Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii on her first months in office

Mayor Adena Ishii spoke candidly to community members Monday night about her first months on the job and what Berkeley can expect from her.

The Berkeley Democratic Club organized the event, which took place on Zoom.

Participants said they found Ishii smart, straightforward, introspective and refreshing — and also look forward to seeing how she grows as a leader.

Here are some of the highlights.

• She's already working to create a community task force for key stakeholders affected by immigration issues
• She plans to stand strong on immigration but you won't find her "on social media trying to taunt Trump" or rile up his base
• She's working to build relationships and trust across the Berkeley City Council (which has five new members, of nine, since last year alone)
• She's determined to have a balanced budget but knows tough financial times are ahead
• One of her main goals is to get existing work done, particularly as far as basic services, rather than adding to the plate of already overburdened staff: "You will not see a lot of new legislation from our office"
• She noted that staffers across the city are doing their best despite ongoing shortages: "We are still a city that's recovering from the pandemic"
• She wants to change the conversation around divisive issues, whether it's homelessness or transportation: "We need to be united and that is something I am very focused on"
• She's working to create an internal spreadsheet or database that includes community and neighborhood groups across a wide range of issues. If you want to be included, let her know by emailing mayor@berkeleyca.gov
• Her office is also looking for interns — contact info above
• She wants to create more effective and efficient ways for community members to give input online, knowing that not everyone can make it out to meetings
• When it comes to her overall approach to being Berkeley mayor, she's focused primarily on the big picture and moving the ball forward: "I am not a policy wonk"
• On commission appointments: For now, the prior appointees will remain in place, but her office is working to create a process to solicit applications from everyone who is interested
• In response to a question about whether she believes it's possible to "eradicate" homelessness: She said it's worth working toward as a goal but her focus will be on looking at ways to keep people from falling into homeless in the first place
• She proactively brought up the recent City Council conflict over committee appointments, saying she did not see it as a defeat. She said she knew in advance it might not pan out, but wanted to "fight for it on the dais," which she believed was more transparent than burying it behind the scenes
• The outcome of that item was "disappointing," she said — but also believes it's valuable to have uncomfortable conversations, that people won't always agree and that, in the end, there were "no hard feelings": "I'm really proud that we fought to put that forward even though it didn't pass"
• She described the issue as "one small blip" in what she sees as four more years of working together as council members to get important work done for the city: "This is just one thing that we disagreed about and that's OK"

Connect with the Berkeley mayor's office directly on its website. Learn more about the Berkeley Democratic Club.

Editor's Note: The Scanner attended Monday's virtual community event as a member of the media. TBS is independent and nonpartisan and welcomes invitations to a broad range of community events.