Friday, September 14th 2007
University brings big money to little city
Yesterday UC Berkeley released a survey of its economic impact on Berkeley and the surrounding area.
From an ABC 7 KGO TV report:
The university calculates it infuses close to three-quarters of a billion dollars a year into the local economy.
$31 million is spent in Berkeley on goods and services.
$314 million in salaries are paid to Berkeley residents.
$117 million is allocated to capital projects, and $282 million in student spending.
They have a video if you want to see what Berkeley looks like on TV. There is also an interview with a Berkeley resident who said there were more important things than money, like values. Unfortunately, the report does not uncover what Berkeley values the University is corrupting.
From the Berkeley Newscenter:
As the largest employer in the city of Berkeley, as well as in the East Bay counties of Alameda and Contra Costa, the campus employs more people than the next nine largest employers in the city combined, providing jobs to 24,700 staff, including 9,700 students who work on campus.
I wish I could work out practical teleportation in one of my Physics classes. I would teleport the entire University to a different city. Then as the City of Berkeley fades into obscurity and loses the hundreds of millions of dollars dumped into its economy it can realize the error of its ways. Until that happens, I have to live here to attend the best public university in the country.
