Archive for December, 2008
Feeling blue
Karen Ulrich will engage in a protest of sorts against City Hall this afternoon, at the wine bar she owns and operates next to the Alameda Theater. Ulrich, who owns the Alameda Wine Company, is having her face and head painted blue at 3 p.m. today to reflect her mood over the city’s “in-the-works” decision [...]
The icemen cometh back
I’ve been meaning to tell you that the crew of the Coast Guard cutter Sherman were able to make it back to Alameda for the holidays, following a two-month stint in the Bering Sea, off the Alaska Coast.
The crew was monitoring 90 vessels that fished some 20 million pounds of Alaska’s prized red king crab, [...]
Hope for the Holidays: Arts in Alameda
Throughout this holiday season, I’ve written posts about a number of worthy non-profits that need your help to thrive. But Alameda’s also got a host of great arts organizations too, and they could use your help.
I’ll start with Frank Bette Center for the Arts (they did send a neat Seussian poem asking for donations, after [...]
Boy Scouts do tree pickup
Ready to send your Christmas tree to that big ponderosa range in the sky? Well, you’re in luck. Local Boy Scout Troop 11 will pick up your Noble firs, your Silvertips, for just five bucks. The pickup date is January 3.
The troop’s been picking up trees for 39 years, and their efforts have been billed [...]
Your house, in lights
As promised, I’ve toured the Island and brought back snapshots of some of the many homes decked out in lights for the holidays (you’ll recognize a whole lot o’ Christmas Tree Lane in there, I’m sure). Call it my little gift to you. You can check those pictures out right here. Enjoy!
Hope for the holidays: Alameda Education Foundation
As I’ve reported recently, the Alameda Education Foundation has fallen on hard times. Like many nonprofits, the foundation has seen a sharp drop in donations. And the group’s leaders are saying they don’t think they’ll see about $40,000 in parent payments for after-school enrichment classes that they were supposed to receive from their online payment [...]
The 4500
SunCal Companies’ just-released draft master plan for Alameda Point offers some major changes from the preliminary concept we got a few months ago, including 47 acres of civic space, a few more historic structures saved from the wrecking ball, less commercial and office acreage … and 300 more homes.
The new plan shows 226 acres of [...]
Monday profile: Mike Brune
An accidental trip through the Tube brought Mike Brune and his family to Alameda six years ago. But Brune’s deliberate approach to improving our environment has brought him widespread attention. Brune heads the Rainforest Action Network, who the Wall Street Journal dubbed “the most savvy environmental agitators in the business.” Their approach is to target [...]
Charter recruiting riles parents
Sounds like some parents were upset when folks supporting the Nea Community Learning Center charter came to their schools a few weeks ago to hand out flyers advertising their upcoming open houses.
Nea, whose charter was approved by the school board a few weeks ago, dropped by Paden, Washington and Ruby Bridges elementary schools in early [...]
Got pix?
One of the many great things about Alameda is that people here are into the holidays. Really into the holidays. As in decorating your house with strings and strings of lights and wood cutouts of characters from long-ago holiday cartoons into the holidays.
Wanna showcase your spirit? Take a picture of your house and shoot it [...]
Welcome back, Uncle Sam
On board the utterly frigid USS Hornet Museum Thursday night (My toes? Still thawing), officials with the Veterans Administration and the Navy outlined a proposal that would return a portion of the former naval air station to militaryish use.
The Navy wants to give 549 acres of the former base to the Veterans Administration to build [...]
