Okay, thank you so much, everyone.

I am calling to order the Berkeley City Council meeting.

Today is Tuesday, March 24th, 2026.

It is 6.23 p.m.

Thank you all very much for your patience.

And um, oh, our clerk is on his way back.

So sorry about that, I jumped the gun, Mark.

Um, if you could please take the role when you are settled.

Recording in progress.

Taking the role for the regular meeting, Councilmember Kesserwani.

Here.

Tapman, present.

Bartlett here.

Trago.

O'Keefe.

Here.

Blackaby here.

Here.

Humbert, present and Mayor Ishii.

Here.

Okay.

Corma's present.

Okay.

All right.

I have a statement to read out first.

With respect to information item number 27 regarding the settlement between Berkeley's People Alliance and the City in Alameda County Superior Court, case number 24C V064 980, California Court of Appeals case number A17245.

The City Council hereby commits consistent with the Court of Appeals ruling to no longer invoke government code section 54957.9 as is as it is currently drafted to recess a meeting and reconvene it in a different room or otherwise relocate the meeting.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, and also to report out language for the um item number one, the city council met in closed session on March 16, 2026, pursuant to government code section 54956.9D, and provided directions to outside council and approved a settlement by compromise and release with open future medical care as to a workers' compensation matter, assigned claim number BER 2300091, and WCAB case number ADJ 17101925.

And item number two, the city council met in closed session on March 16, 2026, pursuant to government code section 5495956.9, subsection D, and provided directions to outside council and approved a settlement by compromise and release with a release of future medical care, or in the alternative by stipulations and with request for award with open future medical care.

As to a workers' compensation matter, assigned claim number BER 240044 and WCAB case number ADJ 18 18 386036.

Okay.

Thank you very much, everyone.

All right, we have two serial ceremonial matters this evening.

And I am going to start with the Holocaust Remembrance Day Proclamation.

It was requested by Councilmember Terry Taplan's office, and they are leading the coordination this year for the Holocaust Remembrance Day event.

So thank you very much for that.

Today uh the proclamation will be received by Anna Rabkin.

Anna, are you here?

I think you're here somewhere.

There you are.

Yay.

Who is our city who was our city auditor for 17 years?

So thank you very much for your service.

The actual day of Holocaust Remembrance Day is April 12th.

And also Council will allocate D13 funds for the event at tonight's council meeting.

So thank you so much, Anna, for being here with us.

Berkeley's 23rd annual Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Whereas the Holocaust was the state-sponsored systematic persecution, annihilation of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945, six million Jews were murdered.

Roma, people with disabilities, Polish people, gay men, Jehovah's Witnesses, Soviet prisoners of war, and political dissidents were likewise subjected to systematic systematic persecution, oppression, and death under Nazi tyranny.

And whereas Holocaust Remembrance Day stands as a solemn reminder of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, and anti-Semitism, and underscores the vital importance of education, vigilance, and action to ensure such atrocities are never repeated.

And whereas the City of Berkeley reaffirms its commitment to human human dignity, tolerance, and mutual respect, while standing firmly against anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred and discrimination.

And whereas it is our shared responsibility to preserve the truth about the Holocaust as a cornerstone of our collective memory and to honor the resilience and courage of survivors who were able to rebuild their lives.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Adina Ishi, mayor of the city of Berkeley, do hereby proclaim April 12th, 2026 as Holocaust Remembrance Day in the city of Berkeley, in memory of those who were murdered in honor of those who have survived, as well as the rescuers and liberators.

Be it further proclaimed that I call upon all residents to join in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust to educate themselves about the history of the Holocaust and to recommit to building a more just, tolerant, and compassionate society free from anti-Semitism and hatred of any kind.

Thank you.

Did you want to say thank you very much, Maya and Council members and Councilmember Tepplen.

I'm very proud that Berkeley is the first, I think, of any city to have a Holocaust, a secular one.

So it's very important that we're doing this, especially now.

And I also want to remember that it was uh former council member Worthington, Chris Worthington, who started uh and very generously started contributing to this event in 2002, so he was way ahead.

I don't have to tell all of you how incredibly important it is right now that we remember that history, that we teach that history, and that we make sure that it never happens again.

And unfortunately, we'll work, we're living now with very, very dark times, and there are an awful lot of people who are under tremendous uh in tremendous danger.

And we have to come together as a community to help those people and make sure that they're safe.

So thank you again, and I hope all of you will participate on April 12th and spread the day.

Spread the word about it.

Thank you again.

Thank you, Anna.

Uh, and quick announcement.

Um looks like there's a blue Subaru Forester that is parked in a driveway on Browning Street, and the homeowner is calling the police.

So if your car is a blue forester with a license plate 9 UE227, might want to attend to that.

Okay, we have one more ceremonial item, but folks, there are a lot of seats that are kind of open in the middle, and there are people who are standing or sitting on the ground.

So if you could please move inward so that way more folks can sit down, I would appreciate it.

And there are some seats up here.

Uh it says reserved seating for those with disabilities.

So, you know, if you have a disability and you want to come forward and sit, please, I want to encourage you to do that.

I want folks to be comfortable.

And okay.

All right, so we have one more proclamation.

That's for Elaine Williams Bloom.

It was requested by Councilmember Bartlett, and it is a proclamation honoring the life of Elaine Bloom, who passed away on February 24th, 2026.

Elaine's son Russell is here, and we met a little bit earlier to receive the proclamation.

Um, so I will read it to you now.

Honoring the life and legacy of Elaine Williams Bloom.

Whereas Elaine Williams Bloom was an educator and parent who was a lifelong advocate for social justice until she passed away on February 24th, 2026, and whereas Elaine grew up in New Jersey with her two brothers, Walker and Kenneth, and her sister Diane, finding homes in New York City, Greenwich Village, Pasadena, California, St.

Thomas, U.S.

Virgin Islands, and Berkeley, California, where she embodied her strong will, sharp mind, and sense of fairness everywhere.

And whereas founder of an innovative daycare called Gingerbread in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s, which provided a nurturing environment for generations of young children to express and develop their voices, and whereas Elaine demonstrated her values by being involved in civil rights protest, community organizing, and citizen participation, and modeled that advocacy for fairness and justice is a lifelong responsibility.

And whereas Elaine demonstrated her values by being involved in civil rights protest, community organizing, and citizen participation, and modeled that advocacy for fairness and justice is a lifelong responsibility.

And whereas at Berkeley, Elaine participated in tenant organizing with her neighbors at the Harriet Tubman Apartments, where their collaboration created a community that received recognition from the city of Berkeley in 2018.

And whereas Elaine Williams Bloom will be remembered by her sister Diane, her brother Kenneth, her daughter-in-law Michelle, her grandchildren Gianni and Marco, and also the many friends, neighbors, and community members who have been positively influenced by Lane's integrity, strength, and lifetime commitment to the pursuit of justice and dignity for all.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Adina Ishi, Mayor of the City of Berkeley, do hereby honor and celebrate the life and legacy of Elaine Williams Bloom and express our deepest gratitude for her lifelong commitment to advocacy.

If I if I may uh just offer my appreciation, Mary Ishi for uh your reading of this uh declaration.

Uh my mother, as you mentioned, was a lifelong advocate and activist.

Uh it would be important to her for me to say out loud here uh that um she would encourage you to remain committed to protecting the vulnerable, uh including the elderly, um, to remain focused on accountability and justice.

Um and uh I know that she would have asked me to appreciate your patience with her over the years, uh, as she was a frequent flyer, as they say, uh, and certainly was committed to moving forward um issues of justice, particularly around the uh tenancy at the Tubman apartments.

Thank you all for your support all these years.

Apologize.

Apologies.

Um we also have uh adjournment in memory for Marcia Poole, which was requested by Councilmember Traegu.

And so um I will pass it over to him to share a few words.

Uh thank you so much.

Uh, this will be an excerpt of uh a proclamation that will be presented for celebration of life in April.

Um Marsha Poole uh was a community member and a friend and advocate to many.

Uh in 1999, Marsha demonstrated extraordinary courage when she intervened to prevent a Berkeley landlord from concealing the death of a 13-year-old girl caused by carbon monoxide poisoning alongside of uh Dr.

Diana Russell.

They organized, documented, and pursued accountability through the courts, persistently uh demanding just decisions.

Their efforts contributed to greater awareness and helped create changes in California's human trafficking laws.

Uh in 2019, Marcia curated and directed creativity unhoused at the Expressions Gallery in Berkeley, a landmark exhibition highlighting the artwork of people experiencing homelessness, reflecting her belief in the dignity and potential of every person, and bringing together artists, advocates in the community in celebration and recognition.

Marcia was a tireless advocate for tenants, unhoused indivisible individuals and disabled residents, consistently attending Berkeley City Council meetings, supporting initiatives such as Force They Came for the Homeless, confronting injustice and advancing tenant protections, including Measure Y, which strengthen safeguards for seniors and disabled residents.

Um to say uh uh a few words in a minute.

Three cheers from Marsha.

Thank you.

Thank you.

She really cared about Berkeley, honestly, honestly.

Honestly, honestly.

And what amazed me about this my wife, uh she never gave up.

Um I'm very proud the city was came to agree to it.

And please come to the celebration of life.

Uh it will be soon.

And uh it'll be a party with song with poetry, with conversation with everything.

So thank you, thank you, thank you very much to the city of Berkeley, and thank you for the city council.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, everyone.

Um, okay, so we are now moving on to our city manager comments.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, a couple of comments.

One uh on the consent calendar to remove item 13, which is a pavement safety improvement project contracts.

There were a couple of proposals that were inadvertently left off of this list, so we'll bring that item back.

And then also a reminder for uh the peace and justice commission item 16 that uh as we talked about at agenda and rules that should be a budget referral.

Um that uh that recommendation does have costs associated with it that are not budgeted, so asking that that item go to the budget uh process.

Thank you.

16.

Thank you very much.

Oh, and you're already here in time for our city auditor comments.

Our city auditor is here right in the front.

And then I think there are still some empty seats, so I just want to make sure folks are able to sit down.

Um if folks can make room, there's also some seats up here in the front.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Um, so tonight I'm going to um we're gonna do a short presentation on item number 18.

This is our first whistleblower report.

And let me see here.

Okay.

Um, I have with me Erin Mullen, whistleblower manager.

Um, she's also a certified fraud examiner, and um she will say more about our whistleblower program and provide counsel and the public with this report.

So thank you, Erin.

All right.

So this is our first um report that we're sharing publicly from our whistleblower program, and I am glad to walk you through it today.

I'm gonna share a little bit about what we investigated, what we found, and what we recommend to ensure stronger controls.

Um, but before we jump in to the report, I would like to briefly introduce the program.

So this whistleblower program allows city employees and officials to report concerns of fraud, waste, and abuse of city resources.

Reports can be submitted anonymously and are kept confidential with protections in place to safeguard the identity of individuals who come forward and also individuals who participate in our investigations.

We issue public reports when we identify substantiated findings or issues that warrant transparency or broader awareness.

This is our first public report, but we expect uh more in the future.

We also plan to expand the hotline to the public, but that expansion is currently paused due to anticipated budget constraints and to ensure we have the capacity to review all reports and prioritize high-risk investigations.

Now let's turn to this specific investigation.

So we received a report in late 2024 alleging that an ambulance had been purchased without prior city council approval.

Under the Berkeley Municipal Code, City Council approval is required for purchases over a hundred thousand dollars before the city can be committed to that expenditure.

This requirement exists to ensure oversight, transparency, and responsible use of public funds.

So in response to this allegation, we conducted an investigation to determine whether the allegation was substantiated and to identify any breakdowns in the purchasing process.

We found that the allegation was substantiated.

A former city employee committed the city to a two 286,000 dollar ambulance purchase without the authority to do so and without completing a required purchasing steps.

First, the ambulance was purchased without required approvals, including council approval.

That resulted in 286,000 commitment without oversight.

When the ambulance arrived, the city could not pay the vendor immediately.

The vendor then withheld the title of the vehicle and delayed its use.

Second, council approved the purchase retroactively, but it wasn't clearly disclosed that the city was already committed to the purchase.

This reduced transparency for council and the public.

Together, these issues show how bypassing purchasing controls can lead to financial risk and limited oversight.

Folks, please, we have a presentation.

Don't interrupt her.

Based on what we found, our recommendations focused in four key areas.

First, making the rules clear that no purchases should move forward without a requisition or purchase order or the required council approval.

Second, creating clear escalation steps so issues are raised earlier if those rules aren't followed.

Third, clarifying roles through targeted training so staff understand who has has authority in the purchasing process.

And finally, improving transparency by notifying council when standard purchasing steps are bypassed.

Together, these steps strengthen oversight and prevent similar issues in the future.

And with that, I would like to thank city departments for their assistance with this investigation.

And thank you all for listening.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate the presentation and thank you.

Go ahead, Vice Mayor.

Thank you.

I don't have any questions.

I just really want to thank you for your work and your commitment to this.

Thanks.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

And Councilmember Humbert?

Yes, likewise.

I don't have any questions, but I want to thank you for this really important and good work for adding out this problem and coming up with ways to avoid it in the future.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Any other of my council colleagues.

Also, really important.

Obviously, very disconcerting this purchase.

But I am very confident that we're putting things into place to prevent things like this happening from in the future.

And I think that this really shows the benefit of having this whistleblower program.

So thank you very much for the work that you're doing.

I also want to see if the city manager wants to add anything because I know you've also implemented some of these changes already, and so I want to make sure you have time to address that if you'd like.

That's great.

Thank you both so much.

Thank you.

Okay.

We will now take public comment on non-agenda matters.

Okay.

If you have public comment for anything that's not on this agenda.

Right.

So we'll draw five cards for the in-person speakers, and then we will go to the first five hands raised on the Zoom.

And again, this is for items that are not on the agenda.

Um when I announce the names, you can come up in any order.

And it's too late to put in a card, so don't bother.

If you're speaking about you know the police stuff or the flock cameras, this is not the time for that.

So the five in-person speakers are uh Russell Bates, Carol Morosevic, CKD, Durant, and looks maybe like um Paola D5.

So you can come up in any order, you'll have one minute to speak.

Oh, okay.

Folks, I know there's a lot of whispering going on.

I I know there are a lot of people here, so even if you're speaking quietly, it's gonna reverberate.

So I want to hear from Carol, but also Mark, if there's a way that we can maybe open more doors or turn off the fan or something, it's starting to get quite warm.

Okay.

If your name was called, feel free to come up a little bit closer so I can keep track of who's whose name was called.

Thank you.

Um exploitation of vulnerable homeowners.

This recommendation from the commission on status of women went to land use a year after it was passed at the commission.

And in on June 10, 2025, with a qualified positive recommendation.

The council referred to another commission.

It never went back to council.

This is nine and a half months later.

And this was a qualified positive recommendation from uh land use.

Uh second, uh well, I I am have been the author of multiple recommendations from commissions that are just lost in the process.

In fact, ironically, another one I'm gonna pass to you uh uh was addressed at the agenda committee uh on in August 2020, you know, almost six years ago, and that recommendation was also a qualified positive recommendation, and this recommendation was addressing tracking commission recommendations by compiling them, and the recommendation has qualified positive uh to explore short-term solutions and recommend that the commission write.

Thank you, Carol.

If I could just finish it, so I'm sorry, can you reintroduce to Carl?

Feel free to feel free to write us about it.

Thank you.

Yep, as soon as the person's finished, you can come right up.

Mayor and the council, you speak tonight on new zoning density ruse.

Yeah, you actively enable criminal density fraud at 2425 durant, a developer snitches 19 unit high density bonus with one hand while claiming 15 units with the other, just to pocket the salaries of a mandate on site manager per state law for 16 and more units.

You allow him to have his cake while the tenants start with safety.

I expose this fraud in front of the mayor, the zoning board, and the council on October 9th and February 23rd, and you voted yes and uphold the permit anyway, ever since the city has stayed silent.

This is not a mistake, it's a calculated at the Ministry of Silence.

This permit is void under strict section 1090, fellow felony convict interest to the council to a paratas greed over life safety, proposal ministerial duty, stay this void permit.

The public's watching the record is clean.

Thank you.

Good evening, uh and council members.

My name is PJ Singh.

I represent the Sikh American community.

I'm here to voice my opinion about a street that was named after a South Asian woman called a guy, who was a wealthy wife of a spy who came here to spy on the people that were organizing for India's freedom.

One of them people were my own great grandfather who came here in 1907.

The story that was presented here was a story of a woman who was a victim who was uh uh ran out of Berkeley.

When we discovered uh going back, we were happy that someone from our community was represented.

But what we discovered was totally the opposite.

A wealthy socialite wife of a colonial spy who was sent here to spy on his own people who were making dollar and fifty came here with over $25,000 when a home in Berkeley was under a thousand dollars in North Berkeley.

So we have the evidence.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thanks for your comment.

So $286,000 on an ambulance person.

That is so pathetic that that could even happen.

And um, I hope you're gonna remember the Holocaust that's going on in Gaza, the genocide.

It's eight hundred and ninety-nine days.

Eight hundred and ninety-nine days of the genocide.

People are still getting murdered every day.

A woman got murdered that was carrying twins over the weekend.

Twins.

They killed them all.

They're wiping out family members generations, not only in Gaza, but now in Iran, Yemen, and all these other countries.

And what have you done?

Absolutely nothing.

Say it again.

War.

What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing.

And you all should be ashamed of yourselves.

Free it's all for you.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you.

Your time is up.

Evil.

Thank you.

We're gonna take our online comments.

We have Russell, your name, your name was called.

Hi, everybody.

I'm looking forward at some point to see uh Gaza Genocide Remembrance Day.

Because it's so necessary to point it out that seven billion dollars of weapons just got sent to the Zionists and city.

This will enable them to keep on killing people in every country around the area there.

And keep on killing the people in Iran.

Iran is fighting back.

It's uh it's doing a lot other than the mainstream media will let people realize.

But Gaza needs to be remembered.

It needs to be remembered.

There's a genocide going on there, and it's not gonna stop until the people of America make it stop.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Russell.

Okay, so we'll go to the first five hands raised on the Zoom.

And the first speaker is Whitney Sparks.

Hello.

Can you hear me?

I'm just calling to uh encourage you to cancel the contract with Flock.

Um this is just for public comment on uh items that are not on the agenda.

So you can come back and and comment during that time.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

Uh next is uh caller with a phone number ending in 211.

Hi, uh good evening.

Well, uh our slow manager again, hand you some people read it in this one.

Just don't ignore it.

What Donald Trump have done under Netanyahu has been dreaming for 30 years to attack Iran is totally against American laws, international laws.

And it is a genocide of Rand people after when everything is said and done.

About half billion.

Uh Gazan, men, women, and children were killed, murdered, burned, sliced, and evaluated by American bombs.

Shame on all of us, and we'll not let it happen.

Especially Jewish people, don't switch through the Holocaust.

Oh, why are we doing another Holocaust?

Peace on earth.

Thank you very much.

Okay, next is M.

Jervis.

Hello, hello.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yeah, my name is Matthew Jervison with the downtown Berkeley Association, and I'm here to invite all of Berkeley to join us for Make Music Day on June 21st.

Thank you to Councilmember Shoshana O'Keefe for introducing us to the organization.

This is actually on the yeah, it's on the agenda.

So we're we're coming.

Oh, it is.

Yes, apologies.

So we're actually doing um non-agenda items right now or comments on things that are not on the agenda.

It's on the consent calendar.

Yeah, it's on the consent calendar, so there's a separate time for that.

Okay, so this is for non-agenda comments.

Nothing on the agenda.

Della Luna, next speaker.

Hi, yes.

