UC Police, Berkeley @UCPD_Cal · 20m UC Berkeley WarnMe: A Campus-wide Emergency alert has been issued. Campus police are investigating a credible campus-wide threat. Please go inside and move away from doors and windows. If you are not on campus, please stay away from the area.

I've been out of town, on a road trip to Los Angeles for a family memorial, so I haven't been able to post the excellent pieces that have been submitted in my absence. This is a one-woman shop here, so when I'm gone nothing appears. Watch this space for new material.

The plight of Ukrainian refugees has brought new focus on other refuges attempting to escape mortal danger from their own countries. While Ukrainian refugees have been cursed to live close to “big bad wolf Putin” and his murderous Russian army, they have been blessed to have fair skins which gives them a passport to neighboring countries which have welcomed them with incredible kindness and warm hospitality. In sharp contrast, US ICE agents have abused non-white asylum seekers; many have been imprisoned and tortured. Ukrainians entering the US from the southern border have been blessed to receive ‘Polish” style hospitality.  

In a rare victory, Cameroonians won Temporary Protected Status after an outcry over “Double Standard” for Ukrainians. The move allows Cameroonians protection from immediate deportation to a politically unstable state and grants them permission to work in the U.S. for at least 18 months amid escalating violence in Cameroon. As the midterm elections are fast approaching, there is intense debate over Title 42, a racist legislation which was enacted by the Trump administration to severely limit migration from our southern border targeting predominantly people of color. 

While we look in horror at the savagery of Putin’s army, we should remember our own dark history – the genocide of native Indian tribes, enslavement of African Americans, and the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps following the attack on Pearl Harbor. In our earlier history, we annexed large swaths of Mexico land during the US Mexico war, -California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona, the western half of New Mexico, the western quarter of Colorado, and the southwest corner of Wyoming. 

Western powers that once championed the welfare of refugees following World War 2 has been steadily eroding. Britain’s government announced a new plan for thousands of foreign citizens in the country who had applied for asylum. Rather than hear their claims, it announced it would now ship them to faraway quasi dictatorship of Rwanda mimicking the “stay in Mexico” US plan. What’s next? The Trump remedy separating parents from their screaming children? Britain did not invent the practice of shuttling refugees and asylum seekers in faraway facilities. European governments have been paying foreign despots and warlords, in countries like Sudan and Libya, to detain migrants on their behalf for years. Australia outsources this work to a string of island nations sometimes described as its gulag archipelago. The United States effectively pioneered the practice in 1991, when it diverted boats full of Haitians to Guantánamo Bay. A rise in right-wing populist politics, the backlash in Europe against a surge of migration in 2015 and then the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated this practice and others like it. Finally, as more land becomes uninhabitable with the impact of climate change, The refugee crisis will likely become much worse.

We are cyclists who are residents in the Hopkins Street area who will be affected by the changes proposed by the Hopkins Corridor study. While we applaud efforts to make Berkeley streets in general and our neighborhood in particular safer for pedestrians and cyclists, there are several parts of this proposal that we think will decrease our safety. 

Firstly, we approve of and appreciate all efforts to increase safety for pedestrians. This includes the proposed bulb-outs, raised crosswalks, added stop signs and striping. 

However, the protected two-way bike lane seems to raise more problems than it solves. It places west-bound cyclists into an unexpected location. When turning right, most drivers look first for any near pedestrians, then look left to see approaching cars or bikes. Drivers do not expect fast-moving cyclists to be coming at them from the right. Most of us have experienced the sudden appearance of a biker riding on the ‘wrong’ side of the street, and thought ‘Is that person crazy?’ Well, now that crazy is being proposed in this plan. Placing the bike lanes in this location is a behavior-change that will occur only here and only for a few blocks. It is unsettling to both cyclists and drivers who are used to having cyclists riding with the traffic. In addition, it requires cyclists to cross back and forth across the car lanes to enter and exit the bikeway. 

Having all cyclists use the south side of the street creates a hazard for any cyclist who wants to turn north at any of the intersections here. The west-bound cyclist will have to cross both traffic lanes. East-bound cyclists will have to cross the on-coming bike lane and both traffic lanes, rather than being able to turn left from the left edge of the east-bound car lane. This will be especially hazardous at Albina and Hopkins Court where there are no traffic controls. 

Due to the proposed medians between Gilman and California, cars backing out of driveways or those trying to exit the Monterey Market parking lot will have to pull across the bike lanes while waiting to enter the flow of traffic instead of being able to wait on the edge of the paving. This is especially problematic with the cyclists coming from the right, going west, where, again, drivers do not expect them. 

Both Ryan Murray and Farid Javandel have stated that they are regular cyclists and that they would not use the protected bike lane but would instead ride in the travel lane where they could go faster and with the flow of traffic. This is what most regular cyclists would do, including us. 

The design team does not appear to have adequate data about bike usage along this corridor. Is it possible that the protected bike lane is a hugely expensive answer to a problem that will not help the majority of the people who use (or would use) this area? Just because 70% of the Berkeley residents polled said they would be more likely to use a bike for errands or recreation if there were safer routes, doesn’t mean they will use bikes, or that they will use this type of bike lane. Is there data about how many people polled actually come to this area? How many come to use the businesses, and how many are commuters passing through? If the idea is to tempt more people to arrive by bike, then where is all the safe bike parking? 

Finally, as cyclists, we believe that it is unlikely that we will use the dual bikeway. We believe that riding on the wrong side of the road and having to cross back and forth across the traffic lanes places us in greater danger than sharing the road with the cars. Our suggestions for increasing bicycle and pedestrian safety in the Corridor include the following: 

1.The number one thing that would make the area safer for cyclists is to repave the streets. The roads are so full of cracks and holes and broken glass that we are required to swerve out into the lanes of traffic to avoid obstacles. Keep the road clean. 

2.Along with the above, add sharrow striping and signage. Make drivers aware that cyclists have the right to use the road, including the whole lane if necessary for (the cyclist’s) safety. 

3.In the project area, change the color and/or material of the paving. This is another indication to drivers that there exist special conditions that require their extra attention. This change of paving occurs mid-block on 4^th St. in the shopping area, and it makes the area safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and cars. The blocks between Sacramento and McGee would be a minimum. Farther would be better. 

4.Do something, such as adding a raised crosswalk, to mitigate the issue of people rolling through the stop sign at Hopkins and Gilman, particularly when turning right onto Gilman. We have seen several people, including two school children, almost get struck by drivers not coming to a full stop before turning. 

In summary, we believe there are too many unanswered questions in this proposal for the Council to make an informed vote on this plan that will cost the City of Berkeley millions of dollars and may be found to be unwise and/or ineffective.  

Please implement the pedestrian safety features of raised crosswalks, bulb-outs and striping during the repaving period, but leave the other changes, such as the two-way bike lane, medians and bus bulb-out between California and Gilman, for a later date after they have been given more study. 

Thank you for your consideration of our views. 

Sincerely, 

Lisa Friedlander 1329 Albina Ave. Lori Copan 1329 Albina Ave. 

Carine Elkhoraibi 1308 Albina Ave. Bill Marthinsen 1334 Albina Ave 

Eliot Jordan 1338 Albina Ave. Diane Garcia 31 Hopkins Ct. 

Emily Marthinsen 1334 Albina Ave. Ben Hartshorne 35 Hopkins Ct. 

Christy Hartshorne 35 Hopkins Ct. Riah Gouvea 28 Hopkins Ct. 

Shasta Phillips 28 Hopkins Ct. Celia Shryne 1259 Monterey 

Linda Russo 985 Euclid Carlos Castellanos 985 Euclid 

Shawn Duyette 2311 Jefferson 

Our recommendations:

• Let the street be repaved, which by itself improves conditions for cyclists.
• Do the non-controversial things (restriping, additional crosswalks and stop signs, etc.), and any safety measures that could be easily and cheaply reversed if, upon reflection, it becomes clear that something else would serve everyone better (painting sharrows, for instance).
• If possible, take care of the pedestrian safety concerns at Hopkins and Monterey, and then see whether that is enough.

To: 

The Honorable Sophie Hahn 

shahn@cityofberkeley.info 

Councilmember Hahn, 

There are a fair number of people (including the recreational and commuter bicyclists) who welcomed your idea of the amenities (particularly benches) for the neighborhood that would have come with placemaking, so hearing that you are requesting funding for them is a welcome development. 

However, there are several aspects of the current Hopkins Corridor plan that are simply unsupportable. 

The two-way bike track should be flatly rejected as way too dangerous for cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists alike.  

For instance, few cyclists will risk turning from the two-way bicycle track through oncoming traffic onto Albina and Hopkins Ct. It’s dangerous because oncoming traffic would not be expecting it, and cyclists would have to block the bike lanes while trying to negotiate the turn. Both Hopkins Ct. and Albina, as well as Hopkins itself, are home to several children who bike with their parents, so to say this is a less than ideal situation is an understatement. 

Staff noted that it did not know anything about the volume of bicycle traffic currently carried by Hopkins.  

Since the intersection of Monterey and Hopkins is not on the city’s annual bike usage 

survey, we have taken our own counts to see what the bicycle usage is in this neighborhood. We have found that Hopkins is truly a pedestrian heavy street, not a well-used corridor for bikes. (See attachment 2) 

Those of us who are both recreational and commuter cyclists know that the biggest risk to bikers in Berkeley is the condition of the roads. Improving them is our number one priority. We find sharrows on Hopkins to be an acceptable, even better, alternative to the complicated, expensive plan that staff is proposing. We’d rather concentrate resources on improving the safety of the Hopkins/Monterey intersection, which is another huge priority for us. (See attachment 3) 

During the Zoom meetings, participants were often told that staff didn't know the answers to questions, that they shared neighborhood concerns about some things in the plans (like the two-way bike lanes and how they would safely interface with Hopkins Ct., Albina, and Gilman), but that staff was going to leave it to engineering to work out the details. 

That reminded us of the planning fiascos the city has endured in the recent past, including both redesigns of the intersection at The Alameda and Hopkins as well as the undoing of barriers on Milvia. 

It has left many of us with no confidence in this process, which seems to be driven by a well-meaning but hardcore group of bike activists. 

Bike enthusiast Ben Gerhardstein's comment in Berkeleyside about the Milvia problem exemplifies why we have concerns: “We shouldn’t be in a position of having to take out infrastructure a couple of months after it was put in,” said Ben Gerhardstein of Walk Bike Berkeley. “We fight tooth and nail to get this infrastructure put in place, and it’s not cheap,” he said. “It takes time and planning, and removing it without any kind of process is a slap in the face.” (2/3/2022) 

While Gerhardstein is correct that the city shouldn't have been in that position, in advocating for not correcting the problem immediately he seems to be blinded by his advocacy for bike lanes to the point of potentially harming patients at Alta Bates. But we agree with him on this point: if the city isn't entirely certain of what it is doing, it shouldn't do it, particularly when the cost is so high. It is too disruptive and too costly to do something and then have to remove it because it doesn't work. 

You could not have predicted what a fiasco this review process would be when you took the lead in requesting the funds to study the corridor for placemaking and safety upgrades. 

The plan no longer contains placemaking elements, and the improvement in safety is dubious at best. (Even the State of California, though not prohibiting two-way bike lanes, considers them the least safe option.) 

The most unsafe area in the corridor is the intersection of Hopkins and Monterey; it is unsafe for everyone, but mostly for pedestrians. Their safety should not be a by-product of putting in bike lanes; it should be the primary focus. 

Watching pedestrians, particularly kids, the elderly and disabled, try to dodge cars in that intersection is at times harrowing. According to the Vision Zero Plan document, drivers not yielding to pedestrians at crosswalks is the top traffic violation for severe and fatal vehicle-involved collisions in Berkeley. The proposed raised crosswalk may help. 

However, the danger felt at the intersection is not so much about being seen in the crosswalk; it is about finding an opening to even enter it. And it is the slow trickle of pedestrians that frustrates drivers, who then dangerously nose into the crosswalks to try to find their own opportunities to pass through the intersection. 

Bicyclists who do not make any attempt to stop at the intersection are equally of concern, particularly to the elderly. 

Based on our bike traffic counts, bikers who blow through the intersection do not make up a very significant portion of the bike traffic, but they definitely exist, and their presence is not predictable. 

Early last year, in late March or early April, you tweeted: “I do not support removing parking from the shops and also am asking staff to slow down this process and do the thorough and balanced study that was referred to them…My intent was to make sure all interests were consulted, listened to, and carefully balanced. I am not in support of a plan that puts bike lanes above all other options and takes away important support for our businesses and residents, nor a rushed and cursory process.” 

Pandemic restrictions have not made this easy for staff, but they are not a reasonable excuse for continuing to push forward a plan that has so little neighborhood support. 

The final three Zoom meetings provided equal time to discuss each of the segments of the corridor, as if each one faced the same number and intensity of issues. Yet only the lower segment (McGee to Gilman) is fraught with major planning difficulties and conflicts between all the involved constituents (bikers, pedestrians, drivers, merchants, residents). 

The discussion period was too short to address all the questions, and asking people to write to staff to re-ask them deprived the other participants of hearing the answers. Moreover, many have complained that, though they followed through by contacting staff, their questions were never answered. 

While removal of parking is certainly not the only issue for the merchants and residents of the lower portion of the corridor, it is nevertheless, a concern. 

Staff has yet to answer the question of how many parking spots will be lost (by our count, it is a minimum of 35); nor has it suggested what residents who use those spots are supposed to do as an alternative. The summary of the advantages of the design concepts says that most parking spots in front of the commercial block are retained, as if Monterey Market is not part of the commercial area. All parking spots on both sides of Hopkins north of Monterey Market are eliminated. 

In addition, all parking spots are eliminated from both sides of Hopkins the rest of the way down to Gilman. We were told that there were only three residences that didn’t have off-street parking on all of Hopkins, even though we know that one apartment building alone (at the corner of Hopkins and Hopkins Ct.) has 8 units and NO off-street parking at all. 

There are many other apartments and condos on Hopkins, some having less than one parking spot per unit and none having more. Some of those apartments have two and three bedrooms and likely house more than one adult, leading to the possibility that they are multiple vehicle households. Where was the consideration of this in the staff report? 

There is just too much misinformation and missing information for anyone to be able to make an informed decision about the appropriateness of this plan. It simply isn’t ready for prime time yet, so we are asking that at the upcoming council meeting you again request that the project be slowed down. 

The city has no data to indicate that Hopkins is or ever will be a major bike route. 

The major thrust seems to be due to its having been included in the Vision Zero plan, along with its having been designated as a corridor in the Berkeley Bike Plan. But, despite assertions to the contrary, it’s only because of an exceedingly loose definition that it can be classified as an area with a high rate of serious accidents. 

We can find no supporting documentation in any of the studies submitted by staff that actually shows the number of serious and fatal bicycle accidents the city claims. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary in the Transportation Information Mapping System (TIMS) information provided. 

There is no analysis by staff of whether bike lanes would have had any effect in preventing the few accidents that did occur, and the one fatality, which occurred at the Monterey/Hopkins intersection, was of a pedestrian and did not include a bicycle at all. This supports our claim that the major need on Hopkins is a rework of that intersection, with an emphasis on pedestrian safety first and foremost. 

Hopkins is a major car route and pedestrian area, and it has the exact same needs as other residential areas, plus additional needs because of its commercial area. Changes should not be made to the exclusive detriment of those two constituencies.  

We are including the results of our bike count, taken April 5-7, which mimics the counts taken each fall on other intersections in the city. You will be able to see from that what a busy pedestrian area this area is, and how it is one of the lowest bicycle usage areas measured in the city. 

We want to reiterate that residents are not opposed to changes to the corridor. But we want them to actually reflect the needs of the people who live here and shop here, and not just the needs of a few people who pass through the area during a few short hours a day, or the perceived needs of others who are singularly focused on one thing. 

Our recommendations: 

Repave the road as scheduled. 

Add the obvious amenities (new striping, stop signs, handicap parking, etc.). 

Postpone other enhancements until it is clear that they are needed and will do more good than harm. 

Thank you. 

Introduction

This series of articles began by introducing a concept of crime that was not based on law, but rather on an action’s existential effects. Traditionally, crime is understood as a violation of the law. Since this implies that a legal system determines what constitutes a crime, it facilitates a form of autocracy. Insofar as an administrative structure or organization determines whether something constitutes a crime or not, it is not the person suffering from that action who does so. Decisions are made for people rather than with them. To make policy without the participation of those who will be affected by the policy is to dispense with any pretension to democracy. For democracy to exist, those who will be affected by a policy are, and must be, the ones who conceive and institute the policy that will affect them.

We seek to approach crime in a democratic manner. In this vein, we would define a crime as any action that injures a person, or a person’s social standing, as seen by the person affected by the action. For instance, any action that deprives a person of their personal property or their access to their personal property, against their will, or which damages or interrupts their valued relations to other people, would constitute a crime against them. It would be considered a form of victimization. The Law sees it from outside the action, through an institutionality. From within the relation between an accused perpetrator and one charging injury, the jurisprudent dialogues that would provide an arena for the accused to deny and defend themselves would be quite different (de-institutionalized, and not based on conflict).

In sum, crime is an injurious relation between a perpetrator and a victim in which it is the victim who gets to say if (and how) an injury has been done to them. The focus of this perspective is that of the one injured, rather than the institutional interests of a judicial system. Slavery or segregation would never have been possible under this alternate perspective.  

