Monday, November 16th – Oakland Local Community Meetup

Via the Facebook event: “Oakland Local is one month old! Come join us at our first community meetup in downtown Oakland–community partners, OL bloggers & reporters, people interested in being involved with OL and anyone else who wants to support us are invited to our first meetup at TechLiminal. We’ll have beer, wine, snacks, schwag–and a chance to meet–and join–the Oakland Local team. If you’d like to do blogging or community reporting for this site, this is a chance to sign up and get hands-on instruction–or just hang out and build community.” The meetup takes place from 6:35-8:40 at Tech/Liminal, 268 14th Street, Oakland, CA 94612.

Tuesday, November 17th – Oakland City Council Budget Workshop

Before the regular Council meeting, there will be a special budget workshop to discuss plans for closing the $19 million budget gap. This will be an important meeting, and V Smoothe has given an overview of the staff proposals. See the full staff report and check out my post about how to watch and understand City Council meetings if you need some guidance on how or where to view the meeting. The budget workshop is scheduled to run from 4-6pm in the Council Chambers in City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza.

Tuesday, November 17th – League of Women Voters Forum on State Governance Reform Efforts

If you’re at City Hall, stop by this event in between the budget workshop and the Council meeting. Years of legislative stalemates, budget deficits, and declining service levels have led many to the conclusion that decision making in California government has become largely dysfunctional. The League has been closely following the growing number of proposals for reform, from changes in the budget processes to a constitutional convention. Several are in initiatives being readied for the 2010 ballots. A representative from the State League will outline these proposals and discuss the League’s positions. This event will take place from 6:00PM-7:30PM at Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Hearing Room 3 (just inside the 14th St. entrance).

Tuesday, November 17th – Oakland City Council Meeting

After two hours of budget discussion, the City Council still will have to conduct their regular meeting, and there is plenty to discuss. Among other items, they will be discussing Rebecca Kaplan’s billboard proposal, Oakland’s federal legislative agenda, participating in Alameda County’s obesity and tobacco prevention programs grant, a stimulus grant update, and the Oakland Fundy for Children and Youth (OFCY) 2010-2013 strategic plan.  See the full meeting agenda and check out my post about how to watch and understand City Council meetings if you need some guidance on how or where to view the meeting. The non-ceremonial parts of the meeting start at 7pm in the Council Chambers in City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza.

Wednesday, November 18th – Planning Commission Scoping Session on College Ave Safeway

As John Gatewood wrote about last week, the Planning Commission will be holding an EIR scoping session on the College and Claremont Safeway project (not to be confused with the Pleasant Valley Safeway, which already had its scoping session). This scoping session will help determine what the EIR will study, and though public comments should stick to those issues, the neighbors who oppose this project will be out in force in an effort to try to stop the project. Whether you love the current project or not, if you’d like to see the current monstrous parking lot and ugly store updated, please come to this meeting and help balance the statements made by those who oppose it. The Planning Commission meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 15th at 6:00 pm in Hearing Room 1, City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza and the full agenda can be read here.

Wednesday, November 18th – AC Transit Meeting: Vote on Accepting MTC’s Conditions for Fund Swap

The AC Transit Board will be voting on the acceptance of conditions from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) in order to swap BRT capital funds to operating funds, in order to stave off some of the planned service cuts. If you haven’t been following this issue, check out V Smoothe’s two thorough posts about it. The Board will also be discussing the creation of a funding task force, communication between the Board and the BRT Policy Steering Committee, and an employment agreement with the interim general manager, Mary King. This meeting will take place at 6pm in the 2nd floor board room, 1600 Franklin Street. You can read the agenda and see the relevant memos here.

Wednesday, November 18th – Community Convergence for Climate Action

Join the Oakland Climate Action Coalition in celebrating and supporting the community-based solutions we hope to see in Oakland’s Energy & Action Plan. Don’t miss this inspiring evening of live performances, free food, and community as we showcase the solutions that will make Oakland a model green city. Convened by the Ella Baker Center, the Oakland Climate Action Coalition is a cross-sector coalition of community-based social justice organizations, environmental experts and advocates, labor unions, and green businesses working for an equitable and just Energy & Climate Action Plan for the City of Oakland. This event takes place from 6-8pm at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St @ 9th Street. Find more info and RSVP at the Ella Baker website.

