Okay, it’s time to get back to work. “The holidays” have come and gone, even my birthday, January 22^nd . Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and I believe we still celebrate President’s Day, though I’ve always preferred Lincoln’s Birthday.

While I was mostly off duty, I had time to think about what we’re trying to accomplish here, though unfortunately I still haven’t reached much of a conclusion.

When we foolishly undertook the task of salvaging online the remains of our previous attempt to provide Berkeley with a print newspaper, we continued to be inspired by the oft-quoted slogan that papers are supposed to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” But just recently I’ve learned that this phrase was lifted from one of Finley Peter Dunne’s satirical columns, purportedly written by one Mr. Dooley, an Irish bartender. Here’s the whole context, from Dunne’s 1902 book, Observations by Mr. Dooley:

“Th’ newspaper does ivrything f’r us. It runs th’ polis foorce an’ th’ banks, commands th’ milishy, controls th’ ligislachure, baptizes th’ young, marries th’ foolish, comforts th’ afflicted, afflicts th’ comfortable, buries th’ dead an’ roasts thim aftherward.”

If you can decode this now seriously non-PC attempt to represent Mr. Dooley’s Irish brogue in English spelling, you’ll learn that everything significant anyone ever did used to show up in the many daily papers available at the turn of the 20^th Century. Alas, no more. 

Not only do today’s anemic print papers seldom afflict the comfortable, they don’t even report very well on the life milestones which Mr. Dooley credited their predecessors with chronicling for their readers. My mother sometimes said, quoting Mr. Dooley’s contemporary, her Gilded Age grandmother, “no real lady should have her name in a newspaper except when she is born, she is married, or she dies”—but events like these now go unheralded in what substitutes for the local press. No more birth announcements, wedding photos, death notices (except as paid ads). 

Also, readers don’t hear much any more about what the state legislature is up to, except at election time. Even then, the crucial primaries in increasingly one-party states get little coverage, except perhaps reports on how much money each candidate has raised. 

Local news outlets, both print and online, report more on candidates’ personalities than they do on the political trends and issues which shape campaigns. And around here what’s called “news sources” are more interested in which restaurants closed this week than who’s running for what office on which platform. 

These days, the trailing edge of what’s been known as the Berkeley Daily Planet is essentially a journal of opinion. We have been fortunate to have some opinionated writers who keep track of what’s going on and share their observations online. But I’ve found it harder and harder to cram opinions into the legacy format created for a print paper with a paid reporting staff, with various headings (News, Columns, Public Comment, Events…) which don’t appropriately describe their mostly-opinion content. 

I’m not sure how many readers just click on the front page at berkeleydailyplanet.com to see the whole assortment of articles in an issue, but I also send a list of links to recent pieces to about 1000 people who have signed up for free “subscriptions”. I believe that these subscribers are people interested in learning about what controversies are going on and are looking for ideas about what can be done about them. Besides the expected Berkeley residents in this category, there are longtime subscribers and occasional readers all over the world who recognize in Berkeley’s civic life patterns that can be observed in similar towns all over the world. 

Thanks to COVID-19 Zooming, in the past couple of years it’s been possible for “concerned citizens” to look in on all kinds of governmental activity everywhere, and it’s often not pretty. It’s a perfect illustration of the old saw that if you care about laws and sausages you shouldn’t watch them being made. But it’s hard to follow what’s going on in all these online meetings without the help of explainers who donate their comments to the Planet on a regular basis. 

These days, the most valuable explaining can be found in Kelly Hammargren’s comprehensive weekly calendars, gleaned from the untidy assortment of agendas and Zoom links promulgated by city agencies and commissions about their meetings. Kelly makes her detailed lists available to several progressive organizations to distribute through their own online methods, and the Planet is lucky to be another beneficiary. Here we headline her work “The Berkeley Activists’ Calendar”, but if I’m slow to post her latest version you can find it on the Berkeley Neighborhoods Council or the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition sites. 

Each entry in the calendar provides a clickable link which lets the user virtually attend in real time, and another one which lets you look at the agenda for that meeting. Kelly adds her own brief comments on what’s worth paying attention to. 

The sausage maxim is amply demonstrated if you click through to any civic event on the calendar, which is something I increasingly try not to do. As I occasionally watch one meeting or another, it’s become apparent that lacking comprehensive media scrutiny the local electeds are losing their grip on governance. 

The most recent appalling example was the council’s discussion of how many additional residential buildings (“Auxillary Dwelling Units” or ADUs) should be built in the high fire risk zone in the Berkeley Hills. The right answer, if you know anything at all about recent California wild fires on the urban-forest interface, is NONE. But thanks to new state legislation supported by Berkeley’s very own YIMBY representatives and their collaborators, every home in that fire-prone area must now be allowed to add at least one residential outbuilding to what are now single family sites. Local jurisdictions like Berkeley have almost no control over this process, but they can add more permissible units if they vote to do so. 

At the January 27 Berkeley City Council meeting, two of our self-identified YIMBY councilmembers (Kesarwani and Droste) were feverishly lobbying for the city of Berkeley to allow two new additions for every Hills parcel, despite dire warnings from the fire department that those narrow curvy streets would not only make it impossible to fight fires in the Hills, but pose a significant threat of spread to the Berkeley Flatland homes. 

Their obviously doctrinaire motions were so incoherent, so loaded with pseudo-legal YIMBY gibberish, that when the council finally voted on Kesarwani’s incomprehensible proposed amendment to the draft ordinance, which would have doubled the already huge number of residences permitted in the Hills, Councilmember Ben Bartlett (a member of the California Bar) voted the wrong way the first time and had to call for a re-vote. This was, of course, after midnight, the Berkeley City Council’s preferred time for dealing with controversial topics 

At least, thanks to Zoom, I was able to watch the chaos on my IPad from the comfort of my bed. 

My conclusion after watching this farce is that most Berkeleyans don’t know or don’t care about what’s going to happen from the Hills to the Bay when the fires and/or earthquakes inevitably arrive. With no more newspapers to cover city public affairs, they never will. Sadly, the biblical promise that “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” doesn’t always pan out, either clause. 

Most voters are not aware that the YIMBYfied state legislators, led by Berkeley’s two representatives, Senator Skinner, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (now chair of the assembly’s Housing Committee) and their fearless leader Senator Scott Wiener, have resolved to put an end to local land use planning, which will have disastrous results. 

--------------------------------------------- 

CORRECTION: The bill number and author were wrong in the previous draft.  

 

 

 

Dear Governor Newsom:

We need you to come to Oakland and support the brave people who are on the 8th day of hunger strike to defend the 16 neighborhood schools that the state-controlled school board has targeted to close or merge. Oakland families have been made to suffer for decades now by the intervention of the state in running their schools. State control has driven the school district further into debt and damaged children's prospects by increasing the average class size to 31, as opposed to 19 in private schools.

But closing neighborhood schools, dubiously justified as cost-saving, does NOT serve the interests of the public. It is especially unjustifiable when the state has a significant budget surplus. A good part of that surplus should go to improving public education in California, especially the primary grades in neighborhood schools. It can allow Oakland schools' debt to be wiped out and release the district from state control back to Oakland residents and the parents of Oakland schoolchildren.

