I am helping to coordinate the Kamala Nevada effort on the ground in Reno. We have one more week before election day. Below, you will see four options for helping out.  

 

 

 

Option 1: One night stay in Reno, Saturday, Nov. 2- Join the Kamala Bay Area Canvassing Campaign, this Saturday, Nov. 2, at 7 am, aboard free busses which depart from Berkeley, and San Francisco, and return on Sunday, Nov. 3, at 8 pm. Your Saturday night lodging will be paid by the Kamala Campaign. 

 

For Option 1, go to: https://web.kamalaharris.com/forms/organizing-to-victory-take-action asap. Those seats are going very quickly. 

 

Option 2: Multi-night stay in Reno- You can help by canvassing, and phone banking at the West Reno Kamala Campaign office. We have a mini-van leaving the East Bay this Friday (11/1). For the return trip on Tuesday (11/5), you can be dropped off at Amtrak in Reno or Truckee and then take the train from there back to Martinez, Richmond, or Emeryville. You can also join another carpool to Reno and back, or drive your own car to Reno with or without passengers. You can stay in Reno for two nights or longer. We are trying to arrange for the Kamala Campaign to pay for our multiple night stays. Get in touch with us (See below) about this option and for updates on free lodging for extended overnight stays.  

 

Option 3: Phone bank from home, and talk directly to voters in Nevada. Please call me if you are interested in this option. You will then receive guidelines that include a script and a list of voters and their phone numbers. You can start immediately thereafter with coaching as well, if needed. 

 

Option 4: Forward this email to a friend, and/or put this announcement out to your Facebook friends. 

 

For more information, email Michael Barglow on behalf of the  

Bay Area Volunteer Committee to Elect Kamala at: 

michaelnbarglow@gmail.com or text to 510-648-6900. 

The recent Israeli airstrikes on Beit Lahia, Gaza, have killed dozens, including children, in what U.S. State Department officials have called “a horrifying incident with a horrifying result.” While Gazan officials report that at least 93 people died in the attack, including 25 children, where is the international outrage? If Russia had inflicted this level of destruction on Ukrainian civilians—decimating homes, hospitals, and schools, and blocking essential aid—the response would be widespread condemnation. Yet, for Gaza, the outcry remains silent. 

The devastation in Beit Lahia is tragically familiar across northern Gaza, where residential neighborhoods face relentless attacks under the pretext of targeting Hamas. Despite Israeli claims of precaution, the civilian death toll continues to rise, with reports of more than 400,000 people trapped with minimal access to food and medicine. And while calls for a ceasefire grow globally, the violence shows no signs of abating. 

Meanwhile, recent legislation in Israel that restricts the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating in Gaza threatens to further choke off humanitarian relief, exacerbating the suffering of civilians reliant on this critical aid. As Gaza faces unprecedented levels of famine, Israel’s actions starkly underscore the disparity in how the world values human life. g How much longer will we stand by as Gaza’s children and families are trapped in a cycle of death and despair?

 

War Drum Conundrums: The Overkill Calamity 

In an attempt to make genocide look humanitarian, the Israeli government has been issuing press statements that it is attacking targets in Gaza and Lebanon only after issuing "evacuation warnings." 

The resulting flood of terrified civilians—in vans, on mule-drawn carts, and on foot—seems to suggest that the tactic is working—as though the human tide of fugitives is a sign of "war done right." 

But wait! At the same time that Netanyahu boasts of issuing evacuation warnings, he is also claiming that it is necessary to reduce urban neighborhoods to smoking rubble in order to kill the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists hiding among civilian homes and high-rises. If noncombatants die, it's because they are being used as "human shields." The use of the phrase "human shield" is an ingeniously evil turn-of-phrase that works to transform actual killers into "victims" who are "forced" to shoot innocent bystanders—be they men, women, children, or captive Israeli hostages. 

But wait! If the IDF is concerned about the body count of innocent civilians, why are their tactics designed to maximize "overkill"? 

As Al Jazeera reported on October 3: "When Israel struck an underground Hezbollah command centre in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh last Friday, killing its longtime [Hezbollah] Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, the damage to civilian life was huge. 

"Reportedly, Israeli jets dropped more than 80, 2000-pound 'bunker-busting' bombs that have a destruction radius of 35 meters (115 feet) on their target." The US-made bombs that killed Nasrallah also demolished six neighboring residential high-rises. 

But wait! If the IDF is dropping bombs on Gaza neighborhoods to kill villainous enemy troops and leaders, why would they be forfeiting the "element of surprise"? Wouldn't issuing "evacuation orders" give both innocent civilians and enemy targets an equal opportunity to flee to safer quarters? The claim of issuing actual evacuation orders would seem to be untenable. 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted around town.
EOOOP1
NFACOM
[Heart] MYPAMY
BLU SRF (Blue Surf)
AVEN2UR (Adventurer?)
LRDAMTY (Lord Amighty)
AVEN2UR (Adventurer?) 

Bumpersnickers
Mad for Mocha
Your Message Here
Beware of Falling Parts
Take the High Road. Legalize Pot
Childish Cat Ladies for Harris-Walz
Back Off Bro. I've Got Mad Ninja Skills 

Videos with a Shelf Life of Two Weeks
With the presidential elections fast closing in, here are some YouTube "mad-verts" aimed at the Hitler-Praising Wannabe Dictator-Billionaire. 

The Lincoln Project Skewers Trump" 

 

Hurricane Trump 

 

Trump Tramples the Commandments 

 

Christian Trump 

 

Is Donald Trump a Fascist?  

 

And Let's Wrap This Up with Two Exceptional Songsters 

A Young Boy Rapping in the Ruins of Gaza 

MC Abdul recorded this one-take rap in Gaza three years ago in 2021. 

 

And Here's to Barbara Dane, Who Fought Injustice Through Song 

Singer/activist Barbara Dane died on Sunday at her home in Oakland at the age of 97. 

According to the New York Times, "She established her bona fides as a folky of the first order while still in her teens, performing with Pete Seeger." 

Over the course of her long career, Dane "was one of the few white women to perform with Black male musicians in the 1950s and ’60s, including the blues luminaries Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins, the jazz pianist Earl Hines and Louis Armstrong." One of Dane's trademark songs was "I Hate the Capitalist System!" In a 1958 Time magazine interview, Armstrong offered a memorable tribute to Dane: “Did you get that chick? She’s a gasser!” 

According to the Times, "Ms. Dane chose to terminate her life under California’s End of Life Option Act." 

She left her life as she lived it: On her own terms.
Barbara Dane: ¡Presente! 

Barbara Dane  

 

Barbara Dane - I Hate The Capitalist System 

After two terms, I get the impression that Buffy Wicks doesn't want to represent me, or District 14. Yet she is so confident of keeping her state Assembly seat that yard signs, speechmaking (beyond select audiences) and appearing on the same stage as her opponent, i.e. acting the part, are plumb unnecessary. The 'check incumbent' box is enough for the un-wary who affect every key election.

Her series of triumphant Draconian housing legislation suggests she represents some other locale, perhaps in Trump Country. Rather than community or constituency, she overtly serves YIMBY ideology, and its purposeful smothering of opposition, forcing inappropriate development on now-defenseless communities, under its grand master Sen. Scott Wiener. Gutting a health bill (AB 598) to become a support for BAHFA intrigues tells me she doesn't fear sneezing. Thank your higher PG&E rates on her killing AB1999. As for the UC-'I Love Noise' (AB 1307) success, please note her own quiet neighborhood.

So, why should we trust someone over 30 to replace her? Margot Smith is a longtime resident of Berkeley, with a UC PhD in Public Health. She didn't suddenly appear, as if on assignment. She says, "I'm running because I object to the laws the Buffy Wicks votes for", and exemplifies what might be called Berkeley Values: Housing for all incomes, not by developer diktat; Support of environmental laws, not their evisceration; Public schools, not charters; Support of newsprint media, not social-media gloss-overs; Fixing Prop 13, and the return to our communities the right to their own voices

In case you are wondering who I am voting for in the local elections, it is Kate Harrison for Mayor, Margot Smith for State Assembly, Jovanka Beckles for State Senate, Nikki Fortunato Bas for Alameda County Supervisor. If I lived in District 6 I would vote for Andy Katz, District 5 Shoshana O’Keefe, in District 3 I would rank only Chip Moore and Ben Bartlett. I am voting for Fix the Streets – Measure EE, Parks – Measure Y, and Libraries – Measure X. I haven’t decided on BUSD or finalized my vote on the rest of the ballot initiatives. 

As you keep reading you’ll see why I’ve made some of these choices. 

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 was an interesting day starting in the afternoon with the Agenda Committee and ending in the evening with the Berkeley City Council. 

At the Agenda Committee the alternate, Councilmember Taplin, filled in for Councilmember Wengraf. 

In the public comment period on the draft city council agenda for October 29, 2024, I suggested that item 15 from Public Works on an “Agreement Regarding Allocation of Costs for Railroad Crossing Improvements for Berkeley Commons Between Berkeley Commons Owner, LLC (Developer) and City of Berkeley (City)” was potentially controversial and should be moved to action. The parking lots for this development have approximately 1,000 parking spaces. 

Berkeley Commons is the big project on the edge of Aquatic Park built as a research and development project, presumably for biotech. 

Berkeley Commons is in Council District 2, Taplin’s district. 

Whether Taplin was picking up on my comment or he had also been looking at the item in another way, I don’t know, but when public comment closed and Taplin spoke, he asked for the Berkeley Commons item on the railroad crossings to be moved to action. Mayor Arreguin, basically cut off Taplin at the knees by saying he didn’t agree, the City was a pass through and Taplin could talk with the City Manager about the item. 

The supporting documentation that wasn’t available on Tuesday is posted with the October 29 City Council Agenda, but it only designates where the improvements will be on Addison and Bancroft, not what the safety improvements will be which some might say is important with entrances for around 500 parking spaces for the Bancroft parking lot entrance and another 500 at the Addison parking lot entrance. 

People in West Berkeley are concerned, some are upset about all of the parking that is being given to the multiple biotech projects now totaling about 3000 parking spaces in multilevel parking lots next to biotech projects already built or in the making. If even two thirds of these parking spaces are used that means 2000 more cars going through West Berkeley for biotech. That is while the city approves housing project after housing project with little to no parking leaving residents who need their cars struggling for parking when they come home and biotech scooping up three thousand spaces with ease in multi-level parking edging up on the residential neighborhoods. 

While the city leaders in Berkeley have been chasing after biotech, the West Berkeley Plan with protective zoning for arts and crafts is taking hits with rezoning spaces piece by piece for biotech. 

Estimates through public comment and a petition started by Kate Harrison place the vacancy in developments for biotech at 39% to 47%. There are still more planned projects for biotech to come. 

The West Berkeley neighborhood housing, where the largest percentage of persons of color live in Berkeley, also looks to be the target and sacrifice zone for Middle Housing Zoning. 

Add on to that sour taste that Berikeley Mayor Arreguin had on the evening city council agenda item 21 on consent (to pass without discussion) Amend BMC 9.04.165 – Tax Exemption for Research & Development Grants to exempt the taxation of business gross receipts relating to government and philanthropic research and development grants in the public interest.  

Arreguin stated to the public and council that as the author of item 21, a tax exemption for research and development, he was pulling the item from the evening agenda and rescheduling it for November 12, 2024. That is conveniently after the election when Arreguin would still be in office as mayor of Berkeley. 

Here is Arreguin’s statement: 

“So, on item 21, this is the item tax exemption for research and development grants I submitted for Council consideration this evening. Since the item first appeared, there’s been considerable interest in the proposal. We received many letters of support from companies engaged in a wide range of research in Berkeley who asked council to approve the item [emphasis added] and received emails and letters from community members and public and requests to pull it from consent for more discussion of the proposal. While I’m still ultimately in support of moving forward, I agree more time would be beneficial to respond to the public comments and provide additional background on the reasons for the proposal, the financial implications and potential benefits. As the author of the item I’d like to ask for unanimous consent for the City Council to continue item 21 to November 12, 2024 is to allow time for council to discuss the merits of the proposal and act in time for the finance department to implement the new policy when the tax bills are sent in December.” 

Of course, companies engaged in a wide range of research would enjoy tax breaks, while we as property owner taxpayers are asked to cough up more money through the multiple ballot measures for streets, the parks, the libraries. 

As public comment on the consent calendar ended, Arreguin said giving the tax exemption would only cost the City $9,000. Here is Arreguin’s full statement regarding the tax exemption:
 

“I just have to say we received some information from the City Manager about what is the economic impact of the proposal on 21, $9,000 per year. So, to think that this is some big boondoggle or swindle for, you know, corporations at the expense of our tax base is just fake news. And, I just have to say I really resent the implication that because I’m bringing something forward to support a local economy that that’s somehow unethical [emphasis added], you know, we really need to move past toxicity and divisiveness and rhetoric that unfortunately has crept into this council chambers and let’s have a civil debate, let’s focus on the issues that’s what I intend to have on November 12 and let the council decide how to proceed and not to politicize or use -- [captioner missed a couple of words] or take an issue to create some false narrative for political purposes, because that’s what is really going on here.” 

So, what is really going on? Chapter 9.04 of the Berkeley Municipal Code relates to Business Licenses, who/what needs a business license and how the fee (tax) for that license is calculated. 

The current ordinance section to be modified limits the tax exemption to: 

“Any person subject to a license under provisions of this section with less than $100,000 in annual gross receipts, as defined in Section 9.04.025, net of governmental research grants, may exclude from gross receipts up to $1,000,000 received from governmental research grants, providing that a list of those grants and the amounts of payments received are reported to the City as defined by the Director of Finance.” 

What this means in plain language is any person with a Berkeley business license who receives money from a governmental research grant may subtract up to $1,000,000 in grants from gross receipts (income) for the purpose of calculating the fee/tax charged by the city. And when after subtracting the governmental grant from the total income results in a dollar number is less than $100,000 that income with the Berkeley business license is tax exempt. 

As currently written this was supposed to help small struggling research and development entities. 

Reading Arreguin’s agenda item 21 tax exemption proposal, it states:  

“As of late 2023, the city had approximately 400 innovation sector companies, with 325 of them (81%) considered ‘startups’…” 

and only 

“…21 companies have received a R&D grant tax waiver, of which four (almost one-fifth) have reached the $1,000,000 maximum and several companies have been denied the waiver because they either had other gross receipts exceeding the $100,000 (e.g. from interest income on equity investments made in the company, [emphasis added] tax credits or philanthropic organization, rather than government entity.” 

If each of the 21 companies mentioned received exactly the same exemption using the $9,000 impact (lost revenue), that would work out to $428.57 each. Of course, some exemptions were higher and some lower. 

