Capitalism--not People's Park--killed Cody's Books (Part 2)

As the title says, I submit to you that Capitalism--not People's Park--killed Cody's

"How's that," you say?

Look everyone, I am not going to suggest that homeless people (or rather Cody's potential customers' perception of homeless people doesn't dampen sales at Cody's, but even Cody's current owner, Andy Ross, is saying that the primary cause for the death of Cody's is competition from business on the Internet itself (Ross also blames People's Park, the homeless, drug users, youthful punks who hang out on Telegraph Avenue, and "lack of police presence").

Some Telegraph business owners have also complained about high rents. Still others have complained about lack of parking spaces.

I maintain that capitalism is the problem. Of course, none of these opinions are based on scientific, peer reviewed study, but at least my analysis is more thorough than any others I have read or heard thus far. Instead of scapegoating, I prefer deductive reasoning. I'll leave it to urban planners or students of urban planning to actually conduct a study, assuming that they can conduct one independent of the capitalist biases inevitably tied to their study (I ought to know, because I happen to have a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley).

Let's explore as many factors as possible that might affect business on Telegraph Avenue as well as how it specifically effects Cody's in particular.

Counterculture, People's Park, Drugs, and Youth Culture are not the Problem

First of all, let's consider People's Park. People's Park has existed since April, 1969. It's almost 40 years old. In that time there has been a significant turnover of business on Telegraph Avenue, but there has likewise been a significant turnover of businesses everywhere in the world. I have not done a scientific study comparing the rate of business turnover on Telegraph to business turnover elsewhere. Such a study would be very complex, because there are many factors that must be considered (witness all of the points I raise below, for example).

Most people associate People's Park with homelessness, anti-social youth culture, and drug abuse. Therefore it may be tempting to make the same argument for them as I do for People's Park, but whereas People's Park has remained more or less constant for 37 years (aside from the riots over its continued existence), these other factors are not necessarily constant.

While I have not done a study on Homelessness, it is indeed likely that Homelessness has increased as a result of Market fundamentalist economic policies enacted by the US Government and the State of California over the course of the last 33 years (real wages have not kept pace with inflation since Richard Nixon ended the Breton Woods System in 1973). The Passage of the "anti-tax" Proposition 13 in 1978 ushered in an era of increasing brutal class war against working people in California that continues to this day.

These problems are widespread, and not isolated to Telegraph Avenue, but homelessness is a symptom, not the cause. If anything, those that criticize the City of Berkeley for being "soft on homelessness" (read: not sufficiently brutal and draconian towards homeless people as opposed to attacking the problem of homelessness) prove my point (That homelessness cannot be the cause of Cody's demise), because Homelessness has been more prevalent on Telegraph Avenue than other places, and yet, Cody's has managed to survive for years in spite of it.

"Anti-social youth culture" isn't to blame either. Telegraph Avenue has endured the Free Speech Movement (in the mid 1960s), Anti-Vietnam War protests (in the late 1960s and early 1970s), Anti-Apartheid Protests (in the mid 1980s), riots over People's Park (in the early 1990s), and riots over the beating of Rodney King (in 1991).

This last riot did cause a turnover of ownership at the now defunct electronics store, Uncle Ralph's, but that is more a result of Ralph's failure to purchase an insurance policy, and an employees failure to lock the security gates protecting the merchandise than anything else. Ralph's actually survived until 1995 and was deliberately strangled out of business by the capitalists who purchased the business from Ralph (I know this, because I was working at Uncle Ralph's from late 1994 until it died in 1995. The dismal conditions, low pay, and horrid morale is what ultimately drove me to join the IWW in the first place). Even there it was ultimately capitalism that killed the business, not "riots".

If anything, Telegraph Avenue has been relatively quite in the past decade. Cody's managed to survive all of the tumultous events in the past, so how could "youth culture" or "riots" suddenly cause it to die a decade later?

As for "drugs" (in particular Pot, Speed, Meth, Crack, Heroin, Cocaine, LSD, Ecstasy, Pills, and Booze), these are also widespread problems that have existed longer than either People's Park or Cody's. Anyone with half a brain knows, however, that it's not just homeless people or countercultural youth who abuse these substances. Arguing the opposite is yet another example of class war propaganda by the capitalist class (remember, it's the Capitalist class that import most of these substances into the United States in the first place. This is well documented). Anyone with a degree in history knows well that prohibition against alcohol was an unmitigated disaster. The "Drug War" is modern-day prohibition. It, too, is an unmitigated disaster.

