I admire people who ride bicycles, but I think it unrealistic to think that cars will eventually be eliminated from Berkeley (I've heard that statement) and that there will be a majority of the population who will use bikes and mass transit as their main means of transportation.

For example, if you have a large family (like I did) how do you get your groceries home? I used to buy 4 gallons of milk a week, plus all the other food for 3 boys.

Take your children to school? Several of them? One year I had kids in MLK, Columbus and Berkeley High.

People work in the hills: housekeepers, plumbers, construction, caregivers, etc. What about those with large families, caregiving facilities, those who work at night, those who need to manage time tightly, childcare drop offs and pickups, etc.

Get to work and back after dark? in the cold? How do you connect with BART if you live in the hills? How do you get to work if you work in the hills?

What happens when it rains?

What about the hills? Some hills are steep. How do us old and /or disabled people get around?

The plan for Hopkins Avenue will kill the businesses there. How many bicyclists buy at the liquor store, the fish market, Monterey Market? We could end up with a row of empty shops.

Data, please. -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-

Mr. President, I was profoundly disappointed with your repeated public comments justifying the defense of Ukraine is to “weaken Russia”. Such intemperate remarks are extremely dangerous. This plays directly into Putin’s playbook, “hat the US and its allies are conducting a proxy war aimed at destroying Russia.” This will undoubtedly serve to unite the Russian people behind their unstable leader. I would urge you to deliver future messages targeted at the Russian people, - “The US and our western allies have NO quarrel with the Russian people who we consider to be our friends in this tragic war of attrition. The Voice of America, the BBC, and social media outlets must act in concert to counter the massive pro-Putin propaganda war machine.

The Russian people should be encouraged to rebel against their maniacal leader who is using their sons’ as sacrificial lambs to fight an immoral war and likely be wounded or killed. The Russian Orthodox Church and ALL religious institutions around the world should be encouraged to denounce Putin’s immoral war of aggression. Silence is not an option. Mr. President please use your bully pulpit to plead with Russian soldiers to lay down their arms and embrace their Ukrainian brothers and sisters. Finally, please state unequivocally in future public comments the purpose use of arming Ukraine is to end this war, saving Russian and Ukrainian lives.

This is an insane war of attrition where there are only losers, Russian soldiers and Ukrainians. The focus should be to end the war and not threaten an unstable Putin whose itchy fingers might reach out to launch chemical or nuclear attacks which would likely be countered by US nuclear attacks ending all life on this planet. Words matter, Mr. President please use them with extreme care. -more-

The first casualty of being a mental health consumer is Your Truth. When you speak your truth, you are contradicted. You are told that what you've said isn't real. You are told that your judgment isn't valid. You are never taken at your word. The assumption is that you are mentally sick and thus anything you say should be either ignored or disregarded. If you tell people a fact that you know for certain is a fact, they may contradict that and they may say they have notes that tell them otherwise. Do they really have such notes? Or are they just telling you that because the assumption is you're wrong? -more-

It's been more than two months since Russia invaded Ukraine (February 24). We've learned enough to be able to predict what will happen next and what the geo-political consequences will be.

1.Russia will lose the war: At the beginning of the invasion, most observers believed that Russia would overwhelm Ukraine. That didn't happen and, as time passes, it seems more unlikely to happen. The conflict may drag out but eventually, Russia will lose.

There are multiple reasons why Russia has performed so poorly. The first is that the Ukrainians have out-fought the Russians; the Ukrainians are highly motivated and the Russians are not. The second is that the Russia military has been "hollowed out" because Russia is a kleptocracy and Putin and his cronies have siphoned funds, that should have gone to defense, for their own purposes. In all facets of the Russian invasion we see indications that the invasion was underfunded, and terribly managed.

Russian soldiers are poorly trained. There is inadequate communication between front-line troops and battlefield commanders. The Russian generals have made bad tactical decisions; for example to invade the Donbas region in the spring while the ground is very wet. The Russian supply infrastructure is inadequate. Russians seemingly have no capability of repairing vehicles that break down in the field. Because of the EU sanctions, Russia cannot get critical parts it needs to repair or replace its equipment. (While Russia has shown the capability to build prototypes of advanced weapons, they cannot manufacture these.) -more-

Do Mosquitos Have a Political Bias?

During his time in office, TrumpleThinSkin did a lot to dismantle the good work of the Environmental Protection Agency. Now it looks like nature's getting even. New research reveals that pro-Trumpers are more likely to suffer from mosquito bites.

According to University of Washington biologists, biting insects attracted by the CO2 in human breath favor targets wearing black jeans, cyan shirts, orange bandanas, and MAGA-red caps. Research published in the journal, Nature, has some good news for environmentalists and healthcare workers—mosquitos were shown to steer away from humans wearing hospital-worker white, first-responder blue, Lady Gaga purple and Sierra Club green.

