Before dipping into the main subject of this Diary,note that more Ike Kiosks are coming, this time to the Gilman District, probably near Tokyo Market on San Pablo and near Gilman and Ninth; also there is interest from Donkey and Goat Winery at Gilman and Fifth for an IKE Kiosk with wifi. Jessica Burton (last name Burton not Brown) and Gaby Ghermezi with IKE have relocated to Hollywood, CA.

The Housing Element Draft Environmental Impact Report is a plan for adding 19,098 housing units in Berkeley, not the RHNA number of 8,934. As stated at the Planning Commission in the presentation, the larger number is intended to push changing zoning in the City of Berkeley. The Comment Period ends October 17, 2022 at 5 pm. The document including appendices is over 500 pages, so don’t wait until the last day to comment.

https://berkeleyca.gov/construction-development/land-use-development/general-plan-and-area-plans/housing-element-update

Mayor Arreguin plans to call a special meeting on September 29 at 5 pm regarding adding oversight for the $650,000,000 Bond Measure L. The City of Berkeley has a very poor track record of providing information to commissions to fulfill their oversight responsibilities for current ballot measures. Those opposing Measure L list lack of oversight and reporting as a serious issue, but more pressing is the statement in the bond, "These dollar amounts are estimates and are not a commitment or guarantee that any specific amounts will be spent on particular projects or categories of projects.” No amount of declarations or resolutions can hide that the Measure L General Obligation Bond has no priority of projects or even defined projects, so it is impossible to hold to account a measure that states it is not a guarantee of anything except, of course, debt for us to pay off. 

The Berkeley Neighborhood candidate forums that you missed were recorded and can be reviewed at https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/. 

The Personnel Board approved all positions, classifications and pay scales as submitted to the Board from Donald E. Ellison, Interim Director Human Resources and LaTanya Bellow, Deputy City Manager. 

Leonard Powell is back on the Council agenda in closed session on Monday, September 19. The attack on Leonard Powell looks very much like a city bent on removing ownership of property from a Black homeowner in South Berkeley. From this corner, because of previous reports of suffering caused to Leonard Powell, it looks like the City should be paying Powell damages for the City’s actions instead of fining Powell for over-priced so-called improvements. 

The final design for the parking garage at 2213 Fourth Street with 412 parking spaces was not approved at the Design Review Committee (DRC) meeting and it will be coming back again. The developer did not have the final finishes. This parking garage plus 742 Grayson with 325 parking spaces and 600 Addison with 943 parking spaces will add parking for 1683 vehicles in West Berkeley in Council District 2 represented by Councilmember Terry Taplin. 

There was exciting news from the DRC. Mark Schwettmann presented the 747 Bancroft Research and Development Project at Fourth Street. The developer team did contact the Audubon Society, and this modern dominant-glass façade research and development and light manufacturing building is going to be 100% bird safe glass on all sides with 94% native plants and an Ohlone garden. 

Erin Diehm is the person who really brought bird safe glass, dark skies and native plants to city commissions, the DRC and ZAB. I’ve learned a lot from her presentations. The two of us have been attending DRC and ZAB for months commenting on how to improve buildings and reduce the impact on the environment especially birds and supporting ecosystems and habitat. The DRC thanked us especially for how our contributions helped the DRC and developer. I never expect a thank you, but it was nice, and Erin Diehm certainly earned the recognition with her deep knowledge and thoughtful comments on ecosystems, habitat and the environment. 

Glenn Philips, the Executive Director of the Golden Gate Audubon Society, joined the DRC meeting for the discussion of the proposed Bird Safe Ordinance. Approximately 1 billion birds die every year in North America from collisions with glass. Forty-four percent of the collisions are with glass in buildings of one to two stories. That includes houses. Fifty-six percent is with glass in three to eleven story buildings. The challenge ahead is getting to the point where bird safe glass windows are readably available and reasonably priced for new smaller buildings like single family homes and replacement windows. 

Saturday, I had the privilege of attending the Sierra Club awards dinner as a member of the Citizens for East Shore Parks board (CESP). When Mayor John Bauters of Emeryville stepped up to receive the inaugural David McCoard Award as a visionary leader for safe and healthy Bay Area Communities, he spoke about his connection to trees, how his father planted a tree for each child and that his was an oak that has grown to be three stories tall with a magnificent canopy. He told us that on his first day as mayor the Emeryville Planning Commission agenda included approval for PG&E to cut down fifty-five trees on the premise that the trees were next to a gas line. 

Bauters had the item to cut down the trees pulled. On further investigation it was learned that the proximity between the gas line and the trees wasn’t what PG&E portrayed and the trees didn’t need to be cut down. 

The way Bauters spoke about trees and immersing in nature in solo backcountry hikes to refresh and rejuvenate from the stresses of his day job was incredibly moving. 

Forestry for a healthy watershed was the subject of another conversation during the socializing prior to the award presentations. Matt Turner, who is running for EBMUD Ward 7 (Castro Valley, Cherryland, Fairview and parts of Hayward and San Leandro),l and I talked for a long time on how current forestry practices need to change. Planting trees like the way corn fields are planted does not work.  

Saving trees is no small matter. What trees we plant, how we plant them and how we care for them makes a huge difference in their survival: the place of trees in rejuvenating ecosystems and the shade they provide for our own survival in giving relief from extreme heat events. 

Because this city, our City of Berkeley is more concerned with how trees fit into the narrow strip between sidewalks and streets rather than how to design our streets, sidewalks, medians and boulevards to support native trees with the generous canopies we need for the future, the street trees we are getting are non-native small trees that provide little shade and little to no habitat for birds and insects in our neighborhoods. There are native trees being planted in parks that will grow to have large canopies, but mature city trees are cut down with barely a blink of an eye. 

Even the narrow square of open soil around trees is too much for BODYROX at the corner of California and University. Someone has surrounded these street trees with asphalt right up to the tree trunk so these trees will get no water, no air to roots and will die. This should be a hefty fine and immediate removal of the asphalt. 

Friday was the last day to comment on the draft Environmental Impact Report for 2136 San Pablo, a 123 unit 6-story mixed-use building with 3 live-work units, 50 parking spaces and 10 units set aside for very low-income households. The 10 very-low income units makes this a density bonus project with two extra stories over the zoning limit of four and SB 330 qualified, which limits the number of public meetings to review the project to five. The west side backs up to George Florence Park and three street trees, mature sycamores, will be cut down with the project. The sycamores grabbed no more attention than a notation. 

Karen Hemphill in her first night on ZAB asked about impact of the project on the neighbors and commented on the number of vacancies along San Pablo and the changes to San Pablo with demolishing older one-story buildings. 

The colors selected for the 2136 San Pablo development are lots of deep charcoal gray (the “in” color), terra cotta and very little white. Charles Kahn commented he was tired of gray and asked for “happy colors.” 

Berkeley Lab studied the difference in energy demand between heat absorbing dark exterior walls and light-colored reflective walls and published “Can’t Take the Heat? ‘Cool Walls’ Can Reduce Energy Costs, Pollution” on July 9, 2019 by Glenn Roberts Jr. https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2019/07/09/cool-walls-can-reduce-energy-costs-pollution/ 

Charcoal gray is everywhere and exactly the opposite of what is needed for a future of increasing extreme heat events like the one that almost brought down the grid on September 6th. The Office of Emergency Services sent this text alert at 5:48 pm on the 6th, 

“Emergency Alert CalOES, Conserve energy now to protect public health and safety. Extreme heat is straining the energy grid. Power interruptions may occur unless you take immediate action. Turn off or reduce nonessential power if health allows, now until 9 pm.” 

It was the quick response to the cell phone blast that plunged power demand by 1.2 gigawatts between 5:50 pm and 5:55 pm, saving the grid. 

Changing the palate and finishes that are used for buildings may not seem like much, especially with the mild bay area weather to which we have grown accustomed, but the cooling San Francisco fog is disappearing. The 2019 updated Berkeley Local Hazard Mitigation Report adopted by Berkeley City Council in December 2019 on B-141 (pdf page 168) gives this warning: 

“Extreme heat events will increase in the Bay Area due to climate change in intensity, length, and frequency. By the end of the century, Bay Area residents may average six heat waves annually, which will average a length of ten days. Extreme heat threatens critical infrastructure, air quality, and public health. The urban heat island effect, where built surfaces absorb and retain heat causing higher nighttime temperatures, can exacerbate those health risks.” 

The Hazard Mitigation Plan continues with pages B-153, B-154 (pdf page count 180, 181) 

“Extreme heat events can be further exacerbated by the urban heat island (UHI) effect, through which densely-built cities like Berkeley experience higher temperatures in comparison to surrounding more rural areas. Factors contributing to the UHI effect include: 

· A relative lack of vegetation; 

· Reduced air flow; 

· An abundance of hard, dark surfaces—such as buildings,[emphasis added] streets, cars and sidewalks— which absorb heat rather than reflect it. These surfaces also slowly release that absorbed heat throughout the night, contributing to warmer nighttime temperatures as well. 

The UHI effect can also worsen air quality (particularly ground-level ozone) in urban environments. The UHI effect increases heat-related illnesses and fatalities, particularly after two to three days of extreme heat.” 

https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-01/Local-Hazard-Mitigation-Plan-2019.pdf 

Walls of six story buildings and taller, changing air flow, loss of mature large canopy trees to provide shade, and dark surfaces to absorb heat sounds like urban heat island effect on steroids. 

