In 2025, many unemployable older people with disabilities, yet whose minds still function, are facing a lot of fear. Most of us lack money, because we have been unable to maintain full-time professional employment. Our government is looming, seemingly with various methods of annihilation. Some of the dangers are subtle and/or convoluted, and others are obvious and sometimes terrorizing. This is because of how harsh, not to mention expensive life is. 

In the San Francisco Bay Area, you can't survive on just SSI. People who can't work have few if any choices and many are forced into institutionalized housing situations. We lack the massive income it takes to pay for an adequate place to live. Some live in institutional but privately owned settings, such as a room and board. If the owner of the building decides she or he dislikes you, you could be out on the street. 

In California, disabled people--especially we older ones, face a terrifying specter, the potential of becoming homeless. For a substantial number of older people who normally aren't in top physical condition, death may follow soon after eviction. 

For this to happen, family members will refuse to take in the desperate person. It is not necessarily the families' fault. They may not have enough space, they may fear themselves going down the gravity well along with the needy relative, they may not have a good grasp that it will mean death, and there can be other justifiable reasons. 

The Supreme Court has given local governments the green light to do anything to homeless people, and this includes incarceration. Some people can survive incarceration, and some can't. It is never something you would choose for yourself. 

There is no path laid out to re-enter society once homeless. If it were metaphorically a physical battle to be re-housed, it would be a steep uphill battle--But it is not a battle at all, it is a giant Godzilla foot stomping you to death like you are an innocent bug crawling on the pavement. 

People with less than upscale socioeconomic backgrounds who can't work are viewed as less than human entities. In your perceptions, if you eliminate the apparent humanity of a person, it's a short distance toward abusing and otherwise harming that person. 

I write for Street Newspapers that carry news reporting and opinion pieces. I stick to personal essays and opinion pieces, because it would be too hard for me to go out and get real news. 

However, I often read the same papers. Periodically they run memorial pieces of those who have met their deaths on the street. What a horrible way to go!! 

The life expectancy of a schizophrenic man is just shy of age 60. And I am sixty. Given basic wherewithal and no outrageously bad circumstances, I might go another twenty years. 

If I can outlive both parents and live and die in good circumstances, I'm not terrified of that. Instead, I'm terrified of the horrible circumstances of homelessness and/or incarceration leading to a nightmare of a death. 

I knew a woman who I'll call J. W. She had enormous capabilities, had passed the BAR exam, had accomplished a ton of other things, and was the highest functioning disabled person I have met. She'd said, "Anything past sixty is gravy." She died at 66 or 67. Her kidneys had been wrecked by lithium, and she refused dialysis. When I spoke to her, she'd said she was getting her affairs in order. She asked me about being published. I told her that it was all done electronically. She was not happy to hear that. It would have been a source of completion for someone of huge accomplishments. 

Changing tack: I did not properly chart a life path. In my youth and middle age, I could not think clearly. I lacked the ability to anticipate where my chosen endeavors would lead. I had a computer assistance business for a short time. I would have done well to stay with that, but also to better educate myself with how to perform the tasks I offered. I have seen other companies make the same mistake. They offer a service, such as television or videotape player repair, but they don't have sufficient expertise to do as promised. It isn't criminal, it's just dumb. 

I switched to a different profession, and I didn't realize a person in that profession is expected to have a day job. 

But it is a little late for me to reroute my path. I collect Disability for very good reasons, and the impairments related to working at conventional employment probably haven't gone away. I write manuscripts without any help. It is a feather in my cap. But you can't eat a feather or live in it, and it won't fill your gas tank or charge up your EV. 

And yes, I live with a lot of fear, because I don't want my life circumstances to be wrecked, simply through not having enough income to sustain my paltry existence. I have hope of a less expensive, more comfortable housing situation, and that would be enough to get me over the invisible line that's telling me I have to be afraid. 

 

---

g 

 

Jack Bragen lives and writes in the East Bay.

It was epic. The Berkeley Public Works engineers faithfully used their best PowerPoint skills to convince the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission and the public at the North Berkeley Senior Center meeting on Thursday, February 20, 2025, that its most logical place for an unsupervised, 24-hour restroom was Channing Way and Telegraph Avenue. And they were lying. 

I was most likely the only person in the room trying to make any comment in a meeting which either didn't know, or didn't want to know, the facts. The original proposal for a public toilet was the southeast corner of Haste Street and Telegraph Avenue where the landmarked and recently renovated People's Park mural would have been completely obscured by the toilet. 

For the curious, yes; it is that easy to snooker a landmark's destruction through the public process. In your copious spare time ask local historians, hard-working volunteers at Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, or neighbors connected with Berkeley's Black history to fill you in and you'll get the best view of the most under-represented of Black history stories. 

I'd been part of the well-attended public demonstrations against the original Telegraph public toilet proposal. Demonstrations included the historic mural's artistic team, local poets, People's Park activists, landmark commissioners, and members of the public astonished that formal city procedures could possibly enable a toilet placement so comically inappropriate as to obscure a city landmark given obvious alternatives. 

But the motive was obvious. The engineers' purpose at the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission was to engineer approval of another public toilet at the corner of University and San Pablo. The proposed location is across from the former Wells Fargo Bank building, in front of the former PetCo and the former Subway Sandwich location, across from the former 7-11 location, and current home to open air drug use, drug dealing, homelessness, and prostitution continuing for so many years that the fellow living in the former Wells Fargo Bank dumpster shelter has been there since April of 2024 and has a Christmas wreath over his dumpster shelter front door. 

Those of us who live and work in this neighborhood tried to keep our eyebrows in check as we heard the Public Works engineers describe the arduous difficulty of having to have had dozens of public meetings regarding this, according to them, well-studied location, a location only 50 feet from a public restroom at the West Berkeley Public Library - which they neglected to mention to the Commission. This omission is curious. Ours is one of the few neighborhoods blessed with a public restroom which works well, offering any member of the public a place to relieve themselves during the day and wash up in a well-lit, supervised setting. Not many neighborhoods have this amenity, and we are grateful for it. 

Our neighborhood applauds this restroom, and does its best to weather any difficulties associated with the nearby Berkeley Food Pantry's clients, who are reported to cause problems on occasion for local businesses but who are clearly not responsible for the overt drug use, drug trade, and public prostitution playing roles in the loss of all but one business at the storied intersection once considered the gateway to Berkeley showcased by an archway declaring "Welcome to Berkeley" commemorated in the 1920's and lit up at night near the beautiful Rivoli Theater. 

San Pablo Avenue was once called "Music Row" by those who knew its wealth of cultural treasures; blues clubs, folk clubs, jazz clubs, brothels, yes, and breweries rocking the bay's cultural scene for the shipbuilders, sailors, and World War II personnel who made it a legend. We are fortunate that there still exist today the buildings, including the former Wells Fargo Bank building at University and San Pablo Avenue, and the six or seven jazz, blues, and folk venues nearby which exemplified the simple but straightforward architecture of the earliest working community and civil rights movement, a movement predating the better-known 1960's. 

The former Wells Fargo Bank building at University and San Pablo has offices in which Walter Gordon, one of Berkeley's prominent African American entrepreneurs, worked and held meetings. He was the first African American to graduate from Berkeley Law, and the first Berkeley African American police officer, serving as governor of the US Virgin Islands and the chairman of the California Adult Authority. His original home, by San Pablo Park, still exists today. 

What is stunning is that during 2025's Black History Month, at a hearing regarding the placement of a public toilet, none of this historic information was mentioned. The current effort to nominate this building for appropriate historic recognition was not mentioned either. No commissioners or staff appeared to have any information about it. I was given only one minute to speak; not enough time to mention the death toll at our intersection of young Black men shot to death in drug-related gunfire or the horror of drug-related overdoses. I wish the public could have had a moment to tell the story of what this, west Berkeley's first bank, meant to the nascent businesses coming to life for the Black community permitted to own property in West Berkeley and the workers who needed its services. 

My neighbors and I are, of course, in favor of public toilets. But placement is important, especially in a neighborhood which has, and which celebrates, its own West Berkeley Library public toilet, which, along with the Food Pantry services, we welcome and support. 

Please, Berkeley citizens, if you've read this far, encourage the Berkeley City Council to respect our neighborhood's struggling businesses and exhausted residents enough to situate its next public toilet somewhere where it will not interfere with the sightlines of our landmarks, our beloved views of the bay, and not exacerbate the serious drug and prostitution-related issues the Berkeley police are apparently unable to resolve. We lost three young Black men to drug-related gunfire at this corner, and need realistic assistance before any more lives are lost. 

# # #

After three active weeks, Donald Trump’s fourth week in the oval office was marked by fewer executive order and several notable failures. New data showed inflation rising. Trump’s immigration initiative stalled. And Trump’s foreign policy alienated our allies. Looming in the background is the possibility of a March government shutdown. 

 

The Economy: Donald Trump was elected president because of his promise to fix the economy. On February 12th, the Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that inflation surged in January, gaining a half a point as the cost of gas, rents, and groceries went up. Egg prices rose 15.2%. 

Trump continued to play with tariffs. On February 10th, he levied 25 percent tariffs on aluminum and steel. Ford CEO Jim Farley deplored these: “So far what we’re seeing is a lot of cost and a lot of chaos.” On February 13th, Trump announced a new program of “reciprocal tariffs,” targeting countries that levy tariffs on products made in the US. Trump said, “Prices could go up somewhat short-term. But prices will also go down.”Most observers feel Trump has no idea how to fix the economy. (By the way: in Trump’s first 30 days, his spending per day is $ 4 Billion higherthan Biden’s was a year ago.) 

Immigration: Trump has declared a state of emergency and shut down all immigration (except for white Afrikaners). There were raids throughout the country, staffed by ICE personnel supplemented by members of the FBI, DEA, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. On February 6th, Dara Kerr ( https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/06/ice-us-immigration-deportations-google )wrote in the Guardian that the Trump Administration is waging a massive disinformation campaign regarding these deportations to make the numbers look good. ( https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/ice-struggles-to-boost-arrest-numbers-despite-infusion-of-resources/ar-AA1z7vGA ) 

In California, indications are that the undocumented detained do not have a criminal record. ( https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/02/11/it-was-just-a-regular-morning-californians-picked-up-in-recent-ice-raids-include-kids-volunteers/? ) On February11th, The Washington Post reported that two senior ICE officials have been demoted because immigration quotas have not been met. ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/02/15/ice-arrests-immigration-deportations/ .) After one month, Trump’s numbers lag Biden’s. 

Mass Firings: After one month, 77,000 federal employees accepted Trump’s buyout offer. Trump followed this by laying off thousands who had not completed their probationary period – the Washington Post estimated this would affect 200,000 employees. Among the agencies affected are the Center for Disease Control, Energy Department, IRS, National Park Service, and the Veteran’s Administration. 

Foreign Policy: After four weeks, Trump’s foreign policy has become clear. The US will withdraw from traditional alliances and go it alone. Trump has irritated most of our traditional allies, such as Canada and Mexico, and the European Union. On February 12th, Defense Secretary Hegseth told NATO that the US defense priorities “lie outside Europe.” 

1.Gaza: On February 4th, Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and offered a novel solution to the Gaza problem: all Gaza residents would move out – to either Egypt and Jordan – and Israel would hand over Gaza to the United States. We would clear it of rubble and explosives and then oversee the redevelopment. Despite pushback from Arab states, Trump maintains this position. 

2.Ukraine: Until this week it was unclear how Trump would approach the Ukraine war. Now it appears that Trump prefers to negotiate solely with Russian Premier Vladimir Putin. Going in, Trump is prepared to give Putin two things he wants: Russia could keep the Ukrainian territory it has seized, and the US would block Ukraine from joining NATO. To be determined is what security guarantees the US would give Ukraine. It’s rumored that the Ukraine could exchange access to its rare-earth resources for US support ( https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-us-minerals-security-future-i1.7456598 ). Europe will be excluded from ceasefire discussions. 

3.Targets: Trump has threatened to annex Greenland – owned by Denmark – and to occupy the Panama Canal – owned by Panama. Trump keeps talking about Canada becoming the 51st state. 

4.Tariffs: Trump’s tariffs have irritated Canada, Mexico, and the EU. Trump promises to expand the scope of these tariffs.March Fiscal Showdown: One month from now, the federal government will run out of funding; shortly thereafter we will hit the debt limit. How will Trump 2.0 respond? 

Donald Trump wants his 2017 tax cuts reauthorized (cost $4.5 trillion) and additional funds appropriated for Defense and Homeland Security ($300 billion). The GOP-controlled Senate and House are working on a response but have different approaches. The House has stuffed everything into “one big, beautiful bill.” To appease GOP fiscal conservatives, they’ve added $2 trillion in spending cuts, which include Medicaid and the SNAP program. 

The Senate has two bills. The first focuses on funds for Defense and Homeland Security. The second – scheduled for later in the year – features Trump’s tax cuts. It appears that, in March, the House and Senate are headed for a nasty confrontation. 

Summary: Donald Trump campaigned primarily on the economy and immigration. So far, he’s made inflation worse and hasn’t come near his promises on deportation. How long will it take Trump supporters to figure out that Trump isn’t keeping his promises?

Worth Noting:

Note the opportunity to see the Bike Plan and the plan for three new Public Restrooms.



City Council Agenda for February 25, 2025 is available for comment. Use link to see agenda or go to the bottom of the Calendar.

