Thanks to Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, the City Council passed several measures that improve police accountability. However, three important areas need further improvement:
1) The Police Review Commission has been rendered almost impotent. Continue reading
We’re sure we come across very negatively in our attitude to developers and UC. However, there is no question that the Council majority gives extremely favorable treatment to both these interests. Developers aren’t required to pay the full cost to the City of the services they use – inquiries to the Planning Department have revealed that the Department doesn’t even know the impact of large new projects on the Sewage Treatment plant, or on Emergency Services. As for UC, if it buys a property, it takes it off the Property Tax Roll, so UC pays nothing to the City. Continue reading
Does anyone really believe that the Plan (DAP) will benefit Berkeley? It adds a huge number of high-priced apartments, plus a large hotel, to the downtown, with minimal parking. The assumption is that the new residents and hotel guests won’t have cars. All you have to do is look at other cities in this country and Europe to see that this won’t happen. So there are two possibilities. Either the projects will be successful, and traffic in downtown Berkeley will grind to a standstill, like San Francisco, New York or London, or apartment seekers will go to Oakland, where parking is more available. Continue reading