The plus of not finishing my Activist’s Diary for the week by Monday as planned is the March 14, 2023 Tuesday Council meeting is over and the 10:49 pm vote on public comment is in.

The Tuesday evening March 14, 2023 City Council meeting was a good example of how we got to dueling sides and public frustration with the way council meetings are run. And even that takes a little background.

Former Councilmember Droste, in a parting gesture on December 5, 2022, sent an item, “Reforms to Public Comment Procedures at Meetings of the Berkeley City Council”, to be considered by the full council. I first wrote about this in the January 8 Berkeley Daily Planet Activist’s Diary. On January 4, 2023, the Agenda Committee moved Droste’s item to “unscheduled”, where it sat until February 14, when the three Agenda Committee members, Mayor Arreguin and Councilmembers Hahn and Wengraf, voted to place it with a negative recommendation as the last action item for the February 28 City Council meeting.

The Droste proposal to limit public comment at City Council meetings was nearly dead on arrival until Councilmembers Rigel Robinson as the author and Susan Wengraf as the co-sponsor stepped in to revive it. They submitted a “supplemental” with modified language to change the proposed procedure from allowing public attendees to make one comment on the entire council agenda to letting them comment twice: once on the consent calendar before it’s addressed by councilmembers and once on all of the agenda items on the action calendar just before it was taken up, before hearing any presentations, staff reports or council discussion. The three exceptions to this schedule were hearings, appeals and quasi-judicial proceedings (court like). 

Per the Agenda Committee transcript from the February 14 meeting, Wengraf had nothing to say at that time about the Droste public comment item, and voted with the others for the negative recommendation and for placing it last on the February 28 agenda. 

On February 28, people who wanted to speak about the proposed change waited until 9:49 pm, only to be told that the item would be rescheduled to March 14. This was at a meeting that was supposed to start at 6 pm, but didn’t start until 6:27 pm, because a 4 pm meeting ran over. Arreguin informed attendees, some who had been waiting nearly four hours, that on March 14 the Robinson / Wengraf alternative to the Droste proposal would be the first item on the action calendar instead of the last. 

When March 14 rolled around, Mayor Arreguin had scheduled a 4 pm special council meeting on the police department’s annual crime report. It ran over, so the regular meeting that was supposed to start at 6 pm didn’t start until 7 pm. 

The regular council meeting began at 7 pm with ceremonial matters, recognition of the Cazadero Family Camp, KALX, adjournments in memory and ten one-minute speakers on non-agenda items, all of this concluding at 7:40 pm. This was followed with the consent calendar (the agenda items that would be approved if no one said anything). Finally, at 8:13 pm the item everyone was waiting for, Item 20, with new rules for public comment, was up, beginning with Arreguin recognizing Robinson to give his presentation offering two options. 

Though Robinson had said on February 28 that he was going to suggest changes to his first submitted “Supplemental” to the Droste measure, “Supplemental 2” was not posted until sometime on Monday, March 13. Supplemental 2 offered a couple of alternatives: public comment at the beginning of the action agenda or public comment at the start of each action item. 

What is important in regards to both of the Robinson / Wengraf alternatives is that all public comment (whether once or before each action item) would be heard and closed before presentations from staff, before the mayor and council engaged in any discussion, and often before supplementals / alternative proposals were known to exist.  

In the forty-six minutes (8:13 pm – 8:59 pm) between Arreguin’s introducing Item 20 and the time public comment opened, we heard Arreguin, Bartlett, Harrison and Hahn speak eloquently about the importance of hearing public comments after initial council discussion takes place and presentations are given so that comment is appropriate to the issues/actions being considered. 

The other five councilmembers (Kesarwani, Taplin, Robinson, Wengraf and Humbert) spoke supporting the Robinson / Wengraf alternatives. They insisted there was no infringement on democracy since residents had plenty of opportunity to comment through phone calls and letters. They argued that changing public comment would advantage more people. Of course in this case any of those letters or calls that arrived before Monday, March 13 would not reflect that there was a second alternative to consider. 

Had the five been concerned about connecting public comment to the issues/action at hand, the document from Robinson / Wengraf would not have specifically stated: 

“Public comment will occur for each Action item—excluding public hearings, appeals, and/or quasi-judicial matters—in separate but consecutive public comment periods before the Action Calendar is discussed by Council and staff.” [emphasis added] 

By 8:58 pm Kesarwani had already moved to accept the Robinson / Wengraf Alternative 2 with Taplin, Robinson, Wengraf and Humbert in support. 

There were about fifty attendees in the BUSD Boardroom (I was in the board room). We could not see how many were attending on zoom. College student organizations spoke about the inconvenience of having to wait for agenda items to come up for discussion. People who regularly attend council meetings spoke about the importance of commenting after an action item is taken up and discussed. 

After public comment, there was more discussion suggesting that the measure should have been sent originally to the Open Government Commission as well as to the Agenda Committee. The substitute motion was modified to accepting Alternative 2 with the insertion of “and as the item is taken up”. Kesarwani withdrew her motion and the Council voted unanimously for the Hahn-Arreguin modified Alternative 2, with a referral to the Open Government Commission and the Agenda Committee to consider other suggestions from the public for managing council meetings. 

I’m not sure it is enough, but we shall see. 

The North Berkeley BART Housing Site Walk took off as planned on Sunday, March 5. We were split up into four groups. According to Tony Corman of North Berkeley Neighborhood Alliance who followed up with attendees, each group received a slightly different version, part of which depended on what questions people were asking. In the group I joined we learned that the slope of the parking lot from west to east is significant, the parking lot will be in the southwest corner in the complex at Delaware and Acton, and the Berkeley Fire Department ladder truck reaches only seven stories. 

The market rate housing and affordable housing will be separated, with affordable housing on Sacramento on the east side of the access drive (drop-off) through the site. There will be one affordable Bridge Housing building on Virginia on the west side of the access drive, separated from the market rate housing by the BART Station. The height range is six to eight stories with four story edges on Delaware, Acton and Virginia. The bike lanes will be widened to 6 feet in each direction (usual width 4 feet). 

The mix of units for affordable housing will be one-fourth two bedroom and one-fourth three bedroom. The market rate units will be studios, one and two bedrooms. There will be 438 parking spaces, with just 120 spaces for the public. 

You can follow the development and sign up for notices at North Berkeley Housing Partners. https://www.northberkeleyhousingpartners.com/design If you wish more visualization as to what six, seven and eight stories looks like, the Stonefire building at the corner of Milvia and University is eight stories at the highest section 

It wasn’t planned this way, but the topic for the Monday, March 6 evening webinar sponsored by Standing Up for Point Molate and the Sierra Club couldn’t have been more timely. Just two days after the United Nations Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction reached agreement on the “High Seas Treaty” Michael Stocker, Director, Ocean Conservation Research, was speaking on “The Impacts of Human-Generated Sound on Marine Life.” 

The evening presentation was absolutely fascinating. I loved the recordings of animal communication especially after reading Ed Yong’s An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal Hidden Realms Around Us. Stocker played for us the sounds from whales and fish chirping to human generated noise pollution. You can listen at https://ocr.org/sound-library/. 

There is one more thing to think about in preserving Marine Biodiversity, and that is posed in this article “Pescetarians are responsible for many more animal deaths than regular meat eaters.” https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23639475/pescetarian-eating-fish-ethics-vegetarian-animal-welfare-seafood-fishing-chicken-beef-climate. 

The treaty to protect biodiversity is something Berkeley could learn about. Scott Ferris, Director Parks, Recreation and Waterfront told me Wednesday evening the Parks Department would not be planting any more gingko trees. That is nice, but it is a little late now that I see little new gingko tree plantings as street trees all over the flats in the formerly redlined neighborhoods. As I have written many times before, gingko trees may be pretty with their fall colors, but when it comes to supporting nature they might as well be plastic as there is nothing these trees do to support our ecosystems. Even crows who eat almost anything can’t find a speck of food on a gingko tree. 

The anticipated March 7 City Council special meeting on the Berkeley Marina Area Specific Plan (BMASP) never made it off the list of planned special meetings from the Agenda Committee to the City Calendar. Why it was cancelled and rescheduled for March 20 at 6 pm is anybody’s guess. Mayor Arreguin is mum on the topic. 

