The Berkeley City Council passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan at Tuesday night’s meeting.

The resolution received considerable support from Berkeley residents and members of anti-war protest group Code Pink who held up signs saying “Stop Killing Americans Abroad,” while speakers in favor of the resolution came to the podium.

The resolution was passed by all council members except for one, Gordon Wozniak, who abstained.

Berkeley City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to comply with United Nations human rights treaties. The city has volunteered to report to the U.N. on the city’s compliance with treaties on civil liberties, racial discrimination and torture. It will be the the first city in the country to submit compliance records.

Councilman Max Anderson says he wants Berkeley to be an inspiration to other communities. However, supporters say that due to the city’s struggles with homelessness, lagging primary and secondary school achievement and John Yoo - a UC Berkeley law professor who, as a Justice Department lawyer, co-wrote legal memos that critics say were used to justify the torture of suspected terrorists - it is possible that Berkeley does not meet U.N. standards.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Berkeley may become the first city in the United States to sign onto United Nations treaties if the City Council passes a measure Tuesday night. (Click here to read more…)

Resolutions made by councilmembers were not given to the public, the media, or the council, until hours before the vote was set to happen. Under council law, resolutions and amendments must be given out four days before the voting date.

Therefore no vote could be taken.

As the date is pushed back again, the thought on everyone’s mind is: which plan are they going to choose?

The council must decide which plan they will use as the basis for the final draft. They are choosing from the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC)’s version and the Planning Commission’s version.

Residents have voiced their opinions at every meeting since May, when the plan was first brought to the council. The DAPAC plan is the favorite among residents, who say it is a collaborative effort that calls for the wants and needs of the people.

Currently, the council is using the commission’s version, with some amendments and resolutions councilmembers have added.

Because of the council’s decisions, residents threatened a referendum at last night’s meeting.

A vote is set for the July 14 meeting.

Today, City Council endorsed the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Walk from the Bay Area to Sacramento in opposition to Proposition 8. One Struggle One Fight, the coalition organizing the march, welcomes everyone to join the walk said Robert Moore, fundraising organizer for the coalition.

March 25 at 9 a.m. will be the kickoff for the five-day walk starting from Berkeley city hall steps and ending at the state capitol steps.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington said the walk has an important educational aspect and will stimulate one-on-one conversation between people along the way.

Moore said the walk is formally called The Civil Rights March to Sacramento because it is not just opposed to Prop 8, but attempts to address social justice and economic issues. For further information about the walk, see the event’s official site.

The city of Berkeley’s mayoral election next month will include three  write-in candidates in addition to incumbent Mayor Tom Bates and former mayor Shirley Dean.

The write-in candidates include activist and UC Berkeley alumnus Kahlil Jacobs-Fantauzzi, Richard Lorren Jolly and perennial candidate and unofficial tree-sit protest leader Zachary RunningWolf.

As a conceptual artist, Jonathon Keats admits that he doesn’t have much of a background in science, but that hasn’t stopped Keats from working with scientists to engineer God in a petri dish, or unveiling a temple dedicated to the worship of science in Downtown Berkeley—all in the name of art, of course.

In order to create a hymn for the temple to science, Keats thought it would be best to record sounds of the infant universe with the help of research done by Mark Whittle, an astrophysicist from the University of Virginia.

Whittle explains how he recorded the sounds of the infant universe in easy-to-read terms here.
Keats took these sounds and compiled them into a hymn.

He says it’s best heard with earphones, because “the universe speaks very quietly.”

Keats’ previous projects include:

– Copyrighting his mind.

– Producing canvas paintings from extraterrestrial signals in space.

– Orchestrating a ballet for bees by selectively planting flowers at a farm in Chico, CA.

He’s also generated a lot of press attention for his “thought experiments” in the past, proposing the logical law of “A=A” be written onto Berkeley’s law books, and some others.

Valerie Woolard discusses the effects of high gas prices on students.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiwYhB1_wiU

See the full article here.

“We’re not just hippies, we’re people—and we have families,”: Quotes from the Berkeley City Council Meeting discussion on the ongoing tree-sit at the grove near UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium, June 24, 2008.

“I’d like to give my last thirty seconds to Zachary RunningWolf”

Multiple people during the public comment session yielded part of their two-minute comment period to protest leader and local activist Zachary RunningWolf.

RunningWolf on why he hasn’t been at the grove the last couple days: “I had to move away from the scene because (the police) are targeting me.”

Tree-sit supporter Beverly Dove, who has been arrested near the grove Saturday: “I wouldn’t take water from (the university) … they have tried to end the life of the tree-sitters.”

Emergency room physician Larry Bedard, who examined the tree-sitters from below on Sunday: “What medical school did the police go to? I think the police are being told do something they aren’t trained for.”

Matthew Taylor, who was also arrested near the grove last week: “You can see my photo in the (San Francisco) Chronicle.”

Councilmember Takes

Councilmember Kriss Worthington
“Based on the testimony I heard on the telephone here from the tree-sitters what they indicated is that this is truly an emergency situation … based on his testimony I would like to make a notion that we add this to the agenda this evening.”

Councilmember Max Anderson
“This is a very dire medical emergency up there.”
“The university is assuming authority and power and has assumed that the judge has made certain decisions that she hasn’t made yet in this case.”

Councilmember Dona Spring
“There is a number of things we can do, we can ask the university to … let their physician go and examine the protesters.”
“The university is not to be trusted.”
“We can do these things and most importantly we can tell (UCPD) that they can vacate the sidewalk.”

Councilmember Gordon Wozniak
“If they are really facing an emergency they can call an ambulance.”

Councilmember Betty Olds
“Don’t they have to come down to go to the emergency room? You can’t expect the fire department to go in the tree.”

When interviewing members from city governments across different college towns, it was clear that there were differences in how students interact with city government, and the way in which city councils function. But one overarching shared problem across the towns was on housing crises.

Jesse Arreguin, recent Cal grad and Jason Overman, fifth year who ran for city council in 2006, both expressed that as members of the Rent Stabilization Board, they are able to work with both student and non-student residents over the need for affordable housing.

“Rents are very high, not enough student housing, co-op housing and affordable housing is an issue for the broader community,” Arreguin said.

(Click here to read more…)