Columnists

With the sad, slow decline of the Oakland Tribune as a newspaper of substance over the past several years, Oakland has begun to depend more heavily on the San Francisco Chronicle for coverage of city issues and events. With that dependence have come expressed concerns—jelling in the Jerry Brown years, escalating during the one year of the Ron Dellums administration—that Oakland is being “unfairly” covered, for want of a better word. -more-

Since the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, standards for accessible design have guided new construction and building retrofits. A plethora of products, from doors to bathroom fixtures, are especially designed with accessibility in mind. -more-

I owe a personal debt to Jenny Fleming, and so do you. Mine is perhaps more specific: Jenny was one of a group of people who saved my sanity after I crashed and burned out of nursing. -more-

I’m actually a very sensitive person. My feelings are easily hurt and I prefer to have an exchange of kind words: “I like you” is nice. On a good day someone might say “I like you, too.” Isn’t that nice. Then I wake up and realize, once again, that I’m a home inspector and no matter how I try to slice it, I have to criticize a few dozen things every day and, invariably, I’m going to have hurt someone’s feelings, made them angry or maybe a little scared. Well, at least I’m not in politics. -more-

In his remarkable March 18 speech, “A More Perfect Union,” Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama directly addressed the racial aspect of his campaign that, up until the preceding week, had largely been in the background. While the overt reason for the speech was the inflammatory remarks of Obama’s former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, it also responded to right wing hate messages recently picked up by the Clinton campaign, suggesting America isn’t ready for a black president. -more-

Mark your calendars: the annual spring surveys of endangered wildflowers at the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge are coming up. This year’s dates are April 9-10 for the Contra Costa wallflower and May 14-15 for the Antioch Dunes evening primrose. -more-