What a long, strange spring.
One week on from the final vote count, I wanted to give a huge shout out to the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds (likely over 1000) of volunteers who helped make the effort such a success, even if the measure didn’t pass.
Rules are rules, and we knew them going in, so [...]
There’s only one problem. There’s no stop on Main Street at Midway (see map for location…hint: it’s where the bullseye is). It turns out that after the community and schools came out and asked for the bus to run on Midway, AC Transit made the change and requested that the stops be put in. So far, so good. But it turns out that the City (Public Works in this case) refused because they had to be ADA compliant and therefore there was a cost associated with placing the new stop.
Two of the things I’m hoping will be discussed at tonight’s council meeting are Fiscal Neutrality and Public Benefits. A lot has been made of a supposed “$500 million dollar shortfall” despite the fact that it’s a made up number that doesn’t withstand the smell test.
I can’t assume to know why Boardmember Spencer has voted against Lesson 9 and the explicit inclusion of LGBT issues in the curriculum, but I can question why it is that she’s taken to using the same talking points of the explicitly homophobic SERVE group and hanging out with the lawyer from the Pacific Justice Institute if her intentions are indeed not anti-LGBT.
Alameda’s Lesson 9 will be featured on KQED’s Forum tomorrow morning at 9am and I’ll be one of the speakers. Thanks to Susan Davis for her write up at SFGate’s InAlameda (If you haven’t been reading her almost daily posts there, you’re missing something, check her out!)
A few months ago, our community was called to action to support tolerance and respect for all people. Thanks to you and many others, there is no doubt about where our community stands on issues of compassion and tolerance! However, work remains to be done.
The final judgment in the lawsuit against Lesson 9/Tolerance teaching in Alameda is out and the court doesn’t mince words. The District has prevailed! And what a smackdown of the petitioners it was.
Tomorrow (Tues) is the first hearing in the Lesson 9 court case, one of the two efforts to allow parents to avoid having tolerance for gays/children of gays taught to their children. Of the two efforts, the lawsuit is the less pernicious in my mind, though still depressing.
At the end of last week, Bill O’Reilly sat down with Fox news anchor Megyn Kelly to discuss the Alameda school “Lesson 9″ issue. What we heard was, well, almost unbelievable.
As we head into another summer-like weekend, I thought the words of President Obama were appropriate.
Alameda news and opinion
Mindfulness in the face of challenge.