I write as a believer, with Thomas Jefferson, in the importance of public education for effective democracy. Especially for children of low-income families, a small neighborhood primary school can ensure children's development to become responsible, fulfilled adults. We know that children thrive in small school and small classes, where their teachers can work with them individually.

Public education has been under heavy attack by the wealthy and the Republican party for decades, and they have succeeded in denigrating teachers and capping their pay, closing schools, especially in low-income neighborhoods, and diverting funding to charter schools, many of them for-profit. All this harms our children and blights their whole lives and our state and country’s future.

Introduction

Recently, the question of criminal violence in the streets has been raised (once again). Some people, and some police statements, have suggested that we are experiencing "another" crime wave. One might wonder what happened to the earlier one. Did someone just call it off? Or is the notion of a “crime wave” simply a media trick?

Toward the end of last summer, some neighborhood meetings were held, called by councilmembers from allegedly crime-targeted areas, to discuss what people were potentially facing – shootings, gang warfare, low-level theft, etc., were mentioned. It was fairly ordinary stuff for stressed and depressed low income areas. These meetings were also to discuss proposals for increased surveillance technology, as means of preventing crime. There was skepticism about that. Surveillance technology can aid in solving crimes, but only changes in social conditions will be preventative. And the problem with surveillance technology -- license plate readers and lamppost cameras, for instance – is that they will be pointed at all of us, and thus serve to enhance police social control capacities. Lamppost cameras make our daily lives part of a database, recording who we hang out with in parks, when we play chess (if we do), or to whom we pass little pieces of paper. It gets recorded for future use, but by whom?

A usual response to surveillance goes: “I’m not doing anything wrong. I have nothing to fear from it.” But one is powerless over its future use. People have ended up in prison for having been on the wrong street corner at the wrong time, thereby becoming suspects without alibi with respect to a nearby criminal event. In many ways, surveillance pushes the Constitution aside (e.g. violation of privacy without warrants). For example, we know about programs like "Echelon," which records and stores surveillance data collected globally. It reads all electronic communications, including cell phones, Wifi, email, internet pages and podcasts, etc., all without warrants. Electronic communications cross national boundaries (via satellites, etc.), which thus evade the limits of the juridical. In that contra-constitutional sense, surveillance itself sounds like a “crime wave” all its own. 

The Crime Wave of 2021 

Let us look at the substance of the alleged crime wave of 2021. One list can be compiled from police reports sent to subscribing neighborhood associations. They send maybe 2 or 3 reports a week on their activities. Starting in August, 2021, the list included arresting a person with a BB gun in Berkeley High School; finding drugs and guns during a warrant arrest; arresting a robbery suspect after investigation; finding guns during a DUI arrest; arresting a man for “sexual battery;” arresting a man for inappropriate approaches to teenage girls; noting a number of gunfire incidents, one of which was simply shooting into the air; a shootout in West Berkeley; violence to a domestic partner; enforcement of oversized trucking limits in downtown streets; arresting someone for hacking into teenage girls’ computers; arresting two men for an attempted theft that failed; and a hate crime (use of derogatory terms). No drug houses were busted, and no gang war resulted from the shootout. The only real social threat was someone shooting a gun in the air in a market parking lot and the two cars at war with each other running down 10^th St. The two car shootout led to two men being arrested, and some guns seized. That was the event that spurred councilmembers to proclaim the "crime wave" and call neighborhood meetings. 

What stands out is the variety of assaults on women. The police do not categorize assaults on women as “crime waves.” There are still hundreds of “rape kits” waiting to be processed from sexual assaults over the last couple of years. The only time the police pay attention to women is when they organize among themselves for self-defense against obsessive men. 

Berkeleyside presents a different compilation of criminal activity. They map shootings that occur within Berkeley boundaries. For 2021, they report 52 shootings, up from 41 in 2020. Of these 52 shootings, 6 caused injury; no one was killed. It is possible to consider 52 shootings a crime wave, though most shots fired were at buildings (10) or empty parked cars (7) or just up in the air (10). If this were the “wild west,” the odds of stampeding some cattle would have been fairly high. In the “benign west” of bay area cities, blowing-off-steam like this actually presents a modicum of danger to humans from stray bullets – a malign conjunction of gun availability and stressed out people. 

Among those shootings that resulted in injury (during our “crime wave”), there was a Samaritan who decided to intervene in a domestic dispute on the street. When one of the disputants turned to attack him with a hatchet, it was the Samaritan who did the shooting, injuring one of the people he was trying to assist. It reminds us of the many times the police end up killing a person who is threatening suicide, having been called to prevent him from doing so. 

A man walking in Aquatic Park was attacked by a man with a gun, who shot him when he tried to run away (shooter later arrested). In September, a woman was shot in the arm after a dispute with her domestic partner; both were arrested. During that same week, a 16 year old girl was shot in the leg on Channing St. (no suspects were found). In only one case was the shooting associated with a crime; some thieves fired a shot at a man chasing them. 

In terms of a "wave" of injury events, most appear to have been from domestic disputes. The real crime seems to be allowing such disputes to be settled with guns. 

One injury-shooting was by a cop. He shot a homeless person in January for allegedly stealing a sandwich from a Walgreens. This was the worst of all. The man was hit in the jaw, meaning the officer who fired the shot was aiming at his head, indicating a desire to kill. In none of the other injury-shootings was such a desire in evidence. 

Among the vandalistic shootings (at buildings and cars), one case involved three repetitions. A single house on Acton St. was attacked on 3 separate occasions in the middle of the night. A suspect, an Oakland woman with a very personal (and somewhat obsessive) grudge against the house’s resident, was eventually identified and charged with firearm violations and "stalking." 

Eight times, shell casings found on the street were listed as shootings. A patron fired a shot at a bar for ejecting him. A man stalking his (ex?) girlfriend fired a warning shot in her direction. Some shots were fired at the homeless encampment at Univ. Ave and Frontage Road in May. No cattle were stampeded. But clearly, emotional despair can claim a major place on our crime list. But that means we have a different kind of problem. 

We also have a third kind of problem. It is a political one. When the police speak about a possible crime wave in terms of gang warfare, it is a scare tactic. Back in 2017, there was trouble between gangs, leading to some "wilding." If it belongs to the past, to raise its specter in the present is bad faith. What has happened most recently has been the unification of many groups of young people -- white, black, and brown -- from different cities, all calling for the police to stop shooting black people, and to stop harassing black people with non-evidentiary (racially biased) traffic stops. Many demonstrations have called for different kinds of defunding of the police. One is that they be relieved of the necessity to respond to despondent people undergoing emotional crisis and trauma. Our 2021 “crime wave” is actually telling us that social stress is a primary aspect of our social scene. Yet the police continue doing profiled traffic stops, responding to emotional distress with guns drawn, and shooting at the hungry; we need alternatives – something unarmed and with a more humane approach. 

