The human "psyche", "personality", "soul", or the thing within us that makes us function, is vulnerable, and it is fragile. This is apart from psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar, that are believed to have physical, neurobiological causes. 

In schizophrenia, there is a massive cognitive malfunction that may be caused by too much neurotransmitter in an area of the brain. Psychiatrists usually believe the appropriate solution is to medicate. Bipolar also has medical, physical causes in the brain. Depression in some instances is medically caused, and milder depression can be caused by too many difficulties in life. 

However, when traumatic events occur, it can cause psychological damage to an otherwise "normal" person. Or, when trauma happens to a person who already has a mental illness, it only compounds the patient's problems. 

The abovementioned damage can make itself apparent in numerous ways. A person can lose faculties, such as the ability to think clearly. Or, if they are a meditation practitioner, their meditative attainment could be lost. Even if someone is not a meditation practitioner, their personality could regress. A person could become overly aggressive, on the other hand, they could lose their courage, or they could go into states of denial concerning difficult events that should be faced. In my past, when I was traumatized by events, it triggered relapses of my psychosis. In my case, going into non- medication compliance was a factor. Yet, a traumatic event was the instigator. 

I experienced several exceedingly difficult events in recent years. I did not go into a full relapse as a result, because I remained medication compliant, and I hung onto a few shreds of sanity. Although I've been medication compliant, I had substantial paranoid symptoms and excessive anger. Had I become noncompliant following recent trauma, which is how I reacted to trauma in earlier years, I would have had a complete relapse as a result. 

Excessive environmental stresses that go beyond what a stabilized mentally ill man or woman can handle can cause psychological damage. Then, when behavior in impacted because of sustaining the damage, it only makes life circumstances that much worse. Someone could have inappropriate behavior due to sustaining mental damage from the environment. Then they are facing people's blame, for something they didn't initially create. 

Many people do not acknowledge that a person is not actually a machine. A machine, if you plug it into the wall and/or put gasoline in its tank, and press the on button, will usually work. You may have to add oil or replace batteries, or you may have to replace spark plugs. Human beings are not like that. The human nervous system is designed to absorb a massive amount of information from the environment. If the environment is toxic, it poisons a person's mind. 

Let's look at the role of inadvertent autosuggestion. When we go through something difficult, it may bring short-term relief to make declarations to oneself within one's mind. This could be in the form of cursing someone, blaming someone, or being mad at the world. Or it could take other forms. It could be in the form of generalizations that will introduce more difficulty later in life. When these internal statements are made, it may alleviate some of the pain of the situation, temporarily. Later it comes back to bite you in the behind. You have accidentally programmed yourself to hate a person or hate the world. Or you have programmed yourself to expect something unreasonable. 

This is one of many forms of damage to oneself. It is a normal response to overwhelming environments. This is "software" damage. The brain structure probably remains intact. When we compare this with clinical mental illness, there is a "hardware" problem, in which the apparent solution is to medicate.  

Huge stressors over a long period of time, such as years, could affect someone's brain structure. If someone is incarcerated for years, which is one of the worst possible environments in which a person can live, it causes untold damage to that individual, and they may become incapable of living in society. Others can pull out of it. But environments affect people. And that is inescapable.  

Mental damage exists in many forms and from many types of environments. I become adversely affected by medical treatment environments, in which I am in waiting rooms around a lot of sick people. I am also affected by mental health environments, in which I'm presumed to be mentally intrinsically inferior, and in which counselors are trained to verbally gain an advantage. 

In places of worship and in places of meditation practice, there is a controlled environment. Surroundings are kept peaceful. Quiet is not the exception, it is the rule, other than wonderful chanting or singing. People are courteous. This is great for people to experience, when in their daily lives they may have to face chaos. 

The internal mind is part of a person's environment. The inside of the mind comprises a large portion of a person's experience. A psychotic person could be in peaceful surroundings but could have a loud symptomatic mind. Yet, if the external environment is peaceful for a long enough time, a sick mind responds to that in a good way and may begin to get well. Medication plus chaos doesn't equal a person getting well. 

There are two things I have needed in my past, to recover from a psychotic episode. The first is to be put back on medication, and the second is to experience peacefulness. 

My wife and I just received our second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of March 5, only 11.2% of the adult population in the U.S. has received both coronavirus vaccine doses, while 17.4% of California have received at least one dose.  

We will continue to wear masks and keep social distancing and wait to eat inside a restaurant, go to a concert or a movie. Why, because in an exercise of caution, we plan to wait until the vaccination rate in California rises significantly above 17.4%. 

An Israel study indicates a correlation between the percentage of the population given the Covid-19 vaccination and the decline in Covid-19-related hospitalization and deaths. Between December 19 and February 4, 39% of Israelis had received at least one dose of the vaccine. By day 28, when most people had received their second dose, diagnoses had fallen by two-thirds, and COVID-19–related hospitalization had dropped from a daily high of seven people to one. While in the general population, reported cases dropped much more slowly. In short, the more people vaccinated, the less new cases of Covid-19. Similarly, the U.S. vaccination campaign seems to be having the same positive effect. 

That’s why California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, based on indicators that capture disease burden, testing, and health equity now also includes a Vaccine Equity Metric, "arguing that that inoculating the state’s most vulnerable residents will accelerate a safe return to normalcy." However, California will continue to focus on masking and effective use of testing, contact tracing, quarantine and isolation.  

President Joe Biden said the U.S. would have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses for every adult American by the end of May 2021. This would accelerate his timeline for herd immunity by several months. Based on the number of vaccinations already administered and findings from a recent Columbia University study, it is estimated the nation could vaccinate 72% of the population by May 2021. Nobody knows for sure what the herd immunity threshold is for the coronavirus, though many experts say that somewhere between 70% and 85% of the population must be protected to suppress the spread. However, the emergence of variants complicates the picture. 

Yes, wearing a mask and social distancing protect you and those around you. “Wearing a mask isn't a political statement, it’s an IQ test." 

Job growth has improved somewhat as U.S. payrolls increased 379,000 and the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 6.2%. Many economists expect to see job prospects to further improve as vaccinations increase and virus concerns decrease. The danger, of course, is to reopen the economy too quickly when we are so close to the goal line.

Your Under-COVID Reporter

I got my second COVID jab last week and, unlike the uneventful first poke, this one knocked me out for two days with a fever, headache, sore muscles, fatigue, and vomiting. While I was in bed, drinking hot tea, I found myself remembering the long wait in line for the inoculation and reading all the small print on a sign-in sheet that included—among other details—a complete list of all the ingredients in the Moderna vaccine.

Most of the more-that-a-dozen ingredients involved were long, complex, and unfamiliar chemical names—e.g., 1,2-dimyristoyl-rac-glycero3-methoxypolyethylene glycol-2000. There were, however, some ingredients that I did recognize. How many other Moderna recipients noticed that their injections included (1) acetic acid (think "vinegar"), (2) sodium chloride (think "salt"), and (3) cholesterol (think "clogged arteries")? 

Once a Pun a Dream 

I recently had a dream where I was in a church and a unmasked pastor pointed to the image of a woman wearing a facemask in public and advised the congregation that: "Thy shalt not COVID thy neighbor's wife." 

