Berkeley City Hall

When will the city of Berkeley address the homeless problem! Enforce your no panhandling laws and clean up the city! Today I was accosted by the blind African American homeless woman that occupies strategic places along the sidewalk on Fourth Street. Today she was in front of the Apple store and hit my car with her cane telling me to move because the my car was idling while I unplugged my iPhone charger. If I had more time, I would have called the police to have here arrested for assault, but couldn’t waste the time on a degenerate like her. Why berkeley tolerates these aggressive and often crazy homeless panhandling around possible the only nice shopping area in the city is beyond me. WAKE UP AND CLEAN UP THE STREETS!!!

Every time I’ve come here, the service has been fast and the people efficient and helpful. The building itself is clean and well maintained. Even the homeless people outside are friendlier than average. I know the bar is low for customer service at local government offices, but thumbs up anyway.
I love Berkeley’s municipal services and their employees, so I’ll try to frame this positively: parking here is a … fun brain tease and a great way to get rid of all your loose change.

Here’s an update almost exactly one year later– Berkeley still sucks. It has not gotten better. In fact, it may have gotten worse!
Let’s see… there were two drive by shootings a block from me this year. At least two that I know of.
And two people were shot in the parking lot of the 99 cents store while I was shopping there one evening. Tragically, one died.
I was assaulted by a group of teenage girls in my own neighborhood. Police came, found the girls, but there was no follow-​up.
The city rent ordinance continues to prove itself to be embarrassingly outdated.
The mayor and his city council cronies are more pro-​developer than ever before while having the nerve to put up begging boxes in downtown Berkeley to ask for money for homeless services.
Excuse me while I wretch.
Why am I still here? Because I have not yet won the lottery or made the millions required to move back to a studio in SF.
I guess this is why everyone is moving to Portland.

Another ticket from the Berkeley meter maid nazis
Parked for a few minutes in a residential neighborhood, only to come back and find someone named Navarette giving me a ticket for «street cleaning» for $ 49! She refused to not write the ticket — undoubtedly on a quota system, or just a vicious person.
It only reminds me, as a resident of a neighboring town, how loathsome it is to have to visit Berkeley.

Oh Berkeley, what to say? Hippies, hipsters and homeless.
I love your variety of restaurants, marina, great views from the hills, and active nightlife. You feel safer than Oakland, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Downtown is a mass of pedestrians and cyclists, and a busy place to drive though (which unfortunately I usually have to).
You feel dark at night time, and there’s some great housing. But whatever hipness you might once have had is now owned by your southern neighborhood Oakland.
Your Berkeley Bowls are great, but too great — everyone wants to go there. Your marina rocks — everyone wants to go there too, and it’s cool.
Berkeley, you are a strange city. Oh Berkeley.

Berkeley is one of the top five towns you have to visit if you are touring the bay area. If you are going to spend the day there, first walk up and down Telegraph Avenue and check out the college. You should see some interesting (you probably know Berkeley’s reputation) sites and there is a lot of fun souvenirs are crafts to buy there. Then drive over to the marina. There is a place there where you can rent a kite. The Berkeley bay has some of the best conditions for kite flinger. Finally have dinner at Spengers restaurant that makes the best Calamari fillet.

For a utopia it leaves a lot to be desired.
Rents despite rent control are some of the highest in the bay area.
The limosine liberals dominate the housing market, especially in the hills above CAL.
The streets themselves are in severe need of repair, even some streetlights don’t work.
Traffic is insane and don’t even try to go anywhere on Friday after 3 p.m.
A lot of vacant business buildings.
Tons of homeless, mostly on Telegraph or by the BART stations.
Parking is near impossible.
1 way streets that lead to dead ends and make it hard to get around.
I recommend a motorcycle or copy all the other wannabee euros and get a Vespa to get around Berkeley or a tiny car. Get a prius to fit right in or a Mercedes/​BMW.
A lot of pretention along College avenue, especially by the Rockridge BART.
Crowded, expensive, dirty in some places areas-​streets, self-​righteous and PC would be the 5 best words to describe Berkeley in a nutshell.
The bookstores and theaters really give you the feel of what the city is all about — pretention, activism and the illusion of being «in the know».

City of Berkeley is the worst place to visit if you drive. No parking to start off with. If you are lucky to find a spot then you have to get out and walk to find a ticket machine that actually works, then you get a piece of paper you place on your dash. If you are lucky you get someone checking the meters that isn’t blind and actually spends the time to read the receipt before giving you a ticket. Oh and if you do get one «accidentally» you only have a short time to dispute it or the late fees start racking up … the fact you shouldn’t have gotten it in the first place doesn’t matter you still have to pay!

