Opponents of bike lanes on Hopkins were out-strategized by the local bike lobby. I say “lobby”, because unlike the neighbors, the merchants, and the merchants’ customers, the bicycling advocates are a well-organized constituency with financial and ideological support from Berkeley City Hall. They’re formally represented by two entities—Walk/Bike Berkeley, self-described as “an all-volunteer organization,” and its patron, the nonprofit Bike East Bay.

Berkeley’s grants to Bike East Bay

Documents obtained from the city via a Public Records Act request show that from 2015 to 2020, Bike East Bay received a total of $100,648 in grants from Berkeley: $16,622 annually from 2015 to 2018; $17,000 in 2019 and 2020 respectively. As documented below, in 2020 Transportation planner Beth Thomas told Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Dave Campbell that she was going to ask that the grant be increased to $20,000 in 2021. The city, however, has yet to provide me with an invoice for 2021. For now, let’s assume the grant was $17,000, which would bring the city’s total grants to Bike East Bay since 2015 to $117,648. 

That’s a fraction of Bike East Bay’s income, which the organization reported as $1,326,000 in 2019 and $876,000 in 2020. (I couldn’t find its 2021 annual report online.) As documented below, Bike East Bay uses its larger resources to support Walk Bike Berkeley. 

The Berkeley grants helped to fund Bike East Bay’s annual Bike to Work Day. In return, Bike East Bay publicized Berkeley and its council as pro-cycling. 

For a sense of the collegial relationship between the bike lobby and Berkeley’s Transportation staff, consider this email correspondence between Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Dave Campbell and City of Berkeley staffer Beth Thomas. (Planet readers may recall Thomas as the staffer who repeatedly blew off my requests that she post materials for the online Hopkins meetings before the meetings.) 

On January 30, 2020, Campbell emailed Thomas: 

“Have a moment to talk about Bike to Work Day? Our proposal for this year is to ask Berkeley to up their Bike to Work Day sponsorship to $20,000 (from $17K) last year and in return we will work with Walk Bike Berkeley to coordinate the Council Ride and press activities. Bike Happy Hour of course is still a part of all this.” 

On March 3, Thomas wrote back: 

“I wanted to close the loop with you about the City’s sponsorship of Bike to Work Day. Last year we increased our sponsorship from $15K to $17K. I plan to submit a budget request to increase our sponsorship to $20K for next year’s (the 2021) Bike to Work Day. But it would be a bit awkward for me to request an increase to $20K for this year when it hasn’t been budgeted and we just increased our sponsorship a year ago. If you can describe whether we’d be getting anything this year that’s in addition to what we have gotten years past, that would help me make the case for an increase to $20K for this year.” 

Campbell then pitted Berkeley against more forthcoming cities: 

“Yes, for $20K this year, we are working with Walk Bike Berkeley to plan a Council Ride and some kind of media event or splash at the end of the ride, details t.b.d. So, for an extra $3K, Berkeley gets this added attention beyond the Bike Happy Hour Party. Last year we were not able to do this as our staff were in other East Bay cities who had stepped up their sponsorship of the event and we wanted to show them some added attention and give additional support. Let me know if this helps, and of course a $17K sponsorship is always useful and super useful to ensure the success of Bike to Work Day.” 

Despite Campbell’s and Thomas’s efforts, in 2020 the city granted Bike East Bay $17,000. Presumably Berkeley did not get the “added attention” that would have come with an additional $3,000. 

Lobbying the council 

During the run-up to the council’s May 10 meeting, Walk Bike Berkeley and Bike East Bay coordinated appeals asking their followers to tell the council, the Transportation Commission, and Transportation staff to support the Hopkins conceptual design, with several amendments—most notably extending the protected bike lanes from Gilman to San Pablo. They also called for closing the westbound slip lane at the Hopkins and Sacramento intersection, adding a raised crosswalk across Hopkins at the Hopkins and Monterey-California intersection, and widening the proposed 8-foot, two-way protected bike lanes from Monterey to The Alameda. As of June 12, they claim to have sent the council more than 3,200 letters calling for these changes. 

On May 10, the council approved all of the above (the widening of the bike lanes was provisionally approved, and extending the lanes to San Pablo was designated for study) on an 8-1 vote, with Councilmember Susan Wengraf voting No. 

That was just the latest, albeit the most substantial, of the bike lobby’s victories: the Hopkins project would be the second two-way protected cycle track in the city. The groundwork had been laid years before, with the council’s approvals of the Berkeley Bicycle Plan in 2017 and the Vision Zero Action Plan in 2019. The former plan aims to encourage bicycling, the latter to eliminate severe and fatal traffic crashes in the city by 2028. 

The encouragement of cycling and quest for safe streets are worthy goals. The problem is that in pursuing them, the city has adopted the bike lobby’s take-no-prisoners approach to public policy. Berkeley’s elected and appointed officials rubber stamp the lobby’s agenda, while they discount or, more often, ignore concerns that agenda has provoked. 

The official bias was evident during the council’s May 10 deliberations. The lead arguments put forth in the April 24 letter with a hundred-plus signers—that bike lanes on Hopkins “should be flatly rejected as way too dangerous for cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists alike,” and that pedestrian safety “should be the primary focus”—were never acknowledged, much less discussed. Scores of residents voiced the same concerns in emails sent to the council after the online meetings held in Fall 2021 and in the week before the council’s meeting on May 10. (I received those emails on June 7 in response to another Public Record Act request.) 

The council also disregarded the questions posed by Hopkins neighbor Donna DeDiemar about the validity of staff’s claims that Hopkins is a disproportionately high-injury street, and that 71% of Berkeley residents would ride bikes on the street if it had protected bike lanes. 

The only contested issue that got sustained consideration was how the proposed removal of parking spaces to make room for the bike lanes would affect the businesses at the Hopkins-Monterey intersection. Only one councilmember, Wengraf, raised it. 

Javandel to Wengraf: I don’t know exactly how many parking spaces will be lost  

When the council began to deliberate the Hopkins project, Wengraf was the first to speak. After calling the shopping hub at the Hopkins- Monterey intersection “a treasure” that she’s patronized for the past 45 years, Wengraf said that she’d spent the afternoon “going from store to store and talking to the owners of the businesses and was very disheartened to find out that they felt ignored during this entire process. They [had] expressed their concerns and felt like they hit a wall.” 

Wengraf proceeded to question Deputy Director of Public Works for Transportation Farid Javandel about many aspects of the conceptual design. She asked, among other things, “Are you comfortable with the lane widths that you’re proposing on Hopkins—ten and a half feet for garbage trucks and fire trucks. What are the impacts on Hopkins being an evacuation route?” 

Javendel deflected her question, stating that “the number of lanes isn’t changing, so the traffic capacity for the lane widths is not significantly different.” But the number is changing:a lane is being eliminated. 

Their most extensive exchange concerned parking. Javendel had stated that “not many parking spaces will be lost.” The May 10 staff report didn’t indicate the number. Wengraf asked him to “quantify that definitively.” Javendel said that the number would vary “segment by segment,” that from McGee to California three spaces would be eliminated, and that “all parking spaces from California to Sacramento would be eliminated.” 

Wengraf: “All the parking spaces. And how many is that?” 

Javandel: “I don’t remember the number off the top of my head. It’s at least twenty-five, almost.” 

Wengraf: “So that’s significant.” 

Javandel conceded, sort of: “No, it’s significant. And they’re not time-limited. They’re residential parking spaces. The business parking spaces have primarily been kept.” 

(I assume that Javandel was referring to the parking spaces on the south side of the block of Hopkins from McGee to Monterey. The May 10 staff report says: “All on-street parking with the exception of one stall would be retained along the south side of the street in this commercial block.” It says nothing about the parking that would be removed on the north side of the block. It also states that from McGee to Gilman, “[a]ll parking would be removed from both sides of the street…in order to provide enough space for the protected bike lanes.” Don’t Javandel and his staff realize that people shopping at the businesses in the area park in many of those spaces?) 

Wengraf demurred, pointing out that people currently park in front of the businesses on the north side of Hopkins—for example, the Hopkins Launderette which is on the block west of Monterey—and alongside Monterey Market. “I don’t agree that it’s not going to have an impact on the businesses,” she said. 

Javandel interrupted: “I’ll be happy to get you an actual count, if that’s important.” 

Wengraf: “So a total of 28 parking spaces are going to be lost on Hopkins.” 

Javandel: “We can do a count. I don’t have the exact number.” He spoke about setting up a “paradigm” that “potentially” included parking meters and RPP [Residential Parking Permits], so that “employees can park a couple of blocks away, as they do downtown, and that frees up parking for the business customers”—who it appears, will now be paying to park near the shops. The map in the staff report showed parking meters on Hopkins and California Street. 

He didn’t explain that staff believe that employees are parking all day near the businesses or how staff came to that conviction. Nor did he say where neighbors who would lose off-street parking, and who lack driveways and/or garages—most notably the residents of nearby apartment buildings on Hopkins—would park in the future. 

