City Council leaves for spring recess from March 27, 2024 through May 6. A six-week spring recess seems to be an unusual length of time, but I couldn’t be happier to see council meetings disappear from my weekly Activist’s Calendar. 

At the Tuesday March 19 council meeting, Mayor Arreguin connected from Mexico by ZOOM and Vice Mayor Wengraf was present in person to run the show. I can’t recall a meeting she has previously attended in person since pre-pandemic though I think there was one. 

I keep thinking I should show up to council in person to capture the atmosphere in the room, but the convenience of walking over to my computer instead wins out every time. 

The person controlling the media cancels out the chanting in the room so the closest I get to the room atmosphere is counting the speakers for each side of a ceasefire resolution proposal and the pleas from the dais to the attendees to control themselves. 

My niece was shocked to learn the mayor and councilmembers in Berkeley are opposed to a ceasefire resolution. She told our book club even Minneapolis voted for a ceasefire. As of Monday evening March 25, so has our neighboring city to the north, Albany. 

Albany used community meetings to open discussion and develop a ceasefire resolution to bring to council which they passed unanimously. As I reported in the last Activist’s Diary, I was told by a commissioner that Berkeley councilmembers pressured their appointees on the Peace and Justice Commission to drop the planning for a community forum on Israel and Palestine. 

The count for speakers on non-agenda items at the March 19 council meeting was fourteen for a ceasefire resolution, three for the council not to take no action (these are the speakers who oppose a ceasefire) and three on other subjects. 

City Auditor Jenny Wong noted the status report from the Department of Public Works on “Fleet Replacement Fund Short Millions & Rocky Road: Berkeley Streets At Risk and Significantly Underfunded” was under Information Reports on the agenda, an unbearably long title to say that our streets are crap and there is no cohesive plan for replacing city owned trucks, cars, etc. I characterize Berkeley streets as the city’s answer to permeable paving. 

There are two petitions being circulated by community groups on Berkeley streets. One is called “Fix the Streets”, found on the website “Berkeleyans for Better Planning”. https://www.berkeleyansforbetterplanning.org/ The other is called “Safe Streets”, on the website “Berkeley Citizens for Safe Streets”. https://www.berkeleysafestreets.com/home  

Whichever one passes in November with at least 50% and the most votes will prevail. Both are parcel taxes which will show up on the property owners’ tax bills. Property owners with very low income can apply for an exemption from parcel taxes. 

I was going to do an in-depth side by side comparison into the difference between the two petitions, but I have decided to make a lighter comparison now though somewhat more detailed than you may wish. 

Since we won’t be voting on the petitions until November we have plenty of time to make up our minds. 

For right now the task is gaining signatures. I am on the “Fix the Streets” side. Please sign that petition. 

The “Fix the Streets” parcel tax is 13 cents on “improvements” on a parcel (property) and it includes repairing/replacing sidewalks with 100% of the cost paid by the city, not the 50/50 sharing between the city and property owners that exists now. Fix the Streets is the same tax for all property owners. 

For renters who never see property tax bills, this will be another line on the long list of add-ons (I counted 32 on my bill). Property taxes begin with the gross assessment of the land value and improvements (buildings). 

Under Proposition 13 the gross assessment starts with 1% of the purchase price (used as the assessed value) and then increases by no more than 2% per year. Change of ownership or new construction will trigger reassessment. Any property that has not changed hands since before 1975 uses the 1975 value as the base. 

Parcel taxes can be a flat tax per parcel with all property owners having the same fee or they can be based on the size of the parcel or the size of improvements i.e. the size of the buildings or livable space. Parcel taxes can be a split roll, where the amount of the tax varies with the use of the parcel, i.e. residential versus commercial. Parcel taxes are not based on the assessed value of the property. Bond measures also appear in the list of add-ons. 

When I spoke with Jim McGrath, who is instrumental in the “Fix the Streets” ballot initiative, a big concern was using the best estimates of the cost to fix our deteriorating streets and sidewalks and how long it would take to complete the task. He expressed his concern for all the small independent businesses that are still struggling. That is why the “Fix the Streets” group uses the same 13 cents per square foot for all property owners regardless of use (residential or commercial). The PCI (Pavement Condition Index) to bring all street to a PCI of 70 (good condition) is for the entirety of a given street not the average. The parcel tax is for twelve years. 

I have my bias. I’ve had a driver’s license for over 60 years. I’ve driven in all kinds of weather and road conditions all over this country, across Europe, the German autobahn and even in the center of Rome in congested 5 pm traffic. I was the caregiver for a wheelchair dependent partner and the gdriver of our disability- modified van. I had a parent who was in constant bone pain for whom walking any distance was painful and difficult. And, I’ve had my own personal experiences with injuries, casts, crutches, splints, boots, slings. I’m up to thirteen lifetime fractures. These days I mostly walk for exercise and to be a good climate citizen, leaving using my car for times when walking or BART doesn’t work. 

As I look at who and what is being done in the name of Vision Zero (reducing traffic injuries to zero) some of it is great, some good and some would fall into the “what were you thinking”category. I see an absence of disabled mobility-limited persons and their caregivers in creating and evaluating plans for street infrastructure. I see bicycle enthusiasts filling the center of transportation planning and as participants and endorsers of the “Safe Streets” ballot initiative. 

Until the big Hopkins Corridor Plan blew up, emergency and evacuation routes and the Fire Department were kind of an afterthought, if considered at all in such plans. See “What Has Happened with Hopkins and Why” from April 10, 2023 in the Berkeley Daily Planet for a bigger explanation. https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2023-04-09/article/50248?headline=What-Has-Happened-with-Hopkins-and-Why--Kelly-Hammargren 

The “Safe Streets” ballot initiative is a “split roll” which means that the residential rate is 17 cents per square foot and the non-residential rate is 25 cents per square foot. With “Safe Streets” our neighborhood stores and restaurants will pay almost double the “Fix the Streets” parcel tax, not just big corporations like Bayer and Sutter. Sidewalk repair/replacement billing stays at 50/50 between the property owner and the city. The PCI is the “average”, which means that a street can have potholes in one section and be repaired in the rest, but as long as it averages out it will meet the repair criteria. “Safe Streets” also includes infrastructure to the streets like bus lanes, loading platforms, etc. This is where I worry we will get the “what were you thinking” kinds of changes to our streets. This parcel tax runs for fourteen years. 