The initial plan coming from consultants Hargreaves Jones, hired by the City for $1,048,956, (contract # 32000183) created such a firestorm that Martin Nicolaus turned the essays, flyers, letters and public comments by marina park users into the book Love Letters to the Park: Public Response to the Berkeley Marina Area Specific Plan (BMASP) April – July 2022. You can read it at https://chavezpark.org/new-book-love-letters-to-the-park/ and if you wish buy a copy to keep. 

The Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission (PRW) has a new chair, Claudia Kawczynska and the in-person meeting this last Wednesday was quite interesting. 

The real change is the tone, starting with Kawczynska recording the meeting. The public and commissioners asked repeatedly during the preceding year when meetings were on zoom to allow closed captioning and recording. Scott Ferris and Roger Miller, staff secretary for Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission, always declined. According to the Brown Act anyone is allowed to record public meetings. including video recording. 

Wednesday evening attendees were given the option of speaking on non-agenda and agenda items at the beginning of the meeting or choosing to wait on agenda items until they came up for discussion. I waited, of course, but the rest of the attendees chose to speak and left before the end of the meeting. 

There were two speakers about areas for dogs, one on the Berkeley Way mini-park and one asking for mowing in the Cesar Chavez off-leash area. The biggest discussions evolved from Jim McGrath speaking on the Brown Act, asking why what is being planned for the Marina is not public and the impossible task of obtaining records through the Public Records Act. Toni Mester spoke to missing records from the city website on Aquatic Park and was joined by another speaker on the die-off of spotted sharks and fish at Aquatic Park. 

What was so different was that the two new commissioners, Allan Abshez and Reichi Lee, listened intently and asked many clarifying questions including directing questions to Ferris and Miller. 

With two attorneys as commissioners, the attempt to pass off withholding the Berkeley Marina Area Specific Plan (BMASP) informgation from the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission (PRW) as a Brown Act requirement landed like a lead balloon and caused some quick Ferris and Miller back peddling to say it was the practice to wait until council had seen it. 

That evolved into what the purpose of the PRW Commission is, if it is not advisory to the Council. Ferris said that the commissioners could respond to the BMASP as individuals. 

Individual response does not have the same impact nor the in-depth review that comes from full commission consideration. 

Nothing unexpected happened in the rest of the meeting. The PRW capital budget cannot cover all the planned projects with increasing construction costs. Nothing was decided. 

Nothing exciting or unexpected happened at the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB). The appeal of the fence at 870 Santa Barbara was denied. Legalizing some ADUs, an unpermitted addition to an eight-unit apartment building on Benvenue, and a winery with a tasting room on Gilman passed on consent. The ZAB continues to approve adding density in the Hillside Overlay, the high fire hazard zone with the Hayward Fault running through it and hillside slide zones. The new construction of a single-family home and garage on Cragmont in the Hillside Overlay passed on consent. 

If you think that giant chasms opening in the ground are just biblical stories and stuff of fiction, then please watch the PBS Newshour segment on Turkey from February 16, 2023. What once was a flat olive grove is now a chasm deep enough to hold a 13 story building and in some places as wide as football field https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/turkeys-president-faces-scrutiny-after-earthquake-for-construction-standards 

The Budget Committee approved sending the Public Bank East Bay to full council for a vote. The public bank is for city/local governments, not for you and me as individuals. The report on unfunded liabilities and recommendations will go to council after the spring recess. 

Now that few meetings offer zoom, I can’t cover as much as I used to. This week after three meetings on Monday, I skipped the Peace and Justice Commission and the Personnel Board. I stayed up late reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickled and Dimed instead of getting up early for tree planting at John Hinkel Park (there are more trees to be planted). I could not cover the in-person Police Accountability Board (PAB) and the Parks Commission, so I missed the PAB. It was supposed to be recorded, but I have not seen or found the recording.

Anyone concerned about the attempt by several Berkeley Councilmembers to limit public comment at council meetings on agenda action items to one minute per citizen at the beginning of the action agenda should attend Tuesday's meetings in person or by zoom. See how to do it from The Berkeley Activist's Calendar in this issue. Several readers have sent me a copy of a YIMBY (Yes in Your Back Yard) astroturf call to action, so that point of view will probably be in evidence. If you're not on the same page, be there or be square. It's Item 20.

Look how far we’ve come in thirty years. In 1993 the movie that won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture was a fictional story that brought joy and laughter about a father dressing up as a female housekeeper to be close to his children. Twentieth Century Fox Blue Wolf Productions gave us that 1993 movie Mrs. Doubtfire with Robin Williams dressing as a female housekeeper.

2023 gives us state legislative bodies set to outlaw drag shows, female impersonators, men dressing as women and women dressing as men. Lawsuits, fines and prison are the vision of Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia. Tennessee banned “[M]ale or female impersonators who provide entertainment for a prurient interest…” Florida has the anti-gay bill and Missouri bans women lawmakers from showing bare arms. As a female the right to control my own body hangs by a thread even in states that enshrined access to abortion. Are they coming for my jeans next?

Looking back over the last week what stands out are “branding,” limiting public participation in city council meetings, the Bird Safe Ordinance crossing a major hurdle and a re-do of University Avenue on the table. The cost of picking up garbage will go up for most of us, Berkeley is divided on living with COVID-19, owner move-in evictions into one unit or a single-family house will be allowed and COVID-19 commercial eviction protections are over. Berkeley’s COVID-19 emergency ends March 31, 2023, the international and national investors got their in-lieu mitigation fee pushed back to the 2020 rate and a sliding scale discount for buildings with less than 10,000 square feet of living space (as only in the units, not the hallways, mailrooms, etc.)

Mayor Arreguin and councilmembers Hahn and Wengraf sit on the Agenda Committee. These are the three who decide the order of the regular council meeting agenda, what should be scheduled as a special meeting, what should be referred to a committee, and what should be rescheduled to a future meeting. Mark Numainville, City Clerk, gives the rules of what can’t be postponed, and Dee Williams-Ridley, City Manager chimes in with changes and for which agenda items she requests a delay in order to write an opposition, known as a companion report.

Arreguin holds the committee power, which is how the hottest agenda item of the February 28 City Council meeting, limiting public meeting participation, “Reforms to Public Comment Procedures at meetings of the Berkeley City Council”, was scheduled as the very last item of that night, and how a presentation, “The City of Berkeley, Employer of Choice Initiative” from Dee Williams-Ridley, City Manager, stayed on the action agenda in the middle of the evening instead of being scheduled as a special meeting. 

It took Arreguin over three hours into the February 28 City Council meeting, and after that use of one hour and twenty-minute of “Employer of Choice Initiative” time, to concede that he needed to re-schedule the proposed changes to public comment to become the first action item on March 14. 

The public was not allowed to speak on the re-scheduled item, but Councilmember Robinson said that he had changes he was going to suggest to his supplemental, the published alternative to former Councilmember Droste’s original proposal, put forward before she left the Council. That proposal suggested researching limiting the number of people who could speak and allowing just one comment period at the beginning of the meeting to cover the whole action agenda, every item on it. 

Robinson’s mention that he was going to suggest changes is exactly why the public pushed so hard for the current procedure, where council begins discussion on an action item and makes suggestions for changes/modifications before opening for public comment. Whatever changes Robinson has in mind are still not published, but now the March 14 agenda item-20, on “reforms” to public comment, is a merged single document with redlines combining the Droste and Robinson separate items into one. 

Whether Arreguin knew in advance or it “just happened” that the Employer of Choice Initiative would turn into a lengthy presentation and discussion, it certainly looked like a maneuver to soften the resistance to limiting public comment on agenda action items into one all-inclusive statement. 

“The City of Berkeley, Employer of Choice Initiative” is an interesting story. Williams-Ridley has decided that the way to solve the “great resignation,” the ongoing difficulty of filling vacant City of Berkeley positions is to is to drop $450,000 into the pockets of the consulting firm Municipal Resource Group (MRG) for “branding” and “social media” In order to figure out how to attract desirable employees. 

This started as a contract for $87,675 with Municipal Resource Group (MRG) on September 13, 2022, with the assignment of assessing the impact of the “Great Resignation” on Berkeley to make recommendations to improve employee recruitment and retention. 