Some Options Aren't Optional

On Earth Day, Rep. Barbara Lee (my favorite congressmember) emailed an invitation to "Sign on as a citizen endorser of the Green New Deal." Lee has joined Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey in a campaign to rally "citizen endorsers" to "match the scale of the climate crisis with a bold, comprehensive plan to promote environmental justice." But the petition only called for an email address, a postal code ("optional") and a First Name (also "optional").

How can it be called a petition if it doesn't require the name of the person signing? -more-

“ee with his stated goal of focusing on services and rehabilitation instead of incarceration. That’s why I am voting “no” on Proposition H, the Boudin recall.

The San Francisco Chronicle analyzed data from the San Francisco Police Department and concluded, "While the pandemic significantly affected crime as San Francisco is getting back to ’normal,' so are its crime rates. Boudin likely hasn't had an impact one way or another." And Boudin has not been accused of any unethical or illegal activity.

What crime wave? According to the proponents of the recall, District Attorney Boudin is “failing to keep San Franciscans safe.” Yet, an analysis of police data for 2021 shows an uptick in crime from 2020, but overall lower crime rates than pre-pandemic levels. True murders have increased but murders are not just a San Francisco problem as murders in major U.S. increased in 2021. In sum, the police data may be subject to different interpretation but clearly do not show a crime wave in San Francisco. -more-

Worth Noting:

The new city website is turned on and it takes some getting used to. Most of the old links don’t work and there is still information missing. If you had webpages up in your browser before the conversion you will find most of them don’t work and you will either get a warning message or “404 page not found” The phone number 510.981.2489 goes to 311 after the list of emergency numbers.

To check for meetings, you will need to go to the home page https://berkeleyca.gov/ and weave your way down past the Latest News and Featured events to get to City Meetings. The City Council tab does not include Council Committees, it is only full council meetings.

Monday the Peace and Justice Commission meets at 7 pm with Reimaging Public Safety as item 10. on the agenda.

Tuesday the 4 x 4 Committee at 2:30 pm will be reviewing eviction for good cause ordinance as a November ballot measure,

Wednesday FITES at 2:30 pm continues work on plastic bag ordinance. In the evening at 7 pm the Planning Commission receives a Housing element Update. The Homeless Panel of Experts agenda is not posted, however, it would be expected that the agenda would be Measure P budget recommendations.

Thursday morning at 10:30 the Land Use Committee takes up a proposal for an Efficiency Unit Ordinance using 150 sq ft and 220 sq ft model ordinances – for comparison I added a link to tiny home pictures and floor plans.

The Thursday evening council special meeting is not posted - Mayor Arreguin announced that he will be presenting a response to the Reimagining Public Safety on May 5, but there is no posting for a meeting. Check during the week at https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/city-council-agendas or call the Mayor’s office at 510-981-7100. The expected time would be at 6 pm.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission meets at 7 pm. The Transportation Commission is expected to meet but there is no posting.

The book festival is Saturday May 7 and Sunday May 8.

The May 10^th regular Council meeting is posted and available for comment. A full agenda list follows the city meetings by day of the week.

I could not update the list of approved projects in the appeal period as the previously used link is no longer functional and no new active link to that page could be found in the website.

Sunday, May 1, 2022 – no city meetings or events found -more-

Afropop superstar Angélique Kidjo has ventured into new territory in writing and performing the music for a 105-minute work of musical theatre entitled Yemandja. Framed as a struggle between two supernatural West African orishas, Yemandja and Orò, this is a work of magical realism based in the beliefs of Yoruban cosmology. Here two supernatural orishas, the female Yemandja and the male Orò, struggle to lead the people of 19th century West Africa in how to resist slavery. With a libretto written by Angélique Kidjo’s daughter, Naima Hebrail Kidjo, and music written by Kidjo and her husband, Jean Hebrail, Yemandja is a Cal Performances co-commission, which received its West Coast premiere at Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall on Saturday evening, April 23. -more-

In a major event at San Francisco Symphony, Guest Conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the Venezuelan-born wunderkind who took the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009 at the age of 28, returned to Davies Hall on Thursday, April 21, to lead the San Francisco Symphony in four concerts over the weekend. Included in the program were Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504, “Prague,” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor by Gustav Mahler. -more-

Pianist Daniil Trifonov returned to Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall on Thursday, April 28 under the auspices of Cal Performances for a solo recital of relatively unfamiliar works. The results, as always with Daniil Trifonov, were electrifying. Speaking of Trifonov after hearing his first Carnegie Hall recital, fellow pianist Martha Argerich said, “I never heard anything like this. His technique is impeccable and he has an element of the demonic.” That pretty much sums it up. -more-