Tonight at 8: 53 pm Berkeley Councilmember Kate Harrison resigned. Her full statement was much
longer than quoted here. (see press release below),
In her parting comments she said:

"I’m very upset…I thought about this for a very long time, I’veb
decided to resign from Berkeley City Council…I could say what office holders usually say, they
would like to spend more time with their family, but that is not the reason. Nor am I being
harassed in any way to make this decision. Berkeley’s processes are broken and I cannot
continue to serve…I wish you all the best, but I am resigning."


While those of us attending were still digesting that Kate Harrison resigned, the mayor called a
break and then resumed the meeting as if nothing unusual had happened.

—Kelly Hammargren

Update: Councilmember Harrison has informed the Planet that she is continuing her campaign for Mayor of Berkeley. The election for that office is in November. -more-

Two disturbing responses to last night's City Council meeting.

The first, Sophie Hahn's shocking statement at Kate Harrison's resignation. Ms Harrison carefully delineated her principled stand in her statement of resignation, whereas Ms Hahn simply accused Harrison of selfish-petulance. I was shocked at Hahn's tone-deaf response. Rather than taking a statesman-like stand, she deliberately trashed Ms Harrison, ignoring the substantial issues Ms Harrison carefully and thoughtfully addressed.:

The Second Shocking Response was Mr Terry Taplin's physical assault of the resigning council member. His were not hands of comfort but a large man's controlling hands. Totally inappropriate.

The legal definition of Assault: "Generally, an assault occurs when a person directly or indirectly applies force intentionally to another person without their consent. It can also occur when a person attempts to apply such force, or threatens to do so, without the consent of the other person." -more-

Proposition 1 is a measure that, among other things, raises money through selling bonds, for purposes of building recovery-type housing for severely ill neurodivergent people, AKA mentally ill. Secondly it will require counties to spend a third of their mental health budgets on housing and/or bedspace to get some of the homeless mentally ill people off the streets and out of jail, to a safe, short term recovery facility. -more-

Something kept bothering me at the second presentation in two days of the "Ohlone Greenway Safety Improvements Project" at the North Berkeley Senior Center. A small thing perhaps. But there was nothing safe about the safety project.

That wasn't all. It was being raced through a process as though lives were at stake. And the only lives in jeopardy I could see were those intending to use the pathways as pedestrians after having them widened to accommodate electric bike and electric scooter users as well as bike commuters.

I walked home thinking, what is this all about? There's no actual safety in this plan, which my neighbors and I only discovered that night included the removal of eleven mature trees unmarked on my full color map. Only one tree was marked on the map for removal, a coast live oak referred to as dead. One was left to guess where the other trees were, what kind of trees they were, and how long they might survive and contribute to a natural landscape if they were not considered to be, as the map put it, "constraints". It shocked the room to hear of eleven trees planned for removal to accommodate bicycles and electric vehicles intending to "share" a widened pathway with pedestrians. Pedestrians in Berkeley know what "shared-use" means. It means leaping out of the way, if one can, of 30 mph vehicles heading right for you and expecting you to move because, well, because they can. Here at the corner of University and San Pablo you can expect derision from the police if you report this kind of thing. Their attitude is, what do you expect; you live in the wrong part of town. -more-

Did Bert, Ernie and Big Bird Really Condemn Genocide?
A tasty bit of disinformation now circulating on Smartphones worldwide was recently released by a beloved rogue intelligence agent whose name is being held as a state secret. Alas, there is no footage to support this report. But it's fun to imagine. The message read as follows. -more-

Worth Noting:

The election to fill the vacant District 7 Council position is April 16. City Council Committees except the Agenda and Rules Committee and undefined “certain exceptions” are suspended until May 1. This does not affect Commissions and Board meetings.

• Monday:
  • At 2:30 pm the Agenda Committee meets in the hybrid format on the Feb 12 Council Council meeting agenda.
  • From 6 – 7 pm Speaking Up for Point Molate on BCDC Climate Equity Plan
• Tuesday:
  • At 3 pm the HAC Subcommittee meets online.
  • At 6 pm City Council meets in the hybrid format with placement of surveillance cameras on the Action Agenda.
• Wednesday:
  • From 12 – 3 pm in person appointments for assistance with Displacement Certificate Applications.
  • From 6 – 8 pm is the online public meeting on the Woolsey-Fulton Bike Blvd.
• Thursday:
  • At 6:30 pm the Landmarks Preservation Commission meets in person.
  • At 7 pm the Housing Advisory Commission meets in person.

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

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



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BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS -more-