On December 13, 2022, at the regular council meeting before the agenda for the evening began, Williams-Ridley, City Manager gave a 24-minute presentation on “Workforce Analysis – A Hiring Crisis Amidst The ‘Great Resignation.’” No discussion of the presentation was allowed. Arreguin cut off Hahn before she said a word, directing her to contact the city manager for any questions, and asked that the presentation be forwarded to council. The December presentation ended with Williams-Ridley’s promise to return in January with a full report. The “Employer of Choice Roadmap” last Tuesday produced by MRG was apparently the missing “full report”, and that is not all that is missing. 

In the “Roadmap”, the Power-Point slide on employee retention, listed under “What employees are seeking” is “capable and caring supervisors and managers.” As for caring managers with Williams-Ridley at the top, I remember the heated comments from city employees advocating for the city administration to pick up the city’s share as negotiated of the PEPRA contributions (California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act effective January 2013). One employee stated that word gets around, that the ongoing failure to implement the negotiated PEPRA contributions and ensure employees receive the correct pay would affect hiring. 

Some employees were never made whole. This doesn’t settle well when the city manager, the person who was doing the foot dragging for months on implementing the agreement between the city and the unions, got her November 2021 $84,732 raise. Employees who earn far less are just asking to be paid fairly. 

In the battle to pass the Fair Work Week Ordinance, providing protections to workers earning less than twice the minimum wage (under $70,684.40 per year), Williams-Ridley and La Tanya Bellow, Deputy City Manage, with their generous salaries of $386,160 (Williams-Ridley) and $310,150 (Bellow) fought the ordinance that would provide protection to the City of Berkeley’s lowest paid workers. https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2022-11-06/article/50047?headline=A-Berkeley-Activist-s-Diary-Week-Ending-November-6-2022--Kelly-Hammargren 

If vacant positions according to the Employer of Choice Initiative are creating a hiring crisis, impacting community service and job satisfaction, then doesn’t such a condition deserve more engagement from city council and the public than dropping $450,000 on a consulting firm for “branding” and “social media” with a slide-deck presentation in the middle of a heavy city council agenda? 

And just how is it that Berkeley has strayed so far from its history that a “branding” marketing plan is needed to attract employees? 

Berkeley, which once was noted for the Free Speech Movement, is now looking at how to limit public participation to just what it can get away with under the Brown Act. Berkeley, which was once a hub of diversity, has dwindled to only possibly 7% Black. Berkeley, which once was a hub for the arts, is rapidly pushing the arts out of West Berkeley. 

Berkeley which used to be a center for film, a city where people traveled from all over the Bay Area to see documentary and foreign films, has only the Elmwood and BAMPFA left. Demolishing the Shattuck Cinemas, the California and the Regal UA means a loss of twenty film screens in total. The mixed-use apartment buildings taking their place are going up just as pandemic restrictions fade. 

The view of the “Golden Gate” will be gone too. Soon the sunset view from the Campanile will be the 25-story mixed use building at Allston and Shattuck. The view of the Campanile from the pedestrian/bicycle bridge over 80/580 will be instead a view of 600 Addison a new biotech complex next to Aquatic Park. 

My favorite Berkeley spot that is still left, Monterey Market and the little strip of businesses along Hopkins, are the target of the bicyclists and City Transportation Manager Farid Javendel. Councilmember Hahn was all in with turning the street over to bicycles until she was hit with the blowback from the neighbors and the broader community.  

The Planning Commission met Wednesday, March 1, 2023, in-person for the first time since March 2020 before a room filled with supporters of the Audubon-recommended Bird Safe Ordinance. Not one meeting attendee spoke in support of the city staff’s Bird Safe Ordinance Proposal, presented by Justin Horner, City of Berkeley Associate Planner. The Sierra Club Conservation Committee rejected the staff proposal on Monday February 27 in favor of the Audubon Society’s alternative ordinance and the Planning Commission followed on Wednesday with a few strengthening tweaks.  

The RoadMap slide of “Strengths” of Berkeley listed, “A reputation for being forward thinking, creative & entrepreneurial”, and yet the ineffective proposed Bird Safe Ordinance based on out-of-date known to be erroneous concepts came out of the bowels of city administration. 

It was not the city staff that produced the Bird Safe Ordinance based on science that passed unanimously by the Planning Commission on Wednesday. The Bird Safe Ordinance based on science came from the work of Glenn Philips, Director, Golden Gate Audubon Society with the two subcommittee members Alfred Twu and Christina Oatfield. It was the public who stood to speak on the research demonstrating the importance of bird safe glass, the impact of glass and reflective surfaces on the bird population, the decline of the bird population and how the research is done by the American Bird Conservancy to classify the effectiveness of different treatments. 

Around 1 billion birds die each year in the U. S. due to collisions with windows/glass/transparent barriers. 

Philips from Audubon spoke to the hazards created by the built environment. Any glass that is larger than 4” in any direction is a hazard for birds. Birds see the reflection of the sky and trees. When transparent materials are used as freestanding glass walls, barriers, balconies, rooftop appurtenances, and other like situations the glass is invisible to the bird as it tries to fly through and crashes instead.  

The most famous bird deaths in Berkeley are the peregrine falcons which nest on top of the Campanile. Lux, one of those falcon babies, died from a collision with glass in an enclosed balcony on the UC Berkeley campus. I suspect the death of the falcon father, Grinnell, started with a glass collision before his falling toward the ground and being hit by a car in downtown Berkeley. 

The new Planning Commission chair responded to on my letter where I described a bird hitting a window at my house and dying in my yard. In the letter I dispelled the myth that window treatments on the inside like levelers or curtains prevent bird deaths. There were levelers inside my house where the collision occurred. I invited the commissioners to help install the bird safe film on my windows on Sunday around noon (rain cancels). 

When the public sat down and the commissioners began the discussion, the first words from Commissioner Oatfield were that the city staff presentation wasn’t what the subcommittee recommended. Alfred Twu spoke numerous times in support of the Audubon Bird Safe Ordinance dispelling misconceptions and answering questions. 

Constructing bird safe buildings is something we can fix. 

The Bird Safe Ordinance passed by the Planning Commission included a phase-in for buildings that are 50% or greater affordable units until 2025 and replacement windows until 2028. While bird safe glass with permanent glazing or etching for the birds to see is the best solution, we can make our windows bird safe with exterior screens or bird safe film though those solutions will require replacement during the life of the building. I learned at the North Berkeley Housing BART site tour on Sunday, developer Bridge Housing has a project with bird safe glass. 

Though in the end the ordinance passed unanimously and all of us on the bird safety side are very pleased, it was concerning during the discussion how a couple of commissioners sat waiting to be spoon fed by city staff, especially when that spoon feeding, if had been accepted, would have denied the science. In this case the scientists were in the audience and they had their turn to speak. The experts were called on. 

It is too often that city council members dismiss the research and study from the public and look instead to the city staff reports that are designed to support a particular agenda. It is this situation that contradicts the supposed strength of Berkeley as forward-thinking and makes the proposal to limit public comment even more worrisome. 

If you are wondering why it took from November 12, 2019 to March 1, 2023 to get the Bird Safe Ordinance through the Planning Commission, the city manager’s footprints are all over this, according to an earlier reveal from the city staff at a public meeting. 

Monday evening the council extended the COVID-19 Emergency Response for 60 days; this is about extending the housing eviction moratorium for 60 days after the COVID-19 Emergency ends. 

Tuesday the council started at 4 pm with the presentation and discussion for two hours on the zero waste rates, basically the cost of picking up our garbage. No votes were taken, but the bottom line is that the rate for all the smaller containers are going up and that includes the 32-gallon size container which 56% of the city residences use. There won’t be any change for the large 96-gallon container, and the 64-gallon container won’t change for several years, but then those rates are already more than double and triple the fee for the 32-gallon containers. Long term residents/homeowners pay the waste fee on their property tax twice a year; more recent residents pay monthly. 

This is late and long already, University Avenue, COVID and my latest reading will have to go in the next edition.

In January 2023,, the House passed HR9, a resolution denouncing socialism. The resolution states, “Congress denounces socialism in all its forms, and opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the United States of America.” I bet many of the House members (or many in the public at large) who voted for HR9 could not explain what they mean by socialism. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) called it for what the resolution is: “This resolution is little about intelligent discourse and everything to do about laying the groundwork to cut Social Security and Medicare.” 

