319 Chester Street, revisited
It took me longer than I planned to get around to this, but I said a while ago that I’d follow up on my post about 319 Chester Street. Better late than never,...
Why I am not voting for Rebecca Kaplan for Mayor
So. Like I said in my post about why I can’t vote for Jean Quan, it took me a long time to come to a decision about who I was going to support for Mayor. And...
Rebecca Kaplan: My solution to police pension stalemate
There is a win-win solution to Oakland’s stalemate over police layoffs. There is an alternative to layoffs and to the impasse over pensions that is financially...
Another choice for Oakland Mayor?
Based on the comments on last week’s post about your choices for Oakland Mayor, it seems like a lot of you are pretty unhappy with your options. I can’t...
Rebecca Kaplan: To Dream the Possible Dream – Fundable Projects for Economic Revitalization and Climate Protection
Happy Passover. This is a good time to reflect on how to bring about important societal change. On Tuesday, the Oakland City Council discussed the proposed Climate...
Might have to wait a little longer for that 12th Street Bridge
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...
The most depressing part of the budget: poor DIT
As I’m sure you guys are all aware, this afternoon the City Council will be holding a special budget meeting to address the shortfall in the City’s current...
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...
Doing it right the second time around: parking returns to Council
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,...
AC Transit’s extensive service reduction planning process yields great results
It isn’t news for this blog’s readers (or, well, for anyone, really) that AC Transit is facing a looming (and significant) budget deficit, or that to...
Condo conversions return to Council
Condo conversions were a big controversy a few years ago, but since then, have pretty much faded off the radar of everyone but professional affordable housing activists...
Oakland does cabaret reform: why make life easier for small businesses when you can take more money from them instead?
Below is a photograph of a charming new downtown bar called the Layover.



