possibility some severe form of quarantine will persist into the fall, at least (including into the national election).
Here are some suggestions for what to demand of our public officials, although I am sure other residents of conscience and action have many practical, achievable suggestions to add to the list:
* Demand money and permission from the University of California, Berkeley, to provide round the clock maintenance and stocking of the bathrooms in People's Park, which are currently poorly maintained, inadequately stocked, and locked at night. The University has recently made small improvements in this area but not enough. Community non-profits and activists can take up the work on their own given financial support for supplies, including personal protective equipment, and funds for modest wages.
* Similarly fund and open public shower facilities. Expand public laundry facilities.
* Begin collecting garbage from all encampments, initiating legal action as appropriate against Caltrans.
* Offer funds for water, food, protective equipment, and volunteer stipends to organizations such as Food Not Bombs and the Berkeley Food and Housing Project for delivery to all encampments.
* Establish size-limited safer encampments on shuttered City basketball courts and tennis courts.
* Request permission from BART to use portions of North Berkeley and Ashby station parking lots for size-limited, safer encampments. If necessary, remind BART of the high value to them of the City of Berkeley's continued good will towards BART, particularly as regards the future of those lots.
* Use the Berkeley Way parking lot, across from the downtown fire station, for the FEMA trailers provided for unhoused persons in need of medical isolation.
* Issue a "call for capacities" for various foreseeable crises, as the quarantine drags on. For example, food insecurity for unhoused and housed persons is likely to worsen. Which community organizations (formal non-profits and otherwise) can help, if provided financial, legal, and logistical assistance? Ask groups to self-identify and declare: What can they do and how would they do it? What would they need? What are their current activities and plan for quickly taking up these new activities, given the support?
It's an emergency and a socially fraught situation. Let's act more like that.
Using the same Joe Biden Ukraine playbook, President Trump is demanding Democratic governors pledge their unconditional loyalty in exchange for Federal help during the Coronavirus pandemic.
If the governors voice their true feelings regarding his gross incompetence Trump withholds or delays vital Federal aid. He is hoping to pressure desperate governors sing his praises which will enhance his re-election prospects. He bristles with rage when reporters pose tough questions at his Presidential meetings demanding they “be nice”. There are a lot of parallels between the president’s current behavior and during the whole Ukraine scandal,” said Representative Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who led Trump’s impeachment prosecution. Certainly the most apparent is his demand that the governors basically pay fealty to him, praise him, or they’ll suffer consequences.”
He instructed his lackey, Vice-President Mike Pence to screen calls from governors responding only to those who are speak gushingly over his handling of the Coronavirus crisis.
The governor of Washington and Michigan were the latest additions to Trump’s enemy list. ‘Mike, don’t call the governor of Washington. You’re wasting your time with him. Don’t call the woman in Michigan,’” he said, adding, “If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.”
Perhaps, the President should follow the advice of Dan Patrick, the lieutenant governor of Texas, who urged grandparents like Trump to sacrifice their lives to jump start the sputtering economy. I am sure Mike Pence would follow his boss much like Thelma and Louise driving off a cliff.
Thomas Lord, Berkeley District 2 Housing Advisory Commissioner (for identification purposes)
Friday April 03, 2020 - 04:13:00 PM
According to the Mayor, Berkeley will soon take possession of 10 FEMA residential trailers for use as isolation shelter for unhoused people in need of medical isolation. The City has not yet decided where to place them. I sent the following advice to City Council, Mayor, City Manager, and Councilmember Davila by name (my appointing member for the Housing Advisory Commission and Joint Subcommittee for the Implementation of State Housing Law -- also my excellent representative on City Council).
Regarding the placement of FEMA trailers: I suggest that you place the trailers on the Berkeley Way parking lot, across the street from the fire/EMT station.
While this would prevent progress on the Berkeley Way housing project, the scale and speed of economic and supply chain disruption now unfolding makes it very unlikely the construction project could proceed on-budget and even close to on-schedule. The project may very well already have become no longer viable. The certainty of a good place for the trailers should trump the uncertainty and dubiousness of the construction project.
In the event that BRIDGE is forced to back out, there is still a saving grace: it would free up both City of Berkeley funds and County A1 funds earmarked for the City of Berkeley. Those funds could then be applied to faster, cheaper, better ways to house people in the new reality we are entering.
