Vote counts released today (Thursday) by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters
City Council District 1
Kesarwani - 1232 49.4%
Mikiten - 1067 42.8%
Freeman - 193 7.8%
Incumbent Council member Rashi Kesarwani’s margin over Elisa Mikiten grew from 112 votes to 165 votes as the County Registrar of Voters reported more results. Kesarwani now has 49% of the first choice votes to 43% for Mikiten. In the ranked choice voting report, more of third-place candidate Michai Freeman’s votes went to Mikiten than to Kesarwani, but enough went to Kesarwani to put the incumbent over 50%
Measure L - the $650 million bond
YES - 9528 56.2%
NO - 7434. 43.8%
This measure has no chance of getting the two-thirds required for passage. Support has dropped slightly from votes counted on Election Day night when the YES percentage was 56.3%. A record amount for support of a City of Berkeley bond measure was spent by supporters to no avail. The Daily Californian reports contributions totaling as of last Friday; the final total will no doubt be higher.
Measure M - the Vacancy Tax
YES- 10,261 61.3%
NO- 6491 38.8%
This measure has definitely passed as it only requires a majority, not two thirds
How Many Ballots remain to be Counted?
Perhaps the Registrar of Voters knows but nothing has been posted on their Web site. They did report earlier today that 36,628 Vote by Mail ballots had been returned in Berkeley; there are also 539 military and overseas ballots. These are not the final numbers. This may have been a relatively low turnout election for Berkeley, even for a non-Presidential election year. The number of registered voters in Berkeley is 71,663, substantially lower than the 79,154 who were registered for the 2018 midterm elections when turnout was quite high in Berkeley. The Registrar will release more results next Monday. (Friday is Veteran’s Day.)
Turnout in Berkeley, November Elections, 1988-2018
Year
Registration
Ballots Cast
Turnout (%)
2022
71,633
?
?
2020
79,072
64,450
81.5
2018
79,154
58,367
73.7
2016
83,778
65,430
78.1
2014
79,928
40,301
50.4
2012
82,104
60,559
73.7
2010
78,631
49,640
63.1
2008
86,020
66,703
77.5
2006
69,780
46,166
66.2
2004
78,638
60,818
77.3
2002
70,184
41,363
58.9
Note: latest (Oct 10 2 p.m.) on County Website shows 36,628 Vote by Mail ballots for the current election which amounts to a 51.3% turnout so far; not final.
District 7 - Students Don’t Vote in Berkeley
The County Registrar reports that only 449 vote by mail ballots were returned in District 7, the student super majority district. That’s only 1.2% of the total number of Vote by Mail ballots reported so far.
Rigel Robinson, running unopposed for District 7 Council except for a write-in candidate, had 56 votes when the election night count was completed. With today’s update, he’s up to 107 votes. Does it really make sense to have a district when someone can be elected with only a few hundred votes?
Rent Board
There were no changes in the ranking. In sixth place, Ida Martinac is 605 votes behind Vanessa Danielle Marrero.
Soli Alpert - 8699
Nathan Mizell - 7517
Stefan Elgstrand - 7204
Carole Marasovic - 6718
Vanessa Danielle Marrero 6709
Ida Martinac 6104
Wendy Saenz Hood 5855
Negeene Mosaed 5675
School Board
The margin between third place candidate Mike Chang and fourth place candidate Reichi Lee has increased from 175 votes to 255 votes
Ka’dijah Brown - 11135
Jennifer Shanoski - 8805
Mike Chang - 8713
Reichi Lee - 8458
County District Attorney
Terry Wiley is still running ahead of Pamela Price, 93,420 to 87,894 (52% to 48%)
Ying Lee, a refugee from Shanghai during World War II and the first Asian American woman elected to the Berkeley City Council, died peacefully at home September 10, 2022, surrounded by her beloved family and friends. She was committed to a world of peace and steadfastly opposed war, militarization, and violence. Throughout her 90 years, she was an activist for social justice and a staunch progressive Democrat, public school teacher, congressional staffer, and an advocate for national and regional multiracial campaigns.
Ying’s early experiences of world war, military occupation, civil war, and famine in China shaped her life philosophy to identify and speak out for the vulnerable, and were the foundation of her life-long commitment to oppose war, fight racism, and advocate for the disadvantaged. She often expressed her love for and gratitude to America, displaying her patriotism through her belief in good government and her work for change from within the system, while appreciating the freedom to call for rights and equity for immigrants and those without a voice.
After years of Ying’s childhood spent fleeing upheavals in war-torn China, with her schooling constantly disrupted, her family found their way to San Francisco’s Panhandle. Ying attended the neighborhood school, Lowell High, then attended San Francisco Community College. She reveled in San Francisco’s bohemian scene, hanging out with Maya Angelou, Odetta, Gary Snyder (who pierced her ears), and the avant garde Phyllis Diller. She was crowned Miss Chinatown in the 1950s, before eventually achieving bachelors and masters degrees from UC Berkeley.
In the city of Berkeley, Ying discovered an intentional community that was relatively welcoming to immigrants, many ethnicities, and the non-conventional. She found kindred spirits amid its progressive political voices and made the city her home. In the 1960s, she married UC Professor John Kelley, and began a career as a teacher in the Berkeley public schools while raising a blended family of five children; Kelley’s three and her own two, Max and Sara.
During the 1960s and 1970s Ying was an active and respected voice in the civil rights movement and the peace movement calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. In 1971, after many years of organizing, the latter made national headlines by electing a slate of three out of four candidates to the Berkeley City Council. In 1973, that coalition enthusiastically drafted Ying to run for City Council. She won election and built a strong progressive record.
Ying was on the front lines for social change her entire life. After the Berkeley City Council, she was an aide to Congressman Ron Dellums for ten years, in his Berkeley District Office and in Washington DC. When Dellums retired from Congress, she joined Congresswoman Barbara Lee as her first legislative director in Washington, D.C. Ying spent years crafting and advocating for the Living Wage Jobs for All Act that evoked FDR’s approach to quality-of-life measures for all Americans. She was involved for decades in Asian American and multiracial movements, serving on the boards of the Asian Law Caucus, Asian Health Services, as well as in electoral politics as a national delegate for the George McGovern and Jesse Jackson Presidential campaigns. Her driving forces were fighting for peace and justice, and she saw poverty as a crime to be eradicated.
Ying’s active civic participation never ceased, in campaigns and groups ranging from ‘Grandmothers Against the War’ to the successful effort to save the Berkeley Post Office and many others. Along with her passion and drive to fight for justice, she often expressed her profound joy in spending time with her children and caring for her grandchildren. She is survived by her children Max and Sara, in-laws Sallie and Mark, her grandchildren Max, Olivia and Kyle, her brother and sister-in-law Gus and Diane, sister Mary, nieces and nephews Jena, Eric, Mimi, Lars, Anna, and Eva, women’s group sisters Roberta, Loni, and Nancy, predeceased by husband John L. Kelley, sister Elinor, brother in-law John, , and women’s group sisters Sheila and Luanne, in addition to the many friends who were part of her extended chosen family.
Throughout her life, Ying Lee was a luminous person whose integrity and wisdom inspired those who knew her. A voracious reader and deep thinker with tremendous empathy, she faced the world honestly and never gave up. Ying helped shape Berkeley and the world. She will be deeply missed.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s Political Action Committee to elect progressive Democrats to Congress, bit.ly/OneVoicePAC; and the Ying Lee Unity Fund at Asian Health Services, asianhealthservices.org/yingleeunityfund
Ying Lee’s oral history is available at Eastwind Books, 2066 University Avenue, asiabookcenter.com, and the Berkeley Historical Society, Veterans Memorial Building, 1931 Center Street, berkeleyhistoricalsociety.org
Well, the crunch is upon us. At our house, the unopened ballots are still on the dining room table. We’ve heard on the grapevine that they contain the usual assortment of pointless or harmful proposals, including some that in principle we might not object to.
Some are easy. No to gambling in all forms. No to regulation-by-initiative of kidney treatment, which should be done by experts. Etc.
Also in the pile are endless glossy mailers paid for by vaguely named PACs. There’s a whole lotta’ money sloshing round.
But one of these giant color postcards claims that it “contains all .. and only” the endorsements of The Democratic Party of Alameda County. It features a great big red white and blue button: “Official Democratic Party VOTER Guide”.
Really? I first registered as a Democrat in Berkeley in 1960, and have been one ever since, here and in Michigan, but I don’t think they asked me who they should be endorsing. The all-aboard primary system means that everyone’s some sort of Democrat, which means that party makes little difference in my decision as a voter.
In theory, Berkeley has always had non-partisan elections, but since California’s turned into a one-party state the Newsom Dems are putting their heavy thumbs on the scale here too, telling us Berkeleyans who and what to vote for. And I don’t like it.
