The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Society mourned the death of our old friend and staunch supporter John Inglis on November 30, 2021. As a retired Oakland city planner, John is the ultimate authority on Berkeley land use issues. John was born in Washington, DC, grew up in Sacramento, and has lived in Berkeley since his school days in the late 1950s. Although he has never worked in Berkeley, planners, city commissioners, construction professionals, and conservationists are all seeking his advice. John is a precious resource saved. He has written many landmark applications and national registration nominations, including applications for California Memorial Stadium; Mario Ciampi University Art Museum on Durant Avenue-Bancroft Road; Claremont Hotel; and Berkeley Iceland. He often appears at Landmark Preservation Committee and Zoning Adjustment Committee meetings and BAHA meetings, where he relies on his profound knowledge, dedication and attention to detail time and time again. John is a quiet, humble man, he devoted all of him to the cause he championed. Without him, the fight for protection would be different.

It's time to take a closer look at the impact of living under surveillance on us. We can put aside the common question of what it looks like. Surveillance is carried out in secret in nature. This is a trick. When discovered, it pretends to be unofficial, or even accidental. It wears many rationalized masks, each of which presents itself as "evidence of the invisible." Therefore, it requires us to believe it. Does this mean that those who are under surveillance and surveillance are just joining another faith-based community? Surveillance is a competition of "faith". When we are forced to enter such a "community" politically and technically, what kind of people will we become? 

Surveillance and crime prevention 

At present, in the United States, the focus of surveillance has become "criminal issues." When looking for fledgling perpetrators, surveillance rationalizes itself through technical silence while relying on sociological explanations. It should help prevent crime. But this only makes it more mysterious. Can it stop companies from committing crimes? Can it save us from administrative corruption? These crimes belong to the realm of brave investigative journalism. When nine different people observed a woman being sexually assaulted on a train (Philadelphia, 13/10/21), all they could think of was to record the incident on their nine different mobile phones— -Maybe think that this kind of surveillance will stop the crimes they witnessed. In the hands of the police, will surveillance technology stop police crimes? 

Even the judicial system finds itself unable to prosecute crimes unless it is caught by a viral video. It refuses to accuse the policeman who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back; it cannot even accuse him of cowardice at work, let alone attempted murder. You are either a cowardly coward or a dedicated murderer who can shoot in the back. 

The so-called crime prevention behavior makes surveillance a halo of social value. However, even so, its social acceptance must be rationalized in turn. Usually, someone will say: "I have nothing to fear. I have done nothing wrong." But what is revealed in such a disclaimer is a very complicated structure of fear. It is aimed at the primitive fear (of the country). It replaces this fear with hypothetical and terrible threats (criminal issues). It takes a stand ("I am not part of the threat"), as if fear and Those people are confused. In other words, surveillance strategies carefully label themselves as crime prevention in order to alleviate the more basic fear of surveillance. 

A society that hides one fear under another is a paranoid society. A paranoid society can be led by anyone who yells "threat" out of nowhere. 

Defined by fear 

The fear of crime is tautology. Fear is the means to define crime. In order to determine the criminal behavior of an act, people must make the execution of the act fearful. The law itself does not do this. It requires some kind of administrative terrorism. Throughout England in the 17th century, the sanctity of property was achieved by hanging anyone who stole anything, even children-a handkerchief or a rope. Few people are afraid of white-collar crime, so they are rarely investigated. When fear defines crime, it is self-reliant. Although the call for help itself does not constitute a crime, the police who arrive will take the crime and then escalate this innocent request to the need for law enforcement. Regardless of the call, the hypothesis of the crime becomes the real content of the police response. The recent documentary video "The Death of Kenneth Chamberlain" publicly stated this. [See Martinot, "Movies of Our Time", Counterpunch, November 28, 21] If the person is black, the police will approach with a gun and prepare to shoot-this is an important factor in criminalizing the black body . 

This basic element of our social environment (police behavior) will inevitably distort our typical attitude towards crime. The imaginary potential criminal behavior is confused with the real life itself. The appearance of an eight-year-old black girl selling lemonade on the street became the reason to call the police. The interconnection of fear and surveillance becomes manic. 

We can see how distorted the concept of justice is in the huge plea bargaining system. A large number of people, estimated to account for 50% to 90% of all American prisoners, are being held for plea bargaining. In the course of plea bargaining, a person is charged with a serious crime with dubious evidence in order to blackmail a lesser crime without evidence in order to avoid trial costs while imprisoned. The actual number of victims of this kind of extortion is unknown, because the conviction record only contains the confession elicited, not the transaction. This is just a simple way to fill the prison. In the process of promoting mass incarceration, the United States has become a world-renowned country and has broken all records. 

Some people do commit crimes, but once the process of conviction transcends the principles of justice, the concept of punishment becomes more important than the concept of crime itself. This is a criminalization process that creates injustice in the desire to eliminate paranoia. 

This is a real irony. If I claim that all the prisoners imprisoned in the United States through plea bargaining are themselves innocent, then this claim is irrefutable. This may not be true, but it cannot be refuted because the plea bargain did not leave trial records or evidence or witness testimony; there is no indication of judicial proceedings. Under the pressure of extortion, there is only a confession. Judicial condemnation is reduced to a pure existence event. 

The use of suspicion related to camera evidence or other surveillance will serve a similar indirect (non-evidence) role. One can expect the outcome to involve plea bargaining, police harassment, or outright conviction. (If the judiciary reconciles its unfair conduct, it should be subject to severe judgment.) 

Super monitoring environment 

Driven by fear has successfully produced an already ubiquitous surveillance system. In the name of security, the government has established a system called "echelon". Echelon is a global surveillance project whose purpose is to monitor and record all electronic communications in the world. (In the world!) [See. Wikipedia: Echelon] It uses antennas, "eddy current" satellites, wire taps, cable taps, fiber optic cable taps, etc. It has a huge data storage capacity and uses keywords to filter its information extracts into categories. Most of the data it collects may be currently useless, but none of the data is discarded because it is unusable. Content related to current government projects or plans will be forwarded to relevant agencies. The rest are waiting for future projects, which may find some related stored data. 

The place where Echelon exists is reflected in the need of the city police for their own surveillance methods. Five years ago, the Berkeley Police Department requested and installed an automatic license plate reader (ALPR). Carried by a police car, the reader will record all license plates parked on the street through which the car will pass. The license plate number will be read and compiled according to the time and place of the reading, and then combined with the owner's name, address, warrant, etc. obtained from the DMV. Fixed readers (on buildings or lamp posts) will record passing license plates and include their identification information in the database. 

At the request of the police, the police were accused of participating in federal surveillance. They objected and promised that the collected data will only be retained by the department and will not be provided to any Federal Bureau or Fusion Center [eg NCRIC: Northern California Research and Intelligence Center]. But that was an empty and hypocritical promise. Since the data is sent from the "reader" to the collector of the police station by radio, Echelon will automatically record it during the transmission. Therefore, this information will not be literally "provided" to the federal government, but no one can prevent it from being "taken away." The police pretending that they can conceal data is just a form of deception. 

The same applies to any additional surveillance items or the use of police cameras. 

The close connection between social control and surveillance has been extensively analyzed through the concept of prison architecture called the Panoramic Prison. This is an idea put forward by Jeremy Bentham in the 19th century. The plan aims to directly and effectively control prisoners through the use of surveillance. 

Panopticon consists of multi-layered cells, each layer is arranged in a semicircle around the central tower. The outer wall of the semicircular layer is solid and windowless, as are the walls between the cells. The inner wall facing the tower is composed of railings, through which you can see everything the prisoners did in the cell. No prisoner can see each other, but the guards can see everyone from the vantage point in the center of the circle in the tower. The activities of every prisoner can be monitored, and every prisoner knows neither his watcher nor the fact that he is being watched. However, any violation of the rules will be immediately observed and subsequently punished. 

The expected effect of this setting is twofold. Everyone becomes their own constant source of discipline and restraint. Everyone lives his own life, realizing that he is another unseen object of consciousness. In fact, everyone has become a double consciousness, his own consciousness and the consciousness of others invisible, through this double consciousness leads to the loss of identity. Under the pressure that viewers might think of, who people think they are will gradually disappear. In solitary confinement, alone in a person’s cell, and under the inevitable gaze of guards, the psychological effect will be a slow process of self-dislocation, which will eventually lead to dementia. 

WEB DuBois theorized a related form of dual consciousness to the condition of African Americans in the United States, because blacks have always been regarded as the objects of attention of whites. To a large extent, the semi-panoramic characteristics of black life in this white supremacist society are regulated by the construction of blacks in alternative cultural communities. They provide some isolation for the psychological imprisonment imposed by white culture and its systematic discrimination. By turning to each other, these communities made possible the seizure and reconstruction of black identities. For many people, they provide peace away from the malicious attention of white people (even those who begin with "we just want to help"). This sense of community was the environment in which art and writing flourished during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s. In the 1960s, it caused black art movements in many cities. Chokwe Lumumba's community development and cooperative management plan relies on such a black cultural environment. 

These communities were initially designed to resist the hostility of the white people, and later tried to continue to protect them from subsequent attempts to destroy them. The “urban renewal” plan, gentrification, mass incarceration, police terrorism, racial discrimination, the destruction of black identity political organizations, and the displacement of entire urban communities due to rent fraud and economic inflation all express the need for whites to eliminate these limited black communities The resulting autonomy. . 

