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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The plans propose a student district encompassing not only the entire UC Berkeley campus but also popular student cooperatives, apartments and fraternity and sorority houses.

“We tried to pack as many substudent groups into the district as possible, including the Greek organizations, campus dorms and off-campus housing,” said Noah Efron, the ASUC’s redistricting director.

A student has not been elected to the City Council since Nancy Skinner was a member of it from 1984 to 1992.

“Our goal is not to exactly have a student on the City Council but an elected official who responds to student issues,” Efron said. “Also, graduate students who stay here longer can feasibly serve on the council for an entire term.”

This proposal is possible because Measure R, which passed last November, 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 Shahryar Abbasi, this district is overdue for the students who constitute 25 percent of the city’s population.

“Voters clearly understand the importance of students to the city and its economic development,” Abbasi said. ”Students have a voice on many of the issues that the city government must address, from lighting to affordable housing to safety to tenants’ rights.”

Some members of the city government said they are also in agreement on the importance of student representation in policy discussions.

“Students are vital to the city, as they are the economic drivers of today, the innovators and job creators of tomorrow,” said Mayor Tom Bates. “(Students) are instrumental to the city’s economic and cultural life.”

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin felt similarly, emphasizing the council’s need for a younger perspective.

“I’m the only person under 50 on the council,” Arreguin said. “We absolutely need students, who have traditionally been at the forefront of pushing changes to the city government, to bring unique, innovative ideas.”

Arreguin also expressed support for the ASUC’s planned district boundaries.

“I think it’s a very smart map — it doesn’t divide any student neighborhoods and respects the existing district boundaries that have been there for 25 years,” he said.

The City Council is not required to select any single proposal but may create a hybrid version that combines multiple plans. The proposals will then be presented to the council for discussion at two public hearings, currently set for May 7 and July 2.

Contact Jason Liu at jliu@dailycal.org.

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The post Proposition 30 rally on Sproul appeared first on The Daily Californian.

As local and statewide campaigns head into the final stretch Tuesday, one place undecided voters can turn to for guidance on contentious propositions and ballot measures is the endorsements of local groups and officials — but not always, for controversial election issues.

A California Democratic Party pamphlet sent to voters by mail featured endorsements on local to national issues, including a list of opinions on Berkeley ballot measures. However, the pamphlet remained mum on the contentious ballot Measure S — which would prohibit sitting on sidewalks in Berkeley’s commercial districts from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Berkeley City Councilmember Linda Maio also shied from an official endorsement on Measure S, referring to the ordinance as “a personal decision” on her Facebook page. She listed her other election choices in the same post.

“S is a personal choice,” Maio said in an email. “It is one that people have to make for themselves.”

City Councilmembers Max Anderson, Jesse Arreguín, and Kriss Worthington have all endorsed the “No on S” campaign and Councilmembers Susan Wengraf, Laurie Capitelli, Gordon Wozniak and Mayor Tom Bates have spoken out in favor of the ballot measure.

Assemblymember Nancy Skinner urged voters to make their own choices instead of sharing official endorsements on two particular state issues. She encouraged voters to do more research on Propositions 35 — a measure to tighten punishments of sex traffickers — and Proposition 37, an initiative to require labelling of genetically modified foods in California. Skinner said she supports both propositions personally.

The California Democratic Party supports Prop. 35 and 37, but claimed neutrality on Proposition 39, which would increase the income tax on out-of-state businesses. The California Republican Party does not support the initiative.

Election day will ultimately reveal voters’ choices on issues of national, statewide and local importance — with or without the help of official endorsements.

Contact Libby Rainey at lrainey@dailycal.org.

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UC Berkeley students regularly have the opportunity to connect with Nancy Skinner, who represents the city in the state Assembly.

She’s very involved with her district, and frequently visits campus for discussions that let students voice their thoughts directly to their representative.

But while Skinner has vocalized the need to protect higher education funding, as seen through her support of Proposition 30, she must do more in another term to fight for that ideal. Skinner’s district includes the best public university in the nation — and its quality is threatened now more than ever. She must take more action to defend and protect it from further cuts and poor legislation.

Still, Skinner has been a useful and responsive Assembly member in most areas. She has earned another term. Vote for Nancy Skinner for state Assembly in District 15.

