One of the selected plans was submitted by the Berkeley Student District Campaign, a group that aims to give students more representation in city government through the creation of a district with a student supermajority. A student supermajority would increase the likelihood of a UC Berkeley student being elected to Berkeley City Council.

“It’s important to note how historic of a move the council took last night (by) indicating that one of their top proposals is one submitted by students,” said Shahryar Abbasi, ASUC external affairs vice president. “It’s quite a shift in the discourse and the dialogue.”

About 45 UC Berkeley students, including Abbasi, attended the City Council meeting in support of the campaign. While seven different plans were considered at the public hearing Tuesday night, only two did not include a student-majority district.

The only remaining competition to the Berkeley Student District Campaign is the “simplicity” plan, which focuses on straightforward district divisions. The plan’s author, Eric Panzer, openly endorsed the Berkeley Student District Campaign’s plan and said that he hopes his proposal will be considered only as a “worthy alternative.”

The City Council may favor Panzer’s plan due to its clarity, according to ASUC External Affairs Vice President Redistricting Director Noah Efron.

“There are certainly some council members who want clean lines on their map,” Efron said. “The council still has full control.”

Throughout the hearing, multiple City Council members expressed their support for a student-majority district, which has never existed in the city of Berkeley. The only UC Berkeley student to ever hold a seat on the City Council was current State Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, who served from 1984 to 1992.

The plans were made possible by the passage of Measure R last November, which amended the existing city charter to eliminate the 1986 boundary lines and adjusted the district boundaries to reflect the city’s updated population.

According to ASUC External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai, a student district would allow students a say in major city issues like safety, economic development and other issues that impact students and residents equally.
“I think we would benefit from more voices of young people,” said Councilmember Jesse Arreguin last night. “It accomplishes the goal but keeps a lot of major neighborhoods intact.”

The next public hearing, during which the City Council is slated to select a plan, will be on July 2.

Though the meeting will take place during the summer, Mecklai said the campaign plans to build a coalition of students to attend and express their support.

“We certainly took (last night) as a great victory, and it certainly feels more tangible now than it ever has,” Efron said. “(But) until we hear that they have officially adopted it, we won’t be celebrating.”

Contact Claire Chiara at cchiara@dailycal.org.

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Berkeley City Council has put forth a plan that would turn Durant Avenue and Bancroft Way into two-way streets. My first thought: THANK THE LORD. The fewer one-way streets, the better.

My second thought: I don’t even own a car. What the hell am I talking about? As one clever friend noted, one-way streets are easier on us lazy pedestrians, who only have to bother turning our necks one direction before crossing.

The logic behind this proposal is that two-way streets allow for better traffic; bus routes running up Bancroft would also increase access to campus. I would regale you with fancy numbers telling you the pros and cons of such a conversion, but traffic analysis has yet to be done on the two streets.

Berkeley Design Advocates, the design group that put forth the recommendation, says that this transformation would also be better for business. Yes, because being able to drive up Bancroft is really going to incentivize me to go to Urban Outfitters.

There are those, however, who aren’t happy with money going toward redirecting traffic flow. Councilmember Kriss Worthington strongly advocates his Telegraph ACTION plan, which was approved at last Tuesday’s meeting. It would improve lighting, visibility of parking, yada yada, to boost the Telegraph Avenue area. Side note: At the meeting on Tuesday, Worthington said the ASUC would be in charge of doing the lighting survey — that way, the city doesn’t have to pay for it. Good going, City Council. Passing off costs where you can.

Speaking of costs, Roland Peterson, executive director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, has said that he would rather the city spend money creating parklets. What are parklets, you ask? They are basically small spaces on the sidewalk where you can sit and eat, preen your pet and enjoy green things. San Francisco is apparently known for parklets. I Google-Imaged “parklets” and all I came away with was, “Damn, that is such a bougie San Franciscan thing to do.” Considering how narrow Durant and Bancroft are, I wonder how they’d fit.

It’s not just sidewalks that look narrow; the streets themselves look like they would suffer heavy congestion with traffic moving in two directions. Just imagine that intersection at Bancroft and Bowditch. It’s a nightmare as it is, and with cars going four ways, it can only get worse. Jaywalking would be nigh impossible. But hey, what do I know? I’m no civil engineer.

