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June 30, 2026 · 7:00 PM
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Segment 1
Okay, hello everyone. Good evening. I'm calling to order the Berkeley City Council meeting. Today is Tuesday, June 30th. June 30th, 2026. It is 6.05pm. Can we please start off with a roll? Okay. Councilmember Kesarwani is currently absent. Councilmember Taplin? Present. Bartlett is absent. Vice Mayor Tregom? Present. Councilmember O'Keefe? Here. Blackaby? Here. Luna Parra? Here. Humbert? Present. And Mayor Ishii? Here. Okay, quorum is present. Alright. For our ceremonial matters this evening, I want to start us off with our adjournment in memory. And tonight I want to recognize and honor the life of Flora Rust, long-time educator, leader, and mentor. Her family is with us this evening. Flora served our Berkeley community for 50 years. Since coming to work for Berkeley Unified in 1968, she taught thousands of students in subjects of math, science, and computer arts. During her tenure, she taught at King Middle School and Berkeley High. She made it her mission not only to teach her students, but to mentor and support the many new teachers she worked with over the years, fostering a strong sense of belonging amongst the BUSD community. Her philosophy was, everyone graduates. Students know Ms. Russ as a person who would go to the ends of the earth to support each child in reaching their potential. Flora founded the Computer Academy, the first California partnership academy at Berkeley High School, which later became Community Partnerships Academy and is now known as AMPS, Academy of Medicine and Public Service, in 1991. She led and taught in the small school program for many years and touched the lives of multitudes of students who went on to access higher education, only to return to give back by entering community service professions. She also was a workability coordinator at Berkeley High, where she worked with students with disabilities to find shadowing, internships, and paid employment opportunities while in high school. She tracked the transition plans of current and former special education students throughout their four years of high school and beyond, managing the Transition Partnership Program grant in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. She leaves behind a legacy. Her students are now community organizers, teachers, professors, detectives, artists, firefighters, legislators, medical professionals, and so much more. They share the value of stewardship and strive to repair the world because of Flora's influence. Flora is survived by her five nieces and nephews and by her late partner's two children, Stacey Wagner, who was like a daughter to her, and John Grisby, Stacey's two sons, Jordan and Jaron, and five beautiful great-granddaughters. Flora's celebration of life will be on August 9th at 1 p.m. at Berkeley High School Donahue Gym. And tonight we are joined by Stacey Wagner, representing the family, and also family members who are here this evening. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. We're adjourning tonight in Flora's honor. Thank you for being here. Also this evening, we are recognizing National Breastfeeding Month. And I believe that Ruth Konoff is here. Hi, welcome. You can feel free to come up if you'd like. 2026 National Breastfeeding Month. Whereas the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, with continued breastfeeding for two years or beyond, as mutually desired by the mother and child. And whereas the consistent and well-documented health, economic, and environmental benefits of human milk feeding show that this investment will continue to produce measurable outcomes for families and communities alike. 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 that serve them, which disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and people of color, BIPOC populations, resulting in reduced breastfeeding rates and an associated increase in the risk for a variety of negative health outcomes. And whereas protecting and supporting human milk feeding is essential to ensuring infant nutrition security and immunologic protection 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. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Adina Ishii, Mayor of the City of Berkeley, do hereby recognize August 2026 as Breastfeeding slash Chest Feeding Month in the City of Berkeley. So I'd love to get a picture with you in a few minutes, but anyone who's known me for more than five minutes knows that I could speak at length about the wonders of breastfeeding and human milk, but I promise I'll keep my remarks shorter than that. Yeah. So council members, mayor, staff, thank you for the proclamation, recognizing the importance of breastfeeding, chest feeding, and human milk feeding for our community. The substantial benefits to the health of both the child and the lactating parent and to society as a whole are widely recognized, and the vast majority of expectant parents, over 94% in our county, intend to breastfeed, they plan to breastfeed, they initiate breastfeeding. Things go downhill often from there. This year, World Breastfeeding Week, the first week in August, has the theme, Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life. Strengthen what works. While there's still a lot we have to learn, we do know a fair amount about what works to help families achieve their infant feeding intentions. And I don't just mean equitable access to skilled lactation care. That's just the tip of the iceberg. I want to talk about how the community can support people who choose to breastfeed their babies. First, we know that support from a trusted peer, both before and after baby is born, has a significant impact on their success. At Berkeley WIC, and I'm realizing I forgot to introduce myself, but I'll do that in a moment. At Berkeley WIC, we're able to provide breastfeeding peer counselor support to many of our participants, and we see the difference it makes. Another predictor of success is support provided by dads, partners, other family members. Too often, they're waiting in the waiting room while the mom-to-be gets the breastfeeding prenatal education. That's not helpful. The broader family is the breastfeeding team. Even if the parents are not in the same household. And finally, what I really want to stress is that in the wider community, all of you, all of us, employers, coworkers, educational institutions, child care providers, too often, nursing mothers who are returning to work or school, and we know that most of them do, face barriers that make it more difficult to continue providing their own milk to their child. They may face challenges accessing adequate parental leave, appropriate and legally mandated lactation accommodations at work or at school, and a special interest of mine, whoever is caring for that child when the parent is away, whether that's grandma, a large child care center, the family child care home down the block, they may not be supportive of feeding the baby expressed milk. Too often, I see ads for child care centers that proclaim, we provide free formula. Nothing about, we welcome your expressed milk. We know how to feed it to your baby. We have a refrigerator to keep it safe. Too often, what happens is that parents believe that the start of child care means the end of breastfeeding, and it really doesn't need to be that way. So I think I'll leave it at that, but just point out that tonight's declaration of National Breastfeeding Month in Berkeley represents an opportunity to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding, chest feeding, and human milk feeding for everyone in the Berkeley community. And finally, before I leave, I just want to invite everyone here to the Berkeley WIC annual WICNIC, which is a very fun picnic. You do not have to be breastfeeding. You don't have to ever have been breastfeeding to come and have fun, have food, dance, and enjoy the music. Would it be okay if I leave those on the back table? And what I should have done at the very beginning, I'm Ruth Conoff. I'm the breastfeeding peer counselor coordinator at the City of Berkeley WIC, and I'm also an active member of the Allie County Breastfeeding Coalition, and thank you for paying attention for so long. Thank you. Thank you so much, and thank you for the invitation to the event as well. Okay, so finally for our ceremonial items, I will pass it over to Councilmember Luna Pera. Thank you. This isn't an official ceremonial item, but I want to take a moment to acknowledge a truly bittersweet milestone. Tonight is the final City Council meeting for my co-chief of staff, Sarah Surami, and I want to acknowledge everything she has given to the city. Sarah. Sarah was born and raised in Berkeley and has given so much of her time, energy, and talent to our community. In her time in City Hall over the past few years, first in the District 4 office and then in the District 7 office, Sarah has been a driving force behind countless transformative policies and projects, including car-free telegraph, police oversight, missing middle housing, the residential vacancy tax, responsible budgeting, micro-mobility fees, and so much more. She's a fierce advocate for renters, workers, pedestrians, small businesses, and all who call District 7 home. Sarah has the incredible and unique ability to go about everything in her life with kindness, empathy, and curiosity. She's able to think big picture and stay focused on a long-term theory of change while still diving into each and every detail of day-to-day public service, proving to the city and the world that democratic socialism and progressive and young energy can be just as pragmatic as it is visionary. Sarah is thoughtful, committed, tenacious, and innovative. Her creative and compassionate approach to policy development ensures that new ideas are brought to the forefront and that those.