On the police side, it would be logical for them to disseminate stories and data concerning crime waves. It would be a way of saying: “don’t defund us, you need us; there is a crime wave.” 

Where is there a "real" crime wave?

The US has the largest prison system in the world, in absolute numbers of prisoners, and “per capita.” Since the ratio of people of color in prison to whites is roughly 3 to 1 (75%), while the general population of black and brown people is roughly 25%, it means that people of color are locked up 9 times more often than white people. Given that the crime rates in both populations is about the same, this disparity in imprisonment represents a nationwide crime wave of a racialized (and racializing) character, carried out by the government and the police against the people. 

 

A lot of people are thrown in prison on plea bargains. We do not know how many, since that fact does not appear on their records. But if I were to proclaim that every person in prison on a plea bargain was innocent, my statement could not be refuted (even though it may not be true). Why not? With a plea bargain, there is no trial, no evidence presented, no witnesses called, no record of judicial process. There is nothing but a signed confession. There would be no possibility of review of the case. Innocence is rendered irrelevant. 

The other side of mass imprisonment is the recidivism rate. Prisoners are constantly being released (most often into probation), in some states by the thousands every month. And they are systematically denied the means of survival because they have criminal records. They are identified as ineligible for social security, for government services, for government housing, etc. Cast adrift with no lifeboat, the probability of a released person committing a crime in order to survive becomes quite high. When caught, they get sent back to prison, fulfilling the notion that many sentences are really life sentences. 

There is a third side to this two-sided structure. And it is the side where people are being killed, not by guns but by negligence. There are homeless people dying on the streets every week. Three years ago, in Berkeley, the homeless population was estimated at around 800. The next year, it was up to 1000. And now, after two years of pandemic, that number has doubled. 

People die on the street from exposure, from ill health, from despair, from all kinds of self-medication and over-doses as they try to get through each day. They die. When the city provides shelter, it organizes it on the model of a prison, as a way of gaining social control over these people. So people stay away. Prison does not represent survival. Nowadays, the government can say that they died of Covid. But they were dying without Covid before Covid, so their continued deaths cannot be laid on this hapless virus. 

The city has been crushing some of the encampments of the homeless. Homeless encampments are essential to the survival of homeless people. They provide care to its members, and thus diminish the degree to which they die on the street. But it doesn’t eliminate it. Are their deaths to be considered crimes? Is homelessness itself a crime wave? Is city homeless policy really different from someone firing a gun at random in a city street? 

Both crimes are arbitrary. Getting hit by a stray bullet is like catching a cold when one’s tent is flooded and torn by strong winds. When a person dies in those circumstances, the question is not, who killed them? The question is why the government refused to protect them from the environmental factors that did it? The city refuses to provide recognition comparable to what it provides its housed residents. That is gross negligence. It means the city is part of a “crime wave.” 

There are hundreds of vacant apartments in Berkeley (as there are in every city) – owing to tax dodges and real estate corporations that gobble up houses merely as asset values. If the city seized those apartments, opened them for residence, and provided assistance in repairing what needed to be repaired, some of the homeless problem would be resolved. If all cities (or even a large number) got together and started opening those vacant apartment doors to homeless people, it would force certain changes in state law. But that won’t happen. If one city did it, no other city would join them. They would instead sit around waiting to see what would happen in the courts. A city’s refusal to violate property rights is a euphemism for “criminal negligence.” 

To shoot at a domestic partner requires a certain amount of malice. Can one attribute malice to the city’s negligence? When the city eliminates encampments without providing housing (not just regimented shelter), that policy represents a certain kind of malice. The street death that results is worse than death from a stray bullet, which hits without malice. City negligence, as malicious, becomes evidence of a desire to destroy. 

When the cop shot Vincent Bryant, the man suspected of stealing a sandwich, he was aiming for his head from about 40 feet away. That meant the cop was intending to destroy this man. That is malice aforethought

As host of the Beijing Olympics, China has adopted a draconian policy of “lock em up” at the first sign of a Covid outbreak. Just a handful of cases can lead to an entire city being shut down for weeks. The zero COVID policy appears to be a stunning success at first sight. The US has about 150 times the number of deaths as China which is four times our size. But according to one of America's top medical experts, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, this policy may be a ticking time bomb ready to explode. His thesis is as follows: The Zero-Covid policy is based upon the notion that COVID will vanish or somehow won't be a threat going forward. 

The current policy leaves their people unprotected from population- based immunity because they've prevented the coronavirus from coming into the country. Furthermore, their vaccines are not very effective at inducing herd immunity. China has a population of 1.4 billion and about 7 million hospital beds which means the hospitals would be overwhelmed in the absence of physician offices like the US and other countries. So, if a virus outbreak occurs it will spread quickly, and likely mutate with variants and knowing their penchant for foreign travel soon could overwhelm the whole world.  

Finally, the Zero-Covid has a very sinister aspect. Activists who are critical of government policies can be quickly locked under the pretext of protecting the general population.

QAnon's Featured Ghosts

We all witnessed the witless waves of QAnoners gathered in Dallas's Dealey Plaza last November, eagerly awaiting the return of John F. Kennedy—and/or his equally deceased son, JFK Jr. It was daunting to watch their devotion. Many remained on the sidewalks waiting for a Kennedy Moment days after the promised resurrection date had passed. (Granted, a few true believers bailed and decamped to a Rolling Stone concert that evening, buoyed by rumors that the Stone's Keith Richards was actually JFK Jr. in disguise.)

So now: an update on Trump's Reincarnation Nation.

A Trumpster recently interviewed on national TV assured reporters that The Donald would not only win reelection in 2024, but that the entertainment for his victory celebration would feature an appearance by Michael Jackson!

What is it with the Far Right's fetish for wanting to bring-back-the-dead? Is this a faith-based fixation—the belief in the coming of an A-List Neo-Jesus (minus The Rapture)?

But here's the really odd part about these Second Comings of pop-culture icons: why are these "featured ghosts" all celebrities of a "liberal" persuasion? Why are there no forecasts that Trump's Triumph will be visited by the ghastly likes of a ghostly Rush Limbaugh? A not-yet-deceased David Koch? A wide-awake Herman Cain? 

Russia Defuses Ireland's Ire 

The Russian military, which had announced naval drills off the coast of Ireland, subsequently agreed to move them further away after the local fisherfolk threatened to disrupt the sea-going exercises. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan interviewed two of the fishermen who were involved in "making waves" and netting a win for diplomacy. Thank you, Ireland! Thank you, Russia! 

 

PS: I can't imagine a scenario in which our pugnacious Pentagon would order the US Navy to stand down from a war game because of complaints from a foreign fishing fleet. 

Trump Keeps On Lyin' On Line 

D. Trump continues to be a terrifying and malignant force in US politics. According to his self-aggrandizing DonaldTrump.com website, "the Former Guy" appears to believe he's still an in-charge nation-builder. The home page blandly boasts: "Together, we are rebuilding our nation. Help fulfill our promise to Make America Great Again!" 

