Month: December 2009

A Little Computing Money For Cops

Uncle Sam gave a little computing money to Oakland cops this past week.  We’re not going to look this gift horse in the mouth, but understand it triggers the Oakland Police Department to spend more on support costs.  Where are they going to find the bucks?

For a long time, Oaklanders have craved better responsiveness by their police force.  The City just received $1.3 million for CompStat, to track crime patterns more effectively.  On a geographic basis, all the reported activity – like summonses, arrests and crimes – would get closer scrutiny.  This tool and approach ideally helps the force re-set their priorities, at least weekly.

Yet the CompStat funding isn’t nearly enough.  Last January, the IT and Police Departments sent City Administrator Dan Lindheim their CompStat request for $3.3 million start-up and $1.7 million ongoing dollars.

In this request, the former police brass recommended hiring another 15 people to run the works, incurring $105k in startup costs and $1.7 million annually thereafter.  Wow!

The cops also requested $1.8 million for 200 laptops.  These acquisitions translated into $1.1 million in licenses, $240k in wireless fees (two years) and $500k in maintenance (one year).  That’s tough to chew!

We don’t know if all these additional, gold-plated resources are needed or not.  We do know that getting this federal grant isn’t a free ride for the City of Oakland.

More info:   No CompStat for OPD – CompStat Request – Say Hello To My Little Friend – CompStat In Practice

Where The Oakland A’s Belong

Yeah, we think the Oakland A’s belong in Oakland.  The  ballpark should be in a spiffy new Oakland location, and any of the three suggested sites would be just fine for us.

As you likely know, the jury’s out right now.  Major League Commissioner Bud Selig and his committee are busy scratching their heads about the right city and locale.

While we get that decisions revolve around the almighty dollar, we don’t exactly understand what drives this Major League Baseball choice.  So here are a few profound questions and thoughts for Commish Selig:

  • Do you know the way to San Jose? Apparently the A’s co-owner, Lew Wolff, wants to head south.  We don’t know how you feel, but it is definitely too damned hot in San Jose during the summer.  Both players and fans would show up at the ballpark and prepare for a sauna there, ugh.
  • Why give no-mans-land Fremont a chance? We’re not sure if this option is live, as Fremont plans fell apart earlier this year.  The Fremont A’s would counterbalance the NUMMI plant closing news.   Yet it’s tough to understand why you would prefer settling by this, um, highway exit.
  • Why is Oakland there for you? Well, we’re a real place that doesn’t need to offer directions.  (Oakland also has a friendly city theme song, but we digress.)  Jack London Square North seems to be where Tribune survey-takers want to go, so give that serious consideration along with Victory Court and Howard Terminal.

For Oaklanders, it’s easy to take a hometown team for granted.  Let’s make a pact here:  to attend more games in the future.  At this point, we’ll need to sit tight and see how this all plays out – and hope the A’s stay home.

December 12th Update:  Oaklandish is now selling t-shirts declaring “Keep Baseball in Oakland.”  Half the proceeds go to local Little League scholarships, and you may buy one here.

Did Oakland Get More From Uncle Sam?

In a word, yes.

The other day, Oakland Mayor Dellums sent out a note bragging about how many dollars Oakland received from Federal stimulus grants – and he thanked everyone who worked on the aid requests.

While we believe that Oakland did well in the handouts, it’s really hard to tell:  (1) exactly how much; (2) what was specifically funded; and (3) how all the grants compare to other cities.  The note ended up obfuscating the good news, at least for non-policy wonks.

The Mayor says “the City has brought in, to date, over $65 million in stimulus funds, including over $35 million from competitive grants.”  That’s great, so where’s the $35 million in the competitive grant comparisons to other cities?

There’s no question that we have received more money than all other cities shown, magnified in the per-person and index data.  However it’s not clear what programs are included in or excluded from these city comparisons.

Last February, we had the full list of what was getting requested.  How did the City of Oakland do?  What was requested versus rejected?  What’s still getting approved by Uncle Sam?

We’re not trying to rain on the parade, and are grateful for external funds in our budget time-of-need.  It might be nice to know as much as we did last winter, when the request process began for Oakland and all cities nationally.

Little Ants Appear In Droves

These crawlers are strange, appearing suddenly and in droves.  They show up only once or twice a year, whether you’re ready for them or not.  Our ants visited last night, crawling all around the inside and outside of the kitchen garbage can – and not wandering far afield.

These creatures should have known better than to emerge in my domicile.

Bring out the carcinogens!  Somehow all those green aspirations go out the window when the icky ants appear – and that equally disgusting, poisonous spray helps me obliterate ’em instantly.

After the first rains this fall, some Montclarions were blessed with an onslaught of termites.  I thought the ants were triggered by rain as well, but maybe there are other factors.  These guys might get cold and seek out cozier spots on wintery days.

Any knowledgeable Montclarions out there?

Snow Day In East Bay Hills

We love our snow days here in the East Bay hills!  Today the snow even stuck around, due to cold temperatures.  Too curious to sit still, we headed uphill to see the white stuff.

There was snow on many rooftops below 1,000 feet, and bushes and hillsides remains sprinkled as well.  Once we rounded the bend to Skyline Boulevard, the evidence of wintertime was everywhere.

Evidence #1: Well, you can see the snow underfoot, which wasn’t deep but definitely widespread.  I should have dressed up for the occasion with real winter boots, but you get the picture looking down.  It felt great to hear and feel the crunch for a while today.

Evidence #2: Huckleberry Regional Preserve was showing off its winterized, holiday look as well.  We don’t see the snow-covered grasses very often, as snapped here.   So many of the trees and shrubs were covered, and not melting in the shadows either.

Evidence #3: Folks gathered up on Skyline, to record the day for posterity.  It was funny to watch everyone stop cold, almost taken aback by the great Eastern vista.  No one had seen this much snow, this late in the day.

Evidence #4: Unlike most snows, this one ventured lower in altitude last night.  While we normally get thrilled by a snow-topped Mt. Diablo, the range views were even better.  From Skyline, we gazed out at the East Bay Himalayan Range today – what a rarity!