Might have to wait a little longer for that 12th Street Bridge
February 21, 2010 by V Smoothe · 106 Comments
If you lived in Oakland in 2002 and happened to make it to the polls that November, odds are that you, like 80% of Oaklanders, voted yes on Measure DD.
Measure DD was a nearly $200 million bond measure meant to finance improvements to Oakland’s creeks and waterways, public recreation facilities, waterfront parks, and of course, Lake Merritt. It’s Measure DD we have to thank for Lake Chalet at the Boathouse and the reconfiguration of El Embarcadero.
Vacant building registry returns to Council
January 4, 2010 by V Smoothe · 22 Comments
The hot topic for tomorrow’s Council meeting is the adoption of Instant Runoff Voting for this year’s election, which means that we won’t have June primaries and will only vote on City Council and Mayor once, in November. If you want to read about IRV, the staff reports for the agenda items are here (PDF) and here (PDF), and Becks has a blog up about it today. But IRV is not the only important thing on tomorrow’s agenda. We’ve also got the return of the vacant building registry (PDF)
Doing it right the second time around: parking returns to Council
December 4, 2009 by V Smoothe · 30 Comments
It was a great pleasure watching the City Council’s Public Works Committee’s discussion of parking issues last Tuesday.
As most of you probably remember, the City Council voted to raise the hourly parking meter price to $2 and extend the operating hours of parking meters from 6 to 8 PM as part of this summer’s budget process. The changes, coupled with a widespread perception of increased aggressiveness in parking enforcement and one very angry business owner with a very large billboard, created significant outcry among both residents and business groups. In response to the vocal opposition, the Council agreed to revisit the parking issue.
Are you ready for a new District Attorney on Tuesday?
September 13, 2009 by V Smoothe · 17 Comments
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.
Writing about the budget in 140 characters or less
June 17, 2009 by V Smoothe · 29 Comments
So the main news about last night’s budget discussion is that nothing happened. Really. Desley Brooks, Nancy Nadel, and Larry Reid all complained about the alternative budget proposal submitted by four of their colleagues, but amazingly, considering how strongly they appeared to feel about how unfair it was that their own ideas weren’t included, none of them submitted any specific adjustments of their own.
What are the core functions of a city?
June 11, 2009 by V Smoothe · 50 Comments
Sitting around fighting about whether the police are paid too much (they are) and if they care about Oakland and its residents (they do) is not productive. Let’s try to move the conversation on this blog in a more useful direction.
What you missed at Council last night
March 4, 2009 by V Smoothe · 20 Comments
Last night’s City Council meeting was full of fireworks. It was not, however, full of progress. On the two most controversial items on the agenda, the Council decided to just not do anything, at least for now. But just in case you had something else so pressing to do with your Tuesday night that you couldn’t tune into KTOP, here’s what you missed.
Spreading public art throughout Oakland
February 20, 2009 by V Smoothe · 4 Comments
Last Tuesday’s Life Enrichment Committee was a really good meeting. It was everything meetings should be, but rarely are. It was pretty short – around half an hour or so. All the Committee members had useful things to say during the discussion. Staff was pleasant, well-informed, and helpful, and also appeared genuinely interested in the Committee’s input. I can’t think of when I last got that impression at any meeting. Sometimes staff will obviously want the Council to go in one direction or another on an issue, other times they don’t seem to care what gets decided, they’re just waiting for instruction, but it’s definitely unusual (but so refreshing!) to hear statements like “This is important feedback, it redirects me.” But beyond the meeting just being extremely pleasant overall, I just found the discussion really interesting.
Oakland New Year’s Resolutions
December 31, 2008 by V Smoothe · 19 Comments
Aah, I love the end of December. It feels good to reflect on all the things I didn’t accomplish and promise myself how I’m going to do so much better next year. There’s nothing quite like a clean slate, a whole untainted year ahead of you with all the potential in the world to be great, accomplish something noteworthy, or put some of your worst qualities behind you. I’ve resolved that 2009 will be the year I finally quit smoking and get a driver’s license. But what about our elected officials? I know that settling on a goal can be tough, and I’m nothing if not helpful, so I’ve listed a few suggestions below:
Highlights from last night’s Council meeting
November 19, 2008 by V Smoothe · 14 Comments
Did you skip the show last night? Had something better to do with your Tuesday evening than stare at KTOP for seven straight hours? Don’t worry. I watch these things so you don’t have to. Here’s what you missed: Read more
1 Frank Ogawa Plaza: Oakland’s most expensive child-care center
November 18, 2008 by V Smoothe · 9 Comments
Alerting all municipal melodrama addicts. Make sure to tune into to KTOP tonight for yet another episode in the increasingly tiresome soap opera I like to call Brooks and De La Fuente hate each other.
The pathetic pettiness of the 2008 season of this show peaked at the Council’s July 1st meeting, when De La Fuente asked to revisit a vote from the previous meeting where the Council had approved a redevelopment agency purchase of some property in District 6. This happened is response to a error-ridden and nonsensical item in the East Bay Express asserting (without any evidence) that Ignacio was somehow responsible for the City overpaying for the land. Ignacio, who one would assume is accustomed enough to paranoid accusations of corruption from Robert Gammon to ignore them most of the time, was apparently so incensed by the mere suggestion that he’d ever do anything to benefit Brooks’s district that he had to make a huge scene about it. Read more
Budget debate over, for now.
October 22, 2008 by V Smoothe · 11 Comments
So the Council passed their budget adjustment last night and we get to stop worrying about it for a while. Well, for a little while, anyway. As time goes on and we either do or don’t receive the revenue we budgeted for, the Finance & Management Committee will have to make monthly adjustments. Read more
