The Alameda County coroner's bureau has determined that a man found dead in the center median of a street in Berkeley last week appears to have been struck by a vehicle, so Berkeley police said Wednesday they are treating the case as a fatal hit-and-run collision. -more-

The mayor and City Council have secretly agreed to a deal that will bring irreversible and long-term harm to us all, two Berkeley residents write.

The Berkeley mayor and the city council announced on July 13 that they had signed a settlement agreement with UC Berkeley. Negotiations and debates about the terms were done in secret, and no public debate was permitted. Under the settlement, Berkeley withdrew from lawsuits it had joined with neighborhood groups trying to limit UC Berkeley expansion and promised not to litigate the impact of the university’s long-term development plan (LRDP). The mayor is proud of his work. The neighbors are furious. Who is right? -more-

In our opinion article: Berkeley vs. UC Settlement or Surrender? we made the statement that “What he doesn’t say is that UC Berkeley is legally required to reimburse the city for the cost of municipal services that it uses (police, fire, garbage, etc.)”. The following information provides the basis for that statement. -more-

During the days of the U.S.’s exit from Afghanistan, I have been inching through the U.S. Army’s own massive history of The U.S. Army in the Iraq War: a wide window on the ignorance and arrogance that has led the U.S. into one bloody quagmire after another.

Based on hundreds of documents and interviews, the two-volume history starts off with long mea culpa—an acknowledgment of the naiveté that led the U.S. into a chaotic and bloody occupation of the land where human civilization began.

The confessional drumbeat begins near the start, on p. 43, when, in the wake of 9/11, the military, at the direction of President George W. Bush, began forming its plan for regime change in Iraq.

“In retrospect, the most significant aspect of the Iraq prevision planning was not the shortage of troops or the lack of Phase IV planning, but rather the gaping holes in what the U.S. military knew about Iraq. This ignorance included Iraqi politics, society, and government—gaps that led the United States to make some deeply flawed assumptions about how the war was likely to unfold.”

As the Music Man famously remarked, “you gotta know the territory”—and the U.S. military and policy establishment didn’t. -more-

On September 14th, tomorrow, Californians will decide whether to recall Governor Newsom. In a difficult period, this recall is another Republican effort to disrupt democracy, to blow up government. It's another manifestation of the new Civil War.

The latest 538 polls ( https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/california-recall-polls/) indicate that the recall will fail. If this occurs, it will be due to the fact that Democrats mobilized and that they have been willing to spend millions of dollars defeating the recall. If the recall fails, it will likely be the result of conservative radio commentator, Larry Elder, becoming the leading Republican recall choice. Elder is a Trump acolyte. If he were to "win" the recall contest, he'd be able to issue "executive orders." Elder has promised to issue an executive order banning all abortions in California; he also would outlaw mask mandates and other common-sense public health measures to fight the Coronavirus pandemic. -more-

As this week marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, there is increasing demand for a full accountability of why so many first responders suffered serious life-threatening health problems. A stunning new documentary, “9/11 Unsettled Dust” describes the impact of cancer-causing smoke and dust that hung over ground zero and how the EPA put Wall Street’s interests before public health and told people the air was safe to breathe. -more-

Part 1 of a series.

Once upon a time, in Berkeley, California, …

No no no. This story is going to be a saga, not a fairy tale.

It is the saga of a man, a family man, an Army veteran, a tax payer, who got stomped on by the city of Berkeley. -more-

Leading Off the Week

Best Lead Sentence of the Week honors go to Mort Rosenblum for his Reader Supported News article "Afghanistan: Why and What Next?"—an analysis of culpability for the "fall" of Afghanistan that begins with this sentence:
"European newscasts have focused for weeks on a violent nation cursed by a pandemic, where armed fundamentalists hostile to Western values want one-party rule, a cowed press and kangaroo courts. And besides America, they also talk about Afghanistan." -more-

As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, as a Sikh American, I recall the senseless murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi as e attended his duties at a Chevron gas station, he owned in Mesa Arizona. Sodhi died on 15 September 2001, a victim of a hate crime in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He paid the ultimate price for adhering to the articles of his faith, a turban and beard and more importantly leading a life of selfless service to his community. Sodhi was profiled as an Arab Muslim and murdered by 42-year-old Frank Silva Roque, a Boeing aircraft mechanic at a local repair facility who held a criminal record for an attempted robbery in California. -more-

