Tag: neighborhood preservation

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JUNE 7 – Berkeley Neighborhoods Council Forum
Art House Gallery 2905 Shattuck Ave. 10 AM to 1 PM

For more info on the Neighborhood Preservation Forum see http://www.berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com/index.htm

JUNE 13 – Housing Crisis Conference The SF Public Press sponsors a gathering “to innovate solutions that address the need for affordable housing in San Francisco.” http://sfpublicpress.org/hackthehousingcrisis

JUNE 21 – Robin Hood Committee Party! – CANCELLED
The Committee for Affordable Housing and Robin Hood Initiative host a thank you party – next steps will be announced, but mostly this night will be for having fun and hanging out.

JUNE 24 – Housing at City Council
According to the Berkeley Citizens Action newsletter, the Berkeley City Council will consider several proposals from the Housing Advisory Commission on Tuesday, June 24.

JULY 13 – CALLING ALL PROGRESSIVES!
The bi-annual Convention will be held to choose a progressive slate for the November Rent Board election. The convention starts at 1:30 PM at the South Berkeley Senior Center. See http://berkeleytenantsconvention.net/ for updates.

All potential candidates who believe in rent control and will work so that affordable housing remains a priority in Berkeley are invited to seek the nomination and should contact the convention in order to participate in the screening process during June.

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garages
2091 California is already retrofitted.

This Thursday, October 3, the Housing Advisory Commission will vote on their recommendations to Council regarding the law to require landlords to fix unsound buildings. BTU attended the last HAC meeting to speak about our concern:

Tenants should not have to pay extra rent for safe housing!

The City will hold the final public hearing on the law to require seismic retrofits for Berkeley’s most unstable rental housing on October 10 at 5 PM. Since the first hearing was held over the summer, and so many students live in these “soft story” buildings, the October hearing is cosponsored by Berkeley’s ASUC and will be held on campus but open to everyone. Only five tenants spoke at the July 27 hearing, although more than 40 landlords were present.

On September 16, the Berkeley Rent Board finished their recommendations to Council, which cite many ways that owners with financial hardship could pay for retrofits without raising rents. However, even the Rent Board voted to consider amending rules so that landlords can raise rents! If tenants do not speak out at the meetings listed below, Berkeley tenants could see increases under the new mandatory retrofit rules like those in San Francisco, where rents in unsafe buildings are going up an average of $900 a year!

Seismic Retrofit Recommendations
Thursday October 3 – 7 PM
Housing Advisory Commission
South Berkeley Senior Center

Final Public Hearing on Seismic Retrofits
Thursday October 10 — 5 PM
City of Berkeley Hearing sponsored by ASUC
UC Berkeley Alumni Hall – 2537 Haste Street

Seismic Retrofits to City Council
REVISED DATE November 19 — 7 PM
Council Chambers: 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way

City website, including draft law and inventory of unsafe buildings:
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Planning_and_Development/Building_and_Safety/Soft_Story_Program.aspx

Rent Board recommendations:
Rent Board Seismic

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April 28 BTU - 18Good news on the Demolition Ordinance!

On September 12, the Housing Advisory Committee voted unanimously to support one-for-one replacement of demolished rent controlled units with permanently affordable housing. They recommended the good June 4 compromise draft over the more recent drafts, which provide incentive for developers to empty buildings of all tenants.

The key vote on the Demolition Ordinance will be the one by the Planning Commission on November 6. BTU will be calling all tenants to come out to the meeting. We need Planning on our side to save Berkeley from the bulldozer.

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Demolition Ordinance to Housing Commission ThursdayBerkeley’s Housing Advisory Commission (HAC) will consider several hot issues at their meeting on Thursday September 12, including mandatory retrofits of seismically unsafe apartment buildings and alarming changes to the demolition ordinance which would threaten rent control and lead to evictions.

The HAC will also hear an update about the exciting new program that offers energy efficient upgrades to tenants and landlords, a proposed ordinance declaring mold unhealthy in rental units, and changes to the affordable housing fees developers of new buildings must pay to offset the impact of unaffordable units on the community.

TENANTS, Come Out and Have Your Say!

South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis Street, at 7 PM Thursday

Demolition Ordinance
The Berkeley NAACP joined with other organizations like BTU and the Sierra Club in opposing new drafts of the Demolition Ordinance which don’t require rent controlled apartments be replaced with units affordable to low-income residents.

