Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin seems to be running for California State Senate, District Seven, in the 2024 Democratic Primary. He has filed a Statement of Intention with the California Secretary of State's office, a step which must be taken before raising any campaign funds. Potential candidates at this stage may file for more than one office, so Arreguin could have alternative plans as yet to be revealed. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic, so the winner of this primary is just about guaranteed to win in the November General election. The Senate seat is now occupied by former Berkeley councilmember and state representative Nancy Skinner, who will be termed out in 2024.

In another time, pre-pandemic, I would be standing in line at the Shattuck Cinemas to see “All That Breathes” , the Academy Award nominated documentary film of two brothers in New Delhi who rescue black kite birds.

The ten theatres with the murals so many of us love are closed and on the demolition block to make way for 2065 Kittredge. In place of the Shattuck Cinemas, once the economic engine of the downtown with over 300,000 patrons annually from the entire Bay Area and beyond, will stand student housing. It is a development many will applaud, with 187 units (including four live/work and nine very low income units) stacked into eight stories, with 4,993 square feet of commercial space at street level and 43 parking spaces underground. The nine very low income units qualify the project for a density bonus and added height and California Senate Bill 330 limits review to five meetings including the appeal on January 31 to City Council.

The appeal to City Council was not brought by unhappy neighbors protesting the planting of an oversize tower lording over their little houses. This appeal was brought by Adams, Broadwell, Joseph and Cardozo on behalf of East Bay Residents for Responsible Development. East Bay Residents for Responsible Development are our local skilled and trained workforce, union workers like plumbers, electricians, and sheet metal workers and local residents seeking to complete apprenticeship training. They were not trying to stop the project, they were asking for the hiring of local union trade workers, healthcare, apprenticeships and safe working conditions. 

You can read the complaint in pages 63 – 80 https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2023-01-31%20Item%2021%20ZAB%20Appeal%202065%20Kittredge%20Street.pdf 

The applicant for 2065 Kittredge is William “Bill” Shrader (developer/builder) with CA Student Living Berkeley, LLC as the property owner, which is Student Living – CA Ventures, an international investor in student housing based in Chicago, with European headquarters in London and offices in Milan, Barcelona and Amsterdam. The big investors have come to town. 

There was a lot that came to light. Bill Shrader, who has several active projects in Berkeley, said he ran an open shop and less than 40% of workers were union. Healthcare coverage is not provided. 

The Hard Hat ordinance, authored by Mayor Arreguin with councilmembers Bartlett, Hahn and Taplin as supporters, which was central to the complaint as the conditions sought by the workers, is so far a big nothing. The ordinance described in the September 20, 2022 City Council agenda as “Helping Achieve Responsible Development with Healthcare and Apprenticeship Training Standards (HARD HATS) Referral” languishes somewhere in the bowels of city administration as a referral to the City Manager and the City Attorney. It is a referral likely to wither and die with big money on the plate. At the very least it is months, possibly years, away from turning into legislation (local law). 

The appellants visited seven worksites in Berkeley and sent photos of findings of unsafe conditions to the City for action. While it was acknowledged at the hearing that the City received the photos and is acting on the unsafe work conditions, the public was given no information as to the sites or the extent of the conditions. 

The City Council voted unanimously to dismiss the appeal and approve 2065 Kittredge with Arreguin’s “modifications from the floor.” The added conditions sounded as though the issues from the unions were recognized. Actually, Shrader received a green light to proceed. Shrader only has to consider the feasibility of an apprenticeship program, only consider making contributions to healthcare, and make a good faith effort to hire residents living within 10 miles of the project. The only binding modification that Arreguin added and the council approved is for Shrader to send an affidavit (report), after all the work is done and the building is ready for the students to move in, of the number of union workers and local workers within 10 miles of the project who actually worked at the Kittredge job site. 

The other big news of the week was that the Department of Housing and Community Development Division of Housing Policy Development (HCD) rejected the Berkeley Housing Element for the years 2023 – 2031. The contract with the consultants Rami + Associates, hired for $540,000 to “perform professional planning services” for the Housing Element, doesn’t expire until May 15, 2023, so maybe they can still pull it out of the rejection bag. 

The plan sent to HCD was based on an Environmental Impact Report for adding 15,001 new dwelling units, 6,067 more than the assigned 8,934. In all of the maps and charts in the Housing Element sent to HCD, not one of them showed the fault line, running through the hills, the slide areas and the high fire hazard zones where we shouldn’t be adding more housing. Nor was there any mapping of liquefaction and flood plains. These things ought to be of higher consideration after the atmospheric river put the hillside and at least one house on the move. 

The day before the HCD letter arrived the January 29, 2023 San Francisco Chronicle edition published back in section E page 7, “Population in Bay Area, state continues to decline.” 

The entire Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) and mandate for the updated Housing Element is based on enormous population growth. There is a major disconnect between the facts on the ground of declining population which is a good thing and HCD growth projections. 

The January 30, 2023 letter from HCD is finally posted for the public to read on the City Housing Element Update webpage by clicking on the words “formal comments.” There is the call for upzoning (increasing density with multi-unit projects) in high resource areas (wealthy neighborhoods) and more importantly the housing element “…should include additional actions beyond housing improvements such as infrastructure, 

streetscapes, active transportation, community amenities, parks, and other 

community improvements...” 

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

It is the call for parks that I love. If we are going to add more people or even if we don’t, parks rejuvenate us. One of my favorite books An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong is #6 on the SF Chronicle bestsellers list. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer has been on the SF best seller list for months. These are wonderful books about nature. People love nature. Parks filled with birds and butterflies bring the awesome world around us right to us. Strawberry Creek Park is a magnate for people. Just imagine how lovely the Civic Center Park could be with restoring Strawberry Creek to its natural state (daylighting). 

For all the bad news, the HCD rejection there is opportunity here. We should be adding and enhancing our parks. 

There are times and places for entertainment. We can do a lot more with taking advantage of the BART Plaza and downtown for festivals. The times Shattuck Avenue has been closed to traffic and open for events, it was filled with people making activating the street a real thing. 

And it isn’t just parks, we have our own part in nature by making connections with creating habitat for birds and butterflies where ever we live. Go back to the January 29 Activist’s Diary and read Erin Diehm’s gardening directions steps 1 to 5. 

https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2023-01-28/article/50165?headline=A-BERKELEY-ACTIVIST-S-DIARY-week-ending-Jan.-29--Kelly-Hammargren 

In case you missed it, at the Community for a Cultural Civic Center on January 30th, former mayor Tom Bates suggested that since the Civic Center buildings (old city hall-Maudelle Shirek and the Veterans Building) are in need of millions of dollars of seismic upgrade, maybe the city should give the buildings to UC. 