Cities always love more money. You will probably see the electeds and other politicians jumping for enthusiasm around “Safe Streets” and certainly bicyclists with their infrastructure change wishes support it. As for the “Safe Streets” promise in the ballot initiative not to use “Safe Streets” funds for bicycle lanes on Hopkins, there is nothing stopping the city from adding in money from the general fund to finish the job without the new parcel tax . 

There is a lot that is going to change in the coming decade. I would really prefer we weren’t put in this bind of choosing one or the other now, but here we are. I am on the “Fix the Streets” side as that does the most good with the least risk of “what were you thinking?” and puts better oversight and evaluation into the mix. 

Last Saturday on Livable California’s Zoom conference review of legislation, one of the attendees said that since Los Angeles implemented “Vision Zero” pedestrian deaths have increased. 

Karen Parolek, who is the chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission, member of Walk Bike Berkeley and co-founder and president of Opticos Design, Inc was listed as a planner in the presentation to the Commission on Aging on Wednesday on Missing Middle Housing and Zoning Measures. On LinkedIn her education is listed as a B. Arch, Architecture and Graphic Design from the University of Notre Dame. 

The examples in her presentation of Missing Middle housing, which is duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes, was filled with lovely pictures of buildings surrounded by yards that were inviting and fit into neighborhoods. 

Berkeley is already an incredibly dense city, built up with little space between houses, back yards with small apartment buildings, ADUs/cottages and a shortage of parks. The push is to pack even more in, reducing separations between buildings and setbacks (the space between buildings and the lot line). 

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I wish what Parolek was presenting was where we are going. It is not. Unfortunately, what I see coming out of the City of Berkeley’s gPlanning Department, Planning Commission and the YIMBYs (the group funded by big tech and real estate industry that is pushing building more everywhere) is zoning changes for the city council to approve covering as much land as possible with new developments. 

March 19 was the last day of filing an appeal of the Landmarks Preservation Commission NOD (Notice of Decision) for 2274 Shattuck Avenue currently the closed United Artists movie theater. When 2274 Shattuck is demolished for a student housing project, the only hint of its former use will be what little is left of the movie marquee in the Shattuck-facing façade of the new project. 

In Berkeley, the city that was formerly known as the center for viewing independent and foreign film, only the Elmwood is left, with three screens, unless you count the single screening room in the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). In the last few years 20 film screens went to the chopping block to be demolished. This is an enormous loss. 

The item of the evening that drew a crowd to respond was the single action item 9 on the agenda “Adoption of a Master License Agreement Template for the Non-Exclusive Installation of Small Cell Telecommunications Facilities on City Owned and Maintained Streetlight Poles in the Public Right-of-Way”. Councilmember Hahn ggmotioned to move the item to consent, but Councilmember Bartlett intervened, saying that many people had shown up to speak and Council should hear them. 

There were 24 speakers. I was one. My issue was not Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS), I thought the contract should have been beefed up to cover the city’s responsibility if a light pole with equipment on it needs to be removed for public safety in a weather or other emergency. That situation does not allow for the contract-prescribed 10-day notice. The other speakers were there to declare their EHS symptoms and object to the contract. 

The best article I found on Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) is from the NIH National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7201940/ 

The article is long. The symptoms the speakers declare are real, but linking the symptoms to electromagnetic fields (EMF) as the cause is where research, studies and science come up empty. 

You can put me down with my RN credentials as an EHS, EMF skeptic, however a friend reminded me that birds and other species in nature migrate by electromagnetic fields. There is a lot to learn about the world we live in. Just pick up Ed Yong’s wonderful book An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us. Chapter 11 is Magnetic Fields. 

The Master Lease passed with a yes by everyone present. 

In my Friday morning podcasts it was “ceasefire” whiplash,with Phyllis Bennis on Democracy Now going right into the word salad in the U.S resolution for the U.N. Security Council that uses the words “immediate ceasefire” while not actually calling for a ceasefire. 

Over the weekend Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, called out the U.S. as playing games and the U.S. vetoes to a ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council as a disgrace. 

As I am finishing up on Monday, March 25, 2024, the U.S. abstained instead of casting a veto allowing the UN Security Council to pass a resolution for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel Hamas War. Russia and China were unsuccessful in inserting/keeping the word “permanent” with ceasefire so it is only during Ramadan. 

Even with that resolution nothing is stopping the number of bombing and raids climbing with more Palestinian deaths and injuries. 

I will continue to send back requests for campaign donations with no money and the words “permanent ceasefire” and “stop arming Israel” a practice I shared with a friend who says she throws them in the trash. 

By Friday night I had had watched clips of the disgraceful attacks by Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz on President Biden’s nominee on Adeel A. Mangi who would have been the first Muslim American federal appellate judge. But, it was the Democrat Senator Catherine Cortez Masteo of Nevada who sank the nomination by saying she would not vote for Adeel followed by Senator Joe Manchin. 

There seems to be a continuous string of investigations into anti-Semitism. The ceasefire mural Free Palestine by Berkeley High students was item 2 in the March 27 City Council closed session as anticipated litigation. 

I looked up the list of Jewish judges. It is long covering screen after screen. Elena Kagan is the eighth Jewish Supreme Court Justice. I found three Muslim American judges in the federal court system and now none will have advanced as far as the federal appeals court. According to online sources about 2% of Americans identify as Jewish and 1.1% of Americans identify as Muslim. 

I finally finished Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations by Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman published in 2019. I switched to the audiobook a long 26 hours and then back to the ebook to take notes for my reading journal. The book carries the reader through assassination after assassination: how methods for killing succeeded or failed, who approved them and how techniques became more sophisticated through the years, stopping occasionally to include those who were tortured by the Israelis before being murdered. The book is brutal. When drones were added to their killing repertoire, I thought about how the U.S. used drones to kill in the war in Afghanistan. 

