Okay, hello everyone.

Good evening.

I'm calling to order the Berkeley City Council meeting.

Today is Tuesday, June 30th.

June 30th, 2026.

It is 6.05 p.m.

Can we please start off with a roll?

Okay.

Councilmember Castarwani is currently absent.

Councilmember Taplin.

Present.

Present Bartlett is absent.

Vice Mayor Tregum present.

Councilmember O'Keefe.

Here.

Blackabee.

Here.

Luna Farah.

Here.

Humbert, present, and Mayor Ishi.

Here.

Okay, Quorum is present.

All right.

For our ceremonial matters this evening, I want to start us off with our adjournment in memory.

And tonight I want to recognize and honor the life of Flora Russ, longtime educator, leader, and mentor.

Her family is with us this evening.

Flora served our Berkeley community for 50 years.

Since coming to work for Berkeley Unified in 1968, she taught thousands of students in subjects of math, science, and computer arts.

During her tenure, she taught at King Middle School and Berkeley High.

She made it her mission not only to teach her students, but to mentor and support the many new teachers she worked with over the years, fostering a strong sense of belonging amongst the BUSD community.

Her philosophy was everyone graduates.

Students know Miss Russ as a person who would go to the ends of the earth to support each child and reaching their potential.

Flora founded the Computer Academy, the first California partnership academy at Berkeley High School, which later became Community Partnerships Academy and is now known as AMPS, Academy of Medicine and Public Service, in 1991.

She led and taught in the small school program for many years and touched the lives of multitudes of students who went on to access higher education, only to return to give back by entering community service professions.

She also was a workability coordinator at Berkeley High, where she worked with students with disabilities to find shadowing internships and paid employment opportunities while in high school.

She tracked the transition plans of current and former special education students throughout their four years of high school and beyond, managing the Transition Partnership Program Grant in collaboration with the U.S.

Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.

She leaves behind a legacy.

Her students are now community organizers, teachers, professors, detectives, artists, firefighters, legislators, medical professionals, and so much more.

They share the value of stewardship and strive to repair the world because of Flora's influence.

Flora is survived by her five nieces and nephews, and by her late partner's two children, Stacy Wagner, who was like a daughter to her, and John Grisby, Stacy's two sons, Jordan and Jaron, and five beautiful great-granddaughters.

Flora's celebration of life will be on August 9th at 1 p.m.

at Berkeley High School Donahue Gym.

And tonight we are joined by Stacey Wagner, representing the family and also family members who are here this evening.

Thank you so much for joining us this evening.

We're adjourning tonight in Flora's honor.

Thank you for being here.

Tonight, we are also honoring Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell on his retirement.

And I will have Councilmember Blackaby read the proclamation.

Great, thank you.

We'll read the proclamation and then uh have you come up and take a photo.

Um Dr.

Witherall is the eighth director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, he's also a district six resident.

Uh, he's served as director of the lab for the last 10 years and is retiring this month, and we wanted to take this moment to honor him for his service.

So here's the text of the proclamation.

Whereas for more than five decades, Dr.

Michael Stewart Witherell has combined the curiosity of a pioneering physicist with the vision of an exceptional scientific leader, helping shape some of America's most important advances in particle physics, computing, and energy research, and I should note also serving as inspiration of a west wing character.

That's a story for another another time.

Whereas as a scientist, he made landmark contributions to our understanding of the fundamental structure of matter, including a groundbreaking Fermi Lab experiment that isolated particles containing the charm quark and earned him the prestigious Panofsky Prize in experimental particle physics.

And whereas, never content to stop exploring, he later turned his attention to one of science's great greatest mysteries, dark matter, contributing to the Lux collaboration and helping design the next generation Lux Zeppelin Experiment, a quest worthy of someone who has spent a career chasing the universe's best kept secrets.

And whereas, after serving as director of Fermi Lab and Vice Chancellor of Research at UC Santa Barbara, Dr.

Witherell became director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

From 2016 to 2026, he led more than 4,000 employees and a billion dollar annual budget through a decade of remarkable achievement, during which Berkeley Lab scientists earned four Nobel Prizes, two national medals, and dozens of national academy elections.

And whereas Dr.

Witherell's leadership modernized Berkeley Lab for the future through major investments in world-class scientific infrastructure, including the advanced light source upgrade, the Pearl Mutter Supercomputer, the Dudna Project, BioEpic, and other transformative facilities, while also positioning the laboratory at the forefront of quantum information science and artificial intelligence for discovery.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that Adina Ishi, mayor of the city of Berkeley, does hereby commend Dr.

Michael Witherell for his exceptional contributions, dedicated service, collaborative leadership, and enduring stewardship, and congratulate him on his retirement.

Thank you.

Did you want to say a few words?

Yeah.

So here.

So thank you.

Yes, I'm a proud resident at 640 Euclid.

So since I came with my wife and daughter since uh they called me for this job 10 years ago.

And besides all those other great things, the laboratory, we're also uh leading uh the fight uh to be resilient against wildfire uh for the city and the area, that we're very proud of.

And we also have developed a really great K-12 STEM program over the last several years to help our uh students and and teachers in the East Bay, that I'm very proud of.

And I couldn't be prouder to be uh resident of the city of Berkeley.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Oh, okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Also, this evening, we are recognizing National Breastfeeding Month, and I believe that Ruth Konoff is here.

Hi, welcome.

You can feel free to come up if you'd like.

And whereas the consistent and well-documented health, economic, and environmental benefits of human milk feeding, show that this investment will continue to produce measurable outcomes for families and communities alike, and whereas many families face barriers to achieving their infant feeding intentions due to long-standing policy gaps and underfunding of public health initiatives that address the needs of lactating parents and the providers that serve them, which disproportionately affect black, indigenous, and people of color bip populations, resulting in reduced breastfeeding rates and an associated increase in the risk for a variety of negative health outcomes, and whereas protecting and supporting human milk feeding is essential to ensuring infant nutrition security and immunologic protection for Berkeley's youngest people, and whereas National Breastfeeding Month and World Breastfeeding Week provide important opportunities to increase awareness of and address barriers to human milk feeding faced by families.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Adina Ishii, Mayor of the city of Berkeley, do hereby recognize August 2026 as breastfeeding/slash chest feeding month in the city of Berkeley.

So I'd love to get a picture with you in a few minutes, but anyone who's known me for more than five minutes knows that I could speak at length about the wonders of breastfeeding and human milk.

But I promise I'll keep my remarks shorter than that.

Yeah.

So council members, mayor, staff, thank you for the proclamation, recognizing the importance of breastfeeding, chest feeding, and human milk feeding for our community.

The substantial benefits to the health of both the child and the lactating parent and to society as a whole are widely recognized, and the vast majority of expectant parents, over 94% in our county, intend to breastfeed, they plan to breastfeed, they initiate breastfeeding.

Things go downhill often from there.

This year, World Breastfeeding Week, the first week in August, has the theme: breastfeeding for a sustainable start in life.

Strengthen what works.

While there's still a lot we have to learn, we do know a fair amount about what works to help families achieve their infant feeding intentions.

And I don't just mean equitable access to skilled lactation care.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

I want to talk about how the community can support people who choose to breastfeed their babies.

We know that support from a trusted peer, both before and after baby is born, has a significant impact on their success.

At Berkeley WIC, and I'm realizing I forgot to introduce myself, but I'll do that in a moment.

At Berkeley Wick, we're able to provide breastfeeding peer counselor support to many of our participants, and we see the difference it makes.

Too often they're waiting in the waiting room while the mom to be gets the breastfeeding prenatal education.

That's not helpful.

The broader family is the breastfeeding team, even if the parents are not in the same household.

Finally, what I really want to stress is out in the wider community.

All of you, all of us, employers, co-workers, educational institutions, child care providers.

Too often, nursing mothers who are returning to work or school, and we know that most of them do, face barriers that make it more difficult to continue providing their own milk to their child.

They may face challenges, challenges, excuse me, accessing adequate parental leave, appropriate and legally mandated lactation accommodations at work or at school, and a special interest of mine, whoever is caring for that child when the parent is away, whether that's grandma, a large child care center, the family child care home down the block, they may not be supportive of feeding the baby expressed milk.

Too often I see ads for child care centers that proclaim we provide free formula.

Um nothing about we welcome your expressed milk.

We know how to feed it to your baby.

We have a refrigerator to keep it safe.

Too often what happens is that parents believe that the start of child care means the end of breastfeeding, and it really doesn't need to be that way.

So I think I'll leave it at that.

Um, but just point out that tonight's declaration of National Breastfeeding Month in Berkeley represents an opportunity to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding, chest feeding, and human milk feeding for everyone in the Berkeley community.

And finally, before I leave, I just want to invite everyone here to the Berkeley Wick Annual Wicknick, which is a very fun picnic.

You do not have to be breastfeeding, you don't have to ever have been breastfeeding to come and have fun, have food, dance, and enjoy the music.

Would it be okay if I leave those on the back table?

And what I should have done at the very beginning, I'm Ruth Connoff.

I'm the breastfeeding peel council coordinator at the City of Berkeley Wick, and I'm also an active member of the Allen County Breastfeeding Coalition, and thank you for paying attention for so long.

Thank you so much, and thank you for the invitation to the event as well.

Okay, so finally, for our ceremonial items, I will pass it over to Councilmember Lunapara.

Thank you.

Um, this isn't an official ceremonial item, but I want to take a moment to acknowledge a truly bittersweet milestone.

Tonight is the final city council meeting for my co-chief of staff, Sarah Saramie, and I want to acknowledge everything she has given to the city.

Sarah.

Sarah was born and raised in Berkeley and has given so much of her time, energy, and talent to our community.

In her time in City Hall over the past few years, first in the District 4 office and then in the District 7 office.

Sarah has been the driving force behind countless transformative policies and projects, including car-free telegraph, police police oversight, missing middle housing, the residential vacancy tax, responsible budgeting, micromobility fees, and so much more.

She's a fierce advocate for renters, workers, pedestrians, small businesses, and all who call District 7 home.

Sarah has the incredible and unique ability to go about everything in her life with kindness, empathy, and curiosity.

She's able to think big picture and stay focused on a long-term theory of change while still diving into each and every detail of day-to-day public service, proving to the city and the world that democratic socialism and progressive and young energy can be just as pragmatic as it is visionary.

Sarah is thoughtful, committed, tenacious, and innovative.

Her creative and compassionate approach to policy development ensures that new ideas are brought to the forefront and that those most impacted by our work are centered in every decision we make.

She's been an incredible mentor to our interns, a culture setter on the fifth floor, and an amazing partner in our efforts to create a local government that truly supports all of Berkeley.

Sarah treats each and every colleague and member of the public with utmost respect.

She is hilarious, brilliant, generous, and endlessly caring.

I would not have been able to get through the past two years without her and her friendship.

And I'm so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work and spend so much time thinking, scheming, working, and laughing with Sarah.

Sarah, on behalf of myself, Jonah, our interns, all of your colleagues in our entire city.

Thank you so much for all you have given us and wish you the very best in your future endeavors.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilmember.

And yes, we are gonna miss you very much, Sarah.

Um, okay, thank you all so much for the ceremonial items.

I really appreciate everyone coming and representing their organizations or their families.

It is really special that we get a chance to do this.

Um I just want to thank you all for being here.

So we are now moving on to City Manager Commons.

Mr.

City Manager, do you have any comments this evening?

I don't, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you very much.

All right, we will now take public comment on non-agenda matters.

Sorry.

I'm so sorry.

Yes.

Our Madam City Auditor, did you have comments for us this evening?

Great.

Thank you so much.

Good evening.

First, I just wanted to echo a thank you to Sarah for your contributions.

Something that I've really appreciated about you is your you ask very, very good questions, and you really embody what I call my ABCs, which is always be curious.

So best wishes, Sarah.

We're gonna miss you.

Good evening.

I'm here to talk about items 50 and 51.

This is to share my office's audit plan for the upcoming year and um to share our first annual whistleblower program report.

As you're all aware, the city um had to make some very difficult decisions to close the $30 million structural deficit, and we'll need to raise additional revenue to avoid further cuts.

Given the city's fiscal challenges, my office's audit plan this year focuses on enhancing revenue and evaluating expenses.

This includes ongoing audits of the rent stabilization board and of the city's business license tax program, as well as new audits on the public health and measure FF on safe streets.

My goal is to ensure that city dollars are spent responsibly and aligned with Berkeley values.

Our purpose as an independent office is to evaluate the city's operations and compliance with local laws and regulations by conducting independent audits.

Berkeley City Charter establishes authority to carry out this work and gives my office unrestricted access to city employees, officials, records, and reports.

Our role as an independent oversight body is even more important during periods of fiscal uncertainty as taxpayers and residents expect timely information on how the city is using the limited public resources.

Audits can also lead to new revenue opportunities, cost recovery, and savings.

This fiscal year, my office will also continue working with city departments to report on the implementation status of audit recommendations through their submission of council reports.

We'll also continue implementation of the whistleblower program, which provides a confidential way for city employees or officials to report concerns related to fraud waste and abuse of city resources.

By providing an independent and confidential reporting channel, the program helps identify risks, improve accountability, and strengthen public trust in city operations.

I wanted to thank the city manager for helping us with some of the outreach.

As mentioned earlier, we just released our first annual whistleblower program report during this first calendar year.

In 2025, the program received 42 new reports and closed 41 cases.

Cases may be closed for several reasons, including completion of an investigation, referral to another department or entity, insufficient information to proceed, or because the allegation was outside the program's authority.

Looking for the program will continue to enhance intake and investigation procedures and work closely with departments to address fraud waste and abuse.

For more information, you can see tonight's information item on our audit plan and whistleblower report.

And please don't hesitate to reach out to my office with any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Madam City Auditor, and thank you so much for your presentation to us as well.

It is so important that we have these audits, and I really want to thank your office's role in helping us determine where we can do a better job as a city, especially during times of financial difficulty.

And I did just want to particularly reinforce my support for the audit around the public health division.

I think it's important for us to understand what that brings to our city and also the expense.

So thank you very much for looking into it.

Yeah.

Oh, yes.

Did you have comments?

Yeah.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, I want to thank Auditor Wong and her team for all their hard work on past and ongoing ongoing audits.

I'm especially pleased to see the audit of our business license tax, since that is a major source of revenue for our city and of the rent board, given our earlier discussion.

Uh and all of the other audits are important too.

I also look forward to Auditor Wong's work to ensure that we're spending our safe streets measure FF funds wisely and in a way that is consistent with what voters envisioned.

I'm so pleased and grateful that we have such a dogged and fearless city auditor, and I look forward to learning more about these topics as Auditor Wong and her staff bring forward into the individual complete reports.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

Very good.

Um I love it.

I love the support for the audits.

Um, okay, we'll now take public comment on non-agenda matter.

Okay, so there'll be um five cards chosen for in-person, non-agenda public comment, and then we will go to the first five hands raised on the zoom.

So if you're on the zoom now, it's time to raise your hand for an on-agenda public comment.

Each speaker will have um one minute.

And let's see, we got okay, we got five cards that come up in any order.

Uh we have uh Russell Bates, Celeste Marks, Stephen Alpert, Gina Rieger, and Steve Tracy.

And this is for items that are not on the agenda, so come up in any order.

Hi, everybody.

Nothing new.

Um, the murderers rampage in Lebanon, Gaza, elsewhere in the Louise is continuing.

