A large batch of Berkeley votes was counted today. Less than 10%, probably about 8%, of Berkeley ballots remain to be counted and should be counted by the end of the day tomorrow.  

The outcome of local races is now clear:  

Ballot Measures  

Measure L, the $650 million bond, has not passed; After today’s count, YES is at 58.0%, up a bit from yesterday. It need two-thirds to pass 

Measure M, the Vacancy Tax, which only requires majority support, passed easily; currently at 64.0% YES  

Berkeley City Council  

Rashi Kesarwani has won in District 1; with every new batch of votes, her margin has widened and she is now at 50.0% to 41.53%, an insurmountable lead with the small percentage of votes remaining to be counted.  

Kate Harrison ran without opposition in District 4 and now has 2547 votes.  

Rigel Robinson also had no opponent (other than a write-in candidate who failed to file as a write-in candidate). He has so far a truly pathetic 324 votes from the voters in District 7, the student super-majority district.  

Mark Humbert has been elected in District 8. He has 66.0% to 24.4% for Mari Mendonca.  

School Board and Rent Board  

The three candidates endorsed by the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, Ka’dijah Brown, Jennifer Shanoski and Mike Chang, have won. Reichi Lee, in fourth place, is 968 votes behind Chang, too large a margin to overcome with the ballots that remain.  

Four members of the Right to Housing Slate have been elected to the Rent Board: Soli Alpert, Nathan Mizell, Vanessa Danielle Marrero and Ida Martinac. They will be joined by independent candidate Stefan Elgstrand, longtime aide to Mayor Jesse Arreguin. Carole Marasovic, in sixth place, is 600 votes behind Ida Martinac in fifth place; the remaining ballots are very unlikely to change this outcome. The Right to Housing slate has gained in the counting this week. It seems likely that tenant voters are somewhat more likely to mail or drop off their ballots closer to the election than homeowner voters.  

Auditor  

Jenny Wong, running unopposed, has been re-elected with 31,151 votes far, the highest for any citywide candidate.  

Alameda County District Attorney  

Pamela Price leads Terry Wiley 52% to 48%. 

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Before the election, on an internet platform called Next Door, someone who claimed to be "Alex Goldman" kept calling all the candidates not running on the Berkeley Rent Board's tenant slate "liars." The details he let slip in his inflammatory outbursts made it clear that he was a member of the BTU Steering Committee. After the election the writer deleted all the accusatory posts. 

Most would dismiss this incident, arguably not uncommon. People lie about who they are online and those who participate are at least well warned in advance that controls for truth are nonexistent or easily sidestepped. Elon Musk's Twitter Blue verification is famously a comic disaster. But this incident implicates someone in a leadership position. 

But aside from the internet's ragged role in exacerbating all-too-human prevarication, Berkeley used to have real open conventions for the Rent Stabilization Board with rip-snorting speeches, great food, and live music. If you wanted to run, or just had something to say, you were welcomed. These days if you even show public support for an independent candidate you're likely to get a phone call from the insiders trying to discourage any unsanctioned competition, as I have. The slate candidates are pressured to take a "loyalty oath" to belong. 

In recent years the slate based selections have gone so far as to haul in candidates in from other cities rather than open their ranks to the enormous, diverse group of Berkeley-based voices who dedicate their lives to civil and tenants' rights issues year after year. These people certainly are fresh faces, and this practice may be legal, but it insults those whose institutional memories and independent spirits play an important role in policy. 

Each candidate should be considered independently for their merits. This time, the voters did so, and appear to have elected independent as well as slate-backed voices. It is unfortunate that so many people have been treated by the Rent Board's slate supporters dismissively. But we have an opportunity now to come together. Every community member deserves to be heard.

The Alameda County Registrar of Voters is now reporting that 44,104 vote by mail ballots have been received from Berkeley voters, for a Berkeley turnout of 61.9%. These figures are not final, but are probably closed to final. Based on the latest figures, there were 6549 fewer people registered to vote in Berkeley this year than there were for the 2018 midterms. Turnout was 73.7% in 2018 but will certainly, when all the votes are counted, be significantly lower this year. 

As of today, about 75-76 % of ballots received from Berkeley voters have been counted. 

Berkeley City Council District 1 

Kesarwani - 2261 

Mikiten - 1905 

Freeman - 374 

Kesarwani will win this race as her lead has widened as more votes have been counted since Election Day; she now leads by 356 votes . After the ranked choice vote count of third place candidate Freeman’s second choice vote, Kesarwani ends with 53% of the vote to 47% for Mikiten. About 28% of the votes in District 1 have not yet been counted. 

Berkeley Rent Board -Vote for 5 

Ida Martinac has passed candidate Carole Marasovic for the fifth place and leads Marasovic by 131 votes. This is the one race in Berkeley where the outcome remains unclear, but members of the Right to Housing slate have been gaining votes in the count this week.  

Other Races  

Measure L, the $650 million bond, which requires two-thirds for passage is still way behind with 57.5% of the vote.  

Pamela Price increased her lead over Terry Wiley in the race for Alameda County District Attorney; she now leads by 6245 votes, with 51% of the votes cast. 

District 7 City Council incumbent Rigel Robinson, running unopposed this year, now has 181 votes, and will be elected to Council with the smallest number of votes in at least the last 50 years of Berkeley elections. 

The Declaration of Independence enshrined the idea that everyone is born free. The Bill of Rights checks government's ability to injure that freedom. It’s been a battle to achieve that ideal of freedom ever since.

That’s why Fifty years ago, the people of Berkeley fought to create civilian oversight of our police force. Two years ago, we reaffirmed that choice in overwhelming numbers. For good reason.

We have recently heard allegations of hateful, anti-human, racist, genocidal expressions by police officers, and the willful denial of Miranda Rights to minors.

These violations of people’s right to counsel were not just reported by suspects, but by officers of the Court. The County Public Defender tells of police officers stonewalling children’s access to justice.

What's going on here? 

We also have allegations of arrest quotas. Arrest quotas distort incentives for law enforcement, causing aggressive policing, poor closure rates, and the manufacturing of crimes where there are none. 

When I was on the Police Review Commission, we pushed for new public safety metrics that focus on positive outcomes and results for our communities for a simple reason: what you focus on is what you get. Instead of counting arrests, let's count the number of service calls and reward officers for decreases in calls. 

The people of Berkeley have committed and recommitted to defend the constitution, and our freedom by ending racist policing. So, no matter what the ensuing investigation determines, I'm confident we will continue to innovate public safety as we roll out reforms like the Specialized Care Unit and the Fair and Impartial Policing reccomendations. I look forward to working with all parties to ensure that when we say public safety, we mean safety for all. 

Public safety and the integrity of our law enforcement go hand in hand. Upholding that integrity requires us to fully investigate these troubling allegations.

An estimated 65-66% of the vote in Berkeley has now been counted. The remaining count should be completed by Friday, probably with daily updates like today’s. 

District 1 City Council

Incumbent Council member Rashi Kesarwani is now ahead by 311 votes over challenger Elisa Mikiten, and the gap in the ranked choice voting has also widened. Kesarwani is now at 49.8% of the the first choice votes to 42.2% for Mikiten, and further counting could put her over 50%. Even if it doesn’t Mikiten would need almost all of third place candidate Freeman’s second choice votes to win. In the latest count, Mikiten picks up 52% of Freeman’s second choice votes, while Kesarwani is getting 25% and 22% didn’t make a second choice. It looks like Kesarwani has been re-elected; remaining ballots would have to tilt heavily toward Mikiten to prevent that outcome. 

Rent Board -Elect 5

Ida Martinac is now only 64 votes behind Carole Marasovic and could overtake her in the remaining count. Members of the Right to Housing slate, including Martinac and Marrero have gained in the count since Election Day relative to Marasovic who is running as an independent, 

School Board - Elect 3 

Mike Chang’s lead over Reichi Lee is now up to 631 votes. Unless the remaining ballots are heavily from areas where she did best, it’s unlikely that she will overtake Chang for third place when the remaining votes are counted. 

Alameda County District Attorney 

Pamela Price is now in the lead, ahead of Terry Wiley by 2035 votes (50.4%) 

Other Berkeley races

Nothing much has changed. Measure L, the $650 million bond, has a slightly higher percentage (57.1% YES) but is still way short of two-thirds. Apparently no additional ballots from District 7 were counted as Rigel Robinson’s tally remains the same - a pitiful 119 votes.

More than 10,000 academic workers at the University of California campuses in the greater Bay Area went on strike Monday morning, a union source said.  

The strike at UC Berkeley began at 8 a.m. and included workers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Nearly 10,000 workers at those two institutions walked off the job. 

About 2,700 workers at UC Santa Cruz and roughly another 2,700 at the University of California at San Francisco also walked off the job. 

The workers, which include post-doctoral students, researchers, fellows, graduate student instructors and others, are alleging unfair labor practices by the university.  