It’s odd that Javandel didn’t know exactly how many parking spaces would be removed. The transportation engineer has worked for Berkeley for more than thirteen years and was recently promoted to Deputy Director of Public Works. More to the point, the removal of parking spaces was a spark point for controversy early in the planning process, with the merchants heading up the protest. 

I’ve obtained a spreadsheet prepared by Javendel a month after the May 10 meeting that shows the number of existing and slated-for-removal parking spaces. The spreadsheet indicates that a total of 60 spaces will be eliminated on all of Hopkins. The number that will be eliminated from California (Monterey) to Sacramento is 26. 

Shoppers also park on Hopkins east of California, at least all the way to Carlotta. The spreadsheet shows that on those blocks, seven parking places will be lost. That makes 33. 

The spreadsheet, however, does not show that the approved conceptual plan apparently calls for removing two spaces on California in front of Monterey Market (see the map in the May 10 staff report), bringing the total number of lost spaces to 35. 

Also notable was Javendel’s cheeky retort to Wengraf: “I’ll be happy to get you an actual count, if that’s important.” If the actual count hadn’t been important to the councilmember, she wouldn’t have pressed him about it. The implication was that the exact number was not important to him. 

Showing his pique at being pressed, Javandel hinted at the appreciative reception that he’s customarily accorded by the council. Indeed, Wengraf’s interrogation was followed by a return to business as usual, as all of her colleagues except Councilmembers Bartlett and Taplin vocally dismissed concerns about the effects of parking loss on Hopkins businesses. 

Councilmember Lori Droste volunteered the disputable claim that bike lanes improve business. (For details, see Part 2 of this dossier, “Bike lanes and business.”) 

Mayor Jesse Arreguín: the plan balances parking loss with safety  

Mayor Arreguín waited until after the vote had been taken to use the final two minutes of the meeting (which ended at 12:16 a.m.) to lend credence to Wengraf’s report that the merchants feel they were ignored. 

During public comment, Monterey Fish owner Paul Johnson, speaking for himself and other shopkeepers, had called the plan “incredibly dangerous.” But Arreguín declared that the city had been “responsive to business,” given that the approved “plan keeps 95 percent of the parking spaces and road access at a hundred percent.” 

But the parking spaces at issue are those most likely to be used by shopper—the ones on Hopkins from Sacramento to Carlotta. There are now 51. Thirty-three are slated for elimination. That’s a loss of 65 percent. 

In Arreguín’s view, the design is “improving safety” for pedestrians and bicyclists. “That,” he averred, “balances the concerns we’ve heard during the process about the loss of parking and the impacts it would have on businesses and some of the [recreational] institutions.” 

Arreguín did not mention the safety of people who have to drive to the area to shop, and who, if they park in front of Monterey Fish and other stores on the block between McGee and Monterey, will have to step into moving traffic, walk twenty feet to the curb, crossing the buffered two-way bike lanes, and reverse that trip when they’re loaded down with groceries. In fact, Arreguín didn’t mention shoppers or shopping at all. Nor did he comment on how the increased congestion that the plan is expected to entail—for example, by eliminating the westbound slip lane at Hopkins and Sacramento—might affect the accessibility and appeal of the commercial hub. He also ignored the Hopkins Corridor Bicyclists’ claims that bike lanes would make Hopkins more dangerous for cyclists. 

Councilmember Rigel Robinson: blame exclusionary, auto-obsessed neighbors 

Robinson shifted the focus from the merchants’ objections to the bike to a more politically palatable target: Hopkins neighbors’ allegedly exclusionary attitude toward people from outside their neighborhood. 

He began by calling the street and the neighborhood “such a gem,” stating that “I admire deeply that the neighborhood is willing to fight for it.” Then he denounced neighborhood opponents of bike lanes as elitist reactionaries who are blocking the struggle against climate change. 

Robinson claimed that the council had received “hundreds of emails from residents asking us not to change anything on Hopkins.” 

On May 28, I filed a Public Records Act request to see all emails that Councilmember Robinson received from residents asking the council not to change anything on Hopkins. Of the 181 documents I received, only one made that ask; it came from a resident of Hopkins below Gilman. (Space doesn’t permit citation of the many affecting appeals. I think they can be viewed on the city’s online public records request portal; look for Request 22-513.) 

Wagging his finger, Robinson asserted that 

“many in our community will be benefited by being reminded that they do not own the street, not even the street right in front of your house, that the street is public right of way and should be designed for the public. That means designing our streets for more than just the storage of cars….[and] mak[ing] it possible for the people who can live car-less lifestyles to do so….Our roads can and must work for everyone….Building bike lanes is for access for people can’t afford to drive, and for mobility that does not pollute the planet….If we’re going to have this drawn-out and intense and protracted process for every Complete Street in the city, we’re going to run out of time in the fight against climate change.” 

Robinson also noted that he’d heard that a flyer had circulated in the Hopkins neighborhood “which rather prominently presented a picture of me in association with the project and the threat of reduced parking.” In fact, he said, “I’ve had nothing to do with [the project].” 

It’s true that he had nothing to do with the project. But the leaflet was making a different point, albeit obliquely: When it comes to bike lanes, Robinson and the council majority are sloganeering ideologues. 

The leaflet was addressed to people living west of Gilman. Under the headline “YOU MAY BE ABOUT TO LOSE YOUR STREET PARKING!” appeared a tweet from Walk/Bike Berkeley announcing that District 1 Councilmember Kesarwani wanted to extend the bike lanes from Gilman to San Pablo. The leaflet commented: “That could mean the elimination of all parking on Hopkins from Monterey to San Pablo.” It urged its recipients to register their opposition. 

At the bottom was the photo of Robinson. What the councilmember didn’t say is that in the photo, he’s wearing a tee shirt that says “Street Parking is Theft.” 

Seriously? What would Robinson tell people who live on Hopkins, need cars to get to work or medical appointments or school or to transport disabled family members (for starters), have no off-street parking and are slated to lose their street parking to make way for the bike lanes? For lack of viable alternatives, they can’t stop driving. 

The councilmember’s antics did not go unnoticed by the bike lobby. On June 7, Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Dave Campbell tweeted that he had “just donated to Rigel Robinson for Berkeley City Council. Rigel knows safety projects and repaving go together.” 

Councilmember Kesarwani: absent bike lanes down to San Pablo, West Berkeley families can’t access Hopkins area amenities 

In working the “opportunity hoarding” meme, Robinson echoed Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani’s earlier pitch for her supplemental proposal to extend the protected bike lanes to San Pablo. 

Kesarwani began by thanking “our heroic Transportation staff, not just for the presentation this evening but for the extensive community input process.” In accordance with the city’s bike plan, Hopkins, she said, “should be a Complete Street with bike and pedestrian upgrades.” 

Like Robinson, she expressed love for the Hopkins shops but ignored the shopkeepers’ objections to the proposed bike lanes. Instead, she associated opposition to her proposal to extend the lanes from Gilman to San Pablo with the city’s ugly racist past. That extension, she asserted, is 

“essential for ensuring that our West Berkeley families can access the public services and amenities that are only available on Hopkins like Ruth Acty Elementary School, Mustard pre-school, and King Middle School, all of the amenities on the King Middle School campus, like the pools, tennis courts, playgrounds, sports field and track—of course, Monterey Market, which we all love, and the other commercial establishments, and the North Branch of the Berkeley Public Library. I really want to emphasize that this is really a matter of equity for West Berkeley, which as we all know, are formerly redlined neighborhoods, do not have this level of public services and investment. So it’s really very important to me that we have this opportunity to extend the protected bike lanes, so we can ensure that those communities have a way of getting to these public services and amenities in a way that is equally safe as the neighborhoods east of Gilman, as proposed by staff.” 

Does Kesarawni think that West Berkeley families are being denied public services and amenities along the eastern portion of Hopkins? If so, she needs to provide specific examples of such discrimination. 

Her reference to redlining brings to mind the recent observation of the distinguished Black scholar Adolph Reed, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, that the current “interpretive environment encourages extracting events, people, and tendencies from their contexts in the past to treat them as appendages to moralistic claims for the present.” 

Councilmember Kate Harrison: technocrats know better 

Unlike Robinson and Kesarwani, Councilmember Harrison expressed no affection for the businesses. Commenting on whether the city should limit parking or install meters near the commercial hub, Harrison opined: “I don’t think it’s appropriate that it’s only the business community to decide that. The parking is not just there for them; it’s to help the neighbors not have people who are shopping park in their area “for overlong periods of time.” She urged “a whole city approach” that encouraged turnover in parking. 

The implication that the merchants had played or will play a decisive role in the Hopkins project was at odds with Wengraf’s report that the business owners felt that their concerns had been ignored during the entire planning process. Harrison was likely responding in part to Sophie Hahn’s too-little, too-late gesture, shortly approved by the council, to involve the Office of Economic Development in future planning for the Hopkins reconfiguration. 

