They join…
Sierra Club
Black Women Organized for Political Action
AFL/CIO Central Labor Council
Service Employees International Union
Berkeley Fire Fighters Assoc. 1227
Stonewall Dems
John George Dems
Green Party of Alameda County
Act Up East Bay
4 County Supervisors, 8 mayors,
and 51 elected officials
Why ENVIRONMENTALISTS support Kriss
Unsolicited letter 2010
Dear Kriss, Thank you so much for the outstanding work you did at the
Berkeley Transfer Center. Without your help, the changes to the overhead
fishing line would not have been made and many more gulls would have
experienced painful deaths. I certainly will never forget your timely
response and follow-through. You are a wildlife hero. Jean Shirley, a
Volunteer at Lindsay Wildlife Hospital and IBRRC-International Bird Rescue
Research Center. (Organizations for identification purposes only)
Just this year with the city of Berkeley facing difficult budget
situations, City Management proposed controversial cuts that could have
hurt Public Works employees, and the multiple non-profit groups providing
the infrastructure for effective enviro policies and practices. Kriss
worked tirelessly with his budgetary knowledge and strategic and tactical
skills to protect both the union jobs and the important non-profits. The
result was a combination of temporary adjustments that enabled us to
avoid most of the negative and bought us time to create long term
solutions. David Tam (Zero Waste Commission Chair)
When others proclaimed a false dichotomy pitting environmentalists against
advocates for playing fields for youth, Kriss was the first to say “We can
and should do both.” He took the political heat for opposing the original
proposed location in Berkeley and Albany that was interfering with bird
habitat. Kriss consistently advocated for both the birds and the youth. We
ended up with more playing fields, a short distance away, without damaging
the birds. This is just one of many issues where his willingness to look
beyond the proposal under consideration and suggest holistic solutions
benefited everyone involved.
Some of Kriss’s legendary environmental achievements as chronicled by
prior Sierra Club YODELER write up:
**Shifting 3 million budgeted for a parking garage into the I-80
bike/pedestrian bridge & neighborhood park improvements.
**Implementing a free public transit ECO-PASS to get City employees out of
their cars .
**Keeping the City from approving a number of harmful development
proposals in the waterfront park area.
