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City Council Resumes Meetings By MATTHEW ARTZ

Friday September 09, 2005

The Berkeley City Council meets Tuesday at 7 p.m. after an eight-week recess. Items on the agenda include: 

• A request from Councilmember Gordon Wozniak to have the Planning Commission revise the Elmwood Business District quota system. Wozniak, who represents the district, is calling for prohibiting businesses from expanding into adjacent spaces, as Jeremy’s did this year. Also he has proposed to scale back the quota system from seven categories of quotas to two—barber shops and food service establishments. 

• A resolution calling on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to demand that President George Bush and Congress withdraw California National Guard troops from Iraq. The non-binding resolution is sponsored by Mayor Tom Bates and councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Max Anderson. It is nearly identical to a resolution that failed to win a majority of the Peace and Justice Commission earlier this year. 

• A proposal to approve an $80,000 grant from the state Department of Alcohol Beverage Control to help police enforce alcohol laws pertaining to minors. 

• A proposal to spend $204,000 for pedestrian safety improvements and the installation of a traffic signal at Hearst Avenue at Arch Street and LeConte Avenue. UC Berkeley has agreed to pay one-half of the project cost ($102,000) upon completion of the project. 

• A resolution from Councilmember Worthington calling on Alameda County to work with electronic voting machine vendors to help Berkeley begin instant runoff voting in 2006.  

• Consideration of the appeal of Zoning Board ruling to grant the owners of the lot at 2615 Marin Ave. permission to construct a house on the property. Last summer, the council split 4-4 on the appeal from neighbors who contend the home will obstruct views. 

• A proposal by Kriss Worthington to amend city law to specify that an elected official is also eligible to serve as an appointed member of a city commission. Worthington’s appointee to the Housing Advisory Commission, Jesse Arreguin, is also an elected rent board member. The city attorney’s office recently published an opinion that holding both types of positions violated city law, according to Michael Wilson, president of the Berkeley Property Owners Association. 

• A proposal to approve $177,600 for traffic circles at Seventh Street and Allston Way, Ninth Street and Addison Street, Ninth Street and Allston Way, Ninth Street and Bancroft Way, Tenth Street and Bancroft Way, California and Derby streets, California and Parker streets, Chestnut Street and Hearst Avenue, Hillegass and Webster streets, The Plaza and Nogales Street, and San Fernando and San Ramon avenues.›