Segment 2
information on how the city is using the limited public resources. Audits can also lead to new revenue opportunities, cost recovery, and savings. This fiscal year, my office will also continue working with city departments to report on the implementation status of audit recommendations through their submission of council reports. We'll also continue implementation of the whistleblower program, which provides a confidential way for city employees or officials to report concerns related to fraud, waste, and abuse of city resources. By providing an independent and confidential reporting channel, the program helps identify risks, improve accountability, and strengthen public trust in city operations. I wanted to thank the city manager for helping us with some of the outreach. As mentioned earlier, we just released our first annual whistleblower program report during this first calendar year. In 2025, the program received 42 new reports and closed 41 cases. Cases may be closed for several reasons, including completion of an investigation, referral to another department or entity, insufficient information to proceed, or because the allegation was outside the program's authority. Looking forward, the program will continue to enhance intake and investigation procedures and work closely with departments to address fraud, waste, and abuse. I want to thank HR and the city attorney's office for their partnership on this program. For more information, you can see tonight's information item on our audit plan and whistleblower report. Please don't hesitate to reach out to my office with any questions. Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam City Auditor, and thank you so much for your presentation to us as well. It is so important that we have these audits, and I really want to thank your office's role in helping us determine where we can do a better job as a city, especially during times of financial difficulty. And I did just want to particularly reinforce my support for the audit around the public health division. I think it's important for us to understand what that brings to our city and also the expense. So thank you very much for looking into it. Yeah. Oh, yes. Did you have comments? Yeah. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank Auditor Wong and her team for all their hard work on past and ongoing audits. I'm especially pleased to see the audit of our business license tax, since that is a major source of revenue for our city and of the rent board, given our earlier discussion. And all of the other audits are important, too. I also look forward to Auditor Wong's work to ensure that we're spending our safe streets measure FF funds wisely and in a way that is consistent with what voters envisioned. I'm so pleased and grateful that we have such a dogged and fearless city auditor, and I look forward to learning more about these topics as Auditor Wong and her staff bring forward the individual complete reports. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Very good. I love it. I love the support for the audits. Okay. We'll now take public comment on non-agenda matters. Okay. So there'll be five cards chosen for in-person non-agenda public comment, and then we will go to the first five hands raised on the Zoom. So if you're on the Zoom, now it's time to raise your hand for non-agenda public comment. Each speaker will have one minute. And let's see what we got. Okay. We got five cards. They come up in any order. We have Russell Bates, Celeste Marks, Stephen Alpert, Gina Rieger, and Steve Tracy. And this is for items that are not on the agenda. So come up in any order. Hi, everybody. Nothing new. The murderous rampage in Lebanon, Gaza, elsewhere in the Middle East is continuing. The largest bomb that's been dropped in peacetime history was dropped in Lebanon today. You don't see a lot of this stuff in the news. It's not on mainstream because it's not mainstream. The mainstream doesn't know enough to not support this. And I would urge the City Council to do what I've done recently is when I've found myself believing something that I no longer believe and realize I was foolish to believe in it and need to change my mind about it, I do it. So I think without condemning yourselves too much, admit you made a mistake by not calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, not calling a genocide, and do so. Thank you. Good evening. Steve Tracy. I'm a cyclist. I have the silly shirt on. I'm also a driver. I'm a month early. What am I going to talk about? Paving Hopkins. I have choices. I can ride Marin. I can ride Rose. I would never ride Hopkins in the condition it's in. I don't even want to drive it. But I know after cycling for 50 years that cyclists are much safer with fresher pavement. I saw a group comment that it would be less safe with fresher pavement without a cycle track. Wrong! Please, no cycle track. Repave Hopkins and use that extra money to repave other streets. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Gina Rieger, and I live on Lulum Avenue. Last year I spent a good amount of time trying to reason with the city to keep my plants and trees under the Ember program. But now I find myself worried about the risk to the safety of my house and my own life because of the possibility of the closing of the fire station number four. I found the city manager's comments on page 23 of the proposed budget of 114 pages that was presented to you in May. Response time standards were not consistently met. Closure of fire station four will force responses from more distant stations, further degrading performance. Those are the words of your city manager. City gate consultants in December of 23 wrote that the department is struggling to meet current demand, much less future growth in the city and the university. Thanks for your comment. I'm speaking in less than a minute. Okay, thank you. Gaza people are still bombing every day. People are still being martyred. Doctors, children, women, seniors. And it's not okay that you haven't done anything about it. I don't understand how you can sit there and pretend like you don't hear me and you're not listening. That's really rude and that's not your job. Your job is to listen to your constituents. And you should do something more than what you're doing. We don't need more market rate housing. We don't need streets that you just have to go up and down like this every time you drive down them. Curtis hasn't been paved since before I was elected. So y'all need to do a better job. Thank you. Go back to Ashley Perez. Ashley should be able to unmute. Oh, looks like you're unmuted. But we can't hear you. Maybe we can come back to Ashley. Last hand is Cheryl Davila, former council member. I'm here in the room. Okay. So Gaza people are still bombing every day. People are still being martyred. Doctors, children, women, seniors. And it's not okay that you haven't done anything about it. I don't understand how you can sit there and pretend like you don't hear me and you're not listening. That's really rude and that's not your job. Your job is to listen to your constituents. And you should do something more than what you're doing. We don't need more market rate housing. We don't need streets that you just have to go up and down like this every time you drive down them. Curtis hasn't been paved since before I was elected. So y'all need to do a better job. Thank you. Go back to Ashley Perez. Ashley should be able to.. You're unmuted. So we still can't hear you. All right. We have one more speaker. Bramholt. Hey, I'm just saying that I don't think it makes sense to expedite the process with, yeah, basically with all this stuff that we're dealing with, the drones, drone usage, ALPR, PTZ cameras, private camera integrations. Sorry, I didn't make a comment on an item on consent. Yeah. We're actually on public comment on non-agenda matters at the moment, but you're welcome to give that comment. Sorry about that. No worries. Thank you. I'll do that. Okay, there's no more hands raised. Okay, thank you very much to everyone for their comments. We are now moving on to our consent calendar. All right. Council members? Anyone have any comments? I think this is not working, but Council Member Blackaby, go ahead. My finger is furiously banging on the button. Just a few comments on items. I want to thank colleagues for the office relinquishment items. I wanted to contribute on item 37 for the replenishing business damage mitigation fund, $250 from our office account. Thanks to Council Member Trejo for that item. On the Berkeley Nikkei Senior Center, I wanted to relinquish $250, thanks to the mayor for that item. On the little free store, item 39, thanks to Council Member Bartlett, wanted to contribute $250. And item 41, zero empty spaces in downtown Berkeley, thanks again to Council Member Taplin and the mayor. We wanted to contribute $250. I wanted to thank my partner in crime, Council Member O'Keefe, on item 42, on the Solano stroll funding. It's kind of a key time as we transition funding for that event to more private sources. Just wanted to appreciate Council Member O'Keefe's leadership on that item, as well as the mayor, for helping figure out a plan, both within the city budget, but also within our personal office budgets, to make sure that we could support that event for another year while that funding transitions. I just wanted to note that Council Member O'Keefe is leading the charge, but we're also proud to contribute 15K from our District 6 budget towards that event. Lastly, I wanted to comment on item 19, which is the RFP for public safety tech tools. I just want to note for folks that this is a follow-up from the May 7th meeting that.
Segment 3
You know, it's the biggest street event, not just in Berkeley, but in the East Bay, and it's a huge deal. It's really important for the community in lots of different dimensions. It's just an event people look forward to every year. It generates a huge amount of economic activity for the area, and not just for the Solano businesses, but so many non-profits and other businesses and community organizations go there every year. It's a big recruiting event and a good place to showcase what they're doing. So it's really, it's just such an invaluable, beautiful event, and I'm so proud to have it in my district, and I'm just really happy that we were able to figure out a way to keep it going, even with the funding challenges. And so this is a really important part of that, and I just want to say thank you again for the extreme generosity from my co-sponsors. Thank you very much. Council Member Luna-Parra. Thank you. I am really excited about item number one, which is adjusting the parking permit fees. I really want to thank the City Manager and Public Works staff, especially Elliot Schremer, who worked extremely hard on this and presented an extremely convincing, thoroughly researched proposal a few weeks ago. I also, I want to give $200 to each 37, 38, 39, 41, and 42, to all of the items, all of the relinquishment items. And I have communicated concerns and questions on the RFP language, and I'm currently satisfied with the response. I want to make sure that the PAB has time to review the RFP before it goes public. I just wanted to say that. Thanks. Thank you very much. Vice Mayor Trigub. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So first of all, I want to recognize our City Manager and his team for doing incredible work, especially under some very strenuous circumstances with many unpredictable changes. Thank you. As I've been looking through this and many other consent calendars, I just can't help but see and recognize all the work that staff has been doing. I see staff applying for and receiving grants, continuing to do important work to support our seniors and the most vulnerable amongst us, creating affordable housing, expanding access to wellness programs, tending to our parks, and addressing the City's financial stability, and many more processes that go on within the City every day, whether we see them or not. We truly have an exceptional team in the City of Berkeley, and I want to just take a moment to acknowledge and recognize all the amazing people selflessly serving our community. With respect to the items, on item 37, which is replenishing the Business Damage Mitigation Fund, I want to thank Mayor Ishii for the partnership on this item. Over the past two years as the downtown representative, I visited and spoken to several business owners who unfortunately have experienced burglaries, break-ins, vandalism, and other property damage, and this program provides practical assistance when they need it most to get their business back up. Importantly, these funds can be utilized by businesses throughout Berkeley, regardless of the district. So I thank my colleagues who have already generously contributed to this important fund and invite others to do so as well. I am also happy to donate $150 to items 38, which is the Berkeley Nikkei Senior Center, $150 to item 39 Little Free Store, and $150 to item 42 the Solano Avenue Stroll, and I want to thank the community partner staff and fellow council members of the council who have helped bring these proposals forward. On item 40, I am very proud to put forward a position of support for Senate Bill 14183 by our former mayor and current state senator Jesse Arreguin that in my mind corrects the unintended consequences and makes sure that our housing is built by and not on the backs of people who are properly trained and skilled in their craft. It ensures that our hardworking people in the labor movement are getting fair wages and health benefits and are able to participate in this shared economy. With respect to item 41, which is our zero empty spaces in downtown Berkeley item, I am so excited that zero empty spaces is coming to Berkeley and this is just the start of us finding creative ways to bring artists, entrepreneurs, and community organizations into underutilized spaces. I'm grateful to our downtown Berkeley Association and our economic development department for making this happen. This is a type of innovative partnership that can create more vibrant streets while supporting both economic and cultural vitality. And lastly, on item 19, which is the RFP solicitation, I would like to associate my comments with those of council member Luna Parra and the questions that I had have been answered to my satisfaction and I think we will maybe hear more about it in other comments. Thank you. Thank you very much. Council member Kesarwani. Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. So I want to be the first to really appreciate item 29. This is the item that is acknowledging the change in ownership for the North Berkeley BART development. We have the East Bay Asian local development corporation, Ebaltsi, taking over for bridge. I think we have some representatives in the back. Oh, oh, quite a few. So thank you for being here. This was something we did not anticipate because bridge was one of the key partners in this incredible development that we are going to see at North Berkeley BART. But when they made the decision to step away, Ebaltsi stepped in and I want to acknowledge the work of our city staff and Ebaltsi to secure the state funding that had been awarded to bridge. That wasn't a guarantee. I mean, it took a lot of work and everyone appreciating the vision of this site to get that done. I think I heard Liz Probst say that this project was too big to fail. It continues to be too big to fail. So I just want to acknowledge this incredible item. And then we are also advancing some pre-development funds to make sure that that work can happen. And we hope to break ground very soon on this project. So thank you for that. And then in terms of all of these items for relinquishment of funds, so item 37, the damage mitigation fund for businesses, I'd like to be recorded as donating $250. For item 38, the Berkeley Nikkei Senior Center, I'd like to donate $100. Item 39 is the little free store and community services United cleanup and mural painting community party. I'd like to do $100. And the item 41, zero empty spaces in Berkeley, I'd like to donate $100. And then as council member O'Keefe had talked about the Solano Stroll item, which I'm grateful that we can support this incredible community event this year and help the event be self-sustaining in the future. And so I'd like to be recorded as donating $4,000 from my office budget to that item. And then finally on item 40, I want to thank council member Trigub for bringing the letter of support forward. I do have a difference of opinion on this that I'd like to put into the record. I'm concerned that this bill, as I understand it, does not consider any equivalent reduction in construction costs to compensate for the inability of a developer to use the density bonus for labor standards, which while laudable, do increase the cost of construction fairly significantly. Sometimes, as we know, to the point of financial infeasibility for the entire project, which does not help construction workers, and it definitely doesn't help the people who are struggling with the cost of housing in our community. For this reason, I would like to be recorded as abstaining from item number 40. Thank you very much. Thank you, council member. Seeing no more hands, I will just briefly add my comments to item number 19. I know a number of my council members have helped the public, helped to make sure that it was clear that this is simply allowing the RFP to be issued and whether to enter into contract negotiations with any vendor will come back to the city council for deliberation. Additionally, the city manager assured me that the Berkeley Police Department will continue to work with the Police Accountability Board. They've already been doing that to reach alignment on this RFP. And I want to just plus one to item number 29. Thank you, council member Kester-Wanning, for your comments. We're very excited about the North Berkeley BART station and that project moving forward. On item 37 for replenishing the damage mitigation fund, I just want to clarify that there is a typo in the background, which doesn't affect the actual recommendation. The FY2021 budget allocation was $100,000, not 100,000. It was just missing a zero at the end to provide one-time only grants for the damage mitigation fund. And then for item 39, we will relinquish $250 from my office. So thank you all very much. And I will now open us up to public comment. Again, this is public comment for the consent calendar or information items only. So was it one minute? I have a one minute from Russell. Okay, thank you. George Lipman, Peace and Justice Commission and Human Welfare and Community Action Commission, but speaking only on my own behalf on item 19. Understand that this is just a follow-up to the May 7th, but still want to speak out against the issuing of the RFP. And I hope that folks who were concerned and didn't vote for that at least will abstain on that part of the agenda. And I don't have an expectation that it will not pass today. I understand that. But in studying this, the landscape, on May 7th and before FLOC was completely discredited and impeached. And I don't have to go all over everything that was said, but they've lied to this council, they've lied to the staff. They're like a Swiss cheese operation. They don't have a relationship with ICE, they say, I believe it, but the data gets out anyway. And.
