OpenCityCouncil

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Segment 1

Councilmember Taplin, Vice Mayor Wengraf, can you hear us? Yes.
And then could we get unmute and make sure that we can hear your audio? Can you hear me now? Yes, yes we can hear you.
Councilmember Taplin, can we just make sure that we can hear you? Can you hear me now? Yes, yes we can.
Thank you.
For anyone who'd like to speak to an item not on the agenda, please fill out a speaker card because we're gonna select speakers for non-agenda matters from the drum.
If you're here to speak about an item on the consent or action calendar, we will get to those items later.
That guy have a trombone? Yeah.
All right.
Good evening.
We do have a quorum of the City Council present, so if people can please take their seats.
We're about to begin tonight's meeting.
And we are recording, correct? Yes, we are recording.
Okay.
Good evening.
I'd like to call to order the regular meeting of the Berkeley City Council for Tuesday, September 10th, 2024.
The first order of business is roll call.
I'd like to ask the City Clerk to please call the roll.
Okay.
Councilmember Keserwani, currently absent.
Councilmember Taplin? Present.
Okay.
Bartlett? Present.
Traigub? Present.
Hahn? Present.
Lengraff? Present.
Lunapara? Here.
Humbert? Present.
And Mayor Aragi? Present.
Okay.
A quorum of the City Council is present.
Thank you.
Moving now to the land acknowledgement statement.
City of Berkeley recognizes that the community that we live on is built on the territory of Kuchun, the ancestral unceded land of the Checheno-speaking Ohlone people, the ancestors and descendants of the sovereign Verna Band of Alameda County.
This land was and continues to be of great importance to all of the Ohlone tribes and descendants of the Verna Band.
As we begin our meeting tonight, we acknowledge and honor the original inhabitants of Berkeley, the documented 5,000-year history of a vibrant community at the West Berkeley Shell Mound, and the Ohlone people who continue to reside here in the East Bay.
We recognize that Berkeley's residents have and continue to benefit from the use and occupation of this unceded, stolen land since the City of Berkeley's incorporation in 1878.
As stewards of the laws of the City of Berkeley, it is not only vital that we recognize the history of this land, but we also recognize that the Ohlone people are present members of the Berkeley and other East Bay communities today.
The City of Berkeley will continue to build relationships with the Lishan tribe and other Ohlone tribes to create meaningful actions to uphold the intention of this land acknowledgment.
And so before I move to the next order of business, I just want to make a brief announcement.
I want to welcome everyone to this meeting of the Berkeley City Council.
To allow for full participation by all members of our community in tonight's meeting, and to ensure that important city business is able to be completed, we ask that all attendees here in the meeting and on Zoom conduct themselves in an orderly manner and respect the rights of others who are participating in the meeting.
Please be aware that the City Council's rules of decorum prohibit the disruption of the orderly conduct of the Council meeting.
A summary of these rules is available in the one-page handout on the table at the rear of our boardroom in the back of the room.
Disruptive behavior, as stated in our rules of procedure, includes, but is not limited to, shouting, making disruptive noises, creating or participating in a physical disturbance, speaking out of turn or in violation of applicable rules, preventing or attempting to prevent others who have the floor from speaking, preventing others from reserving the meeting, entering into or remaining in the area of the meeting room that is not open to the public, or approaching the Council dais without consent.
We want to thank you for being here tonight.
We ask that you observe these rules so everyone can participate in tonight's meeting.
We look forward to your participation.
So with that, we'll proceed to ceremonial matters.
The only item on our ceremonial calendar is the annual Pledge of Allegiance.
We are required by law once a year to do the Pledge of Allegiance, and so I will lead the Council in doing the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Okay, just because we're doing the Pledge of Allegiance doesn't mean that people can interrupt the meeting, so I want to remind the comments that I made earlier in the meeting about making sure that we not disrupt the proceedings, that we can allow everyone to speak and we can proceed with our business.
So we'll now proceed to sitting manager comments.
Thank you, Mr.
Mayor.
I would just like to announce for the public a few activities that will be coming up here in the community over the next couple of weeks.
This Friday at 7.30, there will be a movie in the park.
The movie that will be shown is A Million Miles Away at Grove Park.
So if your kids are tired of school already, pretend it's summer and join us for the movie in the park.
That will be Grove Park.
Please stop interrupting the meeting.
We will have—Tuolumne Camp will be closing this weekend, so help us close up the camp and enjoy our national forest near Yosemite and get room and board for free.
Saturday, September 14, 11.30 to 3.30, will be the TMAC Skate Jam, and that's happening at Berkeley Skate Park.
So join us there for live music, skate jam, contests, and refreshments.
And one of my favorites, September 19, Thursday from 6 to 8, Poppin Thursday's Roller Skate Party at Grove Park.
Bring your roller or your inline skates and enjoy an outdoor evening of music and fun.
And Saturday, the 21st, will be the California Coastal Cleanup Day at Shorebird Park.
Help us clean up the Berkeley shoreline and enjoy interactive activities and booths at this 40th annual celebration.
That concludes our announcements.
Thank you, Mr.
Mayor.
Okay, thank you very much.
As we proceed with our meeting and people are entering the room, if you can please quietly enter the room and take your seat.
We do want to get to public comment.
We do want to get to the agenda items on our agenda.
So we ask everyone's participation so we can move through the agenda and get to the business tonight.
So at the first meeting of the month, we have a special public comment period for representatives of City of Berkeley employee unions.
So I'd like to ask your consent that we take up public comment by employee unions at this time, and then we'll go to public comment on non-agenda matters.
Hearing no objection, we'll proceed now to public comment by employee unions.
Are there any officially designated representatives of City of Berkeley employee unions that wish to address the City Council this evening? Mr.
Clerk, were you informed that there were any people wishing to speak? Is there anyone present who's been designated on behalf of a City of Berkeley employee union to provide comments tonight? Okay, let me look at Zoom.
No, I don't see anyone who's raised their hand.
So this will be the last call for any public comment by representatives of City of Berkeley employee unions.
Okay, seeing none, we'll close that public comment period, and we'll now proceed to public comment on non-agenda matters.
So let me summarize how we're going to conduct this public comment on non-agenda matters.
So we will select five in-person speakers to address the Council on non-agenda matters.
If you're here to speak on item 37 or anything that's on our agenda, we will take your comments when we get to that item later on.
This is to address anything that's not on our published agenda.
And then we'll take five speakers on Zoom.
I'd like to ask, are there any attendees on Zoom wishing to speak on non-agenda matters? Please raise your virtual hand to be added to the speaker's queue at this time.
And so we will take five in-person speakers, five people on Zoom to speak to anything that's not on our published City Council agenda this evening.
Each speaker will be allotted one minute to address the City Council.
You can yield your minute to another individual and ask that you, as we proceed with the public comment on non-agenda matters, to not interrupt speakers, to allow everyone to have the opportunity to be heard by the Council and the community.
And there will be another public comment period on non-agenda matters at the conclusion of our agenda tonight.
So Mr.
Clerk, do you have five cards? Please read the names.
Isabel Barbera, Avi Simon, looks like Ian Cordova Morales, Erica Anderson, and Russell Bates.
Okay, you can hand me those cards.
