I’d like to speak to your manager

Even after voters — in fairly large numbers for a special election — affirmed the City Council majority’s removal of the G overlay for the McKay Avenue parcel paving the way for the Wellness and Respite Center to proceed there are still folks who are continuing down the path of trying to tank the project.  A Bay Farm warrior on NextDoor proudly announced that he was sending a letter to the federal government in a last ditch “speaking to the manager” type of move.

Under that announcement someone else helpfully added that Alameda Citizen Task Force (ACT) would also be asking to speak to the manager, but it would be the City Council and they’d be asking to subvert the vote of the people:

Light reading

We ████ the whole Mueller report. What does it ████ like? More than a third of it is ████████. https://t.co/KlYzu3T7Xr pic.twitter.com/zmP1fqbcLj

— Jon Schleuss 🦅 (@gaufre) April 18, 2019

The Trump administration posted an unsearchable pdf of the Mueller report so it would be harder for you to read.

We made it easier. Here’s a searchable version: https://t.co/0QWPT5IQVP

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) April 18, 2019

Inaction in action

At the City Council meeting on the 2nd of this month, a public speaker mentioned during public comment that he didn’t understand why Tony Daysog had shirked his responsibility to make a decision on an issue before the City Council yet again. In this case it was the cannabis ordinance which passed the first reading on that night.

Oh, by the way, I think I might have mentioned it before, but cannabis proponents in Alameda really need to come and collect a certain speaker whose name rhymes with dread. He is really the worst face to come before the City Council to advocate for anything. To say that he is ineffective is to really understate the harm that he does for the cannabis community.

Anyway, back to Tony Daysog, if someone — who probably doesn’t track City Council meetings that closely — notices how often Tony Daysog doesn’t seem to want to do his job, you can only imagine how people who actually pay close attention view this dereliction of duty.

Style over substance

Last week’s Planning Board meeting was, well, Planning Board-y.  What do you mean by that, Lauren, you might be asking.  Well, an issue that should be pretty straightforward design guidelines hearing on, essentially, cell facilities to bring 5G to Alameda became a aesthetic-off between the majority of the members of the Planning Board.

The only person to inject a bit of sanity into the process was Ronald Curtis who, for the most part, can be counted on to be pretty pro business and pragmatic.  He was the only one who pointed out that given all the existing regulations more likely than not these cell providers who probably choose the path of least resistance and not attempt to try for the most difficult installation to upset the most people possible.

By the way Ronald Curtis was also the only member to, lightly, push back against the sitting President of the Planning Board when she declared that housing for the homeless should not be a priority for the City:

Mental health breakdown

So I actually missed the epic City Council meeting from earlier this month because I was gone and without any meaningful internet coverage.  So it looks like a fair amount of work was done around rent stabilization and the cannabis ordinances which hopefully I’ll get around to when I have some time to listen to the full meeting.

But tonight the City Council has one really interesting item on its agenda and it actually piggybacks on some of the discussion that occurred during this last election: mental health issues.  While this presentation by the Alameda Unified School District is specifically youth centered, we should have a larger discussion since usually people are more eager to assist kids than they are homeless senior citizens.

From the staff report:

Following the presentations, the ACCYF discussed the need to destigmatize mental illness and find ways to promote the mental health and wellness of students and their families through a public awareness campaign that has a consistent message.  Supervisor Chan coordinated a meeting on April 4, 2019 with an ACCYF workgroup and a consultant to discuss messaging strategies around raising mental health awareness and destigmatizing mental illness for youth and families in the City.

AUSD made a presentation on its needs assessment to the Social Service Human Relations Board (SSHRB) at its January 24, 2019 meeting.  SSHRB members stated that a larger conversation needs to take place with the entire community.  The SSHRB recommended that AUSD present its report to the City Council, so that Councilmembers can determine the City’s role, if any, in addressing the issue.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

One beginning exercise at the City Council workshop on March 16th was to write a headline of what the individual City Council members wanted to see as a headline in five years from now.  This was one of those blue sky exercises where anything goes and speaks to what the individual City Council member values.

As you can imagine most people took this opportunity to really think big.  I’m going to transcribe what each City Council member said.

We’re on a break

Just a short one until next Monday.  That campaign — as truncated as it was — took a lot out of me mentally and emotionally.  Probably because I read too much NextDoor.  That was a whole lot of awful.

And thank you again, Alameda.

 

 

 

Yay!

Thank you Alameda for voting yes on Measure A in such a huge majority.

And thank you for proving that NextDoor is not indicative of all Alamedans.

Guest Yes on A blog: Rasheed Shabazz

Alameda, the City of Beaches and Homes. “Everyone Belongs Here,” (‘unless you are “homeless.’)

Alameda has a long, long history of policies which have excluded, quarantined, and expelled poor people and people of color–especially Black people. Racially restrictive covenants, redlining, and exclusionary zoning at the ballot box are collective manifestations of residents stating who belongs and who does not.

While Alamedans have produced and reproduced racist ideas to advance their interests, others have consumed those ideas–even when it conflicted with their economic interests or contradicted some of their more righteous beliefs.

Examining some of the campaign strategies of the Friends of Crab Cove and the potential impact if Measure B passes shines light on the underlying racism at work and what’s at stake.

Yes on A, no on B

If you have not yet cast an absentee ballot, please remember to get out to the polls today.

Yes on A, no on B!

And just in case you weren’t clear on how you should vote.  There is this handy dandy website to help out.