If you did not attend the February 11, Tuesday 4 pm Special City Council meeting on wildfire watching the video is highly recommended. The vote will be in March to add a 4^th very high fire hazard severity zone. https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/city-council-agendas

Check City website for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov

• Tuesday, February 18, 2025: At 3 pm is the 3x3 Committee meeting in the hibrid format on housing. From 4 – 5:30 pm is the Alcatraz/Adeline Restroom meeting on zoom.
• Wednesday, February 19, 2025:
  • From 12 pm to 2:30 pm is the in-person Berkeley Bike Plan Workshop which overlaps with the 1:30 pm Commission on Aging all at the North Berkeley Senior Center.
  • At 2:30 pm is the 2x2 meeting in the hybrid format.
  • At 5 pm the Commission on Disability meets in person. To receive the meeting zoom link used by commissioners you must follow the disability accommodation request.
  • At 6:30 pm the Police Accountability Board meets in the hybrid format.
  • At 6:30 pm the Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets as in person only in a room that is fully equipped for hybrid meeting.
  • At 7 pm the commission on the Status of Women meets in person.
• Thursday, February 20, 2025:
  • At 9:30 am is toddler activity Together Wee Play.
  • At 5:30 pm the Zero Waste Commission meets in person.
  • At 6:15 pm the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission meets in person with a presentation on public new restrooms.
  • At 6:30 pm the Design Review Committee meets in person.
  • At 6:30 pm the Fair Campaign Practices/Open Government Commission meets in the hybrid format.
  • At 6:30 pm the Rent Board meets in the hybrid format.
• Saturday, February 22, 2025:
  • At 9 am is Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Unit 4.
  • At 10 am is Nature Journaling for youth.

An overview of the updated Bicycle Plan is available online at: https://berkeleybikeplan.altaplanning.cloud/#/home

To give input email: bicycleplan@berkeleyca.gov.



To view the BART West Lot Preliminary Objective Design Standards (ODS) and to give input go to: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/CABERKE/bulletins/3d22a6a



If you are unable to attend a meeting in person and/or it is not offered in the hybrid or an accessible format, TO REQUEST A DISABILITY RELATED ACCOMMODATION(S) TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEETING, including auxiliary aids or services, please contact the Disability Services specialist at 510-981-6418 (V) or 510-981-6347 at least 3 days before the meeting (the sooner the better). Thomas Gregory is the ADA Program Coordinator.

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



BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS 

 

Sunday, February 16, 2025 – no meetings or events found 

Monday, February 17, 2025 – Presidents’ Day Holiday 

 

Tuesday, February 18, 2025 

 

3 x 3 COMMITTEE at 3 pm 

(members: Kesarwani, Bartlett, Humbert, plus 3 members from Berkeley Housing Authority) 

Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81841208233 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171  

Meeting ID: 818 4120 8233 

AGENDA: 4. Update and Discussion on Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) and Affordable Housing Berkeley (AHB), Inc.’s Structure and Process for Allocating Project Based Vouchers (PBVs) 5. BART Station Developments a. North Berkeley BART, b. Ashby BART – West Lot and East Lot, 6. City-BHA MOU Status and Discussion, a. changes, b. BHA reserve found. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/3x3-committee 

 

ADELINE/ALCATRAZ RESTROOM in the RIGHT of WAY COMMUNITY MEETING #2 from 4 – 5:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83962566334?pwd=6LavQCqNHbjxJSPHILwWe3c3AhBWhl.1 

Use Link for details: https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/adelinealcatraz-restroom-right-way-community-meeting-2 

 

Wednesday, February 19, 2025  

 

BERKELEY BIKE PLAN WORKSHOP at 12 pm 

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

Use link for details: https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/berkeley-bike-plan-workshop-north-berkeley-senior-center 

 

COMMISSION on AGING at 1:30 pm 

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

AGENDA: Presentation Jessica Rothhaar, Senior Public Policy Manager of Northern California and Northern Nevada Alzheimer’s Association, Staff Report Budget update, 1. Election, 2. 2024 Measure FF, 3. Berkeleyans for Accessible Rights-of-Way letter regarding Measure FF funds. 

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

 

2 x 2 COMMITTEE at 3:30 pm 

(members: Taplin, O’Keefe and Brown, Shanoski BUSD Board members) 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1005 Parker Street 

Videoconference: https://berkeley-net.zoom.us/j/86163164909?pwd=Im9yIbhpsMUUneegMlD7LPWiJoQAm7.1 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171  

Meeting ID: 861 6316 4909 Password: 126949 

AGENDA: 6.1.1 Cragmont Elementary School Traffic Safety Update, 6.1.2 Longfellow Middle School Traffic Study, 6.1.3 Student Safety Around Homeless Encampments Near School Sites. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/2x2-committee 

 

COMMISSION on DISABILITY at 5 pm 

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

AGENDA: Presentations: 7. Updates to the City Bike Plan with Christopher Kidd (Alta Planning & Design) and Dani Dynes (CoB Public Works) Discussion/Action: 11. Election, 12. Accommodation at City Meetings and Events, 13. Community-Initiated Letter to Council on Measure FF. 

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

 

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD (PAB) at 6:30 pm  

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1900 Addison, 3^rd Floor 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89174589069 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833  

Meeting ID: 826 5339 6072 

AGENDA: 3. Public Comment on agenda and non-agenda items, 5. ODPA Staff Report a. ODPA Policy Review Focus Groups, b. Upcoming Community Visioning Session, c. ODPA Request for Chief Investigator and Deputy Director Classifications, 6. Board member reports, 7. Chief Report, 9. Discussion/Action Items a. Policy subcommittee recommendations regarding BPD Policy 307 Vehicle pursuits, b. New Policy Complaint, c. Recognizing former PAB members, d. Review PAB training materials, e. Review BPD Mutual Aid Agreements, 10. Public Comment, 11. Closed Session. 

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

 

HUMAN WELFARE and COMMUNITY ACTION COMMISSION at 6:30 pm 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia,  

AGENDA: 5. Election, 6. Bylaws, 7. Strategic Plan, 8. Review City of Berkeley Funded Agency program and financials – Through The Looking Glass, 9. Discussion and possible action regarding CoB Single Audit for year ended 6/30/2023, 10. Discussion and possible action on ADA audits of City programs. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/human-welfare-and-community-action-commission 

 

COMMISSION on the STATUS of WOMEN at 7 pm 

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

AGENDA: 7. Election, 8. Workplan, 10. Mayor’s Agenda, 10. Cease and Desist Orders that have come down from the federal Government that directly impact women. 

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

 

Thursday, February 20, 2025 

 

Together Wee Play with the Story Time Band at 9:30 am 

Location: at 2800 Park Street,  

No pre-registration required, Use link for details 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/together-wee-play-story-time-band-5 

 

ZERO WASTE COMMISSION at 5:30 pm 

In-Person: at 1326 Allston Way, Corporation Yard, Ratcliff Building, Willow Room 

AGENDA: Discussion/Action Items 1. Election, 3. Report out from the Special Events Subcommittee and Green Building Subcommittee. 

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

 

DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE (DRC) at 6:30 pm 

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

AGENDA: 1. 2700 Ninth Street at Carlton – Preliminary Design Review Modification – 6,026 sq ft animal shelter with exterior dog kennel pavilion and outdoor greeting courtyard, eliminate on-site parking 

2. 2147 San Pablo at Cowper - Preliminary Design Review Modification –increase Group Living Accommodation (GLA) units from 128 – 141, increase height from 70 feet to 75 feet, remove 14 parking spaces and increase number of very low income units from 12 to 15 utilizing state density bonus 

3. 2655 Shattuck at Derby – DRCP2024-0005- Preliminary Design – Demolish existing 1-story 8,185 sq ft non-residential building and construct 8-story 85 feet, 84,399 sq ft mixed-use residential building containing 97 dwelling units including 10 very low income density bonus qualifying units, 2,117 sq ft of Commercial space on 23,527 sq ft lot. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/design-review-committee 

 

BERKELEY RENT STABILIZATION BOARD at 6:30 pm 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1231 Addison, BUSD Board Room 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87123301507?pwd=UDg5s5XuNL5F06UWa919MazzVPBa5V.1 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833  

Meeting ID: 871 2330 1507 Passcode: 495852 

AGENDA: 3. Closed session, 4. Public Comment, 8. Appeal (not heard before 7:30 pm) Case No. T-6020/T-6086 2410 Stuart Unit D, 9. Appeal (not heard before 8 pm) T-6079 2810 Derby, Unit A, 10. Action Items: b. Affirming Support for and Compliance with City of Berkeley Sanctuary Policies, c. Recommendation to amend contract with Goldfarb & Lipman LLP add $275,000. 

https://rentboard.berkeleyca.gov/elected-rent-board/rent-board-meetings 

 

FAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICES COMMISSION (FCPC) / OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION (OGC) at 6:30 pm 

Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: posted link broken – notice sent – https://cityofberkeleyinfor.zoomgov.com/j/1614055306 

Teleconference: 1-669-444-9171  

Meeting ID: 161 405 5306 

AGENDA: FCPC: 8. Report from Negotiating Committee on Yes on Measure CC / No on Measure BB, 9. Enforcement Andy Kelley for Rent Board 2020, 10. Enforcement referral regarding Campaign for Police Accountability Campaign, 11. Enforcement regarding Vanessa Danielle Marrero Rent Stabilization Board, 12. Review of FCPC procedures, OGC: 14 vacancies, 15. Commissioners Manual, 16. City Rules of Procedure and Order Revisions, 17. Regulations for OGC, 18. Progress in providing remote access to Commission and Board meetings, Joint FCPC/OGC: 19. Training Presentation. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/fair-campaign-practices-commission 

 

TRANSPORTATION and INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION at 6:15 pm 

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

AGENDA: Discussion/Action Items 1. Election, 2. Presentation on Restrooms in the Public Right-of-Way at 1. Telegraph-Channing, Alcatraz-Adeline 3. San Pablo-University. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/transportation-and-infrastructure-commission 

 

Friday, February 21, 2025 – no city meetings or events found 

 

Saturday, February 22, 2025 

 

COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (CERT) Unit 4: CERT Organization at 9 am 

Use link for details and to register: https://berkeleyca.gov/cert-classes-unit-4-february-22-2025 

 

NATURE JOURNALING CLUB at 10 am 

Location: 160 University 

Cost: $10 per person 

Use Link for details and to register: https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/nature-journaling-club-february 

 

Sunday, February 23, 2025 – no city meetings or events found 

 

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

 

++++++ CITY COUNCIL, Tuesday, February 25, 2025 AGENDA for 6 pm meeting ++++++++ 

 

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1231 Addison, BUSD Board Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1608430091 

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

Meeting ID: 160 843 0091 

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

 

To comment: email council@berkeleyca.gov 

 

FINAL AGENDA for City Council Regular at 6 pm Meeting on February 25, 2025 

 

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

CEREMONIAL MATTERS: Adjourn in memory of the Stabbing Victim at San Pablo Park and Elise Lusk, Traffic Violence Victim at Ada and California 

CITY MANAGER COMMENTS 

PUBLIC COMMENTS on NON-AGENDA MATTERS 

 

AGENDA on CONSENT: 

1. Numainville, City Clerk – Minutes
2. Hollander, Economic Development – Grant application $150,000 National Endowment for the Arts
3. Oyekanmi, Finance – Formal Bid Solicitations $200,000 Underground and Aboveground Tank Monitoring, Inspection and Maintenance
4. Sprague, Fire – Contract $1,400,000 with Forester & Kroeger Landscape Maintenance for Chipping Services from 3/1/2025 – 2/29/2028
5. Gilman, HHCS – Amend Contract No, 32300185 add $25,000 total $274,413 with JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc for Community Health Assessment, Innovation and Improvement Plan Consultant to 11/1/2025
6. Walker, HR – Berkeley Police Association – Amendments to Retiree Medical Benefits
7. REMOVED by CITY MANAGER - Fong, IT - Amend Contract No. 32000118 add $1,023,457 total $2,730,366 with Nexgen Asset Management for software maintenance and professional services through 6/30/2029
8. Fong, IT – Amend Contract No. 105921-1 add $180,000 total $1,477,200 with TruePoint Solutions, LLC for Professional Services
9. Davis, Public Works – Contract $4,544,232 with Ashlar Structural LLC for Strawberry Creek Culvert Maintenance (Specification No. 25-11689-C)
10. Davis, Public Works – Contract $1,104,000 includes $184,000 contingency with Mark Lee and Yong Kay, Inc. DBA Bay Construction Co. for Fire Station #2 Improvements Project
11. Davis, Public Works – Amend Contract no, 32500082 add $150,000 with Telegraph Property and Business Management Corporation for janitorial maintenance of new 24/7 public restroom
12. Davis, Public Works – Amend Contract No, 32500098 at $150,000 total $300,000 with Pacific Site Management Landscaping Services for Public Works through 6/30/2027
13. Lunaparra, co-sponsor O’Keefe – Supporting the Free and Safe Passages of Whales, Sea Turtles and other Marine Animals in SF Bay Coastal Waters, targeting zero mortality

AGENDA on ACTION: 

14. Gilman, HHCS – Inclusionary Housing Ordinance In-Lieu Fee $56.25 per sq ft of residential unit floor area subtract 5,000 sq ft
15. Klein, Planning – Zoning Ordinance Amendments to BMC Title 23 related to consistency with State Law for EV Charging and technical edits read document for details. https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2025-02-25%20Item%2015%20Zoning%20Ordinance%20Amendments.pdf

INFORMATION REPORTS: 

16. Gilman, HHCS – Community Health Assessment

 

+++++++++++++++++++ Land Use - Work Sessions - Special Meetings +++++++++++++++ 

 

LAND USE CALENDAR 

• 3000 Shattuck (construct 10-story mixed-use building) 3/25/2025
• 2274 Shattuck (UA theater Project) 4/22/2025
• 1048 Keith (single family house) 5/6/2025
• 2500-2512 San Pablo / 1094-1098 Dwight TBD

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS: 

Feb 25 (4 pm) Economic Dashboards Update 

March 11 (TBD) City Council Referral Prioritization 

March 18 (4 pm) Berkeley Police Department Annual Update 

March 25 (4 pm) Pavement Management Program Development 

April 22 (4 pm) Evacuation Study and Response Times 

April 22 (6 pm) City Council ZAB Appeal Hearing for UA Theater Project 

April 29 (4 pm) Presentation on City’s Unfunded Liabilities 

UNSCHEDULED WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS 

None 

FUTURE INFORMATION REPORTS 

1. Reimagining Public Safety Update
2. Affordable Housing Fee Feasibility Study
3. Berkeley Fire Department Annual Report
4. Greenhouse Gas Inventory / Climate Action Plan Update

PREVIOUSLY LISTED WORKSESSIONS and SPECIAL MEETINGS REMOVED FROM LIST 

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

Feasibility Study Follow Up Session 

 

++++ How to get on or off the Activist’s Calendar and Activist’s Diary email list ++++++++ 

 

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

 

The Activist’s Calendar of meetings is posted on the What’s Ahead page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html 

 

If you would like to receive the Activist’s Calendar as soon as it is completed send an email to: kellyhammargren@gmail.com.If you want to receive the Activist’s Diary send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly calendar of city meetings please forward the email you received to- kellyhammargren@gmail.com -with the request to be removed from the email list. 