If your name was called, please line up on this side of the room.
And anyone who would like to start is welcome to once again, Isabel Barbera, Avi Simon, Ian Cordova Morales, Erica Anderson, and Russell Bates.
Russell, one second.
Let's restart the clock because the mic wasn't on.
I want to make sure we can hear.
Okay.
All right.
Great.
I just want to repeat what I've been saying every Council meeting since October 8th, when the genocide against the people of Palestine began.
Zionism, to me, represents fascism, represents Nazism.
So when the City Council members of Berkeley refused to acknowledge the genocide going on in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Palestine for the last 76 years, I have even gone back to when I first became aware of what the Zionist entity is all about, when they attacked the USS Liberty, June 8th, 1967, killing 30-plus sailors and Marines, U.S.
wounding 170-plus sailors and Marines.
And I got to say, I really don't like the fact that you're still sitting back there doing nothing about it.
I see Cecilia with eight assholes, and I'm really sick of seeing you guys not do anything.
She knows what she's doing.
She's young, but she's got her shit together.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay.
And if you could just state your name for the record.
I'm Isabel Barbera, and I'm ceding my time to Andrea Henson.
Okay.
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening.
My name is Andrea Henson, and I'm the Executive Director of Where Do We Go? We are a non-profit here in Berkeley, and I am very concerned about the hate crimes that are occurring in our city and the vigilante justice.
Many of you know that there was rat poison and flyers put on individuals who were Jewish at their homes.
Secondly, Marcel Jones was killed at Harrison House.
My clients who are homeless lived with him, women, and he had a job.
He went to work every day.
He was an accomplished Berkeley resident, yet every day he was called the N-word by his bunkmate, and the person who was in charge never did anything, and now he's dead.
Third, as I stood in front of my office with Alistair Boone and Kevin Sample, both of whom run Street Spirit, our local homeless newspaper, we were on Martin Luther King Way when we saw someone drive up, and he was pushing the police and grabbing them and screaming at them because he was threatening to beat a black African-American homeless man because he thought he saw him going to the restroom.
I immediately went outside to talk to the police because we were in shock that the police did nothing to this act of vigilante justice, and the police were more perturbed at Berkeley PD that I would question them on why they didn't arrest the gentleman who was pushing the police, not the homeless man, and I asked the homeless man, I said, what happened, and he said he was white, but the issue here is that we have vigilante justice against the poor, black, against people of color, against Jewish individuals.
We are a city that stands against hate, and so I want to let you all know that this is happening because BPD did nothing, and they were more outraged that I asked them, how come you didn't arrest this man, and he goes, well, we didn't arrest either one.
This is not Berkeley, and so I wanted to bring this to your attention as a business owner.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our last two in-person speakers, Erica Anderson and Avi Simon.
Yeah, hi.
Hi, I'm Erica, and I am ceding my time.
What? To Yasmin.
Drove all the way up here just to talk to you guys, so you should feel honored.
Good evening.
My name is Yasmin Jenkins, and I'm sure many of you here are familiar with my name.
I think on most issues, there's a blanket, a root problem, and one of it is, the main thing is that there's a lack of communication from you all, and the main reason I think that there is is because there's a lack of respect.
I think if you categorize the people that approach you, and you're not familiar with their stories, you just blanket have your biases and your prejudices, you won't hear them out, and some people aren't able to articulate themselves.
They don't have the same gifts, so if someone speaks to you in a rant, or they communicate with you in a way that you don't respect it, you won't hear the issue, even if the issue is very valid.
Like myself, I have emailed you personally.
I have emailed you, Ms.
Bellows, in matters that are not just the subject matter.
It's root issues, and it's because you all don't communicate, and I think it's important that you do, and some of these issues can be solved just for a matter of you caring enough.
If you all can care enough to just hear someone out, just sit down and listen to them, find out what the problem is, and there's an easy solution, but you have to sit down and care enough.
So I ask you, Ms.
Bellows, will you, Mr.
Mayor, would you all be willing to have a meeting with me? Some of the issues that they have, that most people have, is just simply having an understanding and heart of compassion, but you first have to respect the messenger, and that's what I think is missing here.
You don't respect the messenger, so you can't receive the message.
So my message that I'll bring to you all will blanket a lot of people that don't have the skills of articulation, that don't have the education.
So if you will allow me a meeting, you have my email, you have my email, Ms.
Bellows.
We'll talk to the city manager, we'll follow up with you.
Yes, when will that happen? Because I've been reaching out for months.
We need to move on to the next speaker.
If you contact my office tomorrow, we can follow up with you.
I do, I come there personally.
We need to move to the next speaker.
Okay.
You have, I indicated my willingness to meet with you.
Let's move on the next speaker.
Thank you.
Avi, who are you yielding your time to? Good evening, Council.
I'm here to talk about the special care unit, and I really want to express my concern about its survival.
Two weeks ago, on a Sunday, I watched as Berkeley Police Department responded to a woman who was in a deep mental health crisis.
They responded violently.
They put a speed hood on her head.
They wrapped her up in the wrap device.
She was in full-blown psychotic distress.
She was screaming.
They put a helmet on her head.
They threw her in the back of a police car.
This was on a Sunday morning.
The special care unit was nowhere around.
There was no mental health professional anywhere around.
There was not a kind word or a word of consolation from any of those cops towards this woman.
If you want to see the video, I'm happy to show it to you.
But what this tells me is that 13 years, I'm sorry, 11 years after the murder of Kayla Moore in her own home by Berkeley Police, we have gained no ground in the actual factual what happens on the street.
The police department is stonewalling.
They refuse to, the chief has refused to write a general order directing her officers about how to deal when they encounter mental health issue.
The special care unit is going to go 24-7, but because the fire department has not gotten it together to conduct and to revamp the dispatch system, there's no dispatch calls going to the special care unit.
So we are paying hundreds of thousands, maybe who knows how much they've burned through now, of the few millions of dollars that have been allocated to that project is being paid to have a behavioral health clinician, a peer specialist, and an EMT sleep all night long.
That money is being burned through.
So the chief of police, the chief of the fire department, and the mental health division all have to get on the same page.
Otherwise, and then see when you got $200 million for the police department over the next two years, and what is going for mental health? And this was supposed to be not just mental health, it was supposed to be any kind of call that didn't require the police.
We're going in absolutely the wrong direction of what you said you wanted when George Floyd was murdered.
Thank you.
So we've got to put up, otherwise the words have no meaning.
Thank you.
Council Member Parker.
Refer that to the city manager.
Yeah.
Okay.
Those were our five in-person speakers.
I will now ask, are there any individuals on Zoom wishing to speak to items not on the agenda? Please raise your virtual hand at this time on the Zoom screen.
Diane Castleberry from AC Transits, our first speaker.
Yes.
Thank you, Mayor.
Members of the Berkeley City Council members, staff, and public.
My name is Diane Castleberry, and I'm an external affairs rep with AC Transit.
I'm here on behalf of my colleague, Brian Lau.
I'm here today to remind the community about AC Transit's Realign project.
Realign is a comprehensive assessment of every bus line in response to the substantial shifts in ridership and commute patterns since the pandemic.
