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Here’s the new normal. It is called hype. Right now, it takes the form of words about an alleged housing crisis. We hear it from "experts" or politicians or corporate lawyers. They speak about “housing needs,” up-zoning single family neighborhoods, and “build build build.”

In the midst of a glut of market rate housing, and hundreds of old housing unit shuttered and empty, to what do these rhetorical expression refer? When these experts use the word "housing," it no longer means "lodging," or "commodity" (as in a rental market). Now, a housing unit exists as an "asset" for distant uncaring real estate financial corporations. Those corporations trade in securities on securities markets, and make their money on an increase in securities prices. When the corporation’s asset value rises, their securities gain in price.

Rented or not, maintained or not, housing now functions as corporate asset. The intermediary form of ownership, between real people and those distant corporations, are the LLC ownerships. They are the purveyor of housing assets to the financial economy. So when a government agency speaks of “9000 units to be built,” forget about that referring to lodging or homes. Think about the capital gains involved.

Today, many housing units are arbitrarily shuttered and vacant. And there are shills crying “housing shortage” in City Council chambers. Today, these shills advocate building more and more market rate housing, to beef up the market rate glut that empty apartments represent (huge apartment buildings stand partially empty because not even the technocrat class can afford the rent). Today, the up-zoning campaigns aim at allowing construction in single family areas. Their hype is that neighborhood racial exclusionism was a result of zoning, and not of bank policy and economic discrimination. They will say anything to enhance building housing. If only it was for the people. 

To top this off, ABAG [Association of Bay Area Governments] wants Bay Area cities to agree to build thousands of market rate housing units over the next 8 years to meet an invented need. In a recent Berkeley neighborhood meeting that was discussing ADUs (add-on units) and the up-zoning racket, a former Berkeley official put it this way: 

“The real driver in all of this is the 9000 units that ABAG says the city must complete in the next 8 years. That decision is appealable. But it can only be appealed by the city, another state organization, or another city. … It can’t be appealed by the people in this city. So we have to convince the City Council that this 9000 units is based on bad data.” 

This former official thinks that will be difficult because today’s city council just wants to build and build. But she falls prey to the same hype. 

1- “ABAG says the city must …” – ABAG does not have the statutory power to tell anyone what they must do. It cannot "decree" for a city. It can only propose and recommend. When it "allocates" to Berkeley a "necessity" (to build 9000 units), it traffics in hype, as part of a proposed need for housing (that’s right; a “proposed need”!!!). 

2- It allocates this housing increase because of a projected population increase, based on “bad data.” Well, the data has to be bad, since there is no such thing as good "data" about the future. Whatever numbers you will come up with will be invented. 

3- “This decision is appealable.” No, it is not a decision. It’s a proposal, a recommendation, an invention. You don’t appeal proposals, you modify them. To call it "appeal" is to use hype. It is to pretend that the proposal already has statutory (legal) status. 

This person, and the city’s Mayor, and the City Council are all intent on convincing the people that this invented number (9000 units) is mandatory. Don’t buy the hype. 

Where does it come from? From the RHNA [Regional Housing Needs Assessment]. The RHNA invents housing needs for the future, and ABAG decides on allocations for each Bay Area city. Berkeley’s share is 9000. The RHNA webpage contains this information, and cites California Code 65584.05, which explains the "appeal" procedure. The tenor of the entire description is that each city must not fail to agree to ABAG’s allocation. 

RHNA’s and ABAG’s estimate of future housing needs are based on computer projections. The term “computer” implies validity of calculation and purity of logic. But the computer isn’t responsible for the result. That responsibility lies with the programmer. 

10 years ago, RHNA said there would be a 30% increase in Berkeley’s population by 2020, based on a computer projection. Berkeley’s population today is roughly what it was 30 years ago (look at the census figures). But based on that "projection," Berkeley has given permits for over 1000 market rate units, and only 72 affordable housing units over the last 10 years. There’s the source of the glut, and of the on-going affordability crisis. 

The result of a market rate glut is misery, and exile from one’s own community. No massive development occurs without people being displaced, and having to leave town to find affordable housing somewhere else. It is a form of hidden oppression, and racism. Why racism? Because people of color have been redlined by banks, and restricted by low wages to areas of low property values. Those are the areas in which developers can buy property cheap, and realize high capital gains when they build on that property. Without special protections, people of color catch it in the neck. 

Can you imagine the corporate securities wealth contained in 9000 housing assets, rented or not? Do you remember the movie, “Ocean’s Eleven.” The movie we are in is called “ABAG’s 9000.” And it’s another murder mystery. People die from exile and exposure to the elements when homeless. 

To drum up support for Berkeley meeting its ABAG "requirement," the Mayor explains that building these units will resolve the housing crisis and get the homeless off the street. He counts on us not putting two and two together. The glut of market rate housing has made the alleged housing crisis worse, and the homeless population has grown. He is spreading the hype that there is a “housing crisis,” in order not to recognize it is an affordability crisis. 

And he won’t even mention (as an elected official) that the Costa-Hawkins Act makes democracy impossible for a city government because the city government can’t represent the majority of its residents, who are renters. The Costa-Hawkins Act guarantees that building owners can raise rents to whatever level they want. It is one source of the affordability crisis. 

In effect, for Berkeley, there is a proposal pretending to be a mandate. It is a proposal for development for which there is no space. There is a state government that makes democracy impossible with respect to housing, and demands that city governments agree to the proposal. And there is a political process to hold a city accountable if it doesn’t fulfill its allocation. It is all false, rhetoric pretending to be about people while providing assets for distant corporations. 

But hype has criminal ramifications. When the Mayor promotes ABAG’s 9000, he is covering up the fact that Berkeley is a charter city. That means it has the autonomy to say no. The state cannot legally tell it what it must do with respect to internal urban mattters, like zoning, or development, or local taxes. What the state can do, if Berkeley chooses not to fulfill its "allocation," is cut off funds granted for social services and purposes. The name for that is "blackmail." In other words, the state’s primary response to the city’s insistence on autonomy (aka electoral representation) would be abject criminality. 

Fight fight fight.

As the news about ABAG’s 9000 spreads, people all over Berkeley respond, “we have to fight this.” Unfortunately, you don’t fight a proposal. You can refuse it; you can expose its flaws and lies and scams. But fighting a proposal is like standing on a street corner shouting “Down with Mark Twain’s novels.” A proposal is just a text, like a novel. Some are more fictional than others. To "fight" ABAG’s 9000, one would end up licking the City Council’s hand and begging “please, do the right thing and represent us.” 

Here’s what “fighting” ABAG’s 9000 would look like. 

If the people chose to fight the state and its “proposed needs,” they would need allies. The main ally would be the city. When the people call on it for solidarity against the state’s proposal, the city would demand support for its own deal with the state. After all, the city doesn’t need ABAG to authorize development. ABAG’s 9000 just gives the city a rationale for up-zoning, further development, displacement of residents, and on-going glut. In other words, the city will get what it wants from the deal, and the people will lose. 

If the people fight the city, and demand that it reject and refuse agreement with ABAG’s 9000, it will be playing into the Mayor’s game. To modify or refuse the allocation, the Mayor would need a fighting opposition with which to negotiate a compromise. The reason for that is that, according to the rules of modification, the city must prove that its modifications will still be in furtherance of the state’s goals. Thus, to fight the city on the allocations will end up in collusion with the city’s desire to modify the allocation’s terms. 

In short, to fight the state, the city will win against the people. To fight the city, the state will win against the city. For the people of Berkeley, it is a lose-lose situation. That is what happens when you fight something that is not real. 

Let’s go over that again. ABAG’s 9000 is presented as a mandate that has no statutory authorization. Rather than honor the city’s autonomy, the state gets autocratic against it, promoting further housing glut. Both the state and the city know there is no space for 9000 units, unless a whole bunch of rent-controlled units are demolished (which would be against the law). So the proposal fails legal credibility. In effect, the only way to make an unreal proposal real, that is, to give it reality, would be by fighting it. It has no other possible source of credence than from opposition. And that is the purpose of its absurdity, to entice people to give it reality on the political battlefield. Ultimately, the city’s purpose will be to increase the housing asset value of the city through development, and thus enrich the real estate financial corporations. The purpose of ABAG’s 9000 is to gain popular support for that through popular opposition. The other effect will be to impoverish those who are displaced by the process. 

So, what should the state do instead of impose absurd ideas that will only benefit the financial economy? It should repeal the Costa-Hawkins Act, and provide subsidies that will transform unrented market rate units into affordable housing units for the benefit of those who need them. 

You want to fight for a better housing deal? Let’s get down to brass tacks. 

1- Get City Council to refuse ABAG’s 9000 outright, totally, in all its forms and modifications, as absurd. 

2- Put the glut to work. If there are thousands of empty apartments in Berkeley, as some people assert (both shuttered old apartments and unrentable new units), open them up for housing the homeless, and for providing affordable housing for those displaced by economic eviction (arbitrary rent increases). Maybe a squatter’s movement will be necessary. 

3- Set "affordability" in rent at 30% of the tenant’s income, maximum. 

4- Build a referendum system – Hold a referendum on each and every proposed development by the neighborhood that will be affected by the project. A referendum is not an election. It can be done locally without official auspices and without statutory power. It would simply be a direct expression, the voice and sentiment of the people. 

5- Initiate a movement to declare the Costa-Hawkins Act unconstitutional, both to allow city regulation of rent levels, and to allow city government to fully represent the majority of its people. 

6- Get rid of the for-profit developers. They have only given us glut. For-profit developers will not build affordable units if they can help it, and the city gives them all the help they need by keeping the mitigation fees low that allow them to buy their way out of including affordable units. We should as a city adopt zoning regulations that will chase them away -- e.g. all developments with more than 4 units must contain 75% affordable units, with a mitigation fee of $200,000 or more. The for-profit developers will run like hell, and the non-profits can be brought in to build affordable housing in conjunction with land trust financing. 

