Too much time on her hands

Super lawyer to the FOCCers and former City Councilmember Barbara Thomas is not doing that well in the “try to tank the Measure A campaign at all costs through any means necessary” arena.

Her most recent attempt to weaponize the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) was to complain about campaign literature in the public right of way.

Had I known we could do this I would have filed an FPPC campaign against all of those Yes on K signs that were littering every single median from the West End to Bay Farm.  I think there is still a Yes on K sign up on the golf course fencing.

Anyway, here was the complaint:

Had a bad day

Yesterday was a big day for the Friends of Crab Cove (FOCC).  And just so everyone is aware in case they were not aware this is 100% an effort that the former Mayor of Alameda, Trish Spencer, has thrown her full weight and support behind.  The rumor mill has her present at the proceedings yesterday.

Anyway, big day for the FOCCers, if you did not know FOCC, represented by former City Councilmember Barbara Thomas, had filed a lawsuit against the City and individually named person like City Councilmembers to stop the special election and ask for some other stuff.

From a press release that went out yesterday afternoon:

No decision Daysog

I’m workshopping names for when Tony Daysog recuses himself from voting on an issue of substance even though no one told him he needs to.

Because, guess what?

Tony Daysog disagrees with the interim city attorney, citing the fact that the city only allows these shops in certain areas and "out of an abundance of caution" he leaves the dais. Again. #alamtg

— Gaylon Parsons (@gaylonparsons) February 20, 2019

Messy

I don’t think I ever got around to writing about the Open Government Commission’s last meeting where they heard, yet another, complaint regarding the City Council’s actions as it related to the Cannabis Ordinance.  This time — City Council meeting January 15 —  it was also a procedural complaint about staff failing to include the OCG’s findings in the staff report and that if the City Council did not reach a majority on the presented agenda item that the old ordinance would still be in effect.

As a reminder this is the agenda item that Tony Daysog decided to recuse himself from adjudicating because he lives close to one of the potential applicant sites even though the agenda item was on the policy and not about a specific site.  The City Council is now hearing the issue, again, because the OCG upheld the complaint about the failure to include the OGC’s finding in the staff report on January 15.

To recap, according to the City Attorney, because there was not a majority vote at the January 15 meeting, the vote from the previous Council is currently the one in effect.  Essentially the decision that was under scrutiny the first time around because the OGC sustained the complaint that the title was vague and would not give folks the full understanding of the full scope of what could have been under discussion that night.  That was the night that the City Council made the policy decision to move from delivery-only cannabis business to retail with delivery-required cannabis businesses.

Happy Presidents’ Day

Best and highest use

There is a fantastic op-ed in the Alameda Journal from a local Alameda firefighter on the Wellness Center and why it will be a benefit to Alameda.

This goes right to the heart of why this Wellness Center is so important in light of some of the comments phrased in the form of a question that has been popping up on sites like Next Door.   There has been a lot of questions about how the area will support emergency vehicles when the people living and residing at the Wellness Center will need to go to the hospital.

What is clear from the op-ed is that the City of Alameda is already serving folks who would be ideal for placement at the Wellness Center because they’re already here and they have needs that must be met, regardless of their housing status.

From an Alameda firefighter/paramedic:

I’ve picked up discharge medications for a senior woman living in her car. I’ve managed to secure temporary shelter (outside of Alameda, of course) for an elderly man who was recovering on the streets after being treated for pneumonia. I’ve scheduled follow-up appointments for a homeless senior who was newly diagnosed with Stage 3 melanoma during a hospital admission.

West Midway mania

All right I know it’s a week after the meeting was held but better late than never.   At last week’s City Council meeting there was the West Midway dog and pony show.  All of the developers managed to convince a few people to come out and speak on their behalf which was nice, but just managed to pull out that agenda item longer.

It was clear that some of the Council members came into that meeting knowing that they would need to land on some sort of a resolution, others had no idea what to do with all the information presented that night.

Some of the presentations were better than others, one developer’s representatives mispronounced RESHAP throughout the presentation.  Another developer decided to use up at least three of the 15 precious minutes allotted to each developer to show a video.

There was a definite sense of tension between liking teams that had deep experience at Alameda Point (Catellus and Alameda Point Partners) and those that had Alameda ties but would provide diversification of the developers at Alameda Point (Brookfield and Jamestown/Cypress Equities).

Levitt to town

And…we have a new City Manager.

Yesterday afternoon this press release went out from the City of Alameda:

“The Alameda City Council and I are delighted to announce that we have unanimously selected Eric J. Levitt as our new City Manager, effective April 12, 2019. With 18 years of City Management experience, we are confident Mr. Levitt will be an effective leader to our very talented group of department heads and City staff,” stated Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft.

Mr. Levitt has over 25 years of experience working in local government and over 18 years of experience as a City Manager. Mr. Levitt is relocating to Alameda from Simi Valley, California, where he has served as City Manager since 2013. Mr. Levitt was also City Manager for Janesville, Wisconsin from 2008-2013 and Sedona, Arizona from 2001 to 2008.

Money moves

I think it’s important to point out that not only does FOCC not really have a good plan for the McKay Avenue site — according to former Mayor Trish Spencer they want it to be parking or a bus turnaround — they also have no idea how to pay for parcel.

But that’s not surprising given Trish Spencer’s penchant to vote no first and then let others clean up the mess.  What was really surprising though as part of that Alameda County Democratic Club forum was that the Friends of Crab Cove members either don’t understand how campaign funding works or they were being deliberately coy when there was a direct question posed as the top three funders of both campaigns.

A place to heal

Gah, I keep getting distracted by other topics and have yet to write up thought about the West Midway project.  It’s a though when you think things are going to slow down it just gets busier.  West Midway for some other time, it can wait.

Anyway, over the weekend, I had the opportunity — along with a bunch of other supporters of the Wellness Center project on McKay Avenue — to tour the site.  As you all could probably guess, without seeing the site and only hearing about what was slated to go in I was already a supporter of the project.  What I left with that morning was absolute certainty that this was the right project for that location.

What I didn’t know was that this circled building was built as housing: