Okay.

Hello, everyone.

If you can hear me clap once.

If you can hear me clap twice.

If you can hear me clap three times.

Very good.

Thank you so much, everyone.

I'm going to call to order the Berkeley City Council meeting.

Today is Tuesday, July 28th, 2026.

It is 6.03 p.m.

Can we start off with role police clerk?

Okay.

Councilmember Keserwani is currently currently absent.

Taplin.

Presence.

Bartlett is currently absent.

Tregum present.

O'Keefe.

I'm here.

Blackabee.

Here.

Luna Para.

Here.

Humbert present.

And Mayor Ishii.

Here.

Okay.

Quorum is present.

Okay.

All right.

I know there are a lot of folks in here.

And if it's your first time in a while, or it's your first time to a meeting, this is a reminder that if you have a conversation, please take it outside so that we can hear everything that's going on.

There will be no booing and hissing.

I understand there are a lot of strong feelings.

And we have a lot of young folks that are going to be here this evening.

And so I really want us to set a good example for them.

So I ask folks to be respectful as they're giving their comments.

And keep in mind there are many things on the agenda this evening, so we have much to get through before we even get to our action items.

So I will we have no ceremonial matters this evening, so I will pass it over to our city manager to see if he has any comments.

I don't have any comments tonight.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Okay, very good.

And is Mr.

Albert here?

Yes.

Do you want to come up, Mr.

Alpert?

So before we go to public comment on non-agenda matters, I'm inviting Dr.

Albert to the podium to redo his public comment from May 19th.

Mr.

City Clerk, if you could please put two minutes on the clock, or I guess Denise, if you wouldn't mind putting two minutes on the clock, please.

Thank you.

I am Dr.

Stephen Alpert.

Berkeley residents have reason to be disappointed by the actions of this committee.

It's commissions and council.

So folks, please a lot of whispering.

Council have demonstrated pro-developer bias.

Local residents and business owners were not consulted about the plans of Upzone North Shaddock, Solana, or College Avenues.

In fact, the council met first with developers.

On February 24, this council overturned Berkeley's labor standards, passed in 2023, which required developers of large projects to provide contractors with therapy, health insurance, and funds for apprenticeship training.

During the planning commission meeting last fall, over 40 attendees expressed concerns that the proposed uploading building heights were excessive.

Every commission member then stated increased heights were not a problem.

Foremost, this council supports the false narrative that building market rate housing will readily produce affordable units.

Real world data contradict this.

A recent study by Buckholz demonstrated that even under overly optimistic conditions, in our era, it takes over 20 years for newly built market rate housing to filter down and become affordable.

Whereas with historical data, it takes over a hundred years.

Evidently, these findings were troublesome to Councilmember Humbert, who tried to discredit Buckholz as shown in his composite screenshot from his website.

Please note the highlighted last sentence with two underlying links.

As written, it clearly implies that Buck Holtz has received serious and swift methodological criticism from other economists, but neither link addresses the study.

Council members also assert the building market rate departments will invariably drive rents down.

Housing data from the year of refute this, and the Yembi supply side ideology, the champion.

I was reported in Emilyville Tatler.

Enrico went the Yembi W.

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

Building more is supposed to bring cheaper rent.

What happened?

Our council's fervor to build market rate housing may produce a similar outcome without addressing housing affordability.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, so we will now take public comment on non-agenda matters.

Um there are multiple seats up in the front.

I and if you have a seat next to you, um, if you could make sure to wave your hand so folks can see.

There are folks uh, I just want to make sure everyone has a seat who wants one, especially if you are holding a small child and need a seat.

There's some seats up front.

Okay.

All right.

So if you have public comment on non-agenda matters, um we have the list right here of folks.

Okay, so we will have uh five in-person speakers for items not on the agenda, and then we will go to the first five hands raised on the Zoom.

Each speaker will have one minute each.

Um I'll pick the names for the five in-person speakers, and you can come up in any order.

And again, these are this is just for public comments for items that are not on tonight's agenda.

So if your card was picked, but you are speaking on an item on the agenda, just let us know and I'll pick a new card.

Okay, the five non-agenda speakers for in person are Kara Hauser, Juliet Leftwich, Dennis Fantin, Maria Soule, and Derek Abasi.

You can come forward in any order.

Hi.

Good evening.

My name is Juliet Leftwich.

I'm a long-term Berkeley resident and an attorney.

I served on the Berkeley Police Accountability Board and Police Review Commission for seven years.

I'm speaking out tonight to express my strong objection to the incredibly aggressive new parking meter rules that were adopted by council in June.

Under those rules, meters will operate until eight o'clock and all day on Sundays.

Fines will increase from $43 to $64, and new meters will be installed throughout the city, including on Hopkins Street.

These rules were adopted hastily without public input or input from small businesses, many of which are already struggling to survive.

There was also no consideration of the impact on churches throughout our city.

Oakland and San Francisco adopted similarly egregious parking meter rules and reversed course in response to public outcry.

Our hope is that you will thank you, be equally responsive to your constituents.

Okay, anyone else whose name was called.

Thank you.

Hi, uh John Kaner, downtown Berkeley Association.

I am so pleased to introduce.

Thank you so much.

Welcome.

And John, we will follow up with you later.

So thank you for your service.

Good evening.

My name is Derek Abbasi, and I'm part of a neighborhood coalition alerting this council that the developer at 1130 Oxford Street is abusing state housing laws to escape public discretionary review.

Streamlined by right approvals are meant for small-scale missing middle projects that follow the letter and spirit of the law.

Instead, this developer is using aggressive bad faith tactics to claim the city is powerless.

But these laws have strict criteria to bypass SB 1123's hard 10 unit cap and build 32 luxury homes.

The developer is illegally piecemealing a lot into eight separate parcels.

Furthermore, uh SB 1123 applies exclusively to vacant lots unless existing buildings are abandoned and uninhabitable.

Legally, the buildings are neither.

It also sits directly within the known landslide and high fire hazard zone and the hillside overlay.

And it won't even address the housing crisis as intended.

As a result, we'll be two million dollar homes with zero affordable housing.

The city still retains oversight.

Do not treat this as a done deal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Um my name is Dennis Fanton.

Um I'm talking about the project that is being proposed for 1130 Oxford Street.

And I have really one major point.

Um at the May 28th meeting, the developer of this 32 row home project on a steep hillside uh on Oxford Street said that these 32 homes were level in ADA accessible and all that good stuff.

That was the exact comment.

What I want to say is that these homes are in fact level in.

But if you're in a wheelchair, you can't get into the living space of the home.

I assume this is by design, not necessarily to preclude people in wheelchairs.

Not necessarily to preclude people in wheelchairs.

Thank you.

That is that my time.

Yes, that's your time.

Thank you very much for your comment.

The fifth card was for Maria Sol.

Oh, here she comes.

Okay.

Sorry, we slacken here.

No, that's okay.

It's a good thing.

I can almost run.

I just want to mention that I'm really happy that you all are gonna get to take a little break.

I'm gonna miss you.

But I'm very glad you might get to rest and play and do what serves you.

But I want to also remind you most sincerely that most of us won't get to.

Which is why we're all here.

Because all sorts of things matter to each and every one of us.

And again, I am trying to emphasize that if we stop and breathe.

And remember, it's not just me.

It's we gotta figure out a way to get along because we can't help some people and hurt others.

We can do better.

So I hope again you have a fine time.

Thank you.

Thanks, Maria.

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

Again, this is for non-agenda public comments.

First is uh Sharon.

I think if I'm on agenda item 27, is this my time to speak or is it later?

No.

It's later, actually.

We are um only addressing things that are not on the agenda at this time.

Thank you.

Um next is this is call in user.

Um should be able to unmute for non-agenda public comments.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

My name is Gordon Oliverson, and I live in Modok County.

I hate homeless people.

They are vermin, they are destroying our communities and destroying our small businesses.

I have to go out of business because of homeless people.

They're all vermin and they're all niggers trying to eat yeah.

Okay.

Uh next apologies, everyone.

Um, when comments are going, there are only certain times we're able to cut them off, and so I apologize for that person's speech.

Uh next is um Makai Freeman.

So two minutes.

You can speak when you're ready.

Oh, here she goes.

Go ahead, Makai.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

Council members, and maybe she ends calling but listening.

Well, I and maybe sale people and seniors reduction services or not the community is not beforehand.

There's a noud in the program.

Yeah, yeah, we would like example the thought and how reduction was the right.

Many seniors cannot reach that or the listing to face.

That is me for them.

And worship.

Nothing of Dada.

And we asked on you.

Mayor.

And talk about their document in your program.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mackay.

Okay, let's see.

Next is Michael Pierce.

Hi, I would like to cede my time to uh on item 27 to Aaron Friedman.

I'm sorry, you can't you have to wait until the speaker is here to just see the time uh at the time the comments on that item are being held.

Um so you can stay on for that.

Thank you.

Next is David.

Uh hello.

Um I just wanted to um well I had a non-agenda comment.

I was gonna uh talk about how great um the new Bay Wheels expansion is and how um helpful it's been to me.

Um but unfortunately uh I wasn't able to get into the meeting right now.

Um notice it is at capacity.

Folks are being turned away at the door.

Um and it's just uh you know uh continuation of I think a really consistent problem that we have uh around public comment and around public feedback where you know people who have you know I just got off work and we just picked up the kids.

And if I could have been here an hour ago, I would have been here an hour ago.

Um and so I really hope that you know over time we're able to find ways of including people who um who have more obligations on their time um because our voices matter too.

Thank you.

Thank you, and I'm sorry that you and others were not able to get inside the meeting.

So uh as people exit the meeting, though um additional people are uh allowed in.

Um and of course uh people can participate um through audio visual platform uh zoom.

So um uh after public comments and perhaps after the consent calendar, there may be some additional um capacity in the boardroom.

Yes, thank you, Mr.

City Clerk.

I think that's correct that as folks are are making their comments, they might also step out so there's more room for others.

Were you gonna say something?

Yeah, may I ask a question?

I the commenter referenced um, I think he referenced the Zoom meeting being at capacity.

Is that possible?

Or is there that's not okay?

There's there's unlimited capacity on Zoom.

That well, there's I think up to a thousand people.

There's only a hundred.

We don't have that many.

I mean he was on the zoo.

Right.

So he okay, I just wanted to check that.

Yeah, I think it's a room, a physical room capacity issue.

Thank you though for checking.

Um so that is there's no more hands, uh one uh hand raised.

No, there's no more hands raised online.

We could take two more cards.

We have Alec and Jackie.

I'm doing that.

Agenda issues.

Oh, it's for an item on the agenda.

Okay.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Thank you so much for offering this opportunity for public comment.

I would like to comment on the proposal for corridor upzoning in opposition to that plan on the grounds of something that one of our previous speakers said.

We can't help some people and hurt others.

I agree that the NIMBY Yumbi divide has come to define this discussion.

I don't think that's a productive way to look for a solution.

I have a th different proposal that I think should appeal to all of you because it helps all of you and your constituents in every district.

I call it E B, I E B Y improve everyone's backyard.

Help all of the neighborhoods in the city become similar to these three places that we agree make Berkeley wonderful.

Wouldn't each of you like to have a Solano or an Elmwood or a Shadow in your district?

We can do better.

You can make it happen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we just have one.

We do have a hand raised on the Zoom, so this will be our final speaker.

Andy.

Thank you.

I'm curious on the Zoom presentation.

Is it possible for Brent Blackaby's video feed to be minimized until he is speaking?

Thank you very much.

I'd be happy to minimize my video.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I think that was our final agenda public comment.

So we will um we will move on to our consent calendar, but first there is an urgent item that we need to vote on.

I will pass it over to Councilmember Lunapara to uh introduce it.

Thank you.

Um this is an item showing our support and solidarity with um the workers at graduate at the graduate hotel in district seven, um, which they will be voting to unionize with unite here local two this Friday.

Um so it's a resolution in support.

Second I guess I'll yeah make a motion to accept this into the record.

Thank you.

And a second from council member Traig as part of the consent calendar.

Yes, thank you.

Um any comments or questions before we vote?

Okay, go ahead, Mr.

City Clerk.

To accept the the urgent item uh to on the uh to the consent calendar, Councilmember Castarwani.

Yes, Taplin, yes, Bartlett, yes, Trage O'Keefe, yes, Blackaby, yes, Napara, yes, Humbert, yes, and Mary Ishii.

Yes.

Okay, motion carries.

Okay, very good.

Um Councilmember Trab, did you want to also make some comments as well before we start?

Uh yes, thank you.

Uh I would like to see if we can move item 28, which is a referral to the city manager to update definitions in the CGMU district and review restrictions related to the establishment of adult-oriented businesses in the Berkeley municipal code to consent for the purpose of sending it back to the land use housing and economic development committee.

Thank you.

Um so Mr.

City Clerk, could you just speak to I so if there's no objection, that item can be moved to to consent.

Thank you.

Well, to for the purposes of moving it to land use committee.

Yeah, yes, that would be the action that would be recorded.

No, so there are no objections.

Okay.

All right.

Then it will be then it will be so.

Thank you.

All right.

Anything else?

Um I have comments on the consent calendar.

I guess this would be the time.

Great.

Thank you.

Um sorry, and folks, because we know we're gonna have quite a long agenda.

If I could ask that our uh folks keep their comments to a minimum, that would be great.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Um first of all, I would like to appreciate my colleagues' collaboration on the urgency item that we just moved to consent uh the resolution supporting the rights of archivists at the graduate uh hotel, as well as um to the mayor for item 21, which is the rescission of the greenhouse gas endangerment finding and modern vehicle greenhouse gas emission standards under the clean air act to allow us to join um amicus brief um in opposition to that decision.

Um also um wanted to appreciate uh council member um Bartlett's authorship of item 22 uh relinquishment of council office budget funds uh to support the citywide Barkley School Supply Distribution Resource Fair Um and Excited to sponsor uh all three of those items.

Uh I would like to ask that we would to item 23 uh from the consent calendar and from this agenda.

Item 23 is the relinquishment of council office budget funds to the downtown Barclay Association in support of the social service outreach coordination position until further notice.

Thank you to Councilmember Humbert for sponsoring item 25.

I would like to donate 150 for my discretionary funds.

And last but not least, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my co-authors, to city staff, and to the many stakeholders who helped shape item 24, which is uh our renaissance item revitalizing enterprise and neighborhoods through activation, investment safety, streamlining accessibility networking collaboration and equity part one performance standards for commercial district activation and blight mitigation.

This is the first of uh several items we uh intend to bring to the council to help continue to make our downtown and all commercial spaces both those specifically named in the reportal and uh any that were not even more vibrant and attractive for residents and visitors.

I can't wait to receive our staff's recommendations uh back to the council for final adoption.

Uh and thanks again to everyone who's so generously devoted their time and knowledge to this item.

Thank you very much.

Moving on to Councilmember Humbert.

Thank you, madam mayor.

Um I'll I'll try to be brief here.

Um item 23.

Um, no, that's dropped.

I'm talking about item 22, uh, the relinquishment of council office budget funds uh to support the citywide Berkeley School Supply Distribution and Resource Fair.

I'd like to donate 150 dollars.

Thank you.

I think it's Councilmember Bartlett for authoring authoring that.

And then I brief comments about item 25, which is the Russell Street Halloween festivities 2026 through 2029 relinquishment of council office budget funds to general fund and in the grant of such funds.

And and I authored that.

Um, I know we have a long meeting ahead of us, so I will be thank you, Eric Panzer.

Boo Reef.

I just wanted to thank the Claremont Elmwood Neighborhood Association and all the neighbors who volunteer for this fantastic event each year and make it possible.

I will always go to that for neighborhood events like this that are the lifeblood of our community.

And I'm pleased to be able to do this monster-sized funding item so that neighbors can keep working their magic for at least another four years.

Thank you.

Thank you for that very punny uh those very punny comments.

I'm gonna go online to Councilmember Blackaby, please.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'll also be brief.

Uh I wanted to thank Councilmember Luna Parra for bringing the urgent item on the Graduate Hotel Labor support uh and for allowing me to join as a co-sponsor.

Uh I was also proud to join with Councilmember Luna Parr and Councilmember Traegum on Friday uh to walk the picket line with workers supporting their fight to form a union.

Um as we all know, Berkeley is a proud union town, and we strongly stand with workers and fight for their right to self-organize.

So thank you, Councilmember Luna Parr for bringing the item.

Uh on item three, I just wanted to thank Councilmember Taplin for uh making his nomination of an A.

Sharma to join the police accountability board.

With this nomination, uh, we have a full police accountability board with an alternate.

That may be the first time in history that we've actually had a full compliment plus alternate.

So I just wanted to thank everyone, the mayor, and all colleagues for um getting the board uh back on full footing.

Um on the couple of count council relinquishment items.

Item 22.

Thanks to Councilman Bartlett for bringing this.

Our office would like to um relinquish 200 towards the citywide Berkeley School Supply Distribution and Resource Fair Fair.

And on item 25.

I don't have as many puns as councilmember Humbert.

I don't have any, but we'd like to see to contribute 250 towards that.

And with that, I'm done.

Thank you.

Uh Mayor, just a brief announcement.

There's a um green Toyota Selica convertible that's parked outside here.

Um, and it's uh leaking quite a bit of oil into the um curb uh off the curb area.

So uh an engine company is coming to investigate that.

So if that's your car, please check in with the fire department staff at the front gate.

And just for everybody else, don't be alarmed.

That's what the fire engine is is here to look at.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So if that is your car, please please move it or address it.

Thank you.

All right, moving on to Councilmember Lunopara.

Thank you.

Um, I want to thank the mayor for leading item 21.

Ums item 22 and item 25.

I'd like to donate 200 for my discretionary fund to each.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Moving on to Councilmember Kissarwani.

Uh thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

I wanted to uh recognize item number 13.

This is awarding funds uh pursuant to the item that I authored to the Berkeley Food Network to address the issue of food insecurity.

I see Andrew Christman is here, as are some board members, so I'm really pleased that we can make that funding award.

Um, I also want to thank Councilmember Lunapata for the item related to the workers at the graduate hotel.

And uh finally, I want to be recorded as donating a hundred dollars to the Berkeley School Supply and Distribution Resource Fair item number 22, as well as 100 for the uh Russell Street Halloween festivities item number 25.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Taplin.

Thank you, and good evening.

I'd like to thank Councilmember Lapata for the urgency item and items 22 and 25.

I would like to view recorders relinquishing the 200 to each.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Bartlett.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'd like to um thank everyone for helping to the supply bank is it's a really crucial crucial service they provide for schools.

Um and item 13, I want to congratulate the Berkeley Food Network and thank Council Mr.

Kesselani for your work and city manager for putting forward this uh much needed food support.

Um, as we said before, uh we're becoming more and more food stressed.

So look out for food and help people eat.

Um the Renaissance, uh good work, Councilmember.

Are you vice mayor?

No.

Okay, sorry.

I can't say apologies.

Uh congratulations, Councilmember uh Trigode Renaissance, good work.

Um this addresses blight in the community, basically, stores and buildings that are that are unbuilt.

We've had to go through exorbitant lengths to get people to build on fallow properties where rats will come and people come do bad things.

It's just uh the good system that you designed here uh to help jumpstart the process.

Thank you for that.

Um I'd like to have 200 for the Russell Street Halloween party.

Um I guess kind of soon, huh?

Okay, kind of, right?

It's like July, okay.

Um and uh and also and uh council Luna Para, thank you so much for your resolution and support of the workers at the Graduate Hotel.

Uh a good group of people over there.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Vice Mayor O'Keefe.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I would like to start by thanking Councilmember Luna Para for bringing the urgent item.

I'm really happy uh for a chance to um support my well, I was gonna say my union brothers and sisters, but I guess my potential union brothers and sisters um in their fight.

So thank you very much.

It's really um it's a great item.

I'd like to also thank Councilmember Trago for uh his work on Renaissance and for inviting me to co-sponsor it.

I'm very happy to be part of that work.

And I just want to say, you know, that downtown has a lot of issues, and I I just want to really honor your work um in representing the downtown.

I think you're really taking that seriously and taking it head on and doing an excellent job.

So I'm really happy to support you.

Thank you for the oh yes, I yeah, I helped him with the ridiculous acronym.

Um, but I helped beyond that too.

Um so anyway, thank you for that.

And then regarding the um uh relinquishment of funds items, I will donate 200 to item 22 and 200 spooky dollars.

Did I do it right to item 25?

That's it.

Okay, thanks everyone.

I also want to thank Councilmember Linopara for bringing the urgency item forward and very proud to support the workers um in their union organizing campaign.

And I wish them luck on Friday when they have the vote.

Um thank you so much.

We have a number of different um grants that have come in, so I really want to thank city staff for all of their hard work to bring funding into our city.

Um many folks don't know this, but our city staff do a lot to leverage funding um and access other grants for us.

And I'd like to add councilmember Blackaby to item number 21, which is the rescission of the greenhouse gas endangerment finding in motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards under the Clean Air Act.

Basically, the EPA is saying that motor vehicles do not cause greenhouse gases, which we know is not correct.

And um, we are signing on to the amicus brief and really proud to be doing that.

And thank you so much to our city attorney's office for assisting us uh by writing this item.

Um, excited to see item 24 moving forward.

Thank you very much for your leadership, Councilmember Traegu.

And for item 25, I will also give a hundred dollars for my discretionary count for the Russell Street Halloween fair.

So thank you very much, Councilmember Humbert, for that.

And with that, I will see if there is any public comment on consent calendar and information items only.

John is making his way up.

John Canor, downtown Berkeley Association.

Um, I want to also thank uh Councilmember Tregab for his leadership on this uh Renaissance item.

Um I think we can all agree that the empty pit on Herald Way and the boarded up um center street across from Bam PFA is not an ideal situation.

Um we have 17 stalled housing projects.

So actually I think one's going forward.

We're hoping the core spaces is gonna move forward on the center street um project um soon.

And um and as staff and council approach this is obviously making sure we don't have unintended consequences that we're dealing with real issues or and also fixing them.

For so, for example, as we know the center street project, it takes about nine months to get PGE to decommission power.

So we're gonna move ahead in decommissioning, then the market turned, etc.

And then we had this vacant storefront.

So we want to be able to sure make sure that we bring back in pop-ups.

Thanks, John.

And one quick no, no, John.

I'm sorry.

We've got a lot of comments tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay, come on up, Andrew and Pamela.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, City Manager.

I'm Andrew Crispin, the executive director of Berkeley Food Network, and I'm joined tonight by Pam Gray, the board chair of Berkeley Food Network.

As many of us know, affordability is a crisis facing so many community members, especially here in Berkeley.

But we are so excited to be awarded this contract to be working with the city to address food insecurity for housing and secure community members.

We're really grateful on behalf of the community.

Thank you, and we're looking forward to continued partnership with the city.

Thank you.

Thank you, and thank you all so much for your work.

Sorry, come on up.

I'll be translating for her.

Muchos checados is luchando para que entre la union in this ayuda y de su apoyo.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Rosalba Rodriguez.

I've been working for two years at the Graduate Hotel.

Me and my co-workers are organizing the union because of the excessive work that happens at that hotel.

I've had to clean 18 to 22 rooms.

I hear I have proof right here.

Um we're tired of this, and we're getting together because we deserve the union.

Thank you for your support.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Marisela Castro.

I've been working at the Graduate Hotel for the past 20 years.

I'm also joining the union because there is an excessive load of work at the hotel.

Me and my co-workers, we deserve better, and that is why we're form the union, and we would love your support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, sir.

Um necessitamos la union backigam value nuestros valores y mosbor in this hotel.

Gracias.

Thank you.

Hi there, my name is Helica Salinas Chicas.

I am here because I am asking for your support in our fight for our union.

We deserve better respect, and also we're deserving um better treatment in the hotel, and that is why I'm here standing with my co-workers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll give you some time to maybe summarize if you can, since technically you're over time.

I'm not sure what's happening with the sound.

All right.

Reason why I'm fighting, it's because at work it's very excessive work.

Um I was recently given a warning for not completing some work because I was not able to finish within the amount of time.

Um I felt that that was really disrespectful, and that is one of the reasons why I'm fighting for the union.

Um I really enjoy working there, and I want to continue working there, but um, it is really the things I need to change in the hotel is the workload.

Thank you.

Okay.

Okay, so now go to speakers on oh, one more consent.

Okay.

You can ask them later.

All right.

Well, I think you want to remind us that there's earthquakes everywhere, fires everywhere, and uh we need to consider safety and and uh response times.

I'm really in support of the uh child resources and the police accountability and Berkeley Food Network.

Oh my god, please.

People are hungry.

All right, and anything to do with youth services, dogs and playgrounds.

So yeah, and then I don't understand what's going on with the social service outreach coordinator, and I understand that this isn't a response, but I'm really wanting us to choose wisely what we invest in.

Thank you.

Thanks, Maria.

And relinquishment just means we're giving it from our our different um accounts.

So all right.

Okay, so now we'll go to public comments on the consent calendar for those with their hands raised on Zoom, and the first is uh caller with a phone number ending in two one one.

So I have a very important comment about consent time item three.

Please account of anything all through the ages.

As one of the best police department all country.

Second, I'd like to bring the memory of a great police.

Um Berkeley that have uh Dash Butler.

He we had a theft in our South Francisco store of embellishment, actually, hopefully, million dollars.

It was a great because of a threatened from the criminals from jail.

And he appointed two policemen in front of our house in Uclid.

Uh we paid six thousand dollars a month, which went to the city of Berkeley, not to the policeman, uh to police men.

And uh we really have to look forward to saying the other thing a lot to Monday, please everybody walk in downtown Berkeley.

See how many stores are closed?

You are sending all of the business to land and everyone.

Let's work together.

And please give me a call.

51084850.

52 years old phone number.

Thank you.

I will call again.

Thank you.

Okay.

Next is Benito.

Yeah, hi, good evening.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay, very good.

Well, hi, good evening.

Uh, my name is Benito Delgado Olsen.

I'm the ED of Supply Bank.org.

Really just calling in to say thank you to uh all of the council members who contributed to the 16th annual uh resource fair and school supply distribution scheduled for August 8th at uh San Pablo Park.

Uh for 16 years, uh, what began as a pilot at the former South Berkeley YMCA uh now serves about 1,300 BUSD students annually.

And we really appreciate uh council member Bartlett as well as uh the mayor and council member Traegu and all the council members who have contributed and help us uh seek funds to keep this important event going for the Berkeley community.

I'm also happy to share uh that before all of your contributions this evening, uh we're at about 28,000, and our goal is 30,000.

So I'm very confident that this uh program and event will move forward.

So just thank you all so much again.

Thank you so much.

Okay, next is uh former council member Cheryl Davila.

Oh, wait a second, it jumped around.

Uh hold on, wait, all right.

Let's go.

Um hold on a second, James.

We'll we'll um to you next.

Uh former council member Cheryl Davila.

Um, yeah, so there's a lot of things on the consent calendar.

Um I guess the food network is a good thing.

And honestly, I don't even know what's on the consent calendar because I really didn't look at it, but um I'm hoping y'all do the right thing.

And it's just today I was listening to my friend talk about her trip back from Palestine, and things are just so egregious over there, and you all are just sitting there not doing anything about all the things that you could be doing for at this world in this country by passing uh resolution in support of getting a bit of apartheid in Palestine and freeing Palestine and but you're into surveillance and control and domination, but I'm praying that you all change and um things change for everyone in the city of Berkeley.

Thank you.

Thanks, Cheryl.

Next is James White.

Oh, James.

Okay.

James, raise your hand if you there you are.

Okay.

Uh go ahead, James.

Uh I'd like to say kudos to Cheryl for calling in on that important topic.

And um, kudos to your board for allowing her to speak.

Um, this is Judy Stroyer, City Council death squad.

We've been challenging boards like yours for years as genocide's been continuing and you continue to silence people.

So in this case, I um I'm happy that you're allowed to.

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

So I'd like to speak about the women um trying to do the union, and I'd like to give a thought that maybe if we could imagine a situation where um a group of white European men went to uh Honduras or Guatemala or anywhere.

This is free speech here, so please do not jump down my throat with your liberal um viewpoint uh intolerance.

Uh but imagine some white guys going to uh Guatemala and um going to a city council speaking English and one after another just like telling people that work is so hard and you know something we need more of this and like treat us like this.

Come on, man.

Seriously, there's a lot of people in this country.

Okay, and next is Todd Andrew.

I just want to say I strongly disagree with the comments, and we welcome anyone who comes to speak in any language and we'll give them time for translations.

So I wish those kinds of people would stay out of here.

I did not raise my hand for uh comment right now.

Sorry about that.

All right, I think that's our final comment on the consent calendar.

So I will come back to see if we um can approve the consent calendar.

Is their motion to approve?

So moved, second.

Can we take the role on that, please?

Uh I move to approve the consent calendar.

Councilmember Kessarwani.

Yes.

Kaplan.

Yes, Bartlett, yes, Traga.

O'Keefe, yes, Blackaby, yes, Lunapara, yes, Humber.

Yes.

And Mary Ishii.

Yes.

Okay.

Uh consent calendar has passed.

Passes.

And then just as another quick note, the um the TV has been set up in the uh gymnasium for overflow for people to watch the meeting.

Um, it's just the gymnasium is the building um next to the parking lot right there on Browning Street.

Um, so we'll let the people in line know so they can participate from there as well.

And like I said earlier, as people exit the meeting, additional people will be uh admitted into the boardroom.

Thank you very much, Mr.

City Clerk.

And so just uh so folks know where we're at.

We've just finished the consent calendar, we're moving on to the action calendar.

And um, we have item 26, which we have our staff right in front of us, and I believe you do not have a presentation, but you're here for any questions.

Is that correct?

Okay, thank you very much.

Are there any questions?

We are moving on to action calendar item 26 26, referral response, inclusionary housing in lieu fee analysis and fee update for single-family residential units.

No hands raised for any questions.

So is there any public comment for item number 26?

Anyone online?

So this is to raise your hand online if you wish to give comments on the inclusionary housing in lieu fee analysis.

Otherwise, please lower your hand.

Okay.

Uh to comment on item 26.

We have former council member Cheryl Davila.

I'm sorry, what's the name of this item?

This is for item number 26.

And if you don't have a comment on 26, I'd like to ask that you put your hand down so we can hear comments on this item only, please.

Well, um, I'm gonna make a comment on it.

Just you wouldn't tell me what it was, so I'm gonna look it up real quick.

And you took three seconds off my time last time, which was not nice, but 26.

You could have just repeated it.

Referral for response, inclusionary housing.

Yeah, inclusionary housing.

We need to have inclusionary housing.

We need to have a hundred percent affordable housing.

We don't need to have market rate, a lot of those units are empty.

People need to be able to live and stay in Berkeley at an affordable rate.

And the way things are going, black and brown people are gonna not be in Berkeley.

So that's what you need to make sure that you take the highest percentage, charge them the highest amount, not to include if they try to do the in loop fees, they should be very expensive.

Thank you for your comment.

Okay.

Next is Sarah Bell.

Hi, um uh, I assume you can hear me.

Um I am chair of the housing advisory commission, and I wanted to give uh some color on the hack recommendation on the residential unit flora area deduction.

We voted to advance the 2500 square foot exemption because that was what was studied.

Um, but a number of members of the commission thought that reducing the inlu fee by that much uh for single-family homes was too much of an exemption for them.

A brand new 2500 square foot single family home in Berkeley is a luxury.

Um, I'm getting into my personal opinion now.

Um, someone building uh one should contribute more to our housing trust fund.

Um it is my personal opinion that our housing trust fund monies um build housing for people at risk of um experiencing displacement or even homelessness, and this exemption should be eliminated for singly single family homes, um, or at least greatly reduced.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Sarah.

All right.

Next is James White.

Uh yeah, so um I think with the um I want to say that I think the comments uh were pretty racist that the fair woman was talking about.

And as a white man take offense to a brought black and brown comments.

I think that's uh pretty uh distasteful.

Excuse me, can I have a comment on item number 26?

We're taking public comment for item 26.

Yes, I do.

Um, and please don't interrupt me.

I'm I'm going to make my point, but you can't interrupt when people are making their point.

Uh the the reason why we have this problem with the housing anyway is because the boomers printed money for 20 or 30 years.

We should be looking fundamentally why our housing is unaffordable for our youth, and it's not a black and brown thing, it's a generational thing.

The boomers sold us out to the Jews, and since then we've been basically eating uh eating crap while we go to war for them over and over again.

Again, people I'm folks.

I'm very sorry for these comments.

I apologize.

Okay, next is Seth.

Hello, uh people of Berkeley.

I'm sorry for the disgraceful act of our previous speaker.

Um, I think it's really important that we start looking towards a rent-to-own model.

Um, we need some high rises built here in Berkeley.

We need, you know, 15, 20, 30 story high rises with uh rent-to-own public housing.

Uh, and we also need um, you know, any kind of job facilities and things like that in the lower level so that people can go and get services in the same building that they live in, as well as maybe a food distribution place.

So um Canada's putting this to shame.

Uh we have rampant homelessness, rampant poverty, rampant crime.

Um, you know, it's it's basically, you know, I feel like I'm living in a fetid country that is completely fallen apart and is not taking care of the poorest of the poor.

You judge a nation by how well it treats as poor people in America is abysmal.

We need public housing for all, and we also need a rent-to-owned property so that working class families can get micro loans either through the government or uh even through the landlord.

Thank you.

Next is uh Andrew Talbot.

Uh thank you for the chance to comment on this item.

Um I just wanted to mention the uh inclusionary fees, if they're unless they're funded as a subsidy, are generally just a tax on new housing, and I generally think we should be taxing uh existing housing if you want to pay for new housing uh rather than taxing new housing.

We do want new housing, we want a lot of it as much as we can.

And so um as much as we can balance those fees, um, it makes sense.

And I agree that um balancing those towards uh multifamily versus single family is a way to go if we're gonna have those fees at all.

So thank you for the comment and uh appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay, and we have um one more comment or we have Virginia Browning.

Virginia should be able to unmute last call, Virginia Let's see.

Let's try to see.

Um, can you unmute?

That's okay.

Virginia, can you hear us?

You should be able to unmute.

Oh no.

Okay.

No, it's not.

I don't think she's fully connected.

Okay, we'll have to move on.

Sorry.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

Always send your comments in writing to the council at Berkeley CA.gov and council receive your comments.

Thank you very much.

Okay, we're coming back to Council for Comments, starting with Councilmember Humbert.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, I want to thank the staff in the planning department and the city manager's office for their work on this item.

I think it's a sensible approach to ensure that the very largest single family homes are as well making a contribution to our affordable housing fund.

In my view, at least, there's very little reason for most homes to be more than 2500 square feet.

And with this approach, the size of the fee will still scale with the amount by which a single family home exceeds that level, exceeds 2500 feet.

This seems square feet.

This seems to me very fair.

And I think thank you again to all who worked on it.

I'm prepared to move it forward.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Linapara, did you have comments?

I just really wanted to thank staff for their work on this.

I um I worked on the referral to to pass this to get this done originally, and I'm I'm very thankful for all the work that has gone into it.

Thanks.

Would you perhaps like to move the item?

Yeah, I'll move the item.

Do it close a public hearing, Mayor.

Oh, thank you.

Yes.

Move to close the public hearing.

Second.

Okay.

To close the public hearing on item 26, Councilmember Kessarwani.

Yes.

Yes.

Bartlett.

Yes.

Traga.

I'll keep.

Yes.

Black Abuse.

Yes.

Lunapara.

Yes.

Humbert.

Yes.

And Mary Ishi.

Yes.

Okay.

Public hearings closed.

Okay.

Would you I'll move the item.

Second.

All right.

Can we take the role on that, please?

To approve the um resolution amending the inclusionary housing fee.

Um councilmember Kessarwani.

Yes.

Taplin.

Bartlett.

Yes.

Traga.

Aye.

Yes.

O'Keefe?

Yes.

Blackaby.

Yes.

Yes.

Humbert.

Yes.

And thank you also to Councilmember Lunapara.

And Mayor Ishi.

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Motion carries.

Thank you very much to our staff.

Thank you for being here and for being available for questions and your work.

Okay.

Great.

We are moving on to item 27, which is the referral to schedule Hopkins Street for paving with enhanced safety improvements for all users.

So the way that this is gonna go, since I'm guessing all of the rest of you are here for this item, um, is that we are gonna have a presentation um by the author of the item, Councilmember Kesslerwani, and then we will have presentations by the rest of the council members who have supplementals.

And then we are gonna take any questions from council members, and then we will move to public comment.

Um, as in the past, if you have a small child with you or a child with you, um, I will allow you to come to the head of the line so that you may take them home for dinner or bedtime, etc.

And then likely at some point we will need to take a break, and we will continue to do the comments, and then uh we will come back to do council comments and our votes.

Is it anything?

Okay, I think that's everything.

All right, very good.

So, and and one thing else I want to say.

If you cannot stay and you still want to make sure that you give some kind of comment, feel free to email it to us.

Um, if you give your comment and you're thinking about, you know, maybe heading out and watching from home, please do so that way we can allow folks who are in the overflow room to come in and be able to give their comment.

So I just ask that when you've kind of finished, if you can watch it home, that you allow others to give their comment here in person.

Okay, passing it on to Councilmember Kessarwani.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.

I uh I want to begin by thanking interim public works director Wahid Amiri, who I know is online, and the public works team, fire chief Sprague and City Manager Paul Budenhagen for their work and helping us get to this point tonight.