The “end of the century” extreme heat event warning is 2019 talk just like the temperature rise of 0.1°C that was supposed to happen each decade was 2011 talk. Instead it is a rise of 0.3°C in one decade. Every science and news report now includes statements about the accelerating speed of glacier melting and the exponential growth of extreme weather events. Lack of emergency action puts the planet on track to cross the temperature rise of 1.5°C by 2030. If what is happening worldwide with global warming of 1.1°C what happens with 1.5°C? 

A friend sent this link to an August article in Bloomberg by Brian K. Sullivan, “The World’s Rivers, Canals and Reservoirs Are Turning to Dust Waterways have dried to a trickle thanks to droughts and heat waves that owe their origins to climate change.” If you can open this link the photos are stunning; shocking is probably a better word. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-08-26/why-are-rivers-drying-up-climate-change-turns-waterways-into-dust?srnd=premium&sref=McB70VY0 

What really stuck with me from the heat event of September 6 was not the near miss of bringing down the grid, but the opinion piece by Matthew Bossoms three days later on September 9, 2022 in the New York Times titled “What My Family and I Saw When We Were Trapped in China’s Heat Wave.” The scene he described sounded like it could have come straight out of one of the climate books I’ve read like the End of ice or Uninhabitable Earth, or Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel Ministry For the Future. Only this scene wasn’t some “future” heated planet. It was right now: raging mountain rivers reduced to a trickle, deep swimming holes barely a foot deep, drying landscapes, withered crops, wildfires, heat stroke and restrictions on electricity that left cities scorching hot and normally cooled malls as hot and humid inside as outside. 

In closing, I picked up two books which really go well as a pair, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President and Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers. 

Trump would be nowhere, just some crazy narcissist on a soap box screaming his perceived victimhood, injustice and being the only person to save us, without his blindly loyal faithful followers and wannabe despots riding his coattails. John Dean and Bob Altemeyer delve into the followers of authoritarians in Authoritarian Nightmare:Trump and His Followers.  

My first introduction to Bob Altemeyer and his research is his 2006 book The Authoritarians which you can download for free from his website https://theauthoritarians.org/ While many books I pick up work well as audiobooks, Authoritarian Nightmare really needs to be read as a book in hand (print or ebook) unless you are already familiar with Alemeyer’s research. Altemeyer has a great sense of humor so while reading about RWAs (Right Wing Authoritarians) I was laughing out loud. The appendices include The Power Mad Scale and The Con Man Scale which Altemeyer predicts Trump would achieve a perfect score. 

It was listening to a discussion with the editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump Brandy X Lee, M.D., M,Div. and what behavior might be expected from someone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Collapse (when the narcissist’s image and false reality collapse) that lead me to the second book. The Foreword to the second edition of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump published in March 2019 starts with “Donald Trump is a profound danger to Americans and to the rest of the world. He will remain a profound danger until he is no longer president…” What we are learning is that Donald Trump continues to be a danger after leaving the presidency. At the rally over the weekend in Ohio Trump stepped into full embrace of QAnon. Pictures of attendees in solidarity to QAnon with their arms up with one finger pointing symbolizing the QAnon pledge, “Where We Go 1 We Go All” (WWG1WGA) floated across twitter often juxtaposed with pictures of a crowd in the Nazi Salute. 

To quote Ken Burns, “The best time to save a democracy is before it’s lost.” Trump stirring up believers in the QAnon conspiracies is not anything to laugh at or dismiss. We are in very serious times. 

Another shoe started to drop this week for Trump as Mazars USA Trump’s former accounting firm started turning over financial documents to the House Oversight Committee. Add this to the most prominent legal jeopardies, the investigations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the documents at Mar-a-Lago and January 6th attempted coup, the Georgia Criminal investigation, January 6th Hearings, The New York Attorney General Civil Investigation into the Trump organization: the walls are closing in, but will Trump slip through as he always does? MAGA now equals Make Attorneys Get Attorneys. 

Saturday, September 17, 2022 at 10 am - noon

Berkeley Neighborhoods Council

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Candidates Forum

Videoconference:  

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85935407339?pwd=S1VmYkhzOTkxVkJNaXNlOXpVK3dLQT09  

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 859 3540 7339 Passcode: 349962  

https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/  

Monday, September 19, 2022 

League of Women Voters Berkeley Albany Emeryville 

Alameda County District Attorney at 6 pm (Pamela Price and Terry Wiley) 

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Hb-3v6fZR-m52S3AsanZtQ 

Submit Questions prior to September 18: https://forms.gle/KL1WXkcwNiZYnVCj8 

https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

Monday, September 19, 2022 

League of Women Voters Berkeley Albany Emeryville 

Berkeley School Board at 6:30 – 8 pm 3 openings 6 candidates (Ka’Dijah A. Brown, Mike Chang, Tatiana Guerreiro Ramos, Norma J F Harrison, Reichi Lee, Jennifer Shanoski) 

Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f3TcePlNSVS8oBmyZiW7wg 

Submit Questions prior to September 16: https://tinyurl.com/ymva273f 

https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

Thursday, September 22, 2022 

League of Women Voters Berkeley Albany Emeryville 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board at 6:30 – 8 pm 

Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NW1NCSPWReqXcXuoUchwIg 

Questions deadline was September 7 

https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

Saturday, September 24, 2022 at 9:30 am – 11:30 am 

Berkeley Neighborhoods Council  

Berkeley City Council and City Auditor Candidates 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85935407339?pwd=S1VmYkhzOTkxVkJNaXNlOXpVK3dLQT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 859 3540 7339 Passcode: 349962 

https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/ 

Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 10 am – 10:45 am 

League of Women Voters Berkeley Albany Emeryville 

AC Transit At Large Director (Alfred Twu and Joel Young) 

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z5D0TOzLSrGNXA-UR5wLqg Submit questions to: https://forms.gle/yZdor3wj5Lmnoxg86 

https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/

The title implies that it might read like a Hallmark card. But "Love Letters to the Park" is a blistering indictment of Berkeley's $1,100,000 proposal to commercialize its most beautiful park, Cesar Chavez, a detailed description of the bewilderingly moronic city council that signed off on it, and the educated, thoughtful public that stopped it. It is a must-read for anyone interested in public process, legislative obfuscation, and grassroots organizing during a numbing, disorienting pandemic. It's beautifully illustrated with photographs of the small groups that came together to save it by the photographers who were there. 

Hargreaves Jones Inc., an arguably respectable international architectural consulting firm, displays its stunning misunderstanding of the park's history, purpose, use patterns, public, and underlying budgetary setting by blindly accepting a contractual challenge to yank even more income out of its state-owned natural bayside setting to siphon into the city's general fund. This despite years of rotting infrastructure thanks to the city's indifference, an indifference well illustrated by fifteen years between Berkeley pier inspections. 

In anyone else's hands this might be tedious detail. But Nicolaus's deft storytelling includes marina activist Paul Kamen's kayak trip under the Berkeley Pier with a camera, the only reason those fifteen years of indifference wasn't even longer. With quick, broad strokes Nicolaus paints the compelling portrait behind the numbers and policies, the fairy tale of the ferries the council to this day promotes as potentially lucrative along with Hargreaves Jones's zip lines, "ropes courses", pavilions, and large-scale performance venues. Most planners know only the naive believe any of this would benefit the city financially after subtracting the overwhelming cost of supportive services required. 

But it's the public, not the consultants or the politicians, who are the collective stars of this profound constellation of dog-walkers, naturalists, biologists, families, kite-fliers, photographers, former and current commissioners, bird-watchers, neighbors, wind-surfers, bike-riders, sailors, and gardeners. The letters themselves are a perfect parallel to the respite the park itself offers for free from dawn to dusk by reminding us who we honestly are, and what we can accomplish by simply organizing together mind by sharp mind and heart by whole-hearted heart. 

Clifford Fred, former planning commissioner, patiently notes the proposal's ignorance of previous public open space protections such as Measures P, Q, and L from as far back as 1986, and cautions against the almost casual brutality of "naming rights" and corporate logos. Deborah Scott joins dozens of other neighbors bewildered that Hargreaves Jone's proposal references "Questionnaire Respondents" which didn't manage to include anyone they knew or any of the relevant groups, including the Chavez Park Conservancy, the Solar Calendar organization, Golden Gate Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, the California Native Plant Society, or the Citizens for East Shore Parks, to name a few. 

The powerful course of the river of park-protective protest, as it picked up speed, put such an obvious end to Hargreaves Jone's proposal that politicians fell all over themselves distancing themselves from the obvious support they'd given it in the first place; the initial documents make no secret of the financial monetization goals some of them now, at least privately, decry. It's a good lesson right before an election; a lesson in how easy it can be to slide destructive planning by an intelligent public unless your neighborhood has some dedicated, sharp-eyed, creative thinkers in the mix stirring up the right kind of inquiry and launching some simple petitions. Reading "Love Letters to the Park" will refresh your faith in your community in one witty, understated, true story, and it really does name names. It's the story of one small thing in a discouraging world that went really, really right. 

