Worth Noting:

The Sierra Club voting for the group and chapter executive committee and the group executive committees ends at 11:59 pm on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

Voting online is the easiest and fastest way to vote. Faxed and emailed ballots are NOT accepted. https://www.sierraclub.org/sfbay/chapter-elections

In order to vote you need your 8 digit membership number (it is above your name on the back of the ballot in the Yodeler). If you can't find the winter edition of the Yodeler with the candidate statements, ballot and your membership number call (415) 977-5653 or email member.care@sierraclub.org

The two scheduled City Council meetings (3 pm and 6 pm) on Tuesday December 12th are the GOTO meetings of the week.,

Council Winter Recess is from December 13, 2023 – January 15, 2024. The agenda for the regular meeting is posted at the bottom of this email.  

• Monday:
  • At 9 am the Budget and Finance Committee meets in the hybrid format on the AAO#1 (mid-year budget adjustment).
  • At 10 am the Health, Life Enrichment, Equity & Community meets on locations for the Chess Club.
  • At 3 pm the Council meets in closed Session in the hybrid format.
  • At 6:30 pm the Youth Commission meets in person.
• Tuesday:
  • At 10 am the Solano Business Improvement District meets in person.
  • At 3 pm the City Council meets in the hybrid format on the North Berkeley BART Objective Design Standards.
  • At 6 pm the City Council meets in the hybrid format with the AAO#1 (mid-year budget adjustment) as the main agenda action item.

• Wednesday: no city meetings, the Commission on Disability meeting is cancelled
• Thursday:
  • At 7 pm the Mental Health Commission meets in person.
  • At 7 pm the Zoning Adjustment Board meets in the hybrid format.
• Saturday:
  • At 8:30 am and 9:45 am Breakfast with Santa, pre-registration required, $10 per person
  • At 9 am Saturday Shoreline Cleanup

Free Yoga Classes every Tuesday and Wednesday from 4:30 – 5:30 pm at the West Berkeley Family Wellness Center, 1900 Sixth Street, Register by phone 510-981-5350. 

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

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  

BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS  

Sunday, December 10, 2023 – no city meetings or vents found  

Monday, December 11, 2023  

BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE at 9 am 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia, 5th Floor – Pepperwood Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1600085900 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (Toll Free)  

Meeting ID: 160 008 5900 

AGENDA: 2. Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Appropriations Ordinance#1 (AAO), 3. Audit Recommendations Berkeley Police Department to manage overtime and security work for outside entities. 

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

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/1602349567 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-833-568-8864 (Toll Free)  

Meeting ID: 160 234 9567 

AGENDA: 2. Robinson & Harrison – Referral: Use of Sidewalks for Recreation, Such as Chess – Refer to the City Manager to evaluate and return to City Council with recommendations and legislative alternatives for making use of tables, chairs, and other relevant objects that can be easily moved to be allowed without a permit application for non-disruptive recreational uses in the public right-of-way. 3. Hahn – Supporting the Installation of Permanent Chess/Games Tables on Telegraph Ave and proposing resolution of concerns of 2454 Telegraph, refer to the budget process $50,000 to support installation of public chess/game tables on Telegraph including at or near the intersection of Telegraph and Haste 

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

CITY COUNCIL Closed Session at 3 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1603668617  

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

Meeting ID: 160 366 8617 

AGENDA: one item 1. Conference with Legal Counsel – anticipated litigation Worker’s Compensation Case: ADJ Number: ADJ16352062 

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

YOUTH COMMISSION at 6:30 pm 

In-Person: at 1730 Oregon, Youth Services Center/YAP 

AGENDA: 9. 2024 meeting dates, 10. BHS Restroom Survey to pass out to BHS students. 

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

Tuesday, December 12, 2023  

CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting at 3 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1610996492 

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

Meeting ID: 161 099 6492 

AGENDA: one item 1. North Berkeley BART Housing Objective Design Standards 

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/1610996492 

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

Meeting ID: 161 099 6492 

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 

SOLANO BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT at 10 am 

In-Person: at 1801 Solano, Mechanics Bank 

AGENDA: 4. Budget Review, 5. 2024 Work Plans, equity on the Avenue, Parking and sidewalks. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/solano-avenue-business-improvement-district-advisory-board 

Wednesday, December 13, 2023 – no city meetings or events found 

COMMISSION on DISABILITY - cancelled  

Thursday, December 14, 2023  

MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION at 7 pm 

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

AGENDA: 3. SCU update, 4. Cares First, Jails Last update, 5. Proposal for Early Intervention in Psychosis Program, 6. Meeting Schedule for 2024, 7. Proposal to establish a subcommittee concerning statewide efforts to build residential facilities, 8. Revisit, review and vote on formal request to make the Commission meetings hybrid. 10. Subcommittee reports, 10. Mental Health Manager’s Report and Caseload Statistics. 

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

ZONING ADJUSTMENT 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/85264630230 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171  

Meeting ID: 852 6463 0230 

AGENDA: 3. 1287 Gilman – to continue to date uncertain - Use Permit#ZP2023-0122 – to establish a wine bar 

4. 2800 Martin Luther King Jr Way - Use Permit #ZP2023-0098 - to convert a single-family home into a duplex and increase the number of bedrooms from 5 to 9 (the posted staff summary does not fully describe the added height or additions in the conversion) – staff recommend approve 

5. 2573 Shattuck – Use Permit #ZP2023-0088 – change use of 5,504 sq ft tenant space from general retail to a veterinary clinic – staff recommend approve. 

