Ben Bartlett, Berkeley City Council

Thank you .eth for inviting me to speak, I had great time to discuss innovation way of housing to combat our homelessness crisis.

Another phenomenal MLK Jr. Day program in the City of Piedmont presented by the Piedmont Anti-Racism & Diversity Committee!

Great getting to sit down with leaders from and

Keep up the inspiring work!

Happy New Year!

So saddened to hear this:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=754448700059694&id=100064837114860&mibextid=Nif5oz

My deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the late Office Tuan Le.

Thank you for your service Officer Le.

In Loving Memory of Officer Tuan Le

It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of Officer Tuan Le, a dedicated public servant, loving husband, and a cherished member of the Oakland community. Officer Le was killed in the line of duty today, December 29, 2023, at 8:44 a.m. Officer Le was surrounded by his wife, mother, and members of his OPD family when he died.

On June 1, 1987, Officer Le was born in Saigon Vietnam, before later moving to Oakland and being naturalized on September 11, 2001.

On February 21, 2020, Officer Le graduated from the 183rd Police Academy, beginning a journey of public service to his community that lasted nearly four years.

For the past two years, Officer Le served as the Community Resource Officer (CRO) in West Oakland, where he devoted himself to strengthening the bond between law enforcement and the residents of Oakland. His tireless efforts in fostering positive relationships made a lasting impact.

Officer Le was a devoted husband to his wife. His passing leaves a void in the law enforcement community, the city of Oakland, and in the hearts of those who knew him. He will be remembered for his kindness, his smile, and the positive change he brought to the lives of those around him. He is a true hero who dedicated his life to making our community safer.

Officer Le is the 54th Oakland Police Officer killed in the line of duty serving the residents of Oakland.

Merry Christmas!

Congratulations to on their 10th anniversary!

Had a blast this past Sunday at the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program Campaign Launch!

Please help out by donating here:
https://www.committeeforberkeleypublicschools.org/donate

I would like to invite you to join me in helping renew the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program (BSEP)!

The BSEP will be on the ballot this March for voter renewal!
The campaign kick-off is tomorrow, Sunday, December 3rd, at 3 PM at Spat’s, 1974 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704.

Since it was established in 1986 as a community response to school funding shortages caused by Proposition 13, BSEP has had a significant impact on the quality of education for our children. This special local tax, which had a thirty-year track record of success, was placed on the November 2016 ballot in Berkeley under the name Measure E1, the Berkeley Public Schools Educational Excellence Act of 2016. It was approved by nearly 89% of the electorate and subsequently extended for an additional eight years.

The BSEP Measure of Berkeley stipulates the permitted uses of the funds and mandates substantial community participation in the planning and oversight of expenditures. BSEP has been an enormous success; therefore, it is time to renew it.

I appreciate your support of our students and schools. I look forward to seeing you at the kickoff!

You can get your tickets here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfuUhvKCb9x6IfKv5dqJ7FBX_LAAHfjHvxT-Bqi5WpUSctCSw/viewform

CaDem Convention 2023

Celebrating young people in leadership at the East Bay Young Democrats Annual Gala!

Proud to support the library workers at bargaining meeting earlier today.

Standing with !

Happy 😊

Birthday + New Instagram Account! Please follow

Thank you Mayor Jesse Arreguín for hosting this year's event at Ed Roberts Campus in South Berkeley. I am honored to represent South Berkeley and show the great work the City of Berkeley that we have champtioned to address inequity, foster innovation and support ALL of our beautiful and diverse Berkeley Communities during this year's State of the City Address.

A healthcare worker strike right now is the last thing our communities need. I urge Kaiser Permanente to stop their unfair labor practices and bargain in good faith! Kaiser Permanente Thrive

Congrats to Berkeley High School’s Junior Jackets for winning their football game!

Let’s go!

Thank you East Bay Now for inviting me to your evening celebrating East Bay innovation of now and the future. This signature event brought together trailblazing companies and organizations from across Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

New program launches for non-police mental health crisis response Berkeley's Specialized Care Unit offers non-police help for mental health and substance use crises, promoting outreach and dialogue. Call (510) 948-0075. People in Berkeley suffering a mental health or substance use crisis – or those seeking to help them – now have another option to get in-perso...

Join Dispatches Magazine at its Launch Party for Issue 04: The Postwar, featuring live music, conversation, drinks, and a raffle! 🗞️ 🎶 🗣️ 🥃 🎟️

Sunday, August 6 | 4 - 7 pm
2727 California Street

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dispatches-magazine-issue-04-launch-party-tickets-678991049507

Join us at National Night Out, tonight, Tuesday, August 1st from 5:00pm - 7:00pm for an evening of fun, socializing, and community building! There will be food, games, and music to enjoy. Meet your neighbors, share ideas, and participate in activities designed to bring people together and make our community a better place. We look forward to seeing you there! See full list of participants for Berkeley’s 2023 National Night Out:
https://berkeleypd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/aaf21f4d73ff47f8a258896cd1cefb0a

ArcGIS Dashboards ArcGIS Dashboards

I had the privilege of getting to meet with resident artists in their live-work housing spaces at The Oakland Cannery. I was fortunate enough to be given a tour of this unique space which decorated with decades of history memorialized through art.

