The DTO (Downtown Oaktown)

Today is the annual fundraiser Dining Out for Life. Participating restaurants will donate a portion of their receipts to AIDS charities. That means that donating to charity is as easy as going out to eat! Of course, that’s because it’s the restaurant, not really the customer, who’s donating, but why quibble? It’s a good cause. Participating restaurants in and around the DTO are:

B Restaurant, 499 9th St

La Taza de Cafe, 3909 Grand Ave

Mezze, 3907 Lakeshore

Milano, 3425 Grand Ave

Tamarindo, 468 8th St

Zza’s Trattoria, 552 Grand Ave

Also, downtown Vietnamese eatery Pho 84 was victim of a takeover robbery recently (as was Milano, above), so that’s another great destination this week to show some support. Bon appetit!

Numerous downtown residents and interested parties have complained that the Downtown Zoning Update has featured a remarkably poor public input process. First, councilmembers Nancy Nadel and Pat Kernighan, who represent downtown, convened two meetings to get input on zoning around Lake Merritt. Both of the meetings were held outside of downtown as defined by the General Plan. Then the city staff, with the assistance of Councilmember Nadel, held two meetings specifically on the downtown Zoning Update, again outside of downtown. After members of the public (and a City Council candidate) complained that “nobody downtown knows about this process,” the Planning Commission ordered the planning staff to hold one more public input meeting, actually inside downtown this time. While nothing has been added to the official Zoning Update page or the Yahoo! Group created by Councilmember Nadel, I have learned that there is in fact a meeting scheduled.

On Monday April 7 Councilmembers Chang and Kernighan and the planning staff are holding an outreach meeting, starting at 6p, a Restaurant Peony in Chinatown. The forum is organized by the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. This was revealed only by a neighborhood services coordinator who spotted the email on the “Asians in Oakland Government” group and then shared it with her neighborhood group.

Though Old Oakland, SOBO, Uptown and Downtown Lake Merritt don’t seem to merit the notice of city planners or Councilmembers, at least there will be one meeting on the downtown zoning update that’s actually inside the affected area. Too bad few people will know about it.

Tonight, the Planning Department will present the final of their four public input meetings regarding proposed zoning for the Central Business District. This final meeting will not be downtown, but in Adam’s Point, at the Sailboat House (which is poorly served by public transit) at 6:30. To be discussed are use restrictions, separate residential and commercial zones, and strict design guidelines. For a thorough explanation of what exactly the new zoning proposes, see A Better Oakland’s post, Zoning From Mars.

The proposal will be presented to the Zoning Update Committee of the Planning Commission on Wednesday, at City Hall, which is actually downtown. And near several different transit lines.

Also, I’d like to thank the Oakland Museum for throwing one of the DTO’s best parties ever. Make Me, Hottub, DJs, exhibits, and free beer – I can’t remember so many people ever having so much fun at our beautiful museum.

After looking at maps of downtown Oakland created by the Downtown Lake Merritt Neighborhood Group and Old Oakland Neighbors, I’ve revised my DTO map to have slightly different neighborhood boundaries. Several questions are raised by this map: is Jack London Square downtown? With high-density housing pushing up Broadway, is downtown expanding northward? Are there more downtown neighborhoods, and are these boundaries correct? How does this map relate to the city’s proposal to impose height limits throughout downtown, for the first time in Oakland’s history?

The underlying map is from the Oakland Convention and Vistors’ Bureau, and contains major errors but is pretty. I will look for another base map for the next update.

Running from Broadway to Lake Merritt, downtown Oakland’s Thirteenth Street has many personalities. The block from Broadway to Franklin, home to the landmark Tribune Tower and one of downtown’s two usable taxi stands, includes a popular nightclub, a cafe, restaurants, and a large vertical parking structure disguised as a nondescript office building. From Webster to Harrison and beyond, Asian and other small businesses occupy subsidized housing towers and Art Deco storefronts. Serving as the transition from Chinatown to SOBO, 13th has recently become home to three beautifully restored mid-rise buildings: The Mash Building at Broadway, the former Will Rogers Hotel at Franklin, and the Golden Bridge Lofts at Harrison. All three combine restored historic facades with contemporary, feminine color schemes. Photos and descriptions after the break.

Keep reading →

The first of the post-dot-bomb 10k projects are nearing completion in downtown Oakland. In a break from tepid and bland buildings of the recent past (555 12th St, Center 21, most projects in and around Old Oakland), many of these new buildings are unflinchingly modern in style. The three newest are refreshingly forward-thinking additions to their various neighborhoods. After the break, descriptions and photos. Keep reading →

The folks behind NovoMetro.com today bring a new glossy to the city: the OakBook. This smallish, free magazine concentrates on fashion, art, shopping and the outdoors, with the debut issue featuring the DTO’s own Old Oakland neighborhood. Finally, an Oakland magazine for the flats!

Pick up a copy TONIGHT at the Esteban Sabar Gallery (480 23rd St. near Telegraph), where NovoMetro hosts a fete complete with local wines, local shopping (courtesy OaklandUnwrapped.com) and local fun!

Next Tuesday, the City Council will hear a report (PDF) on the progress of most of the city’s redevelopment areas. Here are some highlights from the downtown report (which is the Central District), on the last three fiscal years:

• The UCOP’s parking garage cost the RDA $3.9m, and gross revenue fell 13% despite the removal of downtown parking for new development. The city expects the garage to operate without public subsidy in the future.
• All downtown residential projects that had public subsidy included affordable units.
• The DTO’s Façade Improvement Program is winding down, a victim of its own success.
• A very small amount of discretionary money to aid commercial ventures was distributed to the At-large and District 2 councilmembers.
• A new program is a $3m fund for site acquisition for redevelopment of small sites in “targeted areas.”
• Lincoln Recreation Center and the adjoining park are being upgraded. There are no other park projects downtown, aside from Measure DD, which is not a redevelopment project.
• $29.7m was generated from the housing set-aside in the last three years alone.
• The state forced us to give up $9.1m to the schools and other agencies, to balance their budget.
• Of $66.5m spent on projects, $51.9m (78%) went to the Uptown district, primarily to Forest City and the Fox Theater.
• The Central District map is downtown up to 27^th Street (including 48% of the area slated for retail redevelopment), the Jack London Square area above Embarcadero, and some very suspicious holes carved out around the Kaiser Center and Lake Merritt BART station.

Proving once again that Oaklanders need only the flimsiest excuse for a party, AC Transit held a bash this morning for their new Uptown Transit Center on 20th (Berkley) between Broadway and Telegraph. No mimosas, but a great neo-soul band made up of talented downtown students. Councilmembers Larry Reid and Nancy Nadel, AC Transit Board President Greg Harper, and State Senate President Don Perata all congratulated themselves on securing funds for what amounts to a fancy bus stop. Meanwhile, downtowners may have noticed that bus service to Jack London Square and Grand Lake was recently cut.

Adding another dose of deco panache to the DTO’s Uptown district, the elegant Flora opened today. The swanky bar was off-limits due to a license hold up, but that was made up for in spades with a generous discount. V Smoothe has an account of her lunch over at A Better Oakland.

UPDATE: SFCovers blogs about comments on A Better Oakland’s Flora review.

ADDENDUM: The Franklin Square Wine Bar has opened.