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The City Council will consider asking for a redesign of the new safety tower and a request from the Peace and Justice Commission to not comply with Attorney General John Ashcroft’s request to question individuals. 

Towering eyesore 

Councilmember Dona Spring is asking that the safety tower behind the Public Safety Building at 2180 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, be taken down and rebuilt as two flagpole-styled antennae. The council recently approved the activation of the tower despite neighborhood protests. 

Neighbors claimed that the tower, which is 17-feet tall, never went through the city’s normal approval process. Spring is asking that the city manager begin an environmental review of two options. One is relocating the tower to the city’s recycling center on Gilman Street and the other is to leave the tower near the Safety Building, but redesigning it, so it’s not so imposing. 

Questionable questioning 

The Police Review Commission and the Peace and Justice Commission are asking the council to approve separate recommendations that the Berkeley Police Department not cooperate with requests from the Attorney General’s Office to question named individuals or interview large groups unless they are suspected of being involved in a specific crime. 

According to the commissions recommendations, they are concerned that the civil rights of men of Middle Eastern decent will be violated. The recommendations also say that the cities of San Francisco, San Jose and Portland, Ore. have declined to cooperate with Justice Department requests.  

City Manager Weldon Rucker has recommended the council not approve the commissions’ recommendations because. Rucker has suggested the Chief of Police should evaluate the validity of each request to question individuals and determine if it infringes on the rights of the involved individuals.  

Closed session 

The council will hold a closed session meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the sixth floor meeting room at 2180 Milvia Street to hold labor negotiations with five unions. 

The unions include Service Employee International Union locals 790, 535 and part-time Service Employee International Union local 535. There will be 10 minutes set aside at the beginning of the meeting for public comment.  

The City Council meeting will be held tonight at 2134 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The meeting will also be broadcast live on the KPFA Radio, 89.3 and Cable B-TV, Channel 78.