> Now, it seems that many small businesses there do not share the
> stance of the city council (which went 5-4, hardly a rout)
Speaking from District 2, held by a "progressive" majority party member, I can say: it was a rout :-) The 5-4 vote is misleading; BCA ("Berkeley Citizen Action") party has a 5-4 majority, and this vote was along party lines. Technically, the "-4" all abstained.
The city of Berkeley has used boycotts for years as a policy tool, and it's not clear that this particular resolution will have an impact one way or another. If you do business in Berkeley, you gotta get used to this kind of thing :-)
/jordan