Protected and expanded affordable housing

• Wrote and passed the Vacancy Tax to encourage owners to bring 4,000 vacant units back on the market.

• Successfully campaigned for the Measure U large landlord tax, reaping $6 million annually in new affordable housing funding.
• Fought to use Measure P funding to tackle homelessness, as the voters intended, instead of diverting it for other purposes.
• Ensured developers pay their fair share toward affordable housing.

Supported workers and local small businesses

• Required scheduling certainty for low-wage workers across the City. When these workers' schedules are changed without notice, they lose critical pay and benefits.
• Passed commercial eviction protections for businesses that suffered COVID losses and funded business damage relief grants.
• Sponsored legislation ensuring that when a business closes in a leased city property, new lessees give workers their jobs back.
• Established succession plans for employee purchases to keep locally owned businesses,  like the Local Butcher Shop, running when owners retire.
• Actively supported worker organizing in the City and at Kaiser and local REI and Starbucks stores

Significantly improved our streets, infrastructure and parks

• Found $8 million per year for road paving without raising taxes. Developed new efficiency and equity criteria to pave roads most in need.
• Advocated for parcel, rather than property taxes, requiring that commercial owners and large commercial parking lots pay more than homeowners for city infrastructure.
• Created a tax on all Uber/Lyft rides for quick-fixes to improve mobility such as upgrading bus stops.
• Improved bike and pedestrian safety on California @ Dwight and on Derby following crashes injuring youth biking to school and trick-or-treating on Halloween.
• Increased funding for our beloved Waterfront, Berkeley's front yard, by $2.5 million per year.
• Dedicated the green area in front of Old City Hall as park space.
• Funded Adopt-a-Spot Volunteer efforts.

Fought global warming and protected our planet

• Transitioned all Berkeley customers to 100% greenhouse-gas free renewable energy. This one change brings Berkeley 20% toward its goal of reducing GHG emissions by 80%.
• Passed the nation’s first requirement to electrify new buildings, now in place in over 60 cities.
• Established the $1.5 million Just Transition Fund for climate equity, helping low-income residents join the green future.
• Worked with East Bay Community Energy to set up electric vehicle fast chargers in public parking lots so that residents and visitors without garages can quickly charge their EVs.
• Required grocery stores to replace pre-checkout plastic bags with compostable bags.
• Created two youth positions on the Climate Commission - it is their future.

Supported the most vulnerable members of our community

• Cosponsored the Specialized Care Unit (SCU) to respond to mental health crises on our streets, freeing up officers to respond to the crime and unsafe driving plaguing our community.
• Funded an assessment of our Behavioral Health Capacity – people need a place to be treated or they will just end up back on our streets.
• Funded job training opportunities for underserved youth at Berkeley Community Media and the U.C. Theater.
• Protected low-income seniors at Harriet Tubman Terrace from landlord abuses.
• Implemented community service instead of punitive fines for minor infractions, to avoid criminalizing poor people.
• Funded domestic violence prevention and support.

Advanced community health

• Fought for Mental Health counselors for Berkeley High School after the tragic deaths of three students.
• Defended full funding for the African American Holistic Resource Center to tackle our huge health disparities for Black residents.
• Championed a first-in-the-nation policy to eliminate soda and candy at checkout aisles in grocery stores.
• Was an early and persistent advocate for violence prevention programs including Cease Fire, the McGee Avenue Baptist Church’s Voices against Violence, and Berkeley Youth Alternatives.

Safeguarded our City's resources

• Limited when City reserves can be spent to provide an adequate cushion against financial crises and improve our bond rating.
• Increased transparency of the budget and reallocated unneeded funds for more pressing needs.
• Required City Manager and Council requests to be considered together for a more accountable budget
• Worked with the City Attorney to ensure that federal American Rescue Act funds promoted equity and sustainability as intended by Congress, not just business as usual.
• Urged the City Auditor to investigate how the $8 million per year in police overtime reduced crime and improved public safety.
• Created citywide criteria to fund community festivals rather than leaving it to Councilmember discretion.

Effectively housed local homeless

• Established the Grayson Street Shelter and RV parking lot bringing 147 people and 50 RVs off of our streets.
• Demanded that Alameda County let our City house Berkeley's homeless first in the housing we fund.
• Expanded employment opportunities for unhoused individuals through the Downtown Streets Team.
• Supported the Good Neighbor policy.

Strengthened our police force by deploying them where they are most needed

• Voted to provide bonuses and increase efforts to hire and retain a full police force.
• Reassigned police away from activities better performed by civilians like analyzing collisions, tagging abandoned vehicles, and supervising crossing guards. Over 80% of current police calls and half of police time are spent on non-criminal matters.
• Reintroduced the Bike Patrol to our Downtown.
• Budgeted equipment to engrave identification numbers on catalytic converters so police can identify their buyers.