Stories you shouldn’t miss:

1. In a landmark ruling for medical marijuana in California, a federal appeals court ordered the US Department of Justice to leave permitted pot dispensaries alone in the state, the Chron reports. In a 2-1 decision, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that the DOJ has been violating a 2014 federal law that ordered the agency to stop using taxpayer dollars to go after medical weed dispensaries that are in compliance with local and state rules. The decision stemmed from a case involving a legal medical pot club in Marin County, but it’s expected to also apply to the DOJ’s efforts to close Harborside Health Center in Oakland. The DOJ may appeal the ruling to the full Ninth Circuit or the US Supreme Court.

2. Oakland Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan and Desley Brooks are pushing to allocate $1 million to beef up enforcement on landlords who are violating the city’s tenants’ rights laws and businesses that are failing to pay the new $12.25 an hour minimum wage, the Chron reports. Kaplan and Brooks say the city doesn’t have the capacity to enforce the ordinances; the full council is set to vote on their proposal tonight. A portion of the $1 million would also go to clean up blight and to provide loans to low-income renters and homeowners.

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3. A federal appeals court ruled that an immigration law that allows the federal government to deport noncitizens who are convicted of nonviolent felonies is unconstitutional, the Chron reports. In a 2-1 decision, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law illegally requires immigration judges to determine whether noncitizens convicted of crimes in which no one was hurt still pose a “substantial risk” of committing violence.

4. Activists, artists, musicians, and religious leaders gathered in downtown Oakland last night for the Rally to Defend Oakland Culture, the Chron$ reports. Activists rallied against gentrification and recent complaints filed against Black drummers at Lake Merritt and Black churches in West Oakland.

5. Berkeley Councilmember Jesse Arreguin is running for mayor next year, the Trib$ reports. Arreguin’s decision was revealed on his Facebook page. He will likely square off against fellow Councilmember Laurie Capitelli in the race to replace Mayor Tom Bates, who is retiring.

6. The National Football League announced that it will hold a town hall meeting on October 29 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland concerning the Raiders’ possible move to Los Angeles and the team’s efforts to build a new stadium at the Oakland Coliseum, the Bay Area News Group$ reports. The NFL will also hold town hall meetings in St Louis and San Diego — two other cities that also may lose their football teams to Los Angeles.

7. And the East Bay city of San Ramon has been rocked by swarm of about 200 small earthquakes in the past week, the Chron reports. The largest temblor in the swarm registered at 3.5 magnitude. 

Oakland and Richmond are on track to receive more than $15 million in funds dedicated to making the streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians. The funding comes from the Active Transportation Program (ATP), which doles out state and federal money for transportation projects across California. As part of a competitive grant process, staff from the California Transportation Commission and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (the Bay Area transit agency) recently announced that they have selected proposals to build a revamped pedestrian-friendly street in Richmond and to redesign two busy roads in Oakland. 

The state transportation commission selected a roughly $6.2 million project in Richmond to boost bike and pedestrian paths in the city’s Iron Triangle neighborhood with a “yellow brick road” design. The commission also chose in its recent recommendations a $4.5 million project to redesign a section of 20th Street in Oakland near Lake Merritt. And the Metropolitan Transportation Commission recommended (PDF) providing $4.9 million for the long-awaited redesign of Telegraph Avenue between 20th and 41st streets.
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The ATP funding goes out in three rounds: approximately $180 million for projects across the state, $35 million for small urban and rural areas, and region-specific money that includes a $30 million pot for the MTC Bay Area region. After the initial recommendations, the Richmond and Oakland 20th Street project must get final approval at the California Transportation Commission meeting this week (October 21-22). And the MTC recommendation for Oakland’s Telegraph project requires final approval on October 28. In their recommendations for the 2015 grant cycle, the commissions selected a total of 124 proposals out of 617 total applications, requesting a total of more than $1 billion.

See Also: 
Top Ten Bike Projects Coming to Oakland
Oakland Considers Adding Bikeways on Grand Avenue

The City of Richmond initially received a Caltrans planning grant in 2012 for its “yellow brick road” project and tested it last year. The Iron Triangle neighborhood has high rates of low-income residents and has suffered from a prevalence of violent crime and health problems, according to a report prepared on the brick road project. The idea originally came from a group of Richmond youth in 2008, and has since been incorporated into the city’s official pedestrian plan. In addition to a yellow-brick design on sidewalks, the project features measures aimed at slowing car traffic, such as raised crosswalks, as well as public art, trees, benches, and other streetscape improvements. 

Two out of four Oakland proposals were successful in this round of ATP grants. On Telegraph, the city is installing the city’s first-ever “cycle track,” meaning a protected bike path that is separated from vehicle traffic by a lane of parking. This project has been in the works since 2013 and is aimed to spur business and increase bike and pedestrian safety. 

In the other Oakland project that received commission support, the $4.5 million will support a proposal to install cycle tracks, wider sidewalks, and “boarding islands” for public transit on 20th Street, between the 19th Street BART station and Lake Merritt. “If you know that area very well, it’s kind of 1950s era design that really makes movements for cars easy but makes movement for pedestrians more difficult,” said Bruce Williams, Oakland’s transportation funding manager. Both Oakland projects are located on streets listed as priorities on the city’s Bicycle Master Plan.

The state transportation commission also selected an $850,000 Berkeley proposal to extend its 9th Street bicycle boulevard.

At its upcoming meeting on Wednesday, October 21, the Oakland Planning Commission will consider rule changes that could encourage homeowners to build secondary housing units, mainly in the form of small backyard cottages. The new rules could spur the construction of hundreds, or even thousands of new homes across the city, many of them near BART stations and within walking distance of AC Transit rapid bus stops, creating both affordable and green housing options.

The proposal is similar to rules that Berkeley adopted in March. The Oakland City Council must ultimately approve any changes the planning commission recommends.

But if passed, the new rules would allow Oakland homeowners to build structures of up to 750 square feet, or up to 75 percent the size of the lot’s primary structure, whichever is less. Backyard cottages could have roofs as high as 14 feet at the peak, and ten feet at the eaves. The could be fully equipped with kitchens, bathrooms, and appliances.


[jump] Accessory units would have to be set back at least four feet from the property line, but if the new structure will replace an existing structure that is already up against a property line, no setback would be required.

And finally the proposed new rules would ease parking requirements by allowing homeowners within one-quarter mile of BART stations or bus rapid transit lines to build secondary units without having to also provide parking spaces.

Homeowners have complained to Oakland’s planning and building department for years that the rules are so restrictive as to stifle the addition of secondary units. Dorothy Wall, a North Oakland homeowner of 24 years, wrote the planning and building department in April of this year urging reform.

“While Oakland currently allows secondary unit possibilities, the code requirements are so restrictive that a legal accessory dwelling unit (ADU) is often not doable,” wrote Wall. “I encourage Oakland to follow Berkeley’s lead in code changes, recognizing the tremendous benefits ADU’s provide, in terms of infill, densification, aging in place, and family flexibility, all while preserving neighborhood character.”