"People are really hyped up," said Samuel Chan, a graduate student instructor in political science at UC Berkeley and a member of the bargaining team.  

Across the 10 UC campuses, about 48,000 are on strike. It may be the largest strike at any academic institution ever. Four units of the United Auto Workers union represent the striking workers. 

Chan said he estimates at UC Berkeley over 1,000 workers were on the picket lines, which numbered eight Monday morning. Workers will be on strike until the get a fair contract, he said. 

Workers are demanding higher wages, as well as cost of living adjustments, free public transit passes, reimbursements for child care, among other changes.  

Many workers earn less than $24,000 a year, Rafael Jaime, president of UAW Local 2865, said. In the Bay Area, workers are especially concerned about the high cost of housing.  

Union leaders bargained throughout the weekend and made progress, but the two sides are still far apart, Jaime said.  

UAW Local 2865 represents 19,000 of the 48,000 striking workers, who do a majority of the teaching at UC. The workers also grade papers and do research, which helps the university receive $8 billion each year for teaching and research, union officials said.  

Thirty-six state legislators sent letters to UC President Michael Drake urging him to prevent the strike. The union chapters striking Monday have filed at least 26 unfair labor practices against the university. 

Union leaders filed the complaints because they allege the university has refused to provide information the union needs to bargain, among other illegal tactics. 

The strike comes as students start thinking about upcoming finals, which at UC Berkeley start on Dec. 12. 

UC officials said they have bargained in good faith, which union bargaining team member Evan Holloway denied. Holloway, a post-doctoral clinical psychologist at UCSF, said six complaints filed against the university by the union have come back in favor of the union.  

Some are still outstanding.  

Holloway said UC had to cancel a bargaining session Monday because university officials could not determine what room to use for the negotiations.  

"They haven't taken our demands seriously," Holloway said. 

The university believes the offers it has made to the four units are "fair, reasonable, and responsive to the union's concerns." 

More than 36,000 academic union workers voted to authorize a strike or not, and 97.53 percent voted in favor.

Elections are over for the moment, and what, you may ask, have we learned?

Well, first, don’t trust either polls or the pundits who dote on them.

As Michael Moore presciently pointed out before the election: “…not only were the Republicans not going to clobber us in the House with 30 to 50 new seats, they might be in for an upset because it’s gonna be so dang close. And Trump’s mob of election-denying candidates were going to go down in flames. There would be record numbers of young voters, and women were on a rampage over the abolishment of Roe. The sword of vengeance would be theirs.”

Yes. And lo, the waves parted and we walked on water. Or something like that. The naysayers were wrong. But how about Berkeley?

Here in Berkeley, the only polls we have are those paid for by promoters, either for potential candidates or for proposed ballot measures. Apparently locals have lost interest in the city. There’s something very wrong with the way Berkeley is governed these days, which turns out to be a self-fullfilling prophecy. The only real race was in District 1, where the people most likely to be impacted by the Big Bart Boxes mounted a creditable attempt to unseat an incumbent, but failed, as is almost always the case.

In District 8, the race was to the swift, with attorney Humbert rounding up the usual suspects to pre-endorse him before the incumbent had even announced in public that she wasn’t running. 

Now, that’s the way we’ve always done it around here. Everyone’s a Democrat, so no one complains much. These back room deals sometimes produce good results, e.g. Barbara Lee, a veteran of Congressman Ron Dellums’ office, but also poor ones, e.g. Buffy Wicks, a Democratic operative who parachuted into Rockridge from D.C. with national backing and has not done much for the municipalities in her domain since then.. 

Then there’s Berkeley’s “student district”.  

Unlike the state of California, the city of Berkeley doesn’t have an impartial re-districting commission, though it has the appearance of one. Districts must be based on population, not voter registration or participation. The earnest folks on Berkeley’s commission established after the 2020 census made an honest effort to be fair, but they tried to preserve existing boundaries, which perpetuated past injustices. That included District 7, which was engineered a decade ago to create a district where student votes would dominate so that there would always be a student representative on the council.  

It turns out that students, especially undergraduates living in dorms, who can register to vote when they turn eighteen, don’t much care to vote in Berkeley city elections. With an apathetic electorate, incumbents rule, and after one four-year term they’re no longer students anyway. 

Rigel Robinson, the current District 7 councilmember and former student government activist, got plus-or-minus 200 votes this time from those who bothered to color in the oval next to his name. There’s something wrong with a system that gives two hundred students as much voting power as close to 5000 voters in District 1. Even the other unopposed incumbent, Kate Harrison in Distict Four, got more than 2,000 votes.  

Meanwhile, Berkeley Measure L, a bond measure for $650 million which would take 48 years to pay off, went down to defeat. As far as my personal informal poll could determine, No on Measure L had come to be viewed by many as a vote of no confidence in the current city administration. That includes the mayor, councilmembers, and especially the city manager. 

Gripes with the way Berkeley’s being run materialized this week with an uproar over media messages allegedly sent by a police officer which denigrated unsheltered residents and people of color. The POCs who are immediately and personally affected by police disrespect are obviously angry, but even Berkeley’s comfortable who live in “nice” neighborhoods would like to be able to believe that “we’re better than that”. However sincere or hypocritical they might be, the vast majority of Berkeley citizens simply don’t like hearing about such stuff.  

The uproar in organizations that speak for the former group started building over the weekend. The vice chair of the newly organized Police Accountability Board felt obliged to put out a strong press release over his personal signature, since the PAB was not scheduled to meet before Tuesday. Timing was important, since in a Tuesday Berkeley City council agenda consent item the city manager proposed appointing a Berkeley Police Department veteran, Interim Chief Jen Louis, to the permanent chief position. 

Not so fast, the community said. So a special meeting was quickly called by PAB staff and after discussion that body voted to ask the council to postpone voting on approving Louis until the charges could be investigated.  

On Tuesday, a public defender spoke in the public comment part of the council meeting about problems he’d had dealing with Louis. Three councilmembers then asked that the item be pulled from the consent calendar to the action calendar, and shortly thereafter the city manager, “in consultation with” Louis withdrew the item altogether, her prerogative since she initially proposed it. 

If the charges against the officer in question do prove to be founded in fact, the way the situation evolved will look like a serious management failure to the public and at least a couple of the councilmembers. As Ms. Richie Smith, sometimes called the Mayor of South Berkeley, is fond of saying, “city employees need to remember that they work for us.” People in her neighborhood complain that they get both too much and too little attention from the Berkeley Police Department. When allegations like this are made against a police officer, resolving them as fast as possible is crucial.  

Her councilmember, Ben Bartlett, said in a statement yesterday: 

“We … have allegations of arrest quotas. Arrest quotas distort incentives for law enforcement, causing aggressive policing, poor closure rates, and the manufacturing of crimes where there are none.  

When I was on the Police Review Commission, we pushed for new public safety metrics that focus on positive outcomes and results for our communities for a simple reason: what you focus on is what you get. Instead of counting arrests, let's count the number of service calls and reward officers for decreases in calls. “ 

Promoting a current manager from within a troubled organization is not the best way to address systemic problems if any are identified. A thorough, unbiased investigation is needed. There are calls from critics for two different kinds of probes: one by the PAB using its latest protocols and the other by an external authority of some sort. Both are needed, and new management from outside the department might be the best remedy if one is required. 

Meanwhile, all the other very real needs which provided talking points for advocates of Measure L still exist. The electorate simply didn’t trust the officials in power to actually spend the bond proceeds as advertised. Revenue measures with real citizen oversight are needed. 

All of this adds up to Berkeley’s city government being in general decline. What can be done? How about a new city manager, a new police chief, a new mayor, and district boundaries that have not been rejiggered to serve a lethargic student voter population? For starters… 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vote counts released today (Monday) by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters  

City Council District 1  

Kesarwani - 1658 48.9% 

Mikiten - 1462 43.1% 

Freeman - 271 8.0% 

 

Incumbent Council member Rashi Kesarwani’s margin over Elisa Mikiten grew from 165 votes to 196 votes as the County Registrar of Voters reported more results. Kesarwani now has 48.9% of the first choice votes to 43.1% for Mikiten. In the ranked choice voting report for votes counted so far, more of third-place candidate Michai Freeman’s votes go to Mikiten than to Kesarwani, but enough go to Kesarwani or to no one to give the incumbent a 51.7% to 48.3% lead after Freeman’s second choice votes are assigned. Mikiten will have to do substantially better when the remaining ballots are counted to overtake Kesarwani.  

 

Measure L - the $650 million bond - requires two thirds vote  

YES - 12,875 56.8% 

NO - 9,793 43.2% 

Measure L now has a slightly higher percentage of YES votes, the percentage rising from 56.2% to 56.8%, but this measure has no chance of getting the two-thirds required for passage. Despite record spending by supporters, this bond may end up having the lowest percentage of support for a City of Berkeley bond since 2002. Even bonds that have failed in recent years, such as bonds for the proposed warm pool, managed to get 60% support.  

