Police at UC Berkeley were investigating after reports early Friday of 10 gunshots heard near the campus in three different locations. -more-

A 75-year-old bicyclist who was injured when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Berkeley last month has died, according to the Alameda County coroner's bureau. -more-

The Peace and Justice Commission unanimously passed a resolution commemorating the 50th Anniversary of People's Park at its Monday, April 8th, 2019, meeting in City Hall's Cypress room. The resolution from Commissioners Igor Tregub and Denny Han is extensive, honoring People's Parks origins, history, founders, and values, describing it as "significant" and noting that, "the founding ideals of the Park remain critically important today." -more-

Welcome to another chapter in Berkeley’s GOWN SWALLOWS TOWN saga. My comments below address the Proposed Project’s deficiencies with two-dozen narrative “nuggets.” Most of my questions are tossed into a “caboose” at the end.

Though the Upper Hearst Development is exceedingly complicated, I think it can be reduced to a relatively simple formula:

DVP > P3 > ASM > $

where: DVP = dean’s vanity project

P3 = public private* partnership

ASM = aerial strip mine

* with outsource partners ACC and CHF

My recommendations to the authors of the CEQA draft document are also uncomplicated:

First, SCRAP the Minor LRDP Amendment concerning density in the Campus Environs Housing Zone. The changes advocated in Appendix B (DSEIR, p 251) rest on the flimsiest of assertions concerning “an exception” needed in support of university “excellence.”

Second, SEVER the updated population baseline discussion from the DSEIR. The relationship of existing campus headcount with 2020 LRDP projections is sufficiently important to merit its own independent CEQA document. The City of Berkeley agrees. -more-

Serious questions have been raised regarding the airworthiness and safety of Boeing’s 737 MAX 8. -more-

One of the most extraordinary developments of recent political history--is the loyal adherence of religious conservatives to Donald Trump. Trump won four-fifths of the votes of white evangelical Christians. This was a higher level of support than either Ronald Reagan or George W, Bush, an outspoken evangelical himself, ever received. -more-

Senate Bill 50 (Wiener, San Francisco) is the most sweeping anti-local control legislation in California’s history. It represents the result of years of well-financed efforts by major banking, real estate development and corporate interests, and opportunistic Sacramento politicians pushing to remove local control of zoning and planning. The true purposes of SB 50 are disguised by a carefully crafted marketing campaign, which claims that unlimited growth will result in housing affordability. -more-

The banks in California deposit the state's tax revenue in the large private banks, which often invests these funds out of state. The earnings from these investments are not generally emitted to the State's treasury. This practice weakens the state economy, and deprives the public of an adequate budget for its various programs. This pattern characterizes how the big banks do their business in other states as well. -more-

They can't say it worked in West Virginia. When employers - the coal companies - owned the housing and the stores where workers bought equipment, food, and clothing, all it took was a whiff of union talk for management to whistle coal miners right out of a job, and sometimes coal miners' families out of a home. -more-

The recent decision by the Hague-based International Court of Justice that the Chagos Islands—with its huge US military base at Diego Garcia—are being illegally occupied by the United Kingdom (UK) has the potential to upend the strategic plans of a dozen regional capitals, ranging from Beijing to Riyadh. -more-

The norm of adult males with schizophrenia appears to be a lot of difficulty, sometimes to the point of disaster. I have heard numerous stories of tragedies befalling men with schizophrenia. The least of these is when we live peacefully and pass away relatively young, due to chronic health problems. Other individuals are not as fortunate. -more-

April 7, 2019, marked the 25th anniversary of what we now know as the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. It was just one episode in the 20th century Hutu-Tutsi conflict in that part of the world, from the slaughter of 80,000 to 200,000 Hutus by the Tutsi army in Burundi in 1972, to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide of more than 800,000 to 1 million Rwandans — both Tutsis and Hutus — in just 100 days. -more-

Trump and Free Speech

Donald Trump recently threatened to cut UC Berkeley's federal funds if the campus administration failed to honor Trump's concept of "free speech" on campus. But Trump's decree was basically an exercise in empty rhetoric because (1) UC Berkeley already has long-standing policies to protect free-speech and (2) already allocated federal funds cannot be withheld by a decree from the Offal Orifice . . . . ummm, excuse me: I meant Oval Office.

Irony, thy name is Trump.

At the same time DJT pretends to be an advocate of "free speech," he continues to silence and muzzle the government's own research scientists. From NASA and NOAA to the EPA, professional scientists have been ordered not to speak or write the words "climate change" or "global warming." Those phrases—and any research addressing these existential planetary threats—have now been officially scrubbed from government websites and reports. -more-

In concerts this weekend, April 11-14, pianist Emanuel Ax joined the San Francisco Symphony in performances of Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Opus 83. Paired with this work was the tone-poem Die Seejungfrau /The Mermaid by Alexander Zemlinsky. Conducting was Andrey Boreyko, the new Music and Artistic Director of Warsaw Philharmonic. -more-

Worth Noting:

City Council is on Spring Recess until April 22. City Council Agenda for April 23 is available for comment (agenda highlights and link follows calendar)

City Council 1000 Person Plan scheduled for April 30 at 4:30 pm,

General information including the Land Use Calendar, tentative schedule of City Council work sessions, boards and commissions delinquent in posting meeting minutes and links to BUSD and regional meetings are posted at the bottom after the summary of next week’s meetings.



Sunday, April 14, 201

Egg Dyeing and Water Games – Ages 3-12, 12 – 1:30 pm, at King Pool,

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CalendarEventMain.aspx?calendarEventID=15749 -more-