I recently joined a Zoomchat that featured an appearance by Texas populist Jim Hightower, a master of snarky-twangy, tongue-lashing commentaries. Hightower is the activist author of a signature book with the audacious title: "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos." 

I once ran into the former Texas Agriculture Commissioner during an outdoor gathering in the backyard of Berkeley Mayors Loni Hancock and Tom Bates. 

When I asked Hightower how he was enjoying his visit to the People's Republic of Berkeley, he raised his Stetson cowboy hat and proclaimed: "It's great being out here in the land of the periwinkles!" 

I still have no idea what he meant, but I took it as a compliment. 

But there was no question what was on Hightower's mind during his Zoom chat. 

Railing against the B-hive of Bureaucrats, Billionaires, Bankers, Bosses, and Bozos, Hightower snapped: "They seem to think they're the top dogs and we're all a bunch of fire hydrants. But," he added cheekily, "even the smallest dog can lift a leg against the tallest building." 

Hightower got off another memorable line, when he referred to some political stumblebums as "confused as goats on Astroturf." 

Metaphors Be With You 

Later in the day, while wandering between the Hopkins Street tennis courts (chockfull of enthusiasts whacking rackets to send little green balls bouncing everywhere) and the adjacent grassy open space (populated with dog owners tossing balls to be run down by their chase-happy hounds), Hightower's Astroturf line came to mind and inspired the following simile: "Happy as a team of terriers on a tennis court.") 

The Most Frequent Words Heard on Zoom 

"You're muted, Charlie! Unmute yourself!" 

Fashion Plates 

Black Lincoln: LBLKPRL (El Black Pearl?) 

Subaru Outback: FIJIMIX (Dad's from Fiji: Mom's from Philly?) 

Blue Mazda: PCELUVE (Peace Love) 

Pontiac Torrent: AIR H20 (Just the basics: Air and water) 

Blue VW: BAGLMAN (Don't leave this car un-loxed) 

Black Toyota: WYOFWYS (Way of Ways? Why of Whys? Wyoming Freeways?) 

Black Toyota: TANOKPK ("Tanok" is a Mexican word for "sun." So, "Sunny Peak"?) 

Bumper Snickers 

All on the backside of a single, shinny green VW convertible: 

Deport Trump. 

Stop The Donald: Don't let the Infection Spread 

Science Doesn't Care What You Believe 

Californian Born & Proud of It 

California Grown 

Ruckus Society 

Marmot Republic 

Wilderness Medicine Institute 

Million Dollar Wars: Who Needs Healthcare? 

Political Poetry of the Week 

Governor Gavin Newsom (aka "Give-in Nuke-some" for his recent pro-nuclear/anti-solar stances) recently added an inspired comment to the lexicon of political glam when he uttered the following well-crafted declaration:
"A goal is a dream with a headline on it!" 

How Solar Power Saved the Grid 

With Climate Change driving the state's temperatures up to 117 degrees, Governor Nuke-some argued that the risk of power-grid "blackouts" justified continued reliance on the state's sole remaining nuclear station—an aging, accident-prone facility built near major earthquake faults along the Pacific Coast. Diablo Canyon was set to be shut down by 2024. Governor Give-in changed that. 

But the grid didn't suffer a major blackout—thanks, in large part, to the clean, renewable power that was being generated by the rooftop panels atop 1.5 million California homes. 

Also to thank: the state's solar power back-up batteries, which provided 4,000 megawatts of clean, green power. 

Newsom argued that the old nuclear reactor had to be kept running to prevent power blackouts. But what is worse: a blackout—that is only a passing inconvenience—or fallout from a reactor meltdown—which is a lasting death sentence for millions? 

During one day in Heat Week, state power authorities spent $450 million purchasing electricity on the spot market. Had that money been spent on purchasing additional power storage batteries, that would have been an investment with a payback period lasting 10-15 years—instead of just one day. 

What Else Works? 

When the heat hit the triple digits, state power officials issued a trial power-conservation alert that went out over cell-phones. And it worked! Voluntary reductions cut the states' power consumption (then peaking at 50,000 MW) by two percent in less than five minutes. 

Something else that could work: There is a proposal to cover the state's 4,000-mile network of water canals with solar panels. In addition to generating 13 GW of electricity (a single Giga-watt can power 750,000 homes), the panels would also save 65 billion gallons of water that would otherwise be lost to evaporation. The Turlock irrigation district is already involved in a pilot program. 

Cat Scan Dot Com 

There are always lots of lost pet signs to be seen on the local power poles but the search for missing animals has now gone mainstream. In the digital age, worried pet owners hoping to reunite with their lost felines and pooches can now turn to the good graces of the all-knowing Internet. 

A few days ago, I passed a new Lost Cat flyer stapled to a powerpole. It directed readers to visit a Twitter account with the name Where'sMyKitty.com. The site mainly seems to serve as an online group therapy hangout where strangers commiserate over their missing pets. 

But there are pro-active options online, as well. LostMyKitty.com offers to "Find Your Cat" by directing alerts to local shelters and offering photo-ready posters ready for visitors to customize and print out. LostMyKitty also specializes in broadcasting what it calls "Cat Amber Alerts." 

What's odd here is that these sites only deal with felines. If Fido is missing, you have to turn to a site like WhereIsMyDog? (This suggests that most pet-owners either own a cat or a dog but rarely, if ever, both.) If you happen to lose a pet cat and a pet dog (or a pet bird or reptile), your best bet seems to be the local Humane Society or the nearest SPCA. 

Fallen Leaves: A Trigger for Urban Fires  

On my morning run, I've noticed a lot of leaves collecting along the curbs and in front yards. In these days of Wildfire Weather, I tend to see these carpets of dry vegetation—which frequently run across the sidewalks to the walls and porches of wooden houses—as potential fuses, ready to ignite and consume nearby homes. 

One site that stood out is an abandoned home in the 1900 block of Berryman. The yard is filled with dead vegetation and there is a large hump of dry wood scraps in the middle of it all. A single match flipped over the fence could cause a fiery eruption that would be hard to quench quickly since the entire property is secured behind a tall metal fence and several locked gates. 

Truce or Consequences  

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO for short), has proposed a worldwide military truce that would include Ukraine and Russia. Negotiations would be offered by a "peace committee" composed of Pope Francis, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

To which I say: YO AMO AMLO! Let there be a Global Truce: A Paz for Reflection! 

AMLO publicly launched his proposal on September 15, during Mexico's 212^th "Anniversary of the Beginning of Independence" when he reference Vladimir Putin's "special military project" and announced: "we Mexicans do not accept any foreign intervention because we have been victims of five of these great calamites… [including] two from the United States of America… [that] cost us blood, martydom and territory." 

Alas, as he wound up his address, AMLO used an all-to-common mil-speak malaprop when he proclaimed: "it will never be in vain to fight for justice and peace." 

As someone once (almost) said: "You can't fight for peace any more than you can schtup for virginity."

Along with all those who love the art of cinema, I mourn the death, apparently by assisted suicide, on September 13 of Jean-Luc Godard. Moreover, as someone who was closely linked with Godard throughout his tempestuous film career, I feel his death in quite personal ways. While I always supported what Godard tried to convey of the world in political and cinematic terms, and in spite of having many personal interactions with him, I never found Jean-Luc Godard a warm, likeable human being. Quite the contrary. He was always cranky and elusive, even when he knew how much I understood and supported his efforts. Godard was the ultimate contrarian. If he asked you what you were doing, and you replied, “I’m teaching film,” Godard would pointedly retort, “I’m learning about film.” Thereby one-upping you and scoring brownie points. 

Look. It’s possible that Godard resented my criticism of the rebuke he and Jean-Pierre Gorin gave to Jane Fonda in their film LETTER TO JANE. And it’s also possible he didn’t like my critique of the “everyman for himself” mentality of his film SAUVE QUI PEUT/LA VIE, even though I acknowledged how Godard in that film might well be trying to help viewers get out of the trap of viewer identification with a lead character and instead deal with the film as addressed to them as sentient, open-minded film viewers. 

On the other hand, what can I say about the time in San Diego when I told Godard that Herbert Marcuse, a friend of mine, was interested in meeting him, Godard just shrugged this off, saying “À quoi ça sert?” When I replied, “Ça sert au mouvement progressif,” Godard just shrugged it off. To me, this was a betrayal, 

Much later, in an unpublished artIcle, I severely criticised Godard for the anti-Jewish subtext of his film ÉLOGE DE L’AMOUR. Look. Criticism of Israel for its persecution and oppression of Palestinians is legitimate and much-needed, I argued; but the kind of criticism Godard levelled against Jews in general in Godard’s film was deplorable. (I gave a version of this unpublished article a few years ago in a talk at Pacific Film Archive after a screening of ÉLOGE DE L’AMOUR.)So, finally, now that Godard is gone, I’m left with my mixed emotions and a lifetime of intimate or not so intimate involvement with Jean-Luc Godard. The very last film of his I saw was ADIEU AU LANGAGE, a film that marked Godard’s farewell to human affairs and a retreat into nature and the animal world, the latter represented by his wife’s dog, who featured prominently in this film and was given star-billing in the list of characters. The only human characters in this misanthropic film are a couple, mere ciphers, who walk around nude and talk endlessly, even on the toilet, about sex, death, and shit. While I share some of Godard’s pessimism about humanity, what I mostly appreciate about ADIEU AU LANGAGE is Godard’s beautiful imagery of nature, the changing of the seasons, and the life of his wife’s dog, who is shown swimming exuberantly in swift mountain streams in the Swiss Alps.Godard’s images of wildflowers in this film are worthy of Claude Monet. For me, this is at least one final affirmative moment I can take from my lifelong, complex involvement with the career and person of the great, innovative filmmaker that was Jean-Luc Godard.

