Law enforcement from across the country to honor Oakland Police

More at Inside Bay Area: “OAKLAND — Members of the Oakland Police Department and the families of four slain officers will take a step toward closure today following one of the darkest chapters of their lives.
They won't be alone.
Law enforcement officers from all 50 states and a handful of foreign countries are expected to pour into the Oracle Arena for an 11 a.m. funeral honoring the four officers killed in related shooting incidents last Saturday.
A list of tentative speakers includes acting police Chief Howard Jordan, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, state Attorney General Jerry Brown, and family and friends of the officers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to meet privately with the families before the service around 10:15 a.m., police said.”

Vote For The Alameda Point Development Plan May 19th 2009

On May 19th Alameda residents will be able to assure the economic future of the City of Alameda by voting for the Alameda Point Development Plan for the redevelopment of Alameda Naval Air Station as planned by the Alameda Base Reuse Committee and its subsequent evolutions to the Alameda Reuse and Redevelopment Commission of today.

The plan consists of a mix of uses and an ambitious plan adding over 4,000 much-needed housing units.

But the most important fact is the plan will mark the begining of the replacement economic development we have worked to achieve for so long.

Opponents point to Measure A as the reason why the plan should be defeated, but the fact is Measure A was passed in 1973 and represents a time when Alamedans were interested in restricting development and maintaining Alameda from people of color.

Those days are long gone.

Now, Alameda needs jobs and the region wants to see The City of Alameda have an economic development project that replaces the closed Naval Air Station. This is that project.

Introduction to Alameda Point - Vote "Yes" For Alameda Point Development

Brief video of Alameda Point with voice over narration on history of Alameda Point and Naval Air Station Alameda

Alameda To Hold Election on Naval Air Station Development at Alameda Point

 

News is coming in that the election season has started early in Alameda this year and it looks like islanders are finally going to get a chance to make something exceptional happen out at the city’s run-down old Navy base.

The backers of a plan to clean up and reuse the old Naval Air Station at Alameda Point today submitted the initiative language to the city. Now they will start collecting signatures to place the plan on the Nov. 3 ballot.

This is frankly great news for Alameda. That old Navy base has sat unused and neglected for a long, long time. Finally a plan that someone can pay for is coming forward to get the place cleaned up and ready for real public use again.

A lot of ideas have come and gone out there, but this is the only one makes any damn sense at all.

Look, this has been a long time coming and I’m sure voters are going to get an earful from professional nimby’s who will oppose anything that even resembles a plan that could actually be achieved. And see my video for the real story.

The problem with that mentality is that, like it or not, without a viable plan this site will either continue to deteriorate and be blight on the City, or it will be sold off piece by piece and developed haphazardly.

This plan will work for people who live in Alameda. It will certainly be a benefit to the East Bay by creating jobs, new parks, a huge new sports complex, a new ferry terminal and new public transit connections, new trails and new access to areas that have long been fenced off and off limits to anyone not in a white suite.

It is too easy to oppose something in the Bay Area. The hard job is to support something that makes things better. Looks like the Mayor of Alameda has joined the cause—let’s hope sensible people will study the plan and make that same logical choice. It is far better to support something that will clean up the toxic lands, create jobs, bring open space and sports fields to the City, create affordable housing and build better transit connections in the region than it is to hold out for something that can never be achieved.