On Tuesday I received one of the increasingly frequent press releases that the Berkeley Police Department has been sending out. Many if not most are trivial feel-good PR: “Coffee with a Cop” and the like, so I tend not to read them. But from time to time these press releases are entitled “Cases of Community Interest” and I do check those out. -more-

LaMonte Earnest, a 13+ year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service, is facing false accusations of criminal threats and animal cruelty after a customer claimed he had kicked down his door, entered his home, and threatened to kill him. Mr. Earnest was taken into custody after the police determined he had an outstanding warrant for animal cruelty. That warrant, which Mr. Earnest was unaware existed, stemmed from a dog attack three years before while Mr. Earnest was delivering mail in Daly City. -more-

Tuesday evening was an uncommon, decidedly rare event; the Hearst Avenue neighbors won against lead developer Mark Rhoades in the Berkeley City Council appeal of 1155-1173 Hearst Avenue. The final vote was 8 to 1 to support the appeal by requiring an Environmental Impact Report before the Zoning Adjustment Board reconsidered granting the 5 special permits needed for the project. Arreguin, Bartlett, Davila, Harrison, Hahn, Kesarwani, Robinson and Wengraf voted for the Hahn-Arreguin motion. Droste was the lone dissent.

Hahn’s detailed analysis of the legal case, which supplemented and corrected a weaker one from the City staff, as contrasted with the toe-dancing of developer Rhoades, was spectacular. Hahn validated the meticulous documentation supplied by appellants and neighbors and the experts they hired. Look for the full motion and video later this week https://cityofberkeley.info/citycouncil/

Thursday, January 31, 6:00 pm, at 1231 Addison, the City Council will hear the appeal of 2190 Shattuck Avenue, the development that will block 75% of the view from Campanile Way at the base of Sather Tower. -more-

That’s what can happen on Thursday, January 31, when the City Council will hear an appeal of the Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) decision to approve Shattuck Terrace Green, an 18-story building with 274 residential units and a “lush” private roof garden, over the existing Walgreen’s on the old Penney’s/Ross/Walgreen’s site, 2190 Shattuck Avenue. The proposed building at this specific location pits preservation of a national heritage landmark feature against the need for housing.

It doesn’t need to be that way. We CAN HAVE BOTH -- housing AND preserving Berkeley’s heritage landmark, and that’s what we, the four appellants to the ZAB decision, want to happen.

The developers are Texas-based Mill Creek Residential, a national company that has built high rise “apartment homes” throughout the country. Berkeleyans are just getting to know them since they recently purchased the long dormant Acheson Commons permit and have started construction of 205 units at University and Shattuck. You may also remember Jason Overman who served as an elected Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner from 2004-2008. In 2006, he ran for the District 8 Council seat against Councilmember Gordon Wozniak and lost. His treasurer for that election was fellow Rent Board running mate and Commissioner, now Mayor, Jesse Arreguin. Since then, Mr. Overman has become a partner in Lighthouse Public Affairs which describes him on their website as their “political Swiss Army knife.” He is now a highly visible part of the developer team advocating for this project.

The landmark that’s involved is Campanile Way on the UC Berkeley campus with its view westward to the Golden Gate. Campanile Way was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. After a long and involved series of conflicting reports by City Staff over the meaning and extent of this designation, the Landmarks Preservation Commission in April 2018 voted to clarify the issue by giving additional local landmark status to Campanile Way, and specifically identifying the View as a “significant contributing factor.” However, the Council turned that recommendation down on the basis that placement of Campanile Way on the National Register was all the protection needed and that local designation was redundant.

When the project came to the ZAB, members were informed by history and planning experts that Campanile Way is one of the nation’s best examples of American Beaux-Arts planning and further that because of intense campus development during and since the 60’s, it is the last remaining place on campus the public can see the Golden Gate. Additionally, that blocking the View from Campanile Way would likely result in its removal from the National Registry.

Today, thousands of students, alums, school children, residents and tourists pause or gather throughout the year at the steps of Sather Tower to enjoy this unique, emotional and compelling visual experience. The View has emerged as the symbol of the culture of a world-recognized premier public university. It is also noteworthy that not only UC, but the State of California and the City of Berkeley, all use symbols that include the westward Golden Gate view. One expert likened the importance of blocking this view to a real-life proposal which would have blocked the view of the Statue of Liberty.

