Dear Mayor Arreguin and City Councilmembers:

Following and also attached is a submission from the Southside Neighborhood Consortium supporting the Hahn/Harrison proposal at tonight's special City Council Meeting. Thanks for your consideration.

The Southside Neighborhood Consortium would like to support the Hahn/Harrison proposal on the Agenda for the City Council Meeting on 25 March, 2021. We feel that this proposal is more balanced and comports better with the process for developing a new Housing Element in order for the City of Berkeley to meet its obligations under the new RHNA requirements. We feel that the Droste proposal is too conclusory, and attempts to drive the process in a particular direction, without having had the kind of public discussion and data analysis necessary for transformative changes in the General Plan.

However, neither proposal addresses two very important planning initiatives underway, the updated Southside Environmental Impact Report and UC Berkeley’s new Long Range Development Plan. Both will have huge impacts on the city, and must be taken into account in the planning for the Housing Element.

It appears to us that the two proposals seem to be converging; however we note that the Droste proposal omits some of the key factors that need to be considered in developing the new Housing Element: -more-

In anticipation of yet another life-or-death city council session, a good many citizens--and more from beyond the limits--will be writing and sending reasoned, objectively-focused remarks on a related clutch of impending proposals at both city and state levels. They will address Berkeley's contribution to the hysterically-fashioned and to a large extent invented housing crisis.

Ironically, a city governance which continually nods to Berkeley's multi-part 'special' nature cannot accept subjective criteria (What makes Berkeley special?) in response to the draconian proposal, however sweetened, before you this evening. If passed by a deluded and possibly bought majority, Berkeley may indeed become special, in the worst way. -more-

What is happening in Vancouver is global, and describes what is happening in the SF Bay Area:

“We have incrementally quadrupled the density of Vancouver, but we haven’t seen any decrease in per square foot costs. That evidence is indisputable. We can conclude there is a problem beyond restrictive zoning. … No amount of opening zoning or allowing for development will cause prices to go down. We’ve seen no evidence of that at all. It’s not the NIMBYs that are the problem – it’s the global increase in land value in urban areas that is the problem.” Patrick Condon, Professor, Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability, University of British Columbia

The classic pincer movement is being deployed against the people of Berkeley from within by a City Council majority: Jesse Arregùin, Lori Droste, Terry Taplin, Rashi Kesarwani and Rigel Robinson, and from the state led by (our own) Nancy Skinner and Buffy Wicks along with Scott Wiener, et al.

Assistance orchestrating this appears to be the handiwork of California Yimby, a prodevelopment organization lavishly funded by technology and real estate interests, which supports politicians who work to advance the Yimby platform and deploys lobbyists at the state and local level, i.e. East Bay for Everyone, while public relations works gullible journalists to place disinformation and propaganda nationally. The core mission of California Yimby is to remove local control of zoning and deregulate where deemed to be slowing down or getting in the way of development, and the tactics are disinformation, disruption and division.

The Council majority has recently unleashed a raft of up-zoning proposals, the writing of which closely follows the California Yimby playbook, with scant detail and a surfeit of deception regarding the possibility of what could be done by a speculative developer seeking to maximize possibilities and profit. The proposals range from a modest sounding quadplex to 7 story buildings, all without public notice, public hearing or right of appeal (‘ministerial’ approval in zoning speak), on nearly every property in Berkeley. Wait, this just in: ‘ministerial’ approval has been ‘withdrawn’? But will it be back, new and improved? It’s hard to keep up with the shell game. -more-

In my last newsletter, I reported to you about the Council item "Inclusive Neighborhood Scale Zoning," which proposed to re-zone R1 and R2 single family zoning to allow for multiple units on single family parcels in the City of Berkeley, as a means of achieving our Housing Element goals. In response, many of you took the time and trouble to write emails to the City Council and to speak at the Land Use Policy Committee Meeting. Thank you for speaking up and sharing your opinions. You were very effective. Vice-Mayor Droste withdrew the item and now has submitted a new revised item. -more-

This THURSDAY at 6PM, the full city council will vote on a proposal by Mayor Arreguin and Council Members Droste, Kesarwani, and Taplin to allow fourplexes throughout the city without requiring ANY affordable housing whatsoever. Without critical amendments, their proposal will result in the demolition of affordable housing, replaced with unaffordable market-rate housing. -more-

I believe that housing is a human right and that treating it as a commodity ensures that not everyone will have a home. For half a century we’ve run a failed “market-based” experiment where needed affordable housing isn’t built, rent control is outlawed and undermined, and market rate housing is out of reach for a large segment of our community.