Loni Hancock
State Senate District 9

Loni Hancock has learned how to be an effective advocate for the best interests of all Californians. That understanding is reflected in legislation she has authored, proving that she can affect tangible change.

Hancock had a hand in an impressive array of bills that were signed into law in 2011 alone, including legislation that makes Internet retailers collect and remit sales tax and a bill to update science standards in K-12 education. Due to another bill she authored, the Doctors Medical Center in West Contra Costa County remained open — a victory that provides a necessary resource to an underserved community. Hancock is a notable leader on environmental issues as well, which she demonstrates through her involvement with the Environmental Quality Committee.

Vote Loni Hancock for California State Senate in District 9.

The post Election 2012 Endorsements: State candidates appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The forum, which was co-sponsored by the ASUC and the Graduate Assembly, featured representatives from political organizations who argued both for and against the proposition. The measure proposes to temporarily increase both the income tax on the wealthiest Californians and the state sales tax. If voters fail to approve the measure, $250 million will be slashed from the university system’s budget for the current fiscal year, and students could see a 20.3 percent tuition increase.

At the forum, State Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, argued in favor of Prop. 30, saying that it will help balance the state budget.

“It is an initiative that asks everyone in California to pay their fair share so that we can avoid these cuts to education, and we can ensure funding to local public safety,” Skinner said at the forum. “In terms of UC it would ensure that the fee increase that was frozen would not go into effect because we would have the revenue to be able to compensate UC the $125 million we promised.”

Conversely, Sue Caro, chairwoman of the Alameda County Republican Party, insisted that state legislators make education funding a priority, rather than hinge its finances on a ballot measure.

“While the high-speed rail project may be on track, the state is running off the rails,” said Caro. “(Education) shouldn’t be at the bottom of the lists and getting leftovers.”

Event organizers said the forum was held to urge eligible voters to vote at the Nov. 6 election.

“I just want to see Californians making a commitment to invest in the state,” said Angelica Salceda, external affairs vice president for the Graduate Assembly. “I hope everyone votes.”

Contact Mitchell Handler at mhandler@dailycal.org.

The post ASUC, Graduate Assembly host community forum on Prop. 30 appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The information came via an anonymous email sent at 12:53 p.m. to the campus’s anonymous tip line claiming the sender had overhead a conversation indicating a threat, according to a campuswide email from UCPD spokesperson Capt. Margo Bennett. The email to the tip line did not provide any additional details about the threat, according to Bennett.

UCPD is currently taking steps to determine the validity of the threat and is conducting searches in the most accessible and vulnerable areas of the campus, Bennett said in the email. By around 3:30pm, officers had already searched more than one-third of campus buildings and found no indication of a bomb, according to Bennett.

“Looking at historical data provided by the FBI, the vast majority of bomb threats made are unsubstantiated,” Bennett said.

The campus administration sent out a CALmessages email warning the campus community of the threat at around 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

In a campus-wide email sent Wednesday morning, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance John Wilton said UCPD completed searches of the main and Clark Kerr campuses — as well as UC properties adjacent to the campus — and recommends that all campus operations return to normal status.

Chloe Hunt covers crime. Contact her at cthunt@dailycal.org.

The post Campus receives anonymous bomb threat appeared first on The Daily Californian.

“It’s really frustrating and disheartening that it took this long to get someone, a Latino, on the City Council,” Arreguin, a 2007 UC Berkeley alumnus, said.

Despite the appointment of Arreguin four years ago, the council may not change drastically in terms of its demographics with the Nov. 6 election, now less than two weeks away. Still, the council could see new female faces if council candidates Sophie Hahn and Denisha DeLane and mayoral candidate Jacquelyn McCormick are elected.

The demographics of the City Council — which is made up of one mayor and eight council members representing their respective districts — have rarely varied over the years, despite periodic fluctuations in Berkeley’s ethnic identity. Currently, there are two African Americans and one Latino serving on the predominantly white council this year.

Over the last 30 years, the population of Latinos in Berkeley has increased from 5,117 to 12,209, and the population of Asians and Pacific Islanders has increased from 10,311 to 21,876, according to Bay Area Census data from 1980 to 2010. The total population in Berkeley, according to the 2010 census, is 112,580.

Despite the increasing Asian American population, Councilmember Ying Lee Kelley was the last Asian American to sit on the council, doing so in 1973.

