City Staff give thumbs down to mixed-use parking permits
If life is like a box a chocolates, then residents and business owners of Jack London District just picked out the chocolate coated cockroach.

In a crushing blow to community driven action, City staff just published their recommendations stating that the Public Works Committee should not implement the mixed-use parking permit plan for the Jack London District. The plan, proposed by the Ad-hoc On-Street Parking Improvement Committee and based on community feedback, requested that the City issue parking permits for residents and business owners alike.

The mixed-use permit plan was designed by the committee to give our diverse neighborhood consisting of residents and businesses, fair access to our local parking resources, while avoiding the blight of district wide parking meters proposed over a year ago by the City of Oakland. In addition the plan would enhance the availability of day-time parking to the benefit of local retail businesses that currently are unable to attract customers during the day due to the dire shortage of parking. Parking permits would be coupled with time limited parking in many areas that would prevent non-permit holders using BART, Amtrak, and working in neighboring areas from using our streets as a free all-day parking lot.

However City staff believe that the permit plan will unfairly subsidize parking in the neighborhood and discourage public transit use by local workers. This they claim this is against the city's transit first policy and hence the permit plan should not be implemented. Were City Council to approve the Plan against staff's recommendations (citing the cost of an AC Transit monthly passes and the cost of monthly parking in local lots) staff suggest that any household or business requiring more than one permit should pay $100 for the first permit, and $720 a year (or $60 a month) for additional permits, and that the total number of permits that can be issued be capped at 650 per year.

In addition to recommending no mixed-use permit plan at all, staff recommended that the 2 to 4 hour time limited parking zones should be implemented everywhere as recommended by the parking committee. This would revitalize local retail businesses while allowing the city to collect significant revenue from parking violations. The implication is that the limited time parking is the city's compromise between what neighborhood residents and businesses wanted - time limited parking with exemptions for permit holders, and what the city wanted - parking meters everywhere. The latter original scheme remains as a veiled threat for the future.

If time limited parking is implemented without a mixed-use parking permit plan it is clear that our neighborhood will suddenly have as much parking during the day as it does at night i.e. lots and lots of empty spaces everywhere. While a boom for local retail and short term visitors this will be bad news for businesses with employees and any household with more than one car. In addition this will provide hundreds of empty on-street parking spaces that the Jack London Square developer will be able to claim as a resource for their new redevelopment project. That's convenient because the Jack London Square Redevelopment Project currently has a forecast parking shortfall of more than a thousand spaces, and it also budgets for only 15% of its users taking public transport i.e. the vast majority would arrive by, you guessed it - car.

While encouraging public transit use is all well and good, the Jack London District Ad-Hoc On-Street Parking Committee Members were mindful that this is a neighborhood in a transition and that a sudden change is not beneficial to anyone. We currently have a diverse mixed of residential, business and light industrial users that are battling with the trend that wants to eliminate light industrial and non-retail business. An overnight change as suggested by the City would leave dozens, if not hundreds of less well paid workers struggling to meet the high cost of pay parking, or quickly adapt to finding public transport alternatives. Hence the mixed-use parking permit plan was designed to give fair access to parking for all current users at a reasonable rate the committe felt was a compromise between the current free rate, and future market rates. Not charging market rates for the permits was based on the knowledge that a parking permit would never guarantee a parking space as it would in a pay lot or garage; it was merely a permit to park if a space was available.

The more optimistic members of the parking committee are hoping that our local City Council representative Councilmember Nancy Nadel can help us broker a more favorable compromise than that suggested by City Staff. If not, you may soon see some of our valued local businesses looking for new locations to take their employees and a lot more fighting over parking throughout the district.

Members of the Public Works Committee would like to hear from you before their meeting on March 9th. Do you still support the original permit parking proposal made by the ad-hoc committee last September? Or would yonu prefer parking meters and 4-hour parking zones throughout the Jack London District with no permits at all? Let them know.