Each of these proposals for demands on the city will act to enhance the principle of democracy. That principle, which we as a society have yet to win, is that those who will be affected by a policy must be the ones who make the policy that will affect them. 

Clearly, for that reason, fighting for any of these demands or social changes would stand in the way of ABAG’s 9000, obstruct it, and render it void. So they should satisfy those obsessed with the idea of fighting against ABAG’s 9000. 

Why is the Costa-Hawkins Act unconstitutional? It permits wanton violation of human rights as provided by the Constitution, which says that “No person shall be deprived of like, liberty, or property without due process of law.” Here are two ways Costa-Hawkins violates that clause. (1) To arbitrarily raise the rent is to deprive a tenant of part of his earnings (property) without due process. (2) To evict a family without their being able to find other housing that they can afford is to threaten their lives through destitution and exposure to the elements. Any lease that grants an owner the right to raise the rent at will, as a contract, becomes a contract under duress during a housing affordability crisis. Hence, it becomes invalid. 

ABAG’s 9000 is not real. It’s a proposal. When it is finally included in a proposed state ordinance, it should already have been exposed as a sham and a scam, a source of asset increment for Blackstone or some other real estate financial corporation. If the only way Berkeley can refuse the proposal is to exit ABAG, than that possibility should be considered.

The Berkeley Public Library Board of Library Trustees will be voting this Wednesday, May 26^th on the FY 2022 tax rate for funding the provision of Library Services. The proposed rate is $0.2402 per sq ft for dwelling units and $0.3632 per sq ft for industrial, commercial and institutional buildings. I calculated that I pay about $270 for library services. With reading at least a book a week and sometimes two, I’m already seeing the return on investment in our local libraries. Out of the 27 books I’ve read since January 1, twenty-five were from the library. 

My last Diary (May 8^th) I ended with a quote from Stuart Stevens and recommendation of three books: It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump by Stuart Stevens, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum and How Democracies Die by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky. I think of these books as the cornerstone for framing how to view the removal of Liz Cheney from her leadership position, the January 6 insurrection, the refusal of Kevin McCarthy to support a commission investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, the rush of voting suppression laws and the vow by Mitch McConnell to block President Biden’s entire agenda. I highly recommend all three. They are all available from Bay Area libraries. If you did not read the May 8^th Activist’s Diary here is the link: https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2021-05-09/article/49179?headline=An-Activist-s-Diary-Week-Ending-May-8--Kelly-Hammargren 

Applebaum said it in the title of her book, the seductive lure of authoritarianism. Ziblatt and Levitsky in How Democracies Die wrote that a politician that displays even one of these four characteristics should be cause for concern: 1) disrespects norms, rejects the democratic rules of the game, 2) denies the legitimacy of opponents, 3) tolerates or encourages violence, 4) indicates a willingness to curtail civil liberties of opponents and the press. With Trump we hit the jackpot: He displayed all four. There are others behind Trump vying for power that are just as dangerous to our democracy if not more so. 

I do not feel as confident as some of the TV pundits and commenters that this country will ride out the turmoil with an intact democracy at the end. From all angles, Trump has completely taken over the Republican party. It’s hard for us standing on the outside to understand how Trump became a cult that has infected not just the unhinged, but people we thought to be sane. There is much for concern, especially as long as Joe Manchin and fellow Democratic travelers cling to a belief that the GOP still cares about democracy and bipartisanship, the filibuster stands and the voting rights bills languish and die. 

The lure of power is very tempting. The drumbeat for authoritarianism continues to grow, fanned by Fox and like media outlets. When someone tells you a politician has no core but ambition, believe them. Personally, there is a 2014 campaign I wish I had worked on and a 2016 campaign to which I devoted hours of work that I now wish I had sat out. 

The May 25^th council meeting is just around the corner. Th Agenda and Rules Policy Committees are planning for the May 25^th regular council meeting. Councilmember Droste’s proposal to pare down the commissions by 50% under the guise of post COVID budget recovery finally made it to the full council agenda. Mayor Arreguin said that at the May 25 Council meeting he would move the Commission reorganization (item 41 in the May 25 final agenda) to consent to be rescheduled to June 15. 

Take a hard look at the plan and start putting your comments together. After attending all the meetings through this process, I can’t help but think of a familiar Grover Norquist quote applied to replacing government with commissions, “I don't want to abolish government [Commissions]. I simply want to reduce it [them] to the size where I can drag it [them] into the bathroom and drown it [them] in the bathtub.” 

New Commission Name (suggested)	Existing Commissions
Commission on Climate and the Environment  (18 members)	Zero Waste, Energy, Community Environmental Advisory, and Animal Care
Parks, Recreation, Waterfront (special Marina subcommittee)	Children, Youth, and Recreation and Parks and Waterfront
Peace, Justice, and Human Welfare  (mayor and council appointees only eliminates representatives of the poor)	Peace and Justice Commission and Human Welfare and Community Action Commission
Public Health Commission & Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts	Community Health Commission and Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts
Housing Advisory Commission  (Phase 1 priority consolidation)	Measure O and Housing Advisory Commission
Homeless Services Panel of Experts  (Phase 1 priority consolidation)	Homeless Commission and Measure P Homeless Services Panel of Experts
Public Works and Transportation	Public Works and Transportation
Planning	Planning and Cannabis
All other commissions will maintain their current structure: Aging, Library Board of Trustees, Civic Arts, Disability, Commission on the Status of Women, Design Review Committee, Disaster and Fire Safety, BIDs, Fair Campaign Practices and Open Government, Redistricting, Landmarks Preservation, Labor, Loan Adjustments Board, Personnel, Planning, Police Review/Accountability, Reimagining Public Safety, Mental Health, Zoning Adjustments Board, and Youth

 

The more I watch our city government, the more I see an opportunity squandered. It is not in my nature to give up, and nature is the key word. The more I learn, the more disappointed I am in the leadership of the City of Berkeley, especially in the Planning Department, City Council and City Manager. 

Instead of beefing up the commissions to be innovative, the city council is careening toward gutting them all under the banner of saving money. It doesn’t stop there. 

The May 18th special council meeting item 1 was Systems Realignment. This is all about a process for submitting “major” legislation with charts and committees, reviews and loops to jump through. Arreguin seems to be totally enthralled. There was pushback from other councilmembers. Harrison went through a list of all the things that would not have happened if council accepts this kind of structure. And, looking in, that seems to be the point. 

I had been wondering what the point was of the 82 pages of a duplicative, disorganized, undated list of 504 referrals to the city manager that is attached to the agenda committee and other packets. Now I know: It is so the city manager can whine about it at council meetings and offsites and use it to squelch new ordinances. The mayor can also use it to make the council look progressive, and then push passed ordinances onto a list where they will languish and die, like the Bird Safe Ordinance. 

At the May 11 council meeting, James McFadden summed up the city response to the climate crisis perfectly, “ I notice there are toothless items with a pro-environment slant. I thank the council for the pro-environment slant, but I think we ought to have something of substance…where Berkeley is doing more than cheerleading.. like banning all plastic containers for takeout food…[instead of] feel good that does nothing. 

Arreguin responded with the council passed a ban on single use plastic food containers in 2019. The problem is, of course, that there continues to be lots of single use plastic. In fact, my walk partner picked up sushi takeout in single use plastic just this week. Item 6 on the Zero Waste Commission agenda for Monday, May 24 should be interesting as it is an update from staff on the status of the single use foodware and litter reduction ordinance. 

Our City Auditor Jenny Wong has been making the rounds presenting Data Analysis of the City of Berkeley’s Police Response. https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Auditor/Home/Audit_Reports.aspx 

The Reimagining Public Safety Task Force heard it first, then council on May 11 and this Thursday is the Mental Health Commission’s turn. Here is the key:The audit found the same biased policing studying 2015 – 2019 as the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) looking at 2012 - 2016. https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CPEDraftInterimReport.aspx Note that there is an overlap of two years 2015 and 2016. The one shortcoming of the Auditor’s report is that the Auditor should have been given more time to gather data so the beat/location of police stops and calls could be plotted. 

There was supposed to be action on the findings of biased policing following the CPE report release in 2017. Those of us who attended the June 27, 2017 city council meeting will remember the resistance to making the CPE report public or even available to council. The important information from the audit is that nothing seems to have changed. If you are Black or Brown in Berkeley you will have a different experience with Berkeley Police than if you are White. 

I’ve been attending the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force meetings. The task force is a committed group and they are really digging in to the reimagining process. 

Peeling off some of the police calls to other service providers is important. Someone in a mental health crisis needs a mental health professional not a police person with guns, and the same for the homeless person who needs social services support, not a police person with guns. 

An update on the progress of developing a Special Care Unit for mental health calls will be presented to the Mental Health Commission Thursday, May 27. 

The bottom line is, what are we doing to deal with the core issue that results in biased policing. Will the reimagining process bring any more than moving the flags around as Dan Lindheim asked at the last task force meeting? Lindheim said that he has been through many reorganizations and looking at https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/faculty/daniel-n-lindheim he has the experience to pose that question. 

As a White person with White Privilege, I don’t know what it is like to live with daily microaggressions. I don’t know what it feels like to be questioned when entering my own home, as happened to a Black friend in Berkeley, followed through stores, stopped when I did nothing wrong, have to give the “talk” to a son or daughter. What I can do is listen, observe, record, educate myself in our long ugly history that continues to this day, monitor my own behavior and step in. 

As I have mentioned previously, I belong to a book club with a focus on politics, race and climate and I do a lot of reading outside of book club. Other book club members liked White Fragility by Robin DeAngelo. I thought Debbie Irving’s Waking Up White was better at pointing out what I call everyday racism, the microaggressions and actions to take to counter them. Both of these books built on our previous selections: White Rage, Just Mercy, The Color of Law, Between the World and Me, Dog Whistle Politics, African American and Latinx History of the United States, The Warmth of Other Suns, Caste and One Person No Vote. 