So, to make up for my lack of scientific knowledge, I called up a few civil engineering students. Granted, these folks haven’t done measurements and tracked the traffic around these streets, but neither has the city. We’re on the same playing field when it comes to our speculation!

Civil engineers differed in opinion depending on whether or not they drove regularly in Berkeley — those who drive thought it would help with traffic but only very slightly; those who didn’t thought it wouldn’t help much at all. I mean, imagine someone trying to parallel park on the very narrow lanes of Bancroft. Think Channing Way during move-in day — but all the time. Can anyone say “bottleneck”?

The general consensus among the civ-E kids I talked to, though, seems to be that this conversion wouldn’t be worth the money. It’s a lot of buck for little bang and much hassle. Take College Avenue, for example — that’s a popular two-way street whose traffic is horrendous.

And that’s not to mention parking, the bane of all our existences (I know you took one look at my picture, and you’re thinking of making that joke. Don’t be that person. I’ll punch you through the Internet). Berkeley City Council hasn’t made parking in this city any easier. Earlier this month, it approved a 30 percent increase in annual parking permit fees to help close a $410,108 projected deficit.

I have no good suggestions for making parking less of a pain, but I will say that if we’re gonna improve something, let’s start with that. The council has yet to approve this plan for two-way streets; discussion over this issue was never reached on Tuesday night because the council took too long on other items, including whether or not the Alameda County district attorney prosecute former president George W. Bush.

So as a lazy, law-breaking pedestrian who only wants to turn my neck in one direction, I will have to selfishly stand in opposition to anything that does not greatly benefit me. That includes this proposal for two-ways. And parklets. Those are just absurd.

Contact Lynn Yu at lyu@dailycal.org or follow her on Twitter: @lynnqyu.

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Moore, who died in Berkeley police custody on Feb. 12, became the focus of controversy during Tuesday’s council meeting. As the City Council attempted to move an item on mental health for further discussion later in the meeting, vocal protests erupted, eventually culminating in police officers forcibly removing one protester who refused to give up the floor.

Before the council meeting, protesters also held a rally in front of City Hall, holding signs stating, “We won’t forget Kayla!” and “Justice for Kayla (Xavier) Moore.”

Much of the anger in the room reflected protester frustrations about the scarcity of information regarding the case. Berkeley Police Department currently has a “press hold” on Moore’s autopsy report, and although the BPD has assured that the report will be released in the near future, the situation has resulted in strong criticism from members of the family as well as the community.

During the public comment session, two protesters ceded their speaking time to Arthur Moore, Kayla’s father, who directed most of his criticism toward Bates.

“I’m very, very disappointed that your chief of police put a hold on this case,” Arthur said to Bates. “We haven’t heard anything from your office stating that things are going to change … Nobody has said anything about my son. Nobody from your office. What I’m asking you to do is change your mind and give us some answers.”

Prior to the council meeting, much frustration was taken to the streets. On March 12, for example, about 70 protesters gathered at People’s Park and marched on Berkeley Police Department.

Though the protest was nonviolent, the anger was tangible as participants chanted slogans like “Vengeance for Kayla Moore.”

The march was soon followed by a birthday memorial for Moore, who would have turned 42 this year. The memorial also had a march with turnout similar to that of the march on Berkeley Police Department headquarters.

The council meeting, however, was not all emotional pleas and outbursts. Moore’s sister, Maria, proposed that the city have a mental health awareness month.

“What the city needs is more mental health services,” Maria said. “Let’s allocate those funds that would hire more cops to mental health services.”

The heated discussion on mental health and Moore’s death cooled down after the forced removal of one of the protesters. Councilmember Kriss Worthington emphasized that the council must focus on helping move the Berkeley community past this issue and toward a healing process.

Gladys Rosario covers academics and administration. Contact her at grosario@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @gladysrosario93.

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Restaurant owners voiced concerns that if the quota were relaxed, other restaurants would enter an already competitive environment, which would hurt their businesses. Multiple restaurant owners, including those of Gypsy’s Trattoria Italiana and Pappy’s Grill and Sports Bar, spoke at the meeting in opposition to removing the system.