That pun was so bad, it work me up. 

But it left me with a Ten Commandments question that had never occurred to me before. To wit: Why is it just "your neighbor's wife"? Why not your brother's wife, your boss's wife, your golfing partner's wife? Or simply, anyone's wife? And would it be OK to engage in coveting if you took care to exercise your philandering ways in someone else's neighborhood? 

Biden's Burden: He's Dropped His First Bomb 

Joe Biden just broke peacetime record: He bombed another country on just his 36th day in office. Instead of relying on diplomacy (as he repeatedly promised during his presidential campaign), Biden resorted to ballistics. 

By striking out against Iranian personnel inside Syria (two foreign nations that have not invaded, occupied, or bombed the US Homeland), Biden struck out on his promise to oversee an overseas foreign policy premised on dialogue, not diatribe. 

Biden's message came in the form of seven 500-pound bombs. From the initial videos available online (one including a targeted high-rise that prominently bore the name "Mercedes-Benz"), some of the bombs appeared to target a Syrian commercial district with civilian traffic and pedestrians visible on the streets during the nighttime strikes. Washington claimed the attack employed targetable "smart" bombs. (Note: While the Military Industrial Complex has gifted us with the phrase "smart bombs," the Mainstream Journalistic Complex has yet to introduce phrases like "mean bombs," "killer bombs," "body-blasters," or "child burners.") 

These attacks were conducted without consultation with Congress, raising the question: Is it too early to be reviving the debate over investigating impeachable acts? 

Meanwhile, the president has taken a lot of heat from the peace community (see the following two news items). 

• Biden Promises Diplomacy But Delivers Bombs (Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies at CODEPINK) 

• Biden Said ‘Diplomacy Is Back!’ Then He Started Dropping Bombs (Trita Parsi at The Guardian) 

The Whether Report 

Trying to determine whether the day will be sunny or cloudy can be a chancy matter, especially when the daily weather reports employ dicey language like "partly cloudy," "partly sunny," and "mixed sun and clouds." But what do you make of a forecast that predicts "breaking clouds"? 

When a cloud "breaks" wouldn't that be called a "cloudburst"? 

SNL: Socially Negligent Lampooning? 

In April 2020, Saturday Night Live broadcast an historic COVID-safe episode called "SNL at Home." The show was hosted by COVID-19 survivor Tom Hanks and all of the cast members appeared live but zooming in from safe, separate, remote locations. 

My, how times have changed. 

The latest February 27, 2021 edition of SNL began with a "cold open" that featured an impersonation of Dr. Anthony Fauci and ended with the entire cast and crew assembled onstage for a fully masked closing hug-fest. But, in between, viewers were treated to a series of sketches that involved cast members in up-close, face-to-face exchanges. 

Fauci and other members of the cautionary COVID community must have come close to fainting when a half-dozen of SNL's male cast members appeared in a "Bachelor Party," a pre-filmed sketch that featured extended and unmasked displays of full-throated male bonding worthy of a pre-pandemic Broadway musical. 

I can only hope Lorne Michaels is personally administering COVID testing. 

Twitter Jitters as CODEPINKer Suspended  

CODEPINK is seeing red after staff activist Ariel Gold's Twitter account was suspended. 

"Last week, on February 24, I woke up to find that Twitter had suspended my account," Gold writes. "Why? I have no idea, as Twitter has not provided me with any information despite my multiple appeals for an explanation and time frame for when my account will be reinstated/unsuspended. 

"For the past month, Twitter has been flagging my tweets and CODEPINK’s tweets for violating their rules. But what rules we have violated is mystifying. See all the details and flagged tweets here. 

"It’s not just CODEPINK: On February 23, 373 Twitter accounts associated with Armenia, Russia, and Iran were suspended. According to Twitter, a number of these suspensions were for “undermining faith in the NATO alliance and its stability.”  

ACTION: Sign a petition telling Twitter to reinstate Gold's account and stop targeting CODEPINK.  

Clashing Headlines 

The recently deposed Trump Dynasty liked to push the fake news that Black Lives protesters and left-wing Antifa rowdies posed the major threat of urban violence. But the Department of Homeland Security (and Trump's own FBI) warned that it was, in fact, white supremacist extremists who posed the "deadliest domestic terror threat to the United States." It turns out that flag-waving, pro-Trump extremists have killed more Americans than any other homegrown "terrorist threat." 

Fortunately, we have ranks of well-trained, sworn officers of the peace to protect our lives and defend human civility in the Homeland, right? 

Whoops! Slight problem. On March 3, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on a "website leak" that revealed how American Patriots Three Percent (a major anti-government militia) includes a significant number of members who happen to be "current and former military members, police and border patrol agents." 

So the ranks of the forces sworn to "protect and defend" America are populated by "sovereign citizens," Proud Boys, and Oathtakers who, as police officers, now enjoy improved access to the latest in weapons and training. 

Speaking of Terrorism 

More proof that the solution to violence is not more violence. Since Washington's declaration of the "Global War on Terror," acts of terrorism have only increased. In 2001, before the debut of the GWOT, there were 1,880 terror attacks worldwide. By 2015, the Cato Institute reports, the number of terror attacks topped 14,800. Fatalities worldwide also rose to unprecedented levels. In 2015, 38,422 people were killed by terrorism—a staggering 397 percent increase since the start of Washington's "War on Terror." 

During Barack Obama's two terms, Washington racked up a record number of foreign murders (including the controversial killing of several Americans—Anwar Nasser al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son, and 8-year-old daughter. All killed in separate attacks). It used to be that the CIA would kill foreign targets secretly. During Obama's time in office, he became the first president to publicly order assassinations—and to take credit for it. As Obama reportedly told aides during the 2012 campaign: "Turns out I'm really good at killing people." 

In 2016, the White House released an "internal assessment" of the number of civilians murdered by the US in countries that were not US-designated "war zones." 

The Intercept reports: "According to the data, US drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Libya killed between 64 and 116 civilians during the two terms of the Obama administration—a fraction of even the most conservative estimates on drone-related killings catalogued by reporters and researchers over the same period." The true number of civilians murdered in these acts of state-sponsored terrorism remains unknown. 

What is known: Over the past 20 years, the GWOT has cost taxpayers "$6.4 trillion, killed 7,000 US soldiers, cost the lives of 335,000 innocent civilians, and turned 37 million people into refugees. Meanwhile the US Empire has built more than 800 military bases inside other countries and, in just the past three years, conducted military "counter-terrorism" activities in 85 foreign countries. 

Only Six Months of Prime Lobbying Time Remains 

Interesting note on lobbying from the Friends Committee on National Legislation's Washington Newsletter: According to the FCNL, there are only six more months of effective lobbying time left in 2021. Here's why: 

"The first eight months of 2020 will be critical to the success of any legislation that can pass in the 117^th Congress. By the end of this year, members of Congress will already be running for reelection. Substantive legislative change becomes much more difficult as partisan political posturing takes hold." 