One of the most humiliating jobs I've tried was done in conjunction with a mental health agency whose role it was to assist me in knowing how to be a busboy at a Denny's. I recall wearing the unform and watching as the job person at the mental health agency hobnobbed with the restaurant manager. Not only was I in the lowest of entry level positions, at the same time I was the token mentally disabled guy. This was a giant step down from the time I was assistant manager, trainer, and technician at a television repair shop in Pinole, California, or later a valued technician who repaired televisions and VCRs at an established shop. In both positions, which I held in my early twenties, I did not reveal a mental illness. And in both positions, supervisors complimented my work. -more-

Many thought we had turned the corner on the Covid plague, but it turns out we only just went around the bend. Still pulsing in my memory is this image, reported by a doctor: an idiot in his final hours, dying of this disease while still denying that it exists. We could write that denial off to febrile delirium, but that same excuse cannot obviate the blame he deserved for eschewing proper healthcare and thereby assisting the virus to thrive and mutate, delivering Delta to darken our doorway, every one of us. -more-

On this 20th anniversary of 9-11, we remember what happened in order to heal, and also to learn from the experience to avoid future catastrophes.

We've learned about our strength in unity and also the dangers of rigid group-mind thinking. We've learned about the limits of our power and the power of division. Still, we haven't learned enough. We need answers to these questions:

Why were Saudi nationals airlifted out of our country when all other airplanes were grounded? Did the 18 Saudi-born terrorists have a connection to the Saudi government?

Why did Vice President Cheney distort our invasion of Afghanistan into an invasion of Iraq on spurious "Weapons of Mass Destruction" charges?

Why did Defense Secretary Rumsfeld redeploy military resources from Afghanistan to Iraq just as our commandos were trying to surround Bin Ladin in the Tora Bora mountains?

Why do Republicans blame President Biden for quote "losing Afghanistan" unquote, when it was trump who agreed in 2020 to surrender to the Taliban? -more-

Does the Supreme Court’s refusal to enjoin the latest Texas anti-abortion law (Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson) foreshadow a reversal of Roe v. Wade or its complete evisceration in the Mississippi case (Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization) now pending before the Court? Probably. -more-

Please, if you haven’t turned in your RECALL ballot voting NO on the recall of Governor Newsom, stop, find it, check NO, complete it and head over to the ballot box at the Civic Center at 2180 Milvia. Elections have consequences and there are a long list of screwballs that could end up as governor if too many of us think our vote doesn’t matter. We need to crush this recall and we have only a few hours left to cast our vote. Polls close at 8 pm. Tuesday, September 14. -more-

Worth Noting:

Summer is over and City Council returns from summer recess on Tuesday. Most commissions continue to be prohibited from meeting. As reported by Scott Ferris at the Parks and Waterfront Commission las Wednesday, the plan is for commissions to resume meeting in the new configuration/consolidation of commissions after the new year.



Monday the Agenda and Rules Policy Committee meets at 2:30 pm, the Youth Commission meets at 5 pm and the Police Accountability subcommittee meets at 7:30 pm.

Tuesday the City Council has a closed session at 4 pm and the Regular Council meeting at 6 pm with action items 35. Baseline Zoning Ordinance and 36. Objective Standards Recommendations for Density, Design and Shadows.

Wednesday the Human Welfare & Community Action Commission meets at 6:30 pm.

Thursday the Land Use, Housing & Economic Development Committee meets at 10:30 am on Councilmember Taplin’s proposal for an affordable housing overlay. The Design Review Committee, The Fair Campaign Practices Commission and the Transportation Commission all meet at 7 pm.



The full agendas for the council agenda committee and the regular city council meeting are posted at the end after the list of meetings by day of the week.



Sunday, September 12, 2021

Berkeley Equity Summit Series 5 – It’s Time to Empower Tenants at 7 pm

Register at https://bit.ly/3gvYQu9

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9RuIsT0Xmlw-x1UN8w09TggvqOlhh5_2GSPsbGWBVQb7NiQ/viewform



Monday, September 13, 2021

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

As we approach the 20th anniversary of 9/11, as a Sikh American, I recall the senseless murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi as e attended his duties at a Chevron gas station, he owned in Mesa Arizona. Sodhi died on 15 September 2001, a victim of a hate crime in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He paid the ultimate price for adhering to the articles of his faith, a turban and beard and more importantly leading a life of selfless service to his community. Sodhi was profiled as an Arab Muslim and murdered by 42-year-old Frank Silva Roque, a Boeing aircraft mechanic at a local repair facility who held a criminal record for an attempted robbery in California. -more-

"It has no precedent for how we've done things in the past," states Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio September 2, 2021 about Texas's new anti-abortion restrictions, considered the most restrictive so far from the creative Republican toolbox.

