What a beautifully surreal week…

This week has been kind of amazing, in an extremely surreal way. It seemed almost appropriate that we had 90+ degree weather in Oakland during the end of the week - a perfect setting for so many historic events to take place in…

On Wednesday, Karen Bass was sworn in as the Speaker of the Assembly. She is the first African-American woman to lead any state or federal legislature, and it was inspiring to read her speech. From what I heard from those who were in Sacramento, it was even more incredible to be part of the excitement.

But the real excitement for me came yesterday morning, when I received an alert from Equality California about the California Supreme Court’s decision (PDF) to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage. I was a bit surprised at my reaction - I was teary eyed at the moment I heard and those tears have returned several times as I’ve thought about what this means.

It’s odd because for most of my life, I haven’t thought much about marriage. It never really seemed that necessary or even desirable to me. But yesterday, when I found out that I could now marry my girlfriend if we wanted to, I realized that this right is incredibly important to me. (My girlfriend certainly helped me come to this realization by showing up at my office unannounced yesterday afternoon with popsicles for me and all my co-workers.)

Today, it hit me again when I got another email with an FAQ about marriage, in light of the decision. It became so concrete when I found out that I could get married almost immediately to anyone I wanted, no matter his/her gender (well, assuming s/he wanted to marry me). Really, I could get married next month, and the gender of my partner wouldn’t be an obstacle.

I know this probably all sounds obvious considering the ruling, but it’s taken a day and a half to fully settle in. It completely alters my life options, and I couldn’t be much more elated by this.

This evening, riding home on the bus, I ran into Rebecca Kaplan. I hadn’t realized until I read her Daily Kos diary earlier this week, but if elected to the Oakland City Council, she would be Oakland’s first openly lesbian elected official. In this surreal and wonderful week filled with firsts and changes, it seemed appropriate that as I ended the week, I ran into someone who’s poised to make history on June 3rd.

Bike to Work Day makes me feel lame

I love the concept of Bike to Work Day. I think it’s great to celebrate alternative transit modes and think we should do so more often. But the truth is that Bike to Work Day makes me feel kind of lame.

As I revealed a few months ago, I didn’t learn to ride a bike until a few years ago, and I mostly save my bike riding for the Black Rock desert. I’m actually pretty terrified of riding a bike on busy Oakland streets. To ride from home to work, it would be a straight shot up Telegraph, and though there are bike lanes on part of the route, I know I’ll get hit one day.

I do my part for the environment by riding the bus and walking, but when Bike to Work Day comes around every year, I feel somehow inadequate and like I’m missing out on something.

I know I shouldn’t need a Bus to Work Day or Walk to Work Day to validate my actions, but it does seem a bit unfair that bike riders get their own month and own day when pedestrians and transit riders are largely ignored.

Ultimately though, if Bike to Work Day gets commuters out of their cars and onto their bikes, I can’t really complain. Also, I guess I shouldn’t expect someone to create a Bus to Work Day for me so I’ll be sure to add that to my list of projects I’ll maybe get to one day.

If you’ve gotten over your fears of urban bike riding, make sure to stop by City Hall this Thursday morning (May 15th) for free pancakes and a raffle. I’ll be the bikeless one across the street with my head held down in shame.

San Diego/Oakland Reflections: Sprawl, Transit & Walkability

I spent last weekend in San Diego, and as usual when I travel, I couldn’t help myself from comparing the city to Oakland. It’s been a couple years since I’ve visited San Diego, and I realized that though I’ve been there at least a dozen times, I’ve never spent even 24 hours there in one visit and I’ve never really gotten to know the city.

When remembering San Diego, I often thought of the one factor that’s true in the southern California cities I know better - sprawl. And this part I remembered correctly. San Diego is incredibly spread out, and it seemed difficult to get between most neighborhoods without a car. Oakland’s not the most compact city, but I feel like it’s fairly easy here to get from almost any neighborhood to the next, as long as you’re willing to hop on the bus or BART and maybe even transfer to another bus.

And just as I had remembered, it did seem as if pretty much everyone in San Diego had a car. Parking was sometimes difficult in popular neighborhoods - not San Francisco difficult, but certainly more competitive than most parts of Oakland.

But there were a couple things about San Diego that surprised me. Though much of the city was difficult (or at least very time consuming) to navigate by public transit, there is a trolley system that covers the downtown area and a few of the surrounding areas. So if you live in one of these areas, it does seem like you wouldn’t need to use a car very much. Considering that we’re having trouble even implementing bus rapid transit in Oakland, I’m a bit jealous that central San Diego is way ahead of us with rail.