In the Bay Area, the black communities of Berkeley and Oakland were severely damaged and disrupted by the construction of BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in the 1970s. The 7th Street Black Life Center in West Oakland was abandoned, and in South Berkeley, the area where MLK and Adeline Streets intersect, as a similar black life center, succumbed to the sprawl of the BART parking lot. 

On the other hand, because black people know the generalizations and narratives of who the black people are told by the white people, the psychological and cultural influence of the American Panoramic Prison is alleviated to some extent. For blacks, the character of the "observer" is no stranger. 

It should now be clear that the use of surveillance technology as a dimension of governance (even under the pretext of limited forms of crime control) reveals a deep historical and cultural connection with white supremacy and its systematic racism. Only resistance to it can transform the entire modern society from a simple form of prison. 

The original fear of our theme here-the police and the surveillance state-distorted our typical attitudes towards crime, crime, and justice, and it appeared in the first establishment of the North American Colonial Police Agency. As soon as chattel slavery was established (1682), the fear of the enslaved, exploited, and oppressed was instilled by the elite as a predictable rebellious elite, against the rebellion of landlords with straw bosses and government bureaucrats and their tax collectors. (Think of Daniel Shay and his rebellion in Massachusetts in 1786). 

However, to be afraid of the possibility of rebellion is to accept injustice, and a real rebellion will eventually target this injustice. 

In the colonies before the United States, the original police agency to protect slavery was the Slave Patrol, established in 1710. They were composed of poor white farmers and workers (who had been deprived of their social status in the colonies), and were recruited by land elites to stop the escapees and suppress all signs of organization among the enslaved. This is the original monitoring mechanism. When the patrol treated anyone who was enslaved with unbridled brutality, they only said that they had discovered the ongoing rebellion and crushed it. For this, they received warm gratitude and eventually became members of the colonial society. In short, slavery gave white people who were deprived of their rights (because of poverty) the opportunity to obtain membership and status in the colony through policing and social control. In other words, the policing of American society originated from crimes of abuse and slavery; violence against people of color became the ticket for the deprived of rights to obtain legitimacy. 

Today's attempts to prevent crime with technology rather than social re-humanization are the twin brothers of slave patrol; they share the same heart. 

Part 2 will discuss the psychological impact of surveillance on everyone, the possibility of abuse, the dislocation of our political thinking, and its relationship to the current racialization structure.

There are many things to cover. Monday was the first Agenda Committee meeting I remember, and I remember that during the years I attended, Senator Wengraf had disappeared. Wengraf should of course take a day off for the trip after Thanksgiving, especially because she has planned well in advance, so the meeting can be taken care of by an alternate member of the committee. I just hope Wengraf will never miss another one. Wengraf has a request; priority is given to revising the ADU regulations. What is not known is the reason for the request; to ensure that Berkeley’s ADU regulations are implemented when the NSW law comes into effect on January 1, 2022. Congressman Hahn did manage to avoid the postponement, but the reason was never revealed, and the ADU amendment sank to 46th and 47th places on the final agenda. The MP Droste who spoke for Wengraf kept reminding everyone that she didn't know the process of the agenda committee, which made me wonder how she escaped this lesson during her seven years as a council. 

Scott Ferris’s “companion” proposal to the Parks and Waterfront Commission successfully excluded it from consideration in the mid-year budget and relegated all coordination to community volunteers. 

It proved to be the most interesting at the city council on Tuesday night. There is almost no public comment on the budget referral of Congressman Taplin. Together with co-sponsors Droste and Wengraf, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) has been used as a community safety improvement. Someone mentioned a study that concluded that the study is Pierre. The city of Monte bought 39 license plate readers for $600,000 to no avail. https://www.cehrp.org/piedmont-license-plate-reader-analysis-shows-99-97-of-data-collected-is-useless/ plus another, "Automatic License Plate Reader: Failed Research ”Https://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=13893 

Leaving aside all potential problems with collecting and keeping records of personal habits, ALPR won't even catch criminals. This should be a concern for voters in District 2, and they very much hope to end the gunfire near them. ALPR is an expensive investment in a technology that does not work. This is a summary of the programs that can be run. All this information did not prevent the City Council from approving ALPR with a 7 to 2 vote for consideration in the December budget process. Harrison voted against, Hahn abstained. 

The budget referral by Congressman Harrison and co-sponsor Bartlett for the existing building electrification pilot project is a large and competitive project for mid-year (AAO) budget allocation. The electrification of buildings is the 21st item on the agreed calendar. Members Taplin, Droste, and Kesarwani all demanded that it be pulled into action and continue to try to sink it. In the end, with Kesarwani and Droste abstaining, the pilot project passed 7 to 2 votes into the budget process. 

When I observed the comments, discussions, and final votes, and read the review of the failure of ALPRS for the first time, it reminded me of all the useless expenditures of the Pentagon. Senators and representatives were too afraid of being called weak defenses to vote no. In Berkeley, there is another aspect of voting against ALPR, namely the power of the Berkeley Police Association. I also want to know why when a working group of experts and community representatives in Berkeley devotes a lot of work to the reimagining of the Public Safety Committee, ALPR was even on the agenda. 

We will learn about the city council’s instructions on ALPR and city pressures at the Budget and Finance Committee meeting on the morning of Thursday, December 9. 

The Reimagining Public Safety Working Group met with Nikki Jones, PhD in Sociology and Criminology from the University of California, Berkeley on Thursday evening as the evening’s speaker. Jones introduced the investigation results of the "accompaniment" (shift with a policeman) and subsequent discussions with the police officer. The result of the investigation is that police officers believe that certain communities and certain people need more active policing. This more radical treatment is regarded as a "good" officer. Finally, I think we are reaching the core of the biased policing problem. I was deeply impressed by Jones' speech on police conduct, and I ordered a book of hers. 

After the presentation, the working group reviewed the report (analysis and recommendations) of the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR). The members of the working group severely reprimanded the report and revisions, describing NICJR as merely inserting Berkeley into their standard report. Members stated that their comments and responses were not included in the revised version, so the working group must submit completely independent findings and suggested responses. 

There were six participants in the Thursday meeting. Only the two of us made a comment, Carol Morasavic and me. Without seeing the other attendees, we don't know who is there: staff, BPD and/or interested residents? In any case, such a poor attendance rate is disappointing and gives a very different reason why city managers can make such an optimistic report on the working group meeting while watching. 

Despite the mayor’s strong stance on climate issues on Tuesday night, item 7 of the Berkeley 2022 legislative platform on December 14 did not make climate a priority — it’s buried in the sustainable development and environmental sectors middle. 

On the legislative platform, we can also see Dr. Eleanor Ramsey’s speech on the study of achieving fairness in urban contracting on November 16, 2021, and obtained “evidence of deliberate discriminatory system practice "The conclusion. The legislative platform part of economic development is completely unfair. 

Like me, after the city council and committee meetings, it was a relief to see that the meeting was cancelled, but there are more opportunities to cancel by December 2nd. The Land Use Committee has only one agenda item, and it comes from City Councillor Taplin. The information I collected is that Taplin cancelled the meeting at the last minute, which caused the meeting to be cancelled. This is a pattern. On Wednesday, Taplin strengthened the Facilities, Infrastructure, Transportation, Environment, and Sustainable Development Committee (FITES), when his project "Regulations on Native Plants" was on the agenda. 

When Berkeley voters approve of raising the wages of the mayor and council to a level similar to a living wage, don't we expect them to perform their council duties? The council’s policy committee is the responsibility of the council, and the mayor and councillors have committee tasks. As a member of FITES, Congressman Taplin's impression rate is 50%. Taplin failed to attend 6 of the 12 FITES meetings, and because Taplin did not attend his agenda item, at least one meeting was cancelled. 

The discussions and questions I expected while watching FITES were often missing from other committees and slipped away without in-depth review and regulation. Presumably, this is first of all the purpose of creating a policy committee. 

Taplin has formulated too many council projects and decree recommendations; it has exceeded my expectations for new members to learn the ropes. When projects appear, Taplin often has strict scripts. It's hard to know what's going on while sitting outside, but it's worth paying attention to. 

There is another item worthy of attention. The feasibility study of the terminal ferry is on the agenda of the special council meeting on Tuesday, December 7. Interestingly, if Berkeley is really committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, how does the city council view the decision to match these numbers with the decision they have already made, which is to pay $93 million and $32 million in electric ferry fees.  

About books: When I ordered Eyal Press’s Absolute Convictions, My Father, a City and the Conflict That Divided America, it was because I was attracted by Press’s book Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America. I did not expect that I would finish the book on the anti-abortion movement written in 2006, Dr. Abortion Provider. Barnett Slepian and Shalom Press (Eyal's father) assassinated Dr. Slepian in Buffalo, New York. The day before the Supreme Court will hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health. Ask the judge to overturn the cases of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. 

I know exactly my position on abortion. In 2013, I was the exhibition chairman of NCWCA (Northern California Women's Art Caucus). At that time, NCWCA celebrated the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade with a national review exhibition "Selection, Female Reproductive Rights Art Exhibition". Through that experience, I learned to speak publicly and write about my own abortion. Also, I learned something else. I learned about women who can always control their births and always have the right to make any choice they want about pregnancy, and how they can't imagine that they will never have this right. The life that can only be governed by illegal abortion is far beyond their frame of reference, they cannot imagine. 

