Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

This is a 20 minute movie on the dramatic event that was the convention held in Oakland, CA to elect delegates to represent the 9th Congressional District in Oakland and Barack Obama. It drew 2,000 people. If you live in Oakland and are politically involved, you're going to see someone you know in this video. It was really a kind of homecoming for people in Oakland politics and of course Oaklanders who have been involved with the Obama campaign. I thank the people in the video from Peralta Community College District Chancellor Elihu Harris to my friends, all of whom are in the movie and listed, and the delegate winners in this movie who are just some of the Oaklanders that will represent Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, Jennifer Pae, Fred Feller , Mark Friedman, Ayelet Waldman , and Darlene Brooks. The estimate of 2,000 people was my own and came from first, eyeballing the event, second from figuring that of 101 candidates, each had perhaps 10 people aver...

The San Francisco 49ers are good for San Francisco; they bring pride to the City and its residents. It wouldn't make any sense to take the 49ers out of San Francisco. The team's owners need to seriously consider and then reconsider what the team brings to the City and its neighborhoods, especially the neighborhoods around the stadium. Lennar Corporation's proposed new 49ers' stadium is a good thing for the residents of Bayview Hunters Point because it will bring with it 6500 new housing units, which means help for local small businesses, and a beautified, improved neighborhood. The 49ers are as much a City tradition as the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman's Wharf. Keep the stadium in SF!

This bit of news from the SF Chronicle focuses on the Oakland Food Scene: Switching bait: Oakland's Pearl Oyster Bar & Restaurant (5634 College Ave., near Shafter) closed on April 7, but according to manager Micaela Gardner it's hardly the end for the Rockridge seafood house. After a few weeks' transition and a light remodel, Pearl will become Water Lounge, a raw bar, under Pearl owner Rick Tyler and much of the rest of the current management team. With luck, the opening date will be around May 19, Gardner says. Late hours and a full bar will be two of the attractions, as will a menu of mostly uncooked seafood. According to Gardner, that will allow for a smaller staff than Pearl's. "I'll have my pick of the litter," she says. Pearl opened in 2004 with Mark Lusardi as chef. When Lusardi left, Jonathan Luce, who had been in the kitchen since the opening, took over. Luce left in June and is now chef de cuisine at the newly opened Bellanico (4238 Park Blvd...

In San Francisco, the second annual International African Marketplace (IAM) brought music, dance, food, art and crafts of the African Diaspora to the Bayview-Hunters Point district on three consecutive weekends in September. The IAM ran from 12 to 5 p.m. on September 15-16, 22-23 and 29-30 at the Bayview Opera House located at 4705 Third Street at Oakdale Avenue, easily accessible from the MUNI "T" line. Admission was free. The IAM is a celebratory series of events and activities of cultural diversity representing the African Diaspora and its cultural influences worldwide. It serves as a venue for all cultures of the African Diaspora and as a rallying point for coordinating resources in the African-American business, social service and art communities. It further serves as a cultural destination for tourists and residents. By presenting global goods and wares of the African Diaspora, local vendors will recreate a cultural destination venue within the Bayview-Hunters Point co...

The Oakland school board finally got partial control of its schools back from the state after five years, and promptly squandered renewed public hopefulness by hiring an interim superintendent in closed session, without consulting with teachers or the public. Ms. Roberta Mayor, a former member of the Fiscal Management and Assistance Team, was responsible for briefing State Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell on Oakland's financial progress over the last five years, and its readiness to take back control of its school system. She is now the one-year interim superintendent of Oakland schools, with an annual salary of $250,000. Ms. Mayor's salary, factored in with the cost of the new internal auditor that she will be choosing, will cost the city nearly $400,000 for one year. If the Oakland school board is concerned with cleansing its image and renewing public trust after declaring bankruptcy five years ago, it should start by directly involving the community with its...

I must admit, when I talked to the hypnotist on the phone, I was rather skeptical; however,after reading The Secret and trying to visualize a more positive life, I threw caution to the wind and decided to make an appointment to be hypnotized into not smoking. The hypnotist made sense. Habits were stored in the unconscious mind, which had been fighting with the conscious mind for supremacy of my body for over half of my life. It all started with my delinquent high school boyfriend, who used to cut school with his friends under the bridge and smoke Marlboro reds. Their impending expulsion made them even cooler in my eyes. This was my chance to rebel; for the straight A, good girl to shock the bad boys by taking a puff. That initial puff lasted for 18 years, coming back with greater force every time I tried to quit and push it away. Hypnosis directly addresses the habit-holding unconscious part of your brain, and uses vivid visualizing techniques to turn those neur...