Posted on 02/25/2004 6:43:03 AM PST by chance33_98
The Brawl in City Hall
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
"You don’t pay taxes!” someone shouted from the back of the Berkeley City Council chambers a few years ago, interrupting a student who was speaking to the council. Classy, man. Real classy. Yelling at some kid you don’t know about a grievance they can’t fix—easier than shooting Kennedys in a barrel, but an asshole thing to do nonetheless. The tax issue is an old, tired line, adding on to the usual portrayal of students as being loud, rowdy, disrespectful, disinterested, alcoholic insomniacs. And while most residents aren’t quite so blunt, the feeling pervades much of the debate and discussion around town-gown relations, and what the responsibilities are of each to the other.
So who are these community activists, defending their turf and grimacing at our nose rings? Ah yes, the legions of Baby Boomers and Lenny Bruce fans who said never to trust anyone over 30—the same faces looking out from pictures on the walls of the Doe Library entrance, the Free Speech Movement Cafe and our high school U.S. history textbooks. It seems that growing up, getting a mortgage and becoming actively involved in the politics of the PTA alter one’s agenda. Many are now helping to line the pockets of politicos on or vying for the City Council, fighting with radical zeal and well-honed organizing skills against the new building construction in their neighborhoods. Granted, many of these dedicated, ultra-involved “neighbors” have spent so long learning the terrain of their community that they might as well have a degree in city planning and transportation engineering, but that self-taught expertise has a rather obvious self-preservationist bias.
Berkeley has long been an insulated refuge in which neighbors can congratulate themselves on their enlightened, progressive peachy-keenness. But if this is the “People’s Republic of Berkeley,” does that make the UC Berkeley campus a gaping swath of Israelity that cuts through the city’s maligned paradise? Or is the university the founder and the city just a keloid scar around us? The reality is that the cost of living here is really damn high—the resources available to sustain and improve the lives of its residents are fixed and being spread ever thinner in the current economy.
President Clinton wasn’t exactly Kid Fantastic in laying down economic policies to ensure a stable and continued prosperity, but idiot-proofing the surplus would have been a challenge for anyone. How this applies to us, as both Berkeleyans and Cal students, is that we get to feel the cuts both on-campus—fewer class options, less financial aid money, uglier resident assistants—and in the city when it comes to local community service organizations getting less funding. When it comes to the latter, our concerns seem petty when compared to people in need of a bed for the night or renovations to an unsafe home.
But damn if the issue doesn’t highlight a fuzzy spot that no one can agree on resolving. Specifically, whose responsibility are we and on which issues?
The Berkeley police arrest us and our ASUC president, but the university confiscates our bikes. The city gives us unlimited rides on AC Transit, but the university tacks the fee onto our bills. The city will inspect our apartments, but the university will wake me up at 6 a.m. building new ones. Is this synergy? Schizophrenia? A stand-off? In a word, yes. All of the above.
I am loathe to deepen the town-gown divide of Berkeley, but at every Planning Commission, Zoning Adjustments Board, Design Review Committee or City Council meeting that I have spoken at, I have felt the need to qualify and validate my presence and concern as an individual. But my statements as one student don’t mean a damn without the hundreds of thousands of students who came before and will come after who share my same concerns. We need close, affordable, livable housing; we need our rights as tenants to be protected; we need cafes that are open past 11 p.m. to ensure foot traffic, nightlife and safer streets; we need reliable public transit. While kvetching about the campus’s presence is an easy hobby for the locals, without Cal this place would be, well, Bakersfield. Some townies may like that idea, but the socially-progressive atmosphere is a direct outcome of being a college town. In the meantime, I live here, I work here, I sell my blood for rent and tuition money here, and I refuse to ask forgiveness of my neighbors for being here and being under 30.
If Faith paid her taxes at all, this would be much more compelling. Hold her tongue at faith@dailycal.org.
"We're no longer children and can't be spanked. Just give us a good swift kick in the @$$...."
representation WITHOUT taxation...the liberal way
Oh, you mean "free" isn't really free? Someone's eventually got to pay the bill?
Looks like someone discovered the "gotcha" in socialism, i.e. it's all well and good while someone else is taking care of the tab.
That's as far as I got in this story. I think this might be a slur but the author is so incoherent I'm not sure. The taxpayers of California are sure getting their money's worth in their universities, aren't they.
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