When a police officer shoots and kills someone running away, existentially that cop has committed murder. In the eyes of “the law” and his department, his act can be seen as lawful. When we examine the system of laws called “victimless crime laws,” we are looking at something ridiculously irrational and autocratic with respect a democratic approach to crime.  

How, then, are we to understand the concept of a “crime wave.” And it has become important since police departments are using it as a rationale to demand increased spending on the police. As an outbreak of criminal activity that injures many people over the course of time, a crime wave supposedly exceeds normal social condition. But who is it who should get to define it as such? Typically, it is the police or the political structure that warns the populace, even though that has an element of self-interest. Political self-interest would obviate the ability of the people to define a “crime wave” committed by the political structure itself.  

Let us look at the "crime" called “plea bargaining.”  

Plea bargaining  

When a cop arrests a person pursuant to law enforcement, we generally understand this to mean there is evidence, witness testimony, etc. sufficient to bring the case to trial if the suspect pleads “not guilty.” But when a cop arrests someone purely on suspicion, without evidence, or without probable cause, simply on the basis of the person having refused to cooperate with the cop, or for having objected to the cop actions as harassment, a plea bargaining situation is set up – generally to protect the cop from having engaged in a false arrest.  

The absence of evidence or probable cause does not necessarily mean no crime has been committed. But it does mean that the arrest was as yet unwarranted. In any event, the arrest brings the person arrested under the jurisdiction of a prosecutor, who then decides what to do with respect to any charges. If the government decides the person is someone they want to imprison (for instance, for being black, or a member of a Latino youth group, or an environmental or anti-war activist, etc.), then it has the machinery of the plea bargain to do so. And, in such cases, that machinery gives the arrest a false validity.  

The first step in setting up a plea bargain is to charge the person arrested with a serious crime, something that will carry a heavy prison term. It will be something the person knows they have not done. For that reason, the person will object and deny the charge. Against the prosecutor’s claim of having evidence, the person will insist on their innocense, and promise to plead “not guilty.” The prosecutor then informs the person that, because a trial will cost the city money, the prosecution will insure that the person is convicted.  

Those who are knowledgeable about this process know that the odds the prosecutor can do so are quite high. It is precisely because of the absence of evidence for the serious crime charged that a real defense against it becomes almost impossible. It is not possible to prove that something didn’t happen. One can narrate the event’s non-existence, but no degree of logic or evidence can be brought in at the level of proof. It is the absence of proof or evidence for the original charge that makes the system work.  

In addition, the prosecutor will have resources at hand to make a circumstantial (though fabricated) case, in which the arresting (harassing) officer will be the main witness. Though an element of corruption is thereby introduced into institutional jurisprudence, it is rarely brought to public attention. In general, popular opinion already assumes that the fact of an arrest constitutes "evidence" that a crime occurred (this is the “myth of truthfulness” attributed to law enforcement). It is those knowledgeable about the plea bargaining machine who know the extent to which the deck is stacked against the arrestee.  

Should the person insist that they will plead not guilty anyway, out of self-respect, the prosecutor will promise not only to win a conviction, but obtain the maximum sentence. In other words, this agent of the law will be ready to punish a person for their sense of innocence, their self-respect, and their human rights. Under any ethics of lawfulness, this would be an atrocity. But in reality, as soon as the fabricated “serious crime” was charged, it would no longer matter whether the person had committed any actual crime at all. The principle of justice has already been thrown out (by the "justice" system itself), and replaced by the play of power. Once justice is thrown to the curb, human rights go with it.  

As soon as the prosecutor sees that his scare tactic has worked, he will offer the bargain. He tells the person that if they will plead guilty to a lesser charge, the prosecutor will go for a lighter sentence. That simply means confessing to the lesser charge, again in total separation from whether one had done it or anything else. It is pure blackmail. One’s choice is between doing maximum time for insisting on one’s innocense, or doing minimum time for agreeing to a prosecutor’s lie.  

What we have, in sum, is a system that does not represent law (blackmail is a crime), uses legal violence, and violates social ethics to a degree transcending the limits of training as well as administrative regulations. Since there would be no bargain without the person’s confession, the bargain represents an act of fraud. Through this compilation of criminal aspects, the procedure known as “plea bargaining” signifies that the aim of this judicial system, this operation of the "force of law," is simply a procedure to throw people into prison. Nothing more.  

It is that "cultural" structure that has been so adamant in framing movement activists over the last 40 years (including Mumia, Peltier, Pratt, Sundiata Acoli, Poindexter and Rice, Ruchell Magee, on and on – it is a very long list). All were convicted on perjured testimony. Geronimo Pratt, for instance, was in Oakland when the murder of which he was accused occurred in Los Angeles. The FBI knew this because they had tapped phone records of him in Oakland from that day. He was convicted on the testimony of an FBI agent. It took Pratt 22 years to clear himself. What this cultural structure, which is clearly white supremacist, is interested in is not justice but imprisonment. That is why the US today has the largest prison system in the world. It is not the largest country, but it is the one with the most people in prison. Each time a city increases appropriations for the police, it is saying it wants more.  

In sum, plea bargaining is based on three things; police harassment of people (profiling most often teenagers and people of color), police insistence on social control (through their criminalization of individuals), and police arrest activity. Harassment is based on three forms of law: victimless crime laws, the raising of police suspicion (subjectivity) to the level of evidence (Terry vs. Ohio), and the ability to demand militarized obedience to police commands. Victimless crime laws give the police the ability to stop and investigate (often search) a person at will. Because there is no complainant (the "crime" is victimless), the cop plays the role of a "complainant." It is the person accused by government who is the "victim" of the victimless crime law.  

The plea bargain is an abuse of law, a denial of justice, a form of oppression, and thus a crime against the people.  

Harassment of young people  

The mechanics of plea bargaining already represent a crime wave committed by the government. But there is a special category of target that needs to be reviewed. It is the fact the police often campaign against young people, engaging in a process of discrimination that eventually feeds a person into the machinery of the plea bargain.  

When young people come to the attention of the police, usually because they congregate on the street, they get their name on a list. That list is then used for future approaches or harassment. In other words, it constitutes the early stages of a "record," while at the same time being the source of a profile. The existence of a record is then used as "cause" for the police to watch, surveil, or detain. [cf. “Punished,” by Victor Rios, NYU Press, 2011]  

Harassment breeds resistance, especially among young people. Without worldly experience to guide toward positive organized forms of resistance, their rejection of harassment makes them easy targets for further harassment.  

There are stages in the development of a "record." And each stage becomes the basis for the next one. From warnings to tickets to juvie court dates with advisors or therapists to juvie court trials, ending too often in wholly repressive final stages, the process feeds on itself. At each stage, the person’s "record" stands in for probable cause. Because the "record" is self-generated by the police, its reality remains its use as a profile. The profile is to give young people a record in order to use the record as a means of profiling them.  

The final stages could be police violence, or plea bargaining, or long prison sentences. But in each stage, there will be the unfolding of a form of secret rage.  

It is here that the social effect of plea bargaining achieves a mythic nature. Under the rubric that the police are simply performing their function for society (aka law enforcement), the idea that arrest equals guilt is given mystical status. “They must have done something.” When the plea bargain transforms harassment into criminalization, the myth is affirmed. The more people are punished, the more their derogation becomes acceptable.  

There is an Orwellian catch  

We can say that some of those in prison on a plea bargain have committed crimes; and some haven’t. The irony about the plea bargain concept is that there is no way to tell the difference. There are no court records, no records of evidence, no witness testimony, no defense arguments, nothing. A confession, elicited through blackmail, is all there is.  

Because this is the case, I can say that everyone now in prison on a plea bargain is innocent, and there would be no way to refute my statement. (I ran this by a Superior Court judge one day, and she had to admit to its correctness.) If a statement cannot be refuted, then there is a character of truth that attaches to it. In other words, we must recognize that everyone now in prison on a plea bargain is innocent, precisely because my statement cannot be disproved. 

Some of the people who are imprisoned by the plea bargaining process may actually have done something. It could be that they had stolen some food from a market, or some jewels from a house, or engaged in selling illegal substances. Perhaps one wanted some money to take a pretty woman out on a date. or to clear a debt so the creditor would not do something rash. These are common circumstances; they happen all the time in a system dedicated to impoverishing entire classes of people. 

If there is no way to verify guilt, then the person must be innocent, and framed. And yet they are in prison. That is a crime that this society commits routinely, through its justice system. If the justice system wishes to eliminate crime waves, it should certainly start with itself.

I am amazed that the council seems focused on making it harder, not easier, for people to share together and help each other whether the focus is food, poetry, music or emergency supplies. California has the worst poverty rate of all states, running at about 15% of the population.

The Santa Cruz Municipal Code Chapter 10.65 ordinance regulating "Public Gathering and Expression Events" passed on April 14, 2022, are an embarrassment to sensible, public-serving legislation. They appear to be clearly targeted at specific events or groups, which is a definition of bad law.

Please sit down with any groups you feel are honestly presenting an issue and work out your differences. I know that people of good faith are capable of this, and that our government and police resources are better focused on other things.

“I’m also proud to report that Gov. Newsom recently signed SB 118, my Budget Committee bill that safeguards student enrollment at UC Berkeley and ensures that CA’s environmental law doesn’t treat student enrollment differently than any other campus activity.” - Senator Nancy Skinner

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

It's an odd moment for pride, Senator Skinner. Some of us remember a Nancy Skinner who would have displayed modest embarrassment over the destruction of redwood trees, community gardens, rent-controlled housing, state historic resources, and national landmarks. Some of your electors thought you were that person, not the person who just erased court decisions crafted by grassroots community groups in expensive court battles just to protect our community's sleep, our health, our community resources, and our history.

As the Berkeley City Council considers the long overdue issue of reparations, it might take a moment, hopefully at Senator Skinner's request, to suggest additions the court is currently requesting to any agreement Berkeley currently has with the University of California using grassroots efforts known as Measures L and N from the 1980's as inspiration.

Measure L didn't just protect parks and open space from commercial intrusion and mandate their maintenance, it required the city to expand and create more park and open space in a city so dense it was remarked upon by planners over 100 years ago before the teensy, unwalkable balconies and roof spaces on high-rises were counted as "open space" by planners.

Measure N was equally crucial. The people of Berkeley, by a comfortable margin, voted to require the University of California to honor local restrictions and requirements so that its expansion didn't hollow out the city's historic landmarks, park space, height and zoning requirements, all the things that hang in the balance when UC decides to use capital it could use to lower tuition to buy land instead and thwart local guidelines with its exemptions.

The land it buys is California wide. The University of California is California's largest landowner. If your local media is going along with the idea that UC needs your local park to convert to housing, it's only because your local media is stupid, was just hired, or is on UC's payroll. And is absent a map.

If the Berkeley City Council cared about making sure it represented an informed electorate, it would require that UC identify and regularly post what it owns already and what it is currently bidding on in town, so that the impression UC likes to leave of a shortage of sites on which to build housing is adequately countered by the frank reality of your UC donation going nowhere near lowering tuition or addressing the maintenance of landmarked buildings currently it is letting go to ruin, buildings which are a legacy of California's architectural and cultural history which UC has a long legacy of destroying, ignoring, or in the case of 1921 Walnut, bulldozing before anybody really catches on.

The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board noted in its editorial of March 6, 2022, that the state Supreme Court's ruling agreed that UC's expanded enrollment "would have an outsize effect on traffic, noise, rental prices and the environment."

Then came Senator Skinner, whose Berkeley origins enabled legislators all over the state to fall prey to the idea that without her help qualified students wouldn't be able to attend school! Clothing was rent. Tears were shed. Headlines were everywhere. But the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board added some crucial information which did not make headlines or affect the poorly written, confusing legislative fix Skinner put into play:

"The state missed a golden opportunity to take pressure off the UC system when it let California State University open a polytechnic school at what had been severely under-enrolled Humboldt State. The school’s future is now set, at least until there’s time to see if this experiment works to boost enrollment at the Northern California campus. The school could have been converted to a UC campus much more quickly than building a new one. There’s still a chance to try converting a Cal State campus to a UC at Sonoma State, which also is experiencing declining enrollment. It makes little sense that some of the state’s institutions of higher education have to advertise to attract applicants while others are overfilled.

The state’s two public university systems will need to direct more applicants to campuses that can handle additional students. Not everyone can attend UC Irvine, UC Berkeley and UCLA. UC Merced still has capacity for more students, and obviously, so do some Cal State campuses. Dream schools may not be a dream if a student is crammed into a crowded lecture hall and sleeps in a car because there’s no housing available..." Los Angeles Times Editorial Board *

The University of California’s destructive enrollment expansion beyond its agreed-upon limits with host cities got a thumbs-up with California Senator Nancy Skinner's help, who, although she came up from Berkeley, apparently hasn’t met the students living down at the underpass. "UC gets what it wants,” in the words of one of my neighbors. "And we get the CS gas.”

Senator Skinner shoveled cake into the overfed mouth of UC ignoring the deaths of James Rector, Rosebud DeNovo, David Nadel, Eli Yates, and many more. While Berkeley is considering the long-overdue issue of reparations more generally, reparations from the University of California are overdue. Recognizing the importance of parks and open space is a simple public health measure which in a more sane world would fit into Covid-19 public health requirements. And given the wealth of options the university has upon which to situate housing, it would cost nothing and generate untold amounts of goodwill to ensure that our parks remain parks, where people otherwise trapped in their apartments could see a leaf, a bird, or a tree.

Let's hope the Nobel and Pulitzer prizewinners nestled away in the Berkeley hills who are capable of entering this discussion are good at writing letters. Because whatever stereotypes you seem to enjoy about rural and mountain communities seem pretty true of them right now; that they just sit there and let things happen which should not happen. No redwood or park should be unnecessarily destroyed, not in the era of climate change, if you know anything about the remarkable qualities of Sequoia sempervirens, the only extant species of the genus in the Northern California coastal forests. If you are, please write to Senators Nancy Skinner and Buffy Wicks, who, if they know anything about basic politics, should be looking for the settlement the judges in Superior Court are unanimously pushing for right about now. 

---------------- 

* https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-03-06/editorial-the-state-needs-a-different-approach-to-solving-uc-crowding

Greetings. I write as a longtime devotee of the Shattuck Cinemas, where one can see independent and foreign films as well as blockbuster movies and great documentaries. Check out ¡Vive Maestro! on Gustavo Dudamel, the founder of the great El Sistema in Venezuela that provides music education and instruments to poor children and creates orchestras in towns all over the country.

So, after your very appropriate selection of the Shattuck Cinemas as the Best Movie Theater, it was discouraging to see a photo of the UA Theatre.

It is especially concerning because, as in 2015-2020, the Shattuck Cinemas—eight screens, hand-painted murals in some of the screening rooms—is in the sights of another for-profit developer. I met him a couple of weeks ago, after having written him to ask his intentions towards the Cinemas (he did not reply to my letter), and when I asked him in person, he informed me that movie theaters were now obsolete and of course he planned to demolish them.

Berkeley will be greatly damaged should our fine multi-screen theater be sacrificed to the profits of a developer and real estate investors.

These developers do not serve our great need for low-income housing. They produce cheaply-built structures, built to the bare minimum of energy-efficiency standards, and bring them on the market at the highest rates they can achieve. They effectively displace long-time residents by lifting the average rents with their very high rents.

The proposal by Alamo developer Bill Schrader to replace the Shattuck Cinemas with an 8-story speculative housing development will be discussed by the Berkeley Design Review Committee this Thursday, for advisory comments on the new building portion of the project. I do hope the Daily Cal will have a reporter attend the meeting and let students know about this threat. Film at its best is an art form. We’re very fortunate to have the Shattuck Cinemas, as well as the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and to be able to see the great films, as well as those that are primarily made for entertainment. But PFA complements the Shattuck Cinemas; it would not fill the huge void that would result from their demolition. 

I plan to put together an information sheet and ask moviegoers to contact the city council if they want the theaters protected. Of course there's a low-attendance problem now thanks to COVID, but the Shattuck Cinemas required proof of vaccination and masking as they reopened and they added early afternoon screenings, so it was quite safe to attend, as I've been doing for months 

The DRC agenda and agenda materials are available online at the link below: 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Planning_and_Development/Level_3_-_Commissions/Design_Review_Committee/April_2022_Linked_Final.pdf

Jack Bragen explains and details concerns regarding unfavorable attitudes toward people in recovery from mental illness. He complains about the bigoted stereotypes most people have toward them, likening it to crass racists. 

Jack, I get it. I really do. What's more, I've dealt with a variety and combos of the kind of dynamics you describe, in many different situations. But I gotta' say, it's every bit as important to not negatively stereotype "most people" in that way, either. TWO way streets offer the most. And, yeah, someone's also gotta' go first (or be willing to) and, at best, fairly consistent and genuinely so. Even if not reciprocated or matched, eh? 

When riding motorcycles there's a thing: "Where you look is where you'll go". So it's one of those double-edged swords. On the one hand, knowing that, even at a lively pace and a complex circumstance it can keep you looking for/at the "successful" way through it all. On the other hand, it gives an important warning against any temptations to look too long for/at where you don't want to end up going. 

Ride on, bro'.

My father passed away in 2012. He once said of people with my condition, "Judgment is the first thing to go." And I've discovered that to be a very astute observation, potentially a truism. I don't have him to help in a crisis anymore. Other family members continue to help a lot. They want me to rely on myself when possible. And this is for the best. If I'm able to survive with little or no help, it only helps me. 

However, my condition can and does affect my ability to make sound decisions. And because of this, I've thrown away a number of job situations, jobs that could be helping me today if I'd stayed with them. At the time that I was in the jobs, the work environment and the difficulties of working seemed unbearable. 

