Public Comment

"In what has become an annual tradition, at least 10,000 people gathered to smoke pot on Hippie Hill, despite the park’s smoking ban... revelers left behind 22,000 pounds of garbage... 'It’s a mess out here, and I have 40 people working out here this morning. This will cost the city $100,000. Probably by the time we’re done, this will cost my department $30,000 to $50,000 in staff time,' Ginsburg said. 'To put that in perspective, we can send one kid to summer camp for a week, for free, for about $300,' the Recreation and Park director went on to say..." - SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5)

The Berkeley City Council is slated to make Cesar Chavez Park a "designated location for cannabis events" at their meeting on Tuesday, March 12, an extreme hazard for those who don't wish to be or can't be exposed to smoke. They plan for the smoking to be in a "smoking tent"; SF's "hippie hill" (photo at left) helps us imagine how well that will work. Berkeley students, residents, and workers get exposed to both tobacco and marijuana all over Berkeley as it is. The California law decriminalizing marijuana specifically prohibits smoking in public.

Please help protect our smokefree parks. Write to, and encourage any group (you don't have to be from Berkeley) you work with to write to: council@cityofberkeley.info 

or call and leave a message saying you oppose cannabis events in any of our smokefree parks, especially Cesar Chavez, the most accessible in Berkeley:

Mayor Jesse Arreguin - (510) 981-7100
Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani - (510) 981-7110
Councilmember Cheryl Davila - (510) 981-7120
Councilmember Benjamin Bartlett - (510) 981-7130
Councilmember Kate Harrison - (510) 981-7140
Councilmember Sophie Hahn - (510) 981-7150
Councilmember Susan Wengraf - (510) 981-7160
Councilmember Rigel Robinson - (510) 981-7170
Councilmember Lori Droste - (510) 981-7180