Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest gamble in Syria’s civil war appears to have come up snake eyes. Instead of halting the Damascus government’s siege of the last rebel held province, Idlib, Turkey has backed off, and Ankara’s Syrian adventure is fueling growing domestic resistance to the powerful autocrat. 

The crisis began on Feb. 25, when anti-government rebels, openly backed by Turkish troops, artillery, and armor, attacked the Syrian Army at the strategic town of Saraqeb, the junction of Highways 4 and 5 linking Aleppo to Damascus and the Mediterranean. The same day Russian warplanes in Southern Idlib were fired upon by MANPADS (man portable air-defense systems), anti-aircraft weapons from Turkish military outposts. The Russian air base at Khmeimim was also attacked by MANPADS and armed Turkish drones. 

What happened next is still murky. According to Ankara, a column of Turkish troops on its way to bring supplies to Turkish observer outposts in Idlib were attacked by Syrian war planes and artillery, killing some 34 soldiers and wounding more than 70. Some sources report much higher causalities. 

But according to Al Monitor, a generally reliable on-line publication, the column was a mechanized infantry battalion of some 400 soldiers, and it wasn’t Syrian warplanes that did the damage, but Russian Su-34s packing KAB-1500Ls, bunker busting laser guided bombs with 2400 lb warheads. Syrian Su-22 fighters were involved, but apparently only to spook the soldiers into taking cover in several large buildings. Then the Su-34s moved in and brought the buildings down on the Turks. 

The Russians deny their planes were involved, and the Turks blamed it all on Damascus, but when it comes to Syria, the old saying that truth is the first casualty of war is pretty much a truism. 

Erdogan initially blustered and threatened to launch an invasion of Idlib—which, in any case, was already underway—but after initially remaining silent, Rear Adm. Oleg Zhuravlev said that Russia “cannot guarantee the safety of flights for Turkish aircraft over Syria.” 

The Turkish President is a hardhead, but he is not stupid. Troops, armor and artillery without air cover would be sitting ducks. So the Turks pulled back, the Syrians moved in, and now Russian military police are occupying Saraqeb. Russia has also deployed two cruise missile armed frigates off the Syrian coast. 

But for Erdogan, the home front is heating up. 

Even before the current crisis, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) has been demanding that Erdogan brief the parliament about the situation in Idlib, but the President’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) voted down the request. The rightwing, nationalist Good Party—a CHP ally— made similar demands, which have also been sidelined. 

All the opposition parties have called for direct negotiations with the Assad government. 

The worry is that Turkey is drifting toward a war with Syria without any input from the Parliament. On Feb. 12, Erdogan met with AKP deputies and told them that if Turkish soldiers suffered any more casualties—at the time the death toll was 14 dead, 45 wounded—that Turkey would “hit anywhere” in Syria. To the opposition that sounded awfully like a threat to declare war. 

Engin Altay, the CHP’s deputy chair, said “The president has to brief the parliament, Idlib is not an internal matter for the AKP.” Altay has also challenged Erdogan’s pledge to separate Turkey from the extremist rebels, like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an affiliate of al-Qaeda. “Is this even possible?” he asked, “There is no way to distinguish these from each other.” 

Turkey made an agreement with Russia in 2018 to allow it to set up observation posts in Idlib if it pledged not to support extremists like Tahrir al-Sham , but Ankara has facilitated the entry of such groups into Syria from the beginning of the war, giving them free passage and supplying them with massive amounts of fertilizer for bombs. In any case, the extremists eliminated any so-called “moderate” opposition groups years ago. 

“Turkey said it would disassociate moderate elements from radicals,” says Ahmet Kamil Erozan of the Good Party, “but it couldn’t do that.’ 

The Kurdish-based progressive People’s Democratic Party (HDP) parliamentarian Necdet Ipekyuz charged “Idlib has become a nest for all jihadists. It has turned into a trouble spot for Turkey and the world. And who is protecting these jihadists? Who is safeguarding them? 

Erdogan has jailed many of the HDP’s members of parliament and AKP appointees have replaced the Party’s city mayors. Tens of thousands of people have been imprisoned, and tens of thousands dismissed from their jobs. The media has largely been silenced through outright repression—Turkey has jailed more journalists than any country in the world—or ownership by pro-Erdogan businessmen. 

But body bags are beginning to come home from a war that looks to a lot of Turks like a quagmire. The war is costly at a time of serious economic trouble for the Turkish economy. Unemployment is stubbornly high, and the lira continues to fall in value. Polls show that a majority of Turks—57 percent—are more concerned with the economy than with terrorism. While Turks have rallied around the soldiers, before the recent incident more than half the population opposed any escalation of the war. 

And Turkey seems increasingly isolated. Erdogan called an emergency session of NATO on Feb. 28, but got little more than “moral” support. NATO wants nothing to do with Syria and certainly doesn’t want a confrontation with Russia, especially because many of the alliance’s members are not comfortable with Turkey’s intervention in Syria. In any case, Turkey is not under attack. Only its soldiers, who are occupying parts of Syria in violation of international law, are vulnerable. 

The Americans also ruled out setting up a no-fly zone over Idlib. 

Erdogan is not only being pressed by the opposition, but from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) within his own ruling coalition. The MHP, or the “Gray Wolves,” have long represented Turkey’s extreme right. “The Turkish nation must walk into Damascus along with the Turkish army,” says Devlet Bahceli, leader of the MHP. 

Erdogan has no intention of marching on Syria’s capital, even if he could pull it off. The President wants Turkey to be a regional player and occupying parts of Syria keeps Ankara on the board. But that line of reasoning is now under siege. 

Turkey’s allies in the Syrian civil war are ineffective unless led by and supported by the Turkish army. But without air cover, the Turkish army is severely limited in what it can do, and the Russians are losing patience. Moscow would like the Syria war to end and to bring some of its military home, and Erdogan is making that difficult. 

Moscow can be difficult as well, as Turkey may soon find out. The two countries are closely tied on energy, and, with the sanctions blocking Iranian oil and gas, Ankara is more and more dependent on Russian energy sources. Russia just built the new TurkStream gas pipeline across the Black sea and is building a nuclear power plant for Turkey. Erdogan can only go so far in alienating Russia. 

Stymied in Syria and pressured at home, Erdogan’s choices are increasingly limited. He may try to escalate Turkish involvement in Syria, but the risks for that are high. He has unleashed the refugees on Europe, but not many are going, and Europe is brutally blocking them. He may move to call early elections before his domestic support erodes any further, but he might just lose those elections, particularly since the AKP has split into two parties. A recent poll found that 50 percent of Turks say they will not vote for Erdogan. 

Or he could return to his successful policies of a decade ago of “no problems with the neighbors.” 

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Conn Hallinan can be read at disptachesfromtheedgeblog.wordpress.com and middleempireseries.wordpress.com 

"America's present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration; not agitation but adjustment; not surgery but serenity; not the dramatic but the dispassionate; not experiment but equipoise; not submergence in internationality but sustainment in triumphant nationality."

Who’s talking here? ..It could be Joe Biden, couldn’t it, except perhaps for the last phrase, and even that might be read as a newly-minted condemnation of NAFTA. The mood this sentence portrays goes a long way to explain why the majority of voters on Super Tuesday went for Biden and not Bernie.

The vote could be a tribute to the era of No-Drama-Obama, a promise by Go-Slow-Joe that things will calm down once again if he’s elected president.

