The appeal was signed and mailed at the same Downtown Berkeley post office slated for sale at a ceremony attended by more than 30 people. The U.S. Postal Service recently approved relocating its Downtown Berkeley space as part of a nationwide effort to cut costs and consolidate offices.

“We’re not going gently,” Bates said. “We’re asking Congress to have a moratorium on all post office sales.”

The letter, sent to the Postal Service vice president of facilities, stands in allegiance with various Berkeley community members. Residents have contested the Postal Service’s intent to sell since its announcement last June.

“(The letter) is a small step but a unified effort,” said Berkeley resident Claudia Smukler. “It’s good to see Berkeley and local representatives unanimous.

Members of the local committee Save the Post the Berkeley Post Office also reiterated how the sale is part of attempts to privatize public services across the nation.

“This is the heart of Berkeley and the center of civic life,” said Harvey Smith, president of Save the Berkeley Post Office. “During the New Deal, they built the post office among a community theatre and a credit building that is now City Hall. In the depth of the  Depression, the government put people to work, and now, they are doing just the opposite.”

Bates said the Berkeley community will continue rallying against the sale even after the Postal Service’s 15-day appeals period. At the signing, Save the Berkeley Post Office members said they have planned a rally for May 7 and are preparing to file lawsuits under the National Historic Preservation Act in an effort to stop the sale.

 “(The letter) is a good beginning for phase two, because we will be fighting and fighting,” said Sally Nelson, a member of Save the Berkeley Post Office.

Alyssa Neumann covers city government. Contact her at aneumann@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @AlyNeumann.

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A little history: District Elections were instituted in 1986 to end citywide elections for all council seats. It was a measure put forth by the conservative hills residents against the monopoly the much more progressive flatlands of the city exercised. For several elections in a row, a progressive coalition had been given every seat on Berkeley City Council, and the proposal was put forth under the banner of fairness and neighborhood common interest.

The mayor at the time was Loni Hancock, who is now our Californiastate senator.

Cut to 25 years later. Hancock and her husband and current city of Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates have almost completely gamed the district elections system and now run a political machine that controls virtually every aspect of political life in Berkeley and throughout much of the East Bay in the Bay Area.

This is a consolidation election for the Bates machine, and it has lots of irons in the fire. Bates’ greatest irritants have been the council members from the two districts with almost all of UC Berkeley’s students, District 7 — which is represented by Councilmember Kriss Worthington, southside of campus — and District 4 — which is represented by Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, Downtown and west. These are the most progressive council members. Try as Bates might, progressives have resisted firmly, and the liberal student-heavy districts keep electing them.

So here comes Measure R. In the deceptive arguments they repeat as often as they can, the machine politicians touting R insist that it will enable the council to divide the city into districts that respect geographical boundaries, neighborhoods and other communities of interest — code for making a so-called student-majority district — as defined by state law. First, let’s get rid of the complete bullshit. State law doesn’t have anything to do with any of those words. But the most important deception is that any of these democratic-sounding priorities will be enforced by the law, which actually says that the council “shall consider topography, cohesiveness,” etc. Wonderful-sounding things.

Beside that sentence, the rest of the measure simply deletes the boundary lines for council districts that had been carefully written, street by street, into the law in order to prevent future councils, just like this one, from manipulating the boundaries for political purposes. Measure R doesn’t change district lines. It just changes who gets to draw district lines. You can rest assured that, if the charter is changed, this council shall consider all the things it’s supposed to consider. Then it will draw the district lines however it feels like.

Bottom line: If the council really wanted to draw a student district, or any new set of boundary lines untethered to the lines now in the charter in order to update a system they like to characterize as “outdated and unfair,” all they had to do was to give us a charter amendment that replaces the existing lines with the new lines they propose.
Instead, this amendment takes the right to vote on how to cut the city up away from the voters. It puts it solely into the City Council’s hands, without any guarantee of even actually making a student district, much less what kind of student district they’d make.

That’s the way political machines like it. All power, no responsibility.

In the best of worlds, the so-called redistricting measure should have gotten the ballot letter it really deserves: “G” for Gerrymander. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, a wise religious writer and historian named Lord John Dalberg-Acton warned a century and a half ago. The progress of democracy lies in preventing the consolidation of authority exemplified by exercises in manipulation like Measure R.

Dave Blake is the vice-chair of the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board and a former chair of the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board.

Contact the opinion desk at opinion@dailycal.org.

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The panelists — Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, Palo Alto Mayor Sid Espinosa,  Rohnert Park Mayor Gina Belforte, Sonoma State University President Ruben Arminana, San Francisco State University President Robert Corrigan and UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau — agreed that although California cities and universities have come far in their partnership efforts, much more should be done on the state level.

The conference is a two-day event for college and city representatives from throughout the state to meet to discuss strategies for dealing with current and potential obstacles.

Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge, who moderated Friday’s panel, started the Town & Gown conference six years ago with Bates, at a time Loveridge referred to as a contentious period between cities and universities.

“It’s important to have mayors, chancellors and presidents talking to one another and working together,” Loveridge said at the panel. “We need to discuss how we can educate together.”

Bates said cities must embrace relationships with universities rather than be concerned by the influx of young people.

The panelists spoke of their proudest examples of mutual effort, their current efforts and hopes regarding connections for economic growth and job creation and their ideas on how to promote joint advocacy. They agreed that not enough has been done to lobby Sacramento for support for education and job growth.

“We lack ability even to threaten punishment to the people who get elected on promises,” Arminana said.

Arminana added that both city and university officials in Rohnert Park — where his university is located — have traveled together to Sacramento and Washington D.C. “to show that there is a symbiotic relationship between the university and the city.”

Bates — who was asked to end the panel with a few words on what can be done to advocate for university and city rights — said change will only come if the state legislature passes a majority vote to raise taxes and fees. He encouraged university leaders to work together to lobby legislators for such a change.

“Community colleges, state universities and UCs need to say enough is enough and politically organize,” he said.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPQGczUPITg&w=560&h=315]

Sarah Mohamed is the lead city government reporter.

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