The Public Works Committee:

Chairperson Nancy Nadel, District 3	510-238-7003	nnadel@oaklandnet.com
Jean Quan, District 4	510-238-7004	jquan@oaklandnet.com
Desley Brooks, District 6	510-238-7006	dbrooks@oaklandnet.com
Henry Chang, Jr., At-Large	510-238-7008	cityochang@aol.com

Please send a copy of any email to letters@jacklondonnews.com
Posted 2/29/2004

Signature Properties purchases 300 Harrison Street development
Jack London News discovered this week that Signature Properties has recently signed a letter of understanding to purchase the land and development entitlements for 300 Harrison Street. The 30,000 square foot site on Third Street between Alice and Harrison Streets has been empty for many years and was purchased by Jeff Hand of Loft Style developments in 2000 for a sum in excess of $4 million dollars. Hand subsequently sought entitlements from the City of Oakland to build an 91 residential unit building on the site. The entitlements were approved in December 2002 but Hand did not follow through with development in the proposed timescale. Hand subsequently placed the land and entitlements on the market in 2003 for over $6 million.

Alert residents in buildings overlooking the 300 Harrison site spotted environmental testing being conducted earlier this month, and inquiries by Jack London News revealed that the testing company was on contract for Signature Properties, a Pleasenton based property developer. Signature Properties develops residential properties ranging from single family homes to large condo developments. Recently it completed the Durant Square housing complex in East Oakland, a new 92-condo Landmark Place next to Preservation Park, and a 100 condo building 255 Berry which is part of the Mission Bay development in San Francisco. Signature is also the master developer for the $500 million Oak to Ninth development which is planned to include 2000 condos along the estuary on the site of the historic Ninth Avenue Terminal.

The entitlements for the 300 Harrison project are for a single building with seven stories above ground and one below ground for parking (see drawing). The building roof line will be 62 feet at the street, much higher than neighboring buildings such as the American Bag Building (40 feet), Tower Lofts (47 feet), Allied Paper (44 feet), and the Greeno Building (44 feet). Furthermore the building will have an additional floor of penthouses set back from the roof line with an elevation of almost 71 feet, plus an additional 15 feet on top of that for elevator and roof access structures. In total the building will contain up to 91 residential units with floor plans ranging from 800 to 2000 square feet, plus 117 parking spaces on the ground and sub-basement floors. The original developer had also expressed an interest in making the units with ground floor entrances available as retail or live work spaces, however there is currently no indication this will hold with the new developer given the current surfeit of retail space available in this area.

When will construction start and how long will it take? Our latest information indicates ground breaking could be as early as this Spring, and based on previous experiences could be complete by summer of 2005 or soon after. However Signature Properties has so far failed to answer calls from Jack London News requesting more information about their plans. Signature's head offices can be reached at (925) 463-1122
Posted 2/28/2004

Planning Commissioners give resounding support for community input on The Jack London District Redevelopment Project
A special meeting of the City Planning Commission was held today to discuss the Jack London Square Redevelopment Project, a $300 million project set to redefine the face of Jack London Square with nine new buildings totaling almost one million square feet of office and retail space and elevations of up to 174 feet along the water front. Up for discussion were the Final Environment Impact Report (FEIR), the draft developer agreement (DA), conditions for approval and design guidelines. During the three hour meeting the developer gave a presentation on the project, public speakers gave their comments, and the commissioners gave their opinions on the project and responded to some of the public comments.

Seventeen public speakers took the opportunity to comment on issues ranging from archaeological investigations of the site, the design of specific buildings, impact on current buildings, public space concerns, impact on boaters, environmental impacts and living wage requirements. Of particular note were comments by Former Planning Commissioner and architect, Glen Jarvis. Jarvis spoke eloquently about the need to design a "square" as part of the project, at the foot of Broadway, with a carefully designed and well-thought-out link to the new Jack London Plaza in front of Heinold's at the foot of Webster Street. Without this, he said, "there is no square there."