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It's disconcerting to be in a novel situation where we have no control over what's going to happen next. That's where we find ourselves in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. In California, we've been sheltering-in-place for two weeks and Governor Newsom indicates that it will continue "for as long as it takes." Here's my prediction of how this is going to play out.
1.Shelter-in-Place isn't going to end soon. Life won't return to "normal" until there is a Covid-19 vaccine. Until there is a reliable, widely-available vaccine, most of us are going to have to live sequestered lives. Experts, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, tell us we won't have a vaccine for at least a year. (https://www.newsweek.com/coronavirus-vaccine-treatment-antiviral-speed-covid-19-1491292) So be prepared to hunker down for an extended period.
In Sonoma County, where I live, county officials have just received the results of a detailed analysis of how effective our "shelter-in-place" program has been. (https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/10871235-181/during-a-surge-1500-sonoma) The good news is that it seems to have made a big difference in the number of cases here (95). The bad news is that the number of Covid-19 infections will not peak until June and then begin a gradual decline that will stretch out for 300 days -- unless we have a vaccine.
2. The United States is going to be segmented into quarantine zones. We can already see this with the news that states adjacent to New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are restricting travel from the three states -- that have about 50 percent of the U.S. Coronavirus cases.
Meanwhile, "shelter-in-place" orders vary from state to state. That's a particular problem in the South where the number of Coronavirus cases is exploding, particularly in Florida and Louisiana. That suggests that certain areas of the United States will soon become so toxic that travel restrictions will be issued. BB's prediction: There will be four quarantine zones: the northeast; the south --- including Texas; the center -- Nebraska to Ohio; and the west -- Colorado to California.
3. Some states will "recover" from the Coronavirus crisis before others do. That doesn't mean their shelter-in-place programmed will be over. It means that these states have "flattened the curve;" for example, Washington started social distancing on March 11 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/01/lockdown-coronavirus-california-data/) and for the past week, the number of new Covid-19 cases has diminished. Here in California, there's a growing consensus that we have "flattened the curve," particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area where we began aggressive social distancing on March 14.
As noted above, the Sonoma County shelter-in-place program appears to be effective but will continue for the foreseeable future -- until there's a vaccine. Before that happens, we'll hit several important milestones.
Milestone I: In a major area, there are no new cases. Obviously, it will be a good sign if there are no Coronavirus cases in your area. Sonoma County forecasts this will happen around the end of 2020. That won't mean that we can abandon "shelter-in-place" but it will mean that there will be a heartening reduction in demand for hospital facilities; and we can adopt other interventions, such as aggressive contact tracing.
Milestone II: There's a test available that permits us to identify individuals who are immune to the Coronavirus. Several companies are working on an antibodies test: "The tests are designed to detect whether a person has developed antibodies to the COVID-19 virus, indicating that they were at one time a carrier and may have built up immunity." (https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-germany-covid-19-immunity-certificates-testing-social-distancing-lockdown-2020-3 ) "Gerard Krause, the [German] epidemiologist leading the project, [said] that people who are immune 'could be given a type of vaccination card that, for example, allows them to be exempted from restrictions on their work.'"
Here in the Sonoma County, once we get antibodies tests, we'll first use them to test those on the frontlines of the pandemic: healthcare professionals and first responders. Then we'll test other critical professionals, such as employees at nursing homes and community health centers.
Milestone III: Creation of Safe Zones. On Monday, Donald Trump announced that 1 million citizens had been tested for Covid-19. Given that the U.S. population is 330.5 million, that means that .3 percent of residents have been tested. Trump said that tests were being generated at the rate of 100,000 per day. (https://www.wired.com/story/video-coronavirus-testing-in-the-us/ ) That's woefully inadequate. Even if the U.S. tested 1 million citizens per day, it would take more than 11 months to test us all. (On March 29, the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/us/testing-coronavirus-pandemic.html ) detailed the U.S. decision errors that led to this testing crisis.)
