In the face of the climate crisis and COVID-19 economic and health crisis, we can ill-afford new taxes that fail to produce meaningful results.
Barbara Gilbert
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Berkeley’s fiscal condition is not good. Really
Berkeley’s fiscal condition is analogous to the global climate condition — not at all good, moving in the wrong direction, and portending eventual disaster. The City however, has somehow managed to develop a comprehensive and intricate Climate Action Plan (!) but not a Fiscal Action Plan. For the last ten years at least, there have […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: City manager’s departure is big blow to Berkeley
The North East Berkeley Association (NEBA) recently convened a board meeting for the express purpose of discussing the sudden resignation of the City Manager Christine Daniel. We believe the loss to the city of Ms. Daniel reflects a very serious and growing problem within our city government. Although we did not always agree with Ms. […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Vote No on Measure F (parks tax increase)
I write this on behalf of directors of Berkeley Budget SOS, Committee for FACTS, Northeast Berkeley Association, Council of Neighborhood Associations, LeConte Neighborhood Association, and many other residents and groups opposing Measure F. We too love our parks and other Berkeley amenities, but… as parks tax revenues rose, our parks decayed. The original 1997 parks measure […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: How to see through the fog of redistricting
Detail of the BSDC map, one of several under consideration for Berkeley. Berkeley’s current redistricting process is a foggy mess. For readers, I’ll try to clear some of the fog by, first, presenting a timeline of pertinent events and then offering my take on these events. REDISTRICTING HISTORY 1986—District elections established by voter initiative and […]
Posted inOpinion
West Berkeley plan will fund city staff, developers
Barbara Gilbert argues that in an effort to get more revenue to support Berkeley’s “bloated” City structure and its developer friends, City Council is strong-arming a drastic up-zoning of West Berkeley that would destroy a thriving and unique residential/artisan/artist district as well as destroying Aquatic Park.
