The situation in Gaza is reaching catastrophic levels as Israel continues its relentless assault on the territory. Reports indicate that at least 68 Palestinians were killed and 77 wounded in the last 24 hours alone, bringing the official death toll to over 40,600. However, many believe the true numbers are significantly higher due to the chaos on the ground. The World Food Programme has been forced to suspend all staff movements after Israeli forces targeted one of its clearly marked vehicles, despite the vehicle receiving multiple clearances from Israeli authorities. This incident underscores the rapidly shrinking humanitarian space in Gaza and the growing risks faced by those attempting to provide aid. 

The humanitarian situation has further deteriorated as new Israeli evacuation orders have disrupted U.N. operations. These orders have displaced a quarter of a million people in Deir al-Balah, forcing families and medical patients out of shelters like the Al-Aqsa Hospital. Such forced displacements have left many without access to essential services, including water, sanitation, and medical care. Conditions are becoming increasingly dire, with reports of rapidly spreading diseases such as polio and hepatitis A due to the lack of hygiene and access to clean water. O The ongoing military operations are causing continuous devastation, targeting residential areas and infrastructure. The international community must not remain silent. Urgent action is needed to stop this humanitarian disaster, ensure the safety of civilians, and provide immediate relief to the people of Gaza. 

Silence is a gift to Israel’s ongoing genocide. I implore concerned citizens to call The White House comment line at 202-456-1111 and demand an immediate end to WMD shipment to Israel’s killing machines.

The current actions taken by university administrators regarding free speech and protests, especially in light of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, raise significant concerns. The recent comments by Vanderbilt University's Chancellor, Daniel Diermeier, highlight an unsettling trend among academic institutions: using rules ostensibly designed to protect free speech to actually stifle dissent and legitimate criticism.

By refusing to divest from Israel and banning provocative speakers, universities may be perceived as siding with political and financial interests over the academic freedom and activism that have historically defined university campuses. Such measures risk creating an environment where the fear of repercussions silences legitimate criticism of Israel’s actions, including allegations of genocide against Palestinians. Labeling dissent as antisemitism and restricting protests is a dangerous conflation that undermines the essential democratic principle of free expression.

History shows us the power of protest, as seen in the role college protests played in ending the Vietnam War, saving lives, and significantly reducing American military expenditure. Instead of creating an atmosphere of suppression, universities should encourage open dialogue and debate, recognizing that free expression, even when uncomfortable, is a crucial part of the learning experience. The approach of silencing criticism will only further polarize opinions and stifle the very intellectual growth that universities are meant to foster.

Maintaining order should not come at the expense of freedom. As educational institutions, universities must prioritize protecting the rights of their students to express dissenting views, ensuring that all voices are heard, rather than silenced.

Palestinian-Americans made Gaza an issue at the DNC and Democrat decision-makers floundered

A large gaggle of media was surrounding a large man recently outside Chicago’s United Center. It was the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). At six feet six inches tall, “uncommitted” Michigan delegate Abbas Alawieh sounded like a gentle giant, but only until he started talking about the “genocide in Gaza.” It’s a press conference and the 30 Uncommitted Democratic party Delegates are the center of attention here tonight, but outside the convention floor. They stand behind Abbas and Leila Al-Abed another cofounder of what they are calling the “Uncommitted Movement.” Many show somber faces, as they all represent thousands of primary voters in their respective states who presumably want a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, but the DNC will not let them speak. Their request seemed simple, address the convention about the unfolding genocide in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. Or, maybe it was too big of an ask? After all, as early as November of 2023 55% of Americans, over 70% identifying as Democrats, supported a ceasefire. So why the snub of uncommitted delegates now? The group had amassed a petition with thousands of signatures asking for a few minutes on the DNC stage to address the convention in which their spokesperson would call for a cease fire and a cessation of military aid to Israel, they were crystal clear on about this. 

Al-Abed opened the news conference saying “we asked for a speaker on the main stage, a speaker to bear witness to the pain and suffering Palestinian-Americans are experiencing due to our disastrous policy in Gaza,” she said. A policy “that has emboldened a war criminal” (Benjamin Netanyahu). Al-Abed continued, “This has been a disastrous decision by the Democratic leadership to deny a bare minimum ask that we requested weeks ago, prior to the convention.” 

Next up was Alawieh and he did not mince words. He told reporters, “You know what it means to be a ceasefire delegate? It means that you don’t send bombs to kill babies, that’s what it means…it means an arms embargo, a just call to stop sending weapons that are used to kill civilians,” he said. “That in order for us to achieve a ceasefire means you have to stop sending the fire.”  

Alawieh was the chief of staff for Congressmember Cori Bush from St. Louis who recently lost her reelection primary mainly due to the millions of dollars in donations by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) who supported her opponent. Alawieh has worked around congress since 2018, also spending time in the congressional offices of fellow Michiganders, Rashida Tlaib and Andy Levine. He’s pretty familiar with the legislative process and how lobbying is done, but this issue would seem to defy normal congressional channels. Why was the uncommitted delegation denied a speaking slot on the DNC stage?  

The D.C.-staffer Alawieh went on to outline the journey ceasefire delegates have been on since they arrived to this convention. “Us ghceasefire delegates, just 30 of us uncommitted delegates, we did the work in these halls. We approached fellow delegates, Harris supporters, Harris delegates, and told them, ‘Hey, these are the two things we support, we support an arms embargo and we support a ceasefire to stop the bombs and make sure that all those held captive—Israelis and Palestinians—are reunited with their families. Do you believe like us?’ And guess what? It turns out, our movement is popular, our movement is winning. The overwhelming majority of democratic voters support a ceasefire.” 

It is baffling to convention-goers I spoke to as to why the uncommitted delegates were denied a speaking slot. There seems to be a consensus that it likely comes from decisions at the top of the Democratic Party. More than 40,000 Palestinians, at least 15,000 children have died, according to the Gaza Health Ministry (Ralph Nader has cited figures that sets the dead at well over 200,000), during this unceasing and relentless Israeli assault on Gaza since last October 6th’s massacre of Israeli citizens by the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas. 

Abbas Alawieh wanted the world to know that this group went through the “policy channels,” but still they were denied a place on the stage. “These programmatic asks were about forcing this party that has not been having this conversation on its own, its leaders have not been creating space for talking about Palestinian human rights…let’s be clear, that [conversation] would not have happened without our leadership.” As the convention came to a close, there was no meeting with the candidate, Kamala Harris or her representatives, and no speaking slot offered to the uncommitted Palestinian-American delegates.

They still call it the "Gaia" building.

One of Panoramic Interests' earlier proposals in Berkeley claimed to be contributing a new theater space. Patrick Kennedy, the developer, promoted a narrative city leaders loved; that all of his developments included cultural space - because he cared about culture.

But those who know theater, music clubs, movie houses, even commercial kitchens found out project by project that Kennedy was big on his own self-serving narrative but short on green rooms, prop space, space for dishes, employee break rooms, and the real requirements one finds in Berkeley's once plentiful theaters and music halls going back to the 1920's and vaudeville's heyday.

The shapes of the once-promised bookstores, music clubs, movie houses, and theaters are still there in the shadows of his high-end housing. But the impracticality of the spaces, the impossibility of hauling props, costumes, and sound equipment in and out constantly put an end to the short-lived existence of all of them.

Patrick Kennedy is now promoting simply allowing the preservation of the facade of the UA Theater as a benefit to the city, asking for an exemption to CEQA's simple requirement that the UA's historic worth be evaluated on behalf of the public and the historic record. 

He's not offering to maintain the theater itself. He's offering to maintain the same facade which his buildings have always in fact only offered: a facade of culture, usually salted with some short-term benefit such as a year of rent-free space in order to pump up a brief aura of success. 

Past Berkeley City Councils let themselves get used and fooled over and over again accepting these deals. The current Council sits ready to let the last downtown theater space become as phony as the downtown itself, especially since its true governing voices are its property owners who, no matter where they actually live, sit on the Business Improvement District boards and call the real shots in town, not to mention their very real campaign donations. 

It is perhaps only a small tragedy to let this last theater be swallowed up by the Berkeley City Council's favorite developer without requiring any actual theater remain part of the picture. After all, the real theater happens at the BID board meetings, which, at least at present, are open to the public. 

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On August 14 we learned that the city hasn’t yet finalized its decision on whether to grant the developer a sweetheart exemption to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which comes into play when a developer wants to demolish a historic building. 

The decision deadline is Aug. 30 so we have less than TWO WEEKS (or less) to pressure city officials to do the right thing. Let’s call city officials and leave them voicemails (don’t worry—they don’t pick up) demanding that they be transparent and not grant the developer an unfair and ruinous exemption to CEQA. 

Overview: The developer, Panoramic, wants to preserve a fraction of the facade and lobby but destroy the palatial four-story theater itself in order to build an apartment tower. This is unacceptable. The UA is slated to be be the third -- AND LAST -- movie theater in the downtown to be destroyed since the pandemic — let’s keep fighting to stop this from happening! Housing construction is very important but it doesn't have to come at the cost of this magnificent landmark building. 

Why is CEQA review important? CEQA review allows more time and resources for expert and citizen evaluation of the proposal to demolish the theater. It takes more time to consider the ramifications of destroying what is considered a historic and cultural resource under state law. There could potentially be a public CEQA meeting. If the exemption is granted and citizens are denied this process, then the theater is much more likely to be destroyed. 

Call City Officials. Here is a list of city officials to call and leave a message. Please leave your name, be clear, forceful and to the point, and make clear you are speaking about the proposal to demolish the UA theater at 2274 Shattuck Ave. 

Please call all of them if you can but calling one is absolutely worthwhile. You don’t have to be from Berkeley but if you are, make that clear. 

Jordan Klein, planning director: 510-981-7534 

Sharon Gong, head planner on project: 510-981-6620 

Farimah Brown, city attorney: 510-981-6998 

Anne Hersch, land use planning manager: 510-981-7411 

If you have any issues getting through to voicemail, call the city's customer service number and they will transfer you: 510-981-2489 

TALKING POINTS

• The UA is a protected landmark building. Built in 1932, the UA is on the California Register of Historical Resources, is National Register-eligible, and is also now a city landmark — that is why the proposal to demolish the building amounts to a “substantial adverse change” requiring extensive CEQA review under the law.
• Don't cave to the developer after already committing to CEQA. The city already informed the developer that the project should undergo CEQA review, in January. To grant the developer an exemption now would be unfair and unethical and represent a total reversal by the city in favor of the developer — it should noht go back on its commitment to enforce and oversee the CEQA evaluation process.
• The public deserves transparency. An exemption to CEQA would deny the public a chance to learn more about the historic and cultural resources that stand to be lost if this theater is demolished. This theater and citizens deserve a public CEQA meeting and further expert evaluation of the development proposal.
• The city is abandoning its downtown planning policies to the detriment of historic architecture and local cinema. The city's Downtown Area Plan, which is still in effect, calls for the "retention" and "support" of downtown cinemas. The beloved Shattuck Cinemas has been demolished and the art deco California theater now has final approval to be razed. The UA Berkeley is the last of the downtown theaters to be saved, and it is the most historically and architecturally valuable of the three—it must be preserved.
• Big potential if the UA is preserved. The UA Berkeley could be restored as a glorious mid-size theater featuring live performance and film, like the Paramount in Oakland. Or it could remain what it is now, a uniquely historic multiplex movie theater. The potential is huge—but not if the theater is destroyed.
• CEQA is still in effect in California! No unfair exemptions for the developer!

Endorsing Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin for State Senate (August 18) the Chronicle’s editorial board calls him progressive? Jesse became mayor with that moniker, but many Berkeley citizens know he’s not.

The endorsement conveniently ignores: despite the County Board of Supervisors making clear they were phasing out former Sheriff Ahern’s Urban Shield program (which provided military training and free military hardware to police departments) Jesse kept Berkeley supportive of the program, claiming we needed a military armored vehicle.

Years before the October, 2023 Hamas raid into Israel proper, in the midst of Israel then bombing the bejeezus out of Gaza, Jesse accepted a free junket to Israel to get “educated” in Zionist justifications for apartheid. Now, unsurprisingly (unlike progressive Hayward, Richmond, San Francisco) Jesse refused to even allow a Council vote on a ceasefire resolution in Gaza.

On housing: while the Friends of Adeline and other progressive organizations have demanded that new housing at the Ashby BART station include 50% low income apartments, Jesse hasn’t shown up. Our numerous apartment developments in downtown Berkeley are geared toward exorbitant market rates. Failure to provide affordable housing engenders greater homelessness.  

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The ongoing conflict in Gaza has reached unprecedented levels of horror, as evidenced by the recent bombing of the al-Tabin school, where over 100 Palestinians were killed. This tragedy, which claimed the lives of innocent civilians, many of whom were praying in a mosque at the time of the attack, has left us grappling with the stark reality of war's brutality. 

The use of a U.S.-made GBU-39 small-diameter bomb in this attack, as confirmed by CNN, has resulted in indescribable devastation. The fact that medics were left to collect the remains of the dead in plastic bags is a heartbreaking testament to the sheer violence of this strike. It is not just the loss of life that shocks the conscience, but the manner in which these lives were taken—destroyed beyond recognition, their identities reduced to "pieces of people," as Palestinian journalist Shrouq Aila so poignantly described. 

Israel's claim that this was an attack on a Hamas headquarters has been debunked by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, which reports that many of the alleged targets were either previously killed in earlier attacks or were civilians unaffiliated with Hamas. This raises serious concerns about the accuracy of the intelligence used to justify such a devastating assault and the moral implications of targeting locations where civilians are known to seek refuge. 

