At the Council Meeting the Mayor as Chairman can schedule appearances. He uses this power to disaccommodate groups who wish to speak to the Council.
-Handicapped people were recently disrespected by the Mayor. They came to speak at the start of the meeting. Dona Spring asked the Mayor to let them speak early because of their condition and transportation needs, but the Mayor put them after two other groups, taking his turn to spend 37 minutes boasting about a new solar program of his in the meantime. Many of the handicapped people left before they could speak. This was absolutely inexcusable behavior.
-Elmwood neighbors were kept all evening until 11 pm for three meetings running to speak against the developer plans for Wright's Garage. When this writer mentioned this recall program recently at a meeting of these neighbors they all jumped to sign the petition. No love lost there.
-Members of the Public, who are often accustomed to be able to speak at 7 pm, are held over until 11 pm. The Mayor purposely uses his Chairmanship to disaccomodate folks he doesn't want to hear from.
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/