Thursday, November 19th – Oakland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee Meeting

Oakland’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) meets monthly to discusses bicycle and pedestrian issues. This month’s agenda covers the Kaiser Hospital—MacArthur Blvd Median Crossing Design, the Alameda County Union Pacific Railroad Oakland Subdivision Corridor Improvement Study, and Safe Routes to Schools Projects designs. The BPAC is extremely inclusive – any Oakland resident who attends three consecutive meetings becomes a voting member of the committee – so if you’re interested in bike and ped issues, you should consider attending. The BPAC will be meeting from 5:30-7:30pm in Hearing Room 4 of City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza.

Thursday, November 19th – Walk Oakland Bike Oakland Meeting

Come to WOBO’s Nov. 19th volunteer meeting for an “advocate training session.” Have you ever wondered how to get your elected official’s attention and raise awareness about the importance bicycle and pedestrian improvements in Oakland? At this month’s volunteer meeting we will have a representative from the Oakland Heritage Alliance (OHA) speaking about effectively lobbying city hall. Some of the topics Naomi Schiff will cover include how to give effective public testimony, and how to work behind the scenes to persuade elected officials to champion a cause. Participants will leave with ideas for effective advocacy. The meeting will be followed by a pub crawl – not to be missed! This meeting will be held from 6:30-8:30 pm at Bay Area Wilderness Training, 2301 Broadway, Suite B – enter on 23rd Street. For more info, visit WOBO’s website.

Posting here might be a bit erratic over the next few weeks, partly because I’m totally swamped but also because it seems that every time I intend to write about something, In Oakland has beat me to it. In Oakland is one of San Francisco Chronicle’s new local blogs, written by blogoaksphere originators V Smoothe and Jonathan Bair. The blog covers just about everything you can imagine (food, events, politics, transit, and even sports) in short form.

Yesterday, I was planning to write about the BART service cuts or the District Attorney appointment debacle, but Jonathan beat me to both stories so I felt like I was off the hook.

Don’t worry though – this is not the end of Living in the O (or other Oakland blogs). Short form blog posts are great for finding out what’s happening, but they don’t lend themselves to analysis or in depth reporting. So I may be off the hook for quick updates, but I’ll still have to write those lengthier posts.

In the meantime, check out In Oakland to find out what’s happening in our wonderful city.

Just a reminder that tonight is the East Bay Express Best of the East Bay Party at the Oakland Museum of California from 5pm-midnight. You really should stop by for at least a little while. It’s free, should be a lot of fun, and will probably be the last time you see the museum before it closes for renovations on August 23rd. And now onto the updates.

Using Translink on BART: On Tuesday, I wrote about BART finally implementing Translink, and on Wednesday evening, I got to try it out myself (yay!). But I must admit that I was a bit confused about where to swipe my card. I was looking for something labeled “EZ Rider” since I knew Translink would use the same reader, but there was nothing like that. I did figure it out, but others I know just gave up. Luckily, the Translink Facebook page posted a photo of where and how to swipe the card:

New blog joins the blogoaksphere: Sweeeeet Oakland launched late last month and “will be focused around political, food, and event happenings as well as generally cool things to check out in and around Oakland California.” Graham Patterson, the author, moved here just 6 months ago so it should be interesting to follow his explorations of his newish home.

Don’t try biking to the Lake Merritt Boathouse: You might have heard that there was a ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday at the Lake Merritt Boathouse. If you drive, there’s plenty of parking for you there. But if you bike, according to dto510, there’s absolutely no bike parking. Hopefully that will get fixed, especially since, as WOBO reports, new bike lanes were completed this week on Lakeside Drive.