Yet, if I'd been able to coach myself more and tough it out, I'd be in a much better position at my age. Being able to withstand a challenging situation in order to have better life circumstances is, to a large extent, in the realm of judgment. It is also in the realm of toughness, but I have toughness--I'm just very challenged when it comes to certain things. I was looking for that ideal work situation in which working wouldn't be so damned uncomfortable and even threatening. 

It is a simple reality that jobs, almost any of them worth having, are hard. If I'd accepted and incorporated this realization early in life, I would be far better off today. Now I have medical issues, sleep issues, stamina issues, and mental health issues, not to mention being older and not having a college degree, that altogether make me unemployable, apart from self-employment. Yet, self-employment is also demanding if you want to make any significant amount of income. 

If you are unemployable, homelessness can easily follow. If you are a senior, one hopes you have accumulated retirement money and some sort of pension. If not, there may not be much protecting you. You must be very careful about your decisions. And if you have a brain condition that affects judgment, making consistently sound decisions is a tall order. 

Homelessness can happen more easily today than ever. The housing market for so-called "affordable housing" is reachable by those who, compared to disabled people, are well to do. If you work full-time at a minimum wage job, you might be able to afford a room in a house. This is different from how it was a relatively short time ago. Thus, any housing that a mentally disabled person can get and keep, even if less than ideal, is exceedingly valuable. 

Sometimes, mentally ill people are helped when we are protected from ourselves in the decisions we make or attempt to make. This is where I can see how some restrictions on mentally ill people under some circumstances could be beneficial. Yet this concept doesn't sell very well to those of us who'd like to strike it out on our own and make names for ourselves. Yet, there's a lot to be said for having a roof over your head, physical safety, and food in your gut. Decisions made while under the influence of psychosis can lead to homelessness, incarceration, or worse. Therefore, although I haven't read the text of Governor Newsom's Care Court Proposal, the idea of it might not be totally bad. I'm saying that with the stipulation that I haven't read the bill and I know very little about it except for what Newsom himself has said. And his initial speech promoting the idea was given before the bill had been drafted. Yet this is a reversal of a position I wrote about that was published previously in The Planet. 

Many NAMI members are in favor of Newsom's Proposal. NAMI California apparently supports it, according to at least one source. 

If the choices are having all your liberties intact and dying of exposure to the elements plus starvation, versus being restricted a little bit yet having your basic needs met, I'll take the latter of the two. 

When I picked up my iPhone this morning checking the news banners, NPR caught my attention, saying that birds in North America are in trouble. The article reminds us that if birds are in decline, the ecosystems are in decline and our own health is tied to this shared environment.

NPR lists eight actions:

1. reduce habitat loss and degradation, grow native plants (calscape.org will help you choose)
2. reduce pesticide use (better yet eliminate pesticides, birds need those bugs for food and buy plants that are not pretreated with neonicotinoids)
3. purchase bird friendly products (like bird friendly coffee)
4. advocate for bird-friendly environmental policies and expect the same from elected and appointed officials
5. reduce bird deaths, keep your cat indoors
6. make windows more visible to birds (install bird safe glass, or add window film with dots or lines https://abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/products-database/, use exterior screens)
7. turn off lights you are not using especially at night,
8. if you have a bird feeder clean it regularly to prevent spread of disease.

When Shrader was asked about the statement that he wants to seek exception to the prohibition of natural gas (the all-electric building ordinance) he said that the Office of Economic Development was advising this action. I have long had questions about the integrity of voices within the Office of Economic Development and as well as in the Planning Department. This advice only adds more confirmation to what I have already observed. 

As for number two in the list, to save birds reduce pesticides, a friend who will remain unnamed confessed to me that when she saw black spots on the milkweed she planted to save Monarch butterflies, she sprayed the plants with bug killer, killing the hatching baby monarch caterpillars. Sometime later she said she was going to use herbicide to kill the plants growing between the cracks in the driveway. I asked her how it is that, if she cares so much about her little two year old grandnephew, how she could use these toxic chemicals if she wants to leave a world in which that precious toddler could survive? 

We need to reorient how we view the world and how our actions foster health or speed extinction. 

Tuesday was a heavy council day, starting with a morning budget meeting in which the Budget Manager didn’t include the $1.5 million for the Building Electrification and Just Transition Program on the AAO budget sheet. A surprise, but no surprise. The Budget Manager is new, and responding to climate and the environment is always at the bottom (if it is mentioned at all) of anything trickling down from the City Manager’s office. 

One hundred fifty attended the evening Council work session, which lasted until 11:45 pm, on Fire Department Standards and Community Risk Assessment Study and the Ashby and North Berkeley Housing Projects. 

The Fire Department study was presented in easy to view charts and graphs and closed with recommendations which could be viewed in a couple of minutes. Recommendations: 911 dispatch times must shorten to best practices, the city needs six full-time ambulances, the city needs to implement a non-fire unit alternative response team for non-acute, non-911 medical calls, and mental health patients need their own appropriate clinical response. https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2022/04_Apr/City_Council__04-19-2022_-_Special_(WS)_Meeting_Agenda.aspx. 

The mayor delivered his introduction to the BART housing projects, with a statement that the Planning Commission voted (5 to 4) for the 12-story and above project design (against staff and Community Advisory Group recommendations.) Fifty-seven people commented verbally, and there is a very very long list of letters with the usual divide between mid-size 7-story supporters and the tall 12-story and more advocates. There were lots of questions from councilmembers which were left unanswered about the state density bonus, including how funding for affordable housing and affordable unit credits might end up benefitting for-profit developers while reducing their share of required affordable units. There was also the question of density bonuses and height. There will be a follow-up meeting on May 31 with a council vote. 

The City Manager’s response to the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force and the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform recommendations finally did come to pass on Thursday evening. The public meeting announcement and associated documents didn’t go up online until 5 pm on Tuesday, two days before the special council meeting, not even making the 72-hour posting window required for non-emergency meetings. The document dump of over 600 pages with sufficient repetition, historical notices, council actions, previous studies but no analysis puts off even the most robust reader. 

As far as “reimagine” there was little, but the evening and documents were filled with buzz words. The response included add more police, hire more consultants with some to analyze beats and staffing, move school crossing guards into BerkDOT (a new Berkeley Department of Transportation with a new added deputy director) and a repetition of the standing request to have a 24/7 mobile crisis unit. 

No action was taken and the Mayor didn’t sound happy with the direction, saying he would be bringing back a response. 

The City Manager is asking for $12,452,169 in additional funding and even that looks like fuzzy accounting. Voting for fattening the police budget comes with smiling pictures of uniformed officers and whoever is running for election, plus all those Berkeley Police Association (police union) mailers arriving in our mailboxes come election time. Or, what might be called the “be afraid of crime” mailers, aimed at anyone who dares to question all that financing. 

One lingering question for me is why school crossing guards are even in the police department in the first place, instead of part of the Berkeley Unified School District. 

What is proven to reduce crime is investing in community services. While a mobile crisis team is desperately needed, so too is a safe place to take people. Berkeley could have a crisis stabilization program with a center if actual reimagining was on the table. There are functioning crisis stabilization centers that Berkeley can use as a model, including the Deschutes Stabilization Center in Bend, Oregon. 

The budget meetings arrive with intensity this coming week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That will tell us a lot more about what direction Berkeley is headed in. 

When I moved to Berkeley, the selection of theaters for viewing independent and foreign film felt endless. Soon all that will be left is the theater at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. There is the Regal United Artists, of course, but that seems more like a collection of shows for teenage boys. 

There is something very special about watching film on the big screen in a theater which a handheld device or even a 65” TV if you have one (mine is 22”) can’t replace. Time has moved on and the pandemic speeded up the process. The California on Kittredge is closed. The Shattuck Cinemas will be torn down for an 8-story student housing project at 2065 Kittredge. It was the last project reviewed Thursday evening by the Design Review Committee. 

Even the making of film is threatened. This coming week the Zoning Adjustment Board will consider and likely approve changing four existing media tenant spaces to research and development. It looks like Chris Barlow of Wareham Development, owner of 2600 Tenth Street, is finally getting his way. From what I’ve read and heard, raising rents and the City’s heavy hand over the years are setting the stage for yet another cultural and talent loss.  

There is more money to be made in research and development, so we can expect the artisans to be pushed out of West Berkeley, with the developers and City leaders cheering the change while they fill the air with their hollow rhetoric of how much they care. 

Monday was tax day. Rutger Bregman was someone I had never heard of until I picked up the book Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World by Peter Goodman. Bregman was invited to speak at Davos in January 2019 and never invited back and this is why, he said: 

“This is my first time at Davos and I find it quite a bewildering experience to be honest. I mean 1500 private jets have flown in here to hear Sir David Attenborough speak about how we’re wrecking the planet. I hear people talking the language of participation and justice and equality and transparency, but then almost no one raises the real issue of tax avoidance, right? And, of the rich just not paying their fair share. It feels as if I’m at a fire fighters conference and no one is allowed to speak about water. This is not rocket science. We can talk for a very long time about all these stupid philanthropy schemes…but come on, we’ve got to be talking about taxes. That’s it, taxes, taxes, taxes. All the rest is bullshit in my opinion…10 years ago, the World Economic Forum asked the question what must industry do to prevent a broad social backlash? The answer is very simple, Just stop talking about philanthropy and start talking about taxes…just two days ago there was a billionaire in here, Michael Dell. And he asked a question like, name me one country where a top marginal tax rate of 70% has actually worked? And, you know, I’m a historian, the United States, that’s where it has actually worked, in the 1950s during Republican President Eisenhower, the war veteran. The top marginal tax rate in the U.S. was 91% for people like Michael Dell…the top estate tax for people like Michael Dell was more than 70%” 

Goodman writes, Davos Man has looted the treasury leaving other strategies to secure votes such as demonizing immigrants. We can add creating fear with critical race theory, book censorship, demonizing supporters of the LBGTQ community and designating parents of transgender youth as child abusers. Then there are the pedophile conspiracy claims too. 

If you pick up Davos name you will see familiar names like Marc Benioff – Salesforce, Jeff Bezos – Amazon, Stephen Schwarzman – Blackstone, Larry Fink – BlackRock, Jamie Dimon – JPChase. Goodman reminds us Americans have stared down Robber Barons before. It is time to do it again. We wouldn’t be struggling over affordable housing if BlackStone and BlackRock weren’t gobbling up housing and turning it into rentals and billionaires weren’t escaping paying their fair share of taxes. 

There is a waitlist for Davos Man at the San Francisco and Contra Costa libraries.

As the war in Ukraine drags on, it becomes increasingly apparent that one of the major parameters is disinformation. For example, the attitude inside Russia seems to be that Vladimir Putin's military operations are justified because Putin is protecting "the fatherland" from neo-Nazis. Pro-Putin propaganda has been disseminated throughout the world; It has infected Republican legislators. 

Russia: In the United States, a narrative has circulated suggesting the war will end when Russians rise up and depose Putin. Nonetheless, Russian opinion polls suggest that Putin is very popular because the average Russian believes that Putin is protecting "the fatherland." A recent Levada poll discussed in Newsweek (https://www.newsweek.com/vladimir-putin-approval-rating-increase-russia-1693521 ) "Showed that approval of Putin's actions increased from 69 percent in January to 83 percent in March." (Statista (https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/) confirms that within Russia, Putin has strong approval ratings.) Nonetheless, a recent academic study discussed in the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/13/putin-public-opinion-propaganda-levada-center/ ) indicates that Putin's ratings are fragile: "These findings suggest that much of Putin’s support is based on perceptions that he is popular. Without that perception, Putin’s popularity fades." 

The Russian media has a consistent message: "Ukraine is a threat to 'the fatherland' and Vladimir Putin is a strong president who is protecting Russia." The monolithic Russia media is also dismissing reports that the initial Russian effort was unsuccessful or that Russian troops have committed war crimes. 

If this seems familiar, it is similar to the situation in Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. Hitler was very popular in Germany and disliked in most of the rest of the world. One of Hitler's lieutenants, Joseph Goebbels, ran the ministry of propaganda. He succeeded in convincing most Germans that Adolph Hitler was the right person to protect their country. 

Europe: Russia's distorted view of Putin isn't an isolated phenomenon. Throughout the world, there are many countries where the Russian actions in Ukraine are viewed more sympathetically than US citizens would believe. For example, "In polls on several Chinese websites, generally about 40 percent of Chinese people remain neutral, about 30 percent support Russia, and about 20 percent support Ukraine." (https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/why-do-many-chinese-sympathize-with-russia-in-the-ukraine-conflict/) 

While most of the NATO countries have strong support for Ukraine in the war, and equally strong dislike of Putin, there is a different attitude among Europe's far-right parties. This is seen in Hungary with the government of Viktor Orban. It is also a feature of the current French election which pits centrist Emmanuel Macron against right-wing Marine Le Pen. 

Al Jazeera (https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/4/4/forbidden-love-putin-and-the-french-european) recently observed: "French opposition leader Marine Le Pen, the de facto spokesperson of the European far right, has been rising in the polls despite her ongoing support and admiration for [Putin] .... In 2014, Le Pen endorsed the Kremlin’s referendum in the Russian-annexed Crimea as legitimate and has been accused of being a Putin stooge. In 2015, reports in the French press based on hacked Kremlin records showed that Le Pen may have lent her support to Putin’s annexation in return for a nine million euro ($9.9m) loan from a Russian bank – although the allegations of a quid pro quo have never been proved." 

On April 24, Macron and Le Pen will vie for the French presidency. Le Pen is close despite her long-time support for Putin. The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/11/french-election-runoff-marine-le-pen-putin/) noted: "A National Rally campaign leaflet distributed this year depicted her shaking hands with the Russian president, and the party funded itself with a 9 million euro loan from a Russian bank in 2014. Ms. Le Pen’s long-standing hostility to NATO is well-known; she is promising to withdraw the French military from the alliance’s command structure." 

United States: Donald Trump's admiration for Vladimir Putin is well known. On February 27, Trump said: "Yesterday, I was asked by reporters if I thought President Putin was smart. I said, 'of course he's smart... The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he is smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb." 

But Trump wasn't the only Republican leader to admire Putin. "Putin's high-profile admirers include alt-right agitator Steve Bannon and former White House communications director and presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. Prominent television host Tucker Carlson spoke out in support of Putin just one day before Russia invaded Ukraine, questioning whether Putin was the enemy liberals painted him to be: 'Why do Democrats want you to hate Putin? Has Putin shipped every middle class job in your town to Russia? Did he manufacture a worldwide pandemic that wrecked your business? Is he teaching your kids to embrace racial discrimination?'" (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-02/putin-s-supporters-in-united-states-europe/100944412) 

Late in January, a Yahoo/YouGov poll (https://news.yahoo.com/poll-as-ukraine-tensions-escalate-62-percent-of-republicans-say-putin-is-a-stronger-leader-than-biden-192437439.html ) found "more than 6 in 10 Republicans and GOP-leaning independents (62 percent) now say Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a stronger leader” than Joe Biden." 

50 days into the war, most Republicans have changed their tune. According to the latest Pew Research Poll (https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/04/06/seven-in-ten-americans-now-see-russia-as-an-enemy/ ) "69% of Republicans [describe] Russia as an enemy." (Only 6 percent express confidence in Putin.) Nonetheless, there are huge partisan divide on the conduct of the war; for example, like Marine Le Pen, most conservative Republicans do not have confidence in NATO. 

The latest Pew Research poll indicates that Americans are divided on the Biden Administration's handling of Russia's invasion of Ukraine: 47 percent strongly approve and 39 percent strongly disapprove. Opinion is divided along partisan lines: 69 percent of Democrats strongly approve and 67 percent of Republicans strongly disapprove. 

Analysis: Note that since Russia invaded Ukraine, most Republicans have become negative on Putin and Russia, but have not rallied around President Biden. We're at war with Russia but unlike the situation in previous wars, Republicans have not rallied around the commander-in-chief. 

There are two connected explanations for this. One is that many Republicans like Putin because he reflects their world view. Putin is a racist misogynistic bully. Many conservatives see him as a rugged individual guided by the philosophy of self-interest popularized by Ayn Rand (BTW: She was born Alisha Rosenbaum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.) In other words, Vladimir Putin is not woke. He has a very simple moral philosophy; the ends always justify the means. Writing in the New Statesman ( https://www.newstatesman.com/world/americas/north-america/us/2022/03/why-parts-of-the-us-right-cant-quit-putin) Emily Tamkin opined: "The far right – or at least the Trump-aligned far right – is already too deep into conspiracy theories to break with Russia, or at least to side cleanly with Ukraine..." 

The other explanation for the undue influence that Putin has had on US politics is that we have allowed Russian money to have undue influence in US politics. Since Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign, there have been indications that Russia funneled money to the Republican Party. The Mueller investigation reported that Russia "interfered" in the 2016 election and there were troubling links between the Trump campaign and Russian actors including Russian Oligarchs; see for example, this article by professor Ruth May (https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/08/how-putin-s-oligarchs-funneled-millions-into-gop-campaigns/ ) 

Summary: Recently, CNN host Jim Acosta (https://www.politicususa.com/2022/04/10/jim-acosta-nails-tucker-carlson-for-using-russian-talking-points.html ) pointed out that Tucker Carlson (Fox News) was repeating Russian talking points about Ukraine: " Last week Tucker Carlson tried to imply that some of what you are seeing [about Russian atrocities] has been fabricated and amplified by news organizations. That sounds a lot like what we heard from Putin’s spokesman who said bodies lining the streets were, quote, a forgery, aimed at denigrating the Russian army.” Prominent Republican members of Congress like Marjorie Taylor Green and Josh Hawley are also repeating Russian talking points. 

