My Diary is late again. After a political discussion with my walk partner, I realized everything that I took out in my editing had to go back in. So here we go.

My week was bookended by listening to Rachel Maddow’s new podcast Ultra on Monday and finishing with the book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat on Friday, and spending the weekend responding to the Housing Element Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). In between there was a Council meeting, a stack of city meetings, the January 6th hearing, the State of the City address by Mayor Jesse Arreguin and a Measure L forum with a debate between Mayor Arreguin and Jim MacGrath.

The Tuesday 4 pm Berkeley City Council special meeting was an attempt to quell criticisms of Measure L, the $650,000,000 in city bonds which will be spread over 48 years. We are supposed to feel reassured that the new to-be-created Affordable Housing and Infrastructure Bond Oversight Committee, staffed by the city’s Budget office, will ensure that bond money is well spent and that there will be an independent audit and reporting. It was all laid out in Arreguin’s resolution, which he declares is absolutely binding.

“Rock solid” resolutions are only as binding as long as there are five councilmembers’ votes to keep them, not five votes to undo them, and only if city officials have the desire to enforce them. 

At the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce sponsored Measure L Forum, with Mayor Arreguin supporting L and Jim MacGrath opposing it, MacGrath described picking projects as a “food fight” and watohing the process which followed Arreguin’s resolution, it certainly looks that way. 

The mayor’s resolution does not define any priorities or specific projects. That list, according to the resolution, will come from the Public Works Department, the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department, Health Housing and Community Services Department, Office of Energy and Sustainability and the Fire Department, all of which will send their prioritized (wish) lists with bond and funding sources to the “authorized commissions”: the Housing Advisory Commission, the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission and the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission, where there will be robust public participation to develop recommendations to send to council. 

Meanwhile the Affordable Housing and Infrastructure Bond Oversight Committee “nominated” by council (meaning council selects the members) “would create a policy and procedures manual that would include project goals and projection selection and prioritization criteria.” 

So let’s try to get this straight: The departments submit their wish lists. The wish list somehow get to the authorized commissions, where we get to appear and plead our case in one or two minute bites for our desired project, which may or may not have made the list. The commissions are either swayed or ignore our pleas, while the commissioners add their own opinions and make their recommendations to the council. The oversight committee members meet four times a year and create their own list of how to decide on projects (from the policy and procedures manual created) which may or may not match the recommendations from the authorized commissions. This goes to the council where it meets this phrase in the Resolution, “Funding from the Bonds will be guided by the City Council’s plans and policies, as may be amended from time to time…” 

Which, of course, makes sense. These bonds are going to be spread over 48 years with spending commitments made over 18 years. Things change, which begs the real question: why are we handing council $650,000,000 now? 

More important, all this sounds like what we usually get: this is what we’ve decided--don’t you love it? Which from this corner looks like why projects are revealed only after handing over the money. All while endless volunteer hours add up while the consultants prepare their plans and reports at substantial expense. 

To a comment passed on to me second-hand about being “parcel taxed out,” and therefore supportive of bonds like Measure L, because it isn’t a parcel tax: have you not figured out who pays for bonds? It is property owners. When future property tax bills come, the bonds will be added to the long list of Fixed Charges and/or Special Assessments in the property tax statement. The Measure O Bond fee for property owners starts in 2025/2026. 

Bonds are based on assessed value, so new homeowners/property owners pay the most. Parcel taxes are based on square footage of improvements/buildings (BSFT). Occasionally, parcel taxes can be based on square footage of the parcel/lot/land (LSFT). Berkeley usually uses the former (BSFT). With parcel taxes, new and longtime property owners are taxed the same rate, depending on size, of course. 

Low income senior households who own property (like the house they live in) are not exempted from the property tax fees for bonds. At least for parcel taxes, the way streets should be financed, low-income over 65 seniors can apply for parcel tax exemptions. https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-02/PropertyTaxesFAQs.pdf 

Why should streets be paid for with parcel taxes instead of bonds? Streets can start breaking down in as little as four years, but may last 10-15 years, while the bonds financing the repair are paid off with interest over 30 years. This is why bonds are usually used for infrastructure and projects expected to last decades and not for streets that need continuous repair. 

Two things stood out from the Arreguin - McGrath Measure L debate forum sponsored by the Berkeley Chamber: Jim McGrath’s picture of street deterioration four years after repair and Mayor Arreguin blaming prior mayors for deterioration of the City’s infrastructure, sayng he had been mayor for only five years. Once again, I need to apologize for working on Arreguin’s 2016 campaign for mayor. In Arreguin’s speeches and literature, he bragged about all his accomplishments during his years on City Council. I know, it was part of the canvassing pitch. Arreguin had eight years on council as a councilmember and five years as mayor, thirteen years in total and now after thirteen years infrastructure deterioration is somebody else’s fault? https://youtu.be/AS4exMTwSys 

On to the October 11 regular council meeting. The Fair Work Week and Harriet Tubman Terrace agenda items were postponed to November 3. The Council finally made it to the second item under Action at 9:00 pm: an appeal of the six-story multi-unit building at 2018 Blake. The appeal started with Jordan Klein, Director of Planning and Development, recognizing Sharon Gong, Planner , who would present the project for the city staff, for her “excellent work” and the hearing went downhill from there. 

Councilmember Wengraf started the questioning on the project, noting this was targeted to students, and she asked questions about the density bonus: which units would be the two low income units and what would be the requirements? Vice Mayor Harrison was next, asking more about the density bonus. Questioning continued, about the number of bedrooms and group living requirements, as the city planning staff and Director Klein fumbled, clearly out of their league, unable to answer the council’s questions. It all dragged on until 10:50 pm when Harrison made a motion to stop and continue the appeal to another meeting, when the Planning Department could be prepared to answer council questions. 

At 10:52 pm, there were still 171 attendees tethered to ZOOM, hanging on to comment on the Reconsideration of the Hopkins Corridor Plan. While most of the older and disabled callers were tuckered out, the Walk Bike Berkeley held on in large numbers to insist moving forward without delay with the current plan: removing parking and adding bike lanes in front of the shops and Monterey Market. 

The meeting dragged on so long that even live transcription/closed captioning ended at 11:30 pm. It was after 12:30 am when Arreguin called on former mayor Shirley Dean. She was the last of the public to speak and came out strongly against the Hopkins redesign. The meeting finally closed at 12:42 am with a unanimous council vote to reconsider the Hopkins Street Plan just between McGee and Sacramento and to throw another $400,000 at the project. 

The little bit I caught of the Homeless Services Panel of Experts (HSPE) meeting, Carol Marasovic, chair, has not let go of discounting the HSPE June 22, 2022 meeting, in which a motion to send a letter to Council denouncing the use of Measure P funds to balance the City budget rather than for new homeless services was unanimously approved by those present. Marasovic, who was not present for the vote, claimed again this week that June 22 wasn’t a valid meeting, stating it wasn’t properly announced and that such strong language in the letter passed by meeting attendees might offend some people (is the offended people the mayor who appointed her?). 

