Why is Tom Bates wrong for Berkeley?
-ATTEMPTING TO OVERDEVELOP TOWN -- sort of like THE BRONX.
-DISSING CITIZENS WITH HEARTFELT PROBLEMS - LIKE SAY THE TRADER JOE'S BUILDING OVERSHADOWING A QUIET NEIGHBORHOOD.
-THROWING AWAY RESOURCES, TURNING ICELAND INTO A HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
-SELLING OUT THE CITY TO UC. SINCE THE EARLY 80'S WHEN BATES AS A LEGISLATOR HELPED UC MOVE THE BLIND SCHOOL TO FREMONT SO THEY COULD TAKE OVER THE SITE FOR DORMS, TO TODAY WHEN BATES SEEMS TO HAVE TURNED DOWNTOWN OVER TO UC AS AN EXTENSION OF ITS ADMINISTRATIVE JUGGERNAUT, BATES, THE LAST ROSE BOWL PLAYER THAT HE IS, HAS BEEN "OLD BLUE" TO THE CORE. I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT THAT HE IS IN FAVOR OF CUTTING DOWN THE OAKS AT THE STADIUM AND BUILDING THE HANDY 4 STORY BURIED GYM.
-OVERPLANNING THE FUTURE AND DESTROYING THE PRESENT- TURNING TELEGRAPH, WHICH IS A NICE TREE LINED BOULDEVARD WITH YOUNG MOM AND POP BUSINESSES, INTO A HUGE OVERBUILT BUS ROUTE WITH EXCLUSIVE LANES IN THE STREET FOR BUSES.
- NOT TELLING THE TOWN HIS PLANS. IT HAS COME OUT IN CITIZEN MEETINGS AND IN THE AGENDA COMMITTEE THAT HE WANTS TALL BUILDINGS DOWNTOWN, SAY 250 FEET, AND 5 STORY APTS ALONG ROUTES LIKE UNIVERSITY AND TELEGRAPH, DESTROYING THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND HOME BASED STRUCTURE OF THE TOWN.
-Failure to get tough on crime. Just look at the SW corner of town. Just try to get a cop to follow up and arrest someone.
-WASTING CITY assets, like the parking lot at Oxford where trees were cut down and parking eliminated to build buildings for whom no tenants have been found under cover of "environmental" leadership. The city gave away land and money here.
-Public peformances at Council meetings of disregarding the public's interests and voting for his own--ie turning Wrights Garage into a large restaurant and bar, illegal under local ordinance.
Why recall the Mayor of Berkeley?
Mayor Tom Bates...
- does not listen to the constituents of Berkeley
- suppresses the concerns of citizens to satisfy developers
- takes federal HUD Section 8 money (that should be used to help qualified tenants with rents) and slots it for developers so they can build high-density, modern apartment buildings in the heart of downtown, that will either remain empty, or be filled with students and young professionals. ( They are primarily filled w/ individuals NOT from Berkeley-- you might also want to know how units were left unfilled once people had died and the City continued to pay the developers rent on behalf of the deceased.)
- Uses the "Green" movement as a pretext to overdevelop town, cut down trees, and transfer city, state, and federal funds to developers.
- voted to rid Berkeley of Iceland, a landmark skating rink.
- Does not notify the public in advance of important meetings
- Provides no evidence for the claims he makes
- No accommodation of those who wish to express dissent
- Says, "Let's focus on obtaining federal/state funds now, and we'll worry about the final plans later," whether he's talking about procuring funding for the Ashby transit village or the BRT
- On the Warm water pool--he should be supporting adaptive reuse and sustainability--the City's own letter to the BUSD stated that the building should be saved. Bates could apply for federal and State dollars to develop a preservation program vs using City GF dollars. He looks to us to carry the entire burden vs leveraging our dollars
- another recall site is: http://berkeleyrecall.com/