The technical term for a guy like Biden, at least now that he’s pushing 80, might be nebbish, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing in the eyes of weary voters.

Biden is dull, that’s for sure, and that’s his main charm. People seem sick and tired of the turmoil which accompanies the current administration, so Biden represents a return to normalcy, a time, even before Obama, when some paternal Old White Guy or other had things under control.

What Democratic voters are exhibiting is a kind of battle fatigue. Does the phrase “return to normalcy” sound familiar? It’s the Republican slogan for the election of ’20—that is to say, of 1920, when Warren G. Harding was elected on a promise to help the nation recover from the stress of the World War. 

Harding won in a landslide with more than 60% of the vote, but turned out to be one of the country’s worst presidents. Among other things, he presided over Teapot Dome before dying in his third year in office, to be succeeded by Calvin Coolidge, another failure. 

When I was a small child I had a book about the Teapot Dome scandal which I barely remember. I do know that one page showed a cartoon dinosaur (code for Sinclair Oil) under a lift-up flap which pictured the dome of the U.S. Capitol, representing how some in the Harding administration illegally gifted favored oil companies with lucrative contracts. 

Corruption in Washington: It’s an old story. 

One losing candidate in the 1920 election was a Socialist, Eugene Debs. He campaigned from jail and got about one million votes, but he lost. 

Last week’s electorate, a century later, did not appear to be looking for anyone’s revolution, any more than the 1920 voters were. They don’t seem to want any excitement: no socialists or women need apply. 

There are a few more primaries ahead, but only one candidate is still standing in Biden’s way, and he’s an unapologetic socialist who has never offered normalcy. Voters aren’t looking for revolution, no matter how often Bernie Sanders tells them they should be. 

Elizabeth Warren is a different case. She suffered from two handicaps. 

First, there’s the “it’s not me” syndrome. That would be the legions of “progressives” who just don’t believe that the country is ready for a woman president. 

People are so sick of Trump they’re trying to second guess their fellow voters, often ineptly. Even fellow women. 

An academic public intellectual of my acquaintance, a well-known feminist, told me after the 20bb16 election disaster that she’d never again vote for a female candidate. She thought that the results proved that there weren’t enough votes from women to elect one of their own, and she believed most men would never vote for a woman. 

In other words, 

“ I would vote for a women, but they won’t.”  

Warren’s other problem is that she’s just too damn smart for some women and many men. Heard from a middle-aged woman who should know better: “She sounds too much like a schoolteacher.” 

And? What’s wrong with that? 

For most people their earliest and most indelible impression of a powerful authority figure was their fourth grade teacher. She (usually) was someone trying to rein in their incipient autonomy. 

Fourth grade is notoriously hard to teach for that reason, and many don’t do it well. When some adult objects to how Warren sounds, they’re channeling their inner fourth grader. 

“She can’t tell me what to do!” 

There’s a technical term for what some don’t like about Warren. 

She’s uppity. 

That label is drawn from the experience of her African-American brothers and sisters, who have learned the hard way that as an outsider you have to be twice as good as your privileged competitors, but you mustn’t let them know that you know you are. Otherwise they’ll call you uppity. 

Anyone who doubts that Elizabeth Warren is exponentially more qualified that any one of the three old guys who are still in the race, or for that matter than all three put together, should watch Rachel Maddow’s long interview with her on Thursday. 

If only she were in charge of the U.S. response to the Corona virus, we wouldn’t be in such a dreadful mess now. Listen to this interview to see how she’d handle it: 

 

What Warren didn’t promise was “a return to normalcy”. Her analysis of what’s wrong with this country is every bit as caustic as that of Bernie Sanders, but her remedies stop short of a socialist revolution. She’s pragmatic enough to realize that even though we don’t have some sort of ideal single-payer health insurance system at the moment, crisis intervention is needed now with whatever tools are at hand. Bernie, on the other hand, isn’t offering any plan. 

The difference between Warren and Sanders is something the mainstream media (or as I prefer to call them, the nattering newsies) just can’t grasp. 

This NYT article is a prime example of how they’ve consistently gotten things wrong: Why Warren Supporters Aren’t a Lock to Get Behind Sanders 

Quote: “There is certainly significant overlap between the core support of Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren, the party’s two leading liberals.” 

Oy veh! Generations of heated discussions in the cafeteria of City College of New York, going all the way back to the 30s, come to naught! 

If Bernie’s anything, he is NOT one of the Democratic Party’s “leading liberals.” 

He’s part of the historically vocal contingent which has always used “liberal” as a pejorative, contrasting it with the much more Politically Correct “progressive”. He’s a veteran, for heaven’s sake, of YPSL and SDP, if perchance you remember those relics of bygone tendencies. 

Warren, on the other hand, used to be a Republican. 

Anyone who doesn’t know that Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren are not joined at the hip as the party’s “two leading liberals” shouldn’t be writing about politics in the New York Times (or anywhere else). 

A major reason we’re plagued with low-information voters in every election, including those youngsters who didn’t turn out as predicted to put Bernie over the top, is the poorly educated journalists who are supplying information today without remembering yesterday. 

If I were queen, I would ban the use of many fuzzy words which are mucking up the discourse: progressive, liberal, neo-liberal, moderate, conservative, neo-con, socialist, leftist…and many more. It would clear the air for candidates to provide a real, fact-based discussion of exactly how we got here and where we might go in the future, for those voters who want a return to some semblance of the normalcy which none of those labels exactly captures. 

I even have a campaign slogan for Joe to use: Be Bored By Biden. Might work. 

 

 

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These three "Scenarios" for developing People's Park were displayed at UC Berkeley Capital Strategies' "open house" on March 4. It's a safe guess why UC hasn't revealed them on its project Website: The only "choice" UC is offering the community is between massive high-rise dorms topping out at 16 stories, versus 15 stories. 

It's an equally safe guess that no one has ever been fond of the "Units 1–3" high-rise student warehouses that UC cheaply built across Southside in the 1950s and '60s. But even those eyesores are only nine stories high. To obliterate People's Park, UC is planning something more like Unit 666: a wildly out-of-scale tower that will loom over, and shadow, the adjacent residential neighborhood. Maybe they'll call it the Minas Morgul Campus. 

This is all bitterly ironic, for two reasons. 

First, directly north of People's Park is the 424-unit "Anna Head West" dorm complex that UC built in the last decade. This was a rare instance where UC erected something sensitive to Southside's historic character and scale. Its 4–6-story buildings have an Arts and Crafts vibe, with brown-shingled facades and peaked roofs. 

They reflect the adjacent, landmarked Anna Head School buildings, and the circa-1920s houses on the opposite side of People's Park. And they almost bring back the ghost of the moderate-density housing that UC wastefully destroyed in 1968, when it seized the People's Park block under eminent domain. That idiotic act of arrogant expansion had lethal consequences a year later. 

But rather than replicate its recent success just a block north, UC is scheming to revert to its 1950s and '60s mentality of packing and stacking blocky institutional towers. Unfortunately, this prestigious university doesn't seem to be exactly a "learning organization." 

The second irony is that at this March 4 open house, UC's hired architects were smart enough to display building models that could offer genuine alternatives to high-rise hell. One model, called "2.8 Spoke," looked like it could accommodate a comparable number of student housing units, in a web of interconnected lower-rise buildings – much like the adjacent Anna Head complex. 