The Rogers Bond that's been dropped in peacetime history, was dropped in Lebanon today.

You don't see a lot of this stuff on the news.

It's it's not on mainstream, because it's not mainstream, the mainstream doesn't know enough to not support this, and I would urge the city council to do what I've done recently is when I found myself believing something that I no longer believe and realize I was foolish of believing it and need to change my mind about it.

Um I do it.

So I think without condemning yourselves too much, admit you made a mistake by not going through a ceasefire in Gaza, not calling it Jethro side, and do so.

Thank you.

Good evening, Steve Tracy.

I'm uh I'm a cyclist.

I have the silly shirt on.

I'm also a driver.

I'm a month early.

What am I gonna talk about?

Paving Hopkins.

I have choices.

I can ride Morin, I can ride Rose.

I would never ride Hopkins in the condition it's in.

I don't even want to drive it.

Um, but I know after cycling for 50 years that cyclists are much safer with fresher pavement.

I saw a group comment that it'll be less safe with fresher pavement without a cycle track.

Wrong.

Please.

No cycle track.

Repave Hopkins and use that extra money to repave other streets.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Um, I'm Gina Rieger, and I live on Lulum Avenue.

Um, last year I spent um a good amount of time trying to reason with the city to keep my plants and trees regarded under the Ember program.

But now I find myself worried about my own the risk to the safety of my house and my own life because of the uh possibility of the closing of the fire station number four.

I found the city manager's comments on page 23 of the proposed budget of 114 pages that was presented to you in May.

Response time standards were not consistently met.

Closure of fire station four will force responses from more distant stations, further degrading performance.

Those are the words of your city manager.

City Gate consultants in December of 23 wrote that it the department is struggling to meet current demand, much less future growth and city in the city and the university.

Thanks for your comment.

I'm seating a left minute.

Okay, thank you.

Good evening.

I'm Dr.

Stephen Alpert.

On May 19, Mayor Ishi interrupted my public comment remarks.

The First Amendment coalition advises this was a violation of both the Brown Act and the First Amendment right to free speech.

For government code 54960, I forwarded a formal cease and assist letter, requesting it henceforth, city not interrupt public comment remarks by our speaker addressing statements or positions publicly made by individual council members.

The city has until July 8th to provide this commitment, which must be approved by the council in an open session during a regular or special meeting as a separate agenda item.

Or I can and I will file legal actions against the city as recommended by the First Amendment coalition.

That said, this council needs to stop pushing the false narrative that building more market rate housing will readily produce affordable units.

Real world data contradict this.

The bookhold study, reviewed and published by the prestigious London School of Economics, demonstrated that in our area, it takes decades for newly built market rate housing to eventually filter down and become affordable.

Council members also assert that building more market rate housing invariably will drive down rents.

Housing data from New York Enrico refute this, despite a massive building boom between 2020 and 2024, and we've all had a 16.3 year-over-year increase in one-bedroom rents, the largest in the Bay Area.

As reported in April, the Emoryville Tradler, and the Emoryville went the Yimby Way.

Now it has the most expensive rent in the East Bay.

The more apartments we build, the more expensive it is to rent.

Is the rent here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Caller with a phone number ending in 211.

Hi, good evening.

So our measure is still out of town.

It could not uh give you some paper today, but I'd like to talk about very historical issues in Berkeley, especially with the great speaker about nuclear that.

I like to bring the great Egyptian nuclear scientist.

Her name was Samira Musa.

Samira Musa.

And she was kidnapped.

Actually, part of Oppenheimer group.

It was a she was also a cow.

She also was Lawrence.

Um laboratory was naked, August 5th, 1952 by Mossad.

Under Fony, another inf invitation.

She was driven to Pacifica Mountain.

Her car was thrown over to the ocean and she was killed.

Lawrence Labs have a 10 minutes tribute to Lawrence to uh Samira Musa.

Please watch it.

Just Google search.

My Mira Musa, the Egyptian mother of nuclear physics.

Israel have no limit to that card.

Thanks for your comment.

Next up is Ashley Perez.

Ashley should be able to unmute.

Oh, looks like you're unmuted.

But we can't hear you.

All right, maybe we can um come back to Ashley.

Last hand is Cheryl Daville, a former council member.

I'm here in the room.

I'm gonna ask him.

Okay.

So people are still bomb, they're bombing every day, people are still being martyred.

Doctors, children, women, seniors.

And it's not okay that you haven't done anything about it.

I don't understand how you can sit there and pretend like you don't hear me and you're not listening.

That's really rude.

And then not that's not your job.

Your job is to listen to your constituents.

More than what you're doing.

We don't need more market rate housing.

We don't need streets that you just have to go up and down like this every time you drive down them.

Curtis hasn't been paved in since I before I was elected.

So y'all need to do a better job.

Thank you.

Go back to uh Ashley Perez.

See it.

Ashley should be able to you're unmuted.

So we we still can't hear you.

All right.

Um, we have one more speaker.

Um, I'm just saying that I don't think it makes sense to expedite the process with um yeah, basically with all this stuff that we're dealing with the drones, drone usage, ALPI, PTCF cameras, private camera integrations.

Sorry, did you make a comment on on an item on consent?

Yeah.

We're actually on public comment on non-agenda matters at the moment, but you're welcome to give that comment.

Sorry about that.

No worries, thank you.

Uh okay, there's no more uh hands raised.

Okay, thank you very much to everyone for their comments.

We are now moving on to our consent calendar.

All right.

Council members.

Anyone have any comments?

Um I think this is not working, but council member Blackaby, go ahead.

My finger was furiously banging on the button.

So just a few comments on items.

Um, want to thank colleagues for the um the uh office relinquishment items.

I wanted to contribute on item 37 uh for the replenishing business damage mitigation fund, 250 dollars from our office account.

Thanks to Councilmember Traeger for that item.

On the Berkeley Nikkei Senior Center, wanted to relinquish 250 dollars.

Thanks to the mayor for that item.

On the little free store, item 39, thanks to Councilmember Bartlett, wanted to contribute 250 dollars.

And on item 41, zero empty spaces in downtown Berkeley.

Thanks again to Councilmember Taplin and the Mayor.

We wanted to contribute 250.

I wanted to thank my partner in crime, Councilmember O'Keefe on item 42 on the Solano Stroll funding.

It's a kind of a key time as we transition funding for that event to more private sources.

So just wanted to note that Councilmember O'Keefe is leading the charge, but we're also proud to contribute 15K from the uh D from our district six budget towards that event.

Um then lastly, wanted to comment on item 19, which is the RFP for public safety tech tools.

Uh I just wanted to note for folks that this is a follow-up from the May 7th um meeting that we had about um technology, public safety technology, had a very spirited debate, long discussion, lots of questions, and sort of where we ended on that was not to move forward with the flop contract as written, but rather to issue an RFP for all the components.

Uh and that's what this item is.

It's uh the next step in what council directed the department to do.

Uh and it is an interim step.

We still have many more steps in the process as we look at proposals from many different vendors, we hope.

Uh, and then there's a whole decision-making process around what may or may not happen at that point.

But anyway, I just want to indicate this is not a new item.

This is a continuation on something that we agreed to together as a body on May 7th.

Uh, I also want to thank the department for convening a working group of PAB uh board members as well as BPD staff to formulate the RFP and review it.

I know that work is ongoing uh and the process will continue.

So um I'm proud to support that item.

It is an extension of what council's previously directed, uh, no more nor less.

So thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um Councilmember Humbert.

Yes, thank you, madam mayor.

And I want to associate myself with um the very accurate comments made by Councilmember Blackaby about the RFP.

Um, as to an uh on item 37, which is um replenishing the business damagation damage mitigation fund, I'd like to contribute 250 from our office discretionary account item 38, which is the Berkeley Nikkei Senior Center, relinquishment of funds um uh to that center.

I'd like to contribute 100, please.

Um, I think that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right, moving on to Councilmember O'Keefe.

Thank you.

Um I'll start with the items that aren't mine.

Um, I would like to donate um five hundred dollars to the um item 37, the business damage mitigation fund.

I think that's a really really important one.

So I want to thank.

Um, right.

Yeah, Councilmember Tregu for uh for bringing that in the mayor, yes.

Anyway, thank you for to the authors and um happy to donate.

I'd like to donate 200 to item 38, the Nikkei Senior Center, um, end of your party.

And um item 200 to item 39 for the little three-store item.

That sounds fun, and um uh 200 to item 41, the zero empty spaces.

Um so thank you to all those seem like great items, happy to donate.

And I really um uh councilmember Blackaby already um um teed me up here to talk about my Solano Stroll item.

I want to say first of all, thank you so much to um Councilmember Blackaby to Mayor and Councilmember Kessarwani for your really generous contributions.

I'll let Councilmember Kessarwani say the number, but um all three have uh been extremely generous, and um I'm so grateful.

This is I I already talked about this item uh when we gave it some funding last week, but I just want to say again it's it's you know it's the biggest street event, not just in Berkeley, but in the East Bay, and it's it's a huge deal, it's really important for the community in lots of different dimensions.

It's um it's just it's an event people look forward to every year.

It generates a huge amount of economic activity for the area, and not just for the Solano businesses, but so many uh nonprofits and other businesses and community organizations go there every year.

It's a big recruiting event, a good place to showcase what they're doing.

So it's really it's just such an invaluable, beautiful event, and I'm so proud to have it in my district.

And um, just really happy that we were able to figure out a way to keep it going even with the funding challenges.

And so this is a really important part of that.

And I just want to say thank you again for the extreme generosity from the um from my co-sponsors.

Thank you very much.

Um council member Lunapara.

Thank you.

Um I am really excited about item number one, which is adjusting the parking permit fees.

I really want to thank the city manager and public work staff, especially Elliot Schwimmer, who worked extremely hard on this and presented an extremely convincing, thoroughly researched proposal a few weeks ago.

Um I also I want to give $200 to each 37, 38, 39, 41, and 42 to all of the items, all of the relinquishment items.

Um I have communicated um concerns with the and questions on the RFP language, and um currently satisfied with the response.

I want to make sure that the PAB has time to review the RFP before it goes public.

I just wanted to say that also.

Thanks.

Thank you very much.

Vice Mayor Traeger.

Uh thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh so first of all, I want to recognize our city manager and his team for doing incredible work, especially under some very strenuous circumstances with many unpredictable changes.

Thank you.

As I've been looking through this and many other consent calendars, I just can't help but see and recognize all the work that staff has been doing.

I see staff applying for and receiving grants, continuing to do important work to support our seniors and the most vulnerable amongst us, creating affordable housing, expanding access to wellness programs, tending to our parks, and addressing the city's financial stability and many more processes that go on within the city every day, whether uh we see them uh or not.

We truly have an exceptional team in the city of Barkley, and I want to just take a moment to acknowledge and recognize all the amazing people selflessly serving our community with respect to the items uh on item 37, which is replenishing the business damage mitigation fund.

I want to thank Mayor Ishii for the partnership on this item.

Uh, over the past two years as the downtown representative, I visited and spoken to several business owners, who unfortunately have experienced burglaries, break-ins, vandalism, and other property damage.

And this program provides practical assistance when they need it most to get their business back up.

Importantly, these funds can be utilized by businesses throughout Berkeley, regardless of the district.

So I thank my colleagues who have already generously contributed to this important fund, and invite others to do so as well.

I am also happy to donate 150 dollars to items 38, which is the Barclay Nikkei Senior Center.

Um, 150 dollars to item 39, Little Free Store, and 150 to Item 42, the Solano Avenue 12.

And I want to thank the community partner staff and fellow council members members of the council who've helped bring these proposals forward.

On item 40, I am very proud to put forward a position of support for Senate Bill 1830 1483 by our former mayor and current state senator uh Jesse Arriguin that in my mind correct the unintended consequences and make sure that our housing is built by and not on the backs of people who are properly trained and skilled in their craft.

It ensures that our hardworking people in the labor movement are getting fair wages and health benefits and are able to participate in this shared economy.

With respect to item 41, which is uh our zero empty spaces and downtown Barkley item.

I am so excited that zero empty spaces is coming to Berkeley, and this is just a start uh of helping of us finding creative ways to bring artists, entrepreneurs, and community organizations into underutilized spaces.

I'm grateful to our downtown Barkley Association and our economic development department for making this happen.

This is a type of innovative partnership that can create more vibrant streets while supporting both economic and cultural vitality.

And lastly, on item 19, uh, which is the RFP solicitation, uh, I would like to associate my comments with um those of council member Luna Parra and um the questions that uh I had been answered to my satisfaction um and uh I think we will maybe hear more about it in other comments.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Kasserwani.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

So I want to um be the first to uh really appreciate item 29.

This is the item that is acknowledging the change in ownership for the North Berkeley Bart Development.

We have the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation Ebaltsey taking over for bridge.

I think we have some representatives in the back.

Oh, quite a few.

Um so thank you for being here.

Um, this was something we did not anticipate because Bridge was one of the key um partners in this um incredible development that we are going to see at North Berkeley BART.

Um, but when they made the decision to step away, um Ibalzi stepped in and I want to acknowledge the work of our city staff and Ebaldsey, uh, to secure the state funding that had been awarded to Bridge, that wasn't a guarantee, and it took a lot of work and everyone appreciating the vision of this site to get that done.

I think I heard Liz Probe say that this project was too big to fail and continues to be too big to fail.

So um, so I just want to acknowledge uh this incredible item, and then we are also advancing some pre-development funds to make sure that that work can happen and we hope to break ground very soon on this project.

So, so thank you for that.

Um, and then in terms of um all of these items for relinquishment of funds, so item 37, the damage mitigation fund uh for businesses.

I'd like to be recorded as donating 250.

Uh for item 38, the Berkeley Nikkei Senior Center.

I'd like to donate $100.

Item 39 is the Little Free Store and Community Services United Cleanup and Mural Painting Community Party.

I'd like to do $100 and the item 41, zero empty spaces in Berkeley.

Um, I'd like to donate $100, and then as Councilmember O'Keefe had talked about the Solano Stroll item, which, you know, I'm grateful that we can support this incredible community event this year and and help help the event be self-sustaining in the future.

And so I'd like to be recorded as donating $4,000 for my office budget to that item.

And then finally on item 40.

I want to thank Councilmember Tragu for bringing the letter of support forward.

I do have a difference of opinion on this that I'd like to put into the record.

I'm concerned that this bill, as I understand it, does not consider any equivalent reduction in construction costs to compensate for the inability of a developer to use the density bonus for labor standards, which, while laudable, do increase the cost of construction fairly significantly, sometimes, as we know, to the point of financial infeasibility for the entire project, which does not help construction workers, and it definitely doesn't help the people who are struggling with the cost of housing in our community.

For this reason, I would like to be recorded as abstaining from item number 40.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Seeing no more hands, I will just briefly add my comments to item number 19.

Um I know my number of my council members have helped the public, uh helped to make sure that it was clear that this is simply allowing the RFP to be issued and whether to enter into contract negotiations with any vendor will come back to the city council for deliberation.

Additionally, the city manager assured me that the Berkeley Police Department will continue to work with the police accountability board.

They've already been doing that to reach alignment on this RFP.

And I want to just plus one to item number 29.

Thank you, Councilmember Kessarwani, for your comments.

We're very excited about the North Berkeley BART station and that project moving forward on item 37 for replenishing the damage mitigation fund.