 

n one of Donald Trump’s first acts in office, he stripped away protections for schools, hospitals, and places of worship from immigration enforcement. These were once safe spaces where people could learn, receive health care, and pray without fear. Now they have been turned into targets for ICE raids.

This is unconscionable. As the world’s largest historical climate polluter, the United States has a responsibility to immigrants. Our pollution is causing the climate chaos — droughts, floods, hurricanes, rising waters — that is forcing people in Latin America, Asia, Africa and elsewhere to leave their homes. Others are fleeing violence, poverty, and hunger — all of which are caused or made worse by the climate crisis.

People have the right to be able to leave their homes and migrate with dignity to find safe haven. But right now, immigrant families are facing the unimaginable: the fear that seeking education or health care could mean deportation, or that a peaceful moment of prayer might be shattered by ICE agents barging in.

As municipal leaders, mayors have the power to fight this. They can protect immigrant families by ordering police not to participate in ICE raids and even to block ICE agents’ entry into schools, hospitals, and places of worship.

The future of so many families in our communities is on the line. We must call on local leaders to do the right thing, even as the federal government does not. I’m writing to urge mayors to hear this call and take action to protect immigrants.

It’s been quite a week. On Monday, February 3, 2025 when I called in to the Berkeley Council’s Land Use, Housing & Economic Development Committee to make a non-agenda comment, I said I had been listening to the morning news and it was very unsettling, the closing of USAID, the takeover of the Treasury Payment System, that I was concerned we were in a soft coup, that I would like to see our city government call a special meeting to talk to us about what is happening nationally and how we will respond locally. 

I felt like I would probably be seen as some crazy person in a tinfoil hat saying we were in a coup out loud. Within hours the word coup was being used by respected national journalists and some of the more daring Democratic politicians. Councilmember Bartlett, the just elected committee chair followed my comment stating the reminder of the media moguls standing behind Trump at the Inauguration and then the meeting moved on. 

Monday morning was my last city meeting of the week. I heard about the protests at state capitals from a caller into the Thom Hartmann show. I arrived around 1:15 pm to the Wednesday Sacramento protest that started at noon. People were still coming while others were leaving. There weren’t any speakers that I could hear so I wandered through the crowd asking people how they found out about the protest, where they came from and now and then I would engage in longer conversations. 

One person I spoke with saw the demonstration as so important that she drove up from Los Angeles the day before. People traveled from Redding, Chico, Fresno, Mountain View, Fremont, San Jose, San Mateo, Oakland. Some brought their children. For some this was their first protest. 

They heard about the protest through Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky, friends and emails. Some answered with the “all” encompassing “social media”. 

I never got to the front, but felt encouraged by the diversity of the people who showed up with probably the largest group falling into the 30 to 55 age range. This was definitely not a protest of college students with a few older adults joining in support. There were some students including four Fremont high schoolers dressed in their most respectable best attending as part of their journalism class. 

Of course, the signs were great with many calling for the removal of Elon Musk. 

Much to my delight when I pulled up my evening recording of the Rachel Maddow show, she started off with photos of protests at state capitals from all over the country including Sacramento. 

If you don’t have TV or access to MSNBC, I highly recommend picking up the free Rachel Maddow show (Monday - Friday) podcasts which you can listen to anytime. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rachel-maddow-show/id294055449 

The encouragement I felt by the show of people standing up to be counted in resistance on Wednesday vanished when I attended a birthday party on Saturday and expanded the conversations with friends and new acquaintances to national news. It was the same as the party I attended the week before. Their response was to turn off the news and disengage saying it was too stressful as if hiding in a news blackout would stop the erosion of the constitution. 

When we’re needed in the streets to resist, tuning out is exactly the response that is needed to smooth the road for the new regime. 

The lack of leadership and cohesive response from the Democrats doesn’t help as those who do want to engage are lost in how. We need to push our elected through calling, writing and showing up. 

For guidance in action, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder is at the top of the New York Times best seller list. It is a start. Then follow it with Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation. It is free online, though you can always buy it, https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/resource/from-dictatorship-to-democracy-a-conceptual-framework-for-liberation/ 

And, sign up with Indivisible and other groups taking action. This is an all hands on deck moment. 

If you need a little uplift Ezra Klein gives a take on why Trump is executive orders instead of congress besides Bannon’s “Flood the Zone”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8QLgLfqh6s 

I expected Trump would be more organized the second time around, but I didn’t expect a Musk to march in with a team of young engineers and hackers to take over departments, start wholesale gutting, gain access and invade critical systems like the Treasury payment system. 

I received one email saying the twenty somethings didn’t know what they were doing. I responded back they did and to look up Curtis Yarvin. I guess the name for people like Yarvin is “Influencer” and he seems to have influenced VP JD Vance among others. Yarvin professes we need a CEO not a president and embraces governing by an authoritarian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Yarvin 

The big problem is as I emailed a friend over the weekend in response to the Friday Ezra Klein podcast with Kara Swisher Tech journalist with this, “listened to the podcast - break things and a disregard for law are the key points - this is bad, very bad - add in that we have two men, Trump and Musk, who don't really care about anyone but themselves with an insatiable need for attention, racists to the core and a president with a fragile ego filled with the thirst for revenge, retribution.” 

After that I found Kara Swisher’s audiobook Burn Book: A Tech Love Story at the Los Angeles library and finished it by Sunday night. It was well worth the time which is why I returned the audiobook to the library and signed out the ebook for notes. 

Swisher labeled Zuckerberg as, “The Most Dangerous Man” in chapter 9 covering Facebook. She described him as, “extraordinarily naïve about the forces he had unleashed…that Zuckerberg was woefully unprepared to rein in the power of his digital platform as Facebook’s population swelled to 3 billion active users and it became the most important and vast communications, information, advertising, and media behemoth the world has ever seen.” 

“Move fast and break things” from Mark Zuckerberg was the motto for Facebook. With the creation of META the new mantra became “move fast with stability”, but if we look at action the mentality of breaking things is where we are. 

Burn Book was published in 2024. It’s worse now as Zuckerberg knelt to Trump removing fact checking from Facebook leaving it to the “community” to catch up with circulation of conspiracies, hoaxes, disinformation and misinformation. And, Zuckerberg deposited $1,000,000 into Trump’s inauguration fund. A token to show that he is onboard. 

Swisher got to Musk in Chapter 13. Swisher started the interview with Ezra Klein calling Musk a one-man wrecking ball and it didn’t get any better in the book. 

Musk and Trump have always acted as though laws do not apply to them. When their actions do land them in court, it appears to be a mere bump in the road. Now with the latest responses to the courts pulling in the reins, defiance is the threatened response. We are in a constitutional crisis. 

The court doesn’t have its own police force. Over the weekend and as I write, VP JD Vance and reporters are reminding us of President Andrew Jackson. No sources call “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it” an actual quote from Jackson in regard to a supreme court decision, but it gets the point across. The courts lack enforcement forces and that is never more true than when the Supreme Court has already granted broad presidential immunity in Trump v. United States No. 23-939 Decided July 1, 2024 and the President controls and chooses will and will not be enforced. 

With Pam Bondi, Trump’s former defense attorney as the new Attorney General, we can expect all that happy talk about independence and following the law to vanish with anything Trump. 

Ezra Klein with Kara Swisher full interview to read or listen from New York Times as subscriber article share. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-kara-swisher.html?unlocked_article_code=1.wE4.UE3w._9TIwQZ5lU_D&smid=url-share 

Back to the city. 

The Land, Use, Housing and Economic Development Committee meeting agenda items were taken out of order with the Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) item on prohibiting the sale or use of algorithmic devices to set rents or manage occupancy levels for residential units. I wrote about RealPage and a software program used by property owners to maximize rent and calculate the sweet spot between maximum rent and vacancy in my August 4, 2024 Activist’s Diary referencing Tyler Walicek’s article in Truthout. https://truthout.org/articles/real-estate-software-aided-price-fixing-cartel-among-us-property-companies/ 

After a long discussion the HAC item passed with full committee support. 

Next up Councilmember Tregub’s budget referral on a transfer tax exemption on 100% affordable housing projects passed with clarifying language to include 100% affordable rehabilitation housing projects. 

Last up was former councilmember Hahn’s item on vacant store fronts modeled after San Francisco’s First Year Free program. It was moved forward with a unanimous negative recommendation which translates to take no action and let it die. 

After councilmember Harrison resigned, Hahn called agenda items of former councilmembers no longer in office “orphan items” and commented on those items when discussed without using Harrison’s name in a manner that is best described as not nice. One time at the Agenda Committee during the public comment period of the discussion on creating a policy on “orphan items” I suggested the possibility that they (members Arreguin, Wengraf, Hahn) might consider what would happen with their own items. Arreguin was obviously going to be a State Senator, Wengraf was retiring and Hahn was running for mayor. 

I don’t think Hahn imagined she would lose the mayor race. People were still angry with Harrison for quitting and Ishii was an unknown. I expected Ishii to win with reallocation of votes through rank choice. I did not expect her to lead with the majority of votes before adding in rank choice, but she did just that. She worked hard, knocked on lots of doors including my neighbors. She missed my door and I did not take advantage of talking with her when she joined a house party for another candidate. I’m sorry I didn’t jump on that opportunity to meet her. 

My favorite part of the day is when I’ve completed my to do list for the day or given up on unfinished tasks and crawl into bed to read until I’m tired enough to fall asleep. My goal is to finish one to two books per week. 

We’re living through a very difficult time and it looks to get worse. We’re going to be called on. The question is how much will we do to help another in the days ahead. Are we willing to stand up and be counted. 

Two ordinary British sisters Ida and Louse Cook answered the call in the lead up to WWII. Their memoir written by Ida Cook in 1950 and republished twice first in 1976 and then again in 2021 with a new title The Bravest Voices: A Memoir of Two Sister’s Heroism During the Nazi Era tells that story. It’s one of those books that has kept me up reading into the wee hours of the morning. Maria Rose ended the title of her article reviewing the book with “Why Heroism Will Never Be Enough and Why We Can’t Let That Stop Us.” https://marla-rose.medium.com/little-things-are-big-what-the-legacy-of-ida-and-louise-cook-tells-us-about-why-heroism-will-never-e207264f218d 

Of course, Ida and Louise Cook were on my mind when I visited the Berkeley Historical Society exhibition Roots, Removal and Resistance: Japanese Americans in Berkeley and stayed for the film One Fighting Irishman: Wayne M. Collins and the Tule Lake Segregation Center and post film discussion with Sharon Yamato who wrote, directed and produced the film and Satsuki Ina, child trauma psychotherapist, author of The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Memoir of Love, Imprisonment, and Protest. https://www.heydaybooks.com/catalog/the-poet-and-the-silk/ 

Satsuki Ina was born at the Tule Lake internment camp. Ina told us that when her mother was sick and dying she (Satsuki) wanted to replace her mother’s worn torn quilt, but her mother refused relating that when she was incarcerated at Tanforan and pregnant a woman managed to throw that quilt over the high barbed wire fence and said, “I hope that helps”. The quilt held the memory that in that dark time someone cared. 

The exhibit in the Veterans Memorial Building at 1931 Center Street is free and open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 1 – 4 pm, from now through August. It will come down sometime in September, but don’t wait. You may feel as I do there is a lot to absorb and want to make multiple visits after looking at “Here Lived” the more than 1,100 names and 260 addresses of Berkeley residents removed under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1942 Executive Order 9066. 

Michael Several said he spent two full years beginning in 2022 researching and compiling the “Here Lived” with date and place of birth, occupation, camps in order of incarceration, date of removal through date of release, and released to location. 

In Several’s description of his work, he wrote he was inspired by the stepping stones, Stolperstine, in Berlin Germany, “Knowing that installing plaques in front of houses in Berkeley where people who had been incarcerated had lived at the beginning of World War II was beyond my capability, I decided to create digital Stolpersteine…” 

It seems like this exhibit is too important to send to the Veteran’s Building attic for storage. Do we have a public art artist who can pick up from here and turn this exhibit into a Berkeley walking tour with plaques? Can we kickstart such a project with in lieu fees for Public Art on Private Development? I certainly hope so. And, while we’re at it can include in that walking tour the borders of redlining. https://berkeleyca.gov/construction-development/permits-design-parameters/design-parameters/public-art-private-development#:~:text=Policy%20requirements,as%20an%20in%2Dlieu%20fee. 

