Berkeley City Council Candidates for District 1 Talk about Crime, Traffic, Downtown Development

Linda Maio (Incumbent)

Jasper Kingeter

Anthony Di Donato

Merrilie Mitchell

By Doug Oakley

Bay Area News Group East Bay

doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com

Crime, traffic, downtown development and a smelly steel mill are issues candidates for the District 1 seat on the Berkeley City Council are talking about a month before the election. 

Three candidates are going up against 18-year Councilwoman Linda Maio for the seat representing much of the flatland neighborhoods north of University Avenue to the Albany border. 

Jasper Kingeter, 22, is a city employee and the youngest candidate vying for the seat. He works as a youth recreation educator at the marina in Berkeley and also works for the Albany-Berkeley YMCA. 

Kingeter said two of the biggest issues in his mind are the need for more activities and guidance for young people as a way to cut down on crime and defeating the downtown development plan before voters next month known as Measure R.

The measure includes height limits on new buildings and a streamlined permit process for builders who follow green guidelines. It also envisions more people living downtown, while simultaneously asking them to leave their cars somewhere else. 

"I oppose Measure R because I feel like it's just a plan to have a plan," Kingeter said. "It's just loaded with words like 'open space,' 'green' and 'sustainable,' but there's not a clear explanation of that. It allows a hotel, but a lot of people don't want to have a dense downtown like that." 

Kingeter said his home was recently burglarized when his little sister was home in the backyard and his stepsister has been robbed at gunpoint, so he sees crime as a very important issue in the city. 

"The main issue is we have a large group of young people around my age who don't have much to do," Kingeter said. "We need to update our community centers and have positive role models like me to show people there are other things to be doing. I want to spread a positive vibe to other young people who feel like they have no hope." Incumbent Maio, meanwhile, said her "No. 1 priority has been Pacific Steel Casting." Maio said she has helped push over the years to get reliable testing of the air around the Second Street steel mill that ultimately has proved there are no health risks, even though it still smells bad. 

"I've spent most of my time in my district wrestling this information to the ground," Maio said. 

A health risk assessment recently performed by the company, but analyzed by an independent firm and by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, showed no health risks to the air around the mill, she said. And an air monitoring station at Sixth and Camelia streets showed the same thing. 

"We have almost for now, put the health risk issue to rest in most people's minds, but we still have odors and that's what we are working on now," Maio said. 

Maio said her other big issue in the district is traffic. She said commuters on their way to UC Berkeley abuse streets not designed for such a traffic load. She's hopeful a fire department-endorsed gentle sloping speed bump that is easy on drivers with disabilities will slow drivers down in the future. 

As for downtown development, she fully supports Measure R. 

"We need a place for people to live close to UC Berkeley, because all of them are driving through my district and making everybody crazy," Maio said. "Because the downtown is becoming more culturally interesting, a lot of people who live in the suburbs and who work in Berkeley may make the choice to move here. But right now we don't have any housing offerings for the average employee." 

Maio said Measure R will help give people the opportunity to live and shop downtown "and quit driving through our neighborhoods." 

Community activist and candidate Merrilie Mitchell prides herself on following the money that flows out of City Hall. She attends just about every City Council meeting, and goes to other meetings few attend. Although she doesn't drive a car, she's concerned that the City Council under Mayor Tom Bates is trading parking for apartment buildings downtown. 

"The city is giving away parking lots to developers," Mitchell said. "People who live here come looking for the parking spaces and they're not there. We are losing our share of the downtown that we, as taxpayers, are paying for. It's filthy, we're losing good businesses and things are out of control." 

Mitchell also said she wants more openness in city government. 

"I don't take the spin from city hall because it's bull," said Mitchell. "The city is a mess and they are running a game on the citizens." 

Council hopeful Anthony Di Donato, 40, is a property manager who sees traffic, overcrowding near UC Berkeley, the pollution of Pacific Steel Casting and crime as the major problems facing Berkeley and District 1. 

He echoed Maio's sentiment that the university contributes to an unacceptable amount of traffic in the city. 