It's time to call out the ongoing Russian-sponsored disinformation campaign for what it is: a national security threat. 

It's time to call out Republicans, who praise Putin and denigrate Biden, for what they really are: traitors. It's time to brand Tucker Carlson as a traitor. 

We are at war with Russia. We don't have to put up with Republican craziness any longer.  

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

According to the April 2022 report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc), the window for limiting global warming to relatively safe levels is rapidly closing. Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in international action will result in an unlivable and unsustainable future for us all.

In order to meet the goals of The Paris Agreement to limit the average global temperature rise to 1.5°C (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels—and failing that, to below 2°C—will take immediate and unprecedented action from every country.

In response to the climate crisis, at least 200 countries met at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow from October 31, 2021 to November 12, 2021. Notably China and Russia were not represented at the summit. The largest delegation was fossil fuel lobbyists who like the world the way it is. The delegates reached a consensus that all nations must do much more, immediately, to reach decarbonisation to limit future global temperature rise to 2°C, but ideally to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels by 2030.  

The lofty rhetoric of world leaders at the summit did not include an agreement on concrete action. Lots of talk, too little concrete action. Or as environmental activist Greta Thunberg put it, the COP26 climate summit was a failure; it was “blah, blah, blah.” 

The next climate summit will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on 7-18 November 2022. Unfortunately, the next summit will probably end like the last with much talk and too little progress. And the United States, the second largest carbon polluter after China, will probably again be unable to show by example much progress as the $1.75 trillion Budget Reconciliation bill, which includes the Build Back Better Act with all its climate provisions intact. This would have been a $555 billion framework to combat the climate crisis. 

We have the knowledge, money, technology and affordable clean energy that we need to cut our carbon emissions in half by 2030. That’s the good news from the IPCC. What needs to be done is dramatically reduce the use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, and cut methane emissions by one-third. According to the report, what’s standing in the way of reaching this goal is the lack of political will and sufficient funding.  

The U.S. has a toxic partisan government primarily concerned with the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. If the GOP wins a majority in either the House or the Senate or both in the midterm elections, then it is unlikely any significant action on climate change will happen during the remainder of Joe Biden’ s presidency and possible beyond. We can then look to the consequences of too little too late on climate change. 

Name the Bird

After Grinnell, a locally famous peregrine falcon, tragically died in a collision with an automobile, his equally famous mate, Annie, found a new feathered suitor to help her care for a collection of eggs in her nest atop UC Berkeley's Campanile.

The new bird on the block was dubbed "the New Guy." Recently, a bird-ogling consortium called Cal Falcons staged a contest to officially name Annie's new nest-mate. The winning name is set to be announced soon. The final picks include: 

Ned, for Ned Johnson, a world-renowned Berkeley ornithologist and professor of integrative biology. 

Morgan, for UC alumna Julia Morgan, the pioneering female architect who designed more than 700 buildings—including UC's Hearst Gymnasium (now threatened with demolition).  

Lou, for Louise Kellogg, a Berkeley alumna and longtime partner of explorer and naturalist Annie Alexander, founder of the UC Museum of Paleontology and the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. 

Ed, for Ed Roberts, the unstoppable, wheelchair-ambulating Berkeley alumnus who lead the disability rights movement on campus and nationwide. 

Savio, for Mario Savio, the galvanizing UC student who became the voice of the 1964 Free Speech Movement. 

Calvin, for Melvin Calvin, a Berkeley chemistry professor who won the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 

Archie, for Archie Williams, a Berkeley alumnus who won gold in the 400-meter run at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He was a flying instructor at the Tuskegee Army Flying School and an Air Force combat pilot during World War II and the Korean War. 

Takaki, for Ronald Takaki, a UCB grad who became a Berkeley ethnic studies professor and established the nation’s first Ph.D. program in ethnic studies. 

Alden, for Alden Miller, a Berkeley alumnus who succeeded Joseph Grinnell (the deceased falcon's namesake) as director of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. (This was the winner.) 

As a veteran of the FSM, I received notice of this contest from other FSMers—along with an urgent, partisan request: "Hey everyone. Vote for Savio! Pass it around!"  

I signed on for "Savio"—but emailed that I would have preferred dubbing the new guy, "Mario." 

One prominent FSM vet concurred: "I agree," she wrote, "but I wasn’t consulted…. I suspect Takaki will win; it’s a funnier name." 

Speaking of Free Speech: Putin Prohibits "Two Words" 

The Canadian anti-war group, Project Save the World, not only publishes Peace Magazine, it also hosts "Global Town Halls" —video conversations about current affairs. A recent episode featured Andre Kamenshikov, a Russian-American living in Kiev, Ukraine. Also featured was Alexey Prokhorenko, who lives in Moscow. Prokhorenko revealed that, while his hardships are minor compare to folks in Ukraine, Russian citizens are scrambling to gather stockpiles of "buckwheat and other staples." Another stressor, Prokhorenko noted, was the arrest of some 10,000 fellow Russians who dared to demonstrate against Putin's war and now face jail terms of 15 years. In Russia, you are no longer free to shout (or even hold a sign with the words) "No War!" Some protesters who responded to the censorship by holding up signs simply reading "Two Words" have also been arrested and jailed. Here's a link to the video of the conversation with Prokhorenko and Kamenshikov. 

A Taxing Time 

Public Citizen is outraged that (1) "this year’s Pentagon budget is $782 billion, (2) "President Biden just requested an additional $31 billion for next year," (3) "some members of Congress are pressing for even more" and (4) "Meanwhile, we’re constantly getting told we can’t afford investments that would actually improve life for ordinary people." This list would include: (1) Medicare for All. (2) A Green New Deal. (3) Help for the homeless. (4) Universal childcare. (5) Free community college. (6) Raising the minimum wage. (7) More money to fight COVID-19. 

PC concludes: "It feels like Congress cares more about their buddies working for the military-industrial complex than they do about people like us." 

If your fists are clenched in frustration, relax and point just one of your fingers in the direction of the following link: Email your members of Congress. 

Karmic Strips 

Pearls Before Swine, a syndicated comic strip created by lawyer-turned-cartoonist Stephan Pastis, appears daily in the San Francisco Chronicle. Pearls features an anti-social character name Rat (who is a rodent) and a mellow under-achiever named Pig. 

Pastis frequently uses the longer Sunday strips to set up excruciating puns, built on what's been said in the previous boxes. 

A while back, I sent Pastis a proposed script for a Sunday punathon and he responded with a kind note. 

So here's the set up: In the first box, Pig declares he's going to get more exercise — with the aid of a Swedish Laplander named Sami, who happens to be a runner. 

Pig explains that Sami has offered to put Pig in a pouch strapped around his waist so Pig can enjoy running around the local track without over-stressing himself. In the next-to-last box, Pig returns, looking rumpled and dirty. Rat asks what happened. Turn's out, Sami's body couldn't handle Pig's extra weight. 

Or, as Pig explained in the final panel: "My Lap's lap collapsed before my laps elapsed." 

NBC Says "No Can See" 

In what may be a first, YouTube has censored the posting of a national TV network newscast. The April 14 broadcast of NBC Nightly News remains blocked by an alert that reads: "The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as inappropriate or offensive to some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised." 

After clicking to gain access, it became clear that this particular broadcast was blocked because it contained surveillance footage that showed a white Michigan police officer stop, confront, grab, manhandle, tase, and murder an unarmed black motorist. 

While anchor Lester Holt warned that "the video is disturbing," the video was frozen the moment before Patrick Lyoya was pinned to the ground and shot in the back of the head. (In a gratuitous act of "half-censorship," NBC's editors stopped the film but continued to broadcast the soundtrack of the fatal round being fired—by an officer whose identity was being concealed.) 

A question: Since the actual moment of death was not shown, why was the video deemed not suitable for broadcast? The lesson: Regardless of the confrontation's tragic end, simply showing a white officer abusing his authority now apparently qualifies as "inappropriate" for public viewing. 

Blockade Lockheed's Warhawk Blockheads 

If you don't like war, you can't like Lockheed Martin. LM is the world's largest arms maker and war profiteer. As the Global Mobilization to #StopLockheedMartin notes: "From Ukraine to Yemen, from Palestine to Colombia, from Somalia to Syria, from Afghanistan to Ethiopia, no one profits more from war and bloodshed than Lockheed Martin." 

The Mobilization is staging a week of global protests starting on April 21 (the day that Lockheed Martin holds its Annual General Meeting in Maryland) and running through April 28. 

On April 15, a half-dozen local peace groups (including CodePink, Pacific Life Community, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, San Jose Peace and Justice Center, Environmentalists Against War, and the Raging Grannies) got a jump on the global gatherings when they marched a mile to Lockheed's Palo Alto offices and presented a World BEYOND War (WBW) petition to Lockheed officials. The petition read:
By far, the world's biggest weapons dealer, Lockheed Martin brags about arming over 50 countries. These include many of the most oppressive governments and dictatorships around the world. Lockheed Martin is also involved in the production of nuclear weapons, as well as being the producer of the horrific and disastrous F-35, and the THAAD missile systems used to escalate tensions around the globe. Apart from the crimes its products are manufactured for, Lockheed Martin is frequently found guilty of fraud and other misconduct. 

Therefore, we urge Lockheed Martin to immediately initiate a plan for conversion from weapons manufacture to peaceful industries with a just transition for arms industry workers that secures the livelihoods of workers and includes the participation of unions.
You can click here to sign on. 

WBW Executive Director David Swanson adds this footnote: 

"The risk of nuclear apocalypse is very high. There’s nothing more important than avoiding destroying all life on earth. We can’t picture a planet devoid of life and happily think 'Well, at least we stood up to Putin' or 'Well, at least we stood up to NATO' .... Quite apart from where this war goes or where it came from, the US and Russia should be talking right now about taking nuclear weapons out of the calculations, disarming, and dismantling them, as well as protecting nuclear power plants." 

Mixed Media for a More Peaceful World 

World BEYOND War, a global grassroots network advocating for the abolition of war, just published its Annual Report for 2021. The 34-page overview kicks off with something I've never encountered before. On the Table of Contents page, readers are invited to click on a nearby photo that links to a two-minute "highlights reel" video. 

"Wondering what we’ve been up to in 2021?" the video's YouTube page reads: "Here’s our top 10 victories and highlights of the year." 

And, speaking of videos: WBW has just posted its first music video: "Not to War" by Blaze Weka. 

(Full disclosure: I currently serve on the WBW Board.) 

The Fine Art of Consumer Manipulation 

Publishers Clearing House (PCH) is a master of over-the-top tricks to encourage people to spend loose change on an endless parade of loony kitsch. There are the blandishments: "You will be the only person who could win the doubled $10,000 A Week For Life prize." And there are the threats: "Don't risk someone else from Berkeley winning… with your SuperPrize Number!!" 

There are the competitive nudges, including a printout with two street maps—one showing the location of my PO Box in downtown Berkeley and one showing my nearest competitor, identified as "M.W.", located near the Oakland Coliseum DMV office. 

The boosts take a turn towards paranoia when PCH's pitch declares: "Someone who lives near you wants your Prize Number and is hoping you don't respond!!" The main goal is to prompt the reader to place an order. Each mailing contains a line of legalese that states "Placing an order will not increase your chances of winning" but accompanying fliers include good-cop-bad-cop lines like "You're such a loyal friend…" and "We hope you'll change your mind…." 

And if you don't place an order, watch out for grim threats like these: "Your status is in danger of being declared inactive. Won't you please try something this time?" and "Failure to order from this bulletin will result in forfeiture of our highest level of rewards for any product you may order." 

Meanwhile, to keep the loot-lust alive, the other side of the same sheet that makes that threat offers "Immediate transfer of money" ("$5,000 a week for life plus $1 million at once and a Ford Explorer!") and salutes moi as "a VIP Elite entrant" who has "reached our highest level of entry recognition!" 

But PCH's "tough-love" approach ended with a doom-drenched note that I'd better go online and enter a special "Activation Code" or prepare to face the "risk of automatic consequences." 

Save Your Leaves! 

Winds have been blowing these past months and that means lotsa leaves on the ground. But don't curse the clean-up, let's celebrate the cure—as proposed by some urban farmsteaders in Penn State. 

Germantown Kitchen Garden ("our little farm in Philadelphia") looks at leftover leaves as a gardener's treasure and recently posted a public notice that they are "seeking your leaves for our beds and compost piles!" noting that "leaf litter is one of the best soil amendments and mulch that there is, and we never have enough."  

GKG's members are in love with leaves. GKG's younger farmers are even known to celebrate leaf-time with this chant: 

Winter winds blow all around / The leaves begin to fall.
And Cindy, with a leap and bound / Tries hard to catch them all. 

According to GKG's PR person, Amanda: "I encourage all of you to leave your leaves, mow them or shred them and use them as the perfectly nutritious thermal blanket that they are, but, if you do not wish to do this, then please consider dropping your raked leaves off at the farm. You can drop them right over the big farm stand gate and I will come and grab them daily." 

But first, "some very important caveats":
• Only yard leaves—we cannot accept leaves raked from the street and sidewalk. Put those on your ornamental beds, or leave them for the city to pick up.
• We cannot accept leaves from lawns treated with herbicide or insecticide.
• Leaves must be as free as possible of sticks and brush. I understand little twigs just get in there, but please don't rake up a whole brush pile and put it into a bag and give it to me. I'll be so sad.
• Leaves must be bagged. They don't have to be brown paper lawn bags, but they have to be bags.
• Finally, if you feel weird driving up to the garden gate and dumping a bunch of trash over it, give me a call first to see if I'm home and I'll meet you. 

Thank you for your help — next year's garlic thanks you!  

Since my column is often about the human mind, I can get away with writing a lot of thought pieces. This is one of them--very much so. Please indulge...

If your mind is operating from one of more false assumptions to guide you in your speech and actions, you are on thin ice.

I've been stabilized on medication since the latter half of 1996. And no one can deny this is an accomplishment for someone with my psychiatric condition. Although my prognosis was wrong, I was not misdiagnosed. Any time in my past that I've tried to do without medication, disaster ensued--I became severely psychotic.

However, becoming stabilized doesn't mean that everything is resolved. I've dealt with a substantial number of "delusions" that meds do not eradicate. Yet, I've also learned that you do not need to have a mental illness diagnosis to have delusions.

Antipsychotics do not fully do away with delusions and other symptoms. The medications must be supplemented with therapy, partly to "reality check," and with what I'll term "mental hygiene." 

If you go into psychosis enough, your mind will "split off" from reality. This causes speech and actions that are counterproductive to living, at the least, and at the worst, a threat to safety. 

Those who don't struggle with this, especially those who do not have a mental illness, are lacking something important. Even a person considered "normal" can benefit from mental hygiene. While a "neuro-typical" or non-afflicted person may not be fending off severe delusions, they can try to make the thinking more accurate, and they can work to maintain this accuracy. This is not a waste of time and effort. If you improve the mind, it follows that most other things that you do will be done better. 

If you look at ultra-smart people, geniuses and so on, at my best guess, many of them have good mental habits to keep their minds on track. However, I don't know this firsthand, because although I know people who are smarter than I, those I do know don't seem to hone (the technical term is "calibrate") their thinking very much. 

Your picture of the world, whether you suffer from a mind-altering condition or not, is subject to distortions. The human mind makes a map of the world, but it is only a map. Any map isn't the actual territory, it is only a map of that, and as such, it is subject to inaccuracies. Most people don't understand this basic thing about themselves. And this is a very important thing to understand. People project their perceived realities on the world, and this leads to misdirection. Those in positions of power who do this, project a false version of the world, are at the very least, nuisances. 

An example of a "bad assumption" could be where you think something is true merely because you think it. This could seem to many readers like an absurd thing to believe. Yet, if you are becoming increasingly psychotic, this is an assumption that could arise. And if it does, it functions like a "trojan" (analogy refers to computer malware) in which any thought you have is accepted into your version of reality. It then can cause a flood of erroneous thoughts, ultimately causing complete chaos in the mind, and resultantly, harming the brain. 

(Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? That's a good question to which psychiatry's answer is, psychosis starts in the brain, and you need to medicate the brain. Yet, there is a need for mental hygiene, nonetheless. And I agree with psychiatry that you can't "think away" psychosis. The cause of it is mostly biological. And if it goes unchecked, the brain damages itself.) 

Another example, which is similar, is that you are "psychic." Now, I don't want to insult or invalidate those who seem to have a genuine gift. Yet, if you suffer from psychosis, the assumption that you can know something without any sensory evidence of it, that you know it because you're psychic, as bad as the example in the paragraph above. Both have a deep effect on how information is processed. 

The belief that other people can read your mind or that you can read theirs is a seriously bad assumption. You are much better off if you realize that you may often need to explain yourself and that it is not obvious to people who you are and what you're doing. The belief that you can read someone's mind will cause poorly chosen actions, and it is yet another "infection" that can plague the thinking. 

A similar erroneous assumption is where you assume others will understand you, without the need for you to spell everything out. In fact, people must be filled in, and they will not, as a rule, make an effort to figure you out. They will proceed on their own assumptions. When you are trying to accomplish something, it is likely you need to explain what you are doing and why. 

Or, if you assume that Friday the 13th causes bad luck, then you're going to have a rough time on that date. If you ascribe to the idea that you have bad luck or good luck, it discounts the actual causes of life events. It can also lead to false expectations, whether favorable or unfavorable, within the thinking. 