In the “go to meeting” of the week, the Monday Agenda and Rules Committee with the Droste proposals, one to further limit public comment at City Council meetings and the other to limit legislation to one item per year per each councilmember, Arreguin kept the attendees hanging on for nearly two hours, until 4:20 pm. That is when Arreguin finally said he opposed former Councilmember Droste’s measure to limit public comment at city meetings. He wasn’t even sure if it was legal. After public comment Arreguin and Vice Mayor Bartlett voted to make a negative recommendation to Council on the Droste public comment proposal. 

Another important statement at the meeting was by Todd Darling, who described South Berkeley as a “pin cushion of projects,” consultants as a rubber stamp for the Planning Department and the need for a better process—that the Planning Department which is dependent on developer fees selects consultants who go along with developers’ wishes and intentions, and this is not in the public interest. 

The Droste proposal on legislation will come back again. The proposal to add Youth to the Climate and Environment Commissions will show up at a future Council meeting with three options. Arreguin and Bartlett were not in favor of allowing BUSD making the appointments, pointing out that BUSD has not been filling all the vacant commission spots. 

What is the saying? “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” I am for BUSD making the appointments not the council. The council already has nine spots. 

The Commission on Disability has only two commissioners and seven open spots. We need a robust Commission on Disability with the challenges impacting the disabled community in street redesign. As stated at one of the many meetings on the Hopkins corridor Plan, there are at least as many disabled persons as bicyclists. 

Pete Buttegieg was making the rounds this last week on pedestrian deaths. In one interview he noted, pedestrian deaths increased after the implementation of Vision Zero in Los Angeles. Vision Zero is supposed to eliminate traffic deaths through narrowing streets with road diets, bulb outs, bike lanes and such. https://www.fastcompany.com/90841997/this-is-a-preventable-crisis-pete-buttigieg-on-spending-800-million-to-eliminate-traffic-deaths 

In the interview I caught, Buttegieg skirted commenting on vehicle design. I suppose to avoid giving the GOP more bait with adding SUVs and light trucks to their list of threats: “They (Democrats) are coming for your guns and gas stoves.” 

Next time you look at an SUV or truck compare that to a car. It is that high front end that restricts visibility and hits people in the chest. These vehicles come with a deadly cost. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2021/07/27/study-americas-suv-jag-spurred-pedestrian-death-surge/ 

My own opinion is evolving as a pedestrian and a driver following the furor over the Hopkins Corridor Plan. I had a bunch of errands to run for a friend sick with COVID (now is not the time to skip that N95 mask) and drove up Hopkins from Gilman to Sutter. Hopkins is already narrow and its state of moderate disrepair slows traffic. 

I made a third trip at dusk to pick up Paxlovid from Kaiser Oakland and drove back after dark on Telegraph then Shattuck. The street lighting high above the tree canopy doesn’t do much for pedestrians nearly all dressed in black. Only one cyclist of the handful had a bike light and that was in the front, not the back. 

I am coming to the point where I do not believe bike lanes on busy streets reduces injuries and fatalities. In fact, bike lanes seem to give the bicyclist a false unwarranted sense of safety. That is not what the consultants, road diet enthusiasts and bicyclists want to hear. 

Politicians love newly repaved streets, and of course all the repaving and redesign keeps the engineers, repaving companies and transportation administration happy. It also quiets complaining residents. If you want to speed up vehicle traffic and increase traffic deaths, then the way to do it is repave the streets. If you want more people to die in an emergency, then do what Paradise, California did, put evacuation routes on a road diet. 

I’d like to go back to the pandemic slow streets. Maybe put an island in the middle of Monterey at Hopkins. Otherwise fix the potholes and leave the rest alone. There are plenty of other ways to spend taxpayer money. And repairing ecosystems sits higher on my priority list. 

Not so long ago, a friend sent the link to the article “Addressing Climate Change Will Not Save the Planet” by Christopher Ketcham in the Intercept. Ketcham is correct. Climate change was not the cause of 69% loss of total wildlife populations between 1970 and 2018. That was us. https://theintercept.com/2022/12/03/climate-biodiversity-green-energy/ 

The cause of the biodiversity crisis, more aptly described as the biodiversity apocalypse,g is deforestation, overgrazing of livestock, monocrop agriculture, megafauna kill-off, soil degradation, habitat fragmentation, pollution, open pit and mountain top mining, depleted fresh water, toxification of rainfall, destruction of ecosystems. The constant is a dysfunctional system of perpetual growth of economies and population. 

Warren M. Hern, physician, anthropologist, epidemiologist, writes that the earth cannot be saved without identifying the disease process, the diagnosis and that is Homo Ecophagus, “the man who devours the ecosystem.” 

Homo Ecophagus: A Deep Diagnosis to Save the Earth is not the kind of book you will find on any shelf in Governor Ron DeSantis’ Florida, where anything that might make a child uncomfortable or challenge the thinking of college students like classes on race must be removed and censured. 

There is a lot in Hern’s book as he lays out how he reached his diagnosis of the disease process. Hern describes the harsh truths we wish to deny. The book is also filled with beautiful photographs, charts and stories of his travels to remote villages in South America and hiking in the Colorado wilderness. 

Hern describes the tension between denial and the diagnosis, the wanting to turn away from the facts. The diagnosis is grim, humans as a cancer devouring the planet, but not hopeless if we accept the urgency and choose to act with immediacy. 

Douglas Tallamy gives hope too. There is a challenge here, restoring biodiversity, restoring ecosystems. Joining the Homegrown National Park is a movement that can bring endless pleasure in the amazing world around us. Will we grab it? 

The psychology professor in the nursing program in my college classes, lectured endlessly on the capacity for denial. I never believed her. 

After graduation, I remember vividly as a young nurse standing in the room when the physician walked in to give the results of surgery to one of my assigned patients. It was 1970,ggg three years before the first CT scanner was installed in the U.S. In 1970 surgeons performed “exploratory” surgery. The physician told my patient he was sorry, she had an aggressive cancer that had spread. There was nothing he could do, it was inoperable. It was terrible news, a death sentence. After the doctor left the room. My patient turned to me and said, “Isn’t it wonderful, my doctor told me I am going to be just fine.” 

A recent article and editorial in the Los Angeles Times, as well as statements from the University of California, conveniently neglect to mention that People’s Park is on the National Register of Historic Places. This listing takes the issue beyond being merely a Berkeley struggle, after deserved recognition by the State Historical Resources Commission and by the National Park Service.