I just want to clarify that there is a typo in the background, which doesn't affect the actual recommendation.

They were um the FY 2021 budget allocation was 100,000, not 100,000.

It was just missing a zero at the end, um, to provide one-time only grants for the damage mitigation fund.

And then for item 39, we will relinquish 250 from my office.

So thank you all very much.

And I will now open us up to uh public comment.

So again, this is public comment for the consent calendar or information items only.

So was it one minute?

I have a one minute from Russell.

Okay, thank you.

George Littman uh Peace and Justice Commission and Human Welfare and Community Action Commission was speaking only on my own behalf on item 19.

Um understand that this is just a follow-up to the May 7th, um, but still want to speak out against the issuing of the RFP.

And I hope that folks who were concerned didn't vote for that at least will um uh will uh will abstain on that part of the um uh agenda.

Um and I don't have an expectation that it will not pass uh today.

I understand that.

But in studying this uh the landscape, um on May 7th and before, Flock was completely discredited and and impeached.

And I don't have to go over all over everything that was said, but uh um they've lied to this council, they've lied to the staff.

Um, they're like a Swiss cheese operation.

They don't have a relationship with ICE, they say.

I believe it, but the the data gets out anyway.

Um, and when you look at the other candidates, we've studied uh a number of them.

Um Motoroles, Vigilant Solutions is a key one.

They have strategic partnerships with DHS.

Um Axon, strategic partnership with ICE.

Vigilant has sent University of California's ALPR data to Customs and Border Patrol.

Record Systems, which is similar to Flock, has a large ALPR database that ICE and CBP frequently access through a side door, that is state and local departments, as is the case with FLOC famously.

Um in fact, these non-flock agencies may be even worse than Flock.

You're gonna wind up with a bad situation with a bad partner, and you can put that into it now, or you're gonna be not looking that good.

Thanks.

Thanks, George.

John Canor, Downtown Berkeley Association.

I want to thank you for the replenishment of the damage fund.

We administer it free of cost, no overhead, but we're pleased to do it as a citywide benefit.

Zero empty spaces.

Thanks for your support.

This is really exciting.

Real cook found this opportunity.

We've driven with it.

The mayor announced at our annual meeting.

They're opening up, they have an open house on August 8th.

Up to 25 artists, highly modular.

Gordon Properties is offering the space for free for six months, month to month.

If and when they get it leased, we have other vacant spaces in the downtown and throughout the city where this can go.

So this is gonna be really, really fun and exciting.

I have flyers and pass it around.

That'd be great.

Um, I just want to say on the security camera thing.

Make sure you look at Safe City Connect out of San Francisco.

Incredible high integrity local company.

They have over a thousand cameras in San Francisco, 500 in Oakland, and make sure that they're included in the evaluation.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, John.

Good evening, Councilman Mayor.

Uh, my name is Jason Martins.

I live in District 3.

Want to talk about item 19.

Uh, first of all, I think it's a little embarrassing, honestly, that you don't put the name or what this is about in the title.

Uh I would love for more transparency about like what this item is.

It doesn't even say it's just as an RFP.

Uh second, I want to say I strongly encourage you to not proceed with this RFP process.

Uh Councilmember Tree Gob reported that 95% of the calls he got in this office were opposed to Flock.

And the reason is Flock is a terrible company.

Uh and the alternatives that you have Axon, Motorola, they are similarly terrible companies.

They have active contracts with ICE that also go against our sanctuary policies.

So I strongly encourage you to not proceed with this RFP process because ultimately what the city uh or the people of Berkeley are saying is we don't want surveillance.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Terry Garritz, and I'm the owner of the Golden Duplex.

And I'm very upset about this initiative you want.

Sorry, this is actually something that's um on the action calendar, not on the consent calendar.

Yes, it's on the uh, on a later time to comment.

So right now we're just commenting on consent calendar.

No worries, so just come back a little bit later.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor.

Good evening, Council members.

I am Janelle Chan.

I'm the CEO of East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, or E Balsi, and I'm commenting on item number 29.

Balsi is a nonprofit, affordable housing provider, and community developer, quite frankly.

We've build vibrant, safe, and healthy neighborhoods and places of belonging.

And we've been in the East Bay for 50 years and just finishing up a senior project on Lake Merritt Bar Sation.

Excited about that, and I'm excited to be here with our partners, Colleen and Insight Housing Team.

Thank you for your continued support of North Berkeley Bart Station.

Um, the master plan housing that's going to be in there.

It's been a long time coming, and it's essential to keeping it on the track this vote today.

Berkeley families are under enormous housing pressure in North Berkeley Bar Station is really truly a rare opportunity for us to provide housing in a place that has an amazing community.

So thank you.

I urge you.

The council members to vote.

Yes, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Councilmember, City Manager.

I'm Colleen Egan with InSight Housing, your local service provider and developer.

Thank you so much for your continued partnership with the North Berkeley BART development.

I respectfully ask for your support with agenda item number 29.

Insight Housing is excited to welcome Ebalsy to step in as the lead developer.

Their expertise combined with our experience providing permanent supportive housing and services creates a strong partnership to help bring this vision to life.

Approval of the requested pre-dev funds is critical to keeping this project on schedule as we move toward construction financing and ultimately groundbreaking and moving people into much needed housing.

So thank you again for your support on this agenda item and looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Thank you.

On item 19, you directed that the PAB would have a role, a strong role in reviewing this, but has not been reviewed by the PAB.

It's has not been on their agenda.

They're a brown act.

They can't review things without doing it in public on their agenda.

I don't know if you're expecting them to somehow have a meeting between over the holiday weekend between now and July 8th.

Um you really should stop because right now the Supreme Court decision in Shatry versus US has really uh changed what you might be able to expect from how the surveillance data collected in this way could be used legally.

Um you need to look at that.

Uh why don't you have the actual draft of the RFP accompanying this and other documentation available in tonight's agenda?

I don't see how you can have a group discussion about whether it's actually going to be compliant will result in a contract that's compliant with Berkeley's policies and appropriate for the city's needs and finally to commit this much money with the possibility of millions more in lawsuits at a time when we are in desire financial straits.

Thank you, and responsible.

Hi, good evening, Mayor and Council members and staff.

I'm Angela Upshaw, COO with Insight Housing.

And I'd like to express my appreciation to each of you for your consideration of item number 29 for the predevelopment funding approval for the North Berkeley BART project.

Also want to express my gratitude and unwavering partnership for the city and housing staff.

They've stood alongside Insight Housing since 2022 in the part of the developer selection advocating for the first 100% PSH development at the North Berkeley BART station.

Also, want to express my gratitude for our partners, Ibaltsi.

Um, grateful for their continued partnership and their instrumental role in making sure this project stays on track.

Um and the funding momentum is real.

Uh HomeKeep Plus application has already been submitted to HCD in partnership with the city with the tax credit application coming soon, and this approval uh keeps that momentum moving.

And this vote unlocks construction approving the pre-development funding advances and lets the project move toward construction with the finance closing.

So thank you so much for your sake.

Thanks, Angela.

Thanks.

Hello, I'm here to uh comment on item number 19.

Um, I just want to uh highlight, I'm sure you've heard this before, but I just want to highlight that ALPR cameras are essentially creating databases for um law enforcement and others to search and be able to have access to all of our habits, our movements, and our associations on a daily basis without the need for a warrant, have hot lists so that they can track um our movement without the need for a warrant.

So something ACLU is suing San Jose for at the moment.

Um, these kinds of things have you know they've been shown to um share uh and have partnerships with DHS, ICE, have um completely insecure and inadequate security, be vulnerable to hawking and um irresponsibly use uh third party data brokers for um other kinds of data that they uh package with things.

So thank you for, I hope you consider it carefully.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm gonna need another minute if somebody offer me another minute.

Thank you.

Okay.

Greetings, council member and mayor.

Thank you for listening to our comments.

I am Sally Nelson in Berkeley for 49 years.

I challenge the assumption.

Oh, I am I am concerned about the fascination with surveillance.

And today about agenda items 19 and 46.

I challenge the assumption that surveillance creates greater public safety.

A safe situation is preventative, and it is rare to document what injury or crime did not happen.

Surveillance notifies us during and after an injury or crime occurs.

It does not necessarily make us more safe.

Clearly, it is making us all anxious about our privacy and our personal agency.

The cost of proposed surveillance tools is 2,408,500, while Berkeley City budget is already $30 million in debt.

The city proposes to lay off employees and eliminate the funding of programs that truly are making us all more safe.

Live free is one excellent program that deserves more funding.

We should not be blanketing our city with multiple electronic surveillance devices.

Move both agenda items off of the consent calendar and onto the action calendar.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Of course, this is on item 19.

Um first of all, look at the specifications on that sheet, okay.

Um there are several vendors out there possible, but one and only one fits those specifications really well.

Um secondly, don't we have better use for 2.4 million bucks than spying on Berkeley citizens?

Thank you.

Kelly Hammergren, I don't have a speech written.

I have already sent you two emails, the second one asking you to withdraw number 19.

I think this is a poor decision, and watching how council acts, and how things go forward.

You might say that the train has left the station, and you are just going to all go forward.

I am concerned at each step of the way that the train of surveillance just keeps moving faster and faster and faster.

And I think it is time to stop to pull the emergency break and to really consider what you're doing and the impact on the public and what kind of risks you are taking for this city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kelly.

Hi, um, I'd uh strongly encourage you to reject this item 19 RFP and all mass surveillance in general.

Many AI surveillance technologies are relevant to our topics tonight, so I offer you this warning.

Uh Americans overwhelmingly hate forced AI.

We hate forced data centers, and we hate state surveillance because they're all anathema to American values.

I talk to people all over this country, Democrats, Republicans.

I even have some bag of friends who hate this.

Uh, I'm gonna ask you like, please do not make the mistake of ending your political career by enabling the suppressed state surveillance.

Coming up on America's 250th, uh, I really I have to demand that our freedom from surveillance.

Do the right thing for America's birthday.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Alan Kane.

I'm the executive director of the Solano Avenue Association.

I would just like to again thank you for supporting the Solano Avenue stroll.

I know that the council both considered it and supported it.

So I'd actually like to thank you by name, of course, Mayor Ishi, Vice Mayor Traegub.

Thank you so much.

Uh Councilperson Blackaby, Council Person Letapara, Councilperson Casawani, and of course, Councilperson O'Keefe.

Thank you so much.

And I know that Ben Bartlett and Terry Taplin are out there in the universe as well.

Thank you to them as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Alan.

Hi, my name is Jason Bellevue.

I am actually the president of the Solano Avenue Association.

I've been on that board 20 years now.

I am a Berkeley resident, and I can't thank you enough for at least helping us get to a point where we can work on different stuff for next year because that means the world to us, and this is a very special event.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

So is it to item 19?

You've already made the decision that you want to do with the RFP.

However, there's been additional information that has come in about San Francisco since then.

If you didn't already have enough information, but regardless of that, if you move ahead with this, it should be delayed until the PAB reviews the RFP.

It just should be.

Sometimes it's hard to see behind, and who was the second person?

Thank you.

Up to four-year procurement issued for a single RFP with divisible awards.

Each of the six components below may bid and be awarded it separately in a combination.

Drone at first respondered drones and docking stations, unmanned aircraft systems, UAS field deployed, automated license plate readers, pan tilt zoom, PTZ, fixed cameras, investigate software and platform, privately owned camera interrogation system.

We don't need any of this.

This is surveillance in a fascist world that we live in.

Pay attention, I'm talking.

Thank you.

And all the things that are going on in this country.

And in the world that we're living in with 47, and all the fascism that they're doing and the and ice and all these things.

People are getting killed all the time.

We have a genocide going on.

And you want to bring more surveillance to Berkeley to spy on your citizens, you should be ashamed of yourself.

You should take this, and it should not be on the consent calendar.

So three of you all need to pull it off consent.

And you should have listened to the three or four hundred people that were here on May 7th that all opposed surveillance.

Not only like one person was for the surveillance.

Who's here opposed to surveillance tonight?

Most of the people here.

Can I say no flock for Berkeley?

No, all the axion or any of those people because they're all bad companies.

They all follow the same MO.

They give their information to ICE.

Or homeland security.

We're bombing all these countries, killing all these people, and you want to come have this crap happen in Berkeley.

When, you know, who knows if we're gonna go into a civil war in this country with all the chaos that's going on.

We don't need this.

We need to feel safe.

We need to protect ourselves.

That's not gonna protect us.

It's gonna really mess us up.

Do better, free Palestine.

Okay, online public art.

Yes.

On consent.

Calendar items or information calendar items.

Now it's time to raise your hand.

Currently have nine hands raised.

First speaker is Tim Frank.

You have one minute.

Yes, thank you very much.

And can you hear me now?

Yes.

Thank you.

And uh I'm Tim Frank, and I'm representing the Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Department.

Uh uh, a council.

Uh, and I wanted to first speak in support of uh progress for the North Berkeley Bart.

It's a project that we've been following for a long time and are very excited about and appreciate the work that you're doing to help make sure that it comes to reality.

And then the second thing I wanted to comment on was uh uh our active support, obviously, for uh uh item number 40, and we appreciate the leadership of council members tree grub and Bartlett and Taplin and uh uh uh bringing this measure uh this uh motion to you uh in support of uh a state uh Senate Bill uh 1383 uh by our uh esteemed local uh state senator Jesse Arragan, uh, which would provide corrective uh uh improvement of the local density bonus override locally.

Thanks.

Thanks for your comments.

Sorry, your your time is up.

Next is um Mousa Tariq.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes, perfect.

Good evening, Mayor Ishian Council members.

My name is Musa with care of the council on American Islamic relations speaking on item 19.

We urge you to reject the surveillance vendor request for proposal.

Last month, Berkeley residents overwhelmingly showed up and stopped the flock expansion.

This RFP aims to bring back flock.

The narrow criteria and short timeline of this proposal favors flock despite being framed as a neutral procurement.

ALPR systems like Flock collect data and build detailed location histories that can be accessed by thousands of law enforcement agencies nationwide and shared with ICE, all without any warrants.

There have been documented cases of abuse across jurisdictions, including tracking people seeking reproductive health care and officer stalking and harassing partners.

These abuses are only discovered when victims come forward, meaning the true skill is vastly underreported.

Mass surveillance is antithetical to public safety.

Please uphold the voice of Berkeley residents and pull this RFP from the consent calendar.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Jordan and Avi.

Hi, uh, my name's Jordan Hugger.

I am calling to voice my opposition to any contracting with Flock.

As many other speakers have already said, you overwhelmingly heard from your constituents that we do not want the surveillance technology in our communities.

It has already been fed into ice, it has already been used by officers stalking their girlfriends, and none of this is news to any of you.

Uh, what might be news to you is the fact that I've never seen Berkeley as organized as we are against Flock.

I've never seen people as activated as we are against Flock, and I've never seen people as unified.

So understand that we are tracking your votes very closely, and we are prepared to run candidates in every district that how-toes hedges or allows Flock to proliferate in our communities.

Thank you.

Next is uh caller, the phone number ending in 211.

I totally agree with the last caller.

Totally agree with that.

My point about first uh item number four.

Our business contributed more than a million dollars to business finance through business live in and still tax.

Second uh thing what uh like to say is how do we deal with the current situation we right now to affect everybody?

