What We Talk About When We Talk About Public Art
At the Castro Valley Fall Festival last weekend, Castro Valley Matters decided to do a coloring contest, asking people who stopped by the booth to draw their vision of what CV’s utilitarian (at best) and graffiti-covered (at worst) utility boxes could look like instead. To spur their imagination, we posted …
It says something about a community when it has more dispensaries than grocery stores
As a resident of the unincorporated Eden Area, I would like to share my personal opinion regarding the fact that Alameda County is considering an increase in the number of permits for medical marijuana dispensaries in the unincorporated Eden Area (i.e., Castro Valley, Ashland, Cherryland, San Lorenzo). The County is …
SF Homeless Project: Castro Valley Creek homeless community, my neighbors
Castro Valley Matters is participating in the SF Homeless Project, an effort by over 70 Bay Area organizations to tell stories of homelessness in San Francisco and the Bay Area. The Castro Valley Creek is a sudden burst of natural beauty sandwiched between suburban strip malls, an office park, a small …
SF Homeless Project: Homeless Students in the Castro Valley School District
Castro Valley Matters is participating in the SF Homeless Project, an effort by over 70 Bay Area organizations to tell stories of homelessness in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Homelessness in the Bay Area and around the United States takes on many forms — while we are unfortunately all too …
SF Homeless Project: Telling the story in Castro Valley
Some 4,000 people in Alameda County are homeless. They are the elderly, families, men, women and children. Many view homelessness as an urban problem, left to our cities to resolve. In fact, most of the visible homeless in Alameda County are estimated to be in Oakland and Berkeley, according to a …
Miley reelected Alameda County Supervisor, results tighter in CV
Nate Miley was reelected to a fifth term as Alameda County District 4 Supervisor last night. With 43,897 total votes cast in the race, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters is reporting that Miley received 61.7 percent of the vote versus challenger Bryan Parker’s 37.5 percent. District 4 encompasses parts of …
2016 Primary Election Statements for Castro Valley
The California Primary election is on June 7, 2016, and several races and issues will affect Castro Valley. Alameda County Supervisor: District 4 We asked the candidates, “Fast forward four years. You have completed your term as supervisor and are up for re-election. Tell us about your accomplishments for Castro …
Overwhelming support for Sprouts at MAC, but where does CV go from here?
On May 9, I attended my first Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) meeting. It turns out I was not the only one. A California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) appeal put into doubt the future of a new Sprouts grocery store at the current site of an underutilized Rite-Aid on …
EALI Governance to meet again, no mention of elected MAC in agenda
The Eden Area Livability Initiative (EALI) Governance Working Group meets on Thursday night at 7:00 at the San Lorenzo library to continue the conversation about various scenarios for local governance reform for the unincorporated communities. At the last EALI Governance Working Group meeting, the committee passed two resolutions. Resolution#1 – MACs for …
How CEQA scuttles projects like Sprouts, even when it’s not about the environment
A half-empty Rite-Aid on Castro Valley Boulevard was about to be revitalized into a shopping center featuring a Sprouts grocery store. Now a law originally envisioned to protect California’s environment may scuttle the transformation of the eastern gateway to Castro Valley’s business district. Enacted in 1970, the California Environmental Quality …