In addition three speakers spoke in support of having the developer sign a labor union "peace agreement" for the proposed four star hotel at Site F3 (where the Jack London Village used to stand). This would avoid labor disputes, picketing and boycotting as have recently occurred at The Claremont Resort and Spa.

This meeting demonstrated significant positive sentiment from the planning commissioners in favor of the many issues they have raised over and over during the past twenty public meetings regarding the Jack London Square Redevelopment. It was clear that the planning commission still had many issues they wanted resolved and that the project design required more detail and improvement in significant areas.

So the public remains hopeful that in spite of the developer's continued pleas to hurry up the process there is still a chance that many of the community's concerns will be addressed and there will be sufficient due process to give us the world class development at Jack London Square that the City of Oakland deserves.

Future meetings regarding the Jack London Square Redevelopment Project are coming soon and you are encouraged to attend and give your comments, or even just lend your support by ceeding time to other speakers. For more details see The Jack London District Calendar (www.jacklondondistrict.org).

For those unable to attend tonight's meeting here is a summary of the commissioners comments:

Michael Lighty

Commissioner Lighty supported addition of open space between the proposed Harvest Hall (Site F1) and the foot of Broadway. This would require the elimination of the "mall" proposed along Water Street outside of Barnes and Noble. This would help alleviate Glen Jarvis' fears that Jack London Square would become a place where “there is no Square there".

Lighty made positive comments regarding Steve Lowe's pleas for a specific plan for the Jack London District to unify all developments in the area. Although he believed it was too late to delay the JLS redevelopment, it could be included in the developer agreement that a specific plans be developed for the area over the next five years.

Expressing feelings that the project should be more inclusive of the surrounding neighborhood and pedestrians he made a number of suggestions including more dynamic and distinctive crossings over the rail road, ensuring that neighborhood serving retail, in particular the grocery store for site G was a requirement. He also suggested defining the BART shuttle route in more detail, including perhaps expanding it more points around the district and having distinctive stopping points as a feature of the development.

Lighty added that he didn't think parking mitigations were clear and that thought the new Jack London Plaza needed to reach out to the residential areas near it.

He expressed concern that C45 rezoning was not appropriate and that Oakland should be aiming for zoning appropriate to a neighborhood shopping area like Rockridge. To tie the design of all buildings in the project together Lighty suggested the commission should request thematic elements that occur in each building and this should be added to the design guidelines. He also felt that the design should maximize view corridors more than it does at present.

Echoing public concerns about the garage at Site G he requested that there should be explicit guidelines for sites along Embarcadero including Site G to help them reach out to the surrounding areas not in the project.

Lighty agreed that comments regarding a labor union peace agreement were relevant and that public benefit would be undermined if there was no union peace agreement required. He also concurred with public comments about the living wage requirements and thought the developer agreement was currently "only paying lip service" to living wages for employees in the new development.

He agreed that required archaeological investigations of the site should be carried out and that if there is a shell mound then just developing over it and having an artistic rendering in its place as found in the Emeryville Bay Street Mall would be "kind of hokey".

Finally, in a blow to residents close to the proposed construction in particular The Landings, Lighty suggested that City limits on noise could be waived if exceeding them during pile driving was a problem (lets hope this doesn't happen!).

Colland Jang

Commissioner Jang said that the project deserves more public process in particular more discussion of the design of the garage at Site G and the treatment of the foot of Broadway.

Jang expressed what many of the members of public had said previously when he stated “there has to be a suspension of disbelief" that LOS F traffic conditions after mitigations suggested in the Final EIR would in this case be deemed “acceptable”. Remember LOS F means “Level of service F” characterized as “significant delays and unacceptable to most drivers".

Adding weight to the many public comments that doubted the mitigations in the environmental impact report Jang said he, “was distrustful of professional judgment regarding pedestrian safety issues relating to the project.” This was in light of current efforts in Oakland to implement a pedestrian plan to enhance and improve the pedestrian linkages throughout Oakland.