Segment 4
their instrumental role in making sure this project stays on track. And the funding momentum is real. A Homekey Plus application has already been submitted to HCD in partnership with the city. With the tax credit application coming soon, and this approval keeps that momentum moving. And this vote unlocks construction. Approving the pre-development funding advances lets the project move toward construction with the finance closing. So thank you so much for your support. Thanks, Angela. Thanks. Hello, I'm here to comment on item number 19. I just want to highlight, I'm sure you've heard this before, but I just want to highlight that ALPR cameras are essentially creating databases for law enforcement and others to search and be able to have access to all of our habits, our movements, and our associations on a daily basis without the need for a warrant, have hot lists so that they can track our movement without the need for a warrant. This is something ACLU is suing San Jose for at the moment. And these kinds of things have, you know, they've been shown to share and have partnerships with DHS, ICE, have complete insecure and inadequate security, be vulnerable to hacking, and irresponsibly use third-party data brokers for other kinds of data that they package with things. So thank you for, I hope you consider it carefully. Thank you. Hello, I'm going to need another minute. Would somebody offer me another minute? Thank you. Okay. Greetings, Councilmember and Mayor Ishii. Thank you for listening to our comments. I'm Sally Nelson in Berkeley for 49 years. I challenge the assumption, I'm concerned about the fascination with surveillance and today about agenda items 19 and 46. I challenge the assumption that surveillance creates greater public safety. A safe situation is preventative, and it is rare to document what injury or crime did not happen. Surveillance notifies us during and after an injury or crime occurs. It does not necessarily make us more safe. Clearly, it is making us all anxious about our privacy and our personal agency. The cost of proposed surveillance tools is $2,408,500, while Berkeley city budget is already $30 million in debt. The city proposes to lay off employees and eliminate the funding of programs that truly are making us all more safe. Live free is one excellent program that deserves more funding. We should be supporting programs that provide measurable benefits and building community which enhances safety. We should not be blanketing our city with multiple electronic surveillance devices. Move both agenda items off of the consent calendar and onto the action calendar. Thank you very much. Thank you. Of course, this is on item 19. First of all, look at the specifications on that sheet, okay? There are several vendors out there, possible, but one and only one fits those specifications really well. I think you know who I'm talking about. Secondly, don't we have better use for $2.4 million? Are you spying on Berkeley citizens? Thank you. Kelly Hammergren. I don't have a speech written. I've already sent you two emails, the second one asking you to withdraw number 19. I think this is a poor decision and watching how council acts and how things go forward, you might say that the train has left the station and you are just going to all go forward. I am concerned at each step of the way that the train of surveillance just keeps moving faster and faster and faster. I think it is time to stop, to pull the emergency brake and to really consider what you're doing and the impact on the public and what kind of risks you are taking for this city. Thank you. Thank you, Kelly. Hi. I strongly encourage you to reject this item 19 RFP and all mass surveillance in general. Many AI surveillance technologies are relevant to our topics tonight, so I offer you this warning. Americans overwhelmingly hate forced AI. We hate forced data centers and we hate state surveillance because they're all anathema to American values. I talk to people all over this country, Democrats, Republicans, I even have some bag of friends who hate this. I'm going to ask you, please do not make the mistake of ending your political career by enabling the suppressive state surveillance. Coming up on America's 250th, I really have to demand our freedom from surveillance. Do the right thing for America's birthday. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, my name is Alan Kane. I'm the executive director of the Solano Avenue Association. I would just like to again thank you for supporting the Solano Avenue Stroll. I know that the council both considered it and supported it, so I would actually like to thank you by name, of course, Mayor Ishii, Vice Mayor Tragub, thank you so much. Councilperson Blackaby, Councilperson Lenaparra, Councilperson Casalani, and of course, Councilperson O'Keefe, thank you so much. And I know that Ben Bartlett and Terry Taplin are out there in the universe as well. Thank you to them as well. Thank you. Thank you, Alan. Hi, my name is Jason Bellevue. I am actually the president of the Solano Avenue Association. I've been on that board 20 years now. I am a Berkeley resident, and I can't thank you enough for at least helping us get to a point where we can work on different stuff for next year, because that means the world to us, and this is a very special event. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Kelly Hamergren. So to item 19, you've already made the decision that you want to do the RFP. However, there's been additional information that has come in about San Francisco since then, if you didn't already have enough information. But regardless of that, if you move ahead with this, it should be delayed until the PAB reviews the RFP. It just should be, because when you don't do that, it diminishes your credibility that you respect the input of the Police Accountability Board. There should at least be that input from them before this proceeds. Thank you. Thank you. I have a minute from this person and from over here. That's three minutes total. I guess you can't count. Sorry, your hand's one more time. I missed. Should you be paying attention? Thank you. Sometimes it's hard to see behind. And who was the second person? Thank you. Public safety technology tools for item number 19. Up to four-year procurement issued for a single RFP with divisible awards. Each of the six components below may bid and be awarded separately in a combination. Drone at first responder, drones and docking stations, unmanned aircraft systems, UAS field deployed, automated license plate readers, pan tilt zoom, PTZ, fixed cameras, investigate software and platform, privately owned camera interrogation system. We don't need any of this. This is surveillance in a fascist world that we live in. I guess you all know that except for maybe one. Because you kind of act a little fascist a lot of times, sadly. Pay attention. I'm talking. Thank you. We don't need this surveillance, especially when BPD has a problem with racial profiling and all the things that are going on in this country. And in the world that we're living in with 47 and all the fascism that they're doing and ICE and all these things, people are getting killed all the time. We have a genocide going on. And you want to bring more surveillance to Berkeley to spy on your citizens? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take this and it should not be on the consent calendar. So three of y'all need to pull it off consent. And you should listen to the three or 400 people that were here on May 7th that all opposed surveillance. Not only like one person was for the surveillance. Who's here opposed to surveillance tonight? Most of the people here. Can I say no flock for Berkeley? No, all the axion or any of those people because they're all bad companies. They all follow the same MO. They give their information to ICE or homeland security. We're bombing all these countries, killing all these people. And you want to come have this crap happen in Berkeley? Who knows if we're going to go into a civil war in this country with all the chaos that's going on? We don't need this. We need to feel safe. We need to protect ourselves. That's not going to protect us. It's going to really mess us up. Do better. Free Palestine. Okay. Online public comments? Yes. Now's the time on the Zoom if you want to provide comments on consent calendar items or information calendar items. Now it's time to raise your hand. Currently have nine hands raised. First speaker is Tim Frank. You have one minute. Yes. Thank you very much. And can you hear me now? Yes. Thank you. I'm Tim Frank and I'm representing the Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Council. And I wanted to first speak in support of progress for the North Berkeley Bar. It's a project that we've been following for a long time and are very excited about and appreciate the work that you're doing to help make sure that comes to reality. And then the second thing I wanted to comment on was our active support obviously for item number 40. And we appreciate the leadership of council members Tree Grubb and Bartlett and Taplin in bringing this motion to you in support of a state Senate bill 1383 by our esteemed local state senator Jesse Yardine, which would provide corrective improvement of the local density bonus to override locally. Thanks. Thanks for your comments. Sorry, your time is up. Next is Musa Tariq. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Perfect. Good evening, Mary Ishii and council members. My name is Musa with CARE, the Council on American Islamic Relations. Speaking on item 19, we urge you to reject the surveillance vendor request for proposal. Last month, Berkeley residents overwhelmingly showed up and stopped the FLOC expansion. This RFP aims to bring back FLOC. The narrow criteria and short.
