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There's something distinctly Kafkaesque about a bureaucracy that requires multiple years to install a $98 piece of plastic you can literally order from Amazon o
by bijant 1y ago
There's something distinctly Kafkaesque about a bureaucracy that requires multiple years to install a $98 piece of plastic you can literally order from Amazon overnight. Ironically, what's trivially achievable even in places labeled "failed states"—say, Somalia or Afghanistan—is outright impossible under the watchful eye of Bay Area local government.
Imagine: the co-founder of Vimeo, a person presumably equipped with resources, connections, and media savvy, finds himself reduced to helplessly installing a CCTV camera to document crashes instead of preventing them. He’s left sending annual appeals to bureaucratic email addresses that no longer exist.
It might sound absurd, but in a scenario like this, you're genuinely better off with mafia management. At least the mafia would deliver your speed bump within 48 hours (fees negotiable), no paperwork required.
Jokes aside, the deeper problem here is that bureaucracy isn't just slow—it's optimized toward risk-aversion and self-preservation rather than actual outcomes. This inversion of incentives creates paralysis masquerading as accountability. Bureaucrats face career-ending risk from mistakenly installing a bump, but zero consequences from doing nothing.
If governance becomes indistinguishable from satire, don't be surprised when people start seriously discussing alternative power structures—even troubling ones—just because they get things done. Bureaucratic dysfunction at this extreme level isn't merely inefficient; it's a symptom of systemic rot.
- cardiffspaceman 1y agoIn 2019 I toured the suburbs of Montevideo, Uruguay, with a group. We noticed that in a residential district, the street signs on the corner had Netflix logos on them. We concluded that these were somehow permitted by the local authority. Meanwhile, Uruguay in general seemed to be implementing high speed internet faster than, i.e. ahead of, our wealthy neighborhoods back home.
- AutistiCoder 1y agoI can see it from the City's POV. It's not just installing it - it's making sure the thing won't end up making the problem worse or causing other problems.
- rs186 1y agoOr rather, it's like when you have a huge backlog of bugs, you are going to de-prioritize the ones that are minor and have workarounds. For the city, they have got too much to worry about than a "optional" speed bump. Not saying it is ok, but it kind of explains the delay.
- SupremumLimit 1y agoI like considering _why_ the government is like that. I would suggest that the suspicion, disdain (evident in your comment) and outright hatred of government (particularly from sections of the political and capitalist classes, particularly in the US) are all large drivers of the extreme risk aversion and resulting inefficiency of government agencies that develops over time. That is, there is nothing inherent about it beyond the inevitable inefficiency of all large organisations, the government was shaped to be like that by external pressures. Viewed in that light, your favourable assessment of mafia rule is even more obviously a false alternative.
- floxy 1y ago>Bureaucrats face career-ending risk from mistakenly installing a bump, but zero consequences from doing nothing. I don't live in the area, so I'm out of the loop. Is there a publicly available list of SF municipal employees getting terminated from their jobs over the past, say 10 years? It seems like something that might already exist. Even if things like names were redacted for privacy reasons. It would also be great if that list had a reason for each termination, like "went to prison for embezzlement", or "overly aggressive with speed bump approvals".
- user32489318 1y agoProbably no one’s really getting fired but moved to a less fortunate, careers dead-end position.
- floxy 1y agoMaybe "zero consequences from doing nothing" is all the explanation that is needed?
- hkpack 1y ago> you're genuinely better off with mafia management When enough people want mafia management - they will get mafia management.
- rendx 1y agoWhat I see is kafkaesque character assassination and psychological violence against government employees and institutions for profit reasons, with then the additional violence of blaming the victims. I tie you to a chair and then complain that you're not doing your job right.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]