With little focus on the core issues of the legal case challenging the proposed destruction of the park, recent press has instead focused on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The key issue in the case is UC did not analyze alternative sites in their Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Having to choose either a park/open space or more student housing is a false choice. UC maintains the park is the only adequate site for Housing Project #2 when their own planning documents show they get many more student beds from another site a block and a half away. Choosing the most controversial site as their second housing project is also very poor planning on UC’s part.

Some politicians and media want to describe park defenders as being NIMBYs, which hardly explains the essence of the opposition to destroying the park. Defenders of the park want more student housing, but CEQA (a 1970 law signed by Governor Ronald Reagan) is the only legal tool available to defend People’s Park. The community is up against an institution that seemingly has an endless budget enabling the hiring of lawyers and PR flacks who earn six figure salaries. The People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group (PPHDAG) board members get zero income to fight UC and must raise money from park supporters. Hundreds have donated to the legal challenge with anything from crumpled dollars to at most four figure sums sent from all over the country. Supporters are multicultural, young and old, some with means and others just surviving. This is grassroots, David vs. Goliath. 

UC wants to frame their project as “revitalizing” or “recrafting” the conditions they have nurtured and allowed while at the same time decrying them as “blight and unsafe.” This misinformation is spewed to the student population and then they are surveyed to make the case for student support. The case for the park being an epicenter for crime falls apart when the actual data is explored. And, shouldn’t we all be worried that an institution that manages two national nuclear laboratories is unable to maintain in good condition a 2.8 acre plot of land? 

Opportunistically forgotten is the support of the student journalists at the Daily Cal and the Berkeley Faculty Association for preserving the park. Forgotten are the hundreds of students who turned out to tear down the fence in August. Forgotten also is the support of former Berkeley mayors. Forgotten are academic critics of UC like Davarian Baldwin and Christopher Newfield, who have researched the impact of increasing privatization on our public universities. 

The projection that this case will harm developers is overblown, the charge being led by lawyer Christopher Elmendorf who is celebrated by California YIMBY. Dismantling CEQA is a developer’s would be a return of the good old days of urban renewal. Building anything everywhere is promulgated by legislator Scott Weiner, but how is trickle-down, market rate housing actually helping the unhoused and creating adequate amounts of affordable housing? The increase in California homelessness described in the December national homelessness survey clearly illustrates this. 

An October 2021 report, CEQA: California’s Living Environmental Law, reviewed by five environmental experts from throughout the state including two from UC, found that there is no evidence that supports the assertion by critics that CEQA is a “’major barrier to development.’” This report was. Now is the time to clear the fog of obfuscation around both CEQA and People’s Park. We invite all who are sincerely interested in getting student and supportive housing built to join us in requesting the university move ahead and build Housing Project #2 on an appropriate site, while preserving the historical icon and much needed public open space that is People's Park. 

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Harvey Smith is president of People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group (peoplesparkhxdist.org), a longtime Berkeley resident, two-time graduate and former employee of UC Berkeley, and author of Berkeley and the New Deal. 

 

Only a few weeks are left to see Berkeley’s beloved burrowing owl before it departs from its winter home at the water’s edge of Cesar Chavez Park. Whether this rare and beautiful creature will return next fall, is anyone’s guess. Much is riding on securing a functional fence for its refuge. 

If you visit the Burrowing Owl Sanctuary in the park, you will immediately notice that the owl is not protected from off-leash dogs. The only thing separating the owl from roaming dogs is a low decorative Art Deco “fence” which was installed in 2010 as a Civic Arts project by Reed Madden Designs, and which dogs, if not leashed by their owners, can effortlessly jump over or ignore. 

Unfortunately, despite repeated efforts by the Chavez Park Conservancy and many concerned residents, neither the “fence” artists, the Civic Arts Commission, nor the Parks Department see a need to build a dog-proof fence. And sadly, even the Audubon Society which I have been a member of for over 40 years, does not support the building of a secure fence, probably out of fear of alienating some dog owners. (Disclosure: I’m both an owl and dog lover.) 

There have been at least two known incidents of owls being killed in recent years, consistent with dog attacks. The first was in 2016 when a dead owl’s carcass with puncture wounds was found, and the second was last year when an owl’s left wing was damaged, and it was seen dragging it on the ground. The bird disappeared the next day and undoubtedly died. Other reports of dogs digging up burrows, as well as causing anxiety and stress in the owl (based on frequency of head rotation) have been documented. 

Last week, I contacted the Parks Department to inquire about the status of the fence since I’d seen a line item for an Owl Fence Project in the FY2023 Annual Appropriations Ordinance. I thought perhaps a new fence might be in the pipeline to finally protect the owl; however, this was not the case.  

Christina Erickson, Deputy Director, emailed me back saying that there had been an extensive community public process in 2010 (when there were still at least ten to twelve owls in the park), and that there were no plans to “modify the fence from its original design.” Alas, the $16,000 which I had seen in the budget document was for maintenance and repair to the existing decorative fence and was paid to Reed Madden Designs.  

I’ve since learned that providing an actual sanctuary for the owl would be as simple as installing a four-foot-high green plastic fence, something the Parks Department has in its inventory. I don’t understand why, given the extensive documentation of dogs disturbing the owl’s habitat, that the city wouldn’t do all it could to protect this last remaining owl on Berkeley’s soil.  

I encourage everyone to try and see the burrowing owl this month before it migrates, for there is no guarantee we’ll see it or any other owl in years to come because of its dwindling population. This tiny endearing bird (the size of a beer can) with so much personality is fascinating to watch. 

Additional information as to the owl’s location in the park can be found on the Chavez Park Conservancy website. And if you’re an early riser, owl docents (Mary Law and Martin Nicolaus) are often there in the mornings before 10 to help you locate the owl (which is not always easy given its small size and camouflage) and learn more about this vulnerable and precious bird.  

However, if you can’t make it to the park, there are many delightful short videos of the burrowing owl that appear every day at 5 PM on the website. Here is one video of the owl with its furry vegetarian friends and another from last Sunday when the owl seemed unfazed by the cold rain. 

 

 

 

It is common for working adults to decompress and desensitize by consuming alcohol on weekends or when they get off work. I drank beer for a short while when I was in my twenties. At best, it numbed me out so badly that I yearned for the hour when I would return to normal, as I know it to be. I take psych meds and mixing alcohol with them utterly shuts everything down, and worse.