Berkeley used to be considered a progressive leader, whatever that meant. But no more. This mailer suggests that as a good Democrat I should vote for the old White guy whose main qualification is that he’s been a 20 year homeowner in my district. The Democratic Party of Alameda County has endorsed him instead of the middle-aged POC woman who’s been a long-time tenant activist around here and a staunch advocate of building only deeply affordable housing on public land, especially on BART parking lots.
But what’s worse, the Alameda County Dems tell me to vote for Berkeley Measure L, a poorly drafted and pricey ($650 million) slush fund which promises much yet requires nothing. It won’t be paid off until I’m 100 years old, god willing I should live so long,.
The Planet’s op-ed space has as usual been open to all opinions, but articulate opponents of Measure L have strongly outnumbered its advocates here. South County Democrats, who presumably dominate whatever endorsement process has taken place if any, seem to have missed the memo, however.
I don’t think I’ve ever voted against a Berkeley revenue measure in the 50 years I’ve lived here most recently, but it’s time for a change.
I’ve watched the historic Civic Center being demolished by neglect.
I’ve seen the swimming pool at Willard (once aka Ho Chi Minh) park filled in with dirt, while city staff promote an unneeded new edifice on park land that neighbors oppose.
I see our streets dangerously unpaved, while silly schemes are painted on the pavement at the behest of very occasional bicylists.
I’ve seen the city of Berkeley fail to challenge the ridiculous RHNA numbers which set impossible building goals, with the penalty for failure being loss of local government autonomy.
Expensive consultants are hired to make foolish proposals, with "monetizing" the native plant area of Cesar Chavez Park with a commercial bandstand being the all-time worst.
And also, as a reader of the early version of this screed pointed out indignantly, "Rashi and Jesse and a couple of the others think that it's OK for UCB to build on People's Park!"
Who's behind all of this nonsense?
Even though it’s the weekend before the election deadline, people that I respect continue to ask me whether I oppose Measure L. I’ve resisted recommending my own current inclination to others because I’ve not been sure. But I’ve asked trusted friends what they thought, and so far no one has said they support L.
The latest was one of the very best planning commissioners Berkeley has ever had. His response:
“Well, I have a NO on L sign in my window and have posted NO on L comments on NextDoor. Good chance that it will fall short of two-thirds.”
I’ve also gotten a number of communications, not necessarily intended for publication, which show based on city records that there are big money interests funding the push for Measure L. As soon as I can contact the authors for permission to publish these analyses with names attached, I’ll post them, but you can also look on the city’s web site yourself, though it’s not easy.
Me, I’ve decided that I will vote No, with the hope that whoever’s elected to the Berkeley City Council will rethink the preceding council's poor decision and take a better route to raising money. As a pre-13 homeowner I'm more than willing to pay my fair share of the expenses of running the city, but I want to be sure that what needs to happen actually does happen. So, No on L, and on to a better path.
And by the way, don't forget Mari Mendonca for District 8 and Elisa Mikiten for District 1. To coin a phrase, It's Time for a Change.
I've had a number of queries about local election results. These days there's no staff to write articles about events, but I can do something even better. I can empower readers to get their own information. Just go to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters' excellent web site for all the latest:
I play Wordle in the New York Times every day. It is a word game with six chances to guess the five letter word of the day. By my second try I had four of the five letters R-E-A-D. The answer was DREAM which I got on my fourth try. My third try was DREAD which tells you everything you need to know about how I feel about the election. I am worried.
The big news of the week is the filibuster by Councilmembers Wengraf and Droste with help from Councilmembers Taplin and Kesarwani and the maneuver by LaTanya Bellow, Deputy City Manager and Dee Williams-Ridley, City Manager to block passing the Fair Work Week Ordinance.
The City Council discussion of the Fair Work Week Ordinance started at 8:43 pm Thursday evening (council was on Thursday instead of the usual Tuesday) with Labor Commissioner Andy Katz describing the labor protections in the ordinance, saying that the protections are for low wage workers. After Katz, the floor was turned over to Vice Mayor Kate Harrison who added detail and described the process of developing the Fair Work Week Ordinance, which started on May 15, 2018.
The four key features of the Fair Work Week Ordinance, designed to provide more stability to low wage workers, are: 1) At least 14 days advance notice of work schedules in writing, 2) Predictability Pay (Cancellation pay): if a shift is changed, reduced or cancelled with 24 hour notice or greater the predictability pay would be one hour of pay. If the reduced hours or cancellation notice is less than 24 hours prior the predictability pay would be 4 hours of pay or the scheduled hours of work whichever is less 3) Additional hours would be offered to existing qualified workers before hiring new employees or using staffing agencies, and 4) Right to rest, the right to decline work hours that occur less than 11 hours after the end of the previous shift.
Mayor Arreguin was quite wound up when he took the floor emphasizing that he was voting for the Fair Work Week and wanted to see it passed, saying “I believe this is really essential to show respect and to provide more rights to our essential workers in Berkeley” and then went through grammatical and clarifying corrections, one of which exempted Life Long Medical Care.
It was then turned over to Councilmember Wengraf who wanted “an analysis of the fiscal impacts on the City of Berkeley of implementing this ordinance and I don’t see a report.” And this is where the filibuster started, with this batting back and forth, with Wengraf and Droste about not knowing the cost to the City of Berkeley and they couldn’t possibly vote for it without knowing the cost, and City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley saying she didn’t know that number, and LaTanya Bellow stating she needed more time for that data.
(Williams-Ridley and Bellow had already been given an extension on October 11, 2022 to collect this data.)
This went on without public comment even starting until 10:36 pm, when Hahn made a motion to extend the meeting until midnight and then backed off midnight and made the motion for 11:45 pm. The vote to extend was unanimous.
Hahn was the last to speak before public comment and pointed out the contrast: When raises were given the to the City’s highest paid employees, the impact on the budget was never questioned and there was never the kind of “handwringing” that was going on over the cost of benefits to the lowest paid City of Berkeley workers.
Public speakers emphasized the bias, the number of years this had been in process and the workers needing protection. Swati Rayasam asked that the exemption for Life Long Medical be removed and spoke movingly about the undue burden on healthcare workers and the oppression of the lowest paid workers.
The most recent salary post I could find for LaTanya Bellow is $310,150 and for Dee Williams-Ridley $386,160. Williams-Ridley was awarded a 28% raise of $84,732 additional in November 2021. Keep that in mind when considering the Thursday evening action’s impact on City of Berkeley employees and other workers in Berkeley earning less than twice the minimum wage.
Using the current Berkeley minimum wage of $16.99, the Fair Work Week Ordinance would benefit workers earning under $33.98 per hour or $70,684.40 per year. That is less money than the generous $84,732 raise for Williams-Ridley, which made her salary greater than that of the City Manager of San Jose, a city of nearly 180 square miles and over 1 million people.
(Berkeley is 10.5 square miles with a population of 124,000).
The salary survey completed for that $84,732 raise actually demonstrated that the Berkeley city manager’s then existing salary of $301,428 was in line or possibly just a little bit high when compared to bay area cities of similar population and size.
Debate continued with the main motion to pass the Fair Work Week Ordinance with the final amendments and Life Long Medical back in. At about 11:43 Arreguin asked the clerk if the extension was to 11:45 pm or midnight. The clerk stated 11:45. Arreguin called for a vote to extend the meeting. Taplin, Droste, Wengraf and Kesarwani all voted No. The vote to extend failed. Six yes votes were needed. Arreguin called for a vote on the Fair Work Work ordinance, but the clock had ticked past 11:45 pm and the meeting was declared over by the clerk, the parliamentarian.
The Fair Work Week ordinance died.
Kesarwani stated earlier in the evening that she would vote for the Fair Work Week Ordinance, but by joining with Droste, Wengraf, and Taplin to vote against extending the meeting for a vote on the ordinance, she killed the Fair Work Week Ordinance. Harrison was in shock, saying, “I’ve been gobsmacked.”
Sitting on the sidelines watching, I called it a filibuster. In my public comment at 11:15 pm. I also stated that as a former shift employee and a manager responsible for scheduling, this was not an impossible task. If the vote had been called in time before 11:45 pm, I counted five (Arreguin, Bartlett, Harrison, Hahn, Robinson) to pass it.
Nothing earth shattering happened at the Monday Agenda committee. City Council will return to hybrid meetings December 6. The Boards and Commissions will return to in person. The City does not have enough equipment to conduct the board and commission meetings as hybrid, so those will return to in-person-only, after the COVID emergency ends on February 28th.