Harrison subsequently made it clear what she meant by “a whole city approach.” Noting that Berkeley has “always had a tradition that it’s the neighbors who’ve decided they want RPP [Residential Parking Permits], Harrison said she wants “professional staff’s opinion to play a role, and not just what people think.” She was fine with the elimination of street parking. “While we’re losing three spots in terms of shopping area, these parking management tools [RPP, meters],” she said, “are going to be critical to making up their loss and the loss of other twenty-plus spaces.” 

Even so, Harrison was the only person on the dais who questioned the claim that parking is the neighbors’ main issue: 

“People have said several times that the neighbors are talking about parking. I barely heard them mention parking. What I heard them mention is safety.” 

That’s true. But the questions the neighbors raised about safety are not the ones that Harrison proceeded to voice. The neighbors regard the bike lanes themselves as dangerous. Harrison welcomes the lanes—with conditions. 

“Who-all is going to be in these bike lanes?” she asked. Noting that so far “we have” electric scooters and wheelchairs, Harrison wondered “about conflicts among these different kinds of vehicles” and “regulating the speeds within the lanes.” Wheelchairs, she said, belong on sidewalks. Her conclusion, again, was to hope that staff would use their “professional expertise” to address these issues. 

Good idea. But why didn’t Javandel and his colleagues take a whole city approach and tell the council that these issues needed to be resolved before it approved bike lanes on Hopkins, or for that matter anywhere else in Berkeley? 

Bike lobby: neighbors only care about parking  

Harrison’s rendering of the neighbors’ position was only partly correct. As she noted, parking is not their main issue. But as per the April 24 letter to Councilmember Hahn, it is a concern. As Harrison also noted, the neighbors’ top concern is safety—meaning, as she did not say, alleged threats to safety posed by bike lanes on Hopkins. 

It’s the bike lobby that’s spread the false claim that parking is the neighbors’ only concern. 

In a commentary posted in April, after the three online community sessions about the final conceptual designs for Hopkins, Bike East Bay wrote: “‘Pro-parking residents are outraged by the removal of any existing parking, however minimal.” 

In repeated calls to support the conceptual design, also posted in April, Walk Bike Berkeley wrote: “There will be a lot of neighbors and motorists upset about these safety improvements because they require some on-street parking removal.” 

By disregarding the reasons that “neighbors and motorists” object to the removal of on-street parking, as well their concerns about the dangers posed by bike lanes on Hopkins, the bike lobby can portray its opponents as zealots. It’s a neat case of projection. 

Like all true believers, the bike lobby won’t acknowledge, much less engage, its critics, because doing so would expose the weaknesses of its position. 

Coming from a private lobby, such dogmatism is merely unpleasant. 

Coming from a Berkeley mayor and members of the city council, which is to say, from democratically elected public officials, it’s unconscionable. 

The Hopkins bike lanes would be the second, not e first, two-way protected cycle track in the city. Note, however, that unlike Bancroft, Hopkins is a two-way street. 

The space for westbound auto traffic that would be eliminated at the intersections of Hopkins at Monterey and at Sacramento are not “slip lanes,” but just room on the street for westbound drivers to pass by cars in the westbound lane proper. At each intersection, that space would be eliminated to make room for the protected two-way cycle track. 

Berkeley did not set a new temperature record on Friday, June 10th, but plenty of other cities in the greater Bay Area did. It was still hot with the temperature nearing 90°. The weatherman on local news said temperatures on Friday were 20° above normal, making it another climate warning as this heat wave moves east.

Why, we might then ask, as the earth is hurtling toward the global warming climate catastrophe, with CO2 levels in the atmosphere at 420 parts per million, the highest levels in human history, is the city of Berkeley Public Works Department’s 2023 budget request for $1,000,000 for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at the corporation yard off the table in the city manager’s proposed biennial budget?

At Thursday’s Budget and Finance Committee, Councilmember Harrison called not investing in electrification infrastructure, “pennywise and pound foolish”. And, that was before the posting of the purchase order request from Public Works to increase the money for diesel fuel by $1,900,000.

Item 13 in the draft agenda for the June 28th City Council meeting gives the new total to be spent on diesel fuel as $10,744,000. That is a hefty sum going to Diesel Direct West, Inc., for fuel for city vehicles. The report that is supposed to accompany the request is not in the Agenda Committee packet, so we can’t calculate monthly or yearly costs, or how many months are added by extending the contract to December 31, 2023. Regardless, $10,744,000 for diesel fuel is still a lot of money in a city that is supposedly committed to becoming fossil-fuel-free.

And that cost doesn’t include the damage to the environment to extract crude oil, process it into diesel and burn it in combustion engines.

This city can’t make the conversion to EV without the charging infrastructure. For all the bluster from our Mayor about being a progressive city, most days I wonder what our city leaders actually believe, because it is not showing up as action.

Each time I walk past the corporation staff parking lot at the end of Allston, I think about how that space could be more effectively utilized. At the very least it could be covered with solar to power up those EV charging stations Public Works is requesting. Maybe it could house RVs or tiny houses. 

Something interesting happened with the Council Public Safety Committee agenda posting. City Council meetings including Council Committees are normally posted so they are available on the City website after 5 pm on Thursday for the following week, something I really appreciate so I can get a jump start on the weekly summary for the Activist’s Calendar. In a normal week, going through all the meetings, documents and typing it up is usually around ten hours of work. 

If you read my calendar regularly you will note that I often don’t quote the agenda item title exactly. After I read the full agenda item, not just the title, I try to give a better description of the content so you can decide whether you think it is important enough to look further, send an email or attend the meeting. 

I also drop extraneous words. I listed the Public Safety Committee agenda item 2 as “Police Equipment” (that was all I had) with the note that as of 3:27 pm there were no documents. At some point on June 3 the original agenda I saw was replaced with “Information Report on Current Policies Related to Tear Gas, Smoke, and Pepper Spray.” Changing the agenda after posting is very unusual. 

As far as I can tell, BPD has been itching to get tear gas back into their arsenal and gave their case, with Captain Okies as the meeting presenter, that tear gas is harmless causing no injuries once it wears off. Councilmember Kesarwani, chair of the committee, said at the outset no action would be taken. Thomas Lord commented that pepper spray and tear gas are not benign and are potentially lethal. 

I have never been tear-gassed so I can’t give a first-hand description. The paper on “Tear Gas and Pepper Spray Toxicity” by R. David Tidwell and Brandon K. Will, in the January 10, 2022 update from the NIH, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information sections on History and Physical, Evaluation, Treatment / Management, Complications and Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544263/ does state that “death after exposure is extremely rare, but reports do exist…” and then describes autopsy findings. The article also describes injuries as this is an article for the healthcare team. 

Those who attended the June 2020 City Council meeting when tear gas was banned may remember this was the evening when former BPD Chief Greenwood answered the question on what could be used if tear gas wasn’t available with, “Firearms, we can shoot people,” the statement that ended his career nine months later. 

Councilmembers Kesarwani, Wengraf and Taplin with Captain Okie went on to discuss their imagined scenarios when tear gas could be useful. Kesarwani pulled up an old committee recommendation with limited approval for tear gas that was never submitted to the full council. Mutual aid was a big part of the discussion. 

Councilmember Wengraf said she spoke with the sheriff. She did not give the name, but the Alameda County sheriff is Greg Ahern, the person who shared space with the Oathkeepers at the now defunct Urban Shield exercises. He is currently the second place finisher in the June 7th primary at 34.02%, with Yesenia Sanchez at 50.12%. His association with the Oathkeepers and their White supremacist connotations has been a driving force behind finding a replacement for Sheriff Ahern. This looks like the election year where the movement to remove Ahern from office may well succeed. The role of the Oathkeepers in the January 6, 2021 insurrection should motivate everyone to vote for Sanchez, but money and advertising have been known to swing voters in the wrong direction, even in the Bay Area where everyone thinks they are informed and above such propaganda tactics. And we still have White supremacists in our midst. 

Wengraf reported that the sheriff stated that he would not send aid to Berkeley as long as the tear gas ban was in place. Berkeley would need to use the National Guard, and that would require a 48-hour notice. With a very pro-police Public Safety Committee, I worry this will bypass a review by the Police Accountability Board and instead work its way up to the full council, where the majority will cave to police demands, but we shall see. I am always hopeful. 

This brings us back to the Budget Committee “FY 23 & 24 Budget Balancing Strategies and Priorities” document with Reimagining Public Safety funding requests listed page 3 as $4,871,462 for 2023 and $4,186,462 for 2024. The document is listed as Item #2 “Proposed Biennial Budget Discussion” for June 9, 2022. After searching through multiple budget meeting agendas and documents, nowhere can I find a list of what falls into that $9,057,924 for Reimagining Public Safety. That leaves me uneasy after the City Manager tried to pay for new carpet using Measure GG Fire Prevention funds before pulling it when questioned by Councilmember Wengraf and highlighted by public comment. 

