As the committee for Affordable and Resilient Berkeley(Yes on Measure L) approaches $300,000 or more in campaign donations from various dubious sources, it’s still struggling to outgun grassroots No on L organizers in the polls. Stealth, midnight installations of “Yes on L, Yes on M” signage on city property(illegal) is reluctantly taken down after immediate reporting to the local election rules committee-only to appear like the Caddyshack gopher days later. Still, as the election day advances, the onslaught of media calling for Yes on L on the streets and in our mailboxes is truly a colossal waste of resources and money. -more-

In 1984 Berkeley declared People's Park a Landmark. That you have not yet acknowledged the placing of the Park on the Register of National Landmarks says plenty about what Berkeley has become and in whose interest it is governed. Of course the University is a major player on the political scene. That's inevitable and irreversible as the University is part of the State apparatus. But simply acknowledging the Landmark honor does not require that the City do more than let the development battle play out in the Courts. You do have a responsibility to the City's history more than to the real estate developers. Just as you have a responsibility to the hundreds and hundreds of homeless you keep displacing (such as now in the Gilman district) without providing adequate housing alternatives. -more-

I am writing on behalf of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) to express our serious concerns regarding the City of Berkeley’s 2023-2031 Revised Housing Element Update and Draft Environmental Report (Revised Housing Element Update and RHEU). Our comments address the defects in the promulgation of this ill-advised scheme, as well as the substance of its, now revised, content. -more-

I totally missed the Berkeley Bird Festival last Sunday. Instead I was tethered to the computer pulling together the response to the Housing Element Update (HEU) Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) to meet the 5 pm Monday, October 17 deadline, only to be hit on Tuesday with a revision arriving with a one week to respond, putting me behind for another week. I have never heard of such a thing, one week to respond to a revision of a DEIR, but as I wrote last week Berkeley was outed by the San Francisco Business Times and looks to be on target to miss the January 31, 2023 Housing Element deadline. So I guess to make up time, we get the minimal seven days to find the changes and respond. https://berkeleyca.gov/construction-development/land-use-development/general-plan-and-area-plans/housing-element-update -more-

At the risk of repeating myself for the thousandth time, the effects of the psychoactive drugs we are mandated to take, the life circumstances we must live with, and the horrors in the mind brought by the symptoms themselves, can create a living nightmare for a person with psychiatric problems. A severe psychiatric condition is often a cause of misery for the body and mind. How do you fight this? -more-

Congratulation to the Bicyclers, mostly students, who called in to the Berkeley City Council to support the bicycle path down Hopkins Street to the shopping center at MLK Jr. Way. The city council voted to complete the bicycle path, so you had a victory. -more-

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake centered east of San Jose on Tuesday morning could be felt through much of the Bay Area and caused some transit delays, but no major damage has been reported.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake struck at 11:42 a.m. and was centered about 12 miles east of San Jose. The USGS initially said the quake had a magnitude of 5.0 but then upgraded it to 5.1. A 2.9-magnitude aftershock also struck in the same location about five minutes later.

The 5.1 quake is the largest in the Bay Area since a 6.0 earthquake in the Napa area and residents around the region on social media reported feeling the jolt Tuesday morning. It was the largest quake on the northern end of the central segment of the Calaveras Fault since a 5.4-magnitude quake in 2007.

Many people also received advanced notification seconds before the quake happened via the MyShake smartphone app developed at University of California at Berkeley, according to the Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

BART officials held trains so crews could inspect trackways for possible damage, but cleared all service for normal operations by about 12:20 p.m. Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light-rail service was also delayed for inspections following the quake but is back on schedule. -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.

If you'd like to read all of these fine essays, click on the Search the Planet tab above, which will produce a Google-generated form. Type in the word ELECTION ( yes, all caps) and you'll see a list of election-related pieces. Most of them make good points; they don't all agree.

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. -more-

Is this the kind of Berkeley that reflects our values? The Yes on L team has raised over $280,000 from special interests to support a $650 million bond that will benefit those interests. In 2016 the successful campaign to support Measure T1, a $100 million infrastructure bond, raised about $35,000. It seems clear that modest amount will be dwarfed by special interest money that supports the current effort.

