Dullums Says ‘I Love Crime’ — Plans To Run City Singlehandedly
It appears as if all the rodents are jumping off the sinking ship that is the government in the City of Oakland.
Yesterday, Police Chief Wayne Tucker tendered his resignation, creating yet another vacancy in the upper echelons of the city’s governance structure. Not surprisingly, nearly every single interested observer other than Mayor Dullums views this development as a good thing.
Something You’ll Never See In California
At the risk of this blog becoming an advertisement for the state of Nevada, I’m here to alert you to an astonishing development east of the border.
This morning, I received an email indicating that Washoe County — where Reno and the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe are located — has decided to lower its assessed property valuations by 25 percent across the board. So, without any action on the part of homeowners, property taxes will automatically be reduced 25 percent this year.
Costco At Oakland Army Base? Probably Not
Live in Oakland long enough and you start to notice a few things are awry in terms of getting access to the kinds of services a typical middle class Bay Area family expects to find.
Let’s say you want to go to Costco to buy some food for the next week. Well, your choices are to drive to San Leandro, Walnut Creek or up to Richmond. Strangely, there’s no Costco in Oakland, even though it would seem the retailer has a big base of customers right here. Costco even has a store in San Francisco, indicating they’re not afraid of urban settings.
It’s Not Just Measure Y: Social Programs Don’t Work
I read with interest V Smoothe’s article today regarding problems with Oakland’s Measure Y.
It’s nice to see so many people coming around to view the outcomes of this initiative as a mistake. While I still support the funding mechanism — a pleasantly regressive and gentrifying flat parcel tax — I never thought the way the money was spent would amount to much.
I was thinking about the inauguration this morning, and it struck me that it would be enjoyable — and extremely funny — for conservatives to give President Obama as little opportunity to succeed as the left gave to George Bush.
Remember those bumper stickers you saw around town that said “1-20-09″? Well, I decided it would be a great idea for conservatives to have an equally absurd way to belittle Obama. So, I set up a little shop on Cafe Press, selling all sorts of goodies emblazoned with “1-20-13″. Here’s the URL: http://www.cafepress.com/EBConservative
Bart Tragedy A Tragedy For All
There’s nothing worse than running across a story like the one from this past week, where a Bart police officer “shot and killed an unarmed rider” at the Fruitvale Bart station.
Any way you slice it, this situation is a tragedy. The last thing Oakland needs is more gun violence and death. And, the fact that a cop is the one who pulled the trigger makes the situation all the more concerning.