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The state of the City of Berkeley this year has been reflected in Mayor Tom Bates’ multiple State of the City addresses. The general public must pay for what they used to expect as free public services, or else wait around and pick up the leavings at a later time. 

Last Tuesday, the mayor held two daytime, pay-at-the-door State of the City addresses at two private Berkeley establishments: a $10 early morning affair at the downtown Capoeira Jazz Cafe, and a $25 Chamber of Commerce-sponsored luncheon at the Doubletree Hotel on the Marina. 

The mayor’s office announced that the general public would be able —for free—to hear him deliver the same information he addressed to this week’s paying crowds, but spread out over a series of already-planned community budget meetings to be held throughout the city during the month of May. 

Mayor’s State of the City addresses—both in Berkeley and in other cities—have traditionally been given before the City Council and a non-paying public audience, but the trend of local mayors to switch the speeches to paying business crowds has grown in recent years. Former Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean had to add a free City Council chamber State of the City address to her Chamber of Commerce State of the City speech after vocal protests from Berkeley residents. Under similar public pressure, current Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown switched plans from a single Chamber of Commerce speech and addressed both the Oakland Chamber of Commerce and a regular Oakland City Council meeting in separate speeches. 

Bates presently has announced no plans to give a State of the City speech to a Berkeley City Council meeting in the council chambers. 

In Tuesday’s 20-minute address at the cafe, Bates said that despite being in better shape than many of its neighbors, Berkeley remains mired in a fiscal crisis. “We have problems no doubt about it,” he said. 

On the budget deficit, Bates said he was moving forward with plans to close city hall one day a month at an annual savings of $1.3 million. The monthly closure appears more likely since city unions have so far opposed a city proposal to give back three percent of city contributions to employee pension funds. Despite recent calls from some residents to reopen union contracts, Bates made no mention Tuesday of asking for further union concessions. 

To plug the rest of the deficit, Bates said the city planned to eliminate 111 city positions over the next two years, more than two-thirds of which are already vacant, as well as proceed with a series of new fees and taxes. 

The biggest revenue generator, he said, would be a $1.50 to $2 surcharge on telephone landlines and cellular phones for operating the city’s 911 service that could generate up to $2 million. As far as taxes, Bates said he was pushing ahead with ballot measures calling for $1 million to maintain paramedic services and at least $800,000 to restore many of the youth programs slated for cuts in the upcoming budget. Tax revenue for paramedic services would come from increased property taxes, he said, while a hike in taxes on property transfers would likely pay for the youth programs. 

Bates said he wouldn’t support a tax measure to fund the city’s storm water drain program, which the city council is also considering. 

Declining sales tax revenues have exacerbated the city’s budget crunch, he said, especially in the downtown where several chain stores, including Eddie Bauer, See’s Candies and Gateway have either closed shop or announced plans to leave the city. Bates said See’s might be compelled to stay, but added that otherwise the city was working to attract more independent and culture-based shops that would fit better Berkeley’s retail niche.  

“We’re not just sitting back and saying everything is up to the market,” he said. “We’re trying to make things better.” 

As evidence of better times ahead for the downtown, Bates pointed to the UC hotel and conference center planned to rise at the current Bank of America branch at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street and the new Vista College campus being constructed one block west of the hotel site on Center. 

Bates also heralded recent federal and regional initiatives that will fund infrastructure projects throughout the city. A federal transportation bill that recently passed the House of Representatives, he said, would provide $1.5 million for improvements to the I-80 interchange at Gilman Street and $3 million for the Ed Roberts campus—a project to concentrate services for disabled residents at the Ashby Bart Station. 

Measure 2, a regional transportation measure passed by Bay Area voters in March, will supply much of the revenue for faster bus service along Telegraph Avenue within the next year, Bates said. 

He listed planning goals for the coming year to include rezoning University Avenue, improving the look of Telegraph Avenue and working on the long range development plan for UC Berkeley, which released its draft Environmental Impact Report Thursday. 

Bates’ few new initiatives centered around Berkeley’s youth. He said his office was launching a summer reading program that would match UC students and other residents with 650 Berkeley students in need of individual instruction. Also, he said he planned to hire a volunteer to coordinate the city’s mentoring programs for youth.