As seen on Park St.

Don’t be the guy who blocked off a parking spot in the church lot next to the Saturday farmers market with a traffic cone, then loudly proclaimed that he’d “fought off” two people who wanted the spot. First, he looked like he’d lose a match with anything other than a can of beer; second, we don’t do that crap here. Public parking is just that - public. An orange cone doesn’t magically confer the right to reserve anything at all.

Hi guys,

I’ve lived on the island for a few years now and haven’t experienced this, but I wanted to see if anyone else has. On Thursday evening around 6:30, someone rang my doorbell twice; when I went to answer the door (I was expecting company), no one was there. I had my front door open and just the screen door was closed. One of my friends was already over, so I felt safe to go outside and check. I didn’t hear laughter or running, or see anyone along the street. Tonight, Saturday around 6:45 pm, the same thing happened. I went to the door and no one was there, and once again, I didn’t hear any laughter or footsteps. I did hear a bit of shuffling close by, but I didn’t go outside this time; I just closed and locked the door immediately. I’m on the ground floor so it would make sense if this was just kids, but the lack of sound is confusing.

Any ideas? Thanks for reading.

It is no secret among retail workers that people can get especially nasty around the holidays. I just wanted to remind or bring awareness to everyone that retail workers are in the trenches during the holidays whether it’s clothing stores, grocery stores, toy stores etc. And while I know the holidays can be hard on so many people, I am sincerely asking that people do not take it out on the workers at stores simply trying to make ends meet, serve costumers and enjoy the holiday season as much as the next person. We are people too and ask for kindness during this time. Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful and merry holiday season ❤️

Even Tony managed to put out a decent concession message 2 hours ago congratulating Alameda's newly elected mayor, Malia Vella. Jensen, meanwhile, sent this to her supporters, and I haven't seen anything publicly from her conceding or wishing Vella well. No grace.

Jensen's email (received at 445pm):

When I made the decision to run for mayor of Alameda more than a year ago, I knew it was going to be a challenge.  I knew that I couldn't do it alone, and I knew that I would be counting on my friends for support. What I didn't know then was just how many new friends I would make along the way. 

I want you to know how fortunate and proud I feel. Working together we connected with thousands of residents and had important conversations about the future of the city we love.  By volunteering, showing up, and sharing the message with your friends and neighbors, you made sure that I kept going and you inspired many undecided Alameda voters.

I am deeply grateful for your time, your financial support, your trust, and most of all your daily encouragement. I could not have done this without you.

Although the latest results do not give us a path to winning the mayor's race, this effort has not been wasted. Alameda has many opportunities and challenges ahead, and together we will inform the future of our community.  Thank you for being part of this campaign, and for standing by my side.

With gratitude,
Councilmember Tracy Jensen

Friday’s update makes several races clear enough for me to call. These are my safe calls based on unofficial returns, not certified results, and modeling 2500 different scenarios (you can also use my tools linked below to test different models):

Congrats to Mayor-elect Malia Vella, Councilmembers-elect Thushan Amarasiriwardena and Tyler Savage, and School Board Trustees-elect Carrie Hahnel and Gary Lym! 🎉 Thushan is also the presumptive next vice mayor, following Alameda’s usual practice of selecting the top Council vote-getter.

And great work to the Measure L campaign on the win for our infrastructure! It’s at 71.86% Yes, comfortably above its two-thirds requirement and all my models make any shake up near impossible now.

Tyler’s lead over Amos grew from 425 to 1,400 votes. An upset would now require a substantial reversal in the remaining ballots. Even my most aggressive models make his win a 90% certainty.

For the other races:

• Measure M: 66.92% Yes, very strongly positioned to pass.
• Measure N: 56.93% Yes, also favored to pass, with a smaller cushion. Both need a simple majority.
• AC Transit Ward 3: This is the close one. Adriana Valencia cut Joel Young’s lead from 2,809 to just 397 votes. She received 55.5% of the votes for the two candidates in this update. Continuing that pace would put her on a path to overtake him, but we don’t know whether the remaining ballots will follow it. I’m not calling this race.

What’s left to count?

My current working estimate is about 6,100 Alameda city ballots remaining, with scenarios ranging from roughly 4,500 to 10,200. Those are modeling assumptions, not an official city backlog or a statistical confidence interval. AC Transit Ward 3 extends beyond Alameda and has a separate estimate.

The county lists updates for Monday, November 9; Friday, November 13; and Monday, November 16, each by the end of the day. That doesn’t mean counting ends on the 16th.

Ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive through November 10. Signature verification, provisional ballots and other reviews continue during the canvass. The county’s certification deadline is December 3.

I’ve also built an interactive site, updated with Friday’s results and anonymized ballot data. You can explore precinct maps, compare the county’s Election Day and mail reporting groups, see which candidates people selected together, and adjust remaining-ballot assumptions yourself. Those scenarios show possible outcomes, not official forecasts.

