Two Oakland sports records, two different clocks

Oakland's public parks page says the city has more than 129 parks and public spaces spanning more than 2,300 acres. It lists sports fields, recreation centers, pools, rentals and facilities including Caldecott Field / North Oakland Regional Sports Center, Bushrod Park and Raimondi Park.

The city's open-data facility dataset is a different kind of record. The page was available when checked, but sampled rows were dated to 2012 and 2013. That makes it useful for a historical inventory or accountability baseline, not for describing current conditions.

That distinction matters for anyone looking for a place to play. Current facility and reservation information is the better guide. The older file can show how the public system was recorded in the past, but its date needs to be clear and current information should be checked separately.

Oakland's current parks page also points readers toward rentals, recreation centers, pools, park-use guidance and recreation programs. Those pages are the better starting point for service information. The older dataset can add historical context, but it should not be used to describe conditions today.

For a fair comparison with San Francisco, the records need matching dates and definitions. The current Oakland pages and the older dataset are not interchangeable.