Stephen ColesJan 25

#Oakland is not just underrated, it’s one of the most beautiful & livable cities in the world.

@laureola & I spent the day downtown where we witnessed the grand reopening of The Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts. Our city’s auditorium was built in 1915 as a civic arena and theater.

It hosted holiday pageants, Harlem Globetrotter games, operas, and rock concerts. It fell into disrepair, but is now renovated & fully open again for the first time in 20 years.

Show threadStephen ColesJan 25
This portico by Sterling Calder sports a merman. C’mon!
Show threadStephen ColesJan 25
Lunch next door at Town Fare, great soul food on Oakland Museum of CA’s sunny midcentury terrace overlooking #LakeMerritt. This public park is people-centered brutalism at its best. A multilayered rooftop garden of concrete & greenery, multiple access points, and endless picturesque views. #OMCA
Show threadStephen ColesJan 25

We walked to the Oakland Main Library which happened to be celebrating its 75th birthday with concerts and cake. The party was filled with folks of every walk of life, tapping feet to a multigenerational jazz quartet.

(Yes, this man is wearing a party hat. I think he’s a library administrator.)

Show threadStephen ColesJan 25
Ended the afternoon at Mountain View, our glorious hilltop cemetery, to take in the countless 19th-century monuments and day’s final rays. Then strolled the mystical halls of Chapel of the Chimes. Built by Julia Morgan, one of the country’s first women architects, it somehow combines Gothic & Deco.
Show threadStephen Coles

I feel privileged to live in this city and wish to share it with more people of all backgrounds.

Which is why we need to build more housing now!

Yes, in my backyard: #Rockridge, a transit-connected district near the city core. No, to pretend progressivism that makes exceptions for the wealthy. #YIMBY

Jan 25 at 7:02amWeb
Show threadJohn Butler Jan 25
@stewf The simplest way to build more housing is zoning moratoriums. We have a residential housing “crisis” while entire office parks sit empty. People can live in converted strip malls, skyscrapers, and every building in between. No tax dollars necessary, just relinquish some control.
Show threadStephen ColesJan 25
@johnbutler Yes, there has been some movement in zoning laws in California and Bay Area cities at large. That’s good. I am now calling on my own neighbors to stop resisting change in their neighborhood for specious reasons like “parking”, “traffic”, and “character”. The commercial corridors around me are prime for dense housing, allowing more folks to live closer to work, and enjoy our city rather than commute further and further from the bleak suburbs.