Alcohol doesn't mix with antipsychotics. But if taken in combination with many other psych meds (It is hard to be sure of which ones), you can die from it. Many celebrities and countless others have died because of this. You don't mix alcohol with medication. Don't try it. And since you'd better not stop medication, you should stay entirely away from alcohol.

But the abovementioned is not the main thrust of this week's column...

People need to relax. Even people with mental illness must relax. I recall going swimming with a friend and getting a back massage. This type of experience is a thousand times better than drinking a beer or smoking a joint. Physical contact, play, rest, are things human beings must have. If we don't get that, we will die an early, miserable death. 

When people socialize, it can bring joy and it can relieve the mundanity of too much drudge work or too much doing nothing. Being too much alone is unhealthy. And that said, I am one of the worst examples of following that lesson. My writing is a solitary, albeit enjoyable activity. When something is published, it is shared with others, but I usually can only get a concept of that via my imagination. 

The most recent family gathering of the Bragen's was great for me. It was Hannukah of 2022. I got to see family members and some friends of the family. The Thanksgiving gathering was fun, a lot of great food and some joking around with my younger brother. And I caught sight again of my niece's young son. 

Desensitizing can happen in the course of the normal. In this case, hard times are bringing desensitization, and not "good" times. I've shed some of my shell of fear, and I'm diving into the unfamiliar. I've been getting in some good interactions with people. It isn't the same deal as "partying", but that was never my thing. There are a lot of ways that a person can desensitize. 

What is desensitizing? It is where you are not so preoccupied with a tiny sphere of existence. It is where your normal bounds are expanded, and where you are not so afraid of everything and everyone. It can be where you are pleasantly numb. But it doesn't require drugs and/or alcohol. Fun kills fear. And alcohol kills brain cells. 

Second lesson: "De-emphasizing": This can comprise a mental exercise in which you attenuate the influence of a category of internal or external perception. If you have constant anxiety and you de-emphasize it, it has less power over you, and you might be able to get it to go away completely. De-emphasizing is less powerful and more contrived than decompressing. But it has its uses. De-emphasis, to me is often an exercise. On the other hand, desensitizing and/or decompressing are usually play activities. 

If you need to set aside a category of thoughts or feelings to do something else, de-emphasizing might be just the tool to use. Again, no drugs or alcohol needed. Deemphasizing can also be used to ignore something that's bothering you, such as a neighbor's dog's barking or loud music. You may sometimes be able to use the method to reduce physical pain. 

I don't have space here to go into the "de-emphasis" technique. Yet if you experiment with autosuggestion and use percentages to tell yourself a stimulus is less and less important, that's the general way I approach it. 

The above are some ideas to which I've given a lot of thought. But sometimes I must remind myself to stop all the thinking and just do something unintellectual. Watching professional basketball has come into my life in the past year, because my wife and the next-door neighbor were watching it, so I watched it too. The players deserve every penny of the hundreds of millions they get. 

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Jack Bragen is a writer who lives in Martinez, and is author of "Instructions for Dealing with Schizophrenia," released in 2012.

The police officers responsible for the death of Tyre Nichols death belonged to a rogue unit called the “scorpion” which was closed immediately following his death. The last few minutes of his life was similar to the death of George Floyd. So, who are the guilty? 

1. The five police officers who pepper sprayed and pummeled Nichols until his death. They showed no remorse and gave each other high fives and fist bumps boasting about the gruesome murder. 2. The EMT personnel who sat idly by refusing to administer first aid while Nichols was writhing with pain. 

3. . The Memphis police department who was expecting praise for disbanding the “killer unit” they established. This is much like a fire department expecting credit for a fire they started! 

4. It is a well-known fact that police departments generate up to 55 percent of their revenue from traffic stops. The fact that the guilty officers were black is indicative of systemic racism in police departments. Over 55 percent of the guilty escape punishment because they are vigorously defended or reassigned by their powerful unions. 

5. Traffic stop victims are invariably black. 

Finally, America is not great. It will be great when black men feel safe driving in America and if stopped for legitimate reasons are treated with humanity and dignity.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently returned from a two-day visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank with the initial purpose of coordinating how the U.S. would work with the newly re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During his visit, Blinken made the obligatory call for a two-states for two peoples solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an unpopular notion for Israel’s new right-wing government who oppose concessions to the Palestinians and rule out an independent Palestinian state in the land Israel has occupied since the1967 Mideast War.

Consider that in December 2022, incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu published his coalition’s principles and agenda, promising construction of settlements throughout the country including in the West Bank. One of the guidelines include the following: "The Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop the settlement of all parts of the Land of Israel — in the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan and Judea and Samaria.”

As of January 2023, according to Wikipedia, there are 144 Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including 12 in East Jerusalem. In addition, there are over 100 Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank. In total, over 450,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank excluding East Jerusalem, with an additional 220,000 Jewish settlers residing in East Jerusalem. Israel is slowly squeezing the Palestinians from their lands. The international community considers Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law, although Israel disagrees. 

Consider also that The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research shows that public support for a two-state solution is low. Only 33% of Palestinians and 34% of Israeli Jews expressed support for the proposed resolution. The survey seems to be in accord with the new Netanyahu government’s opposition to an independent Palestinian state. 

Finally, the U.S. and Israel have a well-established “special relationship” with a history of shared intelligence, military cooperation, and shared scientific knowledge. Thus, the conventional wisdom in the White House and in Congress is that it would be political suicide to threaten to cutoff foreign aid, military aid or loan guarantees to force Israel into meaningful peace negotiations. This leaves the U.S. notion of a two-state solution a fantasy, especially as the new Netanyahu coalition has made it clear that it has no intention of agreeing to a two-state solution and will continue establishing settlements in lands claimed by the Palestinians for an independent state.  

All that remains to the U.S. is bluster and outrage, which Israel and the Arab world have long realized signifies little or nothing. The prospect for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the next several years is slim to none. What’s left is achieving a peaceful status quo, a difficult enough task in this period of off-and-on again conflict. 

 

In the midst of ongoing protests against the regime in the Islamic Republic of Iran, several new developments have taken place in the last days as Iran takes notice of the 44th anniversary of the 1979 revolution than brought the mullahs’ regime to power. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, issued a “limited pardon” to perhaps tens of thousands of Iranian citizens who have been arrested for protesting the killing of 22 year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s notorious morality police. The so-called pardon is full of conditions too numerous and vague to enumerate here. All that can be said is that this token gesture by the Supreme Leader seems to demonstrate the regime’s awareness of how unpopular its rule has become, especially in the wake of its brutal crackdown on widespread popular and peaceful protests. 