What Arreguin is proposing is to expand the sources of grants by adding philanthropic grants (which can come from anywhere, anyone not just the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or like foundations) and to remove all limitations on the amounts of grants and all limits on gross receipts (income).  

So, we are to believe that the many letters of support from companies engaged in a wide range of research bothered to write for a share of $9,000 among them and all these tax emptions will total only a $9,000 loss to the City of Berkeley. 

And, with more companies involved and the $9,000 divided among more companies, all this effort is for a tax exemption of less than $428.57 if divided equally. If the number of qualifying companies doubled then the cost of paying the accountants and staff to create the reports to send to the City of Berkeley Finance Department would very likely cost more than the expected $214.28 tax exemption if divided equally. 

With the limits removed, with no definition of who or what is going to fit into that philanthropic grant category, this looks like an invitation for creative accounting. 

So, if the yearly loss of $9,000 to the City of Berkeley isn’t that the exemptions are going to total $9,000 split up among many more companies involved in research, what is it? 

Maybe it is after Arreguin’s plan gives away what would have been revenue to the City of Berkeley, that all this new business, all this economic growth of biotech, all these new employees visiting Berkeley for their jobs will only set back the city for a loss of $9,000 each year after year going forward. 

I’ll sure be interested in hearing how more companies qualifying for tax exemptions are going to do all this for a share of $9,000 or how they calculate this big giveaway is going to bring in so much income to the city that the overall yearly loss is only $9,000. Or maybe Arreguin will come up with some imagined profits with the help of the City Manager that will offset the lost revenue to seal the deal. 

Or maybe this is to grease the wheels for the developers who manage and build the biotech buildings to incentivize the research/biotech with generous tax exemptions to come to Berkeley to fill the vacant space. 

There are lots of studies that the promised gains from tax incentives, tax giveaways don’t produce as promised. And the tax exemptions and giveaways especially don’t work out as promised when it is a half-baked idea coming from someone who is pushing through giveaways on the way out the door for another office. 

Something is very wrong with someone’s math or maybe all the bluster in Arreguin’s statement, “I really resent the implication that because I’m bringing something forward to support a local economy that that’s somehow unethical” is to divert our attention from taking a hard look and pulling out our mobile devices with the calculator and doing a little math ourselves. 

This is looking more and more unsavory as I write. 

None of all the building for biotech or the upzoning to demolish single family housing and fill the space with multi-unit projects takes into consideration the infrastructure that is needed to support it or the impact on the environment. That bill is coming. 

Putting the evening together, from the beginning with non-agenda comments to the council meeting end at 8:18, besides Arreguin’s tax exemption plan, we heard from Marlene Watson one of the two Native artists (Watson uses “Native”) for the public art project at the Civic Center Park fountain that is supposed to recognize and honor Native People is now in contract to non-Native People for the work. 

Marlene Watson: [I]t’s been problematic the last two and a half years of contributing on a capital budget with capital funds for a Native Project and Participation. We’re almost three years and now it’s going out to bid as a non-native project. So, that’s what we’d like the council to be aware of in the process of unfair contract practices…” 

We heard complaints of a dual system when it comes to the Black Repertory Group Theater. 

Note, there always seems to be money to go around for the Berkeley Rep on Center Street. The City Council approved putting the emergency rescue of $150,000 for the Aurora Theatre according to an article in Berkeleyside. I remember seeing it, but can’t find confirmation in City documents. The La Pena Cultural Center was approved on October 1, 2024 for consideration of $150,000 rescue in the mid-year budget adjustment. 

And the Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theater can’t seem to get follow up from the City of Berkeley. 

We heard Councilmember Bartlett learned the art of acting at the Black Repertory Theater. 

We heard Deputy City Manager La Tanya Bellow profess her commitment to resolving the issues with the Berkeley Repertory Group Theater. 

We were reminded of biased City of Berkeley contracting practices as identified in the Mason Tillman Report. 

We heard about non-compliance with public records requests from a journalist still waiting for over a year for requested documents.  

We heard how the City of Berkeley prioritizes bicyclists over the rest of the community, people who “roll” (people who use wheelchairs), people who are deaf, and pedestrians. 

A group of volunteers did bicycle counts at the same intersections at the same time of day in 2023 to compare current use of bicycles in comparison to studies done in 2000, 2010, 2015, 2018 and 2022. While Berkeley’s population has increased, the volume of bicyclists in the 2023 bicycle counts decreased. The results were presented to the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission. The Commission wasn’t interested in following up on the findings and the commissioner leading the bicycle counts was replaced on the Commission. 

We heard about the complaint about Sophie Hahn non-disclosure and conflict of interest. 

Remember, Hahn who is the beneficiary of family income from the biotech industry did not recuse herself from the vote on the Wareham appeal to change zoning from protected space to filmmakers to research and development zoning. 

There was some happy news at council. Taplin’s referral to maintain the six berths on J-Dock for the Cal Sailing Club passed without a peep of resistance. This was a lift that started months ago in response to a presentation under the previous city manager to the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission to take away those berths from the Cal Sailing Club and give them to big yachts. 

If you want to see who is giving campaign donations to who in local elections, you can take a cruise through the City of Berkeley Electronic Filing System. 

In case this link to the City of Berkeley Electronic Filing System of campaign donations doesn’t work. https://www.netfile.com/agency/brk/, you can do your own searches by going to the City of Berkeley website https://berkeleyca.gov and typing in campaign donations. Follow the instructions for the Public Access Portal. 

Independent Expenditures are donations from PACs (political action committees aka dark money) The mailer on Nikki Fortunato Bas with the be-afraid header “crime spree” is from the National Association of Realtors and California Association of Realtors. 

There are a lot of what I would call dirty mailers from the real estate industry and because they have been successful in swinging voters even here in Berkeley with their dirty games they are still at it. Please don’t be fooled by these dirty negative hit pieces. 

If you have trouble, I can walk you through it as I did the other evening for someone who wanted to follow-up on my Activist’s Diary: Full Disclosure? https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2024-10-01/article/50857?headline=A-BERKELEY-ACTIVIST-S-DIARY-Full-Disclosure---Kelly-Hammargren 

I finished Ta-Nehisi’s new book The Message earlier this week. If you can find it, snap it up and read it. I bought the last book from the first shipment to Pegasus. More on The Message later this Diary is long already. 

g

Stream-Dreaming: Voting for Visions

With all the concerns that would burden the candidates for Berkeley's next mayor—roads, schools, housing, policing—there's one would-be mayor who offers a refreshing take on how to deal with the city's overlooked amenities. As candidate Naomi D. Pete posits in the "Development" section of her official mayoral statement:
“I would like to see Berkeley get a fresh new look along with all those new apartments being built. Paint the City Hall building, Berkeley High School and also paint the Police Station building [Presumably with colorful, artistic murals?—GS]. And how about a waterfall in the park behind the City Hall.” 

Colbert vs. Kimmel vs. Trump

Two of our leading late-night TV satirists, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, are in the habit of choosing dicey titles for each night's episodes. In the competition for the most enjoyably salacious stints as Trump-roast show-hosts, Kimmel's writers once again take the lead in tagging Trump with memorable descriptives. Here's last week's round-up of Trump-tweaking titles: 

Colbert: Op-errratic, Give 'em Health, Veep Thrills, Bad News Baier. 

Kimmel: Groper Cleveland, Gassolini, Con Juan, Sugar Vladdy, Pervarotti, Tangerine Ass. 

Assange's First Public Speech after Imprisonment 

After 14 years of imprisonment and facing a triple-life-sentence, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has finally regained his freedom for the "crime of practicing journalism.' On October 1, Assange gave the first extensive public account of his arrest and incarceration. You can read the opening comments below and watch the entire presentation (which includes the Deep State's alleged plans for Assange's assassination) in the following video. 

Assange: "Ladies and gentlemen, the transition from years of confinement in a maximum security prison to being here before the representatives of 46 nations and 700 million people is a profound and a surreal shift. 

The experience of isolation for years in a small cell is difficult to convey. It strips away one's sense of self, leaving only the raw essence of existence. 

"I’m yet not fully equipped to speak about what I have endured. The relentless struggle to stay alive, both physically and mentally. Nor can I speak yet about the death by hanging, murder and medical neglect of my fellow prisoners. 

"I apologize in advance if my words falter, or if my presentation lacks the polish you might expect from such a distinguished forum. Isolation has taken its toll. Which I am trying to unwind. And expressing myself in this setting is a challenge. However, the gravity of this occasion and the weight of the issues at hand compel me to set aside my reservations and speak to you directly…. 

"Soon I will start to investigate the circumstance surrounding my detention and conviction, and the consequent implications for human rights. However, like so many of the efforts made in my case, whether they were from parliamentarians, presidents, prime ministers, the pope, U.N. officials and diplomats, unions, legal and medical professionals, academics, activists or citizens, none of them should have been necessary. 

"None of the statements, resolutions, reports, films, articles, events, fundraisers, protests and letters over the last 14 years should have been necessary. But all of them were necessary because without them, I never would have seen the light of day"…. 

On the Plea Deal  

"I eventually chose freedom over realizable justice. After being detained for years and facing 175-year sentence with no effective remedy, justice for me is now precluded, as the US government insisted in writing into its plea agreement that I cannot filed a case at the European Court of Human Rights or even the Freedom of Information Act request over what it did to me as a result of its extradition request. 

"I want to be totally clear. I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism. I pled guilty to seeking information from a source. I pled guilty to obtaining information from a source. And I pled guilty to informing the public what that information was. I did not plead guilty to anything else." 

 

The Free Speech Movement at 60 

The 60rh anniversary of the birth of UC Berkeley's Free Speech Movement got underway on October 15 with a forum in the university's Pauley Ballroom featuring a speech by FSM historian and NYU professor Robby Cohen followed by a panel discussion featuring three key FSM activists—Lynne Hollander Savio, Bettina Aptheker, and jack Radey. Here are some post-event notes from Jack Radey and fellow FSM arrestee Anita Medal. 

Anita Medal: What a fantastic FSM60 reunion and celebration we had thanks to The Forum. I hope those who couldn't be here in person were able to watch the Panel streaming. Robby gave great historical perspective, capturing the true history of Free Speech and the lead-up to and through the FSM. Lynne, Bettina and Jack hit the ball out of the park in their presentations. They were passionate, compelling and delightful. They started by standing and singing "Hail to IBM" from the "Joy to UC Free Speech Carols" the FSM's Christmas-time fund-raising record-album. You can reminisce here: 

 

Jack Radey: Whoo Hoo!! Wadda Day! Everything Anita said, and, afterwards, 8 of us, Anita, Lee, Susan, Laura X, Hannah, Lynne, Kathleen and I went out to dinner. Where? Free House. Where's that? Turns out its the old Westminster Hall. Where we had ExCom meetings fer chrissake. Now a bar and restaurant. The manager also runs the Free Speech Cafe, and named this place after... the FSM!! 

It was so spooky, walked into the bar, "that's where I sat, that's where Kitty was taking notes, that's where Bob Kaufman, Jack, and Steve were sitting... So the manager goes up to Kathleen and says, "Let me show you the features." She says that's all right. He, wanting to show off the place, says, "Mario Savio stood right over there!" Kathleen says, "Yeah, I know. I was at the meeting." 

Anita: At the Free House restaurant (Westminister Hall). I was wearing a big FSM sticker. The Forum had made and passed them out. The GM, Jose, can see the FSM sticker from across the room and makes a bee-line to me and says he has to show me something because I must know what the FSM is. He takes me across the room where he shows me a photo of Mario at Westminister. I tell him we just celebrated our 60th Anniversary and about 8 more vets are on their way over. He was filled with excitement and asks if Lynne and Daniel [her son] are coming. I smiled. I tell him Lynne will be here but not Daniel. He tells me he knows them because he also runs the FSM Cafe on campus. 

He then sets up tables for us and asks what he can get for us besides drinks. I told him we were all hungry and appetizers would be great. When Jack and Kathleen arrived they wanted to sit in the atrium so we moved outside. 

I knew Jose was comping the appetizers and drinks but it was a surprise that he comped the whole bill! Needless to say, we left a generous tip. 

Free Speech on Wheels 

A colorful van was parked on Oxford Street in support of a recent Ceasefire demonstration staged on the grassy Crescent of the UC Berkeley campus. The "Gaza Van" was covered with flags and several painted statements including the following: 

"Let nobody, no person, no organization, no government gaslight you into believing that basic human compassion is at all controversial." 

"If wars can be started by lies, they can be ended with a truth." 

"The fact that Israel feels so free to annihilate people while the world watches should terrify all of us.' 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted about town:
Q 6U
JIJICAT
GOBEERZ
RRRTIME
LINGNOI
SLOWDUH
PAWFUND
CABDZ (Cal Buds?)
CRATER LAKE (on an Oregon plate) 

Bumpersnickers
Eat the Rich
Honk If Parts Fall Off
Make Lying Wrong Again
Only Ugly People Tailgate Me
On My Way to Get a Lobotomy
Do You Follow Jesus This Closely?
Prosecutor or Felon. Chose Wisely 

Try Being Informed Not Just Opinionated
No Baby on Board So Feel Free to Run into Me 

 

The Song Netanahu Doesn't Want You To Hear

Double Down News 

 

https://youtu.be/BlFvGy7NO3w?si=TRe_L9nvovnEB9zq 

 

Most of my friends and online acquaintances, as well as the progressive pundits I read or hear in the media, insist everyone must vote for Kamala Harris because Trump is so terrible. A smaller group – mostly Palestine-solidarity activists and people who have worked with third parties in the past - says “No way!” Everyone who’s truly progressive, they argue, should refuse to back an establishment candidate like Harris, in particular because of her support for Israeli genocide, and should instead vote for a third-party radical, most often Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

I understand the concerns of both groups, but I agree with neither. To me, thanks to the absurdity of our Electoral College system, how progressives should vote depends on the state where they’re going to vote. If you live in what’s known as a “swing state” – one of the seven states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) where recent polling and past presidential election results suggest either Trump or Harris could win – I say hold your nose and vote for Harris. 

If, on the other hand, you’re a progressive in a state that’s solidly “blue” or “red” – that is, the 43 states, plus Washington, D.C., where the polls and history indicate that either the Republican or the Democrat is sure to win – I see no reason to vote for Harris. Voting for her in such a state wouldn’t in any way help ward off the threat of a second Trump term, because one or the other of them is going to win and get all of that state’s Electoral College votes no matter how you vote. Voting for a genuine progressive - Jill Stein, who’s on the ballot in 37 states, or Cornel West, who’s listed in 15 states – will keep your conscience clear, because you won’t have voted for genocide, fracking, increased military spending, and all the other terrible elements of the Democratic program. More importantly, it will send a message to Harris and her party that they can’t count on your vote just because they haven’t moved quite as far to the right as the Republicans. 