Eyal Press gave a detailed introduction to most of the book, highlighting what he learned from meetings and interviews with leaders of rescue operations and the anti-abortion movement. The publisher is so uncritical in his description that I will never be sure what direction the publisher will take as the book progresses. A particularly interesting part cited Kathleen Puckett Ph.D. In clinical psychology, his field of expertise is "lone wolf terrorists." The assassins of Slepian fit this model. 

Absolute Convictions is out of print and is not in our library. If anyone wants to borrow a copy of my yellowed page, please email me. 

I tried to pass the printed version of "Very Stable Genius" by Phillip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, but it didn't have much success, and I switched to audiobooks that I finished a few days later. When I listened to the description of Trump’s behavior, I wondered if we forgot how bad it was? 

Obviously, too many members of the public have forgotten the chaos caused by Trump for four years and the chaos that President Biden was left to clean up, watching Biden's approval ratings and flattering flatters at Trump's door. Take a closer look at the steps to tyranny outlined in the comment on "After the Fall" on November 20. We all have work to do. 

On the agenda last Tuesday (November 30, 2021), the City Council passed a budget referral to establish and implement a public assistance pilot program to achieve the electrification of existing buildings. To make a long story short, the scope and scale of the project is too small and the pace is too slow to meaningfully reduce Berkeley's emissions. It has nothing to do with the climate emergency we face. (I may write more in detail later.) 

I was shocked at this meeting, and what still scares me to this day is that Mayor Jesse Arreguín made some obvious improvisations about the project. I have transcripted his words, and I will comment on them interspersed. mayor: 

"Finally, you know, cop26 happened." 

"All the time, you know, although we should have worked hard to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius, we knew we would not reach the goal." 

The problem is already, no, we don’t know that we will not be able to adequately limit human emissions to reach or very close to the 1.5°C warming limit. 

One of the main obstacles preparing to stop us: the climate emergency and climate science denialism among our politicians. The mayor announced that if it is realistic, we actually do not believe in the 1.5°C target. I think he boasted earlier that this goal was just self-promotion, not a sincere commitment to work hard to achieve this goal. 

The mayor went on to describe his vague and superficial understanding of what it means to raise 2°C (2°C is the absolute worst-case scenario that can be tolerated under the Paris Agreement): 

"If we can even lower the temperature below 2 degrees, that would be a huge, huge benefit..." 

It's not just "huge", my goodness, it's "huge, huge". 

[Advice to the mayor and readers: NASA has summarized the 2018 IPCC report and the estimated temperature is 1.5°C, and here is 2°C. Don't let your eyes stare at the numbers-read them and cry. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2865/a-degree-of-concern-why-global-temperatures-matter/] 

"... But we have seen the catastrophic, catastrophic effects of climate change, not only in the world, but also in Berkeley." 

"We have climate refugees around the world. In order for us to solve this climate emergency and truly fulfill our mission of climate emergency, we need to take bold actions." 

And, there is another game: the mayor gave us some words and the inevitable call for "bold action". 

The mayor then tried to appease some of the trust issues raised by city councillor Wengraf: 

"This will require us to try new methods, and of course it is appropriate to properly review and monitor the plan..." 

(Personally, I would be surprised if "appropriate review and supervision of the plan" is not "appropriate" to some extent, but I think the mayor has at least said something that most people would agree with: appropriate The thing is appropriate.) 

"... But I just ask us to be bold and far-sighted on how to deal with this climate crisis and do things that benefit everyone: those who have the resources to make changes to electrify their properties, and those who do not have the resources, Because those without resources, as we know, the places most affected by climate change... climate change justice, economic justice, and racial justice are all equally important." 

Injustice, empty promises, and denial of climate emergencies for all. 

The urgent issue of electrification of future theme buildings. Severe restrictions on the use of fossil fuels lead to an urgent problem of economic austerity. So, what can we do?

Berkeley’s traffic engineering department is working to make many changes to the existing parking rules in many areas of Berkeley. It is called: "goBerkeley Smart Space Project" and is being marketed as a pilot project. One of the areas where the project will be greatly affected is Elmwood. The project is being marketed as an experiment, and supporters claim that it will be temporary, but over the years we have seen that this promise is often not honored, that is, any so-called short-term changes will usually become permanent, even if these changes are Promoters claim that they are temporary. Now we have heard that the city government’s online presentation has been postponed. If you don't postpone it, these plans will be easier to accept. Experimental suggestions are now unacceptable and will never be acceptable. 

The project schedule will receive public comments in the fall of 2021 (now), and then be submitted to the City Council in the spring of 2022, and may be launched in June 2022 next year. In December 2022, the department will (allegedly) collect data and make outreach revisions/changes where possible. In the spring of 2023, a final report will be prepared for the City Council and grant funders. Then, finally, in July 2023, unless the city council decides to make the plan permanent, these projects will “close”. 

Social scientists often say that Berkeley is an ideal city for social experiments. This experiment proved this sad fact. These proposals are a major and active invasion of the affected residential areas. 

There are several major problems: 

(1) Where will the income from these changes go? Is increasing the income of the city the fundamental goal? perhaps. 

(2) Are these changes/proposals launched due to the public needs of local companies and/or residents? Answer: No 

(3) What are the criteria for evaluating the success of this experiment? 

(4) RPP (Residential Parking Permit) "L" zone will no longer allow free parking all day on Saturday; by definition, this will have a negative impact on Elmwood shoppers and store/restaurant employees. The cancellation of the current two-hour parking allowance without the risk of parking tickets is a punishment for the hard-working hourly workers who are the backbone of our business in Elmwood; this change brings the proposed hourly rate to workers and employers. The burden of daily expenses. 

(5) This public policy experiment does not consider public opinions at all. The promoters of these policy changes stated that they would like to get opinions, but there is no guarantee that public opinions will be taken into account in the details of their final design and planning. 

(6) The entire change plan does not consider the opinions of local residents or businesses; businesses rely on shoppers who enjoy College Avenue products. We should encourage as many people as possible to enjoy the Elmwood store without having to park on the streets near us. 

(7) This set of recommendations is imposed on us. This is a seriously flawed and unfair public policy. Like many other residents of Elmwood and our esteemed businessmen’s staunch supporters, I feel that we are the unwitting test subjects of this seriously flawed laboratory experiment. These ideas are poorly conceived, punitive, and unfair to enterprises and residents. 

Editor's note: The latest issue of Pepper Spray Times has now been published. You can click here to view it for free. You can print it out and give it to your friends. Grace Underpressure has been making it for many years, and even before Berkeley Daily Planet started distributing it, most of the time was not paid. Now we hope that you can express your gratitude by sending her money using the button below. This is a very good deal. Go! 

When I had a serious mental illness for the first time in 1982, it was obvious that my father realized that it was his mind that he tried to deal with me alone, and thought I needed professional help. He first took me to the inpatient ward of Kaiser's mental hospital. However, when I was there, although I did not threaten anyone or beat anyone, my body was so crazy that the hospital staff refused to let me into their mental ward and said that I needed a lock. Ward. They introduced me to Gladman in Oakland. At that time, Gladman may be very different from what it is now. I'm not sure about this because I haven't kept up with Gladman's changes. 

In Gladman, I was considered out of control and the staff decided to physically restrain me. This is inhumane treatment, but the staff believes it is necessary. My attitude towards restricting people is complicated. For many patients, there are alternatives that do not cause nearly the same pain or life risk. 

I injected a large dose of Haldol with a big needle in my buttocks, and I felt side effects the next day. I am unconstrained, but I cannot concentrate or have a conversation. 

This was the beginning of my first severe mental illness, but my condition was worse. I have no space or tendency to share more here. 

If we make enough progress, providing medical treatment for people with mental illness seems like a stone age treatment. Advances in the treatment of mental illness will require funding. The invention of even better drugs will be welcomed. 

NAMI, the National League for Mental Illness, may be the main source of this funding. The organization is mainly composed of parents and other relatives of psychiatric consumers, and is well-organized and well-funded. If I remember correctly, NAMI will fund the research. However, the famous psychiatrist and writer E. Fuller Torrey complained in an article I read that there is not enough funds for research. He is quite controversial among consumers, and many of us don’t like it. he. 

Torrey claims that no significant progress has been made since Clozaril's invention (more than two decades ago). (I don’t know enough about Torrey to be consistent or opposed to him. Most psychiatrists I have met have provided great help, and so are many non-psychiatrists. But there are also some bad people.) 

Many people who support alternative medicine may think that schizophrenia responds to exercise and cleansing the body. However, the end result is a person in good physical condition who suffers from a severe and persistent mental illness that has caused brain damage. 

How do you treat mental illness through herbal medicine, acupuncture, chiropractic and mindfulness? you have not. None of these work. In order for mindfulness or any of the above to be helpful, you need to start with a calm and receptive person. If you have a severe mental illness, you will not be calm or easy to accept. Once you enter a severely mentally ill state, you will not react to reasoning. You will not react to many things that neurotypical people think are common. Herbs will be useless. 