Measure M - Vacancy Tax- requires majority vote  

Yes - 13,941 62.2% 

No - 8,487 37.7%  

Has definitely passed.  

 

How Many Ballots remain to be Counted?  

Data posted on the Registrar’ Web site today report that 43,918 Vote by Mail ballots have been received, for a turnout of 61.5%. That’s up from the 36,628 Vote by Mail ballots reported to have been returned in Berkeley as of last Thursday. With today’s count, a majority of the ballots, perhaps 56-57%, have now been counted. The Registrar plans to do the 1% Manual Tally for the November election next Monday, with batches for the manual tally selected on Friday. This suggests that they plan to have all the ballots counted by the end of this week.  

 

School Board - 3 seats  

Ka’dijah Brown - 15,121 

Jennifer Shanoski - 12,001 

Mike Chang - 11,767 

Reichi Lee - 11,231 

Tatiana Guerreiro Ramos - 3,143 

Norma Harrison - 645  

The margin between third place candidate Mike Chang and fourth place candidate Reichi Lee has increased from 255 votes to 536 votes.  

Rent Board - 5 seats  

Soli Alpert - 11,859 

Nathan Mizell - 10,387 

Stefan Elgstrand - 9,526 

Vanessa Danielle Marrero - 9,270 

Carole Marasovic - 8,683 

Ida Martinac - 8,431 

Negeene Mosaed - 7,947 

Wendy Saenz Hood - 7,675  

Carole Marasovic, running as an independent dropped from 4th to 5th place, with Vanessa Marrero taking 4th place. Ida Martinac, in 6th place, is now only 252 votes behind Marasovic. Martinac and Marrero are members of the Right to Housing Slate, selected at the Tenant Convention held this year. For the first time, since there have been elections for Rent Board, it’s possible that one or two candidates who are not members of any slate will be elected to the Rent Board. Stefan Elgstrand, in third place, is very likely to finish in the top five.  

 

City Council District 7 - Students Don’t Vote in Berkeley updated  

The County Registrar reports that only 581 vote by mail ballots were returned in District 7, the student super majority district. That’s only 1.3% of the total number of Vote by Mail ballots reported so far.  

Rigel Robinson, running unopposed for District 7 Council except for a write-in candidate, had 56 votes when the election night count was completed. With today’s update, he’s up to a pitiful 119 votes. Mari Mendonca, who is losing badly in District 8, with only 23.7% of the vote, has received 660 votes so far, more than five times Robinson’s unopposed first place tally. Does it really make sense to have a district when someone can be elected with only a few hundred votes?  

 

City Council District 8 - Easy Win for Mark Humbert  

Mark Humbert - 1853 66.5% 

Mari Mendonca - 660 23.7% 

Peter Bruce Dumont - 114 4.09% 

Mary-Lee Smith - 93 3.3% 

Jay Wu - 68 2.4%  

City Council District 4 - Kate Harrison Ran Unopposed  

Kate Harrison - 1,471  

City Auditor - Jenny Wong Ran Unopposed  

Jenny Wong - 19,113  

Alameda County District Attorney  

Terry Wiley 115,052. 50.4% 

Pamela Price 113,138 49.6%  

Wiley’s lead has shrunk substantially from 5526 votes to 1914 votes. Price has a real chance of overtaking Wiley. Difficult to say what her chances are without knowing what parts of the county have the highest number of uncounted votes. Berkeley’s uncounted ballots will undoubtedly favor Price.  

_{Before going on to the meetings of the week, first: Why did Measure L lose?} 

_{The yes-on Measure L campaign certainly didn’t lose through lack of funding. Donations to pass Measure L are now over $400,000, if my addition is correct, while No on Measure L is a little over $30,000. Most donations to No on L were in the $100 to $250 range. The few listed as $1200 pale in the shadow of Yes on Measure L donations, with $10,000 after $10,000 after $10,000.}  

_{You can see the list for yourself; just go to the City of Berkeley Portal https://public.netfile.com/pub2/?aid=BRK and type: Measure L in “Search By Name” and click on “search” (no other blocks need to be filled).} 

_{Berkeley City Council, Council committees, boards and commissions generally operate in the bliss of a city that pays more attention to national politics than the actions of city elected and council appointees. This time that bliss of inattentive residents was not enough to slide through the $650 million dollar Measure L bonds, even with a normally kneejerk generous community and $400,000 of funds to fill our mail boxes with glossy card stock Yes on L flyers.}  

_{After listening to a lengthy discussion with a mix of people describing why they voted for or against Measure L, it came down to the same objections made by those who signed on to oppose Measure L:} 

_{Measure L was poorly written. It was too ill-defined, too big, too expensive. There were no named projects. The promise of oversight didn’t hold water, with the City’s poor track record of providing the necessary information to the commissions to perform their oversight responsibilities in regards to existing ballot measures.}  

_{One person took a slightly different view, citing inflation and the possible loss of Proposition 13 homeowner protections, but that doesn’t explain why Berkeley’s Measure L lost and Oakland’s similar but incrementally better written Measure U sailed through with 71% approval.}  

_{It is interesting that the Yes vote on Measure L is, so far, right on target with the voter survey results from Lake Research Partners, reported to the Berkeleey City Cuncil May 31, 2022. The survey results showed voters favored a split between a parcel tax for streets and a $300 million dollar bond. Only 57% of the surveyed voters supported a $600 million bond. But instead of using the survey results and listening to the voters, this Mayor and City Council dug in and decided to go for an even bigger bond. And because of mistakes in the financial calculations of the cost to property owners, the period of the bonds was placed at 48 years.} 

_{Since it appears that some people were counting on passing Measure L to advance to the next step on their political ambition ladder, we can expect at least one of those “some people” to throw blame for losing around, instead of looking inward at their responsibility for creating this debacle.} 

_{None of us who signed on to oppose Measure L disagreed that there are significant infrastructure needs. What we saw is a mayor, council and city manager that could not be trusted with a big slush fund and no defined projects.}  

_{The Housing Element of Berkeley’s General Plan was on the Berkeley Neighborhoods Council Agenda at its November 12th meeting. There is continued frustration with the RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) allocation to Berkeley with inflating the goal for the number of new housing units to 19,098 from 8,934 for the planning purposes, purported to reach the assigned 2446 very low income and 1408 low income and 1416 moderate income units. That would mean saddling Berkeley with an excess of 10,164 units of new market rate housing, tearing down older structures and adding more 8-story residential buildings towering over little one-story houses, as will happen again with 1598 University.}  

_{Since Measure M (tax on vacant housing) passed, maybe one day Berkeley will see revenue from vacant market rate units.} 

_{It is the same story heard over and over at the Berkeley Neighborhoods Council meetings, the late discovery that Berkeley zoning codes and state density bonuses mean big tall projects backing up to your lot line and your little house. 1598 University is an SB 330 project so it will likely shlide through with little change. The neighbors can thank State Senator Nancy Skinner for this streamlined approval process that allows only a maximum of five city meetings and is a near guarantee that new groups of neighbors will have a mixed-use tower next door. The appeal of 2018 Blake, a middle of the block 6-story residential project, comes back again to Council Tuesday evening.} 

_{The Planning Department staff stated publicly that the choice of the 19,098 number was to drive changing Berkeley’s zoning codes. The push to turn Berkeley into a dense Manhattan style city continues.}  

_{The Planning Department seems to have realized that they actually need to meet the state submission deadlines for the Housing Element (the plan for where to put these new units), so we can all expect more lengthy reports to read with insufficient time to digest the content. Requirements of the Housing Element and building housing for UCB students are the drivers for changing zoning codes and suggesting that there should be a Berkeley density bonus for bigger, taller buildings in the southside area next to campus that don’t require inclusionary affordable housing.}  

_{As written previously, the Planning Department contends that it is too difficult to determine student financial status, and since the Southside is planned to be for student housing, developers should be awarded density bonuses to build bigger taller buildings if they pay a fee. That proposal will come back to the Planning Commission at a future meeting.} 

_{In December, after the year-end financial reports are completed, the Council makes adjustments to the budget. The process is called AAO (Annual Appropriations Ordinance) #1. This is when previously denied budget requests are reconsidered along with new requests. Interestingly, only the City Manager’s requests were listed with the reports at the Thursday morning Council Budget and Finance Committee meeting, and none of the councilmembers’ requests were listed. When Mayor Arreguin asked about this omission, it was promised by staff to be added at the next round.} 

_{Some things stood out in the preliminary reports.} 

_{For example, why do we have homeless people on the street when there’s a year-end balance of $19,513,097 under Measure P – the fund the voters approved for homeless services in 2018?}  

