SUMMARY

BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2001

[snip proceedings]

New Business:

31. Bombing of Afghanistan

From: Councilmember Spring
Recommendation: 1) Request the City Manager send letters to our elected national representatives asking them to take whatever action they can to cease the bombing of Afghanistan and to seek a legal, nonmilitary resolution; 2) Endorse and send to these officials, the attached letter recently presented by Vice Mayor Shirek to the Congressional Black Caucus, which acknowledges and grieves the tragic events of September 11^th; and 3) adjourn this Council meeting in memory of the innocent civilians in Afghanistan being harmed and made refugees due to the bombing.

Contact: Dona Spring, Councilmember District 4, 981-7140

Actions: Moved, seconded, failed (Armstrong/Olds; Noes – Shirek, Worthington; Abstain – Breland, Hawley, Maio, Olds, Spring, Dean) to commend our elected officials and our President for performing the difficult task of bringing together more than 60 countries to join with us in the fight against terrorism in the world and to ask the City Manager to communicate with our President commending him for refusing to rush into a thoughtless response to the 5000 deaths that occurred on September 11^th, but instead taking the time to bring together an international consensus of countries from Cuba to Canada and from Saudi Arabia to Russia all joining with us in our fight to defeat terrorism worldwide.

Moved, seconded, carried (Shirek/Breland) a revised motion presented by Councilmember Spring to adopt Resolution No. 61,310-N.S. consisting of five parts. The motion was severed and voted on as follows:

1. Condemn the mass murder of thousands of people on September 11, 2001, and express our profound grief at the atrocities last month that killed thousands of innocent people in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania, and acknowledge, honor, and support the heroic rescue efforts on the part of dedicated police and fire departments, and the city, state, and federal governments (Abstain – Armstrong, Hawley, Olds)

2. Ask our representatives to help break the cycle of violence, bringing the bombing to a conclusion as soon as possible, avoiding actions that can endanger the lives of innocent people in Afghanistan, and minimizing the risk to American military personnel (Abstain – Armstrong, Hawley, Olds, Dean)

3. Urge our representatives to concentrate all available resources on bringing to justice all of those who were complicit in last month’s violent attack, and work with international organizations toward the same end (Abstain – Armstrong, Hawley, Olds, Dean)

4. Urge our representatives to devote our government’s best efforts in collaboration with governments throughout the world, to addressing and overcoming those conditions such as poverty, malnutrition, disease, oppression, and subjugation that tend to drive some people to acts of terrorism (Abstain – Armstrong, Hawley, Olds, Dean)

5. Request that we engage in a national campaign to lessen our dependence on oil from the Middle East and to commit to a nationwide conversion to renewable energy sources such as solar and fuel cells, within five years (Abstain – Armstrong, Hawley, Olds)

Book/CDs by Michael E. Eidenmuller, Published by McGraw-Hill (2008)

Text Source: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil/2001citycouncil/summary/101601S.html

Page Updated: 9/20/19

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