The options at the top right of Trump's "Save America" screen offer seven selections—About, Events, News, Alerts, Contact, Shop, and Contribute. Let's take a look. 

You would think that an "About" page by-and-about a recognized hyper-narcissist would be filled with large blocks of type, celebrity photos, lots of ego-crowing, and bales of boastful blather. But Trump's "About" page is pretty bare-bones. 

A 96-word overview claims: "my administration delivered for Americans of all backgrounds like never before" and "we respect our great American Flag." A dozen short sentences salute a familiar roster of conservative touchstones: "Judeo-Christian values," human rights that "come from God" including "the right to Keep and Bear Arms," "rebuilding our previously depleted military," opposing the "oppressive dictates of political correctness," believing "that the Constitution means exactly what it says AS WRITTEN," that police "deserve our absolute support," "that America must always have the most powerful military on the face of the Earth," and that leaders should be chosen by "secure elections going forward – where every LEGAL VOTE counts." 

Trump's Webpage Presence: One Dead-end After Another 

Two of the seven selections receive special treatment. "Shop" is highlighted in a box. "Contribute" appears as a MAGA-red button. Clicking on the "Events" option brings forth… a blank screen. Similarly, the "News" option has no news to offer, just a page with a sign-up sheet for "exclusive updates from Donald J. Trump" and the "Alerts" page contains nothing but the same, empty sign-up sheet. 

The "Contact" link leads to a small gallery of photos, mainly depicting Trump in front of large crowds. Unlike the previous pages, there is a hunk of text on this screen that reads: "The Office of Donald J. Trump is committed to preserving the magnificent legacy of the Trump Administration, while at the same time advancing the America First agenda. Through civic engagement and public activism, the Office of Donald J. Trump will strive to inform, educate, and inspire Americans from all walks of life as we seek to build a truly great American Future. Through this office, President Trump will remain a tireless champion for the hardworking men and women of our great country—and for their right to live in safety, dignity, prosperity, and peace." 

For Trump, The Press is So Depressing 

In a special slot designed to handle "Press Inquiries," there is just a single photo of Trump posed in front of a mob of reporters. But there's really no reason to visit this page since (as the only verbiage on display explains): "Donald J. Trump and Melania Trump enjoy hearing from the American people. Due to the volume of media requests President and Mrs. Trump receive, we will not provide status updates. Thank you for your understanding." 

Understood. The Trumps are clearly too busy with affairs-of-state (the state being Florida) to attend to the needs of curious reporters (and too cheap to hire an intern to handle the "flood" of press queries). At least the page doesn't invoke the phrase, "enemy of the people." 

Trump.com's Only Working Pages: Buy and Give 

The only two functioning links on the Trump webpage are "Contribute" and "Shop." The page for contributions offers the following news: "Having enough cash on hand is essential to SAVING AMERICA from Joe Biden and his liberal cronies. Step up now! We’re about to surpass 1 MILLION online donors - an absolutely historic achievement! As soon as we hit 1 MILLION, we’re sending President Trump a PRINTED donor list IMMEDIATELY. Will your name be in the 1 millionth spot? 

"Shop," the final webpage (and the only one to feature actual content) is both shameless and sad. It displays an array of cheesy collectibles, all sporting Trump's brand name and/or his smirking image. The opening page displays a dozen featured items ranging from Special Edition MAGA Caps ($40), to Save America beer glasses ($22) and Trump Signature Photo Mugs ($30). 

But the sorriest sight is all the items apparently left over from what must have been a rather listless holiday sales season. The collection of unsold Christmas gifts include a Single Trump Merry Christmas Greeting Card ($10, postage not included), an ornamental Save America Cap to hang on your holiday tree ($68), a Trump Save America Christmas Stocking ($40), and six-feet of holiday wrapping paper featuring the face of the smiling ex-president wearing a "Trump Santa Hat" ($28). 

There are six pages of not-so-goodies, in toto, including, on the very last page, a $20 yard sign reading "Let's Go Brandon"—which, if you haven't heard, is a rightwing slur-chant aimed at the current president. It translates into: "F— Joe Biden." 

Kinda tacky, even for a disgraced ex-president. But just more proof that TrumpleThinSkin remains a living contagion capable of spreading lies faster and farther than the latest COVID-19 variant. He deserves to be quarantined and confined—ideally in a federal prison (following a trial and conviction, of course). 

Peace Constitutions 

Wouldn't it be great if peace was enshrined as a right under national law? Well, the Action Network has come up with a campaign to petition "Governments of the World's Nations to Put Military Neutrality and a Ban on War in Every Nation's Constitution." 

A group called the Veterans Global Peace Network has begun promoting a proposal to persuade countries to "enshrine positive military neutrality in their constitutions." VGPN notes that the Hague Convention on neutrality provides the legal foundation on which to build internationally recognized laws on military neutrality. If the prospect of enshrining peace (and proscribing war) appeals to you, you can learn more and take action by clicking here. In the meantime, here's an "instant bumper-sticker" you can enlarge and print out:
Want Peace, Unconditional?
Make War Unconstitutional! 

And if you want to protest the fact that US "defense spending" (including veterans benefits and nuclear weapons costs hidden in the Department of Energy budget) claims nearly two-thirds of the $1.522 trillion FY 2022 federal budget, here's a slogan you might want to use for the annual April anti-war tax protests: 

A Tax on Weapons
Not Attacks on People

Helping mentally ill people recover is often one of the objectives of treatment. Yet it is not the only objective. 

The agendas of mental health treatment that I've seen include to keep psych consumers manageable, to prevent us from becoming nuisances to the greater society, and to identify and mitigate risk or threat posed by patients. The funding that mental health agencies receive is based on preventing incidents, and on subduing those mentally ill people with difficult personalities. 

Social architects' objectives are to keep patients as passive as possible, as pacified as possible, as invisible as possible, and to prevent us from making our voices heard. Many people in mainstream society can't deal with we unruly mentally ill people. They are afraid of us, hate us, think we are scum, and would like to see us vanish or be locked away. 

People with mental illness get a bad rap for a number of reasons. We may have violated the law when acutely ill. We may not have good clothes and may not keep ourselves as clean and well-groomed as most. We may be addicted to smoking--and some have a dual diagnosis of drug use. 

Some of us have been nuisances to those who want nothing to do with us. And the list goes on. This is just reality, and it doesn't say anything to detract from the inherent worth of every human being, including mentally ill people. 

This is the problem: people are just too damn intolerant. Most mentally ill people are good people despite all this. We want the same things for ourselves as do the non-afflicted. But for most of us, the finer things in life are light years out of reach. The treatment system teaches us to have low expectations of ourselves. Additionally, many professionals will use false flattery on us, as but one of many handy tricks to pacify us. 

We are responsible for our actions, and we reap consequences for how we behave as do everyone. If mentally ill, we have the option of not buying the line given to us by the treatment system that we are incapable. We have the option of preventing relapses for years and even decades if proactive enough in treatment. We can discard the devalue messages handed to us while we comply with taking the pills. 