You are and everybody else as far as safety and all of that.

Well, there is a beautiful place parking, the parking situation as well.

Very quickly, I'll say it very quickly.

New place on Kittridge and Shattak that took over beats.

Beautiful place, a lot of beautiful employees, beautiful coffee, beautiful tea.

It is empty most of the time.

Because of the parking, meat are made running around, and people go to get a cup of coffee for four or five bucks.

You got a six-dollar ticket in the car, and they never come back.

Let us take care of the parking situation.

You are making it a missing cow.

Thank you.

Thanks for your public comment.

Uh next uh speaker is Joaquin Martillo.

Joaquin.

So I'm very skeptical of Flock's contractual um terms.

As far as I can tell, Flock represents that the contracting customer owns the customer data generated by its Flock devices, but Flock retains contractual license rights to process and use that data for the service and product improvement.

And not every related record in the Flock platform necessarily falls within the agency owned customer data category.

And that's a real problem.

That's all.

Thank you.

I just want to clarify to folks online there is no contract with Flock on the agenda this evening.

So just in case folks are are, you know, confused about that.

I just want to make sure that that's clear.

Okay, next speaker.

It just says virtual meetings.

But you should be able to go ahead.

Wendy, I'll show uh.

I'm off, Wendy.

Go ahead.

I'm I'm up to uh you want me to go back on?

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

My name is Wendy Alpha.

Nope.

Wendy, you're you're cutting in and out.

We can't quite hear you.

You're muted now.

Just restart.

I apologize.

I'm leaving.

You stay on.

I apologize.

My name is Wendy Alston.

I live in District 4.

I'm speaking on behalf of Berkeley Friends meeting with residents throughout the city, asking you to remove item 19 from the consent calendar so they can be a fuller discussion uh regarding the proposal to spend 2.4 plus million dollars on various mass surveillance uh technology data integration, etc.

Uh uh the RFP.

We would like to have a public engagement process if there is to be one, we're personally opposed to it, but if you are gonna proceed that the content of the RFP is really critical to this process and needs carefully monitored and supervised by the council, not just assigned to the department and/or the city manager and finance system.

Critical provisions.

Next is Rocky Chow.

Hi, good evening.

Uh, my name is Rocky Shao.

I'm with the Berkeley Animal Rights Center, and uh, like to state my opposition to renewing of any contract with Flock or any surveillance state companies.

Uh these technologies are already and will continue to cost taxpayers millions of dollars that could easily be invested in building vibrant and resource communities like libraries, health care, and schools and whatnot in our communities.

ALPRs are always on surveillance uh systems that collect and store information on everyone who drives.

Far fewer than one percent of scanned cars are connected to any sort of wrongdoing.

So, like 99% of scanned cars have not committed any uh offenses uh that the that law enforcement know of, but ALPRs still store everyone's detailed travel history.

This infringes on our Fourth Amendment privacy rights and breaks other laws that are supposed to protect us from police overreach.

The ACLU and the electronic frontier foundation suit the city of San Jose over to ALPR cameras.

Thank you, Rocky.

Thanks your time is up.

Next is Marilyn, Marilyn, you should be able to unmute.

Hello, my name is Marilyn Cleveland.

I'm here on behalf of the Berkeley Society of Friends, Quakers, with members in every council district.

As stated in the prior written comments we provided with regard to items 19 and 46, we support the police accountability board and public safety policy committee findings that the proposed policies, the surveillance acquisition report, and the RFP and proposed contract provisions are insufficient for the city council to adopt as is and proceed with the RFP process.

Therefore, we ask that the RFP be pulled from the consent calendar and not be approved this evening.

We also asked the city council to consider the unintended consequences of proceeding with these surveillance measures and the impacts of these surveillance tools on our free speech and other protected rights with the actions by our federal government to curtail these rights.

We ask that the city of Berkeley continue to be a safe haven for all our people.

Thank you for your attention.

Thank you.

Next is James McFadden.

Thank you.

Um, please pull 90 off the uh consent calendar.

Um, I thought when I see something like this, I wonder why the Democrats are always trying to turn our country into some kind of a surveillance state.

This is not a Republican thing.

This is a Democrat thing because all of you on the board are Democrats.

You know, it makes me wonder why anybody would want to be in that party.

Are you ignorant of what's going on that Palantir has been doing in Israel in the West Bank and in Gaza?

Are you trying to create a world that's similar here?

Are you gonna put in place the same kind of surveillance state so that to control us here?

I also wonder if any of you have even read any books on the subject.

Have you read Surveillance valley or Technofeudalism?

Have you educated yourself on this, or are you just voting blind on this issue?

You guys need to educate yourself on what this world is being changed into by the tech bros in um in uh uh Silicon Valley.

Thank thank you.

Thanks for your comment.

Uh next is do shine.

Hi, this is Daria Ruble.

Um, uh resident of District One and uh City Council candidate in District One as well.

I would also like to um request that item 19 be pulled from consent calendar uh after our discussion on May 7th.

Um it's very clear to me that the um that it's time to reconsider whether this technology is something the city of Berkeley needs at all, and um whether it could be uh it is it appropriate for us to put out an RFP if um it would be better uh suited for us to just not request this technology in the first place.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Daria.

And the last speaker is giraffe.

Oh, there's one more, but giraffe, you're up.

Thank you so much.

Um, my name is Susan Hobart.

I'm a long-time Bay A resident currently in Oakland.

And in case it's not obvious, um, I'll just be brief.

What they all said, um, let's remove uh whatever it is, number 19 from the consent process.

Um, flock is a horrible idea, and hopefully you've all figured that out.

Um thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, one more speaker is J.

L.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, thank you.

I agree with all of the others who are calling for item 19 to be pulled from the consent calendar.

I'm a longtime Berkeley resident.

We do not want this technology here at all.

And I encourage everyone to look up the reasons that other city councils have canceled their flock contracts because they've learned things that either put the city at risk or show that flock is lying about how it uses data.

All of these things are out there, including ways that uh police agencies themselves can misuse the data with looking it up, looking things up for personal um reasons, looking up people that they want to stock for personal reasons.

So there's just a whole host of issues with this, and I concur with everyone else who wants to pull it from the consent calendar.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh there's one more speaker here.

We have uh Kelsey Jackson.

Hi, thank you so much.

This is KJ Jackson calling in representing District One uh future city council member.

I firstly just want to elevate the voices of everyone that I've heard today in the earlier flock meeting that was had and the three or four hundred people that did show up who elevated their voices and concerns.

The response that I saw was not ideal and definitely not representative of the majority of the people in that room.

I really want to challenge the current city council members to listen to your constituents and understand that Flock originated from uh if originated from Israel with Red Wolf and Blue Wolf as it uh as it still currently is watching the people of both Palestine and Israel.

We're on a similar track just as the previous people in today's meeting have communicated.

So again, I just want to challenge y'all to listen to your constituents.

It's terribly important.

This was the first sanctuary city of the country.

This city, Berkeley, is setting a very important president that we need to do.

Thank you for your comment.

Your time is up.

One more speaker, Sasha.

Oh word, Sasha, over here, Sasha.

Hi.

Yes, this is Sasha Fuchs from District One.

You know, I'm not gonna speak about it, but I actually have this on in the background to speak to another item on your action calendar.

However, I am reminded of the May 5th meeting that many spoke about, and well over a hundred people spoke, and not one person was in favor of flock, they were all voices against it, and yet that those voices were entirely ignored.

And I'm really wondering, do you all have anything to say about why you hear people speak?

The public.

What's the point of having a comment section if you pay no attention to the public?

And I'd really love to hear one of you at least address that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I think that that is the remainder of our public comments.

That's it.

Okay.

All right.

I do just want to again reiterate for folks that this is an RFP that's on the consent calendar, which was the request by the council at the previous meeting about this topic of surveillance, but there is no flock contract on the calendar this evening.

So I just want to make sure folks understand that.

And then the other thing I wanted to say, I think there was a point brought up earlier, Kit, um, about the PAB.

Uh and I just want to make sure folks understand that there have been PAB members on the review committee for this RFP.

So they've been involved throughout the process and they will continue to be involved as the RFP language uh gets wrapped up.

So I just want to make sure folks understand that.

And I I do thank everyone for their comments.

Um okay, and I think that, oh yes, uh Councilmember Taplin is online, has his hand raised.

Go ahead, Councilmember.

Uh yes.

Excuse me, and thank you, Madam Mayor, and thank you, everybody.

And good evening, everyone.

Um uh the mayor uh has captured uh part of what I wanted to say already.

Um I did want to say that at the May meeting.

Oh, also uh sorry, I I just kind of have to say this, but one person repres uh spoke representing themselves as a representative of district one, but district one has a representative who is elected to council currently, and I do want to not erase the leaders that we do have representing our districts who were duly elected by the voters.

That being said, at the May meeting, the action that council took in response to the community was to issue an RFP, and that's what's before us, so therefore I move adoption of the action count of the consent calendar.

Thank you.

Second.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh can we take the roll on this, please?

Okay, to approve the consent calendar, Councilmember Kessarwani.

Yes, Taplin.

Yes, Bartlett is absent.

Trego.

Hi.

O'Keefe.

Yes.

Lackaby.

Yes.

Umbert, yes, and Mary Ishi.

Yes.

Okay, motion carries.

All right, thank you all very much.

We are, let's see.

I'm just scrolling through the consent calendar.

Okay.

Um, for the action items this evening, um we are gonna start off with actually.

I'm sorry, is Henry online?

Yeah, but I can take it off.

I could take this if you want to start.

Are you moving to this next one?

Sure, yes.

I was gonna move us on to action calendar.

Yeah.

So if we could go to item number 43, which is the borrowing of funds and the sale of issuance of FY2026-2027, tax and revenue anticipation anticipation notes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

This is an annual item that we bring before council to help us bridge uh a funding gap between when we receive the revenues we need to uh run the city.

Um, and so it's we're basically we're just asking you for your approval to borrow these funds as a bridge until we get property tax in that then uh we use to pay the bills that we have before us.

So it's a it's a a straightforward item that we do every year.

That's all.

Thank you.

Okay, any questions from council members?

Public comments, okay.

Oh, hi.

Henry, are you trying to talk to us?

No, I'm good.

I think I think Victimategan did a perfect job.

Okay, thank you very much.

All right, um, yes, all right.

Is there any public comment on item number 43?

Which is the borrowing of funds and the sale of issuance of FY26 26 27 tax and revenue anticipation notes anybody online no speakers online okay all right is there any public comment oh yes moving on to Vice Mayor Trago uh thank you madam mayor uh I really appreciate the level of detail in this item I actually read um oh 84 pages and I wanted to thank the finance director uh Henry for confirming on the bottom of page two that SP Global ratings has in fact given the not to rating of FB1 plus and with that I would like to move the item thank you very much a second yeah second from council member Humbert can we take the role on that please clerk okay to approve the um borrowing of uh tax and revenue anticipation notes council member castarwani yes taplin yes i'll keep yes lackabee yes unapara yes humbert yes and mayor is she yes okay motion carries thank you very much to city manager and team we'll move on to item number 44 which is the issuance of 20 oh 20 million dollars and general obligation bonds series c for the 2016 election infrastructure and facilities improvements measure t one thank you madam mayor um this it we're requesting uh authority for the final the sale of the final tranche of measure t one bonds so that was a hundred million dollar um a hundred million dollar bond and the uh we've used all of it but this last 20 million and we have a bunch of projects that are in the pipeline to get done um and what I'd actually like to do is just it's not going to be a very long presentation but I think it would be helpful if we had our parks director Scott Ferris who has been here from the beginning of measure T1 and helped to both uh create the programs work with the public to identify them do a little bit of a history on what has been funded by T1 as a way to show you what the final 20 million dollar tranche of T1 is slated to be funded for so uh director Ferris if you are online and can share your screen and uh walk folks through that it would be appreciated.

I am can you guys hear me yes and see you right um thanks so much um mayor and city council I've just got a brief presentation about uh what we've accomplished in T1 and uh what is kind of remaining and how we're gonna spend um the remaining 20 million dollars okay I'm gonna try and share my screen okay I'm hoping everybody can see my screen yes we can okay so just just as a reminder T1 was uh uh infrastructure bond measure of 100 million dollars that passed in 2016 10 years ago and with interest we've that's given us about 104.5 million dollars to spend to improve the city's agent structure infrastructure um it was done in two phases with lots of public process around each phase the first phase we um completed 39 projects and in phase two we're on the final stages of completing 37 projects so um 66 projects in all um and the great news is over the you know this 104.5 million dollars has produced um an additional uh eighty-three million dollars in leverage funds that we were able to you know use in addition to the 104 point five million dollars.

So just a really quick recap of um both phases.

Uh phase one actually we had about 20 community meetings to decide um what the projects would be.

Phase two was about twice that we had 54 community meetings, um both phases, uh the process was led by the parks and waterfront and the public works commissions with um the final list adopted by council Scott.

Yes.

Are you talking?

Oh, good, okay.

Sorry.

Sorry about that.

I was a little pause there.

Um it's been an interesting 10 years.

Um, as we, you know, and initially we were we had started preparing for the passing of the bond minister a year a year in advance, and we have um uh trying to figure out how how this bond measure was going to be run, what was going to be the uh the most transparent way that we were gonna be able to communicate to the the community about what was going on, communicate to council, and so where we landed was that um the oversight was gonna be at the city council level to determine the projects, but they had a lot of input from the parks, recreation and waterfront and the transportation and infrastructure commissions or the public works commission, and that we would do audits every two years, and that any change in the project list needed to um uh go both to both commissions and to council.

That happened um there were changes in the lists five or six times, I think six times over the last 10 years.

The staffing for T1 uh included uh five FTEs, um, an associate management analyst, and then four project managers, a combination of assistant um civil engineers and associate civil engineers, and then we had a joint team which still meets every two weeks to um uh today even um on Wednesdays and talks about all the projects, talks about issues related to T1 projects, and um kind of uh figures out how we're gonna move forward.

And it's been a really good collaboration from between uh PRW and PW capital units and our administration.

In terms of communication to the public, we do quarterly updates, we do.gov releases, we do um updates to the T1 website.

Uh occasionally we do council items, and we have a master list of about 2,500 people that are on the T1 mailing list that get those quarterly updates, um, besides the people that are on the dot gov list.

We've had a lot of ribbon cutting and groundbreaking ceremonies here, just some of them uh in the last 10 years.

Uh I talked about this earlier.

There have been six T1 project changes, and that's all this information is on the T1 website.

Uh a detailed list of the of each change and what happened and why.

And then just to review some of the T1 uh phase one projects, you see photos here of the um the Marina Streets projects, which included University Avenue below the freeway, the North Berkeley Senior Center, Strawberry Creek Park, the Adult Mental Health Center, San Pablo Park at San Pablo Park, we did the two to five, the five to twelve place structure, and the tennis courts.

Um here you see uh Adeline, John Hinkle Park improvements, corporation yard improvements, um, the backup generator at the corporation yard, the rose garden pergola, uh, Tom Bates Field Turf Replacements, um, aquatic park tide Tubes Clean out, George Florence Park, um a lot of green infrastructure and bioswales.

And phase two, um we've we've also done playgrounds.

You see here playgrounds of two to five and five to twelve of Grove Park.

Aloney park upgrades, Grove Park upgrades, but also a fair amount of pathways and sidewalks in phase two.