Too many Americans think socialism equals that old bogeyman called communism, attributing the "greatest crimes in history” to socialist “ideologies” like Vladimir Putin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Hugo Chávez, Nicolás Maduro, and Daniel Ortega. However, communism is primarily a political system whereas socialism is primarily an economic system that can exist in various forms under a wide range of political systems. 

Why does the word "socialism" cause fear and trembling to many Americans? To me it basically means a redistribution of wealth or publicly-funded programs that capitalism would not pay for. We already have many so-called socialistic programs in the U.S. such as our progressive tax system, social security, public housing, unemployment insurance, medicare, schools, libraries, etc. I like to think that many of these programs provide social safety nets for the have-nots in our society who otherwise would fall through the cracks when unregulated capitalism goes awry or in emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic. Looked at this way, socialism equals compassion for the less fortunate in our society. 

The U.S. has a mixed economy, exhibiting characteristics of both capitalism and socialism. Such a mixed economy embraces the free market when it comes to capital use, but it also allows for government intervention for the public good. 

The following quote from perhaps the most respected advocate of a free-market economy. Adam Smith, in "The Wealth of Nations" wrote, "It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.” 

What's to be afraid of?

Honorifics in Overdrive

If you access online petition drives, you're familiar with the screen request to select a "prefix." Most options are fairly simple and range from Mr. and Mrs. to Dr. and Prof. But the League of Conservation Voters has gone a bit beyond what's normal.

The LCV's prefix list contains 61 options. These include: Ambassador, Bishop, Brother, Captain, Chaplain, Colonel, Gov, Honorable, Imam, Judge, Maj Gen, Master, Miss, Rabbi, Rector, Rep, Rev, Senator, Sister, The Rt. Rev and The Very Reverent. With so many choices, it's hard to see how the LCV's list (which is widely used to contact political leaders) includes the option of "Congressman" but fails to offer the choice of "Congresswoman." 

Did That Car Just Bat Its Eyes at Me? 

I recently spotted a white vehicle parked outside Copy World on University. It was covered with a collection of enticing phrases: "BigSexxy" on the hood. "ThickGirl" on the side. "Local-10 LongShoreWoman" on the rear. But the most outstanding feature wasn't the lettering but the long metal eyelashes installed over the front headlamps! 

Turns out these flashy add-ons are commercially available and, if lashes aren't sexy enough, car owners can also purchase a variety of adhesive adornments resembling pursed lips that can be slapped in the middle of the front hood to complete the auto-erotic effect. 

Shooting Stars and Climate Change 

Climate change has brought many new and troubling signs—from unprecedented wildfires to historic floods and hurricanes. Could it be that our warming planet is now fated to see its night skies increasingly lit up by flaming meteorites? 

Since 2010, scientists noticed, the frequency of fireballs has been increasing each year "in exponential fashion." 

Meteorologists have noted that the appearance of fireballs-from-space are less frequent during the winter months of the Northern Hemisphere and rise during the summer months. This suggests a link with global warming. In the cold, winter months, the atmosphere would tend to consolidate lower and closer to the surface of the Earth. This would create a denser atmosphere that would serve as a buffer against plunging space rocks. Could it be that, as the atmosphere warms, it rises and become less dense. Were that the case, a thinner atmosphere might be more easily penetrated by incoming meteors. 

Trump Gold Bars? 

Yes, there is such a thing, according to the "Official Website" of the one-and-only Donald Trump Gold Bar! 

What better way to pledge allegiance to the fraud who promised to "bring back the golden age of America and make it great again" than by handing over a fistful of cash for "a gold bar that's worth more than its weight in gold!" And how much do these Trumpish trinkets cost? It varies. One website lists the price at a high $349.99 while another offers the same trophy for just $149.99. (There's even a video that offers to send out "gift" Trump Bars for free: you only have to pay for postage and shipping,) 

"Think of the perks you'll get by having this piece of Trump's legacy," gushes another "Official Website" while yet another "Official Website" chimes in with a promise that "the golden brilliance of this 24k gold plated bar will amazed [sic] anyone who receives it." 

 

"The Majority Report" offers further background on Trump's gold-plated, fund-raising ego-toy. 

 

And Speaking of the Menace of Mar-a-Lago 

Would you believe Donald Trump as a Man of Peace?? When the ever-truculent Trump haunted the White House, he made news (and sent alarmed jitters around the world) when he threatened to attack North Korea with a nuclear strike featuring "fire and fury like the world has never seen.” 

Now the Ochre Ogre wants to be known as a man of peace who opposes wars and criticizes the "National Security Industrialist Complex" and "warmongers"—in the Pentagon, in the arms industry, and in Congress—who profit off provocations. 

 

Public Comment on Public Comment 

An alert from the Hopkins/California neighborhood association challenging the "bikefication" of a stretch of commercial blocks running from Gilman to Hopkins, recently called for community action regarding the fate of a proposal (Reforms to Public Comment Procedures at meetings of the Berkeley City Council) that was on the Berkeley City Council's February 28 agenda but was postponed to the Council's March 14 meeting. 

The proposal, which critics fear would restrict public comments at Council meetings, is coming up for review at the Council's Tuesday meeting. The "SaveHopkins" website (SaveHopkins.org) invites folks to "read up about this awful measure, see the links to the agenda and the Zoom meeting, and plan to participate in any way you can (attending in person, attending by Zoom and maybe speaking, or writing a letter in opposition to Item 20.… We do not want this terrible policy to slip by us!" For a look at the contentious issue, check out the City Council Agenda and look for item 20, the first matter on the Action Calendar — Old Business. 

Names in the News 

Two names hopped off the printed page this week and became lodged in my brain. The first appeared in a front-page photo on the March 9 Chronicle that showed an East Bay adult and child cleaning up the flood damage at the Paradise Skate roller rink. The child's name was: Finan Tesamicael. 

The other memorable name popped off the first page of the California Driver's Handbook. It identified the Secretary of California's State Transportation Agency as one Toks Omishakin, whose surname, I imagined, might be pronounced: "O am I shakin'" (as in "Watch my dance moves on Tik Toks"). 

The Brady Body Count 

According to the Brady Pac (bradypac.org) and the Gun Violence Archive's Database, gun violence killed more than 6,278 people in the first two months of 2023. Some 263 of these victims were teenagers and children. Mass shootings totaled 64. "That's more shootings than days in this year so far,"the Brady bunch notes. 

Today, in the Divided States of Warmerica, we are now averaging 116 gun deaths per day. That means (assuming the situation doesn't get worse) the number of citizens gunned down by year's end could top 42,340. More than 58,000 American soldiers died in the US war on Vietnam—but that was over the course of 20 years. So, on an annual basis, a civilian living in the US today is nearly fifteen times more likely to be killed by gunfire that a US combat soldier serving in Vietnam. 

Tax Time is Coming: Time for a WarStrike? 

During the US war on Vietnam, I liked to pay my IRS tax with checks made out to the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). I wanted to signal that the Pentagon was a branch of the government that was not on my Fave List. The checks were routinelly claimed and cashed by the Treasury Department. 

I've generally tried to live a simple, not-too-profitable-not-too-taxable life but in 2011, I wound up owing taxes and paid with a check made out to the DHHS/US Treasury/IRS along with two messages scrawled across the check: "Healthcare Not Warfare" and "Human Needs Not Private Greed." 

Now I'm wondering if this simple act of protest could become part of a larger WarStrike action in which taxpayers are encouraged to write protest notes on their IRS checks. Taxpayers could also address these "WarStrike" checks to a favorite branch of the federal government—Health, Education, Environment—just not the Pentagon. 

I don't know if there are any risks for staging this kind of protest in 2023 but there were no repercussions in my earlier adventures. The Feds just seized my check and made off with the money. 

It can feel empowering to use the IRS to "send a message" to Washington that taxpayers favor government funding that addresses human needs—not foreign military bases, over-priced-and-under-performing fighter jets, and a hegemonic foreign policy of endless provocations, threats, and invasions. 

A Quick Click-list for Online Reformers 

Progressive Democrats of America knows it's not enough to give the political establishment the finger. PDA knows you have to go all in and give the grifters all TEN fingers! With that in mind, here's the PDA's latest to-do list for the critical core of political front-runners known as "Clicktivists": 

 

• Sign the petition to support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  Tell Congress to Protect 80,000 Afghan refugees. Pass the Afghan Adjustment Act;
  Tell President Biden to sign only a clean debt ceiling bill with no cuts to the social safety net. Then contact your House Member and Senators;
  Demand Congress act to pass the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax;
• Ban members of Congress from buying and selling individual stocks;
  Demand that Congress kick corrupt George Santos out;
  Get Congress to secure needed funding for the IRS.

