The other week at a birthday party, a fellow parent mentioned he had been searching for more information about when the Alameda Aquatic Center would be completed... and he discovered that I have a blog.
My blog answered many questions he didn't know that he had — but it didn't actually address the question that he did have.
So, here are some frequently asked questions about Alameda, based on both conversations I have with other parents at birthday parties, as well as a few questions that I often read repeatedly online (mainly on Reddit's r/alameda, now that I've deleted my Facebook account and no longer lurk on Alameda Peeps), and some previously unasked questions for my own amusement.
Q. When is the Alameda Aquatic Center expected to open?
A. At the July 1, 2025 City Council meeting, staff said that the Alameda Aquatic Center will open to the public "by January 2028."
Q. What's happened since your blog post titled "Goodbye to Bay Farm's supermarket? Or is the owner of Harbor Bay Landing just inflating their property's value before selling"?
A. City staff are posting updates on the city website at https://www.alamedaca.gov/hbl
Q. That blog post was exceedingly diplomatic. Do you actually like eating La Val's pizza?
A. My daughter likes the cheesy bread sticks at The Star, my son likes the cheese pizza at Marley G's, and my wife likes personal pizzas from Round Table. I've been trying to perfect my own pizza for multiple years, but am still regularly dissatisfied despite now owning a baking stone for the indoor oven, an Ooni pizza oven for outdoors, two different pizza peels, and as many other pizza cutting and handling implements as I've had birthdays since becoming interested in pizza making...
Q. You're avoiding the question. That sounds like a "no."
A. Is this an Isaac Chotiner interview in The New Yorker?
Q. No, this is just a local blog named for a baked good.
Q. Why does the tap water in Alameda suddenly taste different?
A: Once I noticed a change in taste in the tap water at both my house and my office in Alameda. Out of curiosity, I called EBMUD. Within a day or two, I got a call back from an engineer who explained the path water takes from the Sierras to intermediate reservoirs to Alameda. He looked up the chemical treatment history for the relevant reservoir in Oakland, said that yes, they had added some more chlorination (or something to that effect) the day that I tasted the change. A very friendly professional.
Some of the reasons they change the treatment levels:
- whether more water is currently sourced from the Sierras or from the Delta
- whether there's been recent rain (which could wash some more dirt into reservoirs).
EBMUD's Community Water Academy looks like a fun way to tour the entire system from reservoir to aqueduct to wastewater treatment plant.
While this blog is hyping up EBMUD, it's also worth mentioning that the water utility publishes a very well illustrated guide to landscaping with native plants and low-water plants that's discounted for EBMUD customers.
I have a question for my interviewer: How would The New Yorker typeset the acronym for that agency? [Holds out pinky] "E.B.ᴍᴜᴅ"?
Q. This is not an interview in The New Yorker.
Q. Dear fellow parents, would you please send me your recommendations for daycares and preschools! Ideally with a large outdoor play area, caring teachers, nutritious food with vegan options, and reasonable tuition. I'm planning to visit and set up a spot for my beloved Little One this coming Monday.
A. The "best" daycare/preschool is the one that actually has an opening for your kid when you need it. Good luck.
(What a shame that Congress blocked all of the Biden/Harris administration's attempts to fund early-childhood care and education — the high costs and tight supply of childcare continue to be national issues deserving federal intervention.)
Q. Significant Other and I visited Alameda for the first time over the weekend. What a lovely little island! We enjoyed it so much we're now browsing real-estate listings. Looking for more information about neighborhoods and schools. How's the Gold Coast?
A. Alameda Unified is a great school district, and I've heard good things about each public school. Depending upon your own kid's experience, there are also a number of charter options to consider after some initial experience with your local public school.
(GreatSchools is dedicated to reifying economic and demographic advantages into easy-to-read, color-coded letter grades. What a bogus non-profit.)
Best of luck with your house-hunting as you learn that Alameda's MLS listings are strategically underpriced and "transparently-priced" off-market opportunities from REALTORS® are strategically overpriced.
