Good on paper, maybe not so much in practice
So. Last weekend, relieved that the elections are finally over, I spent a bunch of time catching up on meetings I hadn’t had time to watch during campaign...
Vacant building registry returns to Council
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...
Hopefully the final update on the CBD Zoning Update
Oakland’s new Central Business District (that’s downtown) zoning will come before the City Council for approval tonight. This process started over a...
Budget decision coming on Tuesday
After like two months of discussion, the Oakland City Council will finally pass a budget on Tuesday. Last week, Councilmembers Brunner, De La Fuente, Kernighan,...
Writing about the budget in 140 characters or less
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...
The MTC, the Oakland Airport Connector, and Larry Reid
By now, I’m sure you have read plenty about the MTC’s decision last week to take $70 million of the $340 million in stimulus funding for transit received...
Propsed youth curfew at Public Safety
I really enjoyed watching the public comment at Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee on the proposed juvenile curfew. The turnout for the item was so large that...
Dan Lindheim is not qualified to be City Administrator
I got a pleasant surprise yesterday when Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums named well-qualified and experienced people (PDF) to the key City positions of CEDA Director and...
Oakland New Year’s Resolutions
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...
The year in review
dto510 reminds us today that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. In that spirit, let’s take some time to remember what dominated the news in...
Protecting public urination at Public Safety
I was so frustrated last weekend, reading all the reports for this week’s Committee meetings. Between the Equal Access Report (PDF), and the awful, awful retail...
Oakland’s eternal indecision
Yesterday, I complained about the City’s complete inability to make a decision about anything and just stick with it. I’m not feeling any more positive...
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Newest Comments
- len raphael: Unconfirmed that MJQ laid off 100 employees today, blaming RDA court case. How much did she and the CC waste in legal fees betting against Jerry’s lawyers?
- ralph: No, Livegreen, Occupy Oakland is doing plenty good. They are the poster children for the new, “This is Your Brain on Dope” Campaign.
- Livegreen: They seem to b determined to shut down Oakland and little else. They’ve forgotten Wall St. I can’t help but think the Officers who were preventing them from breaking in to City Hall could have spent...
- gregory mcconnell: The Occupest disrupted City Hall today. They managed to make it difficult, but not impossible, to go into City Hall. They demanded that people who accosted cops on Wednesday should be released. I was out...
- livegreen: I watched the M-Y mtg last night, & it was painful. Jose is a nice guy, but he has difficulty running a meeting that gets anything done. They debated for about 1 hour whether they should discuss recommendations...
- len raphael: The murder of 5 year old Gabriel Martinez. Got a call from an acquaintance who lives in East O and often gets supper at his family’s taco stand. She asked where she can sign up to help on the recall.
- Ravi: I’m sure that all of those Quan diehards (“a recall would be a waste of time and too expensive”) are very gratified that this lovely and deserving woman is having such a good time. No doubt they prefer...
- len raphael: JQ “”I’m actually having a lot of fun,” she said after rehashing many of the lower moments from her first year in office.” “http://www.insidebayare a.com/news/ci_19651889R...
- Ravi: And regarding police reform and the crime thing, Judge Henderson could decide to put OPD under Federal jurisdiction because the terms of the NSA haven’t been fulfilled by the City Administration. Those folks in City...
- len raphael: Harbinger of things to come to the City Council when they eventually have to make similar decisions. But they won’t. The Fed bankruptcy judge will do it for them.
- livegreen: Yeah, but OUSD has to do something. There are way too many schools for the school population. There’s simply no choice. At least they’re willing to make the tough decisions. Unlike the City of...
- len raphael: Are those school board recalls entirely over the school closing decisions? Different groups or one umbrella?
- Ravi: Two recall petitions for Quan; five recall petitions for five school board members.
- len raphael: City says there are now 7 concurrent recall petitions. Not clear how many are for Quan and how many for Council Members. Direct democracy at work.
- Ravi: Can the Oakland City Council lead? Nope, nor can the Mayor. It’s up to the citizens, who are deeply divided and have been for a very long time.
- len raphael: Oakland Local is the only on or offline general circulation media that shows understanding of the depths of our fiscal situation and understands that it’s causes precede the real estate crash. One of these...
- Mkilian: Related to the Cal Supremes haircut to Oakland with respect to RDA and the immediate need for a “fiscal operations plan” is another issue put forth in Oakland’s internet newspaper, Oakland Local, is...