_{Another question: with the City website such an abysmal mess with historical data stashed in impossible-to-find Records Online, why is the IT (Information Technology) budget under-spent by 30%?} 

_{The Berkeley Police Department (BPD) always is over budget, and it was again. The reason given was a shortage of officers necessitating mandatory overtime. There was no answer to my question during public comment: With all these shortages, was BPD still sending an officer to park in front of the Apple store? It was after the meeting I received this link that states that Berkeley spent $243,023 per police position in 2022. https://www.thecentersquare.com/california/as-berkeley-struggles-with-police-costs-14-cops-made-over-300-000/article_0e615650-5b8b-11ed-83fd-f79e2d55fb0a.html}  

_{Thursday evening was the North Berkeley BART Station developer candidates’ presentations. It was initially listed as four candidates, but two were eliminated before the meeting, leaving not-for-profit BRIDGE and RCD, each with its companion for-profit developer. They both did their self-promotion presentations.}  

_{The public was asked to submit questions in advance or at the meeting on cards or on zoom.}  

_{Below are the questions from the North Berkeley Neighborhood Alliance that did not get asked by the BART meeting moderator. Maybe they will come up at the BART meeting on Objective Standards this coming Wednesday, November 16 at 7 pm.} 

• _{What is the largest size project that your lead partner has been directly responsible for developing and building?}
• _{What is your view of what the area around the North Berkeley BART station should be like, looking out 10-20 years?}
• _{If you are chosen to sign an exclusive negotiating agreement with BART, you will then have a vested right to the zoning (per AB 2923) - what development rights do you believe that gives you?}
• _{Have you ever been involved in a project that provides you a vested right to the site's zoning upon signing a negotiating agreement with the agency that owns the land?}
• _{How do you see the affordable housing component of this project fitting into the actual site plan at North Berkeley?}
• _{What experience do you have and what approach will you take toward having a significant part of the development at North Berkeley provide for substantial "missing middle" housing?}
• _{The area around North Berkeley BART (for over a half mile radius) is primarily made up of 50'x150' lots with single homes, duplexes and small apartments - how will your project integrate into this community fabric?}
• _{What commitments will you make to what level of community engagement in the design process, given that BART and AB 2923 greatly limit the requirement for any such engagement?}
• _{Will you rule out right now building any structure taller than seven stories at North Berkeley BART?}
• _{Why do you think that the financial marketplace for development (and the present supply chain/inflation circumstances) will be favorable for any type of project at North Berkeley BART within 10 years?}
• _{If there were no AB 2923 requirements, what type of project would you think most appropriate to build at North Berkeley BART?}

_{My questions asking if they would commit to bird safe glass and dark skies also didn’t get asked. My question about constructing a zero-net energy building was merged into a question on sustainability that was answered by both teams in a way that left me wondering if they had any clear understanding of sustainable construction.}  

_{Davis and Sacramento are listed as two of the top cities in the nation with the largest number of net-zero housing projects, but none of that has spilled over to Berkeley. There are two net-zero projects I’ve been watching 303 Battery in Seattle by Sustainable Living Innovations https://sli.co/ (our goal is mid-size – 7 stories) and Soleil Lofts in Herriman, Utah.}  

_{As an FYI here is A Technical Guide to Zoning for AB 2923 Conformance which defines the broad parameters for the BART housing projects.} 

_{https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/02_AB2923_TechGuide_Draft_Appendix2.pdf} 

_{Not enough happened at the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission or the Peace and Justice Commission to take up space. Double and triple scheduling of meetings meant I missed the Personnel Board meeting, the Housing Advisory Commission, and the Police Accountability Board. I did attend the E-Bike webinar, with an over-the-top E-Bike enthusiast as the presenter, but had to sign off to attend the BART meeting before they covered pricing and discounts. We really need more people attending and reporting on city meetings so nothing gets passed over.} 

_{It was October 11, 2022 that the Berkeley City Council adopted item 19. “Land Acknowledgement Recognizing Berkeley as the Ancestral, Unceded Home of the Ohlone people.” with councilmember Hahn as the author and co-sponsors Arreguin, Taplin, Robinson. It is another tiny step forward for indigenous people, but looming over this well-intended motion is the Supreme Court, which is poised to take a hacksaw to the Indian Child Welfare Act and federal Indian law.}  

_{For those of us who listen to Democracy Now, Thursday morning we heard about the Supreme Court and Haaland v. Brackeen, “a case challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act and ultimately threatening the legal foundations of federal Indian law. ICWA was created in 1978 to address the systemic crisis of family separation in Native communities waged by the U.S. and requires the government to ensure foster children are adopted by members of their Indigenous tribes, as well as blood relatives, before being adopted by non-Indigenous parents. Now right-wing groups are supporting white foster parents to challenge the law as discriminatory. ‘Not only are our children on the line, but the legal foundation, the legal structure that defends the rights of Indigenous nations in the United States is literally at stake,’ says journalist Rebecca Nagle, who has been reporting on the case for years and says it’s likely the Supreme Court will strike ICWA down.” https://www.democracynow.org/2022/11/10/haaland_v_brackeen_indian_child_welfare} 

_{How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America by Sara Sinclair isn’t an easy read. The book is a narrative from twelve Indigenous People in the United States and Canada and their individual struggles for identity and place in the frame of discrimination, bullying, poverty, drugs, alcohol, coerced residential and boarding schools, foster care, forced assimilation, loss of family, and on top of everything failure of the United States to fulfill Indian treaty agreements.}  

_{How We Go Home from the oral history project Voice of Witness, provides a look into the past and present we need to know.}  

_{Justice Gorsuch comes from the United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals encompassing six states: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming and the territory of 76 federally recognized Indian Tribes. Justice Gorsuch has decided a number of cases in favor of tribal sovereignty. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/vol--43/vol--43--no--1/justice-gorsuch-and-federal-indian-law/} 

_{As noted in the podcast Strict Scrutiny https://crooked.com/podcast/the-uncertain-future-of-the-indian-child-welfare-act/, the Indian Tribes worked with Justice Gorsuch during his tenure in the Tenth Circuit.}  

_{The question remains, will Justice Gorsuch pull one more to support LCWA? From the descriptions of the questioning and comments of the Supreme Court hearing, Justice Thomas will definitely decide with the plaintiff against LCWA, Justice Kavanagh is a probable against LCWA and Chief Justice Roberts is always on the side of dismantling anything that whiffs of protections for minority groups. That leaves Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was not mentioned in any reviews as the swing vote.}

The Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park has a new piece of art on display but it's not inside the building's art gallery—it's outside, on the fence overlooking the site. Somehow, a couple of months ago, the long wooden fence alongside a paved walking path was painted over with a long graffiti-art banner-statement bracketed by the image of two wild-looking squirrels squinting happily, paws filled with acorns.

The sassiest-looking of the two rodents—on the eastern end of the artwork—clutches a prized nut and sports a wild smirk. In a nice, painterly touch, the squirrel's two buckteeth are aligned on two parallel wooden fence planks leaving a space between the critter's front teeth that could be flossed by a Number 2 pencil.

According to Google, "Man One Art" the painting's perpetrator, is an LA-based artist "who has been involved with the graffiti art movement since 1987. His artwork has been exhibited in major museums around the world and his murals and street art can be seen in many cities around the globe." That global list now includes Berkeley.

Let's Start a Conspiracy Theory 

Exxon and its petro-pals knew carbon pollution was warming the planet but they covered up their crimes for decades. So we know that corporate conspiracies exist. 

So how about the companies that make pain pills, flu shots, and COVID vaccines? They profit off illness. The sicker a society is, the more profits these companies make. Could it be that the firms whose labs cook up the annual vaccines for the newest variants of "seasonal flu" might actually be covertly spreading the virus among the public in order to profit off the yearly "cure"? 

That's one conspiracy. Now how about the fentanyl frenzy? 

The prevailing narrative makes no sense. We're warned that fentanyl is being manufactured to look like colored candy to attract children. But the drug kills kids that innocently pop the pills so how do the fentanyl pushers profit? 

Kids are not winding up with costly addictions: they're winding up dead. Kids munch one pill and die. Where's the long-term market strength in that kind of merchandising plan? 

The one thing the "fentanyl-for-kids" scenario does is create widespread fear that any innocent child could be killed without knowing about random and spreading dangers. This doesn't create a growing market of young users. It creates a dying landscape of victims and a growing market for frightened parents and teachers whose only recourse is to buy copious stockpiles of Narcan (Naloxone) nasal spray. 

Here's the conspiracy meme for the moment: Could it be that the Narcon makers are working in cahoots with Mexican drug cartels who are tricking out killer opiods to look like candy? It's conspiracy gold: Mexican drug cartels are intentionally poisoning children to create a panic-driven market for Narcan. 