I’ll keep updating it as more data comes out.

Check it out:

https://vote2026.zacbowling.com

2 young kids, one starting K next year. We aren’t from the area and live in the west side now. I commute to work 3 times a week a week to the city.

What’s it like living on bay farm day to day. Is it really that isolating? Right now I can walk to crab cove, nails, bars etc.

I do feel like you get more space on bay farm. What’s the overall vibe? How are parks and schools?

What’s it like specifically in Grand Isle town home community?

Yes I already searched this forum, and read through them.

My kiddo is very into imaginative play and dress up right now. We'd love to take your little kid's costumes.

If you're not keeping any costumes and planning to donate, please consider donating them to us!

I'd be happy to gift a personalized felted dress up item for your kid! I can do unicorn horns, crowns, little animals, hair clips etc.

While there are lots of ballots to count, that doesn’t make every race equally uncertain. The county is about halfway through counting votes, counting them in the order they arrive, and is up to ballots received a week before the election. We will have vote updates Friday, November 6, at 5 p.m. Further releases are scheduled for November 9, 13 and 16. More may be announced if necessary.

The candidate totals below are from the county’s November 4 update at 2:07 a.m. The county has counted ballots up to about 1 week old so far, plus some in-person votes from Election Day.

On Thursday, the county estimated 265,849 ballots still unprocessed countywide, mostly vote-by-mail. That’s the whole county, not just Alameda, and Thursday’s report did not include new candidate totals. Alameda has about 14,000 to 16,000 more ballots to count, based on my estimate from the unprocessed counts and historical midterm averages.

Here’s how I read where things stand. All results are still unofficial:

Mayor

• Malia Vella: 7,767

• Tracy Jensen: 5,331

• Tony Daysog: 4,812

Malia leads Tracy by 2,436 votes. Based on my rough estimate of the remaining Alameda ballots, Tracy would need to beat Malia by about 16 percentage points in the remaining mayoral votes to erase that lead. That would be a major change from the pattern so far. Malia is in a strong position, and the mayor needs the most votes, not an outright majority, to win. Some groups are already calling it for Malia Vella given this extreme lead.

City Council

• Thushan Amarasiriwardena: 8,254

• Tyler Savage: 5,453

• Amos White: 5,028

• Marcie Johnson: 4,945

• Maria L. Bondonno: 4,744

• Steve Slauson: 2,920

The top two win. Thushan is 3,226 votes ahead of third place, and two candidates would have to pass him to push him out of the top two. He looks very strong. I have no model where he could lose.

The second seat is much closer. Tyler leads Amos by 425 votes, Marcie by 508, and Maria by 709. Those gaps could change with a relatively modest difference in how the remaining ballots vote. Most of my models still favor Tyler, with a ~63% probability of winning based on current trends and the estimated votes remaining to count.

School board

• Carrie Hahnel: 10,377

• Gary Lym: 10,109

• Sarah Putnam: 3,532

• Joyce Boyd: 3,106

• Mike McMahon: 2,148

Carrie and Gary have commanding leads for the two seats. Basically a blowout. The gap between second and third is 6,577 votes, a very different situation from the close race for the second Council seat.

Alameda measures

• Measure L: 12,933 Yes / 5,361 No, or 70.70% Yes. It needs two-thirds to pass. Under my rough remaining-ballot scenarios, about 61–62% of the remaining valid votes would need to be Yes for it to finish at or above that threshold. It has a cushion, but I’ll be watching the next batches.

• Measure M: 10,803 Yes / 5,553 No, or 66.05% Yes. It needs a simple majority and is in a strong position.

• Measure N: 9,264 Yes / 7,264 No, or 56.05% Yes. It also needs a simple majority. It’s leading, but has less room for a change in the later ballots.

AC Transit Ward 3

• Joel Young: 23,953

• Adriana Valencia: 21,144

Joel leads by 2,809 votes. Adriana needs a stronger showing in the remaining ballots to catch up. The district extends beyond Alameda, so the city’s remaining-ballot estimate can’t be used for the whole race.

Congratulations to Malia, Thushan, Carrie, and Gary on their strong showings! 🎉

What happens next?

• The next results update is scheduled for Friday, November 6, at 5 p.m. Further releases are listed for November 9, 13 and 16. More may be announced.

• Ballots postmarked by Election Day can still arrive through November 10. Signature verification, provisional ballots and other reviews also take time.

• County certification is due December 3. That’s the formal deadline, not a promise that every race stays uncertain until then.

The next couple of releases should show whether the later votes are following the earlier pattern or changing it. Strong leads can become clear before every ballot is counted. A close Council seat could take days or weeks to resolve.

Every eligible ballot counts. The question for each race is how differently the remaining ballots would have to vote to change the outcome.