I received a number of emails this week asking why items in the draft agenda from the City Manager (and city department directors, city manager deputies, etc.) are listed with “See Report” and then the page in the packet for the report states, “No Material Available for this Item.” My answer was it is always this way. City Administration reports are not available until the Council agenda is finalized and published ten days before the meeting. Access to financial reports for the Council Budget Committee is even worse. Early access to financial reports seems to be the day before and the usual practice is too often a posting on the morning of the meeting.
All this is annoying, but certainly not as critical as the disastrous new city website which Wyndy J Hella KnoxCarrRuud described this way, “I absolutely agree about the new City of Berkeley website. The thing is absolutely opaque, "simplified" to the point of idiocy, with archival and other search options completely absent, unlinked to documentation and/or unusable. Dead ends everywhere, putting walls of cheery-looking nothing up in front of the public and our active participation in civic life. SO disappointing! Techno-privatization at its worst. Ugh. What more can I say?” KnoxCarrRudd has a Master of Library, Archives and Information Studies and certainly knows more than a thing or two about the importance of historical archives.
The November 2, 2022 Planning Commission held discussion on zoning changes for the Southside Area and a local density bonus to compete with the state density bonus. No vote was held. This is all to create student housing and will come back for a hearing. There is a lot to absorb.
The density bonus suggestion is that since determining true student income status is so difficult to determine, shouldn’t there be an alternative to onsite affordable housing units so projects can qualify for a density bonus without being required to provide affordable housing units within the project?
It appears that the decision has been made: The Southside, the blocks south of UC Berkeley, is to be developed for student housing with six to twelve story residential buildings. And, as UC continues to increase student admissions will there be zoning “creep?”
The Planning Commission vote on the Bird Safe Ordinance is now postponed to February or March 2023. The two ad hoc subcommittee members Christina Oates and Alfred Twu, along with Glenn Philips from Golden Gate Audubon, Erin Diehm and myself met with City staff Justin Horner on Friday. Juli Dickey, a birder, joined and listened to the discussion on the Bird Safe ordinance. I don’t know how this will turn out. Oates, Twu and Horner agreed that when the Bird Safe Ordinance comes back to the Planning Commission it should be in the final form ready for a vote.
It doesn’t look like their will be another ad hoc committee meeting and this was our last chance for real discussion. Diehm and I gave our best pleas to keep Dark Skies as part of the ordinance. In talking about requirements or phasing in for small remodels or limited installation of replacement windows, Glenn Philips put the order of preference to bird safe glass the optimal choice with the alternative of bug screens as second and film on the outside of windows third. Any glass that is greater than 2” high and 4” wide is a hazard for birds, but of course the greater the amount of glass on a building and the size of the panes multiplies the danger.
In the morning before the meeting, I was out walking with a friend talking about the bird safe ordinance, when I saw a house across the street from us in a major remodel. It had been raised to two stories and every single window was new. It probably had 40 to 50 new windows. I took my friend across the street as I talked about the bird safe features that could have been applied. The owner came out saying how they had followed all the building codes. I responded of course you did. It is not your fault. It is the city that failed to act.
The Water Emergency Transportation Authority plans to add ferry service in Berkeley in 2027. The Board is optimistic ridership will return even though since the onset of the pandemic commuters have really never shown up as anything more than a small blip on the charts. Now that summer is over, total ridership is showing a downward slope.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a brief review of Servants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump, and the Corruption of Justice by David Enrich published this year in September. Enrich covered the Jones Days Law Firm and the revolving door with the Trump administration and stacking the courts. That lead me to his 2020 book Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump and an Epic Trail of Destruction.
I was really hoping for an inside scoop on the relationship between Donald Trump and Justin Kennedy, Justice Anthony Kennedy’s son. The author did not furnish much in that answer only that the Trump Administration courted Justice Kennedy the Supreme Court swing vote to retire making an opening for Brett Kavanaugh the expected reliable pro-business, pro-Trump, culturally conservative vote. What the book does cover in great detail is the sordid story of how the insatiable hunger for ever bigger profits led to money laundering for Russian oligarchs, the rise of Rosemary Vrablic in the private banking division who arranged hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Trump even after Trump sued Deutsche Bank to squeeze out of the loan repayment over the Chicago Trump Tower and the sad account of Val Broeksmit the son of Willian Broeksmit, Deutsche Bank executive who committed suicide in 2014.
In Val’s journey to uncover why his father committed suicide, Val accessed his father’s email account and shared his late father’s internal bank documents with federal authorities and the media.
Val was found dead at age 46 in Los Angeles April 25, 2022 (19 months after the publication of Dark Towers). No cause of death is listed for Val and conspiracies abound. Reported in the book, Val had a long history of drug abuse and addiction which frequently led to the media and federal authorities dismissing the treasure trove of Deutsche Bank documents in his possession through his father’s emails. Even Adam Schiff is described as being put off by Val’s appearance and ushering him out of his office without grasping the boatload of information Val was trying to offer.
David Fielder, Dean Metzger, Alex Sharenko, Former Berkeley City Councilmembers Laurie Capitelli and Carla Woodworth
Sunday November 06, 2022 - 12:49:00 PM
As of November 1, 2022, the Yes on L committee has reported raising over $350,000.
While our coalition has been outraised 10-1, we have approximately ten times as many donors as the Yes campaign.
The coverage of campaign money has been accurate but not highlighted the politically problematic donations solicited by the Yes committee. These donations:
The Yes on L committee accepted $3,000 from the Northern California Chapter of the National Association of Electrical Contractors on October 19, 2022 according to state records. On the same day, this group contributed $1,000 to right-wing, anti-choice State Assembly candidate Juan Alanis.
The Yes on L committee accepted $15,000 from 2274 Shattuck QOZB, LLC on October 5, 2022. This entity is controlled by locally prominent developer Patrick Kennedy. As Berkeleyside pointed out, Kennedy has several projects in various stages of approval before the City Council.
The Yes on L committee accepted $9,750 from Martin Marietta on October 21, 2022. Martin Marietta is the corporate parent of Berkeley Asphalt. The Berkeley Asphalt facility is highly contentious and has generated significant opposition in West Berkeley.
The Yes on L committee accepted $10,000 from Sutter Health on November 2, 2022. Sutter Health has announced its intent to close Alta Bates hospital.
The money disparity in this campaign has helped to highlight the grassroots nature of our effort. Yes on L has now accepted an additional $25,000.
This may seem out of order, starting out my Activist’s Diary with a book review, but as you keep reading you will see how it all pulls together with this last week’s meetings.
Our book club choice for October/November was A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds, by Scott Weidensaul, published in 2021.
Even though I have been pleading for many months for dark skies, bird safe glass and native plants at the Design Review Committee and the Zoning Adjustment Board, and for the Planning Commission to approve the Bird Safe ordinance with the latest science, my appreciation of the importance of these actions is so much deeper after reading A World on the Wing.
In the chapter entitled Big Data, we learn how miniature GPS tracking devices, so tiny they can be put on the backs of even little songbirds, have changed what we know about migration, habitat stopovers, winter and nesting locations and how many miles birds travel without stopping. Because of one of those GPS devices on the back of a juvenile (5-month old) bar-tailed godwit, known only by its satellite tag 234684, there is a new record flight. This little bird, around 10 ounces, flew without stopping from Alaska to north-east Tasmania, 8,435 miles in 11 days and one hour.
Migratory feats that evolved over hundreds of thousands of years feel like nothing less than a miracle.
As mentioned in previous Diaries, nearly 3 billion birds, 30% of the birds in North America, have disappeared since 1970. It is not just North America. Just published in September 2022 in the fifth edition of BirdLife’s “State of the World’s Birds,” nearly half of all bird species are in decline worldwide, with one in eight at risk of extinction. https://www.birdlife.org/papers-reports/state-of-the-worlds-birds-2022/ This includes common birds like sparrows. An exception are wild geese like those invading Lake Merritt. This species is expanding. Maybe cities and meat-eating readers ought to consider a wild goose for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner instead of turkey. It would save farmland.
The scientific report about loss of birds published September 19, 2019, would not have been possible without decades of data of annual bird counts. There are two online programs that add to our knowledge of bird migration, habitat, stopovers and survival: eBird https://ebird.org/about managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology which collects data/information submitted by citizen birders on birds seen and heard worldwide and birdcast https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/local-migration-alerts/ which uses radar to track bird migration live.
In the chapter on climate, Weidensaul calls it climate weirding, as some locations in migration are heating up faster and others have unexpected cold. Climate change puts the timing of the migration of thousands of miles to arrive, mate, nest and when baby birds hatch out of sync with when insects (caterpillars, their primary source of food) emerge.