Turns out there is only one company that manufactures Narcan—Amphaster Pharmaceuticals. Seven years ago, this Massachusetts-based company was selling its Narcan kits for $22 each. Today, these same kits are selling for $42 owing to "increased demand." 

Conspiracy Theory Option Two: If you don't like the Mexican drug cartel scenario, you might want to substitute the home-baked thugs behind Massachusetts' Winter Hill Gang which, according to Google, "was considered the top Irish Mob syndicate on the East Coast. Many considered them to be more threatening than the Boston faction of the mafia." 

The Chronicle's Chronic Gaffs 

The SF Chronicle is shrinking in our hands. The traditional four sections—World and National News, Bay Area News, Entertainment, and Sports—are now reduced to a slim, two-section format. The editorial oversight is also slipping. Some recent dings follow. 

• A front-page report on a locally staged computergame Superbowl continually referred to the e-sport phenomena as an "esport." 

• A column by sports-chronicler Scott Ostler recently dissed the corruption behind the decision to hold soccer's World Cup in the authoritarian nation of Qatar. Ostler started the column by coining the word "sportswashing." The term—an echo of Big Oil's corporate "greenwashing"—subsequently appeared in the story with the hyphen misplaced, thereby minting a new coined word: "sport-swashing." 

• In the Chron's November 2 edition, the first sentence in the first story at very top of the front page contained a grievous error. It read: "David DePape, the suspect accused in the wildly politicized hammer attack of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi…." 

Describing the violence as "the attack of Pelosi," not "the attack on Pelosi," made it look like Mr. Pelosi was the aggressor. 

• And then there was this monumental flub: In the November 5 edition, the daily comics two-page spread was entirely missing—from Blondie to Zits. The Sunday issue carried a correction that pages B11 and B12 were missing due to a "technical error" and could be found online on the Chron's webpage. But a check of the paper's online "Corrections" page found that the last (and most recent) entry was posted on August 31, 2021. 

Fashion Plates 

Range Rover: DOGGONE ("Yes: my missing dog is also named Rover") 

Honda: 8KCAO58 (Ate Cacao: It's my "FiverAte" snack?) 

Honda: BYLIGHT ("Watch me highlight it through the next orange light"?) 

Bumper Snickers 

"If Abortion Is Murder Is Masturbation Genocide?" 

"Witches Parking: All Others Will Be Toad." 

"If You Cut Off My Reproductive Choice, Can I Cut Off Yours?" 

"If Your Vote Didn't Count, They Wouldn't Work So Hard to Take It Away." 

Worth Remembering 

Armistice/Remembrance/Memorial/Veterans Day started out as an event intended to commemorate the peace treaty that put an end to World War 1. Following the Korean War, the US renamed the holiday "Veterans Day." But it isn't a date to honor all vets. The fact that members of Veterans for Peace are not allowed to march in the November 11 parades makes it clear that the real purpose of the holiday is to celebrate war, the "service" of those who enlisted, and the "sacrifice" of those who were killed while doing their best to kill the "enemy." 

It is well known that the Armistice agreement ending the war went into force at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 but there's a "fourth eleven" that is less-well-known. As David Swanson pointed out in a November 11 essay posted by World BEYOND War, the death toll included "an extra 11,000 people dead, wounded, or missing after the decision to end the war had been reached early in the morning." 

Ripostes Reposted 

On November 2, Lee Goodman posted an opinion piece on Buzzfeed with the title: "Clarence Thomas Is Only on Supreme Court Because of Affirmative Action." The first sentence read: "During oral arguments on a case challenging affirmative action, Justice Thomas said he didn't 'have a clue' what 'diversity' means." Goodman went on to point out that Donald Trump doesn't know what "decency" means, neo-Twitter Lord and Chief Twit Elon Musk "has no idea what 'responsibility' is all about," and the GOP apparently doesn't know what "civilization" entails. 

Behind the Beating Drums of War: Online War-bots! 

A team of researchers at the University of Adelaide have found that as many as 80 percent of tweets about the 2022 Russia-Ukraine invasion in its early weeks were part of a covert propaganda campaign originating from automated fake “bot” accounts. 

An anti-Russia propaganda campaign originating from a “bot army” of phony automated Twitter accounts flooded the Internet at the start of the war, driving up tensions and making the conflict more likely. 

Wasn't Elon Musk, at one point, concerned about the number of fake bots in the Twitterverse? 

What are the chances we'll see the testy Tesla guy take out these war-bot frauds with his flame-throwing Elongated Musket? 

Updating Our Colorblind Senate Maps 

We've seen them on endless display: maps of our divided Senate with competing swaths of red seats lapping up against an equally sized surge of blue seats. In the quest for control, partisan passions are triggered by this symbolic eye-candy of "red wave" versus "blue tsunami." But the image is fundamentally false. 

Senator Bernie Sanders is neither a Democrat nor a Republican. He is an Independent. Nonetheless, the Mainstream Media conflates Bernie's status with the blue majority. 

It's time to demand a color revolution in the presentation of our national political maps. In addition to the red seats and the blue seats, let's demand that the media run a color-correction on their maps of the Senate. Sanders' seat should stand out apart from the two majority corporate parties. Instead of red or blue, let the Sanders' Seat be green—as in "Green New Deal." 

Hey. Kids! You, Too, Can Be a War Criminal 

Step right up, little warrior. Thanks to modern computer art (and prehistoric reptilian brains) any tot or tween now has the power to drop imaginary bombs and rockets from life-like death-machines—tanks, naval vessels, and jet fighters, you choose! In addition to blowing enemy troops to blazes you can also use your extraordinary destructive super powers to demolish world-class landmarks—like the Golden Gate Bridge! It's all possible thanks to the creators of "War Thunder." The ads for this appalling product promise players will be able to use killer drones to "hunt down your enemies from the skies" and "wreak havoc on the coasts of a picturesque city." (The target city on display appears to be San Francisco.) 

The sales pitch ends with this promise: "Top-of-the-line graphics, destructibility and realistic sounds provide the fullest immersion possible in the genre and truly bring battles to life." 

 

And Now, an Antidote to War 

Killer Drones 

Despite his war-like moniker, Mistahi Corkill is a singer-composer on a mission of peace. He recently sent of a collection of links to some of his anti-war songs, past and present. He writes: "Here is my new song and video opposing US military drone warfare. It's called 'Killer Drones.' I hope you find it useful and inspiring. All the best! 

Mistahi Corkill <mistahi@music-change.com>." 

Killer Drones 

 

And here are links to some of Mistahi Corkill's other anti-warcries:
• No to NATO 

• Rome is Burning - Written and recorded for the mass movement that erupted after George Floyd was killed. 

• Move On - A poetic rendering on the epoch of our time. 

Statement from Vice-Chair Mizell* of the Berkeley Police Accountability Board* calling on the Berkeley City Council to delay the confirmation of Interim Chief Louis until a full investigation of allegations of severe Berkeley Police misconduct


I have become aware of allegations of severe misconduct within the Berkeley Police Department. These allegations come from a former BPD officer.

Currently, Interim Chief Jennifer Louis, who served as a Captain during the period of the alleged misconduct, is scheduled to be confirmed as the Permanent Chief of Police at a Berkeley City Council meeting tomorrow at 6 PM. 

The alleged misconduct includes text messages from Downtown Task Force/Bike Unit group chats with racist and anti-homeless statements and texts describing patterns of unlawful police practices. These include the establishment of arrest quotas, profiling, and rewards/punishments for arrest numbers. Additionally, it is alleged that Interim Chief Louis had prior awareness of the misconduct and took no action.

The allegations specifically implicate officers of BPD's DTF/Bike Unit and its Supervisor, Sgt. Darren Kacalek, President of the Berkeley Police Association. Sgt. Kacaleck is specifically alleged to have ordered the DTF/Bike Unit to make 100 arrests per month. In the texts Sgt. Kacalek allegedly makes anti-homeless and racist remarks, including suggesting that homeless individuals in the city could be “wipe[d] out” and that the bike unit would “ride by the bodies”. Sgt. Kacaleck also allegedly texted a link to a racist Facebook post suggesting a person could trade a “White Privilege Card” for a “Black Card” to receive “welfare checks”, “free college”, and an “Obama cell phone”. According to the former officer, these messages are only the “tip of the iceberg” and hundreds of corroborating records allegedly exist. 

Despite these severe allegations, City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley concluded that the City Council should still confirm Interim Chief Louis tomorrow. After an “initial inquiry”, she believes that Interim Chief Louis was not aware of the alleged misconduct. These allegations involve multiple BPD policies, making it a matter squarely under the Board’s purview. I am not currently aware whether the City Manager had knowledge of these allegations before Thursday, but I do know that the PAB was never informed of any such allegations at any point before or during the hiring process. 

Hastily confirming the Interim Chief now would severely undermine public confidence in the independent oversight that Berkeley’s citizens voted for in establishing the Police Accountability Board. It will also erode the City’s ability to “promote public trust”, a responsibility the City Charter entrusts the Board, and the City as a whole, to uphold. There is no conscionable way for the confirmation process to go forward tomorrow. 