The AC Transit Board has opened a public comment process and set public hearings, which are happening this week.
The last two public hearings will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m.
and 6 p.m., and the public comment period closes after the 6 p.m.
hearing tomorrow evening.
So we're encouraging people to either visit actransit.org forward slash Realign for more information, including the ways to submit your comment.
We encourage the city and community to review and comment on the Realign draft final plan as soon as possible.
All comments received in writing or at a public hearing will be made part of the Realign public hearing record.
Once the public hearing closes or concludes on September 11th, which is tomorrow evening, the draft final plan will move to the AC Transit Board of Directors in October, as early as October 9th, for a board decision on the Realign plan.
And then staff will be, depending if they approve it, the staff will be working towards implementation of the new bus network as early as March 2025.
So thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you, and please have a good evening.
If you just, Matt, I'll ask you a question because this is information we want the Council and the public to know.
Is there a website people can go to for more information? Yes, actransit.org forward slash Realign.
That's R-E-A-L-I-G-N.
Thank you.
Thank you for coming.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
Okay, we're going to go to Ava, who I understand is here in person.
Thank you, Mayor.
My name is Ava Crisanti, and I have an investigative sub-stack account, and I've been filling in what Berkleyside and the Daily Cal have left out.
Jenny Wong, your City Auditor, lovely person.
The year after Jessie took that controversial JCRC trip to Israel, she took a JCRC trip to Israel, and then she hid her Form 700.
I've written about that at marincountyconfidential.substack.com.
It's an entirely free service.
I do have concerns because it looks like on a petition circulated by the JCRC that was signed by 51 elected officials in the Bay Area, a surprising number came from Berkley.
About 24 percent came from Marin County, but something like 12 percent came from Berkley.
That includes a lot of you guys.
Last thing, I did reach out to Sophie Han's office because it does appear that, Sophie, you did go on that trip, and so I'm just trying to get some confirmation.
Thank you so much.
I would like to hear back from your aide because he said that he would get back to me.
Thank you.
Okay, as we proceed with public comment, let's not interrupt.
Are there any people on Zoom wishing to speak on non-agenda matters? We can take three additional speakers on non-agenda matters.
Are there any additional speakers? Before we go to you, Ms.
Morozovic, we've got to draw cards.
One last call.
Are there any additional speakers on non-agenda matters on Zoom? Okay, let's draw three additional cards.
So, we have Gordon Gilmore and Lisa Teague and Ed Gordon Gilmore and Lisa Teague and Ed Gordon Gilmore Lisa Teague and Ed Gordon Gilmore and Ed Gordon Gilmore and Ed Gordon Gilmore Lisa Teague and Ed Abdullah Okay, if any of those three people were called, please come forward.
Well, very good to see you all again after almost two months.
You're always on my mind.
I send you today by email and also by hand three articles.
One, it says, Everything Trump Touches Dies.
It's true.
It was a book written by an author who knows Trump's history.
The man is a crook and a convicted criminal.
And we're going to have him as a president because Kamala Harris did not shush it herself from Biden and she was following his policy.
And most young people and educated people like myself and most of you know that what is happening in Gaza is a horrible genocide.
Lancet said there's at least 186,000 other people came, as much as a half million people dead in Gaza.
You guys have no choice.
I have no choice where I'm born.
I could be born, also have kids.
How can you watch all of these kids getting killed every day? Butchered.
No legs, no hands, no arms.
Yeah, this is awful.
This is the worst reality.
As I said before, King's Khan killed 11% of people in prison, over 60 million people, but he had a rule.
Never kill women or children.
What is happening? Netanyahu said the whole thing.
Hamas was created by Netanyahu.
It was.
And they did it for him to get more land.
What they did in Gaza, imagine destroying all of the universities, all of the churches, even synagogues.
Gaza was destroyed.
This is not about religion.
Screw all religions.
As I mentioned before, religion is all very different in Egypt.
All we care about is humanity.
It took our humanity down to nothing.
We are not humans anymore.
When you wake up in the morning, and you serve those kids in pieces, the only decent program you can see stationed, KBFA of course, which I talk on it many times, including on KLAW, I spoke this morning on your call.
Yeah, I'll finish.
I'd just like to say that as far as our business, keep your word.
All of you don't have funny looking faces.
Act! Thank you.
Okay.
Gordon Gilmore.
Okay.
All right.
Let's proceed with public comment.
Gordon Gilmore.
Hi.
My name is Gordon Gilmore.
I'm with the Berkeley Outreach Coalition and the union.
I'll hear more about that later on.
I wanted to let you know about the Homeless Response Team's actions since the time that you all said that you would stand by the Martin V.
Boise 2018 ruling.
At first, they said that they would cooperate with advocates and respect people's rights in the equation.
And would listen to what they have to say.
And during the first couple of cleanings, I mean, they did a good job of respecting that, Ethan Harrison.
And the first day, they cleaned a second seater, but they did a two-day clean a second seater.
When the big name advocates weren't there, the ones who are actually have legal degrees, they didn't, they went ahead and went against their word to the people that were there.
They said that something would have been sufficient the day before, and then they just went ahead and told them to get up and move out.
And it continued with a lack of notices to advocates regarding a sweep at Dwight and Grayson.
One member of the Homeless Response Team was out passing around notices to residents.
Paul from Where Do We Go, an advocate, came by to check in, see what was going on, and she handed him a list of services and said, oh, that's all I'm handing out.
But then he went and talked to one of the residents, and she revealed the notice to him.
And so there's actually active deception going on, and you don't want to sow mistrust with your Homeless Response Team, and I think that's important.
Thank you.
Okay, Lisa Teague, our last speaker.
Thank you.
I'd like to cede my time to Jessica Prado.
Hi.
My name is Jessica Prado, and I am here to say I'm an independent journalist.
So I would like to raise some serious issues that the City of Berkeley has lack of transparency.
So I submitted a records request last year to actually find out how many people you have put in shelter and housing, and it's a lot of people.
And so I would like to say, like, if you guys are actually putting people in shelter and housing, and until this date, it's almost a year, the City of Berkeley has not even responded to that request or even released a single record.
So just to give you a notice, and I've actually been reaching out to the Auditor's Office, to the City Attorney's Office, to every office that actually manages these records, and they have just all been just silent, you know? So I would just say, like, if you guys are actually housing people, I would like to say that I am not doing my First Amendment right as a journalist, and you guys, the homeless response team actually doesn't allow me to properly document the sweeps.
And I would like to let you know that the First Amendment Coalition just put out a statement today on behalf of journalists that you should be allowing people to document these incidents.
So whether you view the sweeps as appropriate abatement or devastating or dehumanizing, it is difficult to assess without a free and independent press service.
So I would just like to tell you that I have been a journalist for the last seven years, and I would say that I've been personally harassed just for documenting and actually arrested as well.
So I would just like to tell you that if you continue these practices, I will be filing a First Amendment right lawsuit.
Thank you.

Segment 2

Segment 3

Segment 4

I qualify as a honorable guest speaker on behalf of Professor Yung Alond의 City Council.
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Segment 5

I'm going to kill you or somebody is going to kill me.
It's this whole situation has just become untenable and unsafe and we urge Berkeley to pass this resolution to at least have something to be able to enforce.