If you feel depressed, St. John's wort sometimes works. It may also be a monoamine oxidase inhibitor or MAOI. Coincidentally, some medications are antidepressants. I raise this point because MAOI can adversely interact with certain foods and other drugs. 

I will not pretend that no herbs can help cure diseases. Marijuana helps many cancer patients suffering from pain and other problems. However, try to administer cannabis to a person with schizophrenia under treatment-you will get "decompensation" immediately, because most cannabis today is more effective than ever, and it doesn’t work well with antipsychotics at all To mix. In the 1980s, my first psychiatrist gave me kind advice-he advised against smoking marijuana. For people with mental illness, marijuana is a very dangerous substance. 

Alcohol may have mild antipsychotic effects, but you are creating an alcohol dependent who may be mildly mentally ill. In any case, it is not recommended to try to use alcohol to treat mental illness. Doing such a thing can turn a bad problem into a terrible problem. Alcohol will not be mixed with many drugs prescribed by psychiatric consumers. 

Naturally produced substances do affect people, and in some cases may help some mentally ill patients. However, if you want a person to recover, don't expect it to come from alternative medicine. This is a point of view, and anyone who wants to conduct scientific research will refute my point of view. 

In my experience, mindfulness helps control mental illness-when it is used as an adjunct to traditional treatment. Any method that can increase the library of useful strategies will help. 

Mindfulness allows me to deal with the absurd living environment I have to face, and these environments are partly from people's perception. When a person is diagnosed with schizophrenia or any major illness, the package deal is that the living environment becomes crazy due to the way the government and people behave towards the diagnosed person. In this case, mindfulness is essential. It can help you perform mental gymnastics to cope with the lives of mental patients. 

In addition, mindfulness helps me to be less addicted to delusions, even if they still appear and may take over if I am not careful. Mindfulness helps me not to hate myself, but to accept myself instead of identifying with a brain defect. What matters is not how good your brain is, but how you use it. 

Mindfulness has many benefits for the mentally ill, but it cannot cure the disease. I have tried this route and will not try again. 

Some people think that their disease is caused by food allergies. I cannot say that this has never happened, because I cannot understand the facts in these situations. If scientists want to study food toxins that affect the brain and cause mental illness, it is not a waste of time. 

At best, psychotropic drugs can only do part of the work of recovering patients. The rest depends on the patient, who must find various strategies to improve his life. At best, psychotherapy can only create more emotional comfort and more self-affinity for consumers. It does not directly treat symptoms. In the worst case, psychotherapy may have an adverse effect on the patient, and this effect is not easy to measure. 

If there is a natural cure for schizophrenia, it will be packaged and sold, and its inventor will become a billionaire. We know that if you don't let it develop too far, another disease, namely diabetes, can be controlled through diet. 

Some mentally healthy people believe that measures are taken early in a person’s life to prevent full-blown mental illness. However, you may encounter some people who are receiving medication and counseling because they are too young, which may adversely affect their lives. If you start with a tough but persistent young man, and then institutionalize them, you may turn a difficult life into a desperate life. I'm not saying that this has always been true, but it may be so at some point. 

After the first episode of mental illness, I did not take medication for a year, which benefited me a lot. I can do a difficult physical job, and I can learn my own meditations. Then I got sick again and I need more help. I will not stop the medication repeatedly, because this condition will continue to recur, and if it does not kill me or other people, it will ruin my life. There is no dogma or belief system that is always correct.

Stop making sense and sometimes misunderstanding still makes sense. Last week, I think I heard a friend say: "Depression is a bad way to start a new day." It turns out that the speaker (who is reading the morning chronicles) actually said: "News is a bad way to start a new day. ." Either way, it reads true. 

The name is the game 

Progressive populists have a new columnist, and from his name alone, you would think that this is a trusted journalist. 

what is his name? Frank Lingo. Isn't the phrase "frank lingo" just another way of saying "outspoken"? 

I want to know how many other people might have names that match their titles. Is there a soup kitchen chef named "Phil Bowers"? A felon named "Rob Banks"? A gardener named "Rose Gardener"? Well, if I change my name to "Max Kred", maybe I can get a performance as the pope on social media. 

A short list of indifferent comments 

A friend of mine-a retired military officer who turned into a peace activist-recently replied to a joke in an email: "You killed me!" Her comment was easy, but it stopped me. Stepped down. This got me thinking. 

Our culture seems to have become accustomed to phrases that equate murder with success and achievement. Other examples: Stand-up comedy sums up his command to the audience with shouts: "I'm killing them!" Or Wall Street investors declare: "I make a lot of money in the market." Or sports fans yelled happily: "We Murdered another team!" I also heard happy shouts: "We eliminated them!" Fortunately, I haven't heard anyone brag: "We assassinated the game." 

Houses for sale: brother, can you keep a million? 

The Sexton Group, a real estate company in North Berkeley, recently mailed an oversized postcard to Berkeley homeowners announcing the sale of a 1,233-square-foot two-bedroom house on the 1600 block of Hopkins Street for $1,625,000 . (Its list price is $1,095,000.) Sexton's real estate agent does not have to specifically finalize the deal. Their office (located at 1624 Hopkins) is across the street from the million-dollar residence. 

With the exception of Sundays, Garry Trudeau's daily Doonesbury zone is replayed, so reading these old panels sometimes leads to some discordant disconnects. However, a recent proposal suggests that progress can be made over time. 

In the strip reprinted in August 1996, Guotou entrepreneur Zonker Harris asked a colleague named Cornell why he sounded so stressed. 

Cornell replied: "I can't get any jars for our AIDS patients. Since the marijuana buying club in San Francisco was raided, our regular sources have been frightened." Zonker was shocked: "Yours. It means, where do those older cancer patients go to smoke?" Yes, Cornell University replied: "100 heavily armed anesthesiologists attacked it with a siege hammer." 

The official who ordered the raid, California Republican Attorney General Dan Lungren, was not amused. According to the "New York Times" report, within a few hours, Lengren held a press conference to condemn Trudeau's striptease. "No one should laugh," Yong In said. Then, as the New York Times reported, Yong In “as a public service, requiring newspapers in the state to review the remaining cartoons this week.” 

It is great to see some progress in the past 25 years. 

Jimmy Kimmel strips off Emperor Trump's clothes 

Gary Trudeau of Doonesbury also publicly promised that from now on, whenever Donald Trump appears in his striptease dress, this The losers who were impeached twice will be portrayed with blood on their hands. The evening show host Stephen Colbert also vowed to never say Trump's name on the radio. And now, in his opening monologue on November 23, talk show host Jimmy Kimmel solemnly announced: “If I am forced to play a video clip of Donald Trump’s chattering, from now on, the'Emperor' will have nothing to do with clothing." 

If you have the guts, please go to 1:35 minutes in the video below. The audience is advised to make a discretionary decision: once they see it, the obscene scene cannot be "invisible". 

Shoot Kyle (but never die) 

The judge in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial instructed the jurors to say that the two men shot and killed by the teenage militiamen should not be called "victims" but should Known as "robbers" and "arsonists". 

This partisan tendency to condone certain violent practitioners has also recently emerged in the UK. At that time, a BBC anchor was caught reporting on the violence in Gaza and told the audience that some Israelis were “killed” in the conflict, while some Palestinians were “killed” in the conflict. Just "dead". " 

White-Wing-of-the-Rightwing Court Killer Kyle 

At the same time, a white sovereignty melee broke out, and rival members of the right-wing Republican Party raced to attribute the Kenosha killer who was acquitted by the jury as themselves. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) immediately offered Rittenhouse a job on Instagram. Rep. Matt Gates (R-FL) announced plans to provide Rittenhouse with congressional intern positions. Rep. Paul Gossall (R-AZ) vowed that he will "fight against Matt Gates and qualify Kyle as an intern." TrumpleThinSkin" even invited the crying killer to visit the Sea Lake Manor. 

Forewarned, the United States. If Der Trumpf returns to power in 2024, he is likely to appoint Rittenhouse to lead his Department of Homeland Security. 

"Pentagon Roulette" is "Russian Roulette with Nuclear Weapons" 

On October 19, the Pentagon and its NATO allies began a large-scale military exercise on the Russian border. It lasted until November and was called "Global Thunder". On November 23, Russian Defense Minister Shoigu held a press conference, complaining that the United States carried out a "simulated nuclear strike" against Russia, launching 30 "10 strategic bombers...using nuclear weapons..." from east to west and reaching the Russian border." Within 12.4 miles". 

Who is the strategist at the Pentagon who came up with the idea of ​​naming the "Global Thunder" the first simulated air strike against Russia by the atomic bomb? This title sounds like (A) the next Avengers movie or (B) the last word humans will hear when the earth explodes around us. 

A peace hero's reflection on Thanksgiving 

How disconnected is our life. The calendar tells us that it’s a holiday-"So liberate your attention from those daily worries and do it yourself"-at the same time, our over-baked planet is about to start barbecues. 

US Army veterinarian, author ("blood-stained") and international peace activist S. Brian Willson recently emailed some thoughts about the holiday known as "Thanksgiving". It's worth sharing, I think. So these are some of the views of a brave Vietnam War soldier who turned into a protester. He lost his legs when an ammunition train ran over him at the Chicago Harbor Naval Weapons Station: 

"The Vietnam War was one of many ugly and barbaric wars launched by our country in the 20th century. These wars were based on support for the heinous "domino" theory concocted during the Cold War. However, the violence against communist monsters War is just a modern version of historical genocidal violence driven by fear of the Pan-Indian movement, which dates back to before the Pequots and Narragansetts in New England. 

