There was a packed auditorium at College Preparatory School on the evening of October 18th to hear a candidate forum featuring the two candidates for the California Assembly 15th District:  Jovanka Beckles and Buffy Wicks.  The forum was moderated by the Oakland League of Women Voters and also co-sponsored by the East Bay Housing Organizations.

A sizeable crowd gathered at the Rockridge Library meeting room on September 20th to hear speakers address numerous Rockridge transportation issues.  While there was no official representative of Oakland's Department of Transportation ("OakDOT") present, a variety of speakers, including RCPC's transportation committee chair, Alden Conner, provided information on topics ranging from the reconfiguration of the Rockridge BART's Ford Gobike bikeshare station to mini-roundabouts on Shafter Ave.

Here's the agenda for the Land Use Committee meeting for July 25, 2018

The meeting will start at 7:30 PM in the upstairs meeting room of the Rockridge Branch Library, 5366 College Ave.

The RCPC Land Use Committee will hold a short (1/2 hour) meeting tonight (Wed., May 23, 2018) at 7:30 PM in the upstairs meeting room of the Rockridge Branch Library.  Meeting is open to the public.

Agenda:

1)  Review/discussion of results from College Ave. housing survey (copy attached)

2) Name committee vice chair/acting chair to conduct June 27th Land Use Committee meeting [preliminnary agenda - presentation by Nestle/Dreyer of proposed changes to Dreyers retail store].

With opposition to their bill appearing both wide and strong, Senators Scott Wiener (D-S.F.) and Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland/Berkeley) backpedaled significantly on their bill to mandate upzoning near transit stations and along transit corridors.  However, it was apparently not enough.  SB 827's first committee hearing, before the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee, happened April 17th.  While the results of that hearing were not yet available on the Legislature's website, News

The February Rockridge News featured an article on Senators Scott Wiener's (D-San Francisco) and Nancy Skinner's (D-Oakland-Berkeley) bill, which would mandate residential upzoning near transit stations and major transit line stops statewide.  Faced with significant opposition to their bill, they have added a series of amendments.  (The attached file shows the bill's amended language as of March 1, 2018.)

Following up on a commitment made at the January RCPC Town Hall meeting, representatives of BART, the City, and Motivate (the bikeshare provider) are beginning the process of re-evaluating possible sites for a bikeshare station for the Ford GoBike bikeshare program.  The program is cosponsored by the City, Motivate, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and bikeshare stations are being located in many cities throughout the Bay Area.  The Rockridge BART station location is a key location within Rockridge, with space for up to 35 bikes.

An overflow crowd filled the Rockridge Library's meeting room on the evening of January 24th to hear about a variety of topics, mostly related to transportation.  The topic included the removal and replacement of trees around the Rockridge BART station that had been identified as hazards, placing min-roundabouts along Shafter Avenue in conjunction with its repaving this Spring, the location of Ford Go-bike bikeshare stations around Rockridge, including in front of the Firestorm tile mural at the Rockridge BART station, and an update on a condominium project put forward by Signature

If you've driven past the corner of Broadway and Pleasant Valley in the last week, you may have noticed activity there.  Here's the latest update from TRC, Inc., the developers of "Shops at the Ridge," on the demolition of the old, asbestos-contaminated Chase Bank building at the corner.  Demolition had been stalled by the discovery that the cables holding up the roof deck were covered with asbestos.  The City has now issued a demolition permit to take the building down, and the plans have been approved by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which