TL;DR - Support a 10 unit apartment building in a wealthy, exclusionary neighborhood by signing this petition, emailing the Berkeley Zoning Adjustments Board (zab@cityofberkeley.info) and calling into a public comment session at 6PM on October 28th!

October 2021 Update:

Almost a year ago, NIMBYs filed an appeal to the city council to try and stop these homes from being built. Now, this project is moving on to the Zoning Adjustments Board where we have another chance to make sure this housing gets built in an exclusionary neighborhood. Join your fellow East Bay YIMBYs to support this important project!

TAKE ACTION:  

Step 1) Sign this petition!

Step 2) Email the the ZAB, City Clerk, and City Planner at zab@cityofberkeley.info, clerk@cityofberkeley.info, and NArmour@cityofberkeley.info to express your support for this project

Step 3) Public Comment: The City Council is meeting at 6PM on Thursday, October 28th to discuss this project - please dial in and express your support for 1915 Berryman and your support for building more housing!

Why is this important?:

Building housing in exclusionary neighborhoods is one of the most important ways that we can fight the legacy of redlining and housing segregation that drives inequality today. On August 4, 2020, we were disappointed to learn that a proposed 10-unit project in North Berkeley, California, which would include 1 very low income unit, is being delayed by a potential landmark designation of the vacant house currently sitting on the property at 1915 Berryman St, known as “The Payson House.” The 10-home project would be the first apartment complex built in the neighborhood since the 1960s. Even more disappointing is the fact that former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Berkeley Professor Robert Reich is among those in favor of the landmark designation of The Payson House and consequently opposed to the new construction.

On the same day that Professor Reich submitted a letter to the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission opposing the construction of new housing - which would include low-income housing - in his neighborhood, he published an article entitled, Time to Invest in Affordable Housing and Education, Not Tear Gas, Batons, and State-Sanctioned Murder. In the article, Professor Reich states that, “This moment calls on us to relinquish social control and ramp up our commitment to social investment.” Unfortunately, blocking the construction of new housing in an exclusionary neighborhood exhibits exactly the kind of “social control” that Professor Reich proclaims to resist.

Furthermore, one must consider the exclusionary history of this neighborhood in Berkeley that has used zoning as a form of "social control" to keep the neighborhood wealthy and White. Looking at the neighborhood's demographics, it is 74% White, only 1% Black, and has a median household income of $140k. Neighborhoods like this using "historic preservation" as an excuse to keep more diverse and lower income residents out is a form of racism that should be unacceptable in today's society.  

Even the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission Staff notes that, “While the Payson House has discernible character and feeling, and a direct association with the building firm Lord and Boynton ... it possesses limited other aspects of integrity. Most importantly, it lacks the aspects of design, materials and workmanship that are necessary for any structure to exhibit historical significance related to its architecture.” Given the severity of our housing crisis and the need for more homes in exclusionary neighborhoods with good transit options, the staff's lukewarm assessment of the house is clearly not justification for preventing more homes from being built.  

Housing activists are asking Professor Reich and other North Berkeley residents to recognize that the severity of the housing crisis demands that people relent from abusing the landmarks designation process, which in this case has clearly become nothing short of an obstructionist delay tactic, and instead focus on driving equity by building more housing in exclusionary neighborhoods.