Berkeley City Council — Are They Listening?
City council members feel empowered to denigrate and demean residents in public meetings – Rather than listening to and considering the comments of residents who request reasonable modifications of council proposals or oppose them, some members are comfortable impugning the motives of commenters so they don’t have to address the concerns. Other council members and the Mayor are complicit in allowing this sort of behavior.
Some council members do not respond to email or refuse to engage in a real dialog with residents who send in comments or questions. We know council members are busy, but failing to respond means they do not take their constituents seriously. For example, SB79 is a bill that allows much increased heights and densities within one-half mile of major transit stops. Before its passage, Council member Kesarwani was unwilling or unable to respond to a query about what parts of Berkeley would actually be affected by the bill even though she was listed as a supporter of SB79 in a press release by the author of the Bill, Senator Weiner. Our section on SB79 will show you!