The meeting was announced, and Paul Kealoha-Blake said at the HSPE October 12th meeting that he stood by the comments in the letter from June 22. 

The Mayor read his State of the City speech Thursday evening before a half-filled room and a YouTube audience. You can watch it on YouTube. Just go to JesseArreguin.com to get a link. Other than the usual, reassuring the audience that everything is wonderful, so much has been accomplished, there isn’t much. If you weren’t tuned in to the Housing Element Draft Environmental Impact Report, being written to recommend adding 19,098 housing units to Berkeley, you might have missed that comment. 

I didn’t follow my own instructions with regard to the Housing Element. I spent my weekend responding. Probably it’s a good thing I was out of time, as my response was already over 12 pages by Monday at 4:30 pm. The 441 pages of the Housing Element Update Draft Environmental Impact Report (HEU DEIR) basically declares that the impact to Berkeley of adding 19,098 new housing units and 47,443 more people to fill all these units is insignificant. The only thing that merited description as a significant and unavoidable impact was adding development in the hills and the Housing Element Update recommended that anyway. 

The City of Berkeley’s Housing Element webpage states that State law requires submission of the report by January 2023 and then states that the timeline for adoption of the final draft is December 2022 – March 2023. The actual deadline is January 31, 2023 and as published in the San Francisco Business Times, “Any jurisdiction that adopts its Housing Element later than the January 31, 2023 deadline for this region will immediately be subject to loss of local zoning control, a punitive measure colloquially known as the builder’s remedy.” 

At the presentation of the Housing Element Update Draft Environmental Impact Report to the Planning Commission, I asked why the report was written for 19,098 units when the Regional Housing Needs Assessment allocation is only 8934 units. The answer was “to push zoning code changes.” It now looks like with this apparent screw-up in the making , by missing the deadline, the City doesn’t need to go through all that messy changing zoning codes. The staff, consultants and council can just miss the deadline instead and the builder’s get their “remedy.” 

Even if you are NOT a fan and can’t stand Rachel Maddow, you have got to listen to the podcast Ultra (it is free) https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra. The absolute first thing I thought as I tuned in was, I wished my dad was alive so I could ask him what it was like when the U.S. Senator from Minnesota Ernest Lundeen was killed in a plane crash in 1940 and found to have a speech he was going to give which had been written by a Nazi agent.  

The podcast is about the embrace of authoritarianism, support for Nazis and fascism, the America First movement, the Christian Front, and the Senators and Congressman involved in the plot and the sedition trial of 1944, and denial that it all happened even though much of this made front page news. 

There are so many parallels to today with the embrace of authoritarianism and the growing militias and violence. Even if you don’t listen to Fox, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity or traffic in websites like Parler, Gab, TheDonald or Truth Social, Trump’s website, the conspiracies, hate speech and disinformation spillover and infect school boards, city councils, politics, the media nationwide with the same old tropes recirculating, replacement theory, antisemitism. We have escaped a lot of this in Berkeley, but these far-right movements are present in Southern California and inland and all around us. 

Reading about prior attempted coups and the pull back to reason and democracy is not making me feel any better about the upcoming election. Most of us reading this lived through the assassination of JFK, 1968 and Watergate, but if we look at history, each attempted coup to overthrow the U.S. Government moves closer to success. Smedley Butler blew the whistle on industrialists trying to pull him in as a war hero to lead a coup to overthrow the U.S. government was in 1933. That is all detailed in the Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire, by Jonathan Katz and precedes the next attempt in 1940 the subject of Ultra by just a few years. 

Setting aside the little bit of grandstanding before the camera in Alexandra Pelosi’s film documenting the actions of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer during the January 6th rampage of the capital, watching it this time brought back how I felt that day, unbelieving this could really happen and at the same time taking in the horror of it all. The push back and slow walking from the Department of Defense on the recorded phone calls in the documentary shows we are only as secure as there are good people in the right place at the right time. 

In closing, Talia Lavin does a much better longer review of Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present than I can do here, but no review can replace what is gained from reading the book. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/corruption-violence-and-toxic-masculinity-what-strongmen-like-trump-have-in-common/2020/12/23/bc58b076-40dc-11eb-9453-fc36ba051781_story.html 

Ruth Ben-Ghiat lays out how Trump fits the strongman, authoritarian takeover playbook, demanding loyalty, shuffling and firing staff and cabinet members, giving family members positions of prominence and responsibility, self-dealing, corruption and the repeated embrace of violence and normalization of violence. Think about all those MAGA rally clips with Trump calling on his crowd to “beat him up,” name calling and demonization of the “other.” 

Going back to January 6th, Trump’s demand to take him to the capital sounds ever so close to Mussolini’s march on Rome in 1922. Mussolini had his fascist demonstrators and Blackshirt para militaries. Trump didn’t get his wish “I’ll be there with you,” to march to the capital as he declared on the ellipse, but Trump had his MAGA and QAnon demonstrators and the three militias, the Oathkeepers, the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters storming the capital. 

If you are prone to nightmares, don’t read the chapter on violence or at least don’t read that chapter at bedtime. 

The best time to save a democracy is before it’s gone. 

We’ve received our ballots and I want to remind you to Vote NO on L because it’s a BAD DEAL! It’s absolutely right to expect that the amounts and purposes are set and clearly described within any tax measure you are asked to approve. That’s not true of Measure L. It even says within the measure itself that there is no guarantee that the funds will be used as stated! But you know there is a real need for better street repair and more affordable housing. Good for you for caring, but what to do? 

It’s not approving Measure L.  

Consider this, the creation of a $650 million-dollar open-ended slush fund will cost over its 48-year life more than $1.25 billion dollars, a debt that will haunt the city’s future financial health until paid. And during those years, that cost will come back in the form of raised rents resulting in greater displacement of lower- income renters. Additionally, some elderly homeowners on fixed incomes, unable to pay the increased taxes, will also be displaced. And, you will be paying for street fixes that have short life terms that will require them to be fixed over and over during the 48-year period, potentially ending up just like today’s streets, except residents will be a lot poorer. 

In their hasty, poorly thought-out decision to place something on the ballot, the Council simply forgot to say precisely how the money will be spent, and when voters started to catch on, they passed a resolution, saying it was binding - in an attempt to reassure us and themselves. I’ve served for 15 years on the City Council, and 8 years as your Mayor and that simply is not true. At any time, resolutions are the result of 5 members of the City Council agreeing to enact or undo them.  