I also want to thank my co-sponsors, uh Mayor uh Adina Ishi and Councilmember Mark Humbert on this item.

I also want to thank every member of the public who has engaged on this topic.

And I want to say something that may surprise some people.

The emails from District One and from across the city have actually been pretty evenly split between support and opposition.

That tells me this is a genuinely contested question in our community, and I have tried to take all of those voices seriously.

I want to acknowledge up front that this item does represent an unprecedented change in how the public right of way is used in a residential neighborhood.

Hopkins Street has been recommended as a low stress east-west connector route in Berkeley's bicycle plan, and it is a documented high injury corridor.

The proposed safety treatments in this item are not arbitrary.

They are directly informed by where people have been killed and severely injured on this street.

A pedestrian was killed at Hopkins and Monterey in April 2017.

Four cyclists suffered severe injuries on Hopkins at Carlotta, Monterey, the Alameda, and Albina between April 2016 and November 2023.

A pedestrian suffered a severe injury at Hopkins and Peralta in June 2021.

The median age of those killed or severely injured on this corridor is 67 and a half years old.

These are our neighbors, our seniors, our community members.

This is also a corridor home to King Middle School, the North Branch Library, and multiple preschools.

It is a street that children walk and bike to every day.

All of us deserve a safer street.

To get into the details of this item, this item asks the city manager to repave Hopkins Street from Sutter Street to San Pablo Avenue with enhanced safety features for all users.

Specifically, the item directs staff to design one way class four separated bikeways that is physically protected bike lanes on each side of Hopkins from the Alameda to Peralta Avenue, essentially the Allone Greenway.

This configuration was considered to be the safest by our public works staff because it allows cyclists to travel in the same direction as adjacent vehicle traffic, reducing conflicts at intersections.

The item also calls for class two buffered green painted bike lanes from Sutter Street to the Alameda, similar to what we have on Monterey Avenue, traffic calming features west of Peralta Avenue to Stanage Avenue, a raised intersection at Hopkins and Monterey, California for pedestrian safety, bus boarding islands at AC Transit stops, and a comprehensive curb management plan to address parking, loading zones, ADA spaces, and waste collection needs.

Critically, the item also requires outreach to businesses, schools, houses of worship, and residents as staff develop the detailed engineering design if this item is approved tonight.

Because we want that design to be responsive to the operational needs of everyone along this corridor.

I also want to note that three years ago, fire department concerns were among the reasons this project was paused.

At the April meeting of the facilities infrastructure, transportation, environment, and sustainability council policy committee, Fire Chief Sprague's department confirmed that bike safety infrastructure on Hopkins retains workable emergency access.

That is a significant development that made this item possible.

Finally, the pavement condition of Hopkins Street is unacceptable.

Two segments are rated failed, eight more are rated poor.

The street has been waiting for repaving for years, and it is critical, I think, that the council provide direction tonight so that our public works staff can move forward.

The time to act is now, while Hopkins is already scheduled for repaving in fiscal year 2028.

I look forward to hearing from the public tonight, and I look forward to the discussion with my colleagues.

Before I fully wrap up, I would like to share screen and just show a couple of really minor amendments.

Sure, and um just so you know, you're on here twice if you want to.

Oh, I'm on twice.

If you want to turn off your video on your computer.

Okay, but I I'm gonna need that to share, right?

Uh, you don't need to see have your video on if you want to just let's just do that.

Okay, well, I like to be just in case.

Up to you.

Okay, I'm gonna make this bigger.

I think this is the right version.

So, okay.

So I understand there was a lot of um, I think um reasonable fear about this bullet related to removal of trees.

And I just want to be clearer.

I think one of the most beautiful aspects of Hopkins Street is the tree canopy from McGee to the Alameda.

And I and my co-sponsors had I don't think Councilmember O'Keefe, none of us ever had an intention of destroying that.

And so I I was thinking of a different tree, which is also a problem.

So, in any case, we we just want to make this language um better aligned to what our expectation is.

So we are deleting that bullet, and we are suggesting the the new language that you see here, assess street trees along the corridor with arborist input and determine minimally invasive appropriate treatments if old street trees are intruding into the usable street with impacting storm drainage.

So you know, we may we can look at potentially trimming routes and things like that.

So we just want to make that clear.

And then in the past, when we have talked about Hopkins, there has been a place making piece.

Uh so we want to make clear that placemaking can be considered based on available funds after prioritizing paving and safety infrastructure.

So we've added that, and then finally, uh, just to be very clear, we we are stating that this referral supersedes all other prior council action related to the design of Hopkins Street.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um, I want to pass it over to Vice Mayor O'Keefe to give her presentation um next, since your districts are both um connected.

So thank you.

And actually, um, I don't have my screen sharing set up.

Council Member Castarani, would you mind sharing your screen um with mine on it?

Would you do me that solid?

Thank you.

Um I I can I'll I can talk, I'm not gonna talk about the text of it just yet, but I I will get to that.

Um I just want to make a brief statement about where I'm coming from.

Um well I'll I'll start by just summarizing.

My supplemental um removes the uh it keeps almost all the elements in place, but it removes the class four uh protected bike lane.

That's the primary change.

Um a reason for this is I do not believe uh separated bike lane is necessary here.

Um there are other options for bicycle safety and providing access for that area that may not be as appealing.

They grant that as the protected bike lane for cyclists, but given the trade-offs required, um the it's more appropriate to have a different different kinds of um bike infrastructure.

I'm primarily concerned about the loss of parking spaces required by their proposal, namely 100% of the parking between McGee and Peralta um slash Loney Greenway.

That's the projection, and we'll hear from staff about that to be able to comment on that more.

But that's the current projection, and also um approximately one-third of the parking east of McGee.

So that would be, I think it would be the north side of Hopkins would lose all of its parking as well.

I believe that this loss of parking would have a severe detrimental impact to the merchants as well as to the people who use cars, who are many and who rely on this area, not just for shopping, but also for exercise at the track and the pool and recreation.

Many of the people who use these facilities are older people, disabled people, and people with small children.

And I have to speak up for those people, and I have to protect their access to these facilities.

My no thank you.

But it's better if we can if we could all just um say our pieces, I think that would be wonderful.

And then you we we're looking forward to hearing from everybody.

Um so my supplemental um does keep the paving and pedestrian improvements.

Paving is obviously necessary, and I think that was very well laid out by Councilmember Cassarwani, so I won't repeat that.

I agree with that.

I want the street to be paved, I want the pedestrian improvements, it is a dangerous corridor for pedestrians.

Um both of these are needed, and so we keep that, and we just make the major change of changing the um the bicycle infrastructure, so that the parking with the goal of the parking loss being minimized.

Um so just to get into some details, thank you very much for sharing the screen.

So you can see this this change here, it just takes out the class four bike lane and just says refer to pave the street.

And then as we go down.

Can you go down?

Thanks.

Appreciate it.

Um these changes just once again they're um enacting that.

And I do want to read this paragraph here.

From McGee to San Pablo, so that's where the um that's starting um where the street narrows.

If you're heading west on the street, it narrows at McGee.

And so starting at that portion all the way down to um to Stanage.

Um, I'm sorry, this is just adjusting her language.

Um, okay, so incorporate class three bicycle infrastructure, which is a shareow, which I know is not very popular, but that is the only real way to incorporate um bicycle infrastructure without losing parking.

However, I did include this language that um I wanted to provide flexibility.

So it says um, and or alternative bicycle safety improvements, staff recommends that do not require the removal of parking spaces.

There have been some designs floating around by not by city staff, but by other other people who um who have training and engineering, where actually it's possible we could widen the street or we can do different things, and I really wanted to provide staff with the flexibility to be more creative because I understand that shareos are not are not popular, and if we could do something better than that without losing parking, I would be okay with that.

So we included that language to provide that flexibility.

And then if you could scroll down a bit more.

Thank you.

The rest these that is just I don't think the bus boarding islands are necessary without the class four bike lane, so I removed that.

And then if you scroll down just more, there's two more things that I want to highlight.

Thank you.

Um, I wanted to also pair this with um a referral to actually implement Rose Street as a bicycle boulevard.

It is marked as a bicycle boulevard on the bicycle plan.

It is not one right now, it is just a regular street if you drive it.

There's no bicycle boulevard infrastructure on it.

But I do agree that we should have better bicycle access to this area, and I think we already have a plan in place to do that, and so I'd like to move forward with that.

Bicycle boulevards are a really underutilized way of getting safe bicycle infrastructure.

We have a lot of streets in Berkeley.

A lot of them don't need high traffic, and we can take streets and we can make them into a very practically their own bike lane by just limiting traffic.

And you can limit traffic by putting up very cheap, relatively concrete barriers and um and roundabouts.

There's a lot of relatively inexpensive interventions that you can make on existing streets parallel to busy streets.

That is such a better policy that I want to pursue that instead of this.

So that's my proposal for addressing what I know is not a satisfactory um bike um bike infrastructure for Benny.

So I think we should pursue a bicycle boulevard along Rose, which is once again already in the bike plan.

And then lastly, um, this is important.

I want everybody to understand this language because I would hope that all of us would be willing to incorporate this language in in our proposals.

Um we all saw the cost estimates, which are huge, as much as 20 million dollars, perhaps for this project.

And our FF budget is only 15 million.

So that when I saw that, I got very concerned that this project, no matter what the outcome of this meeting tonight, um, I got very concerned that it wouldn't be possible to implement it at all because it's just too big.

So I wanted to add this language that would give city staff the option to break it up into pieces and maybe do some of it one year and some of it another year.

Because the most important thing to me is that the dang street gets paved.

It has been languishing for too long.

We have to, if we don't manage to pave the street in the next five years, we have absolutely failed you all.

So I put in this language to maximize the chances of it actually getting done.

Um I think that's it.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for your help, Councilman Professor Warren.

I'm going to pass it over to Councilmember Taplin to present his supplemental, and then we will go online to allow Councilmember Blackaby to present.

Oh no, yeah, you can stop screen.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and good evening, everybody.

I like to thank my co-sponsor, Council Rubinapata, as well as Councilmember Kaserwani and her co-sponsors, Mary Ishii and Council More Hubbard.

As I poured over the torrent of emails we received, urging the repaving of Hopkins with pedestrian bicycle and transit improvements.

I was especially moved by the testimony of West Berkeley families detailing the dangerous conditions they risk on their commute to Ruth Octy Elementary, King Middle School, North Branch Library, and King Pool and Shops and Hopkins.

Given the collaborative effort between the City of Berkeley and the Alameda County Transportation Commission to add bicycle boulevard to San Juan Avenue as part of the San Pablo Corridor Parallel Bike Improvements Project, I am proposing that we send the one-way protected bike lanes from Pralto Avenue at the Owen Greenway to Stanish Avenue.

And so doing, the city would create a low-stress bikeway connection on Hopkins and Stanage and advance the citywide low stress bikeway network of the 2026 bicycle plan update recommends.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Backabee.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Um, like Councilmember Ro Keefe, I'll make a short statement and then I'll share my screen, show my supplemental.

Um, I want to thank as well uh Councilmember Kessarwani and O'Keefe for bringing forward the original Hopkins item and restarting the process that brings us to today.

I'd also like to thank Council uh Councilmember Bartlett for co-sponsoring the supplemental that we're presenting now.

Um, as we all know, Hopkins Street is a vibrant commercial district that's frequented by thousands of Berkeley residents every day.

People shopping for groceries, grabbing coffee, picking up lunch or dinner, browsing for plants for their homes or gardens, swimming, attending birthday parties, running on the track, dropping off kids at soccer practice, going to church, attending school, and so much more.

These represent people of all ages, from kids to seniors, using all modes of transport, driving, walking, biking, folks who are disabled, and those who aren't.

Lots of people visit Hopkins, including 20,000 or more Berkeley residents who live in the 1700-foot-high Berkeley Hills that starts just steps away from the eastern end of Hopkins.

Most of those folks can't just bike home, don't have access to reliable public transportation, and must drive to and from Hopkins, many of whom have been in fact doing this for decades.

Many of these people are my constituents, some of them are Council Member O'Keeffe's and others.

And these people would be negatively impacted by the significant parking loss in the item that we're considering tonight.

So, given the complexity of the current situation and all of the equities we're trying to balance, I respectfully suggest that council would be well served to seriously consider multiple options before settling on one.

My item simply would refer to staff the development of two alternatives for consideration.

One is the current plan put forth by Councilmember Kessarwani, centered around the Class 4 protected bike lanes along most of Hopkins that would eliminate more than half the parking spots in the corridor, 145 at our last estimate.

And the second direction would be an alternative plan that retains parking for as many residents as possible who travel to and from Hopkins by car, while expanding the potential solution space just a bit to think not just about Hopkins, but also Hopkins Ada and Rose Streets together as potential pathways for bicycle infrastructure.

After all, we're really talking about trying to do several things all at once here.

We're trying to figure out how to keep and expand access to Hopkins for all Berkeley residents, how to maintain the vibrancy of the businesses and community spaces there, how to improve safety for all in this corridor, how to connect North Berkeley and West Berkeley for bicyclists, and how to do all of this as cost-effectively as possible.

Respectfully, I think we would be better able to evaluate whether a protected bike lane all the way from the Alameda to Gilman along Hopkins is the right solution if we look at it side by side with the best possible alternative.

This is not an easy possible puzzle to solve, but we do have a very capable and accomplished public works staff that is well equipped to help us solve it.

And I think we should give them a chance.

Working with the fire department, they've cleared sight lines, they've slowed traffic up and down the hill.

Having reviewed results to date, they're looking further to improve safety.

They're now in the process of converting four three-way stops into four-way stops, knocking on a giant amount of wood.

They've seriously improved safety all along Marin Avenue with no serious incidents since implementation.

So let's give Jamie and Wahid and our public works team a chance.

Let's also try to find a way to bring our community together around a solution here.

Bring down the temperature a bit, improve safety for everyone, strengthen the vitality of this treasured neighborhood, and do it cost effectively.

Let me just say I have the utmost respect for all of the advocates of the plan and Councilmember Kessarwani's item.

These people, I I know many of them.

They have the best interests of our community at heart.

I respect their advocacy advocacy so much.

Safety for all users of our streets is one of the top priorities in our city.

But as city council members, our job is to balance all the interests and equities at play here.

While many bicyclists support protected bike lanes, we've heard from many others who don't.

There's clearly not only one right way to do this.

I think development of a second balanced alternative will give us the best chance to hold the two plans up against each other and multiple ultimately make them the best decision either way by having fully considered all the options presented by staff.

So let me very briefly I'll share my screen with the language from the supplemental, which is here.

Um it's basically just an amendment, uh, like council member O'Keefe as an amendment to Councilmember Castrowani's item, um, which basically moves that we we do want to move forward the repaving.

We want to refer to staff the development of two alternate plans for repaving Hopkins enhanced safety through the Hopkins Ada Rose corridor.

We do need BFD to review and approve both plans as the prior BFD approval refers to two previous options.

One this the alternative on the table tonight has not been approved by BFD.

Um we need to coordinate with AC Transit on bus stops and traffic calming measures.

And as Councilmember O'Keefe indicated, this this request and the resulting plans would supersede the conceptual design approved by council in 2022.

Then we'd ask uh staff to return to council for final direction before developing the detailed engineering plan.

Um so again, alternative one is as current.

Alternative two, as I've laid it out, would uh ask for staff to have time to give maximum flexibility, develop a balanced comprehensive plan for the corridor, uh, minimize parking loss, and the key principles here is consider implementation of class two or class four bike lanes only where parking loss is less than 15 percent.

Um, expedite the study and implementation of safety enhancements on Rose and Or ADA as part of a more comprehensive plan.

I think there are multiple ways to get bicycles in and out of this area that don't just rely on Hopkins, uh pedestrian safety, slowing vehicle speeds by using traffic calming, curb management plan to manage parking and so on.

So that's that's the item is to add the the ask for for basically the second plan.

So in closing, let me just say um the question to me is not whether or not we support bicycle and pedestrian safety as a city, because we do.

In fact, we've approved and implemented safety projects all across Berkeley.

The question is what is the appropriate treatment for this particular corridor, given its many users and uses?

And I think we could benefit from more staff input before we make such a momentous decision.

I'll add that given that any Hopkins project is likely a multi-year effort, as Councilmember uh O'Keefe suggested.

I'd also support a plan tonight that begins paving on segments where we can reach agreement right away.

And I think there might be some where we could do that.

So we could begin the paving process and then focus staff's attention on preparing an alternative for consideration addresses the remaining street segments, especially in that narrow area uh in the Hopkins commercial district.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Did you have a question, Councilmember Trap?

I have questions whenever there's time.

Okay.

So I think everyone has now presented their supplemental and the original item.

So we are moving on to questions.

Go ahead.

Uh thank you, madam mayor.

Uh, this first set of questions um is it's for staff, I believe.

Is staff available to answer questions?

Staff's available.

They're all everybody's all loved.

Great.

Oh I think uh thank you so much.

Uh I want to better understand how uh these proposals align with the recently adopted 2026 bike plan and other relevant planning documents.

Do I understand correctly that Hopkins from solder to Monterey is designated as class two bicycle infrastructure and from Monterey to Gilman as class three?

Sorry, who are you asking this question to?

Uh, this is for staff.

For staff, we have our interim director of public works, Wahaeira Miri who can feel that.

Yeah.

Good evening, um, mayor, council members, Waheed Amiri Dim Director Public Works.

I also have staff available with me.

Um, Mark Helmberg, our transportation manager will field that question.

You got specific there about the bike plan.

The bike plans identified as a complete streets corridor study.

And the actual designations there.

I'm going through the bike plan to get to the underlying information.

Give me a minute.

It's gonna take me a few.

I have five minutes worth of questions.

I will I have more questions probably, but I'm limiting them to within the five-minute allowment.

Okay.

Um can I maybe ask fire a question in the meantime?

Yeah.

Great.

Um what is the fire department's position on the various alternatives before us?

And um are are you at this point able to say that you're comfortable with the range of options being considered?

So FIRE has reviewed and approved the traffic counting features in the Hopkins alternative one and two that were run into fights.

Um we also generally have confirmed that lane widths uh that we understand in this new alternative that are either 11 or 10 and a half feet are acceptable.

Um for the new proposed configuration that you're discussing tonight.

Um we have not there is not a design yet, so we have not seen that, we have not reviewed it, and we would need a complete design set from public works.

Once that's available, we can evaluate folks.

Please don't analyze potential impacts to evacuation times and confirm that the design maintains workable access for day-to-day fire and medical emergencies.

Does that answer your question, Councilmember?

Yes, thank you.

Um for Mark, um, are you ready?

Yeah, um, it does call for a complete streets corridor study.

And from looking at it's get it up from Monterey to Sutter.

