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On March 27th and without ceremony, Oakland Tribune Columnist Peggy Stinnett wrote her last column for the newspaper. It was sad to read the last work of a person I've known and was a competitor too. It was even sadder to see her last day not given a special color. Oakland's lost its real chroniclers. It's not worth it to pick up a newspaper now, because it's so hard to discover the pulse of the city. It wasn't always this way. One could pick up The Trib or Montclarion and see what was going on. That was the time before the year 2000. It was a time when some people never heard of email, and called each other. It's a different world now. I like some aspects of it, but not this one. I'll miss ya Peggy.

I found this email in the Adams Point Yahoo Group. It shows Oakland Councilmember and Mayoral Candidate Nancy Nadel's view of the Oak To Ninth Waterfront Plan that's proposed by Signature Properties. I personally have no problem with the developer making money from the project -- that's what they do. I do agree that this "new town in town" needs to be well-studied before approval. Plus, I'd like to see a baseball stadium there as well. From: "Nadel, Nancy" wrote:From: "Nadel, > Nancy" > To: 'Nina Serrano' > Subject: RE: Fwd: [15X_NCPC] Oak-to-Ninth: Important City Council > meeting Tuesday night > Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:36:14 -0800 > > I think the city and the port approached this project backwards. We > should have done a specific plan and then found developers who > would do what we want. When I asked the planning director why that > wasn't the process as outlined in the Estuary Plan, she ...

This was a post on the Adams Point Message Board on Yahoo! I heard a woman screaming outside my window at approx. 1 a.m. in the morning on Sunday, April 9th. I live on Bellevue and I immediately sat up in bed and opened my window to see a man running away from a woman with a bag in his hand. She was almost directly across from my house and I called out to her to see if she was OK. She said she was but very shaken up and I directed her to come inside. We called the police but we were put on hold for at least 2 mins but after getting through the police arrived within 15 mins. They took a description and then radioed it in to another car to look around the neighbourhood. No luck finding the guy but this was the same style of mugging we have heard in the past. Single woman cruising through the neighbourhood looking for parking and once parked and out of the car she saw this man walking towards her and in a threatning voice told her to drop her bags (she had two and only dropped one which...

I talked to a very good and well-placed friend of mine about why the Oakland City Council voted to give the right to create a restaurant to The Beach Chalet, a San Francisco Restaurant, versus any Oakland retauranteur. "They (the Council) looked at the deal points and frankly, The Beach Chalet was a better deal." My friend reported that the organzation which runs the very popular eatery on Ocean Beach came through with tenant improvements that were over $1 million more than, for example, Everett and Jones Restaurant. For those of you who don't understand what this means, $1 million in tenant improvements translates into a very nicely remodeled boathouse, sure to be a popular destination along the Lake. As to the allegations that Mayor Jerry Brown's aide Gil Duran tried to bribe Dorothy King of Everett and Jones, my friend said "Either one of them could be lying, given their track records." My take on this matter is that the City of Oakland should know h...

Ignacio De La Fuente voted to bring in a San Francisco Restaurant, The Beach Chalet, to run the unused boathouse facility at Lake Merritt. Moreover, most of the Oakland City Council selected them and over locals like Everrett and Jones. With this, why should I buy my car at Broadway Auto Row? Why should I "Buy Oakland?" A good question. And one the Oakland City Council must answer.

This year Oaklanders who care have ran accross the name of a key aide to Jerry Brown. His name is Gil Duran. I most often see Duran with Mayor Brown at local bars, most notably Cafe Van Kleef. On one occasion, on a Wednesday of the week that President Bush's aide Karl Rove's involvement in the CIA Leak Scandal was being reported, I ran into Duran and Mayor Brown at Peter Van Kleef's establishment. I asked Jerry what he thought of the Karl Rove matter. Pointing at Gil, Jerry said "He's Karl Rove. Right there." After reading the story about Everett and Jones today, I think I understand.

Article Last Updated: 04/08/2006 3:16 AM PDT Restaurateur: Brown pledged lease for favor Mayor, who supported another eatery's boathouse bid, denies quid pro quo agreement By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE OAKLAND — The owner of Everett & Jones Barbeque said Friday that Mayor Jerry Brown promised her a lucrative lease for a new eatery at the Lake Merritt Boathouse if she defended him from charges of racism. Through a spokesman, Brown, whose term expires Jan. 1, called the allegation "crazy" and denied the existence of a quid pro quo agreement. Earlier this week, Brown broke a tie vote of the Oakland City Council in favor of the Beach Chalet Brewery and Restaurant in San Francisco, passing over the popular barbecue joint in Jack London Square. "I was devastated," Dorothy King said, adding she had no doubt that the decision was motivated by racism and politics. Brown, running for state attorney general, declined to directly address King'...