"The Movement and the 'Madman'" on PBS March 28 

 

More than a million US viewers will have an opportunity to experience the power of protest to confront a "madman" (in this case, President Richard Nixon), when Public Broadcasting's "American Experiences" airs a 90-minute documentary created by a team of Bay Area activists including director Stephen Talbot and producers Robert Levering and Steve Ladd. The PBS broadcast is set for Tuesday, March 28, at 9PM. 

From the American Experiences press release (full text here) 

"The Movement and the “Madman” shows how two antiwar protests in the fall of 1969 — the largest the country had ever seen — pressured President Nixon to cancel what he called his “madman” plans for a massive escalation of the US war in Vietnam, including a threat to use nuclear weapons. At the time, protestors had no idea how influential they could be and how many lives they may have saved. Told through remarkable archival footage and firsthand accounts from movement leaders, Nixon administration officials, historians, and others, the film explores how the leaders of the antiwar movement mobilized disparate groups from coast to coast to create two massive protests that changed history."  

The film website here offers background on the film and resource links. 

Psychiatric medications are typically dispensed to people who show severe signs of a mental affliction. Such a person could behave in ways that do not make sense. They may be "gravely disabled" and unable to care for themselves, to do such basics as showering, washing clothes, cleaning up after oneself, paying bills, and more. Secondly, a person could be considered severely ill if they behave violently with no apparent reason. And third is where there are suicide attempts or self-mutilation. None of this is cheery stuff. The standard practice is to give medication, in some instance by force. Yet, psych meds have their own problems. They affect health and they affect well-being. The side effects may cause physical and mental suffering. 

You can't talk a person out of their mental illness because talk, to a severely mentally ill person, is not handled by the brain in a usable manner. Talk could be ignored or misinterpreted. You can't scare a person into getting well. Also, "electroconvulsive therapy" doesn't work to fix psychiatric disorders. You can't grab a person by the shoulders, shake them and tell them "Snap out of it!" (Derived from early Hollywood.) You must change the chemical balance within the brain. The medication may do this and may be effective at bringing back a somewhat normal consciousness. Yet at what cost? 

I have read one or two books about early psychiatry. One of them was "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"; it was fiction, but it gave some idea of conditions in a state hospital in the early days. Another book I read was by Paul de Kruif, "A Man Against Insanity." I read the book when I was a teen, and it is bitterly ironic that my condition began a few years later. (De Kruif was well-known as author of "Microbe Hunters" a look into the history of microbiology.) 

The medications we currently have for psychiatric illness do horrible things to the human body, and sometimes to the mind. E. Fuller Torrey is a highly awarded, highly renowned research psychiatrist, and author of "Surviving Schizophrenia." 

Torrey is notorious among psychiatric survivors because of his extreme views, not limited to the espousal of forced treatment. I have a problem with going into excess with forced treatment because it short-circuits any possibility of a mental health consumer learning on our own and taking charge of our own lives. It doesn’t attribute any kind of mental capacity to people who suffer from conditions that affect consciousness. He is hated by many self-help advocates for this and other reasons. Yet even Torrey himself asserts that the medications we currently have aren't good enough. 

Psych meds cause all manner of medical, debilitating, and in some instances, disfiguring complications. I can't list them here, but I will mention that weight gain and diabetes are very common among those who take olanzapine. And tardive dyskinesia causes involuntary movements of the tongue, face, head, neck and upper body, causing a person inability to do self-care and possibly afraid to go out in public. Other than that, some psych meds can just kill you.  

This week's column is not intended to enable the reader to stop your medication. The fact is, if you have a severe mental illness diagnosis, you have to take medication--or else. Or else you will have untreated mental illness, and this is a potential threat to your life, your brain, your liberty, and everything else that you value. 

In early psychiatry, doctors would cut off the frontal lobes of the brain in psychotic people, making it possible for them to function well enough to fry an egg. (I remember this from de Kruif's book.) 

In more recent times, doctors have espoused zapping the brain with magnetic pulses. Since I'm familiar with electromagnetic theory from my electronics background, I can tell you it is no different than electroconvulsive therapy. The magnetic coil placed up to the head causes electrical current in the brain. However, in my position in writings as a well-informed and experienced psychiatric survivor and amateur, and not a mental health professional, I can't recommend this or oppose it. 

It takes work and effort to live with psychiatric illness. The treatments are horrible. The diseases, if severe, are worse. It is up to you--or maybe it's not. 

---

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

Although I appreciate Handel’s extraordinary gift for composing beautiful music, I often find his works, especially his oratorios but also some of his operas, overlong, tedious and downright boring. Take, for example, Handel’s oratorio Solomon, which the highly regarded Baroque music group The English Concert just performed on Sunday, March 5, at Zellerbach Hall. The performance of Solomon was announced as lasting three hours and ten minutes, including two intermissions, though in fact it lasted far longer than that. When one considers Handel’s use of the da capo format, with its endless repeats, I find that my attention wanes and my impatience mounts. 

Where length is concerned, Handel’s opera Alcina, which The English Concert performed here on November 7, 2021, takes the cake. It lasts four and a-half hours! For Alcina, Cal Performances offered no printed plot summary, and, alas, the supertitles at Zellerbach for that 2021 performance didn’t work, so the audience was left in the dark about what was happening in this extremely convoluted plot. I simply walked out after the first hour and criticised Cal Performances for its failure to provide technical and informational support for this English Concert effort. 

Happily, at this Sunday’s Solomon, the supertitles worked fine. Moreover, perhaps in response to my complaint about the lack of a printed plot synopsis for Alcina, Cal Performances announced that a printed booklet would be presented to audience members at Solomon. However, when I entered the Zellerbach lobby and was given only a thin program, I inquired about the booklet. My attention was drawn to a statement at the top of the program that “delivery of the printed program book for this concert was not possible due to severe weather and road closures in the Pacific Northwest.” At this news, I began to wonder if The English Concert was somehow cursed, at least here at Zellerbach Hall. However, I am happy to report that the printed program offered us, though relatively brief, included an excellent plot synopsis and significant background information on Handel’s Solomon. Cal Performances is here applauded for its efforts this time. 

Artistic Director for this English Concert Solomon was Stephen Fox, standing in for Harry Bicket, the group’s director. Conducting from the harpsichord, Stephen Fox led as vibrant a rendition of this oratorio as one could hope for. Yet its endless repeats and overall length nonetheless palled, at least for this listener. However, there was splendid singing from all the soloists and also from the large chorus, which latter is given extended prominence in this oratorio. Outstanding among the soloists were two women, mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg as Solomon and Miah Persson as Solomon’s Queen. The choice of a female in the role of Solomon is perhaps unexpected and may seem odd; but Swedish mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg brought off her portrayal of Solomon quite splendidly. 

Likewise, Swedish soprano Miah Persson almost outshone all the other singers with her lilting vocal portrayal of Solomon’s Queen and her dramatic portrayal as well of one of the two women who dispute which of them is the mother of a baby. In this latter scene, known as The Judgement of Solomon, I found that Handel’s music hardly did justice to this dramatic moment. After each of the two women has plead her case, Handel inserts a lengthy instrumental passage that tends to break the inherent drama, as we wait for Solomon’s decision. Then, when Solomon declares that the baby be split in half with each woman gaining a half of the child, the second woman, sung by soprano Niamb O’Sullivan, voices her acceptance of this decision. Then the first woman’s response, though beautifully sung by Miah Persson, strikes me as too subdued, too lacking in dismay and horror at the prospect of seeing her baby — and it is her baby — cleaved in half by the sword. Only the dissonances in the orchestral accompaniment to her plea to save the child betray the tensions in her response. But all’s well that ends well as Solomon now decides in her favour, restores the baby to her and banishes the second woman from his court. 

Male singers play only bit parts in this oratorio; but American bass-baritone Brandon Cedel was a vocally robust Levite, and tenor James Way offered splendid coloratura as Zadok. Lastly, Cuban-American soprano Elena Villalón was superb as the visiting Queen of Sheba. 

