Contributor

Michael Berkowitz

Former Senior Manager of San Francisco's Planning Department, Planning Commissioner for the City of Berkeley, Land Use Consultant to the government of China, longtime film critic.

Michael Berkowitz, a veteran of the Civil Rights and Anti-war movements, has worked on Wisconsin Recalls, Occupy and other local movements that give promise of social change. He has been Land Use Planning Consultant to the government of China for the last 18 years, a past Senior Manager of the San Francisco Planning Department, Planning Commissioner for the City of Berkeley, and Special Assistant to the Vice Mayor of Berkeley. He also taught at Pikeville College in Pikeville, Kentucky, worked with Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights with miners and was a Business Agent and Officer of SEIU. He has Masters degrees from Yale and Stanford in history. He has appeared in four movies, though none in starring roles, and served as a Supernumerary with the San Francisco Opera for 17 years without getting to sing a single note on stage!