The system does what it is good at doing, but it will not lead us to a better life. If we nag at them enough, and if we demonstrate commitment to remaining in treatment, we can force or at least cajole the system to do more for us. There are many good counselors and doctors who work in the systems, just as there are a few bad ones who are in the wrong business. If we show that we want more for ourselves and are prepared to work for it, many who work in the system will respond well to that. 

The mental health treatment system is not evil. Yet their repertoire of methods is geared toward people who lack insight and will. Not all of us lack the potential to become better and do better. 

 

Jack Bragen is author of "Revising Behaviors That Don't Work," and "Jack Bragen's 2021 Short Fiction Collection," and lives in Martinez.

e Trump takeover of the Republican Party is complete; it has become just another Trump family business. The Republican National Committee's (RNC) about-face of its position on the January 6, 2021 insurrection is just one example.

THEN:

On January 13, 2021, less than a week after the January 6 insurrection, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel released a statement urging protesters to keep the peace.

“Violence has no place in our politics. Period,” she said. “I wholly condemned last week’s senseless acts of violence, and I strongly reiterate the calls to remain peaceful in the weeks ahead. Those who partook in the assault on our nation’s Capitol and those who continue to threaten violence should be found, held accountable, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

“Let me be clear: Anyone who has malicious intent is not welcome in Washington, D.C. or in any other state capitol,” McDaniel continued. “The peaceful transition of power is one of our nation’s founding principles and is necessary for our country to move forward. Now is the time to come together as one nation, united in the peaceful pursuit of our common democratic purpose.”

Ms. McDaniel, how did that “peaceful transition of power” work out? 

NOW: 

On January 29, 2022, Trump said if he were to run for president and win in 2024, he would pardon people charged with criminal offenses in connection with the deadly Jan. 6 assault by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol. 

Right on cue, on February 4, 2022, Ms. McDaniel reversing the RNC's position on the insurrection saying. “They (Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL)) chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.” 

And you thought the RNC couldn’t sink any lower.

I can’t ever remember City Council canceling an entire week of meetings for Chinese New Year, but that is what happened this last week.

As promised last week, I watched the January 27^th video of the Council worksession on TOPA (Tenants Opportunity to Purchase Act) which ran the same time as the meetings on redistricting, housing elements, and four others. Mayor Arreguin gave his presentation and then opened public comment.

About halfway in to public comment I lost count of the “for and against.” At that point it was 19 in support and 23 opposed to TOPA. One speaker described supporting TOPA as wishful thinking about what might happen. Each iteration of TOPA carries more exemptions and a heavier footprint of property owners and qualified nonprofits which can become the owners in the TOPA buy, not the tenants.

The first councilmember to speak after public comment was Kesarwani, who expressed her opposition to TOPA. She said she would support requiring a presale notification to tenants. Notification details weren’t spelled out, but something to counter what happens now, when the first notification to tenants of a building for sale is the planting of a sale sign in front, or even that a sale has already happened and a new owner is taking over. 

I expect by the time TOPA is done very few situations will qualify, but we shall see as the rewriting continues. As it stands, now counting the council votes from meeting comments, Councilmembers Kesarwani and Droste are opposed to TOPA. Councilmember Wengraf has reservations and was opposed to the qualified nonprofit becoming the owners of a building and not the tenants. Arreguin will have support from Councilmembers Hahn, Harrison and Robinson. Councilmembers Bartlett and Taplin are a toss-up. The concern there is how property is passed/sold in the Black community to extended family members to build wealth. (Whites have built wealth through property ownership for generations). Droste expressed concerns around non-conforming families not qualifying for exemptions. 

This all segues into the presentation by Commissioner Anthony Carrasco at the Wednesday evening Homeless Panel of Experts Commission from the report by A.Carrasco, D.Jones and T.Song on ending family homelessness. Drilling down to the cause of homelessness Carrasco pointed to, it is a mismatch between income and the cost of housing. He continued that real estate speculation, especially foreign real estate speculators with all-cash transactions, outbids local home buyers and drives up housing costs. Most startling in the report is the increase in speculative buying with the target of detached single-family houses and townhouses. 

In TOPA, a single-family home rental is exempted if the owner has only one rental in Berkeley, which gives property owners that have multiple holdings in other cities a pass unless they are listed as a LLC on that Berkeley property. 

The report also proposes a tiered transfer tax, with raising the transfer tax on properties of over $2,000,000 to 5%.You can read the report’s pages 6-18 at https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_Commissions/Full%20Agenda%20Package%20and%20Supplemental%20Materials%20-%202.2.22.pdf 

There has long been a push in Berkeley for 24/7 mental health crisis intervention unit. The other Wednesday evening the Homeless Panel of Experts Commission presentation was by Holly Harris, Program Manager Deschutes County (Oregon) Stabilization Center. What was interesting is that Deschutes County is operating a 24/7 mental health crisis center providing up to 23 hours of care for an individual. The average stay is 10 hours. Ms. Harris described a positive relationship with law enforcement where the sheriff actually asked for such a service. That is such a different tone from what I hear from Berkeley Police Department leadership, but maybe there will be a different stance at the scheduled March 15 council worksession on homelessness and mental health services. 

It is a shame the presentation by Ms. Harris was not recorded. I did find a recording that was made when the Deschutes County Stabilization Center was just opening in June 2020 before it was 24/7. The interview still gives you a picture of services at the center in Bend Oregon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLXTst3Zrtw. At the time of the interview they were gearing up hiring and waiting for an announcement of grant monies (that did arrive) for operation of 24/7 services. 

Thursday afternoon was WETA’s (Water Emergency Transport Authority) first “hybrid” meeting so it was harder to keep track of who was talking, but the message is the same as at previous meetings: Ridership is down. The most notable statement from the WETA meeting was from the Board Chair, “We’re going to need more financial support from the public.” Staff stated when asked that projections of ridership for new services use pre-pandemic numbers. Careful listening makes one wonder how useful those projections are for the future. There was talk of needing to inspire workers to go back to the office [to generate commuter riders]. Board member Moyer said companies are not mandating return to the office because it will increase resignations. The plan for the Berkeley Ferry service is scheduled for presentation at the March WETA meeting. 

Maybe we will all end up loving the pier and ferry when it arrives and even use it once in a while, but according to WETA Board meetings we should expect to empty our pockets, pocketbooks and wallets to have it. 

I’ve started to catch up on my book reading. All that She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles, 2021 is definitely a favorite, describing the resilience and perseverance of Black women. This review has a picture of Ashley’s Sack. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/06/tiya-miles-new-book-explores-enslaved-family-history/ 

As I read the history of slavery through the eyes of Black women, I thought a lot about the present book banning in school libraries, classroom instruction and lectures on race, racism, slavery and genocide in other parts of our country. Of course, the current run to censorship doesn’t stop there. 

This country has always been about a mythical past and White supremacy runs right through it. 