As many other Commissioners stated, Jang wanted to hear more input from former planning commissioner Glen Jarvis who had stated in public comments his concerns that this design leads to the observation “there's no square there!”

Showing that persistence sometimes does pay off, Jang said he “was more and more convinced by comments from Steve Lowe regarding the need for a specific plan for the Jack London District”. However he was not sure what the correct forum for developing such a plan was and that it shouldn't be in the developer agreement but should be a city obligation.

Nicole Franklin

Commissioner Franklin stated that Oakland was “facing an absolutely fantastic [development] opportunity” but was instead redeveloping essentially all of downtown Oakland in a piecemeal fashion. In doing so this "would overlook a great pportunity to make Oakland a vibrant place".

Franklin said she supported use of local and diverse labor and drawing on local businesses in the project.

She also said she thought they need to look at how to bring people to Jack London Square and leave their cars outside the project such as including additional off-site parking. Adding to this her personal statement that she doesn't go to Jack London Square much anymore because it was "such a hassle".

Finally in a daming statement Franklin said, "This can't be a design review because there is no design to review".

Suzie Lee

Commissioner Lee lead out by saying she had a lot of empathy for the community and its concern over current level of detail for the project design. On the other hand she stated that development over such a long period of time (up to fifteen years) needed a significant amount of flexibility due to evolution of design standards and styles over time.

Lee applauded the public interest in the project and encouraged them to "Keep at it" to take the time and energy to keep up their involvement.

Lee wasn't sure she understood Jarvis' point about there being “no square there" and requested more dialog with him on how to define the square. Apparently Jarvis has already had meetings with the developer and Planning Director Cappio on this point.

Clinton Killian

In what he described as "a reshaping of a major site in Oakland" Commissioner Killian said that he was not bothered by a developer agreement without specific designs as he also recognized a project a duration as long as this one required such flexibility.

He was also not nearly as troubled by a lack of a Square in a Jack London Square redevelopment. This was because he viewed the project as not a single development of buildings around a single square, but a one along an east-west pedestrian corridor.

With this in mind he went on to iterate some measures the developer could take to enhance the East-West flow of pedestrians in the project including:

• improving pedestrian access to the project from areas outside of the project
  
• investigating finding dedicated parking outside of the project
  
• finding alternatives for termination of public transport at other
  locations apart from Site G (currently the Amtrak Parking lot) to
  distribute pedestrians across the project.
  

Posted 2/25/2004

WANTED: Workshop on Jack London Square Redevelopment
Starting next Tuesday there will be a series of public hearings that will shape the future of Jack London Square: Who builds it out, what will be built, when it will be built, where and what kinds of public amenities will provided, what the various components of the project will look like, and who will benefit from it and who will not. Project buildout will affect traffic, parking, air quality, transit, and the economy throughout the Jack London District.

For a list of public meetings, please see the calendar at jacklondondistrict.org.

The approvals required for this project are going to happen very quickly, but so far very little useful information has been disclosed to the public and very little time for public input and comment has been provided. SoNiC feels that a public workshop that was requested by City Council last November should be scheduled so that the project can be presented and discussed publicly in a more relaxed atmosphere. SoNiC also believes that a Design Review Process needs to be established that allows time for public input and comment when the developer can present drawings and models in sufficient detail to allow an understanding of the project by the general public.

SoNiC URGES you to attend some of the public meetings and asks for your help to address the concerns above.

Last night a coalition of concerned citizens met and drafted two petitions that we would like you to sign as soon as possible - they are for the meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. Please go see Joanna Adler at Jack London Mail (248 Third Street @ Alice Street across from Prime Smoked Meats) by 6pm today, or from 10a-2p Saturday. If you cannot stop by during these hours, please call her at (510) 893-4100 and schedule an afterhours time for someone to bring you the petition.

