“I’m also proud to report that Gov. Newsom recently signed SB 118, my Budget Committee bill that safeguards student enrollment at UC Berkeley and ensures that CA’s environmental law doesn’t treat student enrollment differently than any other campus activity.” - Senator Nancy Skinner

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It's an odd moment for pride, Senator Skinner. Some of us remember a Nancy Skinner who would have displayed modest embarrassment over the destruction of redwood trees, community gardens, rent-controlled housing, state historic resources, and national landmarks. Some of your electors thought you were that person, not the person who just erased court decisions crafted by grassroots community groups in expensive court battles just to protect our community's sleep, our health, our community resources, and our history.

As the Berkeley City Council considers the long overdue issue of reparations, it might take a moment, hopefully at Senator Skinner's request, to suggest additions the court is currently requesting to any agreement Berkeley currently has with the University of California using grassroots efforts known as Measures L and N from the 1980's as inspiration.

Measure L didn't just protect parks and open space from commercial intrusion and mandate their maintenance, it required the city to expand and create more park and open space in a city so dense it was remarked upon by planners over 100 years ago before the teensy, unwalkable balconies and roof spaces on high-rises were counted as "open space" by planners.

Measure N was equally crucial. The people of Berkeley, by a comfortable margin, voted to require the University of California to honor local restrictions and requirements so that its expansion didn't hollow out the city's historic landmarks, park space, height and zoning requirements, all the things that hang in the balance when UC decides to use capital it could use to lower tuition to buy land instead and thwart local guidelines with its exemptions.

The land it buys is California wide. The University of California is California's largest landowner. If your local media is going along with the idea that UC needs your local park to convert to housing, it's only because your local media is stupid, was just hired, or is on UC's payroll. And is absent a map.

If the Berkeley City Council cared about making sure it represented an informed electorate, it would require that UC identify and regularly post what it owns already and what it is currently bidding on in town, so that the impression UC likes to leave of a shortage of sites on which to build housing is adequately countered by the frank reality of your UC donation going nowhere near lowering tuition or addressing the maintenance of landmarked buildings currently it is letting go to ruin, buildings which are a legacy of California's architectural and cultural history which UC has a long legacy of destroying, ignoring, or in the case of 1921 Walnut, bulldozing before anybody really catches on.

The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board noted in its editorial of March 6, 2022, that the state Supreme Court's ruling agreed that UC's expanded enrollment "would have an outsize effect on traffic, noise, rental prices and the environment."

Then came Senator Skinner, whose Berkeley origins enabled legislators all over the state to fall prey to the idea that without her help qualified students wouldn't be able to attend school! Clothing was rent. Tears were shed. Headlines were everywhere. But the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board added some crucial information which did not make headlines or affect the poorly written, confusing legislative fix Skinner put into play:

"The state missed a golden opportunity to take pressure off the UC system when it let California State University open a polytechnic school at what had been severely under-enrolled Humboldt State. The school’s future is now set, at least until there’s time to see if this experiment works to boost enrollment at the Northern California campus. The school could have been converted to a UC campus much more quickly than building a new one. There’s still a chance to try converting a Cal State campus to a UC at Sonoma State, which also is experiencing declining enrollment. It makes little sense that some of the state’s institutions of higher education have to advertise to attract applicants while others are overfilled.

The state’s two public university systems will need to direct more applicants to campuses that can handle additional students. Not everyone can attend UC Irvine, UC Berkeley and UCLA. UC Merced still has capacity for more students, and obviously, so do some Cal State campuses. Dream schools may not be a dream if a student is crammed into a crowded lecture hall and sleeps in a car because there’s no housing available..." Los Angeles Times Editorial Board *

The University of California’s destructive enrollment expansion beyond its agreed-upon limits with host cities got a thumbs-up with California Senator Nancy Skinner's help, who, although she came up from Berkeley, apparently hasn’t met the students living down at the underpass. "UC gets what it wants,” in the words of one of my neighbors. "And we get the CS gas.”