As the book closes Bergman writes of his last conversation with Meir Dagan who transformed the Mossad. After all Dagan had done directing the Israeli assassination killing machine, at the end of his life as he was dying of cancer, Dagan concluded that only a political solution with the Palestinians, the two state solution, could end the 150-year conflict.

The following item appeared in an email blast from EastBay Yimby, the voice of the for-profit development lobby which has a target painted on the city of Berkeley.YIMBY shock troops are being recruited to provide astroturf "grass roots" input.

If you don't believe believe that it should be easier to tear down family homes in Berkeley and replace them with cash-register multiples, call or write your councilmember to protest, or even better, show up at Tuesday's council meeting, in person or by ZOOM.

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March 26th: Demolition Ordinance at Berkeley City Council

This Tuesday, March 26th, Berkeley City Council will vote on a demolition ordinance (Item 23 on the agenda). The goal of the ordinance is to codify when existing buildings can be demolished and turned into larger apartment buildings. The ordinance is key to both the Southside upzoning that council recently passed and the upcoming Missing Middle legislation. Both initiatives seek to densify Berkeley while replacing our aging housing stock. The demolition ordinance as written does a good job of preventing predatory evictions and focusing demolitions on owner occupied homes. However, it currently requires all demolished residential units be replaced 1:1 by below market rate units. While it’s important to preserve affordability, this requirement will make it impossible to build the mid-size apartment buildings that are the biggest source of new units. Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani has introduced a supplemental to the ordinance that fixes this imbalance and will increase the number of new homes that actually get built. It will clear the way for immediate approvals of new housing near UC campus and will use standard, state-wide, definitions of which housing units need to be replaced. It’s important that the City Council hears from us and passes this ordinance with Councilmember Kesarwani’s amendment. Take two minutes before noon on Monday to email City Council asking them to pass CM Kesarwani’s supplemental. Even better, please give public comment during the meeting! Logistics: v6 pm (likely to go late) on March 26th 1231 Addison St, Berkeley or on Zoom

 

 

 

The March 14, 2024 Daily Californian printed an editorial titled “A million a month, with no end in sight.” Although we applaud the outrage expressed over the huge expenditures by UC Berkeley on its People’s Park project, we are adamant in our criticism of the characterization of the advocates for preserving the park. The editorial repeated the disinformation about opponents of the project that UC administration has constantly repeated. We expect more from the Daily Cal, and its tradition of fact-based analysis and reporting. Since none of the so-called “NIMBY groups” were named, we will put our name forward. We are the People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group, which developed the successful application for placing the park on the National Register of Historic Places and pursued as a plaintiff in the CEQA lawsuit against UC’s irrational and damaging project. 

UC has called us “privileged NIMBY neighbors,” but that fiction is belied by the well over 350 endorsers or supporters of our efforts from all over Berkeley, California and the U.S. They include UCB professors, three former Berkeley mayors, three former Berkeley city councilmembers, many former Berkeley commissioners, Cal alumni and students, attorneys, architects, historians and many others who value People’s Park. 

Add to that support from the country’s leading preservation organization - The National Trust for Historic Preservation, two resolutions from the ASUC opposing destruction of the park, the Berkeley Faculty Association’s questioning of the project, and the many editorials in support of the park in the Daily Cal. 

Although campus administration and the editorial point to noise complaints as central to the lawsuit, the essential issue is that the Court of Appeal clearly saw that UC did not adequately analyze alternative sites for building student housing. UC has given us a false choice of having either a park or housing when clearly we can have both and desperately need both. Standards for urban green space at the international, national, state and local level point to the need for even more open space than People’s Park in the increasingly densely populated South Campus neighborhood. 

CEQA does not stifle housing development as shown in the report “CEQA: California’s Living Environmental Law: CEQA’s Role in Housing, Environmental Justice, & Climate Change,” which “exhaustively analyzes available data and literature and demonstrates that, contrary to critics’ arguments, CEQA is not a major impediment to housing production. The number of CEQA lawsuits has remained very low over two decades, and the costs of complying with the law are relatively small. The report further shows that CEQA is critical for advancing environmental justice and combating climate change.” 

The struggle over People’s Park also shows an essential degradation of the democratic process. AB 1307 was passed and signed by the governor with absolutely no public input, a stereotypical “backroom deal," although its author was our own assemblyperson. Likewise the experience for community groups illustrates the old adage - “We have the best legal system money can buy.” We have raised money with great difficulty in order to fight the well-funded UC legal team. Contributions come from crumpled one dollar bills to at most occasional four-figure contributions. Yes, it is very true that UC as a public institution has “more pertinent holes on campus.” 

We are also critical of the false binary of YIMBY vs. NIMBY, which ignores real solutions to the California housing crisis. The rest of the industrialized world solves the crisis by increasing public, social and cooperative housing. Trickle-down economics does not work. Market rate development only enriches the already rich and does not create either accessibility or affordability of housing. 

Finally we emphasize our support for student housing on an appropriate site like the parking structure a block and a half from People’s Park. If UC had chosen such a site as we suggested several years ago, the project would be nearly complete and students would be able to move in soon. And millions of taxpayer-supported UC budget dollars would have been saved. 

The World's Happiest Hot Spots

On March 20, the United Nations published its annual World Happiness Report, naming Finland as "the happiest country in the world for the seventh year in a row" while (in the words of the New York Post) "the US drops to an all-time low." Finnish President Alexander Stubb explained the country's top rating was due to three factors—1) nature, 2) trust, and 3) education.

Other Nordic countries performed well, as well. Finland was followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, The Netherlands and Norway. (Israel?)

As with most contests, there were some critics, An online comment from "Jaanus K" complained: "I have lived abroad for 20 years and come to Finland regularly. And I am 100% sure that Finland is not the happiest country in the world."

