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…