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"Black Sheep Girl" complains of the terrible bus service and the "creepy dudes" that hang out at the "Oakland BART" station -- don't know which one, but could be 12th or 19th Street -- so she decides to walk home. All the better to see Lake Merritt. We used to have a shuttle that drove around Lake Merritt; we need it back. It was paid for by the Oakland Redevelopment Agency, when for one moment it really understood what city building was all about.

Wow. I happened to catch this bit of news over at the blog called BiggAndyy, which you can go to with a click on the title of this post. He reports that the awards for Oakland kids turning in their guns are tickets to -- LOL -- a Guns and Roses Concert! What genius came up with that? It's supposed to be some weird pun, get it? Turn in your guns for Guns? It's not something the folks in the neighborhoods would come up with. First, it's just not a good idea -- better to give money. Second, and I'm just gonna haul off and write this, the person who came up with the idea certainly wasn't Black or Latino, and yet the program, let's face it, is aimed at African American neighborhoods in Oakland! What's going on over at the City of Oakland? You gotta wonder. Makes you shake your head.

This is Oaklandish's bus, or what they call a "Mobile Operations Unit." But I've got to ask what do they really do in that monster thing? Here's their info... This classic '67 Clark Cortez camper van has been outifitted with A.V. equipment (projector, FM radio transmitter, P.A. system), a kegerator, the Folklandish library of books, videos, collectibles & memorabilia, as well as our line of 'local love' goods. So basically we're rigged and ready to turn it out on-location at the drop of a hat! This completes our long standing dream of being fully equipped to bring our message & media to events and parties all over the town. Look for it November 5th at Dia de los Muertos in the Fruitvale!

I found this link to an interesting group called Oakland Ecovillage and their calendar, which features Sunday walks around the Lake with a group of anti-war neighbors. I'm sure the group realizes that it needs to be more diverse than is shown in this photo, so I will not spend too much time on this except to say if you're a person of color check it out, and to the group's organizers, make a concerted effort to bring African Americans, Latinos, and others in. It's disheartening to see this kind of photo in a city that was once prized for its diversity. Not to mention eating just popcorn! How about potato salad? A potluck with baked chicken? Something!

Oakland Coliseum wins Raiders lawsuit By DAVID KRAVETS, AP Legal Affairs Writer Fri Nov 17, 8:18 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO - A state appeals court on Friday threw out a jury's $34.2 million award to the Oakland Raiders over accusations that managers of the Oakland Coliseum falsely promised a sold-out stadium to lure the team back to the Bay Area. The case dates to 1995, when Raiders owner Al Davis maneuvered to get his team out of Southern California after revenues waned, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum's foundation was shaken by an earthquake and a deal collapsed to build a new stadium and horse track. The Oakland deal, first inked in 1995 and renegotiated a year later, gave the Raiders a $53 million loan, $10 million for a training complex and $100 million to renovate the coliseum, which they share with baseball's Oakland Athletics. The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento said in a 2-1 ruling on Friday that because the Raiders agreed to the deal a second time, the team...

OAKLAND A family dispute ends with 3 killed, 2 in custody Man dives from window to escape gunfire after holiday gathering turns violent Steve Rubenstein, SF Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, November 24, 2006 Three people were killed and another wounded when a North Oakland holiday get-together turned deadly Thursday afternoon. Two men were taken into custody in connection with the shooting. There were nine people, including a child, in the third-floor apartment at 5321 Telegraph Ave. when gunfire broke out shortly before 3 p.m. One man and two women were killed and another man wounded in the gunfire, while another man suffered a broken back when he leaped from a third-floor window to escape the bullets. Oakland police described the incident as a family dispute gone horribly wrong. "There was an ongoing disturbance within the group,'' which had started well before the bloody Thanksgiving shooting, said Officer Roland Holmgren, an Oakland police spokesman. He declined to elab...

This is not the press conference, but a presentation on the new technology that would be in what Cicso -- the developers of the router for the Internet -- calls "The Stadium of the Future." These improvements will find their way into the planned new A's stadium to be located in Fremont, but they could be used anywhere in any stadium. The question is how much will this increase ticket prices at the new A's stadium? I'll be we're not going to see Dollar Wednesday's again after it's built -- if it is.