Climate change does much more than change the timing of the arrival seasons. Sea level rise washes away coastal habitat and drought dries up inland wetlands. Even the global wind patterns which migrating birds use to ease their flight are weirding. Take a look at the path of the polar jet stream from the Sunday Chronicle weather map.
Through new study made possible by those tiny GPS devices, ornithologists are able to track the impact of deterioration in wintering habitat, carrying over into birds unable to build the fat stores and muscle to survive migration, reduced clutches in nesting habitat and poorer chick survival. Douglas Tallamy in his study of resident birds (birds that do not migrate) found that areas that have replaced native trees and plants with non-native plant species (ornamental plants and trees) have smaller chicks and poorer chick survival.
Even though the negative impact of urban light was noted in the 1800s, it was those miniature GPS devices that demonstrated how artificial night light lures birds away from higher quality habitat to cities where urban parks are overrun with exotic invasive plants of limited value to birds. Young birds in their first migration are especially vulnerable to light pollution, and are drawn to urban areas to rest and refuel, only to find useless ornamental plants devoid of insects. A lesson here from A World on the Wing is that restoring habitat in a fairly small urban park may be more important than a larger tract of land in some more distant location.
The authors of Berkeley’s Housing Element Update Draft Environmental Impact Report (HEU DEIR) that closed for comment on October 17, 2022 reasoned that the abundance of ornamental, exotic and invasive non-native plants and non-native trees in Berkeley that are unsuitable habitat would make further development, adding 19,098 units with 47,433 new residents, insignificant. In other words, since we have already destroyed so much of the landscape, further destruction from developments carries little impact.
The conclusion from the HEU DEIR is the opposite to the thinking and planning that I heard from Dr. Ann Riley in her presentation to the Community for a Cultural Civic Center group. I listed Riley, expert in urban creek restoration, daylighting urban creeks, as my “go to meeting” of the week. And, she did not disappoint.
Riley spoke about how daylighting creeks has proven over and over to be a significant economic benefit to business and city centers, as people are drawn to open streams, nature and wildlife habitat.
If you have never heard the term “daylighting creeks”, this is the process for restoring a creek to its natural state, above ground, open to daytime light, hence the term daylighting. That is, instead of diverting creeks into underground culverts. When undergrounded creek culverts fail, disintegrate and collapse, that can result in sink holes and flooding.
Riley showed picture after picture of the transformation from undergrounded culverted creeks to open streams and parks. Strawberry Creek, in Strawberry Creek Park, was one of the first projects of taking down a culvert and restoring a creek to daylight.
Most amazing is that there are grants to daylight creeks, and the Coastal Conservancy has money available for projects like daylighting Strawberry Creek in Civic Center Park.
Daylighting urban creeks really got its start in 1983 in the California Assembly when Tom Bates authored the urban creeks legislation (Bates was a representative to the California Assembly before becoming Berkeley mayor). The first attempt failed when Governor Deukmejian (R) vetoed it. The bill was brought back in 1984 with the Republican legislator Eric Seastrand as the author and Bates as co-author.
Riley describes it this way in her book:
“The Urban Creeks Restoration and Flood Control Act of 1984 acquired political legs because it recognized that restoration projects were a new, multi-objective strategy to address common urban stream erosion and flood hazards with practical but environmentally friendly solutions.”
It was also got legs because the revived bill placed a Republican name prominently in the author list. That got it by the Republican governor. The grants from the Urban Creeks Act continue to be awarded to this day.
The idea of daylighting the creek is not in the plan from the the consultants the City of Berkeley hired. The Gehl firm was tasked to create a plan for the Civic Center to restore and stabilize the Maudelle Shirek (Old City Hall) and Veterans Buildings and redo the Civic Center Park. Their concept was a promenade across the center of the park either north to south between the Veterans Building and Berkeley High or east to west from city offices at 2180 Milvia to the Maudelle Shirek Building. The Gehl park plan for Berkeley is a smaller version of the San Francisco City Hall park, a park with lots of gravel which seems to be more of an attraction for the homeless and protests than a place to go to relax and refresh.
The Gehl plan, from the time I first saw it, conjured up a vision of councilmembers and city administrators parading across the park marking their importance on the promenade.
Contrast that with Strawberry Creek Park. The Strawberry Creek Park is just lovely, a well-used treasure that neighbors in large numbers spoke about at the redistricting meetings last spring.
I was open to the idea of daylighting Strawberry Creek in Civic Center Park before hearing Riley’s presentation. Now that I have a better understanding of the importance of restoring habitat in cities and urban parks and how daylighting creeks benefits the well-being of all of us including nature and local businesses, daylighting Strawberry Creek in the Civic Center Park has moved up to the top of the list of important actions.
This presentation would never have happened without the work of Erin Diehm, who put this program together. It is because of Diehm and her depth of knowledge of ecosystems and habitat that we are even having this discussion. Diehm’s work gave us pollinator gardens in our parks.
Diehm also sent the link to Birdcast last Fall so we could track how many migrating birds were flying over Berkeley. Berkeley is on the Pacific Flyway, the flight path birds take from northern nesting areas to wintering sites in Central and South America.
When I hear about turning parks into entertainment centers, I wonder why we aren’t taking a broader look at our city center. We close down Shattuck for events. Why are we not looking at making better use of the BART Plaza and the Shattuck street scape?
And why are we not looking at corridors connecting habitat across the city? Is cement and lot line to lot line building the only answer for the future, which is the picture painted in the Revised Housing Element Update (RHEU)? Even the old 2012 Downtown Area Plan includes environmental sustainability “nature in the city” (pdf page 45) and that was written before the recent research covered in The World on a Wing which tells us parks with native plant habitat are important to bird survival.
The Revised Housing Element Update (RHEU) stand, that since we have already destroyed so much landscape, we should just finish it off, isn’t the only misstep. The authors of the RHEU, in their declaration that utilities are adequate for the projected growth, seem to have missed Berkeley Architectural Heritage President Leila Moncharsh’s review of infrastructure, that Berkeley still has hollowed out redwood tree trunks in parts of the city as sewer lines. Leave it to the historians to know what lies in the ground below.
Wastewater processing for the projected growth was also declared to be adequate. That ignores the 2014 consent decree with the EPA and the violations of sewage release of waste overflow in 2017 and, the harmful algae bloom of Heterosigma akashiwo in August 2022 with a huge die-off of thousands of fish in the Bay and Lake Merritt. The algae bloom of Heterosigma akashiwo was possible through the confluence of warming bay water and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) released from water processing plants. EBMUD was one of the top two named culprits in the October 24, 2022 webinar by Baykeeper and Speaking Up for Point Molate on the algae bloom and causes. Water processing plants need upgrading now to prevent another similar algae bloom in the future.
There is another section in the RHEU that Moncharsh did not cover in her October 26, 2022, letter posted in the Berkeley Daily Planet: Water!
What caught my attention was the Infrastructure Constraints 4.2.1 on document pages 89 & 90 (pdf pages 90 & 91):
“EBMUD’s water supplies are estimated to be sufficient during the planning period (2010-2040) in normal and single dry years.”
Which raises this question: Is no one aware that we are in a multiple year drought? And, has no one looked at the drought map? It is pretty bleak. https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ The RHEU provided the simple answer, during multi-year drough water will be rationed.
If we really think that the Housing Element is a planning tool instead of just an exercise to fulfill a state mandate, and we really think that significant population growth is in our future, then we need to step back and consider what that means. How do we need to change to absorb 47,433 more people? One question might be, when do we stop flushing our toilets with drinkable water? Is the answer when the faucet goes dry? Or, do we change how we construct new buildings and remodel old?
As for new construction and remodeling, updating the fire code will be on the City Council November 15, 2022 agenda. The last time when legislation requiring sprinkler systems in new construction and remodels of over $100,000 in the high fire hazard zones came before the Berkeleu City Council, the building and real estate industry ran to the podium to protest and got their way in defeating it. I’ll be watching to see what happens this time with a new Fire Department Chief.
I missed the Zero Waste Commission, opting instead to attend Speaking Up for Point Molate on the algae bloom. This was the week that the New York Times reported that only 5% of plastic is actually recycled.
I did attend the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission. Two issues came up that have been repeated in multiple meetings: Why are commissioners not notified when commission items finally reach the council agenda? (This problem is common to nearly all the commissions) And, why are reports not part of the minutes? Kim Chin said the City Clerk’s office notified him that minutes should be action only. Chin said that minutes are saved by the city, but staff reports and agendas are kept for only eight years.
Discarding reports and agendas after eight years erases history that that used to be at our fingertips with the old website. This makes one more loss for transparency.
The redesign for Telegraph Avenue Dwight to Woolsey from one side to the other is: curb – bike lane – parking – traffic lane – traffic lane – parking – bike lane - curb. The questions are what to do about right turns and left turns.