The broader context of this tragedy cannot be ignored. With the official death toll in Gaza approaching 40,000 and the majority of victims being under the age of 30, the toll on the civilian population is staggering. The destruction of schools and hospitals, which should 

The real purpose seems to be the complete annihilation of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to create a “greater Israel.” These horrific crimes would not be possible without the active support of our government. Another $3.5 billion of WMK (weapons of mass killing) have been sent to Israel to ensure the killing will continue unchecked. Shame on Biden-Harris and Netanyahu, who have ignored the lessons of our great spiritual masters: “Thou shall not kill.”

The current Historical Society exhibit running until September 21, 2024 is “Berkeley and the Movies”. It is fitting that this exhibit at this time is sponsored by the Historical Society as the once vibrant center of filmmaking and film viewing in Berkeley is fading into the past, falling victim to the steady erosion of theaters demolished for housing, and creative space for collaboration turned over to more profitable tenants. 

At its peak there were thirty-two movie theaters in Berkeley. Now there is only the Elmwood and the Pacific Film Archive. The Pacific Film Archive doesn’t help if your desire is to see current films, especially the independent and documentary films that used to be offered at the Shattuck Cinemas in downtown Berkeley with ten screens. 

When I stopped by the exhibit on Thursday at 1931 Center in the Veterans Building, the volunteer (I didn’t catch her name) said I missed the talk by Saul Zaentz’s nephew Paul Zaentz. It evidently wasn’t recorded as it is not available on the Historical Society website. The volunteer told me how Saul Zaentz (the early owner of 2600 Tenth Street) planned for filmmakers to fill the building, but he soon found he needed tenants who could pay higher rent. She worked for McGraw Hill which shared the building with the filmmakers and paid the higher rent in the Fantasy Studio Building.  

The Historical Society exhibit is open on Thursdays and Fridays from 1 pm to 4 pm. https://berkhistory.org/2024/03/20/berkeley-and-the-movies/ 

Wareham purchased the Fantasy Studio Building in 2007. As noted by Frances Dinkelspiel in her July 31, 2018 article, “Berkeley’s Fantasy Studios closure came because of financial struggles”. From her interview with Rich Robbins she wrote, “[W]areham Development’s main focus is on building and operating life science, medical, research and biotechnology complexes…” https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/07/31/berkeleys-fantasy-studios-closure-came-because-of-financial-struggles 

After Arreguin and Taplin recused themselves stating they had received contributions from a party to the matter before council, Wengraf took over the appeal by Wareham Development to City Council to overturn the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) decision upholding that filmmaking is an art and thereby the space occupied by filmmakers at 2600 Tenth Street (known as the Fantasy Studio Building even though fantasy studios closed in 2018) is protected under the West Berkeley Plan. 

Overturning the ZAB decision by council would enable Wareham Development the building owner to turn what had been determined to be three protected spaces for the creation of art or crafts (filmmakers) into nine units for research and development (R & D). It all boiled down to was filmmaking an art (protected) or media production (not protected). 

In the city staff presentation photographers/filmmakers are included as examples of an establishment engaged in the creation of art or crafts and in a separate box film recording, editing, special effects production, motion picture processing are listed as media production. 

Presentations from both sides were heard with Wareham Development challenging the ZAB decision and defining what the filmmakers were doing was media production and not protected. The filmmakers and Rick Auerbach representing the arts and the West Berkeley Plan spoke to filmmaking as an art and always included in the West Berkeley Plan protections. 

In 2011 years after the West Berkeley Plan was adopted, a definition of media production was added. Auerbach informed Council that the Civic Arts Commission reviewed and included filmmaking as an art twice which Council approved. Auerbach reminded Council that the Oscars are given from the Academy of the Arts. 

Maureen Gosling documentary filmmaker spoke to her experience, ”I’ve been working at the fantasy building since 1984, that’s thirty years. The Berkeley Community with the hub at Saul Zaentz Fantasy Studios has created a legacy and made an outsized contribution to the art of film in the United States and around the world. Our independent community includes directors, editors, writers, cinematologists, sound mixers and more…In the time I have been there, I have felt the art space chipped away, chipped away, chipped away and now it seems it is happening again…” 

We heard how working in one building allowed collaboration and fostered mentoring of film students and new filmmakers. 

After all the public speakers made their points, Wengraf opened the Council discussion relating how she was a documentary filmmaker, worked in the building and met her husband there. 

I wondered why she hadn’t recused herself and then realized she was relating this personal story, because she had already made up her mind that the filmmakers were not protected and Wareham would have their appeal upheld. 

Wengraf preceded her question to Chris Barlow from Wareham with, “[T]he fim making community is feeling threatened and that’s not a good thing…but, I’m trying to understand the threat…” and posed the question, “Is there any intention to displace the community of filmmakers...?” and asked about longer leases. 

Chris Barlow gave a long round about answer how they met with each tenant, how longer leases weren’t suitable, because of the cyclical nature of the filmmaker funding and two to three-year leases were more practical. 

Wengraf responded with “okay” giving the impression she was reassured and then turned the discussion over the remaining councilmembers. 

The exchange between Wengraf and Barlow reminded me of another Susan, Susan Collins and what she said about meeting with Judge Kavanaugh when she announced she would vote to confirm Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court. In light of what the Supreme Court has done since securing a six to three majority those remarks from Collins make for very interesting reading. https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/senator-collins-announces-she-will-vote-confirm-judge-kavanaugh 

Throughout the evening in public testimony, question and answer between councilmembers and the filmmakers we heard that Wareham did not meet individually with all the filmmaker tenants as stated, how longer leases were not offered, how rents were doubled and tripled, how Wareham would not meet with them as a group, how Wareham pitted one against the other and how some had already left. 

It wasn’t a surprise when the remaining councilmembers, Kesarwani, Bartlett, Tregub, Hahn, Wengraf, Lunaparra, and Humbert voted unanimously to support the appeal by Wareham Developments. Bartlett rather than making a hollow how much he cared, stated his concern that denying the appeal would entangle the city in a lawsuit. 

The city elected, Planning Department and developers have been chasing after biotech, research and development as the next big thing. Land is cheaper in West Berkeley making it the target area for development. The West Berkeley Plan was supposed to protect the arts and crafts from being pushed out, but when City Council approved the first change of use (zoning) for the Wareham Development new building now occupied by Kaiser it was really the beginning of the end for protections of the arts. 

There is something very special about watching a movie on the big screen with surround sound. It was something I took for granted until we fought to save our movie theaters and lost. And as we heard on Tuesday evening July 30, 2024 there is something very special about having filmmakers sharing the same spaces where they can form community, create, collaborate, and mentor film students and newcomers to filmmaking. 

Last week I watched the sold out documentary “Al Shifa Hospital: The Crimes They Tried to Bury” in the packed fellowship hall at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists church. It was a rough film in content. A panel discussion followed with Dr. Feroze Sidwa and Dr. Mohammad Subeh who both had recently returned from their second rotation in Gaza and were present in person. What is happening in Gaza and the West Bank is heart breaking and horrific. 

Documentary films change minds in ways that an article can’t. 

The proceeds from attending the film will be donated to the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). 

Berkeley has lost its theaters and now it looks as though Berkeley will lose its filmmakers too. 

This is a sad ending to another marathon day with Berkeley City Council that started and ended with the arts. 

We have an election for a new mayor in November. We should ask what is the vision for Berkeley. 

This might be a good time to listen to Governor Tim Walz and Ezra Klein and hear how Walz’s vision set the direction for Minnesota. Walz is uplifting and positive. This link should work https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-tim-walz.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AU4.fJ6r.TNezOafnL4Cl&smid=em-share 

Listening to podcasts doesn’t require a subscription, they are just better with a finger on fast forward to skip the ads. 

 

 

City Council began and ended with the arts on Tuesday, July 30, in an eight hour and twenty-minute session of two back to back meetings, one at 3 pm and a second scheduled for 6 pm that didn’t start until 7:27 pm.  

The entire evening of city council didn’t end until 11:20 pm. 

Council didn’t finish the 3 pm meeting agenda so when they should be off on summer recess, they are meeting again at 6 pm on Monday, August 5, 2024. 

If we’re paying attention, not reviewing Councilmember Lunaparra’s ballot measure on Tuesday, July 30, looks like Mayor Jesse Arreguin’s strategy to give himself and Councilmember Sophje Hahn more time to write an alternative ballot measure. The email notice that the August 5 meeting agenda posted on Thursday had been revised arrived in my email inbox at 6 pm Friday. 

The revised agenda with the added alternate ballot measure now reads as one agenda item with 1.a. from Lunaparra – Placing the Berkeley Tenant Protection and Right to Organize Act on the November 5, 2024 ballot and 1.b. from Arreguin and Hahn--Placing the Berkeley Tenant Protection and Right to Organize Act and Funding Housing Retention o\n the November 5, 2024 ballot. 

I was expecting a long and interesting discussion Monday evening on the Berkeley Tenant Protection and Right to Organize Act for the November election, but with the Arreguin - Hahn alternative removing Golden Duplexes (a Golden Duplex is when the owner occupies one of the two units), we might get by without having to bring rations to make it through the night, but there is a twist; keep reading. 

Lunaparra’s ballot measure, if passed by the voters as written, would phase out the Golden Duplex modify grounds for eviction, allow tenant associations, limit automatic rent adjustment (rent increases) based on CPI to 3%, eliminate the ability of boards and city council to remove price controls during period of high vacancy and require landlords to notify tenants of their rights. Arreguin and Hahn removed the Golden Duplex, eliminated the prohibition of boards and city council removing price controls during period of high vacancy and added using U1 Ballot Initiative funds for housing retention. 

Deleting the section on prohibiting boards and commissions from removing price controls during high vacancies, takes on a whole different perspective when you read (the article is short) “Real Estate Software Aided Price-Fixing ‘Cartel’ Among US Property Companies” by Tyler Walicek published on July 28, 2024. https://truthout.org/articles/real-estate-software-aided-price-fixing-cartel-among-us-property-companies/ 

Walicek covers how property companies use the program RealPage which “suggests” how high rents can and should be pushed as it is more profitable to maximize rent than to fill units. Lunaparra is on the right track with prohibiting removing price controls during periods of high vacancies as the software could very well assist the large property owners to maximize rent (price gouge the captive student audience) and manage vacancy rates to avoid rent price controls. 

After investigative reporter Heather Vogell exposed the rent fixing game with ProPublica in 2022, lawsuits have cropped up around the country from coast to coast and even including Fresno, California. Maximizing rent/price gouging rather than filling units as a business plan certainly pieces together the complaint of exorbitant rents and vacant units. 

To read both ballot measures on tenant protections go to https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-special-meeting-eagenda-august-5-2024 

There were ten proposed local ballot measures besides Lunaparra’s. 

The community survey on the ballot initiatives kicked off the 3 pm meeting discussion. 

The results of the issues identified by the city of Berkeley to survey ranked in the following order of priority for where tax dollars should be spent by the residents who responded, 1) Major investment in affordable housing, 2) Continue rehousing and providing services for homelessness, 3) Repairing deteriorating streets, 4) Planting and maintaining trees and improving park maintenance and infrastructure, including the waterfront, 5) Electrification of gas-powered buildings to reduce climate impact, 6) Expanding Sunday hours and Children’s programming at libraries, and 7) Saving and sustaining arts and culture. 

The Council was considering a ballot measure for the arts (theaters, music, dance and theater organizations), but dropped any consideration of crafting a ballot measure for the performing arts when the survey respondents placed financing the arts through additional taxes at the bottom of their priorities. None of the kinds of possible tax plans, i.e. parcel tax, sales tax or transient occupancy tax (TOT – tax added onto hotel, etc. bills) garnered enough support to predict even the slimmest chance of passing a ballot measure for the arts. 

Looking at the broader implications, this could spell the end of the proposed 24,273 square feet of live theater space in the plans for the 18-story mixed-use project at the California Theater site 2113-2115 Kittredge. The mixed-use development comes with 211 dwelling units (including 22 very low-income density bonus qualifying units). 

I always doubted the final project would include the live performing theater and viewed it as a proposal to gain support while another three movie theater screens turn to dust in the downtown. 

Now with performance theater groups struggling, no ballot initiative to bail them out and per former city planning official Mark Rhodes in his statement to council at the appeal on June 4, 2024, actually building that performing theater under the 18-story development would require raising $25,000,000 from the community. We shouldn’t be surprised if the approved project at the California Theater site comes back for modification without a live performance theater in the basement. 

In the 2025/2026 budget, City Council allocated $300,000 for Civic Center Phase III Pre-Design & Construction Activities In the 2025/2026 biennial budget. The lack of support for the performing arts may also spell trouble for the Civic Center Maudelle Shirek (old City Hall) and Veterans' Buildings which comes with a total projected cost of $109,450,000 for seismic work, rehabilitation, remodeling and new chambers for city council. https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/our-work/capital-projects/civic-center-vision-plan 

In the next few years, deferred maintenance is going to catch up with Berkeley just as it already has for the visibly poor condition of the streets. While Berkeley City Council is busy disassembling zoning codes to increase city density, there has not been a whiff of attention from City Council to upgrade and replace the Fire Department facilities to match the increased density Council keeps approving. That bill comes to around $310,000,000. Those of us who attend the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission have already seen the presentation and report. 

And those of us who remember the Oakland Berkeley Hills fire in 1991 probably have a different feeling about the threat of fire and the Fire Department (I know I do ) than the younger crowd that showed up at the July 23 special city council meeting on “middle “ housing, pushing upzoning, increasing density, adding housing for the entire city including the fire zones in the hills. 

