Comment Archives: stories
Re: “Hacking Oakland's Budget”
Thanks Leonard. Though we'd love to, there's no rushing any data that's confined to a PDF, which is where it is for now.
Also, creating a tool to consider different budget scenarios would require vastly more technical and research capacity than we now have as an all-volunteer group. We'd be happy to collaborate with folks that want to support that work though -- we meet every Tuesday at City Hall.
And to the city's credit, they have visualized the 5-year projection -- http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/c… -- what is lacking are opportunities to have a public dialogue about it, and ways to capture the best ideas that surface as a result. That's what we're working on.
Re: “The Truth About Uncle Ricky”
@ Nate seltenrich DID U THINk all DREAMS MEANS THE TRUTH? GO SLEEP AGAIN AND HAVE A POSITIVE Dream your comment sound like you took some 211 wine. You are mess up in you mind when those awkward words words pop out of ur mind but the matter of facts is that there is freedom of expression next time when you give a comment mind your language about the person your commenting about focus your mind i AnD reality never thing of ur past live and wrong thought and BELIEVES, guess of some body you don't know but u just heard of keep ur mind short for uncle Ricky is a you adult who kep it serious and everything is straight forward remember jeloursey never pays. in GOD WE TRUST.
Re: “Hacking Oakland's Budget”
The application is very helpful at demystifying the city's two year budget.
I hope the volunteers can rush out a version that gives the 5 year projection for the city's finances under different assumptions of police spending and of making payments to fund our huge retirement and infrastructure expenses that are projected to come home to roost big time in two to three years.
We need the 5 year perspective to see how decisions we make now will have large consequences just a couple of years out.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Reading some of the comments here is really getting me upset - more than the article itself even! People who are able-bodied just don't get it! I can barely walk. I use a cane and should be in a wheelchair probably, but I keep pushing myself until the day I simply won't be able to walk any further. That said, people are so ignorant of what we go through! They think all disabled people are in wheelchairs and are mobile, right? Well, for me, walking to the meter box, walking back to my car, then onto my destination can be more than I can bare! I am in constant physical pain. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'm a 12, but I keep going because I HAVE to! I am a single mom with no other options, so I keep on going. Yes, there are A LOT of people abusing the placards and I think there should be a different system. And I would be ok with paying for parking if there was a way that I could do it without the walk back and forth (which can be quite long in some places!). BART? There's no transportation options for me. Not near bart. Can't walk the blocks to the bus stop. Unable to ride a bike (my hip is my issue or I would!). And speaking of BART....have you ever thought about how much walking is required in a station? I have to walk FAR to get to the elevator to get to the train. I get off at the next station and the elevator is at the complete opposite end of the station. The walk has brought me to tears! People just don't get it! But I am just happy to have the closer parking spot for parking and again, I'm not looking for free parking, just closer, more convenient parking. Come up with a better solution that doesn't cost more than the city would make by making us pay, and then I'd be happy to do so!
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
There is a reason for the free parking......Disabled people need to stay independent. I cannot walk to a bus stop or Bart. I often need to park at a meter for a doctor's appointment, a store or yes even a movie. I don't have the option of coming back to feed a meter or parking a few blocks away in an unmetered spot (if i can find one) Those that don't have to walk in my shoes (or try to walk in them) just don't get it. Your bodies are working the way they are supposed to. Well my body used to do that too. Now i need to park at a meter and I need to stay independent. This reporter is so misguided. Go after the fraudsters. Nancy Pearlman
Re: “San Diego Mayor Bob Filner Comes Out Swinging for Medical Marijuana”
Mr. Filner is a very special mayor to back MMJ as strongly as he does. Thankfully more and more Californian's are getting behind marijuana usage (for responsible adults adults). With the help of other respectable people in the MMJ community (including ASA and politicians) we may just get legalization in CA:) http://www.californiadispensaryinfo.com/
Re: “Breaking News: San Jose Dispensary Landlords Threatened with 40 Years in Prison as Feds' Marijuana Crackdown Continues”
The DOJ's claims to be protecting "school children" is a joke, given the closer proximity of liquor stores, sex shops, and other adult businesses to schools. Sorry Haag but the politically correct "protecting our children" scheme doesn't work anymore. People are smarter now, especially in the Bay Area. ---Quit wasting our tax dollars to attack other citizens.
Re: “Breaking News: San Jose Dispensary Landlords Threatened with 40 Years in Prison as Feds' Marijuana Crackdown Continues”
Just another political move to setup for RAIDS on state approved medical marijuana dispensaries. Notice the timing, how these RAIDS always happen after every election season... Reminds me during the end of Alcohol Prohibition. Law enforcement knows its getting to the end and making one final punch to cash in on the government's 7 billion dollar budget on the war against marijuana. Much easier to go after defenseless medical marijuana pharmacies than real drug criminals: Cartels and organized drug trade. So SAD that our tax dollars are used to arrest other citizens.
Re: “US Judges Can End Drug War, Researchers Say; 'Institutional Racism' Creates Unequal Protection for Whites”
Great article!
