ABO, MOB Now!, and SFGate

by V Smoothe | August 26, 2009 | 3 comments

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 free time without tons of meetings to watch, and everyone was so encouraging when I said I was going to take a break, that I figured it wouldn’t hurt to extend it. I will return to posting soon, although daily blogs will probably not resume until the Council is back from recess, which is only a few weeks away now. I am, however, using the time to work on some changes to the site, which are not quite ready for display yet, but I think you guys are going to really like them.

Q: Are you abandoning your blog to write on SFGate?

A: No! dto510 and I are now writing a blog on SFGate.com, called InOakland. Like InAlameda, InMarin, and IntheMission, InOakland is part of SFGate’s experiment in “hyperlocal” content. (I know, I know. I hate that word too.) It’s got all your new media buzzwords going on – a geo-tagged aggregator of local news, a blog, reader-generated content, and so on.

It’s also a totally different thing than I do here – just a few short posts a day highlighting things going on around town and whatever happens to be in the news. I’m excited about it because it gives me a place to write about things that don’t really fit with the tone or mission of this blog, but that I still want to showcase. It just launched this week, so I haven’t quite gotten into a groove with it yet, and the tone will probably change somewhat as I do it more. But don’t worry, my long and boring posts about policy and the budget and development and all that good stuff are going to stay right here where they belong.

One issue I have been having with InOakland though, is that we have a sports category that we’re expected to write in at least occasionally. This is very much not my thing, and I’m certainly not about to add high school football games to my list of things I have to watch every week. So if you think of anything interesting about like, little kids sports teams or whatever that you think might be worth a mention, please feel free to send it my way.

Q: Are you the person behind MOB Now!?

A: No. I am very excited about Make Oakland Better Now! and I am planning on attending their meeting tomorrow. But I have no affiliation with the group other than being on their e-mail list, nor do I know any of the people involved. And I’m not entirely sure why people think it’s me. I don’t like mobs and would not start an organization with such a scary sounding acronym. Nor would I host a meeting somewhere so inaccessible as St. Theresa’s Church. Duh! Also, usually when I host events, there is liquor involved, and I didn’t notice any mention of a bar on their meeting announcement.

In fairness to MOB Now!, they actually abbreviate their name MOBN, but I just like saying MOB Now! so much that I can’t bring myself to call them anything else. Also, they seem to be aware of the access issue, and sent out an e-mail alert this morning offering “limited shuttle service” from Rockridge BART. So if you really want to go, but can’t find a way to get there, you can try contacting them through their website. Also, try TripPlanner. Bus access for most people won’t be terribly convenient, but it is there so long as you don’t mind walking a bit and transferring.