If you are in an area where there are few or no Covid-19 patients, you may wonder why folks in your area need to be tested and why you have to shelter-in-place. The answer is that a large percentage of those infected with the Coronavirus are not symptomatic. "As many as 25 percent of people infected with the new coronavirus may not show symptoms, the director of the [Federal] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns." (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/health/coronavirus-asymptomatic-transmission.html) You, and everyone in your area, needs to be tested so you know whether you are truly safe.
Unless there's a dramatic increase in the rate of testing, there's no alternative but to "shelter-in-place." In the meantime, we can use the test kits we receive to test potential Covid-19 cases and to create safe zones.
Sonoma County has 95 Coronavirus cases. We've tested 1915 individuals in a county of 500,000 residents (.38 percent) -- our testing has been delayed by the unavailability of swabs. As we receive more intact test kits, the logical way to use them -- beyond testing suspected Coronavirus patients -- is to first test healthcare providers, and their families, and then emergency responders, and their families. At a certain volume of test availability, we will be able to create safe zones; for example, determine that a cluster of nursing homes is Covid-19 free.
How long will we shelter in place? Months. Probably as long as it takes to develop and deploy a Covid-19 vaccine.
Bob Burnett is a Bay Area writer and activist. He can be reached at bburnett@sonic.net
Many people exert their minds in order to get things accomplished--things they feel they must do. Some, after a day's work, will hit the alcohol to get a buzz and let off some steam. However, most mentally ill people should not drink any alcohol, because it has a bad, in fact, sometimes deadly interaction with psychiatric medication. And, relying on booze to relax is probably not the best way to go.
I sometimes rest my mind by creating happy thoughts and writing them down. Or, I let my mind go into a fantasy of being a millionaire, or perhaps the President. In real life, if I became President, I'd resign before completing the first day. That is, assuming I even got as far as the inauguration--doubtful. (But that scenario could be a fantasy as well.)
So, I have a vivid fantasy life. That's my current form of getting mental rest. If I played ping-pong with someone, or if I hiked at a reservoir, it'd be better.
I don't remember what year it was or how old I was when an art instructor said that the schools were cutting all the programs that could relax the minds of students. That visit seems timeless, because it stands out, partly in how I do not remember what age I was, whether I was in Southern California or the Bay Area, or any of the other circumstances of my life at the time.
Relaxing the mind has value. It doesn't mix well with a crisis. Usually, if we feel threatened by something or someone, it will not be possible to rest the mind. Yet, I think about this, and I think that my mind finds little ways to play games with itself that give some relief.
The human psyche has self-protection mechanisms. Sometimes these mechanisms, when they are left over from a situation that no longer exists, become a problem of their own.
If a person has a psychotic type illness, psychotic symptoms could be seen as a method of escape from facing hard difficulties. That could be one reason why many psychotic people find it so difficult to let go of their delusions. When we do go into psychosis as escapism, it ruins consciousness and makes us go farther into "decompensation." (I hate that word even though I'm using it.)
As a teen and young adult, I was in the habit of doodling. I'd come up with some very bizarre doodles, usually on notebook paper with pen and ink. It was a better form of art than group directed arts and crafts in the context of mental health treatment.
With current world events, the need to sometimes relax the mind is more applicable now than it ever was. You can't work frantically 24/7 for months at a time (such as if you are a nurse on the front lines) and expect to come out of that mentally intact. And if you are a Coronavirus patient, for example, if you had a severe case that necessitated a ventilator, the level of suffering is unfathomable to me. To rehabilitate people whose psyche's will inevitably become damaged by either of the above, people will probably need to do a lot of fun, distracting, simple things.
This is equivalent to WWIII, except that the enemy is not a country, it is a pathogen. And, just as in other world wars, the front-line veterans who take the brunt of the fight are the bravest, and the most likely to become a casualty. If we can rid ourselves of this horrible disease, the aftermath will be like the aftermath of other wars--people and economies will need to recover over a long period of time.
And, part of this recovery needs to be relaxing the mind, with a hike around a reservoir or a game of badminton.
Jack Bragen is author of "Revised Short Science Fiction Collection of Jack Bragen." He lives in Martinez.