Vote for the Vote: The For the People Act 

This week, the House voted to pass H.R.1, "the most sweeping, transformative democracy reform in generations." The For the People Act would:  

• Uphold the ideal of “one person, one vote.”
• Make it easier to vote. 

• Limit secret political spending (a.k.a. “dark money”).
• Tackle partisan and racist gerrymandering.
• Give everyday Americans a fighting chance to run for office thanks to a public financing system funded by penalties on corporate wrongdoers.
• Improve election security.
• Prevent foreign interference in elections.
• Confront the corrupting influence of billionaire money in politics. 

Green Party Targets a "Poison Pill" in H.R.1 

The Green Party has faulted a provision in H.R.1 that would raise the bar for third parties hoping to qualify for federal matching funds. H.R.1 would quintuple the qualifying threshold for presidential campaign matching funds from $5,000 raised in each of 20 states to $25,000 per state in 20 states. 

Green Party National Co-Chair Tony Ndege called the provision “a ‘poison pill’ for democracy and opposition parties like the Green Party. How can they call this bill ‘For The People’ when they are silencing alternative parties at a time when more people than ever are demanding more political choice?” As Green Party National Co-Chair Gloria Mattera points out: “In recent presidential elections, Greens have been the only candidates to participate in the primary matching funds program.” 

The Green Party complained that other problematic provisions in HR-1 would: 

• Abolish the general election campaign block grants parties may access by winning at least 5% of the vote in the previous presidential election
• Replace general election block grants for campaign expenses—a step backwards for public campaign finance reform. New qualifying rules appear designed to squeeze out alternative parties and independent candidates
• Eliminate limits on donations and expenditures candidates can receive and make
• Inflate the amount of money national party committees can give to candidates from $5000 to $100 million—an astonishing increase of 1999900% (that's nearly two-millionth percent)

• A Fair Representation Act to establish multi-seat, proportional representation for Congress by Ranked-choice Voting (RCV)
• State adoptions of RCV for presidential general elections
• Fully-public campaign finance for every federal, state and local office through the Clean Money/Clean Elections mode.

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Brendan Boyle have introduced new legislation that would impose a wealth tax on households with a net worth of more than $50 million. The increased revenue would be used to fund priorities like childcare, health care, and jobs in our communities. 

Warren pointed out that: "Since the start of the COVID crisis, billionaire wealth has increased by 40 percent. Jeff Bezos alone has gotten $70 billion richer according to the Washington Post. But ten million Americans remain out of work and millions of families are struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on the table." 

Warren continues: "The tax system is so full of loopholes and special breaks that families in the top 0.1% pay about 3.2% of their wealth in taxes while the bottom 99% pay about 7.2% in taxes. The gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans is wider than ever. And it's bigger when you factor in race: the 400 richest Americans own more wealth than all Black households plus a quarter of Latino households combined." 

And the economic crisis has only been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Billionaire wealth now tops $4.2 trillion—40 percent higher than before the pandemic began—while growing numbers of American families have lost jobs and now face hunger and eviction.  

"We need to address the growing power of billionaires, corporations, and their lobbyists as they rig the system and rules in their favor," Warren says. "It's time for a wealth tax to make ultra-millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share." 

Warren has a petition that you can sign here: I support the proposed 2% wealth tax on the net worth of households between $50 million and $1 billion—3% for billionaire households—to help our nation Build Back Better. 

Spring Haiku from Bill Berkowitz 

Political pundit Bill Berkowitz is best known for his brisk and blistering political critiques but California's early burst of springtime weather has brought forth a sunny change in BB's truculent nature. Herewith, three haiku from Berkowitz's overflowing notebook:
Crocus Haiku 

They come once a year 

Even the cow is gobsmacked 

Welcome home Crocus 

A Ted Cruz Haiku
We are Cancun bound
Damn the frozen Texas folks
We prefer the warmth 

Limbaugh Gone
Bombastic hateful
Repulsive pompous toxic
Vile R. Limbaugh gone 

(OK. Only one haiku is certifiably sunny. But Cruz and Limbaugh both deserve the literary equivalent of a poetic "high coup.") 

I received an email this week from someone I talk with on occasion about housing and construction in Berkeley. It started with, “I learned from a friend of a friend who manages a 50 unit building that he has 50% vacancies…” The note goes on that the same person related that there are other buildings with 60% and 70% vacancies. 

It is no surprise to have vacant housing with UC Berkeley essentially shuttered to on-campus students. The 42,500 students (the number I’ve been given) probably make up close to a third of the city population—and on Monday a proposal for adding 8,500 more is scheduled to be announced via the Draft Environment Impact Report on the University’s Long Range Development Plan. Without students we are swimming with vacant apartments, but we had vacancies before they left. It is probably overly optimistic to expect the 2020 census to tell us more, but I am hopeful. 

High rents, a glut of vacant apartments, people on the street, politicians crying for the need for immediate action to solve the housing crisis, their rush for ordinances and resolutions to eliminate zoning codes, restrictions of what can be built where and the demand for evermore construction without oversight or public review. It is the new normal. It all fits perfectly into a housing market that isn’t about housing, but is about REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), buildings bundled, bought and sold. Housing has become the investment vehicle and it is the subject of the documentary film PUSH and the manufactured housing crisis. I highly recommend you join BCA for the virtual screening of PUSH listed in the Activist’s Calendar for Wednesday evening. I saw it last week. 

This sets the stage for the special Monday afternoon Council Land Use Committee meeting. Councilmember Droste didn’t get the expected positive recommendation to move forward her Quadplex Zoning Proposal at the February 18^th Land Use meeting. So many of us called in then that by the time we finished, the clock had run out. With the first step of ushering through the YIMBY proposal failing, a special meeting was called for Monday, March 1^st with Quadplex Zoning as the only agenda item. 

Councilmembers Droste, Taplin, and Kesarwani are listed as the authors with Mayor Arreguin listed as a Co-sponsor. 

YIMBY stands for Yes In My Back Yard. This is a well-funded housing deregulation movement sponsored by big tech and the real estate industry. And the Bay Area State Assembly and Senate are saturated with supporters. Just look to Scott Wiener, Buffy Wicks and Nancy Skinner. The YIMBY agenda is to deregulate housing--an apartment construction boom will follow. The theory sold to the believers in the deregulation movement is that the initial high rents will stabilize and then drop, solving the affordability crisis. 

Those of us who have been around long enough have seen how deregulation fails to bring the promised solutions, just like lowering taxes for the “job creators” never trickled-down to the rest of us. 

Deregulation is a boon for the investors, but the fallout for those living under it is just the opposite. Look at Texas and the failure of the energy grid. 

Councilmembers Droste and Taplin are leading the charge, with Robinson, Kesarwani, Bartlett and Mayor Arreguin signing on. Anne Applebaum in her book Twilight of Democracy, The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism writes of coming to terms with who her friends, acquaintances and colleagues had become. We need to come to terms with what the people we helped elect and voted for actually believe and how far they will go to further their careers. 

