Comments on: New Broadway Safeway EIR Scoping Session tonight

By: Tod

Tod — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:31:30 +0000

Look, you can fight this all you want but the reality is the site is ugly but used greatly by the community. We can go about trying to make this a “City Center” type structure, but as we continue to pay high taxes with less services, this City needs tax revenue. I know Emeryville “soldout” but those are all stores that could have been placed somewhere in ugly parts of Oakland that would be creating tax revenue for the City. I love shopping Rockridge like everyone else, but there are going to be stripmalls and chains stores no matter where you go. Anything that is done would be better then what is there today. If Oakland continues to make it difficult for businesses to do business in Oakland, they will leave and that is Tax Revenue we need.

I think there are bigger battles to fight in Oakland.

By: lorraine - Rockridge HOA

lorraine - Rockridge HOA — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:40:27 +0000

Thanks Naomi, will do. Speaking of tours, i’ve been enjoying these thoroughly! Even took a few more than once, as it’s completely different with different guides. Oakland’s history is so rich! I’m so proud to live here… finally.

Enjoy 90-minute [often longer, if desired] walking tours through Oakland’s downtown districts.

Choose from one of eight different tour itineraries offered from May to October. In Celebration of Black History Month in February, Tour 8 “New Era/New Politics” will be offered, click on Tour 8 for dates. Tours are offered Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. Reservations are recommended but not required.

To learn more about a particular tour, click on the itinerary link. Following each itinerary description is the dates that tour will be offered.

Special group tours ideal for seniors, history buffs and those interested in downtown Oakland’s transformation are available for a nominal fee. The Oakland Tours Program can customize a tour combining elements from different itineraries on a day and time that is convenient for your group.

To make a reservation or to request a custom tour, please call (510) 238-3234 or e-mail aallen@oaklandnet.com.
OldOakland
CityCenter
Uptown
Preservation Park
Chinatown
Waterfront
Churches and Temples
NewEra-New Politics

BTW, has anyone gone on the Mountain View Cemetery tours? What did you think? (I haven’t yet)
http://www.mountainviewcemetery.org/calendar.html

Any others for newbies? Are there any local (51st & Bdwy) walking tours? Maybe unguided, mapped out, or….

By: Naomi Schiff

Naomi Schiff — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:50:24 +0000

Some of you history fans might enjoy the Oakland Heritage Alliance walking tours, weekends: schedule at oaklandheritage.org
A new one is being led by Daniel Levy, who researches historic train lines, the Key System, and related Oaklandabilia. Here’s the blurb for his upcoming walk:

Saturday, August 15, 10 am–12:00 noon*

Walking The Key System’s C Line

Meeting point: • MacArthur BART Station underpass on 40th Street. Tour does not loop.

Follow early day Key System commuters on their way to the Key ferries. Walk past the train yard, through the Key System 40th Street Cut, and over to the old Key System station and mural at Piedmont Avenue. Learn about the Key System’s plan to build a line though Piedmont and Oakland to San Jose. Tour ends on Piedmont Avenue, walk or bus back to BART. *Optional extension after lunch. A level walk. —Daniel Levy

By: David Vartanoff

David Vartanoff — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:52:23 +0000

Yeah, the Grove Shafter was a disastrous example of urban renewal used to wreck a ‘hood. In the bargain BART was mislocated (should have been subway under B’way splitting north of 51 St with the Berkeley segment under College. Imagine how a BART Station w/ limited parking would have changed the feel of this shopping area.

As to the width of Broadway, yes streetcar tracks. The late Vernon Sappers masterful account of Key System Streetcars tells the complete history of the network.

By: Eric Fischer

Eric Fischer — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:09:13 +0000

The 51st Street story is even worse than that, if Oakland Tribune articles of the time can be believed. It was intended as a connection between the Grove-Shafter Freeway and the never-built Richmond Boulevard Freeway, which would have run along Valdez Street, Glen Echo Creek, and Moraga Avenue to Montclair. The freeway wasn’t built, but we still have the connector street.

I don’t know the story behind the width of Broadway, but it looks like it’s been pretty wide for a long time. Pictures from the 1920s show it wide enough to have two lanes of cars on each side alongside a streetcar lane.

By: len

len — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:40:09 +0000

i always assumed Broadway was built wide to accommodate auto traffic. But according to Jeff Norman in his Temescal Legacies book, Broadway was laid out to allow room for electric rail car systems. 51st street was widened specifically to handle car traffic to the grove shafter freeway.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:46:27 +0000

Yes, Len, that’s me. Thanks for that link to the list of Alameda County quarries!

I can’t say the quarry walls are dangerous today, but parts are crumbling already and a big quake will loosen all of it. I expect rockfalls but little outright collapse. Rolling boulders will puncture the buildings there and render the corridor useless until it can be cleared out. Maybe there will be enough rubble to fill the pond then.

By: Becks

Becks — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 21:01:12 +0000

Lorraine – One of the speakers on Wednesday did say that the 12 would be cut, but that person was incorrect. The 59 line is being cut, but not the 12. Whenever AC Transit makes the line cut and re-alignment maps public, I’ll do an extensive post about it, but all in all, I think the decisions they made about service cuts were as best as could be made in their economic situation.

By: len

len — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:42:20 +0000

Eric, that apn worked. owner’s monthly taxes are 13k. i don’t know local retail rents, but i’m guessing the rent from starbucks plus the health food store would cover the property taxes. any idea where to find debt info easily?

By: Eric Fischer

Eric Fischer — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:08:57 +0000

Len, the county assessor’s site has the punctuation as: 14-1242-5-7. The one with it all run together was from the Oakland GIS site.