Today we have false assumptions being spread by politicians and by fake news. This misleads the public. The public as a result, in the not-so-distant future, will be led to a rude awakening. Think of the story of the Pied Piper... 

But I've been fighting off a specific paranoid assumption. This affects how I act, and it may prevent me from making correct decisions. Any incorrect assumption skews the entirety of thinking and gets you disconnected from reality, at least to an extent. When you can correct the assumption, the mind has a chance to recalibrate. 

When conclusions become assumptions, you are on a slippery slope. I know many individuals who pass judgment on me without knowing what they're talking about. If this is an example of how they think, they're fortunate their thinking hasn't caused them even more problems. As it stands, when people misjudge me (and this is based on outward appearances or maybe on what others have said about me) it has bad effects on me. 

Most people assume too much. 

We can teach ourselves to have better cognitive habits. A part of this is where we question ourselves. On the other hand, if we are in contact with a predatory person, such person could exploit this habit and use it against us. A person who questions oneself is less vulnerable to internal causes of problems, but more vulnerable to another person's "gaslighting." 

A mentally ill person can do an exercise on oneself that resembles the function of an antivirus application on a computer. This is where, one at a time, the beliefs are evaluated. In doing this, you look for characteristics of a thought or belief that resemble those that in the past turned out to be delusions. This is like an antivirus on a computer which identifies viruses through their "signatures." 

Where do most people get their belief systems? Many seem to get this from church. Others get their versions of the world from television commercials. And others get it from peers and supervisors at work. In other words, most people obtain their belief systems from external sources. If you decide to think on your own, believing that you could be another Leonardo da Vinci, you could expose yourself to your own unique errors. If you get delusions and other assumptions from external sources, you are subject to collective inaccuracies. 

And if you let your television set or an internet website do your thinking for you, then you deserve what you get. 

City meetings were light this week and two were cancelled and rescheduled. The Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission will be April 27 and the Council Worksession of the City Manager’s response to Reimagining Public Safety is supposed to happen April 21 though it is not posted. 

April 14^th , the evening we were supposed to hear the response to the presentations on reimagining public safety, Chris Hayes started off his MSNBC evening show with the questions, “What is policing for? What do we want policing to do? What does safety in this country look like?” 

Those questions are the framing that was missing from a year of community meetings with the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force and the consultants from the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR), though they picked at them in pieces. The consultants gave the City a final report filled with acronyms, EPIC (Ethical Policing is Courageous), ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement), HALO (Highly Accountable Learning Organization), intended to “fix” policing in Berkeley under the banner of “Reduce, Improve, Reinvest.” 

It always felt at the community meetings that the consultants never broke through the defensive protective shell around the police department, and meeting agendas were controlled to produce predetermined results. Whether that was the limit of what the consultants had to offer, or whether micromanagement flowing from the City Manager’s office stalled a deep dive, is unknown to members of the public like me. However, I sense it is the latter. 

When the yearlong process was rolling to the end, the Reimaging Public Safety Task Force was told in absolute direct terms in full view of the public that they were to format their report as a response to the consultants, not an independent assessment. The task force did their real work in their subcommittee meetings, and that is what we saw in their blistering response to the NICJR Report at the March 10^th special council meeting. The task force’s final 149 page report and four and a half hour meeting gives this warning in the letter to the community, “…if this process focuses too narrowly on internal police policies and protocols… [and] neglects to address the multi-dimensional inequity that creates patterns of crime, violence, poverty and social disconnection – then it will fail.” Revised material (Supp 2) 

As we await the City Manager’s response to Reimagining Public Safety, policing issues before council Tuesday evening began with Councilmember Taplin’s Community Policing: Flex Team for Problem-Oriented Policing Under the Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment (SARA) Model and other applicable community engagement models. Several residents from District 2 spoke in support, with anxious voices, of gunfire in their neighborhood and their fear for themselves and their children. Others expressed opposition, with concern that this policing model will be a return to saturation policing: a throwback to the long ugly history of the war on drugs and looking at every person of color as a criminal. Others said in support the Berkeley Police were doing a fine job. The flex team proposal passed on consent without debate. 

Council moved on to the City Auditor’s report on the use of overtime in the Berkeley Police Department and the lack of contracts with outside entities. An example of both problems, overtime and lack of contracts, is the practice of staffing uniformed officers outside the Fourth Street Apple store. There is no contract with Apple, not terms, not conditions, not even a set billing rate. According to Police Chief Louis, who extolled the benefit of providing security for Apple, the company’s Corporate Headquarters simply calls in a request. And according to the audit, officers choose and signup for overtime from postings hanging on a cork board, a process which only gains importance as there is no apparent control over the number of overtime shifts for any one officer or which overtime opportunities get picked off first. Parking a police vehicle in front of Apple and standing nearby watching shoppers certainly has the appearance of cushy overtime versus being in the bicycle patrol or patrolling a neighborhood. 

There were lots of questions and comments from councilmembers regarding the auditor’s report. Harrison, as did others, commented on the toll on officers of working endless overtime shifts. Kesarwani stated that all work for outside entities like Apple should cease immediately until there were contracts in place and then backed off of that reasonable request. Harrison asked about bike patrols, with the obvious question: Are uniformed Berkeley police acting as a security officers for Apple instead of being in the bike patrol for the downtown? The Mayor asked about the timing to have contracts in place and the content of the contracts coming before council. The City Manager said that the content and the conditions of contracts was completely within her purview, not council’s. 

The current billing for security services, according to Chief Louis, is for the officer assigned at that officer’s overtime pay rate. It does not include overhead, equipment, vehicle costs or the cost of replacement for other assignments. When payment is made by outside entities it is credited to the City general fund and not tied to the police overtime account. This maneuver makes for slushy accounting and at the same time sets up the Police Department to demand a bigger budget. And because the Police Chief neglects to include the total cost of staffing outside entities, the City is not properly reimbursed. 

The council voted to accept the auditor’s report and requested the City Manager to report back on the status of recommendations by September 29, 2022 and every six months thereafter, and set a goal of September for the City Attorney, City Manager and Police Department to have contracts in place. Goals have a habit of sliding, as do requests for reports, and the basic question of “ What do we want Berkeley police to do?“ remains unanswered. 

In Chris Hayes’ segment on policing, Hayes showed a chart of declining success in solving cases of the crime of murder as now being down to 54 percent nationwide. 

Over the years in all the crime reports from the Berkeley Police Chief to City Council, I never heard the success rate for solving those crimes. And, for all the bluster around the importance of surveillance to deter and solve crime that also isn’t included, something we might want to ask on April 26^th when the surveillance report is presented to council. 

The Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment & Sustainability Committee (FITES) addressed one topic Wednesday afternoon: regulating plastic bags. There was good attendance with representatives from the Berkeley Bowl and Monterey Market and enthusiastic UCB students supporting Beyond Plastics, but Martin Bourque from the Ecology Center had the most telling comment. He said they eliminated plastic bags at the Farmers’ Markets years ago. When Councilmember Harrison asked about the process, Bourque said they provided notices well in advance, but found it wasn’t until implementation that people pay attention. 

At the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission, when Nancy Radar saw she didn’t have the votes, she pulled her proposal to use Measure FF funds for vegetation management and the removal of eucalyptus trees on private property. Commissioner Paul Degenkolb had expressed his feeling that the property owner is responsible and said, “Every time something comes up as a property owner I have to pay.” He went on to say Monterey Pines are native trees and he saw the Monterey Pine go up like a torch and the Eucalyptus next to it didn’t burn. Commissioner Weldon Bradstreet was concerned that using Measure FF funds on private property would “poison the well for future city funding.” 

One phrase you may have heard me say over and over is people age at different rates. Some people are old at 50 and others young at 90. There are so many factors that go into aging, genetics, lifestyle, environment, exercise and what we put into our bodies. Bob Williams made the front page of the Chronicle sports section, still golfing and mentally sharp at age 100. Then there is yet another report that Dianne Feinstein, who turns 89 in June, is no longer mentally fit to serve. 

Some of you reading this like me have seen someone we know deteriorating mentally. I remember joining friends who told me their mother was suffering from Alzheimer’s. For the first minutes of greetings and exchanges she was able to pull off a perfectly normal, engaging, coherent interaction, but as the afternoon wore on the decline was obvious. Even people who are in deep mental decline will have a brief moment when the synapses connect and glimmers of their former selves shines through. 

Feinstein’s response to the latest article was that she is fine with no plans to step down. As mental decline progresses, the ability of the person to recognize it also slips away. This is difficult. Her term doesn’t end until January 2025 and as the saying goes in a 50/50 Senate we need all hands on deck fully capable of doing the job. 

Last Saturday afternoon as my walk partner and I were crossing Center Street the group marching toward us was chanting, “Abortion on demand without apology.” It is the same chant I heard in 2013 from another group that was traveling around the country where access to abortion was threatened. 2013 was the 40^th anniversary of Roe v Wade and the year I had t-shirts printed for volunteers of the national juried art exhibition Choice with “Make 2013 the last year women lose more rights than we gain.” It was a burst of optimism and a call to action that never happened. It was a time when young women couldn’t imagine losing access to a right they always had and being shamed for using it. In these nine years later, women are being trampled with a wave of anti-abortion laws. 

When I turn on the television and see women leading in so many fields that were out of reach when I was a child, it brings a sense of pride and joy. There was no access to reliable birth control when I was young and it will be again if the most extreme have their way. Thirty-nine is the average number of child-bearing years between onset of menstruation and menopause. As a teenager I saw friends’ dreams crushed by pregnancy, lives almost lost with illegal abortions and in my own life on edge worrying that each late period would be an unwanted pregnancy. 

With Roe v Wade hanging by a thread and likely to die this June, I picked up the audiobook The Family Roe: An American Story by Joshua Prager. Prager said in the author’s note that he spent eleven years researching and writing the book he wanted to write. 

The Family Roe tells the story of Roe v. Wade through the lives of Norma McCorvey, her three daughters, McCorvey’s partners, family, friends, the attorneys, and the pro-life activists who exploited Norma to bolster their cause and condemned her life as a lesbian. There is good reason why The Family Roe is listed as the 2021 finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, one of NPR's Best Books of 2021, a New York Times Notable Book of 2021, one of TIME's 100. 

My walk partner’s newly married nephew sent her a text a few weeks ago: he had his vasectomy. Not everyone wants or needs to be a parent. Losing access to abortion has real consequences for women. Women who live in states / areas where birth control and abortion are easily accessible are in better health, have higher earnings and face less discrimination. 

No matter what happens in June it is not the end. The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service by Laura Kaplan published by the University of Chicago Press in 1995 is in my reading stack. When I finish it, I have to track down the woman who loaned it to me. 

Worth Noting - There is a lot happening this week.

Besides the special and regular council meetings on Tuesday, the City Departments present to the Council Budget Committee on Wednesday 12 - 4 pm and Thursday and Friday from 9 am – 5 pm. The Surveillance Report will be heard Tuesday evening at the Council 6 pm meeting, plus the Hopkins Corridor Redesign and the Homeless Commission referral for the development of a 24/7 crisis stabilization center.

Monday Zero waste will hear an update on the plastic recycling market. We might learn how much is “wish cycling” rather than actual recycling.

The parking pilot projects SmartSpace are on Wednesday for Elmwood and Thursday for Southside at 6:30 pm.

Wednesday evening at 7 pm the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission has a full schedule including Greg Brown Park and an outdoor fitness court at Cesar Chavez Park and the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission called a special meeting on budget recommendations for Measures GG and FF funds and to reconsider spending $500,000 of Measure FF funds on Eucalyptus Groves on unknown private property sites in the hills. The Police Accountability Board makes the third Wednesday evening 7 pm meeting. Health and Welfare is at 6:30 pm.

There is a series of city meetings on bicycling in Berkeley starting Thursday at 12 – 1:30 pm.

Thursday evening the Zoning Adjustment Board takes up the 6-story project at 1201 San Pablo and removing four more tenant spaces from media /film and the Mental Health Commission will get the latest update on the Special Care Unit and access to crisis care in Berkeley.

Housing Survey for tenants https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CABERKE/bulletins/314823c

BART Survey - https://bartberkeleyelcerritocap.participate.online/

Sunday, April 24, 2022 – no city meetings or events found 

Monday, April 25, 2022 

Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87190567466 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 871 9056 7466 

AGENDA: Public Comment on non-agenda and items 1 – 7. 1. Minutes, 2. Review and Approve 5/10/2022 draft agenda – use link or read full draft agenda after list of city meetings, 3. Berkeley Considers, 4. Adjournment in Memory, 5. Council Worksessions, 6. Referrals for Scheduling, 7. Land Use Calendar, Referred Items for Review: 8. COVID, 9. Return to In-person meetings, Unscheduled Items: 10. Discussion Regarding Design and Strengthening of Policy Committees, 11. Supporting Commissions, Guidance on Legislative Proposals. 

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

Zero Waste Commission at 7 pm 

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

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

AGENDA: 6. Staff reports Strategic Plan, Transfer Station Rates, C&D Processing RFP, FITES draft bag ordinance, Cal Move Out, Illegal dumping, single-use foodware, SB 1383, Discussion and Action: 1. Current recycling market updates and transparency regarding plastics, 2. Work Plan. 

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

Housing Element Event at 5 – 7 pm 

In-person at Berkeley Bowl 2020 Oregon 

Share feedback on housing goals and types of housing 

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 

CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL Meeting at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685329120 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 8368532 9120 

AGENDA: 1. 2022 City Council Referral Prioritization Process Re-Weighted Range Voting (RRV), 2. Accept Risk Analysis for Long-Term Debt (Bonding Capacity) Report provided by Government Finance Officers Association, 3. Berkeley strategic Transportation Plan Update and Grant Application Opportunities. 

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

CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685329120 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 836 8532 9120 

AGENDA:  

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

Wednesday, April 27, 2022 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee at 12 – 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83134748814 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) ID: 831 3474 8814 

AGENDA: Department Budget Presentations: 1. Office of City Manager including Economic Development, 2. Finance, 3. Human Resources, 4. Health, Housing & Community Services, 5. Measure P and Proposed Initial Recommendations. 

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

Disaster and Fire Safety Commission Special Meeting at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81595546232 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 ID: 815 9554 6232 

AGENDA: Measure GG and Measure FF Budget Recommendations, 2. Recommendation for Measure FF spending in FY 23 & FY 24 – Hazardous Vegetation Removal Program – Eucalyptus Groves 

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

Human Welfare & Community Action Commission at 6:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/4863098496 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 486 309 8496 

AGENDA: 6. Work Plan,7. Review of Berkeley funded agency Program and Financial reports a. Through the Looking Glass, 8. Easy Does It lapse in services, 9. Potential infrastructure and affordable housing bonds/taxes, 10. Pathways facility, 11. Subcommittee update for prevention and ending homelessness in Berkeley, 12. Update Alta Bates. 

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

Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission at 7 pm 

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

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 876 1635 4584 

AGENDA: 6. Chair’s Report, 7. Greg Brown Park – multiple entrances, 8. Director’s Report, 9. Update Commission referrals to council, TOT, Refuse Policy, Adopt-a-Spot, South Sailing Basin Dredging and State funding for Marina, 10. Proposed locations – outdoor fitness court at Cesar Chavez Park, 11. BMASP Community meeting #2 additional feedback, 12. Discussion/action 787 Bancroft Development, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Parks,_Recreation,_and_Waterfront_Commission.aspx 

Police Accountability Board Special (PAB) meeting at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82318238840 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 823 1823 8840  

AGENDA: 3. Public comment on agenda and non-agenda items, 5. Chair and Board reports, 6. PAB Director Report, 7. Chief Report, 8. Subcommittee Reports a) Fair & Impartial Policing, b) PAB Director Search, c) Regulations, d) Mental Health Issues, e) Policy 351, f) PAB Budget Proposal, 9. Old Business a. Update Search Committee, b. Discuss how to prioritize work of PAB, 10. a) Review commendations of BPD, b) Training Traffic Enforcement. 

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

goBerkeley SmartSpace Parking Pilot - Elmwood at 6:30 pm – 8 pm 

Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/goberkeley-smartspace-elmwood-community-meeting-3-tickets-310920179627 

AGENDA: New alternatives to managing parking in Elmwood pilot area, changes to non-resident parking in residential areas Residential Parking Permit (RPP) near commercial 

https://smartspace.goberkeley.info 

EBMUD – Water Wednesday Speaker Series at 6 pm 

Use link to register and obtain zoom links 

AGENDA: Drought Update 

https://www.ebmud.com/about-us/education-resources/water-wednesday 

Thursday, April 28, 2022 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee at 9 am – 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84955908549 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 849 5590 8549 

AGENDA: Department Budget Presentations: 1. Planning and Development, 2. Public Works, 3. City Clerk, 4. Police, 5. Parks, Recreation & Waterfront, 6. Proposal to Allocate Revenues Generated by the Transient Occupancy Tax in Waterfront Area to the Marina Fund to Avoid Insolvency. 

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

Bicycling in Berkeley at 12 pm – 1:30 pm 

Use link to register and obtain zoom links 

AGENDA: Provide feedback on bicycle plan 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/City_Manager/Press_Releases/2022/2022-04-14_Share_your_thoughts_on_bicycling_in_Berkeley.aspx 

Mental Health Commission at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83719253558 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 ID: 837 1925 3558 

AGENDA: 3. Public Program on Exploring a Diversion Approach to People Experiencing Behavioral Health Crisis in Berkeley and Access of Crisis Services, 4. Bridge to SCU and SCU update, 6. Review and vote on application for Mental Health Commissioner, b. Mary Lee Smith, Glenn Turner, 7. May is Mental Health Month Proclamation, 8. Mental Health Manager’s Report, 9. Mental Health service Act FY23 Annual Update, 10. Santa Ria Jail Subcommittee Report, 11. Site Visit Subcommittee Report. 

