Transcript You are almost always right on your policies and positions, not quite a 100%, but almost. And when I've disagreed with you on 1 of your positions, at the same time, I've known that in holding that position, you have the best interest of your constituents in mind. Having said that, I always want your blessings for my items and I have a feeling even when you're off council would probably still behoove us to make sure that our referrals have your approval. I'm so thankful for all your service and for being a friend and mentor to me as I've gotten the hang of being on council. At the same time, I'm glad you'll be getting some much deserved rest and time with your family, though I know you're gonna still be active. Frankly, I wouldn't mind if you become 1 of the folks who comes and comments on nearly every item at every meeting. I think that would help us. But you deserve to enjoy your retirement, so instead I'll just have to ask myself, what would Susan do? From the bottom of my heart, thank you again for everything you've done and do and I wish you and your loved ones, your husband Mark, your grandchildren, your children, and your adorable grandchildren a happy council retirement. Thank you. That was so sweet, council member Humber. WWSD. What would Susan do? I guess, Susan and I will be, enjoying a leisurely dinner during the, council meetings. You know, we made it do some really rigorous times. We absolutely have. And so council member Windgrath, you, were like a living library of everything this council has done, all the rules, you know, the right questions to ask, and I enjoyed working with you. And despite our differences, which on on its surface appear to be many, difference in age, gender, race, geophysical positioning within the city. But but what united us through these years, these 8 years together, was the love of Berkeley, want us to work together. We came together many times, and you supported me. I supported you. We worked on Measure FF for fire. We worked on the fire plan in 2017. We worked on a myriad of issues. And every time you were there to to lend a helping hand and teach me, a plucky kid from the chief of South Berkeley, how to operate and be collaborative and initiate a vision, and we did it over and over again. And you were always steadfast, and you held your ground. And when it made sense, I was with you. And, I don't relish the, the fact that I have to take your position now as the most senior member on the council. Very alarming possibility, eventuality. And I will say again, just, council member Wingraff, it's been wonderful, wonderful experience. You're you're a lover of the arts. We share that, and I've learned so much from you and inspired by you and learned so much. And I'm gonna miss you, And please come around and comment on every item. Shut us down a couple of times. Okay? Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Thank you. And, councilor Mohan. Well, councilor Mahan, what can I say? So going back with 13, 14 years, I think it was, when we first, started coming together, You recruited my wife onto the the the women's commission, and you led the charge to shut down these massage parlors and to take that group, which had been relegated to, you know, 1 of those traditional women's auxiliary type clubs, talking about lace patterns and doing an annual event, to being proactive and producing leaders and making big change and sticking up for women. And, that was incredible. And then I saw you get involved in the downtown plan and all these large scale projects with council member Ara Gein back in the day. And through these years, you and I became so close. And, again, another genius woman here taught me so much and loved working with you through the years. And on council, we came in together on that blue green tide, and, we we brought a new a new energy, a new direction, and I can tell you, working with you and observing your your the power of your intellect is unrivaled. Powerhouse with a a brain and thought structure so massive and so complex, it takes a lot of time to express it in words. A lot of time. Oh my god. Counselor Ron. And, you know, and you're you're you're you're you are of Berkeley. You're a yellow jacket. Cheerleader. You know, you get it. You get what Berkeley is. You get it. It's in your fiber of your DNA. You get it. You express it. You believe in, what makes us unique, what makes us strong, what made us famous throughout the world. You embody that, and you push for that stuff. You go for it. And it's been an honor to support you throughout these this near decade together. And, you know, I'll I'll say this. Yet now that you've, you know, amassed all of your powers and you've you've run a campaign, you've launched out now, you're gonna be, free in the world with these new powers and new energies and new thoughts. You're gonna rest for a while, but I know what's gonna happen. I'm gonna leave you with a poem from my late father, Dale Bartlett. He would say if he were here, life is a river and must run its course, from a trickle to a stream and back to its source. We'll see you again. Farewells are really hard for me, so I'm not gonna say farewell because I hope to continue working with you and seeking your guidance. Councilor Bahan, you when I was first elected, you really embraced me as a colleague. I cherished our walks we would go on. I loved working on a number