Dear City Council,
I am a resident in the area impacted by Chief Sprague’s EMBER proposal.
I appreciate the BFD’s focus on preventing wildfire spread so we can spare homes, save lives and protect the rest of the city. I agree with Chief Sprague that we have a moral imperative to do something now to avoid the harm we can all foresee. We have just seen in Los Angeles what could happen to all of us in any fall season in the areas near Tilden Park. Chief Sprague’s proposal is about saving lives - both the lives of residents and the lives of firefighters who put themselves at risk to fight fires. For that reason, I fully support his proposals.
As I understand the science and the proposal, the best way to prevent wildfire spread is to ensure that the largest possible contiguous area of land observes the Zone Zero rules. Given permitting rules of the past, our area has fencing and vegetation right next to structures and in some cases the owners of the fencing and vegetation are not the owners of the structures. Please make sure that future clearing rules include any combustible material within 5 feet of structures regardless of ownership. Please also ensure that it is possible to fully enforce the rules. We need to fully implement the Zone Zero requirements for the most effective fire mitigation results.
I also fully support Council Member Blackaby’s proposals in item 1D to update red curbs & no parking zones and to increase enforcement. I ask the City Council to require Public Works to inspect and enforce both parking restrictions and public right of ways to increase the odds of us being able to evacuate the Berkeley Hills in an emergency including in areas with no sidewalks. We need Public Works to enforce these public right of ways to ensure smooth traffic flow. This may be an issue of life or death for many of us.
I support restrictions on parking to ensure better traffic flow. I also support off-street parking requirements for all residences in the Berkeley Hills. We can’t all bike or walk everywhere and public transit is virtually nonexistent here. So cars are a necessity. The streets are narrow. In a fire emergency we need to be able to get out. This requires keeping our streets accessible. No one plans an emergency so the policies need to take account of the risk of unplanned evacuations.
Finally, I would like to request that the city expedite permits for wildfire mitigation work, for residents of all Berkeley Fire Zones. We are, naturally, expected to fire-harden our homes and properties. This is a simple step the city can take, that costs nothing, to support us.
Thank you,
(your name)
(Your address)
sent to council@berkeleyca.gov