Monthly Archives: March 2014

$200 million — and counting

Posted on March 30, 2014 by

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

Posted on March 27, 2014 by

(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

Posted on March 23, 2014 by

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?

Posted on March 16, 2014 by

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

Posted on March 8, 2014 by

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?

Posted on March 2, 2014 by

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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