Sometime around 12:30 PM on March 25, the deafening roar of a jet engine pummeled neighborhoods in Berkeley and Albany, sending residents to their windows, causing joggers to stop in their trackshoes, and prompting cars to swing to the curbs as alarmed drivers jumped from their vehicles to search the sky for the source of the commotion. Most people were baffled to discover that—while the eerily prolonged noise was overwhelming and seemed to cover a wide area—there were no immediate signs of any aircraft overhead.
Twitter accounts captured the impact, with some reporting two jets spotted overhead.
Jason wrote: "What just happened in Berkeley? I heard a loud jet-engine-style sound that was very loud and sounded nearby."
Stacy asked: "Were those really fighter jets flying low in #Berkeley just now?"
Mephisto wrote: "Just got buzzed by tandem fighter jets in #berkeley. Probably F-16s but swear they looked like F-15s. Made the ground shake and my heart pound. I guess they're serious about the quarantine."
The Berkeley Police Department had no information on the identity of the aircraft.
This is not the first time Berkeley has been subjected to acoustic assault by Defense Department overflights.
In January 2015, a US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet from the Naval Air Station in Lemoore, California, terrorized residents during a low-altitude fly-over. One resident complained it "scared the bejeezus out of me. And my cat fell off his perch on the neighbor's porch."
Other reports described the noise as "crazy loud," "15 seconds of literally earthshaking jet roar," where "faces went pale in the office. Outside everyone was looking up, but I couldn't see anything."
When the jet fighter roared over Berkeley High School and Longfellow, the younger children "began screaming out of fear" and one parent went home thinking: "So this is what chidren in Iraq and Afghanistan hear when US fighter planes zoom in to drop bombs on them."
People were not placated by the discovery that the pilot was engaged in a family prank.
A UC student who identified himself as "The Culprit" sent an email explaining that his brother, a Navy pilot, was "moving to Texas at the end of the week so he thought it would be cool to fly over campus while I was there before he left."
There was another frightening fly-over on September 6, 2017 when a F-16 Fighting Falcon based at Naval Air Station Fallon in Reno, Nevada screamed over the East Bay alarming residents in Walnut Creek, Danville and across Contra Costa County. This time the plane was visible. It was flying so low that the air-to-air missiles attached to its wings were clearly visible. "Fighter jet just flew overhead," one shaken resident reported. "Changing pants when I get the chance."
Joe Biden's Pandemic Panaceas
In a time of existential angst, we need selfless leadership, wise counsel, and swift action. But this (thanks to COVID-chronicler Will Thomas) is what we get from the lips of the Democratic front-runner:
1. “We have to depend on what the president’s going to do right now.”
2. “First of all, wait to the cases before anything happens.”
3. “The whole idea is he’s got to get in place things we’re shortages of.”
It's a Bright New World
The world may be dangerously unsafe for humans these days but there's a bright side . . . outside. The skies are bluer than they've been in ages. Without heedless humans mucking up the environment, air and water pollution is down dramatically.
One thing to watch: California's still in a drought condition so, if we want to have enough water to fight the next round of seasonal wildfires, we might want to turn off the taps when doing the 20-second hand-wash. Just turn the tap on at the start and the finish. And don't forget to slather you face with an occasional HandyWipe.
One other thing to watch: It's amazing to see so few cars on our streets. It's also amazing to see how many people are out in the neighborhoods jogging! (Well, we do know that sunlight is a great disinfectant.)
Comic Strip Contagion
The COVID-19 infection continues to spread. It has now infested the SF Chronicle's comicstrips. The first mention cropped up in the fourth week of March in Darrin Bell's Candorville strip. A week later, on March 30, the contagion spread exponentially, with coronavirus references breaking out in four adjacent strips—Candorville, Non Sequitur, Lio, and Mutts.
The grimmest appearance came in Mark Tatulli's Lio, which depicted a beachball-sized coronavirus knocking on Lio's door while the strip's demented moppet (outfitted in a mask and hazmat suit) eagerly awaits inside.
Patrick McDonnell's Mutts was a bit more somber: A cat emerges from a door to greet the sunrise, immediately falls into a funk, and issues a depressing verdict: "Another Monday mourning."
Is the Census Rigged?
The Census Bureau, in its campaign to solicit critical input from millions of citizens and residents, appears to be skewing the results by favoring the well-connected. This isn't about influence-peddling. It's about pandering to people with wi-fi and cable.
