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The Berkeley City Council began its first post-election meeting with the same lineup on Tuesday after Jesse Arreguin, Linda Maio, Kriss Worthington, and Gordon Wozniak each won another term. Mayor Bates was absent, so Vice Mayor Maio presided over the meeting. 

The meeting began with some interesting non-agenda comments and ceremonial items. November has been recognized as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, pancreatic cancer being the least researched of the major cancers. The Digital Arts Club at Berkeley City College was recognized for its contribution to the community, and everybody was encouraged to go to their Fall Arts Festival on November 19^th and 20^th at BCC on Center Street. One non-agenda commentator complained that the UC's money being spent to cure autism is comparable to money being spent to cure homosexuality, and compared it to a neo-Nazi project. Two commentators came to complain about the Berkeley Housing Authority, which they said is a body that is abusive toward the elderly and disabled and is not accountable enough. A fourth commentator came from KPFA radio's union, speaking only for himself to inform people on the recent perceived attack on the union at KPFA. This Monday the entire staff of the morning show was laid off without warning by the executive director. More can be learned at kpfaworker.org. 

The better part of the meeting was spent discussing two separate neighborhood disputes among Berkeley Hills residents. The first was a Zoning Adjustments Board appeal by neighbors of a house on Rock Lane, complaining that a ZAB-approved addition on top of the flat-roofed house was going to significantly affect the lighting in and view from the uphill neighbors' living room window. The Council voted unanimously in favor of a public hearing. The second was an appeal by neighbors of a house on Creston Road, which the owners are re-building after it was destroyed by a fire. The neighbors were upset that the project, which was approved unanimously by the ZAB, includes an active vegetable garden on the roof with lighting, which they claimed could cause noise and obstruct views. After deciding that the ZAB had sufficiently evaluated and amended the project, the Council voted to uphold the ZAB decision (Aye: Maio, Moore, Anderson, Arreguin, Capitelli, Worthington. No: Wengraf. Abstain: Wozniak. Absent: Mayor Bates.) 

No one from the public had anything to say during three public hearings, whose resolutions were each passed unanimously (with Mayor Bates absent) without much discussion. In the first, the Council confirmed the 2011 Annual Report of Downtown Business Improvement District and authorized the City Manager to execute a sole source contract for $325,000 with the Downtown Berkeley Association Main Street Program for downtown revitalization for 2011. In the second public hearing, the Council voted to follow the advice of the ZAB and revoke the Use Permit of the bingo parlor at 1284 San Pablo, which has been violating various conditions of the permit. The third public hearing ended in a unanimous vote to adopt the second reading of the Berkeley Building Codes. 

Lastly, the Council discussed the problem of speeding on narrow, winding streets in Berkeley and the possibility of an experimental installation of split speed tables (speed bumps split for emergency vehicle access) on several of the streets where the problem is most severe. Council unanimously passed the staff's recommendation to approve the experiment and hear back about its effectiveness after six months. Rose Street between Ordway and Juanita, Forest Avenue between Claremont and Piedmont, and Josephine between Vine and Hopkins are the blocks on which the experimental bumps are to be installed.