Following my second psychotic episode, in the 1980's, I attended electronics training, and then I had employment in which I repaired analog televisions and video cassette recorders. Off and on, I did this as a business. I was often good at it, but I had physical health problems (I contracted mononucleosis), and I had difficulties with the amount of effort that was needed.
In the 1990's, I rebuilt and upgraded computers. I had a home-based business for a while in which I'd go to people's homes and help them with their computer issues. I closed the "company" (it was me, with licensing) after a while. Part of the reason behind quitting was that many supposed customers had ulterior motives for calling me. Another reason for quitting was I wanted to focus more on writing. I didn't realize that having a business helped my background and made it more plausible for editors that I was a for-real person. Without that in my background, and claiming that I was just a writer, didn't fly, and acceptances suffered a downturn.
But the ulterior motive part was a good reason for not going into unknown people's homes. A person could get robbed, or they could be offered a refreshment laced with something. This happened to me more than once. I was naive in 2003.
In 2003, my prospects at writing were good. I was published in several small publications, and I was gaining some basic knowledge in communicating with editors. However, I made some dumb mistakes in how I handled things, that made it harder for me to progress, and my forward momentum was slowed.
But I'm intelligent, and it is hard for people with oversimplified thinking to understand that a person can be mentally ill and possess intelligence at the same time. Starting in 2010, I made early efforts at producing books through LULU, which is a free print-on-demand platform.
I did not give anyone any of my money to help with the books. For one thing, I did not have any money to give them, and I wouldn't if I did. But I was able to do a good enough job at it that the books passed distribution requirements and were made available on Amazon. I have fabulous computer skills. I used the tools that come with "paint", and other software that comes standard in Windows, to do the graphics for some of the book covers. I cannot afford to buy Adobe full. So, when LULU started expecting manuscripts to be sent in PDF format, I found free ways of getting them converted.
I continue to sell a few copies of books on LULU, and five or ten bucks every few months doesn't hurt anything.
(I'm sharing trade secrets with you right now, so you should be paying me for the information offered here!)
Was I misdiagnosed? Some might believe that. I have some type of paranoid, delusional disorder that responds to antipsychotics. Additionally, I am very sensitive to environments. I can't tolerate most work environments. Working from home is an absolute must.
When a mentally ill person speaks of something ambitious, a counselor's automatic reflex is to shoot it down. Another response is to agree with the "client" to appearances, but to actually believe the client has grandiose delusions and to imply as much in the client's chart.
This has happened to me all too many times. Additionally, when a counselor is offering encouragement, whether it is genuine or not, it helps feed the fire. Then, when progress is within sight, support is pulled out from under. The program ends. The service ends. The individual needs to find other routes to obtain emotional support for what they're trying to do. Finding support that is not related to mental health counselors, if it can be done, is a forward step.
However, I can't help noting that when we are on the verge of success and when support from our therapist is withdrawn, it begs the question of the actual motives of mental health professionals. I do know that they can't be trusted as an essential support system. It seems inviting when a professional offers emotional support and encouragement for what we're trying to do. However, we must realize that, in fact, this encouragement and support could be withdrawn at a vital time.
A person was baffled that I made a paper sign with my computer to put on my front gate, to deal with the problem of deliveries being sent to the wrong address. It is a professional-looking sign in black ink and a black border around it. Apparently, if you have a mental illness, you are expected not to be able to make something like that. The widespread myth among many is that if you are diagnosed with a psychiatric problem, it means your brain can't do anything that entails any intelligence.
However, I've spent a great deal of time in the presence of mentally ill people other than just I. And I can tell you there are a lot of mentally ill people who are quite intelligent. At the same time, there are a lot of treatment professionals who, despite being highly trained, seem to lack intelligence.
You can't assume that because a person has a psychiatric condition it means their brain doesn't work. There are plenty of smart, and highly intelligent people with mental illness, and we may just need a bit more help to achieve a goal. And we should be helped, and not criminalized, or be left to face a wall of disbelief.
Live-aboard residents of the Berkeley Marina Yacht Harbor are being driven out of their floating homes by an infestation of rats. Among those reported to be most affected by the infection are the denizens of B, C, J, and K Docks.
The problem apparently began more than a year ago and has left a growing number of marina residents complaining that the rodent hoards have turned their Loving Hulls into Living Hells.
In the course of one recent week, 23 rats were caught and killed by boat-owners—but the furry pests just keep coming. One resident noted that a single female rat can deliver a new brood of a half-dozen baby rats in just nine weeks. Put another way: a population of just two rats can swell to a hoard of 1,250 in a single year.
One Marina boat-owner forced to abandon ship—after rodents were heard chewing their way through the vessel's wooden walls during the night—bemoaned the loss of a floating-home-turned-rat-shack. The de-boated—but still rent-paying resident—noted the ratty affliction is greater for owners of wooden boats since wharf rats tend to give a pass to metal and plastic-hulled vessels.
The rats aren't just driven by a search for food. Even when all edibles are removed from the infested premises, the rats continue to graze—on items as diverse as personal clothing and electrical wires.
Rats have eaten through boat-owners' iPad wires and power cables. In some cases they have even gnawed their way through the expensive electric cables that run from the pier-side "dock boxes" to deliver outside power to the berthed boats. In some cases, patches of rat-bitten cables are accompanied by scorch marks burned onto the cement.
"They love wires," one Marina boat-owner groused, "So why don't they get electrocuted?"
In one case, rats chewed through an electric cable that powered a boat owner's bilge-pump, requiring a costly replacement. There were no other options: If your bilge-pump fails, your vessel fills. Without a functioning pump, a boat would eventually take on too much water and sink.
Marina managers appear to be at a loss when it comes to "deratification" of the marina's docks. Rat poison isn't used out of fear it might poison other resident wildlife. Fun fact (unless you're a rat): Peanut butter is toxic to rodents. Other tips on deratification alternatives: While having a dog onboard doesn't seem to hinder the ratty hoards, for some reason, rats and cats don't mix. If local pet shelters have noticed a recent uptick in cat adoptions, the Berkeley Marina just might be the reason.
Meanwhile Marina authorities appear hamstrung and helpless as the Rat Rampage leaves rent-paying-and-rousted residents raising a ruckus and cussing the wreckage.
Checks and Balances
According to Google, Checks and balances are "various procedures set in place to reduce mistakes, prevent improper behavior, or decrease the risk of centralization of power. Checks and balances usually ensure that no one person or department has absolute control over decisions, clearly define the assigned duties, and force cooperation in completing tasks."
How does that play out in real life? American politics is, in fact, a world of "checks and balances": Lobbyists write the checks and politicians smile as they admire their growing bank balances.
Fashion Plates
A red Mini Cooper: MNIMEOW (small cat lover) A silver Honda: BIRDFAN (big bird lover) A black Dodge Charger: BLQMGIC (Black Magic) A dark, open-bed pickup: TRAKI. (Because the plate frame contained the words "mes visi esam traki," I guessed it translated to: "my name is Traki." Turns out the phrase is Latvian for "We're all crazy.")
Bumper Snickers
All on a single Toyota Sienna. • THINK: It Isn't Illegal (YET) • Honk if you love Jesus. Text if you want to meet him. • "Politics Isn't Left Vs Right. It's Top Vs Bottom." Jim Hightower • The Great Thing About Science Is That It's true, Whether You Believe It Or Not• Having Weird Parents Builds Character • GOD is too BIG to fit into one religion • Whenever there's a big spill of solar energy, it's just called a nice day.
Adieu Central Launderette
Alas, my favorite Laundromat, the Central Launderette at 2462 Shattuck, has closed its doors. The Central was a survivor. It first opened for business in 1949 and the walls of the washing area became adorned with historic photos of the site taken over the years.
Technically the doors weren't closed. The bolt is not properly aligned so the front doors are ajar and can't really close. They could be opened but for a heavy metal chain strung through the door handles. A wistful "goodbye" notice is taped in a side window. Meanwhile, the laundromat's entrance remains flanked by two ancient stand-up washing machines. These delightful relics are usually trundled back inside the Laundromat at tne end of the day.
All of these clues suggest a sudden, traumatic shutdown.
One of the unique features of the Central was the human touch provided by the small number of conscientious Asian ladies who have been looking over the business. Sometime over the past year they instituted a rare and touching practice. Whenever they noticed a customer who was elderly, infirm, or poor, they would quietly approach, bow, and offer a gift, in the form of a quarter. I was probably not the only one to wonder how they could afford this small act of charity when their primary customers were only dropping quarters into the slots of the Central's washers and driers.
I wish these quiet, friendly ladies were in the landromat a few more days so I could once more say, "thank you," and offer an affectionate bow.
