Oakland is full of superfun stuff to do during the holiday season. Shopping districts host festive street fairs. Normally-cool institutions like the Dunsmuir-Hellman Historic Estate, the Oakland Zoo, Children’s Fairyland become even cooler when they get all gussied up with lights and decorations. The [...]
I get so frustrated with the City sometimes. Okay, most of the time. Following Oakland government as closely as I do, especially in dire times like these, can be completely maddening. I am often tempted to just throw my hands in the air, declare the City hopeless broken, and like, [...]
It isn’t news for this blog’s readers (or, well, for anyone, really) that AC Transit is facing a looming (and significant) budget deficit, or that to deal with the deficit, the agency will soon be making some dramatic cuts to bus service. But what some of you might not know [...]
Amber Tree Apartments lay behind a fence along 200 feet of the south side of Foothill Boulevard between 25th and 26th Avenue. I first noticed them last summer when I was on a walking tour of the 23rd Avenue area with other members of the Central City East Redevelopment [...]
2009 is quickly coming to a close, and if things keep going the way they have been, it looks like we’re going to end the year with a substantially lower number of reported crimes than last year.
When compared to the same date in 2008, reported crimes have been down pretty [...]
As we saw last week, Oakland’s budget problems are ongoing. The City is currently anticipating an $18.87 million deficit in the General Purpose Fund by the end of the year (plus a $25.4 million shortfall next year) due to a combination of revenue shortfalls and overspending.
The City Council will [...]
Condo conversions were a big controversy a few years ago, but since then, have pretty much faded off the radar of everyone but professional affordable housing activists and developers. Now the issue is back, sort of.
Councilmembers Pat Kernighan and Rebecca Kaplan have introduced a proposal to make some [...]
Monday night, I attended the Town Hall meeting with Oakland’s new Police Chief, Anthony Batts, at Prescott Elementary in West Oakland. It was okay.
I did enjoy listening to Batts speak, but everything else about the night was annoying. Before the Chief started talking, we had to listen to a long [...]
Do you guys remember back in June when the Council was putting together the budget? And they kept talking about how this is just a temporary solution, and that they would be back constantly making more cuts, and adjusting this and that. Council President Jane Brunner, a couple of times, [...]
I have this friend who’s always making fun of my affinity for what he calls “19th century entertainment.” For him, parades, fireworks, and festivals are a relic of a time when people didn’t have the internet, cable TV, or Wiis to entertain them. I think that’s sad.
I love parades. I [...]
In a poll conducted this October a whopping 96% of Oakland voters say Oakland leaders should attract new companies and businesses. This comes from residents in every district in Oakland. It includes every demographic – every age group, ethnicity, party affiliation, sex and sexual preference; in short, everybody. This is [...]
I feel kind of sad admitting this, but over the past few years, I have gotten extremely jaded about the City’s ability to do, like, anything right, ever. So much so, in fact, that anytime I do hear about something good, I’m like, completely floored and immediately look for ways [...]
Want to talk about something I haven’t covered? Do it here. You can find the previous open thread here.
[...]
Below is a photograph of a charming new downtown bar called the Layover.
I love the Layover. It’s been great to watch downtown transform over the past several years, and have all this wonderful new nightlife. But it has always bothered me a little bit that every new [...]
When we last visited the issue of municipal ID cards, the City Council agreed to endorse the idea, but asked staff to come back with a report explaining our options for creating a municipal ID card program that wouldn’t cost the City any money before they actually started [...]
dto510 has an excellent post up today at Future Oakland about the state of transit and transportation advocacy in Oakland.
It’s easy to feel down about transportation in Oakland lately, with BRT in jeopardy, the Council’s decision to roll back the parking meter hours at the expense [...]
It’s that time again. Our always exciting monthly check-in on Oakland crime stats.
Overall Part I crimes reported in Oakland continue to be down compared to last year, which is always a good thing. And as it’s getting so late in the year, it’s looking at this point like we will [...]
The East Bay Municipal Utility District supplies water to 1.3 million people in 20 cities and two counties over 325 square miles, yet most people barely give the agency a thought. This is unfortunate.
This afternoon, the East Bay MUD Board of Directors will vote to adopt a new [...]
By now, you guys have probably all heard that the Oakland City Council voted last night to reaffirm their support for the Oakland Airport Connector (all present but Rebecca Kaplan and Nancy Nadel voted yes, Desley Brooks was absent). They attached a few conditions to their support, which would be [...]
I know you guys are tired of hearing about the Oakland Airport Connector. Believe me, I’m completely sick of it too. I have been going to meetings about the damn Airport Connector since January. Over and over and over again, I have watched dozens of people stand up and beg [...]
I’m sure everyone has been itching for me to talk about parking, and I’ve been meaning to since last week’s Council meeting, but I’ve been having kind of a hard time of it, partly because I’ve been busy, but mostly because…well, do you ever find yourself with so much to [...]
I apologize for not yet being able to get to the parking issue or last week’s lobbying ordinance meeting. After enjoying all sorts of free time during recess, I’m having a little trouble getting back into the swing of things around here and have accumulated somewhat of a backlog of [...]
Friday night’s AC Transit Special Board meeting depressed the hell out of me. I expected it to be depressing going in. After all, the Board was being asked to choose between cutting lifeline service and, for all practical purposes, cancelling BRT (PDF). But then it was even worse [...]
This Friday evening, the AC Transit Board of Directors will hold a special meeting to consider taking some steps that could seriously threaten the East Bay BRT project. OMG Yikes, I know!
First let’s take a quick look at how we got here and why this is on [...]
I know you guys are all just dying to read all about last night’s disaster of a discussion about the parking meter hours, but unfortunately, you’re going to have to wait until tomorrow for that. By now, everyone’s aware of what happened (they delayed a decision until next [...]