Also, many San Diegans commute to Los Angeles, and unless they like sitting in traffic for 3 or 4 hours, many of them use the Metrolink train, much as some Oaklanders commute by Amtrak to Sacramento. So though there’s still tons of driving that’s symptomatic of southern California sprawl, I learned that there are alternatives to driving in San Diego that are fairly widely used.

Another thing that surprised me was the walkability of individual neighborhoods. Though it’s mostly inconvenient to walk between neighborhoods, there are several neighborhoods in San Diego where it’s possible to walk to just about everything (markets, shopping, parks or the beach, restaurants, bars, etc.). In fact, my friend’s apartment in Ocean Beach has the same walk score as my apartment in Oakland (88). On Sunday, we went to a friend’s house that is in between neighborhoods (near Hillcrest) and I was a bit shocked when we did not get back into the car and instead walked a few blocks to a restaurant (her house’s walk score is 89). It really seemed to me that it was just as easy to find a walkable neighborhood in San Diego as it is to find one in Oakland. This surprised me because I always had assumed that San Diego was much like LA in that respect, and though there are a few walkable neighborhoods in LA, it’s usually not so easy to find a walkable neighborhood that’s affordable to live in.

It was nice to clear up some of my misconceptions and to find out that San Diego isn’t quite as car-centric as I had assumed. But don’t worry, I’m not planning to move to San Diego anytime soon. I still think it’s a whole lot easier to be carless in Oakland than it is to be carless in San Diego.

Essential Oakland Experiences

Over the past week or so, I’ve started to realize that there are a lot of amazing things in Oakland that I haven’t experienced (and probably an equal amount that I have). With life as hectic as it is, I really don’t think I’ll get to most of these experiences anytime soon unless I make a list and commit to it.

I’ve already done some of these things/been to some of these places, but I plan to do them all over again and hope to make it through the majority of the list by the end of 2008. I’ll try to blog about all of them here. So here’s the list (in no particular order):

• Checking out galleries at the Oakland Art Murmur
• Seeing a movie on a couch at the Parkway Theater
• Going to one of the farmers markets (Temescal, Lake Merritt, Jack London, etc.)
• Seeing the sun set (or rise) over the shipping cranes
• Seeing a show at the Paramount Theatre
• Visiting the Oakland Rose Garden
• Visiting the Oakland Zoo (I have mixed feelings about zoos, but I’ll put those aside for now.)
• Visiting the Oakland Museum of California
• Sitting through an Oakland City Council meeting
• Visiting the Chabot Space and Science Center
• Walking through various neighborhoods/business districts
  • Rockridge
  • Temescal
  • Uptown
  • Piedmont
  • Old Oakland
  • Jack London Square
  • Lakeshore
  • Park Ave
  • Fruitvale
• Walking around Lake Merritt (believe it or not, I’ve never done this)
• Going to an event at the Historic Sweet’s Ballroom
• Going on one of the Oakland walking tours
• Attending a neighborhood group meeting or forum
• Seeing a show at Yoshi’s
• Having a picnic in Joaquin Miller Park
• Going hiking somewhere in the Oakland hills
• Visiting Children’s Fairyland
• Going to a fire arts event at the Crucible
• Going to a neighborhood street fair

I’m sure I missed a lot so I’d love some help filling in this list. (Keep in mind that I purposefully kept restaurants off this list because the list would go on and on if I hadn’t.)

Love at first sight?

Last week, I stumbled upon an old post by V Smoothe, at Future Oakland, where she got her start blogging about Oakland before starting Great Expectations, which is now known as A Better Oakland. It was her introductory post, and her story about falling in love with Oakland was too sweet not to share:

I visited a friend here one January, and it was truly love at first sight. On my first day in Oakland, he took me downtown for an all-day walking tour. We rode the bus down Broadway, got off at West Grand. He showed me the Paramount, Uptown (when it was really nothing), City Center, Old Oakland, Chinatown, 17th Street, the Lake Merritt Apartment district, and the financial district. We ate lunch at Le Cheval and ended the day sitting on a bench on Lake Merritt, shaded by the Kaiser Center and staring at Children’s Fairyland. After watching me sit in silence for a long while, my friend nervously asked me if something was wrong. All I could say in response was “I’m moving here.” From my very first day, I knew I belonged here.