One of the bigger ticket items is the Willard Clubhouse in phase two.

A series of new restrooms, Civic Center up uh Civic Center Park.

King pool tile and plaster replacements, uh timber um piling replacement in the waterfront, a variety of storm day drain replacements throughout the city.

Um and I said, like I said, a lot of uh sidewalks and pathways, so additionally, um projects that are nearing completion that are T1 projects.

There's a list of I think um nine projects here.

Some of them we've cut a ribbon all for some of these projects, but these projects are nearing completion.

The K dock restroom in the waterfront, the DE dock um replacement, which um what we're hoping to cut ribbons for both those projects soon.

Uh we have cut ribbons for the projects in the corporate two projects in the corporation yard.

Um the telegraph channing garage restrooms are also in closeout.

Fire station two and six improvements are in construction along with the Santa Fe right-of-way, phase one, and anti-line landscape improvements.

We have cut a ribbon for and completed, but the project's still in close out.

Um phase two projects that are nearing completion, and here's kind of a look at some of them, some of the photos.

Projects that we're gonna do with the remaining 20 million.

Um, MLK Yap Use Services Center, which is under construction right now, South Berkeley Senior Center, which is also on the potential bond measure, the bond measure in November.

So we're gonna combine the money from T1 with if that bond measure passes, to do uh a much larger renovation at South Berkeley Senior Center, the African American holistic resource center, which is the bulk of it, it's over 10 million dollars of T1, Tom Bates uh restroom and community space, and 1947 center window replacement.

So those are the five projects um that we'll where and that's where how we'll spend this remaining 20 million.

Okay, that's the end of my presentation, and I can take questions um and talk about any of the existing projects if there are uh any questions.

Scott, the only thing I love more about more than these projects is the joy on your face when you talk about these projects.

Uh thank you for the presentation.

I'm glad you got to pull out all of those incredible photos for us.

Um, really amazing work.

I mean, just between the leveraging and you know, just the the breadth and depth of these projects, it's just so impressive.

And I really want to thank you and the team.

Um our city staff are awesome.

So thank you very much for the presentation.

Are there any questions?

Oh, starting with Councilmember Blackaby.

Thanks, madam mayor.

I just had uh one brief question.

I think this might be for the city manager, and I just note in the rational recommendation that uh the anticipation of staff is that this 20 million dollars in bond proceeds is going to carry us through fiscal 2829.

Um, and so just to kind of put this together in the context of the bigger picture.

You know, we recently just voted to put another bond measure on the ballot this fall.

So is the anticipation that sort of this will be the end of T1, and that sort of winds down, and any prospective bond measure like the ones on the ballot would basically be kind of picking up where that one leaves off.

So, T1 runs its course, a potential future ballot uh, sorry, bond measure if passed, would sort of pick up on T1 and continue.

Is that kind of the right way to think about it?

Yes, that's that's exactly the right way to think about it.

Is that we will we will have spent the hundred million dollars plus the leverage on T1 by uh the end of June, you know, that might not even be actually fully expended, but it'll sort of um blend into uh fiscal year twenty-nine when the bond hopefully the ballot measure hopefully passes in November of twenty-eight.

Um and then when we complete the uh the work of T1 on the projects that the parks director just just talked through, then we would sell the next Tranchabond uh trench of bonds from the next measure.

Great, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Humbert.

Um yes, thank you, madam mayor.

I just have comments, no questions.

Is that okay at this point?

And they're very short comments.

Um are there other questions before?

If we could take the comments during the comment period, if you don't mind, yeah.

Thank you.

Um, okay.

Seems like we have no questions.

Is there any public comment on this item?

And then maybe you'll just get to ask your comments or anyone online.

Oh someone is running to make public comment.

Thank you.

Public comment for item number 44.

I just want to say, um, yeah.

That bathroom up on telegraph is amazing.

And the choice.

I thought it was very well designed um for public health, uh, for people from all walks of life can use that.

Uh I thought it's been well uh well maintained.

Uh I also love that it corresponds to the mural on the wall across from it.

Uh we should have more public bathrooms like that.

I know we've been contracting with Throne here on Strawberry Creek Park.

I'm curious where we're going with that because I actually think the telegraph design is the strongest design of um a public bathroom available to in Berkeley.

Sorry, I'm nervous.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for your comments.

Uh appreciate it.

I'm sorry, I wasn't intending comment, but now that I've heard the comment about the bathroom on telegraph, it is really good.

And it is unfortunate that we did not follow through what's with the hard work staff put in with the T1 monies to put the bathrooms at University in San Pablo and at Alcatraz and Ed Lang.

It's really unfortunate because I looked at the 99 cent store parking lot there in University in San Pablo.

There's about 30 people staying there, homeless people in their vehicles without any bathroom.

But this bathroom was meant for the entire community.

And if people could have only seen this excellent bathroom and seen the model and how it's working over there and telegraph, maybe they they're eventually their fears would have gone away because this is a need in the community, and it was there for everyone.

And the consultant study was so well done and took so much stakeholder input.

Thanks, Carol.

Okay.

Uh thanks everyone.

All right, moving on to back to Councilmember Humbert.

Thanks for your patience.

Oh, yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, I I really want to thank Scott for that great presentation and reminding us of all the wonderful projects that T1 uh built and is building.

Um it's it's a great success story, and in large part that's due to Scott Ferris.

I want to really thank him.

Um, and I'm particularly fond of the Willard Clubhouse, which I think is a is spectacular.

Um but having heard these comments about the beautiful bathroom on telegraph, I have to add my um I have to add my comments.

I agree with the with the public comment, uh the public comments so far.

Um it is it's a gorgeous combination of form function and art.

I mean, it really is just, it's just wonderful.

It's not quite as good as the Willard Clubhouse, but it it's pretty wonderful.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I love what infrastructure nerds we are here.

Go ahead, Vice Mayor.

Yeah.

Well, I just wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

Uh at the risk of everyone jumping on the bandwagon.

But I really wanted to uh echo um the mayor's and council member Humbert's comments uh just commanding uh you, Director Ferris, and uh all of the hard working staff that have made this possible every day, as well as the voters of Berkeley that passed uh T one.

And I am gr my heart is filled with gratitude about its passage and its implementation.

Every time I come to work and I walk through uh the beautiful Civic Center Park, which has been uh redone over the past year with the help of T1.

Um, and I'm looking forward to more exciting projects and hopefully in combination with the infrastructure bond, should that pass in November uh on the ballot, including uh clearing the fifty fifty sidewalk uh sharing backlog and many other important uh projects, trying to put a dent in our two point one billion dollars of unfunded uh infrastructure needs.

With that, I would like to move this item.

Second.

Very good.

Can we take the roll on that, please?

Okay, to adopt item forty four, the issuance of general obligation bonds.

Council Member Casarwani.

Yes.

Taplin.

Yes.

Yes.

Humber.

Yes.

And Mary Ishi.

Yes.

Okay, motion cares.

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Scott, for the presentation.

We are going to take a ten minute break.

It is seven fifty nine right now, so eight ten.

Thank you.

Recording stopped.

I can't drink till there anymore.

That's not insane.

It's too it's too I'm too late.

It's making me over like jumpy.

Thank you.

I'll have that out.

We have a little Hello.

Oh, there we go.

All right.

Okay.

So we are moving on to item number 45, placing an initiative ordinance amending the rent stabilization ordinance on the November third, twenty twenty six ballot.

I'm going to pass it over to Council Member.

So yeah, that's my motion.

Okay, can we take the role?

I'm sorry, no, we can't.

Can we um any objections?

Yes.

No.

Okay.

I can still take public helmet.

Can we take it now?

Yes.

Yes, we should.

If there's if there is anybody who wants to.

Okay, so we are moving this item to next week, but if you have public comment on it since it was already agendized, please feel free to come forward.

Thank you.

Good evening.

I'm Debbie Woods and a Berkeley resident and small housing provider.

I urge you to reject yet another attempt to chip away at Berkeley's golden duplex exemption.

It is frustrating that a small group of housing providers is expected to return every two years, wondering what new restrictions will be imposed upon them.

I hope that when 2028 arrives, we are not once again debating new limitations on golden duplex owners.

As a reminder, golden duplex owners are homeowners who live next door to our tenants.

We maintain our properties, respond personally when something goes wrong, and have every incentive to build respectful long-term relationships with the people who rent from us.

We are the city's partners in providing and preserving Berkeley's housing.

Thank you.

So it's only one minute, not two.

Okay.

My name is Celia Caring, I'm a small housing provider.

I live in Berkeley.

I pay Berkeley property taxes.

I'm opposed to putting another ordinance on the November ballot amending the rent board ordinance.

It's so frustrating that just two years after measure BB was passed, council wants to add more regulations and requirements to owners who are already burdened by regulations.

Regulations are have have become so onerous.

My job as a housing provider used to be about attending to tenants and maintaining buildings.

Now it's increasingly about managing processes, making sure I'm a compliance with all the codes and ordinance, protecting myself from a mistake.

Our leases have grown to over 70 pages.

The basic lease takes just 24 pages.

The other 46 pages are required disclosures and informations.

I'm just embarrassed to give a prospective tenant.

Thank you very much.

Hello, I'm Roger Halston.

I own a exactly one rental, the duplex that I live in.

I rent out downstairs.

And I the only reason I'm a renter, you know, renting out, is because that was the only way I could afford to buy a home to raise my children in.

It's insulting to be treated as if I'm the enemy.

I know that the rule I've always tried to play by the rules.

That's I work in public schools locally.

And um, but it's obvious to me that the rules are biased against me.

For example, if I was one day late paying my registration fee, the fees double.

And even the big banks aren't that unreasonable.

So I respectfully urge that you not keep modifying the ordinance.

Thank you so much.

Hi, I'm Terry Garrett's, and I'm a golden duplex owner, and a lot of what I said would say has been said, but to me it is a very sneaky way of getting into going away with dolden duplex, pushing the limits to see what you can get away with when we have a real problem with housing.

And it's part of that philosophy.

I think of seeing us housing providers as enemies rather than working together to solve the problem.

There's so much that I can do for my tenants being a golden duplex.

I could reduce rent when somebody lost a job.

When the tenant moved out and college kids were sharing she's finished on a PhD, I could again do a rent reduction temporarily.

If I was under your rent control laws, I couldn't do that.

So I hope you will realize this is any time we put anything on the ballot, it costs money, it causes dissension, and let's work on the real housing issues we have.

Thank you.

Good evening, City Council.

I'm Courtney Powell.

I'm the policy manager with resources for community development.

And we're here in strong support of the proposal to place cleanup amendments to the stabilization ordinance on the November 2026 ballot, and particularly the amendment that would allow the rent board to establish a fee waiver program for nonprofit affordable housing providers.

The increased rent board registration fees under Measure B B created a really substantial financial burden for many nonprofits in the community.

Nonprofit providers operate under strict affordability covenants, and as a result, we can't raise rents upon vacancy to offset these types of rising costs.

The proposed amendment offers a thoughtful and balanced solution.

It allows the city to move forward promptly while also reducing legal and administrative risk.

We're just really grateful for the partnership with the rent board with the four by four committee in bringing this language forward.

And we will see you back here next week for the continued conversation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Angela Kavanaugh, and I'm with Satellite Affordable Housing Associates.

I've been with them for 31 years serving low-income residents of Berkeley.

And I'm also here to let you guys know I'm in support of the amendment and appreciate the consideration.

We uh serve seniors and other spot special needs populations.

And just echoing what Courtney said, uh, it is very helpful for us to um to have a fee waiver on the stabilization fees so that we can provide needed services for our residents.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

I was actually happy to see the uh attacks on the golden duplex exemption stopping.

Uh, because I don't believe that that's where the focus should be to protect tenants.

I thought that the notice provision seems fairly innocuous by comparison to the previous attacks.

Uh, I do want to say, well, I can appreciate the wanting to expand rent control by providing facial uh financial or other incentives such as double density bonus, uh, that's for new people coming in the community.

And I we need to look at how we're gonna prevent displacement of current people in the community and people that are the most vulnerable currently.

The affordable housing preference policy is being discussed as changing, and I'm really concerned that we're not focusing on our own most vulnerable persons in the community here and preserving them in affordable housing, which is really really scarce.

Thank you.

Thanks, Carol.

I think there are a couple of folks online.

Yes, there's public comment on the rent stabilization ordinance amendments.

However, this item is not going to be decided upon tonight.

It's going to be moved to the July 7th meeting.

Um, but now's the time to raise your hand if you do want to talk tonight.

Um, first speaker is Karen Chinoy.

Uh good evening, Mayor and City Council Karen Schnorr with the Bridge Association of Realtors.

Uh, this item needed to have gone to the land use committee before and before being brought here to be placed on the ballot.

Uh, the revisions to the golden duplex exemption and the addition of paragraph D are substantive policy changes, and it is obvious from the fact that this item now is now being pulled that there's much work to be done on this item, and that is exactly what standing policy committees are for.

The four by four joint task force is not a standing policy committee.

It exists to coordinate between the council and the rent stabilization board, not to replace the council's committee process or serve as the primary venue for vetting controversial housing policy.

Whether you support these changes or not, they deserve the transparency and public deliberation that only the land use committee could have provided.

We respectfully ask that you either refer this that you refer this item to committee, uh rather than bring it back to the next council meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next is Sophia DeWitt.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

Uh Sophia DeWitt with East Brain Housing Organizations.

Um I strongly support the proposal to place the cleanup amendments to the rent stabilization ordinance on the November 2026 ballot.

Um that and particularly the amendments that would allow the rent board to establish a fee waiver program for nonprofit affordable housing providers.

As you've heard, um the increased uh fees adopted under Measure BB, uh created a serious financial situation for uh many affordable housing providers in Berkeley, and uh that financial situation directly uh dug into the ability of those providers to provide resident services since they couldn't uh raise uh rents to cover the increased fees.

Um this proposal provides a balanced approach.

Thank you, Sophia.

Thank you.

Okay, next speaker is Sasha.

Yes, Sasha Futrin, and to be very clear, I live in District One.

Um I do not own a duplex, but I do own a triplex that I have owned and lived in for 42 years, and I have to say that what I call the packet that has to be added with every lease goes on and on and on, and it has some things that really are incomprehensible, like bed bug information for an unfurled department.

Um, we have to spend a lot of our time, as has been mentioned before, on a lot of onerous um administrative bookkeeping kinds of things.

I not really bookkeeping, but administrative tasks.

And what the rent board has done is really set up a hostile environment between the tenants and their the owner of the property who lives there.

And I can assure you, as somebody who lives there, I want a pleasant place to live.

Thank you.

Thanks, Sasha.

Okay.

That's all the online.

Oh, I'm sorry, there's actually one more comment here in person.

Good evening, man, members of the city council.

I'll keep it short since we'll be coming back back next week.

Thank you for considering these uh revisions.

There are many things uh in the ordinance packet, uh, other than the just two you've heard quite a bit about this evening.

I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Rent board staff will also be here next week uh to answer questions.

Also just to correct one bit of misinformation from public comment.

The four by four is a standing policy committee.

It is in fact existed long before the committee system existed.

Um, but that is neither here nor there.

So thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Um very good.

So we've done our public comment.

Okay, so the motion is to continue item 45 regarding the rent stabilization ordinance to the July 7th meeting.

Um, Councilmember Kessarwani.

Yes, Chaplin.

