City Council leaves for spring recess from March 27, 2024 through May 6. A six-week spring recess seems to be an unusual length of time, but I couldn’t be happier to see council meetings disappear from my weekly Activist’s Calendar. -more-
The following item appeared in an email blast from EastBay Yimby, the voice of the for-profit development lobby which has a target painted on the city of Berkeley.YIMBY shock troops are being recruited to provide astroturf "grass roots" input.
If you don't believe believe that it should be easier to tear down family homes in Berkeley and replace them with cash-register multiples, call or write your councilmember to protest, or even better, show up at Tuesday's council meeting, in person or by ZOOM.
| March 26th: Demolition Ordinance at Berkeley City Council |
| This Tuesday, March 26th, Berkeley City Council will vote on a demolition ordinance (Item 23 on the agenda). The goal of the ordinance is to codify when existing buildings can be demolished and turned into larger apartment buildings. The ordinance is key to both the Southside upzoning that council recently passed and the upcoming Missing Middle legislation. Both initiatives seek to densify Berkeley while replacing our aging housing stock. The demolition ordinance as written does a good job of preventing predatory evictions and focusing demolitions on owner occupied homes. However, it currently requires all demolished residential units be replaced 1:1 by below market rate units. While it’s important to preserve affordability, this requirement will make it impossible to build the mid-size apartment buildings that are the biggest source of new units. Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani has introduced a supplemental to the ordinance that fixes this imbalance and will increase the number of new homes that actually get built. It will clear the way for immediate approvals of new housing near UC campus and will use standard, state-wide, definitions of which housing units need to be replaced. It’s important that the City Council hears from us and passes this ordinance with Councilmember Kesarwani’s amendment. Take two minutes before noon on Monday to email City Council asking them to pass CM Kesarwani’s supplemental. Even better, please give public comment during the meeting! Logistics: v6 pm (likely to go late) on March 26th
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The March 14, 2024 Daily Californian printed an editorial titled “A million a month, with no end in sight.” Although we applaud the outrage expressed over the huge expenditures by UC Berkeley on its People’s Park project, we are adamant in our criticism of the characterization of the advocates for preserving the park. The editorial repeated the disinformation about opponents of the project that UC administration has constantly repeated. We expect more from the Daily Cal, and its tradition of fact-based analysis and reporting. Since none of the so-called “NIMBY groups” were named, we will put our name forward. We are the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group, which developed the successful application for placing the park on the National Register of Historic Places and pursued as a plaintiff in the CEQA lawsuit against UC’s irrational and damaging project. -more-
The World's Happiest Hot Spots
On March 20, the United Nations published its annual World Happiness Report, naming Finland as "the happiest country in the world for the seventh year in a row" while (in the words of the New York Post) "the US drops to an all-time low." Finnish President Alexander Stubb explained the country's top rating was due to three factors—1) nature, 2) trust, and 3) education.
Other Nordic countries performed well, as well. Finland was followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, The Netherlands and Norway. (Israel?)
As with most contests, there were some critics, An online comment from "Jaanus K" complained: "I have lived abroad for 20 years and come to Finland regularly. And I am 100% sure that Finland is not the happiest country in the world."
And a Finlander named "Otrasisu" chimed in: "Well, nature is still there, trust—at least in the government—is no longer there, as for education—the government is cutting funding. So all that remains is nature. Of course, playing sports outdoors and enjoying the tranquility of nature is very pleasant."
In the list of 143 ranked countries, the US claimed the 23rd slot, marking the first time in the history of the Happiness Index that the US failed to land in the Top Twenty. The US might fare better if it adopted Finland's tradition of offering employees annual 4-5 week paid vacations.
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The writer (a former candidate for Berkeley City Council) of a recent opinion piece on Berkeleyside.org argues that most of the present Berkeley elected officials are opportunistically motivated and climbing the political ladder.
I agree. Witness their sellout of People’s Park, a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a much needed urban green space recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. However, our mayor and council majority sometimes do the right thing – saving the West Berkeley Shellmound, one of the largest of the hundreds that used to ring the San Francisco Bay.
In his opinion piece, Alex Sharenko pushes a truly repugnant ideology. Additionally, Sharenko does not seem able to decide if he wants a parking lot now or housing later. He claims “plans for the land are completely unknown.” This is a totally dishonest statement when anyone can google “plans for West Berkeley Shellmound” and quickly be taken to the shellmound.org website. If Alex wants a parking lot to build housing, how about UC Berkeley’s, a few blocks north at Fourth and Virginia Streets? Or other underutilized former industrial sites in West Berkeley?
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It came as a surprise when Essa-Pekka Salonen announced last week that he would not extend his tenure as Music Director at San Francisco Symphony beyond the 2024-25 season. Salonen cited as his reason that there were differences between him and the Symphony’s Board of Governors over future directions for the Symphony. -more-
Worth Noting:
City Council will be on spring recess from March 27 to May 6 returning on May 7, 2024. The District 7 councilmember election is April 16. The District 4 councilmember election is May 28.
Recommended goto meetings are bolded: Tuesday - City Council at 6 pm and Wednesday - Environment and Climate Commission.
