Development
Oakland voters began mailing in ballots this week to decide the fate of a controversial $80 parcel tax that is being promoted as vital to help Oakland’s budget crisis and assailed as an unnecessary burden on homeowners, with no binding resolution to determine where it would be spent. Measure I would raise $60 million for the city over a five-year period.
The map shows the spread of the Tunnel Fire and infrared imaging of the burning hills taken by NASA’s DART satellite. The NASA Ames Research Center assisted firefighters in monitoring the movement of the fire, which was difficult to control due to extreme lack of visibility on the ground.
On October 20, 1991, the hills above North Oakland and South Berkeley were prey to a three-day urban fire that destroyed over 3,500 homes and instigated a building revolution that permanently transformed the neighborhood for decades to come. Before the fire, the hillside was littered with small, older homes, some dating as far back as the 1920s and 1930s. But after the fire, the Oakland hills neighborhoods drastically transformed into a community of clashing architectural styles, innovative designs, and large, looming structures.
Amidst accusations of electioneering, the Oakland City Council approved legislation that would determine how funds from a proposed $80 parcel tax would be spent if Measure I passes next month. The legislation, authored by Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan, Councilmember Pat Kernighan (District 2) and Council President Larry Reid (District 7), determines how the $60 million collected from the tax under Measure I would be spent over the next five years, and allocates a majority of the funds toward public safety items.
Amidst pleas by city officials to remain in Oakland, the Bay Area Toll Authority voted 8-6 to purchase a new building in San Francisco, where the agency will locate its new headquarters.
Although Oakland school board members have said they will not vote on school closures until Oct 26, scores of irritated speakers crowded Wednesday night’s meeting to plead for a second, third, and even fourth look at their schools before a final decision is made.
Lakeview students, parents and supporters walked to the farmers market to protest the proposed closure of five schools. Oakland superintendent Tony Smith recommended the school board approve the closures.
The artists behind the Wonderarium, an eight-foot floating terrarium they hope will find a home on the waters of Lake Merritt, brought their project to the public plaza outside Oakland’s Christ the Light cathedral–where they invited passers-by to dig into dirt and plants to make their own mini-terrariums.
For roughly 320 days of the year, a 1.5-acre space in Joaquin Miller Park is used as a dog park—for the rest of the time, it is a parking lot.