From Flea Markets to City Hall

Before explaining what I hope to blog about and why, I’d like to offer a brief bio as it relates to Alameda.

Prior to moving to Alameda in 1991, I had been coming here since 1969. The first time was for the flea market at the old Island Auto Movies. I was a 14-year-old summer visitor. The draw of the Bay Area was so great to this former denizen of grey and dirty Philadelphia that I found my way back here for the next two summers. After my junior year of high school I got a diploma by taking twelfth grade English in summer school, and promptly hitchhiked non-stop from Martha’s Vineyard to the Bay Area.

I came back here for the flea market many times as well as for marine-related activities, both work and pleasure. In the late 1970s I moved into an industrial building on the Oakland side of the Estuary facing Encinal Terminal. For 10 years I had a direct view of Alameda and the Friday night boat races from my kitchen table. I made many forays to Alameda for things such as propane, groceries, waffle breakfasts, boat fittings and classes at Japan Woodworker.

In 1988, I bought a house in North Oakland with my girlfriend who became my wife and mother to our sons. After only two and a half years we relocated in Alameda with an 18-month-old, ostensibly for schools, but we were pretty naive about staking out a life as either parents or as homeowners, or we would have bought in Alameda in the first place!

We stumbled on an open house when we got lost trying to drive to the beach, but ended up looking at a house down the street with a for sale sign. We bought that house without looking at another or paying great attention to our neighborhood elementary school. Ann gave birth to our second son who is now a college freshman. His older brother graduated college and is living in New York City.

A lot of tidal water has passed under the bridges since 1991. We've learned a lot about parenting and being members of a community. We’ve been involved with many community groups, from Little League to the Alameda Children’s Musical Theater. And we've been involved with many other issues of import, including the public school system, where my wife taught for 13 years. I hope to blog about some of those experiences. 

I started out writing letters to the editor at The Journal after living here a year or so and later took advantage of their What I Think column, which was much like the current My Word. These were drafted by typewriter and hand-delivered or mailed.

By going to base closure meetings I made gradual inroads to the local political scene, but parenting and sending kids to public school is what enhanced our social existence and our place in the fabric of community. Through the 1990s I regularly materialized in the flesh at City Hall to speak to Council and other boards, eventually serving one four-year stint as building contractor on the Historic Advisory Board, which I hope to be the apex of my political career.

The Internet and blogging have pretty much blown community dialogue wide open, and initially I was out there being as unhinged as I thought would be tolerated.  Age and experience have made me much more contrite about the impact of public dialogue, and the issues are becoming exponentially more serious to the point I’m feeling the need to see as much consensus in my own community as possible. It’s to that end that I’ve decided to blog on Patch.

Those who know me as a semi-regular commenter on Patch and other local blogs might have expected I'd try to exploit this venue much sooner. I gave it immediate consideration, but there is a line in my head between commenting on news articles or other people’s blogs and writing one’s own blog. The latter seems to come with a certain amount of pretext regarding the expectation that readers will find one’s words worth their time. I hope to do my best in that respect.