Public Comment

Recycle Blues; Defacing Signs; Smartmeter Spy; The Situation at KPFA:; Construction Interests Fund School Board Campaigns;NIMBY Notice; Public Crimes; State Parks Initiative; PUC; Most Moronic Post-Election Analysis I've Seen Yet; Cut Military Spending 

Recycle Blues 

What can the City of Berkeley be thinking? Here is a city where the houses in every neighborhood are “charming” in real estate parlance, “fine grained” to the city planner, and interesting to all of us. Here is a city where not just the grand neighborhoods of the Uplands and Thousand Oaks are a place to take out-of-town visitors for a sightseeing drive, where Dohr Street and Parker and Rose are just as likely to have a treasure as Southampton or The Arlington. 

So now the City has placed in front of every Stockbroker Tudor, every Victorian Farmhouse, and every Craftsman Bungalow an enormous powder blue recycling cart. Perhaps in the Uplands or on Southampton these hideous carts will be hauled inside between weekly pick-ups. For much of Berkeley the density of housing is too great to make room to hide these things. They will be along my street all week long for us to shudder at. 

They didn’t have to be powder blue. There are over 30,000 households in Berkeley so this order must have been huge. The bureaucrat who picked powder blue must have liked the color. No matter that brown would have matched the shingles of half of Berkeley and been just as symbolic and just as easy to differentiate from the grey carts and the green waste carts. Powder blue? Did this eco-crat go to UCLA? Does she or he love Siamese cats? Why? 

And last question. Can we paint our cart? Camouflage it? Please! 

Christopher Adams 

* * * 

Defacing Signs 

“Should we ask Mayor Tom Bates to make stealing/defacing campaign signs illegal…?” -- Morning Shu. 

Of course not. Campaign signs are protected political speech, and so are the comments written (or pasted) on them by opponents. How educational either sign is may be debatable, but it makes no sense to try to criminalize one side in a debate.

I would prefer to nurture the idea that stealing and destroying campaign signs is bad form, wasteful, and that those who respect democracy’s rusty, sometimes cranky mechanisms should encourage others to respect them too, rather than deprive us all of a piece of the debate, however little it may offer.

Sign alteration, on the other hand, is an art. The “nimby robot” people are perhaps not the best practitioners, and could get some much-needed inspiration from the creative posse opposing San Francisco’s Measure L.

Carol Denney 

* * * 

Smartmeter Spy 

Open letter to the California Public Utilities Commission concerning their response to the discovery that the Director of the Smartmeter program, William Devereaux, had been caught spying on the anti-Smartmeter movement (cf. SF Chronicle, 11/9/2010). 

The following was reported in the San Jose Mercury, 11/10/2010, concerning William Devereaux's spying on the anti-Smartmeter movement, for which he has since resigned. 

"It is of serious concern to the CPUC that a senior PG&E official may have been involved in unethical behavior," said CPUC spokesperson Terrie Prosper. "We are investigating the allegations to ascertain the facts, and to determine whether any laws or regulations were violated, and whether sanctions are appropriate." 

But the CPUC has allowed, and fostered the project that Mr. Devereaux directed, which was to install devices on people's houses that for some people are a source of illness, ill health, and malaise. And the CPUC has ignored this fact, and turned a deaf ear on the hundreds and thousands of complaints about this imposition. 

To the extent that the CPUC not only allows but guides PGE's installation of Smartmeters against the wishes of individuals and property owners, the CPUC is itself guilty of unethical behavior. In other words, the CPUC's "concern" about Mr. Devereaux's spying on the anti-Smartmeter movement is wholly hypocritical. 

How do individuals know that their ailments, such as insomnia, headaches, and other things, have their source in the Smartmeters? Because when they wrap the Smartmeter in aluminum foil, thus shutting off their exposure to its microwave emissions, their ailments disappear. 

I strongly urge the CPUC to end its hypocrisy by ending its own unethical behavior, and listen to the people it is duty-bound to protect against precisely the detrimental effects of such technology. 

Steve Martinot 

Re: The Situation at KPFA 

Arlene Engelhardt blatantly abandoned any pretense that the issue was purely economic when she said on Michael Krasny's Forum (in answer to a question about why the morning show hosts cannot continue to produce the morning show while they are still being paid through early December) that "there has been so much one-sided spewing that it makes for very bad radio." She thus admitted to meddling in station programming, which is completely outside the purview of Pacifica Foundation officers. This is truly outrageous— I would thank Ms. Engelhardt to let the listeners decide what is and is not good radio, and leave the programming decisions to the station staff! 

Avilee Goodwin 

Construction Interests Fund School Board Campaigns 

I'm a parent in WCCUSD (West Contra Costa Unified School District), have served on district committees and know a fair amount about the district politics. 

Looking at the list of contributors for the Berkeley Unified Measure H, I see a lot of the same construction interests that are involved with the WCCUSD and our $1,389,579,060 construction bond program. Construction interests have given hundreds of thousands $ to some of our school board members. Charles Ramsey has received the most contributions; coincidentally he is on the WCCUSD committees that oversee the construction bond program, the facilities subcommittee and the rep on the CBOC (Citizens Bond Oversight Committee). The Chair of the CBOC received over $40K from construction interests when he ran for school board in 2008--many contributing firms received "no-bid" contracts from WCCUSD 

I'm sorry to say this, but Berkeley Unified should get ready for construction interests helping to select their school board, more bond measures, unlimited cost overruns, etc. Education and student safety might not become such a priority. 