Councilmember Hahn kept her cool as she questioned Droste on the Quadplex Zoning. Hahn described the Quadplex Zoning measure as a moving target that should be divided into “upzoning,” which allows bigger and more expansive development which makes the land more valuable, a better money-making vehicle for investors and speculators, and “ministerial approval” which eliminates public review of the project to be constructed. Ministerial review is often spoken of interchangeably with “by-right” which goes one step, further meaning there can be no objection. All of this is the moving target of deregulation. 

Councilmember Robinson kept referring to “we” and Hahn asked, “who is the we?” It looked like Robinson was about to spill the beans on who else is involved, and then he caught himself. 

This all boils down to: What’s the rush to flood the city with resolutions, referrals and ordinances turning zoning upside down, or more accurately eliminating building restrictions? Those putting forth such measures declare that the goal is to correct past wrongs of racism and exclusionary housing and to fill the desperate housing needs especially for the “missing middle,” people with a fine income, just not enough to buy the million dollar dream home. 

Hahn announced at the beginning of the meeting that she had a hard stop at 4 pm. When the hour arrived and Hahn had to sign off, Robinson and Droste were almost gleeful in their good fortune that Hahn was no longer present. They floundered for a bit and then crafted a motion to take no action and to request the Agenda Committee schedule the Quadplex item for a special City Council meeting or work session. Council meetings can take action on items, while worksessions can’t. 

And, that was Monday. 

Thursday, March 4 was the scheduled regular meeting of the Land Use committee, and committee chair Robinson announced that only one item would be addressed,Taplin’s Resolution Recognizing Housing as a Human Right, but Hahn was back, with questions about what happened on Monday. 

As it turned out, the motion which had been crafted on the fly by Robinson and Droste doesn’t fit within the committee rules. Council committees have four choices: a positive recommendation, a qualified positive recommendation, a negative recommendation and a qualified negative recommendation. The motion to take no action and forward the Quadplex Zoning to the full Council could not stand. Either it had to be corrected, or Droste could withdraw the measure from committee and move it directly to Council. Droste said she would discuss which action to take with the mayor later in the day. As for the rest of the meeting, there was discussion of the Housing as a Human Right item, but no action was taken. 

Some notes requiring attention are buried in the Quadplex Zoning proposal. The property owner has no obligation to notify tenants of the sale of the property. This would deny tenants the ability to exercise the Tenants’ Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) if that measure ever passes. 

TOPA is actually a great measure where tenants would have the first right to buy a building when it is put up for sale. Of course, deregulation as proposed in the Quadplex resolution would make the ground underneath any apartment building so valuable to investors and speculators that the price would escalate out of reach of the lowly tenants even if subsidies could be found. 

There was another agenda item that was continued to a future meeting that needs tracking, the proposed Affordable Housing Overlay from Councilmember Taplin and co-sponsors Bartlett and Robinson. What this does, in short, is allow ministerial approval (counter sign-off by staff, no public hearing) for 100% low-to-moderate-income 7-story projects, and to allow for an additional 10’ density bonus (another story) to projects in residential neighborhoods (R-1, R-1A and R-2). It sounds wonderful at first glance, until one looks at the details, and this is where it gets loose. 

The entire project could be rented to moderate-income households. Per HUD, that is people earning 80% – 120% of the area median income (AMI). Using the Berkeley Housing Authority’s chart as the basis for calculating the AMI for a 1-person household, the result is $91,375/year. 

By that standard a person with moderate AMI is not poor, and would qualify for a unit as a moderate income earner, making the project sound as if it contributes to housing the poor while dancing on the edge of market rate. 

See: 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/BHA/Home/Payment_Standards,_Income_Limits,_and_Utility_Allowance.aspx. 

There were a few callers extolling the benefits of Quadplex Zoning on Monday and Thursday from the organization that used to be called BARF (Bay Area Renters Federation). It has morphed into California YIMBY and overlaps with East Bay for Everyone. These are true believers in trickle-down housing, that building everywhere without restraint will solve the problem of unaffordable housing for the many. Trying to change the mind of a YIMBY is like trying to convince someone wearing a MAGA hat that the election wasn’t stolen from Trump. 

Patrick M. Condon was a true believer until he saw it didn’t work. I’m working my way through his book Sick City Disease, Race: Inequality and Urban Land. My walk partner asked me today what the translation for the Latin quid pro quo is. It is, according to google translate, “something for something,” a favor for a favor. This rush to eliminate zoning codes and deregulate housing looks to be a combination of an investment vehicle, true believers, and a favor for a favor for someone vying for real estate industry support for a coveted career move.  

The last meeting to be covered is the Public Works Commission on Thursday evening. When I tuned in, the meeting was already in progress, with employees calling in from parking enforcement to speak against being moved to another department under the Mayor’s proposed BerkDOT. 

I don’t share the enthusiasm that is coming from some quarters of Berkeley for the Mayor’s idea of creating a Berkeley Department of Transportation (BerkDOT) as a solution to racially biased policing. The entire restructuring of parking enforcement, currently under the police department, in order to end biased policing strikes me as a costly and ill-timed misadventure. It should be preceded by the work just beginning: Reimagining Public Safety. That task force meets this coming Thursday, March 11 at 6 pm. 

Liam Garland has been tasked with developing the model for BerkDOT. As the new Director of Public Works, Garland is fulfilling his assignment. Just because we have a talented person assigned to lead a premature restructuring of the City organizational chart doesn’t make the timing any better. 

I’ve listened to Liam Garland at a number of City meetings. At each, I am grateful that he was hired. He comes with an impressive resume of work experiences that would be rare to see in the position he holds in city administration. He was an elementary school teacher, later an attorney representing victims of housing discrimination. Garland will be introduced at the Wednesday evening Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association meeting at 7 pm. 

I like to close with what I’m reading. Already mentioned is Twilight of Democracy, The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, by Anne Applebaum 2020. I also finished Nomadland by Jessica Bruder, 2017. The best quote in Nomadland comes from the main character, Linda, who describes Amazon as “people buying stuff they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.” Also, stacked on my iPad bookshelf is The Devil You Know, A Black Power Manifesto by Charles M. Blow, 2021 

It has been suggested that we exist in one of multiple universes. The Berkeley edition we seem to share is all too real, where civic passions often meet like a rubbing of sandpapers instead of cosmic inter-dimensionality.

Insight to a parallel world so similar as to be preferable at times has been brought to us, through which the lower campus of UC is revealed to be a golf course. These glimpses have reached us through the monthly foldover known as Pepper Spray Times. Dismissed (even by its editor) as a satire to spare us the truth of an alternate existence, its continuous and independent coverage of the otherworldly familiar since 1995 makes it the dean of all city news periodicals!

PST has provided coverage from the beyond of the local real-world outrages in a breezy to-the-point style reminiscent of old Shopping News fillers and progressive tabloids. When gathered in the new and complete two-volume collection Pepper Spray Paradise, however, we come to see these revelations not so much as porch-flier prose as Biblical writ. 

