Public Comment

This letter is in regard to the Lions Hall Project at 2301 Durant Avenue, which appears on the May 1, 2012 Council Agenda. I respectfully request that Council ask the advice of City Auditor Hogan and City Attorney Cowan in evaluating the issues I raise in this letter, and I respectfully request that Council remand the Lions Hall Project to the Zoning Adjustments Board and order the Zoning Adjustments Board to conduct a proper public hearing to determine the merits of the Global International Montessori School and the true point of view of all stakeholders in the issue of the proposed Lions Hall Project. 

As a Berkeley resident who has been following the progress of the Appeal to Council that appeared on the December 6, 2011 Berkeley City Council Meeting Agenda as item 31, I find it appalling that the Zoning Adjustments Board not only failed to hold a proper public hearing on this matter, but made no modifications whatsoever, and that Councilmember Wengraf's appointee to the Zoning Adjustments Board, Mr. Robert Allen, actually swore at a parent of one of the Global Montessori International School's students. (I refer you to both the video of the ZAB meeting in question and to Mr. Steve Finacom's words in a communication he sent you before the April 3, 2012 City Council meeting, "The project applicants devoted part of their rebuttal time to attacking the motives of the appellants and minimizing the value of the GMIS school….One of the developers stated that the Global International Montessori School that rents from St. Mark's Church was not much different from an auto-parts store…. The developer was joined in this hostile and contemptuous attitude by a member of the ZAB who actually swore at one of the GMIS parents after her public testimony in favor of the remand." The aforementioned member of the ZAB was Robert Allen. And I submit to you that if Councilmember Wengraf retains this person as her appointee to the ZAB, she displays enormous contempt for the perceptions of her constituents and other Berkeley residents who believe appointees to boards and commissions should maintain appropriate decorum in public meetings.) 

1. This project involves a partnership between a for-profit developer (Christopher Hudson) and a non-profit organization (St. Mark's Episcopal Church), the illegality of which was pointed out by Councilmember Arreguin's appointee to the Zoning Adjustments Board, Ms. Sara Shumer. It is to be hoped that the Mayor and City Council will display as much integrity as Ms. Shumer has displayed and will abide by that portion of the oath of office which all of them have taken that promises, "I will uphold the law."
2. The Berkeley residents in the neighborhood of 2301 Durant Avenue have been given no opportunity to voice their concerns about the replacement of a parking garage, the Global Montessori International School, and the Woolly Mammoth Preschool with a high-density dormitory that would house 160 college students without providing any place for them to eat on the premises of the building. The Mayor and City Council will have displayed enormous contempt for Berkeley residents if they fail to order the Zoning Adjustments Board to conduct a proper public hearing on the matter.
3. It is clear from the communications Council has received from Ms. Vivi Teng and Mr. Sandy Boyd that the Global Montessori International School will most likely be destroyed if GMIS loses its space at St. Mark's Episcopal, and that only a proper public hearing at the ZAB level will allow for an appropriate public response to this phenomenon.
4. It is clear from the communications Council has received from Ms. Vivi Teng and Mr. Sandy Boyd that the Global Montessori International School has spent over $50, 000 to bring the space rented up to code by installing sprinkler systems and staircases for fire escapes--which appears to be an indictment of those who ran St. Mark's Episcopal Church before GMIS moved in, since it is apparently the case that the space in which GMIS is situated was rented out to a former tenant without having been brought up to code, and, hence, illegally.
5. A communication Council received on March 29, 2012 from a woman who claims to be a member of the Vestry at St. Mark's Episcopal Church and who calls herself "Charlotte Blackmer" may well be indicative of the reason why those who have run St. Mark's find themselves "in the red," as "Ms. Blackmer" puts it--if "Ms. Blackmer" is indeed a member of the Vestry. The reason well may be that "Ms. Blackmer" is typical of the sort of people who have been running St. Mark's. "Ms. Blackmer" apparently either doesn't know the difference between a "1" and a "2" (she repeatedly refers to the address of the Lions Hall Project as "1301 Durant Way" rather than "2301 Durant Avenue") or she has no idea where St. Mark's Episcopal Church is located. Is this the sort of person who has been handling the money at St. Mark's?
6. "Ms. Charlotte Blackmer" claims--without having shown any receipts--to have spent money; claims to have done fundraising without showing any records demonstrating that such fundraising actually took place; alleges that 3,000 meals have been served without showing proof of the veracity of this claim or any receipts demonstrating that food was actually purchased for these alleged meals; and admits that meals are served by volunteers (who are thus not paid.)
7. "Ms. Charlotte Blackmer" attempts to smear opponents of the Lions Hall Project by claiming that "project supporters were subjected to harassment and attempted intimidation by an outspoken project opponent," a person whom she can't even name and about whom she claims "a police report was filed." (A statement in which, once again, "Ms. Blackmer" fails to demonstrate the veracity of her claims with tangible evidence.) Ethical persons who are charged with the responsibility for handling funds for an organization have normally formed certain habits--they keep records, they save receipts, and they keep (and can show anyone who asks to see them) books. Why has Council been shown none of the above? Why has Council not demanded to be shown any of the above?
8. The members of St. Mark's Episcopal Church have had no opportunity to vote on whether or not to go forward with this illegal Lions Hall Project, a fact which suggests that the name of the hall may have been inspired by an admiration for those lions who devoured certain of the early Christians in the Coliseum by order of the Roman Empire.

Thank you,