There’s pretty much agreement across the board that the building, as proposed, blocks this View -- photo simulations provided by the EIR, written assessments that 75% of the view would be blocked from the Campanile steps, city staff reports, and testimony by the developer’s attorney and ZAB members who acknowledge this fact, but say that it doesn’t matter.

Lost in this discussion is mention of the fact that the View from Campanile Way is the ONLY place on the Berkeley campus, or in the Downtown, where the public can access this View, at no expense, 24/7. It’s a much-loved destination for the public that in addition to preserving a more than 100-year landmark, also increases revenues and contributes vitality to its surroundings when people make a visit to a destination site. Stealing that View from the public and privatizing it solely for the residents of 2190 Shattuck Avenue was not considered a detriment by ZAB.

The developer’s attorney holds that it doesn’t matter anyway since the City doesn’t have a view ordinance, we can’t take this View into consideration. This completely dismisses the fact that the City of Berkeley has been regulating the height of buildings on private property for decades because of view considerations. Last year the City Council spent several meetings minutely reviewing two cases of view impacts from private homes in the Berkeley Hills. Whether the City has always gotten it right in each case is another issue, but the record is clear – the City always has, and still does regulate property based on view considerations.

Let’s be clear – appellants are not arguing for no housing, especially this close to transit. We support new housing here of all types. Using the developer’s chart, if the building height was reduced by six levels, the building would have 239 units, a reduction of a little less than 15%. If the building’s height was reduced to 9 levels, the building would still provide 172 units, still a substantial number of new housing units. Both reduced size projects would make this one of the largest apartment buildings of any type ever built in Berkeley.

The land slopes westward from the steps of Sather Tower, so a building somewhere within these height levels, even with a roof garden, could be constructed at the location in question that would not block the View.

We also note that the proposed building is 100% market rate, and that since the City is shamefully short of its Regional Housing Goals for all income categories except high incomes, we would hope this building would include within the building at least some low to moderate income rentals instead of paying in-lieu fees that result in years of delay for the actual production of such units.

We cannot, nor should we even try to design the building at an appeal hearing, nor should the Council do that. We cannot accurately indicate what exact height level would be appropriate, including a roof garden and all the necessary mechanicals without expert study.

Therefore, we are asking that the Council uphold this appeal and send the project back to the Zoning Adjustments Board, without additional fees, to consider a new proposal that protects the View, as well as issues such as why such a building would need any auto parking at all along with a wide driveway that has the potential for traffic and pedestrian safety problems.

To protect the public’s heritage View we ask you to write or call your

Councilmember, and speak in favor of our appeal at a Special Meeting of the Council, Thursday January 31, at the School District Board Room, 1231 Addison Street. The meeting starts at 6:00 pm and we are the only item on the agenda. -more-

On Thursday, January 31st, Council will hold a vote on 2190 Shattuck (the current Walgreens building on Shattuck and Allston). The Zoning Adjustments Board approved this project 6-2 on October 25th and four residents filed an appeal three weeks later. This project would involve demolition of the current retail and office space and construction of an 18-story, 274-unit apartment building. This project is in the heart of District 4, and so we want to hear from you. Please attend the Council meeting at 6pm on January 31st at 1231 Addison (BUSD Board Room). -more-

Two years ago, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) invited me to be part of the Steering Committee for CASA, a committee dedicated to identifying and acting on regional solutions to the Bay Area’s housing affordability crisis.

At Urban Habitat, we knew this was important work. Everyone is feeling effects of the housing crisis, and we saw participating in CASA as an opportunity to advance racial equity, raise consciousness around historic and continued regional segregation, and fight displacement.

We worked with our partners at every step. We co-convened the 6 Wins for Social Equity Network and, together, advocated for a “tenant protection first” approach. We knew it was critical to first stabilize gentrifying communities so that existing residents can prosper in place, and then work to preserve and produce deeply affordable housing.

MTC is currently collecting signatures for the final CASA Compact from the Co-Chairs and Steering Committee. My signature will not be on it.

Unfortunately, while the final Compact includes much-needed tenant protections and affordable housing revenue proposals, it falls short in protecting vulnerable communities from the risk of continued displacement.

Policymakers need to put in place strong tenant protection policies before introducing any up-zoning and streamlining of market-rate housing. In addition, no up-zoning or streamlining should take place in communities at risk for displacement and gentrification. These places should be identified based on a geographical analysis developed with meaningful community engagement.