“(We need to) elect new leaders,” McCormick said. “That’s the only way we are going to get a demographic change to the council … this is a dynasty. It’s been going on too long — that’s the reason we’re stuck.”

Failure to diversify?
According to mayoral candidate and Councilmember Kriss Worthington, a large part of the lack of council diversity lies in the “failure” to appoint a diverse range of people to commissions. Working on a commission provides a greater likelihood of gaining the experience and exposure needed to run for City Council, he said.

“Theoretically, any district can elect anyone of any race,” Worthington said. “I think it’s always good to have a diversity of experience, ethnic diversity, gender diversity and income diversity. Having people who have different life experiences really enriches the conversation.”

Since the current council district lines were drawn in 1986, the seats for Districts 2 and 3 — which encompass most of West and South Berkeley — have always been held by African American councilmembers. Yet data from 1980 to 2010 show that the African American population in the city has decreased by almost half, from 20,671 to 11,241, according to the Bay Area census.

District 2 Councilmember Darryl Moore said a large majority of the African American population lives in these districts due to historical events, such as labor migrations during World War I and policies of segregation.

“As an African American, I feel I can represent the diversity of people who live in District 2, whether they are African American, white, Latino (or other ethnicities),” Moore said.

The gender issue
Having been on the council for two decades, Councilmember Linda Maio said that while she believes the council has become quite diverse in terms of ethnicity at this time, the council is not diverse in terms of gender.

Berkeley’s population is 48.9 percent male and 51.1 percent female, according to 2010 census data. As of now, however, only two females sit on the council with six male council members.

Back in 1994, the council was composed of nine females — including the mayor — which was the first and only time this has occurred in Berkeley.

“It was wonderful because nobody had talked about it or planned for it or even thought about it,” said former mayor Shirley Dean, who sat on that council. “I thought that the council got along very well.”

But Maio said even with an all-female council, members were much more divisive at the time, with some “blatantly attacking” other council members rather than focusing on the issues at hand.

“There was little effort to bring people together as it was a highly polarized environment — toxic, in fact,” she said in an email. “The nasty divisiveness is reduced significantly (now).”

How this election could impact diversity
UC Berkeley enrollment data for 2012 state that 35,899 undergraduate and graduate students attend the campus, suggesting students make up a significant presence in the city.

Yet the last time a UC Berkeley student served on the council was in 1984, when current state Assemblymember Nancy Skinner was elected as an undergraduate.

If passed in the upcoming election, Measure R will amend the existing city charter to eliminate the 1986 boundary lines so that a student may have a higher likelihood of being elected to the council. The current boundaries divide the city in such a way that it has not been possible to create a supermajority district district of UC Berkeley students since the redistricting rules were established in 1986.

“If you increase the number of students in a district, then there’s a better chance that a student would win,” Worthington said. “It doesn’t mandate it, but it possibly increases the chances. We already have a sizable student majority.”

But given the current situation, Arreguin insists the city still needs to work harder toward greater diversity in elected offices.

“(Diversity) really matters because it’s making sure the people in our community have their voices heard,” he said. “I think with district elections, with changes that are happening, hopefully we’ll start seeing more diversity.”

Daphne Chen covers city government. Contact her at daphnechen@dailycal.org.

The post Despite shifts in Berkeley’s demographics, council still mostly white and male appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Assembly Bill 2610 and Senate Bill 1474 — both authored by Berkeley’s state representatives — are part of the Homeowner Bill of Rights, an associated set of state laws aiming to respond to the foreclosure and mortgage crisis.

“(AB 2610) requires new owners of foreclosed property to respect legitimate leases — that way, renters are protected for the term of their lease,” said Assemblymember Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, author of the bill. “Under a month-to-month agreement, if the new owners try to get an eviction, you would at least have 90 days’ notice.”

Since 2009, Berkeley has seen lower rates of foreclosure and more stable property values than other parts of the state. Data collected by the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board and the Berkeley Association of Realtors imply a gradual reduction in rates of foreclosures of rental properties since the height of the statewide foreclosure crisis.

Still, foreclosure can be confusing and chaotic for renters, leaving them uncertain about who should accept their rent and how to ensure the new property owner — which may be a bank or an out-of-state investor — fulfills the obligations of a landlord.

“There’s been lots of attention paid to owner-occupants, but close to 50 percent of California’s population are renters, not homeowners,” Skinner said. “We were aware that this invisible population was being affected.”

