Berkeley Elected Officials - Nov 2024

Here are my recommendations for Berkeley elected officials (city council, school board, rent board)

Berkeley Elected Officials:

Mayor: Adena Ishii

City Council District 2: Terry Taplin

City Council, District 3: Matthews #1, Bartlett #2

City Council, District 5: No endorsement

City Council, District 6: Andy Katz #1, Brent Blackaby #2

School Board: Corn, Vasudeo

Rent Stabilization Board: Kelley, Twu

See other posts for Berkeley ballot measures, other elected officials (from President to local districts + Alameda County), and the state propositions (coming soon!).

For details, read on...

Berkeley Measures - Nov. 2024

Here are my recommendations on Berkeley’s 12 (!!) ballot measures.  

Berkeley Measures

W: Yes to Update/Extend Berkeley’s Transfer Tax to Pay for Homelessness Services

X: Yes to Support Berkeley’s Libraries 

Y: Yes to Support Berkeley Parks

Z: Yes to Extend Sugary Beverages Tax

AA: Yes to Extend Voter-Approved Spending Limits

BB+CC: NO on two flawed Ordinances to modify Berkeley’s Rent Control system

DD: No Endorsement on Prohibition of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

EE: No to Paving-Focused Measure

FF: YES for Safer + Smoother Streets for Everyone

GG: NO on Poorly Crafted Measure for a Large Buildings Fossil Fuel Tax

HH: NO on Extremely Poorly Designed Indoor Air Quality Measure

See separate posts for recommendations on Berkeley elected officials (city council, school board, rent board), other elected officials (from President to local districts + Alameda County) and the state propositions (coming soon!).

For details on Berkeley's measures, read on ...

GG: No on Poorly Crafted Measure for Large Buildings Fossil Fuel Tax

GG: NO on Poorly Crafted Measure for a Large Buildings Fossil Fuel Tax

At first blush, Measure GG looked good: it taxes something we want to reduce (natural gas use) and uses the revenues to support good things. But after I read more about its impacts and the nuances of the measure, I concluded that Measure GG is a poorly-crafted measure that won’t actually incentivize lower emissions in a fair and sustainable way. I hope proponents will go back to the drawing board and work with the city to put a better plan forward. 

I'm voting No on GG. 

Yes on FF, No on EE: Berkeley, Nov 2024

EE + FF: YES on FF / NO on EE - Safer + Smoother Streets for Everyone

There are two competing measures that both would fund safety improvements and repairs for Berkeley’s streets and sidewalks. They’re complicated to unravel and they relate to an area where I have a couple decades of work experience (transportation policy), so apologies in advance for the very long writeup. 

TLDR: I’m voting YES on FF and No on EE. 

For more, read on … 

No on both BB+CC (Berkeley, Nov. 2024)

 

BB + CC: NO on two flawed Ordinances to modify Berkeley’s Rent Control system

Two different measures propose complex changes to Berkeley’s rent control system. There’s a tenant-sponsored measure and a landlords-sponsored one. Neither has shown that it has the right combination of being necessary AND not having key flaws, so I’m voting No on both BB and CC. If both pass, the one with more votes will go into effect and the other will not. 

"Do Something" with Jeff & Kim

Action is the best antidote to anxiety. That's why Jeff & Kim are hosting an election-related party: to influence the election, inform how we each vote, and be in community together to nourish our democracy. 

• Saturday, October 26th, 12:30 - 6:30pm (see below for what will happen when)
• Location in Berkeley will be provided after you RSVP

[Thu 10/24 9pm update: We just sent out instructions to everyone who's RSVPed already. If you RSVP for Phone-Banking or Letter-Writing now, please watch your email closely for a follow-up and help us out by reading it!!]

PLEASE RSVP at this link (it'll help if you read the rest of this post first). We need a good estimate of #s by Thu Oct 24th, so we make sure to have enough materials + refreshments.

My Birthday Present

I gave myself a birthday present this past weekend: I went back up to Reno for a 3-day weekend of canvassing for Kamala Harris & Tim Walz (plus Jacky Rosen for U.S. Senate). I joined 98 other canvassers to knock on over 7,000 doors and have nearly 1,700 substantive conversations with voters. And I LOVED IT!

If you haven't read Kim & my post from our first trip (Sep 7-8), check it out here.