The Historical Society exhibit this fall is on Latinos in Berkeley. Given that Berkeley reaffirmed our status as a sanctuary city at the January 21, 2025 City Council meeting, we can expect to be targeted for actions and removals. Will we hold or fold?

The word on the street is “watch what they do, not what they say”. Except when it’s “believe them when they tell you what they’re going to do”. Or try Dorothy Parker’s phone greeting: “what fresh hell is this?”

Well, when you’re trying to figure out what the hell the new regime in Washington is up to, there’s some visual evidence from the Inauguration ceremony to be considered. I refer, of course, to the hats worn by the first consort and the lady in waiting.

Melania’s peculiar chapeau (are we still allowed to use French?) was clearly inspired by the hat-like decorations worn by ladies of the British royal family to weddings and coronations, often called fascinators. Ivanka’s headpiece was an echt fascinator, perched on the side of her head. Both of them, clearly, are announcing that the Trumps, emulating the Windsors, are a new royal family.

Then there are the DOGEs. Someone who chose that acronym for the administration’s dictators-in -chief must have been thinking of the Italian doges. They were heads of state in the former republics of Venice and Genoa, autocrats, oligarchs, the whole nine yards. Elon Musk is angling for the job it seems.  

There are other historic clues about how this wanna-be dynasty sees itself. In the spirit of the late Russian empire, they have their Rasputins, crypto-advisors lurking behind the imperial monarchs and whispering in their ears. The obvious choice for that position is Stephen Miller, who like Rasputin claims a religious justification for his sinister maneuvers, and who cultivates his own acolytes. But coming up by the ruler’s side is Musk, who like Rasputin is more and more inclined to promote a public persona. And seeing Miller and Musk and their ilk crouching at the elbow of their patron, I’m also reminded of Roy Cohn, the sinister lawyer that us old folks remember lurking behind Senator Joseph McCarthy during the televised witch-hunts of the 1950. He later became best buddies with, yes, the young Donald J. Trump.  

McCarthy went after the U.S. Army, a trick Trump’s trying now. He’s been quoted as looking for another Roy Cohn to advise him, a consiglieri if you will, kind of like those who advised the Doges in Italy.  

The imperial presidency has begun. Those of us who still believe that a democratic republic is the best choice are trying to figure out how to dodge the current administration’s opening salvo.  

As Chernyshevsky and Lenin are both reputed to have asked, What Is to Be Done? Both were quoted by the father of a friend of mine, a Petaluma chicken farmer, as believing “the worser the better.” In other words, the worse things got for the poor, the more they would be inclined to support a revolution.  

And the abundance of aiders and abeters in this ever-worser regime are called “tsars”, to provide appropriate context.  

My friends and colleagues divide into two groups on the question of what to do.  

One set has decided to drop out for a while: turn off MSNBC, skip the NYT opinion section, read novels. Others are feverishly doing whatever they can: Letters to Editors, group chats, marches, exchanging academic books on autocracy, the same old stuff.  

Is worse really better? Do we have new ideas?  

Here are a couple :  

How about putting together a shadow cabinet as the British do when their party is out of power? The Democrats, while far from perfect, have a substantial back bench, potentially including congressional experts like Jamie Raskin, a law professor who would make a fine shadow Attorney General without having to relinquish his current post.  

For that matter, how about asking Joe Biden to break with tradition and serve a year or two as shadow president? He might be a bit old for another four-year term, but he’s got a few more miles in him. Or maybe Robert Reich could function as a shadow Secretary of Labor. For Health and Human Services, how about Bernie Sanders?  

And Paul Krugman’s available for something, isn’t he? Such people could, with the aid of volunteers and interns and perhaps even Democratic Party funding, track the wild and crazy behavior of the Trump dynasty in a systematic way and provide constructive alternatives.  

In both houses some of the Dems are now hollering about outrages. It’s a start, but all of these strategies need to reach folks who never read papers and seldom consume social media online, but get their “news” from Fox TV.  

Another idea, even more radical, is to find and support a few sensible people, not Democrats, to run in gerrymandered Republican congressional district GOP primaries. There must still be some responsible moderate Republicans out there who now regret voting for Trump, even if the Democratic Party can’t convince them to switch their registration. Worth a try. . . Americans of all stripes are mostly not monarchists yet. Only three more votes are needed in Congress to stop the king's worst excesses.

Here’s an interesting four-part take on Berkeley politics which ran on San Francisco’s 48hills.org site. The author, Zelda Bronstein, is a Berkeley resident, a former Berkeley planning commissioner and once was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Berkeley herself. 

 

 

https://48hills.org/2024/12/how-a-yimby-candidate-with-little-experience-became-berkeleys-next-mayor/ 

https://48hills.org/2024/12/leading-candidates-attacked-each-other-making-room-for-upset-in-berkeley/g 

ghttps://48hills.org/2025/01/how-fawning-media-helped-berkeleys-new-mayor-win-the-election/ 

;https://48hills.org/2025/02/how-biased-news-media-helped-elect-the-new-mayor-of-berkeley/

Donald Trumps third week in the oval office was characterized by three major failures: tariffs, foreign policy, and negative court orders. The number of Trump executive orders diminished as Trump focused on shoving his cabinet nominees through Congress and letting his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have open access to all federal computer systems. Trump continues to fire or “surplus” thousands of federal employees. 

 

Tariffs: On February 1^st, Trump levied 25 percent tariffs on goods coming from Canada and Mexico. On February 3^rd, Trump reached agreements with Canada and Mexico and paused their tariffs for one month. Canada and Mexico escaped tariffs because they agreed to do more to stop border crossings and fentanyl distribution.  

 

Trump abandoned these tariffs without any mention of the possible effects on the economy. That is, Trump has stopped referring to tariffs as a method to bring down inflation. (Trump doesn’t have a plan to deal with inflation and avoids talking about it.) 

 

Gaza: On February 4^th, Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and offered a novel solution to the Gaza problem: all Gaza residents would move out – to either Egypt and Jordan – and Israel would hand over Gaza to the United States. We would clear it of rubble and explosives and then oversee the redevelopment. 

 

This is more evidence that Trump is abandoning the “two-state solution” for Israel. He hasn’t formally endorsed turning the west bank over to Israel, but the writing is on the wall. 

 

Court Orders: Trump had a rough week in court. Another judge shut down his attempt to block the “birthright citizenship” guaranteed by the 14^th amendment. Trump’s attempt to totally shut down USAID was blocked as was his “buyout” of federal employees. A court also blocked DOGE’s access to vital Treasury Department files. 

 

Immigration: Trump has declared a state of emergency and shut down all immigration. Trump continues to send troops to the southern border. There were raids throughout the country, staffed by ICE personnel supplemented by members of the FBI, DEA, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Indications are that these raids have not resulted in the results that Trump expected. On February 6^th, Dara Kerr ( https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/06/ice-us-immigration-deportations-google )wrote in the Guardian that the Trump Administration is waging a massive disinformation campaign regarding these deportations to make the numbers look good. 

 

Nominees: Senate Republicans moved Trump’s most controversial nominees towards formal contribution. On January 24^th, Pete Hegseth was confirmed as Secretary of Defense. The vote was 50-50 with Vice President Vance breaking the tie. Hegseth is the first of four deplorable cabinet picks: Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, Kennedy for Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Patel for FBI Director. This week Gabbard and Kennedy were voted out of committee on a straight party-line vote. These actions suggests that Gabbard and Kennedy will be confirmed by the full Senate. (Trump has been actively lobbying for his picks and his arm twisting has eradicated all Republican opposition.) 

Gabbard and Patel are disturbing choices because they are another indication that Trump is determined to weaken US intelligence agencies. Trump has also authorized the firing of top intelligence staff and offered buyouts to hundreds of experienced employees. 

Federal Buyout Order: On Thursday, a federal judge blocked Trump and Musk’s “fork in the road” buyout memo from implementation until there is a hearing on February 10^th. ( https://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-request-block-trumps-federal-government-employee-buyout/story?id=118535508 ) Nonetheless, roughly 40,000 employees have agree to voluntary separation. 

 

DOGE intrusion: On February 1st, a member of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team seized control of the Treasury Department’s payment system, gaining access to the US checkbook which conveys $6 trillion each year. On February 7^th, Senator Ron Wyden demanded answers from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent after reports contradicted the department's narrative about the level of payment system access granted to Musk’s lieutenant. Wyden pointed to a February 6^th, Wired magazine story that the DOGE operative had "write access" to critical Treasury payment systems, despite the Treasury Department and Trump White House's insistence to the contrary. According to Wired, 25-year-old Marko Elez "was granted privileges including the ability to not just read but write code on two of the most sensitive systems in the U.S. government." 

In the meantime, DOGE has gained access to financial systems at Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, Veterans Affairs, FAA, and other agencies. 

What’s Happening? Donald Trump is assaulting the pillars of the federal infrastructure by either ordering a department to be abolished (Education, USAID) or weakening its leadership, reducing its workforce, and letting Musk’s DOGE hackers seize control of departmental computer systems.  

 

It may be that Trump simply wants to reduce the size of the Federal government. Or it may be that Trump plans to tear down the Federal infrastructure and rebuild it according to his and Musk’s design. 

 

We don’t know for sure what Trump’s intent is. What we do know is that there are real world consequences of these actions. Each of the federal departments has a purpose and mandate and, therefore, citizens who depend upon their services. Weakening the federal government makes the US less safe. 

 

On January 29^th, there was a tragic plane crash at Washington’s Reagan airport. Hillary Clinton observed: “[Until January 29^th] US airlines had gone 16 years without fatal crashes. Then [Donald Trump] fired the FAA chief, gutted the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, and threatened air traffic controllers with layoffs. [Since then] there have been two fatal crashes.” Trump’s FAA actions made airline travel less safe. 

 

The Opposition: This was a week when the resistance to Trump 2.0 began to make its presence felt. Trump lost several court cases. Senate Democrats realized that Trump was going to ram his nominees down their throats and began to throw procedural roadblocks into their paths. 

 

This week, House Democrats figured out that Trump does not have enough resources to accomplish his immigration objectives. Trump must ask Congress for additional funds, and he does not have enough Republican House votes to secure the money he needs. House Republicans have been working on a massive budget package but, so far, have been unable to find an approach that does not require Democratic votes. The time will come when Trump must ask House Democrats to vote for legislation; he will have to make a deal. What should Democrats ask for in return? 

 

Grassroots organizations began to organize to resist Trump 2.0. Groups such as Indivisible and MoveOn had massive organizing calls. The initial thrust was twofold: protect endangered local groups, such as undocumented individuals, and lobby elected officials to stand up to Trump 2.0, 

 

Legal groups have been effective blocking Trump 2.0. Groups such as ACLU, Brennan Center, Protect Democracy, and Public Citizen have launched successful initiatives. 

 

It’s important to remind Trump voters that Donald has yet to “fix” the economy. This week Senate Democrats elected Cory Booker to oversee messaging. On CNN, Booker said: “Donald Trump has promised America, I will bring down your costs and I'll make you safer. He clearly is doing the opposite. In addition to that, he's opening the floodgates for corruption in our system.”

President Trump’s recent proposal regarding Gaza, outlined in a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has sparked global outrage. His suggestion that the U.S. should “own” Gaza and develop it into a seaside tourist destination not only disregards Palestinian sovereignty but also perpetuates the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the region’s indigenous population. 

Trump’s plan is deeply problematic, as it envisions the forced displacement of the Palestinian people to make way for American-controlled development. This proposal, which includes dismantling Gaza’s infrastructure and creating a “Riviera of the Middle East,” was met with widespread condemnation. Palestinian American analyst Yousef Munayyer called it “ethically and morally repugnant,” and former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy pointed out the stark contrast between the rhetoric of the two leaders and the harsh realities on the ground in Gaza. The plan reflects a broader trend of American disregard for international law and human rights, as evidenced by Trump’s past comments and policies towards other disputed territories. It also further destabilizes an already volatile region by offering a solution that ignores the deep-rooted issues of displacement and occupation, which have fueled conflict for decades. 

The international community, including the United Nations and Arab leaders, has roundly rejected Trump’s vision. The Palestinian people, who have endured untold suffering and resilience in the face of destruction, remain steadfast in their refusal to leave their ancestral land. This proposal should be seen for what it is: a dangerous and ill-conceived effort to further the interests of the powerful at the expense of the powerless, one that will only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. 

Trump ended his first week with the illegal firing of 17 Inspector Generals and ended his second week with the illegal firing of hundreds of FBI agents. Trump also attempted to stifle most federal grants. Although foreign policy hasn’t been Trump’s focus so far, we’ve seen enough to be able to discern major changes. 

 

Immigration: Trump has declared a state of emergency and shut down all immigration. Trump continues to send troops to the southern border. There were raids throughout the country, staffed by ICE personnel supplemented by members of the FBI, DEA, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. While some raids targeted hardened criminals, most arrestees came to the US legally and are not undocumented or out of status. (The White House claims all the arrestees are here illegally and, therefore, “criminals.” Nonetheless, from a legal perspective, not possessing proper documentation is a civil matter.) 

 

Writing in his X account, Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy observed: “In the first week, Trump removed 7,300 people. On average, Biden was removing 15,000 a week. Under Biden 72% of ICE arrests were criminals. Under Trump it's dropped to around 50%. Trump is removing less people and less criminals.” Republicans opined that to achieve Trump’s objectives there will have to be a massive increase in ICE funding. 

 

At the end of the week, Trump announced plans to build his first concentration camp for deportees: a 30,000 prisoner-capacity prison at Guantanamo. He also revoked deportation protections for 300,000 Venezuelans. 

