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District 5 Race Covers All Interests: By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday October 22, 2004

In City Council District 5, running for the seat being vacated by Councilmember Miriam Hawley are Jesse Townley, a civic-minded musician who offers youth and a fresh perspective, Laurie Capitelli, a real estate broker, connected to the city’s establishment who hasn’t sought to make waves, and community activist Barbara Gilbert, who thinks that the establishment will tax and spend the city into the ground. 

Starting at the outer edge of the gourmet ghetto and rising into the North Berkeley hills, District 5 lacks the crime of the South Berkeley flatlands, the controversial new developments in and around downtown or the grinding traffic of the Claremont/Emwood District. 

“It’s a blessed part of the city,” said Zelda Bronstein, chair of the Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association. 

The district, nevertheless, does have some unique concerns. The sewer and storm water systems occasionally fail, a major traffic corridor, Marin Avenue, might be reduced from four to two lanes under a new proposal, and hundreds of residents are affected by a controversial creek law. 

With the candidates debating taxes, development and the city’s budget deficit, the contest in District 5 has taken on the feel of a race for mayor. 

So has the fundraising. As of Oct. 16, the candidates have together raised more than $52,000, more than all the other city council candidates combined. 

Leading the pack with $27,500 is Capitelli, who has the backing of incumbent Hawley, Mayor Tom Bates, councilmembers Linda Maio and Gordon Wozniak and the moderate Berkeley Democratic Club, which has endorsed the winner of every District 5 race since district lines were drawn in 1986. 

With strong support from the city’s political establishment Capitelli, a partner in Red Oak Realty and member of the Zoning Adjustment Board, has assumed the aura the leading candidate. He touts his experience in business and city politics and defends the current council and himself against charges that he would be a rubber stamp for the mayor. 

“Laurie will go along with Bates’ program,” Gilbert insisted. 

“That’s simply not true,” replied Capitelli, who differs with the mayor on some of the proposed tax measures. 

Previously an aide to former mayor Shirley Dean, Gilbert has dedicated her candidancy to what she calls her fight against the “Taxation Development Complex.” 

She claims to draw much of her support from middle-class homeowners and members of neighborhood organizations who share her anti-tax and anti-smart growth views. Gilbert, though, has failed to garner the backing of her former boss, Shirley Dean, who has refused to make a public endorsement in the district where she outpolled Mayor Bates in 2002. 

Townley, a Green Party member and the secretary of the punk rock venue 924 Gilman St. Project, has cast himself as a “pragmatic progressive” in a district that has never sent a progressive to the council. 

“I’m not an ideologue,” he said. “I’m open to logic and facts.”  

The candidates differ on the hot-button issue of amending a creek law that prevents new construction of roofed buildings within 30-feet of the centerline of a creek or underground culvert. Gilbert, who has a creek that runs through her property, wants the restrictions suspended and the Planning Commission to take the lead in proposing changes to the ordinance.  

Capitelli favors retaining restrictions for the time being and supports a hybrid taskforce of stakeholders and members of different city commissions. Townley also favors retaining restrictions and supports the formation of an independent taskforce to consider creek issues. 

Townley stands alone in his support for Berkeley to follow an Albany plan to turn Marin Avenue from four lanes of traffic to two lanes with a center turning lane and bicycle lanes. Gilbert outright opposes the idea, and Capitelli said he was concerned the lane reduction would exacerbate traffic during rush hour. 

When it comes to the four city tax measures on the November ballot, Capitelli has seized the middle ground. He favors the property tax hike for libraries and a utility tax hike to replenish the general fund, but opposes taxes that are supposed to go for youth programs and paramedic services. Townley supports all of the taxes and Gilbert supports none of them. 

“People feel they are the host and the city is a parasite sucking away their savings,” she said. 

While Gilbert thinks the tax hikes are sending the city “off a cliff,” Capitelli and Townley hold that residents are willing to pay for services. 

“That’s why we have such an incredible library system and a good school system,” said Townley. 

All three candidates say they will insist on less generous union contracts when the deals expire and push for the unions to contribute to their retirement funds. They also all agree that the city needs to wring more money out of UC Berkeley, which currently doesn’t pay city taxes or assessments, to cover the city services the university uses. 

On the issue of development, Capitelli, who chaired Mayor Bates’ development task force, supports the current city policy of concentrating housing and commercial developments on major transit corridors and said the taskforce’s recommendations would address concerns that neighbors are excluded from providing input on proposed projects.  

Gilbert opposes many of the bigger developments Capitelli approved on the ZAB in favor of smaller bungalow-style dwellings. She wants to reconsider a city law that requires developers of larger projects to include affordable housing. Townley, a renter, wants to see more affordable housing built along transit corridors as long as it doesn’t tower over adjoining neighborhoods. 

All of the candidates agree that residents of District 5 don’t frequent downtown Berkeley, but have different remedies for the business district that has seen several stores close in recent years. Gilbert has called for satellite parking lots and supports attracting chain stores, while Townley and Capitelli both say they would emphasize locally owned businesses. 

Capitelli, who if elected would be the only councilmember to have experience running a business, said one of his top goals would be improving the city’s business climate. 

“There is still a suspicion in Berkeley that business is bad and God forbid a business make a profit,” he said. 

One part of town where both Capitelli and Gilbert are interested in increasing business tax revenue is West Berkeley, where zoning rules currently favor manufacturing interests and craftsman. They would favor reopening the West Berkeley Plan, while Townley supports the current zoning restrictions.