I am writing to honor the amazing life of Harry Belafonte, who died on April 25, 2023 at 96. Belafonte was a singer, actor and activist who popularized calypso music with his album Calypso (1956), which featured his signature song \"Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)\". Belafonte also starred in movies and TV shows, winning an Emmy Award for his TV special Tonight With Belafonte (1959), which had a diverse cast of performers. He was one of the few performers to have received an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT). But Belafonte was more than an entertainer. He was a leader and a visionary who supported various causes and movements. He was a close friend and ally of Martin Luther King Jr., whom he helped organize the March on Washington in 1963. He also raised funds and awareness for the civil rights movement, the anti-apartheid movement, the famine relief in Africa, the fight against HIV/AIDS and many other humanitarian issues. Belafonte received numerous honors and awards for his contributions to music, culture and society, including the Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Harry Belafonte was a legend who sang with his heart, acted with his conscience and lived with his purpose. He will be remembered as a man who made the world a better place. He will be sorely missed.

Joel D. Eis is rarity among writers. Like San Francisco poet Laurence Ferlinghetti, he is both an author and the owner of a bookstore. Eis has published three books on the intersection of theatre and politics and is also the proprietor of the Rebound Bookstore in San Rafael.

Eis has now published an autobiography called "Standin' in a Hard Rain" (the title pays homage to Bob Dylan's ferocious ballad, "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall). This exceptional book documents Eis' hard-rockin' life as a Sixties Radical (who is still a radical in his '70s).

Like the widely traveled Eis, this book covers a lot of ground—beginning with his childhood in a New York family rooted in local labor struggles and left-wing politics and recording the cross-country adventures that lead to coming-of-age struggles on the campuses of the Bay Area and in the fields of the state's oppressed farmworker communities.

"Hard Rain" is a compelling read—a 421-page rap sheet that is recounts bruising adventures in street-level politics while rhapsodizing about the curative powers of resistance—from campus protests, to anti-draft activity, to political theatre. 

Imagine if everybody who lived a full and rambunctious life invested the time it would take to chronicle their adventures. Eis has done it with accessible clarity and an unflagging supply of chatty commentary. Reading "Hard Rain" is like listening to the guy across the table from you at the local bar. 

There's so much history on tap here that Eis' book contains 10 Sections and 48 chapters—from "Jew Boy" to "Billy Clubs, Not Books," to "Going to Court, Fresno County Jail" to "David Harris at Vets Against the War." The book also features more than 60 pages of photographs and documents from Eis' extensive memoir. 

(Here's a bit of an "inside joke." If you take a close look at the book's cover photo showing Eis being arrested, you can spot a stamp mark in the lower right corner that reads: "Property of Fresno Police Dept. Do Not Remove." Yep. Eis filched the photo from the prosecutor's file at the end of his trial for protesting in a "tumultuous manner.") 

Between the pages of this thick autobiography you'll rub shoulders with folks like David Harris, Joan Baez, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, and Luis Valdez while revisiting a slew of progressive battlegrounds—including the police-state confrontations that arose around the Student Strike at SF State, the Fresno Draft Resistance Movement, and the Battle for People's Park. Eis' personal, on-site recollections are so evocative you can almost smell the tear-gas. 

In his book, Eis characterizes the deadly, military crackdown over People's Park as "a terrible sign of the tragic disconnect between the government and the people…. People's Park was about everything we held sacred. The Battle of People's Park is still a ragged scar of memory and a political flash point sixty years later." 

As Eis writes: "You can't get an more American than a fight over land. You can't get an more revolutionary that planting something that grows." 

Throughout these varied struggles, Eis constantly relies on his theatrical experience—as a writer, director, and performer—to create on-the-spot agit-prop events that draw crowds, deliver analysis, propose action, and provide spiritual fuel for resistance and revolution. 

I have to confess that I have not yet completed my journey through this book but I have to wind up this review with a time-sensitive announcement: Joel Eis will be participating in this Sunday's Bay Area Book Festival in downtown Berkeley, 11AM-5PM (www.BayBookFest.org). You can find Eis tabling at post #105. 

PS: If you miss the Festival and aren't up for a drive to the Rebound Bookstore in San Rafael, Berkeley's Revolution Books has additional copies on hand.

On April 28, in Cleveland, Texas, a man with a AR-15 style gun killed five people, including an 8-year old boy and a teenage girl. Welcome to "Guns ‘R’ Us”. 

Don’t mind the carnage; we are a nation of gun violence with 140+ mass shootings and at least 18 mass shootings in which four or more people were killed, not including the shooter so far in 2023.  

After the rash of this recent gun violence, ordinarily I would advise skipping thoughts and prayers and go directly to Congressional reasonable gun control legislation starting with a ban of AR-15-type semi-automatic weapons (with buy-back provisions), safe gun storage laws and universal background checks.  

However, the recent rash of gun violence occurred midst the top 2024 Republican presidential hopefuls attendance at the three-day (April 14-16) National Rifle Association convention in Indianapolis, not to discuss reasonable gun control measures, but to defend the Second Amendment at all costs, highlighting the political power of the NRA. 

The influence of the NRA; the unfortunate interpretation of the Second Amendment by the U.S. Supreme Court in District of Columbia vs. Heller finding that individual Americans have a Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms;” and the present very conservative Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen, striking down a New York concealed handgun law, makes further gun control laws iffy at best. 

Finally, too many politicians view supporting gun control measures as an end to their political careers making gun control the third rail of politics and any politician who dares to broach the subject will invariably suffer politically.

In Berkeley, they say that it is better to refer to the homeless as "houseless" because it describes living on the street without derogatory connotations. It implies one has residency in the town, a home in oneself, and if lucky, a tent in one of the encampments.. One has belongings, and neighbors in an encampment community, providing a sense of self-respect and friendship in a hostile society.

But in Berkeley, they act to reduce the houseless to being homeless. How do they do that? By attempting to destroy a person’s identity by dispossession, and by leaving them without past connections – that is, without connections to who they had been. And that is easy to do. The town hires a bunch of bureaucrats who then tell Public Works to bring some bulldozers down to an encampment, and they trash its inhabitant’s belongings. Never mind that the encampment provided solidarity, safety, and security -- all those things that a person depends on socially, and for which they should have been able to depend on the city. Never mind that it offers company and comfort as a community, while providing assistance with physical and mental troubles – such as from harassment by the city. When the bureaucrats decide to take all that away, the encampment members will have no say, and no due process in the matter. At the city’s hands, they are rendered homeless. 

It doesn’t matter that warnings are issued, or notices of imminent police raids. It doesn’t matter that the city provides a motel room after the raid to get one off the street. Those motel rooms are temporary. Each person gets 90 days in one, and then they are back out on the street. A level of psychological destruction always accompanies that bulldozing and its hypocrisy. 

Thus, the city doubles the victimization. The homeless are victims of objective economic circumstances, factors with ugly names like "debt," and "inflation," and "unemployment," and "impoverishment." They are ugly because they name forms of servitude, of un-freedom and misery; events that occur generally with some form of bigotry. To see the ultimate effects of bigotry, look at the prison system. It is the largest in the world – with 5% of the world’s population, the US houses 25% of the world’s prisoners. And a black person has a nine times better chance of being imprisoned for the same offense (generally “disobeying an officer”) than a white person. Yet the city of Berkeley adds to all that; forgetting that those caught in debt servitude, and those reduced to homelessness by inflation, are also real prisoners who fit the mold. 