Video from National Night Out: There was lots of talk about National Night Out leading up to Tuesday night, but I haven’t heard too much about how it went. Myrtle Street Review videotaped their block party in West Oakland. Looks like it was a fun night:

Catching up on old Council Meetings: Miss the Council during their recess? Well, there’s no need to since you can catch up on past meetings via videos online. Maybe the pro-parking protests could go back and watch all the meetings they missed out on in which the parking changes were discussed in great detail. Another way to catch up is via Oakland North’s “live” (well, it was live) coverage of the budget council meeting on July 28th. The coverage is good, but my favorite part is the caption of their picture of Sanjiv Handa: “Sanjiv Handa addressing council members. As usual.”

Scraper bike photos: Also from Oakland North is a great set of photos from the “Healin’ from Killin’” bike ride for peace. Here’s a sample, but head over to Oakland North for the rest.

A couple years ago, I read Beth Bagwell’s Oakland: The Story of a City and realized how enchanted I had become with Oakland. So I created a WordPress account, thought up a blog name, and put up this header picture:

Then I wrote, and wrote, and somehow managed to keep this blog alive and running for two years. I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on blogging and my growth as an Oakland activist, but I pretty much covered all of that on A Better Oakland’s anniversary.

I have to admit that when I started this blog, it was mostly just to force myself to write regularly and I never thought I’d have more than a few regular readers. This blog was just an outlet for me. But since more of you have been reading and commenting, I feel even more compelled to write regularly.

So I want to thank all the Living in the O readers, whether you’ve been with me for the full two years or whether you just found my blog. You’re the reason I’ve started to do investigative reporting. You’re the reason I bother with action alerts that sometimes have had huge impacts. You’re the reason I keep tabs on all the events going on in Oakland every week.

Living in the O will hopefully be around for another year, and I hope you’ll stick with me. If you’d like to give back, I’d greatly appreciate it if you would donate to TransForm via my Car-Free Challenge page.

Remember that survey you took, probably a couple months ago? Well here are some of the results.

Topics: The most popular topic here by far is politics, which nearly 90% of you are very interested or interested in. The next most popular is city planning and then public transit & bike/ped issues – we’re an exciting, wonky bunch, huh? But you also are interested in more lighthearted issues, including restaurants, events, and entertainment/arts/music. The only topic you were kind of lukewarm about is farmers market/gardening/recipes, but a few of you were die hard fans of this topic and even said so later in the comments section. So I’m not getting rid of it but might do less of that.

How you read Living in the O: I was surprised to see that 44% of you come directly to this site to read, which I barely do anymore with any site. On the other hand, 46% of you read via an RSS feed and 10% read via links on A Better Oakland, Facebook, etc.

How often you read Living in the O: These results also surprised me. 24% read daily, 50% read every few days, 17% read weekly, and 9% read less frequently than weekly. I guess I’ll have to keep posting regularly to keep up with you.

How you found out about Living in the O: It did not surprise me that more than half of you (52.6%) found out about this blog via A Better Oakland. A significant portion (16.5%) of readers found the blog through stumbling upon it while searching, and the same portion found out through a link from another blog.

For how long you have been reading  Living in the O: Nearly half of you have been reading this blog for more than 6 months, which hopefully means I’ve been doing something right. New readers are still finding the blog though, as about 20% of you had been reading this blog for less than a month (at least at the time surveys were filled out).

Other Oakland blogs you read: Nearly all of you (90.2%) are reading A Better Oakland, and most of you are reading other Oakland blogs, including Future Oakland (57.6%), Oakbook (33.7%), City Homestead (32.6%) Oakland Streets (26.1%), and Oakland Goods (25%). If you’re not reading other Oakland blogs, check out the links in my blogroll or for a more comprehensive listing, see A Better Oakland’s list of pretty much every Oakland blog.

How you feel about event listings: I asked this question because I didn’t want to bother compiling event listings unless people found them useful, and apparently 62.6% of you do. Nearly 20% of you had been to at least one event I’d listed (hopefully that’s grown by now), and 33% of you would miss the events listings if they were gone. Some of you asked about my events page and how this differed from the weekly events listing. Um, it differs because I actually update the weekly listings and only update the events page about once a month. Hopefully soon I’ll find a solution so that there’s an ongoing events listing. Stay tuned…

Your interest in hanging out with blog readers: Most of you were interested in hanging out with other bloggers and blog readers. It looks like we’ll have to do a social event, since 72.1% of you want that. Nearly half of you would also like to go on an Oakland neighborhood tour or visit Oakland landmarks with other blogoaksphere members. I’ll take on organizing a social event this summer, but if anyone’s interested in organizing another event, please email and I can help you promote it.