Back to the ballots. The two ballot measures concerning the deteriorating streets, “Fix the Streets” and “Safe Streets” will appear on the ballot without council statements for or against either measure. 

Toni Mester had the best comment on the street ballot measures: 

“I’m not sure as a taxpayer why we have to have citizens initiatives to do what city government should be doing on a regular basis, which is to maintain the roadways. It should come out of the general fund. It should be organized by the Public Works Department, hopefully directed by the Public Works Commission…The whole idea of having a citizens’ initiative to do something that is the basic chore of the city is perplexing.” 

City Council dissolved the Public Works Commission on June 14, 2022 creating the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission. Kesarwani, Taplin, Bartlett, Wengraf, Robinson, Droste and Arreguin all voted to dissolve what I found to be the most productive commission in the city. Councilmember Kate Harrison voted no and Hahn abstained,which was interesting as Hahn led the reorganizing and dissolution of commissions for the Agenda Committee. 

The new Transportation Commission seems to forget that infrastructure (a substitute for public works) is part of their assignment. At least that is what I find from reading the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission agendas. 

Gretchen Whitmer had much to say about Fix the Damn Roads in a terrific interview with Ezra Klein recorded on July 29, 2024. https://youtu.be/wz0MB1JbcCc?si=ndlWxDRegi8HQ6W1&t=77 

Councilmember Tregub worked on an alternative to the community ballot initiative organized by Fossil Free Berkeley for a special tax on natural gas consumption in buildings of 15,000 square feet or larger. Even with Lunaparra and Hahn joining Tregub on the motion to continue the discussion until August 5, Tregub lost. Arreguin abstained and Kesarwani, Taplin, Bartlett, Wengraf and Humbert voted no, killing an alternative ballot measure. 

The Fossil Free Berkeley organizers for the special tax on natural gas use gathered approximately 1500 more signatures than needed for November election and filled a webpage with an impressive list of supporting organizations. https://fossilfreeberkeley.org/endorsements/ 

There was opposition to the special tax on natural gas. Emily from Boichik Bagels showed up in frustration having just made a huge investment in natural gas presumably to bake bagels. 

As money pours in to oppose the special tax, I am sure we will hear more and our mailboxes will be filled with scary postcards when our November ballots arrive for early voting. 

This community- based ballot measure really reflects our failure to act on global warming. We have been unwilling to change how we live. Despite the 2018 warning from the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) that we are running out of time to hold temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrials levels, the action in the last six years has been wholly inadequate. 

We just had the hottest days on the planet ever reliably measured. Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation programme, hrecorded an entire year from June 2023 through May 2024 as 1.6°C above pre-industrial levels. 

The longer we postpone making the changes we need to get a grip on global warming, the harder it gets. “We” is being used deliberately, because everyone of us is part of the consumption driving climate change. 

August 1, 2024 was Earth Overshoot Day. This is the day when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services exceeds what the earth can regenerate in a year. If everyone lived like the population in the United States, earth overshoot day for 2024 would have been March 14. We have a lot of work to do. 

In all the gloom on climate change/global warming, I like to follow David Roberts’ VOLTS podcast. Roberts’ mission in his own words, “Volts is a podcast about leaving fossil fuels behind. I’ve been reporting on and explaining clean-energy topics for almost 20 years, and I love talking to politicians, analysts, innovators, and activists about the latest progress in the world’s most important fight.” Go to www.volts.wtf or look for the VOLTS podcast on your phone, tablet or computer. 

Council voted unanimously to write an opposition to the community based ballot initiative requiring adoption of minimum air quality standards in city-owned and city-leased buildings. This came out of the city employees’ experience during the pandemic and their not being able to move council on installing HVAC filtration systems to improve indoor air quality and safety for city employees. The Council discussion flowed from individual councilmember declarations of how much they cared about city employees while justifying opposition to the ballot measure as too expensive to enact. 

The last of the ballot initiatives include extending the Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax and a small increase in the parcel tax to maintain library services. There is a ballot measure adding a tax for the parks. The property transfer tax (time of sale) to extend Measure P for homeless services finishes off the list with Arreguin, Hahn, Tregub and Bartlett all volunteering to write the argument in favor of the ballot measure. 

We will have a lot to think about when the November ballots arrive. For those of us that own property we’re going to need our property tax statements and calculators to work our way through the impact of everything. 

No matter what shows up in that long list of ballot measures for the November election, maintaining the library services is on top of my list. I love the ebooks and audiobooks from the library and will be voting for the library ballot measure. 

Our book club choice for July was the The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor by Hamilton Nolan which I read as an ebook from the library. One of the book club members complained to me that she wanted to read about books related to the election not a book on labor. That was, of course, before she picked up the book and Sean O’Brien, President of the Teamsters, spoke at the Republican Convention. 

Whatever you have heard about O'Brien's speech and before you surrender to the pundits telling you what to think of Teamster Sean O’Brien as a keynote speaker at the Republican Convention, there is nothing like watching it. https://youtu.be/a5WlI1LK1NY?si=rjuQdig_DsmTZy_k 

And yes, The Hammer fit right in to a robust discussion of the book, labor and the November election. 

 

Ralph E. Stone died August 18th, 2024, peacefully at his home in San Francisco, California, at age 85. Born August 3, 1939 in Worcester, Massachusetts, he was the oldest of four children of the late Paul J. Stone, an electoral engineer, and Helen G. Stone (née Thomas), a school librarian. 

Ralph spent his early years in Massachusetts and graduated from the Mount Hermon School for Boys in Massachusetts in 1957, and in 1961 graduated from Middlebury College, as an English major and participant in ROTC. 

After graduation, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps, serving in Germany, Okinawa, and Vietnam, attaining the rank of captain. For his service during the Vietnam War, Captain Stone was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service and the Vietnam Service Medal. While stationed in Germany, Ralph met his wife Judi Iranyi: they were married in Mannheim, Germany in 1964. Their son Michael was born there in 1965. 

After discharge from the Army, he attended Suffolk University Law School in Boston, graduating with a J.D. degree cum laude in 1971. He went on to a career with San Francisco Regional Office of the Federal Trade Commission investigating and litigating antitrust and consumer protection cases. After retirement in 1997, he volunteered with the Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic helping battered women obtain restraining orders against their batterers, and Consumer Action and ABC-7, Seven on Your Side assisting consumers with their consumer problems 

Ralph and Judi traveled extensively visiting 60 countries together, in addition to enjoying the Bay Area cultural events, and visiting with friends. Ralph enjoyed reading, especially mysteries, and wrote comments about current events for various online publications. The Berkeley Daily Planet published his work as a column called Eclectic Rant. 

He is survived by his loving wife Judi, his brothers David (Nancy) and Geoffrey (Susan) and nieces, nephews and their families. His son Michael and his sister Cynthia Wikelius predeceased him. 

 

This week my sister and brother-in-law celebrated their sixtieth anniversary. Remembering their wedding was especially meaningful for me because it coincided with another meaningful anniversary I remember from 1964, a Democratic convention quite different from the one we just watched which was a brilliantly produced television spectacle.

The 1964 convention was held in Atlantic City New Jersey. Lyndon Johnson was the incumbent president and his candidacy was locked up. Hubert Humphrey, a textbook exponent of what we called the SLP (standard liberal position), was slated to become the Democratic candidate for vice-president.

The wedding was in New Jersey too, at my parents’ home about an hour away from Atlantic City. My husband and I were allies of the civil rights struggle, and had been active in the fight for a fair housing law in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where we lived at the time. We took advantage of the opportunity to leave our not-quite-two-year-old daughter with her grandparents for the day so that we could make a trip to the convention, where the principal controversy was going to be the attempt of members of the multi-racial Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to be seated as delegates in place of the traditional southern Democrats, the segregationists who officially represented Mississippi for close to a century.

As I watched the 2024 convention from home 60 years later, I was struck by the similarities and contrasts between the two events.

In 1964 we had no credentials whatsoever, but walked right in a side entrance and wandered at will through the spectator seats of the hall. Security did not seem to be a concern, despite the fact that John Kennedy had been assassinated just the year before. The Freedom Democrats were offered a couple of seats among the delegates in the Atlantic City auditorium, though without convention voting rights. (They weren’t satisfied.)

In Chicago last week the protestors, opponents of the war on Gaza, were among the elected and voting delegates seated on the floor, some sporting keffiyehs, but no one was allowed to express this opinion as a speech from the podium. Pre-convention credentialling and on-site security were very tight. No unauthorized person was allowed in.  

Outside the hall, rowdy Chicago 2024 demonstrators got into the now-customary scuffles with the enormous number of enforcement officials in the surrounding streets, with some arrested. The Freedom Democrats and their supporters in 1964, on the other hand, were models of polite behavior, with a long, well-disciplined picket line on the boardwalk which we joined with nobody’s authorization. Aside from the occasional freedom song, protestors didn’t make much noise. 

Participants were neatly dressed in what looked like their church clothes. ( I was familiar with such protocols, having demonstrated against the House Un-American Activities Committee in San Francisco with picketers wearing hats, gloves and high heels four years earlier. A lot of good it did…) 

In 2024 it was different. Many of the official delegates and some of the protestors were wearing funny hats, tee-shirts with slogans and other costumes, just like they were at a party, but also buttons and signs opposing the Gaza war. 

And the 2024 convention was kind of like a party, wasn’t it? Celebrity guests, including entertainers of all sorts, were numerous. 

In Atlantic City pop stars were not evident. The preponderance of delegates were stereotypical Old White Guys. 

In 2024 the Black (formerly known, in 1964, as Negro) delegates from Mississippi, were clearly visible seated on the floor among their state comrades, only some of whom were white.. 

Did I mention that I was 24 years old and seriously pregnant? 1964 was a notable year for other reasons besides the convention: the birth of my second daughter and the birth of Kamala Harris, the superstar of the 2024 show. 

The highlight for us in Atlantic City in August 60 years ago was not in the convention hall or in the picket line on the boardwalk. It was in the modest café where we stopped for lunch. We were thrilled to discover at the next table, also having a sandwich, Dr. Martin Luther King, in town to support the Freedom Democrats. I mustered my courage and asked him to shake hands. I’ve told my middle child that she has a special obligation to work for social justice because of her pre-natal encounter with the great man. 

A friend of mine, only slightly younger than I am, recently suggested that in the 1960s our proximate goals were taking back the Democratic Party and demolishing the Republicans. For my cohort, pre-boomers now beginning to leave the scene, two of our ultimate goals have been racial and gender equity and ending U.S. participation in pointless international wars. He thought that we’re finally almost there, and maybe we are. 

If so, it’s taken the major part of my generously long life, and close to a half century of Kamala Harris’s time on earth so far to figure out, approximately, some answers to the classic question: What is to be done? (Что дѣлать? in the words of Lenin and Nikolay Chernyshevsky) 

But the struggles are not over, given situations in Ukraine and in Palestine and the Sudan and…. 

Some of my friends are ready to shift current protests over the Gaza war to petitioning the Harris campaign to take action, but I think that’s premature. I’ve reluctantly concluded that there’s no point in pressing candidates for pre-election promises, because campaign concessions are unenforceable. 

But Joe Biden, no longer a candidate, is still president, and even as a lame duck there are many things he can and should do before he exits. Now as a non-candidate he is free to do the right thing, though his instincts may be wrong as far as Palestine is concerned. I first started thinking it’s time for him to retire when I realized that his relationship with Israel had not evolved since about 1957. 

Kamala Harris will be vice-president for another couple of months, and she can’t do much now except campaign with big smiles and vague generalizations, nor should she. We need to shelve our protest signs and even our keffiyehs until November 6. What I’ve learned, in the 70-some years I’ve been trying to influence government to do the right thing, is that what we need is conscientious electeds who we can guilt-trip.  

Kamala might be one of them—she was raised in Berkeley. IIn her convention speech Harris indicated that she knows there’s a lot wrong in Gaza now. We can remind her of that when she’s in a position to act. 

We owe it to our old friends in Israel, many of them originally from the United States, to help them figure out how to get rid of their country’s current appalling rulers. It’s not antisemitism to say that those guys now running things in Israel are proto-fascist and genocidal. They’re squandering the emotional capital history has accorded Jews since the Holocaust. It’s antisemitism to deny the obvious, to claim the current government as the new normal. 

Israelis can do better. We need a U.S. government which will support those in their country who want to do the right thing, which includes achieving equity between Palestinians and Israelis. I’ve learned that it’s going to take a while for them to get there.  

In the political era bookended by these two conventions, those of us in the USA who’ve lived through it have made some progress, it’s true, but it’s taken a while and there’s still a lot to be done. Those like Kamala Harris (and my daughters and granddaughters) who volunteer to take up the torch shouldn’t be reluctant to continue to preach joyfulness. In the words of the immortal Molly Ivins: 

“We have to have fun while trying to stave off the forces of darkness because we hardly ever win, so it’s the only fun we get to have.” 

Let’s try to win in November. That would really be fun. 

 

So, the Democratic candidate to be the next president of the United States is a Berkeley girl, and the leading progressive candidate (also a Democrat) for the next mayor of San Francisco is a Berkeley boy. Alums of BUSD are making their mark in the world.

Admittedly, Kamala Harris is often described as a proud Oakland native. Well, yes, she was born in Oakland, but of course that’s just where the nearest Kaiser hospital was located in 1964. I haven’t checked,, but she was probably born at Kaiser Oakland like many Berkeleyans, or possibly at Highland, then a county hospital.

Mirabile dictu, the two future candidates were together in Mrs. Frances Wilson’s first grade at Thousand Oaks School in 1968. San Francisco Supervisor and mayoral hopeful Aaron Peskin has the class photo to prove it, which he shared last week with his email fans.

