Living in the O

• Temescal Produce Market fills neighborhood grocery store gap

  Number of comments: 5
  Recently, I’ve been thinking pretty seriously about moving closer to the middle of Temescal. Right now, I’m technically in Temescal (at least, according to some), but I’m many blocks and a freeway overpass away from 51st and Telegraph and all the great stuff in that area. But there was one [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 8:18pm EST
  by Becks

• November 30-December 6 Oakland Political & Community Events

  Note: Due to the holidays, there are dozens of events happening in the next couple of weeks so I’m picking and choosing a bit. For a more complete list of Oakland holiday events, check out City Homestead’s comprehensive listing. Tuesday, December 1st– AC Transit Community Open House for Revised Service Adjustment [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 10:58am EST
  by Becks

• My growing gratitude for Oakland art

  Number of comments: 4
  There are so many reasons that I’m grateful to live in Oakland that I couldn’t possibly list all of them in a blog post. Luckily, V Smoothe covered many reasons that overlap with mine (especially AC Transit and all the great farmer’s markets). But there’s one thing that I’ve grown [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 2:37pm EST
  by Becks

• Joel Young: The hidden costs of health care

  This guest post was written by Joel Young, a lifelong Bay Area resident and a member of the AC Transit Board of Directors. As the raucous health care debate plays out in Washington DC, I have become increasingly aware of the stakes for the Bay Area. Skyrocketing health care costs touch [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 12:47pm EST
  by Becks

• November 23-29 Oakland Political & Community Events

  Monday, November 23rd – Meet Oakland’s New Police Chief All community stakeholders are invited to come to this introductory gathering with Oakland’s new Police Chief, Anthony W. Batts, to hear how he plans to approach the complex issues in Oakland.  Former Berkeley Police Chief Douglas Hambleton and Oakland’s former Acting Police Chief [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 5:37pm EST
  by Becks

• Ofrendas Para los Muertos – from Oakland, with love

  Number of comments: 2
  Last night, before heading to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting and then the Walk Oakland Bike Oakland meeting, I stopped by the opening night of Ofrendas Para Los Muertos, an exhibit in the atrium of the State Building. I only had 10 minutes to enjoy, since my bus [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 5:27pm EST
  by Becks

• Safeway on College – The cost of doing nothing is not nothing

  Number of comments: 15
  Last night’s Planning Commission hearing on the College Avenue Safeway went well overall. Sure, the neighbors showed up in force to try to stop the project or at least to greatly reduce the scale of the project. But it was just a scoping session so staff and commissioners repeatedly reminded [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 7:45pm EST
  by Becks

• Fight against Oakland Airport Connector leads to FTA civil rights investigation of BART

  Number of comments: 15
  I didn’t expect to be writing about the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) anytime soon, and I certainly didn’t expect to be sharing good news about it. Well, ok, maybe it’s not good news about the OAC, but I do have some incredible news to share about the outcome of our [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 3:05pm EST
  by Becks

• Tonight’s Council Meetings: Budget, billboards, and OFCY

  Number of comments: 1
  UPDATE: The budget workshop just ended, but you can follow the City Council meeting on Twitter #oakmtg. I finally gave in and joined Twitter, after months of being harassed, just so I could get in on the discussion there. You can find me @oaklandbecks Tonight there will be not one but [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 2:12pm EST
  by Becks

• November 16-22 Oakland Political & Community Events

  Monday, November 16th – Oakland Local Community Meetup Via the Facebook event: “Oakland Local is one month old! Come join us at our first community meetup in downtown Oakland–community partners, OL bloggers & reporters, people interested in being involved with OL and anyone else who wants to support us are invited [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 3:18pm EST
  by Becks

• Don Perata: Message to City Council: Instant Runoff Voting: Protect Our Civil Rights

  Number of comments: 15
  This guest post was written by Don Perata, who was the President pro Tem of the California State Senate from 2004-08. He chaired the Senate Elections and Redistricting Committee in 2001 charged with protecting the Voting Rights Act when drawing congressional and legislative districts following the 2000 census. There were [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 5:26pm EST
  by Becks

• John Gatewood: Safeway at College @ Claremont – Opportunity to Enhance an Urban Village

  Number of comments: 11
  This guest post was written by John Gatewood, one of the co-founders of ULTRA (Urbanists for a Livable Temescal Rockridge Area), which supports higher density mixed-use development along the major transit corridors of north Oakland. John works in the Graphic Arts Industry and is a resident of Temescal. Safeway is in [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 2:11pm EST
  by Becks

• Rules for running for Mayor of Oakland – Rule #3

  Number of comments: 7
  A couple weeks ago, I started a new series about rules for running for Mayor of Oakland. Today I’ll share the third rule and will continue with this series in the coming weeks and months. Rule #3: Do not do anything that is or appears to be illegal or unethical Sounds pretty [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 10:09am EST
  by Becks

• November 9-15 Oakland Political & Community Events

  Monday, November 9th – Town Hall with Mayor Dellums and Police Chief Batts Come hear Mayor Dellums and Chief Batts share their vision of public safety. Topics include: Mayor Dellums — public safety strategy: PIES (Prevention, Intervention, Enforcement, Sustainability) Chief Batts — vision for the Oakland Police Department Crime statistics: crime is down double [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 12:55pm EST
  by Becks

• What’s going on with instant runoff voting? Registrar Dave MacDonald explains… sort of

  Number of comments: 15
  Last night, Alameda County Registrar of Voters Dave MacDonald came to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee meeting to discuss instant runoff voting (IRV), which is a hot topic in Oakland right now. MacDonald started off by making it very clear that he wasn’t taking sides on IRV, but that the [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:50pm EST
  by Becks

• Expanding and moving our apartment garden

  After years of maintaining a small garden on our apartment balcony, we finally decided to ask our apartment manager if we could move our garden to the benches at the back of our garage, which we can see from our balcony. He of course said yes so we moved most [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 3:09pm EST
  by Becks

• Tonight’s Council Meeting: World Cup, billboards, and performance measure tracking

  Number of comments: 2
  Remember about a month and a half ago when I asked you if you wanted more City Council coverage and promised I would provide it? Well, things got busy for me after that, and then I took a couple week break from blogging, so I’ve yet to follow through on [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 3:02pm EST
  by Becks

• November 2-8 Oakland Political & Community Events

  Number of comments: 2
  Monday, November 2nd – Town Hall with Mayor Dellums and Police Chief Batts Come hear Mayor Dellums and Chief Batts share their vision of public safety. Topics include: Mayor Dellums — public safety strategy: PIES (Prevention, Intervention, Enforcement, Sustainability) Chief Batts — vision for the Oakland Police Department Crime statistics: crime is down double [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 11:08am EST
  by Becks