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The City of Oakland's desire to earn more revenue on the backs of Oakland's poor continues. This email, sent out by Oakland Councilmember Nancy Nadel's Office, reveals the first hand insensitivity of the City of Oakland during what many are still calling an economic recession and in a city with 17 percent unemployment and even more not working or underemployed .  Oakland City Council squeezes Oakland The email below calls for locating additional parking meters "as Per Council Direction" on October 6, 2009. This is in reverse of the desires of Oaklanders for fewer parking meters. Parking meters call for the same kind of draconian ticketing and enforcement practices that have overloaded Oaklanders with parking tickets and resulted in the towing of cars after five tickets were accumulated. Here's the email that shows the City of Oakland's irresponsiblity toward Oaklanders, and why the Oakland City Council should reconsider its policies or risk los...

The City of Oakland's desire to earn more revenue on the backs of Oakland's poor continues. This email, sent out by Oakland Councilmember Nancy Nadel's Office, reveals the first hand insensitivity of the City of Oakland during what many are still calling an economic recession and in a city with 17 percent unemployment and even more not working or underemployed .  Oakland City Council squeezes Oakland The email below calls for locating additional parking meters "as Per Council Direction" on October 6, 2009. This is in reverse of the desires of Oaklanders for fewer parking meters. Parking meters call for the same kind of draconian ticketing and enforcement practices that have overloaded Oaklanders with parking tickets and resulted in the towing of cars after five tickets were accumulated. Here's the email that shows the City of Oakland's irresponsiblity toward Oaklanders, and why the Oakland City Council should reconsider its policies or risk los...

On Friday, Craigslist Founder and SFGate.com blogger Craig Newmark was kind enough to open his cool Cole Valley, San Francisco home to me for a vlog interview on the future of media. This is the second "City Brights" video interview I've conducted; the first one was with Doc Jan Gurley, or "Doc Gurley." For those of you who don't know Craig Newmark, he's a San Franciscan who 15-years ago started what was to be a simple website to help friends make connections with services, resources, and each other. It grew to a 500-city website system of which while he's the founder, is no longer the owner. By agreement, we did not talk about Craigslist business. The talk with Craig (which was impacted by network problems that were vexing Craig when I arrived) really turned from a look at the future of media, to focus on a lot of pressing media problems today, then on Obama and the Google Nexus One. But to be sure, many people have been talking abou...

The Internet was inundated with rumors that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were breaking up or had already split and were filing for divorce. One blogger claimed to have been "vindicated" by the news from a UK publication, because he claimed Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie broke up last April. The news originally came late Saturday night, from a British news website called News Of The World which reported a $205 million divorce settlement as in the works. But today , that news was declared false by People Magazine and TMZ.com. TMZ : There's a report out that Brad and Angie are calling it quits. One source -- who should know -- says, "It's B.S." The news by News Of The World was detailed and claimed that a divorce agreement was finalized. The reason for the constant rumors of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's splitting up is that the two have heavy schedules that keep them on the road and apart. People Magazine reports that while Brad Pitt w...

Over at Zennie62.com , Patsy Eagan announced that there's a new website especially for the Glenview Neighborhood in Oakland. The rest of this blog post is her presentation of the website G lenviewNeighbors.com : (Glenview street banners, courtesy of Maja Brugos Design: www.brugosdesign.com) Yesterday's clouds dumped another inch of rain onto Oakland. More t-storms may be in the stars for the Bay today, with more precip. into next week. Some of the banners along Park Boulevard have buckled in the harsh weather, flapping in the high winds and in some places, coming loose from their streetlight mounts. Below them runs the garden median; the city nearly shut off its drip water system last year due to budget cuts. Today it's soaked. Water brims, then runs down the Glenview slope and into the sea. Next spring, the Glenview Neighborhood Association (GNA) plans to host a gardening party on the median. But while winter still reigns in Oakland, they've been busy with a...

In what's supposed to be a restaurant review, but comes off as more of a general commentary, the New York Times reviewed my favorite Oakland Restaurant, Lake Chalet. (As a note, Lake Chalet was where I had the Oakland YouTube Meetup and I've served as spokesperson which started because I just plain love the place.) I had to read the review in an effort to get out of my Oscar funk in the wake of the very weird treatment by their communications staff, but I digress. I don't understand what the reviewer means by "inconsistent menu" because the food's quite the same and I might add the menu's new. They changed it about a month ago. The new Half Chicken is fantastic. What I'm wanting and waiting for is the Zennie62 Burger. It's my dream burger and would consist of: 1 lb. ground italian sausage 1 medium yellow onion, chopped 1 green bell pepper sliced mushrooms, drained sloppy joe and salsa sauce kaiser rolls, toasted 2 cups (8 oz.) s...

Last night's Hope for Haiti Now concert featured 19 performances from artists like Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, U2, Wyclef Jean, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, and Kid Rock Jennifer Hudson, Emeline Michel, The Edge, Dave Matthews and Neil Young. Here's the AP's video summary : And Hope for Haiti Now attracted stars who worked the phones like Colin Farrell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, Charlize Theron, Steven Spielberg, Ellen DeGeneres, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Robert Pattinson, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Clint Eastwood, Halle Berry, and Ben Stiller. Bill Clinton, United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti, and head of the Bush / Clinton Haiti Fund, gave this speech: The Hope for Haiti Now concert event was in Los Angeles, New York, and Haiti, where CNN's Anderson Cooper is working to repor...