The Census Bureau recently mailed postcards warning that anyone who fails to "save taxpayer money by responding online" can expect that "a Census Bureau interviewer may visit you."
Almost as an afterthought, the postcard notes, the CB can "mail . . . a paper questionnaire." But instead of simply sending a paper questionnaire in the first place, the CB raises the specter of Census agents banging on your door.
Is this policy of disadvantaging people without computers or Internet access intended to diminish the number of poorer Americans who will be counted in the 2020 Census? Can't help but wonder.
Overcoming Ad-versity
When campaigning for public office, its good to have an inspiring agenda and a good surname—preferably one that's short, punchy, and looks good on a campaign sign. So it's a marvel to discover the Mayor of Atlanta, a fierce progressive who faced up to the COVID-19 crisis by insisting on a stay-at-home shutdown of her Southern capital and ordering a special $500 monthly salary boost to the city's front-line workers.
And here's the proof of her ability to overcome: Her father was a rock pioneer named Major Lance so when she married a fellow named Derek Bottoms, the mother-of-four became none other than "Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms."
In a profession where candidate's asses are always on the line, one can only imagine the wisecracks that Mayor Lance Bottoms has had to endure. On the plus side, with a surname like that, it's a good bet that she's found a way to prod her fellow pols to get off their . . . duffs.
Petition: End Live Coverage of Trump’s Daily COVID-19 Briefings
Jon Favreau, co-host of Pod Save America and former Obama speechwriter, has a favor to ask. "Sorry to invade your inbox, but I have a pretty important ask," Favreau's email begins. "Donald Trump is lying on television again—but this time, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, where his lies could literally kill people."
Favreau is promoting a MoveOn petition that calls on TV news directors to stop live-casting Trump's dangerous, lie-filled briefings. "In typical Trump fashion, he’s using this crisis to boost his poll numbers," Favreau writes. "Yesterday, the President tweeted about the 'ratings' his press conferences are getting on the same day that we learned more than 2,000 Americans have already died from the coronavirus. Trump only cares about Trump. He thinks that higher television ratings lead to higher approval ratings."
The pressure is growing. MSNBC's Chris Hayes has refused to play audios of Trump's briefings calling them a "genuine threat to public health." NPR Seattle says it will not air the briefings at all. "While this is a start," Favreau says, "all the major networks need to get on board. Lives are at stake."
In late March 2020, after Priorities USA Action (a Democratic super PAC) launched another critical TV ad, Trump’s reelection campaign threatened to sue any television stations that aired it. Calling the ad "false, misleading, and deceptive," Trump's lawyers even warned that any TV station that dared to broadcast the ad risked having its Federal broadcasting license revoked.
Political Activism in a COVID-19 World
At the same time COVIC-19 rages across the US, thousands of immigrants are stuck in ICE detention centers, risking disease and death owing to a lack of adequate medical care and proper sanitation.
From April 2-4, the activists with #FreeThemAll marked three days of anti-ICE demonstrations to demand the release of all the detainees "while practicing social distancing and following general CDC guidelines."
So how do you demonstrate when it's no longer safe to gather in crowds? Here's a list of #FreeThemAll's planned actions: • Hang banners or signs on your windows, doors, cars, etc.
• Stand alone outside with signs/banners (at a safe distance of six feet from others)
• Chalk messagers on public sidewalks, jogging paths, other visible areas
CODEPINK's National Resource Guide is chock-full of ways to take political action from the safety of one's home. New tips are added daily. There's a CODEPINK peace-and-love coloring book for the kids, world peace and covid playlists for adults and instructions on how to plant seeds for the spring garden (and, more critically, if the contagion lasts, for the autumn harvest).
Help Farm Workers Left Out of the Federal Aid Package
The United Farm Workers are righteously outraged. On Cesar Chavez’s birthday, March 31, the $3-trillion COVID-19 stimulus package failed to address the needs of farmworkers and their families. While $9.5 billion was handed out to support US farm owners, the UFW says "it's unclear if any of those funds will support farm workers taking risks to put food on our tables." And because at least 50% of farm workers are undocumented, "they won't get the relief payment most other households will." Far from "sheltering-in-place," the farm workers will spend the coming months sweltering-in-place in hot fields, working to feed America with no "time off" to avoid the pandemic.Please take action to help them.