The trade-off with this approach is that it would preserve even less open space on what used to be a park. But realistically, none of UC's schemes for this block will leave behind much of the spirit or footprint of People's Park. 

Community members who don't want to see UC repeat its grand-scale mistakes from the now-reviled Urban Renewal era might want to watch UC's project Website. That predicts an "Open House #3," on some TBA date in April or May, that's supposed to be about "Feedback on the refined [sic] site plan."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is coming under increasing criticism as the Coronavirus envelops America in its tight grip.

The CDC shipped hundreds of defective diagnostic kits to state laboratories compounding a serious health epidemic. President Trump downplayed the looming epidemic accusing the Democrats of inflating the crisis. His positive “hunch” is not reassuring.

The persistent drumbeat of positive test results has cast serious doubts on the validity of US testing. Much valuable time has been squandered allowing the Coronavirus to spread. Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard University was not so forgiving:“The incompetence has really exceeded what anyone would expect with the C.D.C - this is not a difficult problem to solve in the world of viruses.”

The CDC and the government should dial back on their collective pride and accept the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommendation to use a far more reliable German testing kit.

The obscene military budget should be slashed and the accrued savings used to offer a free test to all Americans.

Racism, xenophobia and outright hostility to immigration have reached the shores of Britain. An unhealthy - “I’m all right jack” is a sentiment often expressed by the offspring of recent Asian immigrants.

Using the Trump playbook, Priti Patel and Sajid Javid are backing new immigration laws that would have barred their ‘unskilled’ parents from entering the UK.

Sajid Javid’s father, a poor Muslim immigrant from Pakistan unwittingly promoted the false belief that the Tories were the party of social mobility. Sajid immigrated in the 1960s. Much like their American cousins, the Hispanics and other minorities, British immigrants served as the backbone of UK’s economic growth. Sajid senior was a bus driver who worked hard to ensure his children received the best possible education.

Under current immigrant rules, Sajid senior would be denied entry by rules promoted by his son. The new rules bar all unskilled immigrants especially those who cannot speak English. His “Judas’s son, become a spectacularly successful businessman and politician. He spoke enthusiastically that we are “very optimistic about our future because … we will remain the global-outlook nation that welcomes people from across the world.” But people like his dad would now be unwelcome. Priti Patel, another successful politician bluntly stated that her parents, Indians from East Africa, would no longer be welcome. The new crop of influential Indian immigrants are now changing laws that would have barred their parents from seeking a better life. Has the offspring of Indian immigrants ushered s a new form of caste system dividing immigrants as good, highly skilled Brahmins and bad unskilled untouchables?

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! 

Coronavirus Preparedness

This pathogen seems to be spreading at a lightning fast pace. The b90-day supplies of psychiatric medications, and to ask your psychiatrist for extra refills. We should not run out of our psych meds, because they are every bit as essential to us as surviving the virus, if you get it. If your psychiatrist is out sick for three months, it may not be possible to get meds filled. Ninety-day supplies of meds reduces the number of trips to the pharmacy. Pharmacies could be hotspots for exposure to the virus.

Secondly, if you are able to save up money, do so. If you have pending business, get it dealt with. Prepare as though you could be spending a period of time essentially defunct. Communicate with family to create emergency plans.

Avoid optional trips to hospitals. Hospitals are full of sick people, and it is likely that some of the people at hospitals will be sick with Coronavirus and can spread it to you.

When you shop for groceries, remember to get more canned food than you normally would, and store some of it.

Finally, take care of your health as much as you can. The better your condition is, the more prepared your body will be to fight off this disease. If you can delay catching Coronavirus, you are better off, since scientists doubtless are working on vaccines. Medical science is better than it was, and biologists know more than they did in the past. This equals a greater chance of rapidly formulating treatments and vaccines. If you get sick after, not before a good treatment is discovered, you are better off.

You do not need to panic. Most people who contract Coronavirus barely get sick, or barely have symptoms.



Raw Deal 

Those mental health consumers subject to outpatient institutionalization are getting a raw deal in life. We are expected to endure and even embrace many negatives. The things we are force-fed would never be acceptable to a person working in the mental health field. A PhD psychologist would never accept the idea of being forced to take medication, being forced to live under restrictions, and being economically deprived. 

It is ludicrous. The expectations include taking medications that cause physical and mental restriction as well as physical and mental suffering (sometimes agonizing), living in an institutionalized setting where there is little personal freedom or privacy, living on tiny amounts of money, and behaving oneself. No reasonable American could accept this. 

Outpatient institutionalization isn't the worst thing that could happen to us. Homelessness, living in a state hospital, or incarceration are three incredibly bad fates that befall numerous mental health consumers. And if you compare outpatient institutionalization to those possible outcomes, it seems like a more palatable situation. 

However, if I compare myself to people of my age and my background who are not afflicted with a psychiatric disability, it really seems like I've missed out. 

Outpatient institutions do not teach "clients" to live among the general public. We are taught a completely different set of behaviors, rules and customs compared to what is expected among mainstream adults. We are not helped in preparing for professional employment--mental health agencies may place us in bottom of the barrel positions or in special supported employment. The wages are going to be lower, the humiliation higher, and the chances of lasting numerous years in such positions, minimal. 

The "raw deal" consists of not having a home to call our own, of being forced into a day treatment program, and of not having choices in general. We are treated as though incompetent. We are presumed incompetent. 

Society doesn't offer mentally ill people very much worth having. If we try to bust out of the scenario handed to us, things begin to go wrong. People and events come out of the woodwork that pose interference or a threat. This doesn't have to be a conspiracy. People don't like it when you are successful and when they are not. Secondly, those who work as treatment practitioners are not invested in our success, they are invested in theirs. 

Mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh, who was a 2018 Merola Opera Program participant, gave a mesmerising performance in the Taube Atrium Theatre on Wednesday, March 4, of the song cycle Harawi by Olivier Messiaen. Harawi, rarely heard, is a major work of the 20th century art song, and it combines Messiaen’s passionate interest in ethnomusicology, nature, and birdsong. Loosely based on a Quechuan folktale of two lovers, Harawi bears some resemblance, though in an abstract way, to the medieval German story of Tristan and Isolde. In both there is a meditation on love and death. Messiaen found inspiration in a book given to him by a friend, comprised of Incan folklore and folksongs. From this unlikely raw material, Messiaen created a multi-hued song cycle of great rhythmic originality.  

Vancouver-born Simone McIntosh delivered an astounding interpretation of Messiaen’s Harawi. From the moment she walked on stage, barefoot, wearing a floor-length, off-white shift, accompanied by pianist Robert Mollicone, also barefoot, and clad in all-white, Simone McIntosh virtually inhabited the music. Or, to put it another way, Messiaen’s music inhabited her. And what music! Simone McIntosh threw herself into this music body and soul. She rarely stood still while singing. Rather, she moved, she knelt, she danced, and she imbued each of the twelve songs with its own visual component of movement as well as its particular vocal color. McIntosh’s range was extraordinary, as was her mastery of Messiaen’s unique rhythmic structure. In this, she was wondrously accompanied by noted pianist Robert Mollicone, who navigated with amazing virtuosity the large leaps in range and rhythmic complexity demanded by Messiaen’s writing for the piano.  