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care in schools and whatnot in our communities. ALPRs are always on surveillance systems that collect and store information on everyone who drives. Far fewer than 1% of scanned cars are connected to any sort of wrongdoing. So, like 99% of scanned cars have not committed any offenses that law enforcement know of. But ALPRs still store everyone's detailed travel history. This infringes on our Fourth Amendment privacy rights and breaks other laws that are supposed to protect us from police overreach. The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation sued the city of San Jose over the ALPR cameras. Thank you, Rocky. Thanks. Your time is up. Next is Marilyn. Marilyn, you should be able to unmute. Hello, my name is Marilyn Cleveland. I'm here on behalf of the Berkeley Society of Friends, Quakers, with members in every council district. As stated in the prior written comments we provided with regard to items 19 and 46, we support the Police Accountability Board and Public Safety Policy Committee findings that the proposed policies, the Surveillance Acquisition Report, and the RFP and proposed contract provisions are insufficient for the city council to adopt as is and proceed with the RFP process. Therefore, we ask that the RFP be pulled from the consent calendar and not be approved this evening. We also ask the city council to consider the unintended consequences of proceeding with these surveillance measures and the impacts of these surveillance tools on our free speech and other protected rights. With the actions by our federal government to curtail these rights, we ask that the city of Berkeley continue to be a safe haven for all our people. Thank you for your attention. Thank you. Next is James McFadden. Thank you. Please pull 19 off the consent calendar. What I thought when I see something like this, I wonder why the Democrats are always trying to turn our country into some kind of a surveillance state. This is not a Republican thing. This is a Democrat thing because all of you on the board are Democrats. It makes me wonder why anybody would want to be in that party. Are you ignorant of what's going on that Palantir has been doing in Israel, in the West Bank, and in Gaza? Are you trying to create a world that's similar here? Are you going to put in place the same kind of surveillance state to control us here? I also wonder if any of you have even read any books on the subject. Have you read Surveillance Valley or Technofeudalism? Have you educated yourself on this or are you just voting blind on this issue? You guys need to educate yourself on what this world is being changed into by the tech bros in Silicon Valley. Thank you for your comment. Next is Dew Shine. Hi, this is Daria Rubel, resident of District 1 and city council candidate in District 1 as well. I would also like to request that item 19 be pulled from consent calendar. After our discussion on May 7th, it's very clear to me that it's time to reconsider whether this technology is something the city of Berkeley needs at all and whether it could be.. Is it appropriate for us to put out an RFP if it would be better suited for us to just not request this technology in the first place? Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Daria. And the last speaker is Giraffe. Oh, there's one more. But Giraffe, you're up. Thank you so much. My name is Susan Hobart. I'm a longtime Bay Area resident currently in Oakland. And in case it's not obvious, I'll just be brief. What they all said, let's remove whatever it is, number 19 from the consent process. FLOC is a horrible idea, and hopefully you've all figured that out. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, one more speaker is JL. Hello, can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. I agree with all of the others who are calling for item 19 to be pulled from the consent calendar. I'm a longtime Berkeley resident and do not want this technology here at all. And I encourage everyone to look up the reasons that other city councils have canceled their FLOC contracts, because they've learned things that either put the city at risk or show that FLOC is lying about how it uses data. All of these things are out there, including ways that police agencies themselves can misuse the data with looking things up for personal reasons, looking up people that they want to stalk for personal reasons. So there's just a whole host of issues with this, and I concur with everyone else who wants to pull it from the consent calendar. Thank you. There's one more speaker here. We have Kelsey Jackson. Hi, thank you so much. This is K.J. Jackson calling and representing District 1, future city council member. I firstly just want to elevate the voices of everyone that I've heard today. In the earlier FLOC meeting that was had and the 300 or 400 people that did show up who elevated their voices and concerns, the response that I saw was not ideal and definitely not representative of the majority of the people in that room. I really want to challenge the current city council members to listen to your constituents and understand that FLOC originated from Israel with Red Wolf and Blue Wolf as it still currently is watching the people of both Palestine and Israel. We're on a similar track, just as the previous people in today's meeting have communicated. So, again, I just want to challenge y'all to listen to your constituents. It's terribly important. This was the first sanctuary city of the country. This city, Berkeley, is setting a very important precedent that we need to thank you. Thank you. Your time is up. One more speaker, Sasha. Where's Sasha? Hi. Yes, this is Sasha Few from District 1. You know, I'm not going to speak about it, but I actually have this on in the background to speak to another item on your action calendar. However, I am reminded of the May 5th meeting that many spoke about, and well over 100 people spoke, and not one person was in favor of FLOC. They were all voices against it. And yet those voices were entirely ignored. And I'm really wondering, do you all have anything to say about why you hear people speak, the public? What's the point of having a comment section if you pay no attention to the public? And I'd really love to hear one of you at least address that. Thank you. Thank you. I think that that is the remainder of our public comments. That's it. That's all. All right. I do just want to, again, reiterate for folks that this is an RFP that's on the consent calendar, which was the request by the council at the previous meeting about this topic of surveillance. But there is no FLOC contract on the calendar this evening, so I just want to make sure folks understand that. And then the other thing I wanted to say, I think there was a point brought up earlier, Kit, about the PAB. And I just want to make sure folks understand that there have been PAB members on the review committee for this RFP, so they've been involved throughout the process, and they will continue to be involved as the RFP language gets wrapped up. So I just want to make sure folks understand that. And I do thank everyone for their comments. Okay. And I think that – oh, yes. Council Member Taplin is online, has his hand raised. Go ahead, Council Member. Yes. Excuse me, and thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, everybody, and good evening, everyone. The mayor has captured probably what I wanted to say already. I did want to say that at the May meeting – oh, also – sorry, I just kind of have to say this, but one person spoke representing themselves as a representative of District 1, but District 1 has a representative who is elected to council currently, and I do want to not erase the leaders that we do have representing our districts who were duly elected by the voters. That being said, at the May meeting, the action that council took in response to the community was to issue an RFP, and that's what's before us. So therefore, I move adoption of the consent calendar. Thank you. Second. Okay. Thank you very much. Can we take the roll on this, please? Okay. To approve the consent calendar, Council Member Kessler-Waney. Yes. Taplin. Yes. Bartlett is absent. Tregob. Aye. O'Keefe. Yes. Blackabee. Yes. Moonapara. Yes. Humbert. Yes. And Mary Sheehy. Yes. Okay, motion carries. All right. Thank you all very much. We are – let's see. I'm just scrolling through the consent calendar. Okay. For the action items this evening, we are going to start off with – actually, I'm sorry, is Henry online? Yeah, but I can take it off. I can take this if you want to start. Are you moving to this next? Sure, yes. I was going to move us on to action calendar. Yeah. So if we could go to item number 43, which is the borrowing of funds and the sale of issuance of FY26-2027 tax and revenue anticipation notes. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. This is an annual item that we bring before Council to help us bridge a funding gap between when we receive the revenues we need to run the city. And so basically, we're just asking you for your approval to borrow these funds as a bridge until we get property tax in that then we use to pay the bills that we have before us. So it's a straightforward item that we do every year. That's all. Thank you. Okay. Any questions from Council Members? Public comments? Oh, hi. Henry, are you trying to talk to us? Yeah, I'm good. I think the City Manager did a perfect job. Okay. Thank you very.