I wanted to say that it's been more than 30 days or right around a month that the pedestrian crosswalk by the Ashby Bart has not been repainted.

There's been construction there, it's been allegedly improved, but the paint has not gone up.

So you can't actually see the walkway.

It's not painted across the street.

There's no indication that the pedestrian walkway is still there.

And I it think um people it there's elements where you all are making progress, and I mean the city, and with the improvements, but it also there's a missing element to it, almost like maybe you're using AI to plan the construction project, but you need to close those gaps and get the costwalks or whatever you remake, finish the project.

And if you can't finish it, then don't start it until you can make sure it's finished because people are being harmed in the crosswalks.

Um, there's a yellow curb at Russell and MLK, and it's not painted.

There's no reflectors on it.

This is also um, there's other curbs on MLK that do have reflectors.

So why would there not be reflectors on the curb that was put in the middle of the roadway at Russell and MLK?

And lastly, I live in District 3.

Thanks, sir.

Next is East Shore, East Shore Alliance.

Hey, confirming everyone can hear me.

Yes.

Fantastic.

My name's Ted Steen.

I run EShore Alliance FC.

We're a Berkeley nonprofit youth soccer club serving over a thousand youth in and around the community.

I'm here to strongly support the proposed $300 million Go Bond measure, specifically to improve Gabe Cotaffo fields at Harrison Park, including turfing the fields and upgrading the bathrooms.

This is should be a top priority as it relates to the health and safety of our community.

Right now, access to safe and reliable field space is a big challenge, not just for the youth, but for all recreation goers in Berkeley.

Field is closed six months out of the year, and even longer due to the extreme conditions with the fields being in a failing state, as stated by the Berkeley Parks and Rec Division.

For many families, uh soccer isn't just a sport.

It's a consistent positive space for physical activity, mentorship, and community.

Turf and gate cutoff would make a huge difference, providing safe, durable surface that we can use year-round.

Upgrading the bathrooms is also important.

Thanks for your comments.

I'm sorry, you're out of time.

Next is Marr.

Should be allowed to talk.

There you go.

As we go into this meeting tonight, I want people to remember that our police accountability board is completely collapsed because this city is entirely unwilling to listen to the accountability recommendations they have put out time and time again.

Thank you for your comments.

Folks.

And the last speaker is uh Jim.

Jim, you're the last speaker.

Go ahead, Jim.

You should be able to unmute.

Jim.

All right.

We'll go to somebody else.

Let's go to Daniel Brownson.

Hi.

We're on just non-agenda public comment right now, right?

Yep.

Okay.

So I'm I'm not sure if it has been placed on an agenda yet, but I'm strongly opposed to the idea of uh re-legalizing the use of tear gas in Berkeley.

Um I have never seen an instance of tear gas used in any way except on protests.

It's the only thing I've ever seen it used on.

Um, and that's going to be what it's used on if it's permitted to be used again by the Berkeley PD.

Uh it was banned for a reason.

Um we should trust our you know, prior judgment and keep it.

There's no reason to use chemical weapons in Berkeley.

Thank you.

That's it.

Okay.

Great.

I love the positive engagement.

It's just that is totally encouraged.

It's just the booing that's not.

So it's totally fine if you want to clap for things.

I've I'm very supportive of it.

Wow.

Comedians out there tonight.

All right.

So we're now moving on to our consent calendar.

And there's an urgency item from Councilmember Kessarwani, so I will let her um speak to that.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

I am putting forward an urgent item.

It is posted online, and it's also available in hard copy in the supplemental communications packet in the back.

First, I want to thank my co-sponsors, uh, Terry Taplin, Ben Bartlett, and Brent Blackaby.

I'm the council representative for this park, which is now named uh Cesar Chavez Park.

So I felt it was important to take urgent action to respond to the shocking investigation published by the New York Times on March 18th about the substantiated accusations of sexual violence committed by Cesar Chavez.

This investigation was published after the deadline to submit items for this meeting had passed.

The reason why we feel this is urgent is because a piece of this item directs the city manager to remove signage bearing Cesar Chavez's name immediately, which is important to me and others in the community that I have heard from.

I also understand there's a desire, particularly among members of the commemorative committee who were involved in the 1994 renaming of the park, who wrote a letter to the council today to engage in a process for arriving at a new name.

I had an opportunity to speak to one of the members of this committee, former school board director Beatrice Leva Cutler today.

So I do have some amendments that I would like to propose to this item to ensure that a community discussion can take place and that this item doesn't dictate a particular name.

So I respectfully ask for your vote to accept this item, and I would suggest it be placed on action just so that we can spend a few minutes on the proposed amendments because I I would want to share screen so everyone could see that.

Thank you very much.

Okay, so yeah, I think it would be helpful to see some of the changes because I know you you mentioned that you've gotten some feedback.

Um and I also do just want to comment that council member or vice mayor Luna Para and Councilmembers Humbert and O'Keefe and I also submitted an item to refer to the city manager and parks and recreation commission, a community process to rename the park sites and the holiday.

Um there are a few different places that were mentioned in our item, which will come to council on April 14th.

And I'd also like to refer to the city manager outside of any of this, um, to change the uh the holiday on the website to align with the state name, uh, which is now farm workers' day, at least for this year.

And also, I'd like to refer to the city manager the covering or removal of any signage related to Cesar Chavez.

So um I believe that we need a majority to two-thirds two-thirds to put this onto our agenda onto an action item.

So I think it's probably easiest just to take the roll.

We need a motion and a second.

I'll make a motion to um your mic is oh, excuse me.

Uh just make a motion to um to add the item to add the item to the action calendar.

Yes, second.

Okay.

Seconded by Councilmember Bartlett, calling a role to add the item to the action calendar for tonight's agenda.

Councilmember Kessar Wani.

Yes.

Taplin.

Yes.

Bartlett, yes, Drake.

Aye.

Okay.

Yes.

Black Abuse.

Yes.

Unapara.

Yes.

Humbert, yes, and Mayor Ishii.

Yes.

Okay, the items added to the agenda for consideration.

Okay.

Very good.

Thank you.

Um, all right.

Is there any other uh are there any comments from my council colleagues on the consent calendar or information items?

Starting with Councilmember Traegu.

Uh thank you so much, Madam Mayor.

Uh I would like to first of all uh thank um the health housing and community service uh director, Scott Gilman and staff for item five as the representative from the council to the mentor health commission.

Uh I support this important adjustment to ensure that um this commission continues to comply uh with new state law and also helps um increase the uh efficiency and effectiveness uh of this very important body with an important charge.

I also um support item 15 reappointing Dr.

Edward Upton to the Mentor Health Commission for a second term.

He has been a wonderful colleague.

Um look forward to continuing our work together.

I appreciate uh the Peace and Justice Commission's leadership and work on items 16 and 17.

Uh on item 19.

I would like to um thank uh council member taplan for co-leading this very important event of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Um we frequently request something from our fellow elected and appointed officials, but we don't always remember to thank them when they do the right thing.

Item 21 is a way of thanking the MTC for their full adoption and implementation of a strong and enforceable transit-oriented community policies with strong tenant protections.

I would like to thank my co-sponsors for being on that item.

Um I am very happy to offer item 20 along with council member taplan uh and with support of council member Humbert.

This is an item that would uh refer to the city manager.

Um regulations uh controlling and restricting the use of glue traps.

Um I would like to read into the record, and I checked in with the city attorney and the um the clerk on this.

Uh it's just it's a very narrow amendment um based on some feedback we received.

So it would uh add the language, explore a narrow exemption for options of use for in for temperate past control and scientific research and potential implications thereof, and that would be the only change.

Um I really love that amidst all the tough news and grief that our community is experiencing, we also find time and space for joy.

And that is why I'm proud to co-sponsor item 23, Make Music Day, and I'm looking forward to partaking in this beautiful event.

Um thank you uh to the author for that item.

Um thank you also, Councilmember Keefe, for sponsoring item 22, the Barclay High School National Society of Black Engineers, Junior Chapter, as uh a um recovering engineer myself.

I recognize the importance of this item and would like to contribute 150 dollars for my D13 account.

And last but not least, I would like to also contribute 150 dollars to item 24, Barkley Public Schools Fund Spring Luncheon, and thank Mayor Ishi and Councilmember Blackaby for their authorship of it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Councilmember Blackabee.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um I'll be brief.

Uh just wanted to thank you, Mayor, and also Councilmember Casarwani for your work on the um very uh quick action to rename uh Cesar Chavez Park.

I know we're considering one tonight, we'll be considering one in the future.

Um it's really important that we do this process and respond as quickly as possible and engage um our community in the process of what we want um to name um that facility going forward.

So I appreciate your um leadership on this and proud to co-sponsor that.

Um on item 18.

I know we talked about already, but thank the city auditor for her whistleblower report on the ambulance purchase.

Thank you for sharing that with us.

Um item 19.

Um, thanks to Councilmember Taplin and Councilmember Trago for authoring the um Holocaust Remembrance Day program item, uh allowing me to co-sponsor, I'd like to contribute 500 from my office account towards that event.

Um item 22, um, which is the Berkeley High School National Society of Black Engineers, Jupiter uh junior chapter.

Uh again, thanks to Councilmember O'Keefe for her work on that.

We'd like to contribute 250 dollars from our office account towards that event.

Um item 23.

Uh, I think many of us were at a really wonderful event earlier today where we celebrated um music in Brooklyn Public Schools.

I would like to take any opportunity that we can do to bring music to the community.

So, item 23 on Make Music Day.

Again, we'd like to contribute 250 dollars from our office towards that effort.

And finally, on item 24.

Um, uh, I was pleased to be able to bring that forward with the mayor, the Berkeley Public Schools Fund Luncheon.

I also wanted to add uh Councilmember O'Keefe as a co-sponsor to that item um and look forward to that event as well.

That's it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Bartlett.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh, and also thank you, Councilman Kesselani, for your fast action representing your district with your park and controversy there.

Good work, thank you.

I'm 13, I'm really happy about this.

To the city manager here.

Shout out to you, Paul.

Um, my constituents need this badly.

Uh you're funding some people to fix the pavement.

Thank you.

It's a constant, constant refrain.

Um 19.

Um Councilmember Trago, want to thank you for doing this.

I want to give you 200 and um uh for this event.

It's a wonderful event.

Holocaust remembrance event.

Uh we have item 22.

This is uh a wonderful group.

The the black engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers Junior Chapter at BOST.

I'm happy to contribute 200.

I was never good at math, but um I've become good at it.

Uh item 23, again, Councilmember O'Keefe.

Thank you for this.

Make music day.

Uh, you know, art is so important to you and to all of us, and happy contribute to your dollars that as well.

And then lastly but not least, um, the spring luncheon.

Uh I'd like to give 200 to the BUST, spring luncheon, and thank you, Councilmember Blackaby for your work on bringing this forward.

Thank you.

Councilmember O'Keefe.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, okay.

Six things.

I'll go in numerical order.

Um, item 19, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Um, thank you very much for bringing that.

Um item 20.

I just wanted to say thank you to Councilmember Trago.

I think that's an important issue, and um just really appreciate you.

Is there a co-sponsor spot spot or not?

I believe there is.

Can I have it?

Okay, great.

Um, so thank uh can I co-sponsor it?

You didn't say yes, actually.

Funny if we don't trap you into sponsoring yes happy to I did it voluntarily, excuse me.

Item 22, my item.

Thank you so much to those who contributed.

Um I really um it's very personal to me.

That I teach computer science at Berkeley High School.

Uh, the class I teach is an entry-level class that's really um mission oriented to bringing in more racial and gender diversity into programming.

So it's really uh an issue that's really close to my heart.

And Mr.

Bin Loss, who is a counselor at Berkeley High, uh, one of my favorite colleagues, he and I work closely together.

But you know, I I recruit from Nesby, he recruits for Nesby from my class, and we just we work together every year.

We both um are really supportive of the mission, and he's just he's an absolute gem.

And I I really um want to take another moment uh because he was going to be here with uh some of the students and they're not here tonight.

It's because they just went to their conference uh or the National Nesby conference in Baltimore, and I heard they had a great time, but they were supposed to come back on Sunday, and I don't know what happened, but something something upsetting happened, and they had a lot of trouble getting back, and they got back last night at 1 30 in the morning, I think.

So they asked to come to another meeting and express their their thanks.

But um, I think he asked me to express a thank you to all of you on his behalf.

So anyway, Nesby is great, Mr.

Binlos is great, and and thank you so much.

Um try to go faster.

The other item uh that was mine, uh Make Music Day.

I just want to say it sounds like well, we will have some um commentary on it during the consent calendar comments, but just so everyone knows, it's an event I'm really excited about.

It's actually a worldwide event, different cities participated, originated in Paris, and it's gonna always be on the summer solstice.

And the idea is that there's free music everywhere in the city.

And so if you are a musician, even if you're not a good one, it doesn't matter.

Uh, amateur professional anything, uh go to the city website.

There's a website um that the Downtown Berkeley Association will publicize uh where you can look for a venue that will be open that can be open.

It's like a matching website basically.

So if you have a venue, which could even be just the sidewalk in front of your store or a park or anything like that, um, you can list your venues, and then if you are a musician, you can sign up to perform at that venue.

And so the idea is on the summer solstice, Berkeley will be filled with music, and it's all free.

And it's just a really wonderful event.

They have a huge one in New York City, and we're bringing it to Berkeley, and I'm really, really excited.

So thank you, everyone who contributed.

And um I'm almost done.

Uh, and item 24, spring luncheon.

Thank you for adding me as a co-sponsor.

Does that mean that I gave it money, or do I have to say that I'm giving it money?

I am giving it 250 dollars in addition to co-sponsoring it.

And that's all.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Councilmember Humbert.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Yeah, as to number 19, the Holocaust Remembrance Day program.

I'd like to contribute $500 from the D8 um discretionary account.

Um item number 22, the um uh National Society of Black Engineers.

Um donate 250 dollars.

Um 23 make music day, want to donate 250.

And the spring luncheon, another 250.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Bunapara.

Thank you.

Um, I would like to donate 250 dollars to um item 19 and 150 dollars to items 22, 23, and 24.

Thanks all to all the authors of those items.

Um I also would like to pull item seven, a 2845 Woolsey Street Mills Act contract from the consent calendar, move it to action because the landmark preservation commission didn't have a definitive, they didn't vote on this at all.

They they got stuck.

Um so I would like to have more discussion about that item.

I'm happy to join you in polling that item.

Me too.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Um moving on to Councilmember Taplin.

Thank you.

On items 22, 23, and 24.

I would put I want to thank Councilmember Zokee for Blackaby and Relinquist 250 to each item respectively.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

All right, so um I just have a few comments myself.

I really want to again appreciate all of the grants that our staff pursue to deliver quality services to the community.

Item number four is to conduct public health promotion, protection and prevention services for our school-based health services, totaling 465,258 dollars for FY27.

I've been really trying to highlight for folks all of the grants that our city staff are applying for.

So you know that not only do we have tax money, but also we're trying to leverage those funds to be able to reach uh more people and provide more services.

So thank you very much to staff.

For item 15, I'd like to give a special thanks to Edward Opton for his commitment to continue to serve on the Mental Health Commission.

Um, for our commissioners, this is you know mostly an unpaid labor of love, so I really want to thank you all.

Um lastly, I'd like to thank the council members for their contributions to the 2026 Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Berkeley High National Society of Black Engineers, Junior Chapter, Make Music Day, and the Berkeley Public Schools Fund.

It's really a joy to see all of these uh you know community events that we're supporting.

Thank you all.

Okay, so I will now take public comment on consent calendar or information items only.

So come on up.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Oh, Councilmember, as you're coming up, Councilmember Caserwani is going to give some comments as well.

Okay, thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

I I pushed my um parliamentarian button late, so I I didn't want to uh miss out on making my donations.

First, I just want to clarify for item 16.

We've made that clear that that will be referred to the budget process.

Okay, folks.

And so I'd like to be recorded as donating 250 dollars for Holocaust Remembrance Day, um, as well as a hundred dollars for the National Society of Black Engineers Junior Chapter, 100 for Make Music Day, and 100 for the Berkeley Public Schools Fund luncheon.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, come on up.

This is for public comment for consent and information items only.

Folks, please, we want to make sure we're hearing all of our public comment.

If you're having a conversation, especially here in the front row, Alana.

If you could please just take your conversations outside, I would really appreciate it because I want to be able to hear everyone's comments.

I'm sorry, go ahead.

Thank you.

I want to I want to appreciate Edward Abden for continuing to serve on the Mental Health Commission.

That is a very thankless job because there's not enough support for that commission.

We need y'all to get involved in the state of mental health in Berkeley.

You want to reduce the police budget.

Well, guess what?

If we can deal compassionately with people with mental health disabilities and going through mental health crisis, you'll save a ton of money, and we won't have overpriced cops responding to mental health emergencies.

And of course, the mayor knows my passion for uh wheelchair accessible vehicles because the special care unit spent over a year outfitting in great detail two vehicles at a huge expense.

Nobody in the city can somebody please tell me where they are.

Where's the whistleblower?

Where are those?

They are vital for our city.

Can you tell me, Mr.

City Manager?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I want to speak to uh item number 17, and this is from the Peace and Justice Commission.

Uh, and this reaffirms the city of Berkeley's commitment to free speech and assembly in opposition to the detainment and deportation of immigrants without due process.

And it goes on and on in the text of this uh of this item about what this time is and what it means.

Sorry, are you talking about something on consent calendar?

Yeah, it's item item 17.

The peace and justice uh commission.

So, you know, it's uh it talks about our commitment for to free speech and how we have to reaffirm that commitment right now because of things that are happening right now.

And what I would like to know is has this commission commented on any other very pertinent items on tonight's calendar, like one that would completely upend what is in this text, what what what would be doing what we'd be doing here because we have an item later on that is terrible for free speech, would would uphold deportation, and I don't see their comments on this item, but I see supplementals from six of you that do the opposite.

Okay, thank you.

Hi, my name is Matthew in District Three.

Uh, I just wanted to say I'm really glad for Berkeley City Council for item number 20.

Sorry, for item number 20 to consider a ban on glue traps.

Uh hopefully will become legislation before too long.

Especially thank you for council members Tregov, Taplin, and Humbert for introducing it, and O'Keefe joining as well.

Uh Berkeley has historically led the way on a lot of uh issues, and I hope can lead on care for animals and glue traps as an important part of continuing that legacy.

Thank you all very much.

Thank you.

Good evening, uh Madameir and the city council members.

My name is Mediwala Anderson, and I am here to support item number 20, the glue trap ban.

For anyone who isn't familiar with glue traps, they are a cruel and sadistic method of catching and killing animals by subjecting them to a slow and excruciating death.

After getting stuck to the glue, songbirds, squittles, lizards, mice, and other small animals often suffer for more than 24 hours before dying from blood loss, dehydration, or starvation.

Some trapped animals even chew off their own limbs in a desperate attempt to escape, and others suffocate to death after their nostrils and mouths become glue shut.

New traps have already been banned in several other cities in California.

It's time to ban in Berkeley.

Thank you for considering the ban.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Come on up.

Folks, I know a lot of people are standing.

I'm not sure if you're here for comment, but um go ahead and find a seat.

There are some more seats around.

And folks, please make room for everyone so that people can sit down.

Good evening, Council.

My name is Jacob Shaw.

I live here in Berkeley, uh walking distance from here, which is very nice, coming from Southern California where I previously lived and had to drive everywhere and hate it.

Um I live in Berkeley and also work for people for the ethical treatment of animals.

And one of the things I do there is research wildlife control products like glue traps.