Check it out! Volume 1 is heftier than its second-testament continuation; both come in fitting desert sand covers. Even Jesus Himself has consented to spot interviews, although He was uncharacteristically grouchy after being named a UC regent. Like the famous original that answers all doubt, recipes must be hunted. Unlike it, humor is the manna of nutrition for the endurance needed to cope with this universe, one centered in a self-absorbed university town. Instead of prophets, the PST has depended upon a long series of inspired journalists, hired by founding editor Grace Underpressure—in our world, Carol Denney—staying just long enough to pad their resumes, and bearing double-entendre names that would make for a great phonebook listing, which I hope in their world they still have. Commandments—inflated to 11 or more—are softened into lists of advice or suggestions by a preternatural Dear Abby, aided by knows-all Lena Deeter ’s inviolable guidance. (Leena was a genuine treasure.) Several modern-day monks have illuminated the truth beneath truth in comic strips, but doctored photos are also used. 

There is more good news! These testaments are supplemented by two volumes bound in a forgiving robin’s-egg blue. As a digest of the Volumes 1 and 2, Pepper Spray Picnic could prove an ideal compendium for home-schooling or bedside perusal. Since wisdom on coping in the world of Berkeley is to be found on any page, it may also be seen as a scout guide. Picnic could even prove to be ideal for evangelizing, should a new continent be discovered. As to the use of the spray on ants, that remains an ultimate mystery. 

Its thin companion, Coronavirus Cartoon Chronicles, is something of an apocrypha. Divined over the last year’s pestilential storm, this is a collection of gesturally-drawn strips that ran in the PST and should have run in a major daily; I’d like to see them in my Saturday Chronicle, to off-set its anti-Berkeley editorials. 

PST readers know that the multi-talented Carol has a laser-beam sincerity which she delivers month after year with terrific humor and endless creativity, not to mention her contacts which don’t speak in this world but do in hers. But as with the great intent beneath the tender parables of Jesus, thunder lays beneath the levity. As she’s said, in the masthead yet, satire is serious business. It may be perverse to say that, next to voting, the protected right to ridicule power is the most precious of all—so long as we have it. Laughter is the lever that lets the steam out, the gas escape; satire specifies it. 

As it’s been with the Holy Book (of your choice), these compendia bear meaning, lessons and guidance for our time and especially place, and no salesman will call. If you haven’t already, wouldn’t this be a great time to bring satire-as-revelation into your life? Easter is just around the corner. We may get another visit, or we may not. Meanwhile, buy a set. Put them on that canted mahogany stand used for the family dictionary .. 

Most Americans think of Agent Orange as something from the distant and disagreeable past—as dated as hippie vans and tie-dyed T-shirts. But the truth is that Agent Orange is still with us. And will be for decades to come. 

In Vietnam, the Pentagon's chemical spraying of toxic dioxin-laced chemical herbicides has left five generations (and counting) burdened with a horrific legacy of stillborn babies, deformed children, and crippled adults hidden away and condemned to lives of struggle and early death. The risk to future generations remains. 

The US developed Agent Orange as a weapon of mass destruction. During "Operation Ranch Hand" (1962-1971), the US dumped 20 million gallons of herbicide over 5,5 million acres of forests and crops in Vietnam and Laos. Nearly 4.9 million Vietnamese were exposed and 400,000 have died from resulting cancers, birth defects, autoimmune diseases, skin disorders, and neurological problems. Today, one million Vietnamese suffer from the inherited after-effects of the poison—100,000 of them are children. 

In the US, generations of children born to soldiers who served in Vietnam continue to bare the burden of the chemical's toxic curse—their health compromised by more than a dozen maladies including Lou Gehrig's disease, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Chronic B-Cell leukemia, genetic defects, and a variety of cancers. Not to mention bizarre physical mutations (missing limbs and deformed hands) that resemble the afflictions seen in the hospital wards of Vietnam. 

But, as a stunning new documentary reveals, it gets worse. It turns out that, after the war's end, Agent Orange was quietly approved for use inside the US. 

Alan Adelson's meticulously researched film, The People Versus Agency Orange, travels to three continents and investigates 50 years of corruption and cover-up to reveal how this devastating weapon of mass destruction was quietly brought back to the US to write a new chapter in a long history of human misery. 

When the war ended (with the defeat and retreat of the US military), Monsanto and Dow Chemical began looking for new markets for its powerful defoliant. Under pressure from these powerful chemical companies, the Pentagon's stockpiles of Agent Orange were redirected for use inside the US. Under supervision of the US Forest Service—and with the approval of a succession of Republican and Democrat administrations—Agent Orange began to fall over American forests. 

Get tickets for the special virtual screening here. When you visit the ticketing page, you can pick whichever one of the 38 virtual cinemas you would like to support. The Bay Area venues screening the film include Marin Country's Smith Rafael Film Center (Friday, March 5 through Sunday, March 7: 4:00 PM) and San Francisco's Balboa Theater (Tickets $12; streaming for ten days) and the Vogue Theater.
The People Versus Agent Orange provides emotionally wrenching perspectives from three countries: From Vietnam, where mutant children with twisted limbs and misshapen bodies are hidden away in protected wards. From a small forest community in Oregon where spray drift from government helicopters has been linked to illness, cancers, and miscarriages. From France, where Tran To Nga, an aging victim of Agent Orange (who was exposed during her days as a resistance fighter in Vietnam's targeted forests), is heroically pursuing her legal case against 26 US-based multinational chemical companies in hopes of winning a judgment against the poison-makers before her own life comes to an end. 

Tran To Nga, a French-Vietnamese journalist whose legal plea is currently before the Tribunal de Grande Instance in France, was doused repeatedly with Agent Orange in the forests of Vietnam when she was a member of the local resistance. Her first daughter died of a heart defect while her two surviving children and grandchildren all suffer from compromised health. 

The other hero of this story is 80-year-old Carol Van Strum, a UC Berkeley alum who was active in the Port Chicago Vigil and other anti-war protests in the 60s. From her home on Derby Street, Van Strum worked with an "underground railroad" that helped disaffected soldiers go AWOL by crossing the border into Canada. She became a journalist, authored several books, and was, at one point, co-owner of Cody's Books on Telegraph Avenue. 

In 1974, the Van Strums relocated to a 160-acre homestead in the Five Rivers region of rural Oregon. Life was idyllic until the day a Forest Service tanker accidentally sprayed the Van Strum children while they were playing in a local stream. 

"They didn't even see the kids," Van Strum recalls as the film screens a photo of her four smiling children in a family photo. That night they were not smiling. "The kids were all choking and gasping. That night they were all really sick. They had diarrhea. They had trouble breathing," Van Strum recalls. 

When she visited the riverside the next day, she found the remains of dead ducklings and fish. Within weeks, local residents witnessed an outbreak of dead and deformed birds with twisted beaks, clubfeet, and useless wings. 

The US Forest Service assured the Van Strums that the chemical was "perfectly safe." What they were not told was that the spray included 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, which contains the deadly mutagenic compound known as dioxin. 

The Forest Service granted the local timber industries permits to apply chemical sprays after a ruling against the logging industry's practice of clearcutting forests leaving behind acres of devastated mountainsides. Repeated spraying of the already denuded land was justified as necessary to eliminate "unwanted plants and speed the growth of timber." Somehow this argument didn't square with the fact that the chemical spray had been created specifically to destroy forests. 

When Van Strum began to ask questions of her rural neighbors, she discovered a troubling rise in miscarriages, tumors, spontaneous abortions, and birth defects had followed in the wake of the spraying. 

