"Should the City of Berkeley change parking requirements for new housing projects to promote "green development" and produce more housing?"

That's the question the city of Berkeley is asking community members to answer in a survey about possible changes being considered to parking requirements for new housing developments. The survey can only be accessed through Sunday, November 29.

The current regulations in the city generally call for one parking space for each unit, but the survey includes various proposed changes that are being considered by the City Council at its meeting on Tuesday.

The proposals include eliminating parking requirements for certain types of housing,removing parking requirements in certain areas, such as ones in close proximity to BART stations, placing a cap on the number of allowed parking spaces for new developments, and requiring transit passes for residents and secure bicycle parking in larger new developments.

City officials say the current mandates increase the costs of housing construction and can take up space that could be otherwise dedicated to additional housing units. No data to support assertions about the outcome of the various proposals is provided.

The survey can be found at https://www.opentownhall.com/portals/257/Issue_9871 .

CONTACT: Justin Horner jhorner@cityofberkeley.info -more-

What most likely comes to mind when reading the title above is the considerable number of deaths caused by the coronavirus. More than a million have contracted the disease and over 250,000 have already died.

However, the decline in longevity in the US is not a new development. In fact, it predates the coronavirus. According to the official records, the decline in longevity began in 2010. Those who were disproportionately affected have not been low income or African Americans or sick senior citizens. They have been white workers between the ages of 45-54. But unlike many whites, they lack a college education, which appreciably limited their job opportunities.

The jobs they had held were mainly well paying,stable manufacturing jobs. But as the result of a serious dive in manufacturing jobs, their work life situation changed dramatically. The only jobs they could obtain were low paying, temporary and intermittent. Also many of these blue collar workers suffered long periods of unemployment. -more-

It is a Monday in late November, 2020, and I catch Amy Goodman (“Democracy Now”) looking back on the weekend. A couple of months have passed since the massive demonstrations against police brutality, people shaking governments by the collar demanding that the pointless wanton arbitrary killing of black people stop. Organizations had formed and the movement had grown, hoping for a voice loud enough to be taken seriously. There is no democracy or justice when there are voices calling for justice that are not heard. -more-

Rupert Murdoch’s media empire is an existential threat to democracy and the survival of the planet. Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd laid out the case for forming a Royal Commission to break up the media giant. Rudd complains of Murdoch’s enormous influence on issues like global warming and his relentless effort to push his right-leaning agenda in Australia. Many would argue that played a pivotal role in ushering in BREXIT and the rise of Donald Trump. Fox News served as the propaganda megaphone for Trump allowing him to trash his enemies and promote his bizarre conspiracy theories. Rudd blamed Fox News for its efforts to delegitimize Barack Obama with grotesque racist “birther theories.”

Michelle Obama said she would never forgive Trump for the anxiety he caused her family. -more-

On November 19th, Rudy Giuliani and other members of the Trump legal team held an extended press conference to discuss their claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. While this event will be remembered as the occasion where Giuliani's hair dye dripped down the sides of his face, it was more notable for the bizarre claims made. We shouldn't be surprised, because the press conference is consistent with the Republican "paranoid style" championed by Donald Trump.

Conspiracy Theories: For the last 70 years, there's been a faction within the Republican Party that promotes conspiracy theories. This began with the 1950 claim, by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, that Communists had infiltrated the State Department. The assertions by the Trump legal team are part of this tradition.

Giuliani began his November 19th press conference with this claim: "There was a plan from a centralized place to execute these various acts of voter fraud...in a number of states." Trump legal team member Sidney Powell elaborated: "What we are really dealing with here, and uncovering more by the day, is the massive influence of Communist money through Venezuela, Cuba, and likely China in the interference with our elections here in the United States." Powell described the mechanism for interference: "The Dominion voting systems, the Smartmatic technology software and the software that goes in other computerized voting systems here in as well, not just Dominion, were created in Venezuela at the direction of Hugo Chavez." She claimed the Dominion company has a relationship with George Soros, adding "There are ties of the Dominion leadership to the Clinton Foundation and to other known politicians in this country." Giuliani told reporters: "I would love to release all the information that I have... Except most of you wouldn’t cover it... The censorship that is going on in this country right now by big tech and by big media, is almost as dangerous as the election fraud that we’re revealing." -more-

Doctors have a definition of psychotic illness, and many say it is a thought disorder. Some say it is "split personality." This is not the same thing as "multiple personality," in which a person has several personalities in one body. The "split" part of it is where consciousness has "split off from reality."