This article was written by SoNiC President, Gary Knecht.
Posted 2/20/2004

Social Events Reminders!
Thursday, Feb 19 @ 6pm - SoNiC Meeting to discuss Jack London Square Development. Contact knechtgary@aol.com to rsvp or get further information. Meeting is at the Egghouse located at 229 Harrison @ 3rd Street.

Friday, Feb 20 @ 5:30pm-8:30pm - Topps Salon Day Spa Grand Opening Party. Ribbon cutting at 7:30pm. Address is 713 Washington Street @ 7th Street.

Sunday, Feb 22 @ 3:30pm - Tanya Holland is going to speak about her new cookbook, New Soul Cooking: Updating a Cuisine Rich in Flavor and Tradition. She'll also have some tasty samples to taunt your tastebuds! This event is in the Events Loft at Barnes & Noble located at the foot of Broadway at Embarcadero.

Wednesday, Feb 25 @ 8:00am-9:30am - The Port of Oakland is hosting their quarterly Good Neighbor Breakfast featuring Dr. Randall Ward. Dr. Ward is the State Administrator for the Oakland Unified School District and he will be speaking on "School to Career". This event is being held at the Jack London Aquatic Center located at 115 Embarcadero East. Please rsvp by calling (510) 627-1365.

Do you have an event that you'd like others to know about? If so, please send all information and contact phone number to editor@jacklondonnews.com.
Posted 2/19/2004

Port of Oakland Announces Good Neighbor Breakfast
The Port of Oakland has announced that the public is invited to attended their quarterly Good Neighbor Breakfast on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 from 8:00am to 9:30am. The title of this meeting is "School to Career" and features key note speaker, Dr. Randall Ward, the State Administrator for the Oakland Unified School District. The meeting will be held at the Jack London Aquatic Center located at 115 Embarcadero East and they have asked that you please RSVP by calling (510) 627-1365 or by emailing mtell@portoakland.com. If you have any questions regarding this event, please call (510) 627-1135.
Posted 2/19/2004

Building a Community Assoc/Alliance/Org
Since JLNA (Jack London Neighborhood Assoc) is gone, it's time for us to move forward and start with something new. Now we have to figure out how to define that something new and figure out how to make it all come together.

Our first few important tasks are to come up with a mission statement and name for the organization.

If you would like to be a part of this endeavor, log on to the Jack London District Forum.

Our next meeting will be held, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, at 7PM, at SIERRA CONDOS located at 311 Oak Street. Check in at the front desk in the lobby. Thanks to Ken Spiller for hosting (again)! Please rsvp so that we know how many to expect by emailing joanna@jacklondondistrict.org or by calling Joanna at (510) 893-4100. As always I will provide cheap wine and perhaps a few could bring something to nibble on.

To get you started, here is the list the words that were brought up during the initial gathering and I'm going to ask that you post to the forum your thoughts about word choices and perhaps you have more to add to the list. The more, the merrier!

• Roundtable
  
• Forum
  
• Partner
  
• Alliance
  
• Improvement
  
• Consensus
  
• Bring-people-together
  
• Democratic
  
• Compromise
  
• Education
  
• Unifying
  
• Safe
  
• Pride
  

Posted 2/13/2004

Topps Salon Day Spa to Celebrate Grand (re)Opening at New Location
Topps Salon Day Spa has moved to the Old Oakland neighbood and invites you to their grand opening celebration on Friday, February 20, 2004 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. Owner Suzanne Van Houten has done a terrific job creating a new salon that is inviting and relaxing! During the Grand Opening Celebration you can meet all the Topps staff and make your appointment for a variety of beauty treatments. No rsvp necessary - everyone is invited! The address is 713 Washington Street (at 7th Street) next to Toutatis. Ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for 7:30pm. Hope to see you there!
Posted 2/12/2004