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

Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86568983962 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 822 3423 6079 

AGENDA: 2. 2970 Adeline – on consent – convert 2^nd floor commercial to residential dwelling units on 3,760 sq ft lot, 

3. 2026 San Pablo – on consent – add service of distilled spirits incidental to food in existing restaurant 

4. 2142 Oxford – on consent – allow distilled spirits in full-service restaurant 

5. 1151 Grizzly Peak Blvd – recommend approve - legalize two accessory buildings in the rear yard of single-family dwelling 

6. 1201 San Pablo - recommend approve – construct 6-story, mixed-use building on vacant lot, with 66 units (including 5 very low-income), 1,680 sq ft of commercial space, 2,514 sq ft of usable open space and 17-28 ground-level parking spaces, 

7. 2600 Tenth Street - recommend approve – to change the use of four existing tenant spaces on the 1^st and 2^nd floors, totaling 20,367 sq ft from media production to a research and development use. 

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

goBerkeley SmartSpace Parking - Southside/Telegraph at 6:30 pm – 8 pm  

Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/goberkeley-smartspace-southsidetelegraph-community-meeting-3-tickets-310915024207?aff=ebdsoporgprofile 

AGENDA: New alternatives to manage parking in Southside/Telegraph pilot area 

https://smartspace.goberkeley.info 

Poppin’ Thursday Roller Skate Party at 5 – 8 pm 

Grove Park 1730 Oregon at Russell 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CalendarEventMain.aspx?calendarEventID=17825 

Friday, April 29, 2022 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee at 9 am – 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88256590559 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) ID: 882 5659 0559 

AGENDA: Department Budget Presentations: 1. Office of the director of Police Accountability, 2. City Auditor, 3. City Attorney, 4. Fire, 5. Information technology, 6. Responses to Questions from Prior Presentations and Discussion. 

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

Saturday, April 30, 2022 & Sunday, May 1, 2022 no city events found 

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April 25 Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm 

DRAFT AGENDA for May 10, 2022 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87190567466 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 871 9056 7466 

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

CONSENT: 1. Resolution Directing Legislative Bodies to Continue Meeting vis videoconference and teleconference, 2. Resolution to continue Ratify Local COVID-19 Emergency, 3. General Municipal Election 11/8/2022 including adopting policies and timelines for filing ballot measure arguments, 4. FY 2022 Annual Appropriations Ordinance, $53,155,906 (gross) and $43,380,083 (net), 5. Bid Solicitations $964,022, 6. FF Funds Purchase Order $250,000 ZOLL Medical for ECG Monitor/Defibrillators for emergency response vehicles, 7. GG Fire Prevention Funds $121,133 includes $14,552 contingency for carpet replacement at 1900 6^th Street, 8. Contract $17,808 with JotForm, Inc, 9. Donation $54,167 for Berkeley Meals on Wheels, 10. Amend contract add $66,450 total $1,528,350 with Murray Building, Inc for Cazadero Camp Jensen Dormitory Construction Project, 11. Amend contract add $530,832 total $39,350,473 with Robert E. Boyer Construction Inc for Berkeley Tuolumne Cap Construction Project, 12. Chief Louis - Police Equipment & Community Safety Ordinance Impact Statements, Associated Equipment Policies and Annual Equipment Use Report, 13. Amend contract add $500,000 total $1,500,000 with Serological Research Institute for DNA Testing Services thru 6/30/2025, 14. Vision 2050: Strategic Asset Management Plan and Asset Management Policy, 15. Arts Commission - Public Art Funding 1.75% of the estimated cost of construction associated with eligible municipal capital improvement projects for art and cultural enrichment of public buildings, parks, streets and other public spaces. 16. Energy Commission – Recommendation that Vision 2050 Infrastructure Bond Prioritize Clean Mobility, 17. Landmarks Commission – Budget Referral $250,000 - $275,000 City-wide Historic Context Statement, 18. Arreguin – Support SB 1173 – Divestment from Fossil Fuels, 19. Arreguin – Approve expenditure from Mayor’s Office Budget $20,000 to Healthy Black Families, 20. Arreguin – Budget Referral $1,800,000 ($900,000 annually) for anti-displacement allocation per year 1. $250,000-housing retention, 2. Legal counseling tenants, $275,000 each to East Bay Community Law Center and EDC, 3. $100,000 Flexible Housing Subsidies for Homelessness Prevention, 21. Bartlett – Budget referral $50,000 for semi-diverter traffic bollards at east corner of Newbury and Ashby intersection, 22. Harrison – Budget referral $50,000 taffic calming on Dwight between Grant and California, 23. Droste, Arreguin – Budget referral $120,000 performance evaluation of City Attorney and Director of PAB, ACTION: 24. CM – FY 2023 and FY 2024 Proposed Budget Public Hearing #1, 25. Arreguin – Forgive $300,000 Loan to Housing Trust Loan to Berkeley Housing Authority, 26. Taplin – Refer to City Manager and Planning Commission to adopt Objective Standards for Efficiency Units, 27. Wengraf – Resolution Declaring May as Jewish American Heritage Month, INFORMATION REPORTS: 28. Fiscal Year 2022 Mid-year budget update, 29. LPO NOD 1940 Hearst, 30. LPO NOD 2523 Piedmont, LPO NOD 31. 2580 Bancroft Way, 32. Mental Health Commission Work Plan. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

April 26 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685329120 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 836 8532 9120 

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

CONSENT: 1. Amend Contract add $151,000 total $200,000 with Rebecca Burnside for Personnel Investigations, 2. 2^nd reading Collection of Parking Space Rental Tax for City Owned Parking Lots, 3. Minutes, 4. Acceptance of $2,200,000 donation from UCB to support 6 months of operations at Rodeway in for sheltering homeless at People’s Park, 5. Contract $3,993,397 with Abode Services to Operate Interim Housing at the Rodeway Inn from 5/1/2022-10/31/2023, 6. Urgency Ordinance for leasing 1461 University, 7. Contract $250,000 with Village of Love for Operation of Telegraph Neighborhood Sacred Rest Drop-in Center 6/1/2022 – 5/31/2023, 8. Endorsement of Alameda County Home Together 2026 Implementation Plan, 9. $10,914,400 Formal Bid Solicitations, 10. Contract add $60,000 total $160,000 Measure FF Funds with Fire Aside for Defensible Space Inspection Software 5/18/2022 – 5/17/2024 with option to extend 4 years for total $160,000, 11. Commission Reorganization of Community Health Commission to reduce membership to 9 and consolidate functions from 10 to 4, 12. Contract add $76,648 total $432,470 with Pacific Site Management for landscaping services and extend to 6/30/2023, 13. Amend contract add $19,350 total $82350 with Resource Development Associates for Crisis Assessment and Triage Line Evaluation, 14. Grant Application $60,000 with match $6,000 for Surrendered and Abandoned Vessel Exchange (SAVE), 15. Total all Contracts $600,000 for Climate Equity Fund Pilot Programs 5/1/2022-5/31/2024, 1) $83,334 Association for Energy Affordability, 2) $83,333 BlocPower, 3) $100,000 Ecology Center, 4) $83,333 Northern California Land Trust, 5) $250,000 Waterside Workshops, 16. Contract (numbers do not add up to listed total of $550,000) with Diablo Engineering Group for Preliminary Engineering and Final Design for the Ohlone Greenway Modernization and Safety project $220,000, plus $14,000 for as needed project related services, plus $234,000 6/1/2022 – 12/31/2024, 17. Contract $300,000 with ParkMobile, LLC for Mobile Parking Payment Services (mobile payment on-street meters and parking garage reservations 7/1/2022-6/30/2025, 18. Contract add $225,000 total $2,050,000 with Portable Computer systems dba PCS Mobile for Parking Permit and Citation Services extend to 6/30/2024, 19. Contract (no cost) with Chrisp Company for Roadway Thermoplastic Markings and extend to 6/30/2024 with option 3 one-year extensions, 20. Amend Contract add $1,000,000 total $3,500,000 with Pavement Engineering, Inc, for on-call civil engineering and construction management services, 21. Lease with Options Recovery for 1835 Allston Way, Old City Hall Annex1/1/202-12/31/2024 with 2 5-year renewal options, 22. Purchase order $1,731,000 with Western Truck Center for 4 Front Loaders, 23. Arreguin - Bay Area Book Festival Relinquishment $1068 from Mayor’s discretionary funds 24. Arreguin – Budget referral $1,00,000 from ARPA to Eviction Defense to supplement Housing Retention, 25. Kesarwani – Budget referral $50,000 to expand Downtown Streets services to Gilman commercial and industrial areas twice weekly, 26. Bartlett, co-sponsor Arreguin – Budget referral $300,000 convert 62^nd street between King and Adeline into a cul de sac with marked bicycle lane connecting Adeline to bicycle blvd on King, 27. Harrison - Support AB 2557 specifying that records of Civilian Law Enforcement Oversight Agencies are subject to the disclosure Requirements of the Public Records Act, 28. Hahn, so-sponsors Arreguin, Taplin, Harrison – Refer grant $150,000 for the benefit of Luna Dance Institute, 29. Hahn, co-sponsors Wengraf, Robinson - Budget referral $300,000 for bike, pedestrian and streetscape and re-paving Hopkins Corridor, 30. Hahn, co-sponsors Harrison, Wengraf – Budget referral $40,000 Solano Stroll September 11, 2022 and September 10, 2023, 31. Robinson – Support AB 2234 Postentitlement Permit Streamlining, ACTION: 32. CM – Accept Risk Analysis for Long-Term Debt (Bonding Capacity) provided by GFOA, 33. ZAB Appeal 1643-1647 California – to 1) create new lower basement level, 2) construct new 2^nd story, 3) modify existing duplex layout resulting in 3,763 sq ft duplex on existing property, 34. CM – Zoning Ordinance Amendments that address technical edits and corrections, 35. CM – Submission of 2022 (FY2023) Annual Allocations of Federal HUD funds, 36. Resolution Accepting the Surveillance Technology Report for Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs), GPS Trackers, Body Worn Camera and Street Level Imagery, 37. CM – Hopkins Corridor Project Conceptual design, 38. Homeless Commission – a. Refer to the CM to develop a crisis stabilization program based on the Bend, Oregon model, b. CM - Staff response – use Amber House which has empty beds, , CSU too expensive and MediCal billing too complex, 39. Homeless Commission – a. direct CM to expand Berkeley Emergency Storm Shelter (BESS) to emergencies not otherwise covered including outside the dates of the current contract with Dorothy Day b. CM – staff response - refer to the budget process. 

LAND USE CALENDAR: 

Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals 

1205 Peralta – conversion of existing garage 5/10/2022 

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

2222 Blake – 2^nd Story addition over 14’ in average height and addition of laudry and deck on 1^st story 5/11/2022 

1338 Carlotta – Major residential addition over 14’ in average height, alteration in NC front yard setback 5/11/2022 

1415 Fifth – Convert an existing 2,257 sq ft residence into a 2491 sq ft duplex, construct new 2621 single family residence, 4/28/2022 

1008 Grizzly Peak – install a hot tub in the rear yard 5/11/2022 

1609 Kains – Raise existing home by 10 ft and construct new first floor, 4/27/2022 

1126 Keith – AUPfor installation in backyard at grade cedar hot tub (6’ wide, 4’ deep on concrete pad 6” thick sunk 20” into ground 4/27/2022 

1813 Parker - addition over 14’ in average height 4/27/2022 

27 Parnassus – Roof deck addition exceeding 14’ in height in hillside district 4/27/2022 

1301 Peralta - Major residential addition over 14’ in average height by creating 2^nd story addition 5/11/2022 

2908 Russell – addition of 2^nd floor bathroom addition of over 14’ 4/27/2022 

1425 Spruce – Re-frame the roof at the rear half of the house to extend the existing hip roof, add 20 sq feet rear addition on 2^nd floor and legalize existing hot tub 5/11/2022 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/planning_and_development/land_use_division/current_zoning_applications_in_appeal_period.aspx 

WORKSESSIONS: 

April 26 - Special Meeting – Referral Prioritization Process, Berkeley Strategic Transportation Plan Update, Bond Capacity, 

June 21 – Ballot Measure Development/Discussion 

July 19 - open 

Unscheduled Workshops/Presentations 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Alameda County LAFCO Presentation 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

Mid-Year Budget Report FY 2022 

Kelly Hammargren’s on what happened the preceding week can be found in the Berkeley Daily Planet www.berkeleydailyplanet.com under Activist’s Diary. This meeting list is also posted at https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

If you would like to receive the Activist’s Calendar as soon as it is completed send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly summary of city meetings please forward the weekly summary you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. 

Worth Noting - There is a lot happening this week.  

Besides the special and regular council meetings on Tuesday, the City Departments present to the Council Budget Committee on Wednesday 12 - 4 pm and Thursday and Friday from 9 am – 5 pm. The Surveillance Report will be heard Tuesday evening at the Council 6 pm meeting, plus the Hopkins Corridor Redesign and the Homeless Commission referral for the development of a 24/7 crisis stabilization center. 

Monday Zero waste will hear an update on the plastic recycling market. We might learn how much is “wish cycling” rather than actual recycling. 

The parking pilot projects SmartSpace are on Wednesday for Elmwood and Thursday for Southside at 6:30 pm. 

Wednesday evening at 7 pm the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission has a full schedule including Greg Brown Park and an outdoor fitness court at Cesar Chavez Park and the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission called a special meeting on budget recommendations for Measures GG and FF funds and to reconsider spending $500,000 of Measure FF funds on Eucalyptus Groves on unknown private property sites in the hills. The Police Accountability Board makes the third Wednesday evening 7 pm meeting. Health and Welfare is at 6:30 pm. 

There is a series of city meetings on bicycling in Berkeley starting Thursday at 12 – 1:30 pm. 

Thursday evening the Zoning Adjustment Board takes up the 6-story project at 1201 San Pablo and removing four more tenant spaces from media /film and the Mental Health Commission will get the latest update on the Special Care Unit and access to crisis care in Berkeley. 

Housing Survey for tenants https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CABERKE/bulletins/314823c 

BART Survey - https://bartberkeleyelcerritocap.participate.online/ 

Sunday, April 24, 2022 – no city meetings or events found 

Monday, April 25, 2022 

Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87190567466 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 871 9056 7466 

AGENDA: Public Comment on non-agenda and items 1 – 7. 1. Minutes, 2. Review and Approve 5/10/2022 draft agenda – use link or read full draft agenda after list of city meetings, 3. Berkeley Considers, 4. Adjournment in Memory, 5. Council Worksessions, 6. Referrals for Scheduling, 7. Land Use Calendar, Referred Items for Review: 8. COVID, 9. Return to In-person meetings, Unscheduled Items: 10. Discussion Regarding Design and Strengthening of Policy Committees, 11. Supporting Commissions, Guidance on Legislative Proposals. 

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

Zero Waste Commission at 7 pm 

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

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

AGENDA: 6. Staff reports Strategic Plan, Transfer Station Rates, C&D Processing RFP, FITES draft bag ordinance, Cal Move Out, Illegal dumping, single-use foodware, SB 1383, Discussion and Action: 1. Current recycling market updates and transparency regarding plastics, 2. Work Plan. 

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

Housing Element Event at 5 – 7 pm 

In-person at Berkeley Bowl 2020 Oregon 

Share feedback on housing goals and types of housing 

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 

CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL Meeting at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685329120 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 8368532 9120 

AGENDA: 1. 2022 City Council Referral Prioritization Process Re-Weighted Range Voting (RRV), 2. Accept Risk Analysis for Long-Term Debt (Bonding Capacity) Report provided by Government Finance Officers Association, 3. Berkeley strategic Transportation Plan Update and Grant Application Opportunities. 

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

CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685329120 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 836 8532 9120 

AGENDA:  

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

Wednesday, April 27, 2022 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee at 12 – 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83134748814 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) ID: 831 3474 8814 

AGENDA: Department Budget Presentations: 1. Office of City Manager including Economic Development, 2. Finance, 3. Human Resources, 4. Health, Housing & Community Services, 5. Measure P and Proposed Initial Recommendations. 

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

Disaster and Fire Safety Commission Special Meeting at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81595546232 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 ID: 815 9554 6232 

AGENDA: Measure GG and Measure FF Budget Recommendations, 2. Recommendation for Measure FF spending in FY 23 & FY 24 – Hazardous Vegetation Removal Program – Eucalyptus Groves 

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

Human Welfare & Community Action Commission at 6:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/4863098496 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 486 309 8496 

AGENDA: 6. Work Plan,7. Review of Berkeley funded agency Program and Financial reports a. Through the Looking Glass, 8. Easy Does It lapse in services, 9. Potential infrastructure and affordable housing bonds/taxes, 10. Pathways facility, 11. Subcommittee update for prevention and ending homelessness in Berkeley, 12. Update Alta Bates. 

