Columns

Despite all the legal scholars saying that the Texas lawsuit was frivolous without merit, I still worried. It was a relief to receive the news that the Supreme Court dismissed the latest bid to overturn the November 3 election. The mere fact that 17 attorneys general and 126 congressional Republicans signed on to the Texas suit should give all of us pause. A closer election could be the end of what is left of this democracy.

On page 352 in Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste, she quotes Taylor Branch, historian of the Civil Rights Movement, “If people were given the choice between Democracy and Whiteness, how many would choose Whiteness?” The answer is staring at us.

On July 14, 2020, the Berkeley City Council passed the Omnibus Motion on Public Safety. This motion was to put into action policing reform in Berkeley. It follows by two years the release of the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) Report of disparate treatment of Blacks in Berkeley.

I fully expected Councilmember Bartlett’s proposal to develop a progressive police academy, called the George Floyd Community Safety Act, to fill the entire City Council Public Safety Committee meeting Monday morning, but the item was withdrawn as too expensive to pursue in this economy. The next item, the Ordinance Regulating Police Acquisition and Use of Controlled Equipment, was continued, with the City Attorney reviewing the ordinance before the next meeting in January, bringing the meeting to a quick end.

The two unscheduled items from previous Councilmember Cheryl Davila were left in abeyance. Her successor Terry Taplin had said prior to the meeting that he did not wish to advance provisions for less lethal weaponry and fire extinguishers for homeless encampments. It is not surprising that dealing with the controversial issues of tear gas, pepper spray, disorientation devices, etc. was left unscheduled, but it is unfortunate that a discussion of providing fire extinguishers is not coming forward. The total acres of land consumed in wildfires (over 4 million acres - 9,279 fires) in California in 2020 was more than double the previous record. This should make everyone receptive to considering all avenues to reduce fire risk. At least Fire Chief Brannigan was invited to the January Safety Committee meeting to provide information on evacuation plans. 

Early on in the Adeline Corridor planning meetings, I must have looked and sounded pretty naïve as an older Black woman took me aside to tell me how things really work in Berkeley. She explained it just a show, there would be lots of meetings asking for input and then they go ahead and do what they always planned. I stopped attending several meetings in after listening to the consultant presentation on how the Adeline Corridor should look like University Avenue in Palo Alto. 

Tuesday evening the Adeline Corridor Specific Plan was on the City Council agenda. Mayor Arreguin led the charge with his motion to discard recommendations from the Planning Commission that were the result of years of community work. 

Councilmember Hahn spoke to the cost of losing community trust, that a plan that took years shouldn’t be changed at the 12th hour; the trade-offs haven’t been studied. Harrison pointed out that the Mayor’s motion would water down the required inclusionary affordable housing. 

The Adeline Corridor is the formerly redlined area which has been the heart of the Black neighborhood and Black owned businesses. Now it is the target of gentrification. There was a substitute motion from Councilmember Ben Bartlett supporting the recommendations from the Planning Commission which gained only three supporters, Hahn, Harrison and Bartlett. 

In the end Harrison was the only councilmember who held to principle. The annotated agenda with the Mayor’s motion does not specify how many additional floors will be permissible and how that works out in the requirements for inclusionary affordable housing, but it is clear that developers and gentrification won the day, even if not every caller for more floors/bigger buildings understood their victory. The North Berkeley Neighborhood Alliance might want to take a lesson from Friends of Adeline. 

In the Tuesday 4 pm Council meeting, the tenant eviction protection emergency ordinance did pass. 

Early Wednesday afternoon my walk partner and I were passed by four police officers on bicycles. We saw them again at the North Berkeley Post Office talking to an older Black gentleman who was Stting While Black on the stone wall near the door. About a half hour later, on our swing back to our homes, when we reached the intersection of McGee and Hearst it was filled with police officers and police vehicles up and down the street, five cruisers and the crime scene van, five “meter maid” traffic vehicles and ten uniformed officers. We arrived well after the accident: A” meter maid” vehicle with a dented front end was sitting by a light post and knocked-over stop sign. 

What added interest to these citizen observation of police presence were the discussions, presentations and exchanges at the Fair and Impartial Policing Working Group on Wednesday and the Budget and Finance Committee on Thursday. 

There was a testy exchange between the mayor and the police chief Wednesday as Chief Greenwood complained about budget cuts, as if the Berkeley Police Department was singled out for budget cuts. Mayor Arreguin responded that because of COVID-19 impacts on City revenue, all City departments were asked to cut 15%. The police department’s budget cut was 12% not 15%. 

On Thursday at the Budget and Finance Committee there was a lengthy presentation complete with charts by David White ending with police department overtime budget requirement of $6,313,890. $5,000,000 is included in the FY 2021 Summary of needs AAO (Annual Appropriations Ordinance). Andrea Pritchett asked the question I had been thinking, “what is the criteria for staffing?” The Mayor asked further questions about staffing. 

Chief Greenwood said the staffing from 11 am to 2 am was 16 beats, 16 officers, plus commanders, supervisors. You can listen to the details in the Policy Committee Audio files for December 10. Councilmember Harrison had a lot to ask and say about Overtime use. With the BPD taking up 45% of the City budget, digging into how the department is managed and staffed can’t happen too soon. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/Policy_Committee__Budget___Finance.aspx 

I have attended only the last two meetings, November 18th and December 9^th, i of the Fair and Impartial Policing Working Group. As the group winds down and finalizes their report, there was a certain amount of frustration besides the exchange over the police department budget. 

Veteran civil rights attorney Jim Chanin stated that, in contrast to BPD, the Oakland Police Department started their own focus groups on disparate treatment. Chanin said, “I see no initiative from the department…there is no buy-in from BPD to look at disparities [why Blacks are stopped more often than Whites and way out of proportion to population].” He went on to describe BPD as stonewalling and obstinate. Later in the meeting he requested that the analysis from George Lippman be included with the report stating that not one shred of paper or report had been received from BPD. The section in the report on Compliance and Accountability remains. 

It is not possible to attend every meeting when a number of them are running simultaneously and others overlap. I missed the Commission on Disability, the Community Environmental Advisory Commission, the Community Health Commission and the Police Review Commission. I did attend the Parks and Waterfront Commission and as usual learned a lot. 

The Parks and Waterfront Department is responsible for the City’s trees, and per department head Scott Ferris, the department is in the process of planting 400 trees. I sure wish we had map of where they are going and what kind of trees we are getting. I’d love to know how they are picked and which birds will be attracted to make their nests in them. 

The other highlight of the meeting was the presentation by Erin Diehm. On the agenda was the 600 Addison research and development project across from Aquatic Park. Erin informed us there are 192 species of birds and that trees next to expanses of glass are actually more dangerous to birds. There is a misconception that bird safe glass isn’t needed when it is blocked by trees, but the opposite is true as the glass reflects the trees making it look like more trees to a bird instead of a wall of glass that they don’t see and fly into. 

I’ll give an update in next week’s edition on the Community for a Cultural Civic Center. The group will meet one more time this month, December 17th and then take a break until January. 

Enough for one sitting. 

I didn’t finish my reading for this week as I had planned so it will be another week with Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi and (ebook-Berkeley) It Was All a Lie by Stuart Stevens. There is so much dense information in Stamped from the Beginning that I am looking for a hard copy. How to Be an Anti-Racist by Kendi worked fine as an audiobook. If you are interested in President Obama’s new book A Promised Land, put in a hold request now. I think I am number 415.