Why Measure V V must pass

I haven’t had a chance to write about it here yet, but I’ve been thinking about Measure V V a lot lately. Measure V V, if passed, would increase an existing parcel tax by $4 per month and extend the tax for 10 years in order to fill AC Transit’s budget gap. If this measure [...]

My worst nightmare finally came true

About a year ago, a new company bought the apartment complex that I live in. It was great at first. They hired a responsive manager and actually fixed things when they were broken. But then they started renovating the building. They fixed the intercom system, which had been completely broken for more than 2 years. [...]

Where to vote, early or on November 4th

Are you itching to vote? Can’t wait to cast your vote for Rebecca Kaplan and No on Prop 8? Well, then I have good news for you – even if you’re not an absentee voter, you can vote early at the county building. I’ve done it many times before and it’s really easy.
Here’s where to [...]

Prop 8 makes me sad & afraid

Last night, I couldn’t sleep. Out of nowhere, I had started to feel really sad, and at first I couldn’t figure out why. Then I realized that I was worrying about the passage of Prop 8, which would take away my right to marry the woman I love.
When the California Supreme Court ruled in favor [...]

Monday Morning Distractions – East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse

If you’re looking for distractions in Oakland, I think the best place you could go is the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse. After eating a delicious breakfast at Horseshoe in Temescal (which by the way was nearly half full, a big improvement over my last visit), my girlfriend and I walked down the block [...]

Where is Kerry Hamill?

So for the past few months, along with dozens of other volunteers, I’ve been working my ass off to get Rebecca Kaplan elected to the Oakland City Council. I’ve done this mostly because I think Rebecca’s an incredible candidate and will be a huge asset to our city.
But I’ve also worked so hard because I’ve [...]

I knew he was unprepared, but this is just pathetic

I don’t know how many people caught the LA Times article yesterday about Mayor Ron Dellums and the trouble Oakland’s experienced during his tenure, but it’s kind of embarrassing. I grew up in LA and love to talk up how great Oakland is to all my friends down there. But if they read this, I [...]

A couple new sources for Oakland news

Some of us in the blogoaksphere have been slacking off a bit on keeping up with Oakland news on a daily basis so I was pleased to hear from dto510 that we have two new excellent online news sources covering Oakland.
Oakland North and East Bay West Online are both projects of the UC Berkeley School [...]

Covering November’s transit measures & candidates

There are several local and state transit issues that Californians will vote on this November, and each of them have been generating a lot of discussion in the blogosphere.
With the vote on Measure KK in Berkeley just a couple weeks away, it seems like everyone’s talking about Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). V Smoothe wrote two [...]

I’m voting FOR Rebecca Kaplan, not AGAINST Kerry Hamill or Don Perata

I’m getting fed up with the Bay Area mainstream media. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but all of them have completely missed the boat on what the Rebecca Kaplan vs. Kerry Hamill race is really about.
Over the past week, the Chronicle, East Bay Express, and Bay Guardian have all depicted this race in essentially [...]