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

Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission at 7 pm 

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

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 876 1635 4584 

AGENDA: 6. Chair’s Report, 7. Greg Brown Park – multiple entrances, 8. Director’s Report, 9. Update Commission referrals to council, TOT, Refuse Policy, Adopt-a-Spot, South Sailing Basin Dredging and State funding for Marina, 10. Proposed locations – outdoor fitness court at Cesar Chavez Park, 11. BMASP Community meeting #2 additional feedback, 12. Discussion/action 787 Bancroft Development, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Parks,_Recreation,_and_Waterfront_Commission.aspx 

Police Accountability Board Special (PAB) meeting at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82318238840 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 823 1823 8840  

AGENDA: 3. Public comment on agenda and non-agenda items, 5. Chair and Board reports, 6. PAB Director Report, 7. Chief Report, 8. Subcommittee Reports a) Fair & Impartial Policing, b) PAB Director Search, c) Regulations, d) Mental Health Issues, e) Policy 351, f) PAB Budget Proposal, 9. Old Business a. Update Search Committee, b. Discuss how to prioritize work of PAB, 10. a) Review commendations of BPD, b) Training Traffic Enforcement. 

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

goBerkeley SmartSpace Parking Pilot - Elmwood at 6:30 pm – 8 pm 

Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/goberkeley-smartspace-elmwood-community-meeting-3-tickets-310920179627 

AGENDA: New alternatives to managing parking in Elmwood pilot area, changes to non-resident parking in residential areas Residential Parking Permit (RPP) near commercial 

https://smartspace.goberkeley.info 

EBMUD – Water Wednesday Speaker Series at 6 pm 

Use link to register and obtain zoom links 

AGENDA: Drought Update 

https://www.ebmud.com/about-us/education-resources/water-wednesday 

Thursday, April 28, 2022 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee at 9 am – 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84955908549 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 849 5590 8549 

AGENDA: Department Budget Presentations: 1. Planning and Development, 2. Public Works, 3. City Clerk, 4. Police, 5. Parks, Recreation & Waterfront, 6. Proposal to Allocate Revenues Generated by the Transient Occupancy Tax in Waterfront Area to the Marina Fund to Avoid Insolvency. 

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

Bicycling in Berkeley at 12 pm – 1:30 pm 

Use link to register and obtain zoom links 

AGENDA: Provide feedback on bicycle plan 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/City_Manager/Press_Releases/2022/2022-04-14_Share_your_thoughts_on_bicycling_in_Berkeley.aspx 

Mental Health Commission at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83719253558 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 ID: 837 1925 3558 

AGENDA: 3. Public Program on Exploring a Diversion Approach to People Experiencing Behavioral Health Crisis in Berkeley and Access of Crisis Services, 4. Bridge to SCU and SCU update, 6. Review and vote on application for Mental Health Commissioner, b. Mary Lee Smith, Glenn Turner, 7. May is Mental Health Month Proclamation, 8. Mental Health Manager’s Report, 9. Mental Health service Act FY23 Annual Update, 10. Santa Ria Jail Subcommittee Report, 11. Site Visit Subcommittee Report. 

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

Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86568983962 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 822 3423 6079 

AGENDA: 2. 2970 Adeline – on consent – convert 2^nd floor commercial to residential dwelling units on 3,760 sq ft lot, 

3. 2026 San Pablo – on consent – add service of distilled spirits incidental to food in existing restaurant 

4. 2142 Oxford – on consent – allow distilled spirits in full-service restaurant 

5. 1151 Grizzly Peak Blvd – recommend approve - legalize two accessory buildings in the rear yard of single-family dwelling 

6. 1201 San Pablo - recommend approve – construct 6-story, mixed-use building on vacant lot, with 66 units (including 5 very low-income), 1,680 sq ft of commercial space, 2,514 sq ft of usable open space and 17-28 ground-level parking spaces, 

7. 2600 Tenth Street - recommend approve – to change the use of four existing tenant spaces on the 1^st and 2^nd floors, totaling 20,367 sq ft from media production to a research and development use. 

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

goBerkeley SmartSpace Parking - Southside/Telegraph at 6:30 pm – 8 pm  

Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/goberkeley-smartspace-southsidetelegraph-community-meeting-3-tickets-310915024207?aff=ebdsoporgprofile 

AGENDA: New alternatives to manage parking in Southside/Telegraph pilot area 

https://smartspace.goberkeley.info 

Poppin’ Thursday Roller Skate Party at 5 – 8 pm 

Grove Park 1730 Oregon at Russell 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CalendarEventMain.aspx?calendarEventID=17825 

Friday, April 29, 2022 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee at 9 am – 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88256590559 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) ID: 882 5659 0559 

AGENDA: Department Budget Presentations: 1. Office of the director of Police Accountability, 2. City Auditor, 3. City Attorney, 4. Fire, 5. Information technology, 6. Responses to Questions from Prior Presentations and Discussion. 

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

Saturday, April 30, 2022 & Sunday, May 1, 2022 no city events found 

+++++++++++++++++++++++ 

April 25 Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm 

DRAFT AGENDA for May 10, 2022 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87190567466 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 871 9056 7466 

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

CONSENT: 1. Resolution Directing Legislative Bodies to Continue Meeting vis videoconference and teleconference, 2. Resolution to continue Ratify Local COVID-19 Emergency, 3. General Municipal Election 11/8/2022 including adopting policies and timelines for filing ballot measure arguments, 4. FY 2022 Annual Appropriations Ordinance, $53,155,906 (gross) and $43,380,083 (net), 5. Bid Solicitations $964,022, 6. FF Funds Purchase Order $250,000 ZOLL Medical for ECG Monitor/Defibrillators for emergency response vehicles, 7. GG Fire Prevention Funds $121,133 includes $14,552 contingency for carpet replacement at 1900 6^th Street, 8. Contract $17,808 with JotForm, Inc, 9. Donation $54,167 for Berkeley Meals on Wheels, 10. Amend contract add $66,450 total $1,528,350 with Murray Building, Inc for Cazadero Camp Jensen Dormitory Construction Project, 11. Amend contract add $530,832 total $39,350,473 with Robert E. Boyer Construction Inc for Berkeley Tuolumne Cap Construction Project, 12. Chief Louis - Police Equipment & Community Safety Ordinance Impact Statements, Associated Equipment Policies and Annual Equipment Use Report, 13. Amend contract add $500,000 total $1,500,000 with Serological Research Institute for DNA Testing Services thru 6/30/2025, 14. Vision 2050: Strategic Asset Management Plan and Asset Management Policy, 15. Arts Commission - Public Art Funding 1.75% of the estimated cost of construction associated with eligible municipal capital improvement projects for art and cultural enrichment of public buildings, parks, streets and other public spaces. 16. Energy Commission – Recommendation that Vision 2050 Infrastructure Bond Prioritize Clean Mobility, 17. Landmarks Commission – Budget Referral $250,000 - $275,000 City-wide Historic Context Statement, 18. Arreguin – Support SB 1173 – Divestment from Fossil Fuels, 19. Arreguin – Approve expenditure from Mayor’s Office Budget $20,000 to Healthy Black Families, 20. Arreguin – Budget Referral $1,800,000 ($900,000 annually) for anti-displacement allocation per year 1. $250,000-housing retention, 2. Legal counseling tenants, $275,000 each to East Bay Community Law Center and EDC, 3. $100,000 Flexible Housing Subsidies for Homelessness Prevention, 21. Bartlett – Budget referral $50,000 for semi-diverter traffic bollards at east corner of Newbury and Ashby intersection, 22. Harrison – Budget referral $50,000 taffic calming on Dwight between Grant and California, 23. Droste, Arreguin – Budget referral $120,000 performance evaluation of City Attorney and Director of PAB, ACTION: 24. CM – FY 2023 and FY 2024 Proposed Budget Public Hearing #1, 25. Arreguin – Forgive $300,000 Loan to Housing Trust Loan to Berkeley Housing Authority, 26. Taplin – Refer to City Manager and Planning Commission to adopt Objective Standards for Efficiency Units, 27. Wengraf – Resolution Declaring May as Jewish American Heritage Month, INFORMATION REPORTS: 28. Fiscal Year 2022 Mid-year budget update, 29. LPO NOD 1940 Hearst, 30. LPO NOD 2523 Piedmont, LPO NOD 31. 2580 Bancroft Way, 32. Mental Health Commission Work Plan. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

April 26 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685329120 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 836 8532 9120 

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

CONSENT: 1. Amend Contract add $151,000 total $200,000 with Rebecca Burnside for Personnel Investigations, 2. 2^nd reading Collection of Parking Space Rental Tax for City Owned Parking Lots, 3. Minutes, 4. Acceptance of $2,200,000 donation from UCB to support 6 months of operations at Rodeway in for sheltering homeless at People’s Park, 5. Contract $3,993,397 with Abode Services to Operate Interim Housing at the Rodeway Inn from 5/1/2022-10/31/2023, 6. Urgency Ordinance for leasing 1461 University, 7. Contract $250,000 with Village of Love for Operation of Telegraph Neighborhood Sacred Rest Drop-in Center 6/1/2022 – 5/31/2023, 8. Endorsement of Alameda County Home Together 2026 Implementation Plan, 9. $10,914,400 Formal Bid Solicitations, 10. Contract add $60,000 total $160,000 Measure FF Funds with Fire Aside for Defensible Space Inspection Software 5/18/2022 – 5/17/2024 with option to extend 4 years for total $160,000, 11. Commission Reorganization of Community Health Commission to reduce membership to 9 and consolidate functions from 10 to 4, 12. Contract add $76,648 total $432,470 with Pacific Site Management for landscaping services and extend to 6/30/2023, 13. Amend contract add $19,350 total $82350 with Resource Development Associates for Crisis Assessment and Triage Line Evaluation, 14. Grant Application $60,000 with match $6,000 for Surrendered and Abandoned Vessel Exchange (SAVE), 15. Total all Contracts $600,000 for Climate Equity Fund Pilot Programs 5/1/2022-5/31/2024, 1) $83,334 Association for Energy Affordability, 2) $83,333 BlocPower, 3) $100,000 Ecology Center, 4) $83,333 Northern California Land Trust, 5) $250,000 Waterside Workshops, 16. Contract (numbers do not add up to listed total of $550,000) with Diablo Engineering Group for Preliminary Engineering and Final Design for the Ohlone Greenway Modernization and Safety project $220,000, plus $14,000 for as needed project related services, plus $234,000 6/1/2022 – 12/31/2024, 17. Contract $300,000 with ParkMobile, LLC for Mobile Parking Payment Services (mobile payment on-street meters and parking garage reservations 7/1/2022-6/30/2025, 18. Contract add $225,000 total $2,050,000 with Portable Computer systems dba PCS Mobile for Parking Permit and Citation Services extend to 6/30/2024, 19. Contract (no cost) with Chrisp Company for Roadway Thermoplastic Markings and extend to 6/30/2024 with option 3 one-year extensions, 20. Amend Contract add $1,000,000 total $3,500,000 with Pavement Engineering, Inc, for on-call civil engineering and construction management services, 21. Lease with Options Recovery for 1835 Allston Way, Old City Hall Annex1/1/202-12/31/2024 with 2 5-year renewal options, 22. Purchase order $1,731,000 with Western Truck Center for 4 Front Loaders, 23. Arreguin - Bay Area Book Festival Relinquishment $1068 from Mayor’s discretionary funds 24. Arreguin – Budget referral $1,00,000 from ARPA to Eviction Defense to supplement Housing Retention, 25. Kesarwani – Budget referral $50,000 to expand Downtown Streets services to Gilman commercial and industrial areas twice weekly, 26. Bartlett, co-sponsor Arreguin – Budget referral $300,000 convert 62^nd street between King and Adeline into a cul de sac with marked bicycle lane connecting Adeline to bicycle blvd on King, 27. Harrison - Support AB 2557 specifying that records of Civilian Law Enforcement Oversight Agencies are subject to the disclosure Requirements of the Public Records Act, 28. Hahn, so-sponsors Arreguin, Taplin, Harrison – Refer grant $150,000 for the benefit of Luna Dance Institute, 29. Hahn, co-sponsors Wengraf, Robinson - Budget referral $300,000 for bike, pedestrian and streetscape and re-paving Hopkins Corridor, 30. Hahn, co-sponsors Harrison, Wengraf – Budget referral $40,000 Solano Stroll September 11, 2022 and September 10, 2023, 31. Robinson – Support AB 2234 Postentitlement Permit Streamlining, ACTION: 32. CM – Accept Risk Analysis for Long-Term Debt (Bonding Capacity) provided by GFOA, 33. ZAB Appeal 1643-1647 California – to 1) create new lower basement level, 2) construct new 2^nd story, 3) modify existing duplex layout resulting in 3,763 sq ft duplex on existing property, 34. CM – Zoning Ordinance Amendments that address technical edits and corrections, 35. CM – Submission of 2022 (FY2023) Annual Allocations of Federal HUD funds, 36. Resolution Accepting the Surveillance Technology Report for Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs), GPS Trackers, Body Worn Camera and Street Level Imagery, 37. CM – Hopkins Corridor Project Conceptual design, 38. Homeless Commission – a. Refer to the CM to develop a crisis stabilization program based on the Bend, Oregon model, b. CM - Staff response – use Amber House which has empty beds, , CSU too expensive and MediCal billing too complex, 39. Homeless Commission – a. direct CM to expand Berkeley Emergency Storm Shelter (BESS) to emergencies not otherwise covered including outside the dates of the current contract with Dorothy Day b. CM – staff response - refer to the budget process. 

LAND USE CALENDAR: 

Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals 

1205 Peralta – conversion of existing garage 5/10/2022 

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

2222 Blake – 2^nd Story addition over 14’ in average height and addition of laudry and deck on 1^st story 5/11/2022 

1338 Carlotta – Major residential addition over 14’ in average height, alteration in NC front yard setback 5/11/2022 

1415 Fifth – Convert an existing 2,257 sq ft residence into a 2491 sq ft duplex, construct new 2621 single family residence, 4/28/2022 

1008 Grizzly Peak – install a hot tub in the rear yard 5/11/2022 

1609 Kains – Raise existing home by 10 ft and construct new first floor, 4/27/2022 

1126 Keith – AUPfor installation in backyard at grade cedar hot tub (6’ wide, 4’ deep on concrete pad 6” thick sunk 20” into ground 4/27/2022 

1813 Parker - addition over 14’ in average height 4/27/2022 

27 Parnassus – Roof deck addition exceeding 14’ in height in hillside district 4/27/2022 

1301 Peralta - Major residential addition over 14’ in average height by creating 2^nd story addition 5/11/2022 

2908 Russell – addition of 2^nd floor bathroom addition of over 14’ 4/27/2022 

1425 Spruce – Re-frame the roof at the rear half of the house to extend the existing hip roof, add 20 sq feet rear addition on 2^nd floor and legalize existing hot tub 5/11/2022 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/planning_and_development/land_use_division/current_zoning_applications_in_appeal_period.aspx 

WORKSESSIONS: 

April 26 - Special Meeting – Referral Prioritization Process, Berkeley Strategic Transportation Plan Update, Bond Capacity, 

June 21 – Ballot Measure Development/Discussion 

July 19 - open 

Unscheduled Workshops/Presentations 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Alameda County LAFCO Presentation 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

Mid-Year Budget Report FY 2022 

Kelly Hammargren’s on what happened the preceding week can be found in the Berkeley Daily Planet www.berkeleydailyplanet.com under Activist’s Diary. This meeting list is also posted at https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

If you would like to receive the Activist’s Calendar as soon as it is completed send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly summary of city meetings please forward the weekly summary you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. 

Worth Noting - There is a lot happening this week.  

Besides the special and regular council meetings on Tuesday, the City Departments present to the Council Budget Committee on Wednesday 12 - 4 pm and Thursday and Friday from 9 am – 5 pm. The Surveillance Report will be heard Tuesday evening at the Council 6 pm meeting, plus the Hopkins Corridor Redesign and the Homeless Commission referral for the development of a 24/7 crisis stabilization center. 

Monday Zero waste will hear an update on the plastic recycling market. We might learn how much is “wish cycling” rather than actual recycling. 

The parking pilot projects SmartSpace are on Wednesday for Elmwood and Thursday for Southside at 6:30 pm. 

Wednesday evening at 7 pm the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission has a full schedule including Greg Brown Park and an outdoor fitness court at Cesar Chavez Park and the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission called a special meeting on budget recommendations for Measures GG and FF funds and to reconsider spending $500,000 of Measure FF funds on Eucalyptus Groves on unknown private property sites in the hills. The Police Accountability Board makes the third Wednesday evening 7 pm meeting. Health and Welfare is at 6:30 pm. 

There is a series of city meetings on bicycling in Berkeley starting Thursday at 12 – 1:30 pm. 

Thursday evening the Zoning Adjustment Board takes up the 6-story project at 1201 San Pablo and removing four more tenant spaces from media /film and the Mental Health Commission will get the latest update on the Special Care Unit and access to crisis care in Berkeley. 

Housing Survey for tenants https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CABERKE/bulletins/314823c 

BART Survey - https://bartberkeleyelcerritocap.participate.online/ 

Sunday, April 24, 2022 – no city meetings or events found 

Monday, April 25, 2022 

Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87190567466 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 871 9056 7466 

AGENDA: Public Comment on non-agenda and items 1 – 7. 1. Minutes, 2. Review and Approve 5/10/2022 draft agenda – use link or read full draft agenda after list of city meetings, 3. Berkeley Considers, 4. Adjournment in Memory, 5. Council Worksessions, 6. Referrals for Scheduling, 7. Land Use Calendar, Referred Items for Review: 8. COVID, 9. Return to In-person meetings, Unscheduled Items: 10. Discussion Regarding Design and Strengthening of Policy Committees, 11. Supporting Commissions, Guidance on Legislative Proposals. 