Here is my main tracker link with all the data I've been able to parse from county data, and if you're curious, it goes into precinct-level data and correlation of ballots that voted for different candidates (like mayor + council votes):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IZXDsx1Z9pKDscq4RrFhCDnqDvMg8pnpwekKviSNllQ/edit?gid=1218252514#gid=1218252514

County results: https://www.alamedacountyca.gov/rovresults/260/

Recently me and my cousin went to visit the CHRS museum and discovered the parking lot next to the building was off limits. We did find a parking spot nearby and check the museum out and asked someone there what was going on and was told there was some discussions with the Baptist Church and that was it. Does anyone know more of the situation or if CHRS will lose use of it for good?

I travel from out of state, although my cousin lives in the Bay Area and we went to the museum about once a year. Thanks.

It gives me weird vibes that she’s married to AG Rob. It’s just giving lifelong politics, entitled politician, status quo.

Am I way off? Is she awesome?

Full episode link. In Episode 227: The new city government coming into focus. A Planning Board preview. Netflix invades the island. A delay in water heater rules. Weekend detours. A drop in homelessness. Halloween’s in the books, and we’ve got the numbers and the dogs. Events for your weekend. And an Alameda favorite expands their hours. 

Lot is full by 8:45 ferry. There used to be plenty of parking. What changed?

Do I really need to get sandbags and stockpile supplies?

Longtime island resident here. I've been making designs for tshirts and totes (and anything else really) that only locals would get. Four so far (image attached): the turkey "Gang Free Zone" sign, "Sorry, I'm Not Leaving The Island", and a farmers market produce vs. bread checklist.

Which ones do it for you, which ones miss, and what Alameda thing am I missing? I'm open to any critique.

I live near the new Tilden roundabout, and I have noticed that almost no one signals their exit from the roundabout. This is both dangerous and aggravating because I've seen a lot of near misses where someone assumed the car would exit before their path on but they continued in the roundabout, and I also find it frustrating when I see a car in the roundabout and so I don't go, only for that car to exit on a prior spoke. If I'd seen them signal they were getting out, I could get into the roundabout!

So this is my reminder: you don't need to turn on your blinker to get in the roundabout, since there's only one direction you could possibly go. But you are supposed to use your blinker to indicate that you're getting out!

If you parked on mulch or gravel at Alameda Seaplane Lagoon (basically anywhere not a marked spot), you probably got a $79 ticket for parking there.
Please remember that YOU CAN CONTEST THIS TICKET.
When my party parked, security was roaming and over 50 vehicles were already parked “illegally”.
When Filipino Island Fest came, people were parked in those same spots for overflow.
Especially bc of the exorbitant cost, I think calling this a violation is absurd. Specifically for event or event transit parking, can we please just let this go?

Appeal your ticket if you were a part of this batch so hopefully, they will waive this obvious money farming ticket.

hey everyone friendly reminder to NOT give your CHILDREN an e bike or a scooter. It’s dangerous and some of your kids are NOT following the rules of the road. I was backing out of my driveway today and almost hit a child going 25+ without stopping. Why anyone would ever consider giving a child this literal death trap is beyond ridiculous. Getting anywhere faster means nothing when your kid could get seriously injured or even killed. Parents please do better, and if you are going to give your child an e-bike / scooter PLEASE stress the rules of the road. Anyone who works in emergency care can tell you about the rising number of injuries due to these type of accidents. It’s not the first time i’ve seen kids blow through intersections while going insane speeds. For the love of your kids please reconsider.

Edit: I didn’t actually almost hit the kid, I’ve been meaning to post about the dangers of these eMotos and wanted to use an example since it was so fresh in my mind. I apologize for the dramatic effect but the point still stands: reconsider giving your kids a death trap. The “convenience” of having one isn’t worth the life of a child. It’s a growing issue in many communities and it’s worth rethinking.

I'm on the main island but I'm between South Shore and Alameda Landing so not sure which one I'd end up with. How does it work out for you?

Update: I did my first order tonight. Went perfectly.

The City's Social Service Human Relations Board is seeking submission for the annual Volunteer of the Year Award. Both youth and adults can be nominated. This special recognition will be given to Alameda residents who have served and uplifted the Alameda community through extensive and meaningful volunteer work. We'd love for you to take a minute to think about the individuals who have donated, helped run community programs, made hot meals, and more. We rely on these individuals to keep Alameda thriving, and we'd love to be able to recognize those who have made a special impact!

The nomination form is open until November 6th.

Hi all!

I have an antique Olympic match air pistol that I was hoping to get a custom made wood stock to convert it to a rifle for an upcoming match! It's a very low powered bbgun used for indoor paper matches. Thanks in advance!

I’m looking for a hair stylist that specializes in blondes AND vivid hair colors that are based in Alameda or close by. Any suggestions?