Incumbent Mark Humbert will face three challengers in the race for Berkeley’s District 8 City Council seat in the Nov. 3 election.
Humbert was elected in 2022 to represent District 8, which includes the Claremont, Halcyon and Elmwood neighborhoods in southeastern Berkeley.
Now, systems engineer Michael Wallman, attorney Fred Feller and community organizer Mari Mendonca are vying to replace him on the City Council for the next four years.
Mark Humbert
Humbert, a career federal litigator and mediator, served on Berkeley’s Transportation, Public Works, and Parks, Recreation & Waterfront commissions before becoming councilmember.
In his candidate statement submitted to the City Clerk, he counts park enhancement projects — like the Willard Park Clubhouse project — and updating zoning laws to allow middle-density homes like duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in residential neighborhoods among the highlights of his first term in office.
“I’m asking for your vote to continue working with you to improve public safety, support our small businesses, fix our streets and sidewalks, and make our city more inclusive and affordable,” Humbert said in his candidate statement.
State Sen. Jesse Arreguin, D-Oakland, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii, and Councilmembers Rashi Kesarwani, Terry Taplin, Ben Bartlett, Igor Tregub and Brent Blackaby have endorsed Humbert’s candidacy.
Michael Wallman
Wallman, who was born in Oakland and has lived in Berkeley for most of his life, will focus on building affordable, family-size homes, supporting small businesses and developing wildfire preparedness plans for District 8 residents, according to his campaign website.
“As an engineer, I analyze data to make sound policy decisions rather than serving special interests or selling out our city to large corporations,” Wallman said in his candidate statement. “I am committed to clean, safe streets, supporting public education, and preserving our parks and open spaces for families across all generations.”
Wallman’s candidate statement and campaign website do not list any endorsements for his candidacy.
Fred Feller
Feller, an attorney who represented thousands of tenants, is running on a platform of affordable housing, fixing infrastructure like streets, and wildfire readiness in the Claremont Hills, according to his campaign website.
Before his bid for councilmember, Feller served on the Berkeley Housing Advisory and Police Review commissions.
“My priorities are to find better ways to build affordable housing in our high resource neighborhoods so that Berkeley can preserve the diversity which makes our community such a wonderful place to live,” Feller said in his candidate statement.
He added that reforming the city’s mental health system is a key policy area for him.
Presidents of multiple District 8 neighborhood associations and former councilmembers Susan Wengraf, Kate Harrison and Carla Woodworth have endorsed Feller’s candidacy.
Mari Mendonca
Finally, Mendonca is a community organizer who has served on Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board, the Joint Task Force Committee on Housing, and the city’s Community Advisory Group for BART Development.
According to her campaign website, she believes in regulating housing market rates and ending incentives like density bonuses, which are financial incentives given to developers if they add affordable housing units to development projects.
“Powerful lobbies are influencing leadership to up-zone and infill neighborhoods under the pretense of addressing our so-called housing crisis, including legislation benefiting investors with density bonuses,” Mendonca said in her candidate statement. “This doesn’t capture the affordable housing we need and is locally threatening the viability of our small businesses and neighborhood infrastructure, using oversimplified narratives that more is better.”
Rent Stabilization Board commissioner Xavier Johnson and Darinxoso Oyamasela, president of the Harriet Tubman Terrace Tenants Association, a chapter of the Berkeley Tenants Union, are listed among Mendonca’s endorsements.