A key piece of Kamala’s online presence is this video praising the teacher for giving her the idea that she could do anything. It’s thanks to BUSD’s pioneering school busing program that she was in the class.

The family’s apartment on Bancroft is still there, on the corner of Bancroft and Berkeley Way in Berkeley. It’s on the edge of the area available to residents of color in the formerly red-lined district.

Harris’s parents were not wealthy. Her mother and father were typical ‘60s academic gypsies, going wherever they were offered short-term post Ph.D.appointments until they found relatively secure posts. But Kamala was never a Poor Little Black Girl living in a dangerous Oakland neighborhood, as one earnest young woman described her on an NPR talk show last week. She was the proudly mixed-race offspring of well-educated parents who were able to support their daughters in comfortable if not luxurious circumstances in college towns.

Aaron Peskin came from another academic family, living in the Berkeley neighborhood previously served by Thousand Oaks School when it was almost all white, before integration in 1969 which brought kids like Kamala on school buses to Mrs. Wilson’s first grade.

The Harris family moved away from Berkeley when their daughters were still in primary school, and divorced when Kamala was 7. Her public high school, in Montreal near her mother’s research job, was described by another alumnus as unremarkable. Aaron stayed in BUSD through Berkeley High, which was automatically integrated as the city’s single high school.

My own daughters were in the same age cohort as Harris and Peskin. One says that she thinks his political career was stimulated by his participation in Berkeley High’s “Politics and Power”class as taught by Mr. Steve Teel, in which students role-played the legislative process.

A Berkeley High graduate from that era is the first person of color to lead the Court of Appeals, New York state’s highest court., Music, especially jazz, is another area where successive generations of BHS alums have excelled.

One way and another, it’s hard not to conclude that the Berkeley schools must be doing something right. Of course, this does not prevent successive generations of Berkeley parents from complaining vigorously about them, which is probably a good thing for their kids. After all, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, doesn’t it? But it can be hard on the teachers.

Though the system works well for the children of active, engaged parents, some of those whose parents must work hard to support the family continue to fall through the cracks. For every Kamala Harris or Aaron Peskin there are others whose mother or father can’t make sure that homework gets done or provide transport to important extracurricular activities.

And Berkeley is changing. Paradoxically, historically redlining Black families out of the mostly White neighborhoods east of Grove (now Martin Luther King Way) created housing opportunities for people of color in South and West Berkeley. Now, however, gentrification attracts prosperous White buyers to pay big money for modest homes which previously could be owned or rented by Black families. A substantial proportion of Black-owned properties are now owned by seniors, and as they depart their families move to distant and less expensive suburbs like Antioch.

The intentional integration of the late sixties which brought Kamala and Aaron together in Mrs. Wilson’s first grade is more complicated now. Many of the African-American students in BUSD schools are registered from the home of Grandma or a family friend. There’s still a reasonable percentage of the Black upper-middle-class professionals who have lived here for the last 40 years, mostly in the single family neighborhoods which the current Berkeley mayor and council majority seem determined to abolish.

Changing zoning is not going to solve the problem, since up-zoning simply increases land value, motivating the property owner to build multiple student apartments in place of family homes. In the end Berkeley’s segregation is now economic, not racial, and that’s a harder nut to crack. 

 

 

Some people support Trump because they remember prices for gas and food were lower four years ago. They were. But so were wages. Then covid happened; the economy collapsed. Trump disparaged medical science and encouraged followers to go maskless, causing 300,000 avoidable deaths out of the one million Americans who died. 

Under Trump, government aid checks were sent to keep people in their homes, and food on their tables. When Biden became President, Congressional Republicans voted against extending the covid aid, but Democrats prevailed. Biden's aid saved millions from hunger and homelessness, but also caused inflation. Now, 3 ½ years later, inflation is coming down, prices are returning to normal, 15 million new jobs created and wages rising faster than prices. 

Yearning for imaginary better times, when science was dismissed and relatives died because a power-craven, boastful narcissist couldn't admit he was wrong, isn't the path to a better future.

Breaking Down The Walz
In the run-up to the Democratic National Convention, the HarrisWalz campaign mass-mailed the following memo, accompanied by several snapshots:
"Get a hold of this: Donald Trump is telling his MAGA base that Tim Walz will 'unleash hell on Earth.' 

What a bunch of baloney. 

In case you missed it, here's [a photo of] Coach Walz at the Minnesota State Fair holding a baby pig.... Sculpting a school bus out of butter… And riding the Slingshot with his daughter…." 

Looks more like a case of good-hearted "ham on Earth." 

Harris' Coins Dem's MAGA-meme: WWFWW
A large concern for voters is whether Harris's foreign policy will deviate from Joe Biden's "angry grandpa" reliance on billion-dollar proxy-wars-for-empire, his willingness to facilitate genocide in Gaza, and his readiness to raise tensions by invoking the use of nuclear weapons. 

Somehow, the democratic ticket has not taken steps toward de-escalation nor is the party showing signs of mounting a peace platform. Far from it. The Harris/Walz signature campaign slogan remains: "When We Fight, We Win"—a line that also sits well with inhabitants of the Trumpiverse. 

Seriously, Sierra Clubbers? 

And it's not just political parties that approach problem-solving with fists clenched. A fund-raising letter from the Sierra Club just arrived and the two-page solicitation contained no less than 15 solicitations to violence by invoking the following language; "we fight for the environment" because "every battle matters" in critical "legal fights" that "we need to fight to win." Maybe instead of tote bags, the Club could echo it's name by offering donors hand-crafted cudgels. 

Have Some Fun Raising Funds for Measure EE 

With 40% of Berkeley's roads in poor or failing condition, community activists went knocking on doors to get measure EE on November's ballot. Now the local pro-paving group has organized a community fundraiser to finance the Fix the Streets and Sidewalks ballot campaign! 

This Saturday, Friends of Hopkins Street (FHS) will be hosting a neighborhood yard sale on Hopkins Court and Albina Avenue to raise money to fund the yard signs, advertising, buttons, and flyers needed to support the initiative.
The event is set for August 24, from 1-4 p.m. on Albina Avenue (near the Monterey Market, off Hopkins). Jeanne Schuman and her blues band Midnight Kitchen will be performing from 2-3:30 so "plan on doing some driveway dancing!"  

FHS has put out the word to "scour your closets, basements, and garages to see if you have treasures you no longer need that you would like to see find a new home." And, "Who knows? You may find a treasure you can’t live without!" The donation site is now overflowing with kitchenware, tools, electronic equipment, antiques, clothing and oddities (like a combination radio/record player and a huge 3-D poster of Bob Marley). 

Measure EE will finally make it possible to get Hopkins paved, "at least in its worst segment between Gilman and Sacramento," says FHS. "We worked hard to get the measure on the ballot. Let’s work just as hard to get it over the finish line! 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted around Berkeley.
MZDAMBN
2SEXY4U
CATTMOM 

IMRIGHT
THX ELON (on a Tesla)
4 G+VEN (Forgiven)
SPDTRXE (Speed Trixie?)
ARTPL8 (Art Plate) 

Bumper Snickers
Trump 20-24 Years in Prison
I Did Not Vote for the Bigot
I'm Anti-Trump Because I'm Anti-Stupid
Trump Lost. Get Over It
Pro-America Anti-Trump
TUCK FRUMP 

Pole Posters
There are a lot of posters pasted on utility polls in Berkeley. Always have been; always will be. Most feature photos of missing kittens, notices of estate sales or pleas from tutors looking for students. But here's one neatly printed posting that really stood out from its perch on a neighborhood pole. 

Nick Frabasilio for Berkeley Mayor 

Appoint a police chief who will defend the citizens of Berkeley from Organized Crime.
Fire organized crime employees.
Conduct the autopsy.  

Nick Frabasilio has been attacked by organized crime for the past seven-plus years, for being an activist. Nick has been attacked mostly by fascist satellite technology; which has included an audiovisual broadcast to his brain, daily physical attacks on his body, and disappearing and damaging his personal property. 

The audiovisual broadcast has included being sexually abused all day and night, for the past five years, by a queer "Rapist," [A well-known name has been deleted to save Nick F. from a defamation lawsuit], a crime agent whose death was faked in the City of Berkeley last year. Nick is straight. The Berkeley police haven't helped Nick after 15 contacts, and won't even conduct an autopsy. 

Nick also hasn't found help anywhere else in the country, not from any police, hospitals, etc. 

Nick Frabasilio for Berkeley Mayor 

Waiting for Kamala's Campaign Song
When Bill Clinton and Al Gore paired up in their bid to run the country, their theme song was "Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow." When Elizabeth Warren was making a presidential bid, her campaign song was Dolly Parton's "Nine to Five." When Trump's campaign learned that Harris would be using Beyoncé's "Freedom," the GOPers tried to co-opt the song. But Beyoncé banned The Donald from stealing her lyrics and made sure the song was bequeathed to Kamala. 

 

So it looks like Trump will have to settle for "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees. (Click here to watch the AI-generated send-up!) 

And here's a recap of campaign songs from recent elections, 

 

A crisis state may happen to a person when their environment (external or internal) or their circumstances, cause them to feel that their apple cart has been upended. A crisis could be seen as a threatening and urgent situation in which the solution isn't apparent. What do you do? It may not be the time to sit cross-legged and chant "Om." That may not work because we may feel so far distant from being calm that we could not conceive of being in a contemplative state. When we are in crisis, we want a solution or we want safety, and we want it now. 

(There should be a distinction between a crisis for the worried well, versus a mentally ill person's crisis in which being stabilized is in jeopardy.) 

But sometimes we can't have a solution. We lack a solution, and we don't have what is needed to solve the problem. And we might even end up in an ongoing crisis. In that case, we have to function and get the necessary tasks of living done even while on the inside we may be frantic. 

Ongoing crises are rough. They cause wear and tear on the mind and body. It may make sense to seek psychiatric help to specifically deal with an ongoing crisis state. Too much time on high alert will make it that much harder to return to a feeling of safety. In many instances, an M.D. Psychiatrist or a licensed psychotherapist could have solutions we could not achieve on our own. 

This is purely my thought: It may be worse for your brain and mind to remain in a highly upset state compared to receiving psychiatric treatment that relieves that state, regardless of the cause of being upset. You could have very good reasons for being upset, but too much of it unchecked could harm the mind and body. It may make sense to get some relief even if it means to some people that you're "not facing the problem." 

If times are too hard, and if the mind is in chaos from a barrage of problems, getting professional treatment for it could allow the calm needed to get through a situation successfully. 

Some might claim you can get out of any upset state of mind through mindfulness. And they may say, furthermore, that mindfulness is healthier than relying on a pharmaceutical. 

Maybe so. But not everyone has decades of training to get the level of mastery that would be required in a very rough situation. Additionally, mindfulness doesn't cure mental illness. If you have a mental illness, you need to stabilize on medication first, before you can try the self-mastery that some would suggest. 

I know all about trying to cure schizophrenia with meditation and no medication. I've tried to do that more than once. It doesn't work. It is "apples and oranges." Medication to deal with schizophrenia won't make you an agreeable or kind person, something mindfulness might do for you. But mindfulness doesn't fix the circuitry problems in the brain that cause psychosis. Medication is needed. 

And sometimes things are fundamentally hard. A person with mental illness could end up in a crisis state more easily and more frequently than someone considered "normal." And sometimes we just need to navigate through a time of crisis until we reach a point of being better. Usually, it does come. 

Riding out a crisis with the help of professionals is still hard. Trying to go it alone could be mistake. 

During a crisis, take care of yourself. An ice cream cone might be just the thing you need. This is not to say you should buy a gallon of ice cream and eat all of it in one day. (I have done that. I don't recommend it.) 

If your teeth are strong, a snicker bar could be appropriate. This advice is based on you not being diabetic or morbidly obese. If you have food related health problems, your treat to yourself must be something that doesn't involve calories. A diet soda might be the answer. If you are afraid of what caffeine will do to you, buy a container of decaf coffee and have that. Have it without cream, milk or sugar. 

You might notice that I have not advised that you go for a walk, and I have not advised that you read a book or play solitaire. Reading or playing cards work the brain and exercise it. Walking can be done if you don't have paranoia and if you don't mind going out in public where you live. Both suggestions, to me, seem bogus as advice, to deal with a rough time. 

To summarize: Crises exist, and they are hard, and you should deal with them. When in crisis, be kind to yourself and reward yourself. 

And as an afterword, I will add that a good loyal consistent support person or persons, will be very helpful. This is especially so when the support person's actions are consistent with their words. 

---

Jack Bragen is author of "Instructions for Dealing with Schizophrenia: A Self-Help Manual" available on Amazon, Lulu, and elsewhere.

Will Kamala "Feel the Bern"?
While Candidate Trump is always ready to sling a mouthful of slurs and accusations at his political opponents, the progressive dems at Our Revolution (founded by radical sparkplug Bernie Sanders) have prepared a list of working-class goals that (hopefully) candidate Harris would be ready to launch from a Presidential Debate podium. 

While "Harris is clear on the fight to save democracy and protect women’s reproductive rights," Our Revolution (OR) wants Harris to address "kitchen table issues to win in swing states." And what issues would Bernie's boosters bring to they table? 

According to OR's short-list, "Top priorities include campaign finance reform and standing up to corporate power, climate action (end fossil fuel subsidies, lower energy costs and create jobs), health care (end medical debt and expand Medicare — dental, hearing and vision), a permanent ceasefire in Gaza (and redirect military spending), affordable housing (plus a 5% cap on rent prices), raising the minimum wage, growing unions, and universal childcare." 

