The Oakland Review

So, this is the first Web 2.0 mixtape - pretty crazy stuff.

I'm sitting here at the Bloggers Connect event at SF Real Estate Connect;I got here because my company, LaunchSquad handles the PR for TurnHere, who are exhibiting at the conference.

I wish, one year ago, before my wife and I had bought our home in Temescal, that we'd spent more time looking at Bay Area real estate blogs; the problem is, in February  2006, there weren't that many real estate blogs with any sort of hyper-local relevance,  aside from Curbed.

So, here's where things have evolved to today:

San Francisco

1. Curbed SF - Almost all SF - updated at least once a day - a bit more property and market-focused.

2. San Francisco Real Estate Blog - This one is much drier than Curbed, but gives much deeper market analysis

I saw rumblings in an East Bay Express column about the 94608 zip code (bound by  a few weeks back, as well as another mention of it in NovoMetro from about a month ago, so I decided to follow up and see what I could figure out.

Apparently, a group called NOFLAC, the North Oakland Flatland Leadership Action Committee, presented the following presentation to Oakland city councilperson Jane Brunner in hopes of gaining traction for the idea.

In Novometro blogger Alex Gronke's June 6 post, he wrote:

From a legal standpoint, annexation is different from incorporating a new city out of an existing city. But putting aside the question of whether or not Emeryville even wants us, dealing with two cities makes for a more complex process than yanking Rockridge or Temescal out of Oakland.

To catch up on what all the hub-ub was about, I emailed him the other day. He wrote:

Adam, all of my info comes from our local lafco (local area formation committee). they directed me to this page.

The lawyer for our lafco said that the entire city has to vote on what is known as disincorporation and then the area leaving has to vote.

This would mean that first, the entire city would have to pursue the matter by ballot initiative, and then the smaller municipal area - 94608 - would have to re-vote on the same issue. Other examples of this type of disincorporation in California look rare. Gronke was only able to find an example of the San Fernando Valley's protracted and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to remove itself from the city of Los Angeles. His forecast is grim:

I have heard that there is a well-funded secession movement in Rockridge keeping a low-profile for the time being....
Because I can't imagine a majority of Oaklanders voting for a major hit to city revenue, I consider  these movements lost causes.

The key benefits that the NOFLAC proposal outlined to the City of Oakland were:

• Emeryville Police have a successful record of turning crime around in their previously high-crime city
• North Oakland police could be deployed to other parts of the city (which I would estimate at roughly 10-15% of the police force)

• Emeryville's Anna Yates elementary came out with an API of 571 (not so hot)
• Oakland's nearest school, the tiny North Oakland community charter school, chalked up an API of 832, which isn't far below some of the city's higher-ranking schools in Montclair.
  

I noticed one of the cool-jay wifi buses at the corner of 55th and Shattuck around 7pm tonight, but it wasn't a TransBay bus - it was the local 1R - how cool is that?  Too bad it only happens a few times a day.

Boner of the month: I applied for wireless internet access at CCSF (not even link-worthy) on June 13. They send me an email on July 9, welcoming me to their network. It takes four weeks to process a one-page form? That place is a freakin' joke.

I was totally surprised today when I rode the ferry from San Francisco's Ferry building up to Sausalito - a pretty pleasant and quick 35-minute ride - and realized that by using my Translink card, I was given a $3.35 discount on my fare. That's kick-ass. And, they give you a Muni transfer on the way back. Good stuff. Yet another transit agency that's way more responsive than BART. They even responded to my email about bringing the dog on the ferry in about one hour (sorry folks: service dogs or dogs in bags only).

Now, if they can only get a ferry running from Oakland to Marin...anything besides the lame 40/42 Golden Gate transit that runs hourly between San Rafael and El Cerrito Del Norte BART.

Rather than exploring alternative revenue sources to meet an unsurprising budget shortfall, BART went ahead with a bizarre PR stunt this week, putting out a video on their ersatz social-media (no comments allowed) Bart TV website, stating that they're planning to cut wait times (Monday-Saturday after 7 p.m.) from 20 to 15 minutes.

At the end of the VNR, spokesperson Linton Johnson states that most of the project is on hold until they can recoup most of the $900,000 reduction in state budget money that they lost in this recent decision. All of this is dependent on the state's allocation of $1.5 million of state transportation assistance funds they expected to get. BART spokesman Linton  Johnson

The good news: BART plans (January 2008) to offer $6 overnight airport parking at Daly City, Colma, South San Francisco, San Bruno and Milbrae.