Totenberg may be correct regarding the Texas law's effort to grant near-universal "standing" as an enforcement mechanism to people wishing to sue anyone assisting women in obtaining abortions now illegal after six weeks of pregnancy, a circumstance during which most women have not yet noticed a pregnancy. If unchallenged, these parties may collect $10,000 from anyone who even gives information to a patient attempting to obtain an abortion if it in fact violates the new restrictions.

This seemingly universal standing appears to be unique to one local Berkeley Law School professor, who stated, " I can’t think of any other arena in which there is universal standing. It seems designed to create vigilantes, something Texas is already quite good at. It places the highest possible value on human embryos" adding "I would like to propose universal standing for police misconduct and all civil rights violations." “Standing” is a legal term used in connection with lawsuits and a requirement of Article III of the United States Constitution. Having standing does not mean that a party will win the case; it just means that the party has alleged a sufficient legal interest and injury to participate in the case.

But Totenberg wasn't considering the precedent set in SLAPPs, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, which uses civil, as opposed to criminal courts, to harass and punish people for simply speaking up about public matters, as four people did over UC's plans for People's Park in 1991 when the university tried to convert the park into a sports facility for sand-pit volleyball. -more-

President Joe Biden has shown more political courage and backbone than some previous Presidents have, in that he's had the guts to do the right thing in Afghanistan. We don't belong there. The war has cost billions of dollars and countless lives of American soldiers. Our presence there hasn't served U.S. interests. It began because George W. Bush wanted to go after Saddam Hussein. He used the attack on the twin towers as a justification for this aggression. A fiction was created that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. -more-

This letter responds to public statements made by Mayor Arreguin and those of various city council members (collectively the “Council”), concerning the recent settlement agreement (SA) with the University of California, Berkeley (“UCB”) in which the City waived all objections to UCB’s expansion plans. Those statements substantially misrepresented both the content and legal effect of that agreement and the power of the Council to endorse the settlement. Notably, the Council admitted in these statements that it failed to oversee the proper collection of city taxes and fees from UCB and the tenants of UCB. That failure is a direct violation of the City of Berkeley Charter and state law, and cost the City millions of dollars that should have flowed to the City’s General Fund.

The Council must immediately set aside its approval of the SA, work cooperatively with Chancellor Christ to remove the illegal clauses of the SA in a new or amended SA, and then follow the legally mandated public process before your Council approves a new SA. We do not envision that this should be a problem given the Mayor’s representations that the SA is an “historic agreement” that “paves the way for a new era of cooperation between the City of Berkeley and UC Berkeley.” Surely, under these circumstances, UCB will fully cooperate with the Council in removing the provisions that are illegal and unauthorized under the Berkeley Charter or involve improper “predetermination.” We anticipate that UCB will also cooperatively leave its financial obligations in place although they do not come close to compensating Berkeley’s taxpayers for UCB’s utilization of public infrastructure and services. -more-

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available.

You can view it absolutely free of charge by clicking here . You can print it out to give to your friends.

Grace Underpressure has been producing it for many years now, even before the Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time without being paid, and now we'd like you to show your appreciation by using the button below to send her money.

This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! -more-

The people of Afghanistan have suffered enormously from 28 years of foreign invasions. The Soviets suffered a humiliating defeat after 8 bloody years and the US soon followed, ignoring the important lessons of history. NATO forces were drawn into the conflict suffering similar causalities and defeat. This has emboldened Islamic terrorist groups around the world in a bizarre Olympic jihad competition as to see which group can commit the most barbaric crimes. The US invasion has united the disparate Taliban groups aided by rage against the US backed corrupt Afghan army which routinely demanded hefty bribes for safe passage. -more-

Rummaging around in dusty file boxes is one of the more accessible entertainments in the COVID II period. Since us old folks can’t decide which medico-pundit we should believe, we mostly stay home.

