Opponents of bike lanes on Hopkins were out-strategized by the local bike lobby. I say “lobby”, because unlike the neighbors, the merchants, and the merchants’ customers, the bicycling advocates are a well-organized constituency with financial and ideological support from Berkeley City Hall. They’re formally represented by two entities—Walk/Bike Berkeley, self-described as “an all-volunteer organization,” and its patron, the nonprofit Bike East Bay.

Berkeley’s grants to Bike East Bay

Documents obtained from the city via a Public Records Act request show that from 2015 to 2020, Bike East Bay received a total of $100,648 in grants from Berkeley: $16,622 annually from 2015 to 2018; $17,000 in 2019 and 2020 respectively. As documented below, in 2020 Transportation planner Beth Thomas told Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Dave Campbell that she was going to ask that the grant be increased to $20,000 in 2021. The city, however, has yet to provide me with an invoice for 2021. For now, let’s assume the grant was $17,000, which would bring the city’s total grants to Bike East Bay since 2015 to $117,648. -more-

Berkeley did not set a new temperature record on Friday, June 10th, but plenty of other cities in the greater Bay Area did. It was still hot with the temperature nearing 90°. The weatherman on local news said temperatures on Friday were 20° above normal, making it another climate warning as this heat wave moves east.

Why, we might then ask, as the earth is hurtling toward the global warming climate catastrophe, with CO2 levels in the atmosphere at 420 parts per million, the highest levels in human history, is the city of Berkeley Public Works Department’s 2023 budget request for $1,000,000 for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at the corporation yard off the table in the city manager’s proposed biennial budget?

At Thursday’s Budget and Finance Committee, Councilmember Harrison called not investing in electrification infrastructure, “pennywise and pound foolish”. And, that was before the posting of the purchase order request from Public Works to increase the money for diesel fuel by $1,900,000.

Item 13 in the draft agenda for the June 28th City Council meeting gives the new total to be spent on diesel fuel as $10,744,000. That is a hefty sum going to Diesel Direct West, Inc., for fuel for city vehicles. The report that is supposed to accompany the request is not in the Agenda Committee packet, so we can’t calculate monthly or yearly costs, or how many months are added by extending the contract to December 31, 2023. Regardless, $10,744,000 for diesel fuel is still a lot of money in a city that is supposedly committed to becoming fossil-fuel-free.

And that cost doesn’t include the damage to the environment to extract crude oil, process it into diesel and burn it in combustion engines.

This city can’t make the conversion to EV without the charging infrastructure. For all the bluster from our Mayor about being a progressive city, most days I wonder what our city leaders actually believe, because it is not showing up as action.

Each time I walk past the corporation staff parking lot at the end of Allston, I think about how that space could be more effectively utilized. At the very least it could be covered with solar to power up those EV charging stations Public Works is requesting. Maybe it could house RVs or tiny houses. -more-

As a former Brit, I am appalled at the colossal waste of money being spent to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee. The queen and her royal predecessors had ruled over India (the land of my heritage) from 1858 to 1947 where they plundered India’s enormous wealth and adopted a “divide and rule” policy between Hindus and Muslims to deflect hostility away from the British.

Following the British departure in 1947, Britain’s former “Jewel in the British Crown” was forced to relinquish a sizable portion of its land mass to accommodate the new Islamic nation of Pakistan.

Millions perished in the enormous migration that ensued.

My father spent most of his adult life campaigning relentlessly for an early exit from India’s British rule. In the “great Loot” it is estimated that $45 trillion was drained from the Indian economy in the form of onerous taxes. When Britain arrived on India’s shores, India’s share of the world economy was 23 percent; when the British it left India’s wealth had been reduced to 4 percent.

The jubilee itself is very telling. There is huge public expenditure for four days, about 28 million pounds spent for a meaningless ritual genuflection to one of the world’s richest institutions, while Britain is in very deep economic trouble, post Brexit. Inflation is running at 10 percent. There is enormous inequality. There are a record numbers of children going hungry, record numbers of working families are forced to use food banks. The soft-hard border issues in Ireland continue to haunt the British, post Brexit.