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

Friday, December 15, 2023 – no city meetings or events found  

Saturday, December 16, 2023  

PANCAKE BREAKFAST with SANTA two seatings 8:30 am and 9:45 am 

Location: 1301 Shattuck, Live Oak Park 

Pre-registration required, $10 per person 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/pancake-breakfast-santa-0 

SHORELINE CLEANUP from 9 – 11 am 

Location meetup: 160 University 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/3rd-saturday-shoreline-cleanup 

Sunday, December 17, 2023 – no city meetings or events found  

++++++++++++++++ City Council DECEMBER 12, 2023 ++++++++++++++++  

AGENDA for DECEMBER 12, 2023 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/1610996492 

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

Meeting ID: 161 099 6492 

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

AGENDA on CONSENT: 

1. Harvey – 2nd reading Amendments to Berkeley Election Reform Act (BERA) cost of living adjustment and reporting requirement thresholds
2. Klein, Planning – 2nd reading Southside Zoning Implementation Program and 2023-2031 Housing Element Update
3. Warhuus, HHCS – 2nd reading Authorizing Lease of 830 University to Berkeley Free Clinic
4. Minutes for approval 10/23/2023, 11/6/2023, 11/7/2023, 11/13/2023, 11/14/2023, 11/21/2023 and 11/28/2023
5. Oyekanmi, Finance – Formal Bid Solicitations $150,000 for Willard Clubhouse Public Art
6. Warhuus, HHCS – Extend the Duration of Funding Reservations for Housing Trust Fund Projects Measure O Funds Ashby Lofts at 2909-2919 Ninth $850,000, BUSD Workforce Housing at 1701 San Pablo $24,500,000, Peoples Park at 2556 Haste $14,359,593
7. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Revise Clasification and Salary Ranges for Parking Meter Maintenance and Collection Supervisor and Traffic Maintenance Supervisor
8. Contract $283,500 With Superion, LLC for AS400 Software Mainenance and Support 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2025
9. Ferris, Parks – Grant Application $700,000 – State Parks Outdoor Equity Grants Program up to $700,000
10. Ferris, Parks – Grant Application $218,451 - CA Air Resources Board for new electric boat and charging station
11. Ferris, Park - Contract $6,831,067 which includes 10% contingency $621,006 with Buhler for Willard Park Clubhouse and Restroom Replacement Project
12. Ferris, Park – Donation $3,400 Memorial Bench at Cesar Chavez Park in memory of Ronald Henry Klein
13. Ferris, Park – Donation $3,400 Memorial Bench at Cesar Chavez Park in memory of Ramakant Tulisan
14. Bellow, Public Works – Contract $3,456,596 includes 10% contingency $314,236 Specification No. 24-11619-C: Kolos Engineering, Inc. for The Alameda, et al. Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project
15. Bellow, Public Works – Purchase Order $8,500,00 with Pinnacle Petroleum, Inc. and $2,000,000 Western States, Inc. for Bulk Renewable Diesel and Gasoline for City Vehicles 2025 – 2029
16. Bellow, Public Works - Purchase Order $1,600,000 with National Auto Fleet Group for 4 Tractor Trucks
17. Bellow, Public Works – Purchase Order $284,974 with Braun Network, Inc for 1 North Start 155 Type 1 Ambulance
18. Bellow, Public Works – Amend Contract No. 102354-1add $200,000 total $832,750 with Direct Line Tele Response for Citywide After-Hours Answering Service
19. Bellow, Public Works – Amend Contract No. 32300110 add $150,000 total $300,000 with SCI Consulting for On-call Civil Engineering Services
20. Bellow, Public Works – Amend Contract No. 32400004 add $200,000 total $250,000 with Roofing Constructors, Inc. dba Western Roofing Service on on0call roofing and gutter repair services
21. Bellow, Public Works – Amend Contract No. 103266-1 add $100,000 total $450,000 with Karste Consulting, Inc for Emergency Preparedness Services and Training
22. Bellow, Public Works – Contract $443,207 with American Restore for Transfer Station Tipping Floor Repair Emergency Project at 1201 Second Street due to hazardous conditions authorizing exception to formal bidding process
23. Miller for Parks and Waterfront Commission – Request for Community Survey for placing a modest increase in Parks Tax on November 2024 Ballot
24. Wong, Auditor – Audit on Ballot Measure FF funds, recommend report back every 6 months

25. Arreguin – Reappointment of Dr. P. Robert Beatty to the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District Board of Trustees for a 2 year term
26. Arreguin, co-sponsor Wengraf, Hahn – Right to Reproductive Freedom
27. Arreguin – Adjustment to City Attorney Salary Range (top $360,000 annually) and Revised SalaryCity Attorney Farimah Brown to $336,000
28. Taplin, co-sponsor Hahn, Harrison – Waterside Workshops Winter Festival and Kids Bike Giveaway
29. Taplin, co-sponsor Bartlett, Harrison – Budget Referral and Updated Guidelines and Procedures for City Council Office Staff Expenditures
30. Wengraf, co-sponsors Arreguin, Hahn– Letter to AC Transit Regarding Draft Realignment Scenarios (plan to end Grizzly Peak route)

