Installing a portable toilet in front of any mural is a bad idea, but installing one in front of what is an historical mural commemorating the historic events of People's Park is especially wrong.

The mural stands for many things that are special to Berkeley - the commitment to free speech, the commitment to honoring the community that created this park, the dedication of community artists who undertook to honor the events that took place in the founding of People's Park and the sustained effort by these community artists to maintain the mural.

The events of People's Park are a special part of the history of Berkeley and in some ways best express the true dedication to freedom and equitable justice that Berkeley has become synonymous with. The founding of People's Park itself, after all the protest and struggle, is a testament to Berkeley's dedication to the fulfilling the promise of equal justice that America is supposed to be aiming for.

I join with Osha Neumann, and all reasonable minded members of our community, in calling on our Berkeley leaders to find another location for the public toilet. Please - do not be tone deaf - protect and respect a piece of art that is part of Berkeley's history. -more-

To: Liam Garland, Berkeley Director of Public Works Dee Williams-Ridley, Berkeley City Manager Mayor and Council, City of Berkeley

I found out today that the City is planning to install an 8 ½ foot tall, 10 ½ foot long public toilet – Portland Loo is the brand – directly in front of A People’s History of Telegraph Avenue (The People’s Park Mural) on the side of Amoeba records at the corner of Haste and Telegraph. I designed that mural, initiated the project, and painted it together with a group of extraordinary artists – O’Brien Thiele, Daniel Galvez, Hannah Kransberg and others. O’Brien and I have worked together to preserve this mural for 45 years.

When I heard the plan for a mural-blocking toilet, I was astounded, saddened, outraged. If I was British, I might say, gobsmacked. I’ve painted other murals. I’ve let them go. But this one? No.

“Really?”, I thought. The City can’t find any place to install a toilet except smack dab in front of my mural – our mural? And somehow that’s okay? To permanently obscure the view of a mural, which has been a Berkeley landmark since it was painted in 1976, and which was officially landmarked in 1990; a mural which is still the only memorial in the city (and perhaps anywhere) to the events that gave Berkeley its reputation as a place where people struggle for the betterment of human kind, for the end of stupid brutal wars, for the elimination of racism, for freedom of speech, and for life free from repressive strictures on how to dress, whom to love, and how to wear your hair. All those freedoms this mural celebrates.

And you want to put a toilet in front of it. -more-

I start out each week committed to writing up meetings as they occur only to end the weekend scrambling to finish the diary before the next week starts.

Elmar from Public Works related at the Telegraph/Channing Restroom Community meeting on Monday the challenge of finding a flat location for the Portland Loo and settled on two possible sites. The Portland Loo is a stand-alone pre-fabricated public restroom with a flushable toilet and an external hand-washing station https://portlandloo.com/

One of the two sites is at Haste and Telegraph in the street in front of the mural “A Peoples History of Telegraph Avenue” on the Amoeba Music building. With the Loo’s substantial height of 8 ½ feet and length 10 ½ feet it would obstruct the view of this classic mural designed by Osha Neumann, painted with O’Brien Thiele, Janet Kranzberg, David Galvez and many others in 1976. The mural was enlarged in 1999 and most recently restored in 2020. https://berkeleyplaques.org/plaque/telegraph-avenue/

The other location on Channing just west of Telegraph was met with resistance by Framer’s Workshop. The Framer’s Workshop owners envision that the plumbed public restroom would be a magnet for flies that would find their way down to the Framer’s Workshop entrance like flies from the porta potty that was once near their business. This location also has a mural, but the considerably smaller mural is on a two-story wall and does not possess the historical recognition given to “A Peoples History of Telegraph Avenue.”

If there is absolutely no other location, my vote is for the Channing site and saving the History of Telegraph Avenue Mural. Osha Neumann is probably more widely known by council and city employees for defending the homeless than for his mural art. I hope that doesn’t influence a city decision. I emailed ugonzalez@cityofberkeley.info If you wish to voice your opinion on the location of the Portland Loo then email ugonzalez@cityofberkeley.info by 6 pm TODAY, Monday October 11. I will also will try emailing the Director of Public Works, Liam Garland. -more-

When people with a mind-altering condition get older, we are no longer able to pull off any of the crazy stunts that young mentally ill people do and still get away with it. This is not to imply that mentally ill people intentionally do these things, not at all. When someone first becomes mentally ill, it is not something we have chosen to do to ourselves. When young, we may lack the temperance and the common sense that would lead us to have a modicum of normal behavior; this could look like staying in treatment so that we don't do disastrous things, or it could look like having mechanisms we've learned, that kick in when symptomatic, that prevent these disastrous actions. -more-

