(mon-thurs)

lol ya you’d think I’d already been doing this, but usually I get lazy once or twice a week and take BART instead.

I’ve also been feeling calmer and more content(?) this week. maybe because i’ve started doing yoga again recently? or the bicycling to work? or other factors..

anyway, happy friday!

There’s a Community Design Workshop for Latham Square Plaza tomorrow (saturday) afternoon 12-4pm—the little corner where Telegraph Ave. and Broadway split off in Downtown Oakland; I didn’t even know there was a name of it. it’s for a pilot project to reclaim pedestrian/public space.

after that in SF is the Chinese New Year parade! 5:15-8pm. you can get off BART at montgomery and follow the route from there. “One million expected to attend” (22.02.13). I don’t remember ever going to the CNY parade in SF although my mom says i’ve been once when I was little, so i’m kinda excited. :D tong yun fuw!

DNA tests reveal ‘natural’ remedies are anything but.

A recent study by researchers at Murdoch University in Australia investigated medicines seized at the Australian border and revealed some scary results: Of the 15 medicines they examined, some medicines failed to list ingredients entirely, while others listed illegal or carcinogenic ingredients.

takepart, 19.04.12.
via food inc. 

glad I have been a very ABC kid and refused to eat bitter traditional chinese medicine.

The push comes as Oakland Chinatown, like Chinatowns around the country, is undergoing a prolonged recession. There are vacant storefronts, a historical anomaly. The district’s most prominent restaurant, the three-story Silver Dragon that was a destination for weddings and banquets, closed in February. Business is down sharply for many others.

The salvation many see comes foremost in the form of a 25-year plan to develop the area within a half-mile of the Lake Merritt BART Station, on the southeastern edge of the Chinatown district. BART wants to develop some of its properties around the station, and buildings of up to 38 stories are being discussed — an unprecedented height for Oakland.

The new development is being envisioned as a mix of commercial and residential uses..

sfgate, 15.04.12.

HMMM… so much upscaling/”gentrification” in the works..

maintain street cred by moving to west or east oakland??

a photo I took in 2006, across from Lincoln Park & Elementary School (which got remodeled/renovated a couple years ago) on 10th st, nearing the south edge of Chinatown.

In Oakland, after all, the Webster Tube to Alameda, Interstate 880, the Oakland Museum, Laney College and the Lake Merritt BART Station all exist due to land taken from Chinatown, they say. All were installed at the price of forcing out Chinatown residents and businesses who helped give the area its tradition and flavor, critics say.

didn’t know that!