of my items with you and having you review my items at committee and give your feedback and knowing that I can always come to you for insight. And even when, we didn't agree, you were always willing to hear me out and and make my items better. Like you, I also grew up here in Berkeley, but I've never met anyone in my life who loves Berkeley as much as you do. And I've also never seen someone fight as hard on behalf of the city and its people in the way that you do. I've been so grateful and in awe of your passion, your deep knowledge of history, your championing of affordable housing, everything you've done for the arts community. And as someone who will be the 3rd most senior member of council, I feel so fortunate to have had these last 4 years to learn from you, and so I hope to continue doing doing so. And I hope that you can continue keeping me updated and let me know how I can support you. And, I hope to see, even more of you. And, and thank you for everything you've done for for all of us, for the community, for the city. Thank you for not being, afraid to challenge people and to call people out and to hold us to our better selves and and, you know, doing that for the community as well. And thank you for thinking of not just the good of the city, but also how to make sure that everyone in the city has a beautiful life, that we have beautiful spaces to share, to preserve our culture, to create culture, to work on the world that we all wanna see, and that our community deserves. And I I'm I'm deeply indebted to you for that and for having had that as a as a guiding light, especially through the pandemic and as someone who really, you know, came out of nowhere, didn't know anything when I first got here. So thank you so much. And, Mary Windingroff, I have loved every single day of these last 4 years working with you. Like Ben was saying, you know, we represent 2 very different districts, 2 very different parts of town, but, you we were always able to mutually support 1 other and and our our constituents. And and thank you so much for your your, your commitment to West Berkeley and the waterfront and for the wealth of knowledge that you have and just being able to come to you with all kinds of questions. And and I remember 1 time, it was 1 of my first first, like, doctor referrals. It was, I think you're, you know, you're all gonna laugh at me here. But it was a referral to add some trash cans along from Hill Avenue and it went to, I think, agenda in the rules, perhaps, and you were like, why do we need an item for trash cans? But at the at the time, it felt like, oh, crushed. Like, oh my god. Like, my first little item. But, you know, like, but especially for for newer members of council, having someone who is willing to sort of point out when something is a little ridiculous and and naive, in a way that, you know, is is clear, but also encouraging. And it's very important to have have those moments so that we don't end up doing better referrals or for for individual trash cans. And and, you know, working with you and the public safety committee and getting to learn about the needs of of the Hills District with respect to, evacuation and fire safety and wildlife wildfire, mitigation, and, you know, some of the less glamorous things we have to deal with, you know, refuse issues, infrastructure. Those have been my favorite parts of of working for the city is tending to those those assets. And, and I thank you so much for being, like, my mentor and my friends, and I I I really hope that, we can continue calling on you and and Lunch. Lunch. Yeah. Lunch. Absolutely. Yeah. And don't be surprised when, you know, if if we end up naming a couple of parks and streets and facilities and gardens and the city itself after you. I want to first echo my colleagues beautiful comments about Council Member Hahn and acting mayor Weingraaf who served on this council with such passion over the past 8 to 16 years. And while I only shared half of a year of that time with you both, I feel like I have learned so much from the both of you. There have been countless moments I've shared with you where I have been so appreciative of your expertise, your knowledge of history, your passions, your questions, your curiosity, and your kindness. Sophie, I want to specifically recognize some of the incredible work that you have done with maintaining affordable housing and supporting tenants. It is really incredible and I'm so excited to be able to continue to work off of it, but I know that it is because of you that I get to work off of it in the first place. I am so thankful to have had the chance to serve alongside you, and I just wanna mention how many times in the past 6 months I have smiled to myself and thought, wow, that's a really good point. I would not have thought of that. And it has been just really really incredible to see, this to see your work and and how passionate you are about it. So thank you. Susan, your dedication and your compassion and your thoughtful leadership have made such an incredible mark on this community and I, again, feel so fortunate to have been able to work alongside you. Your attention to detail and your commitment to your constituents, all of your constituents, will be sorely missed. Although I know that your successor will will follow in the very large footsteps that you have left for him. It is so clear to me how you lead