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Parking a private vehicle in public space should never, ever be free. Not only are cars responsible for 20 to 50 thousand deaths every year in this country, they pollute everyone's air, and take up public space with their incessant parking. Motorists need to pay there share and poney up to their costs to the public. NO FREE PARKING EVER! disabled or not
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Yes most that use the disable placards are entitled. It's fraud and the doctors that help them get the placards should be fined.
Now with regard to the paying:
Let them park close to the front door, BUT DO NOT LET THEM PARK FREE.
That's just my opinion. Thank you for listening, Leonard Vinci
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Unfortunately there are always a few who louse things up for everyone else. The criteria for "disabled" has expanded to absurdity. There is little stomach for police action and it would be daunting to "prove" some marginally impaired people really aren't disabled. Therefore the solution is to eliminate free parking. Better yet eliminate parking meters and institute a city wide progressive tax. Next up how about enforcing traffic laws in Berkeley, Oakland and elsewhere?
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Joaquin Palomino states, ".. 20 percent of people with disabilities in California were classified as low-income in 2010...which shows that while there is a correlation between having a disability and being poor, it isn't a strong one..." Since pharmaceutical companies routinely get drugs approved by showing a 1 in 50 or 60 correlation, I think 1 in 5 is actually extremely robust.
I am 67 years old, but not retired - I still work, but my hours got cut from 40 per week to 30, then from 30 to 20. I'm one of the 20% "low income". I need the free parking. I can't afford to pay an additional $3 - $5 each time I go anywhere.
I have severe osteoarthritis. I need two canes to walk, and I simply can't walk more than a block; I can barely walk that far. I can't stand for more than a few minutes; so I can no longer take public transportation (which I used to do all the time) because it involves too much walking and standing. I have to use my car, and my disabled parking placard. When I do go somewhere, I physically cannot get up every 1/2 hour or hour and hobble out to feed a meter. There are businesses in my Oakland neighborhood that I can no longer patronize because the parking spaces in front were changed to red zones, and I just can't make it from the nearest legal parking spaces - even if they were empty.
Yes, disabled placards are abused. The solution is better enforcement, not taking free disabled parking access away from people who really need it. The shortage of available parking already limits my ventures to downtown Oakland. If I had to feed the meters besides, I would simply never go there at all. How good would that be for business?
Re: “Caltrans Should Delay Bay Bridge Opening”
Right on, Mr. Gammon and all journalists continuing to perform a public service by informing us about the "nuts and bolts" soundness of our new Bay Bridge!
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
from a disabled one: not paying a parking slot is not a great advantage, but finding a place convenientely close to a shop, on the contrary, it is a need. i would accept to pay any disabled parking slot as far as the amount of expenses would later be reduced from my taxes, simply because i must use my own car to go everywhere, and cannot afford paying a taxi. my all life requests more expenses than a "normal" one.
abuse? create a chip on the parking tag and control in real-time it is a valid one.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
As an orthopedic NP I'm asked regularly to sign for handicapped parking permits. Fewer than 10% of the requests come from people using a cane, let alone crutches or a wheel chair. Unfortunately, it seems that many people sincerely believe that if walking a few blocks causes discomfort, they should have a placard. Pain is real and subjective, but it is not a disability. In almost all cases increased activity such as walking on flat surfaces is beneficial and part of their treatment plan. Providers need to be held more accountable for placating patients with placards instead of educating them to maintain function.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Do those who are receiving free parking due to a disabled tag also get discounted or free fuel for their cars? I think not, but that might be the next "well intentioned" move in this social scheme gone berserk. Disabled parking spaces in convenient locations are a good thing, but why should they be free in areas where other spaces are not? A law that is difficult to impossible to police is a law wide open to abuse, and that's exactly what we all see happening in almost any location. Considering the abuse, I recently chose not to apply for a disabled placard, because almost all such spaces are taken by people observed to "bound" out of their vehicles and briskly walk away. It is a joke! Of course removing an already-given entitlement prompts wails from those who have it, and that's the big problem with any entitlement these days. Many of the very comments here demonstrate that. Since billions have been spent to make access for the truly disabled more available on their behalf, one might think that the disabled would not mind paying for parking their cars, just like everyone else - but no, that's now out of the question. Well, perhaps we should go for complete equality among parkers and have all parking fees on public streets banned - making it a free-for-all for sure. Disabled parking abuse has become the almost unpunishable crime practiced by the masses, and it will go right on in today's entitled culture, no matter what this article advocates.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Moronic lazy policy.
I agree with costacoralito, charging for disabled parking defeats the entire purpose.
If there is fraud and folks using cards they are not entitled to, go after the fraud. Don't destroy a needed law.
And no, Joe Blow on the street should NEVER confront possible abusers... you have no idea what their medical situation is, nor should the disabled have to justify themselves to any cretin on the street.
If you suspect abuse, REPORT IT. Take a picture or video of the alleged offender and the vehicle and placard info and report it. Then the investigators can check things out and fine those not in compliance.
On the wrongheadedness of this policy I agree with Mara Math.
As for who I am, I am on full SSDI disability and in a wheelchair with two forms of arthritis and other medical issues. In other words my income is only a bit over $900 a month.
Personally I do not know why the non-disabled even drive, much less drive downtown. Are they too good for mass transit?
Re: “Activists Try to Get Rid of Juvenile Records Fee”
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Re: “Activists Try to Get Rid of Juvenile Records Fee”
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