REQUEST: Support for Terminating Berkeley's Opt Out Process from Residential Street Sweeping Program, Northern Alameda County Group Sierra Club Executive Committee, September 21, 1997 From: Ben Brandzel and David Tam
On January 19, 1995, the Berkeley Public Works Commission voted unanimously to recommend the following:
Eliminate the opt out process of the Residential Street Sweeping Program (SSP) within the next six months and implement a comprehensive, city-wide street sweeping program to include all publicly maintained streets in Berkeley.
This controversial matter could be voted upon by the Berkeley City Council as early as Tuesday, October 7. Candidates for Berkeley City Council in 1996 were evaluated based on their positions on this issue (as well as eight others).
We have enclosed as a three-page document the executive summary of the Berkeley Public Works Commission's 49-page report. A full copy will be available at the meeting, as will L A Wood, a West Berkeley citizen advocate and video producer who has written and lobbied effectively for several years on this issue.
We have also excerpted the preamble and three most pertinent sections of the Sierra Club's national Water Policy, and attached it as a one-page document. The key section, Water Quality, advocates in part
The Clean Water Act should be aggressively enforced by all agencies with water management responsibilities and should not be weakened. Point-source pollution should be eliminated, best management practices for air and water-borne pollutants should be developed, and adequate funding should be provided to implement control of non-point sources.
Best Management Practices (BMP) proposed for all cities in the Storm Water Management Plan of Alameda County's Urban Runoff Clean Water Program include "...improv[ing} their existing programs so that rather than sweeping solely for aesthetic reasons, sweeping is also conducted at strategic times to control urban runoff pollution. This may include implementation of parking restrictions on specific days to maximize sweeping effectiveness."
Unfortunately, both in 6% of Berkeley (81 blocks out of about 1350, concentrated in Council Districts 1 and 5) and about 200 of 2700 blocks in Oakland (distribution unknown), residents have been allowed to do their own sweeping to avoid moving their vehicles, which are the main sources of copper, zinc, lead and other runoff pollutants. Compliance is probably superficial; the two cities don't budget for monitoring other than through parking enforcement in the non-exempt neighborhoods. This is an environmental injustice.
Examine central Issues of Opt Out, Berkeley Voice
L A Wood, June 9, 1994
Editor:
Your article, "Council Reneges on Opt Out Program for Street Sweeping" (Voice, May 16) will undoubtedly add some confusion to the debate over street sweeping. You seem to have missed the central issue in the residential sweeping exemption program called "opt out."
Although you elicited comments from Councilmember Dean, you failed to point out the source of her resistance to a more democratic, citywide sweep. Her district represents the majority of the exempted streets in Berkeley. The effectiveness of street sweepers or what type of equipment to use, is beside the point. This one is about votes, not the environment. And this has made Berkeley's opt out for street sweeping program "district exclusive."
You also mention that council had instituted a moratorium on any more streets dropping out, but nowhere do you mention that the fairness of this exemption has been called to task. Or that when a program reflects such selective participation, it constitutes nothing more than elitist attitudes and blatant environmental racism.
However, is was clearly pointed out, that Dean was in search of any "criteria" which would allow her district to be grand fathered in. This variance from sweeping will only serve to institutionalize such discriminatory practices in our eco-city.
And finally, you were absolutely remiss in not contacting yours truly, given the over 19 months of activism I have spent on this specific issue in Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda County. In that period of time, I gave public comment, exceeding one hour (in three minute, weekly sound bites) to Berkeley's council, two commission presentations, and a wealth of written literature and council communications (probably a record from one resident). In addition, I was named in the original council referral from Mayor Hancock, and in the most recent council information item from Councilmember Spring to rescind opt out. Maybe next time.
