Opt in, opt out

There is this very odd notion that seems to flying around some people’s heads that the problems of AUSD lies in mismanagement of funds.   One of the recent Letters to the Editor to the Alameda Journal closed with this line:

…Perhaps we need leaders, not politicians or administrators, who can live within their means.

While certainly the writer did preface the statement by saying that he had no kids in school, this then tells me that his information about the school district and its operations is probably pretty minimal.  Although honestly, not having children yet in school is really no excuse for not following school district issue, particularly if you are going to critique and criticize as though you come from a place of knowledge.

ClifBar: None

Sadness, we can’t even get it together to lock in a sure thing.  ClifBar is apparently terminating their relationship with Catellus because things are moving too slowly for their timeline.  They had wanted to move in this year, and seemed willing to wait for a little bit longer after the whole instabilty of the pilings was discovered.  But clearly not too much longer.  

Looks like Alameda is going to lose what could have been a really great business.   Perhaps they will consider the other 2 million square feet of commercial space that is still up for grabs in Alameda, but from what it sounded like ClifBar didn’t want just any old business park environment, they wanted something that would fit in with their environmentally aware businesses practices. 

As it stands Alameda Landing is still just a twinkle in Catellus’s eye, I’ll basically believe that it exists when I start seeing some activity going on behind those chain link fences.

Slum pickings

Thanks again to Jack Richard who pointed us all to this article in the Atlantic about the possibility of the far flung suburbs becoming our nation’s next slums.  Not to say that this would happen in Alameda, even the article mentions that cities close to the urban core, as we are to San Francisco, would probably be largely unaffected by this phenomenon.   The theme that I appreciated was the notion that there is a growing shift away from large lot single family homes toward pre-World War II walkable urban communities, even if those communities are located in the suburbs.  As we move forward in planning areas like Alameda Point, the Northern Waterfront, and even the northern part of Park Street once all the dealerships go away towards better freeway access and signage we need to talk about what we envision for those areas, and what will be the most appealing for people in all stages of their lives.   Not simply for families with 2.5 kids and a dog (or cat).   

As the article mentioned the demographics of the country are shifting, soon the number of single people and families without children (young and old) will equal families with children, but yet communities like Alameda still insist on building basically one size fits all housing in all new developments.   For those that want choice or a diversity of housing, they are told to go find it some place other than Alameda or rather rely on the older housing stock to meet their needs.  Yet time and time again, even though people have remarked that traditional Alameda looks very different than post Measure A Alameda, the insistence to cling on to the familiar blunt tool rather than embrace possible more refined tools that offer more control is puzzling.  

For less than a cup of coffee a day

Tonight’s School Board agenda is jam packed, from charter school applications to budget reductions to parcel tax language…the only thing missing are the anchovies.

First up, the Renaissance Leadership Academy charter school application is being recommended for a big fat denial.  A lot of the issues brought up by the review committee was also addressed during the initial presentation of the charter school application (starts around 28:00).  When asked about some of the more troublesome aspects: AUSD representative on their Board of Directors, the way audits would be conducted…the answer that was given by RLA was that their consultant told them to “put it in.”   When the RLA representatives questioned their consultant further, he simply told them to, “put it in,” so they did.   Not really a profile in “leadership,” but I would suppose it would be hard to argue with someone you are paying that is supposed to be an expert in drafting these applications.   Anyway, look for this one to probably go to the County Board of Education for appeal as well.

I almost didn’t sign the “optional” sign in sheet!

Long post ahead, you’ve been warned. 

By the time I arrived at the Kofman Auditorium, a tad bit late, but of course with events like this, things rarely start on time.   I was puzzled by the the number of tables and displays that were lining the entrance way to the actual theater itself.   Because I thought I was late I quickly walked by to get into the theater since I had brought my lap top to take notes and needed to find a place to plug in.   Unfortunately I had neglected to bring my extension cord and so my only options were to sit in the way front or the way back.   At that point I decided to abandon taking notes during the event and opted to rely on the tape recorder I brought.

The turnout was pretty small, but considering how poorly the event was advertised, I’m not really surprised.  Before the event starts, Don Roberts marches in and heads straight to the front of the auditorium and begins to “film” the crowd.   Obviously he will be showing this on this week’s show and declaring how small the turnout was.   After filming he promptly left, whether he came back, I’m not sure.

The event starts with Councilmember Lena Tam kicking off the event, welcoming everyone etc… etc… and then she introduced Woody Minor.

Dick and Juni

Recently the California Planning and Development Report wrote an analysis of what is going on at Alameda Point.  Written by Morris Newman (because everyone is going to want to know what his creds are) this is what I could find out about him:

Morris Newman is a Los Angeles–based writher specializing in architecture, urban design, and real estate planning. He is a senior contributing editor of the California Planning – Development Report and is a frequent contributor to numerous newspapers and magazines including the New York times, the Los Angeles Times, Architecture, and Metropolis.

Highlights from the article:

Like boxers vying for a title, two very different ideas of planning are competing for the future of Alameda Point, a 770-acre community carved out of the former military base next to Alameda, the city. The choice is a 1950s-style bedroom community, all houses and cars and little else, or a mixed-use community in the style of the early 21st century, where higher densities are the trade-offs for premiums in open space and historic preservation.

…

At least we’re not Vallejo

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

…Vallejo is on the brink of a dubious distinction - becoming the first city in California to declare bankruptcy.

The fiscal crisis, which comes more than three years after the state took over the city’s debt-ridden public schools, is a result of snowballing police and firefighter salaries and overtime expenses coupled with plummeting tax revenue from the weak housing market, officials say.

In response, the City Council is considering cutbacks at the city’s library, its public swimming pool and its history museum as the city faces the prospects of running out of cash in the coming weeks, officials said Wednesday.

…

Saturday morning fervor

I know you have all been counting down the days, making little red Xs on your calendar until the circled date of February 23rd.   Well your wait is almost at an end my friends, because it is time for:

THE MEASURE A FORUM

aka

THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

[insert dramatic music here]

While the rest of Alameda sleeps in and slowly drags their butts out of bed for a nice leisurely day of leaf raking or enjoying Park Street, the obsessive among us, myself included, will be plying ourselves with danishes and crossiants and attempting to keep our snarky remarks muttered well under our breaths.   There will be morning pastries, right?

Woe is Alameda

Sigh, WordPress has been having issues, and I couldn’t figure out how to login to my account without going through the main wordpress page, but finally figured it out. 

Somehow I can’t bring myself to care about the City of Alameda’s possible budget woes the way that I care about the School Districts. Maybe it’s because there are certain things in the City that can go unattended for a while if budget cuts need to happen, like the tree master plan and removing a replanting trees. That to me is pretty secondary to educating our kids. If the grass doesn’t get cut at some of the parks every week and instead gets cut every two weeks, I’m fine with that as well.

But for those of you that are concerned with the possible shortfall in the City’s budget, from the Alameda Journal:

Gimme Shelter

It was nice to read something good about the Alameda Animal Shelter in the Journal last Friday.   It appears that they are taking positive steps forward to tightening up the operation with the hiring of a volunteer coordinator, highlights:

Just a week into her new job as the volunteer coordinator for the Alameda Animal Shelter, Tina Aedo on Wednesday said she was still getting her feet wet.

Right now, she’s busy figuring what duties are required at the facility and then directing shelter volunteers to fill those duties, which include walking canines and socializing with anxious, lonely kitties.

…