 

Federal Staff Reductions: Trump wants to provide tax cuts for his rich donors. Within the Republican Party, fiscal conservatives are demanding that Trump offset the associated revenue loss by reducing the size of government. One of Trump’s strategies to accomplish this is to cut the number of federal employees. Trump has fired top-level employees and offered buyouts to millions of lower-level staff. 

 

Last Friday Trump fired 17 Inspector Generals. Trump has continued this trend by firing top officials at the National Labor Relations Board: NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox and General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. He also fired two top EEOC officials. On Saturday, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra, was fired. 

 

These firings represent the top level of Trump’s staff reduction initiative. At the next level, he’s sent senior officials a “my way or the highway” email, telling them that if they are not prepared to support Trump’s policies, they should accept Trump’s” buyout” offer. It asserts that the responsibility of people in the executive branch is to do what Trump says and anyone who doesn't is subject to firing, 

 

This week, millions of lower-level government employees were sent a “fork in the road” email that concluded with this paragraph: “If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program. This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6. If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason). The details of this separation plan can be found below.” (Heather Cox Richardson noted that this action was called for in “Project 2025” created by the conservative Heritage Foundation: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com ) 

 

This email it is an integral part of an effort by the Trump Administration to dump millions of employees and either replace them with Trump loyalists or vacate their positions. The email purports to be from the “office of personnel management” but most of the employees do not have their salaries paid by that agency and there is no guarantee the funding is authorized. 

 

Federal Funding Freeze: On Tuesday, Trump froze “all Federal financial assistance” except for Social Security or Medicare. The rationale for this freeze was to give Trump loyalists time to examine “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.” (Heather Cox Richardson noted that this action was called for in “Project 2025” created by the conservative Heritage Foundation: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com ) 

 

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said at a press conference: “The Trump administration announced a halt to virtually all federal funds across the country. In an instant, Donald Trump has shut off billions, perhaps trillions of dollars that directly support States, cities, towns, schools, hospitals, small businesses, and most of all, American families.” 

Tuesday evening, Judge Loren L. AliKahn of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a stay to stop the Trump administration’s freeze on the disbursement of federal monies. On Wednesday, Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told all applicable federal agencies that the freeze memo “is rescinded.” 

Saturday, member of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team seized control of the Treasury Department’s payment system, gaining access to the US checkbook which $6 trillion each year. 

Foreign Policy: Although Trump’s primary focus has been on domestic policy, the outlines of his foreign policy are discernible: 

1.Israel: Trump is abandoning the “two-state solution;” that is, the longstanding notion that historic Israel would have a state for Jews and a state for Palestinians. Trump is joining Netanyahu in encouraging Israeli settlements in the West Bank. (In his first week, Trump cancelled sanction on Israeli settlers in the West Bank.) Trump’s solution to Gaza is to move all the Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan and then open the area for redevelopment. 

2.Ukraine: Trump promised to immediately settle the Ukraine-Russia war. Most recently, he said that if Putin doesn’t negotiate with Ukraine, he will slap sanctions on Russia. Putin responded that he would discuss Ukraine but not with its premiere, Zelensky. I expect Trump to abandon Ukraine. 

3.NATO: Trump is determined to seize Greenland, which is owned by Denmark, a NATO member. Unilateral military action against NATO would be a violation of the NATO charter. 

4.Canada and Mexico: The United States has multiple treaty commitments to Canada and Mexico. Nonetheless, Trump has levied 25 percent tariffs on goods coming from these countries. 

5.Panama: The US has multiple treaties with Panama, which has been a solid ally. Nonetheless, Trump seems determined to invade Panama and seize the canal. 

6.Withdrawal from International Commitments: Last week, Trump’s State Department froze all foreign aid except funds for Israel and Egypt. Trump withdrew the US from the World Health Organization. Trump seems determined to back away from historic US relationships with Europe. He’s moving to an isolationist, “America First” foreign policy. 

Penalizing DOJ and the FBI: On Friday night, Trump’s lackeys announced they fired more than a dozen US attorneys that prosecuted those arrested for the January 6 insurrection. Trump intends to fire any FBI agent who investigated the insurrection; this purge could involve thousands of agents. 

Inflation: In the initial flurry of executive orders, Trump did nothing positive related to the economy, which was the primary reason for his victory in the presidential election. 

On February 1^st, Trump levied 25 percent tariffs on goods coming from Canada and Mexico. (The tariff on Canadian energy products –oil, natural gas, and electricity -- is 10 percent.) This will affect many different products, particularly cars. (Trump also levied 10 percent tariffs on imports from China.) Most economists predict these tariffs will increase inflation. The Associated Press ( https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-trade-china-mexico-canada-inflation-753a09d56cd318f2eb1d2efe3c43b7d4 ) reported: “Recent research on Trump’s various tariff options by a team of economists suggested the trade penalties would be drags on growth in Canada, Mexico, China and the U.S.” 

Bottom Line: Trump has weakened the US economy. Many of his executive orders are egregious and illegal.bb 

 

Kash Patel’s nomination as FBI director is a clear and present danger to democracy. His extreme loyalty to Donald Trump, combined with his questionable actions and beliefs, would make him a disastrous choice for the position. Patel has consistently pushed conspiracy theories, including the false claim that the FBI played a role in the January 6th Capitol attack and that the 2020 election was stolen. He also has ties to far-right extremists and has exhibited a vindictive streak, publicly targeting political opponents and the media. 

What is most troubling, however, is Patel’s unwavering devotion to Trump, which would undermine the independence that is essential for the FBI’s role in safeguarding American justice. Historically, FBI directors operate with a significant degree of autonomy, and Patel, a staunch Trump loyalist, would likely use that power to target individuals who oppose Trump, including election workers and former government officials involved in the Mueller investigation. 

Furthermore, Patel’s history of advocating for extreme and debunked ideas, alongside his association with figures who minimize the Holocaust, raises serious concerns about his ability to lead the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency. His extreme partisanship and malice toward those he deems Trump’s enemies make it clear that he would not act in the best interest of the country, but rather to advance Trump’s personal vendettas. 

Republican senators must take a moment to reflect on their constitutional responsibilities before confirming Patel. As Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 76, the Senate’s “advice and consent” power is crucial to prevent the appointment of individuals unfit for office based solely on personal loyalty. Kash Patel’s nomination is a threat to the integrity of the FBI and the democratic principles it upholds.

The future of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is at risk following recent statements and actions by Elon Musk, who claims President Trump has agreed to shut the agency down. Musk, who has inserted himself into the federal government’s workings, has reportedly gained access to sensitive USAID systems, making drastic changes without clear authority. Over the weekend, USAID’s website and social media channels were taken offline, and two top security officials were placed on administrative leave after attempting to block Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing classified information. 

Musk's attacks on USAID, calling it a “viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists” and a “criminal organization,” have drawn widespread criticism. Former senior USAID staffer Jeremy Konyndyk, now president of Refugees International, refuted Musk’s claims, emphasizing that USAID has been responsible for saving millions of lives through global health initiatives and disaster relief. Konyndyk warned that dismantling the agency could lead to a significant loss of American values, global health progress, and humanitarian assistance. 

Musk’s actions are also raising concerns about national security. USAID handles highly classified information related to foreign policy, and Musk’s access to this data has not been adequately scrutinized. Critics, including Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, argue that an unelected billionaire gaining access to such sensitive information poses a grave threat to U.S. security. 

As global humanitarian crises intensify, the stakes of this power struggle could not be higher. USAID’s work—ranging from HIV/AIDS prevention to disaster relief—remains crucial for millions around the world. Its dismantling would not only undermine U.S. interests but also jeopardize global stability.

Lying may not be unique to human beings. I can vaguely recall seeing an animal documentary, in which some animal essentially lied in specific scenarios--for purposes of survival. I don't recall what animal they were talking about. Cuckoo birds might be one of several examples. Lying in animals will necessarily be hard for people to measure since animals other than humans can't speak English. But apparently, there are methods for a non-human to be deceptive. 

But for all intents and purposes, lying is a human trait. People lie to deflect accountability. People lie when they're out to ruin someone. People will lie to others to gain an advantage. People lie to an abuse victim, who could be cohabitating, to prevent them from understanding they need to get out. 

Police lie. This is part of the standard procedure of gathering evidence, so they can put a person behind bars. It appears getting a "suspect" newly incarcerated is incentivized. Politicians lie, and we all know that--it comes with the job. Lovers lie so that they can cheat and get away with it. Consummate liars put on a very good act and come off as totally sincere. You might never have doubts. 

More than a century ago, someone invented a lie detector machine, called the Polygraph. To me, it is doubtful that such a gadget could be accurate. The very best, most consummate liars probably have no physical changes when lying, as they are too comfortable with telling a lie. 

Yet there must be a foolproof manner of knowing when someone is lying. But what would that be?  

In my past I participated in the Berkeley Psychic Institute, and an instructor promised a method, "How to tell the truth from a lie." I was not taught that method; I might have been absent during the week which it was taught. 

And this is tangential: thirty years later, the person in charge of BPI, (a young woman probably in her twenties) banned me from participating in their classes, events, and anything else relating to them. I was fully "Banned", and I was warned not to try contacting any person in their groups. I was accused of some unspecified wrongdoing, and when I demanded they "cut out the accusations", that was the end. The director warned of police involvement. And I took the warning quite seriously. 

Maybe Berkeley Psychic Institute wasn't exceedingly accurate at "knowing". They profess they are psychic. They assume I am a bad guy. They must know something I don’t know. 

But to give you a better example, I, personally, know a good method for telling the truth from a lie. And it is really a simple guide. You listen to what is being said, and you observe what is being done. If there is match between the two, you were probably told the truth. If speech doesn't match with observable fact, something could be wrong. 

For someone in recovery from psychosis, we need to trust someone in our lives more than we trust ourselves. This leaves us wide open to being deceived. Thus, for a recovering psychotic person, lies are kryptonite. We might defer to what someone tells us, above and beyond our own conclusions. And this should be seen as a sacred trust. 

When you lie to a person in recovery, someone who is wide open, it should be viewed as both obscene and evil. In some instances, it could be considered criminal if it is part of a larger scheme to do harm. A person with a semblance of kindness must not lie to a person in recovery from psychosis. 

The proverb goes: "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear." This is a tall order for someone in recovery. My replacement for it is to find a few people you believe to be trustable and to reserve a small space, in case they too are wrong or mistaken about something. 

We have to trust some people some of the time, and if we don't, we can't function. But keep in mind you don't have to and should not trust everyone. 

---

 

Jack Bragen lives and writes in the East Bay. He is the author of "Instructions for Dealing with Schizophrenia: A Self-Help Manual, Second Edition" and other works. 

 

gA Letter to Our Misleader 

Dear Donald Trump:
In your campaign to criminalize and deport migrants residing in our country, you have overlooked one of the leading figures responsible for the influx of foreign nationals into the USA. 

While well-known to most US citizens, this resident of New York has spent decades encouraging the world's poor and homeless — aka, the planet's "human refuse"— to seek better lives in our cities and farmlands. 

Mr. Trump: I think consistency requires that you act forcefully by ordering the immediate expulsion of the Mother of Exiles from her perch in New York Harbor. As your reasoning requires, it's time to deport Lady Liberty — back to France where she came from. 

Apparently, as you would have it, the time has come to remove the Statue's now-infamous invitation: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me." 

And slam that Golden Door shut on your way out. 

A Timely Error 

The end-of-year flood of post-marked solicitations from worthy causes large and small included a request from Barack Obama to contribute to the construction of the Obama Presidential Center—a multi-story, stone-walled obelisk in the South Side of Chicago. 

In a colorful fund-raising pamphlet, our charismatic ex-president—a model of meticulous organizing—is quoted as saying: "We want this Center to be more than a static museum or a source of archival research. It won't just be an exercise in nostalgia or looking backwards. We want to look forward." 

The mailing included a supporter's card with a handy calendar printed on the back. Unfortunately, it's a calendar for 2024. 

Church and Statement 

Some oddities about the swearing in of our swearing Don. Many observers noticed that Trump failed to place his hand on Abraham Lincoln's bible during the presidential swearing in ceremony. The Bible spent the entire ceremony clutched in Melania Trump's palms. Legal question: If, during the oath-taking ceremony, Melania whispered: "I do so swear," would that have made her the actual president? Also of note: why was Melania holding two holy books? Was one a copy of the Trump Bible (printed in China and retailing for $60)? 

But what is the Holy Bible doing here in the first place? Doesn't the first rule of the Constitution's First Amendment clearly state: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." But doesn't Congress do that every time it approves of a new design for our dollars and coins all of which carry the declaration "In God we trust"? And we even boast an anthem ("God Bless America") that does not merely beseech but orders a Christian deity to bestow His favors on us. 

Also: The Constitution is a blatantly sexist document, whose instructions for taking the Oath of Office clearly state (in Article II, Section I, Clause 8): "Before he enters on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation." 

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." 

Pole Posters 

A poster recently appeared in the window of a 7-11 on University Avenue. It read: "A Federal Court has ordered R. J. Reynolds tobacco and Philip Morris USA to state: 'Smoking also causes reduced fertility, low birth weight for newborns, and cancer of the cervix'." 

That court-ordered posting has recently vanished but another warning appears on the ATM located inside the 7-11. It reads: 

"WARNING: The receipt paper dispensed from this ATM may expose you to Bisphenol S (BPS), which is known to the state of California to cause reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.PB65Warning.ca.gov" 

A Blunder Down Under 

The following note comes from a peace-activist friend in Australia:
"Dan Duggan, a former US serviceman now an Australian citizen with a wife and six children here, is in prison awaiting extradition to the US for having in the past trained Chinese pilots in South Africa. Her missive ends with the following: 

"Adapting the famous words that helped bring Joe McCarthy down: 'Have they no shame?'" 