Elements of the CASA Compact will now be turned into state bills. As these bills move through the state legislative process, we must continue advocating for solutions to the housing crisis that are rooted in racial justice, self-determination, and de-commodified housing alternatives. Beyond CASA, Urban Habitat will deepen our collective political analysis so that we can develop visionary land and housing strategies, and stop false solutions that continue to tear apart low-income communities and communities of color. -more-

The United States never seems to learn from its past mistakes. We have attempted regime changes in Iran (to steal their oil), sold weapons to Iraq in their civil war with Iran, invaded Iraq with bogus claims of WMD’s, sold weapons to Saudi Arabia resulting in the devastating famine in Yemen, overthrew Kaddafi in Libya resulting in complete chaos . . .John Bolton, National Security Advisor, admitted that a regime change would benefit US oil. In our latest effort to maintain our impeccable record of regime change failures, the Trump administration is beating the war drums to replace President Maduro of Venezuela with his unelected contender, Juan Guaidó. -more-

Tuesday, 1/22/19, the day of the march in protest of decimation of healthy trees in People’s Park, maybe 40 of us gathered and headed out of the park to go down Telegraph to UC first day of classes, to let people know what had occurred. We had two massive banners, one at the front, and one at the back of the march. It was a perfectly peaceful march until a young driver for whatever reason (entitlement? Out-of-control and not fit to be on the road? Perhaps drugged?) headed into the back of the march at the intersection of Durant and Telegraph. -more-

Today was a lovely Saturday in California Assembly District 15, and its lovely residents were out in full force in Emeryville. The occasion was the election of delegates to the state Democratic Party convention, and the cheerful and handsome voters were on display as they waited in line to get their ballots.

This might seem like an odd way to choose delegates, sort of an endurance test, since one estimate was that almost 1700 district voters, registered Dems all, showed up to stand in line. But the atmosphere was more like a small-p party than a Party meeting, with participants greeting each other enthusiastically, even those who were pretty sure they were endorsing different slates. It seemed like a good percentage of everyone I’ve ever known around here showed up, and even some notables like Josh Kornbluh that I don’t know but have seen around.

There were just two slates for 26 slots, divided somewhat peculiarly into half self-identified women and half not-women. When these rules were set up, not that long ago, this may have seemed fair, but with fluid gender identities all the rage it doesn’t seem quite fair anymore, does it?

The overall good humor was undoubtedly influenced by the good news from DC. A woman who was furloughed from her security guard job got it right in a TV interview. Even though she was having trouble making the rent, she was sure that Speaker Pelosi was doing the right thing:

“Miss Nancy won’t let him have that wall!” she said, and she was right.

Miss Nancy gave that bad boy the timeout he needed—a triumph for grannies everywhere, a fair number of whom were in that line in Emeryville with big smiles on their faces as they discussed what happened on Friday.

The winning slate, in the end, was the one that could have claimed Shirley Chisholm’s old slogan, Unbossed and Unbought: the Progressive Labor Slate. Their counterparts in the 18th AD , which holds its election on Sunday, call themselves the Unbossed Slate.

In AD 15, the other slate, with truth in packaging, called themselves the Union of Progressive Leaders. This was the one endorsed by the Electeds, Sen. Nancy Skinner and Asm. Buffy Wicks. They appeared to be successors to the 2016 Hillary Clinton primary campaign.

I myself did vote for Hillary in June of 2016--that got me some unwelcome phone solicitations for this vote, but I’ve moved on. They offered me free breakfast with Buffy at 9 a.m. (are you kidding?), a ride to the meeting and a chance to register to vote if I hadn't managed to do that by the last election day. The sober identical teeshirts worn by this slate’s staff (there were a lot of them) hinted at plenty of spending money, not necessarily a plus in this area.

People handing out slate cards for the other crowd wore a miscellany of old Bernie and Our Revolution tee shirts and other assorted colorful clothing, presumably signifying a more anarchistic temperament. A crowd pleaser was Alfred Twu, self-identified on the not-woman side, who nonetheless chooses Little-House-on-the-Prairie dresses and sun bonnets for daily wear.

He won, as did almost all of his slate, both female and non-female, as well as Wendy Bloom, their candidate for the Executive Committee. Only Oakland Councilmember Dan Kalb, who ran a credible race again Buffy Wicks in June but then joined her slate, was chosen from the Leaders queue.

All in all, bottom-up proved more popular than top-down: The grass roots have spoken, and the Leaders had better be listening. -more-