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The Rose Garden Pergola, Tom Bates Field Turf Replacements, Aquatic Park Tide Tubes Cleanouts, George Florence Park, a lot of green infrastructure and bioswales. In Phase 2, we've also done playgrounds. You see here, playgrounds of 2 to 5 and 5 to 12 at Grove Park, Ohlone Park upgrades, Grove Park upgrades, but also a fair amount of pathways and sidewalks in Phase 2. One of the bigger ticket items is the Willard Clubhouse in Phase 2, a series of new restrooms, Civic Center Park, King Pool Tile and Plaster Replacement, Timber Piling Replacement in the Waterfront, a variety of storm day drain replacements throughout the city. Like I said, a lot of sidewalks and pathways. Additionally, projects that are nearing completion, that are T1 projects. There's a list of nine projects here. Some of them we've cut a ribbon for some of these projects, but these projects are nearing completion. The K-Doc Restroom in the Waterfront, the D&E Doc Replacement, which we're hoping to cut ribbons for both those projects soon. We have cut ribbons for the two projects in the Corporation Yard. The Telegraph Channing Garage Restrooms are also in closeout. Fire Station 2 and 6 improvements are in construction along with the Santa Fe right-of-way, Phase 1, and Adeline Landscape improvements we have cut a ribbon for and completed, but the project's still in closeout. Phase 2 projects that are nearing completion, and here's kind of a look at some of them, some of the photos. Projects that we're going to do with the remaining $20 million. MLK Youth Services Center, which is under construction right now, South Berkeley Senior Center, which is also on the potential bond measure in November. We're going to combine the money from T1 with if that bond measure passes to do a much larger renovation at South Berkeley Senior Center. The African American Holistic Resource Center, which is the bulk of it, it's over $10 million of T1. Tom Bates Restroom and Community Space, and 1947 Center Window Replacement. So these are the five projects, and that's how we'll spend this remaining $20 million. Okay, that's the end of my presentation, and I can take questions and talk about any of the existing projects if there are any questions. Scott, the only thing I love more than these projects is the joy on your face when you talk about these projects. Thank you for the presentation. I'm glad you got to pull out all of those incredible photos for us. Really amazing work. I mean, just between the leveraging and just the breadth and depth of these projects, it's just so impressive, and I really want to thank you and the team. Our city staff are awesome, so thank you very much for the presentation. Are there any questions? Oh, starting with Council Member Blackaby. Thanks, Madam Mayor. I just had one brief question. I think this might be for the city manager, and I just note in the rationale for recommendation that the anticipation of staff is that this $20 million in bond proceeds is going to carry us through fiscal 28-29. And so just to kind of put this together in the context of the bigger picture, you know, we recently just voted to put another bond measure on the ballot this fall. So is the anticipation that sort of this will be the end of T1, and that sort of winds down, and any prospective bond measure like the one that's on the ballot would basically be kind of picking up where that one leaves off. It's sort of T1 runs its course, a potential future bond measure, if passed, would sort of pick up on T1 and continue. Is that kind of the right way to think about it? Yes, that's exactly the right way to think about it, is that we will have spent the $100 million plus the leverage on T1 by the end of June. You know, it might not even be actually fully expended, but it'll sort of blend into fiscal year 29 when the bond hopefully, the ballot measure hopefully passes in November of 28. And then when we complete the work of T1 on the projects that the Parks Director just talked through, then we would sell the next tranche of bonds from the next measure. Great. Thank you. Thank you so much. Council Member Humbert? Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. I just have comments, no questions. Is that okay at this point? And they're very short comments. Are there other questions before? If we could take the comments during the comment period, if you don't mind. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Seems like we have no questions. Is there any public comment on this item? And then maybe you'll just get to ask your comments. Anyone online? Oh. Someone is running to make public comment. Thank you. Public comment for item number 44. I just want to say that bathroom up on Telegraph is amazing. And the choice, I thought it was very well designed for public health, for people from all walks of life can use that. I thought it's been well maintained. I also love that it corresponds to the mural on the wall across from it. We should have more public bathrooms like that. I know we've been contracting with Throne here on Strawberry Creek Park. I'm curious where we're going with that because I actually think the Telegraph design is the strongest design of a public bathroom available in Berkeley. Sorry, I'm nervous. Thank you. Thank you so much for your comment. Appreciate it. I'm sorry, I wasn't intended comment, but now that I've heard the comment about the bathroom on Telegraph, it is really good. And it is unfortunate that we did not follow through with the hard work staff put in with the T1 monies to put the bathrooms at University in San Pablo and at Alcatraz and Adeline. It's really unfortunate because I looked at the 99-cent store parking lot there at University in San Pablo. There's about 30 people staying there, homeless people in their vehicles, without any bathroom. But this bathroom was meant for the entire community. If people could have only seen this excellent bathroom and seen the model and how it's working over there on Telegraph, maybe eventually their fears would have gone away because this is a need in the community and it was there for everyone. And the consultant study was so well done and took so much stakeholder input. Thank you. Okay, thanks everyone. All right, moving on to back to Council Member Humbert. Thanks for your patience. Oh, yeah. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I really want to thank Scott for that great presentation and reminding us of all the wonderful projects that T1 built and is building. It's a great success story and in large part that's due to Scott Ferris. So I really thank him. And I'm particularly fond of the Willard Clubhouse, which I think is spectacular. But having heard these comments about the beautiful bathroom on Telegraph, I have to add my comments. I agree with the public comments so far. It's a gorgeous combination of form, function, and art. I mean, it really is just wonderful. It's not quite as good as the Willard Clubhouse, but it's pretty wonderful. So thank you. Thank you. I love what infrastructure nerds we are here. Go ahead, Vice Mayor. Yeah, well, I just wanted to jump on the bandwagon at the risk of everyone jumping on the bandwagon, but I really wanted to echo the mayor's and Council Member Humbert's comments, just commending you, Director Ferris, and all of the hardworking staff that have made this possible every day, as well as the voters of Berkeley that passed T1. My heart is filled with gratitude about its passage and its implementation. Every time I come to work and I walk through the beautiful Civic Center Park, which has been redone over the past year with the help of T1. And I'm looking forward to more exciting projects and hopefully in combination with the infrastructure bond, should that pass in November on the ballot, including clearing the 50-50 sidewalk sharing backlog and many other important projects, trying to put a dent in our $2.1 billion of unfunded infrastructure needs. With that, I would like to move this item. Second. Very good. Can we take the roll on that, please? Okay. To adopt item 44, the issuance of general obligation bonds, Council Member Keserwani? Yes. Taplin? Yes. Bartlett is absent. Treygub? Aye. O'Keefe? Yes. Lakaby? Yes. Unipara? Yes. Humbert? Yes. And Mayor Ishii? Yes. Okay. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Thanks, Scott, for the presentation. We are going to take a 10-minute break. It is 7.59 right now, so 8.10. Thank you. Recording stopped. Hello. Oh, there we go. All right. Okay. Thank you very much. So we are moving on to item number 45, placing an initiative ordinance amending the rent stabilization ordinance on the November 3rd, 2020.
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ballot. I'm going to pass it over to Council Member Lena Parra. Thank you. Many apologies, but because this is a ballot measure item and we need to triple check that all of our ducks are in order, I am going to ask respectfully that we move this to next week's agenda. Second. So yeah, that's my motion. Okay, can we take the roll? Sorry, no we can't. Can we, any objections? Yes. No? Okay. I can still take up a comment. Can we take it now? Yes. Yes, if there is anybody who wants to. Okay, so we are moving this item to next week, but if you have public comment on it since it was already agendized, please feel free to come forward. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Debbie Woods and a Berkeley resident and small housing provider. I urge you to reject yet another attempt to chip away at Berkeley's golden duplex exemption. It is frustrating that a small group of housing providers is expected to return every two years wondering what new restrictions will be imposed upon them. I hope that when 2028 arrives, we are not once again debating new limitations on golden duplex owners. As a reminder, golden duplex owners are homeowners who live next door to our tenants. We maintain our properties, respond personally when something goes wrong, and have every incentive to build respectful, long-term relationships with the people who rent from us. We are the city's partners in providing and preserving Berkeley's housing. Thank you. It's only one minute, not two? Okay. My name is Celia Carrion. I'm a small housing provider. I live in Berkeley. I pay Berkeley property taxes. I'm opposed to putting another ordinance on the November ballot amending the rent board ordinance. It's so frustrating that just two years after Measure BB was passed, council wants to add more regulations and requirements to owners who are already burdened by regulations. Regulations have become so onerous. My job as a housing provider used to be about attending to tenants and maintaining buildings. Now it's increasingly about managing processes, making sure I'm in compliance with all the codes and ordinance, protecting myself from a mistake. Our leases have grown to over 70 pages. The basic lease takes just 24 pages. The other 46 pages are required disclosures and informations. I'm just embarrassed to give a prospective tenant. Thank you very much. Hello, I'm Roger Halston. I own exactly one rental, the duplex that I live in. I rent out downstairs. The only reason I'm a renter, renting out, is because that was the only way I could afford to buy a home to raise my children in. It's very difficult to keep up with the constant changes. It's frightening that I can't trust my government to look after my interests. It's insulting to be treated as if I'm the enemy. I know that the rule, I've always tried to play by the rules. I work in public schools locally. But it's obvious to me that the rules are biased against me. For example, if I was one day late paying my registration fee, the fees double. And even the big banks aren't that unreasonable. So I respectfully urge that you not keep modifying the ordinance. Thank you so much. Hi, I'm Terry Gerrits and I'm a Golden Duplex owner. And a lot of what I would say has been said. But to me it is a very sneaky way of getting into going away with Golden Duplex, pushing limits to see what you can get away with when we have a real problem with housing. And it's part of that philosophy, I think, of seeing as housing providers as enemies rather than working together to solve the problem. There's so much that I can do for my tenants being a Golden Duplex. I could reduce rent when somebody lost a job. When a tenant moved out and college kids were sharing, she's finishing her PhD, I could again do a rent reduction temporarily. If I was under your rent control laws, I couldn't do that. So I hope you will realize this is, anytime you put anything on the ballot, it costs money, it causes dissension, and let's work on the real housing issues we have. Thank you. Good evening, City Council. I'm Courtney Powell. I'm the policy manager with Resources for Community Development. And we're here in strong support of the proposal to place cleanup amendments to the stabilization ordinance on the November 2026 ballot, and particularly the amendment that would allow the rent board to establish a fee waiver program for nonprofit affordable housing providers. The increased rent board registration fees under Measure BB created a really substantial financial burden for many nonprofits in the community. Nonprofit providers operate under strict affordability covenants, and as a result, we can't raise rents upon vacancy to offset these types of rising costs. The proposed amendment offers a thoughtful and balanced solution. It allows the city to move forward promptly while also reducing legal and administrative risk. We're just really grateful for the partnership with the rent board, with the 4x4 committee, and bringing this language forward, and we will see you back here next week for the continued conversation. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, my name is Angela Kavanaugh, and I'm with Satellite Affordable Housing Associates. I've been with them for 31 years serving low-income residents in Berkeley, and I'm also here to let you guys know I'm in support of the amendment and appreciate the consideration. We serve seniors and other special needs populations, and just echoing what Courtney said, it is very helpful for us to have a fee waiver on the stabilization fees so that we can provide needed services for our residents. Thank you. Thank you so much. I was actually happy to see the attacks on the Golden Duplex exemption stopping, because I don't believe that that's where the focus should be to protect tenants. I thought that the notice provision seems fairly innocuous by comparison to the previous attacks. I do want to say, while I can appreciate the wanting to expand rent control by providing financial or other incentives such as double density bonus, that's for new people coming in the community, and we need to look at how we're going to prevent displacement of current people in the community and people that are the most vulnerable. Currently, the affordable housing preference policy is being discussed as changing, and I'm really concerned that we're not focusing on our own most vulnerable persons in the community here and preserving them in affordable housing, which is really, really scarce. Thanks, Carol. I think there are a couple folks online. Yes, this public comment on the rent stabilization ordinance amendments. However, this item is not going to be decided upon tonight. It's going to be moved to the July 7th meeting, but now is the time to raise your hand if you do want to talk tonight. First speaker is Karen Chenoy. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Karen Chenoy with the Bridge Association of Realtors. This item needed to have gone to the Land Use Committee before being brought here to be placed on the ballot. The revisions to the Golden Duplex exemption and the addition of Paragraph D are substantive policy changes, and it is obvious from the fact that this item is now being pulled that there is much work to be done on this item, and that is exactly what standing policy committees are for. The 4x4 Joint Task Force is not a standing policy committee. It exists to coordinate between the Council and the Rent Stabilization Board, not to replace the Council's committee process or serve as the primary venue for vetting controversial housing policy. Whether you support these changes or not, they deserve the transparency and public deliberation that only the Land Use Committee could have provided. We respectfully ask that you refer this item to committee rather than bring it back to the next Council meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next is Sophia DeWitt. Good evening, Mayor and Council Members. Sophia DeWitt with East Bay Housing Organizations. I strongly support the proposal to place the cleanup amendments to the Rent Stabilization Ordinance on the November 2026 ballot, and particularly the amendments that would allow the Rent Board to establish a fee waiver program for nonprofit affordable housing providers. As you've heard, the increased fees adopted under Measure BB created a serious financial situation for many affordable housing providers in Berkeley, and that financial situation directly dug into the ability of those providers to provide resident services since they couldn't raise rents to cover the increased fees. This proposal provides a balanced approach. Thank you, Sophia. Thank you. Okay, next speaker is Sasha. Yes, Sasha Futren, and to be very clear, I live in District 1. I do not own a duplex, but I do own a triplex that I have owned and lived in for 42 years. I have to say that what I call the packet that has to be added with every lease goes on and on and on, and it has some things that really are incomprehensible, like bed bug information for an unfurnished apartment. We have to spend a lot of our time, as has been mentioned before, on a lot of onerous administrative bookkeeping kinds of things, not really bookkeeping, but administrative tasks, and what the Rent Board has done is really set up a hostile environment between the tenants and the owner of the property who lives there, and I can assure you, as somebody who lives there, I want a pleasant place to live. Thank you. Thanks, Sasha. Okay, that's all the online.. Oh, I'm sorry, there's actually one more comment here in person. Good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. I'll keep it short since we'll be coming back next week. Thank you for considering these revisions. There are many things in the ordinance packet other than the just two you've heard quite a bit about this evening. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Rent Board staff will also be here next week to answer questions. Also, just to correct one bit of misinformation from public comment, the 4x4 is a standing policy committee. It has, in fact, existed long before the committee system existed, but that is neither here nor there. So thank you very much. Thank you very much. Okay.
