Save the Date: Mayor's Holiday Party

Save the Date for my first annual Holiday Party! Come celebrate the season with the Mayor and staff at West Berkeley’s Gilman Brewing, 912 Gilman Street, on Friday, December 13 from 6-8pm. An RSVP is not required. Wearing an ugly holiday sweater is optional, but recommended.

Contact the Mayor’s Office at (510) 981-7100 for questions or more information. Hope to see you there! We will be sending out a separate email with more details closer to the date.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Prioritized Under New Policy

Our investment in our transportation must reflect the needs of our commuters while also taking into consideration the environmental impacts of how we travel. Approximately 10% of Berkeley residents bike to work and 15% walk - some of the nation’s highest percentages for a city our size. Yet, there have been numerous collisions of motorists, bikers and pedestrians, some resulting in serious or fatal injuries. Clearly there is more we need to do to improve the safety of our streets through design, visibility and enforcement.

On October 29th, the City Council approved the Bicycle Lane and Pedestrian Street Improvements Policy. In conjunction with our ongoing Vision Zero goals, this policy will provide significant investment in prioritizing bicyclist and pedestrian safety. Specifically, it will:

Require simultaneous implementation of recommendations in the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans when City streets are repaved.
Develop a pilot program between 2022-2025 that prioritizes bikeways and Vision Zero high-fatality, high-collision streets under the five-year Paving Plan by requiring that 50 percent of the repaving budget go towards such streets, prioritizing projects outlined in the Bicycle Plan and Pedestrian Plan.
Encourage the use of quick-builds (a project that requires non-permanent features such as bollards/paint/bus boarding islands, makes up less than 25 percent of the total repaving cost for that street segment, and can be a component of a Complete Street Corridor Study that includes evaluation after installation) by expediting quick-build projects under $1 million.

You can read more about this policy and the efforts we are doing to make biking and walking safer and more accessible in my blog post.

United Against Hate Week Continues to Grow

What started off as a poster has turned into a multi-state movement to stop the hate and implicit biases that are a dangerous threat to the safety and civility of our neighborhoods, towns and cities. United Against Hate Week was a direct response to planned far-right protests in Berkeley in August 2017, just two weeks after the deadly protest in Charlottesville. In total we distributed 20,000 of the now iconic “Berkeley Stands United Against Hate” posters less than four days throughout Berkeley, and thousands more in Oakland and in the broader Bay Area.

In 2018, we partnered with Not In Our Town to launch the first United Against Hate Week. Communities throughout all corners of the Bay Area joined in, taking the opportunity to host events that empower local residents to take action in their local communities and alter the course of growing intolerance. This year’s events included dozens of cities, counties, communities, and school districts, from Berkeley to Massachusetts. Thank you to all who participated in this growing movement.

Homelessness and Food Insecurity Discussed at Berkeley Forum

The Berkeley Forum, a student-run forum for the expression and debate of a wide-range of topics, held a discussion on homelessness and food insecurity. On the topic of homelessness, discussion was had on the significant investment Berkeley has placed on addressing the crisis. Berkeley spends more per capita than any other city in the East Bay on homelessness. In 2018, Berkeley voters approved Measures O & P, which creates a $135 million affordable housing bond and increasing the transfer tax to generate $6-8 million annually for homeless and mental health services, respectively. Under the latest budget, we increased funding for anti-displacement services to prevent people from becoming homeless. The 2019 homeless count shows that Berkeley’s homeless population increased by 14% over the past two years, significantly lower than the countywide average of 43%. This shows that while there is still a long way to go, our investments are making a difference.

A report from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business suggests that 24,000 people in Berkeley are food insecure, or 1 in 5 people. The national average is 1 in 8. Students are more susceptible to food insecurity, with a 2017 report from the UC Global Food Initiative showing that 44% of undergrads and 26% of graduate students throughout the UC system experiencing food insecurity. The Berkeley Food Network, in partnership with the Alameda County Food Bank, serves the food-insecure community in Berkeley, providing an estimated 4,000 individuals a month before September 2019. In September, they opened a new warehouse located at the former Premier Cru site which the City now owns, which is being rented out to them for $1 a month. With this expanded space, they expect to serve 10-12,000 individuals a month.

Civic Art Grant Applications Now Open

Artists and art nonprofits based in Berkeley as well as organizers of festivals in Berkeley can apply for Civic Arts Grants, which provide funding to strengthen the local ecosystem of arts and culture.

Depending on their size, organizations can receive between $10,000 and $17,000 - money that often allows organizations to leverage more outside funding. The City of Berkeley's Civic Arts grants have supported organizations ranging from Freight & Salvage and the Aurora Theater to the Kala Arts Institute, helping build a thriving base of arts and culture for the region.

Individual artists can receive up to $5,000, which comes with a requirement that the produced work provide Berkeleyans an opportunity to view the work for free - be it through a gallery showing, reading or performance.

Festival grants support a range of events throughout Berkeley from small-scale and first-time events to large-scale and established festivals. These grants range between $5,000 and $17,000, depending on the size of the event.