The two stage readings of ROE are this week, Sunday, June 12th at 5 pm and Thursday June 16th at 7 pm. If you missed finding the website for the free tickets here it is: https://www.aeofberkeley.org/productions/upcoming-shows/378-roe-by-lisa-loomer 

What was really interesting this week on the impact of Roe v. Wade was the quiz in the Washington Post of how women’s lives have changed from 1970 to 2020 with women gaining agency over their body deciding when and if to bear children. The answers are in the table and it really says it all, how Roe v. Wade has made women’s lives more equal. And, of course, how those same answers give way to why legislators busy taking away access to abortion are filled with White men. The Turnaway Study which I reviewed May 22 is an excellent choice to read more about the impact of having or being denied an abortion. 

Agenda Item 8 at the Peace and Justice Commission, “Pass a Resolution Declaring the City of Berkeley’s Commitment to Abortion Rights” evolved into a lengthy discussion after the usual litany of difficulties from members who have trouble with their computers, using zoom, and other problems. The resolution is well meaning, but what came out in the discussion was how little was known by the commissioners regarding local services and access and how little exploration was completed prior to writing the draft resolution. And for that matter California State legislation signed into law and in process was absent from the discussion. The Peace and Justice Commission is supposed to merge with the Human welfare and Community action Commission sometime this year. 

The Police Accountability Board did meet on Wednesday, but my attendance was limited to hearing a fuller description of the police action and follow-up to ending the Berkeley High School student’s attempt to recruit other teens to engage in a Berkeley High shooting and bombing. There was less information from the BPD officer in attendance than from the local news sources. 

Thank goodness someone tipped off the police to squash this tragedy in the making. My question is where are the parents in all this and how was a high schooler able to start amassing the equipment to pull it off? 

Fareed Zakaria in his June 12, 2022 CNN show GPS and his Washington Post column stated how he was wrong to dismiss Mitt Romney’s warning during his 2012 presidential campaign that Russia posed the single largest threat to the United States, going on to write that, “Romney clearly understood that power in the international realm is measured by a mixture of capabilities and intentions. And though Russia is not a rising giant, it is determined to challenge and divide America and Europe and tear up the rules-based international system. Putin’s Russia is the World’s great spoiler.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/09/biden-administration-defeat-russia-contain-china-ukraine-war/ 

The book I finished this week is Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev. This is my third book on Russia. I also read Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick and The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder. I am nearly finshed with Putin’s People: How the KGB took Back Russia and Then Took On the West by Catherine Belton. 

In August 1991 my husband and I were in Greece when we heard from people on the street of the coup in Russia. The August Coup to seize Russia from Gorbachev failed, but by December 26, 1991 it was over and the Soviet Union was dissolved. 

Nothing is True and Everything is Possible is not the best written book and at times is hard to follow. Still, the overwhelming message in the post-Soviet-Union Russia is how propaganda, corruption, and bribery fill every corner and creep out as the oligarchs use their thievery to buy up property, super yachts and move their money into London, Paris, New York or Geneva. Even Cyprus is mentioned. The demise of oligarchs who lose favor is described in detail, how they end up in jail, lose their companies or worse. There is the occasional success when the right connection is found to bribe. 

There are connections and parallels to be drawn between Russia’s Putin and the corruption that permeated the Trump Presidency: his cabinet, his embrace of Putin and the Republicans who pledge their fealty to Trump, Trumpism and authoritarianism. This isn’t over. The January 6th insurrection is just one piece, and it was much closer to success than many of us may believe. We would be wise to see the warnings. I will be glued to the January 6th hearings and the CNN special on Alex Jones and “Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal” series. 

Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram and especially Tucker Carlson promote messages of victimhood, replacement and racism which fill the heads of their listeners and seep out into the mainstream, whether or not the rest of us tune into Fox. 

There is one person who is clear eyed, tenacious and unafraid, Liz Cheney. I expect there is little on which Cheney and I would agree, except this: locating Trump at the head of the attempted coup to stay in power. 

As a former Brit, I am appalled at the colossal waste of money being spent to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee. The queen and her royal predecessors had ruled over India (the land of my heritage) from 1858 to 1947 where they plundered India’s enormous wealth and adopted a “divide and rule” policy between Hindus and Muslims to deflect hostility away from the British.

Following the British departure in 1947, Britain’s former “Jewel in the British Crown” was forced to relinquish a sizable portion of its land mass to accommodate the new Islamic nation of Pakistan.

Millions perished in the enormous migration that ensued.

My father spent most of his adult life campaigning relentlessly for an early exit from India’s British rule. In the “great Loot” it is estimated that $45 trillion was drained from the Indian economy in the form of onerous taxes. When Britain arrived on India’s shores, India’s share of the world economy was 23 percent; when the British it left India’s wealth had been reduced to 4 percent.

The jubilee itself is very telling. There is huge public expenditure for four days, about 28 million pounds spent for a meaningless ritual genuflection to one of the world’s richest institutions, while Britain is in very deep economic trouble, post Brexit. Inflation is running at 10 percent. There is enormous inequality. There are a record numbers of children going hungry, record numbers of working families are forced to use food banks. The soft-hard border issues in Ireland continue to haunt the British, post Brexit.

It seems like the British elite ignored Law of Karma. What goes around comes around!

"Anosognosia," is a term used to describe the absence of the basic insight that you are ill, and it is a common symptom of schizophrenia in many but not all of those afflicted. This lack of awareness goes undetected to the person who is suffering from it even though others around the ill person are probably very aware of it. I don't suffer from anosognosia except when I've slipped significantly into psychosis. I must always remain vigilant to prevent this. However, I am still subject to other insights going missing, insights for which I haven't done as many "mental drills" to reinforce. 

(In this week’s piece, I’m speaking a lot about intangibles. So, if this reading has you lost, probably you are not alone.) 

Sometimes, basic insight isn't missing, but I might suffer from a generalized depleted mental capacity, and many things can cause this. 

Additionally, there are different types of mental capacity. The ability to multitask, let’s say, working for Starbuck’s for example, is a very different capacity compared to being able to tune out our surroundings and create a laser-like focus on a project, such as with the copyediting I’m doing on my own work at this moment. 

Strong emotions can reduce mental capacity. Sometimes we lose mental capacity when others are harassing us too much. Too much television can temporarily reduce mental capacity because of all the strobe-like graphics, scene changes, and let's not forget, dumb content. And let's not forget just getting tired and having mental fatigue as a cause of depletion. 

I've taken medications to deal with panic attacks. Yet, this morning I had the thought of reinstalling something I've arrived at in my past, that I call, "The Okay Indicator." This is not to say I'm the only person who has invented this. I have no doubt that many other meditation and mindfulness practitioners have discovered the very same tool. To be able to have and use this tool, internally focused insight is prerequisite. 

To elaborate on "The Okay Indicator," it is the installed perception that I'm okay. Very simple. Yet it takes some focus. You can't do it if your thinking is jumbled, if your mind is taken over by extreme upset, or if your mind is massively dulled by medication or by some other substance. 

If you forget that this tool has been "preinstalled," and is available for use, the tool doesn't do you any good. It is as though you had an electric drill, but you have failed to pick up the drill, to put a drill bit into it, and use it. Tools usually don't use themselves; the operator must use them. If insight has gone absent, you might completely forget that you can use an ability you once used. 

Some have argued that psych medications block the insight needed to resolve the causes of one's psychiatric condition. On the contrary: without meds, the brain of a psychotic person doesn't work, and that will block basic insight far more than a dulling effect of medication. Many antipsychotics can be maneuvered around in the quest to gain insight. For me, and don’t consider this to be medical advice, an old antidepressant and/or tranquilizer, Trazodone, was the worst thing that I've ever taken. It had me falling asleep at the wheel of my car and it had me so numbed out that any shred of awareness was fogged out of existence. And Trazodone isn't an antipsychotic. Different medications work differently for one person versus another. But if psychotic, usually taking an antipsychotic, if it is prescribed, is basic wisdom. 

If a mental capacity is missing, often you won’t be aware of the fact because your insight of not having the capacity went out along with the absent capacity. When capacity returns, if it does, you could wonder, "What happened?" 

Viral Vindication

Critical Replacement Theory may be an empty Tucker-Carlson-talking point but Natural Selection is still a Darwinian reality. The latest evidence comes from the Centers for Disease Control's report on COVID-19 mortalities. While the US accounts for a million of the 15 million global deaths (chants of "We're Number One! We're Number One!"), it turns out there's a partisan impact to the plague.

According to the CDC and Johns Hopkins University, the 16 US states with the highest COVID death rates are all states under Republican control. The states with the lowest death rates are largely Democratic. California had the lowest rate (58 deaths per 100,000) while mask-ditching, vax-nixing West Virginia had the highest (204 deaths per 100,000).

Reading the Small Print

I recently grabbed a cold bottle of Minute Maid apple juice and got another reminder of the ever-present reach of Global Capitalism. In addition to a printed reminder that Minute Maid is now owned by Coca-Cola, the ingredients list read as follows: "Apple concentrates from USA, Argentina, Chile, China, Turkey, Hungary, Austria, Poland and Italy."

What's up? Coke can't find enough apples in the US? And why's the list not in alphabetical order? 

