Paulette, you have a number of recommendations, but you do not identify the means to fund them, and they tend to focus around activity centers. I don’t know if you have noticed this but Oakland teens have a bleak future because they lack the basic education and skills to perform at a level beyond 8th grade. And unlike Rudy Huxtable, they are not qualified to teach 7th grade. And few perform at grade level.

In all honesty, if we could get students to perform at grade level, we actually give them a chance to compete for after school and summer internships that pay real money (or at least better than minimum wage). An activity center may get the students off the street but it does the students a disservice and perpetuates a downward spiral.

At one time, many years ago, there WAS a roller rink in Oakland. Unfortunately, it closed because of rowdiness and violence. There were also many entertainment venues in Oakland which closed because the “kids” couldn’t control themselves. Two people were shot and killed at the “@17th” nightclub, one young woman was shot and killed at a parking lot near the former Mingles nightclub, and, Sweet Jimmie’s saw its fair share of violence and shootings.

The “there’s nothing to do in Oakland” excuse is ridiculous. Oakland has a great ice skating rink downtown. Oakland has Lake Merritt where kids can go boating at reasonable rates. Oakland is surrounded by a greenbelt of regional parks which offers great hiking. Oakland has a free day a the Museum. The Oakland Zoo is a fun place to go. Oakland has movie theaters. The problem is, that many of the kids want to be disrespectful of their environment and destroy stuff. Many of the kids don’t want to bother with the boring wholesome stuff which I mentioned above. Now, the kids have found sideshows to entertain themselves with. How many people have been shot over the years during those sideshows? How many police chases which have resulted in deaths. These clowns even ran into a house in East Oakland and set it ablaze.

Larry Reid is right about the curfew, and, he was right about getting that huge new dealership with 35 state-of the-art mechanics bays. Do you really think a brand new huge state-of-the-art dealership in that area will be vacant for long? Once the economy recovers, that location will once again be used as an auto dealership and bring tax revenue into Oakland’s coffers. You want to put a Bowling Alley in there? How long before one of the kids gets bored, or gets upset because he rolled a gutter ball, and puts a cap in someone’s ass?

The kids need good parenting. That’s the problem. The City of Oakland didn’t have the courage to stand up to a bunch of screaming teenagers. That curfew would have helped parents by giving them another tool to keep their kids safe at home doing their homework, instead of running the streets in search of “something to do in Oakland.”

What was Shakespeare’s solution? The one that springs to my mind is Jonathan Swift’s.

OK, so I really don’t believe that. But all of the parents don’t work 24/7. Why doesn’t the smaller village of parents (and “elders” who have an interest) get together and share the responsibilities of child care? Why does the government have to step in to take care of it? “Times have changed, therefore we must change with the times.” And Oakland cannot afford to take care of the basic needs of its citizens, let alone provide free after school care.

I truly doubt that the failed Toyota dealership happened overnight. The acquisition of land, the design-build-permit process, actual construction of the building, purchase of product, hiring and training of employees, etc. certainly took at least 2 years – and therefore likely started when times were “good”. It was obviously not the best time to open a dealership, but who predicted this economic debacle two years ago? Your argument here is too facile to be discussed further.

Your Y.O.O.U.T.T.H.H. center actually sounds like a great idea. We had something similar in the town in which I grew up – but it devolved into a super-cliquish, “this pool table is OURS” mentality which eventually doomed it. In the end, the “Teen Center” (we hated that name) sort of promoted gang-style behavior amongst a bunch of mid western 13 year olds. And, it also became a one-stop shop for liquor and pot.

Times have changed, therefore we must change with the times. Parents are working 2-3 jobs trying to make ends meet. It takes a village to raise a child. So may I talk to the Village. Since when have WE engaged the youth in our neighborhoods? It appears to me that we ALL have to change the way we see young people. The best thing about being POSITIVE is NOT being NEGATIVE!

The Toyota Dealership is gone, and yes, Larry Reid was a strong advocate for it. He was happy the day it opened and sad the day it closed. Anyone could tell you that this was not the time to INVEST in a dealership. Economy’s down! People can’t get enough pay!

I do have an idea for the Toyota Dealership. Y.O.O.U.T.T.H.H. Youth Of Oakland, United and Trained To Help and to Heal. Developing the Mind of the Youth Of Oakland. It is ample space for a bowling alley, skating rink, after-school care center, dance hall, LGBTQ Support Center, recording studio, Radio Station (Youth Radio University) and a Branch of KTOP, Computer Lab (Bill Gates Foundation), Mental Health Service Center, Youth Medical and Dental Clinic. There is also an opportunity to teach mechanics, and detailing. Oh one more thing…JOBS for the Youth of Oakland, United and Trained To Help and to Heal.

For those who would say how will we pay for it? Unity in the Community, Bridging the Gap between the Elders and the Youth. I believe that there are some Golden Agers who could benefit from being around some young people, to share the wealth of information from the past. Oh there are so many posibilities.

I see her point about the benefits of many soft costs, but even in the bubbly boom years efficient spending on muni infrastructure in many cities including Oakland was failing to keep up with aging sewers, water mains, roads, etc. There is an argument that we can limp thru the next 3 to 5 years with fewer buses, bigger class sizes, degraded parks, and yes more dangerous streets, because we can ramp up to fix those when the world economy recovers. But this is an opportunity to fix that infrastructure, which might not come again for years.

it is a perfect time to spend money on infrastructure such as smart electric distribution systems that can move power to where it’s needed from where it is or can be generated most efficiently carbon and cost wise. without that in place, all the windmills and solar panels will just be local feel good home improvement deals. On water mains that don’t leak or are less likely to fail in a quake.

My concern is that many of the jobs getting eliminated now are not coming back, either because of permanent changes in consumption habits, accellerated globalization of white collar jobs, or what bizman pointed out no more cheap credit to buy stuff.

Not obvious that spending this and forthcoming needed couple of trillion for just stimulous (not counting the couple of trillion needed for recusitating the credit institutions) on retraining housing industry people and laid off software engineers to install home solar panels, or change my diaper when i get old is going to replace those jobs.

Other concern is that this really is the end of cheap money. The US govt cost of borrowing will never be this low again (if it is, time to grow victory gardens on grey water). When my fellow baby boomers hit the medicare and social security ATM in vast numbers, at the same time that china et al finds better use of their money than buying US t bills, there ain’t gonna be anything to spare for those big ticket hard cost projects.

-len

I get your point that sideshows usually occur much later than that, but since you asked, about a month ago on Foothill about two blocks east of 35th Street, on a Saturday afternoon about 4 p.m.