And as the previous speaker mentioned, these traps are already banned in England, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales.

They've been banned in three cities in California, which is what I'm used to saying, but it's actually four after today, because the city of Ventura just uh adopted their second reading of an ordinance today.

Um, this is just a very simple, easy thing that the council can do to reduce some of the suffering that happens in the world.

There's so much of it, and a lot of it feels like it's out of our control, but this is just one small thing we can do to make the world a slightly kinder, more compassionate place for the animals who we get to share this at times awesome world with.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm gonna take a minute from my husband.

So I have two minutes, so um, so item number 14.

This is like millions and millions of dollars.

I couldn't count, I didn't have a calculator, but I I got to like 20 million, and and this is on consent for consultants when you're facing a deficit.

Like what the heck is everybody else doing that's supposed to be working for the city of Berkeley when you have this much in consultants?

That's kind of ridiculous.

And um, as stated previously, today is 899 days of the genocide.

And I hope you remember the genocide Holocaust that is occurring currently.

We haven't left it.

There has been no pause in a ceasefire.

The bombing continues, the drones continue, the the uh air strikes continue.

Um they they stated that since the so-called ceasefire, over 677 Palestinians have been killed.

1,800 plus injured.

There was a sandstorm last week, and so many people who are already in a catastrophic situation, no water, no food, starving, were affected by the sandstorms.

The air was orange in front of them.

They that's what you saw if you looked outside.

So have some compassion.

You talked about having compassion in your Holocaust remembrance, but it doesn't seem like, you know, that was kind of a hypocritical things to say because you were saying all these words, but you don't apply it to Gaza.

So, you know, you're just being really pathetic and sad.

And you know, oh millions of dollars shouldn't be on the consent calendar.

Free Palestine, free Palestine, free yourselves from Zionism and APAC.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh speaking on behalf of item uh 16, Grace Marazara and I have been authorized by the Peace and Justice Commission to speak on behalf of this issue.

Uh the last time the Alien Anemies Act was invoked was during World War II, where Japanese Italians and German persons were placed in internment camps.

And this educational event is important.

We have reached out to the mayor's office, so that perhaps where they're becoming lost in the budget process, and item could come before council where there uh would be contributions from council members uh accounts as we develop this through community organization.

Uh I want to reference the glue traps item before uh Gray speaks, which is just is this going to be another feel-good item that isn't enforced, uh, such as the elevator ordinance, the no-smoking ordinance near businesses and the uh source of income ordinance, the true.

Thanks, Carol.

Thanks girl.

Uh good evening, everybody.

I want to first thank you all for putting this on the consent calendar.

I have to always speak per free if it's an item that um speaks to about the Japanese American experience in my own family.

I had a relative arrested on December 7th, disappeared for weeks, almost a month until we found him.

I mean, I wasn't then, but my family found him and subsequently died without seeing his children afterwards.

So just to tell you that actually I want to be very practical.

I want to say that for the Peace and Justice Commission, we had a panel, and it was a panel of experts talk about the Alien Enemies Act.

So I hope when you consider this, you will consider having a panel because I think the interaction and discussion and the learning deeply about how that affected us then and how it is.

It's really uh legitimizes.

Bye.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, my name is uh Jeanette McNeil, and I'm authorized to speak on behalf of the Peace and Justice Commission on item 17, the free speech and um right to protest.

We wrote this recommendation about a year ago, and I will just say now more than ever, we must protect our rights to speech and to protest.

And yes, peace and justice is strongly speaking out on Flock as well as the rollback of police accountability and tactics, and we passed resolutions on all three of these issues last week.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening again, Madame Mayor and the council members.

Um, since you're making the I'm all for item one, you're making the news only density ruse, but I want to ask what's the point if you're actively enabling existing density fraud.

And I report this multiple times, and you the city just draw me with a procedure suppression without any response.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is are are you all in line to speak?

There are a lot of folks standing in line.

Sorry, there's a there's a sign actually that says no standing alongside this wall, and partially it's because it's hard for me to keep track of who's actually speaking or not.

There are there are seats up here.

I know there's some seats sprinkled throughout.

If you've got a seat next to you, can you raise your hand?

Thank you.

Andrea, is that a seat next to you too?

I don't know, I've just got a bad.

Okay.

I just want to let folks say I think there are seats spread throughout.

Thank you for those of you who are raising your hands.

Okay, go ahead.

Hi there.

I just wanted to appreciate the city auditors report.

And on that topic of auditing, I'm wondering who audits the police reports.

Because the I have data here, and it was contested, but this was data that was taken from the transparency hub that our police department alone is that data.

This is about this is about the auditor's report isn't on our consent calendar.

You said about information items.

So go ahead.

So racial profiling continues in Berkeley.

I like, you know, 10 seconds back or something.

Please let her finish.

Thank you.

Give her the time to speak.

You need to stop talking so that she can speak.

Okay.

All right.

You've got another minute.

Okay.

There you go.

Give me two minutes.

A minute plus 10 additional 10 seconds.

I got three minutes.

Another minute.

It's important.

There you go.

Because this data was done by a man named Tarek Shaw, who will be here later, who is with the um human rights data analysis group, a serious data analyst who has a program that runs and takes the data from the transparency hub.

I know y'all don't want to hear this, Cassarwani and others, but the reality is that racial profiling is alive and well in Berkeley in 2025.

In fact, not only is racial profiling live and well, if you are a black person, you are six times more likely than a white person to get stopped while driving.

You are nine times more likely to be stopped on foot if you're black.

You and some of these folks on the diets were here in February 2020 when you all directed our police department to eliminate low-level offenses.

You said do not do this anymore, people.

Some of y'all were on the council then.

Well, guess what?

They're still doing it.

Okay, they continue to make low-level stops.

That who do you think they target?

Y'all know black people.

Okay, because we know in 2025 there were 489 equipment violations.

489, that's more than one per day.

45 seat belt violations, and how did this affect black people?

Black people were stopped for equipment violations 11 times more than expected from their representation in the population.

Black people were pulled over for seatbelts violation 10 times more than expected from their representation in the population.

In short, the BPD stop data demonstrates very strong statistically significant evidence of racial profiling.

And so whatever they say about the veil of darkness in the BPD report.

Who's auditing their numbers?

Is the police accountability board?

Does the police accountability board are they even checking it?

Is anyone besides Arlo telling you what this data is?

So I really want to encourage you.

We need the auditor to audit that because if these numbers are real and we've got to stop.

Let's focus on stopping racial profiling.

We don't need to expand surveillance here.

We need to stop racial profiling.

Are there any more comments online for the consent calendar or information items only?

Okay.

So this is Do you have a comment for consent calendar or information items only?

Are we counting item 27?

That's information item.

If it's on the information calendar.

Yes, I just have to scroll down to where 27 is.

The assembly, yes.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Um my name's Anthony Myzel.

I'll be brief.

I'll be talking about flock shortly here.

Um, I just want to talk about the settlement.

Um, this is the case where I sued the city of Berkeley for violating the Brown Act.

And we won.

We won the case because sadly, this city, and I want to acknowledge it was a different mayor at the time.

Um sometimes it breaks the law.

Sometimes the folks we contract with break the law.

And sometimes we have to reflect on the fact that the public are the bosses of the people in this city.

Their voice is the voice we are responsible to.

Not our personal aspirations, not this and that, not our misguided reading of law.

But the people.

And I think they're gonna remind you of that throughout public comment tonight.

But again, I want to thank our attorney, Jonathan Wisem.

I want to thank those.

Um I want to thank all the people who are part of the lawsuit.

Thank you.

I'm glad we won.

Thank you.

So now it's time if you're on the Zoom.

This is public comment on consent calendar items and information items.

So if you're on the Zoom, you want to talk to an item that is on the consent calendar.

Uh go ahead and raise your hand.

We currently have uh 10 hands raised.

The first speaker is Mar.

Regarding item 16 about the Aliens and Enemies Act and item 17 about free speech.

And we'll get into this later, of course, with the flock discussion.

I am just once again pointing out the hypocrisy of the Berkeley City Council to talk about one thing and then act in a totally oppositional way when it comes to our own city.

We want to talk about the history and how we feel about defending people's right to speak, but then you don't actually listen to what we're saying when we speak.

That's yeah, I'll talk more later.

Thank you.

Next is Seth Newman.

Hi there.

Um I'm Seth.

I'm here to express my support and gratitude for Councilmember Blackaby for initiating consent item 24 on behalf of the Berkeley Public Schools Fund.

Additional thanks to the mayor and the entire council for jumping in with their support.

I'll be brief.

The Berkeley Public Schools Fund is the singular nonprofit that champions equitable public education for all 19 schools across Berkeley, from preschool to adult school.

This spring we're bringing back the spring luncheon, which is a beloved Berkeley tradition that unites public education advocates from all across the city, including elected officials, educators, families, local businesses, and volunteers.

The event also raises vital funds to support Berkeley schools and Berkeley students and celebrates educators and community members who help ensure that Berkeley public schools work well for all of our students.

The spring luncheon is going to be on Friday, May 8th at CL Creative Space in West Berkeley, and information about ticket sales and sponsorships can be found on our website.

We really appreciate the city's support of our public schools, and we hope to see you all there.

Thanks so much.

Next is Alison.

Hi, yes, thank you.

Good evening, and thank you for this opportunity.

I'm commenting on item number 20, banting banning the sale and use of glue traps.

Uh, my name is Alison Hermanns.

I have worked in wildlife rehabilitation and wildlife advocacy for the past 23 years.

And in the wildlife hospital, without a doubt, the most heartbreaking cases we see are those involving glue traps.

As has already been stated, a glue trap doesn't immediately kill the animal.

Instead, the trapped animal must die slowly of dehydration, stress, starvation, and exposure.

Many of the animals brought to wildlife hospitals are actually the intended targets, rats and mice.

Most people, after they see the extreme stress and suffering, a glue trapped animal undergoes are horrified, and they rush the animal to a wildlife hospital.

But glue traps are indiscriminate killers, capturing small animals of all kinds, including lizards, snakes, baby opossums, other baby animals, and a shocking number of songbirds.

No animal should ever have to suffer the way a glue trapped animal does.

I urge you to strongly vote in support.

Thanks.

Thanks so much.

Next is Aaron Dean.

Good evening, Council.

Thank you for taking my comment.

I'm speaking on item 20 in support, the referral to ban glue traps.

Thank you to Council members Tregu and Taplin and the co-authors, Humbert and O'Keefe, and to the 146 organizations who signed on to this very important matter.

And to all the people behind the scenes who worked on it.

As you've heard already, glue traps are just absolutely humane, suffering all kinds of wildlife or impacted, lizards and songbirds.

And on that end, I want to just say thank you for the reference in the item about the significant declines in birds and songbirds, that we've lost one-third of all birds as three billion birds since the 70s, and especially this quote that we are preserving biodiversity, including the city's wildlife.

Thank you for acknowledging the value of wildlife in our cities.

Personally, I've seen the photographs from these rehabilitation wildlife rehabilitation centers, and it is absolutely heartbreaking.

So please um I thank you for this item.

And one request I have.

Sorry, your time's up, but thank you.

Feel free to write us if you have more comments.

Next is a caller with a phone number ending in 211.

Hi, again.

Um Holocaust.

Men, women, and children were murdered by Hitler.

And the biggest genocide in history, actually, most people don't know what happened.

It happened in the 13th century by the army of Kingston.

He murdered 60 million people across the planet.

60 million.

Maybe more.

Eventually.

Lots of many thanks for us to Egypt.

The last thing that is a bit criminal.

He was about to go to prison.

For and he used Davis Chin filed.

Trump to do the genocide heading now and comment.

Next is Kelly Hammergren.

Okay, I'll talk fast.

So on 13, I'm um glad that was withdrawn, but I hope that uh since this is FF funds that safe streets will meet and actually be able to see the projects before they go forward.

Um 1434 contracts really is too much too many to be on consent.

Um 1434 contracts really is too much too many to be on consent on number 16 from the peace and justice on the alien enemies act.

I hope this doesn't mean that it's going to get dumped in the budget committee.

I hope that we actually go through with that on item 20.

This is really just uh um needs to be a high priority item, so I hope that this doesn't get pushed to the bottom of things to do, and that we get it uh implemented as soon as possible and considering what's on our the rest of the agenda for tonight.

I'm hoping that all of you will reaffirm thanks Kelly.

Thanks for your comments.

Next is a caller with a number ending in 405 press star six to unmute caller phone number ending in four zero five.

Um okay, well to the next um we have uh Della Luna Yes.

Uh first I would like to say about item 20 with the glue traps.

I wish this this item came with recommendations for what people should be using.

I don't think it addresses why people buy glue traps, it's because they want something that uh can work, and that is so I just feel like without providing an alternative, it's just kind of an empty item, and I would have liked it to be um also like I know vector control exists, but I don't really see a lot of activity uh with the rodents in the city outside of the lepto outbreak.

So I just wish there was more proactive times instead of just banning uh glue traps, and then I wanted to speak also about the auditors report.

I'm super grateful that this work is happening, and we need to see more of this from the auditor and more robustness.

But this is evidence that what's happening in the city and what's happening at the city council doesn't always jive.

And if you're not going through and double checking and doing due diligence, then there's often instances where negligence can come about where things are happening where you all are not aware.

So thank you.

Uh last speaker is M Jervis Downtown Berkeley.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Hi, uh yeah, Matthew Jervis from the Downtown Berkeley Association.

I'm calling in to speak on item 23, Make Music Day.

Make music day Berkeley.

Very excited to have this uh in our city.

And I wanted to, and I also appreciate the council's support on this, and thank you, everyone who's been able to uh donate some money to this super fun event, making Berkeley a stage for the afternoon of June 21st.

Anyone who would like to host or uh music uh performance or be a performer, sign in on uh online make music.org backslash Berkeley.

Uh and if you have any questions, contact me at info at downtown Berkeley dot com.

And I'd also like to thank Visit Berkeley for their partnership in this.

We're gonna have a lot of fun.

Downtown Berkeley is administering the registration process uh online, and we're looking forward to seeing a bunch of folks out on the streets making music.

Thank you.

Thanks so much, and thanks for coming back to give your comments.

Give her an extra minute.

We can hear you and yes, you have an extra minute.

Thank you.

Um has to see the pay us.

The hypocrisy of our chemical weapons to use with safe streets.

It's two calendar and station doesn't that take account to stage who have fewer access to the current and the line.

Those who die is in five ten years.

And I'll hope.

Thank you.

Okay.

And then we have uh thanks, Makai.

Caller ending in 405 still has their hand raised.

I guess press uh caller ending in 405.

You should be able to unmute press star six on your phone.

No.

All right, that's it.

No more speakers online.

Okay, thank you very much.

Um is there um oh uh council member taplin?

Uh thank you.

Thanks, everyone.

Um on item 19, the Holocaust Remember State program.

I'd like to thank my co-author, Council Tregou, and my co-sponsors, Mary Ishii and Counselor Blackabee, as well as all my colleagues for their support.

As the mayor mentioned, this April marks the city's 23rd observance, and I encourage all to attend.

And with that, I move adoption of the consent calendar.

Second.

If there's no opposition to approving the consent calendar, then we will approve it.

Okay, consent calendar is approved.

Thank you very much.

Okay, so just to recap for folks, we've just finished the consent calendar.

We are now moving on to the action calendar.

We had a couple of things moved down to the con the action calendar.

One is uh council member Kesserwani's urgent item, the Cesar Chavez uh renaming item, and then also item number seven, which was on the consent calendar.

That's the Mills Act contract for 2845 Woolsey Street.

Um we have two other items which are adopting resolution authorizing the temporary employment of retired and new attendants, Kathy Lee is interim director of police accountability, and then item number 26, which is the public safety technology item.

So I just want to give you all an accounting of where we're at, and then um I'd really would really like to make it through these top three items before we take a break.

I know it's already 750, and it kind of depends on how much public comment we get on each of them.

So I'm just saying that out loud so you all know what to expect.

We have a number of items to cover still, so okay.

So uh what I'd like to do is start with the Cesar Chavez item.

Um, Councilmember Cassarwani, I know you've got some changes that you've made to it that you wanted to share with us, so I'm gonna start with there and and let you present.

Oh, sure.

Okay, would you like us to do the Mills Act contract item first?

Okay, let's do the Mills Act contract item first.

Uh that's the 2845 Wolsey Street, previously item number seven on the consent calendar.

Um since you pulled it, council member or vice mayor Luna Parra, would you like to speak to this item?

Yes, I think we should continue this item to the next regular meeting.

Um so I move to continue this item to the next regular meeting and marks.

Um let's just take the uh actually if there's no opposition, I'm just gonna have us continue that.

Do you have a question?

So just clear clarify the landmarks fail to act on it or okay.

The landmarks commission heard it.

Um they took a vote and the vote failed.

A vote to approve it, the vote failed, and it came to council.

Okay, I see.

So actually, also clarifying, so if we continue it, will they have time to review it again?

Or what what's your hope?

So I understand.

From my understanding, they chose not to move forward with it because a majority did not think that it was worthy of a mills act.

I I think we should just continue this discussion.

Shh is how we go ahead and uh put your mic on so we can hear you.

I'm just curious if they didn't or with how did it reach us?

Because they took no action.

It helps us like yeah, it just comes to us for us to decide.

I see, thank you.

Okay, so I'm fine with continuing it.

Um I'm gonna see if there's any opposition to continuing it until the next meeting.

Oh sorry, did were you saying something, Mr.

City Clark?

Yeah, and we'll take public comment on it.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay, I just want to get a sense of where everyone's at.

Okay, so um is there any public comment for item number seven, the Mills Act contract for 2845 Woolsey Street.

Um, who were the two people that took it off consent there besides Lunapora?

There was three.

We don't typically respond to public comments.

So go ahead and give your comment on it.

Well, that's what needs to happen.

Are you changing the rules?

Or did I mean it that's you should just be transparent because you mumble and nobody can hear there were three council members that removed that item onto action.

Um go ahead, come on up.

Uh hey there, I'm the owner.

Uh it was okay.

Just hold it out.

Oh, sorry.

Um, I'm the owner.

Um it wasn't exactly that's not exactly what happened at Landmarks.

Uh a bunch of people actually decided not to vote at all.

Um, and that's why it ended up here.

So there actually was quorum, and then a bunch of people said, Oh, I don't want to touch this.

So it got kicked up to you all.

So to the extent that there's a ability to have this conversation before you know all the stuff, there's some deadlines have to be hit.

That's great.

But just want to make sure that like that cadence is kept and that the kind of the full totality of understanding like how we got here, what happened, and the changes that have happened over the course of this.

Like the law effectively was X, but the change that happened was Y.

And I just want to make sure that like we can get through this.

I'm just you know, I'm trying to follow the steps, and it feels like the steps keep changing.

So if the steps keep changing, then like we should make some other amendments, but that's all.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for your public comment.

And and certainly, yeah, if if there's some confusion about what next steps are, we definitely can check back in and make sure that it's clear um and can update you on on when this would be heard next, because it would be heard at the next city council meeting.

Yeah.

April 14th.

April 14th.

Yes, because this is right before our our spring recess, unfortunately.

And but feel free if you have other comments or you want to talk more, feel free to reach out to my office.

Thank you.

Um is there any other public comment online for this item?

This is public comment only for item seven, MILSAC contract 2845 Woolsey Street.

Uh, there are two hands raised.

The first is Jeff Baker.

Uh hello.

Um, thank you very much for pulling this uh into the action items for more debate.

Um, I do think it makes good sense to continue this since there doesn't seem to be a lot of clarity on why this is on the council agenda.

