HEADING EAST: JULY 7, 2006

Today we decided to head out towards the ‘Deep East’; people have told us that that is anywhere past 70^th Ave. and International. If you want to go, it is open on Fridays, 10-2pm, April-December. Ave. down through to the edge of San Leandro. Farmers markets have been a good destination target for us, so we aimed for the East Oakland market at Faith Deliverance Church on 73^rd Ave. and International. If you want to go, it is open on Fridays, 10-2pm, April-December. Look here for a comprehensive listing of the East Bay's farmers' markets, large and small.

We found out about all of these markets from a new and interesting publication called Edible East Bay: “Edible East Bay is a quarterly newsletter that promotes the abundance of local foods in the East Bay area. We celebrate the family farmers, fishermen, fishmongers, food artisans, chefs, and other food-related businesses for their dedication to using the highest quality, fresh, seasonal foods.”

We planned for an early start and a long ride. It seems that as our project progresses, our rides are getting longer and longer! We ended up riding nearly thirty miles today. We started out, as usual, at City Hall.

As we were planning our route, a guy stopped to look at the kiosk and wanted to know what we were doing. As we explained, he kept nodding his head. Turns out he is a post-doc geographer and is working on various projects for Cal about how people use and understand public space. In his previous research, he has tracked the movements of the homeless, an often-invisible group of people who use public space. Jason is concerned with how to make cities livable and comfortable. He has lived in both West and East Oakland and he found both too noisy to be livable. His main gripes: cars with stereo systems so loud that they rattle apartment windows as they cruise by, and bullet holes in his apartment window. Now he lives in quiet Davis and his bike is his primary mode of transportation. He was very excited about the project and wanted to get involved, so he will be analyzing all of the data we have collected in our surveys. We are pleased to have Jason’s input and expertise.