31. Hollander, OED – Expansion of Elmwood Business Improvement District
32. Friedrichsen, Budget Manager – Annual Appropriations Ordinance $258,777,491 (gross) $246,555,990 (net)
33. Cardwell, CM Office – Consideration of Options for BHS Staff Parking

34. Brown, City Attorney – Settlement Claim of D.L. Falk Construction North Berkeley Senior Center
35. Oyekanmi, Finance –FY 2023 4th Quarter Investment Report
36. Oyekanmi, Finance –Section 115 Trust Investment Report for: Inception to Period Ended 6/30/2023
37. Klein, Planning – Climate Action Plan and Resilience Update
38. Lovvorn, Commission Secretary – Civic Arts Commission Work Plan FY 2024
39. Uberti, Commission Secretary – Housing Advisory Commission Work Plan FY 2024

LAND USE CALENDAR PUBLIC HEARINGS: 

• 2924 Russell 2/27/2024
• 1960 San Antonio 645 Arlington Avenue 2/13/2024
• 3000 Shattuck Avenue (Construct 10-story mixed-use building) – TBD

• December 5, 2023 To be rescheduled – Re-Imagining Public Safety Update and Ceasefire–)
• January 23, 2024 - Draft Waterfront Specific Plan (tentative – rescheduled from November 2, 2023)
• February 6, 2024 – Office of Economic Development (OED) Dashboards Presentation

• Fire Department Standards of Coverage & Community Risk Assessment
• Dispatch Needs Assessment Presentation
• Presentation on Homelessness/Re-Housing/Thousand-Person Plan

• May 16 - Fire Facilities Study Report, Wildfire Prevention Plan https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-special-meeting-eagenda-may-16-2023-6-pm
• June 20 (WS) - Climate Action Plan & Resilience Update, Berkeley Economic Dashboards Update reports available https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/city-council-agendas/city-council-2023-06-20

* * * * *  

Kelly Hammargren’s summary on what happened the preceding week is posted on the What Happened page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/what-happened.html and in the Berkeley Daily Planet https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/ 

The Activist’s Calendar of meetings is posted on the What’s Ahead page 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 want to receive the Activist’s Diary 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. 

______________

Monday feels like it was a month ago. There is so much to cover and I can’t take my eyes off the Israel – Hamas War and the genocide and domicide (destruction of housing) in Gaza. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/07/widespread-destruction-in-gaza-puts-concept-of-domicide-in-focus 

Monday evening the Rent Stabilization Board passed a ceasefire resolution in a 7 to 1 vote. Stefan Elgstrand, who works in Mayor Arreguin’s office, voted no on the ceasefire resolution after reading a statement that the resolution was outside the scope of the Rent Board in the City Charter and the Rent Stabilization Ordinance. Elgstrand did vote for the resolution to allow landlords to provide temporary, below-market rental housing in Berkeley for Palestinian, Israeli and Ukrainian refugees. Andy Kelley was absent.  

The Berkeley City Council is yet to act, but there has been some movement since the Tuesday evening council meeting.  

Councilmembers Rigel Robinson, Ben Bartlett and Terry Taplin all published their own versions of resolutions on the Israel-Hamas war on X (formerly twitter) on December 7, 2023. Bartlett and Robinson made it plain they were calling for a ceasefire. Taplin wrote “cessation of hostilities” instead of ceasefire, which makes it sound like there is a squabble back and forth.  

The death toll of Palestinians increases by hundreds daily. On Friday December 8, 2023 the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that 17,177 people including 7,112 children had been killed and 46,000 wounded since the Israeli-Hamas conflict started on October 7. In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian death toll is 266 with 3,365 wounded. The Israeli army said that 1,147 people on the Israeli side have died including 418 soldiers.  

If the US suffered a number of deaths which was the same percentage of its population as Palestinians killed in Gaza in the two months since the Israel- Hamas War started we would have lost 2,542,368 people, of whom 1,056,480 are children killed and 68,160,000 wounded. This is not a squabble. We are watching a genocide: deliberate acts by the nation of Israel that appear to show the full intention to leave Gaza uninhabitable.  

What sticks in my mind is the September 22, 2023 Prime Minister Netanyahu address to the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) using a map of “The New Middle East”. Just fifteen days before the horrific attack by Hamas on Israel, Netanyahu gave a speech using a map of Israel from the river to the sea with an end to Gaza and the West Bank. https://www.commondreams.org/news/netanyahu-map 

I cannot count six votes to get to get a resolution for a ceasefire on the Berkeley City Council agenda on December 12^th, nor can I get to five votes to pass a resolution. Now at least three councilmembers have formally posted a resolution. Harrison declared support for a ceasefire in an October 20 Facebook post.  

Councilmembers Rashi Kesarwani and Mark Humbert would have to stand in opposition to Mayor Arreguin for any resolution to pass. Unless Arreguin and councilmembers Sophie Hahn and Susan Wengraf move away from their published stands against a ceasefire resolution, this is going nowhere.  

This will make an interesting mayor’s race. Robinson, Hahn and Harrison are all running. In one of the many posts I have watched and heard is, “In November we will remember”.  

Today, December 8, 2023, the U.S. vetoed the UN security council’s decision calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The vote was 13 in favor, US against and the UK abstaining.  