Tots in the Jack London District
Look around and you'll see more and more strollers in the neighborhood! We have a growing number of tots popping up in the neighborhood. Little Callum Theiding of New Market Lofts is the latest arrival (sorry, I don't have the details!) and there is at least one more due this month that I know of. If you are interested in getting a parents group or babysitting co-op together, let me know and I'll help facilitate getting all the interested parties together. (sorry, I'll sit this social gathering out!)
Posted 2/10/2004

Re-forming the Neighborhood Association
You are invited to a meeting on Wednesday evening, Feb 11, at 7pm at the Sierra Condos building. There is a group of people working to come up with a proper name (Jack London District Alliance, Jack London District Association, Jack London District Organization, etc...?) as well as a Mission Statement to define the group. Some may remember JLNA - Jack London Neighborhood Association - and since that is no more, the move is on to come up with a new organization. Get in from the beginning! Get involved! Please rsvp by calling Joanna at Jack London Mail (510) 893-4100 or by sending email to Joanna@jacklondondistrict.org. Hope to see you there!
Posted 2/10/2004

Oversight Committees and Evaluating Ballot Measures
As an accountant I used to hear, "that's not the number I was looking for." In fact, it was sometimes a joke that I'd ask, "What number would you like it to be?" and then I would find a way to get there. (By real solutions, like cutting costs, not making up numbers!)

When people say that they want a measure to be evaluated and performance measured, I always think of my old days trying to come up with a number.

I have a friend that was on an oversight committee and his experience lead him to think that oversight committees and measures are a joke. The money is often used for other things (robbing Peter to pay Paul) and yet while it may all fall under one heading - like say, "education" - it might end up getting used for something other than what it was meant for when the voters voted for the original measure. There's really no recourse because who's going to sue the City for not using the money appropriately? Okay, even if you were to find someone who wanted to sue, you'd then have a revolt by the people that say that you're suing a city with no money, therefor costing them more money that they don't have and no one wins, except the lawyers.

So what do you do? Do you vote against the measures even if you think they're a good idea? My friend says yes, because the money isn't going to be there to support them. I say no, because if we all believe in the measure, then the spirit of it should be enforced. And maybe someday someone will hold our elected officials responsible for their misdeeds and mishandling.

But I won't hold my breath.
Posted 2/09/2004

Vote YES on Measure R - Violence Prevention Tax
Measure R will authorize the city of Oakland to authorize a special parcel tax, subject to audit by a citizen's oversight committee for the purposes of providing (1) job training and employment opportunities for you adults; (1) counseling and mentoring for at-risk youth; (3) afterschool, parent involvement, and violence prevention programs in schools; (4) early childhood intervention for children exposed to violence in the home; and (5) community based policing programs. The cost is $90 addition per year for homeowners.

Once again, the Oakland Chamber of Commerce has shown a complete disrespect for our community by saying in the Oakland Business Review, February 2004 edition, that they are against this measure with no explanation.

Councilwoman Nancy Nadel authored the Measure while another Councilman, Danny Wan, is against it. Nadel says that the measure will help combat the city's rise in violent crime and homicides that has occurred over the past two years by raising $10 million annually. Some $4.4 million would go to hire police officers, and the rest would be distributed to crime-prevention programs for both teens and adults.

Meanwhile Councilman Danny Wan says that the measure does not outline a clear approach to crime reduction, nor does it include partnerships with other county agencies to help battle and prevent crime. He also says that there is no evaluation of the effectiveness of the program.

I'm going to address the issue of public oversight and evaluation in another article. Meanwhile, VOTE YES ON Q!


Posted 2/09/2004

Vote YES on Measure Q - Library Services Tax
On March 2, 2004, vote YES for Measure Q to support the Oakland Public Library. Measure Q is the reauthorization of the Library Services Retention and Enhancement Act of 1994 (Measure O). It states that, if passed, it will increase the parcel tax rate to retain and enhance public library services in Oakland, expand the library services funded by the act, and extend the life of the measure.