with kindness and humility and a deep commitment to the well-being of our residents and I so admire the integrity that you take, in every single decision that you make. And I think that it will inspire our city's leaders for generations to come. I wanna thank you both for your years of service and especially for welcoming me to this council, and for the moments that we shared. I feel so lucky to have been able to serve with 2 such strong women on this council. I feel inspired. I wish you both and your incredible staff all the very best in the future, and I am glad that your families will get to spend more time with you. And I hope that you don't hesitate to reach out and if it is okay, I also won't. Thank you. Okay, thank you so much. Okay, we'll go now to council members on Zoom. Ingrid? You know, I simply don't have the words to describe, the depth of my appreciation of the community's appreciation for both of you, Sophie and Susan, mayor Langraf, and council member Han. If I had the boards, we would be here all night. I'm not going to make you go through a long council meeting, as as your final 1. But, I did want to share a few different stories that I think capture the full depth and breadth of everything that you have brought to our community throughout, not just your Council tenure, but your lifetime. Susan, I don't even remember the issue, but I remember that we were at loggerheads about something. This was maybe a decade ago or more, but you invited me into your office. And when we talked through it, and we had just a heart to heart conversation, I'll never forget what you told me. Oh my gosh. I am I am sorry for whatever, in the I don't even remember what it was, but whatever it was I was going through, and you offered to make me chicken soup. Your memory is better than mine. I am not making this up. And I'm also not making the up that after I left your office, I was like, what the hell were we arguing about anyway? Like, what what was the actual disagreement? And then, just I I also remember then I I was on a I was zooming into a meeting when you, offered, and I wasn't sure if you were talking to your council colleagues only. I was not on the council at that time, but you offered to take anyone who wanted to, on a, tour of the hills. And so I remember texting you in the middle of that meeting, and I said, I'm not sure if this was meant for me, but I would be honored. I would love to learn more about the Berkeley Hills. And almost immediately, or once, you went on recess, you, texted me back and said, let's go. So we we jumped into your leaf, and we went all around, the r 1 h district in the hills, and I learned so much from that. No, tomes of zoning, documents or materials, could ever, describe the half of everything that, I learned from you in that hour long tour. Susan, thank you for always inspiring, and challenging us to come up with a fully baked product. And if it's not fully baked, then after it gets a grilling from you, you better believe it's going to be a much better work product. Susan, I I learned from you. It's nice to get to 5 votes. That's a that's a quick win. That may be the easy win. But what would really go a long way towards really being desorbing of serving our entire community is something that gets a unanimous vote. And thank you for showing me through your leadership and through modeling that time and time again, what that level of collaboration and partnership and problem solving with everyone, how that feels at the end of it. And it feels fantastic because at the end of it, we're all working together. So thank you. Thank you, Susan. Sophie. Thank you, Igor. Thank you very much. Thank you. Sophie, some things are never going to change. You knew me, I think we first met when I was 23 and I was a knucklehead and you you challenged me to do better and then you reminded me that the community deserves nothing less. And then 17 years later I remember mourning a really just mourning a very unfortunate, national election loss. And then you were like, Igor, I need you to come to my house. We have an item. Actually, you did the fall item. It was a 21 page memo, I believe, and it was, concerning an issue in my district. Thank you for taking that on. And then once I got there, like, have you read the memo yet? And I was like, no. I'm not done warning the national election results. You are going to read the memo, sir. I'm going to sit here, and you're going to read this memo, and, you are going to make sure every I is dotted and every t is crossed. There were no i's that needed to be dotted, you took care of that. I I will met, 2 days after I wasn't sure, but maybe I may have gotten, elected. Like, the results were nowhere near certified that it was still being counted. You were, like, 8 AM. I've we're meeting. I've convened this meeting of, folks in your district in the arts community. We are going to work to try to save the arts district. That wasn't even your district, but you knew what, it means to be, for all of Berkeley, and thank you for that. I, I have so many stories. I will cap it off here because I really don't want us to I I don't want to I will spare you having to be here all night, But, I am so blessed to have such good friends in both of you. This goes beyond, whatever the position was. You, we have gotten to know each other's families. You, Ben reminded me, yes, Sophie. It's all your fault....
