Transcription Metadata

Whisper API Version 1
Generated 2025-07-09 20:31:23 UTC
Archive URI berkeley_153af9f8-5fe5-4254-aa60-9bc0e84e7ab5.ogg

Segment 1

Recording in progress.
Right now we're going to get started.
Okay, so for folks that don't know, today was actually Bring Your Kids to Council Day.
So we've got some children who are in the audience today and I'm really glad that you could join us.
So I will be extra explaining things today so that way folks can learn.
But maybe it's good for all of us.
So I've got my gavel here and I'm going to call our meetings in order.
I'm calling to order the Berkeley City Council meetings, Tuesday, July 8, 2025.
And I'm going to start with Karen.
If you could please take the roll.
And for those of you who are following along, that's page two of the agenda.
Okay, I'm on the roll.
Council member Kesarwani here, Taplin.
Garland here, Trayko.
O'Keeffe here.
And Black community is participating virtually.
I don't yet leave him on the line, so he's absent.
Luna Parra here.
Folks, can you keep quiet? I'm sorry, I'm going to take the roll.
Thank you.
Conrad is present.
Yes, present.
Thank you.
And Mayor Beshear here.
Thank you.
Okay, so next on our agenda is the land acknowledgement statement.
And since we've been taking turns reading our land acknowledgement, this meeting is Council member Holbrook's turn.
Thank you, Madam Mayor.
The City of Berkeley recognizes that the community we live in was built on the territory of T'Chun, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people.
The ancestors and descendants of the sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County.
This land was and continues to be of great importance to all of the Ohlone tribes and descendants of the Verona Band.
As we begin our meeting tonight, we acknowledge and honor the original inhabitants of Berkeley.
The documented 5,000-year history of a vibrant community at the West Berkeley Shell Mounds and the Ohlone people who continue to reside in the East Bay.
We recognize that Berkeley's residents have and continue to benefit from the use and occupation of this unceded stolen land since the City of Berkeley's incorporation in 1878.
As stewards of the laws regulating the City of Berkeley, it is not only vital that we recognize the history of this land, but also recognize that the Ohlone people are present members of Berkeley and other East Bay communities today.
The City of Berkeley will continue to build relationships with the Lisztjung tribe and to create meaningful actions that uphold the intention of this land acknowledgement.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I'm really grateful that we live in a city that has a land acknowledgement statement.
Next on our agenda is ceremonial matters.
And I have two ceremonial matters today.
They are City of Berkeley proclamations.
So I'm going to start by reading this one about commemorating Disability Pride Month in 2025.
Whereas Disability Pride Month is observed every July to commemorate the signing of the Americans with Disability Act, the ADA, on July 26, 1990, a landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of life.
And whereas Disability Pride Month highlights disability culture, history, and community pride, and challenges the harmful notion that people with disabilities must conform to societal norms to lead meaningful lives.
Their lives are inherently full, valuable, and worthy of dignity and respect.
And whereas the first Disability Pride Day was held in Boston in 1990, followed by the first Disability Pride Parade in Chicago in 2004.
And today, celebrations take place across the country, empowering people with disabilities to take pride in who they are.
And whereas the theme for the 2025 Disability Pride Month, We Belong Here and We're Here to Stay, affirms that people with disabilities are a vital, permanent, and irreplaceable part of every community, not someday, not conditionally, but now.
And whereas the disability rights face growing threats in education, employment, healthcare, and public life, this year's theme serves as a call to action to confront and dismantle ableism, discrimination, and exclusion.
And whereas the Center for Independent Living, CIL, founded in Berkeley, California, and led by and for people with disabilities, has been a pioneering force for advancing disability rights, accessibility, advocacy, and inclusion since its founding.
And whereas CIL empowers individuals with diverse disabilities through its staff, board, providers, and participants, and remains deeply committed to fostering a community where all people with disabilities can live with autonomy, dignity, and opportunity.
And whereas by honoring the lived experience of disabled individuals and championing systemic change, CIL continues to break down barriers, challenge stereotypes, and fight for a future where disability rights are protected, valued, and expanded.
Now, therefore be it resolved that I, Adina Ishii, Mayor of the City of Berkeley, do hereby proclaim July 2025 as Disability Pragma, and recognize and commend the Center for Independent Living for its extraordinary leadership, enduring advocacy, and unwavering commitment to disability justice, equity, and inclusion in Berkeley and beyond.
And please introduce yourself.
Thank you, Mary Ishii.
Thank you, City Council, for this recognition.
My name is Dr.
Richardson Cano.
I'm the Executive Director of the Historic Center for Independent Living.
I recognize the world over as the birthplace of disability rights.
This obligation is so urgent when so many members of our community are at risk of losing historic civil rights case.
We're facing an unprecedented challenge with an antagonistic government that's seeking to roll back and seeking to create a time that this city has showed the world what's possible to then move back.
And I can tell you that I'm committed, as well as the entire staff and the entire community of disability rights, in Berkeley to show the world that we have value, that we contribute, that we pay taxes, and we have a credible culture, and we invite you all to a great disability pride event at the Ann Roberts Campus, to Councilmember Barton's district, to collaborate and take action.
Because although we have now witnessed 35 years of progress since the passage of the ADA, a lot of that progress is jeopardy.
And we have to both honor how far we've come, but also be direct and provide mutual support for those residents of Ann Roberts and both feel the effects of these federal changes in policy.
So I think our whole community is grateful for this partnership that we've had for 54 years, with the City Council from the very first outcomes that happened, to the city being the first city to authorize a budget for removal of architectural barriers, to the first Commission on Disability Rights.
All of these are the first for this country and for the world, and we'll continue to make progress with your participation and support.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
You can see it right here.
Yeah, that's good.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
For those of you just logging in, we are doing ceremonial matters, and we have a second proclamation, which is recognizing August as National Breastfeeding Month.
Feel free to come stand up here if you'd like.
Whereas human milk feeding is widely recognized as the biological norm for infant and young child feeding, and builds a foundation for lifelong health and wellness through well-documented health, economic, and environmental benefits, these benefits show that it is an investment that will continue to produce measurable dividends for families, employers, the government, and community, and whereas many families face barriers to achieving their infant feeding intentions due to long-standing policy gaps and underfunding of public health initiatives that address the needs of lactating parents and the providers who serve them, which disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and people of color, BIPOC populations, resulting in reduced breastfeeding rates and associated increase in risk for a variety of negative health outcomes, and whereas at the time of this resolution, recent California Department of Public Health shows that over 96% of infants born in Alameda County were ever breastfed in 2020 through 2022 with substantial differences in breastfeeding rates between racial and ethnic groups, and whereas protecting and supporting human milk feeding is essential to ensuring infant nutrition security and immunologic protections for Berkeley's youngest people, and whereas National Breastfeeding Month and World Breastfeeding Week provide important opportunities to increase awareness of and address barriers to human milk feeding faced by families wherever they live, learn, work, play, and worship.
Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Adina Ishii, Mayor of the City of Berkeley, do hereby declare August 2025 to be National Breastfeeding Month in the City of Berkeley.
Hello, Mayor Ishii, Council Members, and staff, and everybody here.
Now, I thank you for this proclamation recognizing the importance of breastfeeding, also chest feeding.
In the report, we asked to come back to the public hearing on the 22nd of July, but it wasn't at the Agenda Rules Committee yesterday, so we're requesting that you ask us to bring it back as a public hearing on July 22nd as part of this.
Yes, we can definitely ask you to do that.
I think that that makes sense.
Thank you for bringing that up.
Any other comments? No, that's all, thanks.
Okay, very good.
We will now take public comment on non-agenda matters.
If you are having a comment on non-agenda matters, our group is going to select some first.
All right, one moment, please.
We'll draw our cards from the front.
Okay, we've drawn five cards.
We'll let the hearing speakers, and everyone will have one minute, and then we'll go to the Zoom speakers.
In no particular order, you may come forward to speak.
Okay, very good.
For our young folks out there, our public comment on non-agenda matters is for items that aren't on our agenda, so they can speak to anything that's on our agenda.
Given that, we will have ten folks, I'm thinking, over.
Each person will have one minute to speak, and just a reminder for folks who haven't spoken, you can give your minutes to somebody else, and four minutes to speak per person.
We'll invite our first speaker up.
I am here to live near Ohlone Park, because I was shocked to come back from a Fourth of July holiday and find the encampment still there after various newsletters, newspapers, all over the Bay Area were saying, ah, the judge ruled, the city is going to enforce this.
It was the biggest wind-up and the biggest letdown.
I don't know what the plan is, but it is, to me, insufferable what people must be going through across from that park.
