The Berkeley City Council held a regular hybrid meeting on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, starting at 6:00 PM. The meeting included proclamations, a unanimous consent calendar, and a contentious action item concerning police accountability. The council also approved an urgent item and heard extensive public testimony on a range of topics including Holocaust remembrance, police oversight, and park improvements.
The council voted unanimously (9-0) to approve the consent calendar, which included the following items:
Additionally, an urgent item (Kala Art Institute 2025 Relinquishment) was added to the agenda by a unanimous vote and approved as part of the consent calendar.
Public comment was taken on both non-agenda matters and consent/information items. Key themes included:
The main discussion focused on Items 11A and 11B, taken together as a single action item:
Item 11A (PAB Report): The Police Accountability Board and ODPA presented their investigation into BPD Downtown Task Force texting offenses, recommending: (1) affirm PAB access to documents, (2) adopt a resolution ensuring accountability for misconduct, (3) create a public repository for sustained allegations, and (4) call on state legislators to extend the arrest quota prohibition beyond vehicle code. The Public Safety Policy Committee had given a negative recommendation.
Item 11B (Councilmember Blackaby): Blackaby's resolution affirmed support for BPD, acknowledged the PAB’s work, condemned racism and misconduct, opposed arrest quotas, and asked the legislature to expand the quota prohibition.
Council debate revealed disagreements over whether existing state law (Vehicle Code §§41600–41603) already prohibits all arrest quotas. The city attorney clarified it applies only to vehicle code citations, not all arrests. The chief stated the department interprets it broadly. Multiple councilmembers (Bartlett, Taplin, Tregub, O'Keefe, Humbert) supported the substitute resolution, arguing it captured the actionable items and respected the ongoing meet-and-confer process. Councilmember Lunaparra expressed concern that the resolution did not go far enough and voted against.
The final motion (to accept the PAB report with thanks and adopt Resolution 11B) passed 8-1 (Lunaparra dissenting).
Okay, Mary, we can uh we can start. Okay, I'm sorry, everybody, but our microphone system is still not working. So we're gonna we're gonna begin the meeting, and we're gonna do our absolute best to this owl situation here. So we'll have you online. Oh, we can use the mic for now. Okay. Just our mic. Is it gonna be echoey on the zoom? Nope, we're good. Okay, good. Okay, all right. Well, that saves me uh some yelling. So, yay, yeah, class for that. All right. Thank you so much to everyone for your patience again. Um, I am going to call to order the Berkeley City Council meeting. Today is Tuesday, April 15th, 2025. And we are going to start with the role. Okay, Councilmember Keserwani. Here. Kaplan present. Bartlett is currently absent. Trago present. O'Keefe here. Black B here. Luna Para. Humbert here. And Mayor Ishii. Here. Okay. Okay, thank you very much. Um, we are, this is actually our first meeting of the month after our spring recess. Um, and we have the land acknowledgement that we read at the beginning of each first meeting of the month. And this this month is Councilmember O'Keefe. And so she will read for us the land acknowledgement. Oh, that's not it. Here it is. Okay. Into the working microphone. The city of Berkeley recognizes that the community we live in was built on the territory of Huchun, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chechenyo speaking Ohlone 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 Aloney tribes and descendants of the Verona Band. 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 Allone people who continue to reside in the East Bay. We recognize that Berkeley's resident residents have and continue to 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 laws regulating the city of Berkeley, it is not only vital that we recognize the history of this land, but also recognize that the Ohlone people are present members of Berkeley and other East Bay communities today. Thank you very much, Councilmember O'Keefe. The City Council also met in closed session and authorized the city attorney to settle a claim for real property transfer tax overpayment in the matter of DS properties 17 LP, V City of Berkeley et al. Alamina County Superior Court case number 23 C V038353 in the amount of 250,000 in exchange for dismissal of the case and a release of all claims against the city. Apologies. Sonny, would you like to come up to the podium? Okay, so um commemorating April 24th, 2025 as Berkeley Holocaust Remembrance Day, whereas the Holocaust was a crime of shocking inhumanity, targeting for persecution and death six million Jews, as well as the Roma and Sinti people, those with mental illness and physical disabilities, members of the queer community, Slavs, Poles, and members of anti-Nazi networks from throughout Europe, and whereas Holocaust Remembrance Day serves as an imperative reminder of the appalling crimes and atrocities of the Holocaust, so that we may keep them in our memory and continue to condemn them for generations to come.