Yesterday, August 4, in a lawsuit brought by Make UC A Good Neighbor and the Peoples Park Historic District Advocacy Group (PPHDAG) challenging UC’s approval of housing to be built in People’s Park, the California Court of Appeal issued a temporary stay enjoining UC Berkeley from all construction, further demolition, tree cutting and landscape alteration at People’s Park, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The stay does not extend to landscape alterations necessary for public health and safety or to the erection of a security fence. -more-

Opponents of the University of California at Berkeley's plan to build housing at People's Park have filed an appeal to a judge's ruling this week that gave the university permission and led to arguably violent protests Wednesday, arrests and injured law enforcement officers.

Opponents of the plans for the park are also seeking to keep the university from continuing work as the appeal moves through the courts. Meanwhile, the university is assessing its next move.

Wednesday's protests were unexpected and unanticipated, UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof said Thursday. He said that it is going to take more than a few hours to assess the right move for the university.

"We need to get it right," he said. -more-

I applaud Mayor Arreguín’s leadership in standing on the side of fundamental human rights and civilian control of the police.    

I’m deeply concerned that the Berkeley City Manager, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, and UC are asking us to undermine the fundamental principle of mutual aid: that each city’s elected officials decide on their own terms the equipment and policies deployed.   -more-

At 10 o'clock this morning, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin announced that he has cancelled tonight's special meeting of the Berkeley City Council, which was announced last night at eight P.M. He tweeted this:

"I’m canceling the meeting. Our policy stands and shame on the Sheriff for threatening to not provide emergency support to Berkeley." -more-

it has come to my attention that you could consider suspending the city’s policy against the use of tear gas, smoke and pepper spray for the duration of the City Council recess. The irresponsibility of putting an action like that in place during a time when the council can not act and respond to the situation is extremely irresponsible if not criminal.

I can only imagine you are considering it under the pressure of your UC controllers to encourage them forward in their attack on People’s Park and the People of Berkeley.

The folly of the plan to try to build on People’s Park is evident. It has been an immoral and blatantly classist and racist assault against one of the few refuges in the city in which all people are served. The response of the people should not be a surprise to you. Building on People’s Park is a direct attack against a lot of people, some with nothing to lose. If UC or Berkeley truly wants housing, you will build it elsewhere. There is no scenario where putting a dorm on People’s Park could possibly go smoothly.

Now it’s in your hands. Do you want your legacy to be a bloodbath for this folly? UC creates the problem of scarce housing by admitting unsustainable numbers of students and then pretends to solve the problem they created. Well I’ll let you in on a little secret. People’s Park is a tar baby. The more you attack it the more stuck you will be covered in the tar of the evil of attacking the poor, the environment and our hopes and dreams. -more-

Request from the City Manager to allow use of tear gas, smoke and pepper spray while council goes on summer vacation: -more-

University of California at Berkeley halted construction Wednesday on housing at historic People's Park following a protest the university said threatened the safety of workers. -more-

Please note this sad update- the university is making moves to fence off People’s Park.

Please pray for the nonviolent resisters prepared to put themselves on the line for many reasons: this vital open space is critical to fight this climate emergency, emotional health is shown to improve with open green spaces, and this seized and stolen Ohlone land needs to be left alone, not bulldozed and cemented. There are many other UC owned parcels to build upon that are not on the National Historic Register as the Site where the Anti-War and Free Speech Movements gained world wide attention and significance.

Send prayers, songs, people, money for the legal fund to stop this travesty. I read the EIR that is fatally flawed, deficient, lacking in review of significant adverse cultural and environmental effects. UC should build on the numerous parcels of cement, garages or old buildings that they own and have identified for student housing - not a historic park that is the last open space in South Berkeley where diverse groups of people gather for concerts, art festivals and teach-ins, or to lay on the grass and look at the sky or listen to birds during study or work breaks. .. or dance to live music.

