Melanie Morgan

The Berkeley City Council supports this type of confrontation

The San Francisco Chronicle today wrote a story about the financial hardships Berkeley has suffered since it called the Marines “unwelcome” and “uninvited.” The pushback from (Move America Forward and other pro-troops groups is having the desired effect: Groups are canceling trips to Berkeley; hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on police overtime; businesses have left; outsiders will no longer do business in Berkeley.

The Chronicle reports: 

Berkeley is finding that having its own foreign policy isn’t cheap. The city’s recent dustup with the U.S. Marine Corps has so far cost the city more than $200,000, while businesses say they’ve been slammed by related protests. . . .

But some business owners, residents and officials say the Marines dispute, which brought international headlines and boycotts, is a perfect illustration of why Berkeley should spend less money on foreign policy and more on filling potholes.
City Councilman Gordon Wozniak put forth a plan last week to make the commissions more accountable. The plan, approved by the City Council, requires the commissions to post their full reports on the city’s Web site, to be more diligent about posting their agendas and minutes and to pass along more background information to the City Council, especially on controversial items.
“I think it’s out of hand,” Wozniak said of Berkeley’s commissions, most of which meet monthly and have two or three subcommittees that also meet regularly. “When we spend a lot of time debating things like the Marines issue, we’re not spending time on the serious problems in this city, like fire station closures. It’s easier to tackle international issues than deal with messy local problems.”

The council approved the item with little fanfare, but pro-military groups seized on the issue, calling the council’s move treasonous and demanding an apology. The council rescinded the resolution on Feb. 13, but protests on each side have cost the city about $208,000 in police overtime, city officials say.
Additional costs include city staff time to handle permits, the media, security and the thousands of e-mails that have intermittently crashed the city’s computer server. In addition, businesses around the recruiting station have been hurt by the protests, and at least four hotels and a handful of restaurants have reported cancellations as a result of the boycott.

And businesses are victims of the idiocy by the City Council:

“The city is raising business fees and parking meter rates at the same time they’re spending all this money on international issues and handling protests. It doesn’t make sense, in these difficult economic times,” said Ted Garrett, director of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce. “We’re very concerned about the effect this is having on business.”
An Oregon Ducks football fan club and a Lafayette golf club are among the groups that have canceled junkets to Berkeley this fall, Wozniak said. A San Diego resort developer said he canceled three contracts with Berkeley suppliers and has persuaded other businesses to follow suit.

We at Move America Forward love free enterprise. But we will stand against any city that makes policies attacking our military. So here are a couple important safety tips for Berkeley:

And all the City Council has to do to reverse its bad fortune is to:
1. Rescind its resolutions giving special favor to the radical group, Code Pink. The city gave the anti-war agitators free permits and a free designated parking space in front of the Marine’s recruiting office so the group can harass the Marines and try to run them out of town.
2. Make a formal apology to the Marines for its anti-American attacks on the military.

Until then, Move America Forward will continue its pushback against Berkeley, its allies Code Pink, World Can’t Wait and all anarchist America-haters, and enemies of the state.

And to the Americans who are giving Berkeley hell: Thank You!! You are patriots and you are making a difference!