Here’s a normal dialogue with self:

Well past 65, do we need a third shot? Or would that be disgracefully First World, when there are whole countries which haven’t had any shots?

Maybe it could be restated: do we deserve a third shot? But the operative word is still need. And must we stay home forever?

We’ve been watching University of California San Francisco medical school’s COVID Grand Rounds religiously online on Thursdays in search of guidance, but the professors have mostly taken off for the summer. The head honcho, one Dr. Bob, tweets, but it’s nothing like the same. Our fave, jocular and avuncular Dr. George Rutherford, is no tweeter (of course not).

Dr. R. earned my eternal gratitude when I was laboring over the momentous decision of whether to use our balcony tickets to see Tosca at the San Francisco Opera after they announced that they were abandoning socially distanced seating. He is listed on the opera’s website as their adviser on matters medical.

Would the benefit of three hours of pleasure be worth the risk? -more-

If you’re wondering why this is a new issue, especially if you get an emailed list of links because you’ve registered as a subscriber, the answer is because the previous issue was long enough after a couple of weeks. I’m experimenting with eliminating deadlines, a process our aged software makes challenging. Do remember that you can always see what’s current by going to berkeleydailyplanet.com, and once there you can back up by clicking on “previous issue” at the top of the page, as many times as you want, to see what you’ve missed. -more-

Is Mother Nature Taking Her Last Bow?

Have you noticed that our neighborhood bushes and flower gardens are all growing like gangbusters? From sidewalk groundcover, to backyard gardens, we're seeing more leaves, brighter flowers, taller plants, quicker growth. The backyard milkweed plants that were shoulder-high last year are now close to topping six feet.

It shouldn't come as a surprise—especially since the increase in plant growth is part of something called "The Greenhouse Effect." Plants grown inside a greenhouse thrive because of the added warmth.

It's happening all over the world, wherever plants are growing. Climatologists have been tracking the phenomenon for years. In 2002, NASA noted plant growth serves a stabilizing response as new plant growth cools the atmosphere by stimulating rainfall and capturing carbon from polluted skies. In 2007, the journal of the American Meteorological Association noted our warming atmosphere "can extend the growing season." A 2020 Boston University study confirmed that the unprecedented "boom of vegetation"—prompted by CO2-hungry bushes, plants, trees and flowers—is "slowing global warming. -more-

Having reviewed a recent column submission, one that may not find its way into publication, it seemed to be the work of a brainwashed, "good" mental health consumer. It was not the work of the normal, anti-establishment persona that I normally might project. Some young Berkeleyans might feel that the Berkeley norm of anti-establishmentarianism isn't anti enough. I don't know; I live in Martinez and have not gone to Berkeley in a long time because of my agoraphobia. When I do go to Berkeley, I'm not trying to talk to college students or others, except maybe to order an iced coffee from a cafe that is or was on College Avenue. Me and my wife would go there, and she would visit the pet store across the street from there. The parking necessitated carrying a lot of quarters, and I don't know if the meters have switched since then to accepting debit cards.

But it seemed when I went there as though I was perceived as an unclean Martinez resident, and not looking very high I.Q. at all. I'm wide in the shoulders, big in the gut, and my appearance doesn't draw unwanted attention in Martinez. -more-

In 2010, my wife and I visited New Orleans about five years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We had a guided tour of the devastation caused by these hurricanes. Now Hurricane Ida has devastated the City again with similar destruction.. -more-

On August 30th, The United States military left Afghanistan. This departure ended the longest war in our history, the 20-year US presence in Afghanistan. Our military command announced: "Over an 18-day period... U.S. and coalition aircraft combined to evacuate more than 123,000 civilians." There are ten takeaways from this experience.

1. The US presence in Afghanistan began with national unity and ended with divisiveness. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States was traumatized. Congress wanted to do something and therefore passed the "Joint Resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States" -- an authorization that led to the US military operation in Afghanistan. On September 14, 2001, when Congress considered the joint authorization of military force, only Representative Barbara Lee opposed it.

20 years later, the United States is divided. The latest Pew Research polling (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/31/majority-of-u-s-public-favors-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal-biden-criticized-for-his-handling-of-situation/) indicates that the majority of Americans (54 percent) support the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, but 42 percent oppose this, and 4 percent are not sure. (Not surprisingly, attitudes about Afghanistan are split along Party lines.) 42 percent of respondents feel that Joe Biden has done a poor job "handling the situation in Afghanistan." -more-

The content of city meetings pales in the shadow of the enormity of the events beyond our city borders, but I will at least start with the city meetings I did attend.