The text of Harawi, though drawing on Incan folklore, offers a poetic vision that is uniquely Messiaen’s. Birdsong keeps intruding into the vocal text, and McIntosh masterfully navigated the nonsense syllables that beautifully evoked several varieties of birdsong. In the fourth song, entitled Doundou tchil, Simone McIntosh created an elaborately graceful dance as she sang of the dance of the stars, rainbows, and birdsong. In the seventh song, entitled Adieu, McIntosh sang of a love potion in two voices, echoing the Tristan and Isolde story. The twelfth and final song, entitled Dans le noir, was a quiet meditation on love and distance, ending with the words, “la ville qui dormait…”/“The city that slept.…”  

In the end, what a revelation this was to hear Messiaen’s Harawi, which had heretofore somehow eluded me though I had heard much of Messiaen’s music while living in Paris. And how lucky we were to be in the Taube Atrium Theatre audience on March 4, 2020, to hear mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh and pianist Robert Mollicone deliver an impassioned interpretation of this remarkable music! 

Sharing the stage with McIntosh in this the second Schwabacher Recital of 2020 was tenor Zhengyi Bai, who opened the program with four of the six songs from Sei Ariette/Six Songs by Vincenzo Bellini, followed by the Vier Lieder/Four Songs by Richard Strauss. Hailing from Shandong province of China, Zhengyi Bai was a 2018 Merola Opera Program participant. In the four songs by Bellini, Zhengyi Bai demonstrated elegant Italian diction though his tone was occasionally thin, especially on high notes. He seemed definitely more at home in the German-language of the Four Songs by Richard Strauss. In these latter, Zhengyi Bai sang very expressively, and his high notes, sung in robust voice, were spot on. I’d definitely like to hear Zhengyi Bai in a major role in a German opera, though I’m not sure he’s ready for a lead role in an Italian opera. However, in Bellini’s song, Ma rendi pur contento, Zhengyi Bai offered a lovely interpretation of this quiet yet fervent love song.

Music Director Designate Esa-Pekka Salonen led the San Francisco Symphony last week in three performances of a program that featured the conductor’s own Violin Concerto with soloist Leila Josefowicz. I had only heard Josefowicz perform once before, many years ago in San Francisco, and I came away from that concert with a decidedly low opinion of Leila Josefowicz as a violinist. Her tone was thin, and she seemed to have simply gone through the motions, imbuing whatever it was she played with little feeling. Perhaps she played one of the classics — “Brahms, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, etc., etc.” — she now prefers to leave behind, having stated that she “didn’t want to keep performing pieces that everyone else was performing all the time.” So Leila Josefowicz has reinvented herself as a champion of new works she herself often commissions from contemporary composers.  

Esa-Pekka Salonen wrote his Violin Concerto for Leila Josefowicz, and they collaborated on the premiere of this work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on April 9, 2009. I find Salonen’s Violin Concerto a strained work, one full of excruciating music. It is in four movements, entitled Mirage, Pulse I, Pulse II, and Adieu. The work opens with the solo violin playing a skittering motif, soon joined by vibraphone and harp. When the orchestra enters, it is with low figures in the cellos and basses, with a piccolo floating eerily above. There are trombone snarls and almost inaudible high notes from Leila Josefowicz. There are also breakneck hijinks from the solo violin, with multiple double-stops. All told, there is much scratching and screeching from Leila Josefowicz in this opening movement, and her tone is thin throughout. 

The second movement, Pulse I, offers some respite. Indeed, I found the slow movement the one redeeming element in this otherwise strained concerto. Salonen says he imagined this music as emanating from a silent room where only the heartbeat of a sleeping person lying next to you in bed is audible. Of course, this is an exaggeration, for Pulse I contains more double-stops for solo violin up and down the entire range of the instrument. In Pulse II, all hell breaks loose. There is a phantasmagoria of sound, hints of hip hop, snarling jazz, roaring rock music, and god know what else! Salonen likens this to the club scene in Los Angeles. It is violent and loud. The final movement, entitled Adieu, is a long, excruciating farewell, marked by turbulent interjections from the timpani. The solo violin is partnered first by viola, then oboe, and, finally, by a floating piccolo. At the end, the music just comes to a halt. One wonders, hopefully, is it over? Yes, thankfully, it is over. The loyal San Francisco audience gave Josefowicz and Salonen enthusiastic applause, and Josefowicz offered an unnamed piece by Salonen as her encore. Like much of his Violin Concerto, this unnamed piece by Salonen was strained and angular. 

Bookending the Salonen Violin Concerto were two works not frequently heard — Beethoven’s Overture to King Stephen, Opus 117, and Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 5, Opus 50. In 1811, Beethoven received a commission to provide incidental music for two plays by Hungarian author August von Kotzebue that were to be performed in the inauguration of a new theatre in Pest, on the left bank of the Danube in what is now Budapest. The play King Stephen evokes incidents in the life of the late-tenth to early-eleventh century founder of modern Hungary. Of Beethoven’s extensive music for King Stephen, only the Overture is sometimes performed nowadays. It is a strange, disjointed piece. It opens with four ominous notes heard in the brass, evoking some momentous event (or tragedy) to come. However, what follows is a silly little Hungarian dance tune introduced by the flute, and a second Hungarian dance tune, this one much faster, with lively syncopations. Later, there is a variation introduced by flutes and clarinets that is sometimes likened to the melody of the Ode to Joy in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, though here, in the King Stephen Overture, this music seems simply frivolous. Not even a repetition of the ominous four note opening can salvage any grandeur in this King Stephen Overture. 

After intermission, Esa-Pekka Salonen led the San Francisco Symphony in Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 5. This work, in two movements, dates from 1921-2. It opens with an idée fixe, a two-note figure heard repeatedly in the violas. Then the snare drum begins a marathon fifty-seven-fold statement of a simple rhythmic marching figure. The snare drum opens in pianissimo and gradually builds to fortissimo, when it is joined by the triangle. Finally, the celesta completes the obsessive quality of this music with its own insistence on the note D. Where all this marching music is going, however, is questionable, and it remains so. The ubiquitous snare drum, now heard from on high in the left terrace, starts introducing rapid gunshots that shatter what little calm there might be. Then, a bit later, the snare drum has seemingly retreated to an unseen corridor behind the left terrace, now sounding like far-away gunfire. is this supposed to be an evocation of the violence of World War I? Who knows. Nielsen said he didn’t seek to directly evoke the war, but he acknowledged that “it leaves its scars.” Likewise, this symphony leaves its scars. I do not look forward to hearing it again for quite a long time. For that matter, I don’t look forward to hearing again any of the music from this strange and somewhat strained concert any time soon.  

Democracy Is Only Natural: Ask a Meerkat

On March 3, The New York Times carried a Super Tuesday story headlined: "Sneezing Dogs, Dancing Bees: How Animals Vote." Humans are not the only animals that caucus, the Times revealed: "We’re not even the only primates that primary." Looking beyond the cliché of "mindless sheep," scientists have discovered that many animals make group decisions by popular vote. "[F]rom primates all the way to insects [many animals] have methods for finding agreement that are surprisingly democratic."

A 2010 study by Dr. Marta Manser observed that meerkats in South Africa's Kalahari Desert forage on the basis of "move calls"—a "gentle mew" that signals a consensus regarding which direction the herd will head. It takes a minimum of three meerkat mews to move the herd in a new, common direction.