There are no shortcuts to fixing our housing affordability crisis. Solutions require sustained public investment alternatives, such as Measure O, which counteract displacing market forces, and asking private development to support affordable housing at a reasonable level.

Many of you communicated to the Land Use Committee that the recent "quadplex zoning" upzoning item lacked critical protections against market speculation and an affordability requirement and excluded community input through ministerial approval. Instead of removing community input, I am focused on developing objective standards that provide developers and neighbors with more certainty and reduce appeals, and providing for robust community input into our new Housing Element and General Plan. -more-

"There's not a big appetite to do things that actually don't do anything to fix the problem," said Republican Senator John Thune (SD).

"I'm not attracted to something that doesn't work," said Republican Senator McConnell.

What doesn't work? Republican insistence on doing nothing about gun control doesn't fix the problem. Time after time, multiple people are being gunned down. Even before we can grieve over the last mass murder, another gun rampage has happened. Doing nothing, time after time, doesn't work. -more-

Editor's Note: The Planet has received a number of letters regarding the special meeting of the Berkeley City Council which Mayor Jesse Arreguin has called for this coming Thursday, March 25. Those who have the required computer access can contribute one minute of spoken commentary by Zoom starting at 6 p.m. You can also add your comments by email. Letters of less than 150 words will be read aloud by the city clerk. Below is an example of the best way to make a complicated comment without speaking online: a 150 word summary followed by a comprehensive letter which might (or might not) be read by the mayor and councilmembers. Here is an excellent example of such a letter: -more-

ADUs [Accessory Dwelling Units]are being approved administratively that are far above what people expect from such housing units and which are harming existing tenants.

On October 20, 2020, the City administratively[ministerially or “by right”] granted a permit to build a 4-bedroom, 1,005 sq ft ADU in the front yard of an existing multi-family building at 2915 Harper Street. The ADU eliminated the front yard setback of the existing building at that address along with the five parking spaces for existing tenants, including the access used by a wheelchair-bound disabled man. The only notice to tenants was a note in their mailbox to move their cars to enable the construction.

On November 19, 2020, during the Rent Stabilization Board’s Public Comment Period, six speakers told of the distress and problems encountered by residents due to this construction and how it was handled. It is said that the City has published a one-page summary of ADU regulations…. A long search by BNC has failed to find such a document. However, we have been told that it indicates that the City has decided that detached ADUs on multifamily lots that do not exceed 16 feet in height may be of unlimited size. This is truly an important issue throughout Berkeley.

[T]he State issued ADU Handbook, updated December 2020… states that while ADUs must be permitted, “any limits on where ADUs are permitted may only be based on the adequacy of water and sewer service, and the impacts on traffic flow and public safety.” (Emphasis added).

The experience of 2915 Harper is the canary in the mine where any and all zoning features will be waived. This speaks volumes as to how residents can be expected to be treated in the future.

—Berkeley Neighborhoods Council[excerpts from their February 14 open letter to the Berkeley City Council] -more-

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) handed a $155,250 fine to Sutter Health's Alta Bates Summit Medical Center for several coronavirus-related workplace safety issues, including the death last summer of a registered nurse, union officials representing the hospital's workers said Monday. -more-

So, it’s finally time to try to explain Pandemic Putsch 2.0. In brief, that’s the energetic effort emanating from Sacramento to upzone, de-regulate, and otherwise alter the state of California’s land use laws to enable developers to maintain and enhance their coveted 15-or-20% profit level while the voters are distracted by COVID-19.