The chemical industry's defenders included Dr. Cleve Goring of Dow Chemical Research who blithely dismissed local concerns by claiming: "The attack is not scientific. It's purely emotional. The public does not understand" that 2,4,5-T is "about as toxic as aspirin." 

When attempts to challenge the spraying were rebuffed, Van Strum began a personal resistance that involved collecting four decades worth of documentation—much of it secured by the persistent filing of Freedom of Information Act requests. The collection—including rare corporate documents—eventually became known as the Poison Papers (a reference to Daniel Ellsberg's Pentagon Papers). Van Strum's research has played a key role in Tran To Nga's lawsuit in France. 

A Grim Turn from Toxins to Terror 

Halfway through The People Versus Agent Orange, the story takes on the chilling overtones of another film, the biopic, Silkwood, which tells the story of the mysterious death of nuclear power whistleblower Karen Silkwood. 

Van Strum had, by now, formed a local anti-spray organization called Community Against Toxic Spray and, as CATS began to garner increased press attention, the response of the timber/chemical interests kicked up a notch. 

Homes were burglarized and collections of community health surveys were stolen. Driving alone on empty local roads, activists suddenly found themselves being followed by strange cars driven by "men in suits." Phones were being tapped. One local doctor decided to cease her work with CATS after a visit by two men who said they wanted to talk about herbicides. Once inside her home, they asked pointedly: "Do you know at all times where your children are?" 

The chemical and timber companies started provocative PR campaigns targeting members of CATS and depicting them as individuals who "threaten your jobs." 

The horror peaked on January 1, 1978 when Van Strum returned from visiting a neighbor and found her home totally engulfed in flames. All four of her children were trapped inside and perished in the conflagration. The local fire marshal called the fire suspicious and potentially a case of arson but State Police ruled it "accidental in nature with the actual cause unknown." Van Strum believes her family was targeted. 

After a painful period of mourning, Van Strum retreated into a smaller building on the properly and returned to amassing more documents and testimonies. 

"I can't save the world," she told a reporter for Our Coast Magazine, "but I'll fight tooth and nail to save this little corner of it." She added: "The death of our children left me with what they loved—this farm, this dirt, these trees, this river, these birds, fish, newts, deed, and fishers—to protect and hold dear. These became my anchor to windward, keeping me from just drifting away with every wind that blows." 

In 1983, Van Strum went on to write a powerful book, A Bitter Fog: Herbicides and Human Rights (revised in 2014) and, in March 2018, she was honored with the David Brower Lifetime Achievement Award at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at University of Oregon 

A Planet Interview with Director Alan Adelson 

GS: Did the Forest Service have other excuses for continued spraying of Agent Orange on already dead mountainsides? Somehow "spraying to discourage vegetative competition to resumption of logging" doesn't seem persuasive. We see dead vegetation being sprayed and re-sprayed. How could logging benefit from continued poisoning of the land? After all, the slogan of Operation Ranch Hand was: "Only you can prevent forests!" 

AA: The question is ever-so-pertinent. What we may not see on those "dead mountainsides" are young weeds beginning to sprout. The "nozzleheads" (Carol Van Strum's term) may believe multiple sprayings are necessary to kill weeds over the long haul. A more pertinent truth is that each Douglas fir sapling can be cleared of weeds around its base by workers with mattocks and weed claws. There was an outfit called the Hoedads that did this for years in Oregon . . . .  

GS: Does this kind of logger-backed spraying occur in other states or is it just practiced in the forests of the northwest?  

AA: I understand it's happening in the timberlands in Oregon, Washington State, Idaho, and California . . . . I am told that the aerial spraying of herbicides on agricultural crops is a very serious problem in Florida as well, where legal actions are being supported by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and other groups to stop it. 

GS: After the film debuts on March 5, how long will it be available for streaming? 

AA: There is the link to the "screenings" page on our website. There are "hot spots" for ticket purchases from all of the theaters. Folks can choose whatever theater they want to support. There are discounts being offered to veterans, environmental activists, seniors, students and anyone else who wants help to see the film. These discounts are being made possible by donations, which are also possible on the same ticketing forms. The discounts will continue to remain available until funds from donations run out. The links for ticketing, discounts and donations appear under the various theaters via: https://www.thepeoplevsagentorange.com/screenings-1 

GS: The film includes covert footage captured Darryl Ivy, a spraying helicopter service technician. He complains about his exposure to the chemicals—burning throat, a large tumor on his tongue, et cetera. The last image of him in your film shows him holding a bedsheet spotted with blood. That's never a good sign. 

AA: Yes, lots of folks ask about Darryl. It took a good while for him to recover his health. He's a health fanatic of sorts now. Working out in a gym many days a week, highly muscular. He wants to spread the word on how folks can live optimally free of herbicide exposure and is contemplating a book about it all.  

Carol Van Strum Recalls Her Struggle 

The following quotes are excerpted from a Mongabay interview conducted on March 14, 2018 following the presentation of the 2018 David Brower Lifetime Achievement Award. 

There is so much new science on healthy forests in the past decade alone. Is selective harvesting of trees without herbicides still a solid approach? 

If you travel or fly around the area where I live, in the central Oregon Coast Range, you can tell immediately what lands are private/corporate owned and which are national forest. 

The corporate lands are effectively strip-mined, vast areas of bare soil punctuated by dead stumps here and there, the whole dead landscape sliding into creeks and rivers, not only poisoning aquatic life but silting up the spawning grounds of endangered coho and other salmon. 

The national forest, by contrast, is green and thriving, with a varied canopy of hemlock, cedar, alder, maple, et cetera, as well as the commercially valuable Douglas fir. . . . 

Back in the 1970s, when the USDA embraced the use of herbicides no longer allowed in Vietnam, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers amazingly criticized the idea, saying that northwest forests had evolved over millions of years to the most efficient possible use of the soil, climate, water, and geology of this area, and it was sheer arrogance to think humans could improve on that. 

Fraudulent studies and corruption where the use of pesticides and herbicides are concerned — still an issue today? 

Absolutely! The fraud and corruption detailed in “A Bitter Fog” are just better concealed today, as E.G. Vallianatos’s recent book, “Poison Spring,” makes abundantly clear. 

Vallianatos was a research chemist at the U.S. EPA for 25 years, during the time the fraud was first uncovered. What he reveals is that the entire process of pesticide registration is a sham, as EPA simply accepts summaries of safety testing submitted by the companies, and then EPA staffers cut and paste entire portions of those summaries into a registration approval. 

[According to the book], the EPA thus rubber-stamps whatever companies send them, making it extremely difficult for the public ever to see the actual studies or examine the raw data from the companies, which are not available under the Freedom of Information Act because they were never provided to the EPA. 

The Children of Vietnam 

Worth Noting:

Another full week ahead

Monday - At the 2:30 pm Agenda Planning Committee Item 6 Objective Standards for the Implementation of State Housing Law is listed as consent, it should be an action item as the committee assigned to establish objective standards did not reach agreement. Objective standards take on critical importance with the increasing number of proposals for ministerial approval (no public review) of major projects. The Agenda Committee may take up reorganizing Commissions. Those with concerns about the various proposals for restructuring should attend and be prepared to speak.