Um just point of point of privilege.

Um, I I am prepared to vote, but I was wondering whether there would be opportunity to like comment now on for us or.

No, I think we're moving it to the next week, so we won't have comments right now for council members.

We will on the motion, yes.

Okay.

Uh Councilmember Bartlett is absent.

Traegum.

Aye.

O'Keefe.

Yes.

Blackaby.

Yes.

Lunapara.

Yes.

Humber.

Yes.

And Mary Ishi.

Yes.

Okay, motion carries.

Thank you.

Thank you all for your comments.

Um, okay, so we are moving on to item number 46, which is surveillance technology ordinance submissions for community video streams and investigative software pursuant to council direction of May 7th, 2026.

And I really want to thank Mr.

Maulmberg for being here this evening.

We received a letter in May from Brian Hofer of Secure Justice with concerns around the investigative software's compliance with our surveillance technology ordinance process.

So this item addresses that concern by developing a use policy and acquisitions report.

And I want to thank you so much, BPD, for addressing the public safety committee's concerns and making changes within these policies.

Just briefly, I just wanted to highlight for folks in case they didn't see there.

These changes included improvements to data security and privacy, clarification around policy language, strengthening audit provisions, and inclusion of notification within 72 hours to the city manager, city attorney, and city council in the event that a federal agency is given BPD-owned data from community video streams.

And this evening, again, just so folks understand where we're sort of at in the process.

We're voting on the use policy and acquisitions report today, but this does not approve a contract for these tools.

So the language of these documents will come before this council again before excuse me, again after the RFP process is completed.

And I'm sure you can address that as well, but I just wanted to set expectations for folks because I understand that this stuff is very complex.

So I will pass it over to you.

Thank you, Ms.

Mayor.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

This item before you this evening addresses community video streams and investigative software.

Both were part of the broader technology package referenced earlier that went to full council on May 7th.

At that meeting, council directed the department to return to the public safety policy committee to present additional information on community video streams and respond to several items raised in the mayor's supplemental referral.

On June 2nd, the department presented that material to the PSPC along with supporting documentation related to the investigative software technology.

Following that meeting, the department incorporated feedback from the committee into the council item now before you.

Thank you, Captain O'Geez.

Okay, so the the first of the two technologies I'll talk about is uh investigative software.

Um and the most important thing uh to understand about investigative software is it's not uh a new camera or new sensor, it doesn't collect anything new.

Uh it's essentially just a search tool that sits on top of records that the department already maintains or has access to or uh and just lets an investigator uh search and connect those records in one place instead of logging into each system separately.

Um so the connected sources uh would be things like dispatch records and report data, digital evidence, license plate reader data, fixed camera, um, and drone data, um ballistics data, um opt-in case information voluntarily shared by other agencies and and publicly available information and um any future technology that the council would approve.

Uh so every one of those sources keeps its own existing rules, its own uh use policy that it currently has.

Um, and so this software would loosen nothing.

Wherever there's a uh stricter provision in the individual use policy, that's what would control.

Um, but there are safeguards uh in in this use policy on top of all of those, um, and they're independent of of any vendor.

So facial recognition um is prohibited.

Uh every search must be tied to a specific case or incident.

Uh can be used for immigration enforcement or for out of state cases targeting reproductive or gender affirming care.

Um, no data can be sourced from uh data breaches or the dark web.

And anything that tool services is treated as a lead only, needs to be independently corroborated by a detective or an officer before it's acted upon.

So again, as we've laid out, this is just the beginning of the council director process during RFP.

And so we're just talking about the technology and the proposed rules around it and not a chosen vendor or a specific product.

Okay, the second technology is community video streams.

And so for this program, the city is not buying or installing any cameras.

It's just a software capability that lets a private camera owner, like a business, for example, to voluntarily register and share their existing camera stream with the police department.

So the owner stays in control.

They keep ownership of the camera and the footage, and they can revoke access at any time.

So the department doesn't own or install or maintain any of these cameras.

Is a specific clip that has evidentiary value in a specific case.

And then that would just be retained according to our current evidence retention policy.

So the point here is to let officers virtually canvas an area for evidence or get real-time awareness during an in-progress incident without the cost of standing up additional city owned cameras.

Access would be limited to active criminal investigations, serious traffic investigations, police misconduct investigations, and critical incidents or disasters.

And it wouldn't be used for continuous uh monitoring, it would just be in response to a specific identified uh case or call for service.

So again, the use policy builds in safeguards, uh a pre-integration review, where a staff member physically confirms that a camera isn't pointed anywhere private before it's uh even connected.

Um, a prohibition on facial recognition, um a log of every access.

So who's accessing when, uh, which camera and for what reason there will be signage near the camera itself and a public map on our website of every camera that's been connected uh to the department, uh and of course, no sharing for uh federal immigration enforcement.

Um Captain Oakies will now talk about some of the updates we made since the June 2 uh PSVC meeting.

Thank you, Roller.

So uh at the June second meeting, uh the uh there was a discussion, and in the course of that discussion, uh the PSPC identified 11 uh additional areas uh for revision and consideration and clarification.

Those revisions included topics such as address verification, notification processes, access authorization, and clarifying language related to retention periods.

The details of those changes are included in the agenda item uh and the memorand uh memorandum as well as reflected in red line edits to the attachments uh in the acquisition surveillance use reports.

Uh that work brings us to today's resolution where we are asking the council to accept the surveillance acquisition report and approve the surveillance use policy for community video streams and investigative software.

This will allow us to begin the RFP process.

Once completed, the department will return to council with our recommendations.

With that, uh I'll hand it off for questions.

Thank you so much.

All right, do we have any questions from the council members starting with Council Member Blackaby?

Thanks, Madam Mayor.

Um I just want to thank Mr.

Maulenberg and Captain Oakies for being here uh tonight and also throughout this process.

Uh, as Captain Oakies mentioned, um, we did have a robust um discussion at the public uh safety policy committee.

A lot of public feedback and engagement as well as committee questions, um, you know, the 11 items that we kind of identified, um, appreciate the fact that you've sort of made those updates, made those changes, incorporated that feedback, and I see that um through the document.

So I just wanted to appreciate um the work there.

I had a couple of um just further clarifying questions, um, kind of upon further review of this.

Um, in particular, and I think it's in the document, but just it didn't come up yet, so just to give us a chance to discuss it.

In terms of the community video streams uh kind of focus areas.

Uh it's clear in the use policy where this is intended for commercial districts.

Can you talk a little bit about you know residential, non-residential, and just kind of where that technology would be used if we move forward here?

Yeah, absolutely.

It would be used in uh business districts, commercial areas.

Uh, the idea is not to use them in uh a residential neighborhood.

Um, yeah, that's absolutely the intent.

Uh there's room in the policy to connect to um a campus or an area where there's a risk of an active shooter incident where having live access to those cameras would uh be life-saving, um, but otherwise, the the policy and the intent of the program is to connect to uh cameras owned by a business in a commercial district.

And then the locations, all those cameras would be publicly viewable on the website, you'd know where all those cameras are.

Exactly.

You would you could check the website to know where those locations were, and while you were physically there, you would be aware that a camera is connected because there would be a sign-up somewhere.

Okay.

And then how does this differ from the fact that you know there in some cases with a crime and residential area?

You might ask for access to a ring camera or other footage.

How is that?

How is what we're talking about here different from that?

Would you still be doing that?

But kind of compare contrast how those two things work, maybe similarly or differently.

Yeah, so in areas where we have cameras connected, investigators would be able to collect that footage um in a much more systematic and uh uh quick way.

And speed, and I'll let Kepanoki speak to kind of the process of an investigation after a case occurs, uh, but to be able to do a quick and thorough investigation often greatly affects the outcome and uh how we're able to identify a subject and um and follow up.

Um it also would add the capability to uh bring uh real-time awareness to an ongoing incident.

Um, so if there is uh, you know, use the example of an active shooter or um or a robbery, and we get that call of an in-progress uh incident, then uh our investigators and um analysts would be able to uh watch that incident unfold and provide the information to responding officers on scene.

Do you mind if I dig into that just a little bit further?

So can you just walk us through so someone gets calls dispatch, just walk us through what the work is?

So somebody calls dispatch, they say I'm witnessing an armed robbery in this store that I'm in, or just walked by, um, and we happen to have a camera um there at the entrance, what have you.

Uh, and so our officers in that are working in patrol would be on their way, right?

They'd be uh responding to the scene.

And what happens now is they all they have is the information that the caller has provided, and that could be very incomplete information.

Uh it could be stale information, and the officers are going in somewhat blind, right?

And so having uh somebody relaying live information about what's happening on that scene um as officers are arriving, uh, can play a big role in the type of response that the officers bring to the incident or uh locating a subject that's that's left the scene.

I think Garlo covered the material pretty well.

Just say that the uh automated process of the ability to access uh the camera through this system, and obviously it's registered uh in response to a crime would allow for much faster turnaround time.

So, in the example, uh, we recently had a call of uh a suspected kidnapping case involving a car and a vehicle description.

Officers had to respond to obviously respond to the scene, and through canvassing the area, we're able to get information from local cameras, and then through that, slowly piece together some information about the suspect vehicle.

Having a camera in place uh and this uh system up and running would allow someone to do that uh from the department as officers are responding, tightening our turnaround time uh and the ability to correctly identify uh a suspect vehicle and uh uh you know better respond to the crime quickly and bring the situation safely to resolution.

And then to piggyback back on the piggybacker, um the uh the so um I'm also interested too in like um how is the approval process work to say, okay, turn on the live feed at one, two, three shadow, you know, like who makes that decision, because again, you're not monitoring everything explicitly by design, you are not monitoring things you know, uh in real time across the board.

You're saying here's something that needs to be looked at.

Who kind of approves that request to to basically turn on a live feed at that location?

Yeah, so there would be a limited number of people who are trained and authorized to use the system at all.

And part of that um training and authorization is uh identifying cameras and their angles and uh which would be relevant to a to a certain call.

Obviously, uh when we're talking about a real-time response, uh having uh making a quick judgment call is is what makes it useful or not.

Um and so we kind of pre-identify the people who will be able to access and um and train them appropriately on uh on how to identify a relevant camera.

Uh, and then of course each of those accesses would be logged and audited and reviewed for um it being an appropriate use of the.

Yeah, because I think that our main thing is making sure it's like we're not just sort of turning cameras on for small, but like, because I think the threshold for when you should activate a live feed should be of some significance.

I think I think that's I think what folks would assume.

Um, and so I think as long as we can capture that in the audit, that like what's the rationale at this moment for turning on that camera would be important to be able to just keep an eye on, especially I think at the beginning.

Go ahead.

Sorry.

I was gonna say, well, and and they will require there to be a case number.

So that that would be included information as well if you want to speak to that.

Exactly.

And and uh one of the updates that we've made since June uh second is to uh specify that part of the audit will be to identify that that case number matches you know the uh circumstances of that access and that use and that everything aligns properly as it should.

Okay, a couple more things.

Um just to close out on the ring camera part.

So the difference is in large part the ring camera is sort of after action to capture video that's recorded of an event that happened previously.

Part of what is uh the CVS piece is yes, you get the historical data, but you also get live data that you can turn on in response to an incident in a commercial district.

So what's different is in a commercial district, you get a live feed at a particular location in a residential district on a ring camera, you're not getting live data, you're getting historical data.

Is that fair?

That's fair, uh, and accurate.

The other piece of that is that uh with the video stream process in the investigative stage, uh officers would be able to access that more quickly uh in investigating the case after the fact, um as opposed to now where we send physically uh physically sent officers to the scene, they go on knock on doors, they contact community members and uh ask if they have video that they'd be willing to share.

Okay.

Two less things, I appreciate it.

Um, there was a good amount of discussion, and you did address it in here that um one question was uh to people who to business that does own a camera, some notification that hey, we accessed your feed at some point in time uh just so there's some sort of feedback loop to the camera owner.

You sort of indicated here that it's it's kind of you're gonna add it to kind of the the vendor evaluation, not as a required element, but as something you'd be looking for.

Um just want to know if you could speak to that because I think regardless, even if a vendor couldn't do it, I think there's some interest in figuring out how as a department we would notify someone after the fact.

Yeah, I I mean without getting into the details of the the not yet released RFP, um we will uncover that information through that process um and and identify how we can then relay that information uh to the camera owner, okay.

And then we'll see what just the bigger kind of process point.

So if we move forward and approve these, um these aren't in um concrete, never to be looked at again.

Part of this is to start your process for the RFP, so you have a basis for the RFP.

It's possible that again, if we decide to move forward and if there's a vendor selection and they may have an approach that changes the way we might use the technology, we would update the acquisition report and potentially be use policy at a later point and re-ratify it at a later point.

Like these are not this we need this to start, but this may not be the last time we look at it.

Is that fair to say?

That that's exactly correct.

Um we think that these are our policies that stand on their own with the technology that we're aware of, but understand that RFP might uncover uh additional functionality that we need to account for in the policy, and at that point we would update these documents, resubmit them to PAB, and resubmit them to to council as well.

Okay.

Again, I just want to thank you for being thorough and responding to our thorough questions and uh bring this forward.

So thank you.

Thank you very much for your questions and for letting me piggyback off them.

Um can we go to Councilmember Humber, please?

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um I have one sort of broad um follow-up question, and and that's whether or not these just this system could contribute to the safety of the arriving officers.

Absolutely.

Uh having live information uh for officer that uh somebody from the department can broadcast to officers as they're arriving on scene, gives them better situational awareness and not only uh leads to greater safety on the part of the officer, but also gives them a better picture of what's happening, which allows them to make better decisions which create better outcomes for everybody.

Yeah, thank you very much.

And thank you for explaining the difference between sort of the how the ring cameras are used and how this system would be used, because just on my block just yesterday, um one of my neighbors, um an elder, probably in his late 80s, left with his golf clubs at 7 30 in the morning, and immediately thereafter somebody broke into his front door and encountered his wife coming down the stairs.

Thank God she fled, but then uh officers were canvassing our street looking at red ring cameras.

They looked at ours, nothing very useful.

Um, but it was kind of after the fact and not quite as not quite as useful.

So thank you.

Thank you very much.

Other questions from council members?

Um I have a couple follow-up questions.

Um I think that we've had some conversations about this around which personnel will be authorized to access the investigative software, and it seems like you're there's maybe some still some thickering out there.

Could you just speak to that please?

Yeah, uh so there's a couple layers to it because the investigative software will sit on top of uh integrate with other pieces of technology that we have that have their own use policies, right, and other in their own training requirements.

Um and so those will all still hold, right?

Nobody will be able to um access a uh piece of technology through this software that they don't already have access to via that that separate policy.

Um so this policy uh is isn't doesn't grant that additional access to somebody else and requires that uh personnel who have been trained in uh previously authorized uh are the only ones that can that can access it.

In practice, that it looks like um our investigators, our detectives are crime analysts who are uh working up these cases to pass on to our detectives.

Um and so that's a relatively small group.

Yeah, I think that was the piece that wasn't included from the questions from the follow-up from that um, by the way, that acronym you use, uh PSP.

I forgot PSP.

Yeah, but it's the public safety policy committee.

Just so for folks who didn't know what that acronym was.

Um and I think that was the only piece that wasn't quite addressed, that piece you said in practice, it's these folks.

And so I just wanted to make sure that that was clear because I I think that um that piece of it is is important.