"If a group of'locals' are allowed to exist without the control of the Western market, what else can stop others from liberating themselves-standing up one by one, getting rid of their'charitable, pious and profitable association'?' Known as colonialism? Do not allow the establishment of cooperative and protective alliances that are seen as threats to European investors/exploiters invading the new world. Although millions of people resist this imperialist control, this philosophy still tries to rule today ." 

Given the history of the brutal blade/sword/knife/bayonet surrounding the holiday, maybe this holiday could be renamed "Shanksgiving". 

Brian's comments on the recent elections in Nicaragua 

On November 26, after the recent controversial Nicaragua presidential election, S. Brian Willson was moved to share his personal experience of meeting with Nicaragua’s new first lady: 

"Within a few days after I was almost assassinated—I was assassinated by an accelerated U.S. Navy munition train in Concord, California on September 1, 1987. There were almost no deaths—the first lady of Nicaragua visited me, this beautiful 36 years old-President Daniel Ortega's wife Rosario Murillo (Rosario Murillo) with her children.  

"She went to the crime scene on the railroad tracks, where my bloodstains could still be seen, and then when I was just beginning to recover from multiple traumas at Walnut Creek John Muir Hospital, she and her children came to my bed. side. 

"At a press conference in San Francisco, she held up a photo taken 5 months ago in March. In the photo, I was shaking hands with a young Sandinista amputee. I never thought about myself. Will soon become an amputee... 

"The U.S. government claims that I am a'domestic terrorist', which helps explain why the train attendant on that day was ordered not to stop, but to pass quickly. 

"The arms train carried death weapons and was destined to murder farmers in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Fortunately, I did survive, without two legs below the knee, severe skull fractures and many fractures, but I am still committed to actively opposing it. Cruelty in Central America, including Nicaragua and the rest of the world, criminal and crazy US imperialism. 

"Ms. Murillo remains a tireless defender of Nicaragua's Sandinista revolution, once again serving as First Lady to President Daniel Ortega, as well as having been elected once again to be Vice-President of the country. 

"I will always be grateful for her care when I am almost alive." 

This is just now: Three Rooms Press has just released the first batch of kitchens for Berkeley resident Judy Gambo’s autobiography "Ipi Girl: Using Protest and Defeating the FBI." The book will be available in bookstores in May 2022. 

It was reported this week that director and best friend Martin Scorsese has hired Jason Hill to play Jerry Garcia in a new movie about the gratitude of death. I wonder if Hollywood will consider adapting Yippie Girl into a movie. ? If so, who will play the leading role? Zendaya is a left-handed youth action hero, Lady Gaga is an adult okra? 

Diving is best: who will pass the test? 

CODEPINK and Divest from the War Machine have invited residents of the Senate and House of Representatives to sign the following pledges. Let's see who signed. 

I promise to reject more than $200 in campaign donations from PACs, executives or organizations representing the top five weapons manufacturers: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing, and General Dynamics . I also promised to reject the campaign donation from the National Rifle Association.  

For more information, see http://www.divestfromwarmachine.org 

Get more banks for your buck - although the planet is fastening 

While CODEPINK focused on the behavior of lone travelers in the capital, the Daily Kos Liberation League (DKLL) initiated a petition calling on major U.S. banks to stop funding for "climate-damaging oil/coal/gas businesses." 

The banking industry has made an obligation to clean up/close its polluting investment portfolio, but words and deeds are inconsistent. As DKLL pointed out: 

"Since the Paris Agreement was signed, the top banks on Wall Street (Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo) have committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. However, they are still investing in projects that have a devastating impact on the world. Investment in trillions of dollars. The environment has contributed to appalling violations of the human rights of indigenous peoples.  

"JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Bank of America are all leading the way in bank financing for 2,300 companies in the fossil fuel life cycle. JPMorgan Chase has always been regarded as the world's worst fossil banker. Citibank is committed to its commitments. Well-known for funding 100 companies with the most harmful expansion plans (such as Exxon and Enbridge). Wells Fargo is the world's largest hydraulic fracturing financing institution, and Bank of America has the highest LNG financing in 2020 among all banks. 

Now is the time for the big banks to end this scam and begin to seriously invest in general survival rather than any individual gross profit. "Due to the climate collapse caused by pollution, Big Oil's business model is about to make our houses, towns and villages uninhabitable," Coase condemned. "Don't count on oil. There is no honor in promoting carbonism. 

Holiday Santa Claus is an antidote to claustrophobia 

Tired of the equally tried-and-tested boring holiday chorus? rejoice! Nancy Schimmel came up with an alternative to "Silent Night", "Joy to the World" and "The Little Drummer Boy". As Schimmel explained: "At this time in the last century, I wrote the lyrics of'Mrs. Claus' while driving home... I want it to be famous all over the world, so if you like It, please pass it on!" 

It is worth noting: We are promoting the packaging of year-end meetings, and the following week is very fulfilling. Please scan all meetings. It seems that the most important content will be listed in the quick summary. The agenda for the board meeting on December 14 is available for comment. When December 14th arrives, the city council will vote on the mid-year budget allocation. At 6pm on Tuesday evening, the second item on the city council’s agenda was the Pier-Ferry feasibility study. The cost of the terminal ferry project is US$93 million, of which the cost of two electric ferries is US$32 million. (The research I've read shows that driving across the bridge alone is less polluting for everyone than taking a regular ferry.) WETA directors have promised that the Berkeley Wharf Ferry project will not affect the WETA budget, which only covers about 30% of the fare. The special board meeting on December 7 will be a hybrid-you can choose to attend in person, zoom or teleconference. At 5 o'clock on Wednesday night, CEAC will listen to Bee City’s suggestions. At 7pm, Le Conte Neighborhood, BNC and CENA will co-sponsor a HYBRID meeting (face-to-face or zoom) on the Berkeley pilot project to collect parking fees in residential areas. Protecting burrowing owls is the ninth item on the agenda of the 7 p.m. Park and Waterfront Committee meeting. The Police Accountability Committee met at 7pm and set a complete agenda. At 10 am on Thursday, the Board of Directors’ Budget and Finance Committee will review the mid-year budget submissions and set priorities for the board’s vote on December 14. On Thursday night, the City Council will hear the latest news about housing elements and the planning process for the addition of 8,934 residential units in Berkeley. 

Sunday, December 5, 2021-no city meeting or event found 

Civic Art Committee-Public Art Committee, 2:30 pm 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86089984060 

Conference call: 1-669-900-9128 Conference ID: 860 8998 4060 

Agenda: 4.a. Measuring the T1 Phase 2 project site, b. Approval of the purchase of Susan Duhan Felix's artwork from the current Civic Center exhibition for $500. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CivicArtsCommissionHomepage/ 

Personnel Committee at 7 p.m. 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87851487853?pwd=cDF5dHR5V2Y5UEtReHFNcVBqd0VFZz09 

Conference call: 1-669-900-9128 Conference number: 878 5148 7853 Password: 621891 

Agenda: Three. Public opinion, five. Recommendations on re-establishing the ranks and salary ranges of senior engineering inspectors, six. Suggestions for revising the minimum qualifications of mechanics, seven. Recommendations for establishing the classification of limited-term EMT and single-function nursing staff, 8. It is proposed to revise the classification of assistant fire chiefs. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Personnel_Board_Homepage.aspx 

Police Accountability Committee-12:30 PM Director Search 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81733332670 

Conference call: 1-669-900-6833 Conference ID: 817 3333 2670 

Agenda: 4. Discuss the profile of candidates for the Police Accountability Committee with Brett Byers of the Byers Group. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=162752 

Ashby and North Berkeley BART Community Advisory Group, 6 pm 

Video conference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83300022104? 