Tuesday – Regular City Council meeting at 6 pm

Wednesday – If you want to know more about what is happening with housing, watch the very interesting documentary film PUSH. BCA is sponsoring the virtual screening

Thursday – The Reimagining Public Safety Task Force meets at 6 pm

Saturday – BNC meets at 10 am. The new Police Accountability Board that we approved by ballot initiative is explained at 4 pm.



If you have a meeting you would like included in the summary of meetings, please send a notice to kellyhammargren@gmail.com by noon on the Friday of the preceding week. 

Sunday, March 7, 2021  

DSA sponsored movie series, Who is the International Working Class Today, 6 pm 

https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1825/2021-03-07-movie-series-who-is-the-international-working-class-today/ 

Videoconference: https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1825/2021-03-07-movie-series-who-is-the-international-working-class-today/ 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 858 7053 6500 Passcode: movie 

AGENDA: Documentary film of workers in Chicago in 2008 who occupied the Republic Windows and Doors and organized the plant into a worker-owned cooperative, Q&A at 7:10 pm 

Monday, March 8, 2021 

City Council Health, Life Enrichment, Equity & Community Committee, at 10 am, 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83663740251 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 836 6374 0251 

AGENDA: 2. Requesting CA State Legislature to introduce actions to value human life and to condemn racial injustice and police brutality, 3. Presentation Public Health Implications for unsanitary conditions at Aquatic Park, 

Agenda and Rules Committee, 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/Policy_Committee__Agenda___Rules.aspx 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87847857478 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 878 4785 7478 

AGENDA: 2. Review and approve draft agenda for March 23 regular Council meeting, CONSENT: 1. Add $100,000 total $250,000with AG Witt for COVID-19 Emergency Operations Cost Recovery Consultant, 2. Partnership with EBCE to Pursue Solar and Battery Energy Storage Systems on Municipal Facilities, 3. Add $250,000 total $1 million add 3 years to 6/30/25 with Serological Research Institute for DNA Testing Services, 4. FY2022 Street Lightening Assessments, 5. Add $150,000 total $250,000 extend to 6/30/2022 with Restoration Management Company for emergency services in the event of flooding, sewer backups or other property damage that requires restoration, 6. Objective Standards for Density, Design and Shadows from Joint Subcommittee for the Implementation of State Housing Laws (pages 21- 41), 7. Appointment of boona cheema and Javonna Blanton to Mental Health Commission, 9. Proclamation Holocaust Remembrance Day, 10. Support AB 286: requires food delivery platforms to provide accurate transaction breakdowns, 11. Support AB 314: right to unionize and bargain for improved wages and working conditions, 12. Support AB 328: allows those with recent histories of incarceration to remain stably housed and exit homelessness through grants and housing services interventions, 13. Support AB 1400: Health Care for All, ACTION: 14. Updated BESO fees, 15. ZAB Appeal 1200 San Pablo, 16. Partnership for the Bay’s Future and Current Anti-Displacement Initiatives, 17. 2021 Alameda County Redistricting Process – calling for resources for redistricting, 18. Refer to staff to work with Ashby Recreation and Community Housing (ARCH) to develop a planning grant for Ashby BART East Parking Lot, 19. Establish a Parking Benefits District in the Adeline Corridor Budget Referral $50,000, Information Reports: 20. Children, Youth and Recreation Commission FY2021 Work Plan, Referred Items for Review: 8. Impact of COVID-19 on meetings, 9. Commission Reorganization (due April 1, Droste author, Co-sponsors Kesarwani & Robinson, Unscheduled Items: 10. Systems Realignment, 11. Amendments to BERA Officeholder Accounts and Council Office Budget Expenditures, (packet 296 pages) 

Youth Commission, at 5 pm 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Youth_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/92807173116 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 928 0717 3116 

AGENDA: 5. Public Comment, 8. Report Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, 9. Report Out from Consent and Sex Education Working Group, 10. Report Out from Anti-Racist Working Group, 11. Report Out from Trigger Warning Group, Items 12 – 17 form subcommittees on Consent and Sex Education, Racial Justice and Trigger Warnings, 

EV 102: New EV Owner Workshop at 7 pm 

https://drivecleanbayarea.org/new-ev-owner-workshop/ 

Go to website to pre-register and obtain links, City of Berkeley sponsored from the Office of Energy & Sustainable Development, 

Tuesday, March 9, 2021 

City Council Regular Meeting, March 9 at 6 pm, 

To comment email: council@cityofberkeley.info 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87992485568 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 879 9248 5568 

AGENDA: 2. Settlement Stahlschmidt v. COB $75,533, 3. Commission stipend $100/meeting adjustment for qualifying annual household income < 50% Alameda Co AMI with annual CPI inflator, 4. Confirm At-Large appointments to Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, 5. Deferral $676,464 remaining building permit fees, etc for 2009 Addison Berkeley Rep Theater project, 6. $48,994 Kitchen electrification grant from EBCE for North and South Berkeley Senior Centers, 7. Amend contract add $270,000 total $630,000 with United Site Service for additional portable toilet and handwashing stations for period of 2 yr with option to extend for 3-12 month periods, 8. Contracts $1 million each with AnchorCM and Park Engineering, Inc for on-call Capital Improvement Projects at Berkeley Waterfront 4/1/2021 – 6/30/2024, 9. Loan agreement $5,500,000 for replacement D & E docks at Berkeley Marina, 10. Grant Application $500,000 Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Project (EEMP) to plant urban forest trees, 11. Amendments to BERA to regulate Officeholder accounts and to change donations to nonprofit organizations made in the name of the entire City Council (not individuals), 12.a&b. Amend Source of Income Discrimination Ordinance to establish Enforcement Procedure – Council Land Use Committee made qualified recommendations to a. with referral to 4 x 4 committee to explore enforcement alongside fair chance ordinance, 13. Council discretionary funds to HelpBerkeley, 14. Declare 3/21/2021 – 4/10/2021 as Cesar Chavez-Delores Huerta Commemorative Period, 15. Budget Referral Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) at 6^th and Addison, 16. Budget referral George Florence Park Traffic calming (10^th Street between University and Allston), 17. Resolution Supporting HR 25 Calling for Federal Investigation on Sedition at US Capitol and Expulsion of Complicit Members of Congress, 18. Support SB 260 Climate Corporate Accountability Act, 19. Support Vision 2025 for Sustainable Food Policies (increasing plant based food) Council Committee Health, Life Enrichment recommends adopt resolution as amended, 20. Resolution in Support of Establishing Statewide Targets for 100% Zero-Emission Vehicle sales, 21. Budget Referral to allocate Transportation Network Companies Tax (Uber, Lyft, etc.) to Bicycle Boulevards and Street Repair Programs, 22. Council discretionary funds to Kala Art Institute, 23. Resolution Condemning Anti-Asian Hate and Violence, 24. Affirm COB Support for People of Tibet, ACTION: 25. Resolution Clarifying Eligibility for Historic Landmark Designation for Residences of Notable Residents, 26. Berkeley Economic Dashboards Update, INFORMATION REPORTS: 26. Peace and Justice 2021-2022 Workplan, 27. Youth Commission Workplan, 

