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One thing that surprises me is how little engagement there is in what is happening in our local politics until something bumps up next door like the Willard Park Community Center (appeal to be heard on July 24), or the 10-story project at 3000 Shattuck (appeal date September 26) or the 8-story project at 1598 University (appeal date of October 3).

I probably shouldn’t be surprised since I largely ignored the actions of the City of Berkeley for 24 years until November 12, 2014 when Erin Diehm saw the anti-fracking sign on my gate, knocked on my door and asked me to go to a City meeting the next evening. That was to save the Shattuck Cinemas and it has been downhill or uphill depending on the day’s view ever since.

The Albany Theater is closing. That leaves the Elmwood and Pacific Film Archives in Berkeley and trips to Oakland, Emeryville or places more distant for film. Watching movies on a handheld device or even a large TV screen just isn’t the same as the immersion that comes with the “big” screen. There are still great films being made, they just won’t be shown in Berkeley.

Mark Rhoades presented the proposed Berkeley Forge development in West Berkeley to Berkeley Design Advocates on Thursday. Rhodes called out to me that the project would have bird safe glass and 100% native plants. (Erin Diehm is the real expert on native plants). The project is a lovely redo turning the site into a bustling research and development center. According to Rhoades the application for the project is months away. There are still many steps to walk through including the challenges of sea level rise, rising ground water and toxics in the soil at the site.  

Capping is often the solution to soil contamination and this is expected for the Berkeley Forge site, but the trio of sea level rise, groundwater and toxics in soil doesn’t always keep toxics safely under the cap. That was the subject of the presentation by Kristina Hill for the Sea Level Rise and Shoreline Contamination Regional Workshop last January. You can catch her presentation at 42 minutes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM4YydPBV3A 

Kristina Hill, Associate Professor UCB is the Director, Institute for Urban and Regional Development, College of Environmental Design. Hill has been lecturing and presenting on sea level rise and ground water for a number of years. As she points out in this short video, we know sea level rise is coming, we just don’t know how fast, and just 16 inches of water will have a huge impact. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ewu_WCj-CI 

The piece that seems to be missing when considering building in West Berkeley is that even before the big melting burb comes from Antarctica, smaller amounts of sea level rise will impact infrastructure, buildings and wetlands and toxics where they exist, according to Hill. 

The question we are left with is the same one as posed in the book I recommended last week The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration by Jake Bittle: what do we do about building in high risk locations? 

This was a light meeting week all things considered. I made only four of the ten meetings listed in the Activist’s Calendar. It would have been five, had the 4 pm Special City Council Session with Fire Chief Sprague on the Fire Department Final Report and Recommendations from Standards of Coverage and Community Risk Assessment Study gone on as scheduled, instead of being cancelled. 

You can read the 160 page report with the ten recommendations at: https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023-06-13%20Special%20Item%2001%20Final%20Report%20and%20Recommendations.pdf 

No reason is known to this writer for the cancellation. However, deals, compromises and the pursuit of vanity projects come to mind. 

Berkeley is listed in the document as 51st in population in the State of California and 2nd in density (San Francisco is 4th in population, 1st in density) (pages 98-99). 

The consulting group for the Fire Department Citygate was very thorough and starts with, “Citygate finds that the Department is organized only to accomplish ‘yesterday’s mission’ and is struggling to meet current demand, much less the future growth of the City and university…The growth in population and medical incident demand which has occurred in the City over the past two decades, and which is projected to continue, will increasingly strain the Department’s response times, which are already substantially slower than best practice recommendations…” (page 20) 

On June 6, Mayor Arreguin asserted that Berkeley needs to add 15,000 dwelling units instead of the 8,934 units assigned by ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) of which Arreguin serves as President. 

The presentation of the Southside Plan to the Design Review Committee on Thursday revolved around upzoning the blocks south of UC Berkeley campus for student housing to add denser eight story buildings which can expand to twelve stories with State density bonuses. As with the other presentations I have attended, there was no mention of the services needed to support this added density. What might disturb some people, myself included, were the suggestions that in these taller denser buildings, with greater lot coverage and less green space, fitness rooms, study rooms, pet washing rooms, multi-use recreation rooms or conference rooms could all be used to fulfill the requirement for open space. 

Normally open space is outdoors. Balconies and rooftop spaces are often included in plans along with open patios and gardens as open space. Kim Stanley Robinson author of The Ministry for the Future would probably find these so-called indoor spaces labeled as open space appalling. Robinson, a science fiction writer, author of 22 novels translated into 24 languages, pulled a chair outside around 2007 and has been writing outside ever since using an overhead tarp for inclement weather. 

The Fire Department study had this to say about density, “The City is also evolving to improve its housing shortages by approving mid- and high-rise residential buildings. The ongoing intensification of land uses, building heights and population density will make several sections of the City very urban – typical of the largest metropolitan cities for building fire and rescue/EMS challenges. The cumulative effect of these projects around the City necessitates a shift in staffing and response models as well as an increase in the flexibility of emergency medical resources. The City’s fire and ambulance programs must evolve to those suitable for a major urban fire department in staffing, unit types, and facility locations. Citygate acknowledges this will not only be costly but also very difficult to find new locations for responders.” 

