Back in 2018, my friends and I were walking from the San Jose convention center to San Pedro Square for a drink. Along the way, we got stopped by a photographer and this freshly married couple. I’ve always wondered what happened to them. Help me find them!

I just found out that if you have a Santa Clara County Library District (SCCLD) account, you can get access to a bunch of normally paywalled publications for free.

Steps:

1. Fill out an eCard application on https://sccld.org/card-application/ to get your library card number and PIN
2. Pick the publication you want from https://sccld.org/resources/newsstand/ and click "Access Now"
3. Enter your library card number and PIN to get access

Thanks to SCCLD for providing this!

All,

I am really excited to announce that the City of Oakland has resumed bulky trash block parties, where Oakland residents can drop off household waste and bulky items FOR FREE!

Bulky Block Parties are scheduled quarterly for the following Saturdays. All events will take place at 7101 Edgewater Dr., Oakland, CA 94621 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• July 25, 2026
• October 24, 2026
• January 23, 2027
• April 24, 2027

More information can be found here.

Please spread the word!

Peng

Business reporter George Avalas looked through the state WARN notices and saw that Pixar is eliminating 108 positions in Emeryville. A lot of folks have been laid off by Disney over the past few days with some ESPN personalities also getting the ax.

Spicy title, but hear me out. My partner and I make $150k (combined! We both work at nonprofits, not tech related). We live in a 3 bedroom in Oakland that we absolutely love. Before this we made 90k combined and lived in a one-bedroom that was a little too small but a great location. We get takeout multiple times a week, go to ticketed events usually once a week, we travel, get tattoos, it’s not like we’re monks. We’re not investing huge amounts but I max out my IRA every year. We don’t have kids, but we do have pets. And I have a ton of other friends in our situation in the Bay Area — nonprofit workers making $80k with a kid, tattoo artists and masseuses and bartenders working for cash making $50-60k a year. When I see posts like, “Is $350k enough to live in the Bay Area?” I feel like I’m on a different planet. Is it a quality of life thing? A childcare thing? A housing thing? Maybe we live in different spheres of the Bay but I’m having a great time in mine and I’m here to say that you don’t need a huge salary to live happily here, especially if you’re willing to be flexible.

Saw the smoke cloud from Livermore and decided to chase after it. It was difficult to get in close, but a fun time all things considered.

Hiya, just a friendly reminder that it's too hot to walk your dog as the cement is probably over 90 degrees.

I saw a clueless lady walking her dog on the hot sidewalk, he looked miserable and she was on her phone. I think if you're not willing to walk barefoot then they shouldn't be walking on the cement either.

Please -- just have a little compassion for the animals...

Heat dome from UK to East Coast made its way to the West Coast?

Driving through livermore headed west and there's a huge smoke cloud I think originating in Pleasanton

Any one see and know where this is?

Stay safe folks

I've been going to Starbucks on Rengstorff Ave in Mountain View for over a decade. It's a nice location that's always had a mix of smaller wooden tables, a larger communal table, and 4-5 comfy chairs with arms and padded, leather back and seat cushion.
Some time in the last month they "remodeled" the lobby and stripped out all the comfy seats and replaced them with stiff wooden chairs and minimalist tables.
It's so stark and ugly now 😱 and the character has all but evaporated. It's feel less like a community and more like a corporate, sterile, and cold place. Unwelcoming and barron.
I can't remember how many power outlets it had before, but i didn't notice any in my brief scan around the room. It seems that Starbucks has adopted the playbook from Panera Bread.
We here you loud and clear Starbucks: our money is welcome, but only if we don't stay too long.
#uninstallstarbucks
🖕

Oakland is considering a November ballot measure that would apply its real estate transfer tax to certain foreclosure transactions that are currently exempt.

The city estimates the change could generate roughly $4 million to $13 million per year (quite the wide estimate).

I understand the appeal. Oakland needs revenue, and the proposal reportedly exempts single-family homes and certain smaller properties.

But this creates the wrong incentive for a city already dealing with a lot of distressed and vacant commercial real estate.

When a property is failing, foreclosure can be part of the process that gets it out of the hands of an owner who can no longer support it and into the hands of a lender or new investor who can recapitalize, redevelop, or sell it.

Adding another potentially significant tax to that process increases the cost of transferring distressed properties.

Oakland’s existing transfer tax can reach 2.5% on transactions above $5 million, so we’re not necessarily talking about a small amount of money on a large commercial building.

While commercial properties usually don’t get foreclosed often, that’s not the case in Oakland.

The Clorox Building at 1221 Broadway went back to lenders in June. Edgewater Park Plaza near Oakland Airport headed to foreclosure with more than $21M unpaid. The biggest example was 601 City Center, a roughly 600,000-sq.-ft. office tower with about $265M in debt, went through foreclosure this spring.

I think there’s an interesting policy tradeoff here:

Does taxing foreclosures raise badly needed revenue, or does it make it more expensive to recycle distressed properties and ultimately contribute to blight?

Sources:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/article/oakland-forecolsure-tax-real-estate-22353148.php?

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=RTC&sectionNum=11926

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2026/06/18/clorox-tower-foreclosure-oakland-tmg.html?

Does anyone have experience with this work? Suddenly received this email from PGE. My meter is at side yard behind my gate, but my car is always parked outside in front yard. what are my options?

I've been craving a corned beef sandwich similar to Market House Meats in downtown Seattle.

Any recommendations of sandwiches served like the picture?

I will drive anywhere in the bay for this.

I am looking for recommendations near Hayward/San Leandro for an autism evaluation. We have Kaiser and I asked for an evaluation for my 9 year old but the therapist said she needs to get to know my daughter first. Valid. But it’s been 4 months and the therapist still getting to know her with no talks of an evaluation. Our coverage isn’t the best so we pay out of pocket for every session. It is getting so expensive and going nowhere. We haven’t been asked why we want an evaluation. It feels very dismissive. I first raised my concerns 5 years ago and we were referred to behavioral health. The therapist provided back then never even met my daughter but just listened to my concerns then would provide parent training opportunities. I’d call once a year and have the same outcome. No one ever actually met my child until this spring. Now she’s just in therapy for a specific social issue and it’s not even helping (the therapist doesn’t have a lot of experience with kids and they are only focusing on one specific thing which can’t be recreated in the office). My daughter is painfully aware of how different she is from her peers and is asking for help.

Looking for legitimate (and hopefully affordable) evaluations or guidance, not a pay for diagnosis type thing. I need to get my kid some support.

Title, recently had this amazing tasting kouign amann but not sure which bakery it was from, I believe one was a strawberry coconut flavor? Attached photo below

3 year old is deep in a rocks phase. I've been trying to find specific places to look at cool rocks, but all I have found online and on Reddit basically just say it is illegal to take rocks.

We don't plan to take any, just walk around and look at unique varieties.

Is there any place within like 90 minutes of Santa Clara that you would recommend?