I returned to Portland and started saving my money. A year and a half later, I was a proud Oaklander. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was at home. I have lived downtown ever since. I love it here. I can step outside my door and get a bus anywhere in the city. My weekends are spent enjoying the wealth of distinct neighborhoods in Oakland and all they have to offer. Years after moving here, I am still constantly finding new things to enjoy all over the city.

This got me thinking about when I fell in love with Oakland. I can’t say that like V it was love at first sight. I never disliked the city, but it wasn’t until I worked and lived here that I fell in love. And I can’t share a particular moment of realization.

Still, I find myself re-realizing my love for this city over and over again. Yesterday, when I returned from San Diego, I had one of these moments at the Oakland airport. As I moved down the moving walkway from the far end of the Southwest terminal, I looked out the huge window towards the water, glistening in the sun. It felt so good to be home that I just started smiling - I don’t think I could have stopped smiling if I had wanted to. That feeling of seeing Oakland again after being away is incredibly powerful for me.

It’s a similar feeling to being at a concert and hearing the band play the first few notes of one of your favorite songs. You haven’t even heard the best part, but still, you feel deeply satisfied - it becomes a physical feeling, in addition to an emotional feeling. That’s how I feel pretty much every time I look out that window at the airport upon returning, or when I exit the BART tunnel on the Oakland side and see the shipping cranes.

So no, it wasn’t love at first sight for me, but I’m still in love with this city and am constantly reminded of this. I’m curious to know - was your love for Oakland immediate, or did it take a bit of time to grow on you?

Party in Downtown on Friday

It seems like I’m always out of town when all the fun stuff is going on, but if I wasn’t going to be in San Diego tomorrow, I’d be having a full night of fun and arts in downtown Oakland…

First, I’d stop by the grand opening reception for Awaken Cafe. I finally managed to stop by earlier this week, and it’s beautiful inside. High ceilings, artwork everywhere, and tons of sun shining in through the windows. The reception will also be an art showing, as the cafe is featuring artwork by Mia Nakono, an Oakland photographer. Here’s how Awaken’s press release describes her:

She has honed her skills working on projects in China, Japan, Nepal, and the US. Her work focuses on documenting the culture, struggles, and people within minority communities, from queer rights activists to Tibetan Buddhists.

I didn’t get to look at her photos long before I grabbed a delicious cup of Pacific Coast Breakfast tea, but they did look intriguing and it’d be worth stopping by for a more in depth look.

Next, I’d wander around uptown, stopping by some of the art galleries that participate in the First Friday Oakland Art Murmur. I don’t know much about most of the galleries, so I’d probably just wander down Telegraph and then weave down 24th or 25th to Broadway.

After I had my fill of art, I’d head down Broadway to Sweet’s Ballroom for the Oakland Indie Awards, honoring local businesses and artists. I’d enjoy the food, wine, art, and music. At the end of the night, I’d likely stumble to the Uptown Transit Center on 20th between Broadway and Telegraph to hop on the 1, which would drop me off right in front of my apartment.

Hopefully - since I won’t be enjoying any of these activities tomorrow night - some of my readers will get the opportunity to partake.

Here’s your itinerary to make it simple:

Awaken Cafe Grand Opening Reception
5-9pm
Awaken Cafe
414 14th Street, between Franklin and Broadway
www.awakencafe.com

Oakland Art Murmur
6-10pm
Various galleries throughout uptown
www.oaklandartmurmur.com

Oakland Indie Awards
Awards Party: 5:30-8pm
Afterparty with music: 8-11pm
Historic Sweet’s Ballroom
1933 Broadway, between 19th and 20th
www.oaklandunwrapped.org/indies

May Day March in Downtown Oakland

I was feeling a bit guilty today for not making it out to the May Day march, as I’ve done in years past, but I got lucky because just as I left work and crossed the street at 14th and Webster, two cops on motorcycles parked in the middle of the crosswalk. I looked east and saw a huge group of people walking towards me and could hear the chanting. They were led by a Teamsters truck:

There were literally thousands of people following, chanting in English and Spanish about worker and immigrant rights.

I followed as the crowd moved down 14th toward Broadway, until I got distracted by a few people with cases of water bottles handing water to the crowd. Then I saw that the water was coming from this van:

I have to say, I think this was a smart campaign move by Mario Juarez, who’s running against De La Fuente for Oakland City Council. I was surprised not to see a presence by any of the other city council candidates, though there were thousands of people there so I could have missed someone.