What you would like to see more of: A few of you mentioned wanting to read more about specific neighborhoods (I’ll try to do that) and the arts, which I’m probably not going to do because that’s not my area of expertise. Other things mentioned were parks, essential experiences (I promise to start back up this series very soon), video, pictures of food from the farmers market, and critical thinking about Oakland culture. I want to mention that if there’s something you want to read about it that’s not being covered by Oakland blogs, you should consider either submitting a guest post or starting up your own blog. Feel free to contact me for guidance.

Other comments: Most of your comments were just sweet messages about appreciating what I do (thanks!), but I have to share a few of the more interesting comments and my responses:

In general, you write a great blog. I wish there was a Berkeley blog that covered life in Berkeley in a similar manner (if there is I haven’t found it). (Several people have asked me about Berkeley blogs, but I’ve yet to find them. Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed something.)

There is not enough information about local politics. This is the best service local bloggers can provide. (Really? And I thought this blog had become too focused on local politics. For more of that though, just head to A Better Oakland.)

It’s very helpful when you end posts with a list of people to write to if we care/share your view on the issue, with email addresses…I’m lazy as far as civic engagement goes but will write/email if it’s easy to do so. (Glad to hear this is helpful, and I’ll continue to do this.)

Maybe if we got enough people, we could get a bar to show KTOP on their TV. Committee hearings would be more enjoyable with cocktails and the ability to shout comments at the speakers. (Yes, yes, yes, yes!!! I’ve been talking about this for months. It would be so much more fun than watching at home on my computer or watching in City Hall. Anyone know of a bar that would host us?)

And my favorite comment: REBECCA YOU NEED TO STAY AWAY FROM AC TRANSIT BECOUSE OF YOUR BEHAVERAL PROBLEMS WITH THEM YOU GOTTING YOUR SELF IN TROUBLE WITH THEM (I honestly have no idea where this came from. Now maybe if this reader had referred to BART instead of AC Transit, but really, am I in trouble with ACT?)

Thanks to everyone who took the survey! If you never took it, you still should, as I will continue to check the results and incorporate your feedback.

Nearly two years ago, I started this blog. At the time, I didn’t know there were other Oakland blogs, but I soon stumbled onto Great Expectations (now known as A Better Oakland) and Future Oakland, and began reading them regularly. I basically knew nothing about Oakland government at the time and was consistently amazed by how much V Smoothe and dto510 knew, and even more so, by how much research and analysis they put into their blogs.

So I read, and I read, and I started to become more interested and invested. I had initially promised myself that my blog would never be political because just about everything else in my life revolves around politics, and I wanted to have a different outlet. So I wrote about arts, and produce at the farmers market, and I told stories about riding the bus.

But a few months later, I found myself writing about zoning and transit planning, and then I was hooked. I blame most of this on V Smoothe and dto510 because if it wasn’t for them, I never would have had access to the ins and outs of Oakland government. I wouldn’t have realized that I could contribute something as well.

Since then, not only has my blog changed, but my life has changed as well. I’ve been an activist for all of my adult life (I volunteered for my first campaign when I was 18), but I had done little in the way of local government activism. Regular readers know that things are pretty different for me now.  I poured tons of time and energy into Rebecca Kaplan’s successful City Council campaign, I was on the campaign committee in Berkeley that defeated Measure KK (which would have endangered bus rapid transit), I helped stop a surface parking lot in Uptown, and now I am part of the efforts to turn the Oakland Airport Connector into a BRT project.

But I swear, this isn’t my fault. It never would have happened without influences from the blogoaksphere, especially V Smoothe’s writing at A Better Oakland.

Today is A Better Oakland’s two year anniversary, and in honor of it, Sean Sullivan wrote a really sweet post asking ABO readers to donate to V Smoothe. I’d like to echo his ask. I’ve been harassing V Smoothe for months, initially just to get her to put up a donate button, and later to get her to place it somewhere that’s visible. Now it’s up and we no longer have any excuses – it’s time to give, and to give generously.

