Monthly Archives: March 2014

$200 million — and counting

Buried in the footnotes to the recently released annual financial report is the news that the City of Alameda passed another financial milestone last year: the City’s “unfunded liabilities” for retiree benefits now exceed $200 million.

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City Stuffs Stockings for AFD Firefighters

(An edited version of this column was originally published in the Alameda Sun March 27, 2014). Every child probably would like to have a rich uncle who can be counted on regularly to put the latest gadget under the Christmas … Continue reading

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$12 million for a new EOC and fire station

At last, we finally know how much it’s going to cost to realize the long-held goal of the firefighters’ union and their friends at City Hall to build a new Emergency Operations Center and fire station no. 3 on a … Continue reading

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Blueprint or chessboard?

Poor Tim Lewis. If he – and we’re assuming that there is an actual person named Tim Lewis – read the draft 2014-22 Housing Element just released by City staff, he would have learned that: The “realistic capacity” of the … Continue reading

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The art of the deal

The Merry-Go-Round thought of asking The Donald – Trump, not Perata –  for his opinion about the three-way deal among the City, the School District, and the Housing Authority now sailing through an expedited approval process, but he was getting … Continue reading

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Is everybody happy?

Two weeks ago, Mayor Marie Gilmore kicked off her re-election campaign with a rousing speech touting the many ways in which the Russo/Gilmore administration had improved the City in the last three years. Oh, wait a minute. The Mayor actually … Continue reading

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