Conference call: 1-669-900-6833 Conference ID: 833 0002 2104 Password: 058030 

Agenda: 2. Recognize the work of CAG – Mayor Arreguin and the BART committee, 3. Follow-up process, 4. CAG issues, 5. Public comments. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/bartplanning/ 

The special meeting of the city council at 6 pm,  

Hybrid: face-to-face, zoom and conference call 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86272802670 

Conference call: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Conference ID: 862 7280 2670 

Agenda: Agreed: 1. Introduction by the San Francisco Bay Rehabilitation Bureau, 2. Large-scale ferry feasibility study-preferred concept, 3. Zero Waste Fund's proposed five-year (2023-2027 fiscal year) rate table, 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

7 p.m. Police Accountability Committee Special Meeting 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82318238840 

Conference call: 1-669-900-6833 Conference ID: 823 1823 8840 

Agenda: 3. Public opinion, 4.a. Training: meet and exchange; Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, introduced by partner Timothy Davis, Burke, Williams & Sorensen, LLP, 5/ Public opinion. Closed-door meeting: 6. Meeting with labor negotiator: designated representative; Jon Holtzman labor negotiator: Katherine Lee (employee organization Berkeley Police Association) 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=162752 

Berkeley Rent Stability Committee-IRA/AGA Registration Committee, 5pm 

Video conference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83526663329?pwd=ZkdCRVhkNmt5TnZRQkFQTXU5c0twdz09 

Conference call: 1-408-638-0968 Conference ID: 835 2666 3329 Password: 938658 

Agenda: 4. Public comments, 5. Possible actions to amend Regulations 801 and 1311 to clarify that landlords must not evict tenants before filling in all current registration information with the committee, 6. City master plan, 7. Potential 2022 voting initiative. 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

Library Council, 6:30 pm 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86042306505 

Conference call: 1-669-900-9128 Conference ID: 860 4230 6505 

Agenda: Four. Budget report for the first quarter. 

https://www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org/about/board-library-trustees 

Civic Arts Committee 6pm 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84636357745 

Conference call: 1-669-900-9128 Conference ID: 846 3635 7745 

Agenda: 4. Introduce affordable housing for artists and cultural workers, introduce survey results and suggestions, 7.a. Survey T1 Phase 2 project site, b. Representative of the Alternative Citizen Arts Committee in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, February 2022, c. Approval of the purchase of Susan Duhan Felix's artwork for the Civic Center Exhibition at a price of US$500. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/CivicArtsCommissionHomepage/ 

6 p.m. Disability Committee 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89243500746?pwd=NGQ3d0NQVnkzUG01QVIvUVhoQUlDUT09 

Agenda: Unpublished agenda-posting community calendar seems wrong 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Commission_on_Disability_Homepage.aspx 

Community Environmental Advisory Committee (CEAC) 5 pm 

Video conference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85755206504 

Conference call: 1-669-900-6833 Conference ID: 857 5520 6504 

Agenda: 2. Public comments, 5. Chairperson’s report, 6. Toxic management report, 8. Discussion/Action Suggestions for Bee City in the United States. 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/Community_Environmental_Advisory_Commission/ 

Park and Waterfront Commission, 7pm 

Video conference: https://zoom.us/j/96974512296 

Conference call: 1-669-900-6833 Conference ID: 969 7451 2296 

Agenda: 5. Public comments, 6. Chairman’s report, 7. Director’s report, 8. 2050 Vision/Measures T1 Mail Update 9. Protecting the burrowing owls in Cesar Chavez Park, 10. Wind and solar power generation at the pier, 11. Achievements/reviews and closures of the Parks and Waterfront Commission. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Commissions/Commissions__Parks_and_Waterfront_Commission.aspx 

Regular meeting of the Police Accountability Committee at 7 p.m. 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82237902987 

Conference call: 1-669-900-6833 Conference ID: 822 3790 2987 

Agenda: 3. Public comments, 5. Chairman-update and reimagine the public safety working group, 6. Director-update status complaints, update training, 7. Chief report-crime/case, 8. Subcommittee report fair and impartial policing, b. Director search, c. Regulations, d. Mental health response, 9.a. Conflict of interest of the city prosecutor, b. Revise the body-worn camera policy, c. Regarding the update on the incident involving guns at Berkeley High School on October 15, d. Appoint more members to the Mental Health Response Subcommittee, 10.a. The latest development of the interim chief on the executive committee’s directives on fair and impartial policing, b. PAB Standing Rules on the Board's Agenda on December 14, c. Vaccination status BPD employees, private meeting: 12. Complaint #3 13. Complaint #1, 14. Complaint #2. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/ContentDisplay.aspx?id=162752 

7pm with the Berkeley Community Council and the Le Conte Neighborhood Assn of CENA 

Hybrid: face-to-face and zoom  

Go to 2236 Parker – Life Adventist Church in person 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89955792318?pwd=TU95SHdUd0RwK1lJV2dwenRWcDEzQT09 

Agenda: Berkeley "Smart Space" pilot project forum to increase the hourly rate of residential parking lots, a speech by Berkeley transportation planner Gordon Hansen. 

The meeting will be recorded 

City Council Budget and Finance Committee 10 a.m. 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88503305300 

Conference call: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Conference ID: 885 0330 5300 

Agenda: 1. Arreguin-Standards and timing of the AAO process, 2. CM-Council fiscal policy, 4. CM-Budget recommendation and AAO 5. Parks and Waterfront Commission-Reconstruction Fund and Stable Finance, 6. Fiscal Year 2021 Investment report for the fourth quarter. 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/Home/Policy_Committee__Budget___Finance.aspx 

Special City Council Meeting at 6pm-Zoom and Conference Call 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82263821024 

Conference call: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Conference ID: 822 6382 1024 

Agenda: 1. Housing element update seminar working session-Berkeley was assigned to increase 8,934 residential units-the site inventory can accommodate 9750 to 10,500 units (new changes).  

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

Berkeley Rent Stability Committee-Eviction/Section 8/Foreclosure Committee, 5:30 PM 

Video conference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88546126766?pwd=SHFQb0IzV2Y2bZVZRndyV0ErQU11Zz09 

Conference call: 1-669-900-6833 Conference ID: 885 4612 6766 Password: 147959 

Agenda: 4. Public comments, 5. Introduction/discussion of the Eviction Defense Center and the East Bay Community Law Center, 6. Introduction/discussion of the AA report of the owner’s move-in and eviction/measures. 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/rent/ 

Zoning Adjustment Committee at 7pm 

Video conference: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89676870151 

Conference call: 1-669-900-6833 Conference ID: 896 7687 0151 

Agenda: 3. 1151 Grizzly Peak-Proposal to continue until January 13, 2022  

4. 2345 Channing-with consent-cancellation of the previous residential unit in Berkeley First Congregational Church 

5. 1634 and 1640 San Pablo-approved-modified with permission-increased height, total building area and ancillary structures (approved by ZAB 6/1-/2021, 

6. 1837 Berkeley Way-Proposal for Approval-SFD after demolishing and construction of a new 3-story 3-unit residential building on a 6,250 square foot plot, with the rear setback about 3-6 feet, with two SFDs 

7. 1643 and 1647 California-Proposal for approval-Creation of a new lower basement level, construction of a new 2 storey and modification of the existing duplex layout, resulting in a 3,763 square foot duplex 

8. 1201 – 1205 San Pablo – new public hearing to provide advice – construction of a 6-story mixed-use building on the open space, 66 units (including 5 very low-income units) 1,720 square feet of commercial space, 2514 square feet Available open space and 17-28 parking spaces on the ground. 

http://www.cityofberkeley.info/zoningadjustmentsboard/ 

At 1 pm, the Emergency Water Supply Authority (WETA) 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89718217408 

Conference call: 1-669-900-6833 Conference ID: 897 1821 7408 Password: 33779 

Agenda: 5. Staff report: fare integration study, PEPRA (Public Employees Pension Reform Act), Treasure Island CPUC declaration, SSF pilot service, finance, number of passengers, 

https://weta.sanfranciscobayferry.com/next-board-meeting 

Friday, December 10, 2021-Reduced Service Day 

The Berkeley Community Council (BNC) meeting was cancelled, and BNC will participate in the LeConte community meeting on Wednesday night. 

Sunday, December 12, 2021-no city meeting or event found 

Full agenda for the regular city council meeting on December 14 at 6 pm 

Video conference: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83481524655 

Conference call: 1-669-900-9128 or 1-877-853-5257 Conference ID: 834 8154 4655 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx 