A father was here talking about his son the other day about how he could play soccer with him, and I hope it broke your hearts, because it really broke mine.
I hope you do something about this and do it really soon.
Thank you.
This is Democracy in Action.
We assume that the Ohlone Park encampment will be cleared sometime in the next few days.
Will it? The cleanup will need to be thorough, and it will take months to restore Ohlone Park to the lively, vibrant place it once was.
Our concern now is whether the city's policy will be moving forward and whether the city manager will commit to directing the police department to enforce the no camping law in this park.
As a leader in Friends of Ohlone Park and Save Ohlone Park, I am asking, pleading, and yes, demanding that the city adopt a zero-tolerance approach to any tent that is pitched in Ohlone Park.
The ability to hide has enabled drug use and sales, and we believe that has spread into other locations in our neighborhood, and we want it to stop.
Respect our existing laws and allow the police force to protect us so we do not end up here again.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We have children here because it's Bring Your Tents to Council Day, so we want to model good behavior in our public comments and also in our responses to our public comments.
I sympathize with the last two speakers.
However, I'm here because kudos are given by KQED for a novel program by Berkeley Homeless Services to remove RV encampments.
Last month's article, they came from Second Street, they got hotel rooms, and Berkeley purchased two RVs, a certain price per square foot.
So three families were offered that, two accepted, and their RVs were purchased.
One was under five grand.
I can't remember the other one.
One came from San Pablo, the other came from Richmond.
We don't have the money for people from outside of Alameda County to use my tax dollars, your tax dollars, to buy their RV and put them in a hotel.
Pull up the drawbridge.
Thank you for your comments.
Could you come up to the next speaker, please? And folks, just so you know, it's our practice not to respond to all the comments as they're coming in, but we will have some comments after.
I'm Steve, I'm most friends of Maloney Park and save Maloney Park.
Over the years, Berkeley City Government has shown compassion and concern for homeless people in this city, and Mayor Ishii, you have carried that forward.
But I have to ask, if you are prioritizing this court-projected claims of the Berkeley homeless community over the health and safety of the people who live both within and around Maloney Park, do you want your legacy to be a trash-ridden, meth-addicted, mental health-afflicted encampment, a humanitarian disaster that the city has failed to alleviate for more than eight months? Will you finally enforce the July 3rd closure notice, and will you support a zero-tolerance policy that calls for the City Manager of Berkeley Police to prevent people from camping in our public parks from now on? Thank you.
Hi, I am Nancy Komig, and I was called, but I'm going to see to my neighbor, who is also a Nancy Brock child.
Okay, thank you.
Hi, well, my husband and I live on Mickey Corner, Delaware.
We're half a block from Maloney Park, and we have three grandchildren, one of whom is here tonight, his first civics lesson.
And the park is a place we love to take him and his siblings on the weekends.
We walk around, our kids play soccer, we hang out.
It's become impossible to do that.
It's not safe.
It is dangerous.
I stooped down a second before the three-year-old was picking up a used syringe.
We have had people yell, dogs getting into dog fights.
It is really not a place that I want to bring them.
So, we have heard the city was..
Thank you.
Thanks for your comment.
I'm sorry, we called all the names, so no one else had an extra minute to give right now.
So, but I think we're going to take five people online.
Thank you for your comment.
Yes, we'll turn to the Zoom speakers for non-agenda public comments.
Our last speaker is Cheryl Davila, former council member.
You should be allowed to speak.
Cheryl Davila, you should be able to unmute.
If she's not there, then we can..
Yeah, we'll go on to the next speaker for now.
Madeline Roberts-Rich, you should be able to speak.
Hello, it's me again.
I just wanted to express that I think you guys need to get into urgent mode when it comes to the vitality of downtown Berkeley.
I was extremely heartbroken to see that Half Price Books will be vacating its lease.
So, Council Member Bartlett, when you laughed at our group on April 22nd, those that were defending that there should be some public process to contemplate the environmental impacts of demolishing the historically protected United Artists Theater and trying to make sure that the developer provides some sort of access to cinema in downtown Berkeley, when you guys illegally granted a categorical exemption to the demolition of that project, this is exactly the consequence.
The businesses in downtown Berkeley that have been completely hammered in the last five years must be protected.
And I think alarm bells should start ringing about making sure that those tenants are able to stay and operate, given that there's very little nightlife in downtown Berkeley anymore.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madeline.
Our next speaker is Kandi Zerman.
Kandi, you should be able to speak.
Thank you.
I'm not sure.
Some of the feed was lost and some of the audio was lost, but I was under the impression that there was some action about middle housing that was going to happen tonight.
And I was concerned that the wording changed in the last..
You're talking about an item that's on consent, so there's a separate time for that.
If you want to keep your hand raised, we can call you again for the comments on consent calendar.
Great.
Thank you.
We'll try another speaker.
Our next up is Lisa Teague.
And just a reminder to everyone to please speak loudly and directly into your microphone.
Lisa, you should be able to speak.
Lisa Teague, you should be able to unmute.
Okay.
We'll go on to our next speaker, Maria Sol.
Maria, you should be able to speak.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
And thank you, Mayor and Council Members and everyone that's sitting there.
And I really appreciate, I want you to know, the concern of the residents and park goers and businesses, et cetera.
Berkeley is exceedingly diverse, as is the globe, and often there's disparate conflicting needs.
So my request, since we're all here, including the people in the park who are human beings, we could perhaps find a way to serve them such that they are actually okay, along with everyone else.
So the people that would prefer them not to be there, where else can they go? And it's not just about dumping a ton of money into hotels or shops.
It's about stopping and remembering that we are all human beings and we really must learn to get along and find the way that we can.
So thank you.
And I wish everyone well.
Thanks, Maria.
Thanks for your comment.
Okay.
One more time, we'll try Cheryl Duffield again.
Cheryl, you should be able to speak.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So is this public comment on items not on the agenda? Yes.
I can't hear you.
Yes, that's correct.
Pardon? Can you start my time over then, please? This is Cheryl Davila, former council member, City of Berkeley.
And I'm just really saddened that officials don't care about humanity.
And in Gaza, the supposedly humanitarian aid, people are getting killed and murdered.
Every day, they're being starved.
It's just horrendous and horrible.
And it's really horrendous and horrible that the Berkeley City Council doesn't give a crap about humanity and doesn't listen to their constituents, the constituents that they hire to come into the room to speak for, I don't know if they hire them, maybe that wasn't the correct word, but they solicit to move forward their terrible agenda.
So free Palestine, free Palestine, free Palestine.
And I hope you all listen to people.
And you're going to have to live with the decisions that you make.
Thank you.
Thanks for your comment.
All right.
Our next can is Thornton.
Just for our future speakers, just a reminder, we have kids in the room.
Thank you.
Who you should be able to speak.
I think we have two more public speakers.
So this past week has been a previous trial.
We got the notice posted last Monday that the harvest was on Thursday, July 3rd.
So we did what we could to keep our community members safe.
And we tried relocating them.
First, we tried to relocate people in the community because people on this day together, keep one another safe.
When cops came in the next day, three visits in one day.
And the final one was an 11-hour notice of an encampment closure.
Not 72, 11.
We had to get up the very next day and help people move back out and make sure that their belongings weren't taken with them.
And so we've had to move people into isolation again, just to be able to keep them safe from the neighbors following the cops.
And it's been trying.
People need the same place to go.
Thank you.
Thank you, Jordan.
And that was our last speaker on Zoom.
So we are able to accept one more speaker.
So I do one more card from the room.
This is our last card that was submitted.
Erica Shore.
Oh, I repositioned the back so it's a little louder for you.
There you go.
The notice was given to be out by July the 3rd.
Today is July the 8th and the park is still full of tents.
For the last 10 months, the rights of 40 or so campers have been protected, allowed to violate the no camping law in Berkeley.
At least 10 times that, maybe 4,000 neighbors and park users have been made to tolerate horrific conditions that have prevented access to their park.
It's time to flip this equation.
It's long since been time to restore use of the park to the citizens of Berkeley.
The desires of 40 or so now need to give way to the needs of the rest.
The city needs to adopt and enforce a zero tolerance policy regarding camping in the parks.
In San Francisco, this is manifest by immediate removal of one tent and that's what needs to happen here.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay, so that was our final public comment on non-agent matters.
Mr.
City Manager, do you mind just speaking to the situation of Elaine Park and maybe explain noticing the timeline of that? I think that's a little confusing.
Sure.
The noticing happens as people have indicated and lists July 3rd as the date by which people need to be out.
That doesn't mean the city is going to show up on July 4th to remove people from the park.
The city has been going to the park regularly, both in the form of police and in the form of social workers.
The on-the-beginning D.A.
