I wrote about the Emerald Views condo meeting yesterday for Novometro. Today, there’s a story in the Chronicle about the project.
It contains the usual nonsensical babblings from anti-growth zealots who have somehow failed to notice that Lake Merrit is actually already surrounded by tall buildings. As for this “historic garden” nonsense, I addressed that issue last year in a post on Future Oakland, as did dto510.
And of course the story mentions (without any exploration of feasibility) this idiotic notion these people keep bringing up about trading the property for something near Broadway: (more…)
Read all about it here.
In all seriousness, I do think this is sweet. I hate Nancy Nadel’s policy positions and I think she’s utterly useless on the City Council, but that does not make her a bad person. I believe her heart is in the right place. (more…)
Today’s Trib features a story about an apartment building in North Oakland which has been sold after belonging to a single owner for 42 years. All parties agree that the building was poorly maintained, and the old owner claims he decided to sell because some tenants made it nearly impossible for him to perform improvements. The new owner is now renovating the building and raising rents to cover the costs, as permitted by law.
I cannot say whether Jamaal Johnson, when writing the article, was being purposely misleading or merely lazy. But either way, the end product is irresponsible and just one more example of the biased drivel that passes for journalism at the Trib. (more…)
I really, really, really hope that CBS5 was taking Victor Ochoa’s words out of context. Sadly, I doubt it.
The news story in question is about two recent daytime homicides in Oakland. We’re currently at 68 homicides in Oakland for the year (down from 74 at this time last year. Yippee!).
The story’s main source is Victor Ochoa, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums’s deputy chief of staff. First, police Sgt. Robert Nolan offers the following insights into Oakland’s homicide problem:
“Homicide is still a rare event,” Nolan said. “The fact that we have had a few during the day recently doesn’t necessarily make it a trend.”
(more…)
The Grand Lake Guardian is back after what seems like a several month hiatus (and to think I felt bad about neglecting my little blog for 3 weeks!). One of their three new posts is a lengthy rehashing of the endless half-truths and distortions of the Oak to 9th Referendum Committee.
I’m pretty busy at the moment, but I’m hoping that later in the week I’ll be able to find time to address the myriad innaccuracies in Ms. Drake’s story. For now, I just want to point out one thing that drives me absolutely insane. From the GLG: (more…)
Shortly before Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums withdrew his nominations of two local activists, Victor Uno and Margaret Gordon, to the Board of Port Commissioners after it became clear that at least one would be rejected.
The nominations reveal the tension between the Mayor’s dual public devotions to labor activists and the city’s economic development. He frequently speaks of the need to expand the Port’s operations and promote Oakland as a center of international trade. He visited China earlier this year to promote our Port (corrected, thanks to RodeoClown), and is a strong backer of the proposal to build a World Trade Center in Oakland. Meanwhile, both his nominees advocate large-scale reforms that could damage the Port’s competitiveness. (more…)
Plastic bag hating is so in right now. As usual, I was way too ahead of the times to get excited about the new vogue by the time it got trendy. But, also as usual, late arrivals to the party more than make up for their tardiness with excessive enthusiasm. While I contently stuff my groceries in a well worn free bag promoting an outdated (and failed) local bond measure, the fashionable are busy one-upping one another’s selection of shopping totes.
The New York Times dining section today has an article about limited edition reusable bags being sold at Whole Foods. The bags, by British designer Anya Hindmarch, sell for $15 and sales are limited to three bags per customer. The bags have proved so popular that the line to buy them caused a near-riot in Taiwan and re-sell on eBay for as much as $300. (more…)