The generalissimo at the head of the invading army, the force that’s trying to wrest control of planning and regulation from local governments, both of activist cities like Berkeley and sleepy suburbs not at all like Berkeley, is San Francisco State Senator Scott Wiener. His second in command is Berkeley’s own state senator, Nancy Skinner. In loco generalis for Berkeley is Mayor Jesse Arreguin, who has put together a majority bloc on the Berkeley City Council for his foot soldiers with Vice-Mayor Lori Droste as his subaltern.

The underlying principle of this crusade, or at least the ostensible one, is the old Neoliberal credo that a rising tide lifts all boats. A remarkable percentage of politicians, both Dems and Repugs, claim that if we build enough expensive housing the “housing crisis” will be over. Eventually those fancy digs will trickle down to the impoverished, they imply. Milton Friedman is alive and well in Sacramento,

One more time: there is no universal housing crisis in California, let alone in Berkeley. The population both here and in the state is decreasing. We are way ahead on market rate (expensive) housing.What we don’t have is enough housing located in the right places for our underpaid essential workers—and that’s an economic crisis, not a supply shortage.

We don’t pay people who work here enough to live here, and that’s a sin and a shame. But it’s not exactly hot news. -more-

Mayor Jesse Arreguín and his council allies are setting up city residents to take a fall. This Thursday, March 25, the Berkeley City Council will discuss the new state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). What Arreguín has so far failed to mention is that to avoid penalties, the city must meet the RHNA affordable housing targets for low- and very low- income housing in Berkeley. Those targets will require the city to find about $1.6 to $2.2 billion dollars in subsidies, depending upon your cost assumptions. That is not a typo—yes, I mean billions. -more-

The basic problem:

At present, the city of Berkeley is playing with the idea of removing all single-family zoning (R1 & R2), and opening those areas to more densifying (up to four-plex) development. One reason is a complicity of single family zoning with redlining and housing segregation. Also, “four-plex” is not required to consider including affordable units.

Because of the way the housing economy has been financialized, any development or reorganization (“build build build” or “up-zone single-family areas,” et al) that does not directly meet the needs for affordability of working people and low income communities makes the situation (aka the “housing crisis”) worse. “Worse” means that the rich (corporations) become even freer to do what they want with our world, and the options of low-income families become more restricted and impoverishing.

Here is an outline, and partial explanation, for why this is the case. -more-

Ever since non-Black Berkeley City Councilmembers led the way in contending that single-family (R-1) zoning is inherently "racist" and "exclusionary," I vowed to do a little research on Americans' actual housing preferences by ethnic group. I clicked through a collection of Google search hits, and found two pertinent articles. These provide some interesting data, excerpted below. Here are the highlights: -more-

The Republican minority in the Senate seems determined to use the anti-democratic filibuster to block all Democratic legislation. The filibuster is not enshrined in the U.S Constitution. It could be easily be eliminated by a simple majority vote in the Senate. -more-

Prelude to a Reprint
Two months before the Pentagon's brutal pening assault on Iraq in 2003, I posted the following AlterNet article. I'm reposting it today to mark the 18th anniversary of the bombardment of Baghdad that marked the criminal beginning of yet another Forever War.

Background:

In the weeks leading up to the March 20, 2003 US attack on Baghdad, Alternet published an article titled “Shock and Awe: Guernica Revisited.”

I wrote the piece after discovering a planning document for the Pentagon's “Shock and Awe” attack that revealed how the US planned to strike Iraq's capitol, Baghdad, with 800 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the first 48 hours. In the AlterNet article, I drew a comparison with the infamous 1937 attack on the Basque town of Guernica, which was brutally targeted by six German bombers during the Spanish Civil War. Published on January 28, the AlterNet exposé appeared to have struck a chord. Or, maybe two.

