Every 15 minutes… Can be a reality

Now the Prescott-Oakland Point residents will have easier access to community gardens, the Emerybay Public Market for dining, Bay Street Emeryville, Powell Street Shopping Center, East Bay Bridge Shopping Center, and IKEA for shopping and faster access to the West Oakland BART station.

If all goes as planned, according to AC Transit who presented information a couple of weeks ago, the Bus Route 26 (which replaces the current Bus Route 13) will have you at the West Oakland BART station from the Prescott-Oakland Point area in less than 5 minutes, every 15 minutes during peak hours and 30 minutes during off peak from 5:00 am to 12 midnight.

Also, the former 19 Line will change to the Bus Route 31 which would provide trips to community gardens, featured in a recent article “An oasis of fruits and vegetables” and nearby shopping at the East Bay Bridge Shopping Center at 40th Street west of San Pablo Ave. Stores include Pak n Save, Best Buy, Office Depot, Office Max, Home Depot, Michaels, BNC Nutrition Center, Radio Shack, Baskin Robbins, Verizon Wireless, GameStop, Pacific Sales, Pet Club and Babies R Us.

Other shopping, dining and theater opportunities include:

• Powell Street Plaza houses brand name retailers, including Beverages and More, CSAA, DB Shoes, Jamba Juice, Petco, Pier 1, Ross, SleepTrain, Starbuck's Coffee, Trader Joe's, and Togo's among many others.
• The Emeryville Public Market features Borders Books and Music, the Broken Rack Billiards Club, United Artsts Emeryville Emery Bay 10, Shape City Emeryville, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Western Career College, Salon of Emery Bay, and the International Food Court known for dishes from Asia, the Caribbean, India, Mexico and the Middle East from 20 unique food retailers representing the diversity of the Bay Area.
  

Let’s make this a reality!

AC Transit is holding a Community Open House to learn more about this revised plan and talk with AC Transit planners tomorrow Tuesday, December 1st 2009 at 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Comments on the revisions will be accepted through December 2nd.

Those comments will be accepted in the following form of communication:

• Board of Directors:
  o Greg Harper (Ward 2) gharper@actransit.org
  o Joel b. Young (Director / At-Large) jyoung@actransit.org
  o Christian Peeples (vice President / At-Large) cpeeples@actransit.org
• By online comment form
• In person at the community open house on December 1st
• By email to planning@actransit.org
• By mail to the AC Transit Board of Directors, 1600 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA 94612
• By fax to (510) 891-4874
  

Attend the AC Transit Board of Directors meeting and speak in favor of the adoption of the Revised Service Adjustments Plan at its December 16th meeting held at 1600 Franklin Street, Oakland. As this date gets closer, I will provide updates here.

Help make these 15 minutes a reality.

AC Transit Blog

Welcome to Oakland

UPDATE: (11.21.09, 10:00p.m.) Whining after losing the fight on points, Kessler said "I think this will make the tournament more exciting. I don't want to be the favorite."

Kessler could not put a creditable combination of punches, fought mostly upward and seemed to want to just survive the fight.

Again, Welcome to Oakland Kessler! Thanks for holding the belt for Andre.


Tonight's fight features Oakland's Andre Ward and some guy who has been holding the belt for Andre in a World title fight.

Okay I admit to being a little excited and maybe a little EARLY!

this shot was taken in the a.m. as they put the ring together.

LoBot Gallery-Nov. 17th, 2009

Tuesday Nov. 17th

ladies and dobermenn

welcome to a night of universal awesomeness provided by LOBOT GALLERY show will open with:

• OPUS DISPERDI: live score for silent movie (featuring members of SECRET CHIEFS 3,TRIANGLE and CASSANOVA FRANKENSTEIN)
  
• HIGH TOWER: instrumental progressive metal from san francisco
  
• TRICLOPS: classy prog hard core (featuring members of VICTIMS FAMILY and THE FLESHIES)
  
• LOVVERS: low-fi punk from the UK
  
• AN ALBATROSS: psychedelic grind dance party from PHILLY
  

doors open at 8:30pm; show starts at 9:30pm

1800 Campbell St. - Oakland

Opera featuring Prescott Oakland Point Resident

DARK RIVER

A New Opera by Mary D. Watkins

features Prescott Oakland Point resident Marilyn Reynolds

Musical Director: Deirdre McClure

Stage Director: Darryl V. Jones

November 12-24, 2009

Oakland Metro Operahouse, 630 3rd Street Oakland, 510.763.1146

16th Street Train Station Restoration

Tuesday November 10th - Live music

Lucky Dragons - Javelin - Pit er Pat

LoBot Gallery
1800 Campbell St. - Oakland, CA - 94607
Doors @ 8pm - Seriously good show!

