If I knew then what I know now

In response to a Peter Hegarty tweet and link to an article, Councilmember Malia Vella tweeted this:

Emailing my city email in the middle of the work day, an hour before you publish isn’t exactly #transparent nor does it actually give me time to comment. Had you reached out sooner as other writers like @eastbaycitizen did, you would have received the following: #alamtg pic.twitter.com/W3YfrwPtsX

— Malia Vella (@Malia_Vella) November 8, 2019

Definitely not the most subtle of burns and I know that the EB Times has been problematic at times when it comes to reporting but Peter Hegarty is covering a lot of territory and, in general, tries really hard to get all the facts correct. I’ll note that he did update the piece with the press release in the tweet so there’s that.

National Horror Story: maybe we’ll be okay

BREAKING: Attorney General Andy Beshear (D) has unseated incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin (R) in the Kentucky governor race.

The race shows a Democrat can win in a deep-red state despite President Trump’s overwhelming popularity. https://t.co/ydJ1o6Qm5g pic.twitter.com/5Lwu1kE2Yo

— Vox (@voxdotcom) November 6, 2019

Fayette County, which is where Trump held his rally last night, voted for Andy Beshear over Matt Bevin in a 2 to 1 landslide pic.twitter.com/LF4mIZ8BxL

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) November 6, 2019

 

Redact, don’t do it

So we’re getting a release of the tape, sort of.

At the end of last night’s meeting, which had an unfortunate replay of the Marilyn Ezzy-Ashcraft vs Trish Spencer dynamic that made us all cringe when Trish Spencer was in the mayor’s chair, the City Council took up the question of the tape.

In the report out from closed session there were two votes on two motions which we do not know what the motions were but both Malia Vella and Jim Oddie recused themselves from the items.

The first motion the vote was 1 – 2 which John Knox White voting yes and Marilyn Ezzy Ashcaft and Tony Daysog voting no.

The second motion the vote was a unanimous 3 – 0.

And then came the report out from the City Attorney which pretty much spells out everything, it’s here:

Yikes

So apparently the Carnegie Innovation Hall is not moving forward because it’s all the fault of the big bad City Council. (As long as you’re only buying what the Innovation Hall people are putting out there).  As a reminder, the comments section here contains the outsized reaction of certain supporters of the project to opinions being expressed about their framing of the narrative.

And then a light summary of one of the other possible sticking points that arose during the City Council meeting, insurance requirements, in this post.  Suffice it to say, this team was not ready for the reality of a group of City Councilmembers to be careful and fulfill their duties to protect the assets of the City of Alameda and, rather, expected the City Council to fall all over itself to support the project no matter what.  It’s a strategy I guess.

Rather than chugging along and trying to make the project still pencil out with, what were still really good terms, it appears that the Innovation Hall will be taking its toys and going home.

We can stop

It’s pretty disappointing to learn that even on a night when everyone should have been hyper vigilant about kids on streets we had yet another child vs car collision on the night of Halloween. It’s too easy for folks to blame all the “new” people in Alameda for the pedestrian/bicycle vs car accidents around town, but the bottom line is if drivers aren’t going to do a better job about not running over people then we, as a city, need to do something to keep people safe who aren’t wrapped in tons of steel. And the solution is not to blame newbies and then complain about too many bike lanes.

With the accident on Thursday night Alameda has now checked off six accidents involving children vs cars this year alone. While six children may not seem to be a lot to some people, if you’re one of those parents then even one is too many. As a parent who sends her children off into the world to use alternative forms of transportation to their local school it’s pretty alarming that drivers aren’t taking more care.

So it’s time for the City to actually build out infrastructure to really slow things down in time. Enforcement alone isn’t going to cut it.

In your court

Early Saturday morning, Councilmember Jim Oddie sent out this press release via his personal email account:

Earlier today, I notified Alameda City Attorney Yiben Shen of my perspective that the audio recording of the conversation between me, the former City Manager, and Councilmember Vella should be released.

It is illegal to tape private conversations without the knowledge and permission of all parties, and the former City Manager violated those ethics.

However, I concur the public should have the opportunity to hear the recording themselves and draw their own conclusions. Those who have worked with me know that my style is blunt and straightforward, and my role in that conversation is no different.

It is my hope that we can all move past this to fully focus on addressing the needs and vital services for all Island families. Alamedans hold their leaders to the highest standards of transparency and conduct, which I agree with and will continue to work to earn.

The release is timely considering that this Tuesday is the first meeting post the DA letter’s to the City Attorney regarding the TAPE.

National Horror Story: and so it begins

Two words: televised impeachment

[insert excited little girl gif here]

Pelosi: “This Constitution is the blueprint for our republic—and not a monarchy.

“But when we have a president who says Article Two says I can do whatever I want, that is in defiance of the separation of powers. That’s not what our Constitution says.” https://t.co/OzrDAzDZ9Y pic.twitter.com/m5SeQoj7FA

— ABC News (@ABC) October 31, 2019

 

Eyes on the roads

It’s Halloween today folks, let’s be careful on the roads out there since there will be lots of pedestrians trying to score candy tonight.

 

 

 

Power to the people

Can I just say how deeply appreciative I am of the consistent updates from Alameda Muncipal Power to let us all know if we should expect any black outs:

Oct. 29 Update: AMP does not expect the current public safety power shutoff to impact the city of Alameda. https://t.co/A4yl6aJfqS

— AMP (@AlamedaMuniPwr) October 29, 2019

If you’re not following the account on Twitter, you should.

Similarly I’m really grateful that Alameda Unified School District is also keeping parents and guardians of AUSD students in the loop of what to expect:

Canna-boom

I’m sure everyone has been exposed to the numerous billboard ads for cannabis related businesses around the Bay Area.  Alameda has had quite the response to its RFP for cannabis businesses.  From the City’s website:

A total of 19 businesses submitted LOIs for 22 locations. Thirteen met the minimum requirements of the LOI process qualifying them to submit proposals. Of the 13 proposals submitted, the following nine (9) scored sufficiently to move to the interview phase.

There are only four allowed dispensaries and two must provide delivery services.