The “elite” 8!

We always knew Alameda was special (why else would we live here?). Here’s a new report appears to validate this and is hopefully is the start of a long term trend.

They’re the East Bay’s elite eight — cities where assessed property values have bucked downward trends and eased the pain city governments are feeling from the recession. Alameda, Piedmont, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda have all seen their assessed property values increase, albeit slightly, according to data from the Alameda and Contra Costa counties’ assessors’ offices.

The 3/50 Project

The 3/50 project: Pick 3. Spend 50. Save your local economy!

Interesting article in the WSJ:

A survey released in January by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a Minneapolis nonprofit research group, found that community efforts can often at least protect independent companies from the worst of the recession. Independent retailers in cities with buy-local campaigns saw holiday sales drop 3.2% from the previous year, compared with 5.6% in cities without them. There are about 100 such campaigns across the country, the group estimates.

More information on the 3/50 project is here.

Halt! Who goes there?

Given that we have a similarly limited number of entry/exit points, this might be an idea worth considering.

Situated on a peninsula, Tiburon’s hillside homes and waterfront shops are accessible by only two roads, allowing police to point the special cameras known as license plate readers at every lane that leads into and out of the town of 8,800. The readers, which use character recognition software, can compare plates to databases of cars that have been stolen or linked to crimes, then immediately notify police of matches, said Police Chief Michael Cronin.

If someone burglarized a Tiburon home at 3 a.m. one morning, he said, detectives could consult the devices and find out who came to town in the hours before – and who rolled out soon after.