Thank you.
Hello.
First, I'd like to say that you guys have an obligation to the unhoused as well as the house.
You guys are biasly judging instead of doing what you're supposed to be doing, which is helping all of the people of this city.
How many times has the fire marshal came out and instructed fire safety to any of the encampments? How many times have you guys provided bathrooms and maintain those bathrooms help take out their garbage? Any of those things? If you guys are trying to plan on something humane, you guys are so opposed to that.
Thank you.
Thank you mayor and councilman for spending your evening this way.
Thank you.
I just want to say that this is a situation that is unhealthy for everyone and unhealthy and that we do have to look at both sides of it.
The humanity of the people there, and we need more tools and that's why I support the resolution have come out and thank you for your concern.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
My name is Nagina side.
I'm the owner of a physical therapy clinic that serves a lot of people that are on the streets and many people that are very affluent.
And I see the 2 sides of the coin and I see the conditions.
I see the conditions.
I see the situation that has been forced on us because of the commodification of housing, and the unattainable situation of real estate, taking funds for your campaigns by the same people that are caused the conditions of the push out of our community members, and they're ending up on the street makes you almost not appropriate to make a decision on how to treat the condition.
It's a condition of commodification of housing.
The unfortunate people who is a Russian roulette end up on the street as a result of 1 person owning 90000 homes in their portfolio, so they can have increased wealth and they can be evaluated a higher rate is there is on the right side and the person on the street is on the wrong side.
So, how are you going to fix this by criminalizing the people on the street? That's not an answer.
Hello, everybody my name is grace and I'm the chair of the peace and justice commission.
I am so alarmed about this resolution.
I heard several of you speak that you would never adopt the grass pass resolution and I was moved and felt that your, your concern for the humanity of the house people was there.
And I also learn when the peace and justice, I know George has already talked about this, so I'm not going to go into it.
But I know when we worked on a resolution, we learned from the staff that we are the only city in the Bay area with a reduced population.
A reduced population of homeless people.
And that really showed me that, although there is a big problem, I'm not going to deny it.
But humanity and recreation recognition of people struggle is still a part of Berkeley and was working to make a difference.
Okay, I'm just going to ask you to vote.
No.
And thank you.
My name is freeway and I'm the president of the homeless union.
I'm here today to urge council members in the marriage room to vote now on this agenda item.
And to give the citizens of citizens of Berkeley, the same respect and consideration that you give to those that live inside in your city.
The fact that we're even discussing this item is terrifying in and of itself.
I was present at the last council meeting on this matter.
What I witnessed is nothing more than a bastardization of the city's democratic process.
For over 20 minutes, we listened to council members in the mayor and the city's attorney argue about other agenda items and the lengthy meticulous process that each item had to go through to even be discussed when it came to this item.
Suddenly, democracy, policy and fairness, great up the window.
This is not anything new as I'm housed in former land house organizers.
We are quite used to watching the double standards and hypocrisy of society's upper class who repeatedly make policies that are against their very existence.
If you don't believe me, just look to the policies like anti ugly laws.
You already yelled your minutes, so we'll take this guy.
Thank you.
Just look to the antagonist all the way up to the most recent Supreme Court ruling on Johnson versus grant pass.
Each of these examples and accountants that lie in between are reminders to the poor just exactly where we stand in relation to the politics that make the laws.
The city of Brooklyn has a history of being a beacon of progressive hope, or at least looking that way.
What scares me about continuing this process in the city is setting precedent for neighboring cities like Oakland to give the complete disregard to the checks and balances system that weighs out inequality in our city politics.
Importantly, than that is the endangerment of the city's democratic balance is the endangerment of the city's most vulnerable faction of people.
These are individuals who are already publicly demonized, shunned and criminalized reactions and actions of the status quo.
I'm sorry, their lives are already dramatically cut short by the variables, such as exposure, disease, mental health and overdose.
And he's probably my variables do not get solved with sweeps.
Rather, they're exacerbated.
When I hear about the tire complaints about the blight, the rodents and the unsafe living conditions, what comes to mind is the indifference of the elected officials that created these living conditions.
Good evening council.
My name is Bryce Miller.
I'm president of telegraph for people at UC Berkeley.
I'm also a voter in district 4, and I hope to urge each and every one of you to vote no on this resolution.
Unhoused people existing on the streets should not be a crime and should not be punished.
There are so many other solutions, and I hope to see the city of Berkeley use their money, resources and times on literally anything else.
Like providing bathrooms or trash cans on the streets for these people to use, or hear me out, housing.
There is an extreme affordability crisis in the city of Berkeley.
Berkeley needs to be providing so much more social housing for its people, and that is the root cause.
And this policy will not address the root cause and will be counterproductive in the long term.
Thank you.
Hi there.
I'd like to speak in support of the resolution this evening and to thank Council Member Kesarwani for proposing it and to thank my own Council Member Humbert for co-sponsoring it.
I'd like to say that the homelessness crisis that we see on our streets is a disgrace.
I think it's unforgivable that we're allowing our neighbors to suffer in this way.
I think it's unforgivable that we're allowing our neighbors to suffer in this way.
I think it shames the conscience of our city.
And to fix that crisis, I think we need to build radically more housing to help people who are at risk of becoming homeless.
And I think we need to build radically more homeless shelters and permanent supportive housing to help those people who are currently homeless.
What we do not need, and what I think it's really sad that we're currently doing, is abandoning public space to anarchy and to chaos and to unsafe conditions.
There is nothing that requires us to give up the public fabric of this city in order to treat our fellow residents with dignity and respect.
And that's why I hope you'll pass the resolution this evening.
Thank you.
We heard balance mentioned a lot of times tonight.
And what are we talking about? We're talking about balancing the needs of the rich against the needs of the poor, against the poor and the homeless.
And who wins in those situations, especially when we have a council that consists of eight rich people, maybe in one not so rich person.
So what were you going to expect you to rule? The poor are always losing in those situations.
We heard about feces.
We heard about bathrooms.
People have been arguing for permanent bathrooms, not these port-a-potties, permanent bathrooms throughout the city to avoid any problems with health issues.
And you never do anything about it.
We heard about rats.
I tell you, I walk the streets all the time.
Most of the rats are up there by the frat, frat houses.
Why don't you go raid them, not the homeless encampments? And if you want to talk about jails, never should jails be even consideration.
It has to be removed.
Not it's a last resort.
It has to be never.
Berkeley needs to resist this neoliberal attempt to basically impoverish people more and more.
We need to stop the escalation because once you start escalating against the people and they become where they're hopeless, they're going to retaliate.
And it would take one person with a lighter and a bucket of gasoline to light up those hills.
So you should not think that's what you're doing here.
We have to house the homeless.
We have to create a situation where we don't have these problems.
Hi, my name is John and I'm a member of the Wood Street community and was unhoused for about 10 years.
And what's really scary and concerning to me is that the same thing that's going on in Berkeley is going on in Oakland.
And it's like you guys are communicating to do the opposite of what people are asking to do.
It's a simple solution.
And I'm piggyback off my brother, Monty, provide more bathrooms at the encampments, provide dumpsters so they can put the trash in there, provide fire extinguishers and have the fire department come out and help with fire abatement classes and stuff.
A lot of this stuff is very simple.
Instead of wasting all the money on sleeping people when we don't have anywhere to go.
Use that money to help clean up the encampments in a humane way and give people a place to be so they can get their medicines.
They're not attacked when they're by themselves, you know, it just it's just baffling to me.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Alicia harder.
I've sat up here stood up here so many times referencing the specific Black Lives Matter flag.
Because of Black Lives Matter in Berkeley, we need to care about homeless people.
I don't have the updated numbers from the point in town but we know we all know that black people are vastly over represented in the homeless population.
So I want to start with a little thought experiment.
You guys are saying that we're going to clean up our streets by throwing people in jail.
How does that actually work.
You send someone to jail, you force them to go to jail and then they're going to come out the other side what house, they're going to come out the other side healed, they're going to come out the other side worse for the wear, they're going to come out the other side traumatized because Jill the traumatizing experience.
It's not going to solve anything.
So everybody here, who's a citizen of Berkeley who's upset by the blight who's upset by the needles.
How is jail going to solve that problem.
The answer is it's not you're searching for solutions to a problem that can only be solved with permanent supportive housing and jail is not going to solve that problem.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
I think we have another minute fantastic.
I'd also like to point out that if I asked any one of you and probably even most of the people who've made public comment in support of this item today.
If you support Donald Trump.
I think you'd probably say no.
And if I asked you if you support Donald Trump packing the Supreme Court, I think you'd probably say no.
And I think you would say, well, I think that's only possible because Donald Trump packed the court.
This is a political opportunity afforded to you by a far right fascist and you are jumping on it as fast as you possibly can.
You're going to be jailing black people specifically because that's what y'all are about to do.
You're going to be disproportionately jailing black people and black people are in.
You got a little smile on your face.
I'm so sorry.
I know I'm not supposed to get personal, but I'm talking about putting black people in jail and you're smirking and that's just crazy to me.
Thank you.
Okay, as.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Let's give the floor to the speaker.
Yeah, I know it's a very complex issue.
There's a lot that goes into the homeless situation.
Everything on the street.
I've been in the district now for 10 years and during that entire time, I've been trying to get a business running and keep it going.
I've been trying to get a business running and keep it going.
They've been trying to sell the city and they can't help me because it happens to be off the sidewalk on my property.
So, I don't know how to get it out.
And I don't have the money because I've used up all my funding.
I don't even have the money to hire someone to come and help me with that.
Anyway, I just wanted to advocate for it is all citizens of Berkeley that you guys have to think about.
I mean, it's a very complex issue.
It's a very complex issue.
And for whatever reason, a lot of us feel like we're sort of the ugly stepchildren of Berkeley.
Businesses are broken into our building got caught fire because somebody had it.
Okay, bye.
My name is Avery Arbaugh.
I'm a student at UC Berkeley, the former president of the Cal Berkeley Democrats and resident of Berkeley.
But the reason I'm here today, for the most part, is because I'm someone who's formerly homeless and I know what it's like to be criminalized on a nearly daily basis just for existing.
And I know what the lifelong trauma and anxiety that comes from that feels like.
I'm sorry.
So, I had a bunch of stuff prepared about the history of the grants past decision and how we're emulating a far right Supreme Court by trying to pass this here tonight.
But I really just want to talk about having to live in a car and have police officers knock on your window and bring you somewhere else.
It is just terrible.
It's really difficult.
And I see that every single day before school.
And I don't understand how you guys can call yourself progressives if you're trying to do this to more people.
I'm really sorry.
I'm really sorry.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I really hope you guys will see the people in this room as human beings and vote against this measure.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Can we trust anything that comes out of the mayor's mouth if she decides to send.
Go back on that position.
I don't think so.
I'm a disabled resident.
I've lived here in Berkeley my entire life.
The problems with.
They can't be solved.
They can't be solved by plate by providing dumpsters for people.
For unhoused by providing safe disposal sites for needles and.
Emphasizing harm reduction and practices.
And supporting.
Thank you.
Good evening.
I'm here as the managing director of Berkeley Repertory Theater, whose offices and production facilities are adjacent to the Harrison street encampment.
While we have deep compassion for our unhoused neighbors, I urge you to support the resolution tonight.
We desperately need to address the hazardous encampments that pose a fire risk and eminent health hazard to our facilities and our employees.
Berkeley rep property and employees have been victims or witnesses of multiple fires, rat infestation, vandalism, theft, public nuisance, egress, blockage, road blockage, harassment, gunshots, toxic smoke, noise, domestic violence, illicit activities and more.
And most recently, the serious incident of the fire on August 21st, which damaged our property, melted our fencing, damaged our storage container and almost caught our trees on fire, which could have been catastrophic to our facilities and our ability to operate a business here in Berkeley as well as the lives of the individuals who are working in our building at that time.
So, I urge you to support this resolution.
Thank you.
Once again, as we are proceeding with public comment, let's not interrupt.
Let's.
People have very strong and passionate opinions about this issue.
Let's respect each other.
Let's provide an opportunity for people to express themselves respectfully.
We'll go to the next speaker.
Good evening.
Mr.
Mayor and council members.
My name is Caroline.
I'm a Berkeley resident and I own a small commercial building at 5th and Harrison.
Thank you.
Thank you for introducing this resolution, especially.
Thank you to council member.
You've heard the stories.
I want to 1st, say to everybody in the room and all of you, I have nothing but compassion.
For unhoused people who are simply trying to survive again, stop interrupting.
They are trying to survive and I know that the council and the city has done so much to try to solve this problem.
And it is not worked yet.
The fact of the matter is that something different needs to be done because you've heard the stories.
The father who's afraid his daughter will pick up a needle and receive an overdose.
This gentleman who just spoke his business could have burned down.
My building has had to put out fires in front of my building.
I've had to put out fires in front of my building.
I've had to put out fires in front of my building several times.
Every time I have the same worry as this gentleman.
Please take the compassion that we have for everybody.
And bring it to us business owners and please pass this resolution.
Thank you.
I just want to say that actually, I disagree with the previous speaker.
I don't think there's anything new here at all.
I think it's as old as it's as old as time.
And so the lack the cowardice.
The cowardice of hiding behind the police to mask your lack of leadership on this issue.
Cleaning up feces, that's not rocket science.
Now, working with poor people to alleviate the conditions that everybody's suffering from.
But rather than engage productively and respectfully with poor people and advocates and all kinds of people who want to solve these problems with throwing the cops.
And you know what? One of the things that makes it hard to hire cops is the reputation that they have for that kind of inhumanity.
When y'all send the cops.
Look, and if you're going to sponsor this resolution respectfully council member, I think you should be present.
I think you owe it to yourself and to the people that you're inflicting yourself on to be president.
See how that goes down.
But the cops don't want to be there and they'll be among the 1st to say that it's a failure of leadership that brings them to that unhappy moment.
But I also want to point out this genocidal mind.
This genocidal mind that allows itself not to think, not to feel, not to see, not to be there when the harm and the erasure is done.
When people are swept up like garbage off of the city streets and put into a traumatic into a Santa Rita or John George or wherever, you don't really care where they go.