It is bike lane class two is the underlying to the figure.

Oh my goodness.

And from Monterey to Gilman.

It has it under the underlying is bike route class three, but the whole thing is recommended to look at and study uh class four cycle tracks.

Okay, thank you.

Um I did notice that Hopkins was not identified in the Plan Bay Area 2050 plus as either a priority development area corridor for cycle track or as an equity priority community, and that the combined 2022 outreach comment density map shows Hopkins received um one of the lower numbers of public comments during the bike plan process, at least at the time.

Uh so could could you broadly explain how this proposal or these proposals align with the recently adopted bike plan, the city's plotter bicycle network priorities and other planning documents?

Um I just uh and I will just have try to say I I I support Lee, you know, approving something today, but I I'm just trying to understand uh the general alignment with the broader vision of where the city is going.

Can you ask the question again, council member?

Yeah.

Sure.

Is he asking?

How does it how do these like Hopkins?

How does um uh low stress bike infrastructure along the Hopkins corridor align with the recently adopted bike plan?

The city's water bicycle network priorities and other planning documents.

Um I will note the project prioritization corridors and the bike plan appear to prioritize woes ahead of Hopkins in tier one and two.

So I just wanted to try to understand how all of this clears.

Yeah, so Hopkins is identified in the in the 2026 bike plan as uh to be studied as part of the low stress network.

So that is in the plan.

Um the complete street studies uh typically are looking at both on corridor and adjacent to the corridor.

Um so we do both of those as part of a complete street study when we we move those forward.

Um you know the bike plan sees Hopkins as part of the citywide bicycle network, and it shows up on the on all of the mapping in the bike plan, and so it is looking for cycling infrastructure to be on Hopkins.

Is that fair?

Yeah, sounds good to me.

Uh um I think this um I think uh this next question is for Council Member Kesravani.

Um I appreciate your work on this proposal.

Uh can you speak to how in your evaluation of this proposal um we can uh ensure convenient access for seniors and people with disabilities, um, the ones that um are not able to depend on uh a bike or able to walk.

Um as part of the um parking demand management uh is uh I I was just there.

I noticed there were some four-hour uh designated parking spots.

Um I was wondering if those are some of the ones maybe in under consideration for a shorter period of time.

Thank you, council member.

So, you know, I I first want to say, you know, our community is very diverse, and we want to make sure that this plan meets the needs of everyone, and so to your question about seniors and people with disabilities, when we develop this comprehensive curb management plan, we want to make sure we have the adequate ADA parking spaces uh close to the shops and and close to the track, um loading zones.

I uh you're not asking about businesses, so I won't get into that, but but um we want to make sure that um people with mobility issues can continue to access the commercial district and part of having the ADA spaces close to the businesses and looking at metering elsewhere, and and and by the way, when you create the bike lane that's safe, all of a sudden people who were driving before can now get there without the need to park.

So we are expecting that with all of that excuse me with all of no booing, please that we will continue to may maintain strong access for uh people with disabilities with the the ADA spaces, and and by the way, you know, I I go to the Hopkins corridor regularly.

Uh I I think there is a lack of the ADA spaces right now, and so part of what this item will do is make sure that we have that access moving forward.

Thank you.

Um I wanted to ask staff um if these uh proposed designs have been coordinated with AC transit or east Bay Paratransit.

Um and if not, that's perfectly fair because this is a referral.

Um I'm just wondering uh at what like whether for something to move forward tonight, um how would that coordination take place?

So council oh go for it, Paul.

These proposed designs have not been coordinated with AC Transit yet.

Should something move forward, that would be a part of what staff does.

Okay.

Um what metrics will the city use to determine whether the project is successful and meets its objectives following implementation shorter term and longer?

So similar to how we track and gauge other CIPs and projects, council member, we'll do pre and post studies.

Although we don't have uh great data currently, we have data from a few years ago.

As part of the process, we will do our best to gather information, do the curbside park and management analysis along with other engineering and operational studies, and then from there we can set our metrics.

And we will do a post analysis similar to what we're planning to do for Morin, Adelaide and other areas that we've uh brought in safety measures or infrastructure to see what we've done good, where things we need to tweak for the future, so we have a good lesson learned type of a protocol.

So that's how we'll address that.

Thank you.

Uh almost done.

Um between 2011 and 2026, the report states that there were 46 pedestrian and bicycle crashes along the Hopkins corridor, resulting in three fatalities, five suspected serious injuries, 20 suspected minor injuries, 13 possible injuries, and five unspecified injuries.

Uh, could staff explain what is meant by those injury classifications and how they're determined.

Good question.

Uh Mark and I were looking at this a few minutes ago.

So I'll hand it over to him.

He'll he'll uh yield this question.

There we go.

Um those are determined by Berkeley Police Department.

Um so um as part of their crash analysis and doing police reports associated with crashes, uh, they characterize the results of those crashes and they get loaded up uh into sweaters um and then end up on the um Berkeley Police Transparency Hub.

Okay.

Uh I think those are all my questions.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Vice Mayor O'Keefe.

How did I become next?

Thank you.

Did you have questions?

Yeah, of course.

Um just a couple.

Um thank you so much, all of you for being here.

Uh, my first a couple of them were uh already asked by Councilmember Trigo, so I appreciate that.

Um for um interim director Amiri.

Um have you uh consulted the zero waste department?

And are there any concerns regarding um how a garbage truck might access the plan the um Councilmember Kessar Wadi's item?

Yes, we have as part of the uh assessment, uh I did touch base with our zero waste leadership and um with the separated cycle track, um, we envisioned that we'll have 10 and a half or at some locations with wider crypto curve allowance, we'll have 11 feet travel lanes.

As I've said before, um it it allows us for vehicles for throughput, um, again, sometimes calculated depending on you know, if it's a bus next to uh zero waste vehicle or a fire truck, so it will have to be calculated movement, but operationally there are challenges.

Uh throughput is one thing, but to be able to use our um vehicles and uh in our operation, we do need to look at that in a deeper fashion during detailed design.

So we know there are going to be challenges, but uh the specific challenges hasn't been uh identified.

All we know is that there will be operational challenges.

So just to make sure I understand you, is it are you saying that there could be challenges if a bus happened to come in one direction while the garbage truck was on the street?

Given the lane uh dimension, they would have to maneuver in a calculated manner just to make sure that there's no issues.

So again, we do feel it's it's safer, 10 and a half feet to some areas of 11 feet wide is much safer to than the original 10 that we were seeing flying around the community and some designs, but nevertheless, some chassis and and some of the larger vehicles with the side uh mirrors, they go a little bit above and beyond 10 feet.

So, yes, depending on the driver, the skill sets, the environment, which it will require some level of calculations, you know, maneuvering past each other.

Great, thank you very much.

Um, and I want to just say, um, Director Amiri, that I I know I understand it's really we're gonna ask you a lot of really detailed questions, and I just want to say just to acknowledge for you and and for the public that they have not done detailed design drawings, and so it is very difficult to answer these questions.

And so I just want to say I really appreciate you doing your best to give us the information that you can, but I I understand that it's it's hard until you've done the detailed drawings that you cannot do until we give you directions.

So I appreciate you working with us.

Um next question has there been any sort of parking study or analysis of how the parking loss might affect um the merchants or access to the facilities at the park.

We have not done that assessment that will be part of the curb side uh management assessment and outreach that hopefully be part of whatever option uh council directs us to pursue.

But we have uh conducted visual conceptual based on site visits just to uh again uh get a better understanding between the one-sided south side dual cycle track compared to separated cycle track, what that means and between the two, given the framework that protected bike lanes is uh uh the driving criteria, what design would save the most curbside parking?

That we have done on a conceptual level, but to your question, council member, we have not done any detailed walking, talking and actual simulation or any engineering assessment for uh anything further.

That will be part of it.

Once we get direction, uh then absolutely we will go through the motions.

Of course, yeah, thank you.

But you just wanted to clarify you don't have that, and this isn't a criticism, just trying to understand what we don't we don't know.

You um you you don't yet know how the parking loss, you know what the parking loss would be approximately, but you don't know how it would affect the the area.

Is that correct?

Okay, because we have not done outreach to any of the businesses again.

Our assessment and high-level conceptual feedback was just based on eyeballing it, making some measurements because we had uh a lot of requests and we were doing our best to be able to give some conceptual feedback in a timely manner.

Yeah, you're doing your best.

I understand once again, it's not a criticism that you don't have.

Yeah.

Um, so thank you very much.

Um changing topics a little bit, um regarding, you know, I mentioned bicycle boulevards in my presentation.

Could you say just um, you know, in a most general sense, what types of if you were to develop rows as a bicycle boulevard, what types of interventions would that typically entail?

I'm not asking you for a recommendation officially, just what would it look like in terms and I'll I'll defer this to our bicycle guru Mark Helmberg, but in terms of uh bicycle boulevard or protected uh bike lanes that that will uh drive how we answer the question, council member.

I guess I'm wondering um if you were to follow the direction in my supplemental, which says um go forward with the uh recommendation in the bike plan to turn Rose into a bicycle boulevard, what would that look like on a general high level?

Sure, I'll hand over to Mark, but just in general, obviously we'll look at vertical deflection for traffic calming.

What is vertical deflection?

Can you uh our uh speed cushions that is you know part of our toolbox now, which again it's spaced out, and we've done some uh live test runs with our colleagues at the fire department to make sure it's uh more friendlier to the fire engines and BC transit, and then from there we'll also lower the speed limits.

There's other traffic calming measures that we have in our toolbox that we would implement along the corridor to make sure that it qualifies and the conditions for successful bicycle boulevard is present.

With that, I'm gonna also hand it to our bicycle guru, as I said, Mark Helmbrick, if he wants to add anything else.

That's exactly right.

Well, he um uh the other thing is the current volume on rows is above the volume that we try to achieve on bicycle boulevards, so we would likely have diverters, at least one somewhere along rows to lower the total volume of traffic uh along rows, and like Wahib was saying, we need to bring the the speeds down slightly, uh, and then we'd be looking at uh options under AB43 to potentially uh lower the speed limit.

So great.

So slower traffic and a lot less of it.

Great, thank you.

That is the goal.

Yes, always.

Um what is and um I'm asking you this question because I believe you've already done this calculation.

Um, otherwise I wouldn't put you on the spot with this.

But what is the approximate?

And once again, I know that your cost, you can say your disclaimer if you need to, but I know your cost estimates are very um very general and your best guess, and they could change.

So I I do understand that.

But given that, what is the approximate cost differential between um my supplemental, which just has um a class two painted bike lane from Sutter to McGee and then Cheros from McGee to San Pablo?

Um versus Kesserwani's item.

What what is the cost differential there?

Um right off the top of my head.

Um three it'll be close to five, five, six million between the two.

And that again is for this uh concrete separation and some other mess lines, and again, but with between both of those, I'm taking out the placemaking uh element as well as part of that.

The GI is consistent no matter GI meaning the green infrastructure needs, is consistent and is mandatory no matter what alternative council directs us to pursue.

Right, it's a matter of state law, is that correct?

Yes, it's per our permit, and that's something that uh is a mandatory.

Yeah, it is good for the environment, so it's not we don't have to be so sad about it, but it is expensive.

Um expensive but good.

Yes, great.

Councilmember, can I just ask how many more questions you have?

I know there are many children, and I'd like to get to their comments too.

Okay, and I I appreciate your indulgence because this is as you know, this is this is my district, so I do I actually have more questions, but I've chosen just these ones.

Um second to last question.

Do you have any data on um bike usage around the city or specifically in this area?

Does public works keep track of that?

We have some data from 2022 that Mark analyzed.

So I'm gonna hand it over to him.

Uh, I believe our consultant at the time uh analyzed an intersection for bicyclists, vehicles, and also pedestrians.

So uh with that I'm gonna hand it to Mark to give you the numbers.

Uh questions.

The 2022 um analysis included uh traffic counts and pedestrian counts and bicycle counts at Monterey and Hopkins performed by uh the consultant parametrics.

And at that time they took both weekday and weekend counts.

They had a Tuesday, Thursday, and a Saturday count.

Um smooshing those kind of numbers together, roughly the numbers were, and these were 12-hour counts, so 7 a.m.

in the morning till seven o'clock at night, roughly 300 bicyclists a day, roughly 3,000 pedestrians a day during those 12-hour periods, and 8,500 vehicles during that period.

So those were the gross numbers kind of like synopsis.

Other than that, there's older counts um uh down at Sacramento that had average daily traffic around 8500, so fairly consistent there.

Um and then it the the counts and the data get older and older.

So I don't I don't want to go too far afield.

And what about um this is a related to the first question?

Um I was curious about that, and also do you keep track of how how much our other bicycle infrastructure is utilized, like for instance when we like the bike lane on Milvia or the bike lane on um Bancroft?

Do you do you keep track of that?

I don't need a full accounting, I just curious if you have some general numbers that you could share with us.

I know those upcoming.

I know we haven't done this since um are collected by the go ahead.

Uh Professor UC Berkeley that takes a uh as a class that takes annual bike counts, and we have we have those.

I can share those data with uh council.

I don't have those at my fingertips.

Okay.

But but we are looking at infrastructure because that's something I've heard many times, and I know uh funding is tight, but for example, at the Delaware crossing that we implemented the race crosswalks and the auto detection, we were looking to see if we can get counters as well, too.

So, but that's something that public works is looking into when funding is available.

So similar to how we're looking where we can improve as far as our our safety projects or CIP pre and post implementation, we would like to, as part of any future project to be able to collect the data so that way we have data and facts to talk about and not assumptions and predictions.

That would be, yeah, I support that, not to get too editorial right now, but that's that's wonderful.

I would I wish we had more data.

And once again, not a criticism.

I'm glad you're working on it.

Okay.

Um, and last question: have we ever removed all of the parking from such a long segment of any road in Berkeley before?

Not that I have read on or experienced.

I think the closest is Dane and Milbia, from what I can recall.

How long a segment is that?

Mark, do you know?

Is it like one walk or four blocks?

Moving once uh all along Berkeley High, essentially, although there's you know bus stops in there.

Um and then the Dana runs essentially bank rough to Dwight.

Can you remove all the parking from that?

Durant or Dwight, that's a two-block difference.

Anyway, it's it's it's okay.

I don't we don't need to get into the details too much, but um I was just curious if we had an experience with this type of this type of change.

It seems it seems very dramatic to me.

So I was curious about that.

I will um I do have another minute left, so if I think of any more questions, I might flag you down, but for now I can stop.

Okay, thank you.

So um, I do want to take a pause on our questions and allow the our younger members of the audience.

We've got some children here to give their public comments so that they can go and have bedtime.

So um if you have a small child, um please come up to give your public comment.

And there are some children that are also outside, so I'm hoping that we can have them give their public comment.

You can cycle out, other folks can give their public comments.

And and another thing I want to say is that um we have so many speakers here this evening.

We are gonna limit our public comment to three hours.

That will be two hours in person and one hour online.

So um, if you are here with a child and would like to give a public comment, please come up, and then we will come back.

And Councilmember Bacabi, you are first for questions.

Come on up, whenever you're ready.

Hi there.

Uh my name is Justin McAdams.

Uh, I'm a resident in the neighborhood up near North Berkeley Bart.

Um, this is my daughter Natalie, she's seven.

Natalie goes to Ruth Acty Elementary.

She will go to King Middle.

Um, she grew up in Berkeley, she learned to ride her bike here.

We love to ride our bike all over uh North Berkeley and elsewhere.

We take the greenway up to Solano Avenue, down to Strawberry Creek Park.

Um, but one area that we would love to go that I won't let Natalie ride her bike to is up to the North Branch Library.

We we're there at least once a week.

Uh and every time we go there, we have to drive.

Um, it is really scary riding a bike up Hopkins.

Um if we do that, she I make her ride on the sidewalk or I ride in the middle of the street because drivers there are not safe.

Um, it is very scary.

Uh and so we ask the the council to vote yes on uh Councilman Caserwani's uh proposal.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Naomi Schiffman.

Um, this is Dahlia.

Um we live in Westbury.

Um, and one of the reasons I was so excited to live and be able to raise our family in Berkeley is for the bikeability for the accessibility.

Um, and it's just been heartbreaking over the past eight years to watch as we have just been unable to implement this plan for so many reasons.

It feels like bureaucratic warfare at this point.

Nope, um, to reopen this um and to continue doing more studies and more thinking and more debating, like we've done it.

We've done it, we've had the conversations.

Let's just implement this and move on.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Shh, folks, please excuse me, that's really inappropriate.

You're yelling at a small child.

Go ahead.

Uh hi.

So uh a lot of us are here tonight for a very simple reason.

Uh, we want our kids to be able to get to school and to move around the city safely and independently.

Um, and we think that that matters more than maximizing street parking.

I'm thinking, of course, about my kids, but also about the kids in West Berkeley and South Berkeley, who a few years ago might have gone to Longfellow, but because of our progressive values, we now force them to go to MLK.

We are progressive enough to make them go across town.

Does that progressive as does that progressivism end as it so often does when a driver is inconvenienced?

Rose Street is not an alternative.

It is too steep.

It is a cut through between SAC and MLK, and it is busiest right when people are going to and from school.

It is not an alternative, it is an excuse.

So I'm out of time.

Do the right thing.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Hi, Council members.

My name is Daniel Cheng.

I go to the Evangel Bible Church of Berkeley on uh Hopkins and Ordway, and my daughter Evelyn, who's nine, she has a few words to say.

Hello, my name is Evelyn, and my family and I attend Evangel Bible Church of Berkeley and Hopkins Street.

If you build a bike lane on Hopkins Street, then all of our parking in front of church will be gone.

The moms at the church will need to carry their babies for blocks, and it will be tiring for them.

Please vote no for bike lanes on Hopkins Street.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Chris.

I've been a resident of Berkeley for 15 years.

My daughters are uh three and a half and one and a half, and I expect they'll probably be walking and biking in school before I'm ready for it.

Uh I've spoken in support of Hopkins safety improvements in the past, and now it's more important to me than ever before.

Uh Hopkins is a direct route for students to get to middle school.

I I appreciate all the work that's gone into these proposals and supplementals, but I want to stress that Cherrows and bypass routes like Rose are steep climbs and cannot be made safe.

They do not protect our most vulnerable road users.

It's a disingenuous to say that Rose Street is a real alternative.

It cannot be made safe for children without physically separated infrastructure and removal of parking.

Please quote unquote save Hopkins by taking sensible action to prevent further injury and death.

Do not let children trying to get to school become a statistic because you voted to prioritize parking over truly safe road improvements.

Thanks so much.

Thanks to catch Liza.

Hi, uh, my name is Sonia Trauss.

Uh Hopkins Street is more than 30 feet wide.

There's enough room for parking and a bike lane and one lane of car traffic.

People going the other direction make it one way.

Other people going other direction can go on Rose Street.