When the city decides to destroy a community, that community’s members face a form of political derogation. Their Constitutional rights -- namely due process as guaranteed by the 5th and the 14th Amendments, and their right to sleep on public land according to the Boise decision -- are displaced and ignored. The Boise Decision held that a city could not ban and thus criminalize sleeping on public land without offering shelter. And due process requires a hearing before depriving a person of their property or liberty. To be deprived of one’s rights is to be deprived of one’s “liberty.” One is dictated to by a political structure. In this case, one’s life is dictated by so-called experts who sit and discuss homeless-response strategies. They form panels on which the homeless have neither voice nor participation. 

When a Harrison St. tent-dweller pleaded with the bureaucrat in charge of a raid to leave his possessions, including his meds, and his phone, and his computer, and his clothes, he was denied. It all ended up in a dump-truck. In that raid, those being torn apart socially were told to move to the other side of the street, where the city would give them other tents. A different tent?? The city had to destroy the community in order to give them something? If the city charged the encampment with uncleanliness, it could have more easily provided washing services and showers. But the policy it chose was destruction of community. 

An anti-democratic process occurs when a political structure makes policy for people without their participation. People are deprived of their rights by being excluded from deciding their own destiny. To be so deprived is to be politically disparaged. (But then, who among us actually participates in their own respective destinies.) 

When people lose the things they have collected, whether as mementoes, or souvenirs of the lives they have lived, or where they have come from, they are deprived of more than their memories. When the city comes to clear out an encampment, it is the ability to form community with others of their choosing, and to decide who to make common agreements with as to how to regulate their encampment, that is destroyed. Their choices of who to live with in community are prohibited, not by law, but by action. When they lose that, as homeless, they lose more than their past. They lose their right of health, to well-being, and to "housing." These are all wrapped up in their need for a communal sense of being with others. The city will call its raids “cleaning up,” but it is a process of real destruction of people’s identity. When the encampments on Adeline St. (January, 2023) or on Harrison St. (October, 2022) were raided, all those social aspects of life were thrown in the waiting garbage trucks. 

So who are these bureaucrats? Recently, the city has formed a “Homeless Response Team,” which includes a “panel of experts.” None of these experts are homeless people. They are experts from above, persons with prior experience in "controlling" the homeless. They are people who have "studied" the question, and think they can speak for those who are the "problem." To "speak for" someone is oppression, not democracy, when one also refuses to listen. It stands opposed to the very idea of democracy. Real democracy is based on the idea that those who will be affected by a policy must be the ones who make the policy that will affect them. The many forms of exclusion from policy-making that one finds in most cities simply obviate that. 

Instead, the bureaucrats believe in a “pseudo-democracy” that is limited to a vote for what others have done. As officials, they have a seat at a policy-making table, from which what the people to be affected by their policy are excluded. Berkeley does not know how, nor does it have the will or intention, to really discuss issues with the people involved, to politically include those who will live the destiny discussed. The city protects itself from that kind of thing through granting "input." In “public comment” periods, one gets to speak for a minute (e.g. to City Council), but only before they discuss an issue, not afterwards. In other words, without any possibility of dialogue. And one can write letters. 

But with respect to the homeless, the city has designed a "team." It is called the Homeless Response Team, and it works under the wing of the City Manager. Its role is to criminally dispossess the homeless, to abrogate their rights, and to subject them to the torment of identity deprivation. That is to say, it deals with the problem in a traumatic way. The creation of trauma is its "response" to real people. 

How shall we refer to this "team." It lists itself as an Assistant to the City Manager. Its initials are HRT. If we flesh that out a bit, it becomes HoReTe. So we shall call it Horete (perhaps pronounced like "whorette"). And it loves its work. It has been recorded as dancing on the roof of an RV prior to that being towed, and kicking the owner’s belongings onto the street from that roof so that Public Works can throw it in a waiting garbage truck and destroy it. 

Preparatory to a raid, it gives an encampment only a few days’ notice. The encampment’s members are told what they can save, what they can take with them, and what they can become as a result of the city’s destruction. For the encampment on Adeline St., a regulated intentional community of 7 years duration, it was only given three days’ notice. It is a purely derogatory process, denying who and what that community had tried to be under their hardship conditions. (Its first name had been “First They Came for the Homeless.”) 

In effect, the homeless are tortured to "convince" them to abandon their ability to live. They are tormented to forget their past, that period of their lives marked only by the few things they possess as mementoes. But they lose more than the materials of remembrance. They lose actual necessities, such as meds, and phones by which to maintain relations to others. To throw away a person’s notebooks is to already stomp on the testimony of those subjected to tyrannical behavior. 

These are all things of resistance against the social, economic, and political forces of disparagement. All have been trashed once the Horete decides to call it garbage. To truncate the identity of people is clearly what the Horete loves to do. 

No wonder we think of bureaucrats as mindless people who animate forms of AI. We see it in how they treat the people for whom they are the “institutional interface,” and how they make an experiential exercise out of it. They make it harder to read the accounts of how it feels to be tortured from houselessness into homelessness by a bureaucracy. The removal of the writings of the victims of this process is only another way of silencing them. A few are journalists, like Yésica Prado, from whom we get a sense of this identitylessness, and what it means. In hers and other’s writings, we get a sense of the shock and trauma involved in watching machinery tear what one had held as sacred into shreds. [sfpublicpress.org/everything-is-gone-and-you-become-more-lost-12-hours-of-chaos-as-berkeley-clears-encampment/] 

And for what? The Horete says to its victims, you will get a room in a motel that the city has leased while we look for real housing for you. But that is only a euphemism for the destruction of community. Nothing ever barred the city from looking for housing in the past. It has had years to do that. But the 90 day stint in a motel room actually implies that the person deprived of community must now do the looking for new housing. And, having replaced a community with a solitary existence, this Horete does not give a hoot about the isolation imposed, nor whether the person will be able to find any housing. 

But the Horete gets paid a goodly salary for atomizing the people and throwing them into motel rooms. Like Blackwater or Vanguard; the corporations that make money turning empty houses into corporate assets, and get rich on the real estate inflation that they cause, the Horete’s imposed impoverishment is the real source of its salaries – the collateral damage of its money. 

But collateral damage is not enough for the bureaucrats. At the Adeline St. encampment, the Horete took pictures of what it called Rodent-signs, and blamed it on the residents. When the residents responded that they had cleaned up the area and that the rats were brought back by "outsiders" (sent in by the city police?) to disrupt the encampment, the Horete refused to listen. The stories the residents tell cover the gamut of police set-ups. They are about people sent in to start fights and create chaos, as well as leave loose food around in open waste buckets that cause a rodent problem. The Horete, like any other cop, does not care what any of the people say in opposition to its charges. Though the city has had the resources to make the life of a homeless encampment livable, it has chosen to destroy these structures of autonomy. 

