Monday, May 11, 2009
Berkeley's City Council Problem
Politics Robert Gammon — Mon, May 11, 2009 at 6:19 AM
Berkeley City Council meetings are infamous for lasting well past midnight. And now, council members finally appear to be fed up. According to the Chron, they're talking about moving important, controversial issues to the beginning of council meetings, so that they and the public will actually be awake when debating those matters. Sounds like a good idea, but it doesn't address the fundamental problem. The council simply has too many items on its agenda, and that's why the meetings run long -- not because controversial issues traditionally have been pushed to the wee hours of the night. The only real solution, which unfortunately went unaddressed in today's story, is that the council has to meet three, if not four, times a month -- instead of just twice. That way, there'll be fewer items to deal with at each meeting, and so they'll be shorter.
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Robert, you are right on the mark with this blurb. What do these people get paid for by the citizens of Berkeley for anyway? To hand out citations and proclimations or to actually address the many problems of the City of Berkeley. Not the least of which is the fiscally irresponsible way the City is run--more staff per capita than any other City in the State, but not much to show for it by way of infrastructure, crime and blight. These people need to get off their duffs and meet every week!
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