Why the Benefits of Pentagon Spending Are … Fleeting
Speaking of "redirecting military spending," here's a Pentagon factoid that puts current US budgeting practices in woeful perspective. 

According to Quora: "The average daily operating cost for a US Navy aircraft carrier is around $6 million. This covers the expenses for fuel, maintenance, crew salaries, and other necessary expenditures to keep the carrier operational. The specific costs can vary depending on factors like the size of the carrier, deployment schedules, and the intensity of operations, but $6 million per day is a commonly cited estimate for the overall daily expenditure to run one of these large naval vessels." 

$7 million per day comes to $210 million a month while the cost to maintain a full fleet of 12 warships at sea for one month tops $2.5 billion. Something to think about the next time a televised newscast airs footage of the US Navy gallantly strutting its sea-going firepower off the coast of some foreign land thousands of miles from the US Homeland. When you think about it, the Navy's job doesn't seem to involve protecting the shores of America as much as it is to intimidate other nations that are resisting the self-declared superiority of the US Empire. 

Pole Posters 1
This seems to be the season for lost cats. Suddenly leaflets with photos of missing felines have started cropping up on neighborhood utility poles. 

One cat (distinguished by having only "half a tail" can now be seen in a photo on a dinner-table-sized banner that offers a reward of $250. (Cautionary note: If such lofty rewards were to become commonplace, it could spur a surge in intentional "cat-nappings.") 

Meanwhile, a "lost cat" poster on Rose Street carries a penciled message that reads: "My 'lost' cat just turned up in my neighbor's basement.' And another cat-friendly poster provided a single word of warning: "Coyotes." 

Pole Posters 2
On another hand, a completely singular poster is now on display thanks to a team of young entrepreneurs on Yolo Street who are inviting neighbors to stroll by on weekends and "watch us make lemonade." 

The poster proudly announces that their beverages are unique, given that "they contain artificial coloring!" So, what color do you desire for your lemonade?—red, green, blue? 

Golden Gate Banner Drop Gets Media Blackout
A recent dispatch from Codepink announced a local event dedicated to freedom for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and hope for the future of war-ravaged Palestine. The Bay Area's local Codepinkers—troubled by the fact that most members of Congress support shipping US weapons to Netanyahu's Gaza Genocide and have done nothing to help expedite Assanges’s release from prison after being jailed for "the crime of journalism"—arranged for a "banner drop" off the Gate Bridge. 

A video of the banner drop has been shared with Assange and his family but, as Codepink ruefully noted: "The media censored this story. We think it’s important…. Please share/like far and wide. We have to be our own media!" 

Here's a one-minute clip of the "banner news" captured by Peter Menchini. 

 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted about town:
KITTTIE
AD JR AN
PIX13
JRCLIFF
KOMERO1
ALLIASK (All I Ask)
INSRWME (Insure Me)
YMNCOFE (Yemen Coffee) 

Bumpersnickers
Mutant Freedom Now
Honk If You Don't Exist
I'm Not Drunk I'm Just Avoiding Potholes
No Baby on Board. So Hit Me, I Guess
This Baby Goes from Zero to Sixty. Eventually
Mall-Wart: Your Choice for Cheap Plastic Crap
For Such a Small Town There Sure Are a Lot of Idiots Here 

Missiles and Mil-Speak
Why is it the Pentagon's strategists can't seem to understand that weapons (even nuclear ones) are not simply "defensive" but are equal parts "provocative"? 

Two of the world's reining Superpowers—Russia and the US (with Israel standing by)—are engaged in what has bene called a game of "Nuclear Chicken." Both Moscow and Washington have been pumping up their stockpiles of thermonuclear weapons while ignoring the constraints of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and moving existing nukes to new bases in Europe—in Belarus (Russia) and Germany (the US). Why is it these bombastic bomb-wielders can't seem to see how "preventative" brandishing of weapons can constitute a "provocation" in the eyes of another nuclear nation. It would take only a small number of nuclear weapons to end most life on this planet and both the US and Russia currently possess thousands of land-, sea-, and air-based weapons—and are spending millions of dollars to add thousands of new "modernized" nukes. How to explain this insanity? 

The answer in part is the language used by Pentagon planners: a socialized lingo known as "Mil-speak" that masks the dangers, errors, and uncertainties of "defense strategies." Consider this extract from a recent issue of Aerospace Global News titled "USAF to advance immersive training capabilities."
HTX, a leading provider of immersive training technology and solutions, has secured numerous task orders with the US Air Force on our $90 million Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to deliver immersive training content and solutions across the US Air Force. 

Creating a digital classroom for the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) to develop immersive academics for multiple systems, theory of operations and maintenance training.
Immersive training that is highly accessible allows for repeated practice before real-world application, ensuring trainees can refine their skills, increase their retention and improve their decision-making. 

The Real Reason the US Won’t Give Up It's 700+ Bases
Here's a good historical video on US foreign bases, prepared by Map Pack and posted three weeks ago (17.19 minutes). 

 

Mapping Militarism
And here's a great source for data on the US Empire's 867 foreign bases. USA’s Military Empire: A Visual Database is constantly updated by World BEYOND War, which notes the impacts of these military outposts—both economic and environmental. Mapping Militarism, a more detailed WBW resource, provides additional details including operational costs, number of military personnel, presence of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, active military operations and impacts on nearby residents. As WBW notes: "In many cases, human beings were displaced to make room for these military installations, often depriving people of farmland, adding huge amounts of pollution to local water systems and the air, and existing as an unwelcome presence." 

An EXXON Promotional Ad (If EXXON Told the Truth)

Yellow Dot Studios is a non-profit media operation created by Adam McKay, the Academy Award-winning writer and director of the apocalyptic extinction comedy "Don't Look Up." McKay's message here is clear: "Oil companies are killing us, our leaders are letting them, and the media is MIA." 

My Lords, I speak from a Sikh perspective, which emphasises that we are all equal members of one human family. Seeing others as lesser beings has been a source of conflict throughout history, leading to the horror of the slave trade, empire building and gross economic exploitation. It also led to the absurdity of superior and inferior races. Such talk was common in the 1930s not only in Germany but in this country. I was called a Jew in school by those who wished to hurt me. 

In 1937, in a speech to the Palestine Royal Commission, Winston Churchill said: “I do not admit that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly- wise race … has come in and taken their place”. 

Rivalry between “higher-grade” races resulted in the horror of the First World War. Millions died. The war ended with the defeat and humiliation of Germany. Prejudice led to Jews being blamed for both the defeat and the resulting suffering. 

Prejudice and bigotry swept Hitler to power. The Second World War followed, with further atrocities against the Jews, the widespread killing of innocents in Europe and, in the Far East, the incineration of hundreds of thousands in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The suffering and devastation of war shocked world leaders into a new realism and a common desire to work for a more peaceful world. Victor nations agreed that the only way forward to lasting peace would be recognition of the equal rights of all members of our one human family—imperatives for peace and justice first put forward by Sikh gurus more than three centuries earlier. 

Sadly, the desire of powerful countries to assert superiority over others has continued unabated. Today, we boast special relationships with some, and remain silent when they indulge in the horrific slaughter of others or the illegal acquisition of territory, as in the West Bank. In the name of defence, more powerful nations exploit smaller regional conflicts by selling arms to impoverished people in places such as the Middle East or by direct involvement in Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan. 

Religions, which are supposed to give us moral directions, are also responsible for horrendous conflict by often strutting a race-like superiority. Leaders of religions all too often ignore common ethical teachings in claiming a unique monopoly of truth and a favoured relationship with God. 

Guru Nanak challenged this divisive view of religion. Our holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, contains writings of the Sikh gurus but also includes perspectives from Hindu and Muslim saints. Sikhs invited a Muslim to lay the foundation stone of the Sikh Golden Temple, which has doors on each of its four sides to signify a welcome to all from any geographic or spiritual direction. A Sikh leader, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, named by the BBC as one of the greatest leaders of all time, welcomed Muslims and Hindus into his Government and gave generously to mosques and Hindu temples while bringing peace and prosperity to Punjab. 

A Christian hymn reminds us: “New occasions teach new duties”. 

Today, we are in a smaller, interdependent world, with common challenges. Our destinies are inextricably entwined. There is no us and them, only us. We in the UK have a common responsibility to change old-fashioned mindsets that believe force is the only way to conflict resolution. We must also challenge religions to drop their claims of God-given superiority and work together to give badly needed ethical direction to our one, admittedly dysfunctional, human family. If we fail, future generations will never forgive us.

During the National Association of Black Journalists' interview of The Former Guy, the criminal candidate's complaining accusations against immigrants became wilder, weirder, and more exaggerated. We could see him making up more and more ominous lies as his hands played an invisible accordion. The fact that crime statistics for immigrants are far lower than for the general population didn't retard his fire-hose of lies.  

But one fact should be repeated, over and over, until the public fully realizes how cynical and destructive the whining Grump's mendacity is. A bi-partisan bill to allocate more resources to our borders - for both enforcement and for more judges to determine whose claims for asylum are valid - had passed the Senate and was scheduled to pass the House of Representatives. Then Don Old Grump told his Republicans to kill the bill because he didn't want the problem solved while Biden was President.

Affluent people are well connected to some realities but disconnected from others. This dichotomy allows working people to function in their jobs and lives. Bleeding heart compassion would get in the way of being able to pay the mortgage every month. People in general aren't emotionally prepared and don't have time to help every beggar on the street or try to help when they see someone appearing down and out. Affluent people focus their expertise on their jobs so that they and their families will be able to live well and get the best of life. Empathy is fine, but involvement of time and energy would make most people's lives impossible. 

Many people volunteer, and this is commendable. Many people's careers are in the helping professions. Many people do care. Despite this, the predicament is out of control. 

The middle-class citizens often do not understand mentally disabled people. And people do not get it that we who have mental illness sometimes experience incredible suffering. In many instances, the diseases, that as a broad term I'm calling "mental illness," when not correctly treated, can cause extreme mental and even physical suffering, coming from within. 

Mentally ill people usually need medication. But medication won't help if the stomach is empty and if there is no shelter from the elements. 

When a typical person sees someone in public to whom they attribute mental illness, they might think they are not seeing a person. They might think they're seeing a thing, or that they are seeing a "sick person." And the individual with mental illness is dealt with accordingly. This is termed "stigma" by members of National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. NAMI membership is active to try and wake up Americans and make people understand that mentally ill people are people, ones who have neurobiological diseases and who need treatment and help. 

A mentally ill person in a public place may not seem to be "normal" even when we are in recovery. This is because medication affects our appearance as do the symptoms of the illness. When people see a very paranoid person, it is usually apparent the person isn't normal. When people see a person with poorly fitting clothes, whose grooming is not up to par, and/or has uncontrollable movements (brought about by medication) they might believe they are seeing someone less than human. And this is not correct. Mentally ill people are in fact human, no more, no less. 

Public perception is one of the barriers that prevent adequate funding to help people with mental conditions. If people could just contemplate for a few moments that they are materialistically very fortunate, and those less fortunate are suffering, it might sway them to vote into office politicians dedicated to help mentally ill people. Often, mentally ill people are too impaired to help themselves. 

Mental illnesses are not a moral deficiency, and usually not a lack of intelligence. Something goes wrong with the brain, and the individual, for example, if psychotic, can't connect to basic reality. Their minds have split off from reality and can't track. Reality is replaced with internally generated "delusional" content. If a person is bipolar or clinically depressed, other things are malfunctioning in the brain. In bipolar, the mood goes from elation to severe depression and back, and the view of reality is impaired at both ends. A person suffering from depression may believe their life is unbearable. 

Lack of intelligence is not the issue. Lack of morals is not the issue. These are diseases caused biologically, and they need to be dealt with accordingly. That's why doctors normally medicate. 

The writer of this article has suffered from a psychotic condition since 1982. I am in a remission of nearly thirty years mostly because, since 1996, I've consistently taken prescribed medication. In the case of people with schizophrenia, it is often very hard to convince the patient to take the meds and to do this consistently. Yet when we log enough time of consistently treating the illness, many things become possible. 

When I set out to write this essay, I had an idea that I would accuse people of being bourgeois and uncaring. But now I feel a shift from being accusatory. 

Many people cop an attitude of being better people than a mentally ill person, characterized by the fact that they have a job and raise kids. If I could have done that I would have. It is a privilege to be in that position, not a mark of valor. Some get this and some don't. 

Certainly, most have worked for what they have. But often they have been blessed with good genetics and a good environment. Some individuals might have difficulty seeing the fact that, "There but for the grace of God, so go I." 

---

Jack Bragen was born in Southern California and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1976. He is disabled but makes a few extra dollars as an opinion writer.

Why are we spending our tax dollars defending Israel, a country that has forcibly taken Palestinian land with brute force since 1948 (the Nakba) and has acted in opposition to stated U.S. goals of achieving a ceasefire and releasing hostages? Their actions have escalated conflicts, including targeted killings in Iran. 

Our government seems to have an innate tendency to use muscular force contrary to the ethical teachings of our spiritual leaders, subjugating weaker nations and stealing their resources. For instance, in 1953, we overthrew the democratically elected government in Tehran to please the British, who benefited from stolen Iranian oil. Former President Trump then torpedoed the Iran nuclear deal, but it was Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu who further undermined efforts by opposing the deal and causing greater hostility with Iran. The newly elected Iranian leader had expressed a desire for warmer relations with the U.S. in exchange for sanctions relief, but Netanyahu's actions, including the assassination of an Iranian leader, have created an almost certain possibility of a wider conflict. 

Why do we consistently rush to defend a "client" state that works against our interests and disregards the sanctity of non-Jewish lives, particularly the Palestinians? This reveals the Biden-Harris administration's inability to control its client state. It is time we Americans demand an end to unconditional support for Israel, which has shown total disregard for Palestinian lives.

