Who’s Busy?
(July 1, 2010) Editor:
I just read the “Town Dandy” column where you call Oakland a “vibrant city … where buzzing young people fill the streets … with their schemes … and a heady sense of possibility…” (June 24).
I have not been in Oakland for quite some time, but I do follow the San Francisco Chronicle, where headlines such as today’s “Dysfunctional politics on display in Oakland” and “1 dead, 5 wounded in memorial vigil shootings” appear quite often.
Oakland had the sixth-highest violent crime rate in the country in 2009 and the highest in California, according to preliminary FBI statistics. That’s not an energy I’d care to see us match — and it’s going to get worse. In one article, Sgt. Dom Arotzarena, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, is quoted as saying, “This is a dangerous city and it could be a lot more dangerous,” as the mayor’s proposed budget calls for laying off 150 of their 776 police force (plus $18.5 million in other cuts) to cope with a $30.5 million deficit in their $400 million budget.
I do, however, agree with your general theme, particularly the part about “driving on autopilot since the early hippie days.” We do indeed need to start “movin’ on up,” because we are fast becoming a touristy backwater with no real “economic base,” which I define as sustainable living wage jobs.
That having been said, Oakland’s “heady sense of possibility” appears to be an “earthly reality” that’s the pits. I personally prefer the increasingly frequent reports of POP successes in dealing Eureka’s problems — and no reduction in “boots on the ground” — rather than what the residents of Oakland are facing.
Leo Sears, Eureka
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on the cover
Railroad!
Proposed lines ‘set rich blood a-tingling’ in early 1900s
Some Other Proposed North Coast Railroads
Choo-choo Fantasies
Exposing this east-west rail nonsense
seven-o-heaven
Undeterred Will
Will chides Andrew for lack of attention to detail and makes plans for his inevitable victory.
Today
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Flow 2012 Fashion Show
STAFF PICK / events / 8 p.m. Arcata Theatre Lounge, 1036 G St. Student designed and produced clothing. Fundraiser for Arcata Arts Institute. $35/$25 students. artsinstitute.net. 822-1220.
Woodside Preschool's Rummage/Bake Sale
events / 8 a.m.-noon. Woodside Preschool, 900 Hodgson St, Eureka. www.woodsidepreschool.com. 445-9132.
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
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TWO Comments
Comment / By Thirdeye / July 2, 5:50 p.m.
I have to laugh at the “save the waterfront” types who claim to support a short-sea shipping terminal literally across the street from the balloon track property. Those 500 containers a month aren’t going to be magically teleported, you know.
Gimme that ice cream. You suck.
Comment / By Buzz / July 2, 9:24 p.m.
Thirdeye sounds more like a cyclops. If the ice cream he demands is pointed, he may end up blind.