I've been contacting BART regarding two issues for over a month, and cannot obtain direct answers.

I've been trying to determine:

1. When BART will adopt Translink (all website copy had read "Summer 2007", until last Friday)

2. What written operational policy dictates that BART employees are authorized to charge persons an excursion fare of $4.65 to pay a station parking fee (if they forgot to pay it at initial time of ride).

Here's my initial email:
Subject: Communication With BART
Comments: Dear BART,

I'm an Oakland public transit blogger, and my blog is at oaklandreview.vox.com . I know BART has a lot invested in the Web 2.0 aspect of their website (RSS, iPod schedules), but all communications with me about questions I have regarding service have been through someone named Mmoran. They will not:

1. Tell me their name
2. Respond to questions in less than 10 days
3. Give me clear information regarding BART operational policy
4. Give me updates on when Translink will be operational on BART.

I will print this letter in full in my blog to make all communications totally transparent to my readers. Can you please either ask Mr. or Ms. Moran (I am unsure) to either return communications in under 5 days, or give me a new point of contact?

Incidentally, Rebecca in the myBART marketing department has been helpful in routing communications, but is unable to directly answer these service-related questions.

Thanks,
Adam Metz

In response to my emails, Moran wrote this:

Your original complaint alleged that a BART station agent had "violated" a policy.  We reviewed the allegation and found no such violation,  explaining the process / the reasons how and why a charge was assessed one entering the station, and the efforts to safeguard BART parking for BART passengers versus non passengers.  Unfortunately, you are not inclined to accept that explanation.  

Regarding Translink, BART remains ready for its implementation which is handled by another agency.  At present, Translink is being implemented at AC Transit and may be ready for implementation at BART as early as end of this year.  

Thank you for having contacted us.

Moran's emails didn't contain references to his first name, either, which was confusing, but that's besides the point - I'd like to be able to address the person I'm speaking with by name, as a basic token of respect. I was able to finally figure it out by doing a search on his last name.

Regarding the operational policy and the Tranlink implementation, I still don't know who's handling those questions. Moran's email promises no more than a suggestion that it could possibly be ready in six months, at best. Any feedback or tips are welcome.

I sent an email to get a reliable media department, and they told me to contact the MTC. Metropolitan Transportation Comission, here I come. 

So, I have been reading up on all Bay area transit agencies' attempts to gain compliance with the Translink card, digitally speaking. Over the course of the next two months, I'm going to attempt to make a Translink contact at every agency.

So far, I'm having a bit of trouble with BART, so any reader reccomendations would be helpful. I did the Tour For the Cure 50K ride this morning on the Peninsula, and came across a pamphlett from the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition - good to know there's some serious cash behind bike-friendly municipal planning down that way. I sure long for the day when I can bike to work - I've got the bike-friendly worplace, but the Bay Bridge won't be ready for 2 years, at least.

I saw some interesting literature on the proposed East Bay BRT (bus rapid transit) corridor yesterday, which I'll post a link to this week.

Interesting article on MUNI's under-funded woes in SFGate this morning.

In an effort at full transparency in all of my communications with BART, here's the full text of my letter to them today. All I'm trying to find out is:

1. What operational policy dictates that passengers must pay a full excursion fare if they're trying to pay someone else's missed parking fare?

2. When will Translink be operational with BART

Any feedback would be helpful.
----------------

Dear BART,

I'm an Oakland public transit blogger, and my blog is at oaklandreview.vox.com . I know BART has a lot invested in the Web 2.0 aspect of their website (RSS, iPod schedules), but all communications with me (a blogger) about questions I have regarding service have been through someone named Mmoran. They will not:

1. Tell me their name
2. Respond to questions in less than 10 days
3. Give me clear information regarding BART operational policy
4. Give me updates on when Translink will be operational on BART.

I will print this letter in full in my blog to make all communications totally transparent to my readers. Can you please either ask Mr. or Ms. Moran (I am unsure) to either return communications in under 5 days, or give me a new point of contact?

Incidentally, Rebecca in the myBART marketing department has been helpful in routing communications, but is unable to directly answer these service-related questions.

Thanks,
Adam Metz