Because ABO is so much more valuable than a newspaper or even a well researched magazine. V Smoothe gives us more than news. I know I’m not the only one who’s been inspired by her writing to get involved in local politics, and that inspiration is worth infinitely more than a subscription to the Chronicle.

Now, I know how these things work. You’re going to read this post and mentally note to donate someday to ABO, but then you’re going to keep forgetting and it’s not going to happen for a very long time. Well, I’m going to try to prevent that by offering  a limited time matching donation. For the next 48 hours (from 9am on Tuesday until 9am on Thursday), I’m offering $1 for every $10 donated, and I’ll donate up to $250. I’m challenging the blogoaksphere to give $2500 to V Smoothe in the next 48 hours. Whether you can give $10 or $100, it will make a huge difference. So please give today at www.abetteroakland.com/donate.

Last night the blogoaksphere won the battle over the surface parking lot. The Council voted unanimously in support of Ignacio De La Fuente’s resolution, “To spend the next two weeks confirming a plan to use the subject lot for a temporary public art installation space at no additional cost to the Redevelopment Agency…”

V Smoothe saved me the trouble of recounting the long struggle we engaged in to get to this point so if you’d like to read the history, head over to A Better Oakland. Her post was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever read and it brought tears to my eyes. Thanks V!

Reading her post this afternoon helped me reflect on the process. Going into this fight, it really did seem hopeless. When dto510, Joyce Roy, Naomi Schiff and I spoke out at that first meeting, we thought the parking lot was a done deal. But we did it anyway. And throughout the process, no matter what the Council and RDA threw at us, we responded.

You know why? Because that’s how activism works. When you truly care about something, you have to keep trying, even if it seems like a lost cause. The hard part of activism is that sometimes you try your hardest, rally as many people as you can, do all the research needed, and you still lose. That doesn’t mean that you should stop trying or that you didn’t make a difference.

Because once in a while, the hard work pays off, and you win BIG. Just think about this for a minute. Our win means that instead of having to walk by an eyesore of a paved lot filled with cars, worrying about one of them running into you, you’ll instead be able to gaze at gorgeous, large-scale artwork. Like these great pieces by Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito:

And when you sit in the Uptown park or on the second floor of the Den and gaze out at these beautiful art pieces, you’ll be able to think: WE DID THAT! The blogoaksphere came together to fight an uphill battle, and we won. That is the power of activism.

Thanks so much to everyone who spoke at a meeting, sent an email, made a phone call, or wrote a blog post. Your voices made a profound difference.

I want to especially thank Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito. Not only did they come to the City Council meeting last night to speak, but Dan guided us through this process, offering advice and figures on displaying large scale public art. His expertise was a huge help in showing the Council that an art display was a viable option for the space. So thanks!

I hope this is only the beginning of wins from the blogoakshpere and that you feel as empowered as I do from this experience. We made a difference and can continue to do so. Tomorrow, I’ll be asking you to join me in taking action once again on the Oakland Airport Connector, another battle that everyone told me was a lost cause. Well if we work together, it won’t be.

Until then, continue daydreaming about what this art space will look and feel like. Almost two years ago, I wrote a post about how Oakland’s a lot like Black Rock City. And soon it will be so much more similar…

Previous posts on the Uptown surface parking lot saga:

• 5/5/09: Another chance to stop the Uptown surface parking lot
• 4/29/09: CED Committee approves surface parking lot, but changes overall outlook on parking and transit
• 4/20/09: Take Action: Stop the Council from approving a surface parking lot in Uptown!
• 3/30/09: Imagining an alternative to a surface parking lot in Uptown

It’s a bit hard for me to believe, but I’ve been writing this blog for almost two years now. And over the years, the blog has changed quite a bit. I’d love to hear your feedback on what you like (and don’t like) about Living in the O, as I head towards my third year of blogging.

Please take this brief survey. Thanks!

Yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article about political candidates courting bloggers. Though the article was a bit shallow, I was glad to see the Chronicle recognizing the influence of bloggers on politics, and even happier to see my friend Sean from BearFlagBlue interviewed for the article.

The article opens with this story:

Dennis Herrera is running for re-election as San Francisco’s city attorney and loudly rumored to be eyeing the mayor’s office down the road. So a few weeks ago, he invited about a dozen influential folks to a local restaurant for drinks (on his campaign’s tab) and some face time. Those folks were local bloggers.

At first, I thought, great, this is really smart on Dennis Herrera’s behalf. He must have some savvy staffers. But then I thought about the fact that bloggers were accepting drinks from a candidate they hadn’t endorsed. I’m not suggesting that these bloggers would be influenced by a few drinks and would be more likely to endorse because of this, but I’m not sure that this kind of behavior fits into my own blogger code of ethics.

The more I thought about it, and talked to others about it, the stickier the issue became. I racked my brain and realized that though I’ve never accepted a drink (or anything else) from a political candidate, I’d certainly allowed elected officials to buy me drinks without thinking twice. I do write about some of these officials, and of course most of them are likely to run for re-election or another office in the future.

There’s also the issue that bloggers, unlike journalists, usually don’t get paid for our work. And for all of the bloggers I know, time is a very precious thing. So then maybe that makes it ok to accept a drink from a political candidate who’d like to meet with us – after all, they are requesting our time and often our advice.

On Friday, Brittney Gilbert addressed a similar issue – the Federal Trade Commission passed new rules that allow the FTC to sue bloggers who make false claims about a product that the bloggers received from companies for free. It’s clear to me that products and political candidates are a different, but these new regulations raise interesting questions about a blogger’s responsibility to be truthful and not swayed by free products or free drinks.

I have no final answer here. I’m pretty sure that I will continue to not accept free drinks from political candidates, but I’m not sure where the ethical line ultimately falls. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this tricky issue.

(dto510 beat me to this, but I had already begun writing this and, as usual, our perspectives are a bit different, so here goes.)

2008 was an  exciting year for the blogoaksphere. Not only did dozens of new bloggers begin writing about Oakland, but we wrote about a vast range of issues from so many different perspectives. There were hundreds of incredible blog posts written about Oakland this year, and here are a few of my favorites.

38th Notes -  An Oaklander’s Rebuttal to Pine’s Needles: You might remember that I’ve now promised twice to write an extensive blog post about Mistah FAB. Well, that never happened, but Coolhand Luke beat me to it and wrote an excellent in depth post about some of the positive sides about hip hop. It’s well worth the read and might lead you to think a bit differently about urban culture and its effects on Oakland.

The Inadvertent Gardener – San Francisco Food Bank Hunger Challenge Series: In September, Genie over at the Inadvertent Gardener took the San Francisco Food Bank Hunger Challenge, eating for a week on a budget of $21. She then blogged about the entire experience, from creating a shopping list to making it through the final hours of the challenge, feeling sick of rice, beans, peanut butter, and oatmeal. To follow this challenge,, start here and then just click through to each of the next posts. Her experience sheds light on food insecurity that is experienced by so many Oaklanders.

Oakland Streets – A Tree Grows in Oakland: Crimson used the transcript of an NPR piece on trees, interspersed with pictures of trees in Oakland, to demonstrate how different low income and high income neighborhoods look.

Brooklyn Avenue – Oakland’s “hidden” murals: David often writes about interesting things he sees while walking through Oakland, but this post was easily my favorite. Head on over to see the beautiful murals he’s discovered while exploring Oakland by foot.

Future Oakland – Why are developers split over Oakland City Council candidates?: Though the race between Rebecca Kaplan and Kerry Hamill is now over, this post is still relevant, especially since Kaplan will be sworn in next Monday. dto510 explains why the developers could not agree on one candidate, and I think this post bodes well for Kaplan’s future on the City Council and what she will do for economic development in Oakland.

Walk Oakland Bike Oakland – knight rider: Check out this post about one biker’s adventure biking across Oakland to get to dinner at a friend’s house. As someone who doesn’t bike in Oakland because I’m terrified of it, I really appreciated hearing that even seasoned bike enthusiasts get nervous sometimes, especially when biking at night.