Deja View

On August 9, I drove down to the Berkeley Marina to visit the Chavez-Huerta Solar Calendar, which sits atop a prominent hill on the north end of the Cesar Chavez Park. As a "Sundial Steward," my assignment was to conduct a monthly check of the site to see if any of the stone markers, signs, or surroundings required maintenance. Stewards also look for signs of vandalism—ranging from stones picked up and tossed about to the recurring mischief of a pro-Trump vandal who likes to scratch the acronym "MAGA" onto the stone dedicated to Tolerance.

But there was a bigger act of vandalism on view that morning. Directly to the north, the Richmond refineries were ablaze and the burning oil was sending up huge black clouds that were spread over miles of local neighborhoods. I took a photo.

On October 4, I visited the site for my monthly inspection and—to my surprise—once again discovered a large black cloud of smoke spread across the skies over Richmond. I took a photo.

When I compared the photos, I was startled by how similar the dark clouds were. But when I went online looking for the details behind the latest firestorm, the Internet's vast slate was blank.

The two photos—side-by-side and two months apart—look almost identical. What are the odds? Does this mean that major industrial fires in Richmond are becoming commonplace? -more-

Worth Noting:

With Monday as Indigenous Peoples Holiday, City meetings are packed onto Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Sunday - Green Party events are not normally listed in the weekly calendar, however, with the Federal Court of Appeals reinstating the abortion ban in Texas the Green Sunday speakers program may be very interesting.

Tuesday is very full with eight meetings in total. If you did not see the demonstration of how to use the mapping tool to redraw council district boundaries there is a demonstration at 12 noon. The agenda committee meets at 2:30 pm and the regular city council meeting is at 6 pm.

Wednesday there are seven meetings in total including Homeless Commission, Parks Commission, and the Police Accountability Board all meeting at 7 pm.

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

Saturday is the Harvest Festival at Cedar Rose Park.



The full draft agenda for the October 26 regular city council meeting and the full agenda for the October 12 6 pm regular council meeting are at the end after the list of meetings. In case you haven’t noticed, the first name listed with an agenda item is the author, then co-sponsors. Also, an abbreviated description is included with each use permit in the appeal period. -more-

Write to City Council members and Mayor Arreguin! Demand that they protect solar access, especially for rooftop solar panels. Send e-mail by noon, Monday Oct 11 to: council@cityofberkeley.info ; and copy to: clerk@cityofberkeley.info -more-

I told you and I told you and I told you! But you went and did it anyway and look what happened. I hate to say it, but I told you so.

********************

The September 9 issue of the London Review of Books led off with a full page of quotes on Afghanistan from foreign policy luminaries, all the way back to Zbigniew Brzezinski speaking to the Afghan mujahedin in 1980 :“Your cause is right and God is on your side!” through President Biden’s Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in August of this year:“This is manifestly not Saigon.”

In between were stirring quotes from both establishmentarians and contrarians: “ I will venture a prediction. The Taliban/al-Qaida riffraff, as we know them, will never come back to power:”--Christopher Hitchens, 2004.

There was only one women among about two dozen opiners, and she was only one who questioned the wisdom of the enterprise. Yes, you guessed right, it was the East Bay’s beloved Congressmember, US Representative Barbara Lee, on September 14, 2001:“Let’s step back a moment. Let’s just pause, just for a minute. And think through the implications of our actions today, so that this does not spiral out of control.”

No one paid attention, so the downward spiral she anticipated is just now hitting bottom. Our country’s involvement in the Islamic world turned into the eternal distant conflict foretold in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Fourl, where citizens of Oceania are not sure who’s the enemy, or even if the reported battles are actually taking place. And it’s lasted for two decades. -more-

I’m writing with deep disappointment about the horrific use of excess use of force at the hands of US border authorities against Haitians and Black asylum-seekers at the US-Mexico border and the Biden administration’s aggressive expansion of Title 42 expulsions. The cruelty, racism, and oppression against migrants and asylum-seekers at the border cannot go unanswered. -more-