People who live with severe psychiatric conditions usually can't survive unless we receive treatment. Our treatment, if done with diligence and proactivity, can allow a mental health consumer to do very well. Yet, in addition to treatment, we must have good reasons to live. The treatment system provides treatment--something we must have. The system doesn't provide us with any ideas about what we want to do in life. That's up to us to decide. And the system could also stand in the way of achieving the goals that we cherish, goals that could make us much happier. 

Any goal we might decide on is subject to success, failure, or things not going as planned. In truth, things will almost never go as planned. Often, we must stumble our way toward a goal. We should realize that no one can predict the future, and we do not have a certainty, no matter who we are, of getting what we want. 

If we bring up a goal of what we want to do, (let's say we're talking to a therapist) practitioners in the system are good at shooting it down. They might tell us it is "grandiose." 

The purpose of the "system" is not completely to make us well and allow us to function optimally. It is the system's job to prevent us from becoming nuisances and/or threats to the greater society. This is achieved partly through economic restraint. Another strategy is to funnel many of us into the "criminal justice" system. And another method is to instill self-doubt. 

To deal with the forementioned, I take advantage of the treatment and I throw away the rest. I can get away with that. There isn't much those who comprise the system can do about it. If I don't buy their schpiel that I can't do anything, who is to stop me from maintaining that disbelief? Only so much can be done to control another person's beliefs. And if I choose to believe I'm worth something, another person or group of people can't prevent that. 

My feeling and perception outlined above aren't just my imagination. The system truly does attack a consumer's confidence, truly does attack self-worth, and truly does seek to prevent too much progress. The flip side is where we need them more than they need us; to survive, we need to be medicated, housed and fed. 

Many mental health consumers are considered "low functioning"--to have "organic brain damage," or other problems, that imply lack of ability to think. I've been to mental health programs intended for lower functioning people for a pit stop. At the time, I needed the extra help and the opportunity to recoup and return to a better level. 

"Low functioning" people are subject to supervision and pacification. As pacifiers we are fed sugary, fatty junk foods such as pizza, Togo's sandwiches, and desserts. Tasty enough, but recipes for a shortened lifespan by means of heart disease and/or diabetes. Cigarettes, in the past were smoked because they were affordable, and some consumers continue to be able to pay for them, usually in smaller quantities--decimating any hope of budgeting. Accommodating smoking is part of the pacification. Some have affordable alternatives, such as small cigars or vaping. 

Stated ambitions are shot down because society can't have mental health consumers hassling businesspeople. What if one of us went to Starbuck's every morning at a time when the local businesspeople were congregating, with the concept that we are a working person too? The treatment system's job is to keep us corralled and away from the good working people. 

To deal with this, we must either not talk about what we're trying to do, or we must develop immunity to other people volunteering judgment that prognosticates it is doubtful we can do anything. 

The idea behind all of this is to keep consumers socioeconomically impotent. And by intention and through osmosis, we are led to expect more of the same. Gallows humor is the rule. Preventing us from expecting too much in life is a strategy. I'm not arguing with the clear fact that many who work in the treatment field have empathy. These diseases eat away at the mind, and many who work in treatment have genuine empathy and kindness. 

This is not a monochrome, clearly definable situation. There are numerous shades of this. We can't turn our backs on treatment. Doing so will cause our asses to be bit with continual relapses. With each relapse our capacity to function is worse. If we fail to maintain treatment, we fail ourselves. 

Thus, the system is imperfect, as are all things made by human beings. But it is what we've got, and we are better off working with it rather than believing we can get by without it. 

Worth Noting:

The week ahead is packed and it is best to just quickly scan through the list. There are candidate forums Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday the 25th, City Council meets on Monday and Tuesday, Council committees are meeting Monday and Wednesday afternoon, a Webinar on Solar on Thursday, a Webinar on home hardening of decks and fences on Thursday, ZAB and the Mental Health commissions meet Thursday and the week finishes with Buffy Wicks is sponsoring an in-person event on region water system on Saturday and a Sierra Club clean up at Point Molate.

Leonard Powell is back on the Council agenda in closed session on Monday. The attack on Leonard Powell looks very much like a city bent on removing ownership of property from a Black homeowner in South Berkeley.

The Housing Element Draft Environmental Impact Report is a plan for adding 19,098 housing units not the RHNA 8,934. As stated at the Planning Commission in the presentation, the larger number is to push changing zoning in the City of Berkeley. The Comment Period ends October 17, 2022 at 5 pm. The document including appendices is over 500 pages.

https://berkeleyca.gov/construction-development/land-use-development/general-plan-and-area-plans/housing-element-update 

The Human Welfare and Community Action Commission would be expected to meet on Wednesday this week and has no listed meeting as of 11:29 am 9-17-2022. 

Don’t forget to check for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov/ 

Monday, September 19, 2022 

PUBLIC SAFETY POLICY COMMITTEE at 10:30 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85801916305 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 858 0191 6305 

AGENDA: 1. Harrison, co-sponsor Hahn - Adopt an Ordinance Adding Chapter 13.09 to the BMC Prohibiting Discriminatory Reports to Law Enforcement. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-public-safety 

City Council CLOSED Session at 4:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84103490296 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 841 0349 0296 

AGENDA: 1. Conference with Real Property Negotiators price and terms 3100 Adeline (BART), 2. People v. Leonard Felton Powell RG 15762567 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-closed-meeting-eagenda-september-19-2022 

PEACE AND JUSTICE COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87236273464 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 872 3627 3464 

AGENDA: no agenda posted as of 11:29 am September 17, 2022 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/peace-and-justice-commission 

League of Women Voters CANDIDATE FORUM at 6 pm 

ALAMEDA DISTRICT ATTORNEY (Pamela Price and Terry Wiley) 

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Hb-3v6fZR-m52S3AsanZtQ 

Submit Questions prior to September 18: https://forms.gle/KL1WXkcwNiZYnVCj8 

https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

League of Women Voters CANDIDATE FORUM at 6:30 – 8 pm 

BERKELEY SCHOOL BOARD 3 openings 6 candidates (Ka’Dijah A. Brown, Mike Chang, Tatiana Guerreiro Ramos, Norma J F Harrison, Reichi Lee, Jennifer Shanoski) 

Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f3TcePlNSVS8oBmyZiW7wg 

Submit Questions prior to September 16: https://tinyurl.com/ymva273f https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

Tuesday, September 20, 2022 

SOLANO AVENUE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ADVISORY BOARD at 12:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86475480085 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 864 7548 0085 

AGENDA: 3. Report from the secretary, 4. Review invoices from SAA (Approve Expenditures), 5 Approval Annual Report 2022 and Budget 2023, 6. Commissioner Recruitment, 7. Public Comment. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/solano-avenue-business-improvement-district-advisory-board 

City Council CLOSED Session at 10 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85305364447 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 853 0536 4447 

AGENDA: 1. Public Employee appointment Director of Police Accountability, 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-closed-meeting-eagenda-september-20-2022 

CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88667906480 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 886 6790 6480 

AGENDA: 1. Residential Objective Standards: Middle Housing (amend zoning to encourage duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in lower density zones R-1, R-1A, R-2A, MU-R) and Southside (amend zoning to increase residential development in R-3, R-S, R-SMU, C-SA, C-T) packet 488 pages 

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

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88667906480 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 886 6790 6480 

AGENDA: Full list of agenda items follows daily list of meetings or use link for full access. 

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

Wednesday, September 21, 2022 

FACILITIES, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY (FITES) at 1 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81070713973 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 810 7071 3973 

AGENDA: 2. Harrison and Hahn - Adopt an Ordinance adding a chapter 11.62 to the BMC to regulate plastic bags at retail and food service establishments, 3. Energy Commission – Community outreach and education events on proposed regulation for the use of carryout and pre-checkout bags. 

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 Meeting ID: 726 7423 9145 (the meeting ID is usually the same as the zoom ID, if the meeting ID 726 7423 9145 given with the agenda does not work try 878 5934 3194) 

AGENDA: 4. Letter to Council regarding commission vacancies, 5. Letter to Council requesting UCB to better inform students and staff the E-Scooters and E-Bikes are NOT allowed to be ridden on City sidewalks, 6. TOPA, 7. Request to Council to fund half-time position for coordinator of the Age Friendly Berkeley Initiative – Age-Friendly Continuum, 8. Pedestrian concern of Shattuck & Oregon intersection, 9. Personal Delivery Devices. 