Cares team has gone to offer food, shelter, I think that's food, showers, water, etc.
Additionally, the options mobile outreach team has gone 47 times out to that camp and so the operation to close that camp has been planned and that camp will be closed imminently.
Could you also speak to the quicker turnaround timing that just happened with the other encampment? The other encampment moved, so one of the speakers was referring to people in Maloney moving down to the North Bowling Green, which is a little patch of grass north of the courtyard on Alston, 132 Alston.
That site is a closed, it's actually leased to the Lawn Bowling Club who asked that people trespassing there be removed from there.
Additionally, it's a toxic site.
We have a phase one and a phase two report on that documenting the toxicity on that site.
So people who were there were there without permission and we noticed that situation and then people were told that they needed to be out there the next day and the police came and they were out by the next day.
So I just want to make a comment just to say that this is a very challenging situation and that homelessness is a huge issue that's facing our city and that we're doing everything we can to make sure that we're providing resources.
Folks need a place to go, that's the reality.
We need to have enough resources and support and we're doing a lot of work to advocate for that, especially at the county level.
We have a Measure W, the funding that is being made available to us now, and our city manager and our council members and myself have advocated very hard to.

Segment 2

to make sure that the funding goes to making sure we can support these folks and find places for them to go.
Just a reminder, these people are our neighbors and our humans too, so I think we also need to make sure we're treating them and speaking about them with respect.
So I want to thank you all for your public comments, and we are going to move on to public comment by employee unions.
Do we have any unions in the room that you want to speak? Yes, come on up.
Hi, good evening, Mayor and Council.
My name is Jocelyn.
I am a report certified lactation consultant, and I am a city worker down at the Wake office, and I am the co-coordinator officer for SDIU 10-1, the CSU PTRLA chapter.
So yeah, thank you so much for the National Breastfeeding Month proclamation.
It was reminding me of last year when we also acknowledged that here.
I was remembering that that was a full house at that time.
We were in the midst of some very difficult union bargaining contracts at that time, and I can remember there were hundreds of city workers in there for that meeting, I believe, and some colleagues from my chapter and also some siblings from AFSCME Local 1 had shared some of their own stories as lactating parent city of Berkeley workers.
And so I just want to add that layer on as we're thinking about what a source of pride this is, all the wonderful work we do around this in Berkeley, the wonderful history that we have.
Berkeley actually set the first Guinness World Record for a nursing that was broken by some place in Belgium or something like that, but they had to go halfway around the world to beat Berkeley on a nursing.
So hearing our wonderful colleague from the Center for Independent Living giving that history, I just want to bring it back around, remember last year, and not to put a negative spin on it, but just to uplift some of the stories of some workers who shared stories about pumping in what was basically a utility closet and not having access to the minimum legally mandated lactation accommodation here in the city of Berkeley.
I know that we all want to do better with that, you know, this proclamation uplifts that this is, you know, it's a priority, it's something that's important to us.
And so I just want to, I can't speak for all the workers, but I do want to uplift some of the workers who aren't here, who are lactating parents, who are expectant parents, and wondering how they're going to navigate that as a Berkeley worker.
And part of that, we all understand that telework is not a substitute for childcare, and that it is a privilege that needs to be worked out between worker and their, you know, immediate supervisor and the program that they work with, so that we can have a really well-balanced staffing and optimally meet the needs of the community that we so proudly serve.
That being said, I just ask you to take into account our pregnant and lactating parents, parents of small children, who will be affected in like a really major way if they lose the ability to telework.
We may lose people, wonderful people, we have in the past lost wonderful workers who were lactating parents of this issue.
So I, since that meeting last year, we have a new mayor, we have a new state manager, I'm just really hoping that during National Breastfeeding Month, that we'll really think of lactating and expectant workers and pregnant workers.
When we're talking about our city buildings, our accommodation, our supervisor education, and a balanced, reasonable, fair telework policy.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comment.
I appreciate it.
Are there any other unions here or online? There are no hands raised online.
Okay, very good.
So before we enter into the consent calendar, I wanted to make sure that we addressed the request from the city manager to ask that the second, remind me of the date, I'm sorry.
I just want to make sure I did it right.
Yeah, we have a public hearing on the 26th of July.
Thank you.
Very good.
And then also, I'd like to ask that our city attorney, because I know that some of you are here for a specific issue.
I'd love if our city attorney could just share some information so that folks have that before they give their comment.
Thank you, Mayor.
I just wanted to clarify, there's an item on the consent calendar, the second reading of the middle housing ordinance.
There's been some questions that have come up.
Just to clarify, the item which was introduced, there was no Brown Act issue associated with the way it was noticed.
The city takes its obligation to comply with the law, with the Brown Act, and all of the open government laws very seriously.
The meeting on June 26th was a special meeting of the Council, and the Brown Act explicitly allows special meetings of the City Council to be conducted, and you only need to have a 24-hour notice in advance, in contrast to a regular meeting, which requires 72 hours.
There was also some questions, and there's a little bit of confusion, it seems like, about an old voter initiative, the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance, which has now, by its own terms, it's no longer in effect, essentially, because at the time that it was adopted in 1973, the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance put in some procedural steps that the city had to take a hard look at the zoning provisions and adopt comprehensive updates.
It also imposed certain substantive land use regulations within it.
However, these regulations are explicitly defined as interim.
That is, they were only ever intended to apply during the period between the enactment of the NPO and the final acceptance of the City Council of the revised master plan and the zoning ordinance.
Those interim regulations became ineffective by design, and there's no problem or challenge of the Mental Housing Ordinance being in violation of the NPO.
I just wanted to clarify that for the benefit of the public.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
For our young audience, we've got our city attorney here.
It's very exciting to have a female city attorney, so I just wanted to comment on that.
Okay, so we are opening now the consent calendar, and I will take first if there are any comments from Council Members.
I'm not seeing the buttons go, but I think I heard your Council Member Humpherd first.
Thank you, Madam Mayor.
I clipped mine.
It didn't do anything, but you're in the department.
I do have some comments, and the first comment is about the mental housing item.
I want to thank the city attorney for reviewing the process and her confirmation that, indeed, the special meeting and the submission and receipt of Council supplemental followed all applicable City Rules and Grant Act requirements.
The special meeting was set some number of weeks in advance, so there was really accurate notice of the date of the special meetings as well.
I also want to take this opportunity to express how disappointed I am that there are some folks who are so resistant to welcoming new homes and people into Berkeley that they are going to these lengths to try to stop it.
Berkeley is supposed to be a tolerant place where we believe in shared responsibility for the greater good, making immigrants feel welcome, and giving people opportunities to build a better life.
The level of vitriol and anger that we've seen over this proposal in a lot of emails is, frankly, I've seen a lot of emails of support, but a lot of really angry emails in opposition.
It's a betrayal of those values, I think.
I know that some folks think there hasn't been enough process or that the process was somehow unfair, but this proposal has been the subject of many Council meetings, Planning Commission meetings, public workshops, and other outreach events over the past six years.
And I'll remind folks, the Planning Commission deliberated and actually passed a version of middle housing that went much further than what we approved here at Council.
There were no density limits in the Planning Commission version that passed some time ago.
It is time for us to move forward, and I hope the people who are so passionately opposed to this can find it in their hearts to do some self-reflection and think of the message they're sending to immigrants, the rest of the country, and next generations.
The second comment I want to make is about Item 8, which is a grant application for funding an Alameda County coordinator with respect to fire issues.
And I just want to note that I'm really pleased that we're continuing to work with the county to try to solve our fire danger issues in Berkeley because, of course, fire does not respect city limits.
So we're working with the county, and this is just an example of that.
Item 22, the reinstating street sweeping on the 2900 block of Regent Street.
I want to thank Regent Street neighbors for bringing this issue to the attention of my office, and our staff for their swift and dedicated work to move this request through the process so we can restore street sweeping, as I've said, to that block.
And then finally, I think finally, no, maybe penultimately, Item 24, letter in support of continuing funding for Berkeley rides for seniors and the disabled.
We're asking for additional money from the county to keep that open and keep the enrollment open.
So thank you, Vice Mayor Kaplan and Mayor Ishii and Council Member Triga for this letter.
The Rides for Seniors program is a critical service for many elders who are not well-served by DC transit lines or are unable to use bus to get to the grocery store, medical appointments, or as my colleague, Council Member Bartlett might say, just to get out of the house.
Then finally, number 25, which is the Port Chicago Alliance relinquishment of council office budget funds from general funds and grant of such funds.
And it's, I'd like to contribute $250 from our office discretionary account towards supporting the Port Chicago Alliance and observing the Port Chicago Remembrance Weekend.
