Hopkins Street is a major Fire Evacuation route for 24k people living in the Berkeley hills, and even more living in the city of Kensington who evacuate into Berkeley.

Bike lanes on Hopkins Street can slow Fire Evacuation traffic and Emergency Vehicle responses. As the Paradise fire in 2021 showed us, this can be very dangerous to people seeking to evacuate. It can cost lives. Fire evacuation routes are especially important to vulnerable people who may need to evacuate; about 30% in the Berkeley hills are over age 65, as well as families with small children and disabled people.

Moreover, there is a major flaw in Berkeley’s 2017 Bike plan. It is based on interviews with 660 people; and of these ZERO percent were from hill zip code 94708, ZERO percent, and only 7%, that is, 46 people, were from the hill zip code 94707. The 93% of respondents who were reported on in the Berkeley bike plan were from the Berkeley flat lands. The bike report provided no information on those who were not interviewed, the study’s non-response rate.

On the basis of this study, city staff reported to the Council in a May 2, 2017 memo that 71% of Berkeley people were in favor of bike tracks: “A key survey finding revealed 71% of Berkeley residents fall into the “Interested but Concerned” category of individuals; i.e., they are interested in cycling or cycling more often, but are sensitive to traffic speeds and volumes.”

Now, you are planning to spend millions on bike tracks that can be used by limited numbers of Berkeley residents: mainly those who are able and who live in certain areas, not hilly areas. -more-

Yes, it was an April Fool's joke. No one, as far as I know, is planning to turn the Berkeley Marina into a container ship dock. But as I told author Paul Kamen, it's hard to satirize the Berkeley planning process, which is deep into self-satire these days. I thought Paul's picture of a huge red circle in the middle of the road at the Marina was Paul's clever Photo-Shop construction, but much to my horror, when we drove down to see the sunset last night I discovered that it's really there. It's horrendously ugly, of course. What were they thinking? What's it for? And I never thought I'd be one of the kind of people who are always asking this, but how much did it cost? -more-

I probably seem like I could handle anything, and people probably assume as much when they see me. Thus, I must be exceedingly careful what messes people could unwittingly get me into. They could assume I always carry a few twenty-dollar bills in my wallet in case needed. That's more than I've often had in the bank at the end of the month. With that assumption, someone could ask me to pay a restaurant bill, and would take off before it became time to pay. What if I'm flat broke and I thought the other person was paying? -more-

At the March 21, 2023 City Council meeting you lashed out at People’s Park supporters, claiming that, as plaintiffs in the CEQA lawsuit against UC’s Housing Project #2, we caused Resources for Community Development to lose $25M.

Your condemnation contained more emotion than fact. Our lawsuit (RG21110142) is under CEQA, a state law. The law regulating HUD funding for the supportive housing at the park is a federal law, the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The only reason Resources for Community Development, the developer of the supportive housing on People’s Park, lost their HUD vouchers is because that federal law was violated (Stanley.W.Toal@hud.gov, Environmental Enforcement Officer, 10/25/2022 email). UC violated that federal law when they began construction (tree cutting) on the supportive housing site on August 3^rd, before completing the environmental review process required by NHPA. The loss of HUD vouchers had nothing to do with our lawsuit!

The Rose Foundation Report documents that there are only, on average, 195 projects each year that require an EIR and only 2% of those go through any litigation. Not really the numbers that could support your and the Governor’s contention that People’s Park advocates are holding housing hostage in CA. -more-

Jail to the Chief

It's about time a law-breaking president was held to account before a court of law. But I'm not thinking about D. Trump—the ocher ogre. I'm reaching back a little further in history to draw some attention to George W. Bush.

Remember W? The guy who gave us the War on Terror? The guy who told the world "You're either with us or you're against us!" The president whose "Big Lie"—aka "Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction"—was falsely conjured and knowingly deployed to entangle the US for nearly a decade's worth of spilled blood under the banner of Operation Iraq Freedom.

When it comes to invasions, Vlad Putin can't hold a candle—or a cannon—next to Dubya. The first year of the Russia's invasion of Ukraine claimed more than 8,000 civilian lives. But compare that human loss to Bush's "Shock and Awe" bushwhacking of Baghdad and Fallujah. By some estimates, more than half a million Iraqis were killed by US bombs and bullets during the decade-long horror of the unprovoked, unilateral US invasion.

The crime of lying to justify an illegal aggression—that leads to the wanton slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians—cries out for condemnation before the International Criminal Court. Trump should ssface a prison sentence for his crimes against the Constitution and George W. Bush should be tried and jailed for his crimes against humanity. -more-

The US invasion of Iraq was the most catastrophic blunder in US history.

1. Claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction were completely false. The US Intelligence Agency produced false evidence which was later used by General Powell at an emergency session of the United Nations to justify the invasion of Iraq. Senator Byrd. of N. Carolina. impassioned speech, opposing the invasion. was ignored.

2. Prior to the invasion, the US had imposed crippling economic sanctions that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Iraqis, including 500,000 children.

3. Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9-11 attacks. 11 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. Inexplicably, this was ignored by the GW Bush administration and the US media. -more-

Worth Noting:

Very quiet week ahead. City Council is on Spring Recess until April 11. Passover begins April 5 and Easter Sunday is April 9. The April 11 City Council meeting agenda is posted and available for comment. The Berkeley Neighborhoods Council meeting is scheduled for April 15. Check the City website for late announcements and meetings posted on short notice at: https://berkeleyca.gov/

• Monday the Personnel Board meets at 7 pm in person only.
• Tuesday at 5 pm is the final conceptual design meeting for a bike park at the waterfront and it is on ZOOM (NOT in person).
• Friday at 7 pm is a flashlight egg hunt event for 5th – 8th graders at Grove Park.