It is a foolhardy move during a climate emergency for my alma mater to destroy a treasured, unique historic park that cannot be replaced once destroyed. Student dorms are needed but there are six or more available UC locations to achieve that goal and need. Please leave the park for students and the entire world to enjoy for decades to come- People’s Park for ALL the people.

Thank you. Spread the word. Write Rep. Barbara Lee, Chancellor Christ, the Regents, local and national media. As Ms. Ritchey Smith always says: ‘Make some noise!’ Elder Park veteran Michael Delacour told me that it helps to be creative in bringing attention to the cause. -more-

People's Park in Berkeley was closed early Wednesday morning to prepare for the construction of housing following a judge's final ruling on the matter, advocates for maintaining the entire park as open space and University of California at Berkeley officials said. -more-

Bayard Allmond, a behavioral pediatrician and family therapist, died of cancer on July 18, 2022, in the Berkeley home where he and his family began living in 1969. He was 87. Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, he attended public schools there which his family strongly believed in. He graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

He trained in general and behavioral pediatrics at the University of Rochester, joined the faculty there, and later the faculty at the University of California San Francisco. During a two-year stint with the US Public Health Service in the mid-‘60’s, Bayard moved the family to Atlanta and worked for the Center for Disease Control. The CDC was combating an outbreak of polio in gorillas at the Yerkes Primate Center, and Bayard was involved in researching whether they could be vaccinated for it - they could. He then went on to administer the vaccines to the gorillas. Although very different from the rest of his life’s path as a behavioral pediatrician, he loved this experience. -more-

UPDATE:The Mayor backed off--he canceled the special meeting.

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At 8:02 p.m. tonight I received an email from Berkeley’s Deputy City Clerk Rose Thomsen announcing a special city council meeting almost exactly 24 hours later, at 8:15 tomorrow night. Attached was an agenda with only one action item:

“Discussion and possible action regarding the temporary suspension of the June 9, 2020 policy prohibiting the use of tear gas, smoke and pepper spray for the duration of the City Council recess.

From: City Manager

Recommendation: Adopt a motion to temporarily suspend the June 9, 2020 policy prohibiting the use of tear gas, smoke and pepper spray, and affirming compliance with Penal Code Section 13652 (AB 48) for the duration of the City Council summer recess.

Financial Implications: None.”

Remember, June 9,2020, was a week after the death of George Floyd, and the Berkeley City Council passed this policy in reaction to the protests that followed.

The code section referenced pertains to the circumstances under which “Use of kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents” is permitted..

In other words, while the council is on summer recess the city manager wants to be allowed to order up rubber bullets, tear gas, smoke bombs, pepper spray—all the usual suspects in the crowd control universe.

And why, do we think, this request suddenly materialized, out of thin air?

It just might have something to do with Chancellor Carol Christ’s longtime plan to demolish Berkeley’s newest national historic landmark, People’s Park, the minute my old buddy Frank Roesch The Judge gave her the All Clear, preferably during the students’ summer vacation.

Which plan, of course, the City Manager and The Mayor knew nothing about until today. And if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

Today there was another Special Meeting, approximately 9 to 5, jammed with undigested proposals which needed to get on the November ballot. Some attendees protested, justifiably, that 24 hour notice was not enough public notice for such important topics. After a couple of speakers complained, Mayor Arreguin self-righteously consulted the city attorney about why there had not been the usual 48 hour notice as the Brown Act requires, and the answer is that this meeting was …. Special…..

The agenda for tomorrow’s Special Meeting was announced 24 hours and 13 seconds in advance. This makes it very difficult for all those troublesome citizens, the BLM crowd that irritates Arreguin and his gang so much, to muster any meaningful opposition.

“Financial Implications: None”?

If the City of Berkeley once again uses militaristic weapons on protesters, as in the past?

