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I just got this email from STAND on the Adams Point Messge Board: Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 9:10:52 AM Subject: RE-ZONING OAKLAND A New Look for Oakland? Did you know that the City is working on plans to change the zoning for all of Oakland? (This will govern how the new buildings look and how they impact the surrounding community.) It may seem odd at a time when almost all development has halted. However, as everyone knows, this area will recover. And, when it does, what the City decides now will be what we live with then. STAND has representatives on both the Commercial and Residential zoning task groups and is attending all meetings. We are hoping that the outcome of these meetings will be to encourage moderately scaled projects that preserve our light, air and views, while bringing us sustainable growth. We want to be proud of, and enjoy, the projects these new rules give birth to. Ideally, we want to preserve or enhance what is best about Oakland now. We are wary, however,...

I just saw this: Subject: City's Hotel Tax (Transient Occupancy Tax) - Ballot Measure From: Councilmember Jean Quan Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Submitting, On The Council's Own Motion, To The Electors At A June 2, 2009 Special Election, A Proposed Ordinance Amending The Oakland Municipal Code In Order To Provide For A Two Percent Surcharge To The City's Transient Occupancy Tax (Hotel Tax) To Support The Oakland Zoo, The Oakland Museum of California, Chabot Space And Science Center And The Cultural Arts Programs And Festivals.. And had to react.  Who's idea was it to have an increase in the Hotel Tax in the middle of a recession in a town not known for tourism?  I'd bet the revenue projection was a rosy scenario that will never soon come to pass. Now the City folks might say "Oakland has the highest hotel use rates in the State" but that comes from data that's almost three years old.  This is a new world.  Why charge a higher tax that will...

With actions like this $7 million purchase proposal that was on the Council agenda Tuesday night, the Oakland Redevelopment Agency clearly has some fiscal life in it: The February 26, 2009 Finance and Management Committee approved recommendations; 4 Ayes S-10.13-C C Subject: Real Property Purchase - 905 66th Avenue From: Community and Economic Development Agency Recommendation: Adopt An Agency Resolution Authorizing The Purchase Of Real Property At 905 66th Avenue, From The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District For $7,747,102 Less the Cost Of Any Environmental Site Remediation And Authorizing Up To $12,000 For Real Estate Closing Costs, $60,000 For Property Inspection Costs And $1,000,000 For Demolition Costs

I have it from several sources that Mayor Ron Dellums plans to meet with A's Owner Lew Wolff after Baseball Spring Training.  That's an expansion on the other story that the City was making moves to contact the A's and present a plan.   What's good about this bit of news is the Mayor and not the Vice Mayor's doing the apparent heavy lifting. Nothing against Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente, but it's time Oakland sent a clear leadership message to sports business owners, and that means the Mayor.  Period.    It also means we fall in and help him, and that organizations like the Chamber of Commerce avoid this knee-jerk tendency to form their own task force and try to get what they want, which is the ego-satisfaction of being involved at a major level.   What the Chamber has done is made it's own group in the past which has always made politics more complicated. Please, not this time.  That's Joe Haraburda's set of orders I write: sta...

http://www.zennie62.com -- Rush Limbaugh's idiological rants are out of touch with an economic reality that will keep The Democrats in power for at least the next 10 years. The reason is the economy itself and the need for government investment. Between 1960 and 1999 the U.S. Economy added 20 million new jobs every 10 years, but from 1999 to today, only about 4.7 million new jobs. What happened to the 15 million jobs? They went overseas to countries like India, France, and north to Canada. And with jobs goes wealth. It's a key reason America's now the 3 largest exporter whereas we were number one for years, until 2004. We're now behind Germany and China. All of that wealth lost has resulted in wrecked credit over time. We have to have jobs to afford our mortgages and our population did not stop growing through this period. But what happened was that we started to lose jobs from the remaining stock of them. Remember, we have millions of people that aren't e...

More at Oakland Tribune : “OAKLAND — The family of Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old man shot and killed by a BART police officer early New Year's Day, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit for $50 million against BART in federal court Monday. The shooting prompted massive public outcry and protest in Oakland, and Johannes Mehserle, the BART officer who resigned in January rather than submit to questioning in BART's investigation of the shooting, is charged with murder in the incident. "This is the most egregious police shooting case that I've been involved in," said John Burris, the attorney representing Grant's family who has been involved numerous high-profile police-misconduct cases. Burris filed a $25 million tort claim against BART and Mehserle in January. He said he increased the dollar amount after learning more about what happened before and after the shooting, as well as learning more about the officers who were at the scene and about Grant and his family.” -- A...

I attended a great launch party of a new and innovative magazine called BARE. It was started by UC Berkeley student Doreen Bloch and captures the Bekeley fashion style, but also taps into the lucrative college student fashion scene.