Agree: 1. Bayer Development Agreement second reading, 2. Berkeley election reform second reading, 3. Committee reorganization to merge Animal Care Committee into parks and waterfront second reading, 4. Continue meeting through video conference, 5. Approve local Covid emergency, 6. Minutes of the meeting, 7. CoB 2022 State and Federal Legislative Platform-Determined the priorities of homelessness, housing, economic development, infrastructure, public safety, sustainability, and environment and health-Climate did not meet Priority, fairness is not mentioned, 8. Extension of the interim director of the Police Accountability Committee, 9. PO $70,000 and Protiviti government services: use GSA for vehicle numbering. GS-35F-0280X. 10. Formal bidding of US$960,000, 11. Signed a contract of US$150,000 with RLH & Associates, with an initial contract of 2 years, to provide interim government financial consulting services for the Ministry of Finance, 12. The contract with Valdes and Moreno is US$150,000, which is a small Provide professional service plans for the pilot bond financing. 13. The US$300,000 contract signed with Gainey Scientific, from September 13, 2021 to August 31, 2021, will be used for project management and consulting of the fire department, with an optional extension of 2 years , The total contract value does not exceed 900,000 US dollars, 14.2022 fiscal year revenue of 80,000 US dollars from the federal COVID-19 funds of the HHS CARES Act Provider Relief Fund, 15. The 250,000 US dollars income contract signed with Positas Academy to support the training of the fire department Teaching Service Agreement 7/20/021 – 7/19/2024, 16. The contract is US$665, as of June 30, 2022, the statewide prevention and early intervention project participation agreement signed with the California Mental Health Services Administration and any Revised. 17. Accept the $274,202 community contract y service block grant, 18. Authorize the CalPers contract to be amended to affect the cost-sharing agreement between the city and the unrepresented PEPRA members of the unrepresented employee group, 19. The contract increased by $381,137, From December 15, 2021 to June 30, 2024, a total of US$996,117 Digital Hands for Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Monitoring, 20. Signed a US$300,000 contract with Alcor Solutions, Inc. for hosting services and upgrading ServiceNow Application 7/1/2022-6/30/2024, 21. The contract increased by US$133,420, totaling US$2,192,611 from 12/12/2021-6/30/2023, 22. The contract increased by US$733,720, totaling US$2,288,950, and The deadline was extended to June 30, 2024. It cooperated with Tyler Technologies, Inc to provide professional services and computer-aided dispatch (CAD) software. 23. A cash donation of US$26,566 was used to install fences for the dog park in the water park. 24. With Cumming Management Group , Inc signed a contract of 900,000 US dollars to provide project management services for the African-American overall resource center from 1/3/2021-6/30/2025. 25. The contract is $100,000 including emergency expenses of 8,251.33 US dollars. System IT technology, 26. Signed a contract with Best Contracting Services, Inc for $326,723 for the Fire Station No. 3 Re-Roofing project at 2710 Russell, 27. Signed a $345,000 contract with Arata Equipment Company for 18-year post-loaders, 28. Additional Public Works Committee authorization in 2021, 29. Arreguin, co-sponsors Taplin, Robinson, Bartlett – distribution of the remaining portion of the Berkeley relief fund, 30 . Arreguin, co-sponsors Taplin, Bartlett, Hahn – waived up $500 to the 11th annual MLK Jr celebration, 31. Arreguin, co-sponsor Hahn – decided to support Bay Adapt: ​​Rising Bay’s regional strategy, 32. Kesarwani, Co-sponsors Wengraf, Droste, Bartlett-referred to CM to simplify ADU license review and approval, 33. Taplin-Ashby and Action budget recommended crosswalk improvements, 34. Taplin-Russell bicycle and pedestrian improvements, $50,000-Russell & King’s traffic circle, $60,000-Russell and San Pablo bike lanes, $250,000-Ped Russell and Sacramento's estrian Hybrid Beacons, 35. Taplin, co-sponsors Bartlett, Hahn, Arreguin-just transitioning from the fossil fuel economy, 36 . Taplin – Reaffirming the city’s recognition of carbon fees and dividends. Letter to Barbara Lee, Diane Feinstein and Alex Padilla, 37. Bartlett – Reference to CM and Community Health Commission oversight of health care facilities, 38. Hahn – Consider extending paid parking time to 7 days a week to support parking meter funds and improve pedestrian and bicycle facilities, 39. Robinson – Letter to University of California President Michael Drake to support student researcher United-UAW, 40. Robinson , Co-sponsor Hahn – Letter in support of the HR 4194 People’s Response Act, which will create the Community Safety Division and provide grants to local governments, state governments, and communities to support non-custodial methods of public safety. Action: 41. CM – Amend BMC Paragraph NN, Section 19.48.020, 42. CM-Public Hearing Housing Priority Lincoln's rking plan for the 1600 block of Lincoln, 43. Expenses: important records, 44. Budget update for the end of fiscal year 2021 and the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, 45. YF 2022 Annual Appropriation Regulations-Mid-year Budget Adjustment and Allocation-Appropriation Regulations $ 177, 309, (total) and US$163,076,585 (net), 46. CM-Response to the Council-Amendments to the ADU Regulations, 47. CM-Response to the Council's Amendments to the Public Safety Issues of ADU Regulations, 48. Approval of the regular rules of the Police Accountability Committee, information report: 49. Tobacco prevention plan. 

Scheduled public hearing-land use appeal 

1527 Sacramento-second floor added date 2-22-2021 

2956 Hillegass-added to the disqualified structure date 2-8-2021 

Remand to ZAB or LPC 

1205 Peralta-Renovation of existing garage 

Notice of Decision (NOD) and license after the end of the appeal period,  

SFD = Single Family Residence 

1860 Capistrano-Unqualified modification of the left yard and addition of an average height of more than 14 feet to enclose a 15 square foot balcony and a 43 square foot rear balcony to increase 58 square feet, December 7, 2021 

1259 Cornell-Upgrade the existing 1-story SFD to 2-story and increase the height from 13'8" to 22' 10.5" and increase by 716 square feet, December 22, 2021 

725 Folger – Adding business support services to existing office buildings 12-7-2021 

1488 Grizzly Peak-The main residence adds a hillside over 14 feet and over 20 feet Overly 12-7-2021 

2717 Marin – Installation of a non-enclosed hot tub in the side yard of SFD 12-7-2021 

2740 Prince – The first and second floors behind the existing SFD, 12-22-2021 

628 San Miguel – Non-enclosed hot tub behind SFD 12-7-2021 

1634 San Pablo-Demolition of an existing commercial building and expansion of 1,768 square feet, including wholesale and retail of food stores and baked goods, with beer and wine for on-site consumption, July 12, 2021 

1812 Virginia-Existing SFD 2-story residential additions, including partial demolition of a part of the rear of the house 12-7-2021 

925 University-Food store selling beer and wine, December 22, 2021 

https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications_in_Appeal_Period.aspx 

Link to the current zone application https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Planning_and_Development/Land_Use_Division/Current_Zoning_Applications.aspx 

December 7-1. WETA/ferry service at the terminal, 2. Introduction of the Bay Rehabilitation Bureau, 3. Update the zero waste rate and priorities, 

January 20 (Thursday) – Updates and updates on the city's COVID-19 response 

Public Works/Infrastructure Introduction 

February 15-Homeless and Mental Health Services 

March 15th-House elements update 

April 19-Fire Department's coverage study standard 

Introduction to LAFCO in Alameda County 

Citizen Art Funding Process and Capital Funding Program 

Civic Center – Old City Hall and Veterans Memorial 

2022 mid-year budget report 

Kelly Hammargren's comments on what happened the previous week can be found under Activist's Diary on Berkeley Daily Planet www.berkeleydailyplanet.com. 

If you want to include a meeting in the meeting summary, please send the notice to kellyhammargren@gmail.com before noon on the Friday of the previous week. 

The conference list is also posted on the Sustainable Berkeley Alliance website. 

http://www.sustainableberkeleycoalition.com/whats-ahead.html and Berkeley Daily Planet under the activist calendar http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com 

If you or someone you know would like to receive the weekly summary as soon as you are done, please send an email to kellyhammargren@gmail.com to add it to the early email list. If you wish to stop receiving weekly digests of the city meeting, please forward the weekly digests you received to kellyhammargren@gmail.com 

On Thursday, December 2nd, the venerable Kronos Quartet returned to Berkeley’s Zellerbach Concert Hall with new works commissioned by several composers as part of their ongoing "For the Future" project. The project is dedicated to providing new works of string quartets online, with the purpose of training students and emerging musicians to understand contemporary methods of string quartet music. The Cronus Quartet is composed of violinists David Harrington and John Sherba, violinist Hank Dart, and cellist Sonny Young. The first half of their Zellerbach concert features short works by various contemporary composers, while the second half features guest artist Mahsa Vahdat (Mahsa Vahdat), who uses her own songs and A chorus of poems by Iranian writers. 

The opening of the concert was Maduswara of Indonesian musician Peni Candra Bini, arranged by Jacob Garchik. Peni Candra Bini, the daughter of an Indonesian puppet master, is one of the few female musicians in Indonesia. Maduswara is an ethereal piece featuring plucked strings by the violaist Hank Dutt. In two-thirds of this piece, the cellist Sunny Yang put down his cello and began to play the gong. Next is the first of two short pieces composed by current California performance artist Angélique Kidjo for the String Quartet. These works named YanYanKliYan Senamido I&II accepted the world premiere here. Angélique Kidjo's second work puts an end to the first half of the show, and his lively writing is especially likable. 

Among Kidjo's works, we heard Terry Riley's This Assortment of Atoms III, which included the lovely cello solo played by Sunny Yang, and Missy Mazzoli's Enthusiasm Strategies. In the latter piece, it is worth noting that the second violin played by John Sherba here often leads the melody. 

Without intermission, David Harrington introduced the Iranian singer Martha Vahdat. Mahsa Vahdat has an extraordinary, bell-like, clear and transparent voice. She first introduced her song "The Sun Rises" and dubbed a poem by Forough Farrokhzad. Next is a song she wrote for the poem "The Lost Lines" written by the Persian poet Hafez. Mahsa Vahdat’s third song is a poem "My Ruthless Companion" written by Rumi. The first two songs are sad, while Rumi's song is lively and playful. Next, Mahsa Vahdat performed a song she set for one of her poems, Vaya, Vaya. She ended with two other poems by Rumi, Placeless, and I died.  

Throughout her performance, she was wonderfully accompanied by the Cronus Quartet. For the only encore, Mahsa Vahdat chose to sing a lively Kurdish song, ending the fascinating concert with a vigorous note.

At the San Francisco Opera, Canadian director Michael Cavanaugh used Così fan tutte as the second part of his planned Mozart-Da Ponte opera trilogy. Kavanaugh placed Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, and Don Giovanni in three different time frames of American history. Le Nozze di Figaro performed on the stage of Cavanaugh in 2019. His background is in the late 18th century, in other words, a new country under construction after the American Revolutionary War. For Così fan tutte, Cavanaugh chose the 1930s, that is to say, a country that has just emerged from the Great Depression but has an ominous war prospects is approaching. Kavanaugh also chose to house every opera in his Mozart-Daponte trilogy in the same building. In Le Nozze di Figaro, this is a newly built house. In "Così fan tutte", Cavano turns the house into a luxurious country club at will. 