You might ask whether the called-for Citizen’s Oversight Committee will help. Doubtful. I am a member of the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission that oversees Measure FF. That Commission has complained to the Council about the city’s persistent failure to provide timely budget information in order to adequately fulfill our oversight function - to no avail. And consider that the Measure itself says that the oversight committee shall annually report on whether programs funded by Measure L are consistent with the purposes of the Measure! Again, after they have been funded, not before when such a finding would have meaning! And there is no provision for independent auditing of the $1.25 billion involved. 

I think we can do better, but we need to start with a NO on L vote. We cannot ignore that we need more affordable housing, and better street and infrastructure maintenance. I am willing to spend time with others in the community to meet with the Council regarding building a consensus to meet these and other needs. It could even involve a ballot measure to fund a real plan that identifies priorities and exactly what we need to do to address those problems. But first, VOTE NO on L – it’s a BAD DEAL.

Yes, it’s election time. And yes, many publications enjoy assuming they have a bully pulpit and telling their readers how to vote. The days of the resolutely independent editorial staff are over, if they ever existed. Today’s “news outlets” are even more dependent on real estate and developer money than they ever were, and their copy reflects this.

Certainly today’s San Francisco Hearst-owned print outlet is about like the old Examiner under W.R. Hearst, still leading with bleeding and boosting building everything everywhere—the only difference is that at least the Hearst family supported beautiful buildings, whereas today the local Hearst outlet tries to convince readers to love the Big Ugly Boxes which developers claim are the only buildings which “pencil out”, i.e. produce generous profit margins.

Currently the pages of dailies, not just here but everywhere, are full of speculation about why the downtown boom, initially office towers, is turning into a bust. It’s simple, folks. Just as Bruce Brugman, my first real editor, claimed, it’s the Manhattanization, Stupid. Tell me why anyone would choose to spend their days in what was once called the cool grey city of love, which is now the cold dank canyons of commerce. Berkeley, or at least the old Berkeley of vegi gardens and tree-lined backyards, is much more pleasant. As are, for example, Vallejo and Oakland and expensive Orinda and yes, even Tracy. And the pandemic has taught us that many can work there instead of in The City.

The working folks that I know who do the long commute in from Tracy and Stockton don’t just live there for the lower rent. It’s also the backyard barbecues on the weekends, which, sorry, they can’t enjoy in the stack’um and pack’um apartment houses which have been lining developers’ pockets in the Bay Area.

But this is all a rant you’ve heard from me before. You can hear similar diatribes on 48hills.org with a San Francisco focus. Since most of legislation which enables the bad stuff emanates from Sacramento, we can’t do much about it. It’s authored by Scott Wiener, yes, but also by Nancy Skinner and especially Buffy Wicks. Those two are our fault.

Lately I’ve been getting emails asking if the Planet is making any election endorsements. Or, flatteringly, if I’m the author of any of the excellent essays which have appeared in our ELECTION category. No,Virginia, I am not Isabel Gaston or Justin Lee or Margot Smith or Abe Cinque or Jim McGrath or any of the other esteemed parties who have contributed their opinions here. Some of these I know and like, and others I don’t know, but everyone is welcome to express themselves.

In District 8, where I live, I will be happy to vote against the candidate endorsed by the Yimby incumbent, so I'll be voting for Mari Mendonca, a lifetime local activist. If I lived in District 1 I’d vote against the thoroughly Yimbyfied incumbent there, ranking the other two fine candidates 1 and 2. That’s as far as I’m ready to go today. 

I still haven’t made up my mind about most of what’s on the ballot. If and when I do, I might let you know. 

While Make UC A Good Neighbor (MUCGN) and the Peoples Park Historic District Advocacy Group (PPHDAG) await the California Court of Appeal’s decision on the adequacy under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) of the University of California’s Long Range Development Plan/Environmental Impact Report on its Housing Project #2 at People’s Park, they urge the UC Regents at their meeting this week to rescind their approval of housing to be built on People’s Park. 

On August 3, 2022, UC opportunistically took advantage of a 28-hour gap in the temporary stay by the California Court of Appeal enjoining UC Berkeley from all construction, further demolition, tree cutting and landscape alteration at People’s Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Tree crews hired by UC cut nearly every tree in People’s Park.  

The severity of UC’s actions became even clearer when on September 16, 2022, HUD Environmental Protection Specialist Stanley W. Toal stated that the “physical actions taken at the project site prior to conducting the Historic Preservation review may jeopardize the ability to issue environmental clearance, placing the reservation of the project-based vouchers and feasibility of the project as proposed at risk.” 

UC has fostered the deterioration of People’s Park into a homeless encampment to deliberately increase public support for building student housing on it. UC could maintain the park and prevent camping in it as does in all of its other open spaces. 

UC’s staff decided to build student housing in the park before it prepared its environmental impact report and regardless of the severity of the housing project’s environmental impacts. As a result, the environmental impact report that staff prepared does not analyze or compare any alternative locations to People’s Park for this housing to assess if any location accomplishes the goal with less environmental impact. 

Additionally, the City of Berkeley has a housing element that will propose up to 18,000 units of new housing, much of it in the Southside neighborhood (north of Dwight Way). Given the standards in the city's 1986 Measure L ordinance for two acres of park land for every thousand new residents, and the location of new residents near the campus, People's Park can fulfill a real need for expanded recreational park space for all these new residents. UC itself says it's short of recreational facilities. 

Both organizations urge the UC Regents to order UC Berkeley move forward with its construction projects on appropriate alternative sites to avoid delay in providing much-needed student housing and expeditiously move toward its goal of 8,000 new student beds. They also point out that the number of beds proposed in the Draft Environmental Impact Report is 13,864 at 16 potential sites, clearly making the 1,100 beds on People’s Park unnecessary. Without the proposed beds for Project #2, UC is still over 4,000 beds above their goal. 

The recent tree cutting also violates the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) which was written expressly to preserve historic properties whose integrity is threatened by a project that is receiving federal funds. The Supportive Housing component of Housing Project #2, through the Berkeley Housing Authority, has 27 project-based vouchers committed to it from the U.S. Department of Housing and Human Development (HUD), but they cannot be released until an environmental review of the project is completed. With UC’s demolition of the trees covering the site of that supportive housing component, before the environmental review process has even begun, release of those funds are now in jeopardy. 

Following UC’s August 3 mass tree demolition Mr. Toal wrote on August 4, 2022: “Please note that if environmental clearance cannot be provided, then the reservation of the project-based voucher by the Berkeley Housing Authority would need to be withdrawn. There would be no HUD-assistance. The Berkeley Housing Authority, Resources for Community Development and now UC Berkeley have been made aware of the risk UC Berkeley's actions may have on HUD's approval of the project-based vouchers.” 

Considering these warnings by HUD, UC’s premature and reckless site clearance have jeopardized the supportive housing needed by the homeless people UC has said it wants to serve. PPHDAG and MUCGN have always supported the goal of providing supportive housing and student housing on one of the many feasible alternative sites owned by UC, not on People’s Park.