Like, of course, you want to have enough folks who have access to it so it's useful, and also you don't want to have too many people with access to it, because that of course creates risks.

Um, and then similarly, so those people would they have the ability to determine when to utilize the CVS systems, or like would there need to be like a supervisor or something that would say, okay, you can use these tools to access the footage, just so I understand that sort of chain of command piece.

Yeah, that the training and authorization piece would enable that um detective or analyst to to use the system, um, and we would follow up on those uses via the the audits.

Okay, so when that that call comes in and someone is searching, whoever it is that is able to use the investigative system would have would get be able to just they would have authorization to use that system.

Correct, because part of the value of this is providing that clear real-time information.

Got it, okay.

I just want to make sure I understand that thank you.

And then if I know that we've said that uh this is focused on commercial areas, commercial cameras.

If there were ever a desire to expand the CVS to residential, what would the process be for that?

Um, well, I mean, A, I I can't imagine a scenario where we'd be looking to do that.

Um, but B it would be, you know, we'd have the same pre-integration uh process uh and review process that would include public notification.

Um and so there'd be no way to do it without council knowing and the public knowing.

Thank you.

And then when defining residential residential areas, um, how would an area with dense multifamily housing on a commercial corridor be classified?

I think there's some overlap in commercial and residential areas there.

Yeah, I mean, that is part of the difficulty of saying strictly you know incorporated business improvement districts would be the only ones because that doesn't cover necessarily every commercial corridor that might be interested, right?

Um, and then similarly, there's there's not always a bright line between those those two um areas.

Uh so uh the part of the way we resolve that is by the is by public notification and giving uh the public and council an opportunity to see exactly um how this process is unfolding.

And and by the way, like the the pre-integration review process will be slow, it'll necessarily slow us down.

Um, and so it's not going to be that there will be uh 10 50 cameras popping up overnight.

It's it's gonna be one by one, it's gonna roll out slowly.

Thank you.

I appreciate your answers to my questions.

Um Councilmember Lunoparo, did you have questions?

Yeah, thank you.

I have two questions.

Um on the investigative technology, um, if open source data queries are allowed, um, can you talk a little bit more about how this could apply um during protests or political activity?

Um, given the First Amendment card out only restricts intentional monitoring.

Well, uh excuse me, are are you um are you asking like if there's uh First Amendment activity or speech happening online, and we happen to collect that and use that somehow, or yeah, so that that can still be used in those situations.

The the system will be oh, in the situation of a First Amendment assembly.

Um yeah, that use would be prohibited because we wouldn't be um using the software to monitor those protests or anything like that.

Is expressly prohibited.

Yeah, thank you.

Um and on the CVS, is the integration vendor proprietary, or if the city were to switch vendors, could be PD swatch camera providers without reintegrating every participating camera.

That I I would imagine that it would, if we switched vendors for that software integration process, we would go back and reintegrate those cameras.

Um it will likely depend on the specific capabilities of the vendor that we're switching from into.

Um, and to.

And so as we haven't identified that yet, I can't say for sure, but just in my you know, understanding of how these technologies tend to work, yeah, we would likely um need to re-enroll the cameras that are interested in participating.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Vice Mayor Traegub.

Thank you so much.

Um does BPD use investigation software and platforms now?

Uh and if um, well, yes or no, and then I have a follow-up.

No, no, we access these different types of records that we that we already have access to separately in their own systems, and then do our best to line things up as we can as we're investigating cases.

Okay.

Um I just wanted to confirm since there are there is at least I'm aware of I think this came up at um in committee discussion that there is at least one uh residential neighborhood that has a private contract with Flock, and I just wanted to confirm like there would be no relationship with like it would be completely carved out.

We're only looking at commercial applications for this for the community video streams for so for the community video streams, yeah.

Those would be privately owned surveillance cameras that businesses own and that we would connect to.

Okay.

Uh how could we ensure um I mean, I so there's strong language around disabling facial recognition and other such technologies.

Um, but they are or they may be available depending on whatever vendor um the city may choose to go with.

Um what um is the department uh doing to ensure that to the extent that those capabilities exist, they're continue to be switched off.

Yeah, so so again, without getting into the details of the RFP, our our policies uh clearly state um that we should not be able to uh access uh those facial recognition tools.

We should be able to turn them off or disable them.

Um and any vendor that we would contract with would need to be able to accommodate that policy.

Okay, thank you.

And then um last question, um, AI is developing so fast, and uh you know these technologies are uh often reliant on um AI, and it is hard to keep up with all the um technical capabilities.

Um how do you plan to uh foresee these kinds of technological changes?

Um and can you speak to the application of a precautionary principle um around that?

Yeah, well, uh thank you for that.

Cause it's an important question, and it came up at our June 2nd uh public safety policy committee, and um one of the the takeaways um that we've implemented into our um uh our policies and in our approach to to uh procuring um these technologies is making sure that um there's able to be a human in the loop at every step in the investigative process.

So there will be no investigation that uh continues um uh aided by AI without an investigator corroborating each step and uh and moving the investigation forward.

Um so I I think that's a clear principle that um we're able to articulate uh and and follow through on that we will be it'll be officers um confirming and following up on uh each piece of information um as the investigation unfolds.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Can we take public comment on this item, please?

We are working on item number 46.

Surveillance technology ordinance submissions for community video streams and investigative software pursuant to council direction of May 7th, 2026.

So if you have public comment on the side, um, please come on up.

Um hey, uh, so I find it really funny in 2026.

People will trust tech companies at all.

Uh these tech companies have shown time and time again.

They will flip rules, have separate access, they forget to mention.

Uh any rule you put on these can be circumvented and abused once the data is recorded, it's ripe for all kinds of abuse.

I can take your video and apply facial recognition after.

Um I have to say I've noticed a trend.

Whenever some mass breach or improper access happens, so what happens, um, and at least the ones that we know about, um, like the recent FPD breach, it's it's always whoops, we violated your constitutional rights.

Some officer gets a memo, your your fourth amendment rights are gone, dead, just forget about it.

Um, you know, I I really gotta say this type of government stalking would make the Stasi blush, and it really just makes me very angry if you can't tell.

So it and it reminds me one of my favorite uh really American phrases uh please just mind your own damn business.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Hi there, I think I have one more minute from the audience.

Thank you.

Uh I have a couple of comments about the policy.

Uh one phrase that I've heard a lot is that businesses can opt in to sharing their data, which is true, but the rest of us do not get a choice to opt out.

Whatever camera we walk by that a business has opted in, we have no choice in the fact that our information is going to be collected from that feed.

Uh another uh comment is about continuous monitoring.

I've heard various people say, like, this is not, you know, Orwellian, because like, no cop is it's like sitting there watching every feed.

And while it's true, uh the fact that all this data is recorded and kept means that uh somebody could go and watch that feed uh at any point.

Every second of every stream is available to them and searchable.

So the distinction that they're not actively watching it, I think makes very little difference in this case, and the the privacy harms are real either way.

Uh I've heard a lot about facial recognition and it's gonna be turned off and AI and I think it's good that we turn off facial recognition, but we're also seeing that these systems can use other things to search for individuals.

So you don't actually need facial recognition to find people in this pile of video footage that's available.

And there is the very real threat that other organizations outside of our police department can use facial recognition on the exact same data by getting access to it.

Uh and that uh goes along with the federal sharing concern.

Yes, we will not actively share this with the federal agencies, but we know that they can still get access to that data through other means.

Uh and lastly, I just want to say like the fact that uh in the case of somebody's individual camera system, the fact that somebody has to go out and ask for access is an important safeguard.

It limits the harm that can be done by video collection.

Uh and this really undoes that in every way by making it incredibly easy to collect massive amounts of data, which is really just too unsafe to collect in any way.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I really can't wait until all those cameras are installed and there's signs up everywhere.

You're being watched here, you're being watched there.

We're being watched everywhere, folks.

And this is only gonna get worse and worse and worse.

Um if they can turn things off, that means they can also turn them on again.

It's like the long-range acucy device, L Red.

They said, Well, you know, it can be weaponized, but we're not gonna use it.

We'll turn that off.

Well, if you can turn it off, he can turn it on again.

And I find that disconcerting.

I think when it comes down to it thinking beyond, because you're obviously gonna fall for this and get some kind of cameras around.

Um the cameras won't work if they're broken, if they're painted over, if they're taken down, if something happens to them along the way, uh that's gonna be what's necessary.

Thank you.

Well, first of all, um my understanding of the current state of the technology is that uh a PDZ camera can search for a target based on a general description, um, then follow that target and um link up with a um uh plate reader and uh actually identify the person.

Um and um you don't need facial recognition because it's already been that's already obsolete.

Um we're going down the wrong road, really.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Julie Dickey.

I've lived in Berkeley for 26 years.

Welcome to Berkeley.

I thought May 7th or whenever that May meeting was, we had scored a victory that I was so proud, and so many citizens of Berkeley shared their pride in Berkeley doing away with discussions of flock and surveillance.

I thought hip hip hooray.

So I'm back here today to say that was a very slimly short-timed victory.

I just have three issues for one is the stress that this whole country is going through right now about this regime.

We're thank you.

A minute.

Oh, a minute from this person over here.

This is a regime um of fascism that we're under.

It's just no time, it seems to me, to add these cameras for their benefit, and secondly, there was a letter out that was um reportedly a warning about losses that Berkeley could face if it continued on this path.

And thirdly, our deficit, our budget.

We talk about we can hardly save programs that are working.

We may have to lay off firefighters, and the fourth and final, the community has said over and over and over, we do not want to be surveilled.

And I don't care if it's called by flock or any other name, it's all the same.

Thank you.

Um Kelly Hamigren.

Uh didn't the presentation sound so reassuring?

I thought it sounded reassuring.

Didn't I feel reassured by all these rules and how um everybody's gonna follow the rules and the contracts?

Um aren't we all reassured?

And we're gonna notify someone when we find out within ten days, and we're gonna only audit what twice a year, we're gonna get an audit, and then we'll find out what actually happened to the information and who accessed it.

Um I have to say I'm I'm not terribly reassured, and I thought that at that June 2nd meeting we talked a lot more about how AI was gonna be used to do the screening.

So I guess my time is up.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I I think it does come down to the question of trust and as other people have said.

The trust that written policies or even local laws are going to stand up to the designs of the feds on our data.

I don't know how we can still be in a position of trusting that.

Um other people have spoken to this, but I mean, do we do we understand the owner of Flock, for example, is Mark Andreessen, who attacks DEI and immigrants, immigration policies, describing them together as politically lethal forms of discrimination.

That's who we're getting in bed with, or the other companies who are even worse, as I said before.

I wish you would try a little harder to listen.

There's a wealth of information coming to you that you're not using just discounting.

Thanks, George.

May I have one minute?

Yeah, one minute.

Actually, any other minutes.

That's okay.

Greetings, Mayor, City Council, staff, community members.

My name is Aidan Hill.

I'm speaking as a resident of Southside, a member of CERT, uh, a medical uh aid first clinician, and a candidate for city council district seven who values good governance.

To put this item simply, this would authorize software that can search across police data, license plate reader data, drone data, fixed cameras, open source information, and future surveillance capabilities, as well as procedures enabling police access to share private camera feeds.

I can see why this seems helpful.

Quick information is critical in an emergency.

However, the first question is about the budget.

How do we find 1,400,000, 140,000 of a year for surveillance when underfunded homeless programs, mental health response, maintenance, lighting, restrooms, and secure public spaces are not funded.

This could aid in post-harm activity and investigations, but neighborhood stability is not achieved by this measure.

Second, there's a data issue.

Neither the software nor the independent public hardware are being developed by Berkeley.

Bad data can turn into leads that appear official if vendor systems, private cameras, or metadata is exploited, like many of the community members have said already.

Lastly, there is a governance issue.

This idea this idea generates a key essentially for the city.

This key may not be used in the same way by future councils.

The Supreme Court reminded us this week in Trump feed slaughter that institutional protections are important because power shifts hands.

The city bears the burden of evidence because City Hall promises to exercise caution, residents shouldn't have to put up with increased surveillance.

Council should not approve this without further proof.

It makes people safer than the prevention first investments listed above.

Thank you.

Hi Mayor and Council members.

Sort of, we live in Silicon Valley, everything is about AI right now.

I work in the healthcare system, and everything is about how do we apply AI.

And our risk and compliance department are like, no, you are not using this.

And we're sitting there going, but why not?

It can really accelerate the way we do work, it can make it more effective, faster.

But I also understand that, like if you think about the way we as a society jumped into the last digital revolution called social media, how has that turned out for us?

Right?

Like the decision that we make today has impacted generations behind us, and I would say social media really effed some of the younger generations.

And how this is all gonna play out isn't really known to us right now.

So I just impress upon you that the decision you're making today has implications for future generations and also every other city in this country because they're gonna point to Berkeley and say, they did it, why not?

Thank you.

AI scares me.

It scares me because it can if it's so often frequently inaccurate, and it's so far reaching.

Do we really want to do this?

I am someone in the past who has supported cameras for public safety reasons.

I am someone who has supported our police department, who I think is an excellent police department.

But this is far beyond this.

This is about letting control and relinquishing our control to what's going on right now in our country that's being so engineered.

All these jurisdictions around the country can't be bronched that have decided this is not the tr the tack we want to take right now at this particular point in time.

Maybe we can evaluate in the future, reevaluate, but not right now.

Um I also think it would be good for Brian Hoffer of Secure Justice to appear before council and answer questions.

Okay, I think we have a couple of comments online.

Yes.

Okay, first speaker is listed as virtual meetings.

You should be able to unmute.

Should be able to unmute.

Hello, my name is Wendy Alferson with Berkeley Friends meeting, speaking again in opposition to adoption of the policies tonight.

Some changes we're told are made, but in reviewing the policy that's in the council agenda packet compared with what was presented to the police accountability board.

I don't see any changes from what the public safety policy committee has recommended that have any specificity we're talking about from your referral required the department to tighten a whole bunch of different things and make them specific and enforceable.

And this language, it just doesn't do it.

I really request that the current thanks, Wendy.

Okay, next is Do Shine.

Thank you.

Yes, this is Daria Ruble again.

Um resident of District One and uh Council Kenneth in District One.

Um, I want to thank Mayor Ishi for her previous question about um commercial districts that are combined with residential districts, like much of downtown.

Um, I'm concerned about uh the impact that um this uh technology, the surveillance could have on people going about living their lives without an expectation of privacy that is guaranteed by the constitution.

I also um, you know, that that expectation of privacy, that right to live our lives without constant surveillance, um, I I think is an important um right, and as a previous speaker spoke about the the impacts of social media on younger generations, I am a child and young adult therapist.

So see the impacts.

Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Jordan.

Hi, uh, my name is Jordan, and I'm very concerned about the idea of any kind of collation of individual uh security camera streams.

I think that it is so direly Orwellian that if it weren't terrifying, it would be hilarious because it actually is an absurd level of surveillance and such an intense web of surveillance.

And I think that we're forgetting the fact that there is inherent value in being able to exist in public spaces without being constantly watched.

I really feel that we're we're losing track of a really fundamental right.

That's it's a constitutional right, but it's also just a right that that uh bolsters our own humanity.

Like if we're really going to make it so that there is no more privacy, there's no more way to exist in public without being on camera and those cameras being integrated into a giant web, like, come on, y'all.