The Berkeley NAACP top priority recommendation in the Housing category for the report from their summer Town Hall meeting was, “Demolition Ordinance will include the replacement of all affordable housing that is demolished.” Unfortunately, there is a new draft of the demo ordinance that came out on August 30 which would allow developers to tear down rent controlled units, even those which are occupied or in good condition, and not replace them. The new draft allows developers to pay an unspecified fee which could be changed by City Council at any time.

BTU is standing by our request that Council approve the June 4th compromise draft, and we are still collecting signatures for our petition, which we will also present to the HAC.

https://www.change.org/petitions/berkeley-city-council-preserve-affordable-housing

NAACP Town Hall report: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/uploadedFiles/Planning_and_Development/Level_3_-_LPC/Item%2012.A.2_NAACP%20Corrospondance.pdf

Seismic Retrofits
BTU is determined that tenants should not be forced to pay a rent increase just because their building will stand up for 3-5 more seconds in a major earthquake.

Mold
Right now, Berkeley Housing Code Enforcement can’t cite for mold in apartment buildings because even severe mold, which causes asthma and other health problems, is not defined in our city codes as a hazard. This new law is based on one that has protected San Francisco tenants for years.

If you can’t come to the Housing Commission meeting Thursday, write to them care of kslee@cityofberkeley.info

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Unsafe signOn July 2, the Berkeley City Council voted to postpone discussion of controversial changes to the Zoning law known as the Demolition Ordinance. We now have time to really influence the final form of this regulation.

Public outcry led the Council to make the wise decision not to move forward with the July 2 draft of the ordinance, which would be very bad for tenants. The Berkeley Tenants Union presented a petition with over 130 signatures. It is not too late to sign our petition:

https://www.change.org/petitions/berkeley-city-council-preserve-affordable-housing.

The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, Berkeley Neighborhoods Council, Sierra Club, East Bay Community Law Center and Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board also sent objections — their letters are linked under our July 2 post, below.

Council will now send the proposed changes to the law — which covers why and when residential buildings in Berkeley can be torn down — to the Housing Advisory Commission and the Planning Commission. The Council did not react to a request during public comment by Rent Board Chair Lisa Stephens that the Ordinance also be sent back to the 4×4 Committee. The 4×4 is where the changes have been discussed for the past three years – that committee is made up of four Rent Board Commissioners and four City Council members, including the Mayor.

The Housing Advisory Commission has already scheduled review of the Ordinance for their meeting on Thursday, July 11, at the North Berkeley Senior Center, MLK & Hearst, at 7 PM.

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin also requested that staff report back to the City Council on issues raised by the public regarding the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Berkeley’s Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance (NPO).

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Your home could be next!
Your home could be next!

The Berkeley City Council is considering revisions to the Demolition Ordinance which would make it easy to tear down rent controlled apartments – if they are empty! This will lead to evictions and tenant harassment.

Suddenly on June 11, the Council voted to consider last-minute amendments to revisions of the Ordinance which are so substantial, they amount to a re-write of the draft.  If these changes are approved on July 2, the resulting ordinance will undermine rent control.

The proposed changes come directly from requests by developer Equity Residential – Berkeley’s largest landlord – and other speculators. Council will consider them despite the strong support from tenants, the Rent Board and the Planning Commission for the June 4 draft, which provided permanently affordable housing to replace empty units.

The most important thing you can do right now is get friends to

SIGN OUR ONLINE PETITION!

https://www.change.org/petitions/berkeley-city-council-preserve-affordable-housing

We also advise tenants to write to Council, and attend the meeting July 2. There is much at stake.

  • Say you support the Berkeley Tenants Union position on Item 17, the Demolition Ordinance.
  • State that no occupied units should be eliminated for any reason.
  • Emphasize that units emptied via the Ellis Act cannot be eliminated.
  • Ask that demolished empty units be replaced with permanently affordable housing.
  • Point out that a mitigation fee will not meet our housing needs soon enough.
  • Argue that this new draft will violate the Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance.