Either of these definitions (a thought disorder or a personality split off from reality) will work for the unfortunate people who have been duped by Donald Trump into believing his set of lies--for example: "Biden won because the election was rigged." At best guess, Trump himself does not believe this.

Psychosis can be compelling. It is awfully hard for a person, after becoming psychotic, to let go of their false beliefs. This is one reason that schizophrenia is so hard to treat. The patient needs to be on board with fighting the illness and must not be following the path of denying the existence of it and resultantly refusing treatment. Yet now we have potentially millions who are suffering from externally induced psychosis. -more-

Through the George W. Bush administration there has been a “special relationship” or clear pro-Israel tilt to U.S.-Israel relations. Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. During Barack Obama's presidency, there was a more critical relationship toward Israel, the relationship changed from “special” to “normal.”

Under President Donald Trump, however, our relationship with Israel became an "extra special relationship." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not ungrateful about Israel's relationship with the U.S. under Trump, when earlier this year he said that Trump has been “the greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.” And Israel will establish Trump Heights (Ramat Trump in Hebrew), a new community located on the occupied Golan Heights in honor of Trump. -more-

Rev. Billy Talen Versus Black Friday and Jeff Bezos

It's a regular holiday tradition, and we're not talking about turkey and stuffings. As Black Friday approaches, the Rev. Billy Talen and the Church of Stop Shopping Choir is once again confronting the cardinal sin of mindless consumption. This year, the Stop Shopping chorus directed its choral disapproval at "the dirtiest retail company in the country"—Amazon. According to Rev. Billy, Amazon's vast enterprise "puts 1 million metric tons of CO2 into the air every week, while working conditions leave 20,000 of its workers infected with Covid. Human injustice and Earth injustice always show up together."

At noon on Black Friday, Rev. Billy and his bullhorn showed up at the New York mansion of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos to "mourn with us the pain and suffering and death caused by this company" and to "find joy in the presence of workers who fight such a giant." You can link to Rev. Billy's Bezos videos here. -more-

“A rising tide lifts all boats” is a phrase I’ve heard over and over in relation to improving the lot of the poor, but as sensible as it sounds it didn’t explain why people continue to vote against their own interests. It is our nature to want to have an order of things, an explanation, and when there is none conspiracy theories abound, sometimes so crazy and bizarre it is bewildering how they could take hold. -more-

Worth Noting:

Expect a flurry of meetings before City Council begins Winter Recess December 16, 2020 – January 18, 2021

What did and didn’t happen at City meetings November 23 and 24

Monday morning at the Council Health, Life Enrichment, Equity and Community Committee, Sophie Hahn completely gutted the measure Declare Racism as a Public Health Crisis and Threat and Safety Issue in the City of Berkeley to a nothing. (see Activist’s Diary in the Daily Planet www.berkeleydailyplanet.com for more detail). Monday afternoon the Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment and Sustainability took up a Just Transition to a Regenerative Economy to Address the Climate Emergency. This measure also from Cheryl Davila connects climate and the economy in a different frame, one which focuses on living within the carrying capacity of the earth. When this comes back on the agenda we should all be watching. The 4 x 4 Committee (Rent Board and Council) gave instruction to the City Deputy Attorney Chris Jensen and Steven Buckley from the Planning Department that in reviewing State law and rewriting the local Demolition Ordinance, the ordinance should be strengthened to provide maximum protection of Berkeley housing not minimal.

What’s Ahead -more-