Nothing much of consequence happened at the Council Agenda and Rules meeting on Monday. The September 14th council agenda was approved and Councilmember Taplin’s budget referral measure for license plate readers was referred to the Council Safety Policy aCommittee.

The Planning Commission took comment on the Ashby – North Berkeley BART mixed use housing projects. I did not count the callers for each side: those who would like the housing project proposed for North Berkeley BART to stop at seven stories or thereabouts and those who declare support for a large project in the belief it will bring down housing costs. There were also declarations of accepting diversity and accusations that those wanting a single-family home neighborhood were harboring attitudes that were exclusionary. I was the lone voice to ask that support of ecosystems, native plants and the environment be a part of the planning. That mostly fell on deaf ears with one exception, the new Planning Commissioner who was part of the native garden tour earlier this year.

It is now estimated that one in three Americans live in a county hit by a weather disaster. Has it changed our behavior? Or, do we think about what it takes to create a healthy ecosystem? Ecosystems are more than just the trees, birds, butterflies and plants we see. It includes the microscopic organisms. Just like our bodies need the organisms in our guts to digest the food we put in our mouths, ecosystems need a balance of native plants to support the organisms that keep it healthy. -more-

Worth Noting:

The agenda for the September 14^th Council meeting, the first meeting after summer recess is available for review and comment and follows the list of meetings. DO NOT wait until the last minute to review item 35 in the Council agenda the Baseline Zoning Ordinance. The Baseline Zoning Ordinance is 522 pages. Item 36. is the Objective Standards Recommendations for Density, Design and Shadows (24 pages).

Wednesday the Redistricting Commission meets at 6 pm and the Homeless Commission, The Parks and Waterfront Commission and the Police Accountability Board all meet at 7 pm.

Thursday the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force meets at 6 pm and the Zoning Adjustment Board meets at 7 pm.

Friday evening at 7:30 pm is the City sponsored free showing of the movie Soul at Grove Park.

Saturday morning at 10 am is the Berkeley Neighborhoods monthly meeting. -more-

Since its inception in 2007, Opera at the Ballpark has become a tradition locally. Each year as many as 30,000 people gather at Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, for a free concert of opera simulcast on Oracle Park’s 71-foot high x 153-foot wide, 4K videoboard. The music is simulcast live from the Opera House. This year what was offered was not a specific opera but rather a superb concert featuring great singing by mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen. This event, which bore the title “The Homecoming,” marked the reopening of San Francisco Opera after 20 dreary months of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. -more-

For a return to live music after nearly twenty months of silence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, San Francisco Opera presented a reprisal of director Shawna Lacey’s 2018 staging of Puccini’s Tosca. Soprano Ailyn Pérez sang the title role and tenor Michael Fabiano was Mario Cavaradossi. Both were excellent. Less impressive was bass-baritone Alfred Walker as Scarpia, the ruthless Chief of Rome’s Police. Making her debut as the company’s new Music Director, conductor Eun Sun Kim led the orchestra, principals and chorus in a performance full of vivid musical imagery. In an interview conducted by Jeffrey McMillen and included in the digital program for SF Opera’s Tosca, Eun Sun Kim spoke of the need to drive the music, especially in the first act of Tosca, where Puccini’s music provides visual colors of many different hues. In this endeavour, conductor Eun Sun Kim succeeded admirably. Following upon the total success of her previous experience here as guest conductor in the 2019 performances of Dvorák’s Rusalka, Eun Sun Kim’s fluid, well-paced rendition of Puccini’s Tosca augurs well for her reign as San Francisco Opera’s Music Director. -more-

It has been nearly seventeen months since the outbreak of Covid 19 halted music events performed for live audiences. On Saturday, August 21, I attended at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre a concert by Yo-Yo Ma on cello, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Edgar Meyer on double bass, and Chris Theile on mandolin as well as guest artist Aiofe O’Donovan on vocals. In homage to this group’s award-winning 2011 album, they billed this event as Not Our First Goat Rodeo. A “goat rodeo,” they explain, is airplane pilots’ slang for a situation so unimaginable that countless parts must come together to avert disaster. -more-