Janet Yellen, an emeritus professor at the University of California at Berkeley, is president-elect Joseph Biden's pick for treasury secretary, university officials said Tuesday.

Yellen is the former chair of the Federal Reserve System, which steers the nation's banking system. She was the first woman to sit in that role and she'll be the first woman to lead the U.S. Treasury Department if she is confirmed by the Senate.

Biden faces tough economic conditions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yellen would be the president's top economic advisor in the effort to restore economic stability. Yellen has taught economics to undergraduate and graduate students at UC Berkeley over her 26 years there. -more-

Before the November election I wrote hopefully about opportunities for Democrats to win control of the Senate in the general election. Although Biden won the Presidency and Democrats retained control of the House of Representatives, things didn’t turn out so well in the Senate. -more-

Guess who voted “no confidence” for Police Chief Greenwood. It was Chief Greenwood himself. The poor man, seeking to duck that vote, ended up voting no confidence in himself. By default. -more-

Two homes were damaged and five people displaced by a fire early Sunday morning the Berkeley firefighters said appears to have started in a recreation vehicle parked in a driveway, Berkeley's fire chief said.

Berkeley Fire Department firefighters were called about 4:35 a.m. Sunday to the 900 block of Delaware Street, about two blocks north of University Avenue, Berkeley Fire Department Chief Dave Brannigan said.

A fire in the RV spread to the houses on either side of where it was parked, Brannigan said. The fire was under control about a half-hour after firefighters arrived, Brannigan said.

No firefighters or occupants of the houses or RV were injured, but the houses were damaged to the extent that five people were displaced, from the RV and both houses. The cause of the fire remained under investigation Sunday night.

Berkeley firefighters early Sunday morning were still battling a six-alarm fire at a multi-story apartment building under construction in the 2000 block of University Avenue in downtown Berkeley. Nearly 100 firefighters, including many from other departments, were fighting that fire when the Delaware Street fire was reported.

The University Avenue fire was still glowing at 9 p.m. on Sunday night.

"It's unusual to get two large fires like that going at the same time," Brannigan said.

It demanded more mutual aid from outside departments be called, he said. -more-

Nearly 100 firefighters battled a major six-alarm fire Saturday evening at a multi-story apartment building under construction in downtown Berkeley.

The fire, in the 2000 block of University Avenue between Milvia Street and Shattuck Avenue, was reported shortly after 6 p.m. Originally designated as a two-alarm fire, Berkeley firefighters eventually upgraded the incident to a six-alarm fire, receiving mutual aid from fire departments in neighboring Oakland, Piedmont, Emeryville, Albany and El Cerrito. The Alameda County Fire Department also assisted.

Residents in neighboring apartment buildings were evacuated as a precaution. Berkeley fire officials said none of the existing buildings ended up being damaged by the fire.

There are no reports of injuries.

Much of the fire has been extinguished, but firefighters will remain on scene through the evening to extinguish hot spots.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time and will be under investigation.

Both directions of University Avenue remain closed between Milvia Street and Shattuck Avenue. The location of the fire is two blocks west of the University of California, Berkeley. -more-

The anti-war group World BEYOND War recently discovered its work had inspired a Swedish youth project to hold a competition to create "table-top peace games" on the theme "Investing in Infrastructure vs. Investing in War."and Mortal Kombat, a videogame devoted to non-lethal "solutions" could be a good tool for fun and for fundamental change. -more-

The following comments are made on behalf of People's Park Historic District Advocacy Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and improvement of People’s Park as both an important historical site and neighborhood open space. We see the struggle to preserve the “History of Medicine in California” murals as the West Bay version of the struggle to preserve People’s Park in Berkeley.

UC is operating in a similar manner in both San Francisco and Berkeley, showing a lack of concern for its surrounding communities. Its behavior is more akin to a predatory corporation than a public institution by threatening destruction of public art, demolition of three historic buildings, eviction of rent-controlled tenants, destruction of a cultural and historical legacy and public open space, and formation of a partnership with an anti-tenant real estate corporation.