It seems like the British elite ignored Law of Karma. What goes around comes around! -more-

"Anosognosia," is a term used to describe the absence of the basic insight that you are ill, and it is a common symptom of schizophrenia in many but not all of those afflicted. This lack of awareness goes undetected to the person who is suffering from it even though others around the ill person are probably very aware of it. I don't suffer from anosognosia except when I've slipped significantly into psychosis. I must always remain vigilant to prevent this. However, I am still subject to other insights going missing, insights for which I haven't done as many "mental drills" to reinforce. -more-

Viral Vindication

Critical Replacement Theory may be an empty Tucker-Carlson-talking point but Natural Selection is still a Darwinian reality. The latest evidence comes from the Centers for Disease Control's report on COVID-19 mortalities. While the US accounts for a million of the 15 million global deaths (chants of "We're Number One! We're Number One!"), it turns out there's a partisan impact to the plague.

According to the CDC and Johns Hopkins University, the 16 US states with the highest COVID death rates are all states under Republican control. The states with the lowest death rates are largely Democratic. California had the lowest rate (58 deaths per 100,000) while mask-ditching, vax-nixing West Virginia had the highest (204 deaths per 100,000).

Reading the Small Print

I recently grabbed a cold bottle of Minute Maid apple juice and got another reminder of the ever-present reach of Global Capitalism. In addition to a printed reminder that Minute Maid is now owned by Coca-Cola, the ingredients list read as follows: "Apple concentrates from USA, Argentina, Chile, China, Turkey, Hungary, Austria, Poland and Italy."

What's up? Coke can't find enough apples in the US? And why's the list not in alphabetical order? -more-

This month has seen the revival of many Bay Area arts organizations which were in forced hiatus because of the pandemic. One of them, Berkeley Chamber Opera, will be presenting a double bill of one-act operas at Berkeley’s Hillside Club this coming weekend.

Eliza O’Malley, the director, who also sings a soprano role, says that the two have been chosen to be “Covid proof “, short with small casts. The three performances (Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 7 pm) are double cast in case any singer should test positive.

Both operas are by Russian composers from the beginning of the 20^th century, but they are quite different from each other.

The director says that “this may well be the West Coast Premiere of Prokofiev’s Maddalena, since it was lost for decades.”

Even after the score was re-discovered in publishers’ archives in the 1950s, ownership disputes delayed production until the 1980s.

It’s based on a play by Magda Gustavovna Lieven-Orlov. When the play was originally published, she wrote under the male pseudonym “Baron Lieven” because the ultra-dramatic content was considered too daring and immoral for a woman.

The Stravinsky opera Mavra is a contrast, a short and sweet comic favorite which is frequently performed.

Audience members are required to be well-vaccinated and boosted with strong masks. For a cast list and tickets: click here

Berkeley Hillside Club
2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley CA

Friday June 17th 7pm
Saturday June 18th 7pm
Sunday June 19th 7pm

< -more-

Worth Noting:

To look for city sponsored events, like films in the park and check for meetings announced on short notice, use the new city website https://berkeleyca.gov/. This summary of meetings which is already long will only list city meetings and key community meetings/events. Key items are bolded and underlined.

Sunday, June 12th at 5 pm is the production of ROE at the Brower Center by the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. The staged reading of ROE is free (thanks to donations), seating is limited, reservations are highly recommended. A second final reading of ROE is at the Marsh, June 16th at 7 pm.

Monday at 10 am the Council Committee on Health, Equity agenda items are the Fair workweek and re-entry employment and guaranteed income. At 2:30 pm the Agenda committee finalizes the agenda for the June 28th regular Council meeting at 6 pm – item 10 BerkDOT, 13. Add $1.900,000 to City cost of Diesel fuel note that a $1,000,000 request to install EV charging at the corporation yard for city vehicles is not included in the CM proposed budget, 28. Pilot of charging for parking in neighborhoods,

Tuesday City Council at 6 pm action items 30. Proposed biennial budget, 32. Police Equipment, 33. Parking enforcement in fire zones, 34. VACANCY TAX, 35. Home electrification pilot.