Also marking the 44th anniversary of Iran’s 1979 revolution were statements issued by prominent opposition leaders. Former President Mohammad Khatami called for drastic changes to Iran’s government, declaring that efforts at mere reform have reached a “dead-end.” Even more radical calls for change were issued by Mir Hossein Moussavi, a leader of Iran’s 2009 Green Movement. Moussavi, who has been under house arrest since 2011, declared his support for the protest movement’s goals of removing the regime of the mullahs and instituting a new government based on democratic principles espoused by the protesters. 

The current situation in Iran is unclear. While Supreme Leader Khatemei tries to portray the protest movement as largely over and contained, on the other hand, prominent opposition leaders such as Mohammad Khatami and Mir Hussein Moussavi declare the movement against the mullahs’ regime as ongoing and striking fear in governing circles. Moussavi even alleges that the military in Iran is having severe second thoughts about its support for the Islamic regime; and Moussavi urges the military to publicly withdraw its support for the current regime. Obviously, there are high stakes involved here. It is a highly combustible situation, whose outcome is unknown.

How to Play ‘War Lies Bingo’ on February 7

Back in 1928, a leftwing British peace activist named Arthur Ponsonby published a book called Falsehood in War-Time. Ponsonby's book included a 10-point list of falsehoods that had been used by Britain (and every other participant in World War I) to justify the slaughter.

No matter which side of the battlefield you looked at, Ponsonby found national leaders invoking the same ten lies. They were: 

• We do not want war.  

• The enemy alone is to be blamed for the war.  

• The enemy is inherently evil, resembling the devil.  

• We defend a noble cause, not our own interest.  

• The enemy commits atrocities on purpose; our mishaps are involuntary.  

• The enemy uses illegal weapons.  

• We suffer small losses, those of the enemy are enormous.  

• Artists and intellectuals back our cause.  

• Our cause is holy, it has a sacred character.  

• Whoever doubts our propaganda, is a traitor. 

After nearly a century of unjustifiable wars, journalist and publisher (Just World Books) Helena Cobban is inviting America to play a game of “War Lies Bingo" on February 7, when Pres. Biden delivers his State of the Union Address.  

How many of these "war lies" will the US president invoke? To find out, just download the pre-designed bingo sheets from this 50K PDF and read the rules for "War Lies Bingo" at: https://justworldnews.org/2023/01/17/how-to-play-war-lies-bingo/ 

Fashion Plates 

Personalized license plates spotted around town. 

• Blue Toyota: BG BEARS (on a blue-and-gold plate, no less) 

• Red Tesla: 8YXK808 (Isn't that the name of one of Elon's kids?) 

• Red Chevy: KLASY K (Lookin' good, Katrina!) 

• White Subaru Forester: SUM NERV (Keep your distance, tailgaters!) 

• Yellow Sahara Jeep Wrangler: LORIBEN (A chew toy for aggressive dogs?) 

• Silver Toyota: RIDHWAN (The Diamond Approach. Right here in Berkeley.) 

Bumper Snickers 

• "When the Power of Love Overcomes the Love of Power the World Will Know Peace"—Jimi Hendrix 

• Let's Talk About the Elephant in the Womb 

• Only You Can Prevent Narcissism 

• Where Are We Going and Why I'm I in this Handbasket? 

• All on one Gray Subaru: Whitman College; Johns Hopkins University; Montclair 4-H, Oakland, CA; Barnard – The Liberal Arts College for Women in New York City. 

Bettina Aptheker on "Commies in the Closet" 

A pleased announcement from the Free Speech Movement-Archives: "Here's the video recording of our illustrious Bettina talking about her latest book. Her research was fascinating, like an archeological dig into private closets, letters and diaries. The stories are compelling. 

"Bettina adds: 'I was recently told there will be an audiobook put out by Routledge and I am thrilled about that!!'" 

In this 90-minute California Historical Society video, Bettina Aptheker discusses her new book, "Communists in Closets: Queering the History 1930s–1990s." The book explores the history of gay, lesbian, and non-heterosexual people in the Communist Party (despite its sixty-year ban on LGBT members). Queer communists contributed to the political and theoretical foundations for lesbian and gay liberation and women’s liberation; they also helped advance peace, social justice, civil rights, and Black and Latinx liberation movements. Focusing on queer communists in California, Aptheker is in conversation with Estelle Freedman, author and Professor Emerita at Stanford University. 

 

The GOP Wants to Replace the IRS as Oligarchs Cheer 

Economic battles are brewing on The Hill. The GOP wants to "January Six" the IRS and replace taxes on wealth with a 30% national tax on basic needs like food, clothing and medicine. 

The extreme mega-MAGA GOPsters would shift the tax burden from millionaires and powerful corporations onto the backs of the American workers and those Americans who can't find work. 

If this radical act of class warfare has got you riled, The Daily Kos has a petition you can punch. It lets these Congressional transgressors know that a national sales tax would trigger a wave of national no-sales attacks that could topple the economy. Oligarchs beware! 

I signed off on the noxious notion by adding the following historical note to my petition: 

We should be taxing extreme wealth not food, medicine, and everyday living expenses. 

Someone should remind the GOP of Eisenhower's proposal that the richest 1% of the country should be taxed at 90%. I LIKE THE IKE HIKE! 

Three Solutions to the National Debt Crisis 

The GOP also wants to put an end to raising the federal debt—an anti-Biden bomblet that could trigger a global economic explosion. Well, once again, the Daily Kos rushes in with a remedy—three of them: 

Several solutions have been discussed that are worthy of consideration. A few senators have introduced the Protect Our CREDIT Act of 2023, which would enable the President to raise the debt limit, subject to a two-thirds vote of disapproval by Congress. Another proposal would be to eliminate the debt limit altogether, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen supports. Lastly, President Biden could take executive action to mint a trillion-dollar coin. 

Wait a minute! Isn't that what Sam Banker-Fried was caught doing? 

And how did the Kos crew miss the bipartisan Elephant in the Room—the Pentagon's indefensible $1.2 trillion "defense" fund? 

A Cold Dose of Cruel Reality 

As Michael Leahan recently noted in an online email conversation: 

Call me cynical but it seems all these petitions we sign, protests, demonstrations and letters to our representatives have little to no effect (unless you’re a multi-millionaire).  