And then, I heard about this, “A Tale of Two Theaters” in the journal Alta. “…the Black Repertory Group struggles and Berkeley Repertory Theatre thrives…” https://www.altaonline.com/culture/a38403159/black-repertory-ishmael-reed/ I am not surprised about the Berkeley Repertory Theatre gaining special funding and privilege. I’ve seen it through attending city meetings and heard complaints about arts funding going to the Berkeley Rep at the expense of other arts in the Berkeley community. But, a crowbar break-in to the Black Repertory Group Theatre by the city? Someone couldn’t have made a phone call? What happened and is happening to the Black Repertory Group requires more than some choreographed explanation/excuse that is likely to be served up to us. And, this brings us back to equity and what the values of this city of ours are anyway. 

There is another book I finished this week that ties into Berkeley business Walking with the Devil: The Police Code of Silence 3^rd Edition by Michael W. Quinn, 2016. The National Institutes of Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) draft report includes recommendations for training officers in intervening when another officer uses excessive force or engages in other unsavory, unethical or illegal behavior. Both the NICJR report and this book fail in addressing the role of leadership within police departments. 

Another among the many NICJR report recommendations is creating a “Progressive Police Academy built on adult learning concepts and focused on helping recruits develop the psychological skills and values necessary to perform their complex and stressful jobs in a manner that reflects the guardian mentality.” The report continues by characterizing the police academies where most Berkeley police receive training, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office Academy Training Center, Sacramento Police Academy, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Justice Training Center, and Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Academy Training Center, as “…paramilitary in structure, potentially instilling the warrior mentality…” not guardian mentality. 

NICJR held a community meeting this week. After a very brief introduction, they sent us into zoom breakout groups and used a “sticker” program to submit comments instead of discussion. Then the meeting abruptly ended 30 minutes early at 1 ½ hours. I wondered, is this all the NICJR consultants hired with $300,000 of city money have to offer? I am anxious to see the task force final report. 

Reimagining Public Safety is supposed to come to us on March 10 according to NICJR and the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, though nothing has appeared on any council schedule. Each group is preparing its own report, and the task force will be reviewing their draft this coming Thursday, February 10 at 6 pm.

On Saturday evening, February 5, I attended Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorus performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Mass in B-minor in Berkeley’s First Congregational Church. This was for Richard Egarr, the group’s new music director, his first go at the helm of Philharmonia Baroque in the work universally hailed as Bach’s magnum opus. Compiled in the last years of Bach’s life, The B-minor Mass includes music Bach wrote at different periods of his career. The Sanctus dates from 1724, the Kyrie and Gloria date from 1733, and only the Credo and Agnus Dei were written in 1748-49. Yet in spite of its seeming patchwork montage, the B-minor Mass is without doubt a well thought out work of monumental unity, Indeed, it is a veritable encyclopaedia of all Bach had mastered in his long and illustrious career as a composer. 

Numerous scholars have conjectured that Bach wrote the Kyrie and Gloria sections, which together are referred to in Lutheran liturgy as a Missa, in hopes of obtaining in 1733 an honorary position (and stipend) from the court of the Elector of Saxony in Dresden. This would have given Bach more leverage in dealing with the often contentious church fathers at Leipzig, where Bach was employed as cantor at St. Thomas’s school and Leipzig’s Music Director. The choice to write in Latin may have been a nod to the Elector of Saxony’s recent conversion to Catholicism. However, when Bach returned to composing a full Latin mass in 1748-49, he apparently did so with no prospects for a performance of such a lengthy work, which takes up more than two hours. 

It is surmised that the ageing Bach simply asked himself what task remained for him to accomplish, and a Latin mass seemed to him an appropriate work in which to show all he could do in the medium of sacred music. The autograph score for Bach’s B-minor Mass is written in a trembling hand unlike even the steady hand of the Art of Fugue written at almost the same time as his Latin mass.
For Philharmonia Baroque’s performance of the B-minor Mass, the orchestra and chorus were joined by soloists Mary Bevan, soprano; Iestyn Davies, countertenor; James Gilchrist, tenor, Rodrick Williams, baritone; and, in the Credo and Confiteor, Tonia d’Amelio, soprano. Richard Egarr conducted conducted from the harpsichord for the solo numbers and conducted the choral sections from a standing position. The heart of the B-minor Mass is in the fifteen choral sections, while there are a mere six sections for solo voices and only two duets. This emphasis on choruses marks out the difference between Bach’s Passions, where arias and duets abound in a more intimate and personal style than in the B-minor Mass’s more encyclopaedic style. In the B-minor Mass, Bach symbolized the continuity of the Christian tradition by using Gregorian cantus firmi in the Credo and Confiteor. 

In Philharmonia Baroque’s performance of the B-minor Mass, several sections stood out as particularly stunning. The Domine Deus section in the Gloria was beautifully sung by soprano Mary Bevan and tenor James Gilchrist, who were gorgeously accompanied by flutists Stephen Schultz and Lars Johanesson. The Quaniam tu solus sanctus aria was excellently sung by countertenor Iestyn Davies accompanied by horn player Todd Williams. The Crucifixus chorus was accompanied by solemn, grievous instrumental music ending in a descending passage, followed immediately by an outburst of jubilation celebrating the Resurrection, complete with trumpets. Perhaps the highlight of this entire performance of Bach’s B-minor Mass was the plaintive Agnus Dei sung in awe-inspiring tones by countertenor Iestyn Davies. For this music, Bach reused a tune he had used many years before, though here he simplified it in a way that emphasises its humble plea for God’s mercy. The final fugue for the chorus Dona nobis pacem concludes the Mass with a plea for peace.

Worth Noting:

The revised and new redistricting maps are to be posted Thursday, February 10, 2022. The Blue, Maroon and Orange redistricting maps were eliminated by the Independent Redistricting Commission at the last meeting. The Amber map is the basis for the new maps with revision of the border between Districts 3 and 8 in all maps.

Monday – Personnel Board meeting scheduled for only 1 hour starting at 7 pm. Peace and Justice Commission appeared on the calendar late Friday evening but without an agenda or notice on the homepage.

Tuesday – Agenda and Rule is on Tuesday at 2:30 pm not the usual Monday schedule. The Regular City Council meeting is at 6 pm.

Wednesday - A community meeting on disability access is at 6 pm. The Homeless Commission, Police Accountability Board , merged Parks Recreation and Waterfront Commission, and Planning Commission all meet at 7 pm.

Thursday – The Council Budget and Finance Committee meets at 10 am. The biennial budget process for FY 2023-2024 is starting. Reimagining Public Safety Task Force meets to review their draft report, a separate report from the consultants. Both the consultants and Task Force give March 10^th as the date to present to council, however, that date is not listed in the City Council list of scheduled worksessions in the approved calendar or planned worksession in the agenda meeting packet.

Saturday – Berkeley Neighborhoods Council (BNC) meets at 10 am.

 

The full agendas for the council agenda committee and council regular meeting follow the list of city meetings. 

 

Sunday, February 6, 2022 – No events or meetings found 

 

Monday, February 7, 2022 

Personnel Board at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88374176663?pwd=c3VyTkFGVURTWENVNmJHZm1CajZ5UT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 862717 

AGENDA: VI. Request for extension of Temporary Office Specialist II in Parks, Recreation, and waterfront Department. 