For more information contact Adam Hatch

On-line Media - Comments 101

An opportunity for our Prescott Oakland Point neighborhood to receive some well deserved press after the community party held Oct. 29th in two San Francisco Chronicle articles located in the real estate section and Chip Johnson’s Tuesday, 11.03.09 column highlighting the Central Station Development, immediately became a target by those with cruel and sometimes derogatory statements about our community and people.

Admittedly, I lost it after reading a number of comments and I reached out to community members and invited them to read the comments and respond appropriately. Although initially it felt good, I realize this was wrong, emotional and may have inadvertently gave them more undeserved visibility. There’s a time-honored adage that one should “never get in a fight with a guy who buys printers ink by the barrel.” It’s easy to forget this negative side of the internet.

I forgot about the behavior of the online anarchists who laid in wait to swarm article after article and pictures carping in most cases inappropriately and off topic, leaving comments like popping popcorn, all over the place while occasionally addressing the subject matter.

I forgot how cruel people can be especially when hiding behind the anonymity of an incomplete profile. Only some are bold enough to provide information that identifies them as out-of-towners. Reading their profile and their posting you learn like most kindergarten behavior, they have no regards to those they hurt, demonstrated by their comments directed towards victims of crime.

Remembering these people feel a sense of accomplishment engaging those with erroneous information, injecting their own garbage and getting a reaction (rise) or response, I should have known better than to respond. I realize this is what they do.

Cowardly on-line anarchist are not new or original just hard to get use to.

Community Celebration Update

In one of the worst economies and in an area that has received little positive press over the past years, Central Station has seen some of the greatest success of any new development in the Bay Area.


On Thursday, Oct. 29th 2009 Central Station celebrated the completion of nearly 400 homes (currently over 200 new residents) as part of the first phase of Central Station, the largest private investment in the history of the Prescott Oakland Point neighborhood.

The block party was an opportunity that brought together new and long-time residents. The 300+ attendees of this party included the Lew Hing family, local elected officials, local businesses, out-of-towners, and represented the rich Prescott Oakland Point neighborhood of people of diverse ethnic, cultural and economic backgrounds living side by side which dates back to the early nineteenth century.

The party featured photography exhibit by award winning Katherine Westerhout, photos by Jason Mehrtens, music by Jonathan Smothers DJ, beer from Linden Street Brewery, wine from Urban Legend Cellars , foods from Brown Sugar Kitchen and Namie's Kitchen, Scream Sorbet providing dessert and Galatea Cafe provided coffee, tea and pastry. THANK YOU ALL!

For those who couldn’t make it, I hope to see you at the next community event currently in the planning stages now.

If you are a business or organization wishing to co-sponsor or participate in some other way, send me an email.

OPD Chief Anthony Batts explain public safety strategy in the Prescott…

First let me thank Jonathan Bair for his post at the SFGate Oakland Blog who saved me some work duplicating a post already written, and written quite well by Mary K. Flynn of Oakland North on the New Oakland Police Chief Batts and Mayor Dellums visit to the Prescott Oakland Point neighborhood for a town hall meeting held at Prescott Elementary School.

Read the full article here

Those wondering who is Oakland North; they’re a news project of U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

Check them out!

First the artist, then the hipsters...

The artists infiltrate first, moving in for the cheap live-work space; then the hipsters arrive, coming for its rough-edged authenticity; and finally the developers.

One of the first entrants, Holliday Development, is building the Pacific Cannery Lofts in the initial phase of the Central Station community. The 163-unit project is an adaptive reuse of a historic warehouse, the 1911 Pacific Coast Cannery building, which was shuttered during the Great Depression and has sat empty for 50 years.

Ninety-nine lofts are centered on three interior courtyards in the original cannery building.

Experts say it's far greener to move closer to places you need to get to than it is just installing sustainable wood flooring or photovoltaic lights. Rick Holliday, founder and president of Holliday Development, did both. He built next to existing transit and incorporated enough energy-saving items to have the project Build It Green-certified.

Urban planners call this "smart growth." Specifically, smart growth means creating housing close to existing urban infrastructure and job centers while encouraging the next wave of improvements, such as grocery stores and retail shops.

But that car is hardly a necessity because 271 trains hit the West Oakland BART Station daily and the train ride to the Embarcadero station takes just six minutes. There are trains every 1 1/2 minutes during commute time, and the property offers quick access to Interstates 80, 880, 580 [980], [State Route 13 ]and Highway 24.

Complete SFGate Article