Though the librettist for Solomon is unknown, the story is roughly based on the Old Testament Books of First Kings and Second Chronicles. In the program notes for this performance, Janet E. Bedel maintains, rightly, I think, that Handel is not only praising Solomon for good governance but also his own king and patron, George II. She cites the obvious fact that this Solomon is totally without flaw and is even a paragon of monogamous marriage, whereas the real historical Solomon had hundreds of concubines.  

Solomon’s multiple choruses were expertly sung by the Clarion Choir, whose artistic director is the same Stephen Fox who conducted this Solomon. The choruses in Solomon are indeed among the most varied and complex of all Handel’s choruses. There are double choruses that feature an extraordinary display of antiphonal counterpoint. Also, among many choruses that vigorously praise the resounding splendour of Solomon’s court, there is also a beautifully quiet chorus, known as the “Nightingale Chorus,” simply evoking the quiet whispers of Nature. Accompanying the Clarion Choir, two flutes captured the song of the nightingales. 

Finally, amidst all this hyperbolic praise of Solomon as Israel’s greatest king, I couldn’t help contrasting this with all the recent criticism now being levied on Israel’s latest would-be ’king,’ Bibi Netanyahu. In a desperate effort to return to power and secure his position for the future, Netanyahu has formed an extreme right-wing coalition, including outright Jewish fascists; and he is personally trying to eliminate the autonomy of Israel’s judiciary. Even as prominent an Israeli supporter as journalist Thomas Friedman has repeatedly published recent articles in The New York Times condemning Netanyahu for shattering Israeli society. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak recently warned that Netanyahu’s attack on the judiciary could soon bring on an extremely disruptive constitutional crisis that would be devastating to Israel’s.democracy. All this, of course, is a far cry from Handel’s panegyric praise, ficitional though it may be, of the Old Testament Solomon as society’s ideal leader. 

————————————————————— 

ERRATUM 

It was not Stephen Fox who conducted this SOLOMON, it was The English Concert’s director Harry Bicket. I somehow misread the credits in the program notes, though I correctly identified Stephen Fox as director of the Clarion Choir. I apologise for the error regarding the conductor.

Worth Noting:

City Council Spring Recess is from March 22 – April 10, 2023. The March 21 City Council meeting is posted and available for public comment. The planned special meetings on March 20 for the Berkeley Marina Area Specific Plan and on March 21 on Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program at 4 pm, Civic Center Vision Project at 4 pm are not yet posted. For updates keep checking the City website at: https://berkeleyca.gov/



A very full week ahead with another atmospheric river arriving on Tuesday.

City Council, Council Committees and the Police Accountability Board will meet in the hybrid format with the option of attending in person or virtually on zoom. The Civic Arts Commission subcommittee will meet via videoconference only on Monday. All other city meetings are in person only.

• Monday: The Health Life Enrichment, Equity & Community Committee meets in the hybrid format at 10 am. The City Council meets in closed session in the hybrid format at 3 pm. The Civic Arts Policy subcommittee meets virtually at 4:30 pm and the Youth Commission meets in person at 6:30 pm. The Community for a Cultural Civic Center (CCCC) meets online at 12 noon.
• Tuesday: City Council is the go to meeting of the week. If you go in person prepare for a long evening. The City Council meets in a hybrid format starting with a special meeting on the crime report at 4 pm followed with the regular meeting at 6 pm. Item 20 on the agenda is the Droste – Robinson-Wengraf proposal for limiting public comment on all action agenda items to one comment. There are three legally required exceptions: hearings, appeals and quasi-judicial (court-like procedings). The last item of the night Item 25 another Droste proposal limits councilmembers to one major legislative submission per year. (I commented on both of these agenda items in my 2/26/23 Activist’s Diary https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2023-02-26/article/50200?headline=A-BERKELEY-ACTIVIST-S-DIARY-Week-Ending-2-26--Kelly-Hammargren )
• Wednesday: The Commission on Aging meets in person at 1:30 pm. The Civic Arts Commission meets in person at 6 pm. The Police Accountability Board is meeting at 6:30 pm in a hybrid format. The Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets at 6:30 pm in person only. The Commission on Labor meets in person at 7 pm.
• Thursday: FITES is scheduled to meet at 1 pm in a hybrid format, but no agenda is posted. The Fair Campaign Practices and Open Government Commission meets at 6 pm in person. The Design Review Committee, Mental Health Commission and Transportation and Infrastructure Commission all meet at 7 pm in person.
• Friday: The Climate Emergency Task Force has not posted the agenda for the planned webinar from 9 am – 12 noon. This event will be online.

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



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS 

 

Sunday, March 12, 2023 - Spring Forward – Daylight Savings Time Begins 

 

Monday, March 13, 2023 

 

HEALTH LIFE ENRICHMENT, EQUITY & COMMUNITY at 10 am 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia, 6th Floor – Redwood Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1608491245 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (Toll Free) Meeting ID: 160 849 1245 

AGENDA: 2. Election of the chair, 3. Bartlett, co-sponsors Arreguin, Harrison, Hahn - Berkeley Food Utility and Access Resilience Measure (FARM) 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-health-life-enrichment-equity-community 

 

COMMUNITY for a CULTURAL CIVIC CENTER (CCCC) from 12 - 1 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84774865934?pwd=T1RNOTc2TTNxUnFmTGJpNmNTZmFwUT09 

AGENDA: March 21 at 4 pm City Council meeting on the Civic Center 

https://berkeleycccc.org/ 

 

CITY CCOUNCIL Closed Session at 3 pm 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia, 6th Floor, Redwood Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1612575025 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (Toll Free) Meeting ID: 161 257 5125 

AGENDA: 1. Conference with legal counsel for anticipated litigation pursuant to Section 54956.9(d)(3) from HCD, relates to updating ordinance 7,797-N.S. Efficiency Kitchen and ordinance 7,799-N.S. Wildfire Hazard Evacuation Risk Mitigation Ordinance (limiting ADUs in Hillside Overlay), 2. Existing Litigation a. Mena v. Brad, et al., RG21101938, b, Chen v City of Berkeley 22CV0181148, 3. Anticipated Litigation a. WCAB ADJ12170910 and ADJ11544202 

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

 

CIVIC ARTS COMMISSION Policy Subcommittee at 4:30 pm 

Videoconference ONLY: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1607791795 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 Meeting ID: 160 779 1795 

AGENDA: 6. Discussion with possible action a) Poet Laureate Guidelines 

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

 

YOUTH COMMISSION at 6:30 pm 

IN-Person Only: 1730 Oregon, MLK Jr Youth Services Center/YAP 

AGENDA: 6. Chair’s Announcements, 7. Director’s Report, 8. Introductions, 9. Discussion: Mental health resources in BUSD, 10. Action Create new group for Remind 

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

 

Tuesday, March 14, 2023 

 

CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting at 4 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1231 Addison St. in the School District Board Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1600955724 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 160 095 5724 

AGENDA: Berkeley Police Department Annual Report, 2022 Year End Data Reports 

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

 

 

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1231 Addison St. in the School District Board Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1600955724 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 160 095 5724 

AGENDA: . Use the link and 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 

 

 

Wednesday, March 15, 2023 

 

COMMISSION on AGING at 1:30 pm 

In-Person Only: 1901 Hearst, North Berkeley Senior Center 

AGENDA: 6. Presentation Berkeley Rides for Seniors & Disabled 2023-2024 Program Plan, Discussion/Action Item: 7. Commissioner Reports, 8. Update on Hopkins Corridor, 9. Multi-generational community programs & projects, 10. Possible letter to City Council regarding Fire Evacuation & Emergency Service Routes, 11. Possible community forum on Age-Friendly andpolicy proposals needed for a graying Berkeley 

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

 

CIVIC ARTS COMMISSION at 6 pm 

In-Person Only: 1901 Russell, Tarea Pittmam South Branch Library 

AGENDA: 6. Chair’s report, 7. Presentations, Discussion & Action Items: a. Approval of Design Development, b. Approval of Revised Design for Mural at James Kenney Community Center, c. Draft Poet Laureate Program Guidelines, 8. Staff Report, 9. Committee Reports 

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

 

COMMISSION on LABOR at 7 pm 

In-Person Only: 2939 Ellis, South Berkeley Senior Center, Multi-Purpose Room 

AGENDA: 2. Election chair and vice-chair, 3. Send a letter to council about long time vacancies for the Commission on Aging, 4. Support the Labor Peace Ordinance in the Marina Zone 

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

 

COMMISSION on STATUS of WOMEN 

No meeting posted – usually meets the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 6 pm 

 

HUMAN WELFARE and COMMUNITY ACTION COMMISSION at 6:30 pm 

In-Person Only: 2800 Park Street, Frances Albrier Community Center  

AGENDA: 5. Action - Review City of Berkeley funded agency Program and Financial reports a. Through the Looking Glass, Discussion and Possible Action Items: 6. Concurrent meeting with the Commission on Disabilities regarding action items of mutual interest, not limited to road plans, universal design, accessibility, 7. Support the Commissions on Aging and Disability regarding proposed changes to Hopkins Corridor, 8. Current mechanisms for City employees and service providers to communicate, 9. Requirements for contracted non-profit service providers and transparency of grant reports 10. Eligibility for service as representative of the poor, 11. Accessibility and availability of materials on City website, 12. Letter of support for Center for Independent Living action on Pathways STAIR Center, 13. Accessibility Quality Assessment program to handle non-conforming public facilities. 