SNL Opens New Season and Weekend Update Bombs

During the October 1 return of Saturday Night Live (Season 48!), the Weekend Update segment included a faux-news report by Michael Che who declared: 'The CIA is marking its 70^th anniversary by launching a podcast. And, because it's the CIA, they're launching it directly into an Afghani wedding." Co-anchor Colin Jost's reaction left many viewers feeling nauseous. Jost responded by grinning, slapping the table, and looking overcome with hilarity.

Note to Loren Michaels: The Pentagon's repeated slaughter of innocent civilians in foreign countries is no laughing matter.

Tears Come to the Eyes

During a recent visit to the boxes of memorabilia stored in the garage, I came across a copy of Not Man Apart, the Sierra Club's bi-monthly magazine from the David Brower days. (Full disclosure: I worked for NMA as a reporter and Art Director.) One of the issues featured a cover photo that caught my eye. It depicted a huge sun floating over an empty rowboat. The title of the cover story read: Global Warnings — Can We Turn the Tide on Climate Change?"

And then, I noticed the publication date: July-August 1986.

We tried. We failed. 

California's Native Holocaust: Notes in the Margin 

Sometime in June, I scribbled some quick notes from a radio broadcast into the margins of a printout of a report on US military incursions in Zambia. I recently came across that long-buried sheet of paper and decided the rediscovered notes were not only worth jotting down, they were worth repeating. So here are the "fragments from history" that prompted me to reach for a pen: 

"Before the arrival of the White Man, there were around 260,000 Indigenous occupants in the region that would become known as California. After the Gold Rush, only 15,000 native people remained alive. 

"Children were abducted and their mothers were killed. Native elders rushed to hide sacred sites from White settlers. The location of some of these sites have still not been revealed. 

"The massacre of Native peoples was due, in large part, to California's first Governor, a slave-owner and white supremacist named Peter Hardeman Burnett whose inaugural address called for a race war until 'the Indian race becomes extinct.' His message to his White followers was: 'Free gold! Go get it!' 

"Los Angeles became the world market for the auction of Indigenous slaves. Today, the location of that notorious slave market is the site of the US Federal Building." 

A Legacy of Environmental Activism 

The Berkeley History Society Museum will soon be opening its new exhibit, :Eco-Berkeley: A Legacy of Environmental Activism." An in-person Opening Event, will be held on Friday, October 21, 4-6 PM. The new exhibit will cover the long history of environmentalism in Berkeley and will feature a short talk (at 5:15) by local author Ken Brower, whose father, David Brower, remains a towering figure in the history of the environmental movement. Guests will have the rare opportunity to purchase the Heyday book, The Wildness Within: Remembering David Brower, for a bargain price of $5.00. The books have been donated by Ken to benefit the Berkeley Historical Society & Museum. 

In addition to David Brower, the exhibit will also feature sections on the Save the Bay movement, Richard Register's campaign for "ecocities," Carl Anthony's promotion of environmental justice, pioneering experiments by the Ecology Center, and green actions by the City of Berkeley. A timeline of notable events, along with books, posters, and other objects, will provide an overview of the role Berkeley residents have played in leading national and international trends in pioneering environmental stewardship. 

The exhibit was curated by Jeanine Castello-Lin, Ann Harlow and Charles Wollenberg, with assistance from many others. Come to the opening to meet and greet some of the real people involved and represented in the exhibit. 

The Pentagon Admits to Using Poverty as a Recruiting Tool 

The Pentagon continues to experience record declines in enlistments. At the end of August, the Navy only reached 89 percent of its enlistment goal while the Army barely managed to fill 66 percent of its recruitment target. 

This dilemma has got 19 of the Pentagon's reddest Republican handmaidens raising complaints. In a September 15 letter to the President, the GOP stalwarts were irate—at Biden's popular decision to forgive student loans! 

Didn't the President realize that the Pentagon relies on enduring social poverty to fill its ranks, the GOPers asked? "By forgiving such a wide swath of loans for borrowers," the representatives told Biden, "you are removing any leverage the Department of Defense maintained as one of the fastest and easiest ways to pay for higher education." When the Army promises to subsidize the costs of higher education, the letter noted, that gives it "leverage" with potential recruits and serves as a "top recruiting incentive" and a "driving factor in many individuals' decision to join one of the services." 

In other words: If you do something to make a college education more affordable, you deprive the Pentagon of a tool that can be used to drive poor Americans to enlist. 

The offended 19 demanded a presidential response to several pointed questions, the second of which read:
"What is the administration's plan to develop incentives to augment the loss of those who might join the military to help pay off student loans?" 

Another revelation from the reproachful Congressional missive: There is one signature that stands out from all the rest. It belongs to Madison Cawthorn and it looks like it was scribbled by a fourth-grader. 

Congressional Hall of Shame 

Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act empowers Medicare to negotiate the price of medications and caps some out-of-pocket costs. Big Pharma is livid but, according to Public Citizen, hopes to block these reforms with the aid of "four corporate cronies in Congress"—Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Marco Rubio (R-FL). No need for the Fearless Foursome to fret over voter backlash: They've collectively pocketed more than a half-million Pharma-bucks in campaign donations over the past five years. 

Want to stymie the LankLeeLumRubio effort to protect corporate profiteering? Public Citizen has a petition for that. 

Don't Bank on the Bomb 

Every year PAX and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons publishes their Don’t Bank on the Bomb report—a unique global study on investments by financial institutions in companies that are involved in the production, storage and maintenance of nuclear weapons. This short animation shows why it's important for folks to check where their money is being invested. 

 

https://youtu.be/Fkipas4Oqdo 

Nuclear Annihilation Should Never Be a 'Strategic Option'  

October 16th marks 60 years since the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Owing to the conflict in Ukraine, the world is now at the closest point we've been to a nuclear war since that terrifying Caribbean confrontation. 

As Defuse Nuclear War observes about the current US/Ukraine/Russia/China tensions: "Very few members of the House and Senate have risen to the occasion by speaking out and working for measures to de-escalate tensions between nuclear powers. Nor have many of them devoted serious effort to reviving negotiations for nuclear-weapons treaties and disarmament measures. That’s why it’s so important that people across the country use the upcoming anniversary to demand that their elected leaders take a stand and work to reduce the risk of nuclear war." 

 

 

So Grab a Protest Sign and Join the SF Protests! 

On Friday, October 14, protests were held in 40 cities across the US calling on Washington to significantly reduce the risk of nuclear war and stop funding nuclear weapons! Demonstrators gathered outside the San Francisco offices of Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla from noon to 2 pm. Peace activists will be delivering letters calling on the US Senate to ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), to adhere to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and to negotiate the total abolition of nuclear weapons. to make your demands seen. (You can print your own signs, banners, and flyers by clicking here!) 