With that kind of money, you can put literature in every voter’s mailbox, and apparently make it up as you go. The latest claim by the Yes on L is “Measure L will fund 1,500 to 1,700 new, permanently affordable homes for Berkeley seniors and families in need.” But Measure L says nothing about affordable housing for seniors and families—it establishes no priorities for any kind of affordable housing. Nor does the measure promise new housing, or include a plan of any sort. Instead, the Mayor has stated that there is little undeveloped land in Berkeley, so buying existing housing might be the city’s approach. The glossy flyer that landed in my mailbox does not explain how this measure would result in 1,500 to 1,700 new units; without any plan showing where units might be and how much they might cost, that would be difficult. So far, the city has done well to develop over 500 units with money remaining in unsold Measure O bonds. City staff claims to be on target to develop 535 units for $111 million ($207,000 per unit). How $200 million would generate more than 3 times as many units ($118,000 per unit), in a time of rising construction and land costs, is a mystery to me. Is it reasonable to accept claims that 1,700 new units could be built, with no plan, land scarce and the costs of construction rising? With no plan, it is not clear how units would be managed and maintained, and what that would mean to their affordability.

Berkeley still has $57 million in unissued bonds from Measure O, and projects that are years from construction. That is ample time to prepare the necessary plans for what can be accomplished with a new bond. Where would the units be, how affordable would they be, and how would they be managed and maintained?

I voted for Measure O to authorize $135 million for affordable housing. I believe that we will eventually need to authorize more funding to retain affordable housing in Berkeley as home prices go through the roof. But with millions of Measure O funds unspent, there is no need to authorize a blank check for $200 million for some kinds of housing, somewhere, sometime.

Please, read Measure L. Visit our site, https://berkeleyansforbetterplanning.org/ Ask yourself if the claims of the Yes on L campaign are credible, and why they need more than $250,000 in special interest money to make them. If you think pay-to-play elections are bad for Berkeley, vote no, and then help us draft a more reasonable and accountable measure that does not require special interest money to have an informed conversation with voters. -more-

Worth Noting:

The Housing Element has been revised and gave us one week to respond. The deadline to respond to the revision is Tuesday, October 25. The Housing Element is the plan to add 19,098 housing units to Berkeley with an estimated 47,443 new residents to fill those units. The first round stated there was no significant impact to Berkeley with adding all these units and new residents except for the additional units to be added to the high fire zones where adding people would generate significant impact and declared impacts were unavoidable and new housing should be added anyway.

Monday at 4 pm Ann Riley presents on daylighting/restoring urban creeks and civic center park (this is my go to meeting of the week). The Housing Element drop in hours are 12 – 2 pm and Zero waste is at 7 pm.

Tuesday the Police Accountability Board meets at 7 pm this is a switch from the usual meeting night. Council is off. Tuesday is the last day to respond to the Housing Element. which now contains revisions and additions

Wednesday the 4 x 4 Committee meets at 3 pm, the Commission on Disability and Telegraph Ave redesign are at 6 pm. The flyer states the Telegraph redesign is from Dwight going south to Woolsey. The Disaster and Fire Safety Commission meets at 7 pm.

Thursday the Mental Health Commission meets at 7 pm.

The next council meeting is November 3. The Agenda (includes Fair Work Week) is available for comment.

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

If you don’t already have your ballot, Monday, October 24, 2022 is the last day for California residents to register to vote for the November 8, 2022 election. You can register online and/or check your registration status at https://registertovote.ca.gov/

Monday, October 24, 2022 -more-

On Saturday, October 22 I attended another operatic rarity offered by Céline Ricci’s Ars Minerva, a company dedicated to reviving long forgotten Italian Baroque operas. This year’s offering was Astianatte by Neapolitan composer Leonardo Vinci, whose operas have never before been seen in USA. Having read an online summary of Astianatte on the Ars Minerva website, I also left myself plenty of time to read the program notes and synopsis at the ODC Theatre in the Mission District where Astianatte was presented. The plot, I read with interest, involves Andromache (Andromaca in Italian), the widow of the slain Trojan hero Hector, and her young son, Astayanax (Astianatte in Italian). In the aftermath of their successful siege of Troy, the Greeks and their allies debate over what to do with Andromaca and Astianatte. So, having reviewed the plot and briefly greeted Céline Ricci in the lobby, I took my seat in the theatre and noted the projected backdrop which read “Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples, ASTIANATTE, 1725.” -more-