Hello RENT BOARD! Hello KALX!

*** Our Rent Board Slate Won!
*** Jesse Luscious back on KALX!


*** Our Rent Board Slate Won!

Thank you for all of your good wishes, volunteer hours, and donations to the Progressive Rent Board slate! It paid off as the 5 of us were handily elected to the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board. We will be sworn into office in early December.

#/votes %/votes
Nicole Drake 19256 18.13
Igor Tregub 19138 18.02
Judy E. Shelton 18691 17.59
Jack Harrison 16660 15.68
Jesse Townley 14170 13.34

The local election results mostly hewed to my endorsements, which was a pleasant (& rare!) surprise. The only close Berkeley race that so far isn't going my way is the hard fought District 5 race between Sophie Hahn (yay!) and Councilmember Laurie Capitelli.

With 6,660 ballots counted (absentee & provisional ballots are still being counted) Capitelli has a 400 vote lead. In 2004, 7,700 people voted on this race, and with this year's record turnout the vote total could easily go above 8,000. That said, 400 votes will be tough to make up for Sophie. Regardless of the outcome, she's happy that her supporters proved that there is much more diversity in opinion in our district than previously thought.

Like anyone with half a brain, I'm extremely relieved that McCain/Palin did not win the Presidency. I'm guardedly optimistic about Obama/Biden. The giddiness & joy that swept the streets Tuesday night was intoxicating. We watched the crowd outside of the Guerilla Cafe break into a spontaneous singing of "The Star Spangled Banner" after the night's hip-hop djs finished their set. People were blocking the streets in joy, not in anger or frustration.

Speaking of frustration- with all the good news locally (Jesse Arreguin in District 4!), state-wide, and nationally, one measure- Proposition 8- reminds us that we still have a fair ways to travel until we get to a truly just society. Updates on fighting for equal treatment under the law can be found here http://www.noonprop8.com/ and here http://www.aclunc.org/


*** Jesse Luscious back on KALX!

That's right, I'm back on the air as DJ Jesse Luscious, every Tuesday morning 6-9am, on KALX, 90.7 FM & streamed live at http://kalx.berkeley.edu The 1st show is Veteran's Day so tune in for at least a set or 2 of relevant tuneage.

Thanks to everyone who donated during our recent annual fundraiser- you truly ROCK! If you missed the programming, no worries. You can donate here:
http://givetocal.berkeley.edu/browse/?u=KALX%20Radio