When I said that the US government doesn't listen to public opinion, I point to a Princeton study done several years back that looked at more than 20 years of data to answer a pretty simple question: Does the government represent the people?
Basically, they found that our government doesn’t listen to us. They listen to the wealthy and corporate donors. Surprised? Here’s a quote from the Princeton study that pretty much sums it up:
“The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy."
Here’s a link to the Princeton study and a short video that explains it:
 

Bernie Wants to Stick It to Moderna 

Moderna is a modern-day Monster — a needle-wielding, arm-piercing, price-gouger. 

Seems like their only corporate regret is they were not able to charge three-figure sums for their vaccine shots while 1.1 million Americans were dying from Covid-19 infections. 

That could now be changing. As Bernie Sanders pointed out: "Moderna is considering more than quadrupling the price of its people-funded COVID vaccine from $26.36 per dose to an outrageous $130 per dose, especially when it’s been estimated that the cost of producing the vaccine is now as low as $2.85 per dose—2.2% of what Moderna has suggested charging to the public." 

Bernie has posted a curative MoveOn petition here. 

Tiring of Abiding Biden's Unkept Promises? 

RootsAction posts: "While cheerleaders for Joe Biden in corporate media often portray him as the second coming of Franklin Roosevelt, here at RootsAction we keep remembering his many unkept promises—especially in light of the deepening crises of democracy, inequality, climate and corporate greed that our country faces. 

Here’s a partial list of promises from Biden's 2020 campaign website and the 2020 Democratic Party platform that Biden campaigned on:  

• Reduce military spending (dramatically increased instead),

• End drilling on federal lands (expanded instead),
• Stop separating immigrant families and instead compensate them (not done),

• Remove the cap on Social Security taxes exempting incomes over $160,000 (not done),
• Make community college free for two years (not done),
• Create the healthcare “public option” and lower the age for Medicare (instead Medicare keeps being privatized),
• Provide paid sick and family leave (not done, even for railway workers whose threatened strike was outlawed),
• Provide high-quality, universal pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year-olds (not done),
• Provide Section 8 housing vouchers to every eligible family so that no one has to pay more than 30% of their income for rental housing (not done),
• Make a $2 trillion investment in clean energy (way beyond what’s included in the “Inflation Reduction Act”),
• Provide every city with 100,000 or more residents with high-quality, zero-emissions public transportation (not even mentioned),
• Introduce a constitutional amendment to entirely eliminate private dollars from our federal elections. . . . Enact legislation to provide voluntary matching public funds for federal candidates receiving small dollar donations. . . . Restrict SuperPACs. . . . End dark money groups. . . . Ban corporate PAC contributions to candidates, and prohibit lobbyist contributions to those who they lobby (unheard of since the campaign; these are words from the 2020 campaign website),
• Create automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, early voting, universal vote-from-home and vote-by-mail options, and an election day holiday (only feebly attempted),
• Heavily tax billionaires and corporations (attempted in minor ways, but the pretense that it's been done hurts efforts to do it going forward).
• End U.S. participation in the brutal Saudi war on Yemen (not done),
• Treat Saudi Arabia as a pariah state (instead, the president famously fist-bumped the Crown Prince).

Urge Go-Slow Joe to Call Out Big Oil in Feb. 7 Speech 

On January 31, Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen, launched an email broadside that began: "This morning, Exxon Mobil revealed that it made $56 billion in profits in 2022—its most profitable year ever. A few days ago, Chevron announced that it made $35.5 billion in profits last year—more than doubling its profits from 2021."
And remember, Weissman emphasized, "we’re talking about sheer profits." He went on to make these other points: 

• That’s billions and billions and billions—from our pockets to their already overflowing corporate coffers—*beyond* what these companies spent on things like offshore rigs, drilling equipment, pipelines, tankers, salaries, CEO bonuses, and junk science sowing unfounded doubt about their own complicity in climate change.

• Not to mention government bribes slash campaign contributions (the exact phrase depending on the country and, perhaps, one’s tolerance for semantic distinctions).

• And of course it’s not just the cost of filling your car’s gas tank or heating your home.

• The price of oil is one of the main drivers of the runaway inflation—i.e. further corporate price gouging—that has distorted the economy here in America and around the world.

• Meanwhile, by keeping us addicted to their dirty energy products, companies like these are literally melting the planet we live on.

Why do we let these companies price gouge us to such an obscene degree? How much profit is enough, especially considering that the main thing the oil behemoths are doing with these windfall profits nowadays is buying back their own stock?
Take ACTION: Tell President Biden:
Big Oil’s record-shattering profits are both obscene on their face and destructive economically. We urge you to call out Big Oil’s price gouging and to call on Congress to pass a windfall profits tax on Big Oil in your upcoming State of the Union Address.
Click to add your name now. 

Re-ban Assault Rifles for God's Sake! 

According to an Action Network petition sponsored by Daily Kos: "Banning assault weapons saves lives. The 1994 federal assault weapons ban, which lasted until 2004, reduced the risk of a person in the U.S. dying from a mass shooting by 70%. Both the number of deaths and the number of annual incidents decreased significantly.  

"Time and time again, assault weapons are used in the deadliest mass shootings in America. Between 2009 and 2018, assault weapons accounted for 25% of death and 76% of nonfatal injuries in mass shootings. They are uniquely lethal, allowing the most murders in the shortest amount of time. They are weapons of war and have no place on our streets." 

They aren't called "Defense" tools, they are called "Assault" weapons and the Action Network has a petition to re-ban them. Here's the link. 

America's Economic Pay Scam impoverishes Workers 

According to RootsAction.org, only three states (Washington, California, and Massachusetts—plus Washington DC) have minimum wages of $15 or more. "The federal minimum wage—which is all that many states have, and to which some other states' minimum wages are tied—has now gone the longest period of time without correction since it was created in 1938, and is worth less than it has been since 1956.  

"The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would be $12.12 if the law had built-in adjustment for inflation in 1968. If the federal minimum wage had kept pace with productivity, it would now be over $26 per hour. If it had been tied to a percentage of a maximum wage and increased in line with the increase in top incomes, it would be way higher than $26." 

Depressed? Here's a Dose of Randy Rainbow 

 

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available.

You can view it absolutely free of charge by clicking here . You can print it out to give to your friends.

Grace Underpressure has been producing it for many years now, even before the Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time without being paid, and now we'd like you to show your appreciation by using the button below to send her money.

This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! 

Worth Noting:

Check the City website for late announcements and meetings posted on short notice at: https://berkeleyca.gov/



Directions with links to ZOOM support for activating Closed Captioning and Save Transcript are at the bottom of this calendar.