As with the incarceration of innocent Japanese Americans in World War II, the racist treatment and court-martialing of black sailors in Port Chicago during that same period, during the war in 1944, in fact, is something we should never forget.
And now, in particular, is a time when we must remember.
In terms of the facts, the Port Chicago explosion, which involved mainly black sailors unloading train cars full of munitions, it killed 320 people.
Two-thirds of them were African Americans.
256 black sailors thereafter were unjustly court-martialed after the explosion for refusing to work in an unsafe environment.
I might ask Council Member Taplin, who is the author, if I could be added as a co-sponsor, and I'd like to, I think I said so, contribute $250.
Thank you.
And that's all I have on consent.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member.
I'm not sure who was first.
Okay, Council Member Leopold, I'll be really fast.
I'd like to give $250 to the Port Chicago Alliance Item 25.
Thank you, Council Member Taplin, for bringing it forward.
That's it.
Thank you, Council Member Taplin.
Thank you so much for meeting.
I just wanted to thank my colleagues for their support.
And I'm also adding Council Member Bergen for her willingness.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Council Member Kesselbaum.
Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.
I would also like to thank Vice Mayor Taplin for the letter in support of funding for the Brookie Rides for Seniors and the Disabled Program.
I know there are many people in our community who are relying on that program, and I think we need to continue to look for ways to restore that funding.
I also wanted to be recorded as donating $100 to Item 25 for the Port Chicago Alliance.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Council Member O'Keefe.
I just would like to donate $250 to Item 25 and just say thank you, Council Member Taplin.
I'm a math teacher, but I'm actually also secretly a history teacher, and history education is really important to me.
I don't have a lot of examples to mention, and I would ask for your correspondence, but I'm too late.
Thanks.
Thank you so much.
I too wish to thank Vice Mayor Taplin for the letter of continued funding for Berkeley's Rides for Seniors and the Disabled.
This is an issue that our office has heard a lot about from my constituents and community members all over Berkeley, and I appreciate the Vice Mayor's leadership in crafting this letter.
On Item 25, I'm honored to be a co-sponsor and want to contribute $100 from our T14 account.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Council Member Barnett.
Thank you, Madam Mayor.
I also want to thank the Vice Mayor, Council Member Taplin, Vice Mayor, for your work on bringing the Rides for Seniors.
It's very important, and as we say, we are dying of loneliness, so get out of the house.
Get out of the house and get some transportation.
We'll supply it for you.
I want to join my colleagues in supporting the Port of Chicago massacre, a truly horrendous, horrendous action here.
$250 from my office to support the effort.
And lastly, I want to just call out our lease amendment to the city of Stanford on Japan over the waterfront.
Wonderful restaurant, good family, good people.
Go support.
Get out of the house and go some fun.
Thank you, Council Member Bartlett.
I'd also like to add that $250 to my account as well for the Port of Chicago item.
Thank you very much.
All right.
I think that's everyone.
So we will move on to taking comments on the council.
I can send some down there.
If you have a comment, you can just come on up.
And I think that we will go back down to one minute, so we've got a lot of comments.
Yeah.
Yeah.
First of all, I just want to say a few words about the Brown Act.
I didn't realize until recently that the council has been clearly using the special meeting provision of the Brown Act to get around the requirement for 72-hour notice.
And you've been using it to speak in last-minute changes.
Regarding the middle housing ordinance, all of you talked about six years of community engagement, public meetings, workshops, and so on and so on.
They're all so proud of.
So what do you end up doing as a final insult in the special council meeting of June 26th? You went and voted on or passed a bill that would be 24-hour public notice.
That was significantly different than what had been previously proposed.
It allows for higher densities in all zones.
It allows for higher heights in all zones.
There's two other things that I don't have time to go into, but regardless of whether or not you are technically violated the Brown Act by doing all this, you certainly have violated the spirit of public notice and involvement.
You should all be ashamed to vote for this tonight.
Thank you for your vote.
All right.
Hi, good evening, mayor and city council members.
My name is Miffy Duxper.
I live in central Berkeley and I have an island house for 37 years there.
I am in full support of increased density in central Berkeley.
I've been to several planning commission and department meetings, but have always seen, it has felt like that this was a foreground conclusion from the beginning.
I've watched hundreds of people say very valid complaints that are not in these.
They are not opposed to more density.
They want some accommodations and their concerns.
And it doesn't seem like those accommodations were seriously considered.
Most of us speaking over 300 people, at least presented several reasonable requests of the height limit never be over 35, 38 feet.
No more than six units that you consider the balance of developers needs to make a profit and the need to supply lower than market value housing.
Mostly.
I think this could have been done very differently, creative, holistic visionary process that included leaders in the African American community.
I've been displaced.
Thank you.
Let me try this out.
Sorry.
Thank you.
Good evening.
My name is summer brother.
I'm from district four.
And I'd like to think that the letters that I've written.
About middle housing have not been filled with vitriol, but actually very thoughtful comments about how the plan could go forward.
To add more housing, but with some very common sense.
Amendments.
I also want to connect this issue to the acknowledgement, the prayer that goes on and public meetings.
And what that acknowledgement really means to those of us who are listening to each word.
Is that the, the earth itself is being honored.
Not just the people who lived here, stewards of the earth.
And honoring the earth.
Yeah.
I took the.
Standing.
Over there with the blue mask, the person with the.
Brand shirt and the person next to that person.
Thank you.
Go ahead.
You have four minutes.
Thank you very much.
My name is Margaret.
I'm strongly supportive about zoning that allows for housing and Berkeley.
And boy, do I wish this housing said something about.
Comment.
We'd love to see more low and middle income housing, but increasing density has environmental implications that we can deal with.
So I'm here because I want the city of Berkeley to show that we can do this.
I'm strongly supportive of zoning that allows for housing in Berkeley, and boy do I wish this housing said something about income.
We'd love to see more low and middle income housing, but increasing density has environmental implications that we can deal with.
So I'm here because I want the city of Berkeley to show that we can work together to increase density and protect the environment at the same time.
It doesn't have to be as either or as this process has assumed, I guess, and I'd be very happy to work with the city to realize that less than 9,000 middle housing units, maybe up to 20,000, will have a positive impact on conservation of groundwater quality and of outflows to the bay, of increased flood risk, and of urban heat island effects that will exacerbate heat waves.
And these are not small effects.
I would put in the record documents showing that 10% increase in imperfect surfaces and buildings can lead to 4 degrees Celsius.
That's about 8 degrees Fahrenheit extra warming in a locality.
These are studies in cities, not whole regions, so they're big effects.
This ordinance would protect widespread removal of trees needed for habitat and heat mitigation.
This could result in wholesale loss of habitat for birds, loss of trees, and other transpiring ground cover.
Ground cover exacerbates heat waves.
And at this point, as I understand it, every new housing conversion could be 50 feet tall.
Is that wrong? Maybe I'm wrong.
I hope I'm wrong.
52.
Okay.
Sorry, I was wrong.
52.
Shading out remaining trees and solar power.
So I'd love to see mitigation in terms of capping the number of permits that are allowed each year, reducing the footprint, and requiring a minimum amount of permeable surface, saving more trees, insisting on cool routes or solar panels on routes, and protecting other people's rooftop solar.
I think we can work together.
So I want me, the city of Berkeley, and all of us to work together to show it's possible and show other people it's possible to build out the density while really bringing in environmental concerns.
So I urge us to take them seriously, to analyze them, and mitigate them.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening.
I'm Gail Alpop, and I'm in 30,000th District 2.
And I've been sometimes writing to Carrie and sometimes to the council, and sometimes to both.
But I guess it's just a yes or no, black or white, when you register the letters.
So I don't think I have to recap my letters, but I will.
One is about the..
One was about a neighbor who had a three stories entire lot next to her house built, and the impact it had on her.
And I sympathize, because it happened to me too, under the old timing.
So that was one letter.
The other letter was about the things that I thought we were all agreed on.
The views, this sunlight, greenery, nature, and open space for Berkeley values.
Thank you.
A recap.
Thanks for your comment.
Sure.
Okay.
Thank you.
You all have two minutes.
Thank you so much.
Good evening, Mayor Ishii, Vice Mayor Taplin, and esteemed members of the Berkeley City Council.
My name is Yuli Padmore, and I serve as the Executive Director of the Portugal Alliance.
On behalf of our organization, our partners, and especially the descendants and families of the sailors who served at the Port Chicago, thank you for your continued support of Port Chicago Weekend.
Your early backing and belief in our mission have made it possible for us to return this year and carry the momentum forward.
Port Chicago Weekend was created to honor the 320 lives lost in the tragic explosion of July 17, 1944, as well as the Black sailors who bravely resisted the hazardous and racially discriminatory conditions they faced while serving in the racially segregated Navy.