And it doesn’t end there. The trash-job continues. As reported by one woman living in the motel, when she goes out, she sometimes comes back and finds her room had been entered, checked out, and that things had been taken that apparently the city decided she should not have had. So along with deprivation of identity, there is a loss of privacy. 

We need not mention that the bureaucrat salaries are moneys that could have been used to provide better services for the encampments, such as trash removal, medical attention, dental care, porto-potties, electricity and clean water; you know, stuff that the "official" residents take for granted in a city in the world’s richest country. The city, with resources, takes a person’s personal resources away, and then tells them to find what the city has been unable to find for them for years. After the actions that derogate, that disparage, that deprive people of their chosen community and their identity-under-duress, the inverted ethics of the city become clear. 

It is a criminal and hegemonic ethics, based on the hopelessness of impoverishment that the city confirms and exacerbates by dispossession. The 90 days given a person signifies the envisioned end of the process for the city (its “final solution”?). And where was the city all the years that these homeless people have been living on the streets? The city thinks that 90 days will suddenly produce housing for them? It has all the resources to rectify the homeless situation, and it refuses. Yet, all of a sudden it finds a rat problem where none had been, and uses that to bulldoze the sites of homeless culture and security. It is a real bait and switch job. 

The Horete, with its “response team” logo flashing, has no response. But what it does signify is that the city, and the City Manager, have finally found a loopholes in the Boise Decision. The city had fallen all over itself looking for one. It had created harassments, regulations, limits to the amount of sidewalk space a person could use, what they had to take with them when they went anywhere (like to the bathroom). It gave the police the ability to cite (give tickets). And it hired the Horete. Now, it provides its next stage of answer, to threaten people with illness or death from exposure to the elements, and to the social hostility that the city represents. And through isolation, it puts the onus on the homeless person, that the failure is really theirs. 

Make no mistake, none of this is not intentional. The Horete and its “panel of experts” have studied this problem of the homeless, the strength they acquire from their collective autonomy, their ability to work together, and take care of each other. It was to disrupt that that it sends druggies in to the encampments, to start fights, to create a rat problem, to make racist statements so that neighborhood people would turn away from them. The cops had done that before. It is a familiar tactic. When “First They Came for the Homeless” were being driven from pillar to post, and they got a temporary surcease from police harassment by joining up with the “Save the Post Office” movement, the cops sent some tweakers to camp nearby to give the cops an excuse to raid. 

A replay of that was enacted with respect to an Adeline St. encampment member. The Horete told him he could stay in the motel. But when the man said no, all his property was thrown out. His reason? The city had moved one of the disrupters to that same motel. The man feared for his safety. Rather than listen to the homeless person, who did not want to be in the area of someone who started fights, and created chaos, the Horete sought to punish him. 

Now we can see what the city and its Horete are buying by giving people a new tent, or 90 days in a motel. It is their submission to police rule; “either you do as we say, or we will try to harm you.” It is called “social control.” To its disgrace, the city council has adopted this position, as the loophole it sought in the once-upon-a-time constitutional right to sleep. 

A crime is being committed by the city in destroying the communities that the homeless build for themselves, as their main way of surviving living on the street. This Horete is committing and committed to the destruction of that culture. And unfortunately, we are all much too familiar with the word that sums that up.

If you have schizophrenia or schizoaffective, it affects everything in your life. Everything. From sitting on the toilet, to applying for a job or a car loan, to trying to obtain a higher education and a decent job. It affects your prospects of marrying someone you like, it affects how people perceive you, it affects how you are treated by cops and the "criminal justice system," it affects your health, your weight, your attractiveness or lack of it, your grooming, your teeth, and whether or not you feel comfortable--and can engage in conversation at any gathering, formal or casual. And it affects your lifespan. In short, if you have a severe mental illness, it has the likelihood to ruin your life.

The above paragraph might explain the high suicidality of mentally ill people. I caution you against such action. It would affect everyone in your life who cares about you, including family, friends, and anyone else with whom you have interaction. Another angle on this: you're going to die soon enough anyway, even if from old age, so why shouldn't you wait it out in the hope that a few good things can eventually come your way?

I'd had suicidal thoughts when I was young, and I couldn't follow up on them because of how it would affect the person who brought me into this world. Later in life, I have additional reasons to stay with it. I have hope of something better, and, even if it takes massive effort and persistence to bring this to fruition, and why not? 

Because of mental illness, and the extreme interruption that it produced, I didn't try much college--just a few classes at Diablo Valley College. I am more inclined to do a job because I find it much harder to be motivated to do classes. I've learned to teach myself through numerous avenues. When I want to learn something, there are the resources brought about by a computer; and I can call, text, or email people and ask questions. Curiosity and wanting to know more, propel me toward learning. Striking up a conversation with someone sometimes fulfills that. 

And my mind seems to be good at retaining certain types of facts like flypaper and flies. (I got rid of the fly problem years ago. I found that a fly swatter that I bought at Dollar Tree works much better than fly paper. It also helps get rid of flies if I clean up the apartment more often.) 

If a doctor has told you that you need to take medication, you should be compliant. Noncompliance is likely to ruin the condition of your brain, and the functioning you consequently lose might not come back. Noncompliance carries so many risks--the risk to life and limb of you and others, the risk of losing your legal rights, the risk of incarceration, the risk of long-term hospitalization, and more risks, and other complications--and problems. If you believe your diagnosis is wrong, you need to get a second opinion. You can't just deny it and do whatever you want. People don't get to just do whatever we want. Society has expectations. Society is big and you're small. Who will win? 

If you have not done so already, it is time to have a serious attitude about a mental illness. If you are mentally ill, the disease won't go away via religion, via meditation, through wishing it away, or by thinking it away. Treating a psychiatric disorder is the only way to salvage your life, to get some good things for yourself, and not to let your potential go to waste. 

---

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

I am writing to summarize and address the concerning revelations in recent news articles. First, it has been reported that despite receiving $1.3 billion in aid annually since 1987, Egypt has allegedly planned to send rockets to Russia. This is a troubling development, especially given the ongoing human rights abuses targeting activists and dissidents in Egypt. 

In addition, it has been revealed through Pentagon secrets that Israel, the 1.58 largest recipient of aid at $158 billion since 1948, was responsible for undermining Hillary Clinton's campaign in the 2016 election. This is a concerning revelation, and it raises questions about the potential influence of foreign actors in US politics. 

Furthermore, the Pentagon has a history of lying to the American public, from hiding failures in Vietnam to falsely claiming that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. More recently, leading members of Congress and the White House falsely claimed that Russia was facing defeat in Ukraine. These examples demonstrate the need for greater transparency and accountability from our government and military leaders. 

As citizens, we must remain informed and vigilant, and we must work towards a more just and equitable society. In spite of monumental failures on battlefields from Vietnam to Afghanistan, we continue to increase the bloated military and the Intelligence budgets year after year. This is an appalling waste of taxpayers’ funds.

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! 

A “trash cabinet” pilot program funded by the city and local businesses aims to "neaten" downtown by locking up trash bins.

Buried in the "innovative or eyesore" take on this proposal is the real target: recyclers making a hard but honest living off our waste. 

