It has been an absolute pleasure and privilege serving as your District 4 Councilmember for these last seven years. I am deeply appreciative of our community and the work and leadership of the City’s front-line employees and my stellar legislative staff Chris Naso and Sara Cerami. The love and support for each other that I…

The fossil fuel industry—led by natural gas, may have won a pyrrhic battle in court, but according to their own words, they are rapidly losing their business model to the electrification and building decarbonization movements. At a critical time in the history of the climate movement with unsustainable inaction at state and federal levels, Berkeley’s…

To Chancellor Carol Christ: I am writing this open letter to you in my individual capacity as a Councilmember because I understand that U.C. plans to use significant police force to secure People’s Park in the coming days. This significant action would occur prior to, and pre-judge, the California Supreme Court’s review of its decision…

Yesterday, the Council met in a special meeting to discuss the Southside Plan. In response to protesters who disrupted the meeting to advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza, the Council recessed and resumed the meeting only allowing public comment on Zoom. Defined as special meeting, there was also not an opportunity for 10 public commenters…

I was stunned to learn at the same time as the public of allegations that an off-duty Berkeley Police Officer used violence and racism to harm and intimidate a community member in Antioch earlier this year. City Management appears to have been informed about the alleged incident as early as February, 2023. Now an audio…

I am extremely troubled that the City Manager’s Office, who is in charge of the very police department under scrutiny, is releasing details from the independent investigation by telling the media that there were no arrest quotas nor departmental practices of racial bias. The City’s public information officer, who works for the City Manager, told…

Thank you all for your robust and passionate public comment at this week’s Council meeting on police accountability and, in particular, the role of the Police Accountability Board (PAB). Our PAB, whose independence from the City Manager is enshrined in our Charter, asked in November, 2022 and again this April that we delay the appointment…

In a time when the habitability of the planet hangs in the balance, I’m disappointed that a panel of the Ninth Circuit endorsed such a radical theory.  I intend to ask our City Attorney to continue fighting this case, including asking for a rehearing en banc before a larger panel of Ninth Circuit judges. The…