"When there's a football game, it's gridlock all the way from I-80 to campus on University Avenue," Di Donato said. "I don't know how the school gets away with it. It's insane and it needs to be corrected." He said the school is constructing too many buildings and not including parking lots in the mix. He also said UC police need to do more to protect students from crime, like armed robbery. 

As for downtown development, Di Donato said Berkeley does not have the infrastructure to support the kind of development Measure R allows. 

"People do use BART and public transportation and God bless them for that," he said. "But people are going to use their cars and they have no place to park. It creates gridlock."

It's a Beautiful Day on the Bay

A man works a crane to lift a sailboat out of the water at Berkeley Marine Center at the Berkeley Marina with the San Francisco skyline in the background on Tuesday Sept. 28. (Photo by Doug Oakley)

Cops Give Bike Riders $200 Tickets

Berkeley Police officer Melissa Kelly writes a young woman a ticket for running a stop sign on Dana Street at Channing Way in Berkeley on Sept. 23. Police wrote bicyclists 19 tickets with fines up to $200 in an effort to get the word out that bike riders need to follow the rules of the road just like car drivers. (Photo by Doug Oakley)

Berkeley police officer Melissa Kelly writes a young man from New Zealand a ticket for running a stop sign at Dana Street and Channing Way in Berkeley on Sept. 23. (Photo by Doug Oakley)

By Doug Oakley

Staff Writer

Bay Area News Group

doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com

Berkeley police had no problem finding bicyclists breaking the law last week.

During the second crackdown of the year near the UC Berkeley campus on Sept. 23, hordes of riders were cruising through stop signs, running red lights, riding on the sidewalk and riding the wrong way.

In two hours five officers wrote 19 citations with some costing riders more than $200.

Officer Melissa Kelly, parked at the corner of Dana and Channing streets on her mountain bike, cited one after the other as they blew through the stop sign. 

While writing one ticket, several more would fly through the intersection.

The operation was aimed at reducing injury crashes.

So far this year, 129 bicyclists have been injured in the city, police said. Since 1984, four bicyclists have died in crashes with cars, and investigations showed in each accident that it was the bicyclist's fault.

"We've also been getting complaints regarding reckless riding," said Officer Jennifer Coats of the police department's traffic bureau who was on Thursday's crackdown. "We're up here as a deterrent. They're running stop signs, red lights and weaving in and out of traffic and riding the wrong way."

The crackdown also served as a reminder to bicyclists that they must pay attention to all the rules of the road, just as a person driving a car would.

As he was getting a ticket, one young UC Berkeley student from New Zealand asked Kelly: "Are we supposed to ride on the sidewalk or on the street?" 

The answer is no, Kelly said, but it was a good questions and gave her the opportunity to offer a quick primer on the rules of the road: stop at stop signs, yield to pedestrians, stop at red lights, don't ride on the sidewalk, don't ride in crosswalks.

Dave Campbell, president of Bicycle-Friendly Berkeley Coalition, said he heard about the crackdown and approved of it as a way of educating riders.

"The bicycle coalition encourages everyone to follow the rules of the road and ride responsibly," said Campbell. "Enforcement can be a good thing. It's helpful when cyclists know that police take traffic safety seriously."

Campbell said so many bicyclists do not obey the rules of the road because they never learn them.

"My parents taught me how to ride, told me to be safe and sent me out on the street," Campbell said. "You don't get the training in school. A lot of people don't know that the rules of the road apply to bikes."

Campbell said the crackdown is a good opportunity for Berkeley bike riders to take one of his organization's three free classes on bike safety. For more info, check http://www.bfbc.org.

Berkeley Residents To Decide Downtown Building Plan

Commuters walk across Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley on Sept. 22. In November Berkeley residents will vote on a building plan for the downtown area.

By Doug Oakley

Bay Area News Group - East Bay

A downtown Berkeley plan that includes height limits on new buildings, a streamlined permit process for builders who follow green guidelines and incentives for residents who don't own cars will go before voters Nov. 2.