Segment 8
or get real-time awareness during an in-progress incident without the cost of standing up additional city-owned cameras. Access would be limited to active criminal investigations, serious traffic investigations, police misconduct investigations, and critical incidents or disasters, and it wouldn't be used for a continuous monitoring. It would just be in response to a specific identified case or call for service. So again, the use policy builds in safeguards, a pre-integration review where a staff member physically confirms that a camera isn't pointed anywhere private before it's even connected, a prohibition on facial recognition, a log of every access, so who's accessing, when, which camera, and for what reason. There will be signage near the camera itself and a public map on our website of every camera that's been connected to the department, and of course, no sharing for federal immigration enforcement. Okay, so Captain Oakes will now talk about some of the updates we made since the June 2 PSBC meeting. Thank you, Arlo. So at the June 2 meeting, there was a discussion, and in the course of that discussion, the PSBC identified 11 additional areas for revision and consideration and clarification. Those revisions included topics such as address verification, notification processes, access authorization, and clarifying language related to retention periods. The details of those changes are included in the agenda item and the memorandum, as well as reflected in red line edits to the attachments in the acquisition surveillance use reports. That work brings us to today's resolution, where we are asking the council to accept the surveillance acquisition report and approve the surveillance use policy for community video streams and investigative software. This will allow us to begin the RFP process. Once completed, the department will return to council with our recommendations. With that, I'll hand it off for questions. Thank you so much. All right, do we have any questions from the council members, starting with Council Member Blackabee? Thanks, Madam Mayor. I just want to thank Mr. Malmberg and Captain Oakes for being here tonight and also throughout this process. As Captain Oakes mentioned, we did have a robust discussion at the Public Safety Policy Committee, a lot of public feedback and engagement, as well as committee questions. The 11 items that we kind of identified, I appreciate the fact that you've sort of made those updates, made those changes, incorporated that feedback, and I see that through the document, so I just wanted to appreciate the work there. I had a couple of just further clarifying questions kind of upon further review of this. In particular, and I think it's in the document, but just it didn't come up yet, so just to give us a chance to discuss it. In terms of the community video streams kind of focus areas, it's clear in the use policy, this is intended for commercial districts. Can you talk a little bit about residential, non-residential, and just kind of where that technology would be used if we move forward? Yeah, absolutely. It would be used in business district commercial areas. The idea is not to use them in a residential neighborhood. Yeah, that's absolutely the intent. There's room in the policy to connect to a campus or an area where there's a risk of an active shooter incident where having live access to those cameras would be life-saving, but otherwise, the policy and the intent of the program is to connect to cameras owned by a business in a commercial district. And then the locations of all those cameras would be publicly viewable on the website. You'd know where all those cameras are. Exactly. You could check the website to know where those locations were, and while you were physically there, you would be aware that a camera is connected because there would be a sign up somewhere. Okay. And then how does this differ from the fact that in some cases with a crime in a residential area, you might ask for access to a ring camera or other footage. How is what we're talking about here different from that? Would you still be doing that? But kind of compare and contrast how those two things work, maybe similarly or differently. Yeah, so in areas where we have cameras connected, investigators would be able to collect that footage in a much more systematic and quick way, and speed, and I'll let Captain Oki speak to kind of the process of an investigation after a case occurs, but to be able to do a quick and thorough investigation often greatly affects the outcome and how we're able to identify a subject and follow up. It also would add the capability to bring real-time awareness to an ongoing incident. So if there is, I used the example of an active shooter or a robbery, and we get that call of an in-progress incident, then our investigators and analysts would be able to watch that incident unfold and provide the information to responding officers on scene. Do you mind if I dig into that just a little bit further? So can you just walk us through, so someone calls dispatch, just walk us through what the work would look like there? So somebody calls dispatch, they say I'm witnessing an armed robbery in this store that I'm in or just walked by, and we happen to have a camera there at the entrance, what have you, and so our officers that are working patrol would be on their way, right? They'd be responding to the scene, and what happens now is all they have is the information that the caller has provided, and that could be very incomplete information, it could be stale information, and the officers are going in somewhat blind, right? And so having somebody relaying live information about what's happening on that scene as officers are arriving can play a big role in the type of response that the officers bring to the incident or locating a subject that's left the scene. I think Arlo covered the material pretty well. I'll just say that the automated process, the ability to access the camera through this system, obviously it's registered in response to a crime, would allow for much faster turnaround time. So in the example, we recently had a call of a suspected kidnapping case involving a car and a vehicle description. Officers had to obviously respond to the scene, they go and knock on doors, they contact community members, and then through that slowly piece together some information about the suspect vehicle. Having a camera in place and this system up and running would allow someone to do that from the department as officers are responding, tightening our turnaround time and the ability to correctly identify a suspect vehicle and better respond to the crime quickly and bring the situation safely to resolution. And then to piggyback back on the piggybacker, so I'm also interested too in like how does the approval process work to say okay, turn on the live feed at 123 Shattuck? You know, like who makes that decision? Because again, you're not monitoring everything explicitly by design. You are not monitoring things, you know, in real time across the board. You're saying here's something that needs to be looked at. Who kind of approves that request to basically turn on a live feed at that location? Yeah, so there would be a limited number of people who are trained and authorized to use the system at all. And part of that training and authorization is identifying cameras and their angles and which would be relevant to a certain call. Obviously, when we're talking about a real-time response, making a quick judgment call is what makes it useful or not. And so we kind of pre-identify the people who will be able to access and train them appropriately on how to identify a relevant camera. And then, of course, each of those accesses would be logged and audited and reviewed for it being an appropriate use. Yeah, because our main thing is making sure it's like we're not just sort of turning cameras on for small, but because I think the threshold for when you should activate a live feed should be of some significance. I think that's what folks would assume. And so I think as long as we can capture that in the audit, that like what's the rationale at this moment for turning on that camera would be important to be able to just keep an eye on, especially I think at the beginning. Yeah, so that piece.. Yeah, sorry, I was gonna say, well, and they will require there to be a case number, so that that would be included information as well, if you want to speak to that. Exactly, and one of the updates that we've made since June 2nd is to specify that part of the audit will be to identify that that case number matches the circumstances of that access and that use and that everything aligns properly as it should. Okay, a couple more things. Just to close out on the ring camera part. So the difference is, in large part, the ring camera is sort of after action to capture video that's recorded of an event that happened previously. Part of what the CVS piece is, yes, you get the historical data, but you also get live data that you can turn on in response to an incident in a commercial district. So what's different is in a commercial district, you get a live feed at that particular location. In a residential district on a ring camera, you're not getting live data. You're getting historical data. Is that fair? That's fair and accurate. The other piece of that is that with the video stream process in the investigative stage, officers would be able to access that more quickly in investigating the case after the fact, as opposed to now where we send physically sent officers to the scene, they go and knock on doors, they contact community members and ask if they had video that they'd be willing to share. Okay, two last things, I appreciate it. One is there was a good amount of discussion and you did address it in here that one question was to people who, to business that does own a camera, some notification that, hey, we accessed your feed at some point in time, just so there's some sort of feedback loop to the camera owner. You sort of indicated here that it's kind of, you're gonna add it to kind of the vendor evaluation, not as a required element, but as something you'd be looking for. Just wanna know if.
