The Morning Bun

Chit-chat about transportation, housing, and local politics in Alameda, California [bridged from https://www.themorningbun.com/ on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]

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Longform Stories

Recently Read: "An overlooked victim of the gas crisis? Ice cream trucks"

"How illegal ‘e-moto’ riding became a dangerous Bay Area teen status symbol" By Rachel Swan in SF Chronicle While Alameda City Council continues to mistakenly try to write their own city-level regul…

May 24·7 min read·1359 words

Historical houses of Theseus

"You may have seen the construction over the past few years; now come and see the finished product" read the real-estate agent's flyer placed as an invitation by our front door this weekend. We had s…

May 18·6 min read·1139 words

Potholed streets rescue live music at Park Station

💡This is a sequel to "Is Park Station's live music an environmental impact?"🃏Our 4th grader recently started playing Magic: The Gathering at school and requested her own cards. I was happy to oblige…

May 9·1 min read·102 words

Auditing access to "cloud-based" automated license plate readers is hard

When I stayed up too late writing "Can City of Alameda trust Flock Safety?", I didn't directly cite Alameda Police Department's annual audit memo in order to give the City time to fix it. The publish…

May 5·1 min read·93 words

Can City of Alameda trust Flock Safety?

💡tl;dr summary: This coming Tuesday's City Council meeting will involve an annual review of Alameda Police Department's use of automated license plate readers. It's time to ask critical questions. S…

May 2·1 min read·80 words

Eats, drinks, and permits along Park Street

Let's take a walk on Park Street... Ones Cafe & Bakery's wait for an inspection The signage for Coffee Cultures has recently been replaced, but unfortunately the owner of Ones Cafe & Bakery was ove…

Apr 29·1 min read·87 words

Otis Elementary Farewell Tour

When my younger kid was about to start in kindergarten, I went into his classroom-to-be to meet his new teacher and some of the parents of his future classmates. I mentioned aloud that my older kid ha…

Apr 24·1 min read·92 words

"John C. Calhoun Lives" in Alameda

If Trump's first term in the White House led writers to try to reintroduce Americans to Andrew Jackson, Trump's second term has prompted the reintroduction of John C. Calhoun. But if you've been look…

Apr 4·1 min read·94 words

Recently Read: "Water Is Coming From All Sides"

"There’s a New Place to Store Greenhouse Gases: In Your Beer" Reported by Rachel Nuwer in The New York Times The beer drinkers having a pint outside this weekend as a heat wave hung over Alameda, Ca…

Mar 28·1 min read·92 words

Alameda City Council should not draft city-level e-bike regulations

💡tl;dr summary: Five out of five Alameda City Councilmembers indicated their interest in using city resources this year to consider rules for "e-bikes" that will either be practically unenforceable —…

Mar 14·1 min read·101 words

The last driver-on-driver crash at Pearl and Fernside before it's fixed for good?

As I walked to work this morning, I heard a loud squeal and a muffled thump. It had happened yet again — and by chance I was nearby to witness it: a car crash at the top of Alameda's Pearl Street. T…

Mar 4·1 min read·103 words

Howard Jarvis may be dead, but his association is still trying to gut Alameda's municipal budget

While some other Bay Area cities are facing dire budgetary situations, the City of Alameda is in the enviable position at tonight's City Council of reviewing a mid-year budget with a surplus in the ci…

Mar 3·1 min read·96 words

Even real-estate agents want streamlined permitting for housing

Owning a single-family house provides two ancillary benefits: (1) The ability to start public comments at City Council meetings by declaring "As a home-owner here in Alameda, I..." and then following …

Feb 25·1 min read·87 words

"Look ma, no hands": Waymo enters Alameda

"I saw a Waymo at 7:30a on Stargell today being operated in self driven mode," reported an anonymous SeeClickFix user to the City of Alameda on Friday. there was somebody in the passenger seat (presu…

Feb 14·1 min read·91 words

Coffee shops: Part II

With Coffee Cultures closed, it's momentarily quieter at the top of Park Street. (It's also feeling empty because another long-term tenant just departed. She and her staff crafted custom orthodontic a…

Feb 12·1 min read·82 words

City of Alameda withdraws proposal to buy Teslas for police officers

City Council and staff have read your emails and withdrawn the "Recommendation to Authorize [...] Purchase of Two Tesla Y Police Sport Utility Vehicles": Typically when agenda items are withdrawn, th…

Feb 9·1 min read·97 words

City of Alameda proposes to buy Teslas for police officers

💡For an update on this topic see City of Alameda withdraws proposal to buy Teslas for police officers. Nice work, readers! I've seen them around town, and you probably have as well — those bumper st…

Feb 6·1 min read·104 words

"Island of the Blue Dolphins" — and the new not-in-her-backyard leader of California's State Senate

By coincidence, my daughter and I both started thinking about Island of the Blue Dolphins recently. Her teacher started reading the book aloud to the class, and that same week a news article about a s…

Feb 5·1 min read·97 words

Recently Read: The Blogger and the Reporter

"Has a gas station near you closed? This California law may be why" (SF Chronicle) reported by Rachel Swan Early in January I got a call on my cell as I walked home. The San Francisco Chronicle's tra…

Feb 2·1 min read·96 words