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120 Radical Utopian Proposals - the Mob Decides
12 presenters hold placards describing proposals below, they briefly harangue, then audience votes YES, NO, or MAYBE
Random Silly proposals are inserted throughout by a Jester - they’re listed at the End.
This is a list-in-progress - superior proposals will be added as they are imagined.
Will be scheduled in early or mid-October. Three different places are being considered.
Drumming music is played throughout the presentation
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Food & Agriculture
Free community cafeterias
Meatless Mondays or MWF? etc
Free breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all students
Community food gardens mandated on vacant lots
"Edible Berkeley" — food forest: fruit and nut trees in public spaces
Free food markets distribute surplus food
Universal basic food allowance (monthly credit)
City-Run Grocery stores at or near cost
Ban destruction of edible surplus — mandatory donation to Food Not Bombs or similar organizations
Ban fast food within a half-mile of schools
Housing
Housing as a legal, enforceable, human right, enforceable
Squatters' rights for long-vacant buildings
Ban corporate ownership of single-family homes
Publicly-owned housing at low or no rent
Community Land Trusts / take land permanently out of speculation
Cooperative housing requirement for large new developments
Convert vacant commercial buildings into housing
Free/publicly funded ADU (backyard unit) program
"Right to Build" — minimal-bureaucracy small home construction
Cap on how many properties one landlord can own
Public ownership of all vacant land
Neighborhood Housing Assemblies — residents directly decide local housing needs
Transportation
Free public transportation
Car-free downtown Berkeley
One day per week without cars citywide
Free bike-share and e-bike program
Bike lanes citywide
Community car-sharing cooperatives
City-owned rideshare service (public alternative to Uber/Lyft)
Convert a traffic lane on major streets into public space
Gradual replacement of private cars with shared electric transport
Economics & Wealth
Wealth tax on fortunes over $10 million
Universal Basic Income
Maximum wage ratio — 10x lowest-paid worker or 5x or ?
Shorter workweek — 32 hours (4-day week) or 20 hours? or ?
Publicly owned municipal bank
Baby bonds — city-funded trust for every child born
Land value tax replaces property tax
Vacant home tax
Time banking (one hour of labor = one hour of anyone else's)
Local/community currency
Reparations fund financed by local wealth tax
Free childcare for all families
Labor
Guaranteed minimum hours for gig workers
Portable benefits system independent of employer
Right to strike protections extended to gig workers
City-funded sabbaticals every 7 years for long-term residents
"Right to Disconnect" — no work email after hours, legally enforced
Technology & Communication
Free municipal internet / public ownership of broadband
Ban targeted or private advertising in public space
Free community tool libraries and repair shops
“No-Electronics” in selected public areas
Health
Free universal health care, plus dental and vision care
A Cuban doctor on every residential block
Safe injection sites with on-site treatment access
Free doulas and postpartum care
City-run pharmacy selling at cost
Environment & Ecology
Ban new fossil fuel infrastructure
Mandatory/publicly funded solar on all suitable roofs
Neighborhood microgrids
Free home weatherization
Turn parking lots into parks
Rewild portions of public land
Zero-waste Berkeley
Ban gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn equipment
One new tree planted per resident
Daylight buried creeks
Free composting and rainwater harvesting kits
Per-resident carbon budget, taxed if exceeded
Make Berkeley a carbon-negative city
Guarantee every resident public/green space within a 5-minute walk
Democracy & Governance
Neighborhood assemblies with real, binding local authority
Citizens' assemblies chosen by lottery with legislative power
Ranked-choice voting for local elections
Recall elections via petition with a low signature threshold
Lower local voting age to 16
Participatory budgeting — 25% of the budget to the entire budget
Participatory city planning — residents co-design major developments
Public ownership of essential utilities
"Open-Book Government" — full, real-time access to city finances
Neighborhood veto power over developments that violate local plans
"Berkeley Commons Council" — oversees community land, gardens, and commons
Education & Culture
Free public college / trade school for residents
Free musical instrument lending library
Universal library card granting access to tools, equipment, and skills classes
City-funded artist stipends
Animal Rights
Ban all animal agriculture within city limits
Mandatory vegan option at city-funded events and institutions
Ban fur, leather, and wool sales citywide
Ban animal testing by companies headquartered in the city
No-kill mandate for animal control, unlimited shelter funding
Mandatory wildlife corridors through new development
"Right-to-rescue" law for animals in visible distress
Non-lethal pest control ordinances
10 Puppy Cafes
No Pet Stores, No Selling Animals (they can only be “adopted”)
Bioregional
Redraw governance boundaries around the watershed, not city lines
"Rights of nature" charter — creek, bay, and hills granted legal standing
Daylight buried creeks
Native plant mandate replacing non-native public landscaping
Foodshed self-sufficiency target — 20% of food sourced within the bioregion
Bioregional currency usable only within the watershed
Full ecological rewilding of a percentage of public parks
Align city meetings and school holiday calendar with local ecological seasons
Mandatory permeable materials — ban new impervious surfaces like concrete
Reintroduce locally extinct species (beavers, salmon)
Bioregional watershed ecology as core school curriculum
Dismantle the sewer system for decentralized greywater/composting systems
Anarchist
Secession from the USA
Abolish Police, replace with community mediation & reparation
Consensus-based neighborhood assemblies with binding authority
Dissolve zoning laws — Neighborhood determination of land use
Abolish landlords — housing stewarded, not owned
Replace Criminal Courts with restorative justice
Abolish politicians, dismantle City Council, replace with rotating citizen delegate governance
Abolish ICE, no cooperation with immigration enforcement
Worker takeover of any closing/relocating business
Abolish money for essentials — food, water, shelter distributed by need
Abolish Prison, redirect funds to housing and mental health
Direct democracy app — any resident proposes/votes on binding ordinances anytime
Random
Kristi Noem is director of Animal Care & Control
Komodo Dragons released into Strawberry Canyon to solve deer overpopulation
Drone Babysitters provided to parents at parks, they tase anyone who approaches without a password
Forced De-Programming Therapy for Zionism Addicts
Sex Robot Brothels in empty Churches
Rename Berkeley to “Huchin”, after the original Ohlone village
Make Telegraph Avenue a Giant Slip-and-Slide Every Sunday Afternoon - Pedestrians Only
Free Therapy Goats — every resident gets two hours of goat-assisted emotional counseling per week.
Municipal Compliment Department — city employees hired to randomly stop residents on the street and praise them.
Public Libraries Also Lend People — check out a stranger for companionship, conversation or philosophical debate.
Mandatory Political Names — everyone newborn must have a name like Zapata, Moonbeam, Guernica
Train Pigeons to Deliver Burritos
Declare Berkeley a Sanctuary City for Political Exiles : welcome dissidents, whistleblowers and persecuted activists from anywhere.
Adopt Gaza as a Sister-City
Free Psilocybin
Adopt Poison Oak as the City Plant
No Berkeley Money for War — prohibit investment in weapons production.
BART is Extended to North Korea as a Goodwill Peace Gesture
Foreign Aid is Distributed Exclusively as Artisanal Sourdough and Fair Trade Coffee
War is Replaced by Betting on the Cal Football “Big Game”