Fashion Plates
Personalized license plates spotted about town:
S O U R
ST OTTO
34MERSO
MZDAMBN
7TOMOO1
WAUWAU
SKIBNNY (Ski Bunny)
DL MKR (Deal Maker)
UCHRAL 7 (UC Choral?)
MNTSCLG (Mountain Scaling?)
U2PIAN (Utopian?) 

Bumper Snickers
My Driving Scares Me Too
Where the Hell Is Easy Street?
I Used Up All My Sick Days So I Called in Dead
I Was an Honor Student. I Don't Know What Happened
I Have Good Brakes. Do You Have Good Insurance?
I'm Hung Like Einstein And Smart As a Horse
Even Though This Is a Stupid Sticker You're Still Squinting to Read It. 

Kimmel Vs. Colbert
In the contest for Best Late-night TV-Comedy-Episode-Titles-Referencing-Trump-and-His-Toadies, these are the latest winners. 

Kimmel
His Maga-sty Returns
Jabba the Pizza Hutt
Dumpster Fuhrer (Think: "Dumpster Fire")
Pentagoner (Think: Hegseth) 

Colbert
Grant Theft Autocrats
Seeing Lie to Lie"
Daddy Issues 

An Outbreak of Web-Wiping? 

Are Donald Trump and Elon Musk behind a recent flood of "web-wiping"?—i.e., the intentional erasure of anti-Trump Internet content. Two recent examples: 

On February 2, former Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich sent our an email inviting readers to link to an article he had posted called "Scorecard! Scorecard! You Can't Tell al-Queda Without a Scorecard." 

In his essay, Kucinich points out that Mohammad al-Jolani, the leader of the rebel fighters who drove Syria's Bashar al-Assad from power (an outcome praised by Washington "strategic planners") was formerly affiliated with al-Queda (and Washington had placed a $10 million bounty on his head). 

But the article is not attainable from The Dennis Kucinich Report website (https://denniskucinich.substack.com), which is now reduced to a largely blank white space with a few overlapping lines of primitive type. The homepage graphic at the top of the mostly empty page is squashed, contorted, and barely readable. 

Kucinich's other related websites also appear to have been scrambled. Meanwhile, Kucinich's homepage on Elon Musk's platform, X, appears unaltered but the most recent posting dates from November 2024. 

Also, on February 3, an email from Veterans Daily warns "Trump Orders Several Airstrikes To Kill Terrorists in Golis Mountains of Somalia" and invites recipients to "read more." But a click on the link yields an announcement that "This page doesn't seem to exist." 

Clocking Out
In 1947, when the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists first introduced the Doomsday Clock to warn the world of the growing danger of a nuclear Apocalypse, the clock stood at seven minutes to world-ending midnight. In recent years, the clock's menacing minute hand has moved to a mere 89 seconds to a nuclear midnight. 

In Tom Lehrer's classic Cold War ditty, "So Long Mom," a nuclear bomber pilot sings, "I'll look for you when the war is over—an hour and a half from now." 

We’re in a mess though there are hours in the day, when things seem so normal that it is hard to absorb that it looks like we are in the middle of a soft coup. 

 

It is only twelve days and we are already deep into the reordering and dismantling of the government under Trump 2.0. And, Elon Musk’s Team now has access to the Treasury’s Payment System. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/us/politics/elon-musk-doge-federal-payments-system.html?unlocked_article_code=1.t04.OH1P.uzLc5RhJqrWp&smid=em-share 

 

If you are having trouble keeping track of the whirlwind of Executive Orders you can go to the Presidential Actions page to catch up and keep track. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions 

 

Bob Woodward titled his first book on Trump, Fear. In an interview with Laura Coates on CNN, Woodward related that when he asked Trump about power, Trump answered with, “Real power is … I even don’t like to use the word … but real power is fear”. https://www.yahoo.com/news/bob-woodward-recalls-donald-trump-094902943.html 

 

Another quote from Trump is, “I am your voice … I am your warrior…I am your retribution … I will totally obliterate the deep state, I will fire the unelected bureaucrats and shadow forces who have weaponized our justice system…” c-span, March 4, 2023 Day 3 of CPAC. 

 

And, he seems to be doing just that. 

 

In my November 20, 2021 Activist’s Diary and again on March 14, 2024 I listed how Viktor Orban transformed Hungary from an open democracy to a largely authoritarian system in the span of ten years through twelve steps. https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2024-03-10/article/50631?headline=A-BERKELEY-ACTIVIST-S-DIARY-week-ending-March-14--Kelly-Hammargren 

 

1. Win elections through right-wing populism that taps into people’s outrage over the corruption and inequities wrought by unbridled globalization.
2. Enrich corrupt oligarchs who in turn fund your politics.
3. Create a vast partisan propaganda machine.
4. Redraw parliamentary districts to entrench your party in power.
5. Pack the courts with right-wing judges and erode the independence of the rule of law.
6. Keep big business on your side with low taxes and favorable treatment.
7. Demonize your political opponents through social media disinformation.
8. Attack civil society as a tool of George Soros.
9. Cast yourself as the legitimate defender of national security.
10. Wrap the whole project in a Christian nationalist message that taps into the longing for a great past.
11. Offer a sense of belonging for the disaffected masses.
12. Relentlessly attack the Other: immigrants, Muslims, liberal elites.
    

Saturday afternoon, February 1, 2025 just after 1 pm NBC journalists Ryan J. Reilly (author of Sedition Hunters: How January 6th Broke the Justice Department, 2023), Ken Dilanian, Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst reported Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll pushing back on orders from Emil Bove Acting Deputy Attorney General to provide the names of every FBI employee involved in investigating January 6 rioters. 

 

The demand of names from Bove of what we might call line officers follows the purge of eight senior FBI executives and Justice Department prosecutors. Bove was an attorney on Trump’s defense team prior to the appointment as Acting Deputy Attorney General. 

 

Trump called the January 6 rioters “hostages” and promised to pardon them if reelected and he did just that on day one, inauguration day. 

 

“Granting Pardons And Commutation of Sentences For Certain Offenses Relating To The Events At Or Near The United States Capitol On January 6, 2021” was number fourteen in the list of the January 20, 2025 Executive Orders. Trump pardoned roughly 1500 January 6 rioters and commuted the sentences of fourteen, nine members of the Oath Keepers and five members of the Proud Boys. 

 

The pardons and sentence commutations erode the independence of the rule of law by sending a clear message from Trump that if you are loyal and at the ready of his beck and call he will take care of you. 

 

The firings, threats of termination declare, if you attack me, prosecute me, investigate me or anyone following my orders I will punish you.  

 

We are at least eight years into this if we count Trump’s first term and the four years in between while Biden was President and Trump was always present campaigning and plotting and planning. 

 

The first twelve days of this second round are a blaring wake up. We can’t waste any time. 

 

To anyone who has decided the way to cope is to turn off the news, crawl under the covers and wait ‘til it’s over, action is the best antidote. 

 

We need to throw back the covers, turn the news back on and start taking action beginning with dialing 202-224-3121 to tell our senators and representatives to get off their butts and show some real resistance while we organize. 

 

The next days and weeks are going to be critical. 

 

This country has been through corrupt leaders before. 

 

Put your fingers on the dial 202-224-3121 to the switchboard. 

 

More to come. 

 

In the mean-time read or reread Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lesson from the Twentieth Century published in 2017. It is only 125 pages. 

 

Then go to Gene Sharp’s From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation. It is free online, though you can always buy it, (please not through Amazon). https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/resource/from-dictatorship-to-democracy-a-conceptual-framework-for-liberation/ 

On Sunday, January 19, 2025, soprano Julia Bullock joined with London’s Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in a concert of Baroque music at Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. This event featured Julia Bullock, who is the 2024-25 Cal Performances Artist in Residence. The Orchestra of the age of Enlightenment (was led by concertmaster Kati Debretzeni. The first half of this concert featured music by George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell, and Johann Pachelbel. Highlights were Julia Bullock singing the aria Verdi prati from Handel’s opera Alcina and a trumpet solo by Daniel Blackadder in Purcell’s Trumpet Sonata in D Major.  

After intermission, we heard J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major with a cadenza improvised by violinist Kati Debretzeni. Next came a song by Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677) entitled Che si può fare? This song was ably accompanied by archlutist Sergio Bircheli. After a work of Water Music by Georg Philipp Tellemann featurting two flutes, we heard Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs from Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. Percussionist Adrian Bending introduced this work by recounting that Jean-Baptiste Lully often led his orchestra by wielding a staff with which he pounded out the beat. Notoriously, Lully once smashed his staff onto his own foot, causing an infection and gangrene that led to his death in 1687 at age 50. Next we heard the song “If Love’s a Sweet Passion” by Henry Purcell, beautifully sung by Julia Bullock. Following this we heard Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Les Sauvages from Les Indes galantes, which was led by percussionist Adrian Bending using the same staff he had previously used in Lully’s piece. The final work on the printed program was Handel’s aria “Let the Bright Seraphim” from Samson, exquisitely sung by Julia Bullock.  

On this, their first US tour, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment proved a hardy, energetic ensemble ably led by concertmaster Kati Debretzeni, whose violin technique is excellent and who acts as a kind of spark plug for her fellow musicians. Finally, soprano Julia Bullock was outstanding as always. She is well-deserving of being the current Artist in Residence at Cal Performances

Worth Noting: 

The most important meeting of the week is the Tuesday 4 pm Special City Council meeting on wildfire. The program is EMBER with Fire Code Amendments. Use the meeting link for details. https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-special-meeting-eagenda-february-11-2025 

 

• Sunday, February 9, 2025:
  • At 2 pm the Berkeley Historical Society presents film “One Fighting Irishman” followed with discussion of Japanese Americans in Berkeley resistance to Executive Order 9066 (removal and detention during WWII).
• Monday, February 10, 2025:
  • At 10 am the Council Health, Life Enrichment, Equity & Community Committee meets in the hybrid format.
  • At 2:30 pm the Agenda Committee meets in the hybrid format on February 11 City Council Agenda
  • At 6 pm the Ashby BART West Lot Preliminary Objective Standards Open House is in person.
  • At 6:30 pm the Youth Commission meets in person.
• Tuesday, February 11, 2025:
  • At 10 am is an in person Black History Month celebration.
  • At 11 am is the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Channing/Telegraph public restroom.
  • At 4 pm in the hybrid format is the Special City Council meeting on Effective Mitigation of wildfire risk.
  • At 6 pm is the City Council Regular meeting in the hybrid format.
• Wednesday, February 12, 2025
  • At 6 pm is Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Unit 3.
• Thursday, February 13, 2025:
  • At 9:30 am Together Wee Play for children four and under.
  • At 10 am the Council Budget Committee meets in the hybrid format.
  • At 7 pm the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission meets in person.
  • At 7 pm the Zoning Adjustment Board meets in the hybrid format.
• Saturday, February 15, 2025:
  • At 9 am is the 3^rd weekend shoreline cleanup.

 

An overview of the updated Bicycle Plan is available online at: https://berkeleybikeplan.altaplanning.cloud/#/home 

To give input email: bicycleplan@berkeleyca.gov. 

 

Check City website for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov 

If you are unable to attend a meeting in person and/or it is not offered in the hybrid or an accessible format, TO REQUEST A DISABILITY RELATED ACCOMMODATION(S) TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEETING, including auxiliary aids or services, please contact the Disability Services specialist at 510-981-6418 (V) or 510-981-6347 at least 3 days before the meeting (the sooner the better). Thomas Gregory is the ADA Program Coordinator. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

 

BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS 

 

Sunday, February 9, 2025 - (Football Super Bowl Sunday) 

 

BERKELEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY FILM and DISCUSSION at 2 pm  

(doors open to exhibit Roots, Removal and Resistance: Japanese Americans in Berkeley at 1 pm) 

For more information and to register go to: https://berkhistory.org/2024/12/26/sunday-february-9-200-pm-one-fighting-irishman-film-and-discussion/ 

 

Monday, February 10, 2025 

 

COUNCIL HEALTH, LIFE ENRICHMENT, EQUITY & COMMUNITY COMMITTEE at 10 am 

Members: Bartlett, Tregub, O’Keefe, alternate Taplin 

Hybrid Meeting: 

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1602053630 

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

Meeting ID: 160 205 3630 

AGENDA: 2. Bartlett - Small Business Support Act, 3. Bartlett – Impact Bond 

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

 

AGENDA and RULES COMMITTEE at 2:30 pm  

Members: Ishii, Taplin, Humbert alternate Bartlett 

Hybrid Meeting: 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1607402090 

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

Meeting ID: 160 740 2090 

Public Comment on non-agenda and items 1 – 7. 1. Minutes, 2. Review and Approve -2/25/2025 -- draft agenda – use link or read full draft agenda below at the end of the list of city meetings, 3. Berkeley Considers, 4. Adjournment in Memory, 5. Council Worksessions, 6. Referrals for scheduling, 7. Land Use Calendar, Referred Items for Review: 8. Discussion and Possible Action on City Council Rules of Decorum, Procedural Rules, and Remote Public Comments, 9. City Council Legislative Redesign, 10. Modifications or Improvements to City Council Meeting Procedures, 11. Strengthening and Supporting City Commission: Guidance on Development of Legislative Proposals, 12. Consideration of Changes to Supplemental Material Timelines. Unscheduled Items: none 

• Removed from list of unscheduled items - Discussion Regarding Design and Strengthening of Policy Committees Process and Structure (Including Budget Referrals),
• Discussion and Recommendations on the Continued Use of Berkeley Considers Online Engagement Portal,

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules 

 

ASHBY BART West Lot Preliminary Objective Design Standards Open House at 6 pm 

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

AGENDA: Presentation with updates to Ashby BART Station West Lot Housing Project 

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

 

YOUTH COMMISSION at 6:30 pm 

In-Person: at 1730 Oregon, MLK Jr. Youth services Center/YAP 

AGENDA: 8. Guest Speaker Liza McNulty, presentation on the Pier-Ferry project 

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

 

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 

 

BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION at 10 am 

Location: at 1901 Hearst, North Berkeley Senior Center 

City of Berkeley and Berkeley Mental Health 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/black-history-month-celebration 

 

TELEGRAPH.CHANNING PUBLIC RESTROOM RIBBON CUTTING at 11 am 

Location: Corner of Telegraph and Channing 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/telegraphchanning-public-restroom-ribbon-cutting 

 

CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting at 4 pm 

Hybrid Meeting: 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1618982548 

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

Meeting ID: 161 898 2548 

AGENDA: 1. Sprague – a. Effective Mitigations for Berkeley’s Ember Resilience (EMBER) Fire Code Amendments, b. Effective Mitigations for Berkeley’s Ember Resilience (EMBER) Building Code Amendments, c. Effective Mitigations for Berkeley’s Ember Resilience (EMBER) Leave Early and Fire Department Staffing, d. Blackaby, co-sponsors Humbert, O’Keefe 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-special-meeting-eagenda-february-11-2025 

 

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm 

Hybrid Meeting: 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1618982548 

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

Meeting ID: 161 898 2548 

AGENDA: Use the link and choose the html option to review agenda items individually or pdf to see the entire packet as one document. or go to the agenda listed at the end of the calendar. 