(In some states there are other third-party candidates on the ballot and/or an option to write in someone or something. My objection to those options is that no media and therefore no one else is likely even to notice how many voters chose them, so doing so will have no real political effect.) 

My friends who argue for voting for a third-party wherever you vote, even in states so closely divided that such votes could conceivably tip the outcome to Trump, say, in essence, that it doesn’t matter because both candidates really stand for the interests of American capitalism, with its grotesque economic inequality, unconscionable poverty, desperate shortage of housing, ever-increasing military spending, continued expansion of fossil-fuel production, mass incarceration, ever-tighter restrictions on immigration, and an imperial foreign policy, including support for apartheid Israel, its genocidal onslaught in Gaza and now Lebanon, and its seeming determination to provoke a larger war with Iran. 

I agree with those criticisms. Nothing in Harris’s speeches, interviews, or political history suggests she will fight for, or even propose, major change in any of those areas. In particular, she’s clearly a militarist and a Zionist: there’s no reason to think she’d try to change U.S. foreign policy, cut military spending, or - despite occasional vacuous expressions of regret about civilian deaths in Gaza – stop arming and funding Israel, however murderous its behavior. On the issue of climate, she, like Obama and Biden before her, supports an “all of the above” approach: more renewable energy, but also more fossil-fuel extraction, without acknowledging that renewables do nothing to slow the unfolding climate catastrophe as long as we continue to burn fossil fuels. And on migration, she constantly promotes the “bi-partisan” bill Biden backed, which essentially endorsed the Republican approach to the issue. 

That adds up to a good case not to support Harris. On some issues, though, Trump’s platform is even worse, dramatically so, and those issues are significant enough to make me hope she wins, and that means I hope progressives in those states will vote for her. To cite just a few of those issues, Harris supports women’s reproductive rights, while Trump, whatever his private personal views, is clearly committed to restricting those rights, even beyond what his first-term appointees to the Supreme Court did in overturning Roe v. Wade. Harris is no friend of desperate immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. – and now, according to running-mate Tim Walz, she’s reversed herself and decided undocumented people already here shouldn’t be eligible for government health care or even driver's licenses, but she’s unlikely to attempt a military roundup and deportation of the 11 million undocumented, as Trump has promised, or to impose a “Muslim travel ban,” as Trump did in 2017 and promises to re-enact, in stricter form, if he’s re-elected. 

Harris made her name as a prosecutor and by her own admission remains a “law-and-order” candidate, but I doubt she’d call out the National Guard or even the U.S. Army to suppress protest demonstrations – or at least not as often as Trump says he would. When it comes to judicial appointments, she would presumably nominate so-called “moderates,” whereas Trump would almost certainly continue his first-term practice of choosing only candidates pre-approved by the far-right Federalist Society. 

As to climate and the environment, even though Harris wants to see continued expansion of fossil-fuel extraction, including more fracking, in addition to more renewables, she probably won’t go to the extremes “Drill, baby, drill” Trump has promised his oil- and gas-industry donors, such as reversing the Biden administration’s restrictions on drilling in the Arctic and the Gulf of Mexico and limiting sales of electric vehicles. 

Like Obama and Biden, Harris is committed to preserving and in some modest ways even extending the limited social safety net created by the New Deal, the Great Society, and Obamacare, as well as the grossly inadequate but better-than-nothing protections offered by such administrative agencies as the National Labor Relations Board, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. 

Trump, on the other hand, aims to gut all that, as demonstrated in remarkable – and chilling - detail in Project 2025, the far-right Heritage Foundation’s 922-page policy blueprint for the next Republican president. Trump now tries to distance himself from this frightening document, but it was drawn up mostly by former members of his administration. If elected, he might not seek to implement every last bit of it, and it’s so extreme that even some Republicans might balk at parts of it. But the team behind Trump today is, by all accounts, far more unified, disciplined, and competent than his first administration. If they manage, by legislation or executive action, to push through even a fraction of what the document proposes, it could mean drastic changes – for the worse – in the lives of Americans. 

Finally, there’s the broader question of what a Trump victory would mean for this nation’s – and perhaps the world’s - political culture. He has already succeeded in giving racism, misogyny, xenophobia, religious bigotry, and just plain meanness a new coat of pseudo-legitimacy among a surprisingly (to me) large section of the American public. A victory for him in November would only reinforce these trends. Whatever you call this ideological complex – Christian nationalism? proto-fascism? actual fascism? – they’re scary. 

So that’s why I hope Harris wins. (And I can’t help wonder what part of the above analysis my they’re-both-the-same friends reject.) If the U.S. elected its presidents the democratic way - by national majority vote - it’d be enough to make me too hold my nose and vote for her. Where House and Senate seats are up for grabs, as well as in state and local races, I’d apply the same logic. I trust most progressives in swing states will make the same choice – I hope they all do. Sure, it means casting your lot for the lesser evil, but if the only realistic alternative in this election is a significantly greater evil, why not choose the lesser one? 

But I live in California, a state Harris is certain to win, with or without the votes of genuine progressives. Thanks to our outrageously undemocratic Electoral College system, that means she will get all of this state’s electoral votes, and my voting for her would do nothing whatsoever to forestall a Trump victory. But by voting for Jill Stein, I can at least send a message to Harris and her party that they won’t get my vote as long as they continue their present policies, in particular their refusal to take action to eliminate fossil fuels, slash military spending, and, most urgently this year, stop Israeli genocide. 

Will it do any good? Not if only a few of us do it. But if everyone who doesn’t live in a swing state and shares my disgust with the Democrats were to vote for Jill Stein or, if you prefer, Cornel West, maybe Harris and her successors would feel obliged to throw us a few bones before the next election. That’s a long shot, to be sure, but what good is a vote for Harris going to do? 

---

Henry Norr is a longtime activist and retired journalist. Having never lived in a swing state, he has voted for only one Democratic presidential candidate, George McGovern in 1972. 

 

 

 

Landlord and Real Estate Money at Work

A new low in hit pieces can be seen in a mailer attacking Nikki Fortunato Bas, candidate for County supervisor, with an image of her holding a sign saying “Defund the Police”. There’s an asterisk for a footnote in smaller print at the bottom that says “This image has been manipulated.”

So, apparently, hit pieces can include fake images as long as they acknowledge doing so with a footnote. Who is paying for this? The California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee with funding from real estate industry groups. They probably don’t like Nikki Bas’ positions on rent control, tenant protections and support for affordable housing. 

Measures BB and CC 

Here in Berkeley, a landlord group is opposing Measure BB and supporting Measure CC. A mailer has appeared from the “Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition Sponsored by Berkeley Property Owners Association”, with major funding from the National Association of Realtors. 

Measure CC is an attempt to hijack a portion of the funds generated by Measure U-1, which was passed by a large majority of Berkeley voters in 2016. 

Measure U-1 money is intended to fund construction of below market affordable housing by non-profit housing developers and has been used for that purpose. It also funds Berkeley’s Housing Retention Program that has helped tenants remain in their homes. Local U-1 funds leverage state and federal affordable housing funds, allowing the city to add truly affordable housing for low and very low income households. 

Measure CC would divert a chunk of this money into the pockets of for-profit landlords. It also weakens eviction protections. Measure CC made it on the ballot because of the large sums spent on paid signature gatherers who sometimes misrepresented what the measure would do. They certainly did when I was approached by them more than once outside the Berkeley Bowl. 

Why Buffy Wicks Doesn’t Deserve Re-election  

Berkeley’s Assembly rep Buffy Wicks has shown herself to be beholden to special interests. Given a choice between incompetently run PG&E and their shareholders, and utility consumers, Wicks chose PG&E. 

In May of this year, Wicks took the lead in the Assembly in killing AB1999. AB1999 was introduced by Democratic assembly members to undo provisions that were snuck into legislation in 2022 that would allow PG&E and other investor-owned utilities to impose a fixed monthly fee, basically a utility tax, on utility consumers. 

AB1999 would have capped the fee at $10 and limited future increases to the rate of inflation. With the defeat of the bill, the new utility fee/tax, which will start at $24, will take effect by 2026 and, in the absence of any cap, will undoubtedly increase in future years. 

This measure affects people with solar panels on their roofs, who often generate more excess electricity for the grid than they get from PG&E. To encourage conservation, what you pay should be based on how much you use (with lower rates for people with low incomes). Fixed fees not tied to consumption will have a negative impact on efforts to address climate change. 

For the gory details, see this account by the Solar Rights Alliance. 

Missing Middle Debacle  

Then there is Wicks’ letter to the Council on Missing Middle Housing. 

On July 23 of this year, the extreme Planning Commission version of proposed Missing Middle zoning changes was brought before the Council, with little public notice, at a special weekday afternoon Council meeting, when few people would be able to attend. When the Council began discussion of Missing Middle, the idea was to consider allowing duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in areas currently zoned for single family homes. 

The Planning Commission ignored much of the early public input about missing middle housing and came back with their extreme proposal to allow demolition of existing homes and their replacement with an unlimited number of units in buildings of up to three stories (or higher with a state density bonus), with 4 foot setbacks and no backyards, no offstreet parking required, and all of it allowed by right with no public hearings or right to appeal. And it would apply throughout the city including in the city’s fire zones, with their narrow, winding streets. 

Buffy Wicks wrote to Council in favor of the Commission’s zoning amendments and wanted the Council “to finish the job on July 23^rd”. In the week before the meeting many Berkeley residents wrote to the Council to oppose the Commission proposal and ask for an opportunity to learn more about the proposed changes which they had only just heard about and not had the time to digest. The number of residents contacting the Council in opposition was higher than on any other issue before the Council in recent years. 

Apparently Wicks doesn’t see a problem to adding density (more people, more cars) in areas where evacuation during a fire would already be difficult enough. Apparently citizen participation in planning for the city’s future is not something she cares about. Whatever developers and speculators want to do appears to be OK with her. 

The Council, fortunately, did not follow her advice and rejected part of what the Planning Commission was proposing including applying changes to fire zones, and calling for opportunities for public input before a vote is taken (which may not happen). 

Record amounts of outside money from wealthy donors helped Wicks to get elected to the Assembly in 2018, so perhaps it’s not surprising that she acts to benefit special interests. Details on who funded her first campaign: here. 

Berkeley Mayor – Does Experience Matter? 

Two of the candidates running for Mayor, Kate Harrison and Sophie Hahn, have extensive experience on the City Council and have demonstrated familiarity with Berkeley’s adopted plans, zoning, ordinances, environmental and housing policies, etc. and, in fact, have helped shape policy in Berkeley in recent years. (This writer favors Harrison because of her leadership and record on affordable housing and addressing climate change.) 

Then there is a third candidate, Adena Ishii, who has never held elected office, or served on any of Berkeley’s major commissions or boards (e.g. Planning, Zoning, Housing, Transportation and Public Works, Rent Board). 

Her only real experience in local government is as a member of Soda Tax advisory panel that recommends how Soda Tax revenues should be spent. She has also been active in the local League of Women Voters. It’s admirable that she has volunteered her time, but does that qualify her to be mayor? 

This writer heard Ishii speak at candidate’s forum at St. John’s Presbyterian Church and was not impressed. She started out by describing herself as “a leader in local politics” for the last ten years. Really? She has also exaggerated her role in passing Measure O, the affordable housing bond measure in 2018. Both Harrison and Hahn played a bigger role. 

She wants a “reset” at City Hall. But what kind of reset would she bring? 

Asked a question about whether a bond or parcel tax measure was best for repairing Berkeley’s streets, she didn’t, unlike her opponents, show any understanding of the difference. 

Asked about giving the public a vote on Missing Middle changes, she was against, while both her opponents were for it. She was afraid voters might reject the changes, and they probably would if they were voting on the extreme version the Planning Commission proposed. 

Who’s Funding These Mailers?  

Many more mailers will arrive at Berkeley homes in the next few weeks. It’s always a good idea to take a look at the small print at the bottom of one side that tells you who is funding the attacks and often misleading statements. Don’t be surprised if you receive mailers pro or con candidates or measures funded by the California Apartment Association (big landlords), California Building Industry Association, and various real estate groups, and probably other special interests as well. Candidates who support rent control, tenant protections, and public funding for housing affordable to people with lower incomes will be the main targets. 

Rob Wrenn is a former Planning Commissioner who has been analyzing elections in Berkeley for 30 years.  

Taking full advantage of Vice President Harris’s preoccupation with the U.S. elections and a perceived weakness in her leadership, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified his campaign in Gaza, showing no regard for Palestinian lives. He has now issued a “surrender or starve” ultimatum to the entire population—evoking memories of the worst excesses of the Third Reich—all amid the deafening silence of the Biden-Harris administration. 

Amid this horrific scenario, the heroes are the doctors who have vowed to stay with their patients, many breathing their last, defying the inhumane demands of Prime Minister Netanyahu. 

Dr. Mohammed Salha, acting director of Al-Awda Hospital at the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, reports on escalating violence as Israeli forces maintain a strict siege. Despite bombings targeting tent encampments, hospitals, and schools, Dr. Salha insists, “We will not leave our patients behind. We have to provide them the healthcare they need.” Recent Israeli airstrikes have devastated areas where displaced people sought refuge, including a tent encampment at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah. The site was engulfed in flames, leaving four dead and many injured.g g A school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, sheltering displaced Palestinians, was also bombed, killing at least 22 people. The United Nations had intended to use the site for polio vaccine distribution. An airstrike in the same camp killed a family of eight, including six children. In Jabaliya, another airstrike took over 20 lives, deepening the suffering. h Doctors Without Borders warns that thousands remain trapped in Jabaliya, where “Nobody is allowed to get in or out. Anyone who tries is getting shot.” Dr. Salha confirms the dire conditions: “We have shortages in medication, medical supplies, and fuel. We are working under siege, with many injured left untreated in the streets.” 

Despite these immense challenges, Dr. Salha and his remaining staff refuse to abandon Al-Awda Hospital. “We will not leave our people behind. We are here to serve them, no matter the risks.” His commitment is anchored in the belief that, according to World Health Organization protocols, hospitals must continue operations even in conflict zones.

Weather Woes: Can the Vote Float?
The intersection of presidential elections and the consequences of severe climate change could lead to an unprecedented Constitutional crisis. 

Two epic hurricanes (so far) have turned millions of residents of our southern states into climate refugees. Thousands of homes have been destroyed. Entire cities have been flooded. Roads have vanished. Bridges have been washed away. 

Recovery and rebuilding will take weeks, months, years. Given the incredible destruction imposed on urban, suburban, and rural families, a critical question must be asked: How many November ballots will never be cast? What if Florida's voters—forced from their homes and living in shelters—can't find any functioning mailboxes or voting booths? 

And given the "razor-thin" "margin of error" polling predictions, the odds are great that, whatever the outcome, the losing presidential candidate will have grounds to contest the election. We've seen the confusion that "hanging chad" caused in the 2000 presidential election, just imagine the waterlogged legal challenges that could arise in the wake of "Meltin' Milton." 