The plan by UCSF to demolish the frescoes created by Bernard Zakheim in the Toland Hall auditorium in UC Hall needs to be replaced with an alternative that would preserve the murals and display them for the public on the UCSF Parnassus Heights campus.

These murals, created in the 1930s through support from the Works Progress Administration, have educated and inspired generations of the public and students of UCSF. They are threatened with destruction when UCSF demolishes Toland Hall to make way for a new building. However, the murals are entirely removable and could be conserved, removed, stored, and reinstalled by UCSF in its new facility. Instead UCSF contacted the family of the artist and asked it to remove the murals at the family’s expense. Additionally the ownership status is under review by the federal General Services Administration calling into question UCSF’s right to destroy artwork it does not own.

We disagree with these actions of UCSF and are aware that the Mission Bay campus of UCSF has a public art program to which a percentage of construction cost was dedicated. Surely a small fraction of new construction cost at Parnassus Heights would fund a public art collection that could include the historic Zakheim murals and many new art works. Why is the Mission Bay precedent not being followed for the new multi-billion dollar facility on Parnassus Heights?

This is all particularly disturbing because the multicultural content of the murals portrays the long history of the diverse people who have participated in the healing arts within our state. Why would UCSF suppress this history at a time when California is seen as a state that has made some successful strides in tackling the issue of diversity within the health professions?

Although our major issue is with the murals, we are also concerned about the “Carved Frame” oak carving (Carved Frame) by Michael Von Meyer and James Warrender that was also commissioned as part of the WPA Federal Art Project and is located in Toland Hall. Likewise it should be conserved, removed, stored, and reinstalled by UCSF in its new facilities.

Both the murals and the wood carving are part of an amazing array of public art in San Francisco created by the New Deal. This heritage is recognized worldwide and brings viewers to the City to see it. Many of them go to Coit Tower where Bernard Zakheim’s work is also represented. Stripping part of this legacy from public view is unacceptable; conversely ways of making it more accessible should be sought.

UC is not bound by local landmark status and has stated it is above any local regulations or resolutions. In its arrogance, does it also feel it is above local sentiment and local pride in the City’s artistic and historical legacy?

We urge the Board of Regents to address the general issue of public art. The purpose of Dr. J. Michael Bishop, Nobel Laureate and Emeritus UCSF Chancellor, in establishing the Mission Bay art collection was "to create an environment that will be a credit and benefit to the entire community, a stimulating and pleasant place to work and visit, and a permanent legacy to the city." This purpose should apply equally to UCSF Parnassus Heights. Why is Chancellor Hawgood not advocating for public art in general and in particular defending the Zakheim murals?

San Francisco and many other California cities have percent for art programs, as do 23 states. California and its public university system do not, and this allows UC at whim to have a percent for art policy or not. Now is the time for the UC Regents to correct this and develop a UC statewide percent for art program, as well as developing an alternative to destroying the art in Toland Hall.

We demand UCSF include project alternatives that protect all of the art work in Toland Hall and develop a plan for its display in preferably a new location on the UCSF Parnassus Heights campus with increased public accessibility and interpretation.

Meanwhile, across the Bay UC Berkeley staff is making the rounds of Berkeley’s City Council and commissions presenting its Long Range Development Plan (LRDP). After its presentations, UCB staff have gotten a lot of critical comments, for example, being accused of attempting to devour Berkeley and turn it into another Irvine, CA, with its ghastly array of glass-box high rises. UCB’s Project #1 was skewered, a proposal to build a multi-story housing and commercial block on Oxford Street between University Avenue and Berkeley Way, which would unnecessarily destroy three historic buildings (one of them is by one of Berkeley’s master architects) and displace residents of 1921 Walnut Street – a rent-controlled building with many longtime tenants.

UCB plans a public-private partnership for the project, teaming up with the Prometheus Real Estate Group. This is the same corporation that spent many millions as the fourth largest contributor fighting the passage of the rent control initiative, Proposition 21. Prometheus is headed by Jackie Safier whose foundation is contributing $500 million to the Parnassus Heights project.