“I strongly disagree with the proposal,” said Jahanshah Jowharchi, owner of Gypsy’s. “Our restaurant has suffered tremendously in the last two years … Many of us are going out of business due to overpopulation of restaurants.”

Currently, the city has quotas limiting the number of businesses, such as restaurants, barber shops and gift shops, that operate in the Telegraph commercial area. The proposal, if approved, would relax the restaurant quota system for the next three years.

Alex Popov, manager of Pappy’s, initiated a petition against removing the quota system. He also created the Telegraph Restaurant Association last week to voice the sentiments of local restaurant owners.

Thai Basil, CREAM and La Burrita are among 34 local restaurants that have signed the petition in favor of keeping the quotas.

“When I explained to (business owners) the issue, especially to those who are mom and pops, they said, ‘How are we going to survive if this passes?’” Popov said. “(Even) talking to nonfood businesses — they are concerned.”

Yet other business owners, such as Craig Becker of Caffe Mediterraneum — who is also president of the Telegraph Business Improvement District — think the quotas have done more harm than good.

“I think the government has a big role in making any commercial district successful, but I just don’t think that the quotas are the right way to go about it,” Becker said.

Due to time constraints, the council did not debate the restaurant quota matter and decided not to approve it at this time.

“If they would have taken a vote last night, we would have prevailed,” Popov said. “The fact that we didn’t get everything done in one meeting is not that big of a deal, but as long as we’re continuing to have Telegraph in the spotlight … It might take a long time, but as long as we’re looking at ways to improve the business district.”

The City Council voted, in one motion, to adopt of a number of the other items pertaining to Telegraph, such as looking into the financial impact of converting Bancroft Way and Durant Avenue into two-way streets and of creating parklets.

Gladys Rosario covers academics and administration. Contact her at grosario@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @gladysrosario93.

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Six groups presented the council with seven different plans for redistricting, one of which was made by the Berkeley Student District Campaign in an attempt to create a student supermajority district. UC Berkeley junior and current redistricting director Noah Efron, senior Michael Manset and junior and ASUC External Affairs Vice President-elect Safeena Mecklai all presented for the BSDC.

Representatives of the BSDC said in the meeting that because the student community is currently divided into four districts, it is difficult for students to have their voices heard on the council. A student supermajority district would allow students to be represented on City Council.

“Twenty-five percent of Berkeley residents are students and they are not represented,”  Manset said during his presentation. “By creating a student district, students will have an institutionalized seat on the council to represent them. Our plan has District 7 remain the student district but increase in size so that 86 percent of students live in the district.”

Mecklai said that if having a student council member is not possible, the council member elected should understand student issues and be in tune with issues in student life.

“If the student community is condensed to one district, students will have more of a voice on the council,” Efron said. “The student community should be seen as a community of interest because while crime has decreased in other districts, in the student community crime has remained the same.

UC Berkeley alumnus Alfred Twu also submitted a redistricting plan and said that a student district should be made so that students could have a voice on the council.  However, Sherry Smith, president of the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville, said that other communities and neighborhoods should also be considered when redistricting rather than just the student community.

“I can see why students would want a student district because then they would have an impact on the council and the council member elected by them would be responsive to their needs,” Smith said. “However, there are other communities of interest, such as the West Berkeley neighborhood, that should be considered. So what the council must do is weigh all the submitted plans out and possibly merge some together to achieve what is best for the city of Berkeley.”

Berkeley City Council will meet again on May 7 to vote on a redistricting plan and will begin to modify and change the plan once it is chosen.

Contact Seif Abdelghaffar at sabdelghaffar@dailycal.org.

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Currently, the city has quotas in place limiting the number of each type of business — such as restaurants, barbershops and gift shops — that can operate in the Telegraph Avenue commercial area.

Thirty-four local restaurants, including Gypsy’s Trattoria Italiana, C.R.E.A.M. and La Burrita, have signed a petition opposed to relaxing these quotas for three years.

Alex Popov, manager of Pappy’s Grill and Sports Bar, created the petition and the Telegraph Restaurant Association to organize the thoughts and concerns of local restaurant owners.