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

 

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD at 6:30 pm 

Hybrid Meeting: 

In-Person: 1301 Shattuck, Live Oak Community Center 

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

(ODPA and PAB are in early stages of working out hybrid format there is the possibility for technical glitches) 

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

AGENDA: 4. Public Comment on agenda and non-agenda items, 6. ODPA reports, 7. Chair and Board reports, 8. BPD Chief Reports, 9. Policy and Practices relating to the Downtown Task Force and Bike Unit Allegations, Regulations subcommittee, 10, a. Discussion on the proposal for a comprehensive review of BPD’s body-worn camera policies, 11. Public Comment, CLOSED session. 

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

 

Thursday, March 16, 2023 

 

FACILITES, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION, ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY at 1 pm 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia, 6th Floor, Redwood Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-infor.zoomgov.com/j/1601376273 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (Toll Free) Meeting ID: 160 137 6273 

AGENDA: Not posted. Check after Monday 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-facilities-infrastructure-transportation-environment-sustainability 

 

DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE at 7 pm 

In-Person Only: 2800 Park Street, Frances Albrier Community Center  

AGENDA: 1. 2800 Telegraph @ Stuart – Preliminary Design Review – Demolish existing non-residential structure and construct a 15,792 sq ft 5-story residential building with 16 dwelling units (1 very low income unit) 1 parking space, 19 bicycle spaces 

2. 2920 Shattuck @ Russell - Preliminary Design Review – demolish two existing commercial buildings and construct a 10-story density bonus project mixed-use building with 221 dwelling units (including 22 very low income units), 4,090 sq ft of commercial space and 9 parking spaces 

3. 2538 Durant between Telegraph and Bowditch - Preliminary Design Review – demolish existing 4-story residential building including 12 dwelling units and construct an 80,829 sq ft 8-story mixed-use building with 1,641 sq ft of ground floor commercial space, 83 dwellings, (including 5 very low income units) 

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

 

FAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICES COMMISSION (FCPC) & OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION (OGC) at 6 pm 

In-Person Only: 2180 Milvia, Cypress Room 1st Floor 

AGENDA: FCPC: 5. Reports 6. Biennial adjustment of BERA campaign contribution limit for cost of living, 7. Subcommittee report, OGC: 8. Reports, 9. Letter to City Council regarding commission minutes, 10. In-person meeting Health and Safety Protocols, 11. Possible changes to public commenting for City Council meetings discussion and possible action. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/fair-campaign-practices-commission 

 

MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION at 7 pm 

In-Person Only: 2939 Ellis, South Berkeley Senior Center, Conference Room A 

AGENDA: 3. Bridge to SCU and SCU Update, 4. 4. Mental Health Manager’s Report and caseload statistics, 5. Subcommittee Reports, 6. Update law enforcement arrests regarding people dementia, 7. Update access to 988 for Berkeley people 

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

 

TRANSPORTATION and INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION at 7 pm 

In-Person Only: 2939 Ellis, South Berkeley Senior Center 

AGENDA Discussion/Action Items: 1. Workplan, 2. Elect replacement backup speaker for April City Council Meeting on West Hopkins Item 

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

 

BERKELEY RENT STABILIZATION BOARD at 7 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1231 Addison St. in the School District Board Room 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87985893082?pwd=MC9pZ1ljNmJ0WGt3OHE4aHNncVdOZz09 

Teleconference: 1-408-638-0968 Meeting ID: 879 8589 3082 Passcode: 917780 

AGENDA: 4. Public Comment with 2 minutes per speaker non-agenda items, 5. Public Comment with 2 minutes per speaker for agenda items, 6. Consent b. Authorize Executive Director to execute contract modification with Goldfarb & Lipman LLP thru June 30, 2023, for up to $20,000, c. with Sloan Sakai Yeung & Wong LLP thru June 30, 2023 for up to $80,000, d. Ministerial Waivers, Discretionary Waivers, 7. Public Hearing on Proposed Increase to Annual Registration Fees for FY 2023-2024, 8. Action Items: (Public Comment 1 minute per speaker prior to vote on each action item) a. Chair update, b. Annual registration fee for fully-covered units at $290/unit, c. Annual registration fee for MM units at $37/unit, e. Summer rental fee for fraternities and sororities at $70 per unit, f. Possible letter of support for SB 460 Fair Chance Housing, g. Possible letter of support for SB 466 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act: rental rates. 

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

 

Friday, March 17, 2023 

 

CLIMATE, EQUITY & RACE UNITED ACTIONS from 9 am – 12 pm 

Check later in week for agenda, Registration is via Eventbrite 

https://www.cemtf.org/site/events 

 

Saturday, March 18, 2023 – No city meetings listed 

Sunday, March 19, 2023 – No city meetings listed 

 

+++++++++++++++++++ 

 

March 14, 2023 Agenda for CITY COUNCIL Meeting at 6 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1231 Addison St. in the School District Board Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1600955724 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 160 095 5724 

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

 

AGENDA on CONSENT: 

1. Arreguin – 2nd reading – Amendments to COVID-19 Emergency Response Ordinance, Suspend the application of the ordinance to commercial property, permit lawful owner move-in evictions, and establish a Transition Period during which time specified evictions would be prohibited
2. Harrison – 2nd reading - Modifies Environment and Climate Commission membership to add two youth members appointed by council in addition to commissioners appointed by each councilmember and mayor.
3. Oyekanmi, Finance - Formal Bid Solicitations $2,802,400 (Mobile Wellness Services for individuals who are unhoused and living in area encampments).
4. Sprague, Fire – Contract $400,000 with KLD Engineering, P.C. for Evacuation and Response Time Modeling from 4/1/2023 to 6/30/2024 with option to renew for $100,000 for additional 2 years
5. Warhuus, HHCS – Contract $350,000 with GoGo Technologies Inc for Transportation Services for Seniors and Disabled from 4/1/2023 to 6/30/2026 for 24/7 call center to arrange rides with Uber and Lyft for customers of the Aging Services Division’s Berkeley Rides for Seniors and Disabled
6. Warhuus, HHCS – Contract $128,315 with mySidewalk, Inc for HHCS Web-Based Population Health Data Platform 3/15/2023 to 3/14/2026
7. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Amend Contract 32000225 add $149,000 total $349,000 and extend 6/30/2024 with Its Personnel Consulting for Recruitment, Hiring, and Independent Workplace Investigation
8. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Amend Contract 32100046 add $139,000 total $189,000 with HR Acuity, LLC for Case Management and Employee Relations Software
9. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Purchase Order $150,000 with Glassdoor to Provide Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Ad Work from4/1/2023 to 3/31/2025
10. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Purchase Order $150,000 with Indeed to Provide Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Ad Work from4/1/2023 to 3/31/2025
11. Fong, IT – Amend Contract 31900187 add $106,000 total $278,000 with LV.NET (formerly Towerstream) for Secondary Internet for Redundancy and Load Balancing from 10/3/2017 to 6/30/2024
12. Arreguin co-sponsors Hahn, Harrison, Wengraf – Opposition to Initiative #1935 deceptively named “Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act”
13. Arreguin, co-sponsor Robinson, Hahn – Resolution Support SB 50 – would allow Berkeley to move forward with BerkDOT program for a Berkeley Department of Transportation instead of police to enforce vehicle or bike low-level infractions (traffic stops and enforcement)
14. Arreguin, co-sponsors Hahn, Harrison, Wengraf – Support SB 252 State Divestment from Fossil Fuels
15. Taplin, co-sponsors Harrison, Robinson – Budget Referral Vision 2050 Complete Streets Parcel Tax Community Engagement and Program Plan refer $400,000 to June 2023 mid-year budget update to conduct community engagement, public information campaign and program plan development and climate resilient infrastructure
16. Taplin co-sponsors Robinson – Support Unionization Efforts by Urban Ore Workers under representation by the IWW Union 670
17. Taplin, co-sponsor - Robinson - Support for SB 58 Controlled Substances, decriminalization
18. Robinson, co-sponsor Arreguin, Hahn, Harrison – Support SB 466 reforming Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act
19. Robinson, co-sponsor Hahn – Support H.R. 852 Investing in Safer Traffic Stops Act