Wednesday, March 10, 2021 

4x4 Joint Task Force Committee on Housing: Rent Board/City Council, at 3 pm 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/4x4_Committee_Homepage.aspx 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/98120154505?pwd=eFN2cXhHMkU2Vmc0dHlLQlh5QTcydz09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 981 2015 4505 Passcode: 965937 

AGENDA: 5. Amendments on Short Term Rental Ordinance, 6. Update on Amendments to Demolition Ordinance, 7. Affordable Housing Overlay, 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Outreach Committee, at 5:30 pm 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/97798424322?pwd=STB2OTZqOFpyRTVUL2ZRZk9meXFsZz09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 977 9842 4322 Passcode: 789996 

AGENDA: 5. Survey 2021, a) History of surveys, b) Next Steps for New Survey, 7. Update MM, 8. Work Plan, 8. Social Media and website outreach, 

Parks and Waterfront Commission, at 7 pm 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Parks_and_Waterfront_Commission.aspx 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/96974512296 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 969 7451 2296 

AGENDA: 7. Capital Budget, 8. Presentation Annual Monarch Butterfly Monitoring at Aquatic Park, 9. Workplan, 10. Request to Council to allocate Transient Occupancy Tax, (“hotel tax”) generated in the Marina to the Marina, 11. 600 Addison, 12. PWC Capital Budget FY2022, 13. Pickleball and BMX/bike sites, 14. Monthly vacancy report and crime update,  

Police Review Commission, at 7 pm 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Police_Review_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87070468124 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 870 7046 8124 

AGENDA: 3. Public Comment on agenda and non-agenda items, 7. Chief of Police Report, 9. a. Policy 311 inquiring about supervised release status of detainees and searches, b. Update on transition to new Police Accountability Board 

Thousand Oaks Neighborhood Association, at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84380068532?pwd=K0NBZUYvcDFPd0Q3Rzh1dVkwOHAvQT09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 843 8006 8532 Passcode: 924224 

AGENDA: Meet Berkeley’s new Director of Public Works, Liam Garland, 

Documentary Film PUSH (film about manipulation of housing), 7 pm  

Film website: https://www.pushthefilm.com/ 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81011677643?pwd=Q0NzUDB4TVVZQzZsV1ZWcFFsY1hLdz09 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 810 1167 7643 Passcode: BCA 

AGENDA: Virtual screening sponsored by BCA, Film is about the manipulation of housing as an asset and commodity. To watch an interview with the director and Leilani Farha as they talk about the state of housing in California and the world go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4-VORQZ1-Q 

Thursday, March 11, 2021 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee, at 10 am, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/Policy_Committee__Budget___Finance.aspx 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84346639907 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 843 4663 9907 

AGENDA: 2. FY2022 Budget Update, 3. Unfunded Liability Obligations, Unfunded Infrastructure Needs ($1.1 billion from FY2022-FY2026 – chart packet page 41) and FY2021 Mid-Year Report, 4. Parks, Recreation & Waterfront and Public Works Capital Improvement Plan, 5. Potential Measure P FY2022 Allocations (pages 93-128), 6. Disposition Referrals, Projects and Audits – pages 129 – 210), 

Zoning Adjustment Board, at 7 pm 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/zoningadjustmentsboard/ 

Videoconference: https://zoom.us/j/91445166785 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 914 4516 6785 

AGENDA: 2. 1330 and 1336 Gilman – add sale of beer and wine at existing grocery store – on consent 

3. 800 Dwight Way – Bayer Building 69 – construct 98,840 sq ft, 4-story, 79 ft tall building for manufacturing use – staff recommend approve 

Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, at 6 pm 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/RIPST.aspx 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81679043514 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 816 7904 3514 

AGENDA: 2. Mayor and City Manager comments, 8. Reimagining Public Safety Overview, National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) Work Plan, 10. Community Engagement – NICJR, 11. 911 calls-for-service analysis from City Auditor, 

Friday, March 12, 2021 

City of Berkeley Reduced Service Day 

Elmwood Business Improvement District Advisory Board, at 9 am 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Elmwood_BID_Board_Homepage.aspx 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86443349885 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 864 4334 9885 

AGENDA: V. Budget and Work Plan, 

Saturday, March 13, 2021 

BNC (Berkeley Neighborhoods Council), at 10 am, waiting room opens at 9:45 am, 

https://berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/ 

Videoconference and Teleconference not published yet, check website for links 

AGENDA: 10 – 10:15 am welcome and Panoramic Hill Associations update, 10:15 – 10:45 am Lehigh Hanson Asphalt Plant Air Quality Issues with update and Q&A with Deputy City Manager Paul Buddenhagen, 10:45-11:15 am ADU Standards and Ministerial Approval, 11:15 – 11:45 Quadplex Zoning and Ending Exclusionary Zoning, 11:45 – 12 noon Announcements and Adjourn, 

Oversight of Policing in Berkeley at 4 – 5 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86908147095 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 869 0814 7095 

AGENDA: The new Police Accountability Board, with Mayor Arreguin and Councilmember Harrison and the Police Review Commission, 1. History and Function of Community Oversight, 2. What’s Changing in Berkeley, 3. How to apply to the Police Accountability Board, Questions can be asked during the Q&A or submitted in advance to prcmailbox@cityofberkeley.info 

Sunday, March 14, 2021 

No City meetings or events found 

__________________________ 

Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals 

1200-1214 San Pablo (construct mixed-use building) 3/23/2021 

2421 Fifth Street (construct two residential buildings) TBD 

Notice of Decision (NOD) and Use Permits with End of Appeal Period 

1328 Alcatraz 3/11/21 

1528 Berkeley Way 3/16/2021 

31 Florida 3/2/2021 

2634 MLK 3/16/2021 

1481 Stannage 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications_in_Appeal_Period.aspx 

LINK to Current Zoning Applications https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications.aspx 

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WORKSESSIONS 

March 16 – 1. Capital Improvement Plan (Parks & Public Works), 2. Digital Strategic Plan/FUND$ Replacement Website Update, 3. FY 2021 Mid-Year Report and Unfunded Liabilities Report (tentative) 

May 18 – (tentative) – 1. Bayer Development Agreement, 2. Affordable Housing Policy Reform 

Unscheduled Workshops/Presentations 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Berkeley Police Department Hiring Practices (referred by Public Safety Committee) 

Update Zero Waste Priorities 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

Systems Realignment 

This meeting list is also posted on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

http://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html and in the Berkeley Daily Planet under activist’s calendar http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com 

To Check For Regional Meetings with Berkeley Council Appointees go to 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Committee_and_Regional_Body_Appointees.aspx 

To check for Berkeley Unified School District Board Meetings go to 

https://www.berkeleyschools.net/schoolboard/board-meeting-information/ 

If you wish to receive the weekly summary as soon as it is completed, email kellyhammargren@gmail.com to be added to the early email list. If you wish to stop receiving the Weekly Summary of City Meetings please forward the weekly summary you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com,