Editorial: Elect Chang to Berkeley council vacancy that should not have been

Berkeley residents lost the representation of one of their most promising politicians when Rigel Robinson in January abruptly ended his mayoral campaign and resigned his City Council seat.

Robinson, only 22 when he was first elected in 2018, was the youngest person to serve on the council. But, citing “harassment, stalking and threats” he had endured while in public office, he wrote that it was time to prioritize his well-being and his family.

It’s a tremendous loss of a young elected official who was exceptionally wise and politically astute, as he demonstrated when he first campaigned for the council 5½ years ago. He made a difference and, we hope, will again someday.

Meanwhile, residents of Berkeley’s student-dominated District 7 south of the UC Berkeley campus must pick his replacement in an April 16 special election, for which ballots already have gone out.

The standout candidate in this two-person field is James Chang, a graduate student at Cal’s Haas School of Business who, at age 33, already has served a maximum eight years on the city’s elected Rent Board.

He has also worked as chief of staff for two members of the council, currently for Ben Bartlett and previously for Kriss Worthington, who was Robinson’s predecessor serving District 7.

Consequently, Chang understands the politics and policymaking of the city, which helps explain why he has the backing of Mayor Jesse Arreguin and five of the six current councilmembers, and his solid grasp of the issues affecting students, residents and Telegraph Avenue merchants of District 7.

He supports UC Berkeley’s desperately needed housing at People’s Park. The university provides housing for only 22% of students, the lowest percentage of any campus in the UC system.

That leaves roughly 36,000 students looking for homes on their own — and putting tremendous pressure on the rental market — in Berkeley and the surrounding communities. Supporting the People’s Park project, which is the subject of a pending state Supreme Court case, should be a no-brainer for any council member.

Similarly, Chang recognizes that the city’s quest for policing alternatives should not require a reduction in officers needed to solve crime — especially at a time when serious crime is spiking in the city.

Yet on both those issues, his opponent takes the opposite position. Cecilia Lunaparra, 22, is a senior at Cal majoring in urban studies who also serves on the city’s Environment and Climate Commission. She opposes the People’s Park plan and wants to reallocate police funding and decrease the size of the Police Department.

Whoever wins the special election will serve the remainder of Robinson’s term, which ends in 2026. It’s an election that should have never been necessary — an election that should serve as a warning of the inexcusable viciousness that local officials must endure.

“Generally, I have accepted this as simply being part of the job,” Robinson wrote in a commentary for the online publication Berkeleyside. “But when these behaviors affect my loved ones, I have to draw the line.”

We wish Robinson well and hope that his successor can earn the respect of the community and council colleagues as he did. Chang is the best candidate to do that.