Oral arguments will be heard tomorrow morning for Make UC A Good Neighbor (MUCGN) and the Peoples Park Historic District Advocacy Group (PPHDAG) lawsuit against UC before the First District Appellate Court of California, Division 5, San Francisco.

New information received yesterday by PPHDAG in the letter below clearly shows that despite UC's claim that supportive housing is integral to Housing Project #2, it is willing to undermine funding for it and jeopardize the project. Because People's Park is on the National Register of Historic Places, a federal environmental review is required to be eligible for HUD vouchers. Despite the PR spin put on this project, this new information clearly undermines their stated intention. -more-

City Council sent Lori Droste off into the sunset as a former two term Councilmember with nearly 1 ½ hours of accolades on December 6, 2022. Sometime before signing off that last evening Droste submitted two proposals that were first seen in the draft agenda for the January 17, 2023 City Council meeting as items 26 and 27 at the January 4, 2023 Agenda and Rules Committee. -more-

It has been over four years since Berkeley voters approved Measure P for homeless and general city services, and to my knowledge, there has not been an accounting of its basic finances and uses.

Measure P raised the property transfer tax from 1.5% to 2.5% for the top third of properties and was initially applied to sales of $1.5 million or more. Thereafter, it is adjusted every year to capture the top third of sales.

The measure also established a Homeless Services Panel of Experts (HSPE). Like other city commissions, the HSPE plays an advisory role in making recommendations to council.

According to the city’s website, Measure P is to be used to fund immediate street conditions and hygiene, emergency shelter, permanent housing, and homelessness prevention.

However, because Measure P is a general tax and therefore part of the General Fund, it can also be used for other municipal purposes. Councilmember Hahn recently voiced her concern of that possibility at a city council meeting on December 13th:

"We have made a representation to the public that we are going to be using Measure P money for homeless matters. Last time I saw, we still had a big homeless problem and I want to make sure that we are not going to be digging into money that the public gave us for those purposes to fill other needs." -more-

On the fifteenth vote, Rep. Kevin McCarthy finally got enough votes to become House Speaker, a hollow victory at best. The anti-government Republicans used their new power to bring the House to a halt until they obtained major concessions from McCarthy. -more-

(The Militarization of the Police– Part 3)

This series of articles on police militarization was initiated in response to the government (Dept. of Defense) policy of providing military equipment to local police departments. We have evaluated this policy in the context of social violence, under which term we have included both civilian violence against persons and property and police violence against civilians. Though a false separation between these two forms of violence has been created by labeling only one of them "criminality," that is a distinction that has been rejected here. It is false insofar as police violence serves as a role model for civilian violence. And police deployment of military equipment (assault rifles, tear gas, armored vehicles, etc.) implies or even admits to a comparability of enactment.

At the core of police militarization resides their power to command civilians with an expectation of immediate obedience (as in the army, thus imposing induction on civilians into military organization without consent). To the role played by police violence, their presumption to punish disobedience by beating or handcuffing to shooting people must be added, as if the role of judge and jury could also be played, but with the omission of due process. They complete the portrait of “police state” that this outlines by often approaching civilians with guns drawn, as an expression of "gun-nationalism." -more-

Kevin McCarthy flapping on a hook
Elon Musk flapping on a hook
Donald Trump flapping on a hook
let's all sing a song
Kari Lake flapping on a hook -more-

A major critic of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is Indian journalist and Washington Post contributor, Rana Ayub. Ayub takes aim at Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government which has rejected its secular democratic roots in favor of promoting a fanatical Hindu State. She recently won the highest award for press freedom from the National Press Club. She is now headed back to India to face trial for money laundering, a favorite ploy of Modi’s government to silence influential journalists. -more-

A 1973 movie, Soylent Green, starring Charlton Heston, was science fiction that projected a dystopic future including the "Greenhouse Effect," which is global warming, plus out-of-control overpopulation, and the death and putrefaction of Earth's oceans. Sound familiar? Science has known about global warming and the threat to the oceans since the 1970's and before. The movie was based on a 1966 novel by author Harry Harrison, called "Make Room, Make Room." -more-

Long abandoned by the Biden administration and much of the Islamic world, the Taliban and their geriatric brethren in Iran, have long declared their war on women. Many girls are lamenting they were born in such intolerant male dominant societies where they are forever tormented by the morality police who beat them mercilessly even if a few wisps of hair are protruding from their burkas or hijabs. They are forced to wear head to toe suffocating clothes to protect them from the gazing eyes of men. -more-

Decades ago, and probably through centuries, it seems when women and men partnered, there was little question they would stay together. When I say decades, I really mean more than sixty years. In the nineteen sixties, it appears that human consciousness evolved, and as a byproduct, divorce has become extremely common. I have witnessed some of this in my lifetime. -more-

In the arena of love, romance and sex there are many ersatz victims. The ongoing saga of would-be Berkeley Police Chief Louis evoked, for me, some deeper thoughts on love, romance and sex. -more-

