important city council meetings(budget, public commons)

STOP HOMELESS SERVICE CUTS IN BERKELEY

(PUBLIC COMMONS FOR EVERYONE?)

June is a busy month for homeless advocates in Berkeley. At the city council meeting on May 22nd thanks to city councilman Darryl Moore proposed budget cuts to the Catholic Workers breakfast program were restored but cuts to the B.O.S.S. programs at the Harrison St. family shelter and at the Multi-Agency Services Center($9,000) as well as the mental health client run Berkeley drop-in center($20,ooo) and the Berkeley Food and Housing Project quarter meal program and other services due to cuts made on the federal level passed on to the city remain in the proposed city budget.

There will be a public hearing to speak out against these cuts on Tuesday June 19th(council meeting starts at 7pm) and then the budget is voted on the following Tuesday evening. At the next city council meeting on June 12th Mayor Tom Bates will probably try again to pass his revised plans around his Public Commons for Everyone that he was not successful in passing at the May 22nd meeting when he lost quorum at 11:15pm.

This putting the agenda item until last did not work in his favor. Council member Laurie Capitelli strongly spoke to the need for all night bathrooms before they criminalize public urination and defecation and getting shelter beds for everyone whether they want or not. Councilwoman Linda Maio identified as a swing vote came out strongly and said she would vote against any plan to criminalize sidewalk sitting or sleeping on the sidewalk after 10pm which the mayor's talk of revoking the 647j lodging warnings before an arrest could be made that we of the Community Organizing Team and over 150 homeless people back in April 2001. If people do get arrested or cited under either of these situations Osha Neumann of Community Defense Inc. will again challenge that under the necessity defense as was done under the public defender in the Berkeley case of Ken Moshesh as well as by David Ritchie for Rabbit at the Albany land fill and in other California cities.

Presently there is activity to organize some kind of public protest probably before the city council meeting on the 12th to protest the social control of street behavior proposed under the Public Commons for Everyone initiative. As it is it does look we have rather successfully push back any implementation of the initiative until November except the hiring of a public consultant to come up with a revised plan. As a member of the Berkeley Mental Health Commission I am helping spearhead a meeting of the 3 city commissions(Mental Health, Homeless, Public Welfare and Community Action) with the mayor where commission members get to ask the mayor specific questions about the Public Commons for Everyone initiative which the mayor has agreed to come to.

-Michael Diehl