And a Finlander named "Otrasisu" chimed in: "Well, nature is still there, trust—at least in the government—is no longer there, as for education—the government is cutting funding. So all that remains is nature. Of course, playing sports outdoors and enjoying the tranquility of nature is very pleasant."

In the list of 143 ranked countries, the US claimed the 23^rd slot, marking the first time in the history of the Happiness Index that the US failed to land in the Top Twenty. The US might fare better if it adopted Finland's tradition of offering employees annual 4-5 week paid vacations. 

DNA My Dog 

KCBS radio recently aired an exposé on scammers selling mouth-swab kits that promise to reveal the mysteriously mixed ancestry of your mongrel mutt. It turned out that at least one of the major "rover-reveal" companies sampled was apparently selling bogus kits. After paying for and receiving suspicious results, one local pet-lover (at the instigation of a KCBS reporter) sent in a sample of her own saliva to three different animal-ancestry purveyors. 

Two of the three firms honestly replied that no canine match could be found. The third company claimed success and billed the lady for the service. As she told KCBS, she was surprised to discover that she was "part bulldog and part border collie." 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted about town.
CAR DIEM
POTO 1
81100M1
CAR DIEM
U R NEXT
OLEYG (Holy Gee?)
MNNGFUL (Meaningful)
OHYNOT (Oh Why Not)
LRDAMCY (Lord a-Mercy)
IH8EVRE1 (I Hate Everyone)
CKJLNHK (Chuck Jailin' Hunk?) 

Bumper Snickers
No Baby Onboard
Adults on Board. We Want to Live Too
Honk If You Don't Exist 

I Had a Life But My Job Ate It 

Back-off: I'm Not that Kind of Car
This Baby Goes 0 to 60. Eventually
I'm Not Drunk. I'm Just Avoiding Potholes 

Palestine Before the Nakba
Just in time for Ramadan, The Nation posted excerpts from a new book that includes stunning photos of life in Palestine before there was an Israel. 

Among the revelations: Palestine had its own national airline, a national radio station, and a trophy-winning soccer team. Here is a link. 

Newsbombs 

On March 20, there were two sentences from the day's news-feed that still haunt my hours days later:
"Israel has killed 13,000 children."
"Starving children no longer have the strength to cry." 

Washington's Ceasefire Deception 

 

When the US Stood Up to Tel Aviv's Aggression 

In 1982, when Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered the armed invasion of Lebanon, the US did not stand on the sidelines. Fearing the assault on Israel's neighbor could lead to a larger regional war, then-President Ronald Reagan took decisive action. As the New York Times reported, Reagan fired off "a 'firm' message calling for Israeli forces to stop fighting in Lebanon and prepare to withdraw." Israel's leaders invited Reagan's Secretary of State to fly to Jerusalem to discuss the matter. Alexander Haig would have none of it. Unlike the compliant Antony Blinken, Haig refused, explaining the Israeli leaders "have not evidenced sufficient flexibility to make a visit worthwhile." 

On August 13, Israel began bombing West Beirut and Reagan responded with a message expressing "outrage." The US president spent an hour in a fruitless attempt to reach the Israeli leader by phone. Reagan finally reached Begin and expressed his grave concern over the "needless destruction and bloodshed" inflicted on Lebanon's civilian population. Shortly after the end of Reagan's ten-minute tirade, Begin called back to report that he had ordered a "complete cease-fire." 

Where's Reagan now that we need him? 

How does Reagan's approach to Israeli aggression differ from Biden's? 

Where to Begin? 

Our Militarized Vocabulary 

Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA) recently hosted a Webinar on climate and Nuclear Disarmament. MAPA's email spoke wisely of impediments to change in the following paragraph: 

"Psychic numbing is a widely known psychological phenomenon, causing us to feel apathetic towards tragedies and looming existential threats. How do all of us, compassionate, concerned human beings, continue to fall into this trap? How do we become psychologically numb to the two most dominant existential threats, the prospect of nuclear war and climate disaster?" 

Can you spot the discordant verb in the following invitation? 

"Climate change and nuclear war are the two most prevalent issues that threaten the future of humanity and the future of our earth. We aim to create a safe space through this webinar to discuss how we all can hold onto hope and act to combat these threats." 

Right: "act to combat these threats." 

Cop Car Chases
The Chronicle recently exposed the deadly hazards of police car chases through city streets and on freeways. The options included using "spike strips" placed on the road to puncture a fleeing suspect's car tires. This gives rise to several practical questions. How do you know, in advance, what street a fleeing driver is going to choose? How do you get ahead of ta speeding car that everyone else is chasing so you can safely deploy the spike strip? And, if you know ahead of time where the suspect will be driving, how do you stop other traffic from running over the tire trap? 

The Chron didn't answer those questions but the paper did offer a more practical alternative. Nope, not drones to chase the getaway cars from above. The Alameda police were praised for using StarChase, a trigger-launched mini-missile coated with adhesive that makes a tracking device stick to the back of a fleeing car. 

 

The Hard Hat Riot
Former Clinton-era Labor Secretary and recently retired UCB Economics Prof Robert Reich is still engaged in the teaching profession. Reich recently shared a link to a video that reveals a little-known incident of populist rebellion that is missing from most history books—a 1970 protest known as the "Hard Hat Riot." 

The short documentary shows how devious and divisive politicians maintain power by crafting "culture wars" to pit one class against another. 

"We must reflect on the same questions we faced in 1970," Reich argues. "Will we finally recognize that we have more in common with each other than those who seek to divide us for political and economic gain? Will we build a future with prosperity that is widely shared by all?" 

Reich hopes this short video will reach—and motivate—a growing audience. 

 

What's Democracy Got to Do With It?
The 22^nd Amendment limits presidents to two terms and some political savants believe this might be a good idea for other political officeholders as well. Limiting Congressional and Senatorial terms makes sense. Not convinced? Think Mitch McConnell. 

And while we're at it, we might consider doing away with the Senate and leaving governing to the House. (After all, under the US Constitution, Senators were initially not elected, they were appointed by state governors. Electing senators only came about with the passage of the 17^th amendment in 1913.) 

