Recently Read: "An overlooked victim of the gas crisis? Ice cream trucks"

"How illegal ‘e-moto’ riding became a dangerous Bay Area teen status symbol"

By Rachel Swan in SF Chronicle

While Alameda City Council continues to mistakenly try to write their own city-level regulations of already street legal e-bikes, a merchant explicitly told a reporter how his Alameda-based business stocks dangerous electric motorcycles:

One power-sports chain store manager said he just began stocking Sur-Rons at shops in Alameda and Hayward. When he promoted them on Facebook Marketplace, prospective customers flooded him with requests.

[...]

At Scooter Importer, Shirzad said he advises his customers that e-motos are not street-legal, but he’s not sure whether the information lands.

Not sure whether the information lands... riiiiight.

Pair that SF Chronicle article with a recent book by Otis Elementary students. Thanks to a parent with publishing experience, essays and poems from all the 4th graders were gathered and published as a paperback. I've enjoyed reading it — although my eyes bulged when I read a student's self-written bio including:

In his free time, he likes to ride his electric dirt bike with his good friend [redacted] [...] YouTube is one of his favorite internet platforms because he likes watching entertaining videos. His favorite YouTuber is Sur Ronster, a social media influence who rides electric dirt bikes and does many other activities involving dirt bikes.

This isn't surprising, given stories other parents have told me of their experiences. In isolation, no single step may be currently illegal. But the combination becomes a problem:

1. YouTube personalities doing crazy stuff
2. YouTube personalities advertising specific brands
3. kids asking their parents for electric motorcycles by those brand names
4. the business at the corner of Park Street and Clement Ave stocking that brand of electric motorcycles
5. the business at the corner of Park Street and Clement Ave sending adult customers off with a quick word that, well, it's not actually legal to operate that product on a public street

The net result is some number of kids on dangerously fast electric motorcycles on public streets.

Alameda City Council recently shut down a similar kind of retail flimflam: At their April 21 meeting, City Council passed an ordinance banning the sale of nitrous oxide cartridges. Since the creation of Whip-Its for making whipped cream and the discovery of "off label" abuse, N2O cartridges are now marketed directly for inhaling. The city's Legislative Affairs Director went into a local store, bought a large huff-ready canister with a wacko name, and brought it into Council Chambers where she dramatically unboxed it. All five councilmembers promptly voted to ban the sale of N2O at any retailer in town that is permitted to sell tobacco to adults. The legislation was crafted to not impede the sale or use of N2O for medical, culinary, or automotive uses by other businesses.

In contrast with that strategic effort to stop a dangerous product at the point of sale without impeding other valid uses, Alameda City Council members are disconnected: They're out of touch with the realities of how adults and teens responsibly use street-legal e-bikes and out of touch with the realities of how some teens (and pre-teens) are talking their parents into buying them much more powerful electric motorcycles off the internet or from faux-compliant merchants.

If City Council wants to be effective, they'll drop their ill-conceived strategic goal for this year, and instead direct city staff to support Senate Bill 1167, a clean bill to regulate the marketing and sale of electric motorcycles across the entire state.

"An overlooked victim of the gas crisis? Ice cream trucks"

By Garrett Leahy in SF Standard

Owning an ice cream truck might seem like a childhood dream, but when gas costs $6 a gallon, it doesn’t feel like much of a treat.

Felix Tarnarider, who owns the Mister Softee Northern California franchise, said the extra cost of gas across the 17 trucks in his fleet is “a couple thousand” dollars each week. 

[...]

Tarnarider predicts that if gas prices remain high, he will raise the price of ice cream by 25 cents in September, but he has no plans to cancel or scale back routes, saying customers depend on his trucks being in their neighborhoods. 

“We need to make sure people can get their Mister Softee,” he said.

"Alameda Sees a 46.8% Reduction in Homelessness"

Without any morning calls to rush to after dropping kids at school the other morning, I walked the long way to work. Along Alameda's shoreline, I passed a person fully covered in a sleeping bag. Left open, face down, atop their bag of belongings, a fresh copy of a golden-covered Robert Fagles translation of The Odyssey. I continued on my way, and silently hoped that beach-side sleeper reaches their Ithaca.

Better news, in the aggregate, announced this week by the City of Alameda:

City of Alameda Announces a 46.8% Reduction in Homelessness Following the 2026 Point-in-Time Count

[...]

The City’s progress was made possible by a strong network of programs, partnerships, and direct outreach efforts to connect individuals experiencing homelessness with employment opportunities, healthcare resources, and pathways to permanent housing.

The 2026 PIT Count results reflect the City of Alameda’s meaningful progress, over the past two years, to address homelessness effectively and compassionately. The City remains committed to continuing these efforts going forward.

If you or someone you know is experiencing homelessness in the City of Alameda, here are some available resources.

ABAG/MTC Preliminary Draft Map of TOD Stops and Zones

Staff at the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) agree with the Bun.

(Their first draft of the above map showing which areas will be affected by Senate Bill 79 did not originally include Alameda. I submitted a summary of my blog post titled "Upzoning near transit — in Alameda" and staff revised the map. Knowing how distributed the wonkiness of pro-housing activism has become, I certainly wasn't the only one submitting detailed comments on the first draft of the Bay Area upzoning map.)

This July 1, seeds will be planted for apartments and condos to legally bloom in the fallow land alongside Jean Sweeney Open Space Park.

Serve your city

Residents of Alameda are invited to apply to serve on the city's boards and commissions.

If I may offer two recommendations to the Mayor (who nominates candidates) and the City Council (which appoints members by resolution):

• The Transportation Commission, which has a vacancy, would benefit from another non-male member. (Recently I've scooted around the dais, to make it look less like a series of us men sitting alongside each other.)
• It's about time to dissolve the Housing (Un)affordability Board. While that can only be done fully by a change to the City Charter by voters, City Council can take a first productive step by filling HAB's open vacancy with a member who will proudly give rubber-stamp approvals to all applications.