Eradicate the CDFA and USDA and leave us alone already!
Peace and Justice Commission
Monday April 7
around 8 pm
North Berkeley Senior Center
Via the Berkeley Peace and Justice Commission we have our very strong resolution going before the Berkeley City Council this Monday evening! We need you all to come, and if you cannot be there in person (or also) to email and call. Info included below.
While we had prepared it in the Whereas/ Therefore be it resolved
format, BCC has recently asked for resolutions to be presented differently, more
straightforwardly, in a few paragraph form. So we will take the content of our
full resolution which can be presented to municipalities; unions; school boards;
organizations; employers, etc, and put it into paragraph form of:
1) Recommendations; 2) Background; 3) Current situation.
The Recommendations are that BCC oppose the USDA/CDFA pesticide program to eradicate the LBAM and that BCC demand that the USDA downgrade the pest classification of LBAM to reflect the lack of risk it poses.
This is, essentially, what the East Bay Regional Parks District union voted to pass Wednesday night, and they specifically added a preamble about safeguarding their rangers and other workers, and the people who use the parks, recognizing that this program has people scared and if it goes further will keep people home, inside, rather than out in the parks.
Part of the reason for pursuing this is to put the BCC appropriately on the spot to influence their leadership of the lawsuit. At the moment, they are focusing on the East Bay, and we want them to reflect that this is a statewide program and a lawsuit needs to reflect that we need to protect everyone in the state and that, we understand that we are not safe in the EB if the program continues unabated elsewhere.
TIME/LOCATION: Expected to be heard about 8 pm; at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Heart St., at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, about a block North of University. Easy 10-minute walk from Downtown Berkeley BART station.