My Robin Williams Moment
A family member recently sent me a link to a video of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show that featured a half-hour of unrestrained spontaneity by Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters.
William's 1991 fusillade of satiric riffs and transmorphic bits was so intense that I couldn't watch it all at one sitting. (If you've got the time, you can watch the whole comic improv-romp below.)
Watching the former-Mork's archived antics reminded me of a personal Robin Williams link.
Back in the 1980s, when I was working at the Friends of the Earth office in San Francisco's North Beach, one of our press contacts was a woman who knew Robin Williams, a SanFran resident. One day I drew a sketch of Elmer Fudd pretending to channel Popeye the Sailor (At the time, Williams was starring as "Popeye" in a movie of the same name.) I drew a cartoon of Popeye Fudd proclaiming: "I yam what I yam, you cwazy wabbit!"
When she dropped by the FOE office a few weeks later, she told me "Robin liked your cartoon. He has it taped to his desktop computer."
(I'll have to remember to add that to my resume!)
Penn State Dems Say Faux-Doyle-Steal Is a No-go-Deal
It's being called "the stupidest way to lose a blue congressional seat ever."
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports "voter confusion" has sent Democrats "scrambling" in a race for a crucial Congressional seat currently held by Mike Doyle.
According to the Post-Gazette: "The name 'Mike Doyle' is about as institutional as they come. The longtime congressman has served the area for years in Washington…. But be warned: Mike Doyle—the Forest Hills Democrat—is not running for re-election this year. He’s retiring. The Mike Doyle on this November’s ballot is an entirely different person; he’s a Republican."
Yep, the state's GOPsters are hoping to ride to victory by nominating a political nobody who just happens to have the same name as a popular, long-serving representative.
With the Deceit of the Dueling Doyles sowing confusion across Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District, the Working Families Party has launched a last-minute TV ad campaign to alert voters about the "real Mike Doyle," the "fake Mike Doyle," and the only real Democrat in the race—Summer Lee. The fear is that some blue-minded voters might be tricked into voting for the "red Doyle," leading to the defeat of the blue Lee.
The TV ads warn voters: "Pittsburgh's long-time congressman is retiring. He won't be on the ballot—but his name will because Republicans are running a Fake Mike Doyle." The ad ends with the line: "Remember: friends don't let friends vote for fake Mike Doyle."
The Art of Political Rhetoric
Politicians excel at the art of ambiguity. A recent letter to Sen. Alex Padilla regarding the risk posed be facial recognition technologies prompted a reply from the Senator that contained the following, totally non-committal response to the pending spread of a Big Brother Police State:
'Facial recognition technology is a powerful tool in the hands of law enforcement, and studies have highlighted that the technology does not produce accurate results across race, age, and gender. For this reason, many cities in California have prohibited law enforcement from using the technology.
As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over civil liberties and civil rights, please know that I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this issue, and I will keep your concerns in mind as the committee considers legislation regarding the methods and tools used by law enforcement agencies.
The Georgia Senate Race Is Far from Peachy
I usually don't make political contributions online but Saturday, when my phone rang with a local number I thought belonged to a friend, I found myself talking to Sandra Jordan, a volunteer with the Raphael Warnock campaign in Georgia making a last-minute call for donations to the senator's re-election campaign. The caller emphasized the critical nature of the call by reeling off the time left—right down to the days, hours, minutes and seconds—before election day.
When SJ warned that the race between Warnock and his challenger—former football star Herschell Walker—was "neck and neck" I told her that was cause for concern "because Herschel has the bigger neck. It's thicker than his head!" She mentioned the importance of making calls to raise crucial last-minute funding goals. I saluted her phone-banking efforts and also the importance of volunteers going door-to-door. "Hey! I've got a slogan for you," I ad-libbed: "You could call the neighborhood get-out-the-vote campaign Doorknocks for Warnock."
"I think we might use that," Jordan replied before she started coughing. She excused herself to swallow some water. "Must be hard on your voice, talking on the phone all day," I commiserated, adding that I had already donated, didn't have much money left, and don't like to engage in online financial exchanges. "That's OK," the phone banker replied. "I understand and I apologize for the cough but I've got COPD and I'm on a ventilator."
Phone-banking while on a ventilator? That's dedication!
OK, Citizens for Warnock: You had me at COPD. Breaking with tradition, I coughed up a small donation on my VISA card.
The Wrong Signals?
At a peak period of tension over the darkening omens of a possible, cataclysmic nuclear war, NATO announced plans to stage a massive military exercise called "Steadfast Noon" designed to simulate a NATO nuclear attack on Russia.
When critics raised concerns, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg replied that canceling the already planned exercise (which involved sending nuclear-capable bombers flying from Poland toward the Russian border) would have to precede because to cancel it would "send the wrong signals."
Can you imagine what errant "signals" such a de-escalatory response might trigger: • "Maybe those Americans aren't suicidal after all." • "Maybe Americans can act based on rational motives." • "Maybe Americans might want to use the funding allotted for a $1 trillion nuclear-modernization program and spend it on housing America's homeless, feeding America's hungry, and caring for America's sick and suffering."
And just what kind of signal does Washington's imperial, unipolar, might-makes-right foreign policy send to the rest of the world? The following snippet—clipped from the Internet—does a good job of providing a summation of which country poses the greatest threat to world peace:
"US imperialists who brazenly declare Full Spectrum Dominance with 800 bases after killing 20 million in 34 victim countries of no threat to the US since WWII, not to speak of US threatening to use nuclear weapons on several occasions."
Russia vs. NATO — in 99 Seconds
Putin Says: 'Let's Stop Being Enemies." How Russia Tried Building Relations With West
‘The Greatest Evil is War’: The Life and Death of Tomas Young
Norma J.F. Harrison, Candidate for the Berkeley School Boar
Monday November 07, 2022 - 05:37:00 PM
It’s difficult for people to see what so painfully controls their – our – lives/minds. It’s so integral and so supported by our neighbors, our social institutions, our myths, our Owners’ armies. My campaign is about this fierce alienation from actuality, looking toward us becoming more and more able to deal with it, thereby overgrow the constant constructs forbidding our understandings, with our increasing knowledge not only of what actually goes on, but of how to figure out how to come out from under its horrible oppression, abuse of us all.
We put up with the requirement to attend classrooms regardless how offended by that command we are – ‘behave properly toward being instructed’. We submit to this ‘compulsory free education’, ‘learning’ now firmly having been made into a commodity. Degrees, diplomas need to be displayed to prove having been educated.
People need to want to be allowed to associate together. End age segregation. End the eight-hour day. Allow that learning – education occur constantly. Instead of institutionalizing the DISrespect for it – grading by schools, by our work performances, constant grading of us; permit people not to have to be judged – graded all the time. Allow us to grade ourselves, on site, together – o I did that well; oh I didn’t do that right; help me; …. We’re able to evaluate relative to the situations – without someone hanging over us alloting grades of our performance, behavior, …
Allow us all regardless of age, to produce and enjoy the fruit of our labor.
End that it’s our Owners who profit from our labor.
I think I caught all the city meetings and city related webinars, but my email inbox is filling faster with campaign ads and donation pleas faster than I can delete them. Do not forget to check https://berkeleyca.gov/ for meetings posted on short notice. The November 15 Council 6 pm meeting agenda is posted - see additional comments at the end of the list of meetings by day of the week.
Sunday – Daylight Savings Ends
Monday – The Personnel Board and Peace and Justice Commission meet at 7 pm.
Tuesday – Election with the City on a reduced schedule and no meetings
Wednesday – The discount program for Solar and Battery Storage is at 6 pm and the Financial incentive program for EVs for lower income individuals and households is at 7 pm. The Parks Commission, Police Accountability Board and Housing Advisory Commission all meet at 7 pm.
Thursday – The Budget Committee meets at 10 am – the mid fiscal year additional budget allocation process is starting. The e-Bike webinar is at 6 pm.
The go to meeting of the weekare the presentations from the four developer candidates for the North Berkeley BART housing project at 7 pm Thursday. The meeting is hybrid and can be attended in person at the BUSD Board room or on zoom. (links below) BART will be moderating the presentations. This meeting will likely be very well attended. I am going to attend on zoom since I am concerned that if room capacity is exceeded I will miss too much in trying to get back home and online.
Friday is the Veterans Day Holiday
Saturday is the Berkeley Neighborhoods Council (BNC) at 10 am. Note that BNC has a new zoom login. BNC is my other go to meeting of the week.
Sunday, November 6, 2022 – DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS
AGENDA: V. Recommendation to Revise the Police Aide Classification, VI Recommendation to Establish the Medical Director Classification, VII. Training Report – Updates Regarding COB Training & Organizational Development Program – discussion only, VIII. Director’s Report.
