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One good thing about being around here for awhile with an active memory is history. I remember when Dreyer's Ice Cream proposed its giant facility for Rockridge, and many, including for a time me, were against it. One reason for this was that the original plan called for a visible College Avenue presence that was just too out of scale with the neighborhood. I say that's true for the Safeway proposal before us. This is one of those stories that needs a video and one will be up soon, but for the present, what's neat about Rockridge is that there's not one long wall of building walls hugging the street. It's a parade of structures of varied heights, allowing Sun to reach the street and giving a small-town-in-Oakland feel. But Safeway's current proposal will destroy that feeling in my view. It calls for a building that does what's not cool: hugs the street and looms over it. It would drastically alter Rockridge and make it seem more like a retail downtow...

I met with Oakland's elected City Attorney and my friend John Russo the day after election day to talk about his unopposed win for a third term, how Oakland has changed, Oakland Politics and the District Three Council race, who Senator Obama should pick as his VP, what Russo's is proudest of with the evolution of his office, and the talks between the City of Oakland and the Oakland Raiders. Russo explains that the talks are between the Raiders and the Oakland / Alameda County Joint Powers Authority and that they're going well. He also confirmed that Raiders Manager of The General Partner Al Davis is not in good health and has not attended all of the meeting. As to the possibility that the Raiders would get a new stadium, he said no, but they're in agreement on the matters of concern to the Raiders. Given what I know from trying to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland (we lost to Jacksonville), that means we should expect to see an upgraded Coliseum at some point i...

Oil Prices hit another record today as the price for a barrel of crude oil hit $139.12 just one day after a record of $135.09 was reached. I can't even find a gas station with a price for gas less than $4 a gallon and generally the cost is between $4.30 and $4.50 per gallon. I drive around to find the cheapest price I can, but maybe it's better not to drive at all!

It's funny what one finds about themselves. In this case, I happened to see a post from some White Supremacist guy named Chris , who has a page on something called "Podblanc", which describes itself as: About Podblanc Podblanc was founded in April 2007 as a media outlet specifically tailored to White Interests, White Culture, and White Politics around the globe. Podblanc is the leader in online video, and a premier destination to watch original videos worldwide. Everyone can watch videos on Podblanc. People can see first-hand accounts of current events, find videos about their hobbies and interests, and discover what it means to be White. As more people capture special moments on video, Podblanc is empowering them to become tomorrow’s media. Podblanc is 100% viewer and member supported. Our mission is to enlighten, educate and entertain our people. Craig Cobb, as one of the founding members, has taken the lead as Chief Content Officer. Okay! His title is: Negro Zennie A...

Here's a full rundown of who-won-what on Tuesday for Alameda County races. Congrats to Supervisors Nate Miley and Keith Carson. Primary election results from Tuesday The Oakland Tribune Article Created: 06/04/2008 05:33:06 PM PDT Public-interest attorney Dennis Hayashi and prosecutor Phil Daly are headed to a November runoff for an open Superior Court judge seat in Alameda County. Hayashi and Daly were the top two vote-getters in Tuesday's election for the seat vacated by retired Judge Kenneth Kingsbury. Hayashi finished with 43 percent of the vote, while Daly received 26 percent, according to unofficial final results. A runoff is necessary since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. Hayashi, 55, said his candidacy was based on his beliefs in a judiciary that is independent and accessible to all while being fair and unbiased. Daly, 52, has nearly 23 years of courtroom experience and his candidacy was supported by 20 current Superior Court judges along with A...

Lonnie Hancock Beat Wilma Chan For Assembly Seat And I can't say that I was totally surprised, only mildly so. It was certainly a race that benefited incumbents and Hancock, even though she's moving from Assembly to Senate, certainly is that. Good luck to you, Lonnie.

I have to admit I've seen this too many times before, including myself. Someone's upset that Nancy Nadel won District Three. (Or at least as of this writing -- hence the (*) -- it looks like she did. She had 51.7 percent of the vote, BUT there are still thousands of absentee ballots to be counted . If Nancy falls below 50 percent, then Sean Sullivan gets to challenge her again for a November do-over. But here's the next BUT: absentee ballots tend to follow the Election Day voting trend , so I continue...) In the past, it was Clinton Killian, who ran against her and lost in the 90s. Then Hector Reyna. Someone once tried to get me to run against her, but even though I thought Nancy was neglecting the area of Grand Avenue between Mac Arthur and Harrison, I know that I've never wanted to run for office and have always enjoyed the role of King / Queen Maker. Knock it off with the "Oh Brother" comment, will ya? Look. I can't remember a time when every...