Last Monday feels like a month ago. When it comes to water and the drought last Monday was a year ago as the California water year runs from October 1 through September 30. We are starting out from a grim spot and unless this new “water year” happens to be the occasional wet year in a future that with climate change is expected to be perpetual drought. We are in a heap of trouble. In my neighborhood walks, I see way too many wilting, dying and dead trees. Nearly all of California is in the two worst drought categories, exceptional and extreme drought. This has not stopped, the legislature, the governor, ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) of which Mayor Arreguin is the president from planning for adding 441,000 housing units to the bay area and changing zoning law for increasing density across the State with the passage and signing of SB 9 and SB 10. -more-

From the perspective of the Receiver, the punchline for the “Saga of Leonard Powell” would be that moment when he finally gets to sell Powell’s house. At that moment, he could crow, “Pay Day.” He would have taken another man’s house, worth maybe $300,000 in 2015, spent around $750,000 on it, and upon sale, cleared maybe $1.3 million, most of which would have ended up in his own pocket. That is, if he could have sold it.

At least, that was the plan, the way receivership is used. The Receiver inflates the total bill for the job to the point where it pushes the owner’s debt beyond what the owner can pay, and then the Receiver petition’s for the right to sell the house in order to recuperate his expenses (since the owner can no longer cover them). This works especially well to move black families out of a city. Black families generally do not have reserve assets to cover the Receiver’s bill, and it is harder for black people to get loans from a bank than white people.

This strategy was actually seen in action in Powell’s case. The real work on the building had ended in September, 2018. But as long as the "Receiver" is recognized by the court, he can keep adding costs to his bill (legal fees, employee expenses, etc.). This was allowed to happen from September, 2018, until the end of 2019. And it all got charged to Mr. Powell. During that time, the Receiver petitioned the court for the right to sell the house, perhaps figuring it was time to cash in his chips and get out of the game. After all, he had violated the judge’s instructions, though he had transformed the building into a fancy (well, semi-fancy) rental property, a nice income-earner for a new owner.

But it didn’t happen that way. A lawyer entered Powell’s side. And she was a fighter. She won the first round, challenging the travesty of this Receiver’s one-man show, by managing to get it on the record that the judge’s order to "repair" the house did not mean "reconstruct" it. Yet that was no easy trick, because the Receiver insisted that those two terms were synonymous. Yet she had all the facts in hand – from dictionary definitions and the judge’s original instructions to the legal distinction that the Receiver’s work obeyed the state construction code (Title 24) that governs "reconstruction," which is wholly distinct from Berkeley’s housing code, under which the building’s violations were listed.

Apparently unable to discern this difference in jurisdiction, the Receiver acted according to the fiction that the city required the house be restored to duplex status. And he actually hints at active collusion by the city to this end, that is, of transforming it into income property. To return the house to duplex status, the Receiver had the foundation worked on, the house tested for asbestos and lead presence, and new flooring installed – all on his own (or with yet unacknowledged city collusion). It is that extravagance that inflated what could have been a $150,000 job (according to a number of contractors) to $750.000.

But there was the end-game. While negotiations proceeded on the semantic difference between repair and reconstruction, the Receiver kept adding fees and expenses to his bill each month, revealing that his own income is simply a horrendous transformation of people into money. Ultimately, his game prevented the judge from arriving at a final figure, in order to terminate the receivership. The game went on for a few months, and was ultimately halted by the demands of Powell’s attorney. Thus, while the “pay day” punchline remained the same for the Receiver, it was still just a little out of reach when the pandemic hit.

One is reminded of that moment in the movie, "Titanic," when the man guiding the submersible with its cameras down into the hull of the ship on the ocean bottom, and finds, in the captain’s cabin, the "safe." He sees it on his computer screen, broadcast from the "deep," and crows “pay day.” As a treasure hunter, he counts his wealth even before it breaks the ocean surface. -more-

I am in my late fifties, and I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia: Paranoid-Type, at age eighteen. All my adult life, I have lived with the specter of mental illness. And this is no walk in the park. Even though I've rarely gone without having my material needs met, this disease is serious business, and it ruins many people's lives.

Ruination of one's life can be prevented. The beginning is to accept treatment and get the symptoms under control. Yet, for many people, this is a tall order. Compliance with prescribed antipsychotics is often the biggest hurdle for a person suffering from schizophrenia.

(Another hurdle that may exist concurrently is to prevent harm to oneself and others.)