That's a street.

Um I I know that people don't want like a new different plan, but I think the most realistic plan is something that gives everybody what they want, right?

You're hearing a lot of like we need parking, we need a bike lane.

There is room for both.

And going forward, we should be replacing um car uh moving cars with moving bikes.

Uh nobody ever got hit by a parked car.

The parked cars are not the problem.

It's moving cars.

So we say our budget is an expression of our values.

Our road budget is also an expression of our values.

We want people to be going in bikes, not going in cars, take lanes away from moving cars, give those lanes to moving bikes.

We we could even wind up with more parking.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Um, hello, my name is Oscar.

I am uh 15 years old, going into sophomore year at Berkeley High.

And I just wanted to come up here to say a couple words.

Um first of all, I've been biking to school since um sixth grade.

I went to Longfellow.

But um something I wanted to say was that there's many bike lanes in Berkeley, but a lot of them are just like next to parking slot spots, and something I've always um grown up like learning and like um being aware of is that someone can open the door and you could get hit um by the car door.

This has happened to me like uh two to three times.

Um, yeah.

Oh, that's okay.

Did you need more time?

Okay, thank you.

A lot of people have gotten injured while they're biking or died because they were biking and there's not a bike path, and a car comes and hits them, and that seems bad.

Thank you.

Okay, I think we had those who were outside come in as well.

All right, so we are gonna take a ten, actually, let's make it a we're gonna take a fifteen minute break and we're gonna come back and do questions from the council members.

Thanks, everyone.

Recording in progress.

Okay, if you can hear me clap once if you can hear me clap twice.

If you can hear me clap three times.

Okay, everyone, please take your seats.

Please finish your conversations or take them outside.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

Thank you very much for your patience.

We are gonna go back to council member questions with council member Blackaby.

Great.

Thank you, Madame.

I hope we won't take the full five minutes.

Um is Chief Sprague still on?

Yes.

Uh Chief, so just to re-up on the fire review part.

So folks, please.

What are the next steps for fire's review of the of this current alternative on the table?

Uh the next steps would occur once public works gets us a full uh design set.

And at that point, we would evaluate three things, three primary things.

One is if uh emergency vehicle turning movements.

Uh we'd analyze potential impacts to evacuation time, and we confirm that the design maintains workable access for day-to-day fire and medical emergencies uh on and immediately adjacent to Hopkins.

Okay.

So it's evacuation from like catastrophic and then day-to-day emergency access.

So it's kind of that full gamut.

Right.

Okay.

And how long might that process take to do that review study?

Uh it'd be between two and four weeks, depending on complexity.

And what happens if we reach a gotcha, if something doesn't work, if you can't approve it, what happens?

You come back to us.

Just what's what happens if it doesn't pass?

The normal process is that staff from fire and public works um uh communicate and coordinate on these things um every you know, every time one of these projects goes through the process, and uh normally they're able to make modifications to the design to um to uh be able to approve it through the process.

So I like one of the one of the kind of fatal fatal things would be if we couldn't get the lanes to uh 11 preferred or 10 and a half minimum for short distances.

That that could be something where we would have a substantial problem.

But outside of that, um generally staff can work together to um come to uh um uh a design set that works for um all users.

Okay, thank you.

Um public works team.

If I ask a little bit about the loading zone kind of issue, so on the segment of and again in the current plan where the cycle track might be on both sides of the street, if you've got amenities like king pool, king track, schools, libraries, all that kind of stuff.

What happens with loading zones in those areas?

How's that work in conjunction with uh car traffic with the the protected bike lanes?

How do we accommodate all that?

So uh depends if there's uh this areas or blocks that have 36 feet crypto curb, obviously.

Uh if we have to implement protected bicycle lanes, it removes the curbside parking.

But there's other areas, this corridor changes roadway with three, four times and areas that are 41 feet, which is again in the McGee area and uh in the monterey, we can depending on what directions uh we get from council, we can look at what that means as far as protected uh bike lanes and travel lanes.

Getting to the wider sections, we can design one side, and that's in segments that are about 45 to 46 feet in width.

We can permit one side uh again, floating with protected bike lanes.

But to your point, council member, for loading needs, etc., we would have to look at side streets as well, too.

I when we were out there a couple of times, we did observe that the Monterey Market has a few really large delivery vehicles that belong to them that is already parked on the side streets.

So uh given that once we restrict or remove parking and we are able to only allow floating um parking at specific segments that we have the geometry to allow it safely.

Parking becomes scarce, right?

So we have to take into account near King Pool, there's already ADA stalls, and we have actually one or two more that have been requested a while back that we'll need to implement.

So that itself requires wider buffer to meet ADA requirements and additional curb cuts depending on where uh the layout of that specific AD stall is implemented.

So uh to your question, we would really have to look hard and be strategic as far as side streets, and that again as part of the curbside management plan, we'll also look at metering to make sure that we have sufficient turnaround for businesses and so forth.

So again, all of that will be taken into account uh once we get direction and we implement the curbside management uh plan.

Okay.

Um soccer and sporting events and stuff at the you know at the at the park.

Um with no parking, it's like you're gonna have even more loading on loading, I think, than you do now, because right now parents come and park and whatever leave their kid or do their stuff.

Now, if we're removing or reducing parking, we're gonna have anyway.

I that just to me feels like an issue that we're gonna have to think through a lot.

And there's parts of that long block along King Pool, there are not side streets, right?

It's like you have a long extended block.

Sorry, can you keep to your questions, please?

Just so we can move on to our public comment if you have more questions.

Since you're you're making uh some statements right now, so I'm I'm asking if you can keep that to the comment period.

Okay, I was asking for feedback on whether or not that how will we accommodate that?

Yeah, we we we would have to try to look at side streets, council member.

To your point, yes, towards uh the King Pool area.

Uh again, as I mentioned, there's already two to three ADA stalls that are going in there.

Uh space is going to be limited.

So our only option is to look at uh the side streets once we get into curbside management and outreach to discuss uh the business needs and frequencies and so forth.

Okay, thank you.

On the parking piece, um, I think we received update from staff.

I just want to make sure this is still accurate.

Roughly 274 or so spaces along the whole Hopkins strip uh parking slots currently, and in the current plan, we'd be losing about 145 of those.

Again, it's order of magnitude, it's not perfect as council member Keefe said we know you haven't done the detailed work, but that feels that's about a little more than half of the parking sort of goes away in with this plan.

Order of magnitude.

Okay.

Council Moreau.

And that's not taking it to Stanish.

If we're going to standage based on the supplement I heard earlier, that adds another 47, just to be clear.

Okay.

So maybe it goes from 145 to 190 or 192 or something.

Thank you.

Um, Councilmember O'Keefe, if we go with your plan on the cycle two extension to McGee and Sherrows, what is your understanding?

And this could be back to public works as well.

What's your understanding of of parking impact if we do class two instead of class four along that longer stretch to McGee and then do Sherrows or again something else from McGee to Gilman?

What happens to parking in those areas?

I definitely want to let uh public works answer, but I will say um I actually um so I asked for a class two bike lane, which is just a painted lane.

We actually have that already.

It's just you know, hard to read the paint because there's it's rubble.

Um, but um, I don't believe it's buffered.

And once again, I really want to defer to public works to explain this.

I think I left the word buffered in on my item, and I believe there's not room for a buffer between the um the bike lane and the traffic lane.

So um, assuming there's no buffer, which is my intent, I believe we could keep all of the parking.

But I want to hear for public works.

Thank you for the question.

So we would have to take a look at a council member, but just in general, as you mentioned, there are segments that has already class two.

Uh, we can bring uh higher visibility, uh, whether that's the green pavement or fresh striping.

But again, uh, in areas that we implement Sherroes or hybrid between class two and Sherrows, obviously that doesn't impact uh curbside parking.

So it remain the same.

But again, if there's any specific details, that's something that we'll have to take a look closer look and really see the true impacts.

But I again, um, based on the past referral that uh was issued by you and council member uh Esserwani, based on that design, when we looked at it, uh, I think just having pedestrian enhancement that uh I think only impacted four curbside parking stalls, just in reference.

Yeah.

Actually, can I do my divide to jump in?

Is that um my recollection is that was to accommodate some ADA to an additional ADA space?

Is that correct?

Yeah, ADA and also some bulbouts and some refuge.

Thanks.

So the difference between the current Kessarwani plan and what council member um O'Keefe laid out is recovery of a substantial amount of that lost parking.

Correct.

If it's on the maintaining the existing class two with uh again share rows and if uh traffic harming is part of that, hopefully it is, then yes, we maintain current or close to current count.

So obviously, as I mentioned, we'll have to take a closer look at it, but the numbers shouldn't change substantially.

Okay.

Last group of questions and I'm done.

If if we did ask you to develop in my item, we this alternative plan where we give you more of an ability to say, here's the guidelines, come back with something.

What's the timeline order of magnitude for something like that?

Conceptual plan, it's not a detailed engineering plan, it's a conceptual plan.

Given the workload you've got, like kind of what's the timeline for something like that.

If we prioritize a council member within the next four months, we can probably deliver a conceptual uh that we feel confident with.

Uh but again, if we're uh balancing multiple uh competing urgencies and prior rules that public works is doing on a daily basis, then realistically we'll need closer to six to seven months to do it responsibly and thoughtfully.

Understood, thank you.

Last bit, um the kind of other hybrid approach, I think that's coming through from what council member O'Keefe has mentioned is if we agreed on a certain segment of street, just we we all agree on treatment and move forward on paving, and we shrink the the set, not necessarily do the full sort of piece of Hopkins, but maybe you just look at the Hopkins Ada Rose Corridor from McGee to Ordway, like that piece that gets you from the commercial district either to Sacramento or back on to Gilman to kind of get to the rest of what's if we just did the shorter segment, does that save a little time?

Can you do both a paving and move forward with paving on the eastern side while you finish a study on the western side?

Is that feasible?

And does that save you a little time if we did that?

Um it's more efficient if we do the design complete, council member.

Uh if costs are um a challenge or a factor, we can look at phasing construction, which obviously has cost because of mobile, you know, mobilizing and so forth.

But the preference is to be able to capture the full corridor design at once.

When we do LIDAR, we do our measurements, it just makes more sense and it's it's better engineering just to put everything in perspective.

But again, uh we can phase out construction, but the recommendation is to do whatever design holistically so we can see from San Pablo to Sutter where the pieces fit and how things interact so that way we have the full picture going into design completed and and bid ready set.

Great.

Thank you so much.

I'm done.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Councilmember Bartlett.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Uh question for um sorry here, right?

So uh is there is there a deadline by which uh we must choose uh an option or a lane configuration uh that will result in delaying pavement paving?

Like so in order to delay the paving, do we have a deadline in which to make a decision?

So the currently um we have about six point one or six point three million uh program for fiscal year 28.

So we'll just have to work backwards.

Usually we get into design six to eight months prior to that.

We uh roll out in two packages, council member, first the concrete curb repairs and then the pavement based on the time of the year, just to you know beat Mother Nature before the the weather conditions change.

So um we can if there's a precise timeline you're looking for, we can provide that to you.

But that's generally the rule of thumb.

So fiscal year 28, unless council directs us to change that, but that's where it's programmed right now.

So that should give you a timeline of when we need to make decisions to align everything up.

Thank you.

And uh and and seeing how there's so many elements here at play in this plan, so many inputs that we're trying to negotiate and navigate here and um with unstudied impacts, really.

Um could public engagement post decision by this council um could that result in a different alignment being selected, or the community be consulted about mitigation only.

I mean, I can speak to that, councilman right.

Whatever direction you give us, that's the direction we're gonna go.

And so it, you know, part of the referrals that are out there now, it sounds like what the direction is we're not asking whether we should do this or not.

We're trying to understand how to impact loading, how to impact, you know, uh ADA placement, things like that, not the basic structure of the proposal.

Okay, thank you.

And uh and I guess lastly, this is a high level if you just to guesstimate here.

Um what would you guess the the cost differential between the Hopkins plans as is um and versus an alternative like the Rose Street alternative?

I was need some time to take a look at that, Councilmember.

Um there's a lot of moving pieces elements.

Um we can get back to you with some sort of a rough order magnitude or planning purposes cost.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Excuse me, Councilmember Humbert.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And um I'm gonna try to um keep my questions um fairly um they're gonna be fairly consistent, and they're gonna be in the nature of um yes, they're gonna ask for yes or no answers to help to keep us uh on track here.

Maybe in the nature of cross-examination, but I don't want to say that.

Um is maybe an option?

Well, possibly.

Um the the first one is can staff please confirm that a cycle track is shown as the envisioned network improvement for Hopkins Street in figure two, low stress bikeway network vision of the Berkeley bicycle plan.

Can you can you confirm that Mark is looking that up right now?

Mark Helmbrook.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And if you can't find it, I can represent that it that's the case.

It's shown on the low stress bike.

Yeah, okay, thank you.

Can staff please confirm that a cycle track is shown as the recommended network improvement for Hopkins Street in figure three recommended network improvements of the Berkeley bicycle plans it's consistent there, and it yes, it calls for an uh cycle track study and a complete street corridor study as a primary transit route.

Okay, and this is this is maybe for planning staff, I'm not sure, maybe for the city manager.

Um does the plan Bay Area discuss Berkeley's bicycle network at the individual product project level.

I'll I'll suggest that it doesn't, and that's kind of a follow-up to Councilmember Tree Gubb's uh question.

Does Plan Bay Area discuss Berkeley's bicycle network at the individual project level?

I don't believe it does, but we we'll have to double check.

Pardon?

I do not believe it does, but okay.

I'll have to check.

Thank you.

Here's another one.

Is it correct that the Berkeley Climate Action Plan includes as a strategy, and this is a quote, accelerate implementation of the city's bicycle and pedestrian plans and continue efforts to make walking and cycling safe, healthy, and enjoyable alternatives to driving, end quote.

Yes.

Okay, thank you, City Manager.

Is it also correct that the bike the Berkeley Climate Action Plan includes a strategy that reads quote manage parking effectively to minimize driving demand and encourage and support alternatives to driving?

We'll have to double check, but I'm assuming the answer is yes.

Um that's what I do in depositions.

I'll represent that it does.

Um is it correct that the city of Berkeley has an adopted and still enforced climate emergency declaration that reads in part quote the city of Berkeley endorses a just citywide emergency mobilization effort to end citywide greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible?

Yes, yes, thank you.

Is it correct that the complete streets policy adopted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in 2022 includes the following language?

Quote, safety shall be prioritized for all modes, especially the safety of vulnerable road users.

That includes people biking, walking, and rolling.

The safety of vulnerable roadway users should not be compromised to achieve improved level of service for people driving personal automobiles.

End quote.

Would have to check, but it's I'll represent that that's correct.

Thank you.

Councilmember how I'm sorry, how many more questions?

Okay.

All right.

But actually, just one.

Um are staff aware of any adopted city policy or plans or policies that explicitly prioritize the provision or convenience of non-disabled car parking over pedestrian and bicycle safety, alternative transportation forms, or climate action.

No, we're not, council member.

Thank you.

Those are my questions.

Okay, thank you.

So thank you, everyone.

So, all right, so um earlier I was saying that I wanted to limit the comments um to three hours, two hours in person, one hour online.

We've already used some of that time.

We did miss a child, so thank you for being first.

Um, but uh we actually need to vote on that.

So I would like to make a motion to um suspend the rules and allow us to limit public comment to three hours, two hours in person, one hour online.

Second, thank you.

Can we take the roll on that, please?

Okay, on the motion, Councilmember Kessarwani.

Yes, Taplin, yes, Bartlett, yes, Craig.

Aye.

Okay.

I'm gonna vote yes, but I'd like to make a comment afterwards if that's okay.

Yes.

Blackaby.

Yes.

Winapara.

Yes.

Umbert, yes, and Mary.

Yes.

Okay, motion.

Um, I I was also told that there might be another child that's outside that also would like to speak.

Is it this person here?

Or okay.

All right, if there are any other children that were missed, please feel free to come to the front.

Um, I'm gonna start over here with this.

Mayor, may I no?

I think we should keep your comment for the comment period because I really want to let everyone give their comments.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Please come on up.

Go ahead.

Go ahead.

Hello, thank you for uh taking the time to hear us out, uh, board members.

Um, contrary to uh uh Ms.

Kaswari's statement.

Um it is not genuinely contested about the cycle lane.

We had voted this on uh for measure double F and we voted this down.

The people of Burke, they've already voted and decided we do not want to have this uh public endangerment project uh enforced on us.

I live on the 1600 block of Hopkins.

I've been there for 30 years.

My family's been in the neighborhood for 80.

Um we definitely want to um help um bicyclists, but the problem is the um we need to uh paint standard shoulder bike lanes on rows and Hopkins in Sacramento uh and pave the road.

We've waited 10 years, we've had two water main breaks, and bikewalk Berkeley is holding our basic infrastructure projects hostage.

Uh the parents and children running stop signs on bicycles is a child endangerment and must be ticketed as well as stop signs and red light runners.

San Francisco makes millions of dollars in tickets each year.

It is child endangerment.

People who thank you.

Thanks for your comment.

Okay, come on up.

Um hello, my name is Thea, and I'm an upcoming freshman at Berkeley High.

I'm a member of the youth commission, but I'm speaking as an individual.

Um, as a young person, I know that many of my friends and peers bike all throughout Berkeley, and Hopkins Street is a really popular place for kids my age because of its proximity to King Middle School and its various restaurants and shops.

Kids my age don't have driver's license or cars, and a lot of people bike or use public transportation to get around.

If you've like seen the bike racks at Berkeley High School, they're always packed.

And my friends have told me horror stories about how like stressful and unsafe it feels to bike on Hopkins.

Young people want to be able to travel safely, and that's why we want protected bike lanes on Hopkins.

We deserve streets that make biking safer for everyone, especially the youth in Berkeley.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Okay.

Whoever's next, come on up.

I have somebody seating the time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

So I'd ask for the question.

So you have two minutes.

Okay.

And so, folks, if you have uh someone who's seeding you time, if you could just organize them so that we can move along as quickly as possible, that would be great.

Go ahead.

Okay, good evening.

I have two questions.

Who won the 2020 election?

Second question.

Who signed off on fire safety issues for one-way class for separated bikeways on Hopkins that you are now proposing?

The answer is Biden won the election, and no one from the fire department signed off.

No one okay.

Fire Chief Sprague sent me the letter, which I sent to you yesterday and which I've distributed at this meeting.

And I'd like you to read along with me.

Despite what Kessarwani's um assurance that the fire department signed off, Sprague unequivocally states that he did not.

He said he writes it is also important to distinguish what the fire department has and has not approved.

The newly proposed configuration involving one-way protected bicycle lanes on both sides of Hopkins is a different design, and the fire department has not reviewed that consider configuration.

The council spot sponsors are lying to us.