Q. Why did the City of Alameda pay a cash settlement to the family whose baby was hit by a motorist while crossing Otis Drive?
A. If you're actually asking such a specific question, you probably have already read this blog's post titled "Driver hits and flips a baby in their stroller: The status quo at Otis Drive and Mound Street" as well as the Annual Report on the City of Alameda's Settlements for the Period of July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025 that was attached to a recent City Council agenda packet.
No, I'm not sure why the City paid a (small) cash settlement. Typically the owner-operator of a roadway is liable, which in this case would presumably be Caltrans. Plus, design immunity gives broad protection (probably overly broad protection) to California governments for injuries and deaths on previously approved roadways. Regardless, this is yet another reminder of the dangers of Otis Drive and the importance of redesigning that "highway" for everyone who uses it and crosses it.
Q. Why isn't Alameda's best Vietnamese restaurant allowed to regularly provide table service at their outdoor seating on Encinal Ave?
A. Caltrans.
Q. Really? Their outdoor seating looks well protected. Plus, Encinal Ave has been "road dieted." It looks like a perfectly safe place to eat. Isn't it strange that customers are instructed to purchase their food to-go before eating it outdoors?
A. State law apparently bans all commercial activity within the public right-of-way of the State Highway System (with an exception for coin-operated telephones). The governor temporarily paused that ban in 2020 to allow businesses to extend their operations outdoors. But instead of making the change permanent, the state went back to holding businesses to inflexible standards. So Caltrans effectively insists on renaming this restaurant to "Statehighway Pho."
Q. Then why is table service allowed at restaurant tables fronting Webster Street?
A. Webster Street is no longer part of the State Highway System. When in the state Assembly, Wilma Chan passed legislation that "transfer[ed] authority over six blocks of Webster Street from the state to the city of Alameda" so that the city could build streetscape improvements that weren't going to be allowed by Caltrans.
When headed westbound, look for a small sign near the McDonalds on Central Ave to see where State Route 61 officially ends — and where outdoor dining with table service is allowed to begin.
The process of transferring state-owned highway to a city (or other type of locality) is called relinquishment. If Caltrans District 4 doesn't follow through on their promises to program a road diet for Otis Drive into the State Highway Operation and Protection Program soon, relinquishment is an approach that the City of Alameda should strongly consider.
Q. What's this blog's most popular post?
A. "The 'three E's' of traffic safety on Alameda's Santa Clara Ave." gets a surprising amount of traffic from Google each month. My best guess is that there are many planners and engineers across the country searching for tips and tricks on how to use the triad of education/enforcement/engineering to decrease deaths and injuries from vehicles in their communities. Instead of finding some nice and easy advice, Google takes them to my blog post... which questions the entire premise of that broken paradigm.
Q. Instead of just writing multi-thousand word blog posts, how would you actually propose redesigning Santa Clara Ave in the short term?
A. When this stretch of street is paved next:
- Remove the dashed-yellow center line on Santa Clara Ave. between Everett St. and Broadway
- Paint advisory bike lanes (a.k.a. edge lanes)
Q. Then what happens to the drivers?
A. When there is no oncoming traffic, drivers do as they do now and proceed. When there are two vehicles heading toward each other, one may go into the "edge lane" if it's unoccupied by a cyclist. If it's occupied, they'll have to wait their turn.
Q. What if there's a disaster and everyone must evacuate the island simultaneously in cars via Santa Clara Ave?!?!?!
A. This is a blog named after a baked good, and we're simply talking about the placement of paint on roadways.
Q. Still, you're proposing to make driving awkward on Santa Clara Ave? Why?!
A. Because the intersection at Santa Clara/Everett has a dangerous record, it's currently designed to force eastbound cyclists directly into parked cars, and it doesn't effectively moderate the speeds of drivers for the sake of pedestrians. Driving should be awkward — that is, at least somewhat awkward — to ensure reasonable speeds and safely share streets for everyone who use them.
Q. I was just trying to inquire off-hand about the blog's most popular post. Stop trying to pull a reverse-Chotiner.
A. Was that a question?