I believe if you gathered up uh the six members of the commission who did not vote to approve this and ask them what they thought happened, they would say that they thought they killed the item.

Uh so it was very surprising to me when it appeared on the council agenda.

Uh certainly it is a stretch to say that if the commission doesn't make findings specifically to deny the contract, then it just arrives at council.

That really defies the meaning of consent and approval of the commission, which is what the local ordinance says.

Uh thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate your comment.

Uh actually the other person lowered their hands, so that that's it for public.

Okay.

Very good.

Then we can move on to the Cesar Chavez item then, Madam Mayor.

Oh, I just have a question for no way.

Um I just have a question for staff.

Is there is there any trigger?

Like, is there an exploration or anything we need to worry about?

Um if we continue it to April 14th.

Hey, council members, this is Jordan Klein, Director of Planning and Development.

Sorry, I'm not in the room with you.

Uh for the contract to take effect during the 2027-28 fiscal year, we would need to um take action on it by the end of the calendar year.

So April should be fine.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay, so um there didn't appear to be any opposition, but just confirming there's no opposition to moving this to our next meeting.

Okay, we will move that to our next meeting then and move on to the Cesar Chavez item.

Council member.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, for the um change of the changing of the order so I could bring this on screen.

So we just to keep things simple, we've just modified the recommendation.

First, I want to acknowledge that I've added the co-sponsors, uh, Terry Taplin, Ben Bartlett, and Brent Blackaby.

And um with further discussion with community leaders, um, I uh wanted to strike the uh the renaming and and simply refer this to the Parks Recreation and Waterfront Commission.

Um according to the council rules of procedure appendix A, the um the Parks Commission is um granted this authority to rename parks.

So we do need to do this referral.

And um what we did was strike the the um certainty about naming it for Dolores Huerta and and simply saying that we want to initiate a community process which should incorporate feedback specifically from the commemorative committee that we heard from today.

This was the committee that initiated the first renaming process of the park in 1994, as well as input from other community members and stakeholders.

And what what I I did here is I just said that we recommend that Dolores Huerta be among the options considered for renaming.

And then in in conversation with the city manager, um we have added um removing or covering signage bearing the name Cesar Chavez from park property as soon as practicable, and just making it clear we want to leave intact signage related to directions and park rules.

So those are the changes.

So we will now take council questions, which I have a couple um if no one else has questions.

Okay, so I'm curious since we put forward an item that addresses more than just the park, it addresses anything bearing Cesar Chavez's name, um, including the site that's within the park.

Um I'm wondering then if that would move forward just without the park, essentially.

I'm not sure.

Um I I'm not aware of any other item.

This is the item before us tonight.

So I can only speak to this item.

So you're asking about some other I'm asking about an item that was submitted on Monday that addressed a process for changing everything with Cesar Chavez's name.

And so I'm curious if this would just essentially make the part about the park specifically moot.

It just we could remove that part.

I just want to understand how to move for it practically.

I'm not sure I would understand your question.

I mean, are you wanting to add something to this item to the effect that other Cesar Chavez names get removed for example on the website, or are you saying that might be simpler to do to include that in in here?

I guess I'm just trying to figure out practically how it looks.

So yeah, okay.

So I'll just ask to make a friendly amendment then to include the the items that we included within our uh item that we submitted on Monday, um, which I don't have that rule list in front of.

We should probably repeat, say state out what those are, yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

Um and I think this is just um uh Madam Mayor Sofia, I I just I'm not aware of your item, you know, because I know we had different brown acts, and so I don't know um what it was requesting because I don't think that item's been made public as far as I know.

Okay.

Right.

Sorry, I'm trying to get this um the other items on here.

Sorry, I just want to make sure my staff knows I'm trying.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, so that would be uh the items that were listed down here were Cesar Chavez Park, uh Cesar Chavez Day, which is March 30th or 31st.

Um, and then Chavez Huerta tribute site and solar calendar, Cesar Chavez Dolores Cuerta commemorative period, and Cesar Chavez Park Perimeter Trail Project.

So I am I appreciate that.

I I think the issue is on a lot of these, you know, the the parks commission is tasked with renaming parks.

You know, that some of those those names are a little different, and so I I would suggest um that maybe we should keep them separate and and because I think we need to figure out what kind of process is put in place for changing these other things that are not actually the name of a park, right?

So I so I I I don't think that this item is equipped to handle that, and I do appreciate how comprehensive your list is.

Um so I would just just for simplicity's sake, because I know we have a heavy night tonight in terms of other items, and everyone is here for the the following item.

Maybe just keep this one simple and just that's fine.

Yeah, the park process going and and the removal going, um, and then and then look at everything else, which I think we do need to put more time into how um you know each community group or commission would look at that.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Yes, that's fine.

Okay, okay, that's why I was asking.

So all right, so with that, I will see.

Sorry.

Were you gonna say something, Mark?

No.

Okay, with that, I will see if there's any public comments on the item.

Seeing no public comment in person, is there any public comment online?

There's two hands raised.

This is for public comment on the urgent item regarding renaming uh Cesar Chavez Park.

The first hand raised is Lisa Teague.

Go ahead, Lisa.

You should be able to you're unmuted.

Sorry, are you saying you No, Lisa?

You're it shows that you've unmuted.

You should be able to provide comments.

Lisa, are you there to give public comment?

All right, we'll come back to Lisa.

Uh Della Luna.

I just wanted to note for the record that I'm actually witnessing you all like move swiftly.

This happened, I believe, last week, Wednesday or Thursday, and here four or five days later, you already got something on the agenda and you're passing it.

So this is evidence that you all actually can move quickly.

Thank you.

All right.

Anyone else?

The other person lowered their hand, so that's that's it.

Okay, thank you very much.

Any council comment on this item.

We have a I can I can uh move the item as amended.

Second.

Okay.

Moved and seconded.

Okay.

Yeah, so no comments.

I I will just say that we put together this comprehensive list in our having our conversations with the community.

We went and visited the Berkeley Historical Society.

They had an exhibit on Latinos in Berkeley throughout our history, which was really incredible.

So I'm sorry if you missed it.

Hopefully they'll have it again.

Um but in those conversations, they expressed extreme um just extreme feelings of being very upset at at finding news about about these allegations about Cesar Chavez.

So I do think it's important.

I know we have a long meeting tonight, but I think it's important that we address that.

Um, that that was incredibly disturbing to a lot of folks, and that they wanted time to kind of figure out how they were feeling, what process would be good to change the names and to give the community time to address this in the way that they felt comfortable doing so.

So I just wanted to explain, you know, why we also included other items as well in our item, and I'm looking forward to that that item come forward later.

Um so thank you very much.

That's all I wanted to say about it.

Yeah, and and Madame Mayor, I do want to thank you, and um I do appreciate how comprehensive that list is.

Like, as I I hadn't seen it, and and we do need to make sure we are um you know, look look at everything and and have the community process.

So I feel very good about um not dictating a name right now and and making sure that we hear from the commemorative committee as well as other stakeholders and and arrive at at a new name, you know, as a as a community.

So thank you very much.

Yeah, thank you.

Okay, and with that, I will see if there's any opposition to approving this item.

Okay.

Councilmember will keep will be noted as absent.

Okay, thank you.

Oh, council member is there any opposition to approving this item.

Okay, great.

So we will approve this item as well.

Thank you very much, Councilmember, and to those who are co-sponsoring.

Okay, so now we have item number 25, which is adopt a resolution authorizing temporary employee of retired and new attendant Kathy Lee as interim director of police accountability.

Um actually, I know Jose is here.

Did you want to say anything?

Okay.

Um I will yes, okay, so um I have some remarks to read on behalf of Kathy.

Um she says, Honorable Mayor Ishii and members of the city council.

I first want to thank you for deciding to fill the director of police accountability position temporarily while you search for a permanent director.

With that decision, you have signaled to this community the importance of ensuring that the vital work of ODPA and the police accountability board continue.

Second, I thank you for putting your trust in me to be the interim DPA.

You have my word that I will serve with all due gravity and integrity.

A few friends and colleagues, upon learning of my plan to unretire, have wondered whether congratulations are in order.

And I have to confess that my immediate reaction upon being asked to consider back was a hard no.

But the more I thought about it and about my tenure as the police review commissioner, commission officer, and then as the interim director of police accountability, the more I realized how strongly I felt about making sure that meaningful civilian oversight of our police department lives on.

I had become a true believer in the value of community members, helping keep our police accountable and ensuring that police policies, practices, and procedures reflect this community's values.

Civilian oversight has a long history in the city of Berkeley, starting in 1973 with the voter adopted ordinance creating the police review commission.

I believe that this early institutionalization of police accountability in Berkeley has resulted in a police department that has been relatively responsive to the community's needs and concerns, and one that is committed to working with our diverse population.

As policing methods, patterns, patterns of crime, and the makeup and needs of our resident residents change over time.

Continued oversight is needed to ensure that our police remain accountable to the public.

Since 1973, more jurisdictions have adopted some form of civilian oversight of their police departments.

Berkeley at some point was no longer the leader but lagged behind other agencies in its powers and independence.

Thus, the Charter Amendment creating the ODPA and PAB in 2020 was proposed, and its easy passage showed that a huge majority of Berkeley voters favored a more robust system of police oversight.

The framework for an independent body, no longer under the city manager's office, is in place.

But as we've seen it, the devil is in the details.

Just as the police department wants effective tools to do its work, the ODPA and the PAB need effective tools to perform meaningful oversight.

It's more than a little sad to me that permanent regulations for handling complaints against officers are still not in place, although I understand we are close.

I read with great dismay about the resignation of two PAB members, longtime PRC commissioners with whom I had worked due to their frustration with how PAB and ODPA did not seem to have more real powers than under the old structure.

And I find no joy in the circumstances resulting in my appointment today.

I guess I love a challenge.

And I confess to being an eternal optimist, although that outlook is being sorely tested by the current president.

I intend to work collaboratively with all stakeholders while representing the voices of the community as we navigate our work to find common ground on so many significant issues, including the use of emerging new technologies and revisiting the use of forced policy.

I look forward to re-establishing relationships with those whom I have worked previously, and I'm eager to forge new relationships, especially with the members of the police accountability board and with the staff of the ODPA.

Speaking of who, whom I want to thank Jose Morillo for holding everything together as acting director and to Chair Josh Cayetano and the other three PAB members for their heavy lifting during this period of transition transition.

I regret the timing of my appointment coincides with the long planned trip out of the country.

However, I look forward to seeing all of you in the near future.

Last but not least, I understand that some of you without current appointees to the PAB have candidates in the pipeline.

For those of you who do not, I respectfully urge you to make your appointment a priority.

Again, my thanks.

Kathy Lee.

Okay.

Wow.

Well, um, okay, so I do also, yeah, we can clap for that.

Yeah.

Um, I want to say that I have had numerous conversations now with Kathy, that she has been incredibly supportive, um, very excited to get to work, um, has already reached out to both Chair Cayetano and Jose and other staff has actually gone in person that she continues her relationship uh with with folks who are in the police accountability sphere and attends conferences.

So I have a lot of confidence in her ability.

Um, and just her letter, I think really shows that she has been following what's going on, really understands these issues and cares a lot about it.

So I am very excited to have her on board.

Um, and so um are there any questions from folks?

Um I do want to mention as we have the opportunity that we already have formed a subcommittee with Vice Mayor Lynn Opara and Councilmember Humbert in order to find a permanent replacement for the PAB.

And we've already had our sorry for the ODPA director of police accountability, and um we've already had our first meeting, and I'm very excited about that process moving forward.

So, Kathy, don't worry, we are gonna find a permanent replacement.

I know that's that's something she's eager for us to do.

So, okay, as long as there are no questions.

Is there any public comment on this item?

Yes.

Kit, come on up.

Uh I had some occasion to uh work with Kathy Lee when she was in the role uh both both as the uh director of police uh the interim director of police accountability and before that it went with the uh police review board, I guess it's called.

Um, and she is really very good.

I mean very happy that she's accepted.

I'm very happy that you appointed her.

Thank you for reading that letter.

I hope we all sort of reread that letter several times.

There's a lot in there.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kate.

Other public comment on this item.

Hi, folks, Nathan Myzel.

Um, I served on the PRC and PAB with Kathy Lee.

Um, there is no finer public servant than Kathy Lee.

Um the issues with police counter in the city do not emerge from her or her service or a time as interim.

They emerge from this council's refusal to pay attention to police oversight.

It emerges from the city attorney's office refusal to enforce what the voters of the city passed into law in 2020.

It emerges from a city manager who has seemingly falling asleep at the wheel as a police chief overwrites or say's use of force policy.

That was passed by this council completely unlawfully.

So Kathy is a great public servant.

I'm thankful she's here as interim.

Y'all fired the last director as he tried to defend our charter.

Let's let's hope you find someone decent to do the job, and we'll be paying attention on who you decide to select.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, good evening.

Uh, my name is George Bresville.

I was a long time over side practitioner city of Berkeley.

I'm here actually on behalf of NACOL, the National Association of Civil and Oversight Law Enforcement, I'm the Vice President Organization to say thank you very much for your thorough and fast appointment of Kathy Lee.

We hold her in high respect.

She is an individual with high integrity, and her work is um second to none.

So we congratulate you for this move for her appointment.

We're confident that she will reach out to NACOL for whatever work she needs in other support.

We are here to support the council as well.

On a side note, I would say that as you look at the next candidate, and I said to some council members, please do your search for someone who works in the state of California.

I think somebody who's from California will understand the dynamics of oversight in California as well as stakeholders.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thanks, George.

Good advice.

Hi, thank you.

Uh I'm I appreciate everything that can be done to uphold police accountability, and I want to note the 85% mandate for uh police accountability, independent police accountability in the city.

Um, and we're seeing a trend of center right city councils undermining such independent oversight in cities in the Bay Area, especially San Francisco and Oakland.

And in the and we're seeing that pattern here with the two recent resignations of two members of this police accountability board um in the name of really supporting this board for the four members left on the nine-person board.

Were they given enough time to evaluate a very important item that's coming up next on today's agenda?

And what did they say?

Because I saw some supplementals from some of you, but I didn't say what the police accountability board to say had to say about something that is horrible for sanctuary city policy and law right now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I don't have a lot to say about uh the appointment, but I do have some historic memory of meeting Bobby Seal in a program where before we had the uh police accountability org passed, he was trying to make comments and make us aware of why it would fail.

And one of the reasons that he gave was that there is no power in it, and that the city council and and different uh city authorities will strip it of its ability to do anything under the way that it's that's constructed, which doesn't give it any power, and now I see it taking place.

And Chip Moore was removed when he was trying to do a good job, and as we see the flock thing went through and it caused disintegration of whatever council uh whatever police accountability board we had, and now we're trying to piece it back together.

So there's a lot of mismatch and disconnect with the city and what the police accountability board should be and the rights that it should have.

Thank you.

I do believe I have another minute.

Um I I also am a former police review commissioner.

Um I quit that body because it was so unable to hold the police accountable.

I quit in in great frustration.

Kathy Lee always she has lots of integrity, she's a wonderful person.

I feel bad because we jumped out of the pan and into the fire.

Because the police association mangled the revisions.

We were trying to make the PRC stronger.

And two years of meet and confer, two years, so that they could write what they wanted.

Please remember that the police association, the police department didn't even campaign against the formation of the PAB, because they knew how weak and declawed and powerless it was.

This is a crisis in our city.

Look at the San Francisco.

If you don't believe, if you don't believe us about racial disparities, look at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Their police reporting, their rip of data is saying that 8.9% of police stops in and in the city of Berkeley were of black people who were let go.

There was no basis for the stop.

There's no control in the police, and to be honest, to sit here and watch you guys compliment them.

It looks like a Trumpian cabinet meeting.

Absolutely uncritical.

Absolutely unquestioning of the data that you are spoon fed.

There is no outside auditor.

There's no outside agency.

So Kathy Lee may succeed.

If she is allowed to, if she's given independent counsel, if she is given the opportunity, if she's given the support and the funding.

But right now the PAB is a total, absolute waste of time.

And there's a crisis in this city.

Thanks, Andrea.

Speaking, excuse me.

Uh speaking to the subject of actually having an accountability board with power, I still think there's a lot of accountability that needs to happen around the firing of the last director.

And maybe we need to have a policy set up where the director isn't immediately fired for doing their job too well.

We would love to know why they were fired, why it was we won't know that because they were fired in a closed door meeting, and it was acceptable because they were given 200 grand of severance.

That's our money.

Um this is a bad use of resources to to just take everything apart the way you are.

Um everyone speaking to it.

Please do better.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there any public comment online for item 25, which is adopting resolution authorizing temporary employment of retired and Kathy Lee is interim director of police accountability?

We have uh John Lindsey Poland.

Uh good evening, John Lindsay Poland of the American Friends Service Committee.

I worked with Kathy Lee when she was at the PRC, highly competent, highly skilled, lots of integrity.

And as she noted, there are five uh uh vacancies, and those vacancies are for the districts of councilmember Taplin, Councilmember Bartlett, Councilmember Tregob, Councilmember Blackaby, and Mayor Ishi.

And the reasons there's no other city commission that has that many vacancies.

Why could that be?

The reason is because you have dissed them.

So when you approve Kathy Lee's appointment, which I am sure you do, and I support you doing, I want to hear you say that you're gonna give more support and more attention to the PAB's recommendations coming in the future and now, tonight.

That's what I want to hear you say when you approve Kathy Lee's appointment because that's gonna wait what make her job more effective.

Thanks.

Next is sorry, I I was just confused because Councilmember Blackaby had put his, but okay, go ahead.

Were you gonna respond?

I just want to state that my commissioner resigned because he had a baby and was a hurry leave.

And I have new personnel.

Well, let me jump in too then.

Uh my commissioner moved away and I replaced him two months ago.

He'll be on the board soon.

A great young man, I must say, by the way.

Sure.

So uh yeah, go ahead.

Go ahead.

Let's who's next.

Okay.

Next is Kieran Chinoy.

Good evening, Mayor and members of council.

Karen Sharai here, I just wanted to commend you, Mayor, for bringing forward this resolution to appoint Kathy Lee as interim director of police accountability.

I've had the unique opportunity to observe Kathy's work from an earlier chapter in Berkeley's police oversight system.

In 2013, when I was serving as chair of the police review commission, I sat on a panel to evaluate candidates for the commission officer role.

At that time, the commission was in a difficult place.

We had gone through three officers in just two years and operating in what I would describe as a very charged and at times unstable environment.

During that panel process, it became immediately clear to me that Kathy Lee was the right person for the job.

What stood out was not just her qualifications, but her demeanor.

She brought a calm, steady presence into a room that needed exactly that.

Just as importantly, she projected an unmistakable sense of impartiality in a role where credibility depends on public trust.

That quality is not just valuable, it is essential.

She went on to serve for nearly a decade in that and similar roles, providing continue continuity, professionalism, and consistency in a space that had previously lacked it.

I strongly support that.

Thank thanks so much.

Appreciate your comment.

Next is Mar.

You say you have a lot of confidence in her abilities, so I really hope you do listen to Kathy's recommendations while she's working as the interim director.

And I hope that whoever you do select as the permanent director is not just going to tell you what you want to hear, say that everything in Berkeley is good and that we should just let Chief Jen Lewis do whatever she wants.

The PAB does need to be given independent counsel, especially if the city attorney is going to side with the police and choose to represent them over representing the police accountability board.

Um and if the city manager is going to keep siding with the police every time a complaint comes up.

And it's very frustrating that you guys keep choosing when you get to respond to public comment.

Earlier you said you can't respond, but then when it comes to defending yourself or making yourself look better, you guys do respond.