Time for TIME's Titans 

TIME magazine just published its annual round-up of "The World's 100 Most Influential People." One of the attractions of this exercise is seeing who the editors enticed into singing the praise of its winners. Some examples of these match-ups: Actor Channing Tatum's appreciation was written by fellow actor Mathew McConaughey; Tim Cook was praised by Steven Jobs' partner Laurene Powell Jobs. Oprah Winfrey's plaudits came from Michelle Obama. Rafael Nadal received a pass from Tom Brady. 

One of the most creative write-ups was Questlove's salute to Wordle inventor Josh Wardle. It involved a 144-word tribute made up exclusively of five-letter words. (Questlove got his own TIME trib courtesy of Jimmy Fallon.) 

Under the category of "Leaders," TIME included the following winners and fellow celebrity back-slappers: Volodymyr Zelensky (Joe Biden); Joe Biden (Bill Clinton); Ron DeSantis (Jeb Bush); and an all-TIME capper—Vladimir Putin was assessed by Putin-foe Alexei Navalny whose scathing criticism of the Russian leader was somehow smuggled out of a "maximum-security prison colony" where Navalny is serving a nine-year sentence. 

TIME's Top 100 List contains a mystery, however. According to the magazine's poll, the top vote-getter was Ukraine's Zelensky followed by Elon Musk and Boris Johnson. But, for some unexplained reason, neither Musk nor Johnson appear in TIME's 2022 Trendy Tally. (Maybe TIME couldn't convince Jeff Bezos to be Musk's praise partner and nobody had a good word for Boris.) 

Weird Words 

Consider the word "depose." What's it mean? Is the individual being "interviewed" in a legal proceeding or "overthrown" in a political uprising? 

Or how about the word "recall," which (1) can refer to bringing back a pleasant memory or (2) can refer to bringing down an unpleasant elected official. 

Best Use of a Lede Sentence 

Local journalist Bill Berkowitz recently posted an article on BuzzFlash with the tasty title: "Meet Ken Griffin, a GOP Hedge Fund Billionaire Who Wants to Eat Chicago." It began with the following: 

"Kenneth C. Griffin is a Chicago billionaire that runs the Citadel hedge fund—$43 billion in assets—and Citadel Securities. Griffin, Illinois’ richest person, according to Forbes, has become the biggest donor to the Republican Party this election cycle. What does Griffin want out of politics? Power! And since he isn’t running for office, it’s behind the scenes, pulling the strings type power! Griffin has a net worth of about $30 billion…." 

The part I liked was right there in the lead sentence, which describes Griffin as "a Chicago billionaire that runs the Citadel hedge fund…." Note: "that runs" not "who runs." Seems to imply that billionaires are just not human. 

Creepy Characters Online 

What is it about the anonymity of the Internet that it allows ordinary humans to reimagine themselves as ghoulish avatars? Oh, right. It's the "anonymity" thing. 

Recently, I stumbled across a discussion on a site called Documenting Reality ("There are some things you just can't unsee"), hosted by "korndawg." The topic of the day was the Uvalde schoolroom shootings and I was creeped out by some of the nom-de-nets that visitors had adopted. They included: bagpuss, BlackCaaaaat, blackfire90, BloodyAri, deathpics, HYPRTCKR, Chinchillazilla, Dodecahedron, icehole, iceman247, Muddytrux, reaperman69, XxMutilatedxX, Morbidcharlie69, AceGoober, bentdawg, and zombiesniper. 

Summing Up the Summit 

The Summit of the America's was hobbled by Joe Biden's executive decision to exclude Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela from attending because Biden accused them of being "dictatorships." The charge went unchallenged by the Mainstream Media, which still seems to be mind-locked in a hoosegow of Cold War thinking. 

Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela all have open elections for national assemblies and executive positions. While some of these elections may be criticized as flawed, none of these countries are ruled by military officers or police-state autocrats. 

And speaking of "flawed" elections, it's worth noting that the US is not a true democracy either. Our leaders are not chosen by a direct popular vote. Instead, that chore is handled by a misrepresentative artifact known as the Electoral College—or, in close, disputed contests, decided by a vote of an unelected US Supreme Court. 

The truth is America has not only failed to make the Top Ten list of world democracies, in 2016 it fell from the World Population Review's list of "full democracies" and tumbled into the category of "flawed democracies." 

The US also has a sordid history of coups and backing attempted coups (aka "regime change") against elected governments in Latin America including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. 

More recently, Joe Biden has taken up Donald Trump's campaign to recognize Juan Guaido (a Mike-Pence-anointed shill) as the unelected "interim president" of Venezuela. 

Veterans Raise Their Voices for Millions 

Fashion Plates 

Some personalized license plates spotted around town: 

Red truck: GTALIFT ("Get a Lift") 

INA2ND (In a Second) 

EYAMIGO (Hey, my friend) 

WASEEM2 (Cute Arabic Boy 2) 

And a tip of the hat to phil allen who reports spotting a "little sporty hardtop" one recent morning on 101 in Marin with a plate reading: BLURRRR 

Here are some plates from the "Your Guess Is as Good as Mine" file: 

CALICV: California Internal Combustion Vehicle? 

CCHEONG: A fan of Cheech and Chong? 

8HS683: Over a span of 8 hours, six people ate three pies? 

MOFESNL: Make Options For Enjoying Saturday Night Live? Mofesional? (According to the Urban Dictionary a "mofe" is "a girl who is pretty smart and liked by many.") 

A Life-and-Death Conundrum 

It is a weird statistical fact that the majority of people who oppose abortion by invoking the "pro-life" argument also hold the position that the state has the right to extinguish life by imposing a "death penalty." 

The inconsistency is addressed in an article in The Federalist that argues: "There is a gaping categorical chasm between killing an unborn child and [executing] a convicted felon." 

Back in the '90s, I formed a faux social-cause organization called "Right-to-Lifers for the Death Penalty." I thought I was engaged in satire. I didn't realize there were folks about who found it reasonable to reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable. 

Life, Death, and the US Constitution 

Pro-choice and pro-life advocates have both claimed their positions are supported by the US Constitution. Neither case appears to be true. The only use of the word "life" in the Constitution is found in Article III, Section 3, Clause 2, which refers to treason and states: “The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.” 

It is in the Declaration of Independence that we find the stirring words that offer the promise of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” 

But the Declaration was addressed to King George and apparently has little legal standing in US jurisprudence. (Note: The Declaration only contains an offer to pursue happiness. There's no guarantee that anyone can actually expect to achieve happiness.) 

Maybe this is a good thing. If the Declaration were the law of the land, gun owners might be able to present the SCOTUS with an argument that they have a "right" to bear AK-15s because owning assault rifles makes them "happy." 

The Right to Bear Swords 

The Minute Men of the American Revolution weren't armed with assault rifles. The rebel militias (and the armed slavery-enforcing police squads that followed) relied on single-shot muskets, pistols, and swords. The blades ranged from cuttoe hunting swords to Horseman's sabers and the Highland broadsword. 

If the NRA were true to its revolutionary roots, it should consider creating a parallel organization: the National Rapier Association. This new, enhanced NRA would campaign for the right to bear sabers. 

This would present us with a means of testing the gun-owners' argument that everyone has a right to "bear arms." We could start by insisting that every American has a right to "open carry" cutlasses and sabers. Unlike bullet-spewing handguns and rifles, sharp iron blades are only useful for "self-defense" in close quarters. That, alone, would seem to make them "safer" than ballistic weapons. It would be much harder to pull off a mass-slashing than a mass-shooting. But somehow, I sense that the average Jill and Joe American would not be comfortable in a world where citizens were empowered to swagger down sidewalks and shopping aisles wearing broadswords. 

And if combat weapons like assault rifles are to be allowed, what's to stop the NRA from demanding the legal right to carry shoulder-mounted, rocket-propelled grenade launchers? 

Meet Survivors of Israeli's Attack on the USS Liberty 

This month marks the 55th anniversary of Israel's military attack on the USS Liberty, on June 8, 1967. In the aftermath of the attack, Washington mainly chose to ignore the incident, apparently as a courtesy to Israel. At noon on Tuesday, June 21, Veterans For Peace and World BEYOND War's Florida chapter will be hosting a Zoom presentation about an assault that killed 34 and wounded more than 100 US sailors. Two survivors of the attack, Ernest Gallo and Mickey LeMay, will share their personal stories and answer questions. Register here. 

This month has seen the revival of many Bay Area arts organizations which were in forced hiatus because of the pandemic. One of them, Berkeley Chamber Opera, will be presenting a double bill of one-act operas at Berkeley’s Hillside Club this coming weekend.

Eliza O’Malley, the director, who also sings a soprano role, says that the two have been chosen to be “Covid proof “, short with small casts. The three performances (Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 7 pm) are double cast in case any singer should test positive.

Both operas are by Russian composers from the beginning of the 20^th century, but they are quite different from each other.

The director says that “this may well be the West Coast Premiere of Prokofiev’s Maddalena, since it was lost for decades.”

Even after the score was re-discovered in publishers’ archives in the 1950s, ownership disputes delayed production until the 1980s.