So long as they're out of your backyard, that's a genocidal mind because it's just a matter of degree council member that when you can erase people's suffering, when you can erase a demographic, when you can erase a people.
Once you've allowed that to take hold of your heart, it's just a matter of degree.
And perhaps that's why you have not been willing to address the genocide that's going on in Palestine because you have sealed your heart and you have put your head in the sand.
And council member, I know that you've got something urgent to speak with.
Time is up.
But you might do me the respect.
Your time is up.
Of hearing me and acknowledging.
Councilor Davila, stop interrupting.
I was talking in the hope that you might hear me.
Your time is up.
Move on.
That you might hear me.
Let's move on.
Your time is up.
When a homeless encampment is swept.
You know, it's such a.
Yeah, seriously.
It is.
It's such a.
It's such a.
Anodyne word for what is an act of extreme violence.
Imagine if someone burned your house down, deprived you of everything that you own.
That's what it is to sweep a homeless encampment they throw all the people's belongings in the trash.
You were introducing this.
You mentioned hearing from many groups, business owners, homeless advocates, even.
You know who I didn't hear you mention.
The unhoused people themselves.
There's a Berkeley and stop being a Berkeley and when they get evicted.
To the black life no longer matter if they sleep on the street.
You know, if they're homeless.
Does the LGBTQ flag no longer apply.
To someone who's on housed, which.
The homeless people are disproportionately.
LGBTQ is a citizen no longer afforded the rights of citizenship.
Because they've been evicted.
Thank you.
Okay, before we proceed with the next speaker.
I want to call attention to a 4G rather of the city council rules of procedure, which says people addressing the council may give their 1st name and an audible tone of voice for the record.
All remarks should be addressed to counsel as a body and not to any member thereof.
Okay.
All remarks should be directed to the council as a body and not seeing any staff person or individual.
So I want to call attention to the role and ask that people comply with that role.
Please address your comments to counsel as a body and establish remember that because you're on the council not too long ago.
So go to the next speaker.
I have.
I'm not you're going to keep that in.
I'm not you're going to keep that in.
I'm not you're going to keep that in.
I've lived here most of my life specifically in district 1, and never have I been more ashamed to be a resident of this district.
Both because the district council member put forth this resolution is from a district, because of the vile classes racist ableist.
I'm not looking you in the eyes.
Ridiculous.
You are treating people like they're not human.
Everyone has said that, but it's just true.
And to the people who are complaining about feces needles, etc.
We're beating a dead horse here, but if the city hasn't been able to help you with those things.
I'm not you're going to keep that in.
I'm not you're going to keep that in.
And that makes you think they're going to be able to solve any of these issues.
You don't actually care about these things.
You want to live in your market rate housing, get on bar, go to your job, and forget that anyone else exists.
Thank you.
3 years ago, you were discussing what was then considered to be the worst encampment the freeway.
And it worked.
Some people were referred to the motels.
It worked.
So the homeless panel of experts is opposing this item without an offer of shelter or housing because it won't work.
It's not effective.
You can't block off every street in the city, and people will merely return to the same location, return a few streets way.
Disperse possibly throughout the city.
They're going to stay in Berkeley.
So we need something that works and you need to get this mental health 5 to 16.
I have a friend through Brooklyn mental health of the homeless full service partnership to be working with people individually that are in these encampments.
So they can support them, help them and mitigate the circuit.
Very circumstances that the community members are complaining about.
They need consistent.
Someone working with them and mental health.
Hello.
It's not my name.
I, I do not understand.
I understand why district 1 representative has put this forward.
I do not understand why the rest of you city council members are voting for it.
Because it what it will mean is that the people who are now encamped in her district are going to move into your district.
That's the only thing that's going to happen here.
That's that's what's happened.
So I don't understand why you're voting for this rather than taking the time to come up with a solution that actually would help all of you and all your district and not result in.
And I say, simply a migration, because the people who are now on Harrison street.
Many of them, I've known them for years.
They've been outside.
They're probably going to continue to be outside.
They began in places where they were not near any businesses.
They were in all the landfills.
Some of them way out there, and they got pushed from there under the Gilman overpass.
And from there on to the Caltrans property at Seabreeze at the university.
And finally.
And finally, I ran out of time.

Segment 6

There you go.
I got another minute.
Please complete your thought.
And finally, they ended up on a place where, on Harrison Street, where now they are creating a big problem for the, both the repertory, I will want to say I'm on the board of the, where do we go? I'm also on the board of Middle East Children's Alliance, which supports the Palestinians.
They also are there on 8th Street.
They are not complaining because they represent people who also, when they were pushed out of their homes, ended up under tents.
And are now in Gaza are going to be under tents again.
And the reason why they are not protesting is because they are empathetic, genuinely empathetic.
And if you folks want to know more about what's going on with people who they really are, there are plenty of people who are real expertise.
I suggest where do we go? Berkeley is happy to invite you to come and go with us and actually talk to these people and find out why you're having this problem and why it's not going away.
Paul, can I have a minute? Okay.
This is typically sung at eulogies, and I'm afraid if you vote on this, this is the end of Berkeley.
We are the home of the free speech movement.
We're the home of crip camp where they came up with innovations.
To work at Berkeley rep innovations.
We are the home of black Panthers and people's park and coming up with new opportunities, doing things differently.
These business owners, we need to help them by doing things differently.
That's the Berkeley.
We just heard a young woman who talked about living in Berkeley, not policing.
We haven't swept.
Everyone else in the country has swept, has pushed.
Let's help those on our streets.
Otherwise, the Berkeley that we stand for the Berkeley that has been commercialized so beautifully on telegraph.
With hippie clothes and Tibetan clothes, which if I were, I would just look like a peasant.
Who we are, it's who our university is.
It's our legacy, and if we start to change that now.
And not think of something innovative to keep Berkeley rep in place where crip camp went to change the laws to change how we treat people.
That's who we are.
We are not this item.
That is not.
Anything that Berkeley has stood for in the past and will never be what we stand for in the future.
So, if this passes, this is the beginning of the end.
This is the death of Berkeley.
Oh, that brought tears to my eyes because we've got so many people here with so many different interests and everyone deserves care.
The Presbyterian minister.
I'm aware of those programs.
I was here in the 60s.
I'm aware of all the programs that do work.
I've been doing this my entire life.
I was in the homeless, feeding the hungry.
It isn't rocket science.
It requires humane recognition that as human beings, we all have physical needs and I've often said, any 1 of us could be there and there, but for the grace of God, I have been there.
So, it's like, come on, we've got to make peace.
We've got to find a way because we can 1 doesn't have to win.
It's someone else's expense.
And there's communities already in operation that provide support.
Just like hospitals provide support, we can find a way to do this.
So that we care for those that need to be cared for.
So that everyone can be okay.
I know we can and we've got to.
Thank you.
Okay.
Hi, I'm Jessica and today I'm here talking to you as a.
As an officer for the Berkeley homeless union so quickly, I would like to address the fire that happened to Lisa.
That happened 2 weeks ago at the 8th and Harrison encampment, which I have to have video footage off and I will tell you that that was actually a failed response from the Berkeley fire department.