And speaking of governing, if we are a democracy, why do the states even have "governors" who are given the "final say" on what becomes law and can reject hard-won achievements of proposed legislation with the stroke of a pen? 

Disruption as a Political Tool
CODEPINK writes: "Since the genocide in Gaza began, we have carried out over 50 disruptions of 'business as usual,' from our co-director Danaka screaming at Biden to call for a ceasefire in Illinois, to the constant disruption of the hearings in Washington on defunding UNRWA. 

"Our co-founder Medea Benjamin is in the halls of Congress every single day, leading our peace activists to demand that Members of Congress call for a ceasefire and vote NO on any new aid to Israel." 

Does it work? Look at the record: In the past 6 months, 77 congressmembers have joined the call for a ceasefire and 16 have pledged to vote No on any new arms funding for Israel. 

In recent weeks, CODEPINKers in Ireland allied with Mothers Against Genocide to disrupt militarism on St. Patrick’s Day and local chapters continue to pass ceasefire resolutions in Chicago and Moorhead, Minnesota. "We helped disrupt the Oscars. We marched on the Golden Gate Bridge. We are shutting down air force bases and parades. We will continue to be everywhere that Gaza is not being spoken about – the moment demands that of us." 

And CODEPINK has put its loud-mouths where its money is, donating $10,000 to the UN Relief and Works Agency—and "even more" to other aid groups in Gaza. 

Here are some videos of several recent disruptions. Note: You won't see these on the evening news. 

. 

 

• Co-director Danaka screaming at Biden to call for a ceasefire in Illinois.
• Disruption of the hearings in Washington on defunding UNRWA.

Move the Money 

 

 

 

 

END 

The writer (a former candidate for Berkeley City Council) of a recent opinion piece on Berkeleyside.org argues that most of the present Berkeley elected officials are opportunistically motivated and climbing the political ladder.

I agree. Witness their sellout of People’s Park, a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a much needed urban green space recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. However, our mayor and council majority sometimes do the right thing – saving the West Berkeley Shellmound, one of the largest of the hundreds that used to ring the San Francisco Bay.

In his opinion piece, Alex Sharenko pushes a truly repugnant ideology. Additionally, Sharenko does not seem able to decide if he wants a parking lot now or housing later. He claims “plans for the land are completely unknown.” This is a totally dishonest statement when anyone can google “plans for West Berkeley Shellmound” and quickly be taken to the shellmound.org website. If Alex wants a parking lot to build housing, how about UC Berkeley’s, a few blocks north at Fourth and Virginia Streets? Or other underutilized former industrial sites in West Berkeley? 

But not every plot of land must be built upon with the attitude of build anything, anywhere. We have ignored the real solutions to the California housing crisis. The rest of the industrialized world solves the crisis by increasing public, social and cooperative housing. Trickle-down economics does not work. Market rate development, with its quota of a few affordable units if any, only enriches the already rich and does not create either accessibility or affordability of housing. Unfortunately California has become proof of this dynamic. 

Our Bay Area Democrats, handsomely funded by the tech and real estate and development industry are leading the charge on bad housing policy. We all saw the hit pieces during the last election. In their catering to investors the politicians ignore the value of historically and culturally significant properties. Senator Scott Wiener wants to build high rises on coastal California. Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks writes a sweetheart deal of a bill for UC Berkeley to undermine the rational opinion on People’s Park issued by the State Court of Appeal. Major Jesse Arreguin cuts a bad, secret deal with UC Berkeley and then runs for higher office leaving the burden of it for years to come to city taxpayers. 

Beyond his discussion of parking lots and housing can be found the most striking feature in Sharenko’s piece – his total lack of recognition that the Shellmound is a highly significant indigenous historic site. Nowhere is there a mention of the Sogorea Te Land Trust or the Lisjan Nation. This invisibility can only be called erasure. Erasure of indigenous people’s humanity, culture, beliefs and land rights goes back to 1492. To have it repeated now represents the repugnant ideology that led to genocide and immeasurable suffering. The return of the West Berkeley Shellmound will not undo that history, but it is a recognition and a cultural restoration of a site that existed along the shore of the Bay long before anyone dreamed of building a pyramid in Egypt or a high rise on the California coast. 

Berkeley, CA

It came as a surprise when Essa-Pekka Salonen announced last week that he would not extend his tenure as Music Director at San Francisco Symphony beyond the 2024-25 season. Salonen cited as his reason that there were differences between him and the Symphony’s Board of Governors over future directions for the Symphony. 

Back in 2018 when it was announced that Essa-Pekka Salonen would take over the helm of San Francisco Symphony in 2020, I was not entirely pleased. My choice to succeed MTT was another Finnish conductor, Susanna Mallki. While recognizing Salonen’s credentials, I was not pleased by his stated intentions to offer mixed-media visuals to Synphony concerts. This had already been a sore spot for me during Michael Tilson Thomas’s tenure at SF Symphony, and I had deplored MTT’s sophomoric infatuation with mixed-media visuals accompanying classical music. 

Once Salonen took over at SF Symphony, thankfully, most of his efforts to add mixed-media visuals were done at the Symphony’s Soundbox, a venue for contemporary digital innovations. Meanwhile, Salonen’s programming for the Symphony at Davies Hall continued to combine respect for the traditional repertoire and new works. By far the high point of Salonen’s tenure here, in my opinion, was his production in June 2023 of Kaijja Saariaho’s opera Adriana Mater, which happened to be presented here just days after Saariaho’s death. Salonen had a long-standing friendship and professional relationship with Kaija Saariaho, and he had conducted the premiere performance of her Adriana Mater in Paris back in 2006. As for Salonen’s other offerings of new music at SF Symphony, his own compositions were uninspiring, witness his strained Violin Concerto written for Leila Josefowicz or his vapid Cello Concerto written for Yo-Yo Ma. 