By the time this all comes to a head, Jesse Arreguin may well be out of the city, sitting in the coveted State Senate seat. 

As for the projects reviewed at the Design Review Committee (DRC), there were two. Both were approved to move on to the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB). 

The proposed 5-story project at 2427 San Pablo Ave (between Dwight and Channing) will consist of eight replacement apartment units to compensate for the two residential buildings being demolished and a Group Living Accommodation (GLA) with 77 private rooms. The project promises five very low-income units. All eight replacement apartments have bedrooms with no windows. Janet Tam, FAIA, commented that she hoped this was not a pattern. 2712 Telegraph was another project with bedrooms without windows that garnered an unfavorable recommendation in May. 

The other proposed project at 2480 Bancroft Way (between Telegraph and Dana) replaces a 1-story commercial building with an 8-story mixed use building with 28 units including two very low-income units. The units vary in size between three, four, five and six bedrooms. Every bedroom does have a window. The ground floor contains 2,066 feet of commercial space. 

The Health, Life Enrichment, Equity & Community Committee unanimously voted to forward the psychedelic drug policy from the Community Health Commission to City Council. The policy received a “qualified” positive recommendation instead of a positive recommendation as the Committee voted to make three changes. The resolution would read to change the title to deprioritize the enforcement of laws imposing criminal penalties. The substance of the resolution was simplified overall and defined the substances as biosynthesized/naturally occurring and added that this resolution does not rely upon nor accept as fact assertions made in material submitted with the original item or in the Community Health Commission referral response. 

The last City Council meeting in June is when Council votes on the budget for the next fiscal year. There wasn’t much the Agenda Committee could do in reviewing the draft agenda for June 27 except to move as much as possible to consent. The final agenda for June 27 has 61 items. Most should go quickly, but we will not likely see that proposed budget until sometime after the June 22 Budget and Finance Committee meeting. The Civic Center Plan was pushed to July 11. 

The big item at the Agenda Committee was Councilmember Hahn’s presentation on “Major Legislative, Budgeting & Implementation Systems Redesign.” This is the next step from former Councilmember Droste’s parting act to limit major legislation to one item per councilmember per year and two items for the mayor per year. Hahn did not suggest a limit on major legislative items, but rather a process and submission cycle. Discussion will continue at the next Agenda Committee meeting. You can scroll through Hahn’s presentation at https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/legislative-body-meeting-attachments/2023-06-12%20Agenda%20Committee%20Item%208a%20and%208b%20System%20Redesign.pdf 

To me, as a close observer, many major legislative ideas, though well intended, feel half-baked even when they take a detour through council committees before landing as referrals for the city manager or in some other lap to develop. The one council committee that consistently holds, reviews and develops legislation before passing it on is FITES (Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment and Sustainability). 

City Council met on June 13 with the kind of long agenda that appears as the Berkeley City Council rolls into voting for the Fiscal Year 2024 budget adjustment, the second year of the biennial budget, and wiping unfinished business off their plate before the summer recess. The budget hearing fulfilled the perfunctory hearing requirement. No vote was taken and it will come back with a final version on June 27. One interesting note in the budget documents is that while the Marina Fund comes up $1,527,348 short, the Parks Tax Fund has $1,850,401 surplus. This deserves more discussion and attention, especially as the Parks Commission cites the Marina fund being charged for Parks services. 

The T1 deficit was settled by borrowing from the fully funded Worker’s Compensation fund, taking money from the defunct controversial Hopkins Bike/Pedestrian project, adjusting the cost downward on the Security Camera Project, dropping a $400,000 software paperless contract process software program, and taking money from the Fire Station 6 project. It is the usual rejuggling of priorities. Many are happy to see anything that takes funding away from the Hopkins Corridor. For my two cents, a safe street is one that needs some repair to slow traffic. 

Fixed Surveillance Cameras and Drones were item 24 on the Council agenda under action. I can’t recall any time City Council has rejected requests from the Berkeley Police Department (BPD) for Surveillance. City Council may tighten procedures as they did Tuesday evening, but a flat out denial is never in the frame, and it wasn’t this night either. The retention period for recordings was tightened to 180 days; access to the data was limited to BPD. 

The ten location sites approved were 6th at University, San Pablo at University, 7th at Dwight, San Pablo at Dwight, 7th at Ashby, San Pablo at Ashby, Sacramento at Ashby, College at Ashby, Claremont at Ashby and 62nd at King. 

License plate and facial recognition hardware is not installed on the cameras. The fixed license plate reader surveillance cameras are coming to council on July 25. 

The amendment to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Ordinance passed on a six to three vote. Humbert voted no and Kesarwani and Wengraf abstained. This was the ordinance passed during the height of the pandemic to protect renters from evictions. With the COVID – 19 Emergency over, renters now have through August 31 to get their paperwork and plans in order. The renters are still responsible for unpaid rent accrued during the transition period. 

The Berkeley Office of Economic Development will give their report of the great comeback of the Berkeley economy at the special meeting on June 20, but that is not everyone’s story.