The winner of the League of California Cities gubernatorial forum for me was moderator Scott Schafer from @kqednews.kqed.org.

He asked tough, relevant questions and challenged candidates when their responses didn’t answer the question or weren’t based in reality.

Scott Schafer and Xavier Becerra on stage at League of California Cities gubernatorial forum

Xavier Becerra notes there are 40k shovel ready affordable housing units in California.

He says there are probably lots of reasons for this (really, funding is THE reason). He says as gov in first 100 days he’ll remove roadblocks and get all 40k built.

(Not likely, unless $$$ magically appear.)

Scott Schafer and Antonio Villaraigosa on stage at League of California Cities gubernatorial forum

Antonio Villaraigosa says we need a lot more housing and says he’ll do that as governor by reforming CEQA, which Scott Schafer reminds already happened last year.

He also says he will protect local control. Which apparently he thinks has been successful in building housing.

Tony Thurmond and Scott Schaefer on stage at League of California Cities conference gubernatorial forum

I’ve known Tony Thurmond for many years and love him, but his plan as Governor to build 2 million homes in CA is centered on surplus land.

We of course should better utilize surplus land but that won’t produce millions of homes.

He also said CA should provide much more affordable housing funding.

It was always the most fun board meeting of the year!

Especially absurd because when College Ave Safeway wanted to expand in 2007 hundreds opposed. They claimed the bigger Safeway would shutter smaller grocery and other food stores. Surprise, surprise, it didn’t.

This project activated me as a YIMBY and a few of us successfully organized for approval.

This is enraging as a cyclist who depends on bike lanes for my family’s safety and the safety of everyone. More broadly, this is a worrying pattern: gaining trust with safe behavior and then becoming less safe over time.

Despite some recent delays, I feel like this every time I ride BART.

Especially feels like I miracle when I ride from El Cerrito Plaza to Downtown Berkeley in just seven minutes, significantly faster than I could drive with no traffic.

At a former job that I had for 8 years I used to do this transfer 20+ times a year.

I was trying to remember the last time I traveled by car to Sacramento and I can’t remember, it was so long ago. Definitely pre-pandemic.

This judge’s ruling is hilarious

I’d be there if I wasn’t in Sacramento. Sad to miss it!

So sad to miss this, especially since it’s at my local theatre.

If you haven’t been to El Cerrito’s Rialto, I highly recommend it. It’s a beautiful theater, with great food, wine, and beer. Just a ten minute walk from El Cerrito Plaza BART.

Tracks and water, cloudy sky

Martinez mural

Marsh and train tracks

Tracks and water, cloudy sky, sun peaking through

Views from Capitol Corridor this morning:

I won't be at the CalBike Summit, bummed to miss it, but Bike East Bay could only send so many people. 6 of my coworkers will be there so say hi to them.

Me standing on Amtrak platform with Richmond, CA sign above, Capitol Corridor train and BART train in the background

Riding @capitolcorridor.bsky.social to Sacramento for the @calcities.bsky.social Summit.

Absolute best way to travel. I don’t know why anyone would drive to Sacramento from the Bay Area.

(And after 15 years riding, I finally got a selfie with both BART & Capitol Corridor trains in the background.)

Definitely! We need a lot more crosswalks in El Cerrito. I’ll flag this one for staff.

If you or your friend could take a minute to email me about this, that would be super helpful: rsaltzman@elcerrito.gov

A large palm and several smaller plants on a table

My wife put many of our indoor plants outside today in the rain.

She brought them in and put them temporarily on the kitchen table, and they look so wonderful together that I don’t want to move them.

We might need to find a new place to eat.

Tony’s right - complaining about concrete problems to decision makers can have a huge impact.

Someone complained to me a year ago about the lack of bike parking at a store, and that led to a new program funding bike racks and small bike/ped improvements throughout West Contra Costa County.

No, that was one of the options but it was just too expensive to do it considering other budget demands.

Frustrating! Hopefully someone at BART will respond to this thread.

Tip: If your Clipper card has not been transferred to Clipper 2, use a credit card to get free transfers between any Bay Area transit agencies.

Free transfers are changing how I use transit, and making it much easier to get around.

Today I was carrying 2 heavy bags on BART. Since the transfer was free, I took 72M from El Cerrito Plaza BART.

Though it didn’t save me time, it cut my walk in half and made the experience much more pleasant.

I don’t know for West Oakland but in the past BART has moved bike lockers during construction when necessary. I can’t imagine they’d shut down access to the lockers before the bike station is completed.

Me in front of an I ❤️ El Cerrito Library sign, wearing a YES pin (for housing and transit)

Had a very Yes! night tonight.

Went to a fundraiser for Yes on Measure C to fund a new El Cerrito library, and then attended Yes! The 9th Annual @yimbyaction.bsky.social Gala.

Loved spending the evening with folks who are working to create positive change in the Bay Area.

Let me know if you ever figure this out. We haven’t at Bike East Bay.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Love this, thank you!

Riding BART and a senior couple is talking about how lovely BART trains are. (I agree!)

I don’t know if they’re visiting or haven’t ridden in a while, but it’s always nice to hear that folks are happy with their transit experience. ❤️🚄

The El Cerrito pool resurfacing project is nearly complete and the pool will reopen on May 2 in time for summer swimming!

I stopped by today to check it out. It looks bright and great - I especially love the new tiles. The pool is being slowly filled, they started filling it yesterday.

If only I could trade you some of our snap peas and super early blueberries for these stunning eggs.

Please ask him about the CA e-bike incentive program that was massively oversubscribed, extremely poorly run, and then the state got rid of it and diverted funding to electric car incentives.

What is he going to do to get more people on bikes and e-bikes, instead of just in electric cars.