That's crazy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Maria Sol.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Um, this whole conversation presumes distrust in our inherent goodness and capacity to keep ourselves safe by preventing the causes of what we deem as criminal or potentially criminal activity.

Just heard Trump today say any any of us community activists are a greater threat than all the world war.

So, you know, I would rather cultivate and spend our time and attention on taking care of us and helping each other than wasting this in this ocean of fear and threat.

It's just inhumane.

Please, no, no, no.

Let's believe in us again and come together and help ourselves and each other.

Thank you.

Thanks, Maria.

Next is JL.

Hi, can you hear me?

Yes.

Thank you.

I also oppose adopting the policies described.

I'm very concerned with the fact that facial recognition technology can be applied after the fact to the data that's being collected.

Um I echo the concerns of others that state that we don't have a choice to opt out of this as members of the public, even if individual you know, owners of their data do.

We don't, as a member of the public, we don't have choice just walking around.

Um, and the fact that this data is recorded and kept means it can be searched later on.

Um the community has said over and over we don't want to be surveilled, and I'm not reassured by the so-called safeguards that have been described.

And I'm sorry to think about what one of the other commenters said about the implications of this for future generations and our current generation and our current state of being in this country.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And uh last speaker is a caller with a phone number ending in two one one.

I definitely agree with many of the quotes.

One really sliding uh slope with this monostrosity in the White House.

What is your aim?

You know, the TUE, but the actually you're going up everybody.

Let's talk about everybody.

About one and a half million Americans die from COVID in nineteen, excuse me, COVID-19 in his first administration, but he denied it.

You know, and most of other countries have only about 10,000.

We're dealing with more trusty.

Do not trust anybody.

So not we are in really dark time.

And the whole idea, look at the global warming.

It's getting hot in Europe now.

Hundreds of people are dying every day.

We are in a very, very dark time.

What can we do?

Intelligence.

I'll colleague.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thanks for the public comment.

Is that that?

That's the last speaker?

Okay.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Uh, are there any comments from council members, starting with Council Member Humbert, please?

Thank you, madam Mayor.

Wow, I didn't expect to be first.

Um I want to thank Chief Lewis Harlow and Captain Oakies in the public safety subcommittee for all their really good work on this.

I think the recommendations of the subcommittee were right on point, and BPD has substantively addressed those recommendations.

That's clear to me.

I feel that streamlining the process by which BPD can access private video streams on a voluntary and regulated basis makes all the sense in the world.

This is fundamentally what is already happening with investigations taking place just in a less efficient way.

And in my view, this simplifies the process while also ensuring transparency and tightening the audit process so we will be able to see how this works and we can correct any issues over time.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Any other comments from council members?

Yes.

Oh, okay.

Council, sorry, uh, starting with Councilmember Blackaby.

Someone else is gonna go first and then jump dropped out, but that's fine.

Um I was I was ready.

Um again, thanks to the colleagues.

I just also want to thank uh the public commenters.

You know, I've been listening to everyone who's here tonight, everyone at the previous meeting, um, because I think you know, we're all trying to figure out how to balance if we can uh the feedback that we're hearing.

We understand that there are real privacy concerns here.

I get it.

Um I've spent some time working in digital privacy myself, but balancing that against some of the real interests and some of the benefits that do come from technology that helps scale a police department where we can't hire enough officers to do the public safety that we want.

Anyway, we're so we're trying to navigate that balance.

So I just want to be realistic about that.

But I I appreciate the feedback, and I know there are drawbacks and there are things that we need to consider, and it's always very helpful to be reminded of that and to center that in these discussions.

So I just again, you know, I I want folks to know we are listening and trying to process this alongside of the other responsibilities that I think we all feel here uh to the community.

Um I do want to thank um uh Arlo, I want to thank Captain Oakies for being here tonight, thank the the staff, um, and again thank my colleagues on the public safety policy committee, um, and um and the team for being very responsive to all of the concerns that we've raised and the questions that we've raised.

Um I'm comfortable that you know we're in a good enough position to move the process forward.

We know this is not the last step, but it's an important next step in the process, both for the RFP as well as for future consideration.

Uh and so with that I'd like to move that we adopt uh the resolution in the staff report.

Second, thank you very much.

Um, okay, moving on to oh I'm gonna have to skip Council Member Kisserwine until she comes back.

Um, but Councilmember Benopara.

Thank you.

Um I'd like to thank BPD for putting this together.

I recognize the amount of work that has gone into it.

Um, but I'm fundamentally unconvinced that these tools are what our constituency wants and are without risk.

Um both of these technologies sell speed and convenience as safety, and I do not believe in them as a way to improve our lives, and I seriously worry about further encroachment on our civil liberties, and I have no interest in aiding a fascist government by expanding surveillance in our city.

So I oppose this item.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Keith.

Uh I think um I want to mostly join with um Councilmember Humbert's comments, so I won't um go over that.

I just I actually want to say I was quiet during the um questioning period, um, but I do want to say I was the third member of the public safety committee along with Councilmember Blackaby and the mayor, and I just want to say thanks again.

You know, we spent a lot of time with this item, and I just want to thank you thank you again for being responsive to our really extensive comments, uh, and I was very satisfied.

And one of the things that I was really concerned about at that meeting was the um the restrictions along around when and how the live stream was um gonna be viewable.

That to me that was a big distinction because to me, and my Councilmember Humbert already said this well, but there's this no, there's nothing really new here.

It's it there's no new surveillance.

This surveillance exists, it's existed for decades.

That we're just talking about giving our police officers a faster and easier way to access it so they don't have to walk up and down the street and go into every building while they're trying to solve a crime where there's minutes and hours count.

I mean, it's this is the simplest, easiest, most obvious technological benefit here.

And I it's I just can't emphasize it up.

There's there is no new surveillance here.

So there's really nothing to be concerned about.

I mean, you can be concerned about the existing surveillance state.

I get that.

I understand people don't like that, but that's not what we're talking about right now.

Okay, folks, please.

And um, so anyway, that's why I'm uh happy to support this motion.

Um, I just want to say the the live stream thing, that that is different.

That's why I I really um wanted to flesh that out and make sure we understood very clearly when and how um officers would be allowed to actually tap into the live stream because that is that's the one thing that does not apply.

What I just said is not apply to that is a new capability that we're giving the officers, the police, and I think that's you know, I'm okay with it, but there needs to be some really good um restrictions and safeguards, and I think um what was described here today satisfies me.

And that brings me to my the last point I want to make, which is a lot of the commenters talked about how they don't the safeguards aren't enough.

I heard that over and over again.

And you know, we're talking, we're not talking about the federal government here, we're talking about our our own police and how they're gonna use this data and whether or not they're going to obey the rules.

And you know, we well, I won't say we I trust our police to follow their own rules.

And you know, I have to because they we let them have guns, and they I mean if our police didn't follow their own rules, we'd have a much bigger problem, but they do, and we have, of course, very extensive police oversight, and there's auditing and all of that stuff is in place because you know, blind trust maybe isn't the right thing here, but in general, they do follow the rules.

We're making the rules here, and I'm gonna assume that they're going to follow them, and if they don't, we'll find out and there'll be consequences, and that's the best any of us can do here.

And I think this is a very well-constructed proposal, and I'm very happy to support it.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kessarwani.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

Thank you for the presentation tonight.

Um, I support this item.

Both the community video streams and investigative software policies were thoroughly vetted by the public safety policy committee process.

I want to thank my colleagues for the important amendments that were added through that process, which I think um strengthened this item even further.

Um, and I I also want to talk about the budget last week.

We heard um somebody talk about the budget in public comment.

You know, in that budget, we made some very hard decisions, and we voted to eliminate 17 police positions.

Um they were vacant, and if the sales sex measure doesn't pass in November, we could be looking at the loss of more public safety positions, and you know, the that uh staffing situation that we're in, that is a big part of why I believe in equipping our police department with modern crime fighting tools.

I I respect the opinions of others about desiring privacy.

Um I respect that view, but I I also have to consider um the the rights of victims of of violent crime, and I believe strongly in accountability for victims when someone in our community is harmed.

I believe they deserve a police department with the tools to solve the case, and we've already seen how automated license plate reader technology has helped solve crimes that would have otherwise gone unsolved, and I I also want to recognize the real guardrails that you talked about, right?

The ban on facial recognition, the stronger audit requirements, and clear restrictions on immigration and out of state enforcement.

So I'm confident that we have um reached a balance of um enabling us to use technology while balancing um the important civil liberties that we all care about.

Um so I'm prepared to vote on this item.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Vice Mayor Traeger.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I want to provide a glimpse into and walk you through the decision making that I and I think all of my colleagues are uh weighing when issues like this come before us.

On the one hand, we hear from constituents who are legitimately concerned with being watched and have fears associated with surveillance, and I can certainly understand those fears on a very personal level.

As my family and I fled a former country that at the time was part of a system that watched its citizens, and there were consequences for any real or perceived deviation from the state.

Those concerns are real, and they're exactly why any technology we consider must come with strong guardrails, transparency, oversight, and accountability.

On the other hand, I uh continuously hear stories like the one I have heard from several of my constituents who unfortunately were attacked and beaten on the street, and without cameras on the houses in their neighborhood, uh they would not have had any recourse at all.

Several times now I've also visited and talked to business owners after their small business have been businesses have been burglarized.

I have to do that with five businesses in my district after a string of burglaries.

Um I was on the scene uh later that day with information about uh damage mitigation relief, which I'm I'm so glad we funded, but um there is um, you know, even that few hundred bucks is serious money for them and their employees, not to mention the emotional toll that it takes to see your things broken and stolen and have to invest time and money, your hard-earned time and money to and find the energy to rebuild sometimes over and over again.

And many of these owners are immigrants themselves and might not want to testify publicly.

I also think about our city's uh police leadership.

We are fortunate to have leaders who understand that public safety and accountability must go hand in hand, and that any use of technology must be accompanied by transparency, oversight, and respect for civil liberties.

Having worked with the mayor and others of my colleagues on a strong set of guardrails for surveillance technologies, which were approved by the council in May, I believe the item before us is responsive to everything that at least at the time we directed staff to look at.

Uh with that said, a few new questions have come up for me, and I'm working closely with staff to track them down.

While I won't be able to get those answers tonight, should this item move forward, that collaboration will continue.

Um, whatever the outcome uh is tonight uh and whatever my vote ends up being in no way reflects any feelings other than deep appreciation and respect to BPD uh leadership and staff.

I've been nothing but impressed and appreciative of the professionalism, thoroughness, and transparency that RPD is approaching this process with.

We still have several decision points ahead of us before any contract is voted on and implemented.

I will continue to do my research.

I will continue to listen to district four neighbors whom I have the privilege to serve.

Thank you for keeping me informed, providing me with with a multitude of perspectives, and sharing your lived experiences with me.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, Council Members.

I've already made comments essentially at the beginning, but I do want to thank you all so much.

Um, I know there was a comment made earlier, but you did a lot of work, and and so there were 11 points here from the public safety policy committee.

I think like 10 of those were from my comments and questions.

So I I know you know our staff did an analysis and and looked through, which is why we asked that follow-up question.

Um and then just in the future, we'd love to see more information like more clearly about about that.

Um I think that would be helpful for folks.

Um, but I do really appreciate all of the work that you did put into this and and your patience and answering my millions and millions of questions.

Um and so uh I do want to uh move us forward.

I I think we actually have already someone made the motion, so um, can you make it?

Yes, I said that.

That's what I thought.

Okay.

All right, so let's take the roll, please.

Okay, to approve uh to adopt the resolution accepting the surveillance acquisition report and surveillance use policy for community video streams and surveillance acquisition report and surveillance use policy for investigative software on the motion, Councilmember Kessnarwani.

Yes, Taplin, yes, or what is absent traged.

O'Keefe.

Yes, Blackaby.

Yes.

Humber.

Yes.

Mayor Ishi.

Yes.

Um Vice Mayor Tregum.

Abstain.

Uh motion carries.

Thank you very much.

Um, okay, so um we next um is there any public comment for items not listed on the agenda?

So um four months ago, Amber Whitson, who I believe most of you are familiar with, was told, if you find housing uh we'll make it happen.

And I I'm sure the person who told her that the worker had the best of intentions.

Amber has been on uh homeless on the streets living in RV or otherwise homeless for 28 years since she was 16 years old.

She took this literally, she actually went out and secured housing as a landlord who wants her, thinking that she would get a subsidy.

Both that landlord and her have relentlessly trying to identify something.

This landlord wants her, she knows her as a person who has been reliable and seeing that another tenant pays rent.

She hasn't been able to get anything.

And she even went out and had an offer for a job to take on part-time, thinking she was gonna be in an apartment.

This is four months ago.

She's now.

Thank you.

Thank you, Carol.

Anyone online for public comment for items not listed on the agenda?

Two hands raised.

First item, first caller, uh phone number ending in 211.

With the top with the subject you're talking about, I'd like to bring the great memory of our great police chief, but he was a great man.

It was a great one of the best police chief in Berkeley.

We had two over two million dollar measurements from our San Francisco store.

The other thing I like to say we're living in very dark time.

And um I also like everybody, please look online for Laura.

Review, which is about 10 minutes.

Mother of Nuclear Physics, Samira Musa, Egyptian Mother of Necrophysics.

And if they did that to her, you also did that to hundreds of neuro scientists.

And that's why you see Lawrence Labs is only have one person.

We're afraid that you would be assistinated.

Have a good night.

Look forward to Beth Berkeley.

And do give me a call.

Please do and do it.

We're definitely moving to nuclear soon.

Help us do that.

Have a good night.

Thank you.

Next is JL.

All right, can you hear me?

Yes.

Uh thank you.

I don't know if this was on the agenda.

I don't think I saw it, but um I'd read recently that there's uh that the city is looking to uh increase parking fees or days and moving and move to uh cashless parking system.

Um I oppose increasing the fees and the days, but I vehemently oppose switching to some kind of cashless system where you need an app in order to park.

Uh that's not easy for a lot of people to navigate, and a lot of people may not be able to have that capability, and to take that away from them for the simple act of wanting to park on the street somewhere.

I think we should keep the uh whatever uh machines are in place that allow people to pay with cash or credit cards.

Um we should not be moving to a solely app-based payment system.

Thank you.

Just to be clear, we we did vote on that, and you can still play pay with a credit card.

Uh they're also trying to increase uh the ability to pay with other types of cards in case people can't have bank accounts.

So just to address that.

Okay, I know we have another comment from Maria.

Maria Sol.

Yes, and thank you again, because you know, I just adore Berkeley.

I moved myself from across the country to come here because it's such a beacon of light and love and equity and peace and justice and equality and creativity, minds, brilliant with hearts.

I just want to start at the basic hope, which is if we value ourselves in each other, if we participate as a community, we can create things that prevent harm and create solutions without being dominated, controlled, and buried.

Please remember who we are.

We can do this.

Thank you.

Thanks, Maria.

That's it.

Okay, is there a motion to adjourn?

Second.

Can we take the roll on that, please?

Okay, to adjourn the meeting, Councilmember Kessar Wine.

Yes, Taplin, yes, Trega, I.

O'Keefe.

Yes, Wackaby.

Yes, Unapara.

Yes, Humbert.

Yes, and Mary.

Yes.

Okay, meetings adjourned.

Meeting adjourned.

Thanks, everyone.