The recent Democratic National Convention highlights a critical issue that needs immediate attention: the exclusion of Palestinian American voices. Despite days of private negotiations, the Harris campaign refused to allow a Palestinian American to take the stage, sparking frustration among uncommitted delegates and leading to a sit-in outside the United Center. These uncommitted delegates, elected in state primaries, were pushing for an end to the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza and advocating for a U.S. arms embargo. 

Among the voices silenced was Georgia State Representative Ruwa Romman, the first Palestinian elected to public office in her state. Romman’s prepared speech called for justice and equal rights, highlighting a growing multifaith, multiracial coalition within the Democratic Party that seeks to end the violence and promote peace. Her exclusion underscores a troubling trend where Palestinian perspectives are marginalized, even within a party that claims to champion diversity and human rights. 

This silencing of Palestinian Americans not only undermines the principles of free speech and democracy but also alienates a significant portion of the party’s base. If the Democratic Party is truly committed to justice and equality, it must make room for all voices, especially those advocating for peace and human rights in Palestine. The party’s greatest strength lies in its ability to unite diverse perspectives, and it is time to leverage that strength for meaningful dialogue and action.

An Imagined Moment to Savor 

A Facebook post recently popped up with the side-by-side images of Kamala Harris and Ketanji Brown Jackson envisioning a moment when "the first black female president is sworn in by the first black Supreme Court Justice using Abraham Lincoln's Bible on MLK Day." 

And how about an Inauguration Day swearing-in that ends with Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga all singing "America the Beautiful"—instead of the militaristic "Star Spangled Banner" with its racist, death-threat, pro-slavery third verse ("We will pursue you to get revenge: No refuge could save the hireling and slave"). 

Unmasking Musk's Harris AI Muscarade
Just because AI can do it doesn't mean it's OK to post blatant lies on our media screens. It's not enough to simply attach a statement identifying a TV ad as a product of AI disinformation. Such intentional frauds as Elon Musk's deliberate misrepresentation of Kamala Harris should be treated as libel — a criminal act. Harris and her campaign could set a new legal standard by pursuing a defamation-of-character lawsuit against Musk! 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted about town.
IREQV
08 TORO
TONBOLT
NOWAZA
DON'T BAP
4 PRONG
OSLP2BK
4EIGN (Foreign)
LIL ELK (Little Elk?)
BK NITE (Bike Night?)
BGBLU24 (Big Blue 24?)
SNOWBMZ (Snow Bums?) 

ANGLR JL (Angler Jill? On a "Protect Our Coast & Ocean" plate) 

BLQ QEN (Block Queen?) Thanks to Planet reader phill allen for spotting this one. 

Bumper Snickers
A Good Bumper Sticker Makes You Think
Is That True or Did You Hear It on Fox News?
If Only Closed Minds Came With Closed Mouths
Democratic Party. We're Not Perfect But They're Nuts
The Federal Reserve. Robbing You Blind Since 1913
A Nation of Idiots Is a Gift to Tyrants
May the Fetus You Save Be Gay 

An Encounter with Half-baked Spam 

I recently received an alert (ostensibly) from my email provider warning: "Your Payment Declined." The alarming message invited me to update my account. But there were a number of errors that flashed "spam alert." While most of the presentation was copied directly from an Earthlink master page, there were a few clues that reeked of undercooked spam. First, the alert was addressed to "Dear Custommer." It then asked for an update of "account informatipons" and requested that I "Sign in HERE BELLOW." 

As if these weren't enough clues, the "From" line contained the misspelling "EARTLINK" and was actually sourced to "bodybids.com," which appears to be a website providing references to plastic surgeons. 

The US Empire Is Not about Freedom and Democracy
The Media-Military-Industrial Complex usually cloaks US foreign policy beneath a veil of nobility that presents Washington's global presence as one that promotes "democracy and freedom" (kind of like prison wardens claiming to uphold the liberal cultivation of prison populations) while the "land of the free" accounts for the world's largest prison population—numbering 1.8 million jailed citizens in 2023. 

The disconnect between Freedom and Fiefdom extends to the global scene as well: The US Empire maintains more than 800 bases in more than 80 foreign nations and territories. 

 

The US Empire Drops Its Façade 

With the conclusion of the 2024 Summer Olympics, the Imperial Veil was lowered a bit as the US celebrated its record claim to 126 medals (40 gold, 44 silver, and 42 bronze). The US was bound to emerge victorious given fact that "Team USA" sent more Olympic athletes—278 men and 314 women—than any other country. The US was bound to out-perform every other nation because its contingent of contenders constituted more that 17 percent of all the Olympic runners, swimmers, tri-athletes, and break dancers who made it to Paris. 

The Imperial Veil flat-out fell to the floor in the Chronicle's August 12 summation of the 2024 Olympics. Under a Sporting Green photo of the US women's basket-ballers celebrating their "single point victory" over France, the Chronicle posted the following headline:
"Team USA's rally locks in worldwide domination." 

Support the BPA and Cop a Prize 

The Berkeley Police Association (BPA) has sent out a flurry of envelopes soliciting financial donations to help the department provide support to Berkeley Youth Alternatives, East Bay Humane, Wounded Warriors Project, and the MLK Annual Breakfast. 

The mailer offers to reward donations of "$500 and up" with "a VIP Decal." The deal's a bit confusing. The flipside of the enclosed form promises two Business Support Decals for a mere $250 donation and a "VIP Decal with an Engraved Tumbler" for a $500 check. A donation of $1,000 will nab an additional trophy—a "Custom Plaque." 

The BPA flier notes that donations are not tax-deductible but then advises supporters to "consult your tax professional" to pursue "an alternate category of deduction." The BPA flier also invites the public to "inquire about placing a donor advertisement on our website!" 

And the last line in the funding pitch sounds another odd pay-to-play note: "Place our decal in your business window, and we will direct our 'Friendly's' to support you!" 

An Update on the Critical Senate Elections 

The following political update comes from Chris Bowers, founder of Bowers News Media, who offers a succinct overview of Democratic odds of gaining a slim-majority control of the US Senate in 2025: 

• First, we currently lead by 4% or more in enough races to win 49 seats. That's good, but as we all know you need either 51 Senate seats, or 50 plus control of the White House, to control the U.S. Senate. 

• Second, the elusive 50th seat that we need is going to be a stretch. This is because that 50th seat has to come not from a blue state or a swing state, but instead from a red state since the Senate election map is skewed toward Republicans. Further, the 50th seat will also be a stretch because, according to current polls, we are losing by 4% or more in every state that could possibly hold that crucial 50th seat. 

So here is the bottom line: to control the Senate, we have to win at least one Senate seat in a red state where polls currently show Democrats losing by 4% or more. That is a tall task, but not an impossible one. Our best bets for this elusive 50th seat are: 

• Montana, where incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is facing off against self-funding CEO arch millionaire Tim Sheehy; 

• Texas, where Democratic Rep. Colin Allred is facing off against Republican super-troll Ted Cruz; 

• Florida, where former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell will likely be the Democratic nominee who will face off against Republican super-villain and self-funding arch millionaire Rick Scott. 

AI and DIY Pose a Threat to the World of Music 

Artificial Intelligence is breaking new ground, not only allowing users to create realistic-looking images of famous people enacting false narratives but (get ready for it) permitting users to post AI-generated music complete with voices and instruments. 

You can conjure rock, heavy metal, country, even operatic performances. You can write your own lyrics or let AI handle that chore, too! Eventually this new tool will allow users to create duets with musical legends, living and dead. Imagine, if you will, a performance of Bob Dylan's "The Times The Are a-Changing" delivered by Tony Bennett and Lizzo. 

You can now write and record your own protest songs without the need to rent a recording studio or hire a band with back-up singers. 

In the forefront of this new AI art-form is Donald A. Smith, PhD, the dynamic domo behind the Progressive Memes website—which is dedicated to global campaigns against militarism and war. Smith (who has been using AI to create awesome images of Pentagon plunder) has opened the door to AI-abetted protest songs. One of his latest creations is "Love Song by the U.S. Military Gospel Choir." 

 

g 

"Using Udio.com for the music," Smith writes, "I created this parody Gospel song as a commentary on US militarism and Christian nationalism. The lyrics are mine." Click on the link (above) to experience what the future sounds like. (And utter a prayer for the world's living-and-breathing musicians.) 

The Lawyer or the Conman  

Let's close on a high note (or two) with a real-life musical parody by the one-and-only, real-life Randy Rainbow. 

 

While Democrats in the United States were celebrating Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination and waving flags, 6,300 miles away, American bombs were killing and maiming Palestinian civilians, creating thousands of orphans in Gaza. The war in Gaza has torn families apart, leaving children without parents and parents without children. The scale of this tragedy is so vast that aid groups cannot even begin to count the number of orphans. 

Medical staff in Gaza report that children are left to wander hospital hallways alone, often labeled as "wounded child, no surviving family." Babies lie in neonatal units without anyone to claim them. In Khan Younis, a volunteer-run camp shelters more than 1,000 children who have lost one or both parents. Some children have lost their entire families and are listed as “only survivors.” Amid the chaos, no one knows exactly how many children have lost track of their parents—or lost them for good. g The United Nations estimates that at least 19,000 children are now separated from their parents, many living with relatives or other caretakers. However, the actual number is likely much higher due to the intense bombing and displacement in Gaza, where children make up a large proportion of the population. 

Tens of thousands of lives have been shattered, with children being the most vulnerable. These children, some of whom have been left with life-altering injuries, face a future filled with uncertainty, trauma, and limited support. If peace ever returns to Gaza, these children will need shelter, education, and mental health care to rebuild their lives. 

The international community must acknowledge this humanitarian crisis and take immediate action to protect and support the innocent children caught in this devastating conflict. Biden’s “bridging ceasefire” is a non-starter. The only way forward is to declare a total embargo on weapons sales to Israel, secure the release of all hostages, and establish a permanent ceasefire.

An Imagined Moment to Savor 

A Facebook post recently popped up with the side-by-side images of Kamala Harris and Ketanji Brown Jackson envisioning a moment when "the first black female president is sworn in by the first black Supreme Court Justice using Abraham Lincoln's Bible on MLK Day." 

And how about an Inauguration Day swearing-in that ends with Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga all singing "America the Beautiful"—instead of the militaristic "Star Spangled Banner" with its racist, death-threat, pro-slavery third verse ("We will pursue you to get revenge: No refuge could save the hireling and slave"). 

Unmasking Musk's Harris AI Muscarade
Just because AI can do it doesn't mean it's OK to post blatant lies on our media screens. It's not enough to simply attach a statement identifying a TV ad as a product of AI disinformation. Such intentional frauds as Elon Musk's deliberate misrepresentation of Kamala Harris should be treated as libel — a criminal act. Harris and her campaign could set a new legal standard by pursuing a defamation-of-character lawsuit against Musk! 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted about town.
IREQV
08 TORO
TONBOLT
NOWAZA
DON'T BAP
4 PRONG
OSLP2BK
4EIGN (Foreign)
LIL ELK (Little Elk?)
BK NITE (Bike Night?)
BGBLU24 (Big Blue 24?)
SNOWBMZ (Snow Bums?) 

ANGLR JL (Angler Jill? On a "Protect Our Coast & Ocean" plate) 

BLQ QEN (Block Queen?) Thanks to Planet reader phill allen for spotting this one. 

Bumper Snickers
A Good Bumper Sticker Makes You Think
Is That True or Did You Hear It on Fox News?
If Only Closed Minds Came With Closed Mouths
Democratic Party. We're Not Perfect But They're Nuts
The Federal Reserve. Robbing You Blind Since 1913
A Nation of Idiots Is a Gift to Tyrants
May the Fetus You Save Be Gay 

An Encounter with Half-baked Spam 

I recently received an alert (ostensibly) from my email provider warning: "Your Payment Declined." The alarming message invited me to update my account. But there were a number of errors that flashed "spam alert." While most of the presentation was copied directly from an Earthlink master page, there were a few clues that reeked of undercooked spam. First, the alert was addressed to "Dear Custommer." It then asked for an update of "account informatipons" and requested that I "Sign in HERE BELLOW." 

As if these weren't enough clues, the "From" line contained the misspelling "EARTLINK" and was actually sourced to "bodybids.com," which appears to be a website providing references to plastic surgeons. 

The US Empire Is Not about Freedom and Democracy
The Media-Military-Industrial Complex usually cloaks US foreign policy beneath a veil of nobility that presents Washington's global presence as one that promotes "democracy and freedom" (kind of like prison wardens claiming to uphold the liberal cultivation of prison populations) while the "land of the free" accounts for the world's largest prison population—numbering 1.8 million jailed citizens in 2023. 

The disconnect between Freedom and Fiefdom extends to the global scene as well: The US Empire maintains more than 800 bases in more than 80 foreign nations and territories. 

 

The US Empire Drops Its Façade 

With the conclusion of the 2024 Summer Olympics, the Imperial Veil was lowered a bit as the US celebrated its record claim to 126 medals (40 gold, 44 silver, and 42 bronze). The US was bound to emerge victorious given fact that "Team USA" sent more Olympic athletes—278 men and 314 women—than any other country. The US was bound to out-perform every other nation because its contingent of contenders constituted more that 17 percent of all the Olympic runners, swimmers, tri-athletes, and break dancers who made it to Paris. 

The Imperial Veil flat-out fell to the floor in the Chronicle's August 12 summation of the 2024 Olympics. Under a Sporting Green photo of the US women's basket-ballers celebrating their "single point victory" over France, the Chronicle posted the following headline:
"Team USA's rally locks in worldwide domination." 