I call on the Berkeley City Council to delay the confirmation of Interim Chief Louis until a thorough independent investigation has been conducted by the PAB and the public has had the opportunity to review the evidence. I additionally call on community groups to amplify this message and call on all community members to come to the Tuesday, 6 PM meeting to urge City Council to delay the confirmation. 

The brightest individuals I've met have been very low-key and unassuming. I find those who have less egotism to be more accessible, and they have a better chance at hearing what I'm trying to tell them. As well, it is easier for me to receive a message, including a critical one, when it is delivered heart-to-heart rather than from towering superiority. 

Stigma consists of not being heard. When I was hospitalized for psychosis in 1984, I had an adverse reaction to medication that uncontrollably twisted the muscles in my lower body, such that I couldn't walk. Staff at Kaiser believed I was intentionally doing this, because EPS, or Extrapyramidal side effects, caused by antipsychotics (and not the illness) normally affect the upper body. The Kaiser people were mean and nasty to me when their damned medication made me unable to do what they wanted. 

Not being heard--People incorrectly assume who they think you are and how you function. When you are mentally ill, anything you say is taken with a grain of salt. You are not taken at your word; your words are assumed nonsense. This kind of thinking, done by treatment professionals, is grossly oversimplified, because much of the time, a mentally ill person has valid things to say. 

If you are mentally ill, you are expected to acknowledge that your mind doesn't work. If you are mentally ill, any kind of ambition of doing something significant is met with being ignored, with instant dismissal--or it is seen as a symptom of your illness. 

But there is another kind of not being heard that is probably worse. When we say we are in pain, and when our distress meets with a brick wall of dispassion, this seems like the counselors aren't even human. Cruelty often is not borne of malice. Often it comes from not giving a damn about how another person feels. Additionally, cruelty comes from categorizing a person as "one of them" rather than "one of us." 

I believe that counselors who work with mentally ill individuals in crisis must learn to have a level of dispassion, merely as a survival mechanism. This is in contrast the comradery that exists among fellow treatment practitioners. If you care and have empathy for everyone, and if you are among people who are falling apart, you could go down with them. Therefore, the concept of having a "boundary" was created. There has to be an invisible wall in which the counselor doesn't feel what the patient feels. Yet there are problems inherent in this. 

Disidentifying with a person or group of people opens the door for harming them. And mental health patients do get harmed in supposed care facilities. And this is a crime--because we, just like anyone, have feelings. Secondly but not least, mental health consumers due to the mistakes and/or malpractice of treatment professionals, in some cases may sustain permanent physical damage, whether this is physical brain damage or some other form of damage to the body. This happens. Yet it may go unacknowledged because of how the designated ill person, or "client" is perceived and dealt with. 

Disidentifying with ourselves is worse than someone else disidentifying with us because it means that we've lost the connection with ourselves--at that point, our mind and body will probably go down the toilet. Disidentifying or trying to disidentify could be seen as an opportunity to get some relief from pain. But it is counterproductive and leads the wrong way. 

We must always care about ourselves. This includes times that we must put our needs above those of another person. If you don't take your own side in a conflict, no one else will. 

---

Jack Bragen is a writer who lives in Martinez, California.

Worth Noting:

Sunday check the map link for streets blocked for the Berkeley Half Marathon from 7:30 am – 1 pm

Monday the Health Life Enrichment, Equity & Community takes up re-entry programs at 10 am, Agenda & Rules at 2:30 pm (Fair Work Week is not in the proposed agenda for November 29), Youth Commission on School Safety at 6:30 pm. And, former police chief Greenwood is in the panel on military equipment and police at 10 am.

Tuesday the City Council has back to back meetings starting at 4 pm amnesty for unpermitted units and 6 pm building code, Hate Crime report, and ZAB appeals (I will attend both). The EV webinar is at 5 pm.

Wednesday my go to meetings of the week are Wednesday with the webinar on Dark Skies “Light at Night a Glowing Hazard” from 1 – 4 pm, The In-Person Civic Center design meeting at 5 – 7 pm and the North Berkeley BART meeting on objective standards on zoom at 7 pm. Other meetings are the Aging Commission at 1:30 pm, John Hinkel Park at 6:30 pm and Earthquake Brace and Bolt at 6:30 pm.

Thursday at 7 pm the Transportation and Infrastructure Commission takes up vision zero and transit first policy and the Fair Campaign Practices Commission is taking up election complaints and the Open Government Commission will hear my complaint on delinquent posting of minutes and request for Live Transcription for all city meetings as an accessibility issue.

Friday the first two presentations at 9:30 am and 10:10 am at the Climate Emergency Summit Series on Climate and Public Health which starts at 9 am look excellent. (more for my go to list)

Do not forget to check https://berkeleyca.gov/ for meetings posted on short notice.

Commissions that normally meet on the 3rd Wednesday and have no meeting announcements: Commission on Status of Women, Human Welfare and Community Action Commission

Cancelled meetings: FITES, Design Review Committee, Commission on Labor.

The eBike discount is available through Nov 21, https://rideanddriveclean.org/ebike-discount-campaign/ this is a collaborative program to reduce carbon emissions by transition to eBikes and EV.

Sunday, November 13, 2022  

BERKELEY HALF MARATHON at 7:30 am to 1 pm 

Street Closure Map - https://berkeleyhalfmarathon.com/race-weekend/street-closures-and-detours/ 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/news/berkeley-half-marathon-nov-13-street-closures-bus-route-info  

Monday, November 14, 2022  

HEALTH, LIFE, ENRICHMENT, EQUITY & COMMUNITY at 10 am 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83000189794 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 830 0018 9794 

AGENDA: Taplin, co-sponsors Harrison, Hahn, Robinson – Office of Racial Equity: Re-Entry Employment and Guaranteed Income Programs. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-health-life-enrichment-equity-community  

AGENDA AND RULES COMMITTEE Meeting at 2:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89509005126 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 895 09005126 

AGENDA: Public Comment on non-agenda and items 1 – 7. 1. Minutes, 2. Review and Approve 11/29/2022 draft agenda – use link or read full draft agenda after list of city meetings, 3. Berkeley Considers, 4. Adjournment in Memory, 5. Council workssessions, 6. Referrals for scheduling, 7. Land Use Calendar, Referred Items for Review: 8. COVID, Unscheduled Items: 9. Discussion Regarding Design and Strengthening of Policy Committees, 10. Supporting Commissions, Guidance on Legislative Proposals. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules  

CITY COUNCIL Closed Session at 4:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85347936644 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 853 4793 6644 

AGENDA: Conference with legal counsel 1. Existing litigation Reugg & Ellsworth v. City of Berkeley RG18930003, 2. Anticipated litigation related to letter received, letter is confidential (don’t know what it says except it is related to Brown Act). 

https://berkeleyca.gov/city-council-closed-meeting-eagenda-november-14-2022  

YOUTH COMMISSION at 6:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89983970326?  

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 899 8397 0326 Passcode: 646720 

AGENDA: 9. Discussion Letter to BUSD regarding School Safety (Vice Chair), 10. Discussion develop a plan to recruit youth commissioners, 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/youth-commission  

EQUIPPED FOR WAR: AB 481 Militarization of Policing in California at 10 am 

Register: REGISTER HERE 

AGENDA: Panel discussion on new California law AB 481 that makes the militarization of local police forces transparent to the community sponsored by the Task Force on Police Reform a collaboration between Ashby Village/Elder Action and Berkeley Friends/Racial Justice Action Team. Former Police Chief Greenwood is on the panel. 

https://www.afsc.org/content/equipped-war-exposing-militarized-policing-california  

Tuesday, November 15, 2022  

CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting at 4 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83640362532 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 836 4036 2532 

AGENDA: 1. Referral Response: Amnesty Program for Unpermitted Dwelling Units (one item only – packet 140 pages) 

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

CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm  

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83640362532 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 836 4036 2532 

AGENDA: Go to end of post to see full agenda or use link to HTML 

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

ELECTRIFY YOUR RIDE webinar with Electric Vehicle Web 5 -6 pm 

Use link to Register 

https://rideanddriveclean.org/event/ev-101-electrify-your-ride-webinar-35/  

Wednesday, November 16, 2022  

COMMISSION ON AGING at 1:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://cityofberkeley-info.zoomgov.com/j/1614800144 

Teleconference (not listed on agenda): 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 161 4800 144 Passcode: 825132 

AGENDA Discussion/Action Items: 4. Age Friendly Initiative, 5. Pedestrian concern Shattuck & Oregon intersection, 6. Preservation and/or development of community environment in subsidized senior housing, 7. Increase Aging Services funding proportional to increase of growth of senior residents in Berkeley, 8 Letter to Parks, recreation and Waterfront Commission for possible senior center outdoor spaces spaces reserved for senior center classes specifically Ohlone park on Bonita Way, 9. Market-rate senior 60+housing development to facilitate downsizing. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/commission-aging  