On today’s Joe Scarborough show, the closest the show got to the horrific suffering in Gaza was to say the US is asking Israel to do more to protect civilians, President Biden is pressuring Netanyahu to let more aid into Gaza and the IDF is moving further into the southern part of Gaza on a mission to destroy Hamas. That was followed with an interview with a released hostage going back to her kibbutz being shocked by the destruction and delighted to find her cat.  

If Scarborough and like shows are someone’s only source of news, they would never know of the horror in Gaza.  

You will not hear on Scarborough that 1,900,000 Palestinians, 85% of the population in Gaza, are displaced, while just 30% of the Ukrainians have been displaced by the Russian invasion, or the sheer scope of destruction from the Israeli bombing of northern Gaza in just two months, turning whole neighborhoods into rubble. That news comes from science reported by journalism elsewhere. https://tinyurl.com/9wvux3k2  

The toll on journalists has been heavy. Sixty-three journalists and media workers have been confirmed killed, 56 Palestinians, 4 Israeli and 3 Lebanese.  

Mainstream news has always been from the pro-Israel perspective and there are still shows with that line, but younger anchors, more diverse anchors aren’t holding that line.  

My current book is from the Palestinian perspective. I’m just a third of the way through The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance 1917 – 2017 by Rashid Khalidi. Khalidi one of the foremost historians on the Middle East writes from both archival research and family history which in my reading last night included a deep description of the Nakba. Palestinians were forced off their land, losing their homes, businesses, source of income and scattered into neighboring Arab countries without identity, passports, or papers. Families split as they fled. The Palestinians were expelled from the life they knew as their homes were turned into the new Jewish state.  

Back to the City of Berkeley..  

The council chambers were packed Tuesday evening with a determined crowd calling for a ceasefire. Nineteen of the twenty speakers allowed to speak on non-agenda items called for the Council to pass a resolution for a ceasefire. Only one spoke against a ceasefire.  

December 5 was the first meeting of the month, at which the council gives time to representatives of the unions to speak and speak they did. Jose Guerrero reported union workers are still waiting for back pay from PEPRA (Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act) amendment with the City. Unbelievable, this has been going on for more than two years. No wonder there are problems with filling positions. Then we heard from Andrea Mullarky speaking for SEIU 1021, representing 60,000 workers, that last month the executive board endorsed the movement of a ceasefire. Last, Julia Heath from Local 1 spoke about city action resulting in the loss of Liam Garland as Director of Public Works, a respected leader.  

At times the crowd was disruptive and the councilmembers took breaks, but they did not exit to conduct business in another room as in previous meetings. Watching from home on zoom, I saw that during breaks to regain order Taplin, Bartlett and Harrison could be seen speaking to attendees.  

Then the meeting went back to Public Comment on the Consent Calendar.  

Members of the public added their opinions on a ceasefire to agenda items. When it came to Taplin’s item 10 to name the Berkeley Pier after Nancy Skinner, speakers had plenty of alternate honorees to suggest: Gus Newport, the Ohlone People, moral courage, justice, ceasefire, the Gaza Palestine Pier, the brave journalists in Gaza who are reporting on the ground, Marek Edelman, the leader in the Warsaw Ghetto who was a lifelong anti-Zionist and stood in solidarity with the Palestinians as fellow resistance fighters, James Baldwin (when he was suggested the speaker read from Baldwin’s writing on Jews and Palestinians) and 

Shireen Abu Akleh, American Palestinian, one of the most prominent journalists across the Middle East and Palestinian territories who was targeted and killed by Israeli forces while reporting from the West Bank on May 11, 2022. The day of her death was the same day Arreguin left for his trip to Israel sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco.  

The Consent Calendar was finally approved with the naming of the Berkeley Pier going to the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission. Harrison’s item on deconstruction was withdrawn, Harrison’s item on traffic calming went to the Budget Committee and the City Manager withdrew the Public Safety Status Report to be rescheduled.  

In the motion to adjourn the council meeting, Kesarwani, Bartlett, Hahn, Wengraf, Robinson, and Humbert all voted yes, Taplin voted no and Harrison abstained.  

The most significant outcome of the December 4, Monday morning Land Use, Housing & Economic Development Committee was that when Harrison who was filling in for Bartlett asked that her item on the Community/Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) be scheduled for the next meeting, Robinson as the Chair declined, making a firm no. The due date to act on TOPA is May 13, 2024 which means that if Robinson keeps TOPA off the agenda, Arreguin who is running for the State Senate seat District 7 won’t have to vote/take a stand on TOPA until after the primary in March.  

TOPA has had a long tumultuous history in Berkeley. The earliest date I could find where TOPA was presented to the public in a readily available full Council meeting or Council Committee meeting going back to 2019 was at the Land Use Committee meeting on March 5, 2020. On that date there were 61 speakers and the due date for action was extended to January 21, 2021  

When a multi-unit building goes up for sale TOPA gives tenants the first right of refusal to purchase the property. Tenants, especially those who have experienced being in a building that was sold, are enthusiastic about being notified that a plan to sell is in process and being given the first opportunity to purchase the building. The Chamber of Commerce, the real estate industry, investors, and property owners are opposed to TOPA.  

After multiple committee meetings, there was a special full council special meeting on just TOPA on January 27, 2022. Discussion was held; there were 78 speakers and then it disappeared.  