It’s based on a play by Magda Gustavovna Lieven-Orlov. When the play was originally published, she wrote under the male pseudonym “Baron Lieven” because the ultra-dramatic content was considered too daring and immoral for a woman.

The Stravinsky opera Mavra is a contrast, a short and sweet comic favorite which is frequently performed.

Audience members are required to be well-vaccinated and boosted with strong masks. For a cast list and tickets: click here

Berkeley Hillside Club
2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley CA

Friday June 17th 7pm
Saturday June 18th 7pm
Sunday June 19th 7pm

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Worth Noting:

To look for city sponsored events, like films in the park and check for meetings announced on short notice, use the new city website https://berkeleyca.gov/. This summary of meetings which is already long will only list city meetings and key community meetings/events. Key items are bolded and underlined.

Sunday, June 12th at 5 pm is the production of ROE at the Brower Center by the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. The staged reading of ROE is free (thanks to donations), seating is limited, reservations are highly recommended. A second final reading of ROE is at the Marsh, June 16th at 7 pm.

Monday at 10 am the Council Committee on Health, Equity agenda items are the Fair workweek and re-entry employment and guaranteed income. At 2:30 pm the Agenda committee finalizes the agenda for the June 28th regular Council meeting at 6 pm – item 10 BerkDOT, 13. Add $1.900,000 to City cost of Diesel fuel note that a $1,000,000 request to install EV charging at the corporation yard for city vehicles is not included in the CM proposed budget, 28. Pilot of charging for parking in neighborhoods,

Tuesday City Council at 6 pm action items 30. Proposed biennial budget, 32. Police Equipment, 33. Parking enforcement in fire zones, 34. VACANCY TAX, 35. Home electrification pilot.

Wednesday Commission on Aging at 1:30, FITES meets on plastic ordinance at 2:30, and the Human Welfare & Community Action meets at 6:30 pm.

Thursday 6pm the Fair Campaign Practices & Open Government meets at 6 pm on election enforcement referrals. At 7 pm the DRC takes up 742 Grayson a manufacturing R&D with a 7-story 325 parking space garage and the last reading of ROE at the Marsh is at 7 pm. (

Sunday, June 19th at 11 am – 7 pm Juneteenth Festival at Adeline and Alcatraz

The schedule of the January 6th hearings for the coming week (in Pacific Time) and what will be covered – Monday, June 13 at 7 am PT will cover how Donald Trump and his advisors knew that he infact lost the election but still engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information that the election was stolen, Wednesday, June 15 at 7 am PT will cover how Trump corruptly planned to replace the US Attorney General so the Justice Department would spread false stolen election claims, Thursday, June 16th at 10 am PT will focus on Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to refuse to count electoral votes on January 6th..

Sunday, June 12, 2022

ROE at 5 pm at the David Brower Center Goldman Theater at 2150 Allston Way

Staged reading of ROE produced by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley performance of Roe by Lisa Loomer directed by Susannah Wood and organized by Carol Marasovic of the City of Berkeley Commission on the Status of Women

Admission is free - reservations are highly recommended,

https://www.aeofberkeley.org/productions/upcoming-shows/378-roe-by-lisa-loomer

donations to cover the production costs are welcome send to:

Berkeley Actors Ensemble / ROE, PO Box 663, Berkeley, CA 94701

Monday, June 13, 2022 

City Council Health, Life Enrichment, Equity & Community Committee at 10 am (members Hahn, Kesawani, Bartlett) 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87917512317 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 879 1751 2317 

AGENDA: Public comment non-agenda items, 2.a. Harrison submitted to Labor Commission in 2018 - Fair Workweek Ordinance – adopt first reading, b. Companion report from CM Williams Ridley – Lisa Warhuus – study it, analyze costs, 3. Taplin, co-sponsors Harrison, Hahn – Office of Racial Equity: Re-Entry Employment and Guaranteed Income Programs. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-health-life-enrichment-equity-community 

Agenda and Rules Committee at 2:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82262362092 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 822 6236 2092 

AGENDA: Public Comment on non-agenda and items 1 – 7. 1. Minutes, 2. Review and Approve 4/12/2022 draft agenda – use link or read full draft agenda after list of city meetings, 3. Berkeley Considers, 4. Adjournments in Memory, 5. Worksessions Schedule, 6. Referrals to Agenda Committee for Scheduling, 7. Land Use Calendar, Referred Items for Review: 8. COVID, 9. Return to In-person meetings, Unscheduled Items: 10. Discussion Regarding Design and Strengthening of Policy Committees, 11. Supporting Commissions, Guidance on Legislative Proposals. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules 

CITY COUNCIL CLOSED session 4:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88324327577 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 883 2432 7577 

AGENDA: 1. Conference with Labor Negotiators, 2. Conference with Legal Counsel, existing litigation a. Ruegg & Ellsworth v. City of Berkeley, RG1890003 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-closed-meeting-eagenda-june-13-2022 

Tuesday, June 14, 2022 

CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83933192334 

Teleconference: 1-699-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID:  

AGENDA: use link and HTML to see agenda and document details, or go to end of this post for full agenda with key items highlighted in bold and underlined. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/city-council-agendas 

Wednesday, June 15, 2022 

City Council Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment & Sustainability Committee at 2:30 pm (members Harrison, Robinson, Taplin) 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82152744860 

Teleconference: 1-699-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 821 5274 4860 

AGENDA: Public comment non-agenda items, 2. Harrison & Hahn - Ordinance to regulate plastic bags at retail and food service establishments, 3. Energy Commission – Community outreach on proposed regulations for use of carryout and pre-checkout bags, 4. Harrison, co-sponsor Bartlett, Hahn - Ordinance establishing emergency GHG limits, process for updated Climate Action Pan, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and regional collaboration. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-facilities-infrastructure-transportation-environment-sustainability 

Commission on Aging at 1:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87859343194 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 ID: 726 7423 9145 

AGENDA: Presentation Older Adult Community Forum 2. Public comments on non-agenda items, Discussion/Action: 4. Letter to Council regarding Hopkins Corridor Project, 5. Letter to Council regarding Commission vacancies, 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/commission-aging 

Human Welfare & Community Action Commission at 6:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/4863098496 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 486 309 8496  

AGENDA: 5. Single Audit Report, 6. Review of East Bay Community Law Center, 9. Subcommittee on Homelessness, 10. Alta Bates, 11l Easy Does it lapse in services, 12. Senior housing programs, 13. Discuss potential infrastructure and affordable housing bonds/taxes, 14. Possible site visit to Pathways facility. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/human-welfare-and-community-action-commission 

Thursday, June 16, 2022 

Design Review Committee at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83338876936 - corrected link 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 833 3887 6936 

AGENDA: 742 Grayson – Majority Recommendations – Demolish two existing industrial buildings and construct a new four story 62’ tall manufacturing and research and development facility with 35,352 sq ft of ground floor manufacturing space and 7-story parking garage with 325 parking spaces. 

2439 Durant – Preliminary Design Review – Demolish an existing 2-story commercial building and construct a new 7-story mixed-use building with 7,799 sq ft of commercial space, 22 residential units, a roof deck, and indoor bike parking space. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/design-review-committee 

Fair Campaign Practices and Open Government Commission at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89363688641 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 ID: 893 6368 8641 

AGENDA: 3. Public comment on subjects not on the agenda, 7. City Clerk Department enforcement referrals to the California Fair Political Practices Commission for discussion and possible action, a. Stephen Murphy for Council 2020, b. Todd Andrew for Council for 2020, c. Bahman Ahmadi for Rent Stabilization Board 2020, d. Soulmaz Panahi for Rent Board 2020, e. Wendy Saenz Hood Neufeld for Rent Board 2022, 11. Brown Act Training presentation. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/fair-campaign-practices-commission 

ROE at 7 pm at the Marsh 2120 at Allston Way 

Staged reading of ROE produced by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley performance of Roe by Lisa Loomer directed by Susannah Wood and organized by Carol Marasovic of the City of Berkeley Commission on the Status of Women 

Admission is free - reservations are highly recommended, 

https://www.aeofberkeley.org/productions/upcoming-shows/378-roe-by-lisa-loomer 

donations to cover the production costs are welcome send to: 

Berkeley Actors Ensemble / ROE, PO Box 663, Berkeley, CA 94701 

Friday, June 17, 2022 & Saturday, June 18, 2022 

No City meetings found check https://berkeleyca.gov/ for city sponsored events 

Sunday, June 19, 2022 

Sunday, June 19th at 11 am – 7 pm Juneteenth Festival at Adeline and Alcatraz 

+++++++++++++++++++++ 

AGENDA AND RULES COMMITTEE at 2:30 pm 

DRAFT CITY COUNCIL AGENDA for JUNE 28, 2022 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82262362092 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 822 6236 2092 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules 