The "innovator" is John Caner, CEO of the Downtown Berkeley Association, famous for having his backroom flights of fancy wander onto the Berkeley City Council's agenda in no time flat without time-consuming visits to lengthy, tedious commission meetings or anything representing participatory democracy. 

Notice that you are paying for this "pilot project" whether you had a chance to hear about it or not, much like the involuntary data-sucking kiosks that make money off of your purchasing patterns. This is your local government, whether you saw it coming or not. 

The eviction moratorium is over, unlike the pandemic. The more important public health issues, such as secondhand smoke exposure and the absence of hand-washing facilities and bathrooms, are apparently not interesting enough to even bother with the obvious signage sitting in boxes at city hall or the option of insisting that the university turn the water back on at People's Park. 

In those public-free Business Improvement District back rooms, it doesn't matter what the public thinks, or that their "jail the garbage" policy hurts the most vulnerable. They're unelected. They're unaccountable. They're publicly funded. They know whom they are after. 

Putting garbage cans in jail to confound recyclers is just dumb. But the depth of the dumbth is in the accompanying photo, which shows a recycler smoking by the garbage jail, obviously finding enough garbage to stay afloat. And content to risk a $100 fine because nobody in Mayor Jesse Arreguin's administration cares enough to even put up the signage sitting in boxes ready to go. Remember his slogan when he runs for state office: Jail the Garbage! And he doesn't just mean the cans.

Tough-Guy Biden Dials It Back

On Tuesday, April 25, I found a text message from the White House on my aphone. It read:

"Gar, It's Joe Biden.
I want you to hear it from me:
NOW."

I know that Joe can be gruff and likes to play the tough-guy, but the tone of this note left me feeling miffed. I live in America, where we are told that our country enshrines "freedom and democracy." So I don't like being ordered around — even if the autocrat of the moment happens to be our 80-year-old POTUS.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one to bristle at Biden's brusque demand. A second notification arrived within minutes. It was the same message but with one exception. The command, "NOW," had been replaced by the time-stamp: "12:27 PM."

Biden's Social Security Take-away

According to Retirely, Joe and Jill Biden listed a whopping $54,665 in Social Security income on their joint 2021 income tax statements—that's about $4,555 per month. As Retirely noted, the Biden's monthly SSI check was "well above what the average retired worker brings home each month." (The Bidens, of course, are not retired nor are they in need of extra grocery-shopping cash.) 

With US inflation on course to hit a four-decade high of 9.1% in June, the 2023 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security could be the largest in decades. Following a 5.9% COLA increase passed along to beneficiaries in 2022, it's possible the Biden's 2023 Social Security pay-out could exceed $60,000 a year. 

According to archived tax returns, the Bidens' combined adjusted gross incomes hit $11,031,309 in 2017 and $4,580,437 in 2018. To calculate a retired worker's monthly check at full retirement age, the Social Security Administration considers an individual's 35 highest-earning, inflation-adjusted years. Because the Bidens have earned so much over multiple decades, they've likely neared or achieved Social Security's maximum monthly payout. 

Renovation in Progress 

It's always an inconvenience when a neighborhood convenience store goes dark. The popular Annaher mini-grocery/liquor store at the corner of San Pablo and Dwight Way is now closed for renovation "until further notice." Or, as a hand-written sign on the front door of the darkened store announces: "We will open again with more pretty self!" 

Fashion Plates 

Various personalized license plates spotted around town. 

Black BMS: G MOCKBA ("Zdrastvuy, tovarisch!" The driver has an affinity for Moscow and the Cyrillic alphabet)) 

Gray BMW: FOZBOOT (A local chap with a nickname and a Flickr account) 

White Saturn Vue: ECO GEM (A hybrid getting 28 mpg) 

Blue Toyota: DRUNK (Now that's just asking for trouble) 

Black Ford C-Max: ALMST EV (Earlier suspicion confirmed. A C-Max is a hybrid) 

Bumper Snickers 

Stop Making Stupid People Famous 

EARTH Without ART Is Just "EH" 

If the World Were Flat, Cats Would Have Pushed Everything Off by Now 

It's Not Critical Race Theory. It's United States History 

All I Want Is the Same Health Care Plan as Congress 

Gardening Is Cheaper than Therapy — And You Get Tomatoes 

Haikus Confuse Me: Too Often They Make No Sense: Hand Me the Pliers 

Why Was Tucker Sacked? 

Tube-casters Jimmy Dore and Arron Mate claim former-fellow-media-commentator Tucker Carlson was fired ("out FOXed"?) for telling a few too many embarrassing truths. Carlrson was too outspoken about the corruption of Big Pharma. He invited antiwar/anti-vaxxer RFK, Jr. on air. Dore and Mate note that Carlson told the truth about Julian Assange, about Syria, and about US destabilizing plots targeting Cuba and Venezuela. Carlson criticized the DOJ for prosecuting members of the African People's Socialist Party for criticizing US foreign policy regarding Russia and Ukraine. (Nobody on liberal media spoke up to defend the free-speech rights of these fellow Americans. Not even progressive members of the Squad raised a Congressional ruckus about the threat to imprison fellow citizens for disagreeing with White House policy." 

Carlson has confessed that he regrets that, when he was younger, he publicly supported George W. Bush's illegal, based-on-a-lie war on Iraq. Carlson has also opined that the media are "mostly propaganda" and he is now ashamed of his role in spreading Op-Prop. 

When Governments Capture Kids 

When Russian leader Vladimir Putin removed thousands of orphans and other children from war zones in Ukraine to shelters in Russia, The West shouted "war crime!" and Putin was ruled guilty of criminal acts by the International Criminal Court. But it seemed like an odd call, given that many observers saw the removal as a mission to save young lives—some even called the relocation a humanitarian act. 

Now let's pause to compare Putin's kisnappings to Washington's record of separating migrant children from their families at the US/Mexico border. 

As Win Without War recently wrote: "Under Trump, a cruel immigration system tore thousands of families apart, leaving children to face the unknown alone. Years later, and despite promises of change, President Biden is failing migrant kids." 

A series of cringe-worthy reports in The New York Times have revealed how the Biden administration repeatedly ignored reports that thousands of migrant children were torn from their families only to be exploited as a source of cheap labor—consigned to work long hours in dangerous settings, "working overnight in slaughterhouses, replacing roofs, operating dangerous machinery in factories, and more." A lot of concerned Americans have been raising a ruckus about this horrific situation that continues to fester right here in the US Homeland. Meanwhile, the judges at the ICC remain mum. 

Charmin's Unbearable Bare Bear Bottoms 

Care2 Actions is alarmed that some of the largest US paper companies have been deforesting Canada's boreal forests to turn pristine woodlands into… toilet paper. The Natural Resources Defense Council recently revealed how US paper mills were responsible for destroying "about six NHL-sized hockey rinks' worth of forest every minute." Procter & Gamble alone scored more than $80 billion in revenue last year by turning rolling hills of trees into plastic-wrapped rolls of paper. Care2 Actions is calling out US paper mills for mauling Canada's pines for profit. "There is no excuse for a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars to continue contributing to deforestation." 

