Barbara Lee is urging voters to approve Measure E, the latest ballot proposition to impose even higher taxes on Oakland homeowners.

When Gavin Newsom was mayor of San Francisco, he famously married gay people. Pundits predicted it was tremendously risky to his political future (since everyone knew he wasn’t content with being just mayor). It may have helped him locally, but in terms of his statewide (or national) ambitions, many felt Newsom had just forfeited his political chances.

In any balanced, rational world, the City of Oakland would comprise Silicon Valley’s northern boundary. Oakland is right in the geographic center of the Bay Area. Of the entire nine-county region Oakland has the best network of freeways, rail lines, shipping ports, bridges, public transit, and every sort of infrastructure. Access to U.C. Berkeley is a top draw for tech companies, as Stanford was in the early days of Silicon Valley.

Headline, S.F. Chronicle, May 11: “Oakland tops list for home value loss”

It was just a little booklet in my little free library box but the title intrigued me: “Working Together to End Racism.”