While Salonen’s unimpeachable skill as a conductor was in ample evidence here, perhaps especially in works by his fellow Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, Salonen’s programming failed to lure SF audiences to consistently attend post-pandemic concerts. Indeed, the pandemic itself, whose onset came shortly after Salonen took over at SF Symphony in 2020, may have been a major factor in causing the rethinking of the Symphony’s Board of Governors about Salonen’s ambitious plans for an expanded future. Now that Salonen has announced he will not extend his tenure here beyond 2025, SF Symphony faces a daunting challenge in replacing him. My choice, once again, would be Susanna Mallki. But Mallki is Associate Conductor at Los Angeles Philharmonic, and with Gustavo Dudamel leaving LA Phil to assume the post at New York Philhamonic, Susanna Mallki may be the favorite to succeed Dudamel at LA Phil, and thus it may be difficult to pry her away from that prestigious orchestra with whom she has long been affiliated. 

If Mallki cannot be induced to come here, there is one other female conductor I would nominate as our future music director, and that is Karina Canellakis, whose guest performances here in recent years have been inspiring, even thrilling. She will again lead theSF Symphony as GuestConductor on April 18-20 in a program of Strauss and Ravel. Audiences, as well as the Symphony’s Board of Governors, may well treat these performances as an audition.

Worth Noting:

City Council will be on spring recess from March 27 to May 6 returning on May 7, 2024. The District 7 councilmember election is April 16. The District 4 councilmember election is May 28.



Recommended goto meetings are bolded: Tuesday - City Council at 6 pm and Wednesday - Environment and Climate Commission.

• Monday: At 4 pm recreation activity “Design a Medicine Bag”
• Tuesday:
  • At 4 pm City Council meets in closed session in the hybrid format.
  • At 6 pm City Council conducts a regular meeting in the hybrid format with the Demolition Ordinance (23) and Human Welfare and Community Action (24 a & b) on the agenda under action.
• Wednesday:
  • At 4 pm the Loan Administration meets in person.
  • At 6 pm the Environment and Climate Commission meets in person with the Urban Forestry Program on the agenda.
  • At 6 pm the Civic Arts Commission meets in person.
  • At 6:30 pm the Police Accountability Board (PAB) meets in the hybrid format.
  • At 7 pm the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission meets in person.
• Thursday:
  • At 6:30 pm the Community Health Commission meets in person.
  • At 7 pm the Mental Health Commission meets in person.
  • At 7 pm the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB) meets in the hybrid format with one project on the agenda.
• Friday: The Recreation Department has a Silent Disco from 6 -8 pm and a flashlight egg hunt from 7:30 – 9 pm for 5th – 8th graders.
• Saturday: The Recreation Department has a scavenger hunt with prizes and an egg hunt at 9:30 am in the Marina and a Low Tide walk at 10 am.

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.



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



BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS 

 

Sunday, March 24, 2024 – no city events found 

 

Monday, March 25, 2024 

 

DESIGN a MEDICINE BAG: FREE 2-PART ART WORKSHOP at 4 pm 

Location: at 1900 Sixth Street 

Use link for details and to register (medicine bag is for herbals and flowers) 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/design-medicine-bag-free-2-part-art-workshop 

 

Tuesday, March 26, 2024 

 

CITY COUNCIL Closed Session at 4 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1613042201 

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

Meeting ID: 161 304 2201 

AGENDA: 1. Pending Litigation Fisher et al v CoB, US District Court, Norther District of CA Case No. 3:23-cv-04280-TSH, 2. Anticipated Litigation Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Section 54956.9(d)(2) arising from paint installation at the intersection of Allston Way and MLK, the ceasefire mural with a figure with a book, a keffiyeh, one potential case, 3. Conference with Labor Negotiators, employee organizations Berkeley Fire Fighters Local 1227 I.A.F.F., Berkeley Chief Fire Officers Association Local 1227 I.A.F.F., Berkeley Police Association, SEIU 1021 Community Services and Part-time Recreation Activity Leaders, SEIU 1021 Maintenance and Clerical, Public Employee Union Local 1, Unrepresented Employees. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-special-closed-eagenda-march-26-2024 

 

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/1618014669 

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

Meeting ID: 161 801 4669 

AGENDA: Use the link and choose the html option to select single agenda items for detail, pdf for the full documents or use the full agenda “quick peak” listed at the end of the calendar. The demolition ordinance is 23 under Action. The Human Welfare and Community Action Commission (HWCAC) is listed as 24 a & b under Action. 

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

 

Wednesday, March 27, 2024 

 

LOAN ADMINISTRATION BOARD at 4 pm 

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

AGENDA: B) i) East Bay Media Center #0445 - loan modification request to reduce monthly RLF payments of $683.44 to $200, ii) Minuteman Press #0474 – loan modification request to defer $2,865.17 until the sale of the business is complete. The sale would allow the remaining balance of $52,969.25 to be fully paid off. 

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

 

ENVIRONMENT and CLIMATE COMMISSION at 6 pm 

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

AGENDA: 7. Presentation & Discussion Urban Forestry Programs, 8. Presentation & Discussion Proposed Utility Tax. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/environment-and-climate-commission 

 

CIVIC ARTS COMMISSION at 6 pm 

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

Agenda: 6. Presentations, Discussion & Action Items a) Approve Art Subcommittee recommendation of 2024/2025 Cube Space Curator, b) Demographics for FY 2024 Grants, c) Civic Arts Grants-funded Community Festivals Quarterly Report. 

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

 

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD (PAB) at 6:30 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

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

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

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833  

Meeting ID: 826 5339 6072 

AGENDA: Not posted check after Monday 

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

 

DISASTER and FIRE SAFETY COMMISSION at 7 pm 

In-Person: at 997 Cedar, Fire Department Training Classroom 

AGENDA: 4. Support the request by the Fire Department to fund a Program Manager II Position, 5. Amendment of City Documents for a Definition of “Public Safety” 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/disaster-and-fire-safety-commission 

 

Thursday, March 28, 2024 

 

COMMUNITY HEALTH COMMISSION at 6:30 pm 

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

AGENDA: Response to Resolution #69,980 – N.S. “To Accererate the City of Berkeley’s transition to Plant-Based Foods. 

