Archive for July, 2009
UPDATED On Point: The case of the disappearing park
Updated 1:21 p.m. Friday, July 31
When Richard Bangert first realized that the park he had worked to keep in the development plan for Alameda Point had been taken off the map, his wife told him it must be a typo.
Back in 2002, when plans for a golf course and hotel had threatened what was called [...]
UPDATED Businesses appeal to public on school tax
Updated 11:48 a.m. Friday, July 31
Facing serious challenges to their lawsuits to invalidate Measure H, local businesses are taking their case against the school parcel tax to the public.
Steve Meckfessel, an owner of the marina at Marina Village, asked the school board and Superintendent Kirsten Vital to consider amending the tax in a half-page advertisement [...]
Encore Saturdays concerts at Towne Centre
Alameda Towne Centre, which has been hosting free concerts every Thursday this summer, has added a series of Saturday shows that start this week and run through the month of August.
The free “Encore Saturdays” shows start this Saturday, August 1 with the Motown sounds of Pure Ecstasy. The lineup also includes salsa from Rumbuché, on [...]
Your weekend: Period picnic
There’s trouble in River City, trouble with a capital T, and … fortunately, this all leads to a picnic and dancing in period dress.
Alameda’s Period Events & Entertainments Re-Enactment Society is hosting The River City Picnic Dance on Saturday in Lincoln Park. Admission is free.
Participants are invited to bring their own period picnic lunch and [...]
Street and sewer repair projects to begin Monday
Contractors are slated to begin some street and sewer repair projects around the Island this Monday, August 3. Construction will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and is expected to last through October.
The work could cause minor traffic disruptions, some increased noise and dust. It will also cause temporary parking [...]
Island sports: Alameda Blaze are #2 in Santa Clara tourney
The Alameda 10U Blaze team played in their sixth and final tournament of the summer season on the weekend of July 25 in Santa Clara.
In the opening games on Saturday, there was no stopping the defense and hitting of the Blaze. The first game, against the San Ramon Stompers, ended with a 10-7 win for [...]
PROPOSITION 13′S CONTESTED LEGACY: Prologue
Like any good politician, San Francisco Assessor Phil Ting has set the state’s fiscal meltdown – and its solution – into the simplest of sound bites.
“We’re in a financial catastrophe,” Ting told me a few weeks ago. His solution? Amend California’s property tax-slashing Proposition 13.
And like any good advocate of a once-righteous cause, Kris Vosburgh [...]
Peet’s, Bank of Alameda release Q2 results
Peet’s Coffee & Tea is reporting continued good financial news this quarter, posting increased earnings and revenues over the same quarter last year and lower costs.
Company executives also announced a partnership with Godiva to sell and distribute a premium line of the chocolatier’s medium blend and flavored coffees.
Peet’s reported diluted earnings of 26 cents per [...]
City seeking phone numbers for notification list
The Island’s public safety folks have got a new emergency notification system in place. And they want to make sure all your phone numbers are in it so they can tell you what you need to do when the next disaster hits.
“While the Police Department has populated the database with published numbers, no one should [...]
Alameda’s newest optometrist – and art gallery
Alex Lukens has made a point of keeping things local, hiring his architect, accountant and attorney here on the Island. So it makes sense that Lukens, whose Eyewise Optometry opened at Bridgeside Center just a few short months ago, would become a satellite for a local art gallery, too.
Lukens, a University at California, Berkeley-trained optometrist [...]
Today’s must-read: Bridge crisis averted!
The state Legislature has passed a budget sans an anticipated takeaway of more than $1 billion in locals’ gas tax funds (the Assembly balked at the last minute). Which means the county’s threats to leave three county-run drawbridges up at night have been stayed.
“I’m relieved and grateful for the Assembly’s actions,” Mayor Beverly Johnson told [...]