Residents of Berkeley can sleep soundly tonight for your city’s finest are handing out missing front plate citations. Pay no mind to those men on Fifth St. who were throwing full Bud Lights at each other. Boys will be boys. And really what can go wrong with all the parked cars, houses with windows, and people around? They will run out of those two 18 packs in no time!
Before my annoying citation I wasn’t really a Berkeley fan. It’s kinda looks like it should smell, parking is difficult, it’s a college town, and pedestrians seem to think that they are impervious to the impact a car can have on their mushy bodies. Good thing my breaks work well!

Hey City of Berkeley — just thought I’d let you know that I’m sending in a gift to you in the form of $ 159 for an unpaid parking ticket (with penalties) for a ticket I paid long ago. So long ago in fact that I don’t have the time to dig deep for my proof of payment.
So in my mind I consider it a gift, and in return I promise to come over and do as little shopping in your city as possible. I live in SF and enjoy (ed) coming over for a bit of sun and spending a bit of cash. But somehow you have exceeded San Francisco for hassle and annoyance. And I’ll save the bridge toll too.
BTW, it’s interesting the payment processing for parking tickets is done in LA. Couldn’t you even keep those jobs in your city???

I feel like Berkeley at one time was a great city, now its dirty run down, with Oakland overflowing into it. Everything about this city is inconvenient, I long for the time where I can go to the bank, get my nails done (successfully) and go grocery shopping all within an hour. Here you pretty much have to waste so much time in traffic from point a to be, find parking, pay for parking then battle the herds of people to get where you need to go.
When I was here I was pregnant, and even crossing the streets I didn’t feel safe, people in cars did not care, they just saw pedestrians as an inconvenice. It was rare to find a nice, genuine person here.
Also, my car got broken into, stolen GPS, this was on Fourth street which I THOUGHT was relateively safe. Also, the metered parking really is monitored until 6pm, I saw the ticketing lady out there ticketing people at 5:58pm, she also gave my friend who lives in France and didn’t understand the parking rules a ticket.
The trains that run here are SO LOUD, and LONG. also the Bart was down a few days while we were here which was super annoying for traffic. No matter what time or day the 80 is blocked up.
We hated this place… no way we would ever raise our children here. It’s turning into a dump. Sad…

After living here for 27 years, I’ve noticed that things are somwhat better than they were in 1987 but not as good as they could be. Anyone who wants to understand what happens here should read Irwin Janis’s classic «Victims of Group Think», and «The Costs of Good Intentions» by Charles Morris.
There is one political party in Berkeley, the BCA (Berkeley Community Action). Although its a one party system, there is are major schisms within the city council that prevent it from being effective at providing basic public goods such as clean, safe sidewalks, paved roads, and an economic environment that allows innovative companies to thrive.
«Progressive» city council members use their «more liberal than thou» attitude to browbeat anyone (including the Mayor) who is not a member of the certified minority group. (Gay, Black, Latino, Undocumented, Disabled). In reality the real minority group are the students who actually come here to learn and dump millions of dollars into the local economy,
Berkeley’s liberal politics have created a city where free speech is limited to only those who wish to promote left wing agendas. Berkeley spends a large portion of its budget a year on the homeless problem, thereby creating a magnet for homeless. Berkeley’s Peoples Park is a legendary mecca for homeless youth, and is an eyesore homeless encampment only blocks from one of the great universities of the world.
Because of its prime location and of course the University of California, Berkeley has survived the economic decline, but has not been able to keep companies that start there. In fact, it has a hard time keeping bookstores there. Case in point: Cody’s Books. Telegraph Ave looks like a war-​zone. Unfortunately even the homeless have abandoned it and moved to downtown where the panhandling by the Bart Station is a turn-​off to visitors who otherwise might want to come there for dinner and a play.
Attempting to solve structural inequality or homelessness on a city level while neglecting the infrastructure, roads etc., threatens to reverse any economic progress the city has seen. At the same time the City of Berkeley provides a haven for poli-​sci types who like to stick it to the «rich home owners» and «big businesses» and of course the «system»”.
Berkeley is a mixed bag, but the politics are a big negative. The city cant pave its streets let alone solve global social and economic inequality with its Orwellian city commissions (35 total commissions with over 360 members).:
In conclusion: The Peoples Republic of Berkeley makes Cuba look like an engine of efficiency by comparison.