On Sunday, October 16, a half-dozen anti-war activists staged a surprise agit-prop performance called "Nuclear Winter Follies" in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. Gussied up as clowns, jesters, elves, and zombies they pranced about until a "killjoy clown" arrived with the news that a nuclear attack was imminent. The terrified troupe immediately started singing the government's "Duck and Cover" jingle while trying to "duck-and-cover" on the Sproul steps. Alas, a one of the peace clowns observed: "this won't save us from fallout!" As the Bomb falls, all fall down and a nuclear winter ensues. 

Just a play, fortunately. All the performers got back on their feet, offered sunflowers to members of the audience, and call for a world without atom bombs. You can view a video of the event at this link. 

 

The Divided States of Warmerica 

It seems to be a truism in the US press that everyone can praise the Pentagon without question but if someone criticizes the military that requires a response—in the form of a pro-Pentagon letter. A recent case-in-point from the Chronicle, the response to a letter questioning Fleet Week (“Fleet Week glorifies military warmongering”) prompted these two divided responses: 

From Bernie Corace in San Francisco:
Robert E. Lee supposedly remarked, “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.” As a nation, we may have not grown fond of war, but we are at the very least blind to the horrors that our growing military-industrial complex yields in much of the world. 

With the help of compliant media, the horrors of war are kept off our TV screens and out of our magazines and newspapers while terror is delivered from North Africa to the Middle East by drone strikes, joint special operations, and the doling out of weapons to dubious allies like Saudi Arabia and Israel. 

It is well that Fleet Week and the Blue Angels, with their window-rattling thunder, should remind us a bit of what endless war really means. Maybe if they would only strike a wedding party or two, or a young father returning home to his family, they might make that reality better understood. 

From Carlo Barlaan in Martinez:
Fleet week is important because it enables the American public to feel what US power really is and understand the constructive role it plays in the world. Without fighter jets or ships, freedom, democracy and human rights are just fuzzy intellectual creatures without teeth — creatures that authoritarians in Moscow, Beijing or Pyongyang would love to beat down, capture and slaughter as they do to their own peoples. 

During Fleet Week, we are reminded that totalitarians will not have their own way so easily. The sound of a US fighter jet is the sound of freedom. 

Here's part of the original LTE that sparked the exchange.
From Deborah Lee in Albany:
Fleet Week is a display of military force and a public relations glorification of war without showing any of the harmful realities: from displaced refugees to toxic contamination, to debilitating trauma and death…. 

Fleet Week normalizes the enormous military expenditures at a time when we have problems with inequality, lack of housing, climate change and gun violence. 

The US military has been named the “worst polluter on the planet,” and earlier this year toxic fuels were found to be contaminating the water aquifers at US bases at Red Hill in Hawaii and Okinawa in Japan. 

Shouldn’t we be investing in and uplifting new pathways to genuine security, conflict resolution and collaboration between nations instead of being blind to the costs of a permanent state of war? 

Who Needs Superheroes When We've Got Buster Keaton? 

In a world of peril, some people somehow manage to survive the odds. So let's draw some inspiration from the King of Stunts, Buster Keaton. 

 

The essay that follows assumes that a person who takes antipsychotics suffers from side effects of the medication, and thus feels physically and or mentally awful. Yet this is not in all cases the truth. Sometimes, controlling symptoms and being "mellowed out" or sedated from meds, brings noticeable relief almost immediately. Yet, as I say, the rest of this piece assumes that antipsychotics will make a person feel physically and emotionally worse than before they became ill.

---

Originally, my concept of this essay was that I wanted to discuss whether to treat a mental illness more aggressively with more meds, versus less medication, entailing possibly more comfort but also more risk of losing the battle against symptoms. I can't advise anyone on this; it is between you and your doctor.

Nearly all the psych meds I have tried - and in forty years I've tried many - create side effects of one kind or another. And most medications bring medical complications. While some medication side effects merely bring about discomfort of some kind, others are disfiguring, and may make doing ordinary tasks that we all need to do, into monumental challenges. Still other side effects, or shall I say, medical complications, can cause poor health, and consequently a substantially shortened life expectancy. 

However, in my experience, if you have a severe mental illness of almost any kind, medication is a large chunk of the solution. And while it won't be a total solution, it could bring you back to the point of being able to function. And this will allow you to live in the world and not within a hospital. 

Yet, the suffering of side effects is probably the biggest reason that people become noncompliant following a period of recovery. There are other reasons that cause people to become noncompliant, but to me it is the side effects that top the list. Taking antipsychotics can make you feel horrible, and this is a bummer! 

The horrible sensations in the body, and dysphoria and depression, from antipsychotics and many other psych meds can sometimes be addressed with mindfulness. Antipsychotics don't necessarily prevent mindfulness. They can make mindfulness more difficult, but not impossible. And in the absence of treating a psychotic condition, mindfulness may never work, because the symptoms ruin any attempts at organized thought. 

The abovementioned assumes that you are correctly diagnosed. Keep this in mind: many people with real psychosis disbelieve their diagnoses because the psychosis, or else the inability to face hard facts, may cause denial. So, I would pause before believing that your diagnosis is wrong. 

The suffering of taking antipsychotics and many other psych meds is a fact. If mental health professionals try to tell you it isn't real, then maybe they have never tried a dose of these drugs on themselves. Psychiatrists might assert that the problem is your illness, and they need to ramp up your dosage. Or they could minimize the importance of your suffering, believing that you are not a human being and what you feel doesn't matter. 

When the abovementioned happens, it is time to switch psychiatrists. Your feelings matter. Your level of enjoyment of life matters. If anyone is dismissive about that, maybe they're not your friend. 

On the other hand, events must have taken place that led to you being in a position of mental health consumer. Something in your life didn't work, possibly in a big way. I can't tell people they're mentally ill or not, as I am not credentialed, and I don't have a crystal ball. Yet, something led to you being in treatment. Because of that, the reader is urged to pursue cooperation with a competent treatment professional. If you disagree with what they're telling you, it is not time to buck the whole thing. Instead, get a second or even third opinion. 

There are many ways a person's life can be ruined. One of them is failure to treat a serious illness that won't go away by thinking it away or wishing it away. Antipsychotics can be awful to take. But if you need them, you should take them. 

---

Jack Bragen is a writer who lives in Martinez, California.

I have seen the terrible toll on victims of domestic violence as a former volunteer at the Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic (CROC) in San Francisco, helping victims of domestic violence with free legal services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.  

Statistics show that one-in-four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, and every year nearly 5.3 million incidents of intimate partner violence occur among U.S. women aged 18 and older. This is simply intolerable. Domestic abuse should never be tolerated or allowed to continue in any form. 

If you are dealing with abuse or witnessing abuse in your household, please don’t ignore it. Here are some actions you can take: tell someone, call the police, document the abuse, call a domestic abuse helpline (National Domestic Violence Hotline — 800-799-7233), leave the relationship, create a safety plan.

