Berkeley Downtown Area Plan Referendum, 2010
| Not on Ballot |
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| This measure was not put on an election ballot |
A Berkeley Downtown Area Plan Referendum has collected sufficient signatures to qualify for a spot on a 2010 ballot in Alameda County for voters in the City of Berkeley.[1][2]
The Berkeley City Council passed a Downtown Area Plan on July 14, 2009. The plan will regulate downtown area development over the next two decades. Berkeley was required to come up with a plan in a court settlement of a lawsuit Berkeley filed against University of California expansion.[3]
A group called "Alliance for a Green and Livable Downtown" objects to the plan. They began circulating a veto referendum to collect enough signatures to force the Downtown Area Plan onto the ballot, so Berkeley's voters can have the final say on it. The group had to collect 5,558 signatures, or lose their chance to contest the plan through the veto referendum process. 9,200 signatures were submitted.[1]
Interference with circulators
- See also: Petition blocking
Circulators asking passers-by at the Farmers’ Market in downtown Berkeley were met with petition blockers, according to a report by Becky O'Malley of the Berkeley Daily Planet. She wrote:
- A fellow at one end of the row of market food stalls politely offered me a petition to sign, but before I could even read it a shrill woman thrust her face in front of mine, imploring me not to sign, to hear “the other side.”[4]
O'Malley said she wanted to know, "Who are these people, anyhow? Why do they think they have the right to interfere with Berkeley’s cherished tradition of peacefully settling disputes at the ballot box or in print instead of in shouting matches?"[4]
Planning Commissioner Patti Dacey said that during the petition drive, opponents came to those locations whether circulators were asking people to sign the petition and they would "loom over you. They physically stand between you and the potential signer, and won’t let you talk to them. I’ve never seen tactics like this before."[3]
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Berkeley Daily Planet, "Just what happened to that referendum anyway?" October 1, 2009
- ↑ Daily Californian, "Downtown Area Plan Faces Possible Suspension," August 3, 2009
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Berkeley Daily Planet, "Bitter Petition Campaign Ends, City Awaits Fate Of Downtown Plan," August 20, 2009
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Berkeley Daily Planet, "Preserving the Marketplace of Ideas," August 13, 2009
