In the city’s November elections, Berkeley will choose one of three candidates to represent District 8, which includes the Elmwood, Claremont, Halcyon, Bateman and Panoramic neighborhoods.

The race is dominated by issues of affordable housing and the potential upzoning of Elmwood to allow for higher-density housing in the district. Other prominent issues include traffic safety, infrastructure, city budgeting, the use of automatic license plate reader technology, such as the city’s Flock cameras, and transparency and efficiency in government.

Here are the candidates on the ballot for District 8 this election:

Mark Humbert

Incumbent District 8 Councilmember Mark Humbert’s campaign has emphasized improving street safety, public infrastructure and building housing at all levels. Unlike his opponents, Humbert supports a limited upzoning of the Elmwood neighborhood.

A graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Law, Humbert worked as a federal court litigator for much of his life. He previously served on the Transportation, Public Works, Fair Campaign Practices and Parks, Recreation & Waterfront commissions before becoming a council member.

Humbert’s limited upzoning plan involves allowing three-to-four-story buildings on three select sites in the Elmwood district, which he says will allow small businesses to continue thriving.

“I just want to focus on those three parcels, and protect the rest of them,” Humbert said in an interview with The Daily Californian. “I’m pro-housing, but I’m pro-housing in a nuanced way.”

Humbert acknowledged ALPRs are an “effective tool to solve and prevent crimes.” However, on his campaign website, he calls for stronger data protections to protect residents. As a council member, he voted to renew the use of the city’s Flock cameras earlier this year, but voted against a proposed expanded Flock surveillance system.

Humbert said the relationships he’s built in office make him uniquely fit to achieve his goals.

“I think they’re probably nice people, but neither one of (my opponents) has significant experience in government,” Humbert said.

Humbert is endorsed, among others, by Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii, California State Sen. Jesse Arreguín, California Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, and every sitting council member except Cecilia Lunaparra.

Michael Wallman

Systems engineer Michael Wallman brings a tech-forward attitude to increasing efficiency in Berkeley’s government.

An opponent of Elmwood upzoning due to its possible detrimental effects on small businesses, Wallman’s platform focuses on increasing affordable housing and supporting small businesses, while also protecting District 8 from environmental risks, such as wildfires.

Wallman grew up in Berkeley and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in “Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Material Science,” according to his campaign website.

To address affordable housing, Wallman intends to streamline the accessory dwelling unit permitting process to preserve the character of residential neighborhoods, while also increasing housing density. In Elmwood, he supports the implementation of two- to three-story “human scale” low-income housing projects and if elected, would support designating it as a historic district.

“Upzoning really means that developers will build six- and seven-story buildings, with no parking, generally one-bedroom apartments,” Wallman alleged. “(Upzoning) would potentially destroy the Elmwood. We would lose a lot of the small businesses, and so it just doesn’t fit.”

Wallman opposes the use of surveillance technology, such as Flock cameras, in policing, citing privacy concerns around mass surveillance. He instead supports hiring additional police officers.

His approach to increasing efficiency draws on his tech background.

“Let’s say if everybody in Berkeley adopted AI in some function of their business, and they were five times more efficient, you would see drastic improvements in the city, right?” Wallman said.

Additionally, Wallman aims to bring traffic safety improvements to Claremont Avenue, and to ensure nearby UC Berkeley is working with the city and being held accountable.

Wallman is endorsed by Flip the Berkeley City Council and the Save Berkeley Shops Action Fund, among others.

Mari Mendonca

To Mari Mendonca, housing is a human right.

A longtime grassroots organizer and mother of four, Mendonca grew up in District 8 and attended Berkeley High School. She previously served as an elected member of Rent Stabilization Board and was the vice chair of the Housing Advisory Commission, where she helped create Berkeley’s Housing Preference Policy.

Still, Mendonca says there’s more work to be done.

“Many media outlets, electeds, lobbyists, etc., are misleading people into believing that their commitment to high-density housing is because they care about housing everyone,” Mendonca said in an email. “However, the housing they’re building is not affordable to working families, students, minimum-wage earners, seniors on fixed incomes, etc. Instead, it continues to displace long-time residents and doesn’t welcome diverse income earners to settle here.”

Important pillars of her campaign include ensuring careful city budgeting and advocating for people instead of adhering to lobbyist interests.

She opposes the city’s surveillance technology and supports the expansion of community services instead of increased policing.

“The community at large will affirm that I’ve worked hard to serve the best interests of everyone, but particularly the most vulnerable and those who’ve been historically marginalized,” Mendonca said in the email.

Mendonca is endorsed by Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner Xavier Johnson, former president of the Berkeley School Board John Selawsky and Flip Berkeley City Council, among others.

Fred M. Feller will also appear on the ballot, but he has dropped out of the race. He has endorsed Wallman for voters’ first choice and Mendonca second on District 8’s ranked-choice ballot.