Timothy Gardner

occasional ranter about social ills

[Mayor Matt Mahan @MattMahanSJ]

Thank you, Oakland!

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

People get high on abstraction too early. They want the system before they’ve earned the insight.

But the good abstractions are never designed. They’re discovered. You do the stupid manual thing enough times and the real bottleneck just emerges. Your initial agency might be driven by a hunch you had in the shower, but that moment won’t get you all the way to making something people want. The right way to make anything is forced on you by reality: what are the real jobs to be done? And what sequence?

This is why “do things that don’t scale” still hits, especially now when AI makes it trivially easy to scale things that probably shouldn’t be scaled yet. PG’s point was never about suffering. It was about contact. When you’re the one manually doing the loop, you see the edge cases. The weird user behavior. The failure modes nobody designed for. The hidden dependencies that only show up at 2am when some flow or intermediate step breaks in a way you didn’t anticipate. If you automate before you have that contact, you just scale your misunderstanding faster.

When the machines can help you vibe code perfection it gives you a false sense of power. I love that feeling as much as you do. But fuck perfection. Do it live. Be the loop.

Feel every friction point. Notice what’s actually true every single time versus what just looked true because you hadn’t seen enough cases yet. Formalize that. Build the recursive version. Then keep checking that your abstraction is still attached to real humans and their needs. Because reality drifts. Your users drift. The ground truth changes under you. You may think you understand but no plan survives contact with the real users and what they want. You find those body blows in analytics and user feedback and we call them the roadmap.

Humans left with not enough data hallucinate too. But just like the LLMs with enough data you unlock real transcendence. Real utility. Prosperity for humans in real life.

The abstraction is a tool, not a destination. The moment you forget that, you’re cooked.

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

Last quarter I rolled out Microsoft Copilot to 4,000 employees.

$30 per seat per month.

$1.4 million annually.

I called it "digital transformation."

The board loved that phrase.

They approved it in eleven minutes.

No one asked what it would actually do.

Including me.

I told everyone it would "10x productivity."

That's not a real number.

But it sounds like one.

HR asked how we'd measure the 10x.

I said we'd "leverage analytics dashboards."

They stopped asking.

Three months later I checked the usage reports.

47 people had opened it.

12 had used it more than once.

One of them was me.

I used it to summarize an email I could have read in 30 seconds.

It took 45 seconds.

Plus the time it took to fix the hallucinations.

But I called it a "pilot success."

Success means the pilot didn't visibly fail.

The CFO asked about ROI.

I showed him a graph.

The graph went up and to the right.

It measured "AI enablement."

I made that metric up.

He nodded approvingly.

We're "AI-enabled" now.

I don't know what that means.

But it's in our investor deck.

A senior developer asked why we didn't use Claude or ChatGPT.

I said we needed "enterprise-grade security."

He asked what that meant.

I said "compliance."

He asked which compliance.

I said "all of them."

He looked skeptical.

I scheduled him for a "career development conversation."

He stopped asking questions.

Microsoft sent a case study team.

They wanted to feature us as a success story.

I told them we "saved 40,000 hours."

I calculated that number by multiplying employees by a number I made up.

They didn't verify it.

They never do.

Now we're on Microsoft's website.

"Global enterprise achieves 40,000 hours of productivity gains with Copilot."

The CEO shared it on LinkedIn.

He got 3,000 likes.

He's never used Copilot.

None of the executives have.

We have an exemption.

"Strategic focus requires minimal digital distraction."

I wrote that policy.

The licenses renew next month.

I'm requesting an expansion.

5,000 more seats.

We haven't used the first 4,000.

But this time we'll "drive adoption."

Adoption means mandatory training.

Training means a 45-minute webinar no one watches.

But completion will be tracked.

Completion is a metric.

Metrics go in dashboards.

Dashboards go in board presentations.

Board presentations get me promoted.

I'll be SVP by Q3.

I still don't know what Copilot does.

But I know what it's for.

It's for showing we're "investing in AI."

Investment means spending.

Spending means commitment.

Commitment means we're serious about the future.

The future is whatever I say it is.

As long as the graph goes up and to the right.

[Oakland Report @oaklandreportca]

We have a big announcement: we are bringing on a managing director to help move our coverage, and the value you get out of it, forward. Read more about it and hear from the newest member of Oakland Report here:

https://t.co/WixQNPr002

[Karen Vaites @karenvaites]

“In 2002, students in Mississippi were two years behind students in Maine. Today, they are about a year ahead.

Don’t you want to know how that happened? Me too.”

Fantastic piece by Tim Daly on Mississippi (which also touches on its ‘Southern Surge’ peers):

[Oakland Report @oaklandreportca]

East Oakland tends to be a more conservative electoral block, and it might have the power to reshape Oakland politics as we know it, if it turned out in force at the polls.
https://t.co/vysbdMweEb

But East Oakland had a disproportionately low influence due very low voter turnout, but slightly favored Lee. West Oakland/Temescal and district 4 dominated voter turnout, but favored opposing candidates.