“We’re concerned with the general appeal of (Telegraph Avenue),” Popov said. “We don’t want (visitors) to think of Telegraph Avenue as just a place to go when they’re hungry.”

The current city quotas specify that 19 carry-out and 30 quick-service restaurants may operate in the area, yet the petition counted 72 carry-out and quick-service restaurants in operation.

Some restaurant owners said there are too many restaurants operating in the Telegraph area and that they desire more retail diversity. According to Popov, 17 of the 18 stores on Center Street in Berkeley are restaurants.

City Council members will discuss the quota issue in a meeting Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Gladys Rosario covers academics and administration. Contact her at grosario@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @gladysrosario93.

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If the plan is approved, the city manager will draw up a list of costs for traffic analysis, traffic control methods and construction for the conversion of the two streets.

Benefits of the conversion would include a safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists, less traffic due to reduced vehicle speeds and more convenient access to the campus due to the relocation of bus traffic to Bancroft, proponents say.

We’re trying to follow best practices,” said Berkeley Design Advocates President Anthony Bruzzone. “Current best practices suggest that two-way streets are better for traffic and better for business.”

The proposal is one of many improvements to Telegraph Avenue’s current design suggested by Berkeley Design Advocates, a volunteer group of architects and urban planners. Other proposed improvements include extended sidewalks, improved street lighting and more interaction between retail and entertainment spaces.

The campus currently supports the proposal because it has the potential to improve safety, said Christine Shaff, communications director for UC Berkeley’s Facilities Services.

City Councilmember Kriss Worthington, however, has introduced a separate list of his own goals.

His proposal, called the Telegraph ACTION Plan, includes improvements like outdoor merchandise tables for retail stores, increased visibility of parking and a monthly music festival, all of which, he estimates, would cost $50,500.

While the financial impact of the project has yet to be calculated, Worthington has said his 12-item plan may cost less than the two-way street proposal.

“The focus on two-way streets and sending all that money at the expense of not doing these things is very problematic,” Worthington said. “I would say that these are more important and more time-sensitive than which way the cars are going.”

The Telegraph Business Improvement District also opposes the conversion of the two streets, said Executive Director Roland Peterson, and would rather see other improvements, like creating parklets — small parking spot-sized spaces for recreation and beautification —  which will also be discussed at Tuesday’s meeting.

“We’re very intrigued, but we need to flesh out more about parklets,” Peterson said. “We’re very much interested in possible redesigns of the street in ways that make it better for pedestrians and traffic.”

For those who walk or drive down Bancroft and Durant daily, the change would have mixed results.

“As a driver, two-way streets do have their conveniences,” said senior Amanda Garcia, who has been driving in Berkeley for several months. “As a student, though, one-way streets are kind of convenient. It’s easier to cross. I can see this being a positive change, though.”

Megan Messerly covers city government. Contact her at mmesserly@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @meganmesserly.

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Hmm. That doesn’t sound nearly as impressive or hilarious coming from me.

Given that Berkeley City Council is on spring recess right now, I thought I’d take the time to write about the 10th member of the City Council — the general public.

Some public commenters, the ones who go once to plead their displeasure over X or Y agenda item pertaining to their business, property or what have you, are sane.

The regulars, however, open with something like this column’s first line. They do things like question marriage conspiracies, complain about drones, rant about the government, fascism, the police state and Cal students. Commenters have also been known to bring animals to meetings, the most famous being Sling Shot Hip Hop the bunny.

Meetings have broken out into musical numbers at the prodding of a singing public commenter, and somehow, the entire Crowd knows the lyrics to join in. Granted, it’s the same lyrics over and over again, but then you hear the Crowd turn what is a simple musical melody into a three-part harmony, and you realize that “Glee” isn’t fiction.

A recurring theme for public commenters is “the government is evil.” The most recent manifestations of this theme are comments about how drones are the worst thing ever. Council rejected a proposal demanding Berkeley be a No Drone Zone last December. That hasn’t stopped public commenters from coming and informing us that drones are capable of peeking into our living rooms and spying on us through our curtains and blinds.

