u/DonVCastro

Just noticed today that the hands and numbers have been removed. Appears from Google Maps that they were still there as recently as March 2025.

I should probably cross post this to r/notinteresting

https://preview.redd.it/xuoim396v6jh1.jpg?width=1253&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4d9b4daeb9942d82012f950f5b5e375bee65489

Described and a survey here https://parking.elcerrito.gov

Idea is to deal with BART parkers once the station lots are insufficient (i.e., parking lots are eliminated and/or demand for parking picks up) by selling all-day parking on neighboring streets.

Unclear how parking for residents of the new apartments plays into this. At the start of the TOD process the city said that TOD residents would be ineligible for residential parking permits, so would be subject to whatever parking regulations exist on the street. But that was never put into place, so it looks like TOD residents will be able to get residential permits and potentially flood neighboring streets with parked cars?

Anyone have any inside info on timeline?

[edit] Asking based on this comment from earlier

Looked up address (6050 El Cerrito Plaza) on El Cerrito permit site, confirmed a use permit has been issued for a gym.

Project #PL26-0048
Description: AUP for New Gym
Type:    ADM USE PERMIT
Subtype: COMMERCIAL
Planner: JEFF BALLANTINE
Status:  APPROVED
Applied: 6/24/2026
Approved:7/21/2026
Closeout:7/21/2026
Expires:
Status:  7/21/2026
Finaled:

Also a bunch of demo, construction, fire permits issued between march and june. I haven't checked on-site; I wonder if there is visible work going on.

Regency, the Plaza operator, is identifying Crunch Fitness as a "key retailer" so I guess it's all confirmed. Now it's just a question of when. https://www.regencycenters.com/property/detail/176/El-Cerrito-Plaza

[edit #2] went by the site yesterday and it looks like some construction/demo has happened inside, though not much. Can't tell if this is ongoing work or if it's something that happened longer ago. Also was very surprised to see how small the space looks; in my memory it was enormous!

I haven't watched the authority board meetings, but I've followed the state budget deliberations, and it looks like the Legislature, with the Governor's acquiescence, are just treating hsr as a "business as usual" situation: appropriating the cap and trade funds per previous agreement but not providing any of the streamlining that CHSRA has said that it requires, not providing the guarantees to strengthen ability to borrow against future cap and invest, not amending the state laws that prohibit CHSRA from downscoping the project in the ways proposed by the 2026 business plan.

Typically stuff like this that relates to major budget items would be addressed in trailer bills that are being finalized right now. It's certainly possible that all the necessary hsr stuff could be done outside of the budget process, but I'm not aware that there are any pending bills on the subject. And it's fairly unusual for bills to appear after the budget and get finalized in the same session; it seems very unlikely especially since Choudri has said he's not aware of any legislative action.

I'm not at all confident that there is any path for this project to complete successfully, but if we are going to continue to spend large amounts of public money on it (as the Legislature and Governor seem prepared to do), it is mindblowingly irresponsible to decline to also do the things that might actually give it a chance to succeed. They never fail to disappoint, but I was really hoping that the 2026 Business Plan and the Peer Review letter and the LAO Analysis would prompt the Legislature to acknowledge that they have important decisions to make. Nope.

I guess this turned out to just be a rant. Sorry.

Rant over.

Do SMS messages get rejected in a way that the sender can see? Do get silently rejected? Do they get held on telco servers until you're no longer roaming (i.e., on wifi calling, or back home)?

I presume that having a second eSIM with data is of no help when you run out of your allocated SMS, because if your US Mobile SIM is connecting to local towers than your phone will see no need to switch to wifi calling using the data of the second eSIM?

https://archive.ph/wip/agHkr

Borenstein is boggled by Mayor Lee's push for a strong mayor reform, seeing it as far too susceptible to corruption and political manipulation.

>But Oakland’s problem is not the lack of a supreme leader. It’s the lack of objective financial guidance from an independent professional administrator, and leaders willing to put the city’s long-term good ahead of their immediate political ambitions.

That first sentence is certainly correct. It's questionable if the second one is correct, at least when stated as "this is Oakland's problem." You can get objective financial guidance and ignore it, as Oakland "leaders" have for many years.

Personally I'd say the main problem(s) with Oakland government are a toxic culture, and the fact that Oakland itself is full of deep political conflicts and wildly varying views about what the direction of the city should be. I think we're assuming that changing the form of government is going to fix things that it's not able to fix.

Flying out of SFO international terminal, if that matters.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sonoma-state-university-president-22228939.php

https://archive.ph/I0uMp

Cal State Sonoma in Rohnert Park has been facing declining enrollment since covid. Faculty and community worry that it is at risk of severe cuts, closure, or merger with SFSU or Cal State East Bay. A new leader is attempting to better sell the school to out-of-area students to boost enrollment.

(1) I don't get what is so terrible about a possible merger with a different CSU, if the alternative is closure or being cut down to bare bones.

(2) It's not really clear what is so "new" about the new guy's strategy or why it could succeed when it's failed for years. Acknowledging that I'm out of my depth, it sounds more like this school should do a huge pivot and become, say, a dedicated and focused school for well-paid occupations in high demand like nursing and building trades.

I mostly stopped buying stone fruit at Berkeley Bowl when their price rose to $3.50/lb and after finding that at least 50% of whatever I bought was inedible and had to be thrown away (mealy, never ripens, rots before ripens), but I still always eyeball it and think about getting some. And today I see that their price is $6/lb! Is the stone fruit at least reliably good now, for that usurious price?