According to the Times: "Biologists call this phenomenon—when animals change their behavior in response to a critical mass of their peers doing something—a quorum response." The same quorum response is exhibited in human decision-making.

The Times article echoes a September 2017 report in The Independent that celebrated the following examples of animal democracy:

• In Africa, wild dogs gather in groups and vote with a sneeze to determine whether to go out on a hunt or sleep in.

• When deciding on a direction to explore, baboons tend to follow whichever fellow baboon "seems to have the most confidence." (Clearly, when it comes to popular elections, most human voters tend to behave like baboons.)

• White-faced capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica rely on "trill calls" to determine which way the majority of the pack will decide to move.

• In England, rock ants will decide to abandon their nests en masse if a sufficient number of individual ants "vote with their feet" and move out to settle in a new location.

• And, when beehives become too crowded, "scout bees" are sent out to search for new homesteads. On their return, each of the scouts performs an aerial dance to promote its recommended plan for the future. Some bees will drop out of the competition and back another bee's "platform." The swarm won't move until all the votes are in and all the remaining bees are dancing in support of the remaining proposal.
 

 

Democracy: It's Nothing to Sneeze At 

 

Tom Steyer: Outlier on Fire 

One of the reasons I was enthralled by Tom Steyers' presidential bid was his commercials. Many employed documentary footage that portrayed Steyers' long history of independent activism—on the behalf of farmworkers, gun control advocates, and families who lost their homes to predatory banking. These ads also came with endorsements from actual grassroots agitators—like California author/activist Fran Peavey. 

I was especially fond of the ad in which Steyer abandoned political protocol and announced: "My job is to kick Donald Trump's ass on the economy!" 

Maybe Tom deserves a cabinet position in the next Democratic administration. Secretary of Labor? 

(One slip-up on Steyer's end: His ads continued to air for several days after he abandoned his campaign. Which was a bit embarrassing.) 

Put Your Money Where Our Mouths Are? 

In December 2019, the Trump administration announced plans to end food-stamp benefits for about 700,000 Americans. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Trump's cruel new rule would move food-stamp recipients “toward self-sufficiency.” The new rule would cut federal food-stamp spending by about $1.1 billion a year. 

That may sound like a lot of money but, for comparison, Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer spent a combined $750 million on campaign ads over the span of a few months. That ad-budget windfall could have covered the 68 percent of Trump's planned cuts to the federal Food Stamp program—nearly enough money to buy Happy Meals for everybody in the entire country. 

Can You Be Both Pro-Life and Pro-BBQ? 

Something to ponder: Shouldn't anti-abortion folks who proclaim that "all life is sacred" also be vegetarians? Well, to the chagrin of activists at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), many pro-life advocates turn out to be prolific consumers of roasted, baked, and grilled animal meat. How can this be? 

Rowan Hart offers the following explanation on the Quora website: 

The answer is cognitive dissonance. "Cognitive Dissonance: the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes" (Oxford Dictionaries). It is, in a way, hypocrisy, to identify as pro-life and eat meat, just as it is hypocrisy to identify as pro-life and support nuclear bombs, or support wars. It doesn't entirely make sense. 

Joe Biden's Mounting Mispronouncements 

Ex-Veep-Turned-Presidential-Hopeful Joe Biden is in a tight race with Donald Trump. No, not to decide who occupies the Oval Office but who is more likely to get tripped up by the chore of speaking English on-the-fly. 

Biden has perfected one of the favorite "stage postures" of politicians—the gruff, tough-talking authoritarian whose sentences begin with the word "Look!" (uttered as a soft threat designed to seize control of the conversation and discourage interruptions). Biden also likes to enumerate (whether it's needed or not). "Number One!" he will announce. Followed by "Number Two," "Number Three" and, occasionally "Number Three" again. 

On March 2, Late Show host Stephen Colbert offered a choice selection of Joe's flubs, beginning with a chat on ABC with George Stephanopoulos. When Biden predicted he would win the Super Tuesday primary in Georgia, Stephanopoulos pointed out that there was no primary in Georgia and Biden quickly admitted that he "misspoke." Then, during a live interview on Fox News, Biden had to apologize again when he referred to host Chris Wallace as "Chuck." Biden attributed the error to the fact that he'd just done a "back to back" with NBC's Chuck Todd. 

Biden's train of thought frequently gets derailed. Like Trump, Biden will not only use the wrong word but he often interpolates the opposite of what he means to say. Unlike Trump, Joe follows his misstatements and malaprops with quick, stumbling corrections. At a South Carolina Democratic Party Dinner in South Carolina on February 24, former Senator Biden seemed to forget what office he was running for when he introduced himself to the audience as follows: “My name is Joe Biden. I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate.” 

You might think that a fellow who's preparing to lead the USA would at least be able to recite the Declaration of Independence. Think again. 

During a campaign appearance in Texas, Biden called on the crowd to turn out for "Super Thursday" and then went totally off the rails when he railed: "We hold these truths to be self-ev-evident: 'All men and women created by the go, you know, you know, the thing.'" (There's a word for that kind of meaningless, nonsensical jabber. The word is "malarkey"—Irish-American slang for "bullshit.") 

Howie Doin'? 

The Dems weren't the only party with a surfeit of presidential candidates. The Green Party went to the polls with five candidates all vying for a White House win. The candidates were: Howie Hawkins (NY), Dario Hunter (Ohio), Dennis Lambert (Ohio), David Rose (Massachusetts), and Sedinam Mozowasifza-Curry (California). (Good thing Sedinam was not a write-in candidate.) 

The Green Party Voter Guide promoted Hawkins as the "clear standout in experience, endorsements and fundraising possibilities" and presented this impressive electoral history: Since 2000, Hawkins has undertaken—and lost—"at least eleven" campaigns. He ran for Congress four times, for governor three times, for the Senate once, and for the Mayor of Syracuse. He lost every race. 

It's not easy being Green in a Red-vs.-Blue country. 

Russian Poll-Trolls Resume US Election Meddling  

Investigations by numerous US intelligence agencies confirmed that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential campaign (to promote Trump's election) and that Russian trolls are once again busy trying to influence the 2020 presidential campaign (to promote Trump's reelection). 

Donald Trump's response? Our self-styled "stable genius" dismissed all of the credible intelligence as "a hoax," proceeded to fire the Acting Director of National Intelligence, and installed "a partisan puppet" as his new intelligence chief. 

According to 314Action ("the largest pro-science advocacy organization committed to electing scientists and STEM professionals to public office"): "The sitting President of the United States refuses to denounce attacks on our country. That’s the horrible truth. What’s more: he thinks this is nothing but a partisan game." 

In response, 314Action is calling for people to "stand up and denounce Trump’s refusal to address Russia’s attacks on our election security." (And maybe send a letter to Vladimir Putin asking about his recent decision to rewrite the Russian constitution to enshrine "God" and forbid same-sex marriage? Putin's unprecedented power-grab triggered the mass resignation of every member of his cabinet. Let's hope this doesn't give The Donald any ideas.) 

Going Downhill: A World With No Snow 

The Chronicle recently ran a front-page story about a 15-minute "mockumentary" celebrating the art "dry-skiing" on the hills of San Francisco. The film features extreme skier Michael Hibbs as the title character, a mentally unstable loner with an incredible ability to remain stable while shredding down the slopes of Mt. Diablo, racing a Ferrari down the vertiginous streets of North Beach and blasting downslope over the concrete steps of Lyon Street. 