In the war of words between Biden and Putin, words matter. It is important for Biden to stress that America and NATO are not at war with Russia and the Russian people. Biden should encourage Russians to flee their own country to avoid conscription. Perhaps, he could even offer monetary rewards. 

Mr. Putin’s nuclear extortion may not stop in Ukraine. He may now use the same threat to pave the way for a Russian invasion of the Baltic states or other NATO members, or a despot in another nuclear-armed state may follow his example. Biden should refrain from incendiary words like “Armageddon” which plays into Putin’s playbook, amplifying nuclear threats. Putin has already demonstrated his callous disregard for human life targeting non-military targets to strike terror following the destruction of the vital bridge linking Crimea with Russia. 

Mr. Putin’s nuclear extortion may extend beyond Ukraine. He may now use the same threat to wage wars in the Baltic states or NATO or another nuclear-armed despot may follow Putin’s example. It’s extremely unlikely that the nuclear genie can ever be eradicated. We now have to live with the twin threats of climate change and nuclear annihilation! 

Putin is right. We paved the way with our atomic bombs strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which killed 215,00 and wounded many more. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine desperately needs a shield to neutralize the barrage of Russian missiles.

Worth Noting:

Sunday October 16 is the Bird Festival with events from 8 am – 8 pm. Field trips start at 8 am.

Monday smartspace goberkeley pay for parking starts in Southside https://smartspace.goberkeley.info/

Civic Center (CCCC) meeting is at noon, Council Agenda Committee planning for November 3 regular council meeting is at 2:30 pm (the proposed agenda is packed), Civic Arts Policy subcommittee meets at 4 pm (Bayer and STEAM) and the Peace and Justice Commission (on Lisjan/Ohlone and Shellmound) meets at 7 pm.

Tuesday – council meets in closed session Thursday not Tuesday and no other city meetings were found

Wednesday the Commission on Aging meets at 1:30 pm (Hopkins Corridor), the Environment and Climate Commission meets at 5 pm, the Civic Arts Commission meets at 6 pm, EBMUD presents desalination webinar at 6 pm, Human Welfare Commission and BOLT meet at 6:30 pm and the Planning Commission on Bird Safe Glass and Rent Stabilization Board meet at 7 pm.

Thursday the annual Earthquake drill is at 10:20 am, Council meets in closed session at 3 pm, the Fair Campaign and Open Government Commission meets at 6 pm and the Design Review Committee (1820 San Pablo) and Transportation and Infrastructure Commission (Ashby BART on the Agenda) both meet at 7 pm.

Don’t forget to check for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov/ No meetings found for Friday, Saturday or Sunday October 23.

The Comment Period ends October 17, 2022 at 5 pm for the Housing Element Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The DEIR 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 document including appendices is over 500 pages.

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

Last day to register to vote is October 24 for the November 8, 2022 election. You should have your ballot by now, if it hasn’t arrived check your registration at https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/ 

Sunday, October 16, 2022  

BERKELEY BIRD FESTIVAL at 8 am – 8 pm 

Check website for events schedules https://berkeleybirdfestival.org/ 

Events include birding field trips, origami, drawing and painting, making a bird house, garden tours, slideshow, exhibits, focused events for kids/family 

Monday, October 17, 2022 

COMMUNITY for a CULTURAL CIVIC CENTER (CCCC) at 12 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84610947314?pwd=MytWamtoR1VRSU5WMEZEclZyOEJNdz09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 896 5038 0469 

AGENDA: Focusing on reactions to Sept 29 meeting and next steps 

https://berkeleycccc.org/ 

AGENDA AND RULES COMMITTEE Meeting at 2:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84245795906 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5256 (toll free) Meeting ID: 842 4579 5906 

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

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

PEACE AND JUSTICE COMMISSION MEETING at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83755415244 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 837 5541 5244 

AGENDA: Discussion/Action: 7. Discussion with Ms. Corrina Gould – Spokeswoman and Tribal Chair of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone Indigenous Leader(s) on the Berkeley Shellmound, 8. Review of work on abortion and reproductive rights access study, 9. Seating needed in Berkeley post offices. 

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

CIVIC ARTS COMMISSION POLICY SUBCOMMITTEE at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1614814323 

Teleconference: Meeting ID:  

AGENDA: 5. a) Bayer Community Benefit – arts Education and STEAM best practices, b) Poet Laureate 

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

Tuesday, October 18, 2022 – no city meetings found 

Wednesday, October 19, 2022 

BOARD OF LIBRARY TRUSTEES (BOLT) at 6:30 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86042306505 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 860-4230-6505 

AGENDA: III.A. Nominations, B. Gift and Donation Policy Update. 

https://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/about/board-library-trustees 

CIVIC ARTS COMMISSION at 6 pm 

Videoconference:  

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 Meeting ID: 160 759 2269 

AGENDA: 6. Presentations, Discussion & Action Items a) FY 24 Grant Guidelines, b) FY 24 Festivals Grant Guidelines, c) FY 24 Individual Artist Projects Grant Guidelines, d) Revised Homelessness Social Practice Project Plan, e) Establish Commissioner representatives on Civic Center Committee. 

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

COMMISSION ON AGING at 1:30 pm  

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1614800144 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 161 4800 144 

AGENDA: 4. 2nd vote on letters to council regarding e-scooters and appointments to Commission on Aging, 5. Letter to council on participating in reconsideration of Hopkins Corridor Project, 6. Request funding ½ time coordinator position of Age Friendly Continuum, 7. Pedestrian concern Shattuck and Oregon intersection, 8. Personal deliverer devices (PDD). 

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

ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE at 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83135581455 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 831 3558 1455 

AGENDA: Discussion and Action items: 8. Reconsideration of recommendations from former energy commission and CEAC, 9. Electric Mobility Roadmap Implementation, 10. Berkeley Existing Building Electrification 11. Zero-emission Vehicle parking support letter, 12. Discussion Gas Station Ban and EV charging expansion. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/environment-and-climate-commission 

HUMAN WELFARE AND COMMUNITY ACTION COMMISION at 6:30 pm 

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

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

AGENDA: Action Items 5. CSBG funding, 6. A. McGee Avenue Baptist Church program and financial records, Discussion/possible action: 8. Senior housing and programs, 9. Pathways, 10. Requirements for contracted non-profit service providers and transparency of grant reports, 11. Eligibility for services as representative for the poor, 12. Accessibility and availability of materials on City website, 13. Accessibility quality assessment program to handle non-conforming public facilities and complaints from seniors and disabled people over substandard services or services not provided. 

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

PLANNING COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88536315053 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 885 3631 5053 

AGENDA: 9. Bird Safe Berkeley Requirements, 10. Public Hearing Zoning Ordinance technical edits, 11. Public Hearing Demolition Ordinance. 