CIVIC CENTER VISION PLAN Open House Workshop at 5 – 7 pm 

IN-PERSON at Central Berkeley Public Library – Main Branch Library, 2090 Kittredge 2nd Floor in the Mystery Reading Room 

AGENDA: Presentation and discussion addressing proposed uses and improvements to the Maudelle Shirek and Veterans Memorial Buildings, uses, and Civic Center Park 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/civic-center-open-house  

JOHN HINKEL PARK SCOUT HUT RENOVATION PROJECT COMMUNITY MEETING at 6:30 – 8:30 pm 

Videoconference: Join on Zoom 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 858 1685 4273 Passcode: 018458 

AGENDA: Discussion including renovation of the building and accessibility improvements and future building use as part of the conceptual design process. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/events/john-hinkel-park-scout-hut-renovation-project-community-meeting  

NORTH BERKELEY BART HOUSING DEVELOPMENT at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://bit.ly/ODSMeeting1 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 818 0401 9386 Password: 092751 

AGENDA: Objective Design Standards for future development at North Berkeley BART 

https://www.bart.gov/about/business/tod/north-berkeley  

LIGHT at NIGHT a GLOWING HAZARD at 1 – 4 pm  

Registration is free 

Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_30VEEr2tTj2TVZDg4Xq41g 

AGENDA: The use of LED lighting Technology is causing an unintended, yet pervasive and harmful effect: the over-lighting of our nights. Learn about the biological and physical effects of light at night and strategies that can guard our health and environment while providing safe and practical lighting solutions. 

Sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter and a long list of supporters with notification provided by Rebecca Miliken Sustainability Outreach Specialist at the City of Berkeley Office of Energy & Sustainable Development.  

EARTHQUAKE BRACE & BOLT Program at 6:30 to 8 pm 

Register: tinyurl.com/earthquake-brace-and-bolt 

https://www.earthquakebracebolt.com/  

Thursday, November 17, 2022 

 

FAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICES COMMITTEE (FCPC) / OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION (OGC) at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86886012659 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-6833 Meeting ID: 868 8601 2659 

AGENDA Discussion and Possible Action FCPC: 6. Complaint alleging violation of BERA by Elgstrand for Rent Board 2022, 7. Complaint alleging violation of BERA by Committee for an Affordable and Resilient Berkeley – Yes on Measure L, 8. Staff referral regarding failure to file copy of mass mailings by Berkeleyans for Better Planning No on Measure L, 9. Report from contribution limits subcommittee, 

AGENDA Discussion and Possible Action OGC: 11. Complaint and request for action regarding posting of minutes by City commissions and use of Live Transcription for public meetings. 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/fair-campaign-practices-commission  

TRANSPORTATION and INFRASTRUCTURE COMMISSION at 7 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83037557423 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 Meeting ID: 830 3755 7423 

AGENDA: B. 1. Vision Zero Update, 2. Transit-First Policy Implementation Plan, 33. Work Plan 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/boards-commissions/transportation-and-infrastructure-commission  

Friday, November 18, 2022 

CLIMATE & PUBLIC HEALTH at 9 am – 12 pm 

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-public-health-registration-369244529327 

AGENDA: Presentations first speaker Director of Climate Emergency for City of Los Angeles at 9:30 am and 10:10 am Climate and Mental Health 

https://www.cemtf.org/  

Saturday, November 19 & Sunday, November 20, 2022  

No city meetings found  

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November 14, AGENDA AND RULES COMMITTEE Meeting at 2:30 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89509005126 

Teleconference: 1-669-254-5252 or 1-877-853-5257 (toll free) Meeting ID: 895 09005126 

https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/council-committees/policy-committee-agenda-rules 

AGENDA CONSENT: 

1. Resolution direction legislative bodies to meet via videoconference and teleconference
2. Urgency Ordinance for leasing Real Property at 1720 San Pablo for term of 5 years
3. Amend Contract 42200065 (Agreement A22-0056) add $750,000 total $1,250,000 I-80 Gilman Interchange Improvement Project funding agreement with Alameda CTC fix drainage and grading issues for future fire lane
4. Arreguin & Taplin – Budget Referral (AAO): Strawberry Creek Lodge Food Program $50,000
5. Renewal of Solano Avenue Business Improvement District for Calendar Year 2023

ACTION: 

6. Referral Response: Amendments to the Sign Ordinance and establish new fee
7. 2nd reading - Adoption of Berkeley Building Codes, including local amendments
8. 2nd reading - Re-enactment of Berkeley Housing Code
9. Return to In-Person City Council meetings and Status of Meetings of City Legislative Bodies
10. Adeline Street at Ashby BART Conceptual Design
11. Arreguin - Grant Approval: Accept $75,000 from San Francisco Foundation to renew supporting the Equitable Black Berkeley Initiative to develop a reparative approach to new development at Ashby BART Station and Adeline Corridor with goal of maximizing affordability of new housing
12. Wengraf & Harrison – Adopt first reading of proposed amendments to BMC Chapter 13.110 Emergency Response Ordinance

INFORMATION REPORTS: 

13. Climate Action Plan and Resilience Update
14. City Policies for Managing Parking Around BART Stations
15. Fair Campaign Practices Commission FY2022-2023 Work Plan
16. Open government Commission FY2022-2023 Work Plan

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November 15 – CITY COUNCIL Regular Meeting at 6 pm 

Videoconference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83640362532 

Teleconference: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Meeting ID: 836 4036 2532 

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

AGENDA CONSENT:  

1. Minutes for Approval
2. Appointment of Jennifer Louis as Chief of Police effective 11/27/2022, annual salary $256,125
3. Renew Elmwood BID (Business Improvement District) for 2023
4. Formal bid solicitations $11,384,039
5. Contract $125,000 with Station Automation Inc. DBA PSTRrax for Real-Time Paperless checkoff and asset management software – Measure Q fund - $125,000
6. Amend Contract 32000116 add $200,000 total $2,174,457 with Amendment Genasys, Inc for Outdoor Warning System Measure FF funds - $200,000
7. Contract $90,000 with Harold Dichoso for Temporary consulting with Health Housing and Community Services – bioterrorism grant fund
8. Amend Measure P Spending Contracts 1) Contract 31900273 with Bay area Community Services (BACS) Shift unspent Measure P – funded shallow subsidy program to a flexible funding program 2) Contract 32200051 add $127,380 total $375,667 with WeHOPE to provide mobile shower and laundry
9. New classification Deputy Duty Attorney IV, salary $15936.37 - $19,593.60 effective Nov 15
10. Amend Contract add $1,000,000 total $2,000,000 and extend to 6/30/24 with COWI North America Inc (32000261) and Transystems Corporation (32000263) for on-call waterfront engineering, design, environmental permitting and construction administration services, listed projects, South Cove Sailing Basin Dredging Planning Project, Cesar Chavez Park Restroom, K-Dock Restroom Renovation, and additional Waterfront projects funded by one time $15,000,000 from state.
11. Contracts $150,000 with Sharjo, Inc. dba ServiceMaster Recovery Management and $150,000 with Belfor USA Group, Inc. for on-call emergency restoration, mitigation and remediation services, thru 12/31/25
12. Amend Contract 10413B add $5,162,424 total $16,252,375 and extend to 12/31/2024 with LAZ Parking LLC for managing city-owned off-street parking facilities
13. Amend Contract 10340 (ERMA) add $75,000 total $325,000 and extend to 6/30/2025 with HF&H Consultants, LLC for update rate model
14. Amend Contract 117610-1 add $300,000 total $375,000 and extend to 6/30/2025 with Columbia Electric, Inc. for on-call electrical services
15. Sewer and access road easement and installation agreements with Paulonia Investment, LLC and Little Tree Investment, Inc., and James Robert Higgins and Summary Vacation of existing sewer easements
16. Peace and Justice Commission – Reinstate Burma (Myanmar) on Berkeley’s Oppressive States List
17. Arreguin, co-sponsors Wengraf, Hahn – United against Hate Week
18. Harrison, co-sponsors Wengraf, Arreguin – Support removal of Cuba from the U.S. State Sponsor of Terrorism List
19. Harrison & Hahn – Adopt ordinance adding chapter 11.62 to BMC to regulate use of carryout and produce bags and promote use of reusable bags.
20. Wengraf - Baby Book Project relinquish $125/councilmember to support Baby Book project
21. Robinson – Refer $1,000,000 to the FY 2023 AAO#1 process to contribute to Southside complete streets project to ensure Bancroft, Dana & Fulton proceed on schedule and prevent loss of $7.3 million in federal funding
22. Authors Robinson, Harrison, Taplin, co-sponsor Hahn – Refer to CM: Establish an electric bike rebate program and expand low-income e-bike ownership through climate equity action fund

ACTION: 

23. Sprague – Adoption of 2022 California Fire Code with Local Amendments
24. Garland – Implement residential preferential parking (RPP) on 1900 block Vine and 3000 block MLK Jr Way
25. Louis – Update BPD efforts related to improving Hate Crimes Reporting and Response Referral

1. ZAB Appeal 2018 Blake – continued from November 3, 2022 – Use Permit #ZP2021-0095 6-story, 12 units of which 2 are low-income.
2. ZAB Appeal 1643 – 1647 California - continued from November 3, 2022 – Use Permit #ZP2021-0001 to create new lower basement, construct new 2nd story and modify existing duplex layout.