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

COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89209334255?pwd=MlhueU5JWXhxOGlielJJcmVTNG1xUT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 892 0933 4255 Passcode: 438787 

AGENDA: 5. Work Plan, 6. Report on Abortion Access passed by City Council, 

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

COMMISSION ON LABOR at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85399338378 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 853 9933 8378 

AGENDA: 2. Presentations “Sweatshop-Free” FY 2022 Annual Report, 3. Labor Education in Schools, INFORMATION ITEMS: 4. Update Fair Work Week Ordinance, 5. Expanding First Source agreement (BMC 12.26.080) applicability to include privately funded development projects, 6. Update Berkeley REI organizing drive, 7. Berkeley Starbucks votes for union, 8. Implications FAST Recovery Act. 

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

Thursday, September 22, 2022 

SUNSHARES Webinar Solar + Storageat 5 pm 

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6dbvbfOcSL6P55dEjmd4rA 

AGENDA: Renewable energy program for all Bay Area Residents group purchasing discount (webinar announced by City of Berkeley Office of Energy & Sustainable Development) 

https://www.bayareasunshares.org/ 

MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83719253558 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 837 1925 3558 

AGENDA: 3. Bridge to SCU and SCU Update, 4. Community Presentation – Diversion of Berkeley People Living with Mental Illness and Substance Use in Alameda County, 5. Public Comment (non-agenda items), 6. Mental Health Manager’s Report, 7. Discussion and possible action for subcommittees a. Crisis Stabilization, b. Site Visit, c. Youth Mental Health, d. Education, e. Santa Rita Jail. 

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

ZONING ADJUSTMENT BOARD at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84473615583 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 or 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 844 7361 5583 

AGENDA: 2. 605 Neilson Street – on consent – #ZP2021-0190 add 663 sq ft major residential addition above 14 feet in average height, add an uncovered parking space in the front setback off Neilson and make alterations in the existing nonconforming front setback, on a lot that is nonconforming for lot coverage. 

3. 1436 Campus Drive – on consent - #ZP2021-0207 to establish a 3,153 sq ft single-family dwelling with an average height and a maximum height of 35 feet and a reduced front setback of 8 ft on a 6,087 sq ft vacant lot. 

4. 2065 Kittredge Street – action new public hearing - #ZP2021-0193 demolish portions of existing City Landmark commercial buildings (Shattuck Cinemas) and construct an 8-story, mixed-use building with 187 dwelling units (including 4 live/work units and nine Very Low-income units) 4993 sq ft commercial space and 43 parking spaces. Project utilizes Sate Density Bonus. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/zoning-adjustments-board 

HOME HARDENING FOR WILDFIRE: Decks and Fences at 6:30 pm – 8 pm 

Register with Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-hardening-for-wildfire-decks-and-fences-registration-403830657367 

AGENDA: Sheryl Drinkwater, architect, home hardening expert, and Berkeley resident will guide attendees through discussion. Watching Home Hardening Town Hall prior to presentation is recommended. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yLSoVFcRlk 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/home-hardening-wildfire-decks-and-fences 

More resources and videos are available at https://berkeleyca.gov/safety-health/fire/fire-weather-evacuation 

League of Women Voters CANDIDATE FORUM at 6:30 – 8 pm 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board  

Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NW1NCSPWReqXcXuoUchwIg 

Questions deadline was September 7 

https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

Friday, September 23, 2022 – no meetings found 

Saturday, September 24, 2022 

Berkeley Neighborhoods Council CANDIDATE FORUM at 9:30 am – 11:30 am 

BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL and CITY AUDITOR 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85935407339?pwd=S1VmYkhzOTkxVkJNaXNlOXpVK3dLQT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 859 3540 7339 Passcode: 349962 

https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/ 

The Color of Water A Policy Discussion - doors open at 9 am, Program at 10 am – 3 pm 

In-Person at De Anza High School, 5000 Valley View Road, El Sorbrante, CA 94803 

Register: https://lcmspubcontact.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/rsvp_main.php?district=AD15&rsvp=1166 

AGENDA: Hosted by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks discussion with CBO, policy makers on region’s water system,  

https://a15.asmdc.org/ 

Beach Clean Up Point Molate with Sierra Club at 9 – 11 am 

Register and Information: https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000001bjQaAAI 

Event Organizer: dani.zacky@sierraclub.org 

Sunday, September 25, 2022  

Berkeley Equity Summit Series #10 2022 Candidates at 6 – 8:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://bit.ly/3aKPafw 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 818 2594 9827 PassWord: 028103 

AGENDA: We’ll hear from Berkeley Equity Summit Alliance members and neighbors of Friends of sponsored in Collaboration with Friends of AdelineAdeline who are Candidates, in Berkeley and Beyond 

++++++++++++++++++++ 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022 CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88667906480 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 886 6790 6480 

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

AGENDA CONSENT: 

1. Resolution Local Emergency Due to COVID-19
2. City Legislative Bodies to continue to meet via videoconference
3. Establish the 2023 Council meeting schedule with starting time 6 pm
4. 2023 Tax Rate: Transportation Network Company User Tax (lyft, Uber, etc.) for trips originating in CoB $0.53885 single rider, $0.26249 per person pooled trip
5. Amend Contract No. 084349-1 add $45,000 total $261,282 with AMCS Inc for Zero Wste PC Software Maintenance and Professional Services and extend from 7/1/2022 thru 6/31/2025 (June has only 30 days),
6. Purchase Order using General Services Administration for $250,000 for IT Services to cover vacant position.
7. Amend Contract No. 105921-1 add $195,000 total $1,047,200 with TruPoint Solutions LLC for Accela professional services and extend 2 years 6/1/2015 to 6/30/2024,
8. Contract $714,022 with SCS Engineers to provide engineering, maintenance, and monitoring services for the landfill to meet mandatory compliance requirements at Cesar Chavez Park from 1/1/2023 – 6/30/2026
9. Contracts on-call arborist services $125,000 Davey Resource Group, Inc, HortScience Bartlett Consulting $125,000 11/1/2022 – 12/31/2025
10. Contracts on-call engineering services total $6,900,000, 1. CSW Stuber-Stroeh Engineering Group, Inc $750,000, 2. HDR Engineering, Inc. $750,000, 3. LCC Engineering & Surveying, Inc $1,500,000, 4. Mark Thomas & Company, Inc $750,000, 5. Park Engineering, Inc $1,500,000, 6. Pavement Engineering Inc $1,500,000, 7. SCI Consulting Group $150,000
11. Amend Contract No. 10350 (112199-1) add $100,000 total $250,000 with Technology, Engineering, and Construction, Inc for tank maintenance and certification services and extend to 6/30/2024,
12. Amend Contract No. 31900085 add $45,000 total $231,472 with Syntech Systems, Inc for service and support of infrastructure and software for City’s Fleet Fueling Program,
13. Contract $177,218.68 includes contingency $23,115 with Shaw Industries for Civic Center Building Replacement Project,
14. Arreguin co-sponsors Bartlett, Hahn, Taplin – refer to city attorney and CM to draft ordinance on apprenticeship training standards (HARD HAT ORDINANCE)

15. CM & Jordan Klein - Zoning Ordinance Amendments Making Technical Edits and Corrections includes, zoning districts, C-C, C-e, C-NS, C-DMU, Protected Uses, Setbacks, Usable Open Space, Required Parking Spaces, Design Review,
16. Hahn co-sponsors Taplin, Bartlett - Restoring and Improving Access to City of Berkeley Website and Archival Materials,
17. CM & Lisa Warhuus - Extending Community Agency for 1 year at existing levels and postponing RFP process until FY 2024,
18. Audit status Report Response: Code Enforcement Resources Significantly Constrained and Improvements Needed in Case Management and Oversight

19. Update on the Implementation of Fair and Impartial Policing Task Force Recommendations.

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA for THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89476550043 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 894 7655 0043 

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

AGENDA: 

Presentation by Leilani Farha, former Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing for the United Nations 

CONSENT:  

1. 2nd reading – Lease Agreement: 80 (North Building), 82/84 & 90 Bolivar Drive in Aquatic Park with Waterside Workshops,
2. 2nd reading – Correction to COVID-19 Emergency Response Ordinance
3. 2nd reading – Repeal Ordinance 7,643-N.S BMC 14.40.120 (ordinance to prohibit any heavy duty commercial vehicle on any street between the hours of 2 am and 5 am for greater than 1 hour),
4. Urgency Ordinance Extending the Lease for Real Property at 742 Grayson for additional month $26,379 Measure P Funds
5. Formal bid solicitations $15,891,000
6. Contract 47QSEA21D002V $375,000 through June 30, 2024 with Gaumard Scientific Company, Inc for High Fidelity Training Equipment,

7. ZAB Appeal: 1201-1205 San Pablo Use Permit #ZP2021-0070 to construct 6-story mixed-use building on a vacant lot, 66 units (including 5 very low income units), 1680 sq ft of commercial space, 2614 sq ft of usable open space, and 17 to 28 ground-level parking spaces, staff recommends dismiss the appeal,

8. City Auditor - Audit Recommendation status – Berkeley Police: Improvements Needed to Manage Overtime and Security Work Outside Entities
9. City Auditor – New Audit Recommendation Dashboard – Dashboard shows status of audit finding recommendations and progress toward resolving finding

LAND USE CALENDAR: 

Public Hearing to be scheduled 

1201 – 1205 San Pablo (construct mixed-use building) 9/29/2022 

2018 Blake (construct multi-family residential building) 10/6/2022 

1643-47 California (new basement and 2nd story) 11/3/2022 

Remanded to ZAB or LPC 

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. 