There's an environmental message at the core of this dystopian urban fantasy: In a water-starved state on a warming world, we are facing a future that will have no snow to ski on. We need to quickly adapt to abandon our polluting habits and address the climate calamity. If not, we're going to have to get used to schussing down sidewalks. 

Here are some examples of this New Face of Skiing, courtesy of The Kook: 

 

Bones and Stones: A Precarious Decision 

It's not a rumor. There really are fossilized bones tucked away inside UC Berkeley's Campanile bell tower. On a recent ride to the top of the 300-foot-tall tower, the elevator operator confirmed that shelves of precious fossils are still being stored on the tower's seventh floor. 

But here's a question that should bring paleontologists, geologists, and architects together: Is a free-standing bell-and-clock tower topped by 61 carillon bells weighing up to 10,500 pounds and located uncomfortably close to an active earthquake fault really the best place to store irreplaceable fossil remains? 

A related concern: Has the famous, life-sized T-Rex skeleton in the center of UCB's Life Sciences Building been reinforced to survive a magnitude 6 quake? 

America's Longest War? That's Only Half the Story 

As it approaches its 18th year, the US military engagement in Afghanistan has been called "America's Longest War." Actually, if you include the US covert military intervention in support of the Taliban during the years following the 1979 Soviet occupation to the country, the US has been militarily involved in Afghanistan for nearly 40 years. 

If you missed this great Mike Nichols film when it debuted in 2007, Charlie Wilson's War provides a great tutorial in how modern covert wars are run: 

 

Write a Note; Get Out the Vote 

In 2018, the Daily Kos and Vote Forward joined forces to solicit volunteers to write personal letters encouraging Democratic-leaning voters in swing states to make it to the polls. More than a million of these "personal nudges" went forth and are credited, in part, for a "bump in Democratic turnout" that flipped Congress from GOP to Dem. With the stakes even higher in 2020, Vote Forward has once again begun recruiting volunteer letter-writers to create a political "mailstrom" to flood mailboxes on October 27, the week before Election Day. 

The campaign claims it already has 457,353 letters ready-to-go, with a goal of dropping more than 10 million letters in the mail by October 27. If you feel like lending a hand — and a hand-written letter or two — more info is available at this link. 

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) will also likely harm Americans indirectly because the U.S. is increasingly reliant on drugs either directly sourced from China or made from intermediate chemicals called Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), or their chemical precursors, manufactured in China. While 90% of the finished drugs Americans take are generics, most are manufactured overseas, primarily in India and China. Even India, the world’s largest generics producer, relies on China for 80% of the APIs it uses in drug production. 

China is not only the dominant global supplier of pharmaceuticals, but it is also the largest supplier of medical devices in the U.S. These include things like MRI equipment, surgical gowns, and equipment that measures oxygen levels in the blood. 

Supplies of these essential pharmaceuticals and products so far have not yet been severely disrupted by the Coronavirus, but if China is no longer willing or able to supply them to the U.S., thousands of Americans could suffer. 

Remember, since the COVID-19 outbreak, quarantine controls have closed factories, ports and whole cities across China. This shows the danger of a China-only supplier and it could take years to develop the necessary infrastructure to reestablish U.S. manufacturing capacities and obtain Food and Drug Administration licensure to overcome the loss of the Chinese supply. 

On Saturday evening, March 7, Musaics of the Bay, an organization whose founder and Artistic Director is Audrey Vardanega, gave a chamber music concert at Crowden School in Berkeley. Dubbed “An Evening of Schubert,” the concert featured Franz Schubert’s splendid Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, D. 929. Also included was Mozart’s Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, K. 481. Performing with pianist Audrey Vardanega were violinist Nigel Armstrong and cellist Tanya Tomkins. This illustrious group of musicians all have local origins and ties, though they each have performed worldwide.  

Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major was the centerpiece of this program. Written in the last year of his life, (Schubert died young at the age of thirty-one), this piano trio offers moments of vivacious vitality and other moments of Sturm und Drang. In her introductory remarks Audrey Vardanega lauded this E-flat Major Piano Trio as one of her favorite works in the whole piano repertory. Melody was Schubert’s greatest gift. He once said that no sooner did he write one melody than others began crowding his thoughts.  

In the E-flat Major Piano Trio, melodies are abundant and rich in poetic content. In the opening movement, marked Allegro, there is a lovely melody shared initially by violin and cello, delightfully played here by Nigel Armstrong and Tanya Tomkins. Then that melody is taken up and developed by the piano, beautifully rendered here by Audrey Vardanega. Earlier, Armstrong’s violin and Vardanega’s piano traded snatches of a melody broken by momentary hesitations. The second movement, marked Andante con moto, offers great emotional depth. Piano and cello open with a slow marching rhythm, introducing what seems to be a funeral march. Then the cello spins an elegiac melody against a marchlike accompaniment in the piano. (This theme will be heard again in the work’s final movement.) Midway through this slow movement there is a dramatic episode full of Sturm und Drang, which functions as an outpouring of grief in the midst of this funeral march. The third movement is a Scherzo, brief and bouncy. The fourth and final movement, the work’s longest, lasting nearly twenty minutes, is in the form of a rondo. The piano opens, then a melody is stated first by the violin and next by the cello. Then this melody is taken up by the piano, beautifully performed here by Audrey Vardanega. Accompanying the piano here are pizzicato pluckings by both Nigel Armstrong’s violin and Tanya Tomkins’ cello. Throughout this finale the performers offered sparkling rhythmic articulation. On the whole, this was a splendid interpretation of one of the great works in the piano trio repertory.  

Opening the program was Mozart’s Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, K. 481. Chosen perhaps because it is in the same key as Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 2, this violin sonata by Mozart is full of ingratiating melodies and graciously flowing harmonics. In the first movement, marked Molto Allegro, Nigel Armstrong’s violin often joined with Audrey Vardanega’s piano to finish a phrase begun in the piano alone. The second movement, a slow Adagio, is wholly delightful. There is plenty of interaction between violin and piano, adroitly performed by Armstrong and Vardanega. The third and final movement, marked Allegretto, offers bouncy rhythms and a dramatic 3-chord figure that gets dramatic repetition. As a program opener, this Mozart Violin Sonata in E-flat Major paired beautifully with the featured work, the Schubert Piano Trio in E-flat Major. This felicitous pairing made for a wonderful evening of chamber music at its finest. Congratulations are due to Audrey Vardanega for spearheading this musical venture. May she bring us many more such events. 

Worth Noting and Responding with phone call or email:

As of this writing, (Saturday morning), no Berkeley City meetings have been cancelled due to Covid-19. In fact, another meeting announcement arrived as this was being finalized. Community meetings and events are being cancelled so check for updates.



Monday – Agenda Committee at 2:30 pm is the plan for March 24 City Council meeting. #22. is the proposed Charter amendment to establish a Police Board. There are no documents in the agenda packet describing the proposed new Police Board.

Tuesday – Regular City Council meeting at 6 pm includes #23. Emergency Outdoor Shelter and 24. Fair Chance Housing (ban the box for housing).

Wednesday – Kate Harrison will be at the Homeless Commission at 7 pm to answer questions about the Emergency Outdoor Shelter

Thursday –.#2 in the 10 am Budget Committee agenda is accepting Cryptocurrency as tax payment. There will be a community meeting at 7 pm on the “revitalization” of North Berkeley.