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

 

Peace and Justice Commission at 7 pm  

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85997517828 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 859 9751 7828 

AGENDA: meeting listed on community calendar, but not on website home page as of 11 pm 2/4/2022 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=13054 

 

Tuesday, February 8, 2022 

Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm, 

Videoconference: 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 

AGENDA: Public Comment, 2. Review and Approve Draft Agenda for 2/22/22 6 pm Regular City Council Meeting – full draft posted after list of meetings or use link, 3. Berkeley considers, 4. Adjournments in Memory, 5. Worksessions Schedule, 6. Referrals for Scheduling: 2. Berkeley’s 2019 Community-Wide GHG Emissions Inventory, 7. Land Use Calendar, Referred Items for Review: 8. Impact of Covid-19 on meetings, 9. Analysis of return to In-person meetings, Unscheduled Items: 10. Discussion regarding design and strengthening of Policy Committee Process and Structure (including Budget referrals), 11. Strengthening and supporting City Commissions. 

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

 

City Council REGULAR Meeting, January 25 at 6 pm 

Videoconference:  

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID:  

AGENDA: full agenda follows list of meetings or use link. 

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

 

Wednesday, February 9, 2022 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Legislation/IRA/AGA and Registration Committee at 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84605602189?pwd=RnJJKzAvYitxbkRaU3NDVC9wUTJ6Zz09 

Teleconference: 1-408-638-0968 Meeting ID: 846 0560 2189 Passcode: 270892 

AGENDA: Discussion and possible action: 6. Consider Rent Ordinance amendment eviction protections when there is an increase in tenants over base occupancy, 7. Consider remedies from keyed entries to keyless entries and tenants who are not able to use the new system, 8. Potential Ballot initiatives. 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

 

Homeless Commission at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/96645301465 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 966 4530 1465 

AGENDA: 7. Right to Return Policy as it relates to homeless population, 8. Update on heat at Old City Hall, 9. Disability accommodations to be identified during intake process and throughout program, 10. Lack of vehicle, volunteer, community-based organization and staff access to campers at Ashby Freeway exit, 11. Staff updates: 1. Pathways/STAIR Center, 2. South Berkeley Homeless Outreach Coordinator positions, 3. Homeless Point-in-Time Count. 

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

 

Police Accountability Board (PAB) at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82237902987 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 822 3790 2987 

AGENDA: 3. Public comment on non-agenda and agenda items, 6. PAB report, 7. Chief’s report, 8. Subcommittee reports a. Fair & Impartial Policing, b. Director Search, c. Regulations, d. Mental Health Response, 9. Old Business a. Revision of Policy 425 Body Worn Cameras, b. Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), 10. New Business a. Consider inviting BUSD administrators address the Board regarding BUSD’s threat assessment protocols and engagement with BPD’s School resource Officer at Berkeley High in light of October 15, 2021 and January 19, 2022 incidents, b. Review Policy 351, Public Safety Fixed Video Surveillance Cameras, c. PAB Budget proposal, d. Lexipol Policies, e. Response to Chief Louis regarding drafts requested fair and impartial policing implementation, 11. Public Comment, CLOSED SESSION: Conference with Labor Negotiators Employee organization Berkeley Police Association, 13. Tentative and Final Decisions in complaints #1,2,4. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=162752 

 

Planning Commission at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81673037126 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 816 7303 7126 

AGENDA: 3. Public comment non-agenda items, 4. Staff report future items, 9. Elections, 10. Housing Element Update and Draft EIR 

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

 

Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83911723812 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 839 1172 3812 

AGENDA: 3. Election, 7. Public comment, 8. Chair’s Report, 9. Director’s Report, 10. Update Changes to Measure T1 Phase 1 Project List, 11. PWR Capital Projects, 12. 2050 Revenue Measure, 13. Wind Storm Tree Damage, 14. Summer Registration dates and information, 15. Letter to state reps 2022 Budget Request from CoB related to infrastructure Improvements at the Berkeley Marina and Pier, 16. Dredging South Sailing Basin, 17. Update Budget Process, Transient Occupancy Tax to Marina Fund, Adopt-a-Spot, City Refuse Policy. 

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

 

Public Works – ADA Transition Plan Public Input Meeting at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86573536109?pwd=SnhGcElnQVNVZG1LcThqNUI3Z3daZz09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 865 7353 6109 Passcode: 951915 

AGENDA: 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CalendarEventMain.aspx?calendarEventID=17713 

 

Thursday, February 10, 2022 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee at 10 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84723314668 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 847 2331 4668 

AGENDA: FY 2023 & FY 2024 Biennial Budget Development Calendar, Review of Council’s Fiscal Policies. 

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

 

Reimagining Public Safety Task Force at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81983354907 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 819 8335 4907 

AGENDA: Feedback and Discussion on Draft 2 of the Rask Force Report Reimagining Public Safety Task Force. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/RIPST.aspx 

 

Friday, February 11, 2022 - Lincoln’s Birthday City Holiday 

 

Saturday, February 12, 2022 

Berkeley Neighborhoods Council (BNC) at 10 am 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81913698863?pwd=NFJjWlh2aDhtSjh1eG4yQUFkMzNmQT09 

Teleconference: 1-253-215-8782 Meeting ID: 819 1369 8863 Passcode: 377919 

AGENDA: Not posted check later. 

https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/ 

 

Sunday, February 13, 2022 - No City meetings or events found 

 

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AGENDA AND RULES COMMITTEE, Tuesday, February 8, 2022 at 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm, 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81163128397 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 811 6312 8397 