There is much to do and if the early responses to the Rights of Nature film Invisible Hand that I arranged with the support of Sustainable Berkeley Coalition and Berkeley Citizens Action is any indication, we will have a little more on our plate. 

If you managed to reach the end of this lengthy Diary, thank you. This was a long one. 

 

The Berkeley Public Library Board of Library Trustees will be voting this Wednesday, May 26^th on the FY 2022 tax rate for funding the provision of Library Services. The proposed rate is $0.2402 per sq ft for dwelling units and $0.3632 per sq ft for industrial, commercial and institutional buildings. I calculated that I pay about $270 for library services. With reading at least a book a week and sometimes two, I’m already seeing the return on investment in our local libraries. Out of the 27 books I’ve read since January 1, twenty-five were from the library. 

My last Diary (May 8^th) I ended with a quote from Stuart Stevens and recommendation of three books: It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump by Stuart Stevens, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum and How Democracies Die by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky. I think of these books as the cornerstone for framing how to view the removal of Liz Cheney from her leadership position, the January 6 insurrection, the refusal of Kevin McCarthy to support a commission investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, the rush of voting suppression laws and the vow by Mitch McConnell to block President Biden’s entire agenda. I highly recommend all three. They are all available from Bay Area libraries. If you did not read the May 8^th Activist’s Diary here is the link: https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2021-05-09/article/49179?headline=An-Activist-s-Diary-Week-Ending-May-8--Kelly-Hammargren 

Applebaum said it in the title of her book, the seductive lure of authoritarianism. Ziblatt and Levitsky in How Democracies Die wrote that a politician that displays even one of these four characteristics should be cause for concern: 1) disrespects norms, rejects the democratic rules of the game, 2) denies the legitimacy of opponents, 3) tolerates or encourages violence, 4) indicates a willingness to curtail civil liberties of opponents and the press. With Trump we hit the jackpot: He displayed all four. There are others behind Trump vying for power that are just as dangerous to our democracy if not more so. 

I do not feel as confident as some of the TV pundits and commenters that this country will ride out the turmoil with an intact democracy at the end. From all angles, Trump has completely taken over the Republican party. It’s hard for us standing on the outside to understand how Trump became a cult that has infected not just the unhinged, but people we thought to be sane. There is much for concern, especially as long as Joe Manchin and fellow Democratic travelers cling to a belief that the GOP still cares about democracy and bipartisanship, the filibuster stands and the voting rights bills languish and die. 

The lure of power is very tempting. The drumbeat for authoritarianism continues to grow, fanned by Fox and like media outlets. When someone tells you a politician has no core but ambition, believe them. Personally, there is a 2014 campaign I wish I had worked on and a 2016 campaign to which I devoted hours of work that I now wish I had sat out. 

The May 25^th council meeting is just around the corner. Th Agenda and Rules Policy Committees are planning for the May 25^th regular council meeting. Councilmember Droste’s proposal to pare down the commissions by 50% under the guise of post COVID budget recovery finally made it to the full council agenda. Mayor Arreguin said that at the May 25 Council meeting he would move the Commission reorganization (item 41 in the May 25 final agenda) to consent to be rescheduled to June 15. 

Take a hard look at the plan and start putting your comments together. After attending all the meetings through this process, I can’t help but think of a familiar Grover Norquist quote applied to replacing government with commissions, “I don't want to abolish government [Commissions]. I simply want to reduce it [them] to the size where I can drag it [them] into the bathroom and drown it [them] in the bathtub.” 

New Commission Name (suggested)	Existing Commissions
Commission on Climate and the Environment  (18 members)	Zero Waste, Energy, Community Environmental Advisory, and Animal Care
Parks, Recreation, Waterfront (special Marina subcommittee)	Children, Youth, and Recreation and Parks and Waterfront
Peace, Justice, and Human Welfare  (mayor and council appointees only eliminates representatives of the poor)	Peace and Justice Commission and Human Welfare and Community Action Commission
Public Health Commission & Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts	Community Health Commission and Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts
Housing Advisory Commission  (Phase 1 priority consolidation)	Measure O and Housing Advisory Commission
Homeless Services Panel of Experts  (Phase 1 priority consolidation)	Homeless Commission and Measure P Homeless Services Panel of Experts
Public Works and Transportation	Public Works and Transportation
Planning	Planning and Cannabis
All other commissions will maintain their current structure: Aging, Library Board of Trustees, Civic Arts, Disability, Commission on the Status of Women, Design Review Committee, Disaster and Fire Safety, BIDs, Fair Campaign Practices and Open Government, Redistricting, Landmarks Preservation, Labor, Loan Adjustments Board, Personnel, Planning, Police Review/Accountability, Reimagining Public Safety, Mental Health, Zoning Adjustments Board, and Youth

 

The more I watch our city government, the more I see an opportunity squandered. It is not in my nature to give up, and nature is the key word. The more I learn, the more disappointed I am in the leadership of the City of Berkeley, especially in the Planning Department, City Council and City Manager. 

Instead of beefing up the commissions to be innovative, the city council is careening toward gutting them all under the banner of saving money. It doesn’t stop there. 

The May 18th special council meeting item 1 was Systems Realignment. This is all about a process for submitting “major” legislation with charts and committees, reviews and loops to jump through. Arreguin seems to be totally enthralled. There was pushback from other councilmembers. Harrison went through a list of all the things that would not have happened if council accepts this kind of structure. And, looking in, that seems to be the point. 

I had been wondering what the point was of the 82 pages of a duplicative, disorganized, undated list of 504 referrals to the city manager that is attached to the agenda committee and other packets. Now I know: It is so the city manager can whine about it at council meetings and offsites and use it to squelch new ordinances. The mayor can also use it to make the council look progressive, and then push passed ordinances onto a list where they will languish and die, like the Bird Safe Ordinance. 

At the May 11 council meeting, James McFadden summed up the city response to the climate crisis perfectly, “ I notice there are toothless items with a pro-environment slant. I thank the council for the pro-environment slant, but I think we ought to have something of substance…where Berkeley is doing more than cheerleading.. like banning all plastic containers for takeout food…[instead of] feel good that does nothing. 

Arreguin responded with the council passed a ban on single use plastic food containers in 2019. The problem is, of course, that there continues to be lots of single use plastic. In fact, my walk partner picked up sushi takeout in single use plastic just this week. Item 6 on the Zero Waste Commission agenda for Monday, May 24 should be interesting as it is an update from staff on the status of the single use foodware and litter reduction ordinance. 

Our City Auditor Jenny Wong has been making the rounds presenting Data Analysis of the City of Berkeley’s Police Response. https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Auditor/Home/Audit_Reports.aspx 

The Reimagining Public Safety Task Force heard it first, then council on May 11 and this Thursday is the Mental Health Commission’s turn. Here is the key:The audit found the same biased policing studying 2015 – 2019 as the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) looking at 2012 - 2016. https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CPEDraftInterimReport.aspx Note that there is an overlap of two years 2015 and 2016. The one shortcoming of the Auditor’s report is that the Auditor should have been given more time to gather data so the beat/location of police stops and calls could be plotted. 

There was supposed to be action on the findings of biased policing following the CPE report release in 2017. Those of us who attended the June 27, 2017 city council meeting will remember the resistance to making the CPE report public or even available to council. The important information from the audit is that nothing seems to have changed. If you are Black or Brown in Berkeley you will have a different experience with Berkeley Police than if you are White. 

I’ve been attending the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force meetings. The task force is a committed group and they are really digging in to the reimagining process. 

Peeling off some of the police calls to other service providers is important. Someone in a mental health crisis needs a mental health professional not a police person with guns, and the same for the homeless person who needs social services support, not a police person with guns. 

An update on the progress of developing a Special Care Unit for mental health calls will be presented to the Mental Health Commission Thursday, May 27. 

The bottom line is, what are we doing to deal with the core issue that results in biased policing. Will the reimagining process bring any more than moving the flags around as Dan Lindheim asked at the last task force meeting? Lindheim said that he has been through many reorganizations and looking at https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/faculty/daniel-n-lindheim he has the experience to pose that question. 

As a White person with White Privilege, I don’t know what it is like to live with daily microaggressions. I don’t know what it feels like to be questioned when entering my own home, as happened to a Black friend in Berkeley, followed through stores, stopped when I did nothing wrong, have to give the “talk” to a son or daughter. What I can do is listen, observe, record, educate myself in our long ugly history that continues to this day, monitor my own behavior and step in. 

As I have mentioned previously, I belong to a book club with a focus on politics, race and climate and I do a lot of reading outside of book club. Other book club members liked White Fragility by Robin DeAngelo. I thought Debbie Irving’s Waking Up White was better at pointing out what I call everyday racism, the microaggressions and actions to take to counter them. Both of these books built on our previous selections: White Rage, Just Mercy, The Color of Law, Between the World and Me, Dog Whistle Politics, African American and Latinx History of the United States, The Warmth of Other Suns, Caste and One Person No Vote. 

There is much to do and if the early responses to the Rights of Nature film Invisible Hand that I arranged with the support of Sustainable Berkeley Coalition and Berkeley Citizens Action is any indication, we will have a little more on our plate. 

If you managed to reach the end of this lengthy Diary, thank you. This was a long one. 

 

The Berkeley Public Library Board of Library Trustees will be voting this Wednesday, May 26^th on the FY 2022 tax rate for funding the provision of Library Services. The proposed rate is $0.2402 per sq ft for dwelling units and $0.3632 per sq ft for industrial, commercial and institutional buildings. I calculated that I pay about $270 for library services. With reading at least a book a week and sometimes two, I’m already seeing the return on investment in our local libraries. Out of the 27 books I’ve read since January 1, twenty-five were from the library. 

