Anti-prop 8, pro-equality rally at City Hall on Saturday

The passage of Proposition 8, which eliminated the right of same sex couples to marry in California, put a serious damper on what should have been an amazing election night for many of us. While 52.2% of California voters said yes, we can take maybe a little bit of comfort in the fact that bigotry isn’t quite so much in vogue in our neck of the woods - 62.2% of Alameda County voters said no. (Just for fun - our no vote was bested only by Marin, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma Counties, and we tied with Mendocino County.)

It was a banner day for intolerance, not just in California, but across the country. Read more

Free Wi-Fi at the Oakland Airport

Wow! How often do I get to write about something in this City that I’m just completely over the moon about? Like, never. Until today! Starting today, the Oakland Airport is going to be offering free wi-fi! Free! Read more

What is the City of Oakland’s subsidy to Forest City’s Uptown project?

Somehow, the comments on my election results post turned into a discussion of City subsidies to Forest City and the Uptown Apartments. There seems to be a lot of confusion about our agreement, so I’m just going to explain the whole deal.

The City of Oakland’s total funding contribution to the Uptown Project was $60,031,057. Read more

Jean Quan and elementary math

My little sister has this, like, handheld video game thing. It’s like a game boy except that it’s sleek and has a color, not sepia-tone screen, also, the screen is much bigger than on a game boy. In fact, there are two screens, and they both respond to touch. Also, it recognizes voice. So I guess it isn’t actually that much like a game boy after all. Anyway. She will sit on the couch for hours and hours playing this totally inane “game” that’s supposed to help prevent Alzheimers or something. Why she can’t just read a book or pick up a crossword puzzle, I couldn’t say. Wev, I spend my free time watching DVDs of months-old City Council and Planning Commission meetings (you should see my collection!), so I’m hardly in a position to judge. Read more

Oakland Crime Stats Update

We haven’t heard much lately about crime in Oakland. Maybe it’s because people were distracted with elections or the economy or the budget or who knows what else. Maybe it’s because people lost interest once the spate of restaurant robberies subsided. In any case, I figure it’s about time to check in. So here you go, Oakland crime numbers, 2007 and 2008, as of November 4th. Read more

Save the arts? At the expense of what, exactly?

So, tonight the City Council hopes to finally pass their second budget for the year and close the $42 million deficit hanging over our heads. The biggest point of contention tonight is likely to be suspension of the Cultural Arts funding program.

What program, you ask? Here’s the deal. Every year, we award grants to roughly 70 non-profits and individual artists to, well, make art. Read more

Open Thread

Fresh and new space to chat, enjoy! The old Open Thread is here.

Is there no limit to the DTO’s appetite for the world’s most tasteless sandwich?

Seriously! How many Subways can downtown support? There’s already three I can think of, and I believe another one coming in the retail space at the new Madison Lofts building in the Lake Merrit apartment district, and then today I was just innocently walking along San Pablo, and I see this! Read more

Open Thread, now with announcements

A place to discuss things I haven’t written about. Also, Rebecca Kaplan fundraiser and municipal wifi meetings. Read more

Encinal Tower renderings

As promised, I now have fancy renderings of Encinal Tower to share with you guys, courtesy of the nice people over at SOM. Read more

Spotted: Near Riot at the West Oakland Multi-Purpose Center

V Smoothe, here. Your one and only source on the scandalous circus that constitutes Oakland politics.

Okay, it wasn’t quite so bad as the headline suggests. But OMFG, last night was like, the mother of all meetings. Well, at the very least, it was hands down the best one I’ve been to in the past year. Read more

Bobb is not Oakland’s only hope.

So I was annoyed by Chip Johnson’s column yesterday, and then even more annoyed by all the fawning comments about how right it was. In case you didn’t read it, the idea is that Dellums should have hired former Emeryville City Manager John Flores to replace Deborah Edgerly, it was a mistake for him to pass up that opportunity and hire Bobb to conduct a search instead, and now Dellums should just hire Bobb as our new City Administrator, because even though he “wasn’t perfect,” he was pretty good. Read more

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