Berserkley

The City of Berkeley, California (called Beserkley by its residents) always provides humorous news items at election time. This year is no exception. However, the Presidential election is dominating the news and few people know what is happening. Here's what you have been missing:

Proposition Q would decriminalize prostitution. It is supported by women's rights groups and theologians—particularly liberal denominations at the Graduate Theological Union who claim it will get prostitutes off the streets. It is opposed by residents in those parts of town where prostitutes would probably congregate. In other words, it's a nimby issue.

Proposition R would loosen medical marijuana laws. In Bekeley, you would think that would be a slam dunk. However, it is bitterly opposed by the City Council and the civil servants. Propostion R would eliminate the laborious permit process and allow a dispensary to open as a matter of right, rather than by the grace of the bureaucracy.

Proposition S is the most controversial. It would set up a tree board with veto power over any decision that impacts a tree. Knowing Berkeley's socialist traditions, you would think that Proposition S was intended to protect trees from rapacious developers. Not so. The purpose is to protect trees from the arbitrary decsions of the city bureaucrats. Needless to say, the City Council and all city agencies strongly oppose it. Environmentalists favor it.