Former FBI special agent and Minnesota Congressional candidate (Democratic Farmer Labor Party) Coleen Rowley checks in with the following assessment. 

"Electoral confusion has reigned supreme and has continued to worsen/increase since the 'chad counting' fiasco of Bush vs. Gore, then with polls being wrong to fuel Hillary's 'Russiagate' conspiracy, then Jan. 6 protest/riot. 

"Our bizarre Electoral College system designed by founding fathers to maintain States' power by tamping down national populism doesn't help! Which means that no matter who 'wins' the next election, whether via popular vote and/or electoral college, the vast increase in partisan polarization domestically will almost certainly lead to post-election confusion and likely to violence. Another indication, by the way, of the empire rotting from the inside." 

Trump Sets the Steal for Hurricane Relief 

Dolly Parton generously wrote a check for $1 million to help survivors of hurricanes Helene. Taylor Swift dashed off a donation of $5 million to assist the victims of mega-storm Milton. Donald Trump? He's given bupkis. Instead of urging his fellow Americans to donate to existing charities like the Red Cross, our flamboyant Felon American announced he had set up a GoFundMe page Trumpers could use to contribute to hurricane relief. (Unlike the Red Cross, GoFundMe deducts a transaction fee.) 

In short order, a curious podcaster did some research and posted his findings under the headline: "Trump is STEALING $6 MILLION from Hurricane Helene Victims." 

A quick check revealed the name on the GoFundMe "charity" belonged to a Trump aide and, under the rules of the site, it appears that donations intended to assist homeless refugees could also wind up funding repairs at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. 

 

Trump's Wretched Record as a Business Tycoon
Der Donald would like the world to think he's got the "Midas Touch" but, according to former US Labor Secretary and retired UC economics prof. Robert Reich, when it comes to running a profitable business Trump's hands-on achievements are more like having a "mad-ass touch." 

 

"Let’s set the record straight," Reich writes, "Trump is not a 'successful businessman.' He is, objectively, a business failure." Reich makes his case in a video dubbed: "How Trump Killed Every Business He Touched." Reich's accounting on 'how not to succeed in business without really trying' tutorial has now topped a million YouTube viewers. 

 

An Anti-social Media Party
On a recent radio ad for Infinity, the electronic media provider, an anxious caller asks a corporate "engagement specialist" for advice. "My daughter is having a birthday and she invited her entire class to our home,' he explains, and he fears he may not have enough bandwidth to accommodate all the smartphones that will arrive with the expected crowd. 

The Infinity agent assures the caller that his home is prepped to simultaneously handle "hundreds of mobile devises" so the kids can all use their smartphones "while the adults can share online movies." 

Picture this lovely scene: Scores of children and adults all gathered in a single suburban household, perched on chairs, sofas, benches, pillows, beds, and carpets—all poking the glowing screens of their electronic companions while sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with living beings who are plugged into their appliances like, well, appliances. 

Instead of talking about schooling and childhood, the adults are busy "sharing movies" on palm-sized screens held in their hands. No mention of birthday cakes, presents, snacks, storytelling and games. 

Laugh-tracks for Longevity
The Internet offers some observations to comfort an aging population:
"I hate it when I see an old person and then realize we went to high school together."
"I thought growing old would take longer."
"Scientists say the universe is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. They forgot to mention morons."
"My doctor asked me if anyone in my family suffers from metal illness. I said, 'No, we all seem to enjoy it.'"
"I've reached the age where my train of thought often leaves the station without me."
"If you're happy and you know it, it's your meds!" 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted about town:
VITTASE
DANNY E
CLCULS (Calculus?) 

TAFODHL (Daffodil?)
SLOWCT (Slow count?)
BARMISO (Ban soup?)
JAZZITN (Jazzy Town?)
B BKLYN (Born in Brooklyn?)
SPLASHA (thanks to phil allen) 

Bumpersnickers
Pro Child Pro Choice
Science Is Our Salvation
We All Live Downstream
Overpopulation. #1 Environmental Problem
Somewhere in Texas There's a Village Missing an Idiot
No, You Can't Have Our Rights. I'm Still Using Them.
Reality. A Nice Place to Visit but You Wouldn't Want to Live There
Democrats Think the Glass Is Half Full. Republicans Think the Glass Is Theirs 

Jasmine "Rocket" Crockett Torches House Republicans
A dose of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in action is like a fresh cup of espresso in the morning. Click here for a few minutes of Crockett's high-octane grilling of a Republican official. 

The Song Israel Doesn't Want You To Hear 

Caution: This gritty protest rap contains images that may be disturbing. 

 

WHEREAS, the Peace and Justice Commission advises the City Council on all matters
relating to the City of Berkeley’s role in issues of peace and social justice (Berkeley
Municipal Code Chapter 3.68.070); 1 and

WHEREAS, the Commission’s mandate finds that “the wealth that could be spent to
help the poor, heal the sick, house the homeless, educate the children, and care for the
elderly is now spent on ever more costly weapons of mass destruction;” and 

WHEREAS, after careful consideration the Berkeley City Council finds it proper to offer
its views on the massive escalation of violence and scope of destruction in Gaza; and

WHEREAS, there are many reasons for the Council to speak out about the Israel-Gaza
war, including:

BERKELEY IS A PEACE CITY. Berkeley has a unique history of fighting for
peace and universal human rights for at least 65 years; many of these issues
were taken on by the Council on the advice of the Peace and Justice
Commission. These movements include, among others, “Ban the Bomb” in the
early 1960s, the anti-Vietnam/Indochina war movement, “Stop the Draft,”
opposition to the Contra War in Nicaragua, the Grenada invasion, sister cities,
the Gulf War, post-9/11 Forever Wars, and the Impeach Bush, No Military
Recruiting at BHS, Conscientious Objectors Day campaigns, and, most recently,
a resolution calling for the cessation of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. 

THE PERSONAL CONNECTION TO ISRAEL AND PALESTINE. Many residents
of Berkeley have personal connections to family and friends in Israel and/or
Palestine, or have lived in those countries themselves, and are deeply affected
and traumatized by the last ten months of atrocities; these connections make it
painful to talk about the conflict, while at the same time making it imperative to do
so.

OUR MORAL FIBER. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, speaking about racism in
South Africa said, “In a situation of injustice and oppression, there can be no
neutrality. You have to take sides. You have to ask yourself, ‘Am I on the side of
justice or am I on the side of injustice?” 2 Our moral obligation, as a city, is to
speak out against the industry of militarism that precipitates thousands of deaths
of innocents while eroding our ability to educate, house, and uplift our local
communities.

THE THREAT OF A WIDENING WAR. In the occupied West Bank, the period
since October 7, 2023, has seen over 600 Palestinians killed in Israeli military
attacks or by settlers while the number of Palestinians held in Israeli detention,
often without charge or due process, has skyrocketed. 3 Political assassinations
beyond Israel’s borders, including mass explosion attacks in Lebanon on
September 17th and 18th, threaten to devolve into regional war which, given the
U.S. commitment to defend Israel, could turn into an international war. 4 An
increasing U.S. military presence, including the arrival of a guided missile
submarine and aircraft carrier strike group, contributes to the expanding risk of a
broader war that would further erode global peace and security. 5

A SISTERHOOD OF CITIES. The City of Berkeley has long maintained a
connection with cities suffering in war zones; the Peace and Justice
Commission’s mandate says, “The intentional destruction of cities in war is the
rule and not the exception;” and while the destruction is physical in Gaza City,
Rafah and many other cities throughout Gaza, it wounds cities like ours as well,
both morally and financially. Speaking on the war in Vietnam, Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. said, “The security we profess to seek in foreign adventures we will lose
in our decaying cities. The bombs we drop in Vietnam explode at home; they
destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decent America.”

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL COSTS OF WAR. The wages of war are counted not
only in the lives lost and the economic cost; war is also demeaning to our culture,
corrupting to our politics, increases sexual violence, poisons race relations,
destroys the natural environment and harms the mental health of millions; the
last year has inflamed the scourges of antisemitism and Islamophobia
experienced by members of the Berkeley community, which are likely to worsen
as the conflict continues; other negative effects include an exponential growth in
mass surveillance, an increased deployment of militarized force and belligerence
in civil society; 7 and

WHEREAS, the City of Berkeley mourns the thousands of people killed before, on, and
after October 7, 2023, including almost 45,000 people killed by military action – 2% of
the total population – and as many as 186,000 8 additionally killed due to famine and
disease in Gaza, and 1,200 in Israel, the majority of all these being civilians; the
destruction of all universities and 80% of health and education facilities in Gaza; an 85%
unemployment rate; the displacement of 85% of the entire population including 700,000
children; continuous airstrikes on refugee camps, hospitals, schools, mosques, and
cultural sites; the entire population facing acute food scarcity and imminent famine; 9 and
there is no certainty that the war is coming to a close; and

WHEREAS, the United States has sent more than $300 billion in military aid to Israel to
date, currently $3.8 billion annually, and approved additional packages of $14 billion in
February and $20 billion in August 2024, with virtually no conditions, oversight, or
accountability, and has increased the transfer of lethal aid during the current war; 10 and

WHEREAS, the $1.6 million annually in income taxes paid by Berkeley residents that
funds Israel’s military could otherwise be spent on housing, education, healthcare, and
infrastructure for our community; 11 and

WHEREAS, the soaring toll of death and destruction in Gaza and the spread of conflict
to other fronts around the region sears the conscience of people in Berkeley and around
the world, and the United Nations Security Council on June 10, 2024 mandated an
immediate, full and complete ceasefire and the release of hostages and prisoners on
both sides, 12 to no avail; and

WHEREAS, on September 18th, 2024, the United Nations General Assembly
overwhelmingly adopted the legal advisory opinion from the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) issued on July 19, 2024, 13 which determined that Israel’s occupation since
1967, and the subsequent creation of Israeli settlements and exploitation of natural
resources, are illegal under international law; 14 the Court also ruled that Israel should
pay reparations to the Palestinian people for the damage caused by the occupation,
allow all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their original place of
residence – in keeping with the Right of Return outlined in prior UN General Assembly
resolutions 15 – and determined that Israeli occupation policies violate the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD); 16 and

WHEREAS, The Elders, a non-profit global group of respected senior leaders founded
by Nelson Mandela, went beyond the Security Council resolution in a July statement to
“call on political leaders who have influence to use their leverage to end Israel’s
atrocities in Gaza by suspending arms sales, to secure the immediate release of
hostages held by Hamas, and to compel the parties to commit to a permanent
ceasefire; and specifically, “All states providing arms to Israel - directly or indirectly -
must suspend arms transfers in response to systematic violations of international
humanitarian law in Gaza and across the occupied Palestinian territories;” 17 and

WHEREAS, The Elders’ statement calls out U.S. practices in particular, stating, “As
Israel’s closest ally and its largest provider of arms, the United States of America must
lead the way;” and

WHEREAS, on January 26, 2024, in the case brought to the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) by South Africa and joined by seven other countries, the Court found it
plausible that Israel was violating rights guaranteed under the Genocide Convention,
including “the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide,”
issuing provisional measures that Israel has refused to enact; and the ICJ issued
stronger follow-up orders on March 28 and May 24, 2024. 18

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Berkeley that it is
not too late to halt and reverse the cycle of war, destruction, and dispossession that
have plagued Palestine for more than a century.

The Council recalls its statement in founding the Peace and Justice Commission in
1986 that “it is the responsibility of one and all to labor hard for peace and justice in
forums of appropriate scale.”

The uncontrolled war in Israel and Palestine is destructive to peace, security, and the
living conditions of all people living in Palestine and Israel. Continuation of war is not in
the interests of any group of people in Israel, the region, or around the world any more
than it is of the Palestinians.

The Council states that as U.S. citizens and residents, the most effective way we can
contribute to peace with justice in Israel and Palestine is to press our own government
to end the sale of weapons and tools that enable devastation.

As with a raging wildfire, the withdrawal of such fuel can only promote the reduction of
violence, and in so doing create the conditions for peace with justice.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Berkeley:

1) Urges the Biden administration to immediately end all weapons shipments andmilitary aid to Israel.

2) Urges the Biden administration to call for the unrestricted opening of crossings
into Gaza in order to allow sufficient humanitarian assistance into the territory and to
allow the tens of thousands of grievously injured to access necessary medical treatment
without further delay.

3) Urges the Biden administration to demand the immediate end of Israel’s illegal
occupation of Palestinian territories – the West Bank and East Jerusalem – and an end
to the 16-year-long siege and blockade of Gaza in compliance with international law,
and full withdrawal from Gaza.

4) Condemns the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on civilians in Israel, the
murders, and the kidnappings.

5) Calls for the immediate release of the approximately nine thousand Palestinians
including young minors held in administrative detention, as well as all Palestinian
political prisoners and all Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

6) Urges the Biden administration to formally recognize the State of Palestine,
support its full membership into the United Nations, and affirm the Palestinian right to
selfdetermination through self-governance and the Right of Return.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Berkeley endorses Congressional
Resolution 786 (Bush and Tlaib), calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire. 19

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Berkeley vows to combat all forms of hate,
including Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism,
xenophobia, and ethnonationalism.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be sent to President Joseph R. Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Vice President Kamala Harris,
Representative Barbara Lee, Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Laphonza R. Butler,
Representative Cori Bush, and Representative Rashida Tlaib. 