Our goal is to ensure their names, courage, and sacrifice are never forgotten, and to inspire future generations to speak up, to seek truth, and stand for justice, even in the face of adversity.
We're grateful to have the City of Berkeley standing with us in the work.
We're warmly inviting you and the Berkeley community to join us for Port Chicago Weekend, including this celebration here at Cornerstone on Friday, July 18, and other gatherings across the Bay Area July 17 through the 20th.
Thank you for helping to make these men and their courage never forgotten.
I appreciate you.
Thank you.
Hi, good evening.
My name is Alfred Chu.
I really want to thank you for having the first week of middle housing last time and hope to get the unanimous vote again for middle housing this time.
I really applaud the efforts of the Council, especially the work to equalize density across the whole city.
I think it sets a really good example as the rest of the Bay Area explores this as well.
So, once again, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I have three with me in our room.
Okay, great.
I'm sorry.
If someone's phone is ringing, could you please turn it off? Thank you.
You've got four minutes, Mommy.
Thank you, Mayor.
Good afternoon or evening, Mayor, City Manager, City Attorney, and folks.
I am Mommy Law, and I speak in my own personal capacity as a member of Council Member of the Booth District, a Cal alum, and a mom.
I want to share a quick note on missing middle is missing affordability.
The Council is missing tying a nexus for ensuring equity for black, brown, and gay people who might be displaced by the missing middle proposal.
I attended many of those city council meetings in the last six years in different commissions.
I attended people's assemblies for equity for black Berkeley and council meetings.
The right to return legislation to help return marginalized and redlined people like my parents were in Southern California and here in Berkeley that passed will be frustrated by building in redlined areas without mitigating harm with some guardrails.
For example, maybe you've considered this and maybe it's been amended, but it should have included a nexus to the impact of black and brown communities to ensure if there are any studies, was there any data, was there any information collected to see the impact of this as we always ask for when we do an EIR.
The environmental impact report should be done now in advance before the environment is impacted.
As a lifelong at age 65 person who supports clean environment and the earth that we are destroying, I hope to look back in 15 years when I turn 80 and say, Berkeley is a town that I'm really proud of.
The place where I went to college, where I met my son's father, where I advocated for peace and also was an heir to the free speech movement, the anti-apartheid movement, the pro-environment movement, and the diversity.
The measure that you have in place at this time, I'm sadly going to look back, if you don't take mitigation efforts, to say I'm disappointed by my town that I came back and left after practicing law for 25 years in Washington State.
I own three homes, I think my son in Berkeley.
When you have a public, there's about 85% of young males who want to buy a million dollar homes on the increased density on these parcels that were formerly red money.
My son wanted to buy a new home before he turned 30.
He insisted we try Berkeley.
We were in the market for one week.
You get beat up by cash lockers.
If you have a lot of money, you might be able to compete.
We didn't have that kind of money.
Those of you who are answering our call, good for them, but I'm afraid it's going to displace people that look like myself and my son.
I've seen other comments from black community members that have raised the alarm, and I'm not sure it's being heard, and I'm glad you're celebrating, but I hope you can celebrate with true protection for the environment and for the people who used to live here.
Please watch my video if you haven't looked at it yet.
Black people displace from Berkeley.
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Nor, I currently live in Central Berkeley.
I just want to thank Council and the Mayor for passing a concern on missing middle origins, and I really.

Segment 3

I'm looking forward to City of Berkeley producing more affordable, high-density, and sustainable housing.
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Andres Chavez.
I live in District B-7.
Thank you for unanimously passing the Missing Mental Health Ordinance.
I think it matters to me because I've been a student of the past four years and I've paid high rent and I hope that increasing the supply of housing in Berkeley will help, you know, the market and just like maybe lower prices so that it's more affordable.
I hope that denser housing with increased public transit will be a great model for a cleaner city, you know, less car-centric.
I think that's a great for the environment and as a young person who would love to be a part of the future of Berkeley, I've had a great time living here and I think that this can only be achieved if we support a lot of Berkeley to grow and support more people.
Yeah, thank you and please pass the second reading.
Thank you.
I have one.
Good evening.
Janice Cheng, District 3.
I know, and we all know, that tonight you will pass this ordinance, but I don't think that we should let it go without our thoughtful comments and thank you for allowing us to make them.
I have to say that, you know, the thing about, you do only believe the rhetoric that you're putting forward about what this ordinance is going to do, but, you know, in reality, it's your own planning department that stated that there's nothing in this ordinance that will require an increase in housing that will be affordable to our lower income workers.
Instead, you're incentivizing developers to be able to buy properties because they can build many more units.
This is going to force first-time homebuyers to compete with people who can afford to build larger scale housing and it will be a lot harder for people to be first-time homebuyers, which is something you have said you support.
You should also understand that you could get this billed housing with the ADU ordinance.
You could get it with SB 9.
There are many things in the works already that will allow what you have asked for, which is the two to four housing units per lot.
And I have to lastly say, adding last minute amendments, you talk about a six-year process.
If the process was so robust, why do we still need to have huge amendments on the dais every time one of these ordinances comes to pass? Thank you.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Andrew Talbot, D1.
Pleasure to be able to address the council today and just say how proud I am, again, to this same unit and this same bill.
And I was really touched by, everyone on council gave their original story about how housing is touched on in Berkeley.
And it's just, you know, housing is a big issue that touches all of us.
And so I really appreciate that.
And I just want to address some of the opponents of the bill, and I'm going to turn it over to Andrew Talbot, who's going to talk a little bit more about the bill and how it's going to be implemented.
Thank you.
Sorry, can we make our time go back to one minute? I just want to, yeah, thank you.
Thank you.
My name is Chad Baker, as of District 5.
I'm also very pleased that we have the opportunity to see this, you know, kind of here for a second.
It's obviously a big moment for the city.
And I'd like to say that the middle housing ordinance did not fall out of coconut tree.
It exists in the context of the legislation that came before it.
And on this day in 2025, part of that legislation actually is that on June 30th, the governor had to repeal part of CEQA in order to address the housing crisis.
And that was really a response to kind of like the epicenter of litigation that comes from Berkeley.
All of the cases that caused those CEQA reforms originated here by organizations with names that make it sound like they really care about the environment of poor people.
But I think that we've learned over the years that those efforts were not in good faith.
And now we're seeing kind of an attack to, we're going to attack the Brown Act now because CEQA got repealed.
And that's really disappointing.
In my last second, I will just say thank you again.
Thanks for your comment.
I think we've got some folks online.
Yes, we do, Mayor.
Our first speaker is Sarah Bell.
Sarah, you should be able to speak.
And just a reminder to our folks at home, please speak loudly and directly into your microphone.
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Sarah Bell.
I'm in D1.
Thank you so much for taking the time to hear me.
And also I'll let everybody know that Zoom has been glitchy.
So just keep that in mind.
So, first of all, I want to say how much I love hearing everybody talk about Berkeley's values, welcoming neighbors, protecting the environment, standing up for marginalized communities and striving to undo segregation.
I'd like to remind Council of the commitments we made in our housing element to affirmatively further fair housing by upzoning across the city.
Building housing in high resource neighborhoods isn't just about checking a box.
We really know that zip codes where a child grows up can make more difference in their later success than even their parents' wealth or educational achievement.
This is one of the many reasons why we need to upzone across Berkeley and why our middle housing ordinance is so important.
I'd also like to point out that this ordinance has been in the works since 2019.
It took less time to write the U.S.
Constitution or to build the Empire State Building and the Bay Bridge combined.
Thank you.
Thanks for your public comment.
Do you have any other comments on the consent calendar? Okay, yeah, I'll let you come up now and then we'll go back to online.
Yeah, thanks.
My name is Audrey.
Thank you for housing the missing middle unanimously.
As a student at Berkeley, I love this school and the city because of its history, mainly the cumulative efforts of those who have championed the Mid-South literacy community.
At the same time, I learned that the city is the first in America to sanctify single-family zoning, and this exclusionary legacy continues to entrench racial segregation in Berkeley's oldest neighborhoods.
The surge of housing construction has definitely helped drive down rent fixes, but it's not enough.
As much as I love new housing near campus for students like me, there should also be more opportunities for people to live throughout Berkeley, like in the 111 neighborhood that I enjoy jogging along, which are rich in desirable amenities such as libraries and parks.
I hope that Berkeley takes every step it can to make it as affordable and accessible as possible.
This is a necessary part of rewriting, or rather, re-centering the city's history towards community.
Please pause a second and remain standing if you will.
Thank you.
Moving back online.
All right, our next speaker is Catherine Romage.
Catherine, you should be able to speak.
Okay.