Linda Ruiz Lozito  

NIMBY Notice 

Thank you, whoever you are, for informing me that I am a nimby robot. I had no idea that I was a nimby, after living on Dwight Way since 1984 and—what was I thinking?—expressing my opinion about Measure R, which I believe circumvents the consensus achieved by the community members appointed by the council to develop a downtown plan. Who cares that my considered opinion, as indicated by my No on R sign, would be defaced? 

I care. I was deeply insulted, and, fact is, this was an illegal act, and your identity should be revealed to the community. If you remain anonymous, I will know that you are a coward. I hope you know you are one, too. 

Fran Haselsteiner 

State Parks Initiative  

My fellow Californians; I am not happy with you. I'm not talking to the minority who voted for the State Parks initiative, but rather the majority of you who voted against it or didn't bother to vote at all. 

Let's look at the deteriorating state of our once lovely parks: campgrounds closed, restrooms locked or too filthy to use, roads in need of repair, infrastructure crumbling. 

Now, think about the 18 bucks a years it would cost to bring them back to their past glory. What is 18 bucks a year? You spend more than that each month on your latte or mocha. You spend more than that each month so you can send pointless texts to your friends while driving seventy on the crowded freeway. You spend more than that each month on additional tips because the waitress was cute and smiled at you. You spend more than that each month when you buy the twenty dollar bottle of wine because your tastes have become too sophisticated for the eight buck bottle. You spend more than that each month when you buy an appetizer, knowing that the main meal is more than a grizzly bear could eat. You spend more than that each month when you get your hair styled, when it could be cut for half the price. 

This vote is what happens when "cheap" runs headlong into "selfish." 

A couple of months ago I camped in a North Dakota state park. Beautiful, clean, well-maintained, free hot showers. California, once America's cutting edge state is now so far behind North Dakota that we can no longer see the dust they kick up. 

Now, go have a five buck latte and whine to your friends about the rude columnist who made you feel bad. 

Meade Fischer 

* * *  

Open letter to the California Public Utilities Commission concerning their response to the discovery that the Director of the Smartmeter program, William Devereaux, had been caught spying on the anti-Smartmeter movement (cf. SF Chronicle, 11/9/2010). 

To the CPUC: 

The following was reported in the San Jose Mercury, 11/10/2010, concerning William Devereaux's spying on the anti-Smartmeter movement, for which he has since resigned. 

"It is of serious concern to the CPUC that a senior PG&E official may have been involved in unethical behavior," said CPUC spokesperson Terrie Prosper. "We are investigating the allegations to ascertain the facts, and to determine whether any laws or regulations were violated, and whether sanctions are appropriate." 

But the CPUC has allowed, and fostered the project that Mr. Devereaux directed, which was to install devices on people's houses that for some people are a source of illness, ill health, and malaise. And the CPUC has ignored this fact, and turned a deaf ear on the hundreds and thousands of complaints about this imposition. 

To the extent that the CPUC not only allows but guides PGE's installation of Smartmeters against the wishes of individuals and property owners, the CPUC is itself guilty of unethical behavior. In other words, the CPUC's "concern" about Mr. Devereaux's spying on the anti-Smartmeter movement is wholly hypocritical. 

How do individuals know that their ailments, such as insomnia, headaches, and other things, have their source in the Smartmeters? Because when they wrap the Smartmeter in aluminum foil, thus shutting off their exposure to its microwave emissions, their ailments disappear. 

I strongly urge the CPUC to end its hypocrisy by ending its own unethical behavior, and listen to the people it is duty-bound to protect against precisely the detrimental effects of such technology. 

Steve Martinot 

* * * 

Most Moronic Post-Election Analysis I've Seen Yet 

So the Dems lost because they weren't leftist enough ? What are you smoking, Becky ? The Dems lost over 60% of the white vote, only college brainwashed white women supported them and that just barely. 

California was the exception only because four million white middle class voters have fled from here since 1990. So the remaining voters elected four tired old Party Hacks over four RINO Republicans. 

And guess what, Jerry Brown is going to do the nasty in the progressives' southerly orifices big time. He'll probably cut more than Meg ever could and Meg flipflopped on almost every issue as a cogent analysis in yesterday's Mercury News demonstrated. 

If it wasn't for the Blue Dogs there NEVER would been a Democratic House in either 2006 or 2008. If you lib morons are stupid enough to retain the same failed leadership of Pelosi, Reid and Obama for 2012 then look for the same results. 

Oh yes I know, Becky, that silent leftist majority has once again failed to show up at the polls for the 44th year in a row. Just keep the blinders on and listen to another lecture by Pope Noam, that tribune of the Peepul as he drives his Lexus back home to lily white Lexington. 

As for Kamala Harris she's the worst DA in Frisco since the last leftist held that job. It really has nothing to do with the death penalty which is very rarely enforced here in California. She's simply an incompetent leftist ideologue. Don't bother to introspect, just keep blaming everyone else for your bad judgment. 

It wasn't just the Likudnik nuts who put you out of the print business, it was your many bad stands on many issues. Wake up or go the way of KPFA. After 40 years in the Oak-Berk Zoo I'm be glad to be out of there. 

Al Blue
 

Ukiah 

Cut Military Spending 

Please stop paying out all this money for defense; we do not need it, what we need is to support human needs, education, health and welfare. 

Hilary FitzGerald-Nicholson