So either you can respond to us or you can't.

Either you'll ask our questions and respond to our questions, or you ignore us.

Like why do you're doing both ways?

It's really frustrating.

Thanks.

Thanks for your comment.

And and to clarify, it is typically not our practice to respond.

Sometimes folks choose to respond, and I allow them to do that when they want to.

So continue on.

Uh Daniel Brownson.

Um I hope that uh under Kathy Lee, the uh police accountability board will have some actual teeth, and that you'll actually take uh the PAB's recommendations and make policy based on them.

That's all.

Thank you.

Okay, that's it.

Okay.

Oh, you have a comment on this item?

Yeah.

Come on up.

So, yeah, the police accountability board, didn't that get voted in for like a lot of percentage so that people could weigh in on what goes on?

And look what's happened.

So many people have resigned.

And I don't know this person, but uh Lee, but I've seen her in the meetings, and she's conducted herself well.

And um, let's hope that happens.

And I just also wanted to remind people that Pamela Price is running for re-election, and we can vote for her.

And um free Palestine.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Um, Councilmember Blackaby, did you have comments?

Yeah, very briefly.

Thanks.

Um, Madam Mayor, I just want to thank you for moving so swiftly and bringing this appointment.

Um, it is really important that we have someone in that chair, so thank you for doing that.

Um, I want to thank Kathy Lee for being willing to step into the breach.

Um, as plenty of people have noticed and observed, this is not an easy job in any circumstances, particularly not an easy job right now.

So we just really appreciate that she's willing to come out of retirement to do to do that.

I also want to thank Chair Cayetano and Vice Chair Leah Wilson and the current board members for really um stepping into this challenge.

Um significantly reduced board.

That means more than twice as much work that they're bearing.

So I just want to thank them for doing that.

And join the call to urge colleagues to make our appointments.

Um I'll also say that you know we've made our nomination.

We talked to multiple candidates, made our nomination, it's in the pipeline now.

Um I'm confident that we're gonna be filling the vacancies soon.

The other thing that has never been done that I that I would like to do as a council is um nominate a permanent alternate commissioner so that in the future again it's sort of a unique feature of this particular body in the charter.

Um because it's uh everything is council approved.

We need a council approved um alternate commissioner unlike other commissions or alternate board member, um, so that we always have someone that can step up and serve when there is a vacancy.

So I'll also be working on that component, but we can nominate that as a full full council.

But anyway, thank you, Mayor, and thank you to Kathy for agreeing to serve.

Thank you, Councilmember Humbert.

Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor, and I want to thank you for moving swiftly to appoint um Kathy Lee.

I fully support that.

She sounds like an incredible blue chip person to fill the role.

Um, and I look forward to working on the search committee with you and Councilmember Vice Mayor Luna Para.

Um, I want to commend my very excellent um PAB member Randy Wells, who's been serving for some time now.

Um thank you.

Thank you.

Um Councilmember Bartlett.

Thank you.

I want to say uh Kathy Lee is a wonderful person.

I served with her on the PRC when I was on the that board many, many years ago.

Too many years ago.

She was really um very astute, very fair.

She taught us all a lot, she taught the system.

Uh she was wonderful.

And so she'll be a good stand-in, and hopefully she can work with the new person and kind of get them on track.

Thank you.

Councilmember Traygum.

Uh, thank you.

I I wish to add my voice to the chorus of uh voices praising Kathy Lee while I never had a chance to work with her directly.

Uh for excellent reputation precedes her in a variety of different ways.

Um, and I am uh looking forward to uh having the opportunity to work with her again.

Um also wish to thank uh members of the PAB and Chair Kayatano.

Um as for our uh appointment process, it has been extensive.

We are taking this extremely seriously.

It is an important uh board.

Uh we're very close, and uh as uh one component of the process, there's the opportunity for uh the folks that we have met with to connect with our previous uh PAB member, former Commissioner Calavita.

So I look forward to um moving that forward and uh helping make sure that the commission is at full strength in short order.

Thank you, uh Vice Mayor Luna Para.

Thank you.

Um I I haven't met Kathy Lee yet, but I've heard great things all around, so I'm really excited um to work with her.

I also really want to thank um Chair Cayetano and Deputy Dir or Deputy Director Marillo for all of the work that they have done in the meantime.

Seriously, has been so amazing and impactful.

So thank you.

Yes, I want to add my thanks to both as well.

Um it's really been a pleasure to work with both of you as we've been moving this process forward.

Um and I do want to just address that at our uh council retreat, we talked about coordinating so that all of our um appointees to PAB came forward at the same time essentially, so that way um they wouldn't have to do as much onboarding because we know with our our smaller ODPA that it's a lot of work to onboard multiple people, so it's actually better if all of us put our folks forward at the same time.

I see a lot of head nods, so I just want to make sure folks understood why that was happening.

But just to say that certainly if anyone, especially anyone here who's interested in applying to be a PAB member, um please feel free to write us.

There's a process online.

Um we're really we are really looking, so it please feel free to send folks our way.

I know there are a lot of folks here who are interested in in um their work.

So thank you very much.

Um I would like to make this motion I'd like to make the motion.

Second.

Um, and let's just take a vote on it.

I think it'd be better to take the roll.

Okay, to approve the resolution authorizing Kathy Lee as the interim director of police accountability, Councilmember Kessarwani.

Yes.

Bartlett.

Yes.

O'Keefe.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Humbert.

Yes.

And Mary Ishii.

Yes.

Okay, I don't care.

Motion is approved.

Very exciting.

Thank you.

Um, and thank you all for your public comments on that as well.

So it is 8 30.

Um, like I said, I knew it was going to be at least around eight o'clock, so we are at 8 30.

Um, we are gonna take a 15-minute break before item 26.

Um, and we will come back after that.

And just as a reminder, how so just so folks know a little preview, um, how that will go is we'll have our our um our chief will present on this item, and then we're going to have the pad present on their recommendations, and then we have a number of different supplements that are our supplementals that are coming.

So we do.

I think we're at four.

We're at four supplementals, so we all need to present our supplementals.

And then we will take council questions, and then we will do public comment, and then uh we will have deliberations.

So just so folks are clear on what the process is going to look like.

That's what it'll look like, and we're gonna take a break from now.

Hey, folks, please.

Can I finish?

All right, it's eight thirty-four, so we will be back in fifteen minutes.

Thank you.

Recording stopped.

And you want some people different.

We're we've got a group going on flip the Berkeley City Council.

And then I want to say anyone landing.

We have a recall going for me.

I know it's gonna be great.

Anyway, I think now I just want it to be like this.

Yeah, so I'm gonna see it.

It's like asking that they're like this very now I think.

Yeah.

I think that's what they're saying.

Yeah, I think it's not I just have the interesting way to go right there.

I think also I have to see that.

I have to see that you don't think that's what I think.

Recording in progress.

Okay.

Wow.

Hi.

We've got the whole crew.

Okay.

So folks, can I have your attention, please?

I know you're eager to get started on this.

So please have your s have a seat.

Settle down.

Folks.

I need I need it to be quiet before we begin.

So if you see a neighbor speaking.

Okay.

We're almost there.

I'm very sorry.

I know it's really hot.

We've got some doors open here.

I've opened these doors.

We've got the fans on.

So um it is really hot, so please just like let's make sure that there's seats for anybody who needs a seat.

And also, if you'd like water, I believe there's a water fountain around the corner, so I just want to make sure folks take care of themselves.

If you're getting really hot, please feel free to step out and get some fresh air.

I don't want anyone passing out.

That would be horrible.

Okay, folks, I need you to be quiet, please.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

So as I said before the break, the way that this is going to go.

We're going to move on to item twenty six.

We are going to have a presentation from our city staff.

And then we're going to have a presentation from Pav and the ODPA.

And then we're going to have a presentation of all four supplements.

And then we will take council questions and then we'll open up for public comment.

So for folks who are standing up on the wall getting ready to speak, that's fine.

Just know you're going to be standing for a little while.

And then um after that we will have council deliberation.

So that's the process of of what we'll be doing for the rest of this evening.

All right.

I'm going to pass it over to the chief.

Oh no.

I asked you to do that.

Thank you, Mayor Ishi and Council.

Folks, thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight to bring this package of uh contracts before you.

Uh I understand and have heard a lot of concern from folks about Flock and particularly in this moment in time.

And we have worked very hard collectively between the police department and the city attorney's office, my office, uh, to draft language in the MSA that is as protective of the city as possible, knowing that this is a this is a dangerous moment in time.

Um we do feel, and I do feel that the balance of of safety outweighs the risk that presents itself in this MSA.

Um if things do go in a bad direction, we have the ability to exit this um this contract and the and the MSA.

Um we also have uh a serious structural budget deficit.

We have a uh under staffed police department and having the ability to uh create better efficiencies by bringing these um services into the city creates the opportunity for us to have a safer city.

Uh and I'm very proud of the work that the police department has done.

I'm proud of the work the city attorney's office has done to get us to this point.

Um, and I look forward to hearing some of the the details from uh the police department's office.

Look forward to hearing the presentation from the PAB and then this this discussion that we'll have as a community, and I I hope it will uh land with an approval.

So with that, I will turn it over to Chief Lewis.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Please I know you want to speak, and I want to give you time to speak, so please let's hear from our city staff and be respectful so they can present.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Uh good evening.

We're here to talk through today our proposed public safety technology package.

I want to be really clear from the start.

This is not about de-emphasizing our service focus focused public safety that we give to the city.

Uh we continue to invest in and value the community partnerships and the direct contact that we have with our community.

This is a request to give our officers better information so that they can be more effective at the same time.

We leverage tools that can help make the community a safer place.

We have worked on these items with the city attorney's office, the PAB, the Public Safety Policy Committee, and community members over more than three years and 25 public meetings to this point.

The item you see tonight reflects that input.

Earlier today, we gave a presentation detailing crime trends and public safety initiatives over the past year.

While we have a lot to be proud of, we know we still have work to do and support to support a thriving vibrant community.

What we're presenting tonight is our best proposal on how we do that under very strange, strained budget and staffing circumstances.

So I want to start with the big picture.

This slide shows how all of the technology that we're discussing tonight fits together.

The model we're proposing is called a real-time information center or an Arctic.

On the left, you see the technology feeds, the LPRs, fixed cameras, community video streams, and drones.

In the center, you see the analysis.

You see the investigative software used by an analyst, um, gathering that information that we receive and and making actionable information from it.

Situational awareness, case intelligence, and and uh trend analysis.

That information then can guide our patrol officers and our detectives so that they make more precise informed decisions in their work.

I want to uh emphasize that in all of this, all these decisions remain human-driven.

This provides us resources in a more efficient way, gathers and collates data in a way that lets us uh make intelligent decisions, but it's all human-based.

Um I also want to uh emphasize that an Arctic is not a novel concept.

Uh we routinely do this kind of work when we activate our EOC in the city.

That is um applying those same principles of centralizing information, improving coordination, and getting the right resources to the right place faster.

Um, with that, I want to hand it briefly over to uh the fire chief to talk about that uh Arctic model.

Thank you, Chief.

Good evening, all I want to speak briefly to why the Arctic matters to the fire department and to our city's emergency operations center.

When the city activates the EOC for a major incident, an earthquake, a wildfire, a large-scale planned event.

One of our biggest challenges is getting real-time information so we can have an understanding of what's happening in the field.

We're pulling information from multiple sources, trying to coordinate across trying to coordinate across sources, uh across departments and making resources, resource decisions under pressure.

Many local jurisdictions have built partnerships between their real-time information centers and their emergency operations centers.

When those cities activate for a critical incident, the RTIC is one of the first resources they bring online.

For Berkeley, this means the investment the police department is describing tonight doesn't just serve daily law enforcement operations.

It builds infrastructure that strengthens our citywide emergency management posture.

And I see that as another significant benefit to this investment that should be considered.

Okay, so uh I I know this might seem like a lot, but most of this technology that we're talking about is in new to the city.

Um the four technologies uh on the screen here uh involve uh renewals or updates or tools that the department already uses.

Um drones as first responder uh and community video streams are new, but only in that they are an expansion of the current way that we use those technologies.

So this slide gives you a quick reference for each of the previously approved items that the department already uses.

Um LPRs, these cross uh reference license plates against hot lists for stolen vehicles, uh missing persons, felony warrants.

We already have 52 cameras.

The ask tonight is to renew the contract.

Uh fixed PTZ cameras.

We've had cameras for several years at the marina and at San Pablo Park.

Uh council approved 16 solar powered cameras at high traffic pedestrian intersections uh last year, and uh we're asking for authority to sign that contract.

Uh field deployed uh drones.

These are drones that officers carried incident uh incident scenes for aerial views and interior building searches during high risk warrants and emergencies.

Um council approved use of these a few years ago in a mutual aid capacity, and in tonight we're proposing to purchase our own drones.

Um and the investigative software brings together databases that we already have access to.

Um not adding anything new.

Uh, just think our like computer aided dispatch, records management, um, and digital evidence, just bringing all that into one searchable system.

Uh and this is uh as part of a grant to directly support our gun violence intervention and prevention program.

Okay, so to turn to uh the two items that are new to council, um community video streams and drones as first responder, uh community video streams.

This is a uh proposal to allow businesses that already have cameras to give the police department direct access to that footage.

So under this proposal, uh the police department, you're being so respectful.

I really appreciated the quiet.

Let's let Arlo finish, please.

Thank you.

Uh the police department wouldn't install or own any cameras under under this program.

Um the cost to the city for hardware would be zero.

So uh we'd just be utilizing uh privately owned cameras, uh, which is a concept that might sound familiar because we have had a camera registry for several years, and this kind of just builds on that concept.

Um so before any camera is activated in in this system, our proposed policy would require that we conduct a pre-integration review uh with an in-person site assessment.

Uh we would require that there be signage that indicates that this program is in place at each location, uh, and each integrated camera location would be published on the city website.

Uh and camera owners were trained full ownership of their cameras and their data and can revoke access at any time.

Um the public safety benefit here is is the same as our uh fixed PTZ cameras.

Um awareness of a scene before officers arrive, uh which is critical during ongoing crimes, um, directly support our investigative efforts after the fact.

You know, right now officers uh go door to door canvassing for video footage and uh they this would uh replace that slow manual process with something immediate and and coordinated.

Um this is the theme for all the technologies that we're talking about tonight is swifter investigations with a higher likelihood of of solving the crime.

Uh privacy protections on this one, uh access would be restricted to active investigations only, facial recognition, uh of course is strictly prohibited, and all accesses are are logged and audible.

Um and this footage would not be shared to outside agencies.

Thank you.

I'm gonna cover the drone as first responder on this slide.

Uh so this is the second new item, and here's how it works.

Drones launch theoretically from uh rooftop docking stations at the public safety building and fly directly to the scene of a call.

Real-time crime information center analysts will view the live aerial video and relay critical information to the responding officers.

In agencies across the country operating DFR programs, drones routinely arrive on scene within minutes and often faster than patrol officers.

And in some cases, it's only two minutes.

So operationally, this is a shift before an officer arrives.

We already have eyes on the scene.

We can assess whether there's an active threat, a medical need, or if the report is unfounded.

That level of certainty allows for better tactical planning and supports de-escalation when officers don't know what they're walking into, they prepare for the worst.

And when they know, they can respond proportionately to what's actually happening.

Peer agencies using DFR report that about 25% of calls that drones respond to can actually be resolved without sending a patrol unit at all.

So that's a meaningful resource multiplier, freeing our officers to focus on higher priority needs while still delivering service.

And on privacy, our draft policies are clear.

Drones are deployed only for specific calls for service, never for random patrol or general surveillance.

And cameras face the horizon while they're in transit and only orient downward once they're at an authorized scene.

So every flight path is logged and published to a public transparency portal, typically within about an hour of the drone landing.

And these drones will never be weaponized and they will not carry facial recognition.

And this isn't just a police tool.

DAFR also has significant value for fire and emergency medical response, and I'd like to invite Chief Sprague from the fire department to speak about that.

When we get dispatched to a structure fire, the first minutes on scene are about gathering information.

Where's the fire?

How far has it progressed?

Are there signs of people inside?

Where might the fire spread?

Right now, that assessment happens at a ground level when our first engine company arrives.

An aerial drone that's already overhead when we pull up gives my incident commanders a view from the roof, the rear of the building, and adjacent structures that we simply cannot get from the street.

For wildfire incidents, the value is even more direct.

We need to see how the fire is moving through terrain, where spot fires are developing, and which evacuation routes are still viable.

A drone gives us that picture in real time without putting a helicopter in the air or waiting for mutual aid air resources from the state.

On the emergency medical services side, think about a mass casualty incident or a major traffic collision on the freeway.

A drone overhead lets us do a rapid triage before units arrive.

How many patients are there?

Where are they?

What access routes are clear for ambulances and other responders?

That helps shape our entire response.

Water rescue incidents where a drone can use technology and search for heat signatures in the water much more rapidly than manually deploying rescue swimmers in watercraft.

And for hazmat incidents, we can assess the scene, read placards, and evaluate vapor spread from a safe distance rather than sending personnel into a hazardous environment.

I'll wrap up with a real life example of how this technology has been used.

The video you're watching demonstrates one example of how a mutual aid drone was used during a four-alarm high-rise fire on university.

A drone was used to support early firefighting operations by guiding our water stream application.

It continued to assist as the building smoldered over the following week.

The structure had been so severely compromised by fire that officials feared it would collapse, which led us to the decision that we could not send firefighters inside the structure to extinguish the deep-seated fires.

Drone footage provided a bird's eye view, allowing crews to identify where the water was needed without sending firefighters into the unstable structure.

The fire department is supportive of the DFR program and looks forward to the operational partnership it represents.

Thank you, Chief.

I want to start with a real example that shows exactly why these tools matter.

Last September, we investigated a six-case home invasion and burglary series that were targeting women who were home alone.

Three were home invasion robberies and three were residential burglaries.

ALPR cameras were critical to solving that case.

Investigators identified a suspect vehicle, and a flock ALPR data, the flock ALPR data showed that a vehicle following the victim vehicle just three seconds behind, directly directly linking it and the primary suspect to the entire series.

That suspect was ultimately charged with all six cases.

That outcome matters.

Without ALPRs, it would have taken significantly significantly longer to build that case, and that individual would have remained free to continue targeting women in their homes.

In 2025 alone, ALPRs generated more than 120 arrests and investigative leads.

That's the investigative impact.

Now zooming out, this is also about capacity.

We're operating below authorized staffing while the city is managing a structural deficit.

And RTIC addresses both.

Today officers often respond to calls with limited information, and with an Arctic, a single analyst can integrate multiple live data streams, drone footage, fixed cameras, community video, and ALPR data, all in real time from one dashboard.

That's not surveillance, that's preparation.

It means faster response, better decisions, and safer outcomes.

And in a department below authorized strength strength, it makes every officer more effective on every call.

The data supports this.

Cases supported by real-time centers have shown up shown up to 66% higher clearance rates.

So this program delivers real public safety value, which is victim closure, safer outcomes, stronger investigations, data-driven policing, and it pays for itself from existing departmental budget.

I know there have been some questions about our vendor selection.

So let me address that directly.

When council directed us to explore these technologies, we assembled a team to evaluate best practices, capabilities, and vendors across all categories.

The review was comprehensive and included technology conferences, DFR certification training, hands-on demonstrations, site visits to active Artics, and direct engagement with agencies already using the systems.

We evaluated multiple vendors.

No other single vendor can deliver ALPR, fixed cameras, drone as first responder, analytics, and community video integration on one unified platform.

Axon came closest, but their system currently lacks real-time alerts and hot list functionality, which are core to how we operate.