Support the BPA and Cop a Prize 

The Berkeley Police Association (BPA) has sent out a flurry of envelopes soliciting financial donations to help the department provide support to Berkeley Youth Alternatives, East Bay Humane, Wounded Warriors Project, and the MLK Annual Breakfast. 

The mailer offers to reward donations of "$500 and up" with "a VIP Decal." The deal's a bit confusing. The flipside of the enclosed form promises two Business Support Decals for a mere $250 donation and a "VIP Decal with an Engraved Tumbler" for a $500 check. A donation of $1,000 will nab an additional trophy—a "Custom Plaque." 

The BPA flier notes that donations are not tax-deductible but then advises supporters to "consult your tax professional" to pursue "an alternate category of deduction." The BPA flier also invites the public to "inquire about placing a donor advertisement on our website!" 

And the last line in the funding pitch sounds another odd pay-to-play note: "Place our decal in your business window, and we will direct our 'Friendly's' to support you!" 

An Update on the Critical Senate Elections 

The following political update comes from Chris Bowers, founder of Bowers News Media, who offers a succinct overview of Democratic odds of gaining a slim-majority control of the US Senate in 2025: 

• First, we currently lead by 4% or more in enough races to win 49 seats. That's good, but as we all know you need either 51 Senate seats, or 50 plus control of the White House, to control the U.S. Senate. 

• Second, the elusive 50th seat that we need is going to be a stretch. This is because that 50th seat has to come not from a blue state or a swing state, but instead from a red state since the Senate election map is skewed toward Republicans. Further, the 50th seat will also be a stretch because, according to current polls, we are losing by 4% or more in every state that could possibly hold that crucial 50th seat. 

So here is the bottom line: to control the Senate, we have to win at least one Senate seat in a red state where polls currently show Democrats losing by 4% or more. That is a tall task, but not an impossible one. Our best bets for this elusive 50th seat are: 

• Montana, where incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is facing off against self-funding CEO arch millionaire Tim Sheehy; 

• Texas, where Democratic Rep. Colin Allred is facing off against Republican super-troll Ted Cruz; 

• Florida, where former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell will likely be the Democratic nominee who will face off against Republican super-villain and self-funding arch millionaire Rick Scott. 

AI and DIY Pose a Threat to the World of Music 

Artificial Intelligence is breaking new ground, not only allowing users to create realistic-looking images of famous people enacting false narratives but (get ready for it) permitting users to post AI-generated music complete with voices and instruments. 

You can conjure rock, heavy metal, country, even operatic performances. You can write your own lyrics or let AI handle that chore, too! Eventually this new tool will allow users to create duets with musical legends, living and dead. Imagine, if you will, a performance of Bob Dylan's "The Times The Are a-Changing" delivered by Tony Bennett and Lizzo. 

You can now write and record your own protest songs without the need to rent a recording studio or hire a band with back-up singers. 

In the forefront of this new AI art-form is Donald A. Smith, PhD, the dynamic domo behind the Progressive Memes website—which is dedicated to global campaigns against militarism and war. Smith (who has been using AI to create awesome images of Pentagon plunder) has opened the door to AI-abetted protest songs. One of his latest creations is "Love Song by the U.S. Military Gospel Choir." 

"Using Udio.com for the music," Smith writes, "I created this parody Gospel song as a commentary on US militarism and Christian nationalism. The lyrics are mine." Click on the link (above) to experience what the future sounds like. (And utter a prayer for the world's living-and-breathing musicians.) 

The Lawyer or the Conman  

Let's close on a high note (or two) with a real-life musical parody by the one-and-only, real-life Randy Rainbow. 

 

A Chicago snow plough, normally used to confront the sometimes vicious snow storms this city routinely receives during its harsh winters, is being used as a go-to security suppression device. It has been one of my most enduring images at this Democratic National Convention (DNC) 2024.  

These snow plows are parked in 2’s and 3’s, dozens of them, on many side streets leading up to where the DNC is being held, the United Center, also home of the Chicago Bulls basketball team. These snow ploughs are a low-tech symbol of the intensive security measures that exist all over Chicago as this convention enters it third day. These machines all have Chicago Public Works employees sitting in each driver seat, carry out their 8-hour shift, stationary, waiting to be called to go block a street or intersection. They are being used to divert both vehicular traffic and protester traffic. They are perhaps the lowest of low-tech, but doing the grunt work for the high tech security plans orchestrated by the Dept. of Homeland Security, Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Chicago Police Department. That effort is also backed by many foot soldiers from various Illinois cities and other states, some in battle fatigues, bullet proof vests, and carrying automatic weapons. Last night I saw one group of about 40 (soldiers?) in two lines high-stepping down a busy street adjacent to the United Center as dusk descended on the Windy City.

Worth Noting:

City Council summer recess is from July 31 – September 9, 2024.

The end of summer last light week of meetings.

• Monday, August 26, 2024: at 2:30 pm the Agenda and Rules Committee meets in the hybrid format. Draft agenda for September 10 includes 35-feasibility study for second access route in Panoramic Hill, 36-negative recommendation for COPA/TOPA and 37-Encampment Ordinance from Kesarwani and Wengraf.
• Thursday, August 29, 2024: FYI - At 6:30 pm the Design Review Committee is meeting in person on new UCB R&D project-information only and R&D on San Pablo.

Please take advantage of checking the City website for movies in the park, recreation activities, any surprises and meetings posted on short notice

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS 

Monday, August 26, 2024  

AGENDA AND RULES COMMITTEE Meeting at 2:30 pm 

Members: Arreguin, Hahn, Wengraf 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia, 6th Floor – Redwood Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1607301824 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (Toll Free)  

Meeting ID: 160 730 1824 

AGENDA: Public Comment on non-agenda and items 1 – 7. 1. Minutes, 2. Review and Approve -9/10/2024 -- draft agenda – use link or read full draft agenda below at the end of the 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.Discussion and Possible Action on City Council Rules of Decorum, Procedural Rules, and Remote Public Comments, 9. City Council Legislative Redesign, Unscheduled Items: 10. Modifications or Improvements to City Council Meeting Procedures, 11. Strengthening and Supporting City Commission: Guidance on Development of Legislative Proposals, 12. Discussion and Recommendations on the Continued Use of Berkeley Considers Online Engagement Portal, 13. Consideration of Changes to Supplemental Material Timelines 

• Removed from list of unscheduled items - Discussion Regarding Design and Strengthening of Policy Committees Process and Structure (Including Budget Referrals),

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules 

Thursday, August 29, 2024 

DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE at 6:30 pm 

In-Person: at 1901 Hearst, North Berkeley Senior Center, Gooseberry Room 

AGENDA: 1. UC Berkeley Bakar ClimatEnginuity Hub (Addison and Oxford) Donor Developed project ­­– informational item – proposed UNB project that will provide incubator space for campus-affiliated entrepreneurs and collaborators to cultivate start-up companies that provide solutions for energy and the environment. 

2. 2820 San Pablo (between Grayson and Heinz) - DRC2022-0005 – Preliminary Design Review – to construct 4-story (50 ft) mixed-use building with one single-family dwelling, offices, and research and development at 2820 San Pablo; and demolish non-residential building at 2821 Tenth Street and construct a 2-story (34 ft, 8 in) building with office, research and development, and light manufacturing uses and a garage with 23 off-street parking spaces and one loading space 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/design-review-committee 

+++++++++++++++++++ AGENDA & RULES COMMITTEE +++++++++++++++++++ 

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA and RULES COMMITTEE at 2:30 pm on Monday, August 26, 2024 

Members: Arreguin, Hahn, Wengraf 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia, 6th Floor, Redwood Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1607301824 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (Toll Free)  

Meeting ID: 160 730 1824 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules 

DRAFT AGENDA for City Council Regular 6 pm Meeting on September 10, 2024 

CEREMONIAL MATTERS: PLEDGE of ALLEGIANCE 

CITY MANAGER COMMENTS 

PUBLIC COMMENTS on NON-AGENDA MATTERS 

PUBLIC COMMENT by EMPLOYEE UNIONS 

AGENDA on CONSENT: 

1. Ferris, Parks – Grant Application $3,200,000 Local Transportation Climate Adaption Program (LTCAP) for the Interstate 80 Aquatic Park Tidetube Culvert Renovation and Habitat Resiliency Project
2. Ferris, Parks – Grant Application: U.S. DOT - Charging and Fueling infrastructure Discretionary Grant – South Cove West Parking Lot Renovation and EV Charging Project.
3. Ferris, Parks – 2^nd reading of Ordinance No. 7,932-N.S. Lot Line Adjustments at 1401 Carleton Street and 1423 Ward Street to resolve main dwelling encroachments at the City’s Santa Fe Trackbed to Park Conversion Project Site.
4. Ferris, Parks – 2^nd reading of Ordinance No. 7,933-N.S. lease agreement Youth Musical Theater Company for the Live Oak Theater at 1301 Shattuck for term of 3 years 9/1/2024 – 8/31/2027
5. Numainville, City Clerk – Minutes
6. Numainville, City Clerk – Contract $178,653.47 with File Trail, Inc for Records Management System 9/26/2024 – 9/26/2029
7. Oyekanmi, Finance – Formal Bid Solicitations $5,960,000
8. Gilman, HHCS – Mental Health Services Act Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Update
9. Gilman, HHCS – 2024 Local Housing Trust Fund Application to State of California Local Housing Trust Fund program for $5,000,000 for two projects at the North Berkeley BART Site: East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) and NBB BRIDGE Insight Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Project
10. Gilman, HHCA – Amend Contract No. 32300112 add $63,928 total $208,878 with Harold Dichoso for COVID-19 Outreach and Education and extend to 6/30/2025
11. Gilman, HHCA – Amend Contract No. 32200135 add $45,136 total $231,136 tieh Multicultural Institute for COVID-19 Outreach and Education and extend to 6/30/2025
12. Fong, IT – Amend Contract No. 32500020 total $249,999 with ACAPMO for Technology Program/Project Management Office (PMO) for additional services 8/1/2024 – 12/31/2025
13. Fong, IT – Amend Contract No. 31900187 add $84,000 total $362,000 with ISP.NET (Formerly LV.NET) for Secondary Internet for Redundancy and Load Balancing from 10/3/2017 – 6/30/2026
14. Fong, IT – Amend Contract 32100185 add $1,037,372 total $2,033,489 with Digital Hands for Cybersecurity Event Monitoring and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) from, 5/14/2021 – 6/30/2027
15. Fong, IT – Amend contract add $645,173 total $2,934,123 with Tyler Technologies, Inc for Computer aided Dispatch (CAD) Software and extend to 6/30/2026
16. Fong, IT – Contract $1,395,000 with Roundstone Solutions, Inc. a Distributor of Carasoft Technology Corporation Using General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule for hardware, software, and services related to the Server Infrastructure Upgrade and Azure Disaster Recovery from 8/1/2024 – 7/31/2027
17. Fong, IT – Amend Contract No. 32000223 add $50,000 total $299,500 with Gray Quarter, Inc for Accela Professional Services through 7/31/2025
18. Fong, IT – Amend Contract No. 319002070 add $1,704,438 total $5,411,676 with Dell Computers, Inc. for Computer Hardware and Software Purchases
19. Fong, IT, Amend Contract No. 099471-1 add $16,906.61 total $100,359.61 with Integrated Business Consultants of GA (Reseller) for additional software maintenance and twenty additional support hours and extend through 6/30/2027
20. Ferris, Parks – Amend Contract No. 32400024 add $120,000 total $556,954 with Baldoni Construction Services, Inc for Echo Lake Camp Accessibility Upgrades
21. Ferris, Parks – Donation $3,400 for Memorial Bench at the Berkeley Waterfront Pathway in memory of Ying Xiang Liu
22. Ferris, Parks – Donation $3,400 for Memorial Bench at the Berkeley Waterfront Pathway in memory of Obaidulla Khan
23. Klein, Planning – Mills Act Contract 1401 Le Roy Ave
24. Klein, Planning – Mills Act Contract 60 Panoramic Way
25. Klein, Planning – Mills Act Contract 7 greenwood Common
26. Louis, Police – Donation $1,125.42 Fusako Castro Estate to the Berkeley Police Department
27. Louis, Police – Contract $1,313,482 with All-Star Talent for Recruiting, Advertising, and Marketing Strategy for Berkeley Police and Fire Departments 6/1/2024 – 5/30/2028 with option to extend for 2 additional 2-year periods
28. Louis, Police – Accept Revenue Grant with California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) 10/1/2024 – 9/30/2025
29. Homeless Services Panel of Experts – Request additional meeting in 2024 due to special meeting to address Insight Housing Allocation
30. Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission – Name Concrete Planter at Southeast Corner of Adline and Alcatraz as the Ms Richie and Friends of Adeline Native Garden

AGENDA on ACTION: 

31. Sprague, Fire – Ambulance Transport Fee Increase to match Alameda County approved ambulance user fee schedule effective 7/1/2024
32. Numainville, City Clerk – Voting Delegates – League of California Cities Annual Conference
33. Numainville, City Clerk – City Council Rules of Procedure and Order Revisions, add revisions recommended by the Open Government Commission and approved by Council
34. Klein, Planning – Re-adoption of the Berkeley Building Codes, Including Local Amendments to the 2022 California Building standards Code
35. a. Disaster and Fire Safety Commission – Panoramic Hill Secondary Evacuation egress road, adopt a resolution approving the development of a plan that includes a feasibility study and identification of funding sources, b. Sprague, Fire – Companion Report – Panoramic Hill Secondary Evacuation reach out to other impacted land owners to determine interest in pursuing and coordinate costs sharing to conduct a feasibility study to identify a safe secondary evacuation and access route
36. Harrison – Adopt BMC 13.89 Community/Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, Policy Committee negative recommendation
37. Kesarwani, co-sponsor Wengraf – Encampment Policy Resolution to Promote Healthy and Safe Neighborhoods and Related First Reading of Ordinance Amending BMC 14.48 Recommendation CoB will continue to offer interim shelter existing “Housing First” approach with 6 exceptions, 1) Fire Department has determined encampment poses a fire hazard BMC 19.48, 2) HHCS has determined that encampment poses an imminent health hazard BMC 11.36.030, 3) Situation constitutes a public nuisance, 4) Encampment is located on City street median roadway or otherwise in dangerous proximity to traffic BMC 14.32.040, 5) Encampment interferes with or impedes city of utility companies’ construction or maintenance activities in the public right-of-way street lighting installation or repair street tree maintenance or utilities maintenance or repair and City Manager is authorized to take enforcement actions to deter re-encampments and may enable enforcement through temporary on-commercial objects of less than nine-square-feet within less than 24 hours in a designated public area marked with signage to deter re-encampment
38. Wengraf – Amending BMC 7.52.060 to include “Wildfire Hardening” in the Real Property Transfer Tax Exceptions
39. Housing advisory Commission 2024-2025 Work Plan.

