Happy Birthday, Living in the O

by V Smoothe | June 9, 2009 | 1 comment

Well, happy belated birthday, I guess. Even though I marked Becks’s second blogging anniversary on my calendar like two months ago cause I wanted to be sure I didn’t forget, it somehow managed to slip my mind yesterday. Alas. Better late than never, right?

photo: LensENVY

Anyway, anyone who has (or has had in the past) a blog knows how much work it can take to maintain, and how exhausting it can be at times, so two years is a big milestone and definitely one worth celebrating.

I always enjoyed reading Living in the O, from the very first post (Oakland is better than San Francisco because there’s so much parking here), to her observations on different ways to look at downtown (which remains one of my favorite posts), to her guides to Oakland t-shirts and local eating.

But over the last year, the blog has really come into its own. Becks is now posting nearly every day, and to my great delight, more than half the time about transit, planning, and politics! I cannot say enough how much I’ve loved her incredibly thorough ongoing coverage of Oakland Airport Connector issue. Between that, and her excellent coverage of AC Transit, I don’t even feel like I have to write about transit anymore, which is such a huge weight off my shoulders.

Anyway, if you aren’t reading Living in the O, you should bookmark the site immediately. And if you are, head over there and congratulate her on two great years.

One Response to “Happy Birthday, Living in the O”

1
Becks Says:
June 9th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Aww, thanks V

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...