Oh sure. The lawsuits alone… -more-

I predicted in one of my many previous Activist’s Calendars that Mayor Arreguin wouldn't get the job done on July 26,and indeed council is meeting again this coming Wednesday morning, August 3, at 9 am. And not getting the job done meant that those of us dedicated to sit through until the end had a council marathon day, starting at 3 pm and running until 11 pm.

It is unknown just exactly when the mayor decided to stiff the 4 x 4 Committee of Council and Rent Board Members , but it most certainly happened well in advance of July 26th. Arreguin scheduled a special meeting on ballot measures for 3 pm on July 26th, but left the Rent Stabilization and Eviction for Good Cause Ordinance on the Council regular meeting agenda at 6 pm as the second to last item—a strategy to kill it.

Here is how the maneuver played out. -more-

For the last several years, the City rent board has made it a top priority to extend a rent control concept called “Just Cause” to certain owner-occupied homes, basically all those where State law does not preclude regulation.. I will seek in this op-ed to describe how “Just Cause” works, and the implications for owner occupied properties.

This year the rent board placed a draft ballot summary before City Council that somewhat mysteriously promises to “provide eviction protection.” While “eviction protection” sounds great, I oppose the proposed ballot measure's approach deeply, and wish to illustrate several potential unintended consequences. In short the measure proposes “lifetime leases” for certain owner-occupied properties. On balance I will argue this is bad for owners, bad for renters, bad for those currently unable to afford to rent or buy, and bad for future ADU or small time owned rental housing production. Imposing lifetime leases on owner occupants will fundamentally alter the incentives of such rentals, to the overall detriment of what’s now a vibrant source of interesting, inclusive, and diverse housing.

I have first-hand experience with how this affects homeowners. -more-

Part One: The Unacceptable

The lot in life of people with chronic mental disease is not enviable. Society doesn't offer us anything any good. We are segregated into treatment venues in the mental health treatment system, where we have lives of restriction and being 'supervised.' We are credited with lack of basic insight across the board. If we are in the category of 'client', in the perceptions of the mental health counselors, who assume too much, this means to them that we lack basic intelligence. Consequently, condescension is the norm.

Lunches at a treatment venue are an example of unequal treatment. At mealtime, we are bribed with sugary, fatty junk food such as Chinese takeout or pizza followed by cake--and we eat alongside counselors who have their politically correct salads with kidney beans, kale, brown rice, and tofu. This example of different meals encapsulates classism.

Transportation is unequal. We are shuttled around in vans to get to and from our treatment venues. If we fail to board the van on time, we're stranded. Then what?

If we have an ambition of doing something intelligent, we are best off keeping it to ourselves when possible. Otherwise, counselors will have methods of interfering with our thought processes about such ambitions, and this could in the guise of being encouraging. Or it could be in the rationale of keeping our thoughts connected to reality as they perceive it. Counselors may feel obliged to keep us 'grounded' and 'connected' to reality'--thus it falls upon them to impart to us we can't, because in their minds, we're too inferior. -more-

It is a sad day for progressives when Barbara Lee votes for a 40 billion dollar Ukrainian aid supplement to the military budget and Josh Hawley votes against it.

It is tempting to be moralistic about the war in Ukraine, to view one side as all evil and the other as all good. This is to ignore the complex history of the region, both long term (for example, Crimea was part of Russia for centuries, and only in 1954 had its administrative status changed from an independent soviet socialist republic to being assigned to the Ukrainian Socialist Republic by the Ukrainian Khrushchev, and ever since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union had been agitating for a referendum about its status) and short term since the 2014 US-supported overthrow of a legitimately elected Ukrainian government less than a year before scheduled elections.

If the US aim is to defend freedom and the US from dictators, we should be invading Saudi Arabia where the 9-11 bombers came from. Instead we have Biden asking for increased oil production from the Saudi prince who chopped up a journalist who dared to criticize him. Biden and Blinken talk about the absolute sovereignty of every country and its ability to act however it likes, independent of any other country, yet this is given the lie by our involvement in the Western Hemisphere, most recently in Venezuela, in Chile, in Iran-Contra events, in the invasion of Granada,in Haiti and in support of right wing rule in Central America that has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands including the archbishop of El Salvador, Saint Oscar Romero. -more-

A Pox on Kiosks!