Senator Skinner shoveled cake into the overfed mouth of UC ignoring the deaths of James Rector, Rosebud DeNovo, David Nadel, Eli Yates, and many more. While Berkeley is considering the long-overdue issue of reparations more generally, reparations from the University of California are overdue. Recognizing the importance of parks and open space is a simple public health measure which in a more sane world would fit into Covid-19 public health requirements. And given the wealth of options the university has upon which to situate housing, it would cost nothing and generate untold amounts of goodwill to ensure that our parks remain parks, where people otherwise trapped in their apartments could see a leaf, a bird, or a tree.

Let's hope the Nobel and Pulitzer prizewinners nestled away in the Berkeley hills who are capable of entering this discussion are good at writing letters. Because whatever stereotypes you seem to enjoy about rural and mountain communities seem pretty true of them right now; that they just sit there and let things happen which should not happen. No redwood or park should be unnecessarily destroyed, not in the era of climate change, if you know anything about the remarkable qualities of Sequoia sempervirens, the only extant species of the genus in the Northern California coastal forests. If you are, please write to Senators Nancy Skinner and Buffy Wicks, who, if they know anything about basic politics, should be looking for the settlement the judges in Superior Court are unanimously pushing for right about now. -more-

Greetings. I write as a longtime devotee of the Shattuck Cinemas, where one can see independent and foreign films as well as blockbuster movies and great documentaries. Check out ¡Vive Maestro! on Gustavo Dudamel, the founder of the great El Sistema in Venezuela that provides music education and instruments to poor children and creates orchestras in towns all over the country.

So, after your very appropriate selection of the Shattuck Cinemas as the Best Movie Theater, it was discouraging to see a photo of the UA Theatre.

It is especially concerning because, as in 2015-2020, the Shattuck Cinemas—eight screens, hand-painted murals in some of the screening rooms—is in the sights of another for-profit developer. I met him a couple of weeks ago, after having written him to ask his intentions towards the Cinemas (he did not reply to my letter), and when I asked him in person, he informed me that movie theaters were now obsolete and of course he planned to demolish them.

Berkeley will be greatly damaged should our fine multi-screen theater be sacrificed to the profits of a developer and real estate investors.

These developers do not serve our great need for low-income housing. They produce cheaply-built structures, built to the bare minimum of energy-efficiency standards, and bring them on the market at the highest rates they can achieve. They effectively displace long-time residents by lifting the average rents with their very high rents.

The proposal by Alamo developer Bill Schrader to replace the Shattuck Cinemas with an 8-story speculative housing development will be discussed by the Berkeley Design Review Committee this Thursday, for advisory comments on the new building portion of the project. I do hope the Daily Cal will have a reporter attend the meeting and let students know about this threat. Film at its best is an art form. We’re very fortunate to have the Shattuck Cinemas, as well as the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and to be able to see the great films, as well as those that are primarily made for entertainment. But PFA complements the Shattuck Cinemas; it would not fill the huge void that would result from their demolition. -more-

Jack Bragen explains and details concerns regarding unfavorable attitudes toward people in recovery from mental illness. He complains about the bigoted stereotypes most people have toward them, likening it to crass racists. -more-

I've been out of town, on a road trip to Los Angeles for a family memorial, so I haven't been able to post the excellent pieces that have been submitted in my absence. This is a one-woman shop here, so when I'm gone nothing appears. Watch this space for new material. -more-

As the war in Ukraine drags on, it becomes increasingly apparent that one of the major parameters is disinformation. For example, the attitude inside Russia seems to be that Vladimir Putin's military operations are justified because Putin is protecting "the fatherland" from neo-Nazis. Pro-Putin propaganda has been disseminated throughout the world; It has infected Republican legislators. -more-

According to the April 2022 report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc), the window for limiting global warming to relatively safe levels is rapidly closing. Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health. Any further delay in international action will result in an unlivable and unsustainable future for us all.

