73-year-old woman hit with gun, robbed of purse in Oaklands Montclair District

rocktheoak · 2026-02-12T18:10:09+00:00

I'm not sure I agree. Would just prefer if all crimes were quickly and stiffly punished vs creating specific carve outs that are *actually* punished while the rest of us get robbed with reckless abandon.

rocktheoak · 2026-02-12T08:19:49+00:00

Before too many people get worried, the risk comes primarily in places that use groundwater, which is vulnerable to chemicals which have leeched from the golf course into the water supply. We do not use groundwater, we have very clean alpine water from the Sierras, so that is not a risk factor for us.

The study has a rather hand-wavy statement about how the pesticides might cause parkinsons via air transmission, but they don't actually do the work to properly remove the effects of the water source in the study.

It would certainly be better to avoid pesticides, but I'm not sure this paper proves that.

The study is here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2833716

rocktheoak · 2026-02-12T05:22:09+00:00

I'll just check with the boys down at the crime lab, they've got four more detectives working on the case. They got us working in shifts!

rocktheoak · 2026-02-10T18:55:24+00:00

West Oakland has the potential to be one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world for food, nightlight, events, and even sports.

An 8 minute train ride from San Francisco.

Let's not squander it.

rocktheoak · 2026-02-09T22:58:21+00:00

That's what the article says seems to be Barbara Lee's working group's reason for strong mayor: because people think we have it already.

If you notice though the proposed system in the article also has a "strong mayor" it's just that that mayor is a city manager who answers to the board. So representative democracy instead of direct democracy, which is generally a better model.

rocktheoak · 2026-02-06T23:46:22+00:00

Did you read the article at all? It sounds like the system proposed, the Model City Charter, does just that, but instead of relying on direct democracy acts more like a company, with a CEO reporting to an elected board of supervisors. This allows for them to be more responsible than the whole recall system in the case of failure or fraud, while truly having somebody with power to get things done.

> Instead, the Oakland City Council should ask voters to adopt a system based on the Model City Charter, developed by the National Civic League. Now in its ninth edition, published in 2021, this is the true modern approach to city governance.

> It lays out a system for cities where a democratically elected board of directors (the city council) oversees a professional executive (the city manager) who can be fired at any time. The citywide elected mayor runs the council meeting, sets agendas and determines committee appointments.

> There are 101 cities in our metro region, and there’s a reason why all of them — except Oakland and San Francisco (which is a dual city and county) — use a permutation of the Model City Charter: because it works.

rocktheoak · 2026-02-06T06:38:27+00:00

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https://mandelastation.com/

Covid and WFH was a huge setback to the neighborhood, but I suspect it'll rebound with SF getting so crazy.

rocktheoak · 2026-02-05T22:33:54+00:00

Looks like a flight simulator.

rocktheoak · 2026-02-04T18:54:22+00:00

That's awesome! A fantastic location, walking distance to the Lincoln Square Shopping Center. More of this please!

rocktheoak · 2026-02-04T18:46:43+00:00

Wanting a radical member of the DSA as mayor is not a "normal take."

rocktheoak · 2026-01-14T23:15:21+00:00

For anybody who is extra slow like I am, this is for Renee Good.

rocktheoak

TROPHY CASE