Page One

Editor: 

I still can’t believe what I witnessed at the City Council meeting last night. After months of public input, countless hours of work by city staff and numerous pledges to consider all of the redistricting plans based on specific guidelines laid out in the City’s Charter, five members of the council: Linda Maio, Kriss Worthington, Dona Spring, Maudelle Shirek and Margaret Breland, pushed through a redistricting plan that they admitted had been put together behind closed doors and had been released to the other council members only minutes before they were expected to vote on it. Even worse, whereas all of the other plans had careful, exhaustive review from city staff to best inform the council and the public, this new “Amended Blake-O’Malley” plan was presented to the rest of the council only in the form of a map and was not presented at all to the public. Maudelle Shirek’s motion to approve the plan included only census block numbers. There was no mention of street names and without a map, I’m not sure how the public was supposed to understand the changes or make any comment on them, but then again, I have a feeling that was exactly the point. 

As someone who has diligently followed the public discussion on redistricting for weeks, I find it hard to describe the anger and betrayal that I feel. The Council majority talks about Sunshine Ordinances and open government, but when the chips are down, they don’t give a damn about public input. We are clearly under the regime of a political machine in Berkeley and I just hope this process opens the eyes of voters throughout the city. Maybe those five members will be more interested in the public’s input on Election Day. 

Susan Levine 

Berkeley