Harrison brought it back. TOPA was listed in the council draft agenda for November 28, 2023 until Wengraf, Hahn and Arreguin voted at the Agenda and Rules Committee to remove TOPA from the agenda for the full council meeting and send TOPA to the Land Use Committee where it now looks like it will languish as long as possible or at least until Arreguin has secured his position in the primary election to be on the ballot for November for that State Senate seat.  

Kathryn Lybarger received the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club endorsement, not Arreguin, after last Saturday’s forum.  

The one Land Use Committee agenda item was from Rigel Robinson. It was Neighborhood-Scale Commercial, referring to the city manager and the Planning Commission to consider policies to permit neighborhood-scale retail uses in residential neighborhoods. It passed with a positive recommendation.  

Monday was the second meeting on the item. The motion is about researching returning these old store fronts we see in residential neighborhoods in the flats to neighborhood groceries, restaurants or other like uses. Humbert, Harrison and Robinson were all enthusiastic about the convenience for example of taking just a few steps to buy a gallon of milk instead of driving.  

There is a reason these little former storefronts were turned into other uses, usually living space.  

At neither the first meeting nor this second meeting did Councilmembers Humbert, Robinson or Harrison consider why those storefronts are no longer neighborhood groceries or another business like a restaurant. None of them considered the number of customers it takes to make enough money to pay employees and cover rent, utilities, insurance, equipment and all the supplies and goods needed for a viable business.  

When the number of customers needed to make a neighborhood business viable is considered, walkable and bikeable are left behind if the business is to bring in enough customers to cover overhead, especially if it is a restaurant. And that means cars and traffic. In their enthusiasm for the idea of businesses in residential neighborhoods Humbert and Harrison were concerned about unpleasant odors, smoke and noise.  

Berkeley has empty storefronts in commercial corridors. The latest idea for staff time is to study how to return old neighborhood storefronts that have been turned into interesting buildings for reuse, usually as housing, could be better spent on empty storefronts in commercial districts.  

The last City meeting I attended of the week was the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission. Three items were passed and all of them have been on the agenda for a number of meetings. There was more back and forth than at times seemed reasonable, but that is the democratic process. It can get messy. The Commission voted to list agenda items as “Discussion and Possible Action” which will solve the problem of having to recycle agenda items because they were listed as discussion only. The Commission decided to study how the redesign of streets, like building curbs for bicycle lanes, impacts the Fire Department response times. The Commission approved using FF funds for a one-time removal of eucalyptus debris on private property in the very high fire severity hazard zone.  

I skipped the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Thursday evening. The Budget and Finance Committee on Thursday morning was cancelled.  

Enough for today. I have several books to recommend, but I’ll save them for next time. Just put The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance 1917 – 2017 by Rashid Khalidi on your list. The wait at the library is 13 weeks, so your best bet is to head up to Revolution Books. They had a stack of the book in paperback. I’ll check Pegasus tomorrow.  

After sitting through the November 28, 2023 City Council meeting on ZOOM from 6 pm until 11:55 pm and reading the string of emails complaining about Hopkins not being included in the 5-year paving plan, I drove the entire length of Hopkins before starting to write this December 3, 2023 Activist’s Diary. 

The five-year paving plan through FY 2028 (present to June 30, 2028) was the only agenda action item until Councilmember Harrison’s budget referral item 16 on deconstruction was moved from consent to action.  

The calls for a cease-fire in Israel/Palestine kicked off the meeting and once again the Council left the Berkeley Unified School District Boardroom to escape the disruption and moved into a conference room without the pubic in attendance and continued on Zoom. There were so many attendees who signed on to Zoom and wrapped their cease-fire comments onto the two police funding items and the equitable Black Families grant that the discussion on the paving plan didn’t start until 9:22 pm. Due to the lateness of the evening Harrison’s item was moved to December 5 at her request.  

It’s Monday December 4 and I should have finished this yesterday morning. While I’ve been working on my December 3 summary, Councilmembers Wengraf and Hahn sent email blasts. They are distressed over the disruptive demonstrations at Council, do not support a resolution and include Mayor Arreguin’s full statement. Arreguin is clear he does not support a resolution with, “[T]hese resolutions will not end the violence abroad, but they do fan the flames of hatred here at home. That’s a threat I cannot ignore.”  

Harrison’s position for a ceasefire was posted on her KateHarrisonD4 Facebook page on October 20, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/KateHarrisonD4/  

In order to get a ceasefire resolution before Council it has to be approved by the Agenda Committee, whose members are Arreguin, Hahn and Wengraf, or be accepted by 2/3 of the councilmembers (six Yes votes) as an emergency item to be considered for a vote.  

As stated in previous Diaries, I can’t count five votes on this Council to call for a ceasefire.  

It’s quite amazing that Arreguin, whose first campaign for mayor in 2016 highlighted himself as a progressive leader citing his own activism, and referenced the fight against apartheid in South Africa as inspiration for his activism, h now opposes a resolution on a ceasefire as doing nothing but fanning the flames of hate.  

I disagree with Arreguin that resolutions have no impact. They do.  

It will take a groundswell to move a White House that started with President Biden’s embrace of Netanyahu captured in photos seen around the world.  

