Oakland Mayor's Race - candidates forum Thursday May 10th

The Oakland Mayor's Race finally has its first official candidates forum. This Thursday, May 10th, 100 Black Men of The Bay Area will host the "Oakland Mayoral Candidates Forum" at the First Unitarian Church at 685 14th Street in Oakland from 6 PM to 9 PM. Yes, all of the candidates will be there as of this writing.

If Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, who has not made an official statement on his future in or out of Oakland, does not show up, don't take it as a sign he's not going to run. It's June and we've got a lot of time before November. We also have a lot of candidates: ten. So many that my sources tell me 100 Black Men almost made a mistake in not inviting all of them.

At first, 100 Black Men extended invitations to three Oakland Mayor's Race participants: Don Perata and Oakland Councilmembers Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan. But the other candidates got wind of the event and literally raised hell, threatening to crash the party and present their displeasure at being excluded. 100 Black Men sent an new emailed invite, giving the candidates one day to respond. Each did.

As reported here before, The full list of Oakland Mayor's Race candidates consists of incumbent Ron Dellums, Don Perata, Don MacLeay, Jean Quan, Greg Harland, Maya Dillard Smith, Terrance Candell, and an tenth person who's still not ready for prime time, but will be. Eight of the ten will be at the 100 Black Men event. But what's 100 Black Men?

100 Black Men of The Bay Area is a great organization that holds events and fundraisers that cause the Bay Area's black business and political officials to gather and help African American youth by providing scholarships and mentoring. 100 Black Men is a membership organization that's open to everyone who wants to help, regardless of color or sex.

See you on June 10th.

San Francisco's Union Street needs more businesses, not less

The spaces available on Union Street

The 2010 San Francisco Union Street Festival is history and while it was an overall success, the crowds Sunday were less than in the past and once the tents were folded and the people went home, the empty store fronts were on display once again.

To be sure, new and great restaurants like the home-away-from-home eatery called The Brick Yard at 1787 Union St (at Octavia), and replacing The Bayside Bar and Grill at a space that sat empty for two years, and the upcoming "Unwind" just down the street, promise a brighter future for Union Street, the way still has a long trek to make to recover its past luster.

There are over 20 spaces for lease along Union Street as of this writing, and overall it looks like a ghost town almost totally devoid of the vibrant street scene that once attracted thousands of people. Union Street lacks a book store and a movie house. The Apple Store was not aggressively pursued by the neighbor association; it's on Chestnut Street just four blocks away.  (In fact, I was told they didn't want The Apple Store on Union Street.  That was a bone-headed error.)

In fact Chestnut Street has what Union Street once had and I described it needs. In this still weak Bay Area spending economy, the success of Union Street and Chestnut Street has become a zero-sum game: someone wins and and someone loses. Chestnut is winning over Union Street.

What's the problem? Rather than teaming up with Chestnut and marketing as one, the Union Street minders have elected to go it alone - not that they've approached the Marina Merchants Association, but it would be a good idea.

Why" Joint marketing. With the development of Oakland's Restaurant industry, there's less reason for anyone to go from Oakland and the East Bay to San Francisco without a joint marketing effort.

And an aggressive one.

The other alternative is for the Union Street Merchants to form their own association. That may be the best way to go. But the new group must move to get going. One great start for any Union Street effort is the Facebook page Save Union Street, that has 519 people who "like" it so far. Check it out.

Whatever the case, Union Street needs more businesses. Now.