Thanks to Kathy A, Kathy R, Bill B, Robin, Joan, and Dennis Black from Michigan Ave for attending. Special thanks to Kathy A for organizing and to Robin for hosting.
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Here’s the link to Chris Cullander’s very useful maps of all the Firewise communities in Berkeley: Firewise in East Bay Hills as of 1/20/25 About eight of these are in our immediate area and participated in the Berkeley Firewise Leader Network (BFLN) inaugural meeting on February 4.
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Other useful links:
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The Berkeley City Council meeting video for Feb 11 Special Council EMBER presentation is found HERE. The EMBER presentation itself is 45 minutes, and the remainder is public comments.
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I will invite District 5 Councilmember Shoshana O’Keefe to the March 12 BFLN meeting, but not to any NBH steering committee meeting (we’ll schedule one first!). I’ll let you know what I hear.
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District 6 Councilmember Brent Blackaby replied to my request for information on how FF Funds might be used for Berkeley Path upgrades, including our Boynton Path. He said we would “most likely” be able to access FF funds for Path repair. He added that “…under Measure FF, the primary guidance for funding prioritization and allocation is based on a connection to an existing City infrastructure plan (e.g., the Bike Plan, Vision Zero, etc.). Within that framework, a nexus could likely be established to demonstrate that any City-owned pathways qualify as an eligible FF expenditure. However, given the prioritization criteria we expect to establish, safety improvements in high-pedestrian-traffic areas will likely take precedence. Further work is needed to develop a long-term plan to identify and prioritize projects. We recently initiated the development of a Measure FF Program Manual and Matrix, which we plan to present to the Oversight Committee (once established) and City Council in late spring or summer of this year. I will stay on this from my end.”
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Joan and I will act as the BFLN liaisons. I plan to attend regularly and I know Joan hopes to as well, subject to her busy schedule (which I’m sure is pretty demanding these days). I travel alot but we’ll make it work.
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Dennis Black and I will discuss further the topic of Michigan Ave’s joining NBHFC under a separate email thread - let me know if any of you want to participate or be CC’ed, otherwise I’ll update everyone as needed.
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Just to reiterate the point I made at the end of our meeting, the March 8 Evacuation Workshop that the Berkeley Woods FWC is planning can count as partial fulfillment of the current year’s portion of our 3 Year Action Plan. As you know I’m unable to attend but hope our participation can be documented for this year’s Renewal Application. Participation is open to all in our group, Michigan Ave or anywhere in North Berkeley Hills. Robin stated his intention to attend. Perhaps he or Luke can report on the outcome. More info is forthcoming from the Berkeley Woods group.
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Kathy A and I will look into using listservs as a group communication aid for NBH (not the larger coalition).
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There is still more to work out regarding a BFLN website that serves NBH and other FWCs (FireWise Communities). Perhaps we’ll know more about BFLN’s website plans after March 12.
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Updates on Firewise signage for our expanded group will be covered in a separate email very shortly.
In closing, here is the City Council Special Meeting Report on the February 11 EMBER Presentation summarizing the proposed Fire Code Amendments. It is a 15 page document with two attachments, including the actual text of the proposed code changes. If you want to know where Berkeley’s codes, wildfire policy and the hills neighborhoods are likely headed, it’s all here, along with some surprising and important observations (just one example: “When it comes to mitigations against wildfire loss, both NIST and IBHS agree that something is not better than nothing”) If you read nothing else in this important document, read “CONSIDERATIONS FOR COUNCIL” at the bottom of page 14.
Notes prepared by Bill Pottinger