Welcome to the Fall 2026 edition of Berkeley Speaks.

There’s already a chill in the air as September grinds to a close. The impending elections could make things better—or a whole lot worse.

In this edition we cover two main threads. First, we’ll look at the Berkeley election, asking fundamental questions about the role of leadership, democracy, social justice and inclusive government in our city.

• We have invited a number of council candidates who are new to the Berkeley political scene to share thoughts on how they would make both social justice and community inclusion the foundation of all of government programs.  See their answers at berkeleyspeaks.org/berkeley-city-council-race-2026-new-faces-emerge/
• There are two Editorials in this edition. In “Berkeley’s Next Council Must Learn How to Govern,” we argue for change in how government itself is done; we make the case that “Fiscal responsibility and compassion are not opposing values.”  See Editorial: berkeleyspeaks.org/berkeleys-next-council-must-learn-to-govern/
• In the second Editorial, “Tell the Truth on Surveillance,” we call for city leaders to hold themselves to a higher standard of truth-telling, in a time when truth, and reality itself, have been discarded nationally. See berkeleyspeaks.org/editorial-i-berkeley-tell-the-truth-on-surveillance/

In a second thread, we begin a series on Berkeley’s struggle with the issue of homelessness.

• We untangle the history and the current status of the conflict in Berkeley’s largest homeless encampment. See berkeleyspeaks.org/three-years-at-eighth-and-harrison/
• For background, we document how homelessness as we know it was created by U.S. government policy. This is a summary of the excellent history by the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP). See berkeleyspeaks.org/the-making-of-homelessness/

To round out the Fall edition, we present two pieces on public health and environmental justice:

• An article from a community member on the fight against coal in Oakland—and Alameda County. See https://berkeleyspeaks.org/no-coal-in-oakland/
• A press statement from the Yes on Measure AA, Berkeley Healthy Child Coalition on the campaign to extend and strengthen the tax on sugary drink distributors. See https://berkeleyspeaks.org/measure-aa-to-extend-berkeleys-tax-on-sugary-drink-distributors/

As always, find a list of urgent action requests at https://berkeleyspeaks.org/berkeley-speaks-list-of-urgent-actions/. At this time, we are highlighting one item: the police request, delayed many times due to united community opposition, to lift restrictions on BPD use of CS (“tear gas”), pepper spray, and smoke. As with the mass surveillance issue, conservatives on the council appear to be rushing this item to a vote before a more police accountability-oriented council may be elected in November.

Scary and exciting times lie ahead. We will keep you posted on developments around mass surveillance, homeless sweeps, and of course the election.

Be sure to let us hear from you at BerkSpeak@gmail.com. Send us your feedback, questions, articles and art!