All grant-funded activities must take place within the City of Berkeley between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. Applications are due by 5pm on January 16, 2020.

Download guidelines, applications and more on our Civic Arts Grant Program page. Have more questions? Contact: civicarts@cityofberkeley.info or (510) 981-7539

PG&E's Failures Demonstrate Need for Change

After multiple Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) that left millions of Californians in the dark, and continued wildfires caused by PG&E despite these shutoffs, PG&E customers are fed up. Our economy has taken a hit, with businesses being forced to close and cities having to exhaust resources to scramble within 48 hours to ensure the safety of residents impacted by the shutoffs. With PG&E now bankrupt, instead of continuing the status quo, now is the opportunity for change.

On November 4, I joined a group of 22 Mayors and 5 County Supervisor Presidents/Chairs, representing 5 million people, or about one in three PG&E customers, in signing a letter calling for PG&E to be transformed into a customer-owned utility. Such a move has multiple benefits. Customers will save billions, as PG&E will no longer have to provide dividends to its shareholders and would become exempt from federal taxes. With these savings, serious investment can be made in updating its failing infrastructure. With customers in control, having a larger say in the actions of the utility company, this will help build public trust.

I have also joined Mayors across Northern California in expressing support for SB 378. This bill will create a process in which residents and businesses impacted by future PSPS events, along with placing hourly fees during PSPS events, among other things. These proposals are necessary to support the long-term stability and resiliency of our electrical infrastructure.

Hundreds of Elected Officials Call for an End to Fossil Fuels

Elected Officials to Protect California, a non-partisan coalition of elected officials on all levels across the state to advocate for the protection of our communities, public health, and climate, held a press conference on November 20th to call for the phasing out of fossil fuels. Specifically, a letter has been signed by over 300 elected officials calling for Governor Newsom to end the issuance of permits for all new fossil fuel projects, begin the decline of existing production of fossil fuels by developing a 2,500 buffer zone around homes, hospitals, schools, playgrounds, and farms, and commit the state to 100% clean, renewable energy in all sectors. This comes the same week as the Governor announced that no new fracking permits will be issued without an independent scientific review.

Berkeley was chosen as the site of this press conference due to its history of being a trendsetter for environmental policy. We were the first city to implement curbside recycling in the early 1970s and the first to eliminate styrofoam in the 1980s. More recently, we made headlines by becoming the first city to ban the use of natural gas in new construction. With climate change making its consequential presence more apparent, it is time to take swift action to protect our future.

Discovered in Berkeley Shows City's Ingenuity and Creativity

By highlighting companies that speak to our City’s values and contribute to our community character, the Discovered in Berkeley campaign inspires pride among Berkeley’s residents and business owners about Berkeley’s incredible businesses. During the course of this campaign, 12 businesses will be highlighted.

The current highlight is ACCI Gallery, the oldest arts cooperative west of the Mississippi. The Dare2Share theme highlights Berkeley’s continued leadership with alternative, community-focused business models and businesses that support the “sharing economy” and is particularly relevant to the Office of Economic Development’s work with Project Equity to help businesses become worker-owned cooperatives as part of their succession planning or strategy for business continuity.

If you’re interested in learning more, see the message the City of Berkeley released about the campaign, visit DiscoveredInBerkeley.com and follow @discoveredinberkeley on Instagram.

Alta Bates Potential Closure Update

Longer wait times. Less service time for ambulances. Delayed care. Increases in avoidable deaths. These are just some of the many consequences that will happen if Alta Bates is to close down. We can’t let this happen. Alta Bates, the Birthplace of the East Bay, helped over 66,000 patients in 2016, including almost 46,000 who visited the emergency room, making it one of the most visited hospitals in the region. Sutter Health has announced its intention to close the hospital by 2030, despite strong community opposition to the proposal.

Last week, I published an op-ed in the Daily Cal highlighting the consequences of such a closure and how the hospital plays a pivotal role in providing healthcare to Berkeley and the East Bay. Over the next year, an outreach coordinator will do community education on the impacts of such a closure, as highlighted in the Health Impact Assessment. We remain committed to doing everything possible to keep Alta Bates open.

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Berkeley Holiday Gift Fair

Friday, December 6, 3:30pm-6:30pm

David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way

The 2nd annual Holiday Gift Fair provides an opportunity to discover 30+ local vendors, artisans, retailers and service providers. Get your holiday shopping done early by buying local, then join us afterwards at 6:30pm at BART Plaza for the annual holiday tree lighting ceremony.

Council Meeting on BART Memorandum of Understanding

Tuesday, December 10, 7pm

City Council Chambers, 1231 Addison St

On December 10, the City Council will consider approval of a Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Berkeley and BART on Implementation of State Law AB 2923 at the Ashby and North Berkeley BART Stations and Establishment of a Community Advisory Group. You can read the item here.

What Does Cultural Equity Mean for Your Organization?

Wednesday, December 11, 6pm-8pm

Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch Library Community Room

1951 Russel Street

This workshop will present an overview of cultural equity and the various ways that organizations may initiate or continue their cultural equity work at a variety of levels from mission, programming and audience to board and staff. We encourage attendees to come with questions.