Bits and pieces, bits and pieces

After last week’s horrific display of my lack of facility with the English language (see “Errata”), I’ve decided to stick with the discount words. And so I bring you all the dust bunnies that have collected in my brain over the last week, in a feature that, at least this time around, will be called Bits and Pieces. Without further ado:

Bikes! Looks like the city has some money to do more work around the Bay Farm Island Bicycle Bridge (which, if you’re new to this, is the only drawbridge for pedestrians and bikes only in the whole country). This time they’re looking at improving southbound access from Fernside Boulevard by building a two-way bike path in one lane of Fernside, from south of the Aeolian Yacht Club to the intersection of Fernside and San Jose. The city’s hoping the path will help increase the number of bicycle commuters and make it easier for Lincoln Middle students to bike to school. The Transportation Commission will discuss it at 7:30 p.m. tonight at City Hall; you can get the info here. The project is slated to be built this summer, and the state is picking up most of the estimated $632,200 tab.

Trees! Sometimes I just have to pinch myself and say, Dorothy, you’re not in San Francisco anymore. This is the suburbs, baby! And we have trees. In fact, we have a master tree plan. It hasn’t been updated in almost two decades, so the city is doing an update now. If you’ve got something to say about Alameda’s trees, you can attend one of the public hearings the city is holding on its plan. There’s one Thursday night from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the main library. That one’s just about the liquidambars (say what?). You can get more information on the meetings here.

Adios, cheap cable? Well, fellow Alamedans, it’s looking like we may have to kiss our cheap cable service goodbye. Alameda Power & Telecom general manager Girish Balachandran confirmed to the Chronicle’s Chip Johnson on Tuesday that its telecom service may soon be for sale. (Is that why the city and AP&T appear to be negotiating the sale of easements and an AP&T building?) No matter how this all shakes out, it’s looking likely that this cheap cable is gonna cost all of us in the end, because even though the cable service broke even last year, it is mired in debt. The city owes $33 million next year on the original construction bond, Johnson reports; its entire annual budget is around $80 million.

School closures? Well, looks like the Journal reported Tuesday that the school district is considering closing schools to help it maintain long-term financial stability, regardless of how the parcel tax vote and the state budget negotiations pan out. But close readers of The Island might note that we had the same item – a few weeks ago. If you missed our take on this, you can catch it here.