Extra

A local non-profit, Berkeley Public Eye, films each monthly Berkeley Planning Commission meeting to better inform the community of Berkeley's land use projects and Commission policy recommendations. The December 4th video as well as prior meetings are posted on the Berkeley Public Eye YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@BerkeleyPublicEye2024 

Planning Commission meetings are an essential window into future of our city. They include legal proceedings where public comment has standing in court. Commission meetings are the premier forum to hear information regarding City policies, but its proceedings are not recorded by the City. Berkeley Public Eye, a non-profit, citizen initiative, provides the only public access to information as to what happens there. 

If the City made these Planning Commission discussions available, the public would be aware of future policies; it could prevent disruptive controversy. For example, the Commission began discussing rezoning residential areas of Berkeley to allow greater density in 2019, at the behest of the City Council. Soon it will discuss changes to the Berkeley General Plan that forms municipal matters for the next five years. 

The Commission discussed removing minimal zoning restrictions on biomedical labs long before the City Council passed them. Placing labs that work with hazardous materials and biological pathogens in questionable geological areas in West Berkeley as well as next to homes and retail establishments can be dangerous. They demand strict oversight and enforcement, as advocated by Biosafety Now! The public was not informed in time to give the Council its input. 

In the near future the Planning Commission will discuss changes to the Berkeley Local Hazard Mitigation Plan. Our city faces a number of possible hazards: earthquakes, floods, and firestorms. Evacuation routes that might have served a smaller city thirty years ago are insufficient for today’s growing population. The Planning Commission as well as the Disaster and Fire Safety Commission are in charge of what our future Hazard Mitigations will be. The time to give input to Hazard Mitigation Planning is now, at Planning Commission meetings. 

Transparency is essential to a robust democracy. Your City Council should require that Planning Commission meetings be filmed. Berkeley Public Eye films the Commission now in the hope that the Berkeley City Council will officially record these meetings in the future. 

Please write to the City Council (council@berkeleyca.gov ) asking them to film, for the public record, the Commission meetings. For more information about Berkeley Public Eye and how to donate please write to bpEorg - bpeorg2024@gmail.com.g