This year, Cal students have an unprecedented opportunity to have a voice in local Berkeley politics. Currently, Cal students make up about a quarter of Berkeley’s population, but in the last half century, only one student has been elected to Berkeley City Council. The Free Speech Movement — the apex of students’ political power — was aimed at changing university policies, but what about city policies? These are the ones that affect you every day and determine your quality of life.
Because of the lack of student voice in local politics, we are shutting out some of the brightest and most innovative minds in our community. Not only is this a huge problem in itself, but it also results in occasional less-than-student-friendly policies in areas like safety, housing, sustainability, retail development and voter engagement. Why is housing so expensive? Why is the nearest grocery store more than a mile away from the dorms? Why don’t all apartment buildings in Berkeley offer composting? How can students access police and safety resources?
If you’ve ever asked any of these questions, you’ve been affected by the lack of student involvement in local politics. But you have the opportunity to change that this November! Berkeley Measure R is the first chance that students have had in nearly 30 years to make their voices heard within the city.
Robert Gammon said it best in the East Bay Express on Aug. 22.
“Supported by numerous student groups, Measure R would change how political districts are drawn in Berkeley, potentially allowing the creation of a ‘student district’ for the first time ever, and thus a ‘student seat’ on the council. If that were to happen, Cal students, for the first time in the city’s history would have a direct vote on issues that deeply affect them, such as the lack of housing.
“So if you’re a new Berkeley student and resident, or if you attend Cal and have lived in town for a while and haven’t yet registered to vote, you should — if you want to finally have some power to effect change in the city.”
Berkeley Measure R is great news for students, and it’s important that everyone know what it is and why they should support it.
On a slightly different note, we also have a number of very important financial measures to vote on as well.
The city of Berkeley is 134 years old. Our streets are in poor shape and our 80-year-old storm drain system is inadequate to handle major storms. A recent Metropolitan Transportation Commission Pothole Report showed Berkeley tied for 86th place in the Bay Area. “In Dec. 2005, a 15-year storm, combined with a high tide, overwhelmed the city’s storm drain system and flooded West Berkeley to San Pablo Avenue.”
Additionally, Berkeley has 50 percent fewer public pools than it did two years ago, and its remaining two public pools are over 50 years old! In contrast, Albany, with one-sixth Berkeley’s population, has two brand new public pools. Berkeley has one public pool per 56,000 residents, whereas Albany has one public pool per 9,200 residents.
To provide aquatic recreation and water safety instruction for all residents as well as to improve our streets and watersheds, Berkeley City Council has placed three measures on the November 2012 ballot. Measure M, a $30 million streets and watershed bond, Measure N, a $19 million pools restoration bond to build two new public pools and Measure O, which provides the annual operating funds for the new pools.
Measure M will jump start the repair of Berkeley’s streets. Reconstructing failed streets is several times more expensive than repairing streets before they fail. Thus, every year these repairs are delayed, the city incurs an additional $6 million in costs, and increases the risk of accidents and lawsuits. When the city refurbishes a street, it will include green features, such as permeable paving and bio-swales, where appropriate, to reduce flooding and filter runoff.
Measures N & O will construct a new Willard Pool to serve South Berkeley and a new warm pool for the disabled community which needs a warm pool for therapy and swim instruction. These pools are needed to ensure that all people throughout our city have access to public pools for exercise, therapy and recreation.
Make Berkeley your official hometown by registering to vote here. Make your voice heard by voting down the entire ticket on Nov. 6. With your active participation, we will create a better city.
Gordon Wozniak is a Berkeley City Council member representing District 8. Kristin Hunziker is a 2009 UC Berkeley alumna.
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I encourage all students to research the background to this story rather than just gloss over it. Gordon Wozniak pretends to care about students but he is a moderate and would benefit if he could remap most students (typically liberal and anti-landlord) out of his district into Kris Worthington’s district. Kris is an ultra-liberal but knows he’ll face tough opposition if a photogenic and charismatic Cal student (Mia Shaw perhaps?) from his own district challenges his seat at the City Council. Most students probably don’t care, but since Kris has been an obstruction to Southside safety any ballot measure which would shake him out of his comfort zone would be a good idea, even if Gordon has ulterior motives.
As for the new swimming pools, most students would never use them nor pay for them since taxes would be assessed on property owners, not students. The main beneficiaries of the pools would be retiree lap swimmers and handicapped residents, not Cal students. However, instead of flipping a coin, why not ask your landlord for his opinion and make him grateful for your vote?
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2011/07/14/cal-leaders-push-to-put-student-on-berkeley-city-council/
Students, please vote in favor of measure S. I’m asking this of you as a born and raised Berkeleyan and Cal alumnus. It will basically help clean up Telegraph, which, I know, is often a gauntlet of crap for you to wade through on your way to classes.
Why would students want to waste their time on Bezerkeley city politics instead of concentrating on their studies, unless they think that they are going to be stuck in this 1960′s protest time warp for the rest of their lives? Seems like a tacit acknowledgement that some people aren’t ever going to make it in the real world.
One thing I know, I won’t be spending hours on the DailyCal comment boards once I’ve graduted.
“once I’ve graduted.”
Nah, you will be in night school taking basic literacy courses instead, right?
The Daily Cal states in its banner that it is Berkeley’s Newspaper. Everyone is welcome to participate. We wouldn’t have to pay student fees to the paper if we could get more outside participation.