Use of "illegal" drugs is widespread. Probably at least 75% of all Americans use "illegal" drugs. To suggest, somehow, that potential customers are scared away from Cody's due to drug use, is simply ridiculous, since most people have used "illegal drugs" at some point in their lives anyway. I would be willing to bet that a great many people use those substances particularly in their teens and twenties. Most of Cody's potential customers are at that age.

In any case, if any of these problems--whether localized or not--were actually the cause of Cody's failure, one would expect all businesses on Telegraph Avenue's South Side district to be failing at once. That isn't happening, of course.

Lack of Parking not the Problem Either

Several Commentators, including Moe's manager, Gene Barone, and regular Berkeley Daily Planet contributor, Michael Katz, have cited "lack of parking" in the neighborhood as a cause for the demise of Cody's, but that cannot be true either. Here's why:

• (1) In addition to street parking nearby, there are several parking garages in the neighborhood, and they validate parking tickets;
• (2) While parking on the streets nearby is difficult, that has always been the case. Parking has not grown appreciably more difficult (in terms of available spaces) in the neighborhood in the past thirty years. The relative density of the neighborhood has been high-medium for years, and it hasn't changed much during that time.
• (3) There are nearby, un-metered, "letter permit", two-hour parking zones, but in more active business districts there are even less parking spaces and no such limited free parking spaces.
• (4) What has changed in the past ten years is that parking meters and parking fees have increased more and more rapidly (ultimately as a result of capitalist economic policies), and mass transit fares have increased, while service has decreased. If anything, there is not enough public transit serving Telegraph Avenue, and this is a result of class war committed by the capitalist class.
• (5) Even so, I would guess that most of Cody's regular customer base live within walking distance of the store (I did for almost ten years), so neither parking or public transit are likely to be significant factors. Again, if they were, we should expect to see all businesses on Telegraph Avenue near Cody's and People's Park failing equally, but that isn't happening!

What factors are likely to be the cause of Cody's failing?

• (1) Internet Competition - Cody's current owner, Andy Ross, argued that Cody's has suffered largely due to competition from online booksales, particularly Amazon.com. That's a somewhat logical deduction. In the past ten years, competition from online sales has been cited as the cause of many an independent bookstore's demise. Another locally famous independent bookstore, "A Clean Well Lighted Place" is closing as well. But there are alternatives to Amazon. The IWW links to two of them: abebooks.com and TomFolio.com. Cody's could easily have joined these networks. Perhaps they did. Competition is always fierce among booksellers, even among independents on these independent networks.
• (2) Competition from Superstores and Corporate Chains - Borders, Barns & Noble, Target, and WalMart have grown aggressively over the past decade. No doubt these outfits have siphoned away customers from indepedent stores, like Cody's. Although Cody's sells a lot of unique titles, stores like Borders sell enough independent titles to dent the sales at stores like Cody's. What cannot be found at Borders can be found on the internet (for example, most anarchist, socialist, or labor titles can be purchased directly from their publishers or friendly distributors, such as AK Press and Charles Kerr).
• (3) Bush Capitalism - Massive tax cuts to the richest members of the Capitalist Class; outsourcing to "third world" nations; illegal and costly wars for oil, power, and profit; anti-union policies; active and increased union busting; refusal to increase the minimum wage; massive cuts to social democratic "safety net" protections; refusal to prepare and plan for disasters (such as Hurricane Katrina); and Enron style scandals are all examples of class war committed by the rich against the poor. All of this has reduced the disposable income of most working people or "consumers" as the capitalist class would reduce us to. Books, like it or not, are considered a luxury item. No wonder book sales are down.
• (4) Andy Ross's Greed - Cody's owner Andy Ross has opened two additional "Cody's" stores in the past ten years. The first is located in west Berkeley's yuppie dominated "Fourth Street" district. That neighborhood is far more automobile friendly, and in an autocentric culture, that can make a difference--but note that this is not the same thing as a "lack of parking" on Telegraph Avenue. The Third Cody's is located in San Francisco. Ross has possibly pulled many potential customers away from the Telegraph store to the other Codys'. Furthermore, Cody's is union. By closing one store, Ross can lay off a bunch of unionized workers. Has anyone even considered that the whole "People's Park" angle could be a ruse?!? Ross has done slimy things in the past, such as allowing the Berkeley Police to use an office in the second floor of the Telegraph store to spy on People's Park and the street below.
• (5) Rising price of fuel and all it affects - Contrary to the Peak Oil alarmists, it is Capitalist market manipulation that is responsible for the current spike in oil prices, not "Peak Oil". They are correct, however, in pointing out just how dependent modern industrial society is on oil for a lot of its basic needs. Capitalist market manipulation isn't just responsible for high gas prices. The increasing cost of oil drives up the cost of all things that depend on oil, from energy and electricity generation, to food production, to transportation costs. All of these have a ripple effect on the cost of items such as books and the purchasing power of those who might purchase those books. That must have an effect as well.
• (6) High Rent Prices - One factor that other Telegraph Business owners repeatedly cite is high commercial space rents. More investigations of that possibility should be conducted. It's logical to assume that high rents are making business tough on Telegraph. However, Telegraph has always been a high rent district, and like parking, transportation, homelessness, drugs, youth culture, and People's Park, one would expect high rent to drive all businesses out--not just Cody's. Still, "high rent" combined with other factors, could be responsible for Cody's demise. Again, the class war is being waged by the capitalist class. Sometimes the big capitalists subdue the smaller ones.
• (7) University of California Greed and Malfeasance - It would take many blog entries to fully describe the long, bloody history of the University of California at Berkeley's use of the city and its surrounding neighborhood as a company town. Needless to say, the University has much money and very likely some of it could be spent to provide mutual aid to the surrounding neighborhood on more equitable terms than is currently done. Certainly this unequal relationship could be a factor in Cody's demise.

