Public Comment

Cheryl Davila won the District 2 Council seat in 2016 in a totally unexpected upset against an incumbent who held that seat for 12 years. She was not “groomed” by the insiders for the position, unlike so many who run for office in Berkeley, and it was obvious pretty quickly that she wasn’t going to roll over and vote with the bloc like her predecessor. When Cheryl got her footing, she started marching forward on the gut issues: climate, poverty, homelessness, policing and racism. 

Cheryl graduated from Mills College with academic honors and a B.A. in Business Economics on top of years of work to back up that degree. Cheryl knows how to read spread sheets, financials and budgets, adding another layer to challenge the status quo by understanding how our tax money is spent. 

Cheryl challenged the comfort zone by bringing forward the issues we need to deal with, and not with little tweaks or placating sounding resolutions that do little or nothing. The Climate Emergency Declaration in June 2018 may sound like one more resolution, but this laid the ground for the Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force (CEMTF). Right from the start Cheryl took the lead in an effort that has pulled in elected officials, climate-focused organizations and individuals from across the Bay Area. When Mayor Arreguin killed the ad-hoc City Council committee on Climate Emergency in February 2019, Cheryl did not give up. The committee renamed itself to the Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force and it has continued to grow as do the declarations of a climate emergency. CEMTF is offering the Fourth Virtual Summit for an Environmentally Just and Regenerative Future on Friday, October 23. 

Cheryl has her eyes open to actions and solutions put forward around the country, some even happening next door in Oakland, like the City Council’s Tuesday evening Agenda Item 22, community Refrigerators for the food insecure. It should get passed, but who knows. 

Cheryl makes it uncomfortable for those trying to polish up their progressive image while shining up to the money that feeds and supports their campaigns. 

That leads to the latest surprise: Out of town money is coming to Berkeley. It looks like the real estate industry has its eyes on District 2. 

Take a look at the online record of independent election expenditures, the “PAC” funding not tied to specific candidates (https://public.netfile.com/pub2/?aid=BRK) 

The California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee, tied to the California Association of Realtors, has spent $11,582.05 through October 8 to oppose Cheryl Davila. 

The National Association of Realtors Fund spent $9871.23 through October 5 to support her opponent Alex Sharenko. 

The Berkeley Neighbors For Affordability, a developer-backed group with major funding provided by a pro-developer group called Bay Area Housing Advocacy Coalition, is supporting Alex Sharenko and another anti-Davila candidate, Terry Taplin, in District 2, putting their money on their selection of the two most viable real estate development friendly candidates. A third, Timothy Carter, has put “housing, housing, and housing” as his top priority. 

I got this ugly feeling when I saw the maneuvers to wrestle District 2 from the woman who can’t be bought. First, the four candidates were three men against one woman, a perfect number of three to play ranked choice, cutting out Cheryl and ranking the men. 

Now add the real estate out of town money, plus the friendly sounding name “Bay Area Housing Advocacy Coalition” which fits within the definition of “dark money” since voters don’t know who is behind that spending. 

Smart Growth was the buzzword from the last decade used to take down neighborhoods. Now it’s been replaced with labelling single family homes racist. 

Mayor Arreguin jumped on that bandwagon in the State of the City address last Tuesday. This language and thinking conflates redlining and segregation with single family homes. It isn’t the single-family homes that are racist. Black families, just like White families, want a place to call their own. 

The racism is what was done in the past to the Black families to keep them out of White neighborhoods. Richard Rothstein’s book The Color of Law is a good start on this history. Black families have faced restrictive covenants, violence and most recently being saddled with predatory loans to strip them of their assets. 

The last vestige of the former solidly Black neighborhoods looks to be the next target. Within the formerly redlined area of South Berkeley, there is still an R-1 (single family) zone in District 2 where there have been many Black-owned homes. Developers are eager to buy up these houses and replace them with more lucrative multi-unit buildings, and they support candidates who will make this possible. 

Our ballots are here and our votes really do matter. I hope this has helped to sort through the barrage of campaigning coming your way. Cheryl has earned our support. I recommend voting for Cheryl with enthusiasm. I hate to think of all the good work she putting forward right now that will die without her. Cheryl has demonstrated her unwavering commitment to this City and the most vulnerable who need a voice at their side. Remember Ranked Choice voting can provide an instant runoff if your top choice doesn’t cross the 50% threshold. You are not required to rank three choices.