Columns

I normally end my Activist’s Diary with what I am reading, but this week it is also the start. There is good reason why Robin Wall Kimmerer’s 2013 book Braiding Sweetgrass is on the best seller list. It is a lovely book about living with nature and the environment, consuming only what is needed and being a good steward. Kimmerer weaves in those who see resources as a commodity to be consumed until depleted, nature as an inconvenience to be conquered and the waste left behind to be disregarded. She leads us to contemplate that we are at a crossroads. Which road do we chose, the path of stewardship of the living world or the path of consumption and destruction?

It was a scattered week of too many meetings, impossible to do justice to more than a few.

At the 4 pm February 23 Special City Council meeting the single subject was the Report and Recommendations from the Mayor’s Fair and Impartial Policing Working Group. It started with a report of the findings, need for improvements and recommendations. The testimony from the public at the February 9 Council meeting on the Vote of No Confidence in the Police Chief, my own attendance as an observer at the last two Fair and Impartial Working Group meetings and Police Chief Greenwood’s response to the report and recommendations, define a police chief who is defensive and obstructive. In situations where leadership performance is at issue and care of the person still matters, the result would be a private conversation and a graceful retirement exit. This is not Berkeley, at least not yet. 

As the meeting was reaching the end and a $50,000 cost was on the table for program implementation, the City Manager said such an amount could not be found in the budget and implementation certainly couldn’t happen now. 

At 2:36.39 into the meeting video you can hear Councilmember Bartlett state that in the last two years Berkeley has paid out $580,000 in fines for police misconduct, $63,000 in auto accidents and $28,000 in wrongful towing, making the point that surely $50,000 can be found. Nearly $700,000 is small compared to the lawsuits brought against some cities for wrongful deaths at the hands of police, but it is enough to demonstrate there is a problem with policing in Berkeley that needs correction. Bartlett interrupted comments to say he received notification that the community would come up with the money, a loan, so the implementation program could start now. 

When it comes to the flood of zoning and development proposals appearing on meeting agendas, I’m beginning to feel like ALEC (American Legislative Council) has come to town. 

Smart growth seems to have lost some of its luster as the phrase du jour to upend zoning and give free reign to developers. The new banner to achieve the same end and move the posts even further is racism. Racism is being waved to justify eliminating zoning codes and it is working as demonstrated by the calls on Tuesday evening at the regular February 23 City Council meeting with declarations of support for the Resolution to End Exclusionary Zoning in Berkeley on the basis of an end to racist zoning practices. It also worked in Minneapolis in 2019, the city of the 2020 police murder of George Floyd. 

Racism runs deep and redlining is a long ugly history. What is happening here is different, especially the rush, the immediacy of changing the zoning codes to make way for apartment buildings, quadplexes, triplexes and duplexes. The entire flood of proposals, resolutions and ordinances are worrisome as the people who are supposedly going to benefit from the land use changes look to be the target. 

There is a rush to dismantle what are already inadequate ordinances in place to safeguard Berkeley from a changing climate while accommodating population growth. Berkeley population density is 11,632 per sq. mile which may not mean much until there is comparison with its neighbors and Portland and Minneapolis, two cities which are cited in proposals as examples to be followed. For comparison the population per sq. mile of Sacramento is 5342, Oakland 7787, San Jose 5677, Richmond 1976, Emeryville 9411, El Cerrito 6921. San Francisco is 18,440. The population density of two “example” cities are Portland, 4740, and Minneapolis, 8130. These numbers will change as new census data comes in. 

The point is that Berkeley is already a very population dense city. It is more than shortsighted to think and act as if the responsibilities of the City of Berkeley begin and ends with eliminating zoning codes and establishing ministerial approval for major structures. 

There are considerations to be made when building, like the impact of urban heat islands. Urban heat islands occur when cities replace natural land cover with dense concentrations of pavement and buildings. Heat islands increase energy costs, air pollution, heat-related illness and mortality. There are actions that counter heat island effect, like reducing hardscape, pavement, cement, asphalt by using permeable paving to direct water into the ground instead of runoff into the bay. There is more like adding green roofs, a program to maintain mature trees and plant native trees selected by how many species they support. 

Cities are home to a significant fraction of the world’s biodiversity and take on greater importance in protecting biodiversity as plummeting insect populations threaten the collapse of ecosystems. Planning for people, plants and animals with nature friendly urban design makes cities more livable and resilient. The present and future framework for well-designed cities integrates urban ecological science for supporting nature with planning. We have experts at our fingertips. The San Francisco Estuary Institute and Aquatic Science Center is a start https://www.sfei.org/projects/making-natures-city 

Ministerial approval of projects (signing approval at the counter with no public meetings) is the new companion in the land use proposals and a major concern. As we saw Thursday evening at the Zoning Adjustment Board (ZAB), even when architects come with impressive credentials, it does not mean that a project should go forward without review. 

Charles Kahn, AIA, LEED AP ( meaning he is an Accredited Professional with advanced depth of knowledge in green building practices) recused himself from the ZAB meeting on Thursday evening, stating he was the architect of record for 2317 Channing, which was being reviewed. Another person from his firm, KDA Studio, presented the project to ZAB. No one objected to replacing the 2-story medical office building with housing. The problem was the design, and it was more than disappointing that someone who is a member of both ZAB and DRC, someone who has asked other architects and developers to consider including native plants, bird safe glass, all sustainable features, would not do the same with the project under his name. There was excessive hardscape, poorly planned greenspace and exotic plants rather than natives. If we can’t count on the people who should know better, how can we depend on developers who have no exposure to best practices through public review? 

Teresa Clarke made a number of recommendations to the building design, some of which are still to be worked out with the DRC planner. 

Public comment pointed out lack of native plants. Only one of the twelve plant choices is a native to California. Insects, pollinators and plants evolve together, i.e. native butterflies like the Pipevine Swallowtail will lay their eggs only on a pipevine. Using the California Native Plant Society website https://calscape.org by the architect and staff instead running to exotic non-native plants means avoidance of invasive species, less herbicides, pesticides, lower maintenance, essentially better plant survival, habitat for insects all with less work and pollution. Even humans are not immune to the toxicity of herbicides and pesticides. This project should have gone to DRC to really work through issues. 

As stated repeatedly in previous “Diaries”, city boards and commissions could use improvement. We need ZAB and DRC appointees who will speak to problems, offer suggestions, do not hesitate when the practitioner is a colleague and practice what they purport to support. We need appointees who do more than just carry credentials, but actually use them. We need stewards of urban habitat for biodiversity and a forester who chooses trees by how many species are supported. We could really benefit from a member of ZAB and DRC from the disability community to give input on project designs. We could use a lot including planners who incorporate biodiversity into urban design for a healthier city. 

600 Addison was also up for preview at ZAB. This is the commercial research and development project that abuts Aquatic Park and plans to use park land, Bolivar Drive eight hours a day as a shuttle thoroughfare. The developer seems to be coming around with a commitment to bird safe glass, and they are lining up the support from the construction unions and with the local Native American representative. The developer has yet to reroute the shuttle off our park. The call will continue.