The City Council placed the plan, known as Measure R, on the ballot in July after it rescinded a downtown plan it agreed to in 2009. The previous plan came under fire from opponents who said it did not require enough affordable housing and allowed too many tall buildings.

However, the plan now before voters says it will serve only "as guidance" for the City Council and allows for future "adjustments" to its policies.

Still, Mayor Tom Bates said, although the plan is only a guide, the council would be hard-pressed to circumvent its suggestions in a place such as Berkeley.

"It is a guide, but I think it will be awfully difficult for an elected city council to change the will of voters," Bates said. "What you see is what you will get, I think."

The policies include a maximum building height of 60 feet except for two new residential buildings and one hotel to be built with a maximum height of 180 feet, and two smaller office or residential buildings up to 120 feet.

City Councilman Jesse Arreguin, who leads the opposition to Measure R, said the plan lacks legal teeth, allows too tall buildings and shortens the time to review a building for landmarks status.

"We can bring more people downtown and have more vibrancy without buildings that tall," Arreguin said. "The heights have always been a big issue. I believe building up to 17 stories is unnecessary."

In addition Arreguin said the plan expands the downtown area into residential areas without adding a buffer zone.

"This is why leaders of some neighborhood groups are opposed to it," he said.

Bates said the plan will create a downtown "that will be one of the great environmental places in the United States." The whole idea is to get more people living in and visiting downtown to stimulate business and prevent people from driving their cars to other places for entertainment and activity, he said.

Part of the plan also requires that new construction meet international standards for energy savings, water efficiency and pollution emissions. It also requires new buildings to offer car sharing, bike parking and transit passes, as well as to incorporate open space or pay into a public open space fund. It requires residents of new buildings to rent parking spaces separate from their apartments.

For builders who want to go beyond those requirements, they can go through a streamlined approval process. The enhanced requirements to get the streamlined permit include providing 20 percent affordable housing and employing 30 percent of the project's workers from Berkeley.

Some of those lining up behind the plan before voters are the managing director of the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Susan Medak, and Robert Reich, the former U.S. secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton and professor of public policy at UC Berkeley. Opponents of the plan include Arreguin and Patricia March, secretary of the Alameda County Green Party, among others.

Re-Thinking Value of Parking Spaces

Kristin Maravilla, left, background and Ian Moore, right, relax in an alternative parking space on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley on Friday Sept. 17. The stunt was part of the international Park(ing) Day which tries to inspire people to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks "for the public good." (Photo by Doug Oakley)

Berkeley High Student Gets Restraining Order Against Counselor after Sex Harass Complaint Denied

By Doug Oakley

Bay Area News Group

Allegations that a Berkeley High School counselor caressed a female student's inner thigh last year, spanked her and asked her if she slept naked were not sexual harassment, a school district investigation found over the summer.

Counselor Anthony Smith's behavior was, however, "inappropriate and unprofessional," the district said. And Smith remains in his job counseling other female students at the school.

Following the investigation and findings of the complaint, which the student and her lawyer found lacking, the student obtained a temporary restraining order against Smith and is seeking to have it made permanent.

The order, obtained in Alameda County Superior Court on Sept. 2, tells Smith to stay 100 yards away from the student and her home.

In her April complaint against the counselor, the student alleged Smith put his nose against her neck and told her she smelled good, stared at her chest, put his head on her chest and his hands on her waist, talked about her hair and called her out of class to discuss non-school related topics.

The student's lawyer, Stephen Rosenbaum of Berkeley, said the school district investigation included a three-hour interview of the student with school district lawyers.

In denying the complaint of sexual harassment, the school district sent a letter to Rosenbaum on July 12.

"For the most part, there were no witnesses," the letter said. "Mr. Smith denied most of the allegations and said he did nothing wrong. With regard to the uncomfortable hugs, it could not be determined that Mr. Smith's conduct in this regard was unprofessional or inappropriate because you approached him."