My last Diary (May 8^th) I ended with a quote from Stuart Stevens and recommendation of three books: It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump by Stuart Stevens, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism by Anne Applebaum and How Democracies Die by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky. I think of these books as the cornerstone for framing how to view the removal of Liz Cheney from her leadership position, the January 6 insurrection, the refusal of Kevin McCarthy to support a commission investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, the rush of voting suppression laws and the vow by Mitch McConnell to block President Biden’s entire agenda. I highly recommend all three. They are all available from Bay Area libraries. If you did not read the May 8^th Activist’s Diary here is the link: https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2021-05-09/article/49179?headline=An-Activist-s-Diary-Week-Ending-May-8--Kelly-Hammargren 

Applebaum said it in the title of her book, the seductive lure of authoritarianism. Ziblatt and Levitsky in How Democracies Die wrote that a politician that displays even one of these four characteristics should be cause for concern: 1) disrespects norms, rejects the democratic rules of the game, 2) denies the legitimacy of opponents, 3) tolerates or encourages violence, 4) indicates a willingness to curtail civil liberties of opponents and the press. With Trump we hit the jackpot: He displayed all four. There are others behind Trump vying for power that are just as dangerous to our democracy if not more so. 

I do not feel as confident as some of the TV pundits and commenters that this country will ride out the turmoil with an intact democracy at the end. From all angles, Trump has completely taken over the Republican party. It’s hard for us standing on the outside to understand how Trump became a cult that has infected not just the unhinged, but people we thought to be sane. There is much for concern, especially as long as Joe Manchin and fellow Democratic travelers cling to a belief that the GOP still cares about democracy and bipartisanship, the filibuster stands and the voting rights bills languish and die. 

The lure of power is very tempting. The drumbeat for authoritarianism continues to grow, fanned by Fox and like media outlets. When someone tells you a politician has no core but ambition, believe them. Personally, there is a 2014 campaign I wish I had worked on and a 2016 campaign to which I devoted hours of work that I now wish I had sat out. 

The May 25^th council meeting is just around the corner. Th Agenda and Rules Policy Committees are planning for the May 25^th regular council meeting. Councilmember Droste’s proposal to pare down the commissions by 50% under the guise of post COVID budget recovery finally made it to the full council agenda. Mayor Arreguin said that at the May 25 Council meeting he would move the Commission reorganization (item 41 in the May 25 final agenda) to consent to be rescheduled to June 15. 

Take a hard look at the plan and start putting your comments together. After attending all the meetings through this process, I can’t help but think of a familiar Grover Norquist quote applied to replacing government with commissions, “I don't want to abolish government [Commissions]. I simply want to reduce it [them] to the size where I can drag it [them] into the bathroom and drown it [them] in the bathtub.” 

New Commission Name (suggested)	Existing Commissions
Commission on Climate and the Environment  (18 members)	Zero Waste, Energy, Community Environmental Advisory, and Animal Care
Parks, Recreation, Waterfront (special Marina subcommittee)	Children, Youth, and Recreation and Parks and Waterfront
Peace, Justice, and Human Welfare  (mayor and council appointees only eliminates representatives of the poor)	Peace and Justice Commission and Human Welfare and Community Action Commission
Public Health Commission & Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts	Community Health Commission and Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts
Housing Advisory Commission  (Phase 1 priority consolidation)	Measure O and Housing Advisory Commission
Homeless Services Panel of Experts  (Phase 1 priority consolidation)	Homeless Commission and Measure P Homeless Services Panel of Experts
Public Works and Transportation	Public Works and Transportation
Planning	Planning and Cannabis
All other commissions will maintain their current structure: Aging, Library Board of Trustees, Civic Arts, Disability, Commission on the Status of Women, Design Review Committee, Disaster and Fire Safety, BIDs, Fair Campaign Practices and Open Government, Redistricting, Landmarks Preservation, Labor, Loan Adjustments Board, Personnel, Planning, Police Review/Accountability, Reimagining Public Safety, Mental Health, Zoning Adjustments Board, and Youth

 

The more I watch our city government, the more I see an opportunity squandered. It is not in my nature to give up, and nature is the key word. The more I learn, the more disappointed I am in the leadership of the City of Berkeley, especially in the Planning Department, City Council and City Manager. 

Instead of beefing up the commissions to be innovative, the city council is careening toward gutting them all under the banner of saving money. It doesn’t stop there. 

The May 18th special council meeting item 1 was Systems Realignment. This is all about a process for submitting “major” legislation with charts and committees, reviews and loops to jump through. Arreguin seems to be totally enthralled. There was pushback from other councilmembers. Harrison went through a list of all the things that would not have happened if council accepts this kind of structure. And, looking in, that seems to be the point. 

I had been wondering what the point was of the 82 pages of a duplicative, disorganized, undated list of 504 referrals to the city manager that is attached to the agenda committee and other packets. Now I know: It is so the city manager can whine about it at council meetings and offsites and use it to squelch new ordinances. The mayor can also use it to make the council look progressive, and then push passed ordinances onto a list where they will languish and die, like the Bird Safe Ordinance. 

At the May 11 council meeting, James McFadden summed up the city response to the climate crisis perfectly, “ I notice there are toothless items with a pro-environment slant. I thank the council for the pro-environment slant, but I think we ought to have something of substance…where Berkeley is doing more than cheerleading.. like banning all plastic containers for takeout food…[instead of] feel good that does nothing. 

Arreguin responded with the council passed a ban on single use plastic food containers in 2019. The problem is, of course, that there continues to be lots of single use plastic. In fact, my walk partner picked up sushi takeout in single use plastic just this week. Item 6 on the Zero Waste Commission agenda for Monday, May 24 should be interesting as it is an update from staff on the status of the single use foodware and litter reduction ordinance. 

Our City Auditor Jenny Wong has been making the rounds presenting Data Analysis of the City of Berkeley’s Police Response. https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Auditor/Home/Audit_Reports.aspx 

The Reimagining Public Safety Task Force heard it first, then council on May 11 and this Thursday is the Mental Health Commission’s turn. Here is the key:The audit found the same biased policing studying 2015 – 2019 as the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) looking at 2012 - 2016. https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CPEDraftInterimReport.aspx Note that there is an overlap of two years 2015 and 2016. The one shortcoming of the Auditor’s report is that the Auditor should have been given more time to gather data so the beat/location of police stops and calls could be plotted. 

There was supposed to be action on the findings of biased policing following the CPE report release in 2017. Those of us who attended the June 27, 2017 city council meeting will remember the resistance to making the CPE report public or even available to council. The important information from the audit is that nothing seems to have changed. If you are Black or Brown in Berkeley you will have a different experience with Berkeley Police than if you are White. 

I’ve been attending the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force meetings. The task force is a committed group and they are really digging in to the reimagining process. 

Peeling off some of the police calls to other service providers is important. Someone in a mental health crisis needs a mental health professional not a police person with guns, and the same for the homeless person who needs social services support, not a police person with guns. 

An update on the progress of developing a Special Care Unit for mental health calls will be presented to the Mental Health Commission Thursday, May 27. 

The bottom line is, what are we doing to deal with the core issue that results in biased policing. Will the reimagining process bring any more than moving the flags around as Dan Lindheim asked at the last task force meeting? Lindheim said that he has been through many reorganizations and looking at https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/faculty/daniel-n-lindheim he has the experience to pose that question. 

As a White person with White Privilege, I don’t know what it is like to live with daily microaggressions. I don’t know what it feels like to be questioned when entering my own home, as happened to a Black friend in Berkeley, followed through stores, stopped when I did nothing wrong, have to give the “talk” to a son or daughter. What I can do is listen, observe, record, educate myself in our long ugly history that continues to this day, monitor my own behavior and step in. 

As I have mentioned previously, I belong to a book club with a focus on politics, race and climate and I do a lot of reading outside of book club. Other book club members liked White Fragility by Robin DeAngelo. I thought Debbie Irving’s Waking Up White was better at pointing out what I call everyday racism, the microaggressions and actions to take to counter them. Both of these books built on our previous selections: White Rage, Just Mercy, The Color of Law, Between the World and Me, Dog Whistle Politics, African American and Latinx History of the United States, The Warmth of Other Suns, Caste and One Person No Vote. 

There is much to do and if the early responses to the Rights of Nature film Invisible Hand that I arranged with the support of Sustainable Berkeley Coalition and Berkeley Citizens Action is any indication, we will have a little more on our plate. 

If you managed to reach the end of this lengthy Diary, thank you. This was a long one. 

After four failures to cobble together a coalition government and facing serious charges of corruption, Prime Minister Netanyahu orchestrated a crisis to stay in power. He ordered police to attack Palestinian worshippers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque ((one of the holiest sites in Islam) during Ramadan. He then gave a green light to Israeli settler terrorists to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, a heavily Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. 

The evictions are a stark reminder of the Nakba, or the 1948 ethnic cleansing of 700,000 Palestinians, who were forcibly removed from their homeland, which the U.N. described as “a clear violation Israel’s obligations under international law.” This would not have been possible without active US military support which makes America complicit in war crimes. In response to the attack on Palestinian worshippers and rebalance the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jewish favor, Hamas launched rockets the vast majority being deflected by the US dome. Like all prior wars, the main victims were Palestinian civilians blown to pieces by US-Israeli bombs. Massive damage has occurred to Gaza’s infrastructure and water supply.  

“One side has suffered over 10 times the casualties”, commented award winning John Oliver who was highly critical of Israel’s bombing campaign.  

Israeli strikes included a house in a refugee camp, a building housing the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, and a 13-story office and apartment building, clear war crimes. The Biden administration response has been pathetic, echoing the timidity of prior administrations ignoring the fundamental issues. The suffocating apartheid occupation, the siege of Gaza and the systematic cleansing of Palestinians from their homeland. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, receiving some $3.8 billion a year.  