Berkeley's plan to install huge "tourist-friendly kiosks" on local sidewalks raised some hackles when Berkeleyans discovered the 8-foot-tall edifices not only broadcast commercial advertising on their huge screens but also (1) beamed WiFi EMFs, (2) were built to capture videos of passing pedestrians and (3) equipped to track neaby electronic devices. In response to complaints that surveillance cameras violated public privacy protections, the kiosk boosters promised the hidden cameras would be "turned off."

But now other concerns are cropping up. In addition to the physical, visual, and electromagnetic blight inherent in these hulking info-edifices, there's a new concern: pathogens!

With Covid variants and Monkeypox viruses infecting human populations around the world, these Kommercial Kiosks are now being seen as potential "super spreaders"—eye-catching gizmos designed to attract pedestrians and draw them within touching distance for extended periods of time.

The screens on the IKE company's kiosks are designed with virtual "buttons" that provide read-outs about local events and resources. Each of these screen patches needs to be activated by the touch of a human hand. The more popular these screens become, the more likely they are to become viral touchstones—vertical Petri dishes covered with collections of microbes, pathogens, and viruses.

This design flaw is a doozy. While the IKE kiosks come equipped with 24-7 cooling fans, none of them come with hand sanitizers.

Headlines from Abroad -more-

It is deeply disturbing to see the California CPUC choose to support profits for the investor-owned utilities PG&E, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric, rather than the future of California. The CPUC support for PG&E's plan will drive up the cost of rooftop solar to make it unavailable for middle and working class residents and force them to pay ever-increasing bills for dirty energy. -more-

Editor's Note: The latest issue of the Pepper Spray Times is now available.

You can view it absolutely free of charge by clicking here . You can print it out to give to your friends.

Grace Underpressure has been producing it for many years now, even before the Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time without being paid, and now we'd like you to show your appreciation by using the button below to send her money.

This is a Very Good Deal. Go for it! -more-

Amidst raging wildfires exacerbated by prolonged drought, and three-digit temperatures, too many Americans are treating the climate crisis with resignation bordering on acceptance. As our government seems unwilling or unable to solve this coming calamity to planet Earth, Americans have understandably moved to more immediate concerns that effect their daily lives: higher prices for groceries, housing and gasoline.

Meanwhile, we see the effects of climate change scientists predicted, such as the loss of sea ice, melting glaciers and ice sheets, sea level rise, and global temperature increases from human-made greenhouse gases. Some of the effects of climate change are already irreversible. As the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses after China, the U.S. has an obligation to act now. -more-

Worth Noting:

City Council has one last meeting before summer recess Wednesday morning, August 3 at 9 am. The agenda which is not yet posted is expected to be two ballot initiatives, the General Obligation Bond of $600,000,000 to $650,000,000 and the Vacancy Tax. The Special Tax measure on Sidewalks, Traffic Improvements and 2050 Program Plan as a ballot measure is dead by unanimous council vote. Check the website on Monday (really daily) for the latest ballot measure versions and supplements. https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/city-council-agendas

Wednesday evening the Commission on Disability meets at 6 pm with the Pacific Center Presentation as item 5 after commission action items. The Disaster and Fire Safety Commission meets at 7 pm with a full agenda. This is wildfire season and wildfire is prominently on the agenda.

Thursday the Landmarks Commission meets at 7 pm with eight projects for review. It looks like too much to get through in one evening, but we shall see.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022 - NATIONAL NIGHT OUT

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING at 9 am

Videoconference: not posted

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: not posted

AGENDA: not posted, keep checking.

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/city-council-agendas -more-