The Guardian listed 30 unions calling for a ceasefire on Friday starting with the United Auto Workers representing 980,000 retired and current workers, the American Postal Workers Union, the California Nurses Association. That list doesn’t include local Bay Area unions, the cities Richmond and Oakland and doesn’t even touch the many other organizations calling for a ceasefire. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/01/uaw-ceasefire-gaza 

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My mornings normally start with two podcasts, Democracy Now followed with Joe Scarborough. Scarborough is as far right as I can go these days, except that I did watch the DeSantis Newsom debate on Sean Hannity until ZAB started at 7 pm. Other than a couple of Newsom zingers and a lot of Newsom and DeSantis talking over each other, Hannity and DeSantis took Newsom and California apart.  

Even I was shocked when Hannity put a chart on the screen of total crime (everything lumped together) that pictured California as having twice the crime rate as the national average and Florida as below the national average. Newsom should know better than to go on Fox.  

Democracy Now started with Palestinian journalist Akram al-Satarri in Gaza. The death toll in Gaza is over 15,500. al-Satarri stated in the last 24 hours 1,760 people were killed. There is no safe place. The 1.8 million people that were asked to leave their homes in the northern Gaza strip and move south find themselves being bombed in the very places that were supposed to be safe.  

Last night I listened to Mehdii Hasan. Between October 7 and November 28, 232 Palestinians including 61 children were killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem where Hamas has never ruled. In Hasan’s interview with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Barghouti described the terrorism in the West Bank, perpetrated by Israeli settlers and Israel’s army. Palestinians are being killed, evicted and villages are being bulldozed.  

You can watch the show with the video of the destruction in the West Bank at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BaA3htpNzo  

If you would rather read the text put the YouTube link into https://youtubetranscript.com/  

Hasan pointed out on Sunday, that on September 22, 2023 Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) using a map of “The New Middle East” that eliminated Palestinians. The picture of Netanyahu at the UNGA is 18 minutes into the YouTube video.  

I didn’t find any reports of Netanyahu’s September speech in the NY Times, Washington Post or other mainstream press. The poorly attended Netanyahu address was reported in Common Dreams and the international press. https://www.commondreams.org/news/netanyahu-map  

Hasan, who gives hard hitting interviews, announced Sunday that his one-hour show is ending this month. That will leave two weekend shows with Muslim anchors, Ayman Mohyeldin and Ali Velshi. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/12/04/msnbc-bring-back-mehdi-hasan-show/  

Hasan will still appear from time to time as a commenter for MSNBC, but that new role will put an end to interviews like the one of Mark Regev, senior advisor to Netanyahu, who declared to Hasan that Israel had not killed any Palestinian children. The interview has been watched over 6 million times on X [bex-Twitter]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPz2aCo7W-c  

When the mother of Hisham Awartani (one of the three Palestinian college students shot in Vermont) spoke over the weekend, she sad that her son is paralyzed from the chest down, and pointed to the hateful toxic rhetoric against Palestinians. That hateful toxic warmongering rhetoric is well exampled by what spewed out of Joe Scarborough’s mouth in the first minutes of the December 1, 2023 Scarborough podcast.  

I listen to the Scarborough podcast at 1.25 speed not the entire 4 hours, but I have yet to hear anything about the conditions in Gaza. There is nothing about the steady carpet bombing of Gaza, the cutting off of power, the blockade of food and fuel or the collective punishment and suffering of the people of Gaza except to blame them for the actions of Hamas on October 7.  

In my memory, the Scarborough early morning show is how mainstream reporting on Israel has always been. This time the horror in Gaza can’t be contained. That is what we are seeing in the heartbreak of the people filling the council chambers. Jews, Palestinians and their allies are showing up week after week calling for a ceasefire resolution from the Berkeley City Council.  

Our book club the choice for January 2024 is The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance 1917 – 2017 by Rashid Khalidi. November 2, 1917 is when Britain declared support for the establishment of a Jewish state within Palestine in the Balfour Declaration. At the time the Jewish people were only 6% of the country’s inhabitants. The Balfour Declaration grew out of Theodor Herzl’s foundational text of political Zionism, Der Judenstaat (the Jews’ State) written in 1896.  

The Hundred Years War on Palestine is listed as one of the ten best books for understanding the Israel-Hamas War. Another is A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall which I read and recommended previously. Both are available through local libraries, but expect a wait.  

On to the City.  

The 5-year paving plan is reviewed every two years, but if feels like the 5-year paving plan is in continuous review. After the enormous kerfuffle over the Hopkins Corridor Plan, Hopkins repaving was put on hold in the 2024-2025 budget so other projects like the African American Holistic Center could move forward.  

For an in-depth review of all the issues and questionable City actions read “What Has Happened with Hopkins and Why”. https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2023-04-09/article/50248?headline=What-Has-Happened-with-Hopkins-and-Why--Kelly-Hammargren  

Hopkins is no worse than the street I live on (I am not complaining) and is in far better condition than McGee and Roosevelt near the high school and many other streets that are not included in the 5-year paving plan.  

Councilmembers Hahn and Wengraf submitted a Supplemental and made a substitute motion to put Hopkins from Alameda to Gilman into the 5-year paving plan on the list for paving in 2025. Their motion failed. The final motion from Humbert and Robinson accepted the staff recommendations and added Milvia from Hearst to Rose, the recommendation from the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission, and to complete Hopkins Street segments by FY 2027.  

