Looking for people in SF that can barely play golf, like myself, and want to hit up some of the par 3 and easy 18-hole courses. Let me know via email: joe at polastre.com

Berkeley has recently lost two amazing Berkeley-run businesses, Clifbar and PowerBar. An article about the loss of business says that "businesses grow up and find office space scarce." As a former Berkeley business owner, I have to say that this is nonsense. Businesses move out of Berkeley because:

1. The rates are too high. Places on Shattuck are trying to charge $4 per square foot per month for the space. In contrast, most space in San Francisco is under $2 per square foot per month, and space in the valley has dropped below $1.50 per square foot per month.
2. Parking is a mess. Berkeley is full of 2-hour limit residence zones, expensive parking garages, and impossible-to-find metered parking.
3. Homeless people hang out at your business entrance. Yes, our office in Berkeley had homeless people hanging out in front of our office door and refusing to move when people need to get in the building. Rumor has it that Inktomi started in the same office as Moteiv, but had to usher high-profile guests in through the garage so that they wouldn't have to walk pass the homeless contingent.
4. The university drives up rates. It isn't just the business lease rates, but the cost of living to be close to work. Rates in Berkeley are as high as in San Francisco, and most people realize that they'd rather live in San Francisco than Berkeley if it costs the same.
5. Very few startups are in Berkeley. It is a community thing--the valley has a ton of venture funded startups, and with web 2.0 making the .com irrationality come back, San Francisco is booming with small techie firms trying to build the next best hosted service with fancy web graphics.

To read an article that poorly covers the Berkeley office space situation, check out SFGate's analysis.