Citing the fact that the district has only one high school that is bound by a union contract restricting transfer of teachers, the district has allowed him to stay.

"However please be assured that he has been given a directive to stay in the counseling area, minimize the need to be on other parts of the campus, and avoid any contact (with the student) both verbal and physical," said assistant superintendent for human resources Delia Ruiz in a Sept. 1 letter to Rosenbaum. "We believe that with these precautions there is little or no chance that any additional offensive contact between the two will occur."

Smith, contacted at the school by phone, declined to comment.

Rosenbaum said he is surprised the school district did not find that Smith sexually harassed the student.

"I am surprised that he has not been terminated or transferred to an administrative position," Rosenbaum said. "And I'm not satisfied that he remains on campus."

Rosenbaum appealed the district's finding of inappropriate behavior, only to receive what he called a "terse and dismissive" letter from Superintendent Bill Huyett denying his appeal.

"We believe that the actions we have taken to date will be sufficient to prevent and deter future harassment," Huyett said.

As for not moving him out of Berkeley High, Huyett said: "The very nature of his position requires him to have regular contact with students, both male and female, to provide counseling. Therefore, we do not believe that your request is reasonable."

Berkeley school district spokesman Mark Coplan declined to comment on the complaint.

Truant Kids Costing Berkeley Schools Millions as District Asks Residents for More Money

Berkeley High School Principal Pasquale Scuderi, who just started his new job, acknowledged his school is losing over $100,000 a month in state funds due to truancy and other absences, but he is trying a variety of new tactics to keep kids in class.

By Doug Oakley

Bay Area News Group East Bay

doakley@bayareanewsgroup.com

Truancy and other absences are costing Berkeley High School more than $100,000 a month in state funding and the whole school district loses about $2.4 million a year, according to a recent report.

For each day a student is absent, the school district loses $29.73 in state funds which adds up quickly when you have a high school with 3,200 students and 9,400 students in the entire district.

Berkeley has been criticized by the Alameda County District Attorney for not having a policy to hold parents accountable for habitually truant kids. A recent drug and alcohol task force that found loose policies on truancy contribute to sky high rates of drug and alcohol use among Berkeley High School students.

Berkeley school board members approved the report showing the loss in funds at the same June 9 meeting where they decided to ask Berkeley residents for more money in property taxes to fund schools.

At that meeting they approved two ballot measure asking residents for $210 million in property taxes for construction projects and $5 million a year in taxes for maintenance.

But a crop of new administrators in the district, including Berkeley High School's new Principal Pasquale Scuderi, are pledging to crack down on truants and stop some of the losses.

Administrators say Berkeley schools never will achieve 100 percent attendance of all their students because of illnesses, emergencies, homelessness and other issues out of their control.

But they also admit that weak policies on dealing with truants is responsible for Berkeley schools losing a lot of money.

Scuderi acknowledged that his school can do better, especially when the school district is asking property owners for more money.

"We do have a responsibility to get kids to school, but I wouldn't discount the good work we are doing with community funds," Scuderi said. "I don't have a magic bullet for truancy, but it doesn't mean we're going to quit trying."

Scuderi said his school is trying several new tactics to keep kids in school including working with the Berkeley police department to do sweeps of Civic Center Park across the street from the school, working with the city parks department to report truant students urging downtown businesses to call the school when they see kids out of school and calling parents when students are absent in addition to the automated calls that are already made.

In addition to costing the school district money, the absences, especially at the high school, are part of the reason why Berkeley ninth and 11th graders in 2008 reported getting drunk and stoned at twice the state and national rates, according to a drug task force study released last spring.

That report said a lack of a policy to hold parents responsible for their kids truancy is contributing to the sky-high rates of Berkeley kids who use drugs and alcohol.

"The correlation between kids who are truant and those who drop out and who are eventually incarcerated is astronomical," said Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Teresa Drenick. Drenick runs a program for habitually truant kids and their families that tries to get them back in school. She has been critical of Berkeley Unified School District in the past because administrators have refused to participate in the DA's program.