There are options. Some companies use 100% recycled content to make their bathroom tissue while others use bamboo. "Both options are better than chopping down millions of trees," Care2 Actions notes: "We shouldn't be chopping down entire forests just to wipe our dirty bottoms. There are more sustainable options." Meanwhile, we can send a message to America's Corporate Deforesters and—bonus—you won't need to scribble your name on a piece of forest-logged paper. Just sign this paperless, electronic petition.  

Could a Strange Hole the Bottom of the Pacific Trigger a Monster Quake? 

Scientists at the University of Washington have discovered an enormous, enigmatic "hole" in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean off the US coast. Researchers report that the unexpected fissure is actively spewing "tectonic fluid," which scientists say increases the possibility of triggering a major quake. 

A magnitude 9.0 or higher "megathrust quake," is possible, and concerns are rising that this newly discovered "hole" in the seabed is leaking—a probable sign that could presage an historically powerful earthquake accompanied by a potentially catastrophic tsunami. A sane response to such a threat might require the federal government to order and orchestrate a mass evacuation of coastal cities—from Santa Barbara to Vancouver. But where would "quake refugees" relocate when the rest of the country—from the Rockies to the Midwest to the Southern States and the East Coast—is beset by historic episodes of flooding, hurricanes, snowfall, tornadoes, and wildfires? 

 

Public Citizen Takes Stock of Political Turpitude 

"It feels like members of Congress just do better in the stock market than you or me," says a recent mailing from Public Citizen, "But some members of Congress don’t even seem to care that their stock trades look suspicious and contribute to Americans’ distrust of their public officials." A few choice samples: 

• In 2020, a pack of senators fortuitously jettisoned their stocks just weeks before the market crashed, owing to the declaration of a global pandemic threat. (Insider trading, anyone?) 

• In 2021, Business Insider revealed “49 members of Congress have violated a law designed to stop insider trading and prevent conflicts-of-interest.” 

• And in earlier April, The Wall Street Journal identified two members of Congress had instigated trades of their bank stocks at the same time they were engaged in efforts to address recent bank failures. 

According to Public Citizen: "Congress is proving it can’t be trusted to follow existing laws and avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest while trading stocks, so it’s time to ban members of Congress from stock trading altogether." 

Here's the good news: 

• Recently, Senator Jeff Merkley introduced a bill to ban stock trading by politicians and their spouses. The bill was cleverly labeled the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (aka ETHICS). 

• The ETHICS Act was introduced with the backing of 21 co-sponsors. 

Most senators have not yet announced their position on this legislation so it is critical that they hear a public outcry to support—and pass—this bill in the Senate. 

ACTION: Click here to encourage our senators to co-sponsor the ETHICS Act. 

Our Political Reps and Their Courage Scores 

The Courage Campaign has just blown the trumpets to announce its 8th annual Courage Scorecard. That means it's time to check-the-stats and see if your state legislators are working for you or shilling for wealthy corporations. 

CourageScore.org is a "one-of-a-kind, multi-issue legislative scorecard that puts the power of accountability back in the people’s hands." The scorecard charts how politicians voted on major progressive bills. The website also makes it one-click-easy to contact representatives directly to exclaim—or complain—about their voting record. 

While California is renowned for its pioneering progressive legislation, the Courage Campaign notes that "too many of our representatives are under the overwhelming influence of wealthy interests, like Big Oil and police unions." 

Courage Scores not only reveal legislators' votes but they also trace the money trails. 

"We believe that elected officials should be held accountable to the needs of our communities, not corporate lobbyists," says the Courage Campaign. "When legislators represent their districts well, we’ll celebrate them as All-Stars. And when they fail to represent their districts, we’ll call them out on it in our Hall of Shame." 

Berkeley can take pride in the not-surprising news that Assembly Member Buffy Wicks and Senator Nancy Skinner both rank 100% A+ on the Courage Scoreboard. 

Meanwhile, the Hall of Shame, calls attention to lawmakers who "consistently fail their constituents by aligning with corporations and lobbyists instead of everyday Californians." The Hall of Shame link reveals the history of California's top-five feckless legislators. (You want names? We got names! Bill Dodds, Steve Glazer, Tim Grayson, Susan Rubio, and Carlos Villapudua. You want more names? Check out the Dreary Dozen, a list of 12 current and former pols who made the Dishonorable Mentions list.) 

Message from Another Era 

Herewith, an email from an elder activist offers a generational kvetch about the confounding nature of modern life. 

"[Exhibit #3,713 in the difficulty someone from another era encounters now in daily life. 

"I used the phone and English to make an appt. for dog grooming/haircut for one dog, nail job for other. All was normal. I'd dealt with this (corporate) outfit for years.. Then I got this text, telling me one dog's appt. had been canceled because I had not done some verb to some noun, neither of which I had ever heard of. This secret code ring stuff had not come up in our phone call. How is one supposed to deal with s— like this? 

"The online exchange:" 

Appointment has been cancelled for Koda w/ Xavier at the PetSmart located at … Pinole, CA 

"How come Koda was canceled?" 

The keyword you specified was not recognized. 

"I have no idea what is this keyword, nor could I have specified something I never heard of, nor do I understand this "recognizing" you speak of. I am from a different time, speak a different language. Is there an interpreter around?" 

"Trago Coco E Um Xaxado": Meet Negah Santos 

If you watch Stephen Colbert's The Late Show, you may have wondered why the studio audience is clapping so madly when the show returns following its first commercial break. Colbert offers a nightly clue by waving in the direction of the studio musicians and inviting the audience to "Give it up for The Late Show band." 

It's now possible for the at-home audience to experience some of these off-broadcast performances thanks to a shared archive of what's been labeled The Late Show's "Commercial Breakdown." 

The following video with Louis Cato and The Late Show Band features the exceptionally talented Nêgah Santos. So take a break from the world's woes and give your ears a treat with this foot-stomping, hand-clapping musical interlude—a hot splash of music that just might get you dancing. 

 

n>

In a career spanning almost four decades, Joshua Bell has established himself as one of the premier violinists of his era. He returned to Davies Hall for four performances, April 22-30, with the San Francisco Symphony under the direction of Dalia Stasevska, who was making her local debut. The main attraction for this series of concerts was the Violin Concerto in D minor of Jean Sibelius, with Joshua Bell as soloist. 

Opening the concert was a brief 6-minute piece, Nautilus, by contemporary Scottish composer Anna Meredith. In its first performance by San Francisco Symphony, Nautilus, originally written as an electronic piece, was heard here in an arrangement for orchestra by Jack Ross. It is a piece oddly reminiscent of Ravel’s Bolero, in that like Bolero, Nautilus features an unrelenting ostinato endlessly repeated. The basic melody is offered by the brass instruments, especially the trumpets; but what gives this work variety is.the use of different percussion instruments. Among these were xylophone, tubular bells, snare drum, marimba, bass drum, and floor tom, plus an unidentifiable upright instrument with two rows of metal gongs struck by metal mallets. Never having seen such an instrument before, neither I nor anyone around me could identify this instrument, though its use greatly contributed to the effectiveness of Nautilus, which otherwise would have bogged down in unrelenting repetitiveness. After the concert, I learned that the instrument in question was a form of tubular bells similar to the bonang bells in Indonesian gamelan music. 