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

WORKSESSIONS: 

September 20 Residential Objective Standards for Middle Housing at 4 pm 

October 11 Measure O Report and Update at 4 pm (If approved this meeting will be moved to October 11, 2022) 

Unscheduled Presentations 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

Fire Facilities Study Report 

African American Holistic Resource Center (November 15) 

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 

Worth Noting:  

The week ahead is packed and it is best to just quickly scan through the list. There are candidate forums Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday the 25th, City Council meets on Monday and Tuesday, Council committees are meeting Monday and Wednesday afternoon, a Webinar on Solar on Thursday, a Webinar on home hardening of decks and fences on Thursday, ZAB and the Mental Health commissions meet Thursday and the week finishes with Buffy Wicks is sponsoring an in-person event on region water system on Saturday and a Sierra Club clean up at Point Molate. 

Leonard Powell is back on the Council agenda in closed session on Monday. The attack on Leonard Powell looks very much like a city bent on removing ownership of property from a Black homeowner in South Berkeley. 

The Housing Element Draft Environmental Impact Report is a plan for adding 19,098 housing units not the RHNA 8,934. As stated at the Planning Commission in the presentation, the larger number is to push changing zoning in the City of Berkeley. The Comment Period ends October 17, 2022 at 5 pm. The document including appendices is over 500 pages.  

https://berkeleyca.gov/construction-development/land-use-development/general-plan-and-area-plans/housing-element-update 

The Human Welfare and Community Action Commission would be expected to meet on Wednesday this week and has no listed meeting as of 11:29 am 9-17-2022. 

Don’t forget to check for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov/ 

Monday, September 19, 2022 

PUBLIC SAFETY POLICY COMMITTEE at 10:30 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85801916305 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 858 0191 6305 

AGENDA: 1. Harrison, co-sponsor Hahn - Adopt an Ordinance Adding Chapter 13.09 to the BMC Prohibiting Discriminatory Reports to Law Enforcement. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-public-safety 

City Council CLOSED Session at 4:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84103490296 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 841 0349 0296 

AGENDA: 1. Conference with Real Property Negotiators price and terms 3100 Adeline (BART), 2. People v. Leonard Felton Powell RG 15762567 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-closed-meeting-eagenda-september-19-2022 

PEACE AND JUSTICE COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87236273464 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 872 3627 3464 

AGENDA: no agenda posted as of 11:29 am September 17, 2022 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/peace-and-justice-commission 

League of Women Voters CANDIDATE FORUM at 6 pm 

ALAMEDA DISTRICT ATTORNEY (Pamela Price and Terry Wiley) 

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Hb-3v6fZR-m52S3AsanZtQ 

Submit Questions prior to September 18: https://forms.gle/KL1WXkcwNiZYnVCj8 

https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

League of Women Voters CANDIDATE FORUM at 6:30 – 8 pm 

BERKELEY SCHOOL BOARD 3 openings 6 candidates (Ka’Dijah A. Brown, Mike Chang, Tatiana Guerreiro Ramos, Norma J F Harrison, Reichi Lee, Jennifer Shanoski) 

Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f3TcePlNSVS8oBmyZiW7wg 

Submit Questions prior to September 16: https://tinyurl.com/ymva273f https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

Tuesday, September 20, 2022 

SOLANO AVENUE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ADVISORY BOARD at 12:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86475480085 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 864 7548 0085 

AGENDA: 3. Report from the secretary, 4. Review invoices from SAA (Approve Expenditures), 5 Approval Annual Report 2022 and Budget 2023, 6. Commissioner Recruitment, 7. Public Comment. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/solano-avenue-business-improvement-district-advisory-board 

City Council CLOSED Session at 10 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85305364447 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 853 0536 4447 

AGENDA: 1. Public Employee appointment Director of Police Accountability, 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-closed-meeting-eagenda-september-20-2022 

CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88667906480 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 886 6790 6480 

AGENDA: 1. Residential Objective Standards: Middle Housing (amend zoning to encourage duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in lower density zones R-1, R-1A, R-2A, MU-R) and Southside (amend zoning to increase residential development in R-3, R-S, R-SMU, C-SA, C-T) packet 488 pages 

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

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88667906480 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 886 6790 6480 

AGENDA: Full list of agenda items follows daily list of meetings or use link for full access. 

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

Wednesday, September 21, 2022 

FACILITIES, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY (FITES) at 1 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81070713973 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 810 7071 3973 

AGENDA: 2. Harrison and Hahn - Adopt an Ordinance adding a chapter 11.62 to the BMC to regulate plastic bags at retail and food service establishments, 3. Energy Commission – Community outreach and education events on proposed regulation for the use of carryout and pre-checkout bags. 

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 Meeting ID: 726 7423 9145 (the meeting ID is usually the same as the zoom ID, if the meeting ID 726 7423 9145 given with the agenda does not work try 878 5934 3194) 

AGENDA: 4. Letter to Council regarding commission vacancies, 5. Letter to Council requesting UCB to better inform students and staff the E-Scooters and E-Bikes are NOT allowed to be ridden on City sidewalks, 6. TOPA, 7. Request to Council to fund half-time position for coordinator of the Age Friendly Berkeley Initiative – Age-Friendly Continuum, 8. Pedestrian concern of Shattuck & Oregon intersection, 9. Personal Delivery Devices. 

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

COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89209334255?pwd=MlhueU5JWXhxOGlielJJcmVTNG1xUT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 892 0933 4255 Passcode: 438787 

AGENDA: 5. Work Plan, 6. Report on Abortion Access passed by City Council, 

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

COMMISSION ON LABOR at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85399338378 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 853 9933 8378 

AGENDA: 2. Presentations “Sweatshop-Free” FY 2022 Annual Report, 3. Labor Education in Schools, INFORMATION ITEMS: 4. Update Fair Work Week Ordinance, 5. Expanding First Source agreement (BMC 12.26.080) applicability to include privately funded development projects, 6. Update Berkeley REI organizing drive, 7. Berkeley Starbucks votes for union, 8. Implications FAST Recovery Act. 

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

Thursday, September 22, 2022 

SUNSHARES Webinar Solar + Storageat 5 pm 

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6dbvbfOcSL6P55dEjmd4rA 

AGENDA: Renewable energy program for all Bay Area Residents group purchasing discount (webinar announced by City of Berkeley Office of Energy & Sustainable Development) 

https://www.bayareasunshares.org/ 

MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83719253558 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 837 1925 3558 

AGENDA: 3. Bridge to SCU and SCU Update, 4. Community Presentation – Diversion of Berkeley People Living with Mental Illness and Substance Use in Alameda County, 5. Public Comment (non-agenda items), 6. Mental Health Manager’s Report, 7. Discussion and possible action for subcommittees a. Crisis Stabilization, b. Site Visit, c. Youth Mental Health, d. Education, e. Santa Rita Jail. 

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

ZONING ADJUSTMENT BOARD at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84473615583 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 or 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 844 7361 5583 

AGENDA: 2. 605 Neilson Street – on consent – #ZP2021-0190 add 663 sq ft major residential addition above 14 feet in average height, add an uncovered parking space in the front setback off Neilson and make alterations in the existing nonconforming front setback, on a lot that is nonconforming for lot coverage. 

3. 1436 Campus Drive – on consent - #ZP2021-0207 to establish a 3,153 sq ft single-family dwelling with an average height and a maximum height of 35 feet and a reduced front setback of 8 ft on a 6,087 sq ft vacant lot. 

4. 2065 Kittredge Street – action new public hearing - #ZP2021-0193 demolish portions of existing City Landmark commercial buildings (Shattuck Cinemas) and construct an 8-story, mixed-use building with 187 dwelling units (including 4 live/work units and nine Very Low-income units) 4993 sq ft commercial space and 43 parking spaces. Project utilizes Sate Density Bonus. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/zoning-adjustments-board 

HOME HARDENING FOR WILDFIRE: Decks and Fences at 6:30 pm – 8 pm 

Register with Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/home-hardening-for-wildfire-decks-and-fences-registration-403830657367 

AGENDA: Sheryl Drinkwater, architect, home hardening expert, and Berkeley resident will guide attendees through discussion. Watching Home Hardening Town Hall prior to presentation is recommended. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yLSoVFcRlk 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/home-hardening-wildfire-decks-and-fences 

More resources and videos are available at https://berkeleyca.gov/safety-health/fire/fire-weather-evacuation 

League of Women Voters CANDIDATE FORUM at 6:30 – 8 pm 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board  

Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NW1NCSPWReqXcXuoUchwIg 

Questions deadline was September 7 

https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

Friday, September 23, 2022 – no meetings found 

Saturday, September 24, 2022 

Berkeley Neighborhoods Council CANDIDATE FORUM at 9:30 am – 11:30 am 

BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL and CITY AUDITOR 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85935407339?pwd=S1VmYkhzOTkxVkJNaXNlOXpVK3dLQT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 859 3540 7339 Passcode: 349962 

https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/ 

The Color of Water A Policy Discussion - doors open at 9 am, Program at 10 am – 3 pm 

In-Person at De Anza High School, 5000 Valley View Road, El Sorbrante, CA 94803 

Register: https://lcmspubcontact.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/rsvp_main.php?district=AD15&rsvp=1166 