The “Hopkins Street segments” phrase in the motion recorded in the annotated agenda is worrisome as one of the many issues in the Hopkins Corridor Plan was the rush to secure final City Council approval and award the Hopkins Corridor Project before July 1, 2023. Beating that date was to avoid complying with the new San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board stormwater treatment and green infrastructure regulations.  

At the Tuesday meeting Karen Parolek, Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure in her statement to Council said, “[W]e also have been advocating for practices to combine projects including safety enhancement and repaving. Pulling the Hopkins project apart into multiple projects is counter to the fiscal responsibility we’ve been encouraging…”  

Ron Nevels, Manager of Engineering, Public Works said the City might not need to do the stormwater treatment.  

The worry here is of the City of Berkeley breaking Hopkins into smaller “segments” to escape having to comply with regulations requiring stormwater treatment and green infrastructure.  

Harrison asked if there was money in the Hahn and Wengraf plan to cover the infrastructure. The answer was no. At different times during the evening Hahn insisted there was funding and at other times stated that a source of funding for the infrastructure could not be identified.  

The problem with repaving without the stormwater infrastructure means that with so many of Berkeley’s streets being in poor condition, the likelihood of going back to Hopkins for infrastructure after repaving is close to zero. Hopkins at Monterey is the location where the foam from putting out a garbage truck fire drained into Cordornices Creek wiping out nearly the entire population of threatened steelhead trout.  

I’m on the side of requiring the green infrastructure. Rough roads slow down traffic.  

The Harrison budget referral with the very long title, “Refer to City Manager to Enhance the City’s Deconstruction and Construction Materials Management Enforcement and Regulations and Refer to AAO#1 Budget Process $250,000 for Social Cost of Carbon Nexus Fee Study for Berkeley Origin Construction and Demolition Debris” is a big deal.  

There is nothing “green” about razing existing buildings, sending the debris to landfill and all the extraction, mining, and deforestation that is involved in the materials that will be used to build the new building to take its place. Deconstruction is the process to remove salvageable materials for reuse in new construction and renovation.  

Here is a wonderful short video on deconstruction called “Unbuild Better: A case study in deconstruction” from Cornell University explaining the case for deconstruction over demolition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejjd6E_7SsQ  

The complaints about deconstruction taking too long makes me think of all the projects that are pushed through the Design Review Committee and the Zoning Adjustment Board and approved, only to sit for years before anything is built. In fact, at one Design Review Committee meeting, a committee member asked the developer for NX Ventures if they ever intended to build since the NX projects approved never seem to transition from approval to construction. 

The Environment and Climate Commission met Wednesday. Billi Romain, Manager of Energy and Sustainable Development for the City of Berkeley announced her retirement. 

I’m still not sure how the Curbside Management Plan landed in the Environment and Climate Commission. The motion to refer to the City Manager and the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission had many good points like adequate loading zones, short term parking (pick up and drop off), disabled parking, AB 413, the bill to prevent parking within 20 feet of an intersection (daylighting), emergency access in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (VHFHSZ), additional parking meters and bicycle parking. 

There are not enough loading zones and removing so much of parking in the City makes short term parking for quick trips near impossible. Restricting parking in the VHFHSZ comes with hand wringing and little to no visible action every year, which I hear has been the same response for decades. But why the Commission on Disability wasn’t included for input on disabled parking in the final motion looks like an unacceptable oversight. 

The Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) was the last city meeting of the week. East Bay for Everyone and other YIMBY-inspired speakers told their stories of the difficulty of finding housing and how the project at 2127 – 2159 Dwight Way between Shattuck and Fulton must be supported. The Dwight Way project was a SB 330 density bonus project with 58 new units for a total of 66 residential units onsite which is impossible to deny. 

Soli Alpert, who is on the Rent Board and was filling in on ZAB for the first time, questioned whether the City was following the law. In his reading of SB 330 when eight rent-controlled or affordable units are demolished, they need to be replaced with eight units onsite. The mix of units posted in the ZAB agenda description was 3 very low-income units, 2 very low-income units, 2 low income units and 1 moderate income unit. However, in the Findings and Conditions for approval from City staff, the eighth unit, the moderate-income unit was dropped and replaced with a market rate unit. Only seven units were going to be below market. It was a good catch by Alpert, but only Shoshana O’Keefe and Brandon Yung supported Alpert’s substitute motion, which lost, for the 8th below market unit. 

The 5-story project at 1652 University with 26 units including 2 very-low income units plus two live/work units approved the same evening comes with a history that was missed by city staff and the historian hired by the project. 

Fran Cappelletti, Archivist for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association found that in 1923, a permit was taken for the West Gate Masonic Association to build a building on that corner (University and Jefferson) for the Masonic Lodge for African Americans. Objections arose from the neighbors who did not want African Americans at this site in any form and went so far as to pressure the City to change the zoning. The City Council did not approve the zoning change, but the construction stopped and the lot sat vacant for twenty-four years until the current commercial building was constructed in 1947.  

At the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Commissioner Finacom asked for a plaque to be at the site to commemorate the history, but was met with pushback and objections from the Landmarks Preservation Commissioners including Chair Enchill. Encill’s statement that there is nothing particularly unique about the history of 1652 – 1658 University seems to be all the more reason to memorialize how racism ended building a Masonic Lodge for African Americans at the corner of University and Jefferson. How many other stories need to be told and memorialized?  