The Police Commission at 7 pm will be discussing scheduling a special meeting regarding the Charter amendment, not the content of the amendment



Future 

March 17, 4 pm - Special City Council meeting agenda: 1. Adoption of Ordinance Excavation for Video and Telecommunications systems and revised guidelines for issuance of Public Right-of-Way Permits, 2. Updating Telecom Ordinances. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

 

Sunday, March 8, 2020 - Daylight Savings Begins - Spring Forward 

No City meetings or events found 

Monday, March 9, 2020 

City Council Health, Life Enrichment, Equity & Community Committee, 10 am, at 2180 Milvia, 6^th Floor Redwood Room, Agenda: 2. Listening session Homeless, 3. Healthy Checkout (removing junk food from checkout, 4. a.&b. Modify Policies Related to Enforcement of Berkeley Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing Ordinance, 5. a.&b. Smoke free multi-unit housing, a. make complaint process easier, increase staffing for enforcement, referrals on whether to include cannabis b. City Manager requests referral for financial and legal analysis 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/Policy_Committee__Health,_Life_Enrichment,_Equity___Community.aspx 

Agenda and Rules Committee, 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm, at 2180 Milvia, 6^th Floor Redwood Room, 

Agenda Planning for March 24 Council meeting: CONSENT: 7. Contract $143,000 ($38,000 contingency) with Lind Marine for removal and disposal derelict and abandoned vessels, 8.Contract add $210,000 total $305,000 with Affordable Painting Services, Inc. for Park Buildings, 11. Contract $3,491,917 (includes $317,447 contingency) with Ghilotti Construction, Inc for Brose Garden Pergola Reconstruction & Site Improvements, 13. 60-year term Lease Agreement 5/4/2020-12/31/2080 200 Marina Blvd for Doubletree Hotel City contribution $3,000,000 for Marina street improvements, 22. Ballot Initiative Charter Amendment to Establish Police Board and Director of Police Accountability, 24. Upgrade Residential and Commercial Customers to 100% Renewable, 25. Require Inclusionary Units (20%) in new developments (10 or more units) in Qualified Opportunity Zones, (more complete agenda follows meeting list) 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board - Budget & Personnel Committee Meeting, 5:30 pm, at 2001 Center, Law Library, 2^nd Floor 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

Parks and Waterfront Commission – Subcommittee Adopt-a-Spot, 1 – 3 pm at 2180 Milvia, 1^st Floor, Cypress Room, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Parks_and_Waterfront_Commission.aspx 

Youth Commission, 6:30 pm at 1730 Oregon St, Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Services Center, 

Agenda: 10. Letter to BUSD recommending action against sexual assault, 11. Letter to BUSD recommending elimination of single use plastic, 12. Approval Sexual Assault Subcommittee 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Youth_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

Tax the Rich Rally, is suspended in response to the Covid-19 Berkeley Declaration of Emergency 

Tuesday, March 10, 2020 

Berkeley City Council, 1231 Addison Street, BUSD Board Room, 

3:30 pm Closed Session: 1. Pending Litigation, b. 2. Conference with Labor Negotiators 

6:00 pm – 11:00 pm, Regular Meeting: CONSENT: 1. Contract 3-15-2020 to 3-14-2023 with option two 1 yr renewals for $2.7 million over 5 years with Blaisdell’s Business Products for Office supplies, small equipment and office furniture, 2. Contract $100,000 thru 6-30-2022 with Resource Development for results based accountability to evaluate mental health programs, 3. Loan $7.1 million to BRIDGE Housing for acquisition and predevelopment of proposed affordable housing project at 1740 San Pablo, 4. Establish standing list of City’s Labor Negotiators, 5. Contract add $20,000 total $65,000 with Cadalys, Inc for software for BESO (Building Energy Saving Ordinance), 6. Contract add $65,081 total $365,773 (term 5-15-2013 to 6-30-2021) with SSP Data Products, Inc. for Barracuda Backup Solution with Hosted Cloud Storage, 7. Accept donation $9,500 from Friends of Ohlone Park for Ohlone Park Mural Garden, 8. Grant application for $150,000 to National Fitness Campaign for Fitness Courts, 9. Contract add $125,000 total $1,386,771 with 2M Associates for Tuolumne Camp Project, 10. Contract add $40,000 total $280,000 with APB General Engineering for Hillview Road and Woodside Road drainage improvement project, 11. $457,000 to purchase 2019 John Deere Co. 644L 20 Ton Hybrid Wheel Loader with Pape Machinery, Inc, 12. Vision Zero Action Plan, 13. Use Portion Cannabis Tax Proceeds to fund subsidies 1000 Person Plan (homeless) 14. Oppose S.2059 – Justice for Victims of Sanctuary Cities Act of 2019 with letters to Feinstein, Harris, Lee and Trump, 15. Support AB 1839 – CA Green New Deal, 16. Support AB 2037 – Hospital Closure Notification, 17. Refer to Planning Commission Update definition “Research and Development,” 18. Referral to City Manager to study feasibility of 1890 Alcatraz (city owned) as site for African American Holistic Resource Center and affordable housing, 19. Allocation U1 General Fund Revenues, 20. Letter Supporting Reviving Berkeley Bus Rapid Transit, 21. Affirm support for People of Tibet, ACTION: 22. Electric Bike Share Program Franchise Amendment with Bay Area Motivate, subsidiary of Lyft for shared electric bikes, 23. Direct City Manager to Lease CalTrans Property at University and West Frontage Road for temporary outdoor shelter and immediately provide handwashing, toilet and garbage pick-up, 24. Ronald V. Dellums Fair Chance Housing Access, 25. Ballot Initiative to increase City Council Salary, 26. Disposition (sale) 1631 Fifth Street, 27. Surveillance Technology and Acquisition Reports and Body Worn Cameras Policy, INFORMATION REPORTS: 28. Economic Dashboards and Demographic Profile Update, 29. 2019 FY 4^th Quarter Investment report, 30. 2020 FY 1^st qtr report, 31. Audit Status Report from Public Works towards 2020 Zero Waste Goal, 32. Audit Status report from Public Works on Zero Waste Activities, 33. Proposed Navigable Cities Framework for access for People with Disabilities from Commission, 34. Peace and Justice Commission Workplan. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Eviction / Foreclosure Section 8, 5 pm, at 2001 Center, Law Library, 2^nd Floor 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

Wednesday, March 11, 2020 

Homeless Commission, 7 – 9 pm at 2180 Milvia, 1^st Floor Cypress Room, Agenda: 6. Q&A with Kate Harrison on Emergency Outdoor Shelter, 6. Response to Coronovirus, 10. Pathways/STAIR, 12. Lifelong Street Medicine proposal, 13. Homeless persons on Caltrans property, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Homeless_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

Parks and Waterfront Commission, 7 – 9 pm at 2800 Park St, Frances Albrier Community Center, Agenda: 8. Ferry/Pier/BMASP, 10. Presentation: Frances Albrier Ctr Measure T1 Planning & Design, 12. Waiver Marina Berth Fees for 4 non-profits, 13. Kite Festival funding 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Parks_and_Waterfront_Commission.aspx 