AGENDA: Hosted by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks discussion with CBO, policy makers on region’s water system,  

https://a15.asmdc.org/ 

Beach Clean Up Point Molate with Sierra Club at 9 – 11 am 

Register and Information: https://act.sierraclub.org/events/details?formcampaignid=7013q000001bjQaAAI 

Event Organizer: dani.zacky@sierraclub.org 

Sunday, September 25, 2022  

Berkeley Equity Summit Series #10 2022 Candidates at 6 – 8:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://bit.ly/3aKPafw 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 818 2594 9827 PassWord: 028103 

AGENDA: We’ll hear from Berkeley Equity Summit Alliance members and neighbors of Friends of sponsored in Collaboration with Friends of AdelineAdeline who are Candidates, in Berkeley and Beyond 

++++++++++++++++++++ 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022 CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88667906480 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 886 6790 6480 

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

AGENDA CONSENT: 

1. Resolution Local Emergency Due to COVID-19
2. City Legislative Bodies to continue to meet via videoconference
3. Establish the 2023 Council meeting schedule with starting time 6 pm
4. 2023 Tax Rate: Transportation Network Company User Tax (lyft, Uber, etc.) for trips originating in CoB $0.53885 single rider, $0.26249 per person pooled trip
5. Amend Contract No. 084349-1 add $45,000 total $261,282 with AMCS Inc for Zero Wste PC Software Maintenance and Professional Services and extend from 7/1/2022 thru 6/31/2025 (June has only 30 days),
6. Purchase Order using General Services Administration for $250,000 for IT Services to cover vacant position.
7. Amend Contract No. 105921-1 add $195,000 total $1,047,200 with TruPoint Solutions LLC for Accela professional services and extend 2 years 6/1/2015 to 6/30/2024,
8. Contract $714,022 with SCS Engineers to provide engineering, maintenance, and monitoring services for the landfill to meet mandatory compliance requirements at Cesar Chavez Park from 1/1/2023 – 6/30/2026
9. Contracts on-call arborist services $125,000 Davey Resource Group, Inc, HortScience Bartlett Consulting $125,000 11/1/2022 – 12/31/2025
10. Contracts on-call engineering services total $6,900,000, 1. CSW Stuber-Stroeh Engineering Group, Inc $750,000, 2. HDR Engineering, Inc. $750,000, 3. LCC Engineering & Surveying, Inc $1,500,000, 4. Mark Thomas & Company, Inc $750,000, 5. Park Engineering, Inc $1,500,000, 6. Pavement Engineering Inc $1,500,000, 7. SCI Consulting Group $150,000
11. Amend Contract No. 10350 (112199-1) add $100,000 total $250,000 with Technology, Engineering, and Construction, Inc for tank maintenance and certification services and extend to 6/30/2024,
12. Amend Contract No. 31900085 add $45,000 total $231,472 with Syntech Systems, Inc for service and support of infrastructure and software for City’s Fleet Fueling Program,
13. Contract $177,218.68 includes contingency $23,115 with Shaw Industries for Civic Center Building Replacement Project,
14. Arreguin co-sponsors Bartlett, Hahn, Taplin – refer to city attorney and CM to draft ordinance on apprenticeship training standards (HARD HAT ORDINANCE)

15. CM & Jordan Klein - Zoning Ordinance Amendments Making Technical Edits and Corrections includes, zoning districts, C-C, C-e, C-NS, C-DMU, Protected Uses, Setbacks, Usable Open Space, Required Parking Spaces, Design Review,
16. Hahn co-sponsors Taplin, Bartlett - Restoring and Improving Access to City of Berkeley Website and Archival Materials,
17. CM & Lisa Warhuus - Extending Community Agency for 1 year at existing levels and postponing RFP process until FY 2024,
18. Audit status Report Response: Code Enforcement Resources Significantly Constrained and Improvements Needed in Case Management and Oversight

19. Update on the Implementation of Fair and Impartial Policing Task Force Recommendations.

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA for THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89476550043 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 894 7655 0043 

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

AGENDA: 

Presentation by Leilani Farha, former Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing for the United Nations 

CONSENT:  

1. 2nd reading – Lease Agreement: 80 (North Building), 82/84 & 90 Bolivar Drive in Aquatic Park with Waterside Workshops,
2. 2nd reading – Correction to COVID-19 Emergency Response Ordinance
3. 2nd reading – Repeal Ordinance 7,643-N.S BMC 14.40.120 (ordinance to prohibit any heavy duty commercial vehicle on any street between the hours of 2 am and 5 am for greater than 1 hour),
4. Urgency Ordinance Extending the Lease for Real Property at 742 Grayson for additional month $26,379 Measure P Funds
5. Formal bid solicitations $15,891,000
6. Contract 47QSEA21D002V $375,000 through June 30, 2024 with Gaumard Scientific Company, Inc for High Fidelity Training Equipment,

7. ZAB Appeal: 1201-1205 San Pablo Use Permit #ZP2021-0070 to construct 6-story mixed-use building on a vacant lot, 66 units (including 5 very low income units), 1680 sq ft of commercial space, 2614 sq ft of usable open space, and 17 to 28 ground-level parking spaces, staff recommends dismiss the appeal,

8. City Auditor - Audit Recommendation status – Berkeley Police: Improvements Needed to Manage Overtime and Security Work Outside Entities
9. City Auditor – New Audit Recommendation Dashboard – Dashboard shows status of audit finding recommendations and progress toward resolving finding

LAND USE CALENDAR: 

Public Hearing to be scheduled 

1201 – 1205 San Pablo (construct mixed-use building) 9/29/2022 

2018 Blake (construct multi-family residential building) 10/6/2022 

1643-47 California (new basement and 2nd story) 11/3/2022 

Remanded to ZAB or LPC 

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. 

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

WORKSESSIONS: 

September 20 Residential Objective Standards for Middle Housing at 4 pm 

October 11 Measure O Report and Update at 4 pm (If approved this meeting will be moved to October 11, 2022) 

Unscheduled Presentations 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

Fire Facilities Study Report 

African American Holistic Resource Center (November 15) 

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 

Worth Noting:  

The week ahead is packed and it is best to just quickly scan through the list. There are candidate forums Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday the 25th, City Council meets on Monday and Tuesday, Council committees are meeting Monday and Wednesday afternoon, a Webinar on Solar on Thursday, a Webinar on home hardening of decks and fences on Thursday, ZAB and the Mental Health commissions meet Thursday and the week finishes with Buffy Wicks is sponsoring an in-person event on region water system on Saturday and a Sierra Club clean up at Point Molate. 

Leonard Powell is back on the Council agenda in closed session on Monday. The attack on Leonard Powell looks very much like a city bent on removing ownership of property from a Black homeowner in South Berkeley. 

The Housing Element Draft Environmental Impact Report is a plan for adding 19,098 housing units not the RHNA 8,934. As stated at the Planning Commission in the presentation, the larger number is to push changing zoning in the City of Berkeley. The Comment Period ends October 17, 2022 at 5 pm. The document including appendices is over 500 pages.  

https://berkeleyca.gov/construction-development/land-use-development/general-plan-and-area-plans/housing-element-update 

The Human Welfare and Community Action Commission would be expected to meet on Wednesday this week and has no listed meeting as of 11:29 am 9-17-2022. 

Don’t forget to check for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov/ 

Monday, September 19, 2022 

PUBLIC SAFETY POLICY COMMITTEE at 10:30 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85801916305 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 858 0191 6305 

AGENDA: 1. Harrison, co-sponsor Hahn - Adopt an Ordinance Adding Chapter 13.09 to the BMC Prohibiting Discriminatory Reports to Law Enforcement. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-public-safety 

City Council CLOSED Session at 4:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84103490296 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 841 0349 0296 

AGENDA: 1. Conference with Real Property Negotiators price and terms 3100 Adeline (BART), 2. People v. Leonard Felton Powell RG 15762567 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-closed-meeting-eagenda-september-19-2022 

PEACE AND JUSTICE COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87236273464 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 872 3627 3464 

AGENDA: no agenda posted as of 11:29 am September 17, 2022 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/peace-and-justice-commission 

League of Women Voters CANDIDATE FORUM at 6 pm 

ALAMEDA DISTRICT ATTORNEY (Pamela Price and Terry Wiley) 

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Hb-3v6fZR-m52S3AsanZtQ 

Submit Questions prior to September 18: https://forms.gle/KL1WXkcwNiZYnVCj8 

https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

League of Women Voters CANDIDATE FORUM at 6:30 – 8 pm 

BERKELEY SCHOOL BOARD 3 openings 6 candidates (Ka’Dijah A. Brown, Mike Chang, Tatiana Guerreiro Ramos, Norma J F Harrison, Reichi Lee, Jennifer Shanoski) 

Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f3TcePlNSVS8oBmyZiW7wg 

Submit Questions prior to September 16: https://tinyurl.com/ymva273f https://www.lwvbae.org/league-news/all-candidate-forums/ 

Tuesday, September 20, 2022 

SOLANO AVENUE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ADVISORY BOARD at 12:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86475480085 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 864 7548 0085 

AGENDA: 3. Report from the secretary, 4. Review invoices from SAA (Approve Expenditures), 5 Approval Annual Report 2022 and Budget 2023, 6. Commissioner Recruitment, 7. Public Comment. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/solano-avenue-business-improvement-district-advisory-board 

City Council CLOSED Session at 10 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85305364447 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 853 0536 4447 

AGENDA: 1. Public Employee appointment Director of Police Accountability, 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-closed-meeting-eagenda-september-20-2022 

CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88667906480 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 886 6790 6480 

AGENDA: 1. Residential Objective Standards: Middle Housing (amend zoning to encourage duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in lower density zones R-1, R-1A, R-2A, MU-R) and Southside (amend zoning to increase residential development in R-3, R-S, R-SMU, C-SA, C-T) packet 488 pages 

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

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88667906480 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 886 6790 6480 

AGENDA: Full list of agenda items follows daily list of meetings or use link for full access. 