I am not opposed to the middle housing ordinance, but I think that it is flawed, and I see no evidence that the council regards concerns of current property owners in modifying the middle housing ordinance.
The council members are not representing my voice, and are in fact discounting all voices opposed to their, not our, ordinance.
Was that your complete comment? That's it.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Franz of Five Creeks.
Thank you.
Am I allowed to speak on other items on the consent calendar? Yes, you can speak on anything on the consent calendar.
Thank you.
Sorry to interrupt the flow of thought here.
I believe that you have our letter regretting that Berkeley is giving Buyer Healthcare 380 feet of Carlton Street, because its campus has now swallowed everything else on that street end.
In return, apparently, this will save the city some maintenance money, and Berkeley is strapped.
But I think that Buyer should have been asked to improve the drainage and stormwater treatment of this segment at its costs.
It is a part of a flawed system that can drain polluted runoff to aquatic park, and could increase the flooding in West Berkeley.
If it has to be done now, it has to be done on the city's dime under this deal, and that's not going to happen.
I hope that recent floods around the country show that we need to face that this can happen here.
Our system for handling stormwater and polluted runoff is undersized and dilapidated.
I'm sorry, your time is up.
Thank you for your public comment.
All right.
Our next speaker is Nathan Landau.
Nathan, you should be able to speak.
Okay.
Good evening, Mayor Ishii and members of the Council.
I'm Nathan Landau.
I'm a retired city planner.
I'm really pleased to be here to support this final step in approving the middle housing ordinance.
Council really took a historic step last month in passing the ordinance.
It goes with our tradition in Berkeley of being an innovator in housing, but sometimes we get it wrong, like single-family housing.
The middle housing ordinance will allow a wide range of housing types across the city.
Duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes can't be built in much of the city now.
And there'll still be lots of single-family homes.
There are 23,000 in Berkeley.
But what's important is not the buildings, it's the opportunity to create for a wide range of people.
That range has been narrowing.
Thank you.
I'm sorry, your time is up.
Our next speaker is Cheryl Davila, former Council member.
Cheryl, you should be able to speak.
Cheryl Davila, former Council member, you should be able to speak.
Thank you.
Cheryl, we'll come back to you.
Next up is Andy Zerman.
Andy, you should be able to speak.
Hi, thank you for taking my comment.
I just wanted to make a brief comment that I'm really hoping for some more cohesiveness between the policies that have been coming before the Council.
So, during the Ember discussion, it was noted that housing density was causing, was instrumental in the fire risks.
But really, that the housing density issue related to fire risks, that that, quote unquote, that ship had sailed.
But now we're implementing middle housing, which is going to increase the housing density.
So, I'm really at a loss to understand.
I know, you know, there's danger of gridlock and egress for the entire town, city of Berkeley if there is a fire.
So, here we are increasing density.
I'm really hoping that this gets sorted out and thought about more thoroughly before this goes into play.
Thank you.
Thanks, Andy.
Just so you know, the Hillside overlay was excluded from the middle ordinance.
Hi, our next speaker is Theo Gordon.
Theo, you should be able to speak.
Hi, Council Members.
My name is Theo Gordon, and I'm a current property owner in District 8.
I'm asking you to please pass the missing middle ordinance.
And I also want to thank you for enacting the ordinance at the last vote and responding to the will of voters when you did so.
If the people of Berkeley wanted a watered-down proposal that put artificial low-density limits that made it so that nothing could get built, they would have elected a different council.
But instead, they elected you because you promised to pass legislation like this, and thank you for doing so.
So, please don't listen to the naysayers who don't represent the voters of the city.
Listen to the people who voted for you, who voted for more housing, and let's keep up the good work.
Let's build a city that allows all of the characters who want to to live in our neighborhood.
Thank you.
Thank you, Theo.
Our next speaker is Virginia Browning.
Virginia, you should be able to speak.
Virginia Browning, you should be able to speak.
Virginia, I see that you're unmuted, but we cannot hear you.
Most people are coming back to you.
Our next speaker is Della Luna.
Della, you should be able to speak.
Yes, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.
Well, I guess about the zoning ordinance, I would like to see that there would actually be language that actually requires affordability in the housing that's built, not just increasing density, but also increasing affordability in our city.
But what I really wanted to comment on tonight was the state of the Zoom and the audio recording.
It's just not functioning at an acceptable level at this point, and I wanted to make sure you all know that.
We're hearing the entire room.
When the camera's on, we're getting a 360 view of the room, which we don't need.
And we're looking at the back of a chair, and 90% of the screen is the ceiling.
So there's that.
And then the audio is like, not only has it been glitchy, but it's completely indiscernible what the public speakers are saying.
And if you go back and look through the transcript, which I presume is the live captioner, but we're just getting indiscernible, indiscernible, indiscernible.
So that's been going on.
I'm sorry, thank you for your public comment, and I am really sorry for our technical difficulties.
We didn't have Wi-Fi in this room.
Apparently, the district level Wi-Fi went out, which impacted us here in this room where we share a space with the school board as well.
And unfortunately, we have consistently had issues with our meeting space.
So it is something that we are looking into.
I know our team works super hard to try to make it happen, and we have something called the owl, which is like a camera that allows us to see around the room.
And unfortunately, as it picks up noise, it'll show an image of wherever the sound is coming from.
So you're kind of seeing this distorted 360 version of the room.
So I do apologize.
I know it's not the best way to view a meeting, and I'm sorry for folks who can't hear us well online.
This is something that we're working on ongoing, and I really do thank our city clerk team for trying to make it happen.
Go ahead for the next person.
Thank you, Mayor.
Our next speaker is Debbie.
Debbie, you should be able to speak.
Hi there.
I'm Debbie Sanderson from District 8.
I want to comment on the missing middle housing ordinance and to say that I think the last round of amendments has made it better.
And that it's a very, there's also a requirement now for a study, which I think is really important that Berkeley in a couple of years look back and say, well, did we accomplish what we expected or not? What did we learn? And maybe there are additional amendments that are needed.
So thank you for doing that.
Thank you, Debbie.
All right.
Our next speaker is Kelly.
Kelly, you should be able to speak.
Okay.
I could get behind increased density if biodiversity tree canopy and heat island impact were addressed at the same time.
You may need reminding that the two planning commissioners were removed.
One who spoke to concern of the black community and South and West Berkeley.
And the other who recommended up zoning should be staged with districts with a well resource districts like five going first before the formerly redlined areas to keep the formerly redlined areas from being the initial target for development.
So I hope that the city council can get behind looking at nature in the city and preserving biodiversity because that really is key.
We've lost a third of the birds in North America since 1970 and between 24 and 75% of the insects.
And this is.
Thank you, Kelly.
I'm sorry.
Your time is up.
Appreciate your comments.
Our next speaker is Mary.
Mary.
Hi, I live in district eight.
I lived here since 1986.
A lot of people in Berkeley have solar panels on their roofs.
And the one thing that concerns me about this ordinance is there's nothing done that protects people that have made this investment.
Now, the state of California passed the solar shade control act in 1978, and it limits blocking access to solar collection by trees on an adjacent property.
If the trees were planted after the solar panels were installed, well, it seems to me if someone builds a 50 foot high building next to my house, and it throws shade on my solar panels.
That's worse than a tree.
And so I think that there has to be something done to mitigate or give neighbors some input into this if their houses are going to be put into shade.
And that's my comment.
Oh, and Berkeley is the second most dense city in the state of California.
Thank you.
Mary, your time is up.
Our next speaker is Maria Soule.
Maria, go ahead.
Oh, thank you again for this open space where we can speak and listen to one another.
I'm so grateful because this is what we need.
And again, it boils down to space.
There's a lot of people, a lot of diversity.
And what about equity? Where are we coming from? Are we concerned more about money or people? And can we possibly have things be affordable for everyone and inclusive so that there's reciprocal benefits? Like, everyone can cooperate because I know that they can.
There's a feeding frenzy going on at the moment where we're competing rather than cooperating.
And I just know that I would prefer to be not just about me, but about we.
And the thing that concerns me the most is how much property we're wasting, property, neglected property, industrialized, et cetera.
We were saying that my time was up.
Is that right? Oh, yeah.
Now it's up.
All right.
Our next speaker is Brianna Morales.
Hi, Brianna Morales with the Housing Action Coalition as their community organizer.
Berkeley has a chance to take real action against decades of exclusionary zoning here, especially because the zoning was designed to push primarily black families and other communities of color out.
It won't fix every injustice, but it is a critical step towards correcting that legacy.
And it's not enough to support middle housing in theory.
If we want to have vibrant communities, we need to build them.