On drones, performance was decisive.

And side-by-side demonstrations, flocks, DGI drones, DJI drones could clearly read license plates at 400 feet while main competitors struggled at half that distance.

And in one case, the other product completely lost signal.

That level of clarity matters because DFR is about situational awareness and understanding what's happening before the officers arrive.

It's in everyone's best interest for officers to have the ability to know what someone is holding in their hands before an officer arrives on scene.

We also spoke with nearly 20 agencies where Flock consistently received the strongest feedback to include Richmond, which is currently operating the system and describes it as invaluable.

There's also a critical regional advantage.

Every city in Alameda County uses Flock for automated license plate readers.

That creates a network effect.

When a vehicle linked to a robbery in Berkeley crosses into Oakland, Fremont, or Hayward, the system doesn't stop at the county line.

Officers across jurisdictions are working from the same platform, alerts and data standards, and crime doesn't respect boundaries.

The system reflects that reality.

And the ecosystem matters.

One platform means one dashboard, one audit trail, and one master services agreement.

That simplifies compliance with the surveillance technology ordinance and the police equipment ordinance, strengthens accountability, and enables real-time data integration across all systems.

Something that simply isn't possible when stitching together multiple vendors.

Finally, because this is a leasing model, the city retains flexibility.

If needed, we can transition to another vendor at the end of the contract term without being tied to owned info infrastructure.

The other side of the the why flock question is about our contractual protections and data security.

So I want to spend a minute there.

Um please.

So many of you are being respectful.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

On the technical side, uh, every f every flock product line uses an end encryption.

Uh the cybersecurity infrastructure meets the same standards that all of our most sensitive data is held under.

Um, all access uh across every technology is logged through a single dashboard with a single audit trail.

Um, and flock is contractually required to promptly notify the city of any data security incident that occurs.

Um more on the contractual side that the city attorney's office uh reviewed the master services agreement, and uh every single red line that the city proposed was accepted by Flock.

So, what does that mean in practice?

Uh the city owns all this data.

Uh Flock is prohibited from selling, sharing, or distributing our data.

Um the city's data ownership and control survives even if the contract terminates, and we have uh contractual financial penalties for data breaches or unauthorized disclosures, uh, which mirrors the framework that Oakland's council approved for their Flock agreement in December.

Um we know that there are multiple supplemental reports tonight that we think will help strengthen the the MSA and uh we are supportive of re-engaging Flock to make sure that our MSA has every protection um that we need to feel confident in the in the agreement.

Um I know that there are concerns about federal access to data.

Um federal immigration authorities cannot access our data with anything short of a court order signed by a judge.

Uh in administrative subida is not.

Please, hey, come on.

I'm I'm really looking forward to hearing your public comments.

I'm gonna sit there and I'm gonna listen to everything you all are saying.

I'd like you to be respectful.

You will be respectful of our city staff while they present.

So this is consistent with our sanctuary city ordinance uh and with state privacy law.

Um and in the case that they do receive a warrant, they're required to notify us, which would give us time to uh assess its validity and decide on how we want to respond.

Um I also want to note that FLOC has made meaningful changes nationally in response to the same concerns uh communities like ours have raised.

Uh FLOC has added filters for impermissible search reasons, uh restrictive by default permission controls, um, and in California has made it impossible to share ALPR data outside of the state.

Outside of the as we wrap up our presentation.

And tonight we're asking council to take three categories of action.

We've tried to lay that out for you.

Uh, first, under the STO, accept the acquisition reports and use policies for UAS and community video streams and approve the updated use policy for fixed cameras.

Second, under the police equipment ordinance, accept the impact statement and use policy for our unmanned aerial systems program.

And finally, third, provide contract authority to amend our existing flock contract to renew ALPRs and include DFR, fixed PTZ cameras, and the NOVA investigative software.

So thank you.

And we're looking forward to hearing um both Pab's presentation and answering questions.

Thank you.

Okay, so we will now hear from Pab and ODPA.

They have a presentation, so I it'll probably take a minute to switch over the mics and all that.

Thank you, Chiefs.

Well, Chiefs and DC Tate and Arla.

All right.

Whenever you're ready.

Thank you, Honorable Mayor, Honorable Council members.

Um, thank you for the opportunity to present to you today.

Um I'm here with acting director Jose Murillo and my vice chair and colleague Leah Wilson.

Um I also would like to thank um the community members who have attended the community sessions put together by the mayor and the council and also um BPD for discussing with us our recommendations.

But most of all, I'd also like to thank um the four um PAB board members who have really risen to the task in providing council with uh our best set of recommendations under very difficult circumstances.

Some of these recommendations we reviewed within 24 hours, and I still would stand by every single one of them.

With that, I'm gonna pass to our vice chair Leah Wilson to present um on the first item.

Let me advance the slide.

All right.

So our core recommendation this evening is that the council defer action on all three of the surveillance items before you.

Council, council is ultimately being asked to approve four programs.

That's the ALPR, the fixed cameras, the community video streams, and drones that will operate as one integrated tracking system using acquisition reports that have never analyzed what that combined system can do.

In fact, two of the acquisition reports were submitted to you prior to the department's move to a consolidated surveillance environment.

That's ALPRs and fixed cameras.

The combined capability where one operator can query a license plate, pull fixed camera and community video footage, and dispatch a drone in real time, creates a privacy impact that is categorically different from the sum of its parts.

This development represents the largest surveillance expansion in the city's history, and it deserves careful and deliberate consideration.

Unfortunately, speaking as your police accountability board, this has not occurred.

This decision is too important to be rushed.

It's me again.

I would I would I love the support.

I would I would support a quieter clap so that we can hear her speak.

I want to make sure I hear her too.

So to protect all of our rights to hear these presentations.

So thank you.

Is it is it okay for counsel?

Can you feel responsible in waiting?

The answer is yes.

The chief alluded to the presentation of the department's annual report earlier today, and you see on the slide some very impressive crime statistics.

We see that crime has gone down in all categories, a significant categories, not only in the last year, but over the last four years.

These trends mirror what we've seen nationally.

In fact, in 2024, the FBI reported that violent and property crimes across the country were at their lowest level since 1969.

There is not a crisis in this city that should compel you to feel again like you have to rush a decision that needs to be carefully made.

So you don't have to rush, and to do to act today would be premature.

First of all, we have serious concerns about the intention to uh partner with Flock safety.

There are the concerns that obviously you will hear this evening from our chair and I'm sure from many of the community members that are here today.

But what I want to speak to you is the fact that we have not seen any documentation of the vendor selection process at all.

In fact, tonight in slide seven of the department's presentation, that's the first time that I've seen any of the metrics that were used to base the decision to go with Flock versus a different vendor.

That is good procurement.

I've been told that the reason that the department does not have an articulated list of requirements for the uh surveillance uh vendor is that this was not put out for bid.

However, those of us that are familiar with procurement know that even when you don't put something out for formal bid, you do need to document the requirements for the system that you are trying to procure.

We've never seen it.

I don't know if you have, but this is good government to have a very transparent and clear vendor selection process, and we don't think it's been done.

Another reason that action tonight would be premature.

There's been inadequate time to review these materials.

I don't want to repeat what you've you did hear briefly from our chair.

We had 24 hours to review the Master of Services Agreement, and we are down to four members.

This is not reasonable to expect us to catch all of the MSA modifications that need to be made, as well as the compliance issues that are existing in the policies as the department has put them forward.

We simply haven't had time to do that work, nor is it reasonable again to expect us to be the catch-all auditor of what the department is putting before you.

The third reason action tonight would be premature.

There has been no combined assessment of this entire uh surveillance architecture that you are being asked to approve.

And I'm gonna speak to that a little bit later.

So the fourth reason is that as I mentioned, with 24 hours to review, we were able to yet instill advanced to you over 30 instances of either MSA modifications that needed to be made or material non-compliance issues with the policies that were presented to you.

And when I say material, I mean that the policies and the acquisition reports contain uh failures to comply with the Berkeley Municipal Code as well as state law AB 481.

You simply cannot approve these without first demanding that they be legally compliant.

Okay, move forward.

And for us, the PAB really focused on considering the unique benefits that the department says flock can provide through a consolidated centralized surveillance system and whether whether they outweigh the privacy risks and community safety risks posed by the vendor that BPD selected and that the contract that BBD is asking the city to enter into.

And so when we analyze that risk and we consider all the publicly available data, we didn't see that analysis reflected in the acquisition report.

The acquisition report that is before you, I believe, on page 15 of the agenda, if I'm if I'm um understanding that correctly.

Um the BMC specifically enumerates specific things that the department is required to put in there, for example, the experience of other entities.

For example, the experience of other entities.

As we all know, the experience of other entities with Flock has been in the news for the last six months, and yet that is not mentioned in the acquisition report.

At the community meeting, um different community members raised concerns of different police chiefs, the Mountain View Police Chief, the Ventura County, the Ventura County police chief who have publicly spoken out and said that Flock is not to be trusted, and yet that is not reflected in the acquisition report.

And we think that that should have been, and that the risks of that should have been weighed and publicly available for the for the community to understand.

Another example, Senator Ron Wyden said in a public in a in a public oversight investigation that he conducted further oversight and determined that Flock cannot live up to its commitment to protect the privacy and security of Oregonians.

An abuse of Flock cameras is inevitable, and Flock has made it clear that it takes no responsibility to prevent or detect that.

Ordinance, excuse me, specifies that the experience of other entities is to be reflected in the acquisition report, and we don't think it was accurately reflected.

Another issue is we see certain flaws in the massive services agreement.

Um I think that Vice Chair Leo Wilson will speak a little bit more to that, so I'm gonna skip over that item.

We also didn't see reflected in the acquisition report the concentration risks.

We saw um an explanation of why consolidation under a single vendor would be benefit would be beneficial to the department, but we didn't see the flip side analysis of why concentration risk would actually pose a threat to public to privacy.

And then the lack of document uh the lack um the of documented vendor selection process vice chair Wilson also talked about.

The last thing I wanted to mention is really this conflict with sanctuary city commitments.

That was not mentioned a single time in the acquisition report.

And I think it was important to note that even though Flock has publicly stated that they're they're contractually bound to notify the instance.

I think we have an example of just two weeks ago where the Modesto police department discovered that their nationwide lookup was turned on without their consent and they turned off their cameras.

This is five months after the first police department this notified Flock that this was an issue, and yet five months later, Medesto County, Medesia Medesto City discovered it on their own through a public records request, not through an audit.

I think that's a concern.

I also think it's a concern.

You know, the PAB was really reflective that Berkeley has a sanctuary city commitment.

And what that means is is it okay for Berkeley to contract with the vendor, even if Berkeley's own data is safe, if that vendor if that vendor and their business model relies on the sharing of data, and that other police departments can then share that their data, not maybe not Berkeley's data, but other data with ICE for immigration enforcement purposes and whether that's consistent with the birth with the Berkeley's sanctuary city commitments.

I was reminded of another example.

Um talking to one of our staff members who's um you know a trans a trans man, and he reminded me that um Flock and Flock part of the contract with Flock is to allow Berkeley's data to become aggregated and anonymized, and that will be used to train its AI model.

And you know, they are concerned that their person without consent that their data will be then used to train a model that will be then employed by Kansas's police police department to under to then prosecute crimes about entering bathrooms that they think that he they should not be that they should not enter into.

I think it's a concern of the community, and I think it's a concern that was not addressed in the acquisition report.

So I think all these examples should have been in the acquisition report and they weren't.

And the community was concerned at the last community meeting that there was no weighing of the balance of risk with the operational benefit that Flock specifically provide that they say Flock provides.

Next slide.

All right.

So we're asking you tonight to defer action, and then we're also acting asking you to direct some action.

So the first affirmative ask is that you direct the department to complete a consolidated BMC 299 report, an acquisition report for the entire surveillance ecosystem.

Um our chair mentioned some of the risks of having such a consolidated system, irrespective of who the vendor is, and the fact that the current acquisition report only speaks to the benefits.

There are significant risks.

There's operational dependency.

When you consolidate all of these programs with one vendor, you're extremely dependent on that vendor.

That vendor has significant leverage over you over time in terms of cost, in terms of changes to the system, and in terms of their independent ability to make changes to policies and the parameters for the operating system for their program.

Once we have all four of our surveillance programs running through one vendor, we are very unlikely to readily leave or feel that we can leave.

And that is something that must be addressed in an updated acquisition report.

And then I want to speak to another element.

I mentioned before that we have not had the opportunity to view the entire surveillance architecture for what it for what it truly is.

You saw in BPD slide, it was interesting.

They sort of the slides, they highlighted only two things as being new and kind of skipped over the new investigative power software.

I thought that was interesting because I think actually Flocknova is what is referenced there, and I think it's quite new.

Um I think that FLOCNOVA and its capabilities really do highlight some of the issues that need to be addressed in this new consolidated acquisition report.

So the very purpose of FLOCNOVA is to aggregate data across all systems, and for that data to be accessible to FLOC clients.

That's the very purpose of FLOCNOVA.

That's something new that we don't have the right to today that we will under this proposal.

Neither the MSA or any of the materials that we've reviewed give Berkeley the right to consent before NOVA is activated or expanded, nor do they give us the right to control what kind of data is submitted to the NOVA system.

So this is vital information that should be included in an updated uh consolidated acquisition report.

All right.

If the city uh council chooses to move forward today in contract with Flock Safety, we believe you need to modify uh direct modifications to the agreement with Flock.

This is reflected in several of your supplementals, and I'm sorry, Councilmember Bartlett, I've not had the time to analyze yours, but I did have the time to take a look at the other two.

And I do believe that all of these points on this particular slide are addressed in one of the two supplementals uh directing further modification or amendment to the Flock Master Services Agreement.

I will say that some of what I heard in the department's presentation this evening surprised me because there's some assertions that suggest that some of these items have already been addressed and agreed to by FLOC.

That is not information that has come to us previously.

Let's move on to the next slide.

Even with the supplementals, there are additional modifications to the MSA that I would encourage you to consider if you do uh decide to go ahead with Flock today.

I did see a suggestion, first of all, that the penalties for breach violations be increased from 75,000 to 150,000.

I reiterate here what was shared in our written material that Oakland uh has a penalty of 200,000 per violation, Richmond 290,000.

It's unclear why the city of Berkeley would agree to any less of a penalty provision.

In addition, none of the supplementals address the exemption in the penalty language for the lookup tool, ACT data violations that are done pursuant to FLOC's lookup tool.

And this is a really important feature, which our chair just alluded to.

I want to make it clear that this is one of my understanding is one of the central benefits of FLOC.

This is a tool that allows participating jurisdictions, and I believe the deputy chief spoke to that, to actually look up and access data for other jurisdictions that are on the FLOC system, and they can do that without getting the affirmative permission of the other jurisdictions.

Right now, in your penalty provision in the MSA, any data breach or data violation that is done pursuant to a jurisdiction's use of the lookup tool is entirely carved out of the penalty.

That needs to be amended.

Last but not least, we made a recommendation that the city preserve its full legal remedies when actual harm exceeds the penalty amount.

So right now, as the MSA is written, the entire remedy or recourse for data breach violations is a monetary penalty.

Currently, 75,000, as several council members have recommended, 150,000.

Imagine if a disclosure leads to an immigration enforcement action against a Berkeley resident.

They are detained, deported, their family is separated.

Do you feel that 150,000 is a sufficient remedy for that violation?

I think it most likely is not.

Imagine if a data breach exposes information about many thousands of your uh Berkeley citizens, and you are asked as a city to pay for the cost of remedying our credit or credit monitoring services.

You would face potential civil liability from your community.

You wouldn't be able to go after FLOC for any of that.

The way the contract is currently written, you need to pursue amendments that protect the city's bottom line.

If Flock's negligence is egregious or repeated, you may want to pursue punitive damages or injunctive relief.

You're not able to do that either, as the MSA is currently structured.

So while I appreciate the amendments that have been put forward in the supplemental, I strongly urge you to consider additional amendments really to protect the city from a fiscal perspective if if nothing else.

We have two more topics.

Sorry, I can can you give me a sense of how much minutes.

Okay, thank you.

Um we have two topics.

One of them is very brief to discuss next next slide, please.

Um then skip that slide too.

The first is about um all the use policies and our our recommendations that are I didn't know they were called.

That cover um the um all policies that have been submitted to you.

Um our first recommendation is that you impose consistent audit requirements across all policies.

One of the issues that we've seen is that jurisdictions are not um not identifying noncompliant issues um until months later because they are not consistently auditing their data.

And so our recommendation is at least monthly audits and then biannual reporting by the department to the PAB.

The second is inconsistent notification standards.

A few months ago or a month ago, the council asked the department to notify them set within 72 hours of a request by ICE for any information from their department.

And I that's only reflected in one policy.

Right now, we would like to see it reflected across all policies.

Next slide, please.

The last set of recommendations specifically concerns the drone use uh program and their the use policy that the department is presenting, which was not touched on um so far, so I think um I'm gonna spend my last few minutes on this slide here.

The drone use program as the the use policy as a department is proposing does not limit it to specific authorized uses.

Instead, it says that the the drone the drone may be used for specific authorized uses, and then doesn't does not uh limit it to those specific issues, uh those specific authorized uses.

And I think that's the reason for a couple issues, uh, an issue for a couple reasons.

The first is that the municipal code actually requires that BPD explicitly identify each authorized use for any surveillance technology ordinance.

And so instead of limiting and and making transparent what each authorized use is, they've decided to make it permissive such that there's an unwritten authorized use an unwritten authorized use that is effectively whatever else the department says is permissible that is not explicitly prohibited by the by the policy.

We think that's an issue.

It's an issue for transparency sake, it's an issue for auditing sake, and it's an issue because Berkeley residents decide deserve to know why why and how they're being surveilled.

The second recommendation specifically um ties to data retention policy.

BPD's data retention policy um is proposed data retention policy is 60 days.

Um we recommend tying the data retention policy, tailor it to each use, tailor it to the uses that BPD says and the purposes that BPD says they're actually deploying the drone for.

For example, when they deploy a drone for vehicle pursuits, the purpose is offer officer safety in order to understand the terrain.

Um none of that purpose requires achieving that purpose is not require retaining the data.

And we think that the narrow retention data respects Berkeley Berkeley residents' privacy um rights, and it also protects from warrants requests from immigration officials because the only protection when the data is when they come with a with a judicial warrant is that the data doesn't exist.

We also think that there is there are concerns around the oversight and accountability mechanisms.

Right now, the BPD use policy for drones does not require supervisory approval, and it doesn't require BPD operators to actually um specify the reason for the drone deployment.

We think those two things are common sense parameters to ensure oversight.

One of the um authorized uses that BPD is proposing is um to respond to criminal activity and mass gatherings.

And the the the police department or excuse me, the police accountability board was specifically concerned about this because the pliant nature, the pliant definition of criminal of criminal activity.

And if the data is retained for 60 days per BPD's policy, they would be able to look back at that policy to look back at that footage and to see if there's any other potentially criminal um if there's any actionable um activity in that footage.

And I think you know, for me, this specifically was um a concern because before joining the the PAB, um I was working with the lawyers committee for civil rights um specifically in litigation um against the county of Sacramento Police Department, and the police department ended up having to settle for hundreds of thousands of dollars specifically because they were using their drones to survey all protesters in a way that chilled First Amendment rights and the drone use policy that BPD has presented has essentially the same prohibitions that Sacramento Police Department had, and so they are inadequate.

I'm gonna leave the other ones on there so that we can conclude our presentation.

Um thank you for thank you for listening.

Okay for your presentation.

Um we now have four supplementals that need to be presented.

I I don't have a strong preference for order.

