Remember the blog post I wrote about a week ago stating that Oakland District Two Councilmember Pat Kernighan should get the Oakland Redevelopment Agency (ORA) involved in the effort to save the now-closed Parkway Theater? Well, I was just contacted by an unnamed source who explained in great detail how and when the ORA will work to redevelop the Parkway Speakeasy Theater, located at 1834 Park Blvd in Oakland. The effort will mean the "best of" the Parkway's employees will be asked to return to their jobs, if they want to do so.
First a brief review.
The once-popular Parkway Theater closed its doors on March 22, 2009 after its owners, Katheryn and Kyle Fisher of Downey Street Productions, received an eviction notice from their landlord, the Cheng family of San Francisco just four days before closing. The news caused a major panic within the ranks of Parkway employees, who didn't know what they were going to do for work on the short notice of losing their jobs, and within the community, which didn't know how it was going to replace what came to be a center of the neighborhood. Without the Parkway, the area would be a certain candidate for anyone's definition of "blighted neighborhood."
With rapid restoration of the Parkway in mind, a Facebook-based community group was formed called "Save The Parkway" which kind of morphed into a new group called "I Like The Parkway Speakeasy Theater." (I guess "love" is too strong a term.)
At any rate, the organization, led Peter Prato held a large meeting on March 29th that drew about 40 people, including Kernighan and several long-time Oaklanders. There, it was decided that the organization would work to find a theater operator to rebuild and maintain the Parkway as it was before it closed, but better.
Eventually, an organization called Motion Picture Heritage Corporation (MPHC) stepped in to start talks with The Chengs and Kernighan to in some way acquire the Parkway Theater. While the negotiations have been "back-and-forth", the Parkway community folks were digging for information about and then writing and blogging about MPHC, an action that reportedly upset the groups' head Bill Dever. Since Dever and his partners hail from small Shelbyville, Indiana, they're not used to the very public communications that come with the matter of saving buildings and businesses the community values in California. Dever reportedly threatened to pull out of the deal if the chatter didn't stop.
Well, it subsided, but it didn't stop. Indeed, it got worse for a time, as it seemed Councilmember Kergnihan had one direction, the Parkway Community people another, and the former employees just wanted to be left alone, even as the Parkway Community people held another meeting and a party on May 31st to help get money to them. It was a huge mess. But, as I pointed out before, the best solution was for Councilmember Kernighan to bring everyone together, get the ORA involved, and go on the hunt for a number of developers and operators to compete for the right to rehab and run the facility, not just one.
Finally, it looks like we're on the way to seeing that happen. On Tuesday, members of the ORA, including Deputy Director Gregory Hunter, met with concerned Parkway Theater operatives and MPHC (Kernighan was not in the room) to determine a course of action for the ORA. According to my source, Hunter said "we're stepping" in. What that means is the agency may loan the group money or help MPHC purchase the building from the Chengs. As of this writing, the ORA has all of the property condition information and documents and correspondence that have been written to date. They can now do their research work before determining a specific plan of action.
The next step is a meeting with Kernighan and the Chengs, but my source - who was in the room - is confident that this will jump start the effort to save the Parkway. But my request is that the ORA include a meeting with the Parkway community as well to get their input and see the results of their survey work. I don't think their efforts should be ignored.
According to Matier and Ross in the SF Chronicle, former Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly's suing the City of Oakland for unlawful termination (They used the term "unfair" but it's "unlawful"). At any rate, it was an expected action given the way she was let go and the kind of statements made about her before the action took place. I wrote then that a defamation of character lawsuit would have been appropriate, but Edgerly apparently feels she was wrongfully terminated.
Again, Edgerly's way of protecting family and favorites caught up to her, that's certain. But, and I state this again, Edgerly was put on the chopping block for actions that are common in the City of Oakland. I wrote a while back - stating that SF Chronicle Columnist Chip Johnson was right about Oakland favoritism - and will continue to assert this:
Don't think that favoritism starts with Deborah Edgerly. It's part of the organizational DNA of Oakland and has been practiced by everyone from then-Mayor Jerry Brown on down. In fact, it was widely known that Jerry didn't want Deborah Edgerly as his first choice for Chief Administrative Officer; he wanted the stiletto and ankle-bracelet-wearing Dolores Blanchard (who was White, not Black as an FYI) to be the one, but she lived in Danville, not Oakland.
In fact, if Ms. E focuses on Ron Dellums wife Cynthia in the lawsuit (where she claims Mrs. Dellums asked her to pay Dellums personal bills with taxpayer money), it could be another major credibility problem for a Mayor's Office that already suffers from the low regard the community has for its performance.
That's sad.
The whole tale is a terrible story of a period in Oakland's history where its citizens need effective, professional government, but are getting ineffective, unprofessonal government. It's not enough to point to a bright spot here in the City Attorney's Office, or anywhere else; the whole government should work well. That's not too much to ask for.
For once Oakland is getting some news about crime that isn’t horrible.
Despite recent high-profile cases of violence, including the murder of four Oakland police officers in March, major crime in Oakland is down significantly this year.
Homicide is down about 20 percent, according to police department statistics. Assaults with firearms – down almost one third. Part 1 crimes – everything from assault to burglary – are down about 15 percent this year.
Credit is due to our police department – to the patrol officers who risk their lives and to the investigators and commanders who are using smarter and more effective tactics to fight crime during difficult times.
And whether or not it’s the popular thing to say, one other person deserves some credit – Mayor Ron Dellums. At critical moments, Mayor Dellums took a stand to reform policing in Oakland and to fully staff the police department, and it looks like those decisions have helped the department’s crime fighting mission.
In his 2008 state of the city speech, Dellums promised that the police department would have a full contingent of officers within 12 months. At the time, many thought it was an impossible goal. The city had been failing for years to recruit and train enough officers to fully staff the department.
But the Dellums administration increased the number of police academies and launched an unprecedented recruitment campaign featuring billboards in New York and outreach to military personnel. 10 months later, Oakland had the largest police force in its history – 837 officers, 34 above the number promised by the mayor.
Also important was the mayor’s backing of the new policing model proposed by Oakland’s former reformist police chief and continued by our current chief.
Under this model, the city is divided into three geographic areas, with a commander in charge of each area. Officers work 12-hour shifts so more cops are on the street during high crime hours. The former head of the police officers’ union bitterly opposed the plan both publicly and behind closed doors. But Mayor Dellums stood strong for the right of the police chief to manage the department. Now, those reforms seem to be working.
It’s impossible to know all the factors driving the crime rate in Oakland. Cities from Pittsburg to Anchorage are seeing drops in crime despite the economic crisis and historic jobless rates. Oakland may be part of this trend. Oakland police also credit citizens for working bravely with police and acting as witnesses.
But it’s undeniable that having more officers on the streets when crime is happening – and having more investigators solving violent crimes and locking up criminals – impacts major crime in our city.
Whether we can sustain the momentum remains to be seen. Right now Oakland is down to about 803 officers, the minimum number promised by the Measure Y parcel tax. We lose about five officers every month due to regular attrition, and no police academies are currently scheduled.
Whether this crime trend continues, and whatever the causes, the bottom line is that fewer families have been shattered by homicide, fewer bullets have been fired at human beings and fewer homes have been burglarized in our community this year.
The reality is that the mayor who rarely gets credit for anything took a stand when it mattered, and it’s making a difference in the area that matters most to many of us in Oakland.
Sarah Bäckman: Female Muscle Biceps in Japan 2012
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Sarah Bäckman is a strong woman from Sweden, who's combination of beauty
and superwoman looks has gained her a World-wide following.
Here, Sarah's in ...
