It's been a long time since we've posted a blog post. As you may know, a lot has happened since brat summer. Do you remember that? Republicans were weird, the sun was hot, and we all had a long summer.
Where we left off
So, where to begin? SASA had a really wonderful walking tour led by Mitchell Schwarzer, amazing Oakland historian and basically the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet. After the tour, we spoke to Mitchell about further expanding our understanding of the history of Rancho San Antonio, and he was kind enough to help us out. His work is so thorough and interesting, we are going to share it with the world soon. Stay tuned!
Elections ain't over 'till they're over
So with Mayor Sheng Thao recalled and our former councilperson, Nikki Fortunato-Bas elected to County Supervisor D3, there are now two important seats open in Oakland: that of the District 2 City Councilperson, and the Oakland Mayor.
We're fortunate enough in getting to know candidate Charlene Wang over the past several months, and we had Kara Murray-Badal come to our monthly meeting in February. At a recent forum, all D2 candidates showed support for San Antonio Station, and both Kara and Charlene spoke specifically on it.
As for the mayoral race- well, it's hard to look beyond Barbara Lee. She's a titan in politics, obviously, but it seems the only thing we can count on is unpredictability when it comes to elections.
In other politician sightings, we were happy to meet Lena Tam at the awesome Tet Festival at Clinton Park in January. We had a good talk and hey- now she knows who we are!
We also met former BART director and current Congressperson Lateefah Simon at Bella Vista Park for a park clean-up and President's day event. She was inspiring and interesting to talk to. She was inspiring and interesting to talk to. (Yes, we discussed San Antonio Station. While she supports it, she has concerns about gentrification and displacement. Nonetheless, she agrees that we need better transit options in our district, and that a BART station there would be a net good.)
Conclusion
We would love your presence, input, and brain involved in SASA. Please join our Volunteer group here for bi-weekly emails and updates on events, fun hangs, and fun gossip. Thanks for your interest!
Comments