CONSENT: (CM items 1 – 20) 1. 2nd reading Ashby and North Berkeley BART Station zoning, EIR, MOA passed June 2, 2. Continuation COVID emergency, 3. Continuation boards and commissions to meet via videoconference, 4. Minutes, 5. Formal bid solicitations, $4,856,000, 6. FY 2023 Revision to investment policy confirms authority Director of Finance to make investments, 7. Approriations limit for FY 2023 $328,834, 462, 8. Revenue Grant MediCal $4,200,000 FY 2023 – 2025, 9. Amend contract add $200,000 total $6,375,185.82 with O.C. Jones & Sons, Inc for Berkeley Marina Roadway, 10. Accept Vision Zero Annual Report and direct CM to form coordinating committee to continue BerkDOT, 11. P.O. $400,000 to purchase two chipper trucks, 12. P.O. $165,000 to purchase one CASE Tractor Loader, 13. P.O. add $1,900,000 total $10,744,000 and extend term to 12/31/2023 with Diesel Direct West, Inc for Fuel for City Vehicles and Equipment (EV charging infrastructure for city vehicles at the corporation yard a - $1 million request for 2023 - is not included in the CM proposed budget for 2023 – 2024) 14. Contract $2,512,152 with Sposeto Engineering Inc. for FY 2022 Sidewalk Repair Project, 15. Amend Contract add $200,000 total $632,750 with Direct Line Tele Response for Citywide after-hours answering services and extend to 12/31/2024, 16. Amend Contract add $150,000 total $750,000 with Alta Planning and Design, Inc, for On-Call Transportation Planning Services, 17. Amend Contract add $150,000 total $650,000 with Community Design and Architecture for on-call transportation planning services, 18. Amend Contract add $200,000 total $650,000 with Clean Harbors, Inc for hazardous waste removal and disposal and extend to 6/30/2024, 19. Amend Contract add $150,000 total $423,534 with Don’s Tire Service, Inc for tire repair and replacement and extend to 6/30/2024, 20. Amend Contract with EBMUD CAP (Customer Assistance Program) expands 35% discount on sewer services for qualifying customers, 21. Mental Health Commission – appoint Mary-Lee Smith and Glenn Turner to Commission, 22. Taplin – Support AB 2156 prohibits ghost guns, 23. Taplin – Support AB 256 Racial Justice for All allows retroactive appeals of past convictions and sentences with racial bias, 24. Hahn Support AB 2408 and AB 2273 holding social media companies accountable, ACTION: 25. CM – Clean Stormwater Fee, 26. CM – Street Lighting Assessment, 27. CM- Transfer Station Rates, 28. CM – goBerkeley SmartSpace Pilot Program Implementation Recommendations 1. Adopt an Ordinance repealing and reenacting Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 14.52 Parking Meters to enable demand-responsive paid parking for non-RPP permit holders in the 2700 blocks of Durant Avenue, Channing Way, and Haste Street and the 2300-2400 blocks of Piedmont Avenue (a portion of Residential Preferential Parking Program Area I) for the duration of the grant-funded goBerkeley SmartSpace pilot program, and allow payment via license plate entry pay stations (“pay-by-plate”) to improve convenience and enforcement; and 2. Adopt a Resolution approving the pilot proposals to be implemented and evaluated as part of the goBerkeley SmartSpace pilot program. 29. FY 2023 & 2024 Biennial Budget Adoption, 30. FY Annual Appropriations Ordinace $737,068,278 gross, $620,623,866, 31. Borrowing of Funds and the Sale and Issuance of FY 2022-23 Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes, 32.a. Disaster and Fire Safety Commission – Request for Timely Fiscal Information on Measures FF and GG, b. CM companion report acknowledges need to provide accurate, timely and relevant information, 33. Disaster and Fire Safety Commission – recommendation to use Measure FF funds as intended by voters, 34. Arreguin - Suspension of Sister City Relations with Dmitrov, Russia and Ulan-Ude, Russia, 35. Taplin – Parking Minima for Mixed-Use Projects and Manufacturing Districts – reduces parking space requirements in manufacturing districts for mixed-use projects and changes off-street parking for manufacturing to a maximum, 36. Robinson, co-sponsors Taplin, Arreguin - Referral to CM – Keep Innovation in Berkeley, encourage R & D in Berkeley amends zoning, INFORMATION REPORTS: 37. Voluntary Time Off Program for FY 2023, 38. Annual Update on Wells Fargo, 39. FY 2022 2nd Quarter Investment Report, 40. FY 2022 3rd Quarter Investment Report, 41. HWCAC 2018-2023 Work Plan, 42. Annual Report LPC Actions, 43. Zero Waste Commission FY 2022-2023 Work Plan. 

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6/14/2022 CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING AT 6 PM AGENDA 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83933192334 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 839 3319 2334 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules 

CONSENT: 1. 2nd reading contract with CalPERS, 2. 2nd reading Commission Reorganization merging the Homeless Commission into the Homeless Services Panel of Experts, 3. CM – Ballot Measure related to housing for persons of Low-Income, 4. $5000 Donation to Animal shelter from the U.C. Davis Koret Medicine Program, 5. Formal Bid Solicitations $270,000, 6. Temporary appropriations FY 2023 $50,000,000, 7. FY 2023 Tax Rate: Fund the Debt Service on the Street and Watershed Improvements General Obligation Bonds 0.0075% (Measure M, November 2012 Election), 8. FY 2023 Tax Rate: Fund Debt Service on Neighborhood Branch Library Improvements Project General Obligation bonds at 0.0058% (Measure FF, 2008 election) , 9. FY 2023 Tax Rate: Fund Debt service on 2015 Refunding general (Measures G, S, I) Obligation Bonds at 0.0130% (Measures G, S, &I), 10. FY Tax Rate: Fund the Debt Service on the (Measure O) Affordable Housing General Obligation Bonds 0.0200%, 11. FY 2023 Tax Rate: Business License Tax on Large Non-Profits Adopt 1st reading of Ordinance setting the FY 2023 tax rate for Business License Tax on large non-profits at $0.7573 per sq ft, 12. FY 2023 Tax Rate: Fund the Provision of Emergency Medical Services (Paramedic Tax) at $0.0433 per sq ft, 13. FY 2023 Tax Rate: Fund Firefighting, Emergency Medical Response and Wildfire Prevention $0.1126 (Measure FF), 14. FY 2023 Tax Rate: Fund the Maintenance of Parks, City Trees and Landscaping $0.2039 per sq ft, 15. FY 2023 Tax Rate: Fund the Debt Service on the Infrastructure and Facilities General Obligation Bonds 0.0160% (Measure T1, 2016 election), 16. FY 2023 Tax Rate: Fund Emergency Services for the Severely Disabled $0.01932 (Measure E), 17. FY 2023 Tax Rate Fire protection and emergency response and preparedness (Measure GG) at $0.05818 per sq ft of improvements for dwelling units and $0.08804 per sq ft for all other improvements, 18. FY 2023 Special Tax Rate for funding the Provision of Library Services, $0,2583 per sq ft dwellings and $0,3906 per sq ft industrial, commercial and industrial buildings, 19. Designate Line of Succession for the Director of Emergency Services, 20. St. Paul Terrace Housing Trust Fund Reservation $8,551,040 in Housing trust Funds for Community Housing Development Corporation’s St. Paul Terrace (2024 Ashby), 21. Classification and Salary: Senior Economic Development Project Coordinator monthly salary $11,219.88 to $13,775.00 effective 6/15/2022, 22. Contract Amendment $598,560 with Innovative Claim Solutions (ICS) for claims administration of the City’s (Self-Insurance) Worker’s Compensation Funds, 23. Contract $1,115,000 thru FY 2027 with Axon Enterprise, Incorporated for Body Worn Cameras, Storage and Software, 24. Commission Reorganization creating Transportation and Infrastructure Commission combines the Transportation and Public Works Commissions, 25. Final Map of Tract 8621 1169 – 1173 Hearst 5 unit residential condominium project, 26. Peace and Justice Commission – Call for Immediate Ukraine Ceasefire, 27. Recommendation Council revise Resolution No. 69,917 regarding procurement, sales and service of sugar-sweetened beverages, 28. Hahn, co-sponsors Taplin, Bartlett, Harrison – Restoring and Improving Access to City of Berkeley Website and Archival Materials, 29. Robinson – Support for SB 1389 Low-Level Vehicle Infractions, ACTION: 30. FY 2023 and FY 2024 Proposed Budget Public Hearing #2, 31. Council comments on the FY 2023 and FY 2024 Proposed Biennial Budget and Capital Improvement Program, 32. Police Equipment & Community Safety Ordinance Impact Statements, Associated Equipment Policies and Annual Equipment Use Report, 33. Disaster and Fire Safety Commission - Parking Enforcement of Existing Parking Code in Fire Zones 2&3, 34. Harrison - Refer to the City Attorney and City Manager an Empty Homes Tax Ordinance for the November 8, 2022 Ballot – VACANCY TAX, 35. Harrison, co-sponsor Bartlett – Budget Referral – Establish a Pilot of Existing Home Electrification, INFORMATION REPORTS: 36. City Council Short Term Referral Process – Quarterly Update, 37. Results of general Obligation Bonds: $40,000,000 City of Berkeley 2022 Series B (2018 Measure O: Affordable Housing Federally taxable), 38. CM - Update on the Implementation of Fair & Impartial Policing Task Force, 39. City Auditor’s Office 2021 Peer Review Results. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules 

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LAND USE CALENDAR: 

Public Hearing to be scheduled 

1201 – 1205 San Pablo at ZAB Date TBD 

Remanded to ZAB or LPC 

1643-47 California – new basement level and 2^nd story 

1205 Peralta – Conversion of an existing garage 

Notice of Decision (NOD) and Use Permits with the End of the Appeal Period 

Bad news on tracking approved projects in the appeal period. Samantha Updegrave, Zoning Officer, Principal Planner wrote the listing of projects in the appeal period can only be found by looking up each project individually through permits online by address or permit number https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/Online-Building-Permits-Guide.pdf 

The website with easy to find listing of projects in the appeal period was left on the “cutting room floor” another casualty of the conversion to the new City of Berkeley website.  