Next on the program was the Sibelius Violin Concerto featuring Joshua Bell as soloist. This work, which premiered in 1905, famously opens with the violin’s dissonant and off-beat first note, making for a striking beginning that the composer himself found “marvelous.” The first theme is a dreamy song heard in the violin, played here by Joshua Bell with warm intonation in the violin’s mid-range. There ensues what may be called a “mini-cadenza,” starting with a flurry of 16th notes. After an orchestral interlude, the second theme, highly romantic in nature, is also heard in the violin. Then comes a long and dramatic orchestral passage leading to the work’s true cadenza, which demands great virtuosity from the soloist, here magisterially performed by Joshua Bell, who truly worked up a sweat in this challenging cadenza. 

2 

The second movement, a moving Adagio, opens with a five-measure introduction for the woodwinds, after which the solo violin enters with a gentle melody accompanied by chords from the horns and bassoons. This is a sentimental poem of great tenderness, accompanied at times by pizzicato in the cellos. Towards the end of this movement there occurred a brief passage where the orchestra tended to smother the mid-range of Joshua Bell’s violin, though, thankfully, this moment was very brief. The Finale opens with timpani and basses projecting a strong rhythm, then joined by the solo violin in music that musicologist Donald Francis Tovey famously called “Evidently a polonaise for polar bears,” (a remark which this concert’s program notes indicate “it seems no writer can resist quoting.)” This movement is full of brilliance, with two forceful orchestral tutti. In the coda, Joshua Bell’s violin offers pyrotechnical octave passages 

that bring this work to a brilliant close. 

After intermission, conductor Dalia Stasevska returned to the podium to conduct the Symphony No. 2 in D minor by Jean Sibelius. Milton Cross opines that “The Symphony No. 2 in D minor, is neither the best of Sibelius’ symphonies nor the most representative. But concert audiences have been most partial to it. It is not difficult to understand why.” Indeed, this symphony is highly dramatic, extroverted from beginning to end, full of bravura surges. The first movement features much use of timpani and brass initially, and later offers fine interplay between woodwinds and strings. The second movement begins with a soft timpani roll followed by extended pizzicato plucking in the cellos and basses. Later, there is a lovely passage for flutes over pizzicato from the cellos. The orchestra then builds to a dramatic crescendo, forcefully led by conductor Dalia Stasevska. The third movement offers a scampering theme, vigorously conducted here by Dalia Stasevska; and the fourth and final movement under her lead was a celebratory romp, bringing this Sibelius Second Symphony to a brilliant close. 

In her local debut, conductor Dalia Stasevska, who is chief conductor of Finland’s Lahti Symphony, made a forceful impression. She is a highly physical conductor, throwing her whole body into her exhortations to the orchestra. Indeed, her conducting might even be a bit over the top in physicality. At least that seemed to be the case in her interpretation of the Sibelius Second Symphony, though the results in this work were undeniably strong.

Worth Noting:

The April 25 City Council Regular Meeting Agenda is available for public comment and follows below this calendar of meetings.

The bolded meetings are selected as “go to meetings” to encourage your attendance at those meetings and give public comment.

Picking a city commission or a council committee that covers your issues and then attending those meetings regularly is the best way to influence and have a say in the outcomes for our community.

• Monday:
  • 10 am the Council Land Use Committee meets in the hybrid format on the Relocation Ordinance.
  • 3 pm the City Council is in closed session, but public comments can be made in the hybrid format before the closed session begins.
  • 6:30 pm is the Waterfront Specific Plan meeting online on design standards for recreation and nature areas.
  • 7 pm the Peace and Justice Commission meets in person on sister cities and on the Shellmound status.
  • 7 pm the Personnel Board meets in person.
• Tuesday:
  • 3 pm the 4 x 4 Committee meets in the hybrid format the on eviction moratorium.
  • 6 pm City Council meets in hybrid format on the Hard Hat Ordinance and includes “consider upzoning” for more taller buildings in the downtown.
  • 6:30 pm the goBerkeley SmartSpace paid parking program in the Southside and Elmwood neighborhoods meets in the hybrid format.
• Wednesday:
  • 5:30 pm the Planning Commission meets in person.
  • 6:30 pm the Waterfront Specific Plan webinar on parking and commercial development meets online.
  • 6:30 pm the Board of Library Trustees meets in person.
  • 7 pm the Homeless Services Panel of Experts meets in person on Measure P funding priorities.
• Thursday:
  • 9 am the Council Budget Committee meets in the hybrid format on T1 funding shortfall, action on the T1 shortfall is expected) and FY 2024 budget.
  • 1 pm Council FITES Committee meets in the hybrid format.
  • 1 pm WETA meets in the hybrid format.
  • 7 pm the Housing Advisory Commission meets in person on projects for Housing Trust Fund funding.
  • 7 pm the Landmarks Preservation Commission meets in person.
• Saturday and Sunday: is the Book Fair, but the Outdoor Book Fair is only on Sunday not both days as in prior years. Programs with speakers are on both days.

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

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



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BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS



Sunday, April 30, 2023 - No city meetings listed.



Monday, May 1, 2023 

 

Council LAND USE, HOUSING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT at 10 am 

Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1603285918 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (Toll Free) Meeting ID: 160 328 5918 

AGENDA: 2. Arreguin, co-sponsor Hahn – Tenant Habitability Plan and amendments to Relocation Ordinance, 3. Hahn, co-sponsors Harrison, Taplin – Budget Referral $250,000 for Study to support Housing Element commitment to increase housing on higher-resourced (wealthier neighborhoods) commercial avenues of Solano, North Shattuck and College Avenue 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-land-use-housing-economic-development 

 

CITY COUNCIL CLOSED SESSION at 3 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1611791416 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 161 179 1416 

AGENDA: 1. Existing litigation a. Stachl v City of Berkeley RG20074265, 2. a. Significant exposure to litigation see April 22, 2023 letter from David H. Blackwell on behalf of Mevlanarumi LLC. Owners of 2023-25 Shattuck, 2.a. Communications, Tuija Catalano, on behalf of Reuben, Junius & Rose LLP, b. Alejandres v. City of Berkeley CA Civil Rights Dept, #202209-18233514, 3. Conference with Labor Negotiators, Employee Organizations: Berkeley Fire Fighters Association Local 1227 I.A.F.F., Berkeley Police Association Public Employees Union Local 1 

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

 

PEACE and JUSTICE COMMISSION at 7 pm 

In-Person: 2939 Ellis, South Berkeley Senior Center 

AGENDA: 8. Presentation and Discussion by Share Members and Mayor Victor Hugo Tejada of Las Vegas, Honduras, 9. Pass a resolution to establish a Sister City with Las Vegas Honduras and Santa Barbara Honduras, 10. Seating at Post Offices, 11. Discuss the Shellmound and possible modification of Land Acknowledgement, 12. Discuss Reimagining Public Safety in Berkeley 

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

 