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

Zero Waste Commission at 7 pm 

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

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

AGENDA: 6. Staff reports Strategic Plan, Transfer Station Rates, C&D Processing RFP, FITES draft bag ordinance, Cal Move Out, Illegal dumping, single-use foodware, SB 1383, Discussion and Action: 1. Current recycling market updates and transparency regarding plastics, 2. Work Plan. 

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

Housing Element Event at 5 – 7 pm 

In-person at Berkeley Bowl 2020 Oregon 

Share feedback on housing goals and types of housing 

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 

CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL Meeting at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685329120 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 8368532 9120 

AGENDA: 1. 2022 City Council Referral Prioritization Process Re-Weighted Range Voting (RRV), 2. Accept Risk Analysis for Long-Term Debt (Bonding Capacity) Report provided by Government Finance Officers Association, 3. Berkeley strategic Transportation Plan Update and Grant Application Opportunities. 

https://www

Worth Noting:

Once more we heard from the Mayor this week that the City Manager’s response to the Reimagining Public Safety will occur. Mayor Arreguin said it will be April 21. There is no posting of the meeting. Posting at the last minute has become all too common, check later https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx The Rent Board, Design Review Committee and the Transportation Commission are all scheduled for Thursday evening, April 21^st. The April 26^th Council agenda is available for comment. Items of note are the Surveillance Report, the Homeless Commission referral for a crisis stabilization center and storm shelters. Use the same link or scroll down to find the agenda list between the list of meetings and Land Use Calendar.



In the long list of meetings, these are picked as key where your attendance/comment may make a difference. There are other meetings in the list that also deserve your attention. Local actions matter!

Monday at 10:30 am the Public Safety Committee takes up warrantless searches and prohibition of discriminatory reports.

Tuesday 9 am the Budget Committee will continue the unfinished items from Thursday on paving, budgeting, and electrification. At 6 pm the presentation and discussion of the planning for the housing developments at the Ashby and North Berkeley BART stations follows a presentation by the Fire Department.

Wednesday at 7 pm is the last community meeting on Vision 2050. There will be a ballot measure in November. There is so much on Wednesday that you could be attending meetings from noon through the evening with barely a break from 3:30 – 5:30 pm. I have never attended a PG&E webinar so I cannot tell you whether that 5:30 pm meeting on wildfire safety is worth your time – it does look like it will be recorded.

Thursday at 7 pm Design review includes three interesting projects and the Transportation Commission includes BerkDOT, Hopkins Corridor and Adeline Plaza and possibly reimagining policing.

Saturday is Earth Day and I leave you to find and decide on your own activity. There are plenty to choose from. The City sponsored event for the waterfront which is listed.



Sunday, April 17, 2022 – Easter, Passover, Ramadan 

Monday, April 18, 2022 

City Council Public Safety Committee at 10:30 am (members Taplin, Kesawani, Wengraf) 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84938614551 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 849 3861 4551 

AGENDA: 2. Droste co-sponsor Taplin - Revisions to Section 311.6 Warrantless Searches of Individuals on Supervised Release Search Conditions of Berkeley Police Department Law, 3. Harrison, co-sponsor Hahn - Add Chapter 13.09 to BMC Prohibiting Discriminatory Reports to Law Enforcement, 4. Disaster and Fire Safety Commission – Parking Enforcement of Existing Parking Code in Fire Zones 2 & 3. 

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

4x4 Joint Task Force Committee on Housing: Rent Board/City Council at 3 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81166286812?pwd=SmM3Uk94L2dKTHA0T21IVWFBQTVPUT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 811 6628 6812 Passcode: 458408 

AGENDA Discussion and possible action: 6. Revisions to the Demolition Ordinance, 7. Memorandum regarding the potential for adding more rent controlled units under CA Civil Code Section 1954.52(b), 8. Relocation Ordinance and suggested additions from previous discussion regarding Tenant Habitability Plan Ordinance, 9. Various amendments to the Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Good Cause Ordinance. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/4x4_Committee_Homepage.aspx 

Homeless Services Panel of Experts Special Meeting at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/92491365323 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 924 9136 5323 

AGENDA: 6. Discussion and possible action towards recommendation of allocation of Measure P monies in current budget cycle. 

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

Tuesday, April 19, 2022 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee at 9 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87174090877 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID:871 7409 0877 

AGENDA: 1. Kesarwani, co-sponsors Taplin, Wengraf, Droste - Budget Referral: Street Maintenance Funding – 3 yr street paving financing plan to bring total annual budget to $51.1 million. 2. Harrison – Budget Referral for Capital Improvements, Street, Sidewalk, Micromobility and Transit, 3. CM- FY 22 AAO #2 Update, 4. CM- Discussion Budget Engagement Strategies. 

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

City Council CLOSED SESSION at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87106067473 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 871 0606 7473 

AGENDA: 1. Conference with legal counsel – existing litigation Worthy v. City of Berkeley, et.al 

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

CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87841008933 

Teleconference: 1-699-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 878 4100 8933 

AGENDA: 1. Fire Department Standards of Coverage and Community Risk Assessment Study, 2. Ashby and North Berkeley BART Transit-Oriented Development. 

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

Wednesday, April 20, 2022 

City/UC/Student Relations Committee Special Meeting at 12 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82268262581 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 ID: 822 6826 2581 

AGENDA: 2. Public Comment, 3. Minutes, 4. Introductions to new ASUC leadership, 5. Seamless Bay Area – mission to transform fragmented public transportation into unified system 6. Strategies to support unhoused community members in People’s Park and Telegraph Neighborhood, 7. Priorities for spending future allocations of UC/CoB settlement agreement payments, 8. GLA (group living ordinance update. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/City/UC/Student_Relations_Committee.aspx 

City Council Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment & Sustainability Committee (FITES) at 2:30 pm, 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83191415939 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) ID: 831 9141 5939 

AGENDA: 2. Harrison, co-sponsor Hahn – Consider Strategies and Make Recommendations to Council and Staff to Ensure Potential Infrastructure Bond Expenditure is Consistent with Climate Action Goals and Other Environmental Policies, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/Policy_Committee__Facilities,_Infrastructure,_Transportation,_Environment,___Sustainability.aspx 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Outreach Committee at 5:15 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89090202321?pwd=cGxPa0IxSllvVi95dmZQcWhWTVBOQT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 890 9020 2321 Passcode: 140743 

AGENDA: 6. Staff update regarding social media 7. Staff update on website revamp and new 3Di Case Management/Public Platform, 8. Discussion/possible action regarding 2022 Tenant Survey, 9. Fair Chance Ordinance a. Promotion Video for the new law https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp8CVZdKUV0, May 9 5pm Webinar hosted by Berkeley Property Owners and co-presenters JustCities and Berkeley Rent Board, 10. Staff report on status of Eviction Moratorium/Ellis Act. 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

Commission on Aging at 1:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87859343194 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 ID: post lists 726 7423 9145  

However, telephone link is usually the same as zoom 878 5934 3194 

AGENDA: 4. Workplan, 5. Commission liaisons – reports and updates, 6. Older adult community forum, 7. Systemic Ageism, 8. Public Safety crosswalks at major intersections, city sidewalks, 9. Commissioner recruitment, 10. Tenants Opportunity to Purchase Act. 

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

Commission on the Status of Women at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81443013997?pwd=aXR0Yjl0ZVhqYUZtWXlQejRMcm5zUT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 ID: 814 4301 3997 

AGENDA: 5. Workplan, 6. Update on domestic violence, gender-based violence transitional housing/shelter recommendation, 7. Update on Roe v. Wade event, 8. Letter to Council, City Manager requesting contractor gender equity under Mason-Tillman, 9. Recommendation to sign on support of sexual assault victims at FCI in Dublin, 10 Proclamation in honor of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

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

Vision 2050 Community meeting at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83637304228 

Teleconference & ID: teleconference option not provided 

AGENDA: Presentation of infrastructure needs and potential methods of financing with Q&A session. This session is assigned to Districts 1 & 2, but if you missed your neighborhood session, attend this one as it is the last in the series. 

https://www.berkeleyvision2050.org/ 

Community for a Cultural Civic Center at 12 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88153954875?pwd=WGxqRndONmE1N0FCOTdMd2FBMHhhUT09 

Teleconference: ID:  

AGENDA: Liam Garland and Elmar Kapfer will talk about Phase 2 of the Civic Center Vision Project. 

https://berkeleycccc.org/latest-updates 

PG&E Wildfire Safety Webinar at 5:30 pm 

Link to webinar schedule: 

https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/emergency-preparedness/natural-disaster/wildfires/community-wildfire-safety-open-house-meetings.page?cid=em_PSPS_20220412-PSPS-AllCustomerWebinarInvite-c4789_20220412_firesafetywebinars_email_na_na 

Thursday, April 21, 2022 

City Council Land Use, Housing & Economic Development Committee at 10:30 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83907679586 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) ID: 839 0767 9568 

AGENDA: 2. Election of chair, 3. Small business listening session. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/Policy_Committee__Land_Use,_Housing___Economic_Development.aspx 

Announced but not posted City Council Special Meeting  

AGENDA: City Manager/Staff response to reimagining public safety presentations - this meeting has already been postponed once, Mayor Arreguin announced as occurring 4/21/2022 but is not posted, check later. 

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

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board at 7 pm 

Videoconference, Teleconference: ID: check after Monday for links 

AGENDA: agenda not posted check after Monday 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

Design Review Committee at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81450123842 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 814 5012 3842 

AGENDA: 2000 University (at Milvia) – final design review – demolish two existing commercial structures and construction of a new 8-story mixed-use building with 81 dwelling units and ground floor commercial 

2440 Shattuck (at Haste)– preliminary design review – demolish existing commercial building and construct an 8-story, mixed use building with 40 dwelling units and 2700 sq ft of ground floor commercial space 

2065 Kittredge (at Harold adjacent to Shattuck Hotel) – advisory comments – demolish existing commercial building and construct 8-story mixed-use with 188 residential units (including 4 live-work) and 43 underground parking spaces, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/designreview/ 

Transportation Commission at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82459281281 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 or 1-669-900-9128 ID: 824 5928 1281 

AGENDA Discussion/Action: 1. Vision 2050, 2. BerkDOT, 3. Hopkins Corridor, 4. Adeline Right-of Way and Plaza Options, 5. TNC Tax Allocation Priorities, 

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

Friday, April 22, 2022 

2x2 Committee at 8:30 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83637501564 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 ID: 836 3750 1564 

AGENDA: not posted check later 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/2x2_Committee_Homepage.aspx 

Saturday, April 23, 2022 – Passover ends 

EARTH DAY – Berkeley waterfront Day Cleanup Event at 9 am – 12 pm 

Shorebird Park Nature Center at 160 University 

Supply of gloves and buckets will be limited so bring your own if you can 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CalendarEventMain.aspx?calendarEventID=17811 

Sunday, April 24, 2022 – no events or city meetings found 

++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

April 26 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83685329120 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 836 8532 9120 

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

CONSENT: 1. Amend Contract add $151,000 total $200,000 with Rebecca Burnside for Personnel Investigations, 2. 2^nd reading Collection of Parking Space Rental Tax for City Owned Parking Lots, 3. Minutes, 4. Acceptance of $2,200,000 donation from UCB to support 6 months of operations at Rodeway in for sheltering homeless at People’s Park, 5. Contract $3,993,397 with Abode Services to Operate Interim Housing at the Rodeway Inn from 5/1/2022-10/31/2023, 6. Urgency Ordinance for leasing 1461 University, 7. Contract $250,000 with Village of Love for Operation of Telegraph Neighborhood Sacred Rest Drop-in Center 6/1/2022 – 5/31/2023, 8. Endorsement of Alameda County Home Together 2026 Implementation Plan, 9. $10,914,400 Formal Bid Solicitations, 10. Contract add $60,000 total $160,000 Measure FF Funds with Fire Aside for Defensible Space Inspection Software 5/18/2022 – 5/17/2024 with option to extend 4 years for total $160,000, 11. Commission Reorganization of Community Health Commission to reduce membership to 9 and consolidate functions from 10 to 4, 12. Contract add $76,648 total $432,470 with Pacific Site Management for landscaping services and extend to 6/30/2023, 13. Amend contract add $19,350 total $82350 with Resource Development Associates for Crisis Assessment and Triage Line Evaluation, 14. Grant Application $60,000 with match $6,000 for Surrendered and Abandoned Vessel Exchange (SAVE), 15. Total all Contracts $600,000 for Climate Equity Fund Pilot Programs 5/1/2022-5/31/2024, 1) $83,334 Association for Energy Affordability, 2) $83,333 BlocPower, 3) $100,000 Ecology Center, 4) $83,333 Northern California Land Trust, 5) $250,000 Waterside Workshops, 16. Contract (numbers do not add up to listed total of $550,000) with Diablo Engineering Group for Preliminary Engineering and Final Design for the Ohlone Greenway Modernization and Safety project $220,000, plus $14,000 for as needed project related services, plus $234,000 6/1/2022 – 12/31/2024, 17. Contract $300,000 with ParkMobile, LLC for Mobile Parking Payment Services (mobile payment on-street meters and parking garage reservations 7/1/2022-6/30/2025, 18. Contract add $225,000 total $2,050,000 with Portable Computer systems dba PCS Mobile for Parking Permit and Citation Services extend to 6/30/2024, 19. Contract (no cost) with Chrisp Company for Roadway Thermoplastic Markings and extend to 6/30/2024 with option 3 one-year extensions, 20. Amend Contract add $1,000,000 total $3,500,000 with Pavement Engineering, Inc, for on-call civil engineering and construction management services, 21. Lease with Options Recovery for 1835 Allston Way, Old City Hall Annex1/1/202-12/31/2024 with 2 5-year renewal options, 22. Purchase order $1,731,000 with Western Truck Center for 4 Front Loaders, 23. Arreguin - Bay Area Book Festival Relinquishment $1068 from Mayor’s discretionary funds 24. Arreguin – Budget referral $1,00,000 from ARPA to Eviction Defense to supplement Housing Retention, 25. Kesarwani – Budget referral $50,000 to expand Downtown Streets services to Gilman commercial and industrial areas twice weekly, 26. Bartlett, co-sponsor Arreguin – Budget referral $300,000 convert 62^nd street between King and Adeline into a cul de sac with marked bicycle lane connecting Adeline to bicycle blvd on King, 27. Harrison - Support AB 2557 specifying that records of Civilian Law Enforcement Oversight Agencies are subject to the disclosure Requirements of the Public Records Act, 28. Hahn, so-sponsors Arreguin, Taplin, Harrison – Refer grant $150,000 for the benefit of Luna Dance Institute, 29. Hahn, co-sponsors Wengraf, Robinson - Budget referral $300,000 for bike, pedestrian and streetscape and re-paving Hopkins Corridor, 30. Hahn, co-sponsors Harrison, Wengraf – Budget referral $40,000 Solano Stroll September 11, 2022 and September 10, 2023, 31. Robinson – Support AB 2234 Postentitlement Permit Streamlining, ACTION: 32. CM – Accept Risk Analysis for Long-Term Debt (Bonding Capacity) provided by GFOA, 33. ZAB Appeal 1643-1647 California – to 1) create new lower basement level, 2) construct new 2^nd story, 3) modify exiting duplex layout resulting in 3,763 sq ft duplex on existing property, 34. CM – Zoning Ordinance Amendments that address technical edits and corrections, 35. CM – Submission of 2022 (FY2023) Annual Allocations of Federal HUD funds, 36. Resolution Accepting the Surveillance Technology Report for Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs), GPS Trackers, Body Worn Camera and Street Level Imagery, 37. CM – Hopkins Corridor Project Conceptual design, 38. Homeless Commission – a. Refer to the CM to develop a crisis stabilization program based on the Bend, Oregon model, b. CM - Staff response – use Amber House which has empty beds, , CSU too expensive and MediCal billing too complex, 39. Homeless Commission – a. direct CM to expand Berkeley Emergency Storm Shelter (BESS) to emergencies not otherwise covered including outside the dates of the current contract with Dorothy Day b. CM – staff response - refer to the budget process. 

LAND USE CALENDAR: 

Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals 

1205 Peralta – conversion of existing garage 5/10/2022 

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

1415 Fifth – Convert an existing 2,257 sq ft residence into a 2491 sq ft duplex, construct new 2621 single family residence, 4/28/2022 

1609 Kains – Raise existing home by 10 ft and construct new first floor, 4/27/2022 

1126 Keith – AUPfor installation in backyard at grade cedar hot tub (6’ wide, 4’ deep on concrete pad 6” thick sunk 20” into ground 4/27/2022 

1813 Parker - addition over 14’ in average height 4/27/2022 

27 Parnassus – Roof deck addition exceeding 14’ in height in hillside district 4/27/2022 

2908 Russell – addition of 2^nd floor bathroom addition of over 14’ 4/27/2022 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/planning_and_development/land_use_division/current_zoning_applications_in_appeal_period.aspx 

WORKSESSIONS: 

April 14 - Special Meeting – Reimagining Public Safety – rescheduled to April 21 

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

April 26 - Special Meeting – Berkeley Strategic Transportation Plan Update, Bond Capacity, 

June 21 – Ballot Measure Development/Discussion (tentative) 

July 19 - open 

Unscheduled Workshops/Presentations 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Alameda County LAFCO Presentation 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

Mid-Year Budget Report FY 2022 

Kelly Hammargren’s take on what happened the preceding week can be found in the Berkeley Daily Planet www.berkeleydailyplanet.com under Activist’s Diary. This meeting list is also posted at https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

If you would like to receive the Activist’s Calendar as soon as it is completed send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly summary of city meetings please forward the weekly summary you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com.