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

 

Wednesday, February 12, 2025  

 

COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (CERT) Unit 3: CERT Organization at 6 pm 

Use link for details and to register: https://berkeleyca.gov/cert-classes-unit-3-february-12-2025 

 

Thursday, February 13, 2025 

 

Together Wee Play and Celebrate Valentine’s Day with the Story Time Band at 9:30 am 

Location: at 1301 Shattuck  

No pre-registration required, Use link for details 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/together-wee-play-and-celebrate-valentines-day-story-time-band 

 

COUNCIL BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE at 10 am 

Members – Ishii, Kesarwani, Blackaby, alternate - Tregub 

Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1615359635 

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

Meeting ID: 161 535 9635 

AGENDA: 2. Friedrichsen, Budget Manager – Risk-Based Analysis and Stress Test of General Fund Reserve Requirements, 3. Kesarwani, co-sponsor Ishii – Establish Rules and Limits When Community-Based Organizations Receive Funding without Procurement to Promote Transparency, Fairness and Stewardship of Public Funds, 4. Numainville, city clerk – Council Legislative Systems Redesign, 5. Davis, Public Works – Audit status Report – Fleet Replacement Fund, Berkeley Streets, 6. Hahn – Sabbatical Leave for City of Berkeley Employees. 

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

 

PARKS, RECREATION and WATERFRONT COMMISSION at 7 pm 

In-Person: at 2800 Park, Frances Albrier Community Center 

AGENDA: Agenda Not posted, check after Monday (meeting is scheduled for Thursday) 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/parks-recreation-and-waterfront-commission 

 

ZONING ADJUSTMENT BOARD at 7 pm 

Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81840789908 

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

Meeting ID: 818 4078 9908 

AGENDA: 2. 654 Woodmont – on consent - Use Permit ZP2023-0109 – eliminate one of two single-family dwelling units from single-family zoned lot through combination, construct a 2-story major residential addition (1,988 sq ft) above 14 feet in average building height (22 ft) and above 20 ft maximum building height within Hillside Overlay (24 ft) vertically extend a wall within nonconforming setback, construct garage, fence exceeding 6 ft in ht on a lot line and 9 ft 8 in retaining wall within a minimum required setback on a nonconforming lot for density. 

3. 2041-2049 Shattuck – on consent – Use Permit ZP2024-0146 – to modify existing Use Permit #08-0000061 to include off-site sales of beer and wine from an adjacent retail space. 

4. 1280 Gilman – on consent – Use Permit ZP2024-0156 - to establish retail sales of beer and wine at an existing food-service establishment. 

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

 

Friday, February 14, 2025 – no city meetings or events found 

 

Saturday, February 15, 2025 

 

3^rd SATURDAY SHORELINE CLEANUP at 9 am 

Location: at 160 University, Shorebird Nature Center 

Use link for details:  

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

 

Sunday, February 16, 2025 – no city meetings or events found 

 

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

 

++ AGENDA COMMITTEE Monday, February 10 - DRAFT AGENDA for February 25 ++ 

 

AGENDA and RULES COMMITTEE at 2:30 pm on Monday, February 10, 2025 

Members: Ishii, Taplin, Humbert alternate Ben Bartlett 

Hybrid Meeting 

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

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1607402090 

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

Meeting ID: 160 740 2090 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules 

 

DRAFT AGENDA for City Council Regular at 6 pm Meeting on February 25, 2025 

 

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

CEREMONIAL MATTERS 

CITY MANAGER COMMENTS 

PUBLIC COMMENTS on NON-AGENDA MATTERS 

 

AGENDA on CONSENT: 

1. Numainville, City Clerk – Minutes
2. Hollander, Economic Development – Grant application $150,000 National Endowment for the Arts
3. Oyekanmi, Finance – Formal Bid Solicitations
4. Sprague, Fire – Contract $1,400,000 with Forester & Kroeger Landscape Maintenance for Chipping Services from 3/1/2025 – 2/29/2028
5. Gilman, HHCS – Amend Contract No, 32300185 add $25,000 total $274,413 with JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc for Community Health Assessment, Innovation and Improvement Plan Consultant to 11/1/2025
6. Fong, IT - Amend Contract No. 32000118 add $1,023,457 total $2,730,366 with Nexgen Asset Management for software maintenance and professional services through 6/30/2029
7. Fong, IT – Amend Contract No. 105921-1 add $180,000 total $1,477,200 with TruePoint Solutions, LLC for Professional Services
8. Davis, Public Works – Contract $4,544,232 with Ashlar Structural LLC for Strawberry Creek Culvert Maintenance (Specification No. 25-11689-C)
9. Davis, Public Works – Contract $1,104,000 includes $184,000 contingency with Mark Lee and Yong Kay, Inc. DBA Bay Construction Co. for Fire Station #2 Improvements Project
10. Davis, Public Works – Amend Contract no, 32500082 add $150,000 with Telegraph Property and Business Management Corporation for janitorial maintenance of new 24/7 public restroom
11. Davis, Public Works – Amend Contract No, 32500098 at $150,000 total $300,000 with Pacific Site Management Landscaping Services for Public Works through 6/30/2027

AGENDA on ACTION: 

12. Gilman, HHCS – Inclusionary Housing Ordinance In-Lieu Fee $56.25 per sq ft of residential unit floor area subtract 5,000 sq ft
13. Klein, Planning – Zoning Ordinance Amendments to BMC Title 23 related to consistency with State Law for EV Charging and technical edits
14. Lunaparra, co-sponsor O’Keefe – Supporting the Free and Safe Passages of Whales, Sea Turtles and other Marine Animals in SF Bay Coastal Waters, targeting zero mortality

INFORMATION REPORTS: 

15. Gilman, HHCS – Community Health Assessment

 

++++++ CITY COUNCIL, Tuesday, February 11, 2025 AGENDA for 6 pm meeting ++++++++ 

 

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm on Tuesday, February 11, 2025 

Hybrid Meeting 

In-Person: at 1231 Addison, BUSD Board Room 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1618982548 

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

Meeting ID: 161 898 2548 

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

 

To comment: email council@berkeleyca.gov 

 

FINAL AGENDA for City Council Regular at 6 pm Meeting on February 11, 2025 

 

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

CEREMONIAL MATTERS: Adjourn in memory of the Stabbing Victim at San Pablo Park and Elise Lusk, Traffic Violence Victim at Ada and California 

CITY MANAGER COMMENTS 

PUBLIC COMMENTS on NON-AGENDA MATTERS 

 

AGENDA on CONSENT: 

1. Numainville, City Clerk – Minutes
2. Oyekanmi, Finance – Formal Bid Solicitation $848,000 (Marina Mobile Pump Out Services $198,000, PCI Compliance Review $250,000, Financial Services and Staff Augemtation $400,000)
3. Gilman, HHCS – Amend Contract No. 32300108 Third Amendment: add $180,000 total $379,500 with Street Level Advisors, LLC. for consulting services end date of 6/30/2026
4. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Program Manager II Classification: 5% Differential for Assignment in City Manager’s Office
5. Fong, IT – Amend Contract No 32000223 add $120,000 total $419,500 with Gray Quarter, Inc for professional services through 1/31/2026
6. Tregub & Lunaparra – Resolution in Support of the Commissioning of a California Feasibility Study to Implement “Golden State Energy,” a Not-for-Profit Public Utility Model study compares various not-for-profit utility models to replace investor-owned utilities such as PG&E
7. Humbert – Refer to City Manager study of intersections with traffic diverters

AGENDA on ACTION: 

8. Wong, Auditor – 2009 Leases Audit Follow-Up: Berkeley Faces Same Risks 16 Years Later
9. Klein, Planning – Proposed Amendments to Building Emissions Saving Ordinance (BESO)

INFORMATION REPORTS: 

10. Oyekanmi, Finance – FY 2024, 4^th Quarter Investment Report: Ended 30, 2024
11. Klein, Planning – LPO NOD: 1310 University Ave #LMSA2024-0001
12. Klein, Planning – LPO NOD 2500-12 San Pablo Ave #LMIN2024-0004

 

DISPOSITION ITEMS REMOVED FROM DRAFT AGENDA: 

• Rescheduled for 2/25/2025 - Klein, Planning – Zoning Ordinance Amendments to Title 23 of BMC for consistency with State Law Related to EV Charging and Technical edits
• Referred to Land Use, Housing and Economic Development Committee – Submitted by Housing Advisory Commission – Adopt an Ordinance to Prohibit the Sale or Use of Algorithmic Devices to Set Rents or Manage Occupancy Levels for Residential Dwelling Units (starts on page 39 in packet)
• Referred to Public Safety Committee - Police Accountability Board Report: Fair and Impartial Policing Implementation (full report available in agenda packet starts on page 55)
• Referred to Land Use, Housing and Economic Development Committee - Tregub, co-sponsors Bartlett, O-Keefe – Budget referral Transfer Tax Exemption for 100% Affordable Housing Projects
• Removed by City Manager - Radu, City Manager’s Office – Contract $60,323.58 with Edgeworth Integration LLC to Purchase and Provide Installation of New Security System Server at Berkeley Animal Care Services 1/22/2025 – 1/21/2026

 

+++++++++++++++++++ Land Use - Work Sessions - Special Meetings +++++++++++++++ 

 

LAND USE CALENDAR 

• 3000 Shattuck (construct 10-story mixed-use building) 3/25/2025
• 2274 Shattuck (UA theater Project) 4/22/2025
• 1048 Keith (single family house) 5/6/2025
• 2500-2512 San Pablo / 1094-1098 Dwight TBD

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS: 

Feb 11 (4 pm) Fire Safety Regulations 

Feb 25 (4 pm) Economic Dashboards Update 

March 11 (TBD) City Council Referral Prioritization 

March 18 (4 pm) Berkeley Police Department Annual Update 

March 25 (4 pm) Pavement Management Program Development 

April 22 (4 pm) Evacuation Study and Response Times 

April 22 (6 pm) City Council ZAB Appeal Hearing for UA Theater Project 

April 29 (4 pm) Presentation on City’s Unfunded Liabilities 

UNSCHEDULED WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS 

None 

FUTURE INFORMATION REPORTS 

1. Reimagining Public Safety Update
2. Affordable Housing Fee Feasibility Study
3. Berkeley Fire Department Annual Report
4. Greenhouse Gas Inventory / Climate Action Plan Update

PREVIOUSLY LISTED WORKSESSIONS and SPECIAL MEETINGS REMOVED FROM LIST 

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

Feasibility Study Follow Up Session 

 

++++ How to get on or off the Activist’s Calendar and Activist’s Diary email list ++++++++ 

 

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

 

The Activist’s Calendar of meetings is posted on the What’s Ahead page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html 

 

If you would like to receive the Activist’s Calendar as soon as it is completed send an email to: kellyhammargren@gmail.com.If you want to receive the Activist’s Diary send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly calendar of city meetings please forward the email you received to- kellyhammargren@gmail.com -with the request to be removed from the email list. 

 

Worth Noting:

The planned Sunday pop up at the Ashby Farmer’s Market is canceled and rescheduled for Saturday, February 8 from 10 am – 2 pm. An overview of the updated Bicycle Plan is available online at: https://berkeleybikeplan.altaplanning.cloud/#/home

To give input email: bicycleplan@berkeleyca.gov.

The February 11 regular Council meeting at 6 pm agenda is posted and available for comment.

• Sunday, February 2, 2025:
  • From 10 am – 12 pm are open “office hours” with Councilmember Tregub, District 4.
• Monday, February 3, 2025
  • At 10 am the Land Use Committee meets in the hybrid format.
  • At 4 pm Council meets in closed session in the hybrid format.
  • At 6:30 pm is the in person District 2 community meeting with Councilmember Taplin.
  • At 7 pm the Peace and Justice Commission meets in person.
• Tuesday, February 4, 2025
  • At 3:30 pm the Civic Arts Public Art Subcommittee meets on zoom.
  • At 4 pm is the public restroom meeting at San Pablo and University on zoom.
• Wednesday, February 5, 2025
  • At 5 pm is a Bike Plan workshop with Associated Students of UCB with location TBA.
  • At 6 pm the Planning Commission meets in person.
  • At 6:30 pm the Board of Library Trustees meets in person.
  • At 6:30 pm the Police Accountability Board meets in the hybrid format.
  • At 7 pm the Homeless Services Panel of Experts meets in person.
• Thursday, February 6, 2025
  • At 8:30 am the Parks Commission begins in person site visits to 10 city parks, looking at the aggressive timing of the site visit schedule expect this to last longer than planned.
  • At 6:30 pm the Landmarks Preservation Commission meets in person.
  • At 6:30 pm the Police Accountability Board meets in the hybrid format.
  • At 7 pm the Housing Advisory Commission meets in person.