Is there anyone who would like to go first?

Don't we need to accept one of them first?

Um we need to vote to accept set this up three.

Moving on.

Oh, sorry, Mr.

City Clerk, can you weigh in here, please?

So there was uh the the revised agenda material from um Councilmember Bartlett uh needs to be voted to be accepted for uh consideration by two-thirds vote that's this one.

Yeah.

Yeah, so here's uh my supplemental.

I want to get involved as well.

I felt lonely out there.

Uh and so my supplemental six we just have to denounce it.

No, no, I I think it makes sense for him to say what's on there before we decide if we're accepting it.

So go ahead.

I've never seen, I've never done a supplemental before.

It's my first time.

I gotta learn the litany.

Oh, okay.

Um so this is uh this is um um these are my efforts to um to enjoy the conversation and offer uh my edits to to the to the contract, the master service agreement.

Um and I guess I can read the the language inside this this box on the page.

Uh the purpose of the supplemental material is to clearly define the legal boundaries within which the city may utilize automated license plate reader, A LPR technology, and other surface service, other surveillance services.

This supplemental will ensure that any vendors who are contracted to provide ALPR and surveillance technology services operate within specific parameters that will safeguard residents' privacy, civil rights, and Berkeley's sanctuary city ordinance, while maintaining city city control of access and usage of data generated from the technology.

The supplemental will incorporate good of the city provisions to ensure full transparency, control, and accountability in the deployment and operation of the technology.

These provisions will include strict mutuality of contractual obligations, materially increased penalties for any unauthorized data access or disclosure, and a clear private right of action for affected individuals, including statutory damages and injunctive relief.

Okay.

Um there are some council members who have marked their do you have a something you'd like to say, Councilmember Humbert?

No, I'd just like to I would like to present my supplemental.

Oh we're not yeah, not quite yet.

We're just voting to bring it.

I understand that's um yeah, okay.

So it's for later.

Okay, so council member O'Keefe, did you have something you wanted to say?

I have a question for Councilmember Bartlett regarding his supplemental.

Um has the city attorney's office reviewed this.

No, they have not.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, so you are you making a motion?

Yeah.

I wish to include my supplemental.

Second.

Okay.

I'll call the role of this is to accept uh the supplemental from Councilmember Bartlett for consideration.

Uh Councilmember Kessarwani.

Yes.

Bartlett.

Yes.

Trego.

Aye.

O'Keefe.

Abstain.

Blackaby.

Yes.

Luna Para.

Yes.

Humbert.

Yes.

And Mayor Ishii.

Yes.

Okay.

Motion carries it.

Okay.

Now, um, Councilmember Humbert, would you like to present your supplemental?

Um Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Yes, I'd like to present the supplemental that I and Councilmember O'Keefe and Councilmember Taplin and Councilmember Kessarwani uh have brought.

Um first I want to thank um BPD uh Chief Lewis for all her work on these policies and on the master services agreement.

And I especially want to thank our city attorney and Stephen Hylus in the city attorney's office for their suggestions and review of our supplemental and also the city manager's office for their guidance.

And of course, I want to thank my co-authors who I just who I just named.

Um I also want to we everyone was working over the weekend on this, and I deeply appreciate folks taking time out of their schedules and lives to address community concerns and strengthen this agreement.

Um I also want to thank the PAB for its review and for its thoughtful comments and for its presentation here tonight.

Um I want to preface the rest of my comments by saying that I deeply respect the positions of all my colleagues and the concerns that we that I have heard, and I'm sure that I will hear further tonight.

I want to be clear, I agree that these concerns are justified.

We know the federal government is out to get people, and we also know there's been inappropriate access to ALPR data in other cities via FLOC, and then in some cases those cities have sought to exit their contracts.

At the same time, and as I discussed at our special meeting some time ago, I think there's good evidence that ALPRs and other technological tools are creating true public safety benefits that have real weight.

We've heard that tonight in the in the prior meeting in detail and also through the uh BPD's presentation earlier in in this meeting.

The question that I have grappled it with is what tips the scales for me.

Can we get to a place where we have sufficient protections for our data and ability to get out of this agreement that the risks are outweighed by the public safety benefits?

First, I think it is important to point out folks, please that in the context of a federal government that is literally snatching people off the streets just for how they look.

The marginal risks from inappropriately accessed ALP ALPR data are relatively small.

That said, I understand and can respect the argument that any marginal risk in this regard is too much.

That is a principled position that someone can take, in fact.

My view, please don't interrupt me.

You are entitled to your positions.

You're entitled to your opinions, but you will let everyone speak so that we can hear them.

It's okay if you disagree, it's just not appropriate for you to yell at them.

Go ahead.

One of my constituents who's a senior was brutally mugged and thrown to the ground in 2023.

And she was not alone in being a senior who was targeted.

And I know that other parts of Berkeley, most notably West Berkeley, South Berkeley, and District 2, um face constant threats of gun violence.

Robberies and car thefts, too, of course.

These are the real concrete everyday safety threats against which I'm weighing the more marginal impacts of things like data leaks from ALPRs and a limited number of fixed surveillance cameras and drones.

I believe that with the right amendments and with the ability to swiftly exit this agreement for any reason, and that's critical to me.

The ability to walk away.

And I please don't interrupt me.

And I'd ask um council member um Kessler Wani to put the put the um the uh supplemental up.

Um anyway, um as I I'm gonna repeat it.

I believe that with the right amendments and with the ability to swiftly exit this agreement for any reason, we can provide adequate protection to get these risks down to a level where they are outweighed by the public safety benefits, and that if changes we have made and and if that changes, we have the ability to get the heck out of Dodge.

So with that, I'm going to listen the basic versions off the basic versions of our group's six recommendations, and there are more details, details in the supplemental itself, which will be up on the screen.

One, increase the financial penalty for unauthorized data sharing from 75,000 to 100,000, 150,000 per violation.

Two, establish a termination for convenience right under which the city is not refunded for payments already made, but is not obligated for the remaining contract value.

Can walk away for whatever reason we want.

Limit Flock's license to use anonymized data to the term of the agreement rather than in perpetuity.

Four, require Flock to obtain the city's prior written consent before making any changes.

That's any changes to the city's data sharing settings or configurations.

Five, revise the special terms section to clarify the MSA Master Services Agreement, may not be modified without city council approval.

And six, remove the amendment and incorporate provisions on restrictions on data sharing into the MSA and stipulate that such provisions shall not be modified by subsequent FLOC amendments or attachments without further city council approval.

At this point, I also want to say, and I I've read this, um, Councilmember Blackaby's supplemental.

I also want to say that I'm very open to all of his recommendations and would be delighted if our supplemental and his could be integrated into a consolidated set of recommendations that would go to our city manager and city attorney's offices.

Now his recommendations include uh serious monitoring efforts requirements.

I think that with our powers combined, we would have a very strong master services agreement that I think would go very far to address community concerns and ensure that we can make use of these very helpful tools again with the option to get out if we want to and need to.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Um would you Councilmember Blackaby like to present your supplemental?

Sure.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

If I can share thanks to Councilmember Humbert and team for their supplemental.

Um it was interesting on Monday to see all of the supplementals together and to reflect that there's a lot of commonality in the points that they've made and the points I've made.

I will say that their six points are a superset of what I've presented.

My three are are basically a subset of what they've presented.

But the whole idea here is you know, the thought behind this is that um, as we've heard earlier tonight, that public safety technology does play a critical role in supporting the BPD's investigations, clearing cases, enhancing officer safety, and strengthening overall public safety.

However, Flock's previous unauthorized sharing of surveillance data and promises that they've fixed these problems that must be monitored, verified, and ensure that they are actually following through on those commitments constantly, underscores the need for more robust safeguards in the master services agreement if we move forward in our use policies, as well as enhance program reporting and auditing to ensure full transparency, informed oversight and accountability as we move forward.

Especially I would say at the beginning as we're getting the new program off the ground.

Um, my supplemental is similar in some respects with what we've just seen from Councilmember Humbert.

Uh there's the penalty uh component, which is uh doubling the penalty, allowing the city to terminate the MSA for convenience, ensuring that we are not paying.

If we cancel earlier, we're only on the hook for what we've spent and what we've consumed, but not future payments.

We want full flexibility to be able to exit the agreement, which also gives uh again gives us more leverage and also an incentive for Flock to actually perform and maintain their commitments because we can exit at any time.

Um in addition, again, there is an existing technology ordinance or existing reports, but I don't think that given the changes that are being asked for that just the biannual process is sufficient.

And so my recommendation here is more frequent reports uh that are coming from BPD through the city manager of the council, even before the system is operational quarterly reports about installation, um, what's the progress and timeline, what are any early results for components that may go live before the full system and any issues or concerns that arise during installation.

Umce the system is in use, we need monthly reports for the at least the first six months of operation.

I'd be open to extending that, including but not limited to early results and performance evaluation of each component, issues and concerns, proposed solutions or fixes by the department, and also short case studies or synopses of what the technology is actually supporting.

Can we actually see uh what it is doing and get a better grasp of that?

And then three, thereafter alignments, existing practices for auditing and reporting.

We do have these existing audits for the ALPR twice a year, uh they get shared with PAB.

We also have an annual surveillance technology report um that's that comes to us.

Um so that's this the component.

So there's a contract component, which is largely similar and um a subset of what Councilmember Humbert and Councilmember Castroanian team have proposed, and an additional reporting and auditing uh requirements, especially early in the process to ensure that Flock is um adhering to the commitments they've made to the city.

Thank you very much, Councilmember.

Um Councilmember Bartlett, did you want to also share so folks can see the more detailed version?

Sure.

I think you might have to stop sharing.

Councilmember Blackby.

So I can uh thank you, thank you.

And um thanks for uh for honoring me with your attention from my supplemental.

Uh my first supplemental, as I said, my first one.

Um so listen, so you know, we we're here debating and kind of engaging in this um this classic tension between security and liberty, and America has always had this, even from the very beginning with the framers of the founding fathers, as they're called.

Um, this issue was talked about a lot, and it still is.

And it's something that we all negotiate with ourselves and our families, our communities, our neighbors, in our our states, our countries, within our laws, all the time.

And so tonight, this is the latest um sort of negotiation of a line of scrimmage between liberty and security.

Now, I want to say this regarding the um the the flock vendor, uh I can tell you I did I was I we worked in the privacy policy for a long time, like three years worked on it, because we taplin brought it um in response to crime in his district.

Uh and I didn't love it at first, but we hammered out, and we do have the best privacy policy in the state, probably the country as a city.

And uh did I tell a joke?

Uh when I'm when I make a joke, you'll know.

That was a good one, folks.

Come on.

Let him finish speaking.

Yeah.

And um, and uh so you know, so here's what I've seen.

One uh in front of the front of my predecessor's house, a car drove into and ran over a baby in a baby stroller across the street on Alcatraz.

They caught the guy within the hour.

Another time, someone set off 12 shots outside a playground in Malcolm X school, they caught him a little while later, less than the same technology.

Uh, there was a rapist caught in a different district that was caught uh due to the technology.

So I know I I know it's effective.

And you know, so that that aspect of the security piece where I feel responsible for your safety in my city uh is real.

And uh once you put yourself in my shoes for a minute.

Um, that effectiveness alone is not enough because we could just have a soldier in our house all the time, right?

And uh on this issue, policing works best when there's trust.

And so many of our constituents and all of my constituents, every single one I've talked to, I've talked to all of them, many, many, many, not one person supports it.

They are fearful, fearful of the the company we're working with.

Yes, because of what they've observed and what they've heard and what they've seen, and the impacts are on TV and all around us.

People are living scared, people are getting abused, there's a secret police force loose in the country, dragging people around, and people feel that.

And so, you know, I want I want stuff to work.

I do this job to make things work for people.

And I want to say this, and that in the as we negotiate the scrimmage line again between liberty and uh security, uh, district three has chosen liberty 100%.

So, in this instance, my my notes here, my edits to the master service agreement, the MSA.

Um, I've done my best to give it um balance, by that sperkly tipped it towards us a bit, um, and to make it um make it have teeth and make it work, right?

And so I've included a million dollar violation provision, and that's intentional because it rec out now because it recognizes that uh in in in the corporate world, only one thing matters, and that is the bottom line.

So let's talk your language.

And I do this for a living, you know.

So basically, I'm treating, I'm treating you all as if you're my client.

And if you had hired me to do your MSA, this would be the result.

Um how do you share this we do here?

Where's James?

Uh James.

Where is it?

Where is this thing?

How do I do this?

Just just here it is, here it is.

Just keep speaking.

I need to share this.

Ladies and gentlemen, James Chang.

No, the pages right, no, it's right there.

No, already on the Zoom.

The document the documents right there.

You just gotta make it right about that.

Okay, yeah, okay, we are okay.

So perfect.

So uh going through this here, um it's not moving.

Section 2.4.

Uh, this is um a section where essentially the original version, we don't have a lot of control of things.

So if they update the platform, we can't we we have no say in it.

And I I use the the the larger word, which is change, because you can typify an upgrade, but you can also just have a change.

So I just say um to what I replace it with where is it here?

Umright so replace platform changes, shall not implement activate or deploy any modification, enhancement, or new functionality that affects data collection, analysis, sharing access, or retention of the customer's prior written approval, which shall without without the prior approval, which shall require approval by the Berkeley City Council.

And this includes without limitation, features involving predictive analysis, pattern recognition, vehicle tracking, network sharing, or integration with third party systems.

And it's important because so many of the reports you heard about third parties accessing the data on um on a basis that may not be so evident uh to others.

Um and all data sharing settings shall be disabled by default.

Any deviation must be expressly approved in writing by the customer, which is us, and publicly disclosed.

All right, now we're going to section 4.1.

We are removing the revocable language.

Um yeah.

Perfect.

Uh and now uh section 4.1.

This is the irrevocable license requirement, just scratching that.

Um this license uh, let's see here.

What's the good language here?

Um this is a limited non-exclusive royalty-free, non-transferable license.

They also chat had a transferable accessible transfer language, which is not gonna work for us.

Uh, to use customer data solely to provide flock services to customer during the term of this agreement.

Um, and this license shall automatically terminate upon expiration or termination of this agreement, and flock should have no right to retain, use, or access customer data thereafter, except as expressly required by law and only for the minimum period required.

Okay.

Now, Forbidden 2.

Um, this new language at the bottom, there's a loophole in there.

Is it less than a share things that are that are mentioned in the agreement, right?

So just close it up here.

Uh it's just notwithstanding into the contrary, customer generated data shall not be used, shared, or accessed for any purpose other than providing services to customer and shall not be subject to any broader rights under section 4.3 or elsewhere in this agreement.

Uh now moving down to uh the perpetual rights, removing those again.

Um I have a different version of this actually.

Uh the anonymized data, okay?

Uh Flock may create anonymized data solely for the purpose of providing services to customer during the term.

And Flock should have no right to use anonymized data for product development, commercialization, or any purpose unrelated to services provided to customer.

And all rights granted under this section shall terminate upon expiration or termination of this agreement, and Flock shall delete all anonymized data derived from customer data in accordance with this section.

Data deletion down there.

Okay.

Um that restricts the the the way they share the data.

So Flock should not disclose, provide access to or enable access to customer data to any third party.

And again, third party is important because it keeps coming up in the reports that I read about third-party access to customer data by this organization, including any federal agency, except pursuant to a specific written authorization issued by customer for each individual request.

B.

Access by federal personnel embedded within or assigned to any state or local agency shall be prohibited unless expressly authorized in writing by customer for each instance of access.

C use of any shared lookup, query, or network-based access tool that permits third-party querying of customer data is prohibited unless explicitly approved in writing by the customer.

DNI access, including access facilitated through another agency, shall be deemed a violation of this agreement.

And this, I think it's Campbell termination for convenience.

This is a standard one.

Remember, too, when you do these things, we we're a valuable customer.

We have leverage in these agreements.

I know.

Yes, we do.

You just gotta act like we do.

You know?

I know.

So again, that wasn't a joke.

That's like actual real stuff.

Real you should know this.

Okay.

Mark knows.

He's a lawyer.

Okay.

Um assignment.

This is COB controls, our controls, right?

So notwithstanding the foregone foregoing, Flock may not assign this agreement to any affiliate, successor, or acquirer without written consent of the customer, which shall not be unreasonably withheld and shall require city council approval.

Okay, and no, there was this morality clause that held that Flock could break the contract with Berkeley if Berkeley all of a sudden did something bad.

I'm like, but not them.

So it's made a mutual.

Uh customers shall have the right to terminate this agreement immediately upon written notice if Flock or its officers or affiliates are indicted, found liable for violations of law, or determined by customer to have engaged in authorized unauthorized data access, sharing or misuse.

And now the unauthorized sharing section down there on the in the um the amendment.

This really gets to the to the core of it here.

Um any on any unauthorized access, disclosure, sharing, or use of customer data shall constitute a material breach of this agreement.

For each unauthorized access event, Flock shall pay customer liquidated damages in the amount of one million dollars per violation, or ten thousand dollars per affected record, whichever is greater.

Each individual query, access event, or data retrieval shall constitute a separate violation.

And the remedies set forth herein are cumulative and shall not be deemed the sole or exclusive remedy.

Customer retains all rights at law and in equity, including the right to see conjunctive relief.

Flock acknowledges that the unauthorized access to surveillance data creates irreparable harm.

Customers shall be entitled to immediate injunctive relief without the requirement to postbond.

Private right of action.

Another important one.

Flock agrees that such individuals may bring claims for statutory damage of not less than $5,000 per violation.

Actual damages, punitive damages were permitted, and reasonable attorney's fees and costs, Mark.

He is an attorney, it's a joke.

That was a joke, see.

That was a joke.

Flock expressly waves waives any argument that is not a data, data controller, or that's an individual, or that's individuals' lack privity under this agreement.

And then, of course, mandatory data deletion within 30 days of termination or expiration of this agreement.

Flock shall permanently delete all customer data, customer generated data, or any derivative data, including anonymized data.

And FLOC shall certify a such deletion in writing, signed by the officer, by an officer of the company, and no data may be retained for product development, machine learning, or any other purpose.

So these are the elements I put in here because I could think of no other way to make my constituents feel safe with this agreement.

Okay, folks, please.

Alright.

So it is I think we're now finally on the fourth supplemental.

Um so I am going to present our fourth supplemental.

Give me a second.

Okay.

All right.

So this is a supplemental brought forward by myself, Vice Mayor Luna Para, and Councilmember Tregub.

And as it says here, in our supplemental item, we offer amendments to the policies, balancing benefits, and guardrails.

What we've suggested here overall is that we reject the contract specifically with Flock.

And that we hold on.

I want, let me let me finish so that we can get to your public comments, right?

Okay, so and also we make recommendations based on conversations that we had, both with the PAB, other members of the community, also and had conversations with the chief and Arlo and our city attorney's office.

So I'm gonna go over these a bit more.

Okay.

So this is a chart that just kind of goes over some of the things that were that we're suggesting.

So rejecting the flaw contract across the different items, referring some things back to staff, and also approving and or approving with amendments certain things because what we realize in these conversations is that we could approve a surveillance use policy that doesn't include uh the contract with flock, so we could separate those, which is why it's written this way.

So the first thing on here is to refer the community safety, excuse me.

Let me just amend this, okay.

Refer the community video stream acquisition report and surveillance use policy to the public safety committee for further review.

Request that the city manager work at the committee level to address the PAPS concern and clarify operational ambiguity.

Um here, I have to kind of jump back between my notes and the document.

So there are some more details here about adding in explicit prohibition on surveillance of First Amendment activity, unless there's clear articulable and imminent public safety threat that's actively occurring.