Contact Berkeley City Council – please cc info@berkeleytenants.org
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Roster.aspx

Item 17 July 2, 2013 (bad amendments):
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Clerk/City_Council/2013/07Jul/Documents/2013-07-02_Item_17_Zoning_Amendments.aspx

June 4 draft changes (good compromise):
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Clerk/City_Council/2013/06Jun/Documents/2013-06-04_Item_24_Zoning_Amendments_to_BMC.aspx

1973 Neighborhood Preservation Ordinance (still the law of the land)
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/uploadedFiles/Rent_Stabilization_Board/Level_3_-_General/7.a.6_Very%20old%20copy%20of%20Neighborhood%20Pres.%20Ordinance.pdf

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► This week’s fire at the Nash Hotel should remind us that the tenants from the buildings that burned on Telegraph Avenue and Dwight Way in late 2011 are still fighting to get their due. Replacements for both buildings are winding their way through Berkeley’s permit maze, but the City’s rules exempt these buildings from any affordable housing fees UNLESS the landlord was at fault for the damage. Since it was reported that the fire alarms were disconnected at the Lakireddy-owned building on Dwight, and tenants at the Haste-Telegraph Sequoia building have a lawsuit against the owner, fault is still being investigated. The 2227 Dwight property was at the Zoning Board on Thursday June 13, but there has been no press coverage. The Zoning Board granted the owner’s permit.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=8575386

http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_23446113/tuesday-fire-at-downtown-berkeley-hotel-causes-at

► The Berkeley Housing Authority took back 14 rental assistance vouchers they had already given to low-income families, and suspended the list of those who can get Section 8 assistance in the future, due to funding cuts from the federal government:

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/06/09/18738201.php

►As reported earlier, Berkeley Property Owners Association President Sid Lakireddy has filed a lawsuit against the four candidates for Rent Board chosen at the Tenant Convention in 2012. Another article on this lawsuit was published recently:

http://www.dailycal.org/2013/06/02/berkeley-city-officials-file-an-appeal-in-response-to-decision-in-defamation-lawsuit/

Everest Properties Vandalizes Its Own City Landmark
Everest Properties Vandalizes Its Own City Landmark

►A Lakireddy family property on Haste was also in the news:

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2013-05-31/article/41107?headline=Everest-Properties-Vandalizes-Its-Own-City-Landmark–By-Daniella-Thompson

► Although the City Council considered revision to the Demolition Ordinance again on June 11, and the suggestions just keep getting worse for tenants and advocates of affordable housing, there were no news stories on the latest developments. BTU will post again when the Council calendars the next round of debate – it is expected for July 2nd. Several leaders are calling for Council to send the new draft back to the Planning Comission – since the proposal they approved wasn’t so much amended as replaced!! Video of the latest changes can be viewed on the City website – discussion started just after 9:45 PM on June 11.

www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Agenda_Index.aspx

► There has also been no news on the State of California investigation of fair election law violations by the faux-tenant slate, Tenants United for Fairness. When Berkeley’s Fair Campaign Practices Commission issued the landlord-backed candidates the second-largest election fine in Berkeley history last month, FCPC stated that there is an ongoing investigation at the state level.

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/05/20/landlord-backed-group-fined-for-campaign-violations/

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DemolitionThe Berkeley City Council is moving forward with changes to the demolition ordinance. The good news is that the Planning Department and the Rent Board have agreed on changes that almost make tenant activists happy. The bad news? Judging by comments made by Maio and Wengraf at the May 21 hearing on 2517 Regent Street, the pro-development Council majority plans to reject or water down the tenant protections the Rent Board and Planning negotiated.

BTU NEEDS YOU TO WRITE to the whole Council immediately!

We also hope you will come and speak on Tuesday June 4. Sometimes it seems it is harder for the Council to vote against the public when we are looking them in the eye.

  • Say you support the Berkeley Tenants Union position on Item 24, the Demo Ord.
  • State that no occupied units should be eliminated for any reason.
  • Emphasize that units emptied via the Ellis Act cannot be eliminated.
  • Ask that demolished units be replaced with permanently affordable housing.
  • Remind them that converting a duplex to a single family is still an elimination of a unit of affordable housing because of rent control. Ask that this type of demolition also be regulated and their impact on affordable housing stock mitigated.

If the Clerk gets letters or emails on Thursday the 30th, the correspondence will actually get delivered to Council before the meeting. If he gets them later than that, they get handed to our elected leaders at 7 PM, just before the meeting begins. If you write on Friday or Monday, please send them directly to each Council member as well as the address for the Clerk (see link below).

Contact Berkeley City Council:
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Clerk/City_Council/City_Council__Roster.aspx

Council Item 24:
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Clerk/City_Council/2013/06Jun/Documents/2013-06-04_Item_24_Zoning_Amendments_to_BMC.aspx