We need to have a greater variety of housing types to make space for a greater variety of people, young families, multigenerational households, and other adults hoping to downsize and stay in their neighborhoods.
More middle housing also supports strong local businesses, better transit, and more walkable, inclusive communities.
Berkeley helps lead on social justice issues, and this is a chance to create homes for families, workers, and longtime residents who want to stay or return.
So we really hope to see this ordinance pass and live up to its promise for something that we can all be proud of.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Right within your minute.
How many comments left? Two, three? Okay.
Three greeting speakers.
Our next speaker is Linda Lippenbaum.
Linda, you should be able to speak.
Yes.
Good evening, everyone.
I want to associate myself with the folks that are questioning very assiduously this missing middle proposal.
We do know, as Janice says, that you will pass it tonight, but I am very concerned that it does not address the true affordability that must be provided for folks in my district.
District 3, the historically African-American district, which has seen a huge decline in African-American families.
Why? Because of the affordability crisis.
And this bill does not, this ordinance does not address that in any meaningful way at all.
And the comment about the fact that those of us, those of you who won campaigned on this.
Last time I looked, democracy was there, a democratic society was there, a democratic government was there to represent everyone, not only those who, quote, won, but all of us who live in this city.
Thank you.
Thanks, Linda.
Thanks for your comment.
All right.
Next up, Virginia Browning.
Virginia, you should be able to speak.
Okay, can you hear me now? I hope.
Yes, we can hear you now.
Okay, thanks.
So I think almost all of us want more density.
So I just want to, it's going to pass, we know it's going to pass.
I want to speak to the dishonesty.
The dishonesty of pretending that those of us who just don't want to take a sledgehammer don't want density.
I live in a dense place.
I appreciate that.
But this is like taking a total sledgehammer to the whole city.
And there's also a dishonesty about the process that happened.
So I don't appreciate those comments that make it sound as if those of us who question this don't want density.
We just wanted it to be more careful than this.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Next speaker is Cheryl Dobler.
Cheryl, you should be able to speak.
Hello, can you hear me? Hello.
Are you hearing me? Can you hear me? Yes.
Anyway, I'm going to start talking.
So, Missing Little, like I said last time, there's nothing missing.
This is all a facade.
And I also have two minutes for my husband and my brother-in-law who is here.
Do I need to have them come in? Can you stop the clock? No, they would need to be online to give you the time.
Pardon? They would need to be online to give you a minute.
So you have 20 seconds left.
They're not online.
They're not online, but they're in my house because there's no computer for them to get online.
Do I need them to stop my time? You have 10 seconds left in your time.
No, to the Missing Little, there's nothing missing.
You're not preparing the community for the fire danger by building density on top of density.
Thanks for your comment.
Our last hand is Ross Burnett.
Ross, you should be able to speak.
Excellent.
Can you guys hear me? Yes.
Thank you all for taking the time to talk about this again for six years running or so.
I just want to share my genuine utmost respect for the council's extreme patience and bold leadership in advancing Missing Little.
It's much easier to maintain the status quo, especially when there's so many folks that are raising their fists and so upset about change.
But the world is changing, and we need to respond to it.
And I'm really looking forward to welcoming new neighbors to a city I love so much and really respect and admire the leadership and just want to end there and keep it short.
Thank you all.
Thank you.
Thanks, Ross.
And that was our last speaker.
All right.
Very good.
So do folks have other comments? Yes, Council Member Kisilani.
Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.
I do want to just take some time to respond to the public commenters tonight on middle housing.
I want to thank everyone who has made comments, both for and against the ordinance, as well as I want to acknowledge that we did receive a number of emails on this topic.
I want to thank the city attorney for noting that the Brown Act noticing requirements have been followed.
As the author of supplemental amendments, I want to explain that the reason why myself and three others on this dais proposed amendments to the middle housing ordinance is because this is an iterative process.
We are listening to the public.
For example, the height standard proposed by our planning department staff was developed after they received community concerns about solar access impediments, overall vault, and other impacts that could result from larger buildings.
As was noted on June 26, an exhaustive solar access study was conducted.
The ordinance that was before the council on June 26 was based on direction passed last July by the prior council under a different mayor.
Over that time, in the last year, we have continued to listen to the public.
Speaking for myself, I proposed amendments because I was listening to members of the public who understand that the status quo isn't working for our middle class workers, including our teachers, nurses, and first responders.
It's not working for the students and young people who spoke in support of the ordinance on June 26.
We received numerous emails asking the council to equalize the density standard to promote greater equity and fairness across all residential zones.
We heard from subject matter experts, including planners and architects, who suggested adding flexibility by increasing the density standard, although not as far as the planning commission had proposed, and adding an option for a pitched roof.
On the issue of affordability, I want to clarify that there is deep, restricted, below-market-grade affordable housing that is funded by public funds in the city.
That is not the middle housing ordinance.
We are trying to do as much affordable housing as we can, but guess what? It takes public resources.
The voters of Berkeley actually rejected Measure L in 2022 that would have provided more funding for affordable housing.
So we are trying to do the best we can with the limited resources that we have.
The middle housing ordinance is subject to the same affordability requirements as all housing in the city, including the requirement to provide 20% of units for low-income households or pay an inclusionary housing fee that can be used to fund 100% below-market-grade, deep, restricted, affordable housing elsewhere.
So I just need to emphasize that.
We asked the voters to do more affordable housing, and they said no.
So we're doing the best we can with this.
I do want to acknowledge that not everyone agrees with this, and that is the nature of change.
Ultimately, there's no way to make everybody happy.
It is our job to plan for a future city, and I believe that this change is not a sledgehammer.
I don't know where people are getting 52 feet from.
The ordinance that we passed is 35 feet with three more feet for a pitched roof, five feet for rooftop access so we can have the sunlight that people are asking for.
This is an incremental change that you're going to see a trickle of projects on opportunity sites.
If your neighbor has a built-out parcel on both sides, guess what? They're not doing middle housing.
So the idea that this is going to happen on both sides of your house and you're going to be blocked in and shaded in, that's not accurate.
People are spreading misinformation about this ordinance to gin up opposition, and you can't believe everything you read on Nextdoor.

Segment 4

Okay, there's a reason why nine elected officials have unanimously supported this.
Because we all want our city, we are fighting for our city, for the people in our city, for the teachers, the after-school workers, okay, the janitors, the custodians, the people who who take care of your yard.
They buy in from Richmond, well I want them to have a chance to live here.
Why can't they live here too the way you got to live here when you bought your house 30 years ago? This is for the next generation, for my kid and your kid and the grandkids who are going to Ohlone Park.
Why is that a bad thing? Why can't we make space for more people and be the progressive community and be that sanctuary for undocumented immigrants and LGBTIQ folks? That is what we tell ourselves that we are.
Well this is the chance to actually prove it and vote for this.
And I know I haven't changed anyone's mind, but I hope you can start to think about why it is that nine council members and a mayor voted for this.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
I want to join myself to my colleague's comments.
And I do want to specifically address the comments regarding displacement and the like.
So you should realize that over the last 10 years, I'm planning commission and I'm council becoming an expert on displacement.
After running, my family was displaced.
And my record of displacement since then is above reproach.
And I want to say I appreciate your concerns.
I know where they come from.
I get that.
But your claims are just not accurate.
So let's run through a couple of factoids here.
The median sale price in South Berkeley was the same as North Berkeley.
In fact, the cost per square foot was more expensive in South Berkeley than North Berkeley.
We passed demolition ordinance with the strongest protections in the nation.
And we know from SB9 and our AU development, it shows that we are unlikely to have rampant development at all.
And a little development there is will be centered largely outside the red line areas.
And I'm proud of the surge in affordable housing and subsidized housing we have unleashed.
But please remember that most Black people are middle class.
We need to build for them too.
And the only increase in Black residents in Berkeley has been downtown where we build lots of housing.
Now the simple fact that prices come down as we build is known.
A missing middle will allow for one bedroom and studio condominiums that more people can actually afford to buy and own.
And owners do not get displaced.
Now, we call for an impact study because it comes in most of these 25 projects, which will likely take years, by the way.
But if anything, we should call for an impact study on disparate impacts of down zoning.
Because we all know what that is.
We live in that result right now.
I understand your fears.
But what I fear most is the prospect of condemning another generation of landlessness.
Thank you.
I'm proud of both sides again.
I don't have much to add.
I did respond to every single individual that identified themselves as my constituent.
We held a town hall last year.
My first month on the council, I believe.
We also did a Q&A session with staff.
I will say that my district, or at least those who identified themselves as living in the district that I'm honored to serve, were pretty much split down the middle.
So maybe this middle thing is quite vast.
I will just read away one thing.
I did get this one email suggesting that my comments were about my ability to afford housing in Berkeley.
