Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

One thing I learned from working for the late Senator Lloyd Bentson as an intern in his Dallas office, volunteering for then-gubenatorial candidate Diane Feinstein, and from representing Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris and working under Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown was the importance of money in politics. Who contributes to a campaign is just as important as how much the campaigner has raised. With that, I decided to comb the online records of the California Secretary of State's website and with respect to several races, starting with that for California Assembly District 16. There are five contestants: Sandre Swanson, John Russo, Ronnie Caplane, Anthony Daysog, and Ed Ytuarte . I found some interesting information; I'll start with Sandre Swanson. Sandre Swanson's a good man who's served as Congresswoman Barbara Lee's Chief of Staff for many years, and who I've known well over the years, has raised a good sum of money for his District 16 Assembly race. Here's ...

But it would not be the tallest building in California. Building may take city to new heights 63-story high-rise would be state's tallest structure; planner says it would anchor downtown By Cecily Burt, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE OAKLAND — Aside from a few iconic towers in San Francisco, California's skyline does not have much in the way of very tall buildings. That could change -- and so would Oakland's image as open for business -- if a developer holds fast to his dream of building a 63-story office skyscraper at the corner of 19th and Broadway. It would be the tallest building in California. The proposal by developer Peter Wang of Encinal Terminals got a warm reception Wednesday from Oakland's Planning Commission, which has seen a glut of residential plans but very little in the way of new office development in recent years. The last office construction in downtown Oakland — the 20-story Shorenstein building at 555 City Center — was completed four years ago and ...

At an event with former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonsalez, Oakland City Attorney and California Assembly Candidate John Russo pointed to the poor coverage of the City of Oakland by the local media. "It used to be you'd have three to six people covering the City Council each time (they met)," he said. "Now, you've got maybe one or two people" In my view, it points to the reaction of the Oakland Tribune to the rising cost of running a newspaper versus reduced demand for the publications in an Internet age. The business and sports sections are done by one staff group for several different papers, but the newsroom staff which looks at local political issues per city is small and getting even smaller.