Welcome everybody to the regular meeting of Tuesday, December 3, 2024. Before we get started, I want to read to our rules procedure. Welcome to this meeting of the Berkeley City Council to allow for full participation by all members of the community and to ensure that important city business is able to be completed. We ask that all attendees conduct themselves in an orderly manner and respect the rights of others participating in the meeting. Please be aware that the city council's rules of decorum prohibit the disruption of the orderly conduct of the council meeting. A summary of these rules are available in one page handout on the table at the rear of the boardroom. Disruptive behavior includes but is not limited to shouting, making disruptive noises, creating or participating in a physical disturbance, speaking out of turn or in violation of applicable rules, preventing or attempting to prevent others who have the floor from speaking, preventing others from observing the meeting, entering into or remaining in an area of the meeting room that is not open to the public or approaching the council bias without consent. We ask that you observe these rules so that all members of the public may observe and participate in tonight's meeting. Prior to each public comment period, provide the following, oh, sorry, I'm not supposed to read that. Okay. So first go to the business, is roll call please. Okay, calling the roll for the 6 o'clock and regular meeting. Council member, I did text Council member Kessler-Wonis. She says she will be joining shortly. Council member Kessler-Won She says she will be joining shortly. Councilmember Kessarwanis currently absent. Councilmember Tapplin. Present. Bartlett here. Trigger. Present. On. Present. Luna Para. Here. Humber. Here. And acting Mayor Wengerapp. Present. Okay. Corm is present. Okay. At the beginning of every meeting, we read the Land Acknowledgement Statement. The city of Berkeley recognizes that the community we live in was built on the territory of the Huchun, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenio speaking alone. People, the ancestors and descendants of the sovereign Verona city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of the city of we acknowledge and honor the original inhabitants of Berkeley, the documented 5,000 year history of a vibrant community at the West Berkeley Shell mound, and the aloneing people who continue to reside in the East Bay. We recognize that Berkeley's residents have and continue to benefit from the use and occupation of this unceded stolen land since the city of Berkeley's incorporation in 1878. As stewards of the law regulating the city of Berkeley, it is not only vital that we recognize the history of this land, but also recognize that the alonie people are present members of Berkeley and other East Bay communities today. The city of Berkeley will continue to build relationships with the Luzhawn tribe and to create meaningful actions that uphold the intention of this land acknowledgement. Now we'll move on to ceremonial matters. Thank you. Back to you. Right. Councilmember Kester Wani has joined the meeting. Councilmember Kester Wani has joined the meeting. Okay. So I just run through the script. Councillor McKessor, why don't you have a meeting? Councillor McKessor, why don't you have a meeting? Councillor McKessor, why don't you have a meeting? Councillor McKessor, why don't you have a meeting? Councillor McKessor, why don't you have a meeting? Councillor McKessor, why don't you have a meeting? Councillor McKessor, why don't you have a meeting? the council's participation in the in-person meeting that was noticed on the agenda which was satisfied as the requirements of the brown act. Councilmember Kessirwani has notified the council of her need to participate remotely. Councilmember Kessirwani, please provide a general description of the circumstances relating to your need to appear remotely. However, please do not disclose any medical diagnosis, disability or other confidential medical information. Yes, I need to participate remotely due to illness. Okay. And Council Member Castellani, please disclose if there are any other individuals 18 years of age or older present in the room from where you are participating and if so what is the general nature of their relationship to you? There is nobody else in the room in which I'm participating from. Okay. And Council Member Keserani will participate through both audio and visual technology. That is all we can proceed. Thank you very much and welcome, Council Member Kessler-Wonney. We hope you're feeling better soon. So, tonight is a very special night. Tonight is the last meeting for Council Member Hahn and my last meeting for Councilmember Hahn and my last meeting. I didn't think this was going to happen. So it is my honor and privilege now to present Councilmemberam with a proclamation, very well-deserved proclamation. Honoring Councilmember Sophie Hahn for her service to the city of Berkeley. Whereas Sophie Hahn has embraced Berkeley as her lifelong home, uplifting its people and championing its core values. embraced Berkeley as her lifelong home, uplifting its people and championing its core values. And whereas her parents instilled in her, a profound commitment to the values of equality, sustainability, and active civic engagement. And as a child she watched free speech in anti-war protests from her father's soldiers on telegraph avenue. And whereas Council Member Hahn has dedicated a lifetime of service to the city of Berkeley as a member of the Zoning Adjustments Board of Library Trustees, Chair of the Commission on the Status of Women, Council Member for District 5, representing the neighborhood she grew up in, and raised her own family in. And whereas Council Member Hahn has been a tireless advocate for affordable housing, approving the construction of over 1,000 homes during a 10-year Amazoning Board, and co-leading initiatives that have reduced homelessness by 45% in Berkeley. And whereas Councilmember Hahn secured $10 million in funding for the small sites program to prevent the displacement of long-term Berkeley residents and preserve affordable housing. And whereas Sophie spearheaded the planting of me Mia walking far as in Berkeley, advancing biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and air quality improvements. And whereas under her leadership, Berkeley enacted one of the nation's first single-use foodware bands, a groundbreaking and internationally recognized piece of legislation that has been replicated in cities across the United States and beyond. breaking and internationally recognized piece of legislation that has been replicated in cities across the United States and beyond. And whereas during the COVID pandemic, she worked to support small businesses by authoring legislation to allow outdoor dining and commerce and helping to develop the Save Our Small Business Learn program with UC Berkeley faculty and students. And whereas through her support of arts and culture organizations including the Aurora Theatre at the Berkeley Arts Center and the Pena Cultural Center, Council Member Hone has made significant contributions to the cultural life of Berkeley. And whereas the community has benefited greatly from Council Member Hone's dedication and leadership, now they are for being resolved that I, Susan Wingrath, acting mayor of the City of Berkeley, do hereby recognize, thank, and honor Council Member Hahn. For our eight years of service as a council member, one of which was his vice mayor, and for over a decade of service to the City of Berkeley in various capacities. And be it further proclaimed that the city of Berkeley and your colleagues extend their heartfelt gratitude and best wishes, confident that your dedication will continue to inspire and shape the future of our city. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to have to say, I'll just change the distance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the wonderful proclamation. Whoever else had a role in that, I appreciate it very much. It's been an incredible eight years. Somebody said to me the other day, you did 16 years with a work in eight years. Somebody said to me the other day, you did 16 years worth of work in eight years. And I thought, actually, I think I did. But I did it so gladly and so full of energy and excitement about what we've been able to achieve. I look back and I've either written or co-sponsored over 600 items. And many of the other things that I've had the honor of participating in are not pieces of legislation. It's other work that we've done together as a city and things I've been able to do in the community. And quite a few of them, including some of the ones that Mayor Wendrath pointed out, are seminal changes, either for the city of Berkeley, and in some cases beyond. And I wanted to mention, well, let me just first start by saying that in 2016 I was elected at the same time that Jesse Atigin, who has joined us in the audience, was elected Mayor of Berkeley. Yeah. And my good friend Ben Bartlett, the three of us came in together with a lot of energy and a lot of optimism. And we really came into shake things up and make some real change. And I can say with great confidence that we did that. And some of the things that we did, and remember this is against the headwinds of the first four years of Trump, and the three-year pandemic. So with all that going on, here are a few of the things that either I led or that we led together that we've been able to accomplish for Berkeley. First of all, homelessness. It wasn't just one policy, one program. It was the whole package. For three years, we pushed to change the paradigm on how we do homeless services in Berkeley. Policies, programs, facilities that we literally went and rolled our sleeves up and helped the city build. But we also went and got the money. It's kind of the unglomerates part of all this. But if you have good ideas, that's great, but you have to be able to go and get the community to buy into them and get the money to be successful. And I'm very proud to have co-authored with the mayor measure P, which got us the money to do more to end homelessness than any other community that is heavily impacted by homelessness in the entire Bay Area. I'm told in the state. I'm also extremely pleased to have also spearheaded, measured, W, which was on the ballot this year and which locked in the money and actually increased it to ensure that our programs to Anne Holmer's and Berkeley continue to be funded. And I consider this to be a legacy that I am so proud of with the mayor, with Ben, and with other members of the City Council and Susan at the time. More than 1700 people who are formerly homeless have a roof over their head. That alone is enough for me. Excuse me. So, so many other things. Affordable housing, same story. We've been talking about affordable housing forever. Everyone says they cared about affordable housing, but we weren't got the money. Because if you're just talking about it, you're not making progress. So again, Mayor Idaqin and I, we co-authored Measure O. And Measure O is the largest affordable housing bond. It's actually the largest bond of any kind at the time in the city's history. And that has allowed us to build or fund more than 1,000 units of affordable housing. That is more affordable housing than has been done since World War II. I'm also very proud through my years on ZAB and on the City Council, either directly through myself or my incredible ZAB appointee who will be taking over as the district five representative, Shashana O'Keefe. Together, we have calculated that we have said yes to well over 10,000 new units of housing for Berkeley at all levels of affordability. Plastics, climate, engineering the return of the shell mount, the Alonie people. Which took over eight years to do and almost didn't happen about 20 times that almost fell apart. And by the way, I love hearing the the land acknowledgement because I wrote that with the help of Karina Gold, the alonely leader, and that is now an integrated part. So a lot of work to shine a light on the Native people who have always lived here and who are our fur bars. The Shell Mount Return was the most important land back victory, urban land back victory ever in the United States. And it's a big deal. We did comprehensive work to reimagine public safety. And that is work that Ben and the Maronite spearheaded the specialized care unit which was an initiative of Ben's. It's part of that big vision. We made a lot of headway there, health. During the pandemic, I was very proud. I always remember when the shelter in place was declared because it was my sister's birthday. My sister is here from New York City. March 16th, she wasn't born in 2020, but March 16th, 2020. And the same day I authored and submitted an item to ensure that the city of Berkeley focused on what I call special populations. The homeless, low-income seniors, we actually had travelers, people who were visiting from other countries who were stuck in Berkeley, couldn't leave, people didn't speak English. So immediately thinking, how are we as a city gonna make sure that we keep everybody safe? Also healthy checkout, people forget about that. Why don't you have candy in the checkout aisle anymore? That's a piece of legislation first in the nation. Very important for health of our children and being replicated across the United States. This council, again, the mayor and council member Bartlett and I participated in this. Took a lead, the first reserves policy in the city's history. A city that is prone to wildfire and earthquakes never had fiscal reserves until we came into office and we pushed for this. And it's those reserves that we created and then started funding that allowed us to whether the pandemic with no cuts in services and no layoffs. So it's not just wild and crazy ideas like ending homelessness, but actual fiscal responsibility for the city of Berkeley. The committee structure is something that the mayor and I spearheaded that is sort of taken for granted now, it didn't exist. I will not continue. There is a lot more, but these are some of the things that I'm most proud of. I wanna take a second to thank people. I wanna thank the people of Berkeley and in particular, the people of District five for their faith in me. I want to thank Mayor Senator Adegin for his leadership, his mentorship, and his friendship. I want to thank all my council colleagues, current and former, for their passion and their commitment to Berkeley. I want to thank City Manager Paul Brudenhaigan for their commitment to Berkeley. I wanna thank City Manager Paul Brudin-Hagen for coming back to Berkeley. We meet you and we are so lucky to have you. We wanna thank our Deputy City Manager who's leaving us soon. Latanya Bello has been incredible. This, she's going to be a city manager of Amriville. I want to thank Furi Mabron, our incredible city attorney, who was so faithful to her job and works with such incredible integrity. I want to thank the city auditor, Jenny Wong, who's here in the audience and serves Berkeley with enormous integrity. And does a lot of important work. I want to thank Department heads, now I'm getting really sad. Our department heads and all our city staff who are the unsung heroes of this community. I want to thank my staff, Alex, Maxwell, and Brandon who are here, but also other staff who I've had in my office who have allowed me to be successful and work their butts off doing that 16 years worth of work in eight years. And then last but not least, my family and friends, my mother Ellie is here somewhere. There she is, right there, my husband, my husband Eric, is right here. And I see two of my three kids, Simon and Sarah, have entered and they're in the back here. My third child lives in Denver and can be here, but they have put up with an awful lot. So last but not least, I just wanted to say just a few words looking forward. I'm a daughter of Berkeley, I really care about this community. And I hope as we go forward and everything we do, we ask ourselves one big question, what is best for Berkeley? That we be committed to problem solving, not committed to specific solutions. And there are solutions that are kind of in style, but they don't necessarily work. And I think we need to be more committed in Berkeley to solving problems, then committed to specific ways of solving them. Knowing the right thing to do and getting the right thing done are two very different exercises. And I will say that in Berkeley, we are somewhat of a city of no at all, but we can't always find our way to get things done. And I think that is something we really need to do. We are a small city, but we have a national voice. There's always someone who wants to use our voice. Not necessarily for our city, but for their own means and ends. Let's be selective and make sure that if we're going to set an example across the country, It's something that's good for Berkeley too. And make sure that when we do international and national work, it unites our city and it truly reflects our values. We are going into choppy times again. We've been in them before. We did very well. I'm asking that we support each other as a city that we support the people of Berkeley. I want us to support our new city manager. He needs our support. He needs the support of the people. He needs the support of this council to be successful. And I want us to support our staff again who do so much work. It is unseen and often unappreciated. But they are there in storms, in pandemics, whatever happens out there risking our lives and doing work on behalf of the people of Berkeley. And they need our support too. I hope we can end this culture of grievance that is gripping our entire country, and unfortunately, has some strongholds here in Berkeley as well and come together as a city. Thank you. Because it's a very special night, I'd like to invite Eli Hanup to make a few comments, Sophie's mother. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Well, you've already given my name. I was going to tell you my name, but it's already happened. I am so proud of my daughter Sophie, who for eight years has tirelessly, selflessly and passionately represented District 5 as a member of the Berkeley City Council. She served with commitment and integrity. Her long list of accomplishments has already been stated by Susan and by Sophie, and they are a matter of public record. Her dedication to improving the lives of all Berkeley residents never wavered. Her creative, positive, can do way of thinking, letter to initiate and complete the many projects which you have already heard about for the good of her city, as well as for our planet. She is eager, excited, and ready to be the next mayor of Berkeley, and ran a positive uplifting and visionary campaign for many months while still a full-time member of the council. I am proud of her bold vision of what the bright future of our city could have been under her leadership as mayor. Thank you, Sophie. I love you so much. I'd like to invite State Senator Jesse Arrigin to come up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Man, it's strange to be here on this side of the Dioce. So I wanted to come down from Sacramento to honor my two colleagues who I've had the honor of working with Council Member Wanggraf for probably 20 years and Council Member Han for over 15 years and who I've been so blessed to work with as colleagues and as friends and to acknowledge and thank you for your incredible service, not just to Berkeley, but to the entire Bay Area. Council member Winged Up is a leader on wildfire safety and prevention throughout the Bay Area. It's a chair of a new regional partnership focused on wildfire safety and prevention throughout the Bay Area. It's a chair of a new regional partnership focused on wildfire prevention and safety, something that she helped create. Councilor Mahan has served on the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, which is working to protect our shoreline. And in all those roles have brought, not just our Berkeley values, but it made a real significant impact. And so on behalf of the, And all those roles have brought not just our Berkeley values, but it made a real significant impact. And so on behalf of the people of State Senate District 7, I want to present Council on behalf of the Council on behalf of State Senate District 7, I want to present Council on behalf of the Council on behalf of State Senate District 7, I want to present Council on behalf of State Senate District 7, I want to present Council on behalf of Council on behalf of State Senate District 7, I want to present Council on behalf of Council on behalf of Council So this is for Council Member Hahn. In honor of your exceptional service to Berkeley in the Bay Area. On behalf of State Senate District 7, I want to congratulate and thank you for your exceptional service to Berkeley and the broader Bay Area communities as a Berkeley City Council member. The member of the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority, your transformative work to pass measures O and P to create affordable housing. Offering the Pathways Project, first in the nation legislation advancing these plastics. Thank you for your thoughtful and packable leadership and best wishes in your future endeavors. And then to Vice Mayor Wangraff. Thank you for your work, not just on behalf of district constituents, but on the important issue of wildfire safety, infrastructure and public safety, which have made a significant impact not just for your constituents in Berkeley, but throughout the East Bay. Thank you for your over 30 years of public service and thoughtful and collaborative leadership. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. So on the half of the State Senate District 7, I wanted to be here to congratulate you and thank you for your service. And thank you to my previous calls as well for your continuing service as well. We are all in City of Berkeley and in the broader Bay Area community, the better for your dedicated service and the impact that you've made. So thank you for giving this opportunity. It's good to see you all as well. And I'll give these to the clerk. It's good to see you, Mr. Clerk. But we'll see you up here soon. We're not calling. Oh, okay. And thank you all for coming out tonight to support these incredible leaders, because the support you provide them helps not just advance these groundbreaking policies, but provides the emotional support that we need to do this important work. So thank you to the family members, Eric, Mark as well, and all the community members who have supported these incredible leaders as well. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. There you go. So I wanted to just step in for the acting mayor or vice mayor. I don't know who titled today. The mayor. There we go. Acting Mayor. At our last meeting, we did present a beautiful proclamation to Susan Wengrap for her service, so that has not been forgotten by the city. But we did not have the opportunity for council members to make comments to thank her for her service to the city. And so I wanted to give it over to our colleagues if they would like to say a few words of thanks and recognition to council members who's a wind graph by smare, acting mayor, whose last meeting is also tonight. And I will go ahead and it looks like everybody is pressing. Okay, I'm just going to go down the row. I will start with councilmember Humbert. Thank you, Councillor Mabberhorn. And I have two things, two sets of comments I want to make. One about you, Councillor Mabberhorn and one about our Mayor, Susan Winngraf. Can I go ahead and do both of them at the same time? Okay, thank you. Thank you, Councilmember Hahn, for all of your service. As long as I've been on council, and that's only two years, but you've been an incredibly hard worker and extremely dedicated to all your endeavors. And I was very grateful that you endorsed me when I ran to represent District 8 in 2022 that's, I will have a lot of gratitude for that. It's hard to imagine for me the council without you. You worked tirelessly, no question about that, and left an indelible mark on our community. You're truly a singular president, presence on the city council, and the work you've done will continue to impact our community for years to come. I'm deeply thankful for your work on the funding items that we've co-sponsored. You've taken the lead when it comes to funding some of our most beloved Berkeley institutions. I'm grateful that you've been a champion for securing support for these organizations when they needed a hand up. Councilmember Hahn has an extremely keen eye for policy. And so if you know we're definitely to feel the absence of your expertise and attention to detail. And you have a great attention to detail. Really grateful for that. You've also fostered strong public engagement. And I think you've inspired many residents to pay closer attention to local government. Your term in office serves as a powerful reminder of how a single elected official can strongly influence the course of local government and a community. As you transition to your next chapter of your life, I'm confident you'll find new and exciting opportunities to share your talents. We wish you, I wish you all the best in your future endeavors wherever they may take you. And hopefully that won't be too far away. Now Mayor Wynne-Graph. And that's really fun to say. It has been an absolute privilege to serve with you and you are simply irreplaceable. Of course I'm very excited to work with incoming council member Blackaby, who's with us tonight. And I think he'll be a great addition to our council. But the loss of your institutional knowledge and wonderful presence will be keenly felt by me and I think by everybody. And there's so many great qualities that you bring to your work here on council. It feels like you were practically engineered and designed to be a great council member. You have encyclopedic knowledge of policy and Berkeley politics. You always pick up the subtle details and unexpected implications of policy. You know exactly what questions to ask to cut to the chase when sometimes cut through BS. And you do it all with good humor and a collegial spirit, which is much appreciated. You've always been deeply dedicated to your district, which I really admire, and you're constituents rightly respect and adore you. I found that out when I was out knocking doors with Councilmember elect Blackaby, but I knew it already. Well under the Councilmember, whose item gets a negative mention in Susan's newsletter. We get floods of emails. She has a superpower in that regard. You are almost always right on your policies and positions. Not quite 100%. But almost. And when I've disagreed with you on one of your positions, at the same time, I've known that in holding that position you have the best interest of your constituents in mind. Having said that, I always want your blessings for my items. And I have a feeling even when your off-counsel would probably still be who of us to make sure that our referrals have your approval. I'm so thankful for all your service and for being a friend and mentor to me as I've gotten a hang of being on council. At the same time, I'm glad you'll be getting some much deserved rest and time with your family. Though I know you're gonna still be active. Frankly, I wouldn't mind if you become one of the folks who comes and comments on nearly every item at every meeting. I think that would help us. But you deserve to enjoy your retirement. So instead, I'll just have to ask myself what would Susan do? From the bottom of my heart, thank you again for everything you've done and do. And I wish you and your loved ones, your husband, mark your grandchildren, and your adorable grandchildren, a happy council retirement. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So it's a sweet council member, Umber. WSD. What would Susan do? I guess uh... Susan and I will be enjoying the leisurely dinner during the council meetings. You know um we may do some really rigorous times. We absolutely have. And so a council member wind graph graph. You were like a living library of everything this council has done, all the rules, you know, the right questions they ask. And I enjoyed working with you. And despite our differences, which on its surface, there appear to be many. Difference in age, gender, race, geophysical positioning within the city. But what united us through these years, these eight years together, was a little Berkeley, wanted us to work together. We came together many times and you supported me, supported you. We worked on MeasureFF, Drophyre, we worked on the Fire Plan in 2017. We worked on a Mirative Issues. And every time you were there to, to lend a helping hand and teach me a plucky kid from the streets of South Berkeley, how to operate and be collaborative and initiative vision. And we did it over and over again. And we were always steadfast. And he held your ground. And when it made sense, I was with you. And we were going to laugh together, we left together. And I don't relish the fact that I have to take your position now, as the most senior member on the council. Very alarming possibility of eventuality. And I would say again, just a council member wind graph, some wonderful, wonderful experience. You're a little of the arts. We share that. And I've learned so much from you and inspired by you and learned so much and I'm gonna miss you and please come around and comment on every item Shut us down a couple times And Councilor Han Well Councilor Han What can I say? So going back with 13, 14 years I think it was when we first started coming together, you recruited my wife onto the Women's Commission and you led the charge to shut down these massage parlors and to take that group which had been relegated to, you know, one of those traditional women's auxiliary type clubs, talking about lace patterns and doing an annual event, to being proactive and producing leaders and making big change and sticking up for women. And that was incredible. And then I saw you get involved in the downtown plan and all these large scale projects with Councilor Erogine back in the day. And through these years you and I became so close. And again another genius woman here taught me so much and lived working with you through the years. And on council we came in together on that blue green tide and we brought a new energy and a new direction and I can tell you working with you and observing your the power of your intellect is unrivaled. Powerhouse. With a brain and thought structure so massive and so complex, it takes a lot of time to express it in words. A lot of time. Oh my God, it counts wrong. You're a you're a you're a you're of Berkeley. You're a yellow jacket cheerleader. You know, you get it. You give a Berkeley is. You get it. It's in your fiber of your DNA. You get it. You express it. You believe in what makes us unique What makes us strong what made us famous throughout the world you embody that and you push for that stuff you go for it And it's been the honor to support you throughout these this near decade together and You know, I'll say this Now that you you know amassed all your powers and you've run a campaign, you've launched out now, you're gonna be free in the world with these new powers and new energies and new thoughts, you're gonna rest for a while. But I know it's gonna happen. I'm gonna leave you with a poem from my late father, Dale Bartlett, he would say if he were here. Life is a river and must run its course from a trickle to a stream and back to its source. We'll see you again. Thank you. Fairwells are really hard for me, so I'm not going to say farewell because I hope to continue working with you and seeking your guidance. Councillor Boren. You, when I was first selected, you really embraced me as a colleague. I cherished our walks. We would go on. I loved working on a number of my items with you and having you review my items at committee and get your feedback and knowing that I could always come to you for insight and even when we didn't agree you were always willing to hear me out and make my items better. Like you I also grew up here in Berkeley but I've never met anyone in my life who loves Berkeley as much as you do. And I've also never seen someone fight as hard on behalf of the city and people in the way that you do. I've been so grateful in awe of your passion, your deep knowledge of history, your championing of affordable housing, everything you've done for the arts, who you really, I'm not sure if you're doing well. I'm not sure if you're doing well. I'm not sure if you're doing well. I'm not sure if you're doing well. I'm not sure if you're doing well. I'm not sure if you're doing well. I'm not sure if you're doing well. I'm not sure if you're doing well. I'm not sure if you're doing well. I'm not sure if you're doing well. I hope to continue doing so and I hope that you continue keeping me updated and let me know how I can support you. And I hope to see even more of you. And thank you for everything you've done for all of us, for the community, for the city. Thank you for not being afraid to challenge people and to call people out and to hold us to our better selves and doing that for the community as well. And thank you for thinking of not just a good of the city, but also how to make sure that everyone in the city has a beautiful life that we have beautiful spaces to share, to preserve our culture, to create culture, to work on the world that we all want to see, and that our community deserves, and I'm deeply indebted to you for that, and for having that as a guiding light, especially with a pandemic, and as someone who really came out of nowhere, didn't know anything when I first got here. So thank you so much. And Mary Wingraff, I have loved every single day of these last four years of working with you. Like Ben was saying, you know, we represent two very different districts, two very different parts of town. But we were always able to mutually support one other and our constituents and and thank you so much for your your your commitment to Les Berkeley and the waterfront and for the wealth of knowledge that you have and just being able to come to you with all kinds of questions and I remember one time, it was really my first, first like better referrals, it was, I think you're, you know, you're all gonna laugh at me, but it was our referral to add some trash cans along with who Avenue and it went to I think a gin and a rules perhaps and you were like Why do we need an item for trash cans? At the time I felt like oh crush like oh my god like my first lot item but you know like But especially for newer members of council Having someone who is willing to sort of point out when something is a little ridiculous and naive, in a way that is clear but also encouraging. And it's very important to have those moments so that we don't end up doing better for all sorts of, for individual trash cans. And working with you in a public safety committee and getting to learn about the needs of the hills this correct with respect to evacuation and fire safety in wildlife, wildfire, mitigation, and some of the less glamorous things we have to deal with, refuse issues, infrastructure. Those of my favorite parts of working for the city is tending to those assets. And I thank you so much for being like my mentor and my friends. And I really hope that we can continue calling on you and lunch. Yeah, lunch. Absolutely. And don't be surprised when if we end up naming a couple of parks and streets and facilities in gardens and the city itself after you. I want to first echo my colleagues beautiful comments about Council Member Haun and Acting Mayor Wengeriff who served on this council with such passion over the past eight to 16 years. And while I only shared half of a year of that time with you both, I feel like I have learned so much from the both of you. There have been countless moments I've shared with you where I have been so appreciative of your expertise, your knowledge of history, your passions, your questions, your curiosity, and your kindness. So, Fee, I want to specifically recognize some of the incredible work that you have done with maintaining affordable housing and supporting tenants. It is really incredible and I'm so excited to be able to continue to work off of it. I know it is because of you that I get to work off of it in the first place. I am so thankful to have had the chance to serve alongside you. I just want to mention how many times in the past six months I have smiled to myself and thought, wow, that's a really good point. I would not have thought of that. And it has been just really, really incredible to see to see your work and how passionate you are about it. So thank you. Susan, your dedication, your compassion, and your thoughtful leadership have made such an incredible mark on this community. And I again feel so fortunate to have been able to work alongside you. Your attention to detail and your commitment to your constituents, all of your constituents will be sorely missed. Although I know that your successor will follow in the very large footsteps that you have left for him. It is so clear to me how you lead with kindness and humility and a deep commitment to the well-being of our residents, and I so admire the integrity that you take in every single decision that you make. And I think that it will inspire our city's leaders for generations to come. I want to thank you both for your years of service and for the great support of our residents and I admire the integrity that every single decision that you make. And I think that it will inspire our city's leaders for generations to come. I wanna thank you both for your years of service and especially for welcoming me to this council. And for the moments that we shared, I feel so lucky to have been able to serve with two such strong women on this council. I feel inspired. I wish you both and your incredible staff all the very best in the future and I am glad that your families will get to spend more time with you. And I hope that you don't hesitate to reach out and if it is okay, I also want. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, we'll go now to council members on Zoom. Ingrid? You know, I simply don't have the words to describe the depth of my appreciation of the community's appreciation for both of you, Sophie and Susan, Mayor Wang-Graff and Council Member Han. If I had the words we would be here all night, I'm not going to make you go through a long council meeting as your final one. But I did want to share a few different stories that I think capture the full depth and breadth of everything that you have got to our community throughout not just your council tenure but your lifetime. Susan, I don't even remember the issue but I remember that we were at logger heads about something. This was maybe a decade ago or more, but you invited me into your office. And when we talked through it, and we had just a heart-to-heart conversation, I'll never forget what you told me. Oh my gosh, I am sorry for whatever in the I don't even remember what it was but whatever it was I was going through and you offered to make me hit and soup. You can help. You can help. You can help. You can help. You can help. You can help. You are memory is better than mine. I am not making this up. And I'm also not making the up that after I left your office. I was like. What the hell were we arguing about anyway? Like what what was the actual disagreement? And then I also remember that I was zooming into a meeting when you offered and I wasn't sure if you were talking to your council colleagues only I was not on the council at that time, but you offered to take anyone who wanted to on a tour of the hills. And so I remember texting you in the middle of that meeting and I said, I'm not sure if this was meant for me, but I would be honored. I would laugh to Lauren more about the Berkeley Hills. And almost immediately, or once you went on recess, you texted me back and said, let's go. So we jumped into your leaf and we went all around the R1H district in the hills and I learned so much from that. No tombs of zoning documents or materials could ever describe the half of everything that I learned from you in that our long tour. Susan, thank you for always inspiring and challenging us to come up with a fully baked product. And if it's not fully baked, then after it gets a grilling from you, you better believe it's going to be a much better work product. Susan, I learned from you, it's nice to get to five votes. That's a, that's a quick win. That may be the easy win. But what would really go a long way towards really being deserving of serving our entire community is something that gets a unanimous vote. And thank you for showing me through your leadership and to modeling that time and time again. What that level of collaboration and partnership and problem solving with everyone, how that feels at the end of it. And it feels fantastic because at the end of it, we're all working together. So thank you, thank you, Susan. Sophie. Thank you, Igor. Thank you very much. Thank you. Sophie, some things are never going to change. You knew me. I think we first met when I was 23 and I was a knucklehead. And you challenged me to do better and then you reminded me that the community deserves nothing less. And then 17 years later, I remember moaning a really unforet, just morning of very unfortunate national election loss. And then you were like Igor, I need you to come to my house. We have an item. Actually, you did the whole item. It was a 21 page memo, I believe. And it was concerning an issue in my district. Thank you for taking that on. And then once I got there, like, have you read the memo yet? And I was like, no, I'm not done warning the national election result. You are going to read the memo, sir. I'm going to sit here. And you're going to read this memo and you are going to make sure every eye is dotted and every tea is crossed. There were no eyes that needed to be dotted. You took care of that. I would make two days after I wasn't sure, but maybe I may have gotten elected, like the results were no more nearest sort of why that was still being counted. You were like 8 a.m. We're meeting. I've convened this meeting of folks in your district and the arts community. We are going to work to kind of save the arts district. That wasn't even your district, but you knew what it means to be for all of Berkeley. And thank you for that. what it means to be for all of Berkeley. And thank you for that. I have so many stories. I will cap it off here because I really don't want us to, I don't want to. I will spare you having to be here all night. But I am so blessed to have such good friends in both of you. This goes beyond whatever the position was. You, we have gotten to know each other's families. You, band reminded me, yet Sophie, it's all your fault. His considerably better half was chair of the commission on the status of women. After that, Sophie got my considerably better have to get appointed to that commission and then end up becoming its chair. Thank you have been able to do for your entire career, your entire life to inspire all of us to be everything that our community deserves. To do better at times, because Berkeley deserves nothing less. I am really standing on the shoulders of giants. Our community is standing on the shoulders of giants. And I hope everyone through these and there's so many other stories, yet some glimpse of the passion and the love that both of you have for our beloved community. And yes, both of you, you can fully expect to get my calls because I will be asking a lot of questions. Where is the site on you worked on? Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Igor. Thank you. Hey, Rashi. Yes, thank you very much. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, wonderful. Well, you know, I regret that I'm not able to be there in person tonight for this very important occasion. I just want to reflect on all the speeches so far from Council Member Bartlett's poetry to all of the stories that we've heard about both of you and working with both of you. I want to congratulate Council Member Hahn on your years of public service and all of your accomplishments. And I want to congratulate Acting Mayor Wengrath on your years of public service. I was also reflecting on the fact that, each of us is very different, different in background, different in age. And yet we are all called to serve and work together to improve our city. And I know it has been at times a great sacrifice, but also a very enriching experience to serve. And Susan, I want to say that I have appreciated getting to know you and working with you. I admire your commitment to your constituents and your values. We were able to disagree with each other without being too disagreeable. And I look forward to our continued friendship. And I wish you both the very best in the future. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And I just have a very brief comment for Sophie, my colleagues Sophie. I've had the privilege to work with you for the past eight years. And I know how committed and hardworking you are when it comes to making Berkeley a better place for all of us. Your passion, your energy, and your work ethic are unmatched. And there is an inspiration. It's been truly wonderful to have your partnership on so many of the issues that we have advocated for together. Women's rights, anti-Semitism, wildfire safety, pedestrian safety, supporting the arts and culture in Berkeley, I could go on and on. I can't name all the things you've accomplished, but I just want you to know that you've made a significant and lasting impact on our city, and that I have enormous respect for the work that you've done. I know that your next adventure will be equally successful and wish you the best in whatever it is. Thank you. Okay. And now I'd like to see if the city manager and the city attorney and deputy city manager would like to make some comments. Thank you. Acting Mayor Woodruff. I'll be fairly brief and on behalf of staff, thank both you, Council Member Hahn, and you, Acting Mayor Wendrath, for all of your years of service, for you're applying your crackling intellect to deeply difficult problems to solve, and doing so with great care and thoughtfulness, with compassion, with wisdom, and always in the spirit of uplifting the community at large, particularly the people who could use a hand more than others. So on behalf of staff, that has been very widely acknowledged and noticed. You have made our work better with your Gimlet. I'm checking out all of our work and you've made the community better as has been said by many. So on behalf of all staff, we thank you both for all of your service and you above be missed. Councillor Mahmoud, it's been a true privilege to get to work with you. It's been almost eight years that we've worked together. Your leadership has been instrumental in advancing transformative projects, including the rematriation of the Alonni land in West Berkeley, a testament to your dedication to justice and equity. Your meticulous attention to detail, entire work leaves a huge positive legacy for the city, and we are grateful for your service. Acting Mayor Wengraf, it's been an honor to get to work alongside you and witness your dedication to Berkeley, particularly in the areas of public safety, fire safety. Your thoughtful approach to navigating complex issues and your masterful ability to lead meetings with clarity and grace has been very inspiring and I'm grateful that I got a chance to work with you. Thank you Councilmember Han I do want to express my heartfelt gratitude for all of your support And as our city manager has already said for all of your dedicated service to the Berkeley community, I think if I had to think about one thing that I'll miss about you, you and I have this running joke that how many of us in the city of Berkeley still wear suit jacket to work every day. And every day, every time we see one another, we both have on our little suit jackets. So that's a little something that we share. Thank you for always exemplifying that professionalism before I never felt left out. Council member, vice mayor, wind graph. I want to thank you for your knowledge and for your patience and for your conversations that you would often have. And just being that person that I could call and say, can I run something by you? And you said, sure, I have a minute. You always had a minute. out and just being that person that I could call and say, can I run something by you? And you said, sure, I have a minute. You always had a minute. So please don't lose that, because I'll still be calling you just to say, do you have a minute? And Councilman Bahan, please don't lose that, because I'll still be checking to see what kind of suit jacket you're wearing out there. Thank you. Applause. Oh, no, no one. Please come forward. Hi. I just wanted to take a minute to not say goodbye, but to thank you both for your years of service in the city of Berkeley. I wanted to thank Council Member Hahn for your passion for being fearless. You've dedicated so much time, so much energy during your tenure in city hall on a variety of issues, you have vision, and you're an energizer bunny who just keeps on going and you never give up. I want to thank you for always being responsive. It seemed it didn't matter if it was early in the morning, late at night, IE were just always responsive and I really appreciate that. It seemed you never slept. And I just wanna thank you for being so supportive of the many issues I've worked on in my time as city auditor, including the most recent establishment of the whistleblower program for reporting fod and waste of city resources for supporting the reserve fund and many other important issues. And I just really want to thank you for all of that commitment and dedication and I wish you all the best. And I can't believe this is also the last meeting for you, Mayor Wengraf. I've appreciated all of our conversations around transparency, accountability, you have led with integrity, you always center the people that you represented. You know so much about Berkeley government when I first came in as a newbie and I needed to know what was going on with this or that. You I always learn something new and I still always learn something new when we talk. You're a good listener and I know how much others appreciate that about you and I just want to thank you for all of your support of me and my office, uplifting good governance in the city of Berkeley. Your many years of experience will also be missed in the city of Berkeley and I thank you for serving this long for this community. And to the partners and family members who are here. I just want to thank you for your sacrifice as well and your support. These are not nine to five jobs. And as our state senator said, really take support to really weather this role. And I just wanted to appreciate that. So thank you. I just want to make some very brief comments. For me this was not a job. This was a journey. Before I started as council member, as council member, OLS legislated. I was on the Planning Commission. And so my service to the city goes way back. I was actually on the planning commission when we wrote the general plan. I was on the planning commission when we did the West Berkeley plan. And when we did the university avenue strategic plan. And then I met Betty Ols and she was running against me, you're incumbent. And she asked me if I'd run her campaign and we had a ball, we'd just had a ball and she won and then she asked me to be her legislative aide and so for 16 years I worked with Betty Old and it was it was a journey Betty was an incredible woman and she taught me everything I know and I'm very grateful to her and I'm very grateful to her. And I'm very grateful to the residents of District 6 for their confidence and their trust over all of these years. For me, it was never about the power. It was always about the people. And I really struggle to represent District 6, which is quite different from many other parts of the city. And that was always my primary goal. So I just want to say thank you all to everybody, thank you. Thank you to everybody, all of the staff of Berkeley, current and former. It's just been, as I said, a real adventure. And the relationships that I built over the years are extremely important to me. I'm not saying goodbye because I feel like all of these people are my friends. And then I'll see them again. And it's just too hard for me to imagine not interacting with all of these people home so close to say thank you. And I very much appreciate your appreciation for the years of service that I've given to Berkeley. And for the work that I've done. So thanks very much. Thank you. And I'm going to say thank you. And I very much appreciate your appreciation for the years of service that I've given to Berkeley. And for the work that I've done. So, thanks, matters. And now it is my honor to request that state senator Jesse Arrigin come up. Well, well. Well. Applause. And I'm going to read to you now a proclamation for Jesse Arrigin. Thank you. Honoring Mayor Jesse Arrigin's service to the City of Berkeley, whereas Jesse Argonne has served the City of Berkeley with honor and distinction for over 20 years, having served on various commissions as a legislative aid and the elected positions of rent stabilization board commissioner, council member and mayor. And whereas during his tenure as an elected official in the city of Berkeley, Jesse Errigin has passed hundreds of items of legislation addressing key issues that matter to our community, including but not limited to housing affordability, homelessness, public safety, infrastructure, climate and equity. And whereas highlights of accomplishments include accelerating construction of affordable housing, including the largest affordable housing development in the city's history, moving forward on transit oriented development at the Ashby and North Berkeley BART stations, transitioning the city to 100% renewable energy, reducing unsheltered homelessness by 45%. Reimagining public safety and developing the specialized care unit, successfully navigating the city through various crises, including launching United Against Eight, week in the face of extremist agitators and protecting vulnerable community members during the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting labor through the passage of the hard hats ordinance and expanding worker cooperatives, negotiating long-term agreements with the city's largest employers and countless other policies that have made a positive impact. And whereas his mayor, Argonne built a reputation as a consensus builder, working with and listening to all viewpoints and forging a path that resolved conflicting needs without compromising his values. Whereas the city of Berkeley is a better place because of his immense amount of work and dedication, Jesse Aragon has provided to the city and he will be greatly missed. Now therefore be it resolved that the Berkeley City Council just hereby recognize and honor Mayor Jesse Aragon, I should say actually, State Senator, Jesse Aragon, for his exemplary service to the city of Berkeley, and wish him the best of luck as our next representative in California State Senate and in future endeavors. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I am surprised and really touched by this recognition. And I was saying to Councillor Rahman on my way over here, took the amtrak from Sacramento. How much I already miss Berkeley. And I didn't want to miss this opportunity to be here to honor both of you. People have immense respect for and who I've had the pleasure of working with. I told the city manager last week when I handed my badge and keys. When I close the mayor's office, it's just how better suite it is to leave the city of Berkeley. I've lived in this community for over 20 years. I've served the city for 20 years. Then obviously, I'd be honored to be mayor and work alongside you community for over 20 years. I've served the city for 20 years. And then obviously I had the honor to be mayor and work alongside you for the past eight years. And everything that we talked about, it was a partnership. It was the result of the work of Councillor Mahan, the work of the vice mayor, the work of Councillor Barrett, the work of Councillor Tapplin, and everyone. We were able to come together these last eight years, I think during probably one of the most difficult times in our city's history and rise up rise to the moment and to help lead this our city through the pandemic through the presence of right-wing agitators through the Trump administration and really makes significant progress for our city and I'm really proud to have worked with you to make that happen so thank you for this recognition it's I'm going to take it back up with me to Sacramento tomorrow. Don't be a stranger. Look forward to staying in touch with all of you and working with you and to continue to represent this city. And thank you for your continued service. Those of you that are still on the council, those of you that are leaving, and to know that you have a committed partner working with you in Sacramento to advance our city's values and to make a difference for our entire city and state. So thank you very much. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to give you a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little I think we're actually finished with ceremonial items right here. So I'll ask now if the city manager has any comments. No comments, bad idea. And the auditor, yes. More comments. Different comments? Okay. Good evening. So as you may know, this is the season for audit follow-ups. And I just wanted to walk folks through a few items that are on the agenda. Audit follow-ups, they help to make sure that our office and you wanted to walk folks through a few items that are on the agenda. Audit follow-ups, they help to make sure that our office and U.S. Council members and the public can stay up to date on the work departments are doing to implement audit recommendations. I am pleased that City Management Fire Department, Police Department have all submitted updates as information items in today's agenda. Item 21 is Staff Retention Update. This is on the audit, Staff Shortages, City Services Constraint by Staff Retention Challenges, and Delayed Hiring. Staff Retention is an important issue that impacts all of the city's work without adequate staffing. We can't fulfill some of Brookley's most important operations. City management has shared an update on the status of recommendations to address the concerns raised in the audit. And while they did not fully implement any more recommendations, the city has made significant progress on audit recommendations since the last council report modifying over three dozen class specifications, updating job descriptions and increasing some salaries to meet the city's priority hiring needs management is also is also redesigning the city's training curriculum, which is scheduled for a partial launch in January 2025. Item number 22 is an information item, and this is a fire update for the audit spending aligned with ballot measure FF and the city improving internal processes. And I'm especially pleased to share that in the first year since the release of our audit related to measure FF. This is the fire related audit, not the most recent ballot measure FF, having to do with street funding. The fire department demonstrated that they already implemented most of the audit recommendations. So thank you for that. And notably, the fire department has developed a dashboard to track wildfire risk inspections and is sharing progress and outcomes with the disaster and fire safety commission. This new reporting increases transparency and allows the ballot measure funds are spent appropriately. And finally, item number 23 is police update on the audit Berkeley Police improvements needed to manage overtime and security work for outside entities. The Berkeley Police Department provided an update on the audit related to overtime. And since the last council report, BPD has received the final staffing assessment from the consultant city gate, which includes 54 recommendations related to appropriate staffing levels for the department based on their assessment of calls and public safety service expectations. They are now in the process of prioritizing these recommendations and assessing what is needed for implementation. I hope you'll all take time to review these reports to learn more about the important steps departments have taken to improve the city and where we have more work to do. And I just wanted to thank these departments again for taking time to follow up on these recommendations and reporting them out publicly to the City Council tonight. And I also wanted to thank my staff for their work with departments on these reports. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Auditor. Okay, now we'll go to public comment on non-agenda matters. So because tonight's a special night, I'm gonna ask my colleagues if it's okay with them if we take 10 speakers from the room for one we'll call 10 cards from it in person. Yes. And you can come up in any order just line up on the side here. Yes. And the 10 names are Michael Cassidy. Sonny Dewitt. Andrea Cassidy, Greg King, Mary Kay Lacey, Scott McCreary, Elizabeth Hahn, James Johnson, Laura Linden, and Toby McLeod. And please try to keep to one minute, because we're doubling the number of speakers tonight. Yes, please come forward. So I'd mainly wanted to add my personal thanks. I've been a citizen up in District 6 for 46 years now. So I know how hard you've worked Susan. I've been doing many of those years. I was driving through town the other day, came to a traffic light, left his signal, train signals for the train that might be coming by, a bike lane, no one buy. And I said to my wife, you know, it's all very complicated. It's like, you know, this, I don't know how this system works. I have no idea. But it all comes together. And stuff happens. But the reality is stuff doesn't just happen. It is tremendous matter of work that goes behind the scenes and takes a lot of dedication as we've heard tonight from all of you folks and mayor, greatest mayor as well, to make all of that happen. So I want to add my thanks for making things happen and Berkeley for working with tremendous amount of patients. It's not always, sometimes I've seen fair amount of contention occur and I want to thank you for all of the hard work that you did. Thank you, Michael. Sir, your name. Sir, your name? Sir, your name? Where's your, Cassidy? Okay, thanks. Andrea Cassidy. As Michael said, we've lived in district six for 46 years. And recently it's become a lot more trying. And we really appreciate our neighborhood has started a fire safe group with the assistance of Susan who got us in touch with the right people and every time we have an issue it's usually by a phone call or an email to the office we get the help we need and it's been incredible I know that every year we get our neighborhood out together for the National Night Out with police. Susan is always there. And this has been really a sense of being cared for. And we know that we have somebody new coming in and it'll take a little adjustment, but we hope that you know Brent will take a lot of mentorship from you so he knows how to take care of the neighborhood. It's not a very easy place to live. Our streets are not passable. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have. Also, Sunny DeWitt has yielded me her time. So our streets are a major issue. There have been arguments about whether or not people can park on both sides and we have been woken up by the fire department in the middle of the night because they can't get their truck between the two cars. We have had good conversations about this with Susan's office. We have looked into things and our neighborhood has been able to send out our own alerts that on any red flag day you must be parked facing downhill only on one side of the street. And that's been organized through the assistance we've gotten from Susan's office. We will miss you dearly. We really think you deserve a life outside of the council room. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Scott McCreary. I live in North Berkeley. And I'm here representing myself and my wife for Neh Robin. So we have lived in Berkeley for 35 years I'm here representing myself and my wife Renee Robin. So we have lived in Berkeley for 35 years having gone to UC Berkeley, gone to the East Coast and returned. We've known Sophie since she first ran for council probably 16 years ago or something like that. And I just want to say we have many sources of appreciation for Sophie, all named for. Her deep commitment to Berkeley, her empathy in representing constituents, her absolutely tenacious ability to navigate tough public issues. And her pragmatic resolve to truly get things done in Berkeley, which she has done across many neighborhoods and many policy areas. So thank you very much, Sophie. We wish you great success in your next endeavors. And we look forward to the next chapter of the history of the city of Berkeley. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm James Johnson. I've lived here just eight years so I've never known this city without so here and especially Sophie who has been my city council, it's getting councillor for some years now. We've worked on blight in our neighborhood. We've worked on schools for my daughter and a place for my schools daughter school and several other things. And in fact, when it came time for her to move to a new school, she passionately explained to me how great the schools are in Berkeley. And thank you so much because she's so happy at Martin Luther King Middle School right now. Well, anyway, thank you everybody. Really appreciate it. Applause. Mayor Wengraff, I live in District 6, so thank you very much for your service. I had the honor of acting as a liaison between a Loni leader, Karina Gould and each and every one of the council members, City Attorney Brown and then Mayor Artigain. But I spent an awful lot of time with Sophie Hahn during those eight years. And I experienced firsthand your intensity, your passion for justice, your intelligence. We worked on litigation strategy, fundraising strategy, your parsing of words for the acknowledgement statement, educating the public about the history, the deep history of Berkeley, and all those late night phone calls I got from you. I just really honor your service to this community, and together we all achieved something of historic significance in the land back victory at the West Berkeley Shell Mount. So I just really want to thank you, Sophie, for your service and thanks also to Senator Ottergein and I wish you the best in the future. Thank you. My name is Mary Kayleigh. I feel like I won the lotto getting to stand up here and publicly thank you, Sophie Hawn. I'm going to see most of my time to Karen and I hadn't really planned on speaking because I usually don't win the lotto. I've never won the lotto. Anyway, sorry about all that time. You have been so fee inspiration to me. You made me appreciate just how important it is to be involved in the community and local politics. You've led with intelligence and integrity and most of all so much heart. We all owe you a debt of gratitude and I just want to say how much I appreciate everything you've done not just for me but for all the people in the many lives you've touched your legacy in this city will be here forever Sophie. thank you. Good evening. My name is Karen Kiel-Loherst. Elizabeth Han has yielded her time to me and the remainder of Marquis time. I think my comments are especially timely as we honor two women with vast experience and wisdom and thank them for their decades of service to our community. My first point is that I wanna encourage us all as people in Berkeley during this time to think about in the marriage race. What does it mean that voters preferred someone who was gentle, conciliatory, and pleasing? That voters preferred someone like that over someone who is fearless, brilliant, and unaffraid to express her opinions because she has them. And I think anyone who's is a woman, has a mother, has a daughter, has a sister. She'll be curious about that in this time and in the city of Berkeley of all places. The main reason I wanted to come is to say thank you so much to Sophie. I've known you for 20 years plus since our children were tiny and I've never met anyone who was so single-mindedly committed to making our city a better place. You were the smartest, most ethical, most tireless public servant. I've ever met, it was an honor and a joy to work in your campaign and meet the people that I met through you. And even as we're sitting in this meeting, I'm fielding multiple texts from people who wanted to be here, who love you. Thank you, carabins for your texts. Thank you, Caledolani, so many people who are brilliant also. Thank you. I would like to yield any remaining time that I have to Patricia Saint John. Hi, I'm Laura Lyndon. I'm one of the leaders of Save the U.A. Berkeley. Congratulations on the years of public service and retirements. So our group has been around for nearly two years and we're still at it because the United Arab's, they didn't Berkeley is a very important cause and it is still very important to save this incredible art deco theater. And I'm here to decry what has happened recently, which is city staff determining that this development project that is would result in the destruction of the theater is eligible for a full exemption to Sequa under the new law AB 1633. And this, the big deal about it and why I really want the City Council to care is because there were two reports obtained by City staff over the summer. That said, that disagreed with the developers determination and said yes, this theater is a historic resource under sequa. It still matters, and also this is gonna go straight to ZAB, and it's gonna result in a rubber stamping at ZAB rather than an actual legitimate hearing. And so we want the City Council to care about the loss of local control of planning. This is made a charade of hearings like ZAB. Thank you very much. Hi, congratulations and thank you both. My name is Dan Ujrazaq Greg, King seated his time to me. I'm also speaking on behalf of the UA, the taxpayers of Berkeley paid for not one but two peer reviews of the historic significance of the UA. Both reviews strongly disagreed with the developers historic evaluation and stated that it should receive historic resource status. Both reports were completed in August, but not released until after the developer was granted the secret exemption. The taxpayers should be outraged. Those trying to save this exceptional building are weighing our next steps. Please note, there was a very similar case in a various city where historical peer review was buried by that city, allowing a development to go forward. A citizens group came forward, sued, and won. We don't want it to go that way, but we are going to continue this battle. Thank you. That's 10 speakers. Actually, I see that in our audience, we have two council members elect and I'd like to see if they would like to make comments. Shoshana O'Keefe, who will be replacing Sophie in district 5 and Brent Blackaby, who will be replacing me in district 6. Thank you so much, Susan. I'd have an opportunity to speak. I really wanted to get to say something to Sophie. So hello. Sophie, I met you first in 2012 when I was leaning into a burgeoning interest in local government. And I researched all the candidates who were running in my district and I liked you right away. And I reached out and we met and I was sold 100% very quickly. And I don't think I've ever told you this. But it's it's because of a very simple thing. You are a good person and I could see it right away. And you know it's not an act. When she speaks about caring for the community and wanting what's best for our city, it's real. I can tell, it comes from the heart and it's very apparent. It's very, very apparent to me and to many others. And that's actually fundamentally back then and still now. The only thing that I really, really care about more than any issue is having good people in government. And we're so lucky to have you. We're so lucky. And I'm so sad to see you go and we will get to work together. But we still will because I know that you're going to continue to be an amazing friend, teacher and mentor as you have been. And you will continue to be. So thank you. And thank you. And thank you, Susan. Thank you, Mayor Wengrang. I wanted to take a moment. We've been lots of comments. I'll try and be brief, but to thank both Council and Mayor Wengrang for your distinguished service to Berkeley. Our city is so much better for your leadership and your hard work. Thank you. But as a 20 year resident of District 6, I particularly like to say a few words about Susan. Susan, we can't thank you enough for your dedication and commitment to all of us, your neighbors and your constituents in District 6. For the past 16 years as our council member and for 16 years before that as Chief of Staff to Council member Betty Olds and as you mentioned before that is your time on the planning commission. You're strong advocacy for us for your constituents your leadership on wildfire safety and preparedness and your steady voice of reason on the City Council have been invaluable. On a personal note I'd like to thank you for your mentorship, your support, and your friendship as I prepare to take the baton. It's often been said tonight and over the past weeks and months that Susan leaves big shoes to fill and no one feels that more acutely than I do. As Mark mentioned earlier, I can't tell you how many times that as I was knocking on doors to introduce myself to neighbors and ask for their votes this fall, I would come out with a well-crafted spiel and conclude and look them in the eye and hear back. That's great, but what does Susan think? It's a measure of the esteem, affection, and respect that your constituents have for you. We're grateful and I'm grateful that you're not going anywhere, and that you'll only be a phone call, a text message, or a door knock away. And I promise I won't abuse the privilege. Thank you for everything you both have done for us, for District 6 Susan, for all of us in Berkeley over these past 32 years. And thank you both for everything you will continue to do for Berkeley in the months and years ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. I'm going to go to the speaker. Okay now we'll go to speakers on Zoom. And the first speaker is Joseph Lysner. Joseph. Can you hear us? Hi, my name is Joe listener. I to appreciate all the hard work that Sophie and Susan and Jesse have done throughout the years, but I am still heartbroken at the loss of people's park, which is truly the soul of Berkeley. And could have been very instrumental in preventing some of the division that is now destroying the country. I'm also a member of the lawsuit, part of the lawsuit that sued the university over there, environmental impact report, and want to say that we would never oppose student support of housing, but always suspected that it was a moral bargaining chip that the university used to get through a very contentious project. And we have been accused of sabotaging, of being the reason that supportive housing has not been completed as yet, the RCD project. And I've sent the documents that show that that is not the case. The university is clearly the reason that RCD was not given the time to complete the required environmental impact statement that's required through the under the... Please wrap up. We need the... Nesh. Okay, next speaker is Runa Rikles. Runa, can you... I'm mute. Great. I'm trying to unmute. Mayor Waingraf, I love the sound of that. As you know, I hope the time's reset. Is that in my that capacity to thank two lionesses, two feminists who have given so much to the idea of women in office and to the city of Berkeley and unselfishly. I'm going to keep my hand by it. I hope the council members here in a few people in the room know how much work just being on a council is. It is 24 seven. You sleep it. You eat it just being there. But to bring with Sophie and Susan abroad is just an incredible gift. 24 or 7 you sleep it you eat it just being there but to bring with Sophie and Susan abroad It's just an incredible gift to all of us. Sophie your determination Your intelligence your ability to okay that didn't work we're gonna find another way Is it's hard to put two incredible lines to do it in 30 seconds. I just I know would like to end that both of you have brought and given so much of yourselves with your brilliance, your dedication, your willingness to listen to the people who disagree with you. And to give them the same respect as those who support you. It's it's going to be a big loss. And I just want to say I'm not crying. You are. Thank you, Reena. Next speaker is Leah Simon-Wisberg. I'm in Weissburg. Good evening. It is, you know, it's been great listening to all of the comments. I really just want to thank Sophie Han for obviously not only, you know, doing everything she did for affordable housing and Berkeley, but making a difference in strengthening Berkeley's ten and protections, and particularly with Measure BB. It was one of the silver linings when the election happened that we did do that, and she worked tirelessly. And I just really wanna thank you, and I look forward to also being a not elected person with you. We can find some time to do things, but thank you so much. And for all of the work that you did. Also, just want to use my last few seconds to think, I know you're no longer my mayor, but now Senator Ergen. As the recent Chair of the Berkeley Rampboard to know that I was walking in your feet, even I'm older than you are. But it has always made a huge difference to have someone who really understands what it's like to be a tenant and really be seen and that all of the tenants that are the majority of our city are seen and that the policies that you passed were amazing and you were going to do amazing work at the state level and so thankful that you will be there. So thank you Sophie, thank you Jesse, really appreciate it and thank you for making our community as best as it can be and I don't know what we're gonna do without you facing the next four years. But no you'll be fighting in our corner maybe in different ways. Thank you. Thank you, Mia. Next speaker is Dahlia's iPad. Hi, thank you so much. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Oh, great. Yes, please to echo it is a tremendous loss to the city. Jesse, Sophie, Susan, it's just enormous. So the dedication that you guys have shown in serving the community, in putting the will of the people and the well-being, the benefit and the growth, and the harmony for all of us ahead of very often your own time, your own families, your own personal relaxation time. We cannot thank you enough. And to echo it someone else said a little while ago, it is very interesting to notice that Sophie was not elected a leader who so brave and courageous and powerful and instead was elected. It is interesting to note that. Just to start to wrap up here, you know, to be completely honest, before this year, I've never been interested or involved in politics before. And the events of this year dragged me in. And I've been in council meetings and San Francisco, in Oakland and Albany and Elcerito. And I have to say Sophie, the leadership that I observed in you, the integrity, the intellect, the dignity, your grace, and your caring heart, it's heads and shoulders above anything I've seen in other council meetings. And I want to thank you for standing up in your most, you know, unique and courageous leadership way. It's huge shoes to fill coming forward and I just I really hope that all of us will remember the example you've set your artful diplomacy and it can continue to guide us towards respectful interactions in the year ahead. And lastly, in a quote from RGB, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. And so for you, did that for me in space this year. Truly thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is monou law. Good evening. I would like to give a quick report on Christina Murphy, who wants to thank you all. And she is here and I'm seating the rebalance of my time. She had surgery this afternoon over four hours. Doctors are hopeful. And she is here with me, and I'm actually here with her, the hospital in the Bay Area. She thinks you're for your prayers, she is. Good, good, good, good evening, everyone. And I just wanted to say congratulations, Ben. Barlett, you have more time. We can step up more and we can do more action, the motion. And so I'm looking forward to that. I also wanted to say so behind, I'm really grateful for you at times that you could. You show compassion. The times I was going through challenges with housing, you stepped up and offered me some time to answer some questions. You know, us as representatives and leaders in Berkeley, we have a chance to step up for each other so that we can show the community that we're here for each other, not against each other. Jesse also want to say thank you for sharing your mother with us and telling us you make the best ginger snap cookies I ever had in my life. Also, so behind in Ben and everyone else that stepped up I want to thank you for showing support around offering funds to and support with Black Rep. I am in the hospital so I do like a couple of seconds more and also Susan Wengraft thank you for the years of you standing your ground, never bending your back. But now you get a chance to rest and save some of your hair. Good job. And thank you. I get out this hospital. I'll be back to do some more work. I will not give up. And I can tell that we're all in this to make Berkeley better like I would use to be because we in this together. So thank you and thank you and God bless everybody and all the prayers and I'm on the road of recovery and I really appreciate you, Money Law, for being there for me today so that I can speak and I appreciate you, everybody and God bless everybody. We wish you a speedy recovery. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next speaker is over, Valentina. What an honor to say a few words about the leaders who I learned from, who I'm learning from and who I undoubtedly will be learning from. So then just wanted to thank you because you have the vision to reach across the borders of jurisdiction, your fire prevention work is been remarkable and you reached to Oakland another jurisdiction to make sure that we collaborate on this issue and I appreciate you for that and many other things. So if you've been a dear friend and mentor and a colleague and a person who always had my back and always provided very sound, very smart advice. And I truly appreciate you. I am not saying goodbye because I will definitely be visiting you and hopefully we'll be working together on incredible initiatives. And I also want to express my congratulations and appreciation to Mary Gain and now our senator. Thank you. You've been impressive to navigate contestant meetings, been just amazing to watch you. Thank you so much for calling on our humanity and dignity and compassion. I appreciate the view. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have been so moved this evening by every word that has been spoken. Susan about you. I'm in district six. And I just every important gathering of neighbors, you were always at, you were always listening to us and you were always giving us feedback. And the connection with the city, you have made such a profound connection to the city for all of us who live in your district. And Sophie, I had the privilege of looking on your campaign just a little bit, just canvassing the quality of the people you surround yourself with that have worked on your campaign is outstanding in their reflection of you and your character and your love and your kindness. And when I was canvassing, I just, the stories I would hear from people all across the city about you and how important you have been in their lives. It just have really moved me. So bless you both. Thank you. Thank you. I can't tell Amy, did you want to speak? Anyone in Pearson? Did you have your hand up? No, okay. iPhone 6. Can you run mute please? Hi, my name is Grace Teasedale and I am the organizer of the telegraph, Avenue and Holiday Street Fair. And can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Okay. And can you hear me? Yes, yes, right. OK, I am just very thankful tonight because we were under the impression we were going to be pushed off of telegraph. And we recently just yesterday, we're finally put back onto telegraph after a long struggle of being displaced. And I just want to thank you for ensuring that the telegraph avenue holiday street fair stays on telegraph for the 41 years that it has been a vital tradition celebrating Berkeley's creativity and community. member Cecilia and her team as well as the new manager for your efforts to overcome challenges and keep this event in its rightful home. This fair is more than an event. It's a cornerstone of our community. Thank you for preventing its loss and I just want to thank everyone. And yeah, so this year is the 41st year, and I'm happy to announce we will be on telegraphs. Okay, we have two more. Gordon Gilmore? Yes. Oh, you're in person. Is that okay? Okay. It's going to double the bill. I actually want to see if we can get some water. Hi everyone. My name is Goren Gilmore. I'm here to speak on back for the Berkley Homeless Union. We sent an email to the ADA coordinator requesting that there be a walk through for ADA accessibility needs at the various encamens throughout town. Specifically, the ones that have been notified for immediate evacuation. And he wrote back to us and stated that we see proactively assesses sites for ADA compliance. And the city also proactively assesses programs for ADA compliance. The State Berkeley does not proactively assess people regarding disability related needs they may have. The City is not required to do this, nor does the City presume to be able to determine what an individual's disability related needs might be. However, if you look at the language of the ADA, Federal and State ADA law mandates that public entities take reasonable steps to ensure either access, including determining and meeting the needs of individuals and disabilities. And thank you. In this process, um, Wait, who, what is your name? Well, I'm going to continue. No, please. I just wanted to finish my thought and say that Uh, the access to these say programs are being kept from being accessible by using breaker proceduralism and attempt to offset the labor of going and assessing people that might need ADA accommodations onto unpaid volunteers. So someone that is actually paid to do this job should be doing that job. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, I think we have one more speaker now. Quick. Yes. And Jesse. Jesse, you should be able to speak now. Can you move me? Yes. Hello, this is Jesse Shean. I'm the director of the chess club on telegraph avenue. So those are the council members leaving. I'd like to thank you that Ms. Wengrath, Ms. Han, both of you were very helpful in trying to find the resolution to our chess club. I would also like to thank Mrs. Harrison for her years of service. I would like to point out that she pointed out some of Berkeley's broken processes. And I think the telegraph holiday fare almost fell victim to those broken processes. And I'm so glad that it's gonna stay on telegraph for our community. It was almost unilaterally moved by the city's special event coordinator. I don't know how one person is able to bypass the city manager, the district, city representative, Mrs. Luna Parr's office, and our entire community and attempted to move the festival to another location. This is the prime example of those book and processes. So thank you for ensuring that it stays on telegraph avenue. Truly thank you to everybody that helped out and made that happen. Mrs. Wengriffe, it's nice to see you on the diocese. Again, thank you. Thank you, Jessie. Okay, that concludes public comment on non-agenda matters. And I'd like to ask now if there are any designated union members here. It's the first meeting of the month and we give five minutes to designated union members. After that, we will take a 10 minute break. Thank you. Good evening, Vice Mayor. Members of the Council, City Manager and esteem community members. I'm going to go to the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the committee to ask the who are representing the City of Berkeley staff. In my professional capacity, I work in a mental health division as the workforce development and retention coordinator within the health, housing, and community service department. First, I would like to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to Deputy City Manager, Latania Bello, for her dedication and service to the city of Berkeley. And as I sit here to Susan Wengraff and Sophie Hahn, it is a privilege to hear all of the services that you've provided to the city and support us with a end in homelessness in Berkeley. This evening, we are proud to present a contract to be boarded on tonight that will present a significant achievement and a testimony to the spirit of collaboration between our members and the city human resources department and fellow colleagues that sat across us at the negotiation table. For the first time, this contract shows our members that the city is prioritizing their health and wellbeing as essential by introducing access to vision care, trauma leave, extended hours to accommodate all cancer screening leaves, and hazardous substance pay. In addition, this contract reflects meaningful achievement in compensation for bilingual work, extended administrative leave and permanent recognition of higher class, interim and acting roles. These improvement honored the contribution of our workforce while aligning with our share goal of enhancing employee retention. As we celebrate the ratification of this memorandum of understanding, we remain forward thinking and are eager to collaborate on our critical future initiatives, which include developing a citywide telework policy that will retain our current employees. Establish a parental leave policy that aligns with San Francisco competitive standards. Conduct a comprehensive lactation policy and physical space assessment to improve facilities and ensure accessibility for all employees. Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership with local one union. We look forward to continuing our work together to achieve these important objectives in the coming year. Again, thank you all. Thank you. Okay, we're going to take a five minute recess, but I just want you all to know that at the end of the meeting, we will have another public comment period. And just for your benefit, I'm hoping that that will be at about 9.15. So if you want to stay around, we're happy to listen to your public comments on non-agenda matters after we finish the agenda. Thank you. Recording stopped. I'm going to go to the first place. I'm going to go to the first place. I'm going to go to the first place. I'm going to go to the first place. I'm going to go to the first place. I'm going to go to the first place. I'm going to go to the first place. I'm going to go to the first place. I'm going to go to the first place. Thank you. Sorry. I think it's just that. We need it. So don't give that. I remember. Well, you're so good. It's okay. Thank you. Okay, now, Jeff. I don't want to be in circle. Right now. Oh, you have so much. I can't wait to talk to you. I can't wait to talk to you. I'm just talking to you. Yeah. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go to go to the other side. Yeah. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be you a selfie. Yeah. I'm going to get you a selfie. Yeah. I'm going to get you a selfie. Yeah. I'm going to get you a selfie. Yeah. I'm going to get you a selfie. Yeah. I'm going to get you a selfie. Yeah. I'm going to get you a selfie. Yeah. I'm going to get you a selfie. Yeah. I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to ask him, I was just going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be a little bit more patient. I'm going to be to go back to the next one. I'm going to have to go back to the next one. I'm going to have to go back to the next one. I'm going to have to go back to the next one. I'm going to have to go back to the next one. I'm going to have to go back to the next one. I'm going to have to go back to the next one. I don't know what's in that. I'm not a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a serious person. I'm a going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going to risk this. I'm not going I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No! Oh, good. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I am a I'll say anything about it. Yes. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. I'll say anything about it. So, I didn't ask. I didn't ask. It's the only other way. I thought that was really cool. I think it will. I'm going to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the first to be the to have to say that. I'm going to have to say that. I'm going to have to say that. I'm going to have to say that. I'm going to have to say that. I'm going to have to say that. I'm going to have to say that. I'm going to have to say that. I'm going to have to say that. I'm going to go to the next one. Oh, I'm going to go to the next one. Oh, I'm going to go to the next one. Oh, I'm going to go to the next one. Oh, I'm going to go to the next one. Oh, I'm going to go to the next one. Oh, I'm going to go to the next one. Oh, I'm going to go to the next one. Oh, I'm going to You put me up. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We're actually going to be my easy. You know what I mean? I can't really remember. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember. I can't remember. I was just asking you. I can't remember. I was asking you. I was asking you. I was asking you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to be able to do this. I feel like I'm not going to be able to do this. Yeah, this is getting serious. I feel like I'm not going to be able to do this. I feel like I'm not going to be able to do this. I feel like I'm not going to be able to do this. I feel like I'm not going to be able to do this. I feel like I'm not going to be a fan of this. I'm not going to be a fan of this. I'm not going to be a fan of this. I'm not going to be a fan of this. I'm not going to be a fan of this. I'm not going to be a fan of this. I'm not going to be a fan of this. I'm not going to be a fan of this. I'm not going to be a fan of this. Yeah, we got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. We got it. Okay. I'm going to be right back. Okay. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to be right back. I'm going to have to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. I'm going to play. Well done. I'm a writer. This is a daughter. Yeah. I'm a writer. I'm a writer. I'm a writer. This is a daughter. Yeah. I'm a writer. This is a daughter. Yeah. I'm a writer. I'm a writer. I'm a writer. I'm a writer. I'm a writer. I'm a writer. This is a daughter. Yeah. I'm going to give you a little bit of a be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be here. Yes, it's a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to reach you up again in the kitchen. I'm going to have a drink. I was getting a drink. I'm going to have a drink. Nice. I'm going to have to go back to the hotel. Yeah. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to have to go. I'm going to say we're going to get back to work. recording in progress. Do we have a core? Not yet. Well, we do now. Yes. Okay. Well, Mark, do I take public comment before the council? Council discussion of the consent calendar first and then public comment. Yes. Okay. We'll do the consent calendar now and colleagues do you have any items? Yes. Cecilia. Thank you. I submitted item number 18 as a time critical item but the meeting that rendered it time critical was rescheduled so I asked that we continue this item to next week's council meeting to give the public more time. Okay. Clerk, is that possible for us to do? Yes. In fact, we were going to do a revised agenda for December 10th anyway to do the second reading of the lease ordinances. So that can be continued to the 10th. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments on consent? I just want to I want to make a comment about the Solano-Peralta Park Improvement Project. in a tragic founding accident in July of 2021. And Mr. Egg, could you please keep your voice down, please. Thank you. And his parents have worked since then to try to find a fitting memorial for Eli. And I'm really pleased that Parks Department was able to work with the family and to create a memorial bench and table in memory of Eli. So that's number eight on our consent calendar. And I don't have anything else on consent. Anybody else? Yes, Terry. Thank you. On item 17, I would like to add Councillor Treguba as a co-sponsor. Thank you. 18, maybe 12 hours or four while then. 17. I just wanted to thank the Erike Hain Fund for the Salona Pearl to Park. Funding for the benches and things, this is a tiny, tiny little pocket park in my district. I have been working for eight years to try to get minimal improvements to this park. I want to thank Scott Ferris from Parks to who was finally able to bring some focus to it. And unfortunately, various elements got held up with the pandemic. And we were not able to cut the ribbon yet but it is almost completed and it's it's going to be really lovely. It's a small lovely amenity for the neighborhood and it'll be a beautiful place to remember Eli Kane. Thank you. from the dias will go to public comment on consent. So the members of the public in the room who would like to speak to the consent calendar. I'm just trying to understand how number 17 is going to be developed. If we reserve 10% below market rates units for artists, how does that get incorporated into the affordable housing preference policy also and the set of sides that we have for section 8 and for Shelter Plus. So I mean, maybe this all remains to be seen, how can be developed. Well, essentially the 10% for the RSB included in the affordable housing preference policy. So it just, perhaps there's a way to figure out exactly how this is going to be. So it sounds like rather than an artist's building, we're talking about the artists receiving at the below market rate in other buildings within the cultural districts. So just a lot to still be developed here. And I will mention in concluding the same thing I did before that the artist policy was a separate building where they would affect people when they were no longer a productive after two years. Thank you. Thank you. Which on this one? Well, as you know, for 51 years or business have been a lot of business. To work with a lot of tax money, millions. Church is doing on may be paid by part of my money. The way the city council treated our case was shameful. Shemful. We have blank faces. It's all the causes of a lot of money. This place has been in people for five years. Five years. Right now we have the condition 12. You should stop it. As I handed you today, as I do science, something about nuclear engineering, I also hand you things in the potential legal case. We're already demanding the city pay us $580,000. And Mr. Parklet, to bring your friend to take a visit as to be educated to us is shameful. I don't want to deal with that at all. I've been in bed with twice as long as many of you. You have five times, ten times. I'm Cal, Cal, student, Cal professor. Please, you know, I want to say I will miss you. Miss Han, I miss you as well. But do something before you leave. We did a lot for the city. I had cameras, we caught mirrors because of our cameras guarding Berkeley Street. I big guards to guard the city in Berkeley do something for us. Thank you. Thank you. And which is the best? Thank you. Next speaker please. Good evening everyone. Hi. My name is Jean Johnstone. I am a teacher at New York City Berkeley in public policy and I have an arts and cultural policy specialty and consultancy. of the work to develop affordable housing for artists in Berkeley. I'm really excited by this. As part of my role as a consultant, I've been researching ABH12 extensively and trying to figure out how best this can move forward for cities across the state of California. And I'm just really excited to see Berkeley moving ahead with this. It's a small piece of a really big and complex puzzle. And I think it has, we have the opportunity to really move the needle forward for low-income artists and cultural workers in our city who are far too often pushed out of the areas that they make vital. So thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We just want to thank the council for consideration of renaming the skate park on fifth and harrison after tariffs. We came on the 15th of October and really shared our heart with you around the work that we've done to try to help community to give back to have a skating event in his honor because that's a place where he worked where he was passionate about doing the thing that he loved, which is gaining. And while he was tragically hit by a stray bullet at a party which is unfortunate, we want his memory to live on. And the legacy of the things that he loved to be something that we can do to continue to uplift his life. And so we're just hopeful that you will approve it. It looks like it may pass. But again, we don't know the process. So we're hoping that that's the process. We're hoping that that's the case and just employ you to consider it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I guess you can hear me. My name is Bridget Cook. I'm the vice chair of the violence prevention coalition and we're standing today in solidarity with the Macriory I'm not sure if you're going to see the city. I'm not sure if you're going to see the city. I'm not sure if you're going to see the city. I'm not sure if you're going to see the city. I'm not sure if you're going to see the city. I'm not sure if you're going to see the city. I'm not sure if you're going to see the city. and to grow and that is what this park meant to parents and the other skaters that use it. We urge the council to formally change the name to show that Berkeley creates safe spaces for youth and honors her native sons. Thank you. My name is Jim Thiebo. I'm a lifelong Berkeley resident. I'm also a lifelong skateboarder. And I know firsthand how skateboarding can change lives for the better. Terrence was a neighbor of ours, like a second son, a second brother to my son. And he grew up at the Berkeley Skatepark. And I could think of no higher honor that you all could do to decide to reading that in his memory. And I appreciate your time. Thank you. Berkeley, here in support of the McCurray family, Terrence was my cousin. Knowing him throughout the years, he was a ball of joy. He was a great person to be around. For the past few years, we've been having something in his memory in the month of September, which is the month that he was born. Throughout those events, we've had no violence, no complaints or anything like that, naming this skate park and his memory would have a safe place for his friends to go, people who remember him, people who love him to come and skate in memory of his name. You know, I believe that this is something that he will love, and this will mean so much to our family as well. Thank you. Thank you. Applause. Thank you. Hello, my name is Peter McCong skate park and almost every time I went there, I remember seeing Terrence and he was just such an integral part of that community. Everybody new Terrence Terrence new everybody. And I just think it would be a great opportunity to celebrate his life, to honor him and to, you know, support the skate park as a place for, you know, youth to hang out and be. And thank you for your time. I'm Craig Emercognian. I've known Terrence McQuerry senior since 1980. He is a son of Berkeley. His son is a son of Berkeley. Influences are wonderful, wonderful. Beacon of Terrence and Berkeley also. These are jewels of our city. And to have the skate park named after their son, I think is very honorable and it really lifts the whole, the whole, a steam in presence of this panel and and counsel to recognize its own. Thank you so much for considering this. I'm sorry. I'm going to recognize how to whether I want to see his hand. I'm neglected to see his hand. That will be started public comment. So councilmember Trigger. Did you want to make a comment? Thank you so much. Madam Mayor. I just wanted to first of all thank Council Member Taplan for adding me to as a co-sponsor of his excellent item 17. And I am reminded in this moment of the legacy left by meetings when we were meeting to make the case for the need for affordable housing for artists. And I'm really grateful that this item is moving forward. And thank you, Council Member Taplan. And also thank you, Council Member Taplan for item 16. I was very honored to play a tiny role as part of your G and Green New Deal task force that you convened and we're very excited about this item. Moving forward as well. I had a question for staff about item 9. I am definitely supportive of entering into a contract for a Lonnie Park Westroom and lighting project improvements. This is a long time in coming. There was material in the report that was concerning to me and I want to appreciate staff for flagging some potential reputational issues with this particular, you know, responsive and responsible applicant for the bid. And I think my question for staff, I, I, I am just, I do not want to hold this up. But can you speak to what kind of guardrails may be in place? Should the contractor not succeed in fulfilling what we would be contracting with them to do? Thank you, Council Member Trigger. Yeah, as you know, we did call out some concerns with this, potential concerns with this contractor that's proposed. They were the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, and we do feel confident that they can do the work based on the references that we got. Additionally, we will have a contract monitor who will be closely watching this contract to make sure that the deliverables are met or if they're not met that we have an action plan to address those. So I have full confidence that the Parks and Waterfront Department will be able to monitor this contract in a way that gets the work done. Councillor Member Chagabha, you finished? I am complete Madam Mayor. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay. Now we'll go to speakers on Zoom on the consent calendar. Yes, the car. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi. I'm talking about the Olohnny Park item. That's in the consent calendar. My name is Jessica Prado and I'm speaking on behalf of the Berkeley Homeless Union. I'm here to urge the city to not evict the residents of Olohnny Park due to the construction that you're about to accept at the consent calendar. Without first addressing their disability related needs. The Berkeley Homeless Union has repeatedly requested a request to the construction that you're about to accept at the consent calendar without first addressing their disability related needs. The Berkeley Homeless Union has repeatedly requested ADA accommodations for our union members, but the city of Berkeley's ADA coordinator, Thomas Gregory, has actually declined to assess these individuals. Without these assessments, the disability needs of residents remain on met, leaving people like Ms. Stacy Prado at one of the protesting campments in impossible situations. Her CPTSD and other disabilities make her unable to comply with directives to bake it immediately, and the shelter offer is not accessible to her needs. If the city cannot provide ADA assessments, it must create an accessible pathway to ensure that residents in Berkeley have their disabilities accommodated. So please do not have big people without addressing the needs that will violate their civil rights. Thank you. Okay next speaker is Sandra Hernandez. Let's be eye to her. Good afternoon, Councilor. Good evening, Councilor. My name is Cinder I'm going to go to the meeting. Good afternoon, Council. My name is Sandra Hernandez and I am the owner of a School of Works. A school work is deeply committed to the highest ethical standards. And you know, when concerns are arise, we want to assure the city of Berkeley and all everybody that we are committed to bring the same level of quality and integrity that we brought to many cities around the Bay Area. We're working on Santa Clara, San Jose, Napa, and Black Balejo. They can speak for herself. So we are eager to bring the same level of quality and integrity and you know I appreciate for the consideration in our position. So thank you so much yes. We're here to serve the city yes. Thank you. Next speaker is Venus. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Venus and I work with a zoo works, zoo works, a corporate. It has undergo a four investigation and scrutiny and there have been no pride in our in conducting our business with the highest level of integrity and transparency. And this outcome is the testament of our commitment for medical practice. As a woman owned business and a small business enterprise, we are always looking for ways to improve our company. One of those having us we are exploring is transition to the firm into an employee-owned company. We believe that employees ownership can foster a strong sense of community empowerment and long-term sustainability within our organization. We are excited to bring the same commitment of excellence into the city of Berkeley. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that completes public comment on the consent calendar. I see that councilmember Kessler-Wonne has her hand up. Yes, thank you very much, Acting Mayor Wengrath. I just wanted to acknowledge the Parks Commission bringing forward the item to rename the Harrison Skatepark in honor of Terrence McQuerry Jr. And I want to acknowledge his family members who we're here tonight. I'm really eager for this to move forward and for us to proceed with the renaming. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, with that, I will entertain a motion on the consent calendar. Second. No, first, make the motion. Let them have the consent calendar. Second. No. First. Make the motion. Let's move to the consent calendar. Okay. Cecilia. Second. No. Second. No. It's second. Yeah, but. Councillor Humbert. Second. That's with the changes. I'll note the changes are adding Council Member Treggub to item 17 and postponing item 18 until the next Council meeting. So with those changes, roll call please. Okay. Council Member Kessar Wani. Yes. Tap on. Yes. Bartlett. Yes. Tragab. Hi. Hon. Yes. Lutopara. Yes. Umber. Yes. And acting Mayor Wengrap. Yes. Okay. Motion carries. Thank you for coming. Okay, we'll move on to the action calendar now. We have two public hearings. I don't believe we have a staff introduction on number 19 in the role of the Swarmo Avenue bid City clerk, would there any majority protests? There were no protests. No protests. Okay. Are there any people in the audience who would like to speak to item 19, renewal of the Solano Avenue bid for calendar year 2025? Seeing none. I'd like to move. I'd like to. Did I open the public here? No. Sort of. Open again. Yeah. Okay. I moved to open the public here. We don't have to open. Okay. Now I'm going to. We don't have to vote to open and just. Now I'm going to open it. Okay. We don't have to vote. We don't have to vote to open it. No, I'm going to close it. Okay, I'm going to close the public hearing. Yeah. Thank you. And I'd like to move second from Bart. Bart. Okay. No call please. Okay, to close the public hearing on item 19, renewal of the Salano bid. Council member Kessar-Wanning. Yes. Tapplin? Yes. Bartlett? Yes. Traygob? Aye. Hon? Yes. Moonopara? Yes. Humbert, aye. And acting Mayor Wengrat. Yes. Okay. Okay. Moving on to number 20. I believe we do have a staff. I believe we do have a staff. We have to adopt the item itself. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. I thought that's what we just did. I'm sorry. Okay. Move to adopt a resolution confirming the annual report and budget for the Sorano Avenue business improvement district. Second. For 2024-25. Second. Okay. No call, please. Okay. No call please. Okay Council member kiss. Are wanting? Yes. Taplin. Yes. Bartlett. Yes. Trego. Hi. On. Yes. Bonapara. Yes. Humburt. Yes. And acting Mayor Wenger. Yes. Okay. Motion carries. Okay. Now I'm going to move on to number 20, zoning on instruments, keep innovation and Berkeley. I believe we do have a staff report. We do. We have a T part presentation. It'll start off with Eleanor Hollander and Liz from Lewis Redmond Cleveland from the Office of Economic Development and then that'll be followed up by a presentation from the Planning Department with Jordan Klein and Justin Horner. Great. Welcome, everyone. Hi, I'm actually getting turned to Jordan. Jordan is coming out. All right. Jordan, go ahead. Sure. Good evening. I'm glad I do get to say thank you, Mayor Wingraft, and good evening, Council members. Yeah, in 2022, City Council adopted the keep innovation in Berkeley referral, asking staff to look at amendments to the zoning ordinance to make it more friendly and welcoming to innovation sector businesses. And we're pleased to be back here. We've been the planning department that has been working below past year in partnership with OED. On this referral, we're pleased to be back in front of you with proposed zoning amendments and a recommendation to conduct public caring and adopt those amendments. I'll describe our presentation. And so now I'm going to turn it over to Eleanor. Thanks, Jordan. Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. I'm Eleanor Hollander. I'm Elinor Hollander. I'm the manager of the Office of Economic Development here at the City of Berkeley. I'm here tonight with my colleague Liz from the Office of Economic Development and of course our wonderful colleagues in planning. We're super excited to give you a little bit of background on a subject that's important to Berkeley's diverse economy, the innovation sector. And in the next economy, the innovation sector. And in the next slide, you can see sort of the journey we've been on here. This response to a referral from September of 2022 from former council member, Rachel Robinson entitled, Keep Innovation in Berkeley. It was fairly highly ranked. We worked carefully over the years, 22 and 23 and 24 to get feedback. And then in 2024, this item has taken two trips to the planning commission, a discussion in May and a public hearing in July, all with the goal to encourage the growth and retention of research and development businesses and Berkeley. And now for a little background on this sector itself, I'm going to turn it to my colleague Liz. Good evening, council members. As Ellen or said, I'm Liz Redmond Cleveland and in addition to my work with the Office of Economic Development, I manage the Berkeley Starno cluster, which is a partnership that we have with UC Berkeley Berkeley Lab and the Downtown Berkeley Association and Berkeley Chamber of Commerce with a mission to make Berkeley a more vibrant, accessible, and equitable place for startups to launch and grow. And thus in this capacity, I have a lot of opportunity throughout the year to interact with startups and other innovation ecosystem leaders. So I just wanted to give you a little bit of context tonight to frame the discussion we're going to have on the updated recommendations to keep innovation in Berkeley. In addition to the five major public sector employers in our city, two of which are very important to our innovation ecosystem, obviously the Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley, you're seeing here on the left-hand side of the side, the 25 largest Berkeley employers listed alphabetically, and we're really lucky we have such a diverse economy. You're seeing in that list, education, healthcare, nonprofits, retail, construction, but in light of tonight's conversation, you'll see that a fifth of them or six of these 25 are doing research and development in our city. And just to call out to, there's many pictures here on the right of these great innovators. One is pivot bio, which is creating a sustainable alternative to traditional toxic fertilizers that increases crop productivity. And then down there on the bottom left, you're seeing a picture from Caribu biosciences, which spun out of the Jennifer Dowdner lab, the Nobel Prize winner, and is using CRISPR gene editing for a cell therapy technology that is helping patients with cancer and other devastating diseases. And it's really exciting to have so much innovation in our city spread throughout the city, citywide with hot off the press as we're doing the count right now for economic dashboard more than 400 innovation sector businesses with the largest concentrations being those in software, the red dots in office spaces in and around the UC Berkeley campus in New York downtown and then that big blue dot which is the life science sector or 35 specific companies that are located in Baker Labs, which is in the Old Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, as well as those other Life Science hubs and hardware hubs in West Berkeley. So if you want to dive into this, you're always welcome to visit BerkeleyStartupCluster.com for the Startups page. The companies that I mentioned, those 400 innovation sector businesses, they don't only contribute to employment in our city and our economy at large, but they're also solving critical health and environmental challenges. And you're our largest sectors today of the innovation industries in Berkeley are biotech and healthcare companies, which now complement software companies as our two largest components where the blue slice there, those biotech and healthcare companies are coming up with solutions to improve human health, increase longevity, improve overall quality of life. And then I also just want to point out the increasing share of the pie that we've seen in recent years with that green slice on the bottom right clean technology or climate technology. And those types of companies in addition to office space, they need workshops and labs where they can build and test their products, whether they're making an electric vehicle battery, an air quality sensor, a water filter, or something else that helps in the environment. These startups are of these 400 total companies. I would say that more than 80% of the vast majority of them around 250 are startups, really early stage companies that are still developing a prototype, trying to figure out what their repeatable, scalable business model is, and they're coming up with a business plan and doing research and development in our city. And we're really lucky. We've seen an upward trend of the startups in our city over the last decade. This year's numbers just even higher than last year's by a bit, which is incredible, giving the tough fundraising environment we've been in. And this kind of matches with what we've seen at UC Berkeley where they've made a tremendous investment over the last several years in innovation and entrepreneurship. So that's including things like Skydack, Baker Labs, the big ideas competition, even just this semester, Hoss Business School started a new e-hub, standing for Entrepreneurship Hub. So check that out if you haven't seen that already. And it's come as you're it also with the Acolyas University of Scotland being ranked by pitch book as the number one university worldwide in producing venture back startups. That's both last year, 2023 and this year. And I just want to also mention the terms of the economic contribution that these startups make. It's not only employment and filling our spaces, whether they be officer lab, but also contributing to wealth creation. So last year, 2023 was really rough from a fundraising environment, but we still saw 84 Berkeley innovation companies bring in $840 million of venture and seed capital and $17 million in research and development funding. So over the last two years, we've had a lot of opportunity to interact with these innovation ecosystem stakeholders and startup founders on the topic of the policies at the city of Berkeley that can support or accelerate their growth locally. And one of those that comes up again and again was our zoning. And we heard that from people whether it was founders or real estate brokers and developers. We also had conversations and feedback sessions with UC Berkeley, and Entrepreneurship Champions. And thinking about the zoning context, we did a lot of research with other cities, as well as our own City of Berkeley Department of Toxic, our Fire Department, our Office of Emergency Services, as well as the California Department of Public Health, and other environmental health and safety specialists to really understand all of the recommendations that will be here today proposing. So what we wanted to do in today's conversation is respond to the 2022 referral that had five sections naming, research and development or R&D as an allowed land use in key commercial districts, updating the district purpose sections of our M districts to specifically embrace R&D, amending our parking requirements for R&D uses, making the language in our zoning code about biosafety levels clear and consistent with what we see in other cities and then providing any additional recommendations that would encourage R&D and Berkeley. So with regard to the first one there, naming R&D as an allowed land use in key commercial districts, I wanted to just provide you with an example of a robotics company that's been asked not to be named for the purpose of today's conversation, but they're using 3D printers and non-toxic materials to make sensors and parts that can be paired with drones and they can get dropped into hazmat situations to assess risk on the scene before human first responders go in and risk their lives. This firm was started by a professor in the Cal Mechanical Engineering Department. They used to go through the Berkeley Sky Deck program. That's a block from the 2180 Milvia office where they had 900 square feet and they were working on the drone and sensor development with their little robotic parts. But when they decided they needed their own office, they realized R&D wasn't officially sanctioned as an over the counter use in the downtown Berkeley zoning. And so they wanted to operate legally. They found a space that was sanctioned for that in West Berkeley, which has been very good to them. But they've noted that they've had to transform their office space in West Berkeley into a light use last base. But still sometimes prefer today to have meetings out on campus, because that's a lot easier to ask their interns between classes rather than having to take one or sometimes two buses. And we've heard a number of examples from companies where they're still reliant not only on the labor that UC Berkeley provides, but on equipment or places like clean rooms at UC Berkeley where it's just would be really great for them if they could be located in an office closer to campus and that our innovation institutions. I also just wanted to give you a little bit more background as we talk about biosafety levels since I know that may be new to some of you. So what you're seeing on the top here is the only place that today our zoning code uses this terminology, bio safety level or BSL. And it restricts the use of class two organisms within 500 feet of a residential district or a mixed use residential district. A bio safety level BSL class is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and National Institute of Health, and it depends on the level of risk, where one is the lowest risk, it's not known to cause disease, and four has aerosol transmission that can lead to a serious lethal infection where no treatment is available. And so when any firm is using a biosafety level rated organism, there's a number of protocols and procedures that they have to put in place with how they design the facility, as well as how they operate on their site. So whether that be, you know, controlling access to who can go behind closed doors, or putting a HEPA filter on equipment, the types of disinfectants and surface cleaners that they use, the frequency with which they do safety training, the protective equipment, they use all those things are protocols that are in place. And on top of those protocols being required for anyone operating with BSL rated organisms, there's also checks and balances at every step of the operational process. Like the industry is regulated and credentialed by vendors, which require certifications before they'll sell the firm, the organism that they need to be using for their regular experimentation, the Department of Transportation requires training and certification for anybody who's shipping a regulated biohazardous material, the California Department of Public Health is regulating how medical waste is stored and disposed of. And I also just want to mention the BSL2, the category we're in talking about tonight, is an organism that the disease wouldn't be transmitted by air. So it's not transmitted respiratory, and thus the 500 foot regulation doesn't really make sense based on industry standards or scientific standards and the biggest risk would be to the workers that are operating in that lab. And furthermore, BSL2 activities are a large component of what's being done today in research and development in the healthcare industries. And in fact, there are a lot of BSL2 activities happening on the UC Berkeley campus, on the UCSF campus, on campuses throughout our nation, right next to residential districts, right next to classrooms, and have been doing so for years. So in addition to realizing that this BSL2 500-foot restriction is not based on any science or health risks or regulatory standards. We still wanted to see how our city compared to other leading innovation centers and cities in the Bay Area. And we did a comparison, you know, including places like Boston and San Diego many more than you're seeing here on the slide. But on the bottom row, you're seeing some of our closest competitors don't mention biosafety level at all in their zoning codes. And if and when they did, the only thing that we saw was that they would prohibit BSL for activities from taking place in that city. So all of them are less restrictive than Berkeley, which has this 500 foot restriction of BSL to activities. And so we also confirm this with our own regulatory agencies, our toxics and fire department confirm that we have enough protocols in place. So it doesn't have to be our zoning code. The place is role of ensuring community health and safety. And so one last example here of why the today's zoning code as I showed you is a problem for us and the 500 foot restriction. There's a company we've worked with for years valid to our bio. They're developing a new treatment for visioning vision threatening diseases like wedage macular degeneration which can cause. And the co-founder and chief scientific officer, Dr. Wes Jackson, he went to UC Berkeley where he completed his degrees. He's had his company in Berkeley since 2009. And so when his company needed to move in West Berkeley from the space they were in to another in a relatively short period, he was really excited because he found another space nearby, right behind the orchard supply hardware there on San Pablo and Ashby that looked like it could be a great fit. But when he went to his board and his leadership team to suggest this could offer a solution for them to move and stay close to their old space, he had to introduce the risk for them that they might be denied the opportunity to update their business license with this new address because depending on where our zoning code by introducing uncertainty, it puts us out of competitive disadvantage with some of the nearby cities that have their arms wide open for these kinds of companies. And time uncertainty are of the essence for us to be able to attract and retain these high quality startups. So given that we believe that this will help us keep innovation and Berkeley to update our zoning codes, I'm going to turn it over to Justin Horner to talk about staff's proposed changes. Thank you Liz. Mayor Wangwraff, members of the council, Justin Horner, planning department staff. This short final portion of the presentation will summarize the proposed amendments to the Berkeley municipal code that are before you tonight. By various, I will discuss our included inter staff report and in our supplemental and our shown on the slide. These include revising permit requirements for R&D uses, adding R&D to the district purpose statements for two zoning districts, revising parking requirements, revising the regulation of biological safety level organisms in the Brooklyn Municipal Code, and revising the definition of laboratory in the zoning codes glossary. Next slide, please. The first proposed change would revise permit requirements for R&D uses in the CW, CT, CC, CDMU, CU, and CNS zoning districts, which are the areas that are shown in color on the slide. Currently, R&D uses are permitted in these zoning districts with an administrative use permit as some additional findings. The proposed changes would permit R&D uses that are under 20,000 square feet with a zoning certificate and R&D uses that are over 20,000 square feet with a zoning certificate, and R&D uses that are over 20,000 square feet with an AUP. It should be noted that these changes only apply to R&D uses, existing AUP and use permit requirements for new buildings, new structures, and new floor area will remain in the code and are not proposed for amendment. Next slide please. The second change includes adding research and development to the purpose statements for the mixed manufacturing and the mixed use light industrial zoning district purpose statements. As Liz noted, this will clarify that research and development uses are encouraged in these areas, assist the zoning adjustments board in making required findings for administrative use permits. And would also add certainty for potential applicants considering R&D uses in these districts. Next slide, please. The third proposed change relates to parking requirements for R&D uses, which have been cut by 50% is shown in the slide. We should note however that due to recent state law enacted after this was originally referred, the Berkeley Municipal Code already prohibits the establishment of minimum parking requirements for most commercial uses that are located within a half a mile of high frequency transit. This includes all of the relevant commercial zoning districts that we're talking about tonight, although there are a few end district parcels along Second Street that are not near transit and therefore would be subject to the local or to the lower parking requirements included here in the slide. Next slide please. The fourth change would revise the regulation of biological safety level in the Berkeley municipal code. These revisions would include removing the prohibition of class two organisms in the newly district, which was discussed in your staff report and adding a specific prohibition on BSL class three and four uses anywhere in the city, which was included in your staff report was a revision to the definition of laboratory. You may recall that currently a proposed R&D use can be classified as either a commercial laboratory use or a research and development use. This can be confusing as each of these uses can have different permit requirements even in the same zoning district. So in an effort to further clarify our code and to make sure that we have mutually exclusive definitions of land uses in our glossary, we proposed the revisions shown in the slide, which limit laboratory uses to testing laboratories only. Research laboratories would only be classified as R&D moving forward. That said, as discussed in the staff report, there are a few existing R&D uses that began operation before we even had an R&D definition in our land use code. As a result, they were originally approved as commercial laboratories. The new definition then includes explicit language that R&D uses that were approved as commercial labs shall continue as such. This was to avoid a situation where the new definition may have inadvertently made existing legal uses illegal. Next slide, please. And with that staff recommends that you hold a public hearing and adopt a first reading on the proposed ordinance amendments on alternative back over to director. Thank you, Justin. Council members, thank you for your attention. Before we turn it back over to you for Q&A discussion, I just want to emphasize that point that from Justin's discussion, make sure that you caught in Sub-1 that was published last week. We embedded the staff recommendation to carry forward an existing prohibition on BSL-3 uses. Expand that to also prohibit BSL-4. We did retain in the staff recommendation the elimination of the existing geographic limitations on BSL 2 uses. So that concludes the staff presentation we're available for discussion. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. and Eleanor and Jordan and Justin. Thank you very much. Before we proceed, I think I'd like to make a motion I'm just going to ask you to open the public here. Thank you very much. Before we proceed, I think I'd like to make motion to open the public here. You don't need a motion to. It's open to many. Okay. Just to close it. Okay. Questions from my colleagues. To staff? I don't have any questions. I just have a few comments. My colleagues, to staff? I don't have any questions. I just have a few comments, but no question. Go ahead, sure. Okay, happy to. I want to say a huge thank you to staff for all their work on this proposal, which I think reflects overdue and common sense approaches to research and development uses in Berkeley. I also want to give a shout out to former council member, Rijel Shimono Robinson, who spearheaded this initiative. I feel it's important that we recognize that council member Robinson's work continues to have a positive impact on our city. And I sure miss him up here on the dius with us. I really appreciate staff's explanation of these changes and I think they all make sense and are consistent with the original initiative and council's intent when the item was moved forward. I also appreciated staff's responsiveness to community concerns about biosafety level levels three and four agents as part of the research in Berkeley. I don't think much of any private research on BSL three or four agents Is happening in Berkeley anyway? I don't think any is and I don't think any would be So I don't think it really hurts these reforms to exclude labs with those biosafety levels I haven't heard much of any concern from the public regarding BSL one or 2, but I want to reassure folks. Anyway, may sound glib, but I think it's actually probably fair to say that a restaurant with poor safety poses more of a public risk than a lab working with BSL1 and two agents. So I support the proposed approach. Nothing else to say on this. I think it's great, and I'm ready to move it forward this evening. Thank you. Any other comments from my colleagues? Okay, if not, then we'll go to public comment from the audience. You got the next slide. You got the shot clock. Hi, my name is Nick Hill. I was a Miller fellow at UC Berkeley and a postdoc. And I've been trying to start an independent research business in downtown Berkeley or near campus. For a couple of years now. And I just wanted to support all of the changes that were suggested here today. Specifically, I've talked to several landlords and the current process where you potentially have to wait up to six months to get an administrative use permit to run an R&D business is prohibitive. I have lost leases because of that. The other thing I wanted to point out is that I actually live in Oakland and in Montclair when I emailed Oakland, they gave me the equivalent permit online within six days. And for a location I was looking at. But I still prefer to be in Berkeley. It's really valuable to be near the campus for the reasons that the two companies that were described already gave, but being near students and being able to attend research talks and meetings on campus, and also just Sarah Nipidus interactions with researchers going to lunch and seeing someone you know and striking up a conversation and getting an idea that you would have gotten otherwise. So for these reasons, I'm very much in support of this change and I'm surprised it didn't already exist as a researcher given the huge value that UC Berkeley is to the city. And I think that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments in the room? Okay, we'll go to Zoom. Car ending in 211. There you go. Hi, good evening. I am really happy to be with you tonight, but definitely we need to make a city, a very better city, safer for everybody. A lot of it was a mecca for Shabbar to come to. Now it is not. Good on Shadak, a good on university. How many businesses are closed? Shut down as well as telegraph. You're going to have to do more to get it back to the beautiful city Berkeley was. I came to Berkeley, December 15, 1965. That is almost what 59 years ago. What action of the city regarding our business, Berkeley, business, business icon of the Hallway area for 200 million dollars of business was happy. It was not good. And I should tell you that some of your employees are corrupt, some of them work for competitors, some of them work for Megalandros on telegram graph and that have been part of our problem with you. Try to interact more with the people of Berkeley and try to help me and everybody else in Berkeley to make it better and more beautiful city. Thank you and have a holiday. Thank you. I'm listening to ask you to ask me to do a test. Jessie, miss, can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. I can. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes. I'm hearing that What we want to do is allow Research on pathogens and nanoparticles in Berkeley without any real oversight from the city itself the city had trouble inspecting our Restaurants in the city now you want to add Potentially toxic labs to shopping and living areas. We're claiming we have a shortage of space for student housing, which is the reason you took people's park. But we're willing to give all this extra space to research and development labs before housing. Really, we don't have a city staff to inspect these sort of facilities. We're kind of put in a cart before the horse in a common sense matter. We are an earthquake city. We're gonna allow our residents to live next door to bio labs. I just think that it's um without the I think this is a little fast on rezoning. We need to have the staff to inspect these facilities. This is real stuff. These are pathogens. These are nanoparticles. We're Berkeley. You know, we should be having parks and benches and grass. And we're putting the cart before the horse here. And this is special interest. Rydall Robinson was a special interest candidate. And that's why he was removed from your council. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. OK, next speaker is Wesley Jackson. Hi, my name is Wesley Jackson. I'm the president of Allator, the biotechnology company that Liz described earlier. As she mentioned, we're developing novel technologies that can improve access to effective therapies for patients with vision threatening diseases. I really want to express my support for this initiative and to ensure that Berkeley can maintain parity with its neighboring cities and ensure that R&D companies that are founded in Berkeley will be able to remain in Berkeley as they grow. I place a high value on keeping my business in Berkeley and I know other similar managers at other deep tech companies. They're developing technologies that are aligned with the with the Burke with the city of Berkeley's values to fight climate change, reduce waste, improve human health and eliminate inequality. We'd like to build our companies and grow our work first in the cities that inspired us to make an impact on this world. Thank you to city staff for helping construct this initiative. And I urge the city council members to adopt the keep innovation and Berkeley initiative. And I'm excited to see about the impact that it will make for our city. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is Beth Rostner. Good evening. Hello. Sorry, can you hear me now? Yes. Okay, great. Thank you. It's Beth Rostner from the chamber. I'm here to express the chamber support for item number 20, zoning ordinance amendments to keep innovation in Berkeley. The nature and scope of R&D has increased significantly since our current zoning ordinances were written with many more tech startups in areas as diverse as biotech, clean tech, hardware, food and beverage, and others. These proposed zoning updates will make it easier for startup founders and R&D companies to find offices and labs to conduct their business near campus and make Berkeley more competitive with other nearby cities, which also aspire to have Berkeley-based startups grow in their own cities. The products and solutions they create in these spaces will be critical to a more environmentally sustainable and healthy future. And these updates will make it possible for these companies to have greater economic and community impact and stay in Berkeley. So thank you for your consideration and also thank you, Acting Mayor Wengraff and Council Member Han for your years of service to Berkeley. We're grateful for both of you. Thank you, Acting Mayor Wengrath and Council Member Han for your years of service to Berkeley. We're grateful for both of you. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is Kristi Sharilla. Kristi, you can speak now. She just stepped off. Okay. Next speaker is Clark Kellogg. Yes. Thank you very much. Yes. I am a retired professor of innovation, creativity and design at the Huzd School of Business. I just want to echo some of the sentiments that Wes and the staff shared with you. I can't tell you the number of young, aggressive entrepreneurs that have great ideas that say as they, put their startups together, that it's too bad they can't locate in Berkeley because of all the regulations. So I'm here only to reinforce the recommendation of the staff to pass the set of changes and wholeheartedly supported both as an innovationist as a former professor and as a Berkeley resident. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, we're going to go back to Christie Sharilla. Christie, you should be able to speak now. Thank you. Sorry about earlier. Good evening. Council members. My name is Christie Sharilla. And I'm the Bay Area Policy Manager for Biocom, California. Just the state's oldest and largest trade association for life sciences. We represent about 1800 members statewide. Keep innovation in Berkeley would ensure that our members can create, sustain and grow their companies in Berkeley. Easing procedural and zoning barriers is a high priority for our members, as it would help provide the transparency and consistency that they need when deciding where to establish their business. We encourage you to adopt, keep innovation in Berkeley. I'd like to thank the staff for their hard work on this and I'd like to thank all the council members for your time and consideration tonight. Thank you very much. Okay, that concludes public comment and I'm going to bring it back to the dios now and recognize Igor Trigab. Thank you. So. Ego, we lost you. Can you. We like can you. Yeah, can you start over again, please? Yes. Yes. Thank you so much, Madam Mayor. Thank you to staff for their hard work. and thank you to members of the public. My comments, I'm going to cut them short because they that staff has showed every step of the way. In a past life, I had occasion to work in a job that put me in a position to review the safety of BSL-3 facilities. And so I would agree that I don't see any circumstance ever, frankly, where one would show up in Berkeley. However, because of the serious nature of the risks involved with BSL-3 facilities. It was advisable to add a specific very responsive in doing and that's what is shown in supplemental too. On the contrary, while you know, there are still risks involved with BSL2 work, it is confined largely to it's not airborne and so the prohibition that is being suggested for removal that prohibition was not based on science. So along with all the other recommendations and I support this because this will lower the playing field for entrepreneurs. You know, I also spend some time in the startup cluster in Berkeley. And so it's amazing science that is being done and we would like to keep them here. So thank you so much and I will be supporting this. Thank you, Councilmember. Yes, Councilmember. Yeah, I just wanna say that we have UC Berkeley and the lab in the middle of our city. And I don't know all the different hazards, hazardous chemicals, biomaterials, nuclear material. But I do know that our fire department is trained. And trained to deal with those threats and those concerns already, because we actually are a city that already has a lot of materials that have to be handled in special and is able to work with facilities at this level. Thank you. Councilmember Bartlett. Good afternoon, Mayor. I want to thank the team for your excellent responsiveness to Councilmember Robinson's request to upgrade our approach to this element of start-up business. You know, it's important to realize that Washington is going to up into our economy of the state and the city. It kind of behooves us to all we can to strengthen ourselves economically right now as soon as possible So encouraging the growth of the startup industry in town is good and we know that also in general The jobs are training downward in that field anyway for new grads. So if we can encourage it's great. But I do have a question And you can take this from the team How would we ensure that the biosafety level. Three and four are not utilized in these spaces. The proposed amendments that are included in supplemental one specifically note that BSL3 and 4 organisms will be prohibited uses. And those provisions are also cross referenced and are allowed by use tables so that staff will be able to raise them and make sure that the applicants know about the practice. Well, you know, the thing with this signal is that due to the distributed nature of the new lab, if you will, was more data-oriented, you can construct these things quite easily and also accidentally even. I think I'd like to see some a little more assurance on a method to make sure that they are not producing levels three and four. I think that's gotta be best practices. And the car really hit that note when they mention that we don't inspect restaurants. So, you know, I'd like to see if there's a way we can to charge a fee or something to make sure they get inspected by us or a contractor or anyone. Because this is very serious. So thank you for that input. Council Member Bartlett, we do. So businesses that. That use. Microbes or other biological agents are required to register with the California Department of Health and they are inspected as needed by the state. Those businesses also typically are also required to be inspected by the city's toxic management division because they're also typically using compressed air or other methods that include hazardous materials. And so our toxic division is out there conducting inspections regularly. So through those methods, I think we do have the opportunity to provide the assurance that you're looking for that the businesses would be in compliance with all state and local loss. I think about 100. If it's possible to come back at some point with just an update or report on this toxicology or toxic investigation arm of the city because again we've learned a few months ago about the restaurant inspections and how they weren't happening. So I'm just curious. You have staff here from the toxic management team and they can thoroughly describe the processes that they go through for inspecting these facilities. So if that would be helpful, I see Nicole has joined us and maybe she can just give you a high level summary of what they do. Good evening mayor and council members. My name is Nicole Kim and I work for the City's Toxics Management Division where the regulatory agency that oversees any facility that stores hazardous materials above the reportable thresholds stated in the municipal code and also any facility that stores hazardous materials above the reportable thresholds stated in the municipal code. And also any facility that generates hazardous waste and the gas stations we have and other hazmat facilities in the city. There's so many and they're literally everywhere. But we do conduct routine inspections of our facilities and they are required to submit annual reports to us through the California Environmental Reporting System. And there is a lot of oversight by many different agencies us being the local arm of that and we make a lot of contact and we assist the regulated community with compliance as well. So we'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you. That's it. It's not a question, but with the speed and appropriate time to make a motion. Or no? Yeah. Oh, close. I move the close up here. Second. Okay, to close the public hearing, Councilmember Kessarwani. Yes. Tapplin. Yes. Bartlett. Yes. Trigab. I. Hon. Yes. Luna Parra. Yes. Humber. Yes. Yes, I would like to move adoption of the software Commendation. Okay. Any discussion? Please call the room. Okay. To adopt the recommendation. Councilmember Kessarwani. Yes. is called the room. Okay. To adopt the recommendation. Council member Kessarwani. Yes. Tapplin. Yes. Bartlett. Yes. Dragoob. Hi. On. Yes. Lunapara. Yes. Humberg. Yes. And Akimir Wengwrap. Yes. Yes. All right. Motion carries. Okay. That completes the action calendar for this evening. And now we will go to public comment again on items not only agenda. If you have public comment, please line up. Yes. One minute. One minute, please. Give me an old, it's not for weak people to hear that. What I'd like to see the Council do is, the United Church of Christ, is it a financial bind? It was one of the first churches in the country to desiguate in 1943. They're behind their taxes $160,000. It was in Berkeley, sightably where I read that. And I think it's very important to keep in this historical place like that going. So about $160,000 could be found with all these billions and millions of dollars being talked about tonight. Some should go there. I was reminded of Vietnam again tonight by the bridge person who was here ordinarily I'm trying not to think about it but I was thinking about it anyways if I can just finish my side here. Jealousy would be at non. It went on and on and on. And some of us are still going through our own responsibility around that. Even though we had no responsibility in the beginning of it, we have responsible for what we did and we didn't do. Jeter side in Palestine is going on now. I don't blame anybody for starting it, but I blame everybody who's not proposing a ceasefire to stop it. Thank you very much. So when the missing medal item came to council, there were going to be forums in every district, but I believe it's only district four and the combined one and one and two that have been held. And clearly in one and two, the people wanted to have Q&A. So I'm hoping that the other districts also have these community input forms. And so when I spoke at the agenda committee in terms of thank you, Councilmember Wengriff, for appointing me to two commissions over the last eight years and allowing me to have my independent voice. I will it in also speak of the fact that you have an independent voice, which has very much been observed. Two situations that come to mind where you acted brought independence in representing your district well. So, we're first, you were the only council member that initially stood up on the Hopkins bike lanes. Second, you were courageous also in bringing the AB 109 opposition because you believed that that accurately reflected your district. And also you are excellent at presiding over meetings, you're very and your compassion comes through. And it's something that is often not acknowledged and you've been able to handle this graciousness, show graciousness in very difficult hostile times. Some of these meetings were extremely difficult and I found the book I booked for you eight months ago. I was at a true crime conference. I'm just going to end with this. I was at a true crime conference and I found this book. I said, oh, this is something Susan Wengruff would like. And I had it subscribe in square brother, vice mayor, Susan Wengruff. And there's that witty on the plane. And I misplaced it. I finally found it. I'm almost done with it. But it's now been sort of a velveteen rabbit book now because it's been loved. So you'll get this tomorrow. Just face you know. Thank you, Carol. Okay, anybody else in the room would like to make public comment. Okay, we'll go to Zoom and we'll the color ending in one nine one. You can speak now. Hi, I like to send Tanya Rabillo for her service today. She was very nice with Lady, I wish I met her many years ago. I love Berkeley, I love all of them, I'm very, very clear, and I don't need to be critical. But instead, I'd like for ID at EED in the past, we did as much as 150,000 there on single day. Now we should know how much for a street that I was talking to you. But on of you all, I wish both counsel, will they be the best and I wish very happy holiday to everybody. But what I'm going to give up, let's go forward, this gets space in chanting that I got small because it's like gold. There isn't there is a thousand limberhub bucks, the same space, the same block is 8,000, 10,000. Work with me, I'm your friend, I'm your, we pay a lot of money, a lot of taxes, city, a lot of, and also not only I, tens of thousands of our clients are very angry as the city and it showed up in the world they did to you badly. Wajihabahalay, metac, a be Hanukkah, and a man of the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Sam, the old mind. Thank you again, lots of love. Have a good night. Thank you very much. Okay, well, I think that is the conclusion. I want to wish everybody health and happiness and peace. motion motion motion to adjourn second. Seconded by Bartlett. To adjourn the meeting council member Kester Wani. Yes. Taplyn. Yes. Bartlett. Yes. Tragab. Aye. Hon. Yes. Linoppara. Yes. Humber. Yes. And Mayor Wengrap. Yes. Thank you. Meeting is adjourned.