Transbay Blog – BART to San Jose Series: Well, this series isn’t directly about Oakland, but as dto510 explained, BART to San Jose has serious implications for Oaklanders. Also, this is one of the best, most in depth, and persuasive series Eric has ever written. Set aside some time to read this entire series. I have a terrible feeling that when BART to San Jose is completed, we’ll find out just how right Eric’s predictions were.

A Better Oakland – Van Hool/East Bay Express Series: It was nearly impossible for me to pick a favorite post from A Better Oakland, but as I looked through the archives, I realized that this series was one of the ones I appreciated the most. V Smoothe did an incredible job debunking the claims, made by Robert Gammon, that AC Transit is evil and Van Hools are the buses from hell. This series woke me up to the fact that it’s up to us local bloggers to write truthfully about bus issues because the MSM certainly won’t do it. Go read this post, then this one, and finally this one. I promise you’ll learn a lot.

Oakland Space Academy – STAND Best Picks: We all know that STAND is anti-development, but Raymond Johnson demonstrates in this post that they are also anti-design.

Thanks to all of the Oakland bloggers who have made this such a great year. I can’t wait to see what the blogoaksphere brings us in 2009!

Apparently, the blogoaksphere has become so prestigious that at least one blogger is clamoring to join:

But then Crim became part of the Blogoaksphere. His wunderkind, Oakland Streets, won the warm embrace of linkage from every other cool Oakland blog. That had the incidental effect of creating readership–a whizbang concept I hadn’t considered. Here was a connectivity I could get behind! I realized that I would do anything to be part of the Blogoaksphere.

At an Oscar ceremony a few years back, Steve Martin introduced Gael García Bernal (you know, the muchacho guapo from Y tu mamá también) by saying: “I would do anything to look like this guy. Except, of course, eat right and exercise.”

So Clebilicious will do anything to be part of the Blogoaksphere. Except, of course, be more accessible and stick to a topic.

Luckily for Clebilicious, this is not an exclusive club. All you have to do to join is take part in some of the multitude of blog discussions about Oakland. But I guess that would take at least a bit of discipline in sticking to a topic so maybe Clebilicious is out of luck.

The blogoaksphere has been busy this week debating the merits of the reporting in our local papers and appreciating the incredible work done by Oakland bloggers. It’s clear to me that both paid journalists at newspapers and bloggers are necessary to provide complete coverage of Oakland, but there’s a new project that provides yet another way for stories to be told.

It’s called Spot.Us, and it’s a project of the Center for Media Change that is:

an open source project, to pioneer “community funded reporting.” Through Spot.Us the public can commission journalists to do investigations on important and perhaps overlooked stories. All donations are tax deductible and if a news organization buys exclusive rights to the content, your donation will be reimbursed. Otherwise, all content is made available to all through a Creative Commons license. It’s a marketplace where independent reporters, community members and news organizations can come together and collaborate.

I had heard about Spot.Us a little while ago but am newly excited about the project because there are a couple Oakland focus pitches that have been submitted.

Alex Gronke, who publishes OakBook, made a pitch for a story on “Oakland Police Blues.” If his pitch is funded, he will research and write a story about what’s wrong with OPD. He hopes to:

arrive at a deeper understanding of what ails OPD, what internal culture gives rise to the failings described above. This is not the sort of reporting that is likely to turn up evidence of concealed wrongdoing, but rather it seeks to shine a light on problems that are hiding in plain sight.

The other Oakland focused pitch is by Maya Mirsky, and it asks, “Is the East Bay prepared for an earthquake?” Now if you read V Smoothe’s post a few months ago about eartquakes and the thread of comments following it, you’ll probably know that the short answer to this question is NO. But Maya is looking to dig a bit deeper to answer these questions:

What actually would happen in an earthquake and/or fire? How many people are expected to die? What can police, fire and other first responders actually do? What do city agencies want residents to take their own responsibility for? How feasible are things like the walkie talkie network in the Oakland-Berkeley hills or emergency training cells? What can communication technology do to help?