Here is the old website link, Please ask for it to be restored item 28 on the June 14 Council agenda. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/planning_and_development/land_use_division/current_zoning_applications_in_appeal_period.aspx 

WORKSESSIONS: 

June 21 – Ballot Measure Development Discussion 

July 19 – Fire Facilities Study Report 

Unscheduled Workshops/Presentations 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Alameda County LAFCO Presentation 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

Kelly Hammargren’s on what happened the preceding week can be found in the Berkeley Daily Planet www.berkeleydailyplanet.com under Activist’s Diary. This meeting list is also posted at https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

If you would like to receive the Activist’s Calendar as soon as it is completed send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly summary of city meetings please forward the weekly summary you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. 

If you are looking for past agenda items for city council, city council committees, boards and commission and find records online unwieldy, you can use the https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website to scan old agenda. The links no longer work, but it may be the only place to start looking. 

Celebrated Belgian choral ensemble Vox Luminis returned to the Berkeley Early Music Festival on Thursday, June 9, for the first of two concerts at First Congregational Church, where they performed Dietrich Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostra. Buxtehude (1637-1707) was a renowned organist and composer in Lübeck, Germany, where he served as organist at the Marienkirche for 39 years. Younger composers such as Handel, Telemann, and Johann Sebastian Bach all made visits to Buxtehude in Lübeck. At the age of 20, Bach obtained a month’s leave of absence from his post as organist in Amstadt, Germany, to pay a visit to Buxtehude. Bach walked on foot from Amstadt to Lübeck, a distance of 250 miles, and then stayed nearly three months there so captivated was he by hearing Buxtehude’s music and conferring with the then 68 year-old composer. 

Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostra, roughly translated as The Body Parts of Our Jesus, is set to a Latin text that to any modern thinker seems morbid in the extreme. Each body part of Jesus is apostrophised in turn, beginning with his feet and ending with his face. Out of prudery, no mention is made of Jesus’s genitalia, although many churches in Europe claimed to have a holy relic in the circumcised foreskin of Jesus, called in Italian il santissimo prepuzio. Indeed, one is astonished that so much barely sublimated sexual energy is poured into this adoration of every body part of Jesus in this text. There are even two different passages from the highly erotic Song of Solomon, where Jesus is addressed as “my beautiful one” and “my sister, my bride.” 

As bizarrely morbid as we modern thinkers may find this text, we cannot fail to recognise the beauty of Buxtehude’s musical setting of this work, especially when it is so wonderfully sung by the Belgian choral ensemble Vox Luminis under the direction of its leader, Lionel Meunier. Mention must also be made of the excellent instrumental ensemble accompanying this group of singers, which was made up of violinists Elizabeth Blumenstock and Kati Kyme from Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Steven Lehring on violone, and David Belkovski on organ, with additional accompaniment on some passages from viola da gambists Elisabeth Reed, David Morris, and William Skeen. 

Vocal highlights included, among others, two different groupings of only three voices. The first of these came in the section Ad pectus (To the breast), in which three male voices alternated, two tenors and a bass. The second came in the section Ad cor (To the heart), which included a soprano, an alto, and a bass. This bass part was beautifully sung by Lionel Meunier. At the close of this work, a jaunty Amen with elaborate coloratura was sung by the full coterie of Vox Luminis singers. 

On Sunday afternoon at 4:00 pm, First Congregational Church will again host Vox Luminis who will give this Berkeley Early Music Festival’s final concert, which features JS Bach’s Magnificat as well as the Magnificat of Bach’s predecessor at Leipzig Johann Kuhnau.

Rachel Podger, hailed as “Queen of the Baroque Violin,” performed solo works for violin by Johann Sebastian Bach at First Congregational Church on Wednesday, June 8 as part of the biannual Berkeley Early Music Festival & Exhibition, which returns after a several year absence due to the Covid pandemic. Featured works at this concert were Bach’s Sonata and Partita Numbers Two for solo violin, as well as a transposition for violin of Bach’s Suite No. 3 for solo cello. 

Bach’s Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003, opens with a movement marked Grave. It is indeed gravely serious, featuring heavy embellishments, handled adroitly by violinist Rachel Podger. An open final cadence, on a long-held final note, leads directly into the second movement, marked Fuga. This lengthy movement features an uncompromising fugue. The third movement, an Andante, offers a broodingly lyrical melody heard over a pulsating bass line. The fourth and final movement, an Allegro, is mercurial and dynamic, featuring multiple “echo effects.” 

Next on the program was Bach’s Suite No. 3 in C Major for solo cello, BWV 1009, transposed into G Major for violin. An opening Prelude sets the serious mood of this suite, followed by a jaunty Allemande and a fast Courante. Then comes a soulful Sarabande followed by a frisky Bourrée. 

A masterful Gigue closes this suite with angular passages, including very dramatic, almost strident moments of great intensity. This closing Gigue was, to my mind, the highlight of the entire concert, masterfully performed by Rachel Podger. 

After intermission Rachel Podger returned to perform Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin, BWV 1004. It opens with a majestic Allemanda, followed by a jaunty Courante and a moody, pensive Sarabanda. Then comes a lively Giga, brilliantly performed by Rachel Podger; and this work closes with a famous Ciaccona, which has been called a virtual summation of the solo violin’s expressive capabilities. In this masterful movement, Rachel Podger’s playing rose to the highest level of solo violin brilliance. 

As part of the Berkeley Early Music Festival’s Fringe events, William Ludtke’s Handel Opera Project presented Handel’s opera Semele on Saturday, June 11, at 2:30 in The First Church of Christ, Science on Dwight Way. Over the years, Handel Opera Project has taken on not only operas by Handel but also operas by other composers. I still recall quite fondly their performance in 2014 of Luigi Cherubini’s Médée, based on the Greek tragedy Medea by Euripides, with the excellent Eliza O’Malley in the title role. For that opera, and for many others, Handel Opera Project has had to make do with the confined space of the Christian Science Organization’s premises on Durant Avenue. However, for this presentation of Semele they had the much more hospitable and architecturally remarkable setting of Bernard Maybeck’s First Church of Christ, Science on Dwight Way. For this reason, and in spite of having a cast of singers I’d never heard before, this Semele was a must-see for me in this year’s Berkeley Early Music Festival. 

Though announced as “ a concert version,” this production offered a hybrid mix in which though lacking any stage sets, the singers tried to act out their roles with elaborate gestures. Sometimes, they overdid their gestures. This was especially the case with countertenor Reuben Zellman in the role of Athamas. Even when not singing, Zellman made all sorts of gesticulations with hands and facial expressions as if to register dismay, incredulousness, or whatever. Often, Zellman’s overacting simply distracted from the excellent singing of contralto Sara Couden as Ino, Semele’s sister. 

In the title role, coloratura soprano Angela Jarocsz portrayed Semele as a kind of airhead, singing in a voice that depicted a mortal young woman quite pleased with herself in enjoying a sexual liaison with Jupiter, the greatest of the gods. If this seemed an appropriate interpretation dramatically for the role of Semele, it was nonetheless not always enjoyable vocally. However, Jarocsz delivered a fine rendition of Semele’s coloratura aria “Endless pleasures” in Act One. Veteran baritone Wayne Wong was excellent in double-duty as both Cadmus, Semele’s father, and the priest at Juno’s temple in Thebes. In the role of Juno, Jupiter’s wife who is furious at her husband’s infidelities, mezzo-soprano Ellen St. Thomas sang beautifully and acted credibly. As Jupiter, tenor Andrew Green was uninspiring though adequate. Perhaps one might fault Handel himself for writing the role of Jupiter, the greatest of the gods, for a tenor voice instead of a deeper, more masculine vocal timbre. Soprano Shannon Arcilla (or Shannon Latimer, as she is listed in the Berkeley Early Music Festival’s reader), was fine in the role of Iris. Finally, Don Hoffman was entertaining in the somewhat comic role of Sommus, the god of sleep. 

Handel’s Semele, which was first performed in concert form in English at London’s Covent Garden theatre on February 10, 1744, was also sung in English for this current presentation. 

Wliiam G. Ludtke conducted from the harpsichord and led a small instrumental ensemble of two flutes, two violins, a viola, and a violoncello.