PERSONNEL BOARD at 7 pm 

In-Person: 1301 Shattuck, Live Oak Community Center, Fireside Room 

AGENDA: V. Request for Extension of Temporary Community Service Specialist III Joshua Oehler, Senior Management Analyst Rhianna Babka, and Senior Development Project Coordinator Jenny Wyant, VI. Recommendation Amending Fire Captain II Job Class Specification, VII. Recommendation amending the Police Officer Recruit Job Class Specification, VIII. Recommendation for Creating Lactation Counselor Job Class Specification, IX. Recommendation amending the Audit Manager Job Class Specification 

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

 

WATERFRONT SPECIFIC PLAN WEBINAR from 6:30 – 8:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83258360468 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 832 5836 0468 Passcode: 366537 

AGENDA: Discussion on design standards for Nature and Recreation (Cesar Chavez Park is excluded 

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CABERKE/bulletins/357b7e8 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/waterfront-specific-plan-webinar-1 

 

Tuesday, May 2, 2023 

 

4 x 4 JOINT TASK FORCE COMMITTEE at 3 pm (City Council and Rent Board) 

A Hybrid Meeting: 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia, 1st floor, cypress Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1619359698?pwd=bHRJSHp5Z2MyMTNPOXBoWDlhcEJRUT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 Meeting ID: 161 935 9698 Passcode: 435279 

AGENDA: 6. Eviction Moratorium, 7. Housing Retention Program, 8. Discussion regarding approval process for messages in the City of Berkeley newsletter, to promote short-term rentals, 9. Update on Tenant Habitability 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/4x4-joint-task-force-committee-housing 

 

CITY COUNCIL Special 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/1612900378 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 161 290 0378 

AGENDA: 1. Adding BMC Chapter 13.107 Hard Hat Ordinance, helping to achieve responsible development with healthcare and apprenticeship training standards, 1. Establish standards for private development, 2. Refer to City Manager and Planning Commission if necessary to include analysis of the costs, feasibility, recommend adjustments to impact fees to offset the cost of new requirements, bring back to council enabling legislation if necessary, consider upzoning downtown for increased number of taller buildings, refer to 2024 budget process. 

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

 

goBerkeley SmartSpace COMMUNITY Meeting from 6:30 – 8 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

Register to attend in person or receive virtual link 

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/goberkeley-smartspace-may-2023-community-meeting-tickets-594924965587 

In-Person: 2236 Parker, LIFE Adventist Church 

AGENDA: goBerkeley SmartSpace is a grant-funded pilot program for parking management 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/goberkeley-smartspace-community-meeting-findings-next-steps 

 

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 

 

BOARD of LIBRARY TRUSTEES (BOLT) at 6:30 pm 

In-Person: 1901 Russell, Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch 

AGENDA: II.B. Consent Amend Contract add $325,000 total $1,200,000 with L.J. Kruse Company for HVAC plumbing repair and preventive maintenance, III.A. Action: Interview Trustee candidates, B. Recommendation to City Council 

https://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/about/board-library-trustees 

 

HOMELESS SERVICES PANEL of EXPERTS at 7 pm 

In-Person: 1901 North Berkeley Senior Center 

AGENDA: 7. Review programs, current and proposed, funded under Measure P and establish priorities for funding 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/homeless-services-panel-experts 

 

PLANNING COMMISSION at 5:30 pm 

In-Person: 1901 Hearst North Berkeley Senior Center 

AGENDA: 5 Staff report, 10. Public Hearing Tentative Tract Map #8639, 11. Public Hearing ADU Amendments to conform to current state law and HCD Guidance, 12. Public Hearing: State Law Technical Edits, 13. Poll for Special Meeting on July 19, 2023 

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

 

WATERFRONT SPECIFIC PLAN WEBINAR from 6:30 – 8:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87859978480 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171 Meeting ID: 878 5997 8480 Passcode: 164630  

AGENDA: Discussion on design standards for Commercial Development and Parking 

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CABERKE/bulletins/357b7e8 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/waterfront-specific-plan-webinar-2 

 

Thursday, May 4, 2023 

 

BUDGET and FINANCE COMMITTEE at 9 am 

A Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1613420519 

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

AGENDA: 2. Measure T1 funding gap, 3. Second Amendment to the FY 2023 Annual Appropriations Ordinance, 4. FY 2024 Mid-biennial Budget Update, 5. Measure P FY 2024 Mid-biennial Update 

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

 

FACILITIES, INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY (FITES) at 1 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1609443290 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 160 944 3290 

AGENDA: 2. Garland - Audit Status Report: Underfunded Mandate: Resources, strategic plan and communication needed to continue progress towards the year 2020 zero waste goal 3. Garland - Audit Status Report: unified vision of zero waste activities will help align service levels with billing and ensure customer equity, 4. Kesarwani, co-sponsors Humbert, Taplin - Budget Referral: Additional street maintenance funding to improve pavement condition, saving tax dollars and our streets 

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

 

HOUSING ADVISORY COMMISSION (HAC) at 7 pm 

In-Person: 2939 Ellis, South Berkeley Senior Center  

AGENDA: 6. Discussion & possible action to recommend Housing Trust Fund program funding for Ephesian Legacy Court (1708 Harmon), 7. Discussion & possible action to recommend Housing Trust Fund program funding for Woolsey Gardens (3120-3130 Shattuck), 8. Update on Fair Access and Transparency for Rental Housing Applications Ordinance Subcommittee 

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

 

LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION (LPC) at 7 pm 

In-Person: 1901 Hearst, North Berkeley Senior Center 

AGENDA: 6. 60 Panoramic Way – Landmark or Structure of Merit Designation, 7. 910 Indian Rock – Consider a request from a group of residents to initiate consideration of City Landmark or Structure of Merit for a Walter H. Ratcliff Jr. residential property, 8. 2531 Ridge Road Consider a request for a residential property for consideration of City Landmark or Structure of Merit, 9. 2132-2154 Center – Thomas Block Building, consider initiating City Landmark or Structure of Merit. 

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

 

WATER EMERGENCY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (WETA) at 1 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: Port of San Francisco Pier 1 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89718217408 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 897 1821 7408 Password: 33779 

AGENDA: 4. Report Chair, 5. Report Directors, 6. Reports Staff, 8. Adopt WETA fare policy and program FY 2024-2028, 9. Contract for Vallejo terminal reconfiguration, EIR and permitting services, 10. Contracts for on-call pilot and emergency ferry services, 11. Draft final WETA zero emissions plan, 12. Review proposed FY 2023/2024 budget and salary schedule. 

https://weta.sanfranciscobayferry.com/next-board-meeting 

 

Friday, May 5, 2023 - No city meetings listed. 

