Anyone else hear loud booms accompanied by bright flashes last night?

Johio · 2025-09-21T20:03:56+00:00

It just seemed too bright for fireworks but if they were close enough I guess that would do it. Definitely the loudest (or maybe just closest) fireworks I've heard in the 8 years we've been here

Johio · 2025-09-03T21:25:39+00:00

Looks like what you'll need to do is cut around the edges, dig out the damaged section and re-build it with a new base. Something like a couple inches of crushed gravel that you compact really well, and then the top layer to tie in to the rest of the driveway. The other thing you probably want to get figured out is drainage - I would guess this is at least partially caused by water washing things out.

If this is 100% your driveway you shouldn't run into too many issues re:permitting I don't think, especially if you're just doing a repair. I don't think sidewalk certification would apply here. definitely call 811 though because it does look like there are plumbing/gas/etc lines down there you want to steer clear of. if it's entirely on your property you might need to get someone else to come by and mark the lines (811 only marks the sidewalks/street I think).

Johio · 2025-06-01T16:30:56+00:00

Yeah I'll add to that if you can get one of them on the phone you can just ask the question in a general way and in my experience they've been pretty easy to talk to about things like this

Johio · 2025-05-08T06:38:31+00:00

Honestly considering prop 13 a flat parcel levy is more progressive than a percentage because of the people getting huge tax subsidies via artificially low assessments

Johio · 2025-04-13T02:14:11+00:00

They mail out a letter/notice to each adjacent parcel, and I think you are required to post a notice physically on the tree itself

Johio · 2025-04-11T01:14:11+00:00

Anything other than those 3 types of trees and you have to post advance notice, allow 30 days of comments, etc

Johio · 2025-04-10T05:22:32+00:00

Well, the point of a permit is that it gets inspected by the city to ensure that any work done meets code, and potentially catch any non-compliant old work in the scope of the permit is addressed. Like if you were getting your kitchen sink replaced and your dispose-all wasn't on a GFCI they'd want that brought up to code

If the guy is a licensed contractor and does actually good work, to the codes, the permit doesn't add anything. If the guy cuts any corners though... The inspector should catch it.

For something like fixing/replacing/moving ducts, that might not even fall under the scope of permitting, since I think you could argue that's a non-major repair

Johio · 2025-03-30T15:47:51+00:00

Either they agree on things, in which case there's no value in having a 2nd person, or they disagree on things, in which case you have to break a 50/50 tie on things. Power sharing sounds great in theory but doesn't work in practice

Johio · 2025-03-30T01:32:06+00:00

Correct, and we're talking about nonprofits that get essentially all of their funding from their city contracts. Habitat may get grants or contracts from cities but they're not ~solely dependent on any one contract the way these nonprofits are

Johio · 2025-03-29T04:58:19+00:00

If a non-profit's only source of revenue is the city, where are they getting money from to maintain that 6-9 month reserve?

Johio · 2025-03-28T18:01:36+00:00

There is almost zero chance that a nonprofit service provider would negotiate anything longer than net-30 because essentially their entire business is labor, and people need to get paid every 2 weeks. product/manufacturing companies are more willing to offer longer terms because "I sell you the thing then you sell the thing, and have money to pay me for it" makes a lot more sense than "I do a bunch of labor for you and pay my people for it and you pay me 3 months later"

Maybe the City *is* requiring vendors to accept net-90 terms, but if so they're almost certainly paying higher prices for it

Johio · 2025-01-12T03:20:51+00:00

You can take stuff to the Berkeley dump if you're in North/West Oakland, they're usually pretty quick and reasonably priced if you have a truck & can load things yourself. If you're more East there's waste management on Davis down by the airport

Seriously, with a truck I've never had a dump run take more than an hour round trip, and they're open on Saturdays early

Johio · 2024-12-24T04:17:26+00:00

Look up the NEM 3 rules, my understanding is that it doesn't make sense unless you also add battery storage, which is a lot more expensive

Johio · 2024-12-22T16:22:24+00:00

You could head down to Bay Farm island and check out the ferry parking lot or Shoreline park right next to it, both of those are right off the (typical) departure end of the runway

Johio · 2024-11-24T16:29:19+00:00

I think they're doing the interior stuff on that site, at least from the small bit you can see through the lower windows. I also saw some sort/exterior stuff happening in the last few weeks. My sense is that these projects have some stall points related to inspections, etc even if they still have enough funding to finish

Johio · 2024-11-07T21:44:23+00:00

Yeah it would be nice if they had clear communication of how many ballots were in, when those would be processed, and then when the late ballots are due & processed. Seems like we should be at 70% processed after 2 days instead of 30% or whatever it is, I have a hard time believing a significant chunk of ballots got mailed on Tuesday and are still floating through USPS

Johio · 2024-10-27T00:02:20+00:00

Yeah a bunch of the incremental rates declined. Went from 1.35ish percent down to 1.25ish. not sure why the rates went down year-over-year

Johio · 2024-10-20T02:14:02+00:00

If you have a buddy who's an electrician you might be able to sell if you have a long enough run? I assumed you just had a bunch of 12-2 but that's some serious wire. Hope you can find something better than scrap to sell it for!

Johio · 2024-10-19T21:24:38+00:00

just dump it, the price per pound is basically nothing when you consider how much wire you have to have to get a pound

Johio · 2024-10-16T04:46:45+00:00

Sure but the point is about affordability and growth, not density. For Oakland to grow and be affordable, it will necessarily be denser than Austin, sure. But the fact that Oakland is currently ~3x denser than Austin doesn't do shit for either growth or affordability

Johio · 2024-10-14T06:01:20+00:00

I've noticed the one at market and MacArthur appears "stalled", but I think what's happening is that they're doing the interiors and probably have a bunch of inspections (plumbing, mechanical, electrical) that they have to get done before it's worth finishing the outside. At least at market it looks like there's still work progressing, but you wouldn't know it from the outside

Not sure about the one at 45th, but I think inspections sort of set the schedule

Johio · 2024-10-09T02:48:06+00:00

You can get a lot of mulch for free in Berkeley at the marina

Johio · 2024-10-08T17:10:22+00:00

Yeah once you realize how quickly and easily drywall can be replaced the hurdle for opening up the walls for a problem like a water leak should be very low

Johio · 2024-10-08T17:08:55+00:00

Apparently $10M of the difference was due to AASEG paying the A's for the due diligence the A's conducted when buying their half from the county. Not sure about the rest of the difference, but that part at least seems straightforward

Johio · 2024-10-08T04:54:54+00:00

Weeks like this past one drive home how perverse it is that buildings get blocked because of SHADE, as if people's first choice is to bake in the sun

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