You are all, of course, aware by now that in a few hours, the Oakland City Council will consider a proposal from District 2 Councilmember Pat Kernighan to rescind the Council’s June decision to extend Oakland’s parking meter hours until 8 PM (PDF):
I proposed that Council vote to roll [...]
I didn’t do one of these last month, since Vivek B. stepped in with his excellent (and far more detailed) crime numbers analysis.
Anyway, here you go. As of September 16th:
I know it’s been a little transit-heavy around here lately, and you guys are probably getting fatigued of hearing about the Oakland Airport Connector and the AC Transit service cuts. But you’re going to have to bear with me for just a little bit longer.
Today is the second [...]
Oakland’s City Council looooves small business, and loves to talk and talk and talk, ad nauseum, about just how much they love small business. What usually goes unsaid in these endless, self-congratulatory sermons, is that they don’t actually love all small business.
No, the Council as a whole loves to fantasize [...]
In the debate about how best to proceed on the Oakland Airport Connector, I wanted to take this opportunity to share why I think it is so important to make sound choices. My goal is to result in a project that is better for economic growth and job creation, better [...]
Tuesday is a crazy day in Oakland! There are like 10 million things to do, and not enough time for them all. Highlights include the Oakland Airport Connector at the Public Works Committee, the selection of a new District Attorney at the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting, and discussion [...]
You guys are probably all already aware of this, but just in case you somehow missed it – Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff, totally randomly and out of nowhere, announced at last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting that he has decided to retire after 15 years in office.
Nobody [...]
Do you ride the bus? If you do (or even if you don’t), you are surely aware by now of the drastic service cuts in the works for AC Transit. I put up an overview of the proposed changes in Oakland last week, and I will be doing some [...]
Remember how Nancy Nadel advertised in her re-election campaign literature last year that she had “transformed Jefferson Park into a skate park for youth“? Well, that hadn’t actually happened then, and it isn’t happening now, but I am pleased to report that Jefferson Park will soon be getting a [...]
The City of Oakland is closed today. If you want to go pay (or fight) a parking ticket, you can’t. If you want to check something out at the the Library, you can’t. If you want to go to KTOP and place an order for a DVD copy of last [...]
A few weeks ago, dto510, Becks, and I were sitting around talking about how one would phrase a poll question that would accurately gauge how much support there is for the Oakland Airport Connector among Oakland residents.
BART, after all, claims the project has widespread support, although demonstrating that to…well, pretty [...]
If you read yesterday’s post, or really, any news anywhere yesterday or today, you’re already aware that AC Transit is planning on reducing bus service by 15 percent due to budget problems. That sounds pretty staggering, but what does it mean? Are they just going to cut 15% [...]
First, thanks so much to everyone who took the reader survey yesterday. Your feedback is extremely helpful for me in making decisions about the upcoming changes to the site. I was really surprised by some of the answers, so I’m glad I asked or I may have taken things [...]
Remember how I mentioned last week that part of the reason I haven’t been posting lately is because I’m using recess to work on some changes to the site? Well, that work is ongoing (although I will have some normal blogs up later this week).
Like I said before, I [...]
On the eve of Make Oakland Better Now!’s kick-off meeting, we are starting to run across much curiosity about who we are and what we are up to. There’s apparently been speculation that V.Smoothe of A Better Oakland is behind the group. And there was a comment at [...]
People keep asking me the same questions over e-mail. I figured it would be easier to just answer them here.
Q: When are you going to write on your blog again?
A: I don’t know. I’m not abandoning you all, I promise, but I am quite enjoying my vacation and having some [...]
ABX3 14 passed the California State Senate Thursday night with a yes vote from Oakland’s only representative in the State Senate, Loni Hancock, but it is now in the assembly, where a vote may be held as early as this Monday (August 24th). Contact information for your assembly members are [...]
The Boat House Rededication went off without a hitch earlier this month. The Mayor and several council members (including former council member) were present as was the media and numerous individuals and groups involved with Lake Merritt, the Boat House, and the Lake Chalet restaurant.
There were congratulations going around for everyone. [...]
Hi folks. My name is Vivek B, and for about 2 years now i’ve been doing monthly graphs & analysis of the OPD crime stats. I load up the data from CrimeSpotting.Org into an access database, and look at it 16 ways from Sunday. I live in Rockridge, so [...]
Okay, good news first. I am thrilled to welcome Coolhand Luke, author of the stellar blog 38th Notes, back to Oakland. Even while living on the East Coast for the past several months, Luke has been serving up a steady stream of music videos and song clips from Oakland [...]
Want to talk about something I haven’t covered? Do it here. You can find the previous open thread here.
[...]If you’ve walked around the south end of Lake Merritt lately, you may have noticed construction equipment and big pieces of concrete sewer pipe stacked in the median area of the busy 12th Street Dam. Your heart may have jumped, like mine did, as you thought perhaps this is the [...]
On Thursday, Grand Lake Theater proprietor Allen Michaan hosted a meeting at the theater to protest recent increases in Oakland’s parking fees and fines. I attended the meeting, and frankly, there was so much bluster and vitriol in the theater that afternoon that the one or two accurate [...]
Regular readers may have noticed posting has been lighter than usual here lately. I’ve been having a hard time writing the past couple of weeks, partly because I’ve been incredibly busy with other stuff, and also partly because all the news going on with the City budget and the State [...]
Lots of interesting things on the agenda at tonight’s AC Transit Board meeting (PDF).
First, East Bay BRT is moving forward. A little bit, anyway. Tonight, the Board will decide whether or not to do separate local service or only BRT along the route. In the project’s Draft Environmental [...]
V Smoothe, Tom Thurston, Greg McConnell