+++++++++++++++++++ Land Use - Work Sessions - Special Meetings +++++++++++++++ 

 

LAND USE CALENDAR 

• 844 University Ave (Black Pine Circle School) 9/3/2024
• 3000 Shattuck (construct 10-story mixed-use building) TBD

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS: 

• September 16 - Ashby BART Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Berkeley – El Cerrito Corridor Access Plan Presentation (tentative July)
• October 22 - Draft Waterfront Specific Plan
• October 29 (3:30 pm) Re-Imagining Public safety Update (Tentative)

UNSCHEDULED WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS 

• Feasibility Study Follow Up Session (housing feasibility moved to fall)
• COPA/TOPA (September 10, 2024 regular meeting agenda)
• Economic Dashboards Update (January 2025)

PREVIOUSLY LISTED WORKSESSIONS and SPECIAL MEETINGS REMOVED FROM LIST 

• Fire Department Standards of Coverage & Community Risk Assessment
• Dispatch Needs Assessment Presentation
• Presentation on Homelessness/Re-Housing/Thousand-Person Plan (TBD regular agenda)

++++ How to get on or off the Activist’s Calendar and Activist’s Diary email list ++++++++ 

Kelly Hammargren’s summary on what happened the preceding week is posted on the What Happened page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/what-happened.html and in the Berkeley Daily Planet https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/ 

 

The Activist’s Calendar of meetings is posted on the What’s Ahead page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html 

 

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 want to receive the Activist’s Diary send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly calendar of city meetings please forward the email you received to- kellyhammargren@gmail.com -with the request to be removed from the email list. 

Worth Noting:

City Council summer recess is from July 31 – September 9, 2024. Most boards and commissions do not meet in August.

I planned to take a recess too until the end of August, but the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission and the Fair Campaign Practices and Open Government called meetings for this week on August 15, 2024

• Thursday, August 15, 2024:
  • At 6:15 pm the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission meets in person.
  • At 6:30 pm the Fair Campaign Practices and Open Government Commission meets in the hybrid format, but public comment will only be taken in person and the password to zoom is missing from the agenda that was forwarded to me and not yet posted so check later for details.
• Wednesday, August 21, 2024: At 7 pm the Commission on Labor meets in person.
• Thursday, August 29, 2024: FYI - At 6:30 pm the Design Review Committee is meeting in person on the 5^th Thursday, not the 3^rd Thursday.

. .

This is my last calendar until City meetings pick up again. Please take advantage of checking the City website for any surprises and meetings posted on short notice at: https://berkeleyca.gov/

Below are the meetings posted between now and the end of August.



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BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS 

 

Thursday, August 15, 2024 

 

FAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICES COMMISSION (FCPC) and OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION (OGC) Special Meeting at 6:30 pm 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia, 1st Floor – Cypress Room 

Videoconference for observing – public comment can only be given in person: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1608085852?pwd=74cVptv2LVTpbWKEGuLDCXGyOmsOci.1.  

Passcode Required: Check after Monday. 

AGENDA: 5. Non-agenda public comment, FCPC: 8. Public Finacing certifications, 9. Report from negotiating subcommittee: Mike Chang for School Board, 11. Complaint: Ruben Story for Council 2024, 12. Requests for Commission Opinion under BERA 2.12220, OGC: 14. Public Records Complaint, 15. Teleconferencing and remote public access for Commission meetings, Joint FCPC-OGC Calendar: 16. Commission vacancies. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/fair-campaign-practices-commission 

 

TRANSPORTATION and INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION at 6:15 pm 

In-Person: At 1901 Hearst, North Berkeley Senior Center 

AGENDA: 1. ATP Cycle 7 Grant Applications MTC Complete Streets Checklist Review – Action requested, As required by Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Complete Streets Policy staff requests the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission review and approve MTC Complete Streets Checklists for Active Transportation Program Cycle 7 grant applications for Southwest Berkeley bicycle Boulevards project, 2. Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) San Pablo Ave Corridor Bus and Bike Lanes Presentation on bicycle, pedestrian and transit safety improvements. (check links in agenda for project details) 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/transportation-and-infrastructure-commission 

 

Wednesday, August 21, 2024 

 

COMMISSION on LABOR at 7 pm 

In-Person: at 2939 Ellis, South Berkeley Senior Center 

AGENDA: Check later 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/commission-labor 

 

Thursday, August 29, 2024 

 

DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE at 6:30 pm 

In-Person: At 1901 Hearst, North Berkeley Senior Center 

AGENDA: Check later 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/design-review-committee 

 

+++++++++++++++++++ Land Use - Work Sessions - Special Meetings +++++++++++++++ 

 

LAND USE CALENDAR 

3000 Shattuck (construct 10-story mixed-use building) TBD 

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS: 

• September 17 - open
• October 22 - Draft Waterfront Specific Plan

UNSCHEDULED WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS 

• Ashby BART Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Berkeley – El Cerrito Corridor Access Plan Presentation (tentative July)
• Feasibility Study Follow Up Session (housing feasibility moved to fall)
• Dispatch Needs Assessment Presentation
• Presentation on Homelessness/Re-Housing/Thousand-Person Plan (TBD regular agenda)

 

PREVIOUSLY LISTED WORKSESSIONS and SPECIAL MEETINGS REMOVED FROM LIST 

• Fire Department Standards of Coverage & Community Risk Assessment

 

++++ How to get on or off the Activist’s Calendar and Activist’s Diary email list ++++++++ 

 

Kelly Hammargren’s summary on what happened the preceding week is posted on the What Happened page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/what-happened.html and in the Berkeley Daily Planet https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/ 

 

The Activist’s Calendar of meetings is posted on the What’s Ahead page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html 

 

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 want to receive the Activist’s Diary send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly calendar of city meetings please forward the email you received to- kellyhammargren@gmail.com -with the request to be removed from the email list. 

Worth Noting:

City Council summer recess is officially from July 31 – September 9, 2024, however, Council did not finish the Ballot Measures for the November election so there will be a special council meeting on Monday August 5 at 6 pm on Councilmember Lunaparra’s ballot measure on tenant protections and Mayor Arreguin’s and Councilmember Hahn’s alternative proposal.



With Council on recess and nearly every Board and Commission on vacation in August there will not be another Activist’s Calendar until City meetings pick up again at the end of August and after Labor Day. Go to the city website for movies in the park, recreation activities, and meeting announcements at https://berkeleyca.gov/

• Monday, August 5, 2024:
  • At 6 pm City Council meets in the hybrid format with one agenda item, tenant protections.
• Tuesday, August 6, 2024: National Night Out from 3 pm – 7 pm
• Wednesday, August 8, 2024:
  • At 7 pm the Disaster and Fire safety Commission meets in person.
  • At 7 pm the Peace and Justice Commission Meets in person.
• Thursday, August 9, 2024:
  • At 3:30 pm is the first session of 12 weekly free city sponsored gardening and cooking classes.
  • At 7 pm the Zoning Adjustment Board meets in the hybrid format on one project Black Pine Circle School.
• Saturday, August 10, 2024:
  • At 10 am the Berkeley Neighborhoods Council meets in the hybrid format with Middle Housing zoning on the agenda.

At the bottom are the directions for getting on or off the email list for the Activist’s Calendar and Activist’s Diary.

For how to make the most out of ZOOM with closed captioning, zoom transcripts, saving CHAT and converting YouTube to a transcript go to https://tinyurl.com/3jau6ym8



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS



Sunday, August 4, 2024 – no city meetings or events found



Monday, August 5, 2024



CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting at 6 pm

A Hybrid Meeting

In-Person: at 1231 Addison St. in the School District Board Room

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1600382759

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free)

Meeting ID: 160 038 2759

AGENDA: one agenda item 1.a. Lunaparra – Placing the Berkeley Tenant Protection and Right to Organize Act on the November 5, 2024 Ballot and 1.b. Arreguin, Hahn - Placing the Berkeley Tenant Protection and Right to Organize Act and Funding Housing Retention on the November 5, 2024 ballot.

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-special-meeting-eagenda-august-5-2024



PERSONNEL BOARD at 7 pm

In-Person: at 1301 Shattuck, Live Oak Park Community Center, Creekside Room

AGENDA: V. Recommendation to revise job class specification – Community Services Officer, VI. Recommendation to extend temporary positions.

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/personnel-board



Tuesday, August 6, 2024 – National Night Out



NATIONAL NIGHT OUT

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CABERKE/bulletins/3abcfde

Check for Block Parties in your Neighborhood (map and list of events) https://berkeleypd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/3bf1901123c24d3d88c31144cdde3b69



STOP the VIOLENCE NATIONAL NIGHT OUT BLOCK PARTY from 3 – 7 pm

Location: on McGee between Oregon and Stuart (listed as 1640 Stuart)

Activities: Live performances, inflatables, carnival games, informational booths and food,

Co-hosted: by McGee Avenue Baptist Church and City of Berkeley Recreation Division Teen Program.

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/stop-violence-national-night-out-block-party



Wednesday, August 7, 2024



DISASTER and FIRE SAFETY COMMISSION (DFSC) at 7 pm

In-Person: at 997 Cedar

AGENDA: 4. Discuss and approve DFSC feedback on LHMP (Local Hazard Mitigation Plan), 5. Changing registration with AC Alert to an “opt out” system, 6. Recommendation to City Council to change registration, testing and operations to AC Alert System to Alameda County Supervisors similar to policy recommendation proposed by Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury, Form a Working Group and draft a memo to East Bay Wildfire Coalition of Governance.

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/disaster-and-fire-safety-commission



PEACE and JUSTICE COMMISSION at 7 pm

In-Person: at 2939 Ellis

AGENDA: 8. Resolution Opposing the Criminalization of Poverty, 9. Work Plan.

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/peace-and-justice-commission



Thursday, August 8, 2024



FREE GARDENING and COOKING CLASS SERIES at 3:30 pm

Location: at 1900 Sixth Street for sessions 1 & 2

Use link to register online and check class topics

Every Thursday from August 8 to October 24

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/free-gardening-and-cooking-class-series



ZONING ADJUSTMENT BOARD at 7 pm

Hybrid Meeting

In-Person: at 1231 Addison St. in the School District Board Room

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85118069453

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171

Meeting ID: 851 1806 9453

AGENDA: only one project 2. 844 University – on consent – Use Permit #ZP2024-0034 – to demolish 126 square feet from the side of the building, expand an access door within non-conforming street-side setback, and convert 3,405 sq ft vacant building to a K-12 school for use by Black Pine Circle School with capacity for approximately 54 students.

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/zoning-adjustments-board



Friday, August 9, 2024 – City Reduced service Day



Saturday, August 10, 2024



BERKELEY NEIGHBORHOODS COUNCIL (BNC) from 10 am to 12 pm

Videoconference:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4223188307?pwd=dFlNMVlVZ2d6b0FnSHh3ZlFwV2NMdz09

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171

Meeting ID: 422 318 8307 Passcode: 521161

AGENDA: Middle Housing Zoning, check later for full agenda

https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com



Sunday, August 11, 2024 – no city meetings found



+++++++++++++++++++ Land Use - Work Sessions - Special Meetings +++++++++++++++



LAND USE CALENDAR

3000 Shattuck (construct 10-story mixed-use building) TBD

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS:

• September 17 - open
• October 22 - Draft Waterfront Specific Plan

UNSCHEDULED WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS

• Ashby BART Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Berkeley – El Cerrito Corridor Access Plan Presentation (tentative July)
• Feasibility Study Follow Up Session (housing feasibility moved to fall)
• Dispatch Needs Assessment Presentation
• Presentation on Homelessness/Re-Housing/Thousand-Person Plan (TBD regular agenda)

PREVIOUSLY LISTED WORKSESSIONS and SPECIAL MEETINGS REMOVED FROM LIST

• Fire Department Standards of Coverage & Community Risk Assessment

++++ How to get on or off the Activist’s Calendar and Activist’s Diary email list ++++++++



Kelly Hammargren’s summary on what happened the preceding week is posted on the What Happened page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/what-happened.html and in the Berkeley Daily Planet https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/



The Activist’s Calendar of meetings is posted on the What’s Ahead page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html



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 want to receive the Activist’s Diary send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly calendar of city meetings please forward the email you received to- kellyhammargren@gmail.com -with the request to be removed from the email list.