DRAFT AGENDA for February 22, 2022 Regular City Council Meeting 

CONSENT: 1. Minutes, 2. Formal Bid Solicitations$234,000, 3. Contract $625,000 3/1/2022-4/30/2024 with Berkeley Youth Alternative for Proposition 64 Grant-Proposed Work and Services, 4. Amend Contract add $355,000 total $992,778 with BUSD to provide Mental Health Services in local schools thru 6/30/2022, 5. Revenue contract accept $1,000,000 from CA Dept of Health Care Services for Crisis Care Mobile Units and any resultant revenue agreements to augment Specialized Care Unit through 6/30/2025, 6. Accept $25,000 donation for Meals on Wheels, 7. Lease Agreement 10-yr term with 2 additional options to extend for 5 years each, with NFS Unlimited, LLC of Skates-on-the-Bay at Berkeley Waterfront, 8. Grant Application up to $600,000: Clean CA Local Grant Program for Civic Center Plaza Turtle Garden Beautification Project, Memorial Benches donation $3,400 items 9, 10, 11, 13: 9. In memory of Susan P. Kwong at Cesar Chavez Park, 10. In memory of Asia Blau Feese at Berkeley Rose Garden, 11. In memory of Anne Rogin Blau at Cesar Chavez Park, 13. In memory of Key Slay at Shorebird Park, 12. Donation $16,720 from Rorick Family Trust for Strawberry Creek Park for tree planting, 14. Three Contracts with 3-year terms totaling $4,000,000 for Plan Checking Services: Telesis Engineers $1,500,000, West Coast Code Consultants $1,500,000 and TRB and Associates $1,000,000, 15. Contract $1,260,000 including 15% - $171,525 Contingency with Cratus Inc for Storm Drain Improvements Projects at Marin, Virginia, Grizzly Peak & High Court. 16. Contract $2,590,468 including 10% - $235,497 contingency with Cratus, Inc, for Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation at various locations, 17. 16. Contract $3,873,843 including 10% - $352,167 contingency with Cratus, Inc, for Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation at various locations on Shattuck Ave, 18. Contract $391,872 includes 10% - $35,624 contingency with Kolos Engineering, Inc for Urgent Sewer Repair FY2022 Project, 19. Contract add $1,891,415 total $8,924,872 with IPS Group, Inc for Parking Meter thru 6/30/2024, 20, Kesarwani Co-sponsors Taplin, Wengraf – Budget Referral: Street Maintenance funding to direct $3 million from the general fund for each of 3 fiscal years FY2022-33, FY2023-24 and FY2024-25 to gradually enhance street paving resources, 21. Taplin - Budget Referral: 1. $200,000 for four (4) Traffic Circles at Seventh St, Ninth St, Browning St, & Bonar St, 2. $50,000 one (1) Traffic Diverter at Tenth St, 3. $500,000 for two (2) Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons at San Pablo and Sacramento, 4. $70,000 for Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons and median refuge island at Sixth and Channing, 22. Taplin, co-sponsors Hahn, Bartlett - Streamlining Toxic Remediation in Manufacturing Districts Referral to City Manager, (the dormant Pacific Steel Casting site is at the center of this), 23. Robinson, Co-sponsors Taplin, Kesarwani, Arreguin – Budget Referral: $350,000 for Dredging South Sailing Basin, 24. Robinson - Support AB 1602 Student Revolving Loan Fund, ACTION: 25. CM - ZAB Appeal 1527 Sacramento, 26. Southside Complete Streets Project, 27. Taplin – Amend BMC Chapter 13.84 to Expand Relocation Assistance and Conflict Resolution for Tenants, INFORMATION REPORTS: 28. City Council Short Term Referral Process Quarterly Update, 29. Age-Friendly Berkeley Update, 30. LPO NOD 3125 Arch , 31. Update on the Implementation of Fair and Impartial Policing Task Force Recommendations, 32. 2021 Year End Crime and Collision Data. 

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

 

++++++++++++++++++++++ 

 

CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING AGENDA February 8, 2022 at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83320305084 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 833 2030 5084 

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

AGENDA CONSENT: 1. 2^nd reading Commission Reorganization Creating the Environment and Climate Commission, 2. 2^nd reading amendments to ADU Ordinance, 3. 2^nd reading Amendments to ADU ordinance to address public safety concerns (ADU ordinance for hills/fire zones 2&3), 4. 2^nd reading 15 year Lease and cooperative agreement with BART for retail space/Downtown Berkeley Bike Station at Center Street Garage, 5. Resolution reviewing and ratifying the local COVID-19 Emergency, 6. Resolution to continue Legislative Bodies (boards, commissions, committees) to meet via videoconference and teleconference, 7. $4,468,611 Formal bid solicitations, 8. 4 yr Contract $2,712,145 with O2X for Public Safety Wellness Programming to provide physical and mental wellness program for Berkeley Fire & Police Departments 2/9/2022 – 2/8/2026 with option to extend for up to 6 additional years in 2 yr increments for a total of 10 years total not to exceed $7,948,612, 9. Contract $200,000 with Wildland Res Mgmt for Community Wildlife Protection Plan with option to extend for an additional 4 years in 2-year increments and total not to exceed $400,000, 10. Adopt an exception to the 180-day waiting period for hiring retired annuitant as an extra help employee, 11. Contract add $120,000 total $310,000 with Epic Recruiting to provide additional recruiting and advertising services for police and professional staff vacancies, 12. Peace and Justice Commission (P&JC) - Resolution supporting immigration reform, 13. P&JC – Resolution in Support of Justice for Haitian Refugees, 14. P&JC – Normalize Diplomatic and Economic Relations with Cuba, 15. P&JC Japanese American Day of Remembrance, 16. Harrison, co-sponsors Arreguin, Bartlett, Wengraf, Budget Referral and Resolution Establishing Process for Siting and Developing Public Electric vehicle DC Fast Charging Hubs, ACTION: 17. Berkeley’s 2019 Community-Wide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, 18. ZAB Appeal 2956 Hillegass – add 170 sq ft single family-dwelling on non-conforming 2,754 sq ft lot, INFORMATION REPORTS: 19. Update on Berkeley Redistricting Process, 20. Healthy Checkout Ordinance Protocols. 

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Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals 

1527 Sacramento – 2^nd story addition date 2/22/2021 

2956 Hillegass - addition to nonconforming structure date 2/8/2021 

1643-47 California – new basement level and 2^nd story date 4/26/2022 

Remanded to ZAB or LPC 

1205 Peralta – Conversion of an existing garage 

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

SFD = Single Family Dwelling 

2427 Browning – Major residential addition over 14’ in average height 2/23/2022 

1814 Chestnut – AUP to permit expansion of garage door opening within non-conforming front yard setback 2/1/2022 

2836 College – Business sign, 12’ x 1.5’ with letter 9” tall Vibrant Nails and Lshes 2/8/2022 

1854 Euclid – Installation of 36” x 36” circular double sided blade sign and small amount vinyl color on door, 2/8/2022 

1519 Fairview – Add new 3-story detached dwelling unit with ave ht 28’, with building separation 12’ where 16’ is required, and add more than 6 bedrooms to lot on 6750 sq ft lot with existing triplex 2/2/2022 

1833 Sixty-Third – 388 sq. ft. addition including extending the non-conforming rt side setback at 1^st floor 191 sq. ft. addition, 197 sq ft addition above 14’ in ave. height at 2^nd floor for shed dormers, add 5^th bedroom at front of dwelling on 4,725 sq. ft. lot that contains 2 dwellings 2/23/2022 

185 The Uplands – Demolish existing garage, add new attached garage with 2-story addition above 14’ ave. ht. and legalize existing retaining walls, fences and hedges over 6’ in height on 10,011 sq. ft. lot 2/23/2022. 

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 

 

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WORKSESSIONS 

February 15 – Homeless and Mental Health Services 

March 15 – Housing Element Update 

April 19 – Fire Department Standards of Coverage Study, BART Station Planning 

June 21 – open 

July 19 - open 

Unscheduled Workshops/Presentations 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Alameda County LAFCO Presentation 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

Civic Center – Old City Hall and Veterans Memorial Building (Tentative: Action Item) 

Mid-Year Budget Report FY 2022 

 

Kelly Hammargren’s comments on what happened the preceding week can be found in the Berkeley Daily Planet www.berkeleydailyplanet.com under Activist’s Diary. 

If you have a meeting you would like included in the summary of meetings, please send a notice to kellyhammargren@gmail.com by noon on the Friday of the preceding week. 

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.