Wednesday Commission on Aging at 1:30, FITES meets on plastic ordinance at 2:30, and the Human Welfare & Community Action meets at 6:30 pm.

Thursday 6pm the Fair Campaign Practices & Open Government meets at 6 pm on election enforcement referrals. At 7 pm the DRC takes up 742 Grayson a manufacturing R&D with a 7-story 325 parking space garage and the last reading of ROE at the Marsh is at 7 pm. (

Sunday, June 19th at 11 am – 7 pm Juneteenth Festival at Adeline and Alcatraz

The schedule of the January 6th hearings for the coming week (in Pacific Time) and what will be covered – Monday, June 13 at 7 am PT will cover how Donald Trump and his advisors knew that he infact lost the election but still engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information that the election was stolen, Wednesday, June 15 at 7 am PT will cover how Trump corruptly planned to replace the US Attorney General so the Justice Department would spread false stolen election claims, Thursday, June 16th at 10 am PT will focus on Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to refuse to count electoral votes on January 6th..

Sunday, June 12, 2022

ROE at 5 pm at the David Brower Center Goldman Theater at 2150 Allston Way

Staged reading of ROE produced by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley performance of Roe by Lisa Loomer directed by Susannah Wood and organized by Carol Marasovic of the City of Berkeley Commission on the Status of Women

Admission is free - reservations are highly recommended,

https://www.aeofberkeley.org/productions/upcoming-shows/378-roe-by-lisa-loomer

donations to cover the production costs are welcome send to:

Berkeley Actors Ensemble / ROE, PO Box 663, Berkeley, CA 94701

Monday, June 13, 2022 -more-

Celebrated Belgian choral ensemble Vox Luminis returned to the Berkeley Early Music Festival on Thursday, June 9, for the first of two concerts at First Congregational Church, where they performed Dietrich Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostra. Buxtehude (1637-1707) was a renowned organist and composer in Lübeck, Germany, where he served as organist at the Marienkirche for 39 years. Younger composers such as Handel, Telemann, and Johann Sebastian Bach all made visits to Buxtehude in Lübeck. At the age of 20, Bach obtained a month’s leave of absence from his post as organist in Amstadt, Germany, to pay a visit to Buxtehude. Bach walked on foot from Amstadt to Lübeck, a distance of 250 miles, and then stayed nearly three months there so captivated was he by hearing Buxtehude’s music and conferring with the then 68 year-old composer. -more-

Rachel Podger, hailed as “Queen of the Baroque Violin,” performed solo works for violin by Johann Sebastian Bach at First Congregational Church on Wednesday, June 8 as part of the biannual Berkeley Early Music Festival & Exhibition, which returns after a several year absence due to the Covid pandemic. Featured works at this concert were Bach’s Sonata and Partita Numbers Two for solo violin, as well as a transposition for violin of Bach’s Suite No. 3 for solo cello. -more-

As part of the Berkeley Early Music Festival’s Fringe events, William Ludtke’s Handel Opera Project presented Handel’s opera Semele on Saturday, June 11, at 2:30 in The First Church of Christ, Science on Dwight Way. Over the years, Handel Opera Project has taken on not only operas by Handel but also operas by other composers. I still recall quite fondly their performance in 2014 of Luigi Cherubini’s Médée, based on the Greek tragedy Medea by Euripides, with the excellent Eliza O’Malley in the title role. For that opera, and for many others, Handel Opera Project has had to make do with the confined space of the Christian Science Organization’s premises on Durant Avenue. However, for this presentation of Semele they had the much more hospitable and architecturally remarkable setting of Bernard Maybeck’s First Church of Christ, Science on Dwight Way. For this reason, and in spite of having a cast of singers I’d never heard before, this Semele was a must-see for me in this year’s Berkeley Early Music Festival. -more-