I always think I've seen it all. I yawned a little during the recent knife fight over the Republican battle for Speaker of the House having been part of the earliest People's Park meetings which patiently harbored international strays of nearly unintelligible stripe, a deliberate custom which proved a valuable, albeit creative challenge. Free Radio Berkeley's earliest meetings were routinely fiascos; champions of profanity facing off with the community mission-driven over the best illustration of free speech. I did hard time at Occupy, and then there were the cascade of nonprofits I worked for, one of which sat pleasantly by while one employee graphically described his weekend workshop with a group willing to give each other naked presentations on the assumption that this would be valuable while clearly it was at the very least lucrative for the organizers. -more-

The brain is the most important organ of the human body--you already know that. Conceivably, any organ in the body other than our brains could be artificially, or by transplant, replaced. Yet if your brain doesn't work, there is no point. Psychiatric drugs modify brain function with the intent of producing a patient who can conform to what is needed in society. Medication does not mean the end of consciousness--it marks a change to consciousness. -more-

Waterballoongate has the best name in a wild field of choices for worst Berkeley police scandal. Berkeley's police scandal list recently had to add homeless arrest quotas, a matter discovered when a whistleblower from within the Berkeley Police Department (BPD) decided to reveal text messages affirming the fact now under what passes in this town for investigation. -more-

It's a new year, so let's get it going with a smattering of traditional irrelevance. Herewith: a salute to some personalized license plates spotted in the closing days of 2022. -more-

Pope Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) died at age 95. He was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. -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-

During the extremely rainy weather in the Bay Area over the recent holidays, like many people I mostly stayed home. One of the ways I entertained myself was to take another look, perhaps for the umpteenth time, at the 1942 film Casablanca directed by Michael Curtiz and memorably starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. I have fond memories of viewing that film while in Cyprus with an Iranian friend who was a dissident of the theocratic regime of Iran’s Islamic Republic. My friend’s tales of the oppression enforced by Iran’s morality police dovetailed appropriately with the Nazis’ attempted oppression in the Unoccupied France of wartime Casablanca. -more-

Worth Noting:

Wednesday is the evening where every meeting has agenda items that fit as a go to meeting and the Golden Gate Audubon Society with other local chapters is sponsoring Douglas Tallamy speaking on creating landscapes that enhance local ecosystems.

• Monday: The Youth Commission meets at 6:30 pm. The Peace and Justice Commission and the Personnel Board both meet at 7 pm. The Personnel Board Packet includes a report on City staff vacancies. The modifications in the Police Recruit and Officer job descriptions are to meet new CA law. Peace and Justice Commission has invited Indigenous Representatives to discuss the Shellmound and the Land Acknowledgement.
• Tuesday: Council meets at 10 am to vote to continue virtual meetings until the COVID emergency ends on February 28, 2023.
• Wednesday: The go to meeting of the week is Nature’s Best Hope with Douglas Tallamy at 7 pm. The Disability Commission meets at 6 pm and will take up Berkeley Bike Plan and Barriers to Pedestrians and Bike Safety and IKE Kiosks. The Police Accountability Board (PAB) meets at 6:30 pm. The PAB agenda includes the LA Times report on the Interim Chief and sexual harassment investigation and Bike Unit allegations. The Parks Commission meets at 7 pm. Turtle Island Monument and T1 shortfall are on the agenda. A letter in the packet from Todd Jersey Architects states the pier is safe for pedestrian access and should be reopened.
• Thursday: WETA meets at 1 pm. The Zoning Adjustment Board has 7 projects listed on consent, two 7-story projects 2439 Durant and 1752 Shattuck and two 5-story projects 1773 Oxford and 1820 San Pablo.

City Council is officially on recess through January 16. The January 10 meeting is just to renew legislative body virtual meetings. The agenda for the January 17 regular City Council meeting is available for comment. Use link or check agenda list at the end of this post. The January 18 special City Council at 4 pm is for the adoption of the 2023 – 2031 Housing Element. The packet with the report is 1428 pages. https://berkeleyca.gov/your-government/city-council/city-council-agendas

Check the City website for late announcements and meetings posted on short notice at: https://berkeleyca.gov/

BERKELEY PUBLIC MEETINGS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

Sunday, January 8, 2023 – No city meetings listed. -more-

Worth Noting:

2023 is off to a quiet start with four meetings.

• Wednesday the Agenda Committee meets at 2:30 pm to plan the 1/17/2023 City Council Regular Meeting. The Board of Library Trustees meets at 6:30 pm. The Homeless Services Panel of Experts meets at 7 pm. The 206-page City of Berkeley Crisis Response Models Report – Specialized Care Unit included in the meeting packet is not listed as an agenda item.
• Thursday the Landmarks Preservation Commission meets at 7 pm. There is a demolition referral for the site of the former Radio Shack - watch for a mixed use building to appear on the DRC and ZAB agendas in the near future. The letter from Elyce Klein listed under correspondence lays open some questions on what is behind the changes in the Turtle Island Monument plans.

Check the City website for announcements and meetings posted on short notice at: https://berkeleyca.gov/ -more-