UCB is partnering with an exploitive corporation to deal with its budget deficit created in part by its ill-fated investment in a new (now empty) football stadium with luxury boxes that never produced a profit and the added deficit created by the COVID crisis. In its scramble for cash, UCB is monetizing land it’s purchased in Berkeley outside the campus boundaries. Meanwhile, the City of Berkeley and neighborhood groups are involved with lawsuits regarding UC overreach and its potential impact on the community.

In the time of a pandemic with no foreseeable end, the eminent threat of urban-wildland fires, and the ever present threat of a major earthquake, it is difficult to contemplate why UC would think of giving up the open space of People’s Park, the Project #2 site.

The recent growth plans of the university will push Berkeley to the limits and override its capacity to accommodate this unfettered growth. The two proposed housing projects with their public-private-partnership investment schemes seem to be a vehicle for capitalizing on the need for housing by selling out the Berkeley community to pad the university’s budget. At the rate it’s going, soon the university will surround Berkeley, not the other way around.

People's Park Historic District Advocacy Group has an alternative that would bring the city, the university, and the South Campus community together to preserve and improve the park as both an important historical site and an important neighborhood open space. For details, go to peoplesparkhxdist.org.

San Francisco, Berkeley, or California doesn’t expect UC to be pushing destruction of public art or disruptive real estate plans. A world-class institution of public education should not behave in this manner. -more-

At this writing, Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 5.9 million popular votes and 74 electoral college votes. Nonetheless, the election was closer than many Democrats expected. There are several important lessons to be learned.

1.Trump had a strategy. And it almost worked.

Since his inauguration, Trump has been historically unpopular. According to the 538 website(https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/ ), during his presidency, Trump's approval ratings never got to 50 percent; he typically ranged between 41 and 44 percent.

Many political observers felt that, given his lack of popularity, Trump could not be reelected unless he made a concerted attempt to reach outside his base. Trump made no attempt to do this. He made no effort to "reach across the aisle" -- to attempt to work with Democrats. He seemed to revel in disparaging Democratic leaders, such as Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

But Trump did have a strategy. Part one was to increase the size of his base. Trump started his re-election campaign on January 21, 2017. Over the course of the next 3+ years, Republicans registered and mobilized 3 million new voters. In 2016, the vote breakdown by Party was 36 percent Democratic, 33 percent Republican, and 31 percent Independent. In 2020, the breakdown by Party was 37 percent Democratic, 35 percent Republican, and 28 percent Independent. Republicans increased their Party registration by two percentage points and increased their voting loyalty by 5 percent (88 percent voted for Trump in 2016 versus 93 percent in 2020.) -more-

The rule in federal and state courts across the country is that you cannot file (much less pursue) litigation unless you first have sufficient factual and legal support. Litigants are under an affirmative duty to certify that the lawsuit is factually and legally meritorious.

Trump filed a number of lawsuits contesting election processes, vote counting, and the vote certification process in multiple states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. In apparent disregard of this rule, most of these lawsuits have been dismissed because of lack of factual and legal support. And the ones that have gained some traction are unlikely to change the outcome of the Presidential race. -more-

Television coverage showed people dancing in the streets in cities across the U.S. Newscasters commented that it was similar to what people do in third world countries when a cruel dictator is removed from power. And, indeed, Trump seemed to resemble another oppressive dictator. He managed to seize power and began to unravel the system of checks and balances in the U.S. that are intended to never allow something like him to happen. He was mean and nasty. He had no regard for the good of the country or its people and instead, his Presidency was all about him. -more-

Georgia GOP Invited to 'Cure' the Ballots

My spirits were buoyed by the Chronicle's November 14 editorial "Trump versus the United States." The editorial reprinted the Department of Homeland Security's unassailable verdict that: "The November 3^rd election was the most secure in American History."

But I was jarred by a related newsbit in the same edition—in the last sentence of the last paragraph of the last story on the bottom of page four. The AP article was headlined "GOP Opens Money Spigot for Georgia Races" and it ended with the following report from the disputed election in Georgia: "The RNC had already sent about 100 staffers to help with fixing small errors or omissions on voter's ballots, called 'curing,' and assist with the recounts."