Meanwhile, Santiago Casal, founder of Berkeley's Cesar Chavez Memorial Solar Calendar, observes that "Dolores Huerta’s birthday is coming up on April 10th. Given the Covid-19 crisis, I'm not sure if our proposal to make April 10th Dolores Huerta Day has got any traction for her 90th birthday."
Hopefully, that Day will come. In the meantime, for an eye-popping, online overview of the Chavez-Huerta Memorial Solar Calendar, click here.
Agenda and Rules Committee Special Meeting, 2:30 pm
This meeting will be conducted exclusively through videoconference and teleconference
VIDEOCONFERENCE: https://zoom.us/j/501404950 If you do not wish for your name to appear on the screen, use the drop down menu and click on “rename” and rename yourself to be anonymous use the “raise your hand” and wait to be recognized to comment TELECONFERENCE: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID 501 404 950 to comment press *9 and wait to be recognized, you will hear your phone number when recognized
Agenda planning for April 21 City Council meeting: CONSENT: 1. Adopt Resolution Ratifying COVID-19 Local Emergency, 2. Bid Solicitations and RFP, 3. On-Call Landscape Architectural Services for Capital Improvement Projects, 4. FY 2021 Street Lighting Assessments, 5. Letter to Assemblymember Wicks supporting AB 1851eliminating parking requirements on faith-based properties for density bonus qualifying housing development projects, ACTION: 6. Public Hearing to grant Franchise Agreement Amendment for Electric Bike Share Program with Bay Area Motivate, LLC, a subsidiary of Lyft, 7. Adopt Resolution to upgrade residential and commercial customers to a 100% GHG-Free Electricity Plan (Brilliant 100) and to upgrade Municipal accounts to 100% Renewable (Renewable 100). (Agenda Committee packet 192 pages)
This meeting will be conducted exclusively through videoconference and teleconference
VIDEOCONFERENCE: https://zoom.us/j/682493239 If you do not wish for your name to appear on the screen, use the drop down menu and click on “rename” and rename yourself to be anonymous
TELECONFERENCE: 1-669-900-9128 (listed in agenda as 699-900-9128) Meeting ID 682 493 239 to comment press *9 and wait to be recognized, you will hear your phone number when recognized
Agenda: 2. Public Comment on any matter within PRC jurisdiction, 3. Charter Amendment on establishing a Police Board and Director of Police Accountability on April 14 City Council Agenda, a. Presentation by Deputy City Manager David White, b. consider response, 4. Public Comment, 5. Adjourn
Thursday, April 9, 2020
No City meetings or events found
Friday, April 10, 2020
Virtual Berkeley Town Hall - time not posted - look for notice from Mayor Arreguin for time and details
Saturday, April 11, 2020
No City meetings or events found
Sunday, April 12, 2020
No City meetings or events
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The April 14, 2020 City Council Agenda is available for comment for comment email council@cityofberkeley.info The April 14 City Council Meeting will be conducted by
CONSENT: 1. Contract $93,600 with Sonya Dublin Consulting as external evaluator Tobacco Prevention Program, ends 6/30/2021 2. Contract $104,400 Contingency $38,600 with Lind Marine for removal of derelict and abandoned vessels at Berkeley Marina, 3. Contract add $127,200 total $305,000 with Affordable Painting Services, Inc for additional painting Park Buildings, 4. Contract add $300,000 total $500,000 with Bay Area Tree Specialists for as-needed tree services 5/29/2019 – 5/28/2022, 5. Contract add $204,152 total $375,000 with ERA Construction for concrete repair in parks, 6. Contract $3,491,917 (includes $317,447 contingency) with Ghilotti Construction, Inc for Rose Garden Pergola Reconstruction & Site Improvements, 7. Contract $600,000 with Vol Ten Corporation DBA Delta Charter for bus transportation for Day Camp & Summer Programs 6/1/2020-6/1/2025, 8. Ratify action taken by City Manager during recess to add $250,000 to contract total $2,245,725.99 for rental of Police Dept Substation at 841 Folger/3000 Seventh Street, 9. Add $162,568 total $233,868 with Bigbelly Solar Compacting Trash and Recycling Receptacles term remains 8/1/2018-6/30/2023, 10. 