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On August 28, 2026, Friends of Hopkins Street and four other plaintiffs filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Berkeley. Called a Writ of Mandate, it alleges that the city failed to meet its own requirements before passing a measure to install one-way cycle tracks on each side of Hopkins Street. The main issues in the complaint are that there were no public hearings, as required; no Complete Streets study; no EIR or EIR notice of exemption filed; no consideration of the effect on disabled individuals, as mandated by the ADA, before determining cycle tracks would be required; and no consideration of alternatives to Hopkins for safer cycling.
A hearing is scheduled in the Alameda Superior Court on November 10, 2026. If the writ is granted, the city will have to correct all procedural defects before resuming consideration of what should happen on Hopkins. Importantly, a writ compels action, but it neither approves nor denies a project. However, in this case, the action being compelled—performing a Complete Streets study, among other things—is quite likely to yield a different outcome than the July 28 vote.
On July 28, the City Council approved the plan for a protected cycle track on Hopkins, refusing to examine any other alternatives. The Berkeley Scanner refused to publish an op-ed, Opinions vs. facts: time to correct misleading information, submitted by a concerned Berkeley resident that corrected the misleading narrative used by supporters of the cycle track.
Emeryville Went The YIMBY Way: Now It Has The Most Expensive Rent In The East Bay, The Emeryville Tattler
Emeryville swallowed the YIMBY promise whole: let developers loose, and affordability would magically follow. Instead, the city is now jammed with new market-rate apartments while rents have soared to among the highest in the East Bay. City leaders celebrate construction while ignoring the people priced out. Emeryville is not a housing success story, but evidence that “build, build, build” has become an excuse for enriching developers while residents pay the unaffordable price.
Why the Wiener housing bills will never work—and could destroy the coast. A detailed primer, by Michael Barnes, 48 Hills
The Scott Wiener housing bills are a reckless giveaway, masquerading as an affordability plan, and designed to turn public planning into a profit pipeline for real estate interests. Cities are punished for permits developers choose not to pull, while state mandates strip away local planning, environmental review, and public oversight. Loss of protections meant to preserve fragile shoreline ecosystems, public access, and the California coast could be the result.