So I just want to make it very clear.
This is about everyone in my generation and any generation and any intergenerational families that right now are priced out of Berkeley.
It may be too late for some, but it is not too late for those that right now are trying to flee repression in certain states, in certain red states, in certain countries that have authoritarian leadership that are trying to come here, that are trying to make it their home.
I'll tell you this much.
I would very likely not be in Berkeley had it not been for middle housing that I have a privilege to live in, or what would now be called middle housing anyway.
It was built when it was legal, where I was able to make a life in Berkeley for almost 13 years.
I just want that opportunity for others.
I think we did listen.
We made amendments.
I'm particularly proud of the fact that we passed one of the amendments is around doing a racial equity analysis.
Thank you very much, council members, Dr.
Bonnie, for that suggestion.
The amendment we did around actually making sure that it's working as intended, looking at objective development standards that may be possible, and coming back with that.
That is in there.
That is a reflection of us doing our very best to listen to the community.
I want to thank the community, truly, regardless of what side you're coming down on this.
I know that we will remain a community, and we will be working on the next thing together very soon.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Lindquart.
Thank you.
I wanted to talk quickly.
As the youngest person on this council and the person who represents what is by far the youngest district in the city, as well as District 7 also has the highest percentage of Latino and AQI residents, I did not receive any comment either by phone or by email or personally sent to me from someone who identified themselves as a District 7 resident who opposed the submittal.
Not one, which is crazy, given how much of the comment we have received.
I am incredibly proud of the work that we have put into this.
I am proud to live and work in a city with such incredible staff that have been so dedicated to put this together.
I am proud of the subliminal material that we put forward.
I am proud to vote in favor of this tonight.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Chapman.
Thank you very much.
I'm very excited, very proud.
Okay.
My only comment is that I agree with my colleagues and also I want to speak up on behalf of Council Member O'Keefe.
Someone illegally put newsletters into other people's mailboxes.
You're not actually allowed to do that, folks, and disparaged our Council Member and gave misinformation.
So I just want to say, and as a result, I know that she in particular has been receiving a lot of emails.
And so I know that that can be really challenging.
I know we all have received emails that are challenging, but I just want to say that my colleagues have tried really hard to listen and to respond.
And so for folks who don't feel that we've listened, I'm really sorry you feel that way because we really have done a lot of work to give feedback and to make changes.
So with that, I guess, go ahead.
Sorry, since you brought that up, I just want to correct her.
She didn't disparage me.
It was pretty, no, I don't want that to be out there.
It was pretty dramatic, I would say, but yeah, I didn't do that.
But actually, I'm glad you brought that up because I actually, I don't know who wrote it.
It wasn't signed, but I would just like to say whoever wrote it, I got lots of emails in response that were upset, as you would predict, but I probably got as many emails that said, I got this flyer and it was pretty messed up.
And I just want you to know that I'm really glad you voted for mental housing and I'm sorry for getting a lot of mean emails.
So, you know, there is this idea that I think people have in the opposition that everybody feels this way and that is absolutely not true.
So thank you for bringing that up.
Yeah, thanks.
Okay, I think we're actually all in person, so I think, oh no, we're not.
Just kidding.
Sorry, guys.
We did roll in on the consent calendar.
All right, on the consent calendar, I have amended Council Member Cesar Moniz.
Yes.
Taplin.
Yes.
Bartlett.
Yes.
Tragus.
All right.
O'Keefe.
Yes.
Blackaby.
Yes.
Thank you.
Lunamara.
Yes.
Humber.
Yes.
Nairishi.
Yes.
Thank you.
Okay, so I know we only have one item on our action calendar and I was going to use this to give us a quick stretch break, but I'm going to ask if you don't have to have to have to go do something else, that you maybe kind of stay here so we can just get through our meeting because there's only a couple of little things left and so if I could ask our staff who are presenting if you could just come up and get set up and we can maybe do a little stretch from our seats or stand if you'd like to, get some water if you need to, but I'd like us to keep moving forward, if that's okay.
Well, come on everyone.
We're gonna do that.
Good evening, Madam Mayor, Senior Council, my name is Gail Hirsch, I'm the Mayor's Planning Manager, and joining me tonight is the CEQA and Technical Edits for Zoning 2019.
We'll turn it over to Robert Guerrero, who is a Senior Fair Policy Dean.
Great, thank you so much Council.
Tonight Council will consider zoning ordinance amendments that are non-subject of technical edits to maintain consistency and accuracy throughout the zoning ordinance.
Before I summarize the proposed ordinance, I'd like to briefly go over the background for staff's proposal.
On October 12, 2021, Council adopted an ordinance which replaced Title 23 of the Berkeley Municipal Code and adopted a new Title 23 to make the city's zoning ordinance easier to understand and administer.
Council gave staff direction to make minor changes to comply with state law or codify prior zoning interpretations and staff was directed to regularly return to Planning Commission and City Council with necessary amendments to maintain the integrity of the new zoning ordinance.
At the same time, state legislators have been incredibly busy passing new state laws as directed, and as directed, staff has returned annually to Planning Commission and Council to comply with and implement new state laws, but also maintain the integrity of the zoning ordinance.
The proposed amendments tonight are regular routine and include corrections, fabrications, and technical edits to ensure consistency throughout the zoning ordinance.
The proposed amendments today are all non-subject of technical edits and they do not contain any changes to conform with state law.
There are other legislative updates that are going to be incorporated in future items that will address newly passed state law and there are other legislative updates that are being implemented procedurally, so tonight's amendments are all non-subject of technical edits.
The non-subject of technical edits are summarized in Table 1 of the staff report and include all of those changes and their corresponding ordinance sections.
These technical edits fall into three buckets regardless of which policy section is being updated.
The first is corrections.
These are technical edits that correct errors which are mainly preventable for minor GIS related or they could be transmittal errors from shifting the old BMC to the new BMC.
The second bucket are updates.
These are technical edits that update reference sections that have changed due to new state laws that have been adopted or new organization of the California Memorandum of Code.
These include corrections that reference glossary term items or definitions.
And then the last bucket is clarifications.
These updates include more specific language of existing practice and procedures to make the zoning ordinance just easier to understand and administer.
Staff recommends that City Council hold a public hearing and approve the proposed zoning ordinance and amendments and this concludes staff's presentation and I'm available for any questions.
Thank you, Director.
I just have a few questions.
Is there any public comment on the public hearing? I don't see anyone lined up in the room and I don't see any hands raised on Zoom.
Okay, are there any council comments? Yes, Council Member Trago first.
No worries.
Well, I just want to thank staff.
I remember when this process became effective between the zoning ordinance revision process and the ZORB which I went inside for with now Council Member O'Keefe.
I'm happy to move this item.
Second.
Sorry, do we have a motion to close the public hearing? Oh, okay.
Is there a second? Second.
Agent, you're all clear.
Yes, thank you.
To close the public hearing, Council Member Keserwani? Yes.
Taflin? Yes.
Garblett? Yes.
Trago? Aye.
O'Keefe? Yes.
Blackabay? Yes.
Luna Park? Yes.
Humber? Yes.
And Mayor Ishii? Yes.
Thank you.
Now, would you move the item? Is there a second? I second.
I second from Council Member O'Keefe.
Did you have comments, Council Member Humber? Yeah, very short comments.
I just I want to thank both of you and also Director Klein for your work on this.
These sorts of edits seem maybe minor, but they're really, I think, critically important to make sure we avoid the ambiguity and accurately carry out the intent of our zoning rules.
And I really appreciate the focus and attention to detail which is involved with this that you all have brought to it.
So, thank you.
Thank you.
Are there other public comments or other comments from Council Members? Sorry.
Okay.
Should we take the roll, please, sir? Okay.
Council Member Keserwani? Yes.
Tavlin? Yes.
Farley? Yes.
Traco? Aye.
O'Keefe? Yes.
Blackabay? Yes.
Luna Park? Yes.
Humber? Yes.
And Mayor Ishii? Yes.
Thank you, staff.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks for your report and your presentation.
Now, is there any public comment for items not listed on the agenda? There are no hands raised.
Are there other comments? I have a question.
Oh, how do I answer your question afterwards? Okay.
Okay.
I think that's it then.
In that case, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.
So moved.
So seconded by Council Member Kathleen.
Can you take the roll, please, sir? Yes.
To adjourn, Council Member Keserwani? Yes.
Tavlin? Yes.
Farley? Yes.
Traco? No.
O'Keefe? Yes.
Blackabay? Yes.
Luna Park? Yes.
Humber? Yes.
Mayor Ishii? Yes.
Thank you.
All right.
Meeting is adjourned.
Thank you, everyone.