The Berkeley City Council voted Tuesday to place a $30 million streets and watershed bond on the November ballot, but will hold off on the final language and shape of the measure until next week.
The council also adopted a final EIR for the West Berkeley Project and indicated its support for placing a measure on the ballot, but also deferred a final decision until next week so city staff can figure out wording.
But the lengthy discussion about ballot measures at the meeting (which also included talk about a sitting ban) brought out concerns that the high number of controversial items in November will doom the $30 million bond measure for streets and watershed improvements and the $20 million measure for pools.
Councilmember Kriss Worthington said there are large numbers of people in the city who will vote “no” on the West Berkeley Project and the sitting ban and may be so angry at the city for those measures that they automatically vote no on any new spending initiatives. The sitting ban and West Berkeley Project will only need 50% of the vote to pass, while the bond measures will need 67% of the vote.
The council also voted 6-3 to place a sitting ban on the ballot. Berkeleyside will have a full report on that later today.
Related:
City Council approves pools measure, debates streets [6.27.12]
Third phase of West Berkeley Plan approved, heads to ballot [6.13.12]
Community rallies to get pool measure on ballot [4.30.12]