Right. Because if the American government truly wanted to track any of us down, it would need drones to do it. And because the city of Berkeley really has the resources to enforce a no fly-over zone.

The most adorable public comments occur when children come to speak to their elected officials. Berkeley starts its activists young: When Rodrigo Guzman, a 9-year-old at Jefferson Elementary, was denied re-entry into the United States after a winter break trip to Mexico, his classmates organized a campaign to bring him home.

At a council meeting last month, his classmates asked the President of the United States to do something to help, invoking Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks and their fight for civil rights. Rodrigo himself, absurdly eloquent for a 9-year-old, video-called in to say a few words at the meeting. “I am very sad of … the law that didn’t let me come back. I hope that in the future, people … (will) have the rights to come back,” he said. Jeez, this kid already knows his basic rights. When I was nine, I didn’t know my rights from my lefts.

On the flip side of the tearjerkers are what I call the Scaries. They’re not physically intimidating, but they make dramatic statements that leave you going, “Whoa, what is life?” For example, City Council was considering getting an armored truck for the city last summer. Naturally, Berkeley residents turned out in force to the meeting, decrying a “police state.”

This one woman, donning a sundress and a straw hat, shuffled up to the mic and quietly asked, “What are you afraid of?,” very melodramatically and then sat down. Goosebumps all over. I can’t even explain why it was so chilling.

But as much as I love to pop popcorn to these wildly entertaining public comment sections, there’s still something to be said about civic engagement and free speech and access to local elected officials. I’m just not the one to say that something.

Instead, I will leave you with an example of an exaggerated public comment so that if you choose to give one, you have a guide for leaving an impression. Here goes: “Hello, I am here to speak about DRONES. As a longtime Berkeley resident, this city stands for ideals and green things. My grammar is not making sense right now and neither am I, but that is OK because I am SO ANGRY. Why would you put a project/development/store on this corner? It’s blocking my sunshine!”

Now the mayor will thank you for your time. Refuse to take your seat. Ask someone to yield time so you can speak for two more minutes. (Don’t even get me started on time-yielding. That inefficient process deserves a column in and of itself.)

Or, if you’re feeling particularly Berkeley, burst into song. I’m sure the Crowd will somehow magically know the lyrics and maybe even supply you with a soprano and bass line for accompaniment.

Contact Lynn Yu at lyu@dailycal.org or follow her on Twitter: @lynnqyu.

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Originally, the Compassionate Sidewalks Plan involved establishing both a subcommittee with four council members and a community group to analyze causes of homelessness, existing homeless programs and funding sources. At the council meeting Tuesday, Arreguin decided to move forward with only the community working group instead.

“Based on the concerns that have been raised regarding costs and staffing, I think it may be best to allow the community process to proceed, and then we can … form our own subcommittee to look at the ideas that have been put forward,” Arreguin said.

The community group will develop recommendations for the council for a number of issues in the city regarding homelessness, such as ways to improve services and create more housing opportunities.

Although the city currently spends about $8 million on homeless services, Berkeley has a homeless population of 824, according to a city report.

At the council’s special work session Tuesday, city staff members and Elaine de Coligny, executive director of EveryOne Home, an organization that conducts homeless counts, emphasized challenges that the community group should target, such as limited resources with staffing.

For instance, the city’s Housing and Community Services Department staff has decreased by 40 percent over the last five years, and its homeless outreach team has dwindled to one staff person, said Jane Micallef, director of Housing and Community Services, at the meeting.

Moreover, staff members highlighted the need for permanent housing and a more centralized system so the homeless do not have to go randomly from one agency to another without actually addressing their problems.

“The current system here in Berkeley and throughout the county is not a coordinated intake,” de Coligny said. “There’s a lot of randomness. There’s a lot of luck and a lot of bad luck.”

Council members raised concerns regarding how to help those who voluntarily live on the streets and how to provide more concrete data about the demographics of homelessness.

“Doing (a homeless count) once every four years is not enough, and we need to know more about the population we’re trying to serve,” said Councilmember Gordon Wozniak. “This problem is always talked about in vague sort of terms … it needs continuous attention.”