Both of these pitches sound like they could lead to important stories that aren’t being told elsewhere. So if you’d like to chip in to fund these pitches, visit Spot.Us to fund Alex’s or Maya’s pitches.

This morning, V Smoothe wrote a really sweet post about being grateful for her readers. That got me thinking about what I’m most grateful for on this Thanksgiving, and I realized that one of the things I’m most grateful for is the various Oakland communities I’m a part of.

Though I’ve lived in Oakland for several years, this is the first Thanksgiving that I truly feel like I’m part of the Oakland community. Between the friends I’ve made through the blogoaksphere, the people I volunteered with on Rebecca Kaplan’s campaign, the activists I’ve met at Mix It Up East Bay, and all the acquaintances I’ve made at stores, the farmers market, restaurants, and bars, I now feel deeply connected to Oakland and the people who live here.

I’m especially thankful for the Oakland blogger community that’s developed over the past couple of years and wanted to thank everyone who’s somehow made the time to keep up a blog. So over the next few days, while you’re recovering from eating too much, check some of them out, and if you’re so inspired, voice your appreciation for the hard work they do to keep us informed and entertained:

• A Better Oakland
• City Homestead
• Brooklyn Avenue
• East Bay Conservative
• Future Oakland
• O-Scene
• Oakland Geology
• Oakland Goods
• Oakland Space Academy
• Oakland Streets
• The DTO

(For a much more complete list, check out A Better Oakland’s links page.)

Well, it’s time to stop procrastinating and start making the biggest pot of soup I’ve ever made. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Mix It Up East Bay took a hiatus last month because most of the organizers were a bit busy with various campaigns, but it’s back this week and should be a lot of fun. V Smoothe from A Better Oakland will be one of the speakers featured on Thursday night, which is really reason enough to go. If you haven’t met her, you should know that she’s as witty and funny in person as she is on her blog. She’s a walking Oakland encyclopedia so if you have a burning (or trivial) question about Oakland, she’s the one to ask.

It should also be a great chance to celebrate some of the huge gains we made on November 4th, electing Barack Obama and Rebecca Kaplan. And we’ll of course get a chance to reflect on our losses and to start to strategize on how to overturn Prop 8 and Measure OO.

So mark this on your calendar and join me and V Smoothe at Mix It Up East Bay on Thursday night. Here’s some more info about the event:

Educating the Electorate or Stuffing the Ballot Box?
Join us to hear diverse voices discuss the influence that traditional and new media have on local and national politics.  Speakers include:

->  Echa Schneider aka V Smoothe
->  Cecilia Vega, ABC

Come on out, celebrate another election season, and mingle with colleagues and friends as we enter a new chapter for California and the nation!

When: Thursday, November 13, 2008 from 6:00-9:00 pm
Where: Arsimona’s Bar and Lounge, 561 11th St. (above Le Cheval)
More Info: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2609191582

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 of Journalism:

With support from the Ford Foundation, graduate student reporters at the School are creating a group of focused news outlets that will each concentrate on a different part of the Bay Area. Our goals are to improve local coverage, experiment with online and digital media, and listen to you–about the stories and features that most interest you, the issues that concern you, the information services you want, and the reporting you’d like to see undertaken in your own community.

Oakland North, predictably, covers news primarily in North Oakland, though they cover some citywide issues as well. East Bay West Online covers West Oakland and West Berkeley stories. Both sites have already produced excellent stories that I have not seen reported elsewhere. I especially enjoyed Samson Reiny’s article about bicyclists on College Avenue, which I think fairly depicted the problems bicyclists, pedestrians, and drivers face in this congested area.

I’m really into the design of both sites, and I especially like Oakland North’s logo:

Though I’m not a Twitter user myself, East Bay West Online’s Twitter feed is a great and useful feature. Both sites however could use a more complete blogroll though, and they should at the very least link to each other!

Nitpicking complaints aside, I couldn’t be much more excited about these two new additions to the Oakland news world. With local newspapers consolidating and laying off staff left and right, it’s reassuring to know that the Ford Foundation and UC Berkeley are stepping in to fill in the gap of local news. Now, if only we could get a project like this started in Sacramento.