Specify concrete data retention periods with the four elements required by the BMC.

Conduct disparate impact analysis addressing whether camera coverage is concentrated in areas with particular demographic characteristics, supplement section 11 of the acquisitions report to disclose adverse findings from comparable jurisdictions, update immigration-related search reporting to match the 72-hour standard and named recipients in policy 351 section 351.6, prior sanctuary city ordinance.

Consider developing a use policy to address combined cross-platform use of all integrated technologies, regardless of vendor regardless of the vendor used, including ALPR fixed cameras, community video streams, and drones.

So for amending the surveillance use policy for the undemand aerial system to include the following provisions.

I'm gonna focus on the high level here.

So limiting the retention period for non-evidentiary footage to five days.

Strengthening the oversight by requiring semi-annual audits, uh, supervisorial approval, except for drones as first responders, and removing ambiguity for when UAS can be deployed.

There are a couple of minor edits that we'd like to make to this as well, um, including to clarify language to our supplemental.

So for the supervisory approval, it would say subsequent to supervisory approval for all deployments, with the sole exception that supervisory approval is not required for drones as first responders, and also edit the language around clarifying the language for the audits.

So the Office of Strategic Planning and Accountability shall conduct monthly audits of UAS use to check permissions settings and ensure that data is not shared with out-of-state agencies or federal law enforcement.

A report of these audits shall be published semi-annually and should be sent to the police accountability board.

And we're also referring to the city manager developed performance metrics, data governance, policy development, and deeper research on alternative sailor surveillance technology vendors capable of meeting Berkeley's safety and surveillance needs, while balancing the need for privacy and civil liberties protections.

Okay.

So that's that one.

Okay.

All right.

Um amending the surveillance use policy for fixed cameras to include monthly audits with a semi-annual audit report, same kind of edit there where it clarifies that it would be monthly audits, but then the actual report back would be published semi-annually.

Okay.

Okay, and this is for the police equipment ordinance, which is amend the UAS equipment use policy to include the same revisions as the recommendations for the UAS surveillance use policy, which is above, and refer the following request for information to the city manager to quantify the need for UAS.

Something also mentioned in the pad presentation.

Okay.

Okay, referring the UAS military equipment impact statement to the city manager for research and analysis of alternative surveillance technology vendors capable of meeting the city of Berkeley's safety and surveillance need while balancing privacy and civil liberties protections.

And then for the contract authority, reject any renewal, authorization, approval, or execution of the flock safety contracts.

There's some information there.

I refer to the city manager to amend ordinance 2.99 to include a violation termination clause for surveillance technology vendors and refer to the city manager and city attorney additional contractual language to require a vendor to inform the city of any requests for information, including but not limited to subpoenas, discovery requests, or requests under any federal or state statute to the extent permitted by law.

It was it receives it really it receives related to the city controlled data and safeguarded to the fullest extent allowed by law.

So these are all of the different pieces.

And I think that that kind of more clearly explains what it is that we're trying to do here.

So I'm gonna keep that up for a little bit longer so that folks can take a look at it.

Okay.

Madam Mayor.

Do you need to make it bigger?

Yes.

Uh knowing that we've got a ways to go, um, just want to step in.

I move we suspend the rules and extend the meeting time until 1 a.m.

Second.

I'd suggest 1.30.

Okay, 130.

Yeah, I want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to speak.

I'll second.

Okay.

All right.

Is there any objection to extending the meeting time till 130 a.m.?

Yes.

Folks, I'm sorry, you don't get to vote, and we want to hear you speak.

Otherwise, we're gonna end early, and then you're gonna be sad that we didn't get to hear from you.

So all right, so uh so is there any objection?

Okay, so we will extend the meeting time until 1.30 a.m.

Okay.

Um hoping that we don't go that long, it's just so that we don't have to cut off.

That's the only reason why we're doing it.

Okay, so um now we have presented all four supplementals.

Typically, this is where we get a chance to ask the questions, but I want to get a sense from folks about how many questions approximately they have.

So if you could just take a quick poll and then let me know, that would be really helpful.

Six.

Can I ask one clarify?

Is Mr.

Chandler available?

Okay, yes, I do have some either.

Flock representative will be is uh available for Zoom for questions.

So five, eight, eight.

Sorry, seven, six, two questions.

Okay, I have a couple questions?

I don't have specific questions right now.

Okay.

I'd like to ask because we have so many questions that we take public comment first and then we come back.

Otherwise, we're gonna lose people.

I'd rather I I think even if you have a couple of questions, there are so many other questions on the dais, it'll take like a long time.

So can we just let's let's take we're gonna take public comment first and we'll come back then.

Okay.

I don't want to lose too many people because it will take an hour to ask our questions, I think.

So okay.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um, all right.

So if you have public comments, please come up to the dias.

Okay, how this is going to work.

It's totally fine if you want to clap.

I prefer the snaps so that we can keep it moving.

We have so many people here who are giving public comments, so we really want to hear from all of them.

I ask that you all please be respectful, whether you agree or disagree with whoever's speaking.

I ask that you respect them.

Folks, I know you're discussing course trading over here, but please I want to ask that you all be respectful when folks are giving their public comments so we can hear from everyone.

And and then as soon as someone's finished, please come up and speak so that we can keep the line moving.

Okay.

Go ahead, kit.

Okay, folks.

So that means you have to be quiet now.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Kid.

Thank you.

Um although I heard the um the chief talk about the fact that I heard the chief talk about the fact that the federal government could use a warrant to gain access to this information, and then that could be reported, and we know.

I did not hear the chief acknowledge the fact that the federal government has the legal right to get information without our knowing.

They can do it through a FISA warrantless search, they can do it through a FISA warrant, and they would not be, they would be legally obliged not to tell us, so then we wouldn't know.

So I think that fact is worth acknowledging.

And then I really want to um ask all of you to um talk to each other.

I I think the city attorney and the the um city manager may be wanting to rethink whether this is a good idea to do this right away, and I want to praise my own council member.

That I want to praise the supplemental from the mayor and two other council members, and I really want to again the wonderful work that EAB has done.

Thank you.

Thank you, PA.

Thank you.

Okay, come on up.

Oh, and if you're getting a minute from someone, please try to organize that beforehand because it'll be easier.

Go ahead.

I guess I I'm going to say several things to you.

One is I think this is the most inopportune time to bring something like this up.

People are dying.

People are being locked up in prison.

There is a war going on, and in a sanctuary city that has a history in this country and in the world, to have this come up, I don't understand why it's so important right now.

I want to congratulate the members of PAB because they gave the most extraordinary explanation of what is going on.

In my time on the city council, I would have been so grateful to have people like that around me.

And our city attorney and our city manager would have said, whoa, I think it's time that we put the brakes on this and we do a little more investigating because too many questions have been raised.

I think another thing I want to say is this is an assault on the psyche of this city.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thanks.

Someone is giving you a minute.

You're giving me another minute.

Yeah, this person here is giving you a minute.

Thank you to whoever.

I started to say that I started to say that that this feels to me like a real assault on the psyche of this city.

You know, it's not just the laws we put in, it's what we do to people's emotions.

And that's part of your job as politicians.

It's not just looking through all of the rules and all of the amendments and everything else that you do.

Um, I spoke with someone in the office of the assembly speaker, and they have put a hold on something with Flock.

So that's another one added up to all the other cities.

Um, I guess the last thing I want to say is that Berkeley gets itself in the news many, many times.

I just hope that we are not in the news because in this sanctuary city, you have not heeded what has been said to you and taken time to reconsider this.

And as I'm feeling it, not go with Flock for sure.

Thank you.

Come on up, Betsy.

Come on, Betsy.

Yeah.

Wow.

I think there's a minute for me, but I'm gonna try to be succinct.

My name is Betsy Morris.

I have the privilege of being the co-convener of East Bay Berkeley Grey Panthers.

Keith too.

I would I would like to uh say uh I asked counsel, or at least four of you, possibly five.

I guess we need five to uh reject the new contracts on Flock.

Just reject and and I ask Councilmember Bartlett and um O'Keefe to perhaps support that that that measure.

Uh thank you for all your good work.

I want to compliment the police accountability board.

My God, the the effort, the detail that thought they proved why so many of us voted to have that board, and the fact that they're carrying on with this detail on such short notice was incredible.

Um yeah, and they have produced a series of recommendations that I would very much like to be brought into the conversation around the contract.

Uh I was here last time I was here.

The city auditor spoke strongly about the uh uh consequences of doing sole source non-bid, non-competitive big contracts.

That overall those have been detrimental, certainly to the budget, and in this case to the spirit of so many people here in Berkeley.

So I um you lauded her tonight.

Let's listen to her.

We elect her along with you to provide that kind of information.

And so I know I want to thank the folks who are already supporting uh rejecting signing of contracts to tonight.

Finally, uh I thought the I have eight minutes.

I need to say that Elaine Bloom and Marsha Poole would have been much more fierce in their rejection of this.

Thank you tonight.

Thanks, Betsy.

So come up.

Okay, a minute from okay.

Okay, so I'm a former Berkeley High student, my brother is a current student.

It's nice to see you.

It's nice to see him, Miss O'Keefe.

Um today he was discouraged from coming to this meeting, actually, because he was told the vote already happened, that there was a no, that we've dropped the contract already, so he's not here tonight.

Um I don't think the vote already happened.

Has it already happened?

No.

No, the vote hasn't already happened.

So that's kind of embarrassing that he was told that he's your student.

Um other thing, Terry.

Uh you're my representative.

Sorry, you can't speak directly to council members, but you can speak to us generally.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Sorry, you're my representative.

Uh I like your suit, but honestly, I think you need to uh we have a rule around addressing the council as a whole.

So, council, I think you need to read reevaluate your stance on this.

You need to drop the contract entirely.

This is an opportunity to do so.

This is not an opportunity to renew it at all.

Everyone here is here because we do not we do not support this in any way.

You guys are representing us.

And honestly, that's all I'm here to say.

I I've used my minute, but fuck drones, fuck ice, fuck you guys.

Yeah.

Free Palestine.

I think I also have a minute.

Okay, I'm taking it from the person with a baseball cap.

Sure.

Fully integrated centralized surveillance system.

Does anyone not wearing blue in a badge think that's a good idea?

I don't think so.

The way the BPD has presented this, as the PAB pointed out, has been dishonest on a number of fronts.

First of all, leaving out of Hey, folks, please.

People in line.

Give some space.

Okay, everyone, space.

Okay.

Here we go.

Here we go.

Folks, folks, please back up.

The problem is we've got a comment here.

Thank you.

Okay.

I'm just asking that everyone give everyone give folks some space.

Everyone gives folks folks some space so we can hear from the public comment.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

Please continue your comment.

Uh does anyone mind if I get five seconds added?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, the way the BPD has presented this has been dishonest on multiple fronts, in particular, leaving out that the Flock Nova software, which is investigative, not simple surveillance, uh, is being added as a one-year contract.

Um not highlighting that.

Also, as one of our council members pointed out, the initial MSA only allowed Flock to terminate easily, did not allow the city of Berkeley to do the same.

Not only is that asymmetrical, that seems deliberate to me.

I don't understand why that would be in the contract.

Um and it or it's just severe negligence.

Um this is reflective of a larger national struggle against so many companies that are surveilling us all the time.

Palantir is most notable, their AI system, which is being built to integrate all sorts of data.

But every single big tech company is implicated in this.

I also want to return to the justification of public safety.

First of all, if you are saying that drones are going to be used for firefighting, then propose drones for firefighting.

Do not pretend that drones being used for firefighting and policing are the same.

Second, the boundaries of what are going to be considered a crime are already expanding.

Trump just released a memorandum essentially announcing that he intends to criminalize left-wing organizing in protest under the guise of terrorism and violence.

Whether or not you consider yourself to be someone who is going to commit a crime, I suggest you re-evaluate that because your status may change very soon.

I do not accept public safety as a justification for more surveillance, and I do not accept the existence of some cameras or an existing contract as a justification for furthering the contract or for more cameras and more surveillance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Come up, come up.

Come on, folks.

Gotta move.

Where's your another minute from someone?

Okay, yeah.

Go ahead.

Oh my gosh.

My name is Siok McKeel, and I'm a resident of South Side.

I want to be clear.

The supplemental for Mayor Ishii is already a compromise.

It increases mass surveillance.

It puts Berkeley residents at risk when there is no concrete evidence to show that surveillance technologies help reduce crime.

However, we do have evidence that these technologies have been used to track immigrants, people seeking abortions, and even ex-partners of police officers.

Still, the mayor supplemental rejects Flock, which is the bare minimum.

Flock already violated the contract with the city by working directly with ICE, but nothing was done about it.

How can you have any confidence that they'll follow the contract now?

A five 150,000 dollar penalty is pennies for a company worth 7.5 billion.

A slap on the wrist is an understatement.

Lastly, our city is in a structural deficit, and every dollar matters.

Using these technologies and especially working with a vendor as untrustworthy as Flock opens up the city to incredible legal liability.

Obviously, the worst impacts of the misuse in these technologies are being unjustly detained and our people being unjustly detained and brutalized.

But the financial risk is very real as well.

We have seen headline after headline about the dangers of this tech.

Our safety needs to be addressed through investing in community, not mass surveilling it with tools created by major Trump donors.

Please reject mass surveillance and reject Flock.

Also, I want to uh highlight anybody who's talking, please talk to my friends at Berkeley Cop Watch.

They are organizing people to be more aware of this stuff.

And yeah, just want to get tapped in because I know people are going this way, so go that way.

Thank you so much.

Come up, please.

As soon as the person's finished, can you please come up?

Do you have public comment?

Hi, my name's Ama, and I'm a student at Berkeley High.

And on a daily basis, I think about ICE coming to my school.

I think about ICE kidnapping my friends and family.

I think about the innocent lives, some younger than me who have been shot, beaten, and disappeared by IC.

I open my phone and I see a woman and her daughter SFO in tears being kidnapped.

That was Sunday.

As a student who is terrified by the daily fascism that has become a normal part of my growing up, I am begging you to use the power that you have to avoid a contract with Flock, which works with ICE.

Flock as a tool of ICE stands against everything this council and the city promises its constituents.

So please do your job and protect us to your fullest power.

If you choose to support that which supports ICE, this council will go down as standing on the wrong side of history.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Fluck has a poor record of digital security and responses to security.

The real-time aggregation of the data is extremely difficult to not violate our privacy right.

And the safeguards mentioned about not connecting to third parties is actually difficult in practice.

Just like the best way to protect our data is to you know have it expire and not keep it.

The best way to not have these kind of tools centered to massive violence is not heaven in the first place.

Thank you.

Hi.

My name is Lisa Hoffman.

I'm one of the co-executive directors at East Space Sanctuary Covenant, an immigrant serving organization based in Berkeley.

And we're turning uh 44 years old today.

It's our 44th anniversary.

I'm representing here the Berkeley Immigration Collaborative, which is a group of five Berkeley-based organizations who have over 40 years of experience serving immigrants.

I want to share with you that yesterday I spent the day on the phone with countless other organizations trying to find the woman and her U.S.

citizen daughter who were detained at SFO and get them legal help.

This is what we do day in and day out.

This is my colleague Alina, who's one of our attorneys.

We work tirelessly to help people who are being terrorized and sometimes disappeared.

This afternoon, we found out that they were both deported to Guatemala.

The last time we were here, this council unanimously voted to approve the sanctuary ordinance, codifying Berkeley's commitment to protecting immigrants and declaring that cooperating with the federal deportation machine is against our moral obligation as the first sanctuary city.

Continuing to spend Berkeley's taxpayer dollars on a company whose technology is being used across the country to deport our neighbors is the antithesis of sanctuary.

We have met with most of you individually, have participated in community listening sessions, and have shared our communities' concerns and questions with you.

We have strived to listen to your perspectives while also not backing down on our core message.

Flock is a company whose investors are deeply tied to Trump's deportation machine, and as a result, has broken contracts and lied repeatedly.

Thank you.

Is that already two minutes?

Yeah, that was two minutes.

Can I have a okay?

You've got a minute here.

Go ahead.

As a result, has broken contracts and lied repeatedly about sharing data with the federal government.

This is not about creating an airtight contract that will somehow miraculously withstand the pressure of a well-funded federal machine intent on ripping apart immigrant families and sending them into danger.

I want to say to you very clearly, this is a moral decision in a unique political moment of state-sponsored terror and government overreach.

We're grateful to Mayor Ishii, Vice Mayor Lunaparo, and Councilmember Tregu for proposing a supplemental which refuses to contract with Flock.

We urge you all to follow the excellent recommendations that were made by the PAB.

And we urge all of you to join us in taking a stand to protect our community.

Thank you.

Hi, good evening.

My name's Abigail Les Bronz.

I am a Berkeley native and resident, and this is my husband and daughter, also District 5.

My father at his 91 years had to leave early, district six.

Recently, I want to share with you a story of my client who recently literally had her movements tracked using ALPR cameras.

After an accident, she was pulled over to and exchanged information with the other driver, and then she left.

The other driver called in the accident as a hit and run.

The investigating officer had our client's address, and he went to her house, but she wasn't home.

So what did he do?

He turned to Flock.

And using Flock's A L PR cameras.

Were they giving you their minutes?

Yeah, sorry.

Yeah, still.

But from both of you.

One first, and then if I need another, I'll okay.

Got it.

So you have another minute.

Go ahead.

So using the cameras and their warrantless and continuous monitoring of every community member's movements, the officers was instantly able to create a detailed record of her location history and pinpoint down to a 20-minute window where she would be driving both to and from work.

Does anybody want that for themselves?

The next day he positioned himself where he and when he knew she was gonna be, and detained her.

And this is just one example of how this type of surveillance impinges on all of our constitutional rights by enabling warrantless large-scale data collection that violates privacy.

Yours, mine, everybody's.

Moreover, this constant surveillance also has been shown to chill free speech and suppress free association.

Is this the type of Berkeley that we want to live in?

Is this representative of who we are and how we treat the most vulnerable among us?

And those who are willing to speak truth to power.

I don't think so.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

So when you come up, if you can tell me your if if someone's giving you minutes, so this is for everyone.

When you come up, please let me know if someone's giving you minutes so that I can keep track of that, and then we'll give you the right time when we won't interrupt your comment.

So ahead.

Thank you so much.

Um I have a minute.

Um Good evening.

My name is Nigga Cervantes with the Multicultural Institute.

Berkeley's January 2025 uh resolution reaffirming Berkeley as a sanctuary city, authored by Councilmember Blackaby, says Sanctuary is fundamentally about public safety.

The need for everyone in the community to feel safe.

When all community members documented or undocumented are able to attend school and after school programs, hospitals and health centers, and places of worship without the threat of deportation.

We are promoting a more educated, healthy, and thriving community.

Sanctuary policies strengthen all of our lives.

This is a Berkeley we are fighting for.

One where our families, friends, and neighbors feel safe without fear that our location is being tracked or shared with the federal government by Flocks Technology.

We at the Multicultural Institute work directly with day laborers in Berkeley who do not feel safe looking for work while Flock cameras are watching them.

Safety for some at the expense of our most vulnerable is not true safety.

We are also proud to train a dedicated group of allies and community patrollers who take daily shifts to look out for ICE activity.

We are deeply concerned that the current drone use policy will result in surveillance surveillance of mass response to an ICE raid, which could put our community patrollers at risk of federal prosecution and prevent them from conducting essential legal observation.

To actually promote public safety, the city can consider investing in violence prevention programs and mental health solutions actually prevent crime, not just record it.

We understand and agree with the need of safety and firmly believe that contracting will flock will not contribute to public safety.