In recent weeks, the Biden administration approved the sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons which have been used to obliterate buildings housing civilians. For decades we have mourned the crimes of Nazi Germany against the Jews. We re now fast approaching the genocide of Palestinians. Israel and America have completely lost their humanity. 

As Senator Sanders stated, “Palestinian lives matter”. They have every right to resist apartheid persecution. In the meantime, we must demand an immediate halt to all military and economic aid to Israel.

One year ago, as it became clear the United States was in the throes of a devastating pandemic, we lost 21 million jobs. Now we're recovering from Covid-19 but workers aren't rushing back to full employment at the pace economists expected. What's happening? 

In retrospect, while the pandemic had a devastating impact on the US economy, it affected some Americans more than others. For example, the wealthy and well-connected fared better than the less fortunate. (https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/california/california-revenues-soar-as-rich-get-richer-during-pandemic/2479807/ ) If you were a lawyer, with a good Internet connection, you were more able to work from home than was an agricultural worker. As another example, some business sectors -- such as leisure and hospitality -- lost jobs while others -- such as communications -- stayed close to steady state. 

At the moment, the economy appears to be recovering -- the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported: "Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021." On the other hand, workers have not reentered the labor force at the rate anticipated -- Reuters ( https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-job-growth-far-below-expectations-april-amid-labor-shortages-2021-05-07/) noted: "U.S. job growth unexpectedly slowed in April, likely curbed by shortages of workers and raw materials... Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 266,000 jobs last month... That left employment 8.2 million jobs below its peak in February 2020." 

As one would expect -- in a deeply polarized country -- there's a Republican explanation for what's happening and a Democratic explanation. The Republican explanation is that Biden-Administration unemployment policies have disincentivized workers from actively seeking jobs. That is to say, Republicans view the "hesitant" workers as "welfare chiselers;" folks who are inherently lazy and would rather stay at home, collect unemployment benefits, and "do nothing." 

Recently, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the government to scrap the weekly unemployment subsidy. Politico (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/14/labor-shortage-companies-hiring-488200 ) reports: "At least 14 states, including North Dakota, Alabama and South Carolina, have moved to cut off enhanced federal jobless benefits that were supposed to last until September. Florida is among roughly 30 states reinstating a requirement that the unemployed prove they are looking for work to receive state benefits. Montana is offering return-to-work bonuses to unemployment recipients who accept a job offer." Writing in Alternet, Isaac J. Bailey (https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/reagan-era-myth/? ) wrote: "An increasing number of Republican governors have decided to scale back enhanced unemployment benefits. They claim that it's necessary, that it's the only way to get those who have been receiving benefits through this pandemic to go back to work. In short, those governors, along with conservative economists, have convinced themselves the working poor would rather be on the dole than man hot kitchens, wait on tables or stand on their bunions for several hours a day in retail settings to earn poverty wages." 

The Biden Administration resists this approach (https://www.reuters.com/business/white-house-jobs-report-shows-long-way-go-economic-recovery-2021-05-07/): "'It's clear that there are people who are not ready and able to go back into the labor force,' Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters, citing parents whose children are still learning remotely. "' don’t think the addition to unemployment compensation is really the factor that is making a difference.'" 

Liberal economists suggest that the problem is elemental: employers want workers to retake the jobs they held, before the pandemic, at the same wages they were paid then. EPI economist Heidi Shierholz (https://www.epi.org/blog/u-s-labor-shortage-unlikely-heres-why/ ) observed: "I often suggest that whenever anyone says, 'I can’t find the workers I need,' she should really add, “at the wages I want to pay.'” She continued: "The footprint of a bona fide labor shortage is rising wages. Employers who truly face shortages of suitable, interested workers will respond by bidding up wages to attract those workers, and employers whose workers are being poached will raise wages to retain their workers, and so on... And right now, wages are not growing at a rapid pace... Unsurprisingly, at a recent press conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dismissed anecdotal claims of labor market shortages, saying, 'We don’t see wages moving up yet. And presumably we would see that in a really tight labor market.'” 

The Democratic view is that workers are hesitant to return because of a variety of structural issues -- for example, the hesitant workers are mothers who have been caring for their children who, because for Covid=19, could not go to school or daycare. In an interview with Mother Jones, economist Heidi Shierholz (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/05/you-dont-need-to-freak-out-about-labor-shortages/? ) noted: "There’s evidence that points to other things that may be going on [that account for labor shortages]. We know that more than a quarter of schools were still closed to in-person learning in April. One of the things we saw in the April data is that... the disappointing job growth in April was caused by an increase in job separations, basically layoffs and quits. The increase in layoffs and quits was driven entirely by women. That points to another cause, given that women still shoulder the lion’s share of care responsibilities in the home. I think health concerns are still a big issue as well. With the distribution of the vaccine, that’s going down, but there are still lots of people who have serious, legitimate health concerns about returning to work." 

When informed of the disappointing jobs report, President Biden said: "Today's report just underscores, in my view, how vital the actions we're taking are -- checks to people who are hurting, support for small businesses, for child care and school reopening, support to help families put food on the table." Biden added the report is indicative of the long-term nature of the economic recovery, saying he expects improvement to be "a marathon," rather than a "sprint." 

Americans are going back to work carefully. And demanding a living wage. 

---

Bob Burnett is a Bay Area writer and activist. He can be reached at
bburnett@sonic.net

A psychotic, bipolar or depressive episode will bring us exceedingly far out of our comfort zones, to the point where we wonder if we will ever be comfortable again. These acute episodes of mental illness create extreme levels of internally generated suffering, which other people may not be able to see. Or they may be able to perceive that we are in pain but may be unable to see the cause. When we emerge from such extremes, it is a huge relief to feel within a normal range of emotions.

When in treatment, a person with mental illness will almost always have low level residual symptoms, many of which create moderate, internally generated suffering. And it is natural for most people to crave comfort at least some of the time. This predicament for some mentally ill people makes them prone to addiction to illicit substances. Marijuana, nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, and hard drugs are all temptations. So is an eating disorder, in which people are hooked on sugary or fatty foods, or in which they avoid food entirely.

But to get back on track, I'm not so much talking today about addiction. I'm speaking of the clinging to that which is comfortable. When medicated, the central nervous system is stuck at low levels of energy. Therefore, we do not have as much "get up and go", and it is awfully hard to tolerate a challenging situation, since this entails pushing limits. 

This is what I'm getting at: Medicated mentally ill people have a greater desire for comfort, and probably a greater actual need for it, compared to a neuro-typical person. When we get stretched too far beyond what is comfortable, it could cause symptoms to come up. Comfort brings the ability to contemplate, to reflect, to have insight, and to think clearly. We need those things if we are to get well and remain well. And when things are too painful, the more primitive instincts assert themselves. It becomes harder to think and act in a non-pressured way, and we could become angry, anxious, or symptomatic. 

The primitive areas of the brain lie beneath the cerebral cortex and resemble the fully primitive brain of a crocodile. The cerebral cortex, which is the seat of higher thought in humans, can be superseded and removed from command at times when we have extreme emotions or extreme pain. A psychotic, bipolar, or depressive episode can put the primitive place in command, and the symptoms can guide an ill person toward harmful or misguided actions--or it can cause an ill person to simply be non-functional in the basics of life. Often, the level of discomfort is so high that suffering is fully dominant in the mind. 

Once in treatment and in recovery, as I said above, we will still have low level symptoms. And when we finally feel some level of comfort, it is more than welcome. And things can swing the other way, where we cling to comfort to the extent that we are hypersensitive. The comfort zone in a neuro-typical person is intended to be a baseline that we are in much of the time, but from which we periodically leave. If you cling to the comfort zone excessively and if you compulsively avoid departing from comfort, the zone of what is acceptable will begin to shrink. The comfort zone becomes like a shell, one that keeps getting smaller. 

Antipsychotics add an additional disability on top of psychosis. While they may get rid of severe psychosis, the amount of energy available is limited. When taking antipsychotics, it is much more difficult to leave the comfort zone. These drugs make a person less able to do energetic tasks. When taking antipsychotics, you can't do very much. This is preferable to being controlled by one's psychotic symptoms. However, it leaves a patient unable to handle anything challenging. 

The above is not a reason not to try anything. If you pass up on anything that has the potential to be uncomfortable, because you are "on antipsychotics" it means you will be totally deprived of the challenges of life and the good things that come with it. Instead of giving up, you should push against limits, even while such limits could be more restrictive because of the medication. 

Make no mistake about it: If you suffer from psychosis, you're going to need antipsychotics to be able to live in society. However, we must pay a price for this. And while we didn't decide one morning that we would become mentally ill, and didn't bring this disease on ourselves, it is there within our domain, and we are saddled with the responsibility of dealing with it. 

Take your pick: Get killed, jailed or homeless due to uncontrolled psychosis, or take the meds and focus on things that are within reach. 

---

Jack Bragen lives in Martinez, California with his wife Joanna Bragen, and sells several books available at lulu.com.

The latest conflict between Israel and Hamas started on May 10 and ended with a cease-fire eleven days later. Will the cease-fire hold? Maybe. The pundits say “maybe” pointing to the 2014 conflict between the two where it took nine truces before that conflict finally ended after 51 days. Signs are that this cease-fire may hold. Unlike the 2014 truce, citizens celebrated in Gaza streets indicating a general acceptance of the cease-fire.  

Each side claims its goals were accomplished, but at a high cost: 197 Palestinians killed (including 92 women and children), 52,000 displaced, nearly 450 buildings destroyed or badly damaged; and ten Israelis killed (including two children). 

Although the cease-fire may hold for months even years, Hamas and Israel still remain bitter enemies. The latest conflict does put the Israeli-Palestinian situation on the front pages again and may prompt an internal U.S. debate about our policy toward Israel, a debate that is now happening. 

While the U,S. will likely continue its “special relationship" with Israel, perhaps we will move away from Trump’s one-sided relationship favoring Israel toward a more even-handed policy. 

Stay tuned.