1 https://berkeley.municipal.codes/BMC/3.68
2 “Desmond Tutu at Stanford University, January 21, 1986,”
”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3GnrwSZkLU (Min. 42:05) 3
“Statistics on Palestinians in Israeli Custody,” June 24, 2024,
https://www.btselem.org/statistics/detainees_and_prisoners
4 https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-lebanon-
hezbollahe3ca9c83642056f962fdf76319e3b8de
5 “‘On verge of an explosion': Policeman's killing part of spiralling West Bank violence,” BBC, August 12,
2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd735zvg1q9o and
“In the West Bank, Palestinians Struggle to Adjust to a New Reality,” Feb.2, 2024, The New York Times,
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/02/world/middleeast/west-bank-palestine-israel.html
6 Martin Luther King Jr.’s moral stance against the Vietnam War offers lessons on how to fight for peace
in the Middle East ,” Hajar Yazdiha, USC Dorsife,1-12-2024,
https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/martinluther-king-vietnam-war/#
7 “Costs of War,” Watson Institute, Brown University, September 2023,
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/social
8 “Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential ,”Rasha Khatib, July 20 2024, The Lancet,
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext
9 “GAZA STRIP: Famine is imminent as 1.1 million people half of Gaza experience catastrophic food
insecurity,” Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC),
https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfowebsite/alerts-archive/issue-97/en/
10 “U.S. Aid to Israel in Four Charts,” Jonathan Masters, May 31 2024, Council on Foreign Relations,
https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts
11 “U.S. Military Funding to Israel Map,” U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights,
https://uscpr.org/activistresource/us-military-funding-to-israel-map/
12 UNSC Resolution 2728. See Robert Barron, US Institute of Peace, 3-26-2024,
https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/03/what-does-un-cease-fire-resolution-mean-israel-gaza-war
13 https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/ltd/n24/266/48/pdf/n2426648.pdf
14 https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-adv-01-00-en.pdf
15 https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-210170/
16 “Top UN court says Israeli occupation of West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal,” CNN, 7-19-2024,
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/19/middleeast/israel-west-bank-jerusalem-occupation-icj-
opinionintl/index.html
17 “The Elders call for suspension of arms transfers to Israel to end Gaza atrocities,” 4-4-2024,
https://theelders.org/news/elders-call-suspension-arms-transfers-israel-end-gaza-atrocities
18 ICJ Order of 26 January 2024,” https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203447
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/world-court-orders-israel-take-measures-ensure-food-getsinto-
gaza-2024-03-28/
“ICJ Order of 24 May 2024,” https://www.icj-cij.org/node/204091#:.
19 https://bush.house.gov/media/press-releases/calls-for-ceasefire-grow-in-month-following-introduction- 

 

 

 

PEACE and JUSTICE COMMISSION COMMISSIONERS  September 30, 2024 VOTE on the CEASEFIRE RESOLUTION
VOTE	DISTRICT	NAME	APPOINTED BY	TERM START	COMMENTS
NO	BUSD	Dwayne Phillips	Babitt	8/30/2024	First Meeting
YES	BUSD	Grace Morizawa  (CHAIR)	Appel	10/25/2018
YES	BUSD	Jeannette McNeil	Shanoski	4/22/2024
YES	BUSD	Sandy Park	Chang	7/31/2024
YES	BUSD	Sheela Bhatt Jivan	Vasudeo	7/10/2024
YES	BUSD	Julio Gonzales	Student Director	9/27/2024	First Meeting
NO	District 1	Allegra Guarino	Kesarwani	2/2/2024
YES	District 2	Veta Jacqulin	Taplin	12/23/2020
YES	District 3	J. George Lippman	Bartlett	1/5/2024		Co-authored the resolution
NO	District 4	Deborah Fink	Tregub	8/29/2024	First Meeting	Removed Diana Bohn  Appointed by Harrison 10/25/2021
NO	District 5	Nimrod Pitsker Elias	Hahn	12/5/2023
NO	District 6	Robin Mencher	Wengraf	1/4/2024
YES	District 7	Luke Taylor	Lunaparra	6/3/2024		Co-authored the resolution
NO	District 8	Ilene Lee	Humbert	9/27/2024	First Meeting
NO	Mayor	Andrea Cassidy	Arreguin	8/30/2024	First Meeting
Updates/Corrections: spelling-Allegra Guarino, Julio Gonzales appointed by Student Director Dates added for Gonzales and Lee. Original w/errors & Corrections: kelly hammargren 10/6/24

Berkeley Measure GG is the most exciting and impactful local climate policy on offer in California, if not the nation. A citizens’ ballot measure supported by community and workers, GG will tax wealthy owners of the largest (>15,000 sqft), most polluting buildings for their methane use, and invest the money in all-electric home and building upgrades averaging $15,000 for EVERY Berkeley homeowner/renter household. By cleaning up our local air and buildings, it will improve quality of life for all, while reducing Berkeley’s greenhouse gas emissions by over a third! 

Measure GG would be so transformative that it has ruffled the feathers of Berkeley’s businesses and political elite. Like the fossil fuel industry, they have been greenwashing and misleading the public on climate action for decades, touting insubstantial milestones and symbolic resolutions in place of real action. It is important to unearth this history to better understand the context and necessity of GG.

Greenwashing While the World Burns
In 2006 Berkeley’s former Mayor Tom Bates submitted a nonbinding resolution to the ballot setting a “goal” of reducing Berkeley’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 and requiring the creation of a “plan” to achieve it by 2007. Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure, but it took well over two years until the City actually adopted its non-binding “Climate Action Plan.” The plan went unfunded and unfulfilled for a decade.g

In 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and climate activists attempted to break through decades of inaction, announcing that humanity had twelve years to get its act together on emissions reduction. Berkeley citizens mobilized to pass one of California’s first “Climate Emergency” declarations and a “Fossil Free Berkeley” resolution aimed at further speeding up emissions reductions. The Council, under the leadership of Mayor Jesse Arreguín, watered down the resolutions and sent them to bureaucratic purgatory.

By 2021, with the climate crisis continuing to spiral out of control and prior plans completely obsolete, Arreguín and City staff once again chose appearances over action. Entitled “Race to Zero & Net-Zero Carbon Emissions,” their latest feel-good and non-binding greenwashing resolution set a zero emissions goal for 2045, and aimed to reduce emissions 60.5% from 2018 levels by 2030. As with prior versions, this resolution was unfunded, and sure enough, little progress has been made. In fact, City data shows that in order to meet the resolution’s goals, the City needs to reduce its emissions by another 50% relative to 2023 levels.

To the extent Berkeley has achieved emissions reductions to date, it is largely due to trends outside of Berkeley’s control, namely increased renewable power on the statewide electric grid, the proliferation of EVs, and improved appliance efficiency. Yet the City continues to take credit for these reductions and rests on its laurels, critically underfunding climate efforts and avoiding bold action. This is greenwashing. 

 

But there is hope for meaningful action. Between 2019 and 2021, City leaders serious about climate change organized with the community. Former Councilmember Kate Harrison passed multiple transformative policies, including the nation’s first ban on gas infrastructure in new construction and pilot programs to help Berkeley residents electrify their apartments and homes.  

 

The gas ban in new construction was so effective that it spared Berkeley from at least five years of new gas infrastructure, spread across California and the nation, and scared the gas industry enough to fund dubious lawsuit research and counter-bans. The pilot projects, while still ongoing, are already being acknowledged as models of success but remain unfunded past their initial allocations. 

 

The community-sponsored Measure GG would build on these wins and reclaim Berkeley’s mantle of climate leadership. It would provide permanent funding for electrification over 25 years, supplying ⅔ of all the money needed to permanently electrify every single home and low-rise building in the City. 

Measure GG is Needed Now - YES on GG 

 

City leadership and economic and political elites decry GG for being developed outside of City Hall, claiming their alternatives are superior. The reality is that even when they do implement parts of their numerous plans, they do so in a way that has no teeth. Berkeley’s flawed building decarbonization policy for large buildings, the Buildings Emissions Savings Ordinance (BESO), has no mandatory electrification requirements and instead simply requires that buildings report their energy use periodically. Not only is compliance poor – just 60% – but also what data the City is collecting demonstrates that gas use in these buildings is increasing! Without teeth–which Measure GG would provide–BESO is merely an accounting exercise. 

 

Sadly, the current City leadership is doubling down on their largely performative approach to building decarbonization. Rather than focus on implementing the Berkeley Existing Buildings Electrification Strategy, a policy roadmap they approved in 2021, they are dithering about whether to reinstate a watered-down version of the gas ban in new construction. Even if their measure ever passes, it will placate their big business handlers by allowing new polluting gas infrastructure and appliances to be used indefinitely in new large buildings. That is, unless The People intervene through the ballot via Measure GG in November. 

Through a single policy, Measure GG will ensure the decarbonization of the entire building sector in Berkeley. It will effectively close the door on gas in new construction and send a strong signal to all large buildings – old and new – that they have to eliminate their reliance on gas. It will fund a just transition in our community: helping our residents electrify their homes and comply with new regional regulations that will soon make it illegal to install gas furnaces and gas water heaters. Simply put, Measure GG is an investment in Berkeley’s healthy and climate-friendly future. 

 

Please join doctors, parents, tenants’ advocates, labor organizers, and community members who believe the greenwashing and gaslighting sho​​uld end, polluters should pay for their climate pollution, and that everyday Berkeleyans deserve fossil fuel free homes. 

Vote YES on GG and “Go Green!”

As supported by the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, the Berkeley Tenants Union, Our Revolution East Bay, some by the California Democratic Party (CADEM), and ACLU. Your Voters Guide has all the supporters and opposers of the propositions and measures for your review. If Jarvis is for it, vote against it. All they think about is $$, not the common good. 

PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT √ Kamala Harris √ Tim Walz 

U.S. Senate California— √ Adam Schiff 

U.S. Senate California (special election) √ Adam Schiff 

U.S. House California District 12 √ Lateefah Simon 

State Senate District 7 √ Jovanka Beckles 

State Assembly District 14 √ Margot Smith 

County Supervisor, 5th District √ Nikki Fortunato Bas  

County District Attorney NO, Do not recall Pamela Price. 

CITY OF BERKELEY FOR MAYOR √ 1st Rank KATE HARRISON √ 2nd Rank Sophie Hahn 

FOR MEMBER OF CITY COUNCIL, DISTRICT 5 √ 1st Rank SHOSHANA O'KEEFE √ 2nd Rank TODD ANDREW 

Berkeley City Council Dist. 6 - √ 1st Rank Andy Katz 

Berkeley City Council District 2: √ Jenny Guarino 

Berkeley City Council District 3 √ John Chip Moore 

Berkeley City Council District 5 √ 1st Rank SHOSHANA O'KEEFE √ 2nd Rank TODD ANDREW 

FOR RENT STABILIZATION BOARD COMMISSIONERS Right to Housing Slate √ Alfred Twu, √ Xavier Johnson) √ Avery Arbaugh, √ Dominique Walker, 

FOR SCHOOL DIRECTORS √ Jen Corn √ Ana Vasudeo 

PROPOSITIONS SUBMITTED TO THE VOTERS 

YES Proposition 2, Public Education Facilities Bond Measure. A “yes" vote supports issuing $10 billion in bonds to fund construction and modernization of public education facilities. 

YES Proposition 3, Right to Marry and Repeal Proposition 8 Amendment. A "yes" vote supports this constitutional amendment to repeal Proposition 8 (2008), which defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman, and declare that a "right to marry is a fundamental right" in the California Constitution. 

YES Proposition 4, Parks, Environment, Energy, and Water Bond Measure. 

YES Proposition 5, Lower Supermajority Requirement to 55% for Local Bond Measures to Fund Housing and Public Infrastructure Amendment. This is to correct a remnant of Prop 13 which prevents maintenance of cities and infrastructure. Jarvis requires a 60% vote to pass tax laws, which hinders education and many other funds. 

YES Proposition 6, Remove Involuntary Servitude as Punishment for Crime Amendment. Prisoners are forced to work at very low paying jobs within the prison system, a requirement left over from slave days.  

YES Proposition 32, $18 Minimum Wage Initiative. Wages have not kept up with expenses in California, so more live on the street and in their cars. This compensates workers with better wages. 

YES Proposition 33, Prohibit State Limitations on Local Rent Control Initiative. A "yes" vote supports: repeals the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act (1995), thereby allowing cities and counties to vote to limit rent on housing and limit the rent for first-time tenants and adding language to state law to prohibit the state from limiting "the right of any city, county, or city and county to maintain, enact or expand residential rent control." 

NO Proposition 34, Require Certain Participants in Medi-Cal Rx Program to Spend 98% of Revenues on Patient Care Initiative. A landlord revenge Prop against the AIDS foundation which funds housing for patients. It would set a horrible precedent if it passes and survives legal challenges. 

YES Proposition 35, Managed Care Organization Tax Authorization Initiative. This just carries on an existing law: A "yes" vote supports permanently authorizing a tax on managed care organizations based on monthly enrollees, which is set to expire in 2026, and requiring revenues to be used for increased Medi-Cal programs. Note: Prop 35 could secure up to $11 billion annually to help stabilize Medi-Cal funding—without raising taxes on individuals. Visit VoteYes35.com to learn about how Prop 35 will improve healthcare access across the state. 

NO Proposition 36, Drug and Theft Crime Penalties and Treatment-Mandated Felonies Initiative. Increases prison sentences and targets minorities. . Opposed by ACLU of Northern California Issues Committee and American Friends Service Committee. 

More about the propositions are found here: https://ballotpedia.org/2024_ballot_measures#California https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-ballot-measures-2024/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email 

BERKELEY MEASURES 

YES Measure AA, Expenditure of Tax Revenue and Investment Income Measure. Shall the City's appropriation limit under Article XIIIB of the California Constitution be increased to allow expenditure of the proceeds of City taxes and income from the investment of those taxes for fiscal years 2025 through 2028? Financial Implications: This measure would not increase taxes or impose a new tax. It would authorize the City to continue to spend the proceeds of already- approved taxes for FY 2025 through 2028. 

YES Measure BB, Housing and Tenants' Rights Measure. A "yes" vote supports using existing revenue for housing retention, modifying eviction rules, removing rent control exemptions, limiting rent increases to 5%, and requiring tenant rights notices. 

NO Measure CC, Rent Payment Fund Measure Measure. Weakens rent control. 

NO Measure DD, Prohibition of Livestock Facilities Measure This had to do with the race track’s treatment of horses, but the track is now closed and the issue is moot. 

YES Measure EE, Sidewalks and Streets Parcel Tax Measure A “yes” vote supports authorizing an annual parcel tax of $0.13 per square foot for 12 years to fund street and sidewalk repairs, safety projects, and environmental infrastructure. 

NO Measure FF, Sidewalk and Street Repairs Parcel Tax Measure A “yes” vote supports authorizing an annual parcel tax of $0.17 per square foot for homes and $0.25 for other properties for 14 years to fund street and sidewalk repairs. 

YES Measure GG, Natural Gas Tax Measure A “yes” vote supports authorizing a tax of $2.9647 per therm of natural gas for large buildings, excluding certain residence, to fund decarbonization programs. This is to lessen greenhouse gasses, an environmental measure applying to large new buildings. 

YES Measure HH, Indoor Air Quality Standards Measure A "yes" vote supports setting new indoor air quality standards for City buildings, banning harmful filtration methods, and allowing private lawsuits for violations. This is to prevent the spread of COVID in city buildings. 

YES Measure W, Real Property Transfer Tax Rates Measure A "yes" vote supports setting a 2.5% tax on real property transfers for properties valued at $1.6 million or more, increasing to 3% for $1.9 million or more, and 3.5% for $3 million or more, with annual adjustments, and removing the 2029 expiration. 

YES Measure X, Library Maintenance Parcel Tax Measure A "yes" vote supports authorizing an annual parcel tax of $0.06 per square foot for dwelling units and $0.09 per square foot for other properties to fund Berkeley Public Library facilities and services.  

