Just The News

Stop Sign Of The Times

Our “center city” is located at La Salle and Mountain.  It’s where everyone goes for the weekly Farmers Market, and the intersection sports many banners and traffic signs.  Here’s how part of the intersection looked earlier today.

Stop Global Warming

What’s different here?  Well, there’s one new and improved stop sign which now reads:   Stop Global Warming.  We don’t know how long this sticker will remain, but you can’t argue with the sentiment.

On the corner of La Salle and Mountain, this new and improved stop sign now reads:   Stop Global Warming.

The Council Resolves Schoolyard Dispute

Last Tuesday eve, we switched to the Oakland City Council’s marathon meeting on Channel 10.  When the subject of local park projects came up for review, it felt like we were watching the Council resolve their schoolyard dispute live.

The Council approved resolutions to submit eight park projects for external grants.  Let’s rewind back to the original resolutions, beginning with seven projects nominated by district.  The process leading to approvals showed the balancing act between district and city-wide priorities.

City Council - Nov 3, 2009

Which projects would get funded? Well, no one knows ahead of time.  To keep things equitable, Council reps had decided to recommend one favored project for their respective districts.  Like any major metro, Oakland has a reasonable shot at receiving external funds for some park improvements.

Could another project be added? At the Council meeting, a handful of impassioned residents spoke about the need for a second West Oakland project:  a teen center.  They claimed that kids would stay out of trouble with somewhere to go, and it was hard to argue with the request at face value.

What process should Council follow? The schoolyard confusion began in earnest when Council Rep Nancy Nadel wanted to add this project in her district.  At-large Rep Rebecca Kaplan said that she never recommended a project before, and supported this new teen center.  Larry Reid protested repeatedly because the rules had changed in the game, and he had other projects that mattered too.

When could projects expand? There was some back-and-forth about combining the two West Oakland projects together. Yet that was scratched when a city staffer explained the grant process required projects to be located on contiguous property.

It was getting late.  Council Prez Jane Brunner said “enough” and the resolutions were passed:  five yeas; one nay; one abstention; one absence.  Despite schoolyard jealousy, eight projects made this final list.

Now the real work begins with a bevy of community meetings and project planning preps ahead – all required to improve Oakland’s odds at winning a capital infusion.

Electricity, Oakland Style

We were alerted to an unusual arrangement of power poles, quickly fixed after the last storm.  Yesterday we took a snapshot of some workers making additional repairs there.  Please take a close look at what passes for a temporary utility fix…what seems strange to you?

Utility Pole Or Two

Yes, you are seeing a half or quarter-sized pole and then a single full pole.  That smaller, broken pole is supported by an overhead cable as well as two brackets connected to the larger, standing pole.  Plenty of utility lines have been hung from the broken part!

We’re wondering what construction standards are getting followed with this dangling pole installation.  We know the brackets and broken pole aren’t exactly well-built elements.  Give us a windy storm or earthquake, and these lines probably would fall down again.

There’s a silver lining here:  it’s good to see some work getting done at this Montclair intersection yesterday.  Yet we’re not sure whether this “temporary fix” will stay there for months or years.  Are we tempting the fates?

Fingers Crossed To Re-Open Bay Bridge

We do want our dowager, the Oakland Bay Bridge, to be treated and released from the ICU soon.  It’s important to make her Eastern Span healthy and safe, during those last few years in service.  It’s also hard to wait patiently for the bridge to re-open – especially if you are one of those unlucky Montclair-to-San Francisco commuters.

Keep Fingers Crossed

This morning, the travel times were atrocious.  We heard about three-hour commutes into San Francisco while cars crawled, at 10-15 mph, across the Richmond, Golden Gate and San Mateo bridges respectively.  No word on Dumbarton speeds, which may have been a bit better.

According to various traffic reports, BART handled a half-million passengers.  In the East Bay, this morning’s commuter count jumped nearly 50 percent, from 56 to 83 thousand passengers.  We also heard the Houston Rockets took a ferry boat to play the Warriors.

What’s happening now? Caltrans is working on a better fix to the I-Bar problem first discovered last Labor Day, including stronger welds and pieces that are tied together.  We sure hope the quick-fatigue problem will be resolved, so cumulative traffic and high winds won’t knock things down again!

We know the Bay Bridge will be closed again tomorrow.  Caltrans spokeman, Bart Ney, would not commit to any opening time – better safe than sorry.

November 2nd Update:  Finally, the Oakland Bay Bridge re-opened this morning.  After some re-designs, fixes, tests and more tests, Caltrans decided this effort would hold. Of course, our regular commuting patterns return tomorrow.

Thank You, Dimond Post Office

Did you hear the good news?  The U.S. Postal Service has decided their post offices located in Dimond and Montclair will remain open for business – and all is right with the world.

Montclarions should tip their hats to Dimond community organizers, who zealously signed up everyone they could to save their district’s office.  They rallied to the cause!  We’re convinced that some of their pixsy dust was shared with Montclair, too.

U.S. Postage Stamp, 1947

Of course, local residents and merchants were very, very upset about the prospects of losing our village post office.  One way we gauged concerns?  At Today in Montclair, our late July posting about this potential closure was one of the most-viewed postings ever!

This reprieve was first reported by District 4 Council Rep Jean Quan last week, and she also mentioned it during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.  The Montclarion dug out some more of the news and facts, too.

When all was said and done, the Dimond and Montclair locations were status quo.  Unfortunately the fates of three other Oakland spots – Mills College,  Station B (Franklin Street) and Kaiser Center – remain unclear now.  And Mills was given that post office and unique zip code by U.S. President William McKinley, or so we heard during a campus tour.

In Montclair, why not stop by our local P.O. and congratulate the workers there?  When discussing the situation with them earlier, they were justifiably worried about their jobs and encouraged more business to prove their worth.  Well things worked out for everyone, and it’s nice to share a little good news.