Competition With My Free Chocolate Room?

I recently toured Varsity Berkeley Apartments in downtown Berkeley. This is a huge complex. The building runs across an entire block. The building is still under construction, bu they are signing leases now for occupancy in late July. The rent on 2 bedroom apartments ranges from $3,750 to $4,200 a month. Parking is extra. They are advertising these apartments as rentals for college students, hence the name ‘Varsity Berkeley’, but I wonder – how many college students can really afford to pay $4,000 a month for a 2 bedroom apartment?

What is a ‘luxury apartment’? The sales brochure says that you will ‘live in luxury’ at Varsity Berkeley. It seems like every new apartment house in Berkeley uses the word ‘luxury’ to describe their apartments, but what exactly does that mean? ‘Luxury apartment’ could mean almost anything and based on my observations, it usually just means ‘expensive.’ If there is a legal definition of the word ‘luxury’, I would like to know what it is. To be fair, Varsity Berkeley has some very nice amenities, including a spacious rooftop garden. They will also have valet garbage collection. That means they will pick up your garbage at your apartment. You won’t have to carry your garbage to a garbage can or a garbage chute. That is not a service that I provide. I do not pick up my tenants’ garbage and put it in their garbage cans for them.

varsityapartmentsVarsity Berkeley has some interesting swag at their rental office. They have free bags of gumballs with the name ‘Varsity Berkeley’ printed on the bag, but I wonder if that is enough to get people to sign leases. I always keep my eye on Berkeley landlords who give free candy to their tenants; however, I am not convinced that bags of gumballs are real competition with my free chocolate room. You know, you can buy a lot of gumballs for $4,000 a month!

Berkeley’s Soda Tax.

In November, 2014; Berkeley became the first city in the U.S. to pass a soft drink tax. The tax is 1 cent an ounce, a high rate as a percent of the wholesale price of the product The Berkeley soda tax is collected in an unusual way. It is not paid like sales tax. Instead, the tax is paid by wholesale soft drink distributors. I think that method of collecting this tax will become a problem for Berkeley.

Wholesale vs. Retail. Taxing wholesalers has largely disappeared in America. That is because club stores and the internet have blurred the line between wholesale and retail. My father owned a furniture store back in the 1960s. In those days, you couldn’t buy furniture directly from a furniture manufacturer or distributor. Only retailers could buy furniture from the big manufacturers. Today, you can buy furniture at Costco at nearly the same price that retail stores pay for the stuff.

Costco. A lot of stores and restaurants in Berkeley were already buying their soft drinks at Costco even before this tax was passed. Now, more of them are driving to Costco for their soft drinks. Costco does not and will not pay the Berkeley soft drink tax because they are not located in Berkeley.

Dollar Tree. Other stores in Berkeley have just stop selling soft drinks. Dollar Tree stores in Berkeley used to sell a lot of soft drinks. Now as a result of this tax, Dollar Tree has stopped selling soft drinks. They are not alone. A number of other stores in Berkeley have also stopped selling soft drinks. This soft drink tax was supposed to raise money for the city of Berkeley, but if enough retailers decide to stop selling soft drinks, the city could wind up with a net loss of revenue instead.

The University. However, the big question is this – will the university pay the tax? U.C. Berkeley is, by far, the largest vendor of soft drinks in Berkeley. There are over 200 soft drink vending machines on campus, plus there are self-serve soft drink dispensers in nearly all the dining halls, and bottled soft drinks are sold in stores around campus. The university says that according to the state constitution, a city cannot force a state agency to pay a city tax and that the university will not pay the Berkeley soda tax. The people who wrote this law claim that the city can make the university pay the tax.  I don’t know how that will play out, but in the past, whenever the city of Berkeley tried to tax the university, the city of Berkeley lost in court.

About U.C. Berkeley Parking Permits.

A new school year is about to begin at U.C. Berkeley. If you are considering buying a campus parking permit, there are 2 things that you should know before making a decision to get one.

1. A campus parking permit does not guarantee you a parking space. U.C. Berkeley does not assign specific parking spaces to students. Your parking permit merely gives you the right to hunt for a parking space at university-owned garages and parking lots. The fact that you have a prepaid parking permit does not mean that you will actually be able to find a place to park your car on or near campus. I think the university should make it clear on their web site that a perking permit does not guarantee you an actual parking space. Parking Permits.
2. If you live off campus, a Berkeley student parking permit costs $344 a semester. If you live on campus, a student parking permit costs $1,224 a year.