The lie is on page seven, updated review by fire department.

Approval has not been given.

I listened to the entire two-hour audio of the fights meeting that's referred to as when the sign off took place.

And at minute 40, Member Humbert questions Sprague hypothetically on the emergency response with bike lades.

He says, Sprague says, it feels risky to me.

I don't know that it's not an option, but it doesn't feel super safe for my and then Humbert interrupts him.

Do you hear that?

It feels risky to me.

I don't know that it's not an option, but it doesn't feel safe.

Council, I am asking you to drop this item.

City manager and attorney investigate how this deception and unauthorized proposal came before us tonight.

Thank you.

Yeah, please come on up, whoever is next.

As soon as that person's done, yeah, just come on up.

My name is Helen Walsh.

Speaking today as an individual residence.

Accessibility of public right-of-way is a Title II civil rights requirement.

It cannot be treated as secondary to any transportation mode.

The three supplementums for item 27 highlight different priorities, but none provide the accessibility structure that Title II requires.

What is still missing is a full accessibility analysis of ADA parking displacement, loading access, waste collection access, tree route and curb damage, and impacts on floating bus stops and mid-block crossings on residents with disabilities.

These are core public right-of-way functions.

The fire department's emergency access statement is important, but emergency access is not the same as accessibility.

Title II requires access for residents with disabilities, senior paratransit and service vehicles.

Emergency access does not replace accessibility analysis.

Thank you.

Thanks so much for your comment.

I'm sorry, thank you.

Hi, I'm Lisa Chow, and Andrea Alschul has given me her uh minute.

Um Mayor and Council members, I'm opposed to the installation of cycle tracks in Hopkins as proposed by Councilmember Kessarwani.

I park in the disabled parking spot at King Pool several times a week throughout the year.

I'm glad it's right by the sidewalk at the entrance of the path to the pool.

Because if a cycle track is installed by the sidewalk, I fear for being able to have safe access to the pool.

My experience with cyclists is that the majority do not heed pedestrians.

The cyclists ride right through stop signs, and if you say anything, they'll say, Fuck you!

Now with electric bikes that go faster and are more powerful.

It's an even more dangerous situation.

I'm appalled by how much money over three billion dollars the cycle tracks will cost.

How is it that you have money for that when we had to supplement the budget with measure FF with repaving the streets and sidewalks?

How is it you have money for that?

But are laying off city employees?

How is it you have money for that?

But you can't build housing for the homeless.

And how is it that you have money for that, but none for janitorial staff to clean our pools and showers, leaving us in unsanitary conditions?

Consider alternate routes like Rose and Ada.

Work towards consensus, not division.

Hopkins needs to be repaved now.

Safety and access for disabled seniors and all other residents in Berkeley.

Don't violate the American Disabilities Act.

Can I start?

Thank you.

14-year Hopkins McGee resident who shuttled the needed stop sign at McGee Hopkins to installation.

No deed will go unpunished if the uh Kessarwani item passes.

It will create further pedestrian hazards by adding concrete divided perilous bike tracks.

It will not have had the input of the blind population.

Here's a reply I received today from the Center for the Blind, East Bay.

Bike tracks and bus islands absolutely done without us in mind, equals us blind folks.

For all pedestrians, imagine being on foot trying to cross at Monterey Hopkins with multiple stop sign intersections.

East, west, north, south, while inexperienced kids on bikes merge with e-scooters, e-riders, e-bikers, move within concrete dividers, have to figure out who can five first, second, third.

Indecision can confuse the driver and the pedestrian causing an accident.

What about bike e-bike riders who want to uh supersede people in front of them?

E-bikes can speed up to 35 miles an hour.

Sean O'Neill was killed trying to cross Monterey Hopkins 10 years later.

The same intersection will harbor increased dangers with more lanes and rising indecision about traffic.

Thank you.

Michael France has asked me to use one minute of time.

To my name is Bryce Nesbitt.

And uh unlike Mr.

Humbert, I don't have the uh option of uh interrogating staff, but if so, I would ask do you have access to temporary traffic lights that can be installed within 24 to 48 hours?

Now, why the heck would I ask that?

Because you have a known unsafe intersection.

It's Ada at Sacramento, it's miserable to cross.

It's the site of a cyclist's death where that cyclist was dragged by a car.

It's an incredibly fast high speed road, and you could solve that right away, and it would help.

Walk to school for uh Ruth Acti and bike to the Hopkins district.

Why are you not doing that?

The Ada route in general has been a subject of community interest, including extensive drawings, conceptual studies, counts for a long time.

There was even $50,000 in the budget to study alternatives here, and my drawing here shows the three little monkeys.

Why would you not?

Why would you take this action without having studied that route in terms of costing and practicality?

I know that it hasn't been done.

I know that Free Javendale, the director who is eventually fired over allegations of having cooked the books on Hopkins, had resisted studying that for quite some period of time.

But just before he was let go by the city, he sent me an email, personal email, which uh is in your council record.

Uh actually quite warm to that.

Um at the time it was called the Ada Bypass.

I don't like that name, even though I coined it because bypasses are uh very car-centric concept.

Think back to the 50s when towns were bypassed by the highway and then died.

Uh it's now called the Ada ultra low stress bikeway because that's what it is.

It's a great route, beautiful way to get to the business district.

Thank you.

I'm a cyclist, I'm trying to hydrate.

And and thank you, Bryce.

Good evening.

Um, I'm glad you clarified that, because to somebody like me, bypass has a whole different meaning.

I pedal at 12 or 14 miles an hour.

Good year, I might get 3,000 miles in.

I got a lot of competition for a bike lane.

Officer Valet, Berkeley Police confirmed for me last Monday.

I had coffee with a cop.

Motorized skateboards, rental scooters, stupid hoverboards piloted by the Darth Vader young men, and of course, electric bicycles.

All go 25 legally.

Guess where they do it?

In a four-foot-wide bike lane.

They're going 10 miles an hour faster than me.

It's just like being out with cars, which I'm comfortable with.

Protected bike lanes, don't protect pedal bicycles.

Thank you.

Thank you, Diana, for the extra minute.

My name is Ann Parker.

I live in the area.

I'm a practicing physician, primarily for children and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities, cerebral palsy, things like that.

My primary concern is maintaining safety on Hopkins Street.

To me, that means repaving the street now.

We've heard so much tonight about what we don't know about the plan, the uh cycle track four plan that is supposedly going for recommendation.

Um, I had no idea we knew so little.

So to me, safety means repaving the street now, improving crosswalks by repairing, repainting, and adding warning lights, considering speed bumps to slow down cars, cars and cyclists, scooters.

What is not safe is some of the things that are being proposed.

By bus islands, I would love to demonstrate for you what it's like when my blind kids try to go up curves and across lanes where there are cyclists, often coming both ways, and then um to get up a curve and finally start to walk again.

Um so I don't want bus lanes, they're dangerous.

Or I'm sorry, bike alons.

I don't want barriers, they're dangerous.

And losing parking is not something that's just about losing parking.

If we lose parking, we have people driving out of their driveways, and the cameras that we now have on our cars don't show you who's coming.

They show you who you're about to hit.

So please don't think it's just indulging wealthy people by not being able to park on the street.

Tonight I encourage you to go forward to reschedule paving as agreed to in February, and to reject item 20.

Thank you.

Thanks for your comments.

Oh, I have an extra minute.

I'm sorry, you got your extra minute, so your time is up.

Thank you.

Could I have a minute?

Thank you.

Okay.

Pave now, appropriate uh with appropriate um improvements.

Every year of delay means more crack pavement, more potholes, more accidents, and a bigger repair bill for the city down the road.

We can't wait another decade.

We must decouple the repair of Hopkins and safe bicycle infrastructure.

Move for general safety now, continue working towards a bike plan that suits the skill and culture of our neighborhood.

With regard to the development of bike lanes, I encourage more time.

A quote from our mayor.

Um take a quote from the mayor is take a step back.

Breathe, rest your mind, and come with a fresh perspective.

I thank you for that.

Um, I really do, Mayor.

And um, I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

I'm so sorry, but if you've given your minute, you had Roberto has given me.

But if you've given your minute, you can't speak.

So thank you.

You can't receive an assignment.

Mr.

City Clerk, can you please confirm?

That's been our practice.

Thank you.

Thank you, City Council.

Uh, you probably know me.

My name is Derek Rodriguez.

Um, today I'm speaking on behalf of Cal Berkeley Democrats uh in supporting improvements along Hopkins that would protect the safety of our residents.

That I believe is the true lens through which this decision should be made.

It should be paramount to address pedestrian safety concerns.

It is unfortunate if said concerns are only addressed after someone is injured fatally or otherwise.

It is with this in mind that I also advocate for bike lanes and to address those concerned with business and living arrangements surrounding parking.

I say to the city, let the community be involved in the planning process.

If we can decide how to integrate greater bike lanes while still maintaining accessibility to people's housing and local businesses, I say we should listen to our community and follow our concerns from either side to the benefit of everyone.

We shouldn't let this spill into partisanship.

Let's create a solution with the people's approval and allow us to take part of the planning process.

Thank you.

Tonight, you there's one point of agreement, and that is that Hopkins Street needs to be repaved.

You don't have complete information about anything else that you've heard that the fire chief has not signed off on this.

And I said, Well, what do you think about it?

He said, Well, I think we should have bike lanes.

And I said, Have you thought about all the other people in the community who may need other ways to go?

And he looked at me and he said, Thank you.

You want to hear what he said to me.

Thank you.

I'm sorry unless someone wants to give you around you will not want to give you a minute.

Okay.

This person's giving you a minute.

That's culture war.

I will not be here to know the difference.

And I tell you, I had everything I could do but to raise my hand to that young man.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Moni Gongo Bathai.

I am a candidate for City Council in District One, and I'm a West Berkeley resident.

We all want the same things, believe it or not.

We want safety, we want accessibility, and we want to be able to participate in this clean transportation future.

Council Member Blackabee's supplemental proposer proposal in this item is the most safe, fair, sensible, and environmentally sustainable plan.

I am an able-bodied biker and a driver.

However, I could not in good conscience support a plan that serves a small number of able-bodied people like myself while reducing accessibility for elders, people with small children, people with disabilities, and people who can't afford thousands of dollars to buy an e-bike, the kind of e-bike that's required to carry small children uphill.

Remember, I'm from West Berkeley.

A clean transportation future should include clean transportation options for all.

The main proposal fails to do that.

Furthermore, we need to be able to identify the problem and then address it at its source.

What's the problem?

A lack of safety.

What is the source of that problem?

Unsafe driving.

All the infrastructure in the world will not address this behavioral issue.

As a biker, I have seen cars parked in the protected bike lanes on Melville, which I support the protected bike lanes.

I've also seen a car cut off a cyclist to turn onto that cycle track.

We need to raise awareness and enforce traffic rules, which is not happening on Hopkins.

Furthermore, the main plan will result in environmental harms, resulting from increased car traffic, traffic jams, and circling around Hopkins, thereby increasing our city's greenhouse gas emissions.

City Council, I ask you, are you somebody who is disabled?

Elderly, or do you have children?

Are you not able to afford e-bikes to bring your families along?

Do you have kiddos like me who use King Pool and play sports on King Field while I don't have a newborn while nursing a newborn or bringing your parents along to watch their child their grandchildren play?

If not, I urge you to adopt a Mamdani level of compassion on this issue.

Pave Hopkins now, be cost effective with the funds that would have been allocated to the cycle track, and repave and maintain the long list of bicycle streets that need attention across Berkeley.

And three, adopt the most humane and sensible plan in this item, which is Councilmember Blackaby's plan, and thank you also to um Councilmember O'Keefe.

I appreciate you, I appreciate this work, and thank you for allowing me to speak I have minutes being seated by Laura Parsons, Lisa Oldsby, and Marilyn Simons.

Right there.

Yeah.

And I'm just gonna read this because otherwise I will flub up and waste time.

So the fight over Hopkins Street has been long and hard fought, and it has taken its toll on the community.

Distrust in city government is at or near an all-time high, and general community dissatisfaction continues to grow.

I read in a recent chronicle article that Ben Gerhardt Stein of Walkbike Berkeley reported the organization finally had enough political juice to push the cycle track plan through council.

It's a troubling statement.

Without political influence, Friends of Hopkins Street, a true grassroots organization with no clout, no outside or city funding, no regional or statewide well-funded organizational support, must simply rely on facts and data to influence you.

Over the years, that approach has not worked.

To avoid having to address our facts and data, we were maligned as too old, as obstructionists and nimbies, and as caring more about our cars than about children.

We were told that staff quit because of us.

You name it, and somebody has said it about us.

But by sticking to facts and data, we've accomplished some things.

For instance, no one is now insisting that a two-way cycle track on Hopkins is a good or safe idea because it isn't.

And by sticking to the facts and data, we see an opportunity to settle the Hopkins issue once and for all.

It centers around actually permitting staff to gather facts and data.

Council members have long substituted their own amateur judgments for the professional ones as staff members, which has led to ideology creeping into policy making making and further disrest distrust of our elected officials.

But you have the opportunity to turn that around by taking the handcuffs off staff and letting them explore the many options available for providing a great low stress east-west connection to West Berkeley and the bike boulevard network from North Berkeley.

There is no inherent reason why the only option ever considered is Hopkins, nor is there an inherent reason why it must be it must include cycle track, especially one on an almost 100% residential street.

In fact, there are contraindications for such a plan.

That is an ideological desire, no more, no less.

Let staff figure this out, hands untied, and get clout and juice and influence and ideology out of the decision making process.

Councilmember Blackaby included a plan in his most recent district newsletter that is close to ideal.

It would allow staff to evaluate the efficacy of Ada by pass and the use of Rose as alternatives to Hopkins.

After all, three out of the four local schools cited as the need for a cycle track are actually located on Ada and Rose.

The fourth, St.

Mary's College High School, is located at the end, north end of Albina Avenue, which is the car entrance to the school.

It's heavily trafficked, especially in the morning.

And it's rare to see a student bicycling to school at this entrance.

I know because I live there.

Staff could look at the accident statistics on Hopkins and actually analyze whether a cycle track would make a difference.

In its analysis, it would certainly exclude the accidents that didn't even occur on Hopkins, whose inclusion supporting the cycle tracks is a clear indication of ideological creep.

As it is now, as it now is, we are beginning to understand that your constant praise of staff is in celebration of their having done exactly what you told it to do, not a testament to their ability to do quality uh analysis work.

We believe they are uh capable of the latter.

It's hard to imagine why you would not support Councilmember Blackabies or O'Keefe supplementals.

If you claim your support for cycle tracks on Hopkins is truly grounded in facts and not based on ideology, you will not be threatened by the study of alternatives, since you must believe your preferred plan is the best one and will emerge on top.

Please support their proposals and restore Trinkidoncy to public.

How deceptively and ironically ironic it is to say that the failed road condition on Hopkins demands immediate paving when the supporters of this proposal and their minions on the infrastructure council ensured that it would not be paved so that it would descend into this condition.

Why should we listen to voices in support of this referral by uh Councilmember Kashirwani?

They are the ones who shamelessly displayed their children to you in the past, disingenuously claiming an enclosed two-way bicycle track was safe for their kids.

The same ones who railed against supporters of Safe Hopkins for opposing this dangerous alternative.

Claybody, we wanted to put their children in danger.

Now everyone agrees thinking this is the right thing to do.

Hi there.

My name is Benjamin.

This is Ruben.

We just put Ruben's younger sister Frida to bed, and we came back here to join you all at the meeting.

Thank you to council.

Huge thank you to the staff who've done an incredible amount of work on this project over many, many years, often without gratitude, without thanks, and subject to much vitriol.

So we want to start by just saying thank you to the staff of the city of Berkeley for the work that has gone into this and for the work that will still come and will go into this.

We want to speak in support of the current referral.

We think that it offers a direction that is aligned to the city's vision to the to the safety of the streets, to the safety of future users of the streets.

And I also want to say that I think it leaves an appropriate amount of discretion for staff to work out some of the details that address some of the concerns that have been spoken.

And I also want to say that I think that the general tenor, the general dialogue is slightly hyperbolic.

I don't think Hopkins needs to be saved from this proposal.

I do acknowledge that there are some people who will be inconvenienced, that there are real costs to this, but I think that overall it is in the right direction.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And the first is safety.

The second is the importance of the commercial note at Monterey and Hopkins, and lastly is cost.

First, as a as an ardent walker, I you know I used to bike in my childhood, but now I'm kind of primarily a walker.

And I find those protected cycle barriers very confusing and actually fairly dangerous because it's hard for me sometimes.

You know, I'm I'm in fairly good shape, but I'm you know, 74 years old, and I can still climb over these uh barriers, but they're they're a little bit of a challenge.

There's a time when I can envision when I won't be able to do that.

Second, the four block commercial node from McGee to Sacramento, I would argue is one of the absolute jewels of Berkeley.

Monterey Market's not just a neighborhood grocery store.

It was founded in 54 by Tom and Mary Fujimoto.

I see one of the Fujimoto's here.

I'm gonna run out of time, so I'm afraid I'll have to cut this short, but people come from all over.

Thanks to Hi, I want to.

I sent a comment, so and you've heard some good comments.

I want to talk about this young versus old thing that goes, somebody called it culture wars.

It's it's really awful.

You know, I mean, why not encourage a dialogue between all of us?

We shouldn't be on different sides.

There's a few people at the top of this pyramid that's not that is you know owning most of the stuff, and everybody else is paying.

Okay?

We didn't create this.

I bought my house relatively recently with friends.

I rare rooms out that you could afford.

I keep them affordable.

There could be lots of people in Berkeley that could do that if a dialogue were encouraged that encourage different kinds of things than just high rises or hatred of old people.

It's it is really not you guys.

And disabled people too.

I'm disabled too.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm asking, I'm asking for three minutes, so I'm at two minutes from Margaret Lee and Martha Richards.

Good, thank you.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Sally Nelson.

There's three minutes.

There we go.

My name is here.

Where was the third person?

We're just the three total.

Okay, you said you were asking for three, so go ahead.

Okay.

You heard my name, Sally Nelson.

We have two important issues here.

We all need low stress uh street between North and West Berkeley.

Children in North Berkeley need a safe bicycle right to school, and actually, there are lots of kids who are bicycling on Rose Street these days.

And Hopkins Street with its many potholes and crevices needs to be repaired and paved.

Both needs can be satisfied by designated Rose Street rather than Hopkins as the safest bicycle route for all of us, including children.

Rose Street is where the schools are located, three schools.

I am a retired cyclist.

For 40 years, I use my bicycle for buying groceries and running errands.

Cycle tracks in the roadways are not or to be invoided.

They are dangerous.

The city should not build them.

Concrete curves designed to separate cyclists from vehicle traffic will not keep out electric scooters and bicycles who whiz by at dangerously fast speeds.