AGENDA: 5. Commission Updates & Chairpersons report, 6. Secretary’s Report, 7. Berkeley Shellmound Issue, 8. Review of Work on Abortion and Reproductive Access Study, 9. Seating Needed in Berkeley Post Offices, 10. Discussion and Resolution on Land Acknowledgement.
AGENDA: 7. Director Ferris report, 8. Update on Civic Arts Commission, 9. Update Recreation Programs FY2022 – FY2023, 10. Update PRW capital projects, 11. Update on council request for ban on planting certain tree species.
AGENDA: 6. Update on council items a. Land Acknowledgement Resolution, b. Harriet Tubman terrace Tenant Support, c. Re-enactment of Berkeley Housing Code.
AGENDA: 3. Public Comment on agenda and non-agenda items, 5. ODPA Staff Report, 6. Chair and Board Member’s Reports, 7. Chief of Police report, 8. Subcommittee Reports, a. Controlled Equipment Subcommittee, b. Police Chief Process, 9. Finalize review draft proposed permanent Regulations for Handling Investigations and Complaints, 10. Surveillance Technology Ordinance and Drone Use Policy and Acquisition, b. Berkeley Law Police Review Project Agreement, 11. Announcement by Vice-Chair Mizell, 12. Public comment, 13. Closed Session Berkeley Police Association v. City of Berkeley Case No. 2002 057569.
AGENDA: in English with Spanish translation, EV program for income-qualifying, single person with income less than $54,360 /year and family of four less than $110,000 / year
Teleconference: 1-216-706-7052 or 1-866-528-2256 Conference Code: 878095
AGENDA: Each team will present their credentials, experience and past projects followed by Q&A. BART and the City received four eligible responses: 1) BRIDGE, Avalon Bay, Berkeley Food and Housing Project and East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC), 2) Eden Housing and Village Partners, 3) Republic Metropolitan, Novin, Satellite Affordable Housing Associates (SAHA), and Resources for Community Development (RCD), 4) The Michaels Organization and EAH Housing.
ZAB Appeal 2018 Blake and ZAB Appeal 1643 – 1647 California were continued from the November 3 City Council meeting to November 15. There is no update to the 6 pm agenda and the Council special meeting at 4 pm on the referral response from the city manager on an amnesty program for unpermitted dwelling units is not yet published.
AGENDA CONSENT:
Minutes for Approval
Appointment of Jennifer Louis as Chief of Police effective 11/27/2022, annual salary $256,125
Renew Elmwood BID (Business Improvement District) for 2023
Formal bid solicitations $11,384,039
Contract $125,000 with Station Automation Inc. DBA PSTRrax for Real-Time Paperless checkoff and asset management software – Measure Q fund - $125,000
Amend Contract 32000116 add $200,000 total $2,174,457 with Amendment Genasys, Inc for Outdoor Warning System Measure FF funds - $200,000
Contract $90,000 with Harold Dichoso for Temporary consulting with Health Housing and Community Services – bioterrorism grant fund
Amend Measure P Spending Contracts 1) Contract 31900273 with Bay area Community Services (BACS) Shift unspent Measure P – funded shallow subsidy program to a flexible funding program 2) Contract 32200051 add $127,380 total $375,667 with WeHOPE to provide mobile shower and laundry
New classification Deputy Dity Attorney IV, salary $15936.37 - $19,593.60 effective Nov 15
Amend Contract add $1,000,000 total $2,000,000 and extend to 6/30/24 with COWI North America Inc (32000261) and Transystems Corporation (32000263) for on-call waterfront engineering, design, environmental permitting and construction administration services, listed projects, South Cove Sailing Basin Dredging Planning Project, Cesar Chavez Park Restroom, K-Dock Restroom Renovation, and additional Waterfront projects funded by one time $15,000,000 from state.
Contracts $150,000 with Sharjo, Inc. dba ServiceMaster Recovery Management and $150,000 with Belfor USA Group, Inc. for on-call emergency restoration, mitigation and remediation services, thru 12/31/25
Amend Contract 10413B add $5,162,424 total $16,252,375 and extend to 12/31/2024 with LAZ Parking LLC for managing city-owned off-street parking facilities
Amend Contract 10340 (ERMA) add $75,000 total $325,000 and extend to 6/30/2025 with HF&H Consultants, LLC for update rate model
Amend Contract 117610-1 add $300,000 total $375,000 and extend to 6/30/2025 with Columbia Electric, Inc. for on-call electrical services
Sewer and access road easement and installation agreements with Paulonia Investment, LLC and Little Tree Investment, Inc., and James Robert Higgins and Summary Vacation of existing sewer easements
Peace and Justice Commission – Reinstate Burma (Myanmar) on Berkeley’s Oppressive States List
Arreguin, co-sponsors Wengraf, Hahn – United against Hate Week
Harrison, co-sponsors Wengraf, Arreguin – Support removal of Cuba from the U.S. State Sponsor of Terrorism List
Harrison & Hahn – Adopt ordinance adding chapter 11.62 to BMC to regulate use of carryout and produce bags and promote use of reusable bags.
Wengraf - Baby Book Project relinquish $125/councilmember to support Baby Book project
Robinson – Refer $1,000,000 to the FY 2023 AAO#1 process to contribute to Southside complete streets project to ensure Bancroft, Dana & Fulton proceed on schedule and prevent loss of $7.3 million in federal funding
Authors Robinson, Harrison, Taplin, co-sponsor Hahn – Refer to CM: Establish an electric bike rebate program and expand low-income e-bike ownership through climate equity action fund
ACTION:
Sprague – Adoption of 2022 California Fire Code with Local Amendments
Garland – Implement residential preferential parking (RPP) on 1900 block Vine and 3000 block MLK Jr Way
Louis – Update BPD efforts related to improving Hate Crimes Reporting and Response Referral
INFORMATION REPORTS:
LPO NOD: 2119 Marin
LPO NPO: 1325 Arch
LPO NOD: 2081 Center
LPO NOD: 2109 Kala Bagal Way.
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LAND USE CALENDAR:
Public Hearing to be scheduled
1201 – 1205 San Pablo (construct mixed-use building) 9/29/2022
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.
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Drector Park Chan-Wook rightly shares for DECISION TO LEAVE, his just-released homage to Hollywood film noir, with his art director Ryu Seomg-hee. ”We scout locations…sometimes a setting gives the idea for a scene”. Among many pleasures, the film offers a dazzling tour of Seoul’s staggered roofs and zigzag streets and its surrounding landscape, a lot like northern California: cold rocky coast with granite mountains close by. These make scaling cliffs a favorite pastime of the newly rich , and an opportunity for murder. Did the victim fall or was he pushed and if so why? These are the questions for one half of this detective story/love story. The other half asks ‘Will they or won’t they, if she turns out to be the killer?’
‘She’ is Seo-rae, the widow and prime suspect played by Chinese actress Tang Wei, and ace police detective Hae-jun (Park Ha-il) falls hard for her–a trope inherited from THE MALTESE FALCON, starring Humphrey Bogart and Mary Astor, whose enigmatic half-smile Tang enchantingly outmatches. But where Bogart;’s impassive mug suggests hidden depths of hard-earned wisdom, Park mainly just looks blank, perhaps on account of his character’s insomnia and unhappy marriage—also tropes. Insomnia, Hae-jun tells his sidekicks, is the secret weapon that has made him king of the stakeout. Night and day he watches Seo-rae through windows, in some of many scenes that keep us lost, proving this is a movie of the 2020’s, not the 1940’s. Is what we’re seeing part of the story, or a memory of his? or hers? or somebody’s dream? We see the fatal fall through the victim’s eyes first, as the rock walls flash upwards, then through the murderer’s, as far below us the body tumbles down the cliff. Chase scenes turn into fantasy martial-arts ballets, When Seo-Rae morphed suddenly a brutalized gun moll in a red dress, I gave up trying to figure out whodunit and surrendered to the joys of the ride.
But the ride gets long. In the end , which turns out not to be the end, police higher-ups declare the murder ujnsolved and close the case. In a ‘40’s movie the hero , dishonored, would quit the force in in disgust. Here the lovers part and move separately to a new town, where the whole sad affair starts over and the film finally ends, in a scene that makes spectacular use of beach and ocean. Too bad the creators didn’t find that setting before they ran out of story.
Is she guilty or isn’t she: Is TÁR a Me Too story with a female predator? That is only one of the mysteries left behind by Todd Field’s study of a world-class conductor as she crashes and burns—a backstage drama set in the rarified precincts of classical music. Who sings the unaccompanied solo that we heard at the beginning? And what language is that? What makes those random sounds that haunt the character’s solitary moments? What southeast Asian county is she hiding out in at the end, Why is the crowd in the last scene all dressed in sci-fi costumes? And does any of this really matter? (Note: the only bedroom scene shows her with her wife.) What matters beyond a doubt , is that writer/director Field and actor Cate Blanchett together have created a character you will not forget.
