It would be interesting to know how much time, money, and cognitive effort this took
Surely it could be used in a more productive manner such as reducing red tape or streamlining processes right?
In Berkeley they don’t really have a lot to do. The city is home to the oldest UC in the CA system and is a highly regarded school. The city has long been a center of arts and liberal activism. It’s largely affluent, has great transit and biking and has some of the safest streets for walking or biking in California. Major companies and labs in science and medicine Or technology are major employers and Berkeley is known as an affluent area and has many small local businesses.
Their biggest issues asides social issues are that they’ve long had a huge homelessness epidemic. Being a center of those who put art and politics first and lean left may contribute to that. Despite drastically reducing the number of visible homeless its still a huge issue. Berkeley is almost half water and with the school there and it’s iconic history and proximity to Oakland and SF- the housing market there can be brutal. Other than homelessness they also have crime issues- but are likewise applying solutions to try and curb that too.
But first and foremost Berkeley is high minded and is sort of a traditional bohemian enclave of sorts that seeks to create a holistic and cybernetic community- and they see the ability of words to effect perception. Berkeley as a whole often passes laws designed to effect change by using subtleties of human behavior to get people to comply naturally as opposed to using visible force or coercion up front. They reserve that for those who don’t comply with their social ideas.
It's true
Surely it could be used in a more productive manner such as reducing red tape or streamlining processes right?