Police Review Commission, 7 – 10 pm, at 2939 Ellis, South Berkeley Senior Center, Agenda: 8. Subcommittee Reports a. Lexipol Policies, b. Standard of Proof, c. Use of Force, 10. a. Possible special meeting on ballot measure to amend City Charter to reform civilian oversight of Berkeley police, c. Lexipol policies Medical Aid and Response, Animal Control https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Police_Review_Commission_Homepage.aspx 

Thursday, March 12, 2020 

City Council Budget & Finance Committee, 10 am, at 1947 Center, 3^rd Floor Magnolia Room, Agenda: 2. New Ordinance to accept Cannabis tax payment and certain industries (with approval) in Cryptocurrency, 3. FY 2020 Annual Appropriations ordinance $28,585,263 (gross), $15,378,568 (net), 4. FY 2020 Mid-year Budget Update, 5. Allocating 50% of Car Fees (Vehicle-in-Lieu Tax) for Street Improvements 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/Policy_Committee__Budget___Finance.aspx 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission, 7 – 9 pm at 1901 Russell St, Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch Library, Agenda: 2. Expansion Cigarette Butt Receptacles, 3. Bee City Initiative Update 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/Community_Environmental_Advisory_Commission/ 

Zoning Adjustment Board, 7 pm at 1231 Addison St, BUSD Board Room 

2150-2176 Kittredge – demolish carwash, 5-story commercial building, construct 75’ 7-story mixed use building, 165 dwelling units, 52 vehicle spaces, 23,000 sq ft commercial space 

1449 Grizzly Peak – construct 500 sq ft addition (5^th bedroom) on 3^rd story of 2791 3-story single family home, construct perimeter fence 6’2” to 8’7” on side and rear property lines 

2650 Telegraph – demolish existing commercial building, construct 5-story, 45 dwelling units (including 4 very low-income units) mixed use building with 20 vehicle parking spaces, 50 bicycle spaces. 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/zoningadjustmentsboard/ 

The Solano Avenue Revitalization Plan & T1 Bond Projects in North Berkeley, 7 – 9 pm at Thousand Oaks Baptist Church, 1821 Catalina @ Colusa, hand sanitizer and wet wipes will be provided, no food or beverages will be served. Bring your own water. 

Friday, March 13, 2020 

Berkeley City Reduced Service Day 

Saturday, March 14, 2020 

No City meetings or events found 

Sunday, March 15, 2020 

No City meetings or events found 

_____________________ 

 

Agenda and Rules Committee, 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm, at 2180 Milvia, 6^th Floor Redwood Room, Agenda Planning for March 24 Council meeting: CONSENT: 1. November election d. policies for candidate statements, 3. Annual appropriations $28,565263(gross) $15,378,568(net), 6. Contract $93,600 with Sonya Dublin External Evaluator Tobacco Prevention Program thru 6/30/2021, 7. Contract $143,000 ($38,000 contingency) with Lind Marine for removal and disposal derelict and abandoned vessels, 8.Contract add $210,000 total $305,000 with Affordable Painting Services, Inc. for Park Buildings, 9. Add $300,000 total $500,000with Bay Area Tree Specialists as needed tree services, 10. Add $300,000 total $375,000with ERA Construction Inc for concrete repair in Parks and along Pathways, 11. Contract $3,491,917 (includes $317,447 contingency) with Ghilotti Construction, Inc for Brose Garden Pergola Reconstruction & Site Improvements, 12. Contract $485,000 with Vol Ten Corporation DBA Delta Charter for bus transportation for Day Camp & Summer Programs 6/1/2020-6/1/2025, 13. 60-year term Lease Agreement 5/4/2020-12/31/2080 200 Marina Blvd for Doubletree Hotel City contribution $3,000,000 for Marina street improvements, 14. Add $162,568 total $233,868 with Bigbelly Solar Compacting Trash and Recycling Receptacles term remains 8/1/2018-6/30/2023, 15. Funding $1,000,000 to EBMUD FY 2020-FY 2024 to control wet weather overflows and bypasses, 18. Support SB 54 & AB 1080 CA Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act (only 9% of plastic is recycled, 18 billion tons of plastic are added to the oceans each year), 19. Support SB 1160 Public Utilities undergrounding, ACTION: 20. Redesign and Redesign Rose Garden Inn, 21. Zoning Ordinance Hearing for Family Daycare Homes to comply with SB 234, 22. Ballot Initiative Charter Amendment to Establish Police Board and Director of Police Accountability, 23. Renaming Shattuck (east) Center – University, 24. Upgrade Residential and Commercial Customers to 100% Renewable, 25. Require Inclusionary Units (20%) in new developments (10 or more units) in Qualified Opportunity Zones, 26. Budget Referral $153,000 to Fund Berkeley Youthworks, INFORMATION: 27. FY2020 Mid-year Budget Update, 29. Audit Recommendation Status 911 Dispatchers, 30. Children, Youth, and Recreation Commission WorkPlan, 31. Civic Arts Grants Program, 32. Council Referral-Commemorative Tree Program. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/Policy_Committee__Agenda___Rules.aspx 

 

____________________ 

 

Public Hearings Scheduled – Land Use Appeals 

0 Euclid – Berryman Reservoir TBD 

Remanded to ZAB or LPC With 90-Day Deadline 

1155-73 Hearst (develop 2 parcels) – referred back to City Council – to be scheduled 

Notice of Decision (NOD) With End of Appeal Period 

1132 Amador 3/30/20 

1533 Beverly 3/12/2020 

2565 Buena Vista 3/11/2020 

1237.5 Carrison 3/10/2020 

1484 Grizzly Peak 3/24/2020 

1660 Lincoln 3/12/2020 

11 Maryland3/26/2020 

74 Oak Ridge 3/19/2020 

1231 Ordway 3/17/2020 

1919 Oregon 3/16/2020 

1315 Peralta 3/17/2020 

2418 Sacramento 3/18/2020 

2421 Seventh 3/12/2020 

2920 Seventh 3/16/2020 

1665 Thousand Oaks 3/26/2020 

1652 University 3/12/2020 

LINK to Current Zoning Applications https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications.aspx 

LPC 1399 Queens Road #LMIN2019-0003 

 

___________________ 

 

WORKSHOPS 

March 17 – CIP Update (PRW and Public Works), Measure T1 Update 

May 5 – Budget Update, Crime Report 

June 23 – Climate Action Plan/Resiliency Update, Digital Strategic Plan/FUND$ Replacement Website Update 

July 21– no workshops scheduled “yet” 

Sept 29 – Digital Strategic Plan/FUND$ Replacement/Website Update 

Oct 20 – Update Berkeley’s 2020 Vision, BMASP/Berkeley Pier-WETA Ferry 

 

Unscheduled Workshops/Presentations 

Cannabis Health Considerations 

Vision 2050 

Ohlone History and Culture)special meeting) 

Systems Realignment 

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To Check For Regional Meetings with Berkeley Council Appointees go to 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Committee_and_Regional_Body_Appointees.aspx 

 

To check for Berkeley Unified School District Board Meetings go to 

https://www.berkeleyschools.net/schoolboard/board-meeting-information/ 

 

_____________________ 

 

This meeting list is also posted on the Sustainable Berkeley Coalition website. 

http://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html and in the Berkeley Daily Planet under activist’s calendar http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com 

 

When notices of meetings are found that are posted after Friday 5:00 pm they are added to the website schedule https://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html and preceded by LATE ENTRY 

 

If you wish to stop receiving the Weekly Summary of City Meetings please forward the weekly summary you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com,