Rent Board Commissioner Igor Tregub said a property owner is required to show good cause for evictions in Berkeley, and foreclosure does not qualify as good cause. However, if a bank or investor legally evicts a landlord in financial difficulty, tenants run the risk of being summarily evicted unless they take steps to demonstrate that they live there.

“Banks just assume (landlords) are homeowners and file an eviction suit as if they are homeowners,” said Brendan Darrow, an attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center. “If no one appears in that lawsuit to defend it, the banks will win by default, and the sheriffs will evict anyone living there.”

Many people agree that information is the key to helping tenants keep their homes in foreclosed properties. The rent board sends notices to tenants informing them of their rights as soon as a rental property becomes “distressed,” or at risk of foreclosure.

“There are two things you can do as a tenant in a foreclosed property,” Darrow said. “First, you should notify the bank’s representative that you are a resident and provide as much information as you can about your tenancy. Second, pay your rent. If they won’t tell you where to pay your rent, save it until you find out where you can pay it.”

SB 1474, authored by state Senator Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, creates a new special statewide grand jury to examine cases of widespread financial fraud with jurisdiction throughout the state. Currently, the authority of a grand jury is restricted to the county where it is impaneled, which makes it difficult and costly to prosecute wide-ranging fraud cases.

Heidi Abramson, the president of the Berkeley Association of Realtors, recalled the troubling foreclosure market and illegal evictions in Oakland during the height of the mortgage crisis.

“Basically, (new property owners) would come in and give (renters) a 30-day notice,” Abramson said. “Depending on the tenant, if they are a newly arrived immigrant, they would just move. They didn’t understand that they had any protections.”

Darrow emphasized the precarious position of a tenant in a foreclosed property, highlighting the importance of protections while elevated rates of foreclosures continue.

“It’s really important for these tenants to be protected from someone else’s mistake,” he said. “They’re not the borrower or the lender, and they bear all the cost if they’re forced out of their home.”

Contact Gautham Thomas at gthomas@dailycal.org.

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If passed, Measure R will amend the existing city charter to eliminate the 1986 boundary lines and instead use major traffic arteries, natural geography and communities of interest as boundaries to redefine Berkeley’s district lines.

Despite student efforts to create such a district in the past, the current — and controversial — boundaries divide the city in such a way that it has not been possible to create a supermajority district of UC Berkeley students since the redistricting rules were established in 1986.

The last time a UC Berkeley student served on Berkeley City Council was in 1984, when current state Assemblymember Nancy Skinner was elected.

“Students make up 25 percent of the city, yet we don’t have a voice on the City Council, so it just seems like a matter of fairness and representation … that their voices should be heard for decisions that affect everyday Berkeley residents,” said former ASUC external affairs vice president Joey Freeman.

Currently, voters in Berkeley are divided into eight council districts — each with its own elected council member who resides within that district — that comply with the 1986 district lines.

“Students have been one of my strongest support bases, and if students were taken out of my district, that would be harmful to me … but I look at it as a cause for the students in the city of Berkeley,” said Councilmember Kriss Worthington, whose district contains the majority of the campus.

But city residents have expressed concern regarding the possible limitations of public input on Berkeley’s redistricting process if the measure is passed.

“It takes away the right from the voters to vote up or down where those boundaries are drawn and gives it to the whim of the council,” said Dave Blake, vice-chair of the Rent Stabilization Board. “People have a right to speak to it.”

Additionally, Blake said the 1986 lines were drawn up in a way to specifically prevent gerrymandering, but the passage of Measure R will undo the protections drawn into the original charter.

Mayoral candidate Jacquelyn McCormick agreed with Blake and said too much power would be given to the City Council in redrawing district lines. Although she expressed her support for student involvement in city politics, she said there was no guarantee that a student district may even be formed if the measure passes.

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak — whose district also contains a large number of students — said district lines would still have to ensure equal population distribution and that no two council members may be located in the same district, he said.

“It shouldn’t be controversial,” Wozniak said. “The process is no different in terms of the existing (charter) or now … There would be a public process to vet or allow the public to submit districting plans to the council and make the decision as they do now.”

If the measure is passed, new district lines would be drawn by the next election in 2014, according to Worthington.

“Hopefully, the measure passes — then we will resubmit our map,” Freeman said.

Daphne Chen covers city government. Contact her at daphnechen@dailycal.org.

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