Segment 9
online and we happen to collect that and use that somehow? Yeah, so that can still be used in those situations? The system will be, oh, in the situation of a First Amendment assembly. Yeah, that use would be prohibited because we wouldn't be using the software to monitor those protests or anything. That is expressly prohibited. Thank you. And on the CVS, is the integration vendor proprietary or if the city were to switch vendors, could BPD switch camera providers without reintegrating every participating camera? I would imagine that if we switched vendors for that software integration process, we would go back and reintegrate those cameras. It will likely depend on the specific capabilities of the vendor that we're switching from and to. And so as we haven't identified that yet, I can't say for sure. But just in my understanding of how these technologies tend to work, yeah, we would likely need to re-enroll the cameras that are interested in participating. Thank you. Thank you very much. Vice Mayor Traigub. Thank you so much. Does BPD use investigation software and platforms now? Well, yes or no, and then I have a follow-up. No, no. We access these different types of records that we already have access to separately in their own systems and then do our best to line things up as we can as we're investigating cases. Okay. I just wanted to confirm since I'm aware of, I think this came up in committee discussion, that there is at least one residential neighborhood that has a private contract with Flock, and I just wanted to confirm. There would be no relationship with, it would be completely carved out. We're only looking at commercial applications for this. For the community video streams. For the community video streams, yeah, those would be privately owned surveillance cameras that businesses own and that we would connect to. Okay. How could we ensure, so there's strong language around disabling facial recognition and other such technologies, but they are or they may be available depending on whatever vendor the city may choose to go with. What is the department doing to ensure that to the extent that those capabilities exist, they continue to be switched off? Yeah, well, thank you for that. It's an important question, and it came up at our June 2nd public safety policy committee, and one of the takeaways that we've implemented into our policies and our approach to procuring these technologies is making sure that there's able to be a human in the loop at every step in the investigative process. So there will be no investigation that continues aided by AI without an investigator collaborating each step and moving the investigation forward. So I think that's a clear principle that we're able to articulate and follow through on, that it will be officers confirming and following up on each piece of information as the investigation unfolds. Thank you. Okay, thank you very much. Can we take public comment on this item, please? We are working on item number 46, surveillance technology ordinance submissions for community video streams and investigative software pursuant to council direction of May 7th, 2026. So if you have public comment on this item, please come on up. Hey, so I find it really funny in 2026 people will trust tech companies at all. These tech companies have shown time and time again they will flip rules, have separate access they forget to mention. Any rule you put on these can be circumvented and abused once the data is recorded. It's ripe for all kinds of abuse. I can take your video and apply facial recognition after. I have to say I've noticed a trend. Whenever some mass breach or improper access happens to the one, happens, and at least the ones that we know about, like the recent SFPD breach, it's always, whoops, we violated your constitutional rights. Some officer gets a memo, your Fourth Amendment rights are gone, dead, just forget about it. You know, I really got to say this type of government stalking would make the Stasi blush and it really just makes me very angry. You can't tell. And it reminds me of one of my favorite really American phrases, please just mind your own damn business. Thanks. Thank you. Hi there, I think I have one more minute from the audience. Thank you. I have a couple of comments about the policy. One phrase that I've heard a lot is that businesses can opt in to sharing their data, which is true, but the rest of us do not get a choice to opt out. Whatever camera we walk by that a business has opted in, we have no choice in the fact that our information is going to be collected from that feed. Another comment is about continuous monitoring. I've heard various people say, well, this is not Orwellian because no cop is sitting there watching every feed. And while it's true, the fact that all of this data is recorded and kept means that somebody could go and watch that feed at any point. Every second of every stream is available to them and searchable. So the distinction that they're not actively watching it, I think, makes very little difference in this case. And the privacy harms are real either way. I've heard a lot about facial recognition and it's going to be turned off and AI. And I think it's good that we turn off facial recognition. But we've also seen that these systems can use other things to search for individuals. So you don't actually need facial recognition to find people in this pile of video footage that's available. And there is the very real threat that other organizations outside of our police department can use facial recognition on the exact same data by getting access to it. And that goes along with the federal sharing concern. Yes, we will not actively share this with the federal agencies, but we know that they can still get access to that data through other means. And lastly, I just want to say the fact that in the case of somebody's individual camera system, the fact that somebody has to go out and ask for access is an important safeguard. It limits the harm that can be done by video collection. And this really undoes that in every way by making it incredibly easy to collect massive amounts of data, which is really just too unsafe to collect in any way. Thank you. All right, I really can't wait until all those cameras are installed and there's signs up everywhere, you're being watched here, you're being watched there, we're being watched everywhere, folks. And it's only going to get worse and worse and worse. If they can turn things off, that means they can also turn them on again. It's like the long-range acoustic device, LRAD. You said, well, you know, it can't be weaponized, we're not going to use it, we'll turn that off. Well, if you can turn it off, you can turn it on again. And I find that disconcerting. I think when it comes down to it, thinking beyond, because you're obviously going to fall for this and get some kind of cameras around, the cameras won't work if they're broken, if they're painted over, if they're taken down, if something happens to them along the way. That's going to be what's necessary. Thank you. Well, first of all, my understanding of the current state of the technology is that a PDZ camera can search for a target based on a general description, then follow that target and link up with a plate reader and actually identify the person. And you don't need facial recognition because that's already obsolete. Second is we're going down the wrong road, really. Thank you. Hi, I'm Julie Dickey. I've lived in Berkeley for 26 years. Welcome to Berkeley. I thought May 7th or whenever that May meeting was, we had scored a victory. I was so proud, and so many citizens of Berkeley shared their pride in Berkeley doing away with discussions of flock and surveillance. I thought hip, hip, hooray. So I'm back here today to say that was a very, very slimly, short-timed victory. I just have three issues, four. One is the stress that this whole country is going through right now about this regime. Thank you. A minute from this person over here. This is a regime of fascism that we're under. It's just no time, it seems to me, to add these cameras for their benefit. And secondly, there was a letter out that was reportedly a warning about lawsuits that Berkeley could face if it continued on this path. And thirdly, our deficit, our budget, we talk about we can hardly save programs that are working. We may have to lay off firefighters. And fourth and final, the community has said over and over and over, we do not want to be surveilled. And I don't care if it's called by a flock or any other name, it's all the same. Thank you. I'm Kelly Hammergren. Didn't the presentation sound so reassuring? I thought it sounded reassuring. Didn't I feel reassured by all these rules and how everybody's going to follow the rules and the contracts? Aren't we all reassured? And we're going to notify someone when we find out within 10 days, and we're going to only audit, what, twice a year? We're going to get an audit, and then we'll find out what actually happened to the information and who accessed it. I have to say I'm not terribly reassured, and I thought that at that June 2nd meeting we talked a lot more about how AI was going to be used to do the screening. So I guess my time is up. Thank you. Yeah, I think it does come down to a question of trust, as other people have said. The trust that written policies or even local laws are going to stand up to the designs of the feds on our data. I don't know how we can still be in a position of trusting that. Other people have spoken to this, but do we understand the owner of Flock, for example, is Marc Andreessen, who attacks DEI and immigrants? Immigration policies describing them together as politically lethal forms of discrimination. That's who we're getting in bed with, or the.