Cyclists have already sustained serious injuries.

As a cyclist, I can consistently avoided roads that had cycle tracks.

The shops on Hopkins Street need to be accessible to people of all ages, including those of us who now use wheelchairs, walkers, and canes.

Now we need to park our cars, and we need the parking spaces.

Cycle tracks on Hopkins would negatively impact the businesses there, including Monterey Market.

People with their homes on Hopkins need access to their driveways, as well as street parking for maintenance and repair people.

Postal service people, postal service vehicles need access to street parking since they are not allowed to double park or block driveways.

Cycle tracks would interfere with mail delivery.

Hawkins Street without cycle tracks can continue to provide access to the swimming pool and tennis courts and do Monterey Market and other businesses.

Regarding the climate action plan, concrete is not environmentally safe and friendly at all.

Many manufacturing cement generates 8% of the carbon dioxide that is produced globally.

Plus, it produces a lot of other toxic gases.

There are plenty of other streets for cyclists to arrive to their desired destination.

If safety is what today's bicycles seek, then the city should repair and repave Hopkins Street without a cycle track.

So vote no on building a cycle track.

Vote yes to repair and pave Hopkins Street without cycle tracks.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Gail Alcock, and I'm resident of D2.

And I was really happy when I moved to Berkeley in 1990, and I could actually get up all the Berkeley Hills, which I could not do in San Francisco.

So biking is a great thing in the city.

And I've had my share of accidents.

And the worst one was on the concrete of the bike barrier.

And I have bounced off cars and bounced on the asphalt.

And I have been out.

I don't want to think about it.

It makes me think that I shouldn't be biking.

Except today when I got here, I took the bike boulevards.

They're fabulous.

People slow down.

Two two kids are coming towards me, rollerblading side by side.

And then there's a big huge Amazon truck parked there and sign, and the cars go around them and they wait for everybody, and the Amazon delivery guy waits for me and says you go ahead.

So thank you.

Yeah, these are broken teeth.

Thanks so much.

I'm so sorry about your accidents.

Thank you.

Thanks.

$15,000.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I see you in the back.

Hi, my name is Maxine Skyx Kennedy.

I live on Hopkins Street and have an architecture practice in South Berkeley.

I'm a member of the North Berkeley design team that has worked extensively on Hopkins Street redesign.

I support paving improvements, safer pedestrian crossings, and expanded bicycle infrastructure.

But I strongly oppose the current proposal to remove hundreds of parking spaces along Hopkins Street to create protected bike lanes.

First, it's fiscally irresponsible.

Berkeley is facing a $30 million budget deficit, yet this project would go from 6.8 million to almost 15 million.

At the same time, other neighborhoods are still waiting for basic street repairs, which is a top priority for safe cycling.

Second, NACTO and Caltrans bikeway design guidelines strongly recommend that cycle tracks not be installed in places with frequent driveways and intersections, which Hopkins Street has.

Also, cycle tracks would not have prevented the serious accidents listed in Exhibit 3.

All occurred at intersections, which cycle tracks do not protect.

Third, removing all of that parking will be detrimental to our neighborhood.

Not everyone has a physical ability or circumstances to bike everywhere.

We have spoken with business owners who believe this could threaten their livelihoods.

Churches, preschools, and people using the King Fields, pool, playgrounds, and tennis courts, plus Cedar Rose, tennis, and pickleball courts, all depend on nearby parking.

It will make it especially difficult for people from other districts to use all these amazing businesses and facilities.

For the people like me and my family who live on Hopkins Street is not just a thoroughfare to get from point A to B.

We are a neighborhood of families with children, elderly, and pets, and we have asked for years for traffic coming, such as to add a stop sign on Hopkins and Ordway to no avail.

This proposal will cause cars to go even faster than they already do because the street will appear wider.

Now there will be four lanes of vehicles, making it like a freeway of wheels.

Along Hopkins Street, many of the lots are more than one unit and do not have off-street parking.

Nowhere else in Berkeley has all of the parking been removed from a residential street.

For residents, it will be very difficult for things we depend on every day.

Deliveries, caregivers, maintenance vehicles, especially those with large equipment, and visiting friends and family, all have nowhere to pull over our park.

I think about how it would make it very difficult for my elderly father who uses walker to visit us.

It will also be difficult and dangerous for families with small children to have carpools if there's nowhere to pull over.

There is a better way.

Our North Berkeley design team made of architects, engineers, planners, and landscape architects, drafted plans and street sections and show that there are viable options for a balanced alternative to have both bike lanes and only 50% parking reduction.

Our group provided five options to the council members and public works.

Please don't vote for this proposal just to prove you have gotten something approved.

One is not the best solution.

Approve a balanced option like that be.

I'm sorry if I'm saying your name wrong.

Um, that works for everyone.

Thank you very much.

I have three seated minutes.

Sorry, can you hold your hand up the people in the back?

Oh, okay.

Wait, there are a lot of people holding their hands up.

You just need three.

I have some.

You just need you just need three, so could you can you decide who the three are, please?

One two.

And my wife, and you're not my wife.

Okay, what so one here, second person there, thank you, and the third person is in the back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh so uh my name is Martin Hammer.

I'm an architect and I've lived on Hopkins Street for 27 years.

Saturday, I distributed flyers in front of the shops, notifying people of the city's current plan to install cycle tracks and remove all street parking from McGee to Peralta, which almost no one on Hopkins was aware of until our North Berkeley design team began informing them two and a half weeks ago when the significantly changed current plan was first made public.

I handed a flyer to a man getting into his car to explain the city's plan.

He said, I don't care, man.

I'm pro-bike.

He doesn't care.

After this, after he had just accessed the shops with his car and parked in a spot to be eliminated by the city's plan.

I had just talked with the co-owner, a co-owner of Magnani's, who described the vast majority of comments she received from customers who drive from all over, some of them needing wheelchairs, stating the importance of retaining street parking.

She also described nasty attack comments from pro-bike people.

All of that said, I'm pro-bike.

I've bicycled 100 mile bike rides, I bicycled all over Berkeley and the East Bay.

I want safe bicycling in Berkeley.

However, I'm also pro-pedestrian, pro-business and their customers and staff, pro-Hopkins Street residents and nearby residents, pro-recreation facility users, pro-churchgoers, pro-preschools.

As an architect for 40 years, every day I work to create balanced designs.

I know a balanced design when I see it.

This is not a balance balanced design.

It gives a subset of bicyclists everything at once and harms virtually every other constituent group, most of it due to the staggering, unprecedented removal of street parking.

175 of 23 line spaces from the Alameda to Peralta, and now another 83 spaces if if CM Taplin's supplemental extending to the tracks to Stanage occurs, uh including 100%, 122 spaces over seven contiguous blocks from McGee to Peralta.

It's never been done for good reason.

It causes significant harm.

And how can you approve a plan that removes 175 to 258 parking spaces as much as 80% when a parking study admittedly has not been done?

That is I mind boggling.

I can't, I can't even.

I speak, I'm almost speechless, but I'm going to continue.

Berkeley prides itself on in itself on innovation and representative democracy.

One solution to this seemingly intractable conflict is to put representatives of all key stakeholders together with an independent mediator to work out a consensus conceptual design.

What do they all want?

What and need?

Where can they compromise?

In my profession, I've seen mediation work and believe it can work here in a matter of months, not years.

I strongly encourage council to approve the original referrals by CMs O'Keefe and Peserwani for repaving pedestrian and pedestrian improvements that everyone agrees on.

And to facilitate independent mediation, resulting in a consensus design that can be overlaid on the original referrals plan.

And I want to get a show of hands for people who oppose this the city's plan to see if it comports with representative or CM Casarwani's 55%.

Thank you.

And I see thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

It's been uh really cool seeing this whole process.

Um my name's Nick, I'm the uh head coach for the Berkeley Mountain team, and I'm a shop owner in Berkeley and a resident of Hopkins Ave.

Um I just wanted to come out here and really express um the need for greater safety on the Hopkins corridor.

I do believe that cycle tracks are a wave towards that.

Right now, uh I consider the hot it's the Hopkins speedway, especially uh where I live between the Alameda and Sutter.

The street is extremely wide.

I've seen drivers coming by at speeds and access of 50 miles an hour.

So I think uh a big theme that we have here tonight is increasing safety and making sure that everyone feels like they have a place at the table.

I just wanted to make sure that we uh really consider how we can make traffic calming and safer for everyone.

I do believe the bike lines and bike infrastructure help protect the most vulnerable people in our communities, and uh thank you for your time.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh let's see, I have minutes from Steve Jackson, Chris Basket, and Chris Crawl.

Missing one.

Sorry.

I see two Steve Jackson, Chris Basket, just call.

Do you want to give me a minute?

All right.

Okay, I see that third.

All right, I saw that third person in the back.

Are you gonna give your minute, sir, with the glasses?

I'm sorry, and the standing in the back, are you giving your minute as well?

Yes, you, sir, with a collared shirt.

No?

Okay.

I'm taking one from this man with the orange shirt, and then this person with the backpack.

I'll give them okay.

And from all right, we're all in a giving mood still.

So four.

That's four.

Thank you so much.

Four total, yeah.

All right, thank you.

So my name is Margaret Torn.

I'm a walker, bike rider, and a climate change scientist for my day job.

Uh I oppose the referral by Kessarwani.

I strongly support the supplemental by CM Blackaby.

And I want to say I'm not here to talk about parking.

Uh, what I specifically support is I support infrastructure that enhances safety for bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists, and accessibility for all.

I really strongly support small businesses that make Berkeley special.

I think we can demand progress that brings us together by insisting on inclusive solutions, and I'm sorry I'm not hearing very much of that.

And really looking for tight stewardship of the city budget and taxpayer dollars, especially before the city asked for more bond measures and sales tax increases.

Most especially, I think we would all feel better if we felt we had policy making that was evidence-based and expert-based.

And a digression, I said I'm a scientist.

Um, I am federally funded, and it almost makes me cry when I think that my own city doesn't want to believe in evidence and use it openly and tells the staff what to do.

That's heartbreaking because we are better than that.

So, good policy manages trade-offs, trade-offs and compromise.

That might sound abstract, but I think without sound transparent and inclusive governance, what we will have is waste and failure and more stalling.

It's already taken a long time, and I'm sorry for the people waiting for all these improvements.

But things will cost more, stall out again, waste city resources, and ultimately not accomplish our goals if we don't practice a better uh process, and that's why I support uh Black Me's amendment.

And in terms of evidence, I want to re-inforce what we've heard that currently, although the uh chief of the fire department said yes, they could consider 10 and a half feet and 11, and that was a change.

They let's not say that they've reviewed it because they haven't seen this plan.

We also we need to prevent more injuries, totally in favor of that, but we don't actually have an analysis that says what can we do in intersections and how do cycle tracks intersect with danger in intersections?

And I guess my last main point is that I think we are being asked many people in the across the city being asked to sacrifice for a greater good, and that greater good is one thing that people had in mind, which was the cycle track.

And I don't think we've really asked, what are we asking people to sacrifice?

And as a result, there's a real disension, and there's a lack of engagement with many stakeholders.

Like who has studied the shops or tried to work with them to mitigate options?

Who has done that?

Who has studied the effect of race curves and tracks in front of our disabled residents and said how can we mitigate it?

There's been really a lack of searching for solution that could bring people together, and so we're sacrificing the money for other districts who need it.

If we put in an extra six million, which I think we heard earlier, that's coming out of someone else's safety.

Let's make sure we know what that greater good is for everyone, and I think people would would go along with the sacrifice if we know.

But if we recognize that sacrifice is autonomy, being able to live with accessibility independently and safely, it's the shops, it's schools, including the special needs pre-care near a house, and people need to drive there.

Uh the churches we've heard from.

So these are sacrifices, and we can make them, but we need to know why, and that the impacts really we try to engage and mitigate them.

Otherwise, it's just we want cycle tracks.

That was the solution.

Thank you.

That was three minutes or four.

That was four.

Perfect thanks.

Next speaker, please.

Hi, my name is Martino.

The last 20 years, I've been riding a bicycle as my main way of getting around in this town.

I'm 86 years old, so I'm an elder.

Now I am dead set against this proposal.

And here's why.

What it's going to do is destroy the small stores and places to hang out on the on the stay, the the avenue there, just as traffic has uh parking spaces, uh have been used uh to uh against small businesses all over town, and we are losing the ability to find a place where we can shop, where we can hang out, we can just be with people uh anywhere in the city because we're losing them.

Thank you for your comments.

Next.

Hi, my name is Mahmoud Husseini.

Oh, I'm sorry.

My name is Mahmoud Hussein.

I do the business next to the monetary market for 240 years, as a flower's window.

And I see the sign here, bike life is matter.

I think business life is matter and neighborhood life is matter too.

If he's that thing, I'm not against the bike.

I'm the on the biker, I do the two, three days biking.

If that things happen, for sure I'm gonna be homeless without any question.

Without any question, because I'm 60 years old.

I don't think so.

Anybody give me job?

And then I don't think so.

The guys, I think I know the Hopkins better than anybody because I'm there from 10 o'clock to 7 o'clock, six days a week.

I know this thing really.

I know the whole people.

I think the thank you for your cup.

Someone wanna give them you'll give them a minute.

Okay, go ahead, one more minute.

I think you guys didn't think about the monetary market.

Monetary market, they have 37 employees.

They have 37 cars, they're coming at four o'clock in the morning.

Where I mean, I'm not trying to talk about behind the monetary market, behalf the monetary market, but where is those people they have to put the car?

37 employees coming at four o'clock in the morning.

Is no parking for them.

I think if it's not there, you cannot have your vegetable and fruit.

Let me tell you that much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Oh, my name is William.

I'm the mail carrier for 12, 13, and 14 Hopkins.

I'm opposing that parking, the bike link for the parking, because it's going to affect me, and I have deliveries to make.

It's going to cost me more time if you put that bike link on that street.

So if you go to put it, where we were supposed to, what were we supposed to do in getting our deliveries made to the customer?

You guys, as a customer, need delivery too, as we deliver the parcel to you guys.

So if you put that bike lane, it's going to be not good for me, and it's going to cost time and is going to delay, and it's going to really affect us because like I said, you already took two parking spaces already from us already.

So by putting that bike lane, it's going to interfere with my job, and it's going to interfere with the customers, so I'm opposing to bike lane, so there shouldn't be a bike lane at all.

And I fought this a couple of years back, and you thought about it, so I hope you guys decide and not putting that bike lane for my job.

Hi, Carol Marasovic and Marvin Snow are donating minutes.

Two minutes.

Thank you.

My name is Nancy Rayer.

I live in District 6.

Opponents of the cycle track are cast as pro-car, anti-climate, anti-safety, and selfish, and a big dose of ageism for sure.

But let's be fair.

In 1976, Berkeleyans voted to support street barriers that greatly reduce traffic on most residential streets in the flats.

A feature that's found in very few cities.

Berkeley's extensive bicycle boulevard network was built on that foundation, allowing cyclists to get across town safely on quiet, pleasant streets.

Although inconvenient to drivers, virtually everyone supports these quiet streets, even those of us in the hills who do not directly benefit.

Because we're not pro-car, anti-climate, anti-safety, or selfish.

We are old, a lot of us.

Protecting residential streets requires that drivers use the major streets unless they want to get lost in the maze.

But now a group of activists decided that the bike network isn't good enough and that cycle tracks should be added to our congested main streets so cyclists can ride directly to their commercial destinations without having to walk a block or two.

And in the hope that drivers will get so frustrated that they'll give up their call cars.

In an ideal world, sure, but over 10,000, maybe 20,000 of us live in the hills with narrow roads and blind corners.

And not everyone has the luxury of working, shopping, and caring for kids or family members within bike commutable distance.

Nor does everyone have time in their busy lives to bike miles a day with a cart in tow.

Most importantly, many people cannot safely bike at all.

Roughly 12% of Berkeleyans are over 70, and about 8% of people under 70 have disabilities.

That's 20% of our population.

Now, relative few of those folks do bike, but not many.

Whereas the ADA promotes universal designs that benefit everyone, such as curb cuts that allow strollers and rolling grocery carts to easily use the sidewalk or automatic door buttons that allow people holding two coffee cups to exit.

Cycle tracks inherently harm people with disabilities who need parking near their destinations and safe access to the curb and public transit.

They also need unbroken streets and sidewalks to avoid upturned wheelchairs and tripping and falling.

Berkeley has tens of thousands of ADA violations that it is obligated to correct.

Yet this proposal would spend five million dollars on bike infrastructure that would create new bike barriers, not bike barriers for people with disabilities.

New barriers, erecting barriers in the town that was a credible cradle of disability rights and independent living movement.

So please let's care about all Berkeleyans.

Let's improve our bike network, especially on Ada and Sacramento streets.

Let's fix our broken streets and sidewalks and let's keep our public spaces accessible to all.

Let's also consider what the congestion that will be added will do to our emergency response times.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name's Rachel Bradley, and I've lived here all my life.

I went to middle school at King.

I took my kids to soccer games and swimming lessons next door.

I drove my elderly mother to walk on the track when she needed a level and protected surface to exercise safely.

I continue to shop every week at the Monterey Market, and I have invested energy and love in this community for many years.

It deserves special respect since the upper part of Hopkins Falls in her council district, and she is herself a regular cyclist.

The city's budget is in trouble, and this is not the time to sink millions of extra dollars into cycle tracks on Hopkins, especially without properly evaluating reasonable alternatives.

It's home to many important civic amenities that we all deserve access to.

The current state is dangerous to everybody, especially pedestrians.

The longer we wait, the more it will cost.

Please keep it simple and repave Hopkins.

Thank you.

Hello.

Um, thank you to council and staff.

Uh I'm a parent of two young children, and I live on Hopkins Street.

I'm the parent of two young children and I live on Hopkins Street.

Currently, Hopkins Street is not safe to bike on.

As a family, we choose to bike when possible.

Currently, I will not let my children ride on Hopkins Street.

The traffic in the street moves incredibly fast, creating an unsafe ride for cyclists.

The installation of bike lanes will naturally slow traffic in the area, making the street safer for everyone.

My wife saw just about a month ago, saw a middle school student hit on their bike in the middle of the intersection from our front porch.

We constantly see close calls there.

I support the current referral to install bike lanes on Hopkins Street to continue connecting the bike network.

The protected bike lanes will make the neighborhood safer.

We are right now deciding between safety and the inconvenience of lost parking.

Safety should always take priority.

Let's plan for the future.

Let's give our children a safe route to ride their bikes to school and everyone else a safe route to get around without driving.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

I'm Alice Green.

I'm 85 years old, and I want safety riding my bike.

And on Hopskins, it is not safe.

It's so narrow.

There's this is nothing.

There's no narrow bike lane, no nothing.

Please make that street safe.

I use it a lot.