The Chamber of Commerce has stated that you should vote against this measure, although they don't say why in the Oakland Business Review dated February 2004. Well, that's a really great reason not to renew support for the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. How can you be against Public Libraries?

Considering that the cost of this measure is a mere $34 additional dollars per year to keep the libraries funded, I say bull caca (sorry, author is from Oklahoma) and shame on the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. It's worth every penny, if not more.

In fact, show your support now by becoming a Friend of the Oakland Public Library and make a donation or find out about volunteering.

Honor that New Year's Resolution to use the library more! Our local branch is the main library located at 125 14th Street and in addition to large collections of reference and circulating non-fiction and fiction books, the Main Library offers hundreds of current and historic magazines and newspapers, a major collection of sheet music and thousands of maps. There are federal, state and local government publications and a large collection of compact discs, videocassettes and books on tape. The main library is also home to the Oakland History Room, a wonderful resource on the history of our area, a large and active Children's Room, and the Teen Zone. There is a meeting room called the West Auditorium which is available for rent and holds up to 121 people.

Support the Oakland Public Libary TODAY!

Posted 2/09/2004

Local Cookbook Author, Tanya Holland, to Speak at Barnes & Noble
Celebrity author, Tanya Holland is a regular host of the Food Network's Melting Pot Soul Kitchen and has recently released a new cookbook titled, New Soul Cooking: Updating a Cuisine Rich in Flavor and Tradition. She will be speaking about the book on Sunday, February 22, 2004 at 3:30pm at our local Barnes & Noble Booksellers store located at 98 Broadway. Rumor has it that some samples of her great recipes will be on hand and made by the Chef herself! Buy your book at the door and get it signed on your way out. It's sure to be another great culinary experience here in the Jack London District.
Posted 2/09/2004

Editor's Birthday Food Extravaganza
It was a fabulous feast from Le Cheval enjoyed by those attending the birthday party of Jack London News Editor, Joanna Adler, Sunday evening. The chocolate cake from neighbor and incognito chef, Jenna, was devine! Another famous cook was in attendence, but taking a break from work - see the article on Tanya Holland for more info on where you can see her speak about her new cookbook, New Soul Cooking. The ice cream was brought by Carmen, from the famous Tucker's in Alameda - yum, toasted almond is a favorite! Good friends, good food, good times... that's what life in the Jack London District is all about. (The wine everyone brought was pretty varied and fabulous too!)

One more mentionable - a gift-that-isn't-a-gift was given by the Editor's favorite pro-library household (see the important article on Measure Q) - it was a donation for a family meal to the Alameda Food Bank. Such a great gift! Perfect for someone that has everything. Click on the link and make your own gift donation or find out about volunteering. Perhaps the neighbors of the Jack London District could organize a day to go and help.
Posted 2/09/2004

"The Jack London News" launches
The Jack London News, a new local newspaper for the Jack London District community of Oakland, California, began operation today.

Joanna Adler, the paper's founder said, "I am pleased that we finally have an outlet for local news stories of interest to the Jack London District community. Since the demise of Urbanview there has only been the Oakland Tribune which hardly ever reports what is going on in this neighborhood."

"We need reporting that gives a perspective from the streets, homes and businesses of the Jack London District", Adler said. "By using local writers and keeping our focus on local issues we can provide just that."

The Jack London News will initially be available in an on-line format with stories being published at the website www.jacklondonnews.com. "In the near future we hope to make our news stories available via an email based subscription service. We realize that many of those in our community, or people just visiting the area don't have access to the Internet. Therefore if there is sufficient demand we hope to provide The Jack London News in printed form, starting with a monthly newsletter available from local business outlets." Adler explained.

The Jack London News would like to hear from anyone interested in contributing news stories and other content, or from anyone with an interest in joining the editorial team. For more information contact editor@jacklondonnews.com.
Posted 2/08/2004