The Generous Gents at Joe's

There's a long-standing rule in the retail world that warns: "If you break it, you bought it." That wasn't the case at the Berkeley Trader Joe's earlier this week when I was bagging my groceries on a counter and a wine bottle inside my paper shopping bag toppled—causing the entire contents to spill to the ground with a resounding "Ker-splush!"

Within seconds, TJ's mop-armed First Responders appeared to deal with the wreckage—a wine-soaked bag filled with frozen meals, milk cartons, and shards of broken glass. One TJer stepped up to hand me a complimentary wine-proof grocery bag followed by another employee who appeared and presented me with a replacement bottle of wine. (Apparently, he checked the label on the shattered remains of the bottle and quickly managed to find a match inside the store.)

It's time to update the old "You broke it; you bought it" rule. At Trader Joe's, the rule is redemptive rather than punitive: "You broke it; we brought it."

However, as I told one of the mop-up crew: "Just be careful you don't wind up rewarding clumsiness." 

A Call for "Bare-knuckled Love"? 

The English language has a penchant for rough verbiage. Our "tough talk" vocabulary relies on aggressive words like "strike," "hit," "slap," "punch," "kick," "knock," and "crunch," to "hammer home" an argument. 

Recently, an envelope from the Save the Children foundation arrived in the mail. On one side there was a compelling image of a young child with large, beguiling eyes and a bandage over her face. The words next to the photo invited readers to exert an "impact to change lives." The flip side of the funding pitch offered an even more hard-hitting message: "Is there a child in the world you're willing to fight for?" 

Why does it have to be "fight"? Why not "willing to care for" or "willing to sacrifice for"? 

Did You Pay Your Taxes? Amazon Didn't 

According to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), 55 US corporations didn't pay any taxes at all. It's fair to say: "They didn't give a dime." 

One reason was Trump's onerous tax cuts for the rich, which lopped the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. President Biden has timidly suggested raising Trump's 14% tax slash by half—to 28%. (Nota bene: During the Eisenhower years, the tax rate on the richest Americans was more than 90%.) 

ITEP's investigation disclosed that these 55 corporations didn't pay a cent on a collective pretax income of $40.5 billion. Worse, they actually received $3.5 billion in tax rebates from the Federal Treasury! FedEx reported $1.2 billion in taxable earning but wound up receiving a $230 million rebate check from the Feds. Nike profited to the tune of $2.9 billion and cashed a $100 million government rebate check. 

Reich Versus the Rich 

For the first time in US history, the richest 0.1% of Americans now control nearly as much wealth as the bottom 90% and the richest 1% of Americans own 50% of the Wall Street's wealth. That's why UC Prof. and former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich has devised a seven-point plan to Tax the Rich. In addition to repealing the Trump Tax Cuts and returning to historic rates of wealth taxation, Reich also supports Sen. Elizabeth Warren's plan for a super-tax on the super-rich—an extra 2% on millionaires and 3% on billionaires. Under the Warren Tax, Reich observes, "Jeff Bezos would owe $5.7 billion out of his $185 billion fortune." Does that seem unfair? Not if you consider (as Reich does) that $5.7 billion is "less than half what [Bezos] made in one day last year." 

According to Prof. Reich's calculations, adopting his 7-Step Plan would bring in "more than $6 trillion over 10 years—enough to tackle the great needs of the nation." 

 

Mr. Mopp's Window Books 

Rising above the restrictions of the pandemic, Mr. Mopp's—the beloved book and toy story on MLK—has managed to stay engaged with the community thanks to its ability to curate and display a wonderland of theme-event book selections behind its wide expanse of windows. 

Mopp's recently devoted its window space to honor Black History Month with scores of captivating book selections and is now hosting an equally eclectic and elevating selection of titles to commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. 

The following list can't possibly do justice to the window display, so the hope is you might find the time to stroll over to Rose Street and take in the view. Among the titles on display are the following: Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen; Little People, BIG DREAMS: Bruce Lee; Eyes that Kiss in the Corners; Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian They Left Behind; Sakamoto's Swim Club; Thai Children's Favorite Stories; I Dream of Popo; Kuan Yin: The Princess Who Became the Goddess of Compassion; Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business; and Ohana Means Family. 

Homi Bhabha and Other Bad Writing Award-winners 

From 1996 to 1998, the academic journal Philosophy and Literature hosted a bad-writing contest to celebrate "the most stylistically lamentable passages found in scholarly books and articles." The only condition for submissions was that entries be non-ironic. "Deliberate parody cannot be allowed in a field where unintended self-parody is so widespread," the journal's editors explain. In its final 1998 contest, the journal found it hard to suppress its delight that "two of the most popular and influential literary scholars in the US are among those who wrote winning entries." 

Homi K. Bhabha, professor of English at the University of Chicago, took second place for this observation in his book The Location of Culture (Routledge, 1994): 

"If, for a while, the ruse of desire is calculable for the uses of discipline soon the repetition of guilt, justification, pseudo-scientific theories, superstition, spurious authorities, and classifications can be seen as the desperate effort to 'normalise' formally the disturbance of a discourse of splitting that violates the rational, enlightened claims of its enunciatory modality."  

Judith Butler, professor of rhetoric and comparative literature at the University of California at Berkeley, took home the top prize for this excerpt from an article entitled Further Reflections on the Conversations of Our Time, published in the scholarly journal Diacritics (1997): 

"The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power."  

Signing to the Deaf 

Here's a puzzle: Why do so many of the American Sing Language (ASL) interpreters who stand alongside public figures at press conferences appear to mouth the words as they wave their hands and flick their fingers? Deaf members of the audience can see the hand signs so why use your lips as well? And if deaf viewers can read lips, there's no need for hand-signs — you can just look at the lips of the actual speaker! 

Here is a newsclip of Nic Zapko, an ASL interpreter for the state of Minnesota. Zapko is even more exceptional because she is deaf herself. That mean she needs to rely on a second non-deaf, off-camera ASL interpreter to sign a speaker's words for her to reproduce in front of the camera. 

 

From a Letter to Joe Biden on Israel's Bombing of Gaza 

"It was like watching the Twin Towers fall, all over again. But this time it was Israel intentionally targeting high-rises in Gaza. Unlike the Twin Towers, these multi-story buildings didn't house only commercial offices—they also contained the homes of Palestinian families. 

"Israeli officials gave the residents one hour to evacuate. How much of your life could you pack up and salvage if you were told your home would be blown apart in an hour's time? 

"Compounding the shock. Israel targeted a building that also housed the offices of the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and other media groups. 

"This is Israel's 'Guernica Moment'." 

"The Mothers Are Crying; The Children Are Dying" 

Those were the words of Nadine Abdul Latif, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl trapped in the rubble of Gaza, who breaks down in tears while talking to foreign reporters. 

 

A Censored Anti-war Ballad from the 1970s 

The Covered Wagon Musicians was the name of a band of active duty US Air Force musicians who were stationed at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho in the early 1970s. Never heard of them? That's no surprise. The idea that a "band of brothers" would be writing protest songs about US atrocities in Vietnam was something the commercial US media couldn't digest. 

CWM opened an anti-war café in Mountain Home called The Covered Wagon Coffeehouse. The Coffeehouse was subsequently destroyed in what was called "a likely arson attack" and its loss was mourned in a New York Times letter co-signed by Noam Chomsky, Faye Dunaway, Jane Fonda, Dick Gregory, Robert Lifton, and others.) 

Here's a recording of CWM's song, "Napalm Sticks to Kids." 

 

Mapping Militarism — Updated 

World BEYOND War reports: "We've made further improvements to Mapping Militarism to help you find what war looks like from various angles. For example, you can check out how much nations are spending on militarism, and what they were spending last year, to discover which have actually moved funds to address the disease pandemic and which have doubled down on death and destruction. 

"Or you can put the US arming of Israel and Colombia in context by mapping the dozens of brutal governments to which the US government is giving 'military aid.' Spolier: It's most of the world.' 

Can you guess what this map represents? 

 

The map shows members of the International Criminal Court (members are shown in color). There are a number of "rogue nations" that have refused to sign on—including the USA, the self-appointed leader of "rules based order."  

"There is a great deal to discover about war and peace in these maps," WBW notes. "Please check them out, share them with others, and send us your feedback." 

Which California Politicians "Voted with Courage"? 

The Courage Campaign has just released its 2021 Courage Score report card, celebrating members of the state legislature who racked up high scores for voting for progressive bills—and waving an upside-down thumb at the solons who failed to meet expectations. 

Each year, Courage California and more than 100 progressive groups—including the ACLU, SEIU, and Sierra Club—identify the best bills addressing key issues like racial justice, climate change, and housing reform and rate the state's lawmakers on how well they voted. In short: Did they vote "with courage or with corporations"? 

In this year's "Well-done!" list, we find activists like Maria Elena Durazo (SD-24, Los Angeles) who earned top scores for supporting progressive bills. On the other side, the Scorecard excoriates folks like Jim Cooper (AD-09, Sacramento) for "not even voting on 75% of the bills we scored from 2020." 

At 5 PM on May 26, the Courage Campaign will be hosting an online town hall to introduce this year's report card. Senator Lena Gonzalez and Assemblymember Ash Kalra will be on hand for the presentation and will explain how to use the Scorecard as a tool to hold representatives accountable. (ASL interpretation provided.)  

"We need a core team of Courage California members to help make the Courage Score an influential tool for holding our representatives accountable and passing more progressive bills in the state," the organizers explain. "Our town hall will show you how." Click here to register for our Courage Score town hall! 

Watch “River's End: California's Latest Water War” 

Sierra Club California, in partnership with ro*co films, will be hosting a virtual screening of the award-winning documentary, “River's End: California's Latest Water War.” The film, directed by Jacob Morrison, chronicles the risk that excessive water diversions from the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems—at the behest of Big Agriculture—pose to the San Francisco Bay Delta. Sign up here to watch the film and attend the panel discussion on Thursday, June 10 at 6:00pm. 