This is a strange choice. From the Great Depression of the 1930s, the United States has hardly enjoyed the wealthy country club lifestyle. Besides, why does Cavano have his Così fan tutte playing squash and badminton roles? Even in the 1930s, country club life in the United States revolved around golf, not squash or badminton! In addition, in Cavanaugh's Così fan tutte, an image of a high-end car is projected. I think it includes pictures of high-end luxury Dusenberg cars. Perhaps the rich can afford such a car, but the vast majority of the American working class and middle class cannot afford it. In another random move, 

Kavanaugh depicts a high-end car traveling in the opposite direction. Why? What's the point of all this? Finally, the clothes designed by Constance Hoffman here are all wrong for the 1930s. 

I criticized Cavano’s Le Nozze di Figaro for being an unreal stage full of semi-control. I now criticize his Così fan tutte as a completely wrong measure! People can't help wondering how Kavanaugh will treat/abusive America in the upcoming Don Juan, who places him in a declining and disintegrating future world, in a house that is now in ruins! 

Kavanaugh's crumbling stage is enough! Mozart's music and Da Ponte's witty lyrics survived even on the rudest and most erroneous stage! In Così fan tutte, the plot revolves around women's loyalty to love issues. Actor Guglielmo and Ferrando 

They believe in the sincerity of their fiancée and are willing to make a bet on it. So when Alfonso challenged them on this issue, they agreed to accept Alfonso’s conspiracy. Guglielmo and Ferrando suddenly pretended to be called up to fight, bid farewell to their fiancee, and then pretended to visit Albanians. Return who put the brand on the two sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella. Don Alfonso is sung by the veteran bass Ferruccio Franeto, Guglielmo is sung by the baritone John Bransi, Ferrando is sung by the tenor Ben Bliss, and Filipino Odiligi is sung by the soprano Nicole Kabel, and Dorabella is sung by the mezzo soprano Irene Roberts. The maid Despina, sung here by soprano Nicole Heaston, adds to the cast. The conductor is Henrik Nánási, who also directed Cavanaugh's 2019 work Le Nozze di Figaro. 

In the performance I participated in on December 3, the four lead singers were very good, and the soprano Nicole Cabell's Fiordiligi stood out with its rich and pure tone. Tenor Ben Bliss made his debut in the company as Ferrando. His lyrical tenor voice is gentle and powerful. "Despina" by soprano Nicole Heaston is lively and interesting. Conductor Henrik Nánási played the score briskly. 

The set is designed by Erhard Rom, the costume is designed by Constance Hoffman, the lighting is designed by Jane Cox, and the San Francisco Opera Choir is led by Ian Robertson. Ian Robertson will retire at the end of the season. He will spend 35 seasons in his career. retire. 

Mozart's music in Così fan tutte has infinite creativity. The couple’s initial sigh and vow of eternal love are set in a very traditional musical style, which highlights the tradition of the love concept of these young characters. However, when these people go to war on the surface and then come back disguised as Albanians, the plot becomes more complicated. Ferrando and Guglielmo wooed themselves and each other's fiancée back and forth, while sisters Fiordiligui and Dolabella had very different attitudes towards the disguised suitor. Dorabella was the first person to admit that she was very interested. Interestingly, her choice was not for her fiancé Ferrando, but for Guglielmo. In contrast, Fiordiligi firmly refused to woo Albanians. As Fiordiligi, Nicole Cabell's aria "Come scoglio" is pure beauty and a rock-solid belief. However, in the end, Fiordiligi also succumbed to Ferrando's eager pursuit. 

Regarding Ferrando's sincerity in his pursuit of Fiordiligui, it is a complicated question. Did he really fall in love with Fiordiligi, or was it mainly to avenge Dorabella for betraying him when he gave in to Guglielmo? Is Ferrando also reporting that Liermo seduce Dorabella and brag about it? Finally, is Ferrando's passionate pursuit of Fiordiligi to prove his masculinity as a seducer? These are open questions. Perhaps one of the actions I applauded for director Michael Cavano is that he decided to end Così fan tutte, neither the original lover's reconciliation nor the lover's new pairing. On the contrary, when Guglielmo and Ferrando rushed in different directions, Cavano asked the sisters to hug each other, seeming to be confused by what happened. 

Così fan tutte is Americanized, but what's the point? 

Reviewed by James Roy MacBean 

At the San Francisco Opera, Canadian director Michael Cavanaugh used Così fan tutte as the second part of his planned Mozart-Da Ponte opera trilogy. Kavanaugh placed Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, and Don Giovanni in three different time frames of American history. Le Nozze di Figaro performed on the stage of Cavanaugh in 2019. His background is in the late 18th century, in other words, a new country under construction after the American Revolutionary War. For Così fan tutte, Cavanaugh chose the 1930s, that is to say, a country that has just emerged from the Great Depression but has an ominous war prospects is approaching. Kavanaugh also chose to house every opera in his Mozart-Daponte trilogy in the same building. In Le Nozze di Figaro, this is a newly built house. In "Così fan tutte", Cavano turns the house into a luxurious country club at will. 

This is a strange choice. From the Great Depression of the 1930s, the United States has hardly enjoyed the wealthy country club lifestyle. Besides, why does Cavano have his Così fan tutte playing squash and badminton roles? Even in the 1930s, country club life in the United States revolved around golf, not squash or badminton! In addition, in Cavanaugh's Così fan tutte, an image of a high-end car is projected. I think it includes pictures of high-end luxury Dusenberg cars. Perhaps the rich can afford such a car, but the vast majority of the American working class and middle class cannot afford it. In another random move, 

Kavanaugh depicts a high-end car traveling in the opposite direction. Why? What's the point of all this? Finally, the clothes designed by Constance Hoffman here are all wrong for the 1930s. 

I criticized Cavano’s Le Nozze di Figaro for being an unreal stage full of semi-control. I now criticize his Così fan tutte as a completely wrong measure! People can't help wondering how Kavanaugh will treat/abusive America in the upcoming Don Juan, who places him in a declining and disintegrating future world, in a house that is now in ruins! 

Kavanaugh's crumbling stage is enough! Mozart's music and Da Ponte's witty lyrics survived even on the rudest and most erroneous stage! In Così fan tutte, the plot revolves around women's loyalty to love issues. Actor Guglielmo and Ferrando 

They believe in the sincerity of their fiancée and are willing to make a bet on it. So when Alfonso challenged them on this issue, they agreed to accept Alfonso’s conspiracy. Guglielmo and Ferrando suddenly pretended to be called up to fight, bid farewell to their fiancee, and then pretended to visit Albanians. Return who put the brand on the two sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella. Don Alfonso is sung by the veteran bass Ferruccio Franeto, Guglielmo is sung by the baritone John Bransi, Ferrando is sung by the tenor Ben Bliss, and Filipino Odiligi is sung by the soprano Nicole Kabel, and Dorabella is sung by the mezzo soprano Irene Roberts. The maid Despina, sung here by soprano Nicole Heaston, adds to the cast. The conductor is Henrik Nánási, who also directed Cavanaugh's 2019 work Le Nozze di Figaro. 

In the performance I participated in on December 3, the four lead singers were very good, and the soprano Nicole Cabell's Fiordiligi stood out with its rich and pure tone. Tenor Ben Bliss made his debut in the company as Ferrando. His lyrical tenor voice is gentle and powerful. "Despina" by soprano Nicole Heaston is lively and interesting. Conductor Henrik Nánási played the score briskly. 

The set is designed by Erhard Rom, the costume is designed by Constance Hoffman, the lighting is designed by Jane Cox, and the San Francisco Opera Choir is led by Ian Robertson. Ian Robertson will retire at the end of the season. He will spend 35 seasons in his career. retire. 

Mozart's music in Così fan tutte has infinite creativity. The couple’s initial sigh and vow of eternal love are set in a very traditional musical style, which highlights the tradition of the love concept of these young characters. However, when these people go to war on the surface and then come back disguised as Albanians, the plot becomes more complicated. Ferrando and Guglielmo wooed themselves and each other's fiancée back and forth, while sisters Fiordiligui and Dolabella had very different attitudes towards the disguised suitor. Dorabella was the first person to admit that she was very interested. Interestingly, her choice was not for her fiancé Ferrando, but for Guglielmo. In contrast, Fiordiligi firmly refused to woo Albanians. As Fiordiligi, Nicole Cabell's aria "Come scoglio" is pure beauty and a rock-solid belief. However, in the end, Fiordiligi also succumbed to Ferrando's eager pursuit. 

Regarding Ferrando's sincerity in his pursuit of Fiordiligui, it is a complicated question. Did he really fall in love with Fiordiligi, or was it mainly to avenge Dorabella for betraying him when he gave in to Guglielmo? Is Ferrando also reporting that Liermo seduce Dorabella and brag about it? Finally, is Ferrando's passionate pursuit of Fiordiligi to prove his masculinity as a seducer? These are open questions. Perhaps one of the actions I applauded for director Michael Cavano is that he decided to end Così fan tutte, neither the original lover's reconciliation nor the lover's new pairing. On the contrary, when Guglielmo and Ferrando rushed in different directions, Cavano asked the sisters to hug each other, seeming to be confused by what happened.