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. -more-

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? -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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.

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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. -more-

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. -more-

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. -more-

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/ -more-

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. -more-