Berkeley City Councilmember Rigel Robinson represents District 7, which encompasses the UC Berkeley campus, Telegraph Avenue commercial district, and Southside neighborhood. When elected at 22 in 2018, Robinson became the youngest person to ever serve on the Berkeley City Council.
As Councilmember, Rigel Robinson is committed to making progress on the most pressing challenges in our city, including housing and homelessness, public safety, economic vitality, safe and sustainable transportation, and our pandemic response. He has introduced legislation to accelerate the development of new affordable housing, reform the affordable housing mitigation fee, fund street repairs and build new pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, minimize the practice of pretextual traffic stops, prevent evictions and support small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, improve street lighting around campus, incentivize the creation of new R&D jobs, and more.
Prior to serving on the City Council, Rigel Robinson was a student leader at UC Berkeley, where he was elected vice president of the campus student government and appointed university affairs chair for the systemwide University of California Student Association. On campus, Robinson was a leader in student efforts to support the development of more affordable housing and student housing, divest the University of California from fossil fuels, and secure additional state funding for the UC and the first tuition decrease in 20 years. Robinson previously worked for U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr., Governor Jerry Brown’s press office, and the Peet’s on 4th Street.
Councilmember Robinson holds a BA from UC Berkeley and is currently pursuing his Masters at the Goldman School of Public Policy. On weekends when he is sufficiently up to speed on Council readings, Rigel can be found sailing and windsurfing at the Berkeley Marina. Rigel is a renter on Southside and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.
For information about internships in the District 7 council office, please email your resume to RRobinson@cityofberkeley.info, SamGreenberg@cityofberkeley.info, and AChen@cityofberkeley.info with “Internship” in the subject line.
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