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

 

MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSION at 7 pm 

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

AGENDA: 5. Mental Health Manager’s Report and Caseload Statistics, 6. Discuss Proclamation for May is Mental Health Month, 7. Discussion about requesting a new Councilmember to the MHC, 8. Re-appoint Monica Jones to Mental Health Commission. 

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

 

ZONING ADJUSTMENT BOARD (ZAB) at 7 pm 

A Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81337792513 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 or1-669-444-9171 

Meeting ID: 813 3779 2513 

AGENDA: 2136-2154 San Pablo – Use Permit #ZP2021-0046 – SB 330 project - to demolish an existing one-story, non-residential building and construct a 6-story (69 feet, 6 inches), 82824 sq ft mixed-use building with 122 units (including 10 very low-income density bonus qualifying units), 3-live/work units, 2490 sq ft of commercial space and ground floor parking garage for 50 spaces.  

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

 

Friday, March 29, 2024 

 

SILENT DISCO from 6 – 8 pm 

Family friendly event open to all ages 

Location: 2800 Park, Frances Albrier Community Center 

Use link for details and to register 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/silent-disco 

 

Flashlight EGG HUNT from 7:30 pm – 9 pm 

Teens in grades 5th – 8th 

Location: 2800 Park  

Use link for details and to register 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/flashlight-egg-hunt-0 

 

Saturday, March 30, 2024 

 

SPRING EGG HUNT EXTRAVAGANZA at 9:30 am 

Location: Start at Berkeley Marine Center at 11 Spinnaker Way 

Egg Hunt is scheduled by age groupings from 1 year old to 12 year olds 

Use link for details and to register 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/spring-egg-hunt-extravaganza-1 

 

LOW TIDE WALK from 10 am – 12:15 pm 

Location: at 160 University 

Use link for details and to register, $12 per person, program will be cancelled if there is heavy rain 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/low-tide-walk 

 

WATERFRONT SCAVENGER HUNT from 9:30 am – 1:45 pm  

All ages welcome. $200 in gift cards will be given to winning teams. 

Location: Start at Berkeley Marine Center at 11 Spinnaker Way 

Use link for details and to register 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/waterfront-scavenger-hunt 

 

Sunday, March 31, 2024 – no city events found – Easter Sunday 

 

+++++++++++++++++++ 

 

CITY COUNCIL AGENDA for Regular 6 pm Meeting on March 26, 2024 

Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1618014669 

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

Meeting ID: 161 801 4669 

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

 

AGENDA on CONSENT: 

1. Murray, Lease Agreement: Dorothy Day House d.b.a. Dorothy’s Closet at 2425a Channing in the Telegraph-Channing Mall and Garage for 5-year term retroactive to 5/1/2023 with option to renew one additional 5 year term.
2. Numainville, City Clerk – Minutes for approval
3. Radu, CM office – Amend Contract 32200202 add up to $975,756 total $4,872,158 with Shree Jalasai Lodging, LP for 1461 University for purpose of extending the interim non-congregate shelter program on a month to month basis for no longer than 6 months
4. Radu, CM office –Contract Housing Consortium of the East Bay (HCEB) to operate shelter at the Rodeway Inn thru 9/30/2024 for $1,925,256 (pdf page 141 - 146)
5. Oyekanmi, Finance – Amend Contract No. 31900162 add $1,400,000 total $5,125,735 with Pride Industries for Janitorial Services through 6/30/2025 estimated annual spending going forward $1,000,000 per year
6. Oyekanmi, Finance – Amend Contract No. 32000060 add $210,000 and $720,000 for two-year extension total $1,750,000 with Toshiba for Multi-function Devices thru 9/15/2025
7. Oyekanmi, Finance – Amend Contract 32400009 add $50,000 with Stella Courier for Satellite Mall Services/Mail Room coverage
8. Sprague, Fire – Contract $275,000 over 2-year period with Marina Landscape for Wildfire Safe Model Garden Construction at Firehouse #4
9. Ernst, HHCS – Amend Contract No. 32400033 add $50,000 total $200,000 and extend 1/15/2025 with Strategic Economics for Affordable Housing Requirements Economic Feasibility Analysis
10. Ernst, HHCS – Amend Contract No. 31900225 add $15,300 total $2,873,947 with Lifelong Medical Care to fund No Place Like Home (NPLH) supportive services at Maudelle Miller Shirek
11. Ernst, HHCS – Amend Contract add $50,000 total $100,000 with The Labor Compliance Managers for Labor Standards Enforcement Services.
12. Bustamante, HHCS – Contract $30,000 with Dr. Gail Newel for Health Officer services when the City Health Officer is out of the office (backup) from 5/1/2024 – 5/1/2025
13. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Appointment of Terrance Davis as Director of Public Works effective 4/15/2024 at an annual salary of $260,000, previously director of Public Works for Vallejo, BA in Ethnic Studies and MBA
14. Kouyoumdjian, HR – MOU Berkeley Chief Fire Officers Association
15. Ferris, Parks – Amend Contract No. 32400015 add $303,000 total $350,000 with California Consulting for on-call grant writing services
16. Murray, Public Works – FY 2025 Street Lighting Assessments initiating proceedings
17. Murray, Public Works – Purchase Order Extensions for equipment, parts and services through 1/30/2025: 1. PO with Golden State Emergency for Fire vehicles repairs add $500,000 total $800,437.50, 2. PO with Pape Machinery add $375,000 total $666,697.50, 3. PO with City Auto Supply add $250 total $432,447.50, 4. PO Fleetwash, Inc. add $200,000 total $372,615, 5. PO with Coast Counties Truck & Equipment C, add $225,000 total $351,730, 6. PO with Arata Equipment Co add $210,000 total $320,180, 7. PO with TEC of California add $200,000 total $305,000, 8. PO with Future ford of Concord add $205,000 total $300,000, 9. PO with Acme Rigging & Supply Company, In. add $200,000 total $285,995, 10. PO with Western Truck $260,000, 11. PO with Southern Counties Lubricants LLC add $175,000 total $238,500, 12. PO with McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing Co add $150,000 total $200,000, 13. PO with California Covers add $60,000 total $110,881.01, 14. PO with berry Brothers add $15,000 total $50,000