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

RENT STABILIZATION BOARD MEETING at 7 pm  

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89390391286?pwd=LzZ1VEh3T0FMWDdGWXdMS1lTZjA2UT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 893 9039 1286 Passcode: 936779 

AGENDA: 7. Appeal Case No. T-5929 2208 MLK Jr Way #6 (will start no sooner than 8 pm), 8. Action items b. modify scope of contract with Kinnectics, LLC and add $300,000 for current fiscal year, c. AGA (Annual General Adjustment) 4.4%, d. Increase 2023 relocation assistance payments for Owner Move-in Ellis Act evictions by 6.8% 

https://rentboard.berkeleyca.gov/elected-rent-board/rent-board-meetings 

EBMUD Water Wednesdays DEMYSTIFYING DESAL at 6 – 7 pm 

Register: tinyurl.com/3j2r7kmn  

AGENDA: Challenges of desalination 

https://www.ebmud.com/about-us/education-resources/water-wednesday 

Thursday, October 20, 2022 

ANNUAL EARTHQUAKE DRILL at 10:20 am 

Link to State of California webpage and Earthquake alerts https://earthquake.ca.gov/ 

Berkeley webpage for event 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/news/practice-earthquake-oct-20-drop-cover-and-hold-shakeout-earthquake-drill 

CITY COUNCIL CLOSED Session at 3 pm  

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89720143895 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 897 2014 3895 

AGENDA: 1. Conference with legal counsel pending litigation, Workers Comp Appeals Board a. Case No. ADJ15205205 and b. Case No. ADJ12548950 

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

DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83381275701 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 833 8127 5701 

AGENDA: 1. 2213 Fourth Street – Final Design Follow-up – demolish 3 existing non-residential buildings and one existing duplex and construct new 128,143 sq ft 4 ½ story parking garage with 412 auto parking spaces and one loading space 

2. 1820 San Pablo – continued preliminary Design Review – demolish the existing commercial building and construct 4-story, 42,831 sq ft 44 unit mixed-use building with 6,364 sq ft commercial space 

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

TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81634591168 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 816 3459 1168 

AGENDA: 2. Adeline at Ashby BART Project – Action required recommend to City Council to adopt a preferred design concept, 3. Berkeley Strategic (BeST) Plan Update 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/transportation-and-infrastructure-commission 

FAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICES AND OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION at 6 pm  

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84333850180 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 843 3385 0180 

AGENDA: 6. Report from officeholder accounts subcommittee, 7. City council referral contribution limits, 

https://berkeleyca.gov/legislative-body-commission-4 

Friday, October 21 & Saturday, October 22 & Sunday, October 23 – no meetings found 

++++++++++++++++++++ 

AGENDA AND RULES COMMITTEE Meeting at 2:30 pm 

Draft agenda for November 3, 2022 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84245795906 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5256 (toll free) Meeting ID: 842 4579 5906 

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

AGENDA: 

CONSENT: 

1. 2nd reading Ordinance adding BMC Chapter 13.09 Prohibiting Discriminatory Reports to Law Enforcement
2. 2nd reading Amendments to Zoning Ordinance
3. COVID – review and ratify need for continuing emergency
4. Continue to meet via videoconference
5. 2022 Annual Commission Attendance and Meeting Frequency Report
6. Amend contract 32200039 add $72,000 total $117,000 and extend to 12/31/2023 with Townsend Public Affairs for legislative and funding advocacy strategy (lobbying)
7. Amend contract 32100186 add $144,000 total $354,000 with Mildred Howard to increase size of public art commission to 11 ft tall at Adeline and MLK triangular green space
8. Renew Solano BID (business improvement district) for 2023
9. Formal bid solicitations and RFP $75,000
10. Contract $250,000 with Robert Half International/Protiviti for Professional Services, for Fire Dept, Fire Administration, Prevention Wildland Urban Interface, Emergency Medical Services and Training
11. Contract $80,000 with Restoration Family Counseling Center for counseling, education, support
12. Amend contract 32200227 add $60,000 total $220,000 with Fire Aside for Mobile Vegetation Inspection Software
13. Amend contract 32200083 add $500,000 total $1,400,000 with Ganey Scientific for project management and consulting for Fire Dept.
14. Purchase Order $1,700,000 with Bauer Compressors Inc. for Self-contained breathing apparatus and related accessories
15. Revenue Contracts FY 2023 Aging services Programs, congregate meals $40,000, home delivered meals $84,000, family caregiver $41,383, Senior center activities $30,000, information and assistance services $100,000
16. Amend contract 32000240 add $410,389 total $1,394,167 with BUSD for Mental Health MHSA-Funded Programs
17. Participation agreement for grant $42,609 with Greater Bay Area Regional Patnership Workforce, Education and Training – CA Mental Health Services Authority
18. Accept donation $80,000 for Berkeley meals on wheels program
19. Amend contract add $180,000 total $732,432 with Robert Half International/Protiviti for cyber-resilience projects for FY 2023 using GSA purchasing vehicle
20. Amend contract 32000281 add $165,000 total $892,821 with ConvergeOne for on-site Avaya Administration and Support and extend to 6/30/2024
21. Amend contract 32000223 add $50,000 total $299,500 with Gray Quarter, Inc for Accela Professional Services
22. Adoption of Berkeley Building Codes, including amendments to CA Building Standards Code,
23. Re-enactment f the Berkeley Housing Code
24. Revenue Grant Contract $74,940 State of CA Alcoholic Beverage Control
25. Reappointment of Andrea Prichett and Edward Opton to Mental Health Commissions
26. Taplin – Refer to budget process $500,000 for local down payment assistance and closing cost assistance revolving loan fund pilot program providing 3rd lien qualifying applicants in a racial equity and reparative justice framework
27. Bartlett – Budget referral $150,000 to support recovery and renovations of La Pena Cultural Center,
28. Arreguin – Budget referral $50,000 commitment to completion of affordable housing at 1638 Stuart Street affordable to households earning less than 80% of AMI
29. ZAB Appeal 2018 Blake UP ZP2021-0095 6-story multi-family residential building with 12 units (continued from Oct 11, 2022 council meeting)
30. ZAB Appeal 1643-1647 California UP ZP2021-0001 create new lower basement level, new 2nd story and modify existing duplex layout resulting in 3,763 sq ft duplex,
31. Fair Workweek Ordinance (continued from Oct 11, 2022)
32. Harriet Tubman Terrace Tenant Support (continued from Oct 11, 2022)

ACTION: 