There are reasons for the common "noncompliance" with treatment. The absence of basic insight about the presence of psychosis is one of those reasons. The patient's mind has disconnected itself from reality. And because of this, the patient is unable to recognize that their thinking is not accurate. They may believe it is the world that has gone crazy, and not them. To the patient, this internally generated false version of reality is correct. The disease blocks perception of itself. -more-

A recent Washington Post Robert Kagan oped (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/09/23/robert-kagan-constitutional-crisis/) says what a lot of us have been thinking: the United States is heading into a constitutional crisis. Would-be dictator Donald Trump is determined to run for President in 2024 and "Trump and his Republican allies are actively preparing to ensure his victory by whatever means necessary." To deal with this existential threat to our country, it's necessary for all of us -- not just our leaders in Washington DC -- to take extreme measures.

Robert Kagan observes that Trump has consistently been underestimated: "[The establishment] underestimated the extent of [Trump's] popularity and the strength of his hold on his followers; they underestimated his ability to take control of the Republican Party; and then they underestimated how far he was willing to go to retain power." Kagan details the forces that animate the Trump movement: "Suspicion of and hostility toward the federal government; racial hatred and fear; a concern that modern, secular society undermines religion and traditional morality; economic anxiety in an age of rapid technological change; class tensions, with subtle condescension on one side and resentment on the other; distrust of the broader world..." Kagan continues: "What makes the Trump movement historically unique is not its passions and paranoias. It is the fact that for millions of Americans, Trump himself is the response to their fears and resentments. This is a stronger bond between leader and followers than anything seen before in U.S. political movements." [Emphasis added] -more-

Mopping Up after the Pandemic

The window display at Mr. Mopp's toy store on MLK has changed again. This time, in addition to showcasing scores of books for young readers, the windows are also decorated with messages from young readers.

More than a dozen posters feature caricatures of face-masked authors along with their hand-written responses to the question: "Why do you wear a mask." Most are along the lines of "I wear a mask to protect my family and my friends." One reads: "I wear a mask so I won't have to wear a mask."

One young fellah named Griffin confesses: "I wear a mask so I won't get yelled at." And a movie buff named Ben has written: "I wear a mask so I won't be the character in the horror movie who thinks it's a perfect idea to go into the murder basement."

Bummed Out by Too Much Spirit?

Outside the Berkeley Bowl West, a trim, middle-aged gent is hawking the latest issue of the Street Spirit, swaying slightly as his boom-box broadcasts some nice soul music. I buy a copy of the latest issue and prepare to cross the road.

On the other side of the street, I pass of bearded gent in a trench coat and a Stetson who gazes up in my direction, points back at the street vendor and bellows: "He's a fraud! He's a phony! He's not homeless! He drove here in a car!"

Taken aback, but feeling sorry, I reach into my pocket and offer him a fist-full of quarters.

He smiles and mutters his thanks, adding: "I wish each of these quarters was a 100-dollar bill!"

Pausing for a moment's reflection, he speculates: "And, if they were, I'd buy me a car!"

Pausing for one more reflection, he concludes: "But I probably don't remember how to drive!" -more-

Worth Noting - Very full week ahead:

Monday the Public Safety Committee at 10:30 am takes up license plate readers. The Telegraph/Channing public restroom meeting is at 5 pm. The Mayor’s Town Hall is at 6 pm (recorded). The Peace and Justice Commission meets at 7 pm for the first time after months of being placed on hold (COVID) with the Rights of Nature as the last item of the agenda.

Tuesday is the Council special session at 6 pm on waiving the sanctuary city ordinance for the Motorola contract and interim regulations for handling complaints of sworn officers by the Police Accountability Board (PAB).

Wednesday the FITES Committee meets at 2:30 pm on plastic bags and native plant ordinance. The Commission on Disability will be reviewing the impact of COVID on BIPOC and people with disabilities and use of services. The Redistricting Commission meets at 6 pm and includes a demonstration of the redistricting website. The Planning Commission meets at 7 pm and will hold a hearing on redefining the definition of research and development.

Thursday the Land Use Committee meets at 10:30 am on the affordable housing overlay. The Landmarks Preservation Commission meets at 7 pm with Peoples Park as the last item on the agenda. Neither the Rent Stabilization Board at 6 pm nor the Public Works Commission at 7 pm have published the agendas and zoom meeting links.

Friday and Saturday the Virtual Evacuation Drill is not posted on city calendar (as of 10-2-2021) Friday use link to REGISTER for the DRILL, access resources and review household evacuation plan. Saturday at 9 – 11 am is the virtual evacuation drill.

Registration link https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CABERKE/bulletins/2f47115



The agenda for the October 12 City Council regular meeting at 6 pm is available for comment and follows the list of city meetings. Also note that Use Permits in the appeal period includes a description of the permit not just the address and date. -more-