Safeway on College – The cost of doing nothing is not nothing

Last night’s Planning Commission hearing on the College Avenue Safeway went well overall. Sure, the neighbors showed up in force to try to stop the project or at least to greatly reduce the scale of the project. But it was just a scoping session so staff and commissioners repeatedly reminded them to stick to scoping [...]

November 16-22 Oakland Political & Community Events

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 [...]

John Gatewood: Safeway at College @ Claremont – Opportunity to Enhance an Urban Village

This guest post was written by John Gatewood, one of the co-founders of ULTRA (Urbanists for a Livable Temescal Rockridge Area), which supports higher density mixed-use development along the major transit corridors of north Oakland. John works in the Graphic Arts Industry and is a resident of Temescal.
Safeway is in the planning stages of replacing [...]

November 9-15 Oakland Political & Community Events

Monday, November 9th – Town Hall with Mayor Dellums and Police Chief Batts

Come hear Mayor Dellums and Chief Batts share their vision of public safety. Topics include:

Mayor Dellums — public safety strategy: PIES (Prevention, Intervention, Enforcement, Sustainability)
Chief Batts — vision for the Oakland Police Department
Crime statistics: crime is down double digits citywide,but more must be [...]

November 2-8 Oakland Political & Community Events

Monday, November 2nd – Town Hall with Mayor Dellums and Police Chief Batts

Come hear Mayor Dellums and Chief Batts share their vision of public safety. Topics include:

Mayor Dellums — public safety strategy: PIES (Prevention, Intervention, Enforcement, Sustainability)
Chief Batts — vision for the Oakland Police Department
Crime statistics: crime is down double digits citywide,but more must be [...]

John Gatewood: Oakland is a Rust Belt City and what the Zoning Update can do about it

This guest post was written by John Gatewood, one of the co-founders of ULTRA (Urbanists for a Livable Temescal Rockridge Area), which supports higher density mixed-use development along the major transit corridors of north Oakland. John works in the Graphic Arts Industry and is a resident of Temescal.
Oakland is a rust belt city that just [...]

October 26-November 1 Oakland Political & Community Events

Tuesday, October 27th – Walk Oakland Bike Oakland Meeting
You may not have thought about it this way, but walking and biking are climate action! Attend WOBO’s October Volunteer Meeting this Tuesday night to discuss opportunities for advancing walking and biking within Oakland’s Energy and Climate Action Plan. The discussion will be led by WOBO Board [...]

October 19-25 Oakland Political & Community Events

Tuesday, October 20th – Oakland City Council Meeting

Woo! The Council has been having a series of long and intense meetings since recess, and this week’s meeting looks like it will follow in that pattern. First, the Council will swear in Police Chief Anthony Batts. Then, among other items, they’ll be receiving an update on the [...]

October 12-18 Oakland Political & Community Events

Tuesday, October 13th – Final Vote on EBMUD Water Supply Management Plan 2040

Via EBMUD Director Andy Katz: “The EBMUD Board of Directors will consider adopting the Water Supply Management Plan 2040 to meet our water needs over the next 30 years on Tuesday afternoon, October 13.  While the Plan includes increased water conservation programs, recycled [...]

A brief break from Oakland politics & blogging

Note: I am no longer working for TransForm, and as always, the thoughts below are my own.
Tuesday night was a bit devastating for me. I’ve been working with so many others since February to defeat the OAC, and I had always hoped that if all else failed, the Oakland City Council would come through for [...]