With the greatest respect for Kelly Hammargren for the wonderful work she does providing us with information about how the City Council, commissions, and city administration are operating, I’m writing to counter the implications that may be drawn from her report on Measure L that we should vote No on it. -more-

Mari Mendonca, candidate for Berkeley City Council, has a clearly iterated understanding of the importance of open, natural space.

She recognizes Measure L as "a lofty wish list of vague goals with no specific plan, no accountability and no oversight."

Willing to publicly question the dominant narrative, Mari will open the door to the substantive debate lacking within the council; and potentially inspire sleeping dragons to rise. Many aspects of the shadowed, uninspired, lifeless Berkeley plan proclaimed to preserve climate are diametrically opposed to its stated goal. Resemblant of the Pied Piper, it seems our present city council will lead us to "go gently into the good night." I think Mari may be 'just what the doctor ordered' to facilitate a directional pivot of momentum leading toward sunshine and wakefulness.

I write this with profound sadness, as tomorrow another 100-foot tree will be killed to make space for two ADU's that will 'fill in' over a thriving established regenerative organic garden. The squirrels who nest in the tree will lose their home. Our crow friends and hawks will not be visiting. Hummingbirds, smaller corvids, green finches, bumblebees, honey bees, metallic green bees will no longer avail themselves of the bountiful flowers and seeds. Swallowtail, buckeye, painted lady, monarch and gulf fritillary butterflies will not be sustained. Their eggs, laid carefully on their host passion vines and aromatic fennel, if they have time to hatch, will not have time to metamorphose from larvae into butterflies.

I am so, so sorry. I'm not sure we humans deserve you. -more-

Signs of Life

On my Sunday run, I noticed a couple of signs that stopped me in my tracks. Outside the unmarked Bar Method site on Rose Street, the sounds of an exercise class were clearly audible. In case passersby were wondering what all the clamor was about, a poster in a window offered a clue with the following statement: "Tears are what happens when muscles cry."

Next door, a hand-drawn sign outside the office of an insurance company sported the following warning: "No Whiring!"

I was puzzled. Was that a request not to gun your car engine or try to spin donuts in the parking lot? At this point, my inner-editor spoke up: "Shouldn't whiring be spelled with two, not one, rs?"

That's when I realized the message was actually supposed to read: "Now Hiring!"

UC's Plan for Peoples Park Is a Crime

The dedicated legal team that has been challenging UC Berkeley's plans to demolish the historic Peoples Park and erect housing for ever-increasing numbers of tuition-paying students, has recently filed a 70-page brief. (Question: If a legal document runs 70 pages, can it still be called a "brief"?)

The lawyers (who work is supported by voluntary public donations) have done a good job exposing how UC has ignored other housing alternatives—including the nearby University-owned Ellsworth Parking Structure.

The park's defense team also demolishes the false meme that Peoples' Park has become a magnet for crime.

As People's Park defender Harvey Smith points out in a recent People’s Park Historic District Advocacy Group email:
"Campus messages portraying People’s Park as an area of frequent crime on the Southside is quickly countered by facts. A review of data from the Crimemapping website over a six-month period from January through June, 2022 for a 20-block area surrounding the park revealed that 94% of crime occurred outside of People’s Park. Crimes do occur there, but at a lower rate than the surrounding neighborhood. Keep in mind that the promoter of the image of the park as 'crime-ridden' is the same institution that was fined $2.35 million in 2020 for underreporting campus crime." -more-

A local Iranian activist is urging millions of female Iranians and women throughout the Muslim world to oppose the compulsory hijab laws following the murder of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurd by the “morality police”, - gangs of males who terrify, vulnerable women, beating them if they fail to follow ancient, archaic dress codes, the hijab or full ‘head to toe’ burkas. -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-

In the September 25, 2022 edition of the Activist’s Diary, I ended with a recommendation of the book The Privatization of Everthing by Donald Cohen and Alan Mikaelian. If you watched any of forecasts of hurricane Ian, this was made possible through government funding of the National Weather Service (NWS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Hurricane Center and the international cooperation of 193 countries to provide free and unrestricted weather each day. It is an amazing feat. -more-

Worth Noting:

Two Community meetings worth attending before plans are set in stone:

Monday at 6 pm is the redesign for Ashby BART Plaza.

Wednesday at 6:30 pm is Santa Fe Right of Way Park development planning meeting.

There are no City Council meetings scheduled including no council committee meetings. The October 11 City Council regular meeting is available for review. Agenda Item 23 is on the Hopkins Corridor. The October 11 special meeting at 4 pm agenda is not posted.

Thursday the Housing Advisory Commission and Landmark’s Preservation Commission both meet at 7 pm.

Saturday Berkeley Neighborhoods Council CANCELED the planned meeting for October 8.

Don’t forget to check for meetings posted on short notice https://berkeleyca.gov/

The Housing Element Draft Environmental Impact Report is a plan for adding 19,098 housing units not the RHNA 8,934. As stated at the Planning Commission in the presentation, the larger number is to push changing zoning in the City of Berkeley. The Comment Period ends October 17, 2022 at 5 pm. The document including appendices is over 500 pages.

https://berkeleyca.gov/construction-development/land-use-development/general-plan-and-area-plans/housing-element-update

Register to vote by October 24 for the November 28, 022 election. Ballot mailing starts October 10.

Register early for the EV test drive on October 15 at 11 am – 3 pm at https://tinyurl.com/RideElectric2022 or

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/5th-annual-ride-electric-at-the-harvest-festival-registration-406380624387

Monday, October 3, 2022 -more-

Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin has long been one of my favorite operas. So I looked forward to an acclaimed production of Eugene Onegin by Canadian director Robert Carson that is currently presented at San Francisco Opera. Alas, when I attended this production on October 1. -more-

The Free Speech Movement Archives (FSM-A) recently sent out a notice announcing a string of upcoming events celebrating famed singer/activist Barbara Dane." This is an edited version of the press release.

In October 1964, Barbara Dane, stood in Sproul Plaza atop a police car containing an arrested activist named Jack Weinberg. Dane sang some rousing, FSM-customized versions of classic spirituals like Go Tell It On The Mountain and then lowered her guitar to address the crowd of student protesters: “It was a long time there in the early fifties—especially when you couldn’t seem to get a rise out of anybody about anything, 'cause everybody thought they had to play it safe, play it cool, don’t take part, and I want to say that I, as a waiter and watcher and prodder and hoping that things would get moving again, I want to thank you all for being here. It’s marvelous.” Listen! to the KPFA recording.

And here's the good news: Barbara Dane has conspired with Berkeley's prestigious Heyday Books to release a new book, "This Bell Still Rings: My Life of Defiance and Song"—a jaw-dropping autobiography like no other. -more-