When we reached the corner of Broadway and 14th, I stepped up to the platform near the BART stairs and finally saw that the crowd reached on and on, for several blocks. My cell phone photos don’t do justice to the overwhelming size of the crowd, but it’ll give you some idea of what it was like…

Several police cars had blocked off the intersection at 14th and Broadway, which at 6pm caused quite a back up in traffic. The intersection must have been closed for about 15 minutes, as the crowd moved towards City Hall:

At that point, I stopped taking pictures, but I did get to enjoy the music of the Extra Action Marching Band and a group of native American dancers and drummers that rounded off the end of the march.

I hopped on my bus to get home a few minutes later and left feeling inspired and at least a little less guilty.

SF Bay Guardian Endorses Rebecca Kaplan (and Mark Leno)

I was extremely pleased today to find that the Guardian had endorsed the two Bay Area candidates I’m very actively supporting - Rebecca Kaplan for Oakland City Council and Mark Leno for State Senate. I’ve already explained why I’m supporting Rebecca, and the Guardian lays out some additional reasons:

Rebecca Kaplan is exactly what the Oakland City Council needs: an energetic progressive with the practical skills to get things done. As an AC Transit Board member, she pushed for free bus passes for low income youths — and defying all odds, managed to get all-night transit service from San Francisco to the East Bay. She did it by refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that transit agencies on the two sides of the bay would never cooperate. She put the key players together in a meeting, convinced the San Francisco supervisors to allow AC Transit buses to pick up passengers in the city late at night, and put through an effective program to get people across the bay after BART shuts down.

Kaplan is running for City Council on a progressive platform calling for affordable housing, rational development, and community policing. Her latest idea: since Oakland has so much trouble attracting quality candidates for vacancies in its police department, she suggests the city recruit gay and lesbian military veterans who were kicked out under the Pentagon’s homophobic policies. Her proposed slogan: “Uncle Sam doesn’t want you, but Oakland does.”

I know others have taken issue with the claims that Rebecca created the first all-night transbay bus service. I haven’t talked to her about it yet, but I’m sure she knew at the time about the one bus that ran all night once an hour from the Embarcadero to downtown Oakland. I have to say though, that bus was not sufficient and was often overcrowded at peak hours on weekends. The current bus service pushed by Kaplan is superior. So semantics aside, she made an important advance for bus riders. As one person mentioned to me when I was campaigning for Rebecca at the farmers market, “She’s saved me from a bunch of DUIs.”

I can’t say I agree with all of the Guardian’s endorsements, but I wholeheartedly agree with their endorsement of Mark Leno for State Senate. OK, I know, this is San Francisco politics I’m delving into, but State Senators effect the entire state, including Oakland.

The SD-3 race is probably the most contentious primary in the state and I’m sure an entire book could be written about the ins and outs of it (though it might be more appropriate for reality TV fodder), but I’m going to keep it simple here. Mark Leno is simply one of the most dedicated, driven, intelligent, and likeable California Assemblymembers. His staff follows suit - many of his staff members have been with his office for years and they are passionate about what they do. A commenter on the Guardian’s blog lays this out beautifully:

And ask anyone in the Capitol about Mark Leno, you almost always get a positive one. The guy is just very approachable, very patient and VERY intelligent. As Chair of Appropriations, he has to have a wide array of knowledge on all kinds of subjects — something quite evident if you see him Chairing. And if you ask Republican members what they think, I notice they always like preface their personal respect and admiration for Leno with “Although I lothe his politics…” That’s how you know you’ve got a real progressive to vote for.

Go check out the rest of the Guardian’s endorsements and make sure to scroll down to the comments. They’re getting a lot of flack (and about an equal amount of support) about the Leno endorsement, and there’s some discussion going on about Oakland candidates. What do you think about their endorsements?

What a waste of space

I think at this point I’m one of the few Oakland bloggers who hasn’t complained about J. Douglas Allen-Taylor’s coverage of Oakland in the Berkeley Daily Planet. Well, I guess I’m joining the crowd.

In the past, I’ve often disagreed with Allen-Taylor’s point of view, especially his profuse and uncritical praise of Mayor Dellums. But then again, I disagree with most of the local commentary in the Planet so it’s never bothered me much. His column printed in Friday’s paper is in a whole different category though. It’s not that I don’t agree with his point of view in the column, it’s just that the column really is a waste of space.