Check out more information here: https://www.theoaklandcannery.com/

Thank you all for coming out yesterday for Berkeley Juneteenth Festival!

It was an honor to host the celebration in District 3, a historically black district that has been a community of warriors in our ongoing fight for equity in the Bay Area.

I am humbled by the turn out from the community including constituents, black vendors and community leaders. It was a privilege to meet with many of you yesterday as we celebrated this important day in our community.

A special heartfelt thank you to the Berkeley Juneteenth Planning Committee for making this celebration such a success!

Also, keep an eye out for the two new businesses that have broken ground in the community: the up-and-coming restaurant Roses on Adeline Bar and Kitchen and Red Bay Coffee, a black-owned, local Bay Area chain that has opened their newest location in Berkeley’s District 3!

TODAY, Saturday, June 4, 2022 from 12-1:30 pm!

We will be holding a virtual town hall on the recent acts at Berkeley High School:
https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/92388527908

In recent weeks, we've seen a very public su***de, attempted murder, and now an attempted act of terrorism.
What is going on?
Let's come together and hear each other's thoughts, and learn how to take decisive action on how to prevent more tragedies and violence among our youth.

Panelist:
Ben Bartlett, Berkeley Councilmember
Terry Taplin, Berkeley Councilmember
Laura Babitt, Berkeley School Board Member
Jessica Perry, Berkeley Police Department
Byron White, Berkeley Police Department
Caroline Mok, Clinical and Forensic Psychologist
Veronica Cervantes Wefers, Somatic Psychotherapist
Dr. Hannah Alia Joharchi, Psychologist & Therapist
YOU!

I am proud to announce that on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, the Berkeley City Council passed the first phase of Berkeley Reparations. The Berkeley Reparations item is the first step in addressing the economic injury experienced by Berkeley's descendants of slavery and the ongoing harm caused to all African Americans by systems that uphold the legacy of segregation. I wanted to share with you my remarks:

Throughout history, in civilizations around the world, we find certain universal laws. One of these is The Law of Compensation. And it is quite simple -- people are compensated for their efforts and contributions.

But here, Government and Private Industry have not only failed to compensate millions of Americans whose labor enriched this country, but they went a step further and cemented these people and their descendants in poverty. The key element maintaining stratification is the inability to acquire and transfer wealth.

Now, this past year we've had conversations on redlining, exclusionary zoning, and discrimination in city contracting. But we are not alone. Just weeks ago, Wells Fargo, who we bank with, was again implicated in endemic and pervasive housing discrimination. It continues.

It's not equitable, it's not fair, and if left unchecked, could subsume us all. America was once known for social mobility, now, we have less upward mobility than the European Union and the UK, and they still have kings and queens! America is frozen with stratification because this group of people is trapped in poverty.

All of our work here at Council —housing, healthcare, public safety, transportation — We are essentially trying to find a way to amend, correct, and find workarounds for this American Caste system. A Caste system that we did not create, but we have it. Our children demand Change.

This item presents a framework to take us beyond reaction and complaint into the true repair for the person and the community.

Even though we are a small city and we don't have the resources to act as the federal government. And truly pay people what they deserve. I believe we have the thought power and the moral conviction to inspire the community and inform the national conversation.

Thank you for your support.
——
Special thank you to our co-sponsored by Mayor Jesse Arreguín, Councilmember Sophie Hahn, and Councilmember Terry Taplin, and the Berkeley City Council for passing our Berkeley Repeartions Item.
The Berkeley Reparations item is a budget item that will fund a Consultant to design a process in developing recommendations for reparation policies in Berkeley designed to promote the creation of generational wealth and boost economic mobility, and opportunity in Berkeley's African American community. Through the process, the consultant will:

Inform - Hold a series of educational events and truth-telling symposiums on Berkeley History with residents, economists, and historians. Subject matter experts will employ financial and historical data to illuminate the generational wealth gap describe barriers to economic mobility faced by Berkeley's African American community.
Interact - Host an interactive dialogue among community members from different perspectives, centered on the community's historical experiences and current conditions.
Recommend - Deliver policy recommendations to achieve economic reparations for Berkeley's Descendants of Slavery.
We will continue to keep you posted as this progress develops.

Photo credit: Todd Matthews

In honor of the last day of Black History Month, our office has introduced legislation creating a Framework for Reparations in Berkeley, so that our future is better than our past!

Special thank yous to Mayor Jesse Arreguín, Councilmember Sophie Hahn, and Councilmember Terry Taplin.

The last time I saw our constituent Margy Wilkinson before she passed away, she asked me to bring Reparations to Berkeley.
I will fight to fulfill that promise.

All Doors Open!

Final Berkeley Reparations Item February 2022 Correct Year.pdf