Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com It's reported today that David Chai, formerly the Chief of Staff to the Ron Dellums, the Mayor of Oakland, but demoted a few months ago, is leaving Oakland for San Francisco to become the "business czar" for Mayor Gavin Newsom. But what's sad about the article written by the Oakland Tribune's Kelly Rayburn is how many Oakland Councilmembers were openly trashing Chai on the way out. First, it was known months ago in May that Chai had been demoted from the level of Chief of Staff and I mentioned this back then as well as that Marisol Lopez would be the new head of Dellums' staff. So while Rayburn's article is out, the news is a bit off; Chai was moved long ago. But while David may have had his shortcomings, he was a talented staffer frustrated with the overall culture of Dellums' office. Still, you would think Oakland Councilmembers would be m...

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan has an email newsletter with some interesting information. Take this item with the headline "Community Policing and Other City News". The Councilmember reports that the Oakland Police have set up a red light camera at High and Foothill (paragraphs broken by me): Red-light Camera Now In Place at High and Foothill: In an effort to reduce red-light related accidents, OPD announced it installed a Red Light Camera Enforcement System (RLCES) at High St. and Foothill Bl. The system will capture red-light violations and warning notices will be mailed to violators for 30 days. After the 30 day warning period, starting September 29, 2009, citations will be issued for red light violations. The four intersections in the City now being monitored by the automated red-light camera system will be marked by an advisory street sign, notifying app...

Yesterday I wrote that Cal has not seen tapes of Maryland's new defense as the Terps have a new defensive coordinator Don Brown. Maryland players expressed joy that Cal would be surprised by their new look system. It was also reported that Cal's looking at last year's Maryland tapes, for some reason. But as it turns out, the new look is an old look: the Buddy Ryan 46 Defense. According to this Washington Post article , Brown is bringing a version of the "46" - named for Chicago Bears Safety Doug Plank , who was a key rover in the Ryan defense - to Maryland. Don Brown's defense, called "The Bear" reminds me of the kind of system Artie Gigantino brought to Cal when he was defensive coordinator under Keith Gilbertson at Cal: the linemen positioned opposite the tight end or the side with the most receivers, and both outside linebackers on the strongside of the offense. Artie called his defense the "Split" 43. The Bear's the s...

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com I just read there's going to be an Oakland DUI (driving under the influence) checkpoint tonight at "an undisclosed location in Oakland" . Great. But why? Everyone knows there are only a few areas where cool and safe (can one be cool and not safe?) bars and restaurants are in Oakland: 1) Downtown at Broadway and Grand where its "First Friday" Art Murmur night. 2) Downtown along Telegraph from 16th to 20th Street. 3) Grand Avenue and Lakeshore Avenue where Lake Park serves as the connecting street 4) North Oakland along College Avenue 5) Piedmont Avenue from Monte Vista to 51st and Pleasant Valley. First, it's not good to drink and drive, but this quasi-militaristic, secret agent style approach is really too much with this "undisclosed location" stuff. I'd prefer the Oakland Police think creatively and actually provide alternat...

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com YouTube , Yahoo , MySpace , DailyMotion , Blip.tv , StupidVideos , Sclipo and Viddler College Football's back and ESPN's Lou Holtz thinks The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame will be in the BCS National Championship Game. He's wrong. But the Cal Golden Bears will beat the USC Trojans October 3rd in Berkeley, 20 to 14. Notre Dame lacks team speed At 29 wins, 21 losses this is Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis ' make-or-break year. If he wins seven games or more, he's in the clear and gives Irish fans and boosters a reason to expect better years ahead. But if he losses 7 games or more, he's in trouble. My prediction is for another six win season. Why? Notre Dame's chronic lack of team speed. The Fighting Irish have a problem drawing the fastest players at all positions. The states that generally produce the fastest talent - Florida, Cal...

I just got this message at my Facebook page: I'm sure you've been following the awful story about the disappearance of Hasanni Campbell. His foster mother is a very dear friend of mine, Jennifer Campbell. She is expecting a child, while desperately searching for Hasanni, and had to go back to work at "Shuz" in Rockridge today, the site of Hasanni's disappearance. She will probably only be able to work a short while but as she is paid mostly on commission, she needs to sell a lot of shoes. The media coverage of this whole tragic situation hasn't made it any easier. I am beseeching you to please visit "Shuz" on College Ave. in Rockridge. Ask for Jennifer Campbell. Buy some shoes. Please. Where's "Shuz" exactly? It's at 6012 College Avenue (map below) and has great reviews on Yelp! Jennifer's had a rough time; give her your support! Buy some shoes! Here's the map for Shuz in Oakland within the Rockridge District! ...

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com The blog Eater via SFGate's Scoop reports that the famous sky high restaurant The Carnelian Room at the top of the Bank of America building at 555 California Street is scheduled to close but not until Christmas. If you've never experienced the view of San Francisco and the Bay Area from that space I encourage you to do so. It's been too long for me but given how breath-taking it is, I can't understand why it's not doing well. You may respond that it's too high, but I disagree because of the terrific interior that awaits patrons. Curious, I Googled "Carnelian Room rating", clicked on " Carnelian Room User Reviews " at San Francisco Citysearch and got my answer: it's the service. This is one of many negative reviews placed there: This place is criminally bad. Lets cover the one good thing first; the view. Nothing else is goo...