Alameda admissions

On SFGate there is a column from Asian Pop Culture dude Jeff Yang which discusses what he calls the “Asian- Jewish connection” the thesis about whether or  not Asians are the “New Jews” isn’t as interesting as all the other stuff in light of the State of California slashing the budget for subsidizing AP exams for lower income kids.

By the way, Encinal is dipping into another fund to pay for the exams this year, which means that some other pot of money will be short, but don’t forget that you can still head on over to Otaez to support the program at Encinal on March 10, 17, and 24 by purchasing a meal, students will be handing out fliers at Otaez with more details.

Residential evil

So I caught this article in the New York Times about Google and the City of Mountain View.   For those living under a rock, Mountain View is the city blessed with the good fortune to house the internet giant and all the taxes and assorted dollars that come with having Google in your zip code.

I think it is fair to say that most people in this town would welcome a Google-type business in Alameda.   Heck, I would imagine that most people would welcome  Google in Alameda.

But, not unlike Alameda, even when a solid corporate entity like Google wants to develop, there is push back.   Google has big plans for the City of Mountain View apparently, they want to build.   And what do they want to build?   They want to build a mixed used environment next to their headquarters for their employees.

Parking priorities

I thought I would shed a little sunshine on an issue brought up in the comments section regarding new parking laws for on-street parking in residential districts and with regard to RV or boat parking in residential districts.

This issue was first brought up on the December 15th meeting of the City Council.  According to the Interim City Manager, the reason why they decided to act on this issue was because the City has received a number of complaints through the Access Alameda tool on the City’s website complaining about parking issues.   I’m not sure if it was specifically about RVs and boats parked on streets or on private property, but it all got lumped together anyway with the issue of “abandoned” vehicles being parked on the street.

APing our betters

When I was in high school — and I didn’t go to a particularly stellar high school by the way — it was pretty much understood that it was crucial to take as many Advanced Placement (AP) classes and corresponding AP tests as possible.     Those AP test would not only look great on a college application, oftentimes they would be credited toward college classes as well.

With all the cuts to the education budget, less publicized than threats to elementary class size and the closure of neighborhood schools are the very real cuts to funding for AP exams.  Previously, AP exams were offered to students who who qualified for free and reduced lunches at only $5 per exam, a huge discount from the current rate of $86 per exam.

All around the world the same song

During the lead up to the Measure B election, some folks suggested that we scrap the SunCal plan in favor of a City led and plotted plan for Alameda Point and then find the right developer to match what it is we want out there.   I guess the reasoning was that Alamedans would be able to come to better consensus on what should go out at Alameda Point if the City led the process as opposed to a Master Developer.

I don’t know if other people have been paying attention to how the handover for the Concord Naval Weapons Station has been playing out, but that is the tactic that the City of Concord has taken.   Probably because while the Department of Defense has already closed the base, they haven’t decided how they want to get rid of the base yet.   Concord is entering into the final of many many many meetings regarding the land use plan for their own base.     Essentially the decision has been whittled away from like seven different plans to now two.   (1) Clustered Villages and (2) Concentration and Conservation plan.

Walking on sunshine

So the first dispute over the Sunshine Committee was who the Committee should report to. The Mayor and Doug deHaan firmly on the side of the Sunshine Committee should report to the Interim City Manager and everyone else (Frank Matarrese, Marie Gilmore, and Lena Tam) feeling as though the Sunshine Committee should report back to the City Council.

The City Attorney then steps in with some convoluted reasoning that a “Task Force” or “Ad Hoc group” since they are doing “the work of City staff” would report directly to the Interim City Manager as opposed to an “Advisory Group” which would report to the City Council. The difference between the two is that advisory groups aren’t subject to the Brown Act open meeting rules and the task force/ad hoc groups are.

Stripped

On Tuesday night one of the topics of conversation was the Sunshine Committee.    Now, I’ve watched a lot of City Council meetings in my days, but this was by far the most convoluted and most frustrating discussion I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching.   Let’s just say that for a discussion about a Sunshine Committee which is tasked with the purpose of issue spotting problems within City government regarding lack of access to City information, the Sunshine Committee could have started that night given how some of the Council members wanted to limit the scope of what the Sunshine Committee should be focusing its attention on.

But first, I wanted to clear away right off the bat something highly ironic that happened in conjunction with the Sunshine Committee.    Earlier in the meeting, Mayor Beverly Johnson presented the League of Women Voters of Alameda a proclamation declaring the month of February as Good Government Month with such statements as:

If a tree falls on the West End…

…does anyone notice?

Seriously, does anyone?

Recently with the construction of the Stargell extension and the resurfacing of the tennis courts at the College of Alameda some fairly mature trees have fallen victim to the chainsaw on Alameda’s West End.

With the proposed adoption of the City’s Master Tree plan, it’s sort of relevant.   While the trees in the Fernside area were saved, recently some very fine trees that had made it through the initial clear cutting for the Stargell extension, were felled last week for some inexplicable reason.

Sticking the landing

While the most important topic for tonight’s City Council meeting will be about Alameda Point and the Optional Entitlement Application and ensuing Notice of Default from the Interim City Manager, I can’t bring myself to really care anymore.

Not that I don’t care, I do care, but at this point I much rather go and watch Olympic figure skating than worry about what the City Council is or is not going to do.   Because at this rate, we’re all staring down at another 10 plus years of planning and I’d rather watch some folks land some cool triple toe loops than listen to the City Council hem and haw and talk about how they want to do something at Alameda Point but we need more “community input” as though the past decade of community input and money spent to collect that community input has meant nothing.    The twirling and spinning on the ice is much more entertaining than in the Council chambers.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi

Happy Lunar New Year everyone.

It’s the year of the Tiger, rawr and I’m holding out on writing anything not positive until the three days of the new year are over.