33. Accept annual Surveillance Technology Reports ALPR, GPS trackers, Body Worn Cameras, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and the street evel imagery project
34. a. Disaster and Fire Safety Commission (DFSC) – Measure FF recommended spending on vegetation management for fire prevention 21% FY 2023 and 26% FY 2024, b. CM companion report (response) council reaffirms support of Fire Dept and considers the Commission’s report during the FY 2024 budget process if the DFSC so chooses to resubmit an updated version
35. Energy Commission (energy commission dissolved and merged into Environment and Climate Commission) recommendation staff pilot projects in EV, EV charging infrastructure, building electrification, referral went to budget committee with no action sent back to council
36. Kesarwani – automatic traffic calming review for the area surrounding project at 1201-1205 San Pablo Ave within 6 months after 90% of buildings occupancy
37. Taplin – Budget referral $135,000 - Refer to CM implementation No Right on Red signs to all intersections with traffic lights
38. Harrison – Resolution supporting local implementation of SB 379 for online instant solar permits and apply for grants and automated solar permitting platforms to reduce permit review time for solar and battery storage systems
39. Robinson, co-sponsors Harrison, Bartlett - parking/towing fines & fees reform develop program to offer waivers to low income households, less than 50% AMI

INFORMATION REPORTS 

40. FY 2023 Civic Arts Grants Awards
41. Fire Prevention Inspections Audit Status Report
42. Update: HR Response: Audit Directive(s) for Comprehensive Domestic Violence Policy to Support City Employees
43. LPO NOD 2065 Kittredge
44. Audit Status Report: Underfunded Mandate: Resources, Strategic Plan and Communication Needed to Continue Progress towards the Year 2020 Zero Waste Goal
45. Audit Status Report: Unified Vision Zero Waste Activities Will Help Align Service Levels with Billing and Ensure Customer Equity
46. Audit Status Reports: Lease Audit: Conflict Directives Hinder Contract Oversight
47. Audit Status Reports: Fleet Replacement Fund Short Millions & Rocky Road: Berkeley Streets At Risk and Significantly Underfunded
48. Audit Recommendation Status – Data Analysis of City of Berkeley’s Police Response
49. Audit Recommendation Status – 911 Dispatchers: Understaffing Leads to Excessive Overtime and Low Morale
50. Update on BPD efforts related to the Improving Hate Crimes Reporting and Response Referral

+++++++++++++++++++ 

LAND USE CALENDAR: 

Public Hearing to be scheduled 

2018 Blake (construct multi-family residential building) 11/3/2022 

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. 

WORKSESSIONS and SPECIAL MEETINGS: 

African American Holistic Resource Center November 15 at 4 pm 

Unscheduled Presentations 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

Fire Facilities Study Report 

Civic Center Vision Project (March 2023) 

Kelly Hammargren’s take 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. (Your email is not shared). If you wish to stop receiving the weekly summary of city meetings

On Friday, October 14, Cal Performances offered the return of world-renowned violinist Maxim Vengerov after a 15-year absence. Vengerov was joined by pianist Polina Osetinskaya in a program of works for violin and piano. Included were Johann Sebastian Bach’s Violin Sonata in B-minor, BMV 1014; Beethoven’s Sonata in A Major, Kreutzer, Op. 47; Dmitri Shostakovich’s Ten Preludes from Op. 34; Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op. 42; and Tchaikovsky’s Valse-Scherzo in C Major, Op. 34. 

When Maxim Vengerov and Polina Osetinskaya came onstage to open the program, they presented quite a visual contrast. While Osetinskaya wore an elaborate evening dress with puffed short sleeves, Vengerov wore a grey tunic, grey pants, and what at first looked like white-and-black sneakers. Later, I realised they were not sneakers but what might be called boat shoes. 

Vengerov’s all-grey outfit was loose-fitting and almost looked like pyjamas. A burly man, Vengerov looked inauspiciously casual. However, once he began playing his violin, there was no trace of casualness. Vengerov’s playing is fiercely passionate. However, in the Bach Sonata, the imbalance between Osetinskaya and Vengerov was more than visual; it was, alas, also present in the way Osetinskaya’s piano, played consistently at forte or fortissimo levels, tended to overshadow Vengerov’s violin. 

This imbalance continued, though to a lesser degree, in the performance of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata. For example, in the opening movement’s sudden, dramatic outburst of strenuous pizzicato plucking by Vengerov, this was nearly smothered by the piano the first time it was heard. Later, fortunately, when it returned it was full of its intended dramatic resonance. Once a correct balance was achieved between piano and violin, this performance of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata was full of passionate intensity coming from both violin and piano. By the way, as the online program notes indicated, this violin sonata was written not for Rudolphe Kreutzer but for George Brdgewater, who performed it with Beethoven on piano at its premiere. Later, Beethoven quarrelled with Bridgewater and rededicated this work to Kreutzer, who didn’t like the piece and never played it. Yet, somehow, the name Kreutzer has forever remained affixed to this brilliant violin sonata by Beethoven. 

After intermission, Vengerov and Osetinskaya returned to perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Ten Preludes from Op. 34 as arranged for violin and piano by Dmitri Tziganov. These are brief miniatures that offer a whirlwind of variety, including melancholy waltzes, snatches of Jewish folk songs, sinister marches, grotesque marches, hysterical scherzos, and even some silly pieces. My favourite was the lyrical Prelude No. 17 in A-flat Major, marked Largo. All in all, these preludes offer a glimpse into the multi-faceted personality of Shostakovich. 

Next on the printed program were two works by Tchaikovsky, Souvenirs d’un lieu cher, Op. 42, and Valse-Scherzo in C Major, Op. 34. The former work was written at the estate in Ukraine of Tchaikovsky’s benefactress, Nadezda von Meck, who lent the composer her estate so he might recover from his disastrous marriage. The first movement, entitled Méditation, begins with the low range of the violin, here beautifully rendered by the fulsome tone of Maxim Vengerov’s low register. Little by little, Vengerov’s violin climbs to the stratosphere, maintaining his gorgeous tone all the way to his highest register. The second movement, styled Mélodie, was intended by Tchaikovsky to close out this work, but Vengerov and Osetinskaya opted instead to play this light, lyrical movement in between the opening Méditation and the wild Scherzo in the form of a Tarantella that in their version closes this work. The ensuing piece by Tchaikovsky was the charming, witty Valse-Scherzo in C Major, Op. 34. The surprising combination of a waltz and a scherzo gives this brief work a brilliant gleam of humour. 

As encores Vengerov and Osetinskaya played the third movement, Scherzo, from Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, “Spring,” Op. 24; and, to close the concert, the beautiful third movement, marked Recitativo-fantasia from the Violin Sonata in A Major of César Franck. The latter piece was so gorgeously played that no further encores were needed. This brought to a close a concert that was full of the masterful technique and gorgeous phrasing of violinist Maxim Vengerov as well as the dramatic flair of pianist Polina Osetinskaya. 

 

NOTE: Céline Ricci’s Ars Minerva company offers its latest Italian Baroque opera revival, ASTAYANATTE (1730) by Leonardo Vinci (NOT to be confused with Leonardo da Vinci), at SF’s ODC Theatre from 10/21-10-23. This company does wonders with long-lost Italian Baroque operas. Don’t miss it!