In order to meet the goals of The Paris Agreement to limit the average global temperature rise to 1.5°C (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels—and failing that, to below 2°C—will take immediate and unprecedented action from every country.

In response to the climate crisis, at least 200 countries met at the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow from October 31, 2021 to November 12, 2021. Notably China and Russia were not represented at the summit. The largest delegation was fossil fuel lobbyists who like the world the way it is. The delegates reached a consensus that all nations must do much more, immediately, to reach decarbonisation to limit future global temperature rise to 2°C, but ideally to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels by 2030. -more-

Name the Bird

After Grinnell, a locally famous peregrine falcon, tragically died in a collision with an automobile, his equally famous mate, Annie, found a new feathered suitor to help her care for a collection of eggs in her nest atop UC Berkeley's Campanile.

The new bird on the block was dubbed "the New Guy." Recently, a bird-ogling consortium called Cal Falcons staged a contest to officially name Annie's new nest-mate. The winning name is set to be announced soon. The final picks include: -more-

Since my column is often about the human mind, I can get away with writing a lot of thought pieces. This is one of them--very much so. Please indulge...

If your mind is operating from one of more false assumptions to guide you in your speech and actions, you are on thin ice.

I've been stabilized on medication since the latter half of 1996. And no one can deny this is an accomplishment for someone with my psychiatric condition. Although my prognosis was wrong, I was not misdiagnosed. Any time in my past that I've tried to do without medication, disaster ensued--I became severely psychotic.

However, becoming stabilized doesn't mean that everything is resolved. I've dealt with a substantial number of "delusions" that meds do not eradicate. Yet, I've also learned that you do not need to have a mental illness diagnosis to have delusions.

Antipsychotics do not fully do away with delusions and other symptoms. The medications must be supplemented with therapy, partly to "reality check," and with what I'll term "mental hygiene." -more-

City meetings were light this week and two were cancelled and rescheduled. The Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission will be April 27 and the Council Worksession of the City Manager’s response to Reimagining Public Safety is supposed to happen April 21 though it is not posted. -more-

Worth Noting:

Once more we heard from the Mayor this week that the City Manager’s response to the Reimagining Public Safety will occur. Mayor Arreguin said it will be April 21. There is no posting of the meeting. Posting at the last minute has become all too common, check later https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx The Rent Board, Design Review Committee and the Transportation Commission are all scheduled for Thursday evening, April 21^st. The April 26^th Council agenda is available for comment. Items of note are the Surveillance Report, the Homeless Commission referral for a crisis stabilization center and storm shelters. Use the same link or scroll down to find the agenda list between the list of meetings and Land Use Calendar.



In the long list of meetings, these are picked as key where your attendance/comment may make a difference. There are other meetings in the list that also deserve your attention. Local actions matter!

Monday at 10:30 am the Public Safety Committee takes up warrantless searches and prohibition of discriminatory reports.

Tuesday 9 am the Budget Committee will continue the unfinished items from Thursday on paving, budgeting, and electrification. At 6 pm the presentation and discussion of the planning for the housing developments at the Ashby and North Berkeley BART stations follows a presentation by the Fire Department.

Wednesday at 7 pm is the last community meeting on Vision 2050. There will be a ballot measure in November. There is so much on Wednesday that you could be attending meetings from noon through the evening with barely a break from 3:30 – 5:30 pm. I have never attended a PG&E webinar so I cannot tell you whether that 5:30 pm meeting on wildfire safety is worth your time – it does look like it will be recorded.

Thursday at 7 pm Design review includes three interesting projects and the Transportation Commission includes BerkDOT, Hopkins Corridor and Adeline Plaza and possibly reimagining policing.

Saturday is Earth Day and I leave you to find and decide on your own activity. There are plenty to choose from. The City sponsored event for the waterfront which is listed.



Sunday, April 17, 2022 – Easter, Passover, Ramadan -more-