One of the more amusing trends of the past few days has been the reaction of Pamela Price, Sheng Thao and Nikki Bas to the startling news that Gov. Newsom has taken over the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.

While we’re all thrilled that Gov. Newsom is sending lawyers, guns and money to help Oakland fight crime, I find somewhat puzzling his depiction of this as “a partnership” between the California Department of Justice and D.A. Pamela Price, which is what it says in the Governor’s official press release.

We hear all the time how London Breed is working to pump some new life into downtown San Francisco. Pop-up stores, a new U.C. campus, an HBCU, switching offices to housing, maybe even a soccer stadium—you’ve got to hand it to Breed and her team for using their imaginations to do something that’s never been done before: reimagine downtown.

I thanked Gov. Newsom yesterday for the tremendous news that he’s sending 120 California Highway Patrol officers to help Oakland fight crime.

I finished reading “Hella Town,” Mitchell Schwarzer’s book on the history of Oakland development. For those of us who have lived in Oakland a long time and are familiar with most of its roads and neighborhoods, it provides a fascinating glimpse into how we got our physical infrastructure.