[Moore On The Street @Chris_Moore4Sup]

1/7
🚨 ALAMEDA COUNTY ELECTION CONCERNS: Citizen observers have witnessed serious issues with Alameda County’s vote-by-mail process during the April 2025 special election. These problems demand urgent attention. 🧵

[Timothy Gardner @tgardner44]

RT @oaklandreportca: Oakland releases the police staffing study performed by PFM consultants. Police staffing has falling 19% since 2021 an…

[ABC7 News @abc7newsbayarea]

In Oakland, Chinatown merchants are raising the alarm after many are being hit with thousands of dollars in fines for graffiti on their properties. https://t.co/AJV6PJEegH https://t.co/AJV6PJEegH

[Oakland Report @oaklandreportca]

Oakland paid $310,000 for a year-long analysis of OPD staffing needs. It found 805 officers were needed -- 205 more than currently authorized. But now the city is withholding the report from the public while the budget is being determined. https://t.co/LyhwB2bOte

[Oakland Report @oaklandreportca]

Oakland Police Chief says officers don't do their jobs because they fear being punished for it.

Oakland's federal monitor has instituted a culture of investigation and punishment during 20 years of continuous oversight. Currently, there is no end in sight.

Oakland residents pay for it with elevated crime and excess costs.

https://t.co/Qo0OOnALUM

[Mayor Matt Mahan @MattMahanSJ]

If we aren’t making progress, we shouldn’t be getting pay raises. Tune in at 11:45AM to learn more.
https://t.co/3DV2dp5Tt0

[Oakland Report @oaklandreportca]

Ideas for solving Oakland's budget problems? Join the chat. Members of the Oakland Budget Advisory Committee are viewing the chatroom as input to their review and recommendations.
https://t.co/lXfGK9adzu

[Oakland Police Dept. @oaklandpoliceca]

One year ago, we lost OPD Ofc. Tuan Le, a dedicated public servant who devoted his life to protecting and serving our community. His courage, commitment, and compassion still inspire us all.

Today, we honor and remember his legacy of service and sacrifice for Oakland and OPD.

[Club Shay Shay @ClubShayShay]

“They just lost an In-N-Out. The very first In-N-Out to ever close. A lot of that is attested to the crime; a lot of that is attested to the overpopulated drug use that’s out there. … They have started, in my opinion, indoctrinated it into the culture.” - Keith Lee

[Timothy Gardner @tgardner44]

@IDoTheThinking @IDoTheThinking Could you also post the same (excellent) maps for the AlCo District 5 Supervisors race?

[Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte (Ret.) @ForteHarbin]

Do You Think The City And Our Councilmembers And Other Elected Officials Know They Can All Be Held Liable To The Coal Developers For Interference With The Contract To Develop The Coal Terminal? (Yes this is a long post!)

The Kentucky Bankruptcy Court’s November 21, 2024 order denying Oakland’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Insight Terminal Solutions, LLC (ITS) for the City’s alleged obstruction of the coal terminal development, which seeks $1 BILLION in damages, should strike fear in the hearts of all of Oakland’s elected officials, and all of us taxpayers as well.

Those who have bowed to the bullying of the No Coal in Oakland coalition and have continued to pursue the meritless claim that Oakland is not obligated to allow coal to be shipped through Oakland have exposed the city and elected officials to an unimaginable amount of damages. The No Coal people won’t have to worry about paying these damages because many of them don’t even live in Oakland or pay taxes here.

The Bankruptcy Court pointed out what other courts have already found in numerous rulings against Oakland: that the coal developers had a vested contractual right to develop and operate a coal terminal, and that the City’s ordinance and resolution purporting to undo the contract and ground lease were both void.

The court also found that the City has been acting in bad faith and engaging in misconduct by refusing to honor its obligations under the development agreement and ground lease, despite court rulings against the City.

On pages 15-16 of its order, the Court found that ITS “meets the pleading requirements to state claims against the City for tortious interference with prospective economic advantage and tortious interference with contract.”

The Mayor and City Councilmembers and other elected officials should be very concerned that ITS has viable claims against the City. The Court pointed out that “California’s Tort Claims Act authorizes governmental liability for tortious injuries suffered because of the acts or omissions of public entities or their employees”; that Government Code “section 815.2 imposes vicarious liability upon public entities for the tortious acts and omissions of their employees, including elected officials”; and that “California law mandates that a ‘public entity and its employees [may] be held liable for intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and trade libel.’ ”

I have never understood why the various mayors and councilmembers have been giving the City Attorney’s office and the No Coal people a blank check over the years to continue to spend millions of our tax dollars on losing litigation. The City should have been trying to resolve this litigation while a settlement was possible, as I suggested during my campaign for City Attorney. Our bargaining position is now very weak.

With the Bankruptcy Court’s order Oakland, already on the verge of its own bankruptcy, can be hit for as much as a billion dollars in damages, as well as attorney’s fees and costs for its tortious interference with prospective economic advantage and tortious interference with contract, and City Councilmembers and other elected officials can be found liable as well.

We have lost every court case. Our elected officials need to find the courage to stand up to the No Coal bullies, close the checkbook, and get to the bargaining table, if it’s not already too late to go there.

[Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 @Noahpinion]

You know solar is for real because Texas is building a ton of it.

Texas doesn't mess around with hippie bullshit. Thus, solar is not hippie bullshit.

[Seneca Scott @SenecaSpeaks21]

"How I made it ART, even when I was SAD." - The Pledge

This is what Deep East Oakland looks like: 77% of residents voted to recall Sheng Thao.

In contrast, only 48% of affluent North Oakland did the same. Once again, the wealthy ignore the voices of the poor while virtue signaling otherwise.

It’s time to change this.

[Josh @oaklandj_]

A successful restaurant closing in Oakland’s Dimond neighborhood to literally just reopen in Castro Valley. I remember they were robbed several times and begged for intervention from the city.

Friendly reminder things don’t have to be this way. These are policy choices.