• Monday: At 9:30 am CCCC is getting an update on Civic Center Vision progress prior to the meeting for the commissions’ super subcommittee. The City/UC/Student Committee aka 4 x 6 meets at 1 pm on Southside streets, lighting, blue phones. The Peace and Justice Commission and Personnel Board meet at 7 pm. The Peace and Justice Commission usually activates closed captioning and save live transcription.
• Tuesday: No city meetings listed. President Biden’s State of the Union is at 6 pm.
• Wednesday: The Police Accountability Board (PAB) meets at 6:30 pm. The PAB is recorded and has CC and save transcript. The Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission meets at 7 pm. Parks Commission is never recorded and staff have declined to turn on closed captioning when requested.
• Thursday: The Budget & Finance Committee meets at 10 am. This meeting has audio recording, closed captioning and save live transcription. The Civic Center Visioning commissions’ super subcommittee meets at 11:30 am. Recording and closed captioning status is unknown. The community meeting on the Special Care Unit is at 6 pm. Recording and closed captioning status is unknown. The Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) meets at 7 pm with one project listed under action. ZAB is recorded and has closed captioning and save transcript.
• Saturday: The Berkeley Neighborhoods Council (BNC) meets at 10 am. These meetings are recorded and posted on the BNC website.

City Council February 14 regular meeting agenda is available for review and comment. Use the link and then choose the Html option or see the agenda listed at the end of the calendar.

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



Survey: Bay Ferry 2050 Public Survey https://www.bayferry2050.org/survey



BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND SPECIAL EVENTS



Sunday, February 5, 2023 – No city meetings listed 

 

Monday, February 6, 2023 

 

COMMUNITY FOR A CULTURAL CIVIC CENTER (CCCC) from 9:30 – 10:30 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89514619642?pwd=S2UvdWpmZWY5UFV1NDBiZndoY0JaZz09 

Teleconference: not provided 

AGENDA: Civic Center Vision Plan Update 

https://berkeleycccc.org/ 

 

CITY / UC / STUDENT RELATIONS COMMITTEE at 1 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84528225869 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 845 2822 5869 

AGENDA: 4. Southside Complete Streets update, 5. Community safety, including street lighting and blue light emergency phones, 6. LRDP (Long Range Development Plan) priorities discussion. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/cityucstudent-relations-committee 

 

PEACE AND JUSTICE COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82123739711 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 821 2373 9711 

AGENDA: 5. Commission & Cahir updates, 6. Secretary’s report, 7. Election chair, vice-chair, 8. Discuss and pass resolution of support for dis-credit bad checks, 9. Japanese Day of Remembrance, 10. Shellmound issues and Land Acknowledgement, 11. Update on Reproductive Services and Education Access Survey, 12. Update on BUSD Ethnic Studies, 13. Seating needed for Berkeley Offices. 

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

 

PERSONNEL BOARD at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85488360271?pwd=SUk3L0JqalFuaUdjSW0zaWxiRCsyUT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 854 8836 0271 Passcode: 172741 

AGENDA: V. Election chair, vice-chair, VI. Recommendation to increase salary range for unrepresented camp staff classifications in unit x1, VII. Recommendation to revise the Assistant Aquatics Coordinator Classification. 

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

 

Tuesday, February 7, 2023 - President Biden, State of the Union at 6 pm 

 

Wednesday, February 8, 2023 

 

PARKS, RECREATION and WATERFRONT COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89698730836 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 896 9873 0836 

AGENDA: 6. Chair report, 7. Election chair, vice-chair, 8. Director Ferris report, 9. Presentation: Animal care issues at city parks, 11. Return to in-person meetings, 12. Create a subcommittee on dog parks. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/parks-recreation-and-waterfront-commission 

 

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD at 6:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82653396072 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 826 5359 6072 

AGENDA: 3. Public comment on agenda and non-agenda items, 5. ODPA staff reports, 6. Chair and Board member reports, 7. Police Chief report, 8. Subcommittee reports on Policy and Practices related to Downtown Task Force and Bike Unit, 9. a. Update PAB retreat and training, b. Review of Drone Policy, c. Notice of Policy Complaint, 10. Public comment, 11. CLOSED Session. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/police-accountability-board 

 

Thursday, February 9, 2023 

 

BUDGET & FINANCE Committee at 10 am  

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1619021675 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 161 902 1675 

AGENDA: 2. Election Chair, 3. Presentation on State of CA Encampment Resolution Funding Program and grant submittal including local match $5,000,000 Measure P revenue, 4. Update Measure P, 5.a. Sugar Sweetened Beverage Panel of Experts – Allocating $3,000,000 of funds, b. City Manager – Allocating $2,000,000 of funds. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-budget-finance 

 

CIVIC CENTER VISION Meeting from 11:30 am – 12:30 am 

Super Subcommittee Meeting of Commissions - Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), Civic Arts Commission, Transportation and Infrastructure Commission and Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89543804476?pwd=THV0TitYdVFSUFVxYzZxQWZBSEJudz09 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171 or 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 895 4380 4476 Passcode: 528648 

AGENDA: Presentation on Civic Center Park, Maudelle Shirik and Veterans Building, Comments from subcommittee members, public comment (1 minute per speaker) 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/our-work/capital-projects/civic-center-vision-plan-project 

Invite - https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/civic-center-vision-meeting-0 

 

SPECIALIZED CARE UNIT (SCU) COMMUNITY DIALOGUE from 6 pm – 7:30 pm 

Videoconference: http://bit.ly/3D1Ro5o 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 Meeting ID: 160 934 4145 Passcode: 593500 

AGENDA: Program background, next steps, Q&A, the SCU is a 24/7 non-police mental health and substance use crisis response team, implemented in partnership with Bonita House. 

Questions email HHCS@cityofberkeley.info 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/specialized-care-unit-community-dialogue 

 

ZONING ADJUSTMENTS BOARD at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82313096535 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 or 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 823 1309 6535 

AGENDA: 3. 2506 Haste Street – on consent – #ZP2022-0074 - add a cannabis consumption lounge and amplified live music to an existing cannabis retail storefront. 

4. 1341 Addison – on consent – #ZP2022-0089 - construct addition for new dwelling unit convert single-family dwelling to a 2-story (23 feet) 3500 sq ft duplex with 6 bedrooms total and 2 off-street parking spaces. 

5. 0 (919) Camelia – on action – staff recommend approve - #ZP2022-0020 – to construct a 6,989 sq ft 3-story (39 ft), 3-unit live/work building and 3 parking spaces on 3510 sq ft vacant lot. 