She said she met recently with Berkeley administrators and characterized the meeting as "productive and friendly" but said it's too early in the school year to tell if Berkeley will actually refer students and parents to the program.

Susan Craig, the school district's new director of student services, said she's serious about working with the DA.

"For those few cases where all of our efforts to get the child in school are not successful, we will move forward with a hearing process and the district attorney if necessary," Craig said.

Scuderi said a new counseling program will start Friday that assigns each teacher in Berkeley High to 25 students for four years, a program that should help the truancy problem. That program, designed by former Principal Jim Slemp two years ago, also should help student achievement. Currently a small group of Berkeley High counselors have 250 to 300 students each.

Craig, who is responsible for truancy issues across the district, said she is pushing hard to get schools to help crack down on truant students.

A 97 percent attendance rate would be ideal, she said. District wide, attendance averaged about 94 percent most of last year, while attendance at Berkeley High averaged about 93 percent.

"I've been on board here for six weeks, and I would like for us to get an active truancy prevention and intervention program going in the district," Craig said.

"I have found that the principals are very much on board as are our community partners in the police department, the mental health department and the district attorney." Administrators working on the truancy issue last school year didn't give such a rosy assessment of Berkeley principals as Craig has now. Berkeley principals in both the high school and lower schools were fiercely opposed to referring habitually truant kids and their parents to the district attorney program, administrators said last spring.

When asked about previous reports of principals not wanting to participate in the district attorney program, Craig said: "I haven't had any resistance from any of the schools." But cracking down is not all it's going to take, Craig said. The district has 700 students who are homeless, something that makes their getting to school more difficult than kids with homes she said.

"Often times there are other things going on in their lives that the school doesn't know about," Craig said. "In some instances students are having major social issues and rather than telling their parents, they're just not going to school."

Kids Havin' Fun

Andres Fuentes plays dodge ball with school mates in Berkeley at Rosa Parks Elementary School on June 24, 2010. (Photo by Doug Oakley)

Sunday Murder Capped Violent Week in Berkeley

Car Jacking, Woman Hit over Head With Hammer, Man Beaten by Crowd Precede Murder

By Doug Oakley

Berkeley police have identified the victim of a Sunday morning murder and robbery that capped a week of violence on city streets.

Ignacio Celedon, 35, was shot dead at Adeline and Emerson streets at about 3:40 a.m. Sunday as he was walking home from a party with his fiancé, police said.

No arrests have been made, but police say two men who assaulted the couple and shot Celedon got into an older two tone SUV and drove west on Ashby Avenue.

Celedon's fiancé was punched during the crime, police said.

The murder capped a week of violence in Berkeley.

On Friday just after noon in the 2200 block of Fifth Street, a man walked up to a woman from behind, hit her over the head with a hammer and snatched her purse. He then fled in a waiting SUV. The woman was hospitalized with head and finger injuries, police said. No arrests were made.

Also on Friday morning, an 18-year-old Berkeley man with a criminal history was arrested and booked into the Berkeley jail on one count of felony car jacking and one count of attempted car jacking.

Police say Tyrice Bender was arrested at about 11 a.m. in the U.C. Botanical Garden. UC Berkeley police spotted the victim's car there, searched the area and found him sitting in the garden.

Berkeley police Sgt. Mike Dougherty said Bender allegedly approached a woman in her car in the Andronico's parking lot on University Avenue ad tried to pull her out of her car. She resisted and locked herself inside the car.

Undeterred, Bender allegedly approached a man sitting in a 1991 Mazda 626 at 1550 University Avenue, started punching him in the face and "yanked him out of the car," Dougherty said.

He left with the car and the male victim suffered minor facial injuries. Both victims identified Bender as the suspect, Dougherty said.

And on Sept. 8, a 63-year-old man standing on the corner of Haste Street and Telegraph Avenue near People's Park was surrounded by a group of young men in their 20s who started kicking and punching him. They took his backpack and fled. The man was hospitalized with injuries to his face, head and body.