The City of Berkeley is the owner of a great conundrum…
Berkeley is one of the great cities to be in WHEN THE STUDENTS AREN’T THERE!!!
But then again, the city wouldn’t be what it is without the students…
Oh well, guess i’ll enjoy spring, winter and summer breaks. There’s so much to explore and to do! Good food, fun places to hang out (although it does need more bars, and Raleigh’s needs to be rebuilt!)
Truly one of the unique places on the planet

I really don’t know what to think of Berkeley.
On one hand, it totally reminds me of the town where I went to college. But then again, it’s a college town itself, so big fucking surprise there.
It’s damn good for people-​watching. You think there are freaky weirdos in SF? Okay, yes there are. But there’s a difference between the SF freaky weirdos and the Berkeley freaky weirdos — the Berkeley ones don’t make you fear for your life when you’re in their general proximity. At least in daylight, anyway.
I could do without the stink of patchouli, B.O., and weed that seems to build a perpetual miasma around all the public areas here. And for the last time, NO I do not have any fucking spare change!!! Jesus!
There are some cool shops, bars, and restaurants to visit. And the Greek theatre (I think that’s what it’s called, the open-​air one that makes your butt fall asleep if you sit too long at a concert?).
But…all in all… I’m really glad I don’t live here and given the option, I’d rather not spend too much time here if I can help it. I come to town when I need to get my car worked on (the best BMW mechanic on the planet is here… let me know if you want a recommendation!) but that’s pretty much it.

Here is what Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz said about moving to Berkeley:
They heard of a land, empty and vast,
Bordered by mountains. So they went, leaving behind crosses
Of thorny wood and traces of campfires.
As it happened, they spent winter in the snow of a mountain pass,
And drew lots and boiled the bones of their companions;
And so afterward a hot valley where indigo could be grown
Seemed beautiful to them. And beyond, where fog
Heaved into shoreline coves, the ocean labored.
I don’t know what it is about the City of Berkeley– I’m not a leftist, not a hippie, and only a tiny bit crunchy– but I always feel happy here. Even just a few minutes walking down Telegraph before ducking into a bookstore and then grabbing dinner reminded me that I should come here much more often than I do. Milosz wasn’t a leftist, a hippie, or crunchy either, so maybe it’s the influence of his ghost.

Berkeley is the epicenter for progressives in the Bay Area… as well as some recent earthquakes. It’s that kind of place. Berkeley has stayed weird, from the ‘60s on. It wears its weirdness proudly.
New Spirit Community Church on the UC Berkeley campus offers a Taize service with some liturgical dancing. It’s the home of Chez Panisse.
KPFA
is on the main drag. It’s a progressive radio station with shows that cover the current Occupy Wall Street movement, the Herbal Highway with its soft-​spoken host who discusses tinctures, the Visionary Activist show in which Caroline Casey talks astrology/​democratic animism/​Bioneers, Terra Verde (about environmentalism) as well as Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.
Café Gratitude
It’s a Bay Area vegan chain, recently opened a place in LA. They have a restaurant in the gourmet ghetto of Shattuck Avenue.
Shattuck Avenue is kind of run down, despite its pretensions of being gourmet. The UC Berkeley campus is beautiful, overlooking the Bay, and there’s the famous Campanile.
At one of the freeway exits, there are massive bronze statues of protesting people– that sets the tone. Berkeley, like Cambridge on the other side of the US, has a daily protest.
Berkeley helped spawn the modern civil rights movements (racial, feminism, LGBT), environmentalism, different forms of spirituality. It is DEFINITELY an epicenter… not just because of the Hayward Fault.
It’s always rockin’.

I exited the BART downtown station and rounded the corner to catch the bus up the hill.
When my fig tree is producing fruit it is an amazing site to see, I don’t know anyone who can eat that many figs. So I bring them to a brilliant guy at work who entertains my questions while he eats them.
On this particular day, I see a young gentleman asking for food.
To Self «I bet he would really appreciate some fresh fruit. I’ll give him this bag of figs instead of taking them up the hill.»
I hand him the bag of figs. He looks in …
Guy — «What are they?»
Me — «They are fresh figs. It’s a fruit, kinda sweet.»
Guy — «How do I eat them?»
Me — «You can peel them or eat them whole.»
*Pause*
Guy — «Are they organic?»
ONLY in Berkley.

They do have tons of interesting people but I love culture differences and really easy to get around. Have good places to eat.
I live here for almost 7 years and i love it. I feel homey in this city I think because it is very accessible. Most of people avoid Telegraph ave. but I love to walk on Telegraph because I love people watching and see interesting people.
Tip: if you want to be save please walk in a group even in the afternoon. I have friend who get hit and mug by a crazy people (but this is very seldom)