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

 

Friday, February 10, 2023 – Reduced City Services Day, no city meetings listed 

 

Saturday, February 11, 2023 

 

Berkeley Neighborhoods Council at 10 am 

Videoconference:  

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4223188307?pwd=dFlNMVlVZ2d6b0FnSHh3ZlFwV2NMdz09 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 8422 318 8307 Passcode: 521161 

AGENDA: not posted, check later in the week 

https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/ 

 

Sunday, February 12, 2023 - No city meetings listed 

Monday, February 13, 2023 – City offices closed, Lincoln’s birthday 

 

++++++++++++++++ 

 

CITY COUNCIL Meeting at 6 pm 

February 14, 2023  

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1231 Addison, School District Board Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1617057994 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 161 705 7994 

 

AGENDA on CONSENT:  

1. 2nd reading – Parking/Towing Fines & Fees Reform
2. Finance – Formal bid solicitations $2,124,000 ($75,000 Consultant Mental Health Medi-Cal Billing and CalAIM transition, $150,000 Target Case Management Consultant, $399,000 Bus transportation for summer camps, $1,500,000 Just Transition Pilot Program)
3. Sprague – Contract 47QTCA20D004Y for $200,000 3/1/2023 – 1/22/2025 not to exceed $300,000 in total with one 2 yr extension to 1/22/2027 with Public Consulting group for Professional Services related to ground emergency transport (GEMT), QAF, IGT, PP-GEMT
4. Sprague – Contract $700,000 5/1/2023 – 4/30/2025 with Forster & Kroeger Landscape Maintenance for chipping services
5. Warhuus – Revenue contract $293,705 2023 Community Services Block Grant 1/1/2023 – 5/31/2024
6. Warhuus – Contract add $228,850 from Measure P total $348,850 with Dorothy Day House for the inclement weather shelter program and amend contract 31900284 add $190,260 to operate inclement weather shelter for up to 127 nights from 12/3/2022 – 4/15/2023 for a total amount not to exceed $4,211,173
7. Warhuus – Contract $107,890 with Resources for Community Development (RCD) for MLK Jr House – Mental Health Services Act Operating Support to monitor 12-room, transition Single-Room Occupancy housing development
8. Mills Act Contract – 2523 Piedmont
9. Mills Act Contract – 2119 Marin
10. Garland – Authorize funding agreement $648,000 with AC Transit to supplement quick-build Durant Transit Lane Project
11. Arreguin – Berkeley Rotary Endowment
12. Robinson – Refer $250,000 to FY 2023 budget process for Southside Impact Nexus Study

AGENDA on ACTION 

13. a. Klein – Citywide Affordable Housing Requirements (clean-up of January 17 rereading ordinance with corrections),

b. Harrison – Apply standard $45 per square foot fee on projects between 3000 and 12,000 residential square feet, exempt smaller projects of 3000 square feet or less (equivalent to 4 to 5 units) and expediate a new in lieu fee study. 

INFORMATION REPORTS 

14. City Manager – Referral Response: Home Share Program
15. LPO NOD 1767-1771 Alcatraz appeal expires February 14, 2023

 

+++++++++++++++++++ 

 

LAND USE CALENDAR: 

 

Public Hearings 

1262 Francisco (add 40 sq ft and 2nd story balcony) 2/28/2023 

Remanded to ZAB or LPC 

1205 Peralta – Conversion of an existing garage 

 

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS: 

 

February 21 - Local Pandemic/Endemic Update Report, Housing Preference Policy 

February 28 – Zero Waste 5-Year Rate Schedule at 4 pm 

March 7 - Berkeley Marina Area Specific Plan 

March 14 – Annual Crime Report at 4 pm 

March 21 - Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program at 4 pm, Civic Center Vision Project at 4 pm 

April 18 – Hopkins Corridor Plan 

May 16 - Fire Facilities Study Report 5/16/2023 

 

Unscheduled Presentations: 

Climate Action Plan and Resilience Update – regular agenda March 14 

City Policies for Managing Parking Around BART Stations – check with Garland 

 

+++++++++++++ 

 

Kelly Hammargren’s summary on what happened the preceding week can be found in the Berkeley Daily Planet under Activist’s Diary at: www.berkeleydailyplanet.com. 

 

This meeting list is also posted at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html 

If you would like to receive the Activist’s Calendar as soon as it is completed send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. 

If you wish to stop receiving the weekly calendar of city meetings please forward the email you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com with the request to be removed from the email list. 

________ 

 

CLOSED CAPTIONING, SAVE TRANSCRIPT OVERVIEW, DIRECTIONS AND ZOOM SUPPORT LINKS: 

 

ZOOM has as part of the program - (no extra cost) closed captioning. It is computer voice recognition. Accuracy of the closed captioning is affected by background noise, the volume and clarity of the speaker, lexicons/wordbook and dialect of the speaker. The transcript will not be perfect, but most of the time reading through it the few words that don't fit, can be deciphered, like Shattuck was transcribed as Shadow in one recent transcript. 

 

For the attendee the full transcript is only available from the time it is activated. If closed captioning is activated and you sit through a meeting and then remember 10 minutes before it is over to click on CC then go to the arrow/carrot for the menu and click on show full transcript you will only get the last 10 minutes, not the full transcript 

 

When you click on show full transcript it will allow you to scroll up and down, so if want to go back and see what was said earlier you can do that during the meeting while the transcript is running. 

 

At the bottom of the transcript when we as attendees are allowed to save there will be a button, "save transcript," you can click on the button repeatedly throughout the meeting and it will just overwrite with the updated full transcript. clicking on the save transcript repeatedly as the meeting is coming to an end is important because once the host ends the meeting, the transcript is gone if you didn't save it. 

 

After you click on "save transcript," click on "show in finder." It will show up in a separate box as a text file. (these text files are not large.) After you have done your last save transcript and show in finder, after the meeting is over you can rename it and save it.  

 

A meeting does not have to be recorded to allow closed captioning and allow save transcript. Saving the transcript saves it to our own computers. Closed Captioning is completely separate from recording a meeting, therefore recording a meeting does not activate closed captioning. The meeting host can activate closed captioning and block attendees from saving the transcript. When this is done there will be no “save transcript” button. Allowing attendees to save the transcript does not require the meeting host to save the transcript. 

 

Here is the link to ZOOM support in how to set up closed captioning for a meeting or webinar:  

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/8158738379917#h_01GHWATNVPW5FR304S2SVGXN2X 

 

Here is the link to ZOOM support for attendees in how to save closed captions: 

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360060958752-Using-save-captions#h_01F5XW3BGWJAKJFWCHPPZGBD70