We meet Lydia Tar first in the form of her resumé, whIch fills the screen as Adam Gopnik reads it aloud before their onstage interview at a packed NEW YORKER Festival: student of Leonard Bernstein, author, composer, PhD., ethnomusicologist, and the first woman conductor of the New York and Berlin Philharmonics. Lydia looks the part--regal posture, simple hair and makeup, “I own the world” stride--and she dresses it: always in black whether tuxedo on the podium, long coat on the street, or for kicking back, custom-tailored menswear with flowing cashmere sweaters, as expensive-looking as the Berlin apartment she shares with wife Sharon (Nina Hoss) who is also her concert- master. Athleisure only for strenuous jogs. Gopnik presses her to describe the challenges of being First. Times have changed, Lydia replies; “I don’t recall ever having a problem.” And the audience thinks ‘ Famous Last Words’.
She has a problem all right, but it’s not her gender: she shares the classic flaws of men in power: overconfidence and consequent tendency to go overboard. We go “uh oh” again when she humiliates a smart-aleck student at Julliard, then terrorizes a small girl who has bullied her daughter at school; ‘I’m Petra;s father. I know what you’ve been doing, and if it doesn’t stop I’M GOING TO GET YOU!” Next she cranks out emails to a dozen orchestras, blackballing a former player who used to stalk her. But she retains our loyalty, because she’s equally abandoned in her love of music. It pours through her body when she conducts, as if she’s an instrument. (Field has said Blanchett is really leading the orchestra--impersonated by the Dresden Philharmonic-- and her piano-playing is equally real.)
Unerring when she holds a baton, she bungles the offstage half of her job; hiring and firing, and cultivating the Board. When her mis-steps have amassed a festering heap of resentments and accusations, she outdoes herself with one unthinkable, impardonable outrage.
At Piedmont( 510-525-4531), Elmwood (510) 433-9730 ,AMC Bay Street (wwwamctheaters.com)
For all the glib talk around the Opera House about glimpsing the sublime in Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, including a note with that title by the company’s general director Matthew Shilvock at the back of the program for this opera, I find this a troubled work and a troubling one. Based in part on a true story of Carmelite nuns guillotined during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, the story was picked up by 20th century French writer Georges Bernanos who embellished the tale with a fictional young overly sensitive woman, Blanche de la Force, who occupies the center of the screenplay Bernanos created for a film, and his Dialogues des Carmélites was later published posthumously as a play in 1953. Georges Bernanos, who is often called “the most distinguished Catholic French writer of his generation,” larded his Dialogues des Carmélites with heavy doses of Catholic mysticism, abnegation, the desire (and dangers) of a wish for martyrdom in imitation of Christ, and fears of both death and life. From the Bernanos play, Francis Poulenc, himself a troubled Catholic, created his opera in 1957.
For anyone not a Catholic, or even a Christian, this opera is heavy going. It is three hours long, and amid scenes of undoubted dramatic power there are quite a few tedious longueurs in which we are required to navigate arcane notions of Catholic theology. Sung in the original French, and directed by Oliver Py in a revival staging by Daniel Izzo, this Dialogue des Carmélites takes place on what is largely a bare stage, although sliding panels often open and close to vary the stage space. Occasionally, we glimpse trunks of trees with stunted limbs that suggest a rather unwelcoming cloister of the Carmelite nunnery, the trees’ very stuntedness being perhaps a metaphor for the possibly stunted lives of the nuns. The production designer is Pierre-André Weitz and the lighting director is Bertrand Killy, who employs a palate of whites, blacks, and grays.
Poulenc’s score is surprisingly rich in orchestral colors, including airy oboe solos and occasional blaring trumpets. Music Director Eun Sun Kim led the orchestra expertly through this score. The singers were generally excellent, although soprano Heidi Stober as Blanche de la Force initially had some uncharacteristic difficulties projecting her voice, at least at the October 30 matinee performance I attended. The standout vocalist in this production was German soprano Michaela Schuster in the role of Madame de Croissy, the first prioress of the convent. Michaela Schuster is first seen as Madame de Croissy interviews young Blanche and warns her that the convent is a house of prayer not a refuge from life. Later, the ailing prioress is seen on her deathbed, which the production designers have turned upright so we look down on her as if from above. As she lays dying, the prioress who has led an exemplary life of devotion now experiences a fierce struggle with the fear of her imminent death. Michaela Schuster’s voice in this deathbed scene was intensely expressive, full of sharp, biting accents. When advised by one of her closest associates that she should only concern herself with God, Madame de Croissy blurts out “Let Him concern himself with me!”
Veteran bass-baritone Dale Travis portrayed Blanche’s adoring father, the Marquis de la Force, and tenor Ben Bliss was excellent as her brother, who fears that his younger sister is overly sensitive and fearful. When Blanche enters the Carmelite convent, she is befriended by another young novice, Sister Constance, beautifully sung by soprano Deanna Brewick. Though initially irrepressible and delighting in amusement at life, Sister Constance also reveals a strong mysticism, which includes her insistence that she knows that both she and Sister Blanche will die together on the same day. That this ultimately proves true at the end of this opera is yet another bit of uncanny mysticism at the heart of this Bernanos-derived opera. The role of Mother Marie, Assistant Prioress, was adroitly sung by soprano Melody Moore, and the role of Madame Lidoine, the successor to Madame de Croissy as Prioress, was expertly sung by soprano Michelle Bradley.
When Blanche’s brother visits her at the covent to tell her he’s leaving the country to avoid the Reign of Terror, he advises his sister to return to take care of their ageing father. Blanche refuses, saying her life is here with the nuns. Her brother is taken aback by this and by his sister’s lack of offering him any intimacy in this encounter. As he’s about to leave, Blanche suddenly runs to him and embraces him warmly. However, when her brother calls her by a pet name from their childhood, Blanche rebels, stating to herself that he always wants her to remain a child. This is perhaps the one and only moment in this troubled life when Blanche seems to have grown at least a bit in self-awareness and confidence.
One scene seemed particularly heavy-handed to me, and that was when the nuns entrust Sister Blanche with a doll-figure of the baby Jesus, and the doll slips out of Blanche’s hand and hits the ground, breaking in half with the Jesus doll losing its head. Blanche is horrified at this and fearful that it is an omen. It may heavy-handedly prefigure the fact that the nuns will all ultimately lose their heads to the guillotine. When a chaplain, sung by tenor Brendon Ryan, is forbidden to say mass, and the nuns seem bent on choosing martyrdom, he reminds the nuns that martyrs are not chosen by their own will but only by God’s. Nonetheless, the nuns all make a vow of martyrdom.
Only Sister Blanche, ever fearful of of death and life, decides spontaneously to run away and leave the convent, returning to her father’s house, only to find that he has been guillotined and the servants are now in charge.
Meanwhile, the nuns are rounded up and imprisoned in the Paris Conciergerie, where they are informed they are condemned to die by the guillotine. In the opera’s final scene, the nuns gather in a semicircle and sing the Salve Regina as one by one, the sound of the guillotine’s blade signals their deaths. Finally, only Sister Constance remains, and as she begins singing praise of God and the Holy Trinity, she sees Blanche emerging from the crowd to join her as each of them in turn is guillotined.
San Francisco Opera has given this Dialogues of the Carmelites about as good a staging as possible. However, this opera’s heavy dose of Catholic mysticism is by no means everyone’s cup of tea. It is certainly not mine. Far from offering a glimpse of the sublime, it offers a glimpse of morbidity at the heart of this Bernanos-derived opera.
A Phyllis Bennis, Director of the New International Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, and Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council added their powerful voices to the growing crisis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. At least 120 Palestinians have been killed so far this year, including many children. Decades of unconditional U.S. support to Israel’s apartheid policies and occupation have contributed to the deteriorating situation which allows the raids to go on with complete impunity.
Palestinian cities have been taken over by the Israeli military in complete violation of the Oslo Accords. n homes, are raided in in the middle of the night with children being taken away for interrogation. The underlying strategy appears to be a rapid increase in Gestapo style of terrorism to drive Palestinians to utter desperation and accelerate ethnic cleansing.
The timidity of President Biden refusing to raise his voice is profoundly disturbing. Meanwhile, while the U.S. Treasury is hemorrhaging in red ink, it continues to reward Israel $3.8 billion a year. There is a blanket of silence in the mainstream media and the halls of Congress regarding Israel’s brutality. Amnesty International is calling on the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation into possible war crimes being committed by Israel.
