Berkeley City Council Regular Meeting – September 10, 2024
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Berkeley City Council Regular Meeting – September 10, 2024
The Berkeley City Council met on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, from 6:00 PM to approximately 11:30 PM (meeting extended) at the School District Board Room. The meeting was held in a hybrid format. The council addressed a 37-item agenda, including consent calendar items, a public hearing on ambulance fees, and a highly contested encampment policy resolution. The meeting featured extensive public comment, with over 50 speakers on the encampment item alone.
Consent Calendar
- The council approved the consent calendar as amended, with Items 13, 25, and 27 moved to the action calendar for separate votes due to recusals (Mayor on Item 13, Councilmember Wengraf on Items 25 and 27). Item 8 (Council Rules of Procedure) was continued to the September 24 meeting. Items 31A and 31B (Panoramic Hill secondary evacuation) were adopted. All other consent items were approved unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Non-Agenda Matters: Several speakers addressed concerns about hate crimes, police response to mental health crises, lack of transparency in shelter data, and harassment of journalists during encampment sweeps. A representative from AC Transit reminded the public about the Realign public comment period.
- Consent Calendar: Speakers opposed the All-Star Talent contract for police/fire recruiting ($1.3 million) and the Mental Health Services Act update, calling for more clinician outreach and less spending on police. The Panoramic Hill evacuation item was supported.
- Item 37 – Encampment Policy: Approximately 50 speakers voiced positions. Supporters (business owners, residents, Chamber of Commerce) cited fire hazards, rodent infestations, unsafe conditions, and the need for tools to address dangerous encampments. Opponents (unhoused advocates, medical professionals, students, clergy, Peace and Justice Commission) argued the policy criminalizes homelessness, violates human rights, will lead to displacement without solving root causes, and disproportionately harms Black and LGBTQ+ individuals. Specific testimony from a street medicine provider highlighted that sweeps disrupt medical care and increase health risks. The Berkeley Homeless Union presented a formal letter threatening legal action if the policy is enacted.
- Public Hearing on Item 36 (Ambulance Fees): A few speakers questioned collection rates and criticized treatment of unhoused patients during transport.
Discussion Items
- Item 36 – Ambulance Transport Fee Increase: The council held a public hearing and adopted a resolution adjusting fees to match Alameda County’s approved schedule effective July 1, 2024. The vote was unanimous (8-0).
- Item 37 – Encampment Policy Resolution: Councilmember Kesarwani introduced the main motion, which affirms the city’s commitment to offer shelter when feasible but allows six specific exceptions for enforcement (fire hazard, health hazard, public nuisance, traffic danger, authorized work, interference with utilities) without a prior shelter offer. She proposed a floor amendment replacing “citation and arrest” with “enforcement of state and local laws” to align with Berkeley’s “care first, jails last” approach. Councilmember Hahn offered a substitute motion to direct staff to enforce existing temporary non-commercial item (TNC) policies at the two named encampments, approve the BMC changes, and refer to staff for a more nuanced policy that includes affirmative outreach commitments. The substitute motion failed (1-7, with only Bartlett voting yes). The main motion, as amended, passed 8-0. Councilmember Hahn’s friendly amendment for an off-agenda memo detailing outreach practices was accepted.
Key Outcomes
- Item 37 – Encampment Policy: Adopted (8-0) with amendments: (1) floor amendment removing explicit “citation and arrest” language, replaced with “enforcement of state and local laws”; (2) first reading of ordinance amending BMC Chapter 14.48 to authorize the City Manager to revise Administrative Regulation 10.2; (3) commitment to produce an off-agenda memo describing current outreach and shelter offer practices. The policy allows enforcement without a shelter offer in six specific, narrowly defined circumstances.
- Item 36 – Ambulance Fee Increase: Adopted (8-0).
- Consent Items: Approved as amended, with separate votes on Items 13 (Mayor recused, passed 7-0), 25 (Wengraf recused, passed 7-0), and 27 (Wengraf recused, passed 7-0). Item 8 continued to September 24.
- Items 31A & 31B – Panoramic Hill Evacuation: Adopted (8-0), directing the Fire Department to engage landowners and coordinate a feasibility study for a secondary evacuation route.
- Other Actions: The council designated a voting delegate for the League of California Cities conference, and approved numerous contracts, grants, and donations as listed on the consent calendar.
Meeting Statistics: The meeting lasted over 5 hours. Over 50 public comments were received on Item 37 alone. The city reported a 45% reduction in unsheltered homelessness since 2019, 1,500 people rehoused, and 700 shelter offers with a 44% acceptance rate (81% for non-congregate).
Meeting Transcript
Councilmember Taplin, Vice Mayor Wengraf, can you hear us? And then could we get uh unmute and make sure that we can hear your audio? Uh can you hear me now? Yes, yes, we can hear you. Councilmember Taplin, can we just make sure that we can hear you? Can you hear me now? Yes, yes, we can. Thank you. And for anyone who'd like to speak to an item not on the agenda, please fill out a speaker card because we're gonna select speakers for non-agenda matters from the drum. If you're here to speak about an item on the consent or action calendar, we will get to those items later. Yeah, all right. Good evening. Uh, we do have a quorum of the city council present. So um if people can please take their seats. Uh, we're about to begin tonight's meeting. And we are recording, correct? Yes, we are recording. Okay. Good evening. Like to call to order the regular meeting of the Berkeley City Council for Tuesday, September 10th, 2024. The first order of business is roll call. I'd like to ask the city clerk to please call the roll. Okay. Uh Councilmember Kessarwani, currently absent. Councilmember Taplin. Present. Okay, Bartlett. Present. Uh Tragum, present. Han. Present. Wengrat. Present. Munapara. Here. Umbert. Present. And Mayor Araging. Present. Okay. A quorum of the city council is present. Thank you. Moving now to the land acknowledgement statement. City of Berkeley recognizes that the community that we live on is built on the territory of Kuchun, the ancestral unceded land of the Chechenyo speaking Allone people, the ancestors and descendants of the sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. This land was and continues to be of great importance to all of the Alone tribes and descendants of the Verona Ban. As we begin our meeting tonight, we acknowledge and honor the original inhabitants of Berkeley, the documented 5,000 year history of a vibrant community at the West Berkeley Shell Mound, and the Alone people who continue to reside here in the East Bay. We recognize that Berkeley's residents have and continue to benefit from the use and occupation of this unceded stolen land since the city of Berkeley's incorporation in 1878. As stewards of the uh laws of the city of Berkeley, it is not only vital that we recognize the history of this land, but we also recognize that the Alone people are present members of the Berkeley and other East Bay communities today. The city of Berkeley will continue to build relationships with the Leishon tribe and other Loney tribes to create meaningful actions to pull the intention of this land acknowledgement. And so before I move to the next order of business, I just want to uh make a brief announcement.
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