The latest from Berkeley's watercolor- painting YIMBY Alfred Twu?

Remove the woodlands of Tilden Park and lease the land for housing.

He's joined by by Berkeley YIMBY Diego Aguilar-Canabal who is Berkeley Councilmember Terry Taplin's legislative aide.

I'm not joking - and neither are they.

Quote: "Moving development away from flammable forests is the right thing to do in most of California. But in the East Bay Hills - an island of hazard surrounded by 2 million people - maybe it's the forest that ought to go.

"While tiny in size, the East Bay Hills are one of the biggest wildfire hazards in the state since it's right next to the city. There's no way the state can afford to buy out all the homes and businesses at risk."

Diego Aguilar-Canabal chimes in to add: "That's right'.

The YIMBYs imagine themselves to be political sophisticates and they do sometimes make outrageous proposals to try to make their actual goal look like a compromise. Either way, you can see how messed up our YIMBY-majority City Council has become.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Alfred Twu is Councilmember Taplin's appointee to the Berkeley Landmark Preservation Commission.] -more-

Where I grew up, May 1 was a celebration of spring with leaving surprise baskets of candy on doorsteps and then running away. I didn’t learn about May 1 as International Worker’s Day until years later after I left that little town in Minnesota. May 1 is also the birthday of a friend who caught COVID-19 in January 2021 and is still struggling with what we call “long haulers syndrome.” An attendant for her daughter went partying over New Years and brought it in.

I am sharing the story of my friend as the COVID-19 pandemic is not over even as the incidence of new cases in the US is dropping and California is looking good. For some like my friend COVID may never be over. Please do all you can to persuade unvaccinated 16 year olds and older in your circle of friends to get their COVID-19 vaccines and complete the two shot regimen.

The week of meetings started with the Land Use Policy Committee, which had one item on TOPA (Tenants Opportunity to Purchase Act). There were 41 speakers, most of whom opposed TOPA. This is a complete reversal from the last meeting on TOPA, which was flooded with speakers supporting TOPA.

My personal opinion is that even if passed, TOPA won’t do much to change the housing ownership landscape except for a handful of people. Buying a house can be challenging enough for a family or individual. And now, what happens if you put unrelated neighbors joining together to buy a property into the mix? That can get very complicated.

The final outcome of establishing the Council’s Agenda and Rules Committee can be seen in the May 11 Council meeting posted in the Activist’s Calendar. The current M.O. is to move nearly everything to the Consent category or else to turf it to another committee. Councilmember Kesarwani’s recommendation for developing a universal checklist for ADUs was sent to the Land Use Committee, and Councilmember Harrison’s proposal to establish a Pilot Climate Equity Action Fund was sent to the Budget Committee. Mayor Arreguin’s high-sounding resolution committing to what’s called the “C40 race to zero” by 2045 was moved to consent.

When I joined 350 Bay Area in 2012, carbon dioxide at 350 parts per million was still a thing. C02 was 420.54 ppm by April 30, 2021.

Zero emissions by 2045 is just too late. -more-

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available.

You can view it absolutely free of charge by clicking here . You can print it out to give to your friends.

Grace Underpressure has been producing it for many years now, even before the Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time without being paid, and now we'd like you to show your appreciation by using the button below to send her money.

This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! -more-

After a rough year, California is on track to declare "victory" over Covid-19 on June 15th. Nonetheless, the fabric of California society has changed.

In recent months, California has gotten onboard the vaccination train and, as of this writing, more than 38 percent of those over the age of sixteen have been fully vaccinated -- and another 20 percent have had one shot. (California is current vaccinating at the rate of 330,000 doses per day.) At the same time, the number of new COVID-19 cases has fallen, as has the number of Coronavirus-related deaths. The state is now averaging about 1400 cases and 75 deaths a day -- the lowest per capita rates in the continental U.S. We're on track to meet California Governor Gavin Newsom's objectives and "open" the state on June 15th; this means that most businesses will be permitted to reopen, so long as they follow social distancing and mask rules. -more-

When we are depressed or unhappy, or if life doesn't seem to be treating us well, maybe we ought to look at how we're thinking about things. That may sound a bit trite, but sometimes it is applicable, especially when we've taken the medication route as far as it will go.

And maybe we could question the subject matter in the mind. One expert on mental illness believes that the things that go wrong with the human mind are limited, and that the human brain is fairly limited in what it does. Let me explain...

The human mind is like a browser. A browser can bring us content from all parts of the world, can bring us incredible material, can show us unlimited types of subject matter. While some of this inevitably will be garbage, some of it will be produced by greatness. -more-

Walk on the Wildcat Side

We recently set off on a seven-mile, early morning trailwalk through Richmond's Wildcat Canyon—cow moos, wild turkey hoots, and coyote sightings included at no additional cost.

At the end of the trail, we discovered a large placard commemorating the "Anza Expedition of 1776." The signage offered a discomfiting reminder that the world is filled with risk and injury—even in a supposedly blissful "state of Nature." It was the last sentence that reverberates:

"These hills in 1776 were covered with native bunchgrasses and streamside woodlands along canyon bottoms. In his diary, Father Pedro Font often recorded frequent sightings of tule elk and pronghorn antelope. He mentions the 'large deer' (undoubtedly tule elk) whose swiftness allowed them to elude capture by the pursuing soldiers and their horses. Font also recorded sightings of grizzly bears and seeing…'Indians badly scarred by bites and scratches of these animals.'"

May we all suffer no more than the usual allotment of "bites and scratches" as this doddering old world has its way with us. -more-

For our system of government to function properly, we really need two major political parties with competing visions for the future of America. Right now we don't have that as the Republican Party has basically become a cult of personality around former president Donald Trump and those who continue to support the party are its cult enablers. If divisions exist within the Republican party, it is not about issues but about Trump himself.

Consider that the party didn’t bother to adopt, propose, or even write a platform in 2020. All that mattered was affirming Trump. This meant that feral Republican elected officials had to affirm or at least remain silent about Trump’s racism, sexism, nativism, and homophobia, or face political exile. This continues to be the case.

More than one hundred days into the Joe Biden presidency, the GOP continues to embrace, or at least fails to condemn, Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and, contrary to the evidence, continues to insist that Trump, not Joe Biden, won the election. In furtherance of this claim, Trump filed over 50 lawsuits in state and federal courts challenging the election or its outcome, each of which was dismissed.

Then Republicans demanded post-election audits in states where Trump lost; no widespread voter fraud was uncovered. -more-

Worth Noting:

Tuesday – Building Electrification webinar at 6 pm – Getting off natural gas.

Wednesday – Planning Commission at 7 pm, Affordable housing is item 9 on the agenda.

Thursday – Budget and Finance Committee at 1 pm, department presentations continue for FY 2022 budget.

The May 11 City Council agenda is available for review and comment.

Scroll to the end of the calendar for the information for the free virtual screening of the Rights of Nature film Invisible Hand and the Q&A with the directors. The film will be available from May 22 at 4 pm until the Q&A with the directors May 23 at 6 pm. Early registration is recommended.

Sunday, May 2, 2021 - No City meetings or events found

Monday, May 3, 2021 -more-