YES Measure Y, Park Maintenance Parcel Tax Measure A "yes" vote supports increasing the city's special parcel tax for parks, trees, and landscaping maintenance from $0.221 to $0.2652 per square foot of taxable improvements, with exemptions for very low-income property owners 

YES Measure Z, Sugary Drink Tax Extension Measure A “yes” vote supports removing the January 1, 2027 expiration date and extending indefinitely the general tax on sugary drinks and sweeteners at 1 cent per fluid ounce.

For years, our little city has endured the audacious arrogance of Sacramento incumbents who’ve been invisible to constituents here, while working against our interests (and working hard for the likes of PG&E and corporate developers). This election offers unusual chances to send a message: we can vote for alternatives to the arrogant, the incompetent, and the unqualified heirs-apparent crowned by big money.

Please consider these a-la-carte suggestions, mix and match, do your own research, and decide for yourself. I address mostly races that are realistically contested, and/or controversial, in our precincts. Please forward – but anywhere I say “we,” I mean I or the consensus of the Cinque family, not any publication hosting this. 

Berkeley Offices 

 

Mayor: Sophie Hahn and Kate Harrison, in either order. Don’t rank unqualified Adena Ishii. 

City Council, District 5: Shoshana O'Keefe. Don’t rank unqualified Todd Andrew. 

City Council, District 6: Andy Katz. Don’t rank unqualified Brent Blackaby. 

City Council, District 3: Chip Moore and Ben Bartlett, in either order. Don’t rank unqualified Deborah Matthews. 

School Board: Jen Corn and Laura Babitt. 

Rent Board: Avery Arbaugh, Dominique Walker, Xavier Johnson, and Andy Kelley. Don’t rank Carole Marasovic. 

 

County Offices 

 

Supervisor, 5th District: Nikki Fortunato Bas. (Judge her commitment to affordable housing – and her opponent’s insincerity – by corporate developers’ deceptive hit pieces targeting her.) 

DA Recall: Yes. (It’s time for someone who actually does the job, doesn’t purge experienced staff, doesn’t quietly hire her boyfriend into a six-figure job, and doesn’t prosecute former rivals.) 

 

State and Higher Offices 

 

Assembly, 14th District: Margot Smith. (Elect a distinguished local activist and affordable-housing advocate; retire one of PG&E’s favorite minions. It’s win-win.) 

State Senate, 7th District: Jovanka Beckles. (Her opponent presided over the region’s only failed 2022 affordable-housing bond, and over a toxic City Council with a 55% resignation rate.) 

Congress, 12th District: Jennifer Tran. (Her unqualified, yelling, but well-funded opponent has proven an embarrassment even as a part-time BART director, illegally living outside her district.) 

 

Berkeley Measures 

 

AA: Yes. extend existing funding. 

BB: YES, protect rent control when it’s most needed. (Consensus measure assembled by the City Council.) 

CC: NO, don’t weaken rent control during peak housing-affordability crisis. 

DD: No, symbolic “factory-farms” silliness in a city with no farms. 

EE: YES, fix all our streets and sidewalks. It’s about time. 

FF: NO, fake measure to fund prestige projects without really repairing all streets or sidewalks. Sponsors wouldn’t cooperate on making EE a consensus bond. Higher vote of the two wins. 

GG: No, costly virtue-signaling silliness that could shut down many businesses and nonprofits. 

HH: No, more costly virtue-signaling silliness. 

W: Vote your conscience. Adds two higher tiers to 2018’s homeless-services tax (Measure P), and makes the tax permanent, removing voter oversight. The City Council has so far used these funds to address homelessness, but the language allows diversion to any other purpose. 

X: Yes, library funding. 

Y: Yes, protect parks, and allow parks funds to help rehabilitate the waterfront. 

Z: Vote your conscience. Makes regressive soda tax permanent, removing voter oversight. 

 

 

Statewide Propositions 

 

2: Yes, school and community-college facilities. 

3: Yes, correct state Constitution to recognize same-sex marriage. 

4: Yes, reasonable climate mitigations. 

5: No, don’t reduce bond threshold to give poorly designed bond measures a pass. 

6: Yes, end involuntary servitude. 

32: No, questionable meddling with scheduled minimum-wage increases. 

33: YES, allow rent stabilization in cities that want and need it. 

34: NO, developers’ revenge initiative targeting one AIDS health-care foundation. 

35: Yes, fund Medi-Cal health services. 

36: No, don’t bring back the War on Drugs. As sloppily written as its 2014 target, Prop. 47. 

 

-#- 

We’ve entered the final of three stages of the Kamala Harris presidential campaign. The first stage began on July 21st when Joe Biden decided not to run for President and endorsed Kamala. In this stage, Harris had to reintroduce herself to voters and prepare for the Democratic convention. The second stage began with the September 10th Harris-Trump debate. In this stage, Kamala had to elaborate her policy positions. Now we’ve reached the third stage: the race to the November 5th finish line: getting out the vote. 

Since the Harris-Trump debate, the polls have been relatively stable. According to the 538 website, Harris leads Trump by 2.6 percent. All the recent national polls have favored Harris, with a range from tied to Harris ahead by 6 percent. In the swing states, Harris is narrowly ahead in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada. Trump is narrowly ahead in Georgian, North Carolina, and Arizona. 

With 28 days to go, the Harris campaign has more money and a much better GOTV operation than the Trump campaign. (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/5/2274754/-Here-s-who-to-thank-for-the-Harris-campaign-s-historic-field-operation? ) Harris is doing a wide variety of media events. In contrast, Trump is decompensating. 

The Electorate: In the United States, there are more than 160 million registered voters. The latest Gallup poll says that 40 percent identify as Independent, 30 percent as Democrat, and 29 percent as Republican. 

Although there may be a handful of registered voters who are truly “undecided” about the Harris-Trump contest – because they are living in caves – most Americans have made up their minds: they will vote for Harris or Trump or neither. In the 2020 election, Donald Trump got 74 million votes (47 percent of the total), and Joe Biden got 81 million (51 percent). 

There are four categories of 2024 Trump voters: True believers: these are individuals who have swallowed the Kool Aid and become members of the Trump cult. Inflexible Republicans: these are individuals who only vote Republican and will hold their noses and vote for Trump. (For example, Nikki Haley.) Single-issue voters: these are individuals who vote based upon one key issue – such as abortion – and favor Trump because he says he supports their position. Sexist/Racist voters: these are voters who won’t vote for Harris because she is a woman and a person of color. (By the way: 2024 Trump voters understand that Trump does not support Democracy and will not defend the Constitution.) 

We’ve entered the final phase of the 2024 election. While most voters have made up their minds, a few say they are undecided. Many of these are shy voters: they know who they will vote for but don’t want to publicize it. Some of these are frightened voters. Imagine a pro-Harris woman in a family of Trumpers; she wouldn’t want to advertise who she was voting for. I believe an overwhelming majority of “undecided” voters will vote for Harris.  

Getting out the vote: Kamala Harris will win the presidency, if her supporters vote. 

 

The 2024 Trump campaign is built on a shock and awe” model. They expected to run against Joe Biden and spent their early money tearing Biden down. The Trump campaign figured that would demoralize Democrats, who would not vote. The Trump campaign never expected Biden to withdraw and be replaced by Harris; therefore, they never built a mature get-out-the-vote (GOTV) operation. Now they need it, but it’s too late. 

 

At this stage, Kamala’s campaign has substantial assets: she has a slight polling lead. Kamala has higher favorability ratings than Trump. Harris voters are more enthusiastic than Trump voters. She has a much better GOTV operation.  

 

Kamala Harris will win decisively if Democrats get out the vote.

Update:

The misbegotten rule change described below was postponed iuntil next Tuesday, Novenber 12. A good crowd showed up to complain about it at the previous council meeting where it was discussed, but now the same crowd needs to show up on Tuesday to do it again. 

---

Sometimes it’s hard to find the story under all the information. Before I took up journalism (the first time) I shared the common belief that there’s such a thing as truth, if only you could find it. But when I started writing stories about local events, guided by the likes of Bruce Brugman at the San Francisco Bay Guardian and Sandy Close at Pacific News Service.I realized that we’re constantly surrounded by a swarm of facts, and you have to pick and choose amongst them to end up with a coherent story.

And no story is completely true. Stories are informed by the belief system of the assigning editor and/or the reporter.

Bruce had two main hobby horses when I worked for him. One was “the Manhattanization of San Francisco will ruin the city” and the other was “PG&E is no damn good”. He was vastly derided by the chattering classes who worked for the Chronicle for these ideas, but surprise!, he was spot on, Check out the daily wailing about The City’s doom loop and the huge number of vacant office buildings there for proof..

Sandy used to tell us that California would be a majority-minority state by the year 2000, which seemed fanciful in the 1980s. She was right, and PNS morphed into the important Ethnic Media Services following what she predicted. A good reporter can imagine the future.

Every reporter has a point of view. I use the word “reporter” in the loosest possible sense these days,now that we’ve entered the era of citizen journalism. Especially in a literate city like Berkeley, there’s an abundance of intelligent people who are good writers, who welcome the opportunity to expound on topics that interest them, presenting curated facts as arguments for their beliefs. They are today’s reporters in many small towns and even in more pretentious cities like this one.

As a former high school debater I appreciate a good argument, but I realize you can always argue contrary point(s) of view. A strong belief can distract a reporter from the important story concealed in a flurry of facts.

Today (Monday, October 14, 2024) we have a good illustration of how that happens.

Reporter A discovers that Councilmember B seems to have neglected disclosing family salaries and investments as required by state law, and Reporter A writes an op-ed about it. Ex-Councilmember C, while complaining about a proposal on tomorrow’s Berkeley City Council agenda, neglects to mention that she herself had supported a somewhat similar proposal in 2019, which omission Reporter D exposes in another story. And Citizen Reporters E,F and G are now chiming in to express outrage at various aspects of the situation.

But no one pulled the big story out of these smaller ones. You could call it the OMG effect.

Folks, folks, you’ve uncovered a flock of facts, but the really shocking story is that Mayor X, in the tradition of Berkeley mayors who preceded him, is trying to slide out of office on a giant giveaway to the tech sector and its UC patrons. He wants to exempt a vast collection of Berkeley tech start-ups from paying taxes on business gross receipts relating to government and philanthropic research and development grants.

OMG!

He’s put the item on the “Consent” or “Information” part of the Berkeley City Council Agenda, presumably in the hope that no one will notice. Items on Consent can be passed with no discussion by an increasingly passive council. They just might get away with it.

That’s the story. Parts of it can be found at berkeleydailyplanet.com.

Your job? Put it all together yourself and then tell the council what you think before tomorrow at 6. You can attend in person or online if you want to speak after that at the council meeting. 

These days there’s no shortage of long, literate comments offered to the Berkeley Daily Planet. They are about a variety of topics, but sooner or later almost all gravitate toward the same area: the writer’s shock and horror about the way Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies are trying to turn the nation of Israel into a terrorist war machine.

Most of us here in Berkeley know many people with connections to Israel. Most of these self-identify as Jewish based on religion, genetics, ethnicity, culture, and/or all of the above.

Some grew up in Israel. Some of these are former Israelis who no longer believe in the mission.

Others have family members who went to Israel as adults to build a new life. Two of my own friends are grandmothers whose children, raised in Berkeley, have married and established families in Israel. And we have Jewish friends in the anti-Zionist category, people who emphatically don’t believe that creating a state where not all the residents are equal is mandated by Judaism—who believe that the state of Israel is not “good for the Jews.”

Just about all of these people are passionate about what they believe. After the horrendous October 7 invasion by the Gaza-based Hamas, Berkeleyans of all opinions asserted Israel’s right to defend itself from such attacks. However no one in my acquaintance claimed that Israel was entitled to the forty-to-one kill ratio against the Palestinians of Gaza, a majority of whom were non-combatants. And now slaughter goes on in Lebanon.  

That’s why I’m so surprised to learn that among all of the Bay Area’s supposedly “liberal” cities (not just the far-out“progressive” ones) Berkeley is conspicuous for not passing a resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire. The word on the bush telegraph is that a draft introduced in the Berkeley City Council’s Agenda Committee has yet to reach the council because it was stymied by behind the scenes bureaucratic maneuvering in the Committee. 

Here I feel obligated to call out two councilmembers, both of whom I supported in several previous elections, who are now running for higher office. Jesse Arreguin is now mayor of Berkeley, and Sophie Hahn is a councilmember. He is currently running for California state senator, and she is running for Berkeley mayor. Both of them are members of the Agenda Committee, where the ceasefire resolution has been stuck for months. 

I have known both of them for something like twenty years, and I’m pretty sure that both of them know better. But neither one of them is acting on their better instincts—why? 

It’s a good bet that when the campaign finance figures are finally published the development industry will be a major contributor. Neither one of these two receives public financing with its spending limitations. 

In an attempt to salvage Berkeley's reputation as a city of peace, some long-term members of Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission, who are appointed both by councilmembers and Berkeley Unified Schoolboard members, drafted a resolution which they hoped to pass on to the city council. Last Monday there was a lively but civil meeting to consider it, with articulate speakers, many pro but a substantial minority con. 

Some of the most emphatic opponents of the ceasefire resolution were recently appointed to the commission by Arreguin and Hahn, obviously to vote against it, which they did. But even without the votes of these newby ringers, the majority of the Peace and Justice commissioners voted to support the resolution. 

I no longer feel that I can count on either Arreguin or Hahn to support peace with justice. This conclusion was prompted by their disappointing performance on the matter of the ceasefire resolution, but I also no longer trust them to make good decisions on other issues. 

I’ve always refrained from endorsing candidates on behalf of “The Planet”. Instead I have sometimes revealed which ones I’m voting for myself. I’m reluctant to support either.of these two. 

I am voting for Jovanka Beckles for California State Senator. 

Kate Harrison is my first choice for Berkeley Mayor. She’s really smart, and has a long history of public policy work, both professional and volunteer. 

With three candidates, it’s unlikely that anyone will get a majority in the mayor race, so the second choice is crucial. Hahn must be my second choice with Berkeley’s ranked choice voting, since the third candidate, who has approximately no record of civic involvement, is backed by the dreadful YIMBYs, as is Arreguin. But that’s a rant for another day.. 

 

Today marks the first anniversary of the tragic events of October 7th, when Hamas’s military wing breached the Israeli-constructed barrier fencing in the Gaza Strip. The initial conflict led to the loss of around 1,200 lives, with 250 individuals taken hostage to push for the release of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel. While over half of the hostages have since been released through negotiated deals, Israel’s main response was to launch a full-scale assault on the already besieged Gaza Strip. The human cost of this conflict has been staggering—conservative estimates place the number of Palestinians killed at over 41,000, while recent projections suggest the toll could reach hundreds of thousands. 

On this solemn day, Israelis and Palestinians alike mourn their dead. Many families of the remaining hostages in Israel have criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu for rejecting ceasefire offers that could secure their release, accusing him of exploiting their suffering to advance a broader regional war agenda. Israeli peace activist Maoz Inon, who has called for a ceasefire and an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, embodies a sentiment shared by many: “Those who believe in war are naive because they have been failing again and again.” 