 

Saturday, May 6, 2023 

 

BAY AREA BOOK FESTIVAL 2023  

Programs start at 11 am, check website  

https://www.baybookfest.org/ 

 

Sunday, May 7, 2023 

 

BAY AREA BOOK FESTIVAL 2023 from  

Outdoor Fair – one-day only – on Sunday 

No hours are listed on the festival website for the outdoor fair 

https://www.baybookfest.org/ 

 

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May 9, 2023 AGENDA for 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/1603158470 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (toll free) Meeting ID: 160 315 8470 

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

 

AGENDA on CONSENT 

1. Proposition Procedures and Five Year Zero Waste Schedule (garbage pick-up rates)
2. Brown, City Attorney – Waiver of Sanctuary City Ordinance to Amend Westlaw Subscription
3. Friedrichsen, Budget Manager – First reading of an Ordinance amending FY 2023 Annual Appropriations Ordinance (AAO) $27,740,780 (gross) and $29,4588,924 (net)
4. Williams-Ridley, City Manager – Appointment of David Sprague-Livingston as Fire Chief
5. Williams-Ridley, City Manager – Appointment of Jennifer Louis as Police Chief
6. Oyekanmi, Finance - $7,305,000 Formal bid solicitations
7. Warhuus, HHCS – Apply for and accept $5,000,000 from State of CA Local Housing Trust Fund program and apply to St. Paul Terrace (2024 Ashby) vis City’s Housing Trust Fund
8. Warhuus, HHCS – Amend contract #31900263 add General Funds $98,275, Safe at Home Program $24,575, Community Facility Improvement $122,850 amended total $614,250 with Rebuilding Together East Bay-North and extend to 6/30/2024
9. Warhuus, HHCS – Contract $75,000 with Optimas Services, Inc for consulting services related to Mental Health Medi-Cal Billing and the CalAIM Initiative
10. Warhuus, HHCS – Amend contract #32300108 add $50,000 total $99,500 with Street Level Advisors, LLC for housing consulting services and extend to 6/30/2024
11. Warhuus, HHCS – Contract $110,000 with Pacific Site Management Landscaping for 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2026
12. Warhuus, HHCS – Contract $380,000 with resource Development Associates for consultation services to support HHCS program assessment and planning
13. Warhuus, HHCS – Contract $100,000 with Hansine Fisher & Associates for Targeted Case Management and Medi-Cal Administrative Activities for 7/1/2023-6/30/2024
14. Warhuus, HHCS – Revenue Grant Agreement: funding support from Essential Access Health to conduct Public Health Services $180,000 for 4/1/2023 – 3/30/2024
15. Warhuus, HHCS – Revenue Grant Agreements: funding support from the state of CA to conduct Public Health Services CHDP and EPSDT and HCPCFC $303,709, MCAH $375,000, Tobacco Trust Fund $300,000 all for FY 2024; Immunization Program $1,368,080 for FY 2023-2027, CRI $1,368,080 for FY 2023-2027, CLPPP $107,374 per year for FY 2024-2026 total $322,123, CFHL $487,170 for FY 2024-2027
16. Warhuus, HHCS – Revenue Grant Agreements: funding support from Alameda County for health promotion, protection and prevention services all for FY 2024, Foster Care $96,500, Berkeley High and Berkeley technology Academy Health Center Programs $181,208, School Linked Health Services Program $200,011, Tobacco Prevention $78,960
17. Warhuus, HHCS – Accept $650,928 from CA Dept of Public Health Strengthening Public Health Initiative for 12/1/2022 – 11/30/2027
18. Kouyoumdjian, Human Resources – Establish Classification and Salary for Electrical Supervisor and Communications Supervisor monthly salary range $9,666.8000 - $10,882.1055
19. Ferris, Parks – Donation $3,400 for Memorial Bench at Mortar Rock Park in memory of Charles D. Sooy
20. Ferris, Parks – Amend contract #32100138 add $1,000,000 with AnchorCM and amend #32100144 add $1,000,000 with Park Engineering, Inc. for on-call Waterfront Project and Construction Management Services total for both contracts $4,000,000 and extend 6/30/2024-6/30/2025
21. Ferris, Parks – Contract $360,000 with Elavon for credit card payment processing transaction services for the Recreation Division’s online registration system for 6/1/2023 to 5/31/2027
22. Ferris, Parks – Amend contract #32200098 add $138,000 total $1,338,000 with ERA Construction, Inc. for the O&K Docks electrical upgrade project
23. Garland, Public Works – Agreement with EBMUD for Sewer Service Billing and Collection $6,100,000 for 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2033
24. Wong, Auditor – Amend contract add $100,000 total $124,000 with Missionmark for Audit Management and Recommendation Tracking Software and extend to 5/30/2027
25. May, Fire Dept – Approval of Additional Disaster and Fire Safety Commission Meeting

AGENDA on ACTION: 

26. Friedrichsen, Budget Manager – FY 2024 Proposed Budget Updates and FY 2024 Proposed Budget Update Public Hearing #1
27. Warhuus, HHCS – Submission of the ProgramYear (FY 2024) Annual Action Plan Containing Allocations of Federal Funds
28. Kouyoumdjian, Human Resources – Resolution of Intention to Amend the Miscellaneous CalPERS Contract to Effectuate PEPRA Cost Sharing Agreements

INFORMATION REPORTS: 

29. Oyekanmi, Finance - FY 2023 2nd Quarter Investment Report ended 12/31/2022
30. Warhuus, HHCS – Annual Report on the Ronald V. Dellums Fair Chance Access to Housing Ordinance
31. Klein, Planning and Development - LPO NOD 1919 Addison
32. Klein, Planning and Development – LPO NOD 0 Center Street – Civic Center Park

 

++++++++++++++++++ 

 

LAND USE CALENDAR: 

Public Hearings 

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

 

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS: 

May 16 - Fire Facilities Study Report 

June 20 - Climate Action Plan and Resilience Update, Berkeley Economic Dashboards Update,  

July 18 – Draft Waterfront Specific Plan (tentative) 

 

Unscheduled Presentations: 

City Council Agenda & Rules Committee and Unfinished Business for Scheduling 

City Policies for Managing Parking Around BART Stations 

Unfunded Liability Obligations and Unfunded Infrastructure Needs 

 

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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: 

 

For no extra cost the ZOOM meeting application has as part of their program 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. 

 

Know that any Zoom meeting can be set up to allow Closed Captioning and Save Transcript. Also, any meeting can be set up to allow Chat and to Save Chat.  

 

If there is no CC at the bottom of your zoom screen, the person who set up the meeting did not activate this option. They may not realize they have this option or they may know about it and have chosen not to offer closed captioning. If it is not activated, ask for it. 

 

To save a meeting transcript, look for CC for Closed Captioning at the bottom of the screen. Then click on the arrow next to CC and select View Full Transcript. You will only see the transcript from the time you activated closed captioning or view full transcript. It is not necessary to show closed captioning to see and save the transcript. 

 

At the bottom of the transcript column if we, as attendees, are allowed to save the transcript, there will be a button for, "Save Transcript," you can click on the button repeatedly throughout the meeting and it will just overwrite and update the 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. 

 

– So click often on both "Save Transcript" and on "Save to Folder"--saving it to your computer during the meeting for best results. (These text files are not large.) 

 

After you have done your last "Save Transcript" and "Save to Folder"--then (after the meeting is over) you can rename the new transcript on your computer, and save it (to re-read it, or to send or share it). Remember, allowing us attendees to save the meeting transcript does not require the public meeting host to save these transcripts (for any public record.) 

 

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 Transcripts: 

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