And I I I've lived in Berkeley for 32 years, um, very near Hopkins.

And uh I I implore you to um implement this plan and make it safe for bikes.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Hello, uh, my name is Lucinda Young, and I also am a senior.

I will be 70 years old this year.

My primary form of transportation is bicycle, although I also drive as well.

And I strongly support this recommendation.

Uh, thank you, staff, for your hard work and all the extensive outreach you've done on this.

Um, I travel to Hopkins, usually on my bike, though I also drive occasionally, but usually on my bike, at least weekly.

I've been doing it for a decade.

It's extremely unsafe.

Um, and um, in addition to let's just not wait for another fatality or serious accident to correct this problem.

We've got a big problem, Hopkins.

My second reason, besides safety for strongly supporting this is we are in a full-blown climate emergency, and half of our greenhouse gas pollution comes from transportation, mostly cars.

Our um climate emergency plan specifically calls for its number one recommendation is to reduce VMT by making cycling, walking, and public transit mode.

Thank you.

Mainstream.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Stefan Zager.

I've lived with my family on Hopkins Street across from King Park for 15 years.

I'm also probably the most experienced urban cyclist you're ever likely to meet, or one of them.

Uh I've lived and biked in North Oakland and Berkeley for 35 years.

I also spent five years working full-time as a bicycle messenger.

I'm here to ask you to vote no on this motion.

The main problem with the current proposal is that it is a blunt force one-size-fits-all design that has badly matched to the quirks of Hopkins Street.

What makes sense for the residential blocks does not make sense for the commercial areas.

The stretch from Gilman to Monterey handles more vehicle traffic than the ones above and below.

The area around the tennis courts, pool, park, and track has its own unique requirements.

Say what you will about the previous design process, but it at least was an attempt in good faith to develop to tailor a plan to the diverse nature of the problem and to hammer out sensible compromises among stakeholders.

The proposal under consideration tonight has all the nuance of a Walmart parking lot.

And I know I know that the motion directs staff to conduct outreach to stakeholders, but the problem is that once you make separate class four.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, your time's up.

Minute in the back.

Oh, sorry, but the green shirt, I'm taking your minute.

Go ahead.

The problem is that once you make separate separated class four bikeways on both sides of the street, the non negotiable north star of the plan, well, Hopkins is not that wide, and it leaves no wiggle room for adapting to local conditions.

Well, Hopkins is not that wide, and it leaves no wiggle room for adapting to local conditions.

You have an opportunity to do something really great here.

Hopkins has a lot of room for improvement.

You also have an opportunity to really harm this neighborhood and everyone who visits it for generations to come.

It's your job as council members to consider all the stakeholders here and to forge a reasonable compromise.

This is not that.

Thank you.

I think I I think I have another minute from Carly.

Woman with uh thank you.

I have a shirt and the hat.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Um, I'm Corey Cody, and I've lived and voted in Berkeley for over 30 years.

And I consider this plan to be flawed.

First of all, I think it's fiscally irresponsible.

My understanding, and I think I'm underestimating, is that it would cost an extra five million dollars.

That's uh a lot of money.

And this is a time when we're being asked to vote for for more uh sales tax and for bonds.

I'm not gonna vote for those things.

That's and you know what?

When we when the whole city realizes that something irresponsible like this plan has been if it god forbid gets implemented, no people are going to not want to vote for these extra taxes.

So what I'm hearing today is that some people want this, but the majority do not.

And um, so I think it's really in my heart, it's not just that it's fiscally irresponsible, it's that it inflicts real harm on the majority of people who are involved with this neighborhood.

This is a thriving intergenerational neighborhood.

And my understanding is that a hundred parking spaces, but now I I've been educated that it's more like a hundred and seventy-five parking spaces will be lost.

So, what does it mean?

Is it a minor inconvenience to lose a parking space?

Because that's what I've heard from the other side.

To lose a parking space means that many Berkeley's will no longer have access to a neighborhood.

They'll no longer have access to the services of the small scale mom and pop businesses that make this neighborhood so successful.

Realistically, we get to the many of us get to these small shops by car.

And guess what?

If you have a car, you have to park it.

And many of us need and thank you.

Thanks for having me.

Is that two minutes already?

That's it.

Oh my god.

Thank you.

Well, please vote against this.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

My name is Jean Walsh, and I am on the AC Transit Board of Directors.

This is my first Berkeley council meeting.

I picked a great one to come to.

Um, I'm speaking tonight in my personal capacity.

I've heard a lot of talk tonight and in the media about cycling versus parking.

I haven't heard a lot about transit.

And I just wanted to bring up the fact that um people who ride the bus are often seniors, people with disabilities, people who can't bike, people who can't afford a car, um, and they they depend on transit.

AC Transit runs line 12 along Hopkins, and it carries an average of about 3,000 people per day.

And uh AC Transit staff have been working on this project with with your staff for several years, have been following along.

And I know that previous versions, the staff was concerned about bus boarding islands.

This current proposal by um Councilmember Kesslerwani has the bus boarding islands, which make it safer and uh improve transit operations.

Um I I support that proposal as as a um individual, and uh I am confident that if your staff continue to work with AC Transit, you'll have a great project that benefits the entire community.

Thank you so much.

And Mayor, just a quick time check.

There's about uh 44 minutes left in in-person public comment.

Yep, thank you.

Good evening, Hudson.

My name is Mark Headland.

Um, biking on city streets, including Hopkins is legal.

The question before us tonight is whether Hopkins will be safer for everyone, including people on bikes.

I strongly support Councilmember Caserwani's item with Councilmember Taplan's and uh Luna Powers supplemental, and I urge you to vote for them tonight, fund them, and get them done.

Please do not send this item back for more study and delay.

It's been eight years since the initial referral.

Making other streets safer will not make Hopkins safe.

And as Councilmember O'Keefe notes, delay only makes repeaving Hopkins more expensive.

There is no magic compromise that preserves all parking on Hopkins and makes Hopkins safer for everyone.

You have to choose the policy you believe is best for Berkeley.

Please choose safety for all.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Mark also organizes Kittical Mass.

If anyone has been on that, it's amazing.

Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Nirvan Shatterjee.

I'm a North Berkeley resident and a car-free Hopkins shopper.

I'm worried about the real and very immediate harm that would be caused by ignoring Vision Zero and the climate emergency.

Your worst option today would be to refuse to actually make a tough choice or to refer to this to staff and throw them under the SUV by just making them deal with a political difficult choice without any kind of support.

Staff need your direction and policy.

Please make a decision today and don't leave us all hanging.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council.

I'm Liza Letzker.

In my day job, I am a traffic safety public health researcher, and but tonight I'm speaking as an individual, but also on behalf of Walkbike Berkeley.

We understand that change is hard, but we are in strong support of Councilmember Kessarani's referral and Taplin and Lunapara's supplemental.

Ideally, we'd like to extend the protected lanes at least to Milvia to create a true low stress protected network connecting West Berkeley and our neighbors to the north with downtown Berkeley and the Cal campus.

We especially encourage strong curb management strategies to meet the needs of people with disabilities and cherished local businesses.

As council members, you make the decisions for the benefit of the city, both as it stands now and what it will look like in the future.

We are at a crossroads as we add much needed housing and also as the micromobility movement booms.

You must make a choice.

You can choose to meet this moment by giving in to people's anger, speculation, and worst fears, or you can choose to rely on the reams of evidence that point towards the success of a protected network.

Please thanks.

We also support extending the protected bike lanes west to Stanage Avenue and east to Sutter Street, consistent with Berkeley's adopted bicycle plan.

Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in California and through and in Berkeley.

Meeting our climate goals requires more than just transitioning to cleaner vehicles.

It requires creating communities where walking, bicycling, rolling, and public transit are safe, convenient, and attractive choices for everyday trips.

Streets are among the most important public spaces we have, and they should be safe.

For decades, Berkeley has adopted adopted policies calling for a safe connected network for walking, bicycling, and transit.

The Hopkins Project is the product of those commitments.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mary.

She and Councilmember Sam Greenberg here speaking on behalf of East Bay for Everyone.

We are here today in strong support of finally building protected bike lanes on Hopkins for many of the reasons that have already been shared here.

We know that protected bike lanes are how to make streets safe for people riding bikes.

But I also want to speak briefly to how we know that sharews are not, and in fact, studies have shown Sherrows to actually make streets less safe.

Quote, part of it was the city of Denver's reluctance to do much of anything for bicycles, and quote, I was always under pressure to do less as the Denver bicycle planner.

We have known for a long time that Cheros are unsafe.

It's not just that they don't make streets safer, they make streets less safe.

And we've known for a long time that this is been enough process.

It's time to end the process and approve protected bike lanes on Hopkins.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sam.

Hello, Council and Mayor.

My name is Brandon Young.

I'm here to voice my support for uh Councilmember Kesmerwani's item with uh Council members Luna Para and Taplin's supplemental.

That's all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey everyone.

If y'all could make a decision on this, I could be at dinner.

Um here to support Councilmember Kesurani's um proposal and the supplemental by Councilmembers Taplin and Luna Para.

Uh change can be hard.

I understand people's frustration, fear.

Climate change is harder.

And it's harder already on the people and the places where I come from that may not be in the room today.

I wasn't gonna speak, but I couldn't help myself.

Because we have, I moved to Berkeley.

I'm not gonna say how long I lived here because I don't think it matters, but I moved here because I thought we believed in climate change.

Process doesn't save lives, plans don't save lives.

The only thing that saves lives is bold and visionary action.

And you have an opportunity to do that today.

That's why you're our electeds.

This is a contest of do we believe in climate change?

Are we allowed going to make changes to our infrastructure?

So I hope you choose the right thing.

The world is watching.

Thank you.

I will try and keep it brief, but I may use a minute from Sam here if I need it.

So my name is Maria Rubal.

I am a uh candidate for City Council of District One.

And um first of all, I just want to recognize what a difficult decision this is.

How many um stakeholders there are on all sides?

And uh I want to encourage you to use your wisdom to make a decision tonight and not delay this any longer.

Um, as a 20-year resident of district one, um, I use Hopkins regularly, and I recognize that parking is important, but lives are more important.

And a protected bike lane from Stanich to CETA is the right choice.

Um I would be open to the possibility of a parallel path um for part of that passage that protects parking, but we need to have protected bike lanes to save lives.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Daria.

Good evening, Mayor Ishian City Council.

My name is Mia, and I'm a resident of Berkeley.

I'm speaking here in support of item 27 with um with the Luma Para Taplin Supplemental.

As a pedestrian and micromobility user in North Berkeley, it cannot be overstated how crucial these improved uh safety improvements are for our community.

Um, this plan perfectly aligns with Berkeley's Vision Zero initiative and only benefits our community by encouraging safe usage of bicycles and other forms of micromobility.

Um while still fostering region connectivity.

Additionally, the repaving of the street benefits all users of the road and is a responsible use of city funds.

I also urge the council to keep the class two buffered uh bike lanes and not compromise for Cheros.

As someone who uses these streets as a micro mobility users, I don't feel safe using Cheros, and it's not a worthwhile compromise.

Um North, even though you know this has been on the agenda for a while, and I believe that North Verhoe residents deserve a decision today.

Berkeley cyclists and pedestrians deserve to be safe on their streets, their lives matter too.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mia.

Hi.

Thank you, City Council.

Uh, I live in District 3, and I recently frequently bike down on telegraph to visit my parents.

And it's uh if you've ever biked it, it does not feel safe.

Uh you switch between just a painted bike lane and being just in the road on a ferro.

And every couple blocks you're merging in, merging out of the traffic.

And every time I go through that, I feel just a constant feeling like this time that I merge in, a car might not see me.

And that just might be it for me.

And I would really not want that for Hopkins.

Um for that reason, I'm here to encourage you to add bike lanes all the way down Hopkins.

Um, additionally, as we fulfill our part of fixing California's housing crisis, we need more ability for people to move around in Berkeley for more people to live in Berkeley.

And I believe the best ideal solution is to add more bike capacity because they can be added without needing more cars, more parking structures, and everything.

Thank you.

I want to thank everyone here for being positive in your responses.

I really appreciate folks not booing and thank you.

Uh hello, City Council.

My name is David Woolsey, and I live in the Hopkins area neighborhood and shop at Mother Market.

And I too am compla uh uh concerned about the loss of parking.

But what I want to talk about is how bicycle paths get planned into main traffic thoroughfares.

There's an issue with air pollution that's generated by cars, either by internal combustion engine, traffic uh uh uh tire wear, brake wear, etc.

This is not the place that I would choose to bicycle, is in a main traffic throwfare.

Find a way parallel and make that the bicycle path.

Now I understand that that neighborhood, the street grid is all wonky, and it's hard to find a parallel path.

This is a uh a general piece of advice for other bicycle paths.

Don't mix them on the main streets, put them on the parallel streets as bicycle boulevards.

Otherwise, you wind up breathing stuff.

You really oughtn't breathe, be breathing.

Thank you.

Hi there.

Uh, come back, please.

Uh I live in District 5.

Uh, this is my first time attending a meeting.

I'm urging the council to vote yes on the item uh and the supplemental to build protected bike lanes on Hopkins.

I ride a bike on Hopkins with my kids.

I have Sasha, who's seven, and Zeph, who's two.

I asked Sasha what she likes to do on Hopkins, and she said the library, King Park, Joya Pizza, of course, and to visit our family in Westbury.

I brought their helmets.

This is Sasha with the butterflies and Zev.

This inch of foam is what protects them.

They're precious, precious heads when we're riding on Hopkins and other other shared roadways.

I don't expect you to prioritize these heads over all of the other lovely heads in Berkeley, but I do expect you to weigh them appropriately, Sasha and Zev.

All the things that they will do with their lives against a handful of parking spaces.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name's Janice Moroda, and I grew up in Berkeley on Rose in California.

We shop mostly at the co-op where my father was a uh car mechanic.

But if we ran out of milk, Grandma and I would walk down California Street to where it was, I think it was the Lewis Market.

And now I don't live that close.

I have to drive.

I'm does it because I can't ride a bicycle.

Does that mean that I can't live in I can't eat in Berkeley?

What I'll do is I'll shop in El Cerido if I can't shop at Monterey Market.

I I shop between 9.45 and 10:30 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, because that's the only time I can sort of get in there and park and shop at a regional, you know, without a huge crowd and then get out.

So I I think maybe the demand on Hopkins is too much.

We're all of us are using that corridor.

I used to walk, though, to the to the North March Library.

It's still my library, but now I have to drive there.

So I hope there's still room in Berkeley for some of us who need cars.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Jocelyn Racinos, and I work at Berkeley Little School.

We're on Hopkins and McGee.

And so before this, there's a stop sign there now.

We used to have a loading zone because the stop sign was added, it's now uh red.

And then we were giving a loading zone like right next to the apartments next door.

But what's going to happen if this is passed is that we're going to get rid of that loading zone, and where are we going to drop off 42?

We start 42 students between the ages of 18 months to five years old, and not everyone drives a bike when they're dropping off their children.

So, and then I think about those parents that are coming with an 18-month-year-old and a two-year-old, it makes it really hard for them to drop them off at school.

I'm also a parent.

I have my son that goes to work with me.

He's at Berkeley Little School, and it's going to make it very challenging.

So I really want to also keep that in mind that we have a preschool there that has been already affected by the previous loading zone being removed, and then now we're going to have another.

Well, hopefully not, but I don't want it to keep affecting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm David White.

I live in Peralta.

I met a lot of people in the last week passing this flyer around on Hopkins.

And the back of it has all collision incidents involving a bicycle on Hopkins between Sutter and Stanage, 2011 to 2026, 15 years, eight accidents.

Not the 23 that shows up in this flyer that was at the meeting.

All eight of the accidents were in intersections.

There's no protection in an intersection.

Most of them were left-hand turns.

Cycle tracks don't stop left-hand turns.

But the most poignant person I met and all the time, and it was an accident, and we were in the same line.

I met a woman who thanked me for flyering because she says I have a son in the preschool.

And I won't be able to drive him to school anymore because there's no parking.

Think about it.

If there's no parking, it means all the thank you.

If there's no parking, it means all the there's someone over here.

Okay.

If there's no parking, that means the machines have to be moving.

If they have to be moving, it means there's no way to drop the kid off or pick up an ant, or certainly not stuff a kid in the back seat.

You are stopping life on this planet if you don't let people pause on a street.

100% parking, blocking it off doesn't work.

How does branding work?

You call it a protected light bike, protected bike lane, but you're sending kids through a hundred driveways with problems every single one as an intersection.

It's making things more dangerous.

It makes things harder to park.

Try to park after you get out of your driveway, go five feet, and then get around a cement block.

That's what people are going to have to do.

Have a little cement rodeo twice a day forever.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Council members.

Uh, my name is Sarah, and for 16 years, I've been part of Evangel Bible Church of Berkeley.

And over the years at our facility, I've helped to prepare lunches on Sundays, refreshments on Wednesdays.

We also have special meals for large day conferences on Saturdays, as well as evening events during the weekdays.

Removing access and parking to Hopkins would limit my ability to contribute to my community.

And I really want you to hear that.

And it would limit my ability to meet urgent needs, as well as it would put my safety at risk, especially at night when I'm even more concerned about my physical safety.

I really do urge you to make a decision to continue the repavement of the roads, certainly, but I do strongly urge you to not remove our access to our church building.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor, Council members, thank you very much.

Mike Olson, District Fire resident.

On June 10th, I was riding my bicycle in West Berkeley when I was hit from behind by a truck.

The BPD police report confirms that the driver was completely at fault.

Failure to provide sufficient room when she was passing a cyclist on the road.

Fractured ribs, facial lacerations, road rash, bruising.

I am very lucky because it could have been much worse.

Council Member O'Keefe has suggested that cyclists simply use a different road.

That's 47 years of city taxes and parcel fees and economic activities supporting local businesses.

Cyclists, including me, should be able to use those roads safely.

Thank you.

Acknowledge and see uh Jim and uh Lori C here and Jim in the back there.

Sorry, where was Jim?

Oh, thank you.

Good evening.

Um I'm Bruce Chamberlain, and I live in District 4.

I've been riding my bike in Berkeley for over 20 years and frequent the Hopkins business district.

I'm a huge proponent of bike boulevards and use California and/or ADA to access this area.

My concerns for this action item are as follows.

The process and eventual council item appear to have involved political manipulation and fast tracking a solution.

I attended the February FITES committee meeting where Councilmember O'Keefe presented a February consent item sponsored by Kissarwani and Ishii based on a good faith compromised effort to move forward with paving Hopkins while including improvements.

During the meeting, both Luna Para and Humbert hijacked the proposal, not only giving it a negative declaration, but inserting cycle tracks into the item.

It went from there to the item before you now.

Many people are surprised that a solution to Hopkins is being held hostage by the demand for cycle tracks when there are other options to consider.