What could have been done

What could have been done to save Cody's? Again, that could be several more blog entries, but here are a few ideas:

• (1) Sell textbooks at Cody's - Why aren't textbooks sold at Cody's? There are three bookstores in the same neighborhood that sell text books exclusively. Why couldn't Cody's sell some textbooks as well? Not only would that be a form of mutual aid and built in revenue, those students buying text books would see the other books that are also available. That could only help sales. Did Andy Ross even think of this idea? If so, why didn't he argue in favor of it? Is there some law prohibiting it? Either way, it is capitalist market fundamentalism that prohibits or discourages this form of mutual aid to take place.
• (2) Student discount cards - One idea that local businesses and the University have discussed is student discount cards. Currently such cards allow students to purchase items at the Student Union (books, food, office supply, and apparel--most of it still made in sweatshops unfortunately) at reduced costs. Similar discounts at participating Telegraph Avenue merchants have been proposed. That's a good idea. It creates another form of mutual aid, though not perhaps as guaranteed a revenue stream. Again, this challenges the market fundamentalism of capitalism, but it seems that enough members of the capitalist class recognize that hard-line capitalist doctrine is hazardous to even their survival.
• (3) Mutual Aid among local businesses - Beyond the two ideas described above, there are further examples of "mutual aid" that local businesses could practice, such as cooperating with each other instead of attempting to drive each other out of business, including mutual discounts, a renters' association (to limit high rent), profit sharing, and other similar forms of collective solidarity. Capitalist market fundamentalism as well as legal prohibitions make that difficult. Generally, the only time these businesses do cooperate is when they engage in class war against the homeless and their workers.
• (4) The People's Bookstore - The Cody's workers, a neighborhood cooperative, The University, or the City of Berkeley, could collectivize the store and turn ownership over to the workers or a trust of some sort. Certainly many organizations, including the IWW or the Network of Bay Area Workers Collectives (NoBAWC) would be willing to help with these efforts, if the workers AFL-CIO union isn't. Again, however, this idea is a direct challenge to capitalism, and I suspect that Andy Ross is not really interested in saving Cody's rather than simply making a buck.

Ultimately these problems extend far beyond Telegraph Avenue, Cody's, and People's Park. Capitalism is an engineered system of organized thuggary. A game where the goal is to reach the top of artificially conceived, fictional power pyramids. The only solution to that problem is to subdue and eliminate the cause, and that cause is capitalism, pure and simple.

Bottom Line, Cody's is a casualty in the struggles between businesses in their will to power under the logic of capitalist market discipline, not People's Park or the downtrodden masses. To argue otherwise is to ignore reality.

Based on deductive reasoning, its the only conclusion that best fits the facts.