Commission Items: 

18. Human Welfare and Community Action Commission – Confirm Cheryl Atkinson District 1 as an elected representative of the poor
19. Community Health Commission – Response to Council referral Long Term Care Facility Oversight (1) refer to CM and budget process the establishment of an enhanced Ombudsperson program for oversight of SNF and Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly and (2) early implementation of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal for minimum staffing levels ahead of the 3-year period proposed by CMS

Council Items: 

20. Hahn, co-sponsors Wengraf, Taplin, Humbert – Budget referral $200,000 for study and implementation of traffic control measures on upper Marin to address urgent safety needs for pedestrians
21. Wengraf, co-sponsors Arreguin, Hahn, Taplin – Proclamation for Holocaust Remembrance Day,
22. Wengraf, co-sponsors Arreguin, Hahn, Taplin – Relinquishment of Council Office Budget Funds for 2024 Virtual Holocaust Remembrance Day Program not to exceed $500 per member

AGENDA on ACTION: 

23. Klein, Planning – Zoning Amendments BMC 23.326 Demolition and Dwelling Unit Controls
24. a. Ernst, HHCS - Dissolution of the Human Welfare and Community Action Commission and the Peace and Justice Commission and the establishment of the Human Welfare, Peace and Justice Commission, b. Ernst, HHCS - Reform the Human Welfare and Community Action Commission by amending rules regarding the Commission’s composition, number of members, filling of vacancies, election of low-income representatives, enumerated functions, and other changes. (documents in pdf pages 375 – 697, 24b. Reform the HWCAC starts on pdf page 553 with another complete attachment of same state documents, tables, communications for 24a)

INFORMATION REPORTS: 

25. Friedrichsen, Budget Manager - FY 2024 Mid-Year Budget Update
26. Homeless Services Panel of Experts – Two consecutive meetings canceled for lack of quorum

DISPOSITION OF ITEMS REMOVED from DRAFT AGENDA: 

• Request by City Manager and Fire Chief to reschedule for May 7 - Disaster and Fire Safety Commission – Use Measure FF to Support Understory Mitigation for one-time eucalyptus understory cleanups on select participating private properties

 

++++++++++++++++++++++ 

 

LAND USE CALENDAR 

2113-2115 Kittredge (California Theater) 6/4/2024 

3000 Shattuck (construct 10-story mixed-use building) TBD 

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS: 

• May 21 at 4 pm (tentative)Inclusionary Housing In-Lieu Fee Feasibility Study
• October 22 Draft Waterfront Specific Plan

UNSCHEDULED WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS 

• Ashby BART Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Berkeley – El Cerrito Corridor Access Plan Presentation
• Dispatch Needs Assessment Presentation
• Presentation on Homelessness/Re-Housing/Thousand-Person Plan (TBD regular agenda)

PREVIOUSLY LISTED WORKSESSIONS and SPECIAL MEETINGS REMOVED FROM LIST 

• Fire Department Standards of Coverage & Community Risk Assessment

PAST MEETINGS with reports worth reading: 

• 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

 

+++++++++++++ SIGNING UP FOR EMAILS or UNSUBSCRIBING ++++++++ 

 

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 

 

 

+++++++++ HINTS for MANAGING CLOSED CAPTIONING and TRANSCRIPTS ++++++++ 

 

For Online Public Meetings 

CLOSED CAPTIONING, SAVE TRANSCRIPT OVERVIEW, CHAT, DIRECTIONS and ZOOM SUPPORT LINKS:
ZOOM has as part of the program -(for no extra cost)- Closed Captioning (CC). It turns computer voice recognition into a text transcript. Closed Captioning and show full transcript and the save option are only available when the person setting up the ZOOM meeting has activated these options. If you don’t see CC ask for it. If it can’t be activated for the current meeting ask for it for future meetings. 

 

The accuracy of the Closed Captioning is affected by background noise and other factors, The CC and transcript will not be perfect, but most of the time reading through it the few odd words, can be deciphered--for example "Shattuck" was transcribed as Shadow in one transcript. 

 

For the online attendee, the full transcript is only available from the time the attendee activates Show Full Transcript. But if you sit through a meeting and then remember 10 minutes before it is over to click on Show Full Transcript you will only get the last 10 minutes, not the full transcript – So click often on both Save Transcript and on Save to Folder during the meeting for best results. 

 

When you click on Show Full Transcript it will allow you to scroll up and down, so if want to go back and see what was said earlier you can do that during the meeting while the transcript is running. 

 

At the bottom of the transcript when we as attendees are allowed to save 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. If you lose connection during a zoom meeting your transcript will be from when you started it to the last time you clicked on save 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. 

 

Near the end of the meeting, after you click on "Save Transcript," click on "Save to Folder." The meeting transcript will show up (as a download to your desktop) in a separate box as a text file. (These text files are not large.) After you have done your last Save Transcript and Save to Folder (after the meeting is over) you can rename the new transcript folder on your computer, and save it (re-read or send or share it). 

 

Remember, allowing us attendees to save the meeting transcript does not require the public meeting host to save the transcript (for public record.) 

 

Saving CHAT: There are three dots at the bottom of the CHAT. If you click on these you should get a menu to save the CHAT. 

 

At the upper corner of the transcript and the chat there is a tiny box with an arrow. If you click on this the transcript and chat will pop out of being connected to the zoom screen. You can then move these on your screen for easier continuous viewing. 

 

Here is the link to ZOOM Support for how to set up Closed Captioning for a meeting or webinar:
https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/8158738379917#h_01GHWATNVPW5FR304S2SVGXN2X 

 

Here is the link to ZOOM Support for attendees in how to save Closed Captions: 

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

 

How to convert a YouTube video into a transcript 

Copy the YouTube url into the box with “enter a youtube url” and click on go https://youtubetranscript.com/ 

The transcript (not perfect, but very close) will appear instantaneously