AGENDA on ACTION: 

20. Droste – REFORMS TO PUBLIC COMMENT PROCEDURES AT MEETINGS OF THE BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL – LIMITS PUBLIC COMMENT TO ONCE FOR THE AGENDA ON CONSENT AND ONCE FOR THE ENTIRE AGENDA ON ACTION with three exceptions: hearings, appeals and quasi-judicial (court like) proceedings. After all the council votes have been taken, all decisions made, the public would have a 3rd opportunity to speak before the council adjourns.
21. Sprague, Fire - Ambulance User Fee Increase
22. Fair Campaign Practices Commission – Cost of Living Adjustment for $250 campaign contribution limit increase by nearest $10 in every odd-numbered year
23. Klein, Planning – Climate Action Plan and Resilience Update
24. Hollander, Economic Development – Berkeley Economic Dashboards Update – move to action
25. Droste – Bureaucratic Effectiveness and Referral Improvement and Prioritization Effort (BE RIPE) limits submission of legislation to 1 item per year per council member and 2 items per year for the mayor

 

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March 21, 2023 Agenda for CITY COUNCIL Meeting at 6 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1231 Addison St. in the School District Board Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1604192052 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 160 419 2052 

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

 

AGENDA on CONSENT: 

1. Brown, City Attorney – Resolution Reviewing and Ratifying the Proclamation of Local COVID Emergency
2. Williams-Ridley, City Manager (CM) – Designate the Line of Succession for the Director of Emergency Services in the event of an emergency
3. Sprague, Fire - Grant Application: FEMA to expand National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1582/1583 for $840,000 with 10% or $84,000 city matching funds for Wellness, Fitness and Human Performance Program
4. Warhuus, HHCS - Amend Contract #32200156 add $561,917.11 total $1,201,917.11 with Options Recovery Services for Community Response Services and extend to 12/31/2023
5. Warhuus, HHCS - Amend Contract #32200147 add $75,600 total $195,000 with Women’s Daytime Drop-in Center for Community Crisis Response Services and extend to 12/31/2023
6. Warhuus, HHCS - Amend Contract #32300025 add $300,000 total $350,000 with Non-Profit Intelligence Partners for Flexible Funding program services and extend to 6/30/2024
7. Warhuus, HHCS – Revenue Agreements with California Department of Public Health (CDHP) for 1. Total $383,455 for Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention for years FY 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2. Total $487,170 or $162,390 each year for CalFresh Healthy Living Program FFY 2024, 2025, 2026
8. Warhuus, HHCS – Funding Recommendation and Joint Homekey Application for University Inn at 1461 University for 1. Measure P $8,500,000 for University Inn permanent supportive housing, 2. Measure P $1,000,000 to operate University Inn as emergency shelter prior to conversion to permanent housing program, 3. Authorize submission to CA Housing and Community Development (HCD) for University Inn permanent supportive housing project, 4. Authorize CM or designee to eneter agreements with HCD, 5. Authorize CM or designee to execute all original or amended documents to effectuate these actions.
9. Warhuus, HHCS – Amending the 2021 Annual Action Plan to Accept Home-American Rescue Plan Funds, $2,735,696, allocate 15% $410,354 for administration and planning, 5% $136,785 for nonprofit capacity building, and remaining 80% $2,188,557 to supportive services for qualifying populations
10. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Salary adjustments Local 1 Senior Behavioral Health Clinician by 0.83%, Mental Health Clinical Supervisor by 4.18%, Mental Health Program Supervisor by 7.33%, Assistant Manager of Mental Health Division by 7.33%, and Manager of Mental Health Division by 1.2% effective 1/14/2023
11. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Salary Range Adjustments increase top step salary of Deputy City Manager classification from $277,840.99 to $291,733.04 and the Employee Relations Manager from $175,026.38 to $180,065.60 effective 1/14/2023
12. Ferris, Parks - Contract $260,312.50 includes $52,062.50 contingency with TERCONS Inc. for Aquatic Park Paddling and Rowing Club Parking Lot Improvements
13. Klein, Planning – Grant Funding $80,000 to CA Energy Commission to integrate Application for SolarAPP+ Integration web software to the Permit Service Center operations
14. Garland, Public Works – Amend Contract #32100192 add $200,000 total $2,375,900 with California Constructores for Sidewalk Repairs FY 2020 Project
15. Garland, Public Works – Contract $10,203,711 with JV Lucas Paving, Inc for Street Rehabilitation FY2023 Project
16. Garland, Public Works – Purchase Order $215,000 for one John Deere 320P Backhoe Loader with Pape Machinery, Inc
17. Garland, Public Works – Purchase Order $496,454 with Nicholas K Corp dba Ford Store San Leandro for eight Ford Interceptor Hybrid Utility Vehicles
18. Art Commission – Referral Response Grant Program $300,000 for retaining and improving creative spaces
19. Arreguin co-sponsors Hahn, Harrison, Robinson – Budget Referral $2,000,000 to augment the post COVID-19 Rental Assistance/Anti-Displacement administered by the Eviction Defense Center
20. Arreguin, co-sponsors Hahn, Wengraf – Relinquishment Council Office Budget funds to co-sponsor Bioneers Conference
21. Hahn, co-sponsors Taplin, Wengraf – Budget Referral $40,000 for speed feedback signs for Arlington Ave.
22. Hahn, co-sponsors Taplin, Wengraf – Budget Referral for $35,000 for Pedestrian Safety Upgrades for Arlington Ave, refresh painted markings
23. Wengraf, co-sponsor Hahn - Relinquishment Council Office Budget funds for 2023 Virtual Holocaust Remembrance Day Program
24. Wengraf & Hahn, co-sponsors Arreguin, Bartlett – Proclamation in Honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day April 16 from 2-3 pm
25. Robinson, co-sponsor Hahn, Harrison, Taplin – Referral to CM for On-Street Secure Bike Storage

AGENDA on ACTION: 

26. Garland, Public Works – Implement Residential Residential Preferential Parking (RPP) on 1600 block of Fifth Street
27. Garland, Public Works – Adopt resolution approving Berkeley Transit-First Policy and appointing two members and one alternative to serve on the Inter-Agency Liaison Committee between COB and AC Transit
28. Harrison , co-sponsor Harrison, Taplin– Adopt Ordinance Adding BMC Chapter 2.102 to Establish a Labor Peace Policy Minimizing Labor/Management Conflict in Berkeley Marina Zone

INFORMATION REPORTS: 

29. Fiscal Year 2023 Mid-year Budget Update
30. LPO NOD 1581 1581 LeRoy Ave #LMSAP2022-0009
31. LPO NOD 1325 Arch #LMSAP2022-0013
32. LPO NOD 1911 Fourth Street #LMSAP2022-0014
33. 2022 Disaster and Fire Safety Work Plan

 

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LAND USE CALENDAR: 

 

Public Hearings 

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

469 Kentucky (single family dwelling) 5/23/2023 

Remanded to ZAB or LPC 

1205 Peralta – Conversion of an existing garage – submitting a new project 

 

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS: 

 

March 7 - Berkeley Marina Area Specific Plan Canceled 

March 14 – Annual Crime Report at 4 pm 

March 20 – EXPECTED - BERKELEY MARINA AREA SPECIFIC PLAN 

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 ?May 

 

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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. 

 

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For Online Public Meetings 

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

 

ZOOM has as part of the program - (for no extra cost) Closed Captioning (CC). It turns computer voice recognition into a transcript. 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. 

 

Here is the link to ZOOM Support for 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