Berkeley Council: D-1 Maio, D-7 Barry, D-8 Alvarez Cohen #1 + Droste #2

For Berkeley elected officials, I'm simply going to quote my friend Nathan Landau, whose opinion I share on most things Berkeley. I also added campaign website links for each of the candidates we like:

Four Berkeley Council seats—District 1, 4, 7, and 8—are on the ballot this year, though in District 4 (Downtown)Jesse Arreguin is running unopposed. In Berkeley, you can vote for up to three candidates for a City Council seat, ranking them 1, 2, 3. I don’t necessarily see three good choices in all of these seats, but you have that option. The Auditor position and Rent Board seats are uncontested.
 District 1 (Northwest Berkeley)—Linda Maio—Linda Maio has been on the City Council since 1992, the longest serving Berkeley Councilmember. Some would say that 22 years is long enough.  Maio has typically been a member of Mayor Bates’ center-left Council majority. The real divide between her and opponent Alejandro Soto-Vigil is that Soto-Vigil backs Measure R, while Maio opposes it. Their attitudes on this measure bespeak other attitudes.  But I can’t get too excited about Maio, her support for Bus Rapid Transit in the face of a small, noisy opposition was tepid at best. The polite term for Merilee Mitchell, also running, is “gadfly.” [Linda Maio's campaign website]
 District 7 (Telegraph Ave.)—Sean Barry. Planning Commissioner Sean Barry is running against longtime incumbent Kriss Worthington, he’s been on the Council since 1996. Worthington has voted against numerous housing developments and led the charge against Bus Rapid Transit on Telegraph Avenue, so I can’t recommend him. Barry is on the Planning Commission and has been on the Waterfront Commission. He’s only five years out of UC, but this was supposed to be a student district. Nancy Skinner and Loni Hancock back Barry, the Sierra Club and Central Labor Council went with Worthington. [Sean Barry's campaign website]
 District 8 (Frat Land/Elmwood)—Michael Alvarez Cohen (1), Lori Droste (2). There are four candidates in the race to replace retiring Councilmember Gordon Wozniak. George Beier has previously run and lost in neighboring District 7; Beier was a leader of the anti-Bus Rapid Transit group, so I’m not recommending him. Jacquelyn McCormick is president of the Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association (CENA), arguably the hardest core anti-development organization in Berkeley—I’m not a fan. So there’s Alvarez-Cohen and Droste. Either seem acceptable, but Alvarez-Cohen’s experience as chair of the Zoning Adjustments Board is more on point for being a Councilmember. Droste has more high powered political support. McCormick supports Downtown killing Measure R, Alvarez-Cohen and Droste oppose it. [Campaign websites for Michael Alvarez-Cohen & Lori Droste]