u/DonVCastro

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?