While supportive of this effort to address homelessness, Roland Peterson, executive director of the Telegraph Business Improvement District, believes the council should also consider how to address inappropriate street behavior as a separate issue.

According to Anthony Sanchez, legislative aide to Arreguin, council members will start identifying stakeholders interested in addressing homelessness over the next several weeks.

“We do have to become more efficient with what little we have,” said Councilmember Linda Maio

Daphne Chen is the lead city government reporter. Contact her at daphnechen@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @dchen_dc.

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To current students: I was one of the dozens of candidates who walked you to class and did my best to share my vision for our campus. I know many of you would have preferred to make a zip line straight home, but I don’t apologize and neither should the other candidates.

When it comes time to vote, you have a serious choice to make. I have endorsed the Student Action executive slate because I firmly believe in the party’s mission of representing every student, every year and because its record of accomplishment impressed me. From the AC Transit bus pass to a 24-hour SLC to the $223 million Lower Sproul redevelopment project, Student Action elected officials have consistently delivered for students.
During this election season, we should be asking the question: Why does the ASUC matter? It’s a question I’m prepared to answer because of my experiences.

As external vice president, I was charged with representing students to the local, state and federal levels of government at a critical time for public higher education. Working with students across the state, we designed “Fund the UC,” a multi-year campaign implemented on every UC campus to seek new revenues for public higher education and ultimately reform Proposition 13.
The same coalition of students successfully prevented the UC Board of Regents from passing an automatic trigger cut of $100 million, which would have been yet another devastating blow to Cal students.

And when the regents abruptly canceled their meeting in October 2011, we rerouted our buses to Sacramento and, in just 48 hours, planned a press conference on The Capitol Steps featuring more than 100 UC students, senior administrators, and both student regents. Simply put, the ASUC is a major player in the ongoing fight for a more accessible and affordable public education.

At the local level, we found that the city’s redistricting rules protected a set of boundaries implemented more than 25 years ago that were drawn to dilute the student voice. In response, we placed historic charter reform on the November 2012 ballot, led a successful campaign to pass Measure R citywide, and are well on our way to establishing a student supermajority city council district. When we set out, no one said it was possible but of the seven maps recently submitted to the Berkeley city council for consideration, five include a student district. The ASUC is responsible for making sure that students, who make up a quarter of the city, have a formal seat at the table.

And because of a memorandum we negotiated with administrators, we increased our capacity to register voters and in 2012, registered over 8,500 students.

It’s easy to blame the regents or administrators for the disinvestment in public education. It’s easy to accept the status quo in our city and hope the City Council will be responsive to our unique needs. I chose Student Action — and I care about the ASUC — because we recognize that getting involved politically can have real consequences and that, while protesting can make a difference, we are set on producing systemic change.

The ASUC is also important because it provides a critical space for students to learn about themselves and one another. Many of my most fascinating learning experiences happened on the senate floor, not in a classroom. That’s where I had frank conversations about race and ethnicity, privilege and opportunity. I can’t walk into a room anywhere and not immediately notice its diversity — or lack thereof — of its occupants, and that’s a good thing. The ASUC facilitates these life-changing conversations.

I’m the first to admit the ASUC is not perfect. It’s simply too partisan and unfortunately is divided more by constituency than ideology. All parties must work harder to understand where their counterparts are coming from and realize that, while our tactics might differ, our goals are often the same. ASUC officials should focus more on embracing new allies than instigating unnecessary contention. I didn’t always agree with the nineteen others who served on Senate with me, but am forever grateful to them for inviting me into their communities, challenging me, and inspiring me to work even harder for all students.

The ASUC must also do a better job communicating with students. If we reach the point at which students by and large understand the ASUC, elections can focus more on issues, not on how many Facebook friends a candidate has.

I hope it’s evident that my critiques come from a place of deep admiration for this institution and a desire to see it become even stronger. The takeaway is not that the ASUC is flawed but rather that it is able to make a real difference in our lives as Cal students. As voting takes place from April 9-11, please take a moment to think about the impact the ASUC has on your life, and vote for the candidates you know will best represent you next year.

Joey Freeman is a former ASUC external affairs vice president and senator with the Student Action party.

Contact the opinion desk at opinion@dailycal.org.

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