The encampment is literally 2 minutes away from the fires 2 minutes away from the closest fire station, but the fire, the fire engine took more than 10 minutes to actually show up to the camp.
I basically everything got out of control camp residents were actually trying to put out the fire themselves with their bare hands, trying to pull people's tents and anything that could continue feeding the fire.
And then the fire never had to get out of control.
Like, what our camp was not prioritize multiple people called and then 5 and then 6 fire engines showed up after the fire was already out just to just to give you an idea.
The fire department also promise or camp residents for fire safety education classes last year.
I have the recording of this meeting, but they never fulfilled their promise and no fire safety measures have been taken with the encampments.
Now, I want to introduce you the Berkeley homeless union, which is an organization that represents all on house people in the city and we stand together today to demand the dignity, safety and respect for our on house neighbors.
The city's ongoing enforcement actions against on house Berkley including threats, arrests, citation and property destruction constitute a pattern or harassment.
This includes, but it's not limited to limited to verbal threats made by city staff, city officials and law enforcement officers for occupying public spaces that destruction and confiscation of personal belongings essential for survival, such as tense clothing, betting medications and identification documents continuous forces placement without offering safe, adequate and accessible shelter neglecting on house people's mental health needs and incarcerating them for bad behavior that could actually be treated.
Can I have another minute? Somebody.
Okay, thank you.
Sorry, and also intimidation tactics and hostility, including threats against members of the press and homeless advocates, preventing them from documenting sweeps and the actions of city staff and police.
We respectfully urge you to immediately cease and desist from enacting this policy as it will exacerbate the harms already faced by our on house neighbors and further criminalize the very existence.
This letter that is being passed down to you is a formal notice for the city of Berkeley who sees all acts of harassment and the criminalization on the house.
Berkeley ends.
It's punitive actions forces placement, issuing citations and threatening arrests are violations for the basic human rights of the members of the Berkeley homeless Union.
If the city of Berkeley does not see these acts, we will be left with no choice, but to pursue legal action and federal court council woman because I want to become a name defendant.
This lawsuit will seek to remedy the harm caused by the actions of city staff and pursue all available legal options, including injunctive relief.
We urge you to rethink the resolution, please read our letter and I want to remind you that November 2021 tenant house plaintiffs from the aid and Harrison encampment challenge the RV overnight parking ban and house cards ordinance.
As a result, the city had to remove these ordinances off the books.
We are not afraid to fight for civil rights.
Thank you.
When you all hear me, all right again, my name is Gordon Gilmore.
This time I'm with the Berkeley homeless union and the Berkeley homeless union urges the city council to work with us.
We propose an alternative path forward 1, that prioritizes care, dignity and meaningful support.
Below are the Berkeley homeless union agreements, which serve as a step towards the solutions that can address the city's concerns while protecting the basic rights of on how's Berkley.
1, protect the right to sleep safely.
The city must commit to decriminalizing and ceasing the penalization of on house people for sleeping in public spaces when there are no adequate alternative shelter options.
This is a fundamental right and aligns with the human decency that Berkeley stands for to focus on care, not punishment.
The Berkeley homeless response team should prioritize humane care and harm reduction over enforcement, communicating directly with residents in an open and honest fashion.
I have another minute.
And.
Story participants do have a minute to say something.
The hat the black cat, are you yielding a minute to this gentleman? And the other thing I want to say is that there are a number of places where unhoused people.
Thank you are protected from harm and harassment.
These spaces should be used to provide shelter and security until permanent adequate and accessible housing is available.
4 work together on health and safety collaborate with on house residents to address health and safety issues at their communities by providing safe alternatives to meet folks needs.
6, keep communities together on how's people rely on community networks to support well, being in the sense of belonging.
We urge the city to respect and preserve these networks 1 more minute.
Anyone one more cool 7 protect the right to have animal companions and the right to live in a safe and healthy environment.
1 more cool 7 protect the right to have animal companions many on how's individuals rely on their pets for emotional support, companionship and protection.
These agreements reflect our deep commitment to a humane and equitable approach to homelessness.
We urge the Berkeley city council to engage with the Berkeley homeless union and other advocates to develop a more compassionate and inclusive policy.
Let us work together to create a fair social contract that prioritizes human dignity, health and community support rather than punishment and displacement.
And together, we can say that Berkeley protects all residents, housed and unhoused alike.
Let's make sure that no one is left behind.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
That that's pretty much what we need to do is we need to collaborate.
There are over a 1000 people who are sleeping on our streets.
Something needs to be done.
We can't just focus on the unhoused we can't just focus on the house neighbors and the.
We can't just focus on the unhoused.
We can't just focus on the unhoused.
We can't just focus on the unhoused.
We can't just focus on the unhoused.
We can't just focus on the unhoused.
We need to create a holistic plan.
Okay.
I've mentioned safe stay sanctuary.
You just heard the requests for a respectful social contract from the newly formed Berkeley homeless union.
And I want to say, if you follow this grants pass, if you, if you vote, yes, on item 37, you will continue down that road.
Don't do it vote.
No, let's do something together and be creative.
Hi, council members.
My name is Luca.
And the way I see this, you know, these aren't just words on paper when you sweep somebody off the streets, when you take away their insulin, when you take away their medicine, when you take away what keeps them warm at night, especially as it's getting colder, people die, that's called murder.
You call that murder.
And I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't want murder in my conscience.
I don't want to go home at night, you know, go back to my bed, go back to my family and think about the death warrants I just signed by voting for this bill.
That's all.
Thank you.
Good evening.
My name is Lindsay.
I'm the president of Calvert Democrats.
I want you guys to vote no tonight.
I don't really think I have anything to say that other people haven't said, but I'm going to say it again.
If you vote yes, you're telling people that they don't deserve to exist to say, we don't have anywhere for you to go.
You can't be here.
We don't want to see you.
We just want you gone.
I really hope that you guys are better than that and that you believe that people have a basic human right to exist.
I would really, really hope that you guys think that and it would break my heart if you don't.
There are solutions if you don't like the encampments, there's ways to do it.
Sanction encampments.
There's so many ways to address the root causes of homelessness.
This isn't one of them.
And I mean, yeah, just.
I just can't even with this.
Please don't know.
Yeah.
Please don't know if you believe that people deserve to exist.
Thank you.
Good evening council.
My name is Ben.
I'm speaking today to ask you to oppose item 37.
I just, I, I think we've heard a lot about all the harm this item would do.
So I don't want to focus too much on that.
Instead.
I want to ask you, like, what's the point? What's the point? Because if you're just back in another year, because these people aren't going to disappear, you sweep them up.
They move their back again.
They form another encampment because they they're people they have to live.
They have to live somewhere.
And it's just another constituent complaining from another street or near someone else's business or near.
And whether it's North Berkeley or South Berkeley or the.
I just, I don't see what you hope to accomplish by this.
Anyway, thank you for your time.
Hello, I'm Evan and I am a lifetime resident of the barrier.
This issue has divided us in this room, but I want to reinforce something.
I want to reinforce that unhoused people are humans.
The thing is, is this this is this this motion to to criminalize homelessness is dehumanizing people.
What homelessness people what unhoused people have to deal with is not frivolous things.
It is serious things.