In fact, I agree with the premise of his argument, which is that though people may have differences with Oakland City Council candidates, we should respectfully disagree. We should debate and put the facts out there and let Oakland residents decide. But then he spends the vast majority of his column going on and on and on about a website that bashes Mario Juarez, who’s running for De La Fuente’s seat. He somehow manages to spend nearly 2000 words ragging on this site, when V Smoothe covered the same topic in six words.

The truth is that I don’t really care if Allen-Taylor wants to ramble. He should get a blog and do just that. But for one of the few print newspapers in the East Bay to devote an entire page to his ramblings week after week is a disservice to our community.

If Allen-Taylor wants to write about the Oakland City Council races, there’s plenty of substance to cover. I’ve managed to do it, and V Smoothe has done it again and again. Maybe it’s time for Allen-Taylor to go or to pick up a new beat. Or maybe it’s time for me to stop bothering to pick up the Planet.

Random Bus Thoughts

As usual, I’ve had a lot of time this week waiting for the bus and riding the bus to think. So here are some of my thoughts, in no particular order:

Lost and found: Last night, I rode the 1 home around 9pm. The bus was fairly crowded so I sat down in the first row of the back half of the bus. I looked at the floor and saw a debit card there, and picked it up. Then I glanced to the row next to me and saw lot’s of wallet sized pieces of paper so I hopped across the aisle and picked those up - a medical card, gift cards for McDonald’s and Arco, random pieces of paper. It appeared as if a wallet had been gutted. I started to look around some more and saw keys on the seat behind me and grabbed those to.

When the bus stopped at a red light, I went up to the bus driver and handed her the items, asking her if she could bring them to AC Transit’s lost and found (though I’m concerned the items were stolen elsewhere and left on the bus so it might be useless). She seemed stunned and very grateful that I had brought her these things. I wondered - wouldn’t anyone do the same? But then I thought, the bus was crowded, and besides these three empty seats with stuff strewn about, there were several people sitting behind me, and I’m guessing some of them had noticed some of the lost items. The bus driver thanked me again on my way off the bus, and I’m hoping somehow Joseph is reunited with his cards and keys.

Rising bus fares: While I’ve been enjoying my $1.25 bus rides, I know this can’t last forever, and now it looks like when it ends, the cost might be jumping to $2.00, instead of the current $1.75. AC Transit, like pretty much every other local and state agency, is having budget problems, and as they’ve done so many times in the past, they’re considering raising rates. They’ll be having a public hearing on May 21st at 4pm at Oakland City Hall to ask for comments on the proposed increase. I’ll be there and I’ll make sure to post a reminder about it here.

My bus stop is even more legit: Recently, a bus shelter was installed at my 1R bus stop on Telegraph and 59th. I was pretty pleased at the time, but I’m even happier now. Earlier this week, a bench and trash can were added. I even got to sit on the bench one day when I had a bunch of stuff with me and was trying to find something to listen to on my iPod. Yes, I know it’s dorky that this kind of stuff makes me so happy, but I’m ok with that.

Hailing buses: I realized this week I have a skill that might not be as common as knowing how to hail a cab. Yes, I often hail buses. It might seem strange to those who don’t ride buses often, but it really comes in handy. For example, when a 1 is approaching with a 1R right behind it, I start walking towards the 1R at the very edge of the curb and waving at the 1R. Usually, it works, with the 1 passing me and the 1R stopping. Or sometimes, if I’m waiting in front of my apartment for the 1 and there are cars parked blocking the view, I step off the curb into the bike lane and wave at the bus. Yes, it would be better if I didn’t need to hail buses, but I’m glad I at least know how to when I need to.

Random bus meetings: I have to say that running into people I know on the bus is one of my favorite experiences. Maybe it’s because it happens so rarely, or maybe it’s because it reminds me that some of my friends actually ride the bus once in a while. Yesterday, I ran into Rebecca Kaplan on the bus and she sat down and chatted for a while. She was headed towards an AC Transit Board meeting, but she said that lately her life has mostly been consumed by campaigning. She’s constantly out seeking endorsements, reaching out to voters, and even when she gets home late at night, she catches up on email. I’m consistently impressed by her commitment to winning a seat on the Oakland City Council, which I think bodes well for how hard she would work for our city.

That’s all my random bus thoughts for now, but I’m sure I’ll have more to share soon.