The victim could not provide details about the attack "due to the severity of his injuries," according to a UC Berkeley Police department statement.

People of People's Park, Berkeley

(Doug Oakley Photo)

A young man who declined to give his name starts his morning with a group of others at People's Park in Berkeley in September. A nearby business leader claims the city and UC Berkeley have lost control over those who use it. Several violent incidents have occurred there recently including: On Sept. 8, a 63-year-old man standing on the corner of Haste Street and Telegraph Avenue near People's Park was surrounded by a group of young men in their 20s who started kicking and punching him. They took his backpack and fled. The man was hospitalized with injuries to his face, head and body.
The victim could not provide details about the attack "due to the severity of his injuries," according to a UC Berkeley Police department statement.On Aug. 17, two Berkeley police officers attempting to serve a warrant on a man in People's Park were surrounded by 30 people who screamed at them, videotaped them and threw cans of dog food at them. One homeless man was arrested on two counts of battery on a police officers and possession of a dangerous weapon.

In the last week of August a group of people in the park surrounded some UC Berkeley tree trimmers, who were accompanied by Berkeley and UC Berkeley police officers, and forced the officers to leave. Reports vary but people using the park say UC Police used pepper spray on one man and his dogs.

Also in the last week of August UC Berkeley police responded to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon in which a 29 year old woman was attacked by 20 others over the disciplining of a dog in the park. Her friend, a 27-year-old man, was hit over the head with a skateboard. No arrests were made because none of the participants cooperated with police.

A man who goes by the name of Aldus and who spends his evenings sleeping in Berkeley trees, starts his day in People's Park on Sept. 2. He said many of the transient homeless being blamed for the latest round of violence in the park come from Santa Cruz or San Francisco after they "get kicked out," of those cities. (Doug Oakley Photo)

U.S. Education Secretary Visits Berkeley School

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, center, visits Longfellow Magnet Middle School in Berkeley with Principal Pat Saddler, left, and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. at right. Duncan spoke to an eighth grade algebra class for about a half hour where he pressed students for answers on how schools can be made better. In response to a question from a student, he said he does indeed play basketball with the president of the United States of America. "Yes it's true, and I whoop him," Duncan said.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Rep. Barbara Lee at Longfellow Magnet Middle School in Berkeley.
Lee and Duncan talk to an eighth grade algebra class.

By Doug Oakley

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Rep. Barbara Lee D-Calif. visited Longfellow Magnet Middle School in Berkeley on Friday where Duncan spoke to an eighth grade algebra class for about a half hour.

Duncan asked the kids if they thought teachers made a lot of money. No, they said.

"Do you say thanks for their work?" he asked. "No? Well that's something you gotta work on."

Duncan touted a $60 billion bump in Pell grants and $10 billion for teacher jobs as some of the Administration's achievements.

He also said a lot of teachers across the country will retire in the next couple of years, making way for about 1 million new jobs.

"For people who want to serve their country and their community, these new teachers have a chance to shape the country for the next 30 years," Duncan said.

He said the Administration is going to ask for another $1 billion so students get "a well rounded education."

When a student asked Duncan what his hopes are, he said: "I want to make every school a great school. We have a very high dropout rate. I want to give you guys a chance to pursue your dreams."

The kicker came at the end, though, when a student asked him if he really plays basketball with the president of the United States of America.

"It is true, and I whoop him," Duncan said.

Berkeley Kids Learn to Swim

A group of Berkeley third and fourth graders gets ready to take swimming lessons at the West Campus pool in a program called In the Pool After School. Berkeley is expanding that program with free lessons for kids who qualify for free and reduced lunches in Berkeley schools.
Kaitlyn Cembura, 22, gives a swimming lesson to Tyler Hendryx, 9, at West Campus pool in Berkeley in a program called In the Pool After School.
Kaitlyn Cembura gives a swimming lesson to Malik Murphy, 9, at West Campus pool in Berkeley.
Nick Boss, middle, gives a swimming lesson at Berkeley's West Campus pool in a program called In the Pool After School.