Across Israel, peace vigils call for an end to violence and a shift toward dialogue, underscoring the urgent need for a different path. Yet, the United States, United Kingdom, and other European allies continue to support the conflict with a steady flow of arms, facilitating the continuation of this cycle of violence. France, notably, has demonstrated moral courage by halting further weapons shipments to Israel. 

It is time for the United States to follow France’s lead and work towards a just peace, not by fueling violence, but by advocating for a ceasefire and a path to dialogue. The lives of so many innocents depend on it.

We write to you today as former and current deans of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon, with a profound sense of urgency regarding the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Lebanon. As public health professionals, educators, and advocates for justice, we are all too familiar with the devastating effects of conflict on human lives and societal well-being. Lebanon now stands on the brink of a nationwide humanitarian catastrophe, and we urgently reach out to you– our colleagues, peers, and friends from academic Public Health institutions and health bodies worldwide. We need you to amplify our voice.  

Our region has long been plagued by violence. A brutal war on Gaza has been raging for one year, and now an extremely horrific situation is unfolding in Lebanon where new warfare and lethal surveillance strategies are employed. Entire families are being obliterated and homes destroyed leaving civilian populations terrorized, with land invasion and large-scale causalities and displacements looming all over Lebanon. On September 23, 2024 alone, Israeli indiscriminate air raids killed at least 492 people and wounded 1,645. Within a week, the toll had risen sharply, leaving many victims with long-term disabilities. These casualty figures and scenes of despair are not mere statistics; they are the very fabric of our society, innocent children buried under the rubble, families torn apart, and dreams shattered.  

The health system, already strained by years of economic crisis, is facing unprecedented pressure amid severe shortages of staff and medical supplies. Education is also under threat as the majority of the one million internally displaced people, representing one fifth of the total population, have taken refuge in schools repurposed as shelters.  

The World needs to wake up. The deafening silence of the global community is not merely deepening injustices; it is becoming itself the war that we must confront. The international community’s inaction in the face of these war atrocities is eroding faith in the global order and undermining the very institutions entrusted in safeguarding human rights, protecting civilians, and preventing the weaponization of healthcare and civilian war injuries. We cannot remain disengaged; silence is complicity, inaction is consent.  

We urge you to be our voice for peace, dignity, and for safeguarding people’s lives and health, and to demand an end to this war and every war.

Supporters of Israel insist opponents should stop calling Israel an apartheid and genocidal state. They pretend we make this up and are anti-Jewish (though they know many Palestine supporters are Jews).

Former US president Jimmy Carter long ago wrote about Israel’s apartheid. Moreover, every day now the Israel-US massacres and terrorism in Palestine and Lebanon prove those labels are apt—adding to the South African government’s case and the International Court of Justice’s provisional decision saying so. The reason that lovers of Israeli apartheid work so hard to try to stop this language is not because they think it’s untrue. They must crush accurate language about Israel or their narrative that this barbarity is all a response to Hamas, to terrorism and October 7, 2023 will collapse.

They must block people from learning that this full on genocide culminates 76 years of US-backed Israeli apartheid terrorism. Now they say the same about Hezbollah, the most popular political organization in Lebanon. Hezbollah’s head Nasrallah made clear that Hezbollah would stop shooting missiles into Israel as soon as Netanyahu agrees to a ceasefire on Gaza.

Israel’s response was to murder Nasrallah, killing a messenger proposing peace. 

--

Measure EE or "Fix the Streets" is a well-crafted tax measure that focuses like a laser on three things: Street repaving, fixing sidewalks and pathways, and improving bike boulevards. It will pave all streets in Berkeley, bringing them all up to a "good" condition defined as a Pavement Condition Index of 70. 

Measure EE is elegant in its simplicity and design, unlike Measure FF, its rival. Measure EE doesn't take six hours to read, leaving you utterly confused. It isn't selling deception; it's offering the most straightforward tax measure in Berkeley in years. 

In contrast, Measure FF has many faults including an obsession with cycle tracks at the expense of everyone else's safety. However, its major faults are that it is full of bloat leaving at least $100 million of its projected revenue unaccounted for in terms of spending, and it will not pave all streets, unlike Measure EE. That's a fact.  

Why will many streets go unpaved under Measure FF unlike Measure EE? This answer is embedded in the full text, on page 3. It states that Measure FF will pave streets to a "good" condition although there is ample wiggle room to back out of that commitment with nine words: "Ideally, with no streets having a PCI below 50." This is the critical distinction between the two measures: Measure FF could pave your neighbor's street but not yours which is in awful condition. In contrast, Measure EE will pave both. The take home message is Measure FF will leave many streets unpaved throughout Berkeley; they will be left in "at-risk" condition (or under 50 PCI). This type of deception in a local tax measure is unparalleled, and to add insult to injury, Measure FF will cost you 50% more than Measure EE over its lifetime of the tax. 

Measure EE's approach to fixing our streets, sidewalks, and bike boulevards is smart, and that is why it has my full support. Like many of you, I would prefer that Council would budget for basic city services; however, it isn’t a priority. So please vote "Yes" for Measure EE and "No" for Measure FF on November 5th.  

It seems like the national news media is hanging in anxious anticipation for that “October Surprise” event, revelation, or catastrophe that will swing the Presidential election one way or the other. 

And, then there is Berkeley. 

Some of us received the forwarded letter from Paola Laverde that starts with, “Today I filed a complaint against Sophie Hahn, Mayoral candidate in Berkeley, with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).” 

The complaint revolves around the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) Form 700 and failure to report. 

I requested and received the full packet with the complaint from Paola Laverde and it is best summarized as thorough with substantial supporting documentation. Laverde used the California Form 700 filings, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings and business reports as documentation. 

Here is an excerpt from that filing: 

“Sophie Hahn (Ms. Hahn) is both a current City Councilmember for the City of Berkeley, first elected in November, 2016, and also a candidate for Mayor of Berkeley in the upcoming November 5, 2024 election. In her FPPC Form 700 filings, dating back to 2020, if not earlier, it appears Ms. Hahn failed to report, as required by the FPPC, her 50% share of yearly earnings from her spouse (Mr. Eric Bjerkholt), currently Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mirum Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company. These earnings likely averaged at least $500,000 per year during this period and were closer to $1 million/year for 2023 and 2024. A recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing listed Mr. Bjerkholt’s compensation at $4,337,928 for 2023 although this included stock options that may not yet have been awarded. (Ex. 1) Ms. Hahn also appeared not to report (other than 2020), as required by the FPPC, her family’s substantial stock holdings in various biotechnology companies. These holdings have been estimated as high as $4 million. (Ex. 2).” 

In writing this Activist’s Diary, I went through the mandated Form 700 filings by Sophie Hahn going back to 2014, when I first started attending city meetings. I started with the State FPPC website, but the back and forth of when Hahn included her husband’ compensations in the biotech industry and when she didn’t was so hard to follow that I switched to the City of Berkeley website (which had the same Form 700 filings) where the documents were easier to view, save and print. 

Here is the explanation of the Form 700 from the State of California FPPC website: 

“Every elected official and public employee who makes or influences governmental decisions is required to submit a Statement of Economic Interests, also known as Form 700. The Form 700 provides transparency and ensures accountability in two ways: 

1. It provides necessary information to the public about an official’s personal financial interests to ensure that officials are making decisions in the best interest of the public and not enhancing their personal finances.
2. It serves as a reminder to the public official of potential conflicts of interest so the official can abstain from making or participating in governmental decisions that are deemed conflict of interest.”

https://fppc.ca.gov/transparency/form-700-filed-by-public-officials/form700-search.html 

For comparison and to be thorough I also reviewed the Form 700 filings completed by candidates Kate Harrison and Adena Ishii. 

To look at the Form 700 filings go to the City of Berkeley and type in Conflict of Interest in the search bar. Then click on submitted forms. When the request page comes up you can change the dates and type in the last name of anyone you want to search. https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/public-records/conflict-interest-reports 

Not every Form 700 filing by an elected person in Berkeley is listed in the City of Berkeley filings. For example, Mayor Arreguin and Auditor Jenny Wong filed the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) sponsored trips to Israel with the State FPPC, but those same forms of the controversial trips to Israel are not in City of Berkeley filings. A person looking only at Berkeley Form 700 filings would not find the documentation of Arreguin’s and Wong’s sponsored trips to Israel. 

For Form 700s filed with the state use https://fppc.ca.gov/transparency/form-700-filed-by-public-officials/form700-search.html 

I was looking at councilmember Hahn’s 700 form filings a few weeks ago in relation to her trip with the Jewish Community Relations Council to Israel (JCRC) in March of 2023, so I was only looking at the recent 700 forms. What I found strange in Hahn’s filings was that her only investment was Jimmy’s described as “Environmentally smart dog food” with the box checked as stock with a value of $100,001 - $1,000,000 and the house she owns with her husband in the Berkeley Hills. 

A dog food company by the name of Jimmy’s does not exist. Hahn did not bother to correct the name in her fillings of 3/10/2022, 4/3/2023, 3/15/2024. Most would probably excuse the misspelling of Jiminy’s as Jimmy’s as carelessness. It wasn’t until she completed her August 8, 2024 Form 700 filing as candidate for mayor that Jiminy’s was listed. In those same years Hahn listed only her house with a value of greater than $1,000,000 and did not list the income or any other investments. She did not list the substantial household income of her spouse that Laverde found in her searches 

Jiminy’s is a privately held Berkeley initiated and based company with a Solano Avenue address. In the “profile preview” PitchBook Platform webpage it lists five of nine investors. Hahn is not listed in the five named venture capital investors. https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/459645-22#team 

Hahn’s house is in fire zone 2 in the hillside overlay on a parcel that is designated as a landslide zone. Her house made only two of the three criteria for what I call the Berkeley Hazard Trifecta which are parcels/lots/properties that are in the very high fire hazard severity zone, in a landslide zone and also sit on top of the Hayward fault. 

In the March 5, 2021 filing Hahn lists Chinook Theraputics stock with a value of $100,001 - $1,000,000. Hahn’s Form 700 filings of Chinook Theraputics lists an acquired date of 11/10/20 and then it just disappears from future filings. 

The FPPC requires stocks that are worth $2,000 or more during the reporting period must be reported every year that they are held. The “acquired” and “disposed” are only required if the stocks were acquired or disposed during the period covered by the Form 700. 

Here is the excerpt from the complaint referring to the March 5, 2021 for the year 2020. 

“As noted above, Ms. Hahn did report her share of her husband’s salary and stockholdings in Chinook Pharmaceuticals but only for her 2020 FPPC filing. Chinook Pharmaceutical is the successor to Aduro Pharmaceuticals, through a reverse merger between the two firms. (Ex. 21) Aduro was started in Berkeley in 2015, and operated, and was headquartered in Berkeley, CA until, around the time of its reverse merger in 2020. (Ex. 22) As a result of the merger it relocated most of its operations outside of Berkeley. 

However, this does not excuse the failure to report Chinook Pharmaceuticals for the 2021 through 2023 reporting years as Chinook continued to operate in Berkeley. It retained (and then sublet) the long-term lease with Wareham Development for Aduro’s headquarters at 740 Heinz St. (Ex. 23) as well as acquiring various Aduro patent rights held in conjunction with the University of California, Berkeley. (Ex. 24)  

Chinook’s continued long-term lease in Berkeley should have been known by Ms. Hahn, as it was included in Chinook’s 2023 Annual Report, attested to by her husband in his role as CFO of Chinook (Ex. 23). Additionally, even if Chinook had completely eliminated its Berkeley presence (which it did not), the FPPC requires that candidates continue reporting for the following two years after departure (i.e. 2021 and 2022). Once again, this is something that Ms. Hahn failed to do.” 

In Hahn’s Form 700 filings for March 12, 2017, March 18, 2018, March 7, 2019, April 16, 2020 July 30, 2020, she lists only her residence, no income, no investments. 

The California Form 700 Fair Political Practice Commission is a public document with the cover page title of STATEMENT OF ECONOMIC INTERESTS. It is supposed to tell us in the Schedules (added forms) Schedule A-1 Investments, Schedule A-2 Investments, Schedule B-Real Property, Schedule C- Income, Loans & Business Positions, Schedule D-Income-Gifts and Schedule E-Income Gifts Travel Payments. 

During the years I reviewed 2014 through 2024, Hahn completed the Form 700 Schedule A-1, Schedule A-2, Schedule B and Schedule C forms as required by the FPPC when she was appointed to the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB). Those filings ended when Hahn ran for city council and was elected in 2016. The filings for 2017 through 2020 as noted above listed only her residence.  

The FPPC frequently asked questions and answers can be accessed with this link: https://www.fppc.ca.gov/content/dam/fppc/NS-Documents/TAD/Form%20700/2019-2020/Form_700_FAQs_2019.pdf 

I did look at the Form 700 filings for candidates Kate Harrison and Adena Ishii. 

Kate Harrison did not include her husband’s salary as he was a government employee. A spouse or registered domestic partner’s government salary is not reportable. 

Harrison’s husband James Hendry is officially retired, though I understand he may still put in some part time hours. As a government employee Hendry was required to complete Form 700. According to his Form 700 filings I found with the last one dated 3/17/2024, Hendry was a civil servant working as a Public Utilities Commission, Boards and Administration Utility Specialist for the City and County of San Francisco. In his earlier filings Hendry did report Harrison’s non-governmental earnings. 

The Harrison Hendry household holdings of mutual funds do not need to be reported according to the FPPC. 

Stocks in a diversified mutual fund registered with the SEC or in a fund similar to a diversified mutual fund that meets criteria in Regulation 18237 do not need to be reported, nor do defined-benefit pension program plan such as CalPERS do not need to be reported. 

Adena Ishii filed what looks to be a complete Form 700 including Schedule A-1, Schedule A-2, Schedule B, Schedule C, and included income and place of employment of her spouse or registered domestic partner. 

One of the many things in Laverde’s complaint that caught my attention was the connection between Hahn’s husband’s business and Wareham Development. It is Wareham Development that purchased the building that housed filmmakers and Fantasy Studios and filed to change the zoning from arts which were protected into research and development for biotechnology. Wareham lost at the Zoning Adjustment Board which determined filmmaking was an art and protected. 

Wareham appealed the ZAB decision by redefining film as just media and not an art. The Berkeley City Council heard the appeal on July 30, 2024 and voted in favor of Wareham. Hahn did not recuse herself and voted in favor of Wareham. I wrote about filmmaking, the Fantasy Studios and the hearing in my August Activist’s Diary. https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2024-08-01/article/50779?headline=A-BERKELEY-ACTIVIST-S-DIARY-August-1--Kelly-Hammargren 

Will Hahn’s failure to disclose make any difference to Berkeley voters? 

