What is your WalkScore?

In the Sunday NYT Magazine:

Last summer, a trio of Seattle software developers started walkscore.com, which calculates the number of potential destinations within walking distance of any given address and then produces a rating. If your neighborhood scores 90 or above, you can easily live there without a car; if it scores under 25, you’ll be driving to the backyard.

I entered a couple of random addresses in Alameda. As expected, neighborhoods in the vicinity of Webster and Park St have high walkscores (85 and 94, respectively), while it was significantly lower (40-50s) for Bay Farm.

Go ahead, lookup your Walk Scores!

Alameda Theater … almost there!

Or is that Alameda Theatre? (not sure I understand the fascination for the British versions; first Alameda Towne Centre and now Alameda Theatre!)

But I digress and snark aside … after years of back and forth, the theatre is finally nearing completion. A black tie event (tickets are $100) is scheduled for the 21st May to mark the opening.

Join us Wednesday, May 21, 2008 for the grand reopening of the historic Alameda Theatre. The City and its partner, Alameda Entertainment Associates, will host a Grand Opening Black Tie Gala event to raise funds to restore the original Art Deco mural in the mezzanine lobby of the Theatre and completely refurbish the original hand-painted curtain.

There is also a free “grand opening” event scheduled for the 24th May.

Alameda Power sans Telecom?

Looks like AP&T could soon be shedding (pun unintended) the “T” aspect of the business!

As reported in the Chronicle:

In a presentation to the city’s public utilities board, officials from the city-owned Alameda Power & Telecom last week laid out the options for the public - none of which is likely to recover the $85 million the city has spent to launch and operate the service.

If that weren’t enough, Alameda, which has a general fund budget of $80 million this year, is due to make a $33 million balloon payment next year on the original construction bond.

Atleast it’s not all gloom and doom

Alameda is a place that’s always taken great pride in its ability to fend for itself, and it’s evident in city ownership of its hospital and power plant and school system - and it’s something other municipalities can strive for.

Alameda Borders a.k.a Barnes & Noble?

Now that we are (were?) on the verge of having a Borders in town at the Alameda Towne Center, comes this report that they might be sold to Barnes and Noble (among other options).

Struggling against both online and big-box retailers, the Borders Group, the bookseller, said Thursday that it had hired two investment banks to advise it on a potential sale and had turned to its largest shareholder for additional money.

Borders said it earned $84.7 million for its fourth quarter, down slightly from $87.7 million in the period a year ago. It is also pursuing “strategic alternatives,” a phrase that often includes a potential sale of parts or all of a company. Borders has hired JPMorgan Chase and Merrill Lynch as its advisers.

Wall Street has speculated for more than a year that Borders might sell itself to its larger rival, Barnes & Noble.

Webster, Clay and Calhoun: The scoop

Nah, not that kinda scoop

Came across an article that had some interesting background on these names.

Webster, Clay and Calhoun. One is a main thoroughfare in the West End, the other two are narrower streets east of Broadway. Do you know how important Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun were to America’s history in the 19th century?

Documentary on Alameda West End

The 73-minute documentary “Civic Unity: Five Years in the West End of Alameda” will be screened on March 1 (4-6PM) at the College of Alameda, F Building, Student lounge. This will be followed by a discussion with filmmakers Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan as well as residents spotlighted in the film.

Perhaps this documentary might be a good opportunity to catch up on recent developments in the West End. As reported in the Journal:

… documents the mass eviction of more than 400 residents at the nearby Harbor Island Apartments, a process that began July 22 of that year.

The film offers short, compelling biographies of several of the participants, as well as numerous scenes of familiar West End life, from bicycle riders at Alameda Point, to residents picking up bags of groceries at the Alameda Food Bank.

The producers have this to say:

After 5 years of filming and editing, the result is moving beyond what any of us expected, and sure to provide a model of community engagement for other neighborhoods across the country.

Alameda Point and Measure A

The city hosted Measure A forum today. I’ll leave it to the experts (Lauren and JKW) for a commentary on the proceedings. While the (seemingly endless) Measure A debate rages on, today’s NYT had an article that is somewhat relevant to the issue at hand: low vs. high density at Alameda Point.

Titled “Suburbia’s March to Oblivion”:

“Signs of physical and social disorder are spreading” thro’gh cul-de-sac suburbia, he writes in the March issue of The Atlantic. And it is not just because of the mortgage mess. A “structural change” is occurring in the housing market — a “major shift in the way many Americans want to live and work,” moving social problems out of the city and into the suburban fringe.

Mr. Leinberger cites the work of Arthur C. Nelson, the director of Virginia Tech’s Metropolitan Institute, who has predicted that, by 2025, there will be a surplus of 22 million large-lot homes (those built on at least one-sixth of an acre). This, Mr. Leinberger writes, is a result of “the pendulum swinging back toward urban living,” thanks to a set of economic, social, and demographic trends.

The result, he says, could be that low-density suburbs “may become what inner cities became in the 1960’s and 1970’s — slums characterized by poverty, crime, and decay.”

Meanwhile, he writes, demand for “urban living” will continue apace. Although the mortgage squeeze may slow development of lofts and condominiums in the central cities and “walkable” towns and suburbs, “it will surely continue.”

Shop local!

A recent report highlights the City’s budget shortfall. Whilst it is certainly heartening to see the Towne Center report healthy sales, perhaps we could collectively help out by making more of our purchases locally.

Taxable sales transactions in Alameda during that period decreased .4 percent, or $5,542, from the same quarter of the previous fiscal year. Gains in sales of food (14.7 percent) and general retail (2 percent, which includes sales from new stores at Alameda Towne Centre) were offset by declines in all other categories, according to the report.

That includes a decline of 7 percent in the transportation category, 7.2 percent in business-to-business, 6.8 percent in construction and 36.3 percent in “miscellaneous,” which in part reflects purchases made by the city. Sales taxes contribute about $1.3 million in revenues to the city budget, making it the fourth-highest contributor to city revenues.

Alameda NAS Slideshow

Ben Peoples (a photographer from Alameda) has a collection of photographs depicting the architecture of Alameda NAS, in preparation for a documentary. He is soliciting feedback and comments on his portfolio.

Alameda Bicycle

If you are looking for bike store around town, I suggest Alameda Bicycle. I bought my first road bike from them recently and have been very impressed by the service and the very knowledgeable and helpful staff.  Apart from supporting a local business, their “free adjustments for ever” offer is simply unbeatable.

And, as reported recently in the Journal, they are very actively involved in the community as well!

The bike shop has started a reading rewards program, called Books 4 Bikes, that benefits five of Alameda’s elementary schools. The program encourages children to get excited about reading by giving them a raffle ticket to win bicycle-related prizes, such as a new helmet, for each 150-minute reading scorecard they complete; those who submit the most cards stand a chance of winning a new bike.