Correction: Apology to Spravato 

Thanks to my friend and pro bono fact-checker Bruce Africa for sending an editorial kvetch regarding a previous Smithereens item on the drug Spravato—an anti-depressant whose side effects include "worsening depression" and suicidal thoughts. 

Because Spravato's published side effects also included "feeling very happy or excited," I characterized the drug as "addictive." I should have written "may be addictive." Also, the warning that ""your healthcare provider must monitor you for serious side effects for at least 2 hours after taking SPRAVATO"—while alarming—is not a sign of addiction which, by definition, only manifests over an extended period of time. 

Worth Noting:

The Tuesday evening May 25^th City Council Agenda is very long with 35 consent items. You can either use the link to scan through the agenda or go to the end of the weekly calendar for the agenda. The agenda in this post includes a table of the proposed commission reorganization and descriptive terms of agenda item content. The June 1 council agenda is available for comment and is included after the June 25 Agenda.



Tuesday – City Council at 6 pm – Item #38 is the first budget hearing for fiscal year 2022. Item 41 is the Reorganization of Commissions. Mayor Arreguin said at the Agenda committee the commission reorganization will be rescheduled to June 15. Be prepared to with comments.

Thursday – Budget and Finance Committee at 10 am – Item 2 is the Fire Dept and Police Dept Budget Discussion. Thursday evening Mental Health Commission at 2 pm – Item 3 is the update on the Special Care Unit. 

 

Sunday, May 23, 2021 

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour at 10 am – 3 pm (event is virtual and free) 

Register at https://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/register-2021 

Hosted on Zoom and YouTube – see April 25 and May 2 tours at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLIN_S5D0pZjeO59HBi2HyA 

Home page: https://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/ 

 

Monday, May 24 2021 

Children, Youth and Recreation Commission at 7 – 9 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/93691576301 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 936 9157 6301 

AGENDA: 8. PWR fee increase review, 11. COVID related program changes, 

http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Children_Youth_and_Recreation_Commission/ 

 

Loan Administration Board at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84121337351?pwd=MjZvV3dUS0VxYkxwd045dndRTEtKQT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 841 2133 7351 

AGENDA ACTION: Berkeley Hospitality (new motel at the corner of University and Sacramento) $180,000, Kidventurez $75,000 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Loan_Admin_Board.aspx 

 

Zero Waste Commission at 7 – 9 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/s/82587046286 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 825 8704 6286 

AGENDA: 6. Staff Updates, Single Use Foodware & Litter Reduction Ordinance Implementation, Discussion/Action Report-back from COVID-Related Waste Mitigation Subcommittee. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Zero_Waste_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

 

Tuesday, May 25, 2021 

City Council Closed Session, 3:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89583335567 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 895 8333 5567 

AGENDA: 1. Conference with Labor Negotiators, Conference with Labor Negotiators, employee organizations: IBEW, Local 1245, SEIU 1021 Community Services and Part-time Recreation Activity Leaders, Berkeley Firefighters Association Local 1227, Berkeley Police Association, SEIU 1021 Maintenance and Clerical Chapters, Local 1227 I.A.F.F./Berkeley Chief Fire Officers Association, Public Employees Union Local 1, 2. Public Employee Appointment Interim Director of the Police Accountability Board. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2021/05_May/City_Council__05-25-2021_-_Closed_Meeting_Agenda.aspx 

 

City Council Regular Meeting at 6 pm, 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89074533623 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 890 7453 3623 

Use the link or scroll down to end 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

 

Solano Avenue Business Improvement District Advisory Board at 10 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86475480085 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 864 7548 0085 

AGENDA: 4. Projects and goals 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Solano_BID_Board.aspx 

 

Wednesday, May 26, 2021 

Board of Library Trustees at 6:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86042306505 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 860 4230 6505 

AGENDA Consent: B. Contract $702,384 includes 20% $117,064 contingency) with Rainbow Waterproofing and Restoration, C. Amend Contract add $35,000 total $85,000 with Johnson Controls for service maintenance and monitoring North Branch Library, D. Amend Contract add $37,450 total$111,775 and extend to June 30, 2023 with Sevva Group, Inc., ACTION: A. Library Tax Rates FY 2022 $0.2402/sq ft for dwelling units and $0.3632/sq ft for industrial, commercial and institutional buildings, B. Proposed Budget FY2022 All Library Funds revenue $22,041,603, expenditure $25,655,784. 

https://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/about/board-library-trustees 

 

Civic Arts Commission at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86147520326 

Teleconference: 1-669-9009128 Meeting ID: 861 4752 0326 

AGENDA: 6. Action Items a) FY22 Civic Art Grant Awards total $1,448,284 contingent on Council approval, b) Draft Public Art Ordinance, c) Donation framed artwork from Civic Center exhibition, Artist Tony Kay “Evidence”, d) Design for Earthsong Sign with bell by Wang Po Shu, e) Approval of Berkeley Art Works Grants – May 2021 Panel Results. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CivicArtsCommissionHomepage/ 

 

Disaster and Fire Safety Commission at 7 – 9 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/94194753267 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 941 9475 3267 

AGENDA: 3. Recommendation on Measure GG Tax Rate Adjustment, 4. Recommendation on Financial Reporting and Process, 5. GG Reimbursement from COVID-19 response. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Disaster_and_Fire_Safety_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

 

Energy Commission at 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/94977798913 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 949 7779 8913 

AGENDA: 7. Presentation Vision Zero Plan Eric Anderson, Senior Planner, Transportation Division, 9. Consideration to create climate equity fund, 10. Discussion on Commission realignment. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Energy_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

 

Police Review Commission at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87070468124 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 870 7046 8124 

AGENDA: 9. A. Discuss vaccination status of sworn officers, b. Consider making recommendations to new Police Accountability Board, c. Lexipol policies 324-Media Relations, 403-Crime and Disaster Scene Integrity and Investigation, 804-Records Maintenance and Release, d. Whether to participate in a scenario-based use-of-force training offered by Police Dept., 10. A. Extent of hate crimes tracking and BPD response to recent anti-Asian hate crimes. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Police_Review_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

 

Thursday, May 27, 2021 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee at 10 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81070983541 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 810 7098 3541 

AGENDA: 2. FY2022 Fire Dept, Police Dept Budget Discussion, 3. FY2021-2025 Revenue Projections, 4. Deferral to AAO Process in November (budget requests deferred to be reconsidered in November), 5. Predevelopment Allocation Ashby Recreation and Community Housing Consortium (Planning Grant for Ashby BART East Parking Lot), 6. A Pilot Existing Building Electrification Incentive Program to Assist New and existing homeowners and renters transition to zero-carbon buildings. 

 

Mental Health Commission at 7 – 9 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/96361748103 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 963 6174 8103 

AGENDA: 3. Specialized Care Unit, 4. City Auditor Report of Berkeley Police Response, 6. Re-imagining Public Safety Task Force Update, 7. General Public Mental Health System Session “Whole Person Care,” 8. US Dept of Justice ADA investigation of Santa Rita Jail. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Mental_Health_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

 

Zoning Adjustment Board at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/95814245163 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 958 1424 5163 

AGENDA: 2. 770 Page – demolish existing single family dwelling and construct 4 detached 3-story approximately 1500 sq ft dwelling units on 5,532 sq ft lot – on consent 

3. 2737 Durant – construct 3-story, 4 dwelling unit building on existing vacant lot, R-3(H) Multiple Family Residential District, Hillside Overlay, on consent, 

4. 2015 Blake – Review and comment on DEIR to merge 7 parcels into 2, demolish 4 existing buildings (one residential building, associated accessory structure and 2 nonresidential buildings), relocate and restore 2 existing residential buildings with 7 units and construct 2 new residential buildings, 3-story 6 unit building with 2 units affordable to low income households and a 7-story, 155-unit building with 9 units affordable to very low income, subterranean garage with 93 parking spaces, 

5. 600 Addison – demolish buildings on an approximately 8.4 acre industrial site and to construct a research and development campus containing 2 buildings totaling 461,822 sq ft of gross floor area and 924 parking spaces, project includes removing and replanting oak tree - staff recommend adopt Mitigated Negative Declaration and Approve 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/zoningadjustmentsboard/ 

 

Friday, May 28, 2021 & Saturday, May 29, 2021 & Sunday, May 30, 2021  

Memorial Day Holiday Monday, May 31 

No City meetings or events found 

_____________________ 

 

City Council Regular Meeting, May 25 at 6 pm 

email comments to council@cityofberkeley.info 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89074533623 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 890 7453 3623 