INFORMATION REPORTS: 

26. LPO NOD: 2119 Marin
27. LPO NPO: 1325 Arch
28. LPO NOD: 2081 Center
29. LPO NOD: 2109 Kala Bagal Way.

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LAND USE CALENDAR: 

Public Hearing to be scheduled 

2065 Kittredge (construct 8-story mixed-use building) 1/31/2023 

1262 Francisco (add 40 sq ft and 2nd story balcony) TBD 

Remanded to ZAB or LPC 

1205 Peralta – Conversion of an existing garage 

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

2435 Haste (construct residential building) 11/17/2022 

2119 Marin (The Laflin House) 11/17/2022 

1325 Arch (Schneider/Kroeber House) 11/17/2022 

2081 Center (American Trust / Wells Fargo building) 11/17/2022 

2109 Kala Bagal Way (F.D. Chase Building) 11/17/2022  

WORKSESSIONS: 

Local Pandemic/Endemic Update Report 2/21/2023 

Housing Preference Policy 2/21/2023 

Annual Crime Report 3/14/2023 

Civic Center Vision Project 3/21/2023 

Fire Facilities Study Report 5/16/2023 

Unscheduled Presentations 

Housing Element - Local Adoption of the Housing Element in January possibly January 17 or 19, 2023 

Adoption of Election Results (December 2022) 

Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program 

African American Holistic Resource Center (November 15) 

(removed - Cannabis Health Considerations) 

(removed - BART tentative December 13, 2022)  

Kelly Hammargren’s on what happened the preceding week can be found in the Berkeley Daily Planet www.berkeleydailyplanet.com under Activist’s Diary. This meeting list is also posted at https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

If you would like to receive the Activist’s Calendar as soon as it is completed send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com. If you wish to stop receiving the weekly summary of city meetings please forward the weekly summary you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com

If anyone needed further proof of the daemonic wizardry of pianist Daniil Trifonov, his recital on Sunday, November 13, at Davies Hall offered proof in spades. The highlight of this recital was the fiendishly difficult Gaspard de la nuit by Maurice Ravel. Considered by many to be the most difficult work in the whole solo piano repertoire, Gaspard de la nuit received in the hands of Daniil Trifonov an absolutely jaw-dropping performance. Based on the ghoulish prose-poems by Aloysius Bertrand, Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit unfolds in three movements. The first, Ondine, depicts the fatally alluring nymph in her watery milieu. It opens with rippling music, full of shimmering tremolos that suggest the murmuring flows of a river. Occasionally, the music evokes cascades, and now and then one hears Ondine flirting openly with a male onlooker, then playfully frolicking away. Toward the end of this movement, Ondine departs with a sardonic or diabolic laugh.  

With the second movement, Le Gibet (The Gallows), Gaspard de la nuit takes a distinctly dark turn, opening with an image that suggests a corpse swaying in the breeze as it hangs from the gallows. This is a nightmarish vision worthy of Edgar Allen Poe. The slow, lugubrious rhythms are punctuated by relentlessly throbbing B flats. The third and final movement, Scarbo, depicts a ghoulish apparition. In this movement there are many long, difficult passages requiring rapid-fire cross-handed action. Daniil Trifonov displayed absolutely jaw-dropping technique in these fiendishly difficult passages. This was a masterful performance, full of the daemonic wizardry that has become the signature of Daniil Trifonov.  

The recital opened with Tchaikovsky’s Children’s Album, composed in 1878. This work was intended to serve the musical education of young children and to encourage them to play the piano. Although some of the two-dozen miniatures are simple enough, many are quite challenging technically. To each of these miniatures Tchaikovsky gave child-friendly names such as Hobbyhorse, The Wooden Soldiers’ March, Mummy, The Doll’s Illlness, and so on. All in all, Children’s Album offers a kaleidoscope of differing moods, elegantly evoked here by Daniil Trifonov.  

The second work on the program was Robert Schumann’s Fantasie in C Major, Opus 17, composed in 1838. This is a lengthy, deeply meditative work written with his future wife, Clara, in mind even as the composer dealt with Clara’s father’s unyielding opposition to their courtship. I found it intriguing to note Daniil Trifonov’s variety of postures during this performance. Often he sits hunched directly over the keyboard with his eyes riveted on the keys. At other times, especially in pensive or dreamy passages, Trifonov sits upright with his head tilted upward, his eyes half-closed or staring into space. At yet other moments, Trifonov suddenly bolts upright, tossing his head abruptly back and sending his hair flying.  

Trifonov departed from the printed program by deciding not to play Mozart’s Fantasia in C minor, K. 475 , as the closing work of the first half of his recital and instead perform it as the opening work after intermission. This change actually made sense, given how lengthy and demanding were the Tchaikovsky and Schumann works that opened this recital. Although full of Mozart’s characteristic melodic felicity, the Fantasia in C minor adheres to the ominous, foreboding mood associated with the key of C minor. There is much chromaticism in this work. To me, this work by Mozart was totally unfamiliar. I doubt I’d ever heard it before, and it was a welcome treat to hear it played so beautifully by Daniil Trifonov.  

After the performance of Gaspard de la nuit, dealt with at the outset of this review, Daniil Trifonov closed out the printed program with Piano Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp minor, Opus 53, by Alexander Scriabin. As program notes indicate, “Scriabin’s harmonic language verges on atonality, contributing to the sense of controlled delirium.” This seems to me an apt way to characterise so much of Scriabin’s music. Needless to say, Daniil Trifonov expertly navigated the strenuous difficulties of this work.  

After tumultuous applause and shouts of Bravo!, Daniil Trifonov offered as an encore Johann Sebastian Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. After all the drama of the works on the printed program, this work by Bach was given a serenely radiant, magisterial performance by Daniil Trifonov.

On Thursday, November 10, perennial favourite Jordi Savall returned to Berkeley under the auspices of Cal Performances. This time, Jordi Savall performed with Hespèrion XXI, the early music ensemble he and his late wife, Montserrat Figueras, founded in 1974 as Hespèrion XX. At the turn of the 21st century, this group became Hespèrion XXI. Currently, it is comprised of Jordi Savall performing on pardessus de viol, Philippe Pierlot on bass and treble viol, Anna Lachegyi on tenor viol, Juan Manuel Quintana on bass viol, Xavier Puertas on violone, and Enrique Solinis on theorbo and guitar. At this Berkeley concert, Mélisande Corriveau, a French-Canadian musician living in the US, substituted for the indisposed Anna Lachegyi. At the close of this concert, Ms Corriveau was singled out for special thanks by Jordi Savall for her last-minute preparation and scintillating performance. 

The theme of this concert was The Golden Age of the Viol Consort, traced from 1550 to 1750. 

As program notes pointed out, this was an age of counterpoint, that is, the art of making superimposed melodic lines sing, apparently independent of one another… so each line can be heard clearly within a coherent whole. For this concert, Jordi Savall chose to perform works from various musical cultures: French, English, Italian, Spanish, and German. Among the early works here performed, the highlight was provided by English composer John Dowland’s (1563-1626) work entitled The King of Denmark’s Galliard. This was an incredibly lively, totally infectious work of great warmth and enthusiasm. Closing out this program’s first group of works, this may well have been the highlight of the entire concert.  

As the concert progressed, we traced the development of counterpoint in Viol Consorts through the centuries. There were lively offerings by composers Giuseppe Guami (1540-1611), Mathew Locke (1621-1677), William Brade (1560-1630), Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), and Alfonso Ferrabosco (1575-1628). Ultimately, the composer who assimilated all the many centuries worth of counterpoint was, of course, none other than Johann Sebastian Bach. This concert saluted Bach by closing with two of the works from Bach’s Art of the Fugue, or Contrapunctus.  

After tumultuous applause from the appreciative Berkeley audience, two encores were added to the printed program. The first was by William Brede, entitled Der Satyrn Tanz, which featured much pizzicato from the musicians. The second was the Spanish-inflected rhythmic work Galliarde napolitana by A. Valente. This latter work involved much improvisation from the ever-inventive Jordi Savall. It made a wonderful close to a wonderful concert.