(1) A tapestry reproduction of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (depicting the horrific slaughter of Basque civilians) had been on permanent display at the UN building in New York. But, because of its prominent placement, the anti-war masterpiece would have appeared in the background during Colin Powell's February 5, press-op to announce Washington’s war plans. Before Powell's scheduled appearance, the painting was covered with a blue cloth and hidden behind Security Council flags. -more-

The World Food Program is warning Yemen is heading towards the largest famine in modern history, with the U.N. agency projecting around 400,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 could die from acute malnutrition. Saudi war planes continue to drop their lethal US payloads on a predominately civilian population. The tight Saudi embargo is preventing fuel and food from reaching the starving population , making the Saudi’s, and the US guilty of war crimes. -more-

put your head against the bark

of any tree in People's Park

they'll say what they're standing for

this is the garden that stopped a war

find a place to rest your head

plant a simple flower bed

all are welcome rich and poor

this is the garden that stopped a war



Chorus: this is the garden they tried to take

we are the people they tried to break

this is the landmark we're standing for

this is the garden that stopped a war

-more-

Affluent people who've had money their whole lives lack understanding of what it is like to try living on nine hundred dollars a month. Although we have it cushy in comparison to people living in a third world country, or to living on the street with nothing, it is still a struggle to live as a low-income individual. To add insult to injury, we are insulted. Most affluent people believe that low-income people are scum. In a writer's group I briefly attended, the woman who led the group was complaining of low-income housing being built near her. I was in her writer's group and maybe she was unaware that I am of low income. Not unexpectedly, I didn't last in her group. -more-

On March 9, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan labor bill, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. One of the bill’s most significant provisions is a repeal of state right-to-work laws that Republican majorities have used to undermine unions, a crucial pro-Democratic constituency, across the country. That’s why enacting state right-to-work laws is a top Republican priority. -more-

A Wednesday Like No Other

Off to do some shopping at the Shattuck Avenue Berkeley Bowl last Wednesday, we pulled into the last parking spot on nearby Newberry Street. Since I've been chased away from Newberry before—by the oncoming ruckus of a city street-sweeper—I checked the local No Parking signs. Sure enough, they warned drivers that no parking was permitted from "9 AM to Noon. 3rd Wednesday Each Month."

And it happened to be the third Wednesday in March. But when I took a closer look at the sign next to my parking spot, I noticed it read: "No Parking. 9 AM to Noon. 3nd Wednesday Each Month."

I briefly wondered what my chances would be to beat a no-parking ticket because it was issued on the "3nd." (And how would you pronounce that? "Thurcond"?) -more-

The week started with the Council Agenda and Rules Committee meeting Monday afternoon, with planning for the March 30^th regular City Council meeting, and then descended (at 39:29 on the recording which is posted online)into Mayor Arreguin’s plan to fast-track the Quadplex Zoning proposal launched by Councilmember Lori Droste, which had already run into trouble.There has been an uproar from the community about its contents. -more-

Worth Noting:

The week ahead is no ordinary week and there are meetings that need your attention and comment.

Monday the Agenda and Rules Committee meets at 2:30 pm with two agenda items both which are explained below,

Tuesday at the City Council meeting starting at 6 pm. Item 17 under action is about the Joint Subcommittee on Objective Standards for Implementation of State Housing Law which was formed and met, but was unable to reach agreement leaving work unfinished and includes request for $200,000 for consultant.

Thursday at 6 pm is a special City Council meeting with two competing items on the agenda regarding how to approach adding housing. My vote is item 2. Item 2 on the agenda from authors Hahn, & Harrison co-sponsor Bartlett. Item 2 explains Regional Housing Needs Allocation and defines a public process. The other item is an attempt to cover for the problematic quadplex zoning that resulted in the initiation of two Open Government Commission complaints. https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/

If you have a meeting you would like included in the summary of meetings, please send a notice to kellyhammargren@gmail.com by noon on the Friday of the preceding week. A weekly review of what happened in key city meetings is published late Sunday in http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com

Under Activist’s Diary.

Sunday, March 21, 2021

No City meetings or events found

Monday, March 22, 2021

Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm, -more-