AGENDA CONSENT: 1. 2^nd reading - Amendment FY2021 Annual Appropriations $76,221,382 (gross) $51,227,368, 2. Resolution and Ratifying COVID-19 Local Emergency, 3. Minutes for approval, 4. Assessments: Berkeley Tourism Business Improvement District FY22, 5. Assessment: Berkeley Property Owners Business Improvement District - Downtown FY22 & Authorize contract with Downtown Business Association (DBA) $7,285,257 for 7/1/2021-12/31/2026, 6. Assessment: North Shattuck Business Improvement District FY22, 7. Assessment: Telegraph Business Improvement District, 8. Formal Bid Solicitations $250,000, 9. Memorandum of Agreement with the City of Oakland for National Urban Search and Rescue Response System acting through FEMA, Sate and Local governments, 10. Contract $100,000 with Multicultural Institute for COVID-19 Outreach and Health Education Activities 6/1/2021-6/30/2022 outreach to Latinx, particularly day laborer and domestic workers, 11. Revenue Grant Funding Support from State of CA Board of State and Community Corrections Proposition 64 Public Health related to Marijuana Act, $1,000,000 5/1/2021-4/30/2024, 12. Revenue Grant Funding Support State of CA Public Health Services, 1-CHDP $353,395, 2-MCAH $332,000, 3-Tobacco $300,000, 4. Immunizations $42,204, 5-Public Heal Emergency Preparedness $257,000, 13. Accept Donation from CA Office of Emergency Services $9,000, 14. Classification and Salary: Establish Director of Police Accountability monthly salary $11,862.93 - $17,794.40, 15. Protiviti Government Services: GSA Vehicle for Professional Services, GS-35F-0280X $137,000, 16. Grant Application Surrendered and Abandoned Vessel Exchange (SAVE) $42,000, 17. P.O. $206,180 with Altec Industries, Inc for One (1) Aerial Bucket Truck, 18. P.O. $245,000 with Braun Northwest for One (1) 2021 North Star 155-1 Type 1 Ambulance, 19. P.O. $206,200 with Cal-Line Equipment Inc for three(3) Bandit 250XP Brush Chippers, 20. P.O. $866,000 with Golden State Fire Apparatus, Inc. for one (1)Pierce Quantum 1500 GPM Pumper, 21. Contract add $50,000 total $100,000 with Stanley Access Technologies for On-call and Emergency Repair Service for Automatic Doors, 22. Declaration of Intent – FY22 Street Lighting Assessments, 23. Fund Allocation request to MTC $450,000Transportation Development Act Article 3, 24. Agreement with AC Transit for Operation and Maintenance of transit Signal Priority Equipment deployed by Rapid Corridors Project, 25. Surplus Lands Act AB 1255 requires jurisdictions to compile and report annually an inventory of surplus lands to CA Dept of Housing and Community Development, 26. Lease Agreement: 2010 Addison/Center St Garage with Lexie’s Frozen Custard, 27. Appointment Monica Renee Jones to Mental Health Commission, 28. Authorization for Police Review Commission to conduct online poll, 29. Arreguin - Support AB 1177 CA Banking Options Act (zero fee, zero penalty financial services would eliminate exploitative alternatives such check cashing and pre-paid debit cards), 30. Taplin-Budget Referral Sixth St Traffic Calming 1. Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons at Sixth and Channing, 2. Median refuge, 31. Hahn, co-sponsor Bartlett - COVID Economic Recovery-Expanding Local Purchasing Preferences to Rebuild the City’s Local Economy Tax Base, 32. Wengraf cosponsors Arreguin, Hahn, Taplin - Holocaust Remembrance Day, 33. Wengraf, co-sponsors Hahn, Harrison, Droste - Budget Referral Traffic Calming increase funding by $100,000 to $200,000, 34. Wengraf, co-sponsors Hahn, Harrison, Droste - Amend BMC14.72.105 allow broader range of community facilities to be eligible for parking permits, 35. Droste-cosponsors Arreguin, Robinson, Bartlett - Budget Referral Willard Park Ambassador, ACTION: 36. Public Hearing Environmental Division Fee Schedule adding microenterprise home kitchen operations (MEHKOs) proposed $510 for permit and inspection, 37. Public Hearing Recreation and Camps fee increases, 38. FY2022 proposed budget hearing #1, final adoption June 29, 2021, 39. a. Grant Allocation Recommendation for Programs from Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts (SSBPE), b. CM approve SSBPE recommendations 1-13 (not 14 & 15) and uphold previously Public Health allocation $339,374, 40.a. Hahn Amend Berkeley Election Reform Act (BERA) to Regulate officeholder accounts, b. Fair Campaign Practices Commission 1-prohibit or regulate officeholder accounts, 41. (per Arreguin will be moved to consent to be rescheduled for June 15) Droste-cosponsors Kesarwani Robinson, Commission Reorganization for Post-COVID19 Budget Recovery Refer to the CM and City Attorney to bring back changes to the enabling legislation phased approach Phase 1: prioritize merging Homeless Commission & Homeless Services Panel of Experts and merging Housing Advisory Commission & Measure O Bond Oversight Committee, Phase 2: see chart 

Additional considerations Staff to bring forward recommendations on consolidations one by one, CM and commissions to consider federal state or other mandates that might be impacted, what elements to keep, update or retire, relevant topics/issues, number of commissioners, qualifications, standing committees, volunteer workload and capacity.  

New Commission Name (suggested)	Existing Commissions
Commission on Climate and the Environment  (18 members)	Zero Waste, Energy, Community Environmental Advisory, and Animal Care
Parks, Recreation, Waterfront (special Marina subcommittee)	Children, Youth, and Recreation and Parks and Waterfront
Peace, Justice, and Human Welfare  (mayor and council appointees only eliminates representatives of the poor)	Peace and Justice Commission and Human Welfare and Community Action Commission
Public Health Commission & Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts	Community Health Commission and Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts
Housing Advisory Commission  (Phase 1 priority consolidation)	Measure O and Housing Advisory Commission
Homeless Services Panel of Experts  (Phase 1 priority consolidation)	Homeless Commission and Measure P Homeless Services Panel of Experts
Public Works and Transportation	Public Works and Transportation
Planning	Planning and Cannabis
All other commissions will maintain their current structure: Aging, Library Board of Trustees, Civic Arts, Disability, Commission on the Status of Women, Design Review Committee, Disaster and Fire Safety, BIDs, Fair Campaign Practices and Open Government, Redistricting, Landmarks Preservation, Labor, Loan Adjustments Board, Personnel, Planning, Police Review/Accountability, Reimagining Public Safety, Mental Health, Zoning Adjustments Board, and Youth

INFORMATION: 42. Mental Health Commission Work Plan. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

_____________________ 

 

City Council Regular Meeting June 1 at 6 pm 

email comments council@cityofberkeley.info 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89868895268 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 898 6889 5268 

AGENDA CONSENT: 1. Waiver of Sanctuary of City Ordinance for Westlaw Contract as external legal resource (Westlaw provides services to ICE), 2. Formal bid solicitations $2,270,000, 3. Appropriations limit for FY2022, 4. Amend Contract add $225,000 total $3,716,917 with Ghilotti Construction Co, Inc, for Rose Garden Pergola Reconstruction and Site Improvements, 5. MOU Multi-Agency Policing for Grizzly Peak Blvd (Oakland police Dept, UCB Police, East Bay Regional Park District, BPD, Contra Costa Sherrif’s Dept, EBMUD, City of Orinda), 6. Disaster and Fire Safety Commission – Expand Automatic Gas Shut-off Valve Requirements in Multi-family, Condominium and Commercial Buildings undergoing Renovations, 7. Arreguin, co-sponsor Harrison, Hahn, Wengraf – Oppose AB 1139 Net Metering – 80% reduction in credit given to solar users for surplus energy sent back to the grid, 8. Arreguin – FY2022 Budget Referral $900,000 Continuing Anti-Displacement Programs (Housing Retention $250,000, EBLC $275,000, EDC $275,000, Flexible Housing Subsidies for Homeless Prevention $100,000), 9. Arreguin – FY2022 Budget Referral $100,000 Landlord incentives for Section 8 Participation, 10. Arreguin, co-sponsors Bartlett, Harrison, Taplin – Support SB 617 the Solar Access Act, 11. Arreguin – Reappointment of Dan Rossi, Christine Schildt and Adolph Moody to Berkeley Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, 12. Arreguin, co-sponsor Hahn – Budget Referral $200,000 to Bay Area Land Trust for Small Sites Program, 13. Arreguin, co-sponsor Harrison, Wengraf, Hahn - Budget Referral $200,000 for Phase 2, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 of Civic Center District Visioning, 14. Berkeley Rep’s OVATION relinquishment of Councilmember office budget funds, ACTION: 15. FY2022 Proposed Budget Hearing #2, 16. ZAB Appeal 2421 Fifth, 17. Police Accountability Board – Appointment of Members, 18 a. SSBPPE – Resolution CoB and City food service vendors shall not serve sugar sweetened beverages at city meetings, use city funds for sugar sweetened beverages or sell sugar sweetened beverages in vending machines, b. CM alternative – healthy options shall be emphasized and the majority of beverages shall not be sugar-sweetened, 19. Harrison – Resolution Updating CoB Street Maintenance and Rehabilitation Policy. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

 

_____________________ 

Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals 

2421 Fifth Street (construct two residential buildings) 6/1/2021 

1205 Peralta (conversion of garage) TBD 

2943 Pine (construct a 2^nd story) TBD 

Notice of Decision (NOD) and Use Permits with End of Appeal Period 

1241 Ashby 5/25/2021 

2246 Fifth (2222 Fifth, 2233 Fourth, 2231 Fourth, 2246 Fifth associated sit improvements including hardscape and landscape) 5/24/2021 

0_55 Latham 5/25/2021 

0_65 Latham 5/25/2021 

0_75 Latham 5/25/2021 

2301 Oak 6/1/2021 

770 Page 5/27/2021 

2600 San Pablo 5/27/2021 

2411 Sixth 5/25/2021 

2234 Ward 6/1/2021 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications_in_Appeal_Period.aspx 

 

LINK to Current Zoning Applications https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications.aspx 

___________________ 

WORKSESSIONS 

May 18 – 1. Systems Realignment 2. Affordable Housing Policy Reform (tentative) 

July 20 – 1. Bayer Development Agreement (tentative), 2. Measure FF/Fire Prevention 

September 21 – 1. Housing Element (RHNA) 

October 19 – 1. Update Zero Waste Rates and Priorities, 2. Berkeley Police Department Hiring Practices (referred by Public Safety Committee), 3. Crime Report 

December 7 – 1. Review and Update on City’s COVID-19 Response, 2. WETA/Ferry Service at the Marina 

 

Unscheduled Workshops/Presentations 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

 

This meeting list is also posted on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

http://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html and in the Berkeley Daily Planet under activist’s calendar http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com 

 

If you or someone you know wishes to receive the weekly summary as soon as it is completed, email kellyhammargren@gmail.com to be added to the early email list. 

 

If you wish to stop receiving the Weekly Summary of City Meetings please 

forward the weekly summary you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com