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

Wednesday, September 21, 2022 

FACILITIES, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY (FITES) at 1 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81070713973 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 810 7071 3973 

AGENDA: 2. Harrison and Hahn - Adopt an Ordinance adding a chapter 11.62 to the BMC to regulate plastic bags at retail and food service establishments, 3. Energy Commission – Community outreach and education events on proposed regulation for the use of carryout and pre-checkout bags. 

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 Meeting ID: 726 7423 9145 (the meeting ID is usually the same as the zoom ID, if the meeting ID 726 7423 9145 given with the agenda does not work try 878 5934 3194) 

AGENDA: 4. Letter to Council regarding commission vacancies, 5. Letter to Council requesting UCB to better inform students and staff the E-Scooters and E-Bikes are NOT allowed to be ridden on City sidewalks, 6. TOPA, 7. Request to Council to fund half-time position for coordinator of the Age Friendly Berkeley Initiative – Age-Friendly Continuum, 8. Pedestrian concern of Shattuck & Oregon intersection, 9. Personal Delivery Devices. 

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

COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89209334255?pwd=MlhueU5JWXhxOGlielJJcmVTNG1xUT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 892 0933 4255 Passcode: 438787 

AGENDA: 5. Work Plan, 6. Report on Abortion Access passed by City Council, 

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

COMMISSION ON LABOR at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85399338378 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 853 9933 8378 

AGENDA: 2. Presentations “Sweatshop-Free” FY 2022 Annual Report, 3. Labor Education in Schools, INFORMATION ITEMS: 4. Update Fair Work Week Ordinance, 5. Expanding First Source agreement (BMC 12.26.080) applicability to include privately funded development projects, 6. Update Berkeley REI organizing drive, 7. Berkeley Starbucks votes for union, 8. Implications FAST Recovery Act. 

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

Thursday, September 22, 2022 

SUNSHARES Webinar Solar + Storageat 5 pm 

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6dbvbfOcSL6P55dEjmd4rA 

AGENDA: Renewable energy program for all Bay Area Residents group purchasing discount (webinar announced by City of Berkeley Office of Energy & Sustainable Development) 

https://www.bayareasunshares.org/ 

MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83719253558 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 837 1925 3558 

AGENDA: 3. Bridge to SCU and SCU Update, 4. Community Presentation – Diversion of Berkeley People Living with Mental Illness and Substance Use in Alameda County, 5. Public Comment (non-agenda items), 6.

If John Adams had been content to offer a faithful operatic rendering of Shakespeare’s epic drama of Antony and Cleopatra, Adams would have created by far his finest opera in a career marred by several monumental failures amidst much, in my opinion, unwarranted public and critical acclaim. But, no, in creating this operatic Antony and Cleopatra, Adams couldn’t resist the hubris of trying to outdo Shakespeare by adding extraneous material to Shakespeare’s immortal text. Most egregious was Adams’ inclusion of a long, harsh speech in which Caesar Augustus boasts of Rome’s Empire borrowed from Virgil’s Aeneid. To make matters worse, the staging of this speech by director Elkhanah Pulitzer includes multiple superimposed close-up images of tenor Paul Appleby’s stridently distorted face as his Caesar forcefully hammers home his almost facist insistence on the greatness of Imperial Rome. Pulitzer even closes this borrowed speech from the Aeneid, (it is NOT in Shakespeare at all), with a close-up image of a mailed fist thrust directly at both the onstage Roman audience and at the audience in the War Memorial Opera House. Even the music Adams provided for this speech was bombastic and tedious to the maximum. This was indeed the low point in an opera that constantly veered back and forth between admirable moments and grievously marred musical moments of monumental hubris. 

In this Antony and Cleopatra, soprano Amina Edris’s Cleopatra was sensational. Vocally and dramatically, Amina Edris created a totally believable character of this Egyptian queen whose “infinite variety” according to Shakespeare was praised by all who knew her. With her paramour Antony, sensitively portrayed by bass-baritone Gerard Finley, Amina Edris’s employed all her womanly wiles — tenderness, voluptuousness, occasional feigned indifference, and even some anger — to ensnare Antony all the more and essentially wrap this formerly great warrior around her little finger. As a middle-aged Antony, Gerard Finley perfectly delineated the gradual but inevitable decline of an Antony who once bestrode the oceans but now drowns in his own sensual and sexual indulgence with Cleopatra. However, I regret that director Elkhanha Pulitzer arbitrarily failed to acknowledge Antony’s gradual decline but instead opened the opera with Antony passed out on a couch in a drunken hangover from the previous night’s drinking and lovemaking. 

Yet another regrettable move by director Elkhanha Pulitzer was her decision to split this opera’s settings between the Egypt and Rome of 30 BC and a Hollywood version of the 1930s. This resulted in a jarring disjunction in which we abruptly moved from live onstage action set in ancient Egypt and Rome to newsreel footage of crowd scenes ostensibly showing political rallies (of Mussolini’s Rome?) in the 1930s. The newsreel footage was assembled by projection designer Bill Morrison. He also provided footage that accompanied Enobarbus’s descriptive account of the first meeting of Antony and Cleopatra in Cydnus in Turkey when Cleopatra arrived in a fabulous gilded barge. However, Bill Morrison’s footage accompanying this account shows nothing of the sort but instead shows simple Egyptian feluccas on the Nile, creating yet another disjunctive effect between Shakespeare’s text and this Elkhanah Pulitzer staging of John Adams’ opera. 

The third major character in Antony and Cleopatra is of course the youthful Octavious who bills himself as Caesar Augustus. In this role tenor Paul Appleby portrayed a petulant Caesar whose coldly calculated political acumen constantly outmaneuvers Mark Antony’s far more spontaneous but often unwise actions. Appleby’s tenor, though weak at times, became stridently forceful in his delivery of Caesar’s speech interpolated from the Aeneid. The fourth major character is Enobarbus, Antony’s lieutenant. In this much reduced version of the role of Enobarbus, bass-baritone Alfred Walker sang well when the music suited the high tessitura of his voice though at other times the music written for Enobarbus by John Adams seemed too low to suit Walker’s voice. Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Deshong was a fine, dignified Octavia, Caesar’s half-sister, who accepts a marriage to Antony as a political alliance between Caesar and Antony. Though Antony’s own acceptance of this marriage at a moment when he is totally enraptured by Cleopatra remains something of a mystery. In any case, Antony quickly deserts the marriage with Octavia and returns to Cleopatra in Alexandria. 

In an opera that lasts nearly three and a half hours, there were nonetheless many of Shakespeare’s scenes that were left out of John Adams’ opera. The character of Pompey and his rebellion against Caesar are totally missing from this Antony and Cleopatra. Likewise, two military battles are here telescoped into one battle only, the crushing naval defeat of Antony at Actium, a battle scene accompanied by some of John Adams’ most bombastic music. Finally, the assault by Caesar and his army on Alexandria, including a preliminary victory by Antony’s Egyptian forces and then quickly followed by his abject defeat, are totally absent from this opera. 

In supporting roles, mezzo-sopranos Taylor Raven as Charmian and Gabrielle Betag as Iris gallantly portrayed Cleoptara’s female attendants, while tenor Brenton Ryan as Eros and baritone Timothy Murray as Scarus sang well as Antony’s followers. Meanwhile, baritone Hadleigh Adams was a fine Agrippa, a follower of Caesar, and bass-baritones Philip Skinner as Lepidus and Patrick Blackwell as Maecenas, another follower of Caesar, were excellent in their roles. 

San Francisco Opera’s Music Director Eun Sun Kim was here conducting her first John Adams opera, and she did a fine job of infusing this music with verve and, in some cases, an excess of vitality in moments of bombast. The orchestra was huge, 72 pieces in all, and included 2 harps, a celesta, and a cimbalom. Mimi Lien was the set designer, Constance Hoffman was costume designer, David Finn was lighting designer, the aforementioned Bill Morrison was projection designer, and Mark Grey was sound designer and mixing engineer. Lucia Scheckner was dramaturg and libretto consultant. 

Finally, a word of praise is due for this opera’s final scene which portrays the death of Cleopatra, once Antony himself has died of a self-inflicted wound. Walling herself up in a tower, which incongruously seemed to contain a giant lighted Christmas tree!, Cleopatra allows herself to be bitten by poisonous asps. As she dies, Amina Edris’s Cleopatra beautifully sang of her love for Antony and even sang poignantly of hearing Antony’s voice calling her to join him in death. This quiet, sensitive music was probably the very best music in this overlong John Adams score.