It would to me, but I had my reservations about Sophie Hahn before this new layer fell in my lap. I have been observing Hahn for nearly ten years first on ZAB, then on City Council and in Council Committees. 

I’ve had my concerns for a very long time. 

Israeli airstrikes and targeted raids in southern Lebanon have already killed over a thousand civilians and displaced over a million more. Now, Israel is claiming to have launched a ground invasion, though Hezbollah and U.N. peacekeepers deny that such an incursion has yet begun.

The chaos is escalating, and while President Biden has called for a ceasefire, the mixed signals coming from the U.S. government are troubling. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s conversation with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reinforced U.S. support for Israel’s actions along the Lebanese border. Meanwhile, the targeted assassinations and bombings suggest that Israel's true aim is to provoke a broader conflict involving the U.S..

Hezbollah’s media sources confirm that while Israeli forces attempted to enter southern Lebanon, they were forced to retreat under heavy firepower. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears more concerned with rehabilitating his shattered image after October 7 than with any sincere pursuit of peace. His government has continually sidelined the Gaza front and opted to expand the war into Lebanon, perhaps believing that escalation will rewrite history in his favor. However, this reckless expansion of conflict is not only undermining Israel’s standing in the region but is also a direct threat to U.S. interests in the Middle East. Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, said it clearly: peace is within reach, but only if Israel ends its occupation and allows for the establishment of a Palestinian state.  

Netanyahu’s refusal to pursue peace leaves Israel on a dangerous path of perpetual war, a path the U.S. should not be enabling. Shame on Biden and Harris!

LETTER 1:September 4, 2024 Dear Councilman Tregub:

Today, I am writing to you as a second generation Jew, mother of two, and grandmother of five. Seven blessings in my life, which qualify me to speak about humanity's responsibility to protect the rights of civilians in conflict, and especially the rights of children to live and thrive. There is even a UN Charter on the Rights of Children, which if you haven't read, I'm glad to send you a copy. In it, you will find a list of rights that entitle children to safety, shelter, healthcare, education, and LIFE! I believe that Berkeley's City Council adopted a Resolution to officially support this Charter.

To say that I was shocked at your dismissal of Diana Bohn from the Peace & Justice Commission is an understatement. Shock followed by dismay. There is some terrible calculus going on with the City Council, who, during the last 11 months, have refused to host an open discussion about the genocide in Palestine. The calculus is that the lives of one group are more valued and valuable, that is, more entitled to life than other groups. The lame excuse is that a discussion would exacerbate divisiveness. Yes, the community is divided, but hiding from division only creates more anxiety, more reactiveness, more hostility.  

Last night, I heard the Director of MECA relate how he first learned about Berkeley. From life in the Jenin Refugee Camp, he learned that our City was the first in the USA to divest from the South African apartheid regime. History has proven that courageous and unorthodox decision correct. History will prove the same about the current and ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. Rather than genocide, I prefer extermination. Killing children exterminates the future.  

You've certainly seen the protests against Israel's systematic destruction of Gaza, and now the West Bank. These protests, small and large, are composed of millions of people, who have witnessed this magnitude of death and destruction 'live streaming.' There is no turning away. Or pretense that this is not happening. Note the news from Sept 1: At least 700,000 people have taken part in protests across Israel calling for a ceasefire.  

In no way do I condone the Hamas attack on October 7th. However, the degree of revenge and retaliation waged against the Palestinian populace is unprecedented, except in the history of world wars and the genocides against indigenous populations by colonial powers.  

What is terribly sinister is Netanyahu's self-serving perpetuation of conflict, and Israel's designs on appropriating all of Palestinian land as its own. There is a grand scheme here that appeals to the most base instincts of human nature: greed and indifference.  

I now suspect that you have very different views about this. But what view can justify the deliberate killing and maiming of children? the destruction of all schools and hospitals? sites of worship? withholding food, drink, and medicine? These are rhetorical and heartbreaking questions. As I write them, I weep at the state of frozen hearts and minds, even here in my own City, a place once famed for its universal love and courage.  

Summer Brenner, D4 long-time resident of Berkeley  

LETTER 2: Sep 9 Dear Igor,  

Thank you again for the reply to my letter regarding Diana Bohn and the PJC.  

As mentioned, I am Jewish, but not a Zionist. In so many ways, the ethical tenets of Judaism contradict the Zionist project.  

That said, I think the Zionist faction in this City has exercised a disproportionate influence over the Council and its refusal to have a mere discussion of a Ceasefire Resolution. I doubt that the Zionists would accept any resolution that includes the condemnation of Israel and its genocidal behavior. Yet that is the reality -- and the roadblock. That's why I'm afraid the concept of 'balanced and inclusive' rings hollow when children are being systematically slaughtered, maimed, and starved. WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS! According to Michael Moore, the calculation is $356 per US citizen and rising. Money for weaponry that has almost nothing to do with defense. That 'Israel has a right to defend itself' also rings hollow.  

I appreciate and quote you: [my] "longstanding support of a lasting end of hostilities in the region, the return of all remaining hostages held by Hamas - alive, and efforts toward a two-state solution built on self-determination and mutual understanding." As tragic as the situation with hostages is, I believe the Israelis are correct in also blaming Netanyahu. The hostages have not been his priority. In fact, Israeli attacks with US bombs have led to an unknown number of hostage deaths. As for a two-state solution, the invasion/occupation of a half-million plus illegal settlers currently renders that scenario a fantasy.  

One last personal note: I think the existential threat that many Jews/Israelis feel has suppressed their capacity for compassion for the Other. Maybe, not in Ukraine, where the Council had no hesitation in supporting a Resolution. But certainly towards the Palestinian people. In my opinion, that's where the greatest impasse lies. Until we embrace our universal humanity, this extermination will continue. But how our City Council can tacitly condone it remains a mystery that I shall never understand.

As Israel expands its attacks on Lebanon, acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates speaks out. His new book, The Message, is partly inspired by his visit last year to Israel and the occupied West Bank, where he observed a system of segregation and oppression reminiscent of Jim Crow in the United States. “It was revelatory,” Coates states. “I don’t think the average American has a real sense of what we’re doing over there — and I emphasize 'what we're doing' because it’s not possible without American support.” 

Coates raises a crucial point about whose voices are heard in American media. He repeatedly asks if any major network in the United States has a Palestinian American bureau chief or correspondent who can fully articulate their community's experiences. As a reporter for 20 years, he notes that those who support Israel's right to exist often have no trouble getting their perspectives aired. But the stories of Palestinians — from the West Bank, Haifa, and the South Hebron Hills — are often left untold. 

Coates is not against tough interviews, but he wants to see a balance — where Palestinian voices and those critical of Israeli policies are given a platform to challenge the status quo. He emphasizes that this issue goes beyond him or the CBS interview; it’s about the people who remain invisible in media narratives. Coates envisions a world where a Palestinian American journalist could appear on a mainstream show like CBS This Morning and ask similarly tough questions of those defending Israel’s actions. 

In The Message, Coates underscores the importance of the stories we choose to tell and, perhaps most crucially, who gets to tell them. It’s not just about what’s included in the conversation but also about who remains excluded. For Coates, it’s vital to remember the voices that aren’t given a chance to speak, particularly those of Palestinians and Palestinian Americans who continue to be marginalized in the media.

Some admire trump, thinking he's a "tough-guy" who can control the world's dictators. How is a tough-guy different from a bully? A bully intimidates timid weaklings, like Kevin McCarthy and Mike Johnson, but easily folds when confronted by real tough-guys. Trump yielded to Putin, publically, saying he believed Putin over our national security agencies, in Helsinki, July 2018. 

Five years ago, October, 2019, trump surrendered to Turkey's strongman, Erdogan, pulling our troops that were guarding our Kurd allies, who successfully defeated ISIS, from Northern Syria. That left a vacuum for Turkey to ransack the Kurds, and for Russia to move into Syria. 

Trump ain't no tough-guy. He's a cowardly bully who flatters dictators almost as much as he flatters himself. As President, Kamala Harris will stand up to dictators and bullies with calm, strong stability that restrains our enemies and strengthens confidence in our allies, to maintain world order.

Much of the East Bay Area adjacent to San Francisco is known for being relatively low in crime. With some exceptions, we aren't living in areas where we must fear for our lives. Yet even in "nice" areas, living in low-income apartments is often a challenge. 

I'm a man of sixty, and because of being disabled most of my life, I've been deprived of a vast segment of good living. Disabled people, unless they have inherited a huge sum, usually live in some level of poverty, and I am no exception. The nature of my disability isn't relevant to this manuscript. 

If I could work at conventional employment and earn a good living, it would follow that I could live in a house or a good condominium. But as a disabled person, I'm unable to live anywhere I want. 

Whether you're speaking of the places I've left, or the place I rent now, it requires sharing space with people. And sharing space entails that problems will arise. You can get all types of people, and some are easier to live alongside than others. 

From an earlier time, I could describe to you a previous apartment, where I lived with my wife--about twenty years ago. We were forced out because the other occupants of the building were criminals and we weren't criminals, and thus we weren't allowed. We were forced out through harassment, intimidation, and massive nuisance behavior. For purposes of this paper, I'm going to call that location "R Street."  

In low-income housing, you could be living in a drug infested, vermin infested building. Criminals do exist, and many of them live in low-income housing. It is probably small-minded and bigoted of me to brand a category of people "criminals." Yet the label sometimes fits. To clarify, I'm not calling poor people criminals; I am reluctant to use the label "criminals" itself, to describe people who commit crimes.  

Everyone has their strategies for survival. Some strategies work better than others. In the building at "R Street" one of the tenants apparently worked for the county. Yet on the side, at best guess, she was manufacturing methamphetamine and selling it to neighborhood kids. I definitely recall her asking her teenage daughter in a loud voice, "Do we need any cold medicine?" And I had not taken note of anyone being sick with a cold. And Sudafed is a key ingredient in methamphetamine. 

In a more recent building, an upstairs (now former) tenant had been released from jail, and the property owner was giving him a chance. The man did his workouts regularly on the front balcony with a hefty dumbbell. He often tried to use intimidation tactics on me and tried to use several other con man tactics. He finally backed off because I wasn’t going to take being treated that way. I have self-respect. 

Concerning criminals, you should realize they will often use intimidation as a weapon, in which your own fear of being assaulted works against you. If and when you don't fall for this, and when you give it right back to them, it gives them two choices. Some will come after you and some will back off. You don't necessarily know in advance which path they will choose. I've had some narrow, lucky breaks in which I was close to being attacked. In one instance, a man in the neighborhood was a bully, and I wasn't going for it. When I verbally snapped back at him, he started to come after me. Yet within moments, just as the thug had started to cross the street toward me, two police cruisers showed up as if out of nowhere. 

In another instance, a man was being sarcastic and was intending that I knuckle under. When I stood and didn't react, he became very baffled as though he didn't know how to interpret me. He was probably on the verge of knocking my block off. Within an instant, his buddy stopped him and said the hallway had a lot of surveillance cameras. 

Decades before the above-described incidents, when I was in my twenties, I had not yet taught myself the emotional control that helps me to this day. And this is what happened: 

A tough guy at the apartments where I lived, who may have been a drug dealer, decided to come after me. I was very intimidated and scared, but I accepted his challenge. 

In my thinking, if I'd tried to run away, I'd be a victim of "cat and mouse" for months to come. So, he put up his fists and then so did I. I was knocked down and I was hit several times in the face. I concluded he was trying to kill me, so I summoned my strength, grabbed him by the waist and threw him off me. That's my best memory. Whether that's accurate, I could never tell you for certain, because memory distorts. 

In the years following that incident, I began to seek methods of not being afraid. I was never inclined to take a self-defense class or carry a weapon, not even pepper spray. I still do get scared and off balance in some situations. But this is not to the extent that I lose my smarts. 

In the past twenty years, I have learned to avoid being the victim of male violence, not by being the strongest, but by being cleverer than the other guy. Sometimes I've been good at bluffing.  

These are the kinds of situations you must live in, if you rent a low-income apartment. And as a result, I have developed thick skin. 

 

Jack Bragen writes often for The Street Spirit News, The San Francisco Street Sheet, and, of course the Berkeley Daily Planet. His work has also appeared in San Jose Mercury, Bewildering Stories and Mindfulness Bell. He lives in Martinez, California.

On Sunday, I filed a complaint against Sophie Hahn, Mayoral candidate in Berkeley, with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).

The complaint states that Ms. Hahn failed to disclose her family’s income and stock holdings as required by law.

My 6 page complaint, accompanied by 24 exhibits, shows that since 2020, Ms. Hahn failed to disclose both her share of her husband’s income which exceeded over $500,000 per year as well as family stock holdings that exceed $4 million.

Both of these disclosures are required by California law. The purpose of these laws is to allow California citizens to know the financial interests, and potential conflicts of interest, of those we elect. 

Almost all of this income is associated with Biotech, which raises concerns over Ms. Hahn’s voting on these issues. It was Ms. Hahn’s recent vote to evict artists from the Fantasy Studios building in Berkeley to be replaced by Biotech firms that first raised my interest in Ms. Hahn’s finances. Ms. Hahn’s vote overturned the recommendation of Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustment Board which twice turned down this action.  

Berkeley will soon be considering granting tax breaks to Biotech firms locating in Berkeley as well eliminating the requirement that Biotech firms need to be located more than 500 feet from residences. 

A recent complaint to Berkeley’s City Attorney argued that Ms. Hahn should have recused herself from voting on the Fantasy Studios conversion given the large amount of funds donated to her by biotech interests. 21 biotech executives, only three of which lived in Berkeley, have each donated to Ms. Hahn’s campaign, most at the maximum level of campaign contribution. 

This led me in turn to examining Ms. Hahn’s annual disclosure statements of income and investments to the state’s FPPC.  

In her FPPC Form 700 filings, dating back to 2020, if not earlier, it appears Ms. Hahn failed to report, as required by the FPPC, her 50% share of yearly earnings from her spouse, who is currently Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mirum Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company. These earnings averaged at least $500,000 per year during this period and were closer to $1 million/year for 2023 and 2024.  

A recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing listed Ms. Hahn’s spouse compensation at $4,337,928 for 2023 although this included stock options that may not yet have been awarded.  

Ms. Hahn also appeared not to report (other than 2020), as required by the FPPC, her family’s substantial stock holdings in various biotechnology companies. These holdings have been estimated as high as $4 million. 

The egregious extent of this under-reporting is particularly troubling given Ms. Hahn’s supposed legal expertise as a graduate of Stanford Law School, and her husband’s work experience as a Chief Financial Officer responsible for numerous SEC and government filings.  

This lack of reporting should not be the result of lack of knowledge or unfamiliarity with reviewing necessary filing requirements. 

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