What unhoused people have to deal with is they have to worry about if they're going to have if they're going to have a meal tomorrow.
They're gonna have to worry about where, where, where they're going to sleep tonight.
They're going to worry about if they get sick.
How are they going to get medicine? They do not have what happens is when you, when you, instead of instead of giving a helping hand to unhoused people and responding with a police baton, you were not helping on house people.
You are hurting them on house.
People need help.
And by criminalizing it, you are causing major issues about it.
Hello, I am a Berkeley student and a lifelong resident of the Bay Area, and this is my 1st time giving public comment, but I'm absolutely appalled by this item.
Not only because of just how cruel it is, but the fact that it just increases issues that we're going to have, because not only are you dehumanizing unhoused people, you are also increasing their vulnerability by stripping away their access to medicine, their access to documents that they may need, you know, a shelter, a community.
So, I think that rather than pursuing these reactionary policies, we should be focused on coming up with better solutions and listening to our unhoused neighbors and their advocates.
And I just think that we really need to vote no on this bill, because otherwise it will take us down a very dark path.
Thank you.
All right, my name is Jackson.
I'm the operations director for Cal Dems.
I'm asking you today to oppose item 37, as we have heard from many people.
It is a cruel policy, as it will basically permit the city to both cite and arrest the homeless people without offering them 1st a shelter.
This is cruel in that housing is a human right.
You need it, like with food, with water, clothing, to survive.
And it is also illogical in that citing and arresting people will only increase the fines and fees that they have to pay.
And consequently, this will only further the cycle of poverty.
And this easing goods like medications, legal documents, and other important items will only make it harder for them to apply for government help, to get health care, to find jobs, and so on.
All right.
Peace.
Yeah, just finish your complete your thought.
Your time is up, but complete your thought.
So, for those reasons, I recommend this city to vote against item 37, which would only worsen the homeless situation here at Berkeley.
Thank you.
I say, thank you.
1st.
All of you got us here and all you got us.
Pass this, my name is art.
I'm a Berkeley board, butane resident on my life, and I've seen.
Just a little bit of how much we love our community and all the different aspects.
And 1 day, we're probably going to see a.
A whole nother way, looking at mental health and being like, wow, that's just different folks in their expectations and who hit walls and what.
We do with all the most neuro spiciest most.
Beautifully special extra extra double decker yellow bus kids.
I am.
Just at grace.
Thanks.
Because the community in different aspects also connects and helps each other out in no matter what it's going to make it through.
But it would be nice to do it all together and with all of you.
And that's it.
Thank you.
So, when you have sweeps, people lose all their items and it takes months.
To get them back if they can get them back.
And it puts a lot of trauma, just like receiving the notice.
That's when the.
That the sweep is going to happen the trauma begins.
You know, you don't never.
You know, you don't.
You don't have the time.
With services to help people dealing with these sweeps.
When they're happening, they shouldn't happen at all.
And, yeah, I'm sorry that the community members, you know, don't like to to see the on house.
But.
The community is trying to get to the root cause trying to help people.
Meeting with them on a daily, regular basis to solve issues.
And you have to realize this is a fascist.
Way of dealing with our on house community.
And it's a, it's a, it's a.
It's a, it's a, it's a.
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a.
Those the people over there are living in tents and getting bombed.
A sweep is similar.
So you can't continue to harass people that are already.
You know, a marginalized on so many levels.
They need respect.
They need love and they need care.
Just like you need those things.
They are no different.
The only difference is that they're living on the street or in their vehicle.
They still.
They eat shit and do everything else like you do.
And they don't have a place to do those things actually.
And if you could, if you gave them those services, if you provided Porta Polly's bodies.
If you provided water and not in a plastic thing, but something that's more reasonable.
And provided showers on a regular basis.
And picked up the trash, you wouldn't have rats.
You set this up.
To, to, to justify your item.
And you continue to do it and nothing's changed.
When I was on the council and I got a homeless.
Task force.
Her swanning was on that task force.
Did she ever give any input, nada, nada word.
Yes, it was there.
There are lots of unhoused people, but she never came to the meeting.
She sent her a miss.
She doesn't care.
She never has.
And you need to start hearing.
You're trying to get to higher offices and it's not going to happen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
For the next speaker.
Hi, my name is Shane.
I'm a student.
Frankly, this is just deplorable.
I'm shocked that this is even up for discussion.
How is this selling up for discussion? These are human beings.
Where are people supposed to go? People are already in the streets.
Just push them somewhere else.
Push them again.
People are going to be have their possessions taken from them.
Their pets, their identification, any semblance of humanity.
How are people supposed to live that way? Where are people supposed to go? That's.
I have to say, frankly, deplorable that this is even up for consideration.
All right, unless there are any additional in person speakers.
Any additional anyone who's hasn't spoken to yield the time.
We're going to go to the zoom speakers.
Vanessa followed by Catherine Falk.
Hi, good evening.
Can you hear me? You can hear yes, please proceed.
Okay, thank you.
Mayor.
I just want to speak to the humanity of Berkeley, the Berkeley that I moved to 20 years ago from New York City.
Was a Berkeley that believes that all people can thrive no matter what your background is.
My concern about pipelining folks into incarcerated systems.
Is it really is an active oppression and it's not an institutional oppression.
It's actually very overt.
I wanted to remind you all that the UN rights, human rights commission or council.
Discuss this as well that this that the way we treat human beings must be like human beings.
I lived in district 4 for 20 years and I had mice, rats, needles, all sorts of things on a very high price block.
So, what I would love to see from us, given that we have people from all over the world that study here.
Is of use a participatory action.
What is it that we can do together to promote a solution? That's going to uplift humanity.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Catherine Falk followed by Beth.
Hi, so I'm Catherine and I grew up in Berkeley and I'm temporarily living in Berkeley again, because my daughter is at Berkeley high and I am asking the council to vote against item 37 as well.
It just, I appreciate that council tried to rewrite it to soften it a bit, but the effect is still the same.
Sweeps are really destructive and they don't really fix anything.
Like, somebody else mentioned that the unhoused get pushed to Oakland where I also have a home and we have the same problem.
Possibly people get pushed to where it's harder to get services and harder to get the firefighters to put out a fire quickly.
And it's really bad for the unhoused people themselves.
And it's not that I want to see people living on the street, but this grants pass ruling, it just seems to amount to you get these people out of my sight.
And that's a terrible approach.
That's that's not anything.
Okay, thank you.
Beth Rosner followed by Steve McFessel.
Thank you.
Good evening, Mayor and Council.
This is Beth Rosner, CEO of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce.
I urge you to vote yes on Councilmember Kastorwani's encampment policy item.
This policy is a balanced and reasonable approach that continues the city's commitment to offer shelter whenever available.
But more importantly, it also allows city staff to address encampments that pose a fire, imminent health hazard, or other serious risks.
We've seen the city reports tonight that detail the hazardous conditions, including rats, feces, syringes, fire, and more.
It is not progressive to allow people to live in unsafe conditions that are detrimental to themselves, as well as their neighboring residents, workers, and visitors.
Residents and businesses have been patient long enough.
Now is the time for action.
Please vote yes on this resolution.
The taxpayers of the city deserve clean and safe neighborhoods.
Thank you.

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