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A BERKELEY ACTIVIST'S DIARY: Week ending March 21
The week started with the Council Agenda and Rules Committee meeting Monday afternoon, with planning for the March 30th regular City Council meeting, and then descended (at 39:29 on the recording which is posted online)into Mayor Arreguin’s plan to fast-track the Quadplex Zoning proposal launched by Councilmember Lori Droste, which had already run into trouble.There has been an uproar from the community about its contents.
Councilmembers Rigel Robinson and Droste voted to pass the quadplex item out of the Land Use committee, in violation of committee rules, after Councilmember Hahn had to leave the meeting at a time she’d announced when it began. In addition, former Mayor Shirley Dean filed a Brown Act complaint against the proceedings. The Brown Act is a state law which protects public access to meetings of California government entities. It prohibits behind-the-scenes discussions by a majority of members of legislative matters which they will vote on. Faced with these complications, Droste rescinded her most recent draft of the Quadplex Zoning item, so Arreguin set the path to push it through.
Here's the dialogue recorded at the Agenda Committee on Monday:
Arreguin: As noted as I advertised last Monday [March 8,2021] We had discussed the prior item [Quadplex Zoning] that was submitted by Vice-Mayor Droste which was rescinded. I’d announced at that time my intention as the Mayor to call a special meeting of the City Council and I have the power to do that under municipal code, to take up an item that will be submitted this week…”After discussion between Hahn and Arreguin, Hahn agreed to take up the item which she and Councilmembers Harrison and Barlett had submitted to the Agenda Committee, entitled Initiation of Participatory Planning for Berkeley’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation, at a special meeting, if that meeting occurred before March 30th.
Arreguin then turned to Councilmember Wengraf (at 42:56 into the recording) .
Wengraf: Yes I’d just like to ask some questions. To my knowledge nobody has been invited to this meeting on the 25th. It happens to be an extremely inconvenient time for me…the other thing is that the way this is being framed these are the only two items that are being considered in terms of the housing element, which is really giving short shrift to all the work we’ve been doing…I want to make sure that our housing element represents a community vision…so, are you suggesting that the community vision and the community engagement process happen entirely at the Planning Commission and that Council not ...And, this is the point where Arreguin started talking over Wengraf and interrupting.
Wengraf: I’m just trying to figure out if this meeting,Arreguin talks over,
“I think we’re veering off topic”As Wengraf started to speak again, Arreguin cut her off,
“I have the power as mayor to call a special meeting of the Council and I’m availing myself of that power…”The exchange ends at 47:31 with Wengraf conceding:
“well ok, as you said, you have the power to do that.”All this leaves me with the question of what is really going on. Have there been handshakes to push through upzoning? Upzoning means more and bigger buildings on a plot of land. The fervor with which all these land use changes are being pushed through would make one think so.https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zq7y9dh8dnzxmyr/AAB5RiBjmc_ym-8xpv1e10XOa?dl=0
Vancouver Professor Patrick M. Condon writes, on page 12 in Sick City Disease, Race, Inequality and Urban Land, “…the smartest people in the development game are the land speculators, men and women who make a handy living out of hunting up land that might soon be ‘improved’ by the provision of a new highway, a new transit station or a change in allowable land use…”
The final agenda for the March 25th special meeting has now been posted. If Arreguin follows his usual behavior pattern, he will bring in some supposed compromise at the last minute which the public will not have a chance to see before the meeting starts. He will suggest that it includes all the important points, when he will have, in fact, gutted the Hahn, Harrison, and Bartlett measure. Let’s hope I’m wrong. Here’s a link to the agenda, which provides links for zooming in to the meeting by computer or by telephone:
Coming out of this pandemic year, not everyone is suffering from losing their job, their business, is unable to pay the rent, or make loan payments. There is a segment that is seeing their wealth expand. The suffering of others along with upzoning makes for a perfect investment buying opportunity for available capital. Is that what is going on here? There are “helpers” in the background for framing how to propagandize upzoning.
There was another item in the planned agenda for March 30th, a resolution on the Rights of Nature which passed out of the Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment and Sustainability Committee (FITES) with a qualified positive motion. "Qualified" means that the original motion required some changes to pass. In this case, the rewording placed the obligation of ensuring the rights of nature on the city instead of on the residents.
Wengraf suggested moving the motion to consent. Arreguin said he was personally opposed. Hahn said she had some questions: What does "the rights of nature" mean? It means shifting from thinking of humans as masters of the universe to being part of the natural living world.
Elizabeth Kolbertl author of the Sixth Extinction, has a new book Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future. It is about human action and the attempts to clean up the consequences. Maybe someone mentioned here should read it.
(As regards “master’, I should be counting the number of times Arreguin uses, “I have the power.” )
After this start not much else seemed to matter this week, except the financial reports on Tuesday evening giving the costs of not maintaining infrastructure. Liam Garland, the new Director of Public Works, is picking up the pieces left by not maintaining our streets. Garland gave the bad news that continuation of years neglecting to maintain streets in good repair is rolling into $1 billion. He also pointed out that the poor condition of the streets has a personal cost too for bicyclists and pedestrians trying to navigate them and in damage to cars driving over them.
The Thursday morning Land Use, Housing and Economic Development Committee ran over until 1:35 pm, 3 hours of discussion about the Tenants’ Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA). This has been in the making long before the pandemic started a year ago. There is a lot that sounds good, but, as one attendee said, there really should be a side by side comparison between what tenants lose versus possible gains from TOPA. There also needs to be more than 1 minute given to callers that referenced problems with TOPA as enacted in other cities like Washington D.C. . I would like to see side by side presentations on the pluses and minuses of TOPA with robust discussion, not one minute sound allowances. Personally, after Thursday I am back on the fence wondering whether TOPA is a bad or good idea. Then I wonder, if it passes, will it really benefit any more than a handful of people with what looks to be a future of immense profits for land speculators?
There are a few thoughts I would like to leave with you.
With all these proposals for housing, I looked up what is available from the 2020 Census. So far it is just gross numbers and we don’t have specific details. But California is losing population, a trend that started after 2017. United States Census Bureau figures can be found at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/technical-documentation/research/evaluation-estimates.html What we know makes one wonder why so much population growth is projected by planners. The apparent trend certainly fits with all the vacant local housing.
It’s spring, gardening might be on your mind even if it is limited to pots instead of a plot of land. The California Native Plant Society has a website with the page Restore Nature One Garden at a Time (https://calscape.org/) One of my neighbors is really into native plants supporting bees, butterflies and birds. It is delightful to spend time there.
Last, I always like to finish with a book. I put down my heavy reading for a week and picked up Here Comes Trouble by Michael Moore published in 2011. It’s a collection of autobiographical personal stories, some sad, some funny and overall enjoyable and an informative read. It’s also uplifting for those of us who like to make as John Lewis said, “good trouble.”
