Editorials

Elsewhere in this issue you can find a good factual obituary for Thomas Lord, someone who was part of Berkeley’s civic life for at least two decades. But what’s hard to capture is the way he participated in public discourse, with a combination of passionate belief and fact-heavy logic which some people might say was “so Berkeley”.

Tom Lord was one of the last of the real Berkeleyans, not the goofy stereotypes of the long-gone “How Berkeley Can You Be?” parade (started by a guy who lived in Piedmont) but a data-driven free-range public intellectual who was not hampered by conventional thinking. He knew a lot about a lot of things that really count, and he wasn’t shy about telling you so. He showed up frequently at Berkeley public meetings to politely set officials straight on what they were doing, even when pompous officials allowed him no more than a one-minute sound byte.

He was generous with his time and his technical skills, available for the rest of us when we needed information to bolster something we were working on. And he even volunteered to set up a mail system to support Planet subscribers.

Berkeley is full of opinions,as is the whole Internet, but a relatively small number of these opinions are supported by data and certainly not by cogent analysis. However, you could always rely on Tom Lord for relevant facts and authoritative figures. He was a very smart guy who had been a hotshot in the world of open-source software, and he applied his keen intellect to knotty political problems. He wrote a good bit for publication, and as a member of Berkeley’s Housing Advisory Commission produced comprehensive discussions of key housing issues.

After he left the HAC he turned his attention to the even knottier problems of climate change. He was particularly skeptical of civic efforts to appear to be doing something significant to reduce or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions with what he thought was too little, too late.

Outrage was his signature style. It made officials mighty uncomfortable, as well it should have.

When solid information is expressed in strong language, you’re bound to make someone mad. That’s probably why Tom had the honor of being banned from the “comments” section of a timid local news outlet early in its existence. He never made it back in, except when he used a pseudonym—an experiment which didn’t last.

Here, we feel privileged to have known Thomas Lord, and very much appreciate his written contributions to the Planet and his regular participation in the city’s decision-making process. He exemplified Mr. Dooley’s mandate: comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable. He did both, with panache. Mourn for him, and organize.