• Friday, February 7, 2025

• Saturday, February 8, 2025
  • At 9 am is Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Unit 3.
  • From 10 am – 2 pm is the Berkeley Bike Plan Pop-up at Ashby Flea Market
  • From 10 am – 12 pm is the Family Bird Walk
  • At 12:30 pm is the Swim Lesson Assessment.
• Sunday, February 9, 2025
  • At 2 pm the Berkeley Historical Society presents film “One Fighting Irishman” followed with discussion of Japanese Americans in Berkeley resistance to Executive Order 9066 (removal and detention during WWII).

Check City website for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov

If you are unable to attend a meeting in person and/or it is not offered in the hybrid or an accessible format, TO REQUEST A DISABILITY RELATED ACCOMMODATION(S) TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEETING, including auxiliary aids or services, please contact the Disability Services specialist at 510-981-6418 (V) or 510-981-6347 at least 3 days before the meeting (the sooner the better). Thomas Gregory is the ADA Program Coordinator.

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



BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND CIVIC EVENTS



Sunday, February 2, 2025



District 4 - OPEN OFFICE HOURS with Igor Tregub from 10 am – 12 pm

Location: at 2517 Sacramento, Helacio’s Deli and Café (at corner of Sacramento and Blake

To sign up for District 4 newsletter: https://bit.ly/igornews



Monday, February 3, 2025



LAND USE, HOUSING & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT at 10 am

Members: Bartlett, Tregub, Lunaparra

Hybrid Meeting

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1605255295

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

Meeting ID: 160 525 5295

AGENDA: 2. Hahn – First Year Free – Fill Empty Storefronts Act due 2/12/2025, 3. Housing Advisory Commission – Adopt an Ordinance to Prohibit the Sale or Use of Algorithmic Devices to Set Rents or Manage Occupancy Levels for Residential Dwelling Units, 4. Tregub, co-sponsors Bartlett, O-Keefe – Budget referral Transfer Tax Exemption for 100% Affordable Housing Projects.

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



CITY COUNCIL Closed Session at 4 pm

Hybrid Meeting

In-Person: at 2180 Milvia

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1612104626

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

Meeting ID: 161 210 4626

AGENDA: 1. Anticipated litigation a. WCAB Matter #ADJ16295740;Claim #BER2200103, b. WCAB Matter #ADJ3710721; Claim #BER0100193, 2. Conference with Labor Negotiators Employee Organizations: Berkeley Fire Fighters Association Local 1227 I.A.F.F., Berkeley Fire Officers Association, Berkeley Police Association, DEIU 1021 Community Services and Part-Time Recreation activity Leaders, SEIU 1021 Maintenance and Clerical, Public Employee Union Local 1, Unrepresented Employees.

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-special-closed-meeting-eagenda-february-3-2025



District 2 – PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNITY MEETING from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Location: at 2800 Park, Frances Albrier Community Center

Questions: TTaplin@BerkeleyCA.gov



PEACE and JUSTICE COMMISSION at 7 pm

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

AGENDA: B. 1. Officer Election, 2. Resolution to Mount Progress Flag in school Board Meeting Room, 3. Work Plan.

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



Tuesday, February 4, 2025



CIVIC ARTS COMMISSION Public Art Subcommittee at 3:30 pm

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1616125937

AGENDA: Public Art – no agenda posted

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



SAN PABLO/UNIVERSITY RESTROOM in the RIGHT of WAY COMMUNITY MEETING #2 at 4 pm

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84061034453?pwd=dpXhAowqV66GPiM5ViBY9WztwFbys6.1

FLYER: https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/San%20Pablo-University%20Restroom%20Community%20Mtg.%232%20flyer.pdf

Meeting Link: https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/san-pablouniversity-restroom-right-way-community-meeting-2



Wednesday, February 5, 2025



BERKELEY BIKE PLAN workshop with the ASSOCIATED STUDENTS OF UCB at 5 pm

Location: TBA

Use link for details: https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/berkeley-bike-plan-workshop-associated-students-university-california



PLANNING COMMISSION at 6 pm

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

AGENDA: 10. Public Hearing: Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP), 11. Officer Nomination – election March.

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



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

In-Person: at 1125 University

AGENDA: II. Consent: B. Accept Grant Funds $20,918, C. Design Draw Build Contract construction services $650,000 February 2025 – August 2025, III. Action A. Meeting Schedule.

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



POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD (PAB) at 6:30 pm

Hybrid Meeting

In-Person: at 1900 Addison, 3^rd Floor

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89174589069

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833

Meeting ID: 891 7458 9069

AGENDA: no agenda posted

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



HOMELESS SERVICES PANEL of EXPERTS (HSPE) at 7 pm

In-Person: 1901 Hearst, North Berkeley Senior Center, Poppy Room

AGENDA: 6. Filming at meetings, 8. Restroom Study, 9. Staff to report on encampment clearings at Second Street and Harrison; admissions to the Howard Johnson and Capri; RV buy-back program; additional placement of campers from Harrison., 10. Sit visits, 11. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair.

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



Thursday, February 6, 2025



PARKS, RECREATION, and WATERFRONT COMMISSION at 8:30 am

Location: Start at 2180 Milvia, Civic Center Park

AGENDA: Park site visits 8:30 am Civic Center Park, 9 am Santa Fe Park between 1414 & 1416 Derby, 9:20 am Grove Park, 1730 Oregon, 9:50 am Willard Park 2720 Hillegas, 10:20 am Round Park, near 141 Parkside Drive, 10:40 am Adeline / Alcatraz Corridor near 3269 Adeline 11:10 am Dreamland Playground @ Aquatic Park, 11:40 am Solano Peralta Park, 1559 Solano (lunch break), 12:30 pm Thousand Oaks Park, near 840 Colusa, 1 pm Remillard Park, 80 Poppy Lane.

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/parks-recreation-and-waterfront-commission



LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION (LPC) at 6:30 pm

Location: at 1901 Hearst, North Berkeley Senior Center

AGENDA: 6. 2201-2205 Blake and 2517 Fulton – Structural alteration Permit - #LMSAP2024-0004, Bartlett House – relocate the historic stable structure and convert it to residential use, 7. 2138 Kittredge – Landmark or Structure of Merit Designation - #LMIN2024-0006, 8. 3332 Adeline – Structural alteration Permit – LMSAP2025-0001, 2655 Shattuck – Demolition referral, 10. Certified Local government (CLG) Annual report for the State Office of Historic Preservation, 11. 1095 University – currently vacant West Berkeley bank building originally completed in 1906

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



HOUSING ADVISORY COMMISSION at 7 pm

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

AGENDA: 6. Public Hearing on Appeal of Administrative Citation: 65 Arden Road, 7. Public Hearing on the Draft 2025-2029 Consolidated Plan, including the first year Annual Action Plan and Draft Regional Analysis of Impediments, 8. Discussion and possible action on Ordinance Amending the BMC to Implement AB 812 (Chapter 747) Authorizing a Certain Percentage of Affordable Units be Reserved for Artists, 9. Officer elections.

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



Friday, February 7, 2025 – no city meetings or events found



Saturday, February 8, 2025



COMMUNITY EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (CERT) Unit 3: CERT Organization at 9 am

Use link for details and to register: https://berkeleyca.gov/cert-classes-unit-3-february-8-2025



FAMILY BIRD WALK from 10 am – 12 pm

Location: at 160 University, Shorebird Nature Center

Use link for details: Binoculars and bird guides will be provided

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/family-bird-walk



BERKELEY BIKE PLAN Update POP-UP from 10 am – 2 pm

Location: at Ashby Flea Market

(Rescheduled from February 2)

View Bike Plan Focused Update online: https://berkeleybikeplan.altaplanning.cloud/#/home

View new bike network recommendations at pop-up

Flyer: https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Berkeley%20Bike%20Plan-Social%20Ads.pdf

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/berkeley-bike-plan-pop-ashby-flea-market



SWIM LESSON ASSESSMENT DAY at 12:30 pm

Location: at 2100 Browning

Free swim assessment held on drop-in basis, pre-registration preferred. Use link for details and to register:

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/swim-lesson-assessment-day-1



Sunday, February 9, 2025 – (Football Super Bowl Sunday)



BERKELEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY FILM and DISCUSSION at 2 pm

(doors open to exhibit Roots, Removal and Resistance: Japanese Americans in Berkeley at 1 pm)

For more information and to register go to: https://berkhistory.org/2024/12/26/sunday-february-9-200-pm-one-fighting-irishman-film-and-discussion/



++++++ CITY COUNCIL, Monday, February 11, 2025++++++++++

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm on Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Hybrid Meeting

In-Person: at 1231 Addison, BUSD Board Room

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1618982548

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

Meeting ID: 161 898 2548

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



To comment: email council@berkeleyca.gov



FINAL AGENDA for City Council Regular at 6 pm Meeting on February 11, 2025



LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

CEREMONIAL MATTERS: Adjourn in memory of the Stabbing Victim at San Pablo Park and Elise Lusk, Traffic Violence Victim at Ada and California

CITY MANAGER COMMENTS

PUBLIC COMMENTS on NON-AGENDA MATTERS



AGENDA on CONSENT:

1. Numainville, City Clerk – Minutes
2. Oyekanmi, Finance – Formal Bid Solicitation $848,000 (Marina Mobile Pump Out Services $198,000, PCI Compliance Review $250,000, Financial Services and Staff Augemtation $400,000)
3. Gilman, HHCS – Amend Contract No. 32300108 Third Amendment: add $180,000 total $379,500 with Street Level Advisors, LLC. for consulting services end date of 6/30/2026
4. Kouyoumdjian, HR – Program Manager II Classification: 5% Differential for Assignment in City Manager’s Office
5. Fong, IT – Amend Contract No 32000223 add $120,000 total $419,500 with Gray Quarter, Inc for professional services through 1/31/2026
6. Tregub & Lunaparra – Resolution in Support of the Commissioning of a California Feasibility Study to Implement “Golden State Energy,” a Not-for-Profit Public Utility Model study compares various not-for-profit utility models to replace investor-owned utilities such as PG&E
7. Humbert – Refer to City Manager study of intersections with traffic diverters

AGENDA on ACTION:

8. Wong, Auditor – 2009 Leases Audit Follow-Up: Berkeley Faces Same Risks 16 Years Later
9. Klein, Planning – Proposed Amendments to Building Emissions Saving Ordinance (BESO)

INFORMATION REPORTS:

10. Oyekanmi, Finance – FY 2024, 4^th Quarter Investment Report: Ended 30, 2024
11. Klein, Planning – LPO NOD: 1310 University Ave #LMSA2024-0001
12. Klein, Planning – LPO NOD 2500-12 San Pablo Ave #LMIN2024-0004

DISPOSITION ITEMS REMOVED FROM DRAFT AGENDA:

• Rescheduled for 2/25/2025 - Klein, Planning – Zoning Ordinance Amendments to Title 23 of BMC for consistency with State Law Related to EV Charging and Technical edits
• Referred to Land Use, Housing and Economic Development Committee – Submitted by Housing Advisory Commission – Adopt an Ordinance to Prohibit the Sale or Use of Algorithmic Devices to Set Rents or Manage Occupancy Levels for Residential Dwelling Units (starts on page 39 in packet)
• Referred to Public Safety Committee - Police Accountability Board Report: Fair and Impartial Policing Implementation (full report available in agenda packet starts on page 55)
• Referred to Land Use, Housing and Economic Development Committee - Tregub, co-sponsors Bartlett, O-Keefe – Budget referral Transfer Tax Exemption for 100% Affordable Housing Projects
• Removed by City Manager - Radu, City Manager’s Office – Contract $60,323.58 with Edgeworth Integration LLC to Purchase and Provide Installation of New Security System Server at Berkeley Animal Care Services 1/22/2025 – 1/21/2026

+++++++++++++++++++ Land Use - Work Sessions - Special Meetings +++++++++++++++



LAND USE CALENDAR

• 3000 Shattuck (construct 10-story mixed-use building) 3/25/2025
• 2274 Shattuck TBD
• 1048 Keith

WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS:

Feb 11 (4 pm) Fire Safety Regulations

Feb 25 (4 pm) Economic Dashboards Update

March 18 (4 pm) Berkeley Police Department Annual Update

April 22 (4 pm) Evacuation Study and Response Times

April 22 (6 pm) City Council ZAB Appeal Hearing for UA Theater Project

April 29 (4 pm) Presentation on City’s Unfunded Liabilities

UNSCHEDULED WORK SESSIONS & SPECIAL MEETINGS

none

PREVIOUSLY LISTED WORKSESSIONS and SPECIAL MEETINGS REMOVED FROM LIST

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

Feasibility Study Follow Up Session



++++ How to get on or off the Activist’s Calendar and Activist’s Diary email list ++++++++



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



The Activist’s Calendar of meetings is posted on the What’s Ahead page at: https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html



If you would like to receive the Activist’s Calendar as soon as it is completed send an email to: kellyhammargren@gmail.com.If you want to receive the Activist’s Diary send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly calendar of city meetings please forward the email you received to- kellyhammargren@gmail.com -with the request to be removed from the email list.

 

 

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