Segment 10
Yes. Okay, first speaker is listed as virtual meetings. You should be able to unmute. Should be able to unmute. Hello, my name is Wendy Alson with Berkeley Friends Meeting, speaking again in opposition to adoption of the policies tonight. Some changes we're told are made, but in reviewing the policy that's in the council agenda packet compared with what was presented to the Police Accountability Board, I don't see any changes from what the Public Safety Policy Committee has recommended that have any specificity. We're talking about from your referral required that department to tighten a whole bunch of different things and make them specific and enforceable. And this language, it just doesn't do it. Now, I really request that the current- Thanks, Wendy. Okay, next is Dushine. Thank you. Yes, this is Daria Rebol, again, resident of District 1 and council candidate in District 1. I want to thank Mayor Ishi for her previous question about commercial districts that are combined with residential districts, like much of downtown. I'm concerned about the impact that this technology, the surveillance, could have on people going about living their lives without an expectation of privacy that is guaranteed by the Constitution. I also, you know, that expectation of privacy, that right to live our lives without constant surveillance, I think is an important right. And as a previous speaker spoke about the impacts of social media on younger generations, I am a child and young adult therapist. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Next speaker is Jordan. Hi, my name is Jordan, and I'm very concerned about the idea of any kind of collation of individual security camera streams. I think that it is so direly Orwellian that if it weren't terrifying, it would be hilarious because it actually is an absurd level of surveillance and such an intense web of surveillance. And I think that we're forgetting the fact that there is inherent value in being able to exist in public spaces without being constantly watched. I really feel that we're losing track of a really fundamental right that's, it's a constitutional right, but it's also just a right that bolsters our own humanity. Like, if we're really going to make it so that there's no more privacy, there's no more way to exist in public without being on camera and those cameras being integrated into a giant web. Like, come on, that's crazy. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Maria Sol. Yes, thank you so much. This whole conversation presumes distrust in our inherent goodness and capacity to keep ourselves safe by preventing the causes of what we deem as criminal or potentially criminal activity. Just heard Trump today say any of us community activists are a greater threat than all the world war. So, you know, I would rather cultivate and spend our time and attention on taking care of us and helping each other than wasting this in this ocean of fear and threat. It's just inhumane. Please, no. No, no, let's believe in us again and come together and help ourselves and each other. Thank you. Thanks, Maria. Next is JL. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. I also oppose adopting the policies described. I'm very concerned with the fact that facial recognition technology can be applied after the fact to the data that's being collected. I echo the concerns of others that state that we don't have a choice to opt out of this as members of the public, even if individual owners of their data do. We don't, as the members of the public, we don't have choice just walking around. And the fact that this data is recorded and kept means it can be searched later on. The community has said over and over we don't want to be surveilled. And I'm not reassured by the so-called safeguards that have been described. And I worry to think about what one of the other commenters said about the implications of this for future generations and our current generation and our current state of being in this country. Thank you. Thank you. And last speaker is a caller with a phone number ending in 211. I definitely agree with many of the callers who are in very sliding slope with this most trust in the White House. What is your aim? But actually, they're going after everybody. It's not about everybody. About one and a half million Americans died from COVID-19, excuse me, COVID-19 in his first administration. We denied it. And most other countries had only about 10,000. We didn't move most trust to not trust anybody. We are in really dark time. And the whole idea, look at the global warming. It's getting so hot in Europe now. Hundreds of people are dying every day. We are in a very, very dark time. What can we do? Be intelligent. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for the public comment. That's the last speaker. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. Are there any comments from council members? Starting with council member Humbert, please. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Wow, I didn't expect to be first. I want to thank Chief Lewis Arlo and Captain Okies and the Public Safety Subcommittee for all their really good work on this. I think the recommendations of the subcommittee were right on point. And BPD has substantively addressed those recommendations. That's clear to me. I feel that streamlining the process by which BPD can access private video streams on a voluntary and regulated basis makes all the sense in the world. This is fundamentally what is already happening with investigations taking place just in a less efficient way. In my view, this simplifies the process while also ensuring transparency and tightening the audit process. So we will be able to see how this works and we can correct any issues over time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other comments from council members? Yes. Oh, okay. Council, sorry. Starting with council member Blackaby. Someone else is going to go first and then drop out, but it's fine. I was ready. Again, thanks to the colleagues. I also want to thank the public commenters. I've been listening to everyone who's here tonight, everyone at the previous meeting, because I think we're all trying to figure out how to balance, if we can, the feedback that we're hearing. We understand that there are real privacy concerns here. I get it. I've spent some time working in digital privacy myself, but balancing that against some of the real interests and some of the benefits that do come from technology that helps scale a police department where we can't hire enough officers to do the public safety that we want. We're trying to navigate that balance. I just want to be realistic about that, but I appreciate the feedback. I know there are drawbacks and there are things that we need to consider, and it's always very helpful to be reminded of that and to center that in these discussions. Again, I want folks to know we are listening and trying to process this alongside of the other responsibilities that I think we all feel here to the community. I do want to thank Arlo. I want to thank Captain Okese for being here tonight. I want to thank the staff, and again, thank my colleagues on the Public Safety Policy Committee and the team for being very responsive to all of the concerns that we've raised and the questions that we've raised. I'm comfortable that we're in a good enough position to move the process forward. We know this is not the last step, but it's an important next step in the process, both for the RFP as well as for future consideration. With that, I'd like to move that we adopt the resolution and the staff report. Second. Thank you very much. Moving on to.. I'm going to have to skip Council Member Kesarwani until she comes back, but Council Member Lino Parra. Thank you. I'd like to thank BPD for putting this together. I recognize the amount of work that has gone into it, but I'm fundamentally unconvinced that these tools are what our constituency wants and are without risk. Both of these technologies sell speed and convenience as safety, and I do not believe in them as a way to improve our lives, and I seriously worry about further encroachment on our civil liberties, and I have no interest in aiding a fascist government by expanding surveillance in our city, so I oppose this item. Thank you very much. Council Member O'Keefe. I think I want to mostly join with Council Member Humbert's comments, so I won't go over that. I actually want to say I was quiet during the questioning period, but I do want to say I was the third member of the Public Safety Committee along with Council Member Balakaby and the mayor, and I just want to say thanks again. We spent a lot of time with this item, and I just want to thank you again for being responsive to our really extensive comments, and I was very satisfied. One of the things that I was really concerned about at that meeting was the restrictions around when and how the live stream was going to be viewable. To me, that was a big distinction because to me, and Council Member Humbert already said this well, but there's nothing really new here. There's no new surveillance. This surveillance exists. It's existed for decades. We're just talking about giving our police officers a faster and easier way to access it so they don't have to walk up and down the street and go into every building while they're trying to solve a crime where there's minutes and hours count. I mean, this is the simplest, easiest, most obvious technological benefit here, and I just can't emphasize enough that there is no new surveillance here, so there's really nothing to be concerned about. I mean, you can be concerned about the existing surveillance state. I get that. I understand people don't like that, but that's not what we're talking about right now. Okay, folks, please. So anyway, that's why I'm happy to support this motion. Oh, I just want to say the live stream thing, that is different. That's why I really wanted to flesh that out and make sure we understood very clearly when and how officers would be.
Segment 11
to BPD leadership and staff. I've been nothing but impressed and appreciative of the professionalism, thoroughness, and transparency that our PD is approaching this process with. We still have several decision points ahead of us before any contract is voted on and implemented. I will continue to do my research. I will continue to listen to District 4 neighbors whom I have the privilege to serve. Thank you for keeping me informed, providing me with a multitude of perspectives, and sharing your lived experiences with me. Thank you. Thank you, Council members. I already made comments essentially at the beginning, but I do want to thank you all so much. I know there was a comment made earlier, but you did a lot of work, and so there were 11 points here from the Public Safety Policy Committee. I think like 10 of those were from my comments and questions, so I know our staff did an analysis and looked through, which is why we asked that follow-up question. And just in the future, we'd love to see more information, like more clearly about that. I think that would be helpful for folks, but I do really appreciate all the work that you did put into this and your patience in answering my millions and millions of questions. And so I do want to move us forward. I think we actually have already someone made the motion. So.. Can you make it? Oh, correct. That's what I thought. Okay. All right, so let's take the roll, please. Okay. To approve.. To adopt the resolution accepting the Surveillance Acquisition Report and Surveillance Use Policy for Community Video Streams and Surveillance Acquisition Report and Surveillance Use Policy for Investigative Software on the motion, Council Member Kesarwani? Yes. Taplin? Yes. Orlid is absent. Tregub? Pass. O'Keefe? Yes. Blackaby? Yes. Lunaparra? All. Humbert? Yes. Mayor Ishii? Yes. Vice Mayor Tregub? Abstain. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Okay, so we.. Next.. Is there any public comment for items not listed on the agenda? Yes. So, four months ago, Amber Whitson, who I believe most of you are familiar with, was told, if you find housing, we'll make it happen. And I'm sure the person who told her that, the worker, had the best of intentions. Amber has been homeless on the streets, living in an RV or otherwise homeless, for 28 years since she was 16 years old. She took this literally. She actually went out and secured housing as a landlord who wants her, thinking that she would get a subsidy. Both that landlord and her have relentlessly trying to identify something. This landlord wants her, she knows her as a person who has been reliable and seeing that another tenant pays rent. She hasn't been able to get anything. And she even went out and had an offer for a job to take on part-time, thinking she was going to be in an apartment. This is four months ago, she's now.. Thank you, Carol. Anyone online for public comment for items not listed on the agenda? Two hands raised. First item, first caller, phone number ending in 211. With the subject you're talking about, I'd like to bring a great memory for our great police chief, Judge Butler. He was a great man. One of the best police chiefs in Berkeley. During my life, my family life, after we had over $2 million investment from our San Francisco store. The other thing I'd like to say, we are living in a very dark time, and I'd also like everybody, please look online for Lawrence Hall of Museum, Lawrence Lab Hall of Museum, about that video review, which is about 10 minutes, to Mother of Nuclear Physics, Samira Musa, the Egyptian mother of nuclear physics. And if they did that to her, they also did that to hundreds of nuclear scientists. And that's why you see Lawrence Lab offices only have one person, because they're afraid that they will be assassinated. Have a good night, look forward to better Berkeley, and do give me a call. Please do, and we're definitely moving to a new place very soon. Help us do that. Have a good night. Thank you. Next is J.L. Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. I don't know if this was on the agenda, I don't think I saw it, but I'd read recently that the city is looking to increase parking fees or days and move to a cashless parking system. I oppose increasing the fees and the days, but I vehemently oppose switching to some kind of cashless system where you need an app in order to park. That's not easy for a lot of people to navigate, and a lot of people may not be able to have that capability, and to take that away from them for the simple act of wanting to park on the street somewhere, I think we should keep whatever machines are in place that allow people to pay with cash or credit cards, and we should not be moving to a solely app-based payment system. Thank you. Just to be clear, we did vote on that, and you can still pay with a credit card. They're also trying to increase the ability to pay with other types of cards in case people can't have bank accounts. So just to address that. Okay. I know we have another comment from Maria. Maria Sol. Yes, and thank you again. Because, you know, I just adore Berkeley. I moved myself from across the country to come here because it's such a beacon of light and love and equity and peace and justice and equality and creativity, minds brilliant with hearts. I just want to start at the basic hope, which is if we value ourselves in each other, if we participate as a community, we can create things that prevent harm and create solutions without being dominated, controlled, and buried. Please remember who we are. We can do this. Thank you. Thanks, Maria. That's it. Okay. Is there a motion to adjourn? Second. Can we take the roll now, please? Okay. To adjourn the meeting, Council Member Kessler-Wanning? Yes. Taplin? Yes. Tregob? Aye. O'Keefe? Yes. Blackaby? Yes. Lunaparra? Yes. Humbert? Yes. And Mayor Yishi? Yes. Okay, meeting is adjourned. Meeting adjourned. Thanks, everyone.