In its last regular meeting before leaving for the August break, the Oakland City Council gave final approval to the 3100-unit Oak To Ninth project. The handful of (non-local) opponents left vowed to gather signatures to stop it, but that’s a near-impossibility (with 18,000 signatures required, and only one month before the ballot deadline, coupled with the widespread support for the development, it’s simply not going to be stopped). The City Council also rejected the “inclusionary zoning” ordinance backed by Councilmember Bruner (although it did approve her ridiculous Telegraph Avenue development ban, with no debate), giving housing developers and aspiring first-time homeowners a welcome break from overregulation.
Excitingly, the City Council overwhelmingly approved putting a new main library branch at the Kaiser Convention Center, and authorized a bond measure to be placed on the November ballot. If the $140m bond is approved by 67% of voters, Oakland will get a new main library! If it’s rejected, though, our best chance to have a public-oriented use of the historic convention center, and a downtown main library serving the whole city, will disappear. Vote for it!
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