2nd Reading Ronald V. Dellums Fair Chance Access to Housing, 11. Call for Consolidated Nov 3. Election, 12. Approval Minutes, 13. Stephen and Mary Birch Foundation Donation to Animal Shelter, 14. FY 2020 Annual Appropriations $28,565,263 (gross) and $15,378,568 (net) 15. Renewal North Shattuck Business Improvement District, 16. 1601 Oxford Interest Rate Reduction to 1%, 17. Shelter Plus Care Program Renewal Grants, 18. 60-year term Lease Agreement 5/4/2020-12/31/2080 200 Marina Blvd for Doubletree Hotel, Berkeley City contribution $3,000,000 for Marina street improvements, 19. Grant Application $42,000 Surrendered and Abandoned Vessel Exchange, 20. Donation Friends of Marin Circle, 21. Waiver of Annual Marina Berth Fees for Non-profits (Berkeley Racing Canoe Club, Cal Sailing Club, The Pegasus Project, Blue Water Foundation) 22. Contract $39,650,670 (includes 10% contingency, add-alternatives) with Robert E. Boyer Construction, Inc. for Tuolumne Camp, 23. Funding $1,000,000 to EBMUD FY 2020-FY 2024 to control wet weather overflows and bypasses, 24. Vacate sewer easement at 2009 Addison, 25. Contract $2,475,200 (includes 10% contingency) with CF Contracting, Inc for Sacramento Complete Streets, 26. Contract add $300,000 total $450,000 with Clean Harbors, Inc. for Hazardous Waste and extend to 6/30/2022, 27. Contract $4,478,909 with Bay Cities Paving & Grading for Street Rehab FY 2020 Project, 28. Contract add $100,000 total $600,000 with Revel Environmental Manufacturing for on-call Storm Water Maintenance extend to 6/30/2021, 29. Contract up to $240,000 with National Data & Surveying Services for On-call Transportation and Parking Survey Consulting Services, 30. Refer to staff to develop mechanism for more thorough count of homeless persons during 2021 Berkeley Homeless Point-In-Time Count, 31. Appoint Ann Hawkins to Mental Health Commission, 32. Budget Referral $279,000 to Fund Berkeley Youthworks, 33. Pints for Paws Fund raiser – Council discretionary funds, 34. Support SB 54 & AB 1080 CA Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act (only 9% of plastic is recycled, billion tons of plastic are added to the oceans each year), 35. Support SB 1160 Public Utilities undergrounding, ACTION: 36. Public Hearing – General Plan Redesign and Rezone of The Rose Garden Inn at 2740 Telegraph, 2744 Telegraph, 2348 Ward, 37. Public Hearing – Zoning Ordinance Amendment for Family Daycare Homes to comply with Senate Bill 234, 38. Nov 3 Election Ballot Initiative Charter Amendment to establish Police Board and Director of Police Accountability, 39. Ordinance requiring 20% onsite inclusionary units in new rental developments (10 units or more) in Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs), 40. BMC 13.78 add prohibition of additional fees for existing tenancies and lease terminations, INFORMATION REPORTS: 41. Public Health Officer’s Order Directing the Placement of COVID-19 Isolation and Quarantine Facilities on Public Property for Homeless Persons, 42. Strategic Plan Performance Measures, 43. Summary of Aging Services, 44. Pathways STAIR FY-6 month evaluation, 45. Parks, Recreation & Waterfront Dept Capital Improvement Projects Update, 46. Measure T1 Update, 47. Audit Recommendation Status 911 Dispatchers, 48. Public Works Planned Projects for FY 2021, 49. Children, Youth and Recreation Commission FY 2020 Work Plan, 50. Civic Arts Grants, 51. Commemorative Program.
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Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals
1533 Beverly (single family dwelling) 6/2/2020
0 Euclid – Berryman Reservoir TBD
Remanded to ZAB or LPC With 90-Day Deadline
1155-73 Hearst (develop 2 parcels) – referred back to City Council – to be scheduled
Notice of Decision (NOD) With End of Appeal Period
