Public Comment

No on Berkeley Measure T

By Sam Greyson
Friday September 28, 2012 - 03:57:00 PM

My West Berkeley mechanic alerted me to the danger of ballet measure "T" some time ago. He has been in west Berkeley since the seventies employing a dozen or so people and believes that if Measure "T" passes there will be no room in Berkeley for a business like his. 

Politicians love the idea of throwing a large swath of the city open to the highest bidder (waiving height and size restrictions) because they think it will bring in lots of money. The problem is that big industrial parks do not necessarily equate with a good quality of life or the kind of mixture of small businesses, artists, entrepreneurs and working middle class families that we want for the future. 

Do you really want a West Berkeley dominated by a couple of monstrous several block sized industrial sites owned by multi-national pharmaceutical corporations (like Emeryville)? Or do we want to retain the one place in the city where small businesses and artists can afford to set up shop? It seems to me the last thing we need is another part of Berkeley affordable only to multi-national corporations and gazillionaire developers.. 

The city needs to have a REAL discussion of the vast and permanent impact of these changes before making them, a discussion we have not really had. Please consider your vote carefully and vote NO on "T".  

P.S. If measure "T" passes I suggest we rename West Berkeley the " Tom Bates Industrial Park". (He likes to get his name placed on things.)