The City of Berkeley has managed to turn the bicycle into a weapon of civic destruction. Its bicycle policy is damaging neighborhoods, endangering bicyclists and undermining the legitimacy of governance while squandering millions of dollars. -more-

A historic hall owned by the University of California at Berkeley was damaged in a fire Monday, university officials said. -more-

There is so much going on it is hard to know where to start and what should percolate through for mention.

The City of Berkeley has turned on the new website. The pictures and font are clean. It is great if you want a parking permit, but if you are looking for a city commission or council committee it is a bit more complicated. If you are planning on joining a meeting do NOT wait until the last minute.

If you use google to find a city webpage as I often do, expect to land in the dreaded “404: Page Not Found WE’RE SORRY, BUT THIS PAGE EITHER HAS BEEN MOVED, DELETED, OR DOES NOT EXIST.”

Don’t give up!

You need to look around the screen. If you landed on a page that hasn’t been “disappeared” there will be possible options. “Your Government” will get you to Boards and Commissions and “City Council” to regular and special meetings. Then you need to keep scanning the Council page to find Council Committees. It is going to be a rough few days while we get used to the new arrangements. If you are on a “disappeared” webpage go to https://berkeleyca.gov/ or cityofberkeley.info to start your search over.

The Budget Committee meetings on April 27, 28, and 29 were video recorded. This is new and hopefully will continue. Not all is perfect, some listings are not up to date, for example the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission comes with “there are no results matching your selection” and some things are just missing, like all the reports and documents from the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force (RIPST) webpage. I happened to still have the RIPST open in my browser and copied the list of attachments though the links no longer function and the documents have disappeared into the ether.

Hopefully missing information will be discovered and reconnected. Possibly, I haven’t found the path to its location, but I worry that the conversion to the new website cleanses documents from view into records online searches, public records requests or worse. -more-

IN SUMMARY

A handful of activists represent the bulk of the state’s enforcement of the law. That could change as the state housing agency hires more staff.

Lea este artículo en español.

The passage of 2021’s Senate Bill 9 was supposed to herald the end of the single-family zoning that many point to as a culprit of California’s housing crisis. But four months into the new era, little has changed, and the scant enforcement of the law has come about largely because of pro-housing activists.

The new law, which allows duplexes and split lots on land previously marked as single-family only, has been met with stiff resistance by cities across the state that have passed ordinances effectively — but not directly — blocking the law in their area.

The state of California — with an annual budget north of $280 billion — is largely reliant on YIMBY, or “yes in my backyard” activists, to find out about law-breaking cities. -more-

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 plight of Ukrainian refugees has brought new focus on other refuges attempting to escape mortal danger from their own countries. While Ukrainian refugees have been cursed to live close to “big bad wolf Putin” and his murderous Russian army, they have been blessed to have fair skins which gives them a passport to neighboring countries which have welcomed them with incredible kindness and warm hospitality. In sharp contrast, US ICE agents have abused non-white asylum seekers; many have been imprisoned and tortured. Ukrainians entering the US from the southern border have been blessed to receive ‘Polish” style hospitality. -more-

We are cyclists who are residents in the Hopkins Street area who will be affected by the changes proposed by the Hopkins Corridor study. While we applaud efforts to make Berkeley streets in general and our neighborhood in particular safer for pedestrians and cyclists, there are several parts of this proposal that we think will decrease our safety. -more-

Our recommendations:

• Let the street be repaved, which by itself improves conditions for cyclists.
• Do the non-controversial things (restriping, additional crosswalks and stop signs, etc.), and any safety measures that could be easily and cheaply reversed if, upon reflection, it becomes clear that something else would serve everyone better (painting sharrows, for instance).
• If possible, take care of the pedestrian safety concerns at Hopkins and Monterey, and then see whether that is enough.

-more-

Introduction

This series of articles began by introducing a concept of crime that was not based on law, but rather on an action’s existential effects. Traditionally, crime is understood as a violation of the law. Since this implies that a legal system determines what constitutes a crime, it facilitates a form of autocracy. Insofar as an administrative structure or organization determines whether something constitutes a crime or not, it is not the person suffering from that action who does so. Decisions are made for people rather than with them. To make policy without the participation of those who will be affected by the policy is to dispense with any pretension to democracy. For democracy to exist, those who will be affected by a policy are, and must be, the ones who conceive and institute the policy that will affect them.

We seek to approach crime in a democratic manner. In this vein, we would define a crime as any action that injures a person, or a person’s social standing, as seen by the person affected by the action. For instance, any action that deprives a person of their personal property or their access to their personal property, against their will, or which damages or interrupts their valued relations to other people, would constitute a crime against them. It would be considered a form of victimization. The Law sees it from outside the action, through an institutionality. From within the relation between an accused perpetrator and one charging injury, the jurisprudent dialogues that would provide an arena for the accused to deny and defend themselves would be quite different (de-institutionalized, and not based on conflict).