ZAB member O’Keefe thanked me for sharing the history and said that the developer didn’t need approval to include the history at the site.

The innocuous title of Item 30 on the Berkeley Council’s December 12 agenda—“Letter to AC Transit Regarding Draft Realignment Scenarios”—downplays an issue that is anything but innocuous: the transit agency’s proposed changes to bus routes in Berkeley. The agency says it is responding to changes in rider travel patterns and community input. Its board will decide what to do at its meeting on Wednesday, December 13. 

Authored by Councilmembers Wengraf and Humbert and co-sponsored by Mayor Arreguín and Councilmember Hahn, the item calls “many of the changes in AC Transit’s Realign plans…positive” but also says that “many were deeply concerning to the Council.” 

After reading the Council’s one-page letter to the agency, which is attached to the item, I agree. 

Specifically, Wengraf et al. urge AC Transit “to revise its plans” so as to 

1. Increase, or at the very least, maintain the current level of service, including preservation of both the 65 and 67 lines in the north-east Berkeley Hills. 

2. Maintain direct service to the Berkeley Marina. 

3. Preserve the 72 Rapid line (72R) on San Pablo. 

The 65 and 67 lines should be expanded, not shrunk The authors of Item 30 note that the 65 and 67 bus lines offer the “only transit access and connection to BART for the steep NE Berkeley Hill Area. The Frequent Service Scenario’s merger of these two lines would cut service and access for home healthcare workers, students who would then have to be driven and visitors to Tilden Park, among others….If anything, the currently anemic service should be expanded to include later nights and weekends, as well as greater frequency.” 

Wengraf et al. didn’t say that when the California Department of Housing and Community Development warned the city of Berkeley not to limit ADU development in the hills, it cited the availability of public transit in the area—just one more example of HCD’s preposterous rationales for the ultimatums it’s issuing to cities regarding their housing policies. 

Comment on AC Transit’s website 

Someone forwarded to me Wengraf’s letter to her constituents. There I learned that anyone can comment on the proposed changes by going to the AC Transit Realign page on the agency’s website. There you find that there are four scenarios, some of which replicate each other’s proposals for specific lines—creating a bit of work for would-be commenters. What you don’t find, unfortunately, are the agency’s rationales for specific, proposed changes. 

My online comments echoed the Council’s recommendations, and I added one more: Do not extend the 18 line, which runs on Solano Avenue to downtown Berkeley and then to Oakland’s Chinatown, to Montclair. That extension would make it difficult if not impossible for the 18 bus coming back to Berkeley to stick to its schedule. 

And though I might have missed it, I wrote that I couldn’t find the 79 line, which goes from El Cerrito BART to downtown Berkeley via Colusa, ending at Claremont and College Avenue, on any of the scenarios. Please don’t eliminate line 79. 

When I weighed in online last week, fewer than 900 people had commented. Please check it out. 

People can attend the AC Transit Board’s meeting next week. An open house starts at 4 pm; the meeting proper begins at 5 pm. The agency is encouraging online attendance. Info at the bottom of the Realign page. 

This week's edition could be short, less filtered and more spontaneous than my usual. I've got health and business issues going on and I need to tend to them. But I figured it wouldn't do me any harm to type a few paragraphs.

In the past, being highly psychotic took you away from a "normal reality" and thrust you into a horrible quasi reality produced by the illness. Yet, nowadays, if you are psychotic, it would almost be a self-protective escapism because you don't have to face the dismal events that are happening in our world. Sometimes living in denial of the facts is needed to prevent having a meltdown.

Because of how bad reality is, it could be much harder for a delusional person to come back to it. We are in the midst of serious war. We are dealing with politics at home that threaten basic human rights, at the very least. At the worst, the situation could be far more horrible than you could imagine. Even now, we face a lot of social unrest and a lot of hate in Americans. 

The human species is acting like a throng of pirates having swordfights on a sinking ship. Whoever survives the swordfight will remain alive just long enough to drown when the ship goes under. 

I'm referring to all of the political battles, and the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. The sinking ship is our Earth, which is becoming incapable of supporting human life. Then maybe we should be psychotic. We could be locked up in a bad mental hospital under cruel conditions, but not have to deal with all of the awfulness of surviving in this. Take your pick. 

Under Trump, there may no longer be mentally ill people. We might be rounded up and put into a camp. That's what it looks like from some evidence I have seen. Or it could be worse. If parents and loved ones are outraged and frantic over what has happened to their mentally ill son, daughter or close relative, it doesn't matter. They could get a lawyer and try to get a court order. Meanwhile months and years go by, and they are in a never-ending red tape and legal battle to save their loved one. 

But the ship is sinking. And no one will be immune to that. Trump could believe he will be safe in his nuclear proof bunker. He's wrong about that. And what will be left of the U.S. and Earth when he comes out of the bunker to claim his kingdom? Nothing. 

Trump already controls large parts of the U.S. Government because many of his people are still in place. Biden hasn't adequately consolidated power. Trump says: "Don't telegraph your intentions." 

We won't know the particulars of his plans until it is too late. You don't believe me? Believe me. 

Jack Bragen lives and writes in Martinez, California.