Just curious: Were the Democrats, Libertarians, and Green Party also invited to dispatch staffers to "cure" the ballots and "assist with the recounts"? -more-

There were so many meetings this week, I could not cover everything. Thursday evening, I was listening to the Richmond Planning Commission with my earphones from my computer while I listened to the Berkeley Design Review committee on my iPad. I missed the Fair Campaign Practices Commission, which looked very interesting with all the election complaints, and the joint Parks and Waterfront Commission and Public Works Commission meeting about the final list for spending proceeds of the T1 bond issue's Phase 2.

I am still feeling my way around with this column with what to include and still leave it at a readable length, so please keep reading, and as for reading, I will place at the end what books I am reading this week. -more-

“Park’s willingness to plumb personal memories and explore emotional issues is also suggested by the bold Standing Male Nude in the Shower of 1955. There canvas shocks with its size, palette, and aggressive composition. The male figure is life-sized, deep red against yellow and cerulean blue; he meets our gaze with an unfathomable expression made more obscure by the shadow cast over his features. There is no effort at eroticism here, no coy avoidance of the viewer’s gaze.” (emphasis added) p. 27

—Bay Area Figurative Art, Carolyn Jones, SFMOMA, 1990

“Park’s figures reflect another characteristic of the studio or life model tradition; they avoid any overt sense of the erotic. In his paintings and perhaps more significantly his private life drawings, he accepts the genitals directly, finally, without subterfuge and yet without special concern. He was interested in the total physical body and his response in the largest sense did not lack sexuality. However, he was not an artist anxious or eager to deal with erotic subjects. He responded deeply to the physical rhythms and structures other body, but without making an issue of eroticism.” p. 98

—The New Figurative Art of David Park, Paul Mills, 1988

“The appeal of a good model differs completely from physical or erotic appeal.”

—David Park: A Painter’s Life, Nancy Boas, 2012, p. 194

---

David Park died in 1960, age 49. By all accounts, he was happily married to Lydia Park (later Lydia Park Moore), who was appreciative and supportive of his art, and the father of two daughters, one of whom, Helen Park Bigelow, is the author of a book about her beloved father.

But why must these critics, curators, and biographers place Park on such a chaste, hetero-normative, binary pedestal, as if we were still living in Park’s most productive period—the 1950s?

I’ve always been amused and cheered by Park’s rendition of what could be interpreted as outdoor gay cruising scenes, nude boys at beaches, young men walking purposefully in the underbrush, and other same sex groupings. I wouldn’t describe any of his nudes, male or female, as prurient, but they’re not shy either. -more-

Worth Noting:

What Did and Didn’t Happen in City Meetings November 16 – November 19, 2020

At the Agenda and Rules Policy Committee the City Manager removed from the proposed December 1 Council agenda modifying the status of the Berkeley Municipal Pier from design to planning and Councilmember Droste extended the time frame for the proposal to reorganize the City’s commissions to March 1, 2021. At the Children, Youth and Recreation Commission Scott Ferris announced that there were three proposals for the Berkeley Pier that would be presented to focus groups in December, the public in January, to Council for a vote in February and to WETA (Water Emergency Transportation Authority) in March. The Fair and Impartial Working Group Working Group report reviewed at the Wednesday meeting includes a section on accountability which was not well received. Look to the Activist’s Diary in the Berkeley Daily Planet for a more thorough review. https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com



What’s Ahead

Finally, a light week with only 3 City meetings and a seminar for young people on Saturday.

Monday both meetings are taking up measures presented by Cheryl Davila. Her re-election defeat in District 2 is an enormous loss of leadership on issues of race and climate. In the 10 am morning meeting is the Declaration of Racism as a Public Health Crisis. The afternoon meeting at 2:30 pm is a Just Transition to a Regenerative Economy.

The Youthivism Seminar on Saturday from 11 am – 12:30 pm for grades 5 – 9 is on fake news and how to source reliable news. It sounds like a great start and builds on civics education. There are a lot of adults in this country who need an education in civics and could use help in learning how to identify fake news.



The agenda for the December 1, City Council meeting is available for review and comment and follows the calendar of meetings. -more-