In sum, crime is an injurious relation between a perpetrator and a victim in which it is the victim who gets to say if (and how) an injury has been done to them. The focus of this perspective is that of the one injured, rather than the institutional interests of a judicial system. Slavery or segregation would never have been possible under this alternate perspective. -more-

I am amazed that the council seems focused on making it harder, not easier, for people to share together and help each other whether the focus is food, poetry, music or emergency supplies. California has the worst poverty rate of all states, running at about 15% of the population.

The Santa Cruz Municipal Code Chapter 10.65 ordinance regulating "Public Gathering and Expression Events" passed on April 14, 2022, are an embarrassment to sensible, public-serving legislation. They appear to be clearly targeted at specific events or groups, which is a definition of bad law.

Please sit down with any groups you feel are honestly presenting an issue and work out your differences. I know that people of good faith are capable of this, and that our government and police resources are better focused on other things. -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-

My father passed away in 2012. He once said of people with my condition, "Judgment is the first thing to go." And I've discovered that to be a very astute observation, potentially a truism. I don't have him to help in a crisis anymore. Other family members continue to help a lot. They want me to rely on myself when possible. And this is for the best. If I'm able to survive with little or no help, it only helps me. -more-

When I picked up my iPhone this morning checking the news banners, NPR caught my attention, saying that birds in North America are in trouble. The article reminds us that if birds are in decline, the ecosystems are in decline and our own health is tied to this shared environment.

NPR lists eight actions:

1. reduce habitat loss and degradation, grow native plants (calscape.org will help you choose)
2. reduce pesticide use (better yet eliminate pesticides, birds need those bugs for food and buy plants that are not pretreated with neonicotinoids)
3. purchase bird friendly products (like bird friendly coffee)
4. advocate for bird-friendly environmental policies and expect the same from elected and appointed officials
5. reduce bird deaths, keep your cat indoors
6. make windows more visible to birds (install bird safe glass, or add window film with dots or lines https://abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/products-database/, use exterior screens)
7. turn off lights you are not using especially at night,
8. if you have a bird feeder clean it regularly to prevent spread of disease.

Bill Shrader, part of the Austin Group, introduced his apartment project at 2440 Shattuck, “The Lair”, to the City of Berkeley’s Design Review Committee and proudly showed off the planned green wall of plants on the exterior and interior at the lobby entry. Erin Diehm pointed out that the interior plants will attract birds who will crash into the wall of glass, and asked if bird safe glass will be used. Shrader answered that bird safe glass is new and he will check into it. He said he doesn’t want dead birds by the entrance to his building.

Bird safe glass is not new. San Francisco has had an ordinance in place for over a decade. It is just Berkeley that can’t get it together and has left the Bird Safe Ordinance languishing at the Planning Commission. -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-

Worth Noting - There is a lot happening this week.

Besides the special and regular council meetings on Tuesday, the City Departments present to the Council Budget Committee on Wednesday 12 - 4 pm and Thursday and Friday from 9 am – 5 pm. The Surveillance Report will be heard Tuesday evening at the Council 6 pm meeting, plus the Hopkins Corridor Redesign and the Homeless Commission referral for the development of a 24/7 crisis stabilization center.

Monday Zero waste will hear an update on the plastic recycling market. We might learn how much is “wish cycling” rather than actual recycling.

The parking pilot projects SmartSpace are on Wednesday for Elmwood and Thursday for Southside at 6:30 pm.

Wednesday evening at 7 pm the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission has a full schedule including Greg Brown Park and an outdoor fitness court at Cesar Chavez Park and the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission called a special meeting on budget recommendations for Measures GG and FF funds and to reconsider spending $500,000 of Measure FF funds on Eucalyptus Groves on unknown private property sites in the hills. The Police Accountability Board makes the third Wednesday evening 7 pm meeting. Health and Welfare is at 6:30 pm.

There is a series of city meetings on bicycling in Berkeley starting Thursday at 12 – 1:30 pm.

Thursday evening the Zoning Adjustment Board takes up the 6-story project at 1201 San Pablo and removing four more tenant spaces from media /film and the Mental Health Commission will get the latest update on the Special Care Unit and access to crisis care in Berkeley.

Housing Survey for tenants https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CABERKE/bulletins/314823c

BART Survey - https://bartberkeleyelcerritocap.participate.online/

Sunday, April 24, 2022 – no city meetings or events found -more-