alphabet of signs

Ois for Oakland. Here's the complete alphabet from various Oakland signs:

Given the large number of liquor stores with interesting signs, 'Q' was not the hardest letter to find multiples of. That honor goes to 'J', for which I added yesterday's sign.

BART under civil rights investigation

I figured the OAC was a done deal after the city council inexplicably went along with BART's plans, but according to Living in the O, BART is under a civil rights investigation by the Federal Transit Administration. In part, this is because BART's EIR (Environmental Impact Report) is based on 2002 data, the OAC including multiple intermediate stops (the OAC plans currently have none), and a $2 fare (the OAC plans currently call for a $6 fare vs. $3 for the current AirBART). The cost for implementing the OAC will also likely be borne in part by higher BART fares and/or reduced service.

I've noted before that BART could build a new station at 98th to better serve the residents of East Oakland and implement TransForm's proposed RapidBART bus plan with intermediate stops for a good deal less than the OAC's $500 million (and climbing) price tag. This won't necessarily stop it, but it's a huge step in getting others to take a look at some alternatives.

stop BART's Oakland Airport Connector

Becks at Living in the O and others have links to a petition to stop BART's current plans for the Oakland Airport Connector. Calling it a boondoggle is an understatement, to the tune of $500 million (or more -- the price keeps going up.) The latest, as Becks reports, is that the planned speed for BART's OAC will be even slower -- slower than the speed limit for cars and busses. It will cost a ton of money, and the projected ridership won't begin to cover the costs, even at $6 a ride (vs. $3 for the current AirBART.) Better alternatives, like a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to replace the existing AirBART have been proposed, but BART seems hell-bent on spending the money. Read more about it on the TransForm website, and make your voice heard!

what's in a name?

Oakland is not just a diverse city, it's geographically large. So it's no wonder there are a host of neighborhood names.

Names are wonderful things. They can give a sense of place, of history, of belonging. Of course, they can also be confusing if you don't know them. When I started driving in the Bay Area, I knew where the Nimitz Freeway was (it was part of CA-17 then), but Grove-Shafter? It makes traffic reports less useful if you have no idea what freeways they're talking about. I've learned many of them over the years. Fortunately traffic reports don't rely solely on names anymore -- which is good, otherwise you'd have to know that I-580 is the MacArthur, the John T. Knox, the Eastshore, the Arthur H. Breed Jr., and the William Elton "Brownie" Brown, depending on which section you're talking about. (Of course, if it were in southern California, it would be "the 580".)

Similarly, there are a bunch of Oakland neighborhoods that I don't know the names of. So I was delighted when Google Maps added neighborhood names. It's not perfect, as neighborhood boundaries are even more confusing and less well-defined than city boundaries, but it is a big help. It's very handy when you're looking for a restaurant or type of shop in a particular neighborhood. Yahoo! Maps goes one better, and has nice color-coded regions on the map to show the neighborhoods.

Then there's the issue of nicknames. The Hoover/Foster neighborhood is probably more widely known as Ghost Town (or Ghosttown). There are several theories on the origin of the name, from the presence of multiple casket companies to highway 24 the Grove-Shafter I-980 splitting the neighborhood and leaving it a virtual ghost town. The name also brings up the issue of spelling and punctuation. Is it Ghost Town? Ghosttown? Hoover/Foster? Foster Hoover Historic District? Foster? Hoover? (Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?) Google Maps shows it has Hoover/Foster. Yahoo! Maps shows it as Hoover (though you can search on Foster, too.) My recent sign posting suggests Foster.

So what happens when a business includes the neighborhood as part of its name? People tend to feel it's more a part of the neighborhood, more a local business, and lets people know where to find it. Unless you move, like Pill Hill Printing on San Pablo must have. It's either in Oakland, Berkeley or Emeryville, depending on which map you look at, and it's either in the Golden Gate or Paradise Park neighborhood. But it's no where near Pill Hill.

Finally, there's the question of what do the residents themselves think. I live in the Montclair neighborhood, but when people ask where I live I say Oakland. Partly because people elsewhere don't know where Montclair is, but largely out of a sense of pride in and connection to Oakland in general. (The usual chain is Oakland, near highway 13, Montclair, near where Snake and Colton cross.) Maybe I don't feel a strong connection to the neighborhood (though I love living here) because I couldn't afford it these days. But lots of people have a strong connection to their neighborhood, sometimes even after they don't live there anymore.

So what are the name(s) of your neighborhood? Do you identify with it or with Oakland more strongly?

budget news

You've doubtless heard the news that the all 4 measures on the ballot for the special election passed. But according to Today in Montclair, only 23% of registered voters bothered to vote (vs. 80% in November's election.) In any event, they passed, and that means $7 million towards balancing the city budget.

Also of note is a post from Oakland firefighter Zac Unger over on Living in the O. The union members agreed to work four additional hours each week (a change from 52 to 56 hours per week) which cuts down on overtime, and an 